Value Determined By Motive

Now let's turn to Matthew 6 again
and let me read my text. Matthew chapter 6, verse 1, take heed that you do
not your righteousness before men to be seen of them, otherwise
you have no reward of your father which is in heaven. Now I have
a great uncomfortable fear and concern not just for others but
for myself and for those who hear me and I would say that
it is the uppermost concern of my own heart in seeking the benefits
of Christ. When I say the benefits of Christ
I mean to be delivered from the curse of the law, to be forgiven
of our sins, to have pardon of our iniquities, to miss the judgment,
to take part in the first resurrection, to live eternally in glory. These
are the benefits of Christ. Now, in seeking these benefits,
I fear lest we miss the blessings of Christ. In seeking the benefits,
I fear lest we miss the blessings. I turn to John 6, if you will,
and let's look at two or three verses of Scripture. John chapter
6, and here our Lord is talking to people who sought just those
things, the benefits of Christ. In John 6, beginning with verse
25, and it says, When they found him on the other side of the
sea, they said to him, Rabbi, when camest thou hither? And
Jesus answered them and said, now listen to this rebuke. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, you seek me not because you saw the miracles,
but because you did eat of the loaves and were filled. Labor
not for the meat that perisheth, but for that meat which endureth
unto eternal life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you.
For him hath God the Father sealed. laboring for the benefits, laboring
for the gifts, and missing the person, missing the blessing.
You know, Simpson, A.B. Simpson, I believe it was, wrote
a poem one time, Once it was the blessing, now it is the Lord.
Did you ever read that poem? Now it is the Lord. And then,
secondly, look at Matthew 7. In seeking to serve Christ, And
when I say in seeking to serve Christ, I mean attending church,
and giving, and sending missionaries, and winning souls, and worshiping,
and all of these things connected with serving the Lord. It's possible
to seek to serve Christ and miss the Spirit of Christ. Now listen
to this warning. Matthew 7 21 not not everyone
that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdom
of heaven But he that doeth the will of my father which is in
heaven Many will say to me in that day Lord Have we not prophesied
in thy name and in thy name have cast out devils and in thy name
done many wonderful works And then will I profess unto them
depart from me. I never knew you I Never knew
you And in seeking to live for Christ, and when I say live for
Christ, I mean a separated life, a life of integrity, a life of
honesty, a life of purity, a life of godliness, a life of cleanliness. In seeking to live for Christ,
I fear lest we miss the love of Christ. Turn to 1 Corinthians
13 and listen to this. 1 Corinthians 13. This is the
warning here. In 1 Corinthians 13, he says
in verse 3, I'll just read verse 3 and not read the first two.
But though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, I'm known as
the most generous person in the community. And though I give
my body to be burned, I'm an orthodox fundamentalist. I stand
for what I believe, my conviction, my principle. I'm willing to
die for them. I'm so convinced of them, I'll
die for them. And have not love, it profiteth
me nothing. You know, our Lord said this,
beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. The Pharisees were sticklers
for their doctrine and sticklers for their behavior and sticklers
for their principles, but never knew the love of Christ. Never
knew the first principles of righteousness. And then turn
to John chapter 2. In seeking to follow Christ,
in seeking to follow Christ, I fear lest we miss the fellowship
of Christ. John chapter 2 this is listen
to these verses verse 23 now when he was in Jerusalem at the
Passover in the feast day many believed in his name When they
saw the miracles which he did but Jesus did not commit himself
to them himself I may have the doctrines I may have I may have
the the statutes, I may have the ceremonies, I may have all
of these things, and have not Christ? I don't have anything. And this is what I fear. And
in the fifth place, in seeking to preach Christ, in seeking
to build the kingdom of the Redeemer, we only succeed in presenting
ourselves and building a fleshly social organization that will
perish with our passing or we'll drift into nothingness as a result
of our absence. Paul said we're not preaching
ourselves, we're preaching Christ. We're preaching Christ. Those
are the fears. Now, I want you to listen to
this statement and I want you to weigh it carefully. I've looked
at it a half a dozen times since I wrote it down this morning.
