Christ - The Door

I'm going to read a passage of
scripture from Isaiah 55, beginning with verse 8. The Lord says, For my thoughts
are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith
the Lord. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, So are my ways higher than your ways, and my
thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down,
and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth
the earth, and maketh it bring forth the bud, that it may give
seed to the sower, and bread to the eater, so shall my word
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth, it shall
not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which
I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sing it."
We're so desperately, desperately in need in this day, in this
hour. We're so desperately in need
of a word from God. It doesn't take a wise man to
discover that what we're hearing today from the average pulpit
is a word from men and not a word from God. That's been true here too often,
and it's true too often in other places. How many are the preachers
with the courage and boldness who will pray as Christmas Evans
prayed, Lord, I've gone into the pulpit by myself for the
last time, and if you don't go with me this morning, I refuse
to go. Brother Barnard said he read
a statement in a book by a Texas preacher years ago that changed
his whole ministry. The preacher said this to the
congregation, if my words are the only words you hear, Nothing of any eternal value
will be accomplished for you. Nothing. You may as well hear
it rain. You may as well hear a saw turning
in a sawmill. You may as well hear a clanging
gong or a tinkling cymbal. If my words are the only words
you hear. John was able to say in 1 John
1, 5, this then is the message which we have heard of him and
declare unto you. This is his message. We're just
in the middle. We heard it from him and we declare
it to you. This is his message. I know the
people, it's not the fault of the people, it's the minister's
fault. He hasn't waited upon the Lord, he hasn't gone and
taken hold of the horns of their altar and begged for a message.
I know there are times when God pronounces judgment upon people
and keeps his minister from preaching. He did that in the case of John
Bunyan, who stayed in prison one time twelve years. It wasn't
judgment on Bunyan, it was judgment on the people. They weren't permitted
to hear this man of God. God shut him up. He was a prisoner
of Jesus Christ. Paul, on many occasions in prison,
he wasn't a prisoner of Nero. He wasn't a prisoner of the Roman
government. He wasn't a prisoner of those little peanut soldiers.
He said, I'm a prisoner of Jesus Christ. God shut me up in prison. It wasn't judgment on Paul, it
was judgment on the people. And that many times is the case.
But I believe that the average preacher has brought judgment
on his own congregation because he cares not for the sheep. The
hireling, when the wolf cometh, or whether the wolf offers prosperity
or adversity, but the wolf cometh. and the hireling flees because
our Lord said he doesn't care for the sheep. We want a word
from God, don't you? The people come and like the
people of old who said to the prophet of God, Do you have a
word from the Lord? No, but I've got some mighty
fine doctrine. Well, thank you just the same, but we're kind
of interested in a word from the Lord. But I'll tell you,
we've got some mighty good singing. Well, thank you. We enjoy singing,
too, you know. There's a time and place for
everything, but we sure were interested in hearing a word
from the Lord. We came with our empty cups to be filled. We came
with our hunger to be satisfied. We came that our thirst might
be quenched. We came that our souls might
be fed. Do you have a word from the Lord?" Isn't that something? Now, there are those who are
content. I'm not talking to everybody. There are those, and I'm sure
among us tonight, there are those who are content to walk down
an aisle, shake a preacher's hand, declare to a congregation
that they give mental assent to some facts about heaven and
hell, Christ and the cross, and let it go at that. If you're
content with that, well, so be it. And there are others who
are content to get religion. They get right with God by quitting
a few habits and living according to a standard of do's and don'ts,
or right and wrong, or law and order, and so forth. And if that's
what you're looking for, you can find it. Satan will supply
you with all of the religious material that you can use. And if that's what you want,
so be it. And they're those who are content to adopt a denominational
system. Usually it's one handed down
by their parents, or one that fits their social pattern of
life. And if you're content with that,
so be it. There are those who enjoy the whirlwind of religious
competition and religious contest, and they like to put on a little
show, you know. They're glory in the flesh, Paul said. They
make merchandise of your soul. You're not a person, you're a
number. I always am amazed when preachers walk up and say, how
many members do you have? Our people aren't numbers. How
many did you have in Sunday school? Our people aren't numbers, they're
people. They have souls, they need God. They're not numbers.
