Our visiting speaker again today is Evangelist Ralph
Barnard from Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Here now is Brother Barnard for the message
today.
In the Book of Psalms, at Chapter 9
and Verse 17, we find these striking words.
God says, The wicked shall be turned into
hell, and all the nations that forget God.
Despite everything we hear today, and we hear
it by not hearing the natural man, apart
from the work of the Holy Spirit.
Many, many years ago, the Apostle Paul wrote,
as recorded in the first book of Corinthians,
and he wrote like this, As for myself,
having come to you, brethren, I came not
having my message demonstrated by transcending rhetorical display,
or philosophical subtlety, when I announced to you
the testimony of God.
For after weighing the issues, I did not
decide to know anything among you, except Jesus
Christ, and this one, as one having been
crucified.
Not bringing the good news within the realm
of philosophical discourse, lest the cross of Christ
be emptied of its true significance and power.
These two statements, one inspired of God, the
other the sort of a trophy of the
Welsh revival, ought to serve to whet our
appetites to seek an answer to the question,
where has the offense of the gospel gone?
What kind of gospel is being sponsored by
Hollywood and Wall Street, by the noble and
by the wise?
How is it that all of a sudden
the gospel has become so popular, and everybody
is becoming a Christian without being changed?
What happened to the gospel that was an
ear's foolishness to the wise, and a scandal
to the religious?
What became of the gospel message that is
under the call of both the wisdom and
power of God?
What kind of gospel is it that fails
to transform, change, and keep on changing men,
until they be conformed to the very image
of God's only Son?
Mr. Anderson, whom we quoted, was a product
of a message that changed men and the
nation of Wales, and the Apostle Paul saw
churches born in such wicked cesspools as the
city of Corinth.
But neither of the two would be able
to recognize the popular gospel of today.
The New Testament declares that the cross is
a stumbling block and an offense to the
natural mind.
The New Testament will say, but we preach
Christ crucified unto the Jews, a scandal and
an offensive stumbling block, and to the Gentiles
it is sheer nonsense.
The scriptures will say, behold, I lay in
Zion a stumbling block and a rock of
offense.
The scriptures will say a stone that will
cause stumbling and a rock that will give
offense.
The scriptures will say the offense of the
cross.
What's become of it?
We need to have our souls burned and
our souls afresh.
That because the gospel was a stumbling block
and an offense to the unregenerated man in
olden days, it always created disturbance wherever it
was proclaimed.
By way of contrast, how nice and quiet
our services are now.
How terribly disturbing is the absence of disturbance
in our angelistic campaign.
We've got disturbance on the streets, disturbance in
our nation, disturbance in our homes, disturbance in
our hearts, disturbance everywhere except in the houses
of God, and it's because of the absence
of the preaching of a gospel that is
offensive to unregenerated men.
Listen, world famous world of figures today in
commerce and politics and religion and in the
entertainment world pay court to the evangelistic efforts
that we're having these days and they all
do it without having themselves had the new
birth experience take place in their own life.
These famous personalities seem to adore popular evangelism
and at the same time to adore and
worship the ungodly things of this present day.
It would seem that there is no scandal,
there's no offense, there's no stumbling block in
the popular gospel today and how tragic that
is and how unlike the new testament method
and message we may be dead certain that
the gospel message that does not cause offense
is not the gospel of God concerning his
son.
