Forgiveness of Sin-CHARLES LAWSON BIBLE SERMON-AUG 28 2024
When Sin Goes Out It Can Get to Where It Grows Immensely. The Three Aspects of Sin [Forgiveness of Sin, Taking Away of Sin, and the Cleansing of Sin] Can Only Be Done by the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Without the Forgiveness and Cleansing of Sin We Cannot Be in Fellowship with the Lord Jesus.
Transcript
00:00And maybe we can do just a little bit of Bible study tonight.
00:10I've been to Ephesus.
00:11It's quite a thing.
00:12I think I've told you before about it.
00:15It's one of the most intact cities, ancient cities, that I've ever been to.
00:23The streets there, the buildings are there, it's quite a thing.
00:27When you walk down a street you know is 2,000 years old at the least, get up in a stadium
00:31that you read about in the Book of Acts, it's right there, just like the Book of Acts says.
00:37And it's quite an experience.
00:40Ephesians chapter number 4 and verse number 32.
00:44And be you kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's
00:49sake hath forgiven you.
00:52Father, bless the Word now.
00:54Amen.
00:55You may all be seated.
00:59I want to look at three aspects of sin with you tonight, and I think these should be very
01:04helpful and instructive as you deal with the sin issue.
01:11One has to do with the forgiveness of sin.
01:14The other has to do with the taking away of sin.
01:17And the other one has to do with the cleansing, which is necessary in our walk with the Lord.
01:24None of these are we capable of doing or even asked to do.
01:28We can't forgive ourselves of our sins, that must come from God alone, and we certainly
01:33can't take them away.
01:35But Ephesians chapter number 4, verse number 32 is a judicial statement about the forgiveness
01:40of God, how he's able to do that.
01:43For example, he said, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
01:50So he doesn't forgive you for your sake or even that you deserve it.
01:55The forgiveness is based entirely upon what the Lord Jesus has done.
02:00In Romans chapter 3, verse 23 says, for all of sin comes short of the glory of God being
02:05justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God
02:10hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness
02:15for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God.
02:20To declare, I say at this time, his righteousness, now watch this, that he might be just and
02:26the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
02:30God will forgive every one of us based on the same criteria.
02:34There is no forgiveness outside of Christ or his name.
02:37It makes any difference, doesn't matter who you are, where you are, what dispensation
02:42you live in.
02:43The Lord Jesus Christ is the one who taketh away the sin of the world.
02:46He was from the foundation of the world, the Lamb of God.
02:50All these things were settled before the first man was ever made.
02:52But it's important to understand that when God does something, he does it fully within
02:57his rights, maintains his justice and his holiness.
03:00He never operates outside that.
03:03And so think of that when you talk about how God deals with us or he deals with people.
03:08He doesn't save one way with one and another way with another.
03:12It's simple in the Bible, faith and trust in God.
03:17And so we find here that it's a judicial act.
03:20Now keep this in mind.
03:22It's a declaration of fact based on a judicial right to do so.
03:27God because of what Christ accomplished at the cross can declare and forgive the sinner
03:32and remain holy in doing so.
03:35No charges can be brought against the sinner.
03:37He is forgiven.
03:38Now these are the words that I jotted down before I came tonight and I stick with them.
03:44God cannot forgive you.
03:46He can't save you.
03:47He can't step outside of his righteousness and his holiness and his justification.
03:51He cannot do it.
03:52It's impossible for that matter for God to do it.
03:55So you're forgiven on a judicial act from God.
03:58He declares you to be forgiven.
03:59But I want you to notice the second part of it tonight and that is the taking away.
04:04In the book of Hebrews chapter number 10 and verse number 4, it hasn't always been the
04:07same for every dispensation.
04:11The scripture says it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away
04:15sins.
04:17Now what are we talking about?
04:19Taking them away.
04:20What does that mean?
04:21That's quite a thought, don't you think?
04:23If you remember I told you how the Old Testament saint was forgiven.
04:27He was forgiven.
04:28He was forgiven by a judicial declaration from God and if God forgives, no one can condemn.
04:34That's impossible.
04:36But his sins were not taken away.
04:38They were not taken away.
04:40They were still there.
04:41They were still present.
04:42They still had the same power they had before and the individual still was vulnerable to
04:47them unlike we are today.
