WEBVTT 00:00:12.614 --> 00:00:14.251 Before I get to my text, 00:00:14.251 --> 00:00:17.538 let me share something of my testimony. 00:00:17.538 --> 00:00:20.891 When I was converted at the University of Texas, 00:00:20.891 --> 00:00:23.482 I was immediately introduced to men 00:00:23.482 --> 00:00:25.776 like E.M. Bounds, 00:00:25.776 --> 00:00:28.922 Praying Hyde, 00:00:28.922 --> 00:00:31.533 Leonard Ravenhill, 00:00:31.533 --> 00:00:34.991 C.T. Studd, 00:00:34.991 --> 00:00:36.941 Hudson Taylor, 00:00:36.941 --> 00:00:39.658 and my dearest and longest friend, 00:00:39.658 --> 00:00:41.866 George Mueller. 00:00:41.866 --> 00:00:46.201 And from them I learned things about prayer. 00:00:46.201 --> 00:00:48.530 I learned to seek God. 00:00:48.530 --> 00:00:53.421 I learned about the inside of a closet, 00:00:53.421 --> 00:00:55.942 and to pray and to tarry 00:00:55.942 --> 00:00:59.182 and to wait upon my God. 00:00:59.182 --> 00:01:04.271 And to believe that I should never believe 00:01:04.271 --> 00:01:07.032 that what has been given me in the New Covenant 00:01:07.032 --> 00:01:11.011 is less than what has been given in the Old. 00:01:11.011 --> 00:01:14.698 That if there were workings of God in the Old, 00:01:14.698 --> 00:01:18.371 surely there are workings of God 00:01:18.371 --> 00:01:22.252 and miraculous things that happen 00:01:22.252 --> 00:01:26.711 among us to whom the end of the ages has come. 00:01:26.711 --> 00:01:30.950 That we should expect great things 00:01:30.950 --> 00:01:34.254 in answer to our praying. 00:01:34.254 --> 00:01:36.951 And that if we would tarry with Him, 00:01:36.951 --> 00:01:38.509 we would see His power, 00:01:38.509 --> 00:01:41.420 His presence in our life. 00:01:41.420 --> 00:01:45.750 But as I would go out on the street and preach - 00:01:45.750 --> 00:01:47.772 I started out as a street preacher. 00:01:47.772 --> 00:01:49.812 That's why I always tell young preachers 00:01:49.812 --> 00:01:52.642 who are looking for a place to preach 00:01:52.642 --> 00:01:57.672 that there's a pulpit on absolutely every corner. 00:01:57.672 --> 00:02:00.371 But with all my praying 00:02:00.371 --> 00:02:03.753 and all my misguided zeal, 00:02:03.753 --> 00:02:06.734 there was very little power. 00:02:06.734 --> 00:02:09.811 To some degree, there were great things God did, 00:02:09.811 --> 00:02:12.821 but in my own heart, there was something missing, 00:02:12.821 --> 00:02:14.743 missing, missing. 00:02:14.743 --> 00:02:16.603 And so as I was directed, 00:02:16.603 --> 00:02:19.660 I went to seminary - 00:02:19.660 --> 00:02:22.531 a by no means small seminary. 00:02:22.531 --> 00:02:26.780 At the time, I believe, the largest in the world. 00:02:26.780 --> 00:02:29.740 And I studied with all my might. 00:02:29.740 --> 00:02:32.270 I took the most difficult professors. 00:02:32.270 --> 00:02:38.479 Greek, Hebrew, history, systematic. 00:02:38.479 --> 00:02:41.015 But I found nothing there. 00:02:41.015 --> 00:02:43.651 There were a few good men. 00:02:43.651 --> 00:02:45.790 A few men who walked with God and loved God, 00:02:45.790 --> 00:02:48.101 but basically, I found nothing there. 00:02:48.101 --> 00:02:51.091 Because they taught me all the theology 00:02:51.091 --> 00:02:54.660 that closed every church in Germany. 00:02:54.660 --> 00:02:57.279 I was taught Karl Barth, 00:02:57.279 --> 00:03:01.551 (unintelligible). 00:03:01.551 --> 00:03:02.838 Higher criticism. 00:03:02.838 --> 00:03:03.966 On and on and on. 00:03:03.966 --> 00:03:05.886 And I think the only thing that kept me 00:03:05.886 --> 00:03:07.338 from becoming a liberal 00:03:07.338 --> 00:03:10.236 was the grace of God, the providence of God, 00:03:10.236 --> 00:03:12.986 and the fact that it's very difficult to be a liberal 00:03:12.986 --> 00:03:17.456 and a street preacher at the same time. 00:03:17.456 --> 00:03:20.233 I can remember going to class one day in systematic 00:03:20.233 --> 00:03:23.316 and we were studying eschatology. 00:03:23.316 --> 00:03:26.721 I began to weep - not make a show, 00:03:26.721 --> 00:03:28.884 but I guess tears were running down my face 00:03:28.884 --> 00:03:32.015 as I thought about the street people that lived with me. 00:03:32.015 --> 00:03:35.386 I lived down on the street at that time with street people. 00:03:35.386 --> 00:03:38.105 I thought about how if Christ came back at that moment, 00:03:38.105 --> 00:03:41.134 they would surely go to hell without a doubt. 00:03:41.134 --> 00:03:43.657 The professor noticed the tears coming down my cheek 00:03:43.657 --> 00:03:45.354 and after class he walked up to me 00:03:45.354 --> 00:03:46.695 with some encouraging words. 00:03:46.695 --> 00:03:49.054 He put his arm around me and he said this: 00:03:49.054 --> 00:03:50.646 "Paul, don't take this so hard. 00:03:50.646 --> 00:03:52.883 Don't be surprised if on the day of judgment 00:03:52.883 --> 00:03:57.525 Jesus lets all the goats jump in the sheep line." NOTE Paragraph 00:03:57.525 --> 00:04:00.424 But I went to Peru as a missionary 00:04:00.424 --> 00:04:03.524 in no way qualified. 00:04:03.524 --> 00:04:04.736 We come to think today 00:04:04.736 --> 00:04:07.014 that everyone who wants to be a missionary 00:04:07.014 --> 00:04:10.045 can be a missionary. 00:04:10.045 --> 00:04:11.486 That's as absurd as saying 00:04:11.486 --> 00:04:14.776 everyone who wants to be an elder can be an elder. 00:04:14.776 --> 00:04:17.350 There are requirements - 00:04:17.350 --> 00:04:18.745 requirements of theology, 00:04:18.745 --> 00:04:21.274 requirements of character. 00:04:21.274 --> 00:04:23.234 You simply cannot get around 00:04:23.234 --> 00:04:25.264 the demands of Scripture. 00:04:25.264 --> 00:04:27.414 But in God's providence, 00:04:27.414 --> 00:04:32.926 I was allowed to go. 00:04:32.926 --> 00:04:37.642 Other than a prayer life and zeal 00:04:37.642 --> 00:04:39.795 there wasn't much to say. 00:04:39.795 --> 00:04:42.205 I learned the ways to do evangelism - 00:04:42.205 --> 00:04:43.771 get people to jump through 00:04:43.771 --> 00:04:45.245 certain evangelical hoops 00:04:45.245 --> 00:04:47.706 and if they say yes after each question, 00:04:47.706 --> 00:04:52.610 you Popishly pronounce them to be born again. 00:04:52.610 --> 00:04:54.645 But then I came into contact 00:04:54.645 --> 00:04:56.574 with an ex-Catholic priest 00:04:56.574 --> 00:04:58.166 by the name of Jesus Hertado 00:04:58.166 --> 00:04:59.915 who had been converted. 00:04:59.915 --> 00:05:01.845 Brilliant man. 00:05:01.845 --> 00:05:04.786 Latin, Greek, just absolutely brilliant man. 00:05:04.786 --> 00:05:06.276 And after he was converted, 00:05:06.276 --> 00:05:08.085 he decided he would go to Germany 00:05:08.085 --> 00:05:09.516 where the Reformation occurred 00:05:09.516 --> 00:05:11.565 in order to learn the truths of Scripture. 00:05:11.565 --> 00:05:13.293 But when he got there, he discovered 00:05:13.293 --> 00:05:14.975 they were doing the same thing 00:05:14.975 --> 00:05:17.116 the Catholic church was doing. 00:05:17.116 --> 00:05:18.583 So he came back to Peru 00:05:18.583 --> 00:05:20.575 and he started a Bible institute. 00:05:20.575 --> 00:05:22.851 He asked me if I would teach. 