Turn with me to look at Colossians
again, Colossians chapter 3. Read the first four verses with
me again. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things
which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of
God. Set your affection, your mind,
your heart on things above, not on things on the earth. For you
are dead. Your life is hid with Christ
in God. who is, or Christ our life shall
appear, then shall you also appear with Him in glory." Christ our
life. It's obviously talking to those
who have been risen with Christ, those who have been raised, quickened,
if you then be risen. He that hath the Son hath life. Whatever that means. That is,
he that knows the Son, he that loves the Son, he that believes
on Him, he that has a union with Christ, hath life. Eternal life. He that hath not the Son doesn't
have life. No matter what you call it, it's
not life if you don't know Christ, if you don't love Christ. And
whatever life that person has here, it's all going to end.
It's going to be over. But he that son hath life eternal. This verse came to my mind when
Mindy and I were traveling somewhere recently. I don't know, it's
been about three or four weeks ago. We were traveling somewhere.
Two Harley Davidson motorcycles went by. And on their back is a slogan. that people that live to ride
motorcycles say, live to ride, ride to live. You've seen that. And that's exactly what they
do. It's their life. You know it is. It's their life.
I turned to Mindy, I said, That's exactly right. That's
their life. That's their life. Another time, and I don't have
anything against Harley-Davidson, so you can be riding a Kawasaki.
But another time, we were leaving here and going to Kingsport,
I think it was, or somewhere, on Sunday afternoon and we pulled
into Plateau Plaza to get gasoline.
And then pulled this 52 or 53 Chevy truck. Just showroom. Cherry. Gorgeous. Man, I like
those trucks. I think they're beautiful. And
this man and his wife got out. The Lord's Day, Sunday. They
got out and they were dressed in their little shorts and their
little tennis shoes. That car was invested thousands
of dollars. I said to men, that's their life.
That is their life. They live for that. I said, I'm
so thankful. But that's not my life. There
was a time when it was. I was consumed at that time. Not anymore. And I asked myself, and this
scripture came to my mind. Both those occasions. Christ,
our life. And I thought, and I asked myself,
Is Christ my life? Is He really my life? Our life, is He? Paul said this. Listen to what Paul said. He
said, For me to live is Christ. That's what he said. He said,
I have a desire to depart and be with the Lord, which is far
better. He said, I am crucified with
Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet, it's
not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live,
that I live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God,
who loved me and gave himself for me. He said, in another place,
I'm crucified with Christ. The world is crucified to me,
and I to the world. What does all that mean? Is Christ
my life? He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life, shall not see life. The wrath of God abides
on him. It's that serious. It's life or death message. Now,
if you have life physically, somebody gave birth to you, didn't
they? You didn't give birth to yourself, did you? How foolish. You didn't one day decide, I'm
going to be. Now someone else decided that.
How plain can it be? Someone else gave. Your parents,
humanly speaking, your parents gave you life. Right? Well, if
Christ is our life, He gave us life. He said, I give unto them
eternal life. I am come that they might have
life. He gives life. He's the source of life. In Him
we live and move and have our being. He's the one that gives
life. And everyone that has it knows
that. I know who gave me life. I know
my father and my mother. My father sired me and my mother
gave birth to me. I know that. How foolish could
you be? to say that I had anything to
do with it. I'll deny that. Call you a fool for saying that.
Well, how could anybody who's been given life by God say that
they had anything to do with it? So number one, whoever has
life knows they didn't will it that God will. They didn't do anything to get
it. God gave it to them. And where
is their life? Every single one that has life
knows where it is. It's in Jesus Christ. It's in Jesus Christ. Well, Christ
said, I am come that they might have life. We're born in Adam
the first time. We're born physically. And our
Lord said about Adam, He said, Adam, the day you eat, you shall
surely die. Dying, you shall die. Adam died
spiritually the day he rebelled against God. And so every one
of Adam's posterity, C, that's up, were born dead in trespasses
and sin. Dead spiritually. We don't know
God, can't see God, can't hear God, don't love God, won't seek
after God. We're flesh. We're sinful. We want sin. We want this earth.
