1 John chapter 3 and verse number
3. Look at that verse with me a
little bit here this evening. And every man that hath this
hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure. Now the believer or the Christian
is a person of much present enjoyment. If that's not so, it's our own
fault. Because the verse of Scripture
that precedes this verse says, Now are we the sons of God. Now are we the sons of God. So
being the sons of God or God's children, we can't be altogether
unhappy. Now we might be unhappy to a
degree. We might have seasons of despair
and despondency and in-the-valley experiences, but we can't be
altogether unhappy being God's children and what's involved
in being God's children. Now are we the sons of God. Well, the believer's joy and the cause
and reason for a believer's joy I think is sometimes overlooked
or we're mistaken as to where our true joy lies. And I want
to point that out to you tonight by saying that the believer's
joy right now is not so much in what he has, but what he shall have. That's where the believer's joy
is. Not in the present so much as in the future. I say in the
present we have this relationship to God. Now are we the sons of
God. That's what it says about a believer.
I'm not talking about everybody. I'm not talking about everybody.
I'm talking about believers. I'm talking about men and women
and boys and girls that have been laid low by the Spirit of
the living God. been really laid low and it's
been pointed out to them by the finger of God what they are,
what their condition is, what their state is before Him. Now
that's the folks I'm talking about, believers. Believers who
have experienced the stabbing of the Spirit of God in their
hearts. The greatest mercy that could be shown any one of us
or all of us this evening is that the Spirit of the Living
God would come this evening and lay emphasis upon the Word of
God, set his seal upon the testimony of the Word of God, and affirm
what we are trying to say by stabbing us into the heart till
we'd scream, My God, what must I do to be saved? That'd be the
greatest mercy God'd show us. He'd stab us. He'd stab us in
the hearts until our hearts would bleed. And we'd do business with
God. That'd be the greatest mercy
God could show us. If the Spirit of God does not
show us this or teach us these things, Is this all vain, our
meeting together? It'll be unprofitable. It'll
be nothing of any everlasting value come from it. I'm sure
of that. I'm sure that our problem is
not only here but in every other place in so-called organized
religion. We've tried everything under
God's heaven and we've come to the end of the rope. And unless
the presence of the living Lord comes where we are and presses
the claims of God and the claims of Jesus Christ to our hearts,
nothing will ever take place. There'll be no change in us.
There's very little change in any of us. We talk about being
born again and regeneration and quickened, and we talk about
having new life and new desires and new aims, but if the truth
was told about all of us, there's very little change in any of
us. I wouldn't want that to get out on us, but that's about the
sum and substance of the whole matter. Not too much change in
us. It ought to be. What I'm talking
about is, I'm talking to believers. I'm talking to those that believes
in the Lord Jesus Christ. To the saving of their souls.
I'm talking about those that we talked about this morning.
Those that love Him. Those that love Him. In their
hearts they love Him. They love the Lord Jesus Christ. willing to forego and postpone
and deny of themselves any pleasure that would interfere or anything
that would interfere with their enjoyment and their testimony
of God Almighty. I'm saying, brethren, the believer's
joy is not so much in what he has now. Although he has this
relationship with God, now we are the sons of God. Now, right
now, man weakest believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, if he
by faith is enabled to repent and to trust in God's Son, he
can stand on his hind feet and say, now I am the Son of God! I am now presently. It doesn't
look like it, but I am by faith in God's Son. Not so much in
what I have as to what I shall have." Listen, there's going
to be a day come when the sun will never set. There's going
to be a day come we're kind of in the realm of darkness now,
living on the edge of darkness. One day we're going to be delivered
from this darkness and we're going to see. We're going to
see clearly and we're going to see plainly. We're going to know
as it is known. And we're going to be delivered
from this shade of darkness into perfect light, that day when
the sun will never set. So if you're downcast now about
the present, and in despair about the present, and things haven't
worked out like maybe you think they ought to, I don't know what
we think. I don't know what we expect in the Christian life. I really don't. I don't know
what to expect. We're dissatisfied with anything.
We're dissatisfied with everything. We're never content with anything.