It's not what I believe nor what I do that concerns me most. Now note I didn't say what I
believe and what I do doesn't concern me. I say it's not what
I believe and what I do that concerns me most. There was a
time when it did. But the thing that concerns me
most is why I believe a thing and why I do what I do. In other
words, my motive. In no other area of life is motive
so important. in no other area of life is motive
so important as in the spiritual realm. The scripture says God
looketh not on the outward countenance. Man does in all areas. You go
to work tomorrow. Your boss doesn't care whether
you hate him or not just so you do your job. You work down at
the bank. The president of the bank doesn't
care a bit in this world. Whether you love the bank, or
love him, or whether you are interested in the prosperity
of the bank, just count your money, and do your job, and be
on time, and don't stay too long on the coffee break, and quit
on time, and he'll pay you well. It does not matter about your
motive or attitude whatsoever. But that's not so in the spiritual
realm. No siree. This is what the Pharisees did.
Our Lord said, you cleanse the outside of the cup. You do this,
that, and the other. You stay away from this, that,
and the other. But God Almighty looks on the heart. Keep thy
heart. Out of it are the issues of life.
It's not that which goes into the mouth that defiles you, it's
that which comes out of your heart that defiles you. And so I say, and I repeat again,
and I believe this very much, it's not what I believe, it's
why I believe it. It's not what I do, it's what
I do, why I do it that concerns me most. Why I do it. Now let me run down two or three
things and I want you to give this much thought. I have no
difficulty believing in God. I never have had. I can say from
my earliest recollection I have believed in God. I don't believe
there's ever been a day in my life when I didn't believe in
God. There's too many evidences to convince me of the existence
of God. Those stars didn't happen to
be, nor the moon, nor the sun, nor the planets, nor the earth.
Nor did we happen to be. I believe in God. Never have
I had any trouble believing in God. But the Bible does not say
Abraham believed in God. It says Abraham believed God. There's a whale of a lot of difference.
Now, I've always believed in God, but I haven't always believed
God. When Paul was on that ship, and they were having all that
trouble, you know, about to go down, and he told them, he said,
You stay on the ship now, don't leave the ship, because there
stood by me the angel of the Lord this night, whose I am and
whom I serve. And he said, Not a one of you
will be lost as long as you stay with the ship. And, sirs, I believe
in God? No, sir, he said, I believe God.
I believe God. Our Lord said eternal life is
not to believe in God, it's to know God. And so this is what I'm saying.
I don't have any difficulty at all, never have had, believing
in God. I believe in God, always have
believed in God. But a time came when I began
to believe God, not just believe in Him or about Him, but I believed
Him. I believed Him. And this is the
issue. Not whether or not you believe
there's a God. The Scripture says you believe in one God,
you do well. The devil believes that. But
he doesn't believe God. He didn't believe God when he
tried to take God's throne away from him. Adam didn't believe
God when he said he was going to be like God all the way through
the Scripture. But Abraham believed God. He
believed God. All right, secondly, I don't
have any difficulty believing that man fell. Never have had
any difficulty with that. I've always believed man fell.
I believe sin abounds in this world today. You can't pick up
your newspaper and not be convinced that man's a sinner. You can't
turn on your television and not be utterly convinced that man's
a sinner. You can't watch what happened
in Washington yesterday and not be convinced that man's a sinner.
The hate, the enmity, the evil, the turmoil, the riots, the wars,
all of these things about us are enough to convince us that
man's a sinner. We're having trouble with that.
Where is our trouble? Believing I'm a sinner. That's
where the trouble is. Turn to Proverbs 12. Here's one
that bears looking at very carefully. Proverbs 12, verse 15. Here's our whole trouble. Here's
the very fountainhead right here. The way of a fool is right in
his own eyes. That's our whole problem right
there. We're right. Everybody else is wrong. We're right. We're
right. It doesn't matter what's in the
pulpit, or the deacon board, or the elders, or the Sunday
school teachers, or the most pious people, we're all right.
We believe we're right. We're right about everything.
