Again, praise to God. You feel
the cool breeze in here? That's because a $17,000 air
conditioner was put on the roof, and it's 90 outside or more,
and we're here in God's house. I know if you're a child of God,
you don't wanna relapse. We all do, but we don't have
to, if we could enter into the great truth of the Bible. If
that empty, dark spot that suddenly appears in your life and there
is a desire to turn back. And what I say today is, Just
a vital importance to all our recovery in Christ Jesus. So, let me read again one of
the passages that Dr. Christopher read. But now, after that you have known God,
anyone ever relapse after you have known God? and the rest
of you are lying, as I often say, those of you who did not
put up your hand. But now after that you have known
God, oh, oh wait, Paul says, let me correct this, or rather
are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak
beggarly elements whereunto you desire again to be in bondage? you know God, or rather you have
found out this truth of grace that God knows you. How are you
turning back to those weak and beggarly elements of the world,
whether it's crack or heroin or sexual pleasure or whatever
you're seeking to fill that emptiness. How is it? Keep this on your
mind and in your heart that God knows you. You'll see how that
develops into this huge problem solver. I was thinking about
the old hymn this week. There is a name I love to hear.
I love to sing its worth. It sounds like music in my ear,
the sweetest name on earth. It tells me of a Savior's love
who died to set me free. It tells me of His precious blood,
the sinner's perfect plea. And then the refrain goes like
this, Oh, how I love Jesus! Oh, how I love Jesus! Oh, how
I love Jesus! Because He first loved me. It tells me of a father's smile
beaming upon his child. It cheers me through this little
while, through desert, waste, and wild. It tells me what my
father hath in store for every day, and though I tread a darksome
path, yields sunshine all the way. It tells me of one whose
loving heart can feel my deepest woe, who in each sorrow bears
a part that none can bear below. It bids my trembling heart rejoice. It drives each rising fear. It tells me, in a still, small
voice, to trust and never fear. Jesus, the name I love so well,
the name I love to hear, no saint on earth its worth can tell,
no heart conceive how dear. This name shall shed its fragrance
still along this thorny road, shall sweetly smooth the rugged
hill that leads me up to God. And there, with all the blood
bought throng, from sin and sorrow free, I'll sing the new eternal
song of Jesus' love for me." That song was, of course, written
many, many years ago in 1855. The old hymn, Oh, How I Love
Jesus, written by Frederick Whitfield, may have thrown the church off
course a bit. Unless you've been taught the
word of God, unless grace is truly amazing to you, when you
begin to sing this song, you may be thrown off a bit. Nothing
wrong with the words, nothing wrong with the song. It does not take much for you
and I to chase self-merit and self-praise. Hang on with me,
I'm going to tell you an astonishing truth. The song is taken, Oh
How I Love Jesus, from John 4,19. Here's what John 4,19 says. We love Him because... Oh, there's a reason we love
him, because he first loved us. Now, the songwriter is pinning
those words, but I thought to myself, how many of us, when
we sing that hymn, sing it with such, you know, such good feelings
about ourselves. Oh, how we love Jesus. And well,
we should love Jesus. But even more amazing is this
truth. We love Him because He first
loved us. Herein is love, not that we loved
God, but that He first loved us. To place the emphasis on
the wrong phrase many times, oh, how I love Jesus. Don't talk
so much about your love for Jesus. It'll become Pharisaical. It's
not your love for Jesus that gets you through. It's the love
of Jesus for you. The true emphasis should be upon
because He first loved me. Just think about that. He first
loved me. He was in love with you when
you were in the crack house. He was in love with you when
you were shooting up. He was in love with you when you were
in the wrong bed. He was in love with you. Just think about that. Isn't that amazing that he loved
you? And this is so repetitive in
the scripture. Somebody said, you know, pastor
doesn't preach a very practical message. He's always talking
about God's sovereignty and God's grace and God's mercy and God's
love. This is why, because anything
outside of that is fluff. Anything outside of that is not
gonna get you out of the crack house. It's not going to stop
your addiction, but if you can become amazed and appalled that
God loves you. I stand amazed in the presence
of Jesus the Nazarene, and wonder that he could love me, a sinner
condemned unclean. Oh, how marvelous! Oh, how wonderful! See, your feet get light when
you're talking about the unmerited favor of God for you. When you're
filled with this knowledge, He will never leave me nor forsake
me. It is not I but Him that works
in me both to will and to do. Oh, I'm preaching good now. I'm
preaching good now. To do His pleasure. God at work
in me. Never leaving me, never forsaking
me. But if any man love God, it's
because he's known of God. It's because God has always known
him. The primacy of being known by
God must always be our boast. And thus it becomes our comfort.