We're of the earth. That's what we want. We're sons
of Adam. We don't even know there's a
God. Don't care there's a God. Don't love God. Don't thank God.
Don't need a God. We're dead in trespass and sin. But God. Some people. It gives a new birth. And I'm
getting way ahead of myself. But we're born in Adam, but we
died in Adam. And to die and you shall die,
he said. And all who just live, all who are sons of Adam, unless
they're born again from above, they're going to die like a dog.
They're going to die like a dog. They're not going to live forever.
It's over. and had them all die. We say
things about people, though, in this world that have all that
this world has, you know, and they say, boy, he's living a
good life. Don't we? Boy, that's living. Don't we? That's what people say. They
look at a man or a woman who has everything that this world
has to offer, you know, riches and health and wealth and mansions
and everything, and we say, boy, that's living now. It's not living
if you lose it all and you die. Here's a fellow, he's lived all
his life and saved all his money for retirement, and then he's
going to travel, and he dies. And with one heartbeat away,
all of us, one breath away from dying. Scripture says, God in
whose hands our breath is, thou hast not glorified. And God says,
You've lost it all. You lose your life. It's over. That's not living. If you're
waiting to die, that's not living. He's appointed unto me and wants
to die. And Adam and Eve all die. But Scripture says in Christ,
all made alive. All in Christ are made alive. A new birth, given spiritual
life, eternal life that will never end. It can be said about
those in Christ living, You shall live. You'll never die. Our Lord
said that. He that liveth and believeth
in me will never die. We're not waiting to die. We're
not waiting to die. We want to die physically, but
we're not waiting to die. We're waiting to live. And we
know a little bit of that now. Just a little bit. Living. And
those who've been born again just started living then, at
that time. Life more abundant, our Lord
said. Eternal life. Life more abundant, He said.
Living you shall live. Life begins when the new birth
takes place. Let me try to make good on that. Like natural life, we're born
of seed. We're born of water. Mother, her water broke. We lived
in water, didn't we? And water broke. There's blood. When Jesus Christ hung on Calvary's
tree, He travailed in birth for a people. He's the one whom we
got life from. He travailed in birth. He laid
down His life. Remember what He said? Except
a corn of wheat fall on the ground and die, it abideth alone. But
if it die, it bring forth much fruit. He said, I die that you
might live. If I don't die, you won't live. And when Christ hung on Calvary's
tree, look back at Colossians 3, look at Colossians 2, I'm
sorry, Colossians 2, it says in verse 11, in whom we are circumcised with
a circumcision made without hands and putting off the body of sins
of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ." That's the crucifixion
of the Lord Jesus Christ who died for our sins. And Adam all
died because the soul that sinned it will surely die, our Lord
said. But in Christ, whoever is in Christ, Christ came to
be made sin, as Brother John prayed, as Scripture said, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. That Christ died
that we might live. And when Christ was crucified,
the sins of all of God's people were laid on Him, they were paid
for, the punishment for sin is death, and Jesus Christ paid
that punishment. So Christ's people cannot die
because Christ died once. One man for many, he died once
at the hands of God. And not only that, but when Christ
was crucified, he gave birth to a people buried with him,
verse 12, in baptism. And you're risen with Christ
through the faith of the operation of God. That's his new birth.
who raised him from the dead, he raises us from the dead. Verse
13, sounds like Ephesians 2. You being dead in your sins and
the uncircumcision of your flesh, dead to God, have he quickened
together with him. Always by grace, you say. Have
him forgiven you all trespasses. Let's keep reading what he said.
Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances against us. They
were contrary to us. That's the law. That's our sin.
