Open your Bibles with me again
to 1 Timothy chapter 1. I'm going to be using verses
12 through 15 as a text. Now in his writings, as well
as in his preaching, the Apostle Paul shunned not to declare unto
his heroes the whole counsel of God. He said, I've kept back
nothing. I've withheld nothing that was
profitable unto you. I have not shunned for your favor
or your praise or your possessions. I've not shunned to declare unto
you the whole counsel of God. Paul did not covet the praise
of men. Paul did not covet the possessions
of men. Whether he preached in Caesar's
palace or whether he preached in the streets of Corinth, he
declared the testimony of God Almighty. Whether he preached
in Caesar's palace to those who were clothed in satin and silk
and gold and silver, or whether he preached on the streets of
Corinth, he said, I am determined to know nothing among you save
Jesus Christ and him crucified. And Paul didn't shun to declare
the whole counsel of God. If you read the early chapters
of the book of Ephesians, you'll find Paul, the great theologian,
blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings and the heavenlies
in Christ Jesus, according as he chose us in Christ before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy without
blame before him. In love he predestinated us.
unto the adoption of children according to the good pleasure
of his own will, to the praise of the glory of his grace wherein
he made us accepted in the beloved. But as he closes that great book
of Ephesians, he says, Husbands, love your wives. Children, obey
your parents. Wives, be in subjection to your
husbands. Servants, do a good day's work. Masters, pay your people well
and treat them like you'd want to be treated. He says, I've
kept back nothing. I haven't tried to gain your
praise or your popularity. If I please men, I'm not the
servant of God. And he says, I choose to be the
servant of God rather than the servant of men. But this great
apostle, there are two points. In all of his writings and all
of his preaching, though he shunned not to declare the whole counsel
of God, And though he kept back nothing profitable unto his heroes,
and though he sought not their praise nor their possession,
there are two points which seem to have been his favorite topics.
Two points that he constantly insists upon, frequently repeats,
introduces over and over again, two points, all the way through
his ministry and his writing. Number one, he constantly, constantly,
frequently, over and over again, set forth the power and glory
and honor of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. That was his
message. He said, God didn't send me to
baptize, but to preach the gospel, and not with wisdom of words,
lest the cross of Christ be made of none effect. He said, we preach
Christ and him crucified. Woe is unto me if I preach not
the gospel. God forbid that I should glory,
say, in the cross of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So while
this man of God withheld nothing profitable, and shunned not to
declare the whole counsel of God, and dealt in his writings
with every subject, yet his favorite topic, twofold. Number one, the
cross. The cross of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. And secondly, he constantly made
known, again and again and again, that great grace of God toward
him personally. Or listen to what he says in
verse 13. I was a blasphemer. I was a blasphemer. Religious,
but a blasphemer. You know, this tells me that
a man doesn't have to say G.D. or Jesus Christ or use four-letter
words to be a blasphemer. The Apostle Paul said, I was
a blasphemer. He was a man who walked a moral
road. He was a man who walked a ceremonial
road. He was a man who walked a religious
road. He was a man who walked the road
of law. He said as far as the law was
concerned, outwardly I was blameless, but he said I was a blasphemer.
A blasphemer. He who worships not Christ is
a blasphemer. He worships an idol. He makes
God a liar. He that believeth not the report
that God hath given of his Son makes God a liar." That's a blasphemer. And I was injurious. I was injurious. You come tonight, I'm going to
preach on a subject tonight. Paul said, you didn't injure
me. You haven't lied to me. You've lied to God. You've brought
reproach not upon me, you've brought reproach on the Son of
God. Ananias and Sapphira, Peter said, you didn't lie to the preacher,
you didn't lie to the church, you lied to God. You lied to
God. Our sins are against God. David
said, against thee have I sinned. I've sinned against God. You
didn't just leave your husband, you left God. You didn't just leave your parents
when you rebelled and said, give me what's mine, I'm going my
way. You left God. You didn't just leave the church.
You left God. You just didn't leave a congregation. You left God. That's what we're
talking about. I was injurious. I injured Christ. I didn't injure the preacher.
