preached about, but that's what we're going to preach about this morning, is standards, amen. Or, the standard, if you would like. It's not just about the little standards, it's about the one standard, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ this morning. He is our standard, so that's what we're going to preach on this morning, is God is our standard. The fact is this morning that everything in life is built upon a standard. Not just when it comes to the spiritual world, but in the secular world, and in the carnal world, Everything out there is built upon some sort of standard. That's how you're able to judge things. That's how you're able to see who's better than another or not is because of a standard that was set before. There's a great debate in the basketball world today about the greatest basketball player that's ever lived. And you know why they have that debate? You know why that debate is there? Because somebody set a standard. Amen. You know, when you show up to work tomorrow or wherever you end up tomorrow, when you clock into that job, you are judged at your job based upon a standard that has been set by somebody else. And it really doesn't apply in today's world because it's impossible to fire somebody today. You send them to counseling and depression classes and all that sort of stuff to get rid of them. But the point is that you must abide by a standard or you're let go from that job. Amen. I'm talking about everything in life is guided by, is set by a standard of some sort. Amen. You know, units of measurement in our world today, whether it be an ounce or a pound or whatever it is, I don't know if it exists anymore, but at some time in the world there was an actual physical standard in the world somewhere that an ounce was judged by, that a pound was judged by, and every other pound that would ever be measured is measured upon the basis of that standard. I'm talking about a standard is important, amen. A standard. So what we see in the world today has been going on since the beginning of time, and it's Satan's attack against God's standard. Amen. You don't have to look at the world today very long to realize that this world does not care anything about standards. Nothing about standards. The Bible speaks of a day when men shall do that which seemeth right in their own eyes. And I'm telling you, we're living in that world today. If you have two eyeballs at all, we're living in a world where people are living by what they think is right. And even in the church today, it seems like we spend a lot of time sitting around wondering if this is right and this is wrong. Is this what we should do? And what happens with human beings when they're left to themselves is they create a lot of gray areas. Amen. The devil, when he encountered Eden, the Garden of Eden, he didn't present her with some heinous crime. He didn't present her with some wicked sin. Amen. He just made her start questioning whether God was in charge or not. The first thing he attacked was the Word of God. He said, Yea, hath God said. And then he turned to Eve and said, Who is this God to be telling you what you should do? Ye shall be his gods. And that's what's going on in the world today. Man's attempt and the devil's attempt in the world today is to do away with any sort of standard for anybody to live by. That's why we can think it's okay to defund the police, amen? That's why we think it's okay to burn buildings and riot and loot and steal from people and there be no consequence because if there's no standard, there's no boss. If there's no standard, there's no rules. If there's no standard, there's no guideline. If there's no standard, there's no consequence for anything that I do. It's an attempt by the devil. It's an attempt by the world. It's an attempt by mankind itself to remove the standard. So you must ask yourself, if this is the goal of the world today and the goal of the devil, it's not just about removing rules. It's not just about removing authority out of people's lives. What it actually is, if you were to open up the spiritual world and be able to peek in there for a second, you would realize that it is the devil's attempt to drive God out of the lives of mankind. Amen. It's the devil's attempt. It's to drive God out of the lives of mankind. And it's more prevalent in America today than it ever has been. And I'd like to say this, it's more prevalent in the church than it ever has been. More and more is God left out of the picture. More and more is, I think this is right, and you think this is right, and I think this is wrong, and you think this is wrong. And I want to tell you this morning, if we're to understand what the standard is, we must first of all understand what the standard is not. And the standard is not any individual. It's not you, and it's not me. You can sit down and tell me anything you think about life and at the end of the day I'm probably going to disagree with you because that's my nature. I want to be right. You want to be right. You know what fixes that? A standard. Amen. In the sports world today, everybody's an expert. Everybody knows what to do. Everybody has the answer for what this team should do and what this company should do. And in the church today, we have the same thing. We have a bunch of spiritual experts. Amen. We know how to fix the church. We know what to do. But what you must do is apply the standard. Amen. We have a few teachers in here today. And