Transcription
ship with him.
I'm thankful for the goodness of the Lord, uh, tonight and all that he has been doing, uh, in this revival. And revival is continuing. Revival is not stopping. But in Jesus' name, I believe there is still a great work that God intends to do. And so I want to, uh, before we get started, I want to give another push, um, for our visitors. Let's please, uh, the Fedrics will be back with us, uh, this weekend ongoing on Sundays. Uh, and so let's please fill this house with guests. I believe, uh, through this, God is going to prime us for another great outpouring. I believe there's still a great part of this harvest, uh, that is yet untouched. Uh, but we are going to have to reach with everything in us. And if we'll do what we can do, I know that God will do, uh, what only he can do. And so the process of this is in hopes that those, especially you who have come in or come home during this revival, uh, we want to make sure you are solidified and grounded by the teaching of the word of God. Uh, it's God's word that will keep us. It's God's word, uh, that is a foundation on which we can stand. Uh, there are things, uh, that are accomplished only when the spirit of God begins to move in a powerful way. Uh, and his word and his spirit work together, uh, to keep us, to help us to grow, uh, to help us to grow in the faith and be all that we need to be.
So we're here tonight 'cause we love him. We're here tonight because we want to serve him. How many are here tonight 'cause you love him? I can tell you he loves you.
[Music]
And part of loving him is being committed, being obedient to him, submitting our desires, uh, unto his desires. And so we are going to be doing, uh, Lord willing, an ongoing lesson on the search for holiness. Uh, and as we do this, we want the Lord to develop some things in each of us. Uh, we want questions to be answered. Now, this is all obviously founded upon the word of God. And so, uh, we want this to be, uh, easy to discuss. Everything that's preached over this pulpit is something we can discuss and talk about. We take it to the word. Uh, we break it down by the word. And so if there are questions about anything that is taught, we want to take it to the word. I'm available. Um, if there's anything in this series that I teach that you want to talk about more, refute, or anything, uh, and I mean that, we, uh, we are available for that. We want to be grounded in understanding of the word of God.
So, if you would, uh, open your Bibles to Song of Solomon, chapter number 8, is where we're going to begin.
[Music]
I'll give you a moment to get there. Song of Solomon 8.
[Music]
Feels strange to me not having our evangelist here with us. Been here so long. He is a part of us. Uh, but I believe he may be online or listening later. But we're so thankful for all that God is giving us through them.
Song of Solomon 8 and verse number six. The word of the Lord says this: "Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm. For love is as strong as death. Jealousy is as cruel as the grave. The coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it. If a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would be utterly condemned."
If God will help me, week number one, lesson one in this series, the search for holiness, we're going to title "Branded by Love." Branded by Love.
Would you lift your hands and would you pray for me tonight? God, in the name of Jesus, I need you so desperately tonight. God, help me to deliver the word that you have given me, God. I don't want to make a mess tonight. I need you, Lord. I'm nothing without you, Jesus. God, I'm hopeless without your anointing. Let your anointing be upon me, God, as I deliver your word. Let every heart, every mind be receptive to the movement of your word. Let us receive it. Let us bring forth fruit, God, in your vineyard, Lord, that we might be called by your name, pleasing in your sight. We thank you. We give you the glory. Would you give God a hand clap of praise?
[Applause]
God bless you. You may be seated.
Beginning tonight in Matthew chapter 22, uh, there is a story that is told of a day where the Pharisees, the Sadducees have gathered together and they send their best and their brightest member to confront Jesus to try to trap him in his own words that they might condemn him. Now, the Pharisee who stands confronting Jesus is a lawyer and he asks Jesus what the greatest commandment of the law is, hoping to reveal his ignorance. Now, he only revealed his own, because he asked the lawgiver if he knew the laws that he gave. Uh, but I'd like to focus on the answer that Jesus gave here in verse 37. And Jesus said unto him, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and the great commandment." And the second is like unto it, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." And so we are to love God with all that we are, that every part of you. No part can be withheld from him, but all belongs unto God. We are not our own, but we are bought with a price. And we are also to love our neighbor in the exact same way that we love ourselves.
Now, these are hard commandments to be sure. And Jesus followed these statements up with this. He said, "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." So you can imagine these two commandments as a nail in a sure place, if you will, that all the rest, the law, the prophets, the words that God would speak, the commandments that he would give, they all hang on obedience to these commandments. Everything else that he would teach, that he would speak, it is all dependent upon the foundation of love. And so he tells them, you've got to be obedient to the commandments that I've given you, but your obedience is dependent upon your love.
