Good singing. You can sing that if you know
something of God's mercy. All right, let's look at the
book of Acts, Acts chapter eleven. Acts chapter 11, we attempted
to preach from this Sunday morning and didn't get completely through
it. We'll try to finish it tonight.
Acts chapter 11, let's read verses 22 through 24. Then tidings of these things came
unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem. They sent forth
Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch, who, as Barnabas,
when he came and had seen the grace of God, was glad. And he exhorted them all that
with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. Barnabas
was a good man, full of the Holy Ghost. and of faith, and much
people was added unto the Lord. Barnabas, it says, who was a
good and faithful preacher of the gospel, he came to this city
called Antioch. He was sent by the church at
Jerusalem, kind of a missionary journey, sent to preach the gospel. And it says that when he came,
verse 23, And this is what struck me. When he came, it says he
had seen the grace of God, and he was glad. And we saw Sunday morning how
that what he saw was the effects of the preaching of the gospel
of God's grace. That's what it means when he
saw the grace of God. He saw what preaching of the
gospel did to the people who God gave years here. He saw the
effects of the grace of God through the preaching of the gospel.
Turn over to Chapter 14 with Acts Chapter 14. Turn to see. Acts Chapter 14. Look at verse
3. This is a common name for the gospel throughout
the scriptures. Verse 3 says, Long time therefore
abode they, speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony
unto the word of his grace. You see that? The word of his grace. a phrase
for the gospel, the true gospel, the gospel of the sovereign grace
of God in Christ. By that, by grace, we mean. And if I'm not careful, I'll
stay right here again tonight, but I'd be all right. We didn't
hardly get past this Sunday. Now, the gospel of God's sovereign
grace is just this. Grace means a free gift, and
it doesn't mean an offer. It doesn't mean an offer, it
means a gift bestowed. John said this in John chapter
4. John of the Baptist said, A man
can receive nothing except it be given him from above. the gift of God. Salvation is
the gift of God, but it's not an offer that he puts out there
for any person to accept or reject, because all people by nature
reject it. That's what we do by nature,
we reject it, until God Almighty, in grace, gives us ears to hear
it, eyes to see it, heart to receive it. A man can receive
nothing except it be given him from above, bestowed upon him.
Grace is not something God offers to people, it's something he
does to people. Grace is not an offer by God,
it's an act by God. You're looking at an object of
God's sovereign grace. The Apostle Paul, of whom that
was speaking of there in Acts 14, was not speaking Jesus, he
hated Jesus. He was speaking to kill those
who believed on the Lord Jesus. But the Lord Jesus Christ chose
Paul and in sovereign grace revealed himself to Paul. He didn't ask
Paul, would you accept me as your personal savior? No, he
said, Paul, I've chosen you. So the gospel of God's sovereign
grace is an act of God upon a dead sinner giving life. Life comes before faith. The
seed is sown. The word of God is the seed.
The life-giving seed. The incorruptible seed that God
almighty plants. And we don't know when he does
that, but he plants it in the heart of a human being. And the
Holy Spirit comes along in God's good time. And waters that see
that brings forth. Life is given and then faith
and. Repentance and. All these get
our gifts. Salvation is a gift bestowed
upon undeserving. Undeserving hell deserving ill
deserving creature that's what. Sovereign grace is it's called
the word of his grace and this is the theme of the. This is
the the the the summary of sovereign right. And the whole book the
whole God's Word from beginning to end. Contains these three
things this is the gospel all right three things. Election
by the father. God Almighty choosing people.
Redemption by the son. God Almighty chose his people.
