I learned the book of Joshua. It's right after Deuteronomy. Sixth book, so you'll find it
quickly. Joshua chapter 23. Joshua chapter twenty-three,
I want to look at one verse. Look at verse eleven with me. Take good heed, therefore, unto
yourselves, for your souls that you love the Lord your God. Take good heed, therefore, unto
your souls that you love the Lord your God. Tis a point I long to know, and
oft it gives me anxious thought. Do I love the Lord or no? Am I His or am I not? I'm sure you've heard that, and
I'm sure most of you can say that and ask yourself that question. What do you really have in mind
in this thing of Christianity? and this religion. We're all
here, we don't like to be thought of as religious people, but we
are religious. Religion being anything that
you firmly adhere to and believe in. What do you have in mind? What
do you want out of this thing? What do we really desire? out
of what we're doing here. You know, we meet quite often,
meet three times a week for a few hours, which is more
than most places. The Apostle Paul prayed for some
people. He said about the churches of
Ephesus, at Ephesus, he prayed that God, that Christ would dwell
in their hearts by faith. that they would be rooted and
grounded in love, that is, love for Him and one another, and
that they might be able to comprehend or understand with all saints,
all saints understand this, the breadth, the length, the depth,
and the height, to know the love of Christ, not only His love,
but to love Him. That's what he prayed, and I
ask you, is that your desire? I want so much for myself and
for you to have a real and genuine relationship with the real living
Lord. I'm not really interested in
you being Calvinist. Now, I strictly adhere to Calvinism. I believe that Calvinism is a
short term for the gospel. I believe that. I don't apologize
for it at all. But I want for you and for myself
more than anything to have a close, a real, a real relationship with
this living Christ. Just like the disciples of old
had. Just like the disciples we read
about had. a close personal relationship
that enabled them to truly love Christ and walk with Him and
talk with Him and be spoken to by Him, speak to Him and be spoken
to. Is it possible? Is it possible
to have such a relationship, a close, intimate, personal relationship
with somebody you've never seen? Is it possible? Oh, it's not
only possible, it's certain. It's certain. Listen. Let me
give you some examples from the scripture. Just listen to the,
listen to the language of some people that knew God. David. God said about David, he's a
man after my own heart. David said, the Lord is my shepherd.
He said he's fairer than the children of men. Grace is poured
from his lips. How sweet are thy words to my
taste, they're sweeter than honey to my mouth." Solomon. Oh, Solomon was a wicked man,
yes. But based upon what God led him
to write in the Book of Solomon, the Song of Solomon, he wrote
this, "'O thou whom my soul loveth.'" He said, "'My beloved is mine,
and I'm his.' He said, he's altogether lovely,
this is my beloved and he's my friend. Isaiah said this, he said, he
talked of he in whom my soul delights. Jeremiah said, thy
word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart. Paul spoke
of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Peter
said, under you therefore which believe, he is precious in it."
John said, we love him because he first loved us. John Bunyan. Listen to John Bunyan's
experience. He said, when the Lord revealed
himself to him, he said, my heart was full of comfort and hope.
I was so taken up with the love and mercy of God, he said, I
could scarce contain myself till I got home. Spurgeon, based upon
what I read, his messages and all, I believe this is true.
They said of Spurgeon when he prayed that it was as if the
Lord was standing right beside him. He was talking to him. But
he wrote in his diary, he said, Oh, I would ever be with thee,
my spotless fair beloved. He said, Your embrace is heaven.
He said this in his diary, he said, We roamed the woods together
and had sweet conversation. His very last words, the last
words of Charles Haddon Spurgeon were this, on his deathbed. He said, Wifey, he called his
wife Wifey. He said, Wifey, he said, I've
had such a blessed time with my Lord. Is that too familiar to you?
Is that too personal? Does that sound too intimate,
too unrealistic, too familiar? You know, love is always familiar. It's always personal. It's always
very intimate, true love. Do any of you have pet names
for one another? I'd be really interested to hear
some of them. Should I? I'm not going to tell
you what mine is for me. But we all have pet names for
one another. Why? Because we love each other.
