And we're delighted to be with
you now. Turn with me, if you will, to 1 Peter chapter 3. 1 Peter, the third chapter. I am sure that in trying to establish
a gospel witness in this place, as you invite folks to come and
try to encourage folks to come hear the gospel, You hear them
ask frequently, why? Why you won't start another church?
Why don't you go to one of the churches in town? Tell me about
your religion. What's the difference between
your religion and our religion? What's really the reason for
all this? I believe God's given me a message
that will be helpful to you. First Peter chapter 3 and verse
15. I want to talk to you as plainly
as I can from God's Word in my own heart and my heart's experience
of God's grace about my religion. Sanctify the Lord God in your
hearts. Hallow God in your hearts. Reverence
Him in your hearts. And be ready always to give an
answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that
is in you with meekness and fear. I venture to say, if you cannot
answer any man as to what your hope is, you don't have any hope. If you can't give a reason for
it, you don't have any hope. Your hope is just a delusion.
Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you,
a reason of the hope that is in you, Christ in you, the hope
of glory, with meekness and fear. Meekness, realizing who you are
and whose you are. Meekness, I'll say this, won't
cost you anything extra. Meekness is not what folks think
it is. I promise you anytime anyone
has a thought concerning any what we call spiritual grace,
any spiritual thing, Whatever people think of it by nature,
that's not what meekness is. Meekness doesn't mean that you
have no boldness. Meekness doesn't mean you have
no confidence. Meekness is not contrary to manliness. It's not even contrary to standing
up and standing firm. Moses was the meekest man who
ever lived in his day. And I promise you, you wouldn't
want to get in his way. What's meekness? Meekness is
knowing who you are. and whose you are. I belong to
God, and that causes me to live with fear, with reverence to
Him, with fear of offending Him, walk with fear, having a good
conscience, a good conscience. A good conscience is an honest
conscience, but a good conscience is one that is at peace with
God, rightly so. That whereas, They speak evil
of you as evildoers. You will experience it. I'm sure
you have, and you will more. As evildoers, they may be ashamed
that falsely accuse your good conversation, your good manner
of life in Christ. Now, following Peter's admonition,
I want to speak to you about the distinguishing, really distinguishing
characteristics of my religion. And let me say a few things by
way of introduction. True religion is not principally outward, ceremonial,
and ritualistic. We have churches, denominations,
split up and fuss and fight and divide over various outward practices. That's not the real issue. Now
we do conscientiously observe certain ordinances in the worship
of our God as prescribed by this book, specifically believers'
baptism and the Lord's Supper. Believers' baptism is essentially
the believers' confession of faith in Christ. Remember how
when our Lord Jesus came to John the Baptist to be baptized of
him John said hold hope I'm not gonna baptize you and our master
said suffer to be so now for thus it becometh us to fulfill
all righteousness Now be assured his going down into water and
coming up out of water didn't fulfill righteousness and You're
going down into water and coming up out of water does nothing
to fulfill righteousness in reality but symbolically his did and
yours did. Our Lord Jesus by being baptized
was buried and rose again and the father spoke from heaven
and said this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased because
by that obedience that was that symbolized his obedience unto
death he fulfilled all righteousness and we are baptized just that
way We confess before men that we died with Christ, were crucified
with Christ, buried with Christ, and risen again with Christ,
having fulfilled all righteousness in Christ our righteousness.
The Lord's Supper is the believer's symbolic, continual remembrance
of Christ, not just our personal remembrance, by remembrance of
Him publicly as we take the bread and wine and remember Him. Constantly
setting before men that which Christ has done for us in the
shedding of His blood, in the sacrifice of His body upon the
cursed tree. But those things are not the
substance. They're not the essence of our religion. Second, true
religion is not primarily doctrinal. Your pastor is a doctrinal preacher.
