We don’t come to church, to be a church. We come to Christ, and then we are built up as a church. If we come to church just to be with one another, one another is all we’ll get. And it isn’t enough. Inevitably, our hearts will grow empty, and then angry. If we put community first, we will destroy community. But if we come to Christ first and submit ourselves to Him and draw life from Him, community gets traction.
C.S. Lewis

Do Right

Do Right

“DO RIGHT” by Greg Estep

Ephesians chapter 4. One of the commissions given to any pastor or preacher or evangelist is to exhort people. I’m an exhorter. Not an extorter! I didn’t say that. But an exhorter. I’m to exhort you. I’m to push you. I’m to kick you, you know, to get you to do what God wants you to do. To stimulate you, you know, and there’s negative and positive stimulation. Some preacher beat you all the time and say, “Boy, God’ll knock you in the head if you don’t do right. God’ll knock you in the head if you don’t do right.” And that’s true, but there’s another side of it, too. If you do right, there’s a reward. There’s purpose in it. It’s positive, too, more than just negative.

Ephesians chapter 4, verse 7: “But unto every one of us is given.” Something is given to us. “But unto every one of us is given the measure of the gift of Christ.” All right, some of the things that Christ gives are mentioned in verse 11. “And he gave some, apostles.” He picked out 13 and maybe even more of them. “And some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers.” What was the purpose? “For the perfecting of the saints.” That’s the purpose for a pastor and a teacher. That’s the purpose for an evangelist. That’s the purpose for prophets. “For the perfecting of the saints,” to make you perfect, more perfect than what you are. So, I’m to exhort you on to perfection. Paul says in Thessalonians, “God hath not called us to uncleanness but to holiness.” And as a minister of Jesus Christ, I am to exhort you to holiness. I am to exhort you to perfection. He says, “Be ye perfect, even as I am perfect. Be ye holy, even as I am holy.

Now, I realize we’re never going to attain sinless perfection in this life. But that’s no reason why we ought not to strive for the mastery. First Corinthians chapter 9, I’m to bring this body into subjection. And a preacher and a teacher is to exhort you constantly. Now, if I just exhorted you once a year, chances are that wouldn’t be enough. Because you’re under pressure day by day to do wrong, to take shortcuts, to do it the easy way, and, you know, just to get by. You need to be exhorted daily and weekly and monthly–all the time–to do what’s right. Every time you turn around a Christian is presented with a problem, whereby there are two ways of handling the problem. Either the easy, convenient way of getting around it, or taking a shortcut through it, so you can get through it. Or the right way where you have to face it and trust God to get you through it. So the pastor and teacher is for the perfecting of the saints, “for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” How long are we to do this? Verse 13, “until we all come in the unity of the faith.”

Well, I tell you what, I’ve got a lifetime job, I can see that right now. It’s probably going to be a long time before anybody comes to any unity of the faith–until everybody believes the same thing and the right thing. “Until we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man.” Well, as long as you’re imperfect and I’m imperfect, I’m going to exhort you to be perfect. So I lifetime job, and you have a lifetime listening post. I mean, you’re just going to hear all the time. “Unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” Verse 14: “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him.” Talking about the body of Christ, the saints. “May grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ.”

As long as there are people around trying to deceive you and trying to trick you and trying to throw you off the foundation, preachers are to exhort you in the truth and in what’s right, to keep you steadfast in the truth, and to keep you in the purpose of God’s will. And as long as there is the slightest chance of you being deceived, somebody has to exhort you to listen, to study, to know, to do what’s right, so that you won’t be deceived. And the minute you get out from under the preaching and the exhortation of the word of God, it becomes easier and easier and easier for you to fall into traps and lies and deceptions, and to do the wrong thing that’s displeasing to God.

But he says, “But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body, fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the eifying of itself in love.” I am to preach and to exhort so that the whole body, right here in this local body, I might exhort you to do right, might exhort you on, might exhort you on, might exhort you to stay in the right path. And you know what that’ll do? That’ll exhort others to do right. That’ll exhort others to stay in the right path. And we’ll help one another.

If I set the right example, and you set examples, and we all follow the example of Paul and the Lord Jesus Christ, this body– we may never ever get all that bunch out there to come into the unity of the faith–but this body can come into the unity of faith, unto a perfect man. And we can supply each other’s needs and be a blessing to one another and enjoy what there is to enjoy in this life.

Do you want to enjoy life? What I just read to you is where you enjoy it. It’s doing what God wants you to do, being perfected, being edified, so that you are not thrown about, and not tossed about. And when you’re tossed about, you’re unhappy. You’re unstable. In James chapter 1, he says, “A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.” He doesn’t know where he’s going or what he’s doing. James 1:8. And I’m to exhort you into one faith, into one belief, into one purpose in your life. I’m to exhort you. And that’s what I’m going to do here this morning. I’m going to exhort you to do right.

This message here is probably the most important message I’ve ever preached. I mean, you can preach messages on salvation, you can preach messages on the second coming, on eternal security, all kinds of things you can preach, folks. But the most important message for God’s people is “do right.” Just do right.

You know what that’ll do? That’ll help others to do right. It’ll condemn them who are doing wrong. It’ll bring glory to the Lord Jesus Christ. You know why? Because every pressure out there, every influence out there is to do wrong. It’s to do wrong.

All right, my text is found in James chapter 4. James chapter 4, verses 13-17. The message is just “Do Right.” Dr. Bob Jones Sr. said, “Though the stars fall from heaven, do right. Do right.” I’ll tell you, the stars are going to fall from heaven in Revelation chapter 12. It’s going to be hard to do right then. Thank God, I’m going to be delivered from that thing. I’m not ever going to have that kind of a problem to face. But I’ve got problems I’ve got to face, and every time I’m faced with a fiery trial, and I’m faced with a problem, it’s a contest between who I’m going to listen to–God or the devil. Am I going to serve Him? Am I going to do what He wants to do, that I might bring glory to Him? Or am I going to compromise and take the easy way out, and do it the world’s way, or the flesh’s way, and just to please them?

