Now, in Ephesians, the fourth
chapter, this verse 8, which I read a
moment ago, is a quotation from Psalm 68. Some of you will be interested
in turning over there to the book of Psalms, the 68th Psalm. verse 18, because you like to
see the unity of the Old Testament and the New Testament. You see, the Old Testament is
the New Testament concealed in picture prophecy and pattern. The New Testament is the Old
Testament revealed. It always says it is written
as it is written. He fulfilled that which was written.
And our Lord said, Lo, I come in the volume of the book it's
written of me. He died for our sins according
to the scriptures. He fulfilled all the scriptures.
And some of us like when we read a writing in the New Testament,
we like to reach back and see where it was prophesied in the
Old Testament. Psalm 68, 18 says, Thou hast
ascended on high. Thou hast led captivity captive. Thou hast received gifts for
men, yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord might dwell,
Lord God might dwell among them. Blessed be the Lord who daily
loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation." Now
you read it here in verse 8 of Ephesians 4, wherefore he said,
when he ascended up on high, Now this is the ascension of
our Lord Jesus Christ. It speaks of his ascension into
heaven. Our Lord Jesus died on the cross
for our sins. He was buried. He rose again. He ascended to heaven. The disciples
watched him. If you want to turn to Acts chapter
1, you have the biblical account of our Lord's ascension when
he went back to the Father. went back into heaven. And we
studied that in our Sunday school lesson this morning, how the
Lord Jesus said, I'll go away, but I'll send you a comforter,
and he may abide with you forever. And so here in Acts chapter 1,
verse 9, it said, And when he had spoken these things while
they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out
of their sight. and while they looked steadfastly
toward heaven as he went up. Behold, two men stood by them
in white apparel, which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why
stand ye gazing into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken
up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye
have seen him go into heaven. Our Lord Jesus ascended to heaven
that as our great high priest, he might go into the holiest,
into the very presence of God, and perform that which is needful
and necessary according to the word of God on behalf of his
people. I would like you to see that
too in Hebrews chapter 9, that our great high priest entered
not into the holy place made with hands. He didn't take care
of his ministry In an earthly sanctuary, in an earthly tabernacle,
our great high priest has ascended into heaven itself, within the
veil. Our great forerunner has entered
within the veil, into the highest court, into the highest place,
into the throne room. Think about that. Our representative,
our advocate. That's like having your lawyer
in the judge's chamber, and better. Our advocate, our great high
priest, with a suitable offering, with a suitable sacrifice, with
a God-honoring sin offering, has gone into the holy place,
into the throne of God, into the veil, within the veil. Hebrews
9, 11, but Christ being come, a high priest of good things
to come. Justification, redemption, life
by greater and more perfect tabernacle. He tabernacled among us. You
see, God dwells not in temples made with hands. He dwelt in
Christ. He said, A body you've prepared
me. Lo, I come to do thy will. Not made with hands, that is
to say, not of this building. Verse 12, not neither by the
blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood. He entered
in once. That was all that was necessary.
He came once, he died once. He was buried once and he rose
once. He entered once. Having obtained eternal redemption
for us, I don't know why men want to go back to the old types
and elements of the world and the figures and the feast days
and the sacrifices I don't know why they want to take upon themselves
and put upon others burdens that men cannot bear. I spent some
time yesterday reading the law of God. The law of God. That stern, strict law of God
that's not tempered with mercy at all. Not at all. And why men want to go back to
that sort of thing instead of to Christ? See, there were many
Old Testament priests, many of them. Christ is one. They offered many
sacrifices, many. I suppose millions. They offered
those sacrifices in an earthly sanctuary, made with hands. Those women sat and sewed that
linen, and the men They smoothed out the bronze and the copper
and the gold. They beat the gold. They did
it with their hands. Everything we've done around
here is with somebody's hands. And then those priests came into
this place made with hands. Sure, God's glory dwelt there.
