If you have your Bibles, turn with me
please to the book of 2 Corinthians, and
I want to deal with a passage of
scripture that I believe the Lord is directing
us to today because of the vein that
the meeting is in, and I don't want
to get out of where we are, and
I just would love to deal with this
passage.
I was thinking back how many years ago
I dealt with this passage here in this
church, and it was so far back I
couldn't remember.
I just remember the occasion when Dr. Oswald
J.
Smith's son, Paul Smith, was here.
I dealt with this passage, and I have
never been able to get away from this
particular message.
Back in the days when I was extremely
well physically, many times when I would deal
with this message it would take me weeks
to get over it because of the impact
it had on my life.
I trust that today will not be an
exception to that, that God will use it
mightily.
Let me read just a couple of verses
out of the 6th chapter of the book
of 2 Corinthians.
We're actually going to deal with the 2nd
verse, if we're going to deal with any
verse in particular, but actually we're dealing with
a whole chapter.
He says, "...we then, as workers together with
him, beseech you also that you receive not
the grace of God in vain.
For I have heard thee in a time
accepted in the day of salvation have I
suffered thee.
Behold, now is the accepted time.
Behold, now is the day of salvation."
I don't think it would take a real
serious student of the word of God to
realize that this passage is written to save
people, not lose people.
And I realize that we use it a
great deal in addressing people that are without
Jesus.
We tell them that today is the day
of salvation, now is the accepted time.
But you have to take that verse out
of its context to make that application, and
you also have to realize that when God
is dealing with a person, it is the
day of salvation, it is the accepted time.
But this passage, in its context, God is
talking to the church at Corinth, and he's
saying today is the day of salvation, now
is the accepted time.
And when I began to see that this
passage was written to the Christians, I began
to ask God, I said, now Lord, I
want to see what you're saying to the
Christians.
Today is the day of salvation, now is
the accepted time.
Now, what could you be saying to the
Christian?
Because a Christian is saved, he's born again,
and yet you're saying today is the day
of salvation, now is the accepted time.
You have to realize that Paul is writing
to a church that had a great number
of baby Christians in that church.
There was a great number in that church
that were very immature, they were very childish.
There obviously were some spiritual people in that
church, and there were obviously some carnal people
in that church.
But there were also some baby Christians in
that church, and there is a difference between
a baby Christian and a carnal Christian.
A carnal Christian is a person that has
heard the word of God and refused to
obey it.
But a baby Christian is a person that
just has not grown up in the teaching
of the word of God, possibly because they
haven't heard it, possibly because they haven't had
time to grow up, and I trust it's
never because they have rejected the word of
God, because that gets into the area of
being a carnal Christian.
But the passage here tells us that there
were some people in the church at Carth
that were baby Christians and carnal Christians and
spiritual Christians.
But nevertheless, Paul said to this crowd, today
is the day of salvation, now is the
expected time.
What could he be saying to this crowd?
He gives them several arguments that should actually
establish spiritual maturity.
For one is, know ye not that your
body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.
That really should challenge anybody to be spiritually
mature, to realize that your body is the
dwelling place of God and should grow you
up.
It really should.
It should grow you up, it should really
mature you.
God has a dwelling place, the Son has
a dwelling place, but the Holy Spirit, you
are the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit
of God.
That should grow any person up.
Really, it should.
But this passage that we're dealing with is
another passage that really should grow us up.
And I believe this is the area that
we've been dealing with last night and this
morning, and that is this.
Today is the day of salvation, now is
the expected time.
This is one of the unique challenges to
me, to grow me up.
I said last night that I can't win
the world with Jesus, but I can be
at the right place at the right time
with the right message, right with God.
And listen very carefully, because I want to
take you on a trip.
Back some years ago, I was visiting in
Cuauhtemoc, Mexico, and while visiting in that little
town, I was out visiting out on what
they call Missionary Hill.
There were about five homes out there, and
four of those homes were occupied by missionaries.
But one of those homes was occupied by
an American-Mexican pilot.
