I realize that there are many,
many things in the Word of God that are difficult to understand. I was in a bookstore a few years ago, shopping around,
and I saw a small paperback book entitled It looked like it contained
about 195 or 200 pages, and it was entitled, All About the Bible. The author felt that he could
capture in those 200 pages everything that's in this precious book.
The world would not contain the books that it would take to contain
the wisdom and grace and mercy in this book. Our Lord said in
Deuteronomy, if you'll turn over there in your Bibles to chapter
29, in Deuteronomy 29.29, he acknowledges that there are many
things too difficult for us to understand. He says in Deuteronomy
29.29, the secret things belong unto the Lord our God. There
are some things, no matter how strong your mental ability, intellectual
capacity, spiritual growth are some things you're just not going
to enter into in this life. The secret things belong to the
Lord our God. But those things which are revealed
belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the
words of this law. There's some things you're not
going to know. that some things you're not going to find out
about God and about yourself and about the Lord Jesus and
about his grace and about his kingdom and about his mercies
and his judgment. But there are some things that
he has been pleased to reveal to us, and those things belong
to us. Now turn, if you will, to Romans 11. Let me read to
you three verses here now to introduce this message, and these
introductory remarks are important. In Romans 11, verse 33, all the
depth, Romans 11, 33, all the depth of the riches, both of
the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments
and his ways past finding out. Now hold it right there just
a minute. When you think you know something, when you think
you've arrived, that's when you do not know anything. When you
think you've got the answer, that's when you don't know the
questions, because God's judgment and his ways are past finding
out. For who hath known the mind of
the Lord, and who hath been his counselor? Now in 1 Corinthians
chapter 13, now this verse of Scripture is one that we with
which we're very familiar, but I wonder, do we really understand
it? Do we really know what the Apostle
is saying here? Do we really believe it? In 1
Corinthians 13, verse 12, For now we see through a glass dimly. We see through a hazy glass. Now, you people who wear glasses,
I've wore them for a long time. And I just can't stand for anything
to cloud up my glasses, because that's difficult to see. I can
be out in the cold and come into a warm room and they'll fog up,
and I see. But I see in a distorted way. I see the outline, the dim outline,
and I see the things before me, but I can't see clearly until
my glasses are clean. And that's what he's saying here.
We see through a glass dimly on this earth. We're restricted
and limited by the flesh and by finite minds. But he said, then, in glory,
face to face. Now I know in part. I don't care
how much I know, it's just a part of the whole purpose of God.
It's just a part of the whole picture. I just see the outline. I don't see the details. But
there I shall know, even as I am known." How well does God know
me? He knows how many hairs on my head. He knows the sparrow, not a one
of them falls to the ground without your heavenly thought. He knows
your thoughts, even before you think them. And I shall know
that well someday, but right now I don't know that well. I
don't even know a part. I know just a part, but I don't
see the whole picture. And so there's some things that
we do not understand. There are many things, many,
many things. There are many things that we do not know. We just
see, we just see in part, and we just know in part. But the very fact that it is God's
Word limits my ability to understand it. I accept it by faith. This
is God's Word. How can I capture the mind of
God in my mind? I can't do that. But our difficulty,
and here is the message now, our difficulty is not with these
secret, hard-to-understand things and these secret, hard-to-understand
passages. I charge that our difficulty
is with the passages we do understand. And that's where we're guilty.
Our difficulty is not inability to walk in light we don't have,
but our unwillingness to walk in light that we do have. I think
that's our problem. Our problem is not with the secret
things which belong to the Lord. We like to dabble in those things.
We like to discuss them. But our difficulty is that God
has clearly revealed many things in his word that we are not paying
any attention to. And it's not the difficult things
that we are troubled about or should be troubled about, it's
the revealed things. Now, take the rich young ruler.
When our Lord Jesus Christ said to him, go and sell what you
have and give it to the poor and come take up your cross and
follow me, he knew exactly what the Lord said. He understood
exactly what the Master meant. That wasn't difficult, that wasn't
hazy, that was clearly the best. But he was unwilling to walk
in the life that Christ gave him. Now, if Christ had talked
to him about things that were difficult to understand, and
hazy, and the secret things, and Christ had jabbed and sparred
with him intellectually, he'd have stayed there all night.
