Now, brethren, if you will, let's
open to Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12. About eight
or nine years ago, I wrote my pastor a letter, a handwritten
letter, like a good old ace. And I knew that would please
him. He liked to have handwritten letters. I thought that was a
very personal touch. Do you know how I knew that?
He told me. He taught me that. He taught
me that from Romans chapter 12. Did you know that? It stuck with
me. And I listened to a message of
his that he preached before he retired. And I was blessed by
it. And I wrote him a letter and
just thanked him. Told him what I heard in that.
Told him what my Redeemer had done for me. I was thankful the
Lord used him to tell it to me. He wrote me back. And that letter
coming back, I had some unpreached sermon notes. So we're going
to have a good time when we start going through the Psalms. He
gave me some gems there. Gave me some freebies. But if someone was to just start
listening, it's real sporadic. I listen a little bit over here.
I listen a little bit over there. And I listen a little bit here.
I listen when I want to. If I turn to Romans 12 and they heard me
start preaching, If I just got to this text and got into it,
they would say, that man's missed the mark. He hadn't preached
Christ to them. You know what Paul did in Ephesians? We're going through Ephesians.
First three chapters of Ephesians, Paul laid the gospel down, that
foundation, as solid as one could lay a foundation. Given by the
Holy Spirit of God to lay that foundation. Tell us who man is,
who Christ is, and what He accomplished for His people. And then He spent
4, 5, and 6 telling us what the results of that redemption are.
The fruit to the Spirit. The heading of my Bible says,
Christian Conduct. Someone knew what a Christian
was. Someone that was put in Christ. Truly, this is their
conduct. He tells us that, and then here
in Romans, the first 11 chapters, He lays that foundation. He says,
because of that, now I'm going to teach you something. We need
to be taught some things, don't we? I do. I need to be reminded
of some things. Let's read our text before I
get too far off my notes. Romans 12, verse 3. For I say,
through the grace given unto me, To every man that is among
you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to
think, but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to
every man the measure of faith. For as we have many members in
one body, and all members have not the same office, so we, being
many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of
another. having been gifts differing according
to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us
prophecy according to the proportion of faith, or ministry, let us
wait on our ministering. Or he that teacheth, on teaching. Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation. He that giveth, let him do it
with simplicity. He that ruleth with diligence.
He that showeth mercy with cheerfulness. When we get to this chapter,
we always remember those first 11 chapters of Romans. Paul's
teaching us that saving of God's elect is by Christ alone. He's
the one that saves us. It's not by works. It's not by
our birth. It's not by our good intentions.
Salvation's of the Lord. We will see some instruction
here in these next five chapters. But if we miss that block, if
we miss that first 11 chapters, if the Lord didn't give us grace
to understand that, all we have here is loss. We're slaves. We're not bond
servants. That's the difference. These are just rules. This isn't
something that I want to do that. This is what I want to do. out
of a debt of love. I love my master. I want to do
these things. What he's putting my hand to
do, and I want to love my brethren. I want to. If we don't get the
first 11 chapters, obviously you have to do this. Put handcuffs
on them and make them. It's a shame. In this county,
in this state, on this coast, in this nation, on this continent,
and on almost every continent, there are loads of people that
are staunch, hardcore Calvinists. They believe in total depravity. That is the truth. That's what
the Lord says. That's what the scriptures say. I believe in total depravity.
But they've never experienced being humbled. I believe in unconditional election. I do that, but I don't know what
grace is. Limited atonement, but I don't
know. I don't love the person who is
my atonement, the one that made onement between me and God. I
don't want a piece of paper. I don't know Him. A lot of people
know about irresistible grace, but they've never been drawn
by that irresistible grace to the wilderness of their hearts.
Saul and Hosea. The Lord's never brought them
out by themselves, away from what they know, what they've
been taught, and spoke comfortably to their heart. Perseverance of the saints. That's a fact. It's hard to believe
when something's finished that ain't never started. It's a shame. That's why Paul says there in
verse 1, he says, I beseech you. I'm not chastising you. I'm not
beginning this stuff by saying if you don't do this, you're
not saved. If you don't do this, you're
going to lose your salvation. That's not what he's saying.
