Children almost always resemble
their parents. And children of the same family
about always resemble one another, like it or not. They look like
one another, and in one way or another, act like one another.
Some have a stronger resemblance than others, but all, almost
always, those members of the same family have characteristics
by which you can identify them. That's the family. In the eighth
chapter of John's Gospel, our Savior was teaching in the temple. And as he did, the Pharisees,
who were just dead certain, that they were distinctly the children
of God. That is, these men were dead
certain that they alone were the objects of God's favor, that
the Jews alone were God's people, the Jews alone the family and
the children of God. They were dead certain that was
so. But our Lord Jesus stripped the mask off the face of these
hypocrites. And it says to them in verse
42, If God were your father, you would love me. He just he reaches up, grabs the
mask and just rips it off and exposes them publicly. If God
were your father, you would love me, he said. Now, I take our
Lord's words for my subject this morning. If God were your father,
In verses 19 through 59 that we read earlier, the Lord Jesus
shows us seven things by which God's children are characterized
and identified in this world. Seven things that always characterize
God's children. If God's your father, these seven
things characterize you. If God is my father, they characterize
me. Yes, there are some things by
which God's elect are always specifically identified. There
are some things specifically named in Holy Scripture that
always follow grace. Here they are. Number one, look
at verse 19. If God were your father, you would know Christ. That seems simple enough, doesn't
it? Our Lord says in verse 19, Then said they unto him, Where
is thy father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know
me nor my father. If ye had known me, you should
have known my father also. If God were your father, you
would know Christ. Now, these Pharisees were like
learned religious people of every age. They boasted of their spiritual
perception. the depth of their learning,
the knowledge and understanding they had of the things of God. I run into some that don't have
enough sense not to act out like the Pharisees did every now and
then. Years ago, I've told you, my first trip to California,
it wasn't someone in the church there, lest you think otherwise,
but they were having a conference, first conference I was at there,
what was it, 1990, 91, somewhere in there. And some folks have
been listening to me on the radio out there, and they came up to
me. And this happened with two people in a row. One of them
walked up to me and started talking. He said, I've got something I
want to ask you. He said, I'm a really spiritual man. You would
probably be surprised at how spiritual I am. And I said, I'm
sure I would be. And another one came up, I've
got a question I'd like to ask you. I know the Bible. You would probably be surprised
how well I know my Bible. And I said, I'm sure I would
be. These Pharisees were knowledgeable folks. They understood things. They had depth of learning and
knowledge and understanding, at least they thought so. They
boasted of their knowledge of God. They knew facts of Bible history.
They knew creeds and customs. They knew the laws. They could name them and recite
them and pay the punishment for not keeping them. They were up
on that stuff. They knew Sabbath day rules and holy day rules. They knew the feast. They knew
when they had to go to the feast and when they could go home.
They knew exactly how long it was that they had to observe
the feast right down to the minute. They knew exactly when they had
to quit working on Sabbath day. I made it, but they wouldn't
budge past it. And they knew exactly when it started again.
They hated it all, but they knew what they had to do. They were
conforming to their laws. They knew the sacrifices and
the sacrifices required for one thing, the sacrifices required
for another. They knew much, but they didn't have a clue who
God is. They didn't have a clue who God is. Oh, they knew his
name. They knew how to spell it and knew how to pronounce
it, but they didn't know it. They didn't have a clue who God
is. Most religious folks in our day are much like that, only
with less knowledge. Can you imagine how offended
these Pharisees must have been when the Lord Jesus here publicly
denounces them and their religion and says, you don't know God. Can you imagine? Can you imagine? If you'd known God, you'd know
me. And since you don't know me, it's obvious you don't know
God. Now, This is the fact. There is no knowledge of God
without knowing the Christ of God. Listen to the book. No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. I am the
way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. Our Lord said this is life eternal
that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ
whom thou has sent turn to first John chapter 4 Hold your hands
here in John 8 turn to first John chapter 4 The Lord Jesus
is the brightness of the Father's glory the express image of his
person He that has seen the Son knows the Father. And indeed,
no one can know the Father except by knowing the Son. Having said
that, I hasten to add this. It means nothing to say, I believe
in Jesus, if you don't know him. It means nothing to say, I believe
in the Son of God, if you don't know him, as he is revealed in
this book. First John chapter 4 verse 2.
