If I've said it once, I've said
it twenty times now, that the Scriptures are full of promises
lest we despair, but full of warnings lest we presume. Every third Scripture you look
at gives us a solemn warning to consider ourselves, to examine
ourselves. While reading that passage there
in Hebrews, I just turned to it. real quickly, thinking of
that twelfth verse. And I looked over at Hebrews
6, and it just frightened me, talking about the impossibility
of one who was once enlightened and tasting of the heavenly gift.
And if they fall away, to renew them again. I talked about that,
which bareth thorns and briars being rejected. And I preach, I try to preach
about two messages of promise to everyone of warning. Isaiah, the Lord said through
Isaiah in chapter 40, comfort ye, comfort ye. He said that
twice. So I try to preach two messages of comfort and one of
warning. I'm not sure that's the divine
ratio, but this message is very solemn and very serious. If you'll
recall, last Wednesday's message should have been of the utmost
comfort. to God's people, if you were here, and Sunday night,
I believe, was a very comforting message to God's people. But if I've quoted this verse
once, I've quoted it a thousand times, that the time is here,
it's now, it's begun, that judgment must first begin at the house
of God, and if the righteous scarcely be saved. Now, I want you to take this
message tonight. And I want you to take it personally. I don't want you to be thinking
of anyone else. I wasn't necessarily. I want you to be thinking of
yourself. I will take the medicine if you
will. I'll apply it to myself if you
will. Are you a man enough to take
your medicine? Are you a woman enough? Look here in James chapter 1
with me. Now, I'm just going to do more reading than anything
tonight. The Word of God, He promised, would not return void.
Sitting down there in the study, and I kept hearing the door open,
the outside door. And every time it opened, I thought
across my mind, life or death? In other words, is the message
going to be a saver of life? to that person. I had no idea
who it was, or death. And I apply the same thing to
myself. James chapter 1, look at verse 21 with me. Now he says,
"...lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness,
and receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able
to save your soul." If God is pleased to take this Word tonight,
He can save your eternal soul with it, among other things,
save your life, save your marriage or whatever. So receive with
meekness the engrafted Word tonight. He says, Now be ye doers of the
Word and not hearers only, deceiving your own self. If any man be a hearer of the
Word and not a doer, he's like a man that walks up into a mirror,
beholds his face in a glass, and he looks at himself, and
he sees something, and goes his way, and straightway forgets
what man or man he was. The Word of God reminds us what
we once were, or what we were supposed to have
been delivered out of. Whoso looketh into the perfect
law of liberty, that's the gospel. continueth therein, he be not
a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the word. This man shall be
blessed in his deed or his doing. But if any man among you seem
to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, and seethes his
own heart, this man's religion is vain." Now look at chapter
2 with me, beginning with verse 12. Chapter 2, verse 12. He says, Speak ye, and so do. In other words, what you say,
do it, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. For he, that man, shall have
judgment without mercy that has showed no mercy. But mercy rejoices against judgment. And what does it profit my brethren,
though a man say he hath faith and hath not works? Can faith
save him? Can his mere profession of faith? Can his mental assent
to some doctrine save him? Look down at verse seventeen.
Even so, faith, if it hath not works, is dead. Hear a man may say, Thou hast
faith, and I have work. Well, show me your faith without
your works, I'll show you my faith by my work. You believe
there's one God, you do well, the devils believe that, and
they tremble. Wilt thou know, O vain man, that
faith without works is dead? Look down at chapter 3, verse
7. And he said, every kind of beast
and of birds and serpents and things in the sea is tame and
have to entain the mankind but the tongue. The tongue can no man tame. It's
an unruly evil. And I might add, the scripture
says, out of the heart, the mouth speaketh. This tongue wags. It's
full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even
the Father, and therewith curse we men, which are made after
the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth
blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought
not to be." Does a fountain send forth at
the same place sweet water and bitter? Can a fig tree bear olive
berries, fine figs? So can no fountain yield salt
water and fresh. Now, who's a wise man and dude
with knowledge among you? a woman. Let him or her show
out of a good life his or her works with meekness of wisdom.
