Turn with me this evening to
the 12th chapter of the book of John. John chapter 12. I'll read you a couple of verses
here in regard to Mary who took this precious ointment and
anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. One of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, He said, Why was not this ointment
sold for three hundred pence, that's the fifth verse, and give
to the poor? Then he said, That's the Lord.
Then he said, I mean Judas Iscariot, Not that he cared for the poor,
but because he was a thief and had to bag, he was the treasurer,
and bear what was put therein. Then said Jesus, Let her alone. This woman, let her alone. Against the day of my bearing
has she kept this. For the poor always she hath
with you, but me ye have not always." Well, I think that this woman found speaking, she found in
Christ, the Lord Jesus, that which satisfied her every need. And I think this evening it is
a blessed thing. It is a precious thing to be
able to say, I have found an object which perfectly satisfies
my heart. I found Christ. Keeping in mind,
I know that when we find Christ, it's because he finds us. He
finds us, we're lost. But for the sake of understanding,
I say, we found the Lord. He's not lost. He finds us. We're
the ones who went astray. But Mary here, I think, was able
to say, I found an object which governs and rules my heart and
satisfies my every need." And so she took the best that she
had. In fact, she took all that she
had, and she had saved it up as a treasure. She'd saved it
up, and she'd bursted that point. And she anointed him, the Lord
Jesus, with the best that she had, anointed his feet. And Judas Iscariot said, Why? He said, This could have been
sold for 300 pence. He said, She just wasted it.
But the Lord knew it wasn't a waste, and she knew it wasn't a waste,
because she had found an object which satisfied her every need.
She had found the Lord Jesus Christ. Over here is another
case where a man who was a insane man, tormented by a legion of devils. It's in the 8th chapter of the
book of Luke. The Lord came where he was and
dispensed these devils, demons. And this man, the result was
he found himself sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in
his right mind. And it says that they were afraid
in the thirty-fifth verse. The thirty-sixth verse says,
They also which saw it told them by what means he was possessed
of the devils, was healed. And the whole multitude of the
country of the Gadarenes round about besought him to depart
from them." That is, they besought the Lord Jesus. They prayed that
the Lord Jesus might depart from them because it made such a stir
here. Those people were farmers. They
owned swine, and the Lord had already destroyed the whole herd
of swine, and they didn't want no more of that. So they evaluated
this whole situation, and they said, our swine is worth more
than the healing of this lunatic, this insane person. And so they
said, we know what our priorities are, and we'd like for him to
leave. So they besought him. The whole multitude of the country,
the gatherings round about besought him, the Lord Jesus, depart from
them, for they were taken with great fear. And he went back
into the ship and returned back again. Now the man out of whom
the devils were departed besought him, he beseeched him, he prayed
him that he might be with him if desire was now. He who was
clothed and in his right mind and sitting at the feet of Jesus,
he had found the object of his heart. He found that which would satisfy
his every need. And so His response was this,
Lord, that I might be with you. I might be with you. He prayed
unto the Lord, beseeched the Lord that he might be with him. I want to be with you. I want
to be with you. But the Lord sent him away. It
says, return unto your own house. and show how great things God
hath done unto thee. And he went his way, this man
that had found the object of his heart, that which ruled and
governed his heart, and perfectly satisfied his every need. He
went his way and he published throughout the whole city how
great things Jesus had done unto him. I said here, it's a blessed thing
to be able to say, I found an object which perfectly satisfies
my heart. I found Christ. And by finding
Christ, it gives my heart a settled rest. It imparts a calmness,
a quietness to the spirit which the world cannot comprehend when
a man finds Christ. Now the world They may think
that the life of a believer or the life of a Christian is a
very slow, very dull, and a very stupid affair. And I'm sure that
they do. And I know by experience and
by the observation of others listening to the conversation
of others, reading about what others have to say on this subject. I know that they marvel the world
as they view the Christian. They marvel as to how the Christian
can get on in this life, how he can manage without what they
call amusement. and recreation and pleasure. They can't understand how the
individual who's a Christian can get along without all of
this. That seems to be a stumbling
block to them. They can't understand that. What
they can understand is this, is when a man finds Christ, he
finds a settled rest. It quiets his spirit. It governs
his heart. It rules his conduct, his taste,
and his thinking. And they marvel. They say, well,
we don't understand how. They may not tell you that. They
may not tell you that, but there's questions in their mind, and
they'll talk to others. We don't understand that fellow,
or we don't understand that fellow, his family. All our time is given to the
Lord Jesus Christ. If they have any free time, it's
Christ. He's the object of their service. He's the object of their devotion. He's the object of their meditation.
