Now this man, Simon, in the eighth chapter of the
book of Acts, several things are said about
him. Number one, he heard the gospel. For the beloved apostle writes
that Philip preached Christ to them. Philip preached Christ. Another thing, people were being
saved, brought to a knowledge of Christ all around him. Other
people were coming to a genuine knowledge of Christ. He was in
the midst of a great outpouring of God's Spirit, a great revival.
And it is said in this chapter that Simon not only heard the
gospel and was impressed by what he saw, But he said he believed. He had some sort of faith. I
don't know what kind it was, but he had some sort of faith. Simon believed. And he not only
believed, but he made a public profession of that faith. He
made a public confession. He was baptized. And it also
is said about Simon that he identified himself with the believers. He
continued with the apostles. And then something happened.
The apostles in Jerusalem heard about this revival down in Samaria,
and they sent Peter and John down there to look into this
matter. The Gentiles of Samaria were
coming to believe on Christ and receive the Redeemer. And Peter
and John came down to Samaria They liked what they saw, and
they prayed for these Gentiles that they might receive the Holy
Spirit. The Holy Spirit had fallen upon
the Jewish believers, but as yet evidently he had not come
to these Gentile believers. And Peter prayed for them, and
the apostles laid hands on them, and these Gentiles received the
Holy Spirit. And Simon saw. It is said that
the Holy Spirit came upon these Gentiles when the Apostle Peter
and John laid hands upon them. And he came to these two men
and offered them money. He said, I'll give you so much
money if you'll give me this power that on whomsoever I lay
my hands, he'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And that's
when Peter said, In spite of what you've heard, in spite of
what you have professed, in spite of the faith that you have announced,
in spite of the baptism that you have openly, publicly confessed,
in spite of the fact that you are keeping company with true
believers, your heart's not right with God. Your heart's not right
with God. Now, this is what it's all about. Salvation is a heart work. Our
God said, I'll give you a new heart. I'll take the stony heart
out and give you a new heart. Turn with me to Luke 16, verse
15. Luke 16, verse 15. Now, this
thing of salvation, It's not just hearing the gospel, although
a man must, in order to be saved, hear the gospel. It's not just
believing what I hear, although a man who is saved will believe
what he hears, he that believeth the record that God hath given
concerning his son. This thing of salvation is a
new birth. It's a divine work. It's a work
that takes place in the heart. It says in Luke 16, 15, And he
said to them, You are they which justify yourselves before men. But God knows your heart. But
God knows your heart. And listen, that which is highly
esteemed among men in religious circles, in church circles, in
ecclesiastical movements, that which men esteem highly is an
abomination to God. That's serious. The wise man
Solomon wrote in Proverbs 4.30, Keep your heart, for out of it
are the issues of life. That's where it all comes from.
That's the spring of evil and the spring of righteousness.
It's the heart. When Samuel the prophet was sent
by God down to the house of Jesse to anoint a king over Israel,
Jesse told his sons that the prophet Samuel was coming down
to perform a special service and to anoint one of these boys
for a special task. He had seven sons. Six of them
he kept in the house, and one of them the youngest, David,
just to laugh. Well, he told him, he said, now,
the prophet of God, I'm sure, will not be interested in you.
