The Doctrine of Christ or The Life of Christ

I'd like for you to open your
Bibles now to the book of Philippians, chapter 2, verse 5. This is my text. Now, the message,
I make no apology for the fact
that it's going to be quite personal, and I hope that it's taken that
way. I hope that I can take this message to my own heart. and that each of you will feel
that I'm preaching directly to you as if no one else was present
in this congregation, that this is a message that if God has
a word for us, this is a message for you individually. You know,
it's foolish for us to defend our righteousness and miss Christ.
It's quite foolish for us to, in our pride and self-love, to
miss Christ holding on to an empty profession of religion,
claiming the uppermost seat in the synagogue
and the higher places and the knowledge of theology, and just
flat miss Christ and hear him say, I never knew you, depart
from me. I don't want that, and I don't want to be responsible
for your going along in this condition, supposing that Christ
is in your heart. If he's not, if he is, we praise
him. If he's not, we want him there.
Now, in Philippians 2, verse 5, it says, let this mind be
in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. The Amplified Version
reads this way. Let this same attitude and purpose
and humble mind or spirit be in you, which was in Christ."
Now, we're in the habit of saying there are really just two classes
of people in the world anyway, those who are saved and those
who are lost. We're in the habit of saying
when all is said and done, there are only two classes of people,
those who know the Lord and those who do not know the Lord. Those
who believe in salvation by grace and those who believe in salvation
by works. Those who believe in Christ and
those who do not believe in Christ. Actually, this is really true.
It's really true. There are just two classes of
people in this world in regard to spiritual matters, those who
are alive and those who are dead. Those who know Christ and those
who do not know him. Because the Bible says in that
last day, in that great day, that God shall separate them,
the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. And he shall
say to those on his right hand, enter ye blessed into the kingdom
prepared for you before the foundation of the world. And he shall say
to those on his left, depart from me, ye cursed into everlasting
fire. But this is oversimplifying the
grace of God. And this is oversimplifying the
great work of regeneration. And this is oversimplifying this
thing of redemption. And this oversimplification of
the grace of God has led to some terrible errors. And the following
errors have been born out of this oversimplifying the grace
of God, the work of God, the work of the Holy Spirit, and
the merits of Christ. It has led to the terrible era
of easy believism and the day of decision. We're inviting men
to walk an aisle and make a decision, and we call it salvation. Now
I'm among the saved. I'm no longer among the lost.
The world is just divided into two classes of people, the saved
and the lost. And this morning, under the preaching
of a certain preacher, I made a decision to leave this group
and join this group. and that's all there is to it.
I believed, I made a decision, I made a commitment, I united
myself with Christ's church and therefore I'm no longer on the
left, I'm now on the right. And this matter of soul winning
today is going about saying to people, you don't want to go
to hell, do you? You don't want to be a goat in the day of judgment,
do you? Wouldn't you like to go to heaven? Wouldn't you like
to be a sheep? Well, how can I do that? How can I switch sides?
Just by making a profession of faith, just by believing that
Jesus Christ died on the cross, just by making a personal commitment. And this is an error. It's not
that simple. This thing of salvation in the
Word of God is called a new birth, not a switch in sides. It's called
a new creation. It's called a new nature. It's
called a new heart. And then another error that has
been born of this oversimplification of the grace of God is the carnal
Christian theory. You know what that is. You accept
Jesus as your Savior, and He saves you from your sins and
saves you from hell and takes you to heaven when you die, and
if later on, if it's convenient, and if you care to, and if you
feel so impressed, then you can make Him your Lord. But it's
really not necessary. He can be your Savior and not
be your Lord. He can be your Savior from sin
and your Savior from hell, but you can be the servant of materialism,
you can be the servant of sensualism, you can be the servant of possessions,
you can be the servant of human praise and pride. Anything can
be your Lord. Let Jesus be your Savior. Well,
I'm here to tell you this. The one who is your Lord is your
master, and the one who's your master is the one with whom you'll
spend eternity. Now that's so. Christ is not
Lord at all if he's not Lord of all. And he will be no man's
Savior if he's not that man's Lord. He's not called our Savior,
Jesus Christ, he's called our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
And this is an error. And this so-called oversimplifying
the message, it's just a simple gospel, that's what I hear. There's
nothing to it. There's nothing to this thing.
