We here at the church have been
going through the book of Galatians, and I want to continue that study
this morning. James chapter 5, and look at
the last two verses. This is the way James closes
his epistle. James chapter 5, verses 19 and
verse 20. Brethren, if any of you do error,
do err from the truth, and one convert him. Let him know that
he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall
save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins." In
Galatians chapter 1, I want to remind you of the situation here
in Galatia. Paul had gone there and preached
the gospel to them. And now they had began to leave
this gospel. Here's what Paul said in Galatians
chapter 1 verse 6, I marvel that ye are so soon removed from
him that called you unto the grace of Christ unto another
gospel. And then he spins six chapters
in this epistle. Seeking, as James said, to correct
the error that they had fallen into. And now turn to my text. Here is what Paul is seeking
to do in chapter 1 through chapter 6. And here in chapter 4, let's
begin reading in verse 4. Chapter 4 and verse 4. When the
fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a
woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the
law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because
ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your
heart, crying, Father, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a
servant, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of
God through Christ. Howbeit then, when ye knew not
God, ye did service to them which by nature of no gods. And this
is where we begin this week. But now, now, after that ye have
known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to
the weak and vaguely elements, whereunto ye desire again to
be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months,
and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have
bestowed upon you labor in vain. Brethren, I beseech you, be as
I am, for I am as ye are. Ye have not injured me at all. But now, our text says there
in verse 9, but now, after that ye have known God. Now, how is
it right now? Right now, not yesterday, not
what you hope it will be, but how is it right now? Now, after
that ye have known God. When we were sinners, Christ
died for us, Much more, being now justified by His blood. Not waiting to see if we're going
to be justified. Now justified from all things. You were servants of sin, but
thanks be unto God that you obeyed the gospel. Now being made free
from sin. What a tremendous statement.
Right now, you're free from sin. Free from sin's guilt. free from
sin's condemnation, free from sin's consequences in the end. What's the end of sin? Death.
But you're free. When? Now. Now? When ye were in the flesh, the
motions of sin which were by the law did work in your members
to bring forth fruit unto death. But now ye are delivered from
the law. What does the law do for a man?
It curses him. It stirs up sin in you. But now
you are delivered from the law. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. There is no judgment towards
them. When? Now. Now. That's what the believer's
standing is. It's right now. He is perfect
in Christ. He is complete in Christ. He
is perfectly accepted in Christ. It's not our goal to be saved. We are saved. It's not our goal
to be accepted of God. We are accepted. Now, now, the
self-righteousness, the legalists, they look for what they're finally
going to obtain before they die. Surely if I'll work hard enough,
I'll be good enough, I'll attain this or that. The believers already
got it. When? Right now. Right now. Their goal is our starting point. Ain't that so? Right now. Now. You that were sometimes
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now
hath He reconciled. You're friends of God now in
Christ the Lord. In time past you were not a people,
but now you are the people of God. Beloved, now are we the
sons of God. Now. But now, after that ye have
known God. What a tremendous statement.
Now. After that ye have known God. All shall know me, from
the least to the greatest. This is life eternal. that they
might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou
hast sent." How do we know God? We know Him as our Creator. We know Him as our Savior. We
know Him as our life. We know Him as our hope. But
we know Him in an intimate way. We know Him in a special way.
How do we know Him? Our Father. He's our Father. And tell you what He said there
in verse 6, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your
heart, and He's crying, Father, Father. It's just as natural
for a child of God to address God as His Father, and to cry
after Him as His Father, and cry for Him as His Father, as
it is for a natural infant to cry after his mom or after his
dad. You see a little child running
along tugging on his dad's breeches leg? Or you see a little infant
crying, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, every time he gets hurt or he
wants Mom to pick him up? Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Daddy, Daddy,
Daddy, that's the cry of every newborn child of God. Father,
Father, Father, when is that? Right now. Right now. As soon as God sends that sovereign
Spirit of His Son into your heart, the first thing you'll start
crying is, My Father, My Father. And you'll never get over that
cry. Ain't but one thing that's going to satisfy that cry, and
that's to see Him that redeemed you and sent that Spirit into
your heart, crying, Father, Father. I'll be satisfied, David said,
when I wake in your likeness. We're not sons of God in the
same sense that Jesus Christ is. I realize that. Because He's
the only begotten of the Father. He's the eternal Son of God.