He gave them to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what Christ said
so many times, especially John chapter 6. He said, All that
the Father has given me shall come to thee. They were given
to Christ in a covenant, and Christ came to this earth to
redeem them. Call his name Jesus. Why? He
shall save. Who? His people from their sin,
from their sin. He came to be a sin payment and
He paid them. He was put on the cross by God
Himself and all the sins of all of God's people were laid on
Jesus Christ and every one of them were paid for. And they
were justified completely by Jesus Christ. They were redeemed,
bought with a price, not our works but his blood. Redemption
by the sun and regeneration by the Holy Spirit. This is the
gospel election by the father redemption by the sun regeneration
by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes to us.
As I said dead center Ephesians 2 1 and you have he quickened
who were dead and you have he made alive who were dead Just
like when the Lord came to Lazarus' tomb, he didn't ask Lazarus if
he would come forth. He commanded. Lazarus was dead.
And when the Lord Jesus Christ said, come forth, he had to come
forth. He came forth alive, and the
Lord loosed him. And you have to be quickened.
Who? The Holy Spirit. Regeneration by the Spirit. The
Holy Spirit comes and does this work through the preaching of
the gospel. It's a mystery. It's a mystery. It's not walking down an aisle.
It's not baptism. It's not us doing anything. It's God Almighty doing a supernatural
work upon a dead sinner. So that's the gospel of God's
sovereign grace. It's all a gift bestowed upon
many. as many as the stars in the sky
and the sand in the seashore. It's all God's work, because
to God be the glory. It's all a gift, grace bestowed
upon unworthy, helpless, dead sinners. And it's all done through
the preaching of this gospel. How does God do this work? By
the declaration of what I just declared. by the declaration, by someone
standing up and declaring who God is and what God has done
and who Christ is and what he has done from his word. That's what God uses. That's
the word of his grace, he said, the word of his grace, not the
word of your works, not the word of your faith, but the word of
his grace. This is the word. The gospel,
salvation can all be summed up in one word. It's the word of
grace. It's a gift. It's a miraculous
work of God Almighty. And it can be seen. Barnabas
came and it says he had seen the grace of God. He saw it. And what he saw was the effects
of this gospel of God's grace, the word of his grace upon the
people. What he saw, and we noted Sunday
morning, the first thing this gospel does, this gospel of God's
sovereign grace, our gospel, Paul called it, not another,
not what so many call the gospel of an impotent God and a helpless
Jesus and a man with a sovereign will. No, no, that's not the
gospel. But our gospel, this gospel, the gospel of God's sovereign
grace, the effect of it will Pride will be a base. That's
the first thing. Proud sinners, who are so proud
of themselves, especially their religion and so forth, will be
a base, will be broken, will come to realize that, hey, I
didn't have anything to do with this, did I? That's what it's designed to
do, brother Daniel. That's what the gospel is designed
to do. It's put us in the dust, just like Saul of Tarsus, put
us in the dust at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ saying,
at your mercy. You can do with me what you will.
And it brings a proud sinner down. It brings a proud Pharisee
down. It brings former gutter dwellers
up. It brings proud pharisaical religious
people down to the point of a helpless, needy sinner, realizing they
know nothing, are nothing, can do nothing. That's what the gospel
of grace, that's what you'll see. Someone who was formerly
proud of themselves, very ashamed of themselves. And it brings
a gutter-dwelling sinner. I mean a low-life sinner. Some of you know what
I'm talking about. You were there. I mean a gutter-dweller. Brings him up. I'm talking about those on the
dumb heap. Hannah talked about it. beggar off the dung heap
to sit among princes. That's what the gospel, that's
what you'll see, where the gospel is preached. You'll see, what
you'll see is former idolaters, former idolaters worshiping the
living and true God. And by idolaters I don't just
mean people dancing around an idol or a pole. in the jungle,
I mean people who worship a God that doesn't even resemble a
God of the Bible, a God that somebody's made up. And what you'll see when you come
to where the gospel of God's grace is preached is a people
sitting clothed in a right mind, listening to the Word of God
and believing the God of the Bible and rejecting all else. rejecting all else. Like the
Thessalonians who were Greeks, Paul said, you turn from your
idols to serve the living and the true God. That's what you'll
see where the gospel of grace is seen. I've been going to Mexico
since I was about 15 years old. I've spent about 10 years now. No, 32. years. I've been going down there
for two years. And. I have watched. I mean people
out in those villages who would come into the Catholic temple
in the midst every single village no matter how poor it is and
they're all poor Mayan Indians. in the middle of every village,
people living in grass huts, but yet in the middle of every
village is the most elaborate, elaborately adorned, beautiful
Catholic cathedral you've ever seen, that would rival any you
see in the States. You go in, it's gilded, it's
elaborate paintings and statues and ornate, just because the
people give all their money to build that big elaborate building
while they go hungry, thinking that that will get them in good
standing with God. The people buy candles, pray
for their dead, burn candles. The priests have told them for
years, if you buy these candles, I'll pray a prayer for your loved
one who's in purgatory and they'll get out. It'll shorten their
sentence in purgatory. They keep praying and paying,
paying and praying. We'll get them out of purgatory
sooner that's the fact that I'm not only goes on in Mexico still
goes on. That's. People kneeling down
before a statue of the Virgin Mary coming out before people.
