Turn back to 1 John, chapter
2. I titled this message, Things We Must See. Things We Must See. Scripture says you must be born
again. There are some things that we must see, things that
must happen. And I want us to look at some
of these tonight. There was a time when the world
was very appealing to me, very appealing to me. I wanted what
it offered. I wanted the popularity of it.
You know, when you go through school, you want to be with the
in crowd, you want to be a part of that in crowd. There was a time I thought I'd
like to be rich and have all those accoutrements that go with
it, to have all those things that you can buy with riches. But I have learned a few things. I hope I have. But I've learned
a few things since I've heard and believed the gospel. I can
say that I do not see the world like I did thirty years ago. My desires are different, and
yours are too. You believe the gospel. God's
done a work of grace in you. He's made a new man out of you,
a new person. Your desires are different. And
you see things, you really, you start seeing things as they are,
don't you? You remember when the Lord opened that blind man's
eyes and he asked him, he said, what do you see? And he said,
I see men as trees walking. That was a distorted view of
men. And the Lord touched his eyes again. Now what do you see? I see men as men. When he first opened his eyes,
I'm sure it's the first time he saw a human being. And he
saw men as trees walking, just amazed. And the Lord touched
his eyes again. He said, now what do you see?
I see men as men. And that's what you see. You
see men for what they are. In one place, It is written that
the Lord did not commit himself to men or to man because he knew
what was in man. He could see every man and every
woman for who and what they are. And since I've heard the gospel
and believed the gospel, I see things differently. It's like
being brought to your senses. It's like you
wake up and the Lord has brought you to your senses. And for the
first time, I could see the futility, the emptiness,
and the nothingness of this life without Christ. Do you ever sit
around and wonder even though you know the answer, but you
sit around and you wonder, how do people go through life, go
through their whole life and never know God? Never worship
God. Never know Christ. Never have
a real solid hope. I know they have false hopes
and they're blinded by it. I know that. But it's just astounding
that God is great as he is. I was saying this to Jason the
other day, we were talking. God is great as he is. And to
think that men and women naturally
now, naturally, have absolutely no interest in knowing him. I'm talking about God who is
infinitely wise, all-knowing, eternal, all-powerful, the creator
of all that exists, and to never have an interest to know Him. That's amazing. I'm telling you,
that is absolutely astounding to me, how lost and how dead
the human race is. There is nothing There is no
one that we can know by Him. And not to have an interest?
That's astounding. But that's how dead we are by
nature. If we do desire it, He gave us that desire. If we come
to Him, He drew us. It's all of Him. But it just
astounds me. The other night we were talking,
I was just astounded that we want to know everything,
that the human race wants to know everything else. We want
to know science and technology, but not Him. That's amazing. But once you hear the gospel,
and God gives you light, He gives you understanding, That's what
I'm saying, things we must see, things we must come to understand
by the grace and spirit of God. We must come to see these things
or we'll never come to Him. We'll never worship Him. Solomon
was right when he said, vanity of vanities. This is how he starts
out the book. This is what the preacher has
to say. This is what God's man has to say. He gave himself to
these things, to know these things in the natural realm and to know
natural wisdom and education and all that he possessed and
came to know. He said, it's all vanity without
God. Without God, without Christ,
he said, it's nothing. It's futility. He looked up on
his work and he said, how do I know that the next person who
comes along won't be a fool? and inherit everything that I've
done." He saw the nothingness of it,
the emptiness of it without Christ. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. Man at his best state is altogether
nothing. Just take the best man you know
at his best state. Apart from Christ, he is absolutely
nothing, zero. Every time I'm counting at the
house, you know, I'll be counting down, cold brushing his teeth.
He will not stop until I say zero. I can't say just one, you
know, get 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Pawpaw, you missed zero. And
that's when we get down to us. We are the zero. Really. We are the zero. The things of
this life are as nothing compared to that which is to come. These things we get so taken
up with, they're nothing. But boy, they get a hold of us.
I know they get a hold of us. Now, I say these things with
some fear because I'm not dead yet, and I don't know what tomorrow
may bring. It may bring those things I thought
I wanted. And if not by the grace of God,
I'd fall headlong for him. I'd go right after him. That's
the reason I asked Mike to sing that song. Prone to wonder, Lord,
I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love.
