The Life of God In You

Q: What does the Bible say about salvation?

Salvation is the life of God in the believer, a union with Christ that brings true knowledge and regeneration. The Bible teaches that salvation is not merely a set of beliefs or emotions, but rather the life of God manifested within the believer. As discussed in scripture, especially in Colossians 1:27, this life is described as 'Christ in you, the hope of glory.' Understanding salvation is crucial, for it encompasses knowledge of Christ and a real partaking in the divine nature, as highlighted in 2 Peter 1:4. Thus, salvation involves an inward transformation that is both permanent and vital, transcending mere external religious observance or emotional experiences.

Q: How do we know salvation is true?

Salvation is true as it is grounded in God's promises and the transformative power of Christ in the believer's life. The certainty of salvation comes from the unchangeable nature of God's promises and the authentic experience of transformation in the believer's life. According to Titus 1:2, God has promised eternal life before the world began, and through the new birth, believers become partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). This life is not mere knowledge; it results in a profound inward change, ensuring that true salvation is evident in one's faith and conduct, reinforcing the assurance that those in Christ are indeed transformed and secure.

Q: Why is knowing God important for Christians?

Knowing God is essential for salvation and a meaningful Christian life, as it fosters an intimate relationship with Christ. For Christians, knowing God is foundational to one's faith and relationship with Him. As stated in John 17:3, 'This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.' This knowledge transcends intellectual comprehension; it implies a relational understanding that transforms a believer's life. Knowing God leads not only to salvation but to a life empowered by Christ, influencing all aspects of behavior and thought. Thus, a true knowledge of God in Christ is vital to living in accordance with His will and experiencing the fullness of His grace.

Q: What is the life of God in a believer?

The life of God in a believer is the indwelling presence of Christ, leading to genuine salvation and spiritual vitality. The life of God within a believer signifies the indwelling of Christ, which constitutes true salvation. This concept, supported by Galatians 2:20 where Paul expresses, 'It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me,' reflects that real spiritual life results from Jesus taking residence in the believer's heart. This life enables believers to embody righteousness and holiness, as they partake in the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). It emphasizes that salvation is not solely an external change but an internal revolution that continuously guides and motivates the believer in their daily walk with God.