The word would teach that obedience and submission are part of the fruits or the evidences of love. 1 John 5 and 2 would say, "By this we know that we, by this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not grievous." Another translation says, "His commandments are not a burden." That the way you'll know that you love God is not when you say it with your mouth. It's when you show it by your obedient lifestyle to his word. And when you love him and you're obedient to him, then his commandments are not a burden in your life. When you love him, the commandments are not grievous for you to bear. But without love, his commandments will crush you beneath their weight. The foundation for your walk with God must always be love. The foundation for your obedience to God must always be love. You cannot for a long period of time obey him out of fear or out of habit or out of tradition. For all of these motivations will fade away. You can't serve him for a lifetime for duty. You can't serve him for reward. All of these things are acceptable as aspects of your relationship. But the only lasting foundational motive is love.
If you don't learn to love him, you will not last in serving him. You cannot hope to live in covenant relationship with God without loving God. And so I would ask everyone under the sound of my voice, what is your foundational motivation in living for God? Why are you here in this church tonight? I want to dig deep tonight and find your motivation. 'Cause if your motivation is right, then your relationship will be right. I want you to know you cannot live a Christian lifestyle and last in the kingdom unless you have right relationship and love for God. If you're just here in the church because of friends or family or social connections that you have, you're not going to last in the church based on those motivations. You can't even last in the church because you don't want to be lost and go to hell. Now, that can certainly spur you on to coming to church and to getting right with God. But unless you learn to love him, you're not going to last in living for him. That's a reason to come, but not a reason to stay. So, I want you to know you'll only stay if you fall in love with Jesus Christ. You can't just love his ways. You have to love him. You can't just love his book. You have to love him. You can't just love his spirit. You have to love everything about who he is. You can't love the feelings that you feel when you come into church and worship God, but you got to learn to love he who gives you those feelings. And times does not give you those feelings. You got to learn to be in relationship with him.
Now, you can come to the church 'cause you're tired of being broken. You're tired of being addicted. You're tired of being depressed. But you can only learn to stay when you learn to love the one who lifted you out of that brokenness. When you say, "I love the lifter of my soul. I don't just love that my soul was lifted. I love the one who lifted me." But you see, if there, if there's not relationship as a foundation, then you'll be overwhelmed by the thought of living a separated and disciplined Christian lifestyle. This is why someone who knows the ways of the church and has fallen away, when they try to make their way back, the devil begins to bring all the details against them, trying to remind them of, of the call and trying to remind them of what the demands are of the Lord and of the principles of the word of God, trying to remind them of the lifestyle that a Christian would live, telling them they'll never be able to make it. He's trying to discourage them before they re-establish relationship with God. And if they can become focused on separation and on what it takes and what it requires before their relationship is re-established, then they will live in this state of perpetual fear, wanting to step forward and commit, but afraid that they won't last, afraid they won't be able to make it.
This is why we have to commit first and then let the Holy Ghost teach us how to walk. We have to love him first and then let him teach us how to live and what to say and what to do. You see, this is why it's, it's a lot easier to grow a crowd simply by not teaching on Christian lifestyle. It's a lot easier to grow a crowd by not teaching that there should be a change in your life when you come to Christ. It's easier to grow a crowd by not teaching that we should be a new creature in Christ Jesus when we are filled with his spirit. And so there are huge churches all across the world that are filled with people who gather to celebrate the fact that he loves them but adamantly refuse to live a life that demonstrates that they love him in return. They, they make their hearts, their lifestyle, their identities unavailable to the changing of the Holy Ghost. I'll tell you tonight, if you're only interested in doing the bare minimum, if your question about every principle of the word of God is, "Well, will this send me to hell if I do it?" You will not make it with that mindset. You'll never make it and be saved with that type of mindset, trying to see everything you can get away with. But, but when you're in relationship with him, relationship will cause you to say, "Lord, is this pleasing to you? Is this advantageous to my walk with God? Does, does this help my identity as a Christian? Does, does this help others to see that I am salt and, and I am light and I am a city set on a hill?" You learn to ask, "Does this help me or does this hinder me in living for you?" You learn to examine every aspect of your life and say, "What does this say about me and my walk with God? Does this help me or does this hinder me in living for God?"
Now, in Acts chapter 16, we read of the Philippian jailer who bursts onto the pages of the word of God and disappears, never to be seen again before the next chapter begins. Just seven chapters earlier, we read in Acts 9, a man by the name of Saul finds his way into the word of God and would become the largest figure in the New Testament apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, it is possible that the difference between these two men can be illustrated by the first questions that they asked. The Philippian jailer asked, "What must I do?" Or, "What do I have to do to make it and be saved?" Saul, who would become Paul, trembling with his face in the dirt without lifting himself from the ground, asked the Lord, "What wilt thou have me to do?"