But you know this, brothers and sisters, we are as much sons
of God as He is. We are as really sons of God
as the Lord Jesus Christ Himself is. What did He say? I send to
my Father and your Father. I send to my God and your God. And in John chapter 17, when
he was praying that high priestly prayer, this is what he said.
And this is such a tremendous statement. Our Master said, Father,
the glory that you've given me, I've given them, that they may
be one, even as thou art one. I in them, and thou in me, that
they may be made perfect in one, that the world may know that
thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me."
We're as loved as sons as the only begotten is. We are as much
sons as the eternal Son is. We have the spirit of a son. Ye are sons now after that ye
have known God." This is a covenant blessing. Knowing God is a covenant
blessing. It's a covenant promise. Look
over here with me to your right in Hebrews chapter 8. Look at
this. Look in Hebrews chapter 8. You
hold Galatians. And look in Hebrews just over
to your right. In the 8th chapter of Hebrews,
knowing God, after that you have known God, that's a covenant
blessing and it's a promise. Look here in Hebrews chapter
8 and look here in verse 7. He's talking about these two
covenants. If that first covenant, Hebrews chapter 8 verse 7, if
that first covenant, with all of its ceremonies and its priesthood
and its holy days, had been faultless. Then should no place have been
sought for the second. For finding fault with them,
he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make
a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house
of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their
fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them
out of Egypt, because they continue not in my covenant. And I regarded
them not, saith the Lord. But this is the covenant that
I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
the Lord. I'll put my laws in their mind, and write them in
their hearts, and I will be to them a God, and they shall be
to me a people. And they shall not teach every
man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the
Lord, for all shall know me from the least to the greatest. I
will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and iniquities,
while I remember no more. In that he saith a new covenant,
he's made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth
old is ready to vanish away." I found fault, he said, with
that old covenant. He found all kinds of fault with
it. One of the faults he found with it was the priesthood. Their
priests were men just like you and I. And when they went in
to offer a sacrifice, they first had to offer their own sins.
And then they died, and that priest had to be replaced with
another priest. He found fault with the blood of those sacrifices.
The blood of those sacrifices could never take away seedlings. He found a problem with the mercy
seat. It was made out of pure gold.
But when you went to it, there was no grace there to strengthen
you in the time of your need. He found trouble with the Sabbath
day because it couldn't give a man rest for his soul. He found
trouble with the moral law. All it did was condemn you and
remind you of your sin. Find in fault with him, he says,
the days come when I'm going to make a sure covenant with
you. I'm going to do something for you. The old covenant said,
this is what I want you to do for me. I'm going to make a new
covenant and that's what I'm going to do for you. And what
I'm going to do for you, you know what I'm going to do for
you? I'm going to bring you to know me. I'm going to reveal
myself to you. You're going to know the Lord.
You're going to know me. That's a covenant blessing. That's
a covenant promise. And what Paul is writing now
to these Galatians here and is saying, why would anybody want
to leave the new covenant with all its blessings and all its
promises and go back to that old covenant? Why would anybody
want to do something like that? Why would you want to leave the
spiritual and go back to the carnal I will be to them a God. They shall know me." How in the
world can you improve on that? The only way to improve on that
is just to live in the reality of it and believe it. Now, after that you have known
God. What a covenant blessing. Look
back over at the text again. Look at Galatians. Paul says, I'm not going to correct
what I said. You know God, and that's important.
That's essential. After that, you have known God.
