This is an interesting chapter
here, Exodus 33. For the sake of brevity, I'm
going to acquaint you with what I believe took place in this
chapter. This tabernacle in which Moses met God is not the tabernacle
in the wilderness. This is a special place of meeting,
a special tent. The word tabernacle is tent.
If the earthly house of our tabernacle be dissolved, a tent, we have
a building, a house not made with God. Our bodies are called
a tent because they're so frail. They're likened to a shepherd's
tent, just a temporary lean-to that's so susceptible to immediate
destruction. But there was a little tent called
a tabernacle. in a special place, in the place
occupied by the Israelites, and that's where Moses went to meet
God. It says in verse 9 that the cloudy
pillar descended and stood. Moses entered into the tabernacle,
the tent, and the cloudy pillar descended and stood at the door
of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses. Verse 10,
And all the people saw that cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle
door, and the people rose up and worshipped every man in his
tent door. And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a
man speaketh to his friend. That's the situation. That's
what took place prior to these three requests that Moses made.
Moses said, Lord, show me your way. Show me your way. You call me to deliver these
people out of Egypt into the promised land, into the land
of Canaan. Show me your way. I want to know your way. There's
a way that seemeth right to us, the end of which is destruction
and death, the way of human reason and logic and so forth. And Moses
said, Lord, I want to know your way. Christ is God's way. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. And then he made the second request, and he said,
Lord, if you don't go with us, if your presence go not with
us, then we don't want to go. We want to be where you are.
We want you to be with us. And then the third request is
a significant one, and this is the one I want us to look at
this morning, verse 18. And Moses said, Lord, show me
your glory. Show me your glory. Now, you
know, if the average religionist today were to preach on the subject,
the glory of God, or think about the glory of God, or ask God
to demonstrate His glory, he would think in terms of some
great miracle, some great unusual, supernatural, strange and mysterious
happening. And Moses had seen all those
things. Moses had seen the bush that burned and was not consumed. Now that would appeal to some
of us. See, there is a God, there's
a bush burning and it's not consumed. And then Moses cast a rod down,
it became a snake, and the seers of Egypt cast their rods down,
they became snakes through hypnosis or something, I don't know how
they did it, maybe the pirate Satan. But then Moses' rod ate
up theirs, I believe, Then Moses reached down and picked it up
in his rod again. And then all the plagues that came upon, when
the river Nile became a river of blood, that astounds some
of us. We'd be pretty much impressed
with that as far as God's glory is concerned. But when it came
down to crossing that river, when the river dried up, when
it parted and the water The ground was dry, they went through on
dry land. That would have impressed us quite a bit. And we would
have been satisfied, possibly, with seeing all those miracles.
When we went out one morning and picked up bread off the ground,
or a rock gave forth water, but Moses had seen all these things,
but he knew that he had not seen God's chief glory. Now, my friends,
God is infinitely glorious in himself. infinitely glorious. If there were no eyes to behold
Him, He would be glorious. If there were no lips to sing
His praise, He still would be glorious. If there were no creatures
to serve Him, He would be glorious. If there were no feet to follow
Him, He would still be glorious. His power is glorious. God is
glorified in His power. That's so. God made the heavens
and the earth. You know, David said how wonderfully
I'm made. impressed him, how wonderfully
I'm made. Human body's a masterpiece. We make our cameras, but we've
never made anything like the eye. We make our receiver sets,
but there's never been two like these. I've heard in stereo a
long time before they ever invented stereo. The heart, if we could,
Gerald, if we could fix a carburetor that lasts longer than the heart,
we'd be somewhere. All of our inventions fold up. All of our
machines play out. And the heart just keeps beating.
Old Adams beat for 800 years. God made the heart. The lungs,
the respiratory system. We get our billows down to the
blacksmith's shop and puff on those iron coals, you know, and
after a while, a hole in them. It gives out, you know. And these
lungs just go on. God made them. And really and
truly, if it wasn't for sin, they'd last forever. You know
that? This old body changes every seven
years. If it wasn't for sin, it'd go
on forever. It will someday. God'll give us a new body. God's
power. He made all things. It didn't
just happen. God created all things in His own wisdom. The
heavens declare the glory of God. And I'm amazed at the glory
of God's power. That's not His chief glory. When
Moses said, Danny, show me your glory, he didn't invent him another
world, or create him another world, or create another man.
