A little laugh, and me and Sandy's
been married eight years, this past Wednesday. And I tell everybody,
I'm gonna tell it this evening, she probably won't like it, but
I'm gonna tell it anyway. I tell everybody, it only seems like
five minutes, underwater. I wished I hadn't done that. Oh, that's awful. It's like the
other day, there's a lady in our church. She's legally blind,
and she's always wanting to do something nice. And she invites
me and Sandy down a lot to go eat supper. And we'd go down
there, and she'd learn just how I am, and just pick and go on.
And sometimes she'll say something, and it'll just be so funny. And
then she'll want me to pray. And I said, you want me to pray?
I'd just say, are you thankful? And
she'd say, yeah. I'd say, let's eat. Oh, this has been good. This
is so good. We're among family. To think
where God brought us from and to be here. I think I saw where
this is the 35th anniversary. I think back where I was at 35
years. Play in religion and had not the slightest clue who God
was. But thought I did. Thought I
did, but didn't. I pray tonight if you don't know him, I pray
he speaks to your heart. I spoke to Sunday, I said, today,
if you hear his voice, and he said that three or four times,
today, if you hear his voice, don't harden your heart, don't
harden your heart. If you would, open your Bible to 1 John chapter
4. I'm going to read part of just
verse 18. Now, I'm not going to come back
and cover this, but I just want to give you this thought. 1 John
4, 18. Perfect love casteth out fear. In this building There are two
types of people here, those who are saved, those who have been
delivered from the wrath and judgment of God, and those who
are still under the wrath and judgment. So I'm going to speak
with the Lord's help to both of them. First to a believer,
are you afraid? Are you fearful? Are you cast
down because of guilt and shame? We all deal with this. You know,
one of the greatest things I'm afraid of is myself. I can't
get out of this skin. It's fearful. It's fearful. If
you ever see him, he's terrifying. Terrifying. But I hope I have
some good news. Some good news. You know, our
Lord understands what you... You think with me. You feel afraid
and fear. He felt it. He felt it. You know,
we don't think about that a lot of times, do we? We think, well,
nobody knows how I feel. He does. I don't know, but he
does. Let me read you this from Psalms chapter 56. And remember,
Todd said this morning that all scriptures, all the Psalms speak
of Christ. But this one is entitled Psalms
56.1. It was a mitcham of David when
the Philistines took him in Gath, when he went down there and act
like he was mad. But this also pictures our Lord.
He said, Be merciful unto me, O God. For man would swallow
me up, he fighting daily, O precious me. Mine enemies would daily
swallow me up. For they be many that fight against
me, O thou Most High. What time, I am afraid, I will
trust in thee. Did our Lord pray that? Here's
what it said in Hebrews, who in the days of his flesh, when
he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong cryings
and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and he
was heard in that he feared. Explain it. I can't. I'm not
even gonna try to. Todd said, I just believe it.
Though he were a son, the son of Almighty God, he learned obedience
by the things which he suffered fear. But then I read Isaiah
12.1. And in that day thou shalt say,
O Lord, I will praise thee. Though thou wast angry with me,
thine anguish turned away, and thou comfortest me. Behold, God
is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid. For the Lord Jehovah is my strength
and my song, as you just said. He has become my salvation, therefore
with joy shall you draw waters out of the wells of salvation. There will always be water. You
don't have to be afraid. You don't have to be. That's
the good news. Someone said, as I read that there in Hebrews,
I think it was Hawker, he didn't say that Christ was fearful,
but that he feared. He honored and respected the
honor and the glory of his father as my representative. You know,
Paul wrote to young Timothy, that preacher, and he said, God's
not given us. And I like those little words,
us. You know what, I've said that as an acronym for US useless
sinners. God hath not given us the spirit
of fear, and he hadn't. Where does that come from? It
comes from your own belief. That's where it comes from. That's
exactly where it's from. But a power and a love and a
sound mind. In Joshua, as you spoke about who would take the
children of Israel into Canaan, God said, I have commanded thee
be strong and of good courage. Be not afraid. Neither be thou
dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee, whithersoever thou
goest. You don't have to be afraid.