We still have that old Adamic nature that still is drawn by
this world. It's that conflict that we have
between the two natures. And I pray God make us like Mary
who chose that one needful. And that one thing needful is
the Lord. It's Him. It's Him. Moses esteemed the reproach of
Christ to be greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. God did
something for that man, didn't He? He did something for that
man. But I want to give you some things
here that we must see. We must see the vanity, the nothingness,
the futility of this world. When Satan took our Lord up on
a high mountain, and he showed Him the kingdoms of this world,
and he offered them to Him, if He would but fall down and worship But our Lord did not do that. He did not fall down. He did
not worship Satan. You see, Satan took Him up there
and he showed Him the glit and glamour of this world. But you
know what our Lord saw? He saw the evil of it. He saw
the hatred of it. He saw the enmity of it against
God. That's what He saw. He didn't
fall for that. He saw the corruption and the
evil and the enmity of this world against God, and he would have
none of it. He had, on purpose, no place
to lay his head, even though he owned it all. We, too, must see the nothingness
of this world. This world has nothing to offer
us, now listen, that is of any eternal value. None. Nothing whatsoever. We must see
it for what it is. God says it's evil. He said the
whole world lieth in wickedness. Not parts of it. Not the less educated parts of
it. All of it. Everything outside of Christ
lies in wickedness. Every book I read that is not
of this book, that's just a secular book written, there is wickedness
in it somewhere. Guarantee you, guarantee you,
Satan has got his hand in it somewhere, somehow. The whole world lies in wickedness. That's what the Word of God teaches
us. And we must see it for what it is, evil. Just look over human
history. You know what basically dominates
the history channel? Wars, Civil War, World War II,
Hitler. I mean, that dominates the history
channel. It's wars, killings. That's the history of the human
race. Wars and hatreds and killing. That's what it has to offer. That's our history. Freedom is always at the price
of blood. You will not look back through
history, find any nation that had any kind of freedom, that
some did not die for it. Blood was not shed for it. This world is, listen, this world
is anti-Christ. We live in an anti-Christ world. That's where we live. That's
why when our Lord came into this world, instead of opening up
its arms and receiving its Creator, he was despised and rejected
of men. He came into his own, his own received and denied.
He came into the world, and the world did not recognize him. It turned
thumbs down on him. It's because we live in an antichrist
world. Our Lord said this, whosoever is a friend of the world, of
this world, is an enemy of God. You can't be friends on both
sides of the fence. Can't be. Love not the world. Whatever you love, whatever I
love, it has our affections. It has my heart. Whatever I love,
it has my heart. Whatever I love has me. He says love not the world. These
are the things that are in the world. If any man loved the world,
it's evident the love of the Father is not in him. The work
of God has not been done in him. For all that is in the world,
the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of
life, that's not of the Father, that's sin. That's of the devil.
It's not of the Father, it's of the world. That's the conduct
and attitude of the world. And the world, as it passeth
away, the world is passing away. Look how many generations are
behind us. Gone. Gone. The world is passing away in
the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abides
forever. That man will not pass away.
That woman will not pass away. It says in Colossians chapter
3 verse 1, set not your heart on things of this world, but
on the things above where Christ set it. That doesn't mean we
have no interest in this world or that we have, you know, we
just go through here like we don't, you know, act like it doesn't exist.
It does. But it's what has our affections. It's what has our
heart. It's what grips you, it's what
really has you. Peter, do you love me? Peter,
do you love me more than these? Whatever these are. This world system is set against
everything that God is and everything that God stands for. It's against
it. To love this world is to love
everything that is evil and it's to hate everything that's good.