We've always got problems, always got troubles. We can't see beyond
our troubles for some reason or the other. If our eyes could
be just opened, my soul, and see that now I'm a son of God. If I could see that clearer,
clearer, and have an absolute confidence in it, brother, I
wouldn't be wallowing around in my grief and sorrow and sympathy,
looking for sympathy and help all the time. I don't believe
I would if I could just get my eyes open right now. You remember this. If you've
got some trouble, You've got some trouble. You're downcast
about the present. Things happening now. Will you
just remember and refresh your soul with this? With what, preacher? With thoughts of the future. Thoughts of the future. You're
not going to be here very long. Most everybody here, you've lived
half of your life. Half of it's gone. And some of
us, three quarters of it is gone. That's a fact. If you're 60 years
old, if you're 60 right now, and in reasonable good health,
you might have, humanly speaking, 12 or 14 more years, give or
take. It's about gone. Life's light
has about gone. It's fading. The clock is about
five minutes to twelve, approaching the midnight hour. Need some
relief? Need some help? Need to be encouraged? Kind of dwell on the future a
little bit. That will encourage you. Let me talk to you this
evening about the believer's hope. What is the believer's
hope? This will surprise you what the
believer's hope is. A believer has a hope peculiar
to himself, that is, for its object. Now, it is the hope. This is what the believer's hope
is, and it's peculiar to himself because the believer's hope,
this is what the believer's hope is. This is what this verse of
Scripture tells us, that this is the believer's hope. The believer's
hope is to be like Christ. That's what the believer's hope
is. You want a good hope? Your good hope is in Christ to
be like Christ. And every man that has this hope
in him, now read the second verse. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God, and it doth not yet appear, that is, it's not made fully
known what we shall be. But we know that when He, that's
the Lord Jesus, shall appear, that's our hope right there,
when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see
Him as He is. And every man that hath this
hope in Christ That's the believer's hope. The believer's hope is
being like the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, we'll see him as he is. Now, most of our generation would
hope, from what I hear and read, most of our generation would
hope to pass through the pearly gates This is their hope. Their
hope to pass through the pearly gates and to walk upon golden
streets. I hear them on the television,
on the radio, every once in a while, and they preach about heaven.
They preach about, oh, how wonderful heaven is. Oh, when we go through
the pearly gates and walk the golden streets and look at the
glassy sea and all of these things, how wonderful that's going to
be. Well, those things are true, but they're lower joys, lower
joys. The apostle never had anything
to say about that. He talked about, he said, it'll
be my joy in the time of my graduation. He said, when I die and go to
be where Christ is. He understood that when he died,
or if the Lord Jesus Christ come back before he died, and his
eyes, the eyes of this believer, ever laid hold of the Son of
God, his looking upon the Lord Jesus Christ would transform
him into being like Jesus Christ. That's what it says. It doth
not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he
shall appear, when the Lord Jesus Christ shall appear, either in
his second coming or when we die and see him face to face,
we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Most people of our generation,
all they got to talk about is these, the harps, Talk about
the harps, I never heard one of them. Matter of fact, I never
seen a harp, but everybody seems to associate harps with heaven.
They want to listen to the harpers harping with their harp. They want to talk about standing
upon the sea of glass. They want to be forever free
from sorrow, from toil, and from pain. I say all these things
are true, but they are lower joys of heaven. The heaven that
a believer seeks after is a spiritual heaven. It's the heaven of being
like the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the hope. It says that
every man that has this hope in him, the hope of being like
the Lord Jesus, purifies himself. It's the heaven of being like
the Savior. If I have this, If I ever have
this, if I'm ever like the Lord Jesus Christ, that is, pure and
perfect, have a pure character, then I'll have these other things.
