Holy Ghost, Holy Ghost, Revival
comes for me. Let the Revival start the work
in me. Rise where He bears, and will
supply me. I hope you, I hope I sang that
song from the heart. That's a prayer. That whole song
is a prayer. Search me, O God. Try me, O Savior. You look at the Psalms and wherever
it says, Oh, that's a cry of, Oh, please, Lord, I praise Thee,
Lord. Fulfill Your Word. Make me pure. Lord, take my life. Oh, Holy
Ghost. Send a revival. Start with me. That's a prayer. And all that really call on Him,
Spirit and Truth, you'll hear them. You'll fulfill their desire. John chapter 2. John chapter
2. I told you this morning that
these three verses struck me, and so much there. We looked at just one verse this
morning, and we're going to look at these other two verses. After
reading Brother Gill, with John Gill on these two verses. Oh
my, this deserves a message. And it will be a message, I believe,
I hope, of conviction and yet great comfort. Verses 24 and
25. John 2 talked about those that believed
in His name when they saw the miracles, but Jesus did not commit
Himself unto them. Because He knew all. He knew
them. All about them. Every one of
them and everything about them. And needed not that any should
testify of man or prove him. He knew what was in man. He knows
us. This is the whole message today. He knows everyone in here and
all about us. Everything. Because, and we read
there in Psalm 139, there's not a word in my tongue, you don't
know it all together. There's not a thought. You know,
when I get up, when I sit down, you know everything about me.
Because He is what Hebrews 4.12 says, the Word of God. who is a discerner of the thought
and intents of the heart. There's no creature that's not
manifest in His sight. All things are naked and open
under the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. He knows us. He knows every one of us. He
knows right now all about you, what you're thinking right now. He knows whether or not you're
in Christ or not. He knows. He knows if our faith
is true or not, just a profession. He knows us, everything about
us. He knows everything that's said
and done, openly, privately, secretly, everything. All the
thoughts and intents and motives and purposes of every single
heart of every single person. You know, if you really hear
that and believe that and know something of that, the first
thing it does is puts fear in you. It ought to, fear. But you
know, these things will have no effect. What I'm about to
say will have no effect on those that are lost or dead. No effect. It will have a slight
effect on professors of religion. Oh, but it won't last. It will have a great lasting
effect on God's people, cause them to fear even more and tremble
and call upon Him, and give great comfort. I hope the Lord will
give you your undivided attention to His
Word, because you'll get great comfort from Him. If you're a
child of God, I think you're going to find out. And this will
give you great comfort that the Lord knows you, everything about
you, better than you know yourself. Now, Scripture says that everything
that men and women and young people have ever done is recorded
in books. Every thought. Would you like
right now to have any Your thoughts today. Would you
like to have your thoughts today put up on the screen for everybody
in here? Somebody's thoughts right now.
Would you like for everybody to know what you were just thinking? God knows. It's got it all written
down in the book. Everything. Everything. And He says, this
is what He said. He says, in the end, someday
the books are going to be open. It's all going to be revealed.
The secret thoughts. A day, Romans 2 says, when God
shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ. Remember when
Christ came? He knew their thoughts. He would
answer them before they would ask anything. Whatever they were thinking,
He'd say. He'd answer it. My, my. All those things, everything
is going to be made exposed, wide open, unless they're blotted out. Do you see we're blotting out
all our transgressions? Not just past, but present, today,
and future. Who knows what we're going to
do? He does. He does. And I'm going to try
to show you. Already blotted out before it's
done. Anyway, alright, three persons, and there's three people
in here right now. Three types of persons. There's
the openly profane sinner, openly sinful. There's the professing
religionist, those that profess faith and believe but not really. And then there's true believers,
true disciples. Alright? The Lord knows all openly
profane wicked people. Now, there are many people that
make no attempt to hide their sin, but openly and outwardly
And they're wicked and vile and evil. You know, you see it all
around you. They make no attempt. In fact, they're proud of it.
Very proud of it. And boast of it. Our Lord knows. He sees. And the reason they...
