Now I want you to open your Bibles
to the book of Romans, chapter 6. I'm having a real throat struggle. I'm very concerned that you'll be able
to hear me. It may be that having to listen
more carefully that you will listen more carefully. Perhaps
this difficulty on my part will lend emphasis to the message
this morning. Perhaps that's why in the providence
of God that I'm afflicted, that you might have to strain to hear,
and in straining to hear, you might hear more quickly. But
let me read my text, Romans 6, verse 23, for the wages of sin
is death. for the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord. I wish to make five observations
in introducing my message today, the first of which is this, if
I die in sin, And Christ said, if you die in your sins, you
cannot come where I am. But if I persist in my rebellion
against God, if I persist in my transgressions and iniquity,
if I persist in my unbelief and die in my sins, then my condemnation
is a condition that I deserve and that I've earned. That's
what it's saying, the wages of sin is death. If I persist, in
my rebellion and unbelief, and I perish, and God sends me to
hell, it's a condition and a state that I deserve and that I've
earned. But if I live eternally, if I share the joys and blessings
and inheritance of the saints, it's the free gift of God. The
wages of sin, what I deserved was what I earned. And what I
earn is what I deserve. The wages of sin is death. But
the gift, the free gift of God is eternal life. So if I persist
in my rebellion and unbelief, and I die in my sins, and forever
I am banished from the presence of God, I deserve it, I've earned
it, it's a conditioning state that I have earned myself. But
if I am admitted into the presence of God, It's not my works of
righteousness which I've done. It's the free gift of God's grace.
All right, secondly, death in sin and condemnation and separation
from God is the result of a deliberate effort on my part. The wages
of sin, that's what wages are. or something that a person has
worked for. He put forth a deliberate effort.
He's put forth a deliberate effort to earn these wages. So death,
death is a result of a deliberate effort on my part, a willing,
deliberate effort on my part. And life is the result of a deliberate
effort on God's part. The wages of sin is death, but
the gift, and that gift, though free, cost somebody. That precious
gift, that valuable gift, that unspeakable gift, the gift of
God's love, redemption, is free to you, but it cost God his Son,
and cost his Son his life, and cost the Lord Jesus humiliation
and suffering. Yes, it was an expensive gift,
a priceless gift. but it cost a high price. So
condemnation and death is the result of something I've done,
a deliberate effort on my part. But salvation and eternal life
is the result of something that God has done. It took a deliberate
effort on His part. Thirdly, condemnation is the
wages of my guilt. Salvation is the gift of His
grace, totally and completely. Condemnation. If I go to hell,
it's my fault. If I go to heaven, it's God's
fault. If I perish in my sins, it is a result of my guilt. If
I live eternally, it's the gift of His grace, totally and completely. Fourthly, there is nothing, now
listen to this, There is nothing that will keep a man out of heaven.
Listen carefully. There is nothing that will keep
a man out of heaven but his own unwillingness to receive Christ. You say, Preacher, have you thought
about that a while? A good while. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, You
will not come to me that you might have life. And the only
thing that will keep a man out of heaven is an unwillingness
to bow to the claims of King Jesus, to submit to the loyal
claims of the Son of God. They are righteous claims, and
they're just claims, and they're eternal claims, and they're God-given
claims, and they're rightful claims. And someday every knee
will bow, and every tongue will confess that He's Lord, but the
thing that keeps you out of God's grace and out of God's glory
and out of God's heaven is your unwillingness right now to bow
to His righteous claims. You will not come to me. that
you might have life. It all boils down to that. It's
sin against which the canons of heaven are turned. It's sin
that God hates. It's sin, Barnard said, that
God hates worse than hell. It's sin that damns the soul.
But it all boils down to one great sin. They could not enter
in because of what? Unbelief. Unbelief. Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. There's nothing that keeps a
man out of heaven but his unwillingness, his unwillingness to bow to the
claims of King Jesus, to receive the Son of God. But there's nothing
that keeps a man out of hell but the sovereign will of God.
That's right. You say, how do you reconcile
that? Well, you don't have to reconcile friends, you know. They're not enemies. There's
nothing that keeps me out of heaven but my unwillingness to
bow to Christ. But there's nothing that keeps
a man out of hell but the sovereign will of God. Except the Lord
of the Sabbath had left us a seed, a remnant, a handful, we'd be
like Sodom and Gomorrah. Our Lord Jesus Christ prayed
in John 17, My Father, I will that those whom thou hast given
me be with me where I am. My will, my will. It's not of
him that willeth, it's not of him that runneth, it's of God
that showeth mercy. Your will will keep you out of
heaven, but your will will not keep you out of hell. Your will will keep you out of
heaven, But the only thing that will keep you out of hell is
God's will. Your will will keep you out of heaven, but your will
won't take you there. That's so. That's so. We're not called to explain the
gospel. We're called to proclaim it.