Richard Baxter said many years
ago, I preach as if never sure to preach again as a dying man
to dying men. And that has become more or less
a cliche for preachers used all the time in pastoral theology
classes and homiletics classes. urging men to preach with passion
and urgency. It is not a cliche with me. I strive with great care. Every time I preach to you, Sunday
morning, Sunday night, Tuesday night, I'll be taking one of
the Bible classes for Wednesday. When I take the Bible class,
If I'm speaking to two or three young people or two or three
thousand people, I strive to speak to eternity bound sinful
men and women like you with a conscious awareness that I may never speak
to you again and you may never hear again. And I believe you will not hear
a message more important than the message God's given me for
you today. So give me your attention. Nothing profound, nothing deep,
nothing mysterious about it. It's out of simplicity. I want to answer a question,
a question to which almost everyone presumes they know the answer. What is salvation? What is it? Never was a more important question
asked and yet there's never been a question about which there's
so much ignorance and confusion. Ignorance and confusion on the
part of those very people who talk most about it. What is salvation? Send one another out to all the
churches in the county. Just go all over the county.
All over Boyle County, Kentucky. I wish I could get the ear of
every religious person in this county right now. If I could
send you to every church in this county and y'all just get your
scratch pad and ask a dozen people as they come out the doors, what
is salvation? I'll guarantee you out of just
about every church in the county, you'd get at least a dozen answers.
What is salvation? Everybody talks about it. Nobody
has any idea what it is. I can't speak of or think of
God's salvation. joyful as it is without some
lamentation, lamenting the fact that multitudes who vainly imagine
that they possess it are utterly ignorant of what it is. Now,
multitudes in churches world over, multitudes who don't even
attend churches, are fully convinced that God's salvation in Christ
is theirs, though they haven't a clue what it is or how to take
it. Now, I'm not talking about other
folks. I'm talking about professed Christians.
I'm not talking about the papist. I'm not talking about the Mormon.
I'm not talking about the Campbellites, Folks just beyond the scope of
even thinking they're Christian. I'm not talking about the Jew
or the Muslim or the Hindu or the fellow in some faraway barbaric
place who worships a stunt. No, I'm talking about your family
and mine, your neighbors and mine. your
friends and mine, your sons and daughters, your mothers and fathers,
your brothers and sisters, your husbands and wives and mine. What is salvation? Without question,
there's no salvation without knowledge. Faith in Christ is
not a leap in the dark. God doesn't save sinners in a
vacuum of ignorance. God doesn't save sinners in a
cloud of darkness. Men and women who are born of
God are taught of God. Let's start in John chapter six.
I'll show you John chapter six. Salvation. Is the knowledge of
Christ. It is the knowledge of God in
Christ. And there is no salvation without
such knowledge. This is life eternal, that they
might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou
hast sent. Look here in John 6, verse 45. Our Savior says, it is written
in the prophets, and they shall all be taught of God. What does
that mean? All shall be taught of God, and
every man therefore that hath heard and learned of the Father
cometh unto me." If you're taught of God, you come to Christ. God's teaching is effectual and
irresistible. They shall all be taught of God,
but salvation is more than knowledge. Salvation is not performed in
your head, though it affects your head, it's in your heart.
Salvation is not a head work, it's a heart work. Understanding
orthodox notions and orthodox opinions and holding to an orthodox
creed and orthodox theology is not the same thing as being born
again. Now there are multitudes who just don't get
this. They just don't get it. They
think because they know something they're born again. They think
because they agree with facts they're born again. Salvation
is not being a Calvinist or an Arminian. I don't give a flip
which you are. I know folks, they get upset,
oh, we want to convince people of the five points of Calvinism.
I just assume you go to hell being an Arminian and go to hell
being a five-point Calvinist. I wouldn't walk across the street
to try to convince somebody of the five points of Calvinism.
I wouldn't walk across the street to do it. That's totally insignificant. You can be lost as a Calvinist,
or lost as an Arminian, or lost as anything else. Salvation is
not Calvinism or Arminianism. Salvation is not being fundamentalist
or being a liberal. It's not being a Baptist or being
a Protestant. Salvation is knowing God. It's knowing Jesus Christ. Brother Don, can you give me
an example of what you're talking about? Judas Iscariot knew much. He knew as much as you do. He knew all the facts you know.
I'll guarantee you he knew the book better than you do. I'll
guarantee you did. I'll guarantee you he could recite
