I turned back to Genesis 18. I titled the message, Look Laughing
in the Tent's Door. That is what it said Sarah did
when she heard what the Lord said to Abraham. After God established
His covenant with Abraham, Abraham responded to it. By obeying God's
command, he circumcised every male in his house, including
his son Ishmael, including himself, including all the servants that
were bought with money, brought under his care, under his leadership,
servants to him. Then it says the Lord appeared
unto him. And this appearance was in the
form of three men. Now, you can probably talk about
this for a while. We did the other night. There
is a lot to be said about these three men as concerning the Lord
appearing to Abraham. Now, God was pleased to reveal
himself to us in the form of a man, the Lord Jesus Christ.
that what he is talking about here, and I am not going to get
into all the particulars of it, but there are three men here
representing the Trinity. Not as though the Trinity would
be revealed in a man, the Father, the Holy Ghost, and Christ all
becoming man. Only one of them ever appeared
as a man, and that was the Lord Jesus Christ. But in the appearance
of that man appeared all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. That's what Paul said. It was
all in him. The whole Godhead. The Holy Ghost,
the Father. He said to Philip, Philip said,
Show us the Father. He said, Philip, have you been
so long time with me? Have you not seen the Father?
And so these three men represent to me the Trinity. And represented
and manifested is their character, their spirit. purpose of God
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then I notice also here that
there are three distinct works which God has decided He will
not hide from Abraham. He is going to reveal these three
things. First of all, a son is going to be promised and given.
That is the first thing that these three men told him. There
is going to be a son given. And then this power and source
of sin is going to be judged. It's going to be judged. He said,
I'm not going to hide this from him. I know lots down there,
but I'm not going to hide this from Abraham. He said, I'm going
to tell him what I'm going to do. I'm going to burn Sodom and
Gomorrah up. It's under my judgment. And then
God's elect will be called out before that judgment. But it's the first of these things
that I want to focus on tonight because God has made a covenant
with us. He comes to us and He brings
us the promise of the heir. That's what He does. He comes
to us. Now, watch how the Scriptures describe this giving of the promise
here in Genesis 18, verse 9. I want you to notice this. The
Holy Spirit does not put these things in here by accident. They
are put in here on purpose. And it's just our ignorance that
we read over and over and over it and don't see it. And then
all of a sudden one day we see it. But watch how the Scriptures
describe this giving of the promise. In verse 9, Genesis 18, And they
said, there were three men, do you remember that? They said,
all in agreement, all in one accord, they said unto him, Where
is Sarah thy wife? Now, here's another message we
could preach on that. The first thing God does when
he comes to the sinner is to establish where he is. That's
the first thing he does. I believe there's a picture of
that there. Where is Sarah? What he had concerned Sarah. This promise that he was about
to give concerned her. He wanted her to hear. But he
won't speak to her directly. He'll speak to her through his
husband. There's another message. You see how these things, back
in Genesis, now in the New Testament, he may take an entire chapter
and explain these things. But back in Genesis, he hits
these things and goes, and we miss them when we read through
here. And Abraham answered him, and
he said, Behold, in the tent. Well, that's where he finds us,
ain't he? in this tent, in this tabernacle, in this temporary
dwelling place. You can read about it in Hebrews
chapter 11. He talks about it. They didn't build them a big
house. They didn't build a big city.
They looked for a city whose builder and maker was God, and
they were sojourners in the earth. They didn't build anything permanently
here because it wasn't planned on staying. We're just in tents. We're just temporarily in this
world. Now, watch this, verse 10. Now,
when he spoke to them in verse 9, he said, And they said, and
he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time
of life, and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard
it in the tenth door which was behind him. And Abraham and Sarah
were old and well stricken in age, and it ceased to be with
Sarah after the manner of women. Therefore Sarah laughed within
herself, saying, After I am waxed old, shall I have pleasure, my
Lord, being old also? And the Lord said unto Abraham,
Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child
which am old? Is anything too hard for the
Lord? At the time appointed I will
return unto thee according to the time of life, and Sarah shall
have a song.' Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not, for she
was afraid." See, she laughed within herself. She didn't laugh
out loud. She knew nobody heard her because
she didn't laugh out loud. She just laughed within herself.
