The Lordship of Christ, Part 3

Recapitulation and Foundational Principles for Practical Application

0:05 As we come to this last night of our series together,

0:10 I would like to touch on about three or four more of these forgotten fundamentals of fundamentalism that we have been looking at during the week for the sake of those who are with us for the first time tonight. Our series of messages have been focused around that theme, some of the forgotten fundamentals of fundamentalism, those basic truths of the Word of God which have, by and large, been lost in our generation or at least relegated to a place of obscurity and neglect. I would like to add to the ones that we have already considered, the biblical truth concerning the necessity of a holy life. In our day, holiness and obedience are looked upon by many as something to be desired but still optional, whereas the Word of God teaches that holiness, and obedience are essential fruits of regeneration. And where there is no holiness of life and no obedience of walk, there is no ground to believe that there is any saving relationship to Christ. I would like to touch on the Bible theme of the perseverance of the saints, that when God begins a work of grace, He continues it. And the only proof I have, this side of heaven, that God ever began anything real, is that something real is going on today.

1:30 Well, the Scriptures say, He says we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end. But I can't touch on those because what I want to do, I think the best contribution to this church and to you who have come night by night, is to sort of recapitulate and to go back over those truths that we've covered, asking this question, if the Spirit of God is pleased to open my eyes and make these truths, those truths real to me, what will they mean in the realm of everyday Christian experience? And to introduce our study, may I suggest three texts of Scripture. I'm going to break all the rules of homiletics.

2:14 God never made them, so I don't feel too bad breaking them. I do have conscience about breaking God's laws, but these artificial laws, it doesn't bother me too much to break them, if it serves the end of truth, and I think this will. The first text, which I want to use, as a foundation of our study tonight, is John 13 and verse 17. You remember our Lord Jesus had given a lesson on humility.

2:41 It was an object lesson, where He, the Lord of glory, assumed the role of a common house servant and washed the feet of His disciples. After doing this, He said to His disciples in John 13 and verse 17, If...

3:01 And the Lord is saying that the way of spiritual blessedness is the way of obedience to divine revelation.

3:17 It's a wonderful thing to have the truth of God break into our souls by the illumination of the Holy Spirit. To have gazed at a truth until our eyes smart and to see nothing, and then suddenly the Spirit of God gives light, and that truth becomes...

3:32 It becomes warm and living. That's a precious thing. The Lord said there's something better than that. Having seen it, now walking in the light of it.

3:40 If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them. And I don't believe it's any injustice to the truth of the Word to say, if ye know these things, miserable are ye if ye fail to do them. For if the light that is in you be darkness, how great is the darkness. So would we know the way of blessedness in the light of the truths we've considered?

4:02 Well, that's the way of obedience. Dogged, naked, tenacious obedience to the light that God has given. Then the second text is found in Luke chapter 8 and verse 18. Luke chapter 8 and verse 18.

4:17 Take heed therefore, not only what ye hear, that's a truth of Scripture, but in this instance our Lord says, take heed therefore how ye hear. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given. And whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that which he seemeth to have. Has this ever troubled you?

4:52 Why is it in a week like this, it's generally the people who evidence the most spiritual hunger, generally. Don't pat yourself on the back. You might be the exception, but generally, it's the people who already come Sunday morning, Sunday night, and generally the prayer meeting that will come out to a week of special meetings. And the people you hope to reach, the stragglers who are stored around the periphery of the work, they never seem to be touched.

5:13 Why? Here's one of the reasons. It's a spiritual principle. The person that has, receives more.

5:19 Whereas the person who has not, that which he seems to have, is taken away from him. There are some folk who had all they could take, the Lord's day, couldn't take any more. Why? Because that which they seem to have was exposed for what it was.

5:34 This is not true in every case, but I'm confident it's true in some cases. The flimsy, meager measure or brand of Christianity which some people have, was exposed for what it was Sunday when we looked at Matthew 7, 13 and 14. And that which they seem to have was stripped away. So they said, uh-uh, I'm not going any closer to that.

6:00 But to him that hath, shall be given. That's a spiritual principle.

6:06 So God in his mercy has been pleased, I trust, to teach us, to bring some aspects of truth into focus. The Lord says, take heed how you hear. For if you do not lay hold of that which the Lord has set before us, he said, beware, that which you seem to have will be taken from you. And then a third text, 2 Peter 1, verses 12 and 13.

6:29 2 Peter 1, verses 12 and 13. The way of obedience is the way of blessedness. The way of obedience is the way to further revelation. To him that hath, shall be given.

6:46 Now notice 2 Peter 1, verses 12 and 13. Wherefore, I will not be negligent to put you in the way of the Lord. I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things. Now notice carefully why he did it.

6:59 Though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. Peter says, what I'm telling you, you already know, and you're already established in it, but, verse 13, I think it meet or necessary as long as I'm in this tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in remembrance. Peter said, what I'm telling you, you know, and you not only know it, but you're walking in the light of it, but he said, I know there's a spiritual principle here. It's the truth that is holding your mind in the present tense that will mold your life in the present tense.

7:41 And so Peter said, lest this truth just begin to drift back into the subconscious, I'm going to stick the rake of truth in there and stir it up so that that truth will be held in your consciousness for what holds the mind, molds the life. Have you got it? The truth that molds your life is the truth that is holding your mind. And that's why Peter said this.

8:12 Now, with those three texts before us, as a reason for what we're going to do tonight, I want us to apply some of these forgotten fundamentals to the realm of everyday experience. Would we know blessedness? Yes. Our Lord said, if ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.

8:32 Would we receive further light from the Lord? Then we must heed how we hear, for to him that hath, not only in understanding, but in experience, shall be given. But to him that hath not shall be taken away that which he seems to have. And it's only as these truths hold our minds that they will mold our lives.

