I want you to turn with me to
the book of Philippians, the third chapter of Philippians. My telephone rang this morning, and a gentleman introduced himself
to me on the telephone. told me a little bit about his
background in Christian bookstore work and other enterprises, and
then he said that he was involved in what they call Holy Land tours. He said, have you ever taken
a tour of the Holy Land? Well, I was busy working on my
message for a night, and I wanted to shake him as quickly as I
could, but I told him the truth. I said, no, sir. Well, he said,
I'm sure that you thought about it and maybe desired to do that. I said, no, sir. Long pause. He said, you don't have any desire
to visit the Holy Land? I said, no, sir. longer pause. He said, but your
Bible will come alive, and every minister ought to visit the Holy
Land. Well, I knew what a long telephone
conversation we'd have if I entered into what I really believe about
that. So I said, well, I appreciate you calling, but I have no desire
whatsoever to go to what's called the Holy Land. Now let me ask
you a question. I want you to think. If you were the pastor in charge, you were the leader, God's man, of the hour in a certain location,
I'm dead serious now, and someone brought you with proof the actual
cross on which Jesus Christ died. It came right through that door.
He brought it and stood it right here. The actual cross with the
nail mark still in it where they drove it through his hand. And
it was your responsibility to handle the situation. What would
you do with that cross? burn it. And if you didn't, if
you didn't burn it right then and destroy it, completely destroy
it, you would reveal you're not God's man. You're not God's leader. And furthermore, you would reveal
that you do not yet understand the sufficiency of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's what you would reveal.
Well, you say, I'd keep it. I wouldn't worship it, but I'd
keep it, and I'd let folks come see it. Then you'd participate
in their idolatry. You would invite them to worship
an idol. Even old Hezekiah had better
sense than that. He took the brazen serpent, which
Moses made, and lifted up, to which the people looked, and
grounded the piter, and called it a worthless piece of brass.
Now that's the truth. If you would not destroy that
block of wood, that cross has no more meaning or value than
an old oak tree out here. Really, it's more deadly than
that old oak tree. I'd preserve the oak tree and
sit under the shade of it. It serves a purpose, but that
cross will damn you. You say, what cross would, that
cross will damn you? It's the person who died on the
cross that saves. The cross has no saving power. And we're going to have to get
that through our heads somewhere. And let me tell you this. If
you ever do go to the Holy Land, or ever have been, and some fool
preacher has you standing there on what they call Mount Calvary,
Golgotha, and has you kneel on that mountain and leads in prayer,
you're an idolater. And if you don't stand up while
everybody else kneels and stand to your full attention and say,
I will not participate in this idolatry. Ain't that right, Ronnie? I know what I'm talking about.
Satan is a deceitful, subtle, crafty, sly enemy of God Almighty. And he'll use any of these things
to turn your heart from Christ. Now this is so. And it's so vital. The same thing goes for your
Sabbath days and Mount Sinai and all the rest of these things
that the world, the world is worshiping idols, not Christ. Preachers are preaching idols
and are preaching Christ. They're preaching will worship.
And let me tell you something else. Suppose you could find
that Ark of the Covenant. Suppose they could find that.
They made a movie about it. Suppose they did find it. and
open that thing up. You think it'd kill anybody now?
Why, no. Christ is our mercy savior. What I'd do with it is burn it
too, with the tables of stone, with the pot full of manna, with
Aaron's rod that budded, just to totally destroy it. Just totally
destroy it. And if you ever find the grave
in which Christ laid with the stone dynamited, That's right,
because people worship those things. But if you ever find
the manger, you say, Brother, you're being ridiculous. I'm
not being ridiculous. If you ever find the manger in
which he laid, feed your horse in it or destroy it, but don't
you keep it as a religious relic, because it will take you right
on down the road of unbelief. That's so. Having said that,
I want to read Philippians 3. The first 14 verses, you see,
I am totally, 100%, 110% convinced that Christ is all and in all. And we don't bow at shrines or
altars or mountains or graves or relics or anything else. Christ
is our, we have an altar, and that altar is Christ. That altar
is Christ. He has fulfilled all of these
pictures in time. In Philippians 3 verse 1, the
apostle says, Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write
the same things to you, to me indeed, is not grievous, but
for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil
workers, beware of the circumcisors, the concision, beware of them.