We're not called to explain the gospel. That's the Holy Spirit's
business. I can preach the gospel. I can't
reveal it. The gospel is a mystery. Somebody
said, I preach the gospel so simple that a little child can
understand it. You haven't preached any gospel.
There's nothing simple about the gospel. The gospel is profound
as the wisdom of God, and it has to be revealed. But that's
the fourth thing. Now, the fifth thing is this,
the fifth observation, and listen carefully. Physical death, spiritual
death, eternal death, All came by man's sin. The wages of sin
is death. It all came by man's sin. By
one man, sin entered this world. By one man. By Adam's will, by
Adam's fall, by Adam's transgression, by Adam's rebellion, sin came
into this world. And death by sin, and so death
passed upon all men. For all not have sinned, sin. When Adam rebelled against God,
I rebelled. When Adam sinned, I sinned. And
physical death, spiritual death, eternal death, all death, all
decay, all corruption, all defilement came by man's sin. All life came
by Christ's obedience. All life came by Christ's obedience
who is our life. What I'm saying is this, we can
take the full blame for our distress, the total, complete responsibility
for our distress now and eternally. For our condition, for our wicked
hearts, we can't stand like Adam and say, the woman which you
gave me, or like Eve, the serpent which you made. No sir, we have
to stand and say, it is I, who am guilty. I have sinned. We can take full responsibility
and full blame, and foolish is the man who does not do it. For
all of our distress and all of our calamity, it's our fault.
But Almighty God has all the credit and the glory and the
praise for anything good that happens to us, either here or
eternally. In the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me. It is not I, but Christ that
liveth in me. Herein lies the source of all
error in theology. Listen to me. Herein lies the source of all
error in theology. It doesn't matter who the preacher
might be, an old Puritan, or a young modern liberal. All error
in theology comes from one of these two sources. Either an
attempt to make God less than he is, or an attempt to make
man more than he is. Now you think it over. I don't
care what the error is. All error in theology comes from
one of these two places. Either an attempt to make God
less than He is, to diminish His glory, to deny His glory,
to dilute His glory, or to make man more than he is. And I'll
tell you, we're in a famine. I see some signs of life. I see
that God is pleased to do something. I see God raising up here and
there. Dave and I were talking about it last night. A young
man here and a young man there. who dares to believe God, who
dares to preach the Word. And unless the Holy Spirit is
pleased in this day to raise up some preachers who have learned
in their hearts these things, who God is, sovereign, almighty,
eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, a God of truth,
righteousness, God who is love, What man is depraved, defiled,
dead in trespasses and sin? Who Christ is, what he did, why
he did it, how God can be just and justify the ungodly, where
he is now, the ascended, exalted, risen Lord. Unless God raises
up some preachers who have learned these things in their hearts,
and this is where they must be learned, because I cannot teach
you what I do not know. I cannot lead you in a path that
I have not walked. I cannot tell you things that
I have not been taught. And raises up some preachers
who dare to proclaim these things in no uncertain term. God needs to raise up in our
days some preachers who care not what men pay or what they
say. who care not for men's praise
and who care not for their criticism. But more men have fallen to the
temptation of praise than have ever fallen under persecution. For every one man who has been
trapped by Satan through poverty, ten have fallen through popularity
and possessions. That's right. I don't fear persecution. I fear prosperity. And unless
God is pleased in our day to touch the heart of some young
Elisha or some young Timothy and raise up to speak to this
generation, men who have learned these things in their hearts,
that who God is and who man is and who Christ is, we're going
to keep on, keep on offering salvation to men who are not
lost. That's what we're doing. We're
trying to get folks saved who aren't lost. Or we'll keep on offering Christ
to men who do not need Him. Or we'll keep on offering life
to men who are not dead. Or we'll keep on offering grace
to men who are not guilty. Or we'll keep on offering to
heaven to folks who wouldn't appreciate it. and keep on crying,
peace, peace, when there is no peace. Paul said in our text, verse
23, the wages of sin is death. Jonathan Edwards said this, all
men right now, at this present time, not in the future, not
tomorrow, Not after the judgment, all men by nature are under the
sentence of death for all have sinned and come short of God's
glory. All we like sheep have gone astray.