Hereby know ye the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesseth
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. Now that means one of two things.
It can only mean one of two things. Either it means everyone who
acknowledges the fact that Jesus Christ actually did live in this
world is saved by God's grace. Well, it doesn't mean that. It
dead sure doesn't mean that. The only other thing it can possibly
mean is this. Everyone who confesses that that
man, Jesus of Nazareth, is the Christ and he has done everything
the Old Testament prophets said he would do. He's fulfilled everything
the prophets said would be fulfilled by Him. He has accomplished everything
the prophets said He would accomplish. That man is born of God. And
that's what the text means. Every spirit that says that Christ,
the Christ of God, Jesus of Nazareth, has actually come here and done
what God said He would do, is of God. And he that confesseth
not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh That is those who
say no he didn't accomplish what the prophet said is not of god
Well, what is it then? And this is that spirit? of antichrist
Look in chapter five first john verse one Whosoever believeth
that jesus is the christ believes that Jesus of Nazareth is that
one who has accomplished everything that Christ was said to accomplish. He's born of God. Chapter one
of second John. Verse seven. For many deceivers,
many deceivers are entered into the world who confess not that
Jesus Christ is coming to flesh. There are lots of folks standing
in the pulpits even in the first century when this was written.
Lots of folks standing in the pulpits in Danville, Kentucky
today who confess not that Jesus Christ is coming to flesh. They
deny verbally that he has accomplished everything that Christ was to
accomplish. They deny it. Well, what is this?
This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Now, Adam, that's not your pastor's
word. That's God's word. That's God's word. You see, acknowledging
the name of Christ is meaningless if we don't know him as the prophets
and the apostles have revealed him. If you don't know the Lord
Jesus as God incarnate, as the covenant head of his church,
as the surety of his elect, that is the one whose total responsibility
the salvation of his elect is. If you don't know him as the
law-fulfiller and the sin-atoner of our souls, if you don't know
him as the Savior, the only Savior of your soul, you don't know
him and you don't know God. Let's see if I can illustrate
it for you. There are lots of folks who talk about being built
on the rock of Christ Jesus. Well, Christ is the foundation
stone. And faith is falling flat down
on him. Faith is placing everything on
him. Let's suppose that you got warning.
You're out in an open field. You got warning. There's a huge
flood coming. It's rushing your way. And there's
a solid rock of security. Get on the rock and stay there
and you'll be all right. And you start pulling off your
jewelry, and you lay your watch up there, and you lay your coat
up there, and you take your shoes and lay them up there, and you
pull your belt off and lay it up there, and you start laying
everything on the rock. Somebody look at you, are you a fool?
What good is that going to do? Well, I'm putting things on the rock.
That's not going to do you any good. That's exactly what it
is to put your works with Christ work and your doings with his
doings and your righteousness with his righteousness and your
experience with his experience. No, you fall flat down on the
rock and you trust Christ alone as your wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification and redemption. Or you don't know him. You just
don't know him until you so trust him. You don't know him and you
don't know God. It's of no benefit to your soul,
but rather the everlasting ruin of your soul to place your works
and your doings and your experience with Christ as the object of
faith. You must fall on the rock. All
right. Number two, back in John eight,
verse 31. If God were your father, you'd
know Christ. And if God were your father,
you'd persevere in grace. Look at verse 30. All who are
born of God persevere in the grace of God. As he spake these
words, many believed on him. There were some folks there who
heard the word and believed. Then said Jesus to those Jews which
believed on him, if you continue in my word, if you abide in my
word, if you stay in my word, if you stick with it, Then are
you my disciples indeed. As he spake these words, telling
these folks, he's talking to these Pharisees, but there are
some folks there he's really talking to. And he tells them
about his crucifixion. And announces to these Pharisees
that once you've nailed me to the tree, you're going to understand
that I am. You're going to understand that I am Jehovah. Once that's
happened, you're going to understand, and you're going to know who
I am. And there's some folks standing by who actually heard
him. And they believed his word. Many believing on him acknowledge
that in the Lord Jesus then speaks to them plainly These who believed
as it was then so it is now and so it is in every day Some believed
and some believe not but as many as were ordained unto eternal
life Believed that's the way it always is and our Lord says
to these who believed if you continue in my word Then are
you my disciples indeed? Sitting in this building right
here, sitting right here this morning, there are two kinds
of disciples. You're one of them, and I'm one
of them. There are two kinds of disciples. True disciples
and folks who say they're disciples. Two kinds. True disciples and
folks who say they're disciples. And our Lord says here concerning
true disciples, if you continue in my word, Then are ye true
disciples, my disciples indeed. False disciples will eventually
leave. John puts it this way. They went
out from us, but don't worry about that. They weren't of us.
