A little more deliberately, a
little more reverently, because it is a special portion of God's
Word. I don't set one scripture against
another. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God. But this is truly the Lord's
prayer. That's what this is. He's not
teaching someone to pray. Our Lord, in John 17, is praying. I think it's like listening in
on heaven. That's the way it impresses me.
Eavesdropping on the Son of God speaking to his Father about
vital issues. Now you can listen to all the
Word of God. You can pay attention to all
Scripture because all Scripture is given by inspiration of God
and is profitable. for doctrine, for instruction
in righteousness, rebuke, reproof, and so forth. But if we're teachable,
if there's anybody here tonight who's teachable, we should be
able to learn something from this prayer, from listening in
on this prayer, something about His grace, His design in redemption,
His ultimate purpose. Now, there's one phrase that
I want us to look at, found in verse 14, and repeated again
in verse 16. He says in verse 14, "...I have
given them thy word, and the world hath hated them, because
they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." In
verse 16, our Lord repeats that statement again. He says, "...they
are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." What's
He talking about? What's He talking about? The
first thing that we have to settle, the first question that we have
to settle before we go any further is not so much what He's talking
about as to whom is the Lord referring. They. He said they. He divides people
here, verse 14, he said, I have given them thy word, and the
world hath hated them. He's not talking here about the
world. He's talking about a particular group of people. He said, the
world hath hated. They are not of this world. They. Who are they? Well, he identifies
them several times in several ways. Let's look at verse 2.
The first way he identifies them is this way, he says in verse
2, "...as thou hast given him," speaking of himself, "...authority
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him." So they, the they here, they are not of
this world, the they are the people whom the Father gave to
the Son. And he gave them to the Son.
Where did Christ get his people? Well, he purchased them on the
cross, and they were brought to him in faith and regeneration
by the Holy Spirit. But originally and eternally,
they were given to him by the Father. That's where he got his
people. Originally, eternally, God gave
them to him. Now, I'll show you that in the
Scripture. It says in John 17.6, he uses this phrase several times. In John 17, 6, he says, I have
manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me. In
verse 9, he said, I pray for them. I pray not for the world,
but for them which thou hast given me. In verse 12, he says,
while I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name,
those that thou gavest me. In verse 24, he said, Father,
I will. that they also whom thou hast
given me be with me where I am." So here in this one prayer, six
times that they are identified as those whom the Father had
given him. Turn back to John the sixth chapter. Now I'm not conducting a school
of theology here tonight on election or predestination or eternal
salvation. I'm just pointing out that the
Lord Jesus Christ identifies his people, first of all, in
this way, the Father gave them to me. The Father gave them to
me. In John 6, verse 37, all that
the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to
me I'll in no wise cast out, for I came down from heaven not
to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me, and
this is the Father's will which has sent me. that of all which
he hath given me, I'll lose nothing, but raise it up again at the
last day." Christ said to his disciples, you didn't choose
me, I chose you. I chose you. When did he choose
us? He chose us in Christ before the world began. Why did he choose
us? According to the good pleasure
of his own will. Our Lord one day lifted his eyes
to heaven, and he said, I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven
and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise
and the prudent, and thou hast revealed them unto babes. Even
so, Father, it seemed good in thy sight. The Lord God of heaven
and earth works all things after the counsel of his own will.
He does according to his will in the armies of heaven among
the inhabitants of this earth, and none can stay his hand or
say unto him, What doest thou? All right, the second way he
identifies these people is in verse 6. Verse 2 he says, that
they who are not of this world are those whom the Father hath
given me. Now verse 6, watch this, I have
manifested thy name, the name of God. Now the name of God,
as I've told you so many times, denotes his character, his attributes. A person is identified by his
name. If I stand before you tonight
and mention a name, John Halsom, everybody here who knows John
immediately identifies him with that name. He is the man who
rides the amigo, who sits on the front row here of the church,
who distributes tapes, who is a certain height and a certain
weight, certain color hair and eyes and so forth. You identify
the person by the name. Our Lord said, I have manifested
your name. Not just Jehovah, not just God,
not just Elohim, but His name denotes His character, who God
is, the attributes of God. When we hear God, well, the fellow
in Japan thinks of Buddha when he mentions the word God. When
we mention the word God, the fellow over in China thinks of
Confucius. The fellow somewhere else thinks
of something else, the Armenian thinks of a powerless person
who wants to do certain things and people won't let him do it.
