S. M. Lockridge - Faith and Works

ah how delighted I am to see this crowd here tonight crowd of all ages and all levels of life and everywhere I go I say irrespective of the age go and get you some learning go and get you some learning so that other people will not look down on you and then go and get you some old learn and so you won't look down on other people but I happen to notice if you know a little something the world doesn't want to give you credit and if you're not sure about some things they'll brag on you when Christopher Columbus left home he didn't know whey was going when he got here he didn't know whey was when he returned home he didn't know Wade bid and we give him credit for discovering America and then while you're getting you learn and learn to use what you know some years ago a boy whose parents had no formal training wanted their son to have educational advantages so they got their money together and sent this boy away to school and after the first year when the boy returned home he was eager to let his parents know what he'd learned in school that morning the father went out and killed two ducks the mother dressed these ducks and baked them real brownly and called him to dinner and the boy said this is my opportunity to let my parents know what I've learned in school when they were seated at the table the boy said daddy there are three ducks in that dish the father said no I didn't kill but to the boss at all but they have three ducks in that dish and the mother said I didn't bake but two boss still insisted that there are three ducks in that dish and he set out to try to explain he say you see you take a certain potion from this duck and an equal portion from this duck and put these potions together this will equal that and that will equal this and the more he tried to explain the more confused the father became so he just bowed his head and said gracious Lord we do humbly thank thee for what we are about to receive for the nourishment of our bodies for Christ our Redeemer sake amen and he up one duck and put in the mother's plate and he up the other duck and put in his plate and say now you help yourself to that third day I'm using for subject this evening sharing our life in Christ in service share in our life in Christ in service the text comes from our Lord's Gospel according to Luke the tenth chapter and I'll begin reading with verse 25 Luke 10 and 45 and the whole a certain lawyer stood up and tempted him saying master what shall I do to inherit eternal life and he said unto him what is written in the law and how read his style and he answered and said thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy strength and with all thy mind and thy neighbor as thyself and he said unto Him thou has answered write this do and thou shall live I wanna lay emphasis on the latter portion of the 28th verse he answered and said unto him thou has answered write this do and thou shall live you know what to say now go do it you preached now go practice what you've preached is it strange that everybody wants to live but he spends his time died you will agree I'm sure that we live in a sadly sick society men still think that they can find peace of mind in pills they're trying to eat their way to esta say they're trying to drink their way to pleasure they're trying to smoke their way to settle the nerves they kind of puff their way to popularity and push their way to power they try to bully their way to friendship and bum their way to world peace but I've come tonight to tell you that I know where poor man has a chance that a sick man can get well that an ignorant man can become wise that a bad man can be made good a good man can be made better even a dead man can be made alive in Jesus Christ one day an expert and Moses's law came to test Jesus's orthodoxy by asking him this question teacher what does a man need to do to live now and to live forever in heaven and Jesus replied what does Moses's law say about it and the man replied and Moses's law said thou must love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy soul and with all thy strength and with all thy mind and then you must love your neighbor just as you love yourself Jesus said that right go do it and you should live you know what to say go do it we not only must say what's right but we must do what's right if you really want to live you must share your life in Christ in cities first you must come to him who is life who has come that we might have life and that we might have it more abundantly now we are meeting against the backdrop of mouthing world tension this hate-filled world is desperate for a decent way of life now I'm too ignorant to speak wisely and I trust them too wise to speak ignorantly but a man does not have to be listed in the who's who to know what's what they as he stands with the newspaper in one hand and a Bible in the other with his eyes focused on the television and as he is tuned to the radio he can hear a walls and rumors of walls rumbling around the world he can see astounding world events tumbling over each other in rapid succession rushing on the room civilization is torn with degradation and flirting with doom and disaster high-mindedness runs the streets like a mad dog beating an uncertain path selfishness has evaporated the milk of human kindness and pain and panic are chasing each other like junebugs playing in the Summer Sun Paradise has been turned into pandemonium and puny me and are still fiddling around with passing days now under the magic of science distance has disappeared we no longer measure distance by the meijer but by the hour Los Angeles is ten hours from London that simply says that isolationism is dead and buried without the slightest hope of a resurrection now whether we realize it or not we are interdependent and we are interrelated we cannot live without each other and then we have not learned to live with each other unless we learn to live with each other it is doubtful that we shall live it all you see science has given us proximity but it cannot give us community and proximity without community spells trouble and that's where we are now if you really want to live you've got to come to the Lord Jesus Christ let him give you life that will never end and then go and share that life that you have with us if you really want to live you must love God and labor in that order you know the trouble with us in our day is we are trying to love each other we're trying to get along with each other without God in the