if you come to a math problem that you can't solve, there are standards that you apply to that problem to solve the problem. We need a standard in our life. So the fact is this morning, whether you know it or not, men and women, humans, are drawn to some sort of standard. The world wants to tell you to be your own boss and follow your own heart, but really what they're doing is controlling your mind themselves by thinking you're in control. And that's not what they want at all. You see, we're drawn to some sort of standard. Somebody sets a standard in your life. Whether it's the world, whether it's your friends, whether it's your parents, whatever it is, something is setting a standard in your life. So that's what we're going to preach about this morning is the standard. The standard. You know that the church today needs a standard. And there's a couple of different applications, so for those who were in my Sunday school class, I've added a little tidbit, amen, so you can join in on this part. But there's a couple of ways that you can apply this word standard to your life. And the first way that I'm going to talk about this morning is the standard and the end sign of a battle. Amen. It's the end sign of a battle. It signals that we're in some sort of battle. When you raise a standard, And in the old days, that's actually what they did. You had a man who bore the physical standard on the battlefield. The Bible talks about a standard being on the wall in Babylon, so the men that were fighting could look up from the battlefield and see that the standard was still flying. In the Revolutionary War and in the Roman Wars and years gone by, there was an actual position in the army that somebody held, and it was the position of holding up the standard. Amen. You know why? Because when men get in the middle of a battle, and I think about in the Civil War and in the Revolutionary War, they're using these black powder rifles, and if you've ever shot one before, when you shoot one, there's a cloud of smoke that goes everywhere. If you've ever been aiming at a deer and you shoot a black powder rifle, you can't even see where the deer went because there's so much smoke. Amen. It creates a lot of smoke on the battlefield. There's blood flying and there's heads rolling, amen. I mean, it's not a pretty situation. And when those men are out there on that battlefield fighting for their country and fighting for their cause in the middle of the battle, they can look up above the smoke, they can look up above the battle that was going on, and if the standard was still flying, they knew there was still a cause to be fought for. If the standard was still flying, they could keep pressing on, amen. You know what it's the church's responsibility to do today in the world? You know what your responsibility is as a Christian today? It's to keep holding the standard. You know why the battle is failing in the world today? Because Christians across America have stopped holding up the standard. I need a standard to look to when I'm in the battle. It gives me encouragement. It gives me joy. It gives me strength to keep fighting when I can look up and see the standard. The standard is a representative of the country that you are fighting for. Amen. I'll tell you, if I ever end up in a real battle, and we may end up that way before it's all said and done with in the world today, if I ever end up having to fight in an actual war, you know what I want to look up and see? I want to look up and see the stars and stripes, amen. I want to see that I'm fighting for the United States of America. I'm proud to be one, amen. I don't apologize for it. I don't apologize for the flag. I'm proud to be that. And I'm telling you, we are fighting for a country that is far better than America could ever be, anything that any man can ever come up with for fighting for something much better. for the sake of the glory and honor of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have a standard to uphold. You know why you should hold the standard? Because your brother next to you is fighting a battle, and he needs to see you holding up the standard. And in today's world, I need to see that somebody's holding the standard. It encourages me, man. Sometimes you get the feeling like everybody feels this way because we're humans and we think that we have something to do with it. And the fact is that God has everything to do with it. Anything that we do in our life for the glory and honor of the Lord Jesus Christ has nothing to do with our ability. The only ability God uses from us is our availability. Amen. But sometimes you get to feeling like you're alone in this battle. You get to feeling like you're the only one that cares about doing right. And it's wrong to think that way, but we're inclined to think that way because we're human beings. And I tell you what's a blessing is to come to church like we did this morning and hear these ladies sing about how He's faithful, about how He's able, about how He's worthy, about how He's holy. Amen. That lets me see the standard for a little bit. Because we're in a battle. We're in a battle. We need a standard. So that's the standard in the inside of battle. But the other standard that we're going to look at this morning is the standard that we must live by as Christians and as God's people in today's world. So first of all, to begin to understand the standard in our life, the first question you got to ask