When you mention God to me, or to some of you, I think of God
who created all things with the word of his power. I think of
God who reigns in heaven, who sovereignly sits upon an indisputable,
immutable throne. I think of God who is holy, God
who is just, God who is righteous, God who is truth, God who is
love, all of these things. I've manifested your name. In
other words, these days, this day, are not only people who
are chosen by God and given to the Son, but there are people
who've had a special revelation of the name and character of
God. I have manifested thy name unto them. In other words, one
day he said to his disciples, Whom do men say that I, the Son
of Man am? Well, they said, some say you're
John the Baptist, some say Elijah, some one of the prophets, but
whom do you say that I am? And Peter said, Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God. And he said, Blessed are
you, Simon. Blessing blood didn't teach you
that, but my Father which is in heaven. A special revelation. Look, if you will, at Luke 10.
Here's a verse that I want you to look at. Everyone who has
a Bible, turn to Luke 10. Luke, the 10th chapter. And I
want to read, this is one I quoted a part of it a moment ago. But
now listen to verse 21. Luke 10, 21. In that hour, Jesus rejoiced
in spirit and said, I thank the, O Father, Lord of heaven and
earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent,
and hast revealed them unto babes, even so, father, for so it seem
good in thy sight. All things are delivered to me
of my father. No man knoweth who the son is
but the father, and who the father is but the son. and he to whom
the Son will reveal him. Now read on. And he turned unto
his disciples and said privately, Blessed are the eyes which see
what you see. For I tell you, many prophets
and kings have desired to see those things which you see and
have not seen them, and to hear those things which you hear and
haven't heard them. They, who are they? The people he's talking about
here, they are not of this world. They're the people of an everlasting
covenant. You call them elect. All right. God's jewels. All right. His brethren. Fine. The family
of God. The body of Christ. The bride
of the Son of God. By any name you want to call
them. But they're people who were given Christ by the Father.
And there are people who've had a special revelation, a special
manifestation of the name of God. They know who God is. He's
not the man upstairs, and He's not even the good Lord. I get
sick of hearing people say, the good Lord really. If He's God,
He's good. If He's not good, He's not God.
You seem to indicate there's more than one God, or maybe there's
a bad Lord somewhere. Let's just say, you know why
we use things like that? It's a way of taking the edge
off what we're saying. I guarantee you that's what you're
doing. When you stand up and say, well, the good Lord willing,
I'll see you next week, you're taking the edge off that thing.
Why don't you just say, the Lord willing? Why do you have to put
an adjective or an adverb or something on God's name? Let
your yea be yea and your nay, nay. I'll tell you what we're
doing. We're trying to get along with this old world. That's what
we're trying to do. And trying to take the glory out of it and
the edge off of it and keep from offending anybody. The Lord willing. I've seen him, Paul said. I know
him. We've had a special revelation
of his name and character. There's something else about
him, verse 8. He said, I've given them your word. I've given them
your word. And they, and they received it. Oh, I like that. Now, don't take
this lightly. Don't take this lightly. You say, everybody believes the
Bible. That's what you think. That's what you think. You know
what Brother Barnard said one time to a man? I heard him say
it. He said, well, I believe the
Bible. Barnard said, you don't or you'd be saved. Every man
who believes the Bible is a saved man. If he's not saved, he doesn't
believe the Bible. That's so. I know every man,
it's no small thing what I'm saying here, every man has superstitions
about this book. Everybody has sentiments about
this book. But God's people believe it.