8:52 That's why David said, the God-blessed man is not the man who simply reads his Bible or goes to church, but who meditates in the law of God day and night. The law of God is holding his mind, and therefore it what? It molds his life. And it's only as these truths hold our minds that they will mold our lives.

The Practical Effect of God's Transcendent Majesty on Approaching God

9:15 The first forgotten fundamental that we looked at was that of the biblical concept of the transcendent majesty of God. That the God of the Bible is not the cheap, sentimental God of modern thinking, but the God of whom Isaiah spoke when he said in chapter 57, 15, Thus saith the High and the Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy. I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a humble and a contrite spirit. Now what difference will that truth perceived by the Spirit embraced in faith, and worked out in obedience, what practical effect will a truth like that have? May I suggest several in several areas. First of all, it will make a tremendous difference in the way we approach God.

10:13 It will make a tremendous difference in the way we approach God. Privately, in our own times of prayer, and corporately, in our united times of prayer and worship and service. How do you approach God when you pray? Do you come out of your church, do you come out of the heat and fervor of the daily activities of life, and without any preparation of mind just drop to your knees and blurt out the first thoughts that drift to the surface of your mind as it were, taking the scoop of verbal stuff and just skimming off and throwing it up into the face of the deity?

10:56 Or do you pause to remember the God to whom you're coming?

11:02 Do you pause long enough and forget the God to whom you're coming? Or do you forget your request long enough to remember I'm coming to a God who's seated upon a throne? A throne of such burning light that the scripture says he dwells in light unapproachable whom no man can see. A throne surrounded by seraphim who though they have never known the stain and defilement of sin hide face and feet and cry one to another holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts.

11:35 Do you believe that's the God you're coming to when you pray? If we do, isn't that going to make a difference how you approach him in your own times of prayer? Isn't it?

11:47 If you had an audience with the president of this country, regardless of what you think of his political views, honor to whom honor is due, the scripture says. And if you knew you were to have an audience with President Johnson and you were flown down to Washington and ushered through as many guards and the rest as you must be and brought into his office, would you have your mind filled with a thousand and one different thoughts until the very moment when someone said the president will now see you and then say, oh my, oh, what did I want to talk? No, you wouldn't do that. From the moment you received word that the president wanted an audience with you, you would begin to think, what shall I say?

12:22 How will I present my petition? And all the way on your plane trip down to Washington and while you sat in that lobby waiting for him, you would be preparing your mind. Why? Because you're going into the presence of one who holds the highest place of dignity in our country.

12:38 Doesn't earthly potentate deserve? Doesn't earthly potentate deserve? Doesn't earthly potentate deserve more than the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords?

12:46 If I really believe he is this transcendent, majestic God of the Bible, it'll make a difference in the way I pray privately. The scripture says, and this is the text that will be our year verse at the church. We have a different verse every year. We have it on a large one by six up on the balance of a drape that is behind the pulpit.

13:07 The Lord reigneth. Let the people tremble. Have you ever been smitten in your heart when you fell to your knees and your lips were blurting out words and your heart was a thousand miles away from your words? Haven't you felt it was an insult to God?

13:26 The old saints used to talk about addressing the deity. Addressing the deity. This will have a tremendous practical effect upon the way you pray privately. It'll make a difference the way we approach God corporately.

13:42 It'll make a difference in our praying, in our public prayer. In our prayer meetings.

13:48 We'll not be so anxious to say the right word that will titillate the ears of our fellow creatures of dust. We shall seek to order our cause aright in the presence of our God. For prayer is not simply the heated gust of emotion or the warm desires expressed to God. It should involve the intelligent exercise of our minds ordering our cause before God and addressing God.

14:17 We must pray to Him with clarity of purpose. That's why our Lord gave us a pattern of prayer. After this manner pray ye. Not so much to be prayed by rote but to guide our minds in the issues for which we pray lest we simply blurt out the surface thoughts of our hearts.

14:36 I don't want to labor the point. It'll make a difference in our approach to God privately, together. The hymns that we sing. I believe that having this hymn book right here you have the best contemporary hymn book to help you to approach the living God as the high and the lofty one.

14:54 It pains me every Lord's Day when I go through our hymn book and I must have gone through I don't know how many times I go through this every Sunday trying to find hymns that don't start with I and me and mine but will turn our eyes to the great God whom we've come to worship. Hymns like that wonderful hymn that says my God how wonderful Thou art. Thy majesty how bright how glorious is Thy mercy seat in depths of burning light. Oh how I fear Thee living God with deepest tenderest fear and worship Thee with trembling hope and penitential tears.

15:36 Yet I may love Thee too O Lord almighty as Thou art for Thou hast stooped to ask of me the love of my poor heart. Father of Jesus love's reward what wrath what rapture will it be prostrate before Thy throne to life and gaze and gaze on Thee. That's the God of the Bible. And you approach any other God and you're approaching an idol.

16:00 The construction of your own mind.

The Practical Effect of God's Transcendent Majesty on Proclaiming God

16:05 See how practical the effect of this truth burned into our hearts by the Spirit but not only in the way we approach God but it will make a difference in the way we proclaim God. Do you know what one of your great tasks as a Christian is? You say well to witness. But to witness to what?

16:23 To witness to the character of God. We read in Isaiah chapter 40 that wonderful messianic passage that begins with comfort ye comfort ye my people saith the Lord. It says say unto the cities of Judah get thee up unto a high mountain and say unto the cities of Judah what? Behold your God.