Just if you want to be saved, be saved. This oversimplification
has led to a false, watch this, thirdly, a false doctrine of
eternal security. Now I regret to say, that the
modern Baptist Church is built not on Christ in particular,
but it's built on this doctrine right here, the false doctrine
of eternal security. In other words, accept Jesus
as your Savior and your sure for heaven, no matter how you
live, no matter what your works are, no matter what your attitude
is, no matter what your life is, once you make that profession,
And this is the reason that so much pressure is put on children
to make their decision. Parents pray for their children,
and they talk to their children, witness to their children, and
take their children to Sunday school. And one day the child
walks down the aisle at about 9 or 10 or 11 or 12 years of
age, takes the preacher's hand, says, I believe in Jesus, and
the parent folds his arm and sighs a sigh of relief and says,
well, I'll meet him in heaven. I hope so. I hope so. But I'll tell you the truth,
I see these Baptist churches with 1,200 members and 200 in
church, and I don't know whether you're going to meet them in
heaven or not. Carnal security. False eternal security. I made
my, and let me tell you something. Salvation is not, and faith is
not, and repentance is not an isolated experience. Brethren,
we are saved, we are being saved, and we're not saved yet. The
Scripture says our salvation is nearer than when we believe.
Preacher, what in the world are you preaching? I'm preaching
that Christ saves. I'm preaching that salvation
is a work of grace and a work of God. But I'm saying that that
work is completed when I stand conformed to the image of Jesus
Christ. And I believe in security, not
of the empty, easy believer I believe in the security of the redeemed.
I believe in the perseverance of the saints. I believe that
a man who has come to Christ will keep coming to Christ. A
person who has believed on the Lord will keep believing on the
Lord. A person who has repented will keep repenting. And if he
ever quits believing and quits coming to Christ and quits trusting
Christ and quits repenting, he never did. He had a false profession. He had an empty, emotional, sentimental
experience that was not founded upon Christ at all. John said
that. John said they went out from us. If they had been of
us, they no doubt would have continued with us. The mark of
regeneration is perseverance. The characteristic of real faith
is continuing in that faith. I'm telling you the truth. And this so-called oversimplifying
the grace of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ has led to just
plain indifference. Just plain indifference. Indifference to worship. Total indifference. The people
of God are meeting. The Spirit of God is speaking.
The pastor is teaching. The people are praying. They're
seeking God's presence. But I've got other things to
do. I've got more important things to take care of. I've got things
I'm more interested in. I've got people I'm more interested
in. My brother, you've missed Christ, because there's nothing
as important to a believer as worshiping God. There's nothing
more important to a believer than fellowshipping with the
family of God. There's nothing more important to a believer
than praying. There's nothing more important to a believer
than his identification with Christ. But we're saved. That's what's led to this indifference
in worship and indifference in prayer. Have you prayed this
way? Indifference to study? Indifference
to identification with his people? But I'm saved. I got fixed up.
I've been baptized. That's what this oversimplification
of saved and lost and sheep and goats and the so-called gospel
of decisionism has led people to flat indifference. David said,
as that thirsty deer, his throat parched and burning, as he pants
for water, the flowing, rippling stream, as he thirsts for water,
so panteth, thirsteth my soul for the living God." Well, we got fixed up. We got
fixed up in a revival meeting back in 1954. So-and-so was preaching
and singing, just as I am, and I just felt like now was the
time for me to become a Christian, and I joined the church, Sunday
morning comes, and it's a chore for me, you know, to get up and
get down there, but I make an effort when it's convenient.
I don't have something else to do, or maybe somebody's not besting
with me, I don't have any place to go. And I'll read the Bible
occasionally, you know, that is if I finish reading everything
else. Panting, thirsting, blessed are they that hunger and thirst
for righteousness, they should be filled. Blessed are they that
mourn, they shall be comforted. Blessed are the poor in spirit,
theirs is the kingdom of God. Is that me? No, my getting fixed up has led
me to a state of indifference. If somebody asks me, are you
saved, the answer comes quickly, sure I'm saved. There are not
many evidences of that fact, but I'm saved. I've been told
that. I'll tell you something else
it's led to. This oversimplification of getting religion. It's led
to a self-righteous religious exhibitionism. That's what it's
led to. All these bumper stickers of
today are nothing in the world but religious exhibitionism.
I've found it. I'm implying that you haven't.
