A message to you in this hour
is on the subject, some things that God cannot do. A wise old man once said, there
are three parts to truth. First of all, there is the search
after truth. Then secondly, there is the knowledge
of truth. And thirdly, there is the believing
of the truth. Three parts to truth. There's the search after truth,
there's the knowledge of truth, and then there's the believing
or acceptance of truth. Now what hinders our search after
truth? What hinders our search? Well,
first of all, I believe ignorance of the Word of God hinders our
search for truth, for spiritual truth. There's only one guidebook
when we're searching for truth. Truth about God, truth about
sin, truth about salvation, truth about eternal life. If we're
searching for truth about spiritual matters, there's really only
one guidebook, and that's the Word of God. And our search for
the truth is hindered because we are not listening to the Word
of God. We're listening to what men tell
us God says. We're allowing men to tell us
what God says instead of searching the scriptures to find out for
ourselves what God says. Turn to Acts 17 and listen to
verse 10 and 11. Acts 17 verse 10 and 11. And the brethren immediately
sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea, who coming thither
went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than
those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word, the word
of God, with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures
daily, whether those things were so." That's what I want you to
do. Don't allow a man to tell you what God says and depend
upon that. Let him tell you and then search
the scriptures yourself. One reason why we're hindered
in our search for the truth is we're allowing men to speak for
God instead of allowing God to speak for himself. We're ignorant
of the Word of God. Another thing that hinders our
search for the truth is tradition. Tradition. Do you know what tradition
is? I thought I knew what tradition is, but I looked it up to be
sure that I knew. Tradition. We talk about custom
and tradition. Listen to this definition of
the word tradition. This is it. from family to family by means
of speech rather than by means of the word. That's what tradition
is. Tradition is handing down beliefs,
information, and customs from father to son, from mother to
daughter, from daughter to her daughter, to granddaughter, to
great-granddaughter, instead of by the written word, handing
it down by speech. Now let me ask this question.
It would be interesting for you to examine your beliefs about
God and about sin and about salvation and about eternal matters. It
would be interesting for you to examine your beliefs and determine
how much of what you believe is actually what God says, and
how much of it is nothing in the world but tradition. Now the Bible tells us to be
ready to give a reason for the hope that we have, for the faith
that we have, for the doctrines which we hold. Can you give a
scriptural reason, or is it because, well, that's what your mother
and father That's what you've always been taught. Taught how?
By word of mouth, not by the word of God. Word of mouth is
dangerous. When something's handed down
from generation to generation and family to family, it has
a way of being changed just a little bit by each one until finally
you don't even recognize it as that which started with God.
In Matthew, chapter 15, look over there with me just a moment.
In Matthew, chapter 15, verse 8 and 9, our Lord says, this
people, Matthew 15, verse 8 and 9, this people draweth nigh unto
me with their mouth, and they honor me with their lips, but
their heart is far from me. In vain they worship me. You
say, it doesn't matter what you believe, just so you worship
God. Is that Our Lord said, in vain they worship me, teaching
for doctrines the commandments of men. The only way to worship
God is in spirit and truth. What hinders our search for the
truth? We say we're searching for truth,
and a search for truth is the first part of truth. Not going
to be found to research for. We're not born knowing the truth.
We search for the truth. But we're hindered by our ignorance
of the word of God. And we're hindered by tradition.
We've had our beliefs handed down to us from somebody else
by word of mouth. And it'd be most interesting
if we'd just sit down and take everything we believe and examine
it by the word of God. And we'd find out a lot of what
we believe is nothing in the world but hearsay and pure tradition. And then thirdly, what hinders
our search for the truth? I want you to listen to this.
Pride. P-R-I-D-E. Three words that are very difficult
for any of us to say is, I don't know. I don't know. I was down in Chattanooga, Tennessee
one time going through a cave called Ruby Falls. I never will
forget what the guide said. He said, I've been working here
for years and years and years. He said, I know all about this
case. He said, you ask me anything you want to. And if I don't know
the answer, I'll make one up. And that's about what we do.