We just get sugary and, you know, just plum silly. It sounds real
silly and foolish to other people, doesn't it? But, oh, you love
your mate. You love your wife or your husband so much that
you just googly-googly, you know, around them sometimes. Those
kids. Oh, Joe and Nancy will just plum-mate fools out of themselves
over that grandbaby. Maybe they'll get over it. But
what I want to urge us tonight is to examine ourselves, see
whether or not we have within our hearts a true love for the
person Jesus Christ, or whether or not we just know some facts
in our head. You want to know that, Debra?
I think you want to know that. We've talked about this before. I don't
want to be content with just knowing doctrine. Do you? I want to know the doctrine.
You must know the doctrine. Yes. You know Christ, though,
you'll know the doctrine. I don't want to just love doctrine.
I don't want to just be able to say amen when a man talks
sovereignty. But I want to believe the sovereign
God. I want to believe Him. I don't
want to be content with a little faith, just a little mustard
seed, a little hope. I want to be consumed. How about
you? Consumed. Oh, no. It has nothing to do
with our love for Christ. Salvation. We love Him. If we
do love Him, it's because He first loved us. That's it. Salvation is God loving us from
the beginning, choosing us, placing us in Christ, Christ coming down
here and bearing our sins for us, giving us His life, and going
back to heaven and interceding for us. That's salvation in the
hands of Christ. It's everything He's done for
us. But like you were saying, like we were talking, a man that
sees this, sees him, that sees that done for him, it's got to
come out. It's got to manifest itself in
love. But let me establish from the
first, from the outset, that love, our love, is the result.
It's not the cause. It's the result. It's the end,
it's not the means at all. If we do love Him, it's because
He first loved us. But let me say this. Really. Now listen, I know a
lot of people are struggling with this. There can be no assurance. There can be no certainty of
salvation, no joy. There can be no real service
that you go out and you speak to others about it. There can
be no joy, no peace, no comfort without this evidence, without
this true love for Christ. Can't be. Just can't have it.
The doctrine won't give you peace and comfort and joy and assurance. We studied that last Sunday night.
Happiness, contentment is knowing a person, knowing whom. Well,
love for Christ, is it necessary? Is it absolutely necessary that
I love the Lord Jesus Christ? Is it? I called a preacher, Brother
Donnie Bale. I value his... I looked at the
scriptures first. I've got several scripture versions
here. Donnie and I are close friends, and we've discussed
this many, many times. And I called him, and we talked
about this a while ago, about 30 minutes. And he came up with nearly the
same Scripture verses I had already written down. I said, Donnie,
is it necessary that we love the Lord Jesus Christ? Is it
necessary? Well, listen to this. 1 Corinthians
16, verse 22. You don't have to turn. Let me
read several of these. The Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians
16, verse 22, If any man love not the Lord
Jesus Christ, let him be anathema maranatha, that is, cursed when
the Lord comes back. That answers it, doesn't it? Matthew 10, 37. If any man love
father, mother, son, or daughter more than me, He is not worthy
of me." Another place he said, he cannot be my disciple. 1 Corinthians 13, 13. Now abideth
faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of
these is love. We read a moment ago, Peter,
he said, do you love me? He didn't ask Peter, Peter, do
you believe that I'm the Christ? He asked him that once before,
yes. But now, he's getting ready to leave. And old Peter had run
off. And the Lord had to gather them
all back again and set them down in front of him and say, boys,
do you love me? Come on now, examine yourself.