more scriptures than you can think about reciting. He knew
much. He knew not only that Jesus Christ
is the Messiah. He knew that this Christ, the
Messiah, is God in the flesh. But he didn't know Him. He didn't
know Him. He, uh, He had lots of religious
knowledge, lots of religious experience. He walked with the
apostles and walked with the Son of God on this earth and
knew much, but he didn't know Christ. He didn't know God. Others
vainly imagine that salvation is a change of life, a religious
moral reformation. They think it's all in the outward
man, in a course of external religious duties, and living
an exemplary life of morality and uprightness, living peaceably
with their neighbors, maintaining a moderate temperate diet, observing
a Sabbath day, paying tithes, praying before they eat their
meals, going to church when it's expected, fairly regularly anyway,
and then all is well with their souls. What multitudes there
are who content themselves with a form of godliness. A form of godliness. I have for 43 years made it my
business to be in God's house when the doors are open. Just
make it my business. Because I've just got to do this,
that other thing. I don't. I don't have to do the
other thing, and I don't have to do this or that. I've got
to worship God. make it my business. I want you to make it your business.
But oh, how sad when folks think that when they get things straightened
out and they start acting dependable and they have some regular performance
of religious duties, and they quit smoking and cussing and
drinking and chewing and running to folks who do those kind of
things, then everything's all right. That's exactly the problem
the rich young ruler had, isn't it? You remember what our Lord
said to him? The rich young ruler said, why,
if that's all you got to do to be saved, I've done all that.
I've loved my neighbor all my life, and I've loved God myself
all my life. I've kept the commandments all my life. I've been a good
boy all my life. I started out in church and never
left. Mama and daddy had me on the cradle roll. And I've always
been in religion. I've always been in the church.
That's all it is. Everything's all right. And the
Lord Jesus said, no, you've got everything a man could want in
religion. You've got everything a man could
want in morality. You've got everything a man could
want in uprightness. But one thing thou lackest. And Bob, the one thing he lacked
was God's salvation. The one thing he lacked is Christ
the Lord. Read it for yourself in Mark
chapter 10. And because he lacked that one thing, he went away
sorrowful. possessing his wealth, possessing
his great riches, not just holding on to his bags of gold, Merle,
holding on to his religious righteousness and went to hell. Others make
salvation nothing but a feeling, emotions, excitement, a little
excitement. I realized that it was a spoof
on religion. It was a mockery of religion. But I watched a little bit of
that movie the other night, Old Brother, Where Art Thou? Those
Three Convicts Escaped. Ignorant Southern Boys is a spoof
on religion, a spoof on Southern, a spoof on white. If everything
you could get was politically incorrect, they could get on
with that. And Delmar went down to heaven and baptized him. And
he went down in the water and got saved. And he came up so
excited. You saw the movie? Oh, he was
excited. The preacher told me my sins
were all forgiven. The preacher told me I washed
away my sins of gold now. And he's excited. Everywhere in this world today. Deceivers of men's souls who
make merchandise of men's souls. or stirring folks up to a little
religious excitement. And if you get that sort of unexplainable
feeling, if you get that tingling sensation running up your spine,
if you're able to pray with some feeling, if you're able to have
some pleasant thought about heaven, if you're able to talk about
trusting Jesus, if you can just say that, everything's all right. Well, I remember a place in 1
Kings chapter 18 where there's some folks worshiping. And I've
been in some excited religious meetings. I've attended a few
Pentecostal meetings. I'm talking about old sawdust
trail tent meetings where folks got a little wild. I've attended
a few of those. I've seen some excitement going
on. Nothing compared to 1 Kings chapter 18. Those fellas were
excited. They were screaming and jumping
up and down and cutting themselves, but they were doing it because
they were trying to get the attention of an imaginary God named Baal. Didn't have a clue who God was
or who God is. Didn't have a clue what God's
salvation is. Still others imagine that salvation
is practicing a life of religious austerity. Rigid discipline,
self-denial. Monasteries were built for that
purpose because you can be a whole lot more rigid if you don't have
any folks around you who aren't. The religious communes are built
for that purpose, not just the Amish folks and the Mennonites
and other folks building religious communes so they can live holy. I once met a fellow preaching
up in Michigan. 35 years ago, 30 years ago, and
a fellow came down from Canada, lived way up in the woods. I'm talking about way back in
the woods. He said his nearest neighbor was 100 miles away.
I said, why on earth do you want to live there? He said, well,
