Verse 18, For the preaching of
the cross is to them that are perishing foolishness. But unto us which are being saved,
which is the correct translation, unto us which are being saved,
it is the power of God. Now, when is a person saved? When will a man be saved? There are about as many answers
to this question as there are churches. There are about as
many answers to this question as there are preachers. Is a
man saved because he believes some facts about God? The Scripture
says, you believe in one God, you believe that God is one,
you believe that God is one in three, and three in one, a Trinity,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, you do well. The devil believes
that, and he trembles. So a man is not saved because
he believes in God. A man is not saved because he
believes that Christ died on the cross. and was buried and
rose again, because the devil believes that, and the devil
is not saved. The devil knows more about the
death and the burial and the resurrection of Christ than we
do, because he was certainly a witness to these great events. So a man is not saved because
he believes some facts about God. A man is not saved because
he gives mental agreement or mental assent intellectual ascent
to some facts about God Almighty. Secondly, is a man saved because
he lives a life that is more moral than the life which his
neighbor lives? He looks at his neighbor and
he said, well, I certainly do not do the things that he does
or say the things that he says. My life, compared with his life,
is a good life. Therefore, I must be Well, our
Lord Jesus gave an example of two men who went to the temple
to pray. One of them was a religious man. One of them was, compared with
his neighbor, a moral man. One of them was, compared with
the people of his day, a good man. And therefore he prayed. Christ said with himself, God,
I thank you that I'm not like other men. I'm not unjust. I'm not an adulterer, I'm not
an extortioner. I go to church and I fast and
I pay tithes and I give alms to the poor. Our Lord said the
other man would not so much as lift his eyes to heaven, but
he smote on his breast and he cried, O God, be merciful to
me, the sinner." And Christ said the man who called himself a
sinner went home justified, forgiven, pardoned. The other man was not
saved. He was not justified. He was
a moral man. He was a just man compared to
his neighbor. He was no extortioner or adulterer,
and he was very religious in that he fasted and paid tithes,
but he wasn't saved. Thirdly, is a man saved because
he's baptized and joins the church? We hear people today who preach
that if you will, what they call, obey the gospel, and you will
be baptized, that you will be saved. Well, is this true? Is
a man saved because he's baptized and because he joins the church?
Simon Magus was baptized personally by the apostles. And yet the
Apostle Peter turned to him a little later and said, Your heart is
not right with God. A man whose heart is not right
with God, regardless of the rituals and ceremonies through which
he goes or ordinances, is not saved. For God looketh not on
the outward countenance, God looks on the heart. Simon Magus
was not saved. Simon Magus made a bargain to
buy the Holy Ghost with money. And Peter said his heart was
not right with God. Although he joined the church,
his heart was not right with God. Although he had been baptized,
his heart was not right with God. Although he was a companion
of the apostles, his heart was not right with God, and he was
not saved. Is a man saved because he attends
church regularly? I go to church every Sunday.
I'm proud to announce that I haven't missed a Sunday in the house
of God for ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five years. I go to church
regularly, and I hold an office in the church. I'm a deacon,
or I'm a Sunday school teacher, or I am the treasurer, or I am
a trustee. Does that mean you're saved?
There was a man called Judas Iscariot who attended the meeting
of the disciples every time they met. He was with the Lord for
three and a half years. He attended every meeting they
had. He was even at the instituting
of the Lord's table. And yet, and he was the treasurer
of the group. The scripture says he carried
the money, he paid the bills, he took care of the business
of the group of the apostles. He certainly was not saved He
did not know the Lord. He hanged himself and went to
hell. Next is a man saved because he follows religion for a long
time. I've met older people. I've asked
them, Where do you worship? Well, I don't go to church much
anymore. Kind of got out of the habit.