I injured Christ, his cause, his gospel, his witness. I was
injurious. I was a persecutor and a blasphemer. And I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And yet the grace of God, look
at verse 14, but the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant
where sin did abound. That word, abound, is overflow,
just overflow. It filled the container and it
just ran over everywhere. It just filled the bucket and
it ran over everywhere. Sin overflowed where sin did
overflow. Grace did much more overflow.
grace of our Lord was abundant, abundant, exceedingly abundant
with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. And this is
a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that he came
into the world, he came into the world, Christ came. He came
to bear my sins and my sorrows, my sicknesses and my diseases.
He came to save sinners, and when he saved sinners, he saved
the chief, when he saved I don't suppose there was a more
notorious rebel than John Newton. I was just looking at the hymn
book a moment ago at the number of hymns that John Newton wrote.
He wrote that hymn, Great God of Wonders, and he wrote that
hymn, Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound that Saved a Wretch
Like Me, and he wrote this hymn, How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds,
in a believer's ear. and just go through the book
and find the hymns that John Newton wrote. But John Newton was raised in
a religious home. He was raised under what we call
covenant theology. He was raised in an established
church, Church of England, back many years ago in the early 1700s.
And he had a foundation of religion But he was not saved. He didn't
know God. He wasn't redeemed. Now, I know
the movies and the stories seem to picture John Newton as a slave
trader when he was professing Christian, but that's not so.
That's not so. John Newton was a professing
church member in his early days. But he was not a Christian. He
was not a child of God. He was not a believer. He'd never
been, he'd never had any He never laid hold upon Christ. And John
Newton was a notorious rebel. I wrote down he was a great sinner,
but there aren't any great sinners. Sinners can't be great. Men are
great in Christ. They're just notorious. They're
well-known. A well-known rebel, a well-known
sinner, a well-known rebel. That's what he was. And John
Newton, he said at one time he could curse for an hour and never
say the same word twice. Such a blasphemer. such a wicked
blasphemer and a slave trader on the coast of Africa. Worked
for a slave trader, hauled human bodies on a ship. But one day
he met God. One day he met Christ. And God
made him over again, like the Apostle Paul. He brought him
to know Christ and made him a new creature in Christ. And he became
one of England's greatest preachers and greatest hymn writers. And
John Newton preached a sermon one time that had seven points.
It was called The Religion of the Gospel. The Religion of the
Gospel. And I want to give you these
seven points. And I don't think it would hurt you to jot them
down if you have a pencil or a pen in the back of your Bible,
because like the Apostle Paul, John Newton's two favorite topics
were the cross of Christ, the grace and and honor and power
of the redemptive work of Christ on the cross, and the fact that
he had a saving interest in that work. That's what he's saying
about amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch
like me. How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
in a believer's ear. Christ and the believer. The
grace of God and the recipient of that grace. Those were his
two favorite topics, and that's what Paul's talking about here.
Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I'm the
chief. John Newton preaching on the religion of the gospel. Everybody's got religion today.
I know that. But we're talking about the religion
of the gospel. The religion of the gospel. And
it's made up of seven things. And I want to give them them.
Number one, the religion of the gospel. The religion of the gospel,
number one, arises from a right knowledge of God and of ourselves. Charlie, that's where it starts.
The religion of the gospel starts with a right knowledge of God
and of ourselves. Mike sang about it, Who Am I? I thought when he selected that
song, got up here to sing it, how well it fits what I'm going
to try to preach today. That's the first point, that's
the starting place, that's the beginning. David said, Lord,
when I consider the heavens, the moon and the stars and the
sun, When I consider the heavens and the heaven of heavens and
the heaven of heavens of heavens, it stretches out yonder. And
scientists tell us it just goes for light years. They quit measuring it in miles.
The heavens, the work of thy hand. What is man without mindful
of him? The Son of Man without consideration
of him. Oh, my friend, when we know something,
Isaiah said, I saw the Lord high and lifted up. His train filled
the temple. And I cried, woe is me. I'm a
man of uncleanness. Daniel said, and I saw the Lord
in his beauty and glory. My cumbliness melted into corruption. Job said, I've heard of you.