Digging up the bones of their loved ones out of their graves
burning candles and praying over them all this is idolatry. I've seen them. those people
who did that, sitting just like you are right now. I'm going
there, Lord willing, next month with Todd Nyberg, a brother from
California, and myself. We're going there next month.
And what I have seen now, there are about 20-some churches just
like this one, just like this one. All their floor, they don't
have plush carpet, they've got concrete or dirt floor. They don't even have screens
on the windows, but that same gospel is a man standing up right
now preaching to them the exact same thing you're hearing, people
sitting with a Bible in their lap, worshiping, believing the
living and the true God, believing Christ and Christ alone. That's
what the gospel of God's sovereign grace does. God Almighty sent
a preacher down there named Walter Gruber years ago, just with a
Bible And he wasn't a, he didn't Americanize them, he didn't civilize
them, he didn't, he wasn't a Peace Corps volunteer, he was a gospel
preacher, with a Bible in his hand, and God Almighty, through
the power of the gospel and the sovereign grace, heard them from
their idols. And they're people just like,
it says Barnabas, it says he came, in our text, And he saw
the grace of God and was glad. He was glad. I wish you could
go down there. I wish, I hope someday some of
you can go down there and sit in one of those services. You'll
never be the same. It will leave a lasting impression
upon you. The atmosphere is different,
the faces are different, and all the people look different,
you know, sound different, but the gospel's the same. The songs
are the same, they're just in Spanish. You know that song? You didn't know you knew Spanish,
did you? It's the same gospel, same truth. And the people are the same.
You talk to them, you can't talk to them, but you talk to them. They believe the same gospel,
and you're glad. Oh, you'd be so glad. You'd be so happy, just
like Barnabas. He went there, and he was so
glad. As we noted, I've got to move
on. Barnabas saw the grace of God, and what you'll see when
you see a people where the gospel of God's sovereign grace is preached,
you'll see humility, you'll see repentance. That's turning from
Not only idols, but turning from self, turning from sin, turning
from the world. It's renouncing the world that
repentance is. Not just the material world,
the evil world, but the religious world. It's a broad road, and many go in it. And repentance
is turning from that. It's belief and trust. Believing
God's Word only. Christ only? That's what you'll
see. You'll see a people really believing
Christ and not trusting themselves, not trusting their denomination,
not trusting their whatever. That's what you'll see. You'll
see a genuine love for the brethren. You won't see a feigned love.
Oh, I love you, brother. Oh, God love you, brother. You
won't see this sickening, feigned, fake love. This goes on so much
today. You'll see a genuine love. Though
people won't tell you that all the time, you'll know. Genuine
love. People that really love one another.
You'll see a hunger and thirst for the Word of God. You'll see grace in the life. You'll see grace in the life.
