Welcome to from the pulpit and classic sermons
each week We bring you a different message
from some of history's greatest speakers in the
christian faith And powerful sermons for modern preachers
too this week.
We have ray comfort with his message hell's
best-kept secret In the late 70s god
very graciously opened an itinerant ministry to me
as I began to travel I found I
had access to church growth records and found
to my horror that something like 80 to
90 percent of those making a decision for
christ Were falling away from the faith that
is modern evangelism with its methods is creating
something like 80 to 90 of what we
commonly call backsliders for every hundred decisions for
christ Let me make it more real for
you in 1991 in the first year of
the decade of harvest A major denomination in
the us was able to obtain 294 000
decisions for christ that is in one year
this major denomination of 11 and a half
thousand churches was able to obtain 294 000
Decisions for christ.
Unfortunately, they can only find 14 000 in
fellowship, which means they couldn't account For 280
000 of their decisions and this is normal
modern results and something I discovered way back
in the 70s Greatly concerned me.
I began to study the book of romans
intently and Specifically the gospel proclamation of men
like sturgeon wesley moody finney woodfield Luther others
that god used down through the ages and
I found they used a principle which is
almost entirely neglected by modern evangelical methods I
began teaching that principle was eventually invited to
base our ministry in southern california the city
of bellflower in california Specifically to bring this
teaching to the church of the u.s
Things were quiet for the first three years
until I received a call from bill gothard
Who had seen the teaching on video and
he flew me to san jose in northern
california.
I shared it with a thousand pastors In
1992 he screened that video to 30 000
pastors the same year david wilkerson called from
new york Called from his car.
He'd been listening to the teaching in his
car called me on his car phone and
immediately flew me 3 000 miles from la
to new york to share the one-hour
teaching with his church.
He considered it to be that important And
recently I heard of a pastor who had
listened to the audio tape 250 times I'd
be happy if you'd listen just once to
this teaching which is called hell's best kept
secret The bible says in psalm 19 verse
7 the law of the lord is perfect
converting the soul What is it that the
bible says is perfect and actually converts the
soul?
Why scripture makes it very clear the law
of the lord is perfect converting the soul
And to illustrate the function of god's law.
Let's just look for a moment.
It's civil law Imagine if I said to
you i've got some good news for you
Someone has just paid a 25 000 speeding
fine on your behalf You'd probably react by
saying What are you talking about?
That's not good news.
It doesn't make sense.
I don't have a 25 000 speeding fine
My good news wouldn't be good news, too
You'd seem foolishness But more than that it
would be offensive to you because i'm insinuating
you've broken the law when you don't think
you have However, if I put it this
way, it may make more sense on the
way to this meeting The law clocked you
at going 55 miles an hour through an
area set aside for a blind children's convention
There were 10 clear warning signs stating that
15 miles an hour was the maximum speed
But you went straight through at 55 miles
an hour.
What you did was extremely dangerous There's a
25 000 fine.
The law was about to take its course
when someone you don't even know Stepped in
and paid the fine for you.
You are very fortunate Can you see that
telling you precisely what you've done wrong first
actually makes the good news make sense?
If I don't clearly bring instruction and understanding
you violated the law then the good news
will seem foolishness It will seem offensive But
once you understand that you've broken the law
then that good news will become good news
Indeed now in the same way if I
approach an impenitent sinner and say jesus christ
died on the cross for your sins It'll
be foolishness to him and offensive to him
Foolishness because it won't make sense The bible
says that the preaching of the cross is
to them that perish foolishness and offensive because
i'm insinuating He's a sinner when he doesn't
think he is as far as he's concerned
There are a lot of people far worse
than him But if I take the time
to follow the footsteps of jesus that may
make more sense If I take the time
to open up the divine law the ten
commandments and show the sinner precisely what he's
done wrong That he has offended god by
violating his law then when he comes as
james says convinced of the law As a
transgressor the good news of the fine being
paid for will not be foolishness It will
not be offensive.
It will be the power of god under
salvation now with those few thoughts in mind
by way of introduction Let's now look at
romans 3 verse 19 We'll look at some
of the functions of god's law for humanity
romans 3 verse 19 Now we know the
whatsoever things the law says it says to
them who are under the law that every
mouth may be stopped And all the world
may become guilty before god So one function
of god's law is to stop the mouth
to stop sinners Justifying themselves and saying there's
plenty of people worse than me.
I'm not a bad person Really?
No, the law stops the mouth of justification
and leaves the whole world.
Not just the jews, but the whole world
guilty before god Romans 3 verse 20 therefore
by the deeds of the law There should
no flesh be justified in his sight for
by the law is the knowledge of sin.
So god's law tells us what sin is
first john 3 4 says sin is transgression
of the law Romans 7 verse 7.
What should we say then says for is
the law sin god forbid?
No, I had not known sin But by
the law Paul says I didn't know what
sin was until the lord told me in
galatians 3 24 Wherefore the law was our
schoolmaster to bring us to christ that we
might be justified by faith God's law acts
as a schoolmaster to bring us to jesus
christ that we might be justified through faith
in his blood The law doesn't help us.
It just leaves us helpless It doesn't justify
us.