But Christ gave him some facts, and he turned and walked off.
And then the religious people, when Christ, in John chapter
10, they said, if you be the Christ, tell us plainly. If you be the Christ, tell us
plainly. He said, I told you. I told you. But you received me not. You
received me not because you're not of my sheep. My sheep hear
my voice. I know them. I give them eternal
life. I and my Father are one. And then they took up stones
to stone him. Them stood exactly what he said.
Just exactly what he said. They knew exactly what he said,
and they were unwilling to walk in the light he gave. Those people
who came to him and said, Is it lawful to pay tribute to Caesar? Which is the greatest commandment
of all the commandments? If a woman marries several men
in the resurrection, who's going to be her husband? They wanted
to debate about these mysterious things. But Christ turned to
them and said, What think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? They
understood what he meant. They were unwilling to cope with
that question. They wanted to deal with the
uncertain. They wanted to deal with the unknown. But they weren't
willing to deal with the certain. Now then, I want to read this
morning four statements from the Word of God from the lips
of our Lord Jesus Christ. going to understand. I call them
four ultimatums, and these statements are easy to understand. These
statements are worded in plain language, just like this right
here, just like our Lord spoke to the rich young ruler, just
like he spoke to the people in Luke 4, just like he spoke to
those people in John 10. They understood exactly what
he meant. And the rich young ruler turned
and walked off. He was unwilling to walk in the
light God gave him. And the people in Luke 4 rose
up to murder the Son of God. They were unwilling to receive
the truth. And the people in John's end
picked up stones to stone him. And he said, Many good works
have I done, for which of these do you stone me? They said, We
stone you because you're a man and you say you're God. We know
what you're saying. We know exactly what you're saying,
and you can't be God. But I want to read you four statements
from our Lord, plain language, easy to understand, that concern
you personally. Four statements that concern
your relationship with God, and let's see how you react to them. I could get up here this morning
and preach for an hour on, Will America Fight Russia? quench
your appetite and tickle your intellectual ears, and you'd
go out not knowing anything, and your relationship with God
unchanged. But I'm going to tell you some things that are easy
to understand, and let's see what your reaction is. Number
one, turn to John 19. Let's see just how you react
to these ultimatums which Christ our Lord laid down. John 19,
10. Then Pilate said unto him, Let me paint the picture here
first. Let me give you the setting. Christ our Lord is on trial,
and he's standing here in front of Pilate. It looks like he's
helpless. His hands are tied, his back is lacerated, having
been beaten and scourged. The mocking crown of thorns is
pressed down on his brow, the blood streaming down his battered
face. These men have smote him with
their open palm and spit upon him and plucked out his beard.
And our Lord standing there with the mocking robe of ridicule
about his shoulders, and Pilate had asked him a question, Where
did you come from? And the Lord didn't answer him. And Pilate said, Now listen,
Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have
power I have the will, I have the ability to crucify you, and
I have the power to release you. That's what's being preached
today. Poor little Jesus, he's got his hands tied. He's on trial
in our church services. Poor little Jesus, he's got the
power, but he can't do anything about it. Man's got the power.
Power says, I've got the power! I can set you free, or I can
nail you to a cross. Well, let's see what the Lord
said. Now, let's see if you can understand this. And Jesus answered,
You could have no power at all against me, except it were given
thee from above." Now brethren, I don't intend
to preach God's sovereignty and God's immutable power and
deny the responsibility of the creature. Man is not a robot,
man is not a dead log, man is a responsible creature. Man is responsible for his sins,
he's responsible for his rebellion, he's responsible to believe the
word of God, he's responsible to obey the law of God. But when
men start talking about what God can do and what God can't
do. And when they start talking to
me about what they can do and boasting of their power and their
ability and God's weakness, it's time to set the record straight. It's time to set the record straight.
Now Pilate said, I've got the power to crucify you and I have
the power to let you go." Well, he crucified Christ. And those
Roman soldiers who nailed his hands and feet to the cross,
they crucified him. And that rabble and that multitude
that cried for his death, they crucified him. But let me show
you something in Acts 2. In crucifying Christ, in doing
what they wanted to do, in doing what they planned and purposed
to do, in doing what their wicked hearts wanted to do, they did
just what God predetermined to be done. They fulfilled the will
of God Almighty. They did only what God let them
do. In Acts 2, verse 23, Him, Christ,
being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, you have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain."