You'll see the fruit of the Spirit. You'll see that people are truly
gentle. Loving, full of faith, long-suffering,
all these things. You'll see grace in the life,
that's what you'll see, where the gospel is preached. All right.
Now, for tonight's message. So Barnabas came and it said
he was glad, he was happy, he was thankful. As I said, what
he saw was a whole slew of new believers. A whole slew of new believers,
can you imagine meeting a whole bunch, it says there were a minute
at Antioch, a whole bunch of people just like the dear brethren
you know and love. What if you knew there were ten
more Dan Ogles out there? Wouldn't you be so happy? Where
are they? I want to meet them. I want to see them. Five more
Amy Pops. Six more Debra Huffs out there
somewhere. I'd be so happy, so glad. People, you know, people... I talk to people about you. And
I'll be talking to different ones about you, and I'll say
something about somebody, just anybody. I'll say something about...
Oh, Ron Fanning. I'll make you know who's that.
I'll say, who's that? I'll say, oh man, who's Ron Fenton? I sure hope you get to meet him,
because he's one of the finest men I know. And you're really glad when you
meet him, aren't you? That's what Barnaby King was
so glad. And he went back to Jerusalem and said, you need
to meet, you need to meet Mike Tarnes. Who? Well, maybe. He was so glad. You see what
I mean? He was so glad. And it says here, he preached
to them. And what he did was, verse 23, it says, he exhorted
them. He exhorted them. He preached
to them. He fellowshiped with them. He talked to them. And
he exhorted them, all, men, women, young people, all of them. He
exhorted them back. And here's his exhortation, that
with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. That was
his exhortation. Now, what does it mean? What does
it mean to cleave unto the Lord with purpose of heart? What does
that mean, cleaving to the Lord? Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
5. Ephesians chapter 5, cleaving unto the Lord. What does that
mean? Ephesians chapter 5. Now in the beginning, in Genesis
chapter 2, this is what God Almighty said to Adam after he created
Eve. God Almighty said, a man shall
leave his father and mother. and shall cling unto his wife,
and they shall be one flesh." Our Lord said that. He's the
first one to say that in Genesis 2. Man shall leave his father
and mother and cling to his wife, and they'll be one. One. All right, now Paul writes here
in Ephesians 5, And he mentions that verse, verse 31. Paul says,
for this cause, he's just been speaking of marriage, and he
says, for this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and
shall be joined, the word is cleave, shall be joined or cleave
unto his wife and they too shall be one flesh. This is a great
mystery. But, Paul says, I speak what
I'm talking about, Paul says. It's not just marriage. Read
it. Christ and his church. For this cause shall a man leave
his father, and shall cleave unto his wife, and there'll be
one. And Paul says, I'm not speaking of marriage, but I'm speaking
of Christ and his church. And for this cause, Christ left
the Father. Did He not? The Eternal Son,
who was with the Father from the beginning, the Scripture
says, left His Father, left the Father to be made flesh and dwell
amongst us, to be joined unto His bride, to take unto Himself
a wife, a church, a bride, it's called a church, His people.
Christ came here, left the Father to cleave to, to become one with,
bone of their bones, flesh of their flesh, his people, his
church. We have not a high priest who
cannot be touched with the feet of our infirmities, Paul wrote
in Hebrews, but we have, but was tempted in all points like
as we are yet without sin. And it became him to become like
us. And Christ left the Father to
be joined to us. That's how we were saved. By
Christ coming down here and being made flesh and joining himself
with humanity and taking our sins on him and including his
righteousness. That's how we're saved. Christ
took a bride. We were all Forlorn women, scripture
said. Yes, it does. Just like Hosea's
gomer. Right? You know that story, Nancy.
You love that story in Hosea. Hosea, the Lord told Hosea, the
preacher, go down and marry a whore. Oh, Lord. No, he said, you do
it. And you love her. And you take care of her. And
she's not going to know you at first, not going to appreciate
you. But I'm going to reveal my grace to her. And nobody's
going to appreciate marriage like she is. None of these pretty
women who think they deserve it. But boy, she will. She will. And that's the picture of a sinner.
