I want to read to you the first
six verses, the first six verses here of James chapter 4. From whence come wars and fighting
among you? Come they not hence, even of
your lusts, that war in your members? Ye lust and have not,
ye kill and desire to have, and cannot obtain. Ye fight and war,
yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask and receive not,
because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lust.
Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship
of the world is enmity with God, Whosoever therefore will be a
friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do you think that the
scripture saith in vain, the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth
to envy? But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth
the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. I want to speak primarily
this morning upon verse 5 and the first phrase of verse 6. This is a very interesting portion
of the Word of God, and I believe that in our time that it's especially
needful that we understand this verse of Scripture. Do you think,
do you think that the scripture saith in vain, the spirit that
dwelleth in us lusteth to envy, but he giveth more grace, but
he giveth more grace. Now as we read these verses in
the context, these verses that come before these ones that we've
selected this morning for a text, We find that there's a great
deal of problems that are in the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ because of the lust that wore in the members of the people
of God. Now this may sound rather strange
because we sometimes get the idea from many of the religions
of our day that those who profess faith in Christ, those who have
the Spirit of God dwelling in them, that they have no sin,
that they do not commit any sin, that they're free from all imperfection
and those things that would, as we might say, would identify
them even with the world of the ungodly. But we know that every
child of God has within him that old Adamic nature which he was
born and came into this world. And all these lusts here he talks
about that are warring in our members, that's that old nature
that we were born with when we came into the world. And he said,
ye lust in verse 2, and ye have not, and ye kill, and ye desire
to have, and ye cannot obtain, ye fight and ye war, yet ye have
not because ye ask not. You do not ask in faith with
a single heart toward the Lord, and you do not desire the glory
of God and the honor of God, you're seeking that which would
be, what we might say, would be a blessing to the old nature,
that which would comfort the old nature, or that which would
enable the old man in you to go on in his way, which is contrary
to the will and mind of God. Then he goes on to say here in
verse 4, he said, Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not
that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever
therefore will be a friend to the world is the enemy of God. So we see the statements here
made by the Apostle James and we understand that there's a
great deal of conflict and trouble in the hearts and lives of God's
people. Many are being tested by the sin that dwells in them. Many are being greatly tested
by all of the problems that are falling out to them as they live
in this world and they hardly know what the answer is and many
are confused and many don't really know what's going on anyway,
just what's happening to me, that I have all of these desires
that are contrary to God and to His Word, even though I really
believe in my heart that God has singled me out, that God
in old eternity has set His love and affection upon me, and that
in time, irresistibly by His grace, has called me unto Himself. Why am I having all of this turmoil,
all of this conflict? Why do I have a desire in my
very nature to reach out, as it were, on one hand to the world,
yet I can't really enjoy myself over there? And then with the
other hand, I want to reach toward God. I want to be godly. Why do I seem to want to live
a double life? And there's many that are, I
believe today, running into a considerable amount of struggle with this. And I hope this morning to be
able, if I can, to answer some of the questions maybe that's
in your mind. Now then, in verse 5, we get
to the text. Do you think that the scripture
saith in vain? Do you think that the Scripture
saith in vain? You that are having these struggles,
you that know something about what James is talking about here
in these verses, do you think that the Scripture is ignorant
and blind? Do you think that the God that
inspired the writers of Scripture to write the Scripture, do you
think that he doesn't know about the true state of affairs? That
he doesn't know what's going on in the hearts and the lives
of these people? Do you think that the Scripture
is empty, that the truths of Scripture, that they really contain
no real message of truth? Do you think that the Scripture
saith in vain, the Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? Well, beloved, now what James
is talking about here, he's talking about the old Adamic nature,
he's talking about that spirit with which we were born that
remains in us, that dwells in us. And he said, do you think
that the scripture saith in vain that the spirit that dwelleth
in us lusteth to envy? Now, beloved, it's no wonder
that we have the problems that we have. Now, we're relatively
free here from a whole lot of the problems that many churches
have. But yet, we have this same spirit
in us and it can break out here or there. This lustful spirit,
this desire toward things that are forbidden in the Word of
God. And we can have this desire for
things that affect our prayer lives and keeps us from being
able to go before God with a heart that is true to Him and a heart
that would would call out unto God for that which would be to
his honor and his glory and his praise. And then there's in all
of us at times we feel that we're somewhat at enmity with God because
we have some, well we just kind of like it here in this world
and maybe we're a little bit too friendly with the world. That we're friends with the world
more than we ought to be and we feel condemned about this.