I'm saved, are you? I don't know anything that turns
me off, as far as spiritual things are concerned, any more than
this showing off my religion by carrying signs and wearing
signs, letting people know where I stand. I know God, do you? Now listen to me, listen carefully.
There's a difference in a humble faith in God's mercy toward me
in Christ. There's a difference in that
humble feeling and faith in God's mercy and grace to me in Christ
and a religious show of outward piety. There's a lot of difference
in a humble witness of the Spirit in proselyting men to a religious
profession. God help us if we don't know
the difference. You know, sinners were comfortable in the presence
of our Lord. They certainly were. The religious,
the overly pious, the self-righteous religious were never comfortable
around Him. But sinners were. They congregated where He spoke,
where He ate, where He walked. He was called a friend of sinners.
But today's outward show of false piety and religious exhibitionism
has made people uncomfortable in some of our presence. Because we make a vain, empty
show of our religion. We show it all. We make sure
everybody knows about it. And there's a way to witness.
I don't know how to word this. I wish I had the vocabulary.
I wish I had the ability to word this like I know it ought to
be worded, but I don't. There's a humility in the presence
of God and men. Something Paul knew something
about when he said, I'm less than the least of all the saints.
Do we give that impression? That we even believe that? That
we even feel that way? I'm less than the least of all."
He said, I'm not worthy to be called an apostle. Do you give
the impression that you believe you are the chief of sinners?
You wouldn't dare give that impression, would you? Because you don't
want anybody to feel that way, but Paul felt that way. And he gave
that impression. He said, this is a faithful saying,
Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I'm chief.
But we want people around us to know that we know the Bible.
We want them to know that we pray. We want them to know that
we know God. We want them to know that we're
saved. We're all fixed up. We want to be sure and get that
across. We want people to understand that we live a holy life, that
we're above average. In other words, we sound like
that old Pharisee in the temple that said, Lord, I thank you.
I'm not an adulterer. I'm not an extortioner. I'm not
unjust. I pay my tithes. But the justification and mercy
of God were down there where a man was beating on his breast
and wouldn't even lift his eyes to heaven but cried, God, God,
be merciful to me a sinner. And this so-called getting fixed
up, getting all straightened out,
getting my religion down pat, you know, getting right with
God. I don't know who invented that
term, getting right with God. Now think about it. It's lead. to a religious exhibitionism. And it's led us, we're peculiar
people, the Bible says that, a special people, peculiar. But
our peculiarity does not lie in this direction, that we're
so strange that people don't like us. And I'll tell you another place
it's led. It's led, and this is perhaps
the most disappointing position of all, It's led to people knowing the
doctrine of Christ in their heads and missing the life of Christ
in their hearts. And let me tell you this, I don't
think that we'll stray in the direction of easy believism and
decisionism because we don't promote it. Not here. I don't
think we'll stray in the direction of carnal Christian theory. I don't believe we'll fail there. Nor this eternal security theory where a man is secure
if he makes a profession of religion, religion regardless of his lifestyle. I don't think that there's any
danger of this congregation being caught up in that terrible trap.
But if we fail, if you and I fail, of the grace of God, if you and
I miss Christ, Right here is where it's going to be. Right
here. If Henry Mahan misses Christ,
and if Cecil Roach and Bob Coffey and Charlie Payne and Don Fitzer
and Ronnie Lewis, if we miss Christ, and I'll tell you this, that
old song says, and I hope by thy good pleasure safely to arrive
at home. If we miss Christ, this will
be where it will be, right here. knowing the theology and the
doctrine of substitution. Yes, sir, a man can know the
doctrine of substitution and miss the substitute, Charlie.
A man can know the doctrine of irresistible grace and never
be called by God's Spirit. A man can know the doctrine of
redemption by the cross, by the blood, and miss Christ. To know the doctrine of Christ
and miss the Spirit of Christ. The Bible's full of warnings
to folks like you and me. I'm a fool to ignore them. If any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, he's none of his. Whatever else he has, whatever
else he knows, if he doesn't have the Spirit of Our Lord said, except a man be
born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. It doesn't matter
what else he knows or has or professes or accomplishes, if
he's not born again. Except ye be converted and become
as little children. Except ye be broken. The sacrifices
of God are not bloody altars, but a contrite heart. The one sacrifice of blood has
been made. That's Christ's sacrifice. That's
sufficient. The sacrifices of God are broken-hearted,
are broken in a contrite spirit. God save us such as be of a broken
heart. We're so proud. We're so rebellious. We're so easily offended. If any man say, I love God, And
men say that. Most men say that. In fact, all
men claim that. Very few people would claim that
they hate God. But if any man say, I love God
and hate his brother, he's a liar. And furthermore, the truth's
not in him. Faith, James says, faith. You
say you have faith? Show me your faith. How in the
world can you show faith? Faith is intangible. How do you
show faith? Faith without works is dead.
