We greet you all this morning
in the name of our lovely Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a
joy to be able to be in the house of the Lord, to be able to hear
the Word of God, to have the privilege of opening the Word
and receiving a Word from our God from it. I invite you this
morning, if you have a copy of the Bible with you, to turn with
me to 1 Corinthians chapter 6. 1st Corinthians chapter 6 and
I want to read two verses here at the outset this morning. Verses 19 and verse 20. 1st Corinthians chapter 6 verse
19 and 20. The Apostle Paul speaking to
the church in Corinth says what? Know ye not that your body is
the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have
of God, and ye are not your own. For ye are bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your
body and in your spirit, which are God's. I want to speak on
the last part of verse 19 and the first part of verse 20. And
ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price. And ye are
not your own, for ye are bought with a price. We belong to God
if we be in Christ Jesus. If we know the Lord Jesus Christ
by simple faith, we belong to God. It is true that all people
and all souls belong to God. In the book of Ezekiel chapter
18 and verse 4 it says, Behold, all souls are mine. As the soul
of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine. And the soul
that sinneth, it shall die. That was Ezekiel chapter 18 and
verse 4. As creatures to their creator,
as property to its owner, as subjects to their ruler, all
things and all people were made by God and for God, and all are
ruled by God's sovereign will. Romans 11 and verse 36 says,
For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things to
whom be glory forever." Now, beloved, it is God's right as
the absolute sovereign of the universe to have control over
and to rule over His creatures. Now, we believe that we all are
His servants, that men are God's hands, and that even the wicked
have been made by the Lord for the day of evil, We know that
the Lord has his way in the whirlwind and the clouds of the dust of
his feet, and we know that God said that he ruled in the armies
of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none could
stay his hand or say unto him, What doest thou? But we who believe
We who have been called by the irresistible grace of God belong
to God as a child belongs to its father, as a wife belongs
to her husband, as a willing bond slave to his master, we
belong to Christ. We belong to Christ. We are willing
bond slaves to Him. Ours is an intimate, loving,
family relationship that we have with the Eternal God through
Jesus Christ. Now let me try to set this forth
to you in the best way that I know how. Try to make it as simple
as I know how to this morning. Number one, I believe that we
belong to God, that is God's people, those that have been
saved by faith in Christ, those that have been drawn out of the
world by God's effectual mercy and grace, that we belong to
God by the sovereign purpose of His grace, by the sovereign
purpose of His grace. In old eternity God said, I will
be their God and they shall be my people. In 1st Samuel 12 and
22 it says that it pleased the Lord to make you His people. Now were it not for God's electing
grace, no one would ever be saved. Indeed, were it not for God's
election and his determination to save some, the world would
never have been created. This, I believe, was the eternal
purpose which God purposed in Christ Jesus. In Ephesians 1
and verse 11 it says, In whom also we have obtained an inheritance,
being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will. I said were
it not for God's electing grace, no one would ever be saved. There
wouldn't be anyone here that would have ever chosen on their
own to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The Word of God teaches
that man when he fell in the garden that he made his choice
and that was to die rather than live. And if a man lives, if
he lives and comes to Christ, if he lives and has a desire,
to know the Lord Jesus Christ and comes to know Him through
faith that individual. It is because of God's election
of Him, God's choice of Him. It was God, according to the
Bible in Ephesians 1 and verse 3, according as He hath chosen
us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love. And so it was the
electing grace of God that chose us and put us in the Lord Jesus
Christ and in time it was God's amazing and wonderful grace that
brought us to the Savior and enabled us, drew us out of the
world by the effectual call unto Christ. And so I say if it were
not for God's election and His determination to save His people,
the world would have never been created. I believe that's why
God created this world. It's because God would have a
family. He would have a family. And because
His Son, the Lord Jesus, would have a bride. And the Holy Spirit
would have a temple. And this, I believe, is the reason
why God made this world. And you know, men are selfish
and self-centered, and they believe that it's all for them. But my
friend, it was for the glory of God that God created the heavens
and the earth, and that God put man upon this earth. It was for
His glory. It was for His honor. It was
for His praise. And the accomplishment of His
purpose has been going on throughout the ages. God calling His people
into relationship with Him. And we belong to God because
He chose us as His own. 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13 and
14 says, But we're bound to give thanks always to God for you,
brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit
and the belief of the truth. And so, my friend, we belong
to God if we're in Christ Jesus. Of God, are you in Christ Jesus? Who of God is maiden to us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption? Are you in Christ? Do you believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ? Have you passed from death into
life? Do you have evidence in your life that the Lord Jesus
has become yours and you have become His? Now if that be the
case, then you know that that was because God first loved you
and drew you to Christ. The Bible says we love Him because
He first loved us. That's the first reason that
I offer, because of God's sovereign purpose of grace. Now the second
reason is that we are the Lord's by the special purchase of His
Son. You know the Lord Jesus Christ
is the great shepherd of the sheep. He's the great shepherd,
and he said in John 10 and 15, he said, I lay down my life for
the sheep. And we read here this morning
in our text, and ye are bought with a price, for ye are bought
with a price. This is talking about that special
purchase that the Lord Jesus Christ made of his own. The life of the eternal Son of
God laid down, 1 Peter 1. Verses 18 and 19 says for as
much as you know that you were redeemed not with corruptible
things such as silver and gold from your vain conversation received
by tradition from your fathers but with the precious blood of
Christ as of a lamb without spot or blemish or any such thing.
