Now, you might open your Bibles
back to Deuteronomy 10. I'm going to refer to these verses
later on in the message, not just yet, but you can have the
place open to Deuteronomy 10, verse 14. Now, these comments,
by way of introducing the message, first of all, the man who preaches
the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, who preaches the gospel
of redeeming grace, will not have an easy road. It
is not easy to preach the gospel. First of all, because by nature
we are prone to get bound by a system, it's very easy to get
bound by a creed, or a system, or denominational guidelines,
and then try to make God's Word fit that system, or fit that
creed, or fit those guidelines. We begin to hunt what we believe
in the Bible, and that's dangerous. I've heard many what we call
Arminian preachers, tremble lest they go an inch beyond John Wesley
or an inch beyond Arminius or an inch beyond some other famous
free will preacher. And then I've heard some Calvinist,
some sovereign grace preachers who speak as if John Calvin were
the final authority. Well, these men are not the final
authority. We're not preaching what they
believed at all. We're not preaching what they
preached. We're preaching God's Word. And it's so easy to get
bound by a system. It's so easy to get bound by
denominational guidelines. Well, this is what we believe,
and we try to prove it by God's Word. It's time that these systems
were all broken up. It's time that these men were
allowed to lie in their graves and sleep. I believe that. It's time that we let all the
old fathers, all of the great leaders, We've profited by them. We wouldn't be where we are without
them. We thank God for them. But we're preaching to a new
generation. We build on their foundation. We read their books and we profit
by what they have learned and taught us. But we're not preaching
them nor their messages. We're preaching Christ. And it's
time that these systems were broken up, and it's time that
the Scriptures become our final authority, what God's Word has
to say. That's what Paul said. Paul said,
I have not shunned to declare unto you the whole counsel of
God. I've kept back nothing profitable
unto you. And we are to seek to preach
the Word of God, not what Baptists believe, the Word of God. not
what Calvinists believe, the Word of God. I really don't know
any difference in what they call high doctrine and low doctrine.
I read these statements, that's high doctrine, that's low doctrine. Well, if God's Word teaches it,
that's enough. And if God's Word doesn't teach
it, let's do away with it. I found that many times when
I preach God's purpose in Christ to redeem his elect. I'm not
the slightest bit ashamed of that word election. It's a beautiful
word. It's a scriptural word. It's
used over and over and over again in God's Word. I'm not ashamed
of the word predestination. It occurs again and again in
God's Word, God's purpose. But I find often when I preach
God's purpose in Christ to redeem His elect who were chosen in
Him, that's what the Bible, those are Bible terms. Those are not
Methodist terms or Baptist terms or free will terms or sovereign
grace terms. They're just Bible terms. It's
God's Word chosen in Him before the foundation of the world.
That's Bible terms. That's Bible language. It may
not fit your system at all. But why don't you do away with
your system and latch on to the Bible? It may not fit your denominational
guidelines, but do you really care? God was here before your
denomination was here. The apostles preached before
Wesley preached, and before John Gill preached, and before John
Calvin preached. The apostles preached what Christ
taught them to preach, and what God's Holy Spirit led them to
preach. But I find that I get on this subject. Somebody said
one time, Brother Mayhan'd be a good preacher if he'd let election
alone. I don't intend to leave it alone.
It's God's Word. And I find when I preach it,
all that my Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that
cometh I'll in no wise cast out. That's Bible. No man can come
to me except my Father which sent me draw him, and I'll raise
him up at the last day. Christ said, I pray not for the
world, I pray for them which thou hast given me out of the
world. They're thine, and thou gavest
them thee. And I see people are offended.
They get real offended. They can't rejoice in that. It's
God's Word, but they can't rejoice in it. And there's something
wrong with that, and they've turned away. I've had people
come to this church, Sit and listen to me, and I happen not
to be on that subject that day. Maybe I'm preaching on prayer,
or faith, or love, or the gospel invitation. And boy, that's good
preaching. That's great preaching. And then
the next Sunday they come and I preach on election. Oh, I don't
like that. Well, let's see what you're doing.
You're bringing your mold, and you're saying, now, if you can't
fit in my mold, I won't come back. If you can't adjust to
my system, if you can't adjust to my creed, if you can't adjust
to my denominational guidelines, I won't come back and hear you.