But he said, here's a better way to say it. Let me say it
this way. Look at our text in verse 9. Or rather, he says,
you are known of God. Or rather, you are known of God. Well, I tell you, to know God,
that's life. And that's essential. We have to know Him. But here's
something more important, to be known of Him. To be known
of Him. You know the reason we know Him
if we do? It's because He first knew us.
Our knowing Him is just the effect, it's just the fruit of Him knowing
us. Other sheep I have which are
not of this fold, they're not even Jews, they're Gentiles.
Many of them are not born yet, but I know them. And them also
I must bring. The foundation of God standeth
sure. The Lord knoweth them that are
His." You know, the Lord knows everybody. There is a sense,
a definite sense, in which He knows the wicked aforeall. But
there is a special knowledge that God has of His elect that
He's always known them. And because He's always known
them, He purposed a long time ago to make provisions for them. He's provided for them. Listen
to what the Scripture says in Romans chapter 8 verse 29. All things work together for
good to them that love God, for those who are called according
to His purpose. And then he turns right around
in verse 29, and he tells us what that purpose is, for those
whom he foreknew. Nobody but God can foreknow people.
I can't even know people. You may think you know me, and
may not really know me. But God can not only know us,
He can foreknow us. Before we was ever born, He can
foreknow us. And before He ever made the world, He foreknew a
great host of people. And because He foreknew them,
He provided for them. And what was it He provided?
Well, He tells us, He predestinated them to be conformed to the image
of His Son. That's provision, isn't it? And
then He says, those that He predestinated, them He also called, and it's
when He calls us. that we come to know Him. He
foreknew us, see, all along He foreknew us. But we didn't know
Him. But because He foreknew us, there
was a time that He brings us to know Him. Aren't you glad? Aren't you thankful that He knew you? when you didn't know Him. You
didn't know Him. You just sang that, didn't you?
I didn't know Him. Every thought that I had naturally
was wrong about Him. But He knew me. He knew where
I was. He knew my awful, awful need.
And He made it. He made it. We're told about a little baby
in Ezekiel 16 that the Scripture says was cast out in the open
field when it was born. Unconscious. Not conscious even
if it's misery. And oh, I pitied that little
infant to do anything for it. And the Lord said, I pass by
you. That's what He said to that little
infant. I pass by you and I saw you polluted in your blood. And
I said to you, when you were in your blood, live." And ain't
that a beautiful picture of us? When He passed by us, we didn't
know Him, but He knew us. And what did He say to us? Paul
said, even when we were dead in sins, for His great love wherewith
He loved us, He quickened us together with Christ. Gave us
life in Christ. Aren't you glad He knew you?
Before you knew Him, He knew you. And you know Him because
He first knew you. And you can't believe He knows
you until He reveals Hisself to you. There's no man in this
world that can believe earnestly, God knows me, until God reveals Hisself to
him. And then you say, I know God
in Christ. I know Him. He's made Himself real to me.
And then you can say, He knows me. He knows me. He is indeed my Father. And you
know something? If He don't ever make Himself
real to us in this lifetime, if He lets us go on not knowing
Him, savingly in His Son, then there's going to come a day when
He's going to say to us, I never knew you. I never knew you. Oh, He knew them, but they weren't
His sons. They weren't His daughters. Because
if God knows you, He's going to make it separate to you that
you may know Him. See what Paul said? What is it
most important? I tell you, this is the most
important thing in this world, that God knows you. That He knows
you. There was a lady I was talking
with just the other day. She's an old, old lady. And she
said, you know, she said, I've reached the point that I am so
sick and I am so weak, I can't even pray anymore, she said.
I can't even pray, can't concentrate, can't pray. And I told her a
story that Brother Henry Mahan told to me about this, about the pastor. Went to see a fellow that was
so sick. And he'd had a fever, and he couldn't even think anymore.
Couldn't hardly think of his own name. And the pastor asked
him, said, you still praying? Still seeking the Lord? He said,
what little I can. He said, you're still thinking
on the Lord? You're still thinking of Him?
He said, what little I can. And then he made this statement.