But if you have bitter envy and strife in your hearts, glory
not and lie not against the truth. Don't tell something you know
that's not within you. This wisdom descends not from
above, it's earthly, it's sensuous, devilish. Where envy and strife
is, there's confusion and every evil work. In other words, a
man, he's He doesn't know what he's doing. He doesn't know up
from down. But the wisdom that's from above is first pure and
peaceable and gentle and easy to be entreated, full of mercy. And I might add, that sounds
like Christ, doesn't it? Good fruits without partiality,
wrangling, without hypocrisy. And the fruits of this righteousness
are sown in peace of them that make peace. Look at chapter 4,
verse 5. Do you think the Scripture says,
in vain, the spirit that dwells in us lusts to envy? God gives
more grace, but He says God resists the proud, but He gives grace
under the humble. Submit yourselves, therefore,
to God. Resist the devil and he'll flee
from you. Draw nigh to God, he'll draw nigh to you. Cleanse your
hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts. Double-minded,
be afflicted and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to
mourning and your joy to heaven. Humble, oh my, humble yourselves
in the sight of the Lord and He'll lift you up. Tonight, before
these words I'm reading, humble yourselves. Receive the Word
with meekness. Let's look over at 1 John now.
Now we'll get into the meat of this. Getting into the meat of
it. Gradually and slowly getting
into it. 1 John chapter 2. 1 John chapter 2, look at verse
3 with me. Now, hereby we do know that we
know God if we keep His commandments. Now, he that says he knows Him
keeps not His commandments, he's a liar. Christ isn't in it. But who so keeps his word, and
him barely, is the love of God perfected." That's how we know
we know that we're in him. He that saith he abideth in him,
ought himself also to walk as even as he walked. But brethren, I'm not writing
a new commandment on you, but an old commandment which you
heard from the beginning. Our Lord said it a long time ago.
The old commandment is the word which you've heard from the beginning.
Again, though, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing
is true in Christ, and in you. Because darkness is past, the
true light, that's Christ, he shines now. And he that sayeth
he's in the light, and hateth his brothers in darkness, he that loveth his brother abides
in Christ, and there's no occasion of stumbling." Chapter 3, verse 14. Now, I've written unto you, fathers,
because you've known him that's from the beginning. I'm sorry,
chapter 3, verse 14. We know we've passed from death
unto life because we love the brethren. He that loveth not
his brother abides in death. He's a dead man. Whosoever hates
his brother is a murderer, and you know no murderer hath eternal
life abiding in him. And hereby we perceive the love
of God because he laid down his life for us. Oh, how we ought
to lay down our lives for our brethren. My little children, verse 18,
let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but indeed in truth.
And this is how we know we are of the truth, and shall assure
our hearts before him. If our heart condemn us, God
sure is greater than our hearts. He knows everything about it. Chapter 4, verse 5. 1 John 4, I'm sorry, verse 7. Beloved, let us love one another,
for love is of God. And every one that loveth is
born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not
God, and God's love. And in this was manifested love
of God toward us, because God sent his only begotten Son into
the world, and we, us wretches, No good sinner might live through
Him. This is love. Herein is love.
Not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His immaculate,
holy, precious Son to be the bloody sacrifice for our sin. Beloved, if God so loved us,