They weren't of us. I was talking to Brother Darwin
last night. Folks got upset, real upset,
left. One family and folks over here,
I'll go see them. I'll go talk to them. The doctor
said, you want to stay out? Stay out. No, I ain't going to
go see them. I ain't going to go see them.
And I said, that's exactly right. They went out from us because
they were not of us. If they had been of us, they
would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out that
they might be made manifest. They were not all of us. Those
who don't continue in, who do not persevere in the faith of
the gospel, never were born of God. They never were true believers. Our Lord said, he that endureth
to the end shall be saved. are saved, Paul said, if you
keep in memory what I preached unto you. We're at Christ's house
if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of hope firm
unto the end. Let us hold fast our profession,
our profession of faith without wavering, for he is faithful
that promised. The fact is all who are born
of God, all who know God, all who have God for their father,
do persevere. They do persevere. Sometimes
it doesn't look like it. Sometimes, sometimes it doesn't
look like it, but if they're gods, he'll take care of them.
If they're gods, he'll take care of them. He, uh, he'll take care
of them. I won't ever forget it. I was,
I was shocked and you would be too, if you really understood
what I'm telling you. Brother Mahan and I driving on the road
years ago, man had departed from the gospel, departed from the
faith of Christ. He'd apostatized, gone back into
Arminian nonsense. And we were driving up the road
and after a long silence, Brother Henry looked at me and he said,
well, if he's God's, he'll take care of him. If not, no great
loss. You and me too. But that's exactly
right. God's people will persevere.
God will see to it. Listen and see. The righteous
shall hold on his way. He that hath clean hands shall
wax stronger and stronger. He shall be like a tree planted
by rivers of water that bringeth forth fruit in his season. His
leaf also shall not wither. They that trust in the Lord shall
be as Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abideth forever. The Lord will perfect that which
concerneth me. Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever. I know That whatsoever God doeth,
it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it nor
anything taken from it. And God doeth it that men should
fear before him. And even to your old age, I am
he. And even to whore hairs will
I carry you. I have made and I will bear. Even I will carry and will deliver
you. God's promise. And I will make
an everlasting covenant with them. that I will not turn away
from them to do them good, but I will put my fear in their hearts
and they shall not depart from me. In the light of that fact,
I say with joy and confidence, I am confident of this very thing,
that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until
the day of Jesus Christ. Number three, John eight, verse
36. If God were your father. You'd
be free. If God were your father, you'd
be free. All who are in Christ are free
born sons and daughters of God Almighty. Paul said he that is
called in the Lord being a servant is the Lord's freeman. Our master
said in verse 32, ye shall know the truth and the truth shall
set you free. And then he declares in verse
36, if the son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free
indeed. All who are born of God are free. Christ Jesus comes and sets the
captive free. Religion binds me, and the Lord
Jesus says, loosen and let him go. Religion seeks to control
folks. The Lord says, leave him alone,
watch him. Religion wants to put you under thumb and hold
you down. The Lord Jesus says, go and sin
no more. Religion binds. Christ sets men
free, free from sin. He said, you were servants in
the house, but the son has come now, and the son sets the slave
free. And that means you're no longer
in bondage. Free from the dominion of sin. Free from the power of sin. Free from the curse that's brought
upon me and because of sin. Free from the guilt of sin. Because
you're free in Christ. If God's your father, you're
free from the law. Free from all the carnal ordinances
and ceremonies of the Old Testament. Free from all the bondage and
guilt pressed upon men by the law. Free from any constraint
by the law. Free from any covenant with the
law. Free from any curse by the law.
