1 John 1, verse 8. I want to look at six
truths and their effect upon the heart. And I'm sure as I
give these six truths, you could think of a multitude more. And I would encourage you sometime
as you think upon spiritual things and read your Bible, write down
a truth that the Lord has taught you and see its effect upon your
heart. Every truth affects us. Now I'm
not talking about just what our forefathers used to call the
ascent of the mind or just something that we believe we used to say
from the top of our heads. But I'm talking about truth that's
been taught us by the Spirit of God. Wayne taught us this
morning. The grace of God teaches us.
That truth and truth taught to us has an effect upon us, sometimes
a profound effect upon us. And I would say this, and I think
unless I miss the mark, we could say this, truth always has a
good effect upon us. It never has a bad effect upon
us. It's always a good effect. The Lord Jesus said it like this,
you shall know the truth. And the truth shall set you free. Now ignorance, ignorance may
be bliss in some areas. There are some things my wife
sometimes tells me, well, I didn't think you'd want to know that.
And she's right. She knows what to tell me sometimes
and what not to tell me. And ignorance is bliss in some
cases. But in gospel truths, ignorance is never bliss, is
it? It can be danger. And that's why we deal with these
truths. The first one, I want to look at it. It is found in
1 John. And we can find this in so many
places in the Scripture. But here in 1 John 1 and verse
8, here is the truth. Here is the truth and its effect
upon me. If we say that we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. The first
truth that I have been taught about myself is that I am indeed
a poor, poor sinner. I am indeed a poor, poor sinner. I was born in sin and I lived
in sin. I was the servant of sin until
the Lord came to me and quickened me from the dead and washed my
sins away. gave me a new heart and a new
spirit, but still to this very day, even though the old nature
has been subdued, he's been taken out, he's ruled now by the Spirit
of God, even to this very day, even though sin is not allowed
to have dominion over me, still to this very day I find sin in
me. I am a sinner. I am a sinner. I am a poor, poor sinner. John tells us right here, if
we say that we have no sin, and notice he includes himself. We
deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Now what sin is
he talking about? He is not talking about sins.
He tells us in the next verse, if we say we have not sinned,
then we make God a liar. We confess our sins and He forgives
us our sins, but this is not sins, it's sin. What is this
sin that John says we are? Well, that's sin, isn't it? That's
what we are. And I tell you, there's some
things we can't get rid of. When the Lord saved me, I was
bound by habits, evil habits, ungodly habits, and He broke
those. He broke the power of cancelled
sins. I love that, don't you? And He
set me free. But one thing He did not remove
from me, and that's what I am. And that is sin. S-I-N. And here's the way the Apostle
Paul deals with it, like this. He said, This I say then, walk
in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Now listen to this. For the flesh
lusteth against the Spirit, against the Spirit of Christ, and the
Spirit lusteth against the flesh, and these two are contrary. One to the other. They're antagonistic. That's what that word means.
They're set opposed to each other. They're in battle against each
other. Isn't it amazing that the Spirit
of God that dwells in the heart of every child of God is in a
warfare with the flesh in which it dwells? And it's not talking
about our members here. It's not talking about our fingers
or our toes or our arms. When he talks about flesh, it's
that sinful nature that dwells within us. When Rebekah, Isaac's
wife, could not conceive, and Isaac prayed for her, the Lord
give her a child, and there was twins conceived in her womb.
And they began to struggle inside her. Remember that? And she was
so concerned, she went to the Lord. And she said, if you've
indeed given me this conception, why am I having this struggle?