The truth is, He's the object of their heart. It's Christ for
them. He's there all and in all, and
the world marvels at that. You see, if you deprive, By that
I mean if you take away from the unconverted man such things
as I mentioned here, amusement, recreation, and pleasure, it
would almost drive him to insanity and despair. He has to have it.
His needs are satisfied in these things. His needs must be met. His needs will either be met
in Christ or in the world, one of the two. We were talking here
this evening about a particular person. Well, we don't
see him around anymore. Wonder what happened. And it was said, I guess his
needs have been satisfied somewhere else. Now, his needs are going
to be satisfied either in Christ, or in this world. And this world
has some things that will satisfy the unconverted. Amusement, recreation,
and pleasure. Now you could take those three
and have three headings there and list numerous things that
would come under amusement, recreation, and pleasure. But all of it,
whatever they might be, finds a satisfaction or the man of
the world, the unconverted man, finds a satisfaction in these
things that meet his needs. And if you would take these things
away from him, you see, it would drive him to despair. And he
marvels at the true Christian who is willing to forsake and
deprive himself of the things that he thinks that are necessary
for his life and lifestyle and needs. He can't understand that. Here
the Christian is. He is willing to spend time in
the closet in prayer. He's willing to read of the Bible
and search the Scriptures. He's willing and desires to tell
others of this story of the Lord Jesus Whenever the gospel is
preached, he desires to be there and listen. He's a listener and
a hearer and a doer of that which he hears. This unconverted man,
he don't understand that. He says, well, I don't understand
what you get out of that. I don't understand how you can
be content and satisfied and remain like you are when you
attend so many services, every time we see you, you're going
to a service, you're going to church. We couldn't do that. That would
drive us to despair. He knows nothing of Christ the
Lord as the object of a man's heart. He doesn't know that.
Now this woman, This woman knew something of Christ as the object
of her heart. She said, this is the best I've
got. This is all that I've got. I'll anoint the Lord Jesus Christ. I'll anoint him with this ointment
because he's the object of my heart. He's captured my heart. And this maniac of the Gadarenes
who was clothed And in his right mind, sitting at the feet of
the Lord Jesus, he said, Lord, I will be where thou art. I want to be with you. I want
to go with you. Why? You've captured my heart.
You've captured me. You're the object of my heart.
See? The world doesn't know anything
about that. They think they're getting along
fine. They think they're having a good
time. This world thinks they're having a good time tonight. For the most part, a lot of folks
have kind of settled down. Now it's Sunday night. They've
kind of settled down. Some of them have had some sort
of amusement, recreation and pleasure from Friday night until
about 10 or 11 o'clock today. And then they're kind of tapering
off. get ready to go to work tomorrow. They got to get home
and rest up a little bit, so now they're home, resting up,
maybe a bite to eat, sitting before the television, reading
the Sunday newspaper, or watching some particular program, or maybe
engaging in conversation, asking what they did over the weekend.
And they're perfectly satisfied. They're perfectly satisfied.
It filled their needs. They've got needs and that filled
their needs. That filled them. They're satisfied now. They're
ready to go to bed and get a good night's sleep and go to work
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and start again on Friday
evening. They know nothing of the Christ,
the object of one's heart. You take their recreation away
from them. You take their pleasure away from them. You've taken
everything away. That's the reason a lot of people, you know, they
talk about being a Christian. They say, They know more about
this thing than what we give them credit for. Some of them
say, well, no. No, I don't want to be a Christian
because I couldn't hold out. They believe there's something
to it, see? I couldn't hold out. No, no, I couldn't hold out.