See, if I'm ever like the Savior, the Son of God, pure and perfect,
I'll have these other lesser joys. I'll be free from sorrow,
toil, and pain. And I'll certainly be free from
sin if I'm like the Lord Jesus Christ, because He never had
any. See? I'll have the lesser joys, but
we ought to raise our sights a little bit and quit looking
for the lower joys and dwell upon the higher joys of being
like the Lord Jesus. Every man that has this hope,
this hope in him, Our hope then is what? Our hope then is that we shall
be like Him and we shall see Him as He is. That's our hope. Our hope's in Christ. What's
the basis of our hope? What's the reason for this hope
that I'm talking about? Is it something in me? Not according
to the context. Look at verse number one. and
you will see the ground of our hope, that we expect to be like
the Lord Jesus Christ, you will find out that it is not because
of anything in us by nature or by any effort that we ourselves
make. It says, Behold, what manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us. This is the ground or
the reason for our hope. Divine love. Divine love. Not anything in myself. It's
not something that I decided to do one day. I decided to do
something because God first decided to do something. It wasn't because
I decided. It was because He decided. My decision was based upon His
decision. I love him because he first loved
me. Behold what manner of love. Oh,
he said, this is beyond me. What manner of love that God,
wonderful God Almighty, hath bestowed upon us, hath given
to us, hath placed upon us, that we should be called the sons
of God. That's divine love. That's the basis. Well, you might
be able to say this, and I believe you could, that the basis of
all of our hope Lies all together in Him. That's the basis. That's
the reason. That's the why. That's the ground. It says that every man that has
this hope in Him purifies himself. What does that mean? Well, all
true hope is hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. If your hope this
evening or if my hope this evening is in myself, that's a vain hope
and that's a lie. If my hope this evening is in
an earthly priest, that hope is a lie. If my hope this evening
is in a church, if my hope this evening is in a doctrine, if
my hope this evening is in anything apart from the Lord Jesus Christ,
it's a lie. It's a vain hope. It's a hope,
brethren, that will not hold me up in the day of death or
the day of judgment. won't hold me. I'll sink underneath
it. That hope's a lie. And if I have
a hope that stands this evening with one foot on the Lord Jesus
Christ and the other foot upon my merit, my good works, or my
resolutions, or my intentions, that's also a lie. That'll not
cut to mustard, that hope will fail me. The only hope then which
can be acceptable to God, the only hope which will bear up
the stress of my weight, or stand the test in my dying hour, or
stand the test of judgment, is hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to me now, our hope begins
in Christ, and our hope ends in Christ. And that's the God's
truth, so help me God. It begins in Him and it ends
in Him. What does this hope do? What
does this hope do? It says that this hope, it doesn't
puff a man up. If a man has the hope that I'm
talking about, this hope in Christ, this hope of being perfect like
the Lord Jesus Christ, It doesn't puff him up. It won't
puff him up. It won't cause him to brag. Some
say, though, if I had a hope, a sure hope, if I had a full
assurance tonight of going to heaven when I die, a confident
expectation of heaven, I believe I'd feel like I was somebody.
Well, very likely you would. But then you don't possess such
a hope. that the Bible is speaking of,
and God does not intend to give it to you while you are in that
present condition. You see, when the Lord God makes
a man, woman, boy or girl, a huge child, as I told you at the outset,
He lays him low. He brings him low. He probably
stags his heart till the blood runs. He makes him aware of who
he is, and he strips from in every shred of his own righteousness
and lays him open stark naked before God with not one leaf
of righteousness to commend himself to God. He lays him low. He breaks him. He strips him.
He brings him down into the dust. He puts him down there and he
sees himself as a hopeless, helpless, doomed, damned sinner unless
God comes to the rescue. You've heard about that verse
of scripture that says that we were snatched talking about Joshua It doesn't say that the brand
was laying out on a heap of rubbish, awaiting its turn for the fire,
but it says it was snatched as a brand from the burning. And
every believer, every believer is one that was snatched as a
brand from the burning. Oh no! You see, while a man is
in this present condition of rebellion against God, God will
never give him any assurance or confidence, none whatsoever. But when the Lord makes one His
child, He lays him low. You see, the expectation of glory,
the expectation of heaven, the expectation of absolute perfection
never, never, never exalts a man. Won't do it. Won't do it. Any time, any time that you hear
a man who says, I am secure of heaven and I am proud of it,
you take my word for it, that man is secure for hell, not heaven. Because the expectation of heaven
and the expectation of absolute perfection never puffs up or
exalts a man. It doesn't do it. It doesn't
do it. I know that, men, I know that
folks say that when I preach these things and it gets around
to some people who are a little bit religious and they know a
few verses of Scripture. They always say, well, if I believed
that, I'd do this and that and so forth. Well, I'm telling you,
on the Word of God, take my word for it, or study it yourself,
and most of you have, that the expectation of heaven, the assurance
of heaven, the expectation of absolute perfection, the hope
of being like the Lord Jesus Christ will never exalt a man
for him to stand up on his hind legs and say, I'm proud of what
I am. Don't puff him up. Don't puff
him up. It will strip him. It will bring
him down. Bring him down into the dust
from where he belongs. A man, you see, who has this
hope of perfection in himself will find that it does not give
license to sin. What will it do? This hope of
absolute perfection. And that's what I'm talking about.
