Now when we preach from the word
of God the fallen sinful condition of natural man in darkness, in
death, and inability, God is angry with the wicked. Has the impact of those words
ever reached your heart? God is angry with the wicked. Your sins have separated you
from God. Think of it. Separated from God. Your sins have separated you
from God. The ungodly are not so, but are
like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly
shall not be able to stand in the judgment, nor sinners in
the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way
of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish."
Now brethren, when we preach that, man's dark, dead, fallen
condition, separated from God, and that really dawns upon us
And when we preached the mercy and grace of God in Christ, the
Word was made flesh and came down here on this earth and dwelt
among us. And we beheld his glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father. He came to this
earth, man's representative, man's substitute, man's redeemer. Job said, I've found a ransom.
When we preach the mercy of God in Christ, the grace of God in
Christ, the love of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the full impact
of his incarnation and his death and his resurrection dawns upon
us. And then we preach the certainty
of death. It is appointed unto men once
to die. I'm dying, you're dying. Every
step we take is one step nearer to the grave. Every time my heart
beats, it's one beat nearer to the time when I'm going to close
my eyes in death. And after death, judgment. And
after judgment, eternal wrath and condemnation upon all unregenerate
people. For be sure, God said, be sure,
your sins will find you out. Whatsoever a man soweth, that
shall he reap. God will in no wise clear the
guilty. That which was spoken in secret will be shouted from
the housetop. That which was done in darkness
shall be brought to the light, the powerful, all-searching,
revealing light of God Almighty's holy throne. And then eternal
separation. And when we preach of the inheritance
of glory, and the happiness of the saints. God himself shall
be their God. Somebody's going to live with
God, and somebody's going to enjoy his presence in such a
way that God will wipe all tears out of their eyes, and there's
not going to be any more sorrow, there's not going to be any more
pain, there's not going to be any more death. For the former
things are passed away. God said, Behold, I make all
things new, a brand new heaven and a brand new earth. and we
shall reign with him forever." Now when you think of those four
powerful things, man's sinful, wretched condition, separated
from God, under the wrath of God, God's angry, God's angry. When we think about the mercy
and grace of God in Christ, somebody is going to partake of His mercy,
and some people aren't. Some people are going to be redeemed
by His love, and some people are going to be passed by. Some
people are going to an eternal heaven, and some to an eternal
hell. Some people are going to dwell eternally with God, and
some people are going to dwell eternally in darkness and blackness
and torment and agony. Actually, it shouldn't be startling
to us when somebody, after hearing that message, cries, What shall
I do? What can I do? What must I do
to be saved? Actually, we ought to be amazed
when people do not inquire as to what they can do. It shouldn't
be amazing to us. It shouldn't be a thing strange
to us. It shouldn't be something that
that attracts our attention when somebody cries, well, what shall
I do? What can I do? It looks like to me that everybody
would be asking that today. How can I escape the wrath to
come? How can I make death a joy instead
of a tragedy? How can I make judgment a place
of rejoicing instead of a time of weeping? How can I gain an
interest in Christ How can I join those who go to glory? How can
I escape eternal wrath? What can I do? Well, first of all, I want to
point out what a sinner cannot do. Now, there are some things
a sinner cannot do, just flat out cannot do. First of all,
and I say this to every person in this building, every son of
Adam, every daughter of Adam, let me say this to you first
of all, you cannot, you cannot under any condition obligate
God to save you. Ain't no way. God does not owe
you any mercy. God does not owe you any grace. God does not owe you a pardon. The only thing that a holy God
owes me and you is the wages of sin. And that's death. That's all God owes us. We've
sinned against God. We've violated His law. We've
broken his statutes, we've walked under our feet his sovereignty,
we've tried to throw God off his throne in our father Adam.
He sent his beloved son down here to this earth and we put
our dirty, filthy, guilty, wicked hands on him and drove nails
in his hands and put him on a cross to bleed and die. God doesn't
owe this race of Adam's fallen son anything but hell. That's
all God owes you. God doesn't owe you any mercy.
