Now, if you will open your Bibles
to the book of Job. Both of my messages today will
be taken from this book tonight, from Job 25, this morning from
Job 42. Job 42. Now, here's the subject. And some of you may feel like
I'm putting too much emphasis on this particular point. of
late, but I think it's a very important point, perhaps the
most important. The subject this morning is a
head knowledge or a heart faith. Which do I have? A head knowledge of Christ or
a heart faith in Christ. Which do I have? Now, this is
what I know. If anyone in this congregation
misses Christ, this is the point at which they'll miss Christ.
I'm convinced of that. That's the reason I'm emphasizing
this point, especially of late. If anybody in this congregation
misses salvation, it's not going to be a lack of doctrinal instruction. It's not going to be from a lack
of head knowledge of Bible facts, because you have it. You have
that doctrinal foundation, you have those doctrinal instructions,
you have that head knowledge of Bible facts. So if anybody
misses Christ, it's not going to be the fault of the understanding,
it's going to be the fault of the heart. That's the truth. If anybody here, between these
walls this morning, and there may be visitors who don't have
this foundation, who don't have this head knowledge or understanding
of Bible facts, but you do. And if anyone hears the Lord
Jesus say at the judgment, depart from me, I never knew you, anybody
here today, in this congregation, it's going to be right here where
I'm talking today. You missed a living faith. You missed a heart experience.
You missed Christ in your heart. You didn't miss him in your head,
you missed him in your heart. It'll be because you've missed
a living union with Christ. Now, listen to what Job says,
and it's not just the experience through which most of us have
gone. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now
mine eye seeth thee." I've heard about you, God. I've heard about
you. All my life I've heard about
you. But now I see you. I see you. I see your glory.
I see your love and your judgment. I see your mercy and your righteousness. I see your grace and your holiness.
I see you. I see. And therefore I hate myself
and I repent. Now, except a man repent, he'll
perish. And a man's not going to repent until he sees God and
sees himself. Right, Joe? He's not going to
repent. He's not going to be saved if
he doesn't repent, Charlie. And he's not going to repent until
he sees the Lord in His glory, in His holiness, until he sees
himself and cries, Oh, where's me? I'm undone. Now, that's a
fact. So, this is why Brother Jay talked
to me this week about a mutual friend. He knows him much better
than I do. Brilliant man, educated, highly
educated, successful professional man. And this was what Jay said,
he has a keen understanding of the system of grace. A keen understanding
of the system of grace. He said he can put it all together
with his legal mind. He's a sharp man. But from all
evidence, of attitude and spirit, he's missed Christ. That's tragic. And the reason for that is this.
And I know a lot of preachers. You know a lot of preachers like
that. They can put it all together with their natural minds. And they know, they have a keen
understanding of the ten tribes and the two tribes, of the tabernacle
and the ceremonies. They have a keen understanding
of the birth of Christ and on what wise it took place and why
she was in Bethlehem and the governor taxed the people and
all of these certain times and seasons and facts and truths
and doctrinals and church history, what happened between the Albergenses
and the Waldenses and the Huguenots and all of these folks in France
and England and Spain and Ireland and all of these different facts
of religion, who wrote this confession, who wrote that, what year it
was written, why it was written. and miss a living union with
Christ. God help us. I'd rather know
Him and not so many facts than to know all the facts and miss
Him. You can teach the system of grace. You can teach it. But the experience
of grace has to be revealed. Now Saul of Tarsus is a perfect
example of that. Before Saul met Christ, He was
an orthodox theologian. Don't you doubt that for a minute.
Being a Pharisee of Pharisees, I imagine he could quote the
first five books of the Bible verbatim. Wouldn't you say so?
I think the Pharisees, the best ones, could do that. Being a
Pharisee, he was a moral, religious man. He was a man who kept the
ceremonies and all the rituals and sacrifices and all of these
But one day, on the road to Damascus, in the simplicity of revelation,
he met the Lord. He met the Lord. Now you can
teach, I can teach you the system of grace. And if you've got any
intelligence at all, if you've got a legal mind at all, if you've
got a mind that reasons, now listen to me, if you've got any
reasoning at all, if God is God, He's God. There's no power that can hold
him or stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? If God
is God, he's God. As Pharaoh said, Moses' God is
God. Moses' God is God. And if man is a sinner, he's
a sinner. If he fell, he fell. If he's
dead, he's dead. That just makes common sense
to people with any thinking power at all. And if Jesus Christ,
God's only begotten well-beloved Son, was sent by the Father down
here to accomplish a task, He did it. A man's a fool to deny
it. He's Lord of heaven and earth.
