John 3 again. John chapter 3. I have and do earnestly search
my heart I bring my faith, my protection
faith, my experience today, my thoughts, my heart attitude towards
the Lord Jesus Christ. I bring it to this church. I
thank Him. I do not want to miss Christ.
And I believe He is well with my soul. I want you to do the
same thing. I don't want you to miss Christ. Oh, my soul, nothing could be
more fearful, nothing more alarming than that you should spend your
life hearing the gospel. And you hear
it, not only from me, but other men have the privilege of hearing
God's short-servant preached the Gospels. What a dreadful, dreadful, terrible,
terrible thing. If you've spent all your life
under the sound of the Gospels, you'll never know the Gospels. Our Lord said to Nicodemus in
John 3 and verse 3, except the man be born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him,
how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second
time into his mother's womb and be born? He's a religious man,
well-learned, well-educated religious man, a teacher, an instructor
of others. Our Lord talked to him plainly
about the most simple, yet most mysterious of spiritual truths,
and Nicodemus responded with a carnal opinion. Well, how can
that be? Can a man enter into his mother's
womb a second time and be born? What on earth are you talking
about? He was utterly confused by our Lord's doctrine. Jesus answered, Verily, verily,
I say unto except the man be born of water and of the spirit
he cannot enter into the kingdom of God that which is born of
the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit
marvel not that i said unto thee ye must be born again now here's
the title of my message are you born again Please don't throw
that question aside like this. As you care for your soul, I
admonish you, each of you, to hear the word of God and to examine
yourself fine. I am quite certain that there
are some of you here this evening who are careless, indifferent,
and lost. You may not know it, but your
conditions is one that's altogether indifferent to you. You don't
really care. It doesn't really matter to you. God's never spoken
to your heart. Some of you, I rather suspect,
are quite religious. You're secure, you're confident,
and you're at ease in your religion. So far as you're concerned, you
read your title clear, and you're certain that heaven is your home.
And yet in your assurance and security, you're lost, utterly
lost. Unless God awakens your heart
to see your condition, you'll perish in your sin, thinking
that it's well with your soul, thinking that everything is fine.
Some of you, I believe, many of you, are truly born again
by the Spirit of God. You've been renewed. hearts bend
quickly. God's given you faith in his
son, the Lord Jesus Christ. If you'll listen to me this evening,
I believe if you'll be honest, before you leave here tonight,
I believe God will give an answer to this question. Are you born
again? Are you born again? I ask you,
of myself, my wife, my daughter, You men, you women, I put the
question pointedly to every last one of you here. Are you born
again? I believe, in the word of God,
it's possible for a man to have knowledge of his birth in Christ. I recognize that it's possible
for a man to have many counterfeit evidences of the new birth without
having the new birth. Many of the things I'm going
to talk about tonight you can have in a counterfeit fashion
by the work of Satan and not be born again. But I recognize
also that it is not possible for a man or a woman to be born
again by the Spirit of God without having some evidence of grace
in his heart. Every sinner who's born again
by the grace of God has certain marks, tokens, and evidences
of grace in his heart. Now, I realize that there are
a lot of people who don't like the kind of preaching I'm doing
tonight. They think that all talk of evidence is legal. They
think that all talk of evidence results in bondage and self-righteousness. But my friends, you can be sure
of this. The people of God are a peculiar people. That's certain. Our Lord came into this world
to redeem unto himself a peculiar people, the apostle said. Now,
I do not mean that they talk funny. I don't mean that they
look odd or that they act strange. I mean that they are distinguished
from unbelieving men and women. God's people have certain characteristics,
certain principles of heart and life, which are tokens of God's
handiwork upon them. Now, I realize that God's children
do not all feel alike, think alike, or act alike. We don't
expect that. Some are babes, some are young
men. Some are aged men, mature in
the faith of Christ. J.C. Ryle made this statement.