Our pride will not let us say, I don't know. One old philosopher
said this. Listen carefully to this. An
old philosopher said, truth lies in a well. Truth lies in a well. I want you to get this. Truth
lies in a well. Many go down into the well to
find truth. But looking into the water, they
see their own faces, and they become enamored with their own
beauty and their own wisdom. They think they're seeing truth,
but in reality they're only seeing themselves. and a reflection
of what they think and what they are. And looking at themselves,
they think they have found the truth. They say it is so. Why is it so? Because I think
it's so. I think it's so. Are we really
looking into the water in search of truth? Or are we looking into
the water and seeing a reflection of ourselves? and what we think
and what we believe and what we consider, are we allowing
ourselves to be totally set aside and looking at nothing but God's
Word. This is what God said. Whether
it condemns me or convicts me or troubles me or confuses me
or mystifies me or whatever, God says it. And it's so. I accept it by faith. Well, the
second part of truth is a knowledge of truth. What hinders our knowledge
of the truth? A man, in order to find the truth,
is going to have to search for it. And he's going to have to
search for it with an open heart and with an open mind and with
a willing spirit. And secondly, what hinders our
knowledge of the truth? We often refuse to know all that
we can know. Somebody said, well, I'm walking
in what light I have. I doubt that. I doubt that very
seriously. I just don't believe that we
know all that we can know. I've heard of people leaving
certain passages of Scripture unread. I've heard of people
leaving certain passages of Scripture, certain verses and chapters,
unstudied, simply because they don't want to deal with the doctrines
that are taught in those verses. That's dishonest. That's totally
dishonest. I heard a man say one time, don't
go listen to that man. He'll disturb you. He'll confuse
you. Well, let me ask you this. Is it better to sleep peacefully
in error, or is it better to be aroused and awakened and disturbed? Which is best? I'd rather be
awakened. I don't want to sleep the sleep of death. Awake thou
that sleepest, and call upon the Lord. in Matthew chapter
23. I want you to turn there and
look at this verse of Scripture. In Matthew 23, verse 13, I verily
believe, I verily believe that there are actually ministers
and deacons and Sunday school teachers and hyper-pious religious
people who are protecting themselves and their families and their
friends and their churches from the truth. They have set themselves
up as guards at the church door to keep out the truth. You listen to Matthew 23, verse
13. Warned you scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites, for you shut
up the kingdom of heaven against men. You neither go in yourselves,
nor suffer ye them that are entering to go in. You do all you can
to keep them from entering the kingdom of God. You know, that
would shock a religious man if you'd tell him that. That would
shock a preacher if you'd tell him that, but Christ said it.
You won't listen to the truth yourselves, and you won't enter
the kingdom of God yourselves, and you won't let anybody else
enter in if you can keep them from it. A man is dishonest who ignores
a portion of God's Word because he doesn't understand it, or
because he doesn't want to deal with it. And many people are
leaving whole passages of Scripture unread and unstudied because
they dare not deal with the doctrines taught therein. That is dangerous,
and that will hinder your knowledge of the truth. And then thirdly,
The third part of truth is the belief of the truth. Now, if
you're going to know the truth, you've got to search for it.
It's going to take a diligent search in order to find the truth. Seek the Lord with all your heart,
and you'll be found of you. Secondly, knowledge of the truth,
and thirdly, belief of the truth. The Apostle Peter was sitting
by the fire after the Lord Jesus had been arrested and taken to
the soldiers' hall and beaten and mocked and cursed and persecuted. Peter slipped into the courtyard
there, and he was warming himself by the fire. Somebody came up
to him and said, while you're one of the disciples, he said,
No, I'm not. No, I'm not. While they said, Your speech
betrays you. You talk like one of them. No,
I'm not. I don't know. I don't know Jesus Christ. And
little girl came up and said, I saw him with the disciples,
I know he's one of them. And Peter threw in a few curse
words and said, I know not the man. Now what made him do that? According to his own confession
earlier, he knew Christ. He had a knowledge of who Christ
is. He confessed that. He said to
the Lord Jesus, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
God. Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou
hast the words of eternal life. So why did Peter deny with his
lips what he knew in his heart? If you find that out, you'll
find why some preachers don't preach the whole counsel of God.
Somebody says, don't they know it? Well, it's difficult for
a minister to go to school and a seminary and college and study
the Bible very long at a time or read any of the great old
works of the past and not be exposed to the whole counsel
of God. It's very difficult. If he doesn't
know it, he's a poor student. If he doesn't know the creeds
of other denominations and other churches and other movements
and other religions, then something's wrong with him in his study.
So most of them know it. But they denied. So why? And if you can find out why Peter,
sitting there by the fire, and he knew who Christ is, he knew
who Jesus Christ is, and yet he denied him. He said, I don't
know him. Well, first of all, fear. Perhaps
it was fear. Fear of disapproval. fear of
ridicule, fear of being censured, fear of suffering, fear of being
deprived of some of the comforts of this world. That'll make a
man compromise. That surely will make a man compromise.
Fear will do it. Well, perhaps gain. Perhaps one
feels that he can gain more by just ignoring some of the more
difficult parts of God's Word and dealing only with the accepted
patterns. You know, compromise costs little
here. It costs a whole lot in eternity.
But it's a lot cheaper here. It's cheaper to compromise. It's
cheaper now, but it'll be awfully expensive later. Awfully expensive. Christ said, you deny me, I'll
deny you before the Father which is in heaven. It may cost you
to confess Christ now, but if you don't, it'll sure cost you
later. Somebody said, if the word of
God to a minister and church is not a burden now, it surely
will be at the judgment. It'll be a burden. What popularity. Paul said, if I please men, I'm
not the servant of Christ. So he says by that, that I can't
be the servant of Christ and please man. And then perhaps,
turn to John 6, verse 60. Perhaps it's just plain old flesh. Just the coddling of the flesh.
In John chapter 6, verse 60, the Lord Jesus, here it says,
Many therefore of his disciples, when they heard this, said, This
is a hard saying. Who can hear it? Some of the
things I'm going to say to you this morning may fall in that
category. This is a hard saying. But let's read on a minute. When Jesus knew in himself that
these followers, these learners, murmured at it, he said, does
this offend you? Does this offend you? Does the
doctrine of God's power sovereignty and his covenant mercies and
his covenant grace and his son's death, does this offend you?
The helplessness of man, the inability of the flesh, the unrighteousness
of Adam's sons, the sufficiency of Christ's death, does this
offend you? What, and if you shall see the
Son of Man ascend up where he was before? Where do you see my full glory? Where do you see the full revelation
of my sovereignty? Where do you see the full revelation
of my glory? I'm going to give you from God's
Word the straight truth this morning on this subject, some
things that God cannot do. And I want you to search the
Scriptures to see if these things be so. Now, I won't ask you to
turn to these scriptures because we're going to move on in our
message, but everybody who knows anything about God knows that
God cannot lie. Titus 1, 2 says God cannot lie. There's some things God cannot
do. When we say there's some things God cannot do, it's not
detrimental to the character of God. It's exalting to the
character of God, because God can do nothing except that which
is in keeping with his holy nature. He can't lie. God is truth. Secondly, God Almighty cannot
be tempted with evil. The scripture says in James 1.13,
when a man is tempted, let him not say, I'm tempted of God.
God Almighty cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he
any man with evil. God cannot be tempted. Thirdly,
God cannot fail. The scripture says in Isaiah
42, 4, He shall not fail. God can't fail. Any time I hear
a preacher talk about the failure of God, I know he doesn't know
God. One man out in St. Louis, Missouri said some time
ago, Hell is a monument to the failure of the triune God. That's not so. God cannot fail. Hell is a monument to the failure
of man, but not to God's failure. And
then there's nothing that God doesn't know. God cannot learn
anything. God cannot learn anything. God knows all things. The Scripture
says, Known unto God are all his works from the beginning.