The Shekinah glory of God dwelt between the mercy seat, on the
mercy seat, between the chair bed. But they brought the blood
of an animal. Christ brought His own blood.
into the holiest of all. And they offered sacrifices that
could not put away sin. He offered a sacrifice once and
for all that perfected everyone for whom he offered it. And look
at verse 24. For Christ is not entered into
the holy places made with hands, which are figures of the truth,
nothing but pictures, but into heaven itself, not right now,
to appear in the presence of God for us. That's why he's there. That's why he's there. He said,
I'd go to prepare a place for you. He ever lives to make intercession
for us. As Ronnie prayed a moment ago,
there's just such a vast, such a vast amount of work and ministry
undertaken by our great high priest. You can preach for a
lifetime, in the lifetime of many preachers, and never in
any way exhaust the ministry and person and work of our Lord
Jesus. He has always appeared for us. I've loved you with an
everlasting love. With lovingkindness I've drawn
you. He's having, having as the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world, having obtained eternal redemption. all through
the Old Testament as He appeared, not only in person on various
occasions, but in picture and type in the ministry of the prophets. God spake to the people by the
prophets, having these last days spoken to us by His Son, and
He came into the world, dwelt among us, tabernacled among us. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, fulfilled all that God required, went to the cross
and suffered. died, was buried, and rose again. And He appeared to His disciples,
and He appeared to five hundred brethren at once, and in forty
days He appeared to them, confirming His resurrection. And then He ascended back to
the Father, and He said, I'll send you another comforter. The
Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. He's the Spirit of God.
Christ came And He dwells in His people, the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit, and the person of the Holy Spirit. But
He's in glory. The man Christ Jesus intercedes
for us. That's what this is saying here.
And when He ascended, look at verse 8, when He ascended up
on high, He led captivity captive. Now I know what a lot of people
say, that He went down into Tartarus or Sheol or one of those places,
gathered up all the Old Testament saints and took them to glory
with him. Well, I'm not so sure about that, but I do know this.
He led captivity captive, meaning he led a train of vanquished,
conquered foes when he left here. He conquered the one who conquered
us. Prince of this world, he conquered.
You know the old Roman general used to lead their troops out
into battle. They'd go into a country and
they'd whip up on them good. They'd win the battle. Or it'd
last for months, years maybe sometimes. And they'd stay out
there in the field. They'd stay gone. For however
long it took. And they'd conquer. They'd conquer
that country. And they'd take the king of that
country and the mighty captains and the mighty men. and they'd
strip them of their armor and their gold and silver and their
crowns, and they'd chain them. Then that old Roman general would
come back to Rome with his army, and everybody would be—they'd
send the word that he's coming. They'd have the trumpets and
the heralds and all the people out, Caesar himself, and reviewing
stand, and here comes the general down the street who's won the
battle. He'd been out there and conquered the enemy and the foe.
He's coming back. And right behind him, chained
to the wagons, were all those old kings and all those old generals
and captains and lieutenants that had made war against Rome.
And our Lord Jesus Christ, when He ascended to heaven, He led
captivity captive. He captured those who held us
in captivity. We're not talking about sin,
Satan, death, judgment. They have no authority and no
power over us anymore. That's why He led, He conquered
those that conquered us. He led captive those that held
us in captivity. Thanks be unto God, who giveth
us the victory in our Lord Jesus Christ. You see, a lot of people
haven't entered into the joys of the Lord. Maybe they don't know Him. But we've entered into His rest.