How many did you baptize last year? Well, if God saved one,
wouldn't it be wonderful if He did? Our people aren't numbers. The thing is, it's not how many,
it's who. It's who? A preacher rode by
church one day and said, Who preaches there? And the man with
him said, Well, it doesn't matter a whole lot. What matters is
what is preached there. That's what matters. It doesn't
matter who is doing the preaching, it's what is he preaching. Who
is he preaching? Now, if you're content with a
denominational name and denominational system, No matter how far back
it goes, if that's what it takes to please you and that satisfies
your soul, so be it. And then there are those, and
this is a trap too, they find their confidence in being sound
in doctrine. Now, doctrine is important, but
there are those who make a study of religion and a study of the
Bible and they strive to be orthodox. They strive to be exact in what
they believe. This is it. This is it. This
is right. Well, you can be right in doctrine
and wrong in spirit. You can have your head full of
religious knowledge and your heart as empty as an oil drum. That's right. But I'm saying
this, there's no way that this sort of thing, whether it's walking
an aisle, or whether it's praying through, or whether it's getting
baptized, or whether it's getting religion, or whether it's adopting
a denominational system, or whether it's a study of doctrine, there's
no way that this can satisfy the soul or meet the need of
the man who's seeking the Lord. You can't put him off. You can't
satisfy him with these things. He's got to hear from God, and
he's not going to be content until he hears from God. And
our Lord said, like the rain, oh, how beautiful it is, when
it comes down and And everything's so dry and parched and burned,
and that rain falls. It just keeps falling and falling.
And almost overnight, the grasses are green and the flowers are
blooming and the vegetables are growing. He says that rain cometh
down from heaven and waters the earth, and it brings forth and
buds, and it gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater.
So shall, watch it now, my So shall my word be that goeth forth
from my mouth, not your doctrinal systems and not your creeds and
catechisms and not what you think and not what your preacher preaches,
but my word. If I can get tonight a word from
God and preach that word in the power of the Holy Spirit, it'll
be like a spiritual rain. There's some fruit going to come
forth, maybe not tomorrow, maybe not next week, maybe not next
year. God Almighty says, My word shall
not return unto me void, it shall accomplish that which I preach,
and it will prosper in the thing whereto I sing it. God's word is so important. Turn
to 1 Peter 1. Hearing a word from God is so
important because, number one, it's by the word that men are
born again. Now, the Holy Spirit is the agent
in the new birth. We're born of the Spirit of God.
But we're born of the water of the Word and the seed of the
Word. In 1 Peter 1, verse 23, it says,
being born again, spiritually born again. Now, brethren, the
new birth is not you walking down the aisle and believing
on Jesus. You do that because you are born
again. Now listen to me. You had just
as much to do with your new birth as you had to do with your fleshly
birth. Nothing. You had just about as
much to do with your spiritual conception. Now listen to me.
The average preacher, I may get shot right between the eyes for
this, but you buy Billy Graham's book on how to be born again,
and if you know anything about the new birth, when you get through
with it, you'll say, My soul, that man does not know what the
new birth is. Now, you read it. I have. The new birth is nothing in the
world that you do, you make no contribution to it. The scripture
says, as many as received Christ, to them gave he the power to
become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name,
which were born. Not of blood, that is not of
family inheritance. It's not something a father hands
down to a son. I was born the first term of
my father, my physical, natural father. He gave me that birth.
But I didn't get spiritual life from my father. You can take your babies if you
want to, you have no scriptural warrant for it, but you can take
your babies down in front of the preacher and put some water
on their head and say they're in the household of faith and
in the covenant and regenerate if you want to, but God says
that's not so. David said, although it be not
so with my house. His sons didn't know God. Absalom,
Amnon, these men didn't know God. They were David's sons.
