Love Worth Finding

Adrian Rogers: Have you been washed in the blood of Jesus?

Adrian Rogers: Listen to Adrian Rogers.

Adrian Rogers: And such were some of you, but ye are washed. He doesn't say such are you. You may have been a fornicator, you may have been an adulterer, you may have been sexually perverted, you may have been a thief, a murderer, an extortioner. But when you get saved, you are washed wider than snow in the precious blood of Jesus Christ.

Adrian Rogers: Welcome to Love Worth Finding, featuring the profound truth of the gospel shared in the practical teaching of Pastor Adrian Rogers. As believers, this world is not our home, but while we're on our way to glory, we are to demonstrate God's grace to those around us.

In Part 1 of today's message, we learned that grace is absolutely contrary to human nature. All the wisdom of this world could never explain it, but having experienced God's grace for ourselves, we understand what once was foolishness to us. If you have your Bible, turn now to Titus chapter 3 as Adrian Rogers shares Part 2 of This Is Your Life.

Adrian Rogers: Grace is absolutely contrary to human nature. We want to do it ourselves.

Materialism says, buy your way out. Politics say, legislate your way out. Militarism says, fight your way out. Industry says, work your way out. Philosophy says, think your way out. Deception says, bluff your way out.

But the grace of God is the way out. It is absolutely contrary to human nature. It is the amazing grace of God. Paul is telling Titus, he was there in Crete and he was saved, twice born in the place of once-born people, and that he would should live like a Christian there and display Christian character. This world is not our home, we're passing through.

A stranger is away from home. A vagabond has no home. But a pilgrim is going home. We're pilgrims. This world is not our home. We're on our way to glory, but while we're on our way, we're to demonstrate the wonderful grace of God to all of those who are roundabout us.

Those of you who are still trying to work your way to heaven, how are you going to do it? You don't have any righteousness. Even our righteousness is as filthy rags in God's sight. Let me tell you how grace spells salvation, not do and not don't, but done. That's how you spell it.

It is not addition. There is nothing you can do that will take away what you've already done. It is not subtraction. There's nothing you can stop doing. If you drink and you stop drinking without getting saved, you'll just go to hell sober.

What I'm trying to say is this, that sin is sin, it must be atoned for. And if you try anything else other than the grace of God, you're going to die and go to hell. I read somewhere about a man who fell out of a rowboat into the Niagara River and the river was flowing toward the falls. And they tried to save him and so they threw him a rope and he held the rope for a while, but then he saw a big log coming past and let go of the rope and grabbed hold of the log.

That was pretty stupid, wasn't it? Because both he and the log went over the falls. You see, no matter what else you'll hold on to, if you are not linked by the rope of grace to the heart of God, you're going to perish.

It's not by works of righteousness that we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us. And I'm so glad. I'm so glad we're not saved by works because you know, if we were saved by works, we could brag about it. Ephesians 2:8 and 9 says, for by grace you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast.

When I played high school football, we played Daytona and it was raining. It was a miserable night. There was water standing on the field. I roomed that night with a big tackle. I mean, he was a big guy and in the course of the game, just by happenstance, a pass was intercepted by this tackle. Now, he was not the pass intercepting type. He was overweight. Actually, he didn't really intercept it, it just fell there and stuck.

And he looked down and there it was. He said, wrap both hands around it. Now, I want to tell you something, folks, it seemed to me that we blocked every man on the field three times in order to get him down the field. Now, he wasn't a speedster. When he ran, he would say, right leg, left leg, right leg, left leg. But he scored. I mean, he ran it back and I roomed with the bird all night long. He talked about those brilliant moves, you know, and how he went down there.

I'd hate to be in heaven with people talking about how they got themselves to heaven. The Bible says it's not of works, lest any man should boast. Friend, we're going to heaven by the grace of God and all glory and praise and honor goes to Him. You won't be able to take that much of it. Not by works of righteousness that we have done.

What is the grace of God? Well, listen to me, friend, it is the sovereign love of the Father. And secondly, it is the supernatural work of the Spirit. Look if you will, now in verse 5, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. The love of the Father and the work of the Spirit.

You see, salvation is supernatural. He regenerates us. He calls it the washing of regeneration. This is not baptism. Water on your skin can't take sin out of your heart. How are we washed? Put these scriptures down. Zechariah 13 and verse 1 in the Old Testament, in that day, there shall be a fountain open to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and uncleanness. There's going to be a fountain and you can wash in that fountain for sin and uncleanness.