I'm a doctrinal preacher. I promise you, Tom will not have
somebody in here to preach for you who is not a doctrinal preacher. But doctrine ain't all. That's
not it. You cannot have true religion
without true doctrine. But you can dead sure have true
doctrine and have no true religion. I'll give you an example. Saul
of Tarsus was just as orthodox as Cornelius. He believed the
Old Testament revelation of the law as did Cornelius. He believed
the promises of the law as did Cornelius. He observed the ordinances
of the law as did Cornelius. But Cornelius believed God. Saul of Tarsus didn't. Cornelius
was a devout man waiting for the consolation of Israel. Saul
of Tarsus despised the God of glory but was as religious as
all get out. Doctrine goes with true religion,
but you can dead sure have all the doctrine right in the world
and miss Christ. True religion is not principally
a doctrinal thing. True religion isn't really a
matter of outward behavior. Now let me qualify that. For
most people, Christianity is no more than changing the way
they live. How often have you heard someone say, I know Brother
Don's the same man because I knew him before and he's a different
man. He doesn't drink and cuss and fight and carry on like he
used to. He's a changed man. That's not true religion. True
religion will affect how a man lives, but your outward change
of life is not true religion. For most folks, religion is nothing
more than conformity to social standards of that which men describe
as righteousness. Their confession of faith is,
I don't smoke, drink, cuss or chew, and I don't run with folks
who do. But our God says the kingdom
of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and
joy in the Holy Ghost. Whatever true godliness is. Someone
asked me the other day, I've forgotten where I was, I've been
traveling so much. Someone asked me the other day about something
specific, I forgot what it was now. I said to him, you listen
now, you don't have any right to assume that anything is wrong
for anybody that this book doesn't say is wrong. You don't have
any right to assume that. You can do whatever you want
to or don't do what you want to. If you want to eat pork,
eat pork. If you don't, don't. If you want to chew tobacco,
chew tobacco. If you don't, don't. But don't you dare. presume to
set those things as a standard of godliness, or faith, or commitment,
or anything else. True godliness doesn't change
from the 1st century to the 21st century. If something was wrong
2,000 years ago, it's wrong now. And if it wasn't wrong 2,000
years ago, it's not wrong now. If it was alright 2,000 years
ago, it's alright now. And if it wasn't alright then,
it's not alright now. It doesn't change from north
to south, east to west, the United States of America to England
or Russia to Africa. Godliness is not principally
outward behavior. It does affect outward behavior,
but it is not outward behavior. True religion is an inward, spiritual
matter of the heart. It is a spiritual knowledge of
the living God as he is revealed in you by Christ in you. This is life eternal. This is
it. This is life eternal. That's
what true religion is, life eternal. That they might know thee, the
only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. That's what
life is. That's what religion is. It's
the knowledge of the living God from the inside. It's the knowledge of the living
God from the inside. When it pleased God who separated
me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace to reveal
his son, what Paul say? In me. In me. We talk about Christ
being revealed to us. He is, but He's revealed to us
from the inside. He's revealed to us by the Word,
bringing to light in our souls that which God works in our souls,
because Christ has come in by the power of His grace. Turn
over to Philippians chapter 3. Let me show you another description
here. Philippians 3. We are the circumcision. Now
remember what circumcision is. I've been corresponding with
a friend of mine who's been writing to me for several months now
with the kind of circular reason that paedobaptists or infant
baby baptizers, the only kind of reasoning they can have, you
know, they just keep running around in circles with words.
And he's been trying to convince me the circumcision in the Old
Testament was symbolic of baptism in the New Testament. It is nowhere
connected. It is nowhere connected. Circumcision
in the Old Testament was an outward sign of a covenant God made with
Abraham by which the promises and blessings of that covenant
were physically sealed to a specific people, those who were physically
circumcised and brought into Israel. It was a sign of the
work of God's grace in us by which we are sealed in Jesus
Christ by God the Holy Spirit. Circumcision was a sign of regeneration. It was a sign of the new birth,
the sealing of the Spirit by which God brings all covenant
blessings sealed to our hearts declaring us to be the sons of
God. Now this is what Paul says. We
are the circumcision. We are the true people of God. There are no other. We and we
alone are the true people of God who worship God, watch it
now, in the spirit. If you need stained glass windows
to help you worship God, you don't worship God in the spirit.