00:05:22.851 --> 00:05:25.136 I thought, well, I've been to seminary. 00:05:25.136 --> 00:05:29.006 I know Greek. I'll help you out. 00:05:29.006 --> 00:05:31.016 And this is where God truly began 00:05:31.016 --> 00:05:34.067 to change my life as a young man. 00:05:34.067 --> 00:05:35.974 Because this man, Jesus Hertado, 00:05:35.974 --> 00:05:38.415 was so sick and tired 00:05:38.415 --> 00:05:41.956 of getting everything but Scripture 00:05:41.956 --> 00:05:44.295 that the first semester that I taught 00:05:44.295 --> 00:05:46.415 was this: the students read through 00:05:46.415 --> 00:05:49.866 the entire Bible - 10 chapters a day. 00:05:49.866 --> 00:05:52.354 They write out a chapter summary. 00:05:52.354 --> 00:05:54.636 They write out a commentary of each chapter. 00:05:54.636 --> 00:05:55.955 I mean, it was phenomenal. 00:05:55.955 --> 00:05:58.174 It was hours and hours of work a day 00:05:58.174 --> 00:05:59.405 just in the Scriptures. 00:05:59.405 --> 00:06:01.085 And then they would come to class 00:06:01.085 --> 00:06:02.745 and the only thing that class was 00:06:02.745 --> 00:06:06.696 was simply ask the teacher all your questions. 00:06:06.696 --> 00:06:08.436 So I began to study Scripture 00:06:08.436 --> 00:06:11.636 about 10 hours a day. 00:06:11.636 --> 00:06:13.344 Because even though I graduated 00:06:13.344 --> 00:06:16.119 near the top of my class in seminary, 00:06:16.119 --> 00:06:19.177 I didn't know the Scriptures. 00:06:19.177 --> 00:06:21.426 And just hours and hours and hours. 00:06:21.426 --> 00:06:23.085 After making my way 00:06:23.085 --> 00:06:25.786 through the first five books of the Pentateuch, 00:06:25.786 --> 00:06:28.945 I discovered I was no longer a Baptist. 00:06:28.945 --> 00:06:31.716 Because I had gone to a Baptist seminary. 00:06:31.716 --> 00:06:34.373 And the things that I was learning there 00:06:34.373 --> 00:06:38.265 was nothing of what they taught me. 00:06:38.265 --> 00:06:40.044 And so I decided that I would go back 00:06:40.044 --> 00:06:44.075 to the States for a month or two - 00:06:44.075 --> 00:06:46.656 try to figure out what am I? 00:06:46.656 --> 00:06:48.886 This was after I finished the entire course. 00:06:48.886 --> 00:06:50.666 We'd gone through the entire Bible. 00:06:50.666 --> 00:06:52.805 I went back to the States to discover 00:06:52.805 --> 00:06:55.345 who do I belong to? 00:06:55.345 --> 00:06:59.585 And someone handed me a book by Boyce: 00:06:59.585 --> 00:07:01.775 "The Abstract of Principles." 00:07:01.775 --> 00:07:03.626 I began to read it. 00:07:03.626 --> 00:07:06.866 And I realized that I had not stopped 00:07:06.866 --> 00:07:08.346 becoming a Baptist. 00:07:08.346 --> 00:07:12.300 I realized that I had become one. 00:07:12.300 --> 00:07:17.592 But then, the door began to open 00:07:17.592 --> 00:07:20.496 with throughout history 00:07:20.496 --> 00:07:24.115 jewels that God had given us. 00:07:24.115 --> 00:07:27.784 There was Spurgeon. 00:07:27.784 --> 00:07:29.616 I read him. 00:07:29.616 --> 00:07:34.125 There was Edwards and Whitefield, 00:07:34.125 --> 00:07:36.316 Owen, 00:07:36.316 --> 00:07:41.284 and my lovely John Flavel. 00:07:41.284 --> 00:07:46.856 Rutherford, and on and on and on. 00:07:46.856 --> 00:07:50.728 Now what did this do to me? 00:07:50.728 --> 00:07:55.085 I am glad that what I heard from them 00:07:55.085 --> 00:07:57.980 was a confirmation of what I had learned in Scripture, 00:07:57.980 --> 00:08:03.355 only I couldn't think it nor say it as good as they could. 00:08:03.355 --> 00:08:07.656 But this is the greatest thing I learned from them: 00:08:07.656 --> 00:08:09.514 as Paul tells the church in Corinth, 00:08:09.514 --> 00:08:11.721 when you compare yourself by yourself, 00:08:11.721 --> 00:08:14.915 you are not wise. 00:08:14.915 --> 00:08:18.238 When we compare ourselves to others 00:08:18.238 --> 00:08:21.785 in the circle of contemporary Christianity, 00:08:21.785 --> 00:08:24.895 we are not wise. 00:08:24.895 --> 00:08:26.906 When we compare ourselves to Scripture, 00:08:26.906 --> 00:08:28.306 there is great wisdom there, 00:08:28.306 --> 00:08:31.224 but there is also the danger 00:08:31.224 --> 00:08:32.992 if we separate ourselves from history 00:08:32.992 --> 00:08:34.566 that we will interpret Scripture 00:08:34.566 --> 00:08:40.635 through the eyes of our own culture. 00:08:40.635 --> 00:08:43.108 But when we take a look 00:08:43.108 --> 00:08:46.155 throughout Christian history 00:08:46.155 --> 00:08:49.945 and discover the men and women of God 00:08:49.945 --> 00:08:53.025 that He has most used, 00:08:53.025 --> 00:08:56.566 that show greatest evidences of piety 00:08:56.566 --> 00:08:58.516 and the power of God, 00:08:58.516 --> 00:09:02.215 and we begin to compare our theology 00:09:02.215 --> 00:09:04.502 and our way of life to them, 00:09:04.502 --> 00:09:08.343 it raises the bar. 00:09:08.343 --> 00:09:12.664 It raises the standard. 00:09:12.664 --> 00:09:16.875 And I want to encourage you young men and women 00:09:16.875 --> 00:09:19.273 who desire to be missionaries, 00:09:19.273 --> 00:09:21.682 it is not your right. 00:09:21.682 --> 00:09:24.564 It is a privilege. 00:09:24.564 --> 00:09:27.275 As I said last night, 00:09:27.275 --> 00:09:30.476 people do not need your life, 00:09:30.476 --> 00:09:33.497 and they do not need your zeal, 00:09:33.497 --> 00:09:39.275 and they do not need all your well-meaning endeavor. 00:09:39.275 --> 00:09:42.607 Don't go to the mission field 00:09:42.607 --> 00:09:44.488 unless when you go there, 00:09:44.488 --> 00:09:46.106 you can open your mouth 00:09:46.106 --> 00:09:55.216 and instruct them in the things of God. NOTE Paragraph 00:09:55.216 --> 00:09:57.074 Well, let's go to our sermon. 00:09:57.074 --> 00:10:02.785 Romans 12:1. 00:10:02.785 --> 00:10:04.785 "Therefore, I urge you, brethren, 00:10:04.785 --> 00:10:05.991 by the mercies of God, 00:10:05.991 --> 00:10:08.696 to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, 00:10:08.696 --> 00:10:09.854 acceptable to God, 00:10:09.854 --> 00:10:12.196 which is your spiritual service of worship. 00:10:12.196 --> 00:10:14.137 And do not be conformed to this world, 00:10:14.137 --> 00:10:16.493 but be transformed by the renewing of your mind 00:10:16.493 --> 00:10:19.905 so that you may prove what the will of God is - 00:10:19.905 --> 00:10:24.489 that which is good and acceptable and perfect." 00:10:24.489 --> 00:10:25.990 Paul was an apostle 00:10:25.990 --> 00:10:27.886 and he had an apostolic ministry, 00:10:27.886 --> 00:10:29.898 but at the same time, 00:10:29.898 --> 00:10:33.236 don't think of him as not having 00:10:33.236 --> 00:10:35.215 the heart of Christ, 00:10:35.215 --> 00:10:37.239 or having the heart of a pastor. 00:10:37.239 --> 00:10:41.085 He cared deeply for people. 00:10:41.085 --> 00:10:42.335 I am very, very afraid - 00:10:42.335 --> 00:10:45.607 although I greatly appreciate this newfound desire 00:10:45.607 --> 00:10:47.514 to do everything for the glory of God, 00:10:47.514 --> 00:10:49.413 and to do missions for the glory of God 00:10:49.413 --> 00:10:51.314 and to preach for the glory of God, 00:10:51.314 --> 00:10:54.744 but that in itself can also become twisted. 