What's going on in me? And remember what the Lord told
her. He said, there's two manner of people in you. There's two
different people in you. And when they came from out of
the womb, boy, they began to see two manner of people. What
goes on within the heart of every child of God? There are two natures
there. There is one that has been created
in righteousness and true holiness that loves the Lord, loves His
ways, and hates sin. And then there is that old sinful
nature. Now you know what about this
old sinful nature? He hates God. And boy, you've
got two manners of people in you. You've got a new creature. And you've got the old man that's
still there. Paul said they're contrary one
to the other. And he said in Romans 7, in my
flesh dwells no good. In my flesh dwells no good. If somebody had to ask me in
my estimation of myself, As I was born, as I live in this world,
somebody had to ask me, what do you think of yourself? What's
your estimation of you in and of yourself? You know what I'd
have to say? No good. No good. I am no good. In me, in my flesh, dwells no
good thing. This is the era that Odyssey
and church fell into, wasn't it? They were ignorant of being
poor sinners. Here's what they said. And the
Lord Jesus said about them. He said, Because you say, I am
rich and increased in goods and have need of nothing. And you
know not. Now here's something we don't
want to be ignorant about. You know not that you are wretched
and miserable and poor and blind and naked. Now, that's not very
flattering, is it? What has God taught you about
yourself? You say, well, Bruce, I know
I used to be a sinner. The Lord saved me from the guilt
of sin and blessed Him for it. What has He taught you about
yourself now? What has He taught you about yourself? What do you
know about yourself? John said, if we say we have
no sin, we deceive ourselves. We're sinners, aren't we? We're
sinners. God has taught us that. We're sinners. What effect does
this have upon us? Well, here's the effect it has.
It begins with this. A humility. A humility. Not a cockiness. If you hear
a man bragging about being a sinner, he's got a problem. It leads
to humiliation. The Lord Jesus said this, When
you have done, That which is your duty to do. You've done
it by the grace of God and by the help and aid of the Holy
Spirit. And you've done it contrary to
the flesh who hindered you from doing it to start with. But when
you've did it by my strength and my help, here is what you're
to say. I am an unprofitable servant.
You know what that word unprofitable means? It means useless. It means
useless. If they took this teaching into
our public schools today, they'd be thrown out with it. I mean,
esteem, self-esteem is run amok. When somebody will kill you over
a pair of tennis shoes, or kill you for calling him a bad name,
self-esteem is run amok. Humiliation is what's becoming
of us. We're useless. We're unprofitable. We estimate ourselves as the
Word of God teaches us to estimate ourselves, and the Word of God
says that we are nothing. If a man thinks himself to be
something when he's nothing, he deceives himself. We read
it this morning. Brother Wayne read it. All the
nations before him are as nothing and counted as nothing, and less
than nothing. We can do nothing. We can know
nothing. We are nothing. We're just nothing. What are we? We are sinners.
It leads to humiliation. It has a good effect upon us
this way. It makes us distrust ourselves. Are you mistrustful
of yourself? Do you distrust yourself? A man
that trusts in his own heart is a fool. You are scared to
death of yourself, aren't you? It makes us trust the Word of
God. It makes us lay aside our opinions.
And trust the Word. Lean not to your own understanding. Why? Because you can't trust
yourself. In all your ways, acknowledge
Him and He shall direct your step. It makes us pray this way. Lord, leave me not to myself. Because you're afraid of yourself.
When He leaves you to yourself, what's going to happen to you?
You're going to fall, aren't you? The Lord left a lot to Himself. And what happened to Him? Somebody
said, let opportunity and desire come together, and boy, we're
goners. We're goners. David's opportunity
and desire came together, and look what happened to him. He
fell. He fell. A man who trusts himself is a
fool, isn't he? And to know ourselves means we're
scared of ourselves. Lord, leave me not to myself. But I think the greatest effect
knowing ourselves as poor sinners has upon us is this. It teaches
us to believe and trust and hope in one outside of ourselves,
in the Lord Jesus Christ. You said it this morning, Wayne.
