Now open your Bibles to Job chapter
2. This message that I'm going to
preach tonight, when we lay hold of what's being
said here and what's implied, it makes preaching a little more
difficult. It makes this place a little
more awesome. It makes this responsibility
a little more heavy. Job, the Lord said, was an upright
man, a righteous man. And yet the Lord severely tried
him, tested him, Perhaps as no other righteous
man has ever been tried and tested. And yet through it all, Job made
statements like this. Look at Job 1 verse 20. And Job arose and rent his mantle. Everything he had was gone. All
of his cattle, camels, oxen, sheep, ten children dead. Wiped out. A man sitting there
broken-hearted, devastated, shaved his head and fell down on the
ground and worshipped God. And he said, naked I came out
of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither the Lord
gave. I came into this world with nothing,
I'll go out with nothing. All that I enjoyed and all that
I participated in and of God gave it to me, and God has been
pleased to take it away. Blessed be the name of the Lord."
In all this, Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. But
there was another encounter. Satan came back before God, and
he had this to say. He said, We took away his cattle,
took away his wealth, took away his children. We took all of
this away. But you didn't lay your hand
on him. You didn't lay your hand on him,
skin for skin. Skin for skin. You put your hand
on him, touch him, afflict him, put him into the valley of misery
and suffering. facing death, and he'll curse
you. I got a call just before I came
to church tonight, a young lady, 36 years of age, in another town
whom I've known for a long time, has cancer. They've removed both
breasts. Her mother died of the same thing,
and her father died of cancer. And she's greatly troubled, you
know. This is a traumatic, traumatic
experience. Some of you ladies have been
there. You know where she is. I don't. Many of us don't, but
you do. It's got to be difficult. You
know, maybe the loss of a son or a daughter or the loss of
a house or a job. Like Satan was saying, it's not
as difficult as God puts you. on your back, facing
these difficult, difficult things. But all right, the Lord says
he's yours. Do what you will, but don't kill
him. And Satan, verse 7 of chapter
2, went forth from the presence of the Lord and smoked Job with
sore boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. infections, boils. So he took a potsherd to scrape
himself with all, and he sat down among the ashes. Now you
think of this. He lost every possession, every child,
and now he's lost his health, and his skin and bones, and he's
hurting all over. He's scraping these awful boils
from the crown of his head to the sole of his And then his
wife came, verse 9, and said, Do you still retain your integrity? See, everybody thought God was
punishing him. They thought he had sinned secretly
and greatly, and God had descended upon him in punishment. She said,
Why do you sit there and maintain your faith and your integrity?
Why don't you just curse God and die? And he said to her, You speak
as one of the foolish women. What? Shall we receive good at
the hand of God and shall we not receive evil? In all of this,
Job did not sin with his lips. He didn't charge God with foolishness.
He finally said, though he slay me, I'll trust him. Now, here's
something coming up here. When three friends, Job's three
friends, these evidently were his closest three friends, heard
of all this evil that was come upon Job. They came, every one
from his own place. These were men who had known
Job for years, and they lived in other places. They had heard
all about his loss, about his affliction, and they came. Eliphaz
the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, Zophar the Naamathite. They had
made an appointment together. They got together, and they said,
we'll go mourn with Job and go and comfort him. And when they
lifted up their eyes afar off, they didn't even recognize him.
They didn't know him. He was in such a terrible, terrible
condition. They did not know him. And lifted
up their voices and wept, and they rent every one his mantle
and sprinkled dust on his head toward heaven. Now watch this,
and they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven
nights. They sat around Job. Here he
sits in the ashes. Seven days and seven nights,
and none of them spake a word. For they saw his grief was very
great. But then they began to speak.
You who are familiar with the book of Job, you who have read
the book of Job, Know that these men then began to speak. They
had an awful lot to say. Eliphas and Bildad and Zophar
had a lot to say. In fact, the whole book of Job,
most of the book of Job, is a dialogue between these men and Job. They
were talking and he was talking. They were talking and he was
talking. They were accusing him of sin and he was defending his
righteousness. I have a lot of people who Question
whether Job was saved. This is sufficient for me God
said he's a righteous man. That's sufficient I'd take all
that doubt out of him God said He's a righteous man my servant
God called him but anyway, Job had a lot to say and so did these
men and Finally the Lord spoke Turn to Job 38. Finally the Lord
spoke. Even there's another young man
who joined them, a young man named Elihu. He came on the scene
and he had some things to say. So most of this book is a dialogue
between these men and Job, and Job and these men. And then God
spoke. And the Lord spoke to Job first.