But the Scripture says here the way of a fool is right in his
own eyes. When we come to the place where
we can see before God we're wrong. We think wrong, we act wrong,
we walk wrong, we live wrong. To be able to say with David,
my sins are ever before me. to be able to say with Paul,
O wretched man that I am, to be able to cry with the publican,
God be merciful to me, thee sinner. Our vocabulary is you're wrong
and you're wrong and you're wrong. And what we're doing is measuring
it by our rightness. That's the reason we're so critical.
That's the reason that we're so harsh. That's the reason we're
so holier than thou is because Well, most men are not yet saved
because they've never been lost. They've just never been lost.
And I don't have any difficulty believing man's a sinner, but
I have had some struggles believing that I'm a sinner. And more than
that, the chief of sinners. And I say the greatest leaven
of Phariseeism is in the pulpit. It's not just in the pew, it's
in the pulpit. Self-righteousness. And then
in the third place, I have no difficulty believing Christ died
for sinners. I've believed that ever since
I was a barnard set a foot and a half high. I don't have any
doubt about it then, don't have any doubt about it now. I believe
Christ died for sinners, and I believe he died that God might
be just and justify the ungodly, but I can believe that and go
straight to hell. I believe Jesus Christ is the
only hope for the guilty. I've always believed that and
believe it now, but that's not sufficient. I believe that He's
the Redeemer of the elect, that I can leave every one of those
things and perish. Because the Scripture plainly says in John
1, 12, you listen to it, it doesn't say, but as many as believe He's
the only Savior. It doesn't say, but as many as
believe He died for sinners. It doesn't say, but as many as
believe He's the only Redeemer. It doesn't say, but as many as
believe His blood's effectual. It says, as many as received
Him. as many as received Him. Believing
facts never saved anybody. And I don't care what these preachers
say. They tell you to come down this aisle and give them your
hand and say you believe Christ died on the cross, was buried
and rose again, you're eternally saved. There's not a word of
truth in it. Not a word of truth in it. And men and women have
gone through life unhappy, unsettled, full of unrest and perished at
the judgment because they believed in their heads some facts about
Jesus Christ. The Bible says, as many as receive
him, who intelligently and willingly and consciously receive him,
all said, I know whom I have believed, I'm persuaded he's
able to keep that which I've committed, I've committed, I've
committed unto him. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth Jesus to be Lord, whose Lord? Your Lord, my Lord, and
believe in thine heart everything God said about him, you'll be saved. For this is
a heart work, not a head work, it's a heart work. I know God
doesn't work apart from the head, the mind, the intelligence. How
shall they call on Him in whom they've not believed? How shall
they believe in Him of whom they've not heard? How shall they hear
without a preacher? But it's the heart that believes to righteousness. God'll break the heart. God'll
bring the heart into submission. This has been one of our troubles
through the years, is this do-it-yourself religion. Accept Jesus and go
to heaven. Make your decision and go to
heaven. It's not so. I'm not trying to
be difficult, I'm trying to be honest. I'm trying to be honest. If this is all there is to it,
is believing there's a God and believing Christ died on the
cross, was buried and rose again, not since I was the smallest
child with the least bit of consciousness of what my mother and father
taught me, I believed it. But there was a day when I received
him. There was a day when my heart was broken. There was a
day when I bowed, bowed, bowed. There was a day when, like Saul
of Tarsus, I hit the dust. There was a day, there was a
day when God Almighty broke my proud spirit and brought me to
the feet of Christ, never to leave. And that's salvation. And they can call that a second
work of grace and a baptism of the Holy Ghost and anything they
want to, but that's salvation. That's salvation. And then I
have no difficulty with the facts of faith or the creeds. I give
my consent to the most orthodox confessions of faith you can
find. I believe in the London Confession of Faith and the Heidelberg
Catechism, the Westminster Catechism, the shorter and the longer. I
believe in the Philadelphia Confession of Faith and the New Hampshire
Confession of Faith and all the rest of them. I believe the Bible
is the inspired word of God from Genesis, as the colored fellow
says, from generations to revolutions. I believe everything from cover
to cover, and even what's written on the cover, Holy Bible. But
it's not the facts of faith that concern me most, it's the works
of faith. Turn to Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews
11, listen to this. I believe most fundamentalists
are going to perish depending on their fundamentalism. I really
do. The blood, the book, and the
blessed hope are nothing in the world but ritualistic ceremonies. In Hebrews 11, verse 7, by faith
Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, did what? He believed it. No, sir, he moved.