And the moment you feel that you deserve divine favor, you're
in bad shape. The moment you feel that you
deserve anything from the hand of God except judgment and wrath,
you're on dangerous ground. I'm not kidding you. I'm telling
you the truth. Pride goeth before destruction,
and a haughty spirit before the fall. In Luke chapter 4, and
I want you to turn over there and listen to this, this was
the very problem that these people had, these religious people in
Luke chapter 4. This was the very problem they
had. They thought God was obligated to them because they were sons
of Abraham. They thought God was obligated
to them because they had the law and the prophets and the
ceremonies, and they were playing church down there in that tabernacle.
They thought that God owed them mercy. They thought, now if God's
going to do anything for anybody, it'll be us. If God's going to
have a people, it'll be us. If God's going to save anybody,
it'll be us. If God's going to take anybody
to heaven, it'll be us. If God's going to lift His wrath
off anybody, it'll be us. But our Lord straightened out
their thinking in Luke 4. It says in verse I'll tell you
a truth. Christ is speaking here to this
religious gathering who thought God owed them mercy. And he said, I'm going to tell
you something. There were many widows in Israel in the days
of Elias, Elijah the prophet, when the heaven was shut up three
years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the
land. Elisha the prophet was here. God said that there were
a lot of widows, hungry widows and orphans in Israel. In Israel,
in your nation, He said, among your people, among the religious
people, among those who had the law and the types and the prophets
and the ceremony. But unto none of them, verse
26, unto none of them was Elijah sent, save unto Sarepta, a city
of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. That was a Jindal woman.
And then Christ went on. He talked about, now, Elisha.
That was Elijah during the famine, and God sent Elijah to a Gentile
woman, not to a Jewish woman. And in verse 27, he said, There
were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha, Eliseus the
prophet, and none of them were cleansed but Naaman the Syrian. Now how do these people react
to that? The same way most people do when you tell them that God
doesn't owe them anything, that God is not obligated to save
them. Verse 28, And all they in the
synagogue, when they heard these things, that God will show mercy
to whom he will show mercy, that God will be gracious to whom
he will be gracious, when they heard these things, they were
filled with wrath. and rose up and thrust Jesus
Christ out of their city and led him to the brow of the hill
whereon their city was built, that they might murder him and
cast him down headlong. God doesn't owe us anything. The leper came to Christ and
he said, Lord, if you will, you can make me whole. If you
will. in Romans chapter 9. I want you
to turn over there. This is very sobering, but it's
the first thing that we have to learn in Romans chapter 9. Verse 15, For God 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, It is not of him that run it, it's of God that showeth
mercy. Mercy is unmerited favor. Unearned,
unmerited. So God doesn't owe you mercy,
God doesn't owe you grace, and God doesn't owe you salvation.
The sinner can't obligate God. Secondly, the sinner cannot.
Turn to Romans 8, verse 7. The sinner cannot in the flesh
please God. He cannot in the flesh please
God. I want to make this as plain
as I can make it. There's no way that anybody in
the flesh can please a holy God. In Romans 8, verse 7, the Scripture
says, the carnal mind, the natural mind, because the natural mind
is enmity against God. There's a built-in hatred for
God in every son of Adam. He's born loving darkness, hating
light, born loving evil, hating holiness, born loving sin, hating
God. The natural mind, the carnal
mind, is enmity against God. It is not subject to the law
of God. My natural mind, the mind of
the flesh, is not subject to this holy law of God, and it
can't be. So then they that are in the
flesh cannot please God. Cannot please God. Paul said,
in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. How can we talk of serving
God? How can we talk of pleasing God
when he says our righteousnesses are what? Filthy rags. Our righteousnesses are filthy
rags. We should be moral. We should
be moral. A man ought not to steal. He ought not to lie. He ought
not to kill. He ought not to commit adultery.