Chapter 38, verse 1. Then the Lord answered Job out
of the whirlwind and said, Who is this? that darkeneth counsel
by words without knowledge." Who is this muddying the water?
And that's what, who is this muddying the water? I think sometimes
that we preachers are guilty of muddying the water. I really
do. I was playing golf last week.
I usually hit my ball right on the green. But I hit one in a
lake. And it rolled over just barely
into the lake. I saw it when it hit. It rolled
off down the hill and went into the lake. I knew it wouldn't
be over that far from the shore and I could retrieve it. Went
over there and the fellow with me went on. He said it went right
in here somewhere and he stuck his club down there and moved
around in the mud. It was so deep. I said, we're
not going to be able to see it at all now. You've muddied the
water. If you'd left it alone, I might have seen it. And I think
sometimes. When we read God's Word, if we leave it alone, stand
there long enough, we say, but we've got to... And that's what
he's saying here to Job, you've muddied the water. You've darkened
the counsel by words without knowledge. You've expressed your
opinion, and nobody can understand it. Now, you just gird up your
loins like a man, and I'll demand of you, and you answer me. Where
were you, Job, when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare
if you have understanding." Now, this is a man that God just put
through severe torment and trial and tribulation like no man's
ever suffered, and here God's descending on him. We've got
to feel sorry for ourselves, but God doesn't owe us anything.
We mope and moan and groan and complain and murmur and pine
fault, and then God comes down to Job and He said, you defending
your righteousness, where were you when I laid the foundations
of the earth? Verse 5, Who hath stretched, who hath laid the
measure thereof? You know. Who hath stretched the line thereof?
Whereupon are the foundations of this earth fastened? Who laid
the cornerstone thereof? Tell me you know anything about
these things. You claim to be so smart, know
so much. Tell me about these things. This
is Job God talking to me. I tell you, we get tempted to
get on a high horse and think we know anything, we're in a
bad place. We don't know anything. Look
at Job 40, the Lord speaking to him again. In Job 40, verse
1, Moreover the Lord answered Job, and said, Shall he that
contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? He that reproveth God, let him
answer it. Then Job answered the Lord, and
said, Behold, I am vile. What shall I answer thee? This
is good instruction here. I lay my hand on my mouth. I
lay my hand on my mouth. Once have I spoken, but I'll
not answer, yet twice, but I'll proceed no farther. Then answered the Lord unto Job
out of the whirlwind, and said, Gird up your loins now like a
man, sitting there scraping your balls. I'll demand of thee, and
declare thou unto me. Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? Wilt thou condemn me that you
may be righteous? Is that what you're doing, Job? This is what I said. When we
read things like this, it makes this preaching business mighty
awesome, doesn't it? Speaking for God. Let's look at Job 42, verse 1. Job 42, verse 1, Job answered the Lord
and said, I know thou canst do everything, no thought can be
withholden from thee. Who is he that hath a counsel
without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that
I understood not things too wonderful for me." And then God spoke to the three
friends, and this is the thing that caught my attention, the
thing I want to look at tonight, verse 7. After the Lord had spoken
these words to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite,
My wrath is kindled against thee and against your two friends.
For you have not spoken of me that the thing that is right. The essence of what the Lord
is saying here, as I understand it, is this. My wrath is kindled
against you because you have not spoken of me, the thing that's
right. Job has, you haven't. And then
I analyze this saying. Now, I know that Job's defense
of himself was a bit strong. Turn back to Job 32. I know his
defense of himself was a bit strong. Somebody said one time that Job
wasn't justifying himself before God. He was justifying himself
before the charges of these men. That's the reason that he was
so strong in defense of himself. But he carried it too far, Tom.