He moved. He moved with fear. What he heard,
he believed, and what he believed affected his actions. He moved. He moved. All right, read the
next verse. By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out
into a place which he should afterward receive for inheritance,
obeyed, and he went out. He went out. He didn't sit there
and fold his arms and say, boy, I believe that. Praise God, that's
preaching. I believe that. Yes, sir. I believe
that. I've always believed that. I'm orthodox, you know. No, sir.
He packed his bags and went out. That's right. Read over here
in verse 17. Listen to this. By faith Abraham,
when he was tried, offered up Isaac. God said, take that boy
whom you love, your only son, and go up yonder, that mountain,
and sacrifice him. And Abraham started moving. They
took that boy and got ready to kill him. He didn't just say,
Lord, everything I got is yours. My house and lands and children
all belong to you. No, sir. He actually put that
boy on the altar. That's what's concerned. I'm
not concerned about the facts of faith. I believe them. It's
putting them in practice. Look at verse 24, "...by faith
Moses, when he was come to years, refused, refused to be called
the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing himself rather to suffer
afflictions with the people of God." He made his choice. He said, I'm going to be identified
with those people out there. They're the people of God, and
that's who I'm going to be identified with. I made my choice. I made
my choice. Turn to James, if you will, chapter
2. It's not the facts of faith,
it's the works of faith. It's not the facts. I believe
in the creation. I believe in one God, one mediator
between God and men. I believe Christ died on the
cross and was buried and rose again. I believe those things. rather than it's putting into
action those things that we claim to believe in our heads. Look,
James chapter 2, verse 17, faith, if it hath not works, is dead,
dead, dead. Being alone, yea, a man may say,
thou hast faith, I have work, show me your faith without your
work. I'll show you my faith by my work. You believe in one
God, you do well. The devil believes that and trembles.
Will you know, vain man, O foolish man, that faith without works
is dead? I know that God commands us to
love one another. It's time we put into practice
what God commands. Not just to love in word, but
in deed and in truth. Turn to 1 John. Listen to this, 1 John chapter
3, beginning with verse 14. 1 John 3, 14, We know, we know
we pass from death unto life, because we love the brethren.
He that loveth not his brother biteth in death. Whoso hateth
his brother is a murderer. Ye know no murderer hath eternal
life abiding in him. Hereby perceive we the love of
God, because he laid down his life for us, and we ought to
lay down our lives for the brethren. Whoso hath this world's good,
and seeth his brother have need, and shuts up his bowel of compassion
from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children,
that's not love in word, in creed, but in tongue, but in deed. Let's quit talking about forgiveness
and go to forgiving. Let's quit talking about sympathizing
and go to serving. Son of man, he said, came not
to be ministered unto, but to minister. More blessed to give,
give, give, than to receive. The letter of the law killeth.
It'll kill the one that believes in it. It'll kill the one that
presents it. It'll kill the one to whom it's
presented. The cold, dead, orthodox letter of the law, the Phariseeism
of religion will kill. It'll kill. It destroys everything
it touches. And I know about these facts
of faith and these creeds and catechisms, and they're important,
just as the foundation is important to the house, but you can't sleep
in a foundation. You can't find any warmth in
a foundation. You've got to have a house. The doctrines of God have got
to be adorned. That's right, adorn the doctrines.
And these doctrines are adorned with affection and compassion
and mercy and grace and understanding and forgiveness and kindness
and patience and long-suffering and love and faith and meekness
and humility, which are the fruit of the Spirit. And then in the fifth place,
I have no difficulty at all with the scriptures which command
giving The Bible says, upon the first day of the week, let every
one of you lay by and store as God has prospered him. The treasurer of this church
will tell you that the pastor of this church, since I've been
the pastor, has always set the example in giving. If I did not
give, I wouldn't preach to people. I don't have any trouble with
the commandment about giving. I don't have any trouble with
the commandment about praying. If I didn't pray, I wouldn't
exhort you to pray. The Scripture says man ought always to pray,
to pray. I don't have any trouble with
this thing about witnessing. Christ said you shall be my witnesses.
