If I could, I'd like to sit down beside each
one of you, put my arm around your shoulder,
and talk real plain to your heart, and talk real plain concerning
your soul and mine. My subject tonight is a deceived
heart. No man is so deceived as that
man whose heart has deceived him. And nothing so thoroughly
and so completely deceives the heart of man as false religion. Now give me your ear and God
the Holy Spirit give me grace and power that only he can give
to talk directly to your hearts. I want to speak to your heart. I want us to read together an
astonishing and fearful word from God concerning people whose
hearts have deceived them, deceived them with false religion. My
text is Isaiah 44 and verse 20. He feedeth on ashes. A deceived heart, what a word,
a deceived heart hath turned him aside that he cannot deliver
his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand? Now listen carefully. There is
but one true religion, only one. The only true religion is the
religion of grace. the free grace of God in Jesus
Christ the sinner's substitute. Any deviation from the religion
of grace, any deviation from salvation through the merits
of Jesus Christ alone, is false religion. And there is only one
way to obtain and receive true That is, there is only one way
of salvation by Jesus Christ. That one way is faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Not faith and the church, not
faith and rituals, not faith and ceremonies, not faith and
works, but faith alone. We are justified freely by the
grace of God through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus, and we
receive that justification by faith alone. That is simply believing
God. Now, there are many false religions,
and there are many false ways of adhering to true religion.
Only one path leads to heaven. but there are a thousand roads
to hell. In the broad road that leads
to destruction, there's plenty of room for numerous dark, dark
alleys in this direction or that. In the straight and narrow way
that leads to heaven, there is no room for any divergence at
all. There is no room for any byway. We all hope for eternal life.
We hope to spend eternity with God in heavenly bliss. That's
our hope. That's what we hope for. But
unless we all have the same religion and have it in the same way,
we shall never arrive at that hope for Eden. You understand
that? There's only one way to God. Only one way. Now tonight, I
want us to probe our hearts. I want to probe your heart and
mine with the word of God and probe our hearts at their most
tender, most sensitive point, at the point at which we are
most likely to put up our strongest defense and our strongest guard.
I want us to examine our religion. I want you and me to honestly
examine our religion. False religion is the greatest,
most powerful deception of the human heart. So let's examine
it. I want to make three statements.
I'm not going to keep you long. But I want to make these three
statements, and I trust that God will drive every word right
to your heart. And then I want to try to answer
a question. First, many people are completely deceived in the
religion. I read once that Karl Marx described
religion as the opiate of the people, and communism, wherever
it has been found in the world, has endeavored to stamp out religion. Because Mr. Marx was exactly
right. Religion is a stupefying drug
by which men and women deaden their consciences and seek to
quieten their fears with regard to God, judgment, and eternity. The idolater has his religion. That's what's discussed here
in this chapter. He bows down at a stump. Maybe he's overlaid
the stump with some silver or some gold, but it's just a stump. And he bows down and worships
his little stump. And he as is exercises of religion. And he's just as sincere as he
can be in the exercise of his religion. But his religion is
a deception. His sincerity is of no profit
to him. His earnestness is of no benefit
to him. We've read in the scriptures
themselves of men who, in the worship of idols, have taken
their own sons and daughters and laid them into the arms,
red-hot arms of a brazen idol, and had their own sons and daughters
consumed upon the altar of a fake god. They're sincere, sincere
as all get-out, but their sincerity is of no benefit to them. The
Papist has his religion, and he's sincere in his religion.
He goes to the priest and says his confessional. He goes to
Mass and goes through his ceremony, and he seeks absolution from
sin by the work of some man. He seeks God through the worship
of Mary and through the adoration of saints and the adoration of
angels, and he's sincere in his work. There's been lots of talk
in the news media and paper and television about, I forgot where
it is now. That's not important. Some place
close by here where folks are expecting the Virgin Mary to
appear at midnight. What is it, Saturday night? Expecting
her to come on Saturday night and perform some great miracle.
Folks are coming from all over the world to see this thing.