yourself is, who is the standard? Who is the standard? Dare I say, it's not Jordan Forsey. God knows that. God forbid. It's not you. It's not me. It's not Brother Charlie. It's not anybody that can stand on this stage this morning. It's not anybody you ever encounter. They are not the standard, amen. And what gets us in a lot of trouble in the church today is we have made other people our standard. And let me tell you something about me, and you probably don't have a hard time believing this, but if you look at me as a standard, it will not take me long to let you down. Amen. People leave church today because they're disappointed with people, and they are justified in their cause. Because people fail. People let you down. People will stab you in the back, and people will lie about you, and people will treat you wrong. But I'm telling you this morning, there's no human being on earth who is your standard. Amen. You know, if I look at you as my standard, I can find justification for anything I'm doing. Amen. That's the gospel truth. Amen. So who is the standard? Well, the answer to that is obvious. The only one who's worthy. There's only one worthy to be the standard. Revelation 4.11 says, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power. For Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created. Everything is measured against the standard of the Lord Jesus Christ in your life. You know what? Even if this world doesn't realize it, one day they will be judged according to the standard of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says that there will come a day where every knee will bow, every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Why? Because whether you're saved or lost, you're still judged according to the same standard. And that standard is the Lord Jesus Christ. When you stand before God one day, He won't ask you to outweigh your good with your bad. He won't ask you to do anything in your own power. The only question He's going to ask you is, what have you done with my son? Why? Because He's the standard. He's the standard. Before Christ came to this earth, there was another standard placed upon mankind, and it was the law that Moses gave. They were ruled, they were condemned by the law. You find that in the book of, well, I'm getting ahead of myself, but before Christ came, men were under the condemnation of the law. But thank God Almighty, one that was greater than the law came to this earth to be the Redeemer of all mankind. His name is the Lord Jesus Christ. First of all, when it comes to the law, Christ replaced the law as the standard for you and I. Now we don't have access to the Father because we've kept the law or made the necessary sacrifices. We have access to the Father because of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. And first of all, you'll find in Matthew 5 and verse 17, and I'm not going to read these verses because I'm already running out of time. Matthew 5, verse 17, and also in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21, we find, first of all, that Christ fulfilled the law. Amen. He did something that you and I could never do. He did something that in our best state, the Bible says that we're all together vanity. And Christ knew that about us. So He came to the earth and He fulfilled the law that we can never fulfill so that we can have access to the Father. What a blessing! I'm glad He fulfilled the law. I'm glad He was sinless. I'm glad He was perfect. I'm glad He was worthy. He fulfilled the law. Do you understand what that means? Amen. Every lie that you've ever told, He fulfilled the law for you. Amen. Every bad attitude you've ever had, Christ fulfilled the law for you. What a blessing. Amen. He fulfilled the law. Next of all, in Colossians 2, verse 14, Romans 10, verse 4, we find also that Christ ended the law. Amen. What a blessing. Not only did He fulfill it, but because He fulfilled it, the law no longer can condemn you and I because of the Lord Jesus Christ. He became the standard. When I stand before God one day, it won't be anything that I did to uphold any sort of set of rules or guidelines. His blood will speak for me. Song Gary Doody wrote, Redeemed. When I go to speak for myself, the blood steps up and says, He's redeemed. Man, what a blessing. Thank God. Thank God not only did Christ fulfill the law, but Christ ended the law. Now this speaks to our eternal standing with God. The law is dead in your life when it comes to your eternal condemnation or your eternal living. Christ fulfilled it. Christ ended it. And I have Christ living inside of me. And if you're saved, you had the same thing. So now I'm no longer subject to the law when it comes to my eternity. But that doesn't give us Christians a sin permit. Amen. You're not the old man anymore. You're a new creature in Christ Jesus. Amen. And you're created in His image to be an honor and glory vessel to Him. Because He is the standard. Thank God by His grace we can spend eternity with Him. But by His grace also we have the duty and responsibility and pleasure of living for Him while we are on this earth. Because He is our standard. We have the one who fulfilled the law living in our hearts, and He is our standard. No longer must we uphold a written tablet by man, but we have the law of God written in our hearts by Christ Jesus. Now He's our standard. 1 Corinthians 11 1, the Bible says that Paul followed the example of Christ. Why? Because he was the standard. Philippians chapter number 2 and verse number 5 says, let this mind be in you. I've got to get this coat off, I'm burning up. Which was also in Christ Jesus. You know who's the standard for the way that you think? The Lord Jesus Christ Himself is the standard for the way that we should think. Amen. He's the standard. Romans 8, verse 29, the Bible says that we are to be conformed to the image of His dear Son. Not to your brother and sister in Christ, not to your mama, not to your daddy, but conformed to His image. Ephesians 5, verses 1 and 2, the Bible says to walk in love as Christ also hath loved us. You know why you're faced with the responsibility of loving other people? It's because Christ loved you. Ephesians chapter number 4 and verse number 32, the Bible says, And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ for Christ Jesus hath forgiven you. Amen. Why should we love each other? Because God had it in him to love us. There are some people in my life that it's hard to love. Amen. And I'm probably hard to love. But you know, I'm not faced with the responsibility of loving people because they deserve to be loved. Amen? You don't face that responsibility because they deserve it. You face it because God loves you. We love Him because He first loved us. And I heard it put this way, if you can't love somebody, let Jesus Christ love them through you. Let Him love them through you. We didn't deserve to be loved. We didn't deserve to have His precious blood shed for us, but He did it anyways. We can love each other because He loved us. I think we struggle with that a whole lot. Because there's things about me that I'm sure somebody doesn't like, and there's some things about other people that I don't like. But it has nothing to do with that. It's because of Him. Ephesians 4, verses 11-15. Tells you how to treat others and be kind. Why? Because He loved us. So Christ has replaced the law as the standard. He is the standard. I'd like to say this about the difference between the law and Jesus Christ. The law commands and the law condemns, but Christ constrains us. He constrains us. We find that in the book of 2 Corinthians, chapter number 5 and verse number 14, where Paul says, the love of Christ constraineth me. Amen. He constrains us. It's a pleasure to serve God this morning because He loves me. You know, when I start thinking I've got it rough, I try and let my mind track back to Calvary. Think of that day that He stretched His arms open wide for me on the cross and spilled His blood, wore my crown of thorns, bore my burden on the cross, took my place. That's my standard. He's my standard. So first of all, to understand your standard in your life, you must understand who is your standard. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. Second of all, you ask the question, what is a standard? A standard, according to Noah Webster, is that which is established by sovereign power. Amen. That's God himself. Sovereign power. As a rule or measure by which others are to be adjusted. Amen. In other words, the law adjusts you. You don't adjust the standard. You know, in school growing up, I wish I could adjust the standard. And I tried to a few times. And I got caught. One time at this school, amen, Miss Eileen, I was her mortal enemy for a little while at least. Because I wanted to change the standard. But you know, the standard didn't change for me. I had to change. And that's what we have a problem with, is the fact that we need to change. You know, when I showed up this morning, I needed to change. I might be the only one, but I need to change. You see, what the devil will trick us into thinking is that we're pretty good people. And I don't pick people's words apart because it's not worth it, but you know, you hear somebody talk about, well, he's a good person. Not really. If anybody says that about me, it's really not that true. Paul said, I know that is in me, that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. No confidence in the flesh. And what the devil will trick you into thinking is that I'm okay, sure I mess up, but I'm pretty good. And I've discovered this about people in the world and people in the church. We don't have a problem being told we messed up. Because we all mess up, amen. Nobody's perfect. What we have a problem being told is there's something wrong with us. You don't like being told that. I don't like being told there's something wrong with me and I'll be quick to defend myself because of the old man. But you know, without Christ, everything in the world is wrong with us. Without Christ, we deserve to be in hell with our back broke this morning. We don't deserve what's coming for us, we deserve what we should already have, but for Christ. Adrian Rogers gave the illustration of an apple. He said, you pick up an apple and you look at that apple and you wanna eat that apple, and there's a hole in it. So immediately we assumed that because there's a hole in the apple, that there must be a worm on the inside, so we don't eat the apple. And he said, that's not the case at all. If there's a hole in the apple, It's safe to eat because the worm ate its way out. It didn't need its way in. It was born inside. We're that apple, amen? We were born wrong. We were born vile. We needed a standard in our life. The standard of the Lord Jesus Christ. In short, a standard is an unmovable principle by which man is judged or measured. In the church, everything