I want you to take your Bibles
and turn with me tonight to Genesis 12. I've been all over the place
today with this message. The Lord has already blessed
me with it several times, so I hope you'll be pleased to do
the same for you. Our study of this chapter began
with the God of Abraham, the God who calls. And then last
week we talked a little bit about that calling of Abraham, and
I talked to you some more about it Sunday morning. And tonight
I want to get into what Abraham is all about. Faith. Faith. Faith. You just find him
all the way through the Scriptures talking about Abraham and his
faith. And I titled this message, actually
if you go to the book of Romans, the whole fourth chapter of a
book written specifically about justification by faith is dedicated
to that faith and that example and that manifestation of that
work of God in Abraham. The whole fourth chapter. But
I titled this message tonight out of verse 4 of Genesis chapter
12, and I titled this message simply, So. So. In Genesis chapter 12 verse 4
it says, So Abraham departed as the Lord had spoken unto him.
And the more I studied this subject, The more I begin to notice this
word, so. So. He says over here in the
beginning, over here in the beginning of the book of Genesis, he said,
let us make man in our image after our likeness. And let them
have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of
the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over
every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. God taking counsel
with God about the creation of a man. Now listen to what he
says. So, God created man in His own image. So. This is what
God intended to do. So, that's what God did. In the
garden, Man shook his fist in the face of God and he said,
I'll do what I want, when I want, where I want, with whom I want.
And God cursed him. And then he came to him. And
he reconciled him. And he gave him a promise of
a coming redeemer. He gave him that promise and
illustrated that that promise ought to be viewed through the
slaughtered lamb, through the slain lamb. and through this
covering of righteousness. And he put it on him and he said,
And so God drove out the man. He didn't drive him out without
a promise. He didn't drive him out without
mercy. So God drove out the man. And you can go all through the
Scriptures. Over in Romans chapter 5 it says, By one man sin entered
into the world, and death by sin. And so Death passed upon
all men. By the offense of one, judgment
came upon all men to condemnation. Even so, by the righteousness
of one, the free gift came upon all men to justification of life. As sin hath reigned unto death,
even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life. Paul said over in Romans chapter
6, Beginning with verse 3, he said this, Know you not that
so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized
into His death? Therefore we are buried with
Him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised from
the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, he said, we
also should walk in newness of life. Because I have two natures. And
one cannot be made subject to the law of God, while the other
wants only to be subject to the law of God. One that always keeps
me from being what I desire to be, or prevents me from being
what the other desires. And Paul talks about this all
through Romans 7, and then he said, He said, With the mind I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. Because
I have a carnal mind that is not subject to the law of God,
neither indeed can be. So then, he said, they that are
in the flesh cannot please God. And finally, after summing all
these blessings up in the book of Galatians, Paul said, So they
that be of faith are blessed. with faithful laboring. So, all
the way through Scripture. All the way through, I find this
word, so, to be the hinge upon which all these various things
of faith swing. Right up and including the last
two verses of the Bible where John said, he that testified
these things, sayeth this, He that testifies the prophecy of
this book, that revelation of Jesus Christ, that man who testifies
those things, he says, surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus. How typical of the God of glory
who always uses the weak base, despised and foolish things of
this world to confound the whys of this world and to manifest
His glory in His work, to use a word like soul to sum up the
very foundation of faith. Now the bulk of what I have to
say to you tonight revolves around this little word soul. When God the Holy Spirit inserted
this word so into this passage, it was for us to consider everything
that transpired before. What do you mean? Let your mind
wander. As far back as your mind can
comprehend by the Word of God, let your mind go. I guarantee
you, you won't go back far enough. Take it back as far as your mind
is able to comprehend. It takes in the very covenant
of grace that made provision for his calling. Paul said God
made covenant with Abraham, didn't he? He said that law came 400
years later, didn't have anything to do with it. Why? Because that
covenant was established way back yonder. He just made it
known to Abraham. It takes in the appointment of
Christ as the surety. He rejoiced to see his day and
was glad. It takes in the mediator, the
covenant. It takes in the fall of Adam,
the blood of Abel, the flood, the awful tower of Babel, the
curse of Ham, the idolatry of his sons and his family, right
up to the house of Abraham himself. So as it's inserted here by the
wisdom of God, it takes in the blessings of Shem and the nine
generations that passed after him. His father, through the
grace of God, blessed that boy, old Noah did. And he said, I'm
going to bless your brother, and how I'm going to bless him
is he's going to dwell in your tents. I'm going to bless you. I don't have to tell you who
his great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather was. That's
Abraham. Abraham. It takes in all those
nine generations. It takes in all that happened
after. So, Joshua spoke to Israel and
reminded them of who their father Abraham was and the sorry reputation
of his house over in Joshua chapter 24. And here's what he said in
verse 2. He said, dwelt on the other side
of the flood in old times." This is where you come from, you see.
