If you'll turn back with me to
Ephesians chapter 1. It's my hope and my prayer to
God. And as much as I can determine
as a man, I believe it's the desire of my heart to preach
to you this morning the unsearchable riches of Christ. The unsearchable
riches of Christ. I don't think we've scratched
the surface of the value and the glory that's associated with
that man, Jesus Christ. I believe I can say with Paul
that I've renounced the hidden things of dishonesty. That's
what he tells them over there in 2 Corinthians chapter 4. He
says, I have renounced not only himself but all those who preach
the gospel. the hidden things of dishonesty.
He said, I no longer walk in craftiness, and I no longer handle
the Word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth. In other words, he stood up and
declared the truth. He took this book, and he said,
this is what Psalm 109 means. He said, this is what Romans
chapter 9 means. He said, this is what Matthew
24 is talking about. He stood up and he declared the
truth, the true message of this book. Christ is that message. Christ crucified. God forbid,
he said, that I should glory save in the cross. The cross
of Christ was his message. And by truth, by manifestation
of the truth, and He declared that truth. And both Him, His
life, and His message, He commended to the conscience of the people.
He said, you decide. There it is. There it is. I'll let God stand for me. I'm
willing to let everything that I say to you this morning, by
the grace of God, what I'll have to say to you in the future,
If God permits us that opportunity and I'm willing to commit those
things to God and to your consciences, you go home and decide. You go
home and read this book and make up your own mind. That's what
Paul said. But he said we don't stand up here in pretense anymore.
We don't stand up here and take bits and pieces over here and
bits and pieces over here and try to make them say something. You can make the Bible say anything
by taking bits and pieces. Judas went out and hanged himself.
Go ye and do likewise. That's what happens when you
get bits and pieces. What were these hidden things
of dishonesty that he's talking about? What in the world is he
talking about? I thought about that when I read this. Do you
know the Apostle Paul was an honest man? Before his conversion. You can read about him over there
in the book of Philippians. He said, I was, as touching the
law, he said, I was a Pharisee, but as touching that law, I was
blameless. Blameless. He lived among men, paid his
bills. He didn't lie. He didn't cheat. He didn't do any of those things.
He was an honest man. Touching the law, he was blameless.
They prided him, the Pharisees prided themselves on their obedience
to the law. So what in the world is he talking
about when he's talking about these hidden things? Well, he's talking about what
Paul was talking about over in 1 Corinthians chapter 2. That's
what he's talking about. He's talking about spiritual
things. Spiritual things. Things concerning the gospel.
Things concerning salvation. Things concerning the true message
of this book. They were hidden to him. And
they were dishonest things. When Satan takes and twists things,
and that's what he does with natural men, he twists things. He twists the Scriptures. It
says they arrest the Scriptures through their own destruction.
They twist them to say what they don't say. They take a message
that they can't find it flowing through here. You can take a
piece, Brother Barnard said one time, take a drill, get you an
old Bible, set it down, drill your hole right straight through
the middle of it. And he said, take your red thread, poke it
through that hole, and tie it up. And he said, every time you
turn the page, he said, it'll remind you that it's talking
about the blood of Christ. He's got that message from front
to back, front to back. I don't have to run over here
to some obscure verse somewhere to prove what I'm saying to you
this morning. I can preach Christ to you anywhere you want to go.
Find me a page. It's all Christ and Him crucified. It's all talking about these
things. But natural man cannot and will not receive the things
of the Spirit of God. Why not? Because they're hidden. They don't see them. They can't
see them. Won't see them. Won't see them. 1 Corinthians 2 verse 12, it says,
Now we have received not the spirit of the world, If you look
close at that word Spirit there, it's not a capital S. He's not
talking about the Holy Spirit. He's talking about the mind of
the Spirit. He's talking about the message
of the Spirit. Your understanding has been given to you. The same
thing I read to you over in Ephesians 1, that your understanding be
open to you. We've received not the Spirit
of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might
know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things
also we speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which
the Holy Ghost teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual."