The old songwriter said, prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone
to leave the God I love. But you know, when you're wandering,
He's right there with you. He hasn't forgot you. His eye
is still on you. His Holy Spirit is still in you. The power of God working in you. So I don't get that. I don't
know that I believe, you know, you're talking like once saved,
always saved. It depends on who saved you.
Whatever God does, He does eternally, right? We are kept by the power
of God. See, we are prone to have a,
what would I call it, transference. You see, we are prone to transference. Oh, how I love Jesus. Now, don't
get me wrong, I'm not putting an X on the song. I'm interpreting
the song in a right way for you. Oh, how I love Jesus. The songwriter
was saying this because he first loved me throughout the song.
We just don't place our emphasis there because if we placed our
emphasis there, it might be that we'd have to believe in election. It might be that we'd have to
believe that God chose us. I'm getting ahead of myself here.
You see, the deeper truth is not you loving God. The deep,
deep truth is that He first loved you. And that's appalling and
that's amazing. There was none that sought after
God. There was none that was righteous. God looked down from
heaven to try to find some good folks and couldn't find a one. No, not you, honey, not even
you. I know you think you're good, but God's already searched
the universe and couldn't find a good person. There is none
good, no, not one. Then how is it that you're sitting
here in the house of God singing, oh, how I love Jesus? It was
because He first loved you. This ought to be the message.
This must be the message of the church. Heron is not going to
be defeated without the message of God's free and sovereign grace
in the lives of individuals who try it. It's not going to be
defeated. Knowing God is good, but it's
far greater when you see that God knows you, that God loves
you. To know in Scripture, Adam knew
his wife and she conceived. The word know in Scripture means
to love in an intimate way. Before I formed you in your mother's
belly, I loved you. Before you were a gleam in your
daddy's eye, God loved you. When that Sperm hit that egg. You were already loved of God.
And God began to form you in your mother's womb and watched
over you. Should have been dead a long
time ago, most of you, most of us, sleeping in our grave. But God's eye who is on the sparrow
and he watches over me. That's the truth of scripture. Paul says, now you Galatians,
you've left the gospel. And I'm amazed, I'm appalled
that you've turned to another gospel, which is not another
gospel, for there is no other gospel. There's only one gospel. And though we are an angel from
heaven come preaching any other gospel unto you, let him go to
hell, let him be accursed. That's what Paul said. Having
begun in the spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh? Oh, the grace message, that it's
God that puts you in the way, it's God that leads you along
the way, and it's God that takes you all the way. It's God's grace. Paul said, now but after that
you have known God, or let me correct myself, you're known
of God. Just think about that. Not your
love for God, but God's love for you. Here's where the church
of today is missing it. You're not going to hear the
message I'm preaching today in most churches. You're not. That's
no glory to me. I'm just giving God all the glory.
God gave me $30,000 in Big Boy, gave us $30,000 in Big Boy. To God be the glory. God put
an air conditioner on the roof. It's all paid for, $17,000. To
God be the glory. That's what I, it really does
work, and it'll work in your life in a practical way. I want
to use, I want to just try it one more time to fill that empty
place. I just want to get high one more
time. My friend, there is no high like
the most high, and there is no message like the message of God's
amazing grace. Let that fill your heart. I heard
someone recently say, and I've heard this all my life, I don't
know who the hell I am. That's what they said. And I
thought to myself, right on, bro. Neither do I. People often say, and often are
heard saying something like this. If I know my heart, I want to
tell you, my friend, you don't. The heart is desperately wicked. Desperately wicked. I heard somebody
got all upset because they heard a preacher say something about,
used the word hell in a slang manner. Oh, you self-righteous Pharisees.