He has all authority. I can teach you those things.
I can teach you that the Bible says, He that hath the Son hath
life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. That's just plain fact. That's
what it says. That's words on paper. But a
revelation of who God is, a revelation of what you are by nature, by
the fall, a revelation of who Christ is and what He did, that
has to be taught by the Holy Spirit. I can teach you the doctrine
of the Holy Spirit. There are books. You can buy books on how
to be filled with the Spirit, how to be baptized with the Spirit,
who is the Holy Spirit, what's the office work of the Holy Spirit.
But the fruit of the Spirit comes by experience. It comes by regeneration. It
comes by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Religion is a product of union
with the Church. Christianity is a product of
union with Jesus Christ. And that's what I'm saying. I'm
saying there's a difference in head knowledge and heart faith.
There's a difference. And if anybody here misses Christ
and misses salvation and misses eternal life, this is the point
at which you'll miss it. Mistaking a head knowledge and
even a head acceptance and a head approval of these things. But the experience of grace is
revealed. The fruit of the Spirit comes
by regeneration. Christianity. is a product, a
result, an effect of a living union with Christ. Now then,
God doesn't save men apart from the understanding. Please don't
for a moment think that. Let me show you some scriptures.
In 1 John 5, God does not save men apart from understanding. People aren't saved because they
saw Jesus standing at the foot of the bed. No, sir, I beg your
pardon. If that would be true, a man
would go to hell if he saw the devil standing at the foot of
the bed. Our religion is so foolish in this day. But God gives me
an understanding, 1 John 5, verse 20. We know that the Son of God
is come and has given us an understanding, that we may know him that is
true. And we're in Him that is true,
even in His Son, Jesus Christ, this is the true God, this is
eternal life. God doesn't work apart from the
mind. Let me show you that in Romans 10. In Romans chapter
10, we know, John said, we know some things, and we know the
Lord Jesus has come and He's given us an understanding, an
understanding that we may know God, the living God, and Jesus
Christ whom He has sent. This is eternal life. Now look
at Romans 10, it says in verse 13, whosoever shall call, Romans
10, 13, upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. But how,
how shall they call on him in whom they do not believe? That's
not even reasonable. That's the reason we send missionaries
to Spain and Ireland and France and Mexico and Canada and other
places where the gospel is not preached. That's the reason we
send missionaries to Italy and Africa and other places. It's
because a man cannot call on the Christ in whom he's never
believed. Now read the next line. And how can he believe in Him
of whom he's not heard? You can't believe what you've
never heard. You can't trust an unrevealed Christ. That's
foolish to talk that way. And how should it be here without
a preacher? Now shall he preach except God sends him. Our Lord
said, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent
me hath life. So I'm saying God doesn't work
apart from the understanding. A man can have an understanding
and not have an experience of grace, but he can't have an experience
of grace without understanding. Can't do it. If any man, but
now watch this. We must not spend our time questioning
the salutation of other people. That's not my task up here, and
that's not yours out there. But we are exhorted to examine
ourselves, whether we be in the faith. Now let me show you that
in Scripture, 2 Corinthians 13. And this is a worthwhile occupation,
examining ourselves. If there's anything you don't
want to take for granted, take the love of your wife for or
the love of your husband for granted, or take the love of
your parents or children for granted, or take your future
security on your job for granted, or take a lot of things, but
don't take this for granted. This is fatal. Don't take the
love of Christ for granted. Don't presume. Man's a fool to
do that. Too much at stake, my friend.
Too much at stake. Heaven and hell, eternity is
at stake. He says in chapter 13 of 2 Corinthians verse 5,
examine yourself. It's not examine one another,
not put one another to the test. Don't put out a pamphlet and
give it to everybody else asking them, are you saved? Are you
a child of God? Write one for yourself. Examine yourself whether
you be in the faith. Prove your own self. Know you're
not your own self. Know that Christ Jesus is in
you. In you. God revealed His Son
in me. This is a living experience in
me. I don't want to know the doctrine
of Christ. I want to know Christ. I don't want to know the facts
about Christ. I want to know Christ. I don't want to embrace
the Baptist doctrine or anybody else's doctrine. I want by faith,
a living faith, to embrace Him who is life itself. Don't you?