Lord, I've heard of you. All my life I've heard of you.
Now, my eye seeth thee, thy glory and power and greatness. I hate myself. I put my hand
over my mouth, I repent in dust and ashes. That's where the religion
of the gospel starts. It's beholding he that seeth
the Son and believeth on him. It starts with an understanding,
a right knowledge of the glory of God, the omnipotent, omniscient,
omnipresent, immutable, infinite, independent holy, righteous,
just God. And myself, what I am, by nature,
by birth, by choice, by practice, what I am. In order to have any
understanding of what brings the two together, I've got to
understand who the two are. You see what I'm saying? You
don't know, you haven't been to first base, you haven't even
started kindergarten, you're kindergarten dropout. Unless
you first understand who we're talking about being reconciled
unto. What's the condition of the sinner
and who is God? There's got to be some understanding.
Some understanding. Eternal life is to know God,
Jesus Christ whom he has sent. So the religion of the gospel
arises out of a right knowledge, to some degree, to some extent,
of who is God. And Mike, who am I? Who am I? All right, secondly, the religion
of the gospel arises from a sense, an understanding. Secondly, it
arises from an understanding of the great things God has done
for fallen sinners. Oh, my, my, how great thou art. Yes, God is great in power, in
wisdom, majesty, but he's great in love. Greater love hath no
man than this that lay down his life for his enemies. We who were unclean and vile
and wretched, but God who is rich, rich, yes, God's rich,
Rich in gold and silver and majesty and power and strength, rich
in mercy. But God who's rich in mercy for
his great love, wherewith he loved us even when we were dead,
in sins quickened us together with Christ. Oh, I tell you,
the religion of the gospel begins with the right knowledge of God
and of myself. That's the reason we need to
find somebody somewhere that's got some understanding of the
glory of God and listen to him preach. You go and listen to
these fellows who are promoting the denomination, or promoting
the cause, or promoting the church, or promoting the doctrine, or
promoting something else, you'll be just as dead as they are.
But if somewhere you can find somebody who's got a glimpse,
just a glimpse, it'll be better than nothing. A little hope is
better than no hope. Just a glimpse of God's glory, of his greatness,
has some understanding of man's emptiness and inability, fallibility,
foolishness. Listen, God might teach him the
gospel that he might teach you the gospel. But this gospel,
this religion of the gospel arises out of a sense of the great things
that God has been pleased to do. He didn't have to when old
Adam had sinned discovered his nakedness and wretchedness along
with it, and hid himself yonder in the bushes trying to cover
his nakedness with a fig leaf. And God came walking in the garden
in the cool of the day, God could have walked on by! He didn't
have to stop and say, Adam, where are you? He didn't have to. He didn't have to humble himself
and become obedient to the cross. He didn't have to. He didn't
have to choose you from among the nations of men. He didn't
have to. He didn't have to. The religion
of the gospel arises from a sense, an understanding of the great
things that God has done for sinners, fallen sinners. God
so loved that he gave. He gave his son. And thirdly,
the religion of the gospel. The religion of the gospel produces
something, powerfully produces. It produces a well-grounded hope. The religion of the gospel produces. It's not powerless. I hear these
preachers say, God's done all he can do, now it's up to you.
