John chapter 1. Let's read one verse here. John
1 verse 47. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to
him, and saith of him, Behold, an Israelite indeed,
in whom is no guile." A man with no guile. Paul said in 2 Timothy chapter
3, he said, in the last days there will be perilous times. Men will be without natural affection. He said there will be truce breakers,
covenant breakers, false accusers, liars, incontinent, fierce, despisers
of those that are good. Based upon those descriptions,
those characteristics, I believe we're in those days. I'm just
certain of it. Because men are so full of lies
and hypocrisy and deceit and dishonesty, we're in a dog-eat-dog
world. Some of you may remember years
ago, when it was years ago, when men and women could be somewhat
trusted, when a man's word actually meant something. You know, handshake
contracts were practically non-existent. You shake hands. A man tells
you he's going to do something, you do it. You may remember a
time like that. It's been quite some time ago
when a man's word meant something. You know what's indicative or
what indicates lawlessness and depravity and the wickedness
of a generation? The more lawyers you have, The
more lawless the people are. Oh, yes. Paul said that the law
is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless. I looked
at the Roanoke Yellow Pages. Fifteen full pages of name after
name of lawyers and attorneys. Fifteen full pages. Now, that's
just a town of a small size compared to some major cities. I mean,
we're talking about thousands of lawyers in a major city. Why? Because people are full of guile. This thing called guile. Trickery. The word means trickery, cunning,
deceit, lies, hypocrisy, two-faced. It's hard to find many It's hard
to find very many at all who are straightforward, honest,
and sincere in what they say and what they do. It's hard to even find here in
a little small country town like this. But it's especially true
in religion. Especially true in religion.
You know, I have very little respect for lawyers. I'm sure there's some honest
ones. I know a man here in town that somebody shaking her head
out. I know some at least I think
are honest. I think. But do you know lawyers
will have got some kind of code of ethics where they'll defend
somebody irregardless of whether or not they're guilty or innocent?
They take this vow. If they take somebody's case,
whether or not if they find out that they're guilty, they'll
defend them to the end. Trying to prove that they're
innocent. That's guile in the worst form. Guile. And they'll
prosecute or defend if the money is right. I have the same low
opinion of preachers. And there's probably more preachers
than lawyers. I have the same low opinion of
preachers that I do of lawyers, preachers who will do or say
anything, irregardless of what this book says and irregardless
of what a man is doing or saying or how he's living. You just
tell him anything to pacify him, defend him, scratch his back,
have a hearing, get a little money, whatever. Crooked and
perverse. Guile. Guile constitutes the
ministry. of the common preacher. The scriptures,
though, say this. I'm willing to lay most of the
blame in the pulpit, but the scriptures do say this. It says
that people heap to themselves, teachers, having itching ears. The people
say, tell us what we want to hear now, or you don't have a
job. These phonies wouldn't have a
job, people, wouldn't they? If people didn't support them,
they wouldn't have a job. And I said this last Sunday,
I'm sure there are people who are duped by some of these religious
phonies, these clowns and this religious nonsense that goes
on. I'm sure there's some people who are duped by it. It is ignorant.
It is spiritually ignorant. But for the most part, the Scripture
says the people love to have it so. The Scriptures say they
love to have it so. Or not so. They say, prophesy on the smooth
things. Smooth things. Entertain us.
Convince us. Indulge us. Make us feel good
about ourselves, and we'll make you feel good. Don't preach truth
to us, or justice to us, or sovereignty, these things. Don't preach these
things to us. Give us a little moral story, and we'll give you a little tip. We don't need to have doctrine. I heard one fellow say, and he
was about the finest, most moral fellow I've ever met in my life,
a good Christian. And he said this upon hearing
that one of the men of our church was going to go preach to a group
where he was. He said, now tell him not to
preach any doctrine, just preach Jesus. Don't preach any doctrine. Now
we've got people of all faiths here. We don't want to mess anything
up. Don't preach any doctrine. Don't trouble the world. Just
preach Jesus. I say, which one? If any man abides not in the
doctrine of Christ, he's not a he, as the Scripture says. Don't give us doctrine, they
say. Don't give us reproof. We don't need to be reproofed.