In his authority, in his position, we'll see in a second, he says,
I beseech you. out of kindness, out of love,
out of meekness. Brethren, I beseech you. Therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies
a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service. This is reasonable. Everything
in these next five chapters, it's reasonable. By the mercies
of God, it's reasonable. And be not conformed to this
world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind
that you may prove What is that good and acceptable and perfect
will of God? What will prove to us? Not prove
to God. He knows His will. We don't prove
our faith to God. He proves it to us. He's the
one who gave it to us. What will prove to us the will of God?
That His will in saving and keeping His people is being performed. True humility. true humility
and the gifts of the Holy Spirit by His grace. Humility and gifts, that's the
title of my message tonight. People hear gifts of the Holy
Spirit and boy, they get excited. Oh, I know something about that. The Lord's gracious to me in
not giving me the faith to move mountains. You know why? I'd
be outside and I'd be throwing every mountain I see in the ocean. The gifts of the Holy Spirit
aren't things that our carnal mind that was born of Adam think
of as gifts of the Holy Spirit. If you want to pull quarters
out behind somebody's ear, go get your magic kit. It's something
different. Our Lord moved Paul to write
these things and to write them in this order. Humility first,
then the gifts of grace. We're going to look at humility,
and then we're going to apply humility to each one of these
gifts. I hope the Lord blesses us. He said there in verse 3,
For I say, through the grace given unto me, I'm telling you
this because of the grace given unto me, to every man that is
among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to
think. What was Paul's grace that was given to him? Was he
justified in the blood of Christ? Yes. Was He made holy, unreprovable,
and our Redeemer? Yes, He was. Is He eternally
secure in the almighty hand of the Lord Jesus Christ? Absolutely,
He was. The Lord was gracious to Him.
But He was also given the grace to be an apostle. He was an apostle. He had gifts For that time, those
apostolic gifts, he could do some stuff. We can't do it in
these days. We have the complete scriptures
of the Lord. Paul was still writing them at the time. And so the
Lord gave his apostles these abilities to lay on of hands
and to heal and to speak in other languages. He hadn't ever been
taught. He had these abilities because
we didn't have the completed Word of God and that proved to
that early church who he was, that Christ had trained him.
That was another thing. He was an apostle. So many people
nowadays think they're apostles. They think, I was out on a desert
island and God just spoke to me and now I know everything.
Christ came to Paul. Blinded him. That's the first
thing we need done. Whatever we think we can see,
we need to be blinded from that and taught to him. It all took
him days or three years. I'll teach you. He was taught
of Christ himself. What a grace. He said, as we're
going through Ephesians, in Ephesians 3, 8, unto me who am less than
the least of all saints. He's still in his sojourn of
humility on that one. He ends up saying, I'm a chief
of sinners. And he said, who's less than the least of all the
saints is this grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles
the unsearchable riches of Christ. What a grace given to me. He's
preaching to brethren and he has authority. He has the authority
to say these things. We often think of authority as
mean, don't we? Our flesh, born of our father
Adam, hates authority. Somebody said, Kevin, there's
$100. Pick it up. It's yours. No. I don't want to. That's my
old man. That's my flesh, isn't it? Any
ruler that's put over me, if they said, go do jumping jacks,
I'd be mad. That new man says, how many do you want me to do?
That's fine. The Lord gave you to me. But when Paul or any other
servant of Christ is preaching with authority, that doesn't
mean they're preaching barking orders to people. That means
they are authorized to tell the truth. And they can speak from
experience. Paul knew something about humility. He had a whole lot to be proud
of in his flesh. And then the Lord gave him a
thorn in his side. We don't know what that was, and I'm thankful
we don't, because they'd probably be selling them on the streets,
wouldn't they? But he spoke from his spirits, and in his love
for those brethren at Rome, Paul tells them not to think of himself
more highly than he ought to think. Let's turn over to 1 Corinthians
chapter 4. Just a few pages. 1 Corinthians
4. Who is this to? Is this to the preachers only?
This is to the few only. He says to every man that is
among you, every one of them, every one in Rome and every one
of us now need to hear this. I am not to think more highly
of myself than I ought to think. I need to hear that often. There
in 1 Corinthians 4, 7. For who maketh thee to differ
from another? And what hast thou that thou
didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it,
why dost thou glory as if thou hast not received it? We've received
a whole lot of things. If I'm breathing, the Lord gave
me breath. If I have a job, the Lord gave
me that job. If I have a heartbeat, He's the
one making it beat. If I have understanding of the Scriptures,
the Lord gave that. I shouldn't be proud of that.