Do you love me more than these? Do you love me more than your
fishing nets? Do you love me more than your friends, your
buddies? He didn't ask him, Are you serving
me? Are you sorry? He didn't ask him any of those
things. He said, Do you love me? You know, almost every sign,
every religious evidence can be faked. You can fake just about
anything, except lying. Can't do it, can you? Oh, no,
you can't do it. You know, you know when you're
talking to somebody and they say very shallowly, well, I love
you. You can see right through that,
and especially these clowns on TV, you know. We love you. God
loves you and we do too, you know, so long. You can see right
through that stuff, can't you? God knows our hearts, doesn't
He? He knows. He knows. You can fake just about
everything but true love for Christ. Turn to John 14 with
me. John chapter 14. Let's look at
this a second. John chapter 14, verse 23. John 14, 23. Christ spoke to disciples and
said, spoke to Judas here, not Iscariot, the other Judas, Jude,
I think is who this is speaking of. He said unto him, if a man
love me, he'll keep my words, that is, he'll take my words
to heart, and my Father will love him and we will come unto
Him and make our abode with Him." Oh, boy, that's what I want.
Don't you? Oh, that's what I want. I want
to know God loves me. I don't want some fellow just
to tell me so. God loves you. I want to know God loves me based
upon this book here, and I want Him to come into my heart. and
set up camp and live there, live and abide there from now on,
never to leave me nor forsake me. That's what I want. I ask
you if that's what you want. Christ in you, in you, in your
heart, not just in your head. Let me ask you these questions.
Let me give you these points here. What produces true love
for Christ? If we don't have it, or if we
do have it and we want it to grow, what will produce true
love for Christ? Well, first, a sight of sovereign
love, His love for us. That'll produce it. That's one
thing that'll produce it, a sight of sovereign love, undeserved
love. That is, God showing us from
this book that He loves us. Not because of anything we did. No, we're unlovely. But God just
up and said, this to me is just unbelievable, that God just loves
me. That he just up and one day,
out of the mass of humanity said, I'm going to love Paul I'm not
going to love Joe Doe, I'm going to love him. My, my. And the Trinity and Eternity,
all three of them got together, and the Son said, I'll love him
too, and the Trinity said, I'll love him too, and we'll all get
together and bring him back to you. That's a good song, Terry. Work it up. In spite of sovereign
love, I just decided to love you. That'll do it. That'll make you love Him. A
sight of condescending love. That is, Christ left His throne.
You know, we get a hold of this. Just get a little glimpse. Stand
up and get a little glimpse of what Christ left to come down
here into this cesspool of iniquity, this bucket of warm spit that
Scott said that we live in. And drink it dry for us. left
the throne of glory, perfect contentment and happiness and
peace and joy and the adulation of all the angels and the love
of his Father, unbridled love, and came down here. It would be like you and me.
Well, it wouldn't even be close, but something like you and I
just selling our home and giving everything away and going into
the ghetto of New York City where the homeless are and just live
with the bombs. That might do it. To see Christ
suffering pain and hunger and sorrow and shame, he didn't have
to do it. He didn't have to do it. Condescending
love. And this will do it. If that
won't do it, well, it's all the same. It all works together here. Substitution. That ought to do
it. A sight of substitution. The
innocent dying for the guilty. I mean somebody taking your punishment,
casting you out of the way of a speeding car, and he takes
the blow, you know, and he dies for you. Going to the gallows
and he says, No, you step aside, I'll take it for you. Or jumping
into your path, you know, and taking a bullet that was meant
for you. And Christ coming down here,
like that illustration of the boy, the big Joe that took little
Tom's whipping, you know, you've heard that, all of you. Oh, he
said, Tom, I'll love you forever for taking my weapon from me.
I couldn't abort. Thank you. If we ever really
see what Christ has done for us, if we ever really see it, it ought
to make us love him. It will. It will make us love
him. God committed his love toward us in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ, his only begotten, well-beloved Son, died for us.
This will do it. Elected and loved. Me? Me? Who, me? You chose me? You know, you live all your life,
Rick, whoever, Sam, Steve, young men, you grow up But all
you cronies, I don't know what you guys got into, a couple of
you do, drinking buddies, you know, running around, carousing
the streets, tearing up jacks. Why me? Huh? Why me? Why me? You know that song says,
It says, when this old passing world is done, and when has sunk
yon glaring sun, and when we stand with Christ in glory and
look over life's finished story, then we'll know, but not till
then how much we owe. Elect him not. Forgiveness of
sins, that ought to do it. Have you ever felt guilty over
your sins? And then come to Romans 8, 34,
there is therefore now no condemnation. No condemnation. Who is he to
condemn? Who? Huh? Christ died. God justified. Christ died. You're innocent. You're free.
