For Christ Sake

All right, verse 31 and 32 of
Ephesians 4. Let all bitterness and wrath
and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you
with all malice. And be ye kind one to another,
tenderhearted forgiving one another, as God, for Christ's sake, hath
forgiven you." Now, my subject tonight is taken from the last line of
verse thirty-two. Even as God, and here are the
three words that I think stand out, and I'll use as a topic
and a text. hath forgiven you." Now we hear
these three words spoken in wrath and blasphemy. I've been in the
Navy, spent two years in the Navy, and worked in the steel
mill a little while, and I've rubbed shoulders with people
on the streets and in other places, and I hear them use these three
words for Christ's sake. And they're used in wrath, they're
used in blasphemy. But I don't think there are three
more precious, meaningful words in the Bible, in the human vocabulary,
than these three words, for Christ's sake. And we know this is the
foundation of the gospel because he tells us here, God, for Christ's
sake, hath forgiven you. That's the foundation of the
gospel. God Almighty, because of Christ's death, because of
his blood, because of his mercy, because of his intercession,
because of his representation, God, for Christ's sake, hath
forgiven you of your sins. And then these are the most vital
words in prayer. Our Lord said, if you ask anything
in my name, for my sake, we pray for Christ's sake. Amen. And
that's the most vital word. Those are the most vital words
in prayer. That's the only way that we really
can pray, is for Christ's sake, and in the name of Christ our
Lord. And then these three words are the key to understanding
the scriptures, because Luke wrote in Acts 10.43, to him,
give all the prophets witness. All that has been written before
in the Old Testament is to reveal Christ. These things were done
for Christ's sake. These things are written for
Christ's sake, that he might be known, that he might be revealed,
that he might be glorified, that he might be exalted. And then
these are the words that bring divine healing. When Peter and
James and John came to the gate beautiful in Acts chapter 3 verse
6, they said, we don't have any silver and gold to give to you.
They were talking to the lame man. But in the name of Jesus
Christ, you rise up and walk. So this man was healed for Christ's
sake. This man was restored to health
for Christ's sake, not because of anything he had done or Peter,
James, and John had done, but for Christ's sake he was healed.
And then the password to the throne of grace is for Christ's
sake. Paul wrote in Hebrews 10, 21,
22, seeing we have an high priest over the house of God, let us
draw near Let us draw near with boldness, let us boldly come
to the throne of grace, let us draw near with full assurance,
having our hearts purged from dead works." So the password
to the throne of grace is for Christ's sake. These are precious
words. If I should die tonight and stand
before the Heavenly Father in judgment this evening, and I
were to hear God say, Tell me why that I should allow a wretch
like you to enter into my glory. You just tell me why. You expect
to enter into the kingdom of God. You expect to enter into
the glory of God. You expect to share the beauty
and glory of God. Tell me why I should let you
in here. Well, I certainly wouldn't plead
my works like those people did in Matthew 7 who said, Lord,
we prophesied in your name cast out devils, and we did many wonderful
works, and Christ said, I never knew you. I wouldn't plead my
righteousness, for certainly if Isaiah says his righteousness
is our filthy rags, what are mine? And I would not plead my
faithfulness, because I know if one sheep of Christ could
fall away, I'd fall a thousand times a day. I wouldn't plead
my baptism. I wouldn't plead my deeds. I
wouldn't plead my morality. I wouldn't plead my church membership.
I'd tell you what I'd plead. For Christ's sake. Give me one
reason why I should let you into my kingdom, I'd say, for Christ's
sake. For Christ's sake. Now you take away this foundation
and the whole house comes down. This is the foundation. For Christ's
sake. Even as God, for Christ's sake,
has forgiven you. For Christ's sake. I want us
to look at this text from three different directions tonight.