When in these days when we have revivals
that do not revive and people have salvation
that doesn't save and doesn't change and leaves
them still in possession of their heart's reign
we need to come and give critical look
today at the so-called popular gospel and
ask again where has the gospel that was
offensive to men gone and when that offensive
gospel is gone the gospel of God is
gone and the transforming work of God is
nowhere apparent and i'm saying that we've got
to be done with preaching a gospel that
can be understood apart from the works of
the holy spirit we haven't talked about today
preach the simple gospel that a little child
can understand but the wisest man that ever
lived is helpless to understand the truth of
the gospel except it be interpreted to him
by the holy ghost for instance let me
illustrate what i'm talking about what supreme foolishness
it is to preach that a baby born
yonder than him two thousand years ago who
lived in nazareth from which the scriptures say
no good thing ever came this baby who
lived all his days in a small country
called palestine we're hearing a lot about that
country today this baby who wound up on
a tree outside the holy city of jerusalem
this baby who in his manhood was buried
in another man's grave and whose body is
still in that grave so far as this
unsaved world knows what foolishness it is to
preach that this one is the eternal exalted
lord of all behold before whom all in
time or eternity must bow and confess now
i'm saying to you that this cannot be
understood apart from the holy ghost nobody but
an idiot or one who's been born from
above could possibly believe that jesus is the
christ to expect that the carnal mind which
the scripture say is the seat of hostility
to god to expect this carnal mind to
accept this kind of preaching is silly it
cannot be done apart from the work of
the holy spirit in these services that this
dear pastor will be talking to you about
oh how we long to have you as
a prayer partner and as one who will
swell the attendance and swell the witnessing and
get hold of the horns of the altar
of god to the end that we might
have some disturbance that men should not have
a gospel they can accept and never know
and the salvation they can get and lose
it never miss it and some sort of
experience that does not affect the change in
them that keeps on changing them until they
are literally transformed and translated into the very
image of the son of god oh how
we need disturbance how we need the unction
and anointing of the holy ghost to come
upon us everywhere as a gospel that offends
a religious person and is downright silly to
a wise acre but is the wisdom and
power of god the humble babe who can
how we beg you to pray that this
may come to pass i'm so tired of
our nice little sunday morning services oh we
we have everything in the sunday morning services
except the presence of christ and the holy
ghost we preach the death of christ but
everybody accepts that but the word of the
cross the message of the cross that's what's
offensive and that's what's left out today why
the death of christ is accepted by all
it brings offense to nobody jew gentile or
moslem the modernist even preach the death of
christ but they do not preach the message
of the cross all the religious world today
believes in the historical death of christ but
not the word of the cross no wonder
the jews turn thumbs down on the savior
you just try to imagine a crucified messiah
if you can't you tell me this can
be accepted apart from the holy ghost i
say they could not neither can anybody today
believe that jesus is christ except by the
holy spirit no wonder the world accepts in
religious circles and everywhere else accepts the death
of christ and rejects the christ who died
imagine if you can complete surrender for time
and eternity to a man who died on
a cursed tree it just can't be done
apart from the holy spirit oh if we
leave out that part of the message of
the cross that offends religious people and makes
the wise people laugh outright we leave out
the gospel itself as this dear pastor shall
from day to day over this radio cry
to enlist your services and your prayers and
your help in these services we pray that
you'll listen to it houston and other places
where this broadcast will be heard needs to
be disturbed disturbed by the god of the
message of the cross and the power and
auction of the holy ghost and now god
bless you as you listen to our announcement
this is a short radio message by brother
ralph barnard on the living lord sometime ago
i got a letter in my home in
north carolina from a dear beloved brother in
the lord and in that letter these words
came or appeared on the letter and these
words are as follows the business of men
knowing a christ which has relieved them of
their sense of guilt but knows nothing about
a living lord is a delusion whatever errors
you and i might be guilty of we
must be sound on this you know this
statement or this quotation from this brother in
this letter lingers with me it haunts me
as i go up and down the land
seeking to preach the gospel to men this
letter states both an accurate description of what
passes for salvation in our day and it
presents a challenge that we dare not ignore
as to the latter the challenge one thinks