You see, what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us is done. The victory is ours, not going
to be, is ours. Satan hath no more dominion over
you, no more power, no sign. Christ is our Lord. We're walking
through this earth and through this world, and there are natural
consequences of such a walk. Abraham walked through this earth
looking for a kingdom already established, a victory already
won, a crown already given. It's ours, an inheritance reserved
for you. See, this world is not our home. And then he said here, he led
captivity captive and gave gifts to men. And these gifts we're
talking about are gifts of the Holy Spirit. I know the early
disciples and apostles had special, supernatural, unusual gifts. The early apostles had the gift
of tongues, the gift of other languages. This is the Holy Spirit
dividing severally to everyone as he would. You see, these early
disciples had the gift of other languages. On Pentecost, when
they preached, the people heard them speak the gospel. They weren't
speaking gibberish, they were preaching the gospel. They weren't
entertaining those people, they were edifying them. They weren't proving anything
to themselves, because tongues are assigned not to believers,
but to unbelievers. And God gave these early disciples
unusual gifts. He said to His apostles, as they
gathered around Him before He ascended to heaven, He said,
you'll take up serpents. And they won't harm you. And
Paul did just that when he was there on the island. He reached
to move some wood and a serpent fastened on his hand. He shook
him off into the fire. It didn't hurt him. But when
I was in Cherokee, North Carolina two years ago, I visited a rattlesnake
farm just out of curiosity. I had no mission there at all,
believe me. And as I told you before, there was a whole nest,
there was a whole cage of rattlesnakes, Texas rattlesnakes, Texas rattlers,
and they were carrying on something awful. And I stood there and
looked at them, but I didn't take a one-off look. I didn't
feel impressed at all to prove to that zookeeper that I was
a Christian by picking up one of those rattlesnakes. And anyone who does is a fool.
And Paul didn't pick it up to show off either. No, he didn't. No, he didn't. And they spoke
in other languages and other tongues. They had the power.
Paul was preaching one time and a fellow fell out of the second
story and broke his neck and killed him. Paul went down and
healed him, raised him. These guilts, and I say it positively,
and I say it convinced from the Word of God, are not play parties.
They were gifts and credentials God gave to these men to bear
witness that he sent them. You see, the Word of God was
not completed then. When Paul went into a place to
preach, he couldn't say, turn to Ephesians 1, 4 or 4, 5. He didn't have it. He couldn't
say, turn to Matthew 13, 13. Turn to 1 Corinthians 12, 7. They had Old Testament scriptures.
They were preaching a gospel the people hadn't heard. They
were preaching Jesus Christ, the High Priest, the Prophet,
the King, the Redeemer, a crucified Jew. Just like our Lord Jesus Christ
came and He brought He brought in his ministry marvelous works. He said, the works bear witness
of me. No man could do the things you do except God be with him.
And these people said the same thing of these early apostles.
Well, no man could. What you're saying got to be
true. It's like the woman at the well said, this man, is this
not the Christ? He told me all that I ever did.
When he healed a blind man, some of those people said, well, it's
never been heard from the beginning of the world, any man who healed
a blind man. He's got to be from God. And I'm not explaining away
anything. I'm simply telling you what's
true. When our Lord assembled these
men, He said, you'll take up serpents and they won't harm
you. And He said, you lay hands on the sick and they'll recover.
Even on the dead, they'll be raised. You drink any deadly
thing, it won't hurt you. These are supernatural, unusual
gifts he gave to these men. He gave gifts to these men, unusual
gifts as credentials, as proof that they were from God. Now,
when the canon of Scripture was complete, and John on the Isle
of Patmos finished the book of Revelation, here's the Word. When I go to a place to preach
or other men, I don't need to pick up a snake to prove that
I'm preaching the Word of God. All I got to do is read it. I don't need to stand before
you and drink carbolic acid and say, look here, I ain't going
to die. And everybody says, well, you're something great, aren't
you? No, I'm nothing great. I'm preaching the great Lord. And I stand up here and rattle
off in a bunch of tongues, you know, that nobody understands.
And somebody said, oh, he's filled with the Holy Ghost. He's got
the Holy Ghost. He's got the gifts of the Holy
Ghost. He's something special. This, any message or method that
magnifies the flesh is not of God. I told my class this morning
that God Almighty, it's the water that's important, not the vessel
He serves it in. And He'll reject your fine bone
china and put that water in a clay pot so you'll appreciate the
water. Won't stand around playing with the clay, with the container.