04:50So the only one who could take away sin is recorded for us in 1 John chapter number 3
04:57and verse number 5.
04:58Here's what it says.
04:59And you know that he was manifested to take away our sins and in him is no sin.
05:07He who, our Lord Jesus Christ is in the context of what we're talking about.
05:13Verse number 8, the son of God that he might destroy the works of the devil.
05:18So to take away sin gets into a little situation where we need to understand what we're talking
05:26about.
05:27If you would, I'd appreciate you to turn to the book of Genesis chapter number 4 and verse
05:30number 7.
05:32Now how many of you have heard mentioned time and again in the church the law first mentioned?
05:36How many has ever heard of that?
05:38The law of first mention and about I'm sure any Baptist church you go to and I'm sure
05:42a lot of the Bible believing churches, the teaching pastor or the bishop or the evangelist
05:47will always mention the law of first mention when it comes to words and doctrines in the
05:54Bible.
05:55Well the first time the word sin shows up in the Bible, look at the context of it.
06:00Genesis chapter number 4 and verse number 7, to Cain the Lord said if thou doest well
06:06shalt thou not be accepted and if thou doest not well, sin, now look carefully, sin lieth
06:14at the door and unto thee shall be his desire and thou shalt rule over him.
06:21Now let's watch the text closely, we'll try to interpret it.
06:24Sin, the first time it shows up in your Bible shows up as a wild animal lying in preparation
06:31to literally pounce upon someone.
06:34Therefore sin, the first time it is mentioned in the Bible is personified.
06:38Think about that for a moment, personified, the person of an animal, but it's an animal.
06:44No specific sin had been committed that falls in the context of this and so here lies sin
06:56on its own in the sense maybe you might say sovereign, there it is, and it is ready to
07:04do something.
07:06Now the Bible said God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap, alright.
07:13Sin is a much more, is a much deeper, broader thing than simply missing the mark and coming
07:19up short and all, these are all fine as far as they go, but there's much more involved
07:23here than that.
07:25Sin is the first time it's mentioned in your Bible as an animal.
07:29No one's ever read about the man who had a wicked spirit, an unclean spirit leave him.
07:36He left his home.
07:38He went out and he tried to find rest in dry places and could not, dry places.
07:45And so he said I will return into my home and when he did he took seven demons with
07:50him more wicked than him.
07:53So we have a rank of wickedness.
07:57Do you remember the one where the Lord Jesus Christ said because the disciples could not
08:01cast the demon out?
08:03He said these only come out by prayer and fasting, this kind.
08:08So what it says by that is that the Bible is dealing with a spirit world that may be
08:12far more broad and complicated than we give it credit.
08:20Now when you do something, if you're not getting forgiveness for it, it goes out.
08:26Like that first time sin showed up in your Bible as an animal and it continues to work
08:31its work.
08:32Look what James says about it.
08:34James chapter number one and verse number 15, I hope you remember this one.
08:41I titled the message after it, James chapter number one and verse number 15.
08:52And when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth, like a woman bearing a child, sin.
09:00And sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
09:04And if you remember I titled the message the birth of death.
09:08Do you remember that?
09:11Now of course what this says is that Satan's not the author of human sin, whereas man is
09:17the author of man's sin.
09:20Whereas by one man, sin entered into the world, Satan did his tempting, but the man
09:25could make a choice.
09:27Now when you get specific with it, you'll find out that the woman was deceived and she
09:31was in the transgression and Adam was not deceived, but he made a choice.
09:37He knew that if he chose to die with Eve, join with her, that God would have to deal
09:43with both of them.
09:45But Adam of course could have turned from Eve and said, well now you made your choice,
09:49I don't have to go the way you went.
09:51And by doing that, Eve would have perished, but Adam could have gone on.
09:56And therefore Adam becomes a type of the Lord Jesus Christ and Eve is a type of the bride
10:02of Christ and Adam gave himself for his bride.
10:07In other words, he chose to die for her and that's exactly what he did.
10:11Now what you have here is a very instructive thing because you've got a situation to where
10:20sin when it is let loose, unleashed, because you leash animals, you bind them in, you put
10:28a cage around them, a wild animal that can destroy you, you got any pet lions, don't
10:34turn them loose in this community, you know what I mean?
10:39And so that means that sin when it goes out, it can take on a new life of its own.