And one day we were having lunch in
that pilot's home, and after lunch I went
out in the backyard just to look around,
and I walked up to a huge fence
and looked over that fence, and there was
a cliff and a river.
I saw some of these little Mexican people
out there working something like a garden, and
they were growing corn.
I've seen some pictures of these people and
I've heard some stories about how these people
would grow that corn, and once it got
ready to gather, they'd gather it, and then
they'd let it dry out and they'd shuck
it and they'd shell it, and then they'd
take stones and beat that corn into a
cornmeal, and then they'd make tortillas out of
that cornmeal.
And then they'd take those tortillas down to
the open market and they'd sell those tortillas
for a few pesos, and then they'd save
those pesos and they would keep those pesos
in a sack until a certain day when
they would make a pilgrimage to a statue
of Jesus Christ up in the mountains.
And they'd get in that, they would start
on that pilgrimage and that statue of Jesus
Christ up in the mountains.
And the terrain would be so rough that
many times many of them had to crawl,
and their clothes would be torn and they
would be bloody all over because they had
to crawl up to this statue of Jesus
Christ in the mountains.
And they would actually be fearful to turn
back because all along the way there would
be big stones that say, Bill and Mary,
or Mary turned back or Bill turned back
and they turned the stone.
And it's sort of hard for you and
me to believe that people could be that
ignorant.
But yet they'd make a pilgrimage to that
statue of Jesus Christ up in those mountains.
People do that every year, and you've read
about it, you've seen it on television when
they make a pilgrimage to the statue of
Guadalupe there in Mexico City.
And it's the same thing going on in
those mountains.
And these people would make a pilgrimage to
that statue and they would get there and
they would be bloody all over, their clothes
would be torn, and the priest would be
standing there and saying, Now you know you
love Jesus, and because you love him you
need to give to him.
And they would give their money, they would
reach in those sacks, sometimes they would stain
that money with their own blood.
And they'd give those pesos, they'd put it
in something like a tub that had a
chute out of the bottom, and that money
would go down into that hollow statue of
Jesus Christ.
And after they heard a message in Latin
they couldn't understand, they would look up and
Jesus would be crying, big old tear ducts,
in that stone God's face.
And there would be a priest down on
the knee pumping water, and pumping water through
those rubber holes that had made tear ducts.
And there that statue of Jesus Christ would
be crying, and some priest would say, Jesus
is not satisfied with what you've done, you
need to do more.
And they'd get all the pesos they had,
and they'd put those pesos in those tubs,
give all they had.
Rather than buy meat with those pesos, they'd
eat those huge lizards out there.
And they'd give all those pesos to that
statue.
And the churches in those cities would be
lined in gold.
That's right.
It was incredible.
And I was standing there in the backyard
of that pilot's home, and I was watching
these people work, and all of this was
going through my mind.
And God began to deal with me about
something.
God began to ask me a question that
I have never, never, never gotten over.
I have never gotten over this question.
God began to speak to my heart and
say, Son, he said, Son, why is it
that you are standing here saved by the
grace of God?
Why is it that you are standing here
and your clothes cost more money than those
people will ever see in a lifetime?
Why is it that you are standing here
saved by the grace of God, and you
didn't do one thing whatsoever to get saved
except repent of your sins and believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, and even that was
enabled by the grace of God?
Why is it that you are standing here
today saved by the grace of God, and
that little Mexican down there is lost and
headed to hell without Jesus?
Now, folk, if you came up and asked
me that question, I believe I could handle
you.
But I'll tell you, God asked me that
question, and I couldn't handle God.
I did try to offer a few explanations.
I said, well, you know, God, you are
sovereign.
There is no question about the sovereignty of
God.
But nowhere in the Bible does the Bible
teach the sovereignty of God relieves man of
his responsibility.
And I just said, well, God, you know,
you are sovereign.
And then I got to thinking about it,
and I thought, well, Lord, what if I
told that little Mexican fellow down there that
I was saved, and he wasn't saved because
you were sovereign?