I want to be away from the world. I want to raise my children where
they're not influenced by the world. I said, they still got you around. What good is that going to do?
Got a life of austerity. Let's not enjoy things. Let's dress real simple. Dress plain. Ladies don't wear
any makeup, you know. Now, please don't take me serious.
I'm not suggesting that. Folks think that that's stupidity.
It's salvation. They think that if they practice
all of those things, that men and women in the world, men and
women who don't have a clue who God is, men and women who have
no interest in things of God, you walk out and find you the
first drunk you can find next week. Anywhere, find the first
drunk you can find and ask him what Christians ought to be.
I'll guarantee he'll tell you what he ought to be. They've
got an opinion. And it's usually very great austerity. You quit doing this and you quit
doing that. You don't go to this place, you
don't go to that place. You just do without. You practice self-denial and
discipline. Separate yourself. Touch not,
taste not, handle not. Make a show of humility and do
everything you can to be against everything. Be against everything. When I was a young man, young
believer, all you had to do was just sort of give me a hint that
maybe there's something that you can be a ginnet and I was
a ginnet. I'd fight it. I'd fight it. And do it because
I was convinced it's the right thing to do. But austerity is
not salvation. But, Don, what is it? What is
this thing called salvation? Now, without question, many of
the things I've mentioned certainly do accompany salvation. But you
can have all the things that another person possesses and
not be that person. And you can have all the things
that accompany salvation and not have God's salvation. What
is salvation? Hang on to your seat. I'm fixing
to tell you as plainly, as simply, and as briefly as I can. Salvation
is the life of God in you. Salvation is the life of God
in you. Anything less ain't it. Nothing less than the life of
God in the soul of a man. It is the union of the soul with
God in Christ, a real partaking, not a sham, not a word, not a
pretense, a real partaking of the divine nature, the very image
of God in the soul. Now, let's see if I can make
good on that. That's a huge statement. I realize what I've said is just
a huge statement. Salvation is the life of God
in you. Nothing less than the very life
of God in your soul. It is the union of the soul with
God, a real partaking of the divine nature. Look in Colossians
chapter one, Colossians chapter one, verse 25. Paul speaking of Christ and his
gospel, whereof I am made a minister, I'm made a servant according
to the dispensation of God, which is given to me for you. Paul says, I am, I'm made a minister
of the gospel by the work of God, God's dispensation, God's
stewardship bestowed upon me for your behalf. to fulfill the
Word of God, even the mystery which hath been hid from ages
and generations, but is now made manifest to his saints." Now
then that says something. This mystery that was hid from
ages and generations is now made manifest to his saints. If it's
not made manifest to you, I presume that means you're not one of
his saints. It is now made manifest to his saints, to whom God would
make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery
among the Gentiles. Well, what is it, preacher? Christ
in you. Christ in you. Christ in you,
the hope of glory. Second Peter, chapter one. Second
Peter, chapter one. Grace and peace be multiplied,
Peter says, verse two. Grace and peace be multiplied
unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. This is the only way you ever
know God's grace and peace is the knowledge of God in Christ
Jesus. According to his divine power,
hath given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. He's given us everything by his
infinite, irresistible, divine power. All things that have anything
at all to do with life, spiritual, eternal life and godliness. True knowledge of God, the true
worship of God through the knowledge of him. that hath called us to
glory and virtue, whereby are given unto us exceeding great
and precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers of
the divine nature. What is salvation? It's the life
of God in you. Now read the scriptures carefully.
These opening verses of 2 Peter chapter 1 are one sentence running
from verse 1 through 4. All four verses deal with just
one thing. In this one magnificent sentence,
Peter declares the wonder of the new birth, the glorious work
of regeneration. The first word of verse 4 refers
back to all the call of God, the Holy Spirit, all the work
of God, the Holy Spirit. It is by the call of God, the
spirit that God bestows these great and precious promises of
grace upon his elect and makes us partakers of the divine nature. Turn to Titus chapter one. It is God, the Holy Spirit, who
discovers to us and reveals God's eternal electing love, Christ's
redemptive work by his own precious blood, by which he redeemed our
souls from death and destruction. It is God, the Holy Spirit, who
brings the promises of God to us as he gives us faith in Christ,
causing us to believe by the new birth. Titus chapter one,
verse one, verse one. Paul, a servant of God, and an
apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect,
and the acknowledging of the truth, which is after godliness,
in hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised
before the world began, but hath in due times manifested his word
through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment
of God our Savior." These promises, then, These promises that God
gave before the world were our covenant promises. Covenant promises
given us in Christ Jesus. You can read them in Jeremiah
31, Ezekiel 36, Ezekiel 37. God makes promises. Promises
of life. He says, I'll put a new heart
in you. I'll put my spirit in you. I'll
cause you to know me. You shall be mine and I shall
be yours. These are God's covenant promises.
And they're brought to us by the revelation of God the Spirit
when he puts Christ in you. This divine nature of which we're
made partakers, let us understand what the Spirit of God means
for us to understand. Obviously, he does not mean that
we become God. I've preached on this a number
of places about us being made partakers of the divine nature.
Of course, the folks never say it to me or in front of me, but
when I'm done, I'm going to say, well, he's telling us that we
become little gods. That's heresy. Have any of you
ever imagined such foolishness? I take it then I didn't imply
that. No, Peter is not suggesting we become little gods. He's not
suggesting that we become possessors of the divine attributes. So
what does it mean? He means that Christ comes to
live in us. We're made partakers of him.
The word means fellowship, but it means more than fellowship.
It's used numerous places in the scriptures, having the idea
of co-possessors, having the idea of being completely one
in a matter. Our Lord Jesus, we're told in
Hebrews 2, came here and was made partaker of flesh and blood. Because we were partakers of
flesh and blood. What's that mean? He was, well,
he came down here and kind of, he felt around and he said, well,
that kind of feels a little like flesh and blood. He felt a little
over here and said, that's a little bit of an experience of flesh
and blood. He drank a little water and he said, flesh and
blood does that. No. He made partake of flesh
and blood. I mean, Baba, He became what
you are. He became, see what's sitting right there in that pew?
That's what He became. Flesh and blood. He really did. Really became one of us. The
Word was made flesh. Really was. But don't explain
that. I can't begin to explain that.
But I can rejoice in it. And when he comes to us in saving
grace, Ron, he makes us partakers of himself, partakers of the
divine nature so that we are married to him, married to him. One with him as truly one with
him as the vine is one with the branches as a husband and wife
are of the same nature. Oh, wondrous mystery. We are
made partakers of the divine nature. Let's look at a few passages. Turn back to John chapter 14.
And this is precisely what the book teaches us throughout the
scriptures. John 14. Look at verse 23, the
latter part of it. The Lord Jesus says concerning
those who love him and keep his words, that is those who believe
on him, is my father will love him and we will come unto him
and make our abode with him. My father and I will come and
we'll, we'll live with him. Where does he live at? Where does he make his abode?
Right here. Turn to Galatians 2, verse 20. Paul says here in Galatians 2,
20, I am crucified with Christ. He says, I have been crucified
with Christ. When Christ was nailed to the
tree, I was nailed to the tree with him. When God punished him
for my sins, God punished me. When Christ died, I died. I have been crucified with Christ.
Justice has been satisfied for me, and justice has been satisfied
by me. I am crucified with Christ. Read
on. Nevertheless, I live. I was crucified,
but I'm alive. And the only way you can ever
be made alive is if you were crucified with Christ. His death
is that which brings forth life to his people. Nevertheless,
I live, yet not I. Well, you'd think Paul was schizophrenic. You think he's schizophrenic.
Matter of fact, I can point you to preachers who say exactly
that. Schizophrenic. You fellas are preaching that
believers are a bunch of schizophrenics. No, no. No, I believe Paul knew
what he was talking about. Yet not I. I'm talking about
living now. But not me. Not me. But Christ
liveth. This is in the present tense.
Crucified. That happened 2,000 years ago.
But Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God. Not faith
in. The faith of the Son of God. who loved me and gave himself
for me. Paul said in Romans chapter 7,
he said, if I do that which I hate, it's no more I that do it, but
sin that dwelleth in me. And he says about I, he said,
I, I delighted in the law of God after the inward man. You
mean, you mean there's a new man in him and the old man's
still there? That's exactly right. You don't
have any trouble understanding that, do you? Do you have any difficulty understanding
that? Is it not true of you, my brother? True of you, my sister? There is that in you which is
nothing but sin, and that in you which is Christ in you. It's
described, turn over to Ephesians chapter 4, Ephesians 4, look
at this. It's described in a remarkable way, this new man is. this new