Oh, I used to go every Sunday. When I was young, I was faithful
to God's house. I went to church. I taught Sunday
school. I was an officer in the church,
but lately I just got out of the habit of going. He's a person
saved because he pursues righteousness for a while, and then as he gets
older, he gives it up. He follows the Lord's leadership
for the majority of the years of his life, and then when he
gets to be sixty-five, seventy, seventy-five, he loses interest,
and he just stays home. And he doesn't read the Word,
he doesn't seek the Lord, he doesn't pray, and he doesn't
fellowship with the people of God. Is he saved? Not according
to the Word of God. The Bible says, he that endures
to the end, the same shall be saved. The Bible says in Hebrews
chapter 3, verse 14, we're made partakers of Christ if we hold
the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end. Christ
is a son over his house, whose house are we if we hold fast
the confidence and rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. We hold the beginning. Where
did we begin? At the cross. That's where we
winded up. Where did we begin this journey?
The beginning of our confidence. What was it? It was repentance
toward God and faith in Christ, and no man's saved unless he
closes his life the same way. What is the beginning of our
confidence? It's faith in the Savior, confidence
in the Savior, love for the Savior, a seeking heart after the Savior. And if a man doesn't come to
his deathbed with that same confidence, he is not saved. That's what
the Bible says. All right, is a person saved
because he believes that the Lord Jesus heals? I turn on my
television, I see these divine healers. They buy a scarf for
75 cents a yard and sell it for a dollar an inch. They go around
anointing people with oil and laying hands on the sick, giving
them a good shake, and claiming to heal them. And they say, if
you don't believe that the Lord Jesus heals, you don't know the
Lord. Well, I say you can believe the
Lord heals and still not know the Lord. In John chapter 2,
verse 23, I believe Christ heals the body. I've seen him do it. In James, chapter 5, it tells
us, "...is any sick among you, let him call for the elders of
the church, and let them anoint him with oil, praying for him,
and God will heal him." God does heal. Christ healed multitudes
in the New Testament. All healing is of God. Life is
of God. The beginning of life and the
end of life and all in between. Christ does heal, but here are
some people who believed in the healing power of Christ who were
not saved. In John 2, verse 23, Now when
he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, in the feast day, many believed
in his name when they saw the miracles which he did. Why, they
saw him heal a blind man, they said, Why, that's for real. They
saw him heal a lame man, they said, That's for real. There's
nothing phony about that, that's for real. But what's verse 24? These people believed in his
healing power, they believed in his miracles, but Jesus did
not commit himself unto them, because he knew them, he knew
all men. And he needed not that any should
testify of man. He knew what was in man. He knew
they followed him simply because of the miracles. That's why he
followed them. And when he went out of the miracle
business, they'd go out of the believing business. And just
as soon as he quit ministering to their wants and to their desires
and to their needs physically, they'd quit believing, quit following
him. They follow him on the mountain, but not in the valley. They follow
him in the daylight, but not in the darkness. They were miracle
believers. When is a man saved? He's not
saved because he believes some facts about God. He's not saved
because his life's a little better than John Doe's life. He's not
saved because he's baptized and joined somebody's church. He's
not saved because he attends church regularly and somebody
elects him to an office and he acts religious all his life.
He's not saved if he follows religion for a while and then
when he gets old, drops it. And he's not saved just because
he looks into a television camera and grins and says, I believe
in miracles. When is a man saved? Turn to
Ephesians chapter 2. First of all, a person is saved
when a work of grace, a work of God, has been performed in
his heart and in his life, because salvation is a work of God. Salvation is not something I
do for God, something he does for me. Salvation is a work of
God in us and for us. Now look at Ephesians 2. I want
to run through three or four verses here. Ephesians 2, verse
8. For by grace are you saved For
by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves,
faith's not of yourselves, it's not a product of the human heart,
it's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship. We who are saved by grace, we
who are believers in Christ, we who are redeemed by the mercy
of God, we are His workmanship, we are His workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained,
that we should walk in them. Turn to Philippians, chapter
1. Here's what we're saying. Salvation is a work of God. It's
a supernatural, miraculous work of God in us and for us. Philippians 1, 6. Listen to this.