Please stay away. Please stay away. Don't come
back. I don't want to preach to you. I want to preach to people who
want to hear God's Word. That's the people I want to preach
to. And the rest just clutter up the parking lot. I mean that. I'm serious about it. And then
I find this. I find that when I exhort sinners
to repent, you stand and exhort sinners to turn to Christ. O
sinner, hear the gospel. Receive Christ. When I preach
the free, full gospel offer to every creature, when we emphasize
the responsibility of the sinner, and how that whosoever will,
let him take the water of life. That's what the Bible says. Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Somebody
passes the word around in the tri-state area, Brother Mahan's
a Calvinist, Brother Mahan's a sovereign grace preacher. Go
in here and preach. So somebody comes, they're solid
Calvinists. They hold to the five points
of Calvinism. They're strict, sovereign gracers,
you know. They've read all the old Puritans,
and they come and sit down. And I preach a message, Sinner,
repent. Sinner, seek the Lord. Sinner,
cry out of your heart for mercy from the Lord. They turn away
and they say, Why that? He's not a sovereign gracer.
He's not a Calvinist. They can't see how that sovereignty
and responsibility agree. But I say agree or disagree.
I don't care. It's in God's Word. Just preach
it. We're not up here to try to be consistent with ourselves. We're here to try to be consistent
with the Word of God. It doesn't matter to me whether
it's systematic or unsystematic. I couldn't care whether it's
systematic or unsystematic. If it's the Word of God, preach
it. Preach it. Christ looked over the city of
Jerusalem and he said, O Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets
and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how oft would I have
gathered you unto myself as a hen doth gather her brood, but you
would not. And he wept over that city. And then he turned and also said,
No man can come to me except my Father which sent me drawing.
And brethren, I'm to preach those passages and not explain them,
just preach them. Proclaim the Word of God. Let
the Holy Spirit explain these things. Now there's some things
that are perfectly clear to me in God's Word. I'm not good at
presenting them. I don't profess to be. I can't
make them simple so that the natural mind can comprehend them. If you're here this morning and
you're depending on your natural wisdom, To understand and comprehend
the mysteries of the gospel, I can't help you, but there are
some things I know that are true, and I'm going to set them forth
for you in this message. There are just four things, four
things, and these are according to the Scripture. Now look at
Deuteronomy 10, verse 14. I know these four things. I'm
as sure of them as this Bible is open on the pulpit in front
of me. First of all, I know that Almighty God is absolutely and
completely, indisputably sovereign in all things. I know that. I
don't question that. It says in Deuteronomy 10, verse
14, listen to it, And the heaven of heavens is the Lord's, thy
God. The earth also, and all that
therein is, it belongs to him." Our God has taken some severe
and extreme measures to teach men that. In the Garden of Eden there wasn't
but one tree that Adam was forbidden to eat of, just one tree. God
said, Adam, the garden is yours. Tend it, subdue it, multiply,
replenish the earth, live in joy and happiness. But you remember
one thing, Adam, I'm still God, and you're still totally, absolutely
dependent on me. And to keep this in your mind,
I'm going to put a tree in this garden and you leave it alone,
you eat of it, and you'll die. As long as that one tree stood
there, it was a token of God's sovereignty, of man's complete
dependence on God. And when Adam took that tree,
he died, and his whole race died with him, and he was cast out
of the garden, and his whole life changed. In the days of
Noah, Almighty God taught his sovereignty in an extreme fashion. I will destroy the world which
I have made. Eight souls shall be saved, and
that's all." And God destroyed this world. Sodom and Gomorrah,
the cities of the plains, the perverted, ungodly cities, perished
under a rain of God's wrath, fire and brimstone. God taught
them that He was still boss. Nebuchadnezzar, the wicked king,
who boasted of his accomplishments, his greatness, this is Babylon
which I have builted. And God said, Nebuchadnezzar,
I'll teach you who God is. And he drove him out in the fields
for years to live like a wild beast. And he said, when my senses
came back to me, I understood. that God is God, and he reigns
in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of this world,
and giveth it to whomsoever he will. The heathen said, David,
where is your God? He said, Our God is in the heavens.
He hath done whatsoever he pleased. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
45. I want you to read these two
passages of Scripture. What am I saying? I'm saying
this. The first thing of which I am
absolutely certain is that Almighty God is God. He's not a paper
God, He's not a figurehead, He's not a God who allows His business
to be run by somebody else while He takes a vacation. Almighty
God is sovereign in heaven, earth, and hell, and He doeth according
to His will. and he giveth it to whomsoever
he will. And he reigns not only in creation,
but in providence and in salvation. He's King of kings and Lord of
lords. It says in Isaiah 45, verse 5, I am the Lord, and there's
none else, there's no God beside me. I girded thee, though thou
hast not known me. that they may know from the rising
of the sun, and from the west, that there's none beside me.