First of all, for Christ's sake is the reason that God can and
will show mercy. And then secondly, for Christ's
sake, that ought to be my motive for any kind of Christian service. That ought to be my motive. And
then thirdly, for Christ's sake, ought to be my motive for daily
Christian living and daily Christian graces for Christ's sake. Now let's look at these three,
one at a time. First of all, for Christ's sake
is the reason for God's mercy. It says, even as God for Christ's
sake hath forgiven you, and you, and you. Why has the Father moved
to forgive us for Christ's sake? Why has the Father moved to save
us for Christ's sake? Why has the Father moved to accept
us for Christ's sake? Can you answer that? When we
do something for the sake of another, there has to be a reason.
And the more we're willing to do for the sake of another, the
greater the reason. I think I can give you five reasons
why God shows mercy to sinners for Christ's sake. The first
one is this. God shows mercy to folks like
me and you, for Christ's sake, because of the glory of his person. The glory of his person. Now,
over two million people followed Moses, one man, out of Egypt,
out of some sort of security. It was hard times, but it was
some sort of security. But over two million people followed
Moses out of Egypt, into a desert wasteland, into a desert wilderness,
Moses must have been a powerfully persuasive individual. And by
God's grace he was. Moses was a glorious leader. And then over 300 gallant men
followed Gideon against overwhelming odds. No odds have ever been
attacked like that before. But yet these 300 gallant men
followed this glorious leader called Gideon against these overwhelming
odds. God gave them the victory, but
these men didn't know that. They weren't sure of that. They
were following Gideon. They were willing to follow him.
And then thousands followed David. They followed him into battle.
They followed him even into exile. Some even followed him into disgrace
because they loved him. And because he was a great leader,
and because of the glory and excellence of his person, he
was a magnetic leader, a powerful leader. But who can describe,
when you talk about the glory of these men and the magnificence
of these men and the excellence of these men, who can describe
the glory and excellence of the Lord Jesus Christ? Why wouldn't
the Father be willing for his sake, to show mercy, to forgive
sinners, because he far outshines all men, all creatures, all angels,
all the universe. He's the son of the solar system. He's the son of the universe.
Let's look at a few verses of Scripture. First of all, Isaiah
chapter 9, verse 6. Here is who he is. Isaiah chapter
9, verse 6, the prophet wrote, Under us a child is born, under
us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and
his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the
Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. The Prince of Peace. Oh, the excellence of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Oh, the glory of Christ, the
mighty Father, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
Turn to Philippians 2. In Philippians chapter 2, verse
9, listen to Paul writing about Christ. Philippians 2, 9, Wherefore
God also hath highly exalted and given him a name which is
above every name." Could I pause here just a moment and interject
something that is really a pet peeve with me. Evidently it doesn't
mean as much to other people, but for some reason I was sitting
at the desk today thinking about it. I was listening to some tapes
and listening to a couple of preachers on the radio. Maybe it's because of my southern
upbringing, I don't know. But we were always taught, when
I was a child, to call adults Mr. or Mrs. In fact, if we had
a relative that was older than us, you know, like I was a little
boy, seven or eight years old, I had a cousin who was twenty-five
or thirty. I didn't call him by his first
name. I called him Uncle John or Uncle Henry or Uncle Edward. Just respect, you know, we respected
adults, we respected, and people in positions. No one here tonight
surely would call the President of the United States Gerald.
