Did you ever observe the fact
that in the New Testament, every time someone said something to
the Lord Jesus about what another person was doing or was not doing,
the Lord sharply reproved them, every time. Every time someone
come to him and mentioned what this person had done, or had
not done in particularly in the interest of his kingdom, in the
service of his kingdom and his honor and his name. Every time
someone said, did you see what they were doing? Do you see what
he did? Every time the Lord Jesus rebuked
them sharply. Back in Luke Chapter 7 or chapter
9, the disciples had been out ministering and they saw some
fellows casting out devils in the name of the Lord Jesus. And
they came and said, Master, we rebuked them because they're
not part of us. We didn't know who they were.
And the Lord rebuked them. The Lord rebuked them and said,
you leave them alone. He that is not against us is with us.
And they're laboring together with us. sat at Jesus' feet and heard
his words. Martha was cumbered with much
serving, and she was busy taking care of serving the Lord Jesus
and his disciples and their friends, preparing a meal for them. And
that's good. That's good. There's nothing
wrong with doing that. But Martha got a little agitated
because Mary wasn't doing what she thought she should do. And
she said, she's left me to serve alone. And the Lord looked at
her and rebuked her sharply, rebuked not for serving him,
not for engaging herself earnestly in the activity she was engaged
in, but for presuming that she knew what Mary ought to do at
the time. And the Lord rebuked her. Look
here in John, Chapter 21. John, Chapter 21. Verse 18. Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
the Lord is speaking to Peter now. When thou wast young, thou
girdest thyself and walkest whither thou wouldest not. But when thou
shalt be old, Thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another
shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This
spake he, signifying by what death he, that is, by what death
Peter, should glorify God. And when he had spoken this,
he saith unto him, follow me. Then Peter Turning about, seeth
the disciple whom Jesus loved following, which also leaned
on his breast at supper and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth
thee? That is, he turned around, he
saw John, who leaned on the Savior's breast and asked him who his
betrayer would be. Verse 21, Peter seeing him, Peter
seeing John, saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man
do? You told me by what death I shall
glorify God, what's John going to do? Jesus saith unto him,
if I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me. Then went this
saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple, that is that
John should not die. Yet Jesus said not unto him,
he shall not die. But if I will that he tarry till
I come, what is that to thee? This is the disciple which testifieth
of these things and wrote these things, and we know that his
testimony is true. And there are also many other
things which Jesus did, which if they should be written, every
one, I suppose, that even the world itself could not contain
the books that should be written. What a statement. Even the world
itself, if books were written to describe everything he's done,
could not contain the books that describe those works. Now let's
stop for a minute and let me remind you of the events leading
up to this conversation between our Lord Jesus and his servant
Peter. The Lord had given his last message
to his disciples before his crucifixion, beginning in chapter 13. He washed
their feet, established the blessed ordinance of the Lord's table,
and he spoke to them about things that would soon come to pass,
his own death as our substitute, being delivered by the Jews into
the hands of the Romans and being crucified. And he concluded that
final message with the promise of the coming of the spirit of
God and the work of the spirit, the expediency of his death and
so on. He concluded that with his great high priestly prayer
in John chapter 17. And then in chapter 18, he went
to Gethsemane with Peter and James and John and began to pray. As he anticipated being made
sin for us, suffering all the horrid wrath of God as our substitute. He prayed three times, Father,
if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not
my will, I will be done. And the third time his heart
breaking within him, he sweat, as it were, great drops of blood
falling to the ground. And he cries, Father, if it be
possible, let this cup pass from me if it's possible. for your
glory to be revealed and your people to be saved. If it's possible,
let this cup pass from me, not the cup of the cross, not even
the cup of being made sin for us. But he's being overwhelmed
in the garden with the last temptation of Satan by which he would be
kept from the cross. And our Lord Jesus says, Let
me go on. Let me go on. He set his face
like a flint to go up to Jerusalem, even as his soul trembled near
unto death in the anticipation of being made sin for us. He
rose up to meet Judas, the betrayer, and the soldiers he brought.