Examine yourself, whether you be in the faith. Turn to 2 Peter
1. I'm asking you to read these.
I want you to see these verses. We're not to examine other people's
relationship with God. That's really none of our business.
The preacher's business to a great extent because he's the pastor.
If a pastor knows that a sheep is wandering out, John, in another
pasture, it's his business to go after him. It's his business
to warn him. It's his business to bring him back. But it's not
our business to examine. Look at 2 Peter 1.10. Wherefore
the right of brethren give diligence to make your calling. Your calling. It's a holy calling. It's a divine
calling, it's a personal calling, it's an effectual calling. Make
your calling and election sure. You do these things, you shall
not fail. While you're in 2 Peter, turn to chapter 3. Let's look
at another verse. Verse 14, 2 Peter 3, Wherefore,
beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be diligent,
be diligent, that you may be found of him in peace, without
spot, and blameless. One of the verses, Hebrews chapter
3. Now these are warnings to the professing Christians, professing
church members. And that's what I want to do.
I want to sound a clear warning, a clear note. There is a difference
in heart, faith, and head knowledge. There's a difference in mental
agreement with facts, intellectual Christianity. doctrinal orthodoxy. There's a difference in that
and a heart experience of Christ. And some of the, I'm concerned
about this, some of the most verbal and fluent are those who
fail right here. Some of those who are intelligent
and sharp and so open in their expression of acceptance of facts
are the very people who miss this. Because they lean on the
human intelligence, they lean on human wisdom, and by natural
wisdom no man knows God. God had chosen the foolish to
confound the wise. God had chosen to base things.
And it's natural for us to look to those things that are recognized
by human wisdom. And we fail doing that, Brother
Jack. We look to people who are successful. We look to people
who are super-intelligent. We look to people who are supposedly
wise. We look to human wisdom, and
by natural wisdom, no man. By the wisdom of this world,
they knew not God. These are the folks that are
most prone to miss the heart experience. They dwell in the
ivory towers, you know, of reason and thinking and logic and doctrine
and orthodoxy and all these things and miss that heart, that heart
relationship with Christ. Don't play with the things of
the temple and miss him who dwells in the temple, whose glory fills
the temple. Boy, what a tragic thing that
would be. Hebrews 3 verse 12, look at it. Take heed, brethren.
Brethren, take heed, lest there be found in you, lest any of
you, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief
in departing from the living God. My soul, I can't think of anything
more horrible and to be busy about the things of God and not
knowing. To be busy, to stand there with
those people of the judgment and say, but Lord, we prophesied
in your name and did many wonderful works in your name and cast out
demons in your name. I never knew you. I never knew
you. The word there is loved you,
accepted you. You never were part of me. Never
were. Now what is a disciple of Christ?
Am I one of his disciples? I'm talking to myself. Am I one
of his disciples? He said, Pastor, is it possible
you've missed Christ? Possible. It's easier to miss
him up here than it is out there. That's right. Preachers get entangled
in the fires of religion and get busy about other people's
vineyard and neglect their own. They made me keeper of the vineyard,
but my own vineyard I didn't keep. Am I one of his disciples? It's
important for this thing to be said. And I've chosen four texts
this morning in which the Lord mentions some things that are
central to discipleship. And I'm going to preach to me
now, and you can listen in if you want to. Luke chapter 14.
Luke chapter 14, verse 26. Luke 14, 26. I'm talking about
discipleship now. I'm talking about a living, loving,
personal union with Christ. Like the vine and the branches,
the head and the body. In Him. In Him. I'm not playing
church, but I'm in Him. Luke 14, 26. If any man come
to me, Now this was a great multitude,
verse 25, that went with him. And he turned and said to them,
this is the multitude he's talking to. If any man come to me and
hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren
and sisters, yea, and even his own life also, he cannot be my
disciple. He just cannot be my disciple.
Whosoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my
disciple." First of all, disciples love Christ supremely. They love
Christ. They love Christ. Christ's disciples will love
their Lord so much that in comparison with the love that we bear for
Christ, all other human love burns dimly. That's what we say.