You said it this morning. When we see Him high and lifted
up, boy, it abases us. And then we begin to look outside
of ourselves for a hope And that's the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
I tell you, the greater sinner that you can see yourself to
be, the more you're going to see the merit in the Savior. You're going to be amazed at
the merit in His blood that can justify you from all your sins. You're going to be amazed in
the power of His intercession on the right hand of God to keep
somebody like you. It has a good effect to know
what you are. And may God teach us more of
ourselves. If you and I were faultless and
sinless and we were holy in and of ourselves, we may marvel that
we could save ourselves. But I tell you what, since we
are what we are, we marvel. We marvel at the merits of Jesus
Christ to save us. Look at my second text. Look
at Psalms 73 and verse 26. Psalms 73 and verse 26. This is an amazing thing. This
is a truth. I hope the Lord has taught you
this. But this is something that we have to learn repeatedly over
and over again. Look in verse 26. Psalms chapter 73 and verse 26. My flesh and my heart felleth,
but God is the strength of my heart. And look at this. God
is my portion forever. Isn't that wonderful? God is
my portion. The word means inheritance. God
Himself is my inheritance. Think of such a thing. To inherit
God? For God to be one's portion? Isn't that wonderful? I tell
you, there's a lot of people in this world that have obtained
a great portion of the things of this world. Somebody was telling me the other
day about Warren Buffett. and how rich that man is, just
unbelievable. Him and Bill Gates and Donald
Trump, the richest those men have. The beauty of all the movie stars. I saw them, I think last night
I was watching something and all the movie stars, those who
are somebody in their own eyes, they were all congregated somewhere
for a big dinner or something. They had on all their big beautiful
gowns and the men was dressed in these suits and they were
taking pictures of them. Boy, this flashes. Now the beauty
of Hollywood. And the fame that's out there
and the power the politicians have, they glory in all of that. All the riches of the fat cats
up in Wall Street. But you know something? None
of those fellows are going to take a thing out of this world
with them. They're going to leave their beauty and their fame.
They're going to leave their riches and their power in this
world. Paul said there's one thing that's
certain. We brought nothing into this
world and we're going to carry nothing out. Nothing out. All those rich cats, they're
going to leave it all behind for somebody else to blow and
waste. I've got a dear neighbor just
down over the hill from me. He tore his mother's old house
down, been turning it down there for probably two years or so.
And I watched him because he's outside my office window and
I looked down over the hill and I seen him working. And I'm telling
you, he took, that man by himself, took that old house down almost
a piece at a time. And he had packed two-by-fours
and put them in one stack, and two-by-sixes and put them in
another stack. He packed the rocks and put them
in another stack, and the old tin roof and put it in another
stack. He had stacks of stuff all over the place. And I saw
him down there again this week, and he's still there working
on it. And I saw how bent over he was. And I thought, boy, he's
wearing his stuff out. And I thought of Bunyan's, Bunyan's
muck wrecker. Bunyan's old muckraker with his
head bent over and raking in the muck, and a crown over his
head, but he couldn't see it because he's busy muckraking.
And I thought, my poor neighbor, he's a muckraker. And everything
he's muckraking with, he's going to lose it. But then I thought
this, not only is he a poor muckraker, Bill Gates is a muckraker. Warren
Buffett is a muckraker. Those beautiful women in Hollywood
and men, they're muckrakers. If God is not a man's portion,
he's going to lose it. He's a muckraker. Everything
he has, he's going to leave it behind. And he's going to leave
this world in poverty. Poor old Asaph in this Psalm
73, he was such a poor man. He was an afflicted man. He said, every morning I get
up, the Lord lays His rod on my back. I've been chastened
every morning. And He said, I look at these
wicked people. And boy, they have more than
their hearts could desire. They're not in trouble like everybody
else. And he began to envy the wicked until the Lord opened
his eyes and He said, in a moment, You brought them into desolation. In a moment, you brought them
to ruin. You brought them to emptiness
and waste. They've left everything in this
world, everything they possess, they've left it. And now they've
come to nothing. And then He turns around and
He writes this word. He said, My flesh and my heart
fails me. What of it, He said? What of
it? I have nothing in this world.
I am afflicted. My health is gone. My money is
gone. What of it? God is my portion. Oh, brothers and sisters, what
can God give a man? I wonder what Peter meant when
he said, He has begotten us unto this eternal
inheritance. that's incorruptible and undefiled
and that fadeth not away. I wonder, I know He's talking
about a new heaven and a new earth. I know He's talking about
a body that's changed and raised like to Christ. But I wonder
if He's not talking about more than that. I wonder if that inheritance
does not include God Himself. To inherit God. To inherit what
God can make. My goodness, what can God make?