See? See how glorious I am? His power is glorious. I'll tell
you something else, his holiness is glorious. Isaiah was overcome
by his holiness. Everybody that ever saw God in
his pure holiness and glory has been overcome. Nobody's ever
shouted and leaped a pew that saw the Lord. but rather they
faint and fall at his feet as a dead man. Isaiah said, I saw
the Lord high and lifted up, his train, majesty filled the
temple. And even the cherubims and seraphims
closed and covered their eyes and said, holy, holy, holy, holy,
Lord God of hosts. Holy God. And Isaiah said, when
I saw that, I said, oh, woe is me. I don't belong here. I'm a man of unclean lips, and
I dwell amidst a people of unclean lips." Daniel, who purposed in
his heart, saw God in his glory, and he said, all my beauty melted
into corruption. John, the beloved disciple who
dared one day to lean on the chest of our Lord, when he heard
him and saw him in his glory, fell at his feet like a dead
man. God's righteousness shall not
the judge of the earth do right. God cannot lie. I ought not,
but God cannot. And then His justice is glorious,
pure, right, swift. Who is like unto the Lord our
God? Who will by no means clear the guilty? God will and must
punish sin. His justice and righteousness
are glorious. God's wisdom is glorious. God is wise. His majesty, His
faithfulness are all glorious. But here Moses says, Lord, show
me your glory. Show me your chief glory. Show
me your greatest glory. I want to see that which gives
God the greatest glory. And God said in verse 19, I will
make all my goodness, goodness pass before thee. I will proclaim
the name. by which I am called before thee.
I proclaim my attributes and character summed up in one. I
will be gracious." I will be gracious. When Moses asked to
see God's glory, Almighty God chose to reveal to Moses his
grace. When God glorifies his grace,
he glorifies all his attributes. For His grace is the platform
on which His perfection is exhibited. His grace is a light that reveals
His whole character. His grace is His chief glory
and eternity. It will take eternity to set
forth the glory of His grace. Let me show you something in
Ephesians chapter 1. If you'll turn over there just
a moment, back many, many years ago, we had a preacher here from
Virginia. who preached on Ephesians 1,
the most impressive message I ever heard him preach or ever heard
on this subject. In Ephesians chapter 1, you have,
and I'll try to give you this briefly, you have the work of
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in redemption, in
the redemption of a soul, in the redemption of sinners, Ephesians
1. In Ephesians 1 verse 3, It says, Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ, according as he chose
us in Christ. We're talking about the Father
now. The Father chose us in Christ before the foundation of the
world that we should be holy and without blame before him.
In love, having predestinated us, this is the Father, unto
the adoption of children by Christ to himself according to the good
pleasure of his own will. Now the Father did that. Now
what's the next verse? To the praise of the glory of
his grace. That's why he did it. God the
Father hath blessed us with all that we need, and all that His
love requires, and all that His justice demands, and all that
we can possibly require throughout eternity. He's blessed us with
all these spiritual blessings in Christ because He chose us,
because He predestinated to have a people like Christ, because
that was His will. And He did it all to the praise
of the glory of His grace. All right, now notice the next
few verses. We have the work of the Son. In whom? That is, in His Son. He made
us accepted in the Beloved. In whom? In the Son. We have
redemption through His blood. He came down here and redeemed
us. He paid the price. He satisfied the law. He fulfilled
the law of God. He satisfied the justice of God.
He took our sins in His body on the tree. He paid the price.
He was buried and rose again. In Him we have redemption. We've
been redeemed. The ransom has been paid. We've
been bought back. You're bought with a price. We
have the forgiveness of sin in Christ. We've been redeemed in
Christ. We have the forgiveness of sin
in Christ according to the riches of his grace. And verse 9 says,
he's made known unto us the mystery of his will. He's revealed the
mystery of the gospel to us. And verse 11 says, in him we
have obtained an inheritance. We have an inheritance that's
undefiled, that's reserved in heaven, that paid it not away.
