Paul Washer | Growing in Your Love for God | Grace Life London

through conversations and things I've come to sort of believe that many of you who are at least some of you who were here at the conference this week think that possibly there was difference of differences of opinion with regard to marriage and the role of the woman and the role of man or that there was some sort of disunity I'm not aware of any disunity that I had with any of the things that were said here I'm not aware of any disunity theologically regarding marriage a manhood and womanhood that I have with anyone that spoke here let me just share with you something when you've been in the ministry for a long time and you touch the theme of marriage it is always very very frightening because you can't say everything at the same time number one and number two people seem to take certain things and run with them conformed to what they want to hear we as ministers always find ourselves when we're teaching on marriage not just teaching on marriage but also for every principle taught it seems like we're giving 10 Corrections or 10 don't misunderstand to me here for example there is a dire need in the world today for for husbands to lead their families in a christ-like manner my wife I've heard her say several times even to young groups of men that if a a man-eating lion got out in the world had starved to death because there aren't any men to eat but then you hear that and in some young men who truly love the Lord and they want to obey come back a year later after hearing what you taught on manhood and you're you're literally terrified by how they interpreted you and and they're they're being demanding to their spouses they're they're doing all sorts of things that aren't christ-like and it's like no I didn't mean any of that so so there were times when I think I probably said something quite strong and a brother felt the need to say something like you know don't misunderstand him and then there were other times when others did the same thing and I came back and said very very careful you have to understand that I'm a little well we say in the United States gun-shy because I have seen a movement that seemed to be healthy of men seeking to truly be leaders and then it just go to several terrible extremes let me share with you something about about Ephesians 5 and about proverbs 31 these things that are written there are absolutely impossible for carnal people I was asked to teach in Samara Russia several years ago on marriage and I think it ended up being something like if I'm not mistaken somewhere around 20 messages and I had was already into the teens I mean I was already more than halfway through and one Russian brother came up to me and said brother Paul the teachings been wonderful but you haven't talked about marriage this is a conference on marriage and you haven't talked about marriage and I said what have I talked about he said the fruit of the Spirit I said I can take a man who knows all the principles about leadership and and Submission and all these things and yet he's not filled with the spirit and his marriage will be a disaster he's not bearing the fruit of the Spirit his marriage will be a disaster but I can take a man who knows almost nothing about marriage but is truly truly filled with the Spirit and bearing the fruit of the Spirit he'll do okay he'll do fine but the fact that matter is we don't need to grab ahold of one and let go of the other we need to grab ahold of both of them we need to know the biblical principles but the biblical principles will be misunderstood by carnal people and they will be taken to extremes according to the desire of those carnal people you see it's very very important to understand that's what I love to teach on marriage and because what you need to understand is this if you become a godly man a truly godly christ-like man your wife will be blessed and if you become a truly godly christ-like woman your husband will be blessed even though you could never give a a series of lectures on marriage and and what I want you to do and what I'm going to talk about tonight is if someone just thinks I want to become a better husband or I want to become a better wife well that's not really the way the Bible APRI approaches it the Bible approaches it this way I want to be more conformed to the image of Christ in everything in my life that's why a lot of times I'm kind of shy and taken back when someone wants some specific answers for a specific area because I have found that godly people christ-like people spirit-filled people will do all right in every situation and that's that's what we want that's what we desire you know my prayer almost every night is Lord give my give my wife a better husband that means make me more like Christ another thing I want you to realize is that so many immature believers focus upon what their spouse is not doing and they do not focus much on what they are not being you see it doesn't say husbands commands your wife to submit to you that's a thing between the Lord and the woman and woman it doesn't say that you're supposed to nag your husband constantly to love you but God tells your husband to love you and that tells us that both of us created in the image of God we have a relationship with God a relationship and we have specific commands and we are accountable to God to carry out those commands now I want us to go to Romans chapter 12 I wanted to talk about how to grow how to be motivated in the Christian life how to grow in love for God and in Romans chapter 12 verse 1 therefore I urge you brethren by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and Holy Sacrifice acceptable to God which is your spiritual service of worship and do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you will prove what the will of God is that which is good and acceptable and perfect now I want you to look here first of all Paul is urging his readers to do something you see a lot of times when when people preach I find that they seem like they're just giving information but you know when a building's on fire you must give information to people that information is the building is on fire but it's always going to be followed with a an appropriate exhortation run for your life it's the same way in this truth that we're dealing with you know you can sit here and take in truth all week but the fact of the matter is the purpose is not merely to inform but to transform that you be changed that you actually live differently do you see that and it is a matter of life and death I have not yet found a theologian who can explain to me how I am going to enter into heaven fully accepted in the beloved that is true true true yet at the same time know that I'm going to stand before God and I am going to be judged now both of those are true and the Scriptures really don't tell us how that's going to put together I have the assurance of heaven because my hope is in Christ and Christ alone I will stand before Christ and I will be judged with regard to what I have done in the body both good and evil I will be held accountable for ministry there is a sense in which one of the gifts God's given me is that seems like every day I just see eternity I know I must live in light of eternity we are not talking here about your best life now we're talking about life death Heaven Hell eternity and so when Paul is going to teach them something he isn't just gonna lay the information out there and say I hope you like it he's going to teach it and then say listen to me he's going to urge you you've got to harken you've got to obey you've got to take this seriously if a missionary one time he was preaching in Africa and it was kind of a camp-meeting sort of thing and there was a young man on the front row and he got to his first point he finished his first point and application with regard to a godly life and the young man got up and ran out of the tent I thought that was unusual the next night he gets up and he starts preaching again and he's preaching he gets to his first point first application a young man got up and ran out of the tent he did it the third night and finally the missionary stopped him and said what are you doing and he said well I just figured I've just learned something that I'm not doing I need to go do it before I learned something else now maybe his zeal was a bit awkward but I appreciate it unlike so many people that'll soak in soak in soak in but don't realize this is not about soaking this is about transformation it's about being a godly man a godly woman a godly young person Paul says I urge you I plead with you the old preacher is preaching like a dying man to dying men life is like this yesterday you were born you were educated you now work you'll retire you'll die it's a moment in time there's no replay there's no let's do it again there's no reincarnation this is serious this is serious so he says I urge you to do something to do what to present your bodies a living and Holy Sacrifice now you know in in some evangelical traditions you'll find them giving an invitation every service and people going forward and rededicating and rededicating and rededicating their life and many times this text is used but that's that's not what this text means as a matter of fact this is an heiress tense command it's once and for all now there is a sense in which daily we need to to reapply truth we need to recommit ourselves daily but here Paul is talking about something different this is kind of this prophetic how long will you limp between two opinions if God is Lord make a decision today that will affect the rest of your life he says I'm urging you once and for all stop limping between two opinions stop having one foot in the world and one foot in the kingdom stop living for self and living for God make a decision yes Calvinistic preachers call for decisions make a decision choose you this day cheese you this day you don't hear this much an evangelical preaching anymore because bunions Vanity Fair is no longer outside the church it's in the church but I'm calling you to something biblical choose you this day how you're going to live the rest of your life now he says present your bodies he is calling upon believers to give up their lives to give up their lives now it's interesting that he uses the word body and I think it's extremely important I have had to deal with people who call themselves Christians who were involved in drunkenness and adultery and all sorts of things and when I get down and finally press their buttons you know what they usually say to me don't judge me you don't know you don't know my heart and always tell them the same thing I don't have to know your heart I just need to see what you do with your body and what you do with your body will tell me exactly what's going on in your heart don't think that there's some sort of strange dualism or dichotomy or something within you don't think that you can somehow separate part of you from another part of you you are what you are before God and don't use this excuse that your heart is devoted while the rest of you is not that simply not true what you need to understand about heart is that the heart functions is something of in the scriptures it would is it's like the control center of everything you are it controls your well everything your will your emotions your actions everything let me give you an example let's say that this building was on fire and you knew it was on fire it would affect every aspect of your being emotionally you would become afraid with the will you would make certain decisions and your body would follow those decisions so don't trick yourself what you see in the mirror is what you see in your heart don't talk about a love for Christ that's not proven don't talk about a devotion to Christ where there is no evidence for said devotion saying for once in your life make a decision what kind of decision is it there's no greater thing than a man woman a young person can give but their life you only have one it's fleeting it's small it's quick and you're commanded by God to give it all to him to him my sister was talking to me a few months ago and she says well how's it going with all the kids I said fine I'm just continued teaching them praying for them I said I just want them to to try to follow in the footsteps of their father she said you want them all to be preachers I said no but I want them to strive to do what I have in a very stumbling way attempted to do live their life for the glory of God whether they be a school teacher or a military man or a doctor or lawyer or carpenter a ditch digger a nurse that every breath every beat of the heart be for the glory of God for that very thing you were made and for that very reason you find a lack of peace and much misery in your own heart to the degree that you do the thing for which you were made you will find peace and joy and life to the degree you stray from that you'll find nothing nothing nothing now he says present your bodies a living and Holy Sacrifice this word living here can can be Paul could have two things in mind it's hard to discern which of the two or possibly both together one has to do with if you are going to accomplish this if you're going to offer yourself to God there is only one way and that is to be alive when we talk about being alive we're talking about being regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit we're talking about the true meaning of being born again you see in the United States and possibly here we have a thing called born-again ism where being born-again simply means that you raised your hand and made a decision at some evangelistic campaign that's not being born again being born again is a sovereign supernatural work of the Spirit of God it comes upon a man through the preaching of the gospel and that supernatural work of the Spirit in conversion I believe is actually a greater work