It's a gift. Why would I glory? It's His glory. He gave it to
me. The Lord gives us gifts for our brethren. He gives us abilities
or even our faith. Lord, I believe you. You can
take everything out of this world. Take every friend I have. Take
every penny that I got. Take every possession I have.
Take this world away. If I still have Him, I have everything.
Is that me? That's a gift. To know Him is
a gift. They are given to God. We can't
glory in any of the gifts that are given to us. Just as our
salvation was not earned by us, Speaking to brethren, that's
who he's talking to. Verse 11 chapters, we're picking up now.
Speaking to brethren, speaking to believers. The same as our
salvation was not earned by us, any gift, any talent, any ability
the Lord gives us is not earned by us. It's given to us. Turn over to 1 Corinthians 15. When the Lord does a work in
someone's heart, Everybody, I didn't write this down, but I thought
about it. When Barnard first came to Asheville, Kentucky in
1950, they put signs up around the town. I wasn't alive back
then. Some people think I'm older. But they put signs up around
town that said, John the Baptist has come to town. That's about
what it's like. But one of the old preachers
said, this old town ain't ever going to be the same. We can
understand that, can't we? The gospel comes into a town.
A preacher comes into town. I've heard a lot of people say
it about my pastor. Ever since I heard that man,
I ain't been the same. When God speaks to someone's
heart, when he does a work in them, they ain't ever the same.
God doesn't save somebody and give them the knowledge of Christ
and give them his love and then they keep walking through this
world like nothing's happened. I did that for years. You'd see,
the only way you knew I was a believer was because I was at church three
times a week. As soon as I walked out that door, I blended right
in. I was conformed to the world. Looked like everybody else, talked
like everybody else, acted like everybody else. And that work
started. Went from here to here. The Lord
got a hold of me. But with me, I didn't glory in it. He did
it. He said, if it does not produce
fruit, When he's speaking of those fruit trees and those vines,
he says, I'll cut it down. The fruit produced from that
tree, it's not from the branches. The branches don't produce their
own fruit. Christ said, without me, you can do nothing. He's
the vine. We're the branches, ain't it?
Anything that comes from us, spiritual fruit or any ability,
is from Him. Look here in 1 Corinthians 15
and verse 10. But by the grace of God, I am
what I am. What was Paul? Sinner saved by
grace. What was his office? He was an
apostle. As far as man is concerned, he was the highest authority
in the church. I am what I am by the grace of God. And his
grace, which was bestowed upon me, was not in vain. The Lord
came and was gracious to that sinner, and it wasn't in vain.
How do we know? He says, but I labored more abundantly
than they all. Paul ain't bragging. Paul wrote
the bulk of the New Testament. He traveled, he preached, he
never let up. The Lord gave him grace. The
Lord's grace was not in vain, and he labored more abundantly
than them all. That's something to kind of set your shoulders
back a little bit, isn't it? Read on. Yet not I, there's that
humility, but the grace of God which was with me. That's the
only way Paul was able to do all those things. That's the
only way he was able to preach. And not just all, that's what
we always go to, my mind does, all the things he could do. God
saved a sinner. What a miracle! Don't matter
if it's Paul, me, anybody else. That's a miracle, isn't it? Peter
and James both said the same thing. They said, Yea, all of
you be subject one to another and be clothed with humility.
Be embraced, be clothed with humility, for God resisteth the
proud and giveth grace to the humble. A humble mind, a humble
spirit is the opposite of a proud mind and a proud spirit. A proud
spirit, a proud, haughty look is the opposite of grace. We should have no pride in anything
the Lord gives us, but be humble concerning whatever he gives
us. Proverbs chapter six. So many scriptures we can quote,
we know by heart, but it's good to see them. It's good to look
at them with fresh eyes. Have you ever read a scripture
and then you see some light in it? And then as time goes on,
the Lord gives you a little more light. You see something you've
never seen before. And you say, when did that was
put there? Has that been there the whole
time? What a blessing. That blessing of these scriptures
will never run dry. You can't somehow hear people
say, well, I'm an expert in the Bible. No, you ain't. Nobody
is. Look here in Proverbs 6 verse
16. These six things doth the Lord
hate, yea, seven, are an abomination unto him. What's first? A proud
look. a lying tongue, and hands that
shed innocent blood, and heart that devises wicked imaginations,
feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness
that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among the brethren."