And they get away with it, they think. They get away with it. And so they think they got away
with it. They hear all this talk about
God judging and so forth. They don't believe it, and they
get away with it, so then they laugh. See? You've heard people
say that. May God strike me down right
now. And He doesn't. But I memorized this scripture
years ago when I first read it. Ecclesiastes 8.11 says this,
because sentence against an evil work is not speedily executed. Therefore, the hearts of the
sons of men are fully set in them to do evil." In other words,
because God doesn't strike them down right there. They think,
see, I got away with it. See, there's no God. Right? That's exactly what people believe.
He knows. He knows. He sees it. All private,
all public sins, everything in the dark. Our Lord said, men
love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil.
Their deeds are evil. Light was coming into the world,
but here's condemnation. Men love darkness. And they do
what they do in darkness. Why? Nobody can see them. What did Psalm 139 say? We just
read. The darkness and the light are
both alike to thee. There's no darkness to God. In
Him there is no darkness. Psalm 94, let me read this to
you, Psalm 94. This is, David said, they're
a bunch of fools. Psalm 94. He said, they're like
beasts, they're fools. When will they be wise? He that
planted the ear, shall he not hear? He that made the eye, doesn't
he see? And they say, no, God doesn't
see me. God doesn't hear me. He made the ear. He made the
eye. He doesn't see. That's what these
false preachers, God has no hands, He made your hand and He doesn't
have any hands? How blind can you be? How foolish
can you be? Oh, He didn't see me. For the
comfort of God's people. Listen to this. For the comfort
of God's people. We see all this around us. We
see David. David was constantly... Crying
out to the Lord, Lord, don't you see? Lord, how long? How
long? My enemies, my enemies, the world,
all this stuff's going on. Lord, why don't you do something?
One time he even told the Lord, he said, it's time for you to
work. They've made void your law. Look at them. They're mocking
you. Look at what all's going on. They're taunting God. They're
shaking their fist in God. Look at all the evil of God's
people. The righteous are suffering at their hands. Do something,
Lord. Don't you see this? David complained about that.
Don't you see this? That's unbelief. Sure he sees
it. But he's in no hurry. He already
knows what he's going to do. He's already purposed it. He's already purposed it. And
he'll bring it all to naught. And here's our comfort, those
that take counsel against the Lord and against His anointed,
he that sits in the heavens laughs. He's laughing. It says he'll
break them in pieces. Wednesday night we're talking
about Solomon. Remember, the wisest man on earth. And that
there were no battles. I don't see in the Scripture
any recorded battles. There's nothing in Scripture
that says there was one arrow that flew in their direction. They all dwelt safely. Brother
Stephen came up after the service and he said, Boy, you would have
been a fool to fight Solomon, wouldn't you? He knows what you're
going to do before you start. He said, You can make any strategy,
plot any battle or whatever, and he's there waiting on you. He knows. He knows what you're
thinking. That's a good observation. What about the Lord? The fact is, everybody's doing
His will. They're lining up just like He
tells them to line up. The preparation of the heart
and the answer of the tongues of the Lord, what they're saying. They all serve Him unwittingly,
not knowing it, and unwillingly. But they do it. They serve Him.
And nothing proves that more than Calvary. Peter got up and preached and
said, him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge
of God. And he said that in John, or
Acts 4 also. Determined. God determined the
fore to be done. You with wicked hands have taken
and crucified the Lord of glory, but you did what God said you
will do. He gave you the orders to do
it. That's God. That's our comfort. Oh, the wickedness. Psalm 73, David. Oh, look, Lord,
look at all this. And he said, oh, I was a fool.
Went in the tabernacle like you did this morning. Went in the
sanctuary and heard a man stand up and preach, God's reigning
over the rule. He's made all things for Himself,
even the wicked, for the day of evil. And he says, I was a
fool. I forgot. The Lord reigns. He knows. He knows. And it's
all working according to his purpose. Isn't that good news?
If I didn't believe that, boy, I'd be so politically active.
I'd be so worried about this next election. And I'm not in the least bit
worried. Well, I just lied a little bit. I hate to see what is happening
in this country for the sake of it. But our God reigns. He's
reigning and ruling. He's already purposed who's going
to reign, already. And He's the one that reigns
over them. Alright, that's our comfort.
God knows nominal professors of religion. God knows all the
pretenders and the hypocrites, all those that give Him lip service.
