If you'd like to turn to 2 Corinthians
chapter 5, 2 Corinthians chapter 5, I'll read a verse from there
in a moment. Most everything in our society
today is designed to make us forget about reality. We are deceived into not dwelling on the truth
and the obvious. We are told to just try and forget
about our troubles, and everything will be okay. One of the most
popular songs of our day, you know, is this, Don't Worry, Just
Be Happy. It doesn't tell you how, but
just don't worry. You know, the old saying is that
nothing is certain except death and taxes. And people avoid both
until the last minute, don't they? And taxes, you may be able
to come up with the money for taxes, but not necessarily the
grace to handle death when it comes. But to escape reality,
death, the thoughts of death, judgment and eternity, we do
many things. We turn on our TV sets. pop a pill, drink a bottle, whatever,
to escape thinking about reality, don't we? Now, here I am. I'm 34 years old. It really feels like yesterday
that I was Anthony Sheasley's age. Just yesterday, some of you,
you know, 34 years is nearly half of my life over. It seems
very young to some of you, doesn't it? Some of you are 50, 60, 70,
80. You know, I ask myself, I need
to ask myself more often, what am I doing? Where am I going? what's in store for me. I think
about this for young people, such as Anthony and John and
Paul and Sam and whoever, younger people, unmarried people, trying
to decide what to do in this world, how to go, where to go,
maybe who to marry, whatever, whether to get married. I wish that some would just stop
just for a minute. And by God's grace, some have.
But I wish all would stop for a minute and just, just for a
minute, sit down and say, What am I doing? Where am I going? Where am I headed? I'm going
to get into this for the rest of my life. Is that what I want
to do the rest of my life? But I'm interested in this girl.
Do I want to marry her? Do I want to live with her the
rest of my life? Is she the one for me? Just stop and examine
the situation, you know. That's humanly speaking. That
would do us a lot of good. I wish I'd have done that when
I was a young man. I'm not concerning my wife. She
looked at me. Not that at all. I did. I counted the cost. And I'm glad
I married whom I married. I'm glad God led her to me and
me to her. But as a young man, I wish I'd
have just stopped and just stopped and considered. Why are you doing
this? Why are you doing what you're
doing? Where are you going? Where are you headed? What's
this all about? What makes you do the things you do? Just for
a minute, you know what I'm saying. But above all else, I wish men and women, people
of all ages, would ask themselves this question. Am I prepared for eternity? Do
I know God or don't I? Am I or am I not saved? Just for a minute, sit down and
say, Am I or am I not a child of God? It would do us some good. Maybe in God's mercy and grace,
it would do us eternal good. But you know, an old communist
ruler one time named Karl Marx, he was the head of the start
of it all, wasn't he? He said that the religion was the opiate
of the masses. And that's in a great sense,
that's very true. Much of religion today, I don't,
I listen to it, I hear it, I can't help but speak the things I see
and hear and expose it. But much of what I see today
in present religion is opium, it's opiates, it's opium. It's
designed to make people forget about the issues, forget about
the truth. Don't dare reveal to men what
they are, but make them feel good, give them some kind of
refuge, false or not. But for us, for everyday life,
it's very easy, for the truth's sake, it's very easy to escape
eternal reality. And all of us, it's very easy
to avoid thinking about God. And I'm speaking to these people
in this room today. I want us to examine ourselves.
Am I or am I not a believer, a child of God? Am I or am I
not? That's what I want us to ask ourselves this morning. It's
very easy to escape thinking about God, to avoid thinking
about God, about our souls in eternity. I'll give you some
ways. All you have to do is not do some things. Don't open your Bible. Put it on the table, yes, where
everybody can be sure to see it, sure to see that you do have
a Bible, or bring it to church with you. But don't open it just
on Sunday. But don't open it during the
week. And you'll avoid thinking about God. Don't open it. Don't
read it. Don't attend church regularly.
You want to avoid thinking about God, about reality, about death,
about eternal matters. Don't attend church regularly. No. Don't do it. And everything
will be all right. Don't worry. And you'll be happy.
Go on Sunday morning, that'd be fine, but don't go any other
time. And you'll accomplish avoiding thinking about God. Or when you
do come, go to sleep. That'll effectually enable you
to avoid thinking about the truth. Go to sleep. Avoid people that do go to church
regularly. Don't hang out with those people.