You've got your older brother here who's more intellectual
than you and another one that's more comely than you and another
one that's stronger than you and another one that's more experienced
than you and another more talented than you. Tell you what you do,
David, While the prophet's here, why don't you just take care
of the farm, and you take care of the livestock out yonder on
the hill, and we'll take care of God's business down here at
the house. Now, why don't you, son, just
run along, and when the prophet comes, you just take care of
everything so that we can all take care of this business that
God has sent the prophet to do." And so the prophet came down,
and he began at the eldest son, And when that first boy stood
in front of him, the prophet, you know, we don't see as God
sees. We judge things by their outward
appearance. That which is highly esteemed
to us is not necessarily highly esteemed to God. And the prophet
looked on this young man and he said within himself, surely
the Lord's anointing is before him. This is the finest son of
all of them. And God said, this is not my
anointing. And he came to the next one, the next one, and he
went on through all six. And God said to the prophet,
My anointing is not before you. You see, Samuel, God, he said,
looks not on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart. God
looks on the heart. Samuel turned to Jesse, and he
said, Are these all your sons? And Jesse said, No, there's one
more. Did not think you'd be interested. But you know, our
God chooses the unexpected. Our God chooses the unappreciated. Our God chooses the one that
man would not choose. He chooses the foolish things
of this world, the base things, the things that are not, the
things that are despised, to bring to naught the things that
are, that no flesh should glow in his presence. So they sent
for David, and he came in, and just as soon as he walked in
the door, God said, that's my anointing. David's heart was
right with God. He was a man, the Scripture says,
in two different places, Old and New Testament. I have found
David to be a man after my own heart. This is where it goes. This is the business of God in
the heart. You see convictions of heart work. When Peter preached
at Pentecost, it is said in Acts 2.37 that those people were pricked
in their hearts. Conviction of sin was not something
that they learned in their heads. This conviction of sin was not
something that they learned in a creed or a catechism. They
learned it in their hearts. They were pricked in their hearts.
God did a work of conviction in their hearts. Their hearts
were disturbed and broken. You see, the sacrifices of God
are broken hearts. God is known to them that are
of a broken heart. God saved us such as be of a
broken heart and a contrite spirit. It's one thing to know that vinegar
is sour because you've been told that it's sour, because you've
read that it's sour. It's another thing to taste it
and to know it by experience. And this thing of conviction,
it's a heart work. and a knowledge of sin so that
we're led to grieve over it and mourn over it and cry for forgiveness
and seek for mercy has to go on in here. Our Lord Jesus Christ
said it's out of the heart. It's from the heart that evil
thoughts proceed and blasphemies and all of these things, they
come from the heart. And that's where the work of
conviction is done, is in the heart. And this work of faith
is a heart work. In Romans 10, 9 and 10, the apostle
wrote, If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus to be Lord,
and believe in thine heart, God raised him from the dead, thou
shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness. That's where he believes, in
his heart. And with the mouth confession
is made unto salvation. Philip, when God sent him down
into the desert to speak to the eunuch, He was walking along
beside that chariot, and he asked the eunuch, do you understand
what you're reading? He said, no, I won't unless some man shows
me. So Philip got up in the seat beside him and preached Christ
to him. And they went on their way. In
a few moments, the Ethiopian eunuch said, here's water, what
doth hinder me from being baptized? And Philip said, what did he
say? He said, if you believe with
all your heart. Now that's what he said, with
all your heart. that Jesus is the Christ thou mayest. But that's
where it is. It's not just believing it with
your head. It's not giving mental assent or mental agreement to
a system of religion and doctrine and a few religious facts. It
is feeling in your heart by experience the reality of sin and seeing
the reality of a substitute dying for your sins. And this thing
of worship is a heart work. Turn with me to this scripture
in Matthew. Worship is a heart business.
And I thought while I was sitting there, I'm thinking on this message. Just how much of my praying is
heart praying? How much of my praise is heart
praise? How much of my worship and reverence
before God is a heart work? And how much of it is a mechanical,
outward fleshly show of emotional, sentimental, religious ceremony. And this is dangerous, oh how
dangerous, Matthew 15 and 7 and 8, especially when we're coming
before Him who looks on the heart. In Matthew 15, 7 and 8, you hypocrites,
this is our Lord talking, Well did Asaias the prophet prophesy
of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their lips,
they honour me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Their heart is far from me. The
first order is a heart work. Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, mind, soul, and strength, but heart
This is where it is. And I'm afraid, I tremble. I'm
not sitting in judgment on the religious world, but I have enough
sense to know that most of what's going on around me in religious
circles is nothing in the world but entertainment, enthusiasm,
outward zeal. So little of it, so little of
it appears to be a heart work. Well, let me deal with four things
in this message now, and so you might remember these four things,
let me speak of them first. A heart right with God, a personal
heart right with God, is above all things, anything and everything. Secondly, external worship without
heart sincerity is an abomination to God. It's serious. God despises outward show. He said, when you pray, enter
your closet. When you fast, wash your face.