00:10:54.744 --> 00:10:56.805 Because sometimes it's used as an excuse 00:10:56.805 --> 00:11:00.298 to not have a passion for people, 00:11:00.298 --> 00:11:03.156 to not have a love for people. 00:11:03.156 --> 00:11:05.867 We must always do all things 00:11:05.867 --> 00:11:07.910 first and foremost for the glory of God, 00:11:07.910 --> 00:11:09.620 but truly if we are doing that, 00:11:09.620 --> 00:11:11.365 if we are loving the Lord our God 00:11:11.365 --> 00:11:13.978 with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, 00:11:13.978 --> 00:11:16.120 we will love our neighbor as ourselves. 00:11:16.120 --> 00:11:21.405 We will care for people. 00:11:21.405 --> 00:11:25.744 Especially when we know 00:11:25.744 --> 00:11:29.445 that we can pick the worst of all out of the lot, 00:11:29.445 --> 00:11:31.465 the worst person on the face of the earth, 00:11:31.465 --> 00:11:33.775 and we know that we would make them 00:11:33.775 --> 00:11:35.776 look like a choir boy if it were not 00:11:35.776 --> 00:11:38.097 for the grace of God in our life. 00:11:38.097 --> 00:11:40.455 And therefore, we should urge people 00:11:40.455 --> 00:11:43.405 on to truth for the glory of God, 00:11:43.405 --> 00:11:47.904 but for their benefit also. NOTE Paragraph 00:11:47.904 --> 00:11:49.466 And I can see this in Paul. 00:11:49.466 --> 00:11:54.515 He says, "Therefore, I urge you, brethren..." 00:11:54.515 --> 00:11:56.825 One of the greatest needs in the church today - 00:11:56.825 --> 00:11:58.786 My wife, when she first came to America, 00:11:58.786 --> 00:12:01.275 she said the first thing that she noticed 00:12:01.275 --> 00:12:03.916 is that it seemed that Christians in America 00:12:03.916 --> 00:12:06.565 were so thin-skinned. 00:12:06.565 --> 00:12:09.376 She said we considered it the job of our pastor 00:12:09.376 --> 00:12:13.087 to rebuke us both publicly and privately; 00:12:13.087 --> 00:12:14.465 to watch over our souls, 00:12:14.465 --> 00:12:16.434 to urge us, encourage us, 00:12:16.434 --> 00:12:17.915 to tell us when we're wrong. 00:12:17.915 --> 00:12:19.516 It seems that American Christians 00:12:19.516 --> 00:12:22.516 will have no part of this. 00:12:22.516 --> 00:12:24.132 They consider it an attack 00:12:24.132 --> 00:12:26.695 when it's one of the greatest expressions 00:12:26.695 --> 00:12:30.455 of pastoral love that a man will risk 00:12:30.455 --> 00:12:33.014 his relationship in order to honor God 00:12:33.014 --> 00:12:36.327 and to save souls. 00:12:36.327 --> 00:12:38.515 And we see this in Paul. 00:12:38.515 --> 00:12:47.875 He is urging. 00:12:47.875 --> 00:12:51.335 I will not lose sleep tonight 00:12:51.335 --> 00:12:53.544 because people in the world 00:12:53.544 --> 00:12:56.415 lack self-esteem. 00:12:56.415 --> 00:12:58.584 I will not lose sleep tonight 00:12:58.584 --> 00:13:00.864 because they're not having their best life now 00:13:00.864 --> 00:13:02.895 or they're not being all that they can be 00:13:02.895 --> 00:13:04.685 or their checkbook is not balanced. 00:13:04.685 --> 00:13:06.516 I will lose sleep tonight 00:13:06.516 --> 00:13:07.885 if I lose sleep tonight 00:13:07.885 --> 00:13:10.244 because men will stand naked before God 00:13:10.244 --> 00:13:15.734 and be cast into hell. 00:13:15.734 --> 00:13:18.235 When I preach and when you preach 00:13:18.235 --> 00:13:20.009 whether here or in the mission field, 00:13:20.009 --> 00:13:22.095 you cannot simply think 00:13:22.095 --> 00:13:24.605 that you're just a communicator of truth 00:13:24.605 --> 00:13:25.885 and you leave it there. 00:13:25.885 --> 00:13:33.047 You must preach as a dying man to dying men. 00:13:33.047 --> 00:13:35.265 And I see that in Paul. 00:13:35.265 --> 00:13:38.175 There was a passion. There was an urging. 00:13:38.175 --> 00:13:42.484 He wasn't simply satisfied 00:13:42.484 --> 00:13:44.624 if he preached well 00:13:44.624 --> 00:13:47.717 or communicated truth. 00:13:47.717 --> 00:13:50.655 He longed for God to be honored among men 00:13:50.655 --> 00:13:57.620 and he longed for men to be holy, 00:13:57.620 --> 00:13:59.646 to be Christlike, 00:13:59.646 --> 00:14:03.518 and to be able to rejoice in the benefit 00:14:03.518 --> 00:14:05.884 of their great salvation. 00:14:05.884 --> 00:14:11.592 We ought to be a people given to urging our brethren 00:14:11.597 --> 00:14:13.267 to greater and greater godliness, 00:14:13.267 --> 00:14:15.367 to greater and greater piety, 00:14:15.367 --> 00:14:21.160 to abound further and further in love. NOTE Paragraph 00:14:21.160 --> 00:14:22.908 He says, "I urge you, brethren..." 00:14:22.908 --> 00:14:26.128 What is he going to urge them to do? 00:14:26.128 --> 00:14:28.569 To do the most difficult, scandalous, 00:14:28.569 --> 00:14:30.110 in some cases some would say 00:14:30.110 --> 00:14:32.388 preposterous thing a person could ever 00:14:32.388 --> 00:14:34.131 urge another person to do - 00:14:34.131 --> 00:14:38.418 to give their life away. 00:14:38.418 --> 00:14:40.839 Do you know even the devil had it right 00:14:40.839 --> 00:14:42.519 in this sense - you can take away 00:14:42.519 --> 00:14:44.998 a man's goods, his houses, his lands, 00:14:44.998 --> 00:14:47.570 you can do absolutely anything to him, 00:14:47.570 --> 00:14:49.809 but the moment you touch his flesh 00:14:49.809 --> 00:14:53.769 is when you're truly going to test this man. 00:14:53.769 --> 00:14:59.670 To give away a car, a home, a tithe 00:14:59.670 --> 00:15:01.168 is a small thing, 00:15:01.168 --> 00:15:05.448 but to ask a man to give away his life... 00:15:05.448 --> 00:15:08.058 I know there's so much romantic notion about missions, 00:15:08.058 --> 00:15:10.538 but Amy Carmichael, 00:15:10.538 --> 00:15:13.229 Elisabeth Elliot's book - it's right. 00:15:13.229 --> 00:15:17.239 Missions is only this: an opportunity to die. 00:15:17.239 --> 00:15:20.489 An opportunity to give your life away 00:15:20.489 --> 00:15:23.389 for something much larger than yourself, 00:15:23.389 --> 00:15:25.758 much greater than yourself. 00:15:25.758 --> 00:15:28.206 So he is going to ask these people 00:15:28.206 --> 00:15:33.078 to do what some would consider almost cultic, 00:15:33.078 --> 00:15:36.580 absurd, ridiculous, immoral - 00:15:36.580 --> 00:15:38.182 to give their life away; 00:15:38.182 --> 00:15:41.539 to offer their life. NOTE Paragraph 00:15:41.539 --> 00:15:44.939 Now, you're going to need strong medicine 00:15:44.939 --> 00:15:49.448 to motivate a person to something such as this. 00:15:49.448 --> 00:15:51.640 What on earth or in heaven 00:15:51.640 --> 00:16:00.107 could ever motivate a man to give his life away? 00:16:00.107 --> 00:16:03.048 Notice the first word in our text: 00:16:03.048 --> 00:16:05.238 Therefore. 00:16:05.238 --> 00:16:07.778 And then go on, when he says, 00:16:07.778 --> 00:16:10.269 "Therefore, I urge you, brethren..." 