Turn to Luke, if you will, chapter 14, and listen to our Lord. In
Luke chapter 14, verse 26. Verse 25 reminds me of 1978.
Luke 14, 25, and there went great multitudes with him. Great multitudes. Thousands. We like to talk about our numbers.
How many did you have today? Had 2,000. Largest Sunday school
in town. Great multitudes followed him. And he turned and said to
them, just make your decision. Just believe. No sir, he said,
if any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and
wife and children, and brethren and sisters, and yea, his own
life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever does not bear his
cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple." Verse 33, he
finished with these words, so likewise whosoever he be of you,
preacher, deacon, professing Christian, whosoever he be of
you that forsaketh not All that he had, he cannot be my disciple. Brethren, this is what Paul's
talking about in Philippians 3. Paul, the mightiest preacher,
Paul, the sufferer for Christ, Paul, the apostle, he said, oh,
that I may win Christ and be found in him. Oh, that I may
know him. and the power of his resurrection,
not just his doctrine, him. And the power of his resurrected
life. Oh, that I might be conformed
to his image, that I might attain unto this resurrection from dead
flesh and the dead world. Dead materialism. I count not myself to have arrived,
he said. I count not myself to have laid
hold. But he said, forgetting those things which are behind,
I press forward. I seek to lay hold upon that
for which I've been laid hold in Christ. Actually, listen to me now, actually,
and I wouldn't be offensive if I could help it, because it's
no joy to be offensive. A warning ministry is no pleasure,
but necessary. And I warned myself. Actually,
Calvinism as a system of theology, now think about this a moment. What we call Calvinism as a system
of theology, Bruce, is no harder to accept than any other system
of theology. No, it's not. What we call Calvinism,
God's covenant of grace, God's purpose, God's eternal promise
of redemption, God sending a substitute, God's Holy Spirit in an irresistible
fashion calling out a certain people for his name, whom he
will enthrone with Christ and make joint heirs with Christ,
that as a system of theology. And I'm talking about a system
of theology that 300 years, 200 years ago was in the majority. Every great evangelical denomination
today is built on Calvinism. That's right. The Presbyterians,
their confession of faith, the Westminster confession of faith,
the larger and shorter catechism. I can accept and believe and
preach 98% except for church government and baptism, the rest
of it's beautiful and clear as a veil. The Episcopalian Church,
the Church of England with its 39 articles, those 39 articles
are as strong and as pure and as clear and ring a bell on the
Word of God and believe and teach everything right here what the
Scripture says. All these congregations and denominations
no longer preach these doctrines. but go into their libraries and
dust off the books and pull down the Confession of Faith and you'll
find that the Baptists and the Presbyterians and the Church
of England and the Dutch Reform, the old Heidelberg Catechism
or Confession of Faith is as solid as a rock, just almost
identical to the London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1620,
1689. Very little different. Back in those days, that's about
all there were. The Church of England, the Presbyterians,
the Baptists, and the Dutch, that's it. The independents, they called
them, or dissenters, and they were mainly Baptists. But all
these people, Newton, Huss, Knox, Spurgeon, Gill, Keats, Rippon,
Isaac Watts, William Cowper, Joseph Hart, all of these men
were different denominations. They all believe the same thing.
They're buried on sprinkling a baby. Some of them did and
some of them didn't. They're buried on church government.
Some of them believe the elders ought to rule the church. Some
believe the pastors ought to rule and some believe the people
ought to rule. They're different than that. They're different sometimes in
where they're met and how they're met. But on their doctrine, no
difference. Old King Henry VIII was a Calvinist.
Yes, he was. Strong Calvinist. So Calvinism
as a theology, that's no problem. It's in the Bible. It's logical. It requires nothing from the
center. It promises great reward. But my friends, listen to me.