of the errors of one's life and ministry
you know the 2020 vision of hindsight how
could we have been so sincere and yet
so dumb and wrong in so many instances
thanks be unto god for his mercy rejoice
again that god can and god does draw
many a straight line with a crooked stick
we must all be reminded that after we've
done the best we can we're all unprofitable
servants god is ever the god of a
new start as to the form of the
statement of this brother this passes for what
salvation is called today i wonder deeply if
that description doesn't put a well pinpoint the
status quo of present-day christianity somebody the
old colored brother i think said that the
expression status quo is latin for the mess
we're in and god help us we're in
a mess now when a polluted perverted mixed
up saw stuff that's called christianity has taken
the place of that which christ died for
and is now yonder at the right hand
of god interceding for namely eternal life let
me read this statement again to you over
this radio this morning this business of knowing
a christ which has relieved men of their
sense of guilt but leaves men knowing nothing
of a living lord oh surely that is
a delusion surely such a christ is the
creation of a perverted and a watered down
gospel which is not the gospel of god
surely such a gospel and such a christ
has no word and no healing for a
world being rent asunder from all directions by
reprobate men and reprobate forces surely we're at
the very heart here of the reason what
passes for christianity the 20th century brand is
gasping for breath and anybody can easily hear
the death rattle of the patient from a
roman catholic layman writing in the saturday evening
post of recent date come these words i
quote there is always the danger after all
that the concept of god may wither away
altogether in this country not under attack but
from sheer disuse modern american disbelief has crept
like a white fog throughout churches in fact
church going is quite irrelevant to it such
disbelief is not incompatible with a mild ascent
to religious truths or even a mild religious
revival this man is saying that our nice
little patronizing of god he's saying that religion
is a handy convenience on a par with
the chamber of commerce or the bridge club
he's saying that our tidy little beliefs and
our nice lit package fire escape from hell
salvation uh that we preach this stuff with
a nation headed for the dunghill he's saying
that it'll never do and they're my way
of thinking it all leads back to a
christ who is not real in men's experience
it leads back to a christ of a
creed but not to a christ in you
the hope of glory and there is no
such christ in the bible or in history
or in men's hearts the christ of the
is lord of all and a salvation that
does not so enthrone him is not god's
so great salvation in other words the christ
who men believe in and their sense of
guilt is thereby relieved but leaves men knowing
nothing experimentally of a living lord is not
the christ of the bible the christ of
the bible must reign r-e-i-g
-n all hell can't stop it he must
reign in human hearts as he must reign
the world wide around some of these days
now my friends i believe that the issue
of all issues and religion in lost american
christian entity is this i believe that churches
must be evangelized before they speak to the
antichrist spirit of this hour surely a church
or an individual not bearing about the marks
of the lordship of christ can only mark
time as we seem to be doing now
as the battle is being won on every
side by the spirit of antichrist one is
reminded of the message of king henry sent
to crelon hang yourself brave crelon we fought
at arkis and you were not here henry
drummond of old said that most of the
difficulties of trying to live the christian life
arises from attempting to half live it his
statement prompts the assertion that living a christian
life is not simply difficult it is impossible
the new testament emphasis is christ living in
you not you live in a christian life
but christ manifesting his life in and through
you william law that saint of old said
a christ not in you is a christ
not yours and he said right a christ
not in you is a christ not yours
a man or a woman must know experimentally
the living lord anything short of this experimental
knowledge of a living lord who died on
a cross but he didn't stay on the
cross and god raised him and put him
on the throne and gave him the very
reins of men's heart that is salvation and
anything that short of this fails to be
new testament salvation and there's no other kind
that's any good it is surely true that
knowing of christ which relieves many of their
sense of guilt apart from knowing the living
lord is a delusion and it is further
true that whatever errors we may be guilty
of we must not bear here it is
time to demand not only that men come
to christ with an open empty hand to
receive his mercies but it is time that
men must be bitten and demanded to come
to christ on bended knee with surrendered lives
in a recent issue of the popular christian
magazine christianity today seven questions about evangelism are
asked by a maryland pastor i want to
call attention to two or three of his
isolated statements first he says evangelicals rightly insist