I mean a sinner. We're talking about a sinner.
Christ coming down, revealing the gospel to a real sinner.
They appreciate it. They love it. They fall in love
with the Lord Jesus Christ. And he becomes one with them,
and they with him. This is the salvation of God's
people, Christ leaving the Father and taking pledge. And this is
for us to do the same. Turn with me to Deuteronomy 13.
Deuteronomy 13. Salvation is for Christ to leave
the Father and come to us and be joined to us. And salvation
is for us to leave our father and mother and whoever and be
joined to Christ. That's what Paul said. He said, this is a mystery. I
speak of Christ and his church. Christ leaves his father to be
joined to us. We leave whoever and whatever
to be joined to Christ. This is what Moses, God writes
for Moses to write. Deuteronomy 13, look at verse
4 through 8. The Lord says, you shall walk
after the Lord your God and fear him. keep his commandments, obey
his law, you shall serve him and cleave unto him. And that
prophet or that dreamer of dreams, talking about a false prophet,
shall be put to death because he's spoken to turn you away
from the Lord your God. Now you understand this was a
time when the Lord's law was fulfilled through Moses and But
anyway, read on. The Lord brought you out of the
land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of bondage to
thrust thee out of the way which the Lord thy God commanded thee
to walk in, so shalt thou put away the evil from the midst
of them. If thy brother, here it is, if your brother, son of
your mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or thy wife, or thy
friend, which is as your own soul, enticed you secretly, say,
let's go and serve other gods. which thou hast not known, thou
nor thy father, namely of the gods of the people," the gods
that everybody else worships, which are round about you, nigh
unto you, everywhere, different gods everywhere. It says in verse
8, Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto them, neither
shalt thou pity him, neither shalt thou spare him, neither
shalt thou concede him." Leave their religion, the religion
of your father and mother, if it's not the living and true
God. Right? The religion of your brother,
the religion of your wife and husband, if it's not true religion. The truth. Leave anyone and everyone
who is joined to idols and not the living and true God. That's
right. That's what he said. It's to
leave anything and everyone All right. What is it to cleave unto
the Lord? Well, first it's to leave. When you come to Christ, you
have to leave somewhere. And most everybody's religious
by nature. But we're all wrong by nature. Paul thought everything he knew
and believed was right. It was all wrong. Until God revealed
the truth to him. Salvation is a revelation. The
truth is a revelation. It's not something we figure
out. It's to leave whoever and whatever,
and to cleave unto the Lord. Cleave unto the Lord. Turn with
me to Hebrews 6. Hebrews chapter 6. Hebrews chapter
6. cleave unto the Lord. Now, these
people at Antioch had never seen Jesus Christ in person. Listen to me now. This is for
your comfort. The people at Antioch, well, for that matter, the people
at Ephesus, the people at Galatia, the people at Colossae, the people
at Thessalonica, the people at Philippi, name a church, none
of them had ever seen the Lord Jesus Christ I mean, there may have been one
or two who were in Jerusalem at one time or another, but for
the most part, none of them had ever seen the Lord Jesus Christ.
Certainly none of the far-off Gentiles over in Rome and places like
that had seen the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet Barnabas says to
these people, I want you to cleave to him. I want you to cleave to the Lord.