The people of God have been redeemed. They've been bought back from
the slave market of sin by the work, the redeeming work of the
Lord Jesus. We praise God for a redemption
that redeems. We praise God for an atonement
that truly does atone. We give Him glory and we give
Him praise for that special price that was paid in order that we
might belong for eternity to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now in
chapter 1 of the book of Galatians, Paul said in verse 3 through
5, Grace be to you and peace from God the Father and from
our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins. who gave
Himself for our sins. There it is. He, the Lord Jesus,
the just, laid down His life for the unjust that He might
bring us to God, who gave Himself for our sins that He might deliver
us from this present evil world according to the will of God
and our Father. It was truly the will of God
that the Lord Jesus Christ laid down His life on Calvary. We know that the Lord Jesus was
delivered up to the cross by the determinate counsel of God,
and He was slain by the hands of wicked men. It was God that
hung His Son on a tree in order that the price might be paid,
that our sin debt would be canceled out, and that we might receive
remission of sin, and that we might be accepted of God in the
Beloved One. The Lord Jesus came from the
hills of glory to the valleys of this world of sin in order
that we might be delivered and thanks being to God He paid that
special price that according to the will of God and our Father
we would be delivered and that we would belong to Him. Now,
to whom be glory, in verse 5, forever and ever. Amen? Amen. To Him be glory. To glory to
the Lord, to God our Father, and to Jesus Christ, our Savior,
who died in our place, in our room, on Calvary's cross. We give Him the glory. we give
Him the praise. And some people may wonder why
it is that we're always praising God for our relationship with
the Lord. And that is because we believe
it is of God from the beginning to the end. The Bible declares
that God is the author and the finisher of our faith. And if
that means anything at all, it means that God started this work
of redemption and He will finish it. That it's all His work from
the beginning to the end. Salvation is of the Lord from
the beginning to the end. Now it is not expected that the
ungodly and the unbelieving should ever seek the honor of Christ.