If you need crosses around your neck to help you worship God,
you don't worship God in the spirit. If you need images to
help you worship God, you don't worship God in the spirit. It
ain't possible to both need physical props and to worship God in the
spirit. We worship God in spirit, spiritually
by the spirit of God, and we worship him in our spirits. And
this is what that means. We rejoice in Christ Jesus, our
only confidence before God. Jesus Christ God's Son our only
trust our only hope my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus
blood and righteousness I dare not trust the sweetest frame
but holy lean on Jesus name we rejoice in Christ Jesus and have
no confidence in the flesh those three things are all synonymous
to worship God in the spirit is to believe in, to trust, to
rejoice in Jesus Christ the Lord and have absolutely no confidence
in the flesh. No confidence in my birth. No confidence in my learning.
No confidence in my parentage. No confidence in my experience.
No confidence in my will. No confidence in my works. No
confidence in me. I have nothing in me that gives
me any confidence before God. Nothing done by me nothing known
by me that gives me any confidence before God all true religion
all true Christianity comes by divine revelation the supernatural
revelation of Christ in the heart it is something a person experiences
in his soul And I put that in the present
tense Pastor Gary, you've been walking
with God for a while now. And we still experience his grace
and goodness day by day. We have experienced his grace
and we are experiencing his grace. Both when he hides his face and
when he makes himself known. Both when he chastens us and
when he comforts us. both when he leads us through
the deep sea and when he causes us to lie down in green pastures.
True religion is that which men and women experience in their
souls inwardly day by day by the grace of God. I want to show
you some things I've been learning for the past 40 years. I've been
learning them from this book. They're things God keeps riding
on my heart. I don't pretend to be a model
of what a believer ought to be. I'm not. My God, I know I'm not. I wish I could say to you, follow
me as I follow Christ. I ought to be able to, but I
dare not. I dare not. I don't claim to
have a corner on God's truth. I don't. But there are some things
in this book I do understand. And these are the things that
essentially constitute my religion. Number one. My religion is what
I know and believe about God. The Lord God keeps saying, throughout
the Old Testament prophets distinctly, I am God Beside me, there is
none else. There is no God beside me. That doesn't mean there's not
one sitting here beside me. That means there's not another
one. There's not another one. And as he says that, every time
he says that, he identifies himself as God, either by a specific
work that no one but God could do, Or, by a characteristic no
one but God can possess. Now, these things are true of
God. If they're true of Allah, then
Allah is God. If they're true of the Allah
that's worshipped down here at the First Baptist Church, then
that Allah is God. If they're true of the Allah
that's worshipped over here at the Pentecostal Church, that Allah is God. And
if they ain't, He ain't. You understand what I'm saying?
The God of this generation No more resembles the God of Holy
Scripture than a gnat resembles an angel. They're not anything
in this religious ages God that even compares to God. They can
say God's like a Pepsi-Cola. He's the real thing. They care
about their God. They can compare their God to
a man. They can compare their God to
the old man upstairs. They can compare their God to
a woman. They can compare their God to
lots of things because their God ain't worth spit. I had a
fellow sitting on the front row of our church just a few weeks
ago. Got upset because of what he heard me preach that morning.
And he's raised by a missionary. I guess he thinks that gives
him something special. And he got done telling me about what
he believed about God. And I said, your God ain't worth spit. I
just didn't worship a stump. This is how God speaks of them.
They pray unto a God that can not save. Now, a God that can't do something
ain't God. Well, he can do it, but he's
got to have your help. That's what I said. A God who
can't do something ain't God. God who can't do anything, God
says, I'll do that please. Alright, these things I know
concerning God. God Almighty is an absolute Sovereign. An absolute Sovereign. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did He in heaven, in earth, and in all deep places. Now,
This is a subject I've been studying and rejoicing in and meditating
on all my life as a believer since I was 16 years old. I've
been studying this. I've been rejoicing in this.