That's right. And he puts that mighty diamond,
the Lord Jesus Christ, in a cardboard box. If you won't sit around
and play with the box, you'll throw it away. And look at the
diamond. Appreciate the diamond. That's
right. Christ is our message. And he gave gifts to men. Now,
wait a minute. He also gave, besides these supernatural
gifts, these credentials and signs and proofs that they were
from God, these early disciples. And if God wishes and is pleased
in his providence to restore them in a limited sense, where
he will, or in a greater sense, it's all right with me. It's
fine, but I want it to be from God, not from some nut. I want
it to be from God. I don't want somebody making
up something. I guarantee you, if I ever learn to speak by the
grace of God in Spanish, you'll know, or French, or German, or
whatever. If God gives me the gift to lay
hands on anyone sick and that person recover, I'm not going
to put on. It's going to be real. We're
not going to play. Not that couple I told you took
their eleven-year-old son to the revival meeting. He was a
diabetic, and the preacher said he was healed. They went home
and didn't give him any insulin. He died. Now, we're not going
to play those games. We're not going to do it. We're
going to use the means God gives us. But now there are other gifts.
Turn to Romans 12. There are gifts that are in operation
in the church today. You know, we don't have to astound
people with some of these things that aren't real. Let's just
use the gifts that are real. My gracious, you know, If we
sit down here and heal people all day of physical ailments,
they're going to die anyway. But if we preach the gospel of
Christ and men are healed in their hearts, they'll never die. If their souls are healed, if
they come to know God, they'll never die. You know, here's a
person in pain and unrest and depression of spirit, and you
heal their body and they get out of pain, they'll have a temporary
rest. But if a person's soul is healed, they'll enter into
an eternal rest. Christ said, you drink of this
water, you'll drink again, and again and again, you'll thirst
again. You drink of the water I'll give you, you won't ever
thirst. That's the water we want to give. That's the water. He says here in Romans 12, listen
to verse 5 through 8. So we being many are one body
in Christ, and every one member is one of another, having then
gifts, differing according to the grace that's given to us,
whether prophecy, Let's prophesy according to the proportion of
faith. I believe that's preaching the word. Somebody says it's
foretelling or foretelling or whatever. Well, it's just preaching
the word. Opening the scriptures. Opening
the scriptures. I think I have that gift. I wouldn't be up here if I didn't
think so. But the ability to take the word of God and open
it to people in language they can understand. If the Holy Spirit
reveals it, let's wait on it. Or ministry, verse 7, let's wait
on our ministry. Let's be about it. Ministering
to people. Christ said, I came not to be
ministered unto, I came to minister. Let's be about it. You have a
gift in your work, let's be about it. You know that? These musicians,
you have a gift. Each one of you have a gift of
ministering. Let's be about our ministry. Let's quit playing
this, let's quit looking for little tomes and all these other
things, and let's be about our ministry. Let's get with it,
that's what he's saying. Let's be about it. He's a teacher.
Start teaching. Start teaching. Quit living in
the future. Quit saying what you're going
to do and do what you ought to do. That's what he's saying.
You're a teacher, God's given you some gift to teach, teach.
You older women, teach the younger women. You fathers, teach the
boys. You in the church, teach one
another. Edify one another. You got some gift of teaching?