They believe it. They believe it. He said, I've
given them your word and they have received it. They're not
arguing over it. There's people sitting right
here in this congregation. but argue about the things that
I read out of the Word and preach. God's people don't argue His
Word, they receive it. They don't argue. No, sir, they
don't argue. They search the Scripture to
see if those things are so. But they don't argue the Bible,
they receive the Word of God. You see, what the law says, it
says to everybody under the law that every mouth may be stopped
and all the world become guilty before God. I told somebody a
few days ago, the Reformation, The Reformation was born out
of a threefold or fourfold basis or foundation. This was the Catholic
rule of this world almost at one time. God had his people
here and there and yonder. He's never left himself without
a witness. But the old imposter of Rome ruled this world. The
popes and cardinals and priests and sold their indulgences and
preached their purgatory and their false doctrine and their
Mariology or whatever you call it. And those people, Luther
and Zwingli and Calvin and some of those great men, dared to
stand up against them. And here was their foundation,
threefold or fourfold. Number one, the Scriptures alone,
as opposed to anything that comes out of Rome. You see, what they
teach over there is that what the Pope says as Pope is equal
to the Scriptures. Yes, they do. Anything that's
the Immaculate Conception didn't come out of the Bible, it came
out of Rome. Purgatory didn't come out of the Bible, it came
out of Rome. All of these things came out of Rome, they didn't
come out of the Bible. But the Catholic Church and Catholic
people have to accept it. Now somebody challenged me one
day and said, you ought not to talk about the Catholics. Paul
and Peter, James and John condemned false preachers and called them
by name. I'm not calling them by name, I'm calling the name
of a system. But he said, Demas hath forsaken me. He said, Alexander
did me much harm. God reward him for his deed.
God deal with him. The Mastonese and the Homogenese
have made shipwreck of the faith. He called their name. And one
day in front of the whole church, he backed Peter against the wall
and said, I withstood Peter to his face. He was wrong. And I'll
tell you this, that these things that the old timers, Luther and
those men said, it's the Scriptures alone. We don't take anything
out of man's books or writings or dogmas or anything else he
issues. We won't accept it. It's the
Bible alone, the Scriptures alone. Now God's people, that's an identifying
mark of one of God's children. He says it's God's Word. You
find it in God's Word and I'll walk there in. And then not only
that, but Christ alone. Christ is all in all. Christ
is our Redeemer, our Substitute, Savior, Atonement, our Prophet,
Priest, and King, our God, our Master, our Sovereign. He's everything. Christ is. We don't take Mary
to be anything but what she is, a sinner saved by grace. That's
all she is. She said herself, my soul rejoices
in God, my Savior. Well, my Mediator can't have
a Mediator. My Savior can't have a Savior.
My intercessor can't have an intercessor. He's got to get
to the throne room. And if Mary's sitting around
here rejoicing in God her Savior, then how can she be my Savior?
Sit around and count bees and say, Hail Mary, Mother of God,
full of grace and truth, pray for us poor sinners, and keep
repeating that silly hogwashing. That's what it is. It's stupid. Christ alone as opposed to anyone
or anything. Christ alone. He's our great
high priest. Christ alone. Let these evangelists
and preachers stand out and say things like that to this world.
They're going to have to start doing it. God's servant will. He's not trying to make friends
of this world. He's trying to please God. And
I tell you, another thing they built that Reformation on was
this, grace alone as opposed to works. I don't mind being
called an antinomian. I don't want to be one. But I
don't care if you call me one. You call me a name you want to.
They call my Lord a wine beveler, a drunk. They call him a gluttonous
man. Call me what you want to. I don't
want to be one, but I don't mind you call me one. I want to preach
justification so strongly that that's what the world will call
me. And the religious Pharisees, I want them to call me an antinomian.
I want their enmity. I want the Pharisees to hate
me like they hated Christ. David said, God, your enemies
are my enemies. Your enemies are my enemies.
Christ alone, grace alone. I believe that we are saved by
the grace of Christ, by the merits of Christ, plus nothing in this
world, not even faith. Not baptism or law or morality
or anything else. I'm saved because Christ loved
me and died for me. I'm a child of God because he
made me his child, and Christ my Lord furnished all that he
required of his children. And then the fourth thing this
Reformation was based upon was the right of private judgment.