last decade or so we have spent millions trying to get men to live peaceably one with the other now you will know that men quit acting like brothers in Cain and Abel today we say we have racial problem our problem is racial but I submit to you that our problem is not a skin problem it's a sin problem Cain and Abel were the sons of the same father and mother and thereby of the same race and Cain killed Abel and then if you think that it's just a skin problem if you going down a dark stretch of the road at night and you hear some footsteps behind you you don't wonder what color that man is you want to know the condition of his heart we must love God and then neighbor in that order I said we're trying to pay me and to live peaceably one with the other don't you know God is the only one who has to love who loves without a reason God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son but human beings love for reason I hear the psalmist said I love the Lord because he has heard my voice at my supplication because but God loves us without our being lovable ha lovely God loves us he does not love us because we are valuable but we have valuable because God loves us God loves us not because Jesus died for us but Jesus died for us because God loves us if God loved us and now reason for being here in this world is that we might glorify here not glorify or says our neighbour but glorify God we must love God and neighbor in that order our theology has got to be expressed in our sociology one cannot be human alone it takes God and another but you know we are forever blowing bubbles looking for ships that never come in chasing pots of gold at the end of receding rainbows now when a child blows bubbles he's not concerned about values he's thrilled as long as the bubble lasts and when he when it bursts he simply blows another how do you expect your ships to come in when you've sent no ships out and you never will find that proverbial pot of gold because you try to ignore him who has the rainbow wrapped around his shoulder you remember back during the sixties the offbeat theologians walked around in their subsurface play pens and emerged and announced that God was dead now that shouldn't have been surprising to us because the Bible has informed us that the Fool has said in his heart there is no God and when I first heard that absurd statement it made me want to ask some stupid and senseless questions like who assassinated God and what coroner was called and who signed his death certificate and who was so well-acquainted with the one pronounced dead that he could identify the disease in what a aware of column did you find his name and why was I not notified I'm a member of the family god his spirit he does not die by assassination he does not die by pronouncement he does not die by denial he just does not die he says real today as he was to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden if you trust him he'll be as true to you as he washed Abram when Abram was called to go out not knowing whether he went if you'll trust him he will be as evident to you as he was to Moses when God manifested himself in a burning bush now when they couldn't get anywhere with the god is dead idea now in these 70s one of the top theological questions is where did God come from now the primary purpose of God in creation was to prepare a moral being spiritual and intellectually capable of worshipping him when heaven and earth were yet on me when there was empty blackness and gourd farm lessness and darkness was on the face of the deep when time was yet unknown thou in thy blistered Majesty did live and love alone he called light out of darkness he called cosmos out of chaos he called order out of confusion but the question still clamors for an answer where did God come from the answer is he came from nowhere now that's theologically correct and is biblically sound but Habakkuk said I saw him when he left the hills of teman the Holy One from mount Paran and teaming simply means nothing on nowhere so he came from nowhere I made that state of it in Detroit some time ago and a man talked with me after the service and he said preacher let's be reasonable about this thing you up there talking about God came from nowhere that doesn't make sense let's be reasonable about it I said all right if you just want to be reasonable about it the reason God came from nowhere is because there wasn't anywhere for him to come from and coming from nowhere he stood on nothing and the reason he had to stand on nothing there was nowhere understand and standing on nothing he reached out where there was nowhere to reach and he caught something when there was nothing to catch and hung something or nothing and told it to stay there now you can you can find that in job 26 and 7 that he hung this world on nothing and standing on nothing he took the hammer of his own will and struck the anvil of his omnipotence and sparks flew therefrom and he caught them on the tips of his fingers and flung them out into space and bedecked the heavens with stars and nobody said a word the reason nobody said anything there wasn't anybody that to say anything so God Himself said that's good and if you really want to live you've got to love God and neighbor you must love God with all of your heart soul strength mine and your neighbor just as you love yourself some people think that just one good quality it makes them Christians and makes them acceptable in the sight of God everybody here has to one or two things going for them but it takes more than just one or two things you must love God with your soul your mind your heart your strength and then neighbor as you said you know some people who have talents well if they sing they think that all they have to do is come here on Sunday morning or wherever your church is and stand and sing and then go on and live like you want to live you not only must have the talent but you must use it for the glory and the honor of the Lord and then there are some people and I believe that every every Christian or biet either that's the minimum and then give generously of that that you have left but now if a person is at Ivor and gives generously if he's not careful you'll get to the point where he thinks that whatever he says in the church oughta go because he pays his money it takes something else besides money and then then we have some prayer specialist we have some people who can Auto God around they can tell him where to go and what to do it when they want it and how they want