That ought to do it, shouldn't it? Thank you, Lord. Thank you. And he says, I don't remember.
I won't bring it up again. You know, that's a real friend,
isn't it? A real friend is what you can... Peter asked it, Lord,
how long are we going to have to put up with. Peter might have
been thinking about James and John, mightn't he? How long were
we not put up with our brother when he trespassed against us? Christ said, seven days times
seven. In other words, just keep going. And you know, for somebody
to forgive you and forgive you and forgive you, that's what
true husbands and wives do, don't they? That's to mark a true love.
When they say, well, we had irreconcilable differences, and they part their
ways. No, no, true love doesn't have
irreconcilable differences. True love always reconciles,
most definitely. Love never fails. Isn't that
what the Scripture says? And when somebody forgives you
over and over again, and then when they say, you know,
your parents are like this, what I did to my parents, And they
treated me just not long after whatever went on. They treated
me like it never happened. That's love. That's love. Dad, I'm sorry. I forget about
it. I've forgotten about it. We just want to bring it up again.
That's what God's done. He said your sins and iniquities,
no more. Don't even bring them up again.
I won't remember them again. We remember them, don't we? We
think about them. He said, I put them away now.
Forget about it. Lord, forgive me. I have. Oh,
but how could you? I do. Well, you know, deliverance from
our enemies will do it. When we see God as our captain,
our hero, Christ as our captain, our hero, come down here You
know, knight in shining armor. That's what he is. And his shining
breastplate of righteousness, Terry, that's what he is. Our
hero, our captain. You ever been like those people
when David was down in that cave, Abulam? They were in distress
and debt and discontented, sorrow. Christ said, Come unto me, all
you labor, heavy laden. You ever been like that? And
you come to Christ, he gives you rest. That'll make you love
him, won't it? He said, Just sit still now.
I'll take care of all this for you. Like a child running home
from school, the bully, you know, picks on him. You ever had a
bully at school pick on you? I have. I didn't have too many
because I had two older brothers, and everybody knew that my brothers
would handle them. But one guy, I think, he was
a bully. He had a flat nose. Boy, he was
mean as a snake. He was about 16 in the first
grade. I mean, he picked on us something awful. And I remember
running home and telling my daddy, just crying my eyes out. Daddy,
make him stop. And you know, it's the same sense
that we run to our father and say, Lord God, Satan is sifting
me like wheat. And he says, be not fearful.
I've overcome him. I've taken care of him. He's
in chains now. Don't worry. Don't worry. Put
on the armor. And this will do it, a sight
of who he is, oh boy. Admiration for his character.
You know, Brother Danny Blair was here last week. I loved that
man the first time I set eyes on him. I don't know, he's kind
of like David and Jonathan. Our hearts were knit like this,
and I can say this, I love that man with a love that passes the
love of women. That's what Jonathan and David
said about one another. I can't explain it. You know,
he's no good, I'm no good. But we love one another. But
I love him, I love his character, I love his person. He's gentle,
he's sweet, he's kind, but oh my! If you ever get a hold, if you
ever get a sight of that man, Pilate said it, behold the man. And boy, if we ever behold this
man, that man, a gentle, sweet, loving, kind, compassionate,
tender substitute, Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, long-suffering,
temp-hardworking, manly. This song says, Jesus the helper,
the healer, the friend. Emmanuel, God with us. Not only
a man, not only a kind, compassionate, tender man, but the majestic,
magnificent, sovereign Savior and Redeemer who came to save
a people and got the job done and ascended back to heaven and
sits at the right hand of God and pleads our case for you.
That ought to make you love him when you see him as he is. I
wrote an article one time, To Know Him is to Love Him. To know
him is to love him. How do we know him? How do we
get to know him? We read his autobiography. We read his autobiography. See,
he wrote this. This is his work. Let me tell
you something here. I've written to most everybody
in here. I've written a letter or a note to just about everybody. Maybe just about everybody here.