When you give, let not your right hand know what your left hand
does. I tell you men that pray and fast and give to be seen
of men, Christ said they have their reward. When men see them
and praise them and compliment them, that's their reward. And
that's all they'll ever get. He said, do these things in secret,
and your Father which seeth in secret will reward you openly.
And then the third thing, this external religion is a lot easier
than internal religion. It's a lot easier. It's a lot
easier to play church than to worship. It's a lot easier. It's a lot easier to play religion
And to go about the farm in duty, it's a lot easier to do that
than to produce grace in the heart. And the fourth question
I'm going to deal with is, how does one attain a right heart
with God? Now, first of all, a heart right
with God is above all things, anything. I don't care what it
is. It's better than sacrifice. Now,
King Saul was told by God to go down into the land of the
Amalekites and destroy that land. He was the means of God's judgment. He was the hand of God to deal
with the Amalekites, pagans, idolaters, cannibals, evil people. And he was God's instrument to
wipe them off the earth and sent Saul down there to do it. And
he said, don't leave anything alive, not even any cattle in
that land. Scorch that earth like God did
Sodom and Gomorrah. So, Saul went down there, but
he brought some things back with him. He brought the king of the
Amalekites back, and he brought some special treasures back,
and he brought back some oxen and some sheep. And Samuel, the
prophet, came to him and said, Have you done what God told you
to do? Oh, he said, I certainly did. I did a fine job. But he
said, I thought it might be good to bring back some oxen for a
great celebration and as a sacrifice to God. We'll take these oxen
and sheep and we'll slay them and put their blood on the altar
as a sacrifice to God. And Samuel said, So? Saul, God
is displeased with you, and God has rejected you from being king
over Israel because you didn't obey the Lord. Saul, listen,
to obey is better than to sacrifice. Better to have a heart of obedience
and a heart right with God than all of the sacrifices that you
can offer. In James chapter 1, turn over
here and let me show you something. A lot of us like to study. We like to learn doctrine. We like to preach doctrine. We like to study doctrine. But
I'll tell you something that's better than studying knowledge,
and that is our heart right with God. It says here in James chapter
1, verse 22, Be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only. Better
to be a doer of the Word than just a hearer of the Word. If
you be a hearer of the Word and not a doer, you're like a man
that looks in a glass and sees his face and beholds himself
and goes away and straightway forgetteth what manner of man
he was. He didn't learn anything. Better to be a doer of the Word.
Better to obey. Better to have a heart right
with God than to have all that knowledge, Theology that you
can cram in your head. Theology without heart is nothing
but cold, dead letter anyway. And the letter of the law killeth.
It doesn't give life, it killeth. And then a heart right with God
is better than gifts, than supernatural gifts of the ministry. In 1 Corinthians 12, verse 28,
he talks about the gift of healing and the gift of tongues and the
gift of giving and the gift of prophecy and all these other
gifts. And he says, you covet the best gifts that you might
minister the gospel. You ask God to anoint you and
to give you the gift of prophecy and the gift of healing and the
gift of preaching. But he said, I'll show you something
even better. I'll show you a more excellent
way. Though I have, though I preach with the tongues of men and of
angels and have not love, I'm a sounding brass and a tinkling
cymbal. So what's better than to have
the gift of prophecy and to have the gift of healing and to have
the gift of tongues and to have the gift of faith? What's better?
To have the gift of love. to have a heart right with God.
And this thing of a heart right with God is better than assurance. Oh, if I just had strong faith,
if I just had assurance of my interest in Christ, if I could
just have the confidence of some of those great Bible men, I'll
tell you something better than faith and assurance. It's love. a heart right with God. Where
do you get that preacher? And now about it, faith, hope,
and love. And what's the greatest? Love. That's what he said, the greatest
of the I'm not saying you have one without the other, but I'm
simply saying that this thing of a heart right with God, this
heart broken, this heart contrite, this heart of worship, this heart
of faith, this heart of submission, this heart reverence, that's
where it goes on. That's where the work's done.