of God than when he created the universe ex nihilo because when he created the universe ex nihilo out of nothing that was one thing but to take a mass of corrupt humanity and make it into a child of God now there is a work of power so we're not talking about moralism here we're not talking about turning over a new leaf what we're talking about is preaching the gospel to individuals who are genuinely truly biblically converted and being new creatures begin to live a new way you see that but it can also refer to zeal passion it's amazing you go to a football game whether it's American football or football here in Europe and see people literally almost almost tearing their own flesh to see them going almost wild any extent to see their team win any extent to get tickets any extent to buy the right Jersey talk talk talk talk that's all anyone talks about in light of the Son of God suffering the wrath of God on Calvary and dying for us what is that what is football what is anything nonsense and worse than nonsense I'll never forget years ago when I was pastoring in Peru and it was the World Cup and everything shuts down literally and people would stand on the street in front of television stores that would have TVs in the window just so they could see the game I mean everything shuts down and I remember there was this little woman in my church from the mountains she was about this tall and it was a Sunday night and I was coming down the steps of this old building we used as a church and she was going up up the steps to the roof and I said Delia I said I'm gonna shut down the building and she says oh I know I know in Spanish of course she said I know I said where are you going she says I'm going to the roof to pray and I said well I'm but I'm closing the doors she said I know it'll be all right so while everyone is going crazy for the World Cup that so broke her heart she stayed up on the roof of the church for an entire week only coming down to refill her bottle of water to fast and to pray that God's people that their heart would be turned towards him in a greater way do you see living for what really matters living for what's real a living sacrifice a holy sacrifice do you know that holy really you know I asked people what does holiness mean they said well God is sinless I go what is righteousness mean well God is sinless I said where's the problem holiness the root idea is to cut like let's say I had a wooden cutting board here and I had to care it and I started my wife can chop it really really fast and then when she loads up this in she moves it over and she creates a pile she separates separates cuts and separates that's the idea when the Bible says that God is holy it does mean he's he's sinless but only in an indirect way holiness means that God is separate that's what Jesus is getting to in the Lord's Prayer hallowed be thy name separate be thy name and what it means is this that God exists in a completely different category he is not quantitatively he's not just quantitatively bigger than us I want you to understand this he's not like us just bigger and better he is qualitatively different from us he is in a completely different category and when you see God is holy it means that you have placed God in your heart in a category totally separate and distinct from all other categories you'll hear people say say this keep God number one my question is well what's number two you see what you need to understand God is number one number two number three number four all the way down for you to see God as holy is for you to see him as in a category all to himself above all other categories completely separate completely distinct completely other and for you to be holy is not just that you follow the rulebook for you to be holy is for you to be separate unto him when Jesus said blessed are the pure in heart a good free translation would be blessed are those whose in whose in their in their heart there are no competing loyalties they are their unalloyed they are separate unto God belong to God belong to God when I first told my my pastor years ago that I said God is calling me to preach I've never met a man like him since it was a rare and amazing man giant of a man kind of really intimidating I went in his office and I said I believe God has called me to preach he looked up and he said boy can you be alone and I thought he meant this I thought he meant you know if I preach the truth no one will like me and I'll be alone well that has happened but that's not what he meant he said while all the other boys are running around in their bachelor packs and all the other ministers are young ministers are getting together and singing Kumbaya can you be alone with God in prayer in the scriptures in the Nightwatch can you be separate unto God you belong to him you belong to him no other no other to him to him and in being that way if you are separate unto him you will be separated from that which he hates do you know when you read through the scripture you discover quite quickly there are things that God loves you discover quite quickly that there are things that God hates in a terrifying fashion yes things he hates you very rarely hear a prosperity preacher talk about the doctrine of the hatred of God but it's all over the Bible he hates unrighteousness and he named some of them specifically he hates them even a proud look he hates so one of the things we do because we love him because we want to please him as we go into Scripture and we discover what God hates and we learn to hate what he hates and we learn to love what he loves living Holy Sacrifice acceptable to God that which is pleasing to God Paul said whether he lived or died in 2nd Corinthians 5 he had one goal be pleasing to the Lord man if I could just get that one thing if that could just be twenty four hours a day seven days a week the true controlling principle of my life how much more holy would I be if I could just set that one thing in place like stone I have only one true desire to be pleasing to the Lord and then I went into scripture to find out what that means everything else would fall in place wouldn't it now Paul is asking us purging us pleading with us to give away our lives and he goes on and he says that is your spiritual service of worship that word spiritual can also mean rational let me share with you something it is not rational to give your life away to any man any religious man that's what we call a cult it is not rational to give yourself lock stock and barrel to a spiritual leader or even a church that is not rational that is dangerous if you have a church it's a biblical Church seeking to do the will of God praise God be faithful to that church but you never give your life away to anyone less than God my wife and have and I have many conversations about what we should do in our family in our home not because she doesn't follow my leadership I need her to ask questions why I need her give input why I am NOT Jesus