He takes the initiative And when the soldiers came to arrest him,
Peter stood to his defense. Peter took out his fisherman's
knife. It's called a sword, but it was
hardly a sword. It was his fisherman's knife,
that which was common for a fisherman to carry and attacked the band
of soldiers that came after our Lord Jesus. Now, you say what you want to
about that man, Peter. He was a man. He was a faithful man. He set himself risk his life,
hazardous his life, defending the master. And the Lord Jesus
told him to put his sword up and he voluntarily gave himself
to the hands of these soldiers under one condition. He said,
you can take me, but my people must go free. Whom seek ye? He said, I'm Jesus of Nazareth
whom you seek. Take me, but let these go their
way. Our Lord gave himself up into
the hands of God's holy law and justice as our substitute on
condition that all for whom he died must go free. The Savior
was then led away to the judgment hall where Peter followed him
and denied him three times. And then our blessed Savior accomplished
our redemption, died in our room instead, put away our sins by
the sacrifice of himself. And on the third day, he rose
again and he appeared to Mary Magdalene and the other Mary
in Mark chapter 16. He told them, go tell my disciples,
I'll meet them in Galilee like I told them I would. And be sure
you tell Peter. And he appeared to the disciples
when Thomas was absent. He appeared again to the disciples
a week later when Thomas was present. And now this third time
he appears to his disciples in Matthew in John chapter 21. He
appears to the disciples, but specifically he's now pulled
Peter apart from the rest. Peter and our Lord Jesus are
standing on the beach after breakfast that morning. And the Lord had
come to convince Peter not only of his love for Peter, but he
wanted to convince Peter of Peter's love for him. And he had done
so. And then the Savior spoke this
word to Peter. You shall lay down your life
for me in the end. You're going to die for me. you're going to die for me. He told Peter three times, feed
my sheep. Having heard this confession
from Peter three times, thou knowest that I love thee. And
then the master says to Peter, verse 18, when thou wast young, thou girdest
thyself, and walkest whither thou wouldest, But when thou
shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thine hands, and another
shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. And this he spoke, signifying
by what death Peter should glorify God. Now look at verse 22. Then
Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry, that is, that
John tarry, Until I come again, what is that to thee? Follow
thou me. What is that to thee? That's
my subject. That's the question I want to
address. What is that to thee? I know
this. We must learn to leave God's
servants and God's people to God's care. We must learn to leave God's
servants and God's people to God's care. Turn over to Romans
chapter 14. Hold your hands here in John
21. Romans 14. This might surprise you, but
it really shouldn't. A good portion of the letters
and telephone calls and visits I get from people as I travel
around the world and preach the gospel and folks come and want
to ask me something. They want to ask me what about
a Christian should do this, what should a Christian not do. Do
you know, I don't want to overstate things, Merrill, I'll bet I could
count on this hand In 41 years of pastoring, I can count on
this hand, the number of times a man or a woman, young person
or old, has come to me and said, what do you think I should do? I can count on that hand. But
I can't begin to count up the number of times somebody's come
to me and said, what do you think a Christian should do? And I
know what they're asking. What do you think about what
Larry Brown's doing? That's what they're asking. What do you think
about what my husband is doing? What do you think about what
my wife is doing? What do you think about how this person serves
you or that person serves you? Look here in Romans chapter 14,
verse 4. Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? To his
own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holding up,
for God is able to make him stand. What does that mean? What are
you driving at, Brother Don? God's people are God's people. They're not yours and they're
not mine. They're His. God's servants are God's servants.