That's not so. That's not so. That's not so. God Almighty has never left his
purpose in the hands of men. God Almighty never has yet been
at the end of his rope, had his wits in. It produces, the religion
of the gospel produces a well-grounded hope of our interest, of our
interest in his grace and mercy. And can it be that I, I'm not
talking about mankind in general, can it be that I, I'm talking about Paul and Peter
and James and John. I'm talking about I. Can it be
that I, me? I'm the one looking out of these
eyes. I'm the one hearing out of these ears, speaking with
this tongue. I'm the one that feels the prick of the pen and
bleeds. I'm the one that's got to die. I'm the one that's got to stand
in judgment. I'm the one that's got to go to hell or heaven. I don't want to be out there
in the middle of a crowd. It's I! Can it be that I should
gain an interest in the Savior's blood, huh? Me. Died he for me, who him to death
pursued. Whoo! I tell you, the religion
of the gospel produces in the heart a well-grounded hope. What is that hope? the witness
of his spirit, the confidence that God can do all that he promised,
and not only can, but will do it. He shall not fail. If God
be for me, who can be against me? I don't mind challenging the
ecclesiastical powers. I don't mind challenging the
pulpit committees and ladies' missionary societies. I don't
mind challenging the forces of and principalities and powers
that rule in the darkness, I don't mind challenging them, because
if God be for me, who can be against me? Let them rage, let
them mock, let them shoot out their lips in scorn. Who is he
that condemneth? It's God that justifies. Who
is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died. And no
one, not death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor
things present, nor things to come, nor any creature can separate
me from the love of God which is in Jesus Christ my Lord. I got a hope. I do believe. I now believe that Jesus died
for me through his blood, his precious blood. I am forever
set free. The gospel produces a well, a
little water sprinkled on your head won't give you that kind
of hope. It won't do it. You can stand up with godmamas
and goddaddies and all the other ungodly folks that has gathered
around such a mess and claim a hope, but there's no hope in
there. I wouldn't offend you, it's just so. You've been playing
church too long, time you came out of it. You can give your tithes and
let the preacher tax you. You can go to church every Sunday
and wear your Sunday school buttons clear down to your waist. But
the only well-grounded hope you have is this book, his word,
and his blood. He died for me. You can go back
and say, well, I know I'm saved because I walked and I shook
a preacher's hand. Where in the Bible does it ever
say, shake a preacher's hand, thou shalt be saved? The Word
of God says, He that believeth on the Son hath life, and he
that believeth not the Son will never see life. Salvation is
in a person, it's not in a profession, it's in a person. It's not in
a ritual, it's in a person. It's not in a ceremony, it's
in a person. It's not in the deeds of the Lord, it's in a
person. It is not in doctrine, it's in Christ! That's where
it is. And that's where it is, the time
we got firm and strong in this matter, uncompromising, because
God will not compromise. Men are going to stand in the
presence of an uncompromising God someday. And they're going
to say, Lord, we prophesied in your name and we did this and
we cast out devils and we gave our dollars and we built churches
and schools and synagogues and temples and cathedrals and we
sent missionaries. I never knew you. But those who, they say, well,
who are these? Who are these? They say, and
which cometh they? These are they that wash their
robes in the blood of the Lamb. These are they who stand before
God and don't plead what they gave or did or said or where
they went. They pleaded unto him who loved
us and gave himself to us and washed us from our sin in his
own blood. Unto him be the glory. And he
says, enter ye, blessed, into the kingdom prepared for you
before the foundation of washed in the blood of the Lamb. That's
where it is. You go ahead and get as modern as you can, as
ceremonial as you can, as legalistic as you can, and you'll be as
lost as you can. But if you can find Christ with
a simple faith, with a heartfelt look, you'll be saved. Let me
tell you the rest of these. Number four, the religion of
the gospel produces, foistly, a principle. a principle of love
to him who first loved us. That's right. It produces a principle
of love, of love to him. I should love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart, mind, soul, and strength. Peter, do you love
me? Lord, you know I love you. Peter,
do you love me? Lord, I said, you know I love
you. Peter, do you love me? Lord, you know everything. You
know I love you. That's where it is. If any man love not our Lord
Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. If any man love father, mother,
brother, sister, husband, wife more than me, he's not worthy
of me. We love him because he first loved us. Now Christ Jesus
will be Lord of all or he won't be Lord at all. He's going to
have your first love, your first submission, your first allegiance.
It's going to be to him. He's a jealous God. The religion of the gospel produces
that principle, that principle of love to him who first loved
us. And I challenge preachers all
over this land, to everyone grieving because of the empty pews. And
they'll try everything under the sun to get people to come
to church. Let me tell you something. People who love Christ will worship
Christ. That's so. And I went out of
the numbers business a long time ago. We don't count anything
here but the money. Have to do that to deposit it.