It just leaves us guilty before the judgment
bar of the holy god and the tragedy
of modern evangelism Is because around the turn
of the century when it forsook the law
and its capacity to convert the soul To
drive sinners to christ modern evangelism had to
therefore find another reason for sinners to respond
to the gospel And the issue that modern
evangelism chose to attract sinners was the issue
of life enhancement the gospel degenerated into Jesus
christ will give you peace joy love fulfillment
and lasting happiness Now to illustrate the unscriptural
nature of this very popular teaching I would
like you to listen very carefully to this
following anecdote because the essence of what i'm
saying pivots on this particular illustration So please
listen carefully Two men are seated in a
plane The first is given a parachute and
told to put it on as it would
improve his flight He's a little skeptical at
first as he can't see how wearing a
parachute a plane could possibly improve a flight
After time he decides to experiment and see
if the claim is true as he puts
it on He notices the weight of it
upon his shoulders and he finds the difficulty
in sitting upright However, he consoles himself with
the fact he was told the parachute would
improve the flight So he decides to give
the thing a little time as he waits
He notices that some of the other passengers
are laughing at him because he's wearing a
parachute in a plane He begins to feel
somewhat humiliated as they begin to point and
laugh at him.
He can stand it no longer He slinks
in a seat unstraps the parachute and throws
it to the floor Disillusionment and bitterness fill
his heart because as far as he was
concerned he was told an outright lie The
second man is given a parachute but listen
what he's told He's told to put it
on because at any moment he'd be jumping
25 000 feet out of the plane He
gratefully puts the parachute on he doesn't notice
the weight upon his shoulders nor that he
can't sit upright His mind is consumed with
the thought of what would happen to him
if he jumped without that parachute Let's analyze
the motive and the result of each passenger's
experience The first man's motive for putting the
parachute on was solely to improve his flight
The result of the experience was that he
was humiliated by the passengers He was disillusioned
and somewhat embittered against those who gave him
the parachute as far as he's concerned It'll
be a long time before anyone gets one
of those things on his back again The
second man put the parachute on solely to
escape the jump to come And because of
his knowledge of what would happen to without
it He has a deep-rooted joy and
peace in his heart knowing that he's safe
from sure death This knowledge gives him the
ability to withstand the mockery of the other
passengers His attitude or those who gave him
the parachute is one of heartfelt gratitude Now
listen to what the modern gospel says it
says put on the lord jesus christ He'll
give you love joy peace fulfillment and lasting
happiness In other words, jesus will improve your
flight So the sinner responds and in an
experimental fashion puts on the savior to see
if it claims the truth And what does
he get the promise temptation tribulation and persecution
the other passengers mocking?
So what does he do?
He takes off the lord.
Jesus christ.
He's offended for the word's sake He's disillusioned
and somewhat embittered and quite rightly So he
was promised peace joy love fulfillment and lasting
happiness and all he got were trials and
humiliation His bitterness is directed at those who
gave him the so-called good news His
latter end becomes worse than the first another
inoculated and bitter backslider Saints instead of preaching
that jesus improves the flight.
We should be warning the passengers They're going
to have to jump out of the plane
But it's the point of the man wants
to die and after this the judgment And
when a sinner understands the horrific consequences of
breaking god's law, then he will flee to
the savior Solely to escape the wrath that's
to come and if we're true and faithful
witnesses That's what we'll be preaching that there
is wrath to come that god commands all
men everywhere to repent Why because he has
appointed a day in which he'll judge the
world in righteousness You see the issue isn't
one of happiness But one of righteousness doesn't
matter how happy a sinner is how much
he's enjoying the pleasures of sin for a
season without the righteousness Of the christ he'll
perish in the day of wrath richest prophet
not on the day of wrath But righteousness
delivers from death peace and joy are legitimate
fruits of salvation But it's not legitimate to
use these fruits as a draw card for
salvation if we continue to do so Sinners
will spawn with an impure motive lacking repentance
now Can you remember why the second passenger
had joy and peace in his heart?
Was because he knew that parachute was going
to save him from sure death and as
a believer I have as paul says joy
and peace in believing because I know that
the righteousness of christ Is going to deliver
me from the rapids to come Now with
that thought in mind, let's take a close
look at an incident on board the plane
We have a brand new stewardess.
She's carrying a tray of boiling hot coffee
It's her first day She wants to leave
an impression on the passengers and she certainly
does because as she's walking down the aisle
She trips over someone's foot and stops that
boiling hot coffee all over the lap of
our second passenger Now what's his reaction that
boiling liquid hits his tender flesh does he
go?
Man that hurt.
Mm-hmm.
He feels the pain But then does he
rip the parachute from his shoulders throw it
to the floor and say the stupid parachute?
No, why should he he didn't put the
parachute on for a better flight He put
it on to save him from the jump
to come If anything the hot coffee incident
causes them to cling tighter to the parachute
And even look forward to the jump now
If you and I put on the lord
jesus christ for the right motive to flee
from the rapids to come When tribulation strikes
when the flight gets bumpy, we won't get
angry at god.
We won't lose our joy and peace Why
should we we didn't come to jesus for
a happy lifestyle?
We came to flee from the rapids to
come and if anything tribulation drives the true
believer closer to the savior And sadly, we
have literally multitudes of professing christians who lose
their joy and peace when the flight gets
bumpy Why they're the product of a man
-centered gospel.
They came lacking repentance without which you cannot
be saved I was in australia recently ministering
australia is a small island off the coast
of new zealand I preached sin law righteousness
holiness judgment repentance and hell I wasn't exactly
crushed by the amount of people wanting to
give their hearts to jesus.
In fact, the air went very tense After
the meeting they said there's a young guy
down the back who wants to give his
life to christ I went down the back
and found a teenage lad who could not
pray the sinner's prayer because he was weeping
so profusely Now for me, it was so
refreshing because for many years I suffered from
the disease of evangelical frustration I so wanted
sinners to respond to the gospel.