Free from any condemnation. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them there in Christ Jesus. Free. Well, Brother Dodd, you
just can't say that. Well, let me see if I can try
better. Free! Just free. Have you ever been
in bondage? Do you know what it is to be
in bondage? And now you're free. I'll tell you what, if ever you
experience freedom after being in bondage, you won't go back
to bondage. It won't happen. It won't happen.
Free from religion. Free from superstition. Free,
free, free. Religion, superstition. Isn't
it strange how they go hand in hand? I was talking to, I forgot
who I was talking to the other day, but Ryan and Pam can appreciate
it, y'all are mountain folks. Mountains are full of superstition
and religion. Just full of it. Just full of
it. I first went to West Virginia.
These are folks in what's supposed to be Grace Church. I walked
into a house and started to go, I walked in the front door, started
to go out the back door. And man, folks tried to stop me.
They literally tried to stop me. How come? You got to go out
the same door you came in, somebody will die. I said, let's kill
them. Out the door. I was out one day, got some pine
trees, planted them in the yard. And somebody came by. I'm talking
about church folks, folks who claim to believe free grace.
Came by and said, Preacher, what you doing? Planting some pine
trees. Oh. Planting evergreen. Somebody's
going to die. I've got enough seedlings here to kill the whole
family. Let's get them out. Somebody's family will die. Superstition. Superstition. Well, don't you
believe in luck? No. We're worshippers believe in
luck. I believe God. Superstition. Religion. We're
free. Free. Free from the fear of death. Free. In Jesus, we are free. In Jesus, we are free, free from
all sin and from all guilt. We live in liberty. We'll join the happy song with
all the blood brought throng and sing the praises of the lamb
whose grace makes us his own. Number four, verse 39. If God
were your father, you'd do the works of Abraham. These Jews said, we have Abraham
to our father. Our Lord said, I know that's
not so. Cause if Abraham were your father,
you'd do the works of Abraham. Look at verse 39. They answered
and said unto him, Abraham's our father. And now the Lord
had conceded just before this. He said, he's out of your Abraham
seed, but that doesn't mean Abraham's your father. Jesus said unto
them, if you were Abraham's children, You would do the works of Abraham.
Now let me say this first. And I want you to see it from
scripture. So turn to Romans chapter two. All who trust Christ, all who
trust Christ, whether Jew or Gentile, are Abraham's children. Only those who trust Christ,
whether Jew or Gentile, are Abraham's children. These Pharisees were,
without question, Abraham's physical seed. They were Jews in the physical
sense. But the Lord Jesus declares plainly
that they were not Abraham's children, and Abraham was not
their father. The children of Abraham are those who are his
children of promise. They are spiritual children.
The church, the Israel of God. Look at Romans chapter 2, verse
28. Paul says, he is not a Jew, which
is one outwardly. Please forgive me if it seems
offensive to my friends who are Jews. Just because a fellow wears
horn-rimmed glasses and his nose is straighter and bigger than
mine, that doesn't make him a Jew. That's what Paul said. He is
not a Jew, which is one outwardly. Neither is that circumcision,
which is outward in the flesh. Just because a man was circumcised
as a baby, that doesn't make him a circumcised man. Not before
God, not spiritually. But he is a Jew, which is one
inwardly. Inwardly. What's that mean? Well, I really believe I'm a
Jew in my heart. No, no. One inwardly. There's a new man created in
you, a child of promise inwardly. And circumcision is that which
is of the heart. It's a work of God in your heart,
in the spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but
of God. Galatians chapter three. Galatians
three, verse twenty nine. Now look at it. Bob Duff, you were raised down
here toward Somerset, were you? German outfit, are you? Are you
Christ? Are you Christ? Listen now, if
you'd be Christ, then are you Abraham seed? Abraham seed, that's
a Jew, a real Jew. I mean, first-class, bona fide,
trace his lineage, Jew. How come? Because he's Christ. Philippians chapter 3, what does