David knew God. David was a man after God's own
heart. David was God's seed. But his sons, the seed of David,
didn't know God. They were rebels. And they died
in their rebellion. And he said, Although my house
be not so with God, he hath made with me an everlasting covenant.
in all things and sure, and this is my salvation and this is my
desire, although he make it not to grow, which were born not of blood,
not of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man, but of
God." When natural life When Ronnie Lewis was first conceived
as a seed in his mother's womb, he didn't have not one blessed
thing to do with that. Not one blessed thing. It was
done by someone else. And he was formed and he was
shapen in the womb and that life, that natural life, when the doctor
first heard the first heartbeat, he still didn't have anything
to do with it. Not one thing. And he came forth
a living creature, a physical creature, and he still didn't
have anything to do with it. That's so. That which is
born of the flesh is flesh. But that which is born of the
Spirit is Spirit, and that's born of God. Look at James. Let's look at this just a minute
before we read that 1 Peter. James 1, verse 18. Now listen
to me. Christ said, Nicodemus, you must
be born again. Nicodemus said, How can a man
be born when he's old? Can he enter the second time
into his mother's womb and be born again? Christ said, Now,
Nicodemus, that which is born of the flesh is flesh. You've
got that first life that way, but the second life you're born
from the womb of God. You're born of the Spirit, born
of the water. And the wind bloweth where it
listeth. And you hear the sound of the wind, but you can't tell
where it's coming from, and you can't tell where the wind's going.
Even so are those that are born of the Spirit. You don't know
where God's Spirit is going to come in quickening power, to
quicken the dead, to give life in a dead womb, in a barren womb
where there is no life. The Spirit of God comes. Now,
watch James 1.18, "...of his own will beget." You know what
beget means? Adam beget Abel. You say that
David beget Absalom. God beget you. of his own will,
of his own will, not the will of the flesh, not the will of
man, of his own will, beget he us." How? With the word of with the Word. The Holy Spirit is the agent,
but the Holy Spirit plants the seed. And you know what that
seed is? The Word of God. That's right. Turn to 1 Peter 1, I'll show
you that again, 1 Peter 1, verse 23. This new birth, he's got
nothing to do with it. Somebody might be born again
here tonight, I don't know, I'm preaching the Word, the Word
is being sown, the Word is being sown. Every time there's relation between
a husband and wife, there's not a child born up, but sometimes
there is. Sometimes a seed is fertilized, sometimes it's anointed,
sometimes God gives it life. And I preach. And every time
it does, the seed goes forth, the Word of God, but every time
it doesn't bring forth life, but sometimes it does. And you
know when? When God Almighty is pleased
to make it effectual. That's right. You can't get around
that. Read 1 Peter 1, verse 23, being born again, not of corruptible
seed, we're not talking about the natural birth, but of incorruptible, incorruptible
seed, holy seed, righteous seed, spiritual seed. What is it? The
Word of God. The angel came and said, Mary,
are you going to have a son? Mary said, can't, don't know
a man, no seed, no life. But the angel said, The Holy
Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall
overshadow thee, and that which is that holy thing born in thee
is the Son of God. And there sits the sinner. He's
dead and trespasses in sin. He's got natural light, but he
doesn't have spiritual light. He's got natural eyes, but he
can't see spiritual things. He's got natural ears, but he
can't hear. Christ said they've got eyes, but they can't see.
They've got ears, but they can't hear. They've got hearts, but
they can't understand. They're dead, dead, dead! Without
God, without help, without hope in this world. And the Holy Spirit
takes the blessed Word of God And Christ is the Word, Christ
is the living Word, and Christ is the written Word. And the
Holy Spirit comes in that center with these natural ears. He hears
that Word, and that Word falls upon ground, and that ground
is prepared and fertilized by the Holy Ghost. It will bear
fruit, it will bear life, and there will be born in that person
a spiritual life. It will just be an infant, it
will just be a babe, but born in that person will be life!
And that life in that person, that spiritual life, some of
you are hearing the message tonight and others will hear it on tape
who don't have spiritual ears. And it sounds like a bunch of
foolishness to you. To them that are perishing, the
preaching of the cross is foolishness. But to them who are being saved,
who are being quickened, who are made alive, who are born
again, it's the power of God. They understand it. They rejoice
in it. Who understands it? The natural
man? The natural man receives it, not the things of God. Who
understands it? It's that spiritual man in you.