it done just like God doesn't know how to run this world some talk to him like they're trying to picket the throne of grace trying to get him to change his mind now I'm not knocking prayer we cannot get along without it and every day of our lives ought to be punctuated with periods of Prayer but I'm saying that you must do something else beside pray there was a boy who was on his way home one night and he passed a cemetery and he heard a strange rustling in the trees now this boy had been by there a many nights before but this is the first night he heard that strange sound and it frightened him and he ran with all of his might and prayer as he read Lord helped me to run Lord helped me to run now he was praying and he went on to say Lord I don't want you to do it all by yourself I tell you what you do if you'll pick them up I'll put them down now you might not care too much for his theology but that boy had something with all of the strength all of the resources that God gives us we were used him for his glory and his honor so we must do something else beside pray any individual who thinks it's just one good quality makes him acceptable in the sight of God and serviceable in the kingdom it reminds me of bees making honey there is a bee you know that just makes honey out of one flower when you taste it it's alright but you can tell that something is lacking there's another bee when he gets ready to make honey he will go to the clover feel and suck some of the nectar from the clover and then he'll go to the rosebuds and get some of its sweetness and then he'll go to the meadow and get some of what the Daisy has to offer then he'll fly over the mountain and bring back some of the liquid fragrance of a Morning Glory he'll come back by the peach orchard and light in a peach blossom and then he'll go to his little laboratory and he'll mix it all up you've got some real honey thin and if you want your life serviceable in the kingdom of our Lord you've got to start at Abraham's tip and get you some faith you've got to visit Moses at Midian and get you some preparation you've got to go up on the mountain way logy is and get you some fire you've got to go to job's house and get you some patience you've got to go to paws dungeon and get you some determination and missionary zeal you've got to plow through the Word of God and stop on the Jericho Road long enough for the Good Samaritan to teach you how to love your neighbor then you've got to go to Cal rain get you some love then go down in the empty tomb and get you some eternal life and go somewhere in your secret closet and mix it all up in prayer you be serviceable in the kingdom of our Lord that's the reason Paul said let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus Christ is the supreme pattern for Christian living you copy others and you copy their faults you copy Christ and there's no fall to copy not only does he set before us the perfect structures of his own flawless career but he finishes every one of us who desires it a blueprint for our own life but to build after his model you must have his mind and what kind of a mind does he have he has a mind devoted to God in the goose he has a mind of high aspirations and humble service he has a mind of faith and faithfulness of faith and works we ought to love God and neighbor we must worship God and witness to every creature you know some want to select the people to whom they witness and the Commission is to every creature we want to we we want to find somebody who looks like we want him to look and sound like we want him to sound but it's to every creature we must love God we must worship God and then we must witness to every creature we have to witness not only by lip but we must witness by life we must not only have a Christian vocabulary but we must have Christian experience you know some people think that the Christian religion is just something that you talk about and they think that they can talk their religion you know if we were to stop here now and just let everybody talk we used to have called it having a testifyin meeting and my grandmother called it a testa line meeting but if you read everybody talk in the next in the next five minutes there would be a lot of weeping and crying I'm a Christian you may not know it but I'm a Christian let me tell you tile if you're Christian somebody else's don't know it by their fruits ye shall know them we must have faith and we must have works not only must we have a Christian vocabulary but Christian experience we not only must say what's right but we must do what's right we need a program yes but we also need a ministry and I'm impressed with the many ministries of this church we need faith and we need works you see faith without works is dead and what's without faith is futile you see faith and works are the wings of the same bird the bird can't fly with just one wing he doesn't make a difference how strong and how limber the wing of faith is that bird can fly with faith alone and it doesn't matter how strong and how limber the wing of works is that bird can't fly with works alone if he's to fly he must mount up on faith and works the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he's anointed me to preach the gospel put it to the pool he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted to preach deliverance to the captives recovering the sight of the blind and said it liberty them that are bruised to preach the acceptable year of the Lord now the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he's an ordered me to preach the gospel to the poor now that's something that you say he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted that's something that you'd do to preach deliverance to the captives that's something that you say recovering the sight of the blind that's something that you do to set it liberty them that are bruised that's something that you do to preach the acceptable year of the Lord that's something that you say so saying and doing got to go hand in hand faith and words now faith is essential because a faith sees the invisible it believes the incredible and receives the impossible faith is essential because it's the only approach to God he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he's a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him faith is your invitation to let God use you on his own terms now just just for a moment think what would happen right here tonight if everybody here would just allow the Lord to have his way in