I read something earlier this
week in scanning some things with regard to Augustus Toplady. In 1768, that was a long time
ago, when Toplady was just 28 years old, one hot July day he
went to visit an old veteran preacher in London whom he highly
admired, from whom he learned a great deal. The old preacher's
name was Mr. Brewer. I know absolutely nothing
about him. I don't even know his first name,
just what Mr. Toplady said that Mr. Brewer said to him that afternoon. He said, before we parted company,
Mr. Brewer said, I cannot conclude
without reminding you, my young brother, of some things that
may be of use to you in the course of your ministry." And Toplady
thought they were worth writing down. I'm so glad he did. Mr. Brewer said to Toplady these
four things. Preach, Christ, crucify. Dwell chiefly on the blessing
resulting from his righteousness, his atonement, and his intercession. He said, secondly, avoid all
needless controversies in the pulpit. Just leave them alone. Leave them alone. Don't be drawn
into them. Thirdly, Mr. Brewer said to him,
When you ascend the pulpit, leave your learning behind you. Endeavor to preach more to the
hearts of your people than to their heads. And then fourthly, he said, do
not affect too much oratory. Seek rather to profit. than to be admired. What wise
counsel, what wise counsel. Every preacher needs to constantly
remind himself of the need for these things. I pray that God
will keep them constantly before your pastor. Preach Christ crucified. If you know him Bless your heart
you know everything you need to know. Preach, Christ, crucify. Avoid controversy, needless yitgak,
strife about words, endless genealogies, questions. I got a mail just Recently, a
fellow asked me what Paul meant about baptism for the dead. Well, I don't know that he meant
anything by it. He just mentioned it. Mentioned it is something people
do. He wasn't recommending it. Oh, what does that mean? What
does that mean? If God doesn't tell you what it means, it's
because God doesn't want you to know what it means. Is that
enough? If God doesn't tell you what
it means, cause God doesn't want you to know what it means. And
he put some things in this book like cans just for goats to chew
on. They gotta have something to chew on. Just leave it alone. Just leave it alone. And when
you come to the pulpit, leave your learning behind you. Preachers got no business. It's
abhorrent. Horrible, horrible for me to
stand here and try to make you think I'm smart or well educated
or have something above you. There is not but one reason for
such foolishness because men love to be called rabbi, rabbi.
They love to be called doctor, doctor. I went in to see a preacher
one time I called him by his first name. I thought it was
all right. He wasn't much older than me. You know, you fellas
who are older than me, I'll call you mister and try to respect
you. Show respect, and I was taught to do so. And I normally
would say mister to folks I don't know. I wouldn't call them by
their first name. That's the way I was raised. But when I went in to
see him, his wife said, his secretary said, he prefers to be called
doctor. I said, well, tell Jack I'm here.
Doctor Jack. Oh, you're Dr. Jack, alright. Leave your learning behind you. Endeavor to preach to folks'
hearts. And oh my soul, preach so as
to profit men. Not to be admired of men. Now
I'm going to talk to you today, if you want to turn to Psalm
38 again. I want to talk to you about my
desires. My desires. I hope they're yours. I hope God has already put them
in you. But before I talk to you about
my desires, let me tell you something about what causes these desires. Three things. First, I know and
I acknowledge and I confess and I live with the fact that I am
a sinner. And I know folks hear those kind
of words and they say, well, preach everybody's sinners. That
just doesn't give me much comfort. When I say I am a sinner, this
is what I mean. I am fully convinced, I am fully
convinced, that I absolutely deserve to suffer the eternal
wrath of God Almighty in hell, whatever that is. I fully deserve it. I was born
in sin. David said, behold, I was shaped
in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. He wasn't
suggesting by that that somehow he was born as a child in illegitimacy,
or that his mother was involved in some immorality. What he's
saying is, I came out of the womb of a sinner. And I was sired
by a sinner from a long line of sinners and sins what I am. Not only was I born that way,
I deliberately chose the path of ungodliness all the days of
my life. Deliberately chose the course
of evil. When two decisions were set before
me, I always chose the wrong. and wanted it. That was my life. You see, the
wicked are estranged from the womb. They go astray as soon
as they are born, speaking lies. How deceitful. How corrupt. how evil our hearts. Sin is not something that you
pick up in society. It's not something you're taught
by other people, though certainly you are taught such almost everywhere
you turn. It's not something that will
gently taught. It's what's in you. It's what's in me. I naturally love sin. and hate righteousness. I know
people think, well, I like good things. I love good things. I love honesty and decency. You love what you call good because
it's to your advantage. And that's all. That's all. When you talk about good, you're
talking about what advantages you. When you talk about good,
you're talking about something you can get something from. Righteousness
you despise. I'm talking about righteousness
by God Almighty in Jesus Christ his son. I'm talking about true
righteousness. You see, we all by nature are
dead in trespasses and in sins. We all by nature walk according
to the course of this world. That means that Rex Bartley,
by nature, lives by the exact same manner of life, in the exact
same manner of life, as the dopehead and the murderer that got locked
up out in the prison. The course of this world. Now
some live a little bit more respectably in the eyes of other sinners.