He did carry it too far. In fact, here in Job 32, verse
1, so these three men cease ceased from answering Job because he
was righteous in his own eyes. It appeared that way. It appeared
that way. Then was Kendall the wrath of
Elihu, the son of Barakal, the Buzite of the kindred of Ram,
against Job was his wrath, Kendall, because Job justified himself
rather than God. Also against his three friends
was his wrath, Kendall, because they found no answer. And yet
they condemned Job. So no one can deny Job's defense
of himself was a bit strong. But here are three or four other
observations. God said Job, even in his misery
and even in the defense of himself, even taking it too far, basically,
overall, had spoken the right thing of God. And yet these men
around him, and these men were zealous. They sat there for seven
days and nights without saying a word. That's a long time. That's
a whole week just sitting there looking at Job. And then how
many days they talked, I don't know. But they were zealous men.
They were dedicated men. Secondly, no one can deny the
fact that they were sincere men. And they were deeply religious
men, because some of the things they said are very good. Just
excellent. If you read the book of Job,
you go back and read what Bildad said, and what Zophar said, and
what Eliphaz said, and they said some good things. They declared
some truth. Some truth. But in the whole
affair, when it was all over, the Lord said to these three
men, He said, I'm angry with you. Now he'd rebuked Job, and
he'd dealt harshly with Job, and he'd corrected Job, but he
said, my wrath's against you, because he said, you have not
spoken of me the thing that's right, as my servant Job hath. And when I read those statements,
he said it twice to him, you haven't spoken of me the thing
that's right. This is what rose up before me.
You've said some good things, but your message overall is not
right. Your message... I hear people,
they'll listen to a television preacher, and they'll say, he
said Jesus died on the cross, and he said the blood is our
only hope of salvation. And he said, he said a lot of
good things. I know. These men did too. You
read the book of Job. They said some good things. They
said some solid, scriptural, God-honoring things. But my Lord
said here that their overall message was not right. It was
not right. Put it all together. Put it all
together. Put it all together. Their attitude,
their objective, their message, put it all together, and God
said it's wrong. It's all wrong. Now, in this day of religion,
nearly everybody, including myself, nearly everyone is doing a lot
of talking about God. A lot of talking about God. A lot of talking about divine
things in spite of the warning that we have over here in Ecclesiastes. Turn to Ecclesiastes. Yeah, but
somebody's got to speak, I know that. I know that as well as
you do. Somebody's got to teach, I know
that. In Ecclesiastes 5, verse 1 and
2. Keep thy foot when thou goest
to the house of God. Be more ready to hear than to
give the sacrifice of fools. Now what would be the sacrifice
of fools? Well, if he tells us to be more ready to hear, then
the sacrifice of fools must be to talk. They consider not that
they do evil. Be not rash with your mouth,
and let not your heart be hasty to utter anything before God. God's in heaven, and thou upon
the earth. Therefore let thy words be few.
In other words, when we speak for God, or of God, or of divine
things, let us be certain as certain as we can be, that our
message overall, and our objective overall, and our gospel overall,
is right, is that which is right in the eyes of God. What is right
in the eyes of God? The two other verses here that
I looked at in Job, chapter 35, listen to this. Job 35, 16, and
you know how preachers and Sunday school teachers and Bible
teachers are so wordy. Just word, word, word, word,
word, words. And this is what he says about
that, Job 35, 16. Therefore that Job opened his
mouth in vain, he multiplieth words without knowledge. He multiplies just a multiplicity
of words, but no knowledge. So I'm asking of me, and of you,
of what we're listening to in this day, speaking of God, the
thing that's right. Is there somebody who's speaking
of God, the thing, am I speaking the thing that's right? That's
what I want to know, child. Well, I looked through the Word,
and I found some things that God said were right. Some things
that were right. And I believe that's what I'm
preaching. I've got some understanding of it. I believe many of you
have. I'm encouraged. Let's turn first of all to the
book of Luke. Some things God said, you fellas, you fellas. He rebuked Job, he rebuked him.