What is that fountain? Revelation chapter 1 and verse 5, the Bible speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it calls Him the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth. And then it says, unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood.

Listen to it. Unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. In Revelation chapter 7, verse 14, a great multitude is there. And I said unto Him, sir, thou knowest. And he said unto me, these are they, listen to it, these are they which have come out of the great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

We're not washed in water, friend. We're washed in blood. But we are washed. Hallelujah, we're washed. Put this verse down. First Corinthians chapter 6. And if you've been in deep sin, listen to this. This is a shouting verse if there ever was one. Know you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived.

Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God. You say, well, Pastor Rogers, what's so good about that? Well, listen to verse 11, and such were some of you. But ye are washed.

You're sanctified. He doesn't say such are you. You may have been a fornicator. You may have been an adulterer. You may have been sexually perverted. You may have been a thief, a murderer, an extortioner. But when you get saved, you are washed wider than snow in the precious blood of Jesus Christ. There's a wonderful lady in our convention who was a street harlot in San Antonio. She got saved and in her testimony, and I love to hear her give it, she said, I got on my knees a filthy harlot. I got up a pure virgin.

Such were some of you. Hey, folks, you're not just painted over. You're not just remodeled. You're made new. If any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new creation. All things are what? Past away. They're gone, buried in the grave of God's forgetfulness. There is the washing of regeneration. How? In the blood of the Lamb. There's a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel's veins, and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains. Friend, that's grace.

And if you're saved, you're going to be saved by the grace of God. There's no other way to be saved. What is this present grace? Friend, it's the love of the Father, it's the work of the Spirit, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. Now, He makes you new and He keeps renewing. This means continuous action. Day by day, moment by moment, He keeps us, He renews us, He restores us, He refreshes us. His mercies are new every day. He doesn't just forgive us and then say that's it.

Oh, this is the grace of God. It is the sovereign love of the Father. It is the supernatural work of the Spirit and it is the saving death of the Son. Look if you will, in verse 6, which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. Our Savior. And by the way, our Savior is God because let me just show you something while we're in the neighborhood, verse 4 calls God our Savior, and verse 6 calls Jesus Christ our Savior.

Now, is God our Savior or is Jesus Christ our Savior? The answer is yes. The answer is yes. God our Savior, Jesus Christ died for us. There's the sacrificial work of the Savior. He provided Himself an innocent sacrifice. He bore our sins. Jesus stepped out of heaven, came to this earth, lived a sinless life, allowed puny hands of wicked men to strike Him on His cheeks. There in Pilate's judgment hall, they took bamboo clubs and they put a crown of thorns on His head and then beat Him upon the head.

Then they blindfolded Him and played blind man's bluff with Him. They played games with the King of kings. They shoved Him to one of those wicked soldiers, to another. There was the Son of God being brutalized. They would take their big fist and strike Him in the face with a fist. The blood would run down His nostrils. They would say, if you're a prophet, tell us now, who hit you? And they'd strike Him.

The Bible says that they pulled the beard from His face. His face looked like a piece of raw meat. They spat in His face, human spit in the face of God. Then they took Him out, stripped His garments from Him, put Him on a rack until His back was smooth as silk. And then they took some psychopathic dungeon keeper, who was probably a volunteer for the job.

And with a whip called a cat-of-nine-tails, with little bits of bone and lead and glass in the end, they began to flay open the back of the Lord Jesus Christ. Flesh would hang down like ribbons. Many people died just from the flogging, just from the scourging. After that, they put a purple robe on Him. They put a wilted reed in His hand and they bowed down and said, hail, King of the Jews.

Then they took Him out, stretched Him out on a hellish cross and took great spikes and a cold hammer and drove those nails through His quivering flesh and His fingers clutched those cold nails and His torn flesh. They drove those nails through His feet. They lifted that cross up, dropped it. Jesus Christ there in the taunting rabble in the crowd suffered as no one else has ever suffered.

But oh, friend, not the fist in the face, not the spit, not the nails, not the crown of thorns, not the mockery. But consider this, that God the Father had to turn His back on Jesus, because He became sin. And the Bible says that God the Father is of pure eyes than to behold sin. And Jesus, Jesus, Him who knew no sin, took mine and yours and carried it to the cross. Do you know what you call that, friend? Grace.

That's grace. That is grace. And I love Him. I love Jesus. I do. Blessed Redeemer. Precious Redeemer. Seems now I see Him on Calvary's tree, wounded and bleeding for sinners pleading, blind and unheeding, dying for me. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.