Of course, they don't know that neither can a Christian hold
out. Can't do it. But they'll tell you. They'll
say, oh, no, I wouldn't want to be a Christian because...
Oh, you've got to give this up and give that up and give others
up. No, no, no. They don't want to give that
up, see. Because those things rule their hearts, satisfies
their needs. That satisfies them. That's the
reason we ought to be honest with people. We ought to tell
them about this thing. We ought to tell them, you better
count the cost. You better not jump into this thing real quick.
You better think about it. I know that the Lord Jesus Christ
is willing to save any man that will come to God by Him. He'll
save him to the bitter end. He'll save him to the uttermost.
Any man will come to God. But he'll save the man that comes.
That man that comes. He'll come, as I said here not
too long ago, he'll lay his weapons of warfare down. He'll put his
shotgun, his brass knuckles, he'll lay them down. And he'll
come prone and prostrate before God with a broken heart and an
empty heart. He won't come striking a bargain with God. He'll come
empty-handed. He'll come willing to forego
and postpone any particular pleasure, form of amusement, recreation. He'll be able to do that. He'll
want to do it. It won't be a matter. It won't
be a matter of right or wrong in the thing, but it'll be a
matter of, I want to do it. See? He'll do it instinctively. Oh, yeah. You see, the true believer,
he can't find He can't find pleasure in the wretched pursuits of this
godless world. Now, he can't find any pleasure
in them. He might get involved in them, but there's no pleasure
there. He'll not be in it very long.
He'll not stay there very long. He may stray over there, but
he'll come back out of it because his treasure is not there. His
treasure is not there. Christ is not in this world.
He's not there. He's without the camp. He's without
the city. And you'll have to go without
the camp to find Him. He's not over here in the world
in organized religion. He's outside. That's where you'll
find Him. So the true believer can't find
pleasure in the wretched pursuits of this godless world. He turns
away from these things, as I said, distinctly, instinctively. Not merely because of the positive
wrong and the evil of these things, but he turns away from them because,
listen to me now, because he has no taste for them, he's found
something vastly superior. He's found Christ. He's found
Christ. That man, that maniac of the
Gatherings, he said, Lord, I will be where you are. I want to be
with you. I want to be with you. That's
where I want to go. I want to go where you are." He understood
something, didn't he, of who he was talking to. He understood
something of the love and the mercy, the long-suffering, the
patience and the kindness of this man called Jesus. And he
said, I'm willing to go with you. You delivered me. You delivered
me. You delivered me. I know that
you delivered me. That man that was born blind,
They questioned and criticized. Criticized his parents. They
come to him and they said, we demand of you to tell us who
this man is. Tell us! Who is he? He said, I don't know. One thing
I know. One thing I know, he said, I
was blind. Now I see. I know that. That's what this
fellow said. I delivered. I delivered. Now
go where you are. Be where you're at. Yeah, the
object of my heart, yeah, perfectly satisfies my every need, my every
longing and my every desire. The Lord Jesus Christ perfectly
satisfies. Oh, brethren, found something
vastly superior which satisfies all the desires of this new nature. Can you imagine this evening
an angel from heaven taking pleasure in the amusement
and the recreations and the pleasures of this world. Can you imagine
an angel that would just leave the courts of the glory of God
and that serenity and bliss, perfect love, perfect peace,
perfect happiness, and come into this world and take pleasure?