We ought to be truthful. We ought to be charitable. But brethren, without the atonement
of Christ, without the merit of Christ, without the person
of Christ, even these things are works of iniquity. That's
right. Turn to Matthew 7. Let me show
you that. In the 7th chapter of Matthew,
I'm saying there that in the flesh no unsaved man can please
the Lord. I'm saying that in the flesh
no man without Christ can please God. I don't care what he does.
He can build a church, and it won't please God. He can finance
and support missionaries, and it won't please God. That's right,
without Christ, without the Lord Jesus Christ, to sanctify our
works, and to sanctify our devotion, and to sanctify our service,
and to sanctify our relationship with God. Even your so-called
works of charity are what? It's hard to say, but it's so.
Works of iniquity. Matthew chapter 7, they said,
Verse 22, We prophesied in your name, and in your name cast out
devils, and in your name we have done many wonderful works. And
then will I profess unto them, and here's the problem, I never
knew you. Depart from me, ye that work,"
what? Well, God said you had some good
works, but you didn't believe on Jesus. That's not what He
said. He said your works are works of iniquity. Every synagogue
you ever built, every tabernacle you ever erected, every tent
meeting you ever held, every sermon you ever preached, every
dime you ever gave, every prayer you ever prayed, every step you
ever took was a work of iniquity. Sinful work, sinful praying,
sinful shouting, sinful preaching, sinful giving, because in the
flesh no man, no man can please Almighty God. That's so. That's so. The only one who pleases
God. This is my Son in whom I'm well
pleased. It's never been said about any
son of Adam, only the Son of God. God's pleased with Christ,
and He's pleased with you in Christ, and He's pleased with
you because of Christ, and He's pleased with you because of what
Christ did. But outside of the Lord Jesus
Christ, I don't care what you do, it's a sin. There's enough iniquity in it
to send you to hell. So you cannot in the flesh please
God. You bypass Jesus Christ, you
take a shortcut to hell. No way. You can't get to God
except through Christ. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. You bypass Christ, it's a shortcut
to judgment, that's all. He's between you and God, and
to get to God you go through Christ. No other way. You miss
him, you miss heaven. You miss God. You miss holiness. You miss truth. You miss redemption.
You miss wisdom. You miss salvation. All right,
the third thing. A sinner cannot, and this is
so important, Job chapter 11, a sinner cannot He cannot obligate
God to save him. I cannot guarantee you that God
will save you. He doesn't have to. He doesn't
have to. If you ask anything according
to my will, he said, I'll do it, but it's got to be according
to my will. And no way you can obligate God. God doesn't owe
you anything. If God gives you anything, it'll
be mercy. If God gives you salvation, it will be by his grace. It won't
be because you deserved it or you earned it or you're better
than somebody else. And then you cannot in the flesh please
God. And thirdly, the sinner cannot
by natural wisdom. Now understand what I'm saying.
The sinner cannot by natural wisdom find God or even understand
the gospel. Now we're laboring under some
false information. We think that everybody that
can hear the words I'm saying right now can understand the
words I'm saying, but that's not so. That's not so. The world has some brilliant
mathematicians. The world has some brilliant
lawyers. The world has some brilliant
inventors and some brilliant scientists and some brilliant
professional men, and there's some of them right here in this
congregation, and some brilliant ladies. You're smart, that's
all there is to it. God's blessed you with a lot
of gray matter, and God's blessed you with a lot of talent, and
God's blessed you with a lot of ability. But I'm telling you
this. Spiritual wisdom doesn't come
by education. It comes by revelation. To know
God and the mysteries of the gospel, to understand the mysteries
of the kingdom of God, does not come by natural wisdom. It comes
by revelation. That's right. Look at Job 11,
verse 7. Can you, by searching, find out
God? Now, by searching, you can find
out how to split the atom. By searching, you can find out
how to cure polio. By searching and diligently comparing
and inquiring, you can find out these different laws of mathematics.