No, they'll be talking about Christ, about the scriptures,
about spirit. Don't hang out with them. Hang
out with somebody else. That way you can avoid thinking
about these things. It won't hurt your conscience. Don't dwell on spiritual things.
If anything pops in your mind, drown it out with something.
Turn the TV on or whatever. Drown it out with some kind of
worldly thought. You can avoid things that way. Ignore your
conscience. Your conscience pricks you. Maybe
he's pricking you right now. Ignore it. Forget about it. Go
home and just forget about it. Pick at something. Find something
the preacher's saying, or the way he's saying it, that you
don't like and pick at it and just dwell on that and forget
about the rest of it. The way he says riches, or ice,
nice, right. Dwell on that and forget the
rest. And you will avoid thinking about
the truth, and you will effectually accomplish it. Ignore your conscience.
If it pricks you, ignore it, and eventually you won't have
one to bother you. And everything will be all right
for a while. Well, that's enough of the obvious.
These things are very obvious. Anybody who has any good sense. But time has come for judgment
to begin right here. We call this the house of God.
Time has come, the scripture says, for judgment to begin at
the house of God. Now, here we sit, Sunday morning. We've come. We look real pious
and real wholesome. We look like Christians, most
of us. How we need to ask ourselves
some soul-searching questions. Now, beyond a shadow of a doubt,
there's somebody in this room. God Almighty help us. There's somebody in this room. If they die today, they will
be eternally condemned to hell without Beyond a shadow of a doubt. I
don't know who they are. It is obvious concerning some people. There's probably more than one.
But you know, Christ had twelve disciples, didn't he? Twelve
men. Twelve men. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,
10, right here, these two rows, and
Steve and Mary, 12 people. And one of them was a devil,
wasn't he? Just 12. We got maybe 35 or 40
in here. Wouldn't it be wise to ask ourselves,
Lord, is it I? Wasn't it? The Lord said that. He was sitting at the table and
he said, I've chosen, you have not chosen me, I've chosen you
and one of you has a devil. And they said, is it me? Is it
me? Wisely so. Is it me? And I hope
By God's grace, you're asking yourself this very same thing. Is it me? Do I know Christ? If you do, these things will
be an encouragement to you. If you don't, God help you. There's three types of people
in here this morning. There are people that are saved
that know Christ and know it. You say, full assurance, preacher,
is it possible? Yes, it is. Sometimes. Part of the time. Partial full assurance. You know
what I'm saying. Some of you, sometimes, oh, the
other day I was out at the lot where we're working on a house.
I was cutting some trees up. And on my lunch break, I pulled
out a testament and started reading it. And I read something. I forget
what I was reading, but it was concerning Christ. And I thought
to myself, I believe this. Great is the mystery of God in
us, Terry, the Scripture says, believed on in the world. I thought,
this is great. I actually believe this person
is alive, and he is my Lord and my Savior. I believe him. I trust
him. I was rejoicing in the fact that
I actually believed this. And right then and there, there's
no way you could have dampened my enthusiasm. I know him. I
believe him. Thank God. You know, some days
you'll catch me, though. I don't know if I do or not.
But at that time I had full assurance. But I believe there are some
people that are saved and know it. Then there's a second type. There's
people who are unsaved and don't know it. You say, are there people that
are saved and don't know it? I don't think so. And we're going
to see that from the text here in a minute. I believe that there
may be a time where they're very, very uncertain, unsure, but God
won't leave them there. He'll reveal himself to them. My sheep hear my voice. They
know me. They follow me. They come to
me. And I give them, everlastingly, I give them peace and comfort.
But they're the unsaved and don't know it. People think they're
saved. And then thirdly, and this is
the saddest of all maybe, people who are unsaved and don't want
to know it. Don't want to know it. Well,
look here in 2 Corinthians 5 with me. May God open our eyes and
our ears and our hearts. 2 Corinthians 5, look at one verse,
verse 17. Therefore, if any man or woman
or young person be in Christ, he or she is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become
brand new." What is it to be saved? We hear
this term all the time, don't we? Everybody everywhere, he
got saved, or he's been saved, or are you saved? I'm saved. What does it mean to be saved?