I unwittingly preached a man-centered message the
essence of which was this You'll never find
true peace without jesus christ You have a
god-shaped vacuum in your heart that only
god can fill i'd preach christ crucified I'd
preach repentance a sinner would respond at the
altar i'd open an eye and say oh
no This guy wants to give his heart
to jesus and there's an 80 chance He's
gonna backslide and I am tired of creating
backslides So I better make sure this guy
really means it he better be sincere So
I'd approach the poor guy in a gestapo
spirit.
I'll walk up and say What do you
want?
He said i'm here to become a christian.
I said do you mean it?
They say yeah, I said do you?
Really mean it He'd say yeah, I reckon
Okay, i'll pray with you, but you better
mean it from your heart.
He said, okay, okay Now you repeat this
prayer sincerely after me and mean it from
your heart sincerely and really mean it from
your heart sincerely And make sure you mean
it Oh god, i'm a sinner Oh god
I'm a sinner and i'd say man.
Why isn't there a visible sign of contrition?
There's no outward evidence.
The guy is inwardly sorry for his sins
If I could have seen his motive, I
would have seen he was 100 Sincere he
really did mean his decision with all his
heart He sincerely want to give this jesus
thing a go to see if you get
a buzz out of it He had tried
sex drugs materials and alcohol Why not give
this christian bit a go see if it's
as good as all these christians say it
is peace joy Love fulfillment lasting happiness.
He wasn't fleeing from the wrath that was
to come because I hadn't told him there
was wrath to come There was this glaring
omission from my message.
He wasn't broken in contrition because the poor
guy didn't know what sin was Remember romans
7 verse 7 paul said I had not
known Sin, but by the law, how can
a man repent if he doesn't know what
sin is any so-called repentance would be
nearly what I call Horizontal repentance he's coming
because he's lied to men He's stolen from
men But when david sinned with basheba and
broke all 10 of the 10 commandments when
he coveted his neighbor's wife lived a life
Stole his neighbor's wife committed adultery committed murder
dishonored his parents and thus dishonored god.
He didn't say I've sinned against man Did
against you and you only have I sinned
and done this evil in your sight when
joseph was tempted sexually?
He said how can I do this thing
and sin against god the prodigal son said
i've sinned against heaven Paul preached repentance towards
god and the bible says godly sorrow works
repentance And when a man doesn't understand that
his sin is primarily vertical.
He'll merely come and exercise superficial Experimental and
horizontal repentance and fall away when tribulation temptation
and persecution come ab earl Said i've found
my long experience That the severest threatenings of
the law of god have a prominent place
in leading men to christ They must see
themselves lost before they will cry for mercy.
They'll not escape danger until they see it
I'd like to do something a little unusual.
I'll not embarrass you.
I give you my word But I would
like to ask How many of you were
thinking of something else when I was reading
that quote from ab earl now?
I want to admit something to you I
was thinking of something else when I was
reading that quote from ab earl I was
thinking nobody's listening to me.
They're thinking of something else So to make
a very important point i'd like to be
really honest If you were thinking of something
else and you haven't got a clue what
ab earl said, could you raise your head
up nice and high?
Up nice and high.
It's usually half to two thirds and we've
got that here tonight Let's try again God
bless you pastor for your honesty Ab earl
was a famous evangelist of the last century
who had 150 Converts to substantiate his claims
satan doesn't want you to get a grip
of this So listen very closely ab earl
said I have found by long experience That's
the true test that the severest threatenings of
the law of god have a prominent place
in leading men to christ They must see
themselves lost before they will cry for mercy.
They'll not escape danger until they see it
You see you try and save a man
from drowning when a man doesn't believe he's
drowning He'll not be too happy with you.
You see him swimming out in the lake.
You think I think he's drowning Yes, I
believe he is you dive in pull him
to the shore without telling him anything He's
not going to be very happy with you
you won't want to get saved until he
sees he's in danger They'll not escape danger
until they see it.
You see if you came to me and
says hey ray I said you you said
this is a cure to groanin's disease.
I sold my house to raise the money
to get this cure I'm giving it to
you as a free gift I'd probably react
something like this What cure to what groanin's
disease you sold your house to raise the
money to get this cure you're giving me
as a free gift Why thanks a lot.
Bye Guys are not I mean, that's probably
how i'd react if you sold your house
to raise the money to get a cure
for disease I've never heard of you're giving
to me as a free gift.
I think you're rather strange But instead if
you came to me and said ray you've
got groanin's disease I can see 10 clear
symptoms on your flesh You're going to be
dead in two weeks and I became convinced
I had the disease the symptoms are so
evident and said Oh, what should I do?
And then you said Don't worry.
This is a cure to groanin's disease sold
my house to raise the money to get
this cure Given to you as a free
gift.
I'm not going to despise your sacrifice I'm
going to appreciate it and i'm going to
appropriate it.
Why because i've seen the disease But I
might appreciate the cure and sadly what's happened
in the u.s And the western world
has followed is that we have preached the
cure without first convincing of the disease We
have preached the gospel of grace without first
convincing men of the law that transgresses and
consequently Almost everyone I try and witness to
in southern california or around the bible belt
has been born again six or seven times
They say you need to give your life
to jesus christ I did that when I
was 7 11 17 23 25 28 32
You know, the guy's not a christian.
He's a fornicator He's a blasphemer, but he
thinks he's saved because he's been born again.
What's happening?
He's using the grace of our god for
an occasion of the flesh He doesn't esteem
the sacrifice for him.
