The Lord willing, tonight I'm
going to bring a message on a subject which I dealt with
briefly on the radio last week, the New Cross and the Old Cross,
tonight in the evening hour. Brother Ronnie is going to sing
for us, and I'll be preaching on that subject, the New Cross
and the Old Cross. Now if you will, I'd like for
you to turn back to Micah, the sixth chapter. Sometimes we preach to just a
portion of our congregation because the subject with which
we deal does not apply directly to them. But my message this morning is
a message for everybody here. There isn't a person in the congregation,
young or old, very educated and not so very
educated, male or female, rich or poor,
to whom my message will not apply, not to soul. It is a message
that every one of you and this preacher also needs. The answer to this question you
must know, or you are destined to be, not only now but eternally,
a most miserable creature. And the question is this, wherewith
shall I come before the Lord? Wherewith shall I come before
the Lord? Now three statements by way of
introducing the message, the first of which is this. It pertains
to you because you are a sinner. Now that's not quite popular
today to speak in those terms, but nevertheless, whether it's
popular or not, it's true. You are a sinner. The Word of
God declares that all have sinned, and I want you to watch this,
and here's where people miss it. The Word of God declares
that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The only reason that any man
would deny the fact that he is a sinner is because he misunderstands
the application of that verse. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. We put the emphasis on the first
three words, all have sinned. And the emphasis ought to be
put there, some of it anyway, but not all of it. The important
part of that verse is the latter part. We have sinned in that
we have come short of the glory of God. People say, well, preacher,
I'm not what you call a bad sinner. Compared to who? Well, compared
to the people around me. There are people that murder,
There are people who drink to the point of excess and lie around
in the gutter, shot drunk all the time. There are people who
take part in the most low-down vices of the world. There are
people who continually spend their time in direct rebellion
against every law God ever wrote. And I'm not such a bad sinner.
No, compared to those people, you're not. When the Bible says,
there is no difference, and that precedes this verse. It says,
there is no difference, for all have sinned. It does not mean
that there is no difference in men as to the amount of outward
vice and sin, and capacity for sin. That's not what it's saying
at all. There is no difference, for all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. Compared to men like Hitler,
Mussolini, Stalin, Khrushchev, compared to men like that, John
Dillinger, some of the public enemies, number one, two, three,
and four, no, you're not such a bad fellow. There's a difference
between you and those people. I hope there's a difference between
me and those people. But that's not what the Scripture's
saying. It's saying there is no difference. All have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. It is the glory of God which
we have come short of. It is the perfect holiness, immaculate
holiness of Almighty God. that we have failed to attain. Not the righteousness of men,
nor the morality of men, but the righteousness and morality
of God. So when it says there is no difference
between you and Mr. Khrushchev, or you and public
enemy number one, or you and the local harlot, or the local
drunk, or the local murderer, the Bible means just what it
says. There is no difference in the sight of God between you
and that person. For both of you have come short
of the glory of God. That's as clear as anything that's
ever been written in God's Word, but we have missed it. Because
we have dwelt almost entirely on the first part, all of sin. If God's going to judge me according
to the way that he judges other men, then I'm going to come out
all right. But God's not going to judge you according to the
judgment of other men. Every man shall give an account
of himself unto God. Every man shall be judged according
to his own works. And he shall be judged by the
standard of God's holiness and God's law and God's perfection
and God's character, not the character and morality of men.
I hate to labor that part too long this morning, but unless
that is established, unless that is received, we cannot go any
farther. Because you will exclude yourself
from the question of the text. How can I come before the Lord? The first thing you've got to
recognize is that you are coming before the Lord individually,
personally, privately, independently of any other human being. And
God is going to judge you on the basis of not the morality
of other men or the standards which men have raised, which
vary with the country, with the denomination, with the environment,
and even with the generation. But God is going to judge you
on the standards of His character and His holiness and His righteousness. And that being the standard and
the foundation of judgment, we've got to cry with the Apostle Paul,
then there is no difference. Then there is no difference,
for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. All
have sinned in that they have come short of the glory of God.