To believe the doctrines of grace and to have the life of grace
is a different thing. Now all who have the life of
grace believe the doctrines of grace, but all who believe the
doctrines of grace do not have the life of grace. There are thousands of people
in this world who do not claim to believe the gospel, but who
act like they do. And there are thousands of people
in this world who claim to believe the gospel, who act like they
don't. You think about that. There are thousands of people
in this world who do not, they say they do not believe in Christ,
but they act like they do. Their attitudes and their spirit
is good. And there are thousands of people,
God help us unfortunately, who claim to believe the doctrines
of grace and the word of God who act like they don't. And
both of them are in jeopardy. I want you to look at Philippians
2 a moment. There are four or five words
I'm going to give you briefly. Paul said, I travail to Christ
be formed in you, not to you learn the doctrines of grace,
but to Christ be formed in you. That ought to be the pastor's
heart cry for himself and for his people. I travail, I labor
in pain to Christ be formed in you, My friends, I know, I'm
confident, I know the doctrines of grace. I've spent years studying
them. I know them in my head. I know
the doctrine of Christ. And I know the law of Christ.
And I know the work of Christ. I know those things. But this
is my concern. Do I have the life of Christ?
Do I have the spirit of Christ? That's my concern. Do I have
the fruit of Christ? And I should entertain every
suspicion if these fruits, and this spirit, and this attitude
is not present, that maybe I miss Christ. Paul said he uses some
words here in Philippians 2. He says, he uses the word il,
il. Our Lord used that word. He said,
if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. John used that
word. He said, if they had been of us, they would have continued
with us. And here Paul uses it. He says, if there be any consolation
in Christ, in other words, if there be any comfort in Christ,
if you have a genuine reason for hope in Christ, founded upon
his person, his righteousness, and his death, and his intercession,
if you do, And then he said, if there be any comfort and strength
in your love, the love of God for you and your love for him
and your love for one another, and if there be any fellowship
of the Spirit, if there's any such thing as oneness of heart,
is there? Is there? That's what he's asking. If there is. If there's any comfort
in Christ, if you can have any hope in Christ, If there's any comfort and strength
and confidence in Christ, if there's any comfort and strength
in your love, if there's any fellowship of
the Spirit, if there's any oneness of heart, is there? Well, if
there is, and if there's any vows of mercy, you know what
that's saying? Vows and mercy, it's saying if there's any real
depth to your affection, if there's any real depth to your claim,
if there's any real depth to your emotions, if there is, if
there's any real depth to your concern for the glory of God.
That's the point of determination. That's where we have to start. All right, look at the second
word. It's in verse 2. He says, fulfill. If there is,
if there's any comfort in Christ, if there's any strength in love,
if there's any such thing as a unity of hearts, then you fulfill
my joy. Paul is saying here, I rejoice
in your showing and giving evidence of the presence of Christ in
your life. Fulfill that. Quit talking about
love and start loving. Quit talking about prayer and
start praying. Quit talking about unity and
be united. Quit talking about humility and
show it. Quit talking about grace and
be gracious. Quit talking about mercy and
be merciful. Quit talking about forgiving
and start forgiving. That's what he's saying. Fulfill
these things. If you have any foundation, if there's any comfort
and strength in Christ or hope, if there's any fellowship of
the Spirit, then you fulfill these things. And then the next word, verse
3, let. Let, verse 3, let nothing be done through strife or vain
glory. In other words, let not your
works and service in the kingdom of God be done to seek recognition,
reward, personal praise. Somebody says, we're all working
for the same place. Is that our motive? And this leads to strife and
division and contention when our works and our service and
our efforts in the kingdom of heaven are given to seek recognition
and the praise of men. But he says, verse 3, in lowliness
of mind, let each esteem the other better than themselves. Let every brother regard the
other brother as spiritually superior. superior, more excellent,
spiritually better. Paul, you say, Paul, you're writing
that. Was that true of you? Listen to him. He said, I'm not
one whit behind the chief apostle. I'm nothing. I'm nothing. They were talking about, I'm
of Apollos, I'm of Paul, I'm of Cephas. He said, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? Who is Cephas? We're
just voices by whom you heard the gospel of Christ. We're nothing! He that planteth, he that watereth,
he that soweth, they're nothing! All this effort to be somebody.