we ought to also love one another, our equals. Now listen, verse
12. No man has seen God at any time.
If we love one another, God dwells in us and his love is perfected,
grows in us. This is how we know we dwell
in him and he in us. He's given us the Spirit. And we've seen and do testify
that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
Now, whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God,
God dwells in him and he in God. And we have known and believed
the love that God hath to us. God is love. He that dwells in
this love dwells in God, and God in him. Now herein is our
love made perfect, or grows, love with us, that we may have
boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in
this world, literally. There is no fear in love. His
love, the perfect love, His perfect love cast out fear. And I might
add a reflection of that love in us, cast out fear in the one
we love. Fear has torment. He that feareth
is not made perfect in love. We love him because he first
loved us. Now, if a man say, I love God
and hates his brother, he is a liar. He that loveth not his
brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he hath
not seen? and this commandment have we
from him, that he who loveth God loveth his brother also. It's not an option. Do you get the picture? Did you hear the word of the
living God? It seems very, very clear to
me that the plainest evidence in
all of the word of God concerning our faith Our profession of faith
is love. Do you have the love of God shed
abroad in your heart? Love for God, love for His Son,
love for His Word, love for His Gospel, which in turn Manifest
itself in love for God's people, love for your husband, love for
your wife, love for your children. By this shall all men know you,
my disciples, if you have love one to another. Remember, he
that loveth not knoweth not God. If a man say, I love God and
hates his brother, he is a liar. And if you have to ask who your
brother is, who you must love, you're probably not a child of
God. Now listen to me very carefully. I was part of a large church,
a true church I might add, a gospel preaching church, for over 30 years. I was an active
part of it for 20. That is, I had some understanding,
at least, some cognizance of what was going on. I've seen a lot of people come
and go. I've seen a lot of supposedly
faithful, fine, upstanding believers leave the gospel. I've seen fine, upstanding role
model husbands and fathers turn tails and leave their families. I've seen preachers do it. I've
seen people much older and much more experienced in the gospel
than anybody sitting in this room, including myself, leave
the gospel. Fall terribly. Terrible fall. God is no respecter. of persons. To be sure your sin will find
you out. God will judge you accordingly.
Brother Ralph Barnard one time preached a message entitled,
When God Kills Christians. What he was saying in that message
is that God will remove people He will remove people to keep
them from bringing a terrible reproach upon God, upon the gospel,
upon their families, upon themselves. He'll do it. I'll give you an
illustration. There was a man in the congregation
at Ashland who was there for thirty years. He was my father-in-law's
best friend. Everybody liked him. Everybody
loved him. I still love that man. I still
think of him with fondness. I mean, his daddy can't even
talk about him without breaking down. One day he had enough of his
wife. He had an affair, told his wife
he didn't love her, and proceeded to apply for a
divorce. which would have been a terrible
blow to our congregation, to the gospel of approach to the
name of God because of this man who was a professing believer. One day he was riding down the
road in an automobile, sixty-five miles per hour down an interstate in a boulder. came off the hill and crushed
him to death in his automobile. The day before the divorce papers
were to be final. Nobody knew about it. God wasn't
going to let anybody know about it. It happens. One more time, let's look at
1 Corinthians chapter 13. 1 Corinthians chapter 13. I'm trying to be true to your soul
and true to mine, from God's Word. Most of what I've done
thus far is read the Scriptures. I'm going to continue to do so.
Let's talk about love, shall we? Real love. True love. The love of God. The
kind of love that God puts in a heart. The kind true believers
have for one another. Verse 1, Though I speak with
the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I talk the
talk, I know the terminology, the doctrine, I'm a good sound
Calvinist, everybody's impressed with my knowledge, my ability
to read, to pray, this and that and the other, everybody but
God, that is. If I don't have love, Might as
well beat the drum. Verse 2, Though I have the gift
of prophecy, or think I do, and understand all mysteries, now
Paul's speaking sarcastically here because nobody knows the
mysteries of God. We know in part, he says it over
here later on, verse 9, we know in part. But though I think I
understand all mysteries, I've got it all wrapped up. Do I have
all knowledge? Do I have all faith? Or at least people think I do.
Faithful, solid believer. I could remove mountains. And
have not love? I'm nothing. I'm less than that. I'm vanity.
I'm useless. Verse 3, Though I bestow all
my goods to feed the poor, though I do many things around the church
house, everybody acknowledges my deeds. See the things I've
done? Now, I'm talking to this preacher,
too. To give my body to be burned,
even, and to have not love, it profits me nothing. As a matter
of fact, it just adds to my condemnation, because it's all for show. Now, let's describe true love
here. Verse 4. Love suffereth long. We think we put up with a lot
from people, don't we? We think we put up with a lot
from people, whoever it may be. Yet, if the truth were known,
it is they that put up with us. They that must suffer with us.