And some of you, I've expressed my affection for you and so forth.
And you get love letters from You know, when you were dating,
you'd get love letters from your wife, your future wife, and your
future husband. Love, you know, puppy love. Made
right for you, and you'd just soak up every word, you know.
Lovey-dovey, buddy. You'd just soak it all up. You
loved to read those letters. I mean, you still got them, ain't
you? Still got every poem I wrote of poems, you know, just the
silliest poems there were. If I could put you in a jar,
it'd set you on a shelf. She's got them all. But that's
love, you see. I love her. I'm trying to express
it in my silly, feeble way. Oh, Christ has expressed His
love for us. And it ain't silly. And it ain't
feeble. It's all powerful. And it's wisdom
itself. And you know, you read those
letters from that loved one. You read them and you know the
characteristics of the way they talk. even if they can't write
very well. You still, you know the characteristics
of that person. And you read their letter. And
while you're reading it, oh, your heart melts, you know, and
your heart rejoices and skips a beat when you're reading that
and signs, I love you very much. So and so. Oh, it touches your
heart, you know. Well, you know, When you read
this book, it's your must of necessity. You see, Christ is
a living person. He's a real living person. And
He's written this book, and this is how He speaks to us. How do
you read it? For information or to hear Him
speak to you? Hear His voice. You read it.
He said, if a man loves Me, he'll keep My words. Okay. Father will love him. We'll come
unto him and make our abode with him. Abide in me, and I in you
as a branch. Without me you can do nothing.
If a man abide in me, if he abide in me, my words abide in you.
Ask what you will, and it be done to you. You see, you know
the voice of the Son of God by reading this. You get to know
him by reading this. And after a while, He speaks
to you. It's like He's living. You've
never seen Him before, but this is His handwriting, you see.
I know, I can tell. You know, she reads a love letter
from me. She believes I wrote it. Why? She knows me. She can
tell by my handwriting. You read this and you say, He
lives. He's speaking to me right now. I've never seen Him before,
but I know He's alive. I know He is. You read his love letter. Well,
should we have an assurance of our love for him? Do we need full assurance of
our love for him? Let me ask you this. Do you love
your family? Huh? Rick, do you love that little
girl? It goes without saying, doesn't
it? You know, I love that little girl. It shows. We're certain
of our love for our family, you know. It's not perfect. No, it's
not. Even our love for our family
is not perfect. We know it. But it's there, isn't it? You
know it is. And I think, down deep, we know
whether or not we love the Lord Jesus Christ or not. And we've
got to find out. We've got to know. We do now. We've got to come before God.
We've got to be honest. And I tell you what, we'll get
into it here in a second. I just believe, based upon the
Word of God, that a man or a woman ought to get in the closet. And
if they don't know, they'd better get there and find out. Like
Newton said, it's a point I long to know. Let me finish that poem
up. Lord, decide the doubtful case
for me. Thou who art thy people's Son,
shine upon the work of grace, if indeed it is begun. Let me
love you more and more. If I love it all, I pray. If
I've not loved you before, let me begin today, right now. I'm tired of playing religion.
Aren't you? We've got to be honest before
God. We've got to either say, Yay, Lord, you know I love you. Or we've got to say, No, Lord,
I don't love you. Would you make me love you? And
we've got to say, I don't know if I love you. Would you tell
me if I love you? You know, we may feel it. Now,
love is in degrees. Mind you, it is. It is in degrees.
That little girl, when she was first born, She couldn't describe
her love, she couldn't manifest her love to me, but I just believe
it's there in the seed. But the more she grew up, the
more she started expressing that love for me. The more she knew
of me, the more she loved me. And the same holds true here.
We may feel it more strongly at times, yet it's there in principle. It's got to be. It's got to be.
