Well, if you have your Bibles
this morning, turn back with me for one scripture to the 16th
chapter of 1 Samuel. The 16th chapter of the book
of 1 Samuel. And let's look at verse 7. The Lord has sent Samuel to anoint
the king, he had rejected Saul and he was going to anoint a
king. And so Samuel in obedience to
the Lord has come to Bethlehem to look upon the sons of Jesse
and to find that one whom God had chosen and selected to be
the king over Israel. But the Lord said unto Samuel,
look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature,
because I have refused him." Now, it doesn't explain why the
Lord had refused him, other than the fact that he was just not
God's choice. God is a sovereign, and he's
free to choose whom he will for whatever he would have him do.
And so, he had refused the brother of David, And then this statement is made,
for the Lord seeth not as man seeth. For man looketh on the outward
appearance. All he can see is what's on the
outside. He can't see anything. He can see how tall a man is.
He can see how comely one is, but he cannot see on the inside. He cannot see the heart. But
the Lord looketh on the heart. The Lord looks on the heart of
a man. God sees the heart. He knows what is in the heart.
He knows what really makes a man, woman, boy, or girl tick. The
Lord knows the heart. Now if you would turn in your
Bibles over to the book of Acts chapter 8, and there's a scripture
here I want you to look at. Verse 21, Now Simon, a man named Simon saw that through
laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, and
so he offered them money. Now Simon had believed, says
that he had believed, and was baptized. But then he saw that
the apostles had this gift of laying on of hands, which was
one of the gifts in the early church. And so he offered them
money if they would give him that gift, because that would
make him somebody very important, he felt. And he would want that
others would look on him as being some great one. And so he offered
them money. that he might lay hands, and
they receive the Holy Ghost. But Peter said unto him in verse
20, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that
the gift of God may be purchased with money. You can't buy the
gifts of God. The gifts of God are without
repentance on God's part, and when God chooses to give gifts,
He will not go back on them, but no man can buy them. They
are free. from the hand of the Lord. And
they are given to those to whom God is pleased to give them. He says in verse 21, Thou hast
neither part nor lot in this matter. You've never felt anything,
you've never experienced anything, you don't have the root of the
matter in you. There is no conversion taking
place, no repentance, even though you said you believed and you
were baptized, nothing ever happened inside. Nothing happened in the
heart. And he said, for thy heart is
not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore this thy wickedness
and pray God if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven
thee. This 21st verse, For thy heart
is not right in the sight of God. I've been thinking about
heart religion in contrast to outward religion. And I felt
this morning that it would be the will of God for me to talk
to you a little bit about the heart and how that it's involved
in the things of God. Let me say that Nothing is done
to any prophet in religion that is not done in the heart. All
the outward religion of man is of no avail in bringing a man
into right relationship with God or bringing him into that
place where he can understand through the Word of God the ways
of the Lord. I might say that salvation is
heart work. It is heart work. It has got
to do with the heart of a man. And may I say that no man's heart
is right with God when he is born into this world. Nobody
comes into this world with a heart that is right with God. Now that's
a startling statement, isn't it? All of the people that have
ever been born since the fall of Adam have come into this world
with a heart that's wrong that a heart that is set on iniquity
and sin, a heart that is biased toward evil, a heart not right
with God. Jeremiah 17 and 9, a very familiar
verse, says the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately
wicked, incurably wicked. Who can know it? The heart of
a man is incurably wicked. Only God is able to put a new
heart in a man, a heart of flesh that a man can feel something
with, take away the stony heart. Only God can do that. In Psalm
51 and 17 it says, The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a
broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. A broken
heart. A heart that God breaks. A heart
that's broken. over the fact that a man is a
sinner and that he's offended God, broken the holy law of God,
and that he's lived contrary to the will and word of God.
Psalm 34 and 18 says, The Lord is nigh unto them that are of
a broken heart, and save us such as be of a contrite spirit. Salvation, beloved, is heart
work. Heart work. Now, relationship
with God is a heart relationship. It's a heart relationship. If
you have a relationship with God, it's something that goes
on between you and God out of the heart, out of the heart of
a man. Is thy heart right with God?