That's the believer's hope. It's in Christ, and the hope
is to be like Christ, and to be like Christ is to be absolutely
perfect. It purifies him. This hope purifies
him. That's what it says. It says,
and every man that hath this hope in him purifies himself,
even as the Lord Jesus Christ is pure. So it takes the, it
operates just the opposite than what Carnal men say it will. Carnal men say that it will cause
a man to be puffed up and be proud. But no, it won't do that. It will purify a man. It won't
give him a license to sin. Someone said, well, if I had
a good hope like you say, I'd live like I want to. Well, probably
you would. Probably you would. But then
you don't have that hope. And God's not going to give you
that hope while you're in that state. You see, if a Christian,
if a Christian could live, if a believer could live as he liked
to live, if that question was asked you tonight by someone
that maybe didn't was a stranger to religion, stranger to biblical
truths, just an outright heathen. And someone told him that you
was a Christian, and he come to him and he said, Now, if you
could live as you like to live, how would you live? What would
you tell him? What would you tell him? Well, I believe I could
give you the answer. I believe that I'd say, if I
could live like I would like to live being a Christian, I'd
live absolutely without sin. I'd live absolutely, I'd never
do anything contrary to the perfect will and conformity of the man
of God to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. Be perfect! I'd be just like Jesus Christ
if I could live like I wanted to live. If a Christian could live as
he liked to live, he'd live absolutely without sin. You say, well, that
would lead to, if a man believed that, well, it would lead to
this. No, it wouldn't. Gratitude does not give license
to sin, but gratitude purifies, and gratitude leads to holiness. That's where it leads. any man
who feels that God saved him. And he can say in his heart,
I am on my way to being made like the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm on the way. I haven't arrived
yet, but I'm on the way. I am now my son of God right
now, and where are you going? What's your objective? My objective
is I'm going to be like Jesus Christ. I'm going to be just
as perfect and free from defilement as the Lord Jesus Christ is.
God save me. A man that can say that from
his heart, he'll say this to his Heavenly Father. He'll say,
Father, you've done all this. How can I show forth my gratitude
to you? What can I do to display that
men might see and you might accept? Praise unto your name. What can I do? Well, you know,
a man must be a beast of the feet. He must have a beastly
nature. He must be like a brute. to be able to say, well, I'll
continue in my rebellion and my sin against God. A man whom
God has snatched as a brand from the burning, and he would say,
what I'll do is I'll continue in my and acts of ingratitude. I'll continue to take God's name
in vain. I'll continue to live as a wild
man. I'll continue to be a rebel against
God. He must be a brute. I'll go farther
than that. He must be a devil. I'll go farther
than that. He must be 70,000 devils rolled
into one devil to make a statement like that or to even think it.
seeing that God did everything for me. Oh, Lord, how can I show
forth my gratitude to you for what you've done for me, for
what you are to me? Oh, for all of the promises that
belong to me in Christ Jesus. What can I do? What can I do?
Oh no, it doesn't lead to sin and rebellion. It purifies every
man that has this hope in him. The hope of being absolutely
perfect purifies him. That's what it does. This gratitude leads to what?
It leads to a holy life. It doesn't lead to a license
to sin. Say, well, if I'm saved by the
grace of God and I'm sure of heaven, then I'll just go out
there and commit adultery, and I'll just go out there and steal,
and I'll go out there and cheat, and I'll just be a drunkard,
and I'll just do this. No, no, no. The man that says
that I'll do this, brother, he's never been there. He's never
drank at the fountain yet. You can just mark it down. Mark
it down for how religious he is. Just check him off. He's never been to the fountain
yet because the scripture says that a man whose hope is in Christ
and whose hope is to be like Christ, this hope, this hope
purifies him. Purifies him. Even as he is pure. Listen. That's what it does. It leads, it leads, this gratitude
leads to what? It leads to a holy life. It doesn't
lead to a license to sin. Say, well, if I'm saved by the
grace of God and I'm sure of heaven, then I'll just, I'll
go out there and commit adultery and I'll just go out there and
steal and I'll go out there and cheat and I'll just be a drunkard
and I'll just do this. No, no, no. The man that says
that I'll do this, brother, he's never been there. He's never
drank at the fountain yet. You can just mark it down. Mark
it down, care how religious he is. Just check him off. He's never been to the fountain
yet because the scripture says that a man whose hope is in Christ
and whose hope is to be like Christ, this hope, this hope
purifies him. Purifies him. Even as he is pure. Listen. It will not lead to sin and rebellion,
but it'll lead to a holy life. It'll lead to a life of worship.
It'll lead to a life of service. It'll lead to a life of gentleness,
of meekness, of long-suffering. It'll lead to a life of loving
the Savior, loving the brethren, and bowing to the will of God.