Well, beloved, that's exactly why the Scripture says what it
does about the old nature of man. It's because this is true. This is a very true feeling,
and it's something that every child of God experiences. in
their walk here, in their pilgrimage in this world. But now mark it
down that the universal testimony of Holy Scripture regarding the
nature of all men is this, that the Spirit that dwelleth in us
that it lusteth to envy. That's the universal testimony
of all the Word of God. And you need not single out just
one verse of Scripture, but there are many. Now, beloved, between
the covers of the Bible There is not a single honorable, dignifying
word about the nature of fallen man. There is not, let me say
it again, between the covers of the Bible, there is not one
single honorable, dignifying word about the nature of fallen
man. The Word of God declares that
man by nature is a fallen, depraved creature and he's filled with
and he's ruled by envy and lust. The very spirit of humanity,
if you please, is lust and envy. It is not capable of anything
else. Before the flood, the Word of
God says in Genesis chapter 6 and verse 5, and God saw that the
wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And after the flood in Genesis
chapter 8 and verse 21, the Bible says again, and the Lord smelled
a sweet savor, and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again
curse the ground anymore for man's sake. For the imagination
of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I again smite
anymore every living thing as I've done. And David said in
Psalm 51 and 5, Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin
did my mother conceive me. And in Psalm 58 and 3, again
he said, The wicked are estranged from the womb. They go astray
as soon as they be born. speaking lies. And Proverbs 21
and 10 says, the soul of the wicked desireth evil. And Jeremiah 13 and 23, can the
Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then may
ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil." And then again in
Jeremiah 17 and 9, the heart is deceitful above all things
and desperately, incurably wicked. Who can know it? Now beloved,
the history of man, as it's recorded both in the Word of God and in
historical works, as well as that which is reported in the
daily media, is a history of depravity, envy, and lust. None can deny that statement. It is a true statement. We all
come from bad seed, and furthermore, we all produce bad seed. I mean all of our children. It's
too bad, but they're just like us. They come into this world
and they come forth out of their mother's womb speaking lies.
They come forth with this spirit that lusteth to envy, that draws
out, that there's a desire in men toward that. And the word
envy here has reference to all sin known unto man. And so there's
that desire in men by nature and birth because of bad seed. There's that desire that, as
it were, that draws men out unto all manner of sin. Now, beloved,
listen, the source and cause of all sickness The source and
cause of all heartache and all sorrow and pain and suffering
and death in the world is S-I-N. It's sin, and the source of all
sin is the depraved nature and the heart of man. Now man's problem,
beloved, and let the people around us, let those that are in high
positions of government say what they will and the educators and
the philosophers of the world say what they want to, but man's
problem is not his environment, it's his heart. It's the fact
that he was born bad. That's his problem. He was born
in sin. Now if you'll turn with me to
the Gospel of Matthew chapter 15, I'd like just to show you
here a couple of verses of Scripture to substantiate that which I'm
telling you here this morning. Here, look at verse 11 in Matthew
15. The Lord Jesus had just said,
hear and understand in the last part of verse 10, Matthew 15
and 10, and then in verse 11, not that which goeth into the
mouth defileth a man, but that which cometh out of the mouth,
this defileth a man. Now then, look up to verse 18.
in the same chapter, and he explains that. But those things which
proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they
defile the man. For out of the heart proceed
evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witnesses,
and blasphemies. These are the things which defile
a man. but he with unwashing hands defileth
not a man." So beloved, our problem is not the way that we were raised.
