Let me read as a starting point,
verse 4, where the Redeemer, the Lord Jesus, says, I have
glorified thee on the earth. I have sevened, as Brother Randy
pointed out, or finished the work which thou gavest me to
do. This morning I want to talk a
little bit about, set forth to you a proposition. and then speak
to that proposition as God would enable me to this morning. Let me make this statement. I
want you to listen carefully to it. My relationship with the
Eternal God does in great measure, does in great measure determine
what I do in life. But what I do in life does not
in any way or to any degree determine my relationship with God. Now you think on that as we try
to speak a little while this morning. We believe that God has a people
in this world. And we believe it was in the
eternal purpose of God Almighty to choose a people and to, in
time, save every one of those people. We believe that. The Word of God teaches it. And
we believe that our Lord Jesus Christ, that He came into this
world to serve the purpose of God. He said, My meat is to do
the will of Him that sent Me and to finish His work. And here
the Apostle John tells us that the Lord Jesus glorified the
Father on the earth. Jesus here is telling the Father
that He had glorified Him as He worked out eternal life for
the elect on the earth. Now, beloved, we cannot believe
that our Lord Jesus Christ would have said that I have glorified
Thee on the earth if He had not perfectly served the will and
purpose of God and accomplished that purpose. He would not be
able to say, I have glorified Thee on the earth. It glorifies
the Father for the Lord Jesus Christ is servant to fulfill
all things on the behalf of His people. Now the Bible teaches
that God's people in time Those that He has chosen in old time,
those for whom the Lord Jesus Christ met every demand of the
law, those for whom the Lord Jesus laid down His life as a
perfect sacrifice, propitiation unto God, that in time these
are brought out of the world and they're brought home to Christ.
They're brought home to God. That they have a relationship
with God. They are moved upon by the Spirit,
by the Divine Spirit. And they're brought into a relationship,
to a saving relationship. They know God. They're brought
to know God. The Bible teaches that they shall
all be taught of God. Everyone whom the Father has
chosen and given to the Son, they will all be taught of God.
And it will not have to be said to your neighbor, know the Lord,
because they will all know Me. The Lord Jesus said, from the
least to the greatest. They'll all know Me. And so there's
a time when God's people come to know the Lord Jesus Christ,
when they have a living relationship that is begun in the soul of
a man. And this is only to experience
what God has foreordained and foreknown, even in old eternity. They begin to know the Lord. And we believe that if any man
be in Christ, we believe that to know the Lord is to have eternal
life, and to know the Lord is to be in Christ Jesus. And if any man be in Christ,
we're told in 1 Corinthians 5, verse 17, I believe it is, that
if any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. He is a new creation. All things are passed away, and
behold, all things have become new. Now, beloved, we must understand
this principle, and that is that To interpret scripture, we must
always interpret the scripture in the light of the scripture.
We cannot interpret, the Bible is never to be interpreted in
the light of our experience. Many, many people say, well,
what about the experience of so-and-so? You say, if any man
be in Christ, he's a new creation. Old things have passed away.
All things have become new. He's a new creation. We are His
workmanship created in Christ Jesus. Paul said in Ephesians
2, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before
ordained that we should walk in them. Now, beloved, are we
to interpret Scripture in the light of an individual's experience,
or are we to interpret Scripture in the light of what the Scripture
teaches themselves? Now, brother, sister, it is not
our business to ever go into the judging business, to judge
who is saved and who isn't saved. We just want to know what the
Word of God says. And the Word of God says that
those who are in Christ are a new creation. Are a new creation. And that they're different. They're
made to be different. Now, the relationship that men
have with God, it determines, and in a great measure determines,
what those people do in their lives. It determines indeed in
a great way. Now if you were to turn over
with me, and I invite you to do that, to the book of Hebrews
chapter 11, you see it illustrated so clearly here in Hebrews chapter
11. Now this is a great chapter,
it's a catalog of the heroes of faith, setting forth those
who walked with God, who had a living relationship with God,
those who were in Christ, those who believed God, those who trusted
God, those who relied on God and His Word for direction in
their lives, those who were obedient unto God spelled out in the book
of Hebrews chapter 11. But we're told here in this book
about different individuals and what faith moved them to do. And what they did because they
had a relationship with God. Because they knew the Lord, they
were moved to do that which God laid upon their heart to do.