We're all right. Don't correct us. Don't instruct us what the
Scripture says for the preacher to do, doesn't it? Isn't that
what Paul told young Timothy? You preach the Word in season
or out of season. Be instant. You preach it whether
people want to hear it or not. Reprove. Correct. Exhort. Admonish. Instruct with
all longsuffering and doctrine. People, though, are going through
the motions. Going through the motions. Playing the part. Like
one old writer said many years ago, most people have just enough
religion to make them miserable. Just enough religion to make
them miserable and just enough to pacify an evil conscience.
To pacify. But the Scripture says, stay
with me, the Scripture says they have a refuge of lies. Guile. A refuge of lies. A religion
full of guile. Now here in our story. In John
chapter 1, we have a story of a man whom God himself said,
this man, there's no guile in him. Boy, this caught my attention.
When I read there, when I was reading through there, and I
saw this, the Lord himself saw this man come and he said, now
here's a man in whom there's no guile. I thought, wow, what's
he talking about here? How could he say that? What's
in this man? That really caught my attention. Okay. Let's look at it. A no-guile in this man. Now, the opposite of guile means
truth, honesty, a man of sincerity and truth, a man of integrity.
And the Scripture says this man, in whom was no guile, met to
Christ and the Lord saved him. This is important now. You're
not going to be saved. Now, arise yourself. You're not going to be saved
unless the Lord finds you with no guile in you. You're not saved
right now unless you're a guileless person. OK. The Scripture says this now. I said guile is sincerity of
truth. The Scripture says this. You
shall seek me and you shall find me when you search for me with
what? all your heart. That doesn't
mean half a heart here and half a heart there. That means all
the heart, all the being, all the soul, all the mind, all the
strength, not half a heart, not an insincere heart, not a lukewarm
heart, not a heart of hearts, all the heart, right? All the
heart. God is spirit. Scripture says
they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. That is, in the right way, with
the spirit, not with the hands, not all this foolish motion,
waving the hands, wearing the robes, wearing the crosses, going
through the motions, but spiritually and in truth, in sincerity and
in Christ. All right, now listen. Listen
to a true and guileless Seeker somebody really seeking God who
is galas a true galas seeker Anybody now listen to me anybody
who's truly without gala Is made so by the Holy Spirit There's
nobody in and of themselves without gala except God doesn't work
on All right those that should go without saying because the
natural man is an enemy of God and The natural man is the enemy
of truth. As Christ said, the natural man
is of his father. The devil, who's the father of
lies, and we're brought forth from the womb speaking lies,
half-truths, lies, guile, hypocrisy, full of it, deceit, trickery,
cunning, trying to get our way. Little children practice it from
an early age, don't they? Trickery, cunning, to get their
way. And they'll lie, I don't care how sweet they are, my dear
little daughter. who unquestionably is the sweetest
little girl in here. But one day I caught her up in
a bold-faced lie in the church house of all places. I heard
her say it, something from her very own mouth, say something
to one of our people that I didn't like the way she said it, and
I caught her immediately. Caught her in the act. Hannah,
I said, come here. She knew she'd been caught. I
said, what did you just say to brother? I said, did you say what I thought
you said? I repeated it. He said, no. I heard her. God hears me. God sees me. We're brought forth from the
womb speaking lies. Why? It'll get us out of trouble.