We've turned everyone, not a few of the most wicked, the harlot,
the drunkard, the adulterer, the thief, the murderer. All
we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone. His own
way. That's our problem. Our problem
is our will, our way, our wishes. Psalm 14, 1 through 3. Turn over
there and let's read this together. Psalm 14, 1 through 3. The fool,
the fool hath said in his heart, no God, no God for me. no Lord
for me, no sovereign over my life. They are corrupt, they've
done abominable works, there's none that do it good. The Lord
looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if
there were any that did understand and seek God. They're all gone
aside. They're all together become Filthy,
stinking is the word. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. But more than that, Edwards went
on to say, all men are under the sentence of death, but all
men deserve to be condemned. Brethren, this is the place that
we must be brought by the Holy Spirit if we are really, sincerely
going to look to Christ for his mercy and grace. We must not
only see our condemnation, but we must be able, now watch this,
and I made this statement before, and it's so important. We must
not only see our sins and our condemnation, but we must justify
God in condemning us. We must justify God in condemning
us. I'm not saying that we want to
go to hell and want to be separated from Christ. And I'm not saying
that we will rejoice in being separated from Christ or we'll
rejoice in the wrath of God. No, I don't want to go to hell.
I'll be honest with you. I don't want to be banished from
God's presence. I don't want to perish. And I
could not possibly rejoice if God sent me to hell. But here's
what I'm saying. I'm saying if he does, I have
to say he did right. That's what David said, that
thou mightest be just when you condemn, righteous when you speak. Jonathan Edwards says all men
deserve to be condemned. No man deserves to be saved.
No man deserves God's mercy. God is not obligated to any creature. We deserve to be condemned. The
divine law offers no plea on my behalf. The divine law says,
Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in
the law to do them. What the law saith, it saith to them who
are under the law that every mouth may be stopped, and all
the world become guilty. Divine justice must consent to
my condemnation. The divine law consents to my
condemnation, and divine justice consents to my condemnation. Our Lord gave a parable. He said
a man was walking through his orchard, he came to a tree. And his husbandman was with him,
his foreman. He came to a tree. He said to
the foreman, he said, that tree's been there three years. There's
no fruit on it. I've come here the first year,
the second year, the third year looking for fruit on this tree.
There's no fruit on the tree. Cut it down. Why cumbereth it
the ground? And the foreman looked at him
and said, my Lord, give it one more year. Let me dig around
it. Let me dung it. Let me work on
it. And then, my Lord, if it doesn't
bear fruit, you cut it down. And let me tell you something.
When the judgment and justice and law of God looks at me, fruitless,
Christless, and says, why does he cumber
the ground? Only one voice can plead, only
one voice can petition, only one voice can speak on my behalf,
and that's the Lord Jesus. Lord, let me, let me do something
for Him. And then if He doesn't bear any
fruit, you can cut Him down, but give Him to me. That's all
the hope I have. I deserve to be cut down. I deserve
to, why do I cumber God's ground? You have to think about it. Why
cumbereth I the ground? And I'm just living by His grace,
that's all. I'm living on the plea of my
intercessor. I'm living on the cry and the
call of my advocate. That's all. My own mouth would
offer no plea on my behalf if I justify myself, my own mouth
would condemn me. But Edwards goes on, he says,
all men are under condemnation, all men deserve to be condemned.
Now listen, all men are already condemned.
Now you need to think about this, and the average preacher doesn't
know this. Men are not on probation. Men are not on trial. The trial's
over. Did you know that? We're condemned
already. He that believeth not on the
Son of God is condemned already. Christ came not to condemn the
world. Why? Because the world was already
condemned. The average preacher preaches as if these babies over
here in the nursery are born in a neutral state. No, they're
not. They're born in sin. They're
born enemies of God. That's right, they're born enemies
of God. I was shapen in iniquity. I was conceived in sin. I was
brought forth speaking lies. I was estranged from the womb.
To be saved is to be made alive. To be damned is to be left alone.
That's all. Think about that now. To be saved
is for God to make me alive. All God has to do to damn me
is to leave me alone. I'm already condemned. You don't have to do anything
to go to hell. You don't have to do anything
to be condemned. You're condemned already. He that believeth not
on the Son, the wrath of God, abideth. Not shall abide, not
will abide, not might abide, abideth on him. And men have no power or ability
to lift that sentence of condemnation. Boy, preacher, you're preaching
a message with no hope. Well, I'll tell you this, if
it's up to me or you, there's no hope. If it's up to any strength
or energy or arm of the flesh, there's no hope. The wages of
sin is death. Can the Ethiopian change his
skin? Can the leopard change his spots? Neither can you do
good that are accustomed to doing evil. In the flesh no man can
please God. By the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified. These are final words without
God, without strength, without Christ, without hope. Oh, but wait a minute, hold on.
Romans 6, 23, for the wages of sin is death. Death, continual
death, eternal death, just death. But, but, but, oh, I tell you,
that's a beautiful word. The wages of sin is death. Tell
the world, the wages of sin is death. But, Peter, Satan hath desired thee, oh,
what an announcement. Either Satan had desired thee,
he picked you out. He singled you out from everybody. He wants to sift you like a man
sifts the wheat. He wants to put you over the
strainer. But, I prayed for you. Oh, boy. That makes a whole lot
different, doesn't it? That makes it a whole lot different.