Now, we see this in verse 7. By faith Noah, it mentions Noah
here as being warned of God of things not seen as yet, how he
moved with fear. Well, Noah, how would you be
so moved? He was warned of God. He had
a relationship with God. He knew God, and God let him
in on what he was going to do in flooding the earth, bringing
his judgment upon the earth. So when God warned him of things
not seen, never had rained down upon the earth before, and there
never had been a flood before, and so when God warned him of
this, he moved. He moved with fear, prepared
an ark to the saving of his house, by which he condemned the world
and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. So Noah, he
believed God and this is what the results was, he built an
ark. He built an ark. And then the
scripture goes on to Abraham. And you all know the story about
Abraham. When he was called to go out
into a place which he should have to receive for an inheritance,
he obeyed. I'm talking about how a relationship
with God, Haliot, in a great measure determines what a man
or woman, boy or girl, will do in this life. They will do the
will of God. We're told in Matthew chapter
7, I believe it's verse 21, that not everyone that saith unto
me, Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of God, but they
which do the will of God. And they must do the will of
God. It's to do His will that is that
which determines that they have a relationship with God. You
see, they have a relationship with God and it results in their
obedience and their walk with God in His way. And so Abraham
He was a Syrian, and he was an idolatrous Syrian. And the Lord
appeared to Abraham at least about four times, at least four
times, that I know of in the Scriptures. And so Abraham, when
God revealed Himself to him, He said to Abraham, I want you
to go out. There's a place that I'm going
to give you for an inheritance. And I want you to go out to that
place. Well, the Bible says that he obeyed and he went out. This is significant, not knowing
whether he went. He didn't know where he was going.
But he obeyed God because God told him, said, this is what
I want you to do. And Abraham, you got to do my
will. And my will is you go out. And I've got a life for you to
live. I've got a service for you to render. I've got a way
for you. I've created good works for you
to walk in, Abraham. And I want you to go out, and
I want you to go to a place. You don't know where it is, and
I'm not going to tell you. You're just going out, and you'll
know it when you get there. And so Abraham obeyed God, it
says, and he went out. He obeyed the Lord. Now in 1
John we are told, Love not the world, neither the things that
are in the world. For if any man love the world,
the love of the Father is not in him, and the world is passing
away in the lust thereof. But they that will do the will
of God shall abide forever. They'll do the will of God. Now,
beloved, what I'm saying is that God's people, those that have
a relationship with the Lord, their walk in this life is determined
by that relationship. And I'm telling you that God's
people serve the Lord. I'm telling you they love Christ. I'm telling you they're constrained
by the love of Christ. And they will submit to Christ
and to His Lordship. Anyone who can thumb their nose
at the will of God as it is revealed on the pages of Holy Scripture,
as it is revealed by the Divine Spirit in the life of a believer. Because the Bible says they that
are led by the Spirit of God are these sons of God. And if you be led by the Spirit
of God, you are God's children. And God will lead you along in
this life. He has a life. for you to live. And your relationship with God
will move you to daily, Lord, Thy will be done. Lord, show
me Thy way. Lord, teach me Thy way, that
I may know the way wherein I'm to go. Now this is the person
who has a relationship with God. And if you were to go ahead and
read clear through this chapter here, you would find that God
had many people in the world that are described here in these
verses that did His will, that served Him. Some of them served
Him to the cost of their very lives. Some of them served Him
to the cost of their goods. And they took joyfully the spoiling
of their goods the Scripture says in Hebrews here. And it
indicates that they were moved to trust God and to serve Him
regardless of what happened in their temporal lives, in their
life here in this world. They would serve the Lord. If
God said, you go, they would go. If God says, you stay, they
would stay. If God moved upon them to do
something that seemed the most ridiculous thing, In all the
world, they'll do it. They'll pay the price, they'll
follow the Lord, they'll obey His will. If you have a relationship
with the Lord, you'll mind Him, and you'll serve Him, and you
will obey Him. Now, beloved, that's what the
Word of God teaches. It teaches that those who are
justified by faith, that they walk with God, that they live
by their faith. They live by what they believe.
Okay, so the first statement I made in my proposition was
that my relationship with the eternal God does, in a great
measure, determine what I do in my life. And I hope I can
say, looking back, on the most of my life, because certainly
the most of it is gone. I hope that I can say that I
have served the will of God in my generation. I have served
the purpose of God the best I knew how, the best I could in my generation. And it was due to the fact that
God revealed himself, made himself known to my heart, and that I
had a relationship with him. I'm his child. I'm his child
by faith in Christ Jesus. Paul said in Galatians, he said
we're all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. And so that's the way we become
children of God is by faith in Christ Jesus and that relationship
moves us. Now James talks about faith without
works being dead, being alone. And we are saved by a faith which
is alive. It's God faith, it's Christ faith. We're saved by faith without
works, but we're not saved by faith which does not work. If
your faith will not work, then my friend, you have reason to
question whether you have a living faith or not. If your faith doesn't
say, Lord, what would you have me to do? What do you want me
to do with my life? I know it's no accident that
I'm here. I know that it's no accident that I'm in this world.
I know that you gave me the parents you gave me. I know that you
give me the life that I have. Lord, what will you have me to
do? Well, beloved, that's a living faith. That is a living faith
that seeks to know the will of God and then to walk in it when
the will of God is revealed. Now then, the second statement
I made, but what I do does not in any way or to any degree determine
my relationship with God. This is so important that we
understand this, that when we've done all which was our duty to
do, that we are yet unprofitable servants. And if you were to
ask, any of the heroes of faith that are mentioned in the 11th
chapter of Hebrews, mentioned in the Word of God, men who served
the will of God. If you were to ask David, David,
was your relationship with God, that everlasting covenant which
God made with your soul, was that dependent upon what you
did in your life? Are you saved because of your
obedience, David? to the will of God, David would
have, he would have just immediately stood up and said, not unto me,
not unto me, but unto thy name give glory. It's certainly evident
that David was not saved by his, by what he did in his life. Although
he served the will of God, the Bible says, and he walked with
God, yet he was not a perfect man. there was many sins in the
life of King David. And while the faith of God moved
him to kill the giant, he at different times fell in unbelief
and sin and committed sins against God that were worthy of death.
But God in His mercy delivered him and saved him. Now, the Bible
is clear on this subject. What I do, my works, does not
in any way or to any degree determine my relationship with God. I invite
you to turn with me to the book of Titus. To the book of Titus. And I want to read here out of
the third chapter of Titus, beginning with verse 5. And I want you to listen to the
plain statements of Scripture here this morning. Not, Paul
says, by works of righteousness which we have done. Now what
is there about that statement that we do not understand? If
a man tells you that What you do in this life determines your
relationship with God. Immediately, you need to turn
to a passage like this. Not by works of righteousness,
which we have done. Not something that we did. Not
something that we accomplished in our lives. But according to
His mercy, He saved us. Salvation flows from the mercy
of God Almighty. A relationship for the elect
of God with God Himself flows from the mercy of God. It's the
mercy of God that saves sinners. It's not what they do. It's not
their works of righteousness. Paul said in the book of Galatians
that by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in
the sight of God. No flesh be justified in the
sight of God. Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us. That should be the end of the
debate, don't you think? He saved us by His mercy, not
by works of righteousness which we have done. By, He says, the
washing of regeneration, And that renewal that took place
in us by the Holy Ghost, when we were regenerated, we were
renewed, God put within us that spirit of want to, want to serve
Him, want to obey Him, want to honor Him, where we do not want
to bring a reproach upon the name of the Lord. The Lord puts
this want to in our hearts. And then in verse 6, which He
shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. That
being justified by His grace, being justified by His grace,
we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Now beloved, we're justified
by the grace of God. Our relationship with God, surely
we glory in the fact that we have hope and that we have eternal
life, and that this is not what we've done, has nothing to do
with what we've done or not done. It's got everything to do with
the finished work of our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now there's
another verse that I want to call your attention to. It's
in 2 Timothy chapter 1, and we want to read verse 9. Again, I want you to interpret
Scripture by Scripture. I want you to listen to what
the Word of God says. Forget about the examples. Do
you want anybody to use you for an example? Do you want them
to use you and say, well, here is the standard right here. Now,
here is the standard. No, no, no way. You have never
ever heard this preacher get up in front of you and say, here
is the standard. God have mercy. Now, beloved,
it would be wonderful if we all were examples and not call attention
to it ourselves, but that people would say they've been an example
to me. That would be wonderful. We need to be aware of the fact
that Scripture must be interpreted by the Scripture. And don't say,
well, you know, this happened to so-and-so, or they did this,
or they did that, therefore, therefore this, and therefore
that. The Scripture must not be true. I know they're saved,
and they did such-and-such, and so-and-so. Friend, forget about
what people are doing. Keep your eyes on the Lord, and
keep your eyes on the Scriptures. Believe the Word of God. You
believe the Word of God. You don't believe anything you
see in the lives of people around you. Don't let that be what determines
your conviction of truth. You believe the Word of God.