Spiritual things are things that are hidden from natural meaning.
Natural man can sit down with a Bible, and he can read it forever. He can sit there from the time
he's 10 to the time he's 70, and he'll never come to the knowledge
of these things. Never. Paul said, we speak the wisdom
of God in a mystery. Even the hidden wisdom which
God ordained before the world unto our glory. In 1 Corinthians
chapter 1, he tells us what that wisdom is. It's the sovereign
purpose of God to save a people for the glory of His name in
the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And He hath made Him
to be unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. All in Him. All in Him. And in this wisdom of God, He
tells us 1 Corinthians 1.21, that the world by wisdom knew
not God. That's in the wisdom of God.
That's what this wisdom of God in Christ declares to you, that
the world by wisdom knew not God. Why? He said that the natural
man is without excuse because creation declares his Godhead. How else are you going to explain
the order of the universe? What keeps all these myriad of
stars? We haven't even discovered them
all. We've got space probes out there, hundreds of thousands
of miles out into space, already left our solar system, going
beyond. And all they see when they get there is what they saw
before they got there. It just keeps going. Just keep
going. What keeps all those things in
order? What keeps those things from clashing into each other?
What keeps this thing from just blowing up? What keeps this atmosphere
of earth? Just a little bit closer to the
sun and we melt and a little bit further away we freeze. But
we don't. What keeps all this vegetation
alive and these animals and all these various parts of the world?
What keeps all these things in order? The earth revolves. It has an order. It revolves
around the sun and it sits here and every so often it just wobbles
just a little bit. Just exactly what it needs to
maintain. And it comes right back. And
the seasons and the night and the day and all these, there's
an order in creation that declares His eternal Godhead. And we're
without excuse. And the conscience, it declares
the precepts of God, the moral precepts of God. You don't need
a law. Your conscience tells you when
you're doing right and when you're doing wrong. And that's what
Paul told those Jews. He said, let me read that for
you over here in Romans chapter 1. I'm sorry, Romans chapter 2. Listen here in verse 12, Romans
chapter 2. For as many as have sinned without
the law shall also perish without the law, and as many have sinned
in the law shall be judged by the law. For not the hearers
of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law should
be justified. For when the Gentiles which have
not the law do by nature the things contained in the law,
these having not the law are a law unto themselves." They've
got a law. It's just not written down. It's
in their consciences. "...which show the work of the
law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing
witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing
one another." You see what I'm saying? We don't have any excuse. No
man has any excuse. He has light from God. He won't
walk in the light God gives him. The Jews had a great advantage.
They had the oracles of God. They had the ceremonies, the
laws, all of these things they had. They had a greater advantage
than the Gentiles, but it didn't do them any good because they
were all born in sin. They were all sinners. That's
what Paul said. All sinners. And sin blinds. It blinds men
to the gospel. He said not even the princes,
not even the wise men, the scribes, the chief priests and pharisees,
doctors of the law, not even the princes of this world were
able to perceive this hidden mystery. They didn't have a clue. They didn't have a clue. These
men studied the Bible. If there was a jot, a tittle,
a comma, a period, anything was out of place, man, they were
on it. That goes right here. They knew this book forward and
backward. But they lived and watched as God confirmed His
Son by the prophet foretold of it. Behold the Lamb, John said. The Lamb of God that taketh away
the sin of the world. They watched the heavenly dove,
just like it was prophesied, come down and settle on Him.
They watched the hand of God confirm Him with miracles and
wonders and signs, which they did by Him right in their midst.