I'm going to mention a lot from the messages I've heard. I thought,
by the time it gets to Saturday evening, there's not going to
be anything left. Because everybody was just saying something that
was just hitting the nail on the head. Everybody's saying
the same thing. He told Jeremiah, before I formed
you in the belly, I knew thee. You think about that. And I ordained
thee. I knew thee, and before thou
camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and I ordained
thee a prophet unto the nations. He's saying, Jeremiah, you don't
have to be afraid. You don't have to be afraid. Now to an unbeliever. Are you
afraid? Are you not fearful? If you're
not, you ought to be. We don't speak about this much,
as Don said this morning, but it is a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of a living God. God is a holy, righteous, and
just God. Does God hate sin? Well, look
at Calvary. Look at Calvary. I hope tonight that God will
wake you up out of your sleep of death and that you may hear
our Lord and look to him. You know, as I was thinking about
the word fearful, men being fearful, men die with a false hope, refuges
of lies. When he pulls back the covers
and he exposes everything, they'll be fearful then. In Revelation
21, I thought this was ironic. Never seen this. He lists some
things of those who will be cast into the lake of fire, which
is the second death. And you know the first thing
he mentioned? But the fearful and unbelieving. and abominable,
and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters,
and all liars shall have their part in the lake of fire which
burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. I
know what it is to have a little bit of fear, but I don't even
want to imagine that for all eternity. I had some problems.
I thought I was having some trouble with my heart back the first
of the year. And that's the most fear I've ever dealt with. I
woke up one night, I couldn't even sleep. And I actually thought
I was dying. Literally. Literally, I thought.
And it happened more than one time. It happened two or three
times. And it was terrifying. I know where I'm going when I
die, but I can tell you this old flesh We fear those things. And those things are real. Those
things are real. But perfect love casts out fear. There's only one thing that can
cast it out. It's perfect love. Preaching the law will not drive
it out. And perfect love can only be found in a perfect God,
and in a perfect son, and in a perfect sacrifice, and in a
perfect atonement. None of us love perfectly. Boy,
I wished I did. This is so sweet. If you knew
me, you wouldn't love me. Same. That's us. We're so full
of sin. We wish we love God perfectly,
but we don't. But we see here in verses 8 and
verse 16, it says, God is love. And God's love like himself is
perfect, infinite, and it is unchanging. Therefore, you sons
of Jacob are not consumed. It's not based on you. It's rest
upon him and his faithful. So I want to begin back in verse
1, and I want to just read some of these verses. And I want you
to maybe God will enable us to see this. We first see there
in verse one, he says, beloved. So who's this written to? Believers. The other day, you know, it was
our anniversary, and I made sure to get Sandy a card. And I wrote,
put it in an envelope and wrote Sandy on it, put it on her computer.
She went out of the room, she come back in, and there was the
card with her name on it. That letter was to her, not anybody
else. And you know, you try to pick
out a card that says, you don't want one that says all that,
you're lucky and all this. But I tried to find something that
would speak for my heart. And she read that and she was
almost in tears. And that touched my heart. But
what I'm getting at, that letter was to her. This letter is to
his people. A lot of people pick it up and
they apply it to everybody. This doesn't apply to everybody.
It's talking to believers, to his children. This is God's letter. John wrote this little epistle,
this little letter to us. does. Tonight, beloved, believe
not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God,
because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby
know you the spirit of God. Every spirit that, watch this,
that confesses Confess us that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh,
is of God. And every spirit that confesses
not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is not of God. And this is that spirit of antichrist
where if you've heard that it should come and even now already.
Is it in the world? They preach another Christ, and
that's what he's warning them. And you know what that does?
That keeps men in fear and in bondage. Promising you if you'll
do this, God will reward you. Threats, punishments, all those
things, that's what they use, and it's another Christ. That's
what he's saying. Anyone who does not confess that Jesus Christ
has come into flesh, now what does that mean? Why did he come
into flesh? Why did he come to this earth
and take upon himself human flesh? And listen, he united himself,
this union, this marriage with our nature, which will never
end. Think about that. Why did he do that? And they
say, oh, he was just, he's just a good example. No, he's more
than that. They deny it. And anyone that
denies it, that is the spirit of anti. I thought it was ironic
that he didn't say anti-Jesus. He said anti-Christ. Christ is
his office. Christ is his mediator. I know
all those names set forth something of his character, but he's the
Christ. Where's the Christ to be born?