But we haven't seen him. Well, we haven't either, have
we? We haven't either. What is it
to cleave unto the Lord? Well, Hebrews 6, verse 17, look
at verse 17, Hebrews 6, beginning with verse 17, says this, God
willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise The
immutability, that is, unchangeableness of his counsel, that is his purpose,
confirmed it by an oath. And that by two immutable things
in which it was impossible for God to lie, two immutable or
unchangeable things, that's God's will and God's purpose or God's
covenant. God's will and God's covenant
that he made. It's impossible to change and
for God to lie. All right? He says, We might
have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold
upon the hope that sent before. What is it to cleave unto the
Lord? It's to lay hold, and when you cleave to somebody, like
a man and his wife, they embrace. They embrace, and they latch
hold of each other. Not wanting to let go, they cleave
to each other, and they become one. Well, it's for a sinner,
upon hearing this gospel, that there's hope. And it's only for
a sinner, because only a sinner needs hope, only a sinner needs
mercy, only a sinner needs grace, only a sinner needs help, only
a sinner needs righteousness, only a sinner needs blood, and
only a sinner needs this gospel. It's to hear about this gospel
for a helpless, hopeless, center, and it's to hear about it. You
mean there's hope for me? Who is it? I'll take that. It's
to lay hold of it. Lay hold of the hope. You see,
we haven't seen Christ, but neither have those people. But what are
they going to hold on to? What are they clinging to? What
are they laying hold of? Hope! Where'd they get this hope? Right here, same place you and
I did it. The Word of God concerning a person that we haven't seen.
Peter said in his first epistle, he said, Who have ye not seen
ye love, and rejoice with joy and speak the word? You haven't
seen him. Our Lord prayed in John 17, he
said, I pray not for the world, but I pray for them that thou
hast given me. Neither I pray for these alone,
but for them which shall believe on me through their word. a large said this he said to
his. To have it not say. Say about hope but it's a good
hope. It's a good one and. It's called
hope because. The only hope in what you have
a completely received yet the only hope in what you haven't
seen yet the only I hope to go to Kentucky for Christmas. Okay,
I'm not there. I hope to. Well, when I get there,
it won't be hope anymore, will it? It'll be reality. Well, I
hope to be with God someday. I hope to see Christ someday.
I hope I'm saved. But it's a sure thing because
of what God said. Because of who said it. Who can't
lie? It's not a hope-by-hope-by-hope-across-my-fingers
hope. It's not rabbit's foot hope or
wish-I-hope. It's a hope based upon promises
made by somebody who cannot lie. After all those who believe and
trust Christ, it's sure. And what do you call it, John?
He says it's a good hope through what? We have a good hope through
one way. Grace. This hope is sure to those that
need grace. There's no hope for people that
don't need this grace I'm talking about. No hope. They'll be judged
on their own merits. Nobody stacks it up. But for
all those who depend upon and look to God's grace in Christ,
It's a good hope through grace. It's the word of his grace. One
of them said this, he said, it's a good thing that the heart be
established with grace. Paul, in another place, he says
he committed them to the word of his grace, the hope through
grace. And it's the lay hold of the
gospel. You hear this gospel. Words whereby
thou shalt be saved. Do you believe this gospel? Do you need Christ? Do you need this gospel? Do you
believe it? Well, you've laid hold on this
hope. I want to ask you this. To cleave
unto the Lord, if you cleave unto somebody or something, you
lay hold on them. Paul said, hold fast. He said,
let us hold fast at the beginning of our conflict, steadfast at
the end. When you cleave, I mean really cleave to somebody or
something, it means you don't want to let go. You don't want to let go. We were somewhere, and my daughter,
she was just a baby in arms. She became frightened by something. She was in my arms. She became
frightened by something, and she threw those little arms around
my neck and choked me to death. I said, honey, let go. She said,
no, I'm not going to let go. I'm scared. I'm not going to
let go. Does that sound familiar? That's
what Jacob said when the Lord appeared to him and revealed
his covenant to him. Jacob said, I'll not let you.
There was a man that wrestled with Jacob. It wasn't vice versa
now. The Lord laid hold on Jacob.