You think yourself so good. You don't know the depth of your
depravity. You are snakes. You are liars. You are a dirty cup from the
inside. You are a whited supplicant. It's only when you come to yourself
to see yourself wicked, a sinner, degenerate, in desperate need
of a mighty Savior. When I'm asking the question,
who am I? Here now, almost 74 years of
age, I always follow with this, I'm yours. And you chose me. You're stuck with me. I'm counting on this. God knows
me better than I know him. Oh, you say, well, pastor, That's
not very flattering to yourself. I'm not trying to flatter myself.
I'm trying to be honest with us sinners. I want to know Him. I want to
be found in Him, not having my own righteousness. I want to
know more of Him. I want to be filled with the
fullness of God. I'm counting on this, God knows
me better than I know myself. One of the old Puritans said,
and I had to think about this this week for a while, God doesn't
know what it's like to be me, for he knows me better than I
know myself. You just think about that a little.
Just let that sink in a little bit. Because you and I are so stupid.
And we're such liars. You ever lie to yourself? Yes,
you do. You act like you're better than you are. You never go around
confessing what really goes on. How wicked in the depths of the
thoughts that you have. I know this, and I'm going to
hang on to this. He's closer to me than myself. He's closer to me than myself. I am so glad and rejoiced today
that salvation is not of works, that salvation is not in my hands. I know less than ever about myself
and am no longer attaching any importance to it. I've had my
head stuck in my belly button for many, many years in religion,
looking in there, just desperately scratching like a dog trying
to dig up a bone, looking for something, something good, something
to make me feel good, something to recommend, like some of you. How addicted we all are in here. And now some of us place great
emphasis on, you know, he's heroin addicted, she's addicted to crack. Oh, how wicked is the world.
You don't have to look far to find wickedness. That's why the songwriter wrote,
Search me, O God, and try my heart today, and see if there
be any wicked way in me. Oh, there is. There really is. You see, deeper than knowing
God is being known by God. What defines us as Christians
is most profoundly that God knows us, not that we know Him. Be careful about, it's all right
to sing, oh, I love Jesus, when you really sense that, but always,
always close it this way, because he first loved me. I'm known
of God. Really, when we talk about knowing
God, we're really talking about election, we really are. I know
I said that earlier, I wanna get back to that. Let's all remember,
if anyone loves God, he's known by God. Sometimes people say to me, you
know, so-and-so was visiting your church, and they said, you
believe in election? That God actually chose whom
he would. Somebody told me, Pastor, that
you place all the emphasis on God. I love to hear that, that
some of you told on me. That over at Grace Gospel Fellowship,
you go over there, you're going to hear about a God who chose
the chief of sinners. That God laid his affection upon
folks who are nobodies. You see, loving God is not a
loveless knowledge, but the sign of being among the elect. The
reason you love God is because God elected you. Oh, it's getting
quiet in here. Oh, you religious folks are getting
real quiet today. Well, I don't believe election.
You know, old brother so-and-so told me it was hatched in hell.
No, election took place in the eternal counsel of God, in the
mind of God, hallelujah, in the purpose of God, in the sovereignty
of God, by the grace of God. He's reminding us that everything
we have is owing to God's free and sovereign initiative. You
didn't take the initiative. You see, when the election took
place, you were not a registered voter. So it was not your will. It is not your church. It is
not your works. Just think about it. There's
so many in here today that ought to have both their hands up.