The problem is not the environment that we grew up in. The problem
is that we have bad hearts. Now beloved, let me go on here
and it is to be said that even the lives of God's saints as
recorded in Holy Scripture is a history of depravity, of envy,
and lust. Listen to me carefully. There's
not a single man or woman mentioned in the Bible, though loved of
God, saved by God, and used by God, but what something is recorded
to show us that the spirit that dwelt in them lusted to envy. Now, Noah built an ark but he
also fell in a drunken stupor. He did indeed. Now Abraham had
Isaac, a child of faith, but he also had Ishmael, a child
of unbelief and rebellion. Moses led Israel through the
wilderness, but he also smoked the rock, which was a type of
the Lord Jesus Christ, twice in anger, and he ought not to
have smitten that rock. David loved God, but he murdered
Uriah and he stole his wife. Peter confessed Jesus Christ,
but he also denied the Lord Jesus. The apostles all followed Christ,
but every one of them forsook Christ too. They all abandoned
him and left him. Paul served his Lord zealously
and enthusiastically, but he also had a calling out with Barnabas
over John Mark and the ministry, if you remember. But the most
vivid, listen to me now, we'll get down home here to where we
live, but the most vivid demonstration of man's depravity is every believer's
painful awareness of his own sin. Every believer here is vexed
with and has this problem of inward depravity that they must
deal with every day of their life. A great struggle and warfare
and we know very little about maybe what's going on with brother
so-and-so, sister so-and-so, but we know something about what's
going on in us. We know something about this
painful awareness of depravity, this spirit that dwells in us
that lusteth to envy, that lusteth after every kind of sin that
there is in the world. Now turn with me, if you will,
to the book of Romans, and here we have clear testimony, the
seventh chapter of the book of Romans. We have clear testimony
here of the Apostle Paul and of the great conflict that he
had with this very problem that we're talking about today. And
he made this statement in verse 14. He says, For we know that
the law is spiritual, but I am carnal. But I am carnal, sold
under sin. And that is the condition of
every child of God in this world, even though they have been through
the blood. Even though the Spirit of redeeming
grace has come down and indwelt their souls, even though they
have been lifted up from the quagmire of sin and been set
on the solid rock Jesus Christ, they're still fleshly. they're
still sold under sin. Now then we get on down to verse
18 and look at it and you know most of you are probably familiar
with these verses but this is the testimony not of some fly-by-night
evangelist this is the testimony of Paul the Apostle This is the
testimony of that man who was struck down on the road to Damascus
by the blinding spirit of God and was converted marvelously
into the kingdom of God. And here's a man that was a great
messenger of God to the Gentile world. And this man is not a
novice in the faith. This man knows something about
wherever he speaks. And in verse 18 he says, for
I know that in me, that is in my flesh, there dwelleth no good
thing. For to will is present with me. I got that old will with me. It's present with me. I want
to do what's right, but how to perform that which is good, I
find not. I find not. He says I don't have
the capability in me. Now listen to me. Though redeemed
by blood and saved by the grace of God and born of God, every
regenerate person in this world constantly struggles with his
own sinful nature. Now we know by daily painful
experience that the testimony of this text is true that we've
been studying and looking at this morning that the spirit
that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy. Now all who are born of
God, let me say this, that all who are born of God love the
law of God. They love the holy law. They
do. And there is nothing that is
revealed or required in the law but that which we wholeheartedly
approve of. There isn't anybody here that
would want God to change his holy law and say I'd like for
you to delete this, add something else, but I just don't like the
law. Now listen, our hearts are in
complete agreement And we who are believers would not have
God to change any part of His law. But we have, and we must
admit, because of the pure and plain teaching of the Word of
God, we have no ability to obey the Law of God. We have no spiritual
ability in and of ourself, in our flesh, to obey the Holy Law
of God. We are carnal. We are fleshly,
and Paul makes that statement clear here in verse 14. Because sin dwells within us,
we recognize that personal obedience to the law of God is utterly
impossible as far as you and I are concerned, because the
Spirit, do you think the Scripture saith in vain that the Spirit
that dwelleth in you lusteth to envy? No, it does not say
it in vain. It's a true statement. And the
very best works that we can perform are all tainted and corrupted
by the indwelling sin that is within us, Isaiah 64 and 6. says
that all of our righteousness are as filthy rags in his sight. A man with a sinful heart can
no more perform works of legal righteousness than a man whose
hands are covered with black axle grease can wipe dirt off
the white tablecloth. My friend, we're not able in
and of ourselves to do that which would establish a legal righteousness
before God Almighty. Now my friend, I speak for all
here this morning who love the Lord our God, that we desire,
every one of us desire this morning to have every affection of our
hearts regulated by love for the Lord Jesus Christ. We desire
to have the affections of our hearts. We desire to have our
whole lives regulated by love toward Him who went to Calvary
and suffered and died in our womb and stayed in place. We
want to love Him and thus live for Him. and for His glory, but
we know in reality, and this is one of the things we must
face. My friend, you'll never be able to deal with the struggles
that you have in your life and the conflicts that you have with
your old flesh and your old flesh nature by sticking your head
in the sand or by ignoring the truth of Holy Scripture about
this. You cannot ignore it. You must
face the truth of it. And if you face the truth of
it, then you will find that God has made provisions in his word
for it, and that God will sustain you. He is able to sustain his
people in this pilgrimage. Now listen to me, my friend.