Do you think he would want a God
like that?
That really shouldn't be.
I realized I didn't have an argument.
I didn't understand, but I didn't have an
argument.
I couldn't handle that.
And I tried to offer God some excuses,
and so finally I just said, Lord, I
don't understand why I'm standing here today saved
by the grace of God, washed in the
blood of the Lamb, and that man down
there is lost without Jesus Christ.
But there is a word that came to
my attention.
I don't remember if it came that day
or if it came a little later.
I was reading a book on theology last
week, and I ran across that word again.
And the word is imputation.
The word is imputation.
By the disobedience of one, sin entered into
the world, and all man became sinners.
That's imputation.
By the obedience of one unto death, righteousness
was provided, salvation was provided, and by believing
on the Lord Jesus Christ, we can be
saved by the grace of God.
And that's somewhat imputation.
I asked Clark Finnick one time, I said,
isn't there some easier word to use than
the word imputation?
And he said, Brother Manley, there is no
greater word to explain what has happened to
man than the word imputation.
You see, because when Adam and Eve sinned,
beloved, their sin went to the next generation
and the next generation and the next generation.
Now, Jesus Christ came into the world and
took that sin upon himself and went to
the cross and provided righteousness, holiness, salvation in
him by repenting of sin and believing on
him.
But listen carefully, that doesn't mean that there
is an automatic imputation of righteousness.
That doesn't mean that there is an automatic
imputation of salvation.
It means, my dear friends, that there is
simply a provision made.
Now, I don't know if you have taken
a look at this, but I want us
just to look at it this morning.
This message is about four hours long, and
so I'm trying to wade through here and
see what part I'm supposed to deal with
you.
But are you aware that the gospel was
preached in Africa before the 2nd century was
over?
Are you aware of that?
That's right, the Eunuch took the gospel, if
no one else, the Eunuch took the gospel
to Ethiopia and to South Africa and to
Africa.
The gospel was preached there.
The gospel was preached in India.
That's right.
The gospel was preached in India.
There is a church right now that they
claim that Timothy started in India that they
still have to this very day.
Right, Brother Sonny?
As far as I know, they talk about
this church that was started by Timothy in
India.
And they tell us that the gospel was
preached in the Far East before the 8th
century.
But I know there is no question about
the gospel being preached in Africa and India.
And when you look at the beds of
heathenism, where the heathenism that's just going across
America like wildfires, you'll find that it came
out of those three basic areas.
You'll find that in Africa, so heathenistic up
to recently.
You'll find in India the same way.
And you'll find in China.
But here's what I'm wanting you to see.
The gospel went out of Jerusalem at Pentecost.
The gospel went out.
And as God's people sought to get the
heavenly vision and were obedient to the heavenly
vision, the gospel went out.
And the gospel kept spreading across the world
as people sought the heavenly vision and were
obedient to that heavenly vision.
And that gospel spread from one generation to
another generation, from one generation to another generation.
And my dear friends, when those people sought
the heavenly vision and were not obedient to
the heavenly vision by the way of the
cross and giving their lives totally to God,
even though the gospel had been preached in
previous generations, the gospel died and turned to
religion.
It turned to religion.
Now listen carefully as we deal with this
as best we can.
I was standing there in that backyard of
that home and I was looking at these
people and I was pondering these thoughts, how
that the gospel had come from one generation
to another.
Now, I had always known that I owed
my salvation to God's love for me.
I always knew that.
I always knew that I owed my salvation
to Jesus' love to me.
And I realized that I owed my salvation
to the Holy Spirit's love for me.
It was God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit working to bring
me to salvation.
But folk, I had never realized in my
life up to that point that I owed
my salvation not only to God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit
but I owed my salvation to a saint
and to saints before me who saw the
heavenly vision and embraced the cross and prayed
the price for the reality of Jesus Christ
to come to my life and reveal the
Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God
who died on the cross for me.
And more, I began to see it, that
I owed my salvation to people that walked
before me.