And she said, I didn't laugh. He said, Nay, but thou didst
laugh. Now, in Romans 9, verse 9, Paul
sums up the true Israel. He tells us who they are and
how God makes them to know who they are. And this is what he
says. This is how he sums the whole
thing up. You can read it at your leisure
when you get home. You can read through Romans 9
and Romans 10 as far as that is concerned. Both chapters start
very similar. But here is what he says. Here
is the promise. At this time will I come, and
Sarah shall have a son." This is not a promise. This is the
promise. That is what I want you to see.
This is the promise. And Sarah, over in Galatians,
it said, is the heavenly Jerusalem, the mother of us all. She is
a picture of the church. And so God is going to speak
to the church, but He is not going to speak directly to the
church. He is going to speak to them through her husband.
You see the picture now? You're beginning to get the picture
here. God's going to speak this promise. The promise. The seed. Not seeds as of many, but thy
seed, which is Christ. And He's going to give this promise
to Sarah. And He asked for her. Where is
Sarah? He wanted Sarah to hear. He wanted
her to be near to hear. But He's not going to speak to
her. He's going to speak to Abraham. But He wanted her to hear. And
He was speaking to her, but speaking through her husband. And so it
is, even when we are commanded as far as God's authority concerning
the husband and the wife, it said, let a wife learn at home
from her husband. You see, he is going to speak
to her, but he is going to speak indirectly. Because that husband
and wife is a picture of Christ in the church. Now, it is exactly
this promise which Saver, a picture of God's true church, hears and
then lashed within herself in unbelief, considering who she
is, considering her state, and utter inability to do what God
said that she would do. Then in answer to her unbelief,
God tells her through her husband, is anything too hard for the
Lord? These things, I believe, represent
the work of God the Holy Spirit as he comes to chosen sinners.
and produces in them a true air of grace. Now, I'm going to give
you six things tonight that I believe God says through His Son, and
He allows us to hear them in our tents door, in these tents,
in these bodies of clay. We have this treasure, Paul said,
in earthen vessels. He allows us to sit in the tent
door. Have you ever just thought about
who you are? Have you ever just thought about
what you are. We're just clay. We're so frail. We went down to visit with Georgia
Fay, and Amos was laying there in the bed, and he's so frail.
And on the way down, Winston was telling me how he used to
come out here and fix things, work around the church, healthy
as a bear, you know. Just ready to go, ready to do
something. I'm sure I've been to their house and I see things
around the house, as you pointed out, that Amos built or Amos
did and fixed and so on. And here he is. And now all of
a sudden, boy, just like that, down he goes. Down he goes. And
now he's laying there helpless. We're just in tents. Now we live like we're going
to live here forever. We treat this body like it's
a permanent dwelling place and we're going to live here forever,
but we ain't. We're just here for a little while. James said
our life is like you could just watch the steam from the tea
kettle. It goes up and it's gone. And that's all this life is,
just a vapor, just a vapor. Well, let me give you six things
that I believe God speaks through Christ and allows us to hear
in the doors of our tents. First of all, to produce an heir,
I must receive a seed. Now, we're all adults here tonight,
and I don't want to embarrass anybody, but isn't this the first
thing that made our mother say or laugh? Ain't that the first
thing she thought about that made her laugh? After I'm waxed
old, shall I have pleasure? Isn't that what she said? She
thought about how she looked. I try to project myself into
these things when I'm preaching to you about them and when I'm
studying them. Project myself into the moment. Here she sits
in that tent and she is listening. She is listening. This blessed
promise. These blessed men. Abraham just
running. We hear about the Lord and we
just meander around like we have all the time. Abraham knew something
about God. He feared God. When the Lord
appeared to him and those men and Lot did the same thing. Abraham
ran. He ran to get the calf. And he
ran to tell Sarah. And he told her, hurry up. Get
them cakes. Knead them. Get them in the oven.
Get these cakes. These are important men. These
things are important. We don't put them off. We don't
do all those things. And here she is. And she knows
what they had to say is important. And all of a sudden, these three
voices just are one voice. Just one voice now, she hears. And she hears what he says, and
she laughs. She laughs. Well, what did she
laugh about? Well, I thought about it. And she must have thought
about how she looked. Abraham was 99. There wasn't
all that much difference in age between the two of them. And
she thought about how she looked, how she must appear. Here's this thing of a man and
a woman coming together, She's thinking about these things.