What is it to be saved? Saved from what? save from sin, simply put, sin. You see, sin is this principle,
this nature. Sin is not just what I do. Those are sins. That's the fruit
of sin. Sin is the principle, the nature,
the influencing person within me, that great influence within
me, this nature within me. The Scripture says your iniquities,
like the wind, have taken you away. We are altogether sinful, full
of sin. Scripture says all we like sheep
have gone astray with what? Our sins. We are taken up with
them, with our sin. Scripture says we are dead in
trespasses and sin and we can only do sinful things. The scripture says we come forth
from the womb speaking lies. Jenny, our children do that.
We don't have to teach them to lie, do we? Oh, no, it comes
natural. It's in them. Lies are in them. The scripture says we are accustomed
to doing evil. It is what we do best. Did you
read the article in the Bulletin by Joe Terrell? We're sinners. We are accustomed to doing evil,
hatred, bitterness, wrath, envy, jealousy, lust, covetousness,
idolatry, anger, murmuring. It's all very natural to us,
isn't it? Very natural to us, all these things. It is the bent
of our will and our person. It is what we do and know best,
sin. So to be saved is to be saved
from that sin, to be delivered from this sin. How? How are we
going to be delivered from this sin, this evil person within
me, this principle? How am I going to be delivered
from that? How? That's the question of questions,
isn't it? And the answer here is in 2 Corinthians 5, verse
21. Look at it. God, he hath made him, Christ,
to be sin for us. He who knew no sin, Christ knew
no sin. He was not a sinner, but God
made him sin for our account, that we might be made the righteousness
or holiness of God in him. By God taking our sin and putting
it on Christ and then taking Christ's perfect life and putting
it on us, we are delivered from our sin. God made a switch, he said. Christ
came down here as a man and lived a perfect life. And we lived
as men and women, we are living as men and women, as imperfect,
sinful creatures. God switches places, you see. God takes us, our sin, our rebellion,
and puts it on him, and takes him and puts him on us. And therefore, our sins are done
away. How? In Christ. And Christ took
those sins to the cross. And when God looked at Christ,
He saw us in Christ. We were in Him, hanging on that
tree. God saw us hanging there as sinners. And so God punished us, killed
us, punished our sins in Christ. And now when God sees us, He
sees Christ in me and is my hope of glory. And He accepts me because
of what Christ did. He made a switch. It's called,
simply put, substitution. That's how our sins are done
away. That's how. Substitution. God looks at Christ
on the cross and sees us. God looks at us and he sees Christ. And then Christ rose from the
grave and we're seated in him right now, although we're right
here, Terry. We're seated in him. God sees us in Christ up
there. And down here, he sees Christ
in us down here. And our text says here, Therefore,
if any man be in Christ, in Christ, this is what it is to be saved,
to be in Jesus Christ, in Christ. And all of this was the free
and sovereign work of God Almighty. He didn't have to do it, and
only he could do it. It was his free, sovereign work. All of his work. Salvation is
his work. The scripture says that Christ
was made unto us wisdom. We need to know God. We need
to love God. Christ was made unto us. By Christ we know God. Righteousness, the holiness of
God, the acceptance with the Father, Christ made us that righteousness,
imputed it to us. We need to serve God. We need
to be set apart for God's holy use. Christ was set apart for
us. Christ said, I sanctify myself
that they might be sanctified. And redemption were bought and
paid for with a price, but not our blood, not our doings, His
blood and His righteousness. It's got to be precious blood.
Our blood wouldn't do it. Our blood is tainted with sin.
It's got to be precious, valuable blood, the blood of Christ. It's
the only thing, without the shedding of blood, there's no remission.
In short, like I said, to be saved is to be in Christ. To be saved is for God Almighty
to consider you and me as being in Christ, in Christ, judicially,
actually in Christ. You are not You will not be saved,
a saved person, unless God Almighty sees you in Christ. In Christ. What does it take
to be a Christian? Nothing from me. Nothing from me. Of God are you
in Christ. It's everything from God. To
make me a Christian, to make me a child of God, takes the
work of God Almighty. Salvation is of the Lord. Even
faith. You know, people like to say
that I believed. They like to make faith a work.
