John chapter six I want to read
one verse with you. John chapter six. John chapter six look at verse
forty five with me. It is written in the prophets. they shall be all taught of God. Every man, therefore, that hath
heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me." That is the Lord Jesus Christ
speaking. I recently watched a program
on television which chronicled some of the
beliefs and ways of so-called evangelical Christians today. This was on the Public Broadcasting
Channel. They showed films of religious
services, Sunday morning services like this. They had interviews
with various members of the so-called churches and interviews with
so-called preachers and so-called. Bible scholars or theologians
professors and so forth. It was an in-depth study well. I use that lightly. It was a
study of. so-called Christianity today.
And I picked up, while I was listening to that, I picked up
on an underlying tone in the speech of this narrator. A little
mockery and ridicule in his, I just picked that up in his
demeanor. And after it was all over, the
program, I came away, after what I'd seen and heard by these various
so-called Christian evangelicals, I came away concluding that all
of these so-called people, or evangelicals so-called, were
poor, ignorant fools. and they believed in a bunch
of fairy tales. That was the impression that
it gave me, and I believe that's the impression that they meant
to give people. Religion today, with its so-called—and
I keep using that term because you can use a term and not really
own it—religion today, with its charismatic influence with the
tongues and healings you know bodily convulsions they showed
some. Some services where people would
go into contortions and convulsions and so forth supposedly under
the influence of the Holy Spirit. And especially these ridiculous
looking looking and sounding preachers. and theologians that
I heard them interview. Religion today makes a mockery
of the Bible. It makes a mockery of Christianity. It makes a mockery of God Almighty. It leaves an average thinking
man or woman, I mean somebody who just does some thinking,
who objectively or subjectively looks at something. It leaves
the average person, thinking person, with the impression that
this is all ridiculous. That this Bible and all of this
so-called worship of God and all this that people are doing
is ridiculous. And Sam, it is. It is. But true religion, which is the
title of my message this morning, true religion, true biblical faith or belief,
true belief, true worship, a true way to worship God, the true
way. Truth, as it is really taught
in the Scriptures, is infinite in wisdom, infinite in wisdom,
and it requires It requires that a man or a woman or a young person
do some thinking, some studying, some careful consideration, some
reflection, some inward thought and study, and some diligence. It's going to require—this message
this morning is going to require you to do a little thinking.
I did. I spent a good deal of time on
this. It's going to require that you
do so to understand it. Now, did I make myself clear? I know, do you understand why,
you're going to understand why I gave the introduction that
I did. Religion today is a farce. It's ridiculous. The average
thinking person, anybody that's got a brain in their head wouldn't
follow this stuff for anything. It's absolutely ridiculous. And
so are the people who lead it and are in charge of. Now, religion,
the word religion means the worship of God. The worship of God or
a God. Now, there's only one true religion
because there's only one God. There's only one way to worship
God. You say, you mean you worship God the only way there is? You
better believe it. That's what the Scripture says.
One Lord, one faith, one way to believe, one way to come to
God, one way to worship God. I'm not necessarily talking about
the form. In other words, what we're supposed to wear, how we're
supposed to make our buildings, and this and that and the other.
That's a gray area. OK? But I do know this concerning
the form. It better be in reverence, in
decency, in order. sitting clothed in our right
minds with the Bible before us searching the scriptures with
a man standing up expounding those scriptures that is the
format the only way. All right but true religion.
Truly and listen to this and this ought to spark your interest All who find the things that
I'm going to list this morning, all who find these things in
themselves, in sincerity and in true love, are believers. So you need to
ask yourself as I go on, do I know these things? Do I believe them? Do I love them? Have I experienced true religion? Now true religion starts in the
head. You're required right now to
be thinking. Not sleeping. Not your mind wandering. Thinking. If you don't, forget it. Forget
it. Right? I might as well not go
on. You're required to think. Everything,
every doctrine, every word, everything we learn goes in here, doesn't
it? Goes in the ear. Goes into the head. Think about
it. We consider it. And we either
believe it or we don't. But or and. And it goes from
the knowledge. The understanding. The belief down into a heartfelt
conviction. And persuasion and love and absolute
certainty in the heart. And that's where it's finally
proved to be true. It doesn't stop here. It starts
there. Let's not diminish the need for
knowledge at all. I don't. We must know some things.