She's thinking about how this promise is going to come to pass.
And she's trying to picture herself. And the robe's off. I mean, we
cover up a lot with clothes. I guarantee you, I do. And put
a little makeup on. Back then, they wore veils. So
we'd just cover the whole thing up. But here she is. And she's picturing how she's
going to look. How she's going to look. And
all these coverings are gone and stripped away. The veil laid
aside, and she stands there naked before her husband, and she talked
about it, and she laughed. She laughed. And then she thought
about her ability, or rather, inability, and she laughed again. But most of all, I believe she
tried to picture herself in her husband's eyes. Eyes of anticipation,
and eyes of excitement, and eyes of delight. eager and anxious
and hungry for love. And she laughed. She laughed. Now, several times throughout
these verses, he uses this phrase, according to the time of life. You remember, I read it to you
three or four times going through here. That's important or he
wouldn't keep saying it. Not the natural time of life.
That had already come and gone. But listen to what he calls it.
down in verse 14, at the time appointed. That's when he's going
to come. The time appointed. There is
an appointed time of life when the Lord shall come and put his
seed within us. And that time is when we're brought
to see ourselves out of the picture. Out of the picture. That time
is when we look at ourselves and see nothing appealing to
God. We look within and there is nothing
for him to see and hunger for. There is no beauty about us,
no glitter, altogether ugly, filthy rags before God. God brings us down and reveals
to us what we are when that appointed time comes. Now is the time,
he said, now, now. And yet the commandment is that
he will come in power and grace. And He'll come to us as we are. Does that not make you laugh? Does
that not make you laugh? When you're in your sins, looking
at yourself and can't see yourself, you cannot picture yourself in
your husband's eyes hungry for love, can you? You can't do it. Sinner can't do it. He has to
be convinced of the Holy Spirit of God. It's the only way you
can do it. And yet, the commandment is that he will come. He will
come. And he will come as we are. And
he will come in power and grace, as repulsive as we are. Yet,
we must submit ourselves to him and receive within ourselves
the gospel seed. Now, I want you to listen to
this. I'm going to read this. And with these things that I've
just said in mind, I want you to listen to what Peter says. under the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit. He said, being born again, born again, not of corruptible
semen, that's what that word seed means, semen, but of incorruptible,
by the word of God, flora. Now, watch how he describes it. All flesh is grass, and all the
glory of man is the flower of the grass. The grass withereth,
and the flower fadeth away. but the word of the Lord endureth
forever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you." The word of God is a book, just
a mere book of facts and events and history and moral lessons
of no consequence to anybody who reads them except to condemn
them for their disobedience to its command. That's all you're
going to get out of it. The natural man, read this book,
and all he can get from it is condemnation, condemnation, condemnation. In order for the word of God
to benefit the soul, God must come in the power of his Holy
Spirit and make love to the sinner. That's what has to happen. And
he can't imagine such a thing in his state. He can't fathom. Think about this for a minute.
I was thinking about Hosea and Gomer. And Gomer spent a life
as a harlot. And she's all used up now. And
her lovers don't want anything to do with her. And now she's
down there on the auction block. And she stands up there in her
filthy rags. And people gather around. And
she looks over there and there's her husband. Ready to bid. And buys her and takes her home.
You can't imagine, there's no way in Gomer's mind that she
could ever imagine Hosea coming down there and loving her and
looking at her with hungry eyes. Eyes for love. And buying her
off the auction. There's no way. No way. I'm telling
you, when the sinner stands in the tent door and he hears that,
he laughs. He laughs within himself. Not
that he misunderstands God or however you want to explain it,
but what I'm saying is when he looks at himself. That's where
Sarah's problem was. That's what made her laugh in
unbelief is when she looked at herself. And to her unbelief,
God said these words. He asked this question. He said,
Is anything too hard for the Lord? Now, you ain't going to
do it. You're not going to do it. You
can't get the desire to do it any more than she could. Can't
do it. But he can. And then secondly,
I'll tell you this, a birth must take place. He said, Nicodemus,
you must be born again. You must be born again. Listen
to this, to as many as received him, He came into the world,
and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not, and
he came unto his own, and his own received him not. But to
as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons
of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born."
