He had no evidence whatsoever
of being a child of God, none whatsoever. They seemed to have
lost all feeling, lost all interest in the gospel, and almost seemed
to be hardened rather than softened by the message. Have you ever
been there? Are you there? Anybody there?
Yet if they are one of God's own, God won't leave them there.
He won't do it. This is the good news. But he
will in due time send a word to stir them up out of their
indifference. Send like he did with Isaiah,
coal, a live coal from the altar to melt their cold heart. A heart that once seemed unmeltable. That's a word. A word in season. A timely word. A word in time,
just in the nick of time. And this may be it for somebody
here. You know, sometimes misery loves
company, and this is especially true of God's Word. Sometimes
that which helps us is to just see somebody else in the same
condition we're in. You know what I mean? When you
see from God's Word one of God's true choice saints, like Job
here, when you see him in the same condition that you feel
yourself to be in, You think, well, maybe there's some hope
for me after all. I thought God left me alone. You know how we
read David over and over again, how David says, God's left me.
Ever been there? Surely he's left me now. David
said, how many times? Seemed like every time you turn
around, David was saying that. And sometimes that's a help to
us just to hear and to see that other people get in the same
mess we get into. And God delivers them all. He
delivers them out of all their problems. Job 29.2. Job is talking
to his friends here, and he says, he cries out from the bitterness
of his own heart, and he says, Oh, that I were as in months
past. I wish it was like it was, he
said. I sure wish it was like it was.
I wish it felt like it used to feel. Anybody in here that's saying
that maybe right now? I don't know. If you haven't,
if you aren't, you will. If you're not now, you have.
Is there anybody in here like that who looks back on the past,
the early days of your spiritual life as being the good old days?
Might have just been a couple of years ago. The good old days,
a time when you felt nearer to the Lord, but now you feel like
you've wandered so far away, perhaps it's the point of no
return. Here's a few cases, a few complaints.
This is the complaints of God's people. This is what happens.
You feel like you've lost all evidence. All evidences of being
a child of God at all. Old John Newton got to that point
time and time again. He wrote this. There's a poem
I long to know, and it causes me anxious thought. Do I love
the Lord or no? Am I His or am I not? If I do
love Him, why am I thus? Why this dull and lifeless frame
like we sung in that song? Hardly sure can they be worse
who never ever heard his name. Could my heart so hard remain
in prayer a task and a burden? And every little problem give
me pain if I knew the Savior's love. When I turn my eyes within,
all is dark and vain and wild. I'm filled with unbelief and
sin. Can I deem myself a child? If I pray or hear or read, sin
is mixed with all I do. You that love the Lord indeed,
tell me, is it ever that way with you? Yet I mourn my stubborn will. I find my sin a grief and a thrall. Should I grieve for what I feel
if I did not love at all? Could I enjoy his saints to meet
and choose the way that I once abhorred and find at times the
gospel sweet if I did not love the Lord? Then he appeals, the only one
that can decide it. Lord, decide this doubtful case. Thou who art the people's son,
shine upon this work of grace. Like David said, cause it to
grow. Shine upon this work of grace,
if indeed it is begun. Let me love thee more and more. If I love at all, I pray, if
I have not loved before. Let me start loving you today.
You've lost all evidences of feeling or whatever you want
to call it. You say with Job here, Oh, that I were as in months
past. There was a time when you didn't
doubt your salvation so much. You knew you were a sinner, yet
you were confident Christ was the Savior of sinners. You simply
trusted him. Now you don't seem to have any
assurance at all. of being saved. And what this
is, is the case, plain and simple, the case of one who was first
a sinner and looked to Christ, but then, in the end, he got
to looking somewhere else, took his eyes off of Christ. That's
what that is, plain and simple. You look to Christ for salvation
before, and you keep looking to Him from then on out. Never
take your eyes off of Him. You never begin in the Spirit,
looking to Christ, and then you're made perfect by what you do.
But this person may say, I used to think I believed Christ, but
now I think I'm a hypocrite. I'm deceived. Oh, that I were
as in months past. Another one is full of doubts
and fears about everything. Could be somebody in here. This
is especially prevalent of people in their older years, older age,
the lonely years. It's especially prevalent of
the older people. He used to be able to bow to God's sovereign
grace. Whatever came along, you might
could say with Eli, it's the Lord. But now it seems like whatever
comes along, no matter what it is, no matter how small, it seems
to upset you and trifle you and trouble you. Anybody in here
like that? No matter how, what it is, it seems to bother you,
trouble you. And you say, I have no faith
at all. Oh, that I were as in months
past." And somebody else may have lost their enjoyment of
worship and in hearing the gospel and the means of grace, scripture,
prayer, and all these things. Somebody else may have lost all
the joy, the enjoyment of worship and so forth. And you can say,
with Job, oh, that I were as in months past. The time when
I went to church, I was so attended. I was touched by every message
I heard. It seemed like I never went out
of there with a dry eye. I was touched with every message
I ever heard. I could sing the songs. I could
enter into reading the scriptures. I was anxious to go and be there.