He's the son of David. And everybody that believes in
a false gospel, that's anti-Christ. Religion says, oh, this is something
down the road. No, it's right. He said it's happening right
now. And it keeps men in fear and bondage because there's no
good news there. You tell me where the good news
is. If the one that Jesus, they preach and believe in, if he
died for all men and some men wind up in hell, where is your
hope at? I would live, I would live in
constant fear. But what if I lay down tonight
and I don't wake up? I was talking to a man the other
day, and you know, that Catholic doctrine about if you take your
life, that's the impardonable sin. I said, well, what about
if you fall over dead, drunk, or anything else? Well, that
doesn't matter. You know, you just can't. But
it's sad, sad. Our Lord said, many shall come
in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many. John
said in chapter 2, verse 18, what's this term? Little children.
It is the last time. And as you have heard, that Antichrist
shall come. Even now are the many Antichrists
whereby we know that it is the last time. You know where a lot
of my fear comes from? A lot of that stuff's still in
my head. I wished I could unlearn it. I can't. It's part of my
makeup. I have an old man, and he is
so wicked, so full of sin, so vile, so full of unbelief. And
he still thinks that he can do something to earn God's acceptance.
And you know what that is? That's Antichrist. No matter
where you find it, that's what it is. But verse 4, he spoke
there about the Antichrist coming and said, you are of God, little
children. You are of God, little children, and have overcome them.
Who's the them? The Antichrist. How can you overcome
that? If it were possible, he would
deceive the very elect. They talk about grace. They talk
about faith. They talk about Jesus. They talk
about all these things, don't they? They talk about a changed
life and a man has a moral outward appearance that he's changed.
And they say, oh, look at him. They say, look at all the numbers.
They said, you've overcome them, not because of any goodness in
you, but because greater is he that is in you than he that is
in the world. They are of the world, therefore
speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are
of God. You think about that. We are
of God. He that knoweth God heareth us. He that is not of God heareth
not us. Hereby we know the spirit of
truth and the spirit of error. And he says, beloved, Let us
love one another, for love is of God, and everyone that loveth
is born of God and knoweth. We talk about the new birth and
the new nature. but we are born of God. Like when Isaac was born, a child
of promise, without the aid of a man or without the aid of a
woman, God brought us into existence. God says, let there be life and
there was life. Born of God and we knoweth God. This is eternal life that you
might know God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent. Do you know
him? Who is he? What did he do? Where's he at
now? And let me tell you this, the more you know him, The more
you love him, the more you know him, the more you want to be
around him. I can tell you something, I am so thankful that this stage
in my life, I wouldn't take anything in the world for that girl right
there. When she can go with me about everywhere I go, and I
enjoy her company. Sometimes we may ride up the
road for hours and never say a word, but she knows I love
her, and I know she loves me. And I'm not the best driver,
and she'll lay right over and just go to sleep. She's not afraid.
She's not afraid, because you know, Lord willing, I'll take
care of her. He's loveth, is born of God, and everyone that
loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that, watch this verse,
this is just so plain. He that loveth not knoweth not
God. Can it be any plainer than that?
If a man doesn't love, he's not born of God. I know there's a
lot of things we call love. It ain't love. Would you give
your darling son to die in the place of someone that would rape
your daughter? You say, not in the heartbeat.