That is what has to take place before this heir. Everything
hinges on this heir, but to be an heir, what has to take place?
You have to be born. You have to be born, not of blood,
not of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man, but of
God. Now, listen to this. I just love
how James put this. He said, Of his own will begat
he us with the word of truth. Of his own will. Now, here is
the word of promise. At this time I will come and
Sarah shall have a son." Now, it is the truth and the way by
which Christ was born, and it is the truth and the way by which
all the joint heirs are manifested. The same thing. He is going to
come. He is going to come, and she
is going to have a son. In Galatians 4, verse 6, it says,
God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts,
crying, Abba, Father." Now, is there any man, any man, who
dares to deny, as Sarah did, that he has not laughed within
himself at the idea of being born again? I used to listen
to them when I was a kid. I'd listen to that preacher.
Ain't talking about being born again. I laugh. I'm just a kid. Like Nicodemus. Nicodemus said, am I going to
crawl back up my mother's womb and be born again? What are you
talking about? Born again. Born again. Born again. A new man. New creation. A true heir. I talk to people all the time.
And they can't understand. They just can't get past this
preconceived idea that they've heard since they were babies
about man's free will and man's decisions and commitments and
what are you willing to do for the Lord and all this kind of
Tommy Rock. They just can't get past that
thing. They can't even conceive of this. They refuse to even
think about this. You must be born again. You must. Now even if you had a decision,
and you will, you will make a decision, you must be willing, you're going
to be willing, but you're not going to do either one until
you're born. Now that shoots the whole thing in the head,
don't it? This whole thing of man's works, man's decisions,
and man's will. He shoots it all in the head
with this verse. You can't enter the kingdom of
God. You can't even perceive the kingdom of God until you're
born again. You can't do that. You can't
do that. But is anything too hard for
the Lord? You see what's taking place back
here? And then thirdly, this book declares that all true heirs
of Christ repent and believe. Now, I refuse to separate these
two because one is without benefit without the other. Repentance
is a turning, faith is a looking. But you can't look without turning
and you can't turn without looking. You can't separate these two
truths. But I picture Sarah sitting there and before she can do anything,
she's going to have to turn from her thinking, isn't she? Before
she can receive this promise and believe this promise and
lay hold of this promise, she's going to have to quit looking
within and look to Him. Like faith and repentance, right
there. She's got to turn. And this is
the thing. I preach this thing of sovereign
grace to men, and men try to understand it by natural logic
and reasoning. You can't reason it out. It's
not logical. It's not natural. It's eternal. It's divine. You must be born
of God. You've got to be born of the
Spirit, born of water and the Spirit. The thing has to be accomplished
of God. It's nothing that you can do.
And she's going to have to turn from looking. She's standing
there in this old wrinkled-up body, and she's looking at herself
and thinking to herself, I can't have a child. There's no way.
I don't even want to have a child. The desire isn't even here. He's
old, and I'm old, and he don't much like me anymore, and I don't
much like him. Maybe that's being a little plain,
but that's what it all boils down to. As far as that physical relationship,
it's over. It's gone. She's one tent, and
he's another. That's where it's at, and I'm
telling you. And God comes, and He tells us this, and here we
are in this tent. And He's in glory, and here we
are down here. And He tells us it's true. And
don't we laugh? Sure we do. Sure we do. We won't say we don't, but He
said, no, but you did. You did. And we do. They must
repent and believe. You cannot turn without looking,
and you cannot look without turning. In Acts 17.30 it says, God now
commandeth all men everywhere to repent, and to do so because
he is appointed a day in which he will judge this world in righteousness
by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance,
assurance against that judgment that he is appointed, whereof
he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised
him from the dead. And I tell you this, it's not
that judgment that leads men to repentance, nor the fear of
hell, but it's the goodness of God that gives him that assurance. He's got to come and make love
before that seed can come in, and we're born, and faith and
repentance take place in the heart. That's how it has to happen.
And that's against all natural logic, isn't it? Man just sits
there and goes, you're nuts. I am telling you this is exactly
what this is teaching. It is the goodness of God that
leadeth thee to repentance, and the goodness of God manifested
in his Son. In seeing the Son, I see myself,
and I see this present evil world. In seeing the Son, I see the
folly of this world. I see the folly of this flesh,
and I see its empty promises. And I turned from myself and
turned to the Lord, and I turned from this world and its treasures
and its religion to the promised Redeemer of God. He said, except
you repent, you will all likewise perish. They said, well, this
guy was over here working and the wall fell and killed 14 of
them. They were telling the Lord all about this. He said, except
you repent, you are all going to likewise perish. That day
is going to fall on you just like that wall fell on them.