It's that life God begets. You know, the average person
thinks that what a sinner does is he just sits down and he studies
the Word and he says, well, that sounds reasonable, you know,
and that looks like a good thing, and he walks in no sense. The
natural mind is enmity against God. The natural mind loves darkness
and hates light. He loves error. Christ said,
I come in my Father's name and you receive me, now let another
come in his own name and him you will receive. The only time
a man will receive Christ is when he has a new life, because
that new life is Christ. And it's the Word that does that. We need a word from God, because
first of all, it's a word from God that gives life. We are born
again of the word of God. Spiritual life is begotten. Here's where man comes in. Man
believes Our Lord said, you go into all the world and preach
the gospel to every creature, he that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved, he that believeth not shall be damned. But that
man who has life, who has spiritual life, has spiritual ears and
those ears hear the word of God. And those ears hear the condemnation
of the law, and those ears hear of the judgment of God against
sin, and those ears hear of the wrath of God against his transgressions,
and those ears hear of his inability to please God, and those ears
hear that his righteousness is a filthy rag. And then God the
Holy Ghost in the Word holds up Christ, and those spiritual
eyes see Christ. And they see the beauty of Christ,
and the glory of Christ, and the wisdom of Christ, and the
power of Christ. And that heart, that new heart,
understands how God can be just and justify the ungodly. And
that heart embraces Christ. And that heart loves Christ.
And that heart believes in Christ. And that has come about through
the preaching of the Word. Listen, Romans 10, 17. So then,
faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by a word from God. by the word of God. Now back
here in verse 13, it says, Whosoever, it doesn't matter who it is,
white, black, rich, poor, old, young, learned, or ignorant,
short or tall, whoever, calleth on the name of the Lord, calls
on the true name of God. Not somebody says, Oh, Lord,
he have mercy. That's not calling on the name of the Lord. But
it's that man who recognizes God's might and God's power and
God's sovereignty and God's glory, who recognizes who Christ is
and why he came and what he did and where he is, who recognizes
his inability and his need, and he calls on the name of. Him
who has the power to save you. He shall be saved. But look at
the next verse. But how shall they call on him in whom they've
not believed? A man's got to believe on Christ
before you call on him. You can't trust an unrevealed
Christ. You think a man can be saved
out yonder in the wilderness of this old world without hearing
the gospel? You're dead wrong. And he's going to have to hear
the true gospel. He's not going to hear somebody come along and
preach a Jesus that's not the Christ of the Bible and be saved
by calling on the name of that Jesus. How shall they call on
him in whom they've not believed, and how are they going to believe
in him of whom they've not heard, and how shall they hear? Without
a preacher. How shall they preach except
God sends them? God sends them. Verse 17. So then, faith, saving
faith, saving faith. And we're justified not only
by the blood of Christ, not only by the grace of God, but by faith,
not apart from faith. So then faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the Word of God. The Word of God. See how important
it is? We're begotten by the Word, we're
conceived by the Word, we're brought forth by the Word, and
we believe. Now listen to me. You better
not rest in how you feel. That's a sandy foundation. You better not get any assurance
whatsoever. I warn you, don't put your confidence
in your experience. I don't care what kind of experience
you've had. The only foundation for faith
is God's word. Now I'm serious, and I mean that
with all my heart. Don't you believe anything in
this world, or rest your soul's welfare on anything I've ever
said, except what I've read out of this book. Not so. This is the only foundation of
faith. And don't you believe anything? Bless your mama's heart.
I know you love her, but don't you rest your soul on what she
told you. She might have told you wrong. She wouldn't have
done it on purpose, but she might have. And your dad, as much as
you love him, as much confidence you have in him, and as much
as you respect him and all that, I'm telling you, nobody, I'm
going to put my soul's welfare in no man's hand but in the hands
of Christ. And that by what he said. By
what he said. It's his word by which faith
comes. This is the way I think it is. Don't tell me, I'm not
interested. And I hope none of you are interested in what people
think it is. But I sure hope you're interested in what he
says it is. Tell me his word. Do you have a word from the Lord?