He did. He that loveth not knoweth not
God. Why? For God is. And this was manifested, the
love of God toward us. He did what? He manifested it. He revealed it. because that
God sent his only begotten son into the world that we might
live through him. You wanna see love? Verse 10,
herein is love. Not that we love God, for Lord,
that could not be. This heart would still refuse
thee if thou had not chosen me. But herein is love. Not that
we love God, but that he loved us. There's that us again. And
sent his son to be the propitiation for our, the atonement, the mercy
seat. What did John say? If any man
sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins, but not for ours
only, but also for the sins of the whole world. People would
go, okay, that's it, he's dying for everybody. You know better
than that. He died for people, and that's love, pure, nothing
in return, what could we give? All we ever did was hate him,
despise him, take his name in vain, wasted what he gave us
and he manifested his love. Beloved is God, verse 11, so
loved us we ought also to love one another. No man has seen
God at any time. If we love one another, God,
what's this, God dwelleth in us and his love is perfected. in us. God dwelling in a man. God dwells in a believer. In
that body. His body is his church and he
dwells. That's the tabernacle. Your body is the temple of the
Holy Spirit. And where he dwells, he reigns. Grace reigns. And love reigns. It does. It
does. Wouldn't it be amazing if we
lived in a country where love reigned? Wouldn't it? Yeah, we
will. But you know, everybody talks about this God of love. That's their catchphrase. Said,
God loves everybody. And that's why things are in
such a mess. They told everybody that God loves them, so nobody's
afraid of God. What's there to be afraid of? He loves me. He
sure wouldn't punish me. He's too good. If you ever see
perfect love, you'll see your sin. God loved us, we ought also
to love one another. God help us to do that. We all
have faults, sins. You think about this, we've all
come from different backgrounds, but in Christ, it's nice to walk
up to a child of God and hug their neck and say, I love you.
Do you like to be told I love you? Boy, I do. I remember one
day, Sandy, I'm going to tell her, she looked at me and she
said, Mike, do you really love me that much? I said, you know,
there's no fear. She can go to the town, and she
knows I don't worry about her. She's in the Lord's hands. He'll
take care of her. And if I'm gone, she don't care. I mean,
she don't worry. We don't have to be afraid. No man has seen
God at any time. If we love one another, God dwells
in us, and His love is perfected in us. This one, he said, the
same one who wrote this epistle wrote the Gospel of John. He
said, here, no man has seen God at any time, and he said that
in John 1. No man has seen God at any time. Well, what's God
like? What is he like? Men have a picture in their mind
called an imagination. And they say, this is what God
is like. It's not. He's not like you think
he is. You think he's like you. He's
not. But he said, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of
the Father, he hath declared him. He hath unfolded. He hath manifested God. Christ said, if you've seen me,
you've seen the Father. You know, and I was thinking the other
day, you know, you read and you see all these multitudes of people
following him, thronging around him. Why did they follow him?
He's God. He's holy. But I can tell you,
sinners and publicans wanted to be around him. You know why?
God is love. Hereby know we that we dwell
in him and he in us because he has given us of his spirit. And
we have seen and do testify. that the father sent the son
to be the savior of the world. He just keeps repeating it, he
just keeps hammering it. God the father sent him, God
sent him and you testify that this is God's son and this is
why he came. He said, whoso confesses not
that Jesus Christ is coming to flesh is Antichrist. And here
it says, verse 15, whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the
Son of God, God dwelleth in that man, and he in God. And that's
the only way he can confess it. No man can say Jesus is Lord
but by the Holy Spirit. But he comes to dwell. He comes
to live. And verse 16, and we have known.
and believe the love that God hath to us. God is love, and
he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein
is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day
of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. Do you
fear judgment? He said that we may have boldness.
One day, one day, every one of us individually will stand before
the Lord Jesus Christ. Because everything was committed
into his hands. He earned that right when he
came to this earth. That's part of his being Christ. He came and every man will stand
before him. And every man is in his hands.
Now how can I stand before a holy, righteous, and just God? Because
he paid my sin debt. And he put him away. And if he
put him away, I don't have anything to fear. It's gone. Really? That's
pretty good news for a sinner. have boldness in the day of judgment,
because as he is, so are we in this world. Not as he was, but
as he is. How is Jesus Christ right now?
He's perfect. The perfect God-man. And he still
has the Prince in his hand, in his feet, and they're going to
always be sitting at the right hand of the Father in full acceptance
because of what he did. He earned the sovereign right
to sit on the throne of David. And as he is, so are we. Now,
are you afraid? As he is, that's that union.