There is none that doeth good, no, not one. Now wait a minute,
preacher. There are some people who are
doing good. There are some local clubs and there are some local
organizations and lodges which are doing good, helping crippled
children, and that's fine, and I'm glad for it. Thank God for
them. But doing good is compared to
man's standard again. Again, it's compared to the standard
of the flesh. Who's to be the judge of what
is good and what is evil? If I'm to be the judge of what's
good and what's evil, then they're doing good. You're doing good. To give your children a nickel
for ice cream money, that's doing good according to my standard.
To sit up all night with a sick man doing good according to my
standards, but I'm not the judge of good and evil. God is. And whatever is not done for
the glory of God is not good. That's what he said. If we do anything before the
glory of the flesh and the praise of the flesh and the recognition
of men. Here the man stands on the street
corner and he establishes a testimony for righteousness and for good
and for religion. We say that man's doing good.
God says the man is a worker of iniquity. At the judgment, they say, Lord,
have we not cast out devils in your name, and prophesied in
your name, and done many wonderful works in your name? And men say,
that's good, and God says, depart from me, ye workers of iniquity. That's not good. You see that? When you give alms,
God says, take heed. Be careful that you do not do
your alms to the sin of men. God judges not the amount of
the alms. We say that doing good is how
much you do. Here's a man that goes by and
gives two pennies to a beggar. Well, he did pretty good. Here's
a man that goes by and gives a thousand dollars to a beggar.
That's real good. That's not what the Lord says.
He stood one day by the treasury and the people were coming by
dropping in their crowns and their jewels and their diamonds
and their gold and all the Pharisees were well pleased the treasury
was being padded and filled to overflowing. The Lord Jesus stood
there and watched them, blessed none of them. After a while a
widow came by and dropped in two pence. Christ put eternal
blessings upon them. Motives. Motives. Attitudes. The man who was blessed
of God in giving the offering this morning may be the man or
woman who gave the least amount. It depends on how they gave,
and to whom they gave, and for what purpose they gave, and in
what attitude they gave, and for what motive they gave. God
looks not on the outward countenance, but on the heart. And what we
judge to be good, God may pronounce to be cursed and evil. There's
none that doeth good, that's what God says, in the flesh.
None, no natural man, no unbeliever, no unsaved man or woman can possibly
do good, no matter what he does. because he does not do it unselfishly
for the glory of Jesus Christ to whom God the Father hath given
all things and for whom he made all things. Whether we eat or
drink, do it for the glory of God. Whatsoever you do in word
or deed for the glory of God or it's not good. You say, then do Christians do
good? Absolutely they do good. Then
how do they do good? How is it that an unbeliever
can help a beggar, and a Christian can help a beggar, and to him
it's evil, to him it's good? A true Christian, I'm not talking
about a church member. The motive. Why does it? Why does it? The evil man, the
unbeliever, does not do it for God's glory, nor to establish
the glory of God, for whom all things are made. The believer,
if he is a true believer, recognizes that what he does is not actually
the believer himself who does it, but the Lord who dwells within
him. And he does it not to be seen,
not to be recognized, not to be praised. He does it out of
the goodness of a redeemed and renewed heart. You love those
that love you? Christ said, what thank have
you for that? None. Do you give to those from whom
you hope to receive something in return? What thank have you? Anybody will do that. Blessed
are ye when you pray for those who curse you and despitefully
use you. That's love, that's prayer, that's
Christianity. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Let's establish what goodness
is, what evil is, what righteousness is, and what wickedness is. All of it is judged on the basis
of God's righteousness. and God's holiness and God's
character and God's glory. Therefore there is none that
doeth good. Therefore in the flesh dwelleth
no good thing. Therefore that no man, the scripture
says, in the flesh can please God. In the flesh. Now in the
spirit he can. In faith he can. In works of
faith and labor of love, he can. Not just in works and labor,
but in works of faith and labor of love. There's the difference.
