All right, let's open our Bibles
this morning to the book of 1 John. 1 John chapter 5. When I prepared this message
and I studied the chapter again in
order to preach it. Verse 13 stood out particularly
to me, and I felt like it pretty well sums up the whole chapter. Verse 13, 1 John 5, it says,
These things have I written unto you, To whom is this epistle written,
especially these words in chapter 5? John says, These things have
I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God. Now, he hasn't written just to
people who believe something. Almost everybody believes something.
He's not writing to people who just have I can keep the faith,
baby. He's writing to people who believe
on the name of the Son of God. You see, his name defines his
character and his work. His name. Isaiah said, under
us a child is born, under us a son is given. Not just any
son or any child. With this one, son of man, son
of God, the government's on his shoulder. He's the king. He's
the creator. He's the owner. He's the proprietor. The government's on his shoulder.
He rules in all the universe. And his name, his name upon whom
we believe, his name is wonderful. Wonderful. Brother Bob brought
that out. Wonderful is his name. Wonderful
is his glory. Wonderful are his works. Wonderful. You know, when Manoah and his
wife had been promised the birth of Samson, and the Lord appeared
to them, the Lord Jesus, they said, What's your name? He said,
My name is what? Wonderful. Wonderful. That's the one. I'm writing these
things to you who believe on Him whose name is Wonderful,
Counselor, with whom took He counsel in creation for covenant
mercies. Christ is the Counselor. His
name is Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace. Those are the people I'm writing
to. who believe on that name, that person. And turn for a moment
to Jeremiah, and listen to this, Jeremiah chapter 20, 23. Let's
see, first of all, to whom this is written. In Jeremiah 23, verse
5, Behold, the day is come, saith the Lord. The day is coming.
The Old Testament says someone's coming. The four Gospels—Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John—said he's here. And the Epistles say he's coming
back. But the day has come, saith the Lord, I'll raise up unto
David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign and prosper. The pleasure of the Lord will
prosper in his hand. It never has in anybody else's,
but it will in his hand. And he'll execute judgment. He'll
enable God to be justified. He'll execute judgment and justice. God doesn't save men by hook
or crook. He saves men by justice and righteousness
and judgment, which Christ effected, completed. That's right. That's
the one we're talking about. And in His name, in His days,
this one whose name we'll tell you in a moment, Jew will be
saved. All God's elect, God's church, God's sheep, God's jewels,
God's people will be saved. And Israel, true Israel, spiritual
Israel, Israel from every tribe, kindred, nation, tongue unto
heaven will dwell safely. Bob said all enemies destroyed.
Every enemy, the last one dead, they'll dwell safely, safely. Listen, and this is his name. I'm writing to you who believe
on the name, this is his name, no other, no other, listen, whereby
he shall become, in capital letters, THE LORD. King of kings, Lord
of lords, THE LORD, our Lord Jesus Christ. Not just Jesus,
that's his name of humiliation, but he's the Lord. The Lord,
our righteousness, our wisdom, our righteousness, all of it.
Our sanctification and our redemption. That's his name. That's his name. And I'll tell you, the angel
gave a revelation to Joseph. He said, Joseph, don't be afraid
to take Mary to be your wife. That holy thing which is conceived
in her womb, is the Son of God. And when he's born, you call
his name, Jesus, which is interpreted, Immanuel. Immanuel, God with
us. God with us. So I'm writing to
you, I John 5. Let's go back to our text. All
of these things that the preacher is going to talk about this of
these things I've written to you, that believe by the grace
of God, on the name of the Son of God. Secondly, that you may
know that you have eternal life. Confidence, that you may have
confidence and assurance. You know, to have peace, you've
got to have assurance. To have the peace of God and
the rest of and the quietness of spirit, you've got to know
that you do believe. You've got to know that you've
passed from death unto life. You've got to know that the Son
of God has come and given us an understanding. You've got
to know that all things work together for good to them that
love God. You've got to know whom I have
to believe, you see. To a great extent, don't you
agree, Pastor, depends on assurance, confidence. Let me illustrate.
You college students in high school and grade school and junior
high, teacher gives you an assignment three or four days in advance.