You can't separate the head from the body. He gave his life for
his church, his bride. As he is, so are we. In this
world, I tried to preach some messages on the radio on John
17. Go look at that and read it. We talked about the comparison
between the church and the world. And he said, those that you've
given me out of the world. He said, and I don't pray that
you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the
evil one. And he says, as you've sent me into the world, so have
I sent them into the world. As he is, so are we in this world. And we testify to his goodness,
to his grace, to his love, and to his mercy. It says, perfect
love, cast out fear. And as I read that, that cast
out, the folks at the church, they know why I really like first
mentions. Usually where you find the word
mentioned in the scripture, that's how it's usually used. And that
word cast out, the first time it's used is where Sarah said
to Abraham, cast out the bond woman and her son. for the son
of the bondwoman shall not be heir to the son of the free woman.
He's a slave. He's got to go. Fear is the bondwoman. Fear is of the flesh. He's got
to go. He cast him out. You don't have
any right in here. We can't abide together. Isaac's
the son of love. Everything rests upon him who's
a picture of Christ. I said, that one's got to go.
This is his house. This is his house. Perfect love
casts out fear, and it does. You know why? Because fear hath
torment. Boy, that's right. We always
think the worst, don't we? We always think unbelief, and
it brings torment. But he that feareth is not made
perfect in love. But as long as we live in this
world, you're not going to get away from that fear. Can I tell
you something? You're going to have to deal
with it. How are you going to deal with it? I preached a message the
other day in Crow, where David, you know, when he went down and
lived among the Philistines. And you know why he went to live
among the Philistines? He wanted to get away from Saul.
He said, well, if I go down to the Philistines, Saul won't hunt me. He wanted
a little rest. Even among the Philistines, well,
that's what he did. He goes there, and he acts like a madman. Well,
then something happens. The Philistines declare war on
Israel. And the Philistines are going
to have to fight Israel against King Saul. And David may have
to go. And you think about that. You're
talking about being afraid. I didn't sign up for this, Joe.
I didn't think. When I come down here, I didn't plan on going
against God's people. And he comes up there, and he's standing
there, and he's left his family and everything back in ziklag.
Well, then the men say, now, we know who this man is. Saul
has slain his 1,000, and David his 10,000. We don't want him
going with us. We get into battle, he'll turn against us. So they
send David home. And it's a three-day journey,
David and 600 men. And you know what happens when
he gets back to Ziklai? The Malachites came and burned the whole city
and carried all the families captive. And even all the men
want to kill David. Would that be fear? It's my fault.
Here I was looking for a little rest, but God burned up Ziklai. You know what David said? But
David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. Someone said the
Malachites took everything David had, but one thing they couldn't
steal from him, they couldn't take his God. And that's what
delivered him. He said, you know what? I'm going
to go get my family. And that's that same chapter
where it says David recovered all. That's my king. That's my
Lord. He recovered all. He prayed to
the Father in fear. I don't know what that means,
but he did. He recovered all. When he come to this world, it
was like standing in the midst of Ziklag, all burned up, just
all charred up because of our sin. He said, we're going after
them. I love that story. It says they came to a river,
and 200 of them were so weak, they couldn't go on. They might
have been afraid. You know what David said? He said, y'all stay
here with the stuff. It's all right. And he takes
the other 400 men, and they go, and they get everything, and
they bring it back. And when they come back, those people still watching
the stuff. You know why they're watching the stuff? That's the
king's stuff. And you know what they did? They shared the spool
with him. I can see them people laying
there beside the stuff. I can see one say, we reckon David's
coming back. Oh, yeah, he's coming back. You
don't have to worry about it. Is our Lord coming back? Yeah, he
is. And until then, we don't have anything to worry about.
You just watch the stuff. It's his stuff. You say, well, that's
not too important. It's his stuff. We love him. You know, I have a hard time
reading that. Really, I don't have a problem reading the rest
of it, because he first loved me. Folks at the church know, and
I've said it, and I apologize for saying it. I said, I've never
seen that song, Oh How I Love Jesus. And then we stood up yesterday
evening and sung it. But you know, I don't love him
like I should. I don't love him like one day
I will. But like when God asked Peter,
said, Peter, do you love me? He said, Lord, you know all things,
and the Lord knows. I do love him, because he first loved me. And you know what? His love won
my heart. That's love. You didn't want
him? He said, I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness.