He rebuked the whole lot. But he said this one thing in
the overall picture. In the overall presentation message,
Job has spoken of me the thing that's right, and you fellas
have not spoken of me the thing that's right. All right, in Luke
chapter 10, here's one thing, one thing, Luke chapter 10, that
I know is right. Now listen to Luke 10, verse
38. as they went, that they entered
into a certain village, and a certain woman named Martha received him
into her house. She had a sister. Martha had
a sister. It was Martha's house. Evidently,
Martha was the oldest daughter, and the house was hers, and she
sort of took charge and fixed things, and it was called her
house. And she had a younger sister named Mary. And Mary sat
at Jesus' feet and heard his words. But Martha, Martha was
a busy lady, businesswoman, woman cumbered about much serving,
woman careful about many things, anxious about many things. She
came to the Lord and she said to him, Lord, dost thou not care
that my sister hath left me to serve alone? She's left all of
this work to me and all of this planning and all of this preparation. Bid her therefore that she help
me. And Martha, Mary's sitting right
here at his feet. She's standing, there she sits.
And Martha came in here and she's a zealous go-getter. Working
hard preparing dinner and getting everything arranged and all this.
And Christ is sitting there in the chair talking and speaking
to him. And Mary's sitting here at his
feet looking up into his face, loving him and worshiping him.
adoring him and feeding on every word he said. And Martha comes
buzzing in and she says, don't you care that I have to do all
this organizing and getting everything together and she's just sitting
there. I tell her to get up and come help me. And Jesus answered
and said to her, Martha, Martha, Martha. You know when you say
somebody's name twice, Martha, Martha. Disappointment. You just don't
understand Martha. Martha, Martha. You see the way
he's saying it? Martha, Martha. Martha, Martha. You're careful in your trouble
about many things. You've got a lot of irons in
the fire. You've got an awful lot on your mind. You're a busy
person. But Martha, one thing. One thing. is absolutely needful,
necessary, essential. And what is it, Martha? It's
that which Mary hath chosen. She hath chosen that good part,
which shall not be taken away from her. What is it? Well, look
back here at verse 39. You'll see what she chose. You'll
see where she was and what she'd chosen. Verse 39, Mary sat at
Jesus' feet and heard His words. All right, I'll tell you something
without a doubt in this world, that I speak and preach tonight
about God that's right. That's right. And that is the
one thing I need, the one thing this son of Adam needs, the one
thing that you need, is Christ and to sit at His feet and hear
His Word. Humbly sitting at the feet of
Christ, feeding upon Him and His Word. You need that. Now,
that's right. If I can understand what he's
saying here, the one thing needful, the one thing needful, say, I
have to eat, I have to have clothes to wear, I have to take care
of the business, I have to do all these things. Well, but the
one thing needful is to sit at his feet. Mary, you see, loved
the Savior. She was so taken up with Him.
I'll tell you on another occasion, turn to John 12. Listen to this.
She was so taken up with him that she not only forgot some
of the common duties of life, she neglected the common duties
of life. You know, I know Mary knew that had company
here was Christ and his disciples, and she knew that dinner had
to be prepared, but she figured dinner could come second to Christ. She knew that these people had
to have their food, and had to have lodging, and had to be cared
for, and the house had to be cleaned, and all these things.
But she was just so taken up with Christ, and His presence,
and His person, and His Word, that she just flat forgot these
things. Just forgot them. Oh, to be there. Ought to be that. Ought to be
driven to prayer. Ought to be driven to fasting.