These people were responsible for what they did. They crucified
Him. They murdered the Son of God. They nailed the Son of God
to the cross, and they were responsible for doing it. But they did just
what God let them do. They did what God determined
for them to do. In Acts chapter 4, it says in
verse 27, against thy holy child Jesus, Herod, Pontius Pilate,
the Gentiles, all the people were gathered together to do
what they wanted to do, to do what their wicked hearts told
them to do, to do what their depraved minds wanted to do.
They hated him, and they wanted to hurt him, and they wanted
to kill him. But verse 28 says, Acts 4, 28,
they were gathered together to do what God's hand and God's
counsel determined before to be done. So Pilate, when he stood
before, when Lord Jesus stood before him, and Pilate said,
I have the power to crucify you or let you go, Christ said, you
don't have any power over me at all, any power, except it
be delegated and given and ordained and appointed unto you by my
Heavenly Father." Now, I want to show you a few
things this morning. First of all, your birth is according
to God's decree. In Jeremiah 1, you're walking
around in the flesh because God Almighty appointed a day of birth for you and gave
you a body. He used means to do it. Just like when he sent his son
to the cross, it pleased the Father to bruise him. Just like
back before the foundation of the world, the Father ordained
that Christ should come in the flesh, before the foundation
of the world he ordained that Christ should die on the He ordained
before the foundation of the world that Christ should die
on the cross at the hands of cruel, wicked men. And it happened
at the time and the hour and the place that the Father decreed. Now, God used means to do it. God didn't hold the hammer. A
man held the hammer. God didn't drive the nail. A
man drove the nail. The Father didn't spit on him.
A man spat on him. But all these things were in
the purpose and will of God. You were born of a mother and
a father. That was the means God gave, but your birth was
ordained of God. In Jeremiah 1, the word of the
Lord came unto me, verse 4. Verse 5, "...before I formed
thee in the burial." Jeremiah wasn't immaculately conceived. Jeremiah wasn't conceived of
the Holy Ghost, he was conceived of a human father. But that human
father was only the means and the hands of God to conceive
that child. Before I formed you in the belly,
I knew you. Before you came out of the womb,
I sanctified you and ordained you a prophet unto the nation. God said, That's my business.
That's my business. Now then, your material advantage
turned to 1 Samuel. Some of you here this morning
don't have as much as others, some have more than others materially.
Well, who fixed that up? Well, that's God's business,
too. That's God's business, too. Almighty God is the one who decrees
your material advantage. That's the reason Paul said,
I have learned in whatsoever state I am to be content. That's
the reason Paul the Apostle says, avoid covetousness, which is
idolatry. That's the reason the Apostle
said, be content with such things as you have. A man ought to exercise
his ability and his gifts and do what God enables him to do,
but not murmur and grumble about what God gives him, because that's
of the Lord. 1 Samuel 2, verse 6, the Lord
killeth And the Lord maketh alive, he bringeth down to the grave,
and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor, and the
Lord maketh rich. The Lord bringeth low, and the
Lord lifteth up." That's his business. That's his business. Your talents. In 1 Corinthians
4, let's look over here. Some of you are able to play
the instruments. Carolee and Martha play as well
as anybody I've ever heard in my life. There's a beautiful
but that's God-given. Somebody can sing, Lord can sing,
that's God-given. Don can sing, lead to sing, that's
God-given. You elders can teach, that's
God-given. I think I can preach a little,
that's God-given. Your talents and gifts. Look
at 1 Corinthians 4, verse 7. Who maketh thee to differ from
another? Who made you different? Did you
know that every human being is different from every other human
being, just like the stars are different and just like the snowflakes
are different? And no two fingerprints alike.
And no two people exactly alike. God made them all different.