It's not a bad thing to trample the
blood of christ underfoot Why because he's never
been convinced of the disease that he might
appreciate the cure biblical evangelism is always without
exception Law to the proud and grace to
the humble Never will you see jesus giving
the gospel the good news the cross the
grace of our god to a proud arrogant
self-righteous person No, no with the law.
He breaks the hard heart and with the
gospel.
He heals the broken heart.
Why?
Because he always did those things that pleased
the father God resists the proud and gives
grace the humble everyone who is proud of
heart scripture says is an abomination to the
lord Jesus told us in the gospel is
for he said the spirit of the lord
is upon me Because he has anointed me
to preach the gospel to the poor the
broken-hearted the captives and the blind Now
they are spiritual statements the poor in spirit
the broken-hearted are the contrite ones the
captives Are those of whom satan has taken
captive to do his will and the blind?
Are those of whom the god of this
world is blinded?
At least the light of the gospel should
shine on them only the sick need a
physician And only those who are convinced of
the disease will appreciate an appropriate cure So
we're going to now very briefly look at
examples of lord of the proud and grace
to the humble Luke 10 24 Luke 10
24 and when I give you a reference
from the pulpit i'll give it twice Because
I know that men are present and men
need to be told things twice Men need
to be told things twice This can be
backed up biblically when god speaks to men
in the bible He uses the name twice
abraham abraham saul saul moses moses samuel samuel
because men need to be told things twice
women once I don't know how many times
i've sat in a pew preacher said i'll
look 10 25.
I turn to my wife and say What
do you say?
She says luke 10 25.
I said, thank you, dear help Mate, that's
why god created women because men could not
handle it on their own.
The whole thing is Men lose things women
find things Where's the keys love hanging on
your nose dear?
I mean, I don't know how many times
open a cupboard.
There's no honey here, honey.
She says here it is here dear Where
would man be without women?
Hmm still in the garden of eden eve
found the tree Adam didn't really know what
was going on In fact, if you look
at the creation of women to create women
The bible says god put man into a
deep sleep and scripture doesn't say if it
came out of it In luke 10 25,
we see a certain lawyer stood up and
tempted jesus.
This is not an attorney But a professing
expert in god's law stood up and he
said to jesus How can I get everlasting
life now?
What did jesus do?
He gave him law.
Why?
Because he was proud Arrogant self-righteous here.
We have a professing expert in god's law
Tempting the son of god the spirit of
his question was and what do you think
we've got to do to get everlasting life?
So jesus gave him law.
He says what is written in the law?
What is your reading of it?
He says, uh, you should love the lord
your god with your heart mind soul and
strength Love your neighbor as yourself and jesus
said this too And you shall live Then
the scripture says but he willing to justify
himself said to jesus Who's my neighbor the
living bible brings that more clearly the effect
of the law on the man?
And said the man wanted to justify his
lack of love for some kinds of people.
So he asked Which neighbor so he didn't
mind jews, but he didn't like samaritans So
jesus then told him the story of what
we call the Good samaritan.
It was not good at all And loving
his neighbor as much as he loved himself
He merely obeyed the basic requirements of god's
law And the effect of the essence of
the law the spirituality of the law of
what the lord demands and truth was that
that man's mouth was stopped See, he didn't
love his neighbor to that degree The law
was given to stop every mouth and leave
the whole world guilty before god Similarly in
luke 18 verse 18 the rich young ruler
came to jesus said how can I get
everlasting life?
I mean, how would most of us react
if someone came up and said?
How can I get everlasting life would say
oh quickly say this prayer before you change
your mind But what did jesus do with
this potential convert?
He pointed him to the law.
He gave him five horizontal commandments Commandments to
do with his fellow men and when he
said i've kept those for my youth Jesus
said one thing you lack and he used
the essence of the first of the ten
commandments I'm the lord your god You shall
have no other gods before me to show
this man that his god was his money
and you cannot serve god and men Lord
of the proud then we see grace being
given to the humble in the case of
nicodemus Nicodemus was a leader of the jews.
He was a teacher in israel.
Therefore.
He was thoroughly versed in god's law He
was humble of heart because he came to
jesus and acknowledged the deity of the son
of god a leader in israel We know
that you've come from god for no man
can do these miracles that you do unless
god is with him So jesus gave the
sincere seeker of truth who had a humble
heart and a knowledge then via the law
The good news of the fine being paid
for him for god so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten son And
it was not foolishness to nicodemus, but the
power of god to salvation Similarly in the
case of nathaniel nathaniel was an israelite brought
up under the law indeed Not just in
word in whom there was no guile.
There was no deceit in his heart Obviously
the law was a schoolmaster to bring this
godly to christ similarly with the jews on
the day of pentecost They were devout jews
godly jews who therefore ate drank and slept
god's law Matthew henry the bible commentator said
the reason they were gathered together on the
day of pentecost was to celebrate the giving
of god's law In mount sinai, so when
peter stood up to preach to these godly
jews, he didn't preach wrath No, the law
works wrath.
They knew that he didn't preach righteousness or
judgment.
No No, he just told them the good
news Of the fine being paid for them
and they were pricked in their heart and
cried men and brethren What should we do?
The law was a schoolmaster to bring them
to christ They might be justified through faith
in his blood as the hymn writer said
by god's word at last my sin I
learned then I trembled at the law i'd
spurned till my guilty soul imploring turned to
calvary first timothy chapter 1 verse 8 says
Now we know that the law is good
if it is used lawfully for the purpose
for which it was designed God's law is
good if it's used lawfully for the purpose
for which it was designed.