Christ I am a fallible man that's why ministers only have a thority to the degree that they correctly expound the Scriptures this silly idea and these charismatic prosperity churches about you know touch not God's anointed and the man of God and all that that is a great twisting of Scripture that serves the stick money in the minister's pocket that and control people that's all that is our authority comes from the scriptures do you see that and it is not rational to give your life away to the best men it is not rational to give your life away to devote yourself wholly and completely to anything other than Christ but it is rational to give your life away to Christ the Son of God who became a man who died and rose again you know I always like bringing this point up you know he was tempted in always like us yet he didn't sin you think man that's amazing that's absolutely amazing but see you're not really understanding what he's saying there you're not understanding let me give you an example let's say I'm I can't do this but let's say that I could let's say that I was a power of an Olympic lifter okay and you had a bar and two plates it's 135 pounds so I do a clean and jerk and I get it up and I get it over my head and all of you applaud wonderful so we stick two more plates on now we got 225 pounds and I go down again good form pick it up get it over my head and you apply and then we put on three plates we got 315 on there and I get it up to here get it over my head start to shake my elbows give and I have to throw it off my back okay now let's make this a competition you and me are like the the weightlifter that takes the 135 gets it up gets it over and then there's a professional weightlifter over here who takes the same bar and gets it up gets it over then we get the 225 pick it up get it up get it over or happy he takes it gets it up boom then we get to the 3:15 and we go up and we can't do it but this guy over here takes the 3:15 picks it up and gets it over his head then he goes to 405 picks it up gets it over his head then he goes to 600 gets it up and picks it over his head then he takes the building picks it up and gets it over his head he didn't just do what you did without failing he did infinitely more than you ever picked up and didn't fail you see the difference it isn't just that Christ was tempted like you he was tempted ly infinitely more than you and still he didn't fall but let me prove my point the Bible says that the end of all commands is to love the Lord your God with all your heart soul mind and strength now I want to share with you something since Adam till now the possibly what maybe a hundred billion people or whatever that have lived on this planet not one person among all those billions of people has loved the Lord their God with all their heart soul mind and strength not even for a fraction of a second do you understand me no one has ever done that among billions and billions of people of Adam's race no one has ever loved the Lord their God with all their heart soul mind and strength even for a fraction of a second what all humanity could not do for a fraction of a second the Lord Jesus Christ did every moment of his life now it makes sense to give your life away to someone like that for him for him I talked about that message I preached several years ago that became well-known it's it's a hard thing to be famous for only one sermon but I guess ones better than zero and I talked about if my son ever came to me and said dad I'm going into that country and I tell them son you crossed the border into that country they'll kill you the moment you say the word Jesus but Dad I'm going my response would be son I'll carry your backpack to the border and I'll praise God as they take your life I'm not kidding I wasn't kidding in I'm not kidding now that is not a foolish thing it is not a foolish thing as Elliott said for a man to give up what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose now please God is not speaking through me at this moment telling somebody to go do that somewhere I'm trying to prove a point it is rational to give ourselves entirely to him and let me share with you something he is trustworthy and not just in big things and little things and everything he is trustworthy you can trust your entire life to him he faileth not he faileth not I've never met one spiritual Saint even those who have suffered to the greatest degree that went to their grave with a complaint on their lips he does not fail so it is rational to give yourself to him now you know let me say this I I'm kind of that guy who God gave him a horse and a message and he killed the horse I'm tired I'm not the same person I was I'll never be it seems like every day I just get weaker my only regret is that I didn't give him more ice my only regret and oh there's a bunch of them my only regret is that when I did do what I did that I didn't do it with greater and more biblical wisdom but I have no regret for anything I gave I only have regrets for what I can't it is a rational service of worship now here's the main point though that I want to get to he is urging us to give away you could say the only possession that we have to give away our lives for him now before I get into this I want to say giving away your life doesn't mean you become a missionary or a pastor or a street preacher it means within his Providence for your life you devote yourself to him whether it be a school teacher or a nurse a mother at home a carpenter a janitor a doctor that you don't fool yourself by singing about your devotion without practicing your devotion that you honestly and not just once but many times throughout the course of your life you look in the mirror of God's Word and you ask yourself Lord and my own course are there competing loyalties in my heart are there things that are keeping me from you from greater service what do you want of me you see the janitor that is wholeheartedly devoted to Christ will have a better day on the day of judgment than the missionary who started four hundred churches that was half-hearted in his duties all our ideas and much of it comes from all these a lot of large preaching conferences you think the sign that someone is a man of God is that everybody sees him on the platform that's simply not true I know brothers and you'll never know their name and I'm not worthy to carry their sandals it's about here it's about being devoted in the context of the Providence of God for your life now having said that Paul is urging us and again preaching is a great sorrow because you can't communicate even what you want to communicate and you know what you want to communicate isn't half the story of what God saying not even a tenth part he's saying a radical obedience to Jesus Christ which finds itself not in some some crazy extreme religious practice but in bearing the fruit of the Spirit and walking and simple devotion to Christ and and loving everyone around you and serving