You can find those things out. Anything that's there, you can
find it out if you search deep enough. But can you, by searching,
find God? Can you find God that way? Can
you find out the Almighty unto perfection? It's high as the
heavens. What can you do? It's deeper
than hell. What can you know? The infinite
immense, majestic character, attributes and presence and holiness
of the living God. It can only come as He's pleased
to reveal it to you. You turn to 1 Corinthians 2.
Listen to this in 1 Corinthians 2. This is a very important scripture
here. I'm saying that spiritual knowledge,
the gospel, salvation comes not by education, but by revelation. by revelation. In 1 Corinthians
2, verse 7, Paul said, we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery. The wisdom of God in a mystery. Even the hidden wisdom which
God ordained before the world unto our glory, which none of
the princes, the outstanding men, the great leaders of this
world knew. They didn't know it. Had they
known it, they never would have crucified the Lord of glory.
if they'd known it. Why, if they'd have seen Christ
in those types, they wouldn't have nailed Him to a cross. If
they'd have seen Christ in those symbols, they wouldn't have nailed
Him to a cross. If they could have understood
His words, if they could have understood what He was preaching,
they wouldn't have nailed Him to a cross. They couldn't see
it. It is written, verse 9, I hath
not seen, ear hath not heard, neither have entered into the
heart of man the things that God hath prepared before the
world unto our glory, which God hath prepared for them that love
him. Well, you claim to know it, preacher,
where'd you get your information? Look at the next verse. But God
hath revealed these things unto us by his Spirit. By his Spirit. Now, you want
to know the gospel, you're going to have to put aside your natural
reasoning, your human wisdom, your natural understanding. You
want to learn the gospel, you're going to have to put aside your
mathematical ability. It doesn't come that way. Well,
this is what I think. There's a way that seemeth right
unto men, and the end thereof is death. God said, Your thoughts
are not my thoughts. This is the way I think it ought
to be. Your thoughts are not my thoughts.
Well, I'll tell you what I'd do. Your ways are not my ways. And you've got to put aside all
of your so-called natural wisdom and your logic and your arguments
and your reasoning. This doesn't come that way. It does not come. Natural wisdom
starts through here and goes in here. Spiritual wisdom starts
in here. The heart, the Holy Ghost, reveals
it. the Holy Ghost. Turn to Matthew
11, 25. I want you to watch this now.
Matthew 11, verse 25. I'm saying that the natural man
cannot, by searching, find God. Our Lord said in Matthew 11,
25, at that time Jesus answered and said, I thank you, O Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from
the wise and the prudent, and hath revealed them unto babies."
Don't you scoff at that ignorant man. He may know the Lord. Don't
you scoff at those babies. God reveals things to babies,
and He passes by smart alecks. That's what's said. Passed them
by. Hid these things from them. You
see, it doesn't come that way. It comes by revelation. Turn
to Matthew 16. Listen to this. Matthew 16, verse
15. He said unto them, the disciples,
Whom say ye that I am? Simon Peter answered and said,
Thou art the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God. And
Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon
Barjona. You're blessed, you don't know
how blessed you are, for flesh and blood hath not revealed that
to thee. but my Father which is in heaven."
So that's three things a sinner can't do. Number one, he can't.
He can't obligate God. God doesn't owe us salvation. Number two, he cannot in the
flesh make himself acceptable to God. He cannot please God
in the flesh. Thirdly, he cannot by natural
wisdom figure this thing out. Why it's simple as A, B, C. And
I beg your pardon, we're not dealing in ABCs. We're dealing
with God and sin and eternal life. It's not that simple. It's profound. It's so profound
that the angels desire to look into it, and they're much smarter
than we are. It's so profound that the princes of this world,
the great leaders of this world, crucified the Lord of glory because
they didn't know what he was talking about. Why, they said,
if you be the Christ, tell us plainly. He said, I told you.