And God made you like you are. If you have the ability and talent
for different things, you mean mechanics, electricians, All
the things that you can do, don't boast against another because
he doesn't have talents which you have. He's God's creature
and God made him and God made her like it pleased him to make
them. And he made you like he made
you. Who makes it you to differ from another? What do you have
that you didn't receive? Now, if you received it, why
do you gloat? I hate to see a proud person. It's nauseating to see an egotistical
person, because all in the world they are is they're egotistical
over something that ain't theirs. God gave it to them, and he can
take it away just as quickly as he gave it. And why in the
world should they boast as if they didn't receive it? They
were just beggars, and God gave them a little gift. It's all
of the Lord. Your health is in the hands of
the Lord. In Job chapter 1, turn over there
to Job. Now listen to me. If you can see well or you don't
see so well, if you've got heart trouble, that's God's business.
God can heal, I know that. But your health's in the hands
of the Lord. Now Job, in Job chapter 1, in verse 10, in Job
chapter 1, verse 10, Satan said about Job, he said to the Lord,
You've made a hedge about him and about his house, and about
all that he hath on every side. You've blessed the work of his
hand, you've increased his substance. Now, Lord, put forth your hand
and touch all that Job has, and he'll curse you to your face."
That's talking about his children, his material possessions, his
house and land. Satan says here that God, the
Father, Satan says, you built a hedge around Job and you protect
everything he's got. I can't touch it, and that's
right. I'm immortal till God Almighty sees fit to take the
hedge down. Satan, the principalities and
powers and rulers of darkness, disease, famine, nothing can
touch me except what God permits. And so God permitted Job. God
said in verse 12, the Lord said, all right, behold, all that Satan
has is in your power. Only upon himself put not your
hand. You see what God's saying? The
Father is saying, that's in my power. Satan can't touch a child
of God without God's permission. There is no grief, there is no
trial, there is no disappointment, nothing like that can come unless
God permits it. And God permitted it in this
case, and God may permit it in your case, but it will be for
his glory and your good. Now let's turn over here, if
you will, to Job 2, verse 5. And Job, Satan says, "'Put forth
your hand, and touch his bone, and his flesh, and he'll curse
you to your face. So the Lord said, all right,
he's in your hands, but you can't kill him. So Job was smitten
with boils. So I'm saying this, I'm saying
that our help and all that we possess is not in my hands at
all. As Pilate said, I've got the
power to do this and I've got the power to do that. No, it's
in God's hands. It's in God's hands. And when
God decrees for it to pass away, it will pass away. If God decrees
for it to stay, it'll stay, but it's in His hands. And all the
murmuring and grumbling in the world is not going to change
it. All right, turn to Job 14. Your death is in God's hands. Job 14, verse 5. are determined. The number of
his months are with thee, Job 14, 5. Thou hast appointed his
bounds, he cannot pass. Everything I am, everything I
have, is in the hands of my Lord. That's what our Lord said to
Pilate. You couldn't have any power over me at all. You couldn't
exercise any decision in reference to me at all, except it were
given you from above. And then, my friend, your spiritual
life and understanding come from him. Paul said, I am what I am,
talking about his spiritual understanding, his spiritual life. I am what
I am by the grace of God. Let me ask you a question. Did you love God first, or did
God love you first? Well, the Scripture says we love
Him because He first loved us. And 1 John 4, verse 10, says
this. Listen to it. Herein is love,
not that we love God, but that He loved us. And he sent his
son to be the propitiation for our sins. God loved us. Let me
ask you another question. Did you choose God, or did he
choose you? Our Lord plainly said to his
disciples in John 15, 16, you didn't choose me. I chose you. You didn't choose me. I chose
you. Let me ask you this. How was
the gospel revealed unto you? Did a man reveal it to you? You
say, yeah, I was converted under the ministry of Brother Burns.
Now, hold on a minute. Our Lord said, Peter, whom do
you say that I am? And Peter said, You are the Christ,
the Son of the living God. He said, Peter, flesh and blood
didn't reveal that to you. Brother Burns didn't reveal that
to you. My Father, which is in heaven, revealed that to you.
Blessed are your eyes, they see. My Father gave you eyes. Blessed
are your ears, they hear. My Father gave you ears. Blessed
is your heart, it understands. God the Father gave you that
heart." When we talk of power, the power
is not ours, the power is His. Turn to Psalm 110, verse 3, and
I want you to look dead center at this now. Psalm 110, and what
I said a moment ago, I can stand up and preach on the secret things,
you know, and people just aren't involved. They don't have to
make any decisions. But I'm talking about something
that's revealed. You couldn't have any power at
all except it was given you from above. The power's not yours. It's in the hands of the Father.