Write an essay or a theme. And you write it. You work on
it. You work hard. You go to the
library, research, study, get all of it written out. finished
beforehand, you come to school with a lot of confidence. You
dress in a dress or a suit or a pair of clothes that day to
attract attention, you know. You've got your job done. You've
got your work done. You come in the class, speak
to everybody. The teacher's up there. You go
by and speak to him or her. Take a seat right down front.
You've got assurance. You've done your work. But if
you don't get the job done, you don't do the work, You go to
school about one minute before the bell rings. You sneak in
the back door. Take a seat as far back as you
can. You don't speak to nobody. You've got no confidence. Therefore
you have no peace. That's right. And when you have confidence
in Him whom you believe, and assurance that everything's taken
care of, you have peace. See what I'm talking about? Peace
and rest and joy depend to a great extent on that confidence, I
know whom I am. I'm not resting in my works.
I'm not resting in my profession. I'm not resting in my feelings.
I'm not resting in my profession. I'm resting in Him, the Son of
God, who loved me and gave Himself for me, that you may know. These things ever written to
you, that by the grace of God, believe, that you may know. Now, what's this next line? And
that you may believe what we do believe, that you may keep
on believing. Keep on believing. You see, my
friends, faith is not an isolated act. Somebody says, well, I believed
on Christ. Yeah, but I'm still believing on Christ. And by His
grace, when I die, I'll be believing on Christ. Repentance, when we
repent of sin and grieve over sin and cry for the mercy of
God. to forgive our sins. It's not
an isolated act. I repented. No, I am repenting. I'm still grieving over my sins.
I'm still seeking the mercy and grace of God. Our Lord taught
his disciples to pray in the model prayer. He said, pray this
way. And in that prayer is this statement,
forgive us our sins. Every day, pray every day, forgive
us our sins. I have repented. I am repenting. I will repent. I have been saved. I'm being saved. I will be saved.
So I'm writing this to you who believe. I do believe. Lord,
help my unbelief. Give me grace to continue to
believe. To you that believe and to you that you may know
you have life and that you may keep on believing. You know, we talked about Abraham
and those old patriarchs. They died in the faith. That's
right. When they came to die, they died
where? In the faith of Christ. In the
faith of Christ. Now, that's a believer. That's
a believer. And I want you to go back to
verse 1 and see how this believer came to be a believer, the making
of a believer. That's what I call this message
of making a person who believes on the name of the Son of God
and knows and has the peace and rest and joy, I know whom I have
believed. And he keeps on believing. You
can't shake him. Can't shake him. He continues
in the faith. He ain't going nowhere. He's
not leaving. Would you also go away? To whom
shall we go?" Peter said, Thou hast the words of life. And now
listen, and we believe, and are what? Sure. Isn't that what it
said? That's what I'm talking about.
We believe and are sure that Thou art that Christ, the Son
of the living God. Now that's a miracle. Do you
know in 1 Timothy 3, It talks about the mystery and the miracle
of godliness. Paul writes, and he says in 1
Timothy 3.16, without controversy, without debate, here is the miracle
of godliness, the mystery of godliness. Without argument,
God was manifest in the flesh. God became a man. He was justified in the Spirit,
vindicated, the Lord Jesus Christ, his claims and witness and work
and word were vindicated by the power and Spirit of God. He was
ministered to by the angels, mystery, miracle, the angels
ministered to him. When he was on the Mount of Temptation,
forty days without food, Satan came to him and tried And Satan
left him, and the angels ministered to him. Remember? To the man.
When he prayed in Gethsemane, my soul, sorrowful unto death, take this cup from me. I'm going
to die right here. There won't be any cross. I'm
going to die right here. My soul is exceeded, sorrowful
unto death. Nevertheless, by my will, thy
will be done. And the angels came, ministered
to him. Went back and told his disciples,
it's all right, let's go. That crisis is over. The angels,
that's a mystery. God was manifest in the flesh,
vindicated in the spirit, ministered to by the angels, preached to
the Gentiles. He was preached to the Gentiles. He was preached to you and me.
These pagan cannibals, idolaters, strangers, from the covenant
of Israel, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenant,
and God and this gospel preached to us. Miracle. Now here's the
next miracle in that one verse, and believe, don't in the world.