Sincere folks, sincere folks, but just as blind as a hot and
taut in Africa. just as utterly without the knowledge
of God as that fellow who worships at some stump in the heart of
a jungle, the scoffer. I don't know that I can give
the word sincerity to scoffers. I don't understand the liberal,
I don't understand the modernist, I don't understand the scoffer
who pretends to be the servant of God and seeks ways to tear
this book apart, who pretends to worship God and seeks every
way under the sun to deny the miraculous, who pretends to be
a follower of God and a servant of God and does everything he
can to explain away the deity and the virgin birth of Christ
and to make those things to be mere superstitions. I read a
review just yesterday. There's a female theologian,
of course, female theologians. I'd rather ask a woman for directions
than ask her for directions to God. Female theologians are just
horrendous to start with. But this gal has written a book
concerning the life of Jesus, and it's going to be published
in England and in the U.S. This gal suggests that the Dead
Sea Scrolls have shed new light on the life of Jesus. And that,
after all, Jesus really was not born of the Virgin Mary. Now,
I'm talking about a theologian. I'm talking about somebody who
claims to worship God, teaches preachers how to study the Scriptures. Jesus, after all, was not really
born of the Virgin Mary, and he didn't really die on the cross. That's all just a myth, according
to this gal. But, actually, he survived the
cross. and married Magdalene and then divorced her and married
someone else and lived for quite some time until he was an old
man over in the area of Jerusalem. She got a lot of problems. For
one thing, the Dead Sea Scrolls were written hundreds of years
before Christ came on this earth. They don't have anything to do
with the life of Christ. For another thing, the word of God
speaks otherwise. And for a third thing, if what
she says is so, then Jesus Christ is the greatest imposter who
ever lived. The scoffer, but he has his religion. And by his
religion he seeks to soothe his conscience and seeks to soothe
the consciences of men simply using religion and the name of
God and philanthropy, good works and good deeds as means by which
he hopes to attain unto everlasting life. The free willer. There are all around the world
men who imagine that by their decision for Jesus, that by an
exercise of their free will, they have somehow wrought the
miraculous work of the new birth in themselves. and that somehow
they have brought God in bondage to them, so that now, because
of their exercise of their free will, God is obliged to give
them grace. And they go on in their religion,
and they're very sincere, very sincere. The legalist, that man
who thinks that by his works, that by his good deeds, mixed
somehow with the grace of God, He is able, after all, to win
God's favor, to arrive at righteousness, to arrive at perfection, and
to enter into heaven on the basis of what he's done for Jesus.
They all are sincere. All of these you know to be deceived. I don't have any question about
that. You who have been instructed in the word of God and in the
gospel of God's grace, You know that the idolater, the papist,
the scoffer, the freewheeler, the legalist, they're deceived
in their religion, you know that. But let me come closer to home. The false professor of true religion
is as much deceived in his religion as the base idolater in the jungles
of Africa, or the slave of papacy bowing down to the Virgin Mary,
the false professor of true religion is as much deceived in his religion
as anyone else. As much as I hate to face the
reality of it, I know, I don't have any question that I'm talking
to some right here tonight. I don't have any question about
that, none at all. I have no idea who you are, and
you may be totally ignorant of your condition. That's what happens
when somebody's deceived, totally ignorant. Only God knows who
you are, and I pray that tonight he will strip away your mask
of hypocrisy and bathe your soul in the blood of Christ. You will
never find a church on this earth where there is not a Judas, a
Demas, or a Diotrephes. Wherever the Lord Jesus has his
sheep, Satan has his goats. Wherever he sows his wheat, Satan
sows his tares. That's always been the case.
It is still the case now. I recognize that if you're here,
and you are a part of this congregation, you're orthodox in your doctrine.