Now don't get too... unless... know you're not your
own selves. Be worried. I hope this does
have an effect on someone just here in body only. But He knows,
He knows the difference. Those that are just outwardly
moral and believing and... believe in Him because of miracles,
or believe what they can get out of Him, what advantage, so
that they'll be well thought of by others. He discerns. Our Lord knows the
difference between grace in the heart and grace in the head.
He knows the difference between those that believe in the doctrines
of grace Those that have the grace of the doctrine in their
heart. He knows the difference. He knows
the difference between those that just love the doctrines
of grace and those that love the God of all grace. He knows
the difference in those that are coming here to please others
and those that come here to worship God in spirit and truth. He knows
the difference. He knows the difference between
those that truly had their affection set on things above, and those
that truly have a secret desire and longing for this world and
the things of this world, and eventually they will leave him
like Demas, because they love this world and not Christ. He
knows the difference. It says here, he did not commit
himself to these. He knew what was in them. He
didn't commit himself. to them and they weren't committed
to him. Brother Elmquist, Brother Greg,
do you remember this quote in the bulletin last week? Brother
Elmquist said, and he came out of religion, some pretty big
numbers where he was. He said, there was a time when
I thought the problem with people who were sporadic in their church
attendance was a lack of commitment. He said, I no longer believe
that. I now know it's a lack of need. It's a lack of hunger and thirst
for Christ. If you hunger and thirst, you'll
be at the table. You'll be there. If you're in
love, To lack of love. If you're in
love, you love to hear His Word. You love to hear His voice. You
love His worship. You love it. You love it. It's like a marriage. You love
that person. You want to be with them. And isn't love, isn't marriage
a commitment? You don't love somebody if you're
not married to them. You don't try it out. When love
happens, Margaret, when love happens between you two, you're going to get married,
aren't you? I can't live without this man. I love this man. I
love this woman, right? Will you take this? Will I take
her? I thought you'd never ask. I
thought he'd never ask. It's commitment. It's total commitment.
You've got to have him. You've got to have them. You
can't live without them. It's commitments. Brother Gabe did
such a wonderful job in that marriage. We both got that ceremony
from my pastor. We use it all the time. But in
that, he talks about, you know, you've made a vow before God
that you're going to serve this person. You're going to love
this person. You're going to be totally committed to this
person. Will you do that? I will. That's marriage. That's love.
Commitment. He did not commit himself to
that. If our Lord doesn't commit to
us, we're gone. Listen to the definition
of commitment. You'll love this. If you're listening
carefully, listen. Because it all applies to Christ.
This is just a dictionary. Are you with me? Listen to this,
this is great. I read Webster's and I just shouted. It says, commitment means to
give oneself into trust as a charge, a consignment for preservation. to give oneself, to pledge oneself
to a position, to express one's intentions and feelings for the
other. It's to bind oneself and obligate
oneself by this pledge and give assurance to the other that you're
committed. Listen to this. to commit oneself
to a promise and be committed to a course of action. Like when you commit, you know,
you step off a cliff, you're committed, aren't you? You ain't
coming back. Did you see how I applied to
our Lord Jesus Christ? Committed. Oh, I need Him committed
to me. Alright, who is the Lord committed
to? Who is the Lord committed to? Now, there's this third group
of true believers. True believers. And our Lord,
who's the great shepherd of the sheep, who's prophesied of in
Ezekiel 34. The whole Ezekiel 34 is about
the great shepherd. He said, I know my sheep. I'm
coming after them. Coming after them. My sheep. You're going to hear my voice. I'm the great shepherd. And it
says he'll judge between cattle and cattle. It says he'll judge
between cattle and cattle. And here's a big group of human
beings. They all look the same. It says
he'll judge... Listen to this, John. You're
listening. It says he'll judge between the rams and that he goats. The difference between a goat
and a ram, what's the difference between a goat and a ram? One's a sheep, a male sheep. And quite often they look just
alike. Quite often they act alike. Don't
they? Ask Stephen about goats. They had a goat. Why did you have that goat? You
thought it was useful, didn't you? Eating stuff around the
house. Brother Stephen was up there
working in his yard and had his back turned to that goat. What
a sweet goat. That's a nice goat, wasn't it Mary? Pet goats. It's
a goat. And he turned his back side on
that goat. Didn't they, Lord? And that goat,
unprovoked, boom, hit Stephen, didn't it? Where's that goat
now? He's gone. Goats, that's what goats do.