Love suffereth long, that is, it's patient. How long are we
supposed to take things, tolerate things, supposed abuses? How long are
we supposed to take abuses? He says, they're long. He doesn't say how long. Love suffereth long. God's put
up with you and I a long time. A long time. And just as soon as you quit
showing mercy, so will God. With the merciful, He says, I'll
show myself merciful. With the forward, I'm going to
be deadly forward, God said. Love suffers long. Look at it,
verse 4, every eye. Love is kind. tender, compassionate, caring,
complimentary. Now, men, I'm going to pick on
you tonight. I'm going to pick on myself. I told you, if you're
man enough, I'm man enough to take it. You remember the message
preached on a Christian marriage one time out of Ephesians 5?
This is the sequel. Love is kind. Love is complimentary. If you never tell your husband,
your wife, your children, your parents that you love them and
appreciate them and thankful for what they do or brag on them, you don't love them. Love expresses itself. But let me add this, it's never
too late to start. You understand me? You understand
God's Word? It's never too late to start.
Love is kind. I'll give you a brief little
example. These women, you ladies are going
to love me for this. These women have a much tougher
job than any man in here. I've laid block, brick, driven
a truck. I've dug ditches all day long
until my hands were bleeding. You name it, as far as manual
labor goes, I've done the hardest labor there is. You put me over
an ironing board for one hour, I've had all I can take. I'm
serious. I did it last night. It's fresh
on my mind. You put me in a room with screaming
kids. changing dirty diapers, putting up with sick children,
waking up in the middle of the night, tending to them, cooking
meal after meal for ungrateful kids and husbands or whatever,
washing their dirty underwear without a thank them, without
a word of thanks. I'd never stay married. I'd be a militant ERA. It's not too late to start. Love is kind. Love is charitable.
Love never bestows—love bestows praise and gifts upon the one
that they profess to love. If you never bestow praise and
gifts and thanksgiving, appreciation for the one you profess to love,
you're a liar. God commendeth His love toward
us while we're yet wretches. Countless scriptures that speak
of God's gifts to us. What of the unspeakable gifts? It's not yours if yours are not
others. What you have is not yours if
what you have doesn't belong to others. And God even speaks
of His praise, now listen to me, God even speaks of His praise
to us. God compliments us. God tells
us we're beautiful. You've never read the Song of
Solomon, if you don't believe that. You've never read Ezekiel
16, if you don't believe that. Read that, Ezekiel 16. Bedecking
that child with ornaments. That's Christ in the church.
Bedecking it with ornaments and telling, you're beautiful. Oh,
I love you. Bestowing gifts upon him. That's
what love does. Love envies not, verse 4. Love envieth not. There's nothing
more averse or opposite to love than envy. Nothing more detrimental
to love than envy. There's nobody in here who has
children who is envious of the happiness and the prosperity
of their children. That's what they want more than anything.
Why? Because you can say from your
heart you love your children. You're never envious of their
prosperity and happiness, are you? That's what you want more
than anything else, at the expense of your own, right? Love vaunteth not itself. Now,
look at this. Love vaunteth not itself. Love
is never proud. Never. That's what they're saying
there. Love is never proud. We don't
brag and boast over our children, do we? And we go in and look
at him and say, I'm so much smarter than you are. I'm so much bigger,
I can crush you. You don't know anything. Neither does love do that to
anybody that's object of its love. Men, here we go. If you demand
your wife's respect, I'm speaking from experience here. I've been
there and I still do this. God help me. If you demand your wife's respect,
you don't deserve it. Respect is earned. Respect is earned. You don't
demand respect. I remember when I first got married,
came in and started laying down the laws, you know, no this,
no that. No, you can toe the line, walk the... She didn't respect me. Love doesn't
act like that. Love is tender and kind and patient,
forbearing, long-suffering, gentle, and easily, easily entreated. If you demand your wife's respect,
you don't deserve it. Besides, He says here, love bondeth
not itself. Love is equal. We are all equal in Christ. He
said in Galatians 5, there is no Jew or Gentile, no bondman free, no male nor
female in Christ. all one in Christ. Let me say
it again. God is no respecter of persons.