He said, the work of grace on a man's heart is gradual. First
the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. It's
like leaven. The whole lump is not leavened
at once. It is as the birth of an infant
into the world. First it feels, Then it moves
and cries and sees and hears and knows and thinks and loves
and walks and talks and acts for itself. Each of these things
comes gradually and in order, but we do not wait for all before
we can say that this child is a living soul. And just so is
everyone that's born of the Spirit. We don't expect to see the fruit
of the Spirit ripe equally and mature equally in all of God's
children. But the fruit of the Spirit is
there, either in the seed, or in the blade, or in the ear,
or in the full corn in the ear, ripe for the harvest. And yet,
you can be sure, wherever there is no fruit of the Spirit, there
is no work of the Spirit. Now that's just as plain as it
can be in the Word of God. Wherever there is no fruit of
the Spirit, there is no work of the Spirit. I'm not talking
now about things that we work up, and things that we produce.
I'm talking about things that grace produces in God's children. Grace produces these things to
one degree or another in all of God's children. This is the
fruit of the Spirit. And if any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, he is none of his. Oh, may God be pleased to search
and try and prove each of our hearts tonight by His Word. Are
you born again? Turn back to Psalm 139. Psalm 139. David offers a prayer to God.
I believe it was an earnest prayer, I'm sure it was. I hope from
your hearts you can offer this prayer to God tonight, as we
begin this message. This is my prayer to God for
me and for you. Search me, O God, and know my
heart. me, and know my thoughts, and
see if there be any wicked way in me." More literally, see if
the way of wickedness, the way of the wicked is in me, and lead
me in the way of life. If I'm in the way of life, I
want to know it, and if I'm in the way of the wicked, after
I want to know it. I pray that God will lead me
in the way everlasting. Now here are seven evidences
of the new birth by which we may try our hearts. Turn with
me to 1 John chapter 5 and verse 1. 1 John chapter 5 and verse
1. There are many others that are
found in the scriptures, many others that we could speak of,
but here are seven things plainly stated in the word of God that
are evidences of the new birth. First of all, all who are born
again have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is the first
work of God's Spirit in us. Faith is the first thing that
the Spirit of God produces when he gives us life in the Lord
Jesus Christ. 1 John 5, verse 1, Whosoever
believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. We who believe,
we who are born of God's Spirit, heartily, willingly, confidently
trust our souls upon the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
true faith involves three things. Let me give these to you. I've
given them to you before, but I think they're very important. In order to have true faith,
you must have knowledge, knowledge of this word, knowledge of who
Jesus Christ is, what he did, why he did it. and where he is
now. You must have some real knowledge
of yourself in your sinful condition, of God's holiness and God's righteousness,
and of God's redemption in Christ. I see men and women, and especially
children, most especially children. You will observe that I do not
make a practice of baptizing small children, young people,
for one good reason. Because I recognize that in order
for a person to truly have faith in Christ, they must know Christ. They must have a head knowledge
of what Christ has done. They must know something about
their sin. They must know something about
God's righteousness, something about redemption. You cannot
believe on him whom you do not know. I recognize that knowledge
is not salvation, but I recognize there's no salvation apart from
knowledge. Man must know the Lord Jesus
Christ. Not only is it necessary that we have knowledge, but faith
involves a sense, an agreement of the heart, an agreement of
the heart with God's revelation concerning his son. This is what
we call reconciliation. Our hearts must be, by the grace
of God, reconciled to the truth of God revealed in the scriptures.
so that we don't buck up against God's truth, so that we are reconciled
to God's revelation, what he says about you, what he says
about me, what he says about his son, what he says about salvation.
We see what God says, we recognize it, and we assume it's true,
what God has said is true. But still that's not salvation.