But oh, how I wish it were like it was. That I were as in months past.
Now it seems like it's Find no sweetness in the message. Tears
refuse to flow. The heart seems to be hard. No emotions whatsoever. Ever been there? You go to church
out of habit, try to pray, there's nothing. Try to read, you don't
get anything out of it. I don't care how good the message
is, everybody else coming up to you, wasn't that wonderful?
I didn't get anything. I'm telling you now, if you're
not there now, you'll get there. You'll be there, and we all go
through it. And you say, and you cry out, oh, that how were
her as in months past. I wish it was like it was before.
And somebody else may have lost the tenderness of conscience
that she once had. There was a time At the time when you guarded
against every sin, every thought, every action, every appearance
of evil, your conscience was tender about everything. You
were careful about everything, even to the point where people
called you a legalist. Whatever you saw in God's Word,
oh, that's it, and I don't want to do that. People saw, he's
being too legalistic. No, he's just tender. Just tender
to God's Word. Tender to sin. Whatever came
along. Yet, one by one, He let them
in. He gave an inch, and they took
a mile. Right? Until finally, it seems
like you're full of besetting sins. And you see no way out. And you
cry out, like Job, oh, that I were as in months past, when I had
a tender conscience. And it could be somebody else
lost all their zeal for God and his gospel. Now, see if this hit some of
you. Was there a time when you told
everybody that came around what the Lord had done for you? You'd
get on a soapbox at every opportunity. You'd argue with whoever came
along about the things you believed so adamantly. You remember arguing
with them. You esteemed all of God's precepts
concerning all things to be right, and you hated every false way,
and you let everybody know about it. You seemed to be touched. You seemed to be concerned about
other people. Now you feel like a coward, a
whip puppy. It's like a Sarmenian come along
and you're scared to death to say a word. You feel like you're
a disgrace to your Lord and to His service. And you made the
crowd. I sure wish it was like it was. Anybody ever been there? Well,
here's some causes of this. Here's some causes and the cures. Number one, got some of these
from old Charlie, Charles Haddon. Here's number one, here's one
thing. A defect in calling upon God,
looking into God's word, prayer and study, prayer and study. These are means of grace that
God Almighty has used for our comfort, for our assurance, growth,
our spiritual growth for communion with God. These are the means
of communion with God. Hearing the gospel, reading,
praying, and so forth. There was a time, perhaps to
you, when prayer and study used to be a delight, a time when
it was commonplace to you. You didn't think anything about
it, really. It wasn't habit or duty. You just delighted in doing
it. Huh? I remember, I remember When the
Lord first started dealing with me, I couldn't read enough. I couldn't read enough. Everything I got my hands on,
I read. I remember going through Spurgeon's
New Park Street and underlining everything that touched me, and
I had the whole thing underlined. Every sermon, every line, every
page was underlined. I was wetted with my tears, you
know. Every word of God seemed to touch
me. I remember reading everything, listening to tape, couldn't get
enough tape. I remember talking to God like a man does his friend.
And you didn't think about it, you don't think about it so much,
about the form that is. Talking to God is not getting
down on your knees, closing your eyes, bowing your head. Where
does it say that in Scripture? Huh? Me and I were talking about
this the other day. We were sitting at the table
and sitting there, and Hannah said, Aren't we going to say
a blessing or give thanks? And I said, You know, this is
where all these religious traditions and things get started, get started
in an early age. What she meant was, Aren't we
going to bow our heads, close our eyes and say a few words?
I said, I told her, I said, Hannah, you know, you don't have to do
that to thank God. So you can just thank God right
here. So let's do that. Let's just thank God. Thank you,
God. Thank you for the food. And, you know, early on, you
don't think so much about the form and all, you just did it.
You just did it. There's nothing that brings leanness
to a soul like a lack of private prayer and worship, much like
a relationship between a man and a wife or parents and their
children. There's nothing that brings leanness,
brings a breakdown than a lack of communication. When you stop
talking, you got problems. Your imagination runs wild and
soon it may be you may run wild. Right? Nothing brings a leanness
to the soul like a lack of prayer and worship It could be somebody in here
who used to be lean in this world but felt rich toward God. Now,
you're rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing
but the one thing needful. You may have lost your first
love. Now you've got everything your heart's to desire but the
one thing needful. And you want to rekindle that
Barnard called it, that sweetheart love for Jesus. at honeymoon
love. Y'all remember your honeymoon?