That fire is going to burn you up just like it burned them.
That earthquake is going to come and get you just like it did
them thousands. That flood is going to come and
wash you away. Except you repent, you all likewise
perish. It is what I see in the looking
that brings about the turning. And as I discover the glory of
God in the face of Jesus Christ, I discover the corruption of
this first Adam. As I see the spiritual eye, then
I plead from the natural. As I see the eternal, I go from
the natural. And as I rejoice in the everlasting,
I long to be free from the carnal." Isn't that what Paul said? That's
repentance and faith. Peter preached in the power of
God's Spirit, poured out like never before upon the church.
And those who heard him preach, it said, were pricked in their
hearts. And they said, what are we going to do? What are we going
to do? This man that we crucified and
had nailed to a cross, God raised him from the dead, seated him
at his right hand, and made him Lord over the dead and the living.
We are in his hands whom we have crucified. What are we going
to do? They are what Peter said, repent. Better throw that religion down
than make you nail him to the cross. Better throw it down.
Better get rid of it. Throw down your old traditions.
Throw down your old legalisms. Carry out that trash of that
old ceremonialism and ideas of self-righteous religion. Repent
and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Him whom
you nailed on the tree. Repent and believe. Identify
yourself with the Christ of God. and bow to Him, surrender to
Him, give yourselves over to Him and beg for mercy. Because
God made Him Lord. He made Him Lord. Salvation is the willful surrender
of yourself to Christ to do with as He sees fit. That is what
it is. You see so much goodness in Him
and so much evil in you that you will give yourself to Him.
You'll trust Him more to do with you than you trust yourself.
Now, when you get there, the Lord's doing the work in you.
When you get there. When you see more goodness in
Him than you do in yourself, you see more concern for you
in Him than you can find in yourself, then you'll turn loose of yourself
and put yourself in His hands. They do with me whatever seems
right. I know you can't do wrong. Can any natural man accomplish
this feat in the power of the flesh? Absolutely not. The rich young ruler tried it
and walked away defeated and miserable. Our Lord said, with
man it is impossible, but is anything too hard for the Lord? Faith and repentance too hard
for God to accomplish. And then listen to this, fourthly,
the Bible says that all those grafted into the vine by faith
will produce a heavenly fruit. Surely, if anything will cause
that old doubting flesh to laugh, it's this. It's this. Love. Love God. How many times do you ask Peter?
Peter, do you love me? He was sure a short time before,
wasn't he? He said, they might forsake you,
but I won't. I'll stay right here. I've got
my sword on my side. I've already proved it. I cut
the man's ear off. I was aiming for his head. I
got my sword. I'm ready to go to war. They
might leave, but I ain't leaving. Yeah, you're the one. You're
going to leave. Now he finds him out on the beach, and he
looks at him, and he says, Peter, do you love me? Lord, you know. You know. I don't
know. You know. Can this old flesh Accomplish
those things, love. Paul said, the works of the flesh.
I want you to listen to this. They manifest. We manifest these
things every day. Every one of us. Works of the
flesh are these. Manifested on every tree, not
planted by the Heavenly Father. Manifested like that old sludge
pumping up out of the gulf down there. Bringing up. Corrupting. Here's
what it produces. He said adultery, fornication,
uncleanness, lasciviousness, that is, loose living, idolatry,
witchcraft, hatred, variance. What's variance? What's that
mean? It's a disputing and arguing nature, an attitude always of
a different opinion. I don't care what you say, black.
Oh, no, it's white. I don't care what it is. They
go, well, what? That's variance. Emulation. Here's another word we're not
too familiar with. To emulate is an ambition to
be equal or better than whoever it is you're talking to. You
get engaged in a conversation and he says one thing and you
say another. You try to top him. And then when he tops you, it's
like playing poker, you know, when you throw that card down.