being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun
a good work in you," has God begun a work in you? "...will perform it until the
day," or finish it, "...until the day of Jesus Christ." God,
who started the work, will finish the work. It is God who begun
the work, it is God who continues the work, it is God who finishes
the work. He that hath begun a work in
you will finish it until the day of Jesus Christ. Turn to
Philippians 2. In Philippians 2, verse 13, For
it is God which worketh in you. Now listen to this. both to will
and to do His good pleasure. It's not only God that gives
you the ability to do His good pleasure, it's God who gives
you the desire to do His good pleasure. It's not only God who
gives you the ability to repent and the ability to believe, it
is God who gives you the will to repent and the will to believe. It is God which worketh in you
both to will and to do His good pleasure. Salvation, now listen
to this, is a lifetime process. It's a lifetime process of grace. Now I want to read to you from
2 Corinthians chapter 1. 2 Corinthians 1 verse 9. Now here's what I'm saying. This
thing of salvation is not an isolated experience. You walk
up to a man and you say, Are you saved? Yes, sir, I'm saved.
I had an experience back in 1947. I had an experience back in 1948
or 49. Therefore I'm saved. Therefore that doesn't mean you're
saved. Repentance is not an isolated once-for-all act. Repentance
is a state of being. We have repented, we are repenting,
we shall repent, or we never repented. Faith is not an isolated
emotional feeling that takes place in the past in a once-for-all
act. We have believed, we are believing,
we shall believe, or we never believe. John said they went
out from us, and they went out from us because they never were
of us. If they had been of us, no doubt
they would have continued, because faith is a continual state of
being. So is repentance. So is trust. Now look at 2 Corinthians 1-9. We had the sentence of death
in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves But in God,
which raiseth the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and
he doth deliver us, in whom we trust that he will yet deliver
us. You see that? God delivered us
by his grace, by his mercy, by the blood of his Son. God is
right now delivering us, and we trust he will yet deliver
us. Salvation that does not finally
bring us to the image of Christ our Lord is not of God. Salvation
that does not enable the believer at the close of his life to say,
the time of my departure is at hand, I have fought a good fight,
I have finished my course, I have kept the faith, is not of God. The preaching of the cross to
them who are perishing. They're in a state of death.
They're in a state of unbelief. It doesn't matter about their
religious experiences. They are perishing. To them,
the preaching of the cross is foolishness. To them who are
being saved by God's grace, for we are His workmanship, He has
begun a work, He is now accomplishing that work, He will finish that
work. To them who are being delivered,
who are being convicted, who are being conformed to Christ's
image, who are having repentance worked in their heart, who are
the recipients of a continued faith, The preaching of the cross
is to them the power of God. Now I want to present five statements
now regarding salvation. Five statements that will answer
the question, when is a person saved? When is a person saved? First of all, we will be saved
when we see ourselves as we really are. That's when we're going
to be saved, and not until. We're going to be saved when
we see ourselves, not the human race, ourselves, not the world,
ourselves, not the nations, ourselves, not the Gentiles, ourselves. When we see ourselves as we are,
that's when we're going to be saved. Someone said years ago,
all who see the judgments of God against sin are not saved. But all who are saved see the
judgments of God against sin. Now, everybody who sees God's
wrath against sin, everybody who sees God's judgment against
sin is not saved. But everybody who is saved will
see vividly and realistically the judgments of God against
himself. Turn to Psalm 51. Psalm 51. Now listen carefully to this. I'm saying that all who are saved
vividly and realistically and truthfully do see God's wrath
against their own personal sin. In Psalm 51, verse 3, David said,
I acknowledge my transgressions, my sin, is ever before me. You ever prayed that way? Against thee, thee only, have
I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest
be justified when thou speakest, and that thou mightest be clear." when thou judgest." God, when
you judge me and find me guilty, and if you send me to hell, you
are perfectly right, because I have sinned against thee. David
condemned himself. If you would judge yourself,
you will not be judged. That's what the Scripture said.