Listen to me. We desire to worship God without
a rival. But alas, We also all have our
idols, do we not? We all have our idols. Beloved, beware of idols. Now listen to me, we desire to
honor the name of God in all things, but strictly speaking,
we very seldom honor the name of God in anything. We desire to rest in God's providence
and grace and never question his wisdom and power and his
goodness. But we don't do that. We don't
always do that. We murmur and we complain and
we many, many times find ourselves in a very stressful condition
because we just somehow or other just can't rest ourselves in
God's providence and even our faith is defiled with unbelief. I'm talking about the people
of God, the spirit that dwelleth in you. The scripture does not
say in vain, it lusteth to every sin. Now, listen to me now. But we do not, I say, do as we
ought to do. We are not as we ought to be.
Now listen, we desire to give honor to all God's ordained authority,
but we don't do it. We don't do it, we're constantly
finding fault with this and that that's going on in God's world
that he's running, and we just find fault with it, but God's
on the throne. We desire to always respect human
life, but we are often full of anger, and before the law, committing
murder. before the law. We desire to
honor God with our physical passions, but we're often filled with lust,
committing before the law, breaking the spiritual intent of the law,
we're often committing adultery. Now we desire to honor the property
rights of others, but we often steal. both by deed and by faults
of covetousness. Who is there here in this place
this morning who have never taken or never kept or wanted that
which was not his own? Is there anybody here this morning
that can say I'm free from covetousness? I've never had any covetousness
in me. Well, we desire to be truthful
in all things, but we're often deceptive, are we not? And frequently,
We just plain lie. I'm just talking about all of
us. I'm not leaving out any of you because the Spirit, the Scripture
doesn't say in vain, the Spirit that dwelleth in us lest it be. It don't say it in vain. It's
a true statement. And we have to face up to the
truth of this statement. Now we desire to be content with
God's providence, but we usually are covetous and we usually are
not content. We just are not. We're just not
happy. We ought to be, but we're not.
Now even our most devoted and our most spiritual and most consecrated
times of worship and prayer and meditation and praise are in
and of themselves nothing but corruption and sin. And you know,
we got these religionists running around here thinks they're doing
something, you know, really thinks they're somebody. And we have
these great meetings and we get together and we're just as religious
as all get out. Well, I'll tell you this. Most
of it's obnoxious to hell, and it's obnoxious in the nostrils
of a thrice holy God, because God knows where those people
have been. He knows what they are. He knows
exactly what their attitudes have been, what kind of business
they conduct. He knows all about them. And
I'll tell you this, I wouldn't give you a dime for all of that
merit which men supposedly have that they have heaped up and
built up by their little religion. My friend, there is only one
righteousness that will prevail with a thrice holy God, and that's
his own righteousness, which is the righteousness of Jesus
Christ, which he imputes to the account of all humble, pleading
souls who have come to the end of themselves. My friend, you
can have all the garments in the world upon you, and the best
tailor in the world, but he won't suit you up in a garment that
the God of the Bible will accept you in. You must be suited up
in the garments of salvation, and that garment of salvation
is the righteous robe of the Lord Jesus Christ woven from
top to bottom without any sin. Without any sin or imperfection. Praise God, there is such a road. Now then, in the believer's heart
there is a constant warfare and struggle between the flesh and
the spirit. The spirit of God rules and the
spirit of God dominates, but the flesh never surrenders. Never surrenders. Won't give
up the fight. Now in the light of these facts,
which are constantly being reinforced by our daily experience, somebody
says, where's there any hope? Where's there any hope for the
lives of a person like me that's got all this struggling, all
this problem, down and cast down and up and down and up and down,
where's there any hope for a person like me? I want you to turn back
to James chapter 4 and look in verse 6, the first phrase there,
and here's the answer, but he giveth more grace. But he giveth
more grace. He's not going to leave you without
some help and support and some comfort. He's not going to leave
you. He said, he giveth more grace. Thank God for his grace.