00:16:10.269 --> 00:16:14.635 By means - by the mercies of God. 00:16:14.635 --> 00:16:16.671 When Paul puts "therefore" in the text, 00:16:16.671 --> 00:16:19.529 what he's doing is he's linking this text 00:16:19.529 --> 00:16:22.608 to something else. 00:16:22.608 --> 00:16:25.579 He says basically this: 00:16:25.579 --> 00:16:28.860 I'm going to urge you to give your life away to God; 00:16:28.860 --> 00:16:32.010 to offer it up as a living and holy sacrifice to God. 00:16:32.010 --> 00:16:33.696 Now I'm going to do so 00:16:33.696 --> 00:16:35.671 on the basis of the following: 00:16:35.671 --> 00:16:37.933 The first 11 chapters of this book 00:16:37.933 --> 00:16:41.959 that outline for you the mercies of God. 00:16:41.959 --> 00:16:44.639 Paul does the same thing in the book of Ephesians - 00:16:44.639 --> 00:16:47.040 the deepest theology I believe you'll ever find 00:16:47.040 --> 00:16:51.329 are the first three chapters of the book of Ephesians. 00:16:51.329 --> 00:16:53.934 Mystery upon mystery of God. NOTE Paragraph 00:16:53.934 --> 00:16:56.619 But he comes to chapter 4 00:16:56.619 --> 00:16:58.819 after speaking of all the great things 00:16:58.819 --> 00:17:03.102 God has done in Christ. 00:17:03.102 --> 00:17:06.923 He comes to chapter 4 and says, "Therefore..." 00:17:06.923 --> 00:17:10.199 Now... we're going to go on to practical religion. 00:17:10.199 --> 00:17:11.627 We've gone into the theology. 00:17:11.627 --> 00:17:15.009 Now we're going to into the praxis. 00:17:15.009 --> 00:17:19.851 Based upon what God has done for you in Christ, 00:17:19.851 --> 00:17:23.324 lay down your life. 00:17:23.324 --> 00:17:25.832 And this is absolutely spectacular! 00:17:25.832 --> 00:17:28.069 This is what makes Christianity something 00:17:28.069 --> 00:17:32.433 other than slavery or a drudgery. 00:17:32.433 --> 00:17:34.970 We give our lives away as people 00:17:34.970 --> 00:17:38.118 who are mesmerized by something. 00:17:38.118 --> 00:17:41.079 By people who have seen something so great 00:17:41.079 --> 00:17:43.580 they consider it a small thing 00:17:43.580 --> 00:17:46.358 to give their life away. 00:17:46.358 --> 00:17:48.290 I would submit to you this morning 00:17:48.290 --> 00:17:50.542 that the reason why some people 00:17:50.542 --> 00:17:52.584 are so grudging and sparing 00:17:52.584 --> 00:17:54.999 with the way they give their life away to God, 00:17:54.999 --> 00:17:57.635 it is because they do not know 00:17:57.635 --> 00:17:59.601 the mercies of God revealed 00:17:59.601 --> 00:18:01.510 in the Person of Jesus Christ. 00:18:01.510 --> 00:18:03.110 Many people in our churches 00:18:03.110 --> 00:18:08.669 are absolutely unconverted to start off with. 00:18:08.669 --> 00:18:11.192 But even those who are truly converted, 00:18:11.192 --> 00:18:14.700 they languish in poverty. 00:18:14.700 --> 00:18:16.319 Even in the middle, sometimes, 00:18:16.319 --> 00:18:20.650 of sound expository preaching. 00:18:20.650 --> 00:18:22.920 And why is that? I've come to a conclusion. 00:18:22.920 --> 00:18:27.219 You can obey all the laws 00:18:27.219 --> 00:18:29.048 of expository preaching 00:18:29.048 --> 00:18:32.442 and still the preaching be Christless. 00:18:32.442 --> 00:18:35.932 You have to understand that when you come to a text 00:18:35.932 --> 00:18:37.837 and you preach the text, 00:18:37.837 --> 00:18:40.729 it must still all be about Christ 00:18:40.729 --> 00:18:42.339 or it will be nothing more 00:18:42.339 --> 00:18:46.390 than a quaint moral teaching. 00:18:46.390 --> 00:18:49.119 That is why we see Spurgeon sermons 00:18:49.119 --> 00:18:54.018 enduring and enduring. 00:18:54.018 --> 00:18:56.939 It is because every time he took a text 00:18:56.939 --> 00:18:59.627 he made his way to Christ immediately. 00:18:59.627 --> 00:19:04.071 It was all about Christ. 00:19:04.071 --> 00:19:06.888 I would submit to you that every word 00:19:06.888 --> 00:19:09.799 in this book is about Christ. 00:19:09.799 --> 00:19:12.205 I would submit to you that nothing in this book 00:19:12.205 --> 00:19:16.118 can be understood apart from Christ. 00:19:16.118 --> 00:19:18.840 I would submit to you that everything 00:19:18.840 --> 00:19:20.820 God the Father has ever done, 00:19:20.820 --> 00:19:23.227 He has done for Christ, by Christ, 00:19:23.227 --> 00:19:25.185 through Christ, and in Christ. 00:19:25.185 --> 00:19:29.039 Outside of Christ there is nothing. 00:19:29.039 --> 00:19:30.238 Nothing exists. 00:19:30.238 --> 00:19:34.870 Everything is absolutely absurd. NOTE Paragraph 00:19:34.870 --> 00:19:36.599 And Paul comes to these people 00:19:36.599 --> 00:19:39.202 asking them to do the unthinkable 00:19:39.202 --> 00:19:51.999 until he brings forth the motivation. 00:19:51.999 --> 00:19:59.759 From where does self-sacrifice come? 00:19:59.759 --> 00:20:02.649 Is it just that the kingdom of God advances violently 00:20:02.649 --> 00:20:04.379 and the violent take it by force? 00:20:04.379 --> 00:20:07.048 There's just some men who are full 00:20:07.048 --> 00:20:09.775 of determination and will to do the right thing 00:20:09.775 --> 00:20:11.694 and they give their life away? 00:20:11.694 --> 00:20:14.534 If that's true, it's idolatry. 00:20:14.534 --> 00:20:18.294 And it's self-worship. 00:20:18.294 --> 00:20:20.064 As Brother Charles Leiter who is here 00:20:20.064 --> 00:20:21.766 has said to me several times, 00:20:21.766 --> 00:20:24.493 "Those men who violently take the kingdom by force, 00:20:24.493 --> 00:20:26.604 they are not violent 00:20:26.604 --> 00:20:29.275 in their strength and self will. 00:20:29.275 --> 00:20:33.147 They are violent in that they are desperate." 00:20:33.147 --> 00:20:34.442 They know their weakness. 00:20:34.442 --> 00:20:35.846 They know their need. 00:20:35.846 --> 00:20:37.493 And that knowing of their weakness 00:20:37.493 --> 00:20:39.165 makes them so desperate 00:20:39.165 --> 00:20:43.623 they grab a hold of the kingdom with all their might. NOTE Paragraph 00:20:43.623 --> 00:20:45.735 But what makes a person 00:20:45.735 --> 00:20:47.813 give his life away? 00:20:47.813 --> 00:20:49.066 I would submit to you, 00:20:49.066 --> 00:20:51.732 there's only one biblical reason: 00:20:51.732 --> 00:20:55.114 That they have glimpsed something 00:20:55.114 --> 00:20:59.824 of the glories of God in the face of Christ. 00:20:59.824 --> 00:21:04.254 Christianity, although it has law 00:21:04.254 --> 00:21:07.329 and an ethic and a morality, 00:21:07.329 --> 00:21:11.113 it is not about rule keeping 00:21:11.113 --> 00:21:17.395 or ethics or morality. 00:21:17.395 --> 00:21:19.330 To make the United States of America 00:21:19.330 --> 00:21:21.794 a moral people would just make them 00:21:21.794 --> 00:21:25.395 two-fold sons of hell. 00:21:25.395 --> 00:21:28.583 Christianity is about Christ. 00:21:28.583 --> 00:21:30.433 It is about grace. 00:21:30.433 --> 00:21:33.244 It is about redemption. 00:21:33.244 --> 00:21:34.525 And as I said last night, 00:21:34.525 --> 00:21:36.815 if you notice that your love for God is waning 00:21:36.815 --> 00:21:39.374 or it's not what it should be - 00:21:39.374 --> 00:21:40.873 as all of us should say that - 00:21:40.873 --> 00:21:44.392 or that you do not glorify God as you ought, 00:21:44.392 --> 00:21:46.193 or that you need to grow, 00:21:46.193 --> 00:21:49.673 or that you need to find power over pornography - 00:21:49.673 --> 00:21:52.223 you do so by running to discover 00:21:52.223 --> 00:21:53.993 more of the glories of God 00:21:53.993 --> 00:21:59.058 in the face of Christ. 