They won't do it for you. Don't count anything. I tell
you what counts is Christ here. He says where two or three are
met in my name, I'll be in their midst. But you can get 2,000
together in the name of Baptists or Methodists or Presbyterians
or in the name of religion or the name of some kind of ritual
or some kind of ceremony or some kind of holy day and God will
spew you out of his mouth. That's right. That's mean, but
that's so. My name. My name. It's time we went out
of the how-many and how-much business and got into the who
business. Who business? A love for Christ. I'll tell you something else.
I know preachers, they'll figure out their budget. We don't have
a budget here, we use what God sends us. Don't budget. And they have a budget and they've
got to meet together and read the budget. And they've got to
say, now we've got so many tithers When you send your card and you
fill it out, I pledge to give this. Let me tell you something.
People who love Christ will support the gospel. And they'll help
one another. If a man loves Christ, he'll
love Walter Groover preaching in the Yucatan. And he won't
let Walter's little boy go without shoes either. Huh? If he loves Christ, he'll love
his pastor. He's not going to let his pastor do without. If
he loves Christ, he'll love the members of the church. He's not
going to watch them go hungry. Ain't no way. Not if he loves
Christ. If he loves Christ, he loves
the people of Christ. And that's the motive. And you
can take any other motive and throw it in that river down there.
I don't want any part of it. Say, we should get people to
sing. People who love Christ do sing. Wish we could get folks
to love each other, to have fellowship. We have to once in a while meet
together and break the alabaster box and get everybody to cry.
And you know how preachers do that. Break the alabaster box.
We give everybody an orchid. Go pin an orchid on a fella and
tell him you appreciate him. People who love folks, they appreciate
them. And they tell them so. They tell
them so. They do it frequently. I have
the abundance of the heart to mouth speaketh. As a man thinketh
in his heart, so is he. This gospel, you say, what's
our problem today in religion? We've missed Christ. That's our
problem. We've got religion without the
gospel. We've got religion without Christ. We've got religion without
a cross. We've got religion without a
new birth. We've got religion without regeneration. We've thrown
regeneration out the window and put soul winning in business.
We run around getting converts like people get political converts
to parties. We're persuading men to do something
and God hasn't done anything for them. Instead of just preaching
the gospel and waiting on the Holy Spirit to convert a man,
or to convince a man, or to bring him to Christ, we do it ourselves,
like Abraham got his Ishmael. If he'd have been still, God
would have sent him Isaac. But no, he had to hurry up and
get the job done by himself. And that's the way we're winning
souls. We're going out and dragging people into our kingdom and they'll
never see God's kingdom. Fifth, in the fifth place, the
religion of the gospel consists of a total surrender, a total
commitment. I'm not talking about the religion
of the gospel now, I'm not talking about this ten-cent store religion
that we've got today that all in the world they want you for
is to help put them on another television station or build another
big building more in Sunday school than in another church, the religion
of the gospel consists of a total surrender of ourselves to Christ. Total surrender, total commitment. I like what they, one time, there
was a pig and a chicken walking down the road together, and they
passed a restaurant. And the chicken said, they read
a sign up there on the restaurant. It passed the restaurant, a pig
and a chicken. And it passed the restaurant, and up there
on the marquee there was a sign that said, special ham and eggs.
And the chicken said, let's go in and have some. And the old
pig said, uh-uh. Uh-uh. Ham and eggs to you means
a contribution. Ham and eggs to me means total
commitment. And that's what I'm preaching
here. I ain't preaching contribution. We don't want what you got, we
want you. We want you. We want you. Were the whole realm
of nature mine, that were present, far too small. Love so amazing,
so divine, demands my soul, my life, and my all. And you reckon a living God would
be satisfied with any less? Now, your God may, but not this
God. No, sir. Job said, though he
slay me, I'll trust him. Joshua said, as for me and my
house, the whole kit and caboodle will belong to the Lord. Paul
said, he's able to keep that which I've committed. Here it
is, Lord, sink or swim, I go to Him. It's all in His hands. That's what the religion of the
gospel consists of, total commitment. Don't know anything about Christ
my prophet, priest and king, my Lord and Savior, my husband,
brother and friend. That's right. That's right. Number six, the religion of the
gospel. Watch this now. The religion
of the gospel in the sixth place makes the goodness, the goodness
and grace of God to me, the motive of my conduct towards
you. The religion of the gospel makes
the goodness and grace of God to me, the motive and model of
my conduct towards you. If God so loved us, we ought
to love one another, huh? Isn't that it? That's the motive.