There is no difference. All has sinned. And you can't
leave it right there. We can't say that there's no
difference in men. There's plenty of difference
in men. gracious and kind and lovable
and some look like they ate a green persimmon before breakfast or
ate a box of alum or something. There is a difference. Some folks
you can get along with and some you can't. But if you want to
establish righteousness and unrighteousness, good and evil before God, there
is no difference. Before God, all have sinned and
come short of His glory. His glory. I'll take that, preacher,
if you don't, you're a fool. If you don't, you're a fool.
You say, you don't have much tolerance with people who do
not believe as you do on some matters. That's right. There's
nobody but an outright fool, a complete stupid ignoramus,
who will declare that he has not sinned in that he has come
short of God's glory. I'm not saying that all men are
alike. They're not alike in the sight
of men and according to the standards of men nor the morality of men. There is a difference in men.
But when it comes to God's glory, the matchless, majestic, splendid,
eternal, divine, supernatural glory of God, there is no difference. All is seen. All have sinned. It doesn't matter who it is.
All have sinned. Outrageously, rebelliously, sinned
against God. And are nothing but worms of
the dust. Rebels who deserve the wrath
of that holy God. Oh my people, what have I done
to thee? Why should any man refuse to
believe his word? What has he done to you? Wherein
have I wearied thee? Testify against me, God said. Tell me, what have I done? I know the churches are not what
they ought to be. God help us, but I'm not preaching
a church. I know the denominations are
not what they ought to be. Far from it. I know preachers
aren't what they ought to be. God have mercy on me. But the
question this morning the Lord is asking, my people, what have
I done to thee? Why? Wherein have I wearied thee? Testify against me. Why do you
sin against me? I brought you up out of the land
of Egypt. I created you. I've been good to you. I've redeemed
you out of the house of servants. Wherein have I offended thee?
Some of you can look back to your beginning, way down yonder
on a one-horse farm, wore your knuckles to the bones, trying
to eke out a living from a rocky soil, didn't have the knowledge
of where the next meal had come from, didn't even have a change
of clothing. Wherein have I offended thee? I brought you up out of the dunghill
and put you on a throne. I've blessed you, been kind to
you, gracious to you, wherein have I been to testify against
you. The second thing I wish to establish
very briefly in this state of guilt, now watch this, and I'm
being as kind as I can in stating these things. Number one, all
have sinned, all have sinned and come short of His glory.
In this state of guilt, now let me put this as frankly as possible,
in this state of guilt and unbelief, every natural man is alienated
from God and under the wrath of God. Now, the Babylonians
from Hollywood and the entertainment world, 25% of whom are perverted,
according to the New York Times, they stand up and talk about
somebody up there likes me, and the man upstairs, and be with
you tomorrow, the good Lord willing, and our political politicians
who used to be statesmen, can talk about the Lord in their
political speeches and use him to extract votes from poor ignorant
people. And our preachers who are sold
out to liberalism and modernism and communism and every other
ism and schism in the world can stand up and talk about the Lord
be with you and bless you and cause his face to shine upon
thee while they're covering an evil heart But I'm telling you
this, and you get it and get it straight. Almighty God does
not walk with any man unless they are in agreement. And he
won't come to your terms, you're going to come to his terms. There
is no fellowship and communion with God in a state of unbelief. There is no communion with God
or fellowship with God, I don't care who it is, in a state of
sin. David said, Thy sins have separated
thee from thy God. Like a cloud they've come between
you and the Lord. And do not even suppose that
any man who lives in sin and unbelief. I don't care who that
individual is or how religious he may profess to be. There is
no communion with God. God will not walk with him. He
that believeth not is under the wrath of God. That's the scripture. He's not in the love of God.
He's not a poor, unfortunate, to be pitted individual who secretly
walks with God and openly walks with the world. There is no such
thing. If we walk in the light, as he
is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. That's not
talking about my fellowship with Ronnie, nor my fellowship with
Don. I've had fellowship with them
for 18, 19 years. That's talking about fellowship
with God. If we walk in the light as He
is in the light, we and He will have fellowship. But if we walk
in darkness, there is no fellowship, for in God there is no darkness. Now you put that down. Old brother
A.D. Mews says, you drive a peg right
there, and that'll hold water. And like one woman said to me
at it, number eight lines one time after I preached, she said,
preacher, how to stand when the world's on fire. And that's right.