For we are the circumcision who worship God in spirit. Not in
form and ritual and ceremony, but in spirit. And we rejoice
in Christ Jesus. Somebody said one time, don't
you want to go to the Holy Land and see where Christ was? No,
sir. I don't want to know where He
was, I want to know where He is. Where He is. He dwells with His people. Where
two or three are met together, that's where He is. Why should
I go over there and see where He was? We rejoice in Christ
and we have no confidence in the flesh. Now he says, though
I might also have confidence in the flesh if any other man
thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh,
I more. Why, he said, I circumcised the eighth day of the stock of
Israel of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as touching
the law, a Pharisee. Concerning zeal, I persecuted
the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gained to
me, those I counted lost for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I
count all things but lost for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all
things, and I do count them, but what rubbish that I may win
Christ and be found in Him. not having mine own righteousness
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may
know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship
of His sufferings being made conformable unto His death, if
by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead,
not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect that
I follow after, if that I may apprehend or lay hold upon that
for which also I am apprehended or have been laid hold of by
Christ. Brethren, I count not myself
to have arrived, but this one thing I do, forgetting those
things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which
are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high
calling of God, where is it? It's in Christ Jesus. And if
I can say anything to you or impress upon you in any way the
fullness and sufficiency and efficacious work and person of
our Lord Jesus Christ and bring you to look away from yourself
and from any of the visual aids, pictures, crosses, monuments,
shrines, altars, church buildings, tabernacles, chapels, cathedrals,
temples, or whatever, and worship the living God in Christ His
Son. He is made unto us all we need,
all we need. He's the fulfillment of all things.
And God hath taken away the first, that He may establish the second.
May God give us confidence and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Unshakable faith. Unmovable faith. May you be established and grounded
in Christ and not be caught up. You know, when Peter stood at
Pentecost, he said to those people, save yourselves from this perverse
generation. Dare to be different. Don't you
conform to them. Don't you? And if you have the
Spirit of God in your heart and the understanding of Christ in
your soul, you can see the subtlety of these things and the deceitfulness
of these things. And don't be a partaker with
them and their evil deeds. Because God is more jealous of
His Son and His work than anything else. That's exactly right. The Father loveth the Son and
hath given all things into His hands. And that's where you'll
find it in Christ. Let's turn to Ecclesiastes chapter
12. Ecclesiastes chapter 12. I had supper last night with
two very precious and dear friends, and we talked a little bit about
this passage of Scripture here or related, things related to
it, and today I couldn't get it off my mind, so I'm going
to, I'm going to bring a message from Ecclesiastes 12, verse 1. Verse 1, Remember, remember now,
thy Creator in the days of thy youth. While the evil days come not,
nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure
in them." Now, our Lord is able to say,
and I'm talking about say, literally lift from the dunghill and cleanse
and clothe and raise and seat on the throne with Christ, saving
to the uttermost them that come to God by him, whether they're
young or old, whether they're male or female, whether they're
rich or poor, whether they're wise or unwise. Now, let me read
you a scripture over here. You don't need to turn to it.
I'm going to try to move quickly, but he said this. For you who
have taken notes, it's Isaiah 59.1, Behold, the Lord's hand
is not shortened, that it cannot save." Don't limit God, or He'll
show you differently. Don't ever go around saying,
well, we need to reach these children while they're six, seven,
eight, or nine, or ten, because they get older. It's impossible
to reach them. For you to, but not God. He said,
my arm's not short. I can reach them. I can reach
Him wherever He goes. It's not short that I cannot
see, even His ear is not heavy that He cannot hear. He delights
to show mercy. Don't ever, don't ever doubt
it. God delights to show mercy. He
delights to show mercy. Our Lord said, pull everyone,
everyone. That's a big word. Whosoever
will, let him take the water of life freely. Everyone that
thirsteth. Come on. Come on. And all men
and women, young and old, now you may be the oldest person
in this building tonight or the youngest person, but I say all
men and women, young and old, ought to seek the Lord diligently,
perseveringly, continually. All men ought to believe on Him.
I don't ever begin a message and say, I know you're not going
to believe this, but you better believe it. You better believe
it. It's God's Word. It's God's Word. All men ought to believe on God,
on Christ. All men ought to trust Him. All
men ought to walk with Him. But my message tonight is not
going to deal with things as they ought to be, Tom. I'm going
to talk about them like they are. And it may be just a little
offensive, but this is the way it is. But my friends, this is
an offensive world. Men find the preaching of the
cross offensive. Paul said, in fact, if I preach
circumcision, why do I suffer persecution? If I preach that
which pleases the flesh, then the offense of the cross is perish.
But this is the way it is. That's the way it ought to be.