And the more I study it and rejoice in it, the less I know about
it. I don't have a clue what a sovereign is. I really don't. I've got nothing to compare it
to. I've got nothing to compare it to. Well, King David was a
sovereign. Or was he? How come he didn't
control Absalom? Well, Saddam Hussein was a sovereign,
was he? Go ask him now. No, no. No, they just had a little power
over a little space and had a little influence for a little time that
could always be overturned or thwarted or hindered in some
way or another if somebody just determined to do it. The God
of glory is the absolute sovereign of this universe. I mean by that
nothing in heaven, earth, or hell breathes or wiggles without
His decree." Folks say, well, this is by God's permissive will.
If it's His permissive will, He did it. That's exactly right. Of Him, through Him, and to Him
are all things to whom be glory both now and forever. All things
are of him as to their source. That includes the devil, who
is a roaring lion going about seeking whom he may devour. And
all things are through him. That includes the devil's roaring.
He can't tempt Job till God says, all right, this is where you
can touch him. Yeah, you can do that. No, you can't do that.
Yeah, you can do that. No, you can't do that. That's
exactly right. Read the book. Read the book.
They're through him. And when he gets done, they're
all going to praise him. Everything. Everything. I don't
have any understanding as to how. But I know that while wicked
men crucified the Lord of glory, they did God's will. And I'm
thankful they did. I know that when Satan, Lucifer,
lifted his heart in haughtiness to heaven, said, I will ascend
to heaven, I will become God. You know what God's response
was? Oh, what am I gonna do? The devil's in an uproar! No,
read his word. His next word. This is the purpose
that is purposed in all the earth. Nothing happens apart from God's
purpose. Nothing. Well, I don't like that. If God
were your father, you would. I promise you, you'd be happy
for that fellow to be in charge, wouldn't you? If God were your father, you
would. What does it mean, God's an absolute sovereign? It means
that salvation belongeth to the Lord. He has mercy on whom he
will have mercy. He gives it to whom he will.
The long and short of it, the essence of it is just this. He
can save me or he can send me to hell. And it's all up to him. Go down to the potter's house,
he told Jeremiah, Jeremiah 17, and learn who God is. You see the potter spinning his
clay on his wheel, making his vessel, and the clay is marred
in the potter's hand. And he makes it a new vessel.
So it is with this world and with all men in it. Either God
is in control or God is controlled. There's no in between ground.
Either God rules or God is ruled. You can't have it both ways.
Either God's will is absolute or God's will is as meaningless
as yours. We talk about God has a plan. I use those words too. We shouldn't.
I make plans. But my plans are useless unless
lots of things cooperate. God has a purpose and his purpose
is the salvation of his people. for the glory of his name and
he has purposed all things that come to pass in time to accomplish
that twofold in the saving of his people and the glory of his
name and he sovereignly manipulates every thought of every demon
in hell and every man on earth to accomplish that purpose. Absolutely. Not only is God sovereign
God Almighty is immaculately holy. Psalmist said, He sent
redemption unto His people. He hath commanded His covenant
forever. Holy and reverend is His name. We don't refer to our pastors
as reverend so-and-so because they're not. They're not. We don't refer to God's servant
says, holy father is our holy reverend or the most reverend
holy father. What blasphemy. To refer to a
man as such is to declare a man to be God. His name is holy and
reverend. Now listen to what he says about
his name. He says, be ye holy for I am holy. He said, walk
before me and be thou perfect for I am perfect. That's his
command. Not only is that his command, that's his declaration. He said, you shall be holy. For I, the Lord your God, am
holy. Holy. God Almighty approves of
nothing but holiness. He is all holy. He is that one in whom is light
and in whom there is who is light and in whom there is no darkness
at all. God will accept nothing but perfect holiness. Follow
peace with all men. And holiness, David, without
which you cannot see God. Holiness. That's what I always taught.