They're not yours and they're not mine. They're His. I sure
wish we could learn that. They're not to be judged by us,
not to be controlled by us. Their lives are not to be run
by us. Religion binds people. Grace sets him free. Christ says,
listen, let him go. You will bear me witness. I,
I do everything I can to avoid knowing too much about your personal
affairs. I don't need to know. I don't,
I don't pry into your personal affairs. I don't want those things
to affect how I preach to you. I don't want to know things that
I don't need to know. than none of my business. Now,
don't misunderstand me. I want you to use me as a friend. I want you to let me weep with
you when you weep and rejoice with you when you rejoice. I
care about your sons and daughters. I care about you. I care about
your children. But I don't want to run your
lives. I'm not your priest. Can you
understand that? I'm not your priest. Christ is. Christ is. Unlike most Baptist
preachers, I don't want you to treat me like a priest. I don't
want you coming to me to try to find out what other people
ought to do and this, that, and other, or report to me about
your affairs. No, I'm your friend. And I found out over the years
most people need a friend with a sympathizing ear, a tender
heart, and tight lips. Tight lips as much as this tender
heart. and a sympathizing ear. Most
people don't need someone to tell them what to do. Christ
is your Lord. Follow him. It's absolutely none
of your business and none of mine what somebody else does
for Christ or doesn't do. It's none of your business and
none of mine what someone else is used by God to do or isn't
used by God to do. It's none of your business and
none of mine what someone else gives to the Lord or doesn't
give. We come to take the Lord's table
and folks ask me about who takes the Lord's table. I have preachers
ask me all the time about who takes the Lord's table. I tell
them I deliberately don't look. I don't want to know. You shouldn't
look. You don't need to know. Oh, but
how are we going to control that? Who said you were supposed to?
Who made you think you could control that or should control
that? The Lord God Almighty is perfectly capable of taking care
of his own, and he always does. Besides, most of us have a full-time
job with lots of overtime taking care of ourselves, taking care of our own relationship
with God, our own walk with our Redeemer, our own service to
our Savior. But full-time job, just take
care of me. Paul said, study to be quiet
and to do your own business. Study to be quiet and do your
own business. Again, I repeat myself deliberately. It's none of your business or
mine how someone else serves Christ. To his own master he
standeth or falleth. Brother Todd Niblett and I were
discussing this very subject once years ago and I made that
statement or something similar to it, to him that we ought to
leave God's people alone in God's hands. Quit trying to tell preachers
how they ought to do things and quit trying to tell God's people
how they ought to do things. Let everyone stand and fall before
his own master. Todd said that's such an important
message. If we could learn it, it'd solve
every problem in the church. And you know what? It'd solve
every problem in the church. You're fixing to go start pastoring
down in Sylacauga. Time will come, folks will start
to come and talk to you about Bobby or Lester or Pat and Terry,
you know, don't let it happen. Don't let it happen. Don't hear
it. Don't hear it. There's nothing good to come
of it. Every time somebody starts saying something about Bob Duff,
find something real good to say about him. Say, what were you
saying there? You mean Bob who devotes himself
to the cause of Christ? Bob who's there every Sunday,
every Sunday morning, Sunday night, Tuesday night, sitting
right there, listening to the gospel of God's grace? What was
that? What was that? No, we would not
hear evil reports if we didn't anxiously listen for them. Don't
do it. The Lord Jesus told Peter how
that he would be required to suffer and die for the glory
of God. And impetuous as he normally
was, sometimes fickle, Peter was assured that in the end he
would glorify God in death. He had told the Lord he would.
He said, though all men forsake thee, I won't. And the Lord Jesus
said, Peter, I know you won't. I know you will. You will be
you will have your arms stretched out and put to death in the end. And that's exactly what happened
to him. And by his own crucifixion, he glorified God. Look again
at verse 18. Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
when thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkest whither
thou wouldest. But when thou shalt be old, thou
shalt stretch forth thine hands, and another shall gird thee and
carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This he spake, signifying
by what death he would glorify God. And when he had spoken this,
he saith unto him, follow thou me. And then Peter. Bless his heart, Peter. I sometimes want to say I'm so
much like him, but reality, maybe he's so much like me, Peter. Ever had him to say something,
and usually the wrong thing. He said, as he looked at John,
well, what about him? You've told me how I'm going
to die. You told me what I must suffer.
You told me how I will be stretched out and put to death What about
this man? Look at it verse 20 then Peter
turning about seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following Which
also leaned on his breast to supper and said Lord Which is
he that betrayeth thee? Now this term, the disciple which
Jesus loved, is not an indication at all that the Lord Jesus loved
John more than anyone else. John is writing from his own
perspective, he's that disciple whom the Lord Jesus loved. He
never got over that. He's not suggesting the Lord
loved him above another. He's just not using his own name.