Now, he said, you hear me. Your fathers dwelt on the other
side of the flood, on the preservation side of the flood, on the good
side of the flood, on the side they should have known better.
That's where your fathers dwelt in old times, even Terah, the
father of Abraham, and the father of Nacor, and they served other
gods. That's what he told them. They
were idolaters. It takes in the truth Abraham
heard. In Galatians 3.8 it said in the
scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through
faith, preached before the gospel under Abraham, saying, In thee
shall all nations be blessed. And it takes in all the agonies
of conviction and convincing of sin. It takes in all the faculties of His being, His emotions,
His affections, His heart, His mind, His will. It takes in an
inward struggle and confusion of heart that deals with Him
leaving His own to follow God. It takes in the very presence,
power, and promises of God that motivated Him to leave. So, he
says, Abraham departed. Now let me give you a couple
of things tonight concerning this faith. And we're going to
get into this deeper and deeper as we go. But let's start right
here. It's faith that identifies the
child of God. Abraham was a child back yonder
in idolatry. He says that in the New Testament.
When was this covenant made with him? When he was circumcised?
No. He said when he was yet uncircumcised. He was a son. He was a son way
back yonder when Noah blessed Shem he was a son. He was a son
back yonder when Adam fell. He was a son back yonder in the
covenant of grace before the foundations of the world. He
was a son. And because he was a son, in
time God sent forth his Spirit unto him, Paul said. The Spirit
of his son. And he cried, Abba, Father. It's
faith that identifies the child of God. Faith is the first work
of God in a man. That's what I want you to see.
It's the first work of God. Oh, now wait a minute, pastor.
What about the new birth? What are we going to do with
that? Didn't Christ say, you must be born again, you cannot
perceive the kingdom of God unless you be born again? Didn't God
say something about you cannot enter into the kingdom of God
except you be born again? Absolutely. In fact, he prefaces
both those statements with a double valley, don't he? Valley, valley.
He said, surely, surely, this is going to be. And it is. Absolutely. I have no problem
with that whatsoever. Both of those statements. But
I warn you about this. Things that are separated for
study and for understanding and for statement are not necessarily
separated in the experience of them. Faith and repentance are
good examples. Can you have one and not have
the other? No way. No way. Turn with me to 1 Peter
1. The new birth can only be known
through faith. can only be known through faith.
Now I want you to think about what I'm saying. Don't just shove
this thing aside. I'm not just up there spitting
out words. I've thought about these things and prayed over
these things. I'm not just spitting out words. I want you to think
about what I just said. The new birth can only be known
through faith. That's how the child of God discovers
he's a child. He believes. He believes. If he don't, the scripture says
he has no reason to believe that he's a child. All his children believe. And
this new birth can only be known by faith. You know, a young woman
meets a young man and they fall in love and they get married
and she takes within her the seed of her husband and this
thing lies in her stomach and grows. And nine months goes by. Nine months. That's a long time. And this thing begins to grow
and grow and grow. And finally, one day, one day,
she goes into travail. And she begins to have this labor
pain, and she begins to be in agony, and she goes on and convulses
and so on until this child is delivered. She cannot determine
what the seed will produce until it's manifested in life. Doesn't
He use that term, travail in birth, talking about the new
birth? Yes, He does. As simple as I know how to say
it from the Scripture, is that that new birth is Christ in you,
the hope. Did you hear me? The hope of
glory. I have a hope. That's what this
new birth is all about. That's exactly what this new
birth is all about. Here in 1 Peter 1, listen to
this. Now, he's already stated here
about the election of God and the means of God, that sanctification
of the Spirit, the belief of the truth, that sprinkling of
the blood of Christ. He's already stated for us all
the doctrines. Now, listen to what he says here
in verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten
us again." Now watch this. "...unto a lively hope." A lively
hope. In John chapter 1, the Apostle
talks about Christ being in the world, Christ coming to His own.
His own received Him not. The world knew Him not. But he
says this, this is virtually the same thing that Peter said.
These men are not in conflict with one another. He said, as
many as received Him, believed on Him, that's what he's talking
about, embraced Him, discerned Him, laid hold of Him, to them
gave He the power. That's how they got that right
and privilege. That's how come God spoke to
them and didn't speak to the one next to Him. All the ones
who didn't receive Him. All the ones who didn't know
Him. Why did these receive Him? To as many as received Him, to
them gave He the power. That word is right and privilege. And you can put another plus
on there and put ability. All in the same package. To become
the sons of God, even, now listen, to them who believe. who believe on His name, which
were born, until we see it. They believe on His name because
they're born. They're born. Nobody else is
going to believe on His name. That which is begotten in us
is the faith of God's elect which binds us in a living, vital union
with His Son. That's what this faith is all
about. It unites us together. His righteousness becomes mine. His salvation that He has accomplished
becomes mine. I receive of His glory. I become
a son. I'm seated with Him in the heavenlies.
You see what I'm saying? This faith binds. It's like a
cord that binds Him with us. We become one. We were already
one in the purpose of God. But this faith becomes a reality
in you. And it's like a new birth. And
Christ begins to be formed in you. In you. And if you look anywhere else
for an evidence of regeneration, you're looking in the wrong place.
Paul said, I declare unto you the gospel. which I preached
unto you, which also you have received, and wherein you stand,
and by which also you are saved, if you keep in memory what I
preached unto you, otherwise you disbelieved in vain." There's
no birth there. No birth there. Nothing of any
consequence will ever come to pass in a man's life apart from
true heart faith. Okay, how many tears he sheds,
and how many prayers he prays, and how many years he serves,
and how much Scripture he can quote. Nothing is going to happen
apart from faith. Is that right? That's what the
Scripture declares. And this brings me to my second
point. What this faith perceives. He said you must be born again
to perceive. the kingdom of God, to see it,
to perceive it. What does faith perceive? Well,
in Hebrews chapter 11, that's the faith chapter. We go back
there and he uses Abraham there and Sarah and he uses Jacob and
Isaac and Joseph and he calls a lot of names to members. But
Paul gives the testimony of Enoch, whom the Lord translated Took
him straight into glory. He walked with God and one day
just walked right into glory. Wouldn't that be something? That's
exactly what Owen did. God translated him, took him
right into glory. And it says of him that before
the Lord translated him, he had this testimony. He had this reputation. Men talked about him back and
forth. And what they said was he believed
God. He believed God. He had this
testimony. But, he says, verse 6, without
faith, it's impossible to please Him.
He pleased God, but you can't please Him apart from faith. You can't please Him. There ain't
no way to please Him. You can't pray enough to please
Him. You can't serve enough. You can't give enough. You can't
act good enough. You can't dig deep enough. You
just can't please God apart from faith. And the reason faith pleases
God is because it lays hold of the perfect one. The perfect
one. Now watch what he says here.
For he that cometh to God. This is a coming by faith. That's
what we're talking about tonight. Approaching by faith. Communicating
by faith. Worshipping by faith. He that
cometh to God must. No ifs, ands, and buts. No maybes. No options. He must. Must. Now watch this. Here's
the first thing. Believe that God is. That God is. Do you believe that? Do I believe that? That God is. Do you and I believe that there
is an eternal deity, absolute sovereign, all-wise, all-knowing,
everywhere present God? That everything you see in this
world, everything that they view in the microscopes, everything
that they've sent out the shuttles to take pictures of and discover,
is all contained in God. That's what Paul said. In Him,
he said, we live and move and have our best. It's all in God. Do you believe that? Do you believe
that God is the beginning? That before Him was nothing?
No universe, no stars, no moon, no sun, no man, no earth, no
water, no nothing. In the beginning, God. Do you believe that? He's Alpha and Omega. He's the
first and the last. He said, I alone declare the
end from the beginning. He is the beginning. Everything
proceeded forth from him. That there is one who is set
apart from all the rest. He said there is none like me.
He devoted three or four chapters in the book of Isaiah and just
kept telling them, I am God and beside me there is none other. I stand alone. I alone have the
title God. God. There is none like me. There is none can counsel me.