It's not the degree of it, but the certainty of it. Now, let
me say this again. Knowing our love for Christ will
come only from knowing His love for us. All those things that
I gave you, these sights of Him. If you seek assurance of His
love for you, listen to me very carefully. If you seek assurance
of His love for you, Lord, would you please tell me that you love
me?" If you seek that, then He'll give you love for Him. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. And that's got to be our confidence
is love for others. It's got to be objective. Objective. You know, I don't sit around
examining my love too much for Mindy. I just look at her and
I know I love her. I know she loves me. You say this, you say this with
Peter, kind of, when you're asked, do you love me? You say, Lord,
I... I hope you can say this. Lord,
I do love you. You know all things. You know
my heart. You know everything about me. You know that although
my love is so cold and so dead and so dry, so very much of the
time, you know I love you. It's so small, but you know it's
there. You know I love you. You started
it. You put it in there. You know how often I act like
I don't love you. You know that. You know, we preached
one night on things that give me assurance, and one of them
was that God knows my heart. I mean, He knows you, and He'll
still love you. But we say, Lord, I'm not depending
on my love for you. I'm depending on your love for
me. I'm depending on your love to keep me loving you. That's
what I'm depending on. Well, listen to this. Here's
some certain proofs of true love for Christ. Listen up. I'll not
keep you much longer. Here's certain proofs of our
love for Him, of true love for Christ. First of all, you love
the ways of God. He loved the ways of God, and
you forsake your own ways. He loved his attributes. You
know, the man speaks of God's sovereignty. When he preaches
of God's sovereignty, even God's wrath. All of his attributes.
Everything about him. Just, holy, righteous, love,
mercy, truth, wrath. You love it. You see, it's him. Yeah, that's my God. That's the way I like him. I
love him. Yeah, that's the way I want him. I wouldn't have it
any other way. His rule over you. You love that. Take my life and let it be. Yes,
consecrated Lord Jesus. I don't want my free will, Lord. I just have a will to sin. I
want your will to be done. His way of salvation. You love
the way he saves. You don't want anything to do
with it, do you, Henry? Leave me out of this. You take
care of it for me. And I'll just sit back here and
rest. You love that, don't you? Like Joe Terrell said on the
tape the other day, he said, I can't understand. Theologically, I
can understand why people don't believe the gospel of God's Son
of the Grail, because they're dead. They're blind. They can't
see. Theologically, I can understand
that. But for the life of me, I can't understand why men just
won't believe this. You know what I'm saying, don't
you? You talk to people. Why can't you? Why? Why do you
rebel against this? It's the only hope. And it's
good news. All you got to do is, oh, take
me. I'm yours. You do it all. You
can't for the life of you understand why people don't believe it.
But God's people do. They love His way of salvation.
And this too. You love the ways of God, and
you forsake your own ways. We hate our sin. There can be
no love for God without a hatred of sin, hatred for ourselves.
Job loved God, didn't he? Why? How do you know? He said,
I see you. Now, he hated me, didn't he?
And we forsake it. It's one thing to say you're
sorry for what you do. and admit your faults and so
forth. That's one thing. That ain't
repentance. That ain't repentance. Oh, I'm so sorry that I'm this
way. That ain't repentance. It's got to be a change. Somebody
tells me, I'm sorry I did that to you, now turn right around
and do it again. I didn't mean that. It's to forsake your ways, to
change, to turn. That's what repentance means.
Simply put, turn. And about faith, I'll say this,
don't silence to me and you, don't silence our consciences. Listen if the Word of God is
speaking to you. Secondly, another evidence of the love of God in
you, or your love for Him, is you love the Word of God. Now,
you love to read it. You know, our diligence in reading
the Word of God and our interest wanes. And you people, I know
you don't have the time to read that I do. And the more you read
it, I'll say this, the more you read it, the more you'll want
to read it. That's just good advice there. The more you diligently
make yourself read it, the more you'll want to read it, the more
you'll enjoy reading it. That's just the way it is because our
flesh is so averse or so opposite. So we're flesh. That which is
spirit, spirit, and that which is flesh, is flesh. There's a
war going on in us. But love for the Word of God
has got to be there in principle. It's got to be there. And you
believe it. You believe all of it, even what
sounds a little Arminian. You love it. You don't care.