When I cannot think of Him, He yet thinks of me. That's what
it means to know Him. He knows us. And there may come
a time, brothers and sisters, in this life, you don't have
a sense enough to recall who you know. You may be so full of pain that
they dope you up and you don't know anything or anybody, but
ain't it a blessing to know this? He still knows you. He still knows you. The children
of Israel used to say, the Lord has forgotten me. The Lord has
forgotten me. And the Lord said, can a mother
forget her suckling child? Can she have her little infant
hanging on her breast and forget him? that she'll not have compassion
on the son of her womb? Yea, she may. But He said, I'll
never, I'll never, I'll never forget you. When you're in the
midst of trials and troubles and torment, when the waters
have come in like a flood against your soul, when you're walking
through the fire, I'll never forget you. I'll never forget
you. Known of God. After that ye are
known of God, what a blessing it is to be known of Him who's
got all the stars named and numbered. He knows you, Larry. Right where
you're at, the condition you're in, He knows you. Now, look at this text again
in the light of all of that. Now, after that you have known
God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, were
until you desire again to be in bondage." I don't understand
all of this, and Paul didn't either. I take a lot of comfort
in knowing that he did not know the hearts of these people. He
even reached a place where he said this about, I stand in doubt
of you. You told me you've heard the Gospel. You told me you believe
in Christ, but now begin to stand in doubt of it. But he goes ahead
in the sincerity of his heart and seeks to win them back from
this awful error. And the first thing he says in
our text this morning, you know God. And you're known of God. And after this wonderful relationship,
after this wonderful knowledge, and all this assurance, are you
going to turn again now? to that weak and beggarly elements?
Weak and beggarly elements? What's he talking about the weak
and beggarly elements? Well, he tells us there in verse
10, you observe days and months and times and years. What are
these weak and beggarly elements? Well, it's that ceremonial law.
The Jews, you know, they had the priesthood and the sacrifices.
They observed holy days. Sabbath days. And there was a time when these things were very useful.
And God commanded them to observe these days and times. But all
of these things had their day and they had their time. There
was a day God would have killed a man if he wasn't circumcised.
He sought to slay Moses because Moses wouldn't circumcise his
children. His wife went out and sharpened him a rock and circumcised
her own children. God would have killed a child
of Israel who wasn't circumcised. He killed them for breaking the
Sabbath day. That was a time when He commanded men to keep
these days holy. But now look what the Holy Ghost
calls them, weak and beggarly. Weak. They can't save a man's
soul. They don't have the power of
that. They're beggarly. They can a bit more impart salvation
to a man than a homeless person can make you rich. The beggarly,
poor thing. They had their time, but now
they're gone. Christ Himself has fulfilled
them. He's fulfilled all of these things.
He is those days of rest. He is the priesthood. He is the
sacrifice. He is the mercy seeker. He is
the offering. He fulfilled all of these things.
That's what He came to do. And now think of this and note
this very well when I say this. If God, who instituted these
things to begin with, now calls them weak and beggarly,
How much more is he going to call man-made things weak and
beggarly? These are things that he instituted.
These weren't man-made institutions. He instituted these days and
times and months and years. And now he says there's nothing
to them anymore. They can't do you a bit of good.
If he says that about things that he's instituted, what do
you think about what man's put in religion? I saw, I was watching
the TV the other day, the religious channel, and I saw this fella,
and it sort of got my attention because it reminded me of my
dad. My dad used to have these little bee smokers. Some of you
have seen them. When you go to smoke your bees,
you know, you put smoke in there and the bees, he had something
that looked like a little bee smoker. And this smoke was coming
out of it. He had it on the end of a chain.
And he's walking around through the crowd like this. And I thought,
that looks like my dad's peace marker. But you know what he
said that did? It warded off evil spirit. Huh. I never read about that in the
Bible. But that's what he says. Then I found another channel.
