There are some things here I
want to call your attention to. Number one, the temple was not
built according to the designs of David or according to the
designs of Solomon or according to the designs of any other man. It was built according to a pattern. which God himself had formed."
Now, this is important, I think, important for you and I to consider
and certainly to submit ourselves to. In the things of God, we're
not left to follow our own preconceived ideas, or we're not left to follow
our own judgments and devices, but we're to look ever and always
to the testimony of God. We are to be men and women who
are followers of the Lord and of His Word. To His Word, in
other words, we must always come for instructions. We must always
come for our orders. The Word of God. to the law and
to the testimony. If they speak not according to
this Word, it is because there is no light in them. What He
has said, this is what we must do. We have no alternative. Whatever
God says, we must do. This is the plan and pattern
for our lives found in the Word of God. Now, another thing I
want you to notice here. Remember the text. said David. All of this, said David, the
Lord made me understand in writing by His hand upon me even all
the works of this pattern. All of the details and particulars
of this temple God hath made me to understand. The plan and
pattern was not designed by David. See that now. was not designed
by Solomon, was not designed by anybody. This plan and pattern
was formed in the mind of God and written upon the heart and
the mind of David. You see, David said here that
he received the plans and the details of the temple of God
from God. He received them from God who
wrote them not upon tables of stone or tablets of stone like
He did Moses on the mount, but upon His heart. And they were
written, I believe, by God's own hand. It says, He made me
to understand in writing by His hand upon me. He wrote these
things in my mind He wrote these things in my heart by His own
hand, and He made me to understand the pattern of the temple. And we cannot deviate from that
which God formed in His own mind and implanted in my understanding. We cannot deviate from that.
We must go according to the plan and according to the pattern.
It's important. It's important. Most folks think
nowadays, well, it doesn't make any difference. Do this or do
that or do something else and everyone has some idea of what
ought to be. But that's not for you and I. It was necessary here in the
case of this building of the temple. It was necessary that
everything should be arranged and planned for the temple and
that it should be built according to this pattern. Now, I'll tell
you why. I believe I know why this is
so important. The reason for the temple was
that it was a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. The temple is a
type of Christ. It typifies Christ. But not only
is it confined just to typifying Christ, but it typifies or shadows
in type even the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. So everything
that pertains to Jesus Christ and to His church must be done
and arranged by God according to a plan and according to a
pattern. In other words then, I think
that you'll agree, I think we understand this, we've studied
this, I think we know this, that the temple was to be the throne
of the great King. Not King David, not Solomon,
but to be the throne of the great King of glory, even God Himself. That is, in type. Now, in type,
not literally. The heavens can't contain God,
much less the earth. But in type. In type, the temple
was to be the dwelling place of God Himself. And now, this
being the case, only God knew what He wanted to teach or what
He wanted to typify by building this kingdom. If He had left
it up to men to build it according to their whims, according to
their designs, according to their wants and wishes and so forth,
it would have destroyed the type. But only God knew what He wanted
to teach. So He formed the pattern for
the temple because the temple was to typify His Son. And the
temple was to typify, in a sense, in type, the dwelling place of
God Himself. So everything must be done exactly. Cannot deviate not a hair's breadth. Cannot deviate not an ounce,
not an inch from the plan, from the pattern that God gave David. This might help us, brethren.
It was a house after God's own mind. It was a house after God's
own mind, like He wanted it. And every detail must be
carried out correctly. God gave the direction to David,
I believe by impressing these directions upon his mind and
upon his heart. And he did so by his own hand.
Now, I don't think that God drew the plan and pattern for the
temple on a piece of paper, blueprints. I don't think that God sat down
somewhere and said, now this is the way I want to do it, and
he drew plans. on a big blueprint, and he handed that blueprint
to David, and he said, now, build the temple according to this
design that's on this paper. I don't think that that's the
way God did it. I don't think that God told Samuel
the seer or the prophet how to do it, and then Samuel was to
pass it on to David. I don't think that's the way
it was. I think that David received it upon his mind, and upon his
heart from the very hand of God himself." I believe that's the
way it was. All this, said David, the Lord
made me to understand in writing. Where did he write it at? He
wrote it upon the tables of his fleshly heart. That's where he
wrote it. Well, another thing about this
now is David did not receive these plans by talking to others. That is, he didn't consult with
someone else. He didn't say, now, it's been
my desire all of my life to build a temple for God, and so I want
the advice of the prophets. Samuel, would you give me some
advice as to how large this building should be and where the mercy
seat should be and where the altars of incense should be and
so forth. Or he might have called in Hiram,
the king of Tyre. Hiram, could you give me some
consultation here as to what I should do? David did not receive these plans
by talking to others. Do you remember what the Apostle
Paul said in the book of Galatians? Let me read that to you real
quick. In the book of Galatians chapter 1, I believe in the book of Galatians.