00:21:59.058 --> 00:22:01.060 Him. 00:22:01.060 --> 00:22:04.313 It all has to come back to Him 00:22:04.313 --> 00:22:08.566 or it's idolatry. 00:22:08.566 --> 00:22:14.563 Everything. 00:22:14.563 --> 00:22:16.664 It is one of the reasons why 00:22:16.664 --> 00:22:21.080 I literally hate it 00:22:21.080 --> 00:22:23.003 when someone mentions something 00:22:23.003 --> 00:22:25.863 about systematic theology, 00:22:25.863 --> 00:22:28.475 and then they themselves or someone else 00:22:28.475 --> 00:22:31.824 preface that: of course, you've got to be careful 00:22:31.824 --> 00:22:34.393 because systematic theology by itself 00:22:34.393 --> 00:22:37.090 or doctrine by itself can make you cold 00:22:37.090 --> 00:22:40.432 and without fruit and full of pride. 00:22:40.432 --> 00:22:45.123 I don't agree with that statement at all. 00:22:45.123 --> 00:22:50.123 Truth can never have a bad effect on a person. 00:22:50.123 --> 00:22:53.574 Good theology is always going to create fire. 00:22:53.574 --> 00:22:57.246 That's one of the ways that you know it's good theology. 00:22:57.246 --> 00:22:59.243 And if it doesn't create fire, 00:22:59.243 --> 00:23:01.492 it's not the fault of truth. 00:23:01.492 --> 00:23:04.743 It's either being taught incorrectly 00:23:04.743 --> 00:23:10.294 or being listened to by unconverted ears. 00:23:10.294 --> 00:23:13.633 You want to be filled with fire. 00:23:13.633 --> 00:23:16.102 You want to be able to go out there 00:23:16.102 --> 00:23:18.623 and lose your life for the sake of Christ. 00:23:18.623 --> 00:23:20.623 It's a rather easy endeavor. 00:23:20.623 --> 00:23:23.577 Just know Him. 00:23:23.577 --> 00:23:26.624 His glory, His beauty. 00:23:26.624 --> 00:23:30.274 His power, His life. 00:23:30.274 --> 00:23:32.074 Know what God has done for you 00:23:32.074 --> 00:23:36.234 in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:23:36.234 --> 00:23:37.644 Look at what we've done. 00:23:37.644 --> 00:23:39.694 Instead of following Jonathan Edwards, 00:23:39.694 --> 00:23:42.904 we followed Benjamin Franklin. 00:23:42.904 --> 00:23:44.764 We have followed pragmatism 00:23:44.764 --> 00:23:49.427 instead of correct thinking. 00:23:49.427 --> 00:23:52.244 The church is in trouble - 00:23:52.244 --> 00:23:53.641 that's what they say anyway. 00:23:53.641 --> 00:23:56.924 The problem is most of what they call the church is not the church, 00:23:56.924 --> 00:23:59.974 and the church is not quite as in trouble as everybody thinks. 00:23:59.974 --> 00:24:01.764 As a matter of fact, the church today 00:24:01.764 --> 00:24:03.750 is absolutely beautiful. She's glorious. 00:24:03.750 --> 00:24:05.125 She's humble. She's broken. 00:24:05.125 --> 00:24:06.853 And she's confessing her sin. 00:24:06.853 --> 00:24:10.364 The problem is what everybody's calling the church today isn't a church. 00:24:10.364 --> 00:24:12.974 Basically, by and large, what's called church today 00:24:12.974 --> 00:24:16.134 is nothing more than a bunch of unconverted church people 00:24:16.134 --> 00:24:25.534 with unconverted pastors. 00:24:25.534 --> 00:24:28.524 What you have to see is this: 00:24:28.524 --> 00:24:31.384 We try to help people by giving them principles - 00:24:31.384 --> 00:24:33.264 and there are principles in the Bible - 00:24:33.264 --> 00:24:34.963 we try to help them by giving them 00:24:34.963 --> 00:24:37.033 ten ways to do this and that 00:24:37.033 --> 00:24:38.833 and discipleship courses 00:24:38.833 --> 00:24:40.064 and all sorts of things 00:24:40.064 --> 00:24:43.164 in order to make people grow. 00:24:43.164 --> 00:24:48.464 Teach them who God is. 00:24:48.464 --> 00:24:52.754 Show them the works of God. 00:24:52.754 --> 00:24:58.503 Teach them about Jesus Christ. 00:24:58.503 --> 00:25:00.685 The problem is many pastors can't do that 00:25:00.685 --> 00:25:07.563 because it's hard work to search out that Treasure. 00:25:07.563 --> 00:25:09.624 Missionary, if you're going to be 00:25:09.624 --> 00:25:11.818 of any account at all in the field, 00:25:11.818 --> 00:25:13.165 then know this: 00:25:13.165 --> 00:25:15.079 You're going to be talked about poorly 00:25:15.079 --> 00:25:16.741 by all the other missionaries. 00:25:16.741 --> 00:25:18.143 Just like Praying Hyde. 00:25:18.143 --> 00:25:20.026 It was said that Praying Hyde was lazy 00:25:20.026 --> 00:25:21.213 and all sorts of things 00:25:21.213 --> 00:25:24.634 because all he would do is stay in his room and pray. 00:25:24.634 --> 00:25:27.684 Well, I think if you're going to be a missionary of any account 00:25:27.684 --> 00:25:29.091 this is what you must do: 00:25:29.091 --> 00:25:32.434 stay in your room, not only pray, but study 00:25:32.434 --> 00:25:34.633 so that when you walk out of that room 00:25:34.633 --> 00:25:38.015 you have something to say about God. 00:25:38.015 --> 00:25:40.963 And so that you will be able to walk out of that room. NOTE Paragraph 00:25:40.963 --> 00:25:42.324 Listen to me. 00:25:42.324 --> 00:25:44.636 I've been there, done that, got the t-shirt. 00:25:44.636 --> 00:25:46.473 You walk out there in all your zeal 00:25:46.473 --> 00:25:47.994 in the middle of the plaza 00:25:47.994 --> 00:25:49.137 and you begin to preach. 00:25:49.137 --> 00:25:50.833 And you think as a young missionary 00:25:50.833 --> 00:25:52.994 that angels are going to drop out of heaven 00:25:52.994 --> 00:25:55.034 and the Hallelujah Chorus is going to be sung, 00:25:55.034 --> 00:25:56.715 millions of people are going to be converted. 00:25:56.715 --> 00:25:58.314 They're going to toss you on their shoulders 00:25:58.314 --> 00:26:00.036 and build a statue of you. 00:26:00.036 --> 00:26:01.412 That's not going to happen. 00:26:01.412 --> 00:26:02.965 What's going to happen is this: 00:26:02.965 --> 00:26:04.295 You're going to go there 00:26:04.295 --> 00:26:05.634 and you're going to preach 00:26:05.634 --> 00:26:06.925 and you're going to preach 00:26:06.925 --> 00:26:09.113 and when a crowd starts listening to you, 00:26:09.113 --> 00:26:11.864 somebody somewhere is going to rise up 00:26:11.864 --> 00:26:13.314 and call you a demon. 00:26:13.314 --> 00:26:15.264 The entire crowd's going to turn on you. 00:26:15.264 --> 00:26:17.264 They're going to grab your little pulpit 00:26:17.264 --> 00:26:19.215 and your makeshift microphone 00:26:19.215 --> 00:26:20.514 and all your little tracts 00:26:20.514 --> 00:26:22.919 and they're going to throw you out on the street. 00:26:22.919 --> 00:26:24.683 It's going to take a lot more 00:26:24.683 --> 00:26:26.808 than a romantic zeal for missions 00:26:26.808 --> 00:26:29.864 to make you get up, pick up your pulpit, your tracts, 00:26:29.864 --> 00:26:33.214 and walk right back in there and preach again. 00:26:33.214 --> 00:26:35.924 It's going to take a passion for God 00:26:35.924 --> 00:26:39.233 that is created out of knowing Him. 00:26:39.233 --> 00:26:48.653 And that's the same for everything in the Christian life. NOTE Paragraph 00:26:48.653 --> 00:26:53.499 I must know God to be holy 00:26:53.499 --> 00:26:56.562 so that the knowledge I have of Him 00:26:56.562 --> 00:27:01.142 eclipses everything else in the world. 00:27:01.142 --> 00:27:03.263 I'm not strong enough to battle 00:27:03.263 --> 00:27:06.453 between two opposing arguments. 