I'm the Lord, there's none else. I create the light, I form the
light, I create darkness, I make peace, and I create evil. I,
the Lord, do all these things." Look at Isaiah 46, verse 9. Remember the former things of
old, for I am God, and there's none else. I am God, there's
none like me. I declare the end from the beginning,
and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying,
My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure." My life is in God's hands, my
salvation is in God's hands, my family is in God's hands,
my breath is in God's hands. Every hair on my head is numbered
by the eternal wisdom of my God, by the infinite wisdom of God.
He controls all things. There's not a grain of dust flying
up behind an automobile's wheels that is not charted and directed
in its path by God Almighty. There's not a grain of dust in
the sun rays whose path is not directed and
guided by God Almighty. He controls even the atoms. There's not an atom out of position
in God's universe. Now that's how much I believe
in the absolute, complete, total sovereignty of God Almighty.
That everything that happens in me and for me and to me and
by me is either in the directive or permissive will of God Almighty. That's what Scripture declares.
He's absolutely sovereign. Now the second thing that I know,
I'm sure of this, and we must preach it. Secondly, man is a
rebellious, evil creature. From the first sin in Eden's
garden to this present day, man's whole history is evil and corrupt. Look at the scriptures, listen
to them, I'll just quote them to you. Genesis 6, 5, And God
saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that
every imagination of the thoughts of his heart were only evil continually. Man's not partly a sinner, he's
totally a sinner. Not some men are sinners, all
men are sinners. not part of the race, all of
the race. God looked down from heaven to
see if there were any that did good, any that did seek God,
and he found there altogether become unprofitable, none that
doeth good, no, not one, that man drinks iniquity like the
water. Isaiah said, From the sole of
your feet to the top of your heads is no soundness in you,
nothing but open running sores. Romans 3, says, none good, no
not one, none righteous, none that seeketh after God. John
5.40 says, you will not come to me that you might have life.
Romans chapter 1, listen to this. Here it is, Romans 1 verse 28. Here's a description of the flesh.
They did not, and even as they did not like to retain God in
their knowledge, Romans 1.28, God gave them over to a reprobate
mind. To do those things which are
not convenient, man is filled with all unrighteousness, fornication,
wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, envy, murder, debate, deceit,
malignity, whispers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud,
boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without
understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, unforgiving,
unmerciful. That's the human race. Look at the facts. Our history
books. You young people who major in
history and who study history, what is history? Well, history
is nothing in the world but the story of our wars and conflicts. About 80% of history is dealing
with fighting and killing and bloodshed. And go to the capitals
and find our heroes or look through the history books. Who are heroes?
They're men who won their fame killing somebody. That's right. All of our great generals and
captains and presidents, most of them and all the rest of them,
won their fame because they could fight. Our newspapers are nothing in
the world but daily reports of man's violence and evil and wickedness. Our televisions entertain us
with the same menu. When God visited this earth in
the flesh, the perfect Son of God, He was murdered and hanged
to a tree. And all of our personal conflicts,
all of your conflicts this week in business, in your home life,
are going to be brought about by somebody's jealousy, envy,
selfishness, sin, and corruption. That's what causes them. That's
the facts. And then look in your own heart.
Turn to Romans chapter 7. Paul describes it. What am I
saying? I'm saying that man is a rebellious,
evil creature, that in the flesh dwelleth no good thing. Like
Job said, I hate myself. I'm not just talking about you.