He'd call him Mr. Ford or President or something
like that. And I got to thinking, and I've
thought about this a lot, nobody that I ever hear preach ever
calls Jesus Christ Lord. That bothers me. They call him
Jesus. Now, I don't mean to raise issues
that ought not be raised, but is it insignificant? I hear people
talking about, Jesus said this and Jesus said that and Jesus
did this and Jesus did that. They never call him Lord. The
disciples never called him Jesus. They called him Master. They
called him Lord. In fact, he said when they wrote
about him over here in the Gospels, they wrote about Jesus. That
was his earthly name. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. Jesus was the
son of Mary, and they supposed the son of Joseph, the brother
of Judas, and the rest of them, you know. And he did these different
things. But these disciples never spoke
to him and called him Jesus. They called him Lord. And he
said to him one day, you call me Lord, and you say, well, for
so I am. Now I cannot bring myself in
a message, and I doubt seriously that very many of you ever heard
me call him Jesus in a message. I call him the Lord Jesus. And
over here in the New Testament, you check on it. You check in
Paul's epistles. He talks about the Lord Jesus,
the Lord Jesus Christ, the Christ, the Master. and the Holy Spirit. The Scripture says no man can
call Jesus Lord but by the Holy Spirit. Maybe they don't have
the Holy Spirit. But the great reverence and respect,
listen to it, God hath highly exalted him and given him a name
which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow in heaven, in earth, and under the earth, and that
every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory
of God the Father. Now I'll tell you, if I were
you, I would correct my vocabulary beginning right now. And if just
the very respect which you have for him in your heart, just the
very reverence that lifts him above all others, I'd start calling
him Lord. Because you say, well, that's
who he is. And that's who someday everybody's
going to call him. Those who are saved call him
Lord now. And those who shall be cast away
from God are going to call him Lord then. As I say, I'm not
raising issues, but I'm just simply saying he is who he is. He's Lord. And he's worthy of
that name. And Thomas fell on his face after
the resurrection and said, what? My Lord and my God. Now he may be poor little Jesus
to these folks out here in nominal religion. He may be the weak-kneed,
sissified, effeminate, defeated, disillusioned, disappointed,
frustrated reformer. But he's my Lord and my God. And he's King of the universe.
He's the King of kings and Lord of lords. And I'm not going to
call him by his first name. I'm not going to call him by
his name of humiliation. I'm going to call him Lord. And I just believe that that's
what he wants us to call him. Lord, remember me when thou comest
into thy kingdom. That's what the thief called
him. He didn't have much theological education, but he had a little
sense. He called him Lord. The leper came to him, Lord,
if you will, you can make me clean. Even old Nicodemus called
him master. All right, turn to Colossians
1. Oh, the excellence of his person, the mighty majesty and
power and glory of his person. In Colossians 1, verse 14, look
at this. Colossians 1, 14, in whom we
have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sin.
Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature? For by him were all things created
that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All things were created by him and for him. He's before all
things, and by him all things consist. And he's the head of
the body of the church who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the day of death. In all things he might have the
preeminence. For Christ's sake, the Father
shows mercy because of the glory of his person. And then secondly, why does God
show mercy for Christ's sake? The second reason, not only because
of the glory of his person, and he far outshines all creation, equal with the Father. God shows
mercy for Christ's sake, secondly, because of his relationship to
the Father. How many times did the Father
say from heaven, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. This is my beloved Son, hear
ye Him. Hear ye Him. And then in John
5.22, the Scripture said, The Father judgeth no man, but hath
committed all judgment to the Son, that all men should honor
the Son, even as they honor the Father. And he that honoreth
not the Son honoreth not the Father." Those old Jews, and say so, Charlie
and Jack, some of you fellas know this, those old Jews wouldn't
call their father's name, his name, his absolute name, a deity,
Elohim. They wouldn't use that name.
They trembled at the use of the name of God. He's equal with
the Father. That all men should honor the
Son as they honor the Father, If you won't use the name of
the Father except in holy reverence, why would you use the name of
the Son in a weak, beggarly fashion, in a vulgar fashion? That all
men should honor the Son even as they honored the Father, and
he that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father that
sent him. The Heavenly Father is going
to do all things for the Son. He has committed all things to
the Son that he might have preeminence to honor the Son. I got a friend up, well, you
know, Scott Richardson. Scott's pastor up in Fairmont,
West Virginia. Sunday, a week ago, his 22-year-old
son, Brad, was in a Oh, a terrible automobile accident. I called
Scott, talked to him last night. Brad's just broken all to pieces. He's on a breathing machine.