That's the motive. Listen, be ye kind, one to another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God, for Christ's
sake, forgave you. You don't have any more right.
You don't have any right to hold a grudge or be unforgiving. How unmerciful, if God has forgiven
you, he's forgiven you ten million times more than you'll ever forgive
me, huh? That's right. Listen to this,
Scott Richardson said this, I got it in the bulletin this morning,
you can read it in your bulletin, there's no way, there's no way,
there is no way for me to claim any promise of God, unless, now
we want to claim some promises of God, don't Man, if you take
the promises of God away from me, you take the heart out of
me. You take the hope away from me. You take the joy of life
away from me. That's all I've got is the promises
of God. Well, I've got no right to claim any promise of God unless,
to some degree, I fit the character described
in the promise. Huh? All right, listen to it. You're my disciples if you love
one another. I don't have any right to claim
to be his disciple. I don't love you. Huh? That's
right. That's right. Listen to this.
You're my friends, Christ said. Isn't that good? Oh, be a friend
of God. If you keep my commandments, and this is my commandment, that
you love one another. I don't have a right to that
promise, Pip. That's not my promise. If I can't fit the character
described, then listen. We are of the household of Christ. If! We hold fast the profession
of our faith firm unto the end. Boy, you just go on through
the Bible and every promise of God, every promise of God has
a character described, has a condition presented. And I know, I hear
people, I go to a funeral, somebody's had a what you call an accident,
and the family is just bereaved and broken, and suddenly bad
news, and the preacher gets up and says, all things work together
for good. That's a lie. That's a lie. He can't say that like that.
He says, all things work together for good to whom? Them that love
God. to those who are being called
according to his purpose. You dishonest rebel! You can't
claim that promise! If you don't love God, and you
haven't been called according to his purpose, that's not right!
That's dishonest! You go down to the bank and try
to cash the check tomorrow that way. You better fit the character
of that check. If you've got $500 on you, you
better have that much in the bank. You better. They don't do business that way,
and God doesn't do business that way. A believer is what he is! He is what he is, and he does
what he does because in his heart he's convinced it's the will
of God and it's worthwhile. Last of all, the religion of
the gospel. And brother, that's a mighty
important, that number 6. starve us out of it, it makes the goodness
and grace of God to me, the motive and model of my conduct toward
Jesus." You find me a fellow that mistreats
folks, I'll show you a lost man. You better clean up your act,
brother. That's right. I don't care if it's husband
or daddy or foreman or whatever it is. You show me a man that's
harsh and cruel in his conduct and in his attitude, in his spirit
toward other people, his wife, his children, his neighbors.
I show you a lost man. He doesn't know God. He doesn't
have the Spirit of God. I don't care how religious he
is. He's lost. He's under the judgment of God.
His very tone condemns him. His very conduct condemns him.
His blasphemous words condemn him. If you know Christ, you love
Christ, you love others. And if God's done something for
you in your heart, it'll change your attitude and your spirit. And that change will be progressively
greater. I'm not talking about children
producing what adults produce, but I'm saying people who've
been saved, they have kindness in the bud, in the seed, in the
bud, in the bloom, in the full flower. There's that maturity,
progressive sanctification, if you want a title to it, but they
grow sweeter. Are you growing sweeter in Christ?