A whole room full of people. And all of them were men. They
were down on a rug. Every one of them down on a big
rug. And all of them in unison was bowing down and raising up,
bowing down and raising up. And somebody was chanting a prayer. I saw all kinds of things like
that. I saw another fellow with a little cup in his hand, a little
silver cup. And he was dipping his finger in it and sprinkling
people. And he called it holy water. And I thought if God calls
these things that He instituted, we and beggarly, what in the
world is He going to call those things? They call it holy water. God calls it stinking water. They call that prayer when they
bow down, God calls it abomination. They call that smoke warding
off evil spirits. You know what God says? He says
that's another gospel of the devil. That's all that is. If
God calls these things that He institutes as weak, what does
He call those things? What does He think of those things? Paul said, in Jesus Christ, nothing
avails anything. Circumcision or uncircumcision,
holy days, feast days, sacrifices, Traditions of men. Nothing avails
anything but this one thing. Only one thing is going to save
a man. And that's being in Christ. In Jesus Christ. In Christ. A new creature in Christ. And
everything else, you can just put it right here under this
weak and daggerly elements. And if you hang on to them, you'll
be damned. Now that's so. That's so. That's
one of the arguments the Apostle Paul had to this church. You're
going to leave your knowledge of God in Christ, knowing that
He knows you, and turn back to this stuff? No wonder he's out there standing
in doubt. Verse 11, look at it right quickly. Look here what else he says. I am afraid of you. lest I have
bestowed upon you labor in vain." Here's something else he says
to them, to women. I am afraid of you. Well, he could have said
very easily, I'm afraid for you. I'm not only afraid of you, I'm
afraid for you. Well, I tell you, there's nothing,
there's nothing that makes me more afraid for a person. It's when I see them begin to
leave Christ and His gospel. That scares me to death for those
people. If I see a dear child of God
and they call me and say, you know what the doctor told me
today? I've got cancer. I'm going to die. There's nothing
they can do for me. I tell you, my heart's sad for them. I sympathize
with them, but I'm not afraid for them. When dear brother Jim
Wilson called me and I went over to sit with him, Oh, he just
beside himself. He said, I thought I prepared
myself for this. And we sat there and talked with each other and
it was so sad. But I wasn't afraid for him. I remember Charlie Payne, most
of you don't know Charlie. He went there with Henry for
years. He had a bad heart for years. And they told him, we
think we can help you a little, Charlie. Maybe give you a few
more months. We'll do surgery on you. We're
not even for sure you're going to come off that operating table."
And he told them before he went to the surgery, he told his family,
he said, he said, I'll either come out of this, hack well. They'll do something for me and
I'll be about hack well. Or he said, I won't come out
of this and I'll be made whole. And that's what we think about
a Christian, ain't it? A true child of God. But boy,
I tell you, when we see somebody leave in Christ, and leave in
the truth, either they go back to open and profane sins, or
they err from the gospel of grace and go get in the gospel of works,
when we see them do that, I tell you, it scares me to death for
them. Paul said, I'm scared for you. There's no fear. There is
no fear that a pastor has. Like this fear that he feels
for somebody that he believes is leaving Christ and his gospel.
Because he knows. He knows what's coming. He knows
what's coming if they're children of God. He knows what's coming
if they're just mere professors. This is what Peter meant when
he said this. If after they have escaped the
corruption of this world, the pollution of this world, through
the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, They are
again entangled in that and overcome. The last end is worse than the
first. It had been better for them not
to even know the way, never to have sat unto the truth, never
to hear Christ preach, than after they'd heard to turn from it.
That's what makes us afraid. That's what makes us. I'm afraid
for you. And Paul says, I'm afraid of you. I'm afraid of your motives. Why in the world do you want
to turn back to the law and ceremonies? I'm afraid, he said, you've deceived
me. You've been pretending to listen
to me and you haven't been listening to me. I'm afraid of you. There are people that you and
I are afraid of. Did you know that? We're afraid of them. There are some people I'm afraid
of because I've labored to preach to them, I've prayed
for them, and yet all of my labors and everything I've preached
to that person is just like pouring water on a duck's back. They've
not heard a thing that I've said. And it's so discouraging sometimes
when you preach to somebody and the very truth that you preach
to them you know they didn't listen to it because they went
right out and did right contrary to what you just told them. And finally you just almost feel
like you're just going to throw up your hands and say, I'm just
afraid of you. I can't help you. I just can't
help you. And it seems like, I guess it
seems like when Paul was writing this epistle, he's ready to quit.