That's what it'll lead to. Oh, listen, if you expect to
be like Christ, And if I expect to be like Christ here tonight,
well, it looks like I'd try to be like Christ right now. It
looks like I'd try to move in that direction. Huh? Don't you
think? Well, it says here the indication
is that this individual purifies himself. How's that? Well, he purges himself. from knowing evil. Knowing evil,
he purges himself of it. For instance, by way of illustration,
here's a fellow that God has brought him low, revealed unto
him the Lord Jesus as his Savior and his only hope. And this fellow,
out of gratitude, he says, Lord, what must I do or what can I
do to show forth my gratitude? Listen, the first thing he does,
he purges himself of his evil company. That's the first thing
he does. He says, well, I can't run with
that crowd no more. I can't run with that crowd no
more. I'll go to that crowd and I'll
tell them that I'm on my way to being perfect. Boy, that'll
be hard to do because they'll laugh at me. They'll laugh at
me and they'll say, well, he's got religion. I remember one
time I made a confession of faith. I like to play baseball. I like
to play baseball on Sunday. I like to play on Sunday. I didn't
care much about Tuesday or Wednesday. I liked to play on Sunday. I'd
be out there on Sunday afternoon and I liked to play baseball.
Play all day. Go here and go there. Well, I
made a profession of faith and I don't know where the conviction
come from, but I was made to see in my own heart that I felt
guilty about it. I thought maybe I ought to be
doing this. I ought to be doing this. Going to church on Sunday
morning and eating my dinner real quick and running down and
waiting on a fellow to pick me up and go play baseball. Maybe
I ought to do that. Maybe it's a bad, bad witness
or testimony. I don't know. But anyhow, I don't
know what brought it about, but anyhow, I said I won't do it
no more. Probably self-righteousness on
my part. Probably that's the thing, more or less, that prompted
me to do it was my own self-righteousness. But nevertheless, regardless
of the reason, I remember seeing a fellow who I was real close
to, and all, and the fellow that helped me and everything, and
I see him one day and he was about 50 yards away from me and
I was in a crowd of people and he hollered at me with a loud
voice. He said, someone said you've got religion. Oh, I wonder. How many of you got religion?
I want to hide. Oh, my soul, the first thing
I believe a fellow does when he sees these things and God
opens his eyes, oh, to the mercy of God and the love of God in
Christ Jesus, that Christ Jesus, oh, that God poured out His wrath
upon Christ and all my sins was laid upon Him. Oh, I was talking
to a fella here the other day, just recently. Here's what he
said. He talked about rebels. He said
he worked in a funeral home. And he said that he just got
home, said about midnight when he got home, and he said the
funeral director called him, said, funeral director's wife
said, come on down, said we got an awful mess down here, come
on down and help us. Said he went down. And he got the thing
straightened out and said the next day about 10 o'clock, all
of them gathered in to the funeral parlor and he said, a fella got
killed, a motorcycle, a motorcycle. I remember one of these motorcycle
gangs, he told me what the name of it was, and he got killed. And he said, there are all these
motorcycles, all of his buddies, there they was standing around.
He said the leader of the gang, they called him Peg Leg. He said
he had, he had one, he had a, on one foot he had a big ol'
army shoe, and on the other foot he had a sandal. And he had rings
in his ears. And he said, the stench, he said
those fellas stunk. Men and women alike said they
stunk. Said the undertaker's wife come around and says, what's
that awful smell? He said, them fellas. And he
said to look down in the casket, the fellow that we'd embalmed,
and he said, I have a t-shirt on. And on the front of his t-shirt
it said, the meanest S.O.B. in the United States of America. Right on his t-shirt. The meanest
son of a bitch in the United States of America. Right on his
t-shirt. That fellow said, there I was.
He said, right here we are. And he said that fellow who said
he was the meanest S.O.B. in America was going out to do
battle with God. Went out to do battle with God! But I'm telling you here tonight,
every man that God has laid low and revealed unto him the Lord
Jesus, and he's seen the love of God in Christ, and God poured
out His wrath upon Christ for his sins, he's just like that
motorcycle man. His attitude of rebellion, he
just liked it, no difference. Just a little more sophisticated
and refined, that's all it is. God has put his hand on him,
just kind of kept it down. It's there! That rebellion is
in the heart of every man! And if God would not suppress
that rebellion, Pat McGinnis, he'd be hurting you the same
way as it was that fellow. God suppressed it. It didn't come because of background,
education, anything like that. Oh, I'll tell you a fellow who
sees this, sees who he is, sees where he's been. See, God showed
mercy and stabbed his heart and made Jesus Christ his sin buyer. Christ bore his sins off. He'll
never have to face them again. I'll tell you, he's going to
have to purge himself. He's going to purify himself.