God can't learn anything. Now anybody who knows anything
about God knows that those things are so. God cannot lie. God cannot be tempted with evil. God cannot fail. God cannot learn
anything. But I want to give you four things
that we have a way of ignoring that God cannot do. Number one,
God cannot accept you or you or you or me into his presence. No way that God can accept us
into His presence unless we have a perfect righteousness. No way. I turn first of all to Psalms
chapter 68. Let me show you this, Psalms
chapter 68. In Psalm 68, first of all, let's read verse 2, Psalm
68. As smoke is driven away, so drive
them away. As wax melteth before the fire,
so let the wicked perish at the presence of God." Let the wicked,
and that's us, perish at the presence of God. The wicked cannot
stand in His presence. as the candle is blown out by
the rushing wind, so the wicked will perish, their light will
flicker out in the presence of God. Turn, if you will, to Psalms
24. Psalms 24, verse 3 and 4. Listen to it, Psalms 24, verse
3. Who shall ascend into the hill
of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy
place? That's a good question. Who's
going to ascend into the holy hill of God? Who's going to stand
in the holy place? Are you? Are you? In your rags? Defiled by your
sins? Corrupted by your iniquities?
No, sir. I'll tell you who's going to
stand in His presence. He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart. who hath not lifted up his soul
under vanity, nor sworn deceitfully." Turn to Psalms 5, verse 5. Now, my friends, this is so. God cannot receive you into His
presence. God cannot accept you into His
presence unless you have a perfect righteousness, unless you are
holy with clean hands and a pure heart. Psalms 5, verse 5, "...the
foolish shall not stand in his sight, thou hatest all workers
of iniquity." Preacher, what are you talking
about? Here's what I'm talking about. God is holy. Isaiah said, "...in the year
that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord." high and lifted up, his
train filled the temple, and the cherubims and seraphims fell
before him, covering their faces, and crying, Holy, holy, holy,
Lord God of hosts." God is holy. God cannot fellowship with iniquity. God cannot look upon evil. That's the reason God turned
His back on Christ when He was hanging on that cross. It's because
Christ was numbered with the transgressors and identified
with the rebels, and Christ took our sin, and God cannot fellowship
with sin. God is holy, holy. so holy it's impossible for me,
confined to the flesh, to describe his holiness. But I can describe
what we are. We are unholy. There's no need
to go into our unholiness by birth, by identification with
Adam, our unholiness by nature, our unholiness by thought, our
unholiness by imagination. The Scripture says there is none
good, no, not one. There is none righteous. Their
hands are bloody. Their throat is like an open
grave with the smell of the dead. The poison of snakes is under
their lips. They are filthy. All have gone
aside. There is none that seek after
God. They are all unprofitable. That is us by nature. We are
unholy. But I'll go further than that,
turn to Isaiah 64. Here's a verse of Scripture that
will take your breath away, Isaiah 64, verse 6. Not only is our
evil thought or our thoughts and our words and our deeds unholy,
but even our righteousness in the sight of God is unholy, because
most of the time it's motivated by selfish purpose. He says in Isaiah 64, 6, we are
all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as
filthy rags. I knew that my evil thoughts
were filthy rags, but my righteousness," that's right, in the sight of
God, even your righteousnesses are filthy rags. God's holy. And people are going about to
establish their own righteousness, their own holiness, but it won't
hold up. It's nothing but filthy rags.
Well, how in the world are we going to stand in God's presence
Turn to Romans 5.19. God has provided for us a righteousness
with which he can be pleased. God has provided for us a perfect
holiness that will enable us to come into his presence. And
that perfect righteousness and holiness is the obedience of
his Son, Jesus Christ. In Romans 5, 19, as by one man's
disobedience, many were made sinners. That's Adam's disobedience. When Adam sinned, death and judgment
and condemnation passed upon all men. Even so, by the obedience
of one, shall many be made righteous. Christ came down here as a man.
what the law couldn't do because of the weakness of the flesh.