There's only one Lord of my soul, and that's Christ Jesus. Not
the church, or the preacher, or the evangelist, or anybody
else. And you young people, you respect your parents, you honor
your parents, but Christ is your Lord. You wives be in subjection
to your husbands and honor your husbands, but Christ is your
Lord. You husbands love your wives, respect your pastor, follow
his leadership, but Christ is your Lord. We know only one Lord. Don't call any man Master on
this earth. One is your Master Jesus Christ.
Don't you call any man on this earth Father. One is your Father,
that's the one in heaven. Don't you call him Father. Don't
you do it. And I'll tell you another thing,
men ought not be called reverend. Holy and reverend is his name.
Nothing reverend about me. I hope in Christ that I'm godly.
I hope in Christ that I'm one of God's children. But I'm just
a sinner saved by grace. So these people have received
the Word of God. They've received this book. Now
look at verse 11 and 12. And he says, not only that, but
I've kept them. I'm no more in this world, but
they are. I come to thee. Holy Father, keep, keep, keep. Verse 12, while I was with them,
I kept them. Let me tell you something. I
believe this with all my heart. I see the great providence of
God in not only bringing me to Christ. I give God all the glory
for quickening in my heart a desire to know Christ. I remember Brother
Edgelmore praying one time years ago. It made such a profound
impression upon me. I always hear people say, Lord,
we thank you for the privilege of being here. But he said a
little more than that. He said, Lord, I thank you not
only for the privilege of being here, but Lord, I'm especially
grateful for the desire to be here. You remember that? I remember
it like yesterday. I thank you, Lord, that I want
to be here. Because I tell you this, if it
wasn't for him, I wouldn't want to be here. I wouldn't want to
be opening this book and listening to it, or reading it, or singing
his praises. I'd want to be somewhere else,
because that's my nature. He providentially brought me
to Christ, and he providentially, by his power, keeps me in Christ. If I could, I'd leave. My nature
is my enemy, Satan is my enemy, the world is my enemy, and the
trials of life would be victorious over me and you too, if it weren't
for his grace. He said, Lord, they kept on keeping
on. No, he didn't. He said, I kept
on. I kept on. Lord, they put one foot in front
of the other and stayed by the gun. No, they didn't. I kept
on. While I was with them in the world, I kept on. Now I come
to thee. You keep on. You keep on. And then in verse
14, he says something else about them. He says, they're not of
the world. They're not of the world. He said in verse 14, here's
something else I want to show you. He said, I've given them
thy word, and the world hath hated them. Brethren, don't ask
me to explain the hatred of this world for the truth. I don't
understand it. All other religions, this is
what's amazing. You can be a Pelagian, an Arminian,
a Freewheller, you can be a Catholic, you can be a Protestant or a
Jew. You can hold any sect or cult or any kind of religion,
even old Mooney, whatever his name is, and you'll go unmolested,
and you'll even be praised for your good works. But I'll tell
you, the way of grace, the way of free grace, the way of sovereign
grace is despised and hated and abhorred by natural men. Did
you know that? I know that. I know that. You can be anything you want
to be and believe anything you want to believe religiously,
but don't you ever lay hold of and believe and stand for the
sovereignty of God Almighty and salvation, or you'll bring all
hell on your head from this religious world, preachers mainly. They
hate it. They'll get together in their
little associations and their little pastor's conferences,
and the Salvation Army is welcome, and the Episcopalians welcome,
and the Catholics welcome, and the chaplain at the penitentiary
is welcome, but this fellow that believes the grace of God, he's
an enemy of every one of them. I can't explain that. There are
people who hate this church, who've never been in this church.
There are people who despise what I preach, who've never met
me face to face. I don't understand that. I cannot explain it, but I just
know it so. The world hates them. What did
Jesus Christ ever do to merit the hatred of this world? He
healed their sick. He raised their dead. He gave sight to
the blind. He fed their hungry. He came here speaking of perfect
holiness and perfect righteousness and offered to me and the way
to God. And they took him out and nailed him to a cross. Now
he said, many good works have I done, why do you stone me?
They said, we're not stoning you for good work, because you
say you're God. And no man can be God. Well,
he was. He was God in human flesh. Men
hate that. They will not give God the glory.
They'll work their way to heaven. They'll fight their way to heaven.
