It's my joy to be here tonight. That song was certainly an appropriate
introduction. He certainly reached down, way,
way down, where he found me. And that's appropriate, because
tonight I want to talk to you about something I know I want
to talk to you about where he found me. I know that in our day, those of
us who the Lord has been gracious to reveal the Lord Jesus Christ
to us, that we tend to think that most lost folks are lost
in religion, and many are. He found, I think, most of you
in religion. Some of us, he didn't. I had
not been in a church from the age of 16 until I was 33. And he reached down and found
me. And I think that from what I
know of the world, that when it's all said and done, there's
going to be more, more folks who were lost in the ism I'm
going to talk about tonight And then in all of the Catholicisms
and Arminianisms and Baptists and all the other isms, you know,
all the other isms put together, I suspect this one ism is where
most lost folks are, certainly in this country in this day and
time. Someone said that if you could
only have one word To best describe the philosophy of America in
this day and time, it would be materialism. Our generation is totally given
over to the pursuit of money and is bent on the accumulation
of possession. My goal when I graduated from
college was to be a millionaire at thirty-five. If Christ hadn't
stopped me in my tracks, I might have made it much to my detriment.
Much to my detriment. I look back and think if I had
ever actually got my hands on a million, well, I would have
found out what the scripture meant when it said, The root
of all evil is the love of money. I saw a fellow with a t-shirt
on one time, and this is what it said, The one who owns the
most stuff at the end He wins. And it's hard not to chuckle
at that, isn't it? It's hard not to chuckle. The one who has
the most stuff at the end wins. Well, when you think about it,
what does a person win if he has all the stuff? The Scripture
is plain. What does it profit a man if
he gained the whole world and loses his soul? What do you win
if you give your life to getting stuff? You win the wrath of God? You win the wages of sin? You
win eternal death? And what does a person actually
own? You know, the one who owns the
most stuff, what do you actually own? What do you and I actually
own permanently? Do you know that we do not own
or possess a single thing in this life? Turn over to Psalm
50 with me. To put the word my, M-Y, to put
the word my or mine in front of almost any other word in English
language is absolute foolishness. Let me give you an example. My
house? Oh, really? My house? Well, only
until I move or it burns down or I die. It's not my house,
it's just the house where I live. My car? Well, until I wreck it
or sell it or it's stolen or I leave it in my will, it's just
the car I drive. It's not my car. Everything I
have is a gift or a loan, and someday I will possess it no
more. Job said, naked came I out of
my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave,
and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." Even saying, and listen to this,
even saying, my wife or my husband, from the outset of the marriage,
is only until death do us part. in this world and in the life
to come, there are only two things that a man or woman can rightly
claim as man. And I'm going to tell you what
those two are. I want to lay a little more groundwork, but
I won't forget. I'm going to come back and we're going to
talk about the only two things that we can own in this life
or in the life to come. But of worldly possessions and
material things, we have no real claim, because everything belongs
to God. Everything does. You see here
in Psalm 50, look what it says in Psalm 50, verse 10. For every
beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand
hills, they're mine. I know all the fowls of the mountain,
and the wild beasts of the field, they're mine. If I were hungry,
I wouldn't tell you, for the world is mine, and the fullness
thereof." Now, how plain can it be? What do you leave out
there? The earth, the world, and the
fullness. That means everything in it is
mine. That's what God says. Everything
is the rightful creation and possession of God Almighty. Look
at Luke chapter 12. Turn over there with me. It says something about our nature
that when we accumulate a little money or get some material things,
it's a real commentary on our nature that instead of giving
thanks to God that we got them, you know what we do? Instead
of acknowledging that everything is the gift of God, you know
what we do? Well, I'm a little smarter than
he is. If he wasn't such a fool, we'd get all arrogant and puffed
up, don't we? Huh? Yeah, we think we're better
than somebody else. We think we're smarter. That's
why we got it. We worked harder. When in fact, God gives us everything. Every single thing we have comes
directly from his hands. And we best be careful when we
say, My house, my goods. Look here in Luke 12, verse 15. Have you got it? Luke 12, verse
15. Here's a man who spoke thus,
and he said unto them, take heed and beware of covetousness, for
a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of things which
he possesses. And he spake a parable. Our Lord is teaching here. saying,
the ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully.