16:44 This is one of the great privileges you have as a Christian. Don't assume when you say the word God to your neighbor that they're going to say that they're going to say that they're going to say that they're going to say that they're going to say that they fix the biblical meaning on the word God. They may have all kinds of strange notions about God. I talked with a man who said every time he thought of God in terms of a father he thought of his own earthly father who was a man who came home turlish and nasty and sour and always cracking the whip and never demonstrated any love and any grace and so when he thought of God as a father that was his concept of God.

17:18 Others may have had a self-indulgent father who thought that love was unprincipled sentiment who gave to his children every whim and wish and so when he thinks of God as a father he thinks of that image some soft indulgent sentimental spoopy effeminate kind of deity. So don't assume when you say God that they put the Bible meaning on that. One of your tasks is to tell them who the God of the Bible is. And when you're convinced and the Holy Spirit has made real to you that he is the high and the lofty one who inhabits eternity a God of absolute sovereignty of awful holiness and of infinite condescension what a difference it will make as you proclaim him privately in your own personal witness.

18:07 It'll make a difference as you proclaim him as a church. You realize we are teaching people constantly not only by the truth we communicate from the pulpit and the classroom follow me now but by the climate we create in the pew. And in the classroom. When people stepped through these doors these nights they were not only learning from the truth communicated from this sacred desk but by the climate created in this meeting we were telling them what kind of a God we had.

18:45 We were telling them. And if we had had the kind of a climate that is considered the vogue for the average evangelistic meeting with the racy type song that made you feel the atmosphere of the den or the living room relaxed and jovial and a little jocular and the evangelist is the man with the I can't say long hair because that will hit me and the only reason it's long because it sticks out if I don't keep it long but you get the picture the long wavy hair and the $200 tailor made suit and the flashy car and he can spill out yarns a dime a dozen and keep you on the edge of your seat with stories and then he can be a divine confidence man to cajole people into walking down an aisle and you see that climate is teaching people something it's not teaching them that God is a God of burning bullets it's not teaching them that God is a God of absolute sovereignty who does not need their vote for Jesus but a God who could justly send them into the pit of eternal burnings but who in infinite grace holds the door of mercy open for all sinners who will recognize his majesty his power and his power his glory and his grace and fall before him seeking mercy we are teaching what kind of a God we have by the climate we create

20:12 in our services not only here but in our Sunday school class in our youth meetings I don't know where the idea ever got spawned that the cardinal rule of a youth meeting is it's got to have zip and zing when I see that there's a teenage God and a teenage God and a teenage hell I'll begin to preach a teenage God and a teenage salvation my Bible says there's one true and living God and there's one hell for those who aren't savingly united to him and the climate of our youth meetings should be one that creates the concept God is holy I've been in youth meetings in evangelical churches where they went through these gospel calisthenics hallelujah hallelujah up and down and I got some parents angry one night who were in the meeting and I said how many of you young people realized that when you said hallelujah hallelujah you were taking the holy name of Jehovah upon your lips for hallel means praise and jah is Jehovah praise Jehovah that awful awesome terrible holy God I said how many of you even remotely thought of that when you were jumping up and down giggling hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah none of those young people could raise their hands and I said young people you were guilty of taking his name in vain you were breaking the third commandment right in the assembly of his people

21:41 and beloved that's true you who work with young people if you believe your God is the high and lofty one that's the God you seek to convey to your young people sure within the reference of their understanding and their needs this does not rule out an informal meeting where there's give and take but it will never be at the expense of the glory and the majesty of God never if this scripture heart you parents will protect your children from any climate in which they'll be confronted with that kind of a God you follow me you'll protect your children as much as you would protect them from a climate that would defile their bodies or their minds you will protect them from any kind of climate that is geared to convey any other God but the transcendent majestic holy God of the Bible you send them to a camp you want to know what kind of God are they conveying if you send them to a youth meeting what kind of God are they conveying you say that's narrow is it scriptural

23:06 do you want your children falling down to a false God then don't you put them in places where they'll be taught a false God for my Bible says little children guard yourselves from idol and any other God but that God is an idol whether he's made of wood or stone or made of the fabric of our own imagination he's still an idol and not the God of the Bible and so this concept will make a difference in the way we approach him individually corporately the way we proclaim him privately corporately the content of our message and the way in which we minister is true Hebrews 12 28 and 29 are two verses that the Spirit of God brings back to me from time to time that fit perfectly into the truth that I'm seeking to convey to you notice Hebrews chapter 12 verses 28 and 29 Hebrews 12 28 and 29 wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably oh God I want to serve you acceptably isn't that the longing of your heart as a Christian

24:35 to serve your God not to serve him somehow but acceptably to hear his well done good and faithful servant alright what is acceptable service alright let's read on how serve him acceptably with reverence and with godly fear for our God is a consuming fire there is no service whether it's the service in that Sunday school sitting down with that child of yours talking of the things of God whether it's an ordained minister standing in this pulpit if it is not carried out in the court it is unacceptable to God for it is misrepresenting his holy name and his holy character does that mean everyone who seeks to represent him must do so with somber face and with serious tone no what reverence and godly fear may mean for one man it may not mean for another but it does mean that never never will I attempt to communicate at the expense of God for the sake of God for the sake of God for the sake of God but for the benefit of us and the sake of the world for the sake for the sake of the whole world so we must be gentle and humble so we must be pure and hygienic and noble

26:04 and all just as the word of Jesus just as the word of the Lord was and so those that are like the Lord in my heart worked after the counsel of his own sovereign will. Do I really believe that? All right, the test comes when all my cherished plans are suddenly dashed to pieces.

26:34 Do I believe he's still on his throne? Or did God just abdicate his throne for five minutes while those circumstances crept in? Hmm? I had to preach this to myself because I called my wife on Tuesday and she told me something that happened in the church while I was away that never would have happened if I were there.