We actually, to the world this is foolishness. What I'm preaching
this morning, what your pastor preaches every Lord's Day is
To the wise, to the princes of this world, to the leaders of
this world, to the religious people of this world, it's scandalous,
nonsense, foolishness, fanaticism. But to us, it's the wisdom of
God, the power of God. And let me tell you, if you believe
that that infant of days, a tender branch, a root out of dry ground,
has no form or comeliness that we should desire, no beauty.
Everybody or anybody turned thumbs down on him, despised, rejected
of men. A man of Saul was acquainted
with grief, who was led outside the city wall and nailed to a
cross between two thieves. You believe that that's God in
human flesh? That's a miracle. That's right. Nobody but a Christian
believes that. Nobody but a man born of God
believes that. But that crucified, hated Jew
is the Son of God. That centurion, after he died,
said, true, this man is the Son of God. That's a miracle. And you know,
that's what God said to Jeremiah. He said, you come down here to
the potter's house and I'll show you something. And he said, I
went down to the potter's house, the workshop, and I watched the
potter as he took the clay, loaded it in his hand, and made a vessel. And made a vessel. According
to his own purpose and plan, he made the vessel. Turn to Romans
9. Old Jeremiah standing there watching
the potter. What's in the potter? And the
Lord said, Jeremiah, I'm the potter and you're the clay. I
make the vessel. And here in Romans 9, verse 20,
Nay, but, O man, who are you that replies against the Lord?
Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why have
you made me thus? Hath not the potter power over
the clay of the same lump, sons of Adam? Same family, brother,
sister, aunt, cousin, niece, nephew. Same lump. Same lump. Make one vessel under honor and
another under dishonor. Let's go to God's workshop. We
are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus. For by grace are
you saved through faith. That's not of yourself. It's
the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. But we are His workmanship. He's
the potter. He's the workman. We're the clay. He makes us out of that loam
a better son for His glory. It's all of God. All of God. He purposed it. He purposed the
way, Bob said. He made the way. Showed us the
way. Revealed it. Put us in the way. Kept us in the way. And He is
the way. It's all of God. All of grace.
Go back to verse 1, 1 John, chapter 5, verse 1. Whosoever believeth,
you believe this? Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ, he is born of God. That's it. He is born of
God. It doesn't say he's born of God
because he believes. It says if he believes, he's
born of God. A baby is not born because it
cries. It cries because it's born. A baby isn't born because
it breathes. It breathes because it's born.
And you're not born again because you hear the gospel and see the
glory of God and understand in your heart. You hear that gospel
and see that glory and understand that mystery because you're born actually believes that this hated,
despised man of sorrows is the Son of God? Boy, he's been born
of God. You see, the natural birth and
the spiritual birth have a lot of similarities. First of all, they're both mysterious.
The birth of a baby, a microscopic seed, man and woman come together,
a baby may be born, may not. The wind blows where it's listed.
You hear the sound, you see the result, but you don't know where
it came from or where they're going. And that baby born is
a miracle, a mystery. And that sinner who's dead and
to be born again, born of God, that's a mystery. Born from above,
born of God, that's a mystery. The wind, Christ said, blows
where it will. And you hear the sound, you hear
the gospel, you hear the message, you hear the rumbling, and then
you see the results, which you have no control over. Your pastor
preaches, I preach, Bob preaches, these elders preach. Some hear,
some don't. That's a mystery. I'm glad I
heard. I'm glad he gave me ears. Oh,
I'm glad. Thank God. And secondly, the
natural birth produces life. In the natural birth, there's
life where there wasn't any before. One of our ladies expecting a
baby next, in August. That baby's never lived before.
And August the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, or 5th, whenever that baby's
going to be born, it'll happen. Life! First time. And every one of us born of God,
we're dead, lifeless, having no hope without God, without
Christ in this world. And by His grace, one day, we
live. He said, I passed by you when
you were in your blood. And I said, lived! And you lived. Life. And that life given of
God will never die. It'll never die. Just like this
natural life. It's going to go on. Or this
body will go back to the grave, but keep on living. Even in the presence of God or
separated from God. And then thirdly, in the natural
birth. You know what? Genes, they call
them. They're pretty powerful. But character of the Father comes
out. I was watching myself on TV this
morning. Our program comes out of Washington.