I'll win her heart. I thought about the Shulamite.
He comes and he knocks on the door and she's just laying there
on the bed. She won't even get up. And then he puts his hand in by the
hole in the door and he moves the the emotions, the vows of
her heart, and she gets up and goes to the door. He's not there.
You think she's afraid now? Oh, I'd have been terrified.
I thought he'd be there. And she goes out into the street
and she's looking for him. She's terrified because of him. She's
looking for him now. You know why? Because he loves
her and she loves him. And when they met her, they said,
well, what makes your beloved so special? She said, his hair
is as black as his mouth. He's all together. Isn't he? You know what? You ain't afraid
now, are you? Why not? You're thinking about him. You
ain't thinking about your love for him, but his love for you.
That's it. Why in the world would he love
you? Because he would. Why does he
still love you? Because he would. And he says,
if any man say, I love God and hate his brother, he's a liar.
For he that loveth not his brother whom he has seen, how can he
love God whom he has not seen? This commandment, have we from
him that he who loveth not loveth God, love his brother. I want
to show you something. I want you to turn to Matthew
chapter 25, beginning in verse 14, the parable of the talents.
You know, every man is responsible. And I thought Don was going to
preach my message this morning. He was talking about divine sovereignty
and human responsibility. And every man is responsible
because he doesn't love the Lord Jesus Christ. Did you know that?
That's exactly right. He's responsible how he treats
him. That's exactly right. This world doesn't love him.
They're going to be held accountable for it. Matthew 25, 14, it says,
in the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country.
who called his own servants, the servants are his, and he
delivered unto them his goods. And to one he gave five talents,
to another two, and to another one, and to every man according
to his several ability. and straightway he took his journey.
Hulker said according, he gave these talents or gifts according
to their several abilities. He said these things are the
things that God or Christ won as our mediator. Where he said
all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Those are
things that he won. And he gives these gifts that
he won and he gave and he's given these talents to these people.
He's the one, he's the one that's going, traveling in a far country
and he distributes his goods. to his servants. And like Don
said this morning, all men are God's servants, the saved and
the lost. Was Pharaoh God's servant? Oh
yeah. Was Saul his servant? Oh yeah,
he served God's purpose. And they were accountable. Accountable. He is responsible, but I want
you to see, every man is responsible for what the Lord has given unto
him. Now listen to me, every man is
responsible that's here this weekend, they are responsible
for everything they've heard. And you know you're responsible
for what you could have heard. So he gave one man five talents,
and the man, he went and he traded and he gained five talents more.
Another man, he gave him two talents and he went and he gained
two talents more. And then there was a day of reckoning,
he came and he said, The servant came, and he said, well done,
thou good and faithful servant. Enter down to the joy of the
Lord. He told the man he gave to, he said, enter down to the
joy of the Lord, thou good and faithful servant. We know that's
what God made them. You know why they did that? Because
he put a love in their heart for him, and that was his stuff.
Right? But what about the one man that
he only had one talent? Verse 18, but he that had received
one went and digged in the earth. Think about how much effort that
took. He went and digged in the earth and he hid his Lord's money. And after a long time, the Lord
of those servants cometh and he reckoneth with them. Someone
said he digged in the earth and he hid his talent for fear that
it should be stolen. He did not misspend or misemploy
it. He didn't embezzle it or squander
it away. He hid it. You know what I thought
about? Our Lord said if he lights a
candle, what does he light a candle for? For light. He said, no man
puts it under a bushel. You know what he said? He's hiding
it. He said, I didn't light a candle
for it to be hid. I lit it. It's a city set up
on a hill. You know, the church has a responsibility.
We have a responsibility. I have a responsibility as a
preacher of the gospel to honor him and exalt him and preach
his gospel. What an awesome, awesome responsibility. And we are all unprofitable servants.
But he digged in the earth. Gil said, where did he bury it?