Scott's been sitting up at the hospital every day on end of
the nights. And he can't talk, they've got
tubes in his throat, all his ribs are broken, his chest bone,
his both pelvis, his legs crushed, one leg in three places, the
other leg's broken, his arms, he's just mutilated. And Scott is sitting by his bed,
and his heart's just bleeding for his boy. What would he do?
You know what he'd do? I tell you what he'd do, he'd
take his place if he could. Just like some of you would,
because of your deep, sincere love for your son. And I'll tell
you this, why would God the Father show mercy for Christ's sake?
He's his son. His well-beloved, only begotten,
blessed son. That's why. I tell you this,
you can hide in Mary if you want to, I'm hiding in the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's where God's love is. You
can hide in the church if you want to, but I'm going to hide
in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the safe refuge. He'll
do it for his Son. I guarantee that. I can promise
you that. I can't guarantee to a sinner
any hope anywhere but in the Son. And boy, there's safety
in the Son. And then Philippians chapter
2, God will show mercy for Christ's sake. I'll tell you why. because
of the worthiness of his work for Christ's sake. You know that
very word, Christ, is Messiah, Redeemer. That very word is Messiah. That very word is the anointed
one, the one who came to do the work, the Christ. That's what
that woman at the well said, when the Messiah comes, he'll
tell us all things. Another person said, Aren't thou
the Christ? Tell us plainly! They look for
the Christ. And God the Father will show
mercy for Christ's sake. Philippians 2, 5, look at it.
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. who,
being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God. But he made himself of no reputation,
and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the
likeness of men. And being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even,
even the death of the cross. Jesus, Lord, and God. bore our tremendous load. Praise ye his name. Tell what
his arm hath done, what spoils in death. Our Master won. Praise his great name alone. Worthy is the Lamb, the worthiness
of his work. The Father will honor the Son,
and what the Son hath done in honoring the Father through obedience
to the law. satisfying the Father's justice,
pouring out His soul unto death, bearing the sins of many. The
Father will look with approval, not upon my work, but upon His
work, His work. And then in the fourth place,
God will show mercy for Christ's sake, fourthly, because of the
promises made to Him. Now, brethren, I want you to
listen a minute. There is, there is, there's not
a doubt about it, I challenge the religious world to deny it,
there is, there is an everlasting covenant of grace. Now there
is. Now you can call it what you
will, you can call it a contract, and make fun of it if you want
to. You can call it an agreement, you can call it by any name you
want to, but back in the council halls of eternity before the
foundation of the world, there was a covenant having to do with
the Godhead that involved us. That's so. Ephesians 1, 3 and
4 said we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the
world. Chosen by whom? by the Father,
in whom? In the Son. When? Before the world, before
it was created, before the morning stars sang together, before the
sons of God shouted for joy in the beginning, when no one existed
but God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He said, let us, plural,
make man. John 6.37, Our Lord said, All
that my Father giveth me, who gave them to him the Father did,
to whom the Son shall come to me, and him that cometh to me
I'll in no wise cast out. I came down from heaven, not
to do my will, but the will of him that sent me. Sent me to
do what? To accomplish a mission. Whose
mission? His mission. What is His mission? That all which He hath given
me I'll lose nothing, but raise it up at the last day. When did
He give them to Him? in eternity. There was some kind
of covenant, there was some kind of agreement, there was some
kind of contract, there was some kind of compact made between
the Godhead, in which the Father gave a gift of people to the
Son, and in which the Son agreed. Now listen. Paul said, His blood
is the blood of the everlasting covenant. Paul said, he is the
surety of the everlasting covenant. He called them, my sheep. He
said, my sheep will hear my voice. Other sheep I have. Where did
you get them? The Father gave them to me. No
man can pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them
these is greater than all. Other sheep I have which are
not of this foal, them also I must bring, and they will hear my
voice, and they will follow me. That's what it says. It doesn't
say they ought to, or they might, or they could if they wanted
to. They will. They will. Isaiah 53, 10 says,
He shall see the travail of his soul and be satisfied. By his
knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, and the
pleasure of God shall prosper in his hands. Now, there's a covenant In John
17, in that high priestly prayer, six times in John 17, six times
in John 17, our Lord talked about those that my Father gave me. Those that my Father gave me. I pray not for the world, I pray
for them which Thou hast given me. I've kept them, Father, those
that Thou hast given me. I have all power over all flesh,
and I should give eternal life to those whom thou hast given
me." Yes, sir, God's showing mercy
for Christ's sake because of eternal promises made to Him
by the Father before man ever walked on this earth, known unto
God all His works from the beginning. There's no denying that. To deny
this, to deny God's eternality and God's deity and God's full
knowledge and God's wisdom, there is a covenant. There is a covenant. And you'll find, if you get better
acquainted with this book, that everything God does, He does
by covenant. He made a covenant with Adam that was broken. He
made a covenant with Noah. He made a covenant with David.