But anyhow, it says this. It says in that twelfth verse
of the first chapter, it says, talking about the gospel here,
But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached
of me is not after man. That is, that which I preach, he said,
is not the result of an endless conversation with a group of
men. We didn't get together and arrive
at this conclusion that this is the way it is and this is
what we ought to preach. I certify you, brethren, that
the gospel which was preached of me is not after man, for I
neither received it of man, I didn't get it from man, neither was
I taught it. but by the revelation of Jesus
Christ. That's how I got it. God wrote
His gospel in my mind and in my heart with His own hand. He revealed it to me. He revealed
it to me. And that's what David is saying
here in that 19th verse. The Lord hath made me to understand
in writing by His hand upon me even all the works of this pattern.
this pattern, this plan for this huge, magnificent structure,
which will be filled with gold and silver, the most magnificent
building ever built to this point. He said, God hath given me the
plans for it. I didn't get advice from others.
I didn't consult with flesh and blood in this matter. God wrote
it upon my heart. Well, then again, God gave to
David instructions about the very detail of all of this work. Notice in this 11th verse of
the 28th chapter, just to show you the detail that he was to
go to and go with in order to bring this building in completion
and according to the plan. Verse number 11 says, Then David
gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the porch. Now, God even revealed
to David's heart by writing with His own hand upon his heart and
upon his mind the dimensions for the porch of the temple. the porch of the houses thereof,
and the treasuries thereof, and of the upper chambers thereof,
and of the inner parlors thereof, and of the place of the mercy
seat, and the pattern of all that he had by the spirit of
the courts of the house of the Lord, of all the chambers round
about, of the treasuries of the house of God. and the treasuries
of the dedicated things. Also for the courses of the priests
and the Levites, for all the work of the service of the house
of the Lord, for all the vessels of service in the house of the
Lord. Every detail, even to the plan,
even to the pattern of the porches. God gave this to David. I'm emphasizing
this because it's got a reason. I want you to listen to me and
follow with me now. God gave to David by revelation
and wrote on his own heart with his own hand the plan and pattern
for the building of this. Don't deviate from the plan.
Don't deviate from the plan. Do exactly what I told you to
do. Nothing more, nothing less. Consult with nobody. You don't
need anybody to consult with. I've already written it upon
your heart and upon your mind. Do it right down to the most
minute detail. Do what I tell you. The directions
and plans that God gave to David were extremely minute. You can see that in verse 14
there. Look at that. I want you to notice
that there was gold by the weight for the lampstands, and for the
lamps which rested on them, and how much silver was needed for
the candlesticks, whether it was to be six ounces of silver
in this particular candlestick that was at this particular place,
or whether there was to be a pound of silver, or three pounds of
silver, or twenty-five pounds of gold. Whatever it was, even
to the minute detail of the lampstands and the lamps that sat upon the
stands and the silver candlesticks, God did all of this by revelation. He wrote it upon his heart. He wrote it upon his mind. He
said, in all of this, he made me to understand writing by his
hand upon me, even all the works of this pattern. Well, the innermost
things, I believe, were laid bare to David's heart here. Nobody Nobody has ever saw with
physical eyes the fullness or the full picture or image of
the cherubims. No one knows what a cherubim
looks like. David, or the high priest, when
he went into the Holies of Holies once a year, a cherubim was there,
but he wasn't able to he wasn't able to see that cherubim for
the smoke that came from the altar of incense. But David was
able, look in that 18th verse, David was able to give a complete,
detailed picture as to what a cherubim looked like, or how a cherubim
was to be made and pictured on the mercy seat. It says, "...for
the altar of the incense of refined gold by weight, and gold for
the pattern of the chariot of the cherubims that spread out
their wings and covered the ark of the covenant." You can see
there, brethren, that even these innermost things had entered
into the eye of the mind and the heart of David. He had a
picture, I believe, of the cherubim and the chariots, all written
there in his heart, a visible picture, and he knew exactly
what he wanted. And he told Solomon and the workers
just exactly how to draw this, how to make it with the beaten
gold. Do it! I think that this pattern, as
I've said, was printed on the understanding and on the heart
of David the king. But not only now, not only did