We've read that before, haven't we? Why did Solomon say six things,
yea, seven? Here's the wisest man Smartest
man ever born of Adam. Do you think he just fumbled
his pen and didn't want to scratch it out? Six of these things that the
Lord hates are all rooted in the first one. Pride. Pride. Proud look. A lying tongue. Why would I lie?
Well, I've got to save my image, don't I? Why would I shed innocent
blood? Gotta protect what's mine. Heart
that deviseth wicked imaginations. I think. That's a wicked imagination. I think. Feet that be swift to run the
mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth
discord among the brethren. Ever bid of that. Pride. Six
things. Oh, yay, seven. The first one's
sewn throughout all of them. Each of us need to be reminded
not to have pride. And I need that first and foremost. I do. I've heard people say to
us, well, don't compliment the preacher too much, you might
get a big hit. God knows how to humble his servants. Trust
me. He knows how to keep them down
and to squash that pride and that haughtiness. That's what
Paul was telling Timothy. He said, a pastor can't be a
novice lest he be lifted up in pride. Dad would get a hold of
him. He's got to have a few years
of getting knocked down before he gets there. The Lord knows just how
to do it. He knows just how to deal with
each one of his children. Back in our text in Romans 12, Paul tells us not to be prideful,
not to think more of ourselves than we are, but he continues
to drive that point home before he gets to these gifts we're
given. It says in verse 3, For I say, through the grace given
unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself
more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly,
according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
Sober means to be of sound mind, to be in your right mind. You've
heard somebody say, well, they've lost their mind. That's what
Paul's telling us. He said, you've been given the
mind of Christ. He dwells and abides in his people.
Don't be conformed to this world. Don't get high-minded like the
world. Be humble as Christ was humble, made lower than the angels. Though he was equal with God,
he became a servant for us. Be humble as he was, but think
soberly. Think in your right mind according
as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. Every child
of God has been given the faith of Christ, and no one is different
in saving faith. The faith that saves. Everyone
and his children are the same in that. Now, some have been
given stronger faith to walk through this world. At times. At times. The Lord gives us that
grace sometimes, but who gave that faith? It's not ours, it's
the Lord. Now, Paul is going to give us
an illustration. He tells us about being humble. He's going
to give us an illustration. And this is weighed heavy on
my heart. Someone told me, they said, I don't like when people
give illustrations whenever they tell stories. Now, there are
some poor illustrations and poor stories, and I've owned several
of them. But our Savior only spoke in parables when He was
teaching His people, isn't He? He spoke in a way that those
He talked to could not miss the point. That's a mastery of a
topic to be able to do that. You tell somebody something and
they can understand it. To explain something in terms that the audience
you're speaking to can understand. When I was going through school
for HVAC, we was learning electricity, and I could not get my head around
watts, volts, and amps. It would not sink in. And somebody
came to me and said, you ever used a garden hose? I said, well,
yeah, I've used a garden hose. And that guy sat down and explained
to me electricity with a garden hose. Never forget it. He had
a mastery of the subject matter. He was a subject matter expert.
The apostle gives us an illustration here inspired by the Holy Spirit
that every one of us can enter into. Not all of us are farmers.
Not all of us keep animals and sheep. We don't all plant trees.
We don't all have children. We don't all have husbands and
wives. We're not all fishermen. But
every one of us has a body. It says in verse 4, for as we
have many members in one body, and all members have not the
same office, So we, being many, are one body in Christ and every
one members one of another. There are many different offices,
many duties, many responsibilities given to the Lord's saints. That's
what we looked at before when Paul talked about his dispensations.
But all the members are of one body. And our physical bodies,
a finger is not a lung. It seems childish. I'd write
that in crayon. But we know these things, don't
we? It's common sense. But each finger is needed, each
lung is needed, isn't it? The hand feeds the body, gives
nutrition to the body, and that keeps the lungs alive and the
lungs breathe. Oxygen goes to the finger. One
needs the other. They're dependent. The mind needs
the heart to beat, but the heart has to tell, or the mind has
to tell the heart to beat. and eat each other. They're dependent
on each other. My kidneys stop working, my mind's going to go.