That means gender, sex. You're no man to God unless you're like the God-man. Is that right, Terry? You're
no man to God. You're a worm unless you're like
the God-man. I was the God-man. Listen to me. That woman who's sitting beside
you is your sister. She's your sister first. And then she's your wife. Besides,
when you get to heaven, if you get to heaven. She doesn't know your wife anymore. Like I said, I'll take this.
You'll take this. Sam, you'll take this? Charles? Ed? Witness our Lord with the women
in the New Testament. He treated them so kindly, so
patiently. Yet His disciples, He was constantly
upbraiding them for their unbelief. Who was it that sat around, constantly
around Christ, never seemed to leave Him? The women, wasn't
it? I'm not saying this to you women
just because you're women. There's no virtue in just being
a woman, but it seems that God has chosen the weaker things,
doesn't it? The mighty apostles, they all left him while the women
took his body and buried him. Then when he rose from the grave,
he appeared to whom? A woman, a couple of women. One
of them was a former prostitute. A nothing, a nobody. Guaranteed
she wasn't a theologian. Guaranteed. All she liked to
do was sit and listen. He revealed himself to that woman
and she got so excited she went back and told the apostles. What
did they do? And Christ came back and had
to upgrade them again. Love is not tough stuff. Buff
is not tough stuff. No, the gospel is supposed to
take the wind out of our sails, not fill them. You ever seen a tomcat? Try to
look big and tough? A little puny little ten, eight,
nine, ten pound piece about this big you could just break it in
half. Get all puffed up, let the hair stand up on its back
and walk around like I'm the baddest dude you've ever seen.
Watch out. That's us and around our little
woman. Love does not behave itself unseemly,
verse 5. Love is not misbehaving. Now,
it's one thing to lose your cool or misbehave every now and then,
and we've all done it, and we'll do it. There's quite another
sign, quite another thing. It's a sign of an unregenerate
heart to be constantly touching, constantly rude, constantly stuck
up, unpredictable, moody, hot-tempered. It's a sign of an unregenerate
heart. I'll give you scripture after
scripture. Love does not seek her own. Look at this. You're
talking about digging deep. We saw how that knife digs deep.
It's digging deeper. I don't know what it's doing
to you. Love speaketh not her own. Love seeks to do for, bestow
upon, the object of its affection, not itself. Witness our Lord
Jesus Christ. If you lavish yourself with more
gifts than your husband or your wife or your children, you do
not love them. Witness the Son of God. Witness
the Word of God. Love seeketh not her own. Love
looketh on the things of others. Love is not easily provoked,
not easily offended, not touchy, not temperamental. Love thinketh
no evil. Never really thinks of hurting
somebody that it loves. True love. Sure, you get mad
at somebody that you supposedly love. Sure, we all do. We all
get fly off the handle every now and then. But honestly, true
love never thinks of really hurting the one that it loves. It's been
times when I've become irate with my wife and my child, but
really if I stop and get a hold of myself and my heart grips
me, I could never hurt that person. Verse 6, love rejoices not in
iniquity, either of itself or its objects. Love doesn't rejoice
in iniquity. Love is ashamed of iniquity,
our own iniquity of others. Love is repentant of our own
iniquity. The reason I brought this up
was, I've said this before, I said it in a Bible study one time,
love is not proud of the way we are. Christlike love, the
love of God shed upon our heart, is not proud of ourselves. It's
very much ashamed of ourselves. Love doesn't say, this is the
way I am. here we talk about how at times
uh... in time and i think uh... uh...