And he says here in Psalm 110, verse 3, "...thy people shall
be willing in the day of thy power." All right, there it is. As his first ultimatum, you couldn't
have any power except it were given you from above. Oh, God
the leper said, if you will, you can make me whole. Oh, Christ,
by the name of Satan, oh, Christ, if you will, you can give me The thief on the cross said,
O Lord, remember me. But everybody in this world today
is running around talking about what they can do with Jesus.
And all these preachers are running around talking to Pilate. Pilate,
let him go! Will you let him go, Pilate?
Will you please let him go? And when our Lord went to the
cross, the women behind him mourned and wept, and he turned and said,
Weep not for me! Weep for yourselves and for your
children. You got any tears to shed, don't
shed them over the poor little Lord Jesus Christ, because he's
on the throne. You're the fellow in trouble,
not him. You're the fellow in the dust. You're the blind Bartimaeus. You're the snow-covered leper.
You are the dead sinner. You are the one that's weak.
Don't shed your tears for Christ. I've heard preachers say, Well,
I can preach on the death of the Lord, and nobody cries. I'm
not going to cry over the death of the Lord. I'm glad he died.
If he hadn't died, I'd go to hell. That's right. Why in the world should I stand
up here and cry over the Lord dying on the cross? When if he
hadn't died on the cross, I'd be in hell, and you wouldn't
do it. I'm glad he died on the cross. Now then, I'd like to
see some folks weeping over themselves and over their sins. Now, that's
different. When I talk about our sins and our guilt and our
corruption, I'd like to see some tears. We've got this thing so
backwards, this pitiful. Sometimes I think, well, let's
just quit. Folks got no sense anyhow. But
we've got it backwards. We're trying to drum up sympathy
for Christ. He doesn't need your sympathy.
You need His. He doesn't need your pity. You
need His. So we've got this thing turned
around. What will you do with Jesus? That's not the question. What's
He going to do with you? That's the question. You're in
His hands. Why don't people pray? I'll tell
you why they don't pray. They don't have a God to pray
to. They're their own gods. Now,
if a fellow ever gets in trouble, he'll cry unto the Lord. If he
ever finds out who Christ is and what shape he's in, he'll
ask for help. Why, he'll continue at the throne
of mercy. Well, we've got to go on. John
6.44. Let's look at this one. Let's see if we understand this
one. John 6.44, Christ said, No man can come to me except
the Father which sent me draw him. No man. We're clear, isn't it? No man. Be his natural ability what ye
will. No man be his age and maturity,
or youth, what it will. No man can, is to come to me."
What is it to come to Christ? Well, it's not a physical coming.
A lot of people approached him physically and never did know
him. Nicodemus came physically one night, the rich young ruler
came physically, the people beseeched, pronged about him physically,
and he said, who touched me? The disciples said, well, Lord,
everybody's touched you. It's not participating in an
ordinance. It's not coming to a baptismal
pool. It's not coming to a sacrament, it's not coming to a church,
it's not coming to a preacher, coming to the Lord is threefold. First of all, it's believing
Christ. Believing him as he's revealed
in the gospel. And Christ said, no man can come
to me except my Father draw him. Coming to Christ is believing
Christ. believing him. The Apostle Paul
said, God revealed his Son in thee. I have not seen, e'er hath
not heard, neither hath he entered the heart of man the things that
God prepared for them that love him, but he hath revealed them
unto us by spirit. Coming to Christ, secondly, is
trusting Christ, trusting him as he's revealed in the promises.
The Apostle Paul said, I know whom I have believed, I am persuaded
he is able to keep that which I have committed, trusted unto him against that day. Laid
it in his hands, left it to him, surrendered to him. Coming to
Christ is receiving him as Lord and Savior. Lord, Prophet, Priest
and King, Master. No man is capable of this kind
of faith apart from the grace and power of the God of glory. That's true. For He quickens
us, He convicts us, He grants repentance, He reveals Christ.