Jacob was sleeping. What a picture of the gospel
this is. Jacob was asleep, and the Lord came to him and laid
hold of him. And it says a man wrestled with
him. The Lord laid hold of Jacob. Well, when the Lord laid hold
of Jacob, And there have been times, there were times
when Hannah was like that, and she laid hold of me, and buddy,
I had a hold of her too. Went across the street or something,
I didn't want to drop her, I didn't want to let her go, and she didn't
want to let go of me. And that's what it is to lay hold of this
gospel. It's to cleave to the Lord out
of a need, out of hunger, out of thirst, out of necessity.
Turn to Philippians 3. I told you we were going to go
there. Philippians 3. Philippians 3. I've got to hurry.
A few more things, all right? Philippians 3. To cleave unto
the Lord is to hunger and thirst and need Christ,
need this gospel. We've never seen Christ, and
a man's lying if he says he has. Anybody's lying if he says they
have. We've never seen him. We see him through his word, just
as real as if he was with us, and he speaks to us through this
word, but he doesn't speak audibly to anybody anymore. No, he doesn't
reveal himself to anybody anymore, except through this book. Why? Because everybody had the same
vision, same Christ, same voice. Whereas
if you see something I didn't see, it's different, right? But
no, God Almighty reveals Himself through this. God Almighty speaks
through this, and we all hear the same voice, the same truth,
see the same one. That's the wisdom of God. Well,
Philippians 3, this is what Paul said in verses 12 and following. Paul said, not as though I had
already attained, neither were already perfect, but I follow
after. This is what it means to be a
believer, follower of Christ. If that I may apprehend. What's
apprehend mean? Lay hold on, cleave to. Apprehend
that. Or who, for which also I am apprehending. Brethren, I count not myself
to have apprehended. No. But this one thing I do,
I forget those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto
those things which are before, I press. This is what it means
to cleave unto the Lord. It's a pressing matter. Salvation's
a pressing matter, too. Those that need it, I press toward
the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ
Jesus. And let us, therefore, as many as be mature, perfect,
mature, complete, be thus minded. And if you're in anything else
otherwise minded, God will reveal it to you. If anything else is
capturing your attention, God will reveal it to you. You need
to let go of it to lead to Christ. And this is what it means with
purpose of heart, all right? This is the last thing. to cleave
unto the Lord with purpose of heart. Would you stay with me
just a minute? This is vital. This is the issue. Out of the heart are the issues
of life. And Barnabas had said, exhorted
the people. When you exhort, the word exhort
means to call someone near. Have you ever exhorted your children,
Jan? Have you ever exhorted them? I mean, really exhorted them? It's to say, I've got something
to tell you in this Bible, you need it, come. That's what exhort
meant. And he exhorted them to cleave
unto the Lord with purpose of heart. Now what does that mean,
purpose of heart? Well, from the heart. Purpose
of heart. It means knowing, believing in
the heart, feeling in the heart, your own Need. What will keep a person coming
to hear the gospel? There's only one thing. Need. Need. That's the purpose of heart.
A heart smitten by sin and needing Christ. purpose of heart is to
know and believe from the heart, not just in your head, but from
the heart, the vanity of this life. But there's nothing here. I mean, there's no happiness here.
Really, no lasting happiness. And if you've ever really experienced
and heard the gospel, this is not This is not ideological,
something ideological. This is not just religious words,
but it's true. There's really no happiness outside
of Christ. There really isn't. I know people
hear that all the time, and it's so. Ask Solomon. Read Solomon's
books. He'll tell you he's been everywhere,
been there, done that. It won't make you happy. He was
married 3,000 times. It didn't make him happy. He
had the finest home, the finest chariots, the finest horses,
you name it, he had it all. It did not make him happy. Look,
if I can just have this, I'll be happy. If I can just have
that. Ask him, he said, it's vanity,
it's all vanity. He realized in his heart, not
just his head, in his heart, and if you realize that, you
lay hold of what real, where real happiness is. It's to realize the shortness
of life. Realize the shortness of life. What is your life but
a vapor? I've just told you, you know,
that I'm 47 years old and that is incredible to me. It seemed like yesterday I was
15 going to Mexico for the first time. I mean, like yesterday.