I'm talking about me and everybody else. I'm talking about every
descendant of Father Adam. David said, Oh, I was shapen
in iniquity. I was born in sin. I came forth
from the womb speaking lies. Isaiah said, I'm a man of unclean
lips. Peter said, I'm a sin for man. Listen to Paul in Romans 7, 15. That which I do, I desire not. What I would, that do I not. What I hate, that do I. Verse
18, I know that in me, that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good
thing. Now these preachers up and down
the country can spend their time in the pulpit on Sunday morning,
Sunday night, bragging on the flesh if they want to, but there's
nothing in the flesh upon which to brag. And the sooner that
men and women see what they are by nature, what they are by birth,
what they are by practice, the sooner they're going to do business
with a merciful God. Now, I know those two things. God is God, and man is man. And God is a sovereign, almighty,
eternal God, and if He's not, He's not God. If there's any
power that persuades him, any power that controls him, any
power that can frustrate him, any power that can stop him,
I want somebody to introduce me to that power, because that's
God. And man is a totally dependent
creature. He's not independent, he's dependent. And when Adam fell, he fell all
the way. He didn't lose a sight in one
eye. He's spiritually blind. He didn't lose the hearing in
one ear. He's spiritually deaf. He didn't lose the thinking power
and a little bit of spirituality. He became dead, totally dead
in trespasses and sin. And left in that condition, he'll
perish in that condition. Isolated, separated from God
Almighty. Now here's the third thing I
know. God has a people. He has not left himself without
a witness. He's got a people. Heaven's going
to be inhabited. Turn back to Deuteronomy 10,
to our text. Let's look at this, Deuteronomy
10. God has a people set apart in his eternal covenant of grace. I'm not ashamed of this. Thank
God for it. Election's not the sinner's enemy,
it's his best friend. God's a covenant God. Everything
the Lord ever did in the Bible He did based on a covenant. He
made a covenant with Noah. He made a covenant with Abraham.
He made a covenant with David. He made a covenant with Israel.
God always works by covenant. He keeps His covenants. And back
before this world ever began, He made a covenant with His Son.
In Deuteronomy 10, verse 14, I read a while ago, God's sovereign.
Now look at verse 15. Only, or yet, or but, the Lord
had a delight in your fathers, to love them. He chose their
seed after them, even you. He chose you above all people,
and that's the way it is right now, the Scripture says. Even
to this day, God chose you. Back here in Genesis 6, look
at this with me a moment, in the 6th chapter of Genesis. My
friends, we talk about man's depraved, corrupt condition,
and then the Scripture comes along and says, but God. That's
the difference. That's the difference. Who maketh
thee to differ? God made the difference. In Genesis
6, look at this, verse 7, or verse 5, Genesis 6, verse 5,
talks about man's, God saw the wickedness of man, Every imagination
of the thought of his heart was evil continually. And it repented
the Lord that he'd made man, grieved him at his heart. And
God said, I'll destroy man. I'll destroy man whom I've created
from the face of this earth. Man and beast, the creeping things,
the fowls, it repenteth me, I've made them. But Noah found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. And then in Ephesians chapter
2, let's look at this. In Ephesians chapter 2, verse
2 through 4, it talks about the kind of life we lived. It talks
about our being dead in sin. Verse 3 says, we had our conversation
in the lust of the flesh, the desires of the flesh, and were
by nature the children of wrath, even as others, but God. but God. It doesn't say, but
you had a change of heart. It doesn't say, but you got smart.
It doesn't say, but some soul winner came along, talked you
into religion. It says you were a child of nature,
child of wrath, even as others, but God did something. But God
loved you with an everlasting love in Christ. God Almighty
loved you. God Almighty has a people. Now
man has not, does not, and will not turn to God. Christ said,
you will not come to me that you might have life. He said,
I am come in my Father's name, and you receive me not. Man,
by nature, receives not the things of God. They're foolishness to
him. Can the Ethiopian change his
skin? Can't do it. Can the leper change
his spots? He can't do it. Can you do good
that are accustomed to doing evil? Can't do it. Can the Ethiopian skin be changed? Well, you say, yes. Well, who
can change it? God can. Well, can the leprous spots be
changed? Well, certainly they can. Well,
who can do it? God can. Can this heart of mine be renewed? Can I receive a new nature? Can
my feet that walk in paths of evil, can those feet be made
to walk willingly in paths of holiness? Oh, yes. Well, who
can do it? God can do it. Turn to Romans
11. Now in the midst of all this
rebellion, in the midst of all this evil, God has a people. Almighty God will have a people. Romans chapter 11, listen to
this, verse 3. Lord, they've killed your prophets,
and they'll continue to kill them, because they're not going
to hear God. and they'll dig down your altars.
Now they'll build their altars, and they'll worship their little
peanut gods, and they'll worship their little Jesus who can't
do anything that they won't let him do, who's crying his eyes
out because he failed, that came down here and didn't know where
he came from and why he came and where he's going. Now they'll
build altars to that kind of God, but they'll dig down God's
altars. They'll kill God's preachers
and dig down God's altar. They're going to have altars,
but not an altar to a sovereign God, to a Christ who cannot fail. And the prophet said, I'm left
alone, and they seek my life. What'd God say to that prophet?