I told you, but you didn't believe me. You didn't believe me because
you're not of my sheep. I said unto you, My sheep hear
my voice, and they follow me." Now, what can I do then, preacher? What can I do? Number one, let
me tell you very quickly. Number one, I'll tell you what
I do and what you can do. Number one, you can take your
place before God as a sinner. Now scripture says God loves
sinners. That's what the Bible says. God
commended his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. Isn't that what it says? God
Almighty loves sinners. He loves sinners. For God so
loved the world that he gave his Son. Don't you question the
love of the Lord for sinners. He loves a bona fide genuine
sinner. He loved sinners. For sinners
he lived, and for sinners he died. He's called a friend of
sinners! The Son of Man is come eating
and drinking. You call him a gluttonous man
and a friend of sinners! My Lord's a friend of sinners. He had some hard words for those
religious Pharisees, but he had some tender words for sinners.
My Lord had some hard words. He had some piercing words for
those hypocrites. He called them a generation of
snakes. But my Lord, when he was here
on this earth, was always kind and tender to sinners. And our
Lord Jesus Christ came. He said, I came not to call the
righteous, I came down here to call sinners to repentance. Our Lord died for sinners. This
is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus
Christ came into the world to save whom? Sinners. Sinners. He came to save sinners. Christ died for sinners. He died
for the ungodly. God loves them. Christ is their
friend. Christ came down here specifically
on purpose to save sinners. He died for sinners. He, at the
right hand of God, prays for sinners. It was sinners who found
mercy when he was here on the earth, stopped by that woman
at the well. She was a double-died sinner
and knew it, and yet the Lord stopped there and talked to her
and brought her to salvation. Zacchaeus was a sinner. He climbed
up in a tree, and the Lord came by and said, Zacchaeus, you come
on down, I'm going to your house. What in the world is he going
to that fellow's house for? He's a sinner. He's a sinner. The publican in the temple beat
upon his chest and said, God be merciful to me, a sinner.
Christ said he went home justified. The thief on the cross. was a
sinner that even the sinners didn't want to have anything
to do with, so they crucified him and the Lord saved him. Can
you get down at the feet of Christ as a sinner? It'd be awful far
for some of you folks to come, but that's the place where God
meets you, at the feet of Christ. It'd be awful humiliating for
some of you to come down in the dust, but that's where God will
meet you, no place else. In the dust. God's got to do
you like he did Saul of Tarsus. He has to unhorse you, you're
too proud. God's got to bring you down.
The Syrophoenician woman, can you find your place at the feet
of Christ, admitting that you're a dog? willing to eat the crumbs
that he brushes from the table? Can you? Can you come down? Well,
that's what you can do. First of all, take your place
at the feet of Christ as a sinner. Back during the days of slavery
in the Old South, there was a Negro preacher who preached on one
of these great southern plantations. And he had people coming from
everywhere to hear him preach. And one night when he was preaching,
he was preaching the gospel. And one night when he was preaching,
his master, the man who owned him, the slave owner, came to
the edge of the crowd. Back then he listened to that
old black man preach the gospel. And the Spirit of God got hold
of his heart and convicted him of his sins. And after the service,
he came down and spoke a word to the old Negro preacher, and
he said, Sammy, he said, I'd like to be saved. Would you tell
me how to be saved? I'm a sinner. And Sammy said,
well, Master, he said, you see that old hog pen over yonder?
Yeah, he said, what's that got to do with me? He said, if you
want to be saved, you go over and get in that hog pen with
them hogs. Master's standing there with
a white suit on, you know, and a black bow tie and a big broad
brim hat, and he just turned and walked off in a huff. Next
night he came back to hear old Sammy preach again, and the Holy
Spirit really worked him over. He was going to hell and he knew
it. He was going to hell. He was a slave owner. He was
mean. He was greedy. He was going to
hell, and he knew it. He came down to old Sammy after
the service and said, Sammy, now, I don't want you to give
me any foolishness, but I want to be saved. Can you tell me
how? He said, yes, sir, I sure can. He said, you see that old
hog pen over there? You go get in it. Boy, he turned
and walked off. He was mad this time. He said,
I won't be back. And the next night he came back
again, knowing he heard old Sammy preach Christ and him crucified. He came down and said, Now, Sammy,
I'm in trouble. And he started crying. He said,
I'm going to hell, and I want to know the Lord. Can you help
me? Sammy said, Yes, sir, I sure
can. He said, Do you see that hog pen over there? And the master
turned and started walking, but this time not away toward the
hog pen. And Sammy stopped him when he
got about halfway, and he said, Master, what you going to do?