If you're here this morning and you know not the Lord Jesus Christ
through faith, if you're here this morning and you're outside
in a state of nature lost and undone, if you're here this morning
and you have not the Holy Spirit of God dwelling in you, in your
body, then we do not expect that you're going to walk as a godly
person or that you're going to live like those who know the
Lord, seeking the honor and glory of Christ. You are not redeemed
by Him. You have not experienced what
a child of God has experienced in their souls. Those who have
been redeemed and regenerated by the power of the Spirit of
God, they have had a great work take place in them. They've had
a principle of divine grace planted in their souls that makes them
love the Lord Jesus Christ and makes them desire to do His will
and they are conformed to His will because of that work which
God has done in them. And our fruit, the fruit of the
believer, is through Christ. It's through Him, through what
He has done in their life. But it is most reasonable, I
should say, that it is most reasonable that we, as the people of God,
that we would willingly give ourselves to the service of our
Savior's glory. Would we not? Do we not feel
it in our hearts that we would willingly give ourselves to the
Savior's glory? He brought us out from under
the curse of the law. Galatians 3 and 13, Christ hath
redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for
us. And so, beloved, we would expect
out of the people of God a willingness. We would expect out of them a
desire of heart that they would follow the Lord Jesus Christ
and where He is, there they would be. And that as they follow Him
and as they honor Christ, that the Father will honor them. That's
the second reason. It's because of this price that
was paid for them. They are redeemed people, bought
back, as we said earlier, from the slave market of sin by the
price that was mentioned here by Paul. For you're bought with
a price, he's talking about the shed blood of the Lord Jesus. Then again, we belong to God
by the saving power of His Spirit. In Ephesians chapter 2, we're
told that we have been quickened who were dead in trespasses and
sins. The people of God have been made
alive. They've been quickened. We were
lost. We were helpless. We were hopelessly
in a depraved state and spiritually dead. But God, who is rich in
mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were
dead, quickened us together by Christ, by grace ye are saved. We have been quickened, made
alive by Christ. The Spirit of God came to us
and called us out of our death. Raised us out of spiritual death
into spiritual life. He created faith. in our hearts
Ephesians 2 and 8 says for by grace are you saved through faith
that not of yourselves it is the gift of God it is the gift
of God Paul said in Philippians 1 it is given on our behalf not
only to believe but also to suffer for his sake but it is given
on our behalf to believe the gospel. So He created faith in
our hearts and brought us to Christ by His sovereign, irresistible
power and grace. He made us willing in the day
of His power, voluntary bond slaves of the Lord Jesus Christ. We were willing to follow Christ,
willing to do His will, willing to part with this life, willing
to lay it down and deny ourself and to follow the Lord Jesus
Christ and this is all because of the fact that he brought us
out of death into life. We have passed out of death and
there's no condemnation awaiting us. We have been brought out
of death until I, if we're God's people. Now number four, and
we belong to God also by the solemn profession of our faith. By the solemn profession of our
faith. There was a day, there was an
hour, there was a time when God brought us to believe actually,
realistically to believe on His Son. It was the gift of God. Faith is God's gift to His people. But we were quickened and we
were given faith and we made a profession. We stood and said,
I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. We stood and
confessed openly that we believe the record that God hath given
of His Son. This record is eternal life.
This life is in His Son. And he that hath the Son hath
life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. We believe the record. We believe
the testimony. And in John 3 it says that they
that hath received His testimony They have set their seal to God
being true. And when we stood up and professed,
you know it's one thing for us to believe that salvation is
by faith, but it's another thing for us as individuals to make
this perfection ourselves. Have we professed faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ? Does anybody know about our profession? Have we been willing to stand
before men and angels and make this profession? I believe that
life is in the nail-scarred hands of the man in glory and I believe
he gives it to whomsoever he will and I believe that he gave
it to me. Are we willing? Have we made
that profession? Have we believed on it? You say,
oh, I believe salvation. And I know that most people will
profess that they believe salvation is through faith. But they themselves
have not believed personally. My friend, you must personally
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ or else you're under the wrath
of God and remain under the wrath of God unto eternity and everlasting
judgment unless you make this solemn profession of faith. Believers, they don't only speak
with their mouth and confess that Jesus is Lord by the Holy
Ghost, but believers follow their Lord in baptism and they publicly
declare to all their world their faith in and heart allegiance
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now when we go down into the
waters of baptism, that is an act of obedience, and there we
make the public confession that we believe that what Jesus did,
that we have participated in that by faith, and that we stand,
and this is our badge to identify us with the Son of God, who died,
who rose again, was buried and rose again, from the dead. So it identifies him as one,
it identifies the believer as one who belongs to God. That's
what baptism does. And we are not ashamed to say
that we believe in believers' baptism here in this church. we baptize several in the last
couple of years and we believe in baptism that it's a preaching
ordinance that it tells everybody that sees it that that person
going down being buried in that water that he believed that Christ
died that he was buried and that he rose again from the dead And
so, beloved, it is through our profession, our solemn profession
of faith that we're brought to baptism. It identifies us, as
we said, as one who belongs to God. Since we belong to God,