But they perceived not this Gospel. But it pleased God. It's what
He tells us over here in 1 Corinthians 1.21. The world by wisdom knew not
God, but it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save
them that believed. And not even these princes and
wise men knew this. The evidence of this great truth
is in the crucifixion of Christ. He said over there in I Corinthians
2, had they known it, if the princes of this world had known
it, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. Here's the
evidence right here. There is evidence. But as it is written, 1 Corinthians
2, 9, I hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into
the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that
love it. But God, that is what I want you to say, God hath revealed
them unto us by His Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all
things. It searches those things hidden
from men's eyes. It searches those things that
man's nature won't let him see. The Spirit of God searches all
things, yea, the deep things of God. And He makes them known
unto us. He reveals them unto us. What I hope and pray to say to
you this morning is the most precious thing on this earth
He compares this gospel of Christ to the pearl of great price that
a man, when he discovers it, is willing to give up everything
he's got for the possession of that one pearl. Just that one
pearl. This is the treasure that when
a man finds it in a field, he runs to the guy who owns the
field and he says, I want the whole field. He doesn't negotiate
price. He buys the field. He buys the
field. Oh, you cannot take these mysteries,
this glory and character of those who have seen it and tasted it
and embraced it and apply it to some profession of faith you
made back when you were 13 years old at summer camp. We're talking about the glory
of God in a man. Sell out! Give it up! family, friends, mother, father,
sister, brother, job, location, state, whatever it is, when you
see this glory, you'll give it all up. God may not, He may not
let you give it up. But I'll tell you this, you'll
be willing. You'll be willing. You'll be willing. Huh? That little profession of faith
you made back when you were 13 years old, is that what you had
on your mind when you made it? Is that the kind of glory you
seen when you made that profession of faith? Is that what lay down
on your heart back then when you had that experience? What
was it on your heart? I'm telling you these things
that surround Christ are filled with glory. Paul said, if our
gospel be hid, it's hid to the lost, in whom the God of this
world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest
the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto them.
It's the glory. That's what they don't see. They
can see the facts. They saw the man nailed up there,
mocked him, and spit on him, and laughed at him while he died.
They can see the man. They can see the facts. Men are
not moved with facts. They move when the Spirit of
God opens their heart and eyes and mind to see His glory. Then
they are moved. Oh, the old Queen of Sheba, she
sat over there and heard about Solomon. Solomon's kingdom there.
Solomon did that. Solomon said this. Old Solomon
said, and that's all she could hear. She's like that old woman
that come up to Scott that time and said, Christ, Christ, Christ.
He said, that's all you know. He said, would you put that on
my tombstone? Queen of Sheba, that's all she
heard. Solomon, Solomon, Solomon. She said, all right, pack it
up. I'm going to see. Ain't nobody got that kind of
glory in this world. I'm going to see. And she got
the hardest questions. The hardest questions. Nobody
could answer these questions. And she brought all of her hard
questions with her. And she came up to Solomon. And
Solomon answered every one of them. And she started looking
around. And she saw his servants. And
then she began to look and see the order of his kingdom. And
began to see his wisdom in the arrangement of things. And began
to look around. And all she could find was glory,
glory, glory! And she said, my spirit, when
I saw it with my eyes, my spirit just become out of me. It just went out of me. I didn't
know what to say. She said, this much I tell you,
the half has never yet been told. It's the glory. That's why man
don't see the glory. When he sees the glory, you won't
have to talk him into doing anything. When he sees the glory, he gives
himself. Here I am. I want to be part of that. Huh? I don't have to tell you what
to wear and whether or not to wear a hat or don't wear a hat
or wear a dress or don't wear a dress or wash or anything. I don't have to tell you anything.
When you see that glory, you're going to want to be just like
Him. Just like Him. Oh, that's what I want to be
right there. Oh, give me a heart like that.
Give me a mind like that. Give me a will like that. I come to do thy will, O God. You see that, Christ? That's
His glory. That's His glory. You can't take
these mysteries and this glory and the character of all those
who are described as having touched it and tasted it. John said,
I'm not coming to you with fables, cunningly devised fables. He
said, I saw His glory. I was on the mountain. I've seen
Him. My hands have handled Him. We've
tasted of these things. Every believer we read about
in this book come to see what the multitude could not see.