And the rich man thought within himself," and this is what you
get when you think with yourself, by the way. Instead of thinking,
looking in the Word for the truth, this man thought within himself,
saying, what shall I do? Because I have no more room to
bestow my fruits. And he said, this is what I'll
do. I'll pull down my barn and build greater, and there will
I bestow my fruits and my goods. I'm so smart. I'm better than
the other farmers. I'm smarter. I work harder. I'm
so good, God blesses me. It's mine. Verse 19. And I will say to my soul, So
thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thine ease,
eat, drink, and be merry." Was that our generation? But God. What's God say? But God said
unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of
thee. Then whose shall those things
be which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure
for himself, and is not rich toward God." If we have any increase,
we better thank God. We better acknowledge from where
it comes from. Yes, we better. I want us to
see three things tonight, just three things. First, I want us
to see what the Scripture says. The word my or mine in the Scriptures
means possession. It means to own, to possess.
And I want us to see what God the Father says is man. I want
us to see what the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son, what He
says is man. And then I want us to see those
two things, that all men and women, what the Word of God says,
we can claim as man. All right, first of all, God
the Father. We've already read over there
in the Psalms that it says He said all things, period, their
man, the world, the earth, and all that's in it. That's obvious.
That's the first thing. The second thing is in Matthew
2. Turn over there with me, Matthew
2. God the Father has from all eternity, He's had some folks
that He claims as His possession. He puts the word my, M-Y, together
with their names. Look here in Matthew 2, verse
6. And thou, Bethlehem, and the
land of Judah, art not the least among the princes of Judah. For
out of these shall come a governor that shall rule," here it is,
"...my people Israel." You see, God the Father loves and has
made provision for a peculiar group He calls, My people. And they're His. They're His
possession. So everything in this earth and its fullness is
God the Father's, and He has a people that He says they're
man. And here's the third thing. Stay right here in Matthew 2.
The third thing, there is one whom the Father has such a special
affection and love for, a man. A man. Not just a man, but a
man. But the Father has a oneness
with this man. And it is this one the Father
repeatedly reserves words of special praise and identification
with. And that one is here in Matthew
2, verse 15. When, from the day he was born, the father laid
claim to this one. He told his parents, after he
was born, he said, take him down into Egypt, because Herod seeks
to kill him. See in verse 15 of Matthew 2,
or read verse 14. Joseph took the young child and
his mother by night, and departed into Egypt, and was there until
the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken
of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my
son." That's the third thing that God the Father claims is
his son. And you see in Matthew 3, turn
to page Matthew 3, The verse 16, he says, "...and
Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the
water, and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him. And he saw the
Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him.
And lo, a voice from heaven sang, This is not just my Son, but
my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." And one more reference,
a few pages over in Matthew 17, You see, this is not only, God
not only says, God the Father says, this is my son. He said,
he's my beloved son, and I'm well pleased with him. And we
need to understand that everything God the Father has to say to
us is said in and through the one he calls my son. You see,
Matthew 17, look at verse 5. Matthew 17, verse 5. While he yet spake, behold, a
bright cloud overshadowed him, and behold, a voice out of the
cloud which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased. Hear ye him." That's just that
simple. That's the three things that
God the Father says are mine. Everything in the world that
exists materially is all his. He says, and then I've got a
people. and I've got a beloved Son in whom I am well pleased,
and you better hear him." Pretty simple, isn't it? All right,
let's go to point two. What is, what does Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, what does he say as man? Well, it's hard,
first of all, it's hard to separate. When God the Father says the
whole world and the earth is mine and the fulness of the earth,
with the Father and the Son, there's much the same, and it
all belongs to the Son, too. He lays claim to it just like
the Father. If you turn over to John 10,
I'll show you not only that, but the second thing, the second
thing, which is the most frequently, there's some 3,000 references. You say, do you look all those
up? Well, most of them. There's some 3,000 uses of the
word my or mine in the Scriptures. And do you know what the most
frequent usage in all the Scriptures is? The one I'm going to read
you right here. In John 10, verse 30, our Lord
says, I and my Father are one. The Son says, He's my Father. He says, God Almighty is my Father. He's my Father. You understand,
you and I, we can't lay claim to that. No man ever could, except
this man. He says, He's my Father. You understand that? That's the
most, you read it, I mean, hundreds of scriptures. The Lord Jesus
Christ says, My Father, My Father, My Father. That's the relationship
they have. And then there's just one more
thing that the Son lays claim to. And it shouldn't come as
a shock to us that there's a group of folks to whom the Lord Jesus
Christ lays claim, just like the Father, of whom he says,
They're mine. They're mine. And he calls them
the same as the Father. He says, They're my people. My
people." Now, there's other names he uses when he was in this world. He called them out other names,
ones you'll know. Like in John 28, he said, They're my brethren.
They're my brothers and sisters. In Matthew 6, he said, They're
my church. In John 15, he said, They're
my friends. In John 13, he says, They're
my disciples. But do you know what the most
frequent and affectionate, possessive term our Lord uses for his people?