that before a man can follow the ethics
of christ that is the teaching moral teachings
of christ before man can do that he
must accept into my bible way he must
accept christ as his gracious lord it would
seem then that proper evangelistic methods would be
one of our greatest concerns but is this
so again he says can we assume that
we have adopted evangelistic methods that are adequate
for our age still one more time he
asked the question invades all who will listen
whether or not the converted man will have
a new life a new purpose a new
set of standards and a new philosophy of
life this man says the bible says yes
my observation to you this morning is that
the bible tells the truth it does say
yes maybe it's time for us to make
sure that our converts are really converted before
we take them into our membership before we
hold them up as the unconverted to the
unconverted as examples of what christ does for
a man maybe it's time we stress emphatically
that the christian life is more than an
intellectual acceptance of christ as savior christianity we
must insist is more than a creed or
belief in a set of doctrines christianity we
need to remind men everywhere is a way
of life it involves men more publicly more
and more than public professing faith in being
publicly baptized in accepting a box of church
envelopes it involves a life of self-discipline
it involves a complete commitment to the will
of god this business of men knowing the
christ who has relieved them of their sense
of guilt but leaves them knowing nothing about
a living lord is a delusion and if
you have this sort of an experience you'll
split hell wide open do you know experimentally
the power of a living christ in the
power of the holy spirit in your daily
walk is my question as i ask you
to give faithful attention to this dear man
as he tries to acquaint you with what
is going on in his congregation and list
your prayers and your support for jesus sake
and soul sake amen this is the third
in the series of messages by brother barner
on the reality of the lordship of christ
this is a short 12 minute message i
speak to you today on the subject the
reality of christ's lordship the basic confession of
faith or the christian faith is very simple
jesus is lord his lordship is real his
lordship lies in the realm of fact and
not a theory it is a matter of
history not of idea for one to be
lord does not mean for him to discuss
or confer about the ideas of lordship and
to persuade people in their minds that his
rule is a good thing it is rather
to meet men with terms to be accepted
which if not accepted must be established by
action lordship is an achievement not an idea
lordship is a reality not a thought here
then is much misunderstanding by friend and enemy
christianity is not a way of looking at
life of philosophy christianity is not a way
of living and ethic christianity is not a
set of ideas about god or theology christianity
involves all these but it is basically other
than these christianity is an event it is
a deed an accomplishment a victory speaking of
his of his own work our lord said
no one can enter a strong man's house
and plunder his goods unless he first buy
in the strong man then indeed he may
plunder his house therefore in order to establish
his lordship it was necessary that the ruler
of this world be cast out and that
was not done by conference it was done
by costly action on the cross the gospel
therefore is the good news of that costly
action now this is not an idea this
actually happened the early christians believed that god
had acted in the behalf of men here
is the very heart of the christian faith
paul insists that this was not his only
he said that he received it from the
other apostles first corinthians chapter 15 verses one
and three he said that he held this
in common with them all and what was
it that they had in common why my
friends it was that the gospel was a
proclamation of a series of events wrought by
god in christ in behalf of men this
one jesus brought the new age to men
by dying for sins by rising on the
third day and by ascending to the right
hand of god where he now reigns in
exultation as the scriptures say far above all
rule and authority and power and dominion and
above every name that is named not only
in this age but also in that which
is to come he will also come again
thank god to bring as the scriptures say
to light the things that are now hidden
in darkness and to disclose the purposes of
the heart something wonderful has taken place it
is neither theology philosophy or ethics it is
a simple story of facts christ is lord
because these facts are true his lordship is
r-e-a-l real now if the
lordship of christ is exclusive in that it
supplants all other lordships it is also inclusive
in that it covers the whole of life
christ is lord of every aspect of human
existence to the christian religion is not a
part of life the whole life is transformed
by christ for instance the bible will tell
us that the mind is to be renewed
by christ romans chapter 12 verse 2 the
bible will say that the will is to
be subdued and relieved of its folly by
as the scriptures say the understanding of what
the will of the lord is ephesians chapter
5 verse 17 the bible will tell us
that the feelings are to be cleansed in