Whatever it takes to get us out of a mess we get ourselves into. OK? And a man or woman who is
without guile is somebody who has been made so by the Holy
Spirit, who has been changed, all right? That regenerating,
saving work. Nathanael was wrought on by the
Holy Spirit before he ever came to Christ. Yes, sir. God the Father, God the Holy
Spirit got together, let's choose this man, let's bring him, woo
him, bring him to Christ, let him see Christ. But the work
started with God. He wasn't in and of himself a
guileless man. OK, but a man or woman who has
been made guileless, a true seeker of the truth, Nathanael was really
seeking. Somebody who has been really
made honest before God, with himself before God and man, he'll
be saved by God. In short, Ralph Barnard said
this, he said, honest people don't wind up in hell. Now, I'm going to go on and explain
that here in a minute. I'm not talking about the average,
honest Joe out there on the street. Honesty, as far as honesty, what
men think is honesty. Spiritually speaking, honest
people, people honest before God with what God says about
Himself, about themselves, about Christ, about what God's Word
says, honest, come up naked, open, truthful with themselves
before God. They're going to see God. They're
going to be saved, every last one of them. Spurgeon said this,
listen to me, and buddy, this may cut you to the heart. He said, I'll never remember
the conversion of anybody with God. He said, I never, ever
remember the full, the complete, the true conversion, the salvation
of anybody who was a double-minded, tricky, conniving, cunning, habitually
deceptive person. He said, I've never, never seen
anybody like that. Never seen anybody say like that. Now, you'll understand what he's
saying there after you hear the rest of this message. You see,
a man with guile, when he repents, he or she, when they repent,
it's just lip service. It's only skin deep. It's only skin deep. It's like
old Esau, just for getting caught. Just for getting caught. A man
with guile, a woman with guile, their faith is only head faith. You say, you mean I have to believe
God is God, and Christ is my only hope, my only righteousness
before God, and I'm going to be justified in this. I believe
that. And that I'm a sinner, I believe that. Yeah, I believe
that. But it obviously has a curl in
the heart to bow before this holy person. In the doctrine,
it's a person. Salvation is a person. How many
times do we say that? It's bowed before a real living
person, not acknowledging in your head a doctrine. It's a
doctrine of truth concerning who he is, and what I am before
him, and what I must do to be accepted by him. And buddy, once you ever see
that in here, you'll hold on to Christ. You'll follow after
Christ. You'll love Christ. You'll be
devoted to Christ. This right here will make you
like this. A man with gout, see, you got
yourself fooled. A man with guile fools others
and fools himself as well. A man or woman with guile praises
the truth but doesn't love it. There's a difference. Paul talked
about the difference. He said they receive not the
love of the truth. I mean, love it! He said a man with guile, somebody
with guile, has a form of godliness, but denies the power thereof.
There's really been no saving change in that person. He said a man with guile, a woman
with guile, talks well, but walks crooked. Talks like this. I'll tell you
what. A man or woman with guile talks
and agrees with everything you say, but turn right around and
may be talking about you and what you're preaching about in
your mind. Now listen, a guileless person, a person without guile,
are you interested? I don't want to be found with
this guile in me. I want the Lord to see me and
say, there's a man with no guile. Don't you? Yes, ma'am. Indeed
he is. A person without guile, a guileless
man or woman, listen, they have some difficulties understanding
the things of God. All do. Yet, they're honest questions
concerning the truth. They're really seeking, and they
have some honest questions and so forth. I get tired. I get tired answering questions.
from people about all manner of nonsense and ridiculous things.
Don't you get tired of people coming where you work or whatever? People approaching you and asking
you all sorts of silly, ridiculous questions. Endless questions
that don't pertain to anything to have to do with God or sin
or knowing Christ or the gospel. You know, they've got the gospel
all figured out. They've got God all figured out.
They don't need any answers to these things. Got that all. That's
easy. But I sure would like to know.
who's riding that horse, that gray horse over there. And that's
important. If I don't find out. And generally
they come to you with questions that they've already got the
answer to. They just want to see what you think about it. But I get so
tired answering ridiculous, foolish questions to people. And the
thing I want to ask them, like Christ did, I want to ask them,
and I'll answer you that if you answer me something. What do you think of Christ?
What's your relationship with the Holy God and His Son? Tell
me about that, and then I may answer your little question,
if I can. But people, you give me a man
or a woman who really wants to know the truth about God, about
Himself, about salvation, about the Bible, really wants to sit
down and know some truth. About this, because once you
discuss it with you, I don't mind the man having some reservations
about certain truths. I don't mind that at all. As
long as he sincerely wants to know and understand it, I don't
mind a bit. We'll sit down, I'll talk to
a noble Berean all day long. Somebody will come to me and
say, let's sit down and discuss the scriptures. Let's look and
see what it really says there. I talk to that man all day. Delighted
to do so. Somebody will search the scriptures
to see if these things are so. Where are they? Have you run
into any? Do you run into any? Huh? Do you? A guileless man may have some
problems in understanding some things, but they're honest, sincere
problems with an area they want to know the truth. All right?
Secondly, a guileless man is usually candid and forthright.
Candid. Very plain talking. Very plain
spoken. Not double-tongued. Not say one
thing and mean another. Not agree into your face, but
then turn around. You know what he believes? Disagree behind
your back. No. Look at Nathaniel here. Look
at verse 46. Nathaniel. Nathaniel spoke his
peace. I don't mind people being. I
like a straightforward, plain spoken person. I want it that
way. I want to be that way myself. I want you, I want everybody
to be that way. Tell me what's on your mind. Don't beat around
the bush. And we better come to God in
this way. Nathanael said unto him, verse 46, when Philip said,
We found Moses, found him of whom Moses and the Law and the
Prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth. He said, Can there
anything good come out of Nazareth? He spoke his peace. I just don't
believe, he said, anything good can come out of Nazareth. He had his reservations here,
and he spoke his mind. OK, well, that's all right. A
godless man, though, is ready for salvation. Philip said, you
come see. You come see. He went. He saw. He had his reservations, but
he looked into it. You see? All right, turn over
with me to John 7. Look at John chapter 7. John
chapter 7. You show me a man who really
wants to know the truth of who God is, who Christ is, what salvation
is all about, and what he must do to be saved. You come to me
with somebody with that question, they'll find out. They'll find
out. I'll show you a man who will
find answers. I'll show you a man or a woman who will find Christ.
Philip said, Come and see, and he did. Look at John 7, verse
16. Christ answered them and said,
My doctrine's not mine, but it's his that sent me. Now, if any
man will do his will, he'll know the doctrine, whether it's of
God or whether I speak of myself. It seems like a condition placed
on understanding that. It does. It depends on godlessness.
And where does that come from? The Holy Spirit. Nevertheless,
a truly honest and sincere seeker of God and the truth of the gospel,
he'll know it when he hears it. He will. Here's the true test
of doctrine, of preaching, and of religion. Whose doctrine is
it? Christ said there, verse 16,
my doctrine's not mine. Now, he could have said that
rightfully, because he was God. But he was come to reveal the
Father. He was a man right there saying, I've come to reveal God
to you. My doctrine's not the doctrine of a man. It's not a
man-made doctrine, a man-made gospel. It's God-made gospel.
And it has to do with God, you see. It doesn't have to do with
you, what you must do. It has to do with God, what he
has to do. Whose doctrine is it? Who does it speak of? If
any man will do his will, he'll know the doctrine, whether it
be of God or whether he speaks of himself. Who's he speaking
of? A preacher. Want a test of a preacher's preaching?
Who's he talking about? Huh? What's his subject? Who's he always talking about?
Himself? He's got his name plastered everywhere. Is he talking about you? What
you must do? Now, you've got to do this, you've
got to do that. Huh? Or is he talking about Christ?
Is he talking about God? Huh? That doctrine which is closest
to the Scriptures is the doctrine closest to the truth. That doctrine
which is, that preaching which is most exalting and honoring,
glorifying to Christ, to God, which promotes true worship,
is that doctrine which is closest to the truth. You see it said
there, if any man will do his will, what's the will of God? If any man will do his will,
he'll know of the doctrine, whether it be of God. What's the will
of God? God commended every man everywhere to repent. Christ came preaching repentance
toward God and faith in himself, in Christ. Repentance and faith. The will of God is that you bow
down and worship and exalt Him. Repent of yourselves and worship
and believe His Son. The will of God is that everyone
which seeth the Son will believe Him. That's the will of God. Now, if you'll know the doctrine,
if you'll do His will, if you'll repent, bow down and worship
God for who He is, you'll know the doctrine whether it's of
God. whether it's exalting of God, whether it comes from God,
or whether that man is just telling you a simple little man made
so. Do you really want to know the
truth of what God's Word says about God? Is that why we're here? I hope
so. Do we want to know the truth of what God's Word says about
God? Well, it says God's the Creator, the Ruler, the Sovereign
Controller, like that song we sung. It says that God controls
the particle of dust in the sunbeam, that there's not one microscopic
organism that does move, does anything except God Almighty
controls it. Every single atom in God's universe
is controlled, moved, manipulated by God Almighty. It says that
God is reigning and ruling over the sons of man. That God reigns
in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth,
and none can stay His hand. Daniel 4, 35. None can stay His
hand. Not man, not the devil. None can stay His hand or say,
I don't like this, you can't do this. Yes, He can. You want
to know what it says about God? Let's read the Bible. Starting
in Isaiah chapter 40, just read on through what it says about
God. We want to know? If men really want to know, let
them know, right? If any man will bow, worship,
repent before this holy God, he'll know. He'll read it and
say, there it is. I see it, that's God, none other. And he'll come right out and
say, no, that God is a false God. Funny. Quit beating around
the bush, quit being a penny waste. That God's a false God. That's not the God of the Bible.
That's not what I read here. That Jesus who wants to and can't,
who tries to and fails, that's not the Christ of description. And you there dressed in a dress,
you men are not the prophet of God. You're a false prophet. You're preaching another Christ,
another gospel. Take that silver robe off and that cross from
around your neck. and learn something about the
robe of Christ in purity of righteousness and about bearing his cross truly,
truly in your heart, in your life. Don't quit. Quit going
through the motions. Plain. Guileless, you say. Guileless
before the Word of God and with himself. We really want to know
about what God's Word says about us? Read that—when you get home,
read that article on the back of the book. The reason the majority
of people don't like the gospel of God's sovereign grace, which
is the only gospel, the gospel of God's sovereign mercy, that
is, he gives it to whom he will, the reason they don't like it
is because the Bible describes us as we are, puts us in our
place, on our face. The Bible says there's none that
doeth good, no. How about my mama? How about your mama? Your mama's
not good. There's none that do it good.
No, not one, including your mama. Mama's got to be saved by the
mercy and grace of Christ, just like you do, man. There's none righteous. No, not
one. All of our righteousness are
as filthy rags. Filthy rags. wrong motive, everything
about him is evil and iniquity. Now, wait a minute, preacher.
Now, wait a minute, preacher, man. Take it up with God. I didn't say that. God did, right?
See, a guileless man is not looking for excuses. A guileless man,
made so by the Holy Spirit, approaches the Word of God and says, there
it is. That's what it says. If that's God's Word, then that's
it. And the Holy Spirit works and says, it is it. You're the
one he's talking about here, and he pleads for mercy. And he'll find it. Come to Christ,
you'll see. A guileless man wouldn't want
to know anything about Christ. He'll find out he's God. He's
not just Jesus. A guileless man wouldn't even
call him by that name. Don't call Jesus, Jesus. The apostles didn't. Finally,
one place in the Scriptures where they came up to him and said,
Jesus, what they calling? Somebody hollered out, what they
calling? You see, Jesus was his humanity.
Now, that's a beautiful name. If he hadn't come down here to
be Jesus, to be the man, the Savior, the man, we wouldn't
have this salvation. But at the name of Jesus, they
were trying to confess that he's what? Lord! And automatically,
when I hear people saying, Jesus, that's just a faggot. I don't
know if they've seen the Jesus of the Bible or not. Henry, the people in the Old
Testament, wouldn't take the name of God on their lips for
fear of being struck down, using it irreverently and without fear. How much more of this Lord who's
sitting on the throne right now, who's got the keys of heaven
and hell? To whom belongs the issues of
life and death, the Scriptures say? Jesus. Now, that's a beautiful name,
and I'm not making fun of the name. I'm making fun of the way
people say it. You don't call him Jesus. Now, clarify that
a little bit. If you have a real close personal
relationship, and she better be close, you might be able to utter that
word with a guileless heart and a motive, a true, loving, sincere
motive, that Jesus, but you better call him by all his names now.
Don't continue to refer to him as Jesus. He's got three names. You might have the wrong one,
right? When you say Paul Mahan, now there might be another. You
use all three of my names now. There's only one in Franklin
County. Thank God. But you know me by all three
of my names. We know Christ by all three of his names, by all
three of his offices, right? He's prophet. He's priest. He's
king. You can't have a prophet and
a priest without the king. Huh? You can't have a prophet and
a king without the priest, right? He's the Lord Jesus Christ. Call him such. We do, thankfully. If we want to know the doctrine,
all right, what about election? Do we want to know? One man said,
I'll believe anything but that. He don't want to know. Does he? Turn with me to 2 Thessalonians,
chapter 2. That man's full of guile. He'll
never know Christ. He's a hypocrite. He's a good Christian, he says,
but he's a hypocrite and he's going to hell. Let's call it
like it is, all right? I'm telling you, we're in a wicked
generation, a God-hating generation, and we need to call what's paid
as paid. And somebody needs to stand up
for the truth of God's Word, don't they? What about election? Look at
2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13. Paul says we're bound to thank,
give thanks. I mean, we've got to give thanks
where thanks is due. That's the reason we don't thank
Brother So-and-so for coming to church. Sister, it sure is good to see
old So-and-so here. We're bound to give thanks to
who? God! That's where thanks is due. We're
bound to give thanks that God brought you here to hear the
gospel, and I sure hope he reveals it to you. Brethren, beloved
of the Lord, we're bound to give thanks to God for you because
God has from the Bulgarians chosen. Now, people may twist and turn
the word election. It's in the New Testament more
than 27 times. Twenty-seven. But you sure can't
twist chosen, can you? Chose. They say election is,
you know, God voted for you. It's a vote. Election's a vote,
you know. They try to put it down to man's turn. They go in
the voting booth. God casts the vote. Comes out,
and then the devil goes in and casts his vote. Now, you, you got the winning ticket. You
got the power, brother. You better believe it. You got
the deciding vote. Won't you decide for Jesus? That's blasphemy. I despise that
to no end. That's a God-hating, rebellious,
hell-bound doctrine if I ever heard of it. It's free will.
We're bound to give thanks. You who have heard of this, You're
bound to give thanks to God because God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit. That's the same
part of the Spirit. He did it in belief of the truth. Faith's
the gift of God. Predestination? Turn over to
Ephesians 1 with you. Predestination? Boy, you want
to fight? Just say the word. Just go out in public and just
say it. Predestination? Four times it's used in Scripture,
twice in Ephesians 1, twice in Romans 8. Look at Ephesians 1
with me. Let's see where it's first used
here. Prooridzo is the word in the Greek, and it means preordained,
determined beforehand. There's no way you can twist
or turn it to mean anything but predetermined. before everything
began. Look at verse 4. It's all according
as God hath chosen us, elected us in Christ before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love. He's predestinated us, predetermined
us to be his children by Jesus Christ himself. predestinated
us. Verse 11, and it's in Christ
also we have obtained an inheritance because we've been predetermined,
predestinated according to the purpose of God. Not according
to our works, not according to our decision, our opinion, but
it's all according to his divine, eternal purpose who works all
things after the counsel of his own will, not your will. He's
not waiting on you to decide. Amen. Know the truth. You know what? That's the way
it is, ain't it? Huh? That's the way it is. Oh,
boy, it'll be more than just a doctrine. That's what I'm saying. It'll be more than just a doctrine.
It'll be more than just proof text. It'll be more than just
something to prove you're right and that man's wrong. It'll be
more than just something to build a denomination on. It'll be more
than five points of Calvinism. It'll be your hope of salvation. It'll be your cry and cry throughout
eternity. He chose me. Thank God. He elected me. He didn't have
to. He predestinated me. Thank God for making me like
Christ. You see? Original sin. Do not turn over there. Romans
5. Now, one man's sin all died. Died. That's Romans 5 and Romans
9. It's all through there. Righteousness. We've got to know something about
that. Romans 10. A true seeker. This is what I'm
trying to say in this message. I'm trying to give a message.
This is what I'm trying to say. A true seeker. A guileless person. Man or woman. They'll know the doctrine whether
it be of God or not. Does he speak of God or does
he speak of man? Does the preacher speak of himself
and you or does he preach Christ and our desperate need of Christ?
Does he lay sinners in the dust before a holy God? Rick, that's
the telltale factor of every message now. Every message. If any message exalts a man above
what he really is, that's not the message of the
gospel, is it? The message of the gospel lays in the center
of the dust, and exalts God as high as He can get Him, and points
to Christ, points to Christ, points to Christ, points to Christ.
Did you read that over in John 1? John said it twice. Behold
the Lamb. Behold the Lamb. But John, who
are you? Behold the Lamb. Who are you? I'm nobody. Look at Him. He's
somebody. Yeah, but he said of you, I must
decrease. He's got to increase. Behold
the Lamb. We'll follow you a little bit
longer. Don't follow me. Follow the Lamb. I'm going to
follow my man. He'll never fail. Don't be discouraged. Follow him. I can tell you about
him. I can tell you about heaven.
He can take you there. He is heaven. Look at Philippians 3, and I'll
wrap this thing up. Philippians 3. Philippians chapter 3. A guileless
person, a true guileless person. I'm going to talk a little bit
about a guileless believer. I'm talking about somebody who's
really seeking to know God. Anybody out there on the street,
anybody. Those are characteristics of somebody who's really seeking
God. They'll find Him. They'll hear the gospel. They'll
believe it. and rejoicing Christ. Worship
God, rejoice in Christ, have no confidence in flesh. Anybody. And a true guileless believer.
Now we're going to talk about you all who claim to be believers
here. Philippians 3. Now look at it, there's no getting
around this. I don't want to get around it. This is the way
I believe. This is the way I feel. Has a fourfold desire. A true
believer. Now you can't fake this. I don't
care what you say, what you do, you cannot fake these four desires.
Philippians 3, verse 1. A true and godless believer says,
I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all
things and do count them but done, and here it is, the first
thing, that I may win Christ. true guileless believers, Philippians
3, 8, has one principal desire. Say what you say, do what you
do, but this is the one true desire of the heart of every
believer, to win Christ. Is that your heart's desire?
Secondly, verse 9, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness,
because I'll be damned for that, but that which is through the
faith of Christ. Be found in him. Do you know
how you win Christ? You ever be called up on the
phone and somebody says, hey, Roberta Sowell, you Roberta Sowell?
You win a prize. You never do, do you? It's a
trick. It's a gal. A gal's full of gal.
He wants you to go down and buy a piece of property that's worthless,
you know, somewhere. But you win a prize. I did. How's that? Your name has been
found, has been selected. We found your name in a hat.
We pulled in, found your name in a hat. Drew it from a hat.
You win. You don't win, do you? There's
a catch to it. Do you know how we win Christ?
Huh? We don't work. By the works of
the law, no man can be justified. In the flesh, no man can please
God. It's not by striving and doing this and that and the other,
winning Christ. It's not you work so hard and finally God
rewards you and says, hey, you win salvation. No, it's not it. You know how? By being found
in Him. By your name being found. on
the Lamb's Book of Life, which was written before the foundation
of the world. God opened the book and said,
there's that name. He wins Christ. He didn't do
a thing. I want to be found. I want my
name written there. Right? I want to be found in
Christ. When God reads the roll, all from C, it's all under Christ. When he starts reading the roll,
I want to be found in that name, in Christ. under his righteousness, his
blood. Look at this, verse 10, and I want to know him. I don't
just want to be justified. I want to be sanctified. I want
to be set apart for holy use. I want to be like Christ. I want
to know something about him. He goes on down here to talk
about the power of his resurrection being made conformable under
his death, the fellowship of his suffering. I want to know
him. I'm not about him. I don't want to go through the
motions of religion. I want to know him. I want to
walk with him like Enoch walked with him. Enoch didn't see anybody.
Violet, Enoch didn't see anybody, but he says he walked with God.
I want it. How about you? I want that. I want
that. I want three things. I want communion
with Christ. I want conformity to Christ.
I want commitment to Christ. I want that. God will give that
which is desired. Fourthly, verse 11, and if by
any means I want to attain unto the resurrection of the dead,
I want to go to heaven. But it's not heaven I want to
see. I can honestly say that. I'm going to honestly say that. Psalm 73, 25. For heaven and
heaven, but thee anyway. What's heaven going to be for
the believer? What's heaven going to be? A yo-yo? A harp? Rick, you're going to have the
finest banjo money you could buy? You got a good enough one now,
don't you? You're going to see him. You know what you want to
see? It better be. You're not going
to have whom have I in heaven but thee?"
And really, he said, the psalmist said, there's none on earth I
desire beside thee. And that's the reason the believer is following
after, seeking after, following after Christ now. He's taking
up with him now. You can't fake this now. Why? It's preparation for then. Now,
this is then. That's then. Preparation now
for then. Desires to be like Christ, a
godless person, a real believer. Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.
Desires to be like Christ, whatever it takes. Psalm 139, search me,
O God, see if there be any. Get out of here. Get it away
from me. Desires to truly worship. The
true godless person desires to truly worship God. Fourthly,
truly worship God. When you pray, you men, you stand
up here and pray. What's going through your mind?
When you pray, anybody, when anybody goes to pray to God,
what are you doing? What's this all about? Well,
you're supposed to pray, so I'm praying. Be done with that. When I pray, I want to get through
to God. Do you? I want to talk with God
and have Him talk to me. Communicate with God. That's
what prayer is all about. When we sing these songs, what
are we doing? Going through the motion? Or do we want to sing
from the heart, out of a heart filled with praise and thanksgiving?
That's what it's all about. That's what I want. I want to
sing these songs. Someday, by God's grace, I'm going to sing
them and need it with a hundred percent of my heart. Sometimes
I get a little feeling of it. And boy, I'm never able to sing
like that. Sometimes I get a little glimpse
of what this word's saying, and it thrills me. Someday we're
going to sit there all googly-eyed in the face of before God, with
a heart, a mind, a soul totally set on those things, captivated
by Him, with Him, enamored with Him, altogether taken up with
Him. I want that now. I want it to
begin now, right now. Reading the Word of God. I get so tired of reading this
book just for the sake of reading it. Don't you? I get so tired
of reading this book just so I can say I read it. Might as well not have read it.