You say, well, Brother Mellion, I have believed Him as He's revealed
in the gospel. I have trusted Him. Sink or swim,
I cling to Him. Christ alone is my strength,
my refuge, my rock, my fortress. And I have received him as my
king to reign over me, my prophet to reveal the Father, my priest
to intercede." Then you're saved. But that salvation
is of the Lord. You can't take the credit for
it. You can't take the praise for it. You have to give God
the glory for it. Now, the third statement, Luke
13. Luke 13, verse 3. Now, I want you to look at this
one. This is very clear. Luke 13,
verse 3. Now, our Lord said to Pilate,
You couldn't have any power over me at all, except it were given
you from the Father. That's clear, isn't it? Our Lord
Jesus said, No man can come to me, believe on me, trust me,
receive me, except my Father draw him. God drew you, and you
followed. God wooed you, and you surrendered.
God the Father revealed Christ, he opened your heart and revealed
Christ. Now then, Luke 13.3, I'll tell you, except you repent,
you'll perish. I don't know anything that's
clearer than that. What is repentance? Well, let
me say this. It's impossible to come to Christ
without leaving those things that oppose Christ. Will you
grant that? I can't walk in two directions
at the same time. If I come to Christ, I've got
to leave those things that oppose Christ. Secondly, it's impossible
to walk with God and walk with the enemies of God. That cannot
be done. If I walk with the enemies of
God, I can't walk with God, for two cannot walk together except
they be agreed. Thirdly, it's impossible to serve
God's glory and God's will and serve my own will. I'm going to give you what the
essence of sin is. Most of you already know. The essence of sin is my will,
and the essence of holiness is God's will. The very first sin
that was ever committed, do you know the first sin that was ever
committed? I mean in heaven or earth. The
first sin was committed by Lucifer, back before the world was ever
made in its present form. Satan. Christ said, I saw Lucifer,
Satan, fall from heaven. What was his sin? His sin was
this. He said, I will exalt my throne
above the stars of God. I will be like God. I will ascend
into the clouds. I will, I will, I will. Five times he said it. And God
said, no, you'll be cast down to hell. Satan was pitting his
will against God's will. That's the essence of sin. Now,
you know the essence of holiness? In the Garden of Gethsemane,
when our Savior prayed, he prayed, Father, not my will, but thy
will be done. Now, that's holiness. And I cannot,
it's impossible, to serve my will and serve God's will. It's
impossible to seek God's glory and self-glory. It can't be done.
So I must repent. And what is repentance? Well,
repentance is not only a change of masters. No man can serve
two masters, though it is. Repentance is not only a change
of manners, actions, deeds, though it is, but repentance chiefly
is a change of mind. And here is where the real work
is done. Here is what enables a man to
reverse his actions and to change his master. He will serve God
readily if he loves God. He will serve God readily who
loves God. He will pursue holiness who loves
holiness. He will avoid sin who hates sin. So this thing of repentance is
an inward work. It's changing the mind in regard
to God, in regard to myself, in regard to other people, in
regard to Christ, in regard to the law, in regard to the Word
of God, in regard to the advantages of the world. It's changing my
mind. And when my mind is changed, my manners will be changed. That's
the reason when the Lord Jesus Christ was about to fire with
the disciples after he'd risen, he said, Peter, do you love me?
The Lord, you know I love you. Then you'll feed my sheep. If
you love me, you'll feed my sheep. And that's the basis of repentance,
and that's the foundation of repentance. It's an inward work.