But I'll tell you where the area of difficulty is. Now you listen
to me. The Pharisees could do every one of these things. That
Pharisee stood in the temple and bragged before God that he
tithed. He bragged before God that he
gave alms. He bragged before God that he
fasted. He bragged before God that he
prayed. He bragged before God that he
never committed adultery, that he never did practice extortion.
He bragged before God that he'd never been unjust in his dealings
with men. He was a righteous, separated
religionist. And he perished. I'll tell you where the area
of difficulty is. It's not to do these things.
Christ said to the Pharisees, He said, you tithe, you're so
particular about your religious practices that you tithe even
the mint and anise and cumin and the least little thing. And
you do these things, and these things you ought to have done.
You ought to have done these things. It's right to give unto
God that which is His, the first fruit. It's right to pray. It's right to witness. It's right
to be just. It's right not to be an extortioner
or an adulterer or a thief. It's right to obey the law of
God. But here's the problem. It's to do these things for the
glory of Christ. Now that's where the problem
is. Not just to do them. Any Pharisee can do them. Turn
to 1 Corinthians 10. Here's where we run into problems. Here's where, starting with the
pulpit and going all the way to the back row, here's where
we have trouble. Listen to 1 Corinthians 10.31. 1 Corinthians 10.31. What? Whether, therefore, you eat or
drink, or whatsoever you do, do it to the glory of God. There's
where the problem is. Not doing it. Anybody can do
it. It's doing it to the glory of
God. Anybody can give. That's no problem. All you got
to do is be able to write, sign your check. All you got to do
is be able to lick the envelope and drop it in the collector.
Anybody can do that. Anybody can pray. All you got to be able
to do to pray is to be able to say some words, some religious
words. That's all in this work. Anybody can pray. That's nothing
to that. Anybody witness all you got to do is walk up to a
fellow and say you are you lost? Are you saved you're Christian
believe you believe the Bible Christ died for sinners ain't
nothing to it There's nothing to this preaching business. All
you got to do I can teach anybody to preach Just as mechanically
as any other occupation in this world all you got to do is do
a little bit of studying and compare notes and get some metaphors
and Illustrations read some scripture and not be afraid to get up and
pop off anybody can preach nothing to it But I'm telling you to
do it for the glory of God. That's something else. Colossians
3, verse 17, listen to this. And brother, I'll tell you this,
if it's not done for the glory of God, it's an abomination.
If it's not done for the glory of God, it's works of iniquity.
If it's not done for the glory of God, Barnard used to say it's
sinful praying, sinful giving, and sinful preaching. Colossians
3, verse 17, listen to this. Whatsoever you do, in word or deed, do all in the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's something, that's something,
that's it right there. Whether it's preaching, what in the world am I doing
up there? Why am I doing it? If it's not for the glory of
Christ, God have mercy on my soul, but he will not. And I'm
praying, and when I get through, has it been for the glory of
Christ, or to be heard of me, and am I giving? Can I give whatever
I give, my pence or pound or six pence or dollar or peso or
lira or whatever I give in whatever country? Can I give it cheerfully
and willingly and hilariously and joyfully as unto the Lord
if I can't put it back in my pocket? I've added to my condemnation. That's right. That's right. My singing. Some of you have
been blessed with the ability to sing. Can't do it for the
glory of God. Don't do it. Don't do it. Teaching. Some of you men have
been blessed with the gift of teaching. But my soul, if we
can't stand before our classes for the glory of God. Worshipping. or even being silent, if I can't
keep my mouth shut for the glory of God, if I can't keep my mouth
shut without being envious of somebody who's talking, I'm in
trouble. John the Baptist said he must
increase, he must increase, keep on increasing, and I must keep
on decreasing. Though I'm not one whit, Paul
said behind the chief apostle I'm nothing. Whether by success or failure,
let Christ be glorified. Whether by silence or word, let
Christ be glorified. Whether by poverty or wealth,
let Christ be glorified. Whether by happiness or sorrow,
let Christ be glorified. Whether by gain or loss, let
Christ be glorified. Whether by life or death, let
Christ be glorified. If not, I've missed Him. I'm in touch with somebody else
because he said, I will not share my glory. And you know what he's
done? He's gone right by the wise and
the prudent and revealed himself to babe because that's where
he gets the glory. He's gone right by the things
that are and found the things that are not. He's gone right
by the wise and chosen the foolish. That no flesh, no flesh should
glory in his presence. Now, there is but one motive
that'll produce this kind of dedication. Turn to 2 Corinthians
5. I know the answer. In 2 Corinthians
5, verse 14. Turn over there with me. Here
it is. Paul found that motive. That motive which determines
the value. And he says here in 2 Corinthians
5, 14, "...for the love of Christ constraineth me." The love of
Christ. He's not talking about his love
for Christ now. He's talking about Christ's love for him.