Some choose the high road of respectability and morality and
decency in the eyes of men and wouldn't be caught dead pushing
dope or smoking it either. Wouldn't be caught dead in a
drunken stupor. Wouldn't be caught dead in a
welfare line. They're good, respectable people. Others choose the low
road of profligacy, indecency, and vileness, and drunkenness,
and adultery, and fornication, and it's all the same course. Let's see. This is what it said.
The course of this world according to the prince of the power of
the air. the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our
conversation. This was our manner of life,
in time past, in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind. That's what all men do all the
time. They fulfill the desires of the
flesh and of the mind. They live in the lust of their
flesh. And were by nature children of
wrath, even as others. What does that mean? What does
that mean? In the context, when you talk about the context, interpretive
description context, so very, very important. Not only does
the word mean that we were wrathful children, Living as we live by
nature, living as man does by nature, walking in the course
of this world, living in the lust of his flesh, living in
the same conversation with all other men, doing the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, he lives all the time with his
fists shoved in God's face because he hates God Almighty. Carnal mind is enmity against
God. Now he loves the notion of there
being a God. He loves the idea that he can
choose to call on God when he's in trouble and use him like a
good luck charm. He loves the thought that maybe when he really
is in desperate need, maybe he can make some security with the
old man upstairs and everything will be alright. That kind of
God he loves. He hates God. Children of wrath,
even as others. When I say I'm a sinner, I mean
that I have never done any righteousness and can't. I've never done a
good thing. Not really. Not really. Not one good thing. What did
the book say? What does it say? There is none
that doeth good, no, not one. Now wait a minute preacher, I've
got some falsehoods, my heart's good. No, you've got falsehoods
because your heart's faulty. Now I've done some good things,
come on, come on. Try to be honest, God help you,
try to be honest. What did you ever do? I'm talking
about anything. What thought did you ever have?
Let's exclude everything else. Put everything else out. What
desire did you ever have? Forget about working out in your
mind. Forget about working out in reality.
Just what thought of good did you ever have that in the thought
was worthy of God? That's called good. No self-interest. No personal gratification. No selfish ambition in it. Just good. Just good. No. I've never done a righteous
thing. And can't do a righteous thing.
But here's the other thing. I know that I'm a sinner. Fully deserving the wrath of
God forever in hell But God Almighty has saved this sinner by his
matchless free grace God my father chose me before
the world began He said I've loved you with everlasting
love and Therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee. God's
darling Son, my Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, came into this
world to redeem and save me. And by the sacrifice of Himself,
the Lord Jesus Christ has put away my sin, satisfied the justice
of God on my behalf. brought in everlasting righteousness,
made an end to transgression, made me to be the righteousness
of God in Him, made me in Himself holy and righteous and pure before
God. God the Holy Spirit, in the fullness
of time, in the time of His love, because God adopted me as His
Son from eternity, came into my heart gave me life and faith
in Christ by His omnipotent, irresistible grace, and called
me to look at God and say, this is my Father. Every thought of God, every thought
I ever had of God and me, prior to 1967, every thought, David. Every time I thought about God,
I mean every time. Every time I had one of those horrible nights,
when I considered the possibility of this sinner meeting God in
judgment, every thought I had of God terrified me. Because I hated God, knew God
had every reason to hate me. And then one day, God Almighty
opened the window of heaven. and ripped open this sinner's
heart and poured into my soul all the rich fullness of His
matchless grace in Jesus Christ and calls me to look up to Him
through Christ the Lord and see a smiling face sitting
on the throne of the universe and cry, my God, my Father, my
Father. I was like Mephibosheth down
in Lodebar. I was in a place with no bread.