Ought to be driven to Christ by our love and concern for Him
that just makes you forget other things. Listen to John 12. Tell you something else about
it. Then Jesus, six days, John 12, before the Passover, came
to Bethany, back here to this place, where Lazarus was, which
had been dead, whom He raised from the dead, and they made
him another supper, and Martha, she's still serving. Just serving
the Lord. Serving the Lord. I don't know
why that this serving the Lord has taken on a distaste for me,
but every time I hear somebody say, well, I'm serving the Lord,
it upsets me. I wish they'd love Him and listen
to Him. But they'd be, may or may not
serve. But Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table, and
where's Martha? Well, where's Martha? Where's
Mary? Mary's where Mary always is. Mary took a pound of ointment
of spike, very costly. She not only loved Christ so
much that she neglected the common things of life, but she loved
him so much she went in and got her best jar of perfume, the
best she had, very expensive, and brought it and broke it and
did what with it? And anointed his feet, and un-platted
her hair, and wiped his feet with her hair, And the house
was filled with the odor of the ointment. And my friends, I don't know what Elaphus and
Bildad and the rest of them talked about, but I know this, this
is the one thing that's right and needful. And that's to be
found with such an affection for Christ, such a love for the
Son of God, such a love for His Word. to be taken up in heart
with His Word, that the common duties of life are just flat
neglected. And some of the things that we
treasure and heaped ourselves and save up, we just say, well,
I just give them to Christ. I just break them open, put them
at His feet and kiss His feet. This is right. This is right. Lord, engrave it on my heart
that thou the one thing needful art. I could from all things
and people parted be, but never, never, never, Lord, from thee. Needful art thou to make me live. Needful art thou grace to give. Needful to guide my feet lest
I stray. Needful to help me and keep me
every day. Needful is thy most precious
blood, needful is your correcting rod, needful your promise to
impart fresh grace, fresh life to my heart. Needful art thou
to be my stay through all of life's dark and stormy way. No
less in death thou wilt needful be when in that day I yield up
my soul to thee. Have we spoken the things that
are right? This is right. Let me show you another one,
Mark 10. I didn't lead you astray on that one now. That's right.
I've spoken of God, the thing that's right. My Lord said, Martha,
Martha, you've come with much care, but Mary has chosen the
good part. And it'll never be taken away
from her. Everything you work for will be taken away from her.
Martha had all of her doilies and all of her footstools and
all of her pictures. Her clean floor, you could eat
off her floor, swept and varnished. Her hand-woven bedspreads and
all of her friends and everything Martha had she lost. Everything she had. Mary didn't
lose what she loved. She went right on to glory with
it. I'm not a dreamer, I'm telling you the truth. Seek ye first
the kingdom of God. These other things will be added
to you. If we could be so much in love with Him that we neglected
some of the things that we think are essential. But these things have such a
grip on us it brings me to Mark 10. Now watch this. Here was
a young man that's where most of us are. Mark 10, 17. Yes. And when he was gone forth into
the way, Mark 10, 17, there came one running and kneeled to him
and asked him, good master, what shall I do that I may inherit
eternal life? And Matthew says he asked, what
good thing shall I do? What shall I do to serve you? What shall I contribute? What
act shall I put forth? What effort shall I put forth
to inherit and earn eternal life? That's what he's asking. I preached
on this recently, I'll go through it quickly. Jesus said unto him,
why do you call me good? There's no man good but God. None good but one, that's God.
That ought to take care of any request the man had about doing
something good. We can't do anything good. There's
nothing good in us. No good thing in our flesh. In
the flesh dwelleth no good thing. But Christ said, if you want
to earn life, then here's what you do. And this is true. You
know the commandments. Do not commit adultery, do not
kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, defraud not, honor
thy father and thy mother. If you would be perfect, then
go and keep the commandments. That's never... Moses describes
the righteousness of the law in the same way. He said the
man that does them will live by it. If anybody out here wants
to do something to gain eternal life, there she is. Do it. Well, you say, I can't do it.
Well, you know more than this fella did. He said he'd done it. He
answered and said, Master, I've observed all these from my youth.
And then the Lord beholding him loved him, had pity upon him,
just like we have pity upon blind people. And he said to him one thing.
Here's that thing again. One thing he liked. One thing. You go thy way and sell what
you have and give it to the poor and you'll have treasure in heaven. You come take up your cross and
trust me and follow me. Commit your life to me. Come
where Mary is at my feet." This man was entangled. This man was immersed in. The things of this world, the
cares of this world, the burdens of this world, the possessions
of this world, his whole life was motivated by the things of
this world, involved in the things of this world. Christ said, you've
got to get rid of these things. No man can serve two masters.
And you come follow me. You come sit at my feet and hear
my word. And it said he was sad at that
saying, and he went away grieved, for he had great possessions.
He was a great talent, and a great businessman, had great possessions.
And Jesus looked round about and said unto his disciples,
How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom
of God. And the disciples were astonished
at his words. After all, didn't we just read
about Job, the richest man in the East? After all, wasn't Abraham
one of the most powerful men of his day? Wasn't David, Solomon? The disciples were astounded
at this. They were astonished at his word.