That's right. He said, no, it's dogmatic. Dogmatic or not, that's
right. To love this world is to love
everything that's evil and hate everything that's good. It's
to love everything that is contrary to God. If we do not see this by God's
Spirit, I assure you, we'll run after it. We will run after it
like a dog chasing a car. We'll go after it because we
have the same nature, born with the same nature everyone else
has. The things of this world appeal to us by nature too much. It draws us like magnet to steel. It works upon the lust of our
flesh, the lust of our eyes, and the pride of life. It works
upon us. And it takes the power of God
to break it. But remember this. The world
and its lust, he says, are passing away. And so are those who give themselves
to it. What does it profit a man if
he gains the whole world? If you were given the whole world
tonight, it's yours. All the kingdoms of it, all the
riches of it, all the mineral wealth, all of it, it's yours. But you're going to die tomorrow. What profit is there? What does it profit a man if
he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Well, there's
no profit. It's all loss. And then we must
see, God must enable us to see, to come and understand the vanity
of riches. Our Lord said this, how hardly shall they enter into
the kingdom of God who had riches. Wealthy. Why is that? Because riches begin
a false sense of security, don't they? They begin a false sense
of security. The man who's rich believes he
has all that he needs. You know, that church over there
in Revelations, he said, you're rich and increased with good
and have needed nothing. That's the way they thought. That rich man over in Luke 12,
he says, Saul, thou hast much good set back. Take it easy. Take it easy. He didn't thank God for what
he had. He made no mention of supporting the gospel or the
brethren. He only makes mention of himself and how he can take
it easy. Well, this is not the end. This
life is not the end. Riches have divided more families,
Spurgeon said this, riches have divided more families than poverty
ever has. I honestly don't know of any
family that I know of that's, you know, that's just been common,
not had much, some poor, that ever had a falling out after
mom and dad passed away. But I do know a couple of families
that split over over some riches. But I don't
know a poor family that ever did. Riches begin a false sense that
a man has favor with God. Just because a man is rich doesn't
mean he has favor with God. You know what means you have
favor with God? If you truly believe the gospel. You have
favor with God. My possessions, It does not mean
that I do or don't have. If you believe God, you have
favor with God. Then we must see the vanity of
popularity. Everybody wants to be popular.
Everybody wants to be popular. It's called recognition, to be
recognized. Now, there's nothing wrong with being
liked. In fact, there's some virtue
in everybody not liking you. There's no virtue in that. You want to be liked. But the
person who's driven for recognition is a person who takes all the
glory to himself and gives none to God. The Pharisees are a perfect
example. They love to stand in the marketplace
and be seen of men. The scripture says, beware when
all men speak well of you. They either want something from
you or you're doing a lot of compromising.
The man who seeks popularity will compromise true values.
He'll compromise the truth of the gospel. For popularity. Christ said this. Seek the honor
that comes from God, not the honor that comes from men. Because just as sure as things
go south for a little bit, they'll turn on you. They'll turn on
you. Then we must see the vanity of
education. Education is good. It's something you and I need.
We need to learn a trade, a skill, or whatever it is we are going
to use to make a living with. We need a good education. But
remember this, everything that you will learn will not save
you unless it is a true knowledge of Christ taught to you by the
Holy Spirit. And I believe the more a man
learns and educated, the more responsible he is to God. Solomon said back over here in
Ecclesiastes, he said, for in much wisdom, and he's talking
about earthly wisdom, is much grief. Listen to this. Let me read chapter 2, 11 verses.
He said, I said in my heart, go to now, I'll prove thee with
mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure. And behold, this also is vanity.
It turned out to be nothing. I said, a blaster is mad, and
a mirth, what good is it? I sought in my heart to give
myself to wine, yet acquainted my heart with wisdom, to lay
hold on folly till I might see what was that good for the sons
of men which they should do under the heaven all the days of their
life. I made me great works. I builted
me houses. I planted me vineyards. I made
me gardens. and orchards. I planted trees
in them of all kinds of fruits. I made me pools of water to water
therewith the wood that bring forth trees. I got me servants
and maidens, and had servants born in my house. Also, I had
great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were
in Jerusalem before me. I gathered me also silver and
gold, rich, a man rich. and the peculiar treasure of
kings and of the provinces, I gat me men singers, women singers,
and the delights of the sons of men, and musical instruments,
and that of all sorts. So I was great and increased
more than all that were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom
remained with me, and whatsoever my eyes desired I kept not from
them. I withheld not my heart from
any joy, for my heart rejoiced in all my labor, and this was
my portion of all my labor. On all the works that my hands
had wrought, and on the labor that I had labor to do, and behold,
every bit of it, every bit of it was vanity and
vexation. Vexation. He said it was a vexation. All this stuff I've accumulated
has become nothing but a vexation to me. Vexation of spirit. And there
was no profit under the sun. And Solomon could see this, that
a man who's given to all this, lays himself out to all this,
and gathers all this, when it comes up to the end of life,
he has not Christ, his life was useless, empty, vain. He said, well, let's help some
others. The help is short-lived. It's
short-lived. I would ten thousand times rather
be able to give a man a word in season from the Word of God
than to give him $10,000. One would be spent real quick,
and one may take him to glory. The wisdom of this world is foolishness
with God. Now, let me hurry through these.