Every believer in this book was brought to see himself a sinner
without hope, without God in the world. He saw the glory of
Christ's death on that cross, the glory of His intercession,
the glory of His commitment and of His obedience to that law.
They saw His appearance as their only hope. If there wasn't a
sinner, There'd be no need for Him to come. Every believer in this book was
brought to bow to the Lordship of Christ willingly and of their
own accord. I don't have a problem with man's
will. But our Lord told those Pharisees,
He said, you search the Scriptures because in them you think you
have eternal life. And they are they which testify
of Me. But you will not come unto Me that you might have life.
You will not. Oh, I tell you, I get excited
when somebody will. That's when I get excited. Because
they will not except God intervene. And when he does, they will. That old leper threw himself
down at the feet of Christ and he said, Lord, if you will, you
can make me clean. He said, I will. I will. And when He will, you will. You
will. Believers are men and women called
of God. They are called of God because
they were chosen of God and purposed of God to be called. I must need
to go through Samaria. I must need to go through Jericho.
These spiritual things, these spiritual blessings were all
given to us of the Father, Ephesians 1, 3, read to you earlier, given
to us in heavenly places in Christ according as He has chosen us
in Him before the foundation of the world. The means to accomplish
God's purpose were predestinated according to the purpose of Him
who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.
God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. whereunto He called you
by our gospel. And let, Peter said, according
to the foreknowledge of God, through sanctification of the
Spirit unto obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus
Christ, according to His abundant mercy, have begotten us again
unto a lively hope. A lively hope. Incorruptible. Think about that. incorruptible, undefiled, that
fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept
by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed
at the last day. God calls His elect, and when
He calls, they come. All that the Father giveth me,
Christ said, are going to come to me. And him that cometh to
me, I will in no wise cast out. Pharisees wouldn't come. They
would not come. Our Lord gave this parable. He
said, he that entered in by the door is the shepherd. He came
right up to the porter. He didn't try to sneak in over
the wall or dig up under the wall. He came to the front door.
Knocked on the front door. He said, who is it? He said,
it's the shepherd. He opened the door. He opened the door. To him the porter openeth, and
the sheep hear his voice. Now listen, and he calleth his
own sheep by name. He knows your name. He knew Jacob's
name, didn't he? Your name's Jacob. Your name's
Jacob. But it ain't gonna be Jacob anymore. Ain't gonna be Jacob. I'll tell
you what your name's gonna be in that day. around that throne,
before that holy bar of God, before that judgment bar of God,
when I stand there in my full glory, the glory of my perfect
justice, the glory of my eyes that search the thoughts and
intents of men's hearts. When you stand there on that
day, you're going to stand there in white garments, and everybody
up here in the kingdom of God is going to ask about you, who
are these? And he said, in that day, your
name is going to be Israel. a prince with God. And you know
what God said to him after that? God called his name Israel. Right then, right there. Just
as though the work were already done. Israel. Israel. God calls His elect. And when He calls, they hear.
And they respond to His voice. And He, by sovereign grace, leads
them out and puts them out in front of Him. And they follow
Him all the days of their lives. And this calling is to see His
glory. I was watching a few minutes
of a documentary the other night, talking about that space probe
that I mentioned to you earlier, and showing all these pictures
of Jupiter and Mars and all these things as it keeps going out.
And they got that big telescope inside of it, and it just keeps
I forget how long now it takes just for a picture after they
take it to beam it back. Takes a long time. But I was watching that the other
night and the documentary began with a view of an eye of a man. And he was standing out in the
edge of the woods and he was standing and he just turned around
like this and he turned all the way around. It showed everything
that he could see with his eyes. And then it showed a man in a
hot air balloon. He went up a pretty good way.