the language of the scripture we quote i
beseech you to abstain from the passions of
the flesh that wage war against the soul
so as to live for the rest of
the time in the flesh no longer by
human passions but by the will of god
first peter chapter 2 verse 11 and first
peter chapter 4 verse 2 every element of
human behavior is to be brought under the
white light of god's will and god's purpose
the scriptures will tell us in colossians chapter
3 verse 17 and whatever you do in
word or deed do everything in the name
of the lord jesus christ now praise god
the lordship of christ shall one day be
manifested in total victory at his reappearing not
by persuasion but by power and then men
who in this lifetime have refused so to
do must bow their knees and with their
lips confess that jesus is lord to the
glory of the father not to their salvation
but to the glory of the father the
new testament church and the early christians and
we desperately need to take them seriously these
days lived in a period of tension much
as they believed in the glory of what
christ had done they lived in hope of
something he was yet to do that which
he had begun they believed he would complete
faith in what he'd already accomplished in his
first appearing therefore quickened hope at what he
would do at his final appearing christ to
them was not only the fulfillment of promise
he also was the promise of fulfillment his
lordship in which the church believed was at
that time hidden it was seen only by
the eyes of faith but since his lordship
was real it must someday be openly manifested
for all men to see that's what i
hope is now what is true in the
heavenly places where christ is seated at the
right hand of god must be true in
the whole created universe which up till now
is in rebellion against him his rule and
his right and his claim but at no
point is the new testament more strange to
our ears than in this respect it tells
us does the new testament that the kingdom
of god has come upon us and yet
the new testament counsels us to pray thy
kingdom come the bible of the new testament
tells us that god has said to the
lord sit at my right hand till i
make thy enemies a footstool a stove footstool
for thy feet and here the seeming contradiction
is clear to sit at god's right hand
meant that jesus was already lord and yet
he is to sit there to await the
time when through the subduing of his enemies
he will be manifested as lord it's almost
in the bible like saying be lord until
you become lord but out of this seeming
contradiction the deathless hope of the early christians
was born tension between what had already happened
and what was yet to happen marked their
faith their gospel involved what god had done
what he is now doing and what he
would yet do living in the present their
faith turned to the past to that glorious
scene on galgos's hill and their hope turned
to the future they believe that god will
complete what he has begun they believe that
there will be and in when according to
the scriptures he the lord jesus delivers the
kingdom of god the father after destroying every
rule and every authority and every power first
corinthians 15 verse 24 by in that glorious
the lord jesus cannot lose he is lord
he's lord of those who put the martyrs
to death he's lord of adolf hitler the
man who burned the bodies of six million
jews and use their ashes to make soap
to wash the bodies of the german soldier
ah we live now in a time when
men deny the reality of christ lordship we
live now in a time when men pray
of having him as a spire escape from
hell but refuse to gladly bow to his
rule and reign and crown rights in their
life but we live in the expectancy of
that time when his lordship which is now
hidden only to the eye of faith shall
be made manifest and men who today will
not bow will be forced to men who
will not now confess his lordship will be
forced to so that we know that whether
men bow now or then god shall be
glorified in his son who leaves nothing undisturbed
that he touches praise god for such a
savior praise god for such a lord come
to him come to him not a myth
but a reality come to him where he
is now at the right hand of the
majesty on high gladly bow to him as
absolute totalitarian dictator and lord of life and
limb and do it now for salvation's sake
is the prayer of this and we welcome
you again to another free grace meditations program
our guest speaker today is evangelist ralph barnard
from winston-salem north carolina here now is
brother barnard for the message today the lordship
of jesus christ is a reality it is
not a matter of speculation it is a
matter of fact the most sublime statement in
the entire word of god is the statement
that the apostle peter made on the day
of pentecost when he said in acts 2
36 therefore let all the house of israel
know as a matter of fact that this
same jesus whom ye have crucified god hath
made both lord and messiah the lordship of
jesus christ is a fact because it is
an act of the triune god men do
not make christ lord god has made him
lord of all if this be true i
want to bring today two or three suggestions
concerning what this means to every individual listening
now to the sound of my voice in
the first place if it be true and
it is that jesus is god's lord then