Christ in the flesh obeyed the law, and gave unto us, and imputed
unto us, and charged to us, and transferred unto us as our representative
and substitute a perfect holiness, turned the Galatians In Galatians,
it's chapter 4. Galatians 4, verse 4 and 5. Listen to the Word of God. In
Galatians 4, verse 4. But when the fullness of time
was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under
the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might
receive the adoption of sons. And Paul said in Hebrews 10,
Let us therefore come boldly into the holiest by the blood
of Christ, who hath opened for us through his flesh and through
his obedience a new and living way into the presence of God,
and we can call him our Father, and God can accept us in Christ. And God can commune with us in
Christ. And God can fellowship with us
in Christ, because in Christ we have clean hands and a pure
heart. But out of Christ, a holy God
can have no dealings with an unholy sinner. He can have no
communion and no fellowship with an unholy sinner. He can't do
it. You say, well, we're all unholy sinners. In Christ, we're
as holy as He is. Without holiness, no man will
see the Lord. And that's not a patched-up holiness,
and that's not a pretty good holiness, and that's not a real
good holiness. Brother, that's the holiness
of God. Without that holiness, nobody's
going to see the Lord. But thank God I have it, and
I don't have it through my own efforts, I have it through the
efforts of him who cannot fail. And then the second thing that
God can't do, God cannot pardon sin without full payment. Can't do it. To talk about God
putting away sin without punishment is to question God's justice. To talk about God putting away
sin without punishment is to question God's righteousness.
God says, I will by no means clear the guilty. No means clear
the guilty. You say, by Christ he cleared
the guilty. No he didn't, he punished the
guilty. Christ took our guilt and God punished it. He punished
the guilty. He didn't clear the guilty. He
punished the guilty. Christ was numbered with the
transgressors. Christ took our guilt. That's
what the Scripture says. Our sins were laid on Him. He
took our sins in His body on the tree. And God did not clear
the guilty. God punished the guilty. God
slew the guilty. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. You say, well, I've sinned and I'm going to live. You're
going to live because Christ took your place and died. And
died. Turn to Isaiah 53. Here's how
you're going to live. You're going to live because
in Isaiah 53, verse 5, listen, and substitute the word my for
our. He was wounded for my transgressions. God didn't clear the guilty.
God punished the transgressions of the guilty. He was bruised
for my iniquities. The chastisement of my peace
was upon him, and with his stripes I am healed." The wages of sin
is death. Christ took your wages. Sin,
when it's finished, bringeth forth death. Christ took our
sin, therefore Christ took our death. It's sin that separates
us from God. Turn to Isaiah 59, just over
two or three pages, Isaiah 59 verse 2. Your iniquities have
separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his
face from you. That's what hell is, eternal
separation. That's what the ultimate punishment
of sin is, eternal separation. Your sins have separated you
from your God. When Christ died on the cross,
he said, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? Your sins have separated
you from your God. But he had no sins. Yeah, he
took my sins. And he was bearing my separation
and my punishment. God hath provided a substitute. God cannot pardon sin without
punishing sin. Now, if you want to walk down
an aisle and shake a preacher's hand and call that salvation,
you're welcome to try it. But I guarantee you that God's
going to punish sin. If you want to go into a baptismal
pool and hope that that water will take the wrath of God off
your soul, you're welcome to try it. It's a free world. And
the only soul you're going to be accountable for is your own. If that's what you want to rest
your hope in, that's okay. It's your business. If you want
to come to a priest and let him dip a wafer in wine and slap
it on your tongue and call it salvation, you're welcome to
try. You're welcome. But my friends, let me tell you
this. I know sin brings death. I know the wages of sin is death.
I know God will not clear the guilty. And my hope and my faith
and my trust is that when Christ went to that cross, he took my
sin. And before a holy God, he justly
paid for them. He took my fine, he took my debt,
he took my guilt, he took my sins in his body on the tree,
and there in those hours in which he hung on that cross, he paid
my debt. Now, I'll confess the Lord in
baptism. Because that's identification
with him in his death, burial, and resurrection. I'll come to
the Lord's table with you and remember his death till he comes.