That's it. And our Lord so often showed
the Pharisees that, but they never learned. And I don't know
whether we Are any more ready to learn or not? The Pharisees
had their Sabbath day all fixed and settled. Boy, they had that
thing down just right. You could take so many steps
on the Sabbath day. You could do so many things.
You had certain things to do and not to do, and they got the
Sabbath all fixed up. And they had it legislated, and
they had it ordered, and they punished people for violating
the Sabbath day. They felt real religious. This
is a holy day unto the Lord. This is a righteous day of worship. This is a day when people come
together and pay homage and reverence to their God. And they got it
all fixed up, and the Lord Jesus Christ came and walked through
the field and picked corn on the Sabbath day, and John, and
fed the disciples. Blew the whole thing to smithereens.
and then stopped over there and healed a fellow on the Sabbath
day. And these Pharisees were chomping at the bit. Why are
you doing this on the Sabbath day? Our Lord said, now you listen
to me. Mercy is more important than
sacrifice. Mercy is more important than
days and feasts. Mercy, mercy, mercy. You haven't
learned mercy. And I'll tell you something else,
the Pharisee had his denominational lines all fixed up. Some Baptists
are doing the same thing. They got the Baptist church and
the Baptist bride and the Baptist this, that, and got it all fixed
up, just like those Jews did. They had the Jewish denomination,
and anybody outside of it was a Gentile dog. And he might just
get to hang around the house a little while in heaven, but
the people that were going to live in the house were the Jews.
What did our Lord do? He ignored them and went out
here and healed a Gentile named Naaman and fed a Gentile woman,
and they'd gnashed their teeth when he told them about it. And
then these Pharisees, they got a discipline committee together.
You know, every church ought to have a discipline committee.
That's what I'm told. You ought to have a discipline
committee, and if a fellow steps out of line, come down on him.
If a woman steps out of line, come down on her, make them an
example. I have preachers all the time, especially these landmark
Baptist preachers always ask me, how do you discipline your
church? Well, I usually answer this way.
Preaching Christ, it's his church, it ain't mine. They're his children,
they're not mine. I let him deal with them himself,
not me. And he does a good job. And these
Jews got this discipline committee, they found a woman in adultery,
and they took her to the Lord, and they had their stones, they
got them all some big ones, they'd already voted, you know, they'd
already judged her and voted, and they were going to come down
on her, they were going to deal with her, they had the... That
religious form, religious ceremony, going through the motions, I
don't care whether you're giving, or preaching, or singing, or
praying, or testifying, or soul winning, or fasting, or what
you're doing, If your heart's not in it, if it's not a sincere
heart worship, this is what I'm saying, this is what's dangerous,
this thing of playing church, I tremble. Martin Luther said
after 30 years he never went into the pulpit, but that his
knees didn't knock together. Not in fear of men, but in fear
of God. Paul said, I come to you in weakness,
fear, and trembling. He wasn't afraid of men. He was
a capable, learned man. But he was so fearful that what
he was doing might not be in sincerity and fear of God and
for the glory of God. And our Lord says here, he says
in Isaiah 66, verse 1, then says the Lord, the heaven is my throne,
the earth is my footstool. Where is the house that you build
for me? Where is the place of my rest? All those things hath
my own hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord.
But to this man will I look, to this man will I look, even
to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and who trembles at my
word. He that killeth an ox is as if
he slew a man. He that Sacrificeth a lamb, as
if he cut off a dog's neck. He that offereth an oblation,
as if he offered pig's blood. And he that burneth incense,
as if he blessed an idol. They have chosen their own ways,
and their soul delighteth in their abomination." What's he
saying there? He's saying this, that the man who comes before
God in will worship, who comes before God without heart sincerity,
who comes before God in an act of worship, and his heart's not
in it, and he's not approaching God in a sincerity of spirit
for the glory of God, when he sacrifices a lamb, when he sacrifices
a lamb, he might as well cut off a dog's head. Isn't that
something? And a man that kills an ox, he
might as well, in the sight of God, have murdered a man. And
he that brings an oblation, he that brings a sacrifice of atonement
or a sin offering of blood, he might as well bring pig's blood
if he doesn't come with a heart. Boy, I tell you, that's disturbing. Turn to 1 Corinthians 13. 1 Corinthians
13, attention ought to be given not so much to our actions as
to our attitudes, not so much to our form as to our hearts,
not so much to our rituals, doing this thing right, doing it Doing
it in a worshipful manner or something like that, we've got
to pay attention to why we're doing it. Why I'm singing, why
am I singing? I'm preaching, why am I preaching?