That's where all men ought to seek God. Every one of us ought
to be on our faces before God Almighty. We ought to continually
pursue a knowledge of God and seek the Lord. We ought to have
our ears always turned to hear the Word, our eyes to read the
Word, our hearts to receive the Word, to love and worship and
adore our Lord Jesus Christ. But that's not the way it is. And I'm saying this for whatever
reason. For whatever reason, I'm coming
back to that in a moment, for whatever reason, men and women
who spend most of their lives on this earth without God, if
you spend most of your life on this earth without God, then
you're going to spend old age in the gall of bitterness. You're going to spend old age
in the gall of bitterness, in religious nonsense, And you're
going to die without God and without hope. That's exactly
right. That's the reason the wise man
Solomon said, Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth,
while the evil days come not, and the years draw nigh, when
you shall say, I have no pleasure in them. I have no pleasure anywhere,
anywhere. What do you mean by spending
a life without God? Preacher, let's develop that
a little bit, all right? Most people are without Christ,
without hope, and without God in this world. And I'm talking
about religionists and otherwise. Most men and women are without
God. They spend their lives without
God. They spend the greater part of their lives without God. There are four words. that are
needful right here. What does it mean to be without
God? Here are four words I want you to look at. First word is
this, knowledge. A person who does not have a
true knowledge, a true spiritual knowledge of the gospel of Christ
is without God. That's exactly right. If a person
does not have a true knowledge of the gospel of God in Christ,
he's without God. Because Christ said, he that
has seen me has seen the Father. I and my Father are one. No man
has seen the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal
Him. So I'm saying if a person does
not have a knowledge of Christ and the gospel as it is in Christ,
he's without God. He may have all kinds of religion.
He may have the religious forms, he may have the religious works,
he may have the religious morality, he may have the religious deeds.
such as keeping a Christian Sabbath, and tithing, and attending church,
and even the basic fundamental orthodox doctrines. But if he
does not know Christ, he's without God in this world. Now that's
just so. I know Paul said, whom I have
believed. And I'm persuaded he's able to
keep that which I've committed to him against that day. That's
the same Paul who said, Oh, that I may know him and the power
of his resurrection. For not to know him is not to
know God. And that's the first word. The
second word is this. And that is heart faith. Heart
faith. Turn with me to Romans chapter
10. I'm talking about an involvement
with Christ. and involvement with Christ.
Heart faith. Here's what I'm saying. Most
people in this world, religious and otherwise, spend their lives
without God. The major part of their lives
without God. And consequently come to old
age in the gall of bitterness, in the bonds of iniquity, and
die without God. Because to be without God is
to be without a knowledge of Christ and secondly without a
heart love for Christ and a heart faith in Christ. Look at Romans
10 verse 9. That if thou shalt confess with
thy mouth, not somebody doing it for you, but if thou shalt
confess with thy mouth Jesus to be Lord and believe in thine
own heart, that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be
saved, for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness,
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. I read
you last week the passage in I Corinthians 13 in which Paul
said, I may have the tongues of men and of angels, and have
not love? I am a sounding brass or a tinkling
cymbal. I may have faith so that I could
remove mountains, and I may have knowledge of all the mysteries,
but if I have not love, it profiteth me nothing. He said, I may give
my body to be burned, and my goods to feed the poor. I may
be diligent in my kindness to strangers, and have not love,
I'm nothing, nothing. And that is the love of God in
Christ, and that is my love for Christ. That's a heart involvement.
All right, here's the third word. Now listen to me. Identification. Now I'm saying, I'm talking about
most of our generation's religious. Everybody here's religious or
you wouldn't be here. Everybody all over town's religious.
You never meet anybody that's not religious. But I'm saying
you can be religious and be without God. And when you get to your
old age, something, not something, but someone is so missing that
that old age will be spent in bitterness and loneliness and
despair, and you're going to die without God, because they
don't have a knowledge of Christ. And because they don't have a
heart involvement with Christ. And thirdly, they don't have
identification with God and with the people of God and with the
things of God. I'm talking about identification. Our Lord said to Peter, do you
love me? Do you love me? And he said three times, Lord,
you know I love you. You know I love you. Well, what
did he say then? You feed my sheep. If you love
me, you'll love my sheep. If you love me, you'll love my
word. If you love me, you'll love my gospel. If you love me,
you'll love my sheep. That's exactly right. And Paul
in I Thessalonians said this, chapter 1, verse 6, he told those
people, he said, the gospel came to you in power, in the Holy
Ghost, in much assurance, and you became what? Followers of
me and of the Lord. You were identified. You became
identified with the people of God. You know, a confession of
Christ is not some isolated profession of faith. It's a continual confession
of Christ. How do I confess Christ? On Sunday
when I walk into this auditorium and take the hands of the people
of God and we lift our voices together and praise, that's confessing
Christ. When I take the Word of God and
sit in my place and listen to the preaching of the gospel,
that's confessing Christ. When I'm involved and identified
with the people of God in the place where I live, that's confessing
Christ. And not to do it is denying Christ. That's exactly right. Not to
do it is an open denial of the Son of God. Confessing Christ
continually, consistently. I'm not talking about when you
as a little boy you made a profession of faith and every Easter and
Christmas and special service you went down to the church,
but you were identified, you were involved, you were a part
of those things that God Almighty put His blessings upon. That's
exactly right. And you did it consistently and
continually and faithfully and loyally in your worship, in your
praise, in your witness. It's a seven-day-a-week confession
of Christ. That's exactly right. And then, fourthly, here's the
next word. And I'll guarantee you these
words will come up to haunt you at the judgment if you don't
hear them. Knowledge. And I'm not talking about doctrinal
knowledge or religious knowledge or fundamental knowledge. I'm
talking about a knowledge of a person. A person. That person and work. Christ. Christ. It's not just I believe
in God. The devil believes in God. But
it's a knowledge of the person and work of Christ. That's the
man who has God, who has the Son. He that hath the Son hath
life. He that hath not the Son of God.
