When you have cause to fear that
this world's empty glory is costing me too dear, too dear. That goes along with the message
this morning. Turn with me to Jeremiah chapter 6, the sixth chapter of the book
of Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 6. We'll be
looking at one verse. We're living in a day of hurry. Everybody is in a hurry. A hurry to go here, to go there,
to do this, or that to buy, to sell, to work, to play. We're in a hurry. We live in
a fast-paced society and it's common knowledge that if you
want to get ahead, you've got to be there first. If you want
to get anything, or get anything done, you've got to hurry, or
somebody else will beat you to it. A common byword in our day
is, you snooze, you lose. But everybody's in a hurry. Well, several times in God's
Word, God himself says this, stand still. He said, Stand still and see
the salvation of the Lord. That is, we're not going to see
that salvation by doing anything, but only by stopping, standing
still, resting, Him doing something to us. He said, Be still and
know that I am God. He said, Stand in awe and sin
not. Samuel, the prophet, said to
Saul, the new king, he said, "'Bid your servants to pass on
before us. Let them go ahead and do what
they are doing. Let them go on before you, but
you stand still a while, that I might show you the word of
the Lord.'" That's good advice, isn't it? "'Let them go on and
do what they are doing. in a hurry and get to where they're
going. But you stand still and hear
the word of the Lord." Just for a little while here. And then
Samuel, the prophet, said to the people, he said, Stand still
that I may reason with you before the Lord of all the righteous
acts of the Lord. How we, as these people, should
stand still and listen to the reasoning from God's Word of
what great things He's done for us. Oh, that men would praise
the Lord for His goodness, Psalm 107 says. Oh, that we would stop
for a little while in the hustle and bustle of this society and
just praise. I mean, really, it's going to
take the Holy Spirit to do it. But to just stop and, as it were,
smell the roses. Look and see what great things
our God has done for us. And here in our text, he says
the same thing. Look at verse 16 with me. Thus
saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask. Stop. What he's saying here,
he's giving some good advice. He's saying stop, look, and listen,
and ask. Stop and think. Stand still.
Pause and reflect for a little while. Look within. He says,
look, stand, stop, look. Look within. Look at yourself.
Look behind. Look what's happened before this
day. Look ahead. Look what's going
to happen. Look before. What are you doing? Where are
you going? If you continue this present
course of action that you're taking, or the present way that
you're going, what will be the consequences of it? Stop and
think. Good advice, isn't it? Let's
stop and think a minute. If I continue like I'm continuing,
what will happen to me? Stop and think. And to get the
people to thinking is what I want to do this morning, to get us
to thinking. This is a thinking man or woman's
religion, a thinking. I'm not just up here to entertain,
nor is any other true preacher of the gospel. I'm not up here
just to entertain, but to dig and search in the God's Word
and see what God has to say to us, and to learn, to listen,
to learn, to ask questions, and to apply it to our hearts, our
minds, our souls, and our lives, right? We're not just sinners
being entertained on the road to hell, like so many people
are. But to get people to thinking
is what I want to do this morning, to get us to get myself thinking,
thinking about God. We don't give Him that much thought.
Think about ourselves. We give ourselves too much thought.
But in the proper respect, I want us to think about ourselves,
what we are. To think about, above all, the Lord Jesus Christ,
whom to know is to have eternal life. To get people to thinking. Stop and think. This is good
advice, isn't it? Stop and think. Stand ye in the
ways. Think. Think. The psalmist said
this. Listen. The psalmist said, I
thought on my ways, and I turned my feet to his testimonies. I thought about what I was doing.