A lot of people have had trouble with this passage of Scripture.
They've been puzzled by it. No need to be at all. This text
is used in a comparative sense, not literally. Our Lord never
taught a man to hate his father and mother. Never taught a man
to hate his father and mother. If you're Christ's disciple,
you don't hate anybody. So you don't take that literally.
This is not to be interpreted literally. What our Lord is saying here,
compared to your love for Him, compared to how you love Christ,
Christ is first. Compared to your love for Him,
it would appear, it would appear that you don't love your mother,
father, brother, sister, husband. I'll give you an example. Here's
an example. Back many years ago, there were many people martyred
because of their love for Christ. And the Catholic Church was putting
people to death. under Mary, Queen Mary, Bloody
Mary they called her. They burned them at Smithfield
and executed them other places. And this preacher, and the amazing
thing, the point, seemingly, it may be to you or many people
seem like a small point. See, these Catholics teach and
talk that the body of Christ was actually present in the wafer,
and his blood was actually present in the wine. That wine was changed
to his blood and that wafer to his body. Transubstantiation
is what they called it. That was their belief. And these
true preachers, these dissenters they called them, denied that.
They denied that salvation was in the sacrament. Salvation is
in Christ, they said. A man is not saved because he
eats that bread and drinks that wine. It doesn't actually become
his body and blood. And they put him to death for
that point. That point right there. They were putting men
to death. But it's a major point. You may not think it's a major
point, but it is a major point. Salvation is not in the church
or in the bread and the wine or in the baptistry. It's in
Christ. In Christ alone. And one of these
men had been in prison, and all these preachers had to do was
just recant. They didn't have to deny they
believed on Christ. They didn't have to deny that
they believed the Bible. All they had to do was say that
the bread and wine was his body and blood. That's recanting.
And this old preacher was in prison about to be burned at
the stake with these 176 or 200 that were burned at Smithfield
and other places. And they couldn't, he was a very
influential man, a very powerful man, a very well-loved man by
the people. And they couldn't get him to
recant. He said, that's not the body and blood of our Lord. That
represents his body and blood. They said, say it's his body
and blood. He said, I will not say it. They said, well, you'll
burn. And they couldn't get him to
recant. And so they were bringing him to the stake to burn. And
this was the last resort. They got his wife and six children. and brought them out there. And
on his way to the stake, they brought them right in a face-to-face
confrontation with him. There he stood going to the stake.
And his wife said, Darling, please recant. Don't leave me. And the babies cried, Daddy,
don't die. They clung to his legs. They
cried. They wept. Don't die, Daddy.
Please don't die. Come home. Come home, Daddy.
Now you think about that. And here's what he said. God
knows how I love you. And God knows what I do to make
you happy. But for Christ's sake, I must
turn my back on you and on your pleas and your cries. So do not
weep and break my heart. I have to die for Christ. You
see, that's what our Lord, He that cometh to me. What would
you have done? You see what I'm saying? Man,
that guy didn't love his children. That's what Christ said about
them. Yeah, he loved them, but not like he loved Christ. Now
that's what that means, I think. That's what that means. They
said to Brother Groover, Brother Groover had five children. I see Lisa, Desta, Gina, Kevin,
five children. from just a few months old to
four and five years old when he left Texas and went to Mexico
to preach. And they lived in a hut. They
slept in hammocks and ate on boxes and crates. They didn't
have enough support. Didn't know the language. They
were down there learning it. Betty got down to 94, 95 pounds,
nearly died. Somebody said, you don't love
your wife and children. You'd come home. That's what they told
him about. You don't love your children.
And that's what our Lord's saying there. When a man is a disciple
of Christ, he loves Christ. Christ said, you can't be my
disciple if you love your mother and father and brother and sister
and husband. What more do you love me? I've known people that come to
me and say, well, I just might not be worshiping y'all next
Sunday. We've got my four brothers coming. And my mother and daddy's
coming to visit me. And I just can't leave them and
go worship God. Boy, I can. But you don't love
your parents. I think I do. But I'll tell you
somebody I love more. His name's Jesus Christ. Is that
too hard? I didn't say it. He said it.