But Jesus answered them again and said to them, Children, how
hard it is for them, here's the word, trust. Trust. How hard It is for them that
trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God. Now, no need
to argue the virtues of this young man. This young man lacked
one thing, and lacking that one thing made everything else total
loss. He did not trust Christ. Trust Him. Richard, you talk about Mary
and Martha a while ago. Martha was cumbered I admire
Martha, yes, I know that. And Mary was sitting here at
his feet, and Mary was neglecting some things that maybe we give
a lot of care to, and Mary took this ointment, and just like
one disciple said, well, why don't we sell that and give it
to the poor? That would have been a lot more practical. He
didn't care about the poor. But Mary broke open that ointment
and put it on Christ's feet and dried his feet with the hair
of her head. Mary's not practical. And I'll tell you this, Mary
trusted Christ. That's what this young man couldn't
do. He couldn't trust Christ. He couldn't trust Him. I was
reading two passages of Scripture, one over here in 2 Kings, turning
over there a minute, preparing a Sunday school lesson. This
is interesting. This young man couldn't trust.
He trusted his riches. He trusted what he could do.
He trusted what he had provided. He trusted what he had laid up.
He trusted what he had said. He trusted these things. No man
can serve two masters if we can learn to trust him. And I'll
tell you this, if we come to love him and to know him and
hear his word, we'll trust him. He will provide. He will provide. In 2nd Kings, look at this a
moment, let me just show you something here. In 2nd Kings,
the king of Syria had made war on Elisha. He was going to destroy
Elisha. And the king of Syria came down
to the town where Elisha was. You remember Charlie just circled
the town. He circled the whole community. And Elisha was down
here in his little house with his servant, and in verse In
verse 15, the servant of the man of God arose early and went
out, and behold, a host compassed the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said, Master,"
I see him just wringing his hands, "'Elisha, Master, what are we
going to do? What are we going to do?' And the master, Elisha, answered,
said, "'Don't be afraid. They that be with us are more
than they that be with them.'" You just can't see them. That's right. And then Elisha
prayed and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes and let him
see that we don't need to fear what man can do unto us and fear
the things of this earth. Open his eyes. And the Lord opened
his eyes and the young man saw, and behold, the mountains were
full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. They
were there all the time. Elisha knew they were there.
Elisha trusted God. He trusted. He trusted. Let me show you another one that
goes right along with it. Turn to 2 Chronicles. And they
were there all the time. 2 Chronicles chapter 32. You remember when Hagar and her
son were out there? This is not the scripture. 2
Chronicles 32. You remember when Hagar and her
son, Ishmael, were out in the wilderness and she said, we're
going to die? And God opened her eyes and there
was a well. It was there all the time. It was there all the
time. Now listen to this, 2 Chronicles
chapter 32. 2 Chronicles 32 verse 7. And this is Hezekiah speaking
here, the king, and he says to the people, Be strong and courageous.
Be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria. Not for
all the multitude that's with him. For there be more with us
than with him. With him is an arm of flesh. But with us is the Lord our God
to help us and to fight our battles. So the people rested. Trust him. I'm telling you the truth. Telling
you the truth. I'm speaking the truth about
God. Now, here's the third thing. Turn to Psalm 27. Now, where
are we? The thing that's right. One thing
I need. One thing I need. I need, like Maverick, to be
so in love with Christ, so taken up with Him. My affection so strong for Christ. And His word that I sit at His
feet and I even let some things go that natural people consider
more important. And consider all that I am and
have His, even in my most treasured possession. I take my most treasured
possession and smash it on His feet. Not on His head, on His
feet. And one thing we lack, and that's
trust. That's the part of trust, trusting
Him. You can't trust the arm of flesh
and trust the Lord. You can't depend on possessions
and depend on Christ. And thirdly, David said this
in Psalm 27, verse 4. One thing. One thing have I desired. One thing have I desired. You
know, God said of David, He's a man after my own heart. And
David, like Solomon, had tasted of all that this world could
possibly give. All that... David knew fame, riches, power, strength, human glory, luxury,
just name it. at the snap of his finger had
it all at his fingertips. But he comes down to one thing
that he desires. One thing. What does a man who
has experienced everything, what does he, how does he sum up this
whole earthly existence? How does he sum up everything?