Or has it been too long? Do you remember that court and
your wife? Has it been too long? Huh? Have you left off talking
to your bride? That's what we do. We leave off
talking to our husband. Left off talking to the Lord.
It was a time when the disciples tried to cast out a demon that
got in this fellow, you know. And they came to the Lord and
said, Lord, we couldn't cast him out. You remember his answer?
You remember what he said? Huh? He said, you don't have
much faith, but he said, how be it, all be it, this kind goeth
not out, but what? By prayer and fasting, didn't he? Well, this kind goes not
out, but by prayer. Secondly, poor appetite, bad
eating habits will get you into a sorry state. Listen to this. Now listen to me carefully. George
Whitefield said this. This is George Whitefield. This
is a man quite a long time ago. You think I said this, but I
didn't. George Whitefield said this. He said, farewell to the
man who does not worship God during the midweek services. See him later. You mean he had, you mean they
had Wednesday night services back then and people, that's
what he said. Farewell to the man who doesn't
worship God during the week. It's generally the case that
just before somebody leaves the gospel completely, they begin
to put off services one by one. How many times have I gone over
this? First Wednesday, now God knows
our, God knows, God knows. We don't answer to any man. God
knows when we can and cannot. But first Wednesday, and then
it comes to Sunday night, and then it's the Bible lesson, then
it's all together. Y'all seen it here, hadn't you?
Sure you have. But perhaps, for some people,
it's a temporary relapse. Perhaps. Some people get into
this temporary sickness. Don't presume it, though. Don't
anybody in here presume that it's just merely a sickness. Spurgeon said this, he said,
God gives milk on Sunday. He said he gives pails full of
milk on Sunday to God's people, pails full, big buckets full
of milk. But he says on Wednesday night
he skims off cream. Is that right? I thought last
Wednesday night we just had a cream skim right off the top, buttermilk.
You may not like buttermilk. But you say with Joe, oh, that
I worry as in months past. I couldn't get to services early
enough. I went everywhere, anywhere,
at all times, wherever the gospels preached. I was there. I was
there. And I tell you again, let me
remind you once more, folks, this gospel is all you've got
in this old world. It's all you need. It's all you
have, and it's all you need. And it'll meet your every need.
The message of Christ and Him crucified is the only thing that
will get you out of this mess you're in. And here's another
thing, another cause. Idolatry, or you want to call
it idolatry, call it worldliness. Scripture says covetousness is
idolatry. Worldliness. Christ plainly said,
He says, you cannot serve God in mammon. You can't do it. Idolatry, worldliness. He said
you cannot serve God in mammon. You'll either hate the one or
you love the other, right? Or you love the one, hate the
other. You just can't do it. You can't set your heart in two
places. Now, a double-minded man is unstable
in all his way. He won't love this or that. He'll
be lukewarm, and God will spew him out of his mouth. Right?
And God is jealous, and he'll leave you to that that you seem
to love the most. And many give themselves over
to the world. They set their affection on things
below. and not on things above. Many
people seek first the kingdom of the world and then afterward.
That's not the way it's supposed to be, folks, is it? That's not
the way it is. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God, His righteousness, and all these things will be added to
you. Right? If we make a golden calf, listen
to this, if we make a golden calf, and that's what all these
toys are for us, if we make a golden calf and start worshiping it, God will make us drink it later
on. If we're His, He'll grind it to powder like Moses did and
make us drink it later on. Did you read that quote in the
Bulletin by Matthew Henry? That which is now our idol may
quickly become our burden. A child, maybe. And we know not
how soon we may be sick of what we were lately sick to have. You know, some of you know, you
had your heart set on something or someone and just made you
sick until finally you got it. And then you really got sick. You really got sick, made you
Lord, Lord made you sick of it and wish you had never had it. Oh, that I was in months past.
Here's another thing that'll get us in this condition. Self-righteousness. Boy, this'll do it. Self-righteousness.
Get to knowing a little bit. Got a little bit of doctrine
down pat, you know. Get a little relief from sins. Get a little
victory, you know, over this or that and the other. Get a
little gifts in prayer. How about that, fellas? Lord bless you
with a little prayer. Somebody said, what was a good
prayer? It was, wasn't it? God no more heard that. Huh? Ah, you got a gift of prayer.