Took it out of the way and nailed it to the cross. Spoiled principalities
and power. Took captivity captive. Took
us away from the One who had us captive. And now He went on
to say in chapter 2 that you're complete in Him. Oh, my. It's a mystery, isn't it? But
this life, this spiritual life, is something Christ did. Something
He does for us. And in time, the Spirit of God,
everyone that's in Christ is born again. Born of the Word. Born of the
Word. Catherine, I'm going to use you
because I'm glad you're sitting there. She has a child in her
womb, right? That child got there from the
Father. Seed, right? The child had nothing to do with
it. Is that child alive right now? Ask Catherine. Oh, alive and kicking, right?
But you can't see it. Nobody in here can see it. That
baby's head, it's alive. But it's not breathing. It's alive. It's not crying yet. It's alive. And it's hidden,
and it does not yet appear what it shall be. But it's going to come a day,
real short, real soon, that that child is going to be born. Is
that child going to have anything to do with that? That child is
going to fight not to come out. It's going to be forced out by
its mother who gave birth. Such is the new birth. Such is
the new birth. The seed, the Word of God. When
is conception? When does life begin? Whenever
God plants the Word, the incorruptible seed, His Word, the Gospel, in
the heart and the mind of a human being is dead. And nobody knows
when that happens but God. Just like physical birth. Nobody knows when that seed can
seed. You know, there are many sperm,
aren't there? But one, it's just one seed that attaches to the
egg. When that happens, and it's such
a miracle, such a miracle, all the obstacles, all the hindrances,
it just takes one. And our Lord can take one word
and pierce that heart and plant that seed. When does it happen?
I believe life takes place before birth, long before birth. I believe the child is alive
long before it realizes it. In fact, it's a long time after
they're born. It's almost a month, two months
before they, you know, everything's kind of a blur. They see a man
walking in his trees. And all of a sudden, you see
them little babies, they're born, and all of a sudden, what's that?
Well, it's a test to me. You know, Caesar's mother's high
grandson. But they were alive a long time
before that one. Didn't realize it. Didn't realize it. But there
comes a time when they're born, and we're born of the Word, the
incorruptible seed, the Gospel, preaching the Gospel. This is
what God uses. See, we preach the Word. Preach
the Word, Timothy, because men are going to be born again by
this Word. You just preach the Word. This is the power of God.
This is the seed of God, the Father, whom He impregnates with
the Gospel, His people that are dead. And one day, according
to Him, you keep preaching the Word, keep preaching the Word,
and in the fullness of time, God will create Christ in that
person. Something that's never been there
before. And you might not see it. But
it's there. Well, that baby will be born
and the first thing that child will do that you might know that
it's alive is what? Cry. Cry. Cry out. That's how you know. And I'm going to use my own daughter
as an illustration in this. I was there. They handed her
to me right out of the womb and I cut the umbilical cord I gave
her to me, and I washed her, and I did it all with him. But
the doctor, the first thing he did, you know, she came out,
she wasn't breathing, she was blue. Those lungs have to fill
up, you know, with oxygen. That skin turned pink, depending
on where you're from, black or brown. Anyway, that doctor had
to inflict pain. That's how they're going to make
that baby cry. God had pain. So that doctor used to, years
ago, smack us. Whack! But that doctor just took his
finger and flicked the bottom of her little tender feet. Like
that. Flicked it. Just a little pain.
And boy, I didn't know if she was alive. But he did that. And boy, I cried too. Not for
the pain, A new person that's never been
in this world before. A brand new creature created
in my image. So it is with the child of God. Saul of Tarsus, religious, lost. Self-righteous, lost. Moral,
lost. Had all his doctrine in a row,
lost. Zealous for God, didn't know
God. But when Christ came and spoke
to him the Word, he says, I died. He slew me. And then later it
says that our Lord said, Behold, he prayeth. He's calling. He's
calling. He's crying. He's crying. Crying
unto me. That's the first sound. When
the Word of God comes, when a person starts calling on the Lord. Whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord. You know why they call? He wouldn't call if he weren't
alive. And then what's next? The sign
of life. Hunger and thirst. Hunger and
thirst. It's amazing when a baby is born,
as soon as it's born. It's been feeding and growing
for nine months. Right, Catherine? But as soon as it's born, it's
hungry. It comes out of that womb hungry,
craving one thing, needing one thing. A mother's breast. Milk. The pure milk from its mother.