God's people ought to live a holy life. That'd be a good trick. That'd be a good trick. I'd suggest
you do that if you can. And when you do, bring it to
God, see what He has to do with it. What is it you've ever thought? I'm not talking about done. What
is it you've ever thought that you want to bring to God? Bring it. If not, shut up about
it. And denounce it for what it is.
It's just evil. God demands holiness. And that holiness that God demands,
God gives. Christ is our holiness. In Christ we stand before God
holy. And I don't mean he pretends
we're holy. I mean, He has both made us holy by virtue of our
eternal union with His Son, and made us holy by the imputation
of His righteousness to us, and He has made us holy creatures,
making us holy things that cannot sin. Read 1 John chapter 3. Read
that. That new man is in us. He said
it can't sin. It's born of God. It's Christ
in you, the hope of glory. Who shall ascend into the hill
of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy place?
He that hath clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not lifted
up his soul into vanity, nor sworn deceitfully." Sam Perkins,
that shuts you out and me too. Clean hands, never did anything
wrong. A pure heart, never thought anything
wrong, never felt anything wrong. But only right. Never lifted
up with pride. Never deceitful. That shuts us
out. Except for one thing. Christ Jesus the Lord. For of Him are you in Christ,
who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness. and sanctification
and redemption. That according as it is written,
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Tell you something
else about God. God Almighty is just. Inflexibly
just. He declares justice and judgment
are the habitation of his throne. The righteous Lord loveth righteousness. Shall not the judge of all the
earth do right? And this is right. God declares the soul that sinneth
it shall die. That means you'll die. You got
to. You got to. I've got to die. Your sons and daughters got to
die. Your mom and dad got to die. God's gonna punish you. He's gonna punish your sin. He
will punish your sin to the utmost satisfaction of His wrath, His
fury, and His justice. Or He will punish your sin forever
in hell. But punish your sin He will.
He can't do otherwise. Punish you with eternal death.
Well, how on earth can God Almighty be holy, require of us holiness,
Give us holiness and still punish us for our sin to the full satisfaction
of his justice never bending it at all Ain't but one way and
that's by God himself assuming our nature Becoming one of us
Living in obedience to his old law as a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief and at the appointed time of love taking his people
their sins to be his own, and bearing all the hail of God's
immeasurable, infinite fury in their room instead, until God
said, that's enough. That's enough. Justice can require
no more. No wonder he said, I have found
a ransom. Deliver him from going down to
the pit. And that ransom is Christ Jesus the Lord. Tell you something
else about God. I've deliberately spent bulk
of my time here. God is love. I believe in a loving God. I
don't. I believe in God who is love. There's a huge difference. There's a huge difference. I'm
a loving man, sort of. Try to be. I love my wife. I
love you. And I try to love other folks. I'm not going to stand
up here and lie to you and tell you I do. I might ought to, but
I don't. I'm sorry. But God is love. He does reflect His love, everything. His love of His Son. And because God is love, He delighteth
in mercy. The only thing written in this
book about which God delights, He delighteth in mercy. And because
he is love and he delighteth in mercy, he made his son sin
that sinners might be made righteous in him. Because he has no pleasure
in the death of the wicked, he pleased himself with the death
of his darling son. And now he gives eternal life
to every sinner loved of him, chosen by him, redeemed by him,
to every sinner who wants it. You want it? You want eternal
life? God gives it freely to every
sinner who wants it. What is that? To know God and
Jesus Christ whom he has sent. Our Lord Jesus said, him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Now that's the beginning
and almost the best part. Tell you what else my religion
compels me to face and confess the truth about myself. Chris, this is the hardest thing
I've had to come to grips with in my life. to face, acknowledge, and confess
the truth about myself. I am sin. I know that in me, in all that I am by nature, I
was born in Blayton County, North Carolina. 1950. And I came forth from my mother's
womb speaking lies. And nobody had to teach me how
to do it. I came out of my mother's womb with my fist shoved in God's
face. And I would still have my fist
shoved in God's face if he hadn't broken the fist. I am sin. What does that mean? Out of the heart, there's Anthony's mama and my
wife, her husband, and your son. This is what comes out of our
hearts. Proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications,
thefts, false witness, blasphemies. Well, you might not understand,
but the Lord knows my heart. It'd be a whole lot better for
you if I knew it and he didn't. That's what your heart is. Nothing
else. How often do you read the newspaper
and see something happen? Something comes up on the TV
screen. Somebody raped and murdered a child. I don't see how a man
could do that. Don't you? Really? I don't see how a woman could
abandon her children. Don't you? I don't see how a man can do
that to his wife and children. Don't you? Really? Oh, my God, with shame face,
I confess, I do understand, because I would too, if God didn't stop
me. That's what I am by nature, and
that's what you are by nature. A preacher, I don't like that.
