This evening, turn with me to
Isaiah chapter 14. And we'll talk for just a few
minutes here this evening and trust that it might turn into
preaching. But if not, it will be in the
hands of the Lord. Isaiah chapter 15 and verse number 13. I want to talk to you about the
evil and the ruin of sin in these few passages here. Verse 13,
Isaiah 14, as reference to Lucifer, that
fallen angel, that rebellious angel, says, I will ascend into
heaven. I will exalt my throne above
the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount
of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above
the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High."
Now, the whole evil and ruin of sin is that man turned from
God's will to do his own will. Lucifer said in Isaiah 14 and
13, I will. Notice that. He says, I will. Five times in these passages
that I read to you, he insisted on his own will. In Genesis chapter 3 and verse
number 5, it says, You will or you shall
be as God. This Lucifer said to Eve, Ye
shall be as God. In other words, the problem with this generation, as well
as every other generation, is their will. Your will and my
will, this is what's important. Isn't that right? It's our will
that's important. Lucifer said five times, I will. Now, the redemption of Jesus
Christ has no reason, no object, and no possibility of success
except the restoring of man, fallen man that is, to do God's
will. Your will versus God's will. The object and success of the
purpose of the Lord Jesus Christ is restoring fallen man to do
the will of God. I guess that it was for this
that our Lord Jesus Christ prayed, ìNot my will, but thy will be
done.î And then in another place he said, ìI came not to do my
will, but the will of him that sent me.î So, to receive the
Lord Jesus Christ as our Lord. Now listen to me. To receive
Christ Jesus as our Lord is to bow to His will. That's what
I've been saying over and over and over and over. It's not making
a decision. It's not this commitment. But
it's surrender. That's what it is. It's a surrender. To receive Christ as our Lord
is to bow to His will. To walk with the Lord Jesus Christ
is to walk with Him who worketh all things after the counsel
of His own will. To plan my day For you to plan
your day is to say, if the Lord will, we shall do this and we shall
do that. To pray is to ask anything according
to His will. So you see what I'm talking about?
I'm saying here this evening that this whole business, The
whole Bible business, from beginning to end, is being brought into subjection
to the will of God. Paul and man being restored into
the favor of God by being brought into God's will to do His will. Until that takes place, you see,
we're all in what I say all the time, total rebellion against
God. As long as it's our will and
not my will be done, as long as it's our will, we're in rebellion
against God. May God help us this evening
to see that if we're to receive Christ as Lord, we must bow to
His will. My soul, you and I who are believers
in Christ, who have been changed in a twinkling of an eye, who have been translated from
the kingdom of Lucifer into the kingdom of God's dear Son, who
hath had our wills subdued and brought into conformity with
His will, had our sins forgiven, received the very nature of God
implanted in our souls, given a desire to love Him over and
above everything else in this world, given a faith that would send us or give us strength to
go to the galas, if necessary, for Christ's sake. My, what debtors
we are to him! What debtors we are to God! We
that were in total rebellion against God, He who worketh all
things after the counsel of his own will hath broken us, broken
our will, and his will becomes the supreme desire of our lives. We are debtors. Turn with me
then to Luke chapter 15. Let me read a passage to you. Chapter 15, verse number 5. I said Luke 15, I meant Luke
16. Luke 16, verse number 5. We are not concerned with the first part of this verse. It
is the last statement of the fifth verse that we are concerned
with this evening. It says, How much o'st thou unto
my Lord? How much o'st thou unto my Lord? When we realize our total debt
to Jesus Christ, we shall again be on the same joyful path that
the apostles took as a small group, going out into this hostile
world, facing that hostile world with the gospel of Christ. We'll join men and women like
the Pledgers, the Burkings, Brother Milton Howard, those
brethren that went into Mexico and the Yucatan, these faithful
servants who have willingly give up comfort and security prestige
to go to the ends of the earth for Him who died for them. When
we realize what debtors we are unto God in Christ, understanding all that He has overcome in our
lives, subdued us and brought us unto His Son. We're able to answer somewhat
that question. How much o'st thou my Lord? How much do you the Lord? I'd like to ask that question
to all of us. And I'd like to say this in light
of it. If God, if God is worthy of our
praise, and our worship, and you and I really think and believe
that He is Lord of heaven and earth, I insist then, now keep
this in mind, these are conditional statements, I said if God is
worthy of our praise and our worship, and we really think that he is Lord of heaven
and earth, then I must insist this. I insist that you acknowledge
him by a sincere and faithful worship, or else deny that he
is God at all. What do you think of that? We are debtors to Him. Either
we are or we are not. Either we are debtors to God
or we are not debtors to Him. Either we have been delivered
from the wrath to come or we haven't been delivered. And if
we have been delivered, we have been delivered by Him and Him
alone. And if that be the case, He is Lord of heaven and earth. And He is worthy of our praise
and our service. He is worthy of glory. All that
we can give Him and all the praises that we can issue forth from
our heart, He's worthy. But if He's not, if He's not,
if He's not all of this, then instead of honest, sincere, and
faithful worship, then men and women ought to deny that He's
God at all. This half-hearted, half-hearted, insincere, lukewarm,
indifferent attitude of most modern church members is certainly