I'm giving an offering, why am I giving? I'm fasting, why am
I fasting? I'm trying to reach this soul
with the gospel, why? There's not heart motivation
for the love of God and the love of that man and the love of Christ
Jesus. We may as well cut off a dog's
neck, bring pig's blood. Might as well bow down before
idols. And he says, I may speak, verse 1, 1 Corinthians 13, with
the tongues of men and of angels. What an orator! What a sermon!
What an intellect! What a powerful preacher! And
have not love, somebody might as well sound a sounding gong. Just stand up there and hit an
old Chinese gong for 45 minutes. or tinkle a tinkling cymbal.
I may have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries
and all knowledge and have faith so that I could remove mountains
and have not love, I'm nothing. Though I bestow my goods to feed
the poor, I'm the most generous man in town. I give my body to
be burned. I'm a martyr for the doctrines
I believe. I die for what I believe and
have not love, but it won't profit me anything. I know you, Christ said. I know
your hearts. And I'll tell you, this thing
of right form, it's a whole lot easier to produce than right
heart. If a man's blessed with fluency
of speech, he can preach. If a man's blessed with a little
bit of showmanship, he can pray. If a woman's blessed with a little
bit of Outward righteousness, she can sure act religious. And
I'll tell you, it's a whole lot easier than getting down to business
with God in the heart. Somebody said it's a whole lot
easier to wear a symbol of submission than to demonstrate a spirit
of submission. It's a whole lot easier to preach
grace and to produce grace It's a whole lot easier to preach
a sovereign God than to trust a sovereign God. It's a whole
lot easier to come down to an altar than to build one in your
heart. It's a whole lot easier to argue doctrine than to live
by that doctrine. It's a whole lot easier to give
my money than to give myself. It's a whole lot easier to wear
a cross than to take one up and carry it for the glory of Christ. It's a whole lot easier to send
missionaries than to be one. It's a whole lot easier to tell
others to forgive than it is to forgive others. It's a whole
lot easier to rejoice in mercy than to show mercy. And you know
why? You know why it's easier? I'll
tell you why it's easier. Three reasons. Because heart
faith and heart love and heart worship and heart prayer and
heart devotion and heart consecration and heart sincerity is unseen. It's unseen. Preacher, how will
people know that I give if I don't tell them? If you don't put a
list in the bulletin of what we gave, how are folks going
to know we gave? Preacher, if I don't tell folks how much I
pray, how are they going to know I pray? If I don't tell them
I'm holy, how are they going to find it out? If I don't tell people I'm humble,
they'll never find it out. Oh, yes, they will, too. But
more than that, we're not giving as unto men, we're giving as
unto God. We're praying, not as unto men,
we're praying to our Father. I like what that little boy said
who was saying his prayer down by his bed, and his mama was
downstairs. She told him to go upstairs and
be sure and say his prayers before he went to sleep, and she listened,
and she didn't hear anything. She said, I can't hear you. He
said, I ain't talking to you. I like what Brother Barnard said
to that dear lady. She said, I'm going to rededicate
my life to the Lord. He said, good. She said, I'm
going to come forth and tell the church about it next Sunday.
He said, don't do that. She said, well, they'll never
find it out. He said, it'll leak out on you some way. And it will. Trying to hide the grace of God
would be like hiding a river in the middle of the desert.
Trying to hide the grace of God in your heart would be like trying
to hide a hundred watt light bulb in a dark room. Trying to
hide the grace of God would be like trying to hide the warmth
of the sun. Oh, I know, it's unseen by men,
these works of faith, this heart love. It's unrecognized by men,
and it's unrewarded by men. But I'll tell you, God sees it.