in his redemptive work hath not life." And it's not just a head
knowledge of Christ, it's a heart love and a heart involvement
and a heart obsession with Christ. Give me Christ or I die, that's
what the believers said. And it's identification. If I
go to Birmingham, Alabama, I'm going to be identified with the
people of God in Birmingham, Alabama. If I live in Ashland,
Kentucky, I'm going to find out where the gospel is preached,
and where God is blessing, and where the people love Christ,
and I'm going to say, let me be with you, one of you, part
of you. And not to do that is to deny
Christ. If He's here, you be here. If He's not here, you be
where He is. That's because He's somewhere. He's never left Himself
without a witness, I guarantee you that. Identification, identification. Old Paul, when he went down there
where Lydia was, Philippi, what did he do? Turn to Acts 16. Let
me show you what he did, and I'll come back to Colossians
in a minute. Acts chapter 16. Listen to this. In Acts chapter
16, the Apostle Paul came to Philippi, and it says in verse
13, and on the Sabbath day, what did he do? He sat home and listened
to a tape. No Sabbath. He went down by the river where
prayer was wont to be made. He hunted out someone as confessing
Christ and sat down with them and prayed. That was a pagan
city, but old Paul looked for somebody to worship God, to be
identified, to be identified. I want everybody to know whose
side I'm on. That's what I'm talking about.
A consistent denial of Christ is to absent ourselves from the
things and the people who identified with God, and then persevere. Look at Colossians. Colossians
chapter 1. And he said in verse 21, You
and you that were sometime alienated, enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath he reconciled, reconciled to God. Put away the
enmity. in the body of his flesh through
death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in his sight, if you made a profession of faith." No, sir, if you continue
in the faith, grounded and settled. Baptists have gotten professions
and decisions out of everybody within reach of their voices.
And they've given those people a false hope. They made a profession
of faith and joined the church and got their names on somebody's
church roll and got identified with some pastor. And then from
then on till the time they died, They had no enthusiasm, no zeal,
no concern, no witness, no involvement, no identification with the things
of God in any shape, form, or fashion. But when they died,
their name was in the paper, they were members of the 13th
Street Baptist Church, and their services would be conducted by
a half a dozen reverends. And the less they were identified,
the more preachers hold the funerals. And preachers ought to be ashamed
of themselves at being partakers of things like that. He said, if you continue, and
you turn to Hebrews chapter 3. Hebrews chapter 3. If you look
with me at verse 6, this is serious. Perseverance. Perseverance. If I lay the banner of Christ
down, I'll never reign with Christ. I'll tell you, if we had our
boys over there fighting in a war, and some fellow was there carrying
the banner of the flag, oh glory, and the soldiers were charging
up the hill and shooting at the enemy and shooting at them, and
that fellow took the flag and laid it down and turned and ran,
why, we'd shoot him, be ashamed of him. I'd rather lay old glory
down ten times than lay down the cross of Jesus Christ one
time. That's exactly right. It's more
important. Oh glory, one of these days ain't
going to mean a thing to us. But Christ is everything. Is
that too hard? But it's so anyhow in Hebrews chapter 3 verse 6,
Christ as a son over his house, whose house you are if, my friends,
if you hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of that hope firm
unto the end. Some of you, along with me, have
had a lot of trouble with that old Baptist doctrine of eternal
security. And I don't blame you. The way
Baptists preach it, I don't believe it. I believe men are secure
in Christ who continue in Christ. That's exactly right, and that's
what the Scripture teaches. And I turn to Luke chapter 7.
I want to show you something. But this is a religious day.