estimate him you know i'll make him for uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh...
uh... uh... uh... Mayhems are detestable creatures. And I might add, so are kinsmen,
and parks, and ruins, and swords. There's nothing good about a
mayhem, or a sword, or whoever. There's nothing worth bragging
about, is there? It's everything to be ashamed
of. Unless you've truly changed,
unless you've learned or grown from conviction, And you have
only repented with Esau and Cain. You're sorry for the trouble
that your sins have gotten you into, but you're not sorry for
the sin that's in you that caused the trouble. Love never rejoices in its own
iniquity, nor in the fault of the iniquity of another. Love
never rejoices in the iniquity of somebody else. Never. Never. Because love rejoices in the
truth. See that? Love rejoices in the truth. Love
is not suspicious. Love wants to get to the truth
of the matter. Bottom of things, in the face of ill-treatment,
this is what love says. He didn't mean that. She didn't mean that. That's what love says. Is that not right? Listen, witness Christ hanging
there with his body battered brutally. A bloody mess. You can barely breathe. People
spitting in his face. Father, be careful. They don't know what to do. What have we put up with? What
have we taken? Anybody ever done that there?
Oh, you'd think so. Love beareth all things. Look
at verse 7. Love beareth all things. Love
bears up, under, and forebears. Love bears burdens, faults, pains,
sorrows, its object. Love bears these things, not
causes them. Love forebears it. Love tries
to get rid of it, not cause more of it. Yeah, I looked up the word bears
there too. You know what it means also? It means to cover. Love
covers a multitude of sin. Love doesn't publish the thoughts
of others, but covers them, hides them. Everybody else, even everybody
else can see them, and you're trying to cover them, like our
children. Love believes all things. It's as bad to believe a rumor
as it is to tell it. Love doesn't believe rumors about
somebody else. No, no, it can't be so. It can't
be right. This, listen, this test of what
to say. Is it true? Is it kind? Is it
necessary? or what to believe, whether you
believe it or not. Is it true? Is it kind? Is it
necessary? Use that next time you answer
your husband or your wife. Next time you open your mouth
to your husband or your wife, use that. Is it true? Is it kind? Is what I'm about
to say kind? Is it necessary that I save you? Love hopeth all things. Hope with all things. Love never
gives up on somebody. I said this before. Irreconcilable
differences? No such things, love. No such
thing. If we feel that way, we're the
one that needs to be reconciled to God Almighty. Turn with me
to Matthew chapter 5. Now, look at this. I've read
this. I've looked at this all wrong
all of my entire life until now. in light of this message. Matthew 5. If we feel that things are irreconcilable,
we're the one who needs to be reconciled to God Almighty. Now,
look at this, Matthew 5, verse 22. Now, he says, I say unto
you, whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause,
or sister, without a cause, Would somebody give me a good cause
ever be angry at anybody? Does he qualify that and say
when is a good cause? Does he? Doesn't he? Sounds to
me like every incident is without a cause. Right? Whosoever is angry with his brother
without a cause is danger of the judgment. This is the Lord
God from heaven talking here. Now, whosoever shall say to his
brother, now, whoever takes this a little bit further and starts
cursing and calling him a fool, you're in danger of the council, danger of hellfire. Now, listen,
verse 23. I've always read this like if
I have something against somebody, if I have something against somebody,
they've done something to me, I've got to go reconcile. That's
not the way this reads. The way this reads is that they've
got something against you. Now look, look at verse 23, every
eye. If you bring thy gift to the
altar, in other words, you come to church, and you remember that
your brother has something against you, that you've been playing
a fool, you've been acting like an unlovely wretch, you'd better
leave that place. And you'd better go your way,
and you'd best be reconciled to your brother. You're not going
to worship God. That's the sense of what David
said, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord's not going
to hear me. You're not going to worship God. God's not going
to hear your prayer. It might sound good to others.