But faith is even the work of God. It's the gift of God. Turn with me to Ephesians 2. Look at verse 1 with me. Ephesians
2. Faith is even the gift of God.
We can't even claim rights to the fact that we believe. Oh,
we did believe, yes. But God forced us to. Unlike
what we read last night, Rick, God has to force us. And I'll
show you from the Scripture. Look at Ephesians 2, verse 1. And it says, You, not all people,
but some people, has God quickened that is made alive who were dead. That's easy to understand, isn't
it? You're dead. Somebody else made you alive,
but God did it. You hath He quickened. made alive,
who were dead in trespasses and sin. Wherein," in these sins
and so forth, you walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, he did his
bidding, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience,
the people of this world. And among whom also, among these
people, you had your conversation, your walk in times past, in the
lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
of the mind. and were by nature the children
of wrath, just like they are. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, he has quickened us, made us alive together with,
or in, Christ. By grace, you say. And he has
raised us up together, made us, made us, made us. to sit together in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus. Do you see how all of this is
God's work? He did it. We were dead. Terribly. We were
laying in a tomb of sin, dead. But God came to our tomb and
said, Live, didn't he? Live. Look and live. God did. He gave us the power and raised
us up together, made us to sit together in heavenly places in
Christ all for the purpose of showing that in the ages to come
he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness
toward us through Jesus Christ. For by grace that you say, through
faith, and that's not of yourselves even. You believed, yes, but
you haven't even come up with that. God gave it to you. It's
a gift of God. It's not of works, lest any man
should boast. What does it take to be a disciple,
a believer? Nothing from me. It takes the
work of God Almighty. Let me read this to you from
Philippians chapter 2. It is God, verse 13, which worketh
in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. He has
to make us. Somebody said God has to save
us against our will with our full consent. Against our will,
in other words, our will is bent toward evil and sin. We want
to do, we will do what is evil unless God stops us, says, No
more! And he gives us a will to desire
him, to believe him. He gives us that will. It is
God that worketh in us, Philippians 2.13. Write it down. God that
worketh in us, both to will and to do. of his good pleasure. God does the work of it. So what
does it take to be a disciple, a believer, a Christian? Nothing
from me. Now, here we get back to our
text. But it's all of me. Nothing from me, but it's all
of me. It is all of my person. God doesn't
save my mind and not save my heart. God doesn't save my heart
and not save my hand. God doesn't save my hand and
not my feet. God saves all of me. According to the scriptures,
listen to this. According to the scriptures,
and that's all that matters, what I say doesn't matter. A
Christian, and I looked up these characteristics of a believer,
a true child of God, are you According to the scriptures,
a Christian is someone who is, first of all, in Christ, found
in Him by God Almighty, yes, represented totally by Christ.
And by virtue or because of that work, a Christian bears fruit. And because of that work, a believer,
a Christian, is called a disciple, a follower of the Lord Jesus
Christ, a follower, a lover, a disciple, a believer. A Christian
is someone who loves, I mean loves now, really loves a person,
trusts in, believes in, depends upon, looks like, acts like a
person to a degree, like little children now. There are degrees
of this, but it's there in every one of them. It's there. Someone
who is obedient to God, that is, to the faith, agrees with
God, obedient to God, that is, says, Your will be done. God
doesn't have rebellious children, Henry, does He? No, He doesn't. Someone who obeys God, loves
righteousness, hates evil, Gentle, loving, meek, temperate,
kind, long-suffering, honest, truthful, forgiving, sacrificial,
self-denying, fruits of the Spirit. Just like Christ. A believer
is someone, we read it over there in Ephesians 2, is being conformed
to the image of Christ. Right? That's why God predestinated
us. Isn't it? That's why he determined
to have us, a people. He wasn't going to have us like
we were, or even like we are. We've got to be like Christ,
don't we? Now, surveys say this, modern
religious surveys, and I've read this, say that one out of two American adults is a Christian. Fifty percent of the adult population
in the United States is so called, claims to be, says they are a
Christian. Christ depends upon, following
after, clinging to, peaceable, loving, gentle, kind, meek, long-suffering. Just like Christ. One out of
two adults. And everybody in here claims
the same thing. Somebody's lying. Aren't they? Somebody's lying. Look at the text again. 2 Corinthians
5 verse 17. Well, how do you know who's lying? Well, I don't necessarily know.
I can't prove it. The scriptures sure can though.
It could prove it to our own hearts. God to help us. Lord,
do it. Prove to me right now. If I'm
not, prove to me by this word right here. Right now. Therefore,
if any man be in Christ, that is, he's a saved man, he's a
new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. You reading the same verse I'm
reading? Now, nobody's going to understand
this, except those who have been made dead. Nobody's going to
be able to enter into the things that follow now. You can pretty
much logically understand what I said up to then, trying to
explain salvation. Only God can give salvation.