And it showed what he could see all the way around. And then
it showed one of the camera took from one of the people who climbed
Mount Everest took a picture up there and it showed how far
you could see from that high mountain, Mount Everest. And
then it showed a picture from the space station up in space
and how far they could see. And then it showed a picture
of this space probe. And you know, when I stand there
looking at that, I thought, they missed it. They missed it. All of these things that you
see are in God. They're in Him. The real glory
of this is He who built all... He said, He who built all things
is God. Men spend their lives trying
to figure out how the sun got up there. God put it up there.
You don't have to spend your life wondering, but God put it
up there. How long is it going to stay until He gets rid of
it? I don't care what you do. I don't
care whether you do something or you don't do something. This
world is going to be preserved. It's reserved. That's what He
said. Reserved unto fire. With or without an ozone. The calling of God is to see
His glory. Oh, it's to see His glory. He's the firstborn, He said,
of every creature. By Him were all things created.
All things were created by Him and for Him, and He's before
all things, and by Him all things consist. You see what I'm saying? I'm
trying to compare for you. We're not talking about walking
down aisles and shaking men's hands and making decisions. We're
not talking about free will. We're not talking about building
a big church. We're not talking about reforming the world. We're
talking about the glory of God. The glory of God. And it's all in Christ. His purpose
to take a bunch of wiggling maggots and make them heirs with Christ.
How can you fathom such a thing? He's going to take a maggot and
seed Him with Christ. That's why those angels had their
wings folded listening this morning as I declare this gospel to you.
We've come into the presence of an innumerable company of
angels this morning. They're the everlast one of them
listening to what I'm saying to you this morning in wonder. Take a bunch of maggots and make
them heirs with Christ. standing in the presence of unspeakable
glory without sin, without fault, without so much as a blemish,
spotless, listen, before the presence of His glory. The most glorious thing I ever
did in my life was build a house. That's it. That's it. I did it by myself. I'm so proud
of that. It took me a year, seven days
a week, as long as I could work. Sometimes I go in and take a
nap and get up and work on it. I'd go until I couldn't go no
more. The bank gave me a year. It took
me a year to the day to get it done. I got it done, and I'm
so proud of that house. The guy that bought it come in
and gutted it and redid it. That's man's glory. It fades
like the leaf. Ain't that what he said? Like
the flower of the grass, it comes out and you look at it, wow,
look at that. And then the sun shines on it, wrinkles all up,
falls on the ground. Ain't good for anything except
to be burned. Oh, what of Him who holds all things together,
rules over poverty and works salvation without so much as
a glitch. Listen to what the Lord said
about old Queen of Sheba. In Matthew 12, verse 42, He said,
The Queen of the South is going to rise up in judgment against
this generation. Talking about the Queen of Sheba.
And shall condemn it. For she came from the uttermost
parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold,
a greater than Solomon is here. They saw Christ and didn't think
anything of it. Oh, she's going to rise up in
judgment. It's not the mechanics I'm struggling
with, it's His glory. It's the glory of Christ that
I'm laboring to preach, His wisdom, the glory of His wisdom, the
glory of His righteousness, of His sanctification, of His redemption. God calls men. He calls them
by His gospel. and by His sovereign Spirit to
receive His Son, who is the brightness of the Father's glory. Ain't
that what it says? An express image of His person. And once you've seen His glory,
you'll never be impressed with the glitter of religion again.
I've been to one of the biggest churches in the country, up in
Washington, D.C. And people were just awed by
it. Just awed by it. and all I saw
was an idol. You're just not impressed with
it anymore. There was a day which I was,
but that day ain't today. Once you've seen the glory of
His righteousness, you'll never seek to put your own on again.