That just goes without saying. Your doctrine's right. There's
no question about that. Everybody here believes the gospel
of God's free grace. I presume you do. I hear no complaint
concerning it. You believe in the accomplished
redemption of Christ and God's effectual grace. You believe
this book to be the word of God. Your doctrine is orthodox. But
you're as dead and lifeless without spiritual life as a dog out there
in the parking lot or a cow out there in the fields, utterly
without life to God. Religious? Dead. You've been
baptized in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit, but you've never been baptized by Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, into the Spirit of life and grace. You'll come
here tonight and we'll eat this bread and drink this wine. We'll
do it every week. And though you eat the bread
and drink the wine, you never feed on the Son of God. You've
never drunk from his blood and eaten of his flesh. You've never
tasted of his grace. You've never experienced that
thing that he describes in the most intimate, personal way of
communion and fellowship with Jesus Christ, the living God. Your religion is true in the
letter, but false in the spirit. Your religion is true, but you're
false. False to the core and utterly
deceived. Our Lord Jesus speaks of folks
in the last day, in the great day of judgment, and he says
that many, many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have
we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have done many
wonderful works? And in thy name have cast out
devils? And in thy name have done all
these things? Then will I say unto you, I never
knew you. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity." You see, Satan doesn't care how
religious you are. He doesn't care how devoted I
am to this church or how devoted I am to the message of grace
or how devoted I am to the cause in which I thoroughly believe.
He doesn't give a flip about our devotion. He doesn't give
a flip about our religion. Satan's only concern is to keep
you and keep me from Jesus Christ. That's all. That's all. He's
perfectly happy for you to go to hell in the church just as
if you went to hell from the prison house. Perfectly happy.
Secondly, he said, Pastor, I don't know whether
you're talking about me or not. I've had some questions about
my religion and my relationship with Christ. Well, you listen
to the second statement. If your religion is false, if
your religion is false, if my religion is false, it will be
unsatisfactory. to our souls. False religion
can never satisfy the soul of a man. Can't do it. I do not
say that it won't deceive you. I do not say that you will not
be content with your religion. But I do say that it will prove
unsatisfactory to your soul. He whose religion is false is
described in these words, he feedeth on ashes. He feedeth
on ashes. Now I can't imagine anybody eating
ashes, but to eat ashes is to eat that which has no substance,
which has no strength, which has no value, which gives no
satisfaction to the cravings of your body that can do nothing
for you. And the man who feeds his soul
upon false religion, the woman who feeds her soul on false religion,
finds that her religion, his religion, is utterly without
any substance, and gives no satisfaction to his soul. The idolater bows
down to that stump. And I've already told you, he's
sincere. But I'm just as confident as
I can be that it's impossible for that fellow to bow down to
that stump with satisfaction in his soul. He bows down and
worships his God, but while he worships his God and goes about
his ceremonies to his God, whether he's making a trip to some shrine
in India, or whether he's making a trip to some shrine in Japan,
or whether he's making a trip to some shrine in America, or
whether he's making a trip out to a grove out in the woods.
He bows down and worships his little God, a God that he made
with his own hands, a God that he cut down out of woods, a God
that he has to go in after a tornado and pick it up and rebuild a
stand so it sits fine in its place. a God that he carries
about from place to place, and as he looks at that God and tries
to face the reality of life and death and judgment and eternity,
I'm certain the idolater gets up from his little religious
ritual and walks to his home with terror in his soul, realizing,
my God can't do anything for me. He's never done anything
for me. The patrist goes to the priest,
he goes to the confessional, he goes to mass, he goes through
the ceremonies, and he gives his little tip to God, and he
goes through the various forms of liturgy. And when all is said
and done, I don't have any question. I don't have any question. the
faithless has got to say in his heart, surely there's more to
faith than this. Surely there's more to life from
God than this. Surely there's more than this
to what we consider to be eternal life. Surely there's more. In our refined, educated, western,
civilized society, hatelessly hides itself under a mask of
decency. Down in Mexico, Brazil, and these
other places, things are different. I went to visit Brother Walter
Gruber the first time I was in Mexico, and it happened to be
on one of their holy days. On the holy days, these cathedrals