James chapter 4, verse 13: “Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain.” Well, that’s America for you. That’s pure capitalism. You know, just coming and going, just buying and selling, just to get gain. Now, there’s nothing wrong with that, as long as it’s mixed with the right attitude of God, the right motive with God. The thing you don’t want to forget is that God still pulls the strings.

Verse 14: “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow.” In other words, the most important thing in your life is not to buy and sell and get gain. Now, if God gives you a job and gives you that, you are to do it, but you are to do it knowing that it’s for the Lord and from the Lord, that He’s given you that ability. “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life?” Is it just buying and selling and getting gain? Is it just coming and going? Is that all it amounts to? When you get to the end of your life, is that all you’ll have to look back on, is just a life of, “Well, I went here, and I went there, and I’ve seen the Taj Mahal and I’ve been to the Holy Land, and I made a good living, and I left my kids a good will–” is that all there is? Is that all you’ve got to say for the end of your life? Is that all you ever accomplished?

He said, “What is your life? It is even a vapour.” Well, then what’s done here and now for the here and now is not going to last long. And it’s going to go up in smoke. Did you ever hear them say that? “Boy, that guy’s life went up in smoke.” And that’s going to be true of a lot of Christians. Their life is just going to go up in smoke, because they took the easy way out and just decided to live for the here and now, and said, “Well, phooey on the future, I’m not going to worry about the future, I’m not going to worry about Christ, I’m just going to worry about myself and take care of myself now. So I’ll go to now and buy and sell and get gain.”

James says, “What is your life?” Is that all it is? Just merchandise and just money? “What is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will.” What’s the Lord’s will on the thing? “If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this or that.” Is it the Lord’s will that you’re concerned with?

All right, he says in verse 16, “But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. Therefore [verse 17] to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” Father, you bless the message now, Father, and help us to understand, Father, these things. Lord, the things that I am preaching here and talking about here this morning, many times I fail to do. Lord, I’m not only preaching to these people, I’m preaching to myself. Lord, I admit many times I want to do right and don’t. I’m like Paul. That which I would I do not, and the thing that I would not, that thing I do. O wretched man that I am, who should deliver me from this body and flesh of sin? God, many times I’ve wanted to do right and didn’t. Lord, I thank you by your grace and by your power, for the things that I’ve done right in the last eight or nine years. I thank you for the things you’ve showed me that were right, that I wouldn’t have known to do right, unless you showed me. God, now, impress upon us here this morning the importance of doing and the penalty for not doing right. You bless us now and be with this sermon, I ask it in Jesus’ name, amen.

All right, he says, “To him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” If you know to do right and don’t do it, it’s sin. Sin is the transgression of the law. Sin is am abomination in the sight of God. He hates it. The Bible says God hates all the workers of iniquity. So, if you know–if you have knowledge–to do right, and don’t do it, it’s a sin. So the exhortation, the thing that I want to impress upon you this morning, that, no matter what happens, no matter what influences come to bear, no matter what pressures are put on you in this life–do right. Do right.

And, believe me, it isn’t easy to do. It is not easy to do. Everything in this life, the influence in this life is, “Well, there’s a more convenient way to do it. There’s an easier way to do it.” And God doesn’t put down any easy way. Now some things are easy to do. Some things aren’t as hard as other things to do. But, I’ll tell you what, you take, like, raising a little child. There’s nothing easy about that. It’s not easy. It is hard to raise a child according to the Scriptures. “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” It didn’t say teach him the way to go–it said train him in the way to go. You teach them, and they may not listen. The Bible doesn’t say teach him in the way he ought to go; it says train him.

You know what training is? That’s like Fort Benning. That’s training. You put them in there and say, “We’re going to do it this way, and you shut your mouth, and that’s it.” That’s training. You get them out there on the football field, you train him. The guy says, “Well, I want to block this way.” The coach says, “You block the way I tell you to block, or OUT. Because I know more than you know.” And God says, “You do it my way, and it’ll work.” But it’s never easy. It is never easy.

I tell you, there’s them kids, man. And the Lord says, “Train him up in the way he should go. And when he is old, he will not depart from it.” He says, “Spare not for his crying,” you know. He says, “Foolishness is bound up in the heart of the child, but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.” Just all the time, foolishness. All the time, foolishness. Of course, the more you’ve got, the more it’s compounded. The more fools you’ve got running around you. And you think, “Well, how in the world can I do it? God has said to do it this way.” Well, listen, folks, God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able. Now, if He has given you one, two, three, four, five, six kids, He’ll give you the power to train them the way that they’re to go–or He wouldn’t give them to you, Amen? Now don’t you accuse God of unrighteousness. That’s what the devil tried to get Job to do.

You say, “Whew! Boy, I just can’t handle this much!” Well, it’s hard, isn’t it? It’s hard. It’s a fight. It’s a battle. And some of you folks, now, you’re kids are grown now, and you can think, “Whew! It’s over! They’re all gone, man! I don’t have to do it any more.”

You, but you may not have to raise kids, but you still have to put up with the influences and the pressures of life to do something wrong. And if you own a business, or if you work, there’s always that influence–always that pressure to do wrong. I’ve talked to people in their homes, and I’ve exhorted them to get saved, and exhorted them to become a Christian, and I’ve had them sit there and look me right in the face and say, “Preacher, if I’d get saved, I’d have to quit the job I’m working. Because there isn’t any way to make money on my job without cheating.” And I’ve had them say that to me.