Thank God he does not deal with us according to our merit or
reward us according to our goodness. But like as a father pitieth
his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth
our frame. He remembereth that we are dust. Psalm 103, 13 and 14. He knows
what we are. And He knows exactly what we
are. Now, though the Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy,
He giveth more grace. This Spirit that dwells in us
causing Godless strife where peace ought to be, and causing
selfishness in our prayers, and bringing us to the place where
we have an undue attachment maybe to the world, yet He giveth more
grace. He giveth more grace. Grace is
the gift of God to sinners who deserve His wrath. That's what
it is. It's the gift of God. Now, faith,
hope, and joy, and love, peace, comfort, forgiveness, righteousness,
and eternal life are all gifts of grace. that are bestowed upon
us and wrought in us by the Spirit of God. It must be so! I've told
you what kind of people you are, and I'm telling you that all
of these things that we want so desperately to have, they're
gifts of the grace of God. They can't be had any other way,
because we don't have any way to get them from God Almighty
except he give them unto us. Now listen to me, these things
must be bestowed upon us and they must be wrought in us by
the Spirit of God. But James declares here in our
text this morning that grace itself, the source of all good,
is a gift of God himself. He giveth more grace. God gives
all his elect all the grace that is in Jesus Christ. Now if you have grace, you have
it by the gift of God. That's why you have it. It's because God gave it to you
as a gift. You didn't earn it. You couldn't
earn it. And you wasn't good enough to have it, you didn't
deserve to have it, but God give it to you. It's his gift of grace. That's what makes the people
of God sing about the grace of God is because everything they
have truly is by the gift. of His grace. Now hear me out,
all the blessing of grace that is in the covenant and all the
fruit of grace that's produced by His Spirit, all the benefits
of grace received in time and eternity are the gift of God. That's a marvelous thing, but
see, now there's some hope there for people like I've described.
See, I've described the kind of people the Bible talks about
and showed you how that we were all sinners by nature and we
had nothing and we could do nothing but sin! And yet, God gives. He gives. He gives. He gives
to these kind of people the gift of his grace. Man earns nothing. Now you ought to write this down
in your mind. Write it down someplace because
there's lots of people that don't, that can't figure this out. But
man earns nothing from God but wrath. That's all he earns. You can't earn anything from
God that will legally make you acceptable in his sight. You
can't earn it. It's got to be given. Salvation
is the gift of God. Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us. According to his mercy. He saved
us. Now then, grace is His gift and
God alone can give grace to sinners and grace is a free gift and
it's given of the sovereign and good pleasure of God to whom. John Gill said this, he said
it's given of God to whom and when in what measure that He
pleases. And I said that's a good statement.
That's a good statement because that's exactly what God does.
God's sovereign in the dispense of His grace. Grace is God's
eternal, unconditional, immutable, irreversible gift to sinners. That's what it is. Now then,
yet as we experience it, as the people of God struggling in this
world and as we live out day by day in this world, grace is
God's ever increasing and constantly abounding gift. Isn't it marvelous
that He giveth more grace? He gives more grace. The more
we need grace, the more God gives grace. The more we require grace,
the more He supplies grace. The more we use grace, the richer
We are in grace, and brethren, sisters in the Lord, so long
as we're in this world, we are sinners in need of grace. Isn't that right? I mean, would
you all say amen to that? I mean, we're just sinners in
need of grace, that's what we are. Nothing more, nothing more,
just sinners in need of the same thing that we've been getting
from the Lord ever since we come to know God in Christ. May God
give us wisdom to know that His grace is sufficient, abundantly,
infinitely sufficient, for us and for all our needs. Paul learned it. He said, God
told me that His grace would be sufficient for me. And it
is sufficient. And so you folks that are struggling
and have all these problems and up and down and all these difficulties
and adverse situations in your life and struggles with the old
nature and you're down on yourself and you don't have any hope in
yourself, listen to me. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ
and remember that, that His grace is sufficient every day, every
hour, every moment. He give us more grace. He gives
grace to sustain us in trial. real trial I'm talking about. I'm talking about real trial.