But, but, not sheep. Remember our Lord said in Psalm
72, He shall judge the poor of the people. He'll save the children
of the needy. He'll hear the poor when they
cry. He'll save the needy, the poor and needy. He shall discern. He shall deliver the needy, the
poor. He's discerned between those
that say they are and those that really are. Alright, listen to
me, believer. I'm talking to a believer. And
I don't know. I really don't know. There's
some evidences, but I don't know that. The Lord knows. Alright,
here they are. Here they are. The Lord chose
them. He knows them because He chose them. The foundation of God stands
assured, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are His.
They argued with Spurgeon one time, you believe that only the
elect will be saved, don't you? He said, well, that's what the
Bible says. Well, sure I do. They said, well, then why don't
you just preach to the elect? He said, if they had an E on
them, I would. And I can't see it. He told me
to preach to all. He knows who they are, and He'll
call them. They do have an E on them. We
can't see it. He does. He knows them that are
His. They have blood on them. He sees
it. The Lord knew which houses in Egypt had blood on them. The
people inside the houses, all of them didn't even really know,
did they? They hoped. There were kids inside that house,
there were people inside that house, weak people. Is that blood
out there? Yeah, it is. The Lord knows they were chosen
by Him. They were given to Him in a covenant. Christ knows He
came to save them. He knows them that are His. This
mass of people. You know, the Lord could have
saved every person He came into contact with, couldn't He? Couldn't
He? Scripture says he's able to save.
Why didn't he? Why didn't he? He loves them
all. Why didn't he save them? He came to save his own, his
people. He didn't come to try to save
everybody. He came to save his people from the sin. He knows them. They were given
to him in a covenant. And he committed himself. He
pledged himself before the world began. And in time, He calls them by
His Word, by His voice, by His gospel, by His power. They come,
every one of them. He justifies them. He glorifies
them. You see, He foreknew them. He
knows them. He foreknew them. He predestinated them, everything
about them, their salvation. He called them. He justified
them. He glorified them. He knows them
all right. There He is. They're Him. He knows them all.
He knows all about them now. He knows all about them. He knows
their sins. That's why He came. But, Lord, I'm such a sinner.
I love the story of Peter when he found out the Lord knew him
in that boat. You remember, Peter didn't know
him and said, Okay, teacher, we've been fishing all night.
And, you know, we know these waters like the back of our hand.
My daddy was a fisherman, his daddy was a fisherman. We've
been fishing since we were boys. We own this lake. You know, fish
tremble when they hear us coming. Fishermen. Boy, they're a proud
bunch, aren't they, Ron? Aren't they a proud bunch? That's
why we catch, boil all day sometimes, catch nothing. It's not even
luck when we fish, not skill at all, Ron. The Lord put a fish
on our hook every time. Peter said, okay, teacher, because
you say so, we'll cast this net on the right side of the boat.
And it began to fill immediately. He'd just fished there. He had
just fished there. And the Lord, come fish, got
in that net and started to bite. And Peter dropped on his knees.
He thought, this is not a man here. This is not a man whose
presence I am. He knows every fish in the sea.
He knows what I've been thinking all day. He knows what I did
yesterday. He knows what I did in my...
He knows all about me. He knows me. He knows me. And he said, depart from me.
That's what the Pharisees said. Get out of here. You expose us. Our Lord said in John 3, he that
doeth truth comes to the light. David said in Psalm 139, search
me. Here's the difference. Here's
a child of God. You know me. Search me. You know all about me. You know
my sin. Peter, leave me, Lord. No, he came because of that.
He knows you're a sinner. Could you listen to me? Somebody,
listen to me. He knows you're a sinner. That's
why He came. But I'm still a sinner. I'm a
worse sinner now. But that's why He lives. He's committed to you. But I've been a failure. I've
been unfaithful to Him. He made a commitment. You said you did and you blew
it. He won't blow it. Are you with me? That's what's
wrong with these promise keepers and all that. Promise, promise,
promise. You'll break it. You'll break it. He won't. He never will. God who promised
us, He cannot lie. Send His Son. He knows their
sins. He knows your sins. He knows
them all. He came to put them away. He
came to blot them out. He knows your open sins, your
outward sins. He knows everything about you.