They'll earn their way to heaven. They'll merit their way to heaven.
They'll give their way to heaven. But they won't beg their way.
That's exactly right. They're not of this world. Here's
the key verse though. He says they're not of this world
even as I'm not of the world. What did he mean? They're not
of the world. And here's where the water is
muddied more than anywhere else, more than any other place by
religionists, by preachers, and by everybody else. Because of
this, they're not of the world. I'm not of the world. They're
not worldly and so forth. As a result of the way they've
muddied the water and confused this issue, they have created
a false image of the gospel. The average person out there
has a false conception of the gospel because of this subject
right here. They have created a phony Christianity. It's as phony as a $3 bill. The
Fundamentalists, the Falwells, the Humbards, the Oral Roberts
and the Jimmy Swagerts and the Gloria and whatever her husband
is, Copelands, have created a phony Christianity that's deceiving
this whole world. It's exactly right. They're not
telling the truth. And they're giving men a false
refuge. They're preaching a salvation it doesn't save and a Christianity
that knows nothing about Jesus Christ. And they're deceiving
people by the multitude, by the millions. The important distinction,
I want you to listen to it. Don't miss the important key
in this whole statement. Our Lord didn't say they're not
of this world. He didn't say that. He didn't say they're not
of this world. He said rather they're still in this world.
That's what He said to it, they're still in this world. You're of
this world, in most areas we're of this world. I'm born into
this world. I have a birth certificate in Jefferson County, Birmingham,
Alabama. It says I was born in this world.
It gives my parents' names and my grandparents' names, the hour
and day in which the doctor delivered me. I'm a part of the human race,
admit it or not. And I'll remain so as long as
I live. I am a son of Adam. I have borne the image of the
what? The worldly, the earthy. I'm of this earth. Secondly,
I live in this world with a certain kinship to all men. All men are
my brethren. They talk about roots. Well,
our roots go back to the Garden of Eden. Not to Africa and not
to Europe, to the Garden of Eden. I have a kinship with the whole
human race and I have a special kinship with a few. And I have
a responsibility to everybody. I certainly do while I'm in this
world. I got a responsibility to my family, to my neighbors,
and to my nation. It always bothered me when boys
are marching off to war and somebody hides behind religion, saying
they're not of this world. Let me tell you something, brother. We've benefited by the blessings
of this free nation. And if she gets in trouble again,
I expect every man in this church to shoulder a gun and go defend
it and assist us to stay home. But don't hide behind religion.
Don't hide behind religion. I've got an obligation to this
nation. I love it and I'll defend it. Everybody here has. We're
not conscientious objectors. We bring up our families in this
world. My children went to school in this town. We buy and we sell. We pay taxes. We serve our country. We work alongside, live next
door, and associate with all sorts of people. Let's keep on.
Our Lord said, you're the light of this world. You don't take
a light and put it under a bushel. You put it on a candlestick.
You don't take salt and hide it in the cupboard, you put it
on the meat. You're part of this world. There are many people
who try to interpret this statement in a literal sense. A religious
monk, he goes off in a cave somewhere, he's so good, it pains him to
associate with sinners. He's so good, it pains him to
be exposed to common people. That's not what our Lord said.
And then the uniformed religionists, they wear a uniform, you know,
so that everybody, male and female, they can't dress like normal
people. They've got to wear some dark clothes and big hats and
black suits and all these things to call attention to their piety. Let me tell you something. When
you have to call attention by outward garb to your piety, you
don't have any. You don't have to run around
and shout piety. If you have it, it'll show. Barnard
said, it'll leak out on you, spite all you can do. If it's
genuine, if you've got Christ in your heart, if it's genuine,
you don't have to dress like it, you don't have to say thee
and thou. You just be yourself and it'll
come out. The other will too. And then
the separationists. They usually judge everybody
else. They're so strict. They're born in the negative
mood and they lived there all their lives. The Pharisees were
like these people. They wouldn't associate with
others. And when our Lord went to the house of a sinner, they
said, what in the world is he doing associating with those
people? They called him a gluttonous man, they called him a wine-dibber,
they called him a friend of sinners. But he was not of this world.