man. Look at verse 21, Ephesians 4,
21. If so be that ye have heard him
and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus that you
put off concerning the former conversation, the old man, which
is corrupt according to the deceitful lust. Put him off. Say no to him. Don't obey him. Don't yield to him. Don't give
in to him. and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, constantly
renewed with this, that you put on the new man. Watch this, which
after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Oh, how sweet,
how blessed, how glorious is that almighty violence of grace.
by which Christ is in us. How is it that he comes to be
in a man? You can't take a man's house
except you first bind the strong man and cast him out. And so
it is that the Lord Jesus comes in sovereign mercy to chosen
sinners. And the first time you know he's
there, he's already inside, sitting on the throne. He's cast Satan
out. He takes up residence permanently
with his own. and thus gives us an abundant
entrance into life everlasting, gives us confidence of life,
confidence of hope before him so that we stand before God,
not resting in any way upon something we have done, but resting entirely
upon Christ, our Redeemer, knowing that Christ is ours because Christ
has come in us, giving us faith in himself. Now, this life of
God in the soul. This great salvation wrought
in us by God's omnipotent mercy is a permanent thing. I know that whatsoever God doeth,
it shall be done forever. That can why the life of God
in you It's called eternal life. I believe that might be because
it's eternal. What do you think? It's called eternal life. The
gift of God is what? What does the book say? The gift
of God is eternal life. It's the life of God in you.
The life of God in your soul. Not an experience in time, though
it's experienced in time. Not a feeling, though it's felt. Not knowledge, though certainly
it's known. Not an emotion, though certainly it involves emotion.
It's life in you. Though it may at times raise
us to rapturous, joyous, heavenly experiences, salvation is not
a spasm. It's not a passion. Most people who get involved
with religion have fits of religion. I have family members that have
fits of religion. We used to have them at home.
Had them not too often, but whenever I would get to behaving real
bad, I mean real bad, we'd have fits of religion, have to go
to church for a little while. And the hopes were that somebody
would scare the hell out of me and I'd start behaving better.
I said that exactly as I intended to, because hell was in me, and
they thought they could scare out of me if they just take me
to church a little bit. And so that fits religion. I
remember one time years ago, Mary Bell was telling about a
collection of record albums they had from the 60s, you know. She and Donnie loved to dance
and loved all the music. She said, she said, Don, we had
off this mess of records, and Donnie threw them all away and
broke them, smashed them all up in one of our fits of religion. Well, most people have fits of
religion. Believers have life. The life
of God in the soul and it's permanent. You see, we persevere, but our
perseverance is not a work we perform. It's a work God performs
in us. We're confident of this very
thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform
it until the day of Jesus Christ. Brother Darwin wrote a brief
article in his bulletin for today. I wrote to him last night. It
was so good. Listen to this. He said he said the perseverance
of the saints is not that wearisome servitude of duty to which law
religion calls. Oh, got to persevere. Why are
you going to church instead of going fishing? Gotta persevere.
Gotta persevere. Oh no. But the lifelong cherishing
of our beloved Savior. That's perseverance. It's perseverance
created in you by God's work. I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless
I live, yet not I, Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now
live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the son of God who
loved me and gave himself for me. Let me show you one more
thing. This life of God in you. This eternal life. More than a notion or a theory.
A creed or a confession more than saying a prayer, doing good
works, getting baptized and performing religious duties. Oh, it's more
than that. Where did Cody go? Where is he?
Cody, where are you? Raise your hand. There you are.
This life God's just given you is a life of unrestrained freedom. Oh, when I was 17 years old,
I wish somebody told me that. Unrestrained freedom. But what do you have to do now? That's not freedom. That's not
freedom. No, no, that's not freedom. Life
is freedom. Until a man or woman is free,
that man or woman is not alive. Our Lord Jesus, Larry, came to
that maniac of Gadara, and when he performed his work of mercy
on him, that man was sitting, clothed, and in his right mind,
and he didn't have on any shades. When he raised Lazarus from the
dead, Lazarus came out of the tomb, wrapped in grave clothes,
and he said, loose him, and let him go. Unrestrained freedom? Oh, you can't tell people that.
What will they do? Christ in you is life. Christ in you. It is an inward,
free, self-motivating life I'm talking about. Those who have
life aren't actuated in motivated by external motives and drives
