Holy Through Christ

Transcript

Alright, thank you very much. And hello again, radio friends. How in the world are you? Doing alright today? Oh, I trust everything’s alright at your house. I know some of you are going through the wringer, you’re having some rough times, and my heart goes out to you. I want you to know that when I pray, I pray that God may reach into your life, and bless, and help, and strengthen, and see you through. As I’ve told you so many times, the keyword is “through.” God sees you through. He doesn’t dump you in the middle of things. He hasn’t brought you this far to drop you now. Trust Him to see you through. “Yea, though I walk through the valley, I will fear no evil.” He brings you through. “For He hath said, ‘I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee,’ so that we may boldly say, ‘The Lord is my helper. And I will not fear what man shall do unto me.'” Trust Him today, trust Him.

We’re walking around in the last verse of John chapter 3, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son, shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.” Now, this is an awesome verse, because the gospel is such a blessed message of good news that we sometimes forget that there is an awe-inspiring alternative. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.” We like to quote John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.” Good news of the gospel, but He says, “He that believeth not the Son.”

You see, God has built into your nature the ability to say “no” to your Creator. That tremendous step that God took in creating a person, in the person of Adam and then of Eve, capable of saying “no” to the Creator. You can do that, and he says, “He that believeth not… ” And remember that word “believe” means commit yourself completely, risk your entire ultimate destiny on that one whom you trust, the Lord Jesus Christ. “He that believeth not.” You’re not willing to commit yourself to Him, you’re not willing to repent of your sins, you’re not willing to ask for forgiveness, you’re not willing to trust Him by faith to rule your life, not willing, and you say, “No, that’s not for me.”

He says, “He shall not see life.” You won’t get a glimpse of it, you won’t know what it’s all about, you’ll never really understand it, but instead He says, “The wrath of God abideth on Him.” Why? Because, well, the Bible says God is angry with the wicked every day. God hates sin, and His holy anger is focused upon sin. And the only way that anger can be assuaged is that the penalty for sin be paid, which our Lord Jesus has done, for you. “God commendeth His love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” The penalty’s paid, the debt is paid, and God’s anger is assuaged on behalf of you. But if you say, “No, I don’t want that, I don’t want God’s love, I don’t want His pardon, I don’t want His control of my life, I’m not willing to commit myself to Him, I’m not willing to let Him run my life, I’m not willing to ask for forgiveness ’cause I’m a good guy. I’m not willing, no, that’s not for me.” If you say that, my dear friend, all that God can do is to let His anger go on, because He’s been angry with your sin. Your sin is an insult to a holy God.

He talks about that, He says, “It’s a stench in my nostrils all day long.” Your sin is an insult to a holy God, and the only way to assuage that anger is to accept the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ who paid your penalty on Calvary’s cross. God hath made Him, Christ, to be sin for us, He who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Christ also suffered for sins, the just, that’s Christ, for the unjust, that’s me, that He might bring us to God. “He that believeth not shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.” Think, my dear friend, of the awful chance you are taking in saying “no” to God.

Paul the Apostle says that you treasure up wrath against yourself. There is an incremental element in the wrath of God, and there is more judgment piling up against you, just like the interest on an unpaid debt, piling up against you. He said in your hard heart you treasure up judgment against yourself to show up in the Day of Judgment. Don’t do it, open your heart to Christ instead. Somebody listening to me needs that so much. You’ve been a good person, perhaps, you say, “Why should I humble myself when I’m a nice guy?” Yes, you are, but that isn’t the criterion by which you’re gonna get in the pearly gates, because all, including you, have sinned and come short of the glory of God and you must accept the pardon, the free pardon, that God offers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let Him into your heart today, I pray.