He said it. Well, I can't come to church
next Sunday. My aunt's a corpse. Well, next Sunday your uncle
will be one, maybe. Somebody else will be one, but Christ
lives. My Lord is not a corpse. He lives. I don't worship the
dead. Let the dead bury the dead. That's what I'm saying. You say
it's too hard. Well, my Lord declared it. And yours may be
a head knowledge. It may not be a heart faith.
That's what he says there. Christ is to be loved better
and above all our relatives and all our friends. Now listen to
me. I know no man after the flesh. Now let me show you that in 2
Corinthians 5. And brethren, let me tell you this, I do believe,
I do believe I'm able to say I love people more today than
I did 20 years ago. But I love Christ more too, and
I think some of you can say that. He's first. He's not only first,
He's all. He's all. And they fit in where
they can fit in. where they're able to fit in.
The love of Christ, chapter 5, 2 Corinthians, constrains us
because we thus judge if one died for all, then we're all
dead. Now, and that he died for all, that they which live should
not henceforth live to themselves, but unto him that died for them
and rose again. Wherefore, henceforth, know ye
no man after the flesh. What's that saying? Paul, listen
to this. Look up here a minute. This is what he's saying to amplify,
it will help you. From now on, he said. I estimate and regard
no man from a purely human point of view in terms of natural standard
of value. Nobody. In terms of faith, I
call no man father and no woman mother. In terms of faith, I
call no man husband and no woman wife. In terms of faith, I call
no person. You see what I'm saying? Master.
One is my master. One is my Lord. What is my suffering? That's the reason it says wives
obey your husbands in the Lord. In the Lord. If your husband
forbids you to worship God, you say goodbye, Floyd. That's right. Because you have one husband,
that's Christ. Now, if he can fit in, if the unbeliever can
abide under those principles, then let him abide. But not under
any other principle. That's exactly right. Exactly
right. Christ is first, and he will
not be your Lord, he will not be your Savior if he is not your
Lord. He is to be loved better than life. Turn to Acts chapter
20. Now, this is what this scripture is saying, and this is where
I give myself the examination. I stay on the road a good bit
preaching. I'll be gone next week, or the week after that,
you know. A lot of people say, don't you
miss your family? Don't you miss your wife and
family? You're gone preaching a lot. Now let me tell you something.
I'm not being hard, my friend. I love my wife and my children
and grandchildren. I'd love to be with them. But
when I'm preaching the gospel, I'm with my family. I'm with
my family. Who is my family? Who's my mother
and brothers and sisters? They that do the will of God. In Acts chapter 20, Beginning
with verse 22, Paul says, Now, behold, I go bound in the Spirit
unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there,
except that the Holy Ghost witnesses. Acts 20, verse 23. The Holy Ghost
says in every city that bonds and afflictions abide or await
me, but none of these things move me, neither count I my life
dear unto myself, so that I may finish my course with joy in
the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify
the gospel of his greatness. I'm not shaken by that falsehood.
The Holy Spirit says they're going to... Persecution and even
death awaits you. He said that's alright. None
of these things move me. Now we're talking about discipleship. He that cometh to me must hate
his mother and father. Now that's not... you don't hate
anybody. You love them more. I don't have...
some of you know what I'm talking about. You love them more. But
brother, you love him more. You love him. You love him. I've got to provide for my children
and my wife. God will provide for them. God
will provide for them. I believe he'll be a better provider
than you can ever be. And the second scripture is found
in John 8. Let's turn over there. In other
words, disciples love Christ. Now that's the first. We established
that. Disciples love Christ. They flat loved Christ. They
loved him first, they loved him most, they loved him devotedly. Peter said, you know I love you.
He said, more than these, more than these. Appointed anything,
more than these. Secondly, John 8, 31. Then said Jesus to those Jews
which believed on him, if you continue in my word, then are
you my disciples indeed. if you continue. Now then, this
is so prevalent today. There are so many who profess
to be disciples, they profess to be saved, they profess to
believe, they come and join the Church, they profess all these
things. And then they only continue for a little while and they depart.