00:27:06.453 --> 00:27:09.633 But I have discovered this: 00:27:09.633 --> 00:27:12.053 God is who He says He is 00:27:12.053 --> 00:27:13.973 and He is more glorious than anything 00:27:13.973 --> 00:27:17.794 this world could put forth. 00:27:17.794 --> 00:27:23.253 So if I truly know Him, 00:27:23.253 --> 00:27:28.163 and I truly see Him and His glories 00:27:28.163 --> 00:27:31.395 eclipse the glories of this temporal world, 00:27:31.395 --> 00:27:36.684 then it is not very difficult to make a decision anymore 00:27:36.684 --> 00:27:39.525 because you become a man, 00:27:39.525 --> 00:27:42.668 a prisoner. NOTE Paragraph 00:27:42.668 --> 00:27:46.254 Paul is going to urge them. 00:27:46.254 --> 00:27:50.932 But Paul in a way is going to seek to imprison them. 00:27:50.932 --> 00:27:55.324 Paul called himself a prisoner of Christ Jesus. 00:27:55.324 --> 00:27:56.934 I believe that he meant more 00:27:56.934 --> 00:28:00.657 than just chains on his hands, don't you see? 00:28:00.657 --> 00:28:04.533 He really was a prisoner. 00:28:04.533 --> 00:28:09.493 The love of God had captured him. 00:28:09.493 --> 00:28:13.804 See, he no longer belonged to himself. 00:28:13.804 --> 00:28:17.254 It's such a revelation of the glory of God 00:28:17.254 --> 00:28:18.804 in the Person of Christ 00:28:18.804 --> 00:28:23.384 that he had become captivated. 00:28:23.384 --> 00:28:27.345 That's what you need. 00:28:27.345 --> 00:28:29.825 Just being holy so that you can be used 00:28:29.825 --> 00:28:31.703 is not strong enough. 00:28:31.703 --> 00:28:34.103 Just being holy so that the church 00:28:34.103 --> 00:28:37.964 doesn't have a bad reputation is not strong enough. 00:28:37.964 --> 00:28:39.661 Just going to the mission field 00:28:39.661 --> 00:28:41.793 because people need Jesus 00:28:41.793 --> 00:28:44.204 is not strong enough. 00:28:44.204 --> 00:28:46.224 The only thing that can hold you on course 00:28:46.224 --> 00:28:49.135 is if you become a prisoner 00:28:49.135 --> 00:28:51.155 of the grace of God, 00:28:51.155 --> 00:28:55.064 the revelation of God. 00:28:55.064 --> 00:28:59.093 It is amazing how greater and greater 00:28:59.093 --> 00:29:01.724 understanding - intimate understanding 00:29:01.724 --> 00:29:05.983 of the Person of God in the Gospel - 00:29:05.983 --> 00:29:09.524 it in itself separates you. 00:29:09.524 --> 00:29:11.358 It so mesmerizes you. 00:29:11.358 --> 00:29:14.434 It's no longer a man who looks at the world 00:29:14.434 --> 00:29:16.193 and looks at Christianity 00:29:16.193 --> 00:29:18.284 and then tries to make a decision 00:29:18.284 --> 00:29:20.064 which one he should follow. 00:29:20.064 --> 00:29:23.453 But it is a man almost in a trance 00:29:23.453 --> 00:29:24.773 who has caught a glimpse 00:29:24.773 --> 00:29:26.064 of something of Christ 00:29:26.064 --> 00:29:31.650 and can no longer even look to the world. NOTE Paragraph 00:29:31.650 --> 00:29:33.074 This is what Paul is urging. 00:29:33.074 --> 00:29:39.263 He says, "I urge you, brethren, by this..." 00:29:39.263 --> 00:29:42.193 By the knowledge of who God is 00:29:42.193 --> 00:29:44.313 and the glory of God 00:29:44.313 --> 00:29:47.465 in the Person of Christ and His cross. 00:29:47.465 --> 00:29:50.773 I'm not going to be able to get through these two verses. 00:29:50.773 --> 00:29:55.396 I can see that, but let me say this: 00:29:55.396 --> 00:30:00.193 The greatest malady for the true church in America 00:30:00.193 --> 00:30:06.224 is that she does not know her God. 00:30:06.224 --> 00:30:12.573 Along with that is this: 00:30:12.573 --> 00:30:16.425 We have - I call it - Gospel reductionism. 00:30:16.425 --> 00:30:19.862 We have taken, as Paul told Timothy, 00:30:19.862 --> 00:30:24.373 the glorious Gospel of the blessed God 00:30:24.373 --> 00:30:27.002 and we've reduced it down to four spiritual laws 00:30:27.002 --> 00:30:28.991 or five things God wants you to know, 00:30:28.991 --> 00:30:31.851 and where's the power in that? 00:30:31.851 --> 00:30:34.651 Not only is there no power in that for evangelism, 00:30:34.651 --> 00:30:36.792 let me say this and it's far more important, 00:30:36.792 --> 00:30:39.891 there's no power in that for the Christian life. 00:30:39.891 --> 00:30:41.791 You see, the Gospel of Jesus Christ 00:30:41.791 --> 00:30:44.092 is not Christianity 101. 00:30:44.092 --> 00:30:48.930 It's not the first little truths that you learn 00:30:48.930 --> 00:30:50.802 so that you can be saved 00:30:50.802 --> 00:30:53.468 and then a little thing or steps 00:30:53.468 --> 00:30:55.877 that you take to other people and share with them 00:30:55.877 --> 00:30:58.143 so they can also make their decision. 00:30:58.143 --> 00:31:00.003 The Gospel is everything! 00:31:00.003 --> 00:31:02.692 Let me put it in this way. 00:31:02.692 --> 00:31:04.023 There is much talk today 00:31:04.023 --> 00:31:07.214 about the second coming of Jesus Christ, 00:31:07.214 --> 00:31:09.868 how it will occur, when it will occur, 00:31:09.868 --> 00:31:11.537 what will be the events preceding 00:31:11.537 --> 00:31:12.553 and what will follow 00:31:12.553 --> 00:31:14.144 and all these different things. 00:31:14.144 --> 00:31:15.414 Let me assure you of one thing: 00:31:15.414 --> 00:31:16.703 You will understand everything 00:31:16.703 --> 00:31:18.604 about the second coming of Jesus Christ 00:31:18.604 --> 00:31:20.992 on the day it occurs. 00:31:20.992 --> 00:31:23.563 I can promise you that. 00:31:23.563 --> 00:31:25.647 But I can also tell you this, 00:31:25.647 --> 00:31:29.303 you will pass an eternity of eternities 00:31:29.303 --> 00:31:33.853 and you will never even begin to understand 00:31:33.853 --> 00:31:36.303 the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:31:36.303 --> 00:31:39.403 The Gospel is not four spiritual laws! 00:31:39.403 --> 00:31:42.563 It's not: Do you know you're a sinner? 00:31:42.563 --> 00:31:44.205 Do you want to go to heaven? 00:31:44.205 --> 00:31:45.933 Would you like to pray this prayer? 00:31:45.933 --> 00:31:48.635 The Gospel is what the entire Bible is about. 00:31:48.635 --> 00:31:51.333 It is the greatest manifestation of God 00:31:51.333 --> 00:31:52.504 that we will ever have, 00:31:52.504 --> 00:31:54.635 and I will submit to you that we will spend 00:31:54.635 --> 00:31:57.974 all of eternity tracking out what God has done for us 00:31:57.974 --> 00:32:00.878 in Christ and in the cross of Christ. 00:32:00.878 --> 00:32:03.933 And if you can ever see that - 00:32:03.933 --> 00:32:07.194 I have spent literally the last 12 years of my life, 00:32:07.194 --> 00:32:08.334 hours and hours - 00:32:08.334 --> 00:32:10.292 almost hours and hours a day 00:32:10.292 --> 00:32:14.012 doing one thing - 00:32:14.012 --> 00:32:17.118 reading and writing about: 00:32:17.118 --> 00:32:22.819 Christ died for me. 00:32:22.819 --> 00:32:29.090 I haven't even begun. 00:32:29.090 --> 00:32:32.309 I can't sleep at night because of it. 00:32:32.309 --> 00:32:34.049 And what I want you to see 00:32:34.049 --> 00:32:38.799 is you don't need so much trappings. 00:32:38.799 --> 00:32:40.419 You only need to realize 00:32:40.419 --> 00:32:42.160 where the Treasure is found. 