David know all of the details of this, and this is what's important
to me, not only did David know all the details, and not only
did they carry out to the fullest the details of
this plan, but David understood the details. He understood all
this. God wrote this on his heart and
wrote this on his mind, the plans and the pattern for this temple,
and David understood it. You know what it says? All this
said, David, the Lord made me understand. The Lord made me
to understand this. All of it. Now how did He make
him to understand it? Well, I've already touched on
that, but let me mention it again. How did He make him to understand
it? Well, by God writing upon his heart. That's how he understood
it. God wrote this upon his heart. Let me give you an illustration
in order that you might understand what I'm talking about. Now,
God writes His law here in the Bible. This is the will of God in these
66 books of the Bible. We call it the Bible, and the
word Bible means the Word, the Word of God. Now, you and I were
never interested in the Word of God until a particular time. Up to that time, The Word of
God had no meaning for us. We might have showed some outward
reverence or respect for the Bible. We thought we ought to
have a Bible in the house, whether it was just something for show
or something that collected dust. I don't know, but most people
have a little reverence and respect for the Bible, but very few people
understand anything in the Bible. There's a lot of people who can
read the Bible and has read the Bible maybe through two or three
times, but still don't understand the Bible. They don't understand
the Bible. You see, God has written His
law in the Bible, but we don't understand it. But when God writes
it on our hearts, then we understand it. You see, when God writes
this thing in our heart, when He comes along by His Spirit
through the Word and quickens us, then we begin to understand
what the Bible is talking about. But up until that point, the
Bible is like a foreign language to us. We just don't understand
it. We don't understand it. But when God writes it upon our
hearts, we begin to understand it. Well, David said, The Lord
made me to understand. Well, I think, brethren, that
God still, right today, writes upon men's hearts, and He still
makes men understand. Now, if you don't understand
this morning, if you don't understand this morning, though you have
heard with your ears me preach to you many times about the about
your condition, about who the Lord Jesus Christ is, about sin,
about punishment, about heaven, about hell, about God, about
the Holy Spirit, about practical Christianity, even though you've
heard me talk about it many times with your ears, but you don't
understand it, well, you're lost before God. Because God makes
His people to understand. Even today they understand. Oh,
that the Lord would make us understand here this morning. And I believe
that when God writes, and someone said, when God writes with a
steel pen, when God writes with a steel pen right into a man's
soul, sometimes with heavy strokes, Sometimes with deep, cutting
strokes, but when God writes upon our hearts, we begin to
understand. But we'll never understand until
God writes upon our hearts. Never. I don't care if we live
to be a hundred years old, we'll never understand what God's talking
about here in this book until God writes something on our hearts.
Listen. Turn with me, if you will, to
John chapter 6. I want to read something to you.
John chapter 6. John chapter 6 and verse 45,
I believe it is. We'll start reading at verse
42. And they said, This is the Jews. And they said,
is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother
we know? Well, their problem was at this
particular time, these Jews that made this statement, their problem
was that God had not written on their hearts yet and made
them to understand who the Lord Jesus Christ was. They said this
is who they thought He was. Is not this Jesus, the son of
Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that
he saith, I came down from heaven? Jesus therefore answered and
said unto them, murmur not among yourselves. Listen to me now. No man can come to me. No man. I don't care how smart
he is, or where he lives, or how sincere he is, how good he
is, or how bad he is, or what color of his skin is, how old
he is, how young he is, if he's blue, white, green, it doesn't
make any difference. No man, absolutely no man, you
or me, nobody, no man can come to me, no man can come to me
except the Father which hath sent me to draw him. No man will
ever come to God until God writes upon his heart with his own hand,
in a heavy fashion many times, deep and cutting and heavy strokes. When God does that, when God
writes upon a man's heart, that man begins to understand. Now
look at this other verse, 45. It is written in the prophets.
And they shall all be taught of God." What does that mean?
That means they'll understand some things. When you're taught
something, you're made to understand something. Is that not right?