10:46And if you're one who sows a lot, you may have an awful lot out there working right
10:52now to bring death back into your life because when it is finished, it will bring forth death.
10:58This is why he says in 1 John chapter number 1 verse number 9, if we confess our sins,
11:03he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins, right?
11:07And then of course he continues with and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
11:11A lot of people take a very cavalier, laid back attitude to some of the things that the
11:16Bible is pretty clear about.
11:19And this is one of the things that to me, it's not that hard to see what it says.
11:25If you've done something, you need to confess it.
11:28Confess it.
11:30You don't need to confess to me, confess to the Father, amen, by the power of the Holy
11:34Spirit through the Son because the Son brings you to the Father and the Holy Spirit brings
11:39you to the Son.
11:41And so therefore the three of them working together as the Trinity and only the Trinity
11:45can, you get forgiveness and the Father will forgive you for what Christ did on the cross.
11:51Therefore the Father remains just and the justifier of him that believeth on Christ.
11:56He justifies.
11:57He's just in doing it.
11:58Otherwise he would be a respecter of persons.
12:03He would forgive you one way and then forgive somebody he likes another way or not even
12:07have to forgive them, what have you.
12:09God doesn't play favorites.
12:11When it comes to the issue of sin, we all must come the same way.
12:16And so this part of taking sin away, I would warn you and be very careful that if you have,
12:25if you've put a lot of stuff out there, it's going to come back.
12:29It's going to come back to you.
12:32For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
12:37Amen.
12:38Amen.
12:39So it raises it to a higher level than simply the act.
12:44It raises it up to the spiritual realm.
12:48And this is something you need to think about.
12:51Now demons in the Bible, as I mentioned to you the other night or the other morning while
12:55I was preaching, I firmly believe that a demon is an unclean spirit that nobody can
13:03prove.
13:04Nobody can prove to you where demons came from.
13:06So don't, don't let anybody get up and try to carry on with you.
13:10The fact of the matter is they can't even really identify a demon apart from the fact
13:15that it's an evil spirit and none of us know the essence of a spirit.
13:19So we're, we're limited to that.
13:22Some say that a demon is the spirits of the Nephilim, the fallen angels.
13:28The angel's not a Nephilim, but the product of it, when an angel and a female, human female
13:35joined together, a Nephilim was born, a giant they called them in the earth in those days.
13:41That word Nephilim comes from the Hebrew verb naphal, which means fall or the fallen ones.
13:47Now some say that it's the spirits of the Nephilim that are demons.
13:51Some say it's the spirits of the fallen angels that are demons.
13:54Some say it's the spirits of a pre-Adamite race.
13:56In other words, a race of something that was here before Adam was made.
14:01That's a demon.
14:03Some say that it is the wicked dead that died before the flood.
14:08They're the demons.
14:10And then some say it's the wicked dead after the flood or the second eruption of angels
14:14were the giants also after that it says.
14:18Bottom line is we don't know folks.
14:19We just know they're wicked and we know they're intelligent and we know they know who the
14:24son of God is.
14:25They said, we know who thou art, the holy one.
14:30And in saying that, they know a whole lot more than an awful lot of reverends that are
14:33in the pulpit in this country.
14:35Truth of the matter is you ought to preach a message on how the demons preach the gospel
14:41because they did give out a lot of truth.
14:44They said, have you come to torment us before the time?
14:46Yeah, they sure did.
14:49Don't cast us into the deep, they said, into the abyss, abyssos, that's the Greek word
14:54for it.
14:55We get the word abyss.
14:57Revelation chapter number nine, these creatures come out of the abyss.
15:02The Bible says that in the last days, here in 2 Thessalonians chapter number two, the
15:07holy spirit that letteth will let till it be taken out of the way.
15:10And then shall that wicked be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the brightness
15:13of his coming.
15:15And this wickedness is going to be based on deception.
15:19And the source of the deception is not so much Satan as it is God.
15:23For the Bible says God will send them a strong delusion.
15:26We may be right smack in the middle of that delusion right now.
15:30And you know, it's one thing to believe your Bible and I think everybody in the house tonight
15:33believes your Bible.
15:34I certainly do.
15:36But what we need now is some spiritual discernment.
15:39We need to be careful, folks.
15:41I told you Sunday that I believe the gates of hell have opened and I do believe they're
15:45open.