The Lord Jesus said, I've come to seek and to save that which
is lost. In Romans 5, verse 8 through
10, it says, Christ died for sinners, Christ died for the
ungodly. Paul said in 1 Timothy 1, 15,
this is a faithful saying and worthy of the acceptation of
all men, that Christ came to save sinners, of whom I am the
chief. I heard a story years ago About
a little three-year-old boy, four years old, named Billy. He was out in the backyard playing
one day, and his mother was busy not paying a great deal of attention
to him, and Billy started chasing a butterfly. He chased that butterfly
out into the woods. They lived in a suburb right
on the edge of the woods. And Billy chased that butterfly
for about a half hour or 45 minutes or an hour, going in circles,
round and round, this way and then that way. And as he chased
the butterfly, he got deeper and deeper and deeper into the
woods. Well, Billy was lost, but he
didn't know it. He was confident and cocky. And
when he stopped chasing the butterfly and finally realized that he
couldn't catch it and couldn't have it as his own, He decided
to go back home. Well, he's totally lost. He's
out there in the middle of the woods, and there's no way for
him to possibly find his way home. But he doesn't know it.
And so he sets out in this direction, and he says, home is that way.
And he starts walking. And he walks a little while,
and finally he realizes that home is not in that direction.
But he's not yet lost. He is, but he isn't. He's got
three more ways to try. So he turns and says, home must
be this way, and he sets out this way, hunting his way home,
trying to find his way home. Well, he walked for a while,
and finally he realized that home was not in that direction.
He's even more lost now than he was at first, but he doesn't
know it. He won't admit it. He's got two more ways to try.
Home's not that way, and home's not that way, then it's bound
to be either that way or that way. So he sets out walking this
direction, he walks till he grows so weary, and he's getting a
little trouble now, a little bit concerned. He's just got
one more way to try. Can you see the natural man trying
to find God in religion? He makes a profession of faith.
He's lost, but he doesn't know it. He's unable to save himself,
but he doesn't know it. And a preacher comes in town
and says, if you'll walk down the aisle, take me by the hand,
and promise to live a good moral life, you go to heaven when you
die. So he does that. He tries that. But after a few
weeks or months or years, he finds out there's no peace in
his heart, no rest in his spirit, no joy in his heart. And so he
tries something else. He goes down and rededicates
his life a half a dozen times, and reconsecrates his life, but
then feels good for a while, but then that wears off. And
then another preacher comes along and tells him that he's been
led astray, you know, that he needs to do something else. And
he does this and does that and does the other, and he still
doesn't have any relationship with God, any vital union with
Christ, any living experience in his soul. He's tried everything
religion has to offer. So Billy tries this way now. And he walks for a while and
finds out that home's not that way. Now then, he's lost. And he knows he's lost. And he
knows he can't find his way home. And he knows there's no way in
his power that he can be delivered. And so Billy sits down on a stump
and he starts crying. And he starts crying, Daddy,
I'm lost. Daddy, I'm lost," and he gets
a little louder all the time, "'Daddy, I'm lost! I'm lost!'
Like the apostle Peter, when he tried to walk on the water,
and the wind blew, and the waves grew rough, and the lightning
flashed, and he started to sink, and he cried, Save me or I'm
going to perish. There's nothing I can do to help
myself. There's nothing my friends can
do. There's nothing anybody can do but you. I'm lost." Turn to
Psalms 107. That's the place that God brings
a man before he saves him. He brings him to the place where
he is lost. hopelessly, helplessly lost,
without hope, without strength, without Christ, without God in
this world, that he is within. In Psalms 107, it says in verse
2, "...let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed
from the hand of the enemy." and gathered them out of the
lands from the east and from the west, from the north and
from the south. They wandered in the wilderness
in a lonely way. They found no city to dwell in.
Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. And then they
cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them
out of their distresses. Have you ever been in trouble?
Now, preacher, I've always had the upper hand. I've always had
control of the situation. I've always been able to do what
somebody told me to do. The thing you need to do is quit
doing what people are telling you to do, shut your mouth, and
cry out to God from your heart to show mercy. Down here in verse
10 it says, "...they sit in darkness, in the shadow of death, being
bound in affliction and iron, because they rebelled against
the words of God. They contemned the counsel of
the Most High, therefore He brought down their heart with labor.