26:54 And my first reaction was, Lord, I shouldn't have been. I had to sit myself down. And I had to preach back to myself the sermon I preached to you Sunday and Monday night. God, you are on your throne.

27:10 If you weren't, then I better quit. And if you are, I better just hug this thing. I'll get to my throne! And say, now, Lord, work out your purpose.

27:19 I don't know what it is. If I'd been in your place, Lord, I wouldn't have done it this way. But you're God and I'm not. And you did it for reasons that are wise and holy.

27:27 That's how practical it is. And the minute you get a God who's down here who can be bullied about by his own world and can be held captive to the circumstances of his creatures, then you're a mess.

27:42 You'll be a case for a psychologist, psychiatrist.

27:48 If you've got a God who's above and over all that his creatures do and remember even the devil's God's devil. When he wanted to touch Job, he had a march. He had a march up the throne and say, God, may I have permission? You know, you kids, when you want to go out of the room to go to the bathroom at school, teacher, may I have permission?

28:05 If you want to do this, may I have permission? The devil's got to come to God and say, God, can I have permission? He's God's devil and never forget it. And God said, all right, you go this far and don't you go a step further.

28:15 And he didn't. He couldn't.

28:18 And even all the ways of the devil and the hosts of hell are held under the sovereign control of God. Follow me. He is in no way responsible for those activities. But he is responsible that none of them can thwart his own eternal purpose.

28:36 And we have a God like that. And he's not only that in our subconscious or what I call our shelf theology. Oh, yes, I believe that. But if he's that God before our minds, the God before whom we bowed that morning in our devotions, then that afternoon when the circumstances arise that make no sense, no rhyme or reason, Lord, one thing I know, you're the high and the lofty one.

28:58 You're on a throne of absolute sovereignty.

29:03 Makes a difference the way we walk before him. When trials, the unexpected comes. Makes a difference when we face church problems.

29:11 You see, many a church subscribes with the lips to the truth that God's on his throne. But you let a problem in the church arise and suddenly everybody runs around. We've got to have a contact. How are we going to deal with this?

29:21 Oh, my, my, we've just got to hurry. Wait a minute. You believe your theology?

29:26 Then it's a summons to fall on your face and say, Lord, you're on your throne. And from your vantage point, Lord, you've got an answer to this. Get us quiet long enough to hear your voice, to know what you would say. In the area of family problems, you apply it.

The Practical Effect of Christ's Lordship on Individual Life

29:43 Let the Spirit of God bring these things to remembrance. I must hurry on to the second area. How will the truth of the Lordship of Jesus Christ affect us practically? The truth that the blessings of his cross and the implications of his crown are inseparably joined in his salvation?

30:01 How will that truth that all who are saved by Christ are under the crown of Christ, how will that affect us in practical? May I suggest several areas where it will affect us drastically, individually. It will bring to me the increasing recognition that I'm not my own.

30:21 A bondservant in the Roman setup was one who didn't lay out his own plans, but who came each morning and looked up into the face of his master and in so doing recognized afresh each day all my potential energies, all the work, all the potential ability that is here is not to be directed in any other channel but the channel of my master and so the servant came for directions. And the scripture says that every Christian has been made a bondservant of Jesus Christ. Romans chapter 6 makes this clear. And where the truth of the Lordship of Christ is a present tense reality, the recognition that I'm not my own will increasingly touch ever increasing circles of my life. The recognition that those children are not mine. They're alone from him to be reared to his glory that they might fulfill his purpose in this generation. So I don't build secret little dream castles and somehow try to steer my children into the castles that I have built.

31:33 No, no. I say, oh God, you have a purpose. You've given them physical life. You've sustained that life.

31:41 By your grace, give them spiritual life. Lord, my only longing as a parent is that I may cooperate with you in seeing them brought into that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Lord, if it means that I've got to stand and have my heart torn as through blurry, tear-filled eyes I kiss my son or daughter goodbye and see them get on a boat and go off to some remote area of the ends of the earth to proclaim the gospel. Lord, in the light of eternity what greater privilege could I have?

32:14 They're not mine. If you're a Christian, that ought to be continually held before you. You get a raise, you don't immediately say, oh, thank you, Lord. You know the things we've been wanting to get.

32:28 No, no, wait a minute. The fact that God increases your income is no indication he wants you to raise your standard of living. It may be he wants you to be a wider channel of dispensing that to the ministry of the gospel. May I share a personal testimony along this line?

32:46 I can't tell you what's real to you, but I can share what in little measure God's made real to me. First year my wife and I were married, we lived in an apartment down at Columbia Bible College where I was on the staff. And we didn't have a lot of the things. Now, I look back now, she was foolhardy.

33:01 They didn't even marry me. You're talking about married on a shoestring. I didn't even have a shoestring. It's a good thing she had flats with no shoestrings in them.

33:10 And we didn't have a lot of the, what you call, normal necessities. A mixing electric mixer, vacuum cleaner, oh, a lot of things. And while I was there on the staff receiving a regular salary, I went off for two weeks of meetings in the Southern Baptist Church. And when I was done, they handed me $300.

33:26 And I've never seen a $300 check in my life, I don't think. Yes, I did one time, that's right. I did one time. I thought, my, isn't this wonderful?

33:33 The Lord's supplying our need. Oh, we're going to give the Lord the tenth. That was understood. He would get $30 of that.

33:38 Sure. But I began to think, mixer, duh, duh, duh. You know, and the Lord began to talk to me. He said, now what makes you think that that's what I gave it to you for?

33:50 He didn't say in those words. I've never heard voices, never seen visions. But you know when I say the Lord spoke, how through the principles of the word applied by the Spirit to our own circumstances. That's what I mean when I say the Lord speaks.