He said, I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare
a place for you, I'll come and receive you unto myself that
where I am, there you may be. And we're predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will." Why? Here it is again, that we should
be to the praise of his glory. That's why the Son did what he
did, that his grace may be glorified, that forever The riches of His
grace may be glow without. All right, we have the work of
the Spirit, verse 13. You trusted in Christ. In Christ
you trusted after you heard the word of truth. After you heard
the word of truth, the gospel, you had to hear the gospel. You
can't call on Him whom you do not, have not believed. You can't
believe in Him of whom you haven't heard. You can't hear unless
you hear the gospel. Man can't trust an unrevealed Christ. I'm
not saying that God can't save a man without a minister, but
I tell you this, God can't save a man without the gospel. Christ
is the gospel. And I don't care how the gospel
comes to you, if it comes to you through the written Word,
if it comes to you through the preached Word, or if it comes
to you through the witnessed Word, but it'll come to you through
the Word. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word. You're
going to hear the Word of God somehow. Either have ears to
hear, let him hear. Christ said, he that heareth
my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting
life. We're going to hear the word. You trust it after you heard,
heard, heard. And it's not just hearing with
these ears. It's hearing with the heart.
He that heareth my word and believeth. All right, you heard the word,
the gospel of your salvation. How did you hear that word? The
Holy Spirit revealed it to you. in whom also you believed, and
you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise." Here's the
work of the Holy Spirit, who quickens us, who regenerates
us, who calls us, who opens our ears and our eyes and our hearts
to receive the Word. Dead men don't hear. Dead ears don't hear. God gives
new ears. And he says, verse 14, the Holy
Spirit is the earnest. That word is pledge. When a boy
proposes to a girl, he's sitting on the sofa, and he proposes
to her, and she says, I'll marry you, and he pulls out a little
box, and there's a ring, and he puts it on her finger. That's
an engagement ring. What's that? That's his promise. You know, we have breach of promise
suits. Fella backs down on that, she
can sue him. And she got the ring to prove it. He gave me
a token. I'm not married yet. I'm not
his yet. We're not joined together yet.
But I have his promise. And I'm not like Christ yet,
but I have his promise. His Spirit bears witness with
my spirit that I'm a son of God. I've been betrothed to Christ.
I'm engaged to Christ. And the Holy Spirit's the earnest,
the token, that's what that is, token, of our inheritance until
it comes in. I'm the world's richest man.
No, you're not either. Yes, I am, too. Yes, I am. My inheritance is in glory. And
the token of it, the earnest of it, is the Holy Spirit until
it comes to pass. All right, verse 14, the last
one, "...to the praise of His glory." And verse 7 of chapter
2, look over here, and he talks about, "...you who were dead
hath He quickened," and so forth. And then he says, verse 7, "...that
in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of
His grace toward us." in Christ Jesus. God's greatest glory is
His goodness, is His grace, is His grace. Now let me give you
three things. Show me your glory. And God said,
Moses, I will be gracious. And I realize I speak as a man
here because that's the only way I can speak. John in the
book of Revelation described heaven. He talks about streets
of gold and walls of precious stone and gates of precious stone
and so forth. I'm just not totally sure that
we're going to actually hook it around on those shiny gold
streets in glory. I wouldn't be a bit surprised
if some of this language is not figurative. I wouldn't be a bit
surprised if some of this language is It's stated to us as men. When he's talking about the riches
of heaven, the first thing we think of is gold, silver, precious
stone. In fact, when he talked about a man's ministry, you build
on it gold, silver, precious stone. Well, we don't. We build
people on it, foundation Christ. But he's comparing that with
wood, hay, and stubble. And I speak as a man here, but
I have to in order for us to learn. God has attributes. Here's the first point for you
preachers to take in note. God's grace is manifested in
the eternal covenant. Now, back yonder before the morning
stars sang together and before the sons of God shouted for joy
and before the world was created, before its foundations were ever
laid, God said, let us make man. Now you read that in Genesis,
let us make man. God said let us make man. Now foreknowledge is one of the
attributes of God or the characteristics of God. God knows all things. The only way God can know, I
hear people talk about foreknowledge in the sense of knowing something
will come to pass. and therefore decreeing it because
he knew it would come to pass. In other words, we say, God whom
he foreknew. And somebody says, well, that
means he saw we would believe and he chose us to be his children.