You'll never come before Him saying, Lord, have not I cast
out demons? Have not I done many wonderful
works? Which work did you ever do that was wonderful? If I had a big TV screen up there
this morning and had a camera that could focus on your heart
right now, capture your best thought, you'd be ashamed for
me to put it on the TV. You wouldn't want anybody to
see it, would you? Well, why do we bring that to
God then? It don't even impress me, let
alone God. Once you've seen the glory of
His sacrifice, you'll quit offering up your own. Once you've seen
the glory of His person, you'll hate yourself. That's what Paul
said. He said, I hate myself. I used to love myself. Not after you see Him, you'll
hate what you are. Once you've seen the dignity
and majesty of His offices, you're willing to submit yourself to
it. He'll be your king. He'll be your prophet. He'll
be your wisdom. Once you've seen the glory of
his love for you, you'll leave father, mother, sister, and brother.
And when you leave them, it'll appear like hatred. Ain't that
what they say? You hate me. I don't hate you. I love him. I love him. Imagine for just a minute. Imagine you're over in Africa,
deepest, darkest Africa. I'm talking bone in the nose,
people. Deepest, darkest Africa. And you're living over there
in this little thatched hut. Dirt floors. Fire outside. Have to get up there every day
and go hunt for your food. You don't have one of them good
compound bowls with sides on it. You got this little makeshift
thing you made out of a limb. And you got a little piece of
rawhide or something on there, stitched on there for a string,
and this little crooked stick for an arrow. And you got to
go out every day, every day, breakfast, lunch, and supper.
You have to hunt what you eat. You got to go down there to that
polluted stream that all the other tribes up there cast their
waste into, and that's your water source. You got to go down there
and drink every day. And the storm comes, you got
nothing to keep it out. There's cracks between each little
stick in your hut. Got no way to really, any kind
of daily cleansing, but you live out there in that filth and water.
You got nobody around you to tell you the truth. You got nothing
there to hear, nothing there to, no hope whatsoever. Every day you spend in that jungle,
you know that that's going to be what the next day brings,
and the day after that brings, and the day after that. And you're
standing there looking at your little babies up here in these
hammocks. stretch side to side in that little hut, and you know
that that's what their future holds to. All they're ever gonna
know is this dirt floor. All they're ever gonna know is
these storms. All they're ever gonna know is work, work, work,
work, work, and then die. All you're ever gonna know. But
a billionaire comes along, and he loves you. Why? I don't know. Cause he can. And he takes you, takes your
whole house. And he said, follow me. And he
takes you over here and here's this big gorgeous waterfall.
And all around that waterfall there's fruit trees and just
anything. The view, the fruit, the place,
unlike anywhere else in the world. And there he builds for you a
mansion, an absolute mansion. Heating and air. No more humidity. No more laying in that tent with
the bugs and the pests and the sweat and laying there all that
hot summer in the tropics. Now you're in here with heating
and air. Full of servants. When you get
hungry, you don't have to go get your bowl. They come in and
lay it down. Lay it down. There it is. All
you got to do is eat. Just sit there and eat. pure water catered in. He can cleanse you. You can go
in there and get cleaned, John. Sit in there cleansed in pure
water. Dresses you in the finest silk,
linen garments, and you come out there and you sit down at
this wonderful table and here's a feast, an absolute feast prepared
for you. If you fall, somebody's right
there. They're following you around. These little servants
are following you around everywhere you go. Ain't that what he said
his angels were? Ministering angels sent forth to minister
to those who shall be heirs of salvation. If you fall, they
pick you up. If you trip, they catch you.
If something threatens you, they defend you. Open this young man's
eyes, Elijah said, that he might see. And there's that great army. Anybody want to go back to the
hut? Huh? That's His glory. That's His
glory. If you see His glory, you'll
embrace Him, won't you? You see His glory, you quit playing
games. You see His glory, you hate yourself.
You see his glory, all you want to do is live for him. You see
the glory of his love, and all you want to do is praise him. You reckon when he come to that
house to visit, you reckon that fella, that old native down there,
don't have the bone in his nose anymore, and he ain't dancing
around the fire worshiping frogs. He's living in that man's house
now. You reckon when that man comes, he run out to meet him?
You reckon he looked out the window to watch for them coming?
I think he did. That's what happens when you
see it go away. That's what I'm trying to break.