00:32:42.160 --> 00:32:45.793 It's found in the cross of Christ. 00:32:45.793 --> 00:32:50.930 And that truth will carry you anywhere 00:32:50.930 --> 00:32:56.230 the providence of God decrees for you to go. 00:32:56.230 --> 00:33:00.026 That is the power of missions. 00:33:00.026 --> 00:33:05.618 God becoming flesh, 00:33:05.618 --> 00:33:07.819 dying under the wrath of God, 00:33:07.819 --> 00:33:12.995 that God might be just and the justifier of men. 00:33:12.995 --> 00:33:15.087 What more do you need? 00:33:15.087 --> 00:33:18.048 There's an eternity. 00:33:18.048 --> 00:33:22.533 There's an eternity of worship 00:33:22.533 --> 00:33:25.659 in this one thing: 00:33:25.659 --> 00:33:35.078 Christ died for sinners. 00:33:35.078 --> 00:33:36.600 You see, here's the problem. 00:33:36.600 --> 00:33:38.548 You come to me and you say, Brother Paul, 00:33:38.548 --> 00:33:43.069 I need zeal. I need something to compel me. 00:33:43.069 --> 00:33:44.282 You need the cross. 00:33:44.282 --> 00:33:45.788 Well, yeah, I know about that. 00:33:45.788 --> 00:33:48.129 No, you don't know about it. 00:33:48.129 --> 00:33:51.559 No, you haven't even begun. 00:33:51.559 --> 00:33:54.468 It's just like when you finish your Bible Institute here. 00:33:54.468 --> 00:33:57.619 Don't think, well, I've learned systematic 00:33:57.619 --> 00:33:59.679 so now I'm going to go out and minister. 00:33:59.679 --> 00:34:02.739 You haven't even begun to learn systematic. 00:34:02.739 --> 00:34:04.285 You have learned a few tools 00:34:04.285 --> 00:34:07.250 to begin to study systematic. 00:34:07.250 --> 00:34:09.548 You have learned a few tools to begin 00:34:09.548 --> 00:34:10.809 to endeavor to know more 00:34:10.809 --> 00:34:12.079 about the cross of Christ, 00:34:12.079 --> 00:34:13.667 and that knowing and seeking 00:34:13.667 --> 00:34:17.200 will last for eternities. 00:34:17.200 --> 00:34:20.475 And it will be these things that empower you in your Christian life. 00:34:20.475 --> 00:34:23.240 And that's why he says, "Therefore, I urge you, brethren, 00:34:23.240 --> 00:34:24.459 by the mercies of God 00:34:24.459 --> 00:34:26.943 to present your bodies a living 00:34:26.943 --> 00:34:30.609 and a holy sacrifice." NOTE Paragraph 00:34:30.609 --> 00:34:32.402 Now, I know the time is short, 00:34:32.402 --> 00:34:34.860 but let me just put emphasis here 00:34:34.860 --> 00:34:37.369 on this word "bodies." 00:34:37.369 --> 00:34:39.780 I think sometimes I read the Scriptures 00:34:39.780 --> 00:34:41.370 and things stand out to me 00:34:41.370 --> 00:34:44.040 and I think the Holy Spirit is so wise. 00:34:44.040 --> 00:34:46.641 God is so brilliant! 00:34:46.641 --> 00:34:48.839 This Bible must be inspired. 00:34:48.839 --> 00:34:52.879 Notice he doesn't say present your hearts, 00:34:52.879 --> 00:34:56.457 or present your minds. 00:34:56.457 --> 00:35:00.549 Present your bodies. 00:35:00.549 --> 00:35:02.239 I think this word helps us to avoid 00:35:02.239 --> 00:35:04.090 a super-spirituality. 00:35:04.090 --> 00:35:09.605 It helps us to avoid a superficiality. 00:35:09.605 --> 00:35:11.672 We live in a world today 00:35:11.672 --> 00:35:14.808 that has somehow managed theologically 00:35:14.808 --> 00:35:16.649 to cut off the heart 00:35:16.649 --> 00:35:19.844 from the rest of our person 00:35:19.844 --> 00:35:21.559 and make it a separate entity 00:35:21.559 --> 00:35:24.844 that does not affect the rest of us. 00:35:24.844 --> 00:35:26.450 We could talk to people all day; 00:35:26.450 --> 00:35:27.699 we could dismiss right now 00:35:27.699 --> 00:35:29.495 and go to every tavern in Owensboro 00:35:29.495 --> 00:35:31.984 and find people all over - drunks and the like - 00:35:31.984 --> 00:35:36.589 who have given their heart to Jesus. 00:35:36.589 --> 00:35:38.989 But nothing else has followed. 00:35:38.989 --> 00:35:41.236 But what you must understand is the heart 00:35:41.236 --> 00:35:44.510 is the very essence of what a man is. 00:35:44.510 --> 00:35:46.292 It's the very core of his being. 00:35:46.292 --> 00:35:49.758 It's the center of absolutely his entire being. 00:35:49.758 --> 00:35:51.150 When you talk about ontology 00:35:51.150 --> 00:35:53.195 and you begin to go in depth and in depth, 00:35:53.195 --> 00:35:56.800 you finally find yourself at the center of the heart. 00:35:56.800 --> 00:36:01.419 The heart is everything you are. 00:36:01.419 --> 00:36:04.870 And it is an absolute ontological impossibility 00:36:04.870 --> 00:36:07.040 to give someone your heart 00:36:07.040 --> 00:36:12.202 without everything else going with it. 00:36:12.202 --> 00:36:14.070 And that's why Paul is not speaking 00:36:14.070 --> 00:36:16.685 in terms of giving Jesus your heart 00:36:16.685 --> 00:36:18.739 or giving God your heart. 00:36:18.739 --> 00:36:22.812 Or even giving your mind, 00:36:22.812 --> 00:36:27.814 but the entirety of your person. NOTE Paragraph 00:36:27.814 --> 00:36:29.609 One of the things I most appreciate 00:36:29.609 --> 00:36:34.809 about the Puritans is this: 00:36:34.809 --> 00:36:38.149 They sought, it seems to me, 00:36:38.149 --> 00:36:41.898 with everything they had, 00:36:41.898 --> 00:36:46.238 they endeavored to submit every aspect 00:36:46.238 --> 00:36:50.068 of their life to Christ, 00:36:50.068 --> 00:36:52.650 to bring every thought 00:36:52.650 --> 00:36:57.934 under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. 00:36:57.934 --> 00:37:03.289 Paul is not asking for a partial giving away of self here. 00:37:03.289 --> 00:37:05.389 He is commanding, demanding, 00:37:05.389 --> 00:37:09.900 urging, pleading. 00:37:09.900 --> 00:37:14.139 A giving over of all that you are to Him. 00:37:14.139 --> 00:37:16.647 A great momentous decision. 00:37:16.647 --> 00:37:18.839 It is this context, this idea 00:37:18.839 --> 00:37:21.571 of how long will you live between two opinions? 00:37:21.571 --> 00:37:24.049 Once and for all make a decision. 00:37:24.049 --> 00:37:26.191 Once and for all by the grace of God 00:37:26.191 --> 00:37:27.433 turn yourself over 00:37:27.433 --> 00:37:34.708 and begin to work that out in your life. NOTE Paragraph 00:37:34.708 --> 00:37:39.774 I submit to you a few questions. 00:37:39.774 --> 00:37:45.819 Have you submitted your mind to Christ? 00:37:45.819 --> 00:37:48.750 You say, well, what does that mean, Brother Paul? 00:37:48.750 --> 00:37:51.525 Well, go to Scripture. 00:37:51.525 --> 00:37:54.549 I like this better than using a concordance. 00:37:54.549 --> 00:37:55.909 Start in Genesis 00:37:55.909 --> 00:37:57.939 and read through the entire Bible 00:37:57.939 --> 00:37:59.389 and every passage in Scripture 00:37:59.389 --> 00:38:01.332 that deals with the mind, pull it out 00:38:01.332 --> 00:38:03.019 and create a systematic theology 00:38:03.019 --> 00:38:04.648 with regard to how your mind 00:38:04.648 --> 00:38:11.793 can be submitted to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. 00:38:11.793 --> 00:38:14.269 Your eyes. 00:38:14.269 --> 00:38:18.870 What does the Bible say about your eyes? 00:38:18.870 --> 00:38:21.011 Your ears. 00:38:21.011 --> 00:38:25.107 And your tongue. 