Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, come before you in the name of your Son. And I ask, Father, for your grace and for your mercy. that you would speak to us this day, that you would help us, that you would strengthen us, that you would get more glory out of us, that we would learn to walk as your servants and to be at peace in your sovereignty. That your real and true spiritual prosperity would be something in our lives. That we would be healed in the midst of affliction in a fallen world. That we would shine as lights. That we would be what we are. New creatures in Christ Jesus. Father, help us. If there is someone here today who does not know you, that they might know you today. As Savior and Lord, in Jesus' name, Amen. I want us to open up our Bibles to Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1. I have known for about a week that I was to preach here and the Lord had laid something upon my heart. And then early in the week, I was carried away back to Illinois. My mother is there in the hospital suffering with cancer. It's about to take her life. And but in a sense, that can be a good thing. She's been a Christian for over 65 years and she belongs to him. And she's going where I would choose to go if my work here were finished. I want us to go to Romans chapter 1, verse 1. Paul, a bondservant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God. In this one verse is found volumes Men could write for ages on these few words that we find here. And I believe that the Lord has laid these words on my heart, not only for you, but for me. For in these words are found almost everything we need to know about who we are and what we are supposed to be doing. In these words are found great freedom and strength and joy, soundness in the Christian faith. If we would only take these few words to heart, you know, sometimes we seek to grasp so many things in Scripture. We seek to know so many things, and yet the little most important things escape us and cause us ruin. I know of one man who set out in his life to be consumed by one passage. He decided that he would take one passage of Scripture Although he would not neglect the study of other scripture, he would take one passage and seek to know it all his life. And he chose Psalms 23. And you say, well, how long can you stay in one chapter? Well, the Lord is my shepherd. You begin with the. Not a Lord, but the Lord. There are volumes in that one three letter word because it defines his relationship over all creation, but especially over me. And so we seek to know so many things and it is important to know many things. Sometimes it's good to return to some of the things that are most basic. Now, Paul presents himself here. Paul, the apostle. used as much as any man has ever been used in the history of the world. And yet, let's look at the way he describes himself. He says, Paul, a bond servant. He says, you want to know who I am? I am a bond servant. It's from the Greek word doulos. It means slave. I am a slave. Now, let's just stop here for a moment. If someone were to ask you in a play on words to choose one word to identify yourself, would this be the first word, the prominent word that popped into your mind? A slave. Would it? Do I need to go any farther? Do I need to ask you any more questions? Do I need to say another word? If you were to only grasp, if I were to only grasp what I just asked, we would find so much healing and so much growth and so much power in the Christian life. You see, the thing that first pops into your mind is probably the one thing you think most about yourself and that controls you. Well, I'm this or I'm that. I have this title or that title. And none of those things ultimately bring joy. None of those things ultimately bring pleasure. They may bring prestige, the respect of men and so many other things, but they'll bring nothing from God. Remember, those things which are highly esteemed by men are often despised by God. My question to you, if someone were to say, who are you? The first word that popped into your mind and out your mouth, Would it be I am a slave? And I've written a few definitions down about a slave. First of all, it's one who completely belongs to his owner. And whose entire life is shaped by the will of his master. Now, let's stop again. I know this is simple, it may seem trite, there'll be no reward for this, but just think about these simple words. Would you describe yourself as someone who completely, totally belonged to someone else and whose life was completely and totally shaped by the will of a master? Now you understand. You could spend years here, couldn't you? Absolutely years here. Who are you, Paul Washer? Oh, I'm a preacher. I'm a director. I'm this. I'm that. All of it's worthless. Titles of men. The first thing that ought to pop into my mind, I am a slave. Wholly and completely, I belong to another, not myself. I have been bought with a price. And my entire life, is shaped by the will of the one who bought me. Now, I want you to know that the Bible teaches us that you... Well, let me put it this way. I hate to quote him, but I will. Bob Dylan. In his Christian years, so-called Christian years, he wrote a song. And the song said this. You've got to serve somebody. You see, it's not a question of are you going to be a slave? It is only a question of whose slave are you? You are a slave to something. As a matter of fact, our culture needs to understand that those today in our culture who claim to be most free, most autonomous are actually those who are in the greatest amount of slavery. You are a slave. You are. The only question is to what? First of all, in the Bible, you don't have to turn here. I've written these verses out in Romans 6 16. It says, do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death or of obedience resulting in righteousness? Do you realize that you can be a slave to sin? Now, this needs to take two applications here this morning. First of all, all of us as Christians will struggle with certain things. We all have holes in our armor. We all have battles that we must deal with that are personal. What may not be a struggle for you may be a great struggle for me. So we all struggle with sin. But I want you to know that in Christ Jesus, there is an overcoming of that sin. And there is a great difference between a believer who struggles with sin and grows, progresses in victory over that sin. There's a great difference between that person and a church member who is constantly in bondage and slavery to sin. I struggle with sin more than most of you would probably even believe. We all do. But in that struggle, there is a trust in Christ and there is a growing victory for He says in Ezekiel, I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and all your idols. There is a struggle, but there is at the same time victory going more and more towards that goal, which is conformity to Jesus Christ. But if you're here this morning and your life is marked by a constant slavery to sin, then maybe you should talk to someone here. Because the Christian life is not marked by bondage to sin. And there are many people who are enslaved to sin even though they sit in church every Sunday. If that is you, realize that we want to speak with you, we want to talk to you compassionately and with mercy and with truth. Don't remain as you are in bondage to sin. And you say, Immediately, when I say something like that, people are thinking, yes, bondage to pornography, bondage to immorality. Yes, those things. But there are other things that can be indications that you do not know him. Bondage to anger. Bondage to hatred. Bondage to bitterness and unforgiveness. Are you in bondage to those things? You see, you are a slave. The only question is to whom? Or to what? Go on, you can also be a slave to the glory of men. The Bible says in Matthew 6 5, when you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward in full. One of the most terrifying passages in all the scriptures that God will give you the desires of your heart. You say, what's terrifying about that? Think about it for a moment. These Pharisees, the only thing they desired was the glory, the respect of other men. They desired to have a reputation among other men. That was the desire of their heart. And God gave them their desire, not just meagerly, but he gave them their desire in full. And then they went to hell. Now you say, yes, we shouldn't be like those Pharisees. But think about it, let's pull this for a moment out of the religious context, just for a moment. You say religiously, I don't desire the glory of men, but do you desire the glory of men and other things? Do you desire their applause, their agreement, the nod of their head? Do you desire to fit in and be acceptable to this present age? You are so shaped by your desire to have the glory of men that you can't even see it. The clothing you wear. Someone else tells you what's in fashion and you do what they tell you. What kind of car you drive, the home you own, everything about you is shaped much more than you could ever imagine by the desire to be respected of men for them to honor you. You see, one of the things that we've got to realize is these things have a lot more control on