They fell down, there was nobody to help, nobody to help, and
then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble." and he delivered them out of
their distress. A man will be saved when he gets
in trouble, when he sees himself as God sees him, when he sees
himself as he is, when he sees himself as a sinner. Our Lord
came to seek and to save the lost. Christ died for sinners. He said, I'm not come to call
the righteous, I'm come to call sinners to repentance. A sinner is hard to find. You say, Purchase, there are
a lot of sinners. Find one. I challenge you to find one.
Find a man or a woman who is a sinner. Find a man or woman
who is a genuine, bona fide sinner. Not a person as good as the hypocrites
in the church, not a person who's better than the man down the
street. Find me a sinner. A lost, helpless, hopeless sinner,
wandering in the wilderness in a lonely way, with no city in
which to dwell, knowing that he's condemned the counsel of
the Most High and rebelled against the laws of God, and is hopelessly,
helplessly lost, crying unto God in his trouble. Find one.
There's not many of them here this morning, and there's not
many out there in Ashland. There's good people, plenty of
good people. You can find all the good people
you can use, but you can't find many sinners. Christ, when he
came down here to the earth, found all the good people he
wanted to find, and finally they nailed him to a cross, those
good people did, and hired false witnesses against him. But every
time he found a sinner, one like Mary Magdalene, one like Zacchaeus,
one like the woman found in adultery, one like the rest of them, he
saved them. one like the Apostle Peter, one
like James and John, one like Saul of Tarsus, who spilled the
blood of many Christians upon the sands of Jerusalem and other
cities. He saved them. But these good
people, they couldn't get along with the Lord, so they crucified
Him. They were saving themselves and
didn't need Him. Turn to Isaiah 55. I'll tell
you when a man will be saved. Secondly, he'll be saved Not
only when he sees himself as he is, as he is, no fringe, no
gingerbread, just as he is, as God sees him. Filthy, guilty,
defiled, a rebel, unclean, filled with, covered with the leprosy
of evil when he sees it, when he sees it. And secondly, a man
will be saved when he seeks the Lord. when he seeks the Lord. Isaiah 55 verse 6 says, Seek
ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is
near. Jeremiah says, Seek the Lord
with all your heart. Seek him, and you'll be found
of him. The woman with the issue of blood
was seeking the Lord. Nobody could turn her from her
goal and from her quest. She's seeking the Lord. Blind
Bartimaeus was seeking the Lord. He cried out, O Jesus, thy son
of David, have mercy on me. Somebody said, be quiet. He cried
out the more. They said, he's not concerned
about you. He cried out the more. He's seeking
the Lord. The Syrophoenician woman with
the sick daughter was seeking the Lord. The disciples themselves
tried to turn her away. She would not be denied. The
Ethiopian eunuch was seeking the Lord. He didn't know the
Lord he was seeking, but he was seeking Him. He went all the
way to Jerusalem to worship. He's reading a book that he couldn't
understand, but he was seeking the Lord. The thief on the cross
was seeking the Lord. And I'll tell you, you'll be
saved when you start seeking the Lord. Not the right church. I wouldn't give you a flip for
what they call the right church. Not the right doctrine. When
you start seeking the Lord, when you set your affections and your
goal on one thing, and that is that I may win Christ and be
found in him. that I may know him and the power
of his resurrection. I have people come to hear me
preach in meetings this past week, preach a message about
salvation with a little bit of power. One woman came from another
church in town. She said, That's the first time
I've ever heard the gospel, the first time in my life. And I
sure am interested." Well, she wasn't back the next night. She
had a garden club meeting. She's not going to be saved.
He said, put you, you're judging. No, I'm just stating facts. I'm
not judging anybody. I'm just saying when a man's
hungry, he'll come to the table, and he won't be satisfied till
you feed him. I'm saying if a man's got children
who are hungry at home, he's going to hunt a job, and he's
not going to quit till he finds one. And a man who's lost and
who knows he's lost and knows tomorrow may find him in hell
is not going to go to sleep, he's not going to rest, he's
not going to stop seeking the Lord until he finds him. That's
so. He's not going to stop seeking
until he finds him. Now, death's too sure, and sin's
too awful, and the judgment's too certain, and hell and eternity's
too long for a man to put this thing second in his life. Oh,
that I may know him. Seek him with all your heart.