it is reasonable that we should glorify God in our bodies and
in our spirits, which belong to God. You see, He bought us
lock, stock, and barrel. And we need to believe that He
has claim on us. Now, ye are not your own, Paul
said. Believers, since God chose you,
redeemed you, saved you, you truly do, you truly do, you say,
I don't feel it, everyday preacher. You may not, but you truly do
belong to Him. He has made an investment in
your life. He has died, sent His own Son,
His precious Son from heaven to this earth. Make this investment. He laid down His life in order
to save you. And you do belong to Him. You truly do. By your own profession
of faith, you have willingly, voluntarily given yourself up
to the claims of the Lord Jesus Christ. You belong to Him. And because you belong to Christ,
My friend, you have nothing to fear and everything to give you
comfort. You're a child of God, an heir
of God, and a joint heir with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now it
is so wonderful to be able to lay claim to being one of the
Lord's sheep, to belong to Him, to have had Him to bestow upon
us the graces and the mercy of the everlasting covenant, and
to separate us from the world, and to give us in our hearts
a desire to fulfill His will in our lives. Now beloved, when
we talk about us not being our own, and how that we've been
bought with a price, and how that the Lord has claimed upon
our life that we're to glorify God in our body and our spirit,
which are God's, I think it's very necessary that we should
be reminded this morning of some verses in the Word of God that
would help us to see what this involves, that this business
of our not being our own, but that we're in this world in a
body which belongs to God, and the very spirit which is in us
We have received of God. It's not the Spirit of the world,
but it's the Spirit of God. What does it involve? What am
I to do? What is the response of my soul
if I know in reality that I belong to God? How does this translate
out in my life? Well, first of all, I want you
to see the connection in the Word of God that the will of
God has what the will of God has in connection with our faith. We're living in a day when there's
a doctrine circulated called the carnal Christian doctrine.
And this doctrine says that a person can be a Christian, that they
can belong to the Lord, and they can thumb their nose at the Lord
Jesus Christ once they're saved, and they can just go on and live
their life as they please in this world. Well, beloved, such
a doctrine as that has no foundation in Holy Scripture. No foundation
whatsoever. And I want you to listen to this.
My friend, are you interested in doing the will of God? Are
you interested? Listen to me. God's will, when
that will is lived out in the life of a man, woman, boy or
girl, that will gives honor and dignity to the sinner. It gives
honor and dignity to the sinner. For a sinner to be able to do
the will of God, for him to be able to walk with the Lord, for
him to be able to glorify the Lord and to honor the Lord with
his life, This, my friend, gives dignity to your life. Now listen to this scripture,
Matthew 7 and 21. It says, Not everyone that saith
unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, But he
that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Now isn't
that a very plain verse of scripture? The Lord Jesus says it's not
everyone that says Lord, Lord. Lots of people are talking about
the Lord in our day and time. They do not know Him. They have
no real relationship with Him. He does not dwell in their hearts
by faith, but they're using the name Lord, Lord. But Jesus said, not everyone
that does this shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he
that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven, implying
that when this spells out or when it is translated in our
life, that it is essential and necessary that we find the will
of God and walk in it as the Lord's people. That we be willing
to lay down our life, that we love not the world. Listen to
these verses in 1 John 2 and 15 and 17. Love not the world,
neither the things, that are in the world. If any man love
the world, the love of the Father is not in him. It's not in him. For all that is in the world,
the lust of the eyes and the pride of life are not of the
Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and
the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth
forever. Sounds to me like there's a connection
between us doing the will of God and our abiding forever. Sounds like there is a connection
between us loving the Father and not loving the world that
has a relationship and a bearing on us in this life. And we need
to remember these verses. Listen to James 4 and 4. Whosoever therefore will be a
friend of the world is an enemy of God. Submit yourselves therefore
to God, and resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Now then, I want you to turn
over to the chapter that Brother Randy read to us, chapter 12
of the book of Romans. And I want us to look here in
the 12th chapter of Romans at the first two verses. Now the
Apostle Paul writing to the church at Rome says, I beseech you therefore
brethren, the word beseech is used for every kind of calling
in the scripture to people which is meant to produce a particular
effect. And in this verse of Scripture,
he says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
I call to you, hearken to me, hear what I'm saying, mark what
I'm saying, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
and here is the particular effect, that you present your bodies,
a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service. God's people, here the apostle
is calling upon them as they reflect upon the mercies of God. And God is merciful unto his
people. Oh the mercy, the mercy which
God has bestowed upon us. in the person of His Son, the
Lord Jesus. We being unholy, we being sinners
by nature, choice and practice, we being alienated from God,
having not the life of God in us, God in sovereign mercy came
to us and drew us out of our sin unto the Lord Jesus and put
life in us, gave us His Spirit, raised us from spiritual death,
and therefore His mercies as we reflect upon them. They're
to move us to present our bodies. Our bodies which are not our
own. Now I'm not asking you to give God something that belongs
to you. I'm asking you to give God something
that belongs to Him. It belongs to Him. You say, well
I think you're getting on too private ground if you talk about
me giving my body up to the Lord Jesus Christ. My friend, I'm
telling you, you're not your own. You're bought with a price.