Faith involves knowledge, it involves an agreement, a reconciliation
of the heart, and faith involves trust. There must be in our heart
something more than just the knowledge of Christ. Something
more than just an agreement with the truth of God. Say yes, God
spoken it, that's true. There must be in our hearts a
willing trust of our souls upon Christ. Try to illustrate it
for you if I can. Some years ago, I believe it
was back at the turn of the century, they had the great Chicago fire. You read about it in your history
book. And there were many, many, many people who died in that
fire immediately. They were trapped in tall buildings,
burning. The blaze was engulfing them,
and there were firemen ready and waiting below to catch them,
pleading with them to jump from the building, pleading with them
to just leap out of the window into the net that they had spread
for them. They would catch them, but those people were engulfed
in the flames. Now they knew the net was there. They had seen
others jump and be caught in the net. They knew that they
were in imminent danger of peril. But until they cast themselves
down upon the net, they must perish. And this is what I'm
saying. It's not enough to know Christ. It's not enough to know
about Christ and to have an agreement with the truth of God concerning
Christ. My friends, you and I, believe in Christ, cast ourselves
down. We lay our souls flat down on
the merits of the Son of God. We trust His righteousness, recognizing
we have none but Him. We trust His righteousness for
acceptance with God. We trust His blood for cleansing. We trust His intercession to
bring us faith into everlasting glory. We trust the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's what faith is. We trust
His grace to preserve us and to keep us. First then, all who
are born of God have faith. faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Secondly, turn to 1 John chapter 3 and verse 9. 1 John chapter 3 and verse 9. Every
person who is born again by the Spirit of God is freed, now listen,
freed from the reigning power of sin. Every person who is born
of God. 1 John 3 and verse 9. Whosoever
is born of God doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in
him." Up in verse 6, Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not. God's children are freed from
the reigning power of sin. Turn back to Romans chapter 6.
Romans the sixth chapter. The Apostle Paul has been talking
about justification, how that God reckons us to be righteous
in his dead indeed unto sin, dead indeed unto the law, and
alive in Christ. In verse 11 he says, Likewise
reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but
alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin
therefore, mark the word, reign. Let not sin reign in your mortal
body, that ye should obey it in the lust thereof. neither
yield you your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin,
but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from
the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness
unto God. For sin shall not have," see
the word, dominion over you, for you're not under the law
but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because
we're not under the law but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not
that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants
ye are to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience
unto righteousness? But God be thanked that ye were
the servants of sin, that ye have obeyed from the heart that
form of doctrine which was delivered unto you. Being then made free
from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness." The believer
does sin. Our flesh is sinful flesh, and
so long as we are in the flesh, we will sin. Sin is mixed with
everything we do. But sin no longer holds us under
dominion. Sin no longer holds us in bondage. Sin no longer rules over us. We are no longer under the mastery
and the dominion of sin. Any believer, I fully recognize,
may commit any act of sin because he's still in the flesh. We dare
not say concerning any evil that any man may do, I will not do
that. Don't be so foolish, don't be
so foolish. When I honestly face the evil
that's in me, the evil that I see in my own heart, I'm compelled
to acknowledge I wish it weren't so. But I'm compelled to acknowledge
that there is nothing evil of which I'm not capable. Nothing. And my friend, there's nothing
evil of which you are not capable. Not only capable, but likely
to commit. Likely to commit. In your flesh
by nature. Every evil imaginable. Just suppose,
buddy, God would let you alone just to do some of what you thought
about doing today. Just suppose God would lift his
restraining hand in his providence and in his grace just for a little
while and let you, at one of those times when your heart swells
with evil imagination, commit the vileness you imagined. I
say that there's no evil of which you and I are not capable and
even likely to commit were it not for the grace of God. You
read the stories, the biographies of men like Noah and David and
Moses and Peter. Moses was the meekest man who
ever lived, God said, and yet in a fit of anger he struck Christ
twice. In a fit of anger he did that.