He said, when you seek me with all your heart, you'll find me.
but not until. Christ will not be the second
fiddle player in your band. He's going to play number one
chair. He's not going to sit in your
band. He's going to be Lord of all, or he's not going to be
Lord at all. And when you get serious about
this business of salvation, when you get serious about this matter
of your relationship with God, when you get serious about this
thing of eternal life, you'll find it, but not until. He's
going to seek the Lord. Well, preacher, where would you
suggest that I seek the Lord? I'd seek him first in his Word.
The Scripture says, He hath begotten us unto a living hope through
the Word. Of his own will beget he us through
the Word of truth. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel, it's the power of God unto salvation. I'm not talking
about these preachers that give book reports and essays and talk
about civil rights and civil wrongs. I've got no time to do
that. I'll let the Congress do that. I'm interested in your
soul. And the only way you're going
to be saved is come to a knowledge of Christ through his Word. You
seek him in the Word, the Word of God, and you'll find him.
That's where he's revealed, in his Word. And then I'll tell
you this, I'd seek him in the sermon. I'd find somebody preaching
the gospel and I'd listen to him. Not somebody entertaining
me, not somebody building a great church or cathedral, not somebody
building a great denomination, not somebody entertaining the
young people on their road to hell. I'd find somebody who's
preaching Christ and him crucified, and I'd camp on his doorstep
till God revealed that Christ to me. For it pleased God by the foolishness
of what? Preaching, to save them that
believe. I'd seek Him in the assembly
of the believers. Turn to this, Matthew 18, verse
19. Our Lord said this, verse 20,
Matthew 18, verse 20, where two or three are gathered together in my name.
Christ said, I'm going to be there. I'm going to be there. If they are met in my name, I'll
be there. You'll be saved when you seek
the Lord in his word, in the sermon of his minister, in the
assembly of his people. There may not be many of them,
but you better find them. You better find them. Those who
know the Lord. Those who know the Lord. Thirdly,
a man will be saved when he bows to the authority of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now brethren, the Bible, and
I want to be honest with you now, the Bible doesn't know anything
about a doormat named Jesus. Now that's what preachers are
preaching now, poor little Jesus. He's up there just crying his
eyes out because you won't let him have his way. The Bible doesn't
know anything about a doormat named Jesus. The Bible knows
something about a person who is the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Lord of glory, the Lord who sits on the throne, the Lord in whose
hands all authority has been given, the Lord who says, I have
all power over all flesh that I should give eternal life to
as many as thou hast given me. He died that he might be Lord
of the dead and the living. He is King. The Bible doesn't
know anything about a fire escape called Jesus. Somebody says,
I've accepted Jesus as my Savior, and when I get to the end of
the road, my wife will collect my insurance policy and I'll
go to be with Jesus. They both amount to about the
same thing. They bought the insurance policy and slipped it in the
drawer and never looked at it again. They paid it up, and the
husband rode in his wheel and said, Honey, down in the safety
deposit box is an insurance policy when I die. You get it out and
cash it in. And when he got converted down
to Baptist Church, he slipped his religion in the same safety
deposit box, and when he comes to die, he's going to say, Now,
Lord, I've been believing. And Jesus is supposed to just
be glad to have him come home. That's not so. If thou shalt
confess with thy mouth Jesus to be what? Lord. Lord. And believe in thine heart, God
hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. The gateway to the kingdom of
God is the kingship and the lordship of Jesus Christ. Whatever He
did, whether it's in the surety of the covenant, whether it's
standing for us through Old Testament sacrifices, whether it's dying
for us on the cross, whether it's calling us by His Spirit
or keeping us by His grace or crowning us in glory, He is the
Lord of glory, He is the King of glory, and He holds the scepter
and the power and the right to reign in my heart and in my life. What I have belongs to him, because
he's my Lord. And we'll be saved fourthly when
God reveals his Son in us. Paul said, I travail, my brethren, I travail
unto Christ be formed in you." Christ is not a doctrine, he's
a person. Christ is not a plan, he's a
person. Christ is not a system of theology, he's a person. And
God revealed his Son, Paul said, in me. And salvation is not education
of the mind. I like to see people read good
books I like to see them become doctrinally accurate, but that's
not salvation. Salvation is not correction of
manners. I like to see people live a good
witness and a good testimony, but that's not salvation. Salvation
is not just acceptance of theology, becoming a Baptist or a Catholic
or a Methodist or something else. Salvation is a living, vital,
personal, intimate union with a living Lord. And you can cut
into the believer's mind, and you'll find thoughts of Christ.