He made a covenant with Abraham. Everything God does, he does
by covenant, and he never breaks his word. He cannot lie. And
God shows mercy for Christ's sake in the fifth place because
of the desire and the will of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Savior
prayed, Father, I will that those whom thou hast given me be with
me where I am. That's my will. Our Lord said
to Peter, Peter, I have prayed for you, I have prayed for you,
that your faith fail not. For Christ's sake takes on stronger
meaning when we discover that our salvation is in his will,
is in his will. I'll tell you, if the salvation
of my soul, if the redemption of my soul, If the conformity
of this Son of Adam to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ is in
his will, I guarantee you it will be accomplished, because
he worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. The
Son quickeneth whom he what? Will. That leper said, Lord,
if you will, you can make me clean. And if my salvation is
in his will, All hell can't prevent it. That's so. You call that deep doctrine.
It's just nothing in the world but true doctrine. And the only
reason we haven't discovered it in God's words, we're too
lazy and too bound by tradition and custom to look out for ourselves
what God teaches. We've taken our religion, the
most important thing under God's heaven and our possession, and
let somebody else tell us what to believe. And I'm not going
to do that. No way. I'm not committing my
soul to anybody but Christ. And I don't want anybody telling
me what to believe and what to do as far as the redemption of
my soul is concerned. I'm going to find out what God
says. And I challenge you to do the same thing. And I challenge
you to forget the names of denominations and forget all of these traditions
and customs and what you always thought and let this book speak. Let this book speak. For Christ's
sake, God will show mercy. All right, notice the next thing.
Look at our text again, and I'll wind this down quickly. He says,
Be ye kind one to another, and tenderhearted, forgiving one
another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. This
ought to be our motive for all that we do in the kingdom of
God. Now when I think what men have
done, you think with me for a moment, think what men have done for
discovery's sake. In order to find new land, they
have set out and sailed uncharted seas, they have fought disease,
wild beasts, even starved for discovery's sake, just for the
sake of discovering new land. Like those fellows that risk
their lives going to the moon just to stand where nobody else
has ever stood. Think what men have done for
their country's sake. They've gone to war. They've
laid in trenches covered with mud. They've given their lives
to preserve a government, an idea, or a constitution. Think
what men have done for science's sake. They've given their health.
Some people have even made themselves guinea pigs to discover cures
and causes of diseases. They've burned the midnight oil.
They've given their health studying to try to find an answer to the
problems and unanswered questions of science. Think what men have
done for false religion. They've marched in crusades to
certain death, left their homes and their families and gone out
to fight for the Church. They've thrown their children
to gods of fire. They've punished their bodies.