us than what we're actually willing to admit or may even see. One of the greatest declarations of this is in a very simple thing called, as I've said already, fashion, especially for you young people. Do you realize how much you are shaped by what everyone else is going to think about you? But very rarely are you shaped by the commandments of Scripture that says, be this way and don't be that way. So you see, we have to be very careful. We read these things and we think, well, that has nothing to do with me. No, it has absolutely everything to do with you and with me. We are shaped by our desire for the glory of men. One of the reasons that we are so afraid at times to soul win or to witness to people, it's not because they're going to bash us in the head with a stick. It's because we don't want them to think that we're some kind of strange person. You see, we're shaped by our desire to have the glory of men, and you can be a slave to that. How many people? are a slave to a banker simply because they desire to keep up with the Joneses. Do you see? Simply because they desire to live in a certain circle. We can be slaves to so many things. And that slavery always tears our life apart. Now, you can also be a slave to the things of this world. In 1 John 2, 15, 17, Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away and also its lust. But the one who does the will of God lives forever. Are you enslaved to the things of this world? What consumes your thoughts? You know, you wouldn't have to be around me very long to know that I have a real fondness for archery. And sometimes I'm looking through things and I'm looking at bows and I'm looking at arrows and strings and all sorts of things like that. I'll never forget one time I had just come back from England, I had been preaching in London. And I just came back and I had bought this English longbow and I had decided I would be the first man in America to take a deer with an English longbow. And I was sitting in this cane break one morning and the light was was shining just beautifully, the sun was coming up and I was in a cane break and I was waiting there and the dew had fallen upon me and upon that beautiful bow and it was glistening in the sunlight and I was looking at it and it's as though A voice spoke to me and said, Behold, Paul Washer's God. Isn't it amazing how you and I have the ability to take the most trivial thing and turn it into a God? You say, Well, Brother Paul, it wasn't really your God. Let me just share something with you. The thing that most consumes your thoughts, Now, archery in itself can be a very good thing. Most things, almost all things in this world, when used properly according to the will of God, they are tremendous blessings. But you and I have to realize we can be enslaved to things of this world that so control us that we cannot serve Christ. And we're going to learn here in this study that it is impossible to serve two masters. Are you enslaved? Well, I just have to ask you one question. What do you think about most? What do you think about most? You've pretty much put your finger on your God. By what you think about most, and I want you to realize this, especially for the young men here who are going into the ministry, your ministry can become your God. Everything has the possibility in our flesh to be elevated to the status of idol, the things of this world. And you know, the things of this world we are warned about, they're passing away. You're serving a God that's dying. You're serving a God that is dying. When it says in 1 John that this world is passing away, the Greek tense there, it can also mean that this world is being pushed out, that there's a greater force coming. It is the kingdom of Christ and it's pushing out this world. So don't live for the things. Don't be enslaved to the things that moths can eat and rust can corrupt and thieves can carry away. Now, the Bible says also, that you can be enslaved to wealth. In 2nd Timothy 3, 2, it says men are called lovers of money, lovers of money. Matthew 6, 24, no one can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. He said, yes, Brother Paul, you need to really be talking to the rich. Let me tell you something. I have seen rich enslaved to wealth and I have seen poor enslaved to wealth. Matter of fact, I have seen the poor think more about wealth than the rich who already have it. I'm not trying to protect the rich, but neither am I going to defend the poor. We have to be so careful. You say, well, it has nothing to do with me, I'm not rich. If you're seated here today, you're wealthier than 95 percent of the people in the world. And we can be consumed by money. We can be consumed by money. Why? Because money has the power to give you what you want, to give you things, to give you all sorts of stuff, to give you reputation. You can be a slave to it, whether you have a great deal of it or none of it at all. You can be a slave to money. You know, I said earlier that money gives you things. My God gives me things. Your God can give you things. You don't have to be a slave to the same things the world is enslaved to. Your God will take care of you. Your God will watch out over you. Your God tells you to be His little children. Your God tells the poor man to rejoice to glory in His humility. To rejoice that he has been chosen for the kingdom if he is in Christ. The wealthy, they should also rejoice and glory in their humility, knowing this, that money is not it. Christ is it and everything else is perishing. You have got to realize this and you've got to be careful not to be enslaved to it. Most of you parents, you think, well, my child is going to get out of high school, going to make good grades. OK, why? So they can go to college. Why? So they can get a good job. Why? So they can make a lot of money. Why? More than college, more than athletics, more than scholarships and all these other things that are passing away, we should be thinking, oh, that my child be godly. That my child give it all for the sake of Christ, that my child live for him, that my child not be enslaved to the very things that so enslaved me. Do you realize? Now, listen to this, there's a balance in everything. There is. But do you realize, just take an agenda, write down a list of how much time is invested that you invest with your children in extracurricular activities and how much time you invest in your children with regard to godliness? We buy things, we fill them full of media. We put them into the world. We carry them every place on the face of the earth all throughout the week. Our lives are so busy and scattered. We can't even sit down and have a meal. And what are we doing? We're making our children enslaved to the very master that enslaves us and ruins our lives. Instead of teaching our children, only one thing is needed. Devotion to Christ. Slavery to Christ. Servanthood to Christ. It goes on. You can be a slave to fleshly pleasures. It says in Romans 16, 18, For such men are slaves not of our Lord Christ, but of their own appetites. 2 Timothy 3, 4, Men are lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Does that not define our age? It's all about Pleasure, but the pleasure is never lasting. It's never enduring. No sooner is it in our mouth and we're swallowing it down that it turns to rot. The only true pleasures are the pleasures of God. You see, my dear friend, I'm not trying. Scripture is not trying to take things away from you. It's trying to give you life. To realize all the things that the world so runs for has nothing to do with you now because you're a new creature and you're in Christ and the kingdom has been given to you little children. It says in James 4, 1 and 2, what is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is it not the source of your pleasures? that wage war in your members you lust and do not have. So you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain. So you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. He's saying, what is the thing that such causes conflict among you? It's your desire for self gratification. You see, the one thing about a servant is a servant lives to gratify. Yes, but not to gratify self. to gratify His Master. His Master. That is why Jesus is constantly telling us, the one who seeks to preserve his life will lose it. The one who gives his life away for my sake will find it. The happiest, most content, most fulfilled person on the face of the earth is the person who is an absolute slave to an absolutely perfect Master. And you can be a slave to self, which is probably the most horrible taskmaster on the face of the earth. It says in 2 Timothy 3.2, men are called lovers of self. This has introduced itself into Christianity. I mean, we have opened the door wide in the Church of America. This is the me generation. I think someone had a kind of a spoof, a video on television, on the Internet recently called the Me Church. All about me. I go there because of me. It's all about me. Me is a monster you can't feed. You can never give him enough. Because the more you give him, the bigger he gets and the more he wants. And it is a cycle of constantly serving self. Don't you know that I'm screaming at you right now just even about your marriage? The