Faith cometh by hearing, hearing. Then thirdly, turn to John 17. It's by the word of God, my friends,
that we're sanctified. That's right. Now, you know,
there's one person in a thousand that knows what the word sanctified
means, not one in a thousand. There's not one preacher in five
hundred that knows what the word sanctified means. No, sir, they do not. They don't
have the faintest idea. That's a shame, because it's
right in God's Word. John 17, verse 17 says, "...sanctify
them through thy truth, thy word is truth." If we just knew the
place that this Word has in our lives and in our spiritual life
and in our relationship with God, we'd carry it around in
our pockets all the time. You'd pick it up and read it
all the time. You'd be in every service where
you thought somebody was going to read some scripture and expound
it. Now watch this. Listen to me carefully. Sanctification. If you want to know the meaning
of sanctification, you have to go back to the Old Testament.
Just like the meaning of the word grace, there's the law of
first mention. Usually the way you find something mentioned
the first time in the Bible, that's what it means all the
way through. When you hear grace, Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Grace means that all the way
through. But our sanctify in the Old Testament has a threefold
meaning. Number one, it means to set apart.
Now, you know the average person thinks sanctification is this,
that you're a believer now and you come down and somebody lays
hands on you and eradicates the old nature and you're without
sin. Well, it says God sanctified
the Sabbath day. The Sabbath day never did have
any sin. The Sabbath day is a day, it's not even a person. It says
God sanctified the tabernacle, that tent in the wilderness.
It says in the Old Testament God sanctified the vessels in
the temple. Well, they sure didn't lay hands
on the vessels and eradicate an old nature. I'm not being
foolish now, I'm trying to point something out. It says God sanctified
the firstborn Not only of the people, but of the cattle. Well,
what does that mean? It means this. God took something
common, something ordinary, and set it apart for himself. He
said that day, that seventh day, one out of seven is mine. It
shall be holy unto the Lord. Six is yours. You toil and labor
and so forth, but seventh day, seventh day. He set aside that
tabernacle. He said nothing is to go on that
tabernacle but the worship of the Lord. That's for the burning
of incense and the offering of the blood and atonement. That's
sanctified. That's mine, mine. Those vessels
in the temple are not to be used. That's why God's wrath came on
that wicked king. He carried on his foolishness
and finally he said, go down to the temple of the Lord and
bring the vessels up here and I'll drink wine out of them and
let my concubines and princes and generals drink wine out of
them. And he took a sip and God wrote on the wall, you've been
weighed in the balances and found wanting. You can't get away with
that. That's mine. That's mine. God sanctified the
priesthood. He said the sons of Levi, they're
mine. Now, that sanctification is set
apart and declared to be holy. So the book of Jude, verse 1,
says we are sanctified by God the Father, you and I. Now, don't
get mad at me, but what I'm saying is this. In the council halls
of eternity, God in his grace and for his glory and according
to his wisdom and to accomplish his purpose, He chose a people
out of Adam's race, and he set them apart, and he sanctified
them, and he said, They're mine. They're mine. They're mine. Christ said, I pray not for the
world, I pray for them which thou hast given me. They are
thine, and thou gavest them me. God said, They're mine. Christ
said, Other sheep I have which are not of this folk. They are
mine, they are mine. The Amorites never were his,
the Philistines never were his, but Israel was his, and my people. My jewels, God caused. That's
sanctification. Art is another meaning. In the
Old Testament, one day Moses God told him to speak to the
rock. He had already smitten the rock on another occasion,
but God said, Speak to it, and water will come out for the people.
Moses got angry, and he showed off a little, and he said to
the people in his anger, Must I get water for you rebels? And
he hit the rock. Well, the water came out. But
God called him aside and said, Moses, I've got something to
say to you. He said, Now, Moses, you didn't sanctify me. you didn't
sanctify me in the eyes of the people." How in the world can
you sanctify God? Huh? That's right. God says, you didn't sanctify
me. I will be sanctified, listen to the scripture, I will be sanctified
by them that come now unto me, God says. That's written several
times in the Bible. You know what that means, sanctify that?