And the old man said, Sammy said, If I had to get in that hog pen
to be saved, I'm getting in the hog pen. And he kept walking. He got right to the rail fence,
and he started to put one foot up on that fence. Sammy said,
Master, you're not going to really get in that hog pen, are you?
He said, Yes, sir. Yes, sir, if that's what it takes to be
saved, that's what I'm going to do. You wouldn't really get
down in the mud with those pigs in that white suit, would you?"
Yes, sir, Sammy, if that's what it takes. I'm desperate. I'm
desperate. I don't want to go to hell. I'll
do anything. Master, you don't have to get
in the hogpen. You just got to be willing. You
just got to be willing. I'm not saying, my friend, that
you've got to come down here to the front and Talk about all
what you've done, how you've broken God's law and how you've
sinned against the Holy God. I'm not saying you have to get
down actually into the dust and into the dirt and into the mire.
I'm simply saying you've got to be willing. I'm saying before
a holy God, your very innermost thoughts must be exposed to be
against him, to be contrary to him. You've got to be willing. Are you a sinner? Can you get
down? I'm less than the least of all the saints. That's what
Paul said. There's nobody lower than I am. I have to reach up to touch a
snake's belly. That's how low I am. I'm guilty. Guilty. Are you? All right. Secondly, what can I do? What
can I do? Number one, you can take your
place as a sinner. God saves sinners. Secondly,
you can seek the Lord. I've heard you say sinners can't
seek the Lord. That's not what the Bible teaches.
The Bible says that sinners won't seek the Lord. The Bible says
sinners don't seek the Lord, but the Bible doesn't say sinners
can't seek the Lord. Their inability is their unwillingness. Christ said, You will not come
to me that you might have life. You should, but you won't. That's your trouble. That's your
trouble. The whosoever can'ts aren't giving
us any trouble, it's the whosoever won'ts. That's the problem we
have. You should seek the Lord. Zacchaeus
was seeking the Lord and climbed up in that tree, wasn't he? Sure
he was. The publican was seeking the
Lord when he went down to the temple to pray. The Ethiopian
eunuch was seeking the Lord when he'd gone to Jerusalem and came
back home reading the Bible. Didn't know what he was reading,
but he's seeking the Lord. Cornelius was seeking the Lord
when he sent for the apostle Peter, the woman with the issue
of blood, crawling over the sands of that city street, was seeking
the Lord. "'If I can just get to Him,'
she said. "'If I can just get to Him.' Where would I seek the Lord,
preacher? Seek Him in His I know He's here. I know He's in His
Word. This is His Word. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. He's right here in the Word. Seek Him in the sermon. I pray
God would give me the sermon this morning for you. This sermon's
for you. Are you seeking the Lord in the
sermon? Seek the Lord in His mercy. Seek the Lord in His cross. Seek Him! Seek Him where He's
found! Seek Him where He is. Seek the
Lord. He's not down there on the straight
corner. The Lord's in His Word. The Lord's in His holy temple.
The Lord's among His people. Where two or three are met together
in my name, I'll be there. Seek Him. Seek Him Sunday morning,
Sunday night, Wednesday night. Seek Him next week in the Bible
conference. If we're hearing His name, He'll
be here. Seek Him. And then I'll tell you the third
thing I'd do, I'd cry for mercy. That old publican in the temple
said, Lord, be merciful. You know, I'm convicted by this
verse of Scripture. You have not because you ask
not. You say, I'm not saved. Have
you ever asked the Lord to save you? Well, not in so many words.