he brooks no rivals he brooks and he
can brook no rivals he is absolutely unique
he is the only lord and god of
all mankind the very name lord implies that
he is ruler that he is one who
has authority therefore all others are his subjects
you and me included now this thought in
the new testament goes much beyond the mere
meaning of the title itself this meaning is
drawn from the old testament the very heart
of the old testament was this here oh
israel the lord our god is one lord
there is but one god and that god
is absolute ruler of the universe men and
nations are ruled by him and subject to
his authority a friend of mine was telling
me the other day that about a man
who my acquaintance who lives in louisville kentucky
this man happens to be a preacher and
this friend was saying the only thing wrong
with mr so-and-so is that he
thinks that jesus is king of louisville but
bless god he is king of louisville and
of any other city in all the nations
of the earth and since there is but
one lord he is lord of all in
the new testament calling upon jesus as lord
was and is the same thing as calling
upon god as lord now if this be
true and it is true there are two
implications that follow and the first implication of
the reality and exclusiveness and the inclusiveness of
christ lordship in which he brooks no rivals
in which he is absolutely unique the first
implication and this is serious for everyone who
hears me now of this truth is that
the lord jesus christ demands total absolute surrender
he demands from men not their admiration many
think well of jesus he doesn't demand sympathy
he doesn't demand simply our interest he doesn't
demand our approval he demands total surrender ladies
and gentlemen to be a christian is first
of all to bow the knee to jesus
to crown him lord of all friend he
is as well as counselor as well as
example and guide but before all these he
is absolute lord for the lord god our
god the almighty reigns as the theme of
the word of god and it was a
theme song of the early church and it
must become the theme song of everyone who
names the name of christ today someone has
pointed out that in this sense christianity is
not a democracy but a monarchy it is
not a constitutional monarchy wherein subject and ruler
agree on the limits of rule it's an
absolute monarchy men are subject to him not
by compact they've made with him but because
they belong to him his lordship therefore and
thank god is not arbitrary for it is
exercised and as an expression of his gracious
nature but that gracious nature is not of
our choice and his kindness is not the
result of an agreement which we forestall him
it is the free exercise of his own
exercise of his own nature we receive but
we do not contribute he reigns over men
absolutely by virtue of his lordship it his
lordship is our source of blessing that it
that his his is an offer to he
that his lordship is gracious god's people confront
the world and not primarily with an offer
to heal its ills or to solve its
problems our first appeal is to rebels who've
taken up arms against their creator and it
is an appeal which is nothing less than
the demand for our surrender the gospel faces
the world with terms and does not simply
suffuse it with a glow the message is
still jesus is lord the terms bow down
to him and that right gladly the lord
jesus christ will not settle for anything short
of the total absolute surrender not of our
time of our money but of ourselves to
him as god's lord for time and for
eternity still another implication of christ absolute lordship
is that there is no other way of
salvation for man than to surrender to the
lord jesus christ my how i need this
today when everybody's trying to find something right
and good in every kind of religion under
the sun and mix it up and stir
well and take the good and pour out
the evil and say that there's so much
that can be contributed by this and that
to the word of god not so my
friends in this sense christianity is absolutely intolerable
both intolerable and intolerably intolerant both the old
and the new testaments are clear here for
the scriptures will say for i am god
and there is in oh no other isaiah
will say well what about it what then
the conclusion is inevitable the word of god
will say turn to me that's to god
and be saved how many all the ends
of the earth from the north and south
and east and west black white yellow every
kind good bad evil rich and poor turn
to me and be saved all the ends
of the earth if there is no god
but one then he's the god of all
men and there can be salvation in no
other the new testament says and there is
salvation in no one else for there is
no other name under heaven given among men
whereby we must be saved this is true
and here is offense and here is scandal
especially today for instance how can the narrow
stream of holy history recorded in just one
book the bible about an obscure carpenter living
in a tiny country how can that have
meaning for all men of all ages how
can the salvation of all men in all
ages rest on the death and resurrection and
exaltation of this obscure one in a remote
corner of the earth two thousand years ago
this is the offense of the christian faith
but offensive or not this is the christian
faith and there is no other christ does