greatest problem in your marriage is self. Self gratification. What do I get out of this? What's in it for me? Problem in our relationships, it's all about self. We're so preoccupied. Our minds are just almost frazzled to their limit in our consumption of self. One of the greatest ways to bring healing to a mind is to get a person to stop thinking about themselves and to set their mind upon someone else to gratify them. Now, it is not a question of whether or not you're a servant or slave. You are one. But Paul specifically calls himself a slave of Christ Jesus. Now, we have a genitive of description and a genitive of possession in the Greek language. And I think that both of these can kind of go in there. When Paul says that he is a slave of Christ Jesus, he's describing what kind of slave he is. What kind of slave are you? Now, don't answer that immediately. Ask yourself, if someone was observing my life over a period of time, Observing the way I speak, the way I talk, the way I walk, everything about me. And they had to fill in the blank of describing your life. After looking at you sufficiently, would they write down, slave of Christ Jesus. Would they describe you that way? Now, I want you to know something. I haven't attained to this, but this is what we ought to be shooting for. This should be our glory, not titles, not the accolades of men, not the things that men glory in. Our one great goal is that, first of all, in my own personal life, my one great goal is that my wife could look at me and literally fill in the blank and put, slave of Christ Jesus. Years ago, my wife, back when we were younger and more hippie-ish, some of you know what I'm talking about, she bought me a stone and had carved in it, she bought this rough leather thing to put it around my neck, but it was a stone and carved in it was doulos toutheou, in Greek, slave of God. I've never been able to live up to that stone. Don't you know? Slavery is despicable to men. But to be a slave of God is the highest title that could ever be given to a man. That's what you should shoot for. And that's what your sons and daughters should see when they look at you and they look at me. They should think, servant of the Most High God. What's your daddy? He's a servant of the Most High God. Now, I want you to understand something. I was thinking about this the other day and I realized that so many times, and it's true in Christianity and in our music, we'll say that I was enslaved and now I am free. And that is true. But there's a sense in which We need to reword it possibly. You see, when you become a Christian, you don't go from slavery to freedom. When you become a Christian, you go from slavery to slavery. You change masters. But the only thing about it is he is a good master. He is a kind master. You say, Brother Paul, I haven't seen much of his kindness. I haven't seen much of his mercy. I haven't seen much of his provision. Well, why should he provide for you? You're doing it all yourself. You see something and you want it. You'll go to debt for it, you'll do anything, you'll sell your soul to get it, and maybe it's a good thing that your master wants to give to you. And if you were to wait upon him in prayer, maybe a year or two, He would grant it to you for nothing. Now, another thing, Paul says that he is a slave of Christ Jesus. Now, I think this is important. He puts Christ in front of Jesus. indicating that he is not putting himself into slavery for just a man, but he's putting himself into slavery for the Christ, for deity, for the Messiah, for the one who lived and died and rose again and is Lord of Lords, King of Kings, carries every title that can be carried. You see, it is totally irrational to give your life into slavery for a man. But there is nothing irrational about giving yourself into slavery for God, for deity, for Christ, for the one who sealed his commitment to you by his own blood. As a matter of fact, the most ridiculous thing you could ever do is sell yourself for some of the things for which you've sold yourself. The most ridiculous thing is to spend your life for things To spend your life for the accolades of men, many of whom will be condemned on Judgment Day. To live for a world that's not only passing away, but being pushed out. Now that is insanity. But enslaving yourself to Christ, God in the flesh, well, it's the only sane thing a man can do. It goes on. I want to give you an example from James, and I just love this example. James 1.1, it says, James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this is this is James, the half brother of our Lord. Now, just notice here for a moment. He doesn't say James, the half brother of Jesus. He doesn't say, James, the one who has risen to great prominence among the church and the brethren in Jerusalem. He says, James, a slave of Christ Jesus. Now, this is the power of conversion, because this man, before the death and resurrection of Christ, he mocked his brother. He did not believe his brother. But when he came to know Christ, not as Paul says, in the flesh, Christ as He really is, when He came to know Him, His relationship with Him totally and completely changed. Slave of Christ Jesus. There's two guys claiming two titles in Scripture that I so greatly appreciate. One of them is James and the other is John. The one whom Jesus loved. Notice, he doesn't say the one who loved Jesus. I know it's biblical to sing songs about, oh, how I love Jesus, but I find it very difficult to do so because I don't find a whole lot worth singing about in my love towards Jesus. But I find a whole lot to sing about when we talk about the love of Christ toward me and men. So let's go on. To be a servant of Jesus Christ has the following implications. It means that we give ourselves up to the will of Christ. Now, we give ourselves up to the will of Christ. Now, that's really easy to do as long as you stay as far away from the will of God as you can get. You say, I give myself up to the will of Christ. Well, what's that will? As long as you don't know, you're pretty much still free. The only way you can make a claim to slavery is if you're going to get serious about knowing the will of your master. And that comes through renewing the mind. It comes through prayer. It comes through biblical fellowship. It comes through sitting under preaching. It is this desire to know his will. It is a terrifying thing. It is a terrifying thing to be sent to do a task and not know anything about it, knowing that you'll be held accountable for that task, even though you have no direction whatsoever. It's terrifying. It's like when your dad tells you, go out into the shed and get that tool and you can't find it, and then you hear, if I have to come in there. You see, so many people will emotionally say, oh, yes, I'm a servant of Jesus Christ. But if you were to ask them, OK, what has your master commanded you with regard to marriage? What is your master commanded you with regard to child rearing? What is your master commanded you with regard to being a son or a daughter? Then the whole thing changes, you see. Now. I want to read a text for you that's very, very important, and it's this. Jesus Christ was our example of what it means to be a servant, and he said in Mark 10, 45, that he did not come to be served. But to serve. Now, brothers, listen to me, now listen to me. You'll notice I speak a lot about marriage and family because it's about the most important. It is the most important thing. I want to tell you something, your chief problem in your marriage is even though you would not say it. You've entered into this thing to be served. Wives, I can tell you the same thing. All of us in every one of our relationships have to be so afraid of this. Many people will go on staff at a church in order to be served. Many people enter into a friendship in order to be served. Many people, because they do not understand the full crux of marriage, will enter into marriage in order to be served. But I want you to know. That you will find great freedom when you begin to turn this thing around and say, I'm here to serve, whether I get served or not. It's a problem we have in almost everything. Now, I want to look, I know time is fleeing away, but I at least want to get into the second part, there's three parts. I'll do this first one and then the second one. Paul, a bond servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle. Now. Literally, what this says in the Greek is a called apostle. a called apostle. And I think it is very important to understand that. Let me give you another verse. In 1 Corinthians 1.1, he says Paul called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. And in 1 Timothy 1.1, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, according to the commandment of God. What am I saying? Paul was a called apostle. It means he was what he was by the will and commandment of God. You must. And I want to speak most to my brothers here now. You must be able to say or you have no foundation whatsoever in your life. Brothers, you must be able to say, I am what I am by the will and commandment of God. It is not what I have chosen for myself. the ministry I have chosen or the profession I have chosen or the work I have chosen