You go down here to Delco Marain, they cheat on the hour. They cheat on this, they cheat on that, they bank up on Monday and Tuesdays so they can play cards the rest of the week. And if a couple of guys don’t bank up, the rest of ’em get mad at him because it makes the other guys look bad. And if you try to do your job right, some guy who doesn’t want to do his job right is going to hate your guts. You go out there and you give your employer 18 hours work like you ought to give him, and the rest of the guys are loafin’ and layin’ off and stuff like that, they get mad at you and say, “Hey man! Slow down! You’re working too hard! You’re making us look bad!” You know what the Bible says? “To him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it’s sin.” It isn’t easy. It isn’t easy to do right. It’s always easier to do wrong. It’s always more convenient to do wrong.

Well, “To him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it’s sin.” Do right. Do right.

No matter what, do right. Bob Jones Sr. said–and a lot of the quotes I’m going to give you here are going to come right out of a couple of his books. I would recommend you get any kind of a thing you can get by Bob Jones Sr., and read it–especially the little book on “Things I’ve Learned by Experience.” That thing is just loaded with good Christian philosophy–if there is such a thing as philosophy. But it’s just the experiences of a man who’s lived dealing with people for 70 years–60 or 70 years on this earth–and some things he’s come to see as a result of his life in preaching the Bible and ministering to people all over America.

And he says something like this. “The doors to the room of success always swing on the hinges of opposition.” He says something like this. He’ll say, “Duties never conflict. If God gives you the duty to raise children, or He gives you the duty or responsibility to pastor a church or to preach, or to teach a Sunday school, or to minister to people or to work at a job, He’ll never give you duties that conflict. He’ll never put too much on you that you cannot bear. He’ll never give you more duties than you can manage.” Now, you may add some duties onto your duties, you know, that may cause duties to conflict–but God won’t. God won’t. He’ll put only on you what you can handle and what you can take care. Duties never conflict.

He said something like, “The greatest ability is dependability.” If we only ever have 50 to 100 people in this church, and never get any bigger now, than I’d rather have 50 or 100 who are dependability, than 1,000 that you couldn’t depend upon for five minutes. What’s the sense, you know, in getting us a register board and saying, “We had 999 in Sunday school,” if you can’t count on them to be there Wednesday night to pray for the work? Amen? What’s the sense? I’d rather have 50 to 100 that were dependable, that I could depend upon to witness, that I could depend upon to back me up and back the Bible up when the pressures come to bear and the influences come to bear, and that wouldn’t sell out for a mess of pottage, brother. I’d rather have somebody who’s dependable. It’s always that thing of “doing right.” “Though the stars may fall,” Bob Jones Sr. said, “Do right.” And it’s never easy to do right, as far as the flesh is concerned.

You say, “Boy, there’s got to be an easier way to do it than this. There’s got to be an easier job than the one I’ve got. Everybody’s on me at work, I’m always getting in trouble. Every time I want to read my Bible.” One fellow was telling me the other night they jumped on him at his job because he was reading his Bible too much. I said, “Do you have the spare time?” He said, “Well, there isn’t anything else to do. The other guys, they sit around reading Playboy and all those stuff.” He said, “They jumped on me for reading the Bible. They said, ‘You read too much on your job.'”

Well, I said, “Listen, you’ll just have to play it by ear and be careful. If they say you’re reading too much and not fulfilling your job, you do right. Do what’s right. Go ahead and give them the time. Find something to do.” And it isn’t easy to do. The old flesh says, “Well, boy, they’re reading it. Why can’t I read it?” Well, do right. Do right. That employer who pays you, and as long as he doesn’t ask you to do something contrary to the will of God, go ahead and do it. You have time to read your Bible outside of your job. The man isn’t paying you to read the Bible. He’s paying you to work. Duties never conflict.

The story is told about a young man who went off to college and spent some time in college. And he had a sweetheart back at home, and he never failed to write his sweetheart a letter. I mean, he’d write her one time a day, sometimes two and three times a day. See, he enjoyed that. That was a responsibility he loved to fulfill. And yet, every one in a while he’d send his mother a postcard. Now, you know what that was? He had two duties there, and he was fulfilling one–and he wasn’t fulfilling the other one. He should have been fulfilling both. Duties never conflict. Duties never conflict. If God has said, “Pray without ceasing,” “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” He said, “You shall be witnesses unto me.” He says, “Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together.” He says, “Minister unto the saints.” Those are duties that God has given to you and me–and they’ll never conflict. They won’t conflict with my job that God has given me and put me in; they won’t conflict with my family that God has given me to have. If I’m submissive to God and say, “All right now, Lord, I want to find out how I can do all of this,” the Lord will show me.

And I understand the problem. Week after week after week, I think, “Well, I just can’t get it all done. I just can’t get it all done.” And then the Lord says, “To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. To him it’s sin.” If God has given me a family to raise, then that duty will not conflict with the duties of my job, the duties of my ministry, and the duties of my own personal relationship to God–or He wouldn’t have given them.

Now, if I’ve added them unto myself, then I better alleviate myself of those duties. I have certain duties. I have duties to work and to make a living for my family. If a man doesn’t supply for his own family, the Bible says he’s worse than an infidel. So I have that responsibility. He says, “If you don’t work, you don’t eat,” 2 Thessalonians chapter 3. So I have a job, and I try to perform that.