What can God give a man? It's incomprehensible. But for
God to give a man Himself, for a man to say, The Lord is my
inheritance. He's my portion. Oh my goodness. What effect does that have upon
us if we could live in the faith of this? I tell you, we'd look
at this world and its things as just passing shadows, wouldn't
they? Toys of time. All the temporal
advantages, they're just that. And we're going to leave them
all behind. But God, if He's your portion,
He's your portion forever. You'll never lose Him. You may
get an inheritance down here and lose it and waste it, but
not Him. God is my portion forever. What a wonderful truth that is,
forever. Look at Philippians chapter 4,
thirdly. Philippians chapter 4. Here's
another truth. Very familiar truth. Philippians chapter 4. Look in verse 19. This is a blessed
truth. It's written in the form of a
promise. Philippians 4.19 But my God shall
supply all your need according to His riches in glory. Here is the truth that my God
supplies all my need. What do you need this afternoon
that God has not supplied in the physical realm? Nobody's
sitting here without clothes on. Everybody has clothes. Nice
clothes. You look so good. You're clothed. You look so handsome and pretty.
Where'd you get that? God clothed you, did he not?
Food? Basically, all we need in this
world is food and raiment, is it not? Having food and rain,
let us be content. But what did the Lord Jesus teach
us about our Father in heaven? He clothes the lilies of the
field. He feeds the little birds that's
in the air. Can He not clothe and feed you? And not only can He not, but
does He not do it? But oh, it reaches farther than
just the physical, doesn't it? It reaches the spiritual. What
do we need for our soul? Has He not provided clothing?
Has He not provided that raiment to cover the shame of our nakedness,
even the righteousness of Christ? Has He not provided for us the
bread of life that He feeds us with Christ Himself? What is
it that God has not supplied us with? Nothing. We've got more than our hearts
could desire, haven't we? God supplies all our need. We're clothed instead of naked. Clean instead of filthy. Saved
instead of lost. Justified instead of guilty.
Accepted instead of rejected. Fed instead of starving. Hoping
instead of despairing. Believing instead of apostatizing. living and moving and having
our being, all because God is careful to meet our needs according
to His riches in glory. If we're not careful, this won't
mean very much to us. Because we've sort of got spoiled,
haven't we? We think we're really the ones that's doing all this.
That's what we've got to in our country, isn't it? Well, I've
done this. I've got my job. I've worked.
I've got a retirement now. I've got this set up. I'm doing
it. But really, we're not doing anything, brothers and sisters.
It's God doing everything for us from His rich storehouse.
We have four missionaries. We've got two down in Mexico.
And boy, if we could put ourselves in their shoes, you know they're
utterly dependent upon the Lord to care for them. They can't
go to work. They won't let them. It's strange
how they can send guys over here. They can work. You go down there,
you can't work. They can't lift a finger. Our
missionaries can't. Their food, their clothing, their
work, all they do, they're utterly dependent upon the Lord to send
them in to do that. We've got a missionary over in
New Guinea. Not only he can't work, there's
no work to do. They are utterly dependent upon
what this means to them. My God shall supply all your
needs. The needs of your body. The needs
of your soul. What effect does this have? Look
here in verse 6 and 7. Be anxious for nothing, but in
everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests
be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth
all understanding, shall keep your hearts and your minds. And look what he says over in
verse 11. Not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned
in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. It leads to contentment,
to rest in your mind. My God shall supply all my needs. Look in another verse. Look in
Ephesians chapter 2. Here's the fourth thing. Here's
the fourth thing. Ephesians chapter 2, right back
to your left. Here's the fourth truth. And it's this. Being a poor sinner that I am,
acknowledge it before God. I have continual and free access into God's presence. I have continual
and free access into God's presence. I want you to look at this. Look
in Ephesians chapter 2 and look in verse 13. Look in verse 12. Ephesians 2
verse 12. That at that time you were without
Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers
from the covenant of promise, having no hope, and without God
in the world. But now, in Christ Jesus, ye
who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. Now looking down in verse 18,
for through Him We both have access. We Jew and Gentile have
access by one Spirit unto the Father. Through Jesus Christ
the Lord, we have access unto God the Father and unto His grace
and His mercy through Jesus Christ. You notice here what he didn't
say? through the strength of your faith, you have access. If he had said that, that would
have left some of us out, wouldn't it? How much faith do you have?