There is no fellowship. There is no communion with God
in rebellion. There is no communion with God
in darkness. Oh, how David cried out of his
sin, O Lord, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and
take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Even a believer recognize
the possibility of a departure of a holy God from a sinful man. He won't walk with you. You can't do wrong. You can't
sin against God. You can't walk in rebellion.
You can't live in darkness. You can't live in known rebellion
and willful sin and walk or talk with a holy God. You are dead
wrong. You just rebel against His authority
and His name and His gospel and His right and you'll rest under
His wrath. Present day preachers have shot
us a curve just like a rookie who's come up from the minor
league and wrote back and said, hello mom and dad, I'll be home
soon. They're curving me now. And the
preachers of this day are curving their congregations and they're
striking out. There is no communion with God
in unbelief. He will not hear you. He will
not walk with you. He will not bless you any more
than just causing the rain to fall on the just and the unjust.
Communion with God is not in darkness if we walk in the light. You got the light? Better walk
in it. Better walk in it. Now, in summing
up the introduction, and the message won't be nearly as long
as the introduction, Those two things, all have sinned,
come short of His glory. His glory. You're short. You're
weighing the balances and found wanting. You don't measure up. You may be big and strong compared
to men. There are those who think I'm
a tall man, but I'm not. I'm a tall man compared to some
fellas, but I'm short compared to some. You compare me with
men, I measure up sometimes, compared to some men, the worst
of men, maybe pretty good. But when I look into the holy
law of an eternal God, I'm like Isaiah, I'm a man of unclean
lips. I'm like Job, O Lord, I abhor
myself and repent in sackcloth and ashes. Like Daniel, my comeliness
boasted and built up by the ego of men, melteth into corruption. Like John on the Isle of Patmos,
I fall at his feet like a dead man. I've come short of his glory,
weighed in the balances of his glory, and found extremely wanting,
extremely so. And in this state of sin and
darkness, how can I come before the Lord? Will God walk with
me? Well, here's the answer. There's
the piercing question. Now, here's the answer. In verse
6, it says, shall I come before the Lord with burnt offerings?
You hear this generation talk, don't you? I saw something cute recently. This is called a tank up here,
a baptismal tank, T-A-N-K. One preacher had a sign painter
come out to the church and paint up there over the baptistry,
put a tither in your tank. Boy, that's all right. Ten percent, put a tither in
your tank. Yeah, he'll be like that tiger. He'll eat a hole in your muffler,
too. Might cause you more trouble than anybody you got. But this
generation measures a man's religion and acceptance with God by what
he does. Ten percent, good church member. In every service, Sunday morning,
Sunday night, Wednesday night, and five-star Christians, Sunday
school and training union. Bound to be a good Christian.
Sings in the choir. Ordained deacon. Plays piano
and organ. Sings solo. He's bound to be a good Christian.
Goes out on Thursday night and visits. Knocks on doors and asks
people to come to church. Puts out tracts at his place
of business. Teaches Sunday school. Goes to
all of the camps, Bible conferences. Carries a great big old good
Samaritan Bible with technicolored pictures all the way through
and Jesus' words in red. To beat that, got a cross hanging
right over here. Wears one on his lapel. Great
big sign, I am saved. Bound to be a good Christian.
Witness this to everybody comes in contact with. Bound to be. Every one of those things has
to do with what? The flesh. And in the living
human being on this earth, son of Satan or otherwise, it couldn't
do every one of those things. That's right. He can do every
one of them. Shall I bring before the Lord burnt offerings? Will
he be pleased with ten thousands of rams? Ten thousands of rivers
of oil? Maybe I ought to give my firstborn,
the fruit of my body, my son. Maybe I ought to give him for
the sin of my soul. Well here they come down now,
bringing the babies. They're going to dedicate them
to the Lord. That ought to please God. It didn't please Him when
those people over yonder put their babies on burning altars.