that mean? What does that mean? Philippians chapter 3, verse
3. For we are the circumcision.
That is, God has done a work in our hearts by which he has
cut us off from the rest of the world. God has done a work in
our hearts by which he has identified us as his covenant people. God
has done a work in our hearts by which he declares we are Abraham's
seed. Who is this? Which worship God
in the spirit. Worship God spiritually and worship
God by his spirit. And rejoice in that is have confidence
in Christ Jesus. And have no confidence in the
flesh. Oh, but let me tell you what I experienced when I was
a little boy. It don't matter. Let me tell you who my mom and dad
is. I don't care. My daddy was a preacher, so what? No confidence
in the flesh. I've been in church all my life.
Don't tell me I ain't a Christian. No confidence in the flesh. I've
always done the right thing. No confidence in the flesh. What's
your confidence? Christ alone. That's all. If
God's your Father. Now, what does our Savior refer
to back here in John when he speaks of people doing the works
of Abraham? The works of Abraham. I'll tell
you what, if you do the works of Abraham, you don't buy your
groceries at the store where they sell wine and beer. Oh,
no. Abraham wouldn't have done that.
If you do the works of Abraham, you don't let your boys wear
long hair and your girls wear bobbed hair. Oh, no, no, no. Abraham wouldn't do that. If
you do the works of Abraham, you don't go to the picture show. No, Abraham wouldn't do that
either. Matter of fact, he didn't have the chance, there weren't
any around. What's the works of Abraham? You mean those things
don't have anything to do with faith and godliness and following
Christ? Not a frazzling thing. Not a
frazzling thing. If you do the works of Abraham,
you wouldn't smoke tobacco, you'd chew it. No, that had nothing
to do with it. That didn't do it. What's the
works of Abraham? What are they? Lord, what do
you mean? These proud Pharisees who boasted
of being Abraham's children were trying to murder the Son of God
in the name of God! He said, you're seeking to kill
me, one of Abraham's children. And I've not done anything except
tell you the truth. And they're trying to kill him in the name
of God. I know a lot of these fellas.
I've been around them a long time. I've been around them a
long time. What then are Abraham's works? Look at verse 40. Now you seek to kill me, a man
that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God. This did not Abraham. You do
the deeds of your father, that is your father the devil. Then
said they unto him, we meet up born of fornication. We have
one father, even God. If Abraham were your father,
you'd do the works of Abraham. Let me, uh, let me see if I can
get this. If Abraham's your father being
called of God, you forsake all and follow him. Read it in Genesis chapter 12. If you're Abraham's children,
if God's your father, you'll cherish Christ and guard the
sacrifice. In Genesis 15, Abraham has those
sacrifices parted at God's altar, and the vultures, Arminian will-worshipping,
free-will vultures, religious workmonger vultures, the dirty
birds, came down and would have taken away the sacrifice. And
Abraham drove off the vultures, protecting, cherishing the precious
blood of Christ, by which alone we're accepted of God. Abraham
was a magnanimous, forgiving man. Grace makes folks gracious. He was a magnanimous, forgiving
man. There was a strife between Abraham's
herdsmen and Lot's herdsmen. We tend to think there was a
strife between Abraham and Lot. There's no indication of that.
Merlin both had some hired help, and their hired help couldn't
get along. And Abraham said to Lot, we're brethren. I'll tell you what. Let's fix
this. You go yonder, and I'll go here.
Or you go here, and I'll go yonder. You go there, and I'll go there.
Or you go there, and I'll go there. Just take your pick. You
go wherever you want to, take whatever section of land you
want to take, and you can have it. Let's have peace. That's called a magnanimous man.