Be gone. My pastor used to say that I
see danger in the head ducks. Working together. We understand
this, don't we? Mouth has a job to speak, not
the finger. If my fingers started talking, I'd be concerned. But
a member of the body does not ask why am I a nose and not a
liver. They're one body, one organism,
fitly framed together. It says in verse 4, as we have
many members in one body and all members have not the same
office. There's many of us here. Each of us have a different role,
but together we're one local body of Christ. So we, being
many, are one body in Christ and every one member's one of
another. Now having humility, thinking
in our right minds, understanding that we are all one in Christ
for His glory. Paul gives us verse 6. Having
been. Gifts differing according to
the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy let us prophesy
according to the proportion of faith, or ministering let us
wait on our ministering, or he that teaches on teaching, or
he that exhorteth on exhortation, he that giveth let him do it
with simplicity, he that ruleth with diligence, he that showeth
mercy with cheerfulness." We could camp out That's when I
think I could be like 1800s. I could preach for five or six
hours from that text. We can camp here for a long time
and I hope every few years we come back. It says, prophecy,
ministry, teaching, exhorting, giving, ruling, show and mercy. These are several gifts the Lord
gives his people, but this isn't an all-inclusive gift or list. This is including everything.
He says up there, weather. He's giving us some examples,
isn't he? But to me and you, in humility, we're to act on
these gifts as the Lord provides them to us, as He gives us grace
to have them and to act on them. He deals with the preacher first.
That's appropriate. He said prophecy. This is me
preaching the gospel. I have to have a proper understanding
of the scriptures and be able to stand up and tell people about
it according to the ability that God gives me. This is to me. If I don't understand something
in the light of Christ or what the Proverbs say, according to
the portion of faith God's given me, I have no business preaching
on it. Tim James said, in truth the apostles did not preach Christ
from the Old Testament, but they preached the Old Testament in
the light of Christ, understanding him. A famous financial guy,
I kind of tend to, he always quotes Proverbs 22.7, the rich
ruleth over the poor and the borrow is servant to the lender. Practically that's true. If you
follow those things, don't go into debt, don't spend more than
you make, live within your means, you're going to have more money
in this earth. But if practically that's all
you got, you got nothing. It's going to perish. God's sovereign
in all things and I'm poor in spirit and He's my God and I'm
His child. He's rich, He rules over poor.
And being in a debt of love to cross my Savior, I am His willing
bond servant. I don't want to leave the borrower's
servant to the lender. He's given me grace and I want
more of it. I want to be his willing bond servant. The Lord
gave me the grace to see that, I should preach it. That's what
I have. But if that's just a practical
application in that verse, you can read that yourself. Somebody
wants to educate themselves, go read Proverbs. Read one a
day. You can do it in a month. Read 12 times a year. There are
things that I don't know what they mean. There's some stuff
in Revelation. Somebody says, hey, what's this
mean? I don't know. The Lord hasn't given me light on that
yet. So I don't preach on it. If he gives me light on it, I'll
preach on it. Worst thing I could do is act
like I know. I'm sorry. Worst thing I could
do is tell you what I think. Now here I'll tell you what I
think. I'm here to tell you what I know, what the Lord showed
me. If I have authority, the knowledge and experience in Christ
of what a text says, I'm to preach that according to the grace,
to the light that He's given. How does prophecy affect you? How does preaching affect you?
When you speak to your family, when you speak to your friends,
when you speak to a child, Someone asks you, what did Christ mean
when He said He didn't pray for the whole world, but only those
that the Father gave Him? You mean God really hated Esau?
If the Lord's given you the light to have an understanding in Christ
of what those things mean, tell Him. He's given it to you. But don't dive into super or
post-lapsarianism. I've had people ask me before,
let's sit around and discuss doctrine. Instead of looking
across, I was looking at a thesaurus and a dictionary to try to figure
out what them words mean. So I didn't look like a dummy.
That's not an environment that promotes humility, is it? That's
called pride. I didn't want to look silly.
Avoid those things. I've got a couple of Don quotes
in here. I've read all of them. Somebody
asked Don one time, do you have a post-millennial position? He
said, if I did, I wouldn't tell you. Let us prophesy according to
the proportion of faith. He says in verse 7, or ministry,
let us wait on our ministry. Let us tend to our ministry.