You stand with the Scriptures. And whenever your heart is settled
on the Scriptures, then you'll have some hope in your own soul. Verse 9, the Apostle Paul says,
who has saved us? He's been talking about our Lord,
and he says in verse 9, who has saved us? Now, it may sound elementary
and trite, but beloved, it is always to be remembered that
God is the author of salvation. He's the author of it. And He's
the finisher of it. Who hath saved us and called
us with a holy calling, not according to our works? Had nothing to
do with our works. He called us, but it had nothing
to do with our behavior. With our behavior before or after
the calling. He called us. He saved us and
called us. We were saved by the purpose
of God, His own purpose and grace, but according to His own purpose
and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began. Salvation is according to God's
purpose. God had a reason to lay hold
of you. He had something for you to do, people for you to
affect, lives for you to touch. He had comfort for you to give.
He had a work for you to do. Purpose. God is a God of purpose. And you know it's wonderful to
be involved, is it not, in that purpose of God. to be involved
in it, for God to be working out His purpose in our lives. My soul, if we're just like a
spent shell, goes off one time and that's the end of it. My
soul, what an awful thing. But for our lives to be unfolding,
unfolding, always unfolding into the purpose and will of God,
as we live out our days in this world. That's a great and glorious
thing. But God saved us because of His
own purpose. You say, I got an agenda of my
own. I'm afraid you do. But God has a purpose for your
life. Now He says, and grace. You know
the Apostle Paul said, 1 Corinthians chapter 15, I believe it's verse
10, he said, I am what I am by the grace of God. I am what I
am by the grace of God. Is that a true statement? It's
a true statement. And I'll tell you something else.
I told Hank last night, we were talking on the phone, and I said
it is also true as by the grace of God we are what we are, so
by His grace it is we are not what we are not. Now you think
on that a little bit. You say, well, why am I not like
other people? By the grace of God, you're not
like other people. By the grace of God. You were
born of a woman, wasn't you? Well, how can that be clean which
is born of a woman? The only way to be clean is for
your soul to be justified through redeeming grace and through the
righteous merits of the Redeemer. There is no There is nothing
that's going to make your flesh to be different except the grace
of God. Keeping you out of certain things
and putting you into certain areas that your life be protected. And God's will is secret. The
brother said that. You heard him say that. It is
desperately true the will of God is secret. We do not know
why. Why? The grace of God is withheld
from some and given in a more abundant measure to others. Anyone
here want to take that on? No, my friend, nobody knows the
answer to that. All we know is that we are what
we are by the grace of God and what we're not by the grace of
God. That's what we know. Well, as we think on this verse
of scripture here, It tells us that this purpose and grace which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, back
before the world began. Our God is a God of absolute
wisdom and He's never learned anything. God the Father has
always known all things. Known unto Him, the Bible says,
are all of His works from the beginning of the world. I hope
this morning in this short brief message that you have been able
to put these thoughts together to some degree and that they
will help you in your life and that you will see the absolute
importance of seeking the Lord, crying to God that his will may
be revealed to you, made known to you, and that you're able
to do his will. And that you're able to submit
yourself unto His will. That you're able to serve the
Lord. Because if you're truly His, Your heart's going to yearn
for that. And you're never really going
to be satisfied apart from your doing that. Trust and obey, for
there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. You must obey the will of God. But always remember, the glory
belongs to God, not by works of righteousness, which we have
done, but by grace you are saved through faith, that not of yourselves.
It's a gift of God, not of works, not of works, lest any man should
boast, We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which God hath before prepared. That's that purpose
we were talking about. He has a prepared life for you. Submit yourself. And as the brother
mentioned what he did about in the latter time, when men, all
of the servants of God, and when they are to bow before the Lord,
the best thing we can do now is for all of His creatures is
to bow before Him. Bow before Him. Thy will be done,
Lord. Thy will be done. Work Your will
in this old heart. Show me Thy way, O Lord. Work
Your will. Father, we pray that You might
use these scattered remarks to Your glory and to Your honor
bless this church and encourage this people. Lord, we do ask
that your hand of mercy and safety would be upon all of those who
are in this dear church family. We do pray, Lord, for Aaron.
We ask that you'll remember him and that you'll bring him back
home safely this week from New York. And Lord, for others who
are traveling, Christy Oppheim and Anna, we ask that they'll
be remembered Keegan, Lord, bring them home safely. Thy will be
done in our lives, Lord, that we may be able to walk before
you and not be ashamed before you at your coming. We pray it
in Jesus' name, for his sake. Amen.