How strong is it? Do you complain about it like
I do? Do you sometimes fall into this awful unbelief when clouds
and shadows come over your head? He didn't say by the strength
of your faith. He didn't say by the clearness of your understanding. Boy, you've gotten so wise. You
filled your head full of knowledge. You got access through knowledge.
No, He didn't say that, did He? Sometimes our understanding is
so darkened, we can't grasp anything. If we do, we forget it. And He
didn't say through the power of your will. Boy, you're so
resolved. You're a man among men. You've
got access. He didn't say that. What did
He say? He opened the door wide open
for the weakest among us through Jesus Christ the Lord. Through His blood, through His
marriage, through His intercession. You know the effect this has
upon your pastor? I can go to God whether I feel
like it or not. I can go to God when I feel sick
in my soul or when I feel healthy in my soul. I go to God when
I'm down or when I'm up. I can go to Him 24 hours a day,
7 days a week, because Jesus Christ, my access, who pleased
God in all that He did, is seated at the Father's right hand. And
the Father looks upon Him and says, Son, for Your sake, everybody
that comes to Me through You, I'll have mercy upon them. I'll
receive Him. I'll hear His prayer. All for
your sake. Because you're who you are. And
because you're precious in my sight. Isn't that wonderful? Don't that encourage you to pray?
Oh, we sin sometimes and we get down and we carry this guilt
and this load with us. And we try to think, boy, when
I get to feeling better, I'll go pray. Isn't that awful? Isn't that disgraceful? But the
Bible says if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father.
That's Jesus Christ, the righteous. And He is the propitiation for
our sin. We can't atone for our sins,
but God knows we commit them. But He's provided for us, has
He not? An advocate who is the propitiation, who has atoned
for our sins. Come and welcome to God. Anybody
in here this afternoon, saved or lost, come and welcome to
God when you come through this Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. By Him we have access unto the
Father. Fifthly, look at Colossians chapter
3. Just back over to your right.
A couple of more and we'll close. Colossians chapter 3 and verse
9. This is a blessed truth. What
a blessed truth this is. Look in chapter 3 verse 9. Lying
out one to another, saying you have put off the old man with
his deeds. And you put on the new man, which is renewed in
knowledge after the image of him that created him, where there
is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian,
scythian, bond or free. But look at this, but Christ
is all and in all. Christ is in all the believers.
And every believer that He is in, He is their all. He is everything
God requires of them. He is everything they need. He is all. I spent all my teenage years
looking away from Jesus Christ to find some way to be accepted
of God. To find something to commend
me to God. And nobody is any more guilty
of this abominable sin than looking away from Him to something else,
to somebody else. I'm still guilty of that today. You know, our problem, somebody
says, and a man said this, he said, you better not make too
much of Jesus Christ. How do you do that? What else
is there, brothers and sisters? Here's the trouble we get into
when we try to make something of something else. When we look
away from Christ to something else, that's when we get in trouble.
The more we look to Him as our all, the more dedicated we're
going to be to Him. It's when we look away from Him
and try to compensate for His deficiency that we get in trouble. He doesn't have any deficiency.
Old dear brother Scott Richardson used to say, Is Christ all I
need? He said, if He's all you have,
He's all you need. And I tell you the effect that
this has had upon me, I want to make sure that this Christ
is mine. If He's all, then He's all God requires. I just want
to make sure, is He mine? Because if He's all, I've got
to have Him. Because without Him, I have nothing.
I have nothing. But with Him, what do I have?
Everything. I am complete in Him and completely
accepted in Him. If He is my all, then I have
all and I need nothing else. If Jesus Christ is all my life,
if He is all my salvation, if He is all my desire, then I will
study to know nothing but Jesus Christ. I will study to know
nothing but Jesus Christ, because there is nothing but Him. And when you've got your mind,
when you've got your affection set upon Jesus Christ, your life
will become so simple and peaceful, you won't be confused anymore
about anything. You remember the story Spurgeon
told about the old Husker, Husker, Husker, however you pronounce
that name, Husker. He was just a man who knew nothing.