Only God can save. I can explain it. Only God can
do it. Right? And no one's going to
understand these things except those that have experienced them.
And this may give you some comfort. If it doesn't give you comfort,
I hope it gives conviction. Salvation is called regeneration. Isn't it? The making of a new
person. A new life. Life in Christ. A
new creation. We've already established now
that it is God's work. Salvation is God's work. Just
like the creation of the universe to begin with. Man didn't have
anything to do with that. And man doesn't have anything
to do with the second creation. It is recreation. Regeneration. And the Scripture says, all things
are passed away. Behold. Think about it. Dwell
on it a little bit. Behold, consider all things that
become new. If any man be in Christ, you
say you're a Christian. I say I'm a Christian. Well,
let's think about it. Behold, old things are passed
away. Are they? Regeneration is a drastic change
now. It's spoken of as passing from
death to life. That's a big change, isn't it?
Lazarus had a big change wrought on him, didn't he? Death to life. That's what spiritual birth is
called. From self to God. We talk about an about face.
From me to him. From sin to service. Well, it's an inward and an outward
change. It's a two-part change. It's inward, first of all, and
it's outward. But it's a change, all right.
Old things are passed away. All things have become new. Old
things. Old thoughts. Old thoughts about
God. You just don't think about God
the way you used to. I'm talking to people that have
experienced it. You don't think about God the way you used to.
Uh-uh. You reverence Him. You hold Him
in high esteem. Now, you worship Him. No man
can worship God but by the Holy Spirit. No man can call Him,
what? Lord, in the true sense of the word, but by the Holy
Spirit, unless there's been a real change. You can say it in your
head, but you can't feel it in your heart unless there's been
a real change. He is Lord, isn't He? He is. Your old thoughts about
God, your old thoughts about sin, Once you thought it was
in a bottle, once you thought it was in a box. If you didn't
do this or didn't do that, or if you did this, that's sin.
All your thoughts have changed about sin, haven't they? Now
you realize, I am sin. I am sin itself. Me. God needs to snuff me out. Right? Your old thoughts about
yourself, the old thoughts about salvation. Some of you were in
religion, Henry, weren't you? Work your way to God. Your old
thoughts about salvation were that God's going to take notice
of that. If I live a good life, if I believe on Jesus, yeah,
but if I live a good life and come to church regularly, pay
my taxes, my bills, and so forth, and treat my wife, Beatrice,
just once a week, that I'll be all right. God'll, you know,
slip every now and then, but He'll forgive that. He's taking
notice of what I'm doing. And I better live right. But
get right with God, you know. Your thoughts have changed, haven't
they? Three hundred and sixty degree. Or a hundred and eighty. A hundred and eighty degree turn. You don't think that way anymore.
God's not looking at what I'm doing. He's looking at Christ.
Your old thoughts have passed away. So you say, my thoughts
aren't God's thoughts, are they? Those old thoughts have passed
away. Old desires. Now, this is true now. Old desires
after the world. There was a time when some of
you were out to make the big almighty dollar, weren't you?
Consumed with it. A career. Rick was telling us
last night about his desire after that career in music. I had desires
after this and that and the other. But those old desires passed
away, haven't they? This old world for a believer
has no... You don't really desire it. Oh,
every now and then it will crop up and say, oh, that looks pretty
good. If you stop, God gets a hold of you. You sit, you sit back
and you think about it and say, there ain't much to that, is
there? Those old desires. And there's no way you can explain
this. There's no way anyone can enter into this. The fact that,
like you're looking at me right now. I used to love to party
and to get this way and that way and just, the world just
consumed with it. Cars and this, this and that,
just consumed with it. Oh, I still like cars. I could
have a good time with people and so forth, but I'm not concerned
with it now. I desire my affection, by God's
grace, have been set on things above. Those old things have
passed away. How do we explain this? I didn't
do it. I was going along having a big
old time enjoying myself. And somebody says, stop! And
he changed me. And it wasn't necessarily an
overnight thing like that. But, buddy, it's happened. And
I'd just be a liar to tell you that. I can't help but tell you
the things I've seen in her, in Phil, inside. Something's
happened. I ain't trusting to this. I'm
just telling you the truth. Something's happened. Now, you
know, outward reformation is not saving grace. Let me tell
you, I can only give you my experience. I cleaned up my life a long time
before I knew Christ, before He revealed Himself to me. I
cleaned up. I tell you, I didn't get saved. I got smart. I saw
that if I didn't cut my hair, when my hair grew, it was real
long. I used to grow it real long.