are packed. They're jam-packed. We went into
this place, they had to They rolled out there was a statue
of Mary, she's about 14 feet high, overlaid with gold. Had
to keep her in a cage to keep folks from stealing her. But
they rolled her out and had eight or nine priests along through
here, and folks crawling on their knees, drop a little money in
the box and crawl on their knees to get a wafer from a priest
and drink a wine out of that cup and have him absolve them
of their sins. And I can't imagine that man
crawling on his knees And going back then to his seat, going
back to his seat with comfort and satisfaction that his sins
are indeed absolved. Surely there's got to be more
to the absolution of sin than the words of a man spoken over
me in some language I don't even understand. The scoffer, he can
talk all he wants to about his religion. His religion gives
him no peace, none at all. I read the other day about a
sculptor who was quite infamous more than a hundred years ago
by the name of Boney, an atheist he said he was. One day he got
on a ship, headed across the waters with a whole load of books
on atheism, denying the gospel of God's grace and denying the
being of God and of Christ and of the spirit of God. with which
he hoped to permeate the minds of men with darkness. And they
got out on the sea a ways, and they got into a storm. Things
are a little different in a storm. They got into a storm and the
ship was tossed to and fro, and they thought surely the ship
was going down, and this Volney, this scoffer, this man who boasted
of being such an atheist, he fell on his knees and he cried,
God, be merciful to me for Jesus' sake. Remind you of anything
in recent news? Everybody prays when they get
in a storm. Everybody gets religious when they get in trouble. Everybody
does. Oh, that's so spiritual. We had a prayer. Everybody does. When he finally got through the
storm, landed on the shores, across the water, he went right
back to his practice of scoffing and atheism, passing out his
literature. But his religion proved itself
false in the midst of difficulty. The free willer has no peace. He has no peace. Man says, I've made my peace
with God, but I don't have any peace. Most folks have. Most folks have. The legalist,
he looks at his works, and he may brag about them, and he may
talk about doing good deeds, and he may talk about winning
God's favor, and he may talk about grace depending on him,
but when all's said and done, he lays his head down at night
in the midst of difficulty and trial, he has no peace. because
he knows his works will never measure up to the holy character
of a holy God. I know whereof I speak. Nothing
can quieten the guilty conscience or give the soul solid peace
except the gospel of Jesus Christ and real faith in him. Nothing
else can do it. If there were any other cure
for man's plague except the blood of Christ applied to the heart,
then surely Christ need not have died. Many of us here tried to
find peace elsewhere, but none could be found. And the tormenting of my conscience I tried to drown the accusations
in my conscience with every form of licentiousness I could think
possibly to get by with. But I found no drug, and I found
no engagement sufficient to quieten the crying guilt of my soul.
Found none. When that didn't work, I tried
my best to perform what legal works I could. I tried to straighten
up my life, and tried to start doing right, and quit this, quit
that, and start going to church, and start getting involved in
church, and getting involved in religion, and I did it! But
still, there was no quietness for my conscience, no peace in
my soul. Even tried religious profession,
that didn't work. I was like the dove that Noah let
out of the ark. I found no place of rest for
the sole of my foot until I came to Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
and found rest in Him. There's no other place. Rest
is the test. That's the test. Turn to Jeremiah
chapter 6. Jeremiah chapter 6. I want to
tell you where the test of religion is. You bring your religion here.
And I guarantee you, before you walk out that door tonight, you're
going to find out whether or not your religion's true. Does your religion give you rest? Or is your religion like feeding
your soul on ashes? Look in Jeremiah 6 and verse
16. Thus saith the Lord, stand ye
in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, Anything new,
you better be scared of it. Ask for the old paths. Where
is the good way? And walk therein. And ye shall
find rest for your souls. Free willism. Go ahead and feed
on it if you want to, it's just ashes. Free willism, that's going
to give you nothing. All but free grace. If salvation
depends on my free will, my free will is in bondage to my sin
and my nature of sin and corruption. But all salvation by God's free
grace freely bestowed upon helpless sinners has rest. Has rest. Legal works, just ashes. Just ashes. You think you're
good? Think your works are good? Come
on now. You really think so? You lay
down on your bed tonight and try to go to sleep with some
hope in your works. Go ahead. Try to go to sleep
with the prospect of facing God in judgment and offering God
your good deeds. Go ahead and give it a shot.