And he says that we, chosen of God, Having God's name manifested
in our hearts, having a special knowledge of His grace, filled
with His Spirit, born of His Spirit, washed in His blood,
we are not of this world, even as He is not of this world. Our Lord loved this world. He
gave Himself for it. Our Lord lived in this world.
Our Lord walked with the people of this world, talked with the
people of this world, ate with the people of this world, but
He was not of this world. And I've got to find out how
he was not of this world. And then I'll find out how I'm
not of this world. Now, here's the second thing.
Just two points in this message. Here's the second point. How
is the believer not of this world? I'm going to be perfectly honest
with you. The older I get, the tireder I get of Pharisees. I'm
tired of catering to them. I'm tired of giving in to them.
I'm tired of pacifying them. I think it's time that God's
preachers and God's people stood up and had something to say to
these blind leaders of the blind. We've catered to them and pacified
them and given in to them too long. They're denying the gospel.
The works people are denying the gospel. And it's time we
came out loud and clear and let them know what the gospel, who
the gospel is, and what the gospel does. Well, first of all, the
believers not of this world, in this sense, he has a new nature. Our Lord Jesus Christ was a man,
no question about that. He was a man. He had calluses
on his hands. He worked in a carpenter's shop.
He ate, he drank, he walked on this earth just like he was a
man. But he had a divine, holy nature
that was without sin. Now he stood and talked to the
Pharisees. He stood and talked to them.
But he was not of their world. You see what I'm saying? He was
not like them. He was in the same area. He perhaps
was drinking the same water. He was washing in the same fountain.
But he was not of their world. Our Lord sat and talked to the
woman at the well. But he was not of her world.
He associated with her and talked with her, was kinder, but he
was not of her world. Our Lord talked to the publicans.
He fellowshiped with the publicans, but he was not of the publicans'
work. Where was the difference? They
drank out of the same dipper, they walked down the same road,
they sat by the same well, they talked on the same subject. What
was the difference? Our Lord had a divine nature. And the difference, first of
all, between us and this world is, we have a new nature. The difference is not external.
The difference is in her. Now, when we talk about hermits
and monks, and when we talk about separationists, and when we talk
about this, that, and the other, somebody says, well, that's alright
for you preachers, but I've got to go down here to the steel
mill and work tomorrow. That's alright for you preachers to
sit in your study and burn your candles. That looks more ancient,
you know, if you put the lights out and burn a camera and read
by it. And get your dusty old books, you know, and get in there
and spend the whole day. But I've got to go down here
to the mill. I've got to go in that office. How can I be not
of this world? Well, the first thing is this,
a new nature. You are still a human being.
You still have a human nature. You're still a man and a woman.
But I'll tell you, if you're born of God, you have a new nature,
and the difference is not external, it's internal. Turn to Matthew
23, and let me show you that. Matthew 23. Now, my friends,
listen to me. The world says, the natural man
says, serving God is serving God in rituals, in denominationalism,
in ceremony, in creeds, in tithes and offerings, in special holy
days and all of these things. The believer says that worshiping
God is in spirit. In spirit. The Apostle Paul said
in Philippians, he said, we are the true Israel, true circumcision,
who worship God in the spirit, who rejoice in Jesus Christ,
who have no confidence in the flesh. It's a spiritual, internal
relationship. Look at Matthew 23. Let's begin
here with verse 25. Our Lord is speaking to the Pharisees.
He's speaking to the religious crowd. And He says, Woe unto
you scribes, Pharisees, you hypocrites! You make clean the outside of
the cup and the platter. But with Ian you're full of extortion
and excess. Now what's he talking about?
He's talking about these Pharisees that kept a Sabbath date down
to the letter. They were very deliberate about
keeping the Sabbath done. They wouldn't eat certain meat.
Touch not, taste not, handle not. They wouldn't drink certain
things. They paid their tithes. They
went to the synagogue. They fasted twice a week. They
did all these things. They wore the uniforms of religion.