When you went to school, you didn't know anything. You didn't
know anything. You didn't know how to write. You didn't know your ABCs. You
didn't even know where the bathroom was. Didn't know anything. Didn't
have sense enough to take your coat off. The teacher had to
take your coat off and take it in the cloakroom and hang it.
Didn't know anything. You didn't know where the school
bus was. You didn't know how to get on the school bus. They
had to teach you some things. What's that mean? They had to
make you understand some things. To understand some things. If
they didn't make you understand some things, you'd still be in
the first grade. Well, spiritually, now spiritually is what he's
talking about. and they shall all be taught of God. Every man
therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh
unto the Lord Jesus Christ." God still writes upon the hearts
of men with His own hand and makes them understand. And what
I'm saying is this, if God doesn't do that, if God doesn't do that,
they'll never understand. And that's the reason why there's
a whole lot of people not interested in God this morning. They're
not interested in the Word of God. They're not interested in
eternal things. Why? It's because God has not
made them to understand. Now, not only did God make David
to understand or make known unto David all the details of this,
but He made him to understand it. He made him to understand
it. A lot of people don't know what the Lord... You talk about
the Lord's Supper, and all they know about the Lord's Supper
is that they pour some wine or some grape juice in little glasses,
and they take a little piece of flat crust of bread of some
sort, and they eat that bread, and they drink that, and that's
all they know of it. They don't know the import of
it. They don't know what's behind
it. They don't know what it's teaching. They're not interested,
and they don't know, and they never will know until God makes
them to understand. That's the reason our Lord said
that a man ought not to drink of this wine, or eat of this
bread, if he didn't understand, if he didn't clearly perceive
or understand the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, he ought not
to take it. He said there's a lot of people
that take it and don't understand anything about it, and he said
they drinketh and eateth damnation to themselves. Don't do it! That's
what he said. A lot of people, you talk to
them and say, What about eternity? Are you ready to face eternity?
Well, I've never been baptized. What do you mean by that? Well,
I don't know what baptism is now. I know that some people
put you down under in the creek and some people put a little
water on your head. I don't know what it means, but I haven't
been baptized. The majority, listen to me this morning, the
majority of the people that you talk with every day don't understand
what you understand about who God is and who the Lord Jesus
Christ is, what baptism is, what the Lord's Supper is. Things,
the eternal spiritual, they don't understand. They don't understand.
They don't know what you're talking about. And they never will until
God makes them to understand. You see what I'm talking about?
They never understand until God makes them to understand. If
you understand it this morning, bow your head and thank God because
He made you understand. He made you understand. You see? Well, do you remember the time
when you found out that you were fallen and ruined and your heart
was corrupt and you felt yourself to be lost and undone before
God? Do you remember that time? If
you remember that time, it was because God made you to understand
it. If you remember it. If you don't
remember that time, if you never felt down deep in your bare soul
that you was lost and undone before God and you was corrupt
and you was a fallen creature and there's no hope for you,
if you never remember that time, then God has not made you to
understand yet. You may have heard me talk about
it with your ears, but until you feel it in your heart and
know it for yourself, know it for yourself before God, then
God hasn't made you understand. But if you do, then you know
how you come to that place? God made you understand that.
He made you understand that you're lost. There's not many in the
light of the billions upon earth that know what that means. They
don't know what it means to be lost. But if God has made you
and I to know it, if we know it, if we know we're lost, that
there's no hope in ourselves, God made us to understand that. He made us to understand. Well,
do you remember when you found out that your heart was corrupt
and polluted? Do you remember that? God made
you to understand that. I may have preached it to your
ears, but God laid it on your heart. You see, I can preach
from Natal Doomsday and tell you how lost you are. And I do tell people that whenever
I have the opportunity, whenever God opens up a door that I can
tell men just how wicked and ungodly they are, in the sight
of God, that their righteousness is as filthy rags, that they
have nothing that they can hold on to, not a single thread which
they can hold on to. There's nothing good about it. I tell people that. I tell them
all the time. And they hear me with their ears.
But very few, in light of the multitudes that hear me, very
few lay it to their hearts. And those few that let to their
hearts, the reason is because God makes them understand. You
see? So if God's made you to understand,
if you see, if you remember the time when you come to this understanding
that you're lost and ruined and fallen before God and no hope
in yourself, well, then you thank God because He made you to understand
that. I couldn't make you understand
it. I couldn't do it. Couldn't do it. Nobody can do
it. Eloquency won't do it. Eloquency won't do it. The power
is in God's hand Himself. God must reach down into our
black hearts and change our hearts and change our wills and write
something there and make us to understand. If we don't, we're
goners. There's no hope for us if we
don't do that. Do you remember when you learned what sin was?