They've moved away from family and friends and gone out to some
cold, dead, stone monastery for false religion's sake. And then
I ask myself this, what have I done for Christ's sake? What have we done for Christ's
sake? It puts us to shame what men will do for science's sake,
for discovery's sake, for country's sake, for the sake of false religion. And then we, in this present
modern twentieth century, we haven't done very much for Christ's
sake, have we? I've read of missionaries with
no weapons but the Bible landing among cannibals and barbarians.
with no hope of gain except to make the name of Christ Jesus
the Lord known. They've passed through the furnace
of suffering and poverty to tell men of Christ. I read of the
Moravian missionaries, this is true, who actually sold themselves
as slaves so they could preach to the slaves. That's a fact. Years ago, those old Moravian
missionaries, they couldn't preach to the slaves, so they went down
to the slave block and sold themselves and went with the slaves and
preached to them. And it's a known fact, it's recorded
in history, that some of those men actually were confined to
leper colonies so they could preach to the lepers. They went
into the leper colonies and became lepers so they could preach Christ
to them. Why'd they do that, preacher?
Well, they discovered something, for Christ's sake. They loved
Him more than they loved life. They loved Him more than they
loved comfort. They loved Him more than they
loved this world. That's what they found out. What
have we done for Christ's sake? Well, we've preached a little,
but with not much fire. We've prayed a little, but with
not much real concern. We've given a little, but not
sacrificially. We've studied a little doctrine,
but we've missed the experience. See from his head, his hands,
his feet, sorrow and love flow mingle down. Did ever such love
and sorrow meet, or thorns compose so rich a crown? Were the whole
realm of nature mine that were present far too small? Love so
amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all. for Christ's sake. For Christ's
sake. Would you do a little something
for Christ's sake? Well, if I have the time. Would
you give a little something for Christ's sake if I don't have
anything else to use it for? Would you maybe go an extra mile
for Christ's sake? Well, if I'm not providentially
hindered. For Christ's sake. How we do
it for our own sake. If we can profit by it, if we
can gain by it, if we can get to heaven by it, we'll do it.
But just solely motivated for Christ's sake, forget myself,
deny myself, dishonor myself, humiliate myself, what are you
calling me to do, preacher? For Christ's sake. That's it. For Christ's sake. Take second
fiddle. take the back seat, become nothing
for Christ's sake? It'd be better than selling yourself
as a slave, wouldn't it? And then last of all, for Christ's
sake, he says here, be kind, tender-hearted, forgiving, even
as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you. Rather than look
at verse 31, let all bitterness and wrath and anger, clamor,
evil speaking, be put away with malice, all malice. These things
are not in keeping with the life and grace of Christ or the Spirit
of Christ. And I think if I continue in
this attitude, this attitude of bitterness, this attitude
of wrath, and anger, always angry, whether it's my family, or whether
it's my neighbor, or whether it's who it might be, if I continue
in this spirit of anger, I think it's indicative of the fact that
Jesus Christ does not live in my heart. I really do. And we can believe all the doctrine
we want to believe, we can be faithful to ceremonies and ordinances
till we We can do them walking down the stairs at midnight backwards
on our heads or some way, and we can go through all the motions,
but if this spirit and life and grace and person of the Lord
Jesus Christ doesn't manifest itself in our attitude, we have
flat missed it. Now, I believe that. I believe
that. I wouldn't mislead you. I'm just
simply saying if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. And these things are not written
for us to look at and ignore. These things are not written
for us to look at and shake our head and say it can't be done.
These things are written for our learning. We might grow in
grace. In grace! Is that grace? It wouldn't hurt us. A friend
of mine was riding down the highway with a preacher one day, Brother
Cunningham from California. Brother Cunningham got behind
some driver. did something wrong, and boy,
he drifted and blew his stack, and he slammed down on the accelerator
and whizzed around him and cut him just close as he could to
the man's bumper and made him pull over and stop almost. And
he got it out of his system. He rode on down the road. My
friend hadn't said anything, just sitting there. And when
he went to cool down a little bit, my friend broke the silence
and he said, uh, wait till he said, uh, you really manifested
the Spirit of the Lord that time, didn't you? Really manifested the Spirit
of the Lord. That's no joke, though. And I
have used that in my own thinking. I've been fighting this thing
and dealing with it, and I think all of you better join with me.