But salvation is in what he did, not in what I do. Salvation is
in what he did, not in the elements or the symbols or the ordinances
or the church or the law or good works or giving or tithing or
fasting or anything else. It's in Christ's death. He ransomed
my soul. And the only way that God Almighty
can pardon sin is with the full payment of the blood of his Son.
Now, the third thing that God can't do, God Almighty cannot
send the man to hell for whom Christ died. He can't do it. God cannot send a man to hell
for whom Christ died any more than the officers of the law
can put a man in prison for a crime for which he's already suffered,
or extract from a man a fine that he's already paid. Payment
God's justice cannot twice demand, first at my bleeding, sure with
his hand, and then again at mine. I cannot, to save my life for
a moment, conceive that Jesus Christ shed his blood in vain.
I don't believe that. I don't believe the guilt of
my sin was punished in the person of Christ and then God's going
to turn around and punish me in hell for the same sin. I don't
believe that. I don't believe that Christ died
in vain. I don't believe he suffered in
vain. I don't believe he shed his blood in vain. I cannot for
a moment conceive of the fact that Christ Jesus died on the
cross for all of Judas' sins, and then a holy God sent Judas
to hell to pay for the same sins for which Christ died. I don't
believe that. His blood is effectual. Turn
to Romans chapter 8. In Romans chapter 8, verse 33,
Now, my friends, when Paul says, Who is he that condemneth? Who
can condemn me? Who can lay anything to my charge? He doesn't say, Nobody can lay
anything to my charge because I've been a good boy. No, he
said, Nobody can condemn me because Christ died. Paul doesn't say,
No one can condemn me because I preached, and I joined the
Church, and I did this, that, and the other. No. He says in
Romans 8, 34, Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that
died. The reason there is no condemnation
to us is because we're in Christ Jesus and because Christ died. Now last of all, and I close
with this, God cannot take a man to heaven with hell in his heart. That's the reason two miracles
of God have to be performed. God cannot take a man to heaven
with hell in his heart. That's the reason two miracles
have to be performed. The first miracle is the new
birth, and the second miracle is the eradication of the old
nature. Except a man be born again, he
cannot enter the kingdom of God. That's what the scripture says.
By grace in the new birth, in regeneration by the power of
the Holy Spirit, we have received a new heart, a new nature, and
a new desire. By the grace of God, we love
God and we hate sin because we've been born again. We've been regenerated. We've been brought from death
to life, from darkness to light, by the new birth. We're new creatures
in Christ Jesus. That's the miracle of the new
birth. God takes the hell out of our hearts and puts in there
his love. He sheds abroad his love in our
hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit, not by the power of a
decision, but by the power of the Holy Ghost. Now the second
miracle that is performed will be performed at the coming of
Christ. The scripture says in 1 Corinthians 15, will you turn
over there? 1 Corinthians 15, verse 49, As
we have borne the image of the earthy, natural men walking on
this earth in flesh and bones and blood, we shall also bear
the image of the heavenly. Now this I say, brethren, that
flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. needed of
corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery.
We shall not all sleep, that is, we're not all going to die.
Christ is going to come some day just like that. And maybe
we won't die, but we shall all be changed. Verse 53, For this
corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. We've got to be changed. We're
changed first time in the new birth we receive a new nature,
we receive a divine nature, we receive the nature of God in
the new birth by regeneration when we come to faith in Jesus
Christ. But we also still have that old
nature, that nature that is in conflict with the Spirit. But
one of these days when Christ comes, we're going to receive,
we're going to receive his image in perfection and that old nature
is going to be eradicated. It's going to be put aside. That
corruption is going to put on incorruption and mortality immortality. God can't receive us into his
kingdom or into his glory with hell in our hearts. It's got
to be broken and taken away. Our Father, use the message for
thy glory. Teach us more thyself. Bring
us to a diligent search for truth and a knowledge of truth and
a belief of the truth. Help us to receive thy word in
our hearts and say, Lord, we walk by faith, not by sight.
We receive it not because we said it, but because you said
it. In Christ's name we pray, amen.