Do you remember that? Well, if you learned what sin
was, it was because God made you to understand it. Not many
people know what sin is. You see, sin is a moral disease
which has not only affected you, but it's affected the whole human
race. Did you know that? It's not just
It's not just me that's plagued with this disease. I found out
one time that I was plagued with this disease of sin, but I wasn't
left to myself. I found out that everybody, every
man that's ever been born of woman is affected and plagued
with the same disease that I am. I found that out. God made me
to understand that. Did He ever make you to understand
it? I understand that every child that's born into this world is
born into this world with a stone in its breast. That that child
was conceived in sin and iniquity and goes astray from its mother's
womb, speaking lies and hypocrisy. I've been made to see something
about this moral decay and disease of sin that's flagged everybody. that's born of woman, all of
us, so-called good and bad, high and low, black and white, everybody. Have you ever learned what sin
is? Do you remember when you learned
what sin is? Do you remember when the Spirit of God convicted
you and slayed you and brought you low as to your attitude towards
God? Do you remember that? Well, if
you do, it's because God made you understand. You see, this
disease of sin is a disease from which there never was but one
born woman that was free of, and that was the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you understand anything about
the sinlessness of the Lord Jesus Christ? That Jesus Christ in
Him is no sin, was no sin? There was never no sin in Him.
There's sin in you. There's sin in you. There's a
principle in you that is sin. It's corrupt. But the Lord Jesus
Christ, who was a man, just like you and I are men and women,
He was a human being, a man. But there was no sin in Him.
He did not have no stone in His breast like I have, like you
have. You find that out? You find out
about the sinlessness of the Lord Jesus Christ, that He was
God manifest in the flesh, that He was as much God as if He was
never man and as much man as if He was never God. You find
that out? How did you find that out? I'll tell you how you found
that out. God, with His own hand, wrote that in your heart and
made you understand it. See? That's how you found that
out. You didn't get it out of books. You didn't get that out
of books. You don't get it out of books. You can read all the
books in the country, but you can't get that out of books.
God must write that on your heart and make you to understand it,
you see. You see, you remember when you found out that sin was
a nature? That you was born in the image
of a fallen man, born in the image of fallen Adam and Eve.
Do you remember when you understood that He inherited His nature? He inherited His heart and His
attitude? Do you remember when you understood
that the carnal mind, the natural mind, or the natural man is enmity
against God and is not subject to the law of God? Neither indeed
can be! Do you remember when you understood
that and seen that? Do you know why? You know what? You might have
heard me talk about it, but you never understood it until God
wrote it on your heart. That's when you understood it.
God wrote it on your heart. With His own hand, He wrote that
on your heart. Just like He did David, when
He gave David the plan and pattern for the temple. He wrote it in
his mind, He wrote it in his heart, and He made him to understand
it. And the Bible says in John 6 and 45, that all of my people
shall be made to understand. All of my people, they'll understand
this. You understand what the gospel is, you better learn it.
You better learn it. You better pray God that He'll
make you understand the gospel. I'm not talking about 1 Corinthians
chapter 15 where it says that Christ died and was buried and
rose again and was seen by five. You better know more about it
than that. In that great day, in that great
day that many shall come, we preached in your name. We cast
out devils in your name. Yeah, I know all that. You never
knew me. You never knew the gospel. You
never knew who I was. You just thought I went through
the motions. We better find out some things, brethren. Oh, have
you seen? Have you understood? Do you remember
when you understood by observation in your own life, you seen the
blossoms and the buds of this vile nature of yours, how these
things manifested themselves in selfishness, and greediness, and evil temper,
and evil speaking, and jealousies, and things of that nature? These
things you've been made to see and understand are only the products
of this nature here. This bad heart that you've got.
You've got a bad heart. You've got this bad nature from
your father Adam. That's how you got it. You didn't
get it because you cussed one time or you smoked a cigarette
or you went to the picture show. You didn't get it because you'd
done something. You'd done something because
you already had it. See what I'm talking about? You
did something because you already had it. This greediness, this
selfishness, this meanness, this evil temper that you've got,
all of that is the evidence. These are the blooms, the blossoms
of this nature. You remember when you learned
that? Huh? You know how you come to learn that? God wrote it on
your heart. He made you to understand it.