Everybody tells you so. Must be a believer. Look at you.
Listen to you. I must. Oh, you might be in a
miserable condition, miserable state. You might be the farthest
from God. God, like I said, like the Scripture said, dwells with
a broken and contrite heart, trembles at His Word. not theologians. God doesn't dwell with theologians. God dwells with broken-hearted
sinners who tremble at his word. Speak, Lord, your servant hears.
Not the, oh, that I were as in months past. Well, those are
some causes. Now, here's a cure. Here's a
cure. Oh, that I were as in months
past, Job said, as in the days when God preserved me, when his
candle, when his Holy Spirit shined upon my head, when by
his light, by his word I walked through the darkness, as I was
in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my
tabernacle, when I constantly dwelt upon these things, the
gospel was in my heart. Oh, that I were as in months
past. Well, how were you in months past? Let me ask you that. How
were you? How were you? How did you first
feel yourself to be when you first heard the gospel? Huh? How were you? How did you first
feel yourself when you first heard the gospel? A dirty, vile,
wretched, filthy, rotten, no good, hell deserving, worthless
sinner? Huh? That is that how you when
you first heard the gospel that's what you heard and when you heard
the gospel it gave you such peace and comfort. Well how are you
now. Are you changed are you any different.
You're still a dirty rotten good worthless helpless hopeless sinner
in need of mercy and mercy we talked about this morning. And
the problem may be, that last one I gave, this thing of self-righteousness,
you may have just lost sight of the fact. I'm telling you,
I know it so in my own experience. You get to know, you get to becoming
too puffed up. Too puffed up and little relief from these
things. God, Satan, sin and all doesn't
beset you quite so much as it used to. And you become too big
for your riches. Fat and sassy. That's what God
admonished the church about. Now you say you're rich and increased
with goods and have need of nothing, right? Used to be hungry. Now
you're full. You're full. Too knowledgeable. Used to didn't know much. You're
like a hungry bird, you know, with your mouth open, listening
to the simplest of things. Now we know too much. We've learned
too much. Used to be the gospel was fresh
and new every morning, like manna. But after you got to manna for
40 years, commonplace. We loathe this light bread. Can't
you give us something different, preacher? Huh? The gospel becomes familiar,
and just like the flesh, familiarity breeds contempt, doesn't it?
The flesh, that's what the flesh does. Old John Bunyan told in
his Pilgrim's Progress, he told about a man who got in a cage,
was put in a cage, an iron cage, shut up in his cage. And somebody
came along, a pilgrim or a Christian or hopeful came along, saw this
fellow in the cage, and he had his head hanging, had his head
on the bar hanging down, kind of beating his head on the bar.
And hopeful said, hopeful said to him, why are you in there? He said, I got myself in this
terrible mess. I'm in here. It's my own fault.
I got out of the way, took my eyes off the way to the celestial
city and got in here. I deserve to be here. And Hopeful said to him, well,
won't you ever get out? And the fellow said, I don't
think so. I ain't going to be in here from now on. And Hopeful,
Christian, said, are you condemned forever? Tell us how I think
so. Forever. He said, why was this? Why is this? The man said, well,
I grieved the Spirit. I grieved the Spirit. And he's
gone. I got out of the way. I departed
from the paths of righteousness and I ended up here all locked
up. All locked up. And he sat there, seeming like
for an eternity, just rattling the bars. Anybody rattled any
bars lately? Rattling a bar, bemoaning himself. Will this man get out? You know the only way this man
can get out? The book said somebody had come along and let him out.
He got himself into a fine mess you've got us into. He got himself
into it, and now there's no no way out for this man, but said
for somebody to come along with the key and unlock that thing
and let him on out there. A shining one, it said. Someone mighty had to come along
and let him out. And this is our only hope, our
only plea. If we're going to get out of
this cage we get ourselves into, we're going to have to cry out
for help. We're going to have to cry aloud and spare not the
Scripture says. We're going to have to do like
a bird. You know the only way a little bird's going to get
out? He's too weak, too helpless. He's been caught by the snare. He's been caught and put in that
cave. The only way a little bird's going to get out of there is
out of the kindness, the compassion, the tenderness, and the mercy
of the one who owns that bird. And the best, the surefire way
for that little bird to get out of that cave is to start singing. Huh? Start singing. Sing to the
Master. Scripture says, Knock, and it
shall be opened. Knock. Seek, and you'll find. Ask, and it shall be given to
you. Knock, and it shall be opened. Scripture says, The kingdom of
heaven suffereth violence, and the violence taketh by force.