Does God, as He looks upon your heart this morning, and our God
sees all things and sees the hearts of all men, And He looks
upon the heart because He looks upon your heart. What does He
see? What does He see? Well, you can
be sure of this. He sees the truth. And He knows
in reality where you stand. Now, the word heart is used in
Scripture as the seat of life or strength, and it means mind,
soul, spirit, or one's entire emotional nature and understanding. The scripture says, Love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart. With all thy heart. Now I think
that we should have an examination this morning of our heart as
we go through the various things that we have to say about heart
religion and heart relationship with God. And so may there be
a searching of hearts this morning. as to where our heart stands
before God. The poet said, and what am I? He says, and what am I, my soul
awake, and an impartial prospect take? Does no dark sign, no ground
of fear in practice or in heart appear? What image does my spirit
bear? Is Jesus formed and living there? Say, do his characteristics divine
in thoughts, in word, and actions shine? Are those in my heart? Am I truly a child of God in
heart? Or am I just playing church and
going through the motions? Am I real before God? Well, I
made the statement that relationship with God is a heart relationship,
and let me begin by saying that conviction is a heart work. Conviction. Now we all believe that it's
necessary for a man to be convicted of his sin before he's going
to repent of his sin. Nobody's going to repent until
they're made sorry for their sin. And so conviction is a hard
work. In Acts 2.37 on the day of Pentecost,
Peter preached a sermon and the scripture says they were pricked
in their hearts and said, men and brethren, what shall we do? Peter accused them of crucifying
the Lord of Glory. And they were pricked in their
hearts. Now the Holy Spirit of God convicts
of sin. And oh my, how amazing it is
that a man, woman, boy or girl can sit under the sound of the
Word of God and hear comes like a thunderbolt from heaven a verse
of Scripture, a thought out of a verse of Scripture, and just
pricks the heart and breaks the heart. It's an amazing thing,
the power of the Word of God. The Scripture says that the Word
of God is alive, it's operative, and it's a critic of the thoughts
and the intents of the heart. It criticizes the heart of a
man. And we felt it often, and it's
wonderful that God has kept our souls sensitive toward the Word,
to where that when we read a Scripture, and when we read something from
the Word of God, a plain statement of the Scripture, that our hearts
are yet pricked. Because you see, conviction and
repentance is a lifelong work. It's not something that just
happens one time. It happens over and over again.
Brethren, haven't you found it so? That we're convicted often
on the way. That our mind, heart and mind
is not right about a situation. And we're convicted. But this
is of the Lord and it's a heart work. Conviction is a heart work. Now, beloved, it's one thing
to know that vinegar is sour, and it's another thing to taste
it. It's one thing to know the truth of sin in the head. It's another thing to feel the
bitterness of it in your heart. Conviction, true conviction is
heart work. Have you ever felt yourself lost?
I mean truly lost? and undone before God, if you
ever really have true heart conviction, you're going to know that something
has happened inside of you. Now, if somebody says, well,
I don't think you're quite right about something, that may not
impress you at all. But if the Spirit of God ever
takes the dagger and sharp sword of the Word and brings it home
to your heart, then, my friend, you're going to feel the bitterness
of sin in your heart, and then true repentance will come to
pass. You'll truly have the mind of
God and the mind of God about not only about your sin, but
about Himself. And you'll repent of your sin.
Let me say secondly, I said conviction is heart work. Faith is heart
work also. The Bible is crystal clear on
this from cover to cover that faith is a heart work. It's something that takes place
in the heart. Now right in the same chapter,
Acts chapter 8, we remember the story of Philip and the Ethiopian
eunuch. The Spirit of God led Philip
down to join himself to a chariot And he said in verse 37, and
Philip said, If thou believest with all thy heart. He wanted
to be baptized, this Ethiopian eunuch did. He wanted to be baptized. He had had Christ preached unto
him. And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart,
thou mayest. What is this that you're telling
him, Philip? Well, Philip says, You've got
to believe in here. You've got to believe in the
seed of your emotions. You've got to believe in your
heart. You believe that Jesus Christ
was delivered for our offenses. He was raised again for our justification. If thou believest with all thine
heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. So then, beloved, it's
clear in that scripture anyway, that a man believes with his
heart. And then in Romans 10, verses 9 and 10, it says that
if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt
believe in thine heart, shalt believe in thine heart that God
raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. So if a man is
going to be saved, he's going to be saved by faith, which is
a heart work. It's believing in the heart.