God sees it. When I pray sincerely from my
heart, God sees it, God hears it, God recognizes it, and in
God's own time, you're rewarded. That's right. I want a preacher
to give me something to do. Okay, I'll be in a Bible conference
this week. It's a very, very serious time. It's a very critical conference
for a lot of people. There's some things involved
that I can't tell you about. I'll be preaching three times,
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Would you pray for me this week?
That's not what I mean, preacher. I'll remember you, but give me
something to do that I can go out and do. That's what's wrong
with us now, doing. That's exactly what's wrong with
churches right now. It's doing. Making noise, saying
words, running here and running there. About all the church got
to do is worship the Lord, you know that. That's about all the
church needs to do is worship the Lord and pray. and pray for
missionaries, and meet together, and encourage one another, and
exhort one another, and pray for one another, and love one
another, and forgive one another, and learn of Christ, and see
if we can't grow in grace. But no, everybody wants to meet
in finance committees, and soul winning committees, and building
committees, and missionary committees, and you want to kill anything,
appoint a committee that will kill it right now. That'll kill
anything God's doing. It'll kill it dead. If you want
to kill anything God's doing, if you want to just destroy it,
put a man out there in front where he can get the glory and
the praise, and somebody will say, you sure are serving the
Lord. And that'll take all the glory away from God. You want
something to do? Pray. You want something to do? Witness. Talk to people about
Christ. There are so many things. No,
nobody will know about it, nobody will blow any horns, nobody will
roll out any red carpets, nobody will introduce you to the crowd,
nobody will congratulate you and brag on you. My Father sees
it, and he hears it. And he rewards it. That's right.
He recognizes it. And we can just get through our
heads that it's unto the Lord. It's unto the Lord. And I don't
know but what, I don't know but what, and I think I'm right in
this, that God's greatest servants are those unknown. Unknown. They move mountains. They move
kingdoms. They move heaven against the
quiet, sincere prayer of a dear lady or a dear man, off somewhere, beseeching heaven for mercies
upon some individual. God moves in a mysterious way
his wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps on the
sea and he rides upon the storm. God blesses that unseen, unrecognized,
unheralded individual, and he'll use them. That's what he said. He'll use
them, that he might get all the glory. How is a heart right with
God received? Four things I'll point out here.
Number one, a heart right with God is a gift of God. Has to be. He said, I will give
you a new heart. I'll give you a new heart. That's
where you get a new heart, from the one who makes them, the one
who creates them. I'll give you a new heart. Turn
to Psalm 51, just a moment. David knew that. In Psalm 51,
when he talks so much about his sins and the lost joy and gladness
and the broken bones, and then he said in verse 10 of Psalm
51, Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within
me. That's who does the work. I could
stand up here and preach a sermon and get folks to walk in the
aisles, you know, making decisions and making commitments and making
professions and all these things, and it'd wear out. It'd give
out in a short time. They'd get weary of it. They'd
get weary of the show. They get weary of all the other
things and after a while forget it. But if I could preach to
you the things of God and send you home and ask you to go in
your room and close the door and fall on your face before
the living God and say, Lord, like Simon of old, my heart's
not right. Give me a new heart. Like David
of old, my heart's not right. I've sinned in my heart. I've
forgotten you in my heart. I haven't loved you in my heart.
I've sinned against you, God. Give me a clean heart. Give me
a right spirit. Renew a right spirit within me
toward you and toward people and toward everything. Would
you do that for me? I just believe that's where it
takes place. And I do know this, if he's pleased to do something,
It's done. It's done for good. You have
not because you ask not. He said, Ask and you shall receive.
Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened.
But people want to see movement. They want to see results. They
want to see something going on. I'll just tell you, I'd rather
God see it. And that way we don't run around
patting each other on the back. We don't run around counting
folks, you know, and reporting what we've done and who we've
won and how much bigger we are than somebody else, you know.