He's referring to that. It'd be like that sinner the
Lord saved, that disciple the Lord loved. And Peter didn't
in any way look at John as having some higher degree of love or
acceptance than he had. And verse 21, Peter seeing him. saith to Jesus, Lord, and what
shall this man do? That may appear to be perfectly
innocent, but it was horrible, horribly evil. Peter was prying
into things that he had no business prying into. He was asking questions
he had no business asking. He was concerned about another
man, about things about that man for which he had no reason
to be concerned. He's God's servant. He's Christ's
apostle. He's God's child. What business
is it of yours, what God does with him? Do you understand that? That shouldn't be hard to understand,
should it not? That's your granddaughter, not
mine. Mine to love her. and help her,
you'll take care of her and guide her. You got your children? Don't you interfere. You don't
have to ask your mom or dad about that. They'll let you know in
a heartbeat when you've overstepped your bounds. That's my child. That's my child. Let us not dare
overstep our bounds with God's children. The spirit of God,
if he will enable me, to declare it has given me a message for
us, one you need and one that I need. It's our responsibility
in all things ever to serve God's people, never to control them, ever to help them, never to rule
them, ever to lead them by example, Never to drag them our way. Our
responsibility is to be helpers one to another and our great
privilege. All right, let me show you three
things. I'll wrap this up. Number one. Our primary responsibility
in life. Is to follow Christ. The Lord says, Alan, follow me.
Follow me. He says to Don Fortner, follow
me. Follow me. I realize that there
are many who have the idea that somehow there's a difference
between following Christ, being his disciple, and believing on
Christ. Nothing could be further from
the truth. To be his disciple is to be a believer. To believe
him is to be his disciple. To be a believer is to be a follower
of Christ. The fact is we live in vain,
except we live for Christ. We live in vain, except we live
for Christ. This is the command of the gospel.
Our Lord Jesus says, follow me. Turn over to Matthew's gospel.
Let's just look at Matthew. I can give it to you by numerous
examples, but we'll look at two or three here in the book of
Matthew chapter four, Matthew chapter four, verse 18. Jesus walking by the Sea of Galilee
saw two brethren Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother
Casting a net into the sea and therefore they were fishes and
he saith unto them What'd he say? follow me and I'll make
you fishes of men and They straightway left their nets and followed
him That's what faith is It's following Him. Look at chapter
16, Matthew 16, verse 24. Then said Jesus unto his disciples,
if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take
up his cross and follow me. What does that mean? What does
it mean to follow Christ? Vicki Dale, let me talk just
to you for a minute. Is that alright? What does it mean to follow Christ?
It means to give up your life to Him. How can you say that? Let's see.
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it. Whosoever will
lose his life for my sake shall find it." You can hang on to your life
if you want to. You sure can. And go to hell
with it. Or you can give it up to Christ
the Lord and inherit life everlasting. And there are no other options.
Read on. For what is a man profited if
he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? For what
shall a man give in exchange for his soul? If you're without Christ, oh,
may God the Holy Spirit help you to hear me. You would be
wise to make the salvation of your soul the concern of your life, if
need be, the only concern of your life. You mean, Brother
Don, this is the most important thing in the world? This is the
most important thing in the world. The most important thing in the
world. What shall a man give in exchange
for his soul? David would spend far too much
time preparing our sons and daughters for a successful life and career
in this world. So shouldn't the father do that?
Of course he should. I wonder if we'd spend even a
tithe of the time in concern instructing our sons and daughters
to seek the Lord and follow him. Nothing compares to this. Nothing compares to this. We
live in vain if we live without Christ. And it would be better
for you never to have been born than to live and die without
Christ. For to die without Christ is
to perish forever under the wrath of God. and suffer the wrath
of God in the torments of the damned forever. Follow me. That's the command of the gospel. To follow Christ is to seek it,
is to trust it. It is to submit to his dominion. To follow Christ is to be saved
by him. That's the character of faith.
That's the character of faith. It follows Christ. Read the third
chapter of Philippians at your leisure. The Apostle Paul speaks
concerning his own life and he says, I count everything else
but dung. I count everything but dung.