15:46All I have to do is listen to this political party in this country right now.
15:49You're listening to hell.
15:56I have never in my lifetime been so upset with a bunch of politicians.
16:01This crowd that's out there today, they're not your friend.
16:06They're the enemy of the gospel.
16:08It's just a matter of convenience when they'll throw us in jail.
16:11They'll throw this preacher in jail.
16:13They'll say, you're up there preaching hate speech.
16:16I told them 20, 25, 30 years ago, I said, this business about hate speech, folks, is
16:21the door to damnation.
16:25Because that, you can call anything hate speech.
16:29Who in the world would think a piece of garbage like hate speech or a hate crime?
16:37Most people don't kill people because they love them.
16:40There's usually a little hatred involved in it, don't you think?
16:48Then they talk about gun violence.
16:49I'm going to have to check out my guns and see which one's violent.
16:52I haven't figured that out yet.
16:55If any of you have the criteria, let me know what it is when you're looking at one and
16:59it's a violent one.
17:02This is the kind of garbage I'm talking about.
17:04Same way with knives.
17:07But they like the gun.
17:08They like to come against the gun.
17:11You know the first thing Hitler did when he took over in Germany?
17:13He disarmed the people.
17:14It's the first thing Stalin did, disarm the people.
17:17First thing Mao did, disarm the people, take the weapons away from them.
17:22Then you can control them.
17:24So yes, you're dealing with demon-possessed people standing in pulpits and in political
17:32venues.
17:35You're dealing with demon-possessed people.
17:40In 1 John, you have fellowship, not salvation.
17:46Keep this in mind.
17:47When 1 John is talking, it is talking to save people and it's talking about fellowship.
17:53A lot of people just pass that up, well, you know, I'm not fellowshipping right now.
17:56Well, you're not walking with God then because you're either in fellowship with the Lord
18:01or you're in rebellion against him.
18:04One of the two.
18:05It's one of the two.
18:06It's one or the other.
18:07You're either in fellowship or rebellion.
18:09And if you'll walk, and you know, I've belabored the point for weeks about what it means to
18:14be in fellowship with the Lord.
18:16And the Apostle John gives you the three things.
18:19He says, if you say you have no sin, you deceive yourself.
18:22If you say you have not sinned, you call God a liar.
18:24Then he says, if you confess it, he's faithful and just to forgive you and cleanse you from
18:29all unrighteousness.
18:30The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians, chapter number 10 and verse 20 says that what the
18:38Gentiles sacrifice to, they sacrifice to devils.
18:40And then he says this, here's a warning.
18:42He said, I would not that you fellowship with devils.
18:46Now here we are laying the groundwork for the Antichrist and for that image.
18:51Revelation 13, that image is going to come home.
18:53Watch for that image, folks.
18:55Watch for it.
18:56Watch for the preparation.
18:57You're being groomed.
18:59Watch for the things, these subtle changes that are coming your way.
19:03Watch out for it.
19:05And you're going to see what I'm talking about.
19:07Paul said in 2 Corinthians, chapter 6, verse 14, can light and darkness fellowship together?
19:13No.
19:14Can he that believeth fellowship with an infidel?
19:16No.
19:17In other words, as it says in the Old Testament, can two walk together except they be agreed?
19:22That's fellowship.
19:24And you have to have fellowship with the Lord.
19:25I mean, I encourage you again tonight with that.
19:28You must have fellowship.
19:30It's not a luxury.
19:31It's an absolute necessity.
19:33And learn how to have fellowship with him.
19:37The scripture talks about the struggles of the new nature, Galatians chapter number 5,
19:42verse 17.
19:43How many of you realize that once you got saved, your life would never be the same again?
19:50And how long did it take some of you to figure out, man, there's something going on.
19:53I'm in a war.
19:54I mean, a lot of the old man, he may have laid dormant for a while.
20:02But he'll raise his head, and he did.
20:05And he may surprise you when he raises his head.
20:08Well, that's the old man.
20:10See, the apostle Paul says, put off the old man, put on the new man.
20:14That's what he said about him.
20:15In other words, he has within you the power to do that by the power of the Holy Ghost
20:19of God.
20:21So it's up to you, my dear Christian friend, to war the warfare between the new man and
20:27the old man.
20:29An unsaved man, listen, for 27 years of my life, my conscience never bothered me.