Where I was going, where I was heading, and I turned my feet
to his word. I turned to his word. The prodigal
son, finally, according to the Lord's mercy and grace, he came
to himself. That is, he thought about what
he was doing. He thought about what he was doing. He stopped
and considered some things. And I asked you, and I asked
me, what about us? What about us? Here's what the
scriptures say. My people doth not consider. You know, people say this today,
I never gave it a thought. I didn't give it much thought. Well, this is particularly true
of young people. Young people have high spirits
and are ignorant, and they rush headlong into things without
thinking. And it's equally true of us adults, too. We rush headlong
into things without thinking. But young people generally get
themselves in a mess of trouble. Are you listening to me? They
usually fall head over heels in love with some guy or some
girl and hurry up and get married and end up miserable all their
lives without thinking about it. And your preacher advises
you young people to think about your present course of action,
to think about who it is that you may be interested in, and
consider whether or not he or she is in your best eternal and
spiritual interest. That's good advice. The scriptures
plainly tell us not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers. There
are some people in here that will tell you that to be married
to an unbeliever is the hardest trial, one of the most miserable
things you could go through all of your lives. So stop and think
before you get involved with anybody. or get into anything. Stop and think about it. Stop
and think. Some people do think. Some people
do do some thinking, but it's usually only of themselves. Esau,
he thought about something, his belly. He wanted his belly full. We think about that a great deal,
don't we? We spend a great deal of time
preparing what we shall eat. Jimmy Swigert this morning was
offering on television a cookbook. Send in and buy a cookbook in
honor of his wife's birthday. A real profit, isn't it? A cookbook. People are thinking
about their belly like Esau. Lot thought of only the well-watered
plains of Sodom. He didn't give a thought to who
was living there, what was going on there, and what he would turn
into if he lived there. And oh, if people would consider
their jobs, their occupations, the places they go to, move to,
whatever, what it's going to cost them, what it's going to
do to them. Like a lot, you may end up inside them, inside them. David, he gave some thought to
some things, his lust, his passion. He thought about only, he only
thought about how beautiful Bathsheba was. That's what he thought of
real, real strongly. But it seems that no one is able. No one is able to find time for
some calm, quiet, reflective thinking about what really matters. Reflective thinking about the
world to come. No time to sit down and hear
a good sermon. If we do come, I'm afraid we're
all guilty of this, we've rushed in here to hear it unprepared,
and generally the message bounces off of our heads. We don't have
much time to sit. You know, people, back when the
old Reformers were preaching and so forth, they used to sit
for hours, not on padded pews either. Sit for hours on end
and listen. The Apostle Paul, one time, preached
all night long. I think I'll try that tonight
and see who's left. Well, one boy fell out the wind
and broke his neck. But at any rate, we don't give
much time to these things that are necessary, not much time
to read the scriptures, not much time to pray. Me and Illustrate
that by at the dinner table. Most people, that's about the
only prayer they really do, and then it's generally confined
to a short, blah, blah, blah, blah, and raise your head. Not
much time. Do it. Not much time. And Jeremiah,
we're alive today, and he is. And he's speaking through this
book right here. God is speaking through the prophet. He says,
stop and think. Stand still a while. Just stop
on your road to wherever you're going, to whatever you're doing.
Stop. Stand still a minute. Let's pause. Let's reflect. Let's think a
little bit. Let's think a little bit. Stand
still, he said. Look at what he says here. Stand
in the ways. Stand in the ways, God said this. That is, stand at the crossroads.
Stand at the crossroads and see which way you're going. I know
that sounds terribly Arminian, if you will. But nevertheless,
there are some decisions to be made. Stand at the crossroads
of this life. Like Joshua said, choose you
this day whom you will serve. He is on the Lord's side, the
scripture says. Christ himself said it throughout
his ministry. Follow me. If you don't forsake
all that you have and follow me, you cannot be my disciples.
