Men and Brethren - What Shall We Do? No. 2

When we preach from the Word
of God passages like this, the Lord God 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. There's none that do us good.
No, not one. When we preach from the Word
of God, Scripture, which reveals unto us the fallen, sinful condition
of men and Adam, and the certainty of death and judgment and eternal
condemnation and the wrath of God. It ought to amaze us, and
it does me. When men do not cry, what shall
we do? Men and brethren, what shall
we do? When we preach from the word
of God the rebellion of man against the Lord God in the garden when
he tried to take God from his throne, when he tried to put
himself in the place of God, when God sent his Son and man
rejected the Son and crucified the Lord of glory. It ought to
amaze us when we preach that and men do not cry, well, what
shall we do? Men and brethren, what shall
we do? When we preach the absolute holiness of God, the majesty
of God, the sovereignty of God, the glory of God, and man's utter,
total, complete corruption and inability and sinfulness by nature
and by birth and by practice, it ought to amaze us when our
congregation as one does not cry, well, what shall we do?
What shall we do? And when we preach the mercy
of God that's available to sinners in Christ, the love of God, the
forgiveness of sins, the eternal inheritance which God has given
to those who love Him, it ought to amaze us when men do not cry,
well, how can we escape this wrath to come, and how can we
find an interest in Christ, and how can our sins be forgiven,
and how can we find a ransom, and how can we find peace with
God, what shall we do? do. Some did ask that. In the book of Luke, we have
a group asking John the Baptist, well, what shall we do? In the
book of Acts, we have a large crowd asking the apostle Peter,
well, what shall we do? And then in Acts 16, we have
a Philippian jailer asking Paul, what must I do? Well, now, first
of all, I'm confident that there are some things that a sinner
cannot My subject tonight is what shall we do and what can
a sinner do? But I'm confident there's some
things a sinner cannot do. I'll give you three of them.
I want you to turn with me first to the book of Job. There are
some things that a sinner cannot do. I didn't say some things
he will not do. I'm saying there's some things
he cannot do. He absolutely cannot do. He does
not have the ability. The first one is this. A sinner
cannot by nature, a sinner cannot by natural wisdom, understand
the gospel, nor find God, nor enter into, savingly, an understanding
of the gospel of redemption. He cannot do it. In Job chapter
11, beginning with verse 7, can you by searching find out God?
Can you find out the Almighty unto perfection? What's high
is the heaven, what can you do? It's deeper than hell, what can
you know? The measure thereof is longer
than the earth and broader than the sea. Now the world has some
brilliant mathematicians, there's no question about that. The world
has some brilliant scientists and some brilliant scholars and
builders who can understand, even discover and explain material
things. But my friends, spiritual wisdom
comes not by education, it comes by revelation. I'm as certain
of that as I am of anything in this book. Let's look at two
or three verses of scripture. First of all, from 1 Corinthians
2. 1 Corinthians 2. Now, the Word of God calls the
gospel a mystery. If our gospel be hid, it is hid
to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded
their minds, lest they enter into, or understand, or shine
unto them the light of God. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
seen of the angels, justified in the Spirit, believed on in
the world, raised up under glory." But look at 1 Corinthians 2,
verse 7. We speak the wisdom of God, and
this is the wisdom of God in redemption. This is the wisdom
of God in redemption. We speak that wisdom in a mystery. Even the hidden wisdom, which
God ordained before the world unto our glory, it's old, it's
older than the world. The grace of God, the covenant
of mercy, redemption through the blood, substitution, it's
older than the world. But yet it's been hidden from
natural man that long, which none of the princes of this world
knew. Had they known it, they would
not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written,
I have not seen. If those who nailed Christ to
the cross had seen what Simeon saw, they would never have driven
those nails. Simeon held Christ in his arms
and he said, Mine eyes have seen thy salvation. If those who cried,
crucify him, crucify him, give us Barabbas, if they had seen
what Peter saw, whom do you say that I am, Christ said. Peter
said, well I am the Christ, the Son of the living God. They would
never have cried, crucify him, but would have cried, would have
cried, crown him. But I have not seen nor ear heard. Neither have entered into the
heart of man, natural man, the things that God has prepared
for them that love him, but, but, God hath revealed them unto
us by his Spirit, by his Spirit. That's how a knowledge of sin,
the Holy Spirit, when he's come, Christ said, he'll convince the
world of sin, he'll reveal men's sins to their hearts, When the
Holy Spirit has come, he'll take the things of mine and show them
to you. Christ said to the disciples, these men who have been with
him so long, he said, I've got many things to say to you, but
you can't bear them, you can't understand them. But when he,
the Spirit of truth, has come, he'll guide you into all truth.