You can get it on that—Steve on that—everybody's got one of
those digits. The little Channel 216, Washington,
America's Voice, but I picked it up. And I was watching it,
Doris sitting beside me, and I said, I see Paul in me preaching
that. I watched the way I said something
and the way I used my mouth, and it's Paul. He has characteristics
of his father. That's right. That's a mystery. My brother, who's dead, was married
the first time in 1946, and it was a disaster. But they had
a little boy, John Carey Mahan III, a little Johnny. My brother and his wife divorced
and went their separate ways. My brother went back in the service,
made a career in the service. His wife married again. His father-in-law
adopted that little boy, and we never saw him again. A few
months old, a year old, never saw him. My brother said it's
better for him to live his own life than I live mine. I don't
know whether that's wise or unwise, but nevertheless, that happened.
Twenty years later, I was in Birmingham visiting my in-laws,
and there was a knock at the door. That's where we all lived
in Birmingham originally, my brother and I. I went to the
door and there stood my brother. No, a 21-year-old version of
my brother. I hadn't seen him since an infant.
I was shocked. He walked in, he walked like
my brother. He opened his mouth and he talked
like my brother. And the phrases, and they're
right, Doris, the phrases he used was like my brother, 21
years old. He said, I'm looking for my dad.
And I knew you could tell me where I could find him. And I
thought, my goodness, what a day that's going to be. My brother
was in Germany in the army, and this boy was the first lieutenant
in the army. Isn't that something? Fathered his dad. But I'll tell you, people that
are born of God bear the character of their dad. I don't hate to
use that word like that, but they're fathered. That's right. When you're born again, it's
a mystery, born from above. Secondly, you have eternal life. It'll never die. Thirdly, you
walk like you're the father. You talk like your father. They
took notice that the disciples had been with whom? The Lord
Jesus. They talked like it and walked
like it and acted like it. Their attitude. We're growing
those things. They're not perfect by any means. Please understand that. But moving
in that direction. My, this young man wasn't a duplicate
of my brother, but he, I knew who he belonged to. I knew, I
knew whose daddy, whose daddy, whose boy that was. I knew. And
I believe you'll know who a man's spiritual father is. Don't you?
They walk in the Spirit. And then the fourth thing, when
a child is born naturally, he has everything he'll ever The moment that baby comes from
the womb, it'll never grow another arm, another leg, another toe,
another finger, another ear, another eye, another heart, another
lung, another kidney, another bladder. That's everything. And
when God saves a sinner—Rick, when He saved us long back yonder,
we were already ready for glory. He hath made us meet sufficient
in Christ. to inherit that inheritance you
talked about, that heritage of Christ, that's all. Now, He may
keep us on this earth a year or two years or ten or fifty
or forty or ninety or whatever, but that thief on the cross walked
into glory and lacking nothing in Christ complete. You're complete
in Him, that's that song y'all sing, complete win right now. When was Abraham complete when
he believed God? Not when he was circumcised,
not when he offered Isaac, not when he did this. He was complete
when he believed. Well, I've got to move on. It's
so rich there, the Lord's workshop. Whosoever believes that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God, and every one that loveth him
that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. And by this
shall we know By this we know we're children of God, been born
of God. How? We love God. The children
of God are not only born of God, but they have the love of God
shed abroad in their hearts. Now I know the word love is used
frequently by all men, all people. They talk about love and write
about love and sing about love, but that's not the love I'm talking
about here and John's talking about. This is God-given love. This is spiritual love. This
is special love. This is the nature of God and
the love of God. And it's the gift of God. God
sheds abroad his love in our hearts. We're not only born of
God and have all the faculties, but we have the spiritual life
and love and nature. He loved us. Let's turn to 1
John 4, back one page, 1 John 4, 5. Now here is love. Not that we love God. He loved
us. That's where all this started.