We're just so religious. Everybody's religious. Most everyone
has a form or a profession or a religious refuge, have little
or no knowledge of Christ. Little or no knowledge of Christ
at all. But they have a refuge. Little or no involvement. Little
or no interest. Little or no identification. And certainly no perseverance
or commitment. And yet they carry on their religious
games. They play their games. They talk
a good religion. They'll argue religion with you,
they'll talk religion with you, but they have, they just have,
and Christ said, you know what they are? In Luke 7, verse 32,
He said, they're children playing games. And I'll tell you what
a deadly game the religious game is. Oh, what a deadly game it
is. What a deadly, deadly game it
is. Our Lord Jesus Christ demands
commitment. He said, if you come to Me and
you don't hate your mother, father, brother, sister, husband, wife,
you're not fit for the Kingdom of God. You know what He said?
You put your hand to the plow, you take up the banner, you profess
Christ, you stand up and tell everybody you belong to Him,
and then look back, you're not fit for the Kingdom of God. What serious business! But our
Lord Jesus said in Luke 7, verse 31, and the Lord said, Whereunto
shall I liken this generation, the men of this generation? What
are they like? He said. What's this generation like?
Just like my generation. They're like children. Just like
children. They sit in the marketplace and
they call one to another and say, We piped unto you, that
is, we played merry songs and happy songs. and we tried to
humor you and get along with you and please you, and you won't
dance. So we figured we'd play some mournful tunes to you, and
so we played a sad song, but you wouldn't weep. That's this
generation. They cannot be helped, they cannot
be pleased that children play in their game. They don't like
the preacher, this preacher, that preacher, so they won't
hear any preacher. Can you imagine one of those
Israelites back in the days of the tabernacle get mad at Moses
and not go to the tabernacle the next time they had the Day
of Atonement? You know what happened to him, don't you? Can you imagine
when Aaron or Joshua or the high priest laid hands on the scapegoat? And old Floyd Jones is mad at
Aaron or Joshua or somebody and he's pouting and he's off down
to the house. He's missed the scapegoat, he's missed the Day
of Atonement, he missed the First Fruits, he missed all of it.
He's going to miss Christ, too. That's exactly right. The folks in our day, they're
like children in the marketplace. They get their feelings hurt
or have a conflict with someone in the church, so what do they
do? They take it out on God. Yeah, I'll make God pay for that. I won't give my money. I want
to attend the services. And then they learn a little
doctrine and become authorities with big heads and little hearts,
ever learning, never coming to the truth. Or someone wants to
preach. Folks won't let him preach, so
he quits. He wants to teach. He wants to lead in some way.
Let me tell you something about leading. And you always remember
this. The man who cannot be faithful
and following will never be a leader. Our Lord said, you've been faithful
over a few things, few things, little insignificant things.
I make you rule over me. That's where ability to lead
is revealed. It's that person who can be faithful
over little things. I'll tell you something else
that comes in, a little worldly success, a little worldly acclaim. That's all a man needs to turn
his head, enlarge his head, and not being able to bring that
worldly fame and worldly acclaim into the fellowship of Christ.
So he leaves the fellowship. Here's something else I've run
into all my ministerial life. A person who cannot forgive a
hurt or a misunderstanding. So they take their game somewhere
else. And then this is what happened.
Pride. Oh, pride. What a horrible thing
is pride. What an enemy of the soul is
pride. What an enemy of spiritual growth
is pride. Pride won't let a man come back. Pride won't let a man return
to Bethel. Pride won't let him confess he's
wrong. So the days turn into weeks.
And the weeks turn into months. And the months turn into years.
And he's hardened in the deceitfulness of sin. And he's missed all those
blessings. And he's missed all those messages.
And he's missed all those warnings. And he's missed Christ. And he
gets old. And he's sitting down at the
house by himself with no joy and no spiritual life and no
hope. But he reaches back to his profession
and lays hold upon that empty profession that he made way back
yonder. And he said, old brother Wood's
my preacher. Old brother Wood's been out of
the ministry for a long time, but he's still my preacher. Isn't that sad? Isn't that sad? That's the way it is. That's
not how it ought to be, Tom. That's how it is. That's what
we're living with. We're living with games. We're
living with religious games. We're living with pretense. We're
living with hypocrisy. We're living with pride. We're
living with men who have no knowledge of a person. No knowledge of
a person. And all the deceitfulness of
sin as we become hardened and set in our ways and absolutely
unmoved. Pride won't let us move. So we
live our lives without God. And we grow old without God,
and we die without God, because we think our God is as small
as we are, and as petty as we are. That's what petty. When a man acts petty, it's because
he's God's petty. When a man carries a chip, his
God carries a chip. When a man acts in a small fashion,
it's because he's God's little. God said, you thought I was altogether
such a one as yourself while you played your little game and
while you ignored the temple and the tabernacle and ignored
the atonement and ignored the worship and ignored the gospel
and ignored my glory and ignored my people and set yourself off
somewhere alone. I'm not petty like you are. I
forgive. My concern is the greater glory
of Christ. Yours isn't. Your concern's your
glory. Your concern is your welfare.