And I saw, you know, you're going to get by in this world. You're
going to have to get a haircut. You're going to have to be conformed
a little bit, aren't you? You've got to quit these things
and settle down. You want to be a good woman,
you've got to quit hanging out at the bar and go to the library
or something. You know, they're not going to
do you any good. You've got to get you a good
one. You've got to go to church. And I spotted me a good one down
at the church house. She was self-righteous. She didn't
even deliver it from that. She was just as bad as I was.
But I cleaned my act up. I got smart. Got me a good job. One of the men down at the church
gave me a job. Started going to church. Everything's all right
now. I'm going to be all right. He
got me a good job. Dated me a nice girl. I didn't
know God from the devil. Oh, I knew Calvinism. Yeah! Sovereign
grace. I heard that all my life. I believe
that. Arminian come along, he was one
of them. I didn't know God. Boy, but the light started coming
on. I sat there, hearing the Word, or listening to the Word
with these ears, and finally, he starts seeping in. It wasn't
down in here. Every now and then a tear would
come to the side, you know, when I'd hear something. The change had
begun. But I have reformed before, but
I was saved. Now, there's a lot of people
in that situation, a lot of people. And I'm glad. Oh, I want you
to quit your drinking and running around. Oh, yes. The world would
be a better place. But that won't save you. The
work's inward. It's on the inside. And then
it manifests itself outward. Old principles, pride and self-worth. religion for gain. New principles
have come. It's an outward change also.
Look at this. It says, Old things are passed
away. Behold, all things are become
new. Old habits gone. Now you've got
new habits. You know, I'm in a habit of coming
to church. I'll just be honest with you. I don't always come. because
I want to. I'll just be honest with you. Last Wednesday night, I'm just
going to be honest with you. I didn't feel like preaching. I just did
not feel like preaching. I think it showed, too. But I
came because I was supposed to. I'm in the habit of doing this.
But God overrules that. I mean, He planted that. And
you know, the old man crops up and fights you. Don't go. I don't
want to. The new man says go. You know,
there's a battle, there's a struggle, there's a law, there's a principle,
a war within us, isn't it? The old man says, don't go! The
new man says, go! And by God's grace, this habit
has been formed within me. Habits of things. Old friends. My old friends, I don't, they're
all gone. All gone. I couldn't find out
now that they never were friends after all, you know? Boy, I got
some friends now. Old friends that passed away,
and some of them have literally passed away. Boy, all things
have come to me. Man, I got friends now. Oh, my
old friends, they weren't friends at all, but man, I got some friends
now that lay down their life for me. I mean, they lay down
their life for you now. Bosom buddies. Blossom buddies. Old ways. Gone. Pastoral. Oh, they, you know,
try to crop up every now and then, and they will manifest
themselves a little bit every now and then. But not in principle.
Got new ways about me. New ways. Old characteristics.
Somebody said, man gets, the Lord saves a man. See the Arminian
about to come out of me? Gets saved. If the Lord saves
a man, even an old hound dog will know it. I was reading that
to Rick out of the Proverbs, how that if a man receives mercy,
he'll show mercy to his beast. He'll quit kicking a dog. Old
characteristics. I could cuss with the best of
them, and that's my salvation. But it's part of it, being delivered
from these things. It's part of it. As a construction
worker, and you can't work on construction. You can't construct
anything without cussing. You just can't do it. Can you,
Rick? Can't do it. Why? Well, you're
going to mash your thumb. You're going to now. You swing
a hammer long enough, you're going to mash that old thumb,
and you're going to have to holler. I was telling him last night
about a fellow that was so pious that when he'd mash his thumb,
he'd go, Oh, Father. Well, I wasn't that pious, and
I didn't care if anybody thought I was. You know, old characteristics
pass away. I ain't say it's beyond me to
let out a cuss every now and then. But it wasn't like it was. I'm not what I want to be. I'm not what I'm going to be.