And everything it needs is in that milk. Everything. In that colostrum. Immunity from
disease and strength, health. It's called the pure milk. No
formula will replace that. And that child comes out of that
womb craving that milk. And sometimes you have to teach
it. But when it latches on, oh my, then it feeds on that milk
and it grows. How can a human being grow on
just milk? I know why. I know why. Oh, you Stoniker kids nursed
for a long time, didn't you? Well, look at them. They grew. They grew big. God's people desire
the sincere milk of the Word. When a person is given spiritual
life, they desire the sincere milk of the Word. That's what
they want. They're born of it. They feed
on it. They hunger and thirst after
it. And not just the Bible, it's Christ. Christ is the Word. Christ
is the truth. Christ is the Word. They feed
on Christ. They must have Him. They have
a hunger and a thirst for Him. That's how you know they're alive.
I never had a desire for it before. Dead people don't hunger and
thirst, but alive people do. Now listen to me. While I talk
about these things, let me give you, for your own comfort, the
slightest sense of life, the slightest little evidence of
life is life. The slightest evidence of life
is life. Even to be cold. To feel cold. Our Lord said about the church
in Laodicea, you're lukewarm. He said, I would that you were
hot or cold. If you feel hot or cold, you're
alive. If you don't feel anything, you're dead. Right? Even to feel
cold, it's not alive. These senses. Alright? And a
life has physical senses. Physical life has physical senses.
Hearing. If you're alive, you have these
senses. Hearing. Sight. Feeling. Touch. Taste. Smell. One of the strongest of all is
smell. What would life be? And these things are involved
in life. If you're alive, all these things are going on all
the time. All the time. Thank God for these senses. What
would life be like without any of these senses? I've often thought,
what would I go without if I had to go without something? Seeing? Sight? Taste? Hearing? I don't want to do without Him.
They all are together in making up life. Hearing. Hearing. Listen to beautiful music. Jeanette? You love music, don't you? God's
given you an ear for it. She loved beautiful music. Birds
singing. We were down at Claire and Annie's. They loved the birds. We do too.
And there was a mockingbird out there. And we all sat and listened
as that bird sang, mocked a hundred different birds. We were amazed,
amazed at that bird singing. A child's laughter. Is there
anything on this earth more wonderful than a cackling baby? What if
you never heard that? What if you never heard that?
See, sight, beautiful sunrise, sunset. Mountain views, touch,
touch, a warm embrace. Sophie is so affectionate. She loves to hug and won't hardly
let go. She was sitting in my lap and
she loves me, I think, as much as I love her almost. And she'll
take me by the face and hold me and give me a big old kiss. That's just, I don't know what
I can, what I, I love it. What would we be without that?
Embrace, warmth, taste, food, pay, fruit, vegetables, milk,
honey, meat, fried okra, whatever it is that you love. What would
we be without that smell? sweet-smelling savor, flowers
and food and so forth. Now, when God gives life to a
dead sinner, all these things happen spiritually. Faith comes
by hearing. We might be hearing the preaching,
but we're not hearing it. We're not hearing it. It is not
beautiful to us. I sat as a dead sinner, sat in the pew for many
years, and I didn't hear any joyful sound. I didn't hear anything
beautiful. There was no beauty in Christ
that I should desire Him. I didn't rejoice in the songs
of Zion. I didn't hear anything I liked
in that. I liked the songs of the drunkard. I couldn't wait
to get out so I could go hear that stuff. I didn't want to
hear that. There was no beauty in it that I should desire. None
whatsoever. Hearing, hearing and seeing,
I adored the Lord. Life began. And all of a sudden, I went from
loving to hear the Rolling Stones to hear the Rock of Ages. Flipped me. Life began. Sight. I didn't see anything
in Christ. I didn't see God. He that seeth
the Son and believeth in Him, Christ said, I'll raise him up
at the last hour. He that seeth the Son. I didn't
see God in anything. I didn't see Christ. I didn't
see myself. I didn't see my need of Christ.