Now, let me tell you something. The foreknowledge of God is foreordination. God knows that something will
come to pass because God has the power to bring it to pass.
Now, I have hindsight. I know what did happen. I can't
remember it real well, some of it, but I know what did happen.
And I have present sight and understanding. I know what is
happening now. I'm standing here before you
with an open Bible and some notes here that I've prepared to bring
a message to you. But from this second right now,
in the future, I know absolutely nothing. Now, I can suppose some
things, but not definitely. I can suppose that we're going
over to my house and eating lunch today. That's what we did last
Sunday. I can suppose that we'll meet
again tonight at seven or the sun will set and so forth. But
there's no way, and I say, well, I know sure as the sun comes
up in a moment. Well, I really don't know that.
You see what I'm saying? You can't have any foreknowledge
unless you have the power of foreordination. And I'm saying
that even God cannot have any foreknowledge about what will
happen unless he has the power to bring it to pass, because
it just might not happen that way. Foreordination, that's what
foreknowledge is, just foreordination. Whom he foreknew, that means
he foreordained. The reason God knows what will
come to pass is that's what God willed in his sovereign purpose
to come to pass. So God said, let us make man.
And foreknowledge says, if man is made with a will, man will
fall. That's what foreknowledge says.
I said, speak as a man. I know God didn't discuss this
with his different attributes. I don't know what took place,
but I do know that God in wisdom did all that he did back before
the world was made, back before the world existed, back before
its foundations were laid. God said, let us make man. And
foreknowledge said, if man is made with a will, he'll fall.
He'll exalt himself. He'll seek the throne of God,
the very throne of God. That's what man will do. God's
foreknowledge said that. And justice spoke up and said
if he does, he'll die. The justice of God, the justice
of God stood up and said if man lifts his hand against God's
holiness and righteousness, man must surely die. God's justice
must be satisfied. And grace spoke up even in that
hour, the grace of God, the heart of God. The grace of God interceded
even then and asked, can not a way be found to save men and
still satisfy justice? Cannot a way be found to deliver
man. Cannot a way be found to redeem
man, to save man. God's justice must be honored. God's righteousness and holiness
must be honored. But God's gracious and wisdom
said there is a way. There is but one way. And that way is God's own Son. bearing man's guilt as man's
representative, suffering that justice might be satisfied. And
love brought him. Love brought him to this earth.