Oh, but thank God I'm not what I used to be. They have passed
away. All things have become new. You
know, you think something's different. The world has changed. You've
changed. You change. When you pass from
death to life, things do change. When you receive your sight,
things look a whole lot different, don't they? You see everything
with different eyes, a different outlook. Your family, you look
at your family with whole different eyes, don't you? With real love
and appreciation and responsibility. You see their greatest need,
don't you? Not just to give them what they need physically. but that they might know Christ
too. If there's a real change now, you'll see that. I remember
hearing men say that about their children, even when they were
like Hannah's age. They said, oh, they hope the Lord saves
them. I remember thinking, why worry about that now? They're
too young to worry about that now. Oh, when I had one, that
had changed now. Oh, boy, she'd grown up fast,
unless the Lord stops her like me. Unless the Lord shows you
Jesus Christ, Hannah, He needs to show you who He is. And all
you children, Shannon, you've got to know Jesus Christ. Mama
and Daddy can't know Him for you. And they want you to know
Him. Kevin, Andrew, Anthony, you've got to know Him. Mama
and Daddy ain't going to get you in heaven. You have to look towards your
friends. Everybody changes, you know? Christ, He illustrated
it perfectly. They came to Him one day and
said, Your mom is outside, and your brothers and sisters, they
want to talk to you. And Christ said, and nobody can understand
this, but another believer, said, Who is my mother? Who are my brothers and sisters? Her? No. Behold, my mother, my
brethren, my sisters. This is my family. Your outlook changes. That family
is no more dear to you than this family. In another sense, Henry,
he said you love them more. You ain't even my disciple. Isn't
it? Isn't that what he said? That's what he said. And that happens, doesn't it?
That happens. Barbara, by the grace of God,
I love you like my mother. He explained that to me. My dear
old mother and dear old Barbara. You change us. Change now, that's
what I'm talking about. That's what we're talking about
here, change. Your job, everything changes. Your outlook about your
work. Say, how can I do this to the
best of my ability for God's glory? Not, how am I going to
get this eight hours in? Oh, we'd better be sure we have
that. We still have that attitude.
But somehow, how am I going to... Lord, I'd like to witness this
man. Lord, I'd sure like to do this job to the best of my ability
so that they'll see I believe what I say I believe. And you
know, one of the most obvious changes, one of the most obvious changes,
the thing that becomes new is in this thing right here called
worship. Buddy, you better believe it. We've got a study in Asheville,
a big one, that the men meet in before service, just like
we do, to read and to pray. It's so interesting, it's marvelous to go in there and see it. You
know, some of us have been going in there for a long time, or
had been going in there a long time. And it's so interesting
to see a new face pop up every now and then. You know, that's
kind of like the inner sanctum. You know, a man come in there,
something is happening. He wants to get in on something,
in other words. And it's so interesting to see these new faces come in
and see it early, you know, with their Bible. Excited. Something's
happening now. Something's happening here. He
wants in on this thing. He wants to be there. Brother
Ron Trademan, Trish Trademan, they used to... You know, they
attended 13th Street for 15 years before the Lord revealed Himself
to them. 15 years they sat under the sound
of the truth. Ron said he used to look up at
the ceiling. They've got a drop ceiling with tiles in it. He
said he used to count, literally count the tiles in the ceiling
during the service. He wasn't interested in what
was being saved. He'd count those tiles. He sat on the back row
as far as he could get. He couldn't come on Sunday morning
only. You know where they are right now? The front row. Forty-five minutes before service. Right there. Sunday morning,
Sunday night, Wednesday night. Why? Something happened. They're interested in the gospel.
They want to hear it. They've got to hear it. They
live to hear it. That's the most obvious change.
The most obvious. And you know, when something
is going wrong, it's the most obvious change
too. You start missing. For whatever reason, you leave
off Wednesday night. The appetite starts waning. Then
it's Sunday night. And then eventually, you ain't
there at all. It happens. It's either revealed
that something's going wrong or something never was right
to begin with. Now, I say, am I a disciple of
the Lord Jesus Christ? Ask yourself that. Am I in Christ? If I am, have old things passed
away? Have all things become new? Have
they? Lord, decide this doubtful case. Do you want answers to that? Boy, I do. Joe, you want an answer
to that? I do. I do. Lord, answer it. Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. Stand with me, and I'll dismiss
this and pray. Our sovereign God, we ask You,
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, by virtue of His shed
blood and righteousness, and now in and through the Word,
this all-powerful Word, this Book, we ask You to change us. to place us or to
show us that we are placed in Christ Jesus and to begin this
change if it hadn't begun yet. Start it right now in somebody
for your glory. In Christ's sake. Amen. Thank you.