Peter was a bold, bold man. Peter was a mighty, mighty believer,
a rare man. This man, Peter, was not just
your ordinary, everyday, run-of-the-mill fellow. He was a mighty defender
of the faith. And in a moment of weakness,
he trembled before a little girl and denied God. Noah found grace
in the eyes of the Lord, the only man in his generation who
walks with God. He's the only one who walks with
God. And Noah was found in a drunken
state. David, God said, is the man after God's own heart. When
David's life was done, God records three things against him. Three
things that God records in his word against him. And yet David
commits the terrible crime of adultery and murder. Don't tell
me that God's people live without sin. It's not so. Those who think
it so are fools and they're liars, God says so. I recognize also
that the believer is vexed with sin. We're in trouble when we
become easy and comfortable with our sins. I know that we're vexed
with the sins of others and vexed with the sins of society. I see
many social evils that that disturb me, but I want to be honest with
you. the social evils around them,
the promiscuity, the homosexuality, the abortion, the violence promoted
in our society, that doesn't cause me anywhere near like the
trouble, the sin that goes on in here does. Lot vexed his righteous
soul from day to day while he lived in Sodom. He was vexed
with the Sodomites. And I rather suspect Mr. Lott
was vexed with Lott for being among them. His heart was vexed
over sin. I also know that the only thing
that keeps us from doing what any other man might do, oh God teach me this in my heart,
lest we be proud. The only thing that keeps us
from doing what anybody on this earth might do, is the grace
of God. That's all. That's all. Grace
keeps us from temptation. I thank God for that. I thank
God for that. Oh, what I might have done today
if I'd had the opportunity. What I might have done. And then in God's good providence,
According to his own wise purpose, God brings us into the confrontation
of temptation, and he gives us strength until grace keeps us
in the midst of temptation. When the temptation comes, God
gives grace to overcome the temptation. And when you're weak and could
not resist the evil, God keeps you from the ability, the opportunity
to commit the evil you would. And then when we fall, when we fall. We have a way of escaping from
reality, you know. We think about the fall of believers
in an instance like David or Peter. We think about it like
that. Fact is, fact is, we do the same
thing those men did. A thousand times a day. A thousand times a day. And when
we fall, grace lifts us up. I'm saying this, the only thing
that keeps us in the way of life, the only thing that keeps us
from committing any evil, is the grace of God. That's all. But, if I am born of God, the
dominion and the rule of sin over me has been broken. There
was a time when I lived under the rule of a man called Satan,
and I served in his house and did his bidding at his will.
There was a time when I lived with my soul in bondage to the
lust of my flesh. I was chained to iniquity and
could not break myself free even had I desired to do so, but I
had no desire to do so. I served the lust of my flesh,
the lust of the eye, the lust of the heart, the lust of this
world, the lust after the things of this world, I served those
things with a willing I gave myself relentlessly to doing
my own thing, having my own way, going where I would go, doing
what I would do. Matters not what God says in
his law. Matters not what people think.
Matters not what other men may say. I will be my own God, the
master of my own destiny. And while I boasted of being
my own man, I was in bondage to my love, in bondage to sin. in Satan's house. I served in
the house of sin, and I served with great zeal. But one day, the Master came,
and by the power of his grace, he broke the iron shackle that
held my soul in He said, I've redeemed you, and I've come to
set the captive free. And he moved me over into the
house as well. Now, every now and then, quite frequently,
my old master called me into the house. The house was all
grown up with weeds and And my flesh, sin, and Satan in the
world calls me, Don, come over here and cut out some of these
weeds, make a path to my house, and I willingly get my tools
and I'm ready to go to work again. Wait. No, no, I'm not your servant
anymore. Do you follow me? I'm no longer
in bondage to you. I'm no longer in bondage to this
body of sin. I've been set free. to serve
another master, the Lord Jesus Christ, and his grace. That's
what I'm saying. We're no longer under the dominion
of sin. We do sin, but sin no longer
reigns in the believer. It's not the ruling principle.
It's not the dominant principle of his life. Thirdly, turn with me to Philippians chapter
3. Those who are born of God, all who are born of God, have
spiritual desires, spiritual affections, and spiritual appetites. If I am born again, if I am, my heart's desires are toward
Christ. I'm born again, I want Christ
more than anything in this world. If I'm born again, my heart set
on him. If I'm born again, I'm willing
to lay aside all things for Christ. If I'm born again. Philippians
chapter 3 verse 7. But what things were gained to
me, I counted lost for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all
things but lost, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do
count them but done, that I may win Christ, and be found in him,
not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness of
God, which is of God by faith. Turn over to Colossians, chapter
3. If I am born from above, my heart's
affection is fixed on Christ, if, the word literally is, since. Since he then be risen with Christ.
Seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right
hand of God. Notice it's in the singular.
Set your affections, set your heart and your mind and your
soul and your being on things above, not on things on the earth. Don't put your heart on this
earth. Don't fix your heart on this earth. Oh God, teach us
to be weaned from this world, not the things here do we seek,
the things above. Christ Jesus the Lord. Set your
affection on things above, not on things on the earth, for you're
dead and your life is hid with Christ in God. Seek ye first
the kingdom of God and his righteousness. That's our Lord's admonition,
isn't it? And what he's saying is this, he's saying don't be
seeking riches. Don't be seeking name, don't
be seeking position, don't be seeking fame, don't be seeking
earthly comfort, don't be seeking the things that men in this world
live for, but rather seek the kingdom of God, and everything
you need God will supply. Everything you need God will
supply. You see, where a man's treasure
is, That's where his heart is. That's where his heart is. Oscar Bailey owns a
fine farm. Beautiful farm. He's worked hard for it. I'm
thankful he has it. I'm glad. I enjoy going down
and eating the fish and the steaks. If that's your treasure, my friend,
that's where your heart is. And you miss it all. You got
a little money in the bank up here? I'm glad you got it, that's
fine. I'm glad God's given it to you.
If that's the thing you treasure, that's where your heart is. Your
mind's always on it. Your heart's always on it. And
you missed out. If, however, if, however, there
is a man in glory whom you love, a man in glory whose glory you
seek, He's your treasure. No, that's where your heart is.
Wherever your treasure is, that's where your heart is. You men
and women have your children. We're thankful for them. We love
them. That's right. We all do. The rest of those
kids are your treasure. You never know Christ. He's the
treasure. He's the treasure. He's the only
treasure. If I'm born again, turn over
to 1 Peter 2, let me show you this. 1 Peter 2, if I'm born
again, I have an appetite for the things of God. Verse 2, as newborn babes desire
the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby, It's getting to be a little more
common now than it was a few years ago for mothers to nurse
their children. No mother ever had to show her
child how to nurse her breast. Never had to do it. It's just
as natural and all and all belongs. Just as natural as it can be.
That newborn babe meets that breast and it seeks the milk
from its mother's breast. What Peter's saying is this,
if you're a newborn babe in Christ, If you're one of God's children,
seek after the sincere milk of the Word. It's just natural for
God's children to do so. For you see, God's children hunger
and thirst after the things of God. They feed upon the Word
of God in private meditation and in the public ministry of
the Word. God's children esteem the Word of God to be their soul's
food. God's children bathe their souls
and refresh their hearts in prayer. And they rejoice in and delight
in the worship of God. You don't have to browbeat the
people of God to get them to read the Word and to get them
to enjoy the ministries of the Word and get them in the house.
God don't have to do that. God's people seek those things.
They delight in those things they cherish. It's natural for
them. Somebody say, well, there's a man who really loves the preaching
of the gospel. All of God's children love the
gospel. There's a man who really loves the Word. All of God's
children love it. There's a man who really prays.
All of God's children pray. They have spiritual appetite,
spiritual desire, and spiritual affection for it. Everyone who
is born of God performs works of righteousness. Turn over to
1 John 2, verse 29. 1 John 2 and verse 29. If you know that he is righteous,
you know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of him. Now those who are born of God
do perform works of righteousness. We are his workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. Faith without works is dead being
alone. Works of righteousness are not
things that we do in order to gain favor with God. They're
not things that we do in order to gain a standing before God
that maybe is higher than what we have by birth in Christ. But
our works of righteousness are willing works of self-denial,
self-sacrifice, and love done for the glory of Christ and the
furtherance of the gospel and the good of God's church. The
clearest picture you have of it in the New Testament, I believe,
is that lady who brought in the alabaster box. She didn't have
anything, but she had been saving. That alabaster box was worth
$300,000. It was worth one full year's labor. One full year,
they paid both common laborers $10 a day, according to the world. That alabaster box she had saved
up was worth $300,000. And she came in where the Lord
was, and she broke that box and anointed him and bathed him in
that ointment, anointing him for his burial. And folks looked
at that. Well, what's she doing? What
a terrible waste! Our Lord said, leave her alone.