A magnanimous man. And just to prove to you that
it wasn't just... I'm getting rid of a lot. When
the kings of the plain came and took the kings of Sodom captive,
Abraham didn't have a, he didn't care a flip what they did with
King Sodom. And then they said, and took
Lot. Abraham said to his herdsmen, who were also pretty good with
a sword, he said, I want you 300 fellows to go with me and
we're going to go get Lot. And he hazarded his life to protect
God's righteous servant, Lot. Works with Abraham? Abraham was
a generous, generous man, hospitable. One day he's sitting out and
he saw he saw three strangers come into him. Three strangers. Sarah, honey, get busy in the
kitchen. We got company for supper tonight.
Two of them were angels of God, and one of them was the angel
God. Be not forgetful to entertain
strangers. For in so doing, some have entertained
angels unawares." He opened his house to complete strangers. Complete strangers who came to
his house as angels of God. Just happen to think, lady, the
first time your daddy came to our house in West Virginia, our
little girl about that high, she'd never seen him before.
Bobby Crago's her daddy, missionary South America. He came up, she'd
been waiting on the front porch like she's waiting for me. And
when he got to the front door, she opened the door and she said,
you must be missionary Crago. Come on in. How come? Open your house to God's people.
Open the house to folks, hospitable. It's Abraham's seat. Well, this
is my house. I've worked hard for it. Well,
keep it then. Abraham was a man who saw the
Lord Jesus. He said, Abraham saw my day. He saw it and he was glad. Abraham
saw my, he saw when the angel of the Lord came and said, I'm
going to give you a son. I want to give you a son through
Sarah's womb. Abraham said, that's, that's
the Messiah. That's the Christ. That's the
one Adam told us about. That's the promise seed of the
woman in whom all the nations of the earth be blessed. And
Sarah persuaded him to go into Hagar and he got Ishmael. It's
what you get when you try to put your hand to God's works.
We still got to live with him. And then God brought Isaac into
the world. That son in whom every promise
of God has failed. That son in whom redemption is. That son by whom God's son is
coming into the world. That son by whom God's salvation
is coming to all his people. And he raised him up. And one
day God said, Abraham, kill him. Take your son, your only son
Isaac, whom you dearly love. to a place I want to show you,
and in three days, I want him." It would have been a horrible,
horrible, horrible trial, Mark, if the Lord said, sacrifice him
right now. But in the heat of the moment
of God speaking, I can imagine it being done. That's not what
he said. He said, you look him in the
eyes, for three long days and then kill it. You see, when God
calls a man to something, when God calls a woman to something,
he never takes them by surprise and hooks them like you're hooking
a fish on a piece of fake bait and drags them into service.
Oh, no, no, no, no, no. God will give you plenty of time
to think about it. and wiggle out if you want to. You can wiggle out if you want
to. You can, oh, you go home and start weighing things. Oh,
well, now I don't know. Well, I talked to the wife about
this. Well, that'll be the end of it. That'll be the end of
it. Nope, you're not going to sacrifice
Isaac over my dead body, you will. No. Three days, you think
about it, and then kill him. And you know what Abraham did,
Larry? Three days later, he killed his son. So he didn't really. Oh, yes,
he did really. God said he did. He raised him up from the dead.
In his heart, he killed him. He drew back the knife and killed
his son. But before he did so, he said
to his servants, I and the lad will go yonder and worship. And
we will return to you. He received his son from the
dead. You see, he really did believe God. He really did believe
God. He believed God was going to
raise him from the dead because Abraham knew he's the one through
whom God said Messiah is coming. And when Isaac was raised up
from the dead, he said, buddy, before we leave here, let's give
this mountain a name. This mountain, later on, a place
called Calvary. This Mount Moriah, let's give
it a new name. This mountain of sacrifice. This
mountain where we saw God raise you from the dead. Let's give
it a new name. Let's call it Jehovah Jireh.
The Lord will see, and the Lord will provide. and the Lord will
be seen in the provision he makes. Number five, verse 42, John,
chapter eight. If God were your father. You'd truly love the Lord Jesus. Jesus said unto them, if God
were your father, you would love me. For I proceeded forth and
came from God Neither came I myself, but he sent me. 28 years ago, Teresa Coleman
got me a plaque one day for my birthday. And this is what it
had on it. We love him because he first
loved us. That's the true confession of
every believing heart. We don't love him as we would.