And therefore, your body belongs to the Lord. And you're to glorify
God in that body which belongs to Him. Well, how are we going
to do that in verse 2? And be not conformed to this
world. I would remind you also that this is your reasonable
service. Reasonable service. It's reasonable
based on the price he paid to redeem your soul and to redeem
you from everlasting destruction and misery. It's a reasonable
thing for a believer to do, is to glorify God in his body, and
to live a life, notice in verse 2, be not conformed to this world. This world is clamoring, this
world wants you, this world wants you to follow it, follow its
lead. This world wants to bring you
down with it, if you please. But a child of God is not to
be conformed to this world. Might I remind you Paul said
that bad company corrupts good manners. Might I remind you that
health is not catching. Might I remind you that disease
is catching. And I tell you, you young people
here need to pay particular attention to what we're saying today. You
have made this solemn profession that you believe that Jesus Christ
is yours in faith. And I tell you, the Bible says
you don't be conformed to this world. Don't go out here and
listen to this world. Listen to the ideas presented
to you by the philosophers of our day and the people of our
day who have every intention of trying to convert you to the
idea that anything that feels good, it's legal, it's right,
And do it! My friend, I'm here to tell you
this morning that God says, I own that body of yours and you be
not conformed to this world. But he said, but be you transformed
by the renewing of your mind. Be you transformed by reading
the Word of God, meditating upon the Word of God, assimilating
the Word of God into your spiritual system? Be you transformed by
listening and hearing to God's claim on your life as they're
presented from the Word? Be you transformed the rest of
your life? My friend, it's a time of transformation
from the mind of the flesh to the mind of God, from the world
to the mind of God and to His ways. And so there's to be a
transformation takes place in your life by the renewing of
your mind. You've got to quit reading that
junk that you're reading. Throw it away and quit looking
at the television that are trying to drag you down and conform
you to the image of the world. You must give it up. I'm telling
you, the Bible teaches clearly that to love the world, my friend,
you cannot. The love of the Father is not
in you if you love this world. And if you're attempting, my
friend, to conform yourself to it, Then you'll never prove that
which is good and acceptable and perfect, even the will of
God, will never be worked out in your life. And then the question
is raised, well, am I a Christian? Am I a Christian? Well, it may
be that you're not. a Christian. It may be that you
just made a profession and nothing is real in your heart. Nothing real in you. There's a lot of people who back
in my early ministry that I knew of that made professions of faith. They made perfections. Oh, I
believe. I believe. Yes. Yes. But they
never had an ear for the claims of Jesus Christ on their life. No ear for that. They didn't
have an ear for such verses as I shall now share with you out
of John 12, beginning with verse 24. Verily, verily, saith the
Lord Jesus, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the
ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth
much fruit. Now what did the Lord Jesus mean
by that? Well, He explained it in the
next verse, in verse 25, when He said, He that loveth his life
shall lose it. Now what is he saying? He's saying
here that unless a grain of wheat falls in the ground and dies,
we know enough about agriculture to know what happens. The grain
of wheat, corn falls in the ground and it dies and then there's
a stalk that comes up And there may be two or three ears of corn,
or maybe many, many heads of wheat on the stem. And so we
know how that takes place. If it die, it bringeth forth
much fruit. And what that means is that for
a believer, He is to die out to himself. Die to the old life. Die to the ways of the world
and the flesh. Die out to his own desires, his
own ambitions, his own ideas about what he should do and what
he should do with his life. Die out to it. Give himself up
to the Lord. Find himself a place where they
can pray and where they can seek God with all of their heart and
lay their lives out before the Lord. Give their lives unto the
Lord. Give it to Him. He bought it.