For with the heart, the scripture goes on to say, man believeth
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness. I always like that. I've never
been able to get over that. You see, I want to be righteous
before God, and I think you do too. Now, if you want to be righteous
before God, I mean really righteous before God. I mean so righteous
before God that God Himself, when He looks you over, cannot
find any fault. With you, if you want to be that
righteous, perfectly righteous before God, the all-scrutinizing
eye of the Lord, then my friend, you must believe unto it. You
believe unto it with the heart. That's how you become righteous.
You cannot be righteous any other way. You say, well, I've been
working on it. You go ahead and work on it.
I'm not going to try to discourage you from doing that. But I'm
going to tell you that the results of your working on it is not
going to accomplish, the accomplishment will not be what you expect.
The only way to be righteous is through believing unto it. And so with the heart, the scripture
says, man believeth unto righteousness. Now you say you believe. You
say, well, I believe. I believe. Well, I wonder if
you really have. You remember Simon? He believed
and was baptized. But he didn't have anything went
on in his heart. Christ knows whether you believe
or whether you don't. Turn with me over to John chapter
2. John chapter 2. I want to read a couple of verses
here to you. Verse 23. Let me read verse 23 through
25. of John chapter 2. You say you got this faith in
your heart that you got it? Well listen to this. Now when
he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, that is Christ, in the feast
day, many believed in his name. Many believed in his name when
they saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus did not commit
himself unto them because he knew all men. And needed not
that any should testify of man, for he knew what was in man.
He knew what was in him. Now these people believed in
his name. They believed that this was the
Christ, the Messiah. They said they believed it, and
they saw the miracles which he did, which proved the fact that
he was God and not man. But Jesus, he didn't commit himself
to them. Now, you say, well, you mean
to tell me a man could make a profession in a Baptist church and the Lord
Jesus not commit himself to that man or woman? Well, it can happen,
I'll tell you that. It's happened over and over again.
Many, many times it's happened. People made a profession, went
through the motions, and the Lord Jesus had nothing to do
with it. Not a thing. The preacher and
the evangelist, oh yes, they slipped them in the kingdom of
God, they thought. But Jesus, he knew the heart. And so there was nothing happened. Just a profession. Went right
on to hell. But nothing happened in the heart
because that person believed not in the heart. Faith is heart
work. Now you say, I believe. Now do you really believe? How
does the Lord, you see the Lord looketh on the heart. Has anything
happened from the inside out to indicate in your life that
you've really believed on the Lord? Now beloved, it's always
got to come from the inside out. Any religion which goes from
the outside, you say it's go work it in, preacher. Well, that's
the wrong direction. It won't work that way. It's
got to be in here and then work itself out. Work out your own
salvation with fear and trembling. It's got to come out from within. But is it inside? Well, we wake
up one of these days to the realization that nothing is real except that
which is taking place in our heart. And if the Lord Jesus
hadn't committed Himself to you, then there's something wrong
with your faith. Something wrong with it. It's
your faith. It's not the faith of Christ and the faith of the
Gospel. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness. Jesus needed not He knew all
men, and needed not that any should testify of man, for He
knew what was in man. He knew. He knew them. He knew
them all. And He knows everybody in this
church. He knows us all. It humbles us, and it ought to
humble us. It ought to humble us to make
us to feel in our own hearts that we're unworthy to take the
Word of God in our mouths. They were unworthy to, as John
the Baptist said, unloose his shoe latches. Were unworthy. But nevertheless, the Lord knoweth
them that are his. The foundation of God stand assured,
the Lord knoweth them that are his. He knows your heart. He knows whether you believe
or not. But salvation, or faith, is heart work. In Luke 16 and
verse 15 it says, And he said unto them, that is the Lord Jesus,
Ye are they which justify yourself before men, but God knows your
hearts. Oh, you stood up in testimony
meeting, told everybody what a wonderful person you were,
and how glorious things had happened in your life, and justified yourself
all over the place. What does the scripture say?
It says, but God knoweth your hearts. You justify yourself
before men, but God knows what's going on. He knows the facts. He knows how it is with you.
Are you a humble, pittant sinner? Are you a broken hearted sinner?
Do you know yourself? Are you honest before God? Are
you an honest person in your soul before the living God? Okay,
so then faith is heart, real heart work. God knoweth your
hearts. Now let me say that worship,
and worship is a very important thing to a child of God. Worship is one of the great privileges
of a child of God. Worship is one of those things
that a child of God is going to do, just the same as you breathe
You're going to worship the Lord if you're a child of God. Worship
is a hard work. I'd like for you to turn with
me to Matthew chapter 15 and look at verse 7 through 9. I
want you to listen to these verses here. The Lord Jesus says, Ye
hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth
nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me, but in vain they do worship me."
In vain they do worship me. I'm saying that worship, true
heart worship, or that worship is of the heart. And it's not
enough that a man draws nigh with his mouth and honors the
Lord with his lips, but their heart has to be near him. Their
heart must be in fellowship with him. So that's a very important
thing. So let's think on that just a
moment. Locke, do you remember, was a
righteous man. The Bible tells us that, or we
wouldn't know it otherwise. But Abraham was also a man who
talked with God like a man would talk with a friend. He believed
God, the scripture says, and it was accounted to him for righteousness,
so I know he was a believer. He was a true believer, a child
of God, the father of the faithful. And David was a man after God's
own heart. Now you might esteem yourself
to be more moral and to have more integrity than any of these
men. Maybe you do. Maybe you feel
yourself to be a better Christian than any of these men. Now, I
agree with you it wouldn't be very difficult outwardly to be
a better Christian maybe than Lot. You might even be able to
fake a few graces and be a better man or woman outwardly than Lot
was, but Abraham? Well, Abraham had his faults
too. And you could pick him apart,
I suppose. But yet the scripture said he
believed God and was counted to him for righteousness. And
David? Oh, I know that many people find
great fault with David. And I know that there were times
in David's life when his life was not a perfect picture of
what a believer ought to be. I know that, and I understand
that. But there was something going
on between these men and God. Something going on. And what
do you suppose it was? Well, I tell you, in spite of
all of their faults, in spite of their lack of judgment at
different times, in spite of all of that, there was heart
worship going on between these men and God. And you'd be surprised
at the people who are truly worshiping God. You would turn thumbs down
on most of them, probably, and say, that person, he doesn't
get first base worshiping God. He don't worship like I do, and
he's not like I am, and he's not as good as I am, and he doesn't
believe what I believe, and so on and so forth. You'd be surprised
at the people who really worship God. You'd be greatly surprised
to know how many in this church here that really does worship
God. You'd be surprised. It would
be a surprise to your soul. But I'm telling you, there's
something that goes on between the heart and God Almighty in
true worship. Something that goes on. And sometimes
that is something that takes place in the heart of those that
many people, as we said, would turn thumbs down on. But you
know the admonition of the Scripture is, My son, give me thine heart.
And we wouldn't excuse these brethren, David, Lot, Abraham,
for their failings. No, no, no. And they wouldn't
excuse themselves for it, for their failings. But there was
something going on between their hearts and God. And that was
true heart worship. My son saith the Scripture, Give
me thine heart. That's what God wants. He wants
your heart. He wants your heart. Give me
thine heart. Keep thy heart with all diligence,
for out of it are the issues of life. Keep thy heart, thy
heart. Well, that brings me to the second
point of my message this morning, and that is that right form and
outward ceremonies and playing church is easier than having
a heart right with God. Now you think about that a little
bit because it's easier. Outward form consists in preaching
and praying and doing. It's one thing for a man to preach,
for him to pray, and for him to do something outwardly. And
it's another thing for him to have a true heart before God. Inward worship consists in love
and humility and faith and reverence of God. And you see a man can't
produce that. God must produce that in a man.
It's easier to go through the motions and for you to convince
people maybe around you that you are mighty religious and
that you're worshiping God when all the time that which really
spells inward worship is absent from your heart. Love, humility,
and faith, and reverence toward God. Now, outward form is a duty
sometime. We've got to preach and pray,
and there are things we have to do. Outward form, my friend,
is a duty sometime, but inward worship is an attitude all the
time. An attitude that's in the heart
all the time. Outward form can be counterfeited.
Inward worship can never be counterfeited. You can't counterfeit inward
worship. Outward form serves God. Inward worship seeks to
be like God. Want to know the Lord. Want to
know the power of His resurrection. Want to be all that a resurrected
enthroned Christ can make them. these people who are worshiping
God in the heart. It is a whole lot easier to wear
a symbol of submission than to demonstrate a spirit of submission. Now you think on that a little
bit. I know women who wear hats. Bless their hearts. I know that
they mean well. And they're attempting to show
that they're submissive to their husbands. But it's a whole lot
easier to remember this to wear this symbol of submission than
it is to demonstrate the spirit of submission. I would invite
you to turn with me to 1 Peter chapter 3 and let me read verse
4. Now here Peter is talking about
husbands and wives and he said wives you be in subjection to
your own husband that if any obey not the word, that if any
be unconverted, they also may without the word be won by the
behavior of the wives. While they behold your chaste
conversation coupled with fear, whose adorning, let it not be
the outward adorning, plaiting the hair, wearing of gold, or
putting on of apparel, but let it be the hidden man of the heart. in that which is not corruptible,
even in the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in
the sight of God of great price. This hidden man of the heart. In other words, don't try to
win your husband by decking yourself out or by putting on new and
costly apparel and various trinkets and so on and so forth. But let
it be the hidden man of the heart. That's what's going to do the
work. The hidden man of the heart. And so remember this passage
of scripture when you're thinking about the symbol of submission.
It is a whole lot easier to preach grace than to produce grace.
Let me tell you, I know what I'm talking about. You can preach
grace, preach up a storm. But to produce a grain of grace,
my friend, that is nigh unto impossible. You just cannot do
it. God alone can bless you with
His grace. It's a whole lot easier to preach
a sovereign God than it is to trust a sovereign God. I can
guarantee you that that's the truth also. A whole lot easier
to preach that God is absolutely sovereign than to believe that
all things are from above and that God is in control of all
things. I was reading a little story this week about a man who
was taught by his father to always say, whatever happened, it's
from above. It's from above. And so this
man had various times whenever people thought he was a fool
because he would always say, whatever happened, it's from
above. So one day he was walking down
the street and there was a big storm came up and a board blew
off a building and hit him in the back and knocked him down.
He said, it's from above. And just a few minutes more a
whole roof came off a building right over the sidewalk where
he would have been if that board hadn't knocked him down. And
he said, it's from above. It's from above. And so my friend,
we believe in a sovereign God. But you can preach one a whole
lot easier than you can believe in one. There are times whenever
things get extremely difficult, very trying. I mean, there's
times whenever you just simply cannot, you just simply don't
seem to have the grace to lay hold of all of the ins and outs
of God's goodness and care and His grace and sovereignty. But
my friend, Let's go on preaching a sovereign God, but let's pray
for much grace to believe in one too. Trust the Lord and depend
upon Him. Well, that touched my heart.
It's a whole lot easier to go to an altar than it is to build
one in my heart. And that takes you back to this
altar call business, that people, they can walk up an aisle Oh
yes, they can walk up an aisle. Preachers are tricky. They'll get a man to stand up,
say he's interested in his soul. Then the next thing is you step
out and come forward. And they think that by doing
these things that they can get a man in the kingdom of God.
But my friend, to build an altar in one's heart is to be of a
broken heart. are broken over his sin is to
feel the weight of his guilt. It's to feel the fact that he
cannot, he cannot approach God as he is. That he must have an
atonement for his sin. And that he must have reconciliation
made between him and a holy God through his Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Well, it's a whole lot easier
to argue doctrine than it is to live by that doctrine, isn't
it? I'm talking about the difference between outward religion and
inward religion. You can argue up a storm about
doctrines, but to live by what you know, to live up to what
you know, and there have been some marvelous quotes along the
way about that. One old preacher I remember,
my old brother Barnard, said that if we lived up to the hilt,
everything that we say we believe, it'd be enough to put us all
in jail before next Lord's Day. And I believe there's truth in
that. There's truth in that. We don't live up to what we believe.
We don't live up to what we know. No, we don't. And let it humble
us that we don't. Because it's a whole lot easier
to argue a doctrine and say, this is what we believe. But
what do you live? That's the other thing. That's
the other thing. It's a whole lot easier to give
my money than it is to give myself. You know, those Macedonians Paul
said that they first gave themselves before they gave their offering.
They first gave themselves, and I preached a sermon on that one
time on the best donation. Give yourself. Give yourself. My son, give me. Give me thine
heart. Give me your heart. It's a whole lot easier to wear
a cross, God knows, than to take up one and carry it I'm telling
you this, taking up your cross daily, bearing your cross, that's
hard work. And I realize and know that our
Lord has gone before us. And the words of that song, Beulah
Land, that says, tell me not of crosses heavy laden, burdens
hard to bear, because Jesus has gone before us, And that all's
good. And I like to hear that. It's
wonderful. Wonderful to hear that. But I know something about
some crosses. You know what a cross is for?
It's to die on. And when you take it up daily,
you're dying out to yourself. That's what it is. Dying out
to self. And the old man don't die easy.
He don't die easy. And so it's something to die
on. So it's a whole lot easier to wear a cross around your neck
than it is to take up the one that the Lord has saddled you
with and said, you bear it for my glory. You bear it for the
praise of my name. And might I say it's a whole
lot easier to send missionaries than it is to be one yourself.
Outward religion. Oh, we're going to send missionaries.
We're going to do this and we're going to do that. What about
yourself? Have you talked to anybody? How
about your own children? Have you been a missionary to
your own family? Be a missionary. Be a missionary. It's a whole
lot easier to tell others to forgive than to forgive others
yourself. Ah, we're getting to the heart
of the matter now. This business of true heart religion. Oh, you
ought to forgive them. Sure you ought to. Absolutely
you ought to. Ought to have the spirit of forgiveness.
But it's a whole lot easier to tell somebody else to forgive
than what it is to forgive yourself. What it is for you to just forgive
the wrongs that's been done to you. It's a whole lot easier to rejoice
in the mercy of the Lord than it is to show the mercy of the
Lord. You see how this religion thing gets involved in all this,
and then the reality of it. Rejoice, somebody says. Rejoice. Again, I say rejoice. Practice
the singing of that old, that verse of scripture, that chorus.
Practice the singing of it. It's great. Rejoice, rejoice. Again, I say rejoice. Rejoice
in the mercy of the Lord. But when it comes down to you
showing the mercy of the Lord, then you see that's the other
side of the coin. And that takes heart religion
to show the mercy of the Lord. Well, why is all this true? It's
because true heart work is the work of the Holy Spirit in the
center. It takes new birth. It takes regeneration of the
Spirit. But the big reason is this. Heart worship and heart
work is unseen by men. Unrecognized by men, and it's
unrewarded by men. True heart work. Nobody can see
it. You say, well preacher, you mean
to tell me that I'm supposed to live and worship and pray
and do what I'm supposed to do and I'm not going to be rewarded
for it in this life and that I'm not going to have any applause
or praise of men? Preacher, how are they going
to know that I give if I don't tell them? How are they going
to know? Well now, let's examine that
a little bit. Why is it necessary that anybody
know it? Why is it necessary? Well, it's
necessary because I just want some recognition. Well, that
gets back to this heart business. Are we really in this thing for
the right reasons? How are men going to know that
I pray three or four times a day if I don't tell them? How are
they going to know that I'm fasting if I don't look like I am? And you remember in the scriptures
where our Lord said that when you fast you wash
your face and you don't appear in the men like you fast. I don't
want you looking like you've been without a meal for 24 hours.
You go out and you look like you're just the same as you did
yesterday. But folks said, well, I'm not going to, nobody's going
to know it. How are men going to know I'm holy if I don't tell
them? I mean, folks has got, you know, they just don't, they're
just not, they're just not up to this. They don't know how
holy I am. Well, I'll tell you what, I don't
want the record book brought out on my holiness. I don't want it mentioned. I
don't want it mentioned. I don't want anybody to talk
about My holiness. And if you're in the right frame
of mind, you won't want anybody talking about yours either. Because
brother, sister, we're a long ways from being as holy as we
ought to be. If we've even got the first base,
then we're making some progress maybe, but we're not going to
talk about it. I've got to tell somebody I'm
holy or they're never going to find it out. And that may be
true. They won't find it out unless
you tell them. How will folks ever know I'm
humble if I don't tell them? There are some people that are
just straight out with it, you know. I remember hearing a story
about this church down in Texas where the people said two deacons
got together and was comparing notes, one from one church from
another, Baptist churches. And one old deacon said, well
in our church, he said, we're the millionaires
and God is the beggar. If he gets anything, he's got
to ask us for it. And the other one said, well
in our church, we're the beggars and God is the millionaire. And
if we get anything, we've got to ask him for it. Now, which
one of them is right? Well, I believe that the church
that recognizes that God is the millionaire, and that if we need
anything or want anything, we've got to ask Him for it. That's
the right attitude. That's being humble about it all. That's being
humble about it. Our giving, you know, God knows
about it, and our giving is as unto the Lord. As unto the Lord,
when you pray, shut to the door of the closet. Father that seeth
in secret will reward you openly. There are men who love to pray
standing on the street corner. Be seeing men, and Jesus said,
when they get their recognition, they have their reward. And what
are we doing what we're doing for? What are we doing it for?
That's the question. Men who have a true heart, and
I believe this to be a true statement. are the last to claim it. You
always wonder, question, is my heart true before God? Is my
heart really right in these matters? If we do give, if we do pray,
if we are holy, if we are humble, it's kind of like old Barnard
said about the doctrine of election, it'll leak out on you. In spite
of all you can do, it'll get out on you. To try to hide the
grace of God would be like trying to hide a river in a desert. It is too refreshing, it is too
needy, it is too valuable. You can't hide the grace of God.
To try to hide faith in Christ would be like trying to hide
a hundred watt light bulb in a dark room. To try to hide love
to God and His people would be like trying to hide the sun,
its light and warmth. It would be like trying to hide
the vastness of the ocean. Now listen to me, God will bless
men if they honor Him. But you cannot honor Him to get
the blessing. Now you see how all this ties
together. God will be real in the heart. God will bless men
that honor Him. But you say, I'm going to get
a blessing from God, I'm going to honor Him. It won't work.
You just honor God. You be real. And as you're real,
God will honor you. God will honor you. God will
bless men if they give, but you cannot give to get the blessing.
You can't get it that way. You give, and you say, well,
I haven't been blessed yet. Keep on giving. God will bless
those who give. But don't say, I'm going to give
so I can get the blessing. Make sure that the horse is in
front of the cart, beloved. God will bless you if you walk
with Him, to glorify Him. But if you do it to get the blessing,
it won't work. It won't work. God wants your
heart. He wants you right, whether there's any blessing in it or
not. Your heart must be given to the Lord. It must be that
outworking of the love of our hearts. Paul said that the love
of Christ constrains me. I know my time is about gone
and I'm slow anymore, but let me go ahead and finish this up.
How can we get this relationship, this right heart? David said,
let all Israel hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there's mercy.
Don't seek mercy, seek the Lord, for if you have Him, you have
His mercy. Is that a true statement? By
the apple tree, you have the apples. Christ is the reservoir
of all spiritual blessing. God does not give them one piece
at a time. He gives us Christ. He who has
Him has all God has for sinners. Well, how am I going to get it,
you say? Well, by the grace of God. God
said, I'll give you a new heart. Take away the heart of stone
and give you a heart of flesh. Romans 6.23 The wages of sin
is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus
Christ our Lord. John 4.10 If thou knewest the
gift of God. No resolutions, no putting down
a bunch of do's and don'ts, no reformation, but it must be a
new creation by the power of God, that's where it starts in
the soul. By the merit and righteousness
of Christ, by death I did not die, by life I did not live,
hangs my whole eternity. How do we maintain a right heart?
How do we grow and mature in the Lord? By living at Calvary.
Coming back to Calvary. Coming back to the cross. Coming
back to the Christ of the cross. Keeping before our hearts and
minds the sacrifice, the laying down of the life of the Lord
Jesus Christ is the way we maintain this right heart. Stay at Calvary. Stay at Calvary. Stay at Calvary. Somebody said,
well I would like to take you to Sinai. Don't go to Sinai with
them. Stay at Calvary. Somebody said,
well I think you should get wrapped up a little bit more in the end
times. Well, forget about Armageddon
and stay at Calvary, and keep looking on the Savior, that the
Lord will make Him real to your heart. The old songwriter said,
is thy heart right with God, washed in the crimson flood,
humble and lowly, right in the sight of God? And so the question
is, for all of us, as I close, is our hearts right with God?
Is my heart right with God? Or am I just religious? Am I
just one of those who do and just act like I'm religious and
act like I'm right with God? Or am I right with God? And do
I have a true heart in my soul? Is it real with me? Is this thing
real? I hope that you've been able
to glean something from this, been of some help to you. If
I've weirded you, I'm sorry. But this has been on my heart
for a week. And I felt like I needed to preach
this to you this morning. I trust that God will use it.
I'm going away for a while.