When life wasn't worth living, when you could and even tried
to kill yourself, when you were using to the max and you couldn't
get any satisfaction and life was going the wrong way, and
God showed up and God found you. Oh, what a comfort it is in our
heartache that God has known us in the dark nights of the
soul, and that He has loved us before the foundation of the
world. What matters supremely is not the fact that I know God,
but the larger fact which underlines it, the fact that He knows me. And I mean He knows me. Brian
Rosner calls being known by God the Cinderella of theology. We
bring nothing to the table with God. We have no pedigree that would
attract him to us. We have no earthly reason he
should look at us, but he does. Deuteronomy 7 says this, for
thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God, the Lord thy God
hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all
people that are upon the face of the earth, let alone nobody
you. Little old insignificant alley
rat. Down in Lodibar. Down in the
hog pen of life. Eating the husks. Spent your
life in riotous living. And you know, some of you God
found in prison. Some of you found the Lord in
prison. No, that's where he found you. That's where he found you. The Lord did not set his love
upon you nor choose you because you were more in number than
any people, for you were the fewest of all people, but because
the Lord loved you. Why on earth would the Lord love
somebody like you and me? I can't figure that out. I have
to say, well, he's sovereign. He does as he pleases. It was,
see, sovereign grace. He sovereignly chose you. Well,
that's not fair. Hey, hey, we're not talking about
being fair. We're not talking about being
fair. We're talking about the grace of God. Amen. Say it louder. Amen. We're talking
about the grace of God. We're talking about unmerited
favor. Yeah. 1 Corinthians 1, 27, but God has
chosen the foolish ones of the world. Bunch of fools God has
chosen. How foolish. Can you say to that? Yeah, I was one of those. I'm
a fool. You know, I really believe. You know, it's insanity doing
the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
You know, if I can just get drunk one more time, it'll make things
better. If I can shoot up just one more
time, everything's gonna be okay, fool. God's loved the foolish ones.
And you know what? I know this. I'm very conscious
of this. I think it's the Spirit of God
making me conscious. Someone who is black as all hell
here today in sin, your life is such a mess. Somehow or another,
as I'm preaching, your heart is jumping with joy. There really
is a possibility that God could love somebody like me. I thought
I was here by accident. I may be here on purpose. It
may be God's purpose that I'm here. God has chosen the foolish
ones of the world to confound the wise. All those good people
look out here and go, ha. All those addicts over there.
All those nobodies over there. I got that hillbilly preacher
from Kentucky. He screams and yells, their services
are not dignified. You never know what's gonna happen
over there. You just never know. And that part is true. God has chosen the weak ones
of the world to confound the things which are mighty. Why
would God choose somebody who was in the depth of depression
most of their life? They were depressed by the time
they were 10 years old, and now they're 60 and still depressed. But God has chosen one of those
folks, or maybe many of those folks. And then in the Corinthian
letter, it even gets more amazing. The base ones of the world, God
has chosen. Those that are despised, God
has chosen. Yes, and even the ones which
are not. Even the ones that are so insignificant
in the eyes of other people, it's as if they didn't even exist. God has chosen them. Isn't that
something? For what purpose? That no flesh
should glory in His presence. That no flesh. Back in Spurgeon's days, they
called people who were a little mentally ill, halfwits. Not a
very flattering name. But Spurgeon says that John the
halfwit confessed faith in Christ. And back in those days when you
confessed faith in Christ, they had you go in the pastoral room
in the back after service, and you would give a reason for that
confession of faith in Christ. You would give your testimony.
And John stood up when the elders asked him to give his testimony.
He said, I am a half-wit and nothing at all, but Jesus Christ
is my all in all. Hallelujah! That's good enough
for me. Amen. So all of you halfwits,
come to Christ today just as you are without one plea. I know
him because he first knew me and continues to know me. I am
a friend of God. There was some lady here years
ago that came up to me and said, you know, the men of grace and
your congregation sings every once in a while, I am a friend
of God. I just want you to know I don't believe that. Well, it
matters not whether you believe it or not, I am a friend of God.
God is my friend. He loves me. And there is no
moment when his eyes are off me. Get that way deep down inside.