If you don't understand that, it's because God hasn't done
a work yet. And you need to pray that God will do a work. Because
if God doesn't do a work, you're gone. That's all there is to
it. No hope for you if He doesn't
do a work. Listen, all this jealousy and greediness and self-will
and envy and all these are just the evidences of what sin is. That's sin. Greediness. All this
is sin, but they are the evidences of this nature, of this nature.
Well, have you learned, you and I, have we learned that every
imagination of the heart is evil and that continually? Have you
learned that? Listen, have you learned that
the heart is Wicked, and the Bible said, desperately wicked. Have you understood that? Your
children, and my children, and your neighbors, and my neighbors,
and your wife, and my wife, and your husband, and so forth, haven't
got a good heart. The heart is wicked, wicked. Your daddy's got a bad heart,
your mother's got a bad heart. I don't care how good they treat
you. They still got a bad heart. I don't care how obedient your
children, they got a bad heart. A bad heart. They got a bad nature. A bad nature. They got a sinful
nature. They got a polluted, corrupted
nature. Have you ever learned that? If
you did, God made you to see it. God made you to understand
it. God wrote it on your heart. Let me tell you something else
about the heart in order to help you see what I'm trying to say.
Listen, do you remember when you learned that you could violate
and break God's law in heart and in thought when there was
no outward or visible act of wickedness? You ever learn that? You see what I'm trying to say?
I'm trying to say that most people confine sin to an outward, visible
act. And I'm saying that this outward
visible act is only the germ or the blossom or the fruit of
what's really wrong with you, see? Well, in other words, did
you know that a man, he can look at you? He can look at you and
smile and smile and smile and hate you in his heart. Did you
know that? Did you know that a man can look at you and smile
at you and shake your hand with a firm grip and look you in the
eye and despise you in your heart. Do you know that? That's what
I'm talking about. I'm talking about this nature,
you see. Now if you've learned it, if
you've learned that a man's got a bad heart, that's where it's
at. It's not that you quit going
to the picture show or you quit doing that or quit doing this.
That's not where it's at. It's in here. See? It's in here. Bad heart! God says, I know you! He knows us! Let me read something
to you from over here in the book of Luke. If you turn with
me to the... I think about the 22nd chapter
of the book of Luke. Look at that with me. Luke chapter 22, verse 33. In verse 22, I say, yeah, 22,
well, He's talking about, our Lord's talking to His disciples
here, and He comes on down here to verse 33, and He has something
to say to Peter. Peter, before He says it, Peter
says, well, He said, I'm ready. The Lord said, Simon, Simon,
behold, Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you
as wheat. But I prayed for you." The Lord said, I prayed for you,
Simon. He said, Satan, he wants you. He'd like to have you. And
he's going to sift you just like they shake wheat up. The chaff
goes one way and the fruit goes another place. He wants to shake
you up. But the Lord said, I prayed for you that your faith fail
not. And when you're converted, strengthen
the brethren. But now listen to Peter's response to our Lord. He said unto him, Lord, I'm ready.
I'm ready. Let him come. I'm ready to do
battle with Satan. Let him come. I'm ready. I'm
ready. Don't worry about me. I'm okay.
Don't worry about me. I'm alright. I'm ready. I'm ready to go with you, both
into prison and into death. And he said, the Lord said, well,
Peter, I tell you, I'm going to tell you something. Peter,
I know you, you've got a bad heart. You don't know your heart,
Peter. You don't know your heart. And
that's the problem with most people, they don't know their
heart. But if we ever find out the awfulness of our heart, then
we'll mourn. We'll begin to mourn for what
we are. for what we are, and certainly
for what we do, but we'll mourn before God because we're sinners
in our hearts before God. Oh, he said, I'm ready. I'm ready
to go to prison with you. I'm ready to die with you. Our
Lord said, well, I'll tell you, Peter, the cock shall not crow
this day before thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me. He says, You don't know me, Peter,
you just thought you did. You don't know. I know your heart. I know your heart. Well, you
see what I'm getting at here this morning? You remember when
you learned that a man may smile and smile at you and hate you
at the same time? That's an awful sin. No visible
act of wickedness. Outwardly, everything appears
to be all right, but in your heart, a man will curse and deny
God. That's where it's all at. You
can quit this and quit that, but that will not take care of
it. Well, how did you learn this? Well, you know how you learned.