34:01 And what a joy it was as the Spirit of God laid upon our hearts some specific needs of some other faculty members there at the school. I think I learned in a real way what Christ meant when he said it is more blessed to give than to receive. And God taught us that principle. That I trust throughout all our married lives will keep before us that when he increases our income it is no assurance that he wants us to go to a higher standard of living.

34:32 He may want us to be a wider channel of dispensing blessing to proclaim the gospel. That's what the Lordship of Christ practically applied will do. It will touch your pocketbook. Lord of your money.

34:45 Lord of your time. That's why I never ask young people, how many of you are willing to go to the mission field? If God wants you. If you're really saved, your mission call was settled at your conversion.

34:56 You came with no strings attached. Lord, I'm yours, lock, stock and barrel. Now it's only a matter of geography and a matter of gifts. Discovering my gifts and where will you have me to exercise them?

35:08 I see nothing in the Bible to justify this idea that people 15 years before they discovered their gifts and have seen the providence of God directing them get a call to the foreign mission field. I've never had anybody yet show me from the Bible where this is true. Paul was down in Antioch ministering, exercising his gifts and probably praying about the unreached areas and as a mature man seeing what his gifts were, the Holy Ghost said, now pack your bags and exercise your gifts out yonder. Separate Paul and Barnabas to the work we're unto at God.

35:46 Occasionally God would, like a John the Baptist, make his call known from birth. But that's the rare exception. The normal pattern of God in Romans 12 is, having presented our bodies, what does Paul say? Begin to pray about where you should minister?

36:01 No. He said discover how you should minister. Discover your gifts, exercise them, and you're at the sovereign disposal of the living Lord Christ. And if he says, now, then you say, all right, Lord.

36:14 We come to every missionary conference, my wife and I, praying, Lord, if this is the time you'd say, pack your duds and exercise your gifts elsewhere, here we are, Lord. Here we are. And I tell you, I made a whipping boy of myself with this missionary call business. And I come into bondage saying, well, Lord, as far as I know, when you tell me to stop my car driving down the road and go into a house I've never seen and talk to somebody, Lord, you know I've been willing to do that and have done it.

36:41 At times, driving out through the Wisconsin, drive by a house, and the Spirit of God would say, join thyself to that house. And I'd argue with the Lord, well, Lord, that's nuts. Here I am from Pennsylvania and those people don't know me. They'll think I'm crazy and every time the wheels will make another revolution, I just, I felt more under conviction.

36:56 Turn the car around, go on back and bang on the door and say, listen, I can't understand it, but I'm a Christian and I feel constrained to come and talk to you about my Lord. Go in the home and talk to Him. And yet I'd hear people say, if you don't purpose to go to the mission field, and I'd get in bondage, Lord, but it's until God opened up His Word and said, look, my child, you're to discover what your gifts are, exercise and cultivate your gifts and be at the disposal of the Sovereign Christ. And from that moment on, from then on, it's a matter of geography.

37:28 And I believe that this is the teaching of the Word of God. Young person, if Jesus Christ is your Lord, you've settled the matter of the mission field. And now you discover what your gifts are, cultivate them, exercise them and you pray, Lord, if it please you, send me out to those who've never heard. I believe in that sense there is a priority and we should covet the best gifts and pray, Lord, if it please you, send me there.

37:59 But never come under bondage that you've taken second best gifts from Jesus Christ can be in discerning your life's work, your life's call. You and I have no right individually to think our thoughts about anything. If Christ is our Lord, He's Lord of our opinions about home life. He's Lord of our opinions about child discipline.

38:19 There's a wonderful little verse tucked away in the third chapter of Acts that is very helpful along this line. It says in Acts 3 and verse 22, speaking of the Lord Jesus in His office as a prophet, you remember we considered Christ received by the whole man, prophet to teach us, priest to forgive us, king to rule us. Listen to this, little gem. For Moses truly said to your fathers, Acts 3, 22, a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me.

38:49 Him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. That's pretty broad, isn't it? If He's Lord, I am to sing unto you. If He's Lord, I am to sing unto you.

39:03 I am to think His thoughts after Him in all things whatsoever He says unto me. You know, practically, listen ladies, you'll get your standards of dress not from the styles that are spawned in Paris with a view to making this sex-soaked age a little more libidinous and wicked, but you'll get your standards of dress from the Bible which says that you're to dress as becomes a woman professing godliness with good works. Practical it is. If Christ is your Lord, He'll dictate what goes into your wardrobe and you won't bow to the whims of the style designers in Paris.

39:44 I was in a church in Brooklyn a few years ago and all week long I had to preach looking at the ceiling and at the floor and that kills me. You know I like to see the whites of the eyes when I'm preaching and the last night I couldn't stand it anymore and I just said it's a crime when a man of God wants to come and speak the truth to people's faces and you've got to look in the sight and see how practical the Lordship of Christ is. If He's Lord then Lord whatever you say about dress and if I've got to be out of style I don't believe a Christian should be marked either by his gaudiness or his moroseness. As much as possible we should seek to fit in with the style patterns of our day so that when we come to witness to someone they don't see our gaudy dress or our somber dress but it's the standards of the world standards of God. That's how practical the Lordship of Christ is. I didn't want to leave this in the realm of the theory. In my own individual life my children not my own my time my money my life no right to think my thoughts even about something like my work how the home should be run God's given the blueprint.