Abraham. Oh, bless his heart. Abraham. Strong in the faith.
Man, he was scared to death one day. Twice denied his wife. Rahab the harlot. The woman caught in adultery.
Mary Magdalene. Do you think Mary Magdalene had
those thoughts come up in her head again after that? You know
they did because you had them. You think, you know, the Lord
saved me from that. Someday will. He came to blot
it out. He came to forgive it. He came
to be made sin. He knows you're a sinner. You're
still a sinner. He knows that. It came to save
us from the bondage of that, yes, but whatever serves His
purpose for our good and our humility. It caused us to call
on Him, to fall on Him, cling to Him. He knows our secret sins. David said that in Psalm 19.
He said, and people, this not only causes us fear, but gives
us comfort because David said, cleanse thou thy
servant from secret sins. Keep me back from presumptuous
sins. We're full of both of them. Sins that are even secret to
us that we don't know. Presumptuous sins. We think,
well, if I do this, if I indulge that, Lord will forgive me for
that. Oh, how presumptuous. How evil is that? He knows that. Knows our frame. Maybe my favorite verse in this
passage. He knows our frame. He remembers
that you're just dust and ashes. Sinful flesh. He said that which
is flesh is flesh. He knows in your flesh dwells
no good thing. He knows the flesh lusts against
the Spirit. He knows it better than you do.
He could completely keep you from it. Don't you sometimes
think, if the Lord would just remove all of this, this temptation
and all this within me, I'd just be a better person? No, you'd
forget Him. You'd be self-righteous. You
wouldn't need to hear this gospel right now. It wouldn't mean a
thing to you. He knows the difference between
a Cain and a David. Cain said, my punishment is greater
than I can bear. I can't take this. David said,
you're not giving me what I deserve. You hear that? Big difference. David said, you haven't dealt
with me according to my sins. Didn't he? You understand what
I'm talking about? Which are you? He knows the difference
between Esau and David. Esau lost his privileges. Esau
cried, sought repentance carefully with tears. He thought, if I
cry, that will impress him. He was sorry over losing his
privileges. David was sorry over losing his
presence. He said, take not thy Holy Spirit
from me. Esau was sorry he got caught. David wanted to be cleansed.
It's a big difference. Oh, we want our sins covered,
don't we? Oh, we want our guilt blotted out. Yes, we do. I would
like to wipe out my past so that nobody would ever find out about
it. I would. But what I want more than that It's that He'll create within
me a clean heart and a right spirit within me. That He'll
make me like Jesus Christ. Cain said, my punishment, my
punishment. David said, my sin, my sin. There's a big difference. There's
a saving difference. Our Lord knows His people. He
knows the difference. He knows the worst of His people. Secret sins. Sins of omission. What they don't do, they ought
to do. He knows. He chastens too. And we're so ignorant, we
don't realize it. We don't see it. But he knows. He knows Gil called it church
sins. Church sins. The sins we commit
while we're supposed to be worshiping God. Whoa. That's what the Pharisees
did. That's all the Pharisees did. what they did to be seen of me.
And He knows who is worshipping in spirit and truth. How many
times can you say that you've really come here and worshipped
God with all your heart and soul and mind? Maybe never. He knows. And He came to save you. He came to save you. If that
bothers you, He must be alive. He must be one of these. Only
God's people are bothered by this thing. Only God's people
tremble when they hear this thing. Only God's people are affected
by this thing. Only God's people feel their
guilt and feel this. Only God's people. He knows them. He knows the worst about them.
1 Kings, it was in the article in the Bulletin, 1 Kings 8, when
Solomon dedicated the temple and made that great prayer. Here's
what he said, Oh Lord, whatever prayer and supplications made
by any man or all thy people Israel, whatever, whoever, whatever
they pray, whoever it is that knows the plague of his own heart and cries unto you, Oh Lord,
hear. Oh Lord, forgive. Oh Lord, do.
Christ said, I've committed to that. I know. He knows the best of them. What
little good there is in us, He knows. He put it there. He knows
the best of them. He gave it to them. He put it in them. Our
Lord said to every one of the churches in the Revelation, I
know you were. I know your words. He said it to the preacher first.