But you're no match for him, Peter. No way. You can't handle
him. Even Michael wouldn't contest
with that character. But I pray for you. Scarcely
for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for good
men some would dare to die. But God committed His love toward
us. And while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. We were all following the prince
of the power of the air, fulfilling the lust of our flesh and the
pride of life and the pride of the mind and the lust of the
mind. We were children of wrath, even as others, but God, who is rich in mercy for
his great love, wherewith he loved us, Yeah, the wages of
sin is death, and I've earned every penny, and I deserve every
cent, and the justice of God, and the law of God, and the holiness
of God, and the righteousness of God demand that I receive
it. But, but, God has a different plan. The
gift of God. Not earned, not bought, not merited,
not sought. The free gift of God. The gift
of God. It's all the gift of God. The
heart that desires it is the gift of God. I will give thee a new heart.
You say, but I want to be saved. If you do, God enabled you to
want to. That's of God too. Who makes
you to differ? The repentance that leads to
it. Goodness of God gave you that. The hand of faith that
reaches out. That's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. The perseverance that clings
to it. That's the gift of God. It's all the gift of God. From
Alpha to Omega, from beginning to end, He's the author and finisher
of our faith. The gift The wages of your sin
is death, death, death upon death. But the gift of God, he planned
it, he provided it, he purchased it, he applied it, he preserves
it, he'll crown it. The gift of God is what? Eternal life. Now I'm not talking
about the length of it, though it is everlasting. When we speak
in the scripture of eternal life, we're talking more about the
quality of it, David. Everybody's going to live forever. You know there's mineral life,
plant life, animal life, and they all, that's a living thing,
but they can be annihilated. There's no crime in killing an
animal. or cutting down a rose, because those things are temporary
life. They die, they're annihilated,
they're gone, disappeared. But when God made Adam, he made
him in his own image, and the scripture says that life was
breathed into him by God, and he became a living soul. God
didn't breathe into the monkey life in the sense that he became
a living soul, but Adam did. Adam was made in God's image.
And as God can't die, the life of God can't die. And God gave
man life, and that life came from God. And it's a part of
God, that's the only way you can explain it. And therefore
even men, even the angels that sinned, they can't die. They
can't be annihilated. Man, you out there, everybody
here is a living soul. You can't die. Oh, your body
can die, but your soul can't die. And the soul, you see, the
body returns to dust from which it came, but the soul goes back
to God who gave it. And it's got to live on, eternally,
infinitely. It can't die. So this eternal
life, which is the gift of God, is the life of God, the nature
of God. It's the righteousness of God.
It's the holiness of God. It's a life over which sin has
no power, over which disease has no power, over which death
has no power. It's eternal life. And brethren, it's a present
possession. He says, now are we the sons of God. Not now. But now watch this in closing.
The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.
And here's the most important part. It's through our Lord Jesus
Christ. God has no mercy. God has no
grace. God has no blessings. God has
no benefit for any sinner except through Christ. God will not,
listen to me, God will not speak to nor will God be spoken to
by any son of Adam except through the Mediator Christ Jesus. There's
no way for a sinner to communicate with God except through Christ.
God will not be heard nor will God hear except through Christ. God has no dealings with a sinner
except in judgment and justice and condemnation, except through
Christ. But Christ, the love of God is
in Christ. No one is able to separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. The foundation
on which we build is Christ. Other foundation can no man lay
than that which is laid, Jesus Christ. The door is Christ. I
am the door. The way is Christ. I am the way.
The truth is Christ. I am the truth. The life is Christ.
I am the life. The atonement is Christ, by whom
we have received the atonement. Peace is in Christ. Therefore,
being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ. Life is in Christ. In Adam we
die, in Christ we're made alive. Righteousness is in Christ. The
end of the law, the goal, the consummation of the law is the
righteousness of Christ. Christ is the goal of the law.
Heaven is to be with Christ. Everything God has for me, everything
God has for you is in Christ. He is my hope. He is my refuge. He is my righteousness. He is my foundation. He is my
mediator. He is my life. The wages of sin is death, but
the gift of God is eternal life, a life of glory, a life of holiness,
a life of happiness through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let us pray. Our Father, we give thanks for
these words of truth, precious promises about our precious Lord
and his precious blood that cleanseth us from all sin. Anoint the word
with the power of thy Holy Spirit and make it effectual for thy
glory and for our good. And bless David as he ministers
to the congregation this evening. And bless in the meeting and
lookout in Fairmont, West Virginia. According to Thy blessed will,
for the glory of Thy dear Son, we pray. Amen.