and threats and bribes and promises. They're not constrained by law,
rather the love of Christ constraineth us. The spirit of life within motivates. The spirit of life within guides. The spirit of life within directs. The spirit of life within controls. So that while we live constantly
in this body of flesh and must war with his flesh, the flesh
never wins. Never wins. Because the spirit
of life in Christ Jesus is a spirit of triumph and victory. What
does the book say? Greater Is he that is in you? Not greater are you? Greater
is he that is in you than he that's in the world. The last
Adam is greater than the first. Christ is greater than the flesh.
God is greater than the devil. And Christ in you motivates and
guides. What's that mean? Well, Brother
Don, God teaches us to pray. He sure does. And you ought to
pray. Notice I didn't say, say your
prayers. Oh, I hate those. I hate that phrase. Say your
prayers. Say a little prayer for me. No,
I refuse to. I refuse to. If God will let
me, I will pray for you. But we pray not because we have
to, because we need to. And Merle, we won't ever pray
except when we need to. Everything else is just saying
prayers. Is that right? Tell me. Tell me, you who know
God, do I speak the truth or not? When you need to pray, you
pray. When you don't need to, you just
fake it. We read because we want to know
God, not because we have to fill up the chapters. We give because
we want to give. The wise man tells us in Isaiah,
Thirty-two, the liberal deviseth liberal things and by liberal
things shall he stand. I've got to quit. Don't ever imagine that anything
you're motivated by that inward man to do. Anything that you're
constrained by that life within you to do, by the spirit of life,
don't ever imagine that it's meaningless. For you who haven't
yet read New Focus Magazine for this month, I'll give you a little
inspiration. Brother Ella in his biographical
sketch of George Whitefield speaks of something Whitefield read
by a fellow by the name of Henry Scalgo, I think I've got it pronounced
right. He lived for just 28 years, 1650, 1678. He was born in a
preacher's house. He was a brilliant fellow. By the time he was 20, he was
professor of philosophy at Aberdeen. He was a pretty sharp cookie.
And he wrote to a friend, wrote to a friend trying to explain
to him what salvation is. just turned into a pamphlet of
100 pages, but 100 little pages. Not very big. Matter of fact,
I found a copy of it downloaded. I hope to read it going to Mexico
tomorrow. But he wrote it, and 100 years later, there was a
fella in college in London, England by the name of George Whitefield.
You've all heard the name. Whitefield was under the influence
of men like John Wesley and what they called the Holy Club. It
should have been the Unholy Club. They were trying to work their
way to heaven, trying to work their way into God's good graces.
Whitefield nearly killed himself, starved himself nearly to death
trying to fast and win God's favor. And then somebody put
this little pamphlet in his hand. You know, I never heard the name
of Henry Scroggill in my life until I read that article. I'd
never heard it in my life. If I had, I'd forgotten about
it. Whoever knew him, just 28 years old. Lived in 1650 to 1678. But he wrote one little pamphlet. And God used that little pamphlet,
Bob. He wrote it to a friend. I don't know if his friend was
converted or not, but George Whitefield was. And God called
thousands by him. Now listen to what he said. I'll
read just a little. I may well say with St. John, whosoever is born of God
doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he
cannot sin, because he's born of God. Though holy persons do
much eye the law of God, that divine love wherewith they are
actuated makes them become a law unto themselves. I've been trying to tell you
for 30 years, love is a law unto itself. We're constrained by
love. We're ruled by Christ in you.
The love of Christ constrains us. He goes on to say in a word. What our blessed savior said
of himself is in some measure applicable to his followers.
That it is their meat and drink to do their father's will. And
as the natural appetite is carried out toward food, never thinking that food's a
necessity. How many of you ever ate because you, you say, well,
I've got to eat now. Man, I'm going out to the huddle
house tonight to have some eggs and potatoes because I've got
to eat. If I don't eat, I'll die. No, you eat because you want
to. You eat because you have an appetite too. Never think
it's a necessity. So the believer does his father's
will. Because he wants to. And he wants
to. Because of the life of God in
your soul. Oh, God, do that for you. God,
do that for you. Amen.

The Life of God In You

What does the Bible say about salvation?

How do we know salvation is true?

Why is knowing God important for Christians?

What is the life of God in a believer?

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The Life of God In You

What does the Bible say about salvation?

How do we know salvation is true?

Why is knowing God important for Christians?

What is the life of God in a believer?

Sermon Transcript

About Don Fortner

Comments

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