He said, I've reserved to myself seven thousand men who've not
bowed the knee to the image of Baal, and even so then, at this
present time, There is a remnant according to the election of
grace. And if it's by grace, it's no
more of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. If it be of works, then it's
no more grace. Otherwise, work is not work. Now look at Romans 8, 29. Romans
8, 29. God has a people. What am I saying?
I'm saying that man will not turn to God. He will not turn
to God. I'm saying that God will have
a people, that he's going to turn man. Thy people shall be
willing in the day of thy power. God's going to have a people.
In the midst of all this rebellion, for it says in Romans 8, 29,
whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among
many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he called, and whom he called he justified, and whom he justified
he glorified." Now, what are we going to say to these things?
What have you got to say? Well, I never heard that before.
Well, I just read it. But that's not what I've been
taught, but it's God's Word, and that's what I'm saying. Let's
do away with our systems. Let's do away with our guidelines.
Let's do away with somebody else's religion, and let's find out
what God says. Now what shall we say to these
things? I'll tell you what we'll say to them. We'll say, if God
defile us in redemption, in substitution, who can be against us? Who cares
who's against us? Verse 33, "...who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies." He
loved us. Herein is love. Not that we love
God. He loved us. He loved us. and sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. He redeemed us. God was in Christ
reconciling the world to himself. He called us. Paul said, It pleased
God who separated me from my mother's womb to call me by his
grace. And he keeps us. Peter said in
1 Peter 1, 5, We are kept by the power of God through faith. Now turn with me to John 6, 37.
Now my friends, this third thing I'm as sure of it as I'm standing
here. God's going to have a people.
They're all going to be like his Son. Now, man's not, according
to his own will, going to come, because the Scripture says, Not
of the will of the flesh, and not of the will of man, not of
him that willeth, not of him that runneth. It's of God that
showeth mercy. But God's going to have a people.
He's going to have a willing He's not going to snatch them
up by the hair of the head and take them to heaven. He's not
going to save them whether they want to be saved or not. He's
not going to save them whether they ever hear the gospel or
not. He's not going to save them whether they ever believe or
not. That's not true. He's going to make them willing.
He's going to draw them, and they're going to come willingly.
And it says in John 6, 37, listen, "...all that my Father giveth
me shall come to me." They're coming. They're coming. Noah
went in that ark. God didn't pick him up and throw
him in. They opened the door and God
said, Noah, come into the ark. And Noah went in that ark just
as willingly as those other people stayed out. And they stayed out
just as willingly as he went in. Could they have gone in if
they wanted to? Absolutely. Absolutely. Any man who wants to be saved
will be. Anybody. I don't care who it
is. But these people are coming. Verse 38, Christ said, I came
down, John 6, 38, from heaven, not to do my will, but the will
of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will
which is sent me, that of all which he hath given me I'll lose
nothing, but raise it up at the last day. Now here's the fourth
thing I know. The gospel of Jesus Christ. is
a free and full and sincere invitation to any son of Adam who wants
to come. That's right. God will have mercy. God delights to show mercy. God
takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Isn't that what
the Bible says? Now don't you get, when we tell the so-called
free willer not to be bound up by his doctrine, but to be open
to the Word of God, I say the same thing to you, pal. You better
not get bound up by system, either. You better not try to make God
walk your line. He won't do it. You better not
try to make God fix your pattern, or he'll leave you out there
by yourself. You be open to God's Word, too. Don't you be guilty
of the same sin of which you condemned somebody else, closing
your mind to the Word of God. God takes no pleasure in the
death of the wicked. That's what the Bible says. We
are sent to preach the gospel to whom? To the elect? That's
not so. We are sent to preach the gospel,
my Lord said, to every creature. You know what the Bible said?
Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel. What is the
gospel? Christ is the gospel. Substitution
is the gospel. The death of Christ for sinners
is the gospel. Christ suffered on the cross
for sinners. That's the gospel. And I'm supposed
to preach that to every creature. And he that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved. I don't care who he is. That's
so. The terms of salvation are not
do and live. The terms of salvation are believe
and live. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath life, and he that believeth not the Son of God
shall not see life." I don't care who you are. You want to
be saved? Believe on Christ. You say, what
if I'm not one of the elect? I guarantee if you want Christ,
you can have Him. I guarantee if you want to be
saved, you can be. I guarantee you on the authority
of God's Word, if you're a sinner, Christ died for sinners. That's
what's said. For God so loved the world, that
he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. I thank God I'm not bound
by system. I thank God I'm not wrapped up
in chains up here that I can't say to that old rebellious Pharisee,
except a man be born again, he can't see the kingdom of God. And I can also say to that poor
old wicked sinner, whoever he is, you want Christ? Come on,
fella. He died for sinners. The invitation is extended to
all who are thirsty. That's what it says. Oh, everyone
that's thirsty. Isn't that what the Bible says?
Everyone that's thirsty, come to the water. Are you thirsty?
Well, no, I'm not thirsty for each of you. Well, I'm not talking
to you. It says everyone that's thirsty. You thirsty? Come on. What does the Bible say? All
that are weary, come unto me, all ye that are weary, all of
you. Christ said, I'll give you rest. What does the Bible say? Come, let us reason together,
though your sins be as scarlet, I'll make them white as snow.
What does the Bible say? Those who are willing, the spirit
of the bride, say, Come! And let him that hear it say,
Come! And let him that is at first come, and whosoever will,
let him take the water of life. Here it is. Take it! You want
it? Take it. Whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's what God's Word
says. That's what God's Word says.
It's a free, full, sincere invitation to any who are thirsty, to any
who are weary and heavy laden, to any who are sinful, to any
who want to come. You come on if you want to. I read a story this week that
was a great blessing to me. There was a preacher in England
by the name of Richard Cecil. When he was a little boy, about
ten or eleven years old, his daddy took him to the city with
him, the big city. They didn't live so awful far
from the city, but he didn't go there often. His daddy took
him with him, and one day they went to the city, and his daddy
took him around some places, and then his dad had to go to
a place where Richard couldn't go. He had an apartment with
some businessmen, and he told Richard Took him over to a gateway,
they called it, a doorway is what it was, and a building.
He said, Now, Richard, you stand right here and wait on me, and
don't you leave till I come back. And this little boy stood over
in the corner, and his daddy left. His daddy got busy with
these businessmen and other problems, and he forgot that boy. It's
a true story. And he went home. He just left
town, left the city, and got in his buggy and drove home.
And when he got home, of course, the mothers, these mothers are
a little more particular about the children sometimes than us
daddies are. First thing the mother asked
the daddy, she said, where is my son? And he said, oh my soul,
he said, I left that boy in town. And, of course, he jumped back
in the buggy, and he remembered telling Richard, taking him to
this certain doorway, and telling him, son, I've got some business
to take care of. You stay right here. Don't you
leave till I come back. And he said he drove back, and
it was getting pretty dark by then, and he drove up there in
front of that doorway on the street. And there sat that little
fellow, still in that doorway. He had not moved out of his tracks
for the hours and hours and hours that his daddy had been gone.
Well now, my friends, the Lord Jesus Christ said to me and to
every faithful preacher, you stay by the cross till I come
back. You stay by the cross till I
come back. I shall return to this earth.
and you stand by the cross of Christ, the message of substitution,
the message of the blood, the message of redemption through
the wounds of Christ the Savior, you stay there till I come back."
Well, the Lord hadn't come back yet, and by His grace I'm going
to stay right there. And I'm going to declare to every
sinner I have the privilege of preaching to, salvation's of
the Lord and it's in the Lord. Christ died for sinners. If you
want salvation, you let come to Christ, because he's got it
to give. Will you trust him? Our Father
in heaven, bless this word. Our Father, free us from the
chains of systems and creeds and guidelines laid down by men. Let our souls be free to receive
Thy word as it is, to men as they are, glorifying Thy matchless
name, showing us our guilt and our ruin by the fall, exalting
and magnifying the wonderful name of Christ Jesus our Lord
and Savior. And yet, our God, what a full
and free and rich and sincere gospel offer and invitation extended
to all who are weary and all who are sinful. Come, I'll give
you rest. Make us willing. We pray for
Christ's sake. Amen. Brother Lord, you come
lead us please in the closing hymn. Hymn number 240. Stand please. I hear thy welcome voice that
calls me Lord to thee. For cleansing is thy precious
blood that flows on Calvary. I am coming, Lord, coming now
to thee. Watch, make then see in the blood you