None who can resist me. None who can defeat me. None
who can impress me. The isles are just a drop in
the bucket. I sit on the circle of the earth
and all the inhabitants thereof are grasshoppers. None can impress
me. Do you believe that? Well, that's what's called in
Scripture the fear of God. Fear of God. And this fear of
God is the beginning of wisdom. The first thing that's awakened
in the believer is a sense of God's awesome power and presence. That's what he says over here
in Hebrews 11. I'm giving you the Word of God.
He that cometh to God must believe that he is. Moses said, now wait a minute.
He said, now I was raised down there in Pharaoh's house. And
I know something about his power. And I know something about his
kingdom and his armies. If I go down there, who am I
going to tell him sent me? He said, you tell him I am sent
you. That's what we're talking about. God is. And that's all
he ever says of himself to the old saints. I am. I am. That pretty much incorporates
the whole business, don't it? I am. I hear men and women talk
about faith and talk about walking with God and about joining the
church and being baptized and I did this and I did that and
I quit drinking. Here's what's missing. Why are
you so suspective, Pastor? Where's all the reservations
come from? I'm going to tell you. I don't see any godly reverence. That's what I don't see. That's
what I look for. I'll tell you the first thing,
when God gets a hold of a man, He gives him a sense of his presence
and power, of who he is. And you'll lay and tremble before
Him. You're in His hands like a piece
of clay. He can make you a vessel of honor
or dishonor and you know it. He controls those storms. He
can take you out tonight just like that. There is an awesome
sense of God's presence and power that a believer comes to see
those things and he sees his sins in the light of this God. He sees his rebellion in the
light of this God. I remember laying in my chair
tears screaming down my cheek, curled up in a fetal position
in my chair, weeping before God. I feared God. I don't see that. I don't see that. I hear men
talk about being saved, but I don't see any godly reverence for a
servant. First thing God does is shut
a man up. If he's still doing this, he
don't know God. I'll just tell you that. He don't
know God. I don't see any restraint in
their worship. They just read books, look at
the count's sealing tile, look at their watch. I don't see that. I don't see that. I don't see
any silence and submission in their hearing. I don't see any
submission to His Word. You show them something in God's
Word and they say, well, yeah, but I'll tell you what I think.
No, I don't even want to hear it. I don't even want to hear
it. I don't see any obedience to
His commandments. I don't see any change in their
walk. I don't see a departure. You see, here's what faith does.
When faith came to Abraham, it said, so, he departed. Well, I'm making plans for that.
Are you now? Let me tell you what's going
to happen if God ever reveals Himself to you, you're going
to depart. There would be no ifs, ands, or buts about it.
And I'll tell you why this is. I'll tell you exactly why this
is. Paul tells us over in Romans chapter 3, he said, there is
no fear of God before their eyes. Now that's how you know a natural
man. He doesn't fear God. He don't fear God. I'll tell
you what he's going to do. He's going to make himself a
shelter and run into it. That's what you're going to do.
He's going to make himself a refuge and run into it because his God
can't get to him in that little refuge. Men and women are so
complacent and so unwilling to submit because they have no sense
of His presence and therefore do not have true faith. I tell
you this, God is no more to a man who does these things that I
just mentioned than a superstition. That's all it is. Just like the
Easter Bunny, It's a superstition. That's all it is. God is just
a concept of whatever they feel and think. He's only God. Now listen to me. In so far as
their wicked minds and hearts will permit Him to be. My God
wouldn't do like that. That's what that fellow told
Barnard one time. He said, My God wouldn't do like
what you say. He said, I suspect you're right.
But he said, the God of the Bible will. Oh, but when he speaks, makes
himself to be known, and his presence begins to be realized,
then a man begins to fear God. He fears God. David said, Our
God. Where's your God? He said, Our
God is in the heavens. I'll tell you how you know our
God. He does whatever he wants to do. And you know what he said? He
said eternal life is to know God. You see where I'm coming
from? It begins with a sense of who
you are. We don't worship God in our fallen state. We run around
and walk down aisles and sing I'll Fly Away and I'll Meet Mother
in Heaven and all this kind of nonsense. Talk about me and Jesus
got a good thing going and all that kind of baloney. That's
not knowing God. Eternal life is to know God.
Man comes to know God, the first thing he does is shut up. He
ain't got nothing to say. Well, you know what that means,
don't you? No, I really don't. I really don't. I just look at
it and marvel. Hope someday he'll reveal it
to me. Well, you mean you don't? Well, you can't be a believer.