All right, the Lord has also put me in the ministry. Now some of you sitting here know good and well that I didn’t want in. About three months ago, you asked me to start a church, and I said, “Absolutely not!” Because I felt I had enough to handle. But God convicted me and showed me beyond any–well, what else could you say? After all this–showed me beyond any shadow of a doubt that this is where He wants me. So I know that this duty– God hasn’t put me here to make it impossible for me to still raise my family and still perform my job, if I’ll trust Him. Now that’s the catch. If I’ll trust Him, I’ll be able to do them all.

Sometimes I spend half the day worrying about how I’m going to get them done, and then I just waste half the day, when I could have got some things done! I just fret. Are you a fretter? You say, “Boy, how am I going to do all this, you know?” And you walk and pace, you know. “How am I going to take care of all of them kids, you know?” “How am I going to raise that family?” “How am I going to get out there on visitation?” “Boy, I don’t know how I’m going to do it. I’ve got a job doing it…” And there you are, you know, fretting, worrying. The Bible says, “Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, make your requests known unto God, and the peace of God that passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

You know what my problem is? Instead of praying, I’m pacing. I ought to be praying. I should be saying, “Lord, look at this mess you’ve got me in!” Amen? Talk straight with Him! If you think it’s a mess, tell Him! Tell Him! Say, “Lord, look at this mess you’ve got me in. You put me down here and put me into all this mess I can’t handle, and I can’t take care of it.”

He said, “I know you can’t. That’s why I gave you the Holy Ghost, stupid!” Amen? That’s just about the answer you’ll get.

He’ll say, “Now, look! I put you in that situation that I might get the glory. If I put you in a situation that you could handle, you’d take the glory! But I’m going to put you in a situation that you can’t handle, so I can handle them for you, so you will give me the glory for it.” Amen? So I can quit pacing and quit worrying and quit fretting and just trust the Lord.

Turn back to Psalms. Psalm 37. Worry is sin, folks. And I’m the biggest sinner in the bunch. I’m the biggest sinner. I’m chief of sinners. When it comes to worrying, I worry about everything. I’m worrying about the well out here. I don’t know what we’re going to do about the well. I’m worrying about the sewers back here. I’m worrying about–” I wish you’d pray now that they don’t deliver that stupid water bottle. We can bring water in. We don’t need to pay them seven dollars a month to have electric water, amen? Now, I called that Crystal Water Company last week and told them to bring it out; well, they haven’t brought it out. My wife said last night, you know, finally, after six days of keeping our mouth shut, she said, “Why’d you order that?”

I said, “I don’t know. It just seemed like the right thing to do.”

She said, “Well, we can bring water in. Why pay them seven or eight dollars a month just to have water?”

And it finally hit me. You know, we don’t need it. We don’t need it. It’s just a waste of money. Now I want you to pray that I can call them over in the morning to get that thing cancelled.

Worry about that, you know. And worry about this, and worry about the bookstore, worry about my house. Psalm 37 verse 1, “Fret not.” “Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.” I’m always saying about the lost people, “Man, they haven’t got the worries I’ve got, they haven’t got the problems I’ve got.” That’s right! They’ve got the problem of going to hell. I haven’t got that one. They are forsaken in this life, they are alone in this life. The Bible says that without God and without hope in the world. They are at enmity against God; there is a wall of partition up between them and God. I haven’t got a wall. If there’s a wall there, I’ve built it–not God.

“Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. Trust in the Lord, and do good.” Amen? Do good! Just do right! Though the stars may fall and the pressures may come to bear, do what’s right. It’ll all come out right in the end.

“Trust in the Lord and do good. So shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.” Amen? “But I’m just not making enough money. I just can’t get it all together. I’ve got all these bills to pay off, all these taxes.” Fret not thyself. Trust in the Lord and do good. Trust in the Lord and do good.

You know what you get to thinking about? “Boy, I’m just not making enough money. What am I going to do? I’m going to have to get out here and try to work up another job, and do something, you know.” Duties never conflict. Do good. Just do what the Lord’s called you to do. If you can handle all of that, you’d be doing good. Don’t add anything to it. Do good. “Trust in the Lord, and do good. So shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.”

“Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” “Fret not thyself, but trust in the Lord, and do good.”

It’s not easy to do. Number one, it costs something to do right. If I’ve just exhorted you to do right and didn’t tell you that, you know, it wasn’t going to cost you something, I’d be lying to you. If I tell you to do what’s right in the situations that you face and the problems that you face, I can guarantee you some things. I can guarantee you it’ll cost you something. Nobody ever did right who didn’t pay for it somewhere down the line. The Bible says, “All that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” Paul says, “We’re afflicted on every side, yet not distressed.” But your afflictions are there! The afflictions are there. It costs something.

Listen! God had a choice to make. What He created fell. It fell into the abominations of sin and corruption; it fell into the hands of the archenemy, Lucifer himself. God had a choice to make. But He did right. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish.” You know what the Lord did in the situation? He did what was right. But you know what it cost Him? It cost Him His own Son. It cost Him something to do right. He came down here in the form of a man. The Bible says that God was in Christ reconciling Himself to the world. He came down here in the form of a man, and lived amongst His own people. He came unto His own, it says in the book of John. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. They called Him a demon-possessed madman. They rejected what He said. They didn’t believe on Him. They didn’t receive Him. He had all the signs and all the credentials, and all the right everything that He should have had. He even came to the point where He said, “Look! If you don’t believe what I say, at least believe the works that I perform.” And they wouldn’t do that. They wouldn’t do that. They wouldn’t believe the signs and wonders that He had. “He came unto His own.” What happened? “His own received Him not.” “He was forsaken of men.” Forsaken! He didn’t even have a place to live! He said, “The foxes have holes. And the birds have nests. But the Son of man hath not where to lay His head.” Lived in the mountains. Lived by Himself. Over there in John chapter 6, He told them the truth. He began to preach to them over there, and it says, “From that time forth many of His disciples departed from Him.”