She has done what she could. She did what she could for me.
That's called work for life. God's children do what they can
for one another. They do what they can for the
glory of Christ. They do what they can for the
furtherance of the gospel. Not all can do the same things,
but they all do what they can for Christ. Fifthly, turn over
to the book of Luke, chapter 14. Luke, chapter 14. Now, I've been kindly probing around. trying to find the spot, this
is it, this is it. If I'm born of God, if I'm born
of God, I am willingly, if I am born of God, I am willingly submissive
to the rule of Christ as my Lord. If I'm born of God, I am. Basically
this means three things. Look at it with me here in Luke
14 verse 25. They went out a great multitude
with him and he turned and said unto them if any man come to
me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children
and brothers and sisters yea and his own life also He cannot
be my disciple. Here's what I'm saying. Every
earthly relationship that I enjoy, no matter how tender it is, bows
to and is subservient to Jesus Christ. Every one. So that my brothers, my sisters,
my mother, my father, My wife, my daughter, shall not stand
between me and the worship and the service of God my Savior. It shall not happen. Not if I'm born again. Not if
I'm born again. Those who are born of God take
their loved ones And while we hold them with love
and affection and tenderness and thoughtfulness, in comparison,
in comparison, that relationship is of no significance to my relationship
with the Son of God. It's just of no significance.
I'm going to be honest with you. If that lady sitting there were
to forsake the gospel, and go wild and become mean as men and
women sometimes do. I've seen it happen. And forsake
everything that we have thus far held dear. If I'm born of
God, James Lee, it doesn't make a bit of difference as far as
my relationship with Christ is concerned. I'm going to go right
on serving him, walking with him, seeking his glory, serving
his kingdom, and if he wants to leave, goodbye. Goodbye. That's all there is to it. If
it means that my mother, my father, my sisters, my brothers-in-law,
if it means that every relationship must be severed forever, there's
no question. Just cut the string. Goodbye. Christ is the present. Christ
is the present. I'm not going to compromise the
gospel. to suit my family, my friends,
or anybody else. I'm not going to compromise the
glory of Christ to suit any earthly relationship. I'm not going to
compromise my responsibilities to Christ to please any earthly
relationship. It shall not be done. Not if
I'm born of God. Bobby, that's the most important
thing on this earth. Most important thing on this
earth. The most important thing on this earth is my relationship
with Jesus Christ. Nothing more important than that.
Everything else is subservient to everything. My family, my
friends, my relationship. If the whole Fort McLean happens
to move in next Saturday evening, come down to visit Sunday morning,
Shelby and Faith and I were going over to the church house to worship
God. Care to come along? Well, no, we don't have any interest
in God. Well, I do. I'll see you after
a while. I'll see you after a while. Well,
we won't be here when you get back. That's all right. Bye. Bye. It might be. It might be
that if we began to treat people that way, they would have some
respect for what we say we believe. Might just be. Secondly, it means this. To be
willingly submissive to Christ's rule as my Lord means that I
am willing, if God will give me grace, to give anything, do
anything, and suffer anything willingly for Christ's sake. Okay, verse 27. Whosoever does
not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Now this does not mean what people
usually think it does. Mr. McCormick has been Craig,
I'm sorry, Craig. He told me not to call him. He's
not open for that. He'd been suffering with various
problems in his leg for a long time. Everything's out in the
open. Now, suffer patiently, but that's not bearing the cross.
That's not what this is talking about. Sometime back, I had a
bout with Pencil. That's not bearing my cross.
It doesn't have anything to do with it. I didn't have any choice
in the matter. I got it. It's not something I picked up
and carried. What our Lord is talking about here is this. I
see the path of my responsibility. I see what God requires of me.