His eyes are never off you, little child of God. He's never distracted
from me. There is no moment when His care
ever falters. He's with you and will never
forsake you. He knows you and knows when you
are going through your darkest trial. Isn't that something?
He is keenly aware of your feelings of depression, You mean God knows
when I, yes. God knows more about depression
than you know, not because he's depressed, but because he's God. He knows all about your depression.
That depression often rages in your heart. Let me tell you a
little depressed child of God. He will never leave you. He knows
you. He loves you. He's got a plan
and purpose for you. I was thinking about Diane. Is Diane here today? Diane, he
knows. You tell her I said this. She's
watching. Diane, I thought of you in my study. Each of your
chemotherapy appointments, God knows. God is there when you're so sick
you wish you weren't alive. God is there. He knows when you're
weeping over a lost loved one, think about that, God is there. You know, I was thinking about
the three lowest points in the history of Israel, the slavery
in Egypt, the wilderness wanderings and the exile. And in all three
of those cases, what God said to Israel at their lowest point,
You are my people. I know you and love you. And
my presence will go with you. Ah, when you're in slavery to
crack or heroin or whatever drug you're addicted to, it doesn't
mean that you're on your way to hell. You may have a hell
of a life. You will. He's with you there. When you're setting up to the
bar, singing 99 bottles of beer on the wall, rather than, oh,
how I love Jesus in the choir loft, God still loves you. I know some of you are sitting
here going like that. That is total blasphemy what
you just said. You're going to encourage this
whole crowd to go out and use if you keep preaching like that.
No, there's something stronger than crack and heroin and addiction. It's the love of God. It's the
power of God. God's way of encouraging his
people is letting them know He hasn't forgot them. Have you
really messed up this week? Have you relapsed? Have you? Of course you have. I want you to know God hasn't
forsaken you. God was with you all through
that. That's why you're not dead. That's why you're not at Motel
6 lying in your bed, dead. So a pastor, I just don't get
it. I don't either. Love so amazing,
so divine, I do know this, demands my soul, my life, my all, the
love of God. The love of God. The foundation of God stand assure
having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his. Isn't that
something? I thought of the old hymn. How
firm a foundation. Let me read the words to you.
How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your
faith in His excellent Word. What more can he say than to
you he hath said, to you who for refuge to Jesus have fled? Fear not, I am with you, O be
not dismayed, for I am your God and will still give you aid.
I'll strengthen you, help you, and cause you to stand, upheld
by my righteous, omnipotent hand. When through the deep waters
I call you to go, the rivers of sorrow shall not overflow,
for I will be with you, your troubles to bless and sanctify
to your deepest distress. When through fiery trials your
pathway shall lie, my grace all-sufficient shall be your supply. The flame
shall not hurt you. I only design your dross to consume
and your gold to refine, even down to old age." Oh, I like
this part. Even down to old age, all my
people shall prove my sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love. And when hoary hares," that's
gray hares, "...shall their temples adorn, like lambs they shall
still in my bosom be born." The soul that on Jesus has leaned
for repose, I will not, I will not desert to his foe. That soul,
though all hell should endeavor to shake, I'll never, no never,
no never forsake. The Lord knoweth them that are
his. His eye is on you today. I don't know how depressed you
are. I don't know what's going on this week. I don't know how
messed up your week has been, but I know this, I am the good
shepherd and know my sheep. I know my sheep and I'm known
of mine. My sheep, hear my voice. Here, sheepy, sheepy, sheepy.
Can you hear the Savior calling you today? Say, Pastor, it can't
be me. You don't know what I've done
this week. I've wallowed in the staples of sin. I came in here
black and dirty as all hell. Yeah, I know. But there is a
Savior whose blood will wash you white as snow. There is no
condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus because Jesus
paid it all. All the debt you owe, you don't
have any debt. Oh, I know, I know. Many of you
attend churches or have attended churches where the great motive
of the preacher was to make you feel guilty. Some of you guys
this week in talking to you have said something like this, well,
what's my punishment? Oh, I'm not here to punish people.