That's what made this man say, I'm nothing. I'm willing to rejoice
even in trials. I'm willing to be nothing. I'm
willing to suffer. I'm willing, even if men preach
Christ in contention, hoping to add to my bonds, I thank God
that Christ is being preached. Because of the great love Christ
had for him. That love of Christ is the master
force in the believer's life, the master force. That which
leads him to forgive is Christ forgave him. That which leads
him to show mercy is Christ showed mercy to him. That which leads
him to love is Christ loved him. That which leads him to give
is Christ gave himself for him. You pass out your rules and regulations
and church bylaws and standards and all these things, you're
wasting your time. You want a man to live for Christ, you let that
man see Christ live for him. If you want a man to love others,
you let him see, if God the Spirit is pleased to let him see how
much Christ loved him. That's right. The love of Christ
restrains me from self-seeking, selfishness, self-righteousness.
The love of Christ keeps me employed. Christ said, you love me, Peter?
Lord, you know I love you. Well, feed my sheep. Feed my
sheep. The love of Christ keeps us together.
You know, old Solomon said this, he said, his banner over me was
love. I watched soldiers from Brooklyn,
New York, to Los Angeles, California, to Miami, Florida, to the sticks
and hills of Tennessee walk together from all walks of life under
one banner, that flag with 48 stars in it. and walk right into
the blazing machine guns and lay down their lives with that
one flag keeping them united, keeping them true, keeping them
faithful. The banner, oh glory. They wouldn't
think of deserting, they wouldn't think of quitting, they'd grit
their teeth and grab their rifles and head right into the teeth
of the enemy's fire under that flag. Well you know what the
banner over the church of the Lord Jesus Christ is? Solomon
said it's his love. That'll unite them. That'll bring
them together. If that won't unite them, don't
bring them together. They don't know anything about His love.
They've never seen it, never felt it, never known it, never
experienced it. That'll keep you loving one another
when you find out He loved you. And His love presses me. Turn
to Psalm 27, verse 4. Psalm 27, verse 4. His love presses
me toward one goal. One goal. Man can't have but
one goal. Not to seek the Lord. No, sir,
you can't have one master, one goal. That's right. And he said
one thing, Psalm 27 verse 4, one thing have I desired of the
Lord, one thing, and that will I seek after, that I may dwell
in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold
the beauty of the Lord. Not that men might see my righteousness
and see my glory and see my power, but that I might behold the beauty
of the Lord. He gets sweeter every day and
more beautiful every day, more precious every day. Our Father, anoint Thy Word to
our hearts. O Lord God, do a heart work Do
a hard work for this preacher and for this congregation. For
all who hear this message, let us examine ourselves whether
we be in the faith. Give diligence to make our calling
and election sure. For if you do these things, you
shall never fail. Visit with us in our afflictions.
O Lord, if Thou should mark iniquity, who, O Lord, would stand? But
in Christ, in Christ, all our sins are taken away. Thank You
for the Redeemer, for His love for us. In His name we pray,
for His glory we ask these things. Amen.

Value Determined By Motive

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Value Determined By Motive

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