All right. That's going to require you to
do some thinking. All right. Point number one, let's turn
over to John 17. Our Lord just said in John 6, 45, they shall
be all taught of God. John 17. And if you remember,
I told you I was going to bring you a message from that article
John Newton wrote, those points on true religion. This is it.
If you have that bulletin handy, you can have all my points already
written for you. You don't have to write them
down. I'm taking his points point by point and expounding upon
them. True religion, number one, true religion arises out of a
true knowledge of God as he's revealed in the scriptures. Now this is not just so much
theology, this is true religion. True religion arises out of a
true knowledge of God as he's revealed in scriptures. true
worship of God arises out of a knowledge, a true knowledge
of God, the one God, as He is revealed in the Scriptures. This
is what our Lord said in John 17, verse 3, "...this is life
eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus
Christ, whom thou hast sent." There is only one God. Hear,
O Israel, the Lord our God is one God." One God. God is God as He's revealed in
the Scriptures, as He is, not as men and women think He is. Didn't the Lord say that in one
place? You thought! People say, you know, everybody
likes to sit around and discuss God. They ought to tremble to
take the name on their lips. But people say, well, this is
what I think about God. Oh, man, God said, thou thoughtest
that I was altogether such a one as yourself. Man's thoughts of
God today are too human. God said, you thought I was altogether
like a man. You think of me, you imagine
me to be just like a man. I'm not, he said. I'm not at
all like a man. God said, my ways are not your
ways, didn't it? They're not the ways of a man.
My thoughts are not the thoughts of a man. Altogether, 180 degrees
opposite of the natural thoughts and ways of man. And the Lord said they show all
all of God's people should be taught. I've got how you really
how. How. From this book. So the place
you're going to learn God and be taught by God himself and
God does the teaching through this book he wrote a book. He'll
sit around and share a session, we get out some different writers
and creeds and various denominational beliefs and so forth and we all
accumulate all that knowledge and we subjectively or objectively
look at it all and we come to some conclusion based upon all
of that crap, clap, trap. But it all comes from this book
right here. Every bit of our knowledge of
God comes from God himself. Religion today has one basic
notion of God Almighty. One! God's attributes are infinite. I could sit here and name off
to you about fifteen or twenty glorious attributes of God Almighty. Religion today has one basic
notion of God, and it's wrong. You'd ask the average person—that's
right, Terry—you'd ask the average person, tell me about God. What do you think about God they
would quote half of a verse not even half of a verse found in
first John five verse first John four it would quote quote half
of a verse which says God is love. Right they know that verse
and they know John three sixteen that's about it. Believe me that's
about it. And they think that everything
God is and everything God does, he does according to this love.
That is a lie. That is not so. Not so. You ask those countries
whom God sent the Israelites in to wipe out everything that
urinated against the wall. Men, women, and children. Dogs
and animals, wipe them out, kill them in the name of God Almighty.
Ask them about the God of love, how that God does everything
in love. Ask the people clamoring to get inside the ark as they're
being killed in that flood. Ask them about the God of love.
They'll tell you, no. Ask the angels who are in a pit
of darkness right now, waiting final annihilation. Ask them.
They'll tell you no. That's not his main attribute. Ask Sodom and Gomorrah. God love? God love everybody? No. They
say no. No, he doesn't. Well, what is? Is there a scripture? Is there an attribute? Is there
a way to describe God that describes God more than anything else,
huh? Is there something which determines everything God does
and everything God is. Is there? Yes. Turn with me to
Isaiah 6. Isaiah chapter 6. Many of you
can quote it by heart. Isaiah chapter 6. More than any
other attribute or description. That word attribute means description. More than any other attribute
God is known by this one, and everything he does is consistent
with this one, with this characteristic. Look at Isaiah chapter 6, verse
1. Now, in the year that King Uzziah died, Isaiah said, I saw
the Lord. Now, he saw him, and he's going
to tell us today what he's like. Isaiah saw the Lord. He said he was sitting upon a
throne. He wasn't walking the banisters of heaven, wringing
his hands, hoping you'll let him into your heart. He wasn't
at your heart's door, was he? He wasn't at Isaiah's heart's
door, knocking. He was sitting on a throne. Oh, that message right there,
isn't it? Not standing, not pacing, sitting
on a throne. And it says, he was high, lifted
up, and his train, that is his glory, the skirts, whatever that
is, we don't know what that is. His train, or his assemblage,
filled the temple, and above it, it says, above this throne
stood the seraphims. These were live, angelic creatures.
and angels. And each one of these angels
had six wings. With two of them they covered
their face, that is in humility. With two they covered their feet,
modesty. And with two they did fly. They
were ready to sound out this message. And it says in verse
three, And they cried one unto another, and said, Love, love, love. We laugh because it's so absurd
today, what we're hearing today. If we could hear these angels,
if we could see this sight, I can't tell you, I can't preach this
like they said it, like it is. I cannot, I can't preach God
like he is. It can't be done. I can't convince
you, I can't convince me how holy, holy, holy God is. It says, The Lord of hosts, the
whole earth is full of his glory. What is his glory? His holiness. God is first and foremost, and
in all things, all that he says, all that he does, holy. Learn that and you learn the
first principles of who God is. You don't start with love. You
start with holiness. Holiness. And what does that
mean? What does holy mean? Rick, what does holy mean? God
is holy. What does that mean? Henry, what does that mean? We
don't even know what that means. I can't accurately describe to
you what holiness is. I don't know. I'm not holy. I'm the opposite. I'm sinful, but God is holy. The best way you can describe
it is pure, absolutely pure, without spot or blemish. pure, righteous, just, true,
good, perfect, merciful, gracious, love. All of these things are
found in that holiness. It's holy love. It's holy mercy,
holy justice, holy wrath. You know, God hates things and
some people, He hates some things. It's holy hatred. Nothing wrong
with God's hatred. Everything holy about it. God's
love must be holy. Holy, holy, holy. Why do they
say it three times? Because He's a triune God. He's
got the Father, God's Son, God the Holy Spirit, thrice holy.
And this is what the angels say over in Revelation, too. Read
it sometime. They're saying the same thing
from the beginning to the end. They're saying this about him,
night and day, holy, holy, holy. So if I were to ask you to sum
up your knowledge of God from the Scriptures, what would you
say? You'd better say, He's holy. If you never experienced his
love, you must know, you will know, he's holy. He's holy. Everything else is in keeping
with his holiness. Point number two. So true religion arises
out of a knowledge of God as he's revealed in the scriptures.
How's he revealed in the scriptures? More than anything else, holy. Holy. Number two, true religion
arises out of a true knowledge of man as he's revealed in the
Scriptures. And once you see God as he's
revealed in the Scriptures, you'll see man in his true life. Look at 1 Corinthians 15 with
me. 1 Corinthians 15. How would you
describe man from the Scripture? 1 Corinthians 15. How would you
describe man from the Scriptures? Well, people say things like,
yeah, he's a good man. You remember when that rich young
ruler came up to Christ and said that? You remember that, John?
He said, good master, and Christ said, hold it right there. Why
are you calling me good? I know it's just a habit with
you. It must be, because he said there's none good but God. Well, he's a good man, he's a
fine man, he's this, he's that. Center? How about center? Would
you say man to center? That wouldn't describe him. That
wouldn't describe him. Look at 1 Corinthians 15, verse
22. As in Adam, all die. How would you describe man? How
does the Scriptures describe man? Dead. Now, if we could take
a field trip this morning, I'll show you man. If we could go
down here to Franklin Memorial and dig up one of these graves
that's been dead years, I'd prefer to find one that's been dead
just four days. It's just a little while. A man that's been dead years
is just nothing. I mean, it's just dust. One that's
been dead a short while, you wouldn't be able to stand it.
You wouldn't be able to stay around. It's the most, if anybody
ever smelled a decomposing human body, it's the most obnoxious
thing you'll ever smell in your life. You'll never get away from
that smell again, as long as you live. And this is the way
God describes us spiritually. Dead. Stinking. That's what he said there. They
all together become filthy. He said that means stinking. Oh my, this is Sunday morning. We're all dressed in our finest.
Man, it's dead. By night, you're dead. Not physically,
though dying. You're dying. You're looking
a dying mess. Where'd my hair go? Huh? I'm
dying. You laugh. You're dying too. Some of you got wrinkles. Some
of you got gray hair. You're dying. You're dying. Even
these little children are dying. Daily. But we're not dead physically
yet. We are spiritually by nature.
Unless we've been reborn, we are without the life of God.
Scripture says man is dead in trespasses and sin. God said
the day you eat of that apple or that fruit, Adam, you shall
surely what? Die. Die. Man became worse than an animal
that day, you know. Man became worse than an animal
the day he rebelled against God. Animals seem to know their owner.
Ass seems to know his master's crib, his owner, ox his master's
crib. Man doesn't do that. Animals
eat grass and grain, meat, according to their nature. They don't mess
up the world. Man drinks iniquity, the scripture says, like the
water. He thinks about it. He walks it. He talks it. He
acts it. He plans it. He pursues it. He
lays in his bed and thinks about how he's going to sin the next
day. He wakes up in the morning. His feet are swift to run to
it. Sin, sin, sin. What about you? Is that right? Can you think
a pure thought for one minute? Try 30 seconds. I guarantee if
you try, it'll be the hardest thing you've ever done. No way
you'll do it if you try. Now this man is dead. Man is
spiritually dead. He's not alive to God. He doesn't
think about God. He doesn't love God. He doesn't
love anything about God. He loves himself. He loves this
world. He loves sin. Now this is the heart. Listen
to me. This is the heart of all doctrinal error. Would you listen
to me? All false notions of God of man,
of salvation, of Christ, are because of this. If man is just
sick, if man just stumbled in the garden, he didn't fall, take
a terrible fall, then he just needs a little medicine, doesn't
he? He just needs fixing up. It's like an old car. You ever had an old car, you
had to push to start it, the battery was dead? If man's battery,
spiritual battery is just dead, it just needs a spark, a little
bit of God to push it. I used to have cars I used to
have to park them on the side of a little hill you know and
because I had the battery with that didn't have enough money
stand to buy a new battery. If man is just sick he just needs
a little medicine if man is only confused. Then you can educate
him into the kingdom of God can't you can educate if man can do
anything. to help himself he can take like
the soul winner say the first step toward God God will meet
him halfway he doesn't need a sovereign God. If he can take the first
step toward heaven. What a step that is the scripture
says there's a wide gap between us and God. If you can take the
first step. That's like me going up to the
oceans I can get over that. For the first that's a killer. Can't do it. Can't do it. A man can do anything to help
himself. He doesn't need a sovereign savior. The scripture says you
have he quickened made alive who were dead and trespasses
and seeing Christ that I am come. Christ said, I'm come not to
show you how to live, not to show you how to be a good boy
so God will love you and God will accept you, and so you can
get to heaven someday and put a crown on your head. If you'll
just be like Christ, if you'll just do what He did, if you'll
just keep the Ten Commandments, I've come to show you how to
have life. No, I've come to what? Give life. Just like Lazarus
was in that tomb, Christ has to do the same thing to people
today. He has to come and call them.
And he does that by the gospel. Point number three. Point number
three. So true religion arises out of
a sense of or out of a knowledge of man as he's revealed in the
scriptures. And man's dead. He's dead. You reveal that right
now. Some of them are revealing it
right now by your attitude and response to what I'm doing, what
I'm preaching right now. There's no interest in the natural
man for these things. It's the hardest thing in the
world for a man just to hear the things of God, just hear
it. He's not interested. Why? He's dead. I pray that's
not the case with some who hear me this morning, that you're
still spiritually dead. True religion arises out of a
sense and an understanding of the great things God has done
for sinners in the Lord Jesus Christ. True religion. Listen to me, all right? Are
you listening? Oh, you're not? I've been preaching to you for
five years now. I know in some of you, your mind, you're looking
at me, but your mind is out in the parking lot somewhere. We're
hearing a lot about it today, a lot of religious people out
there. True religion arises out of a knowledge, a sense, and
an understanding of the great things God has done for sinners
in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you don't know and understand
what God has done, what God has done, what God has done, that God has done it all. And
you could stop right there, couldn't you? That salvation is up to
the Lord. And it's all in and through and by because of the
Lord Jesus Christ. If you don't have that, you don't
know God. You're not saved. You're not
following Christ. I don't care what denomination,
what we claim to believe. The things that God hath done,
you hath He quickened, the Scripture says. Now, since man is dead,
God, who gave life to begin with, has to give it a second time,
doesn't He? Have you ever heard the scripture that says you must
be born again? You must be born again? I forgot,
that's another one that's taken, quote, half. John 3, 7. Because I'll prove it. Because
they say it like this sometimes. You've got to get born again.
He needs to be born again. You better get born again. You
must be born again. I'll tell you how. I'll turn around and tell that
man, you must be born again. You can tell me how to be born
again. You're not born again. Right? That's exactly what Nicodemus
was saying to the Lord. Now, wait a minute. How can a
man who is an adult enter into his mother's womb again and come
out? The Lord said, Are you a master
in Israel? Don't understand these things?
And a man said, You must be born again, which means to be born
from above. Are you trying to tell me that a man can go up
to God and say, Here I am. I've decided to be born. That's just as ridiculous as
a man saying, I'm going to go back into my mother's womb. A
man or woman saying, I'm going to get born. If I repeat this
step one after three, I'll be born again. That's ridiculous.
You must be born by God Almighty. Be born. All right, let me, somebody
may be asking this question. I hope so. I hope somebody's
asking any kind of question. If a man is dead, If man is dead,
then how can he repent? How can he call? How can she
know anything? How can she hear? How can she
ask? How can he understand anything?
I hope somebody's asking some kind of question like that. That's
the right question. What bothers me, people don't even ask any
questions. All they ask is how many people, how many are you
running? the way the man is dead and how
can he know believe repent call here I get a man can receive
nothing except it be given him from above the scriptures. He's
dead. He can't know anything less God
gives him some knowledge. He can't repent less the goodness
of God leads him to repentance. He can't ask or call upon God
he won't ask a call upon God until God makes it. And he does
this by his Holy Spirit. It's the Spirit of God, and he
does that through what I'm doing this morning. I'm catechizing
you. I'm teaching you from God's Word,
from God's Word. And he does all of this principally.
I needed to get to this. He does all of this through the
preaching and the teaching of Jesus Christ and him crucified. Jesus Christ and him crucified. He teaches us who God is, yes,
but we don't know God unless we see him in Jesus Christ. He
teaches us that we're dead and trespassed as a sin, but we wouldn't
have known that if Christ hadn't come and told us and proved it. He teaches us who Jesus Christ
is. He's God's and that nobody comes
to God except through him. There's two words you need to
understand. Two words you need to understand, people. Substitution
and satisfaction. Substitution and satisfaction. And neither one of them have
you have any part in it. The reason God Almighty will
receive The reason God does anything is because of these two things,
substitution and satisfaction. Substitution, there was a man
that came down to this earth, came down. He didn't believe
that Christ has come in the flesh. That means he had to have been
somewhere before. Anybody that doesn't believe Jesus Christ
is God is lost. That goes for all the Jehovah's
Witnesses, you name them. If they don't believe Christ
has come in the flesh, he's lost, he's anti-Christ. God Almighty
took the form of a man and came down to this earth. Why? To be
a substitute. God said, Amy, Ellen, Ken, Vicki,
everybody in here said, you must be holy or I'll not have anything
to do with you. Charles, if you're not holy,
God will kill you. If you're not absolutely spotless
in the side of this holy God that I tried to describe while
ago, he'll snuff you out. You don't want to ever see your
face again. How are you going to do that, buddy? Who's going
to ascend under the holy hill of the Lord? Psalm 24 says. Who's
going to get into the presence of this thrice holy God? Who's
the consuming fire? Who? Who? He that hath a clean
hand, pure heart, never sworn, lifted up his soul unto vanity,
never gone after anything but God. never sworn deceitfully,
never murmured complaint, all thanksgiving and praise and glory
to God, all your life, from the cradle to the grave. That's who
God will accept. Can you do it? Can't do it for
five seconds. Jesus Christ came. He said, Lo,
I come to do thy will, O God. Look at my hand, clean, never
sinned once. Look at my heart," he said. He
said to the devil, John, look at me close. Find something in
me. Find my sin. One spot. He couldn't do it. Pure heart. Never lifted up his
soul unabandoned. He said, I always do those things
which please my Heavenly Father. I must be about my Father's business. Why? That's what he demands of
me. And never swore deceitfully.
even hanging on the cross with spit all running down his face,
said, Father, forgive him. He was your substitute. God looks
at him. You better hope you're in him. When you stand before God someday,
you better be in Christ, your substitute. If he sees hide nor
hair of you, if you're out for one of that imputed righteousness,
that's what I just described to you, was the big word, imputed
righteousness. Christ did all that for a people. He made it as if I'd, just if
I'd, just as if I'd never sinned. That's what Christ did, substitute. And he gave that to me, or whoever
comes to God by Him. Whoever comes to this holy God
and says, I don't have that. I don't have that righteousness.
I want to be with you, Lord. I don't have it. Would you give
it to me in Christ? Yes. Justify. Substitute. Satisfaction. What about satisfaction? Why
did Christ die? Why did he die then? He lived
a good God accepted him. Why did he die? The soul that
sinneth must surely die. God said you must not only be
holy, Jeanette. He demands you to be holy. You
haven't been. So what does he demand of you
now? Die. You've got to be punished. Well, let him slap me on the
wrist. That won't do it. They're chasing me a little while
and say, boys will be boys, you know, let bygones be bygones.
He's a sinner, you know. He couldn't help it. I just doesn't
forgive him. No, I've got to kill him, God
said. Substitute. Satisfaction. So Christ went
to the cross to satisfy God's justice against sin. God's holy.
He can't let one sin go by, Terry. He's just. He can't let one sin
slide, can he? Or else he'd be charged with
injustice. They'd say, I thought you was
a holy God. The angels in hell would say it, wouldn't they?
If God let one sin slide. But God hath laid on Christ the
iniquity, all the iniquity of all of his people. That's the
reason everybody for whom Christ died must be saved. All their
sins are gone. All their sins are gone. And
he's satisfied that justice. My sins are gone. Who is he that
condemneth? God won't even condemn me. You
know, God doesn't even see me as a sinner now. My, my. My, my. You've got to know something
about what I just said, people. You've got to know something
about that, or you're lost as tomorrow's Goose or whatever,
however you want to say it. Goose in a snowstorm. If we don't
know something about who God is, what we are before this holy
God, and what Jesus Christ actually did for me. You don't need Christ.
If righteousness come by the law, He died in vain. Why did
He come? If it's Christ's work plus my
faith, He died in vain. I don't really need Christ. If
I have enough faith, no, it's the blood. I'll make the tone
up a little. It's Christ is all or nothing
at all. If people don't understand to
some degree and belief in their heart that Christ is all, in
salvation they're lost. All right? Number four, true
religion produces a well-grounded hope in the soul based on the
Word of God. Let me hurry. I've got to hurry. A well-grounded hope, true religion,
produces a well-grounded hope in the soul based upon the Word
of God. A firm, settled conviction, persuasion
from the Word of God. Not feeling. Not feeling. Not hearsay. Not miracles, signs,
or wonderings. You know what happened to me?
I had an experience. When I was a boy, you know, I
stumped my toe and And a skunk came by, and a star fell, and
a tree blew over, and the preacher said, Believe! And I did! So I saved! I know what it is! Does that
happen? You're smoking too much corn
silk or something, boy. That doesn't have anything to
do with it. All your salvation and your hope
better be based upon this book right here, or you're going to
be lost tomorrow. Some preacher, some good looking preacher, better
looking than me, and that'd be most of them. Gonna come down
the pike and he's gonna be smoother talking than I am, and he's gonna
do something or say something to convince you of it, or convince
you out of this, and if your conviction, your persuasion is
not built upon this word, you're gonna fall for it. You're gonna
fall for him, you're gonna fall for what he's saying, you're
gonna be tossed to and fro with every wind of doubt, and every
new thing comes down the pike. But if you try it by the Word
of God, if you have a knowledge and an understanding of God's
Word, who God is, who Christ is, what man is, how God saves
sinners, you'll try these things by the Word of God. And you'll
see it. You'll see it as it is. And you'll
become, the Word of God is His power and He convinces us more
and more, more and more and more, promise after promise, truth
after truth, line upon line, Old Testament type after Old
Testament type after Old Testament type after Old Testament type,
after gospel message after gospel message, after doctrine after
doctrine after doctrine, after truth after truth after truth,
a Sunday night, morning, Wednesday, message after message of who
God is, who Christ is, how He saves sinners. and you're convinced is that
can you anybody or anything out there convince you otherwise
of who God is what you are before this holy God and how God saves
sinners through Christ. Anybody? If you can, you better
have been listening to me from the outset very carefully. You
don't have true religion. Number five, true religion produces
a principle of love and surrender of oneself. to Jesus Christ as
Lord. True religion produces a principle
of love and surrender of oneself to Jesus Christ as Lord. And
this is not after salvation. You don't receive him as Savior
and then make him your Lord later on. No, it's the minute he saves
you. The minute he saves you. You
believe everything he says. You believe he's Lord from the
minute he saves you. It's not a And you become a lover,
a follower, a student, a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
not a part-time hobby. Christ doesn't save part-time
people. It's not a part-time salvation.
It's a full-time relationship. And sixthly, it'll make God's
goodness, true religion will make God's goodness and grace
to you be a principle, a model of your conduct toward others.
True religion will make God's goodness and grace to you a model
of your conduct toward others. In other words, if God has been
good to you, you'll be good to others. You show me a man who
claims to be a believer and he's not merciful, I'll show you a
lost man. Christ said that. He said that. Under the merciful, I'll show
myself merciful. You show me a man who claims to experience
the grace of God who's not gracious, I'll show you a lost man, a woman. You show me a man or woman who
does not love. Christ said they are not my disciples
and not my disciples. I don't want anything to do with
them. They've got my name on their lips and I'm ashamed of
them. You show me a person who's not
being conformed and daily changed in the image of the Lord Jesus
Christ. I'll show you a lost person. A lost person. No grace, no love,
no Christ, no regeneration. And lastly, true religion gives
three goals. It makes, it puts within the
heart, you with me? Come on. Three goals in the hearts and
the minds of people. Three goals, these are three
things, the utmost desires in the hearts and the minds of every
true believer. You interested? Smile if you
are. Are you interested in knowing?
If you have these three things, all right? Along with everything
I've just been saying. Three things that it produces.
True religion in the heart. These are things that are not
attainable here, but the seeds of them are some. Number one,
a total commitment to Jesus Christ. True religion gives a person
this goal above all else, a total commitment to Jesus Christ. I've
got an article going in the next bulletin about marriage, true
marriage. And I say, you show me someone,
in so many words, you show me a man or a woman who can be content
with just an occasional affair with their wife or husband or just a part-time relationship. I'll show you somebody that's
not really married. They've got it on paper, but
they're not married. And you show me a believer, a so-called
believer, a Christian who is not in this thing full time,
who is not fully consumed with and taken up with the Lord Jesus
Christ, whose thoughts are not on him at some time, at some
point of every day. that everything they do and say
in some way and another directly connected to him because they're
married to him. You know that everything you do indirectly
influences your husband or your wife? Even so, the one who claims
to be married to Christ, everything we do or say about indirectly
is related to our relationship with Christ. Total commitment. Christ is all or He's not your
Christ. Right? Huh? He's Christ is all, or he's
not your Christ. Number two, total communion with
Jesus Christ. Communion with Christ. That's
another point. You show me a man or a woman who never talk, who
have trouble talking, who always have trouble talking one time
or another, but who never talk, who cannot talk, who do not communicate,
who do not long to be with one another. I'll show you people
who are not married. They got it on paper, but they're not
married. And you show me somebody who does not talk to and communion
with and desire to walk with and be with and hear from the
Lord Jesus Christ and be around him, around his people, I'll
show you a lost person. Total communion with the Lord
Jesus Christ. No doubt we get like the prodigal and go off
and don't think about him, but you're quickly brought to yourself.