Be a doing it. Share it. He that exhorteth,
exhortation. He that giveth, do it. Do it
without fanfare. Do it liberally. Do it without
Blowing a horn, just do it with simplicity. He that ruleth, you
got some place of responsibility to rule with authority, to do
it with diligence. Diligence. You got a young child
in your home that God's put there, you got a responsibility. Pick
it up, do it. Got a gift. He that showeth mercy,
do it with cheerfulness. Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil and
cleave to that which is good. Back to Ephesians 4. He gave
gifts to men. You see, we're a body. We're
members in particular. We're joined together in a fellowship,
and we've all got different gifts, responsibilities, opportunities. Let's be about it. Let's be about
it. I think sometimes we get so with
those gifts in 1 Corinthians, we miss these over here in Romans
12. All right, look back at our text,
Ephesians 4. He gave gifts to men. Now, I
told you about the parenthesis here. And it says now in verse
9, he that ascended to the right hand of God within the veil,
our great high priest. What is it but that he also descended
first? In other words, they say Christ
our Lord could not ascend with a suitable sacrifice until He
first came down here and performed it. First came down here and
brought it out. Our Lord Jesus had to first come
down here. When they say the lower parts
of the earth, we don't mean like the Catholics say He descended
into hell, into the grave. That's all right if you want
to say that. But the lower parts of the earth, just like talking
about ascended on high, He ascended on high, high as you can get,
Christ as high as you can get. God hath exalted Him on high,
and given Him a name which is above everything. Well, the opposite
of that is the low, and that's us. That's where we are. Honestly,
that's where we are. That's what we are. This is the
lowest part. For a time, He made Him lower
than the angels. When our Lord Jesus was made
flesh, that's as low as He could come. That's exactly right. He descended first into the lowest
part. And He that descended down here
into the lowest part, He's the same. Also that ascended. In other words, there's a man
in glory. But I tell you, if there's one there, there can
be another one. And because of that one who is there, there's
going to be some others. made in his likeness. That's
right. And he did this descending. He that descended is the same
that ascended far above all heavens, and the reason he came down here
is that, like Ronnie prayed a while ago, that's a blessing to me,
that he might what? Fulfill all things. Now don't
you give me anything else to fulfill, to add to his work.
I know there's all kind of responsibilities I have, and pleasant, enjoyable
duties that God's given to me, and opportunities He's given
to me, but He fulfilled all things. Now, you want to talk about the
matter of my ministry and my responsibility and my obligations
and my duties and whatever, and my adorning the doctrine, fine.
But when you want to talk about salvation, rediction, that's
in Christ. He fulfilled all things. I heard
a fellow on radio yesterday. I was coming back from town and
tuned in to preach on the radio. And he was against drinking. I am too. I'm against drunkenness.
I hate it. I despise it. I'm not going to
have it around or live with it. I hate drunkenness. But he was
saying, you folks go out on a Saturday night and get drunk, you're going
to the devil's hell. Does that mean if I don't, I'm
going to God's heaven? That's the implication he gave.
Now, I'm saying this to you quietly and conservatively and as straight
as I can. Your drinking whiskey is not
what's damning your soul. And your quitting ain't going
to save your soul. What's damning your soul is your rebellion against
the Holy God. You hate God. That's what I'm
saying. If you knew Christ and loved
Christ and believed on Christ, You can't take one infraction and say that this is what's sending
me to hell. This whole human race was put
on the road to hell because our daddy Adam said, I'm going to
be like God. That's what our problem is. We're
not willing to let God be God. And if God is God in a man's
life, it's going to regulate his habits. Now, God will regulate,
the Holy Spirit will regulate his habits, but the drunk and
the adulterer and the adulteress and the thief and the liar and
all the rest of them do that as a rebellion against God. It's
my will. I'm going to do what I'm going
to do. And see, these things out here are nothing in the world
but fruits of a rebellious heart. The roots, what's bad, they actually
got to be laid to the root of the tree. That's what Job pled
with his friends. He said, the root is in me. I
might not have a fruit on the vine, but the root's in me. The root's there. Everything
we need is in him. He fulfilled it. And you see,
a life of holiness and obedience and kindness is the fruit of
the indwelling Christ. It's not I, it's Christ that
liveth in me. He said, Paul said, I've labored
more than any of you, but not me, it's Christ in me. I can't
take any credit. I can't take any credit for that.
What I do, I do by the grace of God. What I am, I am by the
grace of God. And if Christ dwells in a person,
he'll live like that now. If any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, he's none of his. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. That's so, and he gave, look here at verse 11,
and these gifts he gave to men, he gave some apostles and some
prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers.