He says one thing, you say the next. You're going to get a little
higher than him. When it's all said and done, you won't be on
top. That's emulate. Held in higher
regard. To change my status by something
I say or something I do. Then he says, this works of the
flesh. It produces wrath. In a fallen
man, that's self-righteous anger. That's what that is. That's when
you step on his toes. You get on them toes of religion
and you step on them. He gets mad. That's a self-righteous
anger. When they sit there and throw
the Bible down on the pew, I ain't going to have it. That's the
dumbest thing I ever heard. That's self-righteous anger. That's wrath. That's what that
is. Strife. Always quarreling and arguing
around. Seditions. Sedition is conduct
or language that incites others against authority. Person that
goes outside and he says, psst, come here, man. Come here, man.
You know, and he gets four or five around and then, you know. I don't really think we ought
to do it that way. Do you? I don't really think we ought
to say it just that way. Do you? He incites. He incites people. He's against
that authority. He don't want to bow to that
authority. That's sedition. It's insurrection, conduct, comments
that divide and separate. And it produces heresies, untruth,
teaching for doctrines of commandments of men, envies, always wanting
to be in somebody else's shoes. You know, like that grass always
greener on the other side. Envy, murders, refusing. You know how you murder somebody,
you just quit talking to them. You kill them. That's what you
did. You shut up Lottie State talking to him no more. Walk
away. You killed him. Ain't that what
the Bible says? You killed him. Killed him. I don't want to be in his company
anymore. Lottie's quit coming. You killed him. Might as well
took a knife and stabbed him in the heart. You killed him.
Murdered him. Fusing to speak, cutting off
their fellowship, and then drunkenness. Now, I don't want to get into
a big thing on this, but it has to do with people that drink
excessively. There's an addiction there. And
they drink to their own hurt and to the hurt of others. When
you get to that place, you're drunk. Now, just face up to it.
You're drunk. If you wasn't drunk, you wouldn't
do it. If you want to go home and have
a glass of wine with your meal, have it. Paul told Timothy, he
said, take a little wine for your stomach's sake. Use it medicinally. He also told him that there at
the wedding he changed water into wine. He did it because
it was there for merrymaking. They were celebrating the marriage.
It's okay. It's okay. My son got married. I had some wine while I was up
there at the celebration. It's okay. But I didn't sit over
there and drink three gallons. I just had a glass full. That
was enough. These are the works of the flesh. Then he said, revelings. I like the dictionary definition
of these. It is noisy festivity. Someone who lives to party. Then the Bible applies it to
reveling in our sins. What he is talking about? is
we rejoice in who we are. Now, when you see a church full
of people and they're all up clapping their hands and Jericho
marching and all of them proud and standing up and saying, I'll
tell you what I did for the Lord, they stand there with their hand
there telling you, they're rejoicing in what they are. That's reveling.
That's what he's talking about. Reveling. This is what grows in the soil
of man's fallen nature, and the fruit of grace won't grow in
that soil. You can plant it all you want to. It won't grow. You
can stand up there and say, be kind, Christian, be kind. That
natural soil isn't going to grow kindness. It isn't going to do
it. It isn't going to grow love. It won't grow in that garden
where his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
And Paul said the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. Temperance. Can the arm of the flesh produce
this fruit? Can a man by determination set
his mind to do good and then do it? Listen to what the prophet
said. He said, can the Ethiopian change
his skin or the leopard his spots? Then can you who are accustomed
to do evil, can you do good? You can't do it. You can't do
it. And I hear these things, and
I look at myself, and I look within, and I look over my face,
and I laugh. I laugh in the tenth door. And
he says to me, is there anything too hard for the Lord? He can
take this cold, cold heart and make it love. Yes, He can. Yes, he can. Fifteen. This divine book tells me that
even and every true Arab, every true Arab God must persevere
in the faith and all who do not, every one of them, every one
of them who do not, manifest themselves as children of Satan. That's what John said. He said
they went out from us because they were not of us. Had they
been of us, they no doubt would have continued with us. Hebrews 3 says, Moses was faithful
over all his house as a servant, and for a testimony of things
which must be spoken afterward. But Christ as a Son over his
own house, whose house are we if we hold fast the confidence
and rejoicing of the whole firm unto thee. And I love this one. In 1 Corinthians 15, talking
about this gospel, he said, I preached it to you, and you received it,
and you stand in it. Now, listen to what he says.