Decide. Right? Good advice here. Good advice. Stand before the
various ways that we could travel. The way of this world, particularly
young people. The way of this world, or the way of discipleship. the way of a believer. Stand
and think about it. Which way? Which way? Particularly,
though, stand in the various ways and form of religion. Stand and see. Stop and think. Look at the various ways that
men are so-called worshiping God. The ways that you've tried. You've stood in some ways. Some
of you stood in the Nazarene way, the Methodist way, the Presbyterian
way, the Baptist way, the Arminian way. Stop and think. Stand in
that way and see. And it's an old way. Men have been traveling these
ways of self-righteous works for many years. Stand in those
old ways and see if it'll do you any good or not. See if this
salvation by works is really salvation at all. Stop and think. Stand in those ways. Look before
you leap. Another way. Look before you
leap. Stand in the ways, look before
you and see. Look at this. It says, stand
you in the ways and see. Not only do we have a problem
with our hearing, we have a problem, spiritually speaking, that's
directly pertaining to this appendage right here, our hearing. The
scripture says, having ears they hear not. And we know that's
true. So much truth comes forth from
this place, and from our reading, and so forth, and into our minds
and hearts, and God recalls it to us, and yet it's just like
water off a duck's back, isn't it? We have a problem in hearing
God's Word, a real problem with it. We also have a problem with
these eyes, seeing all that's around us. See, we have a problem
with seeing. That is, we don't see. Having
eyes, they see not. things, God's providence very
clearly. We don't see the hand of God
in everything very clearly, do we? We don't see what course
of action we're taking very clearly. We're like brute beasts for the
most part. He says, stop, stand still and
see, and look these things in the face. Death. There's some people here, and
I really, I probably ought to to bring this up every message.
Like Baxter said, a preacher is a dying man to dying man.
Now, we've got some people here that are right on the verge of
eternity. They may be old and it may appear obvious that they're
approaching death. They may be young. Maybe a young
person will be the first to die in here. We do well. Oh, that they will rise, the
scripture says, and that they will consider their latter end.
What is that end? The way of death that every man
and woman and young person is going to travel. That way, we're
all going the way of death, the way of the grave. Oh, that we
were wise and would stop and think about it, just for a minute.
Right, Joe? Five minutes. Five minutes. It might determine our course
for the day. Stop and think for a minute,
for five minutes, about death, about judgment, that there is
a judgment. There is a God to face, a holy
God whom we've rebelled against, whom we're accountable to. I
don't care if you're 18 years old or 68 years old. There's a God that we must face
and that we are accountable to. And he holds us accountable for
our sin. And we're going to stand before
him someday, and he's going to judge us whether or not we are
in Christ or out of Christ. We would do well to stop and
think about that. Five minutes, wouldn't we? Five
minutes. We'd do well to think about it
for 155 minutes of the day. But just for five minutes. You
see, we're in a hurry, though. I'm guilty. We're all guilty.
I want to preach this with as much compassion as I can and
understanding. But we're all guilty. Stop. But he says right here, good
advice. Stop. Stop. Stand still. And think about this a minute.
eternity. This life is a vapor. It's a vapor. Tell us about it,
Henry. Joe, some of you people are growing
older. Henry, you're in your fifties.
You were once a man my age, thirty-four years old. Seen that just yesterday,
doesn't it? And you'll soon, if the Lord
allows you to live, you'll be seventy-some years old, and on
your last leg, and you'll think, boy, just yesterday I was fifty.
And then soon, You're going off to that long home, where Scripture
says man goes to his long home from which there's no return.
You know, if I was going someplace for an extended trip, if I was
going to take a vacation for an extended period of time, say,
now y'all just left for about a week. You probably didn't get,
well, knowing a woman, you probably did give a lot of thought to
it, and you packed everything but the kitchen sink. But if
you were gone for three weeks, you'd have to You'd get a U-Haul
trailer, wouldn't you? You'd think about it long and
hard. You'd prepare well. We're going somewhere for eternity. And the reason perhaps we don't
think about this as we should, because we have no concept of
eternity. We're creatures of time. Nevertheless, the foundation
of God stands true. We're going someplace forever. Forever. My brother's gone. Some of my friends, my grandparents,
some of your children maybe, your parents, your brothers and
sisters, gone, never coming back again, are they? If you could
bring them back, you will, but they're not coming back. Where
have they gone? Eternity. You see why it would
be very, very wise on our part to stop, I mean, just stop what
we're doing and think. And God's mercy and grace has
given us this time to stop and think. That's what it's for.
That's what it's for. Every Sunday morning, every Sunday
night, every Wednesday night. Stop and think. Stop and think
about these things. Death, judgment, and eternity.