Pride goeth before destruction, a haughty spirit before the fall. He that exalteth himself shall
be abased. He that humbleth himself shall
be exalted." Fulfill this. Paul said, if your claim, there's
nothing to memorizing doctrine, there's nothing to holding to
a system, it may be as right, it may be as straight as an arrow,
But holding to the doctrines of Christ and experiencing the
life of Christ, sometimes it's different. I don't want to miss Christ.
The fourth word, look. Verse four, look. Look not every
man on his own interest, but every man also on the things
of others. This is right the place where
I thought about that little statement. There are thousands who say they
don't believe God, but who act like they do, and thousands who
say they do believe God and act like they don't. Let me give
us a little quiz right here. Five questions. We have learned the word conviction. We can talk about Holy Spirit
conviction, conversion. How well have we learned words
like compassion? concern and care. Huh? We can't handle those too
well. We can handle that conviction,
say so. We can work that over real good. But how well do we
handle compassion? We've learned the word unconditional
election. How about words like unselfishness? How about words like unpretentious?
How about words like unfeigned love? We've learned the word
perseverance. How about the word pity? How about the word patience?
How about the word prayer? You see, we put our emphasis
on the easiest part. We spend our time studying the
easy part, conviction. election, perseverance. And we ignore this place where
God tells us to do something about it, compassion, concern,
unselfishness, reaching out. That's where we leave that. And
then how about this, we learn the word total depravity. How
about words like tenderness, time for others, true love. We've learned the doctrine. How
about devotion? The attitude. That's what he's
saying here in verse 5. Let this mind, this spirit, this
humble attitude be in you, which was in Christ. And here's the
thing about that attitude, and I've got to quit. But he said
the Lord Jesus Christ, verse 6, thought it not robbery to
be equal with God. He thought it not to two interpretations
of that. He thought it not taking something
to himself which he did not deserve. He did deserve it. And the other
is he didn't reach for it like Adam did in the garden and like
Satan did in Isaiah 14. But he made himself, he who is
God, made himself of no reputation, took upon himself the form of
a servant, was made in the likeness of men, and humbled himself even
to the death of the cross. Now this is my example. Our Lord
looked not on his own interest, but on your interest and my interest. He looked not on his own welfare,
but on your welfare and my welfare. He gave himself to redeem us.
He loved us, and we ought to so love one another. This spirit,
this attitude, this mind of Christ. My friends, and I sum it up with
this, and I hope you'll go away thinking about this. I don't
want to learn the doctrine of Christ, the doctrine of substitution,
even the doctrine of redemption, and miss the spirit of Christ
and the life of Christ. There's an old chorus we used
to sing, let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me, all his wonderful
passion and purity, O thy spirit divine, all my nature refined,
and let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me. He had time for us,
we don't have time for other people. He sought not his own
comforts, we seek ours. He was not selfish, we are. He
was tender and kind and compassionate and forgiving and slow to anger. We're not like our Lord. And
that bothers me, extremely bothers me. I know they're coming down
the aisle with the thousands, they're joining up with the thousands,
but all to see in here and in others the mind and spirit of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Our homes, it embarrasses me
when our homes are divided. And if husbands and wives quarrel
and children quarrel and neighbors quarrel and folks give business
people a piece of their mind because things don't go like
they think it ought to go, that embarrasses me. Because I just
know that there's something's wrong. I know I've taught you
doctrine. I hope you learned it because
it's a foundation. But we haven't learned anything
as we ought to learn it until we learn Christ. That's it. I
don't mean to go out and show folks your religion, see if they
can match it. It'll leak out on you after a
while, I believe it will, if it's there. Our Father in heaven,
we pray, how concerned we are, ought to be, lest we miss Christ,
the spirit, the life, the attitude of our master. Grant, Lord, that
we may grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ. Give us
that hunger and thirst for righteousness which you promised to fill, that
real genuine mourning over sin which you promised to comfort,
and that real poverty of spirit. We don't know anything. We don't
have anything. That poverty of spirit which
you promised to supply according to your riches and glory, the
riches of your grace. Lord, make this congregation
a congregation of people who walk with God, who know the living
God, who look not on their own interests and their own things,
but on the interest and welfare of others, whose hearts beat
like the heart of our Lord because they love each other. By this
shall all men know you're my disciples if you love one another.
For Christ's glory and sake we pray, amen.

The Doctrine of Christ or The Life of Christ

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The Doctrine of Christ or The Life of Christ

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About Henry Mahan

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