They broadened their phylacteries. All of this was outside. But
our Lord says, in your hearts, you hate people, you have envy,
and jealousy, and malice, and hatred, and lust, and murder,
and all these things in your heart. Now is not this a picture
of today's religion? I hear people, I hear these preachers,
if they didn't have booze, and picture shows, and short shorts,
and mixed bathing to preach on, they wouldn't have any sermons.
But then I pick up my old books and I read where the pilgrims
who came over here from England, I might as well, this is true.
They came over here from England. They fought for religious freedom.
They fought for God's grace. They fought for the right to
preach the gospel. They fought and bled and died.
They sold their property and got on ships to come over here
to found a nation where they could worship God. You believe
they were sincere men? I know they were. We won't hardly
go down the street to worship God. They went across the Atlantic
Ocean 6,000 miles in a wind-blown ship. But they had more ale on
that ship than they had water. They brought 3,500 gallons of
ale. That's right. What'd they bring
it for? Medicinal purposes. There's a
lot of sickness in the camp. A lot of sickness in the camp. And then I pick up my books and
I see John Gill sitting there enjoying his pipe while he's
studying, and Charles Spurgeon, and Arthur Pink, and all these
fellas. And then some preacher gets up
and says, you smoke, you're going to hell. You see, that's the
same crowd. The same outfit right here was
one that blasted our Lord. Because he didn't wash his hands
before he ate supper. And our Lord said to him, he said, let
me tell you something. And I want to preach to this
world. I don't want to preach to a bunch of separationist monks
and hermits and people who don't know who God is that put salvation
and sin in a box. They used to preach against the
radio when it first came out, and then everybody got one. And
then preach against television when it came out, and everybody
got one. I don't know what we're going to preach on next, but
it'll be something. And they had a big revival, and
everybody would sell their television sets. I went somewhere to hold
a meeting, and the people up there, their preacher was against
television. So they all had them in the cupboards, and they shut
the door and put the antenna in the attic. Though I knew they
hadn't won. We'll get around the law some
way. We'll get around it. It isn't what you put in your
mouth that defiles you. Now, I believe in temperance.
I believe in temperance in all things. The Bible teaches that.
I believe in walking godly and temperately in this present world.
And there are things that need to be left alone. We ought to
avoid the appearance of evil. I don't frequent the places around
this town. I don't want to. My companions
don't hang out there. The people I enjoy with don't
hang. Why should I hang out there? And I believe we ought to exercise
temperance. But let me tell you something. Salvation is a hard
work. This new nature is a hard work. And it's not what I put in my
mouth that defiles me. It may kill me, but it won't
defile me. It can't touch my heart. Our
Lord said that. He says, what you eat and drink
goes in your mouth, in your belly, it's digested, goes to you, and
out the drain. And it can't touch your soul,
David. But I'll tell you what Ken, he said, out of your heart
comes evil thoughts, adultery, blasphemy, hate. That's what's
tearing you up. That's what's damning your soul.
That's what's sending you to hell. That's what God's angry
about. Isn't that right Ed? I'm telling the truth. This is
so. We need to stand up and let this world know this. They don't
this and don't that and don't the other until they got the
average person out there thinking salvation, then don't. It's not.
It's in Christ. And somebody needs to say something
about it. The world says, love those that love you. Christ said,
love those that hate you. The world says, help those that
help themselves. Christ said, help those from
whom you hope to receive nothing in return. The world says, get,
get even, seek revenge. Christ said, forgive, show mercy.
That's the difference. It's an inward thing. The world
says, make the guilty suffer. The Lord Jesus said, make him
welcome. The world says, serve God and receive a reward. The
believer said, when I've done all that God commanded, I'm a
poor worthless servant. I am what I am by the grace.
It's a new nature. That's the difference. It's a
new nature. And you go around here with all
of these rules and regulations, and a church covenant hanging
on your wall promising to do thus, thus, and thus, and perish
wrapped up in your rules and regulations. But I'm telling
you this, if Jesus Christ, by the power of His Spirit, ever
comes into a man's soul and gives him a new heart and a new nature,
then he'll not be of this world as his Lord is not of this world.
Our Lord could go to their weddings and sit with them and converse
with them, Our Lord could eat with them and drink with them
and talk with them. Our Lord could work with them
and serve with them. And all these things. Yet He
was not of this world. He had a new nature. A new nature. A divine nature. A holy nature. I don't mean a new nature. A
divine nature. We have the new nature. The holy nature that
He's given to us. Secondly, the believer has a
new character. Now listen to me. This new nature,
this new heart, this new nature produces character traits which
are seen outwardly. They're seen in attitude, they're
seen in conduct, in conversation, and in motive. I believe that
Christians have humility. I do. I don't believe they're
proud people. What have we got to be proud of? What do we have
we didn't receive? If you received it, why do you
rejoice as if you didn't receive it? John Newton once said, for
a recipient of the grace of God to be proud and haughty is irreconcilable. Let this mind be in you which
is in Christ Jesus, who thought it not robbery to be equal with
God, but humbled himself and became of no reputation, took
on himself the form of a servant. That new nature will produce
a humility, not only before God, but before men. Not only that,
but it'll produce a trait of generosity. Pastor called me
last week and he said the man in our church that has the most,
God's blessed him the most, he has the nicest home, the finest
business, and the greatest income, is the tightest man in the church.
He's always arguing about what we're spending, he's always complaining
about what we're doing, and he gives less than anybody. Said
he's a lost man. He said, how can you say that? I said, God's
people are generous. You show me a tight one, I'll
show you an unsaved man. You show me a greedy person,
a stingy person, and I'll tell you he hadn't met my Lord. No,
sir. The Lord opens a heart, He opens
a pocketbook. Prayerly you have received and
prayerly you'll give. That's exactly right. There's
no man saved who's not generous. There's no man saved who is not
humble. He's not been broken by God.
No sir. And I'll tell you this, God's
people are a kind people. They're people who have love.
He plainly says, he that loveth not knoweth not God. I didn't
say that, the Bible says that. If you don't love, you don't
know God. Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one
another as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. This is true. It's a demonstration. Anybody
can quit going to the dance. Anybody can quit going to the
movies. Anybody can sell their television. Anybody can quit
their drinking. Anybody can quit their slang.
Anybody can quit those things. Only a man of grace can love.
That's right. That's the gift of God. Only
a man of grace can be genuinely generous. Only a man of grace
can be genuinely humble. Only a man of grace can be genuinely
kind. Because he's crucified self.
and exalted Christ. This is the fruit of the Spirit.
And Paul said this, This church at Corinth was sitting around
arguing about the gifts. One man had the gift of tongues,
another had the gift of interpretation, another had the gift of knowledge,
another had the gift of healing, another had the gift of miracles,
another had the gift of prophecy, all these different gifts. The
folks that had gifts thought they were superior, and the folks
that didn't have them, they thought they were inferior, and the folks
that did have them agreed with them, you know. And they just
happened to battle, and Paul said, listen to me. Though I
have the gift so that I could speak with the tongues of everybody
in this world, even the angels of God, and have not love, I'm
a sounding gong and a tinkling cymbal. Every utterance of my
mouth is irritating to people who hear it." That's right, irritating. And he said, I may have all knowledge
and faith so that I could remove mountains and have not love,
I'm nothing. Why, he said, I may give my goods to feed the poor.
You say, why would a man give his goods to feed the poor if
he didn't love the poor? He does it for praise. He does it for
recognition. He does it out of self-righteousness.
There are a whole lot of reasons. I may give my body to be burned
and have not love, I am nothing. Nothing. Now, I'm telling you.
They are not of this world, and you can tie it to all these different
things that anybody can do, even a Confucius or a Mohammedan.
But they are not of this world, Christ said, as I'm not of this
world. A divine nature, humility, generosity, kindness, and love. And the believer, let me tell
you something else. The believer has a new concept of life. You
know what he thinks of possessions and property and prosperity?
He'll use it if God gives it. He'll give it up if God takes
it. That's what it means to him.
He sees these things as the gift of God. Temporary fleeting. The fashion of this world fading
away. He wants to know Christ. He seeks first the kingdom of
God and His righteousness. And if God prospers him, that's
alright. And if He doesn't, that's alright too. Paul said, I know
how to abound and I know how to be obeyed.