By which also you are saved, if you keep in memory what I
preached unto you, unless you believed in vain. True faith
will be tested and tried and purified by fire. And that fire
is the fire of trials of a lifetime. Faith is the gift of God. It's
given of God. It's preserved of God. It's His
work. It's His work. And He's going
to prove it to you. He's going to prove it to everybody,
but He's mostly going to prove it to you. He's going to prove
it to you. When I look at what faith is
and what faith must do and how faith must persevere, and I look
inside, I laugh. But is it too hard for the Lord?
Ain't that where you come back when you're getting down? Don't
you come back there to Philippians chapter 1 and look at that? He
which hath begun a good work in you. Oh, that's where your
confidence is, isn't it? Anything too hard for the Lord.
Oh, but then what about the grave? What of that cold, dark box into
which my body will be laid, then lowered down into the ground?
The old writer said, what is that double darkness of death
in the grave? Close the lid for the last time. Lower you down to the ground.
Put the dirt on top. Old Job said, if a man dies,
will he live again? He wanted to know. I'm kind of
interested myself. If a man dies, will he live again?
Help us to reason or weigh circumstance. Help us to seek or pray or search
or look. The old timers called it going
to your long home. Do you remember reading that?
Going to your long home. Long home. What is your hope
as you draw that last breath? What is your confidence as the
light begins to fade from these eyes and the heart beats that
last time and it barely can flutter, that last breath? What's your
hope? What's your hope? as your spirit is drawn up out
of that cold, dead corpse, and now for the first time you come
to know the power of God and how inseparable his presence
is and how irresistible his authority is. And he draws that spirit
unto judgment and draws it to himself uncontrollably. What's your hope? What's your
hope? Now what will you rest in? Where
is your free will now and your decisions and your determinations? How much do these world's treasures
and friendships and influence mean to you now? If a man dies,
shall he live again? You see what Job is asking? Oh,
Job said, all the days of my appointed time, I wait till my
change comes. He said, thou shalt call and
I will answer. Thou wilt have a desire to the
work of thy hands. That's my hope. Listen to this,
Job 14, 16. For now thou number'st my steps, dost thou not watch over my sin? My transgression is sealed up
in a bag, and thou sewest up mine iniquity. Surely the mountain
falling, even though the mountain falls on me and covers a whole
mountain, I'm down in a coal mine that caves in and the mountain
falls down on me. Though the mountain fall on me,
cometh to naught. Though they put that big rock
over the tomb like they did of Christ, it's removed out of its
place. Oh, he said that my words were
now written. or that they were printed in
a book, that they were graven with an iron pen and laid in
a rock forever. For I know that my Redeemer liveth,
and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And
though after my skin worms devour this body, yet in my flesh I'll
see God." That's a hope. That's a hope. "...whom I shall
see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another." This
corruptible, Paul said, must put on incorruption, and this
mortal must put on immortality. The sting of death is sin, and
the strength of sin is the law. Sin reigns and curses and sweeps
away men into judgment because God is just and must and will
punish sin. It is the strength of it. The
strength of sin is God's holy law that demands a just recompense
for every transgression. And we are all together sin.
Job said we drink iniquity like water. To be saved and enter into glory,
this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal
must put on immortality. And when it does, if it does,
then shall be brought to pass the saying which is written,
Death is swallowed up in victory. Thanks be unto God, he said,
which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. And looking
out into eternity and death and judgment is a fearful thing. And when a man thinks on what
is required to bring that to pass, do you not laugh in your
tent's door? Think of the power required.
That old body has gone back to the dust. Just cobwebs in the
box now. God calls it out just as easily
as He did Lazarus after three days. Or Jairus' daughters, newly
dead. It doesn't make any difference.
It doesn't make any difference. And that's what He comes and
He tells us. In the unbelief of this flesh, He tells us, He
said, is anything too hard for the Lord? I'm telling you, that's
where it's at. That's where we have to rest.
That's where we've got to bring this faith and rest. And he always
does it just like he did with Sarah at this time. When that
time comes that he takes you out of the picture and convinces
you that you have no ability to do any of these things from
even the desire to receive the seed until he raises that dead
body from the grave, it's all of him. and all with His strength
and all back to the glory of His name. Oh, God give us an
understanding of it and cause us to receive it.