He said, I know your word. I know your faithfulness. I know
your diligence. I know you hate them that are
called apostles and are not, the false apostles. I know you've
stood firm. I know, I know, I know you. He
said that with comfort and courage. I know you. I know what you've
done. I see it. But I have something
against you. That's why repentance is always
An ongoing thing. I know your works. I know what
you've done. There's not one single thing that God's people
have done in His name that He won't reward. Not one. He knows. He knows our frame.
He knows our down sitting, upright ups, downs
high, low, hot and cold. He knows our ends and outs. He
knows our frame. He knows our flesh. He knows
our desires. David, I love, that's why I love
the psalm. David said, Lord, all my desires
before them. You know what I want? Even things
I don't need. Lord, I'm not going to try to
hide anything. You see it all. You know I want this, and I shouldn't. He knows us. He knows our desire. He also
knows, one thing have I desired, that will I seek after. He came, you see, the Lord Jesus
Christ came to pay for all those sins. He committed Himself to put away,
to blot out those sins, like a scapegoat. Like a scapegoat,
He came to have God make Him to be sin for us, lay His hand
on the sacrifice. And put all the sins of all of
God's people on our blessed head for these rotten sinners. Ungodly,
and they know they were. And put away their sin. Go take
their sins. far away where they can never
be found again, separate them from us as far as the east is
from the west, blot out our sin, all the handwriting of ordinances
against us on His cross at Calvary, to bear their sin, to be a substitute. He's a fit man, too. He's a fit
man. He's able to purge their sins. chasing
them by His Word, chasing them by trials, by tribulation, by
trouble. He committed. He's totally committed,
His people. Totally committed. Because He
knows what's in you. And if Christ is in you, He put
it there. No, you're not your own selves.
Have that Christ is in you, except you be reprobate. David said,
give diligence to make your calling and election sure. If you do
these things, you'll never follow. I close with this illustration.
Simon Peter. He's like old Jacob, isn't he? Oh, how I'm thankful for the
story of Simon Peter. Simon, Simon. Simon, Simon. Up, down. Hot, cold. In, out. Big talker, failure. Sinner. Sinner through the...
It's me, that's me. I'm Simon Peter. When it was
all over, and the Lord was crucified, and bearing Simon's sins on the
cross, Simon had just, had just, Denied that he ever knew the
Lord Jesus Christ after all the Lord did for him. And cussed and said, I'm going
fishing. What a sorry disciple. Alright. Our Lord was on the
shore. And they were out in the boat
again fishing. He went back to fishing. The Lord, see, committed,
faithful to Simon Peter. He's not going to leave Simon.
Sheep may leave the shepherd. Shepherd don't leave sheep. He's
the great shepherd, the chief shepherd. He's committed and
he was on that shore preparing fish for the hill. He didn't
catch a thing again. You've got to show them again. You're not going to find anything
in this world. You're going to find you're all in me." Cast your
net on the right side, the Lord said. Who is that? John said, it's the Lord. And Simon Peter thought, these fellows
are disciples, I'm not. John loves Him, it's obvious.
He believes Him, it's obvious. He stood there at the foot of
the cross. I didn't. I ran. I'm no Christian. I'm no disciple. Probably never
have been. When a man stood up and said,
it's the Lord, John, he couldn't get to Him fast enough. He just
denied Him. Is He going to receive Him? That's
presumptuous, isn't it? To dive into water to the Lord,
he just did not? Oh, no, no, no. It's not. It's
in there. It's in there. He's in there.
I've got to get to him. And when he got to him, he's
on that shore, and Barbara... Barbara? Where's Barbara? Bonnie? Remember what he said to Simon
Clear first thing? In front of all those people,
Simon? Bar Jonas, son of your father, son of Jonas, Jonas who
went running also, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than all
this? You said the rest of these would
forsake me, and you wouldn't. You love me more than they do?
Love me more than these? What did he say? Yes. He just dove in to get to
it. And here's what he believed. Here's my hope. You know. You know all about me. You know
me better than I do. You know, if I'm yours, I sure
don't act like it. I sure don't walk like it and
talk like it. I do love you. I do love this
gospel. You know. Oh, you know. That's all I hope.
You know. You know. And he says, I'm committed. Committed. Alright, let's sing a closing
hymn. Committed. 233. 233.