Not only God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit, but I owed
my salvation to people who literally paid the
price and walked before me and so the
power of God could work through them and
bring me salvation.
I didn't know this.
But a few months ago, I was in,
I didn't know this back there in that
home that day, that pilot's home.
I didn't realize this.
But I've always thought that a great deal
of my Christian heritage came through my mother's
side of the family and I didn't know
what I'm about to tell you.
But a few months ago I was in
Laurel, Mississippi and a man walked up to
me.
I knew we had some relatives in that
country, but I didn't know them personally.
A man walked up to me and asked
me if I was certain certain fellow's boy,
Henry Beasley's boy.
And I said yes.
And then when he said little Henry Beasley's
boy, I knew he knew something that very
few people knew.
And I said, who are you?
And he said, well my name is Smith.
And he said my father was the missionary
that married your great aunt.
And he just told me who he was.
And he was my cousin.
My cousin.
Well, he said there's another cousin here in
town and she'll be by to see you
I'm sure before the week's over.
And the next night as I preached I
looked out over the congregation and I looked
at a lady and I said, you know
I know that lady.
Now really in my lifetime, when I was
about four or five years old, I had
played with her, but I hadn't seen her
in years and I didn't know her, but
she just favored the Beasley so much, you
know, I could see the resemblance in them.
And I just knew that I knew her.
And so sure enough, she came up after
service and she said, I I'm so-and
-so and I realized she was my cousin.
And, and we talked for a few minutes
and she says, you know, I have something
that I think you would love to see.
And I, and love to have.
And I said, well, what is it?
She said, it's a story of your great
-grandmother.
And she said, it's a, it's actually a
story, actually about her life and about, it's
actually part of an obituary.
And she said, I'll bring you a copy
tomorrow night.
And folks, she brought me that copy and
I, I'm still weeping about it.
It's still difficult for me to even talk
about it and not cry because I read
this story and it was written by the
Baptist paper in the state of Mississippi.
And I don't know how she had such
clout that she got in that state paper,
but they had a story of my great
-grandmother who was left with eight kids and
my, how she brought them up in church
and how she walked with God and how
she died to herself.
When the weather was bad, she was there.
When she was physically in pain, she was
there.
They tell how she would literally get so
happy when God would move through that place
that she would shout until her little old
bun fell down.
And I mean, they, they, they told the
story of how she walked with God.
And on there, she, that the fellow writing
that obituary said, said that if you're one
of her children, our grandchildren, our great-grandchildren,
you can be assured that this woman laid
many a prayer up in glory for your
salvation and your sanctification.
Oh my, I'll tell you folks, let me
tell you something.
I realized that day I wasn't just saved
because God the Father loved me, God the
Son loved me, and God the Holy Spirit
loved me, but I realized, folks, that I
was saved because people before me, mothers and
friends and neighbors and loved ones, grandmothers, great
-grandfathers were saved and walked before me.
Amen.
And I was saved by the grace of
God because of that.
My dear friends, I was standing there watching
that little Mexican person, wondering why I was
standing there saved by the grace of God,
and he was headed to hell without Jesus.
And I, I want to just give you
a bit of history, just a bit of
history.
When the people came to America, when they
came to America, folks, they came looking for
God and freedom and ability to walk with
God as they were convicted.
But when they went to Mexico, which includes
South America, they went looking for gold.
Does that tell you something?
I've read it in history.
I've studied anthropology and taken special courses just
to see how the religious, religious activity of
the world has taken place.
And folks, let me tell you something.
It's because that man there in Mexico was
lost and headed to hell without Jesus Christ,
the son of the living God, and God
will be justified in casting him into hell
forever and ever and ever because his parents,
his grandparents, his great-grandparents, his great-great
-grandparents did not know Jesus Christ as the
son of the living God, and they did
not care to find out.
And the reason I was standing there saved
by the grace of God, washed in the
blood of the Lamb, is because somebody, not
only God the Father, not only God the
Son, not only God the Holy Ghost, but
somebody was willing, my dear friends, many somebodies,
to embrace the cross, pay the price, not
only to be saved, but to be holy,
where the Word of God could come and
work effectually in me and show me that
Jesus Christ is the Son of the Lamb
of God that died just for me and
saved my soul.