Well, what was the law designed for?
Following verse tells us the law was not
made for a righteous man but for sinners
It even lists the sinners homosexuals Fornicators if
you want to bring a homosexual to christ
don't get into an argument with him over
his perversion He's ready for you with his
boxing gloves on.
No, no, give him the ten commandments The
law was made for homosexuals show him that
he is damned despite his perversion If you
want to bring a jew to christ lay
the weight of the law upon him Let
it prepare his heart for grace as happened
on the day of pentagon.
You ought to bring a muslim to christ
Give them the law of moses.
They accept moses as a prophet Well, give
them the law of moses and strip them
of their self-righteousness and bring them to
the foot of a blood-stained cross I
heard of a muslim reading a book held
best kept secret and god's family saved him
purely through reading the book Why because the
law of the lord is perfect converting the
soul Think of the woman caught in the
act of adultery violation of the seventh commandment
the law called for her blood She found
herself between a rock and a hard place
She had no avenue but to fling herself
at the feet of the son of god
for mercy And that is the function of
god's law paul spoke of being shot up
under the law.
It condemns You say you can't condemn sinners
Saints, they're already condemned john 3 verse 17
He that believes not is condemned already.
All the law does is show him himself
in his true state Ladies, you might recognize
this thought your table needs dusting in your
living room So you dust it clean all
the dust is gone Then you draw back
the curtains and let in the early morning
sunlight.
What do you see on the table?
Dust, what do you see in the air
dust?
Did the light create the dust?
The light merely exposed the dust and when
you and I take the time to draw
back the curtains of the holy of holies
And let the light of god's law shine
upon the sinner's heart All that happens is
that he sees himself in truth.
The commandment is a lamp and the law
is light That's why paul said by the
law is the knowledge of sin That's why
he said by the commandment sin became exceedingly
sinful In other words the law showed him
sin in its true light Now normally at
this stage of this teaching I guess with
the ten commandments one by one But what
i'll do is share with you how I
witness personally because I think it would be
more beneficial Now i'm a strong believer in
following the footsteps of jesus Never ever would
I approach someone and say jesus loves you
totally unbiblical There's no precedent for that in
scripture.
Neither would I go up to someone and
say i'd like to talk to you about
jesus christ Why?
Because if I want to awaken you from
a deep sleep, I wouldn't use a flashlight
in your eyes That will offend you i'd
turn on a light dimmer very gently first
the natural Then the spiritual why because the
natural man receives not the things of the
spirit of god Neither can he know them
their foolishness to him because they're spiritually understood
Now the precedent in scripture is given in
john 4 for personal witness We can see
jesus example with the woman at the well
he started in the natural realm Swung to
the spiritual bought conviction using the seventh commandment
and then revealed himself as the messiah.
So when I meet someone I'll talk about
the weather.
I talk about sport let them feel a
little bit of sanity Get to know them
maybe joke here and there and then deliberately
swing from the natural to the spiritual Now
the way I do this is that I
use gospel tracks I've printed millions and millions
of tracks and our tracks are unusual if
you get a hold of them What you'll
have to do is have a stack on
you because people chase you and ask for
more Let me give an example This is
our optical illusion track which looks bigger if
you can see does the pink look bigger
you see that?
For those listening by tape They're the same
size it's an optical illusion they say it's
actually a gospel track instructions are on the
back how to get saved They say you
can keep that he said hey Thanks a
lot.
This is me.
Whoa got another gift for you out of
my pocket I get a pressed penny with
the ten commandments on it.
We have a machine that does this we
buy the pennies new from the bank Nice
golden looking pennies and we feed them into
this machine and it presses them We'll do
your thumbnail if you want to hold still
But it presses them with the ten commandments.
It's legal to do this.
This is considered art.
It's not the facing a penny So I
say here's a gift.
He says well, what is it?
I say it's a penny with the ten
commandments on it Did it with my teeth?
The eyes of my teeth, but the ease
are really difficult Now what I'm doing is
I am putting out a feeler to see
if he's open to spiritual things if he
says ten commandments Thanks a lot.
He's not open.
But the usual reaction is ten commandments.
Hey, thanks.
Appreciate this Yeah, I think you've kept the
ten commandments.
He's not you pretty much.
So let's go through them.
Never told a lie He's oh, yeah.
Yeah wanted to so what does that make
you?
This is a sinner.
I said no.
No specifically.
What does it make you?
He's a one man.
I'm not a liar So say how many
lies then do you have to tell to
be a liar pen and the bell rings
and cross your forehead Is it true you
tell one lie and makes you a liar?
He says Yeah, I guess you're right.
So have you ever stolen something?
He says no say come on.
You've just admitted to me.
You're a liar Have you ever stolen something
even if it's small he says yeah I
said what does that make you?
He says a thief So jesus said if
you look at a woman and lust after
you commit adultery with her in your heart
ever done that he says Yeah plenty of
times so from your own admission You're a
lying thieving adulterer at heart and you have
to face god on judgment day And we've
only looked at three of the ten commandments.
There's another seven where they can be pointed
at you Have you used god's name in
vain?
Yeah, i've been trying to stop You know
what you're doing instead of using a fully
of filth word beginning with s to express
disgust you're using god's name in its place
That's called blasphemy And the bible says every
idle word a man speaks who given account
thereof in the day of judgment The law
will not hold him guiltless who takes his
name in vain Other says if you hate
someone you are a murderer folks when you
look at those commandments They certainly leave us
guilty.
They don't paint a pretty picture in the
mirror And the one I am the lord
your god.