For me, that's to serve you. If I'm not studying, praying,
or preaching, and you need a couch move, I need to go move that
couch with you. I'm here to serve you, but for everyone else. Many of the writers said this
was speaking to deacons and elders, those that tend to the buildings,
those that tend to the necessities of the church. And that's true,
but it's not just limited to tending to a building, or finances,
or concerning everyone that looks after another. It talks about
everyone that cares for one another, everyone that prays for one another.
When I was a young boy on 13th Street, there was a man that
handed out pieces of candy. He was kind to a little child.
I ain't never forgot him. That was a ministry. He served
me by doing that. Singing, smiling, Writing a letter
to somebody? I ain't heard so and so in a
time. Let me sit down and hand write a letter out to them and
mail it to them. It won't cost you 50 cents. That's a ministry. Keeping up with electronics,
audio, visual, all that stuff. That's a ministry. That's serving
the Lord who saved us. I always think cutting grass.
We ain't got grass here. You know what I'm getting at. Teaching. If the ability or opportunity
is given to somebody to teach the Word, It is a gift and it
should be done with a humble spirit and on teaching. It should be diligent. Time should
be put into it. There should be great care taken
before and preparation. Does that mean we have to set
up a special room and special time? That could be at the kitchen
table with your loved ones or your children. exhortation to
encourage one another. Everybody likes a word of warning.
People like to exhort one another. Point somebody out and teach
them. But that's to comfort those that
are hurting. And some members of the body of Christ are given
this gift of exhortation. Some people can invite folks
to church. We was talking about that the other day. Tell everybody
they know, come church with me. I know a man that told the boy
that took his money at the gas station, the people he worked
with, everybody around him, come to church with me. If you bought
something at the hardware store, come to church with me. The Lord
gave him that gift. Some have the gift of correction.
It's easy to bark down and say, you shouldn't be wearing that.
But some have the gift to take them sideways humbly with a meek
spirit. It begins in love, a conversation
that begins in love and it ends in love. Some people have that
ability. You have to be comforted. We
all have that gift, don't we? One of the best comforts, one
of the best exhortations I ever had. I was in a trial and somebody
came up to me with tears in their eyes and went, and they hugged
me and they turned around and walked away. I knew what they
meant. That's a gift of exhortation.
Giving. This ain't just money. Some people
being, Lord blessed them with a lot of money and they give
money. Some have money to give, and they should do it, simply.
That means liberally, consistently, and without attention being drawn.
The Lord gave it to them, give, simply. Brother Don was asked
one time, somebody said, well, should I give 10% before taxes
or after taxes? He said, you just keep your money.
Missed the mark. Don't worry about it. We give
our time. He actually said if all a man
gave was 10%, he might as well hit the heels, you know. It ain't
just 10% of your money, tithing, what nonsense. We give our time,
our prayers, our knowledge in earthly things. Oh, I know how
to fix one of those. Someone knows how to sew something
like that. I know how to mend that garment. What we know, we
share with our family, don't we? And we care to every member
of the body. And we should do everything like
that simply. We should do it liberally. We should do it consistently. And we should do it without drawing
attention to ourselves. Humbly. I said this list was
not all inclusive that Paul gave us. Receiving. Giving is a great
gift of God. It's a grace of God to be given
the ability to give. It's also a grace to receive. It's also grace to receive. What
gets in the way of me receiving something? My pride. Ruling. He that ruleth, ruleth with diligence. They say it's just the pastors,
elders, and deacons. The office is a responsibility,
but that's to every one of us. Husbands and wives, if you're
in charge of something, do it with diligence. Mothers and fathers,
employees, employers, any position we have that's put in our hand,
the Lord gave to us, we should do it humbly, with diligence,
and in the love that Christ has shown us, and the consistency
He's been towards us. Showing mercy with cheerfulness. Be merciful one to another. I'll
forgive you if you grit your teeth. That ain't cheerful, is
it? Be happy to forgive those that offend you. Be happy to
be kind to your enemies. Why? I was an enemy of Christ
and He was kind to me. I hated God and it was in my
sin when Christ died for me. The Holy Spirit came to me. That's
where I was. How can we be humble and cheerful while we're being
merciful to our brethren? Only in the light of the mercies
of God towards us. That's what Paul started us out
in verse 1, by the mercies of God. That's the only way. Because
we have one gift, we don't neglect the other gifts we have. People
say, well, I give money so I ain't gonna go clean up. I write letters,
I ain't giving no money. I pray, so I ain't talking to
nobody. No, that ain't it. And each of
these gifts, we're told to do them according to the proportion
of faith. We're told to let us wait or tend to them, be mindful
of them. Let us do them with simplicity.