Just like Paul, he said, I commend you to God and to his word. And that's putting a fellow in
pretty good hands, in the hands of God. So by the grace of God. Secondly, how's a right heart
received? By the grace of God. as a gift
of God. Secondly, by the merits and righteousness
of Jesus Christ. Paul said, I prevail till Christ
be formed in you. Christ in you, that's the hope
of glory. He said, I'm crucified with Christ,
nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. If I have any goodness, now listen
to me, it is not me at all, it's Christ that dwelleth in me. If
you and I have any faith, if we have any godliness, if we
have any love, it's not our old man, it's not our old nature,
it's Christ in you. That's who does the loving, that's
who does the forgiving, that's who shows the mercy, the indwelling
Son of God. Christ said, we will come, my
father and I, and take up our bode in you. And then thirdly,
how does a man receive a right heart with God? As a gift of
God, by the grace of God, through the merits and righteousness
and indwelling person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and thirdly,
by the indwelling Spirit of God. If any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, he's none of His. I can make all the decisions
in this world and all the professions in this world, but if I have
not the Spirit of God, then I don't belong to God. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but who walk in the Spirit, the Spirit of God. Every believer has the Holy Spirit.
We don't have to seek a second blessing, a second work of grace.
We don't have to seek a baptism of the Holy Ghost. We're all
indwelt with the Spirit of God if we know Christ. And that's
how you get a right heart. It's by the indwelling Spirit
of God. Walk in the Spirit. And you won't
fulfill the works of the flesh, walking in the Spirit. And fourthly,
how does a man receive a new heart? a right heart with God
by living at the cross, by living at the cross. I like that hymn.
I've never traveled far around the world. I've never seen the
many thrills and sights unfurl, but I've taken a journey, a journey
of journeys for me. I've been to Calvary, there my
Savior to see. Up Calvary's hill one day the
Savior trod. I saw Him hanging there, the
Son of God. I knelt and prayed. I've been
to Calvary. Have you? Now let me tell you
a secret. I believe this with all my heart. Every once in a while I'll have
someone drop a hint, and most every other grace preacher does
too, and they'll say, I think you ought to preach more on practical
Christian living. I think you ought to preach a
little less about the cross and about Christ and a little more
on practical godliness. Now, two things. Number one,
that's a subtle way of Satan to get us off the gospel. Number
two, that person who insinuates They were preaching too much
gospel and a little too less practical godliness. That person
doesn't know what godliness is. That person doesn't know from
whence godliness comes. Godliness is not learned at Sinai,
it's learned at Calvary. We don't go to Calvary for cleansing
and to Sinai for sanctification. Let me ask you this, if there's
a little boy, sick, very sick, who will take better care of
that little boy through the night? A nurse who is paid to do it,
who has a lot of rules and regulations to follow, or his mama who loves
him? Huh? Love, that's the proper
motive. And I'll tell you, if you want
to learn, people preach, they want preachers to tell them Where
they can go, and what they can do, and where they can't go,
and what they can't do, and what they can say and can't say, they
want preachers to set out a system of rules for them to abide by,
and you'll make a bunch of Pharisees, that's all in the world you'll
do. You know where people learn how to love? They go to Calvary,
and they seek greater love, hath no man than this, that he lay
down his life for his enemies. That's where you learn to love.
And I'll tell you this, the longer you sit at Calvary and watch
Christ in His unspeakable love, and you can come away from that
place with hate and bigotry and prejudice, I just don't believe
you've been there. And you want to learn to give,
go to Calvary. There Christ gave Himself. He
gave Himself. He who is rich. made himself
poor. He who thought it not right to
be equal with God made himself of no reputation and gave himself. The preacher that... You know,
if I were going to preach next Sunday a sermon to inspire you
to give, do you think I'd preach a sermon on tithing? Do you think
I'd preach a sermon on the rules and regulations of Christian
giving? Well, some preachers would, but not this one. You
know what I'd do? I'd take you to the cross, and I'd say, I
want you to take a good look. Christ gave Himself. If He gave
Himself for me, can I do any less than to give myself for
His glory? Huh? You want to learn to forgive? Well, get the preacher to stand
in the pulpit and beat folks over the head and tell them,
if you don't forgive, God won't forgive you. Well, that's true.