They quit. They lay down the cross. They
lay down the shield of faith. They lay down their profession,
they lay down their testimony. Well, let me ask you this, what
does baptism signify? When a man stands in the baptismal
pool, it signifies death and burial. Burial. The old man is
dead. The old connections and relationships
and the old pursuits and the old way of life is dead and buried
and I've risen with Christ to walk in newness of life with
Christ. And that's what baptism signifies. Now, you mean to me I'm going
back around through this thing and bury the new man and the
old man is going to rise and walk again? I don't believe a
word of it. I don't believe a word of it. Those, Christ said, if
you continue, where? In my word, in the gospel of
His grace. I've known preachers that stood
up and declared what we call the grace of God. I was sitting
in a study one day years ago, and there was a pastor here in
Ashton, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Ashton. I was Pastor
O'Pollard then. That's been a long time ago,
28 years ago, 27. And I got a hold of one of Brother
John R. Gilpin's old papers, printed
in 1930-something, or 1940, right in that time. And here was a
sermon by that, the pastor, right down here at First Baptist Church.
On the front page of that paper, What Baptists Believe, and he
was said to be, underneath the title, he was said to be the
rising young preacher in Kentucky. And that sermon said, Baptists
believe God is absolutely sovereign, Baptists believe man is totally
depraved and dead in sin, Baptists believe God elected a people
by His grace, Baptists believe Christ redeemed them effectually,
Baptists believe the Holy Spirit calls them to Himself, and Baptists
believe they persevere. He went right down the line.
Everything I believed that he was cussing me out about. And here
he was, a successful, high up in the denomination, you know,
giving me trouble over what I was preaching. I was preaching what
he preached when he was 18, 19 years old. And I called him up. I sat at my desk. Wednesday afternoon.
And I called him by name, and I said, he said, what you doing?
I said, I'm getting a sermon for tonight. Have you got yours
yet? He said, no, not yet. I'm trying to work on something.
I said, I got one for you. That's the truth. I did. Isn't
that awful? I said, I got one for you. He said, what is it?
I started reading it. I read the title and I read,
just left out his name and read the caption. The rising young
star, the greatest young preacher in Kentucky. I started the sermon. I stopped. Total silence. The
next word, where did you get that? Well, I said, I got it. And I said, that's exactly, everything
you said in this message is what I'm trying to preach. Well, he
said that was a long time ago. That's the truth. He's dead now. I'll tell you this, brother,
if you continue in my word. If it's true now, I can't lay
it down. It'll be true tomorrow. And if
it's not true tomorrow, it wasn't true today. That man was lost
one time when he preached this or when he quit preaching this.
That's right. He departed from the faith. If
you continue in my worship, if you continue... You see, I believe
this thing. I believe this thing of salvation
is a total commitment. Unconditional surrender. Were
you ever in on a... Most people weren't. I've had
some experiences. God gave me these, I know, to
help me preach. I attended a trial one time where
a man was hanged. H-A-N-G-E-D, hanged. I didn't
see him hanging, but that's what the judge sentenced him. I was
in those war crimes trials in Japan, those guys that persecuted
Americans in prison camps. I was sitting right there when
they called him before the seven colonels, army colonels, and
they said, the trial's over. You've been found guilty. You'll
hang by your neck till you're dead. I watched his family weep
and wail and lead him out of the courtroom. I also was in
some invasions in World War II as an invader of Iwo Jima and
Okinawa. And then we went, our ship was
an LST and we were picked by the Marine Corps, two or three
of us, to land on this certain island off Japan. It was an arsenal. It was called like a Sort of
like that bay down in Cuba. What's the name of that? Contamino
Bay or something like that. Anyway, it was an arsenal. It
was a place where Japanese soldiers and their wives and families,
they had a regular arsenal out there. And we were to go there
and accept their surrender with the Marines, the Navy and Marines.
We were to go to that island, land on that island, the war
was over then, and go ashore and accept the surrender of this
garrison. And because I was a signalman,
they let me go ashore. Somebody had to signal back to
the ship. And I went ashore with the marine leaders and their
troops and with some of the sailors. And when we landed, we brought
our small boats up, LCVPs, and dropped the bow and walked ashore. And they'd stacked their arms.
I mean stacked them. They were lined up on both sides
of this little road, all of them on their knees, on their knees. The flag had been pulled down
from the, there was no Japanese flag flying. You don't fly your
flag when you surrender. You pull it down. And that Japanese
officer in charge, the officer in charge of the battalion commander
or whatever he was, he had his sword hilt first to the American,
the American colonel. And boy, they got down on their
knees. It was an unconditional surrender. And I'm telling you this, When
Jesus Christ the Lord conquers a man's heart, he lays down his
weapons of warfare, he pulls his flag down from the mast,
and he hands his sword hilt first, and he says, now you are in charge.