or the place I have chosen or the circumstances I have chosen. No, it is all about I am what I am by the commandment and will of God. Now, there are two ways to look at this. One is an overarching sovereignty. It gives us great peace. It gives me great peace to know this. Regardless of all the times that I've missed hearing His voice, regardless of all my failures and all my sin, I'm smack dab in the will of God right now because God's sovereignty is able to override my mistakes and dullness of ear. So I am what I am by the will of God. By the commandment. Do you see that authority there? It's not I chose to be this or I chose to be that. And do not think this should be relegated only to the ministry. You must be a doctor by the commandment and will of God. You must be a contractor. You must be a salesman. You must be this and that and everything else because you know it is God's will for your life. If you don't, you have no foundation. Now, I want to point out a couple of things here. It is so hard. I'm using notes for like the first time in my life. First of all, why is it so important? I'll tell you why it's important. A vague knowledge of your calling will lead to a very vague obedience. A vague knowledge of your calling will lead to a very vague obedience. When I start talking about slavery and discovering the will of God and living according to the will of God as a slave, I know what's going on in your head. You say, you know, I'm sick and tired of preachers telling me what to do, I wish one of them would tell me how to do it. How do I get started? I mean, it's so big. The will of God is so gigantic. So how do I start doing it? Well, I'm going to tell you. First of all, you must get specific about God's. Place. In your life. And your place in God's economy. You find out where He has brought you, the very place you are at, and then you enter into Scripture and begin to discern His will. And I'm going to give you an example of this. First of all, verse 7 here in Romans 1 says He's called you to be a saint. A saint. That's what it says. So the will of God, discerning the will of God, will begin in this place. God has called you to be a saint. What does that mean? He's called you to be a separate one, one separated unto Him. That's the first thing you need to know. God has called you to be a saint, which means He's called you to be separate. And so you go into Scripture and you begin to discern what that means. God has called you not to participate in many of the things in which the world participates. He has called you in Scripture to find out everything He hates and avoid it, and then to discover everything He loves and run to it. He has called you to be conformed to the image of His Son. And if you're to devote yourself to anything, you are to devote yourself to godliness. Because if you were truly a saint, if you were truly godly, you'd have a lot less problems in your marriage. and your relationships, and church, and family, and everywhere else. So primarily, God has called you to be a saint. And you need to get in Scripture, get in that concordance of yours, look up saint, look up holiness, look up what God loves, look up what God hates, and start living accordingly. He's called you to be a saint. Some controlling verses here would be Paul saying, not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. This is what God wants for you. And gentlemen, Listen to me, I'm always referring back to you. Why? I know you like that idea of being the head of your home. Do you know what that means? You set the stage, you are the example. Don't expect your wife, your children or anyone else to be headed towards godliness if you yourself. are not visibly working and pressing on in that direction. Would your children look at you and say, the one thing about my dad that I really noticed is he is pressing on to be more and more like Christ. He's disciplining himself for godliness. You see? So many fathers have said, well, I'm just, you know, working as hard as I can to give my children all the things I never had. It was the things you never had that made you the man you are. And it's the things you're giving them that's destroying them. And God didn't call you to give them things. He called you to discipline, to educate, to train them in righteousness. You see? So what's God's will for your life? To press on hard, to be conformed to the image of Christ so hard that it is visible to those who are closest to you, gentlemen, beginning with your wife. What has God called you to do? He's called you to be a saint. Now, let's get a little more specific. Usually when we talk about calling, we're always talking about something religious or something in the church. I want to tell you something. The church would get a whole lot healthier if we got a whole lot healthier in a lot of other areas in our life. So let's just look at it. You're a slave. OK, slave. Has he called you to be a husband? Has he called you to be a husband? All right, then. Then love your wife through dying to self and daily laying down your life for her. That's God's will for your life. And I don't care if it consumes the entire day. Because if you can't get this down, what else are you going to do? A man has no privilege of ministry. He cannot even be an elder if he doesn't do these types of things. So here's what I want you to see. You always say, what's the will of God? Are you a husband? Then I'll tell you the will of God. As Christ loved the church and laid down His life for her, so lay down your life for your wife. That doesn't mean being someone who just follows her every will and wish. No, it means that you are growing in godliness so that you can lead her so that she will become everything she ought to be in Christ and in righteousness. That's your job. Sometimes on an airplane, someone will say, what do you do? And I'll say, well, I'm a husband. They go, what? I'm a husband. No, what else do you do? Well, I'm a father. No, what else do you do? Oh, well, if I have any time left over, I minister and preacher. We don't take this serious enough. We'll run all over doing all kinds of things. Are you a husband? Then lay down your life for your wife. Are you a wife? And this is the will of God for you, respect and honor your husband through loving and joyful submission and through serving him as a suitable helper. That's God's will for you, slave. That's what you if you're going to be a slave and you're a woman and you're married, then this is God's will for you. Do this. Give yourself to understanding what this means. It's not you're not going to get it here this morning. It's only being brought to your attention this morning. It takes a lifetime to learn what this means. Are you a parent? Then bring up your children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. more than ball games, more than soccer moms, more than this and that, more than beta club and honor club and athletics and everything else. All of it should take second place, must take second place. I'm not saying it can't be in their life. Some of that can be very good and wholesome and a good activity, but it must not even come close to first place. Your main responsibility as a parent is to raise your child that way. Now, are you a son or daughter? Then I'm going to tell you God's will for you as a slave. Honor your father and mother in humble submission and heartfelt obedience. Don't even think about calling yourself by the name Christian unless you honor your parents. Don't even think about it. Don't even let it enter into your mind. If you would honor a president or a king more than your dad or your mother, you do not know what it means to walk with God and you do not know the will of God, nor do you understand Christianity. Although I am to honor kings and presidents, they take no honor over father and mother. The will of God for slaves. This is it. Are you an employee? Ephesians 6, Be obedient to those who are your employers according to the flesh with fear and trembling in the sincerity of your heart as to Christ, not by way of eye service as men pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart with goodwill, render service as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that whatever good thing each one does, he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free. That you are serving Christ. Even if you are mistreated, even if you are maligned, even if you are not given your due, you are serving Christ and you should serve with a sincerity of heart and represent Christ there. One of the things that is so important is many of you need to understand. I was preaching several years ago on the biblical view of employment and this state trooper came up to me afterwards. I mean, just a man's man. He came up to me, he's just crying. And I said, brother, what's wrong? He said, I sit hours and hours and hours a day in a car. Catching people going too fast. And I've sat there and I've thought, just I don't serve Christ. I don't do anything. I just sit here. I'm a state trooper. I arrest bad guys and my life has no meaning. And he says, now that I understand scripture, my life is filled with meaning. I do this as unto the Lord. This is what he has called me to be. And I will be it. Many of you