You shall have no other gods before me
That means god our creator commands that he
be the focal point of our affections We
are commanded to love the lord our god
with all our heart Mind soul and strength
and to love our neighbor as much as
ourselves to a point where our love for
mom and dad brother and sister And our
own life seems like hatred Compared to the
love that we have for the god who
gave those loved ones And that life to
us and there's none of us that can
say i've kept the first of the ten
commandments The bible says there's none that seek
after god Second is you should not make
yourself a graven image.
You should not make a god either with
your hands Or with your mind Will one
say oh my god isn't a god of
wrath and judgment.
My god is a god of love and
mercy He would never create hell Someone says
that to you agree with them say you're
right Your god would never create hell because
he couldn't he doesn't exist He's a figment
of your imagination the place of imagery.
You've shaped a god to suit your sins
You said i'm the potter you're the clay
made a god to suit yourself It's called
idolatry.
It's the oldest sin in the book and
the bible says idolaters will not inherit the
kingdom of god And the wonderful thing about
god's law is that god has taken the
time to write it upon our heart Romans
2 verse 15 which show the work of
the law written in their hearts the conscience
bearing witness Now conscience means with knowledge con
is with science is knowledge conscience So when
he lies lusts fornicates blasphemes commits adultery he
does it With knowledge that it's wrong god
has given light to every man The holy
spirit convicts him of sin righteousness and judgment
sin, which is transgression of the law righteousness
Which is of the law judgment, which is
by the law his conscience accuses him the
work of the law written on his heart
And the law condemns him.
So I say so god judges you by
this standard on the day of judgment You're
going to be innocent or guilty.
He says guilty I say well, do you
think you'll go to heaven or hell and
the usual answer is heaven Product of the
modern gospel.
I say why do you feel like that?
Because you think god is good and you'll
overlook your sins.
He says that's it He'll overlook my sense
I said we'll try it out in the
court of law You've committed rape murder drug
pushing very serious crime The judge says you're
guilty all the evidence is here Have you
anything to say before I pass sentence and
you say yes judge I'd like to say
I believe you're a good man and you'll
overlook my crimes The judge would probably say
you're right about one thing.
I am a good man and because of
my goodness I'm going to see that justice
is done because of my goodness I'm going
to see that you're punished And the very
thing that sinners are hoping will save them
on the day of judgment the goodness of
god Will be the very thing that will
condemn them because if god is good He
must by nature punish murderers rapists thieves liars
fornicators Blasphemous god is going to punish sin
wherever it's found.
So with this knowledge He's now able to
understand he now has light that his sin
is primarily vertical that he has sinned against
heaven That he has violated god's law and
he has angered god and the wrath of
god abides upon him He can now see
these weighed in the balance of eternal justice
and found wanting Can now understand the need
for a sacrifice Christ redeemed us from the
curse of the law being made a curse
for us God commended his love toward us
and that while we get sinners christ died
for us.
We broke the law He paid the fine.
It's as simple as that And if a
man will repent if a woman repent and
put their faith in jesus God will remit
their sins so that on the day of
judgment when their court case comes up God
can say your case is dismissed through lack
of evidence Christ redeemed us from the curse
of the law being made a curse for
us And therefore exercise repentance towards god faith
toward the lord.
Jesus christ Put his hand on the plow
and not look back because he's fit for
the kingdom That word fit means ready for
use the soil of his heart has been
turned that he might receive the engrafted word
Which is able to save the soul Now
I haven't got time to share these quotes
with you, but they're in a literature These
men i'm sure you recognize their names John
Wycliffe He said this is the bible translator
said the highest service to which a man
may obtain on earth Is to preach the
law of god why because it'll drive sinners
to faith in the savior to everlasting life
Martin luther said the first duty of the
gospel preacher is to declare god's law and
show the nature of sin in fact We
read these quotes.
These men are so They have so much
conviction.
You can feel their teeth grip They say
things like if you do not use the
law in gospel proclamation, you will fill the
church with false converts Stony ground hearers who
receive the word with joy and gladness Listen,
what martin luther said is that satan the
god of all dissension?
stirs up daily new sects The last of
all which of all others I should never
have foreseen or once suspected He has raised
up a sect such as teach that men
should not be terrified by the law But
generally exhorted by the preaching of the grace
of christ.
So what's luther saying?
He's saying listen guys There's a demonic satanic
sect has just risen up man.
I never ever would have believed this could
happen He's raised up a sect such as
teach that men should not be terrified by
the law But gently exhorted by the preaching
of the grace of christ, which perfectly sums
up most of our evangelism Matthew henry john
wesley said to a friend of writing to
a young evangelist.
He said preach 90 percent law and 10
percent grace You say 90 percent law 10
percent grace pretty heavy.
Couldn't it be 50 50 think of it
like this I'm a doctor You're a patient
You have a terminal disease I have a
cure But it's absolutely essential that you are
totally committed to this cure If you're not
100 committed, it will not work.
How am I going to handle it probably
like this?
Come in here sit down Some very serious
news for you.
You have a terminal disease.
I see you begin to shake I think
to myself good.
He's beginning to see the seriousness of the
situation I bring up charts.
I bring out x-rays.
I show you the poison seeping through your
system I speak to you for 10 whole
minutes about this terrible disease How long then
do you think i'm going to talk about
the cure?
Not long at all when he's sitting there
trembling after 10 minutes.
I say by the way Here's the cure
you go Your knowledge of the disease and
a terrific consequence has made you desire the
cure You see before I was a christian.