I didn't see that I was wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked. I didn't see anything in the
Word of God but God. Let's see. Hannah, when she was born, she
was born with her eyes closed. And they handed her to me, and
after they flicked her little feet, she was crying. And I think
I was the first boy she heard. Because she was crying and I
said, honey, honey, honey, honey, honey, it's okay, it's okay,
it's okay. You know, she quit crying. She quit crying. She
heard my voice. And then she opened those eyes.
And the first person she saw was me. And it was love at first
sight for me. And I still love her. Still love
her. I'm her father. I still love
her. I loved her from the day she was born and I love her to
the day I died. Lord will. God is our Father. He'll give birth to us by the
Word. Open our ears. We'll cry. Open our ears to hear His voice.
And when we hear His voice, we'll see His face. We'll see His face. God will show us the light of
the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of the Lord Jesus
Christ. We'll see Christ. God has a face,
and it's Jesus Christ, the Son of Righteousness. And we'll feel
His presence. People don't believe this religion.
They don't believe this. Prove God. You don't have to. Prove Christ. You ask me how
I know He lives? The psalm says He speaks to me
all the time. Not out loud. No. He's with me. He said, I'm with you. I feel
His presence. Are you? He's with us. I held Hannah and embraced her,
warmed her. Taste! Taste! The Lord gives
us a hunger and thirst and we taste this gospel and we never
cease to lose our taste for it. If we're born of God, we never
cease. In fact, you will love it more the older you get. It will grow sweeter as the years
go by. I still drink milk. I still love
milk. I still marvel at milk. I think
milk is one of God's greatest creations. Milk. An old cow. Just full of this milk for us.
And it's so good for you. I don't care what science says.
They're wrong about everything. They always are. God always proves
them wrong. Milk. I love it. Well, this sincere
milk of God's Word, He said, desire it that you may grow thereby. Oh, my. I loved to hear it at
first when the Lord opened my eyes and ears to it and gave
me a taste for it, and I love it more now than ever. David
said, I esteem all as sweeter than honey, sweet to the taste,
sweeter than honey in the honeycomb. Smell. Smell. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians
2. 2 Corinthians 2. Look at this. The savor of food. Smell. You smell things long
before you taste them, you know? Smell is a powerful sense, a
powerful sense. You smell things, you smell danger,
fire, smoke, before you see the fire. It's a powerful thing. Powerful thing. The Lord gives
His people this sense of what's savory and what's not. And look
at 2 Corinthians 2 verse Thanks be unto God, which always
causes us to triumph in Christ, making manifest the savor of
His knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto God a
sweet savor of Christ, and in them that are saved and in them
that perish, to the one we are a savor of death unto death,
to the other a savor of life unto life. And who is sufficient
for these things? A sweet-smelling savor. When
I went to Lexington, several people came up to me before the
message and said, we're so glad you have come. We've been looking
forward to you coming. We're looking forward to hearing
the message from you. In other words, there was a smell
long before the taste, long before the message. They looked forward
to it. The smell is an anticipation
of what's to come, the taste. You understand me? Somebody's
out there cooking meat. Cooking meat. You're going to
smell it long before you taste it. It's the anticipation of
it. The anticipation of it. The Lord gives His people an
anticipation of hearing the gospel. And you know, all of this that
we do is a savor of what's to come. Just the foretaste, the
savor, the smell, the taste of glory divine. I'm looking forward
to it. Every now and then, the Lord
allows me to really worship with God's people. Most of the time,
other things, as John said, interfere. But sometimes, He makes the gospel
a sweet savor. I taste it, the fellowship of
His people, a warm embrace. His presence is near. I hear
His voice. I am able to sing. And I look
forward to all of this as a sweet-smelling savor of what I hope to experience
to its fullest up there, to actually lay hold of Christ and hear His
voice. The half has never been told.