You think your religious works are good? You might be pretty good in my
eyes, and you might be pretty good in the eyes of men, We measure
ourselves with skunks, and one skunk looks about as good as
another skunk. We're talking about measuring ourselves before
God. Before God Almighty. And you think your work's going
to give you some peace? Our righteousnesses, what are
they? They're filthy rags. They're
just filthy rags. Oh, but imputed righteousness. the imputed righteousness of
God's dear Son to my soul by God's free grace wherein I stand
at rest." Do you have righteousness? Oh yeah, but not mine. It's all
his. It's all his. Ritualism? Just ashes. You can
go to church and be baptized and eat the bread and wine at
the Lord's table and get involved in religious activity all you
want to and it'll just carry your soul to hell. It'll give
you no rest. What have you ever done worthy of God? How on earth
are you going to bring God into bondage to you by something you
do? Oh, but redemption. Free blood atonement. Redemption
by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. The satisfying of divine
justice for my sins by the sacrifice of God's darling Son. That's
rest. Hypocrisy is ashes. Late is rest. Look in Matthew chapter 11, Matthew
the 11th chapter. I'm telling you, rest is the
test. Rest is the test. The Lord Jesus says, come unto
me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you
rest. Rest. Merle, I don't know anything
on this earth sweeter than rest. Rest. Rest for the laboring man
is sweet. Rest for the man weary of sin,
laboring under the gloat of a guilty conscience. Oh, where can I find
rest? Come to Christ, he says, I'll
give you rest. That's the rest of faith. You come to him, Believe
him, trust him, hide in him, take refuge in him, you find
rest for your soul. It's a submission to Jesus Christ
the Lord. I never saw an ox in my life
crawl into an oak, or a yoke, excuse me. But our Lord's talking about
people, and he's talking about sheep, and he's telling you and
me, You just go ahead and bow down and put your neck in my
yoke. That's the only way you're going
to find any rest. The only way you're going to find it. Time is going to come. Saddam
Hussein is going to take your husband. He's going to take my
wife or take us. Time is going to come. What are
you going to do? Take my yoke upon you. Learn
of me. You'll find rest. I promise you,
you'll find rest there. You won't find it anywhere else.
Nowhere else. Have trouble and difficulty.
Heartache and trials. And men face them one of two
ways. They either go stark raving mad or they just say, well, that's
life, and they go on. And neither of them have any
rest. Oh, but the child of God. he bows to the yoke of divine
providence and finds rest. Our Savior says, for my yoke
is easy and my burden is light. Thirdly, only a deceived heart will allow
you to be content with an unsatisfactory religion that gives you no real
peace. Did you get that? Only a deceived
heart will allow you to be content with an unsatisfactory religion
that gives you no peace. Let me make a recommendation
to you. If the religion you have gives
you no peace, get rid of it. Get rid of it. Don't hold on
to it. Our Lord says back here in our
text, in Isaiah 44, a deceived heart hath turned him aside. And as a result of this, he cannot
deliver his soul, nor say, is there not a lie in my right hand? That is because his heart is
deceived with his religion, he never questions it. If ever once
you honestly question your religion, if it is false, The question
would be fatal. But you won't question it. You
dare not question it. That'll never happen unless God
himself causes you to question it. Well, let's dare. Let's dare. Let's question our religion.
Come on. Question it. You and me. I want us to question our religion
now. If there's a A lie in my right
hand, I want to know it, don't you? I don't want to wait until
Judgment Day to find out. I want to know, is there a lie
in my right hand? Is that religion which I have
sworn allegiance to by the name of God, is it a lie or is it
true? I want to know. What does my conscience require? What would it take? to give you
peace, to stand before God right now. What would it take? I mean so
that you can fold your arms and close your eyes and breathe out
your last breath and go to meet God in peace. What does your
conscience require? It requires righteousness, absolute
righteousness and total satisfaction. Nothing else will do. Nothing
else will do. I've got to meet God. And if all I've got are these
rags of religion, pretty as they are to me, they're
going to take me to hell. That's just reality. God demands
that I be perfectly righteous. and that justice be satisfied
for my sin. What does God's law require?
It must be perfect to be accepted. Read it in Leviticus. Perfect.
No, God won't accept sincerity. You know he won't accept sincerity.
God won't accept the best you can do. You know God won't accept
the best you can do. God in his law demands righteousness
and satisfaction. What does a holy God require
of man? Righteousness and satisfaction. But what do you have to offer? The patron says, I've got a candle.
I burned it. I kissed the Pope's toe one time.