He loved us, and he sent his Son to be the propitiation for
our sins. And we were born of him and given
a heart to love. Look back at verse 7. Beloved,
let us love one another, for love is of God. And everyone
that loveth, he loveth because what? He's born of God. That's
why he loves. When we're born of God, he gives
us the love of God. He loved us first. We're born
of him, and he shed abroad in our hearts a nature, a will, a life that loves people. Actually does. Earnestly, honestly,
sincerely loves them. forgives them, pities them, sympathizes
with them, loves God, loves his people. Now, look down at verse
12. Why is this? No man has seen God at any time. If we love one another, why is
it God dwells in us? That's why we love one another.
It's impossible without the indwelling Spirit of God. And his love is
perfected, it's matured, it's developed, it's experienced in
us. It's not just making a decision.
This thing of being saved, making of a believer in the workshop
of God, he makes a vessel that's genuine. It's genuine. It's a genuine vessel. And he
sheds it broad in that vessel. love, because he dwells in that
vessel. And it's not I—you know, Paul
kept saying this, I labor more abundantly than you all, yet
not I, but Christ in me. Again, he said, the life which
I now live in the flesh, I live by the—oh, he said, I'm crucified
with Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet not I, but Christ lives in
me. Now read that verse again. If
we love one another, God dwells in us. And His love is perfected
in us. It's His love. Now look down
at verse 16. And we have known and believed
the love that God hath to us. God is love, and He that dwelleth
in us is God's love. Listen to the
Day of Judgment, because as He is, so are we in this world.
miracle, mystery, work of God, born of God. And actually, the very life of
God dwells in His people and His love. It's not without flaw,
and it's not perfect. Like John Newton said, I don't
love Him like I ought to. I don't love him like I'm going
to. I don't love him as I want to. But he knows I love him. And that's a miracle. He knows. And if you love him, you love
those who have forgotten of him. All right, here's the third thing.
Look at verse 3. 1 John 5, verse 3. This is the
love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments
are not grievous. Now stay with me. This miracle,
the workshop, out of nothing, creates a vessel. Dead is life. Makes it a special vessel, a
divine life. God dwells in it, His love. And
then, that person, to that person, God's commandments, statutes,
and law are not grievous. They're not burdensome. That's
what that word means. The word of God, the law of God,
the commandments of God are not burdensome. They're not heavy. They're not disagreeable to those
who are born of God and who love God. We have an old nature. We have an old nature. Everybody
here knows that, a nature of flesh. From the youngest to the
oldest here, we know one that we still have a nature of flesh.
We still experience pride, envy, lust, anger. These things are still experienced.
That nature is there. God says, love God with all your
heart. I want to. Love your neighbors
as yourself. I want to. Live your life without
sin, without—don't be proud. Humble yourself. I want to. You see, we have that nature.
Paul said it's the flesh lusting against the Spirit, and the Spirit
against the flesh. We have that old nature, and
we struggle with these motions of sin and desires of the flesh,
and they'll be there till we die. That's right. You get 70, 70, 80, 85, 90 years
of age, you've still got that old man, that old nature, those
old motions of sin. And that conflict, now listen,
the conflict, listen to me real closely right here now, that
conflict does not arise because of God's commandments, God's
commandment, God's law, God's holiness. That conflict arises
from our flesh. That's where it comes from. That's
where the problem comes. It's the flesh that gives us
problems. It's not the law of God that gives us a problem.
It's not the commandments of God that we chafe against. It's
this flesh. Now, Paul tells us that. Turn
to Romans 7. I'm talking about believers now. I'm talking about believers. Romans 7. Listen to what Paul
says in Romans 7, beginning with verse 19. Look, the good that I would do,
I would do good. Listen, let me ask you a question.
How would you live if you could? Perfect. Wouldn't you? The good
that I would do, that's what I would do good. I wouldn't do
evil, I would do good also. Yet I don't do it. I don't have
the capacity to be perfect. But the evil I would not do,
I would not do evil. I don't want to do evil. Too
often I do. Now, if I do that, I would not. It's not I that do it. It's not
this new man. It's not this new nature. It's
sin that still dwells in me. That's right. It's not the...
My problem is not with this new man. It's with that old man. He's the culprit. That's right. He's the culprit. The flesh.
Won't you be glad when he's put in the grave? Read the next verse. Now, if I do that, I would not.
It's no more I that do it than sin that dwelleth in me. I found
in the law that when I would do good, I found this is true,
evil's present. I delight in the law of God.