we do is set up on standards. And listen, a standard is more than just you can do this and you can't do that. And I can relate to this because I'm a church kid. As a church kid, you think of a standard as something that our church sets forth that prevents me from doing something that I want to do. And that's not at all what a standard is. A standard is set in your life. For one reason, your parents see things that you don't see. And as adults, other people see things that you don't see. You know, there's some things going on in my life that I'm sure people have looked at sometimes and said, what are you doing? It's simple. But to me, it's not. And the same thing's true in your life. I can look at it on the outside and it looks like two plus two equals four, but it's not that way for you. We need a standard in our life. The standard of the Lord Jesus Christ. So what is a standard? It's that in your life there is basically one tangible standard that we have in our lives today, and it's covered in a black leather cover. It's this infallible, perfect, inerrant, preserved, settled, powerful, alive, anything that you can use to describe it, this is your standard. Amen. You know what you're going to be judged by one day? This right here. And you also know why you're struggling, if you are in your Christian life, is because of the absence of this right here. If I don't stay in this, I fall away from the standard. If you don't stay in this, you fall away from the standard. And you begin to be filled with ideas like, I can be good enough. And you can't be good enough. You know, when I have joy is when I read this. Because there's things going on in my life that I try and figure out and I can't figure it out. But then I open this. And you know what? It doesn't mean that the problem or the situation is taken care of, but I'm taken care of. If it never gets better, I'm taken care of. You know what tells me that? This Bible right here. He said he would never leave me, he would never forsake me. What can I do besides believe him? I thought of this, you know, this is what gives us the faith to live. Faith. Faith is all about who controls your life. Amen? Faith is about giving up control in your life. And as humans, you know what we like to do. We like to control everything we can. But there are some things that are out of our control. So you know what you've got to do when things are out of your control? You've got to have faith. I remember I thought about this the other day when I was trying to think about what to preach. And I need to hurry, I know that. And I am finishing soon. But I thought about having faith. Having faith is what will quell your fear. Because faith, as Oswald Chambers would say, faith does not know where it's going, but it loves and trusts the one who is leading. It's about looking at Jesus Christ. And I remember all my illustrations personally are about deer hunting because I love deer hunting. But anyways, as a child, I remember you go into the woods and Kevin would take me with him. And he still does, amen. But we would go into the woods before daylight. And as a little kid, if I were to go into those woods by myself before the sun came up, there's no way on earth I would do that. Amen. They sent us snipe hunting one time as kids out there in the woods by ourselves. A snipe doesn't exist, amen. It doesn't exist. Anyways, but I would never do that as a child. Why? Because I was overcome with fear at what might be out there. If you were to send me out there by myself, I would never make it. I would never come back. But He would go with me. Amen? And before we went in the woods, whether I was scared or not, I could look at Him, and if He wasn't scared, I wasn't scared anymore. Because the one I trusted in didn't fear anything. You know what we're filled with a lot of the times in our life? We're scared about what's going to happen. How's our future going to be? How's this situation going to turn out? We fret and we worry. And what you need to do is look at the one who is leading you. Look at the one who is guiding you. Because I can tell you, look at the face of your father. There's no fear in him. There's no doubt in him. Put your faith in him. In the standard. Put your faith in the standard. You know something about a standard? It can't be interpreted. It just is what it is. Let the scripture be of no private interpretation. It truly is our final authority. It's forever settled. It's alive. It's the truth. Amen. And it is Jesus Christ himself. You know, we say we don't have Jesus Christ in the flesh today, but we absolutely do. He's right here. It's your standard. Your standard. You know, we have a standard for worship. John chapter number 4 and verse number 24, it says, they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. Spirit and in truth. Now, something I've never noticed about that verse, I read it the other day, is it says when you worship Him in spirit and in truth, it's a little less. It's your spirit. You know what? His spirit's here already. His spirit lives inside of you. The problem with our worship is our spirit is not in it. Amen. You know what I like to see this morning when they begin to sing about how worthy Jesus Christ is? Is somewhere somebody's spirit got involved. His spirit was magnified, our spirit was encouraged, and worship took place. And it's based on the basis of the Word of God, it's spirit and truth. a standard for worship. There's also a standard for work, amen. Colossians chapter number three, verses number 23 and 24. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might. If you can't be good, be good at it, amen. That's not what that's saying. Anyways. That's what we do. Lord, help. We also find in the book of First Corinthians, chapter number 10, verse number 31, there's a standard for the way that you live. But you know you're not gonna find that by talking to me. You're not gonna find that by talking to your brother or sister or your mom or your dad. Well, you can, but you know what it's based on? This right here. You know why you're struggling? Because of the absence of this right here. It's the standard. Sin kept me from it. Now it keeps me from sin. The blessed old book that we hold in our hand. So we must first understand who the standard is, and then second of all, you have to answer the question, what is the standard in your life? And the basic standard is the word of God in your life. And we could talk about a lot of different things, but we'd be here forever. But the last thing I want to finish up with is the most important question you must answer about your life. And it's a question that we start answering or start asking before we really know we start asking it. And it's this question right here. Why a standard? Why? And I'm afraid that there are many Christians today that they know the who and they know the what, but they don't know why they do anything that they do. You know how I know that? Because they think that they're feeling some sort of moral obligation by showing up to church on Sunday morning. But why are you here? Amen! You dress right, you live right, but why do you do it? And I've had my little nieces, and Ava, goodness gracious, she gives me so many illustrations, but your kids are the same way. When they start to get a mind about themselves, and you are the same way, you tell them to do something, and the first question out of their mouth is, why? I don't think they're wrong for asking that. Because I said so. Well, that's good. But you know, they'll never stop asking that question. all the corruption that's going on in the world today, all these people turning to all this awful sin, you know why they're doing it? Because they don't know why they're here. So they're searching for something. Amen? You know why there's a lot of unsatisfied, unhappy Christians today? It's because they're trying to uphold to something that they can't, and they don't know the reason for it. Why a standard? First of all, because he's worthy. And this is really all that matters. He's worthy. If all I had he took away, then I still would have to say, God has been so good to me. He's worthy, independent of any assessment that I ever give him, he's still worthy. Why a standard next of all? Because there's work to be done. Amen. There's work to be done. David said, is there not a cause? When he came to the battlefield, there's a work to be done. Next of all, because your life is a witness. Your life is a witness. And I'm not talking about when you're passing out tracks. I'm talking about when you're looking at your cell phone. I'm talking about when you live among your lost co-workers. You're a witness. We ought to hold the standard because the worldly influence that's infiltrating the church is today. We've got to fight against it. And then last of all, because of the wicked one. The wicked one. You've heard Brother Charlie say it before and heard other preachers say it before. Everything that we represent as Christians, the devil hates it. He's not indifferent. You know, the devil's never been indifferent towards anything. And neither has God. We're the only ones who are indifferent. Satan is on the attack every day of your life to ruin your Christian testimony, to ruin your joy. And some of you, he's waiting right here, outside this glass door. And when you leave this place, he's going to hop in the front seat and ride home with you. We've got to uphold the standard. Young people, it's not about keeping rules. It's about the standard. It's about Jesus Christ. The standard. That's the message this morning. What kind of standards do you have in your life? And why are you serving them? I've always said if I just came to church to fulfill some kind of moral obligation, I would be deer hunting this morning. But that's not why we do it. I would be out playing some sport. I'd be on a fishing hole somewhere. But you know what? I can't do that. Why? Because of the standard. Because he's worthy. Because he deserves it all. The standard. Father, I want to thank you for the fact that we have a standard that never changes in our life. Lord, in spite of the fact that we change, you never change. In spite of the fact that we fail, you never fail. You are the standard that we look to. In the midst of battle, we can look to you The Bible says in Psalms chapter 121, I will lift up mine eyes into the hills from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord. Lord, I thank you for that this morning. I pray that in this church service, the Lord Jesus Christ was lifted up and magnified and glorified above all else, that no flesh would glory in your presence. I pray, God, that you would go with us now as we go our separate ways, that you would help Brother Charlie today and Miss Myra. I pray that he would feel good today and get over whatever it is he has. and get them back to us, and we'll thank you for it, in Jesus' name, amen.