I didn't please him. Why do you think you'd please
him for you to come up here and lay yours on a wooden altar wrapped
in a satin gown, sprinkle some water on it? Think I'd please
him? Those people burned their firstborn and couldn't please
the Lord. That's not the way you please God. The fruit of
the body, the exercise of the hands and the organs for the
sin of my soul. Isn't that ridiculous? Isn't that ridiculous? Shall
I give the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? Do you think
that the rituals of religion, that the exercises of religion,
that the outward professions of piety, do you think for one
moment that that will satisfy a holy God for the sin of your
heart and soul? If you think so, you are so very
wrong. Our Lord Jesus said, you call
me Lord with your lips. I'm not interested in your lips.
Your hearts are far from me. Give me that heart, my son. Thou shalt confess with thy mouth
Jesus to be Lord, and believe in man. Hark! God raised him
from the dead. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness. We're doing so much for God.
I wish the Lord would take every Baptist in the world and lock
them up in a barn sometime and leave them there till God did
something for them. It's not what we do for God.
That's not what counts. That's not what's important.
He said, if you don't cry out, these stones will cry out. God is able to raise up of these
stones children under Abraham. What do you think you are? Do
you think your praise is any better than that of a stone?
Do you think it ought to demand recognition from God when He
gave you the voice with which to sing? Why should I feel that I'm doing
God any favor by standing up here preaching when He by His
own goodness gave me the voice, or the knowledge, or the power,
or the ability to preach? Have you preached? Have you witnessed? Have you sung? Have you given? Have you done these things? It's
no more than what you ought to have done. A man comes down and gives money
to the church to be used for God's glory. He doesn't read
a pat on the back. He's just doing what he ought
to do. A fella stands up here and witnesses
for Christ. He doesn't deserve any praise.
He's just doing what he ought to do. He's just doing what God
gave him the ability to do. You attend church Sunday morning
and Sunday night and Wednesday night, think I ought to praise
you? I praise you not. You're doing
what you ought to do. Let everything that hath breath
praise the Lord. That's what's expected of you. Somebody got a little provoked
at me recently because I wouldn't ask a man to come to church.
I'm not going to ask him, not now or ever. My Lord's not a beggar. He is
not a beggar. He's a king. And a king is worthy
of praise, worthy of obedience. You're doing what you ought to
do. When you stay away from the house of God, you're doing what
you ought not to do. God will deal with you. I'm not going to deal with you.
God is. Why don't I preach on tithing?
Not going to. Now, next week, next month, any
other time. It's you and God. He's worthy. He's worthy. He's been good to
you. Why should I tell you what you
ought to do for Him? The fruit of my body, for the
sin of my soul, I'm just doing what's expected of me. When I
preach next week in Sylacauga every night, every morning on
the radio, I haven't done anything. Just what's expected of me, what
I ought to do, and I don't do that enough. I don't do as much
as I ought to do. I come short of what I ought
to do, let alone the glory of God. For I am the world, will
God be pleased? Wherewith shall I come before
him? Verse 8, watch it, He hath showed thee, O man, what is good.
He hath showed thee what is good, and it's not the fruit of the
body, it's not the exercises of the body, it is not the rituals
or ceremonies of religion. That's not it. What is it? Let me ask it this way. Who is
good? He hath showed thee what is good,
or who is good? Who is good? Can you find any
goodness on this earth? Where do you have to look for
goodness? There's none good but God. So where are we going to
find that which is good? Turn to Acts chapter 10 with
me if you will. And I think this portion of scripture
sums it up as well or better than any that I could give you. Here's the apostle of Christ
speaking. beginning with verse 36, the word which God sent unto
the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ, not by
works, not by religion, peace by Jesus Christ. He's Lord of
all. That word, I say, you know, it
was published throughout all Judea, from Galilee after the
baptism of John. Watch it. How God anointed Jesus
of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about
doing good. There is none good, no not one. In the flesh dwelleth no good
thing, but he, he, The man Christ Jesus, he went about doing good
and healing all that were oppressed of the devil. God was with him. And we're witnesses of all things
which he did, both in the land of the Jews and Jerusalem, whom
they slew and hanged on a tree, whom God raised up the third
day and showed him openly, not to all the people, but under
witnesses chosen before God, even us, who did eat and drink
with him after he rose from the dead, and he commanded us to
preach unto the people, here it is, and to testify that it
is he, it is he, he, good, which was ordained of God, be the judge
of the quick and the dead, to heal Give all the prophets witness
that through his name, whosoever believeth on him shall receive
what? Remission of sins. All his sins come short of his
glory. Being a sinner under the wrath
of God, then how can I come before him? He hath shown me what is
good. Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of
God, went about doing good, satisfying the righteous demands of God's
law, fulfilling the demands of God's justice, and to whomsoever
Christ Jesus is precious, and to whomsoever Christ Jesus is
received by faith, that individual shall receive remission of sins,
How can Christ Jesus satisfy God's justice for the sins of
all people who believe on Him? Let me close with this illustration.