All of us preachers have failed Well, no, he just said we never
pay him anything. Well, we've tried, but you've not heard the
best of it. You've not heard the half of
it. When Christ speaks, as no man ever speaks. Oh, my. My, my. When Christ feeds us,
oh, my. My, my. And you know, the gospel
is like perfume, isn't it? The gospel of Christ, spices,
fragrance. That doesn't mean a thing if
somebody in here is dead. What I'm saying means nothing.
It means nothing. If you don't have smell, you
can say, oh, doesn't that smell good? Fragrant spices, that's
myrrh, that's cinnamon. You know what cinnamon smells
like, huh? Nutmeg. You're a cook, you know what
that smells like. You have a sense of smell. Somebody that doesn't,
you can talk about righteousness. I don't know what that means.
You can talk about propitiation. I don't have a clue what you're
talking about. Pardon for sins. I don't know what you're talking
about. Somebody's been given a smell. That's a sweet smelling savor
of who? Christ. All those things are spices that
come out of His cheeks. Oh, there's so much more I wanted
to say. But do I have life? And like I said, just the slightest
sense is life. Life involves emotions. If you're
not alive, you don't have emotion. They say about somebody, lively.
That means he's full of emotion. She's full of emotion. Life must
express what's on the inside. Joy, happiness. If you're really
happy, you can't conceal it. We just sang that hymn. This calls for songs of loudest
praise. Joy and happiness. Does worship
give you joy? Does rejoicing Christ, hearing
Him pray, give you joy and happiness? What about sorrow and sadness?
That's part of life, isn't it? Mourning is part of life. You
can't go through life and not mourn over something or somebody.
You can't go through life and not be sad. That's part of life,
isn't it? If you're alive, you're going to mourn. Oh, blessed are
they that mourn over sin. It's part of life. Do you mourn
over your sin, yourself, the world, loss of His presence? Those baby girls, when we leave
them, it's a sad time for all of us, isn't it? Why? Life, love. Love, that's my next thing. Love.
Love's a part of life. You're alive, you love. You want
to be loved. Love. Do you love the truth?
Most people don't. They hate it. They believe a
lie. You love the truth. You love
His salvation. You love His glory. You love
God's Son. You know what the love of God
shed abroad in the heart is principally? Love for God's Son. Love for
His glory. Love for His name. Love for His
salvation. Love for Him. Love to hear about
Him. Love. Love the brethren. If you
love Him that is begotten, you love them that are begotten of
Him. Those that bear His image, you love them. Love them. The brethren. Boy, I tell you,
we were with two of God's choice sweetest angels on earth here,
and buddy, my, my. How we love them. And they us.
It shows. Hate. You know, hatred's a part
of life. Hatred. Do you hate a lie? You love the
truth and hate a lie? Do you hate evil? You that love
God, he says, hate evil. You hate evil? People accuse
us of hating people such as homosexuals. No, no. Don't hate them. Don't
hate them. But you know what? I hate the
lie that Satan has perpetrated on our world. the sin that consumes
this world. And I hate it. I hate what that
does to people. I hate what's happening to our
world and this country. I hate it. I hate it. I hate
it. I hate evil. To love God is to
hate evil. Do you hate yourself? Do you
hate yourself? Hate is a part of life. Laughter,
tears, desire. Desire is a part of life, isn't
it? Longing, desire. There's an evil desire, the Lord
calls it lusts, lusts for the flesh, lusts for pleasure, lusts
for the eyes, the half thing, covetousness, which is idolatry,
lusts for pleasure, which is evil concupiscence, and so forth.
We're full of that. This old man is full of that.