20:35That's unbelievable, too, that the things I did and the places I went to, and I'm not
20:40proud of it.
20:41I am not proud of it.
20:43But it never bothered me.
20:44I never was convicted.
20:45Where was I?
20:46Either Okinawa or Lejeune.
20:47I had some buddies in there, a couple of them Roman Catholics, said, go to mass with me.
20:54I said, all right, we'll go.
20:57So I went to mass.
20:58They went in, took the holy water, put it on, and there they have these little things
21:02behind the pews that you can get down on your knees and pray.
21:05Well, I went through the whole nine yards.
21:07I was with him, went through the whole thing, time and time, I don't know how many times
21:10I went in there.
21:11Went in, came out.
21:13It didn't change me one bit.
21:15See?
21:16Why?
21:17I was never convicted.
21:18There's no convictions, never convicted, never bothered, no conscience to bother me.
21:28I just lived ungodly, unsaved.
21:32But the day I got saved in 1973, man alive, when it finally hit me, I got a war going
21:42on here.
21:44And that war hasn't stopped.
21:47Now if you don't have a war going on inside your soul, it's because you've never been
21:51born again.
21:52Amen.
21:54I don't want to be mean with you tonight, but here is a good thing about it.
21:59If you are walking in fellowship with the Lord and walking where you should be with
22:03the Lord, you're going to have the joy that comes with that.
22:06Amen.
22:07You're going to have the peace that passeth understanding.
22:10You're going to have victory over sin in your life.
22:13You're going to have the things that come with the filling of the Holy Spirit of God,
22:16but the old man's not going to leave.
22:19He may back off a little bit, but he will come back again.
22:26So you've got to keep that in mind.
22:28So this is the thing about fellowship.
22:31There's going to be a struggle, but you need to keep in mind that you are forgiven for
22:37Christ's sake.
22:40So you have the issue of penance.
22:43How many has ever heard of penance?
22:45You know what repentance is.
22:47Repentance and penance are not the same thing.
22:51Repentance is to be convicted.
22:53If there's no conviction, there's no repentance.
22:55You may feel sorry for the circumstances, and you may have a little prayer going on,
22:59but until you are convicted by the Holy Spirit of God, there will be no repentance in your
23:04life.
23:05That's the work of the Holy Ghost.
23:06But once he does convict you of a sin or something, and then he brings you to the point to where
23:11you repent of it, in plainer words, you turn from it.
23:15You confess it.
23:16You say, this is wrong.
23:17I don't make excuses for it.
23:19What I did was wrong.
23:20And you ask God to forgive you, and you turn back to the Lord.
23:24You're like that prodigal who was feeding the swine.
23:29He came to himself, the Bible says.
23:31How long did it take?
23:32I have no idea.
23:33The Bible doesn't tell us.
23:35But it tells us the day came when he finally faced up to the fact he was in the wrong place,
23:43and that's not where he belonged.
23:46He belonged in the Father's house, and that's where he headed back to.
23:51And I like to think that every day the Father would come to the top of the hill and look
23:54down the road to see if that son was coming back, and the Father was there for him when
23:58he did.
23:59But that's repentance.
24:00How many of you have ever done something and you repented?
24:03How many has ever?
24:04You don't have to raise your hand.
24:06We're not trying to ... We don't want to showcase anybody tonight.
24:10But how many have ever done something and kind of him hauled around and said, well,
24:14you know, I'm not so sure about this, and then God chastened you?
24:17And you know it was from the Lord because he lets you know it's from the Lord.
24:21And do you know what that chastening did for you?
24:24It brought you back and you repented.
24:27That's what it's designed to do.
24:29That's what chastening does.
24:31And he says, if you can be a partaker and be without chastisement, then you are a bastard
24:36and not a son.
24:38And I hope that's not the case of anybody in this house tonight, but that's the issue
24:43of fellowship.
24:44The issue of fellowship is to be so close in walking with the Lord that you know you're
24:49not perfect.
24:50You know that you'd never be in this world, you'll never be perfect, but you're willing
24:53to listen to the voice of God and before it becomes the deed, before it is ever done physically,
24:59it has to have birth in here.
25:01And you deal with it right then and cleansed and forgiven by the blood of Christ.
25:06You confess it.
25:07That's all you've got to do.