When he hides his face from you, you feel it. And you long for
it more than anything else. And lastly, total conformity
in Jesus Christ. Total conformity in Jesus Christ.
Christ becomes your idol. This is no part-time thing. This
is a full-time thing. Christ becomes every believer's
idol. That's what one man said to my
pastor one time. He made an idol of Jesus Christ. Would you put that on my tombstone? Don't you hope everybody's saying
that about you, huh? He made an idol of Jesus Christ.
He is. I worship Him. The very ground
He walks on. Christ becomes your idol. He
becomes your hero. Did you ever have a hero as a
boy? My hero was my big brother. He was about eight years old,
and he was captain of the football team, All-State. in football
and went off to the war, won every honor he could win in boot
camp and advanced infantry and Silver Star and so forth. He
was my hero, my hero. I looked up to him. I wanted to be like him in every
way, every way. And I've tried to emulate him.
And Jesus Christ becomes no less. to every believer. He becomes
their hero, their captain, their idol, their big brother. They
want to be like Him. They want to emulate Him. They
want to walk like Him, talk like Him, be like Him. And they're
never satisfied until they are. They want to grow up to be just
like Him. That's what a believer is. They
want to grow up to be just like Him. When I get older, I want
to be like Christ. That's what I want. Not a fireman,
not a garbage man. There already is one. I want
to be like Christ when I grow up. That's what it means. That's
true religion. That's true religion. And you'll
never be satisfied until you become like Him. So, boy, this
thing is more than meets the eye, isn't it? This thing is
more than just what you're hearing, what you're seeing on TV. Oh,
a whole lot more. That's a bunch of nonsense out
there. You see people whooping and hollering and carrying on
and doing this and that, and you don't see anybody sitting
down calmly and soberly, seriously considering these things that
you have this morning, do you? You don't hear any preacher stand
up. preaching about the attributes of God. You ever heard Jimmy
Swaggart preach on attributes of God? Huh? Jerry Falwell? You
ever heard of him? Guarantee you Jerry's preaching
on homosexuality or abortion this morning. Guarantee it! I
bet you a hundred dollars, a hundred dollars and a half and a cow
and a cat. You'll turn your TV on and you'll get home and you'll
see his replay. It's one or the other. Or America's how it's
falling. We need to know how man is falling.
We need to know how to get back to God. How do we get back to
God? We can't do it. We're dead. God had come to us. That's why Christ came. Well,
then why'd he come? Substitution. Satisfaction. And then that produces, and the
Holy Spirit takes that and plants it in the mind. He says, I see,
I see, I see. And then after a while, it keeps, John, it keeps,
he waters it. The seed goes in, and the Lord
waters it with more of the same. or the same, or the same, till
finally that little seed drops down into the earth and busts
wide open. That little dead seed, dead knowledge,
busts wide open into fruit of what? Faith. You say, I see now. I used to see, but now I see.
You see? You see what I'm talking about? Some do. You say, I know
now, I understand, I believe this. I knew this in my head as a twelve-year-old
boy, but now I see it. I've experienced it. I believe
it with all my heart. I see Christ as He is. I desperately
need Him. And I have a desire to be committed
to Him, to commune with Him, and to be conformed to His image. That's true religion. Do you
have it? If you don't pray to God that
he'll give it to you. Stand with me.