I said my Hail Mary's. The scoffer says, I've got my
good works. I fed the poor. I visited the sick. The free
will says, I've got my decision. I went down one day when the
altar call was made and I made my decision for Jesus. The legalist
says, I've got my good works. I've walked according to the
law of God all my life. Well, this is what I've got to
offer God by faith in Christ. Righteousness. and satisfaction. That's right. Righteousness and
satisfaction. For He, the God of glory, hath
made Him, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to be sin for
us, who knew no sin. There's the satisfaction of by
a marvelous transfer of grace, God Almighty laid our iniquities
on his beloved Son, and exacted from him the penalty due to our
sins, that we might be made, listen to it, the righteousness
of God in Jesus Christ. I want to know the answer to
this question. I've raised it, and I cannot
rest until it's answered. Is my religion true, or is it
false? I know. I know beyond a shadow
of a doubt. I know without the least shade
of question. that my religion is doctrinally
true. I know that. I don't have any
question about that. Either God is totally sovereign
or he's not God. I can't fathom anybody being
deceived with the notion that somehow there's something in
this world beyond God's control. I can't fathom that. If there's
something in this world beyond God's control, there is no God.
There just is no God. of God who has not power over
everything, who does not rule everything. He's not God. May
as well worship a stump. Just well worship a stump. I
know that God's sovereign. Either man is totally depraved,
which means he absolutely has no merit before God. and can do nothing by which to
change his condition, or there's nothing wrong with it, one of
the two. Either God chose the people in Christ and determined
to save them before the world began, or he didn't choose anybody.
Either the Lord Jesus Christ has effectually redeemed his
people, or he hasn't redeemed them, and nobody's redeemed.
Either the Spirit of God, by irresistible power and irresistible
grace, gives life to dead sinners, or He is no Redeemer and Savior
at all. Either God's saints will all
persevere, or none of them will persevere. What I'm saying is
this. Either salvation is of the Lord,
or it's altogether the work of man, and if it's the work of
man, we're all going to hell. That's all there is to it. Doctrinally,
my religion's true. But is my profession of faith
in Christ true or false? Am I or am I not a child of God? You see, there is a true faith,
and there is a false faith. In John chapter 2, after our
Lord had performed that notable miracle at Cana of Galilee, Many
believed on him, but he didn't commit himself to them, for he
knew what was in them. Verse 25. They had faith, but
it was false faith. They professed to be his followers,
but he knew who they were and what they were. In John chapter
6, when our Lord got through preaching a powerful searching
sermon, many of his disciples from that time went back and
walked no more with him, because they never knew him. They never
knew it, they had faith, but it was a false faith. The devils
have faith. James says they believe in Tremble.
And I'm going to tell you something, the devils believe just what
I've been talking about doctrinally. Their faith is orthodox, but
their faith is false. What kind of faith do I have?
Well, you listen to this. Listen carefully. If my religion is true, If my
faith is true, number one, I trust Jesus Christ alone as my all-sufficient
Savior. I trust Christ alone. I find nothing in myself, nothing
done by me, nothing experienced by me upon which to build any
hope before God. I trust Christ alone. He is my
only wisdom. my only righteousness, my only
sanctification, my only redemption. Number two, if my religion is
true, I am a man with a broken and contrite
heart before God because of my sin. Most people talk about brokenness.
It isn't affected a pretended brokenness, a show of brokenness,
a show of contrition. I'm not interested in the show.
God sees right through it and most people can see through it. But if my religion is true, if
it's true, before God, I know what I am and who I am. And my heart aches for it. A
broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." If my
religion is true, I'm a man at war with himself. I'm not just content to say,
well, I have a sinful nature. I hate it. I abhor myself, and
I fight against If my religion is true, I'm at war with myself. Fourthly, if my religion is true, I'm a man of prayer. When they talked about Saul of
Tarsus being converted, what did they say about it? Behold,
he prayed. And what do I mean by being a
man of prayer? Does that mean that you get up at 4 a.m. and set your clock and you pray
till 5 a.m. every morning? No. That's all
right. I'm not belittling that. That's
all right. But you can do that and not be a man of prayer. The Mohammedans bow toward Mecca
three times a day. Never miss. Faithful Mohammedan
always bows toward Mecca three times a day. Every day. Never
misses a day. But that doesn't make him a man of prayer. A man
of prayer, a woman of prayer, is somebody who believes God
and calls upon God continually. Believes God and calls upon God
continually. Prayer for the believer is not a religious exercise.