Rattle the bars. Sing. Do you remember that story
Christ gave of the importunate widow over in Luke 18? Said she
came to the unjust judge and she, day and night, asked him,
would you avenge me? Please help me, please help me.
What did Christ say? He said, did you hear what the
unjust judge did? The unjust judge avenged her.
And he said, shall not God avenge his very own elect which cry
unto him day and night? Though he bear long with them,
though he may leave them in the case that they've got themselves
into for a little while longer. They need to see what they've
gotten into. And like I said, I don't know if
any, I don't know if anybody in here is like this or not right
now, but you may be, somebody may be, one person. If you are
not now, you have been. If you have not been, you will
be. You get yourself in a mess, And there's only one way to get
out. And I saved the best for last. I saved the last for best. For first. First for last. All
right? There's only one way to get out.
That's to look back to the one you looked to in the first place.
Those old hopeful and hopeful, and I keep bringing them up,
hopeful and Christian, they heard the evangelist. They were all,
the old Christian was weighed down with that burden, you know,
and he had that burden on his back, and he finally got to the
foot of the cross, you know, and the burden was cast off of
him. And the evangelist, the man that
preached the gospel, set him on the path and said, now you
look toward the celestial city there, and you stay on that path,
don't go to the right, to the left, don't fall asleep, you
stay right on that path, you head toward that city. And, buddy,
he did, you know, starting out afresh. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. There's my only hope. If I just
get to that city, if I just get to that city," and he started
out, and on that long and rough road, you know, it got steep,
didn't it? It got rocky. Oh, and they'd get over in Doubting
Castle in a giant despair. They'd fall asleep in the chanted
ground. They'd lose their role. They got in all kinds of trouble.
They got in fights. Went to Vanity Fair, you know.
Got locked up in a cage. And every time, they'd have to
be sent right back on the pad. Now, somebody would come along
to them again and say, Have you forgotten? Have you forgotten
where you're headed? Look. Now, do you forget? Look to that celestial city.
Look to Christ. Look to Christ. That's who you
look to at first, and that's who you're going to have to look
to again. Somehow or another, you've gotten your eyes off of
Him. And all of these things that we've dealt with—prayer,
reading the Word, fellowship with the saints, hearing the
gospel and so forth, self-righteousness—all these things, in some way or
another, relate to the gospel, to the gospel of Christ. The
gospel. After all, who is it we pray
to but Christ? He's the one mediator between
God and man. The man, Christ Jesus. Prayer. Reading the scriptures. Who do
we look for in the scriptures? The Bible's a closed book unless
we see Christ in it. Unless we look for Him in it. You go to the window to seek
more light. If you run out of light, you go to Christ to seek
light in the Word. Hearing the gospel. If you don't
hear Christ preach to you, you go away empty. you go away empty,
not having been fed the bread of life. Listen to this song. Let's turn to number seventy-five. We're going to sing this, Sherry.
Seventy-five. There's a song that says, O soul,
are you weary? Are you weary and troubled? No
light in the darkness you see? Well, there's light for a look
at the Savior. and life more abundant and free. And we need to look afresh to
Christ, look to Him. Somehow we've taken our eyes
off of Him and the one thing needful and gotten all taken
up with this world or our problems or whatever it may be. And we've
left off the means of grace that God has ordained for our health,
our strength, our hope, our comfort, our assurance, our peace. We've
left off these things. Let's speak of Christ. And this
is the prayer, this is my prayer, this is one of my favorite songs.
I want you to sing this at my funeral, okay? Y'all remember
this. I want this song at my funeral.
Because this is my prayer day in and day out. This is what
my heart desires, that he'll abide with me. Because when he
leaves me, as well he should, hides his face from me, as well
he should, I need him to abide with me. All right, let's stand
and sing some of this. Fast falls even time. The darkness deepens. Lord, with
me abide. When other helpers Let me read the second verse,
and then we'll sing the third. Swift to its close ebbs out life's
little day, a short day. In earth's joys grow dim and
its glories pass away. change and decay and all around
I see. O thou who changest not, abide
with me." Sing in third verse. Speaking of the word, last verse. Oh, bow thy word before my closing
eyes. Shine through the gloom and point
me to the sky. Dear Lord, keep us for a few
days until we meet back again. Keep us looking to You and searching,
seeking You where You're to be found, that is, in Your Word,
in communion with Thee. Lord, leave us not to ourselves.
We'll fall back into a pit, fall back into our wayward ways. And
Lord, keep us clinging to You, and our minds off this world
that stayed on Thee, and then bring us back to hear about Christ
again. If it can be Your will and Your
glory, for the good of Your sheep. Amen. You're dismissed.