All my religious pedigree, all my religious training, all my
knowledge, all my learning, All my heritage, all that I ever
got from my mother and daddy, my grandma and grandpa, I count
it all just manure that I may know Christ, and win Christ,
and inherit Christ, and be found in Christ. Rex was exaggerating. is telling exactly that which
God had put in his heart and that which God inspired him to
write for us. Follow Christ. What does that
mean? Seek in everything to do his will as it's revealed in
this word by his spirit to glorify his name and to imitate his character. Turn to Titus chapter 1 or Titus
chapter 2 rather. Titus chapter two. Verse 11. The grace of God that bring us
salvation hath appeared to all men. That is, we preach the gospel
to everybody. We preach the gospel to everybody,
but it's benefactual to us, teaching us, teaching us. I'm, uh, I'm
preaching to all of you. Everybody here, everybody who
hears my voice right now, everybody who shall hear my voice by whatever
means God arranges it. I'm preaching to everybody who
hears it. And some folks are going to get the lesson because
God's the teacher. And some of you won't get the
lesson. It'll be like talking to the
wall. You'll go in one ear and out the other and nothing will
linger in between because you have no hearing ears. But the
grace of God that brings salvation, that's appeared to all men, effectually
teaches us, read on, that denying ungodliness and worldly lust.
That word denying simply means saying no to. Brother Claus,
you're the oldest fellow here this morning, aren't you? I think
so. That goes for me and for you. Saying no to ungodliness. Saying
no to ungodliness and worldly lust. Ungodliness. Everything
opposed to God. Everything that would draw your
heart from God. Everything that would take you
from the worship of the Redeemer. Everything that would take your
heart and your attention away from Christ. Denying ungodliness
and worldly lust. We should live soberly, righteously,
and godly in this present world. Soberly. Soberly. That's not
talking about being sober as opposed to being drunk. That's
talking about living like he got good sense. Living as one with maturity and
responsibility. Living as one who thinks beyond
his nose. Living soberly. Righteously. Not just as one with common good
sense, but righteously. Living for God in this world. living right and godly. Read on. In this present world,
in this present world, well, I'll tell you, you've got tougher things to
face than we had growing up, Matthew. No, you don't. You've
got the same things to face your mom and dad had to face, the
very same things. Man hasn't changed. People aren't
as decent today as they used to be. They're just as decent
as they were in our day. Just more of them, that's all.
And they communicate more. But man's just as corrupt in
our day as he is in this day, just as corrupt in this day as
he was in our day. There's no difference. Well,
how do you expect folks to do this? By faith in the Son of
God. Do you believe God or don't you?
soberly, righteously, godly in this present world. Read on.
How's that? Looking for that blessed hope,
setting your heart on something else. And the glorious appearing
of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself
for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify
unto himself a peculiar people. That doesn't mean peculiar as
in oddballs. That means peculiar as under
his peculiar care. Peculiar as his distinct chosen
redeemed people, zealous of good works. Follow me. Follow me. You see, God has given each of
us as his own a place of service
in his kingdom. I recall when Brother Larry Brown
first moved here, we chatted a little bit. He started working
on some various things and he made a statement to me. I don't
think I'll ever forget it. He said, maybe the Lord yet has
something for me to do. If you're his, as long as you've
got breath in your lungs, the Lord yet has something for you
to do. And you're the only one who can
do it. Nobody else. He has folks for
you to minister to, nobody else will ever see. He has burdens
for you to carry, nobody else can carry. Work for you to do,
nobody else can do. We're his witnesses. Is that
what he said? We're his witnesses. You know
what that word means? As a matter of fact, if you were
to just write out the word witness from the Greek word for which
is translated, you would spell it martyr. We're his martyrs. You mean Denise Ranere is expected
to be a martyr? That's what every believer is.