I see the will of God in a given matter. And I know that to obey
God's will, to obey God's word to serve the glory of Christ,
I know then this is going to cost me dear. I'll go ahead and
do it no matter what the cost. That's what it is to carry the
cross. It's willing to suffer, to give,
to do anything for Christ's sake. Thirdly, this thing of being submitted
to the rule of Christ as Lord means this. I give myself and
all that I have over to the dominion and the disposal of Christ. with
a willing heart. Look at verse 33. So likewise,
whosoever he be of you, that forsaketh not all that he hath,
he cannot be my disciple. If Christ is my Lord, I seek
his will, I follow his will, I bow to his will, and I rejoice
in his will, no matter what his will no matter what his will
is. Sixthly, turn over to 1 John
chapter 5 and verse 4. Those men and women who are born
of God, those who are born again by the Spirit of God, overcome
the world. This is what the apostle says.
For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world, and this
is the victory that overcometh the world. even our faith. God's people are not slaves to
fashion, slaves to custom, and slaves to tradition. We do not
go with the flow. We do not seek the world's approval. We do not court the world's applause,
and we do not fear the world's frowns and sneers. It need be
we who believe will confess Christ Obey Christ and follow Christ
in the very teeth of the word, in the very teeth of the word.
I get so tired of hearing the beavers talk like, well, nobody,
where is that in? Nobody does that. Nobody. Nobody. Everybody's doing it. I don't
care what everybody's doing. I don't care. They crucified
my Lord. I'm not interested in their opinion. I'm interested in his opinion.
I'm not interested in their applause. I'm not interested in their approval.
I'm not interested in that which this world has to offer. I'm
interested in him and his glory. Faith overcomes the cares of
this world. Faith overcomes the love of this
world. And faith overcomes the fear
of this world. Here's one last thing. Look in
verse 19 of chapter 4. Here in verse young. If I am born again by the Spirit
of God, the love of Christ is the ruling principle of my heart.
If I'm born again, I'm not saying it ought to be, I'm saying it
is. It's the ruling principle of my heart. We love him because
he first loved us. If a man say I love God and hateth
his brother, he's a liar. For he that loveth not his brother
whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth
God love his brother also. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God, and every one that loveth him
that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him." If I am
born again, the love of Christ motivates my heart, that motivates
me. I'm motivated to worship him,
I'm motivated serve him. I'm motivated to preach the gospel.
I'm motivated in what I do by the love of Christ. His love
for me, Christ's love for me, motivates me. My soul. There are few men, I suppose,
in this world who enjoy the love of a woman like I enjoy my wife's
love for me. She just She and Faith wait on
me hand and foot, and they're thoughtful of my every need,
my every concern, my every care. That kind of motivates me. It
does. Whatever I can do to please them,
that's fine. That love, it motivates me. Oh, my soul. I'm loved with love. Loved with everlasting love.
love with a redeeming love, love with a saving love, and that
love motivates us. It motivates us. If I'm born
of God, Christ's love in me rules my heart. His love for me motivates
me. His love in me rules me. And
if love is absent, if I don't love Christ, and love
men, especially love those who are born of God. And I have no
grace in my heart. I have no grace in my heart. I mean love that's patient and
long-suffering, love that's kind and forbearing, love that's forgiving,
love that is slow to take offense and quick to forgive. I mean
love that holds no malice, love that holds no grudge. I mean
love that embraces and caresses and gently treats the children
of God. I mean love that cares for men. If there's no love in my heart,
then there's no grace in yours. That's what the book says. That's
what it says. Are you born again? Answer these
seven questions honestly and you'll know the condition of
your soul. Do you have faith in Christ? Are you no longer under the dominion
of sin? Are your desires, affections,
and appetites spiritual or are they carnal? Do you perform works
of righteousness from a willing heart Do you willingly submit
to the rule of Christ? Are you overcoming the world
or are you being overcome by the world? Does the love of Christ
rule in your heart? Does it? Make your calling and
election true. Grow in grace and in the knowledge
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now I say to you who are born
of God's Spirit, may the God of peace that brought again from
the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep,
through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in
every good work to do his will, working in you that which is
well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory
forever and ever. Amen. Thanks to you for putting
this in my hand. Take your song.