So you see, the grace of God, even in that council hall of
eternity, even in that awesome time when there's none but God,
when God decreed and purposed all that He was pleased to do,
even in that hour, His grace was really the prominent attribute. Wouldn't you say that? Even in
that hour, now you think about that a moment, God's justice
demanded retribution. God's foreknowledge in its wisdom
and in its, God's foreknowledge in its awareness said if man's
created as a robot, he'll serve you forever, but if he's created
with a will, he'll fall. If you give him a will, every creature
has failed under every dispensation. The angels, man in the perfect
garden, Noah, only family saved after the flood, David on a throne,
Solomon with all the wisdom a man could hold in his head, the disciples
who walked with Christ himself, Judas Pharaoh. If man for naught has said he's
created with a will, he'll fall. Justice said if he falls, he'll
perish. Grace was the dominant character. It says, is there not a way for
him to be saved? Is there not a way? So that's
the reason I'm saying that even in eternity past, if you're looking
for the cheap glory of God, You look for it not in his power,
not in his justice, not in his righteousness, not in his holiness,
but in his grace. All right? Secondly, grace in
its highest glory is manifested at Calvary. Grace is manifested
throughout the entire pilgrimage of our Lord on this earth. He
loved children. When the children, women, brought
their little ones to Him, and the disciples said, get these
kids out of here, you know, the Lord, the Master didn't have
time for them. He said, now wait a minute, you let those little
ones come to Me, such is the kingdom of God. If you wise fellows
don't get converted and become like these little children, you
won't enter the kingdom of God. Our Lord was gracious. Our Lord,
those rough fellows brought Him that woman found in adultery,
and they would have stoned Him. stoned her, and he said, You
that are without sin cast the first stone. And then he stood
and said, Woman, where are your accusers? Hath no man accused
thee, neither do I. Our Lord calls Zacchaeus down
from the tree, the worst man in the town. God, the Lord Jesus,
cries down in the land of the Gadarenes. His grace is manifested
all through his earthly pilgrimage. He is gracious to people, kind
and loving. But oh, I tell you, you want
to see the grace of God, go to Calvary. And there the perfect,
holy, immaculate, infinitely pure Son of God took my wretched,
filthy, guilty sins in His body and hung on that cross between
heaven and earth and bear my shame and my reproach. No one
has seen the glorious grace of God. in its true manifestation
who has not been to Calvary. Oh, the love that drew salvation's
plan. Oh, the grace that brought it
down to man. Oh, the mighty gut that God did
span at Calvary. Everything that transpired prior
to that hour pointed to Calvary. And everything that's taken place
from that hour to this hour points back to Calvary. There's the
grace of God. That's the grace of God. The grace of God causes
it to rain on the just and the unjust. The grace of God causes
the sun to shine, to warm us, to make our crops to grow. The
grace of God gives us everything that we have. But I'm telling
you, if you want to see the grace of God manifested, go to Calvary
and see Him suffering for our sins and our shame and in our
state. That's where the grace of God
is manifested. marvelous grace of our loving
Lord. And then thirdly, the grace of
God is manifested in our calling. Brethren, I got to thinking about
this yesterday or Friday when I was working on this message.
God made Adam. Now, if the Lord operates like
we do, And he's so strict and so harsh. Now, God is righteous. Don't
misunderstand. The Lord God is holy and righteous
and just. But God is long-suffering. God
is merciful. And I'm saying that His long-suffering
and mercy and grace is His chief glory. It's the prominent and
dominating attribute of God. I believe if you were to ask
me, describe God, well, I would point out to these other attributes,
but I believe the crowning attribute, that which identifies God in
the most effective, effectual manner, is He is love. He is gracious. I really do.
I believe that's the dominating attribute. God is gracious. He
told that Moses said, show me your glory. He said, I'll be
gracious. I'll be merciful. That's what I'm saying. He chose
it himself. I'm not out of line. I'm not out of order when I say
that he chose it himself. Now, God created Adam and put
him in the garden. He gave him everything he could
want. He required of him practically nothing, just one simple law.
He made him a king and a priest and a ruler. He made him a son
and gave him everything. And Adam, just like Satan, said, God, move
over, I'm taking over. That's exactly what he said,
I'm going to be like God. Now, what's the voice of God? What's the next thing God said
after Adam fell? Adam, where are you? You see
his grace? Where are you? I'm looking for
you. If you and I would have been
looking for him, we would have written him off right then. That's when
we would have done it. Let him transgress against us. Let him violate our rules. Let
him go contrary to what we say. Write him off. Mark him out.
Put a line through his name. God says, where are you? God's
long-suffering to us. Patient, merciful. David. I told this story up in Beckley.
I'll not take the time to tell it like I told it then. But oh,
how good God was to David. Chose him from among his brethren.
He was the least, the youngest. Made him king of the greatest
nation, God's nation. Gave him riches and honor and
glory. Promised him that his throne
would would be forever and that the Messiah would come from his
loins and sit on his throne, all of these things. And then
David behaved so shamefully, adultery, murder, denying and
betraying friends, and finally he sat down one day after all
of this conniving and planning and atrocious deeds had been
accomplished, satisfied that he and his trusted general were
the only people that knew about this. But God knew about it. And God sent Nathan to David,
and he said to him, King David, you sinned against God. You have
betrayed his trust. You have murdered a man and taken
his wife for your own. You have lied to the people.