your life why revival would break out right here you know we all try pray Lord send us a revival we need revival Lord and he said if my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways you won't have to worry I'll hear from heaven I'll forgive their sins and I'll heal their lab so the next move is I've got ready are you ready men want to be saved but they want to be saved on their own terms if you'll allow God to use you on his own terms you'll not only see what God can do for you but you'll see what he can do with you and through you faith is the link that binds our nothingness to almighty Ness faith is human weakness laying hold on the vine strength now if a thing is possible it can be done by skill and experience but if a thing is impossible it can be done only by faith now faith is not going to stop the storm but I tell you what it'll do it'll help you to stand it this whole world is tattered and torn and faith will take the tangled threads of men's hopes and knit them and the tapestries of fadeless blow read faith will help you to face life's music when you don't even like the tune the vichy of faith gives reality to our hopes it'll cause you to live on in visible means of support you can eat well in the wilderness and sing the doxology in a dungeon faith is essential but faith is not enough by itself that's just a starting point our Lord gave a demonstration of faith and works it was on the occasion of the Feast of the tabernacle a blind man was sitting by the wayside begging now other men became blind but this man was born like that this man had never seen the face of his loved ones he'd never seen a sunrise or sunset this man had never seen color blush in a row this man had felt raindrops but he'd never seen clouds floating overhead this man had heard thunder but he'd never seen lightning flash this man is in a pitiful condition sitting there blind begging but the disciples were interested only to a point they were only interested in the cause they were not interested in a cure they just wanted to have something to talk about they just wanted to have it said when they got in that rap session that we know what caused this blindness they were only only interested in theology and they call themselves asking a deep theological question master who did sin this man or his parents that he was born blind but Jesus turned their theology in the doxology for he said neither but that the works of God might be made manifest in here now Jesus is not saying that the man has never seen door that the parents had not seen because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God but what Jesus is saying that no one sin calls this blindness I can hear Jesus and I had him born like that for just such time as this I had him born like that so that when minhwan long faith I had him born like that so that when men think that faith is all they need I had him born like that that I might glorify all and he set out to give this demonstration and he's going to do it in slow motion now Jesus could have just willed and the man's eyes would have come open but it takes this time he's going to demonstrate the importance of faith hand works he takes his time he spit on the ground he mixes the spit and the clay and then he takes his time and smooths it on the man's eyes and tells him to go and wash in the pool this man first of all had to have faith in Jesus if it had no faith this blind man would have resented he would have protested he would have said why this man is mocking me I'm I've been blind all my life and here he is putting mud and spit on my eyes but there was something in Jesus's voice that calls the man to water try and he started out just like he was I said faith is a starting point that's a good starting point that's the only starting point this man got up and went straight to the pool now he possibly didn't have a seeing-eye dog he possibly didn't have know anything about radar but he went straight to the pool guide me o thou great Jehovah pilgrim through this barren land I'm weak but thought mighty hold me with I powerful head you know if you will go in the faith that the Lord gives you if you will use that little healy increase it while you're in the journey and then when you come to the end of the journey you can testify that the journey has been joyful you know when you get in your car and start out for home tonight you may not have enough light to shine all the way home but as your vehicle move the light moves when you turn right the light turns right when you turn left the light turns level and you go up the hill the lights up the hill when you get in the valley the lights in the valid after a while you've got light all the way home use the faith that the Lord gives and he will increase it yes he will heal heal strengthen you as you obey this man went on to the pool and when he got there he didn't just stand and shout about his faith this man had to work this man washed and when he washed when he worked when he coupled his faith and his work his eyes came open and now he's got something to shout about now he can tell others what good things the Lord has done for I once was blind but now I see oh I used to murmur and complain and argue with life but when I found Jesus precious to my soul I moved off of complaint Avenue and am now living on Thanksgiving Boulevard praise the Lord this man has something just shout about now he has faith and whoops if I walk in the pathway of duty if I worked until the close of the day I shall see the great king in his beauty when I've gone the last mile of the way when I've gone the last mile of the way I'll rest at the close of the day and I know their joys that await me when I've gone the last mile of the way I have faith in him yes but I put my faith to work and I'm going to work until the day is over jesus said occupy until I come occupy work until I come you know many people instead of occupying until he comes they occupied with his coming they're trying to pinpoint the time of his coming so but as always sitting around on a freakout just when he's coming now I know he's coming and I can't say soon I don't know when but he's coming instead of occupied until he comes they occupied with his coming they're trying to pinpoint the time of his coming and every once in a while somebody will make an announcement that I know that he's coming on such-and-such a date a few years ago somebody made an announcement that Christ would return on a March the 16th people got all excited and they begin to call