The Practical Effect of Christ's Lordship on Church Life and Ministry

41:05 He's told us what the role of the husband is the role of the wife He's to be the keeper at home He's to be the provider He's to rule in the tender love of Christ as manifested in His love to the church. If we have a body of people here who believe that they are under the crown of Christ and that truth is not just a truth that we nod to but it's a living reality Christ is the Lord of His church therefore He's the Lord of this assembly what a difference it'll make as you conduct the business of the church. When I was in the evangelistic ministry place after place I went to it wasn't long when you'd meet with a preacher and pray with them and talk with them and they'd say oh brother do I envy you no business meetings and board meetings that was before I was in a pastor and they talked about business meeting and board meetings in ways that would have completely scared me completely from ever assuming the responsibilities of a pastor but you know something began to work in my spirit I said to myself God is this right if Jesus Christ is the head of the church Ephesians 5 says He is 1 Corinthians 12 the local church and all the members are like individual members of the body then what should a business meeting be what should a board meeting be shouldn't it be a delightful experience

42:35 of men and women under the dominion of Christ receiving the revelation of the will of Christ through the application of the word of Christ that ought to be a wonderful experience and I was just foolish enough to believe that God could make it that He could make it to His glory that our board meetings are a spiritual experience and I come out refreshed in the Holy Ghost where God has brought ten men to the place where they believe not as a theological fact but as a living reality Christ is the Lord and His church and when they come to a board meeting and when we come to a business meeting we don't have people coming to promote their own ideas but to seek to discover the will of the risen Lord through the application of His written word what a difference that makes you see the Lord Jesus is like the Queen of England in many churches she's just a figure nobody wants to do away with the Queen I don't see any move abroad in England to do away with the Queen everybody's got a picture of the Queen in the living room and once a year they'll have a big celebration and everybody comes out to see the Queen it's the Prime Minister in the House of Commons that runs it and the Queen might as well be on a jet up at the North Pole she's just a figure head that's all well nobody would be

44:03 without her oh they want to sing God Save the Queen and they want the picture of the Queen no loyal Englishman wants to do away with his Queen you follow me we don't want to throw Christ out we don't want to become a liberal church do we we don't want to say Christ to run a business meeting no we don't want to do that but don't we practically do that when it comes to a business meeting to a board meeting brother so and so comes with his ideas brother so and so comes with his ideas and sometimes we bull headed preachers come with our ideas and though we bow in prayer you know what we're doing we're just marking time till we can spew out our own ideas and railroad our own itches through and Christ is simply a figure head on a wall instead of the Lord who will make his will known through the application of the principles of the Word of God oh if God could have here a body of people not completely because you always have people who are in the midst who aren't saved and you have people who are awakened and are coming but if the membership of the church were by and large and especially the section of the church men who were truly bound to the Lordship of Christ there'd be no problem about that there'd be no problem

45:32 about keeping biblical standards for your eldership the Bible has laid out what an elder's to be and if an elder is not meeting those requirements then it's up to that church to say in love my brother you do not require meet the requirements for the office therefore you forfeit the privilege of the office when you say where's your love I say it's love to Christ that obeys him a love to Christ that's deep enough to be willing to get angry with me that's love that's principled love not unprincipled sentiment we will be sensitive to his direction if there's a problem in the church we'll really believe that the Lord meant what he said I'm again amazed that there are problems with feelings between brothers and sisters in the church and the Lord's told us what to do hasn't he if you come to bring your gift to the altar and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee twenty-seven somewhere in there leave thy gift before the altar God says I don't want your act of worship heavenward go be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift now that's pretty plain isn't it but we just don't do it we say well I'll pray about it the Lord didn't say pray he said do it yeah but it's easier to pray yes I know

47:02 sacrifice is always easier than obedience but what did God say through the prophet Samuel to obey to the sacrifice isn't that what God says but I've gone to the person they won't hear me alright the Lord says you might get some people like that so in Matthew 18 verse 15 he told you what to do if thy brother sinned against thee go seek to reconcile with thy brother if you cannot gain him take with you two or three witnesses if he will not hear them bring it to the church if he will not hear the church let him be unto thee like the heathen man in the publican that's pretty plain isn't it but you see the Lordship of Christ hasn't reached the people who are willing to do what God says do what God says handle church problems God's way wonder of wonders when we do you know what happens Jesus said he that hath my commandments and keepeth them I will manifest myself to it and with all of our fears and trembling we say well what's with the church if we obey the Lord instead when we obey him his glory descends and his glory doesn't descend where his word is openly disobeyed

48:12 in our corporate life the Lordship of Christ will make a tremendous difference as we handle the business of the church the problems of the church it will make a tremendous difference in the ministry of the church both in our message and our method again without I those of you who have been here through the week I hope you realize by now I take no delight in seeking to lay open the cancerous sores of our generation but I feel obligated to do so to those individuals and churches who feel as long as I'm proclaiming something called the gospel and doing it zealously that's all that matters no that isn't all that matters it's not enough that a nurse fill a syringe with something and give it to somebody somehow she may kill the patient is to fill that syringe with what the doctor says is to go into the syringe and to be administered as he says it's to be administered and the living Lord has given us a message and he's told us what the message is don't think that because you've heard preachers for 20 years you know what the message is go to the book and find out what it is and you'll find it's a message about God how holy he is how bad we are it's a message about Jesus who he is what he did where he is at the right hand of God it's a message about how sinners can come to know him when they throw down the weapons of rebellion repent of sin

49:41 and turn to Christ acknowledging him as Savior and as Lord that's our message and if Christ is our Lord we'll see him we'll see to it that we preach no message but what he's ordained not only from the pulpit but in the Vacation Bible School in the Child Evangelism class in the young people's meeting in the tracts we hand out because an ambassador never has any right to speak with authority unless he's speaking the words that his government has authorized him to speak the minute he starts spawning his own opinions he's no longer a representative of his government therefore he speaks with no authority he just is mouthing words and if you and I would have the authority of the Holy Ghost upon our witness we must be communicating those words that are authorized by the Lord of Heaven and not only is this true in our message but in our methods the Bible not only teaches the divine message but the divine method 1 Corinthians chapter 3 says all those who do work for God are going to have their work tried and it says in that day some work will be found to be wood hay and stubble others will be found to be gold