Prayer for the deliverer is the breath of life. Understand the
difference? When I had surgery, they cut
me open and I had a hard time breathing. They kept me on a
machine, kept things working for a while, and they took it
off. And they wanted to get me where I breathed. They gave me
one of these little hundred-dollar plastic boxes with a ball in
it, you blow Go on that thing, inhale and exhale, inhale and
exhale. You practice it. You practice it so you get everything
working properly again. The believer doesn't practice
prayer. He prays. He just prays. He walks before God with faith,
constantly calling on his God. Fifthly, If I am a man who has
true faith, whose religion is true, then I am a man who bows
to the rule and dominion of Christ. Eli was such a man. Eli had his
faults, no question about that. I can fit in that. But when Samuel told Eli, God's
going to kill your two boys and it's your fault, Eli didn't get
mad at the prophet, he didn't get mad at God. He said, it's
the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good. Simply bow to God's
will and God's revelation. Sixthly, if I am a man whose
religion is true, then I am a man who loves Jesus Christ and loves
his people. If I have not in my faith is
vain. If any man love not the Lord
Jesus Christ, let him be anathema, maranatha, let him be damned,
the Lord's coming. He that loveth not knoweth not
God, for God is love. If any man love not his brother
whom he hath How can they love God when he's not seen? By this shall all men know that
you're my disciples, if you have love one for another. And this last thing, turn over
to Matthew chapter 6, this last thing is just an outflow of all
the rest. If my religion is true, if my
faith is true, I am a man who forgives wrongs
done to me." God's people are a forgiving
people. Our Lord said in Matthew 6, 14,
if you forgive me in their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also
forgive you. Now that doesn't mean God's going
to make a bargain with you, you forgive and I'll forgive. That
means if you've experienced God's forgiveness, you will forgive
others. And if you don't forgive others,
you've never experienced God's forgiveness. But if you forgive
not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your
trespasses. I have a hymn by John Newton
I carry around in my Bible all the time. I've got it memorized
pretty well, but I figure one of these days my memory is going
to start slipping, so I keep it with me all the time. It expresses what I've been talking
about. Tis a point I long to know. Oft
it causes anxious thought. Do I love the Lord or no? Am
I his or am I not? If I love, why am I thus? Why this dull, this lifeless
frame? Hardly sure can they be worse
who have never heard his name. Could my heart so hard remain,
prayer a task and burden prove? Every trifle give me pain if
I knew a Savior's love. When I turn my eyes within, all
is dark and vain and wild, filled with unbelief and sin, Can I
deem myself God's child? If I pray or hear or read, sin
is mixed with all I do. O you that love the Lord indeed,
tell me, is it thus with you? Yet I mourn my stubborn will,
find my sin a grief and thrall. Should I grieve for what I feel? if I did not love at all? Could
I joy God's saints to meet, choose the ways I once abhorred, find
at time his promise sweet, if I did not love the Lord? Lord,
decide the doubtful case. Thou who art thy people's son,
shine upon thy work of grace, if it be indeed begun. Let me love thee more and more. If I love it all, I pray. If
I have not loved before, help me to begin today. Let me send you home with this.
This much I know. This much I can say with certainty. I have absolutely no hope of
acceptance with God except Jesus. That's all. His blood and his
righteousness. I have no other hope. I seek no comfort, no consolation,
no assurance anywhere else. He is my hope. And the faith
and hope that I have in Christ compel me to pursue these three
great goals. I know I can't attain them while
I live on this earth, but pursue them I must. I can't be satisfied,
Bobby, until I have arrived at these three things. I've got
to have these. These things I must have. Total commitment. total commitment
to Jesus Christ. This is my prayer. My God, take from me anything that keeps
me from commitment. Anything. Anything. Let me hold
nothing dearer than I hold Secondly, total communion with
Christ. Constantly see his face and constantly
hear his voice and constantly walk with him. And thirdly, total conformity
to Christ. Oh, to be as he is. Let me conclude our message tonight, as I began our service this evening,
with this prayer. Search me, and know my heart. Try me and
know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked
way in me. See if I am in the way of the
wicked and lead me in the way. Amen.