God made you this way. Do you remember when you understood
who this sin was against? Do you remember when you finally
found out that this awful attitude of your heart was against someone? And that someone was God Himself.
That's who sin is directed against. It's against God. Well, if you
learned this, you learned it because God made you to understand
it. Now, another thing. Do you understand that with this
sin, which is against God, is liable to punishment? Do you
understand that? Do you understand that unless
something takes place between here and the eternities, that
this sin, which we drink and lap up like a dog laps up water,
demands punishment. And the punishment is to be separated
from God throughout the ages to come. That's the punishment
for sin, right there. You want to continue to buck
that, you go ahead. You go ahead. But I'll tell you
that that's the end result. You're going to wind up separated
from God. Don't call upon God right now. Call upon Him while He's near.
Now is the day of salvation. Now is the time. Right now, not
tomorrow. Right now. Call upon God right
now. While God He deals with you. He may not deal with you tomorrow.
He may not deal with you tonight. He may not deal with you when
you are 21, or 31, or 41, or 51. He may not do that. You better
call on Him now. Now. How did you learn this?
Well, God made you to understand it. Well, listen. Remember when you found out that
the Lord Jesus Christ was precious to your soul? There come a time
when the preaching of the cross meant something to you. Used
to it didn't mean anything to you. You could hear the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ extolled and the life of Christ and the
mercy and goodness of God in Christ talked about and preached
about, but it never bothered you. It never affected you one
way or the other. But all at once, right out of
the blue, the preaching of the cross The Lord Jesus Christ became
precious to your soul. And you knew something about
what Peter said, Unto you therefore who believe, He is precious.
He said, He is precious to my soul. I understood. I understood
how God can be just and justifier of him that believeth in Jesus.
I understand how man can be saved. It is only through the preciousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ that He died in my stead and paid
that which was my due. He paid it. He paid everything
that I owe. He paid. And He paid it in full. And He pardoned me. And He cast
my sins behind His back. And He took my sins away. And
therefore, I sing happy day, happy day that Jesus came and
took my sins away when He became precious to me. How do you know
that? God made you to understand it,
didn't He? Oh, did you find out that the reason that you chose
Him? You said, well, I made a choice one day, and I chose the Lord
Jesus Christ. But then I found out later on,
God made me to understand that the reason I chose Him was because
He first chose me. Do you understand that? It's
because God made you to understand that. Not many people understand
that. But if you understand it, you
say, well, I understand that I love Him, but I come to see
that the reason I love Him is because He first loved me. He
first loved me, and I understand now, God made me to understand
that He chose me in His Son, in the covenant of grace, before
time ever was. I understand that I didn't understand
it now, but I understand it now. God made me to understand it.
Well, alright. Did you ever find out, oh, I
could go on with this, so many things you could say here. Listen, you ever find out that God demands
absolute holiness? That's what God demands. He demands
absolute perfection. God will not accept anything
less than what He is. All of us now, with our ears,
We understand that God is absolutely holy, absolutely 100% immaculately
pure. No trace or thought of sin or
no deviation from a standard of absolute holiness. That's
what God is. And God will not accept anything
less than what He is. Well, you say, Preacher, how
in the world will we ever make it into His presence if He demands
absolute perfection. Oh, bless God, let me tell you
one more time, it's through the Lord Jesus Christ, His Son, who
was perfect and is perfect, we can come through Him. We can
come the blood-sprinkled way. We can open our ears and listen
that the Lord Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God, died in the
poor sinner's stead and paid his due, and his righteousness
was given to that poor sinner who believes. The righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ is freely given to this poor, helpless,
hopeless sinner that has a bad heart. It is given to him. And now, because his sins are
forgiven for Christ's sake, He has the very holiness that God
demands. He has that holiness. Where did
he get it? He got it through the Lord Jesus.
Jesus gave him that holiness. He gave him that righteousness.
Do you understand that? If you understand it, it's because
God made you to understand it. I hope God made you to understand
some things this morning. I hope He did. I pray that He
did. For God's glory. And for the exaltation of His
Son and for your soul's sake, I hope that you understand. Let's
stand and we'll be disciplined.