You might ask that question. I think it's a legitimate and
fair question. Here's one man, one man. He's the God-man, Jesus Christ,
and let me establish this, and may this church be built upon
this, and may its testimony through endless ages be this, Jesus Christ,
who was crucified on Calvary's cross, buried and rose again,
is God Almighty. He's the virgin-born. Eternal
Creator of all things is God. He's the God-man. Thy throne,
O God, is forever. The Lord said unto us, My Lord
is King. But how can one man, dying one
day in one appointed six hours' time, satisfy God's justice for
the sins of multiplied millions of people? I can answer that
by saying this, because of who he is. A little boy and his daddy
were walking down the street one day, and the little boy looked
at his daddy and said, Daddy, the preacher preached today that
Jesus Christ, dying on the cross, paid for the sins of every individual
who will believe on Him and receive Him as Lord and Savior. Is that
right? The daddy said, that's right,
son. He's our substitute. He took my sins, your sins, the
pastor's sins, all who believe on Him, paid for them. Well,
daddy, how can one man, how can one man, dying one death, pay
for so many sins of so many people? But daddy didn't answer for a
minute, he just kept walking along and finally looked down
and saw a grasshopper. He said, son, you mean an awful
lot to me, don't you? I said, I think so, daddy. How
many little boys like you, or how many of those grasshoppers
would it take to equal the value of one little boy. How many of
those grasshoppers do you think it takes to take the place of
you, my son, and my love for you? The little boy looked at
him and said, well, daddy, I don't guess all the grasshoppers in
the world are worth one little boy to his daddy. He said, son,
you're right. I wouldn't trade you for all
the grasshoppers in this world or in many worlds to come. And
do you know what the Bible says about us? It says, God holdeth the nations
in his hand as a drop in the bucket, and all the inhabitants
thereof are grasshoppers. That's what it says. And all
the inhabitants thereof Are it grasshoppers? Worms? How many of you grasshoppers
do you suppose it takes to make the value of God's only begotten
Son? Huh? How many? All the grasshoppers
in the world wouldn't equal the value of God's dear Son because
of who He is. And you keep presenting to God
your religious exercises if you want to. What you've done, you
strut around tomorrow because you went to church on Sunday
and gave a nickel to the Lord. You stick out your chest real
big before God and compare yourself to the wicked people who live
round about you. Let me tell you something. They'll enter heaven before you.
You'll get to hell before them. The only goodness God recognizes,
the only thing that will enable a sinner to come before the Lord
is faith in and confidence in and love for and a vital union
with the Lord Jesus Christ. God receives men in Him and forgives
men in Him. Our Father, may it please Thee
for thy glory, and by thy grace to bless thy word. We confess,
O Lord, that we have sinned and come short of thy glory. O Lord,
judge us not on the basis of our behavior, but judge us, O
Lord, on the basis of the merits of thy Son, in whom we believe. and upon whom we have cast ourselves
and do cast ourselves. Show us not justice, but mercy. Mercy toward us and justice in
Christ our Lord, who was our substitute and paid
our sin debt. Make this gospel message to bring
forth fruit to thy praise for the good of these who have heard.
We pray for Christ's sake. Amen. I want us to sing, Jesus
paid it all.