This is present grace. The love of the Father, the work of the Spirit, the death of the Savior. Thank God for His amazing grace. Then I want you to see something else, dear friend. Not only our past guilt, not only our present grace, but I want you to see our future glory.

There it is, guilt, grace and glory. Verse 3 speaks of our guilt. Verses 4 through 6 speak of grace and verse 7 speaks of glory. Look at it. That, in order that, because of that, being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

That's talking about what is coming. That is talking about our future. Heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. Do you know what a joint heir is? A joint heir means we share and share alike. We are heirs of God. We inherit all things. That's what the Bible says. We inherit all things. The best is yet to come. Now, the Bible calls the Holy Spirit in our hearts that we have right now, the down payment.

The Holy Spirit in our hearts right now is called the earnest of our inheritance. Do you know what the word earnest means? You're going to buy something, give somebody some earnest money. You see, the Holy Spirit in your heart is the earnest money that you're getting the full legacy later on. You don't have it all now. There's the future glory. That's the reason I told you this world's not our home. We're just pilgrims, we're just passing through.

Do you know what I love in the Old Testament? I love the story of the man named Eleazar, who was sent by Abraham to get a bride for Isaac. Isaac is a picture in the Old Testament of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's a type of Christ. Eleazar is a picture and a type of the Holy Spirit, who seeks a bride for Jesus. Abraham is a picture of God the Father, who sent Eleazar to seek a bride for His son, because God the Father is seeking a bride for His son, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what the Old Testament story is all about. I love that story because it's such a beautiful story.

Can you imagine Eleazar now? Abraham gives Eleazar just all kinds of incredible wealth. So Eleazar has all of the disposal of the Father at his hand to go seek a bride. And Eleazar goes into a far country, and there he finds the one led of God, whose name was Rebekah. Now you talk about a salesman. Eleazar had to convince Rebekah to go with him, to marry a man she'd never seen. Now think about it. She went with a man she'd never met to marry a man she'd never seen.

That's pretty persuasive, isn't it? That's an illustration of how the Holy Spirit teaches us to love Jesus, whom having not seen, we love. You see, that's the work of the Holy Spirit. Well, Eleazar got Rebekah. The whole time Eleazar is telling Rebekah about Isaac. How handsome Isaac is, how strong Isaac is, how wealthy Isaac is, what a wonderful father Isaac has, how blessed she's going to be, how she's going to inherit so much. And so he tells her all of this.

And finally, Rebekah says to Eleazar, all right, I'll go. And they start back to Canaan, and there's Rebekah and Eleazar. Eleazar is the servant, representing the Holy Spirit. And the Bible says that along the way he would take treasures and gifts and give them to Rebekah. You know, they'd be going along there and he'd could look over and see her chin quivering a little bit. Maybe see a tear in the corner of her eye. Maybe see her just fumbling with her fingers and say, you know, she's sad, she's homesick, she's a little nervous. She's wondering, is there really an Isaac? Is he really that wonderful? You know what Eleazar would do?

He'd open that little box of jewels. He'd take a necklace out and put it around her neck. That's from Isaac. He just wanted you to have it. Then a little later on, you know, they'd be going along and he'd see her tear again. He reached in and get a ring and put it on her hand. Say, that's from Isaac. He just wanted you to have it. You love Isaac. All the way, he was dropping little gifts, little tokens into her heart until that day she arrived and there was Isaac standing there at the edge of the field. And when she met him, she'd already heard so much about him, she knew him. She said, that's him. Didn't need any introductions. Eleazar had done his job.

Friend, that's what the dear Holy Spirit does for you. All along the way, he just drops a little gems into your heart. He sees our fears, he sees our tears. He said, this is from Jesus. He just wanted you to have it. This is a jewel of joy. This is a pearl of peace. He wanted you to have it. But friend, we get the full legacy later on. Right now we just have the earnest of the Spirit. He was just giving her little tokens, little down payments. But you see, the Bible speaks of our future glory. We are going to inherit all things in the Lord Jesus Christ. Aren't you glad you're saved?

I mean, think of our past guilt. Think of our present grace. Think of our future glory with the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the amazing grace of God. Now, if I would offer you the money in this billfold. You say, how much is in there, preacher? Not much. If I would offer you the money in this billfold. I say, you want the money? Come get the billfold. When you got the billfold, you get the money that's in it. Friend, when you receive Jesus, you receive the eternal life that's in Jesus. You can't have that life without having Jesus.