Yes, sir.
Yes, sirree, brother.
And today, you may not believe it, folks,
you do not live to yourself.
You live to others.
Yes, sir.
And we're sitting here today on this Thanksgiving
day, folks, because someone has paid a price
that's walked before us.
Yes, sir.
Yes, sirree, brother.
Jimmy Robinson is saved by the grace of
God because somebody lived before him who loved
him.
Amen.
And paid the price.
And others of you, everyone in this building,
friends, God used somebody to touch your life.
He used someone to bring you to Jesus.
And when Paul said today is the day
of salvation, now is the accepted time, what
was he saying to that church at Corinth?
He was saying, listen, today is John's day
of salvation.
Today is Bill's day of salvation.
Today is Mary's day of salvation.
Today is some other person's day of salvation.
And while you're sitting here, church, at Corinth,
and you're playing church, it's this person and
that person and that person's day of salvation,
and you are sitting here playing church with
a bunch of immaturity, and these people are
dying and going to hell because it's their
day of salvation.
So he's saying, wake up.
Wake up, folks.
Wake up because, you see, God the Father
has done what he can do.
God the Son has done what he can
do.
And you may not believe it, but God
the Holy Spirit is doing all he can
do with what he's got to work with.
And my friend, if you would lose your
own soul over this thing, if you would
lose just your own soul and go to
hell, that would be one thing.
But you see, my dear friends, you're not
dealing with just your soul.
You're dealing with the soul of that daughter,
the soul of that son, the soul of
that grandson, the soul of that granddaughter, the
soul, my dear friends, of people.
I think about here today, and I look
out and see so many of my friends
in Christ, that God allowed me the privilege
to walk by one day, and they met
Jesus.
My friends, what if that had not happened?
What if that had not happened?
You say, Brother Manley, God would have got
them in anyway.
I don't know, friend.
If he had, there wouldn't be any reason
to have any blood on your hands.
I don't think you can shun that off.
That's right.
Just think about it.
Today is the day of salvation.
Now is the accepted time.
Are you aware that today you could get
saved by the grace of God, washed in
the blood of the Lamb?
Are you aware that you can get saved
by the grace of God today?
And as a child of God, you cannot
embrace the cross and be obedient to the
heavenly vision.
As a child of God, you can play
church, and the Holy Spirit cannot work through
you to birth people into the kingdom of
God.
And you can rear your children up in
the best singing and the best preaching, but
without the power of God therein.
Are you aware what will happen to those
kids?
You know what?
They'll take on your religion but not know
your Christ.
And you know what will happen?
They'll grow up.
And when they hit the storms of life,
the reality of Jesus will not be there.
You know why?
Because all they'll have is religion.
You know why?
Because in your life, you were not obedient
to the heavenly vision, you did not embrace
the cross, you did not live a holy,
righteous life, and my friends, through your life
came religion, not Christianity.
And you give your children, you give your
family two generations, and they will be worshiping
heathen gods.
If you don't believe that, folks, you go
to Europe.
Amen?
You go.
That's right.
You may be playing the game, folks, but
God's not.
Today is the day of salvation, now is
the accepted time.
God is passing by right now.
You really believe that, but it's hard for
you to accept it.
What would God do today if every member
of your church was right with God, walking
in the pile of the Holy Ghost?
He said, if you can do that and
would do that, don't you know we're responsible
for not having it?
Don't you know that what God could do,
he's not able to do?
Because you and I, my friends, are stopping
him from doing it.
Today is the day of salvation, now is
the accepted time.
Sobering innocence.
Let me tell you something, folks.
Mr. Reagan, I love him.
I'm not interested in politics too much, but
I think he's God's man, and I'm sure
the devil is trying to destroy him.
But I'll tell you one thing, friends, Mr.
Reagan is not the thing that's keeping this
thing together today.