but now having asked us to do this to give ourselves away my question is what's the motivation how can I mean what could be big enough to motivate a person to give away the only life they have what could be big enough to do that he tells us verse 1 therefore I urge you brethren by the mercies of God what is the great motivation for giving our lives away he says it here the mercies of God and if you can begin a journey of searching these out you will see how it will transform your life first of all notice that he says he doesn't say mercy of God he says mercies of God in Hebrew if you see a body of water like a maybe a small pond or a small puddle of water you use the singular you're looking at the ocean you use the plural it can mean great it talks about greatness the expanse of something the largeness of something the largeness of God's mercies but the idea also is this mercies meaning the the many faceted mercies of God God's mercy like God's love is like a diamond that you hold up to the light and there's all these facets and different brilliance --is that shine forth if you want to grow in your devotion so that you can honestly give more and more of your life away the journey to that begins by discovering more and more of the mercies of God now notice the preposition the conjunction preposition therefore it's very important because when he says I want you to give your life away and the motivation for doing it is the mercies of God then you go what are the mercies of God he's laid that out in the last 11 chapters everything that God has done for you and me in the person of Jesus Christ that is what I'm getting to you got the first three chapters of the book of Romans and what do you see a radically depraved mankind sinful not strong enough evil worthy of only one thing the wrath of a good God and in the end you come to these conclusions of condemnation and there's no salvation through works nothing we can do to refine ourselves restore ourselves nothing it is ABB's absolutely hopeless and then we come to the end of three and going on into four and five and what do we find God has done a tremendous work through the death and resurrection of his only begotten Son on our behalf now just quickly I want that just look back for a moment to Roman's 3 because I want to point something out that I always I'm terrible at this I always want to preach a thousand things but in verse 25 of chapter 3 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in his blood through faith this was to demonstrate his righteousness because in the forbearance of God he passed over the sins previously committed for the demonstration I say of his righteousness at the present time so that he would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus I believe that I have just read to you the most important passage in the entire Bible and I'll tell you why notice what he says the word propitiation that Christ was offered as a propitiation that is a sacrifice a sacrifice that appeases the wrath of God by satisfying the righteous demands of a holy God now why is that important this was to demonstrate his righteousness Christ died on the cross to prove that God is righteous now why would we need proof that God's righteous was the reason for doubt yes what's that reason for doubt all of the Old Testament history when someone looks at Old Testament history with a keen eye it will begin to make you wonder is God really just now why is that because in the forbearance of God he passed over the sins previously committed now what does that mean we don't know as much about Satan sometimes as we think we do he is a personal being he has fallen he's malignant he's evil who has created good he fell and when he fell he was brought into perfect justice perfect justice God creates the world there's Adam and Eve the day you eat of that tree you will die it seems to be an open-and-shut case you disobey you're dead there's no hope it's over they fall and in genesis 3:15 we have the protoevangelium which is the first promise of the gospel that God would send someone who would be born of woman that would take it on the heel that would be wounded but would crush the Serpent's head and put an end to his work can you imagine when Satan heard that the accuser is not just the accuser of the Brethren he's the accuser of God where where's your justice you said the day they eat of it they die now there's hope why hope they violated your law they deserve to die why hope how can you have hope I thought you were good and then Noah Noah should have died Noah should have died with the rest of them don't you understand that Noah was a sinner he proved that quite well afterwards didn't he imagine Satan you should have killed him too where is your justice Ibrahim hey bruh you're a friend of this man he lied about his wife he lied to Abimelech he put her in danger and he didn't believe you too much Oh in Israel your people your but they worshipped me in the desert not you where's your justice they should die from where do all these promises of salvation come the law demands they die oh and David a man after your own heart he's a murderer an adulterer and his pride led to the death of thousands and so throughout history accusation after accusation after accusation God is not just God is not just God is not just and then 2,000 years ago God calls to court he calls together the court Satan appeared front and center do you want to know how I can give a promise to Adam do you want to know how I can save Noah the sinner from the flood do you want to know how I can call unbelieving Abraham my friend Israel my people do you want to know how I can call David my son and still be just look to Calvary right now turn your face to Calvary because there my son dies for them all the greatest problem in theology and philosophy is this if God is good he cannot forgive you you need to understand that because that's the core of the gospel study the the not just the father's but 15th century 16th century 17th century was painted on every sermon I almost never hear it today the great problem of all problems is this if God is good he cannot forgive you how can as Paul says look here he says in Romans 3 verse 26 for the demonstration I say of his righteousness at the present time so that he would be just in the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus how can God forgive wicked sinners and at the same time maintain his justice there's only one way God becomes a man lives a perfect life goes to the tree takes the sin of his people upon himself and then is crushed under the full force of his wrath and when he dies he satisfies every demand of justice against God's people and now God's people are free and the devil according to the writer of Hebrews has no grounds for any accusation against them ever again or against God so why should you offer your life as a living sacrifice the gospel of Jesus Christ and the more you understand the gospel if you have a