not just add to the world's knowledge christ
is not the crown of a process christ
is not the capstone to be placed on
the pillar of other faith christ does not
supplement other religions he supplants them thus our
message is absolutely intolerable and adamant this world
belongs to jesus christ all other offers and
efforts at salvation are vain and twice vain
all who are saved are saved by him
my friends despite criticisms and they're growing now
this dogmatic message this absolute call to surrender
is not to be shrunk from if god
has done what the bible says he has
in christ and thank god he has it's
not the mark of intolerance to tell men
of his great act if one should be
in a burning building with many doors but
only one of which moved open should one
not let desperate command point to that door
alone and to keep silent in days such
as these is to shame christ bring reproach
on him god grant his spirit of boldness
upon us to cry out to all whom
we touch he is the door he is
the only door he is the way he
is the only way he is the lord
he is the only lord bow to him
now for your soul salvation's sake is my
prayer and i beg you to listen to
our closing words of announcement you've been listening
to evangelist ralph barnard from winston-salem north
carolina how much we need this message today
in days of anarchy and lawlessness we need
to have someone stand up and declare the
lordship and the sovereignty of jesus christ trust
that you'll pray for these meetings and tell
others to tune in and listen to the
broadcast tomorrow will you do that and we
trust that you'll join us again tomorrow as
we bring you another free grace meditations program
we desperately need a revival of old fashion
old time preaching of the great foundational truths
that make up the bottom of the foundation
upon which men shall stand and confront men
and women of this generation with a living
lord who died on a glory cross outside
the city of jerusalem whom god raised from
the dead and put on a throne and
turned the conduct of this world men included
over to him i do not believe that
a revival will come to our land apart
from this kind of preaching the preaching of
the gospel is god's own and only way
of reaching men and saving men sometimes i
hear a comment concerning a service the service
was so good that brother so-and-so
didn't even preach but what in the last
analysis does this prove i'm afraid it proves
that preaching is secondary and nothing more than
a necessary conclusion of a service which we
won't have to put up with if we
can stop it but i say that this
is completely ignoring god's sacred and sealed method
of reaching men and i am persuaded that
revival in our day if it comes and
god knows it must we must not ignore
the bible imperatives and experience concerning preaching and
this preaching must ring with a message which
i believe is scarcely heard in our day
we are called upon to remember that paul
refers in the book of first corinthians chapter
one to the foolishness of preaching but he
doesn't talk about foolish preaching the preaching that
we need today must ring loud and clear
with a message that leaves nobody guessing as
to its truth and its dire implications and
i wish in this broadcast to suggest four
things that this generation is not hearing and
god help us it must hear before revival
arrives the first great foundational truth of the
word of god about which the pulpit is
so silent today is the sovereignty of god
what do we mean by the sovereignty of
god which simply means that he is god
that he's not a pretender that he is
very god very god now this generation has
heard so much in it from every of
the weakness and the spurious type love of
god that it has not only put the
church to sleep but it's left this generation
in a state not unlike noah's day or
the day of sodom whereas the love of
god as seen in the scriptures cannot be
over emphasized and no one will wish to
do this this generation has heard an artificial
love preach until men and women think that
god is a toy the man upstairs a
living doll as some hollywood actresses say that
they said this generation thinks that god is
some sort of a religious toy to be
played with and a god whose motherly type
love is so sweet and sentimental that god
wouldn't harm a flea and if he wished
to harm a flea doesn't have power to
do so but there was the preaching of
the sovereignty of god that is his supreme
rule and his supreme authority and his supreme
dominion that kind of preaching which magnifies god's
holiness and his glory and his power that
kind of preaching would not only awaken we
hope the church but would put on interfere
which would give our overworked judges and our
jailers and our policemen a lot of time
off and that would be welcome today preachers
this one included churches supporting preachers must come
to examine the teaching of the word of
god about the carriage of god his utter
totalitarian sovereignty and begin to preach and proclaim
and see under the heathen god reigns that
we need in these days to soak our
souls afresh in these days especially when salvation
is preached as if god did part of
it and man did the we need to
bring men and women up short to such
scriptures as romans chapter 9 verse 15 where