God's going to deal with you. But now watch, for he added,
but the Lord hath forgiven all your sins. God's so gracious,
isn't He? God's so gracious. The Lord hath
forgiven. Think about Saul of Tarsus. Let's
think about this man and see him in his false righteousness.
He was the most despicable person, I suppose, that ever lived. One
of the most despicable. Proud, arrogant Pharisee. So pious and holy and self-righteous. He hated the church, he hated
believers, he hated the Lord Jesus Christ, but he was so religious
and righteous and pious and law-abiding and ceremonious, an orthodox
man. See him on his road to Damascus,
going down there to murder the people of God. Well, it looks
like God would make a special hell for him, doesn't it? This
looks like God would open the ground and swallow him up like
he did the sons of Korah and send him to hell with his shoes
on. I would have. I expect you would have too.
He'd come in here and kill about four or five of you godly people.
I'd put him in an electric chair, make him hang him by his thumbs,
would you believe. And here he is on his road, breathing
out his blasphemy and cursing. And the living Lord God said,
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? I tell you, our God is gracious. And you know, He's called you
and me. He's called you and me. And that's
the greatest manifestation of His grace seen in anybody's calling,
is He called me. I like what John Newton said
to William Jay. One time William Jay came in
John Newton's study, Newton was sitting behind his desk reading.
Mr. J said, say, he said, have you heard that the Lord saved
Mr. So-and-so down in Bath County?
And Newton said, well, I'm so pleased to hear that. And Mr. J said, well, I tell you, John,
he said, I'll never despair of anyone else now that God saved
that character. And Mr. Newton looked at William
J and he said, Mr. J., since the Lord saved me,
I'm never despaired of anyone. Because when he saved me, he
saved the chief of sinners. Do you believe that? His grace. And I experience his grace, I'm
experiencing his grace right now just standing here. Just
enabled to call upon him, enabled to worship him, enabled to cry
out of a father. and able to pray, and able to
have your fellowship. The grace of God is His dominant
attribute. And then let me show you this.
Grace will be seen in our resurrection. Turn to 1 John 3. 1 John 3. 1 John 3, verse 1. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed on us, that we should be called the sons
of God. It doth the world knoweth us
not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know
when he shall appear we'll be like him, we'll see him as he
is." You talk about grace. One of these days, this body
of flesh, this body of sin and weakness and corruption is going
to be put in the ground. And God's going to raise me in
incorruption, immortality, in strength, glory, and power, and
make me like His Son. And the sole reason and the basis
and foundation for that great gift is His grace. His grace. Grace is not a new
piece of cloth put on an old garment. It's not the alteration
of an original plan. It's not the addition on an old
house. It's not an afterthought because
of a catastrophe. It's by the purpose and will
of God from all eternity. And it's free, and it's sovereign,
and let me tell you this, it's unchangeable. It's unchangeable. He said the
gifts and calling of God are without change. God's gracious. And we need to take this good
news to all who will give us an ear. God forgives. Let us learn to be gracious like
our God and merciful. Our Father, we praise and thank
Thee for Thy grace. Thy mercy to us in Christ Jesus. Oh, how rich, how free, how full,
how sovereign, how unchangeable. We feel like David who said,
Lord, who am I? And what is my house that you
should show me such great and marvelous grace? And yet this
is what you said. that ye chosen the foolish, and
the weak, and the base, and the despised, that no flesh should
glory in your presence, but he that glorieth, let him glory
in the grace of God. Show us thy glory, and we know
when ye do, it'll be a manifestation of your grace in Christ Jesus
our Lord. Bless these words that have been
spoken, but most especially thy word which has been read. For Christ's sake we pray, Amen. Now let me add something to what
I said at the beginning of this service, and I'm not going to
keep you long because the message has been preached
and the invitation has been given And I know that we're accustomed
to what the world calls an altar call or an invitation in which
men respond to what the preacher has preached. The response to
what the preacher has preached is a heart response, not a physical
response. A heart response. The physical
response to what the heart believes is to follow the Lord in baptism
and to give evidence by our daily walk and conduct and conversation
that he's done something in our hearts. But any time that, please
feel free, any time that God impresses you, and I would not
hold back little children. I say to the boys and girls,
you know, God called Jeremiah when he was just a lad. Paul
said of Timothy, from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures
that they will make thee wise unto salvation. I do not put
any time limit or age limit on God's grace and God's mercy.