And the first thing he's going to have to do is purge himself
of his evil companions. And that's not going to be easy.
Because they're going to say, well, listen, you've got religion.
And you're going to have to tell them. You're going to have to
tell them, the best you know how, that something happened
to you. You're going to have to tell them. Well, you can tell
them, say, listen, I'll run with you. I'll run with you. I'm on
the road to heaven. I'm going to be perfect, even
like the Lord Jesus Christ. If you'll be my companion and
fellow traveler, I'll be glad to have you. If you'll repent
of your sins and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, But if they
won't, you're going to have to say, I'm sorry I can't walk with
you. Sorry I can't walk with you no more. I love you. I've
got anything against you. My lifestyle has changed now.
It's changed. I just can't do that no more.
I just don't want to do it. I think it will bring reproach
upon the name of my Master and I can't run with you anymore.
That's what he's talking about when he says, this hope in him
purifies him for it. He purifies himself. Oh, what else does it mean? It
means this individual, by way of purification, he guards against
that sin that so easily besets him. He guards against it. I praise for a tender conscience. Lord, give me a tender conscience.
Oh, he says, if this sin that so easily besets me is a quick
temper, if I've got a quick temper and I grieve much over it, he
prays, Lord, subdue that evil temper. Subdue that quick temper. He prays, Lord, guard my tongue
lest I say bitter words and offend my brother or offend someone
for whom Christ died. Oh, Lord, help me. to think before
I speak, lest I hurt someone, lest I lay somebody low. Oh my soul, how do we do all
this? Well, how do we purify ourselves? Well, there's a million ways.
You know what it is. The scriptures tell us here.
We're to love one another. We're to esteem one another over
and above ourselves. We're to regard your state better
than my own state. We're to love and we're to be
gentle and we're to be kind and forgiving. We're to pray one
for another. And we're to tell the story that
Jesus Christ died for poor sinners. We're to bear testimony and give
witness that we have a hope. That hope's in Christ. And our
hope is being like the Lord Jesus Christ. We seek Him. We put Him
first. Well, I could say a lot of things
about this, but I won't do it. But I will mention that man who,
a fellow told me one time, I don't know whether the fellow was even
saved or not, I don't know. He didn't believe the truth,
I know that about him. But he is a deacon in a Baptist
church. I don't know whether he is a Christian or not. He
didn't believe the truth, didn't know the truth. Maybe he acted
upon what light that he had, I don't know. But I know he told
me this, I made a profession of faith in the Lord Jesus. And
I went home. And the next evening, when I
come from work, he made it a point to meet me as I came through
the field towards where I live. And he confronted me with this.
He said, Are you going to prayer meeting Wednesday night? And
I said, What? He said, Are you going to prayer
meeting on Wednesday night? And I said, No, I hadn't planned
on that. Oh, he said, You're making a terrible mistake. He
said, I want to tell you this. He said, don't know much about
it. Don't know much about it, but I know this. I want to give
you some advice. I want to tell you every time
the church door is open for the preaching of the Word, he said,
make a point to be there. Make a point to be there. And
I went home and I talked with my wife and I said, well, what
in the world? I said, I want to go to a prayer
meeting and I don't know how to pray. And I said, I'm sure
that when we get there, The first thing that fellow is going to
do is call on me to pray, and I don't know how to pray, and
I'll be embarrassed, and he'll be embarrassed, and I just don't
know what to do. Oh my soul, and I lived, I quaked,
I mean I sweat. And sure enough, when I went
to church that night, the preacher was there, and he said, would
you pray for us? I said, Lord, make a hole down
in this floor and I can crawl in through the basement and go
out by the furnace room so nobody can see me. But the point I'm trying to make
is this. I prayed. I still can't pray much. I couldn't pray anymore. But
the point I'm trying to make is that, brother, in this process
of purification, we've got to be faithful to where the Word
is preached. We've got to avail ourselves
to opportunities that God gives us for the preaching of the Word.
Who knows? We may go thirty years and never
miss a service. It may be the thirty-first year.
God may speak. He may speak. There's a blessing
that a man misses by not being faithful to the place where the
Word is preached. Thomas missed Thomas missed it. He wasn't there. Finally, the
Lord had to go where he was. Finally, he said, My Lord and
my God. Well, anyhow, you see what I'm
talking about? This hope. This hope of being
perfect like the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the believer's hope.