Different, different gifts. Why? Well, here it is, for the
perfecting of the saints, for the maturing of the saints. To
give them the word of God to grow on, to feed them. Just like
at our house, Doris, our children were growing up, she tried to
feed them proper things that they might eat and grow and be
healthy. She cooked up the meals, and
that's what these preachers and teachers and evangelists and
missionaries, they feed God's people. The children's bread,
the Word of God, leave them in the green pastures to feed on
the Word of God, that they might grow. Might grow, the perfecting
of the saints, the work of the ministry, the edifying of the
body of Christ. Paul said, I endure all things
for the elect's sake, and I come to know Christ. See, it's through
the preaching of the Word that centers a sage. It's through
the preaching of the Word that faith comes. It's through the
preaching of the Word that growth comes. It's through the preaching
of the Word that comfort comes. It's through the preaching of
the Word that assurance comes. That's why God uses these men
to preach the Word, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we
all come in the unity of the faith, into the unity of the
faith, till we all come to that common faith. God's going to cross the path
that the person whom He intends to save, the Lord elected a people,
there's no doubt about that. He chose us in Christ. He's going
to have a people. And He predestinated the means
to bring those people to Christ. He predestinated us to the adoption
of children. And we come into this world,
and everything that happens in our lives happens by the will
of God, according to the purpose of God, and He confronts us with
some true servant preaching the true gospel. And we hear that
gospel, and my sheep will hear my voice, and they'll believe.
And that's what these gifts were given to me until people come
to the unity of faith. And there'll be tares with the
wheat. We go out and plow the field and cultivate the field. He said, Paul plows in the polis
waters and cephas plants and all. We go out there And St. Nicholas put tares in the midst
of them. And the farmer got up and looked
down and he said, Lord, look at the tares out there. I believe
I'll go pull them up. No, don't you do that now. You
leave them alone. Let them grow together. It's
the end of the world. God will give you the wheat in the time.
See, if you're not careful, you go looking out through your eyes
of the law trying to figure out who's saved, and you might pull
up one of God's wheat. I'm going to go out there and
shoot them goats in the congregation. You better be careful. You could
shoot one of God's sheep. Because sometimes He's the only
one that can. Down in St. Lucia and St. Kitts,
the goats and the sheep look alike. And I'm talking about
something I don't know a whole lot about, but a fellow asked
me, he said, which one of those is a goat and which is a sheep?
I said, I don't know. Which one was it, Richard? The
goats keep their tails up and the sheep keep their tails up?
You don't believe that. But one of them keeps their tail up,
one puts their tail down. That's right. And that's the
only way you can tell. So you better be careful about
pulling up tares. They're going to be there. And
I'll tell you how you can tell. The sheep will hear His Word.
They'll bow to the Word, love the Word. Even sometimes they
get rebellious, you know, don't we? So we're going to come to the
unity of the faith and to the knowledge of the Son of God.
He gives these preachers these gifts that people might come
to the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man growing. I've seen some of you grow. I've
seen some of us grow in grace, in the knowledge of Christ. Yes,
it's evident. It's not taking, you're not making
any boast now, but now you stop and think a minute. as far as
this business of understanding the word, and patience, and love,
and things. Don't you say you've done a little
growing? I think so. I think so. And that's
what he's talking about there. Verse 14, that he said, verse
13 there, he said, to the stature, the completeness of Christ. And
then verse 14, that would be no more children. Children. Tossed to and fro, to and fro. Everybody that comes along upsets
us. Everything we hear upsets us,
you know. These fellas out there, these
false prophets and false teachers and fellas that are, they want
to use you. I had a talk with a man down
in North Carolina not long ago, and I said to him, and he's a
man that has a, he has a profitable business. And there's some preachers
just flat used that dear man. They're con men. And I said to
him, I said, my friend, I won't call his name, I said, my friend,
I want to talk to you, with you, I said, you see, if you watch
these preachers, they'll butter you up, especially a man's got
some money, a businessman, somebody with a little means, they'll
butter you up. What are they doing? They're
trying to get something out of you. You've got to learn that. I said, these
fellows are good at this. They've been doing it for years.