It means to regard as holy, to treat as holy, to regard as awesome
and great and holy and perfect. And what's God saying to Moses?
He said, Moses, you didn't sanctify me, you didn't honor me, you
didn't give me that place of glory, and therefore you're going
to die for that. And he took him up on the mountain
and killed him, or took him home to God. He never entered the
promised land. That's serious business. So the word sanctified,
secondly, first means to set apart for a holy purpose. Christ
said, I sanctify myself. Our Lord said that. He didn't
have any hands laid on him and get the old nature eradicated.
He said, I sanctify myself. For what? He set himself apart
for the purpose of our redemption. He set himself apart for the
accomplishment of our atonement. And then sanctified means to
regard as holy, to actually regard, to look upon, to treat as holy. Now then, in the scripture it
says we are sanctified by the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the Father
set us apart in eternity and said, These are mine. Now, the
only people who can walk with a holy God are holy people, right? So Christ came and made us holy.
That's right. He came. Look at Ephesians. Let me show you this in Ephesians
chapter 1. Now listen to this, in Ephesians
chapter 1, verse Now listen to it, "...according
as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy." I am holy, my preacher, we know you. You know my flesh, you don't
know my spirit. And in the sight of God, because
Christ took my place and took my sin and paid my debt and obeyed
the law, I'm holy. Now turn to Colossians 2, and
let me show you that. In Colossians 2, I'm holy in
his sight. I don't have to be holy in your
sight or my sight, I'm holy in his sight because I've got to
deal with him. See that? Colossians 2, verse
22. Now watch this, verse 21 says, And you, you, you that
were at one time alienated, enemies of God, in your minds enemies
of God by wicked works, yet he, now he hath reconciled you to
God. in the body of his flesh through
death to present you holy, unblameable, unreprovable in God's sight. Think about that. No honest man will ever
lay claim to this in the flesh. No honest man. The man that claims
he is without sin, that he is holy through his abstinence from
thoughts and words and deeds, is a liar. That's so. Any man who says he has no sin,
the truth is not in him. He made God a liar, too. But
now, in the body of his flesh, Christ has come down here, and
on the behalf of his people, he has obeyed the law in the
flesh and died on the cross. And in God's sight, clothed in
his righteousness, regarded in his Son, accepted in the Beloved,
we are holy. We are sanctified. You see that? There's a third meaning. In the Old Testament, God said,
He said, tell the people to sanctify themselves, for I'm coming down
among them. Now he said, Moses, tell them
to wash their feet, to wash their bodies, and change their clothes,
put on clean white linen, because the Lord himself is coming down
into the camp. Sanctify themselves now, that's
where this John 17 which I've just read to you. How are we
sanctified? That's what we mean. We've come
back to sir in the Bible study last night It's sanctified by
this word right here By this word right here Wherewithal shall
a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed to the Word of
God If I want to know how to speak to my neighbor God tells
me how to treat him right here If I want to know the thoughts
I ought to think and the way I ought to conduct myself and
how to come to God's house and praise Him, how to conduct my
business, I can read it right here. It says, when you're waiting
and going to sell a man something, give him full measure packed
down, running over. That's what God's Word says.
And if I want in my daily life and in my prayer life and in
my relationship with you and my dealings with my family, with
my wife and children and neighbors and friends and church, if I
want to know how to conduct myself, it's all right here. And the
more I read this word and the more I study it, if God's Spirit
is in my heart, the more I want to be like Christ. And that's
the reason he said in John 17, 17, "'Sanctify them through thy
truth, thy word is truth.'" Now, you can come sit down here and
all the men get around and lay hands on you, pray for you, and
you think like that you're going to be sanctified, you've got
a real shock coming in the morning, or maybe just as you get up,
if you're honest. But oh, I tell you, you know,
as we're sanctified, like somebody pointed out last night, don't
even realize the growth is gradual and progressive. And that's called
we're sanctified by the Spirit, the Holy Spirit using the Word
of God. So you see, it's all his Word. It's by his Word that
we're... Now turn to 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter 2. Here's why we need
a Word from the Lord. It's because by the Word of God
that we grow. In 1 Peter 2, verse 2, listen
to this, he says in verse 1 of 1 Peter 2, "...laying aside all
malice, and guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and evil speaking,
as newborn babes." Now, let me tell you something. When you're
born of your mother and father, in that nursery in there is a
bunch of tiny babes. They don't know much, but they
have life. And they can eat and they can
hear and they can respond and all these things, but they're
babies, and they've got to grow. They've got to grow. And the
same thing is true of those who are born into the family of God.