They said, “My, this is a hard saying! Who can receive it? What new doctrine is this?” And then He went ahead and told them. He told them the truth anyway. He did right. And they all departed from Him–except for twelve of them. And one of them was a devil. And before it was all over they all departed from Him. You know what He did? He just kept doing right. He just kept doing right. He did what was right. He went to the Garden of Gethsemane and cried and agonized out there. He said, “Father, not my will, but thine be done.” He said, “If it be possible, lift this burden from me–Matthew chapter 26.” He said, “If it be possible.” It wasn’t possible. It wasn’t possible. He came to do the Father’s will. He did right, and it cost Him something. He was humiliated, He was shamed, He was beaten, He was whipped, He was scourged, He was tormented, He was forsaken of man, forsaken of all of those who professed that they loved Him. Peter said, “Though all men forsake thee, I won’t.” And he forsook Him. He said he didn’t even know Him! And the Lord Jesus Christ knew what was going on all the time. Forsaking Him them.

How would you like to be just flat left alone by everybody? What if just everybody in this assembly and all your friends and all your relatives, and everybody that you’ve ever known, that had anything to do with you, just suddenly just forsook you– completely! And nobody would come to your aid when you were in trouble. Now, He was in trouble. He was in trouble with the authorities. They came after Him with spears, knives and staves, the Bible says. He was in trouble. And everybody forsook Him. Everybody forsook Him.

What’d He do? Did He quit? Did He call down the legion of angels? He could have. He didn’t deserve to be where He was. He did what was right. He didn’t compromise, He didn’t cut any corners, He didn’t take any shortcuts. You know what it would have cost us if He had? We would have never been saved. The Old Testament saints would have perished. The whole thing would have perished. Destroyed. There would have been no atonement to placate the wrath of God. It would have been destroyed. The whole creation. All of the souls destroyed. He said, “All souls are mine. The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” The whole thing would have had to have been destroyed.

But when He faced those situations, when He faced those pressures, He went ahead. They pounded a crown of thorns down on His head. They whipped His back, ploughed His back, the Bible said. Turn to Isaiah 53. The Bible says He died, the just for the unjust, that we might be the righteousness of God. He did right, but it cost Him. It cost Him. I’d be a fool to stand up here and exhort you and exhort you to do right and tell you it’s not going to cost you something. It’s always going to cost you something. Isaiah 53:3: “He is despised and rejected of men.” You know why He was despised? Because He did what was right. You know why He was rejected of men? Because He did what was right. The Bible says in the Book of Matthew, “When all men speak well of you, there’s a problem. You’ve got a problem. When all men speak well of you, you’re not doing what’s right.” “He was despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows.”

The Bible only says one time did He ever rejoice in the Spirit. ONE TIME in His whole ministry did He ever rejoice in the Spirit that was spoken of outwardly. He rejoiced in the Spirit and said, “Thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent and has showed them unto babes. Even so, thou thought it good in thy sight.” But He rejoiced in the Spirit. No other time do you find it said that He rejoiced in the Spirit. A man of sorrows.

You say, “Why did He put up with all of that? Did He deserve it?” No. “Did He have to?” No, He didn’t have to do it. Now, He had to do it if we were going to profit from it. If we were ever going to gain anything from it, He had to do it. Now, He didn’t have to do it for His own benefit. What He did, He did for your benefit and for my benefit. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” He loved us. He loved us.

“He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. And we hid as it were our faces from Him.” Can you think of times as an unsaved individual you hid from Jesus Christ? The One who came to die for you? The One who suffered for you? The One who bled for you? The One who took the hatred and the shame. “We hid our faces as it were from Him. He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.”

There are times in your life and in my life when we esteem the heroes of this world more than Jesus Christ. And you know what they did for us? They entertained us for a short period of time that they might money off of us, that they might get glory from us. And He never asked for anything. He never asked for anything.

Verse 4: “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” You can’t do right and get away with it. If you do right, you’ll pay for it. I’m going to encourage you to do right; “to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” But I’d be a fool to stand up here and tell you that if you do right, you’re going to make out–because you’re probably not. If you continue to do right, there’s going to be trouble, there’s going to be pressure, affliction, and influence upon you.

And it seems like so many times, when we determine to do right, the most immediate affliction comes from our immediate family. Jesus Christ said, “A prophet is not without honor, save in his own house and in his own country.” In other words, you might receive honor from others, but, chances are, your honor won’t come from your own house. And it seems like, just as soon as you purpose to do right, it’s your own relatives and the closest ones to you who hurt you the most. You know, they want to see you be the right kind of individual–but they don’t want to see you become a fanatic. They don’t want to see you go all the way, see? You know why? Because it condemns them. It condemns them, because they’re not going all the way. He lost friends.

It’s the purpose of God (Romans chapter 8) that you be conformed to the image of His Son. You know what that means? That means that He is going to try to pattern your life just right after the Lord Jesus Christ. You know what that means? That means He’s going to give you a ministry; He’s going to give you people who are going to follow you; He’s going to give you the same kinds of troubles He gave Him. The devil’s going to be after you, just like he was after Him. The world’s going to hate you, just like it hated Him.

He warned us about it in the Book of John. He said, “If they hated me, they’ll hate you.” God’s trying to pattern your life just like the Lord Jesus. You know what that means in the end? All of them forsook Him. He was despised of men, a man of sorrows. “To him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” It costs something to do right.