25:09If you confess your sin, homologia is the Greek word, logia is word, homo means of the
25:15same word.
25:17We get to, you know, they get the word homosexual of the same sex, heterosexual of different
25:22sexes.
25:23All right.
25:24Logia is the word logos.
25:25It's a form of logos.
25:26So I agree with what the Holy Spirit is saying to me in my heart, even though I may not like
25:34it, I'm going to agree with him.
25:36And by agreeing with him, we have the basis then for forgiveness.
25:40And then the next thing is cleansing.
25:43And cleansing is a big deal.
25:46Over here in Revelation chapter number one in verse number five, I marvel at this too,
25:52because I've got a lot of commentaries, folks, a bunch of them, I mean a pile of them.
25:58And you get in there and you'll start reading and they'll give you good scriptures about
26:04how that you're cleansed by the blood of Christ, but they don't like Revelation 1.5.
26:09They don't like it.
26:10And the reason they don't like it is because it's controversial.
26:14It's like 1 John 5.7, the Johanan comma, I haven't ever heard of that.
26:17And I mentioned it the other day to you.
26:19There are three that by record in heaven, all right, father of the word and the spirit,
26:23and these three are one.
26:24It's called the Johanan comma.
26:27It's like the last few verses of the gospel of Mark.
26:30They just zap it out of there and just take it away.
26:34And if you've never seen otherwise, you don't know the difference.
26:39So here in Revelation 1.5, the Bible says unto him that loved us and washed us from
26:44our sins in his own blood.
26:46Why the washing?
26:47Well, we know washing has to do with cleansing.
26:50Yes, we do.
26:52And in order to have fellowship, there must be cleansing.
26:57There must be cleansing.
26:58Now, when you sin, do you realize that you have defiled yourself?
27:04When you sin, you have brought a filthy thing into your spiritual life.
27:12Yes, you have.
27:14And it may take a while for you to realize how filthy it is.
27:17How many has ever walked into a room that stunk when you walked in there?
27:21And about a half hour later, you didn't smell a thing.
27:24You ever had that happen?
27:28And you said to yourself, what in the thunder is going on here?
27:31And you walk out and come back in, you smell it again.
27:34That's because you get used to the stench.
27:37And that's what happens to the Christian life.
27:40You get used to the stench.
27:43Sin stinks.
27:44Yes, it does.
27:46The Bible says in the sacrifice of Christ, God smelled a sweet savor, a sweet savor in
27:53the sacrifice of his son, a sweet smelling savor, the holy anointing oil that could only
27:59be made by those chosen.
28:02If you made the holy anointing oil in the Old Testament, they put you to death.
28:05That's how holy it was and separate, only to be used by those commissioned by God for
28:10the purpose the Lord had set aside for it.
28:12And it was no doubt in my mind, a very sweet fragrance and a beautiful thing.
28:17Well that's what you want.
28:19You want to be cleansed.
28:20You want to be cleansed from a filthy conscience, guilt.
28:25Now think about this.
28:26In the Old Testament, since the sin could not be taken away, here's what David said
28:30about his sin in Psalm 51, my sin is ever before me.
28:35You remember him saying that?
28:38Ever before me.
28:39Well, you know, the apostle Peter said, forgetting those things that are past, we press forward
28:45to the mark of the prize of the high calling of Christ.
28:47Now there's a balance in here.
28:50It's kind of like what you'd call a dance.
28:53The Bible says a man that does not do, Peter said that does not do these things, hath forgotten
28:58that he was purged or cleansed or forgiven from his old sins, right?
29:03That's what he says.
29:04To paraphrase him, all right.
29:06There's a point you come to where you're like, I just told you a moment ago, I know where
29:10I came from, I know what I was, I know, but that's past, thank God, and that's not who
29:15I am now.
29:16And I press forward because my conscience has been cleansed.
29:20Amen.
29:21I can't cleanse it, but he has cleansed it.
29:23I can stand in the congregation of the righteous.
29:26It's not because I stand before you tonight and feel like I'm worthy.
29:29No, I'm not worthy of anything, but I'm clean.
29:34Now I may do something before I walk out that back door.
29:37Who knows?
29:38I'll tell you the truth.
29:39You drive around Knoxville, Tennessee for a while, you'll do something.
29:43Lord help us.