It's a change of mind. And when my mind's changed, then
my masters will be changed, and my attitude will be changed,
and my actions will be changed. Now, last of all, and I close,
in Matthew 5, our Lord said in Matthew 5, verse 20, Verily I
say unto you, Except your righteousness, except your righteousness shall
exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, ye
shall in no case enter into the kingdom of God." Now, brethren,
some say the Pharisees were hypocrites. Well, some were and some were
not. I think some were external moralists, like people today,
who believe that acceptance with God is based upon their personal
merit and their personal righteousness. I preached all this week up in
High Point, North Carolina, and a lady came to me after the service
one night, the last night, and I had preached that Christ is
our righteousness, Christ is our sanctification, Christ is
our redemption, Christ is our Savior, We stand before God only
in the righteousness of Christ, through the merits of Christ,
through the blood of Christ. I try to show her we are nothing,
have nothing, can do nothing, but salvation is Christ and Christ
alone. And this dear woman came up to
me after the service, I suppose she was in her sixties, and she
said, Brother Mayhem, I sure do like your preaching. I said,
Well, thank you. But she said, I'll tell you this,
she said, I've served the Lord all my life. It hasn't always
been easy, but I've served him, and that's my hope. And I thought
to myself, I just stood there and shook my head, I thought,
don't people hear anything you say? Don't they hear anything? Let me ask you a question. Are
you going to heaven? I'm trying to live a Christian
life. Is that the basis on which you're
going? Are you going to heaven? Well,
yes, I believe I will. I've always done the best, but
I've tried to live for God. Is that the basis on which you're
going? Let me ask you this. Your mother in heaven, my mother's
a good woman. Is that why she's there? Is your Father in heaven? Yes,
I believe he is. My Father was a fine man. That's
why he's there. Our theology sure pokes its head
up every once in a while, doesn't it? That's what our Lord said
here. He talked about these scribes
and Pharisees, and they were trying to get to heaven on their
morality, too. They were trying to find acceptance
with God on the basis of their morality, too. And Christ said,
except your righteousness exceed theirs, you're not even going
to enter the kingdom of God. Now, what was their righteousness?
Well, it was their own. It was their own. Secondly, it
was outward. Christ said, you clean the outside
of the cup and neglect the inside. Thirdly, their righteousness
was to be seen of men. Fourthly, their righteousness
was ceremonial. Now, what's yours? Our righteousness
is Christ. Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ
came down here to this earth in the form of a man, as our
representative, as our federal head, as our Redeemer, as our
Savior, and he met the law and obeyed it perfectly. As a man,
in our place, in our state, he went to the cross and took our
guilt and sin and paid the price, paid the debt, and honored the
justice of God and satisfied the law of God. And we're going
to heaven, we're God's children, we're saved on the basis not
of what we have done or ever shall do, but on the basis of
what Christ did. That's salvation. My only hope,
my only plea, is that when Christ Jesus obeyed the law, he obeyed
it for me. When he went to the cross, he
died for me. And on the right hand of God,
he intercedes for me. That's salvation. There's an old colored preacher
up in New York by the name of John Jasper. Somebody said to
him, John Jasper, when you get to heaven, Suppose somebody stops
you at the door and says, John Jasper, what right you got to
be here? He said, I'm going to say, I
got no right to be here at all. I'm here on the righteousness
of somebody else. I'm here on the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He got a right to be here. And
I'm here on his invitation. And I'm here on his obedience.
And I'm here on his satisfaction. And I'm here strictly on his
ticket. That's why I'm here. And brother,
that's it. And that's the reason, that's
what the Lord says. Except, here it is, it's laid out for you
in plain terms. If your righteousness is not
better than theirs, you're not going to heaven. If you're going
to heaven on your goodness, it better be better than the Pharisees.
And I don't think it will be. If you're going to heaven on
your goodness, on your morality, it better be as good as God's
morality and God's goodness and God's righteousness, or you won't
go there. But now, if you want to go on
the righteousness of another, come on, there's plenty of room.
Christ is big enough to include us all. He's big enough to take
us all. He's big enough to cleanse us
all. He's big enough to embrace us all. If you want to go to
heaven on His righteousness, come on. I guarantee you'll get
there. But if you want to try it on
your own, you just take your chance, and you stand before
the Father and say, I preached, and I prophesied, and I cast
out devils, and I did many wonderful works. And He'll say, I never
knew you. I never knew you. I never knew
you. Well, you see, it's that plain
language we won't deal with, isn't it? Didn't I tell you the
truth? It's that plain ultimatum. How about those ultimatums? How
have you faced them? How have you dealt with them?
Our Father in heaven, take thy word, thy revealed word, these
things which our Lord has set forth for us in the plainest
of language, and apply them to our hearts and to our lives.
Let our will be crucified, let our will be slain, let our will
be broken at the feet of Christ. Enable us to say, O God, not
my will, but thy will be done. Help us to submit and to surrender
and to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our righteousness,
our hope, our eternal salvation. Walk with him. In his name we
pray, amen.