I mean the kind of trial that touches you deep down. I mean the kind of trial that
you can't walk over to the neighbors and spin a little yarn and come
back and it's gone. No, I'm talking about that deep
trial that lays on you day in and day out and that you just
seem to can't get over it. It's a Tough, tough trial and
nobody can help you out of it because God sent it. And He's
the only one that can sustain you in it. He sustains you by
His grace. That's the way He does it. That's
the way He does it. He'll just give you some help.
He'll just give you help to do it. And He'll sustain you. And
then He'll deliver us from temptation. He restores us when we fall. He restored. David said, He restored
my soul. He restored my soul. When I had
fallen and fallen into deep sin, David said, He restoreth my soul. Now, He makes us content with
His providence. And that's a big thing. And only
God by His grace can do that. Because only God can give you
a right temperament toward what's going on in your life. It takes
as much the grace of God to make you content when you break a
china dish, as it does when you lose your only son. That's right, it takes the grace
of God in both instances to make a person content and make them
to be able to rest in the Lord. It takes God's grace. Now then,
His grace helps us in all times of need and it keeps us from
the snare of Satan. What's the old song says, Amazing
Grace? It says, Through many dangers,
toils, and snares, I have already come. His grace has brought me
thus far, and His grace will lead me home. His grace has kept
us from many a snare. Only God knows how many times
we've been snatched away, as it were, from falling because
of some snare. It strengthens us in labor, it
directs us in life, it supports us in death, and it brings us
to heaven. What is your need? Brother, sister,
what is your need in this hour? Well, the Lord giveth more grace. I've got one more thing that
I'd like to say to you that I think is needful and helpful this morning
before we close out this service. Now we brought you through what
we all are and how that we have this spirit that dwells in us
that lusteth to envy and showed you how that God gives to these
kind of people more grace and then I know that we must deal
with this and that is this how are we going to people that are
weak in faith and and people that have this sinful nature
how can they find any assurance of saving interest in the Lord
Jesus Christ with all this going on I mean how can they how can
they lay claim to being God's children And how can they find
any assurance and rest in their souls? Well, there's three things
I just want to point out to you. I'm not going to preach about
them much, but I just want to point them out to you. And if
you want to write them down, you can, or you can keep them
in your mind. Well, the first thing is this. In the midst of
all of this that's going on, and the struggles that you're
having in your own soul, I want to tell you this. As you're pleading
with God for grace, look. Listen to this. Look to Christ.
Always look to Christ and not to yourself. And not to yourself. He, the Lord Jesus Christ, is
our surety from everlasting to everlasting. In the covenant
of mercy, He assumed full responsibility for our redemption and he'll
make it good. Look to Christ and not to yourself. Listen, his righteousness is
perfect and in him that righteousness is mine. In Him it's mine. It's a perfect righteousness.
And I'm not making it better every day. I'm not working up
to heaven. I'm not trying to get better
so I can go to heaven. No! I'm going to be accepted
in the Beloved and in His righteousness. And His righteousness is perfect.
Now His atonement is sufficient. to cleanse me from all sin and
to make me clean before God. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth us from all sin. John 1 and verse 7. His intercession. Now I'm telling you to look to
Him, don't look to yourself. Ain't no hope looking to yourself.