29:44Man, some of these drivers blow your mind.
29:50One went by me one time, she was looking in the mirror right here and had a cigarette
29:53in her mouth and had her phone over here on the side, appeared to grab this thing.
29:57I thought, who's driving that car?
29:59Get out of her way.
30:03Some poor old soul trying to walk across the street, look out.
30:07It can get real bad.
30:09Or you may run up against one of these driverless cars.
30:11How many of you has heard about them?
30:14No.
30:15Yeah.
30:16Driverless.
30:17Oh yeah.
30:18But in any event, David said it's ever before me because you feel dirty.
30:23How many have ever been around somebody and once they left, you felt dirty?
30:29You just feel the dirt, don't you?
30:31Sure you do.
30:32Well, you're around stench and you're around wickedness.
30:36And a Christian that has the Holy Spirit in them, you can't get around that stuff without
30:41feeling it because the Holy Ghost has been offended.
30:45He's been grieved.
30:46He's been quenched.
30:49You should learn after a few years of the new birth, of being born again, how to determine
30:55the Holy Spirit, how to feel the Holy Spirit, how to know the Holy Ghost.
30:59Because folks, in 1973, he moved in and he's not moving out.
31:03And hallelujah to God, I want him to stay right there.
31:06You remember what David said though, don't you, in the Old Testament?
31:09He said, take not thine Holy Spirit from me.
31:12Well, the reason, of course, he wasn't born again.
31:15But David was a believer, no question.
31:17I mean, I'm not up here to knock David down.
31:21David, I have great respect and love for David, no question about that whatsoever.
31:28So be careful with the crowds you run with because it rubs off.
31:33It rubs off.
31:34It'll affect your thinking.
31:35It'll affect your life.
31:36You'll feel dirty.
31:38And how do I get it cleansed then, preacher?
31:41There's only one thing that can cleanse filth away, sinful filth, and that's the blood of
31:45Christ.
31:47Don't ever let anybody tell you that water from the Tennessee River or the two rivers
31:54that form it, it comes to a confluence over here in Knoxville.
31:58What is the, I can't think tonight.
32:03There's two rivers that join together to make the Tennessee, French Broad and the Holston.
32:10The Holston-French Broad become the Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee.
32:13It's called the confluence.
32:15They come together.
32:17Now, you think that water is going to wash your sins away?
32:20No.
32:21No.
32:22Or I went up to the big lake up there, I've got dementia on steroids tonight, Norris.
32:44And we had a baptism.
32:45Had a nice baptism at Norris Lake.
32:48Sure did.
32:49Had a nice baptism.
32:50I remember the baptism.
32:51If I can't remember the name of it, like it happened yesterday, we walked out in the water
32:56and some of them came out there with me and we were up to about here and we had a good
33:00baptism.
33:01But that did not wash anyone's sins away, nor does this.
33:07Only the blood of Christ can touch that sin and wash it away.
33:11So what should you do?
33:12You should say, Lord Jesus, cleanse me, forgive me.
33:15Thank you for what you did for me.
33:17Sin cannot rule over me.
33:19I am no slave to Satan any longer.
33:21I've been bought and paid for.
33:22I don't belong to you, devil.
33:24I belong to the Lord Jesus Christ.
33:26He's my Lord and my Savior.
33:28I stand firm in him and I love him with all of my heart and all of my soul.
33:33And stand there and make that confession.
33:36Confess his name.
33:37Confess who he is.
33:38You'd be surprised how the Holy Ghost will take that confession and he'll make it permanent
33:42in your heart and in your soul because that's who you are.
33:46That's who you are by the cleansing of the new birth.
33:51So the conscience, the guilt, if you're constantly in guilt, guilt can eat you alive.
34:02Then what you have is a wicked spirit that is trying to rob you of what Christ has done
34:07for you on the cross when he forgave you.
34:11And that's the work that does it.
34:13It's what he did on the cross because that's the new covenant.
34:16Didn't start before and it didn't start after.
34:19The new covenant started with the death of the testator.
34:22When Christ bowed his head and said, Father, it's finished, then the new covenant was ratified.
34:28Then it became law.
34:29Then it came in force.
34:31And there it was.
34:32And tonight somebody said, Preacher, you have no idea how wicked I am.
34:36I don't need to.
34:37You don't know what I've done.
34:38I don't need to know what you've done.