They're not born full grown, they're not born mature, they're
not born with all the answers, they're not born with all the
wisdom. Christ even said to his disciples after three years of
walking with him, he said, I've got many things to say to you,
but you can't understand them now. No way you can understand
Him. But when He, the Holy Spirit,
has come, He'll guide you. He's not going to open your head
and put all truth in your head. He'll guide you into all truth.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Thy
word is my guide, the Holy Ghost. Look, as newborn babes, watch
it, desire the sincere milk of the Word. you may grow thereby. You're not, honestly, believe
me, you're not going to grow in grace and the knowledge of
Christ apart from this. You're not going to do it. If, verse 3, if so be you have
tasted that the Lord is gracious, if you have tasted of the Lord,
I tell you this, you get a sip of Christ and you want a full
drink. I don't believe any man has ever tasted that the Lord
is good who doesn't have a hunger and a thirst and an appetite
that's insatiable. I believe that. One look at him
demands a thousand looks, and one taste of him demands a thousand
drinks. And then 1 John 5, verse 13,
I'll quit. 1 John 5, it's by his word that
we have assurance. Now, brethren, listen to me,
and ladies too, I know we're going to have doubts and fears,
not doubting his grace and his ability and his power, but doubting
ourselves. I know that. But let me tell
you this, I think a lot of our doubts and our fears come because
of our neglect of his promises and his words. I think the more
I stay in this word and the more I fellowship with you and the
more I avail myself of the opportunity of worship, the less doubts I
have and the less conflict. And you know why that is? Listen,
in 1 John 5 verse 13, these things have I written unto you. that
believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know ye have
eternal life." I think a man can have eternal life and have
doubts, I do, and fears, I'm sure of that. Somebody says,
if you doubt, you're damned. That's not so. That's not so. When the Lord sat around the
table with his disciples, he said, one of them is going to
betray him. And the scriptures said, they all began to say, Is it
I? Is it I? Is it I? But this is the way
you have confidence and assurance, this is the word of God. Oh,
God, for a word from the Lord. For a word from the Lord. You have not because you ask
not. I guess that's so. We need to pray. You need to
pray for me before we come to the services on Sunday and Wednesday
and other times that I might not preach in the energy of the
flesh, that I might preach in the motivating power and unction
of the Holy Ghost. As I pray for you, that you might
have an open heart and a hearing ear and an eye that can see beyond
up here, you can see him and his word and hear his voice.
God speaks to you. It's like one man said before
the service, when you read that scripture this morning, we believe
and assure that thou art that Christ. That Christ, oh, he said,
that opened up some things. And God's Word will open up some
things. It will open up a kingdom. It
will open up a kingdom. Our Father in Heaven, give us
a word from thee in this place. We don't deserve it. We don't
lay claim to it on the merits of our righteousness. Anything
of that sort, but just hunger, that's all. We just hunger and
thirst for a word from thee, for thy righteousness, to hear
thee speak through thy word. We lay no claim to wisdom. We're
sinners saved by grace. We don't know anything except
what you teach us. We don't have anything except
what you've given us. O Lord, humble us and strip us
and bring us down in the dust, all of us on the same level crying
out unto thee for thy mercy through Christ and thy grace through
thy Spirit, and that we might grow in the grace and knowledge
of our blessed, wonderful Lord. Thank you for your presence tonight,
and we believe thou hast spoken to us. Use it for the purpose
that will bring most glory and honor to thy name. For Christ's
sake, amen.

Christ - The Door

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Christ - The Door

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