He's not going to hear you. He's not going to speak to you. You're going to be reconciled,
and then you come back, and then you offer your gift. Agree with
your adversary quickly. Father's hope. With the merciful,
he will show himself merciful. Love endureth all things. Sorrow,
sickness, disappointment, abuses. And there in Matthew 5, the Lord
talks about turning the cheek, talks about giving the coat and
the clothing and everything it's got. What do you need? Talks about being asked to go
a mile, you take, go to. Go to the the furthest extent
that humanly possible, endeavoring to the unity of the
Spirit. That's what love does. Why? Because, verse 8, love never
fails. I don't love you anymore. You never did. And if you don't, you don't know
God. He that loveth not, loveth not
God. We best get in our clothes and first ask God to save us. and then ask God to make us love
somebody. If you value the Word of God, if you value God, if you value the gospel, if you value your husband or
your wife, your marriage, your testimony, if you value your
family. I highly suggest, upon the authority
of God's Word, that you and your wife go home this evening and
get on your knees together and beg the living God to create
and shed abroad in your heart the love of God for one another.
I'm going to do it. I asked Terry before we walked
up here, I said, Terry, are you the kind of husband you want
to be? No, immediately, no. He said it with a groan. I said, Terry, do you love your
wife? He said, yes. Without hesitation. I had a good hope for Terry Kinsley. Christ suffers long. say that Christ is in us. That's
what we say when we say we believe. Here's the essence of saving
faith. The essence of saving faith is this. Saving faith looks to, trusts
in, depends upon, relies upon, loves and follows the Lord Jesus
Christ above all else. The manifestation of that faith—I
know we say that. I just said it, said it fairly
eloquently. You may believe it. About me,
I don't know. The manifestation of that faith
that I say I have is like this. It's in the walk. It's in the
life. My pastor said this, he said
this once, he said it a hundred times. He said, if you want to
know how a man really is, don't listen to him talk. Go home and
ask his wife. Ask his child. People live with him all the
time. Or her. Christ suffers long. Christ is
kind. Christ is not envious. Christ
didn't bond himself. He should have. He didn't. He
took upon himself a form of a servant. To bums—I'm talking hell-bound
bums—took upon it, served us, waited on us hand and foot. Christ wasn't puffed up. He said
he won't cry or cause his voice to be lifted up. I heard the
story. Just walked about doing good. Living the life. Christ didn't behave himself
unseemly. Oh, my soul. How did he behave himself? Christ didn't seek his own. He
lived on his life. Christ isn't easily provoked. Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad
he's not easily provoked? Or else he'd say, that's it.
That is it. That's the final straw. Christ thinks no evil. Christ rejoices not in iniquity.
He grieves over it. And I might add this word tonight. And your sin, you profess to
be a believer, your sin grieves the Holy Spirit. If you're not receiving the Word
that I'm speaking tonight, God's Word, and if I don't receive
it, I'm quenching the Spirit. And
the Spirit may quench me in the end. Christ rejoices in the truth. Christ bears all things. He bore
our sins. Christ believes all things. He's
faithful and just to forgive us all our sins. Christ hopeth
all things. He is our hope in all things. Christ endureth all
things. Christ never fails. And if Christ is in you, Neither will you fail, nor will
that love that is there within the heart of every Christian
and disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, nor will that love fail
for anyone. You won't do it. And I'm going to run to Tarshish. But I've been true to your hearts
and your soul and mine. We've read probably 40 or 50
verses of Scripture. That's all we've done. I've just
paraphrased here and there. God Almighty has spoken. I lost
a lot of sleep over this message. A lot of sleep. As a matter of
fact, I was awakened in the middle of the night I lost a lot of sleep over, and
I hope you'll lose a little bit, too. It's only fair. Because it's for you, as well
as me. Now, I realize it was geared
mostly to married people, but let me say this. You who are
unmarried, ever think about getting married? Don't. Unless you intend to love your
mate, just like we talked about. Don't make a vow before God Almighty.
If you vow a vow and defer not to pay it, God will hold you
responsible. Believers are under these vows. Unbelievers aren't. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer.