Let me read my text again from
Romans chapter 3. Would you turn there for a moment? Romans 3 verse 28. My guess is that Paul was up
in years when he wrote the book of Romans. I don't know how old Paul was
when he was converted. My opinion is around 40, 39 or
40, and he may have been in his late 50s or 60s somewhere like
that when he wrote the Book of Romans. He was an elderly man. He had been through a great deal.
He had been taught a great deal. The first three chapters of the
Book of Romans he establishes beyond a shadow of a doubt that
justification is by faith. This is the key. verse in these
first three or four chapters, he says in verse 28, therefore
we conclude. After this teaching, after these
years of experience, after an understanding somewhat of God's
holiness and man's sinfulness and the righteousness of God's
law and the strictness of God's justice, I come to some conclusions. I've reached some conclusions.
Old age certainly ought to reach some conclusions. some important
conclusions. Therefore, we conclude that a
man is justified by faith. That's my conclusion. Now, I
know that gray hair does not always produce wisdom. Not always. It should, but it does not always. They've got a saying, no fool
like an old fool. And too often that's true. Nor
does correct practice necessarily come through experience. A man
who's had a lot of years of experience isn't always right by any means.
He doesn't always do things that are right by any means. Experience
does not always produce correct practice, and years do not always
produce wisdom, but it should. It certainly ought to. When a man has been walking with
Christ and searching the scriptures and seeking the Lord, looking
to the fountain of life for a long number of years, he certainly
should have acquired some wisdom, some understanding, and he ought
to have by now reached some conclusions. He ought to have his foundation
pretty well established, know where he is, whom he believes,
the Lord in whom he trusts. The first thing I'm going to
say tonight, I'm going to say to the young people, and I wish
you'd listen carefully to me. I was glancing over this congregation. I see quite a number of young
people who are under 30, about one-third of the congregation.
And I would say this to you. Our youth ought to be spent seeking
the Lord, studying his word. searching the scriptures. James
1, 19 says this, you can turn to it later, be swift to hear,
always ready to hear, with an alert ear, take heed what you
hear, be ready to hear, swift to hear, but slow to speak. Be slow to speak, be slow to
form opinions. I can't warn you about that enough,
be slow to form certain opinions. It's just tragic when a man forms
an opinion and builds him a house in which to live and has to spend
his whole life defending an error. That's sad. When a man too young
takes a position, I don't mean on the gospel. I'm not talking
about the fundamentals of the gospel such as God's sovereignty
and man's depravity and God's elective grace and the sufficiency
of atonement and the effectual call of the Holy Spirit. But
there are a lot of things, there are a lot of side issues, there
are a lot of matters. And sometimes young men and young
women form an opinion too soon, and therefore they have to defend
that position. They get the position, they establish
the position, before they get the wisdom, before they seek
the Lord and study the whole picture. And they form that position
and have to spend their whole lives defending it. No matter
who comes along to convince them it's wrong, they've established
a position, they've got to fight for it, they've got to spend
their whole life fighting for it. So that's what he's saying, be swift
to hear and slow to speak. And slow to form opinions. And slow to come to judgment.
And come especially to wrath and division over what we hear.
Now you say that scripture says be swift to hear, slow to speak,
and slow to wrath. I know it says that, and that's
what it means. It means be slow to wrath, that is, judgment and
division over these matters that you've heard. Don't form an opinion
too quickly. I'll say this to you, there's
no shortcut to spiritual growth. Now, a man can take a crash course
in college and complete it in two years. A man can take a crash
course in electricity or mechanics or plumbing or carpentry or anything
tangible, but there is no shortcut to spiritual growth. I'm sorry,
it's just not there. You can learn the mechanics of
religion quickly, but the mysteries and the wisdom of God is only
learned as God reveals it. Now that's so, and the sooner
we find that out, the better off we'll be. You can learn,
knowledge comes through the facts of theology. Wisdom comes through
the face of experience. I don't ever forget that. Spiritual
growth is slow. Let me show you that in the scripture.
Turn to John 16. And this is one of the things
that discourages young converts. They come into the church or
into a profession of faith like they enter into their profession,
seeking to conquer it in two short years or three short years,
and it can't be done. Here the disciples had been with
the Master three and a half years. And still the Master says in
John 16, verse 12, I have yet many things to say to you, many
things to teach you. I have yet, you mean I've been
here three and a half years and haven't graduated? No, sir. You can't even bear them now.
Well, it looks like you could bring us the whole picture, Lord,
just lay it out there and let us study it with habit. Hold
it right there just a minute. I was in the Navy in World War
II. I was aboard a ship called an LST. That's not LSD, that's
LST. It was a landing craft, had 130
men, the crew of the ship, and we had a flotilla staff on board
that ship. Now, back in World War II, they
had some rapid training. They sent me into Officer's Candidate
School, OCS, and I stayed there about three months. headed for
the field. Called them 90-Day Wanderers,
you remember? And this, on this LST, it wasn't a big ship, and
therefore it didn't rate a big, a lot of big brash, you know. All we had was a lieutenant as
a captain of the ship. A lieutenant. One silver And
he'd been through one of those 90 days. He was a 10 cent store
owner and operator before the war. And he went to school. Now he learned fore and aft and
starboard and port. He learned the hatches and the
gangway and the line and all the terms. He learned the mechanics
of that ship. But he had us in trouble most
of the time. But on that flotilla staff, on
board that same ship. I was stationed on the conning
tower. I was a signalman, so I was always up where the things
were going on, where the ship was steered, the quartermaster
shack, the conning tower, where all the messages were sent, where
the officer of the day stayed, where the captain stayed, where
the officers stayed. I was a signalman. I sent all
the messages through the light and so forth. We had on board
that vessel an old man, Captain John McKinnon. He graduated from
the U.S. Naval Academies in the 20s and
had been the commanding officer of a destroyer for 20-some-odd
years. He knew Navy. He was a big, red-headed,
freckle-faced Irishman with a heavy walrus beard, huge man, 6 feet
230 or 40 pounds. When he came up on that conning
tower and took over that ship, It ran so perfectly, no problems,
no trouble. When that 90-day wonder, Lieutenant
Skipper, came up there and the old man was downstairs, we either
ran aground or got in trouble or mixed up or something, almost
all the time. He knew the mechanics, but the
old man knew how to run a ship. That was the difference. And
he had acquired it. He had acquired it not from books alone. Now, books, we acquire a great
deal from books. But not alone. The old man had
his books and he had his experience. He'd been everywhere that ship
could go, that old man had been. Everything it could do, that
old man had done. Everything that it could get
into, he'd been into it. And he'd been taught through
the years. And it was as much difference as daylight and dark
when that young skipper was on that conning tower and when that
old man was standing there leading those twelve ships, that flotilla,
into an invasion or into some kind of conflict, when the old
man took over, you could see the experience. That's what I'm
talking about. And I'm saying this and I'm saying
that we can learn the mechanics of the Bible. We can, Jay knows
this is so. And these white-haired men know
this. So we can learn the mechanics
of religion and the mechanics of the Bible, and we can learn
the facts of theology, and we can learn it as quickly as we're
willing to read. But I'm talking about wisdom. I'm talking about the mysteries
and wisdom of God. I'm talking about the greatness
of God, and the power of God, and the depths of human depravity,
and the covenants of God, and the dealings of God, and the
providence of God, and all of these things, that growth is
very, very slow. And we must not become discouraged.
We must spend our youth and our early days being swift to hear,
waiting upon God, and slow to speak, and especially slow to
form our judgments. and our opinions, and to set
our battle lines. You see, here's what the danger.
Before you understand the conflict, if you set your battle lines,
a battle could take place over there and you could be fighting
over here. See what I'm saying? Before you get the experience,
you set your battle lines, you're going to war over Christmas,
you're going to war over Easter, you're going to war where the
women ought to wear hats, you're going to war where there ought
to pass collection plates. You're going to war over all
close communion. You're going to war over alien
immersion. You're going to war over all millennialism. You set
your battle lines on all of these things and form your opinion,
and God Almighty's over there moving and you're over here fighting
a battle. Skinning your knuckles, bruising people's heads, blacking
folks' eyes, blooding their nose, and getting nothing done. That's
right, John. Nothing done. You see, I've got
to find out. Where the sovereign redeemer
is moving in my day. And get over there. I got to
find out where the issue is in my day. Where the conflict is
in my day. Where the conflict is in my generation
because I just may be over there fighting strong men and God's
raising up somebody over here to fight the real battle for
him. Where the war is going on. where the issues are being tested,
where the lines are being drawn, where the Spirit of God is working,
where Satan is attacking. If he can engage our efforts
on a sideline, he'll do it. He'll have you set your positions
and form your battle lines and set your guns up and do all these
things, and the enemy will invade through the back door. And we've
missed him. So be swift to hear. and be slow
to speak, and be slow to form judgments and wrath and set your
battle lines and your opinions. I talk about on the fundamentals
of the gospel now. I believe, like I told someone
today, we were talking that gospel that I learned in 1950, Paul,
when we had the meeting, you remember? The meeting. When Ralph
came here and set forth the Lordship of Christ, I believe I can say
that I preached that same message. all these 31 years, since the
32 years, now since that time. I haven't changed in that message,
but I've changed in some other things, right? And we've learned
some things. And that's what I say to the
young people here. I'm saying don't be so swift
to arrive. Please don't. For your own sake,
for God's sake, for the church's sake, for the ministry's sake,
for the kingdom of God's sake. because spiritual growth is slow.
I know this. I know when the Apostle Paul
had Timothy circumcised, I bet you there were some fellas that
really rolled up their sleeves and read Dubai. Now I read it. They spit on their hands. What
you doing, Paul? You know a man doesn't have to
be circumcised to salvation. Paul was acting as a wise man. And then he went right down and
they wanted to circumcise Titus and he said, not on your bottom,
darling. You're not going to do it. You see, this man Paul
was wise enough to see that the issues were different. They're
totally different. In this case of Timothy, he was
going to preach to some Jewish people. And Paul knew just lost
Jewish people, unsaved Jewish people, unilluminated Jewish
people. And Paul just knew just as soon
as they found out his daddy was a Greek, they'd go shut the door
and wouldn't hear him. So he had him circumcised. But now
down here in the case of Titus, Paul found out that these fellows
wanted to circumcise Titus in order that he might be more perfectly
sanctified and be more perfectly justified, and Paul said, no
sir, we're justified in Christ. We're sanctified in Christ. Now
you don't learn that overnight. See what you do when you form
opinions too soon. You get this thing set and say
we're going to do it this way, come flame or flood. That's what
we're going to do. No, sir, that's not what we're
going to do. We're going to preach the gospel and come playing with
blood. But we're going to become all things to all men that by
all means we might save some. To the Jew we're going to become
as under the law. To the Gentile as without law,
though not without law. For we're under the law of Christ.
See what I'm saying? Now I would urge our young people
to do this. I would urge you to lay hold
on Christ. I would urge you to close with Christ. Flee to Christ
now. I don't believe any man ought to sit and debate whether or not he's
going to bow to Christ. The Scripture says now is the
accepted time. Today is the day of salvation.
The Scripture says this, boast not thyself of tomorrow. If I
were here at any age tonight and I knew something about the
gospel and God had been pleased to show me my need of Christ
and Christ is my substitute, I'd lay hold on him right now.
I'd cry out, Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner. Wash me in the
blood. Let me have the grace to close
with Christ right now. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and I shall be saved right now. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved right now. I'd close with Christ now. I
hear young people say this, well, I want to be sure. I want to
be sure. Well, you can be sure of this,
you're a sinner. Are you sure of that? Well, yeah,
I'm sure of that. Well, you can be sure of this,
there's no hope in yourself. Is there? No, there's no hope
in myself. In my flesh dwelleth no good
thing. In the flesh no man can please
God. You can be sure of this, you cannot save yourself. I can
be sure of that. I know that if I'm saved, God
will have to save me. You can be sure of this, that
God sent Christ into the world to redeem ruined, lost, helpless,
ill-deserving sinners, didn't he? Christ came into the world
to save sinners of whom I'm chief. I'm sure of that. And you can
be sure of this, God commands you to repent right now. Repentance
is not an invitation, it's a commandment. God commands all men everywhere
to repent. God commands you to believe.
I believe that faith is an invitation, faith is an exhortation, but
my friends, faith is a commandment. I really don't believe that I
have a choice whether or not I'll believe God or not believe
God. Do you? I believe men are commanded and
expected by God to believe. And you can be sure of this,
that it's appointed unto me and wants to die. Brother Frank Sweeney's
little daughter, 20 years old, died last week. It's like that. Massive coronary. Oh, she had
an automobile accident. Something happened in the automobile
accident, but she walked away, walked home, went in her room,
lay down to sleep. Six o'clock the next morning,
her heart exploded, and she's dead. You can be sure of this,
that God will save all who call upon Christ. So I would urge,
I'm not saying spend your youth waiting to lay hold on Christ,
waiting to lay claim to Christ. No, sir. No, sir. Not for a moment. I wouldn't put that off till
in the morning. No, sir, I would not. Now is the accepted time.
Well, I'm going to trust Christ later. I want to be sure. You
study the things of which you are sure and base your confidence
in Christ on those facts. But I'm saying when you close
with Christ, when you lay hold upon Christ, when you look to
Him, and let me ask you this, how much did the thief on the
cross know when he believed on Christ? I ask you, how much did the Ethiopian
eunuch know when he believed on Christ? He heard one preacher
one time. How much did Lydia know when
she laid hold on Christ? How much did the Philippian jailer
know when he laid hold on Christ? How much did Zacchaeus know when
he laid hold on Christ? How much did Abraham know? Abraham
knew nothing substantially about a cross. Now, I know that there were certain
things about the cross revealed to him. I know that. But now,
as far as all of these things that we know today, He didn't
have a shade of the knowledge that we have. He didn't have
a particle of the knowledge, but he believed God, and God
called him the father of the faithful. The very father of
the faithful didn't know as much as I know about the gospel. And
yet his faith was greater than mine. I tell you this, Danny,
he believed God. He believed God. He wasn't believing
in a fact, he believed in a person. And he wasn't just believing
in that person, he was believing that person. Now I would urge
you to do this, and in other matters though, I'm saying let's
wait on the Lord. Let me ask you a question, turn
to Philippians 3. When can a man say, I have arrived? When can a man say, I have arrived? I know, now I know. Well, never. Paul never said it. Here in the
book of Philippians, he says in verse 10, he said that I may
know him, Philippians 3.10, 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. I'm not perfect, I haven't arrived,
but I follow after. if I may apprehend or lay hold
on that for which I am also apprehended or laid hold of by Christ. Brethren,
I count not myself to have apprehended, to have arrived, to have all
the answers, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things
which are behind and reaching forth unto the things which are
before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling
of God in Jesus Christ. No, a man will never be able
to say, I have arrived. Let me ask you this question,
secondly. When can a man, though, say, I have learned? Turn one
page, Philippians 4. Now, Philippians 4. Now Paul, in chapter 3, he said,
I haven't arrived. I haven't laid hold upon that
for which I've been laid hold of by Christ. I'm not perfect. And he's up in years here. Philippians,
that's one of his prayers and epistles, wasn't it? But he's
learned some things. When can a man say, I have learned? Philippians 4 verse 11. Not that I speak in respect of
want, for I have learned. I didn't come into this spiritual
world knowing it, I learned it. I wasn't born knowing it, I learned
it. I didn't know it the day that I believed on Christ, I
learned it. I learned what? In whatsoever state I am therewith
to be content, and at this time he was in jail. Content with
beholding his face, said Newton, my all to his pleasures resigned. No changes of season or place
would make any change in my mind. I could, were he always thus
nigh, have nothing to wish or to fear. would a palace prove if Jesus
would dwell with me there? A prison would a palace prove?
A palace would a toy appear, but a prison would a palace prove
if Christ would dwell? This is what Paul said. All right,
look at the next verse. I have learned. How did you learn
it, Paul? I know both how to be abased. He had been abased. Shipwrecked, stoned, beaten with
rods, scourged. Heated by false brethren. Oh,
he said, I've been through it. I know how to be a base, and
I know how to abound. He'd been on the platform, in
the spotlight. He'd been before kings and Caesars. He knew how to be a base. He'd
been both places. That's, and everywhere, and in
all things, I've been instructed Both to be full and to be hungry,
both to abound and suffer need. Therefore I can do all things
through Christ which strengthens me. Brethren, that is only learned
by experience. That's what I'm saying. I fear
today's easy believism. I fear it. I fear these once
for all decisions. I worry when people talk about
when I got saved. when I got saved, when I was
saved. Now, listen, don't be upset with
me. There is a time, I know, and
there is a sense in which we have been saved. The scripture
says, for by grace have you been saved. Through faith and that
knowledge of yourselves, it's the gift of God. There's a sense
in which I've been saved by God's eternal purpose. There's a sense
in which I've been saved by Christ's effectual purchase. There's a
sense in which I've been saved by the Spirit's divine sanctifying
call. There's a sense in which I've
been saved by faith in Christ. But let me tell you something.
I'm not saved by an act of faith, but by a life of faith. Think
about that a moment. I'll show you that in 1 Corinthians
10. Now you think about that a moment.
I say that faith is not an isolated act. It is a condition. It is a state of being. In 1
Corinthians 10, Paul talks about Israel out there in the wilderness.
We studied this in Sunday school last Sunday. He said every one
of them, verse 1, were under the cloud. Every one of them
came out of Egypt. They all passed through the sea.
They all had blood on the door, right? Verse 2, they were all
baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They looked to
Moses, their leader. They submitted to his leadership.
Verse 3, they all did eat the manna that fell from heaven,
everlast one of them. They ever one did eat the same
spiritual drink, the same spiritual drink from that rock which followed
them, and that rock was Christ. But how many of them entered
the promised land? Two, Joshua and Caleb, two of them. The rest of them perished in
the wilderness. Now he said in verse 11, Now all these things
happened to them for examples, and are written for our admonition,
upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore, let him
that thinketh, he standeth, take heed, lest he fall. This is what
Paul is saying. That every one of these people
were privileged people, blessed people, favored people, and they
had all the means of the gospel at their disposal. The gospel
was preached to them, but it did not profit them, not being
mixed with faith in them that heard it. Take heed, brethren,
lest there be found in you not a lack of the act of faith, but
an evil heart of unbelief. We're saved not by an act of
faith, but by a heart of faith, by a life of faith, by a condition
of faith, by a faith that lays hold upon a person and not a
creed. Don't miss him. Colossians 1.22
says that He saved us if we continue in the faith. Hebrews 12 says,
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Hebrews
3 says, whose house we are if we hold fast our profession firm
unto the end. 1 Peter 2.1-4 talks about coming
to Christ. To whom? Coming. To whom? Coming.
To whom? Coming. Faith's beginning is
no more important than faith's ending. These all died in faith. These all died in faith. Back to our text a moment. Therefore
we conclude. And this is when you come to
drawing conclusions. This is when you come to drawing
those eventful, those heaven-given, those valuable those eternal
conclusions, those meaningful conclusions, we conclude Paul
dealt with great things, great things, great things. Somebody said small people talk
about other people. Average people talk about events. Great-minded people talk about
ideas. Paul was a great-minded man.
He concluded some things, and this conclusion to which he came,
man's justified by faith. By faith. Knowing the holiness
of God, knowing the exceeding sinfulness of sin, knowing the
awful righteousness of the law, knowing the strictness of God's
divine justice, I conclude man's justified by faith. That's my 30 minutes. I want
to say two or three more things. He said, I knew you couldn't
pray 30 minutes. But I want to say three, I got
three points here I worked hard on today. Three questions. The first one
is this. And what I'm, believe me, what
I'm saying, and we share these things, Jay and I. Brethren,
I have a burden for this thing. This, I'm not just preaching
a sermon. I want to know Christ. I want you to know Christ. I'm
not interested in playing church, not one minute more. Not one
minute more. No, I'm not interested in taking
up some time and meeting together because it's Wednesday night
and playing games. I tell you, it's a good thing
justification is by faith or none of us would have a shot
at it, would we? Not a one of. What is it to be
justified? Paul concluded, this was his
conclusion, that a man's just, what is it to you? What do you
think justification is? When you talk about a man's justified,
I come to this conclusion, a man justified by faith. What do you
mean? Well, it's to be perfect before
the law. The holy, immaculate, infinite
law of God. No charge, no condemnation. No
judgment. Perfect. Not only that, it's
to be without blame or charge, without blame before God's white
throne. You know, I got to thinking last
night about these poor, deluded, misguided, self-righteous people
in fundamental Armenian religion. I feel my heart breaks for them.
There are people all over this town, they're blessed old ladies,
bless their hearts, who've been in those churches all these years.
We're talking about last night. They've never wore pants, they've
never smoked, they've never drank, they've never heard of the curse
words never fallen from their pure lips. They've never cut
their hair, they've had it wrapped around their heads for years.
They've never wore nail polish or makeup. They never had lipstick
on their mouths. They've worked hard. They've
raised their families. They've gone to church. They've
given their tithes. They've worked on quilts and
blankets to build church buildings. They've supported missionaries. It's going to be such a sad day
when those poor old souls stand before God's holy, immaculate,
white throne and have no righteousness. Isn't that going to be sad? Tragic. Because let me tell you
something. In that poor body that never
has worn slacks or makeup or any of those things is a wicked
fallen heart like Adam's fallen heart and like yours and like
that harlot's fallen heart. And that's what Christ sees.
The law is going to judge her just like it's going to judge
Judas Iscariot. Just like it's going to judge Adolf Hitler,
she's going to come up showing, right? But Lord, but Lord, I
sold for the church, and I gave my time, and I did all these
things. I never knew you. I never knew
you. I tell you, boy, that's sad now. And that's where you're going
to be if you don't have Christ. Christ is the only hope of a man, woman,
boy or girl. I don't care what nation they
come from, what tribe, I don't care what kind of life they live,
how much morality or immorality or whatever, this whole rotten,
corrupt, putrid, sinful, fallen flesh is damned for hell without
Christ. That's all there is to it. And you just run around saying,
that poor old soul, I know she never knew the gospel, but she's
saved, not on your bottom dollar. If he is Jesus Christ the liar,
he said, no man comes to the Father but by me. You know what
he said? You go to making room for Pharisees
and you better make room for all of them, or else you better
make room to perish with them. I'm telling you the truth, justification. You better have a perfect justification. That's what our Lord said, if
your righteousness doesn't exceed the righteousness of the best
Pharisee on earth, you won't enter the kingdom of God, because
that's what you're resting in. I paid my tithes, I fasted, I
gave alms, I did all these things. That's what the Pharisees said.
Justification means to be perfect before the law, without blame
before the throne of God, perfect before God's justice, and having
no sin. That's what it means. Having
no sin. Having never sinned. Now you
better find that justification because that's what God requires.
And brethren, that's what we have in Christ. How is a man
justified? Look at it. Therefore Paul said,
I've got snow in my hair, I've got a stoop in my walk, I've
got years of experience, I've been there. I come to this conclusion. A man is justified by faith,
by faith, without the deeds of the law. That's what I conclude. That's my conclusion. Today it's
not in a creed, it's not in a system, it's in a person, without the
deeds of the law. Now turn to Galatians 5. I'll
close with this. Now brethren, Paul said in Galatians 5, 1,
Stand fast therefore in this liberty wherewith Christ has
made us free, free from the law, free from its curse, condemnation,
its penalty, free from it, free from it. And be not entangled
again with the yoke of bondage. Boy, you say those old Jews,
they got bound up in their circumcision again after coming to Christ.
That ain't any worse than getting bound up in your creeds after
you come to Christ. Huh? Those poor old Jews, they came
to Christ and then somebody came in, some false teacher, some
Puritan book or something like that, and turned them back into
ceremonialism. Well, that's no worse than turning
into catechism or something else, ism. No different. Or they went back to ceremonialism
and ritualism, and you and I go to intellectualism or fatalism
or legalism. My only ism is Christ. Christ. That's where it is, in 2 Corinthians
11. And let's be careful, let's every
one of us be careful. Oh, so careful. Don't be establishing
a righteousness. I know where to live godly lives
in this present world, and God's people will. I know where to
avoid every appearance of evil. Don't show off your liberty,
don't flaunt your liberty and be a stumbling block to somebody. But I'm telling you this. either,
don't stray from the simplicity of Christ. The only rule that
a believer needs is Christ. The only regulation he needs
is Christ. The only creed he needs is Christ.
In 2 Corinthians 11.3, this was one of Paul's fears. He said,
I fear, O how I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled
Eve, deceived her, tricked her, She didn't know what was happening.
Through His subtlety, your minds, and that's where it takes place.
It's not the heart. That's not where it takes place.
It's in the mind. It's in the mind. As long as
the heart clings to Christ, and the heart in love clings to other
believers, and the heart looks to Christ alone, and the heart
weeps and mourns over sin, but when that old mind gets to thinking,
I believe this, and he doesn't believe it. I do this, and he
doesn't do it. I'm against this, and he does
it. The old mind gets to work it, you know. That's where Satan,
he can't get in the soul and the heart of the believer, but
he sure can mess up his mind. He can mess it up. Or he can
bring some fella into town, some whistle snapper, you know, some
new fella, some, you know, come in, you know, with a... He gives his arguments, this,
this, and this, this, this, and this, and gets everybody split
up. He doesn't come in making love to them, you know. Oh, how
I love Jesus, and let's love one another, and let's look to
Christ alone, and let's join the circle of believers. It's
the mind, arguments, debates, challenging the mind, intellectualism. I see it this way, split hairs
over it, you know, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. Yet your mind
should be corrupted from the simplicity of Christ. I'm telling
the truth, Jay. Ain't that right? That's where
he worked. That's where he works. He works
in the mind. That skeptical, suspicious, conceited,
haughty, martyr complex, self-righteousness, all these things are mental images. They're not heart love or heart
faith. That's what binds believers together.
That's the glue that holds the building together, is love. Satan,
he knows nothing about that. He doesn't move in that area.
That's out of his bailiwick mind. He says, Eve, you'll be like
God. You'll be like God. Do you want to be like God? Our Father, break our hearts. I know that the great mighty
wonders of your grace and your wisdom and your power and your
greatness requires a sound mind. It requires us to look diligently
into these things and to study to show ourselves approved unto
thee, workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing
the word of truth. Oh, how we love thy word. How
we love the study of it, to look into it, to seek to grow thereby. Lord, keep us from being monsters
with big minds and little hearts. May our hearts grow with our
minds. May we grow in love and faith and joy and patience and
kindness and gentleness and all these things that are, you said
in your word, that are the greatest. You said now about it, faith,
hope and love, that the greatest of these is love. Enable every one of us, O Lord,
to love thee more. and to love one another as we
love ourselves. Break our hearts. When we think, may we think on
that which is pure and lovely and holy and of good report. But Lord, we want to love while
we think. We want to be engaged in that
which is glorifying to our Master. Bless this message to my heart
And to the hearts of every person here tonight, use it for the
good of our young people. We thank you for every one of
them. What a treasure, what a blessing you've given to this church.
Young men and young women who love Christ, who are devoted
to Christ. Give us a balanced ministry.
Give us greatness, not for our glory, but for your glory. And for our good, for our enjoyment.
Let us enjoy your fellowship, your sweet communion. Let us
blot out all the past. Let us forget all the misunderstandings. Let us sweep away all the things
that do offend. Let us forget those things which
are behind and press forward toward the mark of the prize
of the high calling of Christ Jesus our Lord. We pray for his
glory. Amen.