Let us do them with diligence. And we're told to do them cheerfully.
We do them. Brother Gabe had a good point
about preaching. He said, you know, if that was in my part
to study this and try to draw out what pearls I could and pray
the Lord give me a message and he gave me a message and I was
blessed by it and all I just I had this meal for you and I
ate every bit of it. That's why I got what I needed. You know since me coming here
on Wednesday night, you think the Lord gave me another message? Lord gives us something. We don't
keep it to ourselves. We don't hoe up in a cavern somewhere,
or a cave, and hide from everybody, and we don't share it with the
brethren. One body. That pinky finger's been given
blood. If I cut it off, it ain't part of this body no more, is
it? It ain't gonna live by itself. And hot coals and a fire, you
pull one out, it's gonna extinguish. God truly grants the gift of
belief in His child. His child's going to use those
gifts that's given to them, however many they may be. Some are given
several gifts. They're able to do a whole lot.
Some are only given a couple. And we probably think too little
of them. But each one of his children he's done a work in,
they've been given some gifts. Throw Matthew 25 and I'll let
you go. Matthew 25. I'll try to cut this
short. We know the story of the talents.
There's portions of money. Master come in, he gave one servant
five talents, one servant two talents, and one servant one
talent. And he left. And when he come
back, he said, how many talents you got? The one at five, he
had 10. He doubled his talents, doubled
his money. The other one had two. Now he's
got four. Doubled his money. He used it. Worked with it. Diligent with it. Humbly held
that money. But the one that he gave one,
he went and buried it. And he said, why'd you bury that? I gave you a talent to take care
of, and you went and buried it in the sand. You hid it from
everybody. Didn't do no good for your brethren.
Why'd you go hide that? And he said, I was afraid of
you. You don't reap what you sow. You're an evil master. And I was scared that if I was
to go out and was to lose this, that you'd be mean to me. That
servant did not know his Lord, did he? What was his response? Look here in verse 26, Matthew
25, 26. His Lord answered him and said
unto him, he told all the other ones, he said, you're good and
faithful servants. I'll give you more. And he answered this
one, verse 26. His Lord answered and said unto
him, thou wicked and slothful servant. Well, I didn't lose
it. Yeah, but he gave it to you on
purpose. You didn't do what you was told.
He didn't bless, the Lord didn't bless it. It says in verse 28,
take therefore the talent from him and give it to him which
hath ten talents. For unto everyone that hath shall
be given. There's the ticket. Everyone
that hath shall be given and he shall have abundance. But
from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which
he hath, and cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness,
there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And the light of Christ's
mercies towards us, comforts towards us, giving to us, ruling
kindly over us, serving us, let us do also as he did to us. And then the same chapter, if
you look there at verse 30. I was on the wrong page, hold
on a second. Now I'm really on the wrong page. And the same chapter is given
this parable of the talents. Christ speaks to us there in
verse 33. And he shall set the sheep on
his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the king
say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. For I was hungered and you gave me meat. The Lord
gave you that gift. Go feed somebody. I was thirsty
and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you took
me in. How we act outside this place?
We might be entertaining angels unaware, huh? Naked and you clothed
me. I was sick and you visited me.
I was in prison and you came unto me. Then shall the righteous
answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee and hungered and
fed thee or thirsty and gave thee drink? When saw we thee
a stranger who took thee in or naked and clothed thee? Or when
saw we the sick or imprisoned and came unto thee? And the king
shall answer unto them, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye
have done it, to one of these least my brethren, one of these
whole body, whole family of God, ye have done it unto me." I don't think I'm faithful in
the talent that's been given to me. I'm a slothful servant. And the Lord says, well done,
righteous. He goes on in that chapter and
those that come to Him and say, Lord, we saw you naked, we clothed,
when did we not see you would do these things? He said, depart
from me, I know you're not. I pray Lord make us know Him
and to know Him, to love Him and in loving Him to have that
same grace given to us we give to others. In this place and
outside them doors. I pray He's with us this week.