Nothing in you but the Spirit that dwelleth. in you that lusteth
to envy. And so you must look away from
yourself and look to Christ alone. Now listen to me, his intercession
based upon his person and work must prevail with our reconciled
God. By his stripes we are healed. By his stripes. Keep your eyes
on Christ. The second thing, we hurry here,
look to his word and not to your thoughts. All of us, you know,
we have these thoughts that go through our brains and they're
not scriptural. There's a lot of thoughts that
have no foundation and the devil sows these seeds of thought that
discourage and just simply destroys. any hope that we have as far
as anything based upon feeling is destroyed. But now listen
to me. Look to his word, not to your thoughts. Hear what he
says. The scripture says, if the Son shall make you free,
you shall be free indeed. Did he set you free? That's what
he said. He said, If the Son sets you
free, you'll be free, free from the law of sin and death, free
from condemnation at the bar of justice, and being free from
the penalty of power and practice of sin, you shall be someday
free from its very presence. free from the presence of sin.
Abraham believed God that he was able to do that which he
had promised. Abraham believed that when he
was an old man. He believed it all of his life.
I'm not saying he didn't have some struggles with it at times,
because he did. But he believed God, that what
God promised he was able to perform. Beloved, the word incarnate and
the word recorded is our assurance. That's what we base it on. The
Lord Jesus, the Word made flesh, and His Word recorded. And the
Bible says that His Word is forever established in heaven. It's never
going to read no different. The Bible ain't going to read
different when we get to heaven and what it is right now. It's
going to read the same. and so we ought to trust his
word. So he said, I will never leave you so you can boldly say
the Lord is my helper. God said it and that's sufficient. God said it and as I mentioned
one time here a while back, how many times must God say something
before we believe it? If God says it, it's sufficient. Number three and the last thing
is this. Listen to the Holy Spirit and not to your doubts. Don't
listen to your doubts. I've often told you, believe
your beliefs and doubt your doubts. Don't doubt your beliefs and
believe your doubts, but believe what God says. Listen to the
Holy Spirit and don't listen to your doubts. His Spirit beareth
witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. All
of our trouble, I believe, since the fall in the Garden of Eden
has come from listening to the wrong voice. Listening to the
wrong voice. We don't listen like we ought
to the Spirit of God, we listen to other voices. And there's
all kinds of voices that are clamoring to be heard. And we
ought to listen to the voice of God's Spirit. It's a time
that every believer should tune out All of the voices that he
hears, the voice of Satan, the voice of doubt, the voice of
fear, and every enemy of the grace of God ought to be tuned
out, tuned out completely, and begin to listen to him who speaks
peace. to the troubled heart. Listen
to the Lord Jesus. He said, My peace I have given
to you, not as the world give I unto you. Let not your heart
be troubled, neither let it be afraid. That's what the Lord
Jesus said. Don't you think you ought to
believe that? Believe it! Listen to what the Spirit of
God says through the Word. And then this advice, cease from
your own works. Cease from your efforts to establish
a righteousness of your own. Cease! Give it up! It's a bad
business to be in trying to establish a righteousness of your own that
God's going to take. He can see right through it.
He knows what you are and He knows all about it. Cease from
your effort. Listen, you say, Preacher, you
are an unusual fellow to get up and tell people to quit trying
to establish righteousness. I'm telling you what the Word
of God says. It talks about them Jews that went about to establish
a law of righteousness. They're trying to keep the law
and establish the righteousness and they missed it. But the Gentiles
who didn't try They just believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and
God gave them the righteousness which he demanded of them in
the Lord Jesus Christ and they went to heaven and these law
keepers went to hell. I'm telling you that salvation
is the gift of God. I'm telling you that you can
cease from your effort and you can cease from this business
of trying to build up and find good in your flesh. Quit trying
to find any good. Does the scripture say, in vain? The spirit that dwelleth in us
lusteth to envy? No, we don't say it in vain.
It's a true statement. So beloved, listen. Enter into
your rest. Cease. Cease. from all effort
on your own part and enter into rest. Trust Christ. Believe on
Him. Depend upon Him. Confide in Him. And you can have some assurance.
But you'll never have any as long as you look here. You've
got to look away unto the Lord Jesus Christ. You've got to keep
your eyes on Him. He is salvation. He is life. He is the door by
which if any man enter in, he shall be saved and shall go in
and out and find pasture. He is redemption. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ
and trust Him fully. Well, we'll have a song