think that God only calls you to be certain things in the church. No, He calls you to be accountants and housewives and policemen and judges, and yes, even used car salesmen. As a matter of fact, the godliest man I know on the face of the earth is Adrian Jones from Leadbetter, Kentucky, and he's a used car salesman, and he's done more to help the church in Romania than probably every mission organization combined. You see? Do it as unto the Lord. I'll give you a little eschatological truth. When Christ entered into the grave and then broke it open, that grave door was shattered and the entire tomb was filled with light and even meaning. And when you throw open the door of your life and your employment and everything that you do as a housewife, as a mother, as a father, as this and that, and you throw open that grave door, the light of Christ fills that tomb with meaning and light. You've been taught that it's a little thing to be a mother. It's a little thing to be a housewife. And you say, what's the meaning in all of this? My life has no meaning. And the feminists in the world today tell you your life has no meaning. That is a lie. When Christ is brought into it, it is filled with meaning. Our whole life ought to be just glowing with the life of Christ. Are you an employer? Then practice justice and equity without partiality, knowing that both their master and yours is in heaven and there is no partiality with him. Employers ought to tremble. To be fair. Full of equity. And kindness. Now, lastly. Are you a member of a church? You see, when you thought about calling, all you think about is church. When you think about the will of God, often all you think about is church. There's so many things ahead of that. A member of the community of faith, are you then do this as each one has received a special gift employed in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad. With the grace given you, serve the community. You say, Brother Paul, but if I'm a good husband and a good wife and a good father and a good mother and a good employer or a good employee, there won't be any time left. No, that's not true. Here's the problem. There are so many activities in our life that are extracurricular and not necessary, but we will hold on to them and throw away duties to family and throw away duties to church in order to hold on to our extracurricular activities. Throw them away first. Get your priorities straight. Because there's time enough to do the will of God. There is time enough to do the will of God. There is time enough. Now, you see, there's a lot in one verse. There's a lot in one verse. This call to you is this. Are you a slave? Do you desire for people to look at you and say, slave? Young men, you want the young ladies to look at you and think popular, strong, handsome, all these other things. Well, if that's what the young lady is looking for, she's not worth having. She ought to be looking for a man who is a servant of the Most High God. And you young men, you ought to be drawn to a woman because you can say, behold, a bondmaiden of the Lord, a servant of the Most High God. Let's pray. In His commandments, we know that we know Him. If we persevere in His commandments, we know that we know Him. And then He goes on and says, the one whose opposite doesn't know Him. Now, I want you to look at something for a moment. What does it mean to keep His commandments? Does it mean to walk in sinless perfection? No. Again, it is a style of life. If we were to take your life out and film it every day, 24 hours a day, would we see a style of life that desired to know God's commandments, desired to obey them, was growing in victory and obedience, and was also broken when it didn't obey? Would we see that in your life? And you say, well, I kept the commandments before. You forget what he's saying. If you keep on keeping. Perseverance. Why perseverance? Because of the promises of God. He who began a good work and you will finish it. And if the work isn't finished, he didn't do it. Is your lifestyle marked by a keen interest in God's commandments and a desire to obey them? Again, someone comes to me and says, Brother Paul, I have a new relationship with God. And I tell them, do you have a new relationship with sin? Because if you don't have a new relationship with sin, you don't have a new relationship with God. And then I ask them, you've got a new relationship with God? Well, tell me, do you have a new relationship with His commands? Do you have a new relationship with His Word? Because if you don't have a new relationship with His Word, you don't have a new relationship with Him. Now look at verse 4. The one who says, I've come to know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him. If you've been in any kind of meetings, especially among people who consider themselves to be super spiritual and vocal about it. I mean, meetings will get going and the preacher will start preaching or the music will get rolling and someone will jump up and say, oh, hallelujah, he's my savior. Hallelujah, I know him. That's exactly what John's talking about right here. The one who jumps up in the middle of the meeting and says, I know I've come to know him. But does not keep his commandments is a liar. He's a liar. Now, again, look at this from the context. John is the apostle of love. Paul was known for his great mind, but I think John was known for his great love. And yet this humble, broken apostle is laying down the verdict. You are a liar. It's an amazing thing, isn't it? Now, it goes on. Let's go to another test. Verse six of chapter two. The one who says he abides in him ought himself to walk in the same manner as he walked. The Christian ought to walk as Jesus walked. And you say, Brother Paul, you've gone too far now. Who can walk like Jesus walked? Well, let me give you an illustration to try to explain to you what I mean. When I was a little boy, my father was a very big man, very smart man. And like all little boys, I wanted to be just like him. Now, up north, we raised cattle and raised quarter horses. We get big snows. And my dad would come into my room at five in the morning, even when I was a little boy, and say, Paul boy, get up. No rest for the wicked. And when he said, get up, you got up. And we would walk out there in the snow. And the one thing I can always remember doing is my father would take these big strides and leave these footprints in the snow. Now, I wanted to walk like my dad walked. And so I would try to stretch my legs out and put my foot in his footprint. And I would stretch my legs out. Now, you can imagine I was stretching out farther than I could ever go. You can imagine I looked ridiculous. And you can imagine I fell down. But you will also know by looking at that picture that the greatest desire in my heart was to walk like he walked. You could tell, looking at that little boy, he wanted to be like his dad, even though sometimes he didn't look anything like it. Let me ask you, what's the greatest desire in your heart? Is your great desire to walk like he walked, to be like he was? Is that your great desire? Are you seeking to put your foot in his footprint? Listen to me, man. Listen to me, woman, because if you're not, be afraid. Reporter came up to me one time and he said, why are you telling people to be afraid all the time? And I said, because they ought to be afraid. Again, this is the test. This is the exam. If I were to look at your life, if I were to film the whole thing, would I see since the supposed day of your conversion this desire to walk like him? Or do you desire to walk like everybody else? Do you desire to walk like the world and act like the world and talk like the world and fellowship with the world? Do you identify with the world? Or is it Jesus? Is it Jesus? We're not talking about whether or not you need to rededicate your life tonight. We're talking about whether or not you need to get saved. Now let's go on. The next test. Verse nine of chapter two, the one who says he is in the light yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now. The one who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes. Now, brother here is not referring to the poor, even though we ought to love the poor. It's not referring to someone of another race. And I always thought that was a quite stupid statement anyways, because there are not. There's no more than one race, folks. It's called human. Unless you've got a Martian tucked in your pocket somewhere, there's only one race. And we're to love people of all different colors and cultures and all that we know. But that's not what he's talking about here. When he says brother, he's talking about believers. If you say that you know God and yet you do not love other believers in a real and practical way and desire fellowship with them, you're lost. Now, let me give you an example. You remember when Jesus said, I was in prison, you did not visit me, I was hungry, you did not feed me, I was naked, you did not clothe me. And guys who do prison ministries will always use that verse saying, we need to go into the prisons. Well, we need to go in the prisons, but that verse doesn't really have anything to do with that. Unless there's Christians in there. What this verse is talking about, and I learned it quite well in Peru and in other third world countries. In some third world countries, my friend, listen to me, you get thrown into jail, you will starve to death unless every day somebody from the outside brings you food. You will. They do not provide food for you. You will die. Let's say that someone is thrown in prison, not for being an assassin or a thief, but they're thrown in prison in the time of the apostles for being a Christian. And they're locked away in there. Now, they're going to die. They're going to starve to death unless somebody else brings them food. Now, that presents a problem because the authorities know anybody that brings this guy food has to be a Christian. And so the one who goes to take him food is in danger of being thrown in prison himself. That's what Jesus is talking about. A love so great that you would risk your own life to care for other brothers and sisters in Christ. Now, listen to me. Do you love to be with people who love to be with and talk about and worship and serve God? Or would you rather be with people who have nothing to do with God? Because you are demonstrating what you are. Like I said, I was raised on a farm. You do not see the chickens over there having a good time with the pigs. Chickens hang with chickens. Pigs do their own thing. It's their nature. You say, well, I'm a believer, but man, all my friends are, you know, Yeah, I know. You're lost. Do you love other Christians? Well, I, I, you know, I, I come to church. Big deal. Devil comes to church. What do you do when you get here? What do you do outside here? Because the church isn't this tent, it's not that building, it's the people. How many Christians are you serving? How many Christians are you reading the Bible with? How many Christians are you praying for? How many Christians are you loving? I've got a dear friend in my church back home, and he knows I'm here in Texas for a little while. He's adopted my mother. He's cleaning up her place. He's mowing her yard. He's doing all sorts of things. Why? She's a believer. And because of the will of God, her son's being sent to Texas. So he's taking over. That's what I mean. That's what I mean. I've had both my hips replaced because of my bones are degenerating. You know how they got replaced? I was a missionary. I didn't have a dime. How am I going to get implants? How am I going to be operated on? A man in Austin, Texas, Stephen Whitlock III. Young guy, 32 years old, but a brilliant man. He walks into his Sunday school class one day at a church there in Austin, Texas. He hears people praying about a missionary who can hardly walk up in the Andes Mountains. He goes, give me his name. He calls me. He says, come, come to Austin. I'm getting the ticket. I'm getting the doctors. I'm getting everything. Your hips are taken care of. That's what I'm talking about. I was walking through the jungles one time, high jungles, in Departamento Amazonas in Peru during the war with the Sendero Luminoso. We were in a place the military wouldn't go and we were lost, me and another brother. And we were traveling through the night in the darkness. We'd smuggled ourselves up there in the back of grain trucks. And we were going to preach in a place because the believers were just depressed and tore apart and didn't know what to do and everyone was making fun of them. We knew we had to go in there. And so we get lost and we're going through the jungle and finally we come upon this village. We walk in there. We don't know where to go. We don't know where to spend the night. We know that the terrorists can be absolutely everywhere. We know we could be a dead man. And Paco walks up to this person out on the streets like almost midnight and he goes, ¿Hay hermanos por acá? Are there brothers through here? And someone said, that old lady over there and an old Nazarene woman. We knock on the door. And I said, Soy pastor. She grabs both of us, pulls us in, shuts the door behind us, sticks us down in the basement, goes out, kills a chicken, fries up some yucca, everything you can imagine. She's feeding us. She's taking care of us. She's housing us. Could she get in trouble? Yes, she could. And then you say, Oh, I'm a Christian because I go to church. You've got to be kidding me. That's love to you? You need a new definition. He said, Brother Paul, you're using satire. Read the prophets. They did the same. Some of this Christianity floating around America is worthy of making fun of. And it ought to be exposed. Do you love the people of God? You know, who are you with? Someone asked me, how did you know? Young guys always ask me, how did you know that that Charo, your wife, was the woman for you? I says, really easy. I want to be with her. How did you know you loved her? I just want to be with her. How do you know you love them? You just want to be with them. And talk about Jesus. Talk about Jesus. Do you love? Now let's go on. There's much more here, but we need to continue on. I want to go through another test. Chapter 2, verse 15. Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Look at that. What is the world? Everything in this fallen age that contradicts the attributes and will of God. Everything that does not come forth from God and goes back to God in worship. That's the world. You say, well, I love secular music. Let me just share something with you. I don't care. I'm not going to go there. This is what I'm going to tell you. It doesn't matter to me whether it's secular or Christian. My question is, what's being said in those words? Because if what's being said in those words contradicts the will of God, you're violating His will and you're loving it. You say, well, I, you know, the adults here are probably going, amen. OK, let's talk about your television. You watch things, you expect God to move. You love those, you love their jokes, their off color jokes, their humor. You find yourself laughing at wickedness. And then you want God to move in your family and move in your life. Do you love the world? My dear friend, yesterday I was nine years old. Today I am 43. Tomorrow I will be 90. Life is a vapor. It is fleeting. Everything will die. All will pass away. We are to love the things of God, the things that are eternal. And one of the signs of a Christian is that they are not entrapped or enslaved to the things of this present evil age, but they are set free to see Christ in His glory and follow Him and follow hard after Him. Christ! I was preaching at a university thing about a year and a half ago, and I noticed that everyone was seated and it was about two minutes before it was all to begin. And all of a sudden at a side door in the auditorium, this probably a group of 30, 40 beautiful girls come walking in and just kind of walk down the front there and sit down in all the seats. I mean, it was designed for them to showcase what they were. I looked at all of them and I said, young women, I said, let me give you a little bit of advice. I can see I'm a man. Many of you are very, very, very, very beautiful. One day, all of you are going to be terribly, terribly ugly. It's true. to the wind with your money, to the wind with your beauty, to the wind with your wealth. It will not remain. The only thing that remains is the glories of Christ. Death is a present reality. You say, oh, how do you know? You're not that old. My brother died. My father died in my arms. I preached the funeral of my sister. I know about death. And I know that it could come to some of you before I finish snapping these fingers. You say, Brother Paul, you're trying to scare me. You have discerned correctly. Love the world? You love to listen to the very things that nailed your supposed master to the tree? Come off of it, man. Become a hellion. Give yourself to demons. Run wild. But don't come in here saying you're a believer and playing that game. You want to dance with the devil? Then dance all night long. But don't come in here dancing with Christ for a moment and then go back out there and share your love. We're talking about loyalty. Love the world that nailed Christ to a tree. Many of you, just by professing faith in Christ, you crucify again the Son of God. You need to realize something. This is the Christ. This is the Son of God. This is the Lord of glory. Isn't it amazing that we're going to have believers from China, believers from northern Nigeria, that have died as martyrs, drug through the desert, behind camels, some of them skinned alive, but they would not deny Jesus. And here's all these American Christians standing beside them. They couldn't even find enough anything inside them to even attend church on Sunday morning. Does anybody have a problem with that? One man can be skinned alive and not deny Christ, and the other denies Him in the smallest of things. And yet they're all born again? I think not, my friend. I think not. If you love the world, Look at verse 16. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life, it is not from the Father, but from the world. Sometimes I'll get seminary students and they've all got this great idea that they're going to go out and do something for God. So I'll stand before them and I'll say, OK, I want everybody to breathe in. They all breathe in. I say, breathe out. They breathe out. I said, theologically, from where did that breath come? They say from God? Okay, you can't breathe on your own. Now what are you going to do for God? The lust of the flesh, the pride of body. And we live today basically in the Roman Empire. Can't you see that? We have around us an empire of flesh and muscle and beauty and hair. And it will all rot in a tomb. Rot in a tomb. the wealth and the glamour and the glitter and all the things in which people are investing their lives will all rot. But the one who does the will of God will abide forever. I look at my life right now, I'm middle-aged. And I think sometimes back, I think, what if I was not a Christian? What would be my attitude now? Well, think about it. I'm I'm forty three. The days of my strength are over. The days of my beauty, they're over. The days of wonder and dreams about what my life is going to be, they're over. What's left for me? Just to grow older, more tired, and die. And yet, here I am now, a Christian. What does it mean? By God's grace, 22 years have not been wasted. in a meager trifling sort of way maybe, but truly in a way, they have been given to Christ. And now years ahead of me. And you know what? I see men of God. I'm a boy of God. You're not a man of God until you're about 65. I see men of God still alive, and those that have gone on before me. I listen to those old men at 85 and 90, barely can stand up in a pulpit and begin to speak, and just glory all around them. And I say, Lord, is that what's waiting me? I hear about the saints that are about to cross over, and their eyes fly open, and they just cry out, Glory! Glory! Lord, is that waiting for me? It's just going to get better. It's just going to get better. You say, well, your candle's going to be put out. Yes, my candle's going to be put out only because the sun's coming up. This world is passing away, and I can tell you biblically that if you're living for it, you're an absolute fool. But the one who does the will of God abides forever. And for those of you who are young, oh, what a precious opportunity now to serve the Lord. now to serve Him. Many that were called and used mightily of God were called as children in the Bible. Don't you see that? How old was this Samuel when he began to hear the voice of God? You say, oh, I must wait. No, you must not wait. Seek Him now. Seek Him hard. If you seek Him hard, He will let Himself be found by you. It goes on. Verse 19. They went out from us, but they were not really of us, for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us. But they went out so that it would be shown that they are not of us. Now, this does not mean that if someone leaves our church and goes to another, that it means they're not a Christian. That's not what that means. What it's talking about is this. the true Christian who enters into biblical, historical Christianity and then leaves, might go into some new stuff, new Christianity, new teachings. They're rampant. They're everywhere. Every wind of doctrine. Leaves what is known as basic, historic Christianity to go follow after some new stuff that has very little to do with Scripture and nothing to do with biblical history. They've gone out from us. They don't remain in the body. Or someone who comes in, and they might be with the group, you know, with the church, with the fellowship, with the congregation for six months or a year, and then they depart, and they stay departed, and they don't go to another fellowship. What does that mean? They went out from us. And what is it showing? They never were of us. Because once you're in Christianity, you stay in Christianity, because He who brought you in keeps you in. It wasn't Noah who shut that door behind himself on that boat. It was God. I hear so many people that will say, oh, if I just make it to heaven, I'll be secure. If I just make it to heaven, I'll be secure. And I always ask them, where was the devil when he fell? It's not heaven that's going to make you secure, my friend. It's being in Christ that makes you secure. It goes on. Another test, verse 8. Verse 22, Chapter 2, Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the Antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father. The one who confesses the Son has the Father also. The true Christian is going to embrace the fullness of the person of Jesus Christ. Now, many of you are saying, yes, that is true. They are going to believe that Jesus is God in the flesh. Yes, that's true. They're going to believe that God became man, that He was a real man. Yes, that's true. But that's not all it means to embrace the fullness of Christ's person. This silly little stuff going around in America today, that you can receive Jesus as Savior and not Lord, is absolutely absurd. the fullness of His person. You believe in, you receive, you embrace all of it. Jesus is Savior, Jesus is Lord, Jesus is Prophet, Priest and King. Jesus is the only prophet who ever walked on this earth. Jesus is the only King. Jesus is the only true priest. Jesus is, again, the only true wise man. Let me ask you, do you believe that? Alright, how much are you going to His Word to find His wisdom? You believe He's King? How much are you going to His Word to find His law? You believe He's prophet and He knows about your latter days, then how much are you going to the Word to settle those latter days through your own obedience? Now, finally, look in verse 9, or I'm sorry, verse 29 of chapter 2. If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of God. Now, what is righteousness? Everything that conforms, everything that conforms to the nature and law of God. Do you practice righteousness? If we were to look at your life, are you practicing God's law? Are you practicing God's wisdom, God's Word, God's precepts? Are you? Is it a practice in your life or are you departing from it? Does it have nothing to do, absolutely nothing to do with you? Matthew chapter 7, Jesus says, depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness. And that's one of the most terrifying statements in the Bible for American Christianity, because basically what He's saying is this, depart from Me those of you who claim to be My disciples, and yet you lived as though I never gave you a law to obey. I just described most of what's called the church in America today. I'm a disciple. What's your relationship to His Word? I know Him. What's your relationship to His Word? Are you seeking to know His wisdom, His precepts, His commands, and to practice them? Is it a part of your life? Now, let me tell you something, something that I think legalism is death. Let me tell you that. I think it is. I think it's death. But I want to tell you something. The Bible tells us what we can think about and what we cannot think about. Do you know those commands? And are you practicing them? The Bible tells us what we ought to watch and we should not watch. Do you know those commands? Do you care? Are you practicing them? The Bible tells us, now listen to me, the Bible tells us what we can wear. and not wear. You say, oh boy, here he goes. No, listen to me. I'm not talking about defining every last, crossing every T, dotting every I. You can't wear this. It is telling us this. Whatever you put on your body better be decent. It better be decent and it ought to enhance the beauty God's already given you. I look around today and see what people are wearing and it reminds me of the communist countries I've preached in right after their liberation. One thing about a communist country, the communists come in, Eastern Europe, filled with all these beautiful little brick roads and beautiful little stone houses and everything. Communists come in, tear it all down, put in pavement and these ugly concrete blocks and make everybody, they take beauty and destroy it. Look at fashion today. Look at it. It's not conformed to the will of God. God wants his people to be beautiful. But to God, that also means modest and decent. But he wants them beautiful, he wants them full of life, full of color, he wants them to be a beautiful people. But what do we see? Grunge. Dress in black. Hangover like this. I mean, it's unbelievable. In a way, I think it's really, really good because, I mean, a man who's godly no longer will have much temptation. The girls are trying to look as ugly as possible. I mean, that's not what God wants. I know I don't have much time to preach to you, so I'm going to use a shotgun approach here. Girls and guys, let me give you a thing that my wife uses, and it's really, really good. It's this. If your clothing is a frame for your face, it's of God. If your clothing brings attention to your face, from which the glory of God should be shining, it's of God. If your clothing is a frame for your body. It is sensual and God hates it. Now, I know they're kind of pretty broad guidelines, but there they are. Doesn't mean you have to dress like a Puritan, put buckles on your shoes or anything like that. But those are the guidelines right there. Righteousness. And why am I saying this? Because the Bible touches every aspect of our lives. There's something in there for every area of our life. And what we need to do is discover what that is and conform our lives to it. And you say, oh, what a burden. You're lost because the Bible says the commandments of God for a Christian are not a burden. They're a joy. They're a joy. Verse three of chapter three, everyone who has this hope fixed on himself, fixed on him, purifies himself just as he is pure. Now, look at this. What is it talking about? The hope of the second coming of Jesus Christ. Everybody, you know, reading these left behind books, the only thing left behind in the left behind series was the Bible. But everybody's excited. You know, I believe in the second coming. I believe Jesus is going to come. I believe all this stuff. OK, we'll see whether you believe it or not, because it says in verse three, everyone who has this hope, what does he do? Purifies himself just as he is pure. Now, here's something, Christian, it's just going to blow your mind. You know, we are told to purify ourselves. And some of you guys need to hear this who are really, really theological. Not only has God sanctified us in Christ, He calls us to strive to be holy. He calls us to purify ourself. Let me ask you a question. Could I sit down with you right now and you talk to me? We're all alone. You talk to me about the ways in which you're seeking to purify yourself. Can you? If we went into the book of Hebrews, could you sit down with me right now and we could open up and say, just share with me how this affects your life. Could you sit down with me right now and explain to me the ways in which you're striving after holiness? Do you see? Do you see? This Bible is not poetry. It's not just little maxims that are cute. It is your life. It is your life. Everyone who has this hope, that hopes in Him, how do we know that we really hope in Him? Because we're seeking to make ourselves pure. We're seeking, we're striving after holiness. We're striving after holiness. We really are. Are you striving after holiness? My mom, She's 70, almost 77, and she raised most of us kids by herself because my dad died. Tough lady. She's Croatian. Her parents came over through Ellis Island. She went through the Depression. Tough lady. She's from Detroit. Makes her mean. She'll sit there sometimes. I'll be over there. I'll go over to her house, pass by there before I go to the office in the morning. She'll be over the Word. I'll look up at her and she'll just be broken. She was saved when she was ten. She'll look up at me with tears in her eyes and say, I am just so unholy. I am just... I just found, look at this verse. God's telling me my mouth, my tongue. I spoke out a turn the other night. I got to go back and ask my sister to forgive me. I'm going, oh mom. She goes, sometimes I don't even think I'm saved. I said, mom, this is the evidence that you are. all these years of walking with Christ and yet still they're striving to be holy. Yes, resting, resting in the finished work of Christ. Yes. But striving to be holy, to be righteous. Everyone who has this hope is going to do that. Now, he says, Verse 4, everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. What does that mean? I'll tell you what it means. He's trying to show you how horrible sin is, because we really don't get it. I love what Watson says in The Body of Divinity. He's always saying this. He goes, You have not sinned against an inferior prince. You've not sinned against a small mayor from a small village. You have sinned against the Lord of glory, the King of kings, the Lord of lords. You know not what you've done. Imagine this. Here stands God on the day of creation. He looks at stars that could swallow up a thousand of our sons. He looks at them and He says, all you stars, move yourself to this place and start in this order and move in a circle and move exactly as I tell you until I give you another word. And they all obey Him. He says, planets, pick yourself up and whirl. Make this formation at my command until I give you another word. He looks at mountains and he says, be lifted up and they obey him. He tells valleys, be cast down and they obey him. He looks at the sea and says, you will come this far and the sea obeys. And then he looks at you and says, come and you go, no. Look at the horrid wretchedness of sin, the vulgarity, the prostitution of sin. It is a horrid thing, not something to be trifled with. As I said, it is a beast and it is waiting at the door and its desire is to have you. And anyone who practices sin practices outright, open, clenched fisted rebellion against the Lord of glory. Now it's here. We all realize that the Bible has already taught us that believers will sin, but there is a difference between a believer who sins, confesses their sin, and going on to greater holiness, being disciplined of the Lord, but going on to greater holiness, and someone who just out and out practices sin as a habitual lifestyle. Verse 5, You know that He appeared in order to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin. He appeared to take away the very sin that many people relish and love. Verse 6, No one who abides in him sins. No one who has sinned has seen him or knows him." Again, it's talking about a style of life of practicing sin. Little children, make sure that no one deceives you. Now, I'm telling you this, little children, adults, make sure no one deceives you. Make sure some pastor doesn't deceive you. Make sure your mama doesn't deceive you, your dad doesn't deceive you, or some well-meaning Carnal Christian does not deceive you. He says, little children, make sure no one deceives you. The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous. The one who practices sin is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. You practice sin as a habitual lifestyle. You love what you can get away with. My friend, you're of the devil. Now, let's go back to verse 12 of the final chapter, chapter five, the last test. There's many more, but we don't have time this evening. He who has the son has life. He who does not have the son of God does not have life. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus. Jesus. You know, it's almost absurd to ask this question. We've actually come to believe in American Christianity that you can be Christian and Jesus not be all the world to you. Do you love Jesus? What do you think about most? What do you think about most? I know men who love the ministry more than they love Jesus. I know men who love the Bible more than they love Jesus. What do you think about most? Because that's what you love. Now, my dear friend, listen to me. I've got to make a stop here, correct a few things. There are some struggling believers here tonight that need to realize something. Again, we are not talking about sinless perfection. We are not saying that if you're a true Christian, Christ will always be at the forefront of your thoughts. We are not saying if you're a true Christian, you are always going to be practicing righteousness. Again, what we're talking about is a style of life and a struggle. I tell my mother, Mom, the greatest evidence that you're a Christian is the fact that right now you're in the Word and God's pointing out to you your sin. The mere fact, some of you need to hear this, the mere fact that you struggle with the fact that you don't love Him enough is evidence that you're a believer. The mere fact that you look at your own life and you realize you're not as holy or righteous as you want to be, and it bothers you, is evidence that you've come to know Him. What I'm preaching against tonight is the person who lives in habitual sin, who loves the world and all these different things, or a person sliding in that direction, or a person who just, yes, Jesus is a little accessory onto my life. The warning is for that person. You know, I hear these preachers today and they'll preach and they'll go, man, you've got it all. I've heard them give this kind of invitation. Man, you've got it all. You've got a wonderful, beautiful family. You've got your health. You've got a wonderful job and all these things. You just lack one more thing to make your life complete. You lack Jesus. Makes me want to vomit. My friend, he who has the Son has life. He who does not have the Son It's nothing. All your wealth, all your health, all your relations, everything you have is dung if Jesus is not Lord and Savior and Passion of your life. He's not an accessory that you add on to an already great life. He is That's why he meant, you know, you drink my blood, you eat my flesh. What was he talking about? He's not some accessory. He's the very source of your life. Is he yours? Is he yours? Let's pray. Father, we come before you in the name of your son. And Lord, this has been long and hard. What I felt to measure a grace in it, Lord, and I pray. I pray, dear Lord, that you would work in the hearts of people, that you would save, you would convert. And that, Lord, even some of your people who may have been sliding into the things of the world, that this has been used as discipline. to turn them to others, Lord, who believe themselves saved, that this has been used to show them they are not saved, and to struggling believers, that it has been used to show them that assuredly they are believers. God, use Your Word to do many more things than what we could ever think or believe. In Jesus' name, Amen.