If that ain't the way, go to Calvary and you see our Lord
looking down into my face standing in that crowd. There I stand
holding the hammer. There I stand, standing with
His precious blood. spotted all over my coat where
I drove that nail with my sins into his hands. There I stand
with my scowling face, laughing and mocking and shooting out
my lip and ridiculing the Holy Son of God. And he looks right
at me and then he looks to heaven and he says, Father, forgive
him. He doesn't know what he's doing. Oh boy. And then I go home and some neighbor
said something about me or my family And I won't forgive him. Where do you learn humility?
Well, you preach a sermon on how humble Moses was or how humble
somebody else. I got a better way. Go to the
cross. And there he who is infinitely
above any angel that ever came down from heaven, he who is infinitely
above any prophet such as Moses, took on himself the form of a
servant, became obedient unto death, even the terrible ignominious
death of a cross. That's humility. And why in the
world I should go forth with a cause to defend, with a name
to uphold, with a reputation to defend, and all this Tommy
Rock when my Lord became nothing. And as a result of it, wherefore
God hath highly exalted him and given him a name above every
name. And bless your heart, if he ever
by his grace through his Spirit ever humbles me, he'll exalt
me some day in his due time. That's where you learn it. Where
do you learn submission to authority? Calvary. Not my will, thy will
be done. Where do you learn gratitude
and mercy? Calvary. Where do you learn all of the
graces of the Spirit? You learn it at Calvary. If you
don't learn it there, you hadn't learned it. And you just go on
passing out your rules and regulations, telling folks how long to wear
their sleeves, how long to wear their hair, and where to go on
Friday night, and who to go with, and when to go, and when to come
home, and how often to be in church, and how much money to
give on Sunday morning, and when they ought to read their daily
Bible readings, and when they ought to pray, and you have a
bunch of pharisaical robots that are sitting in judgment on everybody
in the world. But if God, by his grace, through
his Spirit, will ever take some of us to Calvary and shut us
down and shut our mouths and let us look at Christ. We'll
come away from there broken, humble, smitten. We'll come away
from there with a love for Him that will grow every time we
look back to Calvary. And His Spirit will direct us
on where to go and when to go and with whom to go. His spirit
will direct us in when to give and how much to give and when
to read. If you fall in love with Christ,
you read about him. If you fall in love with Christ,
you talk to him. If you fall in love with Christ,
you tell others about him, won't you? Just try to keep your mouth
shut. Oh, I tell you, one of us has
a grandbaby, and we go to broadcasting it all over the world, don't
we? Well, I tell you, if we ever fall in love with Jesus, we'll
tell folks about it. You won't have to organize a
visitation program. That's the silliest thing I ever
heard. Sign people up to go visit and tell them about the Lord.
Sign people up to witness. You keep on doing that. That's
all right by me. You get all your mechanical religion
you want. But I'll tell you, if some folks
ever fall in love with the Lord Jesus Christ, you can't keep
their mouth shut. I like what that old woman said
to John Newton. She said, I'll tell you this,
Preacher, if God ever saves me, he'll never hear the last of
it. He'll never hear the last of it. That's motivation. That's what
Paul said, the love of Christ constrains me. It's a heart word. He said, as the old rock used
to say, what was it, Paul? He said, if it ever drops on
us, it's going to be something. He said, we got it up here, and
if it ever drops on us, it'll be something to behold. And I
believe some of you, it's dropped. I can tell. It's done leaked
out on you. It's done leaked out. Our Father
in heaven, thank you for your mercy and for your grace. Oh,
we're so convicted how little we pray, how little we really
worship, what proud spirits we are, how much arrogance there
is about us. Oh, Lord, forgive us. Do a work
of grace in our hearts. Do something for us that nobody
can do but you. Give us a heart right with thee,
a clean heart and a right spirit. Help us to worship and to pray. Help us to love thee and to love
one another. O Lord, increase my faith. Let
me walk with the King. In my sojourn here, let me walk
with the King. What a joy, what a delight to
walk with him. In Christ's name, amen.