An angel taking pleasure in the recreations, in the amusement,
and in the pleasures of this world. No, ridiculous isn't it? Such things are foreign to a
heavenly being. Now let me ask this question. What is a Christian? What is
a Christian? He's a heavenly man. He's a heavenly
man. He has a new nature. He is born
of God, born from above, new desires. He is blood-bought,
bought and purchased by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
is a partaker of a heavenly nature. He is dead to the world and dead
to sin and alive unto God. He has no link to this world. He belongs to heaven. Remember, Bob, we talked about
This world is not my home. This world is not my home. I'm
just passing through. It's not my home. My citizenship's
in heaven, you see. A heavenly man. What is a Christian? He's a heavenly man. His roots. Talk about tracing our ancestors
and all that and roots. I'll tell you where the Christians'
roots are. In heaven. That's where his roots are. His
roots is not in this world. His roots is in heaven. He has
no link to this world. He belongs to heaven. He's no
more of this world than the Lord Jesus Christ is of this world. Is a Christian to be found where
Christ cannot be? No. No way. No way. Can he fellowship with the world? which hates the One. He professes
to owe everything. No, you can't do it. You can't fellowship with this
world. You're not of this world. This world hates Him who you
profess and I profess to govern my heart. So I can't have no
fellowship with this world. Well, does the Bible afford any warrant
for the believer to mix himself in any shape or any form with
the amusements and the vain pursuits of this present evil world? I
think not. Or, I mean, I think that the
Scripture does afford and warrants us some sure ground. Let me read
to you here from, I think, the seventeenth chapter of the book
of John. Let me read a verse or two here,
beginning there at verse 14. Listen to what our Lord says
here and see if we can find any sure ground to stand on as to
whether the Bible makes any demands on whether we are in fellowship with this world.
Listen to what it says. It says, I have given them thy
word And the world hath hated them, because they are not of
the world, even as I am not of the world. The world hated them. Hates who? Hates his people. The world hates
his people. He said, I pray not that thou
shouldest take them out of the world, but thou shouldest keep
them from the evil. They are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth,
thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the
world, even so have I also sent them into the world." So you
see here, from what he said, We are not of this world, even
as the Lord Jesus Christ is not of this world. What has our Lord
to do with this world? Absolutely nothing. He doesn't
have anything to do with this world. You see, this world utterly rejected
the Lord Jesus Christ and hung Him or nailed Him to a shameful
cross. The religious world was the religious
world. Nailed him to a shameful cross
between two thieves. They utterly despised and rejected
the Son of God. And I'll tell you something about
this world right now. This world lies fully and as freshly under
the charge of all of this as though the act of the crucifixion
was yesterday and I'll tell you they'll have to answer to God
for their crime this world is stained with the blood of the
Son of God and we can't have no part of it we are not of this
world even as He is not of this world that's the reason I'm trying
to tell us and point us to the fact here that we need to be
submissive to Him, and let Him govern our heart. If He is the
object of our heart, the Lord Jesus Christ, if He is the object
of our heart, then we will not be any part of this world, even
as He was not any part of this world. Well, you see, we are
passing through the world that killed our Master, and we are
not a part of it. So it follows In so much as we
fellowship with the world, we are untrue to the Christ of God.
Let's not be charged and found being false and unloyal and untrue
to the Christ of God by fellowshipping with this world. This world crucified
him. This world said, We'll have no
part of this man. This world said, We have nothing
to do with him. Kill him. Kill him. We don't
want him. We can annihilate him, let's do it. By way of illustration
now, what would we think of a wife who could sit and laugh and joke
with a set of men who had murdered her husband? What would you think
about that? Huh? What would we think of a
wife who would joke and laugh and jest with a group of men
who had just murdered her husband? Would you justly despise her? Well, this is exactly what some
do who mix themselves with this world. That's exactly what happens. Well, I've said all that to say
this. trying to answer another question.
What then are we to do? What then are we to do? We're
in this world and we're not a part of it. We can have no fellowship
with this world and its amusements and recreation and pleasure.
This world hates our Lord. This world is stained with the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and we can't have anything to
do with it. It's impossible for us to joke and digest with those
that murdered our blessed Lord. What then are we to do? All depends
upon the object which governs your heart. It all settles down
to that. It depends upon the object that
governs and rules your heart. Does Christ rule your heart?
Does He govern your heart? Is He the object of your desires? It's no longer a question, then,
of mere right and wrong according to human rules. You know, people
come to you and come to me. Sometimes they don't so much
anymore, but if I was exposed, I suppose, like maybe some preachers
to a vast multitude of people, I'm sure I'd get these questions,
but I've got these questions. It's a wrong go-to-picture show.