I can't put it into words. You know what I'm saying. Especially
when you're 60 or 70. I'll never get sixty, no way,
that's too old." John said, yeah right, it'll
be tomorrow. I saw an interesting advertisement,
it showed a picture of a man Listen to this father. He showed
a picture of a man in a canoe with his little daughter up in
the front of his canoe. And she looked like she was maybe
four years old, trying to bait her hook. And the advertisement
said, spend time with your daughter today. You'll be marrying her
tomorrow. Man, that's subtle. What is your life? It's a framework.
The things you take so much happiness, they don't last. They don't last.
You lay a hold of them and they're gone. They're gone. Aren't they? They're gone. To realize from the heart, the
purpose of heart is a purpose. Those who have really been to really experience God's grace.
They have a purpose in their heart to glorify God. That's what this is about. We don't come here to be seen.
We don't come here because it's a habit or a duty. We don't come
here because it's time to play church. We don't come here, what
will people think of us if we don't? We come here out of thankfulness
and appreciation and gladness, and we want to praise and thank
God and worship Him. And Lord, thank You. Let me somehow,
someway thank You for all You've done for me. Purpose of heart. The Lord said, John, you remember
that you're well-read. Moses said, what does the Lord
know? David wrote. And God said to David, let me
see if I can quote it right, God said to David, take, no,
David said, what shall I render unto the Lord for all that he's
done for me? That's what David said. What
shall I render unto the Lord for all he's done? He said, what
I'll do is I'll take the cup of salvation. I'll lay hold on Christ and cling
to him and follow him. and be one of his disciples by
his growth, for his glory, for choosing me. Peter left his boats, all his
nets. James and John left their father's
business, family business. What would they be? A bunch of
wooden boats. Who were they following? Oh my,
the Lord of glory, the King of glory. And purpose of heart is. A husband, a wife, a father,
a mother, a brother, a sister. I am. A father. All right, and I have experienced. They. May. And I want him to be so
to my daughter. So my purpose of heart is, as for me and my house, I'm going
to serve the Lord. I'm going to be in the Lord's
house come time to worship. I'm going to see what my family
is and hope, rather, that they'll know the same God. That's my
purpose. I'm going to support the gospel,
Brother Stephen, because my family needs the gospel. And if my daughter
has children, they're going to need the gospel. Purpose of heart
is as a father, you purpose it to your family. That's the same
God. Purpose of heart is as a husband, as a leader, spiritual leader
in the home, you purpose it to your family, to live your life. That's the same. Purpose of heart. Purpose of heart is you want
your, you know, our children are going to follow us. They're
going to be, if you're a Democrat, they're going to be a Democrat. You know, they will. They'll
follow you. They'll grow up just like you. They say, well, Kelly,
they do, don't they? Oh, what they copy, generally
what they copy the most is our bad points. You know, they grow
up to be just like us. And I see something good in my
daughter, I think, she'll get that from me. I mean, really, don't you think
that? They'll follow you. So with purpose of heart is to...
I want to be a believer, a disciple of Christ, a follower of Christ,
a doer of God's Word, a child of God, a walk worthy of vocation,
and I hope my child will follow me. I hope you will imitate My
bad points, but you'll see something of the grace of God
in me and what I want that. That's purpose of life. We could go on and on, but I'm
not. Now, let's sing in closing a
hymn that fits this well, number 51, the green book, number Sorry
I kept you so long, but I think it was worth it. Number 51 in the Green Hymnal. I chose this because of verse
4. All right, let's sing verse 1 and
verse 4. He's the Savior, He's the Lord's
King, Who can bow down like the old hymn, All of your heart and mind. Verse four is the last. Keep
us loyal, keep us believing. To myself and still believing. Till the hour of our screaming. Promise no more weeping. I don't know why I'm laughing.