It cost the apostles. Not only did it cost God to do right, cost Him the precious life of His Son, it cost the apostles. Let me read you this. The apostles were called out by the Lord Jesus Christ in the infancy of the Church to spread the gospel and spread the good news. Then He called Paul out to preach to the Gentiles. And, listen, every one of them died for it. The only one whom they can’t find specifically who died for his faith was John. And, yet, you know that he got in trouble, because the Bible says he is on the island of Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ, over there in Revelation chapter 1. He was in jail. He wound up in jail.

Listen to this roll call: Stephen–Acts chapter 7, stoned and murdered because he did right. Two thousand other Christians, the historians say, died with him at that time, in the persecution that took place there in Jerusalem. James–beheaded, Acts chapter 12. You know what he was doing? He wasn’t a criminal. He was doing what was right. It costs to do right. It cost God, it cost the apostles.

Philip–crucified, 54 A.D. Matthew–murdered with a halberd. It’s a part of a sword, like a sword. He was slain with that in 60 A.D. James the Lord’s brother had his brains beat out with a club. Matthias was beheaded. Andrew was crucified. Mark was dragged to death. Peter was crucified. Paul was beheaded.

You say, “Why did it happen to them?” They did right. They did what was right.

You say, “Whew! Boy, it sure don’t sound like doing right is going to get you anywhere!”

Well, it may not get you anywhere in this life, brother, but it’ll get you somewhere in the next life. Paul said, “I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a more exceeding weight of glory.” It’s going to cost you something in this life to do right. It’s going to cost you your friends, it’s going to cost you your reputation, it’s going to cost you maybe your job, maybe your income. It may cost you every precious thing you ever had in this life! But still do right! Still do right.

It costs something to do right. It cost the Christians in church history to do right. You read about the Waldensians and the Albigensians, and all those bunch–the Lollards, the Pauliceans, and all those Christian groups that were called fanatics and heretics by the Papists and by the Romanists and by the world. They were hated. You know why they were hated? Because they wanted to get together as a group and worship God in Spirit and in truth. And they were not going to bow down to the images of Popery. They were not going to take the Mass. They were not going to raise up children for the priesthood or the nunnery, or all that other business. They wanted to have a faith that was bounded in the word of God, and nothing else–and they weren’t about to compromise what they believed. You know what it cost them? It cost them the blood of thousands. The blood of thousands upon thousands of them were slain in France and Italy.

This particular bunch I want to talk about this morning was two cities in the lower part of Italy at that time called Callibria. And there was a group of Waldensians who moved into that area. And the area that they moved into, folks, was nothing but wilderness and forests. It wasn’t anything anybody else wanted. And they asked permission from the lords of that area of Callibria–right on the heel of the boot in Italy–to move in there and build up a small community for themselves. They promised not to bother anybody. But they wanted their own community; they wanted to make their own way. They wouldn’t ask for anything. And the lord said, “Sure, go ahead.”

They moved in there, and before long they had converted a wilderness and a forest into a garden of Eden in the sense of production and in the sense of things growing–stuff like that– and a place of habitation for people. And they grew and, of course, they didn’t join with the Catholic Church. So the priests in that area went to the lords of Callibria and said, “Look! This bunch of heretics down here are not going by the Mass, they’re not sending their children to us, and they’re not bowing down to the Pope, and they’re not taking the Mass. They’re heretics! They’re causing trouble!”

And the lords of Callibria said, “You leave them alone! We allowed them to go in down there, and they’ve taken a barren place and wilderness and they’ve turned it into a productive thing. And they’re not hurting anybody; they’re not harming anybody. And they’ve been a real blessing to us.” At that time, the Waldensians were actually paying tithes to the landowners– which was going into the coffers of Rome. They said, “Look! We’ve got people down there now sending us money off that land. They’re sending us tithes that are going into the Pope’s coffers. Look, it was never coming in before. What are you complaining about? You priests are richer because of those people down there. You leave them alone!”

So that kind of cooled things off for awhile. The Waldensians went on there for years, and grew, and multiplied. And they decided to form two communities. So they formed a community called St. Zist, and another one called LeGuard. They had these two cities. When they established these communities, they decided at that time that they wanted some trained pastors and teachers in there to teach them their faith and to preach to them. So they sent off to Geneva for trained pastors and teachers to come there and to help them.

I guess at that time in the 14th Century–that was before Calvin–Geneva was a stronghold of Protestantism and the Scriptural movement and anti-Papist movement. So preachers and teachers were sent down into these two areas.

And they began to preach and teach the word of God and train the people and train the children in the way of the Bible and in the way of the religion of our God.

And the priests really got infuriated! So they wrote to Rome and said, “These people don’t pay tribute to Rome. They don’t bow down to Rome and the Pope.” And so the Pope sent a cardinal down there by the name of Alexandrinus. And this man was a butcher. He was just a killer.

And he went to St. Zist and said, “Now, you people have got to bow down to the images! You’ve got to have the Mass here. And if you don’t, we’re going your property and your lives away from you.” This took place in the morning one time when this man came there.

They said, “Give us until noon to make our decision, and we’ll give you the decision at noon.”

So the cardinal left the town. When he went out, the people in there said, “There’s no way in the world we’re going to bow down to these demands. We’re not going to have the Mass. We’re not going to send our children off to the monasteries, and all that business. We’re going to do what’s right.” So they fled to the forest in the area.

Well, at noontime, this cardinal Alexandrinus came back into this area, and came back into the town–and all the people were gone. And, brother, he was mad! He was stark-raving mad. So he called in the troops. He called in the troops that he had at his disposal, and he said, “I want you to go out into that forest and find those people. I want you to kill every man, woman, and child–no matter what you find out there!”

Well, those soldiers went into the forest. Man, they thought, “Easy pickin’s!” You know how soldiers are! They thought, “Those heretics are out there; they’re against our God, they’re against our Pope. We’re loyal to the Pope. We’re going out there and we’re going to kill them for the Pope.”