That's so. That's just so. Scott Richardson
said, lay down your shotgun. Lay down your shotgun. And you
know, our churches today, not this one, but a lot of churches
in this land are full of splits and fights and quarrels and arguing. People always mad at the preacher
and he's mad at them and they're mad at one another and the deacons
can't meet without fighting. You know why? They haven't surrendered.
Ain't nobody surrendered. Everybody's flying his own flag
and carrying his own shotgun and got his sword drawn all the
time to do battle. People who surrendered are on
their knees. They love one another. They love
God. They love His truth. They're submissive. They look
on other people's welfare, not their own. They're concerned
for the good of the church and the glory of God and the salvation
of souls and not having their way. Who cares if they have their
way? Rebels are lost. I just put that down. People
that hadn't been conquered hadn't been saved. They're not disciples
of Christ. No sir, I beg your pardon. And
they continue to be disciples. And I'll tell you this, there
are a lot of preachers who go to churches and they fear what
they call the old deacons. That old deacon's lost if that
preacher fears him because that old deacon ought to be the best
friend that young pastor's got. His maturity and his white hair
and his age ought to mellow him. There ought to be a lot of mellow
folks here this morning, aren't there? That's right. It mellows you. It brings you
to where you, you don't soft-soap and compromise, but you love
that, and you look back over your life and see all the messes
you've made, how can you jump on that young fella? He ain't
made nearly as many as you have. But the grace does that, Charlie.
The grace breaks your heart. And it breaks it every day, more
and more and more and more. Brings you down. Now if you continue,
let me give you another, and I'm preaching too long. John
13. Disciples. Disciples, John 13, 35. By this shall all men know you
are my disciples. Look at this one. You know the
church ought to be the happiest, sweetest place on earth. Of the
sweetest fellowship. And a lot of folks don't go to
church today because it's not sweet. I don't mean, I don't
mean just a social club, you know, for entertainment. But
I mean there's a, everybody's accepted. There's no, and this
is what he's saying here, it's not a high and low and rich and
poor and learned and ignorant and white and black and male
and female. Listen, by this shall all men know you're my disciple,
if you love one another. This is a mark of discipleship.
Disciples love Christ, disciples continue in the faith, and disciples
love one another. They love one another. Regardless
of color. Regardless of color. Nationality. You're just not saved if you
hate Jews and black people. You just don't know Christ. Our
Lord was a Jew and a black man carried his cross. Regardless of their age, I don't
know any generation gap. I know there's this thing of
the people that are older have different likes and dislikes
and habits and the rest of the young people. But my friends,
in Christ, those who are young and those who are older, they
blend together in one heart. There's no age in Christ. There's
no male and female. There's no bond and free. There's
no rich and poor. God brings the rich down and
the poor up. There's no learned and ignorant,
regardless of their faults even. We love each other, regardless
of our age, regardless of our thoughts, regardless of our social
standing, regardless of our need. We love each other. I hear people
talk of disliking a person, and honestly, when I hear anybody
say that, disliking a person, I get trouble about their spiritual
relationship with God. No sir, I believe he that loveth
not knoweth not God. God is love. By this shall all
men know you are my disciples if you love one another. This
is an evidence. This is an outward evidence. Lord, you know my heart. You know I love you. Yeah, but
Paul can't see your heart. Paul sees your actions, don't
you? Okay, how is Paul going to know I love God? See what
I mean? God knows I love him. You know,
I read this yesterday. The rebel, the unsaved man regrets
that God looks only on the heart. He regrets that. He wished God
would look at his deeds a little more, not so much on his heart.
The believer rejoices that God looks only on the heart. That's
right, because you see, if I really love God and love His people
in my heart, God knows it. But now wait a minute, you don't
know it unless I show you. That's the reason James said,
show me your faith without your works. It can't be done. I'll
show you faith by my word, so by this shall all men know you're
my disciple, if you love one another." That's an evidence
where the spirit of love reigns and where the spirit of love has preeminence and Christ is
love. Disciples love each other. It's
just so. That's all there is to it. It's
so.