Right? Don't you get tired of that? Force yourself to read and get
through as a boy. I'm glad that's over. Might as well have been reading anything,
hadn't you? I want to read it. I want to
read it for the Holy Spirit to speak to me. Paul, listen to
this. Don't you? I want it to jump right out of
the page and say, hey, this is for you. And I'll quit here, but it's
the last thing. A guileless believer, a true believer, someone whose
aims and pursuits are simple, very simple. God's glory, worship,
knowledge of Christ, know and love the brethren. Boy, that's
a place you can't fake it. Ah, boy, you can't fake love,
can you? Oh, no. I want to know and love my brothers
and my sisters like I know myself. Yes, ma'am, I do. I do. One thing, though, is needful. One thing is desired, like David
said, and I'll be happy. I'll be happy when I get it.
One thing have I desired, and that's what I'm seeking after
right now, to dwell in the house of the
Lord and inquire about his beauty in that temple. A true godless
believer has his heart, his mind, his affections set on things
above where Christ sits, the right hand of God. He doesn't
have an eye for the world and another for Christ. Now, sure,
we're all taken up to some degree with this world. We're worldly, but not chiefly. It's not the
habitual aim and pursuit of our life. It's not that thing we're
taken up with six days a week and then try to turn it off on
Sunday. No, ma'am. No, sir. You don't run with the
world all week and Christ on Sunday. Can't be done. forget
it. And it's generally true to form
and character. The true guileless person is
generally true to form and character. Growing in grace, the Scripture
says there'll be growing in grace and knowledge of the Lord. Listen
to this, and I'll quit, I promise. I promise. This is vital, though. A true guileless true believer
is growing in grace and the knowledge of Christ. If that person loves
Christ now, that person will only love Christ more and more
and more and more and more as time goes on. There may be a slight cooling
or waning, but it won't stay there. It will generally pick
back up. It will always pick back up, grow in grace. If that
person loves Christ, they'll love Him more. They'll need Him
more. If that person worships now, they'll only become more
and more and more faithful to worship Him. If that person has
the fruit of the Spirit in the seed, in love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, temperance, and so
forth, those things will only increase. Scripture talks about going from
glory to glory to glory. Now, I understand we can't say
amen to these things as much as we can when I talk about the
sovereignty of God. But it's just as much a part of the Word
of God as the sovereignty of God. It's sovereignty and responsibility.
We believe that, don't we? It's in the book. A person who has Christ looks
like Christ. A person who really knows Christ
grows to know him more. A person who really loves Christ
will love the brethren. It's positive evidence. It's
evidence that things are not the same. He'll only become more so. Revelation
22 has these serious charges, though. Revelation 22 has these
serious charges. It says that the unmerciful,
the unloving, the ungracious, the unjust. It says, Let him
that is unjust be unjust still. Man who doesn't have anything
to do with Christ or the gospel or really doesn't see much need
of it, he's going to be that way throughout eternity. He's
going to be without Christ. The man or the woman who is unjust
themselves, living for the world and not
truly been made a new creature in Christ, they're going to be
that way throughout eternity. He which is filthy, let him be
filthy still. He that is righteous, let him be righteous still. He
that is holy, let him be holy still. He said, Behold, I come
quickly, and my reward is with me, to give every man according
to his works shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do
his commandments. They may have right to the tree
of life and enter in through the gates into the city, because
without are dogs and sorcerers and whoremongers and murderers
and idolaters and whosoever loveth and maketh Lie. That's why we started this
message out. Guile. Lie. I don't want to lie before God,
before you. Do you remember that? I'll quit
with this quote. Do you remember that quote in
last Sunday's bulletin? Thomas Watson? Well, if you don't, it said, What good will it do if a man is in hell and everybody thinks he's in
heaven? What good will it do if I'm in
hell and my sister Sherry, she thinks I was a fine person, a
believer, and she thinks I'm in heaven? guileless man and who know guile. You come before God with no guile.
You know the truth. You hear the gospel, you meet
Christ. And we got to continually come before him like that. Lord,
search me, try me, find me, get this out of me, this guile. Make
me guileless. Make me honest. All right, stand
with me. I'll dismiss this.