And you can cut into the believer's heart, and you'll find love for
Christ. And you can cut into the believer's
will, and you'll find the law of Christ. And you can cut into
the believer's passions, and you'll find a desire for Christ.
Because Christ is his substitute, his wisdom, his righteousness,
his sanctification, and his redemption. And Christ is his life and his
love. And Christ is his Lord and his
God. And Christ is the delight of
his very existence, and always will be. Now, you can meet a
fellow like me and forget me. But you meet my Lord, I guarantee
you can't forget him. You can fall in love with somebody
and fall out of love with them, but you can't fall in love with
Christ and ever find any reason not to love him eternally. That's
so. When you come to meet the King
of glory, when you meet him, when he takes up his abode in
your heart, when he comes to live in your soul, he'll become
a part of you, and you'll become a part of Him, vitally, personally
united, and everything else and everybody else takes second place.
Or there's a place for everybody, but not Christ's place. Leave
the Lord? Never. Turn from Him? Never. Rather, we grow in grace
and the knowledge of Christ, and we'll be saved when we are
perfectly conformed to His image. His image. The day that Christ
comes again and we're raised from the grave and we stand in
his perfect likeness before the Lord of Glory, that's when we
will be saved. Now I'm here to softly yet firmly
declare unto you that because you made a profession of faith
back yonder years ago, that doesn't mean you're saved. If you're
not being saved, if you're not being conformed to his image,
see me in thirty years. If you're not still faithful
to the Word of God and faithful to the faith of Jesus Christ,
you never knew the Lord. You met some little peanut Jesus
that some preacher conned you with, and threw you a curve,
and you joined his church, and you're going to hell for your
trouble. Now that's so. But when you meet the Lord of
glory, Everybody in town can desert him, but you belong to
him, and you can't help but say what you've seen and declare
what you've heard. Like that old lady back in the
Revolutionary War, Granny Peebles. The British were coming, and
all the able-bodied men grabbed their guns, their swords, their
muskets, and they headed out in the streets, and she grabbed
her broomstick And she headed out there with them. Somebody
grabbed her by the apron, turned her around and said, Granny,
where are you going? She said, I'm going to fight the British. And
they said, you can't fight the British with a broomstick. She
said, I can let them know whose side I'm on. I can let them know
whose side I'm on. And I'll guarantee you that.
I can let this world know whose side I'm on. God's not always
on my side because I'm not always right, but he's always right,
and I'm on his side, always. And I'm being saved, and I trust
he will deliver me. I hope by his grace that it's
never said of me, the dog has gone to his vomit and the sow
back to the water. I hope that I'm not as those
who draw back, because God takes no pleasure in those that draw
back to perdition. Now you say, well, that's Zed
Baptist doctrine. I don't know and don't care.
That's Bible doctrine. We are saved. We have been saved. We are being saved and we're
going to be saved by God's grace. And it's all of God. And I'm
seeking the Lord. Life is a continual pursuit of
God. A seeking of God. Ask, keep on
asking, and you shall receive. Seek, keep on seeking, and you
shall find. Knock, keep on knocking, and
it shall be opened. That's what it says. May God
give you the grace to do so, and me too. It's my prayer in
Christ's name. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven,