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Look in Revelation 118. It said,
I am he that liveth and was dead. Behold, I am alive forevermore.
Amen. And I have the keys of hell and
of death. Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things
which are, and the things which shall be hereafter. Now hang
on to that and go with me to the latter part of Revelation,
chapter number 22. I want to read something to you
there. I'm jumping from one end of the
book to the other in Revelation, but I'm telling you, this really
got a hold of it. Look at verse 17. And the Spirit and the bride
say, Come and let him that heareth say, Come and let him that is
athirst come, and whosoever will, let him take the water of life
freely. Now look at the next verse. For
I testify unto you, every man that heareth the words of the
prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto these things,
God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book.
And if any man shall take away from the words of this book of
the prophecy, God shall take away his part of the book of
life out of the holy city and from the things which are written
in the book. Now turn back with me to Revelation
chapter 2. Let me read some more verses
to you. I thought this was so unique. It really got a hold
of my heart. I'm telling you. I believe it's going to be something
we can get a message from. Look in Revelation chapter 2
verse 1, unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write these
things, saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right
hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.
If you look in chapter 2 verse 8, and unto the angel of the
church of Smyrna write these things, saith the first and the
last, which was dead and is alive. Look at verse 12. And to the
angel of the church of Pergamos write, These things saith he
which hath a sharp sword with two edges. Look on down to chapter
3, verse 1. Wait, let me get 18. 218. And
unto the angel of the church of Thyatira write, These things
saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of
fire, and his feet like fine brass. Now go down to 3 and 1.
The angel of the church in Sardis write, These things saith he
that hath the seven spirits of God, and the seven stars. Look
on down in verse number seven. The angel in the church of Philadelphia
write, These things saith he that is holy, he that is true,
he that hath the key of David, he openeth, and no man shutteth,
and shutteth, and no man openeth. Go to the last one, verse 14. Unto the church, of the letter
C is right. These things saith the Amen,
the faithful, the true witness, the beginning of the creation
of God. Why these things? Why? What about these things? If I
was going to write or ponder the message, I'd just say these
things and you could ask all kinds of questions about them.
Three things that jump out of this in my attention. Number
one, right. Number two, these things. And
number three, it amazes me that every church that he addressed,
he introduced himself in a different manner. It all pointed to the
same thing, that he was God, that he's the creator, that he's
the author and the finisher of the whole thing. He addressed
it. Each church introduced himself,
pointed out the good things about him before he laid the bad ones
on him. That amazes me how well he put
that together. I've never seen that like that
before. That was really getting a hold
of my spirit. I'm sitting at the house beginning to study
this, and all at once it seems as though the Spirit of God said,
this is the message. Look at 1 John, now with me if
you would, and I'll try to take the thought from this. Now, as
you go to 1 John, and you look at the verses that we're going
to be using, I wanted to just try to talk to you just a couple
of minutes before I get into the actual message and say this.
These things that we're talking about, And the importance of
these things, or why we have need of these things, is based
on the fact that over 300 times in the Bible, over 300 times
in the King James Bible, it points out something about these things. I didn't have no idea there were
so many verses about these things. So evidently there's a significance
in all of these statements. And believe me, folks, we couldn't
begin to cover it. In fact, I'm not smart enough
to do it. But I do say this much. There are some things that are
written in 1 John that is for our benefit as a believer. as
a hope for the unsaved, an encourager to the one that's in iniquity,
or a transgressor of God's law. But all the future is out of
this world because of these things. And I'm excited about these things. Father, bless us. Use us just
for a moment, we pray. Help us to bless your people
in Christ's name. Amen. I thought about these things
in 1 John chapter 1 in verse number 4. He said, These things
are written, or these things rewrite unto you, that your joy
may be full. Can I just park for a few moments
right there? That's the first point of the
importance of these things. I really believe today that the
church ought to be the happiest people in the world. I believe
they ought to be the most joyful people in the world. I'm telling
you, folks, if there's ever been a group of people that I read
about in this age that ought to be happy, it ought to be the
family of God. Yet the children of God have
a hope that's out of this world. They've been to Calvary. They've
been born again. They've got their names in the
Book of Life. They're full of the Holy Ghost, and they're on
their way with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Hallelujah!
What a glory! Hallelujah! My goodness, if there's
ever a group of people that ought to be full of joy, it's the family
of God. The Laodicean church, I believe
most scholars and most ministers would tell you, would reflect
upon the time and the seasons that we're in now. And because
of that, he sees the lukewarmness. And it aggravates him to the
point that I would rather you'd be cold or hot. Because if you're
lukewarm, I'll spew you out of my mouth. I'm going to tell you
something, folks, that's practically saying, you make me so sick,
I could vomit you out. I believe he's talking to his
people. talking to His children. In this day and age of modernism,
when we think we can dramatize or we can put together the program
and push the Scriptures aside, do away with the hymn book and
sing the 7-11 group, I'm telling you folks, it's time to get back
to Calvary and get back to the joy of the Lord. Nehemiah said,
The joy of the Lord is my strength. I ask you tonight, how strong
are you? And I'll tell you how you can answer it. How much joy
do you have? How much joy do you have? These
things are written that your joy may be full. I found out something about it
when you say the word full. Aren't you glad when you go to
the gas pump and it finally gets to full? That it don't cost no
more for a while. Do you know why? There ain't
no room for nothing else. Oh, did you get what I said?
When it's full, there's no room for nothing else. I remember when I got saved.
And I'll share my testimony right quick. I went to church. I was
482 miles from my dad's house. Joliet, Illinois, my brother
had built a church. My wife came in and told me she
had gotten saved. I want you to go to church with me, she
said. And she started just absolutely aggravating me to death about
it. You see, she was so full of joy. There wasn't room for
nothing else. How aggravating are you about
the joy that's in your life? Do you really frustrate people?
Do they really raise their brow? Do they really see you coming
and want to turn and go away? I'll tell you what that is. That's
evidence of real joy. Let me tell you, if you're full
of the love of God and the joy of the Lord is now the strength
of your life, you cannot shut up about it. You won't sit down
and you can't be still because the joy of the Lord has made
you strong. Hallelujah. Glory to God. I thank God for the joy. The
joy that's in our life. The joy. Not only to fill us
full, but Jesus wrote in one of the Gospels and had it sent
to us that your joy can remain. Oh, Lord. Even in this age, absolutely. You mean in this modernistic
world? Absolutely. You mean in this day when you
don't know what's going to happen from one day to the next? Even
in this day, your joy can be full and it can and will remain
if you'll allow Him to have the control. The joy of the Lord. I remember my wife kept telling
me, you need to go to church. And finally, I got aggravated
and said, if you'll leave me alone and not bother me anymore this
week, I'll go to church Sunday. The joy of the Lord had a hold
over her so strongly, she just said, OK. And she backed off.
All down through that week, it was so peaceful in my house.
I was so calm and so happy. She wouldn't bother me. Satan
wasn't bothering me. God wasn't bothering me. I just,
man, I finally got away from all of it. I'd go out and do
my day. Come back in. She'd feed me. She took care
of me. Oh, she was my wife. She loved me. She prayed for
me. I didn't know it. She was praying for me every
time I was away from her, and probably a lot of times was with her.
She kept praying and praying and asking God to bring me in
to find what joy she had just discovered. Oh, that Sunday morning
rolled around. I got up out of the bed. It was
just business as usual. I got up, pal. I went over there
to the kitchen table. There sat my breakfast. She had
fixed everything just like I wanted it. I sat down and I had my meal.
And then I got up and went into the booth. I threw my bedroom
to the bathroom and I happened to glance at the bed. There lay
a pair of pants. They laid a shirt. They laid
my underclothes. They laid my socks. They set
my shoes. I thought, oh my God, this is the day I've got to deal
with it. I thought I've either got to
go and go to church with her, or I have just become the biggest
liar that I've ever been before. Oh, my conscience convicted me.
I got condemned to the core. And I went right on in and took
a shower, cleaned up, put on my clothes, and off to church
I went. What would you have done? Ladies, let me tell you something.
You want to see your husband sing? Sing. Let the joy of the
Lord make you strong in front of Him. Serve Him. Love Him. Be good to Him. Don't beat on
Him. Don't mouthbeat Him. You don't mean He's already condemned
for hell. And He's as miserable as hell itself. What He needs
is somebody to love Him. Somebody to show Him the real
joy of the Lord, you see. I knew something had happened
to her because I saw the change in her life. I went into church
that morning, and I really thought she had had a private meeting
with a preacher. Well, I got through the singing all right.
It didn't seem to bother me. When they went to prayer, that
didn't bother me. But buddy, all at once, that old man of God
got up there. He opened that King James Bible, and he started
preaching about sin, talking about the condemnation of it,
of the journey of it, the price of it, and the destiny of it,
what it was going to do to my soul. He said, you're on your
way to hell, and you deserve to go there! Well, I thought,
my God, He don't like me. She kept on telling what she's
told Him to cause Him to talk so mean to me. And I felt like
crawling under a seat because I knew He was talking to me.
That finger come right at me. Is it hitting you tonight? If
it is, God's calling you. You better listen to it. That
finger's not mine. That's God pointing at you. He
got me. He pointed me right out. And right in the midst of all
that, He said, but there's a way out. Oh, Lord, have mercy. It's right there now where I
want to shout a little bit. You see, and He condemned me.
He had me convicted. He had me on the way to hell.
And I'm telling you, I could almost see the flames of it because
of my past. But all at once, He said, you
don't have to go there. There is a way out. Glory to
God. Hallelujah. Glory to God. And he started telling me that
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that
whosoever would believe in Him should not perish, but have everlasting
life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the
world, but that the world through Him might be saved. Hallelujah. It is right about there that
something got a hold of my heart. And I knew I had to make a move.
I went to the altar. I couldn't get settled. I couldn't
get satisfied. I was trying to do it my way.
Let me tell you something, folks. If you want joy, you'll do it
His way. I'm going to say why I'm saying that. I remember growing
up in the Kentucky churches and I watched those folks, how they'd
go to an altar and the congregation would gather around them and
pray over them. And all at once you'd see that one just throw
their hands up. They'd go to shouting and rejoicing in the
Lord. You see, they've got the joy of God in my mind and my
heart. I thought that's the only way
I can get it. I've got to do it like them old-timers done
it. I've got to go down on my knees like they are. Let them
old gray-headed women gather around me. Let them old men get
up there and start praying and beating on me. The devil will
have to run away, and God's Spirit will fill me up. Folks, I wore
the altar out trying to get it that way, but it didn't happen. One day, one of my brothers sat
me down and said, Do you want to really get saved? Do you really
want to be saved? I said, I want to be saved more than anything
I know. He said, I'm going to tell you how. Listen to this.
I want to show you how simple it is and how easily you're missing
it. He said, Do you believe that
Jesus Christ was born of a virgin? I said, Absolutely. He said,
Do you believe He grew up and lived a perfect life? I said,
Absolutely. He said, Do you believe He went
to the cross and shed His blood and died? I said, Absolutely.
He said, Do you believe He got up from the dead, the third appointed
one, like you said? I said, Well, sure He did. I'm
confident of that. He said, Do you believe He done all of that?
I said, yeah. He said, you believe you've done
it for the whole world? I said, sure. I believe you've done it for
the whole world. He said, no, this is the question.
I said, what's that? He said, did he do all that for
you? Huh? Am I ringing a bell? Did
he do all that for you? I said, what? Yeah, I guess. Yeah, that sounds logical. That
sounds reasonable. He said, if you really believe
that, all you've got to do now is ask him, forgive him, invite
him in, and he'll come in your heart just like that. I said, I don't believe
a word of that. He said, that's why you're lost.
And he left me like that. About another week went by. I
was pulling off the side of the road. I couldn't drive. I'd beg
and plead. I wrestled for a solid week or
two on that. I could not accept that. I come
back home one night and went to bed. My wife always liked
to talk when we'd go to bed. Why is that, you reckon? Maybe
he can't get us quiet long enough to talk to us during the day.
Boy, when I lay down, I want to go to sleep. I don't want
to talk. And the older I get, the more
I love my bed and my pillow. I'm laying there on the bed,
and she keeps talking to me, and I'm wanting to pray so bad I
can't stand it. I said, Lord, if you just get her to go to
sleep, I can talk to you. And I started praying. Somewhere
through the night, she went to sleep. In the meantime, I woke
up. Bloody heaven come down. God saved me right there in that
bed. I got carried away, and the Lord, my wife, woke up. She
said, what's going on? What's the matter with you? I
said, leave me alone! I finally found the Lord. He
finally got a hold of me. Now He saved me, and I've got
the joy of the Lord! Hallelujah! Glory! Hallelujah! Oh, what a night that night was! And I'll tell you something about
that night. That joy is still here today.
Not only to the fullness of times in my life, but He's here to
stay. I didn't know He said, I'll be
with you always, even to the end of the world. But He did.
And He is. And He always will be. That's why these things are written,
number one, that you can have joy. I didn't mention a thing
about your bank account, your health problems, your family
crisis, the government, the politicians. I'm not interested in a lot of
that stuff. What I am interested in is knowing the Lord. Because
if I have the Lord and I have the joy of the Lord, that means
I'm a strong person in Him. Not that I'm doing anything,
but the joy of the Lord now becomes my strength. He makes my hands
better. He makes my arms stronger. He makes my feet swifter. I'm
telling you folks, everything about you gets better because
the joy of the Lord has now become the stronghold of your life. These things are written that
your joy might be full. Number two, 1 John chapter 2
verse 1. I don't know about you, but I've
run into some obstacles since I got saved. I've run into some
problems, and I want you to know I failed God miserably. And in
chapter 2 verse 1, he said, My little children, these things
write I unto you that you sin not. If any man sin, we have
an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He's
the perpetuation for sin, not for ours only, but for all of
the sins of the whole world. Oh my Lord, I thought, my goodness,
he's not only interested in my sins, but he's interested in
yours too. And not only in yours as a believer, but He's also
looking at that one that's unsaved tonight. He's the perpetuation
for your sin. What does that mean, preacher?
He's the go-between. He's the one that goes up before
the Father on our behalf. He lifts us up to Him. And every
time that He sees one of the children of God that needs to
be touched or forgiven of their sin, it's reminded of the cross. And when He stands before the
Father and says, this is one of them that I died for, they've
come back. They're for every pity. And now,
I want to forgive Him. And God sees me, not as I am,
but He sees me in the blood of the Lamb. And I'm forgiven. I'm restored. And as David prayed
long ago, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. Do you ever notice when a backslider
comes back out to carry it away and get some time? You know why?
Because he knows that second round has been an extra measure
of grace that he didn't deserve, but yet God measured it to him
because of this passage. These things are written that
you sin not. God never excuses anyone for
doing wrong. Never will He excuse us. Never
will He excuse us. However, He will forgive us if
we'll come back. Oh, my Lord. I said, He will
forgive us. He will forgive us. Glory to
God. And when forgiveness is granted,
all the joy, the strength of it, becomes that stronghold once
again. And once again, you feel like
you can lift a mountain. Glory to God. These things. Why
are these things so important? Number one, the joy. And also,
number two, oh my goodness, the support of the believer from
Christ when they've done Him wrong. You know, it's amazing
to me. You know how we are when we do
wrong to one another. We want to kind of hold that
over one another's head. Calvary preached a message in
our church on forgiveness and the revival last fall. And he
made a comment that really stuck me. He said, you know, you can't
do a whole lot about your memory. What's there is there. I mean,
if somebody's done something to you that's wrong, it sticks.
You can't help it. It's there. However, you do have
a choice with it. You can choose to forgive and
let it go, or you can harbor it up and let it destroy you
by biting on you until you become bitter. But, oh, to those that
will let it go. Ain't it amazing, even though
you can remember vaguely in your mind where people have transgressed
against you, But yet, you let it go and it don't bother you
anymore. Why? Because you forgive them. You
see, Jesus said, if you don't forgive your brother of his trespasses,
then I won't forgive you of your trespasses. I was talking with
someone this week about a family member of mine that done me a
bad wrong years ago. I was a Christian. He was a Christian.
He done me wrong. And I can't even remember the
details of all of it, but I remember when it was all said and done,
I prayed about it and I said, Lord, I'm convinced that's wrong,
but I'm putting it in Your hands. And I'm letting it go. And I'm
just going to depend on you to keep me happy. Keep me strong
in joy. And let me walk in fellowship
with you. Well, you see, I released it. And the blessing of God continued
to flow. I was telling someone about that
this week. And for my life, I can't tell you which one of them boys
done me wrong. I forgot who it was. I didn't
think I could do it. But I'm telling you, I cannot
tell you who it was. And you know what? That just
makes my joy even greater. Boy, if you can forgive and forget,
you are rolling. I've been blessed to do that once or twice. Not
very often. I had a preacher really mess
me over one time. I went and told him about it. He didn't
think he had. I said, I don't care what you say, you've done
me wrong. Well, he said, I don't think
I've done wrong. I said, well, let's make an agreement right now. Let's shake
hands and drop it where it's at. And I said, let's let God
settle it. I won't talk about you, and I
hope you don't talk about me. We shook hands. I walked out
and got in my car and started down the road. Now, here's what I
said. I said, Lord, you know He done me wrong. You know He did. He done me wrong.
And you know it and I know it. But I'm putting it in your hands.
Do what you want with it. Almost seven years went by. One Sunday
evening there in our church in eastern Kentucky, we got ready
to start the evening service. I believe it was a Sunday or
Wednesday morning. The side door opens. In walked that preacher.
Right into the pulpit. Right up to the podium. Right
up beside of me, he said, can I borrow the podium for a moment?
I said, absolutely. I stepped over. I've got to keep
in mind, folks, we didn't fight or fuss. We just disagreed and
I left it alone. He walked over to the pulpit. The podium stood
right in front of the mic. He said, I've come over here
with one thing to do tonight. I've come to make it right with
your pastor. I've come to make it right with you people. I've
done your pastor wrong several years ago. And I'm telling you,
folks, I had all put it out of my mind. I mean, I remembered
what he had done. But I put it in God's hands. He apologized,
walked over to me, apologized to me. I hugged his neck. We
embraced right there in front of that whole crowd. I said,
now, church, the Bible says when they ask forgiveness, we're to
forgive. Let's get a song. I'm going to have him stand right
out here, and I want everybody in this building, I want you to
come up here and shake hands and hug his neck and let him
know that it's God. Hallelujah! I'm telling you,
folks, we've got to have the support of one another in the
church family. Because there ain't none of us
that's living above it. My dad always told us boys when
he was raising us, nine boys and two girls, believe me, we
had a lot of problems. He said, you'll get along or I'll whip
you till you do. And if you think for one minute
God will let you get away with it, you're kidding yourself. I chased the brother-in-law of
mine all the way to his house one day for one reason, to apologize,
because I'd done him wrong. He would not let me go home until
I made it right. And that brother-in-law of mine
was as contrary as I was. He wasn't going to accept the
apology. I apologized two or three times. He said, leave me
alone. I'll get over it. Leave me alone. Got in his car. God said, get
after him. I followed him. I followed him all the way to
his house. And I said, I'll go in your house and stay with you
until you tell me you forgive me. And he turned around, and
I could see frustration in his face. He said, OK, I forgive
you. I said, that's all I need to
hear. Got in the car and left. And from that day until this,
we've never had a disagreement on nothing. Folks, I'm telling
you, God says you're going to love one another. Because the
truth of the matter is, you're going to mess up too. And when
you mess up, you better be careful how you treat others, because
they may be the very ones that have to come and help you out.
My little children, I write unto you that you sin not. If you
do, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ. The
only way He can work is through hearts that's obedient to Him.
And a believer that won't forgive is disobedient to Christ. Number
three, 1 John 2.26. Now, after you've went through
all this, it don't take a rocket scientist to figure this next
one out. Chapter 2, verse 26, notice what it says. These things
I have written unto you concerning them that seduce you. It's not
a bit hard to identify the enemy when he's already nailed you.
Think about it. I'm going to tell you something,
folks. It's one thing to mess up. It's one thing to stumble
and fall. It's one thing to blow it pitifully and make a disgraceful
look and act in your life. But it's a whole lot worse than
that when you let him come and do it again. I didn't get in this thing last
night. I've been on this road when I was a little dark, skinny-headed
thug. Lord, I mean, 129 or 30 pounds.
Yeah, what a journey. I tell our church I weigh more
right now than me and my wife both weighed when we got married. My hair was dark when I met Jesus.
My hair is getting whiter every day. Aches and pains ain't coming
up like I didn't even know existed in my body. I'm getting closer
and closer to departure, and I know it. But I'm going to tell
you something, folks, through that journey. I've had some pretty
good licks. I've been hit pretty good. I've
been broadsided. I've been leveled. I've been
steamrolled. And I'm going to tell you, the
first one's on me. I'm going to tell you, after that one,
you're going to earn the next one. You're going to earn the next
one. Because, you see, after you identify how the enemy attacks
and you see he's coming through a certain avenue, you don't have
to be an idiot to sit there on that avenue and let him just
keep coming. You see, I'm going to change locations after the
first one. I'm going to get in a different
setting after that first one. I'm going to learn a lesson from
the first one so that I can identify the enemy from a distance. Oh,
I want to keep him at a distance. I don't want him up here in my
face. I want to keep him at a distance. And the only way I can do it
is when I feel the seduction of his power moving in whatever
it is that's trying to frustrate me. I've got to push it back
and go the other way and claim victory in Jesus. Hallelujah.
These things are written. concerning them that would seduce
you or draw you back the wrong way. I tell our people, if you're
running with somebody that wants to miss church and they invite
you to miss with them, I say get away from them. They'll hurt
you. They may tell you they don't
mean to, but they're hurting you when they draw you away.
When there's Sunday school going on and you want to go and they
don't, And they try to pull you away from Sunday school. I said,
get away from that. You don't want that influence.
I'm going to tell you something, folks. There are some types of
religious activities in this world today, and I ain't going
to get into all of it, but they're trying to do it in the name of
Christianity, and God ain't even hardly in the ability, much less
in the service. I'm telling you, if you're in
a place like that, you need to get away from it. Hallelujah.
And go to a church where you can be blessed. You owe it to
yourself. I heard Cal Ray say this. Different
times that our church, and he's told me this, as you travel from
here to heaven, you owe it to yourself to stop by Rubyville
one time. And you know what? When I got
here, I seen why he said it. You owe it to yourself to stop
by and see what God can do here. Now, let me say this. Our church
is in an almost unique situation as this one is. And here's what
I mean by that. This church is built where nobody
thought you had a chance. That's the way it is. Ain't that
right? I mean, you're in a little community. I told Carol when
I came in and seen Ruby, I said, here's Ruby. Here's the big community of Ruby.
I said, look sitting there at that building. Looks like a castle
sitting up on top of this place. All these little small houses
around. The crowds, the congregation, the population couldn't be that
many. But look what a building. I'll take you to Columbus, Ohio.
1542 Greenleaf Road, Columbus, Ohio. Folks, we're sitting on
a dead-end street. I mean, when you go to the end
of the street, as far as you can drive, there's just a church. It's like there's nowhere to
go when you get there. But up... You build a church here and look
what a crowd. We built on to our church a few years ago, and
you ought to see what a crowd, what God's done. It ain't nothing
that we've done. It ain't nothing we've done.
Oh, Lord, how mercy! And then I think of the birth
of the baby. On Christmas morning, he lays in a manger. Everybody
that would look at him as they walked by, why, that's just a
baby. What can he do in this lowly state, in this little manger? What can he accomplish? Oh, but
they didn't know the story. Glory to God. These things are
written that your joy may be full. And if you sin, you have
an advocate with the Father. Glory to God. And when the seducing
spirit and doctrines of devils come by, we know better. Hallelujah. Because greater is
He that's in you than he that's in the world. Jesus didn't waste His effort.
Calvin Ray never wasted his. And contrary to the way I feel
most of the time about me, I didn't waste mine either. Because God
absolutely instructed it to be like it is. Number four, and
I'm closing. Look at chapter 5. Look at verse number 13. These things have I written unto
you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may
know that you have eternal life. And that you may believe on the
name of the Son of God. Oh, these things are written
for our security. Oh, why these things? Because
if there's ever been a time in the Laodicean age of the churches
and the conditions they're in, buddy, we need the hope that
surpasses everything that the world has to offer, and most
of the church assemblies all over the land. I'm glad that
I have a hope of eternal life in the name of Jesus Christ,
because when I bowed before Him and I invited Him into my life,
He come inside of my soul and He took up His abode with me. He abides! He abides! Hallelujah! He abides with me! I'm rejoicing
night and day as I walk this narrow way. Why? Because the
Comforter now abides in me. I was going down 23 this Friday,
I believe it was, going down to see my mom. I was studying
on this message of both that eternal part, that secure part.
A couple of thoughts come to my mind, and I'm closing with
this. I don't know what time it is, and it don't really matter anyway.
I'm just going to close with these two stories. One of them
was George Garton. He was one of the best friends
to me at that particular time in our church because he was
such an encourager to me. He was a Barnabas type. He didn't
get out and do a whole lot in the church. I mean, he'd go on
visitation with me. But his big thing with me was
going out and making money that he could later call T-bone money.
And what that meant was he'd go work at these little rental
places where they had these storage containers or places where you
could store your possessions. And he worked for one of those.
And I'd call him up and I'd say, what are you doing? Oh, I'm making
some T-bone money. And I knew what he meant. You see, every
time you get enough of it together, you'd call me. You'd say, John,
let's go to York Steakhouse. They've got some T-bones over
there we need to talk to. And we'd go over and we'd eat
those T-bones. And I'll tell you what, folks, I enjoyed that. We got started talking one day,
though, while we were eating and enjoying our fellowship.
And he said, John, I've watched you for a long time. I've heard
you preach. And he said, there's a concern I've got for you. I
said, what's that, George? He said, man, I wish you'd get
a little more secure in that delivery. I said, what do you mean? He said, I don't know if you
realize how secure you really are in the Lord. I said, keep
talking, I'm listening. He said, I used to wrestle with
it all the time as to whether I was saved or lost. Saved or
lost. Feel good one day, feel bad the
next. Back and forth I went. He said, I couldn't be happy.
I'd be happy at times, then I'd be sad. I'd be happy, then I'd
be sad. He said, one day I got in the
book and started digging. And he said, I found some Scriptures
in there that really helped me. And this one I just read to you.
These things are written that you may know. That you may know
you have eternal life. If you believe on Jesus Christ,
you have eternal life. If you're trusting Him for the
saving and the keeping of your soul, you have eternal life.
He said, I'm going to tell you something, brother. Until you
get it settled, you're secure. You're not going to be happy.
And I want you to be happy. Because he said, Preacher, I'm
happy. That buddy, he'd made every word
of it. That man was the happiest fellow you've ever met in your
life. He said, I'm not worried a bit where I'm going. I know
where I'm going because God said I was going. And I believe Him
and I trust Him. I'm secure and I'm on my way
to heaven. Church, can I tell you tonight, you can't get in
your mind how secure you are if you're a believer. The gates
of hell can't prevail against you. Jesus said, if you're in
my Father's hands, no man can pluck you out of His hands. We
need to understand how great it is to not only be saved, but
to know you're secured in your belief. My goodness, folks, we
need to drive down some stakes and say, Lord, you said I could
go to heaven, and I'm planning on going, hallelujah. It's not
based on my performance, and it's not based on yours. It's
based on what He's already done at the cross of Calvary. He either
covered them, or you're still lost. I know that may not hit just
exactly right everywhere, but these things are written
that you may know. Now, if you really know it, then I'm going
to close with this one. If you really know it, that means you
can identify the seducing spirits of Satan. You can recognize his
tactics. If you're really secure in the
Lord, you can spot this stuff along. You may have some slip
up on you, but most of them, you'll see them as I counted.
And if you do see them, or do something wrong, lose your temper
or whatever, because you're secured in the Lord, you know you've
got to deal with that. So I'm backtracking now. You'll find
yourself at an altar praying and asking God to forgive you
and to help you get over it and go on. And then if you go back
to the first one, after you've done that, backtracking from
security, amen, think about that, backtracking from being secure
in the Lord, all the way back to the confession of your sins
to Him, it brings you right back to one thing, the very first
one, that your joy can be full. The happy Christian is a person
that's secured in the Lord, a man that recognizes Satan, and when
he gets overtook by him, he repents and gets forgiveness, and he
comes back to his present position full of joy again. The joy of
the Lord becomes our strength. Now let me tell you what I'm
going to close with on that. Another friend of mine in eastern
Kentucky years ago, He couldn't decide if he was a Baptist or
a Pentecostal. That's the kind I like to deal with. He couldn't
decide. I'll tell you, he was a Pentecostal
preacher for years. And he got into that Baptist
church down there where I was going. And he just couldn't contain
himself. I'm telling you, that guy could
not sit. I believe he was one of the happiest men I've ever
met in my life. And I just loved it, man. I like to see some Baptist
people. Some of them don't know which
they are. They just go and enjoy it. Amen. He would get in the service.
Now keep in mind, this guy's up in his 80s now, when I get
ready to close the story, but in his 70s and 80s, he'd get
up in church and he'd start shouting. He'd sing that song, ready to
go, ready to stay, ready my soul to yearn, ready for service,
lowly or blessed, ready to do God's will. He'd sing that over
and over. And boy, I'll tell you all at
once, the Holy Ghost would come down on him. He'd get excited.
And he'd shout and people would just sit and look at him. And
finally he'd say, well, you can sit still if you want, but I'm
going to run. And he'd take right down that
aisle. He'd come down the outside wall. I watched him go out the
side door and circle the church building and come back in. People
sat and said, don't worry about John. He'll be back directly.
Just keep on serving God. Keep on saying it. Keep on praising
the Lord. He'll be back after a while.
He'd done that for years. He aggravated the Baptist's death. He was at the hospital, Highlands
Regional Hospital, next to Prestonburg, Kentucky. And I heard about him.
They said he's not going to make it. He's up in his 80s now. Now,
folks, he'd done that the whole time he'd come to church. I'm
not kidding you. He could shout. I'm telling you, the guy got
into it. Reminded me of my brother-in-law. Buddy, you're off to a good start. I went up to the hospital. Me
and two or three of the boys are in the church. to see if we could
be an encouragement to him, because I kind of thought, well, he's
probably down. You know, he's got the news that he's not going
to make it. He's going to die. I went up to the hospital. We
got up there around his bed. He had all this stuff hooked
up to him. And they took most of it off because there wasn't
nothing else they could do. He's laying there on the bed. He looked
up and seemed to kind of have a big smile come on his face.
Oh, brothers, come on in here. We went in there and we started
talking to him. To cheer him up, listen. If I'd ever seen
anything get reversed, it was old John Marshall putting it
back on me. Man, he'd raise them hands out and started praying
and rejoicing. He got so carried away he couldn't
hardly sit still. And finally, one of us asked
him a question. John, I know you're getting close home. Can
I ask you a question? He said, sure. I said, if you
could do it over, what would you do different? He sat there
for just a moment. And I'm telling you, this is
what he done. Buddy, it was just like the Holy Ghost just hit
him all at once, just like that. Bless God, if I had it to do
over, I'd run a little farther. I'd jump a little higher. I'd
shout a little louder. Right out of that bed he'd come
and started running circles right around that bed and just rejoiced.
Scared the nurses half to death. They didn't know what was going
on. I said, let him alone! The Holy Ghost has him again! Why could he do that? I'm going
to tell you why he could do that. Because of what these things
say. He had eternal life and knew it. I listened to Cal Ray
preach a message down at Seffner talking about, I can't remember,
I believe it was Ballou, Ed Ballou, when he passed or before he passed. I'm telling you, Cal, I've come
unglued when he's done this. Cal said when he got ready to
leave or the last time he talked to him, he said, hey, you got
anything you want me to tell your dad when I get there? Oh,
Lord, have mercy. Folks, if that weren't secure
believer, I don't know what would. A man on his dying bed said,
hey, I know your dad's over there. Have you got anything you want
me to tell him? You know what I found myself doing when I found
one getting close? I said, hey, by the way, if you
see Dad over there, would you tell him? I said, hello, and
I'll be along soon. Glory to God. Security of the
believer. These things are written that
your joy might be full. Amen. That's why we need these
things, the joy, the repentance, recognizing the enemy, but also
securing our foundation and holding on with all we've got. Folks,
I can't find heaven, but heaven found me. Therefore, heaven is
coming to me to take me there. Well, I don't know where he's
at. Because Jesus said in John 14, I'm going. I'm going. Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe in me. And my Father's house are
many mansions, and if it were not so, I would have told you.
I go to prepare a place for you. I like to put John Meade right
there. I go to prepare a place for John Meade. And John, if
I go prepare a place for you, I'll come again. And I'll receive
you unto myself. That where I am, there you can
be also. Oh, my goodness, aren't you glad
that you can know without a doubt that you're on your way to heaven.
These Things
Pastor Meade preaches a powerful message on the different times the words ,“these things” are mentioned in Scripture. You will blessed to hear this anointed pastor preach a timely sermon under the power of the Holy Ghost. A must hear!
| Sermon ID | 27121410240 |
| Duration | 41:56 |
| Date | |
| Category | Special Meeting |
| Bible Text | Revelation 1:18 |
| Language | English |
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