Generally, I'm saying this, generally, there's a time of revelation,
there's a time of God revealing to us his gospel, there's a time
of learning. When you say that, Brother Jay, I think generally
I would say to little ones, if God has done a work and you're
convinced of it, I'll be glad to baptize you. But generally,
to little ones, I say, now, you sit and listen, and you weigh
these things, and if God's doing a work of grace, He'll complete
it. If God's ministering to your heart, God will reveal Christ
to you. And when you come to that place where it's a total
commitment, where it's a lifetime commitment, where it's a trust
in Christ alone, and you know that, and your life is cast upon
His altar, Your soul and all that's within you belongs to
God, belongs to Christ. He's your Lord and Master. And
you want to declare it, then publicly declare it. But please
don't feel any reason and urgency to rush into professions and
rush into commitments and rush into decisions. I'm saying that
for the benefit of children. Wouldn't you agree with that,
Brother Jeff? For the benefit of children. I'm so desirous
and so concerned that our children come to the knowledge of Christ.
These boys and girls sitting down here in front of me, I want
you to know Christ. I want you to love Him and trust Him and
believe on Him. You say, can't a child be saved? Absolutely.
In fact, every man that's saved becomes a child. He certainly
does. But I want you to understand
who God is to whom you're coming. I want you to understand what
Christ did to give you the privilege of coming. I want you to understand
where Christ is now. He's our mediator, our high priest,
our intercessor. I want you to understand that
Christ accomplished what he accomplished in order that God may be just
and justify you. You can understand what I'm saying,
that here's a judge who's on a righteous bench and a man's
guilty. He can't set him free. He just can't say, well, don't
do it anymore. You're on home to mama, you know.
The law's got to be satisfied. And that's what Christ did. He
took our place before the bar of justice and righteousness
and met God's law and satisfied it. And because he's paid the
debt, then God can set us free and still be righteous. I want
you to understand those things, please. And that's the reason
I don't pressure the children. The reason I don't say, now,
if anybody, you know, don't want to go to hell, who wants to go
to hell? Let's not scare. Men aren't scared
to Christ. They're wooed to Christ. I'm
not coming to Christ because I'm scared He'll cast me into
hell if I don't. I'm coming to Christ because
I love Him and He loves me and He gave Himself for me. And because
if there were no hell, I'd still want to know Christ. I'd still
want to praise Him for eternity. He's worthy to be praised. If
there's no such place as hell, He's worthy to be praised. Christ
is. He's the Lord of glory. You pray for me, and pray for
Jay, and pray for these preachers that are here, and pray for our
young people, and pray for one another, and ask God to give
us some wisdom. I do know that what's going on
out there is wrong. I know this owl-dragging and
pressure tactics and soul-winning and numbers-racking and whoop-de-doo
in the name of God and jived-up religious rock-and-roll singing
is rotten to the core. It's corrupt. It's not of God.
I want no part of it. I'm turned off by it. I'm sick
of it. I'm nauseated of it. I don't
hear any of them saying anything. Well, you think you're the only
one right? No, there are two or three more. And I tell you,
there are not many. There are not many. I'm going
to go the other way to try to glorify God and to try to be
true to your soul. And if you don't feel that I
put enough pressure on people, you pray for me. If you feel
like I'm not persuasive enough and I don't exercise enough means
and methods, you pray for me. I want to, but I want them in
keeping with the book. God saves. God saves, and He
saves individually, He doesn't save gangs of folk. And I pray
for you. My heart's desire and prayer
to God for you is that you might be saved.