I had no desire for God, wasn't looking for Him, wasn't seeking
Him. But like David sought Mephibosheth, God Almighty sought me out. I was like That infant Ezekiel
describes in Ezekiel 16, cast out, unwanted, unwanted by anybody
and of use to nobody. And it was all my fault, Ron. If I had me on hand, I'd have
cast me out too. Useless. corrupt, dead but the
Lord God came in mighty grace and spread his skirt over me
and said to me Leah behold thy time is the time of love and
dress me up with his righteousness wash me in his blood I was dead
beyond the reach of hope like those dry bones that Ezekiel
describes in Ezekiel 37. No man could do anything to change
my condition. I was in such bad shape I didn't
even know I was in bad shape. But God Almighty caused me to
hear his word. Caused his spirit to take his
word. as the mighty wind breathing
upon those dead bones that God Almighty made this sinner live. Now in the light of these things,
my sinfulness and God's boundless grace, I have a constant increasing
overwhelming conviction that I owe everything to God
my Savior. Everything. Everything. I'm not my own. The breath I have in these lungs
is not mine, it's His. That dear lady whose love and
companionship I've enjoyed for 35 years is not mine, she's His. That extended family I have over
in Lexington is not mine, it's His. You're not mine, you're
His. My time is not mine, it's His.
What I've got in my pocket is not mine, it's His. I'm not my
own. I've been bought with a price.
Lock, stock and barrel, the Son of God bought me. He loved me
and gave Himself for me. He bought me with His precious
blood. Saved me by His matchless grace.
And now I'm His. It is only reasonable, therefore. only reasonable that I glorify him in my body
and in my spirit, which are his, not mine. Now, these are not matters of theory
or doctrinal orthodoxy. They're not things I've read
in a book. They're matters of experience
and deep conviction. Matters that have become more
and more pressing upon me every day for more than 37 years. You see I've never gotten over
the fact that God's grace to me is a wonder. he saved me me oh amazing grace how sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me now those realizations inspire within me five great
desires. Several years ago, I was reading
a book. As I read, these things came
to my mind and heart. And I wrote them out in the back
of the book. Prayer to God. I don't often
write down prayers. Don't recommend it as a habit.
But sometimes the only way I can think is to write them down. And I ran across these this week. I asked the Lord God to give
me five things. Lord, God, Almighty. My God, grant me the conscious
awareness of your favor. Graciously conform me to the
image of your darling son. Let me walk Oh God in your presence do your will and glorify your name now here's my text Psalm 38 and
verse 9 All my desire is before thee. That doesn't mean merely, Lord,
I come to you now and I've laid out my petitions and here they
are in front of you. No, no, no. It means this. All my desire, all the petitions
of my heart, can be satisfied only with what
I find at your throne, in you. In other words, thou art all
my desire, and my groaning is not hid from thee. The desires of a man's heart
are those things for which he grows and labors without which
he cannot be content and satisfied. Long ago, long ago, I gave up
and nailed to the cross all aspirations and ambitions for fame for power,
for property, for wealth, even for earthly tranquility and ease. Now, don't misunderstand me. I do not mean that I have no
problems with those things. My flesh craves those things
just like yours does. But my heart craves freedom from those things. freedom from such dead weight. Most of you who are adults I'm
sure at some time or another carried around some dead weight.
I think I can still pick up most of you men and throw you across
my shoulder and carry you at least a little ways if I had
a little cooperation. But I'd have a tough time picking
any of you up off that floor if you were dead. Dead weight. Oh, what a comfort. What a difficulty. Makes it impossible to do anything
except carry the weight. You wonder why folks live in
a rat race all the time? They can't do anything else to
carry dead weight. Just carry dead weight? Why are
things in such a teasy all the time? Why is everything so upside
down all the time? Because you carry dead weight, you can't
do anything else. My heart longs to be free from the dead weight
of this world. Here are the desires of my heart. Here are the things for which
I constantly groan before God. Listen carefully. I won't be
but a few minutes giving them to you. I want God's favor. The psalmist said, I am treated
thy favor with my whole heart. Be merciful unto me according
to thy word. Brother Don, don't you have God's
favor? Oh yes. I know God's favor is
in Christ. I know that I have God's favor. It was given to me in covenant
mercy before the world began. And I know that God's favor is
my strength. So long as I am conscious of
his favor. I'm strong. You don't have to
turn there. Listen to this. The 30th Psalm,
verse 7. The psalmist says, Lord, by thy
favor, thou hast made my mountain strong. Thou didst hide thy face,
and I was troubled. When I'm conscious of God's favor,
nothing and no one terrifies me. Nothing and no one overcome
me. But there are times when God
Almighty hides his face and appears to frown in displeasure. At such times let us never be
content to walk without God's conscious favor upon us in this
world. I don't know how to explain these
things, but for you who are taught of God, they don't really need
any explanation, do they? We rejoice to know that all is
well with our souls before God in Christ. But we want to feel it. We want to experience it all
the time. Let us therefore come boldly
to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. Turn to the Song of Solomon,
if you will. Chapter 5. Verse 2. You know the story,
the picture here. But my heart wakes. I sleep,
but bless God, I'm not yet dead. My heart's awake. And I hear
my Savior's voice. It's the voice of my beloved
that knocks, saying, open to me, my sister, my love, my dove,
my undefiled. What a way for Him to describe
me. Open to me. For my head is filled with the
dew, and my locks with the drops of the night. I've been working
all day and all night for you. Open to me. God forgive me more often than
not, this is the response. Not now. I put off my coat. How shall I put it off? Lord,
don't interfere with me now. I've got other things on my mind.
I've got other things to do. I've got other things pressing
down. Hold on just a few minutes and it'll be alright. I've washed my feet. How shall
I defile them? But my beloved put his hand in
by the hole of the door. He stuck his hand right in my
heart and my bowels were moved. Oh, he won't take no for an answer. Aren't you glad? He stuck his hand in my heart
and my heart was moved for him. And the reason He stuck His head
in my heart and moved my heart for Him was to make me know my
desperate need of Him and rise up and come to Him. So I arose
open to my beloved. And my hands dropped with my
fingers with sweet smelling myrrh. I remember Him so well. I opened, verse 6, to my beloved. I'm so sorry I neglected him.
What foolishness. How could I be so hard? I opened
to my beloved, but my beloved had withdrawn himself and was
gone. My soul failed when He spoke. You see, our Savior, when we
would depart from Him, Ron, and we would not worship Him, and
we would not come to Him, I'm talking about His believers,
won't let us depart from Him. They're going to make us seek
Him, and make us want Him, and make us worship Him. And so he
puts his hand in our hearts and causes us to open to him. Then
he hides his face. When we're thirsty, he hides
the water. When we're hungry, he hides the
bread. When we're heavy laden, he hides
the rest so that he makes us seek him. Look at it. He withdrawn
himself and was gone. My soul failed when he spoke.