Your concern is your thought. Your concern is your pride, but
not mine. Mine's Christ's glory. And you've
missed me, God said. You're out of my program altogether.
You're out of my purpose, my grand purpose. The king gave
a feast to honor whom? You! No, sir. His son! That's
who he gave that feast for. You're playing your games. You're
off over there in the corner seeking the honor which comes
from men, he said. How can you have the honor of
God when you seek the honor of men? I'm not concerned about Christ's
glory. I'm not concerned about Christ's gospel. I'm not concerned about Christ's
kingdom. I'm not concerned about Christ's
people. I'm concerned about me. Well, you've missed God. You've
missed Him. Because He ain't concerned about
you. He's concerned about Christ. And you, as you're in Christ,
that's right. Only as you're in Christ. Because
outside of Christ, the wrath of God abideth on you. Oh, that's
so hard, but that's so so. That's so true. And then they
come down to old age. Come down to old age. What a
sad old age it is. They're religious, but no understanding. There are no revivals in these
rest homes. No salvation in sanatoriums.
People get old. Let me show you a scripture over
here in Samuel. Let me show you. This is so eye-opening
here. I jotted it down somewhere here.
It's over in 2 Samuel 19. Oh, my friend, remember God when
you're young. Stay with God when you're young,
in the days of your youth. Walk with Christ. Crucify yourself. Crucify your desires. Crucify
your ambitions. Crucify all these things, because
if you don't, they'll come back to saddle you and haunt you when
you get old. In 2 Samuel 19, listen to this
over here in verse 33. And the king said, King David
had come back to the throne. Absalom, you know, had caused
that uprising and that rebellion. And old David had come back in
glory, power, restored him to the throne. And the king said
to Barzillai, Come with me. Come over with me. I'll feed
you in Jerusalem. Come on, Barzillai. I'll feed
you with me in Jerusalem. And Barzillai said to the king,
How long have I to live that I should go up with the king
to Jerusalem? King David, I'm 80 years old.
I'm 80 years old. It's over for me. Can I discern
between good and evil? Can your servant taste what I
eat or what I drink? Can I hear any more of the singing
of men and singing women? Wherefore then should thy servant
be yet a burden unto my Lord the King?" Where are you pointing
out, preacher? I'm pointing this out right here. When you get
that age, if you haven't been brought to love Him and to know
Him and feast on Him, Gone. It's gone. Discernment's gone. Factualties. That's right. I
know. Can't even taste anymore. Can't
discern the music of the kingdom. I've lived my life without God.
I'm going to die without Him. There's just no light of Christ
in the countenance. There's no knowledge of Christ
in the heart. There's no truth of substitution
on the lips. Oh, they'll say amen to anything
you say. A dear old lady Doris was talking to not long ago,
such a stranger to the gospel but so religious. And she said to Doris, said,
my son said I have a direct line to God. She said it twice. I got a direct
line to God. And Doris said, No, no. We have to have a mediator. We
have to have Christ. That's right, honey. You're right
about that. Didn't know what the first thing said or the second
thing said. It's too late, Ronnie. It's too
late. It's sad. So here's a warning.
Look back at the text. And I hope that every one of
us, and I consider this, most everybody here in the days of
your youth, That's right. Look at verse 1 of chapter 12
again. Remember now thy Creator. Who are we talking about? Let's
break it down. The Creator, that's Father, Son, Holy Spirit. It
says remembering. Now let me tell you something.
Remember. The word remember. That word implies a whole lot
more than just calling something to mind. like remembering a profession
of faith, or remembering the old choir singing, Just As I
Am, or remembering going down there and shaking the preacher's
hand, or remembering when you were baptized in the creek. This
remembering implies a whole lot more than that. Here's what it's
saying. You remember when the thief on the cross was dying
and turned to Christ? And he said, Lord, do what? Remember
me? In other words, when you get
in glory, just have a fleeting thought that old fellow was hanging
on your right hand over there. No, it wasn't what he was saying. You know what he was saying?
Lord, think upon me. Consider me. And set your thoughts
on me. That's exactly it. Set your heart
on me. That's what he meant by remembering.