00:38:25.107 --> 00:38:28.841 And your hands and your feet. 00:38:28.841 --> 00:38:30.780 And your body. 00:38:30.780 --> 00:38:33.739 And the way you clothe it. 00:38:33.739 --> 00:38:38.269 What does the Bible say about relationships that you are in? 00:38:38.269 --> 00:38:42.470 What are you commanded to do by Scripture? 00:38:42.470 --> 00:38:44.869 You see, my dear friend, 00:38:44.869 --> 00:38:47.850 without a vision the people perish. 00:38:47.850 --> 00:38:49.687 And that should not be used by pastors 00:38:49.687 --> 00:38:51.599 who want to go into a building program. 00:38:51.599 --> 00:38:54.686 That's not what that text is talking about. 00:38:54.686 --> 00:38:57.081 Where this is no vision of God's law, 00:38:57.081 --> 00:39:02.965 the people run unrestrained. 00:39:02.965 --> 00:39:06.920 I want to talk to you, young person. 00:39:06.920 --> 00:39:09.358 You've learned doctrines of sovereign grace. 00:39:09.358 --> 00:39:10.509 You read the Puritans. 00:39:10.509 --> 00:39:17.270 Congratulations. 00:39:17.270 --> 00:39:19.908 Have you gone through Scripture to discover 00:39:19.908 --> 00:39:22.888 what God says about relationships? 00:39:22.888 --> 00:39:26.422 And sought to understand it and submit your life to it 00:39:26.422 --> 00:39:30.296 in obedience? 00:39:30.296 --> 00:39:33.904 I know I sound like a 1960's fundamentalist preacher, 00:39:33.904 --> 00:39:35.449 but let me ask you a question. 00:39:35.449 --> 00:39:37.349 Have you gone into the Scriptures 00:39:37.349 --> 00:39:38.889 to find the principles laid out 00:39:38.889 --> 00:39:42.530 for clothing and etiquette? 00:39:42.530 --> 00:39:44.318 And have you decided that you would 00:39:44.318 --> 00:39:49.296 submit your life to those directives? 00:39:49.296 --> 00:39:56.689 You see, we talk about being biblical. 00:39:56.689 --> 00:39:59.219 In our worship, have you gone through Scripture 00:39:59.219 --> 00:40:02.160 to discover what God desires out of worship? 00:40:02.160 --> 00:40:04.331 Well, you know, we love worship this way. 00:40:04.331 --> 00:40:06.089 I don't care how you like worship 00:40:06.089 --> 00:40:07.940 because that's not the point. 00:40:07.940 --> 00:40:11.318 What has God said? 00:40:11.318 --> 00:40:13.448 You see, in this idea, we can romance 00:40:13.448 --> 00:40:16.309 this thing to death. 00:40:16.309 --> 00:40:18.121 We can spiritualize it to death. 00:40:18.121 --> 00:40:21.757 Someone says I've given my life to the mission field. 00:40:21.757 --> 00:40:23.807 That does not mean at the same time 00:40:23.807 --> 00:40:26.899 that you have given your heart to God. 00:40:26.899 --> 00:40:31.397 Because you can go to the mission field and be godless. 00:40:31.397 --> 00:40:33.548 And carnal and trite. 00:40:33.548 --> 00:40:35.878 You'd be better off joining National Geographic 00:40:35.878 --> 00:40:41.398 than you would a mission agency. 00:40:41.398 --> 00:40:48.308 Are you seeking in simplicity 00:40:48.308 --> 00:40:52.599 to examine your life? 00:40:52.599 --> 00:40:54.071 I'm not talking about finding 00:40:54.071 --> 00:40:57.358 legalistic inferences and forcing them upon yourself. 00:40:57.358 --> 00:41:00.230 I'm talking about the great principles of Scripture, 00:41:00.230 --> 00:41:03.218 dealing in every aspect of your personal life, 00:41:03.218 --> 00:41:11.039 applying them to you and seeking to obey them. 00:41:11.039 --> 00:41:16.229 Let me ask you a question. 00:41:16.229 --> 00:41:20.723 If you go to the mission field 00:41:20.723 --> 00:41:22.479 without taking what I have said 00:41:22.479 --> 00:41:24.580 as a serious endeavor, 00:41:24.580 --> 00:41:27.047 isn't there the possibility that the only thing 00:41:27.047 --> 00:41:29.000 you're going to do there 00:41:29.000 --> 00:41:31.910 after you have crossed land and sea 00:41:31.910 --> 00:41:33.598 is make a convert like yourself 00:41:33.598 --> 00:41:39.469 that's nothing more than a two-fold son of hell? 00:41:39.469 --> 00:41:42.009 I mean, after all, my greatest fear - 00:41:42.009 --> 00:41:44.158 one of my greatest fears 00:41:44.158 --> 00:41:46.540 is that Fidel Castro is going to die 00:41:46.540 --> 00:41:48.230 or has already died 00:41:48.230 --> 00:41:51.190 and that the wall around Cuba's going to fall. 00:41:51.190 --> 00:41:52.809 That's one of my greatest fears. 00:41:52.809 --> 00:41:54.409 You want to know why? 00:41:54.409 --> 00:41:59.148 Because every form of American "churchianity" that exists 00:41:59.148 --> 00:42:06.289 is going to make its way over there. 00:42:06.289 --> 00:42:08.089 I remember speaking with Conrad 00:42:08.089 --> 00:42:09.929 the first time that I went over there 00:42:09.929 --> 00:42:11.730 to Mr. Mbewe's. 00:42:11.730 --> 00:42:13.658 He said the first thing we always 00:42:13.658 --> 00:42:15.808 like to tell people who come over to teach 00:42:15.808 --> 00:42:17.660 is you're not bringing God with you. 00:42:17.660 --> 00:42:22.539 He was here long before you bought your ticket. 00:42:22.539 --> 00:42:25.759 There isn't a whole lot of American Christianity, folks, 00:42:25.759 --> 00:42:28.538 that needs to be exported. 00:42:28.538 --> 00:42:30.562 Unless like Ravenhill says we put it on 00:42:30.562 --> 00:42:32.339 some kind of a raft and send it off 00:42:32.339 --> 00:42:35.149 to a lone island, and after it's gone away from the dock, 00:42:35.149 --> 00:42:39.000 we all sing the Doxology. 00:42:39.000 --> 00:42:44.148 If we're going to endeavor to work in missions, 00:42:44.148 --> 00:42:46.327 then we must be motivated 00:42:46.327 --> 00:42:49.054 by a God that we know; 00:42:49.054 --> 00:42:51.919 a Gospel that we know. 00:42:51.919 --> 00:42:55.022 And we must be a people 00:42:55.022 --> 00:42:59.789 who have endeavored with great force 00:42:59.789 --> 00:43:01.132 to examine their lives 00:43:01.132 --> 00:43:03.930 in the light of Scripture 00:43:03.930 --> 00:43:06.570 and conform their lives 00:43:06.570 --> 00:43:13.439 to what Scripture says. 00:43:13.439 --> 00:43:16.902 How much of what you have - 00:43:16.902 --> 00:43:21.539 even the way you sit in a chair - 00:43:21.539 --> 00:43:24.889 is formed by those around you 00:43:24.889 --> 00:43:27.668 and not by Scripture? 00:43:27.668 --> 00:43:29.978 It's something to think about. NOTE Paragraph 00:43:29.978 --> 00:43:37.439 Let's pray. 00:43:37.439 --> 00:43:41.807 Father, I pray... 00:43:41.807 --> 00:43:44.067 Lord, You know, 00:43:44.067 --> 00:43:47.738 that You would use this 00:43:47.738 --> 00:43:51.825 to begin some on a journey 00:43:51.825 --> 00:43:54.239 of knowing You, 00:43:54.239 --> 00:43:58.760 seeking to know that which brings delight, 00:43:58.760 --> 00:44:06.720 seeking to conform their lives to it. 00:44:06.720 --> 00:44:13.548 Father, help us who have begun the journey long ago 00:44:13.548 --> 00:44:17.543 to not grow weary, 00:44:17.543 --> 00:44:23.890 but to seek to know You more, 00:44:23.890 --> 00:44:27.509 to seek to understand Your will, 00:44:27.509 --> 00:44:31.429 to love what You love and hate what You hate, 00:44:31.429 --> 00:44:40.130 to be a simple people, 00:44:40.130 --> 00:44:46.999 an obedient people, 00:44:46.999 --> 00:44:51.480 a people motivated by the Gospel 00:44:51.480 --> 00:44:56.989 and drawn to the Gospel. 00:44:56.989 --> 00:44:58.838 In Jesus' name, Amen.