That's being dead in trespass and sin. Is there a new man that
desires holiness? Is there a new man that desires
righteousness? There was a time when I didn't desire righteousness,
and I do now. When I hear about righteousness,
I think, I want that. Desired? What is righteousness? Who is righteousness? The Lord,
our righteousness. Do you desire to dwell in a place
wherein dwelleth righteousness? No lies, no evil, no sin, that
you'll never sin again? Do you desire that? David said,
one thing have I desired. Why? It's alive. Never had that
desire before. Desire. Life is walking. Walking. Talking. If you're alive,
you're talking. And as for my daughter, she started
day one. And her daughter, talking. Talking. If you're alive, you're
going to start talking. Talking. You're not talking to yourself.
You talk to people. Talk to someone. Do you call on your Lord? Do
you talk to your Lord? Do you commune with your Lord?
If you're alive, and you're walking with Him, Bicky, you're talking
to Him, aren't you? You're talking to Him. I said
to Hannah, Eli said to Hannah, what's wrong with you? Are you
drunk? She was moving her mouth, but
nothing was coming out. She's talking to her Lord. She's
talking to her Lord. If you're alive, and you're in
Him, and you're in union with Him, you talk to Him, don't you? That's right, that's fact. Christ. And then there's laughing. Laughing
is part of life. Laughing. When the Lord, Psalm
126 says, when the Lord turned again our captivity, then our
mouths were filled with laughter. Laughter. Singing. Dancing. Dancing? Oh, Christians
aren't supposed to dance. That's what David's wife, Michael,
said one time, didn't you? He was as happy as a lark. And
he was so happy that God had spared that wicked nation of
Israel, himself included, and God had brought back the ark
that was their hope, which is Christ, the gospel. And he was
so happy, he just started dancing before the ark. He wasn't dancing
to be seen. He wasn't dancing to make a display
of himself, show off himself. He was dancing out of happiness.
Have you danced in private anyway? Dancing. We don't do that in
public. That's what Pentecostals do,
show off, you know. No, no, no, no, no. But our hearts
leap, don't they? Our hearts dance. That wedding,
they was dancing. Boy, your sister was right in
the middle of it. My wife and my daughter, and I went out there. Yes, I did. I took my wife by
the hand. I took my daughters and my granddaughters
by the hand. And I didn't care what anybody
thought. This is a wedding. This is a
happy time. You love that groom? This is all about them. It's
all about that bride. It's a happy occasion. If you
can't get happy, get out! This ain't about you. Oh, you all shouldn't do that.
Then get out! It's all about Him. Everybody's happy, dancing, singing. It's a good time. It's a happy time. It's a wedding.
It's a feast. It's made for laughter. You see, I used to think, being
a believer, you'd have to quit having fun. Oh, man. Well, if you have life, If you're
in Christ, you have all those things. You have all those things. You're complete in Him. You have
wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption. You're justified
from all things. You're sanctified. You're holy. You're accepted in Him. You're
loved by God, just like that baby in her womb. It has everything. It's a complete child in. And
she loves it, don't you? You love a child that's not born?
You love it? Yes, sure she does, okay? We
don't know what the child looks like when it's alive. She's going
to give birth to it, a new creature we've never seen before someday.
And she loves it. As long as that child is in her,
she can't deny it. She won't deny it. That child
is complete. It's in her. It's safe. That's
all of those in Christ. Someday, we're going to be born
into a new world. When we lay down in that grave,
this new creature is going to break forth into a new world.
Boy, then you're talking about laughter. Sin suppresses it here. Sin dampens our joy here, doesn't
it? All these things now. Oh, it
will be joy unspeakable and full of glory. And those that are
in Christ have all those things. And those that know Christ feel
all those things. Love, joy, sadness. All those things. Christ is all.
I thought about the people in the ark. Noah and his sons and
wives, they were alive because of that ark, weren't they? They
were alive because of that ark. And their whole lives, year over
year, was consumed with that ark. They were in that ark. It was
their life. They were alive because of it.
And their whole life was consumed. They talked about it. They were
in it. They served it. It was the heart. And so it is with God's people.
So it is with God's people. Christ. If you're in Christ,
you have this thing. You can't produce it. You can't
produce it. You can't drum it up. But it's
there. And it will come out.