Lord, think upon me. Consider me. Set your heart upon
me. And that's what he's saying here
about you and me. While you still got the faculties
and youth, you set your heart on Christ. Set your affections
on things above, not on the things of this earth. Oh, you're so
busy. We're so busy. We've got houses and farms and
lands and cars and jobs and savings and bonds and stocks and everything
under the sun, but Christ. We've got our hearts on everything
in this world, but Christ. Set your affection. When we serve
the Lord's table, that down there says, this do in remembrance
of me. What's that remembrance mean?
Well, just call to mind that He died on a cross. No sir. That
sets your heart on Him. Your thoughts, consider Him.
Have Him in remembrance. Remember or think upon God in
His glorious person. Think upon God in His purpose
to redeem. Set your heart upon Him in His
incarnation. Set your heart upon Him as your
substitute. Set your heart upon Him as prophet,
priest, and king. Set your heart upon His grace
and mercy. Set your heart upon His precious
blood. Set your heart upon His daily
care. And set your heart upon seeing
Him one day and being like Him. The object of your affection.
That's what it means. Remember. Remember. It's not just to celebrate a
day. That's the reason I don't like Easter and Christmas and
all these different days. It just somehow seems to isolate
God to some kind of period or some kind of place. God is everywhere. God is a spirit. The living God
is life and love and truth and beauty. God in us and about us
and around us and set your affection on Him all the time. all the time. But, watch this,
remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth. What about
these days of thy youth? Well, these are the choice days. Mindy, Susan, you young people,
Colin, you're still young. The days of your youth are the
choice and the best days. The best days belong to Him.
He said, the first fruits are mine. The old farmers in Israel
went out and reaped the crop. And Charlie, what did they do
with the first batch? Brought it to the Lord. That first ripe
tomato, that's the Lord's. That first juicy ear of corn
that you pull the leaves off and poke it and the juice flies,
that's God's. Don't you bring Him that old
withered ear of corn after you've brought the best to your own
table. and leave what's left for God, He won't have it. He
won't have it. The first sling of the flock
is God's. The firstborn son is God's. And I'll tell you, your youth
and your youthful days belong to Him. That's what makes me
sick about these old entertainers. I'm not going to call any names,
but some old cowboys and their wives Their days of beauty's
gone. They're old now. Their days of
human glow is gone. Their days of demand to make
pictures is gone. Riding down the old trail for
money's gone. Now they're riding the trail
for Jesus. Fully on that. God don't want your leavings
and He won't have it. Oh, we knew God all along. We
just got off the track. We just backslid a little. Yeah,
you ate the first fruits, and you ate the firstling of the
flock, and you kept the firstborn. And God said you can go now where
all of them have gone. Isn't that right? That's exactly
right. Remember God in the days of your
youth. They belong to Him. That's those
early days. That's those ripe days. That's those alert days. I don't have any use for all
these politicians lived all their lives in politics, greed, and
grasping, and lying, and conniving, and cheating, and stealing, and
then get born again and give God the last two years. He won't
have it. The days of your youth are when
the mind's clear and the powers and faculty of heart and soul
are capable of being enlarged and improved. and useful to the
Kingdom of God. And I'll tell you something else
about the days of your youth. Remember thy Creator in the days
of thy youth? That's the days you have. You
don't have those other days. You're giving God something you
don't have. You're saying, when I have a more convenient season,
wait a minute, you ain't got but one season, that's now. Remember
now! That young man said, I'll serve
you, Lord, but let me go home first and bid them farewell.
You just got right now. You haven't got things. You're
telling God that he's going to take something you don't have. We're not called upon to give
what we don't have. We're called upon to give what
we do have. I've got this time right here. And I'm not going
to give it to the Republican Party. I'm going to give it to
God. I've got this time right here. It's God's time. Remember
what? Now. Right now. Well, I'm going to think about
this a little. Who said you had time to think about it? You're presuming on God. He said,
don't you boast of tomorrow. Well, tomorrow, tomorrow is not
yours. Now is the accepted time. Today
is the day of salvation. Tomorrow is God's time. You're
imposing on God. You're spending what you don't
have. You're talking about giving God what's not even in your power
to give. Remember now, now, now, now thy
Creator in the days of thy youth, in the days that you have right
now. That's what he said. Well, let's look at this for
a minute. I'm preaching too long, but I'll... This is... I got
a hold of something. I know when I got a hold of something.
Remember now thy Creator and the days of thy youth, while
the evil days come not. What are those evil days? Old
age. That's the reason in verse 2
He said, The sun and the light and the moon and the stars be
not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain, when the
keepers of the house shall tremble. I've showed you that. I don't
need to go through that again. Well, why are they called, brother
of mine, why are they called evil days? When the evil days
come now, why is these days called evil days, the days of old age?