He bought it. And He deserves that you personally
give your life to Him. That He might lead you in His
way. That He might show you His will. Now Jesus said, He that
loveth his life shall lose it. The man that says, Now wait a
minute preacher, wait a minute, wait a minute. I'm not going
to do any such thing as that. I believe I've got the right
to live my life as I please. I'll do what I want to with it.
I won't consult God or any preacher or anybody else. Well, Jesus
said if you love your life, if you say I'm going to keep it
for myself, Jesus said you'll lose it. You'll lose it! As sure
as I'm preaching to you this morning, you're going to lose
your life. If you place value upon it and say, I've got to
have my way. I've got to have my way. I've
got plans, preacher. I've got plans, and I'm going
to follow those plans. Well, Jesus said, I'm here representing
the Son of God. I'm not here telling you what
my opinion is. I'm telling you what Jesus said.
Amen? He that loveth his life shall
lose it, Jesus said. And he that hateth his life Now
what that means is, he that pays it no mind. He that pays no mind
to his own ambition, his own will, his own desire, he just
says, I'm going to be conformed to the will of God and I'm going
to do that. I'm going to do that which God
would have me to do in order that I might prove that which
is good, acceptable, and the perfect will of God. I'm going
to bow my knee to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. That's what
I'm going to do. Well, he said, he that pays his
life no regard in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. Don't tell me it's not important.
I'm telling you it's very important. Now listen to what Jesus said,
if a man serve me, let him follow me. Let him follow me. In John
12 and 26. If a man serve me, let him follow
me. Let Him lay His life down and
say, Lord, You direct me. With us wherever Thou goest,
Lord, direct me. Lord, show me what You're doing
in this world that I might be a part of it. Show me what You
would do with my life, Lord. Show me. And as I told you before,
this gives dignity to the life of any man. Any man, the will
of God will give dignity to your life. You make your own choices. And my friend, the day will come
when you'll be sorry you did. And if you're a believer, you
just will not be able to do it. If God were to tell you, make
your choice. You would immediately throw it
back into His hands. Lord, I don't have the wisdom
to make the choices in life that must be made. You make them for
me. And You direct me. You show me,
Lord, what You would have me to do. I lay myself down before
You as a blank piece of paper. Stamp upon it what You would
have to be done in my life and lead me that where Jesus is,
there I will be. There shall also my servant be.
They'll be where I am, Jesus said. And if any man serve me,
him will my Father honor. I want to get in on that, don't
you? I want to be honored by the great God of heaven, by that
God who is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
Father of mercies, the God of all comfort, the God of all grace. I want to get in on that. I want
Him to honor me. Now then, this is so important
that we see the need, beloved, to do this. Now there are so
many needs in our day and time. Somebody says, well, what would
the Lord do with my life? Well, God is an all-wise God. Do you believe that? And I believe
that God is a God of wisdom and He's a God that absolutely knows
the end from the beginning. I believe He's such a God that
He can bless your life and He can use it and make you fruitful
in the Kingdom of God. And I believe this morning that
there are those young people here in our service that needs
to take heed and to be circumspect and to keep circumspectly all
that they have heard this morning about loving not this world,
about being transformed in the renewing of your mind, about
not being, my friend, given over to the passions and lusts and
the ways of this flesh and the ways of this world. You need
to take heed. I remember in Exodus 23 in verse
2, it said, Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil. And I'm telling you, the call
is out. Come, go with us. Drink with us. Share the drugs
with us. Come, go our way. And God said,
Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil. And in verse 13,
and he said, In all things that I have said unto you, be circumspect. That means watch, mark, take
heed to what I have told you, and make no mention. He said,
of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth."
The Lord said, I'm a jealous God. I'm a jealous God. I'm jealous
indeed, God says, and I want your life to be from my glory. That's why I bought you. from
the slave market of sin. That's why I made you mine. That's
why I chose you and put your name in the Lamb's Book of Life
before the foundation of the world. It's because you're mine
and I want your life to glorify me. Now, beloved, turn with me
to the book of Isaiah chapter 6. Isaiah chapter 6, and I want
you to listen here to what Isaiah said in response to the voice
of the Lord. In Isaiah 6 and verse 8. Now we're living in a time when
the gospel is so precious because there seems to be a great famine
throughout the land of the true preaching. of the gospel of God's
free and sovereign grace in Christ. And we hear it. We hear it all
the time. There's no work in this area.