Believe me, I don't like that either. If there's anything I truly hate,
truly hate, it's what I know I am. But I'm a sinner, completely forgiven. of all sin through
the blood and righteousness of God's dear son. He said, I will
blot out thy transgressions. He removed our iniquities from
him as far as the east is from the west. He cast them behind
his back. He buried them in the depths
of the sea. And he says, Their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more. Now we tend to read that like
this. Their sins and iniquities will I remember against them
no more. That's not what he said. Their iniquities will I remember
no more. How? Cause they are no more. He removed utterly, totally took
them away by the sacrifice of his darling son. Blessed is the
man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. He can't brother
Tom. He imputed our sins to his son.
He made our sins to be his son's. And his son suffered all his
fury for our sins. For God to lay the same crimes
against us and charge us with those things and require anything
from us for those things is double jeopardy. It is not justice,
but the violation of justice. And God will never violate justice. Here's the third thing. My religion
recognizes and rejoices in the preeminence and glory of God's
darling Son. The Father, Son, and Spirit have
been pleased to give all preeminence to the God-man mediator, Jesus
Christ our Lord. Turn over to Colossians chapter
2. I want you to see just one passage in this regard. Colossians
2, verse 9. God has put all his glory in
his son. Before the world was, Ephesians
1.12 tells us that he trusted his son. He trusted him. Long
time before we ever came to trust him. He trusted him. He has given
to his son the trust of all his will, all his glory, all his
people, all his creation, forever! That God man in whose image Adam
was made to be a representative that last Adam who would be born
in time The fathers trusted everything to him trusted him now watch
this Colossians 2 verse 9 for in him Dwelleth in him constantly
dwells Whenever you see that ETH ending on a verb It's talking
about something that is in the linear tense. It's something
that began but just continues right on. In him dwelleth. When the Son of God came into
this world in the womb of the Virgin Mary, conceived in her
womb by the Holy Spirit, He declares, A body hast thou prepared me,
O God. And when He came into His mother's
womb, into that body prepared in her womb by the Spirit of
God, He lifted His hand and said, Lo, I come to do thy will, O
my God. And in Him from then on, dwelleth. When he lived, in him dwelt. When he died on the cursed tree,
in him dwelt. When he ascended up to glory,
in him dwelt. Sitting yonder in heaven is a
man in my nature who knows everything I experience, who's touched with
the feeling of my infirmity, in whom dwells all the fullness
of the triune God in a body. Wow! You want to try to take that
one on? God whom the heavens can't contain,
the infinite, incomprehensible triune Jehovah dwells in that
man And all of God any man ever hears from, see, speaks to, or
is spoken to by, is that man in whom dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily." Now, how completely God is he? How
completely God is he? He's God. He's the God-man, he's
the man-God, but either way it's all right. Somebody said, well,
we want to be careful we don't mix his Godhead and his divinity.
How come? Or his Godhead and his manhood.
The theologians talk about hypostatic union. I just said that so you'd
know I have no fancy words, too. That doesn't help any. Hypostatic
union? No God. He is all that God is. And he is all that man is in
one glorious person. In him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead body. That man who died for us at Calvary,
who sits yonder in glory, who rules the universe, having power
over all flesh to give eternal life to as many as the Father
has given him, that man is completely God. He's the one we trust. And you are complete in him. How complete? just as completely
as he's completely God. Complete. Having everything that's
needed. I spoke about God's holiness
a bit ago. Several years ago, Brother Scott
Richardson was preaching for me in Danville. And he said,
I'm going to preach to you about the holiness of God. And I can see him right now.
He said, he said the holiness of God has got something to do
with the wholeness of God. The H-O-L-I-N-E-S-S of God has
got something to do with the W-H-O-L-E-N-E-S-S of God. What on earth does that mean?
Brother Gary, it is God's whole being. His entirety. His whole self. all that he is
that sets him infinitely apart which is what holiness is from
all other things. That's his holiness. That's his
holiness. And when Christ took us into
union with himself and made us his before the world was made
us accepted in himself And now sits in heaven with us still
accepted in him. He has made us completely whole. Completely what God Almighty
purpose from eternity man should be. That's what he is. And that's what we are in him.
Complete in him. Here's something else. My religion, if it is true, is a believing,
confident commitment of myself to Christ my Lord. Turn to Luke
chapter 14. Luke chapter 14. verse 25 There went great multitudes with
him and he turned and said to them if any man come to me and
hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren
and sisters yea and his own life also He cannot be my disciple or brother
down I thought getting saved was going to church and When
it seems just as I am coming down to the morning's bench and
having somebody tell you what to pray, and you pray it, and
sign a card, and get baptized, and everything's all right. That's
what everybody thinks. But that ain't what it is. It is the utter commitment of
myself to God my Savior. Hate that woman sitting yonder.
Hate her. What's he talking about? Hate
myself? The only person in this room
who can bear witness to what I'm about to tell you is that one right there. And
I hope she can bear honest witness. Either my love for her does not
in any way affect my obedience to Christ, my commitment to Him
as His servant, Well, I don't know my God. That's what it means. What did
God do to Jacob? He just left him alone. I mean,
Esau rather. Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. Just left him alone. Gave him
no consideration, no thought, no care, no provision, nothing! And that's what he says here.
The exact same thing, brother Gary. The exact same thing. Got a wife, a daughter, two grandchildren,
and a son now by marriage. And my life. That's all I possess
in this world. That's it. That's the sum total
of my material wealth. I am a blessed, blessed, blessed
man. And I cannot, and God helping
me I will not, allow my care and love for that life to interfere
or hinder me from obedience to my master. It's called commitment. He cannot be my disciple. Whosoever
does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Cannot be. Churches all around
this area, I'm sure, every few years, maybe every few months,
have discipleship classes. That means we get you in the
church, get you on the church roll, and we know you're lost
as a goose in a snowstorm, but we've got to get you to act like
religious folks, so we teach you how to be disciples. If you're
a disciple, you're a follower of Christ. And if you're not
a follower of Christ, you're not a disciple. You take up your
cross. What's that? Oh, we've all got
our cross to bear. That's not what it's talking
about. You stump your toe, that's not a cross to bear. Or if you
fall down and break your neck, that's not a cross to bear. That
ain't it. But a cross is something you take up. The Lord Jesus had
his face like a flint. He went to Calvary on purpose. He suffered on purpose for his
love for me. To take up my cross is to deliberately
walk in obedience to him. Knowing full well that I shall
suffer for it Because of love for him So likewise verse 33 Whosoever
he be of you that forsaketh not all That he hath he cannot be
my disciple for most people Religion is kind of like an artificial
leg It doesn't have any warmth, and it doesn't have any life,
and it doesn't have any blood. It'll help you to kind of hobble
down the road a little bit, but it never becomes part of you. For the believer, for the heaven-born
soul, his religion is him. It's a heart matter. It's a heart
matter. It involves more than words and
works. It's not, this is not our way of life. Christ is our
life. Fifth, my religion is a living union with the living Redeemer. A living union. I've always been
in union with Him. One with Him from eternity. But today, I live in union with Him. Paul put it this way, I am crucified
with Christ. I have been crucified with Christ.