I had as much desire for righteousness as
a four-year-old boy has for the
word bath What's the point see jesus said
a blessed of those who hunger and thirst
after righteousness How many non-christians do you
know who are hungering and thirsting after righteousness?
The bible says there's none that seek after
god Since they love the darkness they hate
the light neither will they come to the
light place their deeds to be exposed The
only thing they drink in is iniquity like
water But the night I was confronted with
the spiritual nature of god's law and understood
that god requires truth in the inward paths
That he saw my thought life and considered
lust to be the same as adultery hatred
the same as murder.
I began to say I can see i'm
condemned What must I do to be made
right?
I began to thirst for righteousness the law
put salt on my tongue It was a
schoolmaster bring me to christ charles spurgeon said
they will never accept grace until they tremble
before a just and holy law D l
moody john bunyan john newton who wrote amazing
grace and if anyone had a grip on
grace, it was newton.
He said that the correct understanding of the
harmony between law and grace is to preserve
oneself from being Entangled by errors on the
right hand and on the left Charles finney
said evermore the law must prepare the way
for the gospel.
He said to overlook this and instructing souls
There's almost certain to result in false.
Hope the introduction of a false standard of
christ experience and to fill the church with
false converts Since the first thing david wilkerson
said to me when he called me on
his car phone was I thought I was
the only one who didn't believe in follow
-up Now I believe in feeding a new
convert I believe in nurturing him I believe
in discipling him biblical and most necessary, but
I don't believe in following him I can't
find it in scripture.
The ethiopian eunuch was left without follow-up
How could he survive all he had was
god and the scriptures?
You see, it's my understanding You know what
follow up now?
Let me explain follow up for those of
you who don't know follow up is when
we get decisions either through crusades or local
church And we take laborers from the harvest
fields who are few as it is And
give them this disheartening task of running after
these decisions to make sure they're going on
with god What it is is a sad
admission to the amount of confidence we have
in the power of our message And in
the keeping power of god if god has
saved them god will keep them.
They're born of god They'll never die if
he's begun a good work in them.
He'll complete it to that day If he's
the author of their faith, he'll be the
finish of their faith He's able to save
the uttermost them that come to god by
him He's able to keep them from falling
present and faultless before the presence of his
glory the exceeding joy Jesus said no one
will pluck you from my father's hand.
See the problem is saints Lazarus is four
days dead.
We can run in the tomb.
We can pull him out.
We can prop him up We can open
his eyes, but he's stinker He needs to
hear the voice of the son of god
and the sinner is four days dead in
his sins We can run up and say
say this prayer Still he needs to hear
the voice of the son of god or
there is no life in him And the
things that primes the sinner's ear to hear
the voice of the son of god is
the law It's a schoolmaster to bring him
to christ that he might be justified through
faith Saints the law works it converts the
soul that makes a person a new creature
in christ that all things pass away Behold,
all things have become new so find yourself
a sinner an experiment on them But as
you do so Remember this one anecdote You're
sitting on a plane.
You're suffering your coffee.
You're biting a cookie.
You're watching a movie.
It's a good flight Very pleasurable when suddenly
you hear This is your captain speaking you
have an announcement to make because the tail
section has just formed this plane.
We're about to crash There's a 25 000
foot drop.
There's a parachute under your seat.
We'd appreciate if you put it on Thank
you for your attention.
And thank you for flying with us airline
25 000 feet Man, am I glad to
be wearing this parachute you look next to
you.
The guy next to you is biting this
cookie Suffering this coffee watching the movie.
You say excuse me.
Did you hit a captain put the parachute
on?
Turns to him and says I really don't
think the captain means it besides i'm quite
happy and thanks Don't turn to him in
sincere zeal and say Oh, please put the
parachute on It'll be better than the movie
And that doesn't make sense If you tell
him that somehow the parachute is going to
improve his flight he's going to put it
on for a wrong motive If you want
him to put it on and keep it
on Tell him about the jump say excuse
me ignore the captain if you wish jump
without a parachute splat He says i'm, sorry,
I beg your pardon.
I said if you jump without a parachute
law of gravity on the ground he says
Goodness me.
I see what you're saying Thank you very
much And as long as that man knows
as long as he has knowledge he has
to pass through the door And face the
consequences of breaking the law of gravity There's
no way you're going to get that parachute
off his back because his very life depends
on it Now if you look around you
find there are plenty of passengers enjoying the
flight They're enjoying the pleasures of sin for
a season godman's excuse me Did you hear
the command from the captain of our salvation
put on the lord?
Jesus christ he turns to and says if
I really don't think god means that god
is love besides.
I'm quite happy.
I am Thanks, don't turn to him in
sincere zeal without knowledge and say Please put
on the lord.
Jesus christ He'll give you love joy peace
fulfillment lust and happiness got you back in
my heart Only god can fairly hear a
marriage problem drug problem alcohol problem.
Just give your heart to jesus No, he'll
give him a wrong motive for his commitment
Instead say oh god, give me courage and
tell him about the jump So say hey,
it's a point of a man wants to
die If you die in your sins god
will be forced to give you justice and
his judgment is going to be so thorough
Every idle word a man speaks you've given
a counter of in the day of judgment
If you've lusted you've committed adultery if you've
hated someone you've committed murder Jesus warned that
justice will be so thorough the fist of
eternal wrath will come upon you and Grind
you to powder god bless I think i'm
not talking about hellfire preaching hellfire preaching will
produce fear-filled converts Using god's law will
produce tear-filled converts This one comes because
why he wants to escape the fires of
hell but in his heart he thinks god
is harsh and unjust Because the law hasn't
been used to show him the exceeding sinful
nature of sin He doesn't see hell as
being as just as it but he deserves
hell.