Of course, the priests blessed them and blessed their instruments, and told them they’d get rewards in heaven; the more Protestants they killed, the more rewards they’d get in heaven. So those guys are out there to kill those Protestants.

Well, the poor half-armed Waldensians fought back, and before it was all over with, more of the soldiers were killed than the Waldensians. They protected themselves and their families, and resisted the army.

Well, that made the Catholics just that much madder. So that cardinal wrote back to the Pope and told him what had happened. And so the Pope put out amnesty for all criminals and all crooks, and anybody who was considered an outlaw at that time, that he would give them amnesty if they would join in with the troops of this area to completely wipe out the Waldensians in this area.

So they had all this army, and all these robbers and killers and murderers and pirates and everything you can think of back at that time, given complete amnesty to be sent out against these people. And, folks, you read it in Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, the things that they did to those people when they caught them. It was atrocious. It was terrible! They killed them, they crucified them, they hacked them to death, they did everything you could think of. You know why that happened? Because those people were trying to do what was right. They were doing what was right. They knew to do right–and they sacrificed their lives for it.

And they pretty well wiped out all the people from St. Zist, so this cardinal said, “Now, we’re not going to let this business happen again at this other city.” And what had gone on here at St. Zist was unknown to the people of LeGuard. So he went into LeGuard. And, as soon as he went in, he closed off all the exits around LeGuard to make sure these people didn’t get out. And he made the same ultimatum to them. He said, “You must fall down to the images of Rome; you must worship the Pope; you must perform Masses; you must get rid of these Bible teachers and preachers who are teaching you heresy; and you must allow us to set our preachers and teachers over you.”

And they said, “Well, what about our brethren over at St. Zist.”

And the cardinal lied to them and said, “Oh, they met all our demands.”

And the people didn’t know what to do. They didn’t know what to do. So they prayed about it, and prayed about it, and said, “Well, we don’t want to go against what the other brethren did. Maybe we ought to do it.” But when they prayed about it, the more they thought about it, the more they knew it was wrong. And they came back to the cardinal and they told him, “No matter what it costs us, we worked hard for this property, and our families here have worked hard. But our allegiance to God and our allegiance to the Bible is more important than allegiance to the Pope and to heresies and to lies. We will not submit to your demands!”

And, folks, they wiped out the whole community. They just killed them all.

What they did was this. The cardinal said, “All right, get 30 of the leaders and bring them down here. We’ll put them on the wrack and make them examples to the rest of the people.” So they put 30 of the leaders on the wrack, and they stretched them. And men died, being completely pulled apart on the wrack. The Catholics did that to try to get the other people to submit to them.

And, yet, the heroics and the tenaciousness of the Waldensians–even the ones who were tortured–were such that the people gave God the glory. And the men who were tortured told the people not to give in, under no circumstances, that they weren’t to give in, no matter what.

And the people didn’t give in, and before it was all over, they completely killed everybody in the community. Wiped them out. Killed them to every man, woman, and child.

It costs something to do right.

There just isn’t any way I could stand up here and say, “Do right!” “Do right!” “Do right!” and tell you that you’re going to get away with it. The Bible says, “They that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” Time and time again, people back in those days, and every people in these days–there’s persecution taking place down in Central America and Latin America now, against the missionaries down there. Communist persecution in Africa and Asia is taking place right now. But missionaries still go because it’s the right thing to do. God called them to go, so they go. Many of them don’t leave; when the Communists come in, they stay. You know why? Because they don’t want to leave their flocks behind; they don’t want to leave the people whom they’ve led to Christ behind. They don’t want to leave them defenseless. They want to be an example. Many of them died. Many of them were martyred. It costs something to do right.

Next thing I want to say is, it’s wrong to do wrong to get a chance to do right. He says, “To him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”

Listen, folks, you do right. And if nothing good comes from it in this life, don’t worry about it. It’s not your position or my responsibility to evaluate the situation, and to see whether any good comes out of what we’re called to do, and what we’re told to do. You know, we may take a child, and we may train him. We may teach him, and we may handle him. And we may do everything we can for him; we may pray for him. And, in all truthfulness, sometimes it doesn’t turn out right. It just says, “When he is old, he’ll not depart from it.” You know what you can do? You can just trust God. There’s nothing else you can do. You’ve done everything you can do, and you know to do. You have to leave the rest to God.

Don’t do wrong to get a chance to do right. You just do right. It’s wrong to do wrong in order to get a chance to do right.

Listen, is it right for us to put away the King James Bible and start using the Living Bible and start using the R.S.V. just so we can get people in here? That’s wrong! I may say, “Look, we just don’t have enough folks in our meeting. We’re just not having people come. We need to have more people come. We need more opportunity to preach them the gospel. If we can’t get people in, how are we going to preach them the gospel? So, let’s just cut a few corners–perhaps not be so hard on the doctrine.” That’s wrong! It’s just wrong!

It is always wrong to do wrong to get a chance to do right.

Back here in the early seventies, Jack Van Impe came to this town, and they had a meeting amongst the cooperating churches as to where they would hold the meeting. And they finally decided on a couple of churches; they suggested holding it in some Biblebelieving churches. But it was finally decided on by the majority of the churches that they would hold it at the University of Dayton Arena. Now, you know who got the money for that? You know who got the rent for that place for that meeting? You know where it went? It went to promote Catholic schools.

You say, “Well, it’s the biggest one in town!”

“To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” I don’t care what it is. I don’t care what it is. I don’t care if it’s the biggest place going. I don’t care what it is. If all you’ve got to use is a Roman Catholic building, you’d do better to put up a tent. You’d do better to get you some property and be like Billy Sunday–build a wooden tabernacle, and preach that way.