It's not burdensome. It's not grievous. His commandments
and His law is not burden. It's not grievous. It's not a
weight. It's not disagreeable. I love
it. is no place I'm happier than
right here in the Word, are you? No place. No place I'm more content
than with His believers. No place I'm more like a baby
pacified and feasting on the Word and singing the hymns of
grace. I delight in the love of God after that inward man,
that man born of God, that man in whom God dwells, that man
whose love God's love dwells in—that's that inward man. But, unfortunately, I see another
member, another law in my mind, another person, warring. He's the culprit. He's the one
that's fighting, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing
me, trying to bring me into captivity to this law of sin, which still
dwells in my mind. I will not have it. Oh, wretched
man that I am. Who's going to deliver me from
this body of death that I hate, this sin that I hate, this nature
that I hate, and give me over coldly and completely to this
man born of God, who cannot sin, who does not sin? I'll tell you,
I thank God through Jesus Christ my Lord. He purchased deliverance. That's what you said from this
penalty. from its power, from its practice, someday from its
presence. You see that? That's so. The law of God's not
grievous. Sin is. Commandments of God are
not grievous. People who come to hear us preach
and chafe against this Word, they're not saved. A saved man
loves the Word. You can't offend You can't offend
Him with a word. You cannot offend Him. You can
rebuke Him, reprove Him, exhort Him, enlighten Him, whatever.
He says, praise God, I love that. I love that. You can demand that
He loves me with all His heart, with God with all His heart,
mind, soul, and strength. He says, I want more than I want
anything. So the culprit is not the new
man. It's the old man. And someday,
God's going to whack him out. He'll be no more. That's a miracle. The making of a believer. One
more thing, and I'll let you go. Verse four. Whosoever is born of God, he
believes on the name of the Lord Jesus. Second, he loves God and
loves his people. Thirdly, God's commandments and
word are not grievous. They're the children's bread.
And fourthly, he overcomes the world. Spiritual, what does that
mean? Well, our Lord created this world. He allowed man to fall. He allowed
this world to go the route it's gone and into the condition it
now rests in. And He saved us, and when He
saved us, He didn't take us out of this world immediately. He
left us in this world. He left us in this world. He
didn't take us out, but he left us here. He prayed, he said,
Father, I've kept them. Now, I come to thee, and they're
in this world. I've kept them. I pray you'd
keep them. I pray not that you'd take them out of here, but keep
them from the evil one while they're here. While they're walking
through, leading through the wilderness. While they're walking
through this wilderness, they're going to have to stay. Why? Matthew
5. Turn over there a minute. Matthew
chapter 5. Why? Why have I got to stay here?
Why doesn't He just, when He saves one of us, just take us
on the glory like He did the thief on the cross? Well, listen.
Matthew 5, 13. You're the salt of the earth. Salt has lost its power, its
seasoning effect. It's not good for anything. It's
good for nothing to be cast out and trodden under the foot of
men. You're the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot
be hid, neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel,
but on a candlestick, and it gives light unto all that are
in the house." God left us here at lights, examples, witnesses,
ministers, preachers. Listen, let your light so shine
before men on this earth that they may see your good works
and praise you. and praise Him who gave them
to you, and glorify you. No! And put your name on the
wall somewhere. No! They'll see your good works
and glorify your Father which is in heaven. One more verse.
I've got to give you this. Now, I'm sorry. Philippians 2.
But this is so vital. Philippians 2, verse 13. He told that church down in in
Philippi to work out their deliverance with fear and tremble. There's
some conflicts and problems in that church. He said, you work
out your salvation, your deliverance with fear and tremble. Verse
13, it's God that works in you. God's workmanship, both to do
will and to do His good pleasure, both to will His pleasure and
to do His pleasure. That's all of God. And do all
things without murmuring and disputing that you may be, listen,
blameless, harmless, the sons of God. without rebuke, in the
midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom you shine
as lights in the world." That's why he leaves us here.
Now, and he that is born of God overcomes us well. And I'll give
you just five statements. Write them down if you want to.