He said he neglected the gift that was given him. He made no
use of it, either of his own advantage or for anybody else. And here's his excuse. Every
man has an excuse, don't you? I can tell you. I'm about to
get aggravated right now when I just think about this. Everybody's
got a blame excuse. You know what? We've been playing
that game since the garden. It's the blame game. We're gonna
blame God. That's what Adam did. You know
where fear came? In the garden. We don't know. We just speculate. We don't know
how long he wore them fig leaves till our Lord came. Christ came
to him. But I can tell you this, when
Christ came, he was afraid because he heard his... And God said,
who told you he was naked? Why are you afraid? Why are you
afraid? Was Adam responsible? Oh, who's
responsible for this? We all are. Here's what he said
in verse 24. A hard man? He has wrong thoughts about the
master. Wrath and judgment is his strange word. He delights
to show mercy. He's a hard master. I've worked for hard masters.
Hard masters are those taskmasters in Egypt. I knew that you were a hard man,
reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast
not strawed. And here's what I'm bringing
all this around to. Watch verse 25. And I was afraid, and I went
and hid thy talent in the earth. Lo, there thou hast, that is,
I basically just threw it down at his feet and said, there it
is, just like you gave it to me. It ain't just like you gave
it to him. Someone said, you take a coin, you bury it in the
ground, you take it out of the coin, it ain't gonna look the
same way. It's gonna corrupt and it's gonna corrode. And when
God gives you, If you don't use it for His glory, you're going
to waste it. It's going to just waste away.
But you're accountable for it. I think that's very serious. And then it might come, and I
should receive mine own, at least with yours usury. Take therefore
the talent for him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.
For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall
have abundance. But from him that hath not shall
be taken even that which he hath. Men say, I was afraid. He's not
a hard master. Why did that man trade those
five talents? That's the master. He gave it to him, and he used
what he had. His honor. God enabled us to
use what God has given us for his glory. You know, in 1 John
5, it says, By this we know that we love the children of God when
we love God and keep his commandments. And this is the love of God that
we keep his commandments and his commandments are not grievous.
He said, Oh, he's a hard master. He just demands too much. He
ought to just ought to give it to me. He gave the talent. And
he gave the ability. Bruce, he gave you the talent.
And thank God he gave you the ability. I love to hear that
man preach. I love to hear these men preach. Like you said, I
enjoy this. I enjoy sitting and listening to preaching. And I
enjoy it when the Lord enables me. And when he don't, I just
like to go get in the corner somewhere. Right. Oh Lord, our
Lord is so far from being a hard master that the earth is full
of his goodness. So far from reaping where he
sowed not that he sows a great deal where he reaps nothing.
For he causes the sun to shine and his rain to fall upon the
evil and the unthankful. And he fills their heart with
good food and gladness who say to the Almighty, depart from
me. Remember the ten lepers? He healed
all ten of them and only one came back to give him thanks.
He said, where are the nine? Let me give you one more. We
love him because he first loved us. Mark 14, let me show you
this real quick. This is probably, I've probably
mentioned this more than any other example in the scriptures.
To me, it's one of those that is most dear to me. It's this
woman with an alabaster box of ointment. It says, in being in
Bethany, in Mark 14 3, in the house of Simon the leper, as
he said it meet, there came a woman. having an alabaster box of ointment,
a spike nod, very precious. And she'd break the box and she
poured it upon his head. And we find in other scriptures,
in the other gospel accounts, that this alabaster box, this
precious ointment, this spike nod, whatever a year's wages,
that's what it would have cost her. And you say, well, how in
the world, where did this woman get this money to buy it? Most
believe that she earned it laying on her back. And she got this.
She got it. And I can see her saving it.
I can see her putting it up. Here's my take. I think that
when she bought it, she bought it for herself. I'm going to
put this perfume on me one day. You know why women wear perfume?
Sandy wears some, and she says, how's that smell? I said, it
smells pretty good. Within about 30 minutes, she don't smell it,
but I smell it. You see what I'm saying? What I want you to
see, that old mum was too precious to put on her. If she'd have
put it on her, all the attention would have been on her. And when
she puts it on him, all the attention will be. And that's what she
wants. You know why? God's done something in this
woman's heart. And there was some, and she comes in, I can
see her. And you know, it goes through
her mind, and she's a woman, and if she's a woman of repute,
you know, people think, but what's she doing? She has no right to
be here. And she pushes all that out and
said, there was some that had indignation within themselves.