Now look at this. Here's some good advice, and
here's some particular advice. He says, stop and think. That
is, stand in the ways and see. Look around you. And then he
says, ask for something. Stop. What you doing? Look around
you. Look behind you. Look what has
happened in the past. Look what God's brought you out
of. Look what He's doing right now to you. Look what's out in
front of you. Eternity. Stop and think about
that a minute. And see. And then He says, ask. You need
to ask the question here. Look at it. Verse 16. Stand ye
in the ways and see and ask for the old paths. Ask for the old
paths. What's he talking about? The
old path. We're talking about the paths
of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, keep naming them, Moses, Joshua,
Samuel, David, Ruth, John, Mary, Martha, Peter, Paul, Bunyan,
Spurgeon, Knox, Gill, Baxter, Byrd, Nahan, Ask. It's the old
path. Men have been walking in it for
years. The old path. What's that old path? Christ,
who is the way, the path unto life, that leads unto life. Paths
of righteousness, the scripture says. He leads me in paths of
righteousness, the rule of worship, the rule of our life, our life. Christ, who is not a part of
our life, but who is our life. Ask about him. Seek, inquire
into him. Seek to know him, to love him.
Look at it, what our new generation needs. We've got a generation
that's much like those Bereans of old, that they love nothing
more than the telling and the hearing of some new thing. It
seems that if it's new, men think it's something better. That's
not true in this case. He says that's for the old past.
Getting back to the old times, the song says it. The old-time
religion, that is the faith of our fathers, the old path, the
old way, where it is the good way, the old path, the old doctrine,
the Old Testament, if you will. There's nothing new under the
sun. Men's hearts sure aren't different. Some of you don't
even know that. You're no different than you
were when you started out in this thing, are you? You were. There's nothing new under the
sun, and men's hearts certainly aren't different. And the foundation
truths are still the same. God still saves men the same
way. The three basic truths of the Reformation still stand true
today. The scriptures alone, that this
book is our only hope, our only help, our only comfort, our only
strength, the only place we resort to, the only truth, the only
thing worth looking into, the foundation of all that we do
and believe. This book, the scriptures alone,
not a pope, not a preacher. The book, the scriptures alone,
grace alone. Salvation is still by grace.
It was by grace upon Adam, the first man. It's going to be by
grace upon you if he saves you. It's going to be by his grace.
It's still the same. And faith in Christ alone. Christ
alone is still the only Savior. In him, in his imputed righteousness
and shed blood, there's only one way. There's only one way. God is still the same God. He's
still holy, he's still just. Man is still the same, wicked,
perverse, vile. Seems like man has changed, seems
like he's gotten worse. But no, I thought God was going
to destroy us with water here recently. Yesterday, we were
about swept away last night with the rain. Well, God destroyed
this world one time by water because of its wickedness. He's
going to destroy it again someday. Man is still the same. Jesus
Christ is certainly the same. Yesterday, today, and forever,
he's our only hope, our only salvation. None other name given
among men, given under heaven among men, whereby we must be
saved. He's the only way. He's the only way. That's what
he says here. Look at it. Stand. Stop. Stand still in the ways,
the ways you're headed. Look around you. See. Stop. Look at your religion. Look at
your profession of faith and look at it. Examine it carefully.
And ask for the old paths. Ask for the Lord to show you
wherein is the good way. The old paths. There is the good
way. See there? The good way. What's
the good way? Christ said, I am the way. I
am the way. The way of righteousness. That's
what we must have. And I was talking to Brother
Todd Nyberg the other day on the phone. And every time I get
up here, every time I get up here, I go
through this. Every time I get up, I try to bring out this right
here, which is the gospel. And you know, somehow, I'll be
perfectly honest with you and frank with you. Sometimes I get
a little bit, I think, oh, they've heard that
before. And I almost apologize for going
through it. Every time I get up here, I go
through this. I say, Christ is our righteousness. That God demands
a perfect righteousness, or a perfect life. And I say unto us, and
to me, that Christ provided that righteousness. He came as a man.