51:11 silver and precious stone what kind of work will be gold silver and precious stone may I suggest it will be only those works that are done His way in His power unto His glory not enough to be doing something some way by some kind of power psychological or personal personality power with some end in view the building up of the Sunday school or our church or our denomination no that's wood hay and stubble but all work that is done His way by His power unto His glory will be found in that day to be wood hay after He is gold silver and precious stone so the Lordship of Christ practically speaking in a local church means that in the business of the church the will of Christ will be the work will be a live option it will be that which we seek if it means we've got to die to every terrible notion if He'll make His will known through the Word and by the Spirit that settles it for us and I'll squeal on us preachers because I can talk about myself you know God just might show us His will through our boards where we didn't go a year ago when it came time for what would be in your Presbyterian church your general assembly meeting our annual council meeting out in Minnesota I couldn't

52:39 look forward to going to sit around in those business meetings and after three days you feel about as carnal as an old goat and you lose all spiritual blessing you just go to get dried up sitting in meetings and debating and hearing the minutes and the agenda and all the rest and it was going to cost the church about three hundred dollars to send me out there and back and put me up in a hotel and I told the men I said men I'd rather not go this year if you don't mind and they said Pastor just let us think about it I said alright when I came I said I would be answerable to you on issues where I would need not compromise basic biblical principles so I met with them that Sunday night fully thinking that they would say well we've thought it over and we'll give you the benefit of the doubt to stay home they said Pastor we've prayed and thought over it and we believe you ought to go I said men I don't see it that way but I'm going to go because I think it's a matter of principle they said we want and we feel God may give you ministry there's some men out there I said alright on the basis of principle I'll go I hadn't been out there twelve hours when I knew God wanted me God brought two hungry hearted preachers into my life and two contacts have been established that bear fruit unto this day what a joy it was to come back and gather the men together and tell them men I'm so glad you got the mind of Christ when I didn't get it you see I need my men in the church to rise and set on my pace

54:08 it may be that the sum total of revelation doesn't funnel through me does that give you a right to railroad your preacher no because it says obey them that have the rule over you and submit to them as they that watch for your souls but it does mean that when a pastor recognizes his God given place and a people recognize their place and together they recognize Christ's place what a delightful experience together to discern the power of the risen Lord and then to carry it out in the power of the Holy Ghost I was accused all over the country of being an idealist when I tried to talk to preachers and say I believe that's possible in a local church they say you're just naive you're a young kid you're naive you've never been a pastor it won't work I'd say but what does the Bible say well I know it says it but well I got enough of Martin Luther in me and a reformer in me to say Lord if it's true let me prove it show me I better wake up to it now and I say to the glory of God dear ones only God can do that take a bunch of people like you and me with all our backgrounds so diverse and all our notions so stodgy and thick you get a bunch of people with a German background and Swedes and Italians and independent Americans and old stubborn Yankees how in the world could you ever get anything done oh beloved if there are unrighteous people

55:37 in the world how beloved if there are under the crown of Jesus Christ he can fuse them into a living organism do you want that for this assembly do you want it bad enough before you ever come to the next church meeting to honestly get on your knees and say God every idea I've got every notion I've got every opinion I've got Lord I ask you to place your crown over it and whatever is not your will Lord and then come not passively shifting into neutral sort of like a Christian seance waiting for God to whisper words but come actively then to apply the principles of his truth and to listen to the wise counsel of others in the multitude of counselors there is safety and then to see the spirit of God bring you to one mind and one heart you read in the book of Acts never do you read that they took a vote and the majority prevailed in favor of one accord this thing pleased the whole multitude remember they had the problem of the Greek widows and the Jewish widows arguing and they came up with an idea and said why don't we choose seven men and give them some of the job and they said hey that's a good idea it says it pleased the multitude so what did they do they chose seven men they brought them

The Practical Effect of Biblical Assurance on Personal Life and Parenting

57:06 to the apostles and they said we feel they're qualified and so the God appointed leaders grew and prevailed beloved I believe that God's alive today Jesus Christ in his place as Lord has got to be something more than a limited monarchy it's got to be an absolute monarchy over your life and over mine and then I close with just several thoughts on what will grasping the Bible truth unassurance do for us well it'll do something for us personally it'll make us tread softly and not to say so cockily but here it is until we've had sufficient Bible evidence to prove that we are it'll give us an assurance that is marked by those words in Psalm 2 rejoice with trembling that's Bible rejoicing now if all you're doing is trembling you've missed it but if you're rejoicing is sort of the cocksure rejoicing of one who has no fear and holy dread of the awful dangers that beset the child of God making his way through a wicked world under the eye of a wicked devil with the remains of a wicked nature within that's cause

58:33 for serious concern so our rejoicing is with trembling the Bible puts the two together rejoice with trembling and then as we think of our loved ones what a practical effect it'll have we won't be going around trying to give everybody assurance we'll realize it's far better for somebody to doubt for six months whether they are saved and at the end of that six months find that they are and really be so than to have people go through life thinking they are and wake up in the judgment and find they aren't it'll have a tremendous effect on how you teach that class how you handle your little children how you teach that Bible class getting a grasp on the Bible basis of this assurance of salvation the promises of the Word made real by the Spirit we can take the general promise and make it personal the evidence of a transformed life and the witness of the Spirit if we really believe that you parents will be willing to stand back like a dear couple in the church which I am privileged to pastor the husband came to me and said pastor our little girl she was ten at the time says she's going to bed crying every night we read in our devotions a few weeks ago about Job a man that has skewed evil and walked in righteousness and when I asked her what her trouble is she said I want to be like Job I want to be like Job I want to be like Job and he said well you can only be like Job if you have Job's God and so he encouraged her to call on the Lord for mercy and he showed her