It's a wrong go-to-picture show. Is it wrong to do this? Is it
wrong to do that? It's no longer a question of mere right and
wrong according to human rules. It's simply a question of what
is worthy of the Lord Jesus Christ. What's worthy of Him? You have
no rules to regulate. What's worthy of Christ? What
would He do? Would he do this or would he
do that? Would he go here or would he go there? That answers
the question. Who governs your heart? Who rules your heart? I'm afraid. I'm afraid. Most of us. Most of us. He doesn't rule our hearts like
he ought to. We want to satisfy our own pleasures,
satisfy our own self. That's what I want to do. That's
what I want to do. I was impressed with, of course
I know you're not supposed to be impressed with prayers maybe,
but I was impressed with what our brother said this morning
as he prayed. He said, my sin, he said, my sin not only hurts
me, but it offends others. It's a stumbling block to others,
and that's right. That's right. My looseness not only is detrimental
to my well-being as a Christian, but it hurts others. It's hard
on the influence of others, you see. What governs my heart? Is
it self? Is it self? Do I always have
to have my way? Do I always have to be right?
Do I always, always, have to have something satisfied in my
own mind and heart at the expense of somebody or something else. Who rules and who governs my
heart? Is it the Christ of God? Does
He govern my heart? If He does, He'll satisfy my
every need. There'll not be a single solitary
longing that He'll not satisfy in my heart. And I'll be able
to say, I'm content with Him. I'll bless Him. I'll bless Him
when I'm rich, and I'll bless Him when I'm poor. I'll bless
Him when I'm in hell and prosperity. I'll bless the Lord. I'll bless
the Lord. Oh, bless the Lord. Oh, my soul
and all that is within me, bless His holy name. What would you think of a child,
a son or a daughter, who only cared about the good
things provided by his father's hand and never saw his father's
company? What would you think about a
child like that? You've probably got some children like that,
have you? What do you think of a child
like that? I should say we've got some children like that. What would we think of a child,
son or daughter, who only cared about the good things provided
by his father's hand and never saw his father's company and
preferred the company of strangers over the company of his father?
What would you think about a child like that? I know you wouldn't despise him,
but that's the way we are most of the time. We're glad. We're glad that the Lord blesses
us with good health. We're not a bit backward about
telling people the Lord's been good to us, are we? I was listening
to a program on the radio, I believe it was today, And they asked
Brother so-and-so if he had a song for them. He said, do you have
a song for us? Yes, he said, I have a song.
He said, I don't know whether I know the words of it or not.
He said, it's been so long since I've sang this song. But he said,
I was thinking of this just a little bit ago. And he said, I'll try
to do it for you. I'll try to do it for you. And
he hit his guitar a couple of times. Let me give you my testimony,
he said. He said, the Lord's been so good
to me. Yeah, we all got that testimony.
Lord's been so good to me. Yeah, we love him for what he's
done for us. We love him for what he's given
to us. But how many of us seek his presence and seek his company? You see, does he govern our heart? Is he the object of our heart?
Do we prefer the company of strangers like a A thankless child does. That's the way a thankless child
will do. He'll take the wagons and the sleds and the footballs.
He'll take all that. He'll thank you that you give
it to him. Yeah. Yeah, he'll take the food and
the spending money and the clothes and the schooling. He'll take
all that. But when he wants some fellowship,
he'll prefer the fellowship of strangers and not you. Is that
true? That's true, brethren. That's
a sad commentary on the depravity of human flesh, but it's true
nevertheless. It's rare. It's a rare thing
you find a son or daughter that prefers your company just because
it's you. God helped us to prefer his company
just because of who he is, that he governs our hearts. He has
our hearts. He's captured them. He's captured
our hearts. He's stormed that fortress there
and overcome the enemy, overcome the strong man and run him out
of the house. He's captured our hearts. Oh,
this God that I'm telling you about in the person of the Lord
Jesus Christ receives sinners such as you and I. Would to God
that sinners receive Him. that they would make him the object of
their hearts. Let's stand, we'll be dismissed.