He came into the church and wanted them to receive men at the church.
And some of the elders got him in the back room to examine him,
what he knew about this truth and what he knew about that truth.
And he said, well, I just don't know. They said, what do you
know? And he said, I'm a poor sinner
and nothing at all, but Jesus Christ is my all in all. And they could not budge. They
said, you've got to know more than that. Brothers and sisters,
is there any more than that? What could a man know of himself
but this? I'm a poor sinner and nothing. What more could a man know of
Christ than this? He's all in all. That's good theology, isn't it?
Oh, take that with you and build upon that. And it will be well
with your soul if Christ is your all. One last truth. Look in 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2. Back over to your right. 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2. We looked at this last Sunday
evening. But I just want to comment on
this in closing. This is my last point. I've got nothing to say for when
I finish this. So I can sneak up on somebody. My last poem. Look in 2 Thessalonians chapter
2 verse 13. We are bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath
from the beginning, whenever that was, it was before the foundation
of the world, He's chosen you He chose you. To what? To salvation. How is He going
to save you? He chose you to salvation. How
is He going to save you? Through sanctification of the
spirit and belief of the truth. Whereunto He called you by our
gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. What effects, therefore, does
this have? Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions
which you have been taught, whether by word or by epistle." This
is a great truth that God is a God of purpose. He has an eternal
purpose. His purpose is unfailing. It's
unchanging. And in His redeeming purpose,
He has chosen a great number out of Adam's race. Adam's fallen
race. And He chose them not to be preachers. Not to be apostles. A higher
calling than that. He chose them to salvation. Chose
them to salvation. And you know all hell and all
the rage of this earth cannot stop God from fulfilling His
purpose to save His people. It cost the
Son of God everything He had upon Calvary's tree. And today
the Sovereign Spirit is working in this world, calling them, regenerating them. giving them
a new heart and a new spirit, keeping them, teaching them to
deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. And He'll keep them until
at last He has conformed them perfectly to the image of Jesus
Christ. That's God's purpose. His eternal
purpose. And He says, I purposed it. I
will also do it, saith the Lord. If you want to study a precious
truth that will bless your heart and establish you, study God's
purpose. Study God's purpose and see how
sure it is in His redeeming, electing love. And then, when
you can believe you're one of them, Well, Todd Niber said a fellow
asked him one time, he said, Todd, what if I'm not one of
them? And Todd said, yeah, but what if you are? What if you
are? What if you're one of those he
calls beloved? My beloved that he set his affections
upon. Put your name in the Book of
Life. See, election is a personal thing. He chose you to salvage. It's a personal thing, isn't
it? And when you read then that God's
purpose will never be altered, never be made void, it'll never
change. Oh my goodness gracious, and
all the fears that you have, all the doubts that you may go
through, all the trials, all the uncertainty in this world
that we're facing, it will not change God's eternal purpose
one iota. If you're one of His, then you'll
be saved at last. And here's the way you know that
you want to hear this. You have to look at it right
here and follow it backwards. You don't start out there before
the world was and bring it forward. No, you start by this and say,
I believe the gospel. I've come to the Lord Jesus Christ. He saved me. What does that prove
therefore? That proved that God loved me
and chose me. I'd have never come to Christ
if He hadn't loved me. And then when you've made your
calling and election, sure, boy, get this in your heart. My salvation
is history. My eternal happiness is fixed
where no men or devils can make it void. Oh, what a precious
truth. Therefore, He said, brethren,
be steadfast. Be steadfast. That's one of John
Mitchell's favorite verses. Every time I call him, he used
to almost close our telephone call with that. Brethren, be
steadfast. Laying out there on the bed shaking
with his Parkinson's disease. Couldn't even feed himself. Brethren,
be steadfast. And boy, he was, wasn't he, Wayne?
He was. And nobody believed the purpose
of God like that man did. And he showed it in his dying
days. God bless His Word. Let's pray.