To see these things as we ought to, There are six things that
God will have to enable us to see before we see the nothingness
of this world, the vanity of it, the vanity of riches, the
vanity of education, the vanity of popularity, the true vanity
of it, apart from Christ. We need to see these things,
and not necessarily in this order. But we must see sin as sin. It's more than people saying
a cuss word. It's more than taking a drink
of wine, which to me is not sin. But there are so many out there
that count these things as sin. You know, sin is a nature. I was telling this to someone
not too long ago because they was talking about it. I said, sin's
a nature. Sin's not in a bottle. Sin's not in drugs. It's not
in those things. Sin is a nature that we are born
with. It's who and what we are by nature. And God must enable us to see
this or we'll have a distorted view on everything. This is what our Lord saw when
he looked over the kingdoms of this world on that mountain.
He saw sin. That's what he saw. Sin is the
breach of God's holy law. Now, that may not mean much to
me, but it means everything to God. It means much to Him. The Word of God says there is
none good, no, not one. That includes me. I wrote out
by that scripture, even me. We have all sinned, the Word
of God says, and come short of the glory of God. God has to enable us to see this.
We must see this. Then we must see God for who
he is. Not who we think he is, but who
he is. God has revealed himself in this
book. There's no excuse not to know
him. There's no excuse to talk about
him with language that doesn't even pertain to who he is. Because
he's given a revelation of himself in his word. And we find out in his word that
he's holy. The scripture says, holy, holy,
holy is the Lord of hosts. God is light and in him is no
darkness at all. No darkness, no sin, not a trace
of it. He's holy. That's who God is. We must see God as He's revealed
in the scriptures. His reign, His sovereign reign
is holy. His justice is holy. Not like ours now. Ours is not
holy. Ours is prejudiced. But God is holy. His love is
holy. His grace is holy. Holiness is the perfection of
all that God Almighty is. He's holy. And we will spend eternity praising
the beauty of His holiness. We're going to be amazed. We're
going to be amazed. Then we must see his glory, his
cheap glory, in the face, in the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ. His redemptive glory. We must
see it in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not until we see,
not until we see God in Christ reconciling the world to himself.
Not until we see in the face of Christ the redemptive glory
of God where we worship Him as He is. We won't do it. Won't do it. How can a holy God
be just and have anything to do with somebody like me? You can not have that answer
until you see Christ. Not until you see Him. It is in Christ that mercy and
truth can meet together and righteousness and peace kiss each other over
you and I. Mercy and truth can meet together.
Righteousness and peace kiss each other. Where at? In Christ and Him crucified.
That's where. It is in Christ that we see God
in human flesh, living, dying, suffering in the place of sinners. And justice being satisfied at
Calvary. And the sinner go free. And God
be a just God. And we must see our need of Christ. We must see our need of Him.
People don't see a need of Jesus Christ, unless God does something. Unless God does something. A person who has been brought
by the Spirit of God to see their need of Him, you can't put that into words.
That cannot be put into words. As many as needed healing, He
healed. You need it? As many as needed
it, He healed. Only the sick need a physician.
Only the sick. The Scripture says He came to
save the lost. I've got good news if I find
somebody lost. He came to save the lost. We need His wisdom. Lord, teach me. I'm a fool. I don't understand the spiritual
things. I don't understand natural things. I don't understand many
things. When you really stop and look
at, just look at things, you realize how little you know. We need His righteousness. All
ours are filthy rags. All ours are full of wrong motives.
We need His. We need His sanctification. We
need Him to wash us throughly inside and out. We need Him to
give us a clean heart and a right spirit. Or do we need Him? We need His
redemption. We need to be purchased. We've
sold ourselves under sin. We need His intercession. We
don't know what to pray for, do we? Not like he does. We need his blood to cleanse
us, his righteousness to cover us, and his intercession to avail
for us. We need him. We need him. The scripture says, he is able
to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them. We need Him. Now if God enables us to see
what sin is, who He is, who Jesus Christ is, what we are, and our
need of Him, and His sufficiency to meet our need, You can't put a price on that. But apart from that, apart from
that, vanity of vanities, all is vanity, saith the preacher.
Apart from Christ, apart from knowing Christ, apart from living
in union with Christ, this life is not worth living. It's futile. I don't care. how rich we become or what we
accomplish in this life or what, the end of it is vanity. He's the worth. He's the worth. He is. And we can sure be thankful. Sure be thankful if he's given
us an understanding. and enable us to see these things.
Thank God if He has.