I sought him, but I couldn't find him. I called him, but he
gave me no answer. I prayed and prayed and prayed,
but I cried not to anybody but me. He wouldn't answer me. The
watchman. I went to the church house on
Sunday morning, and Zion's watchman, my pastor, those that were about
to say, found me, found me. You see, I've come here trying
to find you this morning. My purpose is to find you. I
keep staring around because I want to stick my finger right in your
heart. They're watching me. They found me. They found me. And when they found me, look
at it. They smoked me. Oh, how the Word convicts. How the Word of God convicts. Sometimes I get done preaching,
one of you or someone else was elsewhere preaching, they'll
meet me at the door and say, you been reading my mail? Looks like you know exactly what's
going on in my life. No, but God does. And His Word smites
and convicts and we need it. Read on. The smiting of God's Word wounded
me. The keepers of the walls took
away my veil from me. I was being modest and covering
my face and hiding myself so nobody could really see what
was going on inside there or they could just see just a little
bit of my eyes. But they ripped over the veil
and saw that I have no excuse. Exposed my nakedness and my filth. They took away my veil from me.
So I charge you, daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved,
oh, you children of God, listen to me. When you speak to him,
will you tell him that I am sick of love? Will you tell him that
my heart is sick because of His love for me and sick longing
to have my beloved again to walk in His favor. Second, I want to be conformed to the
image of God's dear Son. Now let me tell you what I mean
by that. I want to live in this world
as my Savior lived in this world for the glory of God. I know
I'm going to be conformed to Him. The Lord God is conforming
me to Him. One of these days I'm going to
awaken His likeness and I'll be satisfied. But in the meantime,
I want to live like my Savior. I want to be conformed to Him
in the fellowship of His suffering. completely, totally, submissive
to the will of God, and living completely and totally for the
good of God's people. Loving like He loves, forgiving
like He forgives, caring for as He cares for, ministering
to as He ministers to, Living not to be ministered unto,
not to be served, but to minister to serve. Bear ye one another's
burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Rejoice with those
that rejoice and weep with those that weep. Back in the 60s, the Everly Brothers
got pretty popular for a song. Later on it was done by a number
of others, most of you have heard it I'm sure, and many will remember
it. It was called, He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother. Let me tell
you where it came from. Back during the early days of
the Vietnam War, a newspaper reporter reporting on the war,
looking for reasons to give the kind of reports Dan Rather gave
to stir up more nonsense back here in the U.S. on campuses
with Air-headed college kids, you know. He saw this soldier,
Marine, carrying a large man out of the jungles, who had been
severely wounded. The Marine is trying to make
his way to safety. And this reporter saw him coming
and he said, talked to him a little bit, he said, isn't he awfully
heavy? And the Marine looked up at him and said, no sir, he
ain't heavy. He's my brother. And when you pick up the heavy
load of your brother's burdens, forget about the burden and remember
the brother. Oh, no. No, he ain't heavy. He's my brother. And I can carry
this load and delight to do it. You remember how Moses prayed
when God told him to take the children of Israel Up in the
land of Canaan, he said, Lord God, if thy presence go not with
us, carry us not up hence. But the Lord had just promised
him, said, my presence will go with you. That's what made him
want it. Oh God, don't let me go without
your presence. Canaan's nothing without your
presence. I can't lead these, your people, without your presence. I can't serve your interest without
your presence. I can't endure the opposition
of men without your presence. I can't overcome the temptations
and trials of every day without your presence. Lord God, if thy
presence go not with us, carry us not up hence. Nothing we do
will amount to anything without your presence. Lord God, I've
got to speak to your people. They're not a higher privilege
in the universe, but not a more awesome responsibility. Unless you're with me, I can't
speak to the hearts of your people. Give me your presence. Your presence. Make it known. I often write to pastor friends
around the world as they prepare for Sundays and I tell them I'm
praying that God's manifest presence and manifest blessings will be
yours as you speak to His people. That's what I want, His presence. We can't worship without His
presence. Our Lord Jesus, when He was in
this world, about to leave it, said, Not my will. Thy will be done. And that's what I want. The will of God. Because it's best. And I don't
know what's best. Not for me or for you. And I'm not going to get up here
and act religious. I'll go somewhere else and act religious. and try
to put on a show for folks. I want God's will for you and for me. Now I pour out my
heart to God what I want for you. I do. But I don't know what's best
for you. God does. And He'll do it. He'll do it. And I want His glory. I want him to be magnified. Father, glorify thy name. And this is what he said in response
to our Savior's prayer in that regard. I have and I will. I have and I will. And so it
is.