regenerate heart the more you understand the gospel the more your heart will give itself to God I've heard people say oh gosh we're going to hear a gospel message we've heard that let me share something with you I've had people tell me I've already studied the gospel I tell you I want to slap them just slap them like my wife says sometimes people just need a high-five in the face with a chair I want to slap them let me tell you something I can't tell you I wish I had written it down every time of all the works of Spurgeon that I've read every time he apologized at the beginning of his sermon because he's getting ready to say I'm going to preach the gospel and I will fail I know nothing and what I know I can't explain listen to me you will be a thousand eternities in heaven and you will still not have gotten your mind around the glory of God revealed in the gospel do you understand me it is beyond comprehension you chase that truth throughout all eternity every day if you will discover a truckload of gold regarding the gospel you would still know nothing at the end of your days even after I've said this after a thousand eternities you will not have reached the foothills of the Everest that is the gospel of Jesus Christ and it's chasing after how is it that God saved me through his son the more you know the mercies of God revealed in their greatest revelation which is the gospel of Jesus Christ the more you will be compelled you'll be like a prisoner who can do nothing else when Paul said I'm a prisoner of Christ Jesus yes there was a literal sense but it was far more behind those words look what he says in 2nd Corinthians just turn there quickly chapter 5 verse 13 for if we are beside ourselves it is for God and if we are of sound mind it is for you for the love of Christ controls us the love of Christ controls us now some people in their humanistic carnal flesh say oh yeah Paul's love for Christ was so great no that's not what Paul's saying the genitive here I believe is not Paul is not boasting in his love for Christ Paul is boasting in Christ's love for him he's saying haven't gotten my mind just a little bit around the love of Christ revealed on Calvary it controls me a member a young man who was radically converted on a campus and he was like kinda the man about campus and in one day it's just like boom flip-flop he gets converted in the afternoon the next day someone bought him a rari Study Bible he took at the class and then the day later he's out in the middle of the quad handing out tracts I mean that quick and a horrible young man and someone came up to him and said why are you doing people think you've lost your mind and it was decades ago when people you know everybody said they believed in Jesus and he said this did did do you believe he really died for us sinners the student goes yeah yeah really then what else can I do I have no place else to go I have nothing else to do this is the greatest thing ever you see people came to our church I'm not an elder there there has to be somewhere where you wait tables and and my elders asked me to preach a series so I was up there preaching and someone came several people came for like three weeks and then they came up to the elders and they said we have a question and elder Anthony said well what goes whoa has Paul compromised and they said and he said Paul when that when they said that he goes I begin to smile I knew exactly what they were gonna say I said why do you ask he says well we've been here for three weeks and and all he's taught on is the love of God because knowing that you're seeing not now the youtubes Paul you're seeing this is the regular guy here because I want you to know I honestly believe that if a truly regenerate heart that's why regeneration is so important that's why a converted membership is so important if a truly regenerate heart comes to understand little by little the mercies of God in the cross of Calvary you won't have to drive them whip them beat them you left it you have to follow it's the love of God revealed in Calvary take take some of the great Saints down through history that were extraordinary in their devotion and their service how do you think they got that way do you think they were just a better stock than you they're not they came from Adam just like you no better stock were they more devoted I mean well what was the deal no you're putting the cart before the horse I'll tell you what the deal is only one thing they saw more of the love of God in Christ than you're seeing because if your heart is regenerate it will grab you and you will become a prisoner of Christ and look look what he says again in second Corinthians he says 14 for the love of Christ controls us having concluded this that the one died for all therefore all died and he died for all so that they who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who died and rose again on their behalf we ought to live for him now I want to end by talking about how do you grow in your love for God you know for years I have watched while almost every sincere believer I know laments the fact that they do not love God as they ought I lament the fact that I do not love God as I ought no one loves God as they ought and the only one who's ever done that is our Lord Jesus Christ even the most holy of men and women do not love God as they ought but all should be growing in their love for God and how can we do that well I lament the fact that so often you know there's all these conferences acquire the fire revive us again you know this and that and students and adults will go to these conferences and the music and the impassioned preaching in the manipulation of emotions and all sorts of things that go on and they're fired up they leave the conference and it lasts about three days and then they're back where they started not only that if that happens enough they become delusioned critical and angry how do you grow how do you make yourself grow in your love for God well let me give you an illustration let's say that tomorrow you come to the church at about 10 o'clock to clean up and help okay it's been a long week you've decided you're gonna come and and I've showed up and you walk in that door right there and I'm laying on my back here having died of a heart attack I'm just laying on my back okay and as I'm laying on my back you see that I've got my hands like this around my belt and I'm going like this laying on my back yeah and you walk over and go further Paul what are you doing and I said well isn't it obvious no it's not obvious what are you doing well I'm trying to get up and you go you've never studied physics have you if you are going to get up by the pulling on the belt then an outside force is going to have to pull on that belt you cannot pull yourself up by your belt someone from the outside of you must come and exert force to lift you up now you think who would be stupid enough to lay on their back and pull it their belt all their life