I'm not here to bully people. I'm trying to preach the gospel,
keep you and me and all the rest of us alive and looking to God
and giving him glory. That's my purpose here. Sorry,
well, you know, I dropped dirty. You know why we have people drop
over, Grace? Because we're not just trying
to catch you. We're trying to keep you alive. That's the whole
purpose. This place is not about punishing
drug addicts. This place is about no-good-for-nothing
sorry rascals coming to Christ just as they are without one
plea, but that His blood was shed for me. O Lamb of God, I
come, I come. I know He's talking to somebody.
He's talking to somebody. You must be very special, my
friend. He must have chose you from the foundation of the world.
You say, well, what are you talking about? I feel like dirt. That's
because you are. That's because you are. But there is a fountain filled
with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunge beneath
that flood, lose all their guilty stains. I want to ask you. I know you're scared of public
display. I just wonder if there's someone
here. Definitely the Spirit of God is here. Say, well, how do
you know? Because I'm not blabbering. I'm
preaching the gospel with joy in my heart and a thrill in my
soul. I know He's here. And if He's
here, He's here on purpose. He's the hound of heaven. He's
sniffing you out. He's about to retrieve somebody. He's about to bring you to the
Father. You, the Mephibosheth, the dead
dog, bloated and ugly, nothing lovable about you. But God, the
Holy Spirit has said, God has said to the Holy Spirit, fetch
him out of Lodibar. You don't want to sit too close
when I'm excited because I spit a lot. I'm excited. You'd think I was at a Lions
game and the Lions were winning. I mean, I'm excited. I'm excited. I'm excited about God's grace.
I'm excited about God's mercy. I'm excited about the hope that
is in Jesus Christ for you who have reached the end of your
road. Well, I never thought I'd end
up. Well, you should have. because you had all the potential. You've been going to all those
churches that talk about getting better. Come on over here and
we'll tell you, you don't get better. God in his power and
in sovereign grace comes to the graveyard where you're dead in
sins and trespasses and quickens you, regenerates you and gives
you life. I believe he's done that for
somebody. I close with this. There was a woman who had an
issue of blood. She'd tried all the doctors. Have you tried the
Catholics, and the Baptists, and the Presbyterians, and the
Episcopals, and the Lutherans, and the Church of God, and the
Church of God in Christ, and the First Church of God, and
the Last Church of God, and the medium Pentecostals? You've tried
all the doctors, and you're none the better. You've been to church
all your life. You've had that same doctor all
your life, and you're none the better. In fact, you've ended
up over in the inner city church. God's eye was on you all the
time, bringing you nearer and nearer to where you'd hear the
gospel. The Holy Spirit has found you today. I never heard any
message like that all my life. I've never heard anything like
that. In fact, I'm very uncomfortable. You know, I'm not even sure I'm
in church. I'm about halfway excited. I
feel like I maybe ought to stand up and shout or something. I
don't know exactly what's happening to me. Well, it's a God happening. How exciting it is. The Lord's
here and bringing you to himself with everybody seated, no singing. I love to test the Spirit of
God. You're a big sinner. But today, right here in the
house of God, those of you in the balconies, but today, something's
happened. You can't even figure it out.
You don't know Genesis from Revolutions. You don't have a passage of scripture
memorized. And even maybe this might be
your very first time in church. And the first time you walked
in, And God brought you in here. He quickened you and gave you
life. And you see the message that Christ is a perfect Savior
for poor sinners. And you're trusting Him today.
I mean, there's a power working in you. Anybody want to just
come forward and confess Christ? Say, well, Pastor, what if nobody
comes forward? I'm going to go home happy. You're
not going to take my joy away from me? I'm gonna get in that Jeep and
go to dinner. And I'm gonna go to the dinner
praising God. And I'm gonna thank Him for being
here today. And for taking somebody like me and giving me the opportunity
to blow the trumpet in Zion. To sound out the message of His
grace to sinners. Anybody? All right, you took
too long. Let's stand and praise our God.