It's right here in John 10. Look at John 10, 14. He says,
I am the good shepherd, and I know my sheep. See, he says, they're
mine. I've got some people, and they're
like sheep to me. And they're my sheep. And he
says, and I'm known to mine. They know me, you see. In verse
15, he says, "...and as the Father knoweth me, even so know I the
Father. And I lay down my life for the
sheep." Oh, he has a life? Yeah, he says, it's my life.
He came here and lived, didn't he? Why did he do it? What did
he do? He said, well, my life, I came and lived it to give it
to the sheep. In verse 16, "...and other sheep I have which are
not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they shall hear my
voice." He has a voice. What does he do with it? He calls
the sheep. "...and there shall be one foal and one shepherd.
Therefore doth my Father," there it is again, "...my Father loves
me, because I lay down my life." It's my Father's will that I
lay down my life. I have a life, but it's His will
and my will that I lay it down. But he said, I'll take it up
again. No man takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself.
I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.
And this commandment have I received of my Father." See, there it
is again. And then look at John 10, verse
27. My sheep, they hear my voice,
and I know them, and they follow me. How do you recognize them?
They're following him around. What are you doing here tonight? It's a Wednesday night, and you've
got a baseball game to watch. Don't the Bulls play or somebody
on TV tonight? Huh? What are you doing here,
Sam? They're following the shepherd. What you doing? You heard his
voice is going to be somewhere here tonight. You want to hear
it. Verse 28, I give unto them eternal life, and they shall
never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. He's got a hand? Yeah, he says,
I've got my hand. What's he doing with it? Taking
care of the sheep with them. He's got ahold of his sheep.
I'm going to let them get away. Verse 29, "...my Father," there
it is again, "...which gave them to me is greater than all, and
no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand." The
Father's got a hand? What's he doing with his hand?
Well, the Son says, My hand's on the sheep, my Father's hand's
on me. Do you think there's any way in the world somebody would
go and get one of his sheep? No. No way. This is good news. Verse 30, he says, I and my Father
are one. We're all about the same business.
Isn't that good news? Well, let me ask you this. If
that's such good news, what happened in verse 31? What happened? Then the Jews took up stones
again to stone him. I hope y'all and I and anybody
here don't throw rocks at me, because I just... What's the
problem here? What's the problem here? Hmm? Well, you see, some folks don't
like it that someone else, even if it is God the Father or God
the Son, that someone else has such power over my will. It upsets some folks that somebody
has the right to choose my people, that somebody has the authority
to demand perfection to my law, That someone has the sovereignty
to bring my will under subjection to his will? But not his sheep. His sheep,
you know what sheep are? They just wander in the green
pastures and follow the shepherd. They just do, they just, his
will suits them fine. Well, what's the key? What's
the key here? Luke 15. Turn over there. Let
me show you something in Luke 15. You see, his sheep aren't upset.
They hear his voice and they follow him. And look at Luke
15, verse 4. Here's the problem. Verse 4. What man of you," our Lord is
teaching here, "...what man of you, having a hundred sheep,
if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety-nine in
the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he
find it? And when he hath found it, he
layeth it on his shoulders rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth
together his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with
me, for I have found my sheep which was lost." And I say unto
you that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that
repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons which need
no repentance." You know what the difference between those
Jews over there was in verse 31 and God's people? Those Jews
have never been lost. They're like the ninety and nine.
It's like, I guarantee you there's ninety-nine times as many folks
as there are here tonight out here watching that ballgame night.
They've never been lost since any need to hear the shepherd
or his voice. And really, this brings me to
the third thing. What is it that the Scriptures
tell us that all men and women, what can we claim as man? What
is it you and I can really say? There are a couple things we
can say are man. Turn to Psalm 38, and I'll show
you the first thing. This is one thing that all men,
every man who ever walked the face of this earth, can lay claim
to as man. You see, Adam was born, was made
upright and good. But when Adam disobeyed God,
he became a fallen sinner. Adam lost my first estate. He lost everything. He died spiritually. And the only thing that remains
for Adam that he could claim was this one thing. And here
it is in Psalm 38, verse 3. There is no soundness in my flesh
because of thine anger, neither is there any rest in my bones. Why? Because of my sin. Oh, now David's got this right.
It's my sin. That's something you and I can
claim. Verse 4, "...for mine iniquity is gone over my head,
as a heavy burden," they are too heavy for me, "...my wounds
stink, and are corrupt because of my foolishness," there's something
I can claim, "...I am troubled, I am bowed down greatly, I go
mourning all the day long, for my loins are filled with a loathsome
disease, and no soundness in my flesh." Why do people get
sick and die? I am feeble and sore broken.