A martyr? A martyr? What's a martyr? A martyr is a man or a woman
who willingly sacrifices his life in a cause that's worth
more than his life. Is Christ or is he not? Is his
cause or is it not worth more than you or me or both of us
together? Yes, there's something for us
to do. And it's our business to serve our Redeemer in the
place he's given us. For his honor and for his glory. no matter what our occupation
is. Several years ago, I had a young man, a young black man,
Brother Jamel Wright, out in California, who chatted with
me a little bit. He was concerned because he was
thinking about going to law school, and God saved him. And he had
been around lawyers most of his life, and he said, he said, I
don't think I can do this. And I could tell the concern
on his expression on his face was that he was concerned because
it would be a bad choice for him as a believer. And I said,
what's your reason, Jamel? He said, well, I don't know if
I can be a lawyer and serve God. I said, let me ask you a couple
of questions. One, do you have the mental ability
to do the work in school? And he said, yeah, I think I
do. I said, is this the direction God's given you in your life
thus far? He said, I think so. I said, pursue it with all your
heart. I realize that most lawyers, like most preachers and most
politicians and most men and most women, are as corrupt as
they can be. I understand that. But there
are some who believe God. There are some who serve God.
I happen to know some. And the fact is, If I should
ever need one, I'd sure like to find one who worshiped God,
wouldn't you? Paul said, when God calls you, people get the
idea, well, I've got to quit this, I've got to quit that,
I've got to change this. He said, abide in the place of your calling.
Abide in the place of your calling. Where God called you, stay there
and serve God. Stay there and serve God. Now,
if the place of your calling of necessity involves disobedience
to God, that's another story. That's obvious. I say that because
some crazy folks get the idea that, well, if God called me
doing something illegal, I'll stay with that. No. But if you
have God's put you in a place where you, by God's providence,
have been put where you are, serve God. Those are the folks
under your influence. Those are the folks you come
in contact with. All right, here's the second thing. Not only is it our primary business
in life to follow Christ. I want you to understand that
in order to follow Christ. We must subject everything to
Christ. Everything. Time. Talent, money, family, opportunities,
desires, everything. If we would follow Christ, we
must not concern ourselves with the responsibilities of others,
but with our own responsibility. We must each be occupied with
our own responsibilities and our own ministries, our own concerns,
our own calling, and our own faithfulness. Yes, we gladly
assist one another. Yes, we are laborers together
in the cause of Christ, but each must be responsible for himself. Each must take the responsibility
of his life upon himself. These days, raise our sons and
daughters to be babies all their lives. Most people these days,
time they get to be 40 years old, Well, I wonder what I'm
going to do with my life. It's way past time to be finding
out. I've got news for you. It's way past time to be finding
out. The sooner you teach your sons and daughters to assume
responsibility for themselves, the better off they are. That's free lumber. It won't
cost you anything extra. In the kingdom of God, we must assume
responsibility for ourselves. subjecting everything continually
to our God. Helping one another, assisting
one another, praying for one another, giving to one another,
laboring together with one another, but each assuming responsibility
for himself. Let me put it in shoe leather.
Let me put it in shoe leather. I realize some folks may be sick,
other folks out preaching somewhere, folks may be traveling, but look
around you. Just look around you. and do
the same thing tonight, just in case this doesn't apply to
some of you now. Suppose everybody here decided
every Sunday, well, I'm going to stay home this morning. I'm going to I'm going to go
to the ballgame today. I'm going to go fishing today.
Just suppose they did. Well, I just I don't feel much
like going to church today. Offerings given. Well, you know,
I just I sure would like to buy a new shirt. I can't do that
for you. I sure would like to do this."
Suppose everybody did. David assumed it would be the
place for you to come hear the gospel, or bring your children to hear
the gospel, or bring your grandchildren to hear the gospel. Each one assumed responsibility
for himself. Well, that door needs fixing.
Somebody get to it. What's wrong with you? Well, I've done my part. Do what? Done your part in the cause of
Christ? Done your part in the interest of God's kingdom? Done
your part in the service of your Redeemer? I can imagine such thoughts.
God give us grace to busy ourselves in serving our Redeemer. If we
would follow Christ, we must avoid those things that would
distract us from following him. Unlearned and vain questions. You see, religion can't get you
just as much away from following Christ as the world can. Religion,
religious debates and controversies, religious arguments. I hope none
of you are guilty. I hope none of you are guilty.
I know people. who spend all their free time
virtually on the internet, in chat rooms, debating doctrine. Arguing about what to do. Now,
I don't like to debate with folks. I just like to try to help folks
along. Why you spend 20 hours a day doing it then? Answering
foolish questions that nobody knows the answer to. Nobody knows
the answer to difficulties about prophecy. What do you think about
the origin of evil? I think I don't know. What about
you? foolish things, foolish things.