Huh? You understand God? I don't want
one I can't understand. Do you? He's God. I tell you, eternal life is to
know God. Worship is just a religious game
until I'm given a sense of whose house I'm in. That's what the
prophet said. God counseled Israel and He told
them through His prophet, He said, Keep thy foot when thou
enterest into the house of the Lord, and be more ready to hear
than to offer the sacrifice of fools. For they consider not
that they do evil. Be not rash with thy mouth, and
be not hasty to utter anything before God. Why? Because He's
in the heavens, and you're down here. He's God, and you're the
grasshopper. You're the grasshopper. Oh, I
tell you, he devoted four chapters of that to Job. Worship is not a gathering of
men before men to compare ourselves with one another or to see if
everybody is in agreement with me or to examine everybody and
give them my test. Worship is coming to God. It's
coming before God. It's coming into His house, calling
on His name, preaching His gospel, declaring His truth and waiting
upon His power and His Spirit. We can't do anything. We can't
do anything. I can stand and beg and pray
and read and study and write and do all... I might as well
take it and throw it on the floor if he's not in it. Shuts me up to him. Shuts me
up. All worship is coming to God.
coming before Him into His house. It frightens the daylights out
of me sometimes when I've got a busy day and I do this and
I do that and I do the next thing right up to the last minute and
then I grab my suit and wash my face a little bit, put a little
perfume on, run down to the church. Don't do that. Don't do that. Set apart that day and begin
to sanctify your heart before God. Read His Word and prepare
yourself for worship. Get your mind in tune with whose
house you're going to and who it is you want to hear from.
You don't want to hear from me. I'll bore you to death. You want
to hear from Him. You want to hear from Him. Alright, now here's the second
part of this, and I'm not going to spend much longer on this,
but the second part of faith is a perception that this great
and awesome God that we fear has purposed and set in motion
His whole character and name to do you good. Think about that. You know the
closest I can come to this is that old prodigal. He was proud. He had what he thought he had
coming to him and he took it down And he went down to Honky
Tonk and he got it out and he put it all on black and let her
ride. And he just had a good old time. And he said he wasted
his life in righteous living. That's what he did. And he had
a good old time until the money ran out. And then he began to think about
maybe something to eat. And it wasn't nothing. And he
began to think, you know, it's clouding up. Wonder where I'll
sleep tonight. Well, might find a place down
there by the hogs. I'll go down there. That's where
he found himself, down there at the hog pen. I know that because
he was hungry and his big guts was eating up his little guts
and he's standing there looking at that corn that them hogs had
already devoured, thinking that, boy, I'd like to have just the
husks, just the husks off that old corn. Sound pretty good to
me right now. And then he got to thinking about
his father's house. Got thinking about his father's
house. He said, I think I'll go up there. I'm not going back
as a son. I won't go up there as a son.
I'll just go up there as a hired servant. Because his hired servants
had a place to sleep. Even his hired servants had food
on the table. Well, his hired servants was
treated with respect. They wasn't talked down to. They
were treated with respect. Everything associated with his
house was so much better than it was down at the hog pen. He
said, I think I'll just go back. I think I'll just go back. And
he got this little speech all up, going to tell his daddy when
he got there, got this speech all ready. I'm going to tell
him I'm just a servant. I'm going to show him how humble
I am. I'm going to do this and I'm going to do that. He started
back from home. But see, he thought his name
done been scratched out of the family tree. He thought his name
done been erased. He figured his name was mud in
the house. He just wanted to sneak in. He's
going to tell his daddy in this little speech, he's going to
tell him, you don't have to call me by your name. You just call
me Butch or something. Nobody will know who I am. I
don't want to embarrass you. I'll just be your servant. All
I want is a place to sleep and something warm, some food to
eat. He had it all worked out. He went up there thinking that
he was gone. His father was looking for him. Looking for him. Never quit looking
for him. Fact is, his father knew where
he was going when he gave him the money. And he had something
for him to learn in it. He had something for him to learn
down there in the hog pen. See, he got to put us in the
hog pen before he brings us back to the house of the son. And
it said the father saw him a great way off coming. And he told his servants, he
said, You remember that calf I told you to keep up? He said,
you go get it, Kelly. We're going to have a celebration.