Here it is. Here's the old story again. Tell it to me again. That's
what it says there. That's what God tells me to do.
that Christ came as a man, made of a woman, born under the law,
made a curse under that law, made of a woman, born under the
law, to live according to that law, which we must do or risk
being damned. Risk do and live. We can't do
it, so we must die. The soul that sinneth must surely
die. But Christ came down here in love and mercy and grace from
the Father and became a man. He didn't have to. I wish I could
bring this out, not just presenting the facts. Every time I tell
it, I'm bound to tell it, no matter how it may come out. No
matter how it may be impressing me at the time, I'm bound to
tell it. Maybe somebody will hear it. If only I could do it
from the heart. But Christ came down here to
do for us what we could not do for ourselves. A Redeemer. to save a people that were being
damned, perishing for eternity. And He came down here as a man
to get us out of the mess we're in. To live a life as a man,
a perfect life. And God saw that man, His man,
God's man, behold the man, and He said, there's a good man.
I accept that man. I approve of that man. And Terry
Kinsley, your only hope is that you were in that man. that that
righteousness, that life that he lived as a man, he imputed
it or gave it or charged or imputed it to your account. And now when
God Almighty sees you, he sees Christ and he accepts you, approves
of you. Yea, he is well pleased with
you, not for your sake. And this is where the praise
and glory comes in, because of what he did. He'll praise him. And then he, not only that, And
that wouldn't have been any good if he hadn't taken your sin,
your iniquity, and your rebellion right now. The sin that you're
so full of right now, that if he let up for a minute, he'd
damn you right now for what you're doing or not doing. He took that
sin on himself and he said, now, Lord, now, God, I'm a rebellious
sinner. I'm Terry Kinsley. I didn't love
you like I ought to, haven't served you like I ought to, haven't
lived like I ought to. I'm He. saw you and killed you
in Christ. And then he went to that grave
that we're going to go to. But there's no staying anymore.
We're going to go to it, but we want to rise. Why? Because
he arose. And now he's seated at the right
hand of the Father and pleading with the Father and interceding,
mediating for us. And everything, every good and
perfect gift comes to us because of that mediation, because of
where he is and what he's doing. Everything good, everything we
need, all that's necessary for life and for godliness, comes
because there's a man in glory sitting at the right hand of
the Father. Is that an old, boring story? He's made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, redemption. He's all we need to know. Thank
God, Henry, we don't have to be theologians. We just have
to know Christ. I know that's saying a lot, but
really, we don't know much about him. We just have to be vitally
joined to him by faith, know who he is, believe him, trust
him. That doesn't require great knowledge, does it? No, it doesn't.
And because he lives, we live also. Because he died, we don't
have to die. And he's the good way. He's the
good way. The scriptural path to heaven,
the way to God. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me, Christ says. The good way. Look at it, what
he says here. He says, ask for these old paths. Christ said,
ask. And you'll receive. Seek, you'll find. Knock, he'll
be open. I'll come in. Isn't it? That's
what he said. Call upon the name of the Lord,
shall be saved. Are we calling? We need to call
every day, don't we? There's never a day that goes
by we don't need to call upon the Lord. This wasn't a one-time,
isolated thing, Deborah. We didn't call and make our profession.
We call every day. Lord, save me today or I perish.
If I'm not saved, save me now. If I don't know you, let me know
you now. If I don't love you, let me begin
today. I need mercy now, I need grace now." It just astounds me to hear people
say things like, well, I'll go to church when I feel the need. Wow! You mean there's times you
don't need Christ and His gospel? Oh, I need Him every day. I tell you the truth, I hold
church services every day. Whether here or at home or somewhere,
I hope you do too. Every day is the Lord's day.
Every day we're to worship and adore and praise our God and
seek Him. And work therein. Work therein. It says Enoch worked with God.
Well, Enoch lived in a day right before he fled. God destroyed
this world. He didn't live in a day any different
than ours, when men were more pious than we are, or evil was
not as rampant. No. He lived in a day much like
ours, and the Scripture says he worked with God. How? By faith. He trusted God, he
looked to God, he depended upon God, he called upon God, like
old Maurice said, likes to say, he hugged up to Him. And we got to hug up to Him.