This is the way they think. It's not the glory of God. They
don't hang around. We've got some missionaries,
not ours, but some you've met, that they don't pay any attention
to the fellow that's out of work. You know, James said something
about that. A fellow comes in with gold on and silver and a
fine ring. He said, sit down here. We're
glad to have you. The fella comes in, he looks
like he just hadn't had a square meal in a month, you know, and
kind of got some old worn out clothes, and he said, find your
seat back there, dear friend. I told him, I said, same thing
today. I said, these fellas, they're hucksters, they're con
men, they're always on the lookout for somebody that's got something.
And they'll butter them up and pile up with them and all this,
and I said, they've done you that way so much, look like me,
you'll get tired of it. He said, I'm getting my eyes
open. But I said, I hope you do. I hope you do. Because they'll use you. And this is the thing about,
this is the reason that we, God gives His preachers with gifts
and discernment and a care for His glory and puts them in His
pulpit and such His people that they become firm and not children
that are impressed by everything religious that blows, and everything
religious that comes along. They're firmly, they're planted
by the rivers of water, and that river is not a denomination or
a preacher, it's Christ. That's where they're. I want
you to know Christ. I want you to know Christ. Not
a series of facts and not a system of theology, but a person whom
we trust and love They lie and wait to deceive
you, he said in verse 14, but here's my text and I'm closing.
Verse 15, but speak the truth in love. Now I want you to pray
for me and my preacher brethren on this particular point right
here. Turn to 1 Thessalonians 2 just a moment. 1 Thessalonians
chapter 2. And we'll take a minute more
if you'll be patient with me. 1 Thessalonians 2, 7 and 8. Verse
6, Paul said this, or verse 5, he said, At any time did we use
flattering words, you know, nor a cloak of covetousness, God's
my witness, I didn't covet anything you had, your silver or your
gold, nor of men sought we glory, neither of you nor yet of others.
We might have been burdensome as the apostles of Christ, but
we were gentle among you. even as a nurse, or a mother
nurses her children. And being affectionately desirous
of you, we were willing to have imparted to you, not the gospel
only, but also our own souls, because you were dear to us.
Paul said, speak the gospel in love. And I don't know who will
hear this message, and when they'll hear it, or why God's directed
me to preach it, especially this point. But I wonder if when we
preach or teach or witness to others, if love comes through.
Do I? When I preach, I want to preach
the gospel of God's grace and sovereignty and His purpose,
but I want to do it in love. I wonder if when we preach, John,
when we're preaching and writing, and you fellas are going out
to preach the glorious gospel of God's sovereign grace, does
the heart of God come through when we preach? The love of God?
The compassion of God? Or do we act like we're glad
people are going to hell? You know, sometimes I hear preachers
and they give the impression they're kind of glad you don't
believe what they're preaching. They just get from me. Just me. Do I do that? If I do, I don't
want to. I wonder if our preaching and
our witnessing, if men can detect, not only that we believe this
thing, but we love it. Not only that we believe Christ,
but we love Christ. And that we love them. That we
love them. That we have a pity. Let me ask
you this. Are men blind? Are sinners blind? Are they deaf? You say, well,
the Word of God says they're deaf, in darkness, dead in sin. Then why are we mad at them? You wouldn't get, you know, if
I didn't have my hearing aids on and I didn't hear you, you
wouldn't get mad at me, would you? Well, I mean, you know, you say
something to me and I don't hear you. Would you get mad at me? Help me to hear. Don't get mad
at me. If a blind person stumbles, you
don't say, pick up your feet. You say, let me help you. I was
blind myself one time. I know just what you're going
through. I'm serious about this. Oh, our Lord had stinging rebukes
for the Pharisees, for the hypocrites, but not for sinners. No, he didn't. Why? They wouldn't have hung
around him like they did. When you find Christ, you find publicans
and sinners and harlots and people around him listening to him.
Bringing their babies to him. You think if he'd been mean to
some of us preachers, they'd have brought their babies to
him? They'd have been afraid to. They'd have been afraid to. Speak the truth. But there's
another two words. in love. And I wish all of the preachers
I know would speak the truth, but not stop there. Speak it
in love. It was love that chose us, but
God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love, wherewith he
loved us, even when we're dead in sin, quicken us with Christ.