I was put to death when He was put to death. Nevertheless, I
live. But I'm not talking about me.
Yet not I. But the life that I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me. Christ liveth in me. The new birth is neither more nor less than
God Almighty putting Christ in me, made partaker of the divine
nature. Our religion is not what I say,
it's what I am. It's not what I do, it's what I am. It is Christ
in me, the hope of glory. Six, my religion produces in me A law by which God graciously teaches
me to live. A law. A law by which God graciously
teaches me to live. The love of Christ constraining
us. That's all. We love Him because He first
loved us. But we do love Him. Not like
we should or would or shall but love Him we do. We love Him because
He first loved us and His love for us shed abroad in our hearts
by the Holy Spirit that dwells in us causes God's people to
love the Redeemer and love one another, and that's their rule. That's their rule. I try my best to tell preachers,
especially young ones, young believers and young preachers,
you know, it's a wonder God's church survives us. It's a wonder. Man, when I was 21 years old,
if it was possible to be against it, I was against it. You just
hint that somebody might like it. I thought it had to be evil.
And we're just hard, hard. God's sheep are just sheep. And the shepherd's business is
to lead and care for and protect the sheep. And in this relationship,
to love them. And the sheep's business with
one another is to love each other. I have a friend who's in a new
group. God seems to be raising up a
work, much like this one, up in New Jersey. We met Brother
Clay Curtis. He's pastoring up there. He called me the other
day, and some fellow's asking him about, said, we need to set
down some rules for discipline. How come? Who you think you're
going to put down? Well, nobody yet. Make the rules. You'll find somebody to put out.
I promise you, you will. Believers are dirty, silly, fickle, fallen,
falling, falling, falling sheep who restore one another. And
they're restored by the shepherd because they love each other.
They love each other. When I was down in Australia,
Anthony and I were talking this afternoon, several years ago, it's been,
what was this, 88, 89, somewhere in there. I was down there preaching
a number of places, and in a meeting at one church, and I had this
fellow from South Africa preach with me. I don't know why folks
do this to me. This fellow didn't, oh, he, ah,
I'd rather, old fellow said, I'd rather hear a hound walking
through dry leaves in the woods. It did nothing, but one day he
did finally say something good. And it had to be something I
had read years before and had forgotten it. When they built
the temple in Jerusalem, you remember God required that there
be not the sound of a tool in that place. Nobody's hand was
to be heard doing anything in that place. When they cut the
stones to build that temple, they didn't cut any of them to
fit. Not one of them. They cut a stone
put it here and cut a stone put it here and then they get one
too big and put it here Well, it won't fit it will after a
while You just keep rubbing it that
one stone between those other two stones and they fit like
a hand in glove wonderfully and That's exactly how God builds
his church his temple He takes odd-shaped stones like you and
me that he's hewn out of the quarry of fallen humanity. And
he puts rough edge against rough edge. And we keep bumping each
other till we fit like living stone in his living temple comfortably
with one another. Let me tell you one more thing.
You can read it Philippians chapter 3. My religion presses upon me three great ambitions,
three great goals. I take John Newton's words, but
they're my own. These things I know I cannot
attain in this life, but I want them more than life itself. commitment to Christ. I want to be totally, I want
nothing to enter between me and him. Total communion with Christ. Oh, how tedious and tasteless the
hour when Jesus no longer I see. And total conformity to Christ. By the wisdom of God, I shall
not and cannot have them here, but soon I shall have them. There's a better day coming,
and I will be totally committed to my Redeemer. living in total communion with
my master. And totally, hard as it is to imagine, totally
conformed to that. Amen.