Yeah, draw nigh unto God. Cleanse your hands, you sinners,
that's what he said. Draw nigh unto God, He'll draw nigh unto
you. We're going to deal with that tonight on this thing of
communion with God, how there's something of a condition attached
to God's presence and communion. Yes, there is, just like you
and your children, just like the relationship you have with
your children. And the Scripture gives us good advice, particular
advice. Ask, look, seek, knock, call,
hug up, cling to Him, come to Him, the Scripture says. Oh,
you've got labor, and look what he says, and you'll find rest
for your soul. Rest for your soul. And this
is where I started this message at. We're in a hurry. We're in
a hurry. And by the time we get through
doing what we're doing, we rest all right. It's like dead sleep. That's not the rest we're talking
about here. And I'm just sure that people in our generation
are in a hurry, their ill at ease, are hurrying and worrying,
hurrying and worrying, they're too busy to stop and be quiet
and think because, and you know this is true even of yourself,
if you stop and think very long at all, guilt will overcome you. Guilt. This is the reason people,
when you go into a motel room, what do you do? Can't stand to
be alone with our thoughts, can we? Can't stand to have quiet
or be by ourselves, just for a moment, in a hurry. Go out
of town, you walk in a motel room, first thing you do, turn
the TV off, turn the radio on, call somebody up. If we get along
with our thoughts and begin thinking about our sin and judgment and
all these things and get in a bad way, we call somebody up. want
them to want to see what they have to say, what they think.
We look in the Scriptures, we don't understand it, rather than
asking God to reveal it to us, we call somebody else out. What
do you think about this? We need to stop and think, don't
we? We need to stop and think. And this rest that he's speaking
of here, this rest, and the reason I said that was because people
have this guilt of conscience because there's no peace with
their Maker, the natural man. It's time to stop and think. Guilt will come into his heart
and his mind. He'll be ill at ease. He'll worry and be fretful
for no apparent reason. They really don't understand
it. You know what I'm saying is so. Anxiety, fears, stress. Where does all this come from?
Being at enmity with God Almighty and not right with God. Oh yeah, it's in the mind, the
subconscious, the very being of the natural man. That's the
reason you can't stand still. You've got to be in a hurry.
Get your mind, drugs, alcohol, all these things are to what?
Escape reality. Because reality says, stop. Think about it. Death. All these things that are real.
They say no two things are sure but death and taxes. Well, one
of those is certainly true. But this rest, he says, if you
walk therein, trust in Christ, look to Him, depend upon Him,
you'll find rest for your souls. Now, I'm talking about bodily
rest here. We get plenty of that. We get plenty of that. And to
be at rest of body is not this rest he's talking about. Some
people are very well, very restful and at ease in this world. Some
people live in fine homes and drive fine cars and live very
comfortably. Most of us live very comfortably
in this life. We're very restful in this life,
aren't we? But you ask the rich man, you
ask the millionaire, is he at ease? Is he comfortable? Is he
finding rest? No, it never satisfies. And most
of them go down to their grave torn all to pieces, penniless
and broken, heartbroken, don't they? It's almost always the
case. Rare. But he's talking about inward
rest. Inward rest. This is what I said earlier this
morning. That rest that comes only from a sense of your guilt
removed. Even you young girls, you feel
guilty. You feel guilty. My little daughter,
when she was four years old, as young as that, she said, Why
do I have such bad thoughts? And it plagues us. It plagues
us when we think the things we do and when we do the things
we do. It plagues us. Guilt. Guilt. And there's no peace of conscience,
no rest of soul until that guilt is removed. And the only place
that guilt is ever removed is having it nailed to the cross,
seeing that Christ paid for that guilt. Paid for those sins. And God doesn't hold you accountable
anymore. And He'll not condemn you for it. And that'll set you
free. That'll get you to rejoicing.
That'll get you to worship Him. This is the reason. I'm getting
off a little bit here. This is the reason perhaps we
shouldn't shield our children from this world so much. To whom much is forgiven, they'll
love much. If you never become a sinner,
you'll never see your need of a Savior. I'm not saying they
need to water in sin, but I tell you, I watered in it. And now,
buddy, I'm just, here I am. No place I'd rather be either.
No place. I'm telling you the truth. I
ain't just being a preacher right now. There's no place I would
rather be. I don't have to be preaching
either. Let somebody else do that. I
don't have to open my mouth. Let somebody do the preaching.