a sovereign everlasting living god humbles men and
if they'd listen to him it would make
them come down off their high horse and
tremble in his presence and bow at his
feet and become supplicants for mercy and bankrupted
sinners begging for a crumb of bread rather
than the man in their right we need
to hear such scriptures again as god saying
i will have mercy on whom i will
have mercy the sovereignty of god is the
only message that if preached and heeded and
absorbed and chewed upon and believed and taken
to our hearts would save this nation from
the awful ride of pessimism and almost fatalism
in which we find ourselves now plunge the
second basic truth that this generation so desperately
needs to hear and i'm afraid to hear
so little of is the utter absolute sinfulness
of man you know i think this preacher's
telling the truth when he says that this
generation's heard so much about how man is
basically good and how man is the master
of his feet that now the biggest thing
on earth to overcome in preaching is to
get men and women to see their helplessness
and their sinfulness when we try to tell
men that they're dead in trespasses and sin
and tell them that they're helpless that makes
men madder than hornets today god have mercy
on the person who started the lie that
man is a free moral agent the whole
phrase is completely false first man is not
free the bible says he has a will
but it's under the dominion of sin that
he is a slave to sin that reigns
in his mortal body in the second place
man is not moral he is instead wretched
and full of deadly poison in the third
place man is not an agent man is
dead only the holy spirit can wake men
up and give them life i know this
offensive truth it this truth is offensive but
it must be heralded in our day it
will be true to the souls of men
and if not we'll be swallowed up in
our own whirlpool of paradise man is sinful
his only hope his only hope your only
hope my only hope man's only hope is
not in himself it is in god's mercy
and sovereign grace if god does not show
mercy to dead corrupt sinners there is no
hope for any man the third basic foundational
truth that this generation must share afresh with
the anointing and unction of the holy ghost
is the supreme unique righteousness of jesus christ
you know i'm afraid we've almost lost sight
of this saving and glorious truth for the
flesh continually yearns for the kind of security
that will enable it to feel that we
can earn our way toward eternal salvation by
some righteousness or goodness or perfection that we
can attain to in this life men do
not want to be in debt even to
god and unless a man's willing to be
in debt to god there is no hope
of salvation but if men could earn by
anything there are a due salvation if that
were possible then our lord jesus christ need
not have said i have not come to
destroy the law but to fulfill it and
because he fulfilled it perfectly men may be
saved and made righteous and given wisdom and
redemption by his obedience and death the phrase
it is finished talking about the work not
of men but of jesus christ is that
which men must find their faith in that
will save men nothing else will or can
save men but clothed in his righteousness as
safety and security and security which will receive
exceed the righteousness of the law which itself
cannot save my hope is built on nothing
less than jesus christ as righteousness and then
that truth that permeates the entire word of
god that's so little talked about now and
if it is talked about is added sort
of as an addendum to our phraseology that
truth that must be preached to this generation
namely the lordship of jesus christ the lordship
of this one who hung on a cross
we hear a lot of talk today about
accepting jesus as your personal savior but dear
ones this language is not scripturally consistent his
righteousness saves but there is more to the
testimony of christ than his being personal savior
he is lord he is lord that all
the house of israel the bible will say
that god hath made that same jesus whom
you crucified both lord and messiah he is
the lord god of heaven and earth he
is seated on a throne his work is
a finished work and his call is an
effectual call and his rule is total or
it's not at all therefore when one meets
the lord jesus christ he is given a
new master and comes under a new rule
that that individual no longer lives that he
pleases he no longer lives to the pleasure
of sin he now lives to the glory
of christ his theme song is not my
will but mine be done on earth even
if it kills me that cry comes continually
from the lips of him who has been
enabled by god grace to graciously bow to
jesus christ as supreme lord i am saying
to you that the mission and the message
of churches today must come to these issues
rather than our trying to prove our own
peculiar views about this and that and if
we do not we need not expect revival
men are dying and going to hell while
we're trying to prove our little shibboleths and
doctrines the time has come now to open
the word and under the anointing of the
holy spirit to bring men up short to
the truth of the fact that god is
sovereign man is sinful jesus is holy and
he's been made lord do you know him
under god bow to him is the prayer
of this preacher as he begs you to
listen to our pastor