34:41I'm not the one saving you.
34:43You can go down here at Brushymount.
34:44Well, they're not there anymore at Brushymount, down in Morgan County on down and on the rest
34:48of the prisons here in Tennessee.
34:51You can go to Death Row and whichever one you want to.
34:53And I have absolute complete peace and assurance that if I went down through there preaching
35:01to those men, I could say to them, I don't care what you've done, who you are, where
35:04you came from or where you're going, Christ died for your sins and he'll forgive you
35:12right there on the spot.
35:13And he will.
35:14He will.
35:15He will.
35:16He'll do it.
35:17I've seen him do it.
35:18And I know what I'm talking about.
35:21He'll forgive you.
35:23So if you need forgiveness tonight, you don't get forgiveness because you get on your knees
35:28and crawl down here.
35:29That's penance.
35:31Or you pay out a certain amount of money or you do some good deed.
35:34That does not get you forgiven.
35:37Forgiveness comes simply by looking to Christ who paid for your sin debt, accept the finished
35:42work of the Lord Jesus and that blood applied to your soul.
35:46And he'll cleanse you from all unrighteousness.
35:49And when that happens, true fellowship breaks out.
35:52And notice all that's involved.
35:54He not only forgives you, he cleanses you.
35:57And that is where the fellowship comes.
35:59And that's what you want.
36:01Everybody in this house tonight, if you've ever had the joy of the Lord, you want the
36:04joy back.
36:05If you don't have it right now, you want it back.
36:06Father, thank you for your word.
36:10Bless my brothers and my sisters, Lord, and those folks who are watching tonight, and
36:14those that'll watch this later and hear it on radio or wherever it goes, I pray you'd
36:18bless it now.
36:19Bless your word as it goes out in the holy name.
36:22All right, I want everybody to look.
36:24Just keep your heads bowed for a moment.
36:27Let the Holy Spirit do what he wants to do with us tonight.
36:30If you're not in fellowship with the Lord, you notice I didn't use the word backslide
36:33one time.
36:34I'm not against preaching about backsliding, but I didn't use that word one time.
36:37Do you know why?
36:40Because honestly, backsliding is more of an Old Testament doctrine than it is in you,
36:46because you can't slide away from him.
36:48You're in him.
36:49You're sealed in him.
36:51There's nowhere to go, but you may not be in fellowship with him.
36:55And that's where you need to be tonight, is in fellowship with the Lord.
36:58Say, preacher, I want to be back in fellowship with the Lord.
37:02And I want to tell you right now, it's not hard.
37:04He's already done all the work.
37:06What he wants you to do is to confess, to come into agreement with him, and say, Lord
37:11Jesus, you are right, and what you said to me is right, and I accept it.
37:16Would anybody raise your hand and say, pray for me, preacher?
37:19I want that fellowship back.
37:20Well, God bless you.
37:21We've got hands here everywhere.
37:23Anybody else?
37:24God bless you there.
37:25God bless you.
37:26God bless you.
37:27Amen, amen.
37:28Amen.
37:29God bless every one of you.
37:31We come in Jesus' name tonight, Lord, a name above every name.
37:35At that name, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that he's Lord, to the glory
37:40of God the Father.
37:42And I want to be there when that day comes.
37:44I want to be there when they crown him King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
37:47I want to be there that day that the glory of God resides upon Christ our Savior.
37:53I want to be there the day when the redeemed gather around that throne and sing that song,
37:58redeemed, redeemed, redeemed, how I love to proclaim it, redeemed by the blood of the
38:03Lamb.
38:04Bless my brothers and bless my sisters tonight.
38:07They're foreigners and strangers and pilgrims in a foreign country.
38:11They don't belong to this Gentile, times of the Gentiles.
38:15They belong to the church of God, and that is separate completely, not part of the times
38:21of the Gentiles.
38:23They did not give birth to us, and they did not give life to us.
38:27That came from thee.
38:28My identity tonight is not in some Gentile kingdom.
38:32My identity tonight, Lord Jesus, is in thee, and in thy righteous name I pray.
38:38Bless every one of them, cleanse them in the blood of Christ, fill them with the Holy Spirit,
38:42and let them walk out of the house tonight in joy, rejoicing in what Christ has done
38:47for them.
38:48In your holy, righteous name I pray, amen.