you you do it all the time let it sink in everytime usually when I say that my church some little kid goes mom I thought we weren't supposed to use the word stupid but who would do that who would do that who in their right mind would do that you see I can't get up that way I have to have someone quite strong come and grab my belt and pick me up from the outside it's the same with growing in the love of God you can't wind yourself up like a clock because if you do you just wind back down again now before I give you the answer let me give you an illustration I have been married 26 years and I love my wife now more than I did when I first married her why I mean we've both gotten older even though she's still beautiful and perfect we both have gotten older so why do I love her more because after 26 years there are virtues Merritt's excellencies that I see in her that I did not see in her when we were first married and those excellencies and virtues that are in her draw out my affections and lift me up to love her sometimes you see a man or this also works with a woman you'll see a man and he seems to really really love his wife I mean really and immediately what do you think that's a wonderful man again you could be wrong is he a wonderful man or is he just a normal man but he has such a wonderful wife with such excellent sees such virtue that she pulls his affections out of him she draws them out and you see I want you to see it that way because I believe it's true people will ask from where comes the zeal from where comes the passion from where comes the love well if you look at a saint and you see it in them well then I guess there's a lot to glory in in that Saint but I don't think that's the way Christianity is supposed to work you see if you're unregenerate if you're not a Christian then the more you see of a biblical vision of God the more you'll hate him that's true the more the unregenerate man sees of God the more he hates him that's why our society the more and more that it it becomes defiled any revelation of God makes them angry do you see that but the regenerate heart the heart that has been renewed by the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the gospel the regenerate heart the more it sees of God and especially God as he has revealed in the cross of Calvary because the greatest revelation of God is the cross because they're all the attributes of God are portrayed it's the first time it is V time in history when all the attributes of God are portrayed in perfect harmony and we see that justice and love are not against one another the more you see of God in Christ the more your affections will be drawn out and the more those affections will draw you to him and drive you into his service okay and that's really the object of preaching the object of preaching let me will close go go to a text that know it no one would ever think about with regard to preach and go to job 28 I'm going to show you the job of a of a real preacher now some of you are here from maybe other churches some of you are here from where preaching is all about Sybil's or you know all about you or your best life now or just excitement and entertainment well that that's not that's not preaching and that's not church you're in a carnival you're in a circus but you're not in a church a church is about the revelation of God in Christ now this is not there's no intention here of job to talk about preaching but what he is talking about is an ancient form of mining and I want you to just look at the parallels I've thought about taking this whole thing and putting it in my putting on a big plaque in my in my study surely there is a mine for silver in a place where they refine gold there is the old saints alexander mclaren and others used to say the dust of this book is gold there is only one place where you can find silver where you can find gold and it's in the scriptures you don't need someone's opinion about god someone's extra biblical revelation about God you need to know God from God's Word iron is taken from the dust and copper smelted from the rock now look look at what this man does just to get a piece of stone man puts an end to darkness into the farthest limits he searches out the rock and gloom and deep shadow he sinks a shaft far from habitation forgotten by foot they hang and swing to and fro far from men here is a person who for the sake of finding or or a bit of gold or a shiny rock look what he's willing to do lights a lamp is willing to go away from other men in order to is willing to dig and dig and dig and dig and it says five the Earth from it comes food and underneath it is turned up his fire it's rock so the source of sapphires and its dust contains gold he goes down and it says in verse nine he puts his hand on the flint he overturns the mountains at the base he hews out channels through the rock this is when they had probably Bronze Age tools that don't do to weld it rock his eyes see anything precious he dams up the streams from flowing and what is hidden he brings out to the light I've meditated that on that so often with regard to preaching and with regard the gospel do you know what the object of preaching is is for a man to go to get away from other men to hide himself to study the scriptures and to dialogue with other godly men through commentaries through through fellowship but to live their life finding the gold of God in the person of Christ and the text and then bringing that beauty to you so that you marvel it who God is who Christ is and through that marveling you're driven to devotion that's what's supposed to be done that's why preachers are not supposed to be entertainers movers and shakers administrators strategists marketers are these silly charismatic prosperity preachers who have their hand out you notice some of you need to hear this that in those churches the average length of stay for a members about three years because sooner or later they find out the only one getting rich is the preacher get out of there get in a place where Christ is preached do you know what most people go to prosperity preachers because they're just like them the prosperity preachers don't want Christ they want money and the people who follow them don't want Christ they want money if you're there repent and get out of there and get in a good church that preaches only Jesus one of the reasons I'm in the church I'm in is because the elders say over and over to all kinds of people we're only going to give you one thing here Christ as he has revealed in the scriptures if you want something more you'll not be happy here Christ what do i long for you I long listen a man a husband who gets a proper glimpse of God in Christ it is not going to be a dictator over his wife and family a woman a wife who gets a proper view of God in Christ and all the glories to come is not going to be a contentious woman all the missionaries that died as martyrs all the men who have lived and died ministering