It was God's love that gave us repentance. It's the goodness
of God that leads you to repentance. It was God's love that gave me
faith. You know, someone, a friend of
mine, I was talking yesterday and this came to me. Now listen
a minute. A trial comes our way. And we make a serious, deadly
mistake. We begin to inquire, why? Why
did this happen to me? Why did this happen? What is
God showing me? Why is this happening? We're
asking the wrong questions. As far as why this happened and
what in my life, if I'm one of his children, he predestined
me to be like Christ, all of this is in order for me to be
like Christ. But what I ought to be asking
all the time is this, why did he show mercy to me? It's not
why did he try me, why did he ever make me an object of trial?
Why did he ever love me? Why did he ever choose me? Why
did he ever call me? Why did he ever bless me? Not
why did he give me trouble in the church, why did he even let
me be a part of the church? What am I doing here? What am
I doing up here? And you know, the question is
not why should God try me, why should God bless me? I can think
of a million reasons why I should have trouble. I can't think of
one reason why I should have grace. Can you? Why did my baby
die? Well, I can give you a thousand
reasons. Why'd you even have him to start with? I can't answer
that. Why'd God even let you have him for a minute? Why'd
my mother die? Well, I can tell you. Sin. Sin
of Adam. But I can't answer this, why
he ever gave you a mother. Why did he ever bless you with
one? See what I'm talking about? I
want to preach this gospel in love. Let me share one more Titus
2.10. In love, in love, speaking the
truth. And even that, like what I was
just saying, you know, I want to do that in love. reprimand
myself and rebuke myself and you, but you can rebuke in love
and tenderness. You can preach in love and tenderness,
speaking the truth in love. You can witness in love and tenderness. And I want to do that. I want
the heart of God, not just the truth of God, the heart of God.
Not the wrath of God, only the love of God. Titus 2 verse 10
says this. Not forlorning, that's stealing,
but showing fidelity that they may adorn the doctrine of God
our Savior, adorn it in all things. What is adorning the doctrine?
Well, it's decorating. Making it, you know, palatable, acceptable. That's,
we preach the gospel. preach the doctrine of Christ,
but by kindness and tenderness and compassion and by generosity
and grace and attitude and spirit. You know, I can say the truth.
I can say, God Almighty is on the throne. There's a way you
know that. But I can also say that I'm thankful
that Almighty God rules and reigns. And it would be a blessing to
you if you came to see that and understand that. There are ways,
aren't there? There are ways of adorning the doctrine. There
are ways. Just take a father in the home. He can bring his children up
by the hair of the head, or he can bring them up in the nurture
and admonition of the Lord. He can refuse them to go here
and go there and do this and do that. He has the right to
do it. He has the right to make them go to their room and stay
if he wants to. But there's truth administered in love, and compassion, and grace. I want to preach the grace of
God graciously, don't you? I want to stand for the things
I believe, but I want to do it graciously and kindly. And I'm
not suggesting we compromise our principle. You know that
that's not my thought, or the gospel. I die for what I believe. I believe a word. I'm not boasting
like Peter, by the grace of God, but I believe this message. And
I'm not suggesting you compromise with anybody, but I am suggesting
we try to be like Christ. The people down at D.J. Ward's
church, they sing a chorus. I don't know whether I could
sing it or not. I was singing it yesterday. It
goes something like this. Lord, I want to be like Jesus
in my heart. Lord, I want to be like Jesus
in my heart, in my heart, in my heart. Lord, I want to be like Jesus
in my heart. Don't you? Lord, I want to be
a Christian in my heart. Lord, I want to be a Christian
in my heart. In my heart. In my heart. Lord, I want to be a Christian
in my heart. I don't want to be like Judas
in my heart. I don't want to be like Judas
in my heart. In my heart. In my heart. Lord, I want to be like Jesus
in my heart. Don't you? That's what he's talking
about here. Speaking the truth in love.