I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart. Lord,
all my desire is before thee, and my groaning is not hid from
thee. My heart tempteth, my strength
faileth me. As for the light of mine eyes,
it also is gone from me. My lovers and my friends stand
aloof from my sore, and my kinsmen stand afar off. They also that
seek after my life lay snares for me, and they that seek my
hurt speak mischievous things. And imagine deceit all the day
long. Stay right there. Hold Psalm 38. The one thing
you and I can claim is my sin. And my sin has already cost me
my life. I'm as a dead man because of
my iniquity. Hold Psalm 38 and turn a few
pages over to Psalm 51. The irony is, you know, there's
two words in the English language that by nature no human being
will ever put together. Not ever. You can't get a child
to do it. When's the last time one of your
child, one of your, one child, one of your children walked up
and said, I'm wrong? Huh? You ever just, it's almost
impossible. You got the empires to yank it
out of them, don't you? Huh? I'm wrong. I'm sorry, but
how long? It's not in our vocabulary. You
know what the two words are by nature, you can't get a human
being put together? My sin. I'm telling you, your children,
when they get into mischief or what have you, do they have a
way of turning around on you like, I ruined it because you made
me go get it. I dropped it and broke it because I liked the
guy because you were talking to me." Isn't that like that?
I mean, we'll do anything in the world but say it's my sin
that I'm wrong. It's just by nature it doesn't
go together. It's my sin. And we deny it. But only by nature,
no human being is going to put them together. Now, we may acknowledge
sin in others. You've been reading the paper
and think, Boy, that guy blew up that federal building. He's
going to get what he's got coming. He's a murderer. Huh? We can see the liar in him and
the other guy. We can see the wickedness in
the other person. But me? Not by nature. I tell you, it takes the Spirit
of God Almighty to ever make a man say, it's my sin. You can't be done. You make people
say it. I watch them on TV on these religious
stations, and they say, my sin, but they don't mean it. They
don't mean it at all. They really don't. They really
don't. They're self-righteous in even
how they say it. The most, I may have told you
this story, one of the most religious people, women I know, was a friend
of Becky's. Our children, they had a boy
and a daughter the same age as ours, and they were raised up
together, and Becky would always try to talk to this lady. And
she was the head of the youth group in the biggest church in
Ashland, and just whatever. And Becky's trying to tell her
how, you know, we're sinners saved by the grace of God. And
one time she talked to her and said, except for the grace of
God, I'd be the worst harlot in Ashland. And this woman said,
oh, no, not you, Becky. You know what she meant? She
meant, no, no, not you, because if you, then what about me? You
understand? And she couldn't see herself
in that place. Not at all. And the truth is,
except for the grace of God, Becky or this woman would have
been the biggest harlot in action. By nature, we deny my sin. It takes the Spirit of God to
bring a person to that place. You see here in Psalm 51, look
at verse 1. David said, Have mercy upon me, O God, according
to thy lovingkindness, according unto the multitude of thy tender
mercies. Blot out my transgressions. Wash me truly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me." I tell you, every man that the
Lord saves is going to come that route. going to come to the place
where we acknowledge it's mine. Sin is all mine. Paul said, I
am the chief of sinners. Didn't he? Why can't men hear
the truth and understand it and bow to it? Remember in Adam that
we died. We became deaf and dumb. We need
life. We need ears to hear. And how
does that happen? Well, our Lord said, my sheep
hear my voice and they follow me. You still got Psalm 38? Turn
back there. Turn back there. Psalm 38, look
at now, verse 13. But I, as a deaf man, heard not. I was as a dumb man that opened
not my mouth. Thus I was as a man that heard
not, and in whose mouth are no reproofs. For in thee, O Lord,
do I hope thou wilt answer, O Lord my God." What's that, wait a minute, what's
that last phrase there again? For in thee, O Lord, do I hope
thou wilt answer, O Lord," what? My God? Do you see those two
words put together? My God? You know what that must
mean? It must mean there's something
else besides my sin that I can claim. You know who it is? My God. Here's a man saying,
My God. My God, is what David says here. A man addresses the Lord God
as my God, so it is with God's people, God's sheep. You see
verse 18? For I will declare mine iniquity,
I'll be sorry for my sin. But mine enemies are lively,
and they are strong, and they that hate me wrongfully are multiplied.
They also that render evil for good are mine adversaries, because
I follow the thing that good is. Forsake me not, O Lord, O
my God. Do not far from me. Make haste
to help me, O Lord, by salvation." All this, all this saying, my
God and my salvation, you know what it was all preceded by?
I declare my iniquity. I'll be sorry for my sin." You
see how those go together? No man looks for salvation until
he sees his need from his sin. Man's got to see himself as a
sinner before he'll ever see God as a Savior. Can't claim one without the other.