Can your children and your wives or your husband say, I can see
the grace of God blossoming? Or can they say, he's no different? No, he's no different from the
rebel out yonder in the gutter. I agree with you, he's no different. And last of all, the religion
of the gospel. The religion of the gospel presses upon men,
presses upon men, three goals. I have three goals. Three goals. Unattainable, fully in this life. Don't let that discourage you,
but I have to put that in parenthesis. Three goals, unattainable. Unattainable,
that is, in their fullness in this life, but the seed of which
is planted here. Let me tell you that again. The
religion of the gospel presses upon men three goals, G-O-A-L-S
goals, unattainable in this life, that is, in the fulness, but
the seed of which is planted here and it begins to grow. What are those three goals? Number
one, total commitment to Christ. My life, my love I give to thee,
our Son of God who died for me. Total commitment. Secondly, total
communion. John, in the first chapter of
John, talks about fellowship. Fellowship, fellowship. Brethren,
he's not talking about the fellowship of believers. That's good, that's
the outgrowth of this fellowship of which he does speak. Our fellowship
is with him. If you can talk to God about
men, you can talk to men about God. If you have a fellowship
with Christ, let me tell you something, you can't come out
of the presence of Christ in prayer. You can't come out of
the presence of Christ in a sweet fellowship and communion and
bring your wrath and your venom on somebody else. I've known
folks to supposedly be in a worship service, go get in their car
and have a fuss. I don't believe that. Somebody
ain't been worshiping. No, sir. Fellowship with Christ
produces fellowship with others. I'm talking about a total communion
with Jesus Christ. I'll have it someday, but I'll
tell you this, it started now. And thirdly, total conformity. total conformity to the image
of Christ, David said, I'll be satisfied when I wake with his
likeness. I'm going to be satisfied when
I wake with his likeness, and not one day sooner. Total, total
commitment. And that leads to total communion.
And more than that, that leads to total conformity. Behold what
manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us, that we should
be called the sons of God. And it does not yet appear what
we shall be. I don't know too much about what we shall be.
But I know this, when he shall appear, we're going to see him,
and we're going to be like him. And he that hath this hope, read
this, 1 John 3, he that hath this hope, what hope? That he's
going to be like Christ. He cleans up his act, that's
what it says. He that hath this hope, this hope, he's going to
be conformed to the image of God's Son. He purifies himself
even as Christ is pure. Yes, sir. There's no discharge
in this war, and it is a conflict, it's a war. We're told to fight
the good fight of faith. We're told to lay hold on eternal
life. We're told, the kingdom of God
suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. We're told
Jacob wrestled with the Lord, and he said, Lord, I'm not going
to let you go. You bless me. I need a blessing.
I need a blessing. This old son of Adam needs a
blessing. This old rebel, notorious sinner
needs a blessing. I need the hand of God laid on
me. I don't need the hand of a preacher laid on me. I don't
need the empty hands of an empty preacher laid on my empty head.
I need God's hand. God's hand. Lord, I'm not going
to let you go. You bless me. Do something for
me. Take the devil out of me, and the meanness out of me, and
the hate out of me, and the anger out of me, and the enmity out
of me. Do a mighty work of grace in
my... Wouldn't that be something, if
the power of God fell on our congregations? And I tell you
this, if preachers start preaching the gospel, I believe it would.
I believe God's honor is worth it. If preachers quit trying
to do the work of the Holy Spirit, and put salvation back where
it belongs, out of the water, out of the bread and the wine,
and out of the handshake, back into the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ. People don't understand this.
Tommy Rock, they don't understand how you can go in that place,
a dry sinner, and come up a wet saint. I don't understand that
either. Sinners don't understand how you can eat a bunch of bread.
Some silly fellow said a lot of Latin over and wiggled his
hand, you know, and sprinkled water, and how that can put away
guilt of ages, infinite sins of wickedness and of the heart.
How can that do it? The blood of bulls and goats
couldn't do it! Your sprinkling water can't do
it either, but the blood of Christ can. There's a fountain filled
with blood drawn from Immanuel's veins, and sinners, the chief
of sinners, the greatest of sinners, plunge beneath that flood, lose
all their guilty stain, lose all of them. What I'd give if Mr. Graham would
just say that one time over national television, what I'd I might
send him a nickel, just might do it, if he'd just say it one
time, if he'd just tell sinners salvations of the Lord, if he'd
just do it one time, and shut them up to God's mercy. That's
where we are, we shut up, we shut up. Our merciful Father,
we're like the thief on the cross.