This is what I want to hear. What I want to be a part of.
I want to hear about that one that delivered me from all that
mess. That saved me. Tell me about him again. Tell
me that old, old story again. And that's when rest only comes,
is when you see that guilt's removed, that sin's gone. It's
gone. Not the presence of it, some
day he will deliver us from the presence of it, but the guilt
of it, the punishment of it. It's gone. Oh, my past. Y'all got a bad past? You got
a bad present? You got a bad past? Is there
anything in your past that haunts you? I mean, you can't shake,
you can't get rid of it. But it's gone. God doesn't hold
me accountable for it. That's too good to be true. That's
what they call the good news. That's only when rest is going
to come. Rest. And that's when Paul, that's
the sense in which Paul said, don't let anybody bother me anymore.
Don't let some dude come down the pipe and try to disturb my
rest. Oh, God has justified me. Because Christ has died. Who's
going to condemn me? Get around the road, Mike. I'm
free. I'm free. Yeah, I want to be
like Christ. But God accepts me in Christ.
Accepts me in Him. A sense of being forgiven and
a hope of good things to come. If you've got a hope, I'm not
talking about just a hope I hope. Just to cross my fingers and
legs and cross my heart and hope to die. Not a hope I hope I hope. I wish I think I hope. I mean
a good hope. Scripture talks about a sure
hope. Where is that? In Christ. The reason it talks
about a hope is because hope that is seen is not hope. We
don't see. Blessed are the eyes of those
who have not seen, yet have believed. A hope that is seen is not hope.
It's reality, right? But faith is the substance of
things hoped for. You actually have the Spirit
bearing witness, and your Spirit giving substance to the things
you believe. You actually see Him. See Him? Have you seen Him preaching?
Yeah. Yeah, I have. Not with these eyes. With these
eyes. And I see Him right here. Very
clearly. Time and time again. He lives. I know He does. I've seen Him.
I've heard Him. I've heard of you. And that's
my hope. that he lives. I've got a good
hope, sure hope. Someday this hope is going to
give way to sight, reality. He won't have to hope anymore.
I haven't. But right now, it's a good hope. It's assurance of
salvation and interest in him. How do you know you're a child
of God? Because he said it came to save sinners, Mary. And that's
me. That's what he said, didn't he?
That's you. We came to save you. Hallelujah. Somebody shout, hallelujah. Where's
Donnie Bell when we need him at? Rest comes only in that. You
need to rest. Rest. Not under bondage and rules
and regulations and laws and fear of punishment and guilt
and sins. I know you sin and it hurts you
and you'll suffer the consequences, you'll suffer under God's Chasing
in rod, it'll hurt like a little child. But that little child,
just soon as it's over, like Christ said to his disciples,
go and tell my disciples, be sure to tell old Peter. He feel
mighty low right now. And Peter. What a message there
is in those two words. And Peter. Go tell my disciples. And Barbara. And Joe. Sinners, that's their names.
Go tell them. I know they're wicked sinners.
They deny me every day. They've done this. Go tell them. I don't hold them. I kill them.
I steal them. Ah, boy. Rest. Rest. You know, my daughter, she rests
at night. She sleeps at night. Why? Daddy's
in the next room. He sent forth his Spirit in our
hearts, crying, Abba, Father, Daddy is in the next room. Same
run. He's watching over you. Ever
go into your children's bed at night and just look down over
them and kind of smile at them? You reckon God does that to us?
You think about that. In Christ, He does. He's well
pleased with us in Christ. Yeah, He does. He looks over
the bed of His children and says, there's Ellen. Boy, I love her. Goodness gracious. That's too
good to be true. Too good to be true. And rest
comes only this way, by seeing Christ as your substitute, seeing
his finished work on the cross on your behalf, seeing him sit
at the right hand of God, feeling that spirit of adoption of God
your Father, seeing order and purpose. Now you've got a purpose
in life. I didn't before, when I was traveling this old wilderness
world as a young rebel, I had no purpose in life. Just eat,
drink and be merry, you know. When I could get into the mix,
now I've got a purpose. I've got a purpose for my existence.