No work in this area. We have a man and his son in
our meeting this morning from down around Bozeman area, Belgrade
area, who have no church. No Sovereign Grace Church, and
they drove 160 some miles this morning to come here to hear
the gospel of the grace of God. I received a letter this week
from a lady in Alaska. Her and her husband have been
looking for a church for 18 years. and they have not been able,
and they said, now this is what they said, they said there is
not a gospel church in the entire state of Alaska. Oh, there are
professing churches, there's all kinds of them, where sinners
are told, you know, sinners save thyself, where sinners are given
a little advice on how they can make themselves acceptable to
God, but nobody preaching the sovereign free grace of God in
the Lord Jesus Christ. And there is such a need, brethren,
sisters in the Lord, young people, there is such a need for people
to get up, for them to be willing to say, Lord, would you send
me? I never will forget the story
about a young fellow about ten years old named Moffat. who later
became a great missionary and raised a daughter that married
another great missionary. But when he was about 10 years
old, he was in a service in a missionary conference. And as the gospel
was preached and the people were worshipping, they passed a collection
plate, which we don't do around here, but they passed a collection
plate around. And this little boy had no money.
He had no money at all. But when the collection plate
come by him, he took it from the hands of the usher, set it
on the floor, pulled his shoe off, stuck his foot in the offering
plate, and said, when I grow up, I'll go any place. I make
a vow before God, I'll go any place the Lord would send me. And I'll tell you what, that
moves my heart every time I think about it. And he did. He did. That wasn't an empty vow. I mean it was a vow made from
his heart. And he grew up and he went to
the mission field and became a missionary preaching the gospel
of God's grace. Now my friend, there are those
of you here this morning that you could go that you could give
yourself up to God. You could give yourself up to
study of the Word of God. You could give yourself up to
preaching what you know. There are some of you here that
know that what you know would be sufficient to establish a
church somewhere where the gospel needs to go out, where it needs
to be preached. What you already know! along
with what you can glean and gain by your personal study and devotion
to the Word of God. You could be used of God. Don't sit here and say, well,
the Lord surely has nothing for me except for me to get a good
education, for me to buy me a good home, for me to have a good automobile,
for me to have a family, for me to do this, for me to do that.
My friend, listen to me. The Lord has invested His Son
in your life and it's an obligation, it's your reasonable service
that you bow your knee and consult the Lord. At least consult the
Lord and tell the Lord that you're conscious of His claim on your
life. That you're conscious that He
bought you with a great price. That you're conscious that He
owns you. And that you're not overlooking
that fact. Lord, I just want to remind you
that I know you own me. And I know that you have claim
on my life. And I know that you want to glorify
yourself through me and all those that are yours. The elect of
God are to be the spokesmen for God in every generation. It's those that God would speak
to this world through. Those who are the elect of God.
Now listen to me. In Isaiah 6 and verse 8. Isaiah had seen the Lord high
and lifted up, and he said, I heard the voice of the Lord saying,
I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and
who will go for us? Whom shall I send? Now, I wonder,
I don't know what you would think about this, but I just wonder
why this was heard by Isaiah. Why was it that Isaiah heard
this? Why did he hear the voice of
the Lord saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us? Well,
was it not that God had purposed that he would go? That he would
go? And that he would be the one
that he would send? Is that not the reason? Why are
you here today? Why are you here? Why are you
hearing? what is being spoken here today.
Why is it in the providence of God that you came in and heard
a stumbling, stammering old preacher tell you that God owns you and
that God has claim on your life? And that God has sovereignly
chosen you and touched you and put you where you are in order
that you might be able to hear His voice. Hear His voice. And the voice is this, says this,
Whom shall I send? Who will go for us? Triune God. Who will go for the Triune God?