You know who's keeping this thing together today?
Righteousness, exalted in the nation.
I guarantee you some little old woman up
in the mountains of Tennessee, lost every tooth
in her head, amen, may not even have
a turkey on the table today.
She may have a raccoon because she's so
poor, but she's so holy and righteous, moves
with an almighty God, that God is looking
down and seeing that little old woman, and
he said, boy, I won't destroy it yet.
I won't destroy it yet.
Yes, sir, folks, when we're not righteous, folks,
let me tell you something, we determine the
destiny of this nation.
The wickedness of our hearts is determined in
the destiny of this nation.
That bunch in Washington, D.C., doesn't make
God one hill of beans, folks, doesn't mean
one hill of beans to God.
The people that's determining the destiny of this
nation are people that are walking with God,
are rejecting God today.
That's the people that's establishing this nation.
I was in South Africa in 1945.
I realized I was just a little boy,
but I was there, and I saw the
heathens working in the fields worship their gods.
I saw the heathens worship their gods.
And then when I came and got saved
in 1948, I heard the Christians say, at
the present rate of evangelism in America, America
will be more heathen than Africa in thirty
years.
And I just said to myself, they've never
been to Africa.
They've never seen those people worship, those heathen
people worship their demons by all of this
ungodly music.
And folks, less than twenty-five years after
I had heard that statement, I have seen
the people in America literally bow down at
the God of this world by the same
identical music.
It's just got Christian words to it.
Same ungodly stuff.
And it's because we that are saints of
God are not being obedient to the heavenly
vision, embracing the cross, and paying the price
that it takes for God to work through
us and bring our children and our children's
children to a real genuine salvation.
I can remember right here in this place,
and I can remember in other places how
in days gone by, folks, the number one
thing was to seek the face of God
and to be holy.
Yes, sir.
And how we have diluted that message and
turned to live other ways.
Today is the day of salvation.
Now is accepted time.
Yes, sir.
There was a church right out of Chicago,
Illinois that gave over half a million dollars
a year to missions in the thirties.
One day that church lost its glory and
power.
And many years later, a young man and
an elderly man was in the same hotel,
both of them preachers.
Both of them were of this particular group.
The young man had heard about the great
church, how God had mightily used it even
during the depression, a half a million dollars
a year to miss it.
The young man was so inquisitive since he
was going to preach there on Sunday night,
he asked the elderly man, he said, what
in the world has happened to that church
that all the glory of God has departed
and it's only living in the past?
The elderly man said, son, when you start
to that church tonight, he said, when you
get to a certain red light and you
take a right and start up the hill,
he said, you watch carefully because there'll be
a sign that will tell you what has
happened and what is happening to that church.
The young man got in his car that
night, got to that red light and started
up that hill.
And all at once his lights caught a
yellow sign, a field background with big black
letters.
And you know what it said?
It said, caution, children at play.
And folks, that was what was happening at
the church at Tarrant.
There was a bunch of babies at play.
And Paul was saying today is the day
of salvation.
Now is the accepted time.
Caution, children at play.
See, there's a bunch of children in that
church playing the game.
And there was a day of salvation for
people without Jesus.
It was the day.
It was the time.
He said, well, Brother Manley, what in the
world are you calling on us to do?
I'm calling on you to seek the face
of God until you see things like God
sees them.
I'm calling on you to embrace the cross
and say, Lord Jesus, whatever it takes from
here on out, I want to be at
the right place at the right time with
the right message from the right man.
I want you to sing with that songwriter,
but drops of grief can never repay the
debt of love I owe.
Lord, I give myself away.
It's all that I can do.
Yes, sir.
Some of you young people here, my friend,
some of you adults, may God cross your
life today, this week, to the place that
you will say, Lord Jesus, not what I
want, but what you want.
Here is my life.
What God, what you give, God takes.
What he takes, he cleanses.
What he cleanses, he fills.
And what he fills, he uses to the
degree of saving souls and bringing the saved
into a right relationship with him.
May God bless you.