He's ready to quit. But he goes on in verse 12. Look
at this. I won't keep you much longer. Be patient just a little
bit. There's a good lesson here. In verse 12. Brethren, I beseech
you, be as I am. Brethren, I beseech you, be as
I am. Well, here's some excellent advice. This is advice for everybody
without exception. I wish the world would listen
to this. I wish the Pope of Rome would listen to this. All our
politicians and all our church members, I wish everybody would
listen to this one statement when Paul said, Be as I am. How was Paul? Well, here is what
he said about himself. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all this acceptation that Jesus Christ came into this
world to save sinners of whom I am chief. What if everybody
thought about themselves that way? I was born a sinner. I'm a sinner
by deed. I'm a sinner by choice. I'm a
sinner. I'm the chief of sinners. I ain't
never got any better. Oh, wretched man that I am! That's what he thought about
himself. That's what he was. He said, why don't you be like
me? I don't mean to offend the Pope
of Rome. I talk about him a lot. I don't mean that man any harm.
He wouldn't listen to me. If I had ten million dollars
to offer him, he wouldn't listen to me. I'd listen to him. If he'd come out of that religious
garb and out of that idolatry and come down here and say, Bruce,
I'm just like you are. We're both just like Paul. We're
sinners. I am less than the least of all
saints. That's what I am. And I tell
you, when you've got that goal, you're just where you need to
be. When we get down on Paul's level and realize we're nothing
and less than nothing and glim compared to you, I'm worthless.
We're right where we need to be. Just like Paul. I am crucified with Christ. That's
what I am. I'm crucified with Christ. I've
lost my life. I've lost my life. The life I
live now, it's not mine, but Christ lives in me. And I live
by faith of the Son of God. I've counted all lost. Everything's
lost. It's done that I may win Christ. Oh, be as I am, he says. Be like
me. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The only thing
I am in myself is a sinner. That's all. But everything else
I am is by the grace of God. I am what I am. I'm a sinner,
but I'm an elect sinner. I'm a sinner, but I'm a regenerated
sinner. I'm a sinner, but I'm a redeemed
sinner. I'm a sinner, but I'm a hopeful sinner. And sometimes
I'm a happy sinner. By God's grace, I am what I am. Be like me, Paul said. Be like
me. I'm a poor sinner and nothing
at all. Oh, God would that we all think
that way. And Jesus Christ is my all in
all. Wouldn't it be a heaven on earth
if we all felt like Paul about ourselves and Christ? And he
said this, for I am as ye are, I am as ye are. Here was a man
that was a Jew and he was a Pharisee, a very strict Pharisee, very
strict in his religion. He wouldn't have anything to
do with Gentile people. Shannon, if he met you on the
road, he'd spit at you. He hated Gentile and he'd walk
around you. He said, I lived a stricter life
than anybody else that I knew. I was a strict religious Pharisee. Was circumcised, kept all of
these ceremonies, practiced them from my youth. And he says, I give up all of
that and I've become just like you. Ain't that an amazing statement? I've given up all the way that
I knew and tried to save myself. And now I've come down and lived
among the Gentiles and lived like a Gentile. And I've done
that to show you that that way that I used to hold to and believe
in, He can't save me. Now I've come down here with
you dead dog Gentiles and tell you both of us can be saved by
another way. by Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Yes. I've give up that and I've
become just like you. And here was the mystery behind
it and this is what Paul was getting at. Here I have come
down here and I've left all of that stuff. I've left the priesthood
and I've left the ceremonies. I've left those days that we
kept holding. I've left all of that. And I've
come down here and tell you that we're saved by Christ and by
Him alone. And now Paul said, it's a strange
thing to me that now you won't believe me, and grace, and Christ,
and faith, and go back up here and start eating on this scraps
that I've thrown away. A bunch of husk of Judaism. That's amazing to me, he said. Strange thing. And he finishes
this, like this, and I'll finish too. He says, you've not injured
me. You've not injured me at all.