And they said, why was this waste of the ointment made? Why was
the waste of the ointment made? She poured it on his head and
they're saying it's a waste? You know what? I want you to
see. This woman's love for him exposed their unlove. It showed what they loved. One
place it said, Peter, I mean Judas, he started it. He can
sin. You know, Bruce, we could have
took this and sold it. We could have fed the poor with,
oh, don't that sound so good? Ain't that right? And everybody
else chimed in with them. And don't you know that she's
thinking, you know, I can see what's going on with her mind. They
don't understand. And let me tell you this, they'll
never understand. This world don't understand why
you drive 50 or 60 miles to worship God, do they? They don't know
why, they can't understand why you'd rather be here on a Saturday
evening and out on the lake somewhere. They can't understand that. They
just don't. But I can tell you right now, it didn't matter to
her. It didn't matter. She had one thing on her mind, and that's
honoring Him. They said it might have been
sold for 300 pence and given to the poor, and they murmured
against it. But I want you to see this. And Jesus said, you
leave her alone. Joe is like that. Our Lord saying,
you leave Joe alone. You leave him alone? Why trouble
ye her? This is the only place that I
can find where our Lord, where anybody did anything, that he
called it a good word. She hath wrought a good word. Did she use what the Lord gave
her for his glory? Oh yeah. He said, how did she
get it? Well, every how she got it, he gave it to her. I was
reading this past Wednesday night, I'm trying not to be long. We
looked up at the half shekel, the redemption money, and that's
what they were to bring. It was the price of the ransom.
When they were to number them, you had to bring the ransom.
If you didn't, a plague would come. And you say, well, where
in the world did those people get a half a shekel? And it had
to balance out with the half shekel of the sanctuary. He's
the standard. If you don't measure up to Christ,
it's rejected. But where did they get it? I
said, they went in a silver mine out there in the wilderness somewhere.
They went and mined some silver. God gave it to them when they
left Egypt. Okay. She hath wrought a good work
on me, for ye have the poor with you always, and whenceoever ye
will, ye may do them good. But me ye have not always. But
listen to this. Now listen to me. She hath done
what she... Oh, that I may do what I can
while I can. I think she knew. She may have
put it off like we're the world's worst procrastinators. I'll do
it tomorrow. She said, no, I gotta do it today.
She's come afore to anoint my body to the burial. Because she
won't be able to. Verily I say unto you, wherever
this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this
also that she hath done shall be spoken of a memorial for her. Did he love her? Why did she
do this? Todd told us this morning. He that has been forgiven of
much loveth. And like Todd said, do you need
forgiveness? Boy, I do. Every day we come and ask for
mercy. Lord, please forgive me. How
could I treat you? How could I doubt you? My heart's so cold,
so indifferent. If you don't love, you're not
born difficult. And if you do love, it's because he loved you
first. Turn with me back. Don read this
this morning. I want to read it again. Proverbs
1. I want to show you this. As he was reading this, it jumped
out to me. I just want to show you this.
He said, you know, I've stretched out my hand all the day long,
and you just, you wasn't regarded. He said, I don't want it, I don't
want your salvation, I'll be saved my own way. I don't believe
that gospel, I don't believe in that Christ. And here in Proverbs
1, in verse 26, he says, I will laugh at your calamity. Is that
not sobering? I will mock when your fear cometh,
and it will come. One place it says that when our
Lord comes back, they will actually run to the mountains and cry
for the rocks to follow. Verse 27, when your fear cometh,
and it will, as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a
whirlwind, when your distress and anguish cometh upon you,
then shall they call upon me. It's like the rich man in hell.
Now he's begging for mercy, and there's no mercy. Then shall
they call upon me, and I will not answer. They shall seek me
early, but they shall not find me. For they hated knowledge,
and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would none of
my counsels. They despised all my reproofs.
Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be
filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple
shall slay them. The prosperity of fools shall
destroy them. I love the next three-letter word, but whoso
hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from
perfect love cast out. You may have slapped his hand
a million times, but if you'll hearken unto him, you'll dwell
safely. And you can lay down at night
and not be afraid. Amen.