They just had this James Robison crusade. I know he’s a great preacher, and I know he preaches the gospel. And where’d they have it? Same place, wasn’t it? Wasn’t it the U.D. Arena? Who made the money off it? The money that Protestant, Biblebelieving people put into the support of that crusade–where did the money go to pay for that building for one week? And how much do you suppose it cost for that building for one week? You know where the money went? It went to the University of Dayton. You know what the University of Dayton is? It’s a Roman Catholic institution.

I didn’t go. I didn’t go.

I went one time to see Van Impe. And, as I sat out there and I looked around there and saw those seats–and I know what those seats are used for; they’re used to promote Catholic sports, and all that business, and promote world activities–I thought to myself, “Even if they had taken a small place, I believe God would have blessed it more. Even if they had taken a smaller place.”

And then, if they had taken the money–I’m sure some church would have gladly allowed them to use the thing, or use their auditorium–they could have taken the money and had ten times the follow-up of what they had.

It’s never right to do wrong to get a chance to do right.

Thirdly, it pays to do right. Now, I’ve said it costs to do right. Well, it pays to do right, too. It pays to do right. He says, “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give you a crown of life.” Now, the payment may not come through in this age, but it pays to do right. You raise your children like you know God’s told you to raise them, and He’s got to back up His promises. What are the promises in Christ Jesus? Are they “maybe”? They’re “Yea!” and “Amen!” “Yea!” and “Amen!” SO BE IT! That’s it! It’s not “Yes” and “No.” It’s “YEA” and “AMEN”–the promises in Christ Jesus.

I’ve got the promise that if I’ll do right, it’ll work out. “All things work together for good.” “God is faithful, and will not suffer you to be tempted above that you’re able.” Do right. Just do right.

You stand here, and there is pressure to bear upon you for serving God, and you’ll look down the road, and you’ll say, “Well, I wonder what I’m going to accomplish for doing right? It looks like I’m going to lose my job. It looks like I might lose the ability to support my family. Looks like I’m going to lose this, and lose that.” Do right.

“Trust in the Lord, and he shall give you the desires of thine heart. Trust in the Lord, and thou shalt be fed; thou shalt dwell in the land.” Trust in the Lord! Trust in the Lord!

Meschach, Shadrach, and Abednego trusted in the Lord. There wasn’t anything else to trust in; they didn’t have any fire extinguisher. They didn’t have any way of getting out. They trusted in the Lord.

Joseph trusted in the Lord. Moses trusted in the Lord. And it looked bad for a time. But out on the other side, it all came out right. Trust in the Lord.

It pays to do right.

Doing right for the Christian assures him of his inheritance–Colossians chapter 3, verses 1-25. It insures him of the reward promised at the Judgment Seat of Christ–1 Corinthians chapter 3, verses 6-15. It pays to do right. It pays to do right.

The problem is, the payment sometimes isn’t in this life. But everything down here is temporary anyway. The things that are seen are temporal. The things that are not seen are eternal. Faith is the evidence of things hoped for; the substance of things not seen. I know there’s something out there that I’m going to get that’s better than what I’ve got right here–if I just do right.

Last off, let me say this. You can’t do wrong and get away with it. Now, it’s going to cost you something to do right. Yet you’ve got something coming to you if you do right. But, still, some people say, “Well, it’s just going to cost too much.” No, it’s still worse to do wrong. You can’t do wrong and get away with it.

Back about 300 or 400 years ago, you’ve heard the expression “He’s afraid to face the music”? Back around 200 or 300 years ago, the story takes place in China. The emperor had an orchestra, his own personal orchestra. And in this orchestra were hand-picked men. Now, one man who had some influence with some people high up got into that orchestra who could not play. But he got in there. And his instrument was the flute. And whenever the orchestra would play for the emperor, or for the functions of the royalty there, he would sit with the rest of them, and he would act like he was playing–but he never played anything! And he just mimicked it. Just imitated it, see?

And he was making a good living–comfortable living back then. He was doing all right. He never dared play a sound, or he would sound all out of discord, and everything.

But, for some reason, the emperor decided that he wished to hear each member of his orchestra play a solo in front of him. And it suddenly hit that fellow that he was going to have to face the music.

And he went to a private tutor and tried to get lessons to learn how to play that flute in a hurry. And he just had no talent, no ability. No matter how much time they spent with him, he couldn’t get the thing right.

And then he feigned sickness–putting it off, putting it off.

And, I’ll tell you what, you know what it finally drove him to? He was so afraid to face the music that he finally took his own life, and poisoned himself. He was afraid to face the music.

You can’t do wrong and get away with it, folks.

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” If you sow unto the flesh, you reap corruption. If you sow unto the Spirit, you reap life everlasting. You can’t do wrong and get away with it.

Now, let me ask you something. Is there something in your life right now you’re facing? Some pressure, some thing in life, some decision that you don’t know which way to go? Do right! It pays to do right. In the long run, it pays better dividends. Paul said, “I am persuaded that the sufferings of this present time are not to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. For our light affliction is but for a moment, which worketh for us a more exceeding weight of glory.” You can’t do wrong and get away with it. You need to do right.

Listen to me now. Honestly, if there is something in your life this morning that’s wrong, and you know it’s wrong, and you know you ought to quit, you know you ought to right, bless God, you come to God right now. You get down here on this pew down here in front, and you get it right with him right now, and do right. Do what’s right!

You say, “Well, I just can’t, Brother Greg!” YOU CAN! “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me!” Did He lie? Is that a lie? Or is that a promise that’s precious and true?