Even you don't understand it. I don't understand that, but
I believe it. Well, are you a freewheeler? No. No, I'm not. I know. You believe whosoever will? Yeah,
I do. Well, explain it. I don't know
if I can, but I do. You know what I'm saying? Every
bit of the Word of God. You know, in time, we'll understand
more and more of it. Like Thomas Acampos said, all
the discrepancies or any apparent inconsistency in the Word of
God, he said, I'll put it down just to my own ignorance. any
inconsistency in God's Word. In other words, this doesn't
sound, you know, I can't understand this, and I can't understand
James from Galatians. How's this? Just my own ignorance. That's the problem. It's not
even God's Word. It's my own ignorance. But you
love the Word of God. You love to hear it preached,
and you avail yourselves of every opportunity to hear it preached.
You ain't looking for excuses. I'm not beating you over the
head. I'm not doing it. I hear men preach and beat people
over the head, I think to myself, do I preach like that? I don't
want to preach like that. But to love the Word of God,
to love to hear it preached, is you avail yourselves of every
opportunity if you can all be there. If you really love to
hear it, you know, my wife, this thing about birthdays, I don't
know what's the thing about birthdays, but you know, you gather together
to to honor someone and to just to kind of acknowledge that you
love them and appreciate them and so forth. What if I'm down,
you know, every time her birthday comes up or something, I'm gone
somewhere? Or what if I hang out with the guys more than I
do at home? She'd be hard-pressed to believe
that I loved her, wouldn't she? If I'd rather hang out with Joe
Blow, you know, than my wife. You know, we're not looking for
excuses to miss the house, miss the preaching of the Word. It's
not doing it. If you love to hear God's Word
preached, if it's your bread, if it's your life, you're not
looking for excuses, are you? Oh, there's a little sense in
which you are. Your flesh rises up, but you're mortified. You
kill it in Christ. Another thing that gives us assurance
of our love for Christ is we love the Gospel of Christ. It's
our only hope. It's really good news to you.
I'm being redundant here, but you need to hear it constantly,
don't you? Tell me about that blood again,
would you? Tell me about Christ again. Tell
me what He's done for me. One more time. One more time.
Man, I've said this before. He who doesn't love the good
news doesn't need it. Doesn't need it. Another thing,
you love the people of God. You can't fake this either. I
mean, you can say you love them, but you can't fake it. But you love the people of God
now. You do. You love them. And they love
you. You need them. You need them. And you want to help them? You
know, I preached a message one time entitled, God's Family.
I don't know if you remember it or not. But it was one of
the first messages I preached here. But God has a family. And they all eat at the same
table, just like your family does. John, you and your boys,
you all eat at the same table, don't you? Eat the same food.
And our family, God's family, eats at the same table. They
partake of Christ's gospel feast. They're eating the same manna
that came down from heaven. They live in the same house.
Christ is our abode. They love the same things. They
love Christ, the things of Christ. They like to talk about Him.
They talk the same language. They don't talk about what we
do. They talk about what He has done. They don't talk about,
well, their byword, their family motto is, He must increase and
I must decrease. They talk the same language.
And when you love the people of God, you love them more than
anybody else. You love their fellowship and
their presence and their company more than anybody else. Your love for Christ is when
you have communion with Him. Any man that doesn't have some
kind of private worship or doesn't pray to Christ... I realize this
is a very subjective thing, but this is the truth. You know what
I'm saying is the truth. Any man or woman who does not speak to his Savior, at times,
a great deal of the time. Paul said he prayed without ceasing,
didn't he? And does not worship Him and
acknowledge Him day in and day out. There are times that we
go a long time, you know, sometimes without too much thought of Him,
but not very often. Not very often. Real communion
with Him. You tell him your needs and you
feel like he hears you. You hear him speak through his
word. Until this happens, until you
really hear him speak as a real person now, until you do, you'll never believe
on him and you'll never love him. You'll believe doctrine,
yes, but you'll never know a person. And it could be you could hear
him say one day, I never knew you, I never came to you in close
personal love. I don't want that to happen.