And even in the menial jobs that we may have, and we feel like
we're useless, we've got a purpose. We've got a purpose to exalt
and magnify and honor and glorify our God and tell somebody else
about it. Here we do. We've got a purpose.
That's our purpose on this earth. If anything, above all else,
it's to thank Him and enjoy. Rest, enjoy what he's given to
us. Old Brother Charlie Paine one
time preached a message, and he's resting right now. He called
it, Real Rest for Real People with Real Problems. Are you interested? There's rest in Christ. And like
old Job, it's the only thing. This rest in Christ is the only
thing, old boy, that will make you say with Job, know he slay
me. It's too good to make a mistake.
See, I'm not the judge of all the earth to do right. Yeah,
he will. Like old Eli, you'll be able to say with him, it's
the Lord. It's the only way you'll be able to say this. Only way.
Else you'll sorrow as those who have no hope. But if you have
this hope of Christ, you can say assuredly, well, I'm hurting. But he knows best. that that's
the only rest you'll find in sorrows and troubles and trials
and afflictions in this world. It's the only rest you'll find.
Yes, it is. Rest in Christ. But look at this. Look at the text one more time. But they said, We will not walk therein. This is what's so astounding
about this gospel of grace that we preach in it. I know we can
explain it. Why me and the natural man receive
not the things of God, foolishness unto him, neither can he know
them as spiritual as they are, and the Holy Spirit must reveal
them unto us. We know, we can explain that.
But still we're made to say, why? Why don't people believe
this? Why would anybody insist upon
trying some other way when there's only one way? It's so very clear.
Why would people insist upon doing when it's done? Why? Beats me. And this is what people
say, this gospel warfare. Has anything I've said this morning
been really offensive? I know the cross is offensive.
It abases man. It shows God as holy and abases
us and all that. But really, everything I've been
saying has been good news, hasn't it? But men say, I don't like
that. Don't they? Well, I wouldn't
walk in that. I'd believe anything but that
predestination. My soul. That's what the man
said to me one time, John. I'd believe anything but that
predestination. My soul. That's the cause of full rejoicing
in the child of God. But they say we will not. Let
me close in saying this. You will not, in so many ways.
You say you will not by procrastinating. By putting it off. Was it Festus
or Agrippa? I always get them mixed up. I'll hear you in a more convenient
time. You say, you're saying in so
many words, in so much silence, by not coming to Christ right
now. You say, I will not. Yeah, you
do. I've put it up. What you're saying
is I don't need it right now. Like that woman said, when I
see my need, I'll come. You've got a need whether you
know it or not. Whether you know it or not, you've
got a desperate need. If God were to take you right
now, you'd sure see your need. We say no by avoiding it, by
not thinking about it. We say no by our indifference
to message after message. Yes, we do. We're all guilty
of this. By indifference to message after
message. Like we preached Wednesday night. I'm asleep. We say no. I don't need what
you're preaching this morning. Isn't that true? By our lack
of interest? By not entering into the message?
By not preparing beforehand? We say, I don't need this this
morning. I'm safe, I'm secure in Christ, I've been washed in
the blood, I'm sure for heaven's sake, I'll hurry there. Oh yes,
that's what we're saying. We won't walk that area. Letting it slip, that's what
the scriptures say. Paul says, let us fear. Let us fear, lest
we should miss that rest. We let these things slip that
we've heard. And this is the greatest privilege. This is the
greatest privilege under God's Son. S-O-N-S-U-N. It really is. I wish I could
impress myself with it, and you too, what this privilege is. I tell you, if we understood
this blessed privilege, what God is actually doing, this gift
of the gospel, we'd be here. Oh, my son. folks to whom much is forgiven,
they'll love much, and they'll be greatly interested. And they'll
be walking in, seeking it, asking it, stop, stand still, think
about it, look, seek, find. You're seeking me, you shall
find me. When you've got the time, when you search for me with all
your heart. Sound like there's something
to be done on our part that day. I know God gives us powers, and
he makes us will in the day of his power. I know that, and I
preach that. But you need to seek him. It's good advice. It's good advice. It's advice to me, too.