It's the Holy Spirit who reveals Christ to our hearts, it's the
Holy Spirit who lets us enter into the mysteries of substitution,
of redemption, of God's grace and of God's gospel. Look at
verse 14. But the natural man, now there's
a natural man and a spiritual man. The natural man has been
born of Adam, born of his own parents, he has natural life,
he's flesh and blood. The spiritual man not only has
been born of his parents and born of the flesh, he's been
born of God. He's been born of the Spirit. And he has a spiritual
life and a spiritual understanding. But the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God. They're foolishness to
him and he can't know them because they're spiritually discerned.
That word is judged or understood. Some people have the idea that
when we preach to folks, we've got to use our logic and reasoning
powers, and that all of them understand exactly what we're
saying, but they're too stubborn to receive it. Well, it's true,
they are stubborn. But my friend, one of the problems
is they don't understand it. They don't understand it. They
don't understand sin, the exceeding sinfulness of sin. They don't
understand God's justice and God's righteousness and God's
holiness. They don't understand their own
inability. They do not understand that.
No Christ's substitutionary work. Turn to Matthew 13. Let me show
you this. It's a mystery. And it does not
come by education. The understanding of this mystery
comes by revelation. The Apostle Paul said that. He
said, God who separated me from my mother's womb, called me by
His grace, was pleased to what? Reveal His Son in me. There wasn't a more educated
man in this world than the Apostle Paul when he lived here. In fact,
one of the emperors, when Paul was on trial, said this to him.
You're crazy. And the reason you're crazy is
you've studied too much. You've got too much knowledge
in that head of yours. Much learning hath made you crazy,
made you mad. You know what he said? Much learning
hath driven you crazy. Paul was a man noted for his
learning. There was a man in this world
at the time of Paul's life that had more scriptural knowledge
than Paul. He said, I was a Hebrew of Hebrews,
a Pharisee. I exceeded those who were my
equals. There wasn't a man of Paul's
day who had more tradition, more background, but he did know the
gospel. In fact, he was so adverse to
the gospel that he killed people who believed it. In Matthew 13,
verse 15, listen to this, Matthew 13, 15. Christ, our Lord, said, This
people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing,
and their eyes they have closed, lest at any time they should
see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand
with their hearts, and should be converted, and I should heal
them. But returning to his disciples, he said, Blessed are your eyes,
for they see, and your ears for they hear. Listen to this next
verse. I say unto you, Many prophets
and righteous men have desired to see those things which you
see, and have not seen them, and to hear those things which
you heard, and not heard them." Brethren, I'm confident of this,
that the natural man, the natural son of Adam, the natural flesh
and blood human being, he may have a brilliant mind, He may
be able to solve the mysteries of science, law, history, mathematics. He may enter into the problems
of the flesh and be an expert at that. But the knowledge of
the gospel, of God's glory, the knowledge of the gospel of God's
grace as it revealed in Christ Jesus, the redemptive work and
office and character of Jesus Christ, The vital union of the
Church with its blessed Redeemer, the body with its head, the vine
and the branch, the glorious new birth, the quickening of
the Spirit, the coming to repentance and faith in Christ Jesus is
something that has to be revealed. It has to be revealed. And that's
taught throughout this Bible. It must be revealed. Whom do
you say that I am? Once again, Peter said, Thou
art the Christ. Now listen. And our Lord said
to him, Flesh and blood did not reveal that to you. What's he
saying? You didn't learn that in school,
nor did you learn it in Sunday school. But my Father which is
in heaven. God doesn't work apart from the
mind. I'm not saying that. I'm simply saying that a man
cannot, by natural wisdom, find God. He can find a God, and he
can understand something of the power of God, and the presence
of God, but not the glory of God in redemption. The gospel
has to be revealed. Revealed. All right, the second
thing I know that man cannot do, turn to Romans 8. I know
this. And plenty of people trying to
do this. It can't be done. It's an impossibility. A man
cannot in the flesh please God. In Romans 8 verse 7, now listen,
because the carnal mind is enmity against God, that's the natural
mind again, we're talking about the natural man, it is not subject
to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then, they that are
in the flesh cannot please God. Paul said, "...in my flesh dwelleth
no good thing." Well, surely, preacher, these people that...
And the Red Cross is a good organization. United Campaign is a good organization. All of the Shriners, Crippled
Children Hospital, I take my hat off to them. And I know many
of you do. And I commend those who do humanitarian
works. But I'm saying this as bold as
it can be said. There's no human being with all
of his skill dedicated to the service of others. There's no
human being with his life dedicated to the welfare of others who
has ever, outside of Jesus Christ, pleased God Almighty. I know that's repulsive to natural
flesh, but our Lord said to those who cried out in the judgment,
Lord, we did many wonderful works. He said, I never knew you, depart
from me, you that work what? Iniquity. And here it says, as plainly
as it can be written, if words mean anything, Romans 8.8, they
that are in the flesh, whether they're in the pulpit or the
pew, or walking up and down the corridors of a hospital, they that are in the flesh, whether
they're giving their money to the poor, whether they're going
to the foreign shores in peace co-operations to teach people
how to farm and relieve poverty and sickness and distress, or
whether they give their lives for their country, they cannot
in the flesh please God. Isn't that what it says? They cannot please God. There's
only one who ever pleased God, and that's His Son, Jesus Christ,
of whom He said, I'm well pleased. And the only way any of you can
please God is not in the flesh, but in the Son. In the Son. That's so. We shall not merit mercy. We
shall not earn grace. It's what God says it is. It's
mercy. And it's grace. And grace is
God giving us what we don't deserve, and mercy is God not giving us
what we do deserve. I'll tell you the third thing
a man cannot do. It's an impossibility. He cannot,
by natural wisdom, find God. Apart from the Holy Spirit, you
can sit in this Bible till your eyes go blind. And unless God
the Holy Spirit be your teacher, you'll never find God. You'll
find a God, you'll find a religion, you'll find a tradition, you'll
find a standard, you'll find a law, you'll find a statute,
but you won't find grace. Holy Spirit has to reveal it.
You cannot in the flesh please God. You might shut yourself
off in a monastery, or a children's hospital, or give your life,
your body to be burned, and it profit you nothing. Isn't that
what it says? I bestow my goods to feed the
poor. It profiteth me nothing if I
have not Christ. Thirdly, a natural man cannot
obligate God to save him. He cannot put God in debt to
the flesh. God is not in debt to the flesh.
We are in debt to God, but no way that turn to Romans 9. There
is no way. There is no way. that a man can
make God be his detour. The moment you feel that divine
mercy, the moment you feel in any way that divine grace is
anything more than unmerited, undeserved, unearned grace, you're
in trouble. Verse 15 says, He said to Moses,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion, so then it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that wanteth, but it is of God that showeth
mercy. John chapter 1 verse 11, 12,
and 13 says, He came to his own, his own received him not, but
as many as received him, to them gave he power, the right to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which
were born," listen, not of blood, that is, not of family inheritance,
not of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man, not of
the will of the flesh, not of the will of man, born of God. Born of God, called of God, blessed
of God, redeemed of God, kept of God. Listen to Mary's song
in Luke chapter 1. This is an interesting scripture.
I don't think I've ever read it from this pulpit. Probably
may have read over it sometime, but I doubt that I have. But
I want you to listen to this. Luke 1 verse 52. This is Mary's
song of thanksgiving unto God. In Luke 1, verse 52, it says
here, "...he hath put down the mighty from their seats, and
exalted them of low degree. He hath filled the hungry with
good things, and the rich he hath sent away empty." And then
over there in 1 Samuel, was it Hannah who spoke those words
in 1 Samuel. Listen to it, I'll read it to
you. The Lord killeth, the Lord maketh alive, the Lord bringeth
down to the grave and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor, the
Lord maketh rich, the Lord bringeth low and lifteth up. The Lord
raises the poor out of the dust, he lifteth the beggar from the
dunghill to set him among princes, and to make them inherit the
throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth
are the Lord's, and he hath set the world upon them. The three things man cannot do.
It's out of his hands. With men, like our Lord said,
it is impossible. He cannot, by natural wisdom,
understand, find out God. He cannot do it. He cannot obligate
God Almighty to save him. He cannot in the flesh please
God. What can we do? All right, I'll
give you three things. Men and brethren, what shall
we do? What can a sinner do? Number one, he can take his place
before God as a sinner. Now that sounds easy, but it's
not easy. Because the flesh resents being
called a sinner. The flesh resents being stripped.
It resents being humble. Man has so much pride. Pride
goeth before destruction, a haughty spirit before the fall. Seven
things God hates. Number one, a proud look. We
are proud people by nature. And it's not easy to take your
place as a sinner. The only one who can strip you
effectively and convincingly is the Holy Spirit. Pray God
that he will. But the Canaanite woman came
to Christ and she said, My daughter is grievously ill. The scripture
says he ignored her. He didn't even answer her. She
asked him again, Lord, heal my daughter, as she worshipped him.
And he turned to her and he said, I'm not sent but to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. But she cried out no more. Lord,
heal my daughter. And he turned once again and
he said, it's not fit, it's not neat, it's not right to take
the children's bread and give it to the dogs. Now, what's she
going to say? First, he ignored her. Secondly,
he told her that he came to Israel and not to the Gentiles. Thirdly,
he humiliated her. He called her a dog. What's she
going to do? She said, That's true, Lord,
what you say is true. But the dogs eat the crumbs that
fall from the master's table. I'm a dog, but you're my master.
And not only do masters feed children, but they feed dogs,
too. And I'm asking you to feed me. And our master said, Woman,
great is thy faith, thy daughter be made whole. There was a woman
who found mercy. Where? in the dust. She took
her place as a sinner. All right, the thief on the cross.
They both cursed the master, railed against him. One of them
said, If you be the Christ, save yourself and us. The other one
turned and looked at him and said, Don't you fear God, seeing
that we're in the same condemnation, and we indeed justly, for we
receive what we deserve? We ought to be crucified. We
ought to be hanged on a tree. We ought to be killed. And then
turning to the Master, he said, Lord, remember me when thou comest
into thy kingdom. And he found mercy. But he took
his place as a sinner, deserving death, deserving crucifixion,
deserving hanging. The publican in the temple Now
the Pharisee, the religious man, has stood over there and prayed,
Lord, I thank you I'm not like other men. And, good possibility
he wasn't. He said, I'm not an extortioner,
I'm not unjust, I'm not an adulterer, I tithe, I attend church, I do
all these things, I thank you, I'm not like other men. And our
Lord said he went home damned and condemned. And the publican
would not so much as lift his eyes to heaven. He didn't feel
any right to lift his eyes to God, but he smote on his breast
in a way of mourning and grief and cried, O God, O God, be merciful
to me, thee sinner! And our Lord said he went home
justified. Our Lord one day was in the home
of a Pharisee having supper. There was a woman who came in,
and while he was stretched out there reclining, eating, talking,
she slipped up behind him. She was a harlot, a woman of
the streets, and she began to bathe his feet with tears. She
began to dry them with the hair of her head. She began to kiss
them. And this man sitting up on the uppermost seat, the seat
of pride, the seat of self-righteousness, the religious leader, looked
down and saw what was going on, and he turned and whispered to
his friend, and he said, Now, that fellow was a prophet, if
he's what he claimed to be. He'd know that woman was a harlot,
and he wouldn't let her touch his feet. Well, Christ knew what
he said. He knew what he thought. And
he said to him, Simon, I've got something to ask you. Well, he
said, Say on, master. The Lord Jesus said, If a fellow
had two death horrors, and one of them owed him a enormous sum,
an astronomical sum, and he forgave him. The other owed him a small
sum, and he forgave him. Which one of them are going to
love him the most? Well, he said, I suppose the
one to whom he forgave the most. He said, Thou art well said.
Simon, I came into your home, and you didn't give me any water
to wash my feet. I came into your home, and you
gave me no kiss of greeting. I came into your home, and you
gave me no oil to anoint my head. I am nothing to you. But since I came in, this woman
has not ceased to kiss my feet, and to anoint them with precious
ointment, and to wash them with the tears from her eyes. And
I say unto you that her sins, which are many, are all forgiven."
This woman found mercy because she found the place of a sinner.
And I challenge you to go throughout this Bible and you'll hear our
Lord saying, I came not to call the righteous but sinners to
repentance. I came to seek and to save the
lost. If you'll turn to Psalm 107 with me, I want to show you
a scripture that ought to be committed to our memory. Psalm
107. This is the place of mercy. This
is the place of grace. Our Lord Jesus Christ died for
the ungodly. God loves sinners. God commended
His love for us, then why were we yet sinners? Christ Jesus
is the friend of sinners. He died for sinners, Paul said,
of whom I am cheated. And He came to call not the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. Look at Psalm 107. Let the redeemed
of the Lord, verse 2, say so. Whom He hath redeemed from the
hand of the enemy, and gathered them out of the lands from the
east and the west, the north and the south. Now listen to
this. They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way, found no city
to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul
fainted in them. Then they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses. And he led them forth by the
right way, that they might go to a city of habitation, O that
men would praise the Lord for his goodness, for his wonderful
works to the children of men. He satisfies the longing soul,
he filleth the hungry soul. Verse 10, They sit in darkness,
in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron,
because they rebelled against the words of God, and they condemned
the counsel of the Most High. Therefore he brought down their
heart with labor. They fell down, there was nobody
to help, and then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them. Have you been
there? Have you been there? Oh, that
men would praise the Lord for His goodness. Turn on over to
verse 18. Their soul abhorreth all manner
of meat. They draw near the gates of death.
Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble. He saveth them
out of their distresses. I'll tell you the second thing
that a sinner can do. That's the first thing. He can
take his place as a sinner. As a sinner. And the second thing
he can do, now this is important and I want you to look at this,
and I want you to listen very carefully to me, especially on
this point right here. He can seek the Lord. He can
seek the Lord. Scripture says, Seek ye the Lord
while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near.
Our Lord said, You shall seek me and find me when you search
for me with all your heart. Zacchaeus was seeking the Lord
when he climbed up that tree. Cornelius was seeking the Lord
when he sent for Peter. Ethiopian eunuch was seeking
the Lord when he went to Jerusalem. Lydia was seeking the Lord when
she went down there by that riverside. My friends, but the key to this,
and this is important, don't seek an experience. Seek the
Lord. Now there are many people who
have had religious experiences, and I'm going to show you this.
There are many people who have had religious experiences who
have never met Christ in his redemptive character. I'll show
you some examples of this. For example, turn to Acts chapter
10. This man Cornelius had a religious
experience before he met Christ in his redemptive character.
Now some of us, and we had a discussion about this a few nights ago,
it's dangerous. Some of us want to trace our
salvation back to a religious experience, because we feel that
if we can't say we're saved, then we discount that religious
experience. But it doesn't discount it at
all. A man's not saved until he meets Christ in his redemptive
character. What I'm saying is a man cannot
call on Him in whom he hasn't believed, and he can't believe
in Him in whom he hasn't heard, and he can't hear without somebody
telling the gospel. Who is Jesus Christ, and what
did He do, and why did He do it? I want to show you there's
some people here who had religious experiences with God, with the Holy Spirit. who did
not know Christ, and consequently they weren't saved. In Acts chapter
10, listen to this, there was a certain man in Caesarea called
Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian Band.
He was a devout man, one that feared God, one that gave alms
to the people, one that He saw in a vision, evidently
about the ninth hour of the day, an angel of God came to him and
said to him, Cornelius, this is quite an experience, wouldn't
you say? He looked on him, he's afraid, and he said, Who is it?
What is it, Lord? And he said, Thy prayers and
thine alms have come up for a memorial before God. Send men to Joppa
and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter. He lodgeth
with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the seaside, and
he'll tell you what you ought to do. And this man sent for
Peter, and Peter came down and preached the gospel to him. Preached
Christ to him. Christ, not the defeated Jesus,
not the poor little frustrated Jesus who's crying his eyes out
in heaven because folks won't let him save them. Not the one
who died Jesus' superstar, who died as a confused reformer.
He preached unto him, Christ the Lord. The surety of the everlasting
covenant, the redeemer of his people. The one who's victorious
in his death, who died, was buried and rose again, who sits at the
right hand of God as a mediator. Cornelius met Christ in his redemptive
work. Now, Cornelius couldn't deny
that this religious experience was of God. But my friend, I'm
telling you this, he didn't know Christ, because he'd never met
Him. And then in Acts chapter 8, let's
turn back there. Acts chapter 8, verse 27, Acts
8, 27. Now, he arose and went, and behold,
a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority, under Kandese,
queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasures,
had come to Jerusalem to worship. And he was returning to his home,
sitting in the chariot, reading the Bible. Now this man had a
religious experience. He'd gone to the feast, he'd
gone to Jerusalem, he was reading his Bible, he was seeking the
Lord. He didn't know Christ. Because when he read Isaiah 53,
he was wounded by transgressions, bruised by iniquities, he asked
Philip, who is that? You can't trust an unrevealed
Christ. You can want to go to heaven,
you can want to miss hell, you can want to be saved, you can
believe in God. The devil believes in one God.
You can read your Bible and pray and have an experience, but until
you've met Jesus Christ in his redemptive character, you cannot
say, I know the Lord. You can't do it. This man didn't
know the Lord. Now here's one. Look at this
in John chapter 9. Here was a young man who was
blind, born blind. Boy, he had a religious experience.
John chapter 9, the Lord Jesus healed him, gave him sight, and
he went around praising his name. And then the Lord, they kicked
him out of the synagogue. Now here was a fellow, had a
religious experience, he was healed, had his prayers answered,
caused the church split and got kicked out. But he still wasn't
saved. Look here at John chapter 9.
For it says, verse 35, Jesus heard that they cast him out,
and when he found him, he said to him, Do you believe on the
Son of God? He said, Who is he? Who is he? Who is he, Lord? I'm ready to
believe. I want to believe. But I can't
believe I don't know who he is. Apostle Paul was the same way. You can read the book of Philippians.
He named all of these traditions and customs and religious experiences
and all these things, his blamelessness before the Lord, he said, I count
those things but dumb that I may what? Know Christ. My friends,
there are multitudes who have had religious training, religious
experiences, religious feeling, even religious miracles, who insist on calling these things
salvation, but I'll tell you salvation is in a person. it's
in a person. And before you can claim salvation,
eternal life, you're going to have to know who He is and what
He did and why He did it. John 17, verse 3 says, This is
eternal life, that they might know thee, the only true God,
and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. Now turn to 1 John 5.20.
Listen to this verse here. Listen to this. You better be
careful calling everything that's religious salvation. You may
be building on a shifting, sandy foundation and find it to judge
you. Our Lord say, I never knew you. In 1 John 5 verse 20, and we
know, we know this. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed. This is not guesswork. This is
not supposition. I know Him. I know where He came
from, and I know where He came to, and I know what He did, and
I know what He did for me, and I know where He is now, and I
know what He's doing now. I know it. And we know that the
Son of God has come and has given us an understanding that we may
know Him. Not an experience, not a feeling,
not a profession, not a doctrine. Him that is true, and we are
in Him that is true. Even in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and this
is eternal life. I know I'm saved because God
heard my prayer. God heard Cornelius' prayer,
but he wasn't saved. I know I'm saved because I was
healed. This blind man was healed too, but he wasn't saved. I know
I'm saved because I attended Sunday school for 30 years and
I got a perfect record. You'd be the only fellow in hell
with a perfect Sunday school record. This Ethiopian eunuch
went to the feast in Jerusalem, rode all the way up there on
a horseback. He wasn't saved. You know you are saved, my friend,
when you know Christ. That's when you know you're saved.
I know I'm saved because I know whom I have believed, and I'm
persuaded he's able to keep that which I've committed to him against
that day. And if he never answers another
prayer, I pray. And if he never heals my body
another day, and I never experience another happy moment, I know
whom I have believed. And if I go to hell, I'll go
to hell clinging not to a prayer or to an experience, but to a
person who died on the cross in my place. Now I'm telling
you that, and I'm warning you. I'm warning you. Strongly, don't
mistake a religious experience for salvation. And don't try
to trace your salvation back. Give up on all those things,
what you've seen and heard and everything else. Paul did. He
said, I count them but done, that I may win Christ. Who cares
about the past? It's the present that's important. It's my position in Christ right
now. That's what's important. The future is mighty important
too. The third thing a man can do, take his place as a sinner,
he can seek the Lord. a person, and he can ask for
mercy. That's right. He can ask for
mercy. Listen to these people. Lord,
be merciful to me, a sinner. Listen to these people. Lord,
remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. Listen to these
people. Lord, if you will, you can make
me whole. Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. Folks don't do that today. They
get in trouble, they go to the preacher. They get in trouble, they get
concerned about the soul, they go to Mama, just like she was
God. She's not God. She don't know the answer. She
may not even be saved herself. She can't save you, I know that.
Well, they go to the soul winner. I know a fellow I tell you, I'm
concerned about my soul. I'll tell you a fellow to go
to, he knows his Bible. Oh boy, I've heard that saying,
he knows his Bible. I recommend you go to Christ.
That's what I recommend. I recommend if you're in trouble.
I recommend if you're convicted. I recommend if you're guilty.
I recommend that you go to him. Just like these people did here.
cry out unto him from a sincere heart, O Lord, be merciful to
me, thee sinner." Can you do that? He said you have not because
you ask not. Ask and you shall receive. Seek
and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened
unto you. You people who are not saved, let me ask you point
blank this question. Have you ever sincerely, Go on
into your closet and close the door, and before an open Bible,
talk to the Lord about yourself. Confessed your sin, cried, Lord,
show me myself. Reveal my sin, strip me, break
me. Reveal thy mercy to me. O God,
open the mysteries of thy word to me. I don't want to depend
on man. You know, when God broke the
Apostle Paul and brought him down in the dust, he said, I
didn't run up to Jerusalem to see what Peter had to say. I
went down into Arabia, and three and a half years, God taught
me the gospel. Now, I'll tell you this. I'm
not afraid to leave an honest, sincere, seeking sinner in the
hands of the Holy Spirit with an open Bible." Now, I get scared
and they start running to this preacher and that preacher and
the other preacher and mama and daddy and brother and sister
and uncles and aunts and all the old folks that know their
Bible. But I sure would like for some
folks just to open this book and like a child say, Lord, I'm
going to face this book just like a child. I'm going to let
it mean what it says, and I want you to reveal it to me. That's
what the Bereans did, they searched the scriptures to see if these
things be so. And I say this to you, you can
take your place as a sinner and you seek the Savior and you ask
him for mercy. And he said, him that cometh
to me I'll in no wise cast out. Our Father blessed this word
We thank thee for the hope that we have in Christ. Our Lord Jesus
Christ loves sinners. He's the friend of sinners. He
died for sinners, and he received us sinful men. And we rejoice
because we're the chief of sinners, and we have looked to him, and
he's made us whole. And our hope is not in a doctrine,
it's in a person, not in experience, it's in Christ the Lord. He loved
us and gave himself for us, and we reconfirm our confidence again
in thy presence, and say, O Lord God, our Father, Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus'
blood and his righteousness. In his name we pray. Amen.

Men and Brethren - What Shall We Do? No. 2

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Men and Brethren - What Shall We Do? No. 2

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