We don't love him as we should. We don't love him as we soon
shall. But we love him. We love him. Don't act much like
it, I acknowledge. But we love him. We love him. We love him because He first
loved us. His love precedes our love for
him. His love infinitely exceeds our
love for him. And his love is the cause of
our love for him. But we love him. Lord, thou knowest
all things. Thou knowest that I love thee. Philip Doddridge expressed it
so beautifully in an old, old hymn. Do not I love thee, O my
Lord? Behold my heart and see, and
turn the dearest idol out that dares to rival thee. Do not I
love thee, O my Lord? Then let me nothing love. Dead
be my heart to every joy which Jesus cannot move. Is not thy
name melodious still to mine attentive ear? Doth not each
pulse with pleasure bound my Savior's voice to hear? Hast
thou a lamb in all thy flock I would disdain to feed? Hast
thou a foe before whose face I fear thy calls to plead? Would
not mine ardent spirit vie with angels round the throne to execute
thy sacred will and make thy glory known? Would not my heart
pour forth its blood in honor of thy name and challenge the
cold hand of death to damp the immortal flame? Thou knowest
I love thee, dearest Lord, but oh, I long to soar far from the
spheres of mortal joy. and learn to love thee more.
Verse 47, number six. If God were your father, you'd
hear his word. All true believers, all true
Christians hear God's word. He that is of God, heareth God's
words. Therefore, Ye therefore hear
them not, because you're not of God. Hmm. I wonder what that means. I mean,
just exactly what you think it does. You preach the word of
God to folks who know God and they hear it and rejoice in it.
Folks who don't know God won't hear it and won't rejoice in
it. Those who are born of God are folks who believe the gospel. You see, they are taught of God
and those who are taught of God are well taught. I'm talking
about a believer now, not a religionist, a believer. You tell him about
God's sovereignty, and he'll fall down and worship. You tell
him about covenant grace, and he'll find comfort. You tell
him about electing love, and he'll sing with joy. Tell him
about total depravity, and he'll weep to confess his own. Tell
him about effectual blood redemption, limited atonement, and he'll
dance before the ark of God like David. Tell him about irresistible
grace, and he'll shout amen. Tell him about the security of
God's saints, and he'll pray for grace to honor God, persevering
in grace. One more thing. Verse 51. If God were your father, if God
were your father, you'd never taste death. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. The Pharisees
said to him, said, well, how then can you say that man never
taste death? Our Lord said, I'm the resurrection
and the life, he that liveth and believeth on me shall never
die. Believest thou this? And here
he says, if man has God for his father, then He'll never see
death, never see death. And the Pharisees rightly interpreted
that never taste death. Oh, this body is going to die.
But that's not death. That's not death. No, that's
just. Watch this here. Some of you
folks have been trying to get me to do this for years. A little
warm. Anybody feel sorry for me? Anybody feel somehow something
horrible's happened? He's lost his coat. No, I just
dropped it. Because I don't need it right
now. It served its purpose. That is. And soon this tabernacle of clay
will have done everything God intended to be done in this tabernacle
of clay. Do you really believe that? I
mean everything, David, everything God intended 59 years ago when
he formed this piece of clay in my mother's womb, everything
he intended to do with it will soon be finished. And what do
you do with a tool that has no other use, has no other function,
that can't get anything else out of it. Well, you just. Well,
most of us are sticking because they might need this someday.
But if you're smart, you just throw it away. You just throw
it away because it's useless. Everything it could possibly
be used for has been accomplished. We just throw it away. Oh. Do you mean That's not dying. No, no. That's living. For the believer, he shall never
taste death. How can Larry Brown never taste
death? Because the Lord Jesus became flesh like us, that he
by the grace of God might taste death for every sinner he came
here to save. And oh, he tasted it. And if he tasted it, I never
will. Because he tasted death for me.
There'll be no bitterness, no pain, no regrets, no lost cause. no tasting of death. Blessed
and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection, for
on such the second death hath no power. If God were your father,
I pray he'll make himself your father in Christ Jesus the Lord. Amen.