What is it to overcome the world? We have no interest in the wisdom
and philosophy of this world. Now, Brandon, you'll be starting
to the university in just a few weeks, a month. And you're going
to run into some professors who have about seven degrees at the
end of their name, so-called wise men. And they're not going
to believe what I preach this morning. They're going to teach
you another philosophy, evolution. They're going to teach you another
wisdom, the wisdom of man. The world by wisdom doesn't know
God. But you, if you're born again, born of God, you're not
going to be influenced by that so-called wisdom and philosophy. I'm not worried about our young
people who are born of God going to school because they've overcome
this junk. They've heard it before. They've
heard it before. It doesn't mean a thing. They
love this wisdom. That's right. You find that to
be true? You listen to the professor and take his course that you
have overcome that. This is the wisdom. That's not
the philosophy and wisdom of this world. I'm not sure. Secondly,
you have no interest in the approval of this world or the recognition
of this world. We labor to be accepted, not
of men, but of Him. What do we care what the world
thinks of us? We're not laboring for their acceptance or their
recognition or their praise or their glory. We're laboring for
the acceptance of our Father, to be accepted of Him. Our Lord
said to His disciples, don't rejoice that the devil's a subject
to you and you're big shots here. Rejoice that your name's written.
I saw my name in the paper. I'd rather see it in the book
of life. It doesn't mean a thing. You're going to burn that paper,
but that book will last forever. Thirdly, you've overcome the
world. You don't have any, you don't have that anxious care
about materialism and prosperity. That's right. Oh, you enjoy a
good job, a nice home, good meal, nice clothes, good car. You enjoy
these things, but you can do without them. A man's life doesn't consist
in the thing he possesses, but in the Lord who possesses him.
Paul said, I know how to abound. Paul had moved in castles of
kings. I know how to abound. I know how to sit down at the
best table that there is. I know how to have the best food.
I know how to have the best clothes. I know how to have the praises
of men. I know how to have these things. I know how to abound,
but I know how to be a base. I know how to get a bar of soap
and go to the creek and bathe too, don't you? And I'm just as happy in the
Lord Jesus Christ with a bar of octagon soap now bathing in
the creek as I am in that big shower down there with all the
lilac and so forth. I like it! Believe me, I like
it. That soap burns, that octagon
soap, but that lilac soap feels good. But I know how to abound,
and it's all right. And it'll be all right if he
takes it all the way to Martin. It'll be all right. Because if my life doesn't consist
in these things, it consists in hell. That's overcoming the
world. And then fourthly, we have no
interest in their glory and in their fame. The coach at the
basketball team in Ashton was talking on the radio one night
after the game, and he was talking about his boys, his boys. And he was saying, well, someday
I'm going to retire from coaching and these boys are going to take
care of me. He said, Luke's going to be a U.S. congressman. Bob
said, I hope not. I hope not. A lot of parents
want their boys to be congressmen or lawyers or doctors. How many
lawyers are in here worshiping God this morning? And doctors
and congressmen? And high-powered executives and
CEOs. You want your boy to be a success
in the world? Or you want him to know the Lord.
That's what I'm talking about. Overcoming the world. Overcoming
the world. It's alright. It's alright. But it don't matter that much.
That's overcoming the world. These things are going to pass
away and you know it and I know it. Let them go. And that's the
fifth thing. We're conscious of the fact that
every relationship formed here. in the flesh has got to go. My brother, as I said, the only
brother I have, but I question whether he ever knew
the gospel. And that relationship's over. But I have a brother here,
and our relationship will never end. And that one's all right. It's all right, isn't it? This life is forever. This gospel
is forever. This world is coming to an end. Everything identified with it.
And when you get to that place where you can say, so be it,
even so far that seemed good in your sight, that's all right. Okay, the Lord bless you. Thank
you, Pastor. 224. Brother Joe, come up. Lead us singing the first and
last verses of number 224. Come on up, Brother Joe. Let's
stand as we sing the first and last verse. I know not why, but wondrous
grace, to Thee that make known. Nor why, but worthy Christ Himself,
redeem me for His own. I have believed and I've proclaimed
that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him
a distant name. I know not when my Or if I walk the veil which is
marking him in the air But I know Him, I have believed Him And
persuaded that He is able Jesus, which I will be, unto
Him again that day. Thank you.