Brother Dunn, don't you think we ought to study those things?
No. Paul said avoid unlearned and
vain questions. What does that mean? Avoid them.
Why would you want to spend your time debating with someone about
what the fires of hell are when you could be talking about the
love of Christ? Huh? Would you answer that for
me? Why would you want to be debating
with someone about what's going to happen after the Lord comes
again and makes all things new, which you don't know, when you
could say, behold, he cometh. Why? Because we're carnal and
foolish. That's why. That's why. That
thing's more important. That thing's more important.
Men and women are going to hell. Do you understand that? Folks
are going to hell. They need to hear the gospel.
God's revealed the gospel of his grace to you. Go tell sinners
what God's done for you. Go tell sinners what God's done
for you. I, uh, I'm not flattering folks. Flattery
is, uh, speaking well of folks because you intend to get something
from them. Well, the Larry Chris sitting over there. I'll embarrass
him a little bit, but that'll be all right, he can do it. Do you know why you always anxiously
listen to him when he's coming to preach? Do you know why he
stays busy preaching all the time? Do you know why? I'll tell
you why. I've known him for 34 years. Thus far, God's given you the
wisdom to always preach Christ crucified to folks. Run as fast
to Christ as you possibly could. What's so great about that? That's
what we need to hear. That's who we need to know. And
God's people know it. And the more you tell them about
it, the more they like it and appreciate you telling them.
I've said all I know about that. I said all I know about it a
long time ago. That doesn't keep people talking. Tell folks about
the Redeemer. Follow Christ. Follow Him. Subject
everything to Him by willing, voluntary determination. And follow Him if you do so alone. I have some friends who whose husbands have no interest
in following Christ. I have some friends whose wives
have no interest in following Christ. I know some pastors whose
wives have no interest in things of God. What do you do? What
do you do? You follow Christ. Whether your
husband does or your wife does or doesn't. Whether your children
do or don't. Whether your friends do or don't,
you follow Christ. You just follow Him. And you
do so willingly. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed. I'm persuaded that He's able
to keep that which I have committed unto Him. Committed unto Him. Allen Kidby asked God today and
tomorrow and every day of your life, let me commit myself to
my Savior. Committed to Him. God, I commit
this day to You. Commit my life to You. Now, here's
the third thing. Number one, that's the most reasonable
thing on this earth. Here's several reasons. Number
one, Christ bought you. Christ bought you. Did you hear
me? If you're Christ, Lindsey Campbell,
he bought you with his blood. You're not your own. You're bought
with a price. And when he did, he bought you
and As far as you're concerned, Diane and Michael and Michelle
and the grand babies and that business over in Lexington, all
your time, all your life, he bought you, lock, stock and barrel.
That means you're not your own. You're not your own. It's a glorified
God in your bodies which are his and not yours. Any argument? Any question? Is that, Bill, is that reasonable?
He bought you. He bought you. Number two, understand your limitations.
Understand your limitations. I like that line when Mr. Clint Eastwood, I forgot what's
his name, Harry Callahan in the movie, that corrupt cop, he said,
man's got to know his limitations. Know your limitations. Know your
limitations. You can't do anything. You're utter weakness. So cast
yourself continually on the Savior. And you've only got a brief time
here. The days are evil. Redeem the
time. I'm getting old now. I hope God will give me grace
to do more in my last years than I've ever done in former years.
Not just do more, more for him, more for his glory, more in the
preaching of the gospel, more to make known his name, his wonder,
his glory in this age in which we live. Don't you think time
you start to slow down? When he slows me down. When he
slows me down. Until then, I presume that whatever
he's given me is his to be used and spent for him. That's just
reasonable. That's just reasonable. We just
have a short little space of time when we might do something
for God. Just a short little space of
time. Here's another thing that makes
this call most reasonable. God might just use us. He might just use us. Imagine
if the Lord would visit this vine, the almighty, that he's
planted in this wilderness. Wonder what he might yet do. He might just use us. Amen.