And the father ran out to that boy, wrapped his arms around
him, and smothered him in kisses. This awesome God that you lay
before and weep, that you lay before and tremble, That you
look at Him with reverential fear and you fall down before
Him. This same God, the same God,
has purpose to do you good. If He speaks to your head. When God wants to curse, He don't
speak. He don't say nothing. He just
lets you believe what you want to believe. Let you go where
you want to go. He doesn't do anything. He just
leaves you alone. Four hundred silent years between
the Old and New Testaments, God didn't say a word to anybody.
Nothing. He just showed up. What a curse. What a curse. I remember reading
in the Old Testament, He said there's a famine in the land
and it ain't got anything to do with food. It's got to do
with God speaking. It's got to do with God speaking. God come down and spoke to Abraham
and I know, I know by my own experience, Abraham fell down
and trembled. I know that he feared God. I
know that he looked at himself and thought back on his cursed
grandparents and all that religion of his house and those idols
and all them things become real to him and he trembled before
God. But you know what God told him?
He said, Abraham, I'm going to bless you. I'm going to bless
you. That's what he tells the believer.
I'm going to bless you. When God speaks, it's to bless.
It ain't to curse. It's to bless. It's to bless. Faith perceives the blessings
of God in Christ. Turn with me to Isaiah 51. I'll
read this and we'll close. There are several really good
passages. I found one over in Deuteronomy. I found that one
there in Joshua. And I found this one over here
in Isaiah chapter 51. Listen to this. This has to do
with old Abraham. He said, Harken unto me, ye that
follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord. Look unto
the rock whence ye were hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence
ye are digged. Watch this now. Look unto Abraham
your father. and Sarah that bear you." Look
at who he was and where he was and how he was. Look at his house. Look at his past. Look at the
idolatry. Look at his family tree. Look
at their idolatry. Can you see him? Have you got
him? Can you see yourself in him? That's what he tells me. For I called him, watch it now,
alone. That's how God speaks, one at
a time. He called him alone, and blessed
him, and increased him. For the Lord shall comfort Zion,
he'll comfort all her waste places, and he'll make her wilderness
like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and
gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of
melody. Verse 6, Lift up your eyes to
the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath. For the heavens
shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like
a garment. And they that dwell therein shall
die in like manner. But my salvation shall be forever. and my righteousness shall not
be abolished. Verse 16. Oh, he said, And I have put my
words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of
my hand, that I might plant the heavens,
and lay the foundations of the earth. All these things are involved. And say unto Zion, Thou art my
people. That was what God told Abraham.
He revealed to him who he was. And he said, You're mine. So,
Abraham departed. He departed. Now that's when
a man is going to depart. He's going to come and find out
who God is. When he finds out who God is,
he finds out who He is. When he finds out who he is,
he seeks the Lord. And the Lord reveals to him Christ.
He reveals to him his goodness, his covenants, his mercy, his
grace. He reveals those things to him
that he's a son, and he's going to have and enjoy all the blessings
of a son. And the more he sees of him,
the more he wants to be like him. You don't need somebody
to stand up here every week and teach you out of the book of
James what to do. No, I'm not trying to say that
that's what the book of James does, but people refer to it
in that manner, and they want you to stand up every week and
tell them what to wear. Tell them how long to wear it,
and what color, and you've got to keep your hair, put your hat
on, and this and that, and something else, and just keep giving me
things to do every week. Just tell me what to do, and
I'll go do it. That's not salvation. Salvation
is being begotten unto a lively hope in Christ. And as you view
that, he that hath this hope in him purifieth himself. Why
does he do it? Because he wants to be made like
him. That's why. He wants to be made. You don't
have to beat him with a whip. He wants to be like him. He wants
to. Why did you quit drinking? Because
I want to be like him. That's why. Well, what's he going
to do if you don't do it? He ain't going to do nothing.
But that's what I want to do. I want to be like him. Why do
you talk about Christ all the time? Because I want to be like
him. That's why. Why do you love one another? Because I want to be like him.
That man has that hope. That's a lively hope. That's
a living hope. And he'll purify himself. And that's the only
way you ever will. For God to give you that vision
of Christ fixed in your heart, that's what faith is. Christ
in you. The hope of glory. And it's a
lifelong occupation. It's a lifelong coming. A lifelong
believing. A lifelong transformation. Lifelong.