60:02 the promises of mercy and he urged her to trust in the Lord but he refused to play the place of God and say now it's done he sought to shut her up to Christ he gave her the promises he prayed with her the next night she'd be crying again said daddy I want to be like Job I want to be like Job he said bastard it's kind of hard she's been going on two, three, four weeks this way I said well how's your wife oh he says we both feel far better to agonize through this now until God assures her that he's met her than for us to step in and take the place of the Holy Ghost and regret it for years to come now that's what it'll mean for some of you parents you're going to have to do spiritually what you did physically when you brought that precious little child into the world you said my little children of whom I travel again in birth till Christ be formed in you that little book that's soul winning made easy is heresy Paul didn't know any easy way he said I've got to have spiritual support we don't want that do we that means there may be nights you'll have to turn your television off and shut yourself up in your room and cry out to God oh God have mercy upon my son my daughter Lord make your promises real make your promises real Lord reveal Christ Spirit of God give them strength enable them to take hold of you they'll shut you up to God

61:31 it's a lot easier to go in and stick three verses under their nose and pat them on the back and then go out and turn your television on isn't that a lot easier to cry to God until God the Holy Ghost makes His treatment real that's the price that's what it'll mean for you parents that's what it'll mean for you vacation Bible school workers it means you've got to look like a flop because you know all the other churches in town when you ask how'd you be they ask oh wonderful we had 33 kids saved oh you did are you God you may have to say well we had a good time we sensed the Lord was with us we gave His truth we're praying the seed will be blessed how many decisions did you have well we just didn't feel we have any scriptural right to make a little child think that if he raises his hand in a meeting that the work of the saving of his soul would be oh to be willing for the reputation to get found they don't believe in inviting people to Christ they don't believe that little children can get saved be willing for all the accusations that come you see that's how practical this is are you willing for that but blessed be God

63:00 He'll give you some Isaacs instead of a whole carload of Ishmaels you know what was Ishmael Ishmael was Abraham's attempt to help God fulfill his promise God said I'll give you a son but the son didn't come so Abraham at the suggestion of Hagar goes in and takes his handmaid and he consumes and bears his son it was Abraham's attempt to help God fulfill his promise you know what the word Ishmael means wild one and we're filling our churches with Ishmaels instead of giving them the word and in urging them to flee to Christ telling them Christ is ready to save telling them that they call upon Him and we're entering in and trying to say the work is done now believe it because the Bible says it that's the work of the Spirit we're to present Christ urge them to flee to Christ tell them to trust Christ beseech them to be reconciled to God and then trust God to fulfill his promise that all that the Father giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh I'll in no wise cast out and you be willing to wait for God to give you Isaac's children of promise but it's when we get itchy

64:29 for results that we start making our issuance isn't that right and God didn't get much glory out of Ishmael but God forever identified his name with Isaac I am the God of Abraham Isaac Jacob and to have young people upon whom God promises his name I'm the God of little Susie Jones at that church and to see God manifested in that light you'll forgive me if I keep referring to my dear mother can't help because she had sense enough by the Spirit of God not to make an Ishmael but she was willing to travail till God brought an Isaac will your son or daughter rise up and say that some day you don't bother you don't buy that privilege at the dime store you earn it in the closet of soul travail and willingness to keep your hands off until the Holy Ghost does the work

Concluding Exhortation: Live Out Your Theology

65:50 now I've only given a few suggestions tonight but I trust the Spirit of God will make them helpful if you know the things we've been considering God's majestic transcendent glory the Lordship of Christ and the Bible assurance if you know these things happy are ye if you do them if you let them be applied in all the areas of life take heed how you hear to him that hath more shall be given to him that hath not shall be taken away that which he seemeth to have brethren I think it necessary as long as I'm in this tabernacle to stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance and service is a revelation of your pure I've met people who say oh I believe God's sovereign only God can save sinners and I I listen to him but then I stand back and I watch him work and if I don't see that man pray I see him out working feverishly talking to people but he doesn't pray you know what he's telling me he's telling me well I say I believe God saves but I really don't believe it because if I believed it I'd be on my knees because only that God can open the eyes of blinded sinners I'd father far rather work with an Arminian who denies God's sovereignty with his lips but who's a praying man

67:19 than a man who honors God's sovereignty with his lips but doesn't pray the other fellas he just doesn't have his heart and his head straight and it's a lot easier for God to work out the kinks in your head than the kinks in your heart the best of us has got lots of kinks in the head but thank God we can have a heart that's perfect toward him not absolutely perfect in that sense but like Joshua and Caleb hearts that wholly follow him that walk in the light that he gives us if an angel were to come from heaven and perch himself up in that balcony and he were to watch what goes on in the next month in this church in prayer meeting board meetings session meetings excuse me I'm in a Presbyterian church board meeting session meetings session meetings he were to watch annual meetings Sunday school classes what would he learn about your real theology would he see that the people here really believe in a God who's high and lifted up when he goes downstairs into the young people's meeting Sunday night would he see an indication of a God who's high and lifted up when he comes into your home and sees how you react to the unexpected would he see that you believe in a God who's high and lifted up

68:49 when he watches your joy when you get a raise from the boss and you begin to decide what you're going to do with that money would he really believe that Christ is Lord of your pocketbooks when he watches what you do with your evenings in your leisure time would he really believe and see evidence that Christ is Lord of your time Lord of your television set when he watches you go down and pick out your dress and your suit would he really believe into living in God when you're living in the�o