Why not? I wanted a drink of water put
up this morning. I asked one of the deacons to
get it, and he got it. It wouldn't be here if I hadn't
asked him. It wouldn't be here. I wanted it, and I asked for
it. If any man liked wisdom, let him what? Let him ask of
God. God said, Ask, and it'll be given. Seek, ye shall find.
Knock, it shall be opened. The centurion said, Lord, heal
my son. Christ said, if you can believe,
all things are possible to them that believe. He said, Lord,
I believe. Help my unbelief. Have you ever asked the Lord
to help your unbelief? The thief on the cross would
have gone to hell if he'd kept his mouth shut. But he said,
Lord, don't you forget me. Would you remember me? Lord,
will you? Would you remember me? If a man
desires something badly enough, he ought to go where it's found
and ask for it. That makes sense, doesn't it? He ought to ask for it. Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Have you called? Now, you just
sit there in your rocking chair and rock your way to hell if
you want to, but if you're serious and you mean business and you
want salvation, I believe you'll ask for it. I will. Jacob said, Lord, I will not
let you go until you bless me. I'm not going to turn loose.
I'm not going to turn loose. And, brother, God blessed him.
God blessed him. Now, you think God's going to
send you a message, but you're mistaken. You think God's going
to send you a message, and you're going to wake up one day and
find out you're saved, but you're mistaken. Just as mistaken as
you can be. You read your Bible and see if
that's not right, you're going to seek the Lord. No man's ever
been saved by praying, but no man's ever been saved without
it yet. No man's ever been saved by calling on God. That's not
the way God saves sinners. He saves them by the death of
his son, but nobody's ever been saved yet without calling on
him. That's right. And then the fourth thing, you
can walk in the light that God has given you. Now, let me be
frank with you. God's not going to give you more
light till you walk in the light that he has given you, until
you're obedient to what he has taught you. What has God taught
you? Well, Brother May, first of all, I know I'm a sinner.
What you said about the old man in the hogpen, that's me. I'm
low, I'm low, I'm a sinner. I've broken the law of God. God gave his Son. This is the
record. God has given us eternal life,
and that life is in his Son. I believe that. Christ died on
the cross. That's all the hope a sinner has, Christ died on
the cross. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, now shalt thou
save. All right, what did the Lord say? To confess him before
men in baptism, to follow the Lord in baptism, go into all
the world, make disciples, and baptize them in the name of the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. If you shall confess
with your mouth Jesus to be Lord, and believe in your heart God
hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." Well, you
say, I believe, I believe. Have you confessed him? Well,
no, I haven't confessed him. Well, you're not walking in the
light you've got. You know you're supposed to. You know God's commanded
you to walk in the light God's given you. Whatever God's taught
you, receive it, believe it, walk in it. God will give you
more life. But now, we're not going to take
up tomorrow's lesson until we learn today's lesson. That's
what the Holy Spirit says. We're not going to skip two or
three days and learn next month's lesson unless we've learned today's
lesson. Today is the day of salvation.
Now is the accepted time. Behold, today is the day. Our Father, anoint the message
with the power of thy Holy bring sinners to call on the name of
Christ. Thou dost not owe us anything,
and we know that in our flesh dwelleth no good thing. But,
O God, we pray on the basis of thy covenant of grace and mercy,
that thou would show mercy to us. Christ died for sinners. Let me be one of the sinners
for whom he died. Christ came into the world to
call sinners. Let me be one of the sinners
he came to call. I ask thee for mercy. I ask thee
for grace. I ask thee for salvation, for
forgiveness, not on the basis of what I have done, but what
he did for me on the cross. And I confess Christ boldly and
plainly before this congregation. He is my Lord and my Savior,
my hope and my King. Lead others to do that in Christ's
name. Amen.