Well, they're not called evil days because they're more evil
or sinful than any other day. One day without Christ is as
evil as another. Youth without Christ is as evil
as old age without Christ. So it's not because they're more
sinful, but they're called evil days, number one. because of
the afflictions and the infirmities and weakness of those days. They're
bad days. Now, some of you are getting
quite up in years. You're way up there. And there
are evil days, aren't there? There are days of pain, and days
of infirmity, and days of weakness, and days of afflictions. You
used to not get sick, and now you're sick a lot of the time.
Well, they're evil days. And then the evil days because
existence becomes uncomfortable. It is. It's uncomfortable. Troublesome. Uncomfortable. Lonely. Those
are evil days. They are evil. And I'll tell
you another reason why these days of old age, and it's coming.
Some of you young folks think, well, he's talking about something.
It ain't so far off, is it? It's not so far. It's right on
you. And the evil days because of
the dullness of spiritual perception, and the hardness of sin. I tell
you, the only good part of those evil days is the knowledge of
Christ. That's exactly right. And people
now who are old, and there's some of us right here who are
older, but you know the joy of our old age? Ain't no joy in
this flesh. There is no joy in the loneliness
of it, in the afflictions of it, in the weakness of it, in
the sleeplessness nights of it, but the joy is in the Lord. The
comfort and joy and happiness is in Christ. And if I didn't
have Him, I wouldn't have anything. I wouldn't have nothing. Talk about evil days. You're
miserable and you make everybody else miserable when you don't
have Christ. And look at this next line. He
said, Remember now, thy Creator set your heart on Him. Now in
the days of your youth, all you older people, aren't you glad
you met Christ in your youth? Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad? Don't you rejoice? And it's by
His grace. Aren't you glad that when others
quit, you stayed? Aren't you glad when others laid
down the banner, you held it aloft? Aren't you glad that He
gave you the grace to be loyal and faithful and you have some
hope and confidence of eternal life with Him? And that's all
you really have. That's all you really have because
everything else, old Solomon said, is vanity. Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad? And I tell you,
no matter how dark the way looks out yonder, He's the light. He's
the light. No matter how rough the seas,
He is our pilot. That's exactly right. Well, the
days are going to come when you say, I have no pleasure. I have
no pleasure in the flesh. I have no pleasure in my fields
and gardens anymore. I have no pleasure in nations
and men. I don't care a thing about reading
the headlines much anymore. Who cares? I've lived through
about a dozen different presidents and ain't nothing changed yet.
It's all the same. Therefore wars. My only pleasure is in the truth
in Christ. And let me tell you something.
If you don't have him, you don't have any pleasure. Pleasure is
satisfaction. And you come to a person who
doesn't know Christ, up there in years, lived a life without
Him, hand him a bulletin sometime and ask him to read that. He's
not interested. He'll glance at it and say, that's
pretty good. Give him a tape to listen to. He's not interested. Tell him we're having a Bible
conference and preachers are preaching the gospel. Come and
go with me. Well, honey, you young folks, just go on now and
I'll sit here at home, you know, and rock and rock and rock. Huh? No interest? I have no pleasure. The evil days are here and I
have no pleasure. None anywhere. None in the flesh.
None in my fields and gardens. None in my children. They've
all disappointed. Some of you. None in nations
or men. Where is my pleasure? I'll be
satisfied when I wake with His likeness. Until that day comes,
I'm going to find my satisfaction thinking about it. Huh? I'm telling
you the truth. Until that day comes. I'll be satisfied when I wake
with His likeness. Until that day comes, I'm going
to find all my happiness and all my joy and all my satisfaction
in Him. Anticipation. And oh, what a
victory. What a victory. Some of you,
I thank God for you. I'm saying this publicly and
strong from my heart. Some of you, I've been here a
long time. Some of you here have been so
loyal and faithful and you just stood and what's more you stand
and you keep on standing and you You've grown old together,
and we preach the gospel and love the gospel. And I tell you,
as the evil days come, the days of weakness and firmness and
all this, oh, the joy of knowing that Christ has kept us in his
hand and in his arm. Huh? And what other joy is there? So my counsel to the young folks
here is remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth. And
Satan comes in all of his subtlety and craftiness and trials come
from within and disappointments and hurt and misunderstandings
and all these conflicts and wars and ambitions and things and
turmoil and all these things. And on Christ. Set your affections
on Christ. And I don't care what they offer
you. I don't care who offers it. Anything
that takes you away from Christ and His gospel and fellowship
with His people, identification with Him, it ain't worth it if
it's ten million worlds. It's not worth it. Because you're
coming to the end one of these days. You're coming to the end. And when you get to those days,
there's one thing that counts. I know Him. I know Him.