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then said I, Here am I, send
me. Here am I Lord, send me. Send me on the mission that you
have for me. Send me. You remember Jeremiah
of old. Jeremiah the Lord called him
And he said, well, Lord, I'm just a child. And the Lord said,
before I formed you in the belly, I knew you. And before you came
forth out of the womb, I sanctified you and ordained you to be a
prophet unto the nations. And you shall go to all that
I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee, thou shalt speak. Here am I. Send me. Jesus said,
All power is given to me in heaven and earth. Go ye into all nations
and preach the gospel, baptizing men and women in the name of
the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. And Lord, I'm with you
always, even to the winding up of the ages. I'm with you. I'm
with you. All power is mine. in heaven
and earth. I can keep you. I can sustain
you. I can provide for you. I will
meet your every need. You have no legitimate concern
if you're following me, if you're obeying me, if you're walking
after me and walking in my ways. You have no concern. No legitimate
concern. You say, I don't know whether
I can make it or not. You'll make it. You'll make it. Oh my
friend, I know God can set a table in the wilderness. He can do
it. And the Bible says, but my God shall supply all your need
according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. He'll meet your
need. He'll meet your need. He said, seek ye first the kingdom
of God and His righteousness. All these things will be added.
Things of this world, mundane things of this world will be
added unto you. Seek me first. Seek me first. I would be glorified in your
body and your spirit, which belongs to me. Seek me first. The Lord will take care of you.
You say, well, but, but, but. Well, that's the way the goats
are. They keep butting all the time. But, but. If you're a true
sheep of Christ, listen to what I'm saying. Here am I. Oh, is
there somebody here this morning that would say, here am I? Send
me, Lord. If you need somebody up there
in Alaska to preach the gospel, here am I. Send me. And if you need somebody down
in Whitehall to start a church, here am I. Send me. Be willing
to do that. Claim of Christ upon your life.
My friend, you cannot ignore what I'm preaching to you today.
You cannot ignore it. You cannot ignore it. Oh, do
not just sit around and sit around and get discouraged and depressed
and drugged down. Be willing, if God was pleased
to send you, to hate your life. I mean to look down. I mean,
pass it by. It's a fleeting life. It's going
to be over. It's all going to burn up. It's
pretty like the fireworks, but it ain't going to last. This
world is going down too. It's going down. It's going down.
My friend, they that will do the will of God shall abide forever.
They that will do what God wants them to do. They'll be honored
by the Lord. Well, I have to quit. I've got
to give it up. But I believe with all my heart
that there are those here this morning that ought to say, here
am I. Here am I. I think I heard the
voice of God. I think God has spoken to me
today. I think the Lord has told me something. I think He's visited
me. And here am I, Lord. You just
send me. I'll go. Lord, I'll go. And the
Lord will lead you. He'll open the door for you.
He'll go before you. He's not going to send you out
and stay back here. No, no, no. He'll go before you.
He'll go before you. He'll open doors for you. You
brethren, I hope that God will charge you up and build a fire
under you. Listen, the Lord has raised up
others who have went out and preached the gospel from this
place. And there's some here that should go. That should go. Maybe not tomorrow, but you should
begin to preparation. And begin to seek the Lord to
know His direction. And the Lord will lead. Here
am I, send me, Isaiah said. Send me. And I'll tell you if
you look a little further on down that chapter, I haven't
got time to go through it. But you'll find out he wasn't sent
on a very pleasant mission either. It was a difficult mission that
Isaiah was sent upon. But if you follow the leading
of the Lord, God will be with you, as He was with Isaiah. And
He'll strengthen you, and He'll open doors for you, and He'll
bless you. But my friend, I call you all
to circumspect living. I call you all to a life above
reproach. I call you young people to get
serious about God owning you. And you come out from the world,
and you cut off these people that are dragging you down, and
that'll keep on dragging you down. Cut them off! and stand
separate and be a separate for the glory of God who owns you. Father, in the name of Jesus,
we thank you that we've had this privilege this morning to preach
your holy word. I pray your blessing, Lord, to
rest upon this congregation and I pray there'll be some here,
Lord, that'll say, Lord, I don't know where you would want me
to go, but here am I. Send me. Lord, you know where
I am. And every day, Lord, I'll lay myself down at your feet.
You said it was my reasonable service to present my body, a
holy, living sacrifice unto you. And Lord, I do that in Jesus'
name. In Jesus' name, I do that. And
Lord, we know that you'll take their life and that you will
use it for your honor. You'll use it for your glory.
And there'll be many down the way who will receive the message
of pure, free grace. from their lips, and you will
honor their word, because it is thy word, and you will own
it. Jesus, hear our prayer this day. Thrust forth labors into the
field. In Jesus' name, amen.