The love of people, the love of women, the love of possessions,
the love of luxury. How does he sum the whole thing?
One thing. have I desired of the Lord. And
that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the
Lord all the days of my life, to behold, to behold the delight
and the beauty of God, and to inquire in His temple. Turn to Psalm 65. David wrote
this too, I think, didn't he? Psalm 65. Psalm of David, verse
4. Psalm 65, verse 4. Blessed is the man, happy is
the man, twice blessed is the man whom God chooses and causes
to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts, which
shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy temple, even of thy holy
temple. David's one desire is to dwell
in the presence of the Lord. David's one desire is to see
and behold the beauty, the redemptive glory of his grace, love, and
mercy, and to inquire in his temple. Where is his temple?
He's not talking about that temple. Solomon hadn't built it yet.
But David is talking about the tabernacle of Christ. Christ
tabernacled among us. God dwells in Christ. That's
right. His train filled the temple.
All right, here's the last thing. Philippians 3. I speak the truth. I have not the slightest doubt. I don't speak it well. I wish
that I had the rhetorical ability of a Whitfield. Like Spurgeon's
grandfather said one time, Spurgeon was scheduled to preach somewhere,
and he got there late, and his grandfather got up and preached,
urged his grandfather was a preacher. And the old man got up to speak,
and Spurgeon came in late. And he told his grandson, he
said, just come on up here now, and you can pick up where I leave
off. And Spurgeon was 20 years old then, or 21. He came up on
the platform, and the old man said, My grandson can preach
the gospel better than I can. But my grandson can't preach
a better gospel than I can. And what I'm telling you, one
thing you need, and you know what it is, and one thing we
ever want lacked to some degree, that's trust. Trust in Christ. And one thing is our objective
and goal and desire is to be with Him, be awake in His likeness. Now listen to Paul. In Philippians
chapter 3, Paul says, Philippians chapter 3 verse 13. Brethren,
I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing, one thing
I do. And let me dwell on this, one
thing I do. One thing I'm going to do. One
thing I'm going to do. Here's the key. All right, verse
13 he says, I count not myself to have apprehended."
That is, he says, I've not arrived. This journey is not over. You
remember he knew Demas hath forsaken me. And he said, I keep my body
and brain in subjection, lest when preaching to others I become
a castaway. You know what he said? I've not
arrived. I haven't laid hold. Look at
verse 12. Not as though I'd already attained,
either were already perfect, But I follow after, if that I
may apprehend that for which I am apprehended of Christ."
He said, I haven't laid hold of that for which I've been laid
hold of. I'm not there yet. Watch it now. Be careful. Be
careful. He that endureth to the end,
the same will be saved. Whose house we are, if we hold
fast our confidence firm to the end. There's a lot of folks who've
got into the race who've never crossed the line. You know who's
crowned? The man that finishes. That's
what Paul... I'm not there yet! I'm not there yet. But this one
thing I do, and this is a thing that's right. Three parts. I forget those things which are
behind. I forget them. I put no hope
in them, no stock in them, no trust in them. And Paul's talking
here about his heritage, his ancestry, his deeds and duties,
his accomplishments, his religious learning and training, experience,
knowledge, success and failure. This one thing I do, I forget
that which is behind. And I recommend you forget yesterday. I recommend you forget yesterday.
I've known so many people, and this troubles me, and I don't
know whether I can make this clear or not, but this troubles
me. I know a lot of people who who build their hope for a relationship
with God and eternal home on something they did some time
ago, or something that happened some time ago, or something they
experienced some time ago. And I'll tell you this, the manna
fell every morning. And if they kept it over a day,
it rotted. Isn't that right, Johnny? It rotted. And if you're going
on yesterday's grace, you've got a rotten grace on your hands.