unworthy of his great glory. How much owest thou my Lord? How much? What are you owing? Now you know
whether you owe Him anything or not. You know, if you've ever
seen yourself, if you know what you really are. This is what
it's all about. If we know what we are, as Pat
McGinnis prayed here not so long ago, he said, help us to remember the rock from which we were hewn. Help us to remember our fallen
state. Help us to remember where we
once were. Help us to remember that we're
a fallen people. Our ancestors are fallen. And
as far back as we go, we find nothing but ruin and degradation
in the stock that we trace by. There's nothing good in it, nothing
to brag about, nothing to boast about. We're nothing, less than
nothing. We're vanity, less than vanity,
less than nothing. We're less than the grasshoppers
on the earth. We're not fit for the beast of the earth to
trot upon. The beast of the earth ought
to cry out and groan within themselves because they must trot upon the
dust which we're made of. We're so unworthy and so ungodly in regard to that which he's
done for us. I say, brethren, that most church
members, most church members, I'm not speaking to the majority
of this congregation. Some, I'm sure, there's some
here that you need to hear what I'm saying. There are several
that's not here that needs to hear what I'm saying. They need
to be confronted with the reality of this. If they're debtors unto
God, they need to answer this question, how much o'st thou
my Lord? They need to be told that this
lukewarm attitude, this indifferent attitude, is unworthy of His great glory. So if you and I this evening,
if we join together now, and actually are able to say that
the gospel of salvation by grace is the gospel that gives God
all the glory and is the only gospel that can meet the poor
sinner's need, then we ought to insist. We ought to insist
along with those that have went before us who have been faithful
to Him and who have insisted in their testimony and in their
preaching. We ought to insist that everyone
who names the name of Christ be personally identified with
this gospel or else denied completely and walk with those who glory
in the flesh and in the flesh alone. either identify with it wholeheartedly
or deny one of the two. Boy, this is straight talk, but
it's necessary. If we say that we're the children
of God and that Jesus Christ has redeemed us by His life and
by His death and by His intercessory work even now, I insist that
if you believe it, that you publicly confess the Lord Jesus Christ
in baptism and live a life at home and in the business world
and in the social world that will indicate to your associates
and to everyone that you come in contact with, that you're
a new creature in Christ Jesus, or else deny any association
with Jesus Christ and take your chances with the atheists and
the infidels. Is that right? That's right.
That's the truth. God help me, that's the truth. Now, one verse of Scripture,
now I quit. Joshua chapter 24 and verse 15. Joshua 24 and verse 15 says,
And if it seems evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will
serve, whether the gods which our fathers served that were
on the other side of the flood, or the God of the Amorites in
whose land ye dwell. But listen to Joshua, but as
for me, but as for me, and my house, We will serve the Lord. We will serve the Lord. Joshua
said, I've counted the cost. But he said, the cost, the sacrifice,
the price that I must pay is nothing compared to the glory
that we shall enter into when this world is on fire. The crime need of this generation is a people
who mean business for God. I mean who will go all out. Who are not identified with this
insincere, lukewarm, indifferent attitude that is so prevailing
in our religious world at this time. The attitude that is so
prevailing and is so popular is the attitude of this bubbling
over Christian, bubbling over. superficial attitude. Just because a man dresses like
a Christian and talks like a Christian doesn't make him a Christian.
What we see today is what? It's all bubble and enthusiasm. It's all heat, but there's no
light. It's all heat, but there's no
light. We need some men and women and
boys and girls who means business for God, who understands the
answer to that question, how much? O'st thou my Lord? We need some folks that really,
every one of us, from the preacher, the length and breadth of the
congregation, we need men and women and boys and girls who
will face up to that question, who can honestly answer it and
say, I know, that I have been redeemed. I know the price that was paid for my redemption.
I know my condition prior to my conversion. I know that I
was a hater of God. I know that. I know that I was
worthy of going to hell. And I know that I am worthy of
going to hell right now in my own self, in my own flesh. But
I know, by the grace of God, the Lord Jesus Christ hath given
me repentance, and he hath given me faith. And I am what I am
by the grace of God. I have nothing to brag about,
nothing to boast about. Heaven's my home, and it's all
because of Him and what He's done. and all the glory and all the
praise and all the adoration and all the worship belongeth
to Him because He and He alone hath met the sinner's need. We
need men and women who know something about what I'm talking about
and do biddings for God. Quit fooling around. It all boils down to either get
in or get out. That's what it boils down to.
That's what people need to be told nowadays. Either get with
it, either personally and publicly identify with it, or deny it. Either personally identify, associate
with the gospel of grace that alone can meet the sinner's need,
or deny it altogether and go with them. Go over with them.
lock, stock, and barrel who believe that man must do something to
justify himself before God. Go with them! God help us. Answer the question. What owest thou unto my Lord? Well, you're a believer. I'm
a believer. We owe Him all. We owe Him all. We owe Him every drop of sweat. We owe Him every hair that's
on our head. We owe Him every drop of blood
that flows in our veins. We owe it to Him. Body, soul,
mind, and spirit. We owe it to Him. Either he's worthy or he's not
worthy. Thanks be to God he's worthy. He's worthy of it.