But now, if we're not going to manifest the Spirit of Christ,
let's don't claim to have it. Let's just quit claiming to have
it. If our lives are not going to take on the love of Christ
and the grace of Christ, if we're not going to be able to forgive,
let's quit claiming forgiveness. Let's stop claiming. Let's start
seeking the Lord. Let's get, as Old Shelton said,
on a condemned road until we find Christ. There ain't nothing
wrong with that. But let's quit claiming what
we don't have. If any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, he's none of His. And I'll tell you, I've got no
right to claim to be thirty years old in Greece and a two-year-old
in Attitude. I've got no right to claim to
be thirty years old in Christ and act like a spoiled, rotten,
three-year-old brat, have I? And I just believe we need to
look at this real hard here now. And it says, you be kind. You be tender. you be forgiving
just like God was to you. And let's put it on that basis.
God, for Christ's sake, forgave you. Now let's put it on that
basis. Next time that we can't find forgiveness, let's turn
and look at glory and let's look at the throne of God and remember
that he looked down here and saw the most terrible rebel that
ever walked in shoe leather, contentious traitor God-denying,
law-hating, and sent his Son down here, and mercy forgave
me." You know, our Lord said there's a fellow who owed a man
about 500 pence, 500 silver dollars or something, and the fellow
came in and said, I can't pay you. Can't pay you. And the man to whom he owed the
500 said, well, I'm going to forgive you. I'm going to forgive
Well, that fellow that owed five hundred that got forgiveness
went right out and found a fellow that owed him five. And he grabbed
him by the neck and he said, you pay me and I'll send you
to jail. And somebody heard that and he came in and said, Lord,
you know that fellow that was in here a while ago that owed
you five hundred talents or five hundred gold pieces? Well, he's
out there choking a fellow that owes him five. Go get him. They
went out there and got him and brought him in. He said, didn't
I just forgive you of owing me five hundred talents of gold?
That's right, Lord. You out there shaking a fellow's
neck that owed you just five? Bind him hand and foot and cast
him into prison till he pays ever a dime. As the Master gave
that illustration. And he said, even as God for
Christ's sake hath forgiven you. All right, let's close it with
this. I want this spirit. desperately because I want to
be like Christ. I want to be like Christ. Secondly,
I want this Spirit of Christ because I want to please Him.
It says, let me read you a scripture right here, in 2 Corinthians
5 verse 9, listen, "...wherefore we labor," that word is endeavor,
I endeavor, "...that whether present on this earth, or in
glory, we may be accepted of him, I endeavor. I want to please him. Thirdly,
I want to bring glory to his name and to his gospel. I want
my life to show forth in my family, among my children and friends
and neighbors in this church. I want my life to show forth
the praises of him who called me out of darkness into his light.
I don't want them to be influenced against Christ for the way I
talk and the way I act, do you? I don't want them to be. I want
to bring glory to his name. And then last of all, I want
this Spirit because I want others to know Christ. Now, most of
them, they're not going to come to church and they're not going
to hear the Word. They're going to watch and listen to us. And
brethren, we've got a tremendous responsibility. I know it's tough
and And I know there's enough temptations and trials, and if
you say, Preacher, you don't have to work out there. I know
that, and I've said that a hundred times, and it's a lot easier
for me than it is for you. I realize that. And we'll just
have to ask God for more grace, won't we? You just don't have
the trials we have and the temptations and those things. I realize that. I know that better than you do.
But that doesn't excuse us, does it? We've still got to manifest
the Spirit. We've still got to be kind and
tender-hearted and forgive, even as God, for Christ's sake, forgave
us, because that's His Word. And God hath not promised skies
always blue, flower-strong pathways all our lives through, has He?
But God has promised strength for the labor and grace for the
way. He has and he'll give it if we
ask for it.

For Christ Sake

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