Listen to this. Let me listen to this. This will
give you some comfort. Have you ever heard the voice
of the Son of God? He said, my sheep hear my voice,
didn't he? Didn't he say that? Who's that? And just the disciples and the
apostles lived with him. No, he said, Other sheep I have which
are not of this folk, them I must bring. They'll hear my voice,
too, and they'll come. They'll hear my voice. Have you
heard the voice of the Son of God? Have you? Have you felt
His love for you? Listen to this. Have you ever
cried like this? Let me give you some situations you may have
been in or something you may have cried from your heart, and
then the answer is here in God's Word. Say, Lord, help me. You ever prayed that? Lord, would
you help me? And he says back to you, I'm
a very present help in a time of trouble. He answers you. Terry, he answers you. Not in
an audible voice, but he recalls. He brings Scripture back to your
mind. That's how he speaks. You see, you couldn't trust the
voice. I've heard voices before. Pop a little pill, you'll hear
some voices. But the voice you better hear
is this Word, you see. You can't trust these voices.
Have you ever said and cried this, Lord, forgive me? Would
you please forgive me? Lord, forgive me? And had Him
come back and say to you, Son, be of good cheer. Thy sins are
forgiven you. Lord, I'm scared. I'm scared. I don't know what to do. Fear
not, little flock. It's your Father's good pleasure
to give unto you the kingdom. Don't be afraid. Fear not. Don't be worried. I've overcome
the world. Don't be worried. Lord, I need your presence. I
need your presence with me right now. Lo, He said, I'm with you
even to the end of the world. You ever heard that? Ever heard
Him speak like that? Lord, I'm so weak, so helpless,
so foolish. And He says, Well, God's chosen
the weak and the foolish and the helpless. He's chosen them. But, Lord, I'm such a sinner.
Surely, I'm a sinner. Lord, help me, I'm a sinner.
God be merciful to me. This is a faithful sin. Listen
up now. It's worthy of all acceptation
that Christ came to save guys like you. Sinners. Ever heard
that? You say, well, I just can't believe
that he's speaking to me. I just can't believe this is
talking to me. Well, Joe, what if I wrote you a letter? And I said, no, Joe, I'm going
to, if you come over to my house, I've got a hundred dollars I
want to give you. I've got a hundred dollars that I want to give you.
I love you and I appreciate you, all that you've done for me.
And I've got $100 I want to give you. Just come on over on Saturday
morning at 7 o'clock and I'll give you that $100. Signed, Paul
Edward Mayhem. 212 South Main Street, Rocky
Mount, 24151. Phone number, everything, all in the detail. Make sure
it's me. Put my thumbprints on there.
Registered letter. Would you believe that? Huh? He said, I just don't, that could
be somebody else. I just don't believe that he's
saying that to me. Me, I just can't believe. Do you think I'm a man of integrity?
Do you think I'm a man of my word? Don't answer. But you know what I'm saying.
You think, you think I am. That's your problem. But I, you
know, for the most part, I am. You believe me. If you believe
me. Why don't we believe God Almighty? Says the sinners. That's me,
isn't it? That's you, isn't it? Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Well, I believe. He that heareth my word, and
believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall
not come into condemnation, but is passed right now from death
unto life." Can God lie? Oh, no. I can lie. God's true. Every other man's
a liar. Well, how do we know it's God's
Word? Well, you see His signature all over it. You see His signature. And I say this, folks, He's real. He's real. He lives. He's real. You can talk to Him. He'll talk
to you. You can walk with Him. He'll walk with you. And He will. There's some people
that know Him. I'll tell you. Stand with me. Let's sing that little chorus.
Reach out and touch the Lord. Let's sing Pastor's Bible. Stand
with me. Reach out and touch the Lord as He passes by. You'll find He's not too busy
to hear your hearts cry. He's passing by this moment,
your needs to supply. Reach out and touch the Lord
as He goes by.