Therefore.
He doesn't understand mercy or grace And therefore
he lacks gratitude to god for his mercy
and gratitude is the prime motivation for evangelism
There'll be no zeal in the heart of
a false convert to evangelize But this one
comes knowing he has sinned against heaven The
god's eye is in every place beholding the
evil and the good and god has seen
darkness as though a pure light He's seen
his thought life Of god and his holiness
on the day of wrath Made manifest all
the secret sins of his heart all the
deeds done in darkness He made man of
all his evidence of his guilt god could
pick him up as an unclean thing and
cast him into hell and do That which
is just but instead of giving him justice.
He's given him mercy He's commended his love
toward him that what he's here to sinner
christ died from he falls on his knees
before that blood-stained cross And says oh
god, if you do that for me, i'll
do anything for you.
I delight to do your will Oh my
god Your law is written upon my heart
and like the man who knew he had
to pass through the door And face the
consequences of breaking the law of gravity would
never take his parachute off because his very
life depended on it So he who comes
to the savior knowing he has to face
the holy god on the day of wrath
Would never forsake the righteousness of god in
christ because his very life Depends on it.
Let me see if I can coagulate this
teaching as we draw it to a close
I was in a store some time ago
and the Owner of the store was serving
a customer and using god's name and blasphemy
Now if somebody used my wife's name and
blasphemy I'll be extremely offended if they If
they used her name as a curse word
in that sense But someone was this guy
was using god's name as a curse word
when god had given him life His eyes
the ability to think his children his food
every pleasure He's ever had was given him
by the goodness of god and using god's
name as a curse word Indignantly between him
and his customer.
I leaned and said, excuse me.
Is this a religious meeting?
The guy says what?
H-e-l-l.
No, I said yes it is because now
you're talking about hell.
Let me get you one of my books
So I went out of my car.
Sorry.
I went out of my car And got
a book that i've written called god doesn't
believe in atheists Proof the atheist doesn't exist
And it's a book which uses logic humor
reason and rationalism to prove the existence of
god Which you can do in two minutes
without the use of faith It's a very
simple thing to conclusively absolutely prove god's existence
and it proves also that the atheist doesn't
exist In fact, let me show you a
bumper sticker national atheist day april the first
So I gave him this book and two
months later I went and gave him another
book I've written a book called my friends
are dying a book which Is a true
and gripping story about the ministry of the
gospel in the most murderous portion of los
angeles a book Which also uses humor in
its presentation gave him those books and he
called me and told me that what had
happened In fact, he told me his wife
gave him filthy looks because there he was
reading a book called my friends are dying
and laughing Every two minutes, but he's cleaning
out his room and he he picked up
god doesn't believe in atheists He said ah
And he opened it up and read the
first page and then he read the whole
book 260 pages He said it was weird
because I hate reading then he read my
friends are dying gave his life to christ
Bought himself a bible came around to say
hi and told me after two days of
being a christian in his bible He was
already up to what he called the book
of leviticus And I guess he was going
to read palms and then job But up
until his commitment the man was a practicing
witch The law of the lord is perfect
converting the soul And so god looked down
upon me as for many years I open
air preached as I fought off the enemy
of the feather duster of modern evangelism This
is oh god said what are you doing
weapons of water?
Not carnal, but mighty through god are the
pulling down a stronghold Here are 10 great
canons and as I lined up the 10
canons of god's law no longer did sinners
scoff and mock No, their faces went pale.
They lifted their hands and said I surrender
all all of jesus I freely give came
across to the winning side never to become
deserters such converts become soul winners not pew
warmers Laborers not layabouts assets not liabilities for
the local church And now saints with every
head raised and every eye open and no
music playing Let me challenge you as to
the validity of your salvation modern evangelism says
never question your salvation The bible says the
exact opposite It says examine yourself and see
if you're in the faith better now than
on the day of judgment The bible says
make your calling election sure and some of
you know that something is radically wrong in
your christian walk You lose your peace and
joy when the flight gets bumpy There is
a lack of zeal to evangelize you never
fell on your face before a mighty god
and said i've sinned against you Oh god,
have mercy upon me You've never fled to
jesus christ and his blood for cleansing and
desperation crying out god be merciful to me
a sinner And there's a lack of gratitude.
There's not a burning zeal for the lost.
You can't say you're on fire for god
In fact, you're in danger of being one
of the ones that are called luke warm
Will be spewed out of the mouth of
christ on the day of judgment when multitudes
will cry out to jesus lord lord You'll
say depart from your worker of iniquity lawlessness
I never knew no regard to the divine
law The bible says let everyone that names
the name of christ depart from iniquity lawlessness
So today you need to readjust the motive
for your commitment friend.
Don't let your pride stop you I would
like to pray for you or remain up
here you remain in your seat If you'd
like to be included in this prayer, I'd
like you to slip up your hand But
remember this if you say well, I should
put my hand up, but what will people
think?
That's pride You prefer the praises of men
to the praises of god Everyone who is
proud of heart is an abomination to the
lord.
God resists the proud gives grace to the
humble So humble yourself before the mighty hand
of god He'll exalt you in due time
call it a recommittal call it a committal
or whatever you call it.
Make your calling and election sure You've been
listening to the from the pulpit and classic
sermons series This week you heard ray comfort
with his message hell's best kept secret Tune
in next week to hear vince havner speak
about the country preacher who came to town
on from the pulpit and classic sermons You