They hadn't personally injured him. You can't make someone's
salvation void. I don't care what I get up here
and tell you this morning, I can't take salvation out of your heart. It wasn't Paul they injured.
Oh, they broke his heart. They caused him to water his
pillow with his tears. But who did they injure really?
Themselves. Themselves. They were the ones who suffered
in the end if repentance didn't prevent it. If a man leaves Christ for Moses,
he's hurting nobody but himself. If a man leaves grace for law,
he's hurting nobody but himself. If a man leaves faith for ceremonies,
he's hurting nobody but himself. If a man leaves the reality of
Christ's presence and runs and latches hold of a shadow or a
picture, are you satisfied, you who love
your wives, are you satisfied with just getting a picture of
her out of your wallet and looking at it every once in a while?
Not if you love her, you're not. No, you see, I've got to have
the real thing. I've got to hug my wife. I've got to look into
her eyes. I've got to talk with her. I love her. And when a person
is ready to leave a picture, leave the picture and leave Christ
who is a living reality, he ain't going to hurt nobody but himself. You and I have seen a lot of
people. In this little place here, we've seen a lot of people that go their way. Some of them
go back to the former way of living. Some go to some other
kind of religion. And it breaks our heart. It breaks
our heart. But who are they going to hurt
in the long run? We'll get over it. We'll get over it. It'll
get easier to bear a little bit. Keeps you up during the night.
Got that nagging fear and burden in your heart for it. We'll be
like old Charlie Payne. Someday we'll completely get
over that. But they're the ones. They're the ones that's hurting.
You just give it some time. You're here this morning. You're
thinking about leaving Christ. You think about leaving the worship
of Him? You just think about leaving off seeking Him? Seeking
Him in secret prayer? Seeking Him in His Word? Seeking
Him in public worship? You think about leaving Him? If you do, I'll keep my eyes
on you. And I'll give you maybe a year or so. And then I'll come
back and visit you and see how you feel. I can see it in your countenance. You can see people who have left
their profession of Christ. When the Spirit of Christ has
left them, He's not pleading, He's not dealing with them anymore.
My Spirit should not always strive with men. And when the light
that you have turns to darkness, and when you think of death and
dying and eternity, all that's left is a certain fearful looking
for of judgment. Then we'll see who's injured.
Then we'll see who's hurt. That's what Paul was telling
these people. That's what he was telling these people. And
he used every argument, every persuasion that he could think
about. And I don't know if he won them
back or not. I don't know if he saved them
from the snare of death or not. I don't know. Only time will
tell. But I tell you how he closed
this epistle. He closed it this way. I've done
all I can do for you. I have told you the truth. And
whether it's going to do any good, I don't know. But listen,
don't any of you trouble me anymore. Don't any of you trouble me anymore.
If you've got it in your heads to leave Christ, you go ahead
and do it. But don't trouble me anymore.
Ain't that where we have to leave it sometimes? When you preach
to people and you've talked to them and you've tried to persuade
them, don't do what you're thinking about doing. And finally, you
just have to step back and say, if that's what you're going to
do, go ahead and do it. Do it and shut up about it. Do
it and don't bother me anymore about it. But you'll be the one
suffering the long run. All of us have seen it, haven't
we? Oh, God help us this morning,
brothers and sisters, if we even think about leaving Christ, to
be horrified. To be horrified. He owes us nothing. The first time He ever visited
us was sovereign grace, free grace. And if He never visits
us again, He owes us nothing. And are we going to be so presumptuous
now to think it's alright to leave? Oh, it's so dangerous, ain't
it? God bless His message. Let's pray.