without anyone knowing their name all the women who have served and have done it well it's not because they were better than you they saw more of Christ than you but God has promised his spirit belongs to all his people to the wise and the noble to the uneducated to those who cannot even read there's nothing hindering you from knowing more about God in Christ then then that simply you will not give yourself to this and one practical thing I would like to say is this sometimes people come up to me and they go how do I start doing this and I asked them how many times did you read through the Bible this year and they go wife I've never read through the Bible that's where I want you to start now here's what I want you to see if you do not pray let's say you pray zero everyday then I don't want you going out of this building tonight and dedicating yourself to praying an hour tomorrow because that's not going to last I don't care where you are I just want to see one foot in front of the other if you're praying zero right now set it in your heart pray five minutes tomorrow I don't want you walking out here and reading ten chapters a day go home you've never read through the Bible start reading in in the book of Matthew and read through the New Testament a chapter a day some of you some of you may work up to three chapters today and here's what I heartily recommend now I study I'm not exaggerating most of my day is given to study and a lot of times it's the original languages it's ancient theologians and all kinds of stuff now I'm not saying that to brag I'm saying that to make a point I have daily reading of the scriptures and you know how I do it I get a cup of coffee I sit down at a table and you know what I use I pull out my my Hebrew and my Greek New Testament no I don't I pull out an English Bible and not only that I pull out a Study Bible why cuz I come to some name of some city and I don't know where it is I don't want to run to the library I just want to look down real quick and go on I use a Study Bible why because I'm not there to write a book on epistemology I'm there to simply enjoy myself reading through the Bible that's what I so long for you sit down and read a chapter the John MacArthur Study Bible is good the ESV Study Bible is good centreline Christianity basic Christianity do you see and just enjoy yourself read a chapter and then the next day chapter 2 and just read drink coffee read drink tea whatever you do and read and then pray now there's two types of Bible study and there's two types of Prayer and if you don't get this right you're gonna blow it there's prayer with your boots on and prayer with your boots off there's reading the Bible with your boots on and reading the Bible with your boots off I'm talking about boots off here now what do I mean most people say it's hard to pray and that's because they only think of prayer is intercession if if you think all that prayer is is intercession then you're right when you say it's extremely difficult it's not only extremely difficult it's warfare it's horrible it's sweaty it's bloody it's tiring it hurts and it's no fun most people listen to me there's intercession in an intercession you're grabbing ahold of the horns of the altar you're crying out to God in Jesus name to liberate Zambia to push back evil to help our brothers in China you're working you're sweating that's prayer but that's only intercessory prayer that's prayer work that's prayer with your boots on and if that's all you do you will never learn to enjoy prayer that's prayer with your boots on prayer with your boots off it's me at a table with a cup of coffee with my Bible open talking to God me because I live in the forest walking down a lane talking to God me enjoying God me marveling and sunset saying whoa you painted that one beautiful today me walking with God me laughing with God me talking to God and enjoying god that's prayer with your boots off and that's where you need to start then there's right reading the Bible with your boots on and reading your Bible with your boots off if all I did was have a Greek text the Septuagint and Hebrew and my text here in commentaries and I'm fighting through to figure out what on earth this means I'm sweating I'm tired I want to run away it's so hard my brain is wrapped around something I can't figure it out and I'm wore out that's necessary for a preacher but if that's all his Bible study is he's going to be in a lot of trouble so there's reading the Bible with your with your boots on when some days as a lay person you're going to want to say I want to understand Romans six and seven good luck I want to understand Romans six and seven and you may stay there for a couple of weeks but never let that take away from that time of seated at that table with your boots off just enjoying God please please also don't think I pray for hours tomorrow when you usually don't pray pray pray in the morning pray in the evening pray at lunch a few minutes and begin to cultivate the mind of Christ begin to cultivate a life of devotion okay I know I've gone on too long but this is so important for you believers start off small just enjoy yourself when I get to a text and I've got preach it or I got do something I want to tell you something it's intimidating sometimes I'm even afraid like I make excuses I don't want to sit down in the chair because I know all the problems I'm gonna have to deal with I get to the text but in the morning so when I sit down and just read the Bible it's so it's just a little child I don't have to I don't have to do anything but just hear the words of my father do you see and if I don't understand it it just go on learn to walk with God that way please all right well we've said a lot of things haven't we but if you're hearing you don't know Christ your life is not been transform and is not transforming I always say it that way because there is an initial transformation when you're born again you do become a new creature and it will be obvious but then you spend the rest of your life being transformed and sometimes it's to step forward and three steps back so so you know think about these things think about these things let's pray father I pray that you would use this to help your people and I pray dear God that if there's someone here that doesn't have assurance of salvation that the Lord you would just help in the matter help in the matter Lord and I pray that Christians will take the things that were said here tonight that that are true and that you would work at applying them not only to their life but to my life in the pastor's lives who are here Lord we all always need to hear this same thing help us in Jesus name

Channel: HeartCry Missionary Society

Views: 45,073

Rating: 4.949327 out of 5

Keywords: paul washer, heartcry, jesus christ, missions, bible, sermons, gospel, missionary, society, god

Id: Kohb2rA_Y7Y

Length: 78min 25sec (4705 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 11 2020