That's right, Darryl. Just one thing I do. Paul said,
I've not arrived. I haven't attained. I haven't
laid hold upon that for which I've been laid hold of by Christ,
evidently. But I'm going to do this. I'm
not putting any stock in what I did, what I was, what I gave,
where I went. Not a thing. You better not. And I'm telling you right. I'm
speaking of God, that which is right. Don't you do it. Today is the day of salvation. And then the second thing, he
said this, I forget those things which are behind. Preacher, don't try to shake
my foundation. You're not going to destroy my
profession, my experience. My friends, our foundation is
Christ. And he's unshakable. Our foundation
is not an experience. It's not a profession. No, I
beg your pardon. It's a person. That's right.
It's a person. And he said the second thing,
I forget those things which are behind and I reach forward. I
reach forward unto those things which are before me. What's before
me? All right, he just talked about
them. Look back at verse 8. The last part of verse 8, that
I may win Christ. That I may win Christ. Right
now, Dan, that I may win Christ. Look at verse 9, that I may be
found in Him. Not having my own righteousness,
I have no righteousness, but His is my righteousness. I want
to be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is
of the law. But that which is through the
faith of Christ. Look at verse 10, forgetting But I do know
Christ, preacher, I made a profession." What did Paul say? Forgetting
it, that I may know Him. A fresh revelation, a better
revelation, a greater revelation, that I may know Him, that I may
know Christ. Our whole fundamental religious
society is suffering from a no-soul salvation. That's exactly right. Most of them got it. Don't feel
it, and they'll lose it and won't miss it. And they will eventually
lose it. Because they're not here. They're
not here. Here's where one thing I do,
one thing I do. I forget those things which are
behind. And I reach out that I may win Christ, that I may
know Christ, that I may be found in Him. Look at verse 11. If
by any means, by the grace of God, I, old Paul, me, that I
may attain unto that first resurrection and the glory of it, and the
glory of it. Think about it. Boy, I tell you
what, what in the world will it matter then? When God calls
the dead out of the grave and we have the blessing of being
in that glorious resurrection unto life, what will it matter
then? What will it matter? Whether
he was tall or short, rich or poor, old or young, black or
white, learned or ignorant, had a friend or didn't, what will
it matter then? I might attain unto the resurrection
of the dead. And here's the third thing I
do. I press. I press. Anybody pressing? Anybody
striving? Strive to enter into it. Anybody
diligently examining themselves, examine yourself. Give diligence
to make your calling and election. Everybody I know saved, or been
saved two or three times. Everybody I know has got a no-sow
salvation. That's right. They're not worried.
They're not doing what Paul's talking about here. Not many
folks I know are pressing, pressing toward the mark. of the prize
of the high calling of God in Jesus Christ. What's that? Paul
says, my goal and my aim is to finish this race and obtain the
crown, the incorruptible crown of life, to obtain that supreme
and heavenly prize. Eternal life. Lay hold on eternal
life. Now this is not today's preaching,
but this is right. And God said to those three fellas,
you've said some good things. The blood, the book, and the
blessed hope. All these good things. But your whole message,
taken in its entirety, and the direction of it, and the scope
of it, is not right. Is not right, John. And Job,
with all of his failures, Self-defense and all this. At least Job, God
said, told the truth about me. The truth about me. And that's
what we better do. I don't care about your afflictions
and failures or your stuttering or whatever. But you better tell
the truth about God. I'm talking about the whole scope
of your message. You see, salvation is not a series of truths. Salvation is the truth in Christ
Jesus. You shall know the doctrines
of grace, and they'll make you free. No, you'll know the truth.
Not truths, truth. I hear people say, church truth,
church truth, law truth. It's just one truth, and that's
Christ. And one thing you need, that's down at His feet. In love
with Him like that dear woman, feeding on His Word. One thing
you lack. Yeah, but I've got to get up
and do this. Trust Him. Trust Him. Trust Him. Trust Him. One thing I desire, to be with
Him. And one thing I'm going to do,
I'm going to forget those things which are behind, and I'm going
to reach out for that which is before me, that which God has
given me. Today, tomorrow, Wednesday we'll
preach again. Tomorrow is Manor Falls, Monday
morning. Reaching out. Lord, let me win
Christ. Let me be found in Him. Let me
know Him. Let me attain unto the resurrection
of the dead. Well, I don't want people to think I'm not saved.
Don't. Let's forget that foolishness. It doesn't matter what people
think. I press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling
of Christ my Lord.