and say pastor what do you think about that announcement that Christ is going to return on a March the 16th I said I don't think a thing about it and if it disturbs you you go out to the nearest cemetery and when you see the tombstone still standing upright don't worry for when he comes the dead in Christ will rise first when he comes Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel Daniel the other prophets are going to rise and run the streets and everybody they see they're going to say I told you so when he comes Abraham's gonna merge here and say wake up Sarah the Lord's here when he comes David's going to ask first hop and play once more the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want we need to work now while it's day 4 when the night cometh no man can work we need to work until he comes you know after a while we're going to have some more leaders Oh pastor Logan these are the pastor's these missionaries are just serving now after a while we're going to have some more leaders you remember when Jesus got ready to confirm his divine mission in the minds of men he cared Peter James and John up on the mountain of Transfiguration he brought Moses and Elijah down to represent heaven and then that mountain in that conference there was just one item on the agenda Jesus talked about dying he talked about dying until his countenance change he talked about dying until Peter got happy and said let's build three Tabernacles he talked about dying and I believe I believe that he appointed Moses to lead that crowd who has died in the Lord and I believe that he appointed Elijah to leave that crowd who will be still alive when he comes you know he larger didn't die he just caught a fiery chariot and went on home and I believe I believe that while we are getting ready I believe that we're going to sing a double anthem I'm glad that those who will be still alive will not go off and leave those in the grave the dead in Christ to go rise first we're going to sing this double anthem the largest crowds going to sing old death where is thy sting Moses crowds going to sing o grave where is thy victory and then we go to all join in the chorus and sing thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ and we'll be caught up together to meet him in the air somebody said we'll walk in Jerusalem just like John but the Bible says we'll be caught up to meet him in the air somebody says we'll get on board an old shippers eye she has landed a mini a thousand she has landed my old father she has landed my old mother but the book says we'll be caught up to meet him in the air and then somebody says we are climbing Jacob's Ladder every round goes high and higher but the Bible says we will be caught up to meet him in the air now used to be a song don't hear it so much now Lord I want to wings to veil my face I want to wings to fly away and then the head of stanza that says Lord meet me meet me in the middle of the air and if these wings should fail me meet me with another path now that somebody didn't know the Lord there's no failure in him while the rest of all the resources never exceeds the wisdom of his word never wanes the big of his betcha never varies the burnished of his beauty never blemishes the lust of his love never lessened the powers of a power never perishes and the fountain of his fullness never failed there's no failure in him whatever Lord gives you you won't fail you I know he is given me salvation and that's not gonna fail me or I'm safe I'm gonna I right now I'm saved now I don't have to wait till I come to die no I'm safe now you know I get excited about it when I get to thinking about the Lord has saved me have given me life that we'll never hear somebody right there said well preacher when you come to die know I've just come down just come down to the line that separates time in eternity and I'll just step across that line while I'm over here I'm asking the Lord to be with me but when I step across that line I'll be there where he will be caught up to meet him in the air and now he's not coming back to the earth right him he's just coming down low enough to effect an airlift we're going to be caught up to meet him in the air not only it but in the air and then the blessed part about it there we shall ever be with the Lord praise His name we shall ever be with the Lord do you ever think about what it's going to be like to be with the Lord yeah we shall ever be with the Lord you know some people say I just like to sit quiet and and and and listen oh when we get where the Lord is don't expect it to be quiet there there's gonna be shouting oh you know in seminary they taught me how to stand in one track and hold my Bible they taught me how to gesture to emphasize certain points they taught me how to regulate and modulate my voice so it won't be so loud and obnoxious and you know I passed the course but when I get to thinking about being with the Lord I'll get excited about I can't help but shout this is why he hollering why they yell it look you haven't you haven't seen in the shouting yet you doesn't wait until my feet strike Zion you just wait until I behold his face oh you just wait until I have say seven well done you just wait there we shall ever be with the Lord will you be there don't fool me will you be there I'll be there when the saints go marching in will you be there I'll be there when the four and twenty elders bow round the order will you be there I'll be there when they crown him Lord of all let us pray our Father and our God we are thankful for your word that's a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path our Father we are thankful for the privilege that we have together here in worship and in fellowship and in praise them in prayer O God may each person here think on his and her way our Father those here who have not accepted you as Savior we pray that they will do it now those who will not acknowledge you as law let them know that you are not going to be their Savior our Lord but you're going to be Savior and Lord and our father helped them to turn heaven to come to thee help them to look to you and live and our Father some have gotten weak on the way we pray that you will renew our strength we pray that you will allow your flamin love to the frost our frigid devotion so will be less of what we have been and more of what you would have a speak for it's in Jesus name we pray amen

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Length: 56min 5sec (3365 seconds)

Published: Thu May 19 2016