Roy McEwen and I sat in a newspaper office years ago. Roy, from the start of his career, has always been a soul winner. And there in Los Angeles, we went to talk to the editor of a large metropolitan daily newspaper, whom Roy had gotten acquainted with and befriended. This was a Saturday morning, and things were slow around the newspaper, and we were there to talk with the man. And the conversation got around to the gospel, and Roy finally said, “Now,” calling the man by his name, he said, “You understand what we’ve been talking about. I’ve talked to you about this before. You know that you ought to receive Christ as Savior. Why don’t you do it this morning?” And upon hearing that, this newspaper editor swung around in his chair and looked out the window, his back was toward us, and he was facing out the big picture window in his office. He remained silent for a considerable period of time, and then he swung his chair back and faced us, and he said, “No, boys. No dice.” He said, “I’m not gonna do it.” Well, my heart sank.

But I thought, “Well, there’d be no harm in asking a question or two,” and so I said, “Sir, would you mind if I ask you a question? Were you thinking to yourself before you made that decision, ‘Why should I humble myself and get down and pray and ask God to forgive me when I’m really such a nice guy?'” And he smiled momentarily and looked at me, and he said, “You’re right, Cook. I am a nice guy.” Now, he interlarded some profanity in there, I’ll clean it up for the benefit of our audience. But that’s what he said, “You’re right, Cook. I am a nice guy.” Well, he was. Active in all sorts of fundraising campaigns for underprivileged people and poor people and all of that, a member of the Red Cross committee, and I don’t know what all. He was constantly doing good things and he had that image of himself, and why then should he humble himself and take Christ as Savior?

And I think, sadly, that he’s typical of so many people, maybe someone listening to my voice this very instant, and you’re thinking to yourself, “He has a nerve, that man, Cook. He’s got a nerve asking me to repent of sins. Oh, it’s all right for some of these people who are cheats and liars and thieves and no-goods. It’s all right for them, but I’m a good person. I do my best, and I’m a pretty nice guy.” And that very attitude, my dear friend, will someday keep you out of God’s holy heaven because, although you may never have robbed a bank, or killed someone, or done some of these things that you identify as being very bad, when you get before a holy God, He’s gonna face you with the fact that you’ve broken every one of His commandments, and that you’ve sinned and come short of the glory of God. What God demands is holiness, and the only way that you can have it is if He gives it to you in the person of His Son, the Lord Jesus. Christ, the Bible says, is our righteousness.

We take by faith all that the Lord Jesus did for us and all that He is for us this minute. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:30, “Christ is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption.” And by faith you can receive from the Lord Jesus all that you need to face a holy God. Why? Because Jesus paid the debt of your sin. He rose again from the dead, He lives today to be your intercessor, your representative in the presence of God, and you may come in to the very throne room of heaven. The Bible says, “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Jesus is the one you need, to make you acceptable in the presence of a holy God.

Don’t turn Him down. Don’t say to yourself, “Well, I’m such a nice person. Why should I humble myself and ask for forgiveness?” The fact is, my friend, you’re in trouble now. You’ve fallen short of God’s holiness and perfection. You’ve broken His holy law, and you know it. Did you ever tell a lie? Did you ever lose your temper and wish that the person who was the object of your anger was out of the way? Did you ever look at another person with the wrong motives in your heart? Did you ever covet something that was not your own? Did you ever neglect God Almighty, His person, His day? Ah, some of these things, you think about them, you’ll realize that the Ten Commandments are still there. And you and I need to come to Calvary and be forgiven freely because, “Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.”

Well, we go on into chapter 4. It says, “When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, though Jesus himself baptized not, but His disciples were doing the baptizing, He left Judea and departed again into Galilee. And He must needs go through Samaria. Then cometh He to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there.” I wanna stop here because we only have a minute left. It says, “He must needs go through Samaria.” Now, He didn’t have to. It was customary to detour around Samaria in those days. People going from north to south would go around that area of the country rather than go through it. But it says, “He must needs go through.” You know why? Because He had an appointment in the village of Sychar. And there was a person there that He was going to meet at Jacob’s well. And her life was gonna be transformed through faith in Jesus as her Messiah, and she was going to become a missionary to the whole city. He had an appointment there and said He had to go through Samaria. Do you realize that God has made plans that involve His search for precious souls, and that you, believer, can be part of them? Something to think about. We’ll come back to that the next time we get together.

Father God, today, walk with us and grant that we might be filled with the presence of Thy Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

Till I meet you once again by way of radio, walk with the King today and be a blessing!