You see, your approach to God matters. Your approach to God is everything. If you're only coming to church to try to see the bare minimum that you have to do to be saved, you're not going to make it to the end of the race. You've got an improper motivation in your heart. But if you're here to see what God would have you to do and, and you're here to understand what pleases God and, and to search for him and to seek his ways and to know him and to be known by him, then I would tell you, you will most assuredly find the God that you were looking for. He said, "Search the scriptures, for in them you think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me." That if you love him, you'll go on a search for him throughout his word. Not just asking people about God, but studying his word to see who he says he is and what it is he says that he desires. And, and you got to have the spirit of the psalmist who said, "As the heart pants after the waterbrook, so pantth my soul after thee, oh God." You've got to dig deep and intentionally cultivate a desire in your heart for Jesus Christ. Not, not just to hear about him, but to know him and to know his ways.
You see, you got to have a desire not to be in church, but a desire to be in covenant relationship with him. You can come to church and not be in covenant relationship with God. But if you're in true relationship with him, then you'll naturally make sure you're part of his church. You'll, you'll naturally make sure you're faithful to his church. If you love him, you will love his church. If you love him, you'll love his people. If you love him, you'll love his ways.
You see, when you understand the importance of relationship with him, then you'll begin to understand why there must be a separation in your life from anything or anyone that would come between you and God. Because when there's relationship with God, he must be exalted as the highest priority above all earthly aims or ambitions or relationship. Our number one relationship is with him. You see, it doesn't matter when you love him. It doesn't matter what lifestyle he wants to separate you from, what habit he wants to separate you from. When you love him, you'll just do it. You'll just separate yourself. When you consider Calvary, that he gave everything for you, how could you give a response of unwillingness to give everything for him? How, how could you say, "Well, Lord, you can have this part of me, but, but this part I'm unwilling to give. This part of my identity, I, I just want to hang on to." But no, he gave all. And so, we must give all. And when we give all, we must give it with an understanding. Anything we give does not earn salvation. But what we give is a response to God's love and God's grace that God has given us. It's a straw man argument to present that if we do anything that we're trying to earn salvation by works. It's a weakness. It's laziness that causes people to think that they can do anything they want and live any way they want and that God just has to accept the shambles that they decide to give him in their own time.
You see, when people misunderstand the principle of God's grace, they pervert God's grace. Jude 1:4, the writer says this, "There are certain men crept in unawares." Now, this letter was not written to the world, it's written to the church. He's saying they're crept into the church unawares who were before of old ordained to this condemnation. That there are those in the world, in the church, with evil spirits ordained for condemnation. They're ungodly men, and they have turned the grace of our God into lasciviousness. And when they did this, they have denied the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the amplified version would say this: They have taken the grace of God and they have turned it into decadence and immoral freedom, viewing God's grace as an opportunity to do whatever they want.
Now, how many in the church world have taken God's grace and said, "Well, I can live any way I want. I don't have to do all those things that you do. God's, God paid it all. God's grace took care of it." The word says when they have this attitude, they use God's grace as a license to fulfill their own lust. They have not only denied God's grace, they have denied God himself. You see, there are many who glory in God's grace and talk about God's grace, but they have twisted his grace into a license to fulfill their own carnal desires. They refuse to yield their lifestyle, their identity, their heart to Jesus. And yet they claim to be in relationship with him. These are those of whom Jesus would say, "They honor me with their lips, and yet their heart is far from me."
But you see, when you love him, there's no price that is too high. When you love him, there is no extreme that is too extreme. We understand there's no payment that we could ever make that earns our salvation. Obedience does not earn salvation. Your works do not earn salvation. They are simply the evidence that you have been saved. That when you begin to live your life in a way that glorifies God, you're not earning salvation. You're responding to what God has given you. You're responding to God's grace by your obedience.
[Applause]
And so it's a falsehood to claim that apostolics believe they can earn salvation by their works. Our works earn us nothing. Our obedience earns us nothing. It is simply a response to the great God of heaven who made a way that we can be saved. And how could I refuse to, to change my lifestyle? How could I continue to do what I was doing before God's grace arrived in my life when God has made me a new creature? And so, we're not saved because of what we give up. We are not saved because of our lifestyle. But a holy lifestyle is evidence of being saved because it's impossible for fallen humanity to live holy without the help of a holy God. It's, it's impossible for you to live righteously without the help and the righteousness of God. And so this understanding, it is the balance between Paul's statement that "by grace are you saved through faith." Now, many quote that, "by grace we are saved," and don't quote the rest of the scripture, that it's "through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God." This is the balance between that statement and James's statement that "faith without works is dead."
Now, these statements are not in opposition to each other. It is through faith that grace works. It's when you have faith in God, you're obedient to God, that God's grace begins to work in your life. We are alive in sin because of God's mercy. God allows us to continue to live and doesn't take the breath from our body because of his mercy. But when you begin to respond in faith, it's God's grace that brings you to where God wants you to be. And so, it's through faith that grace works. And faith is only evidenced biblically by your works.
This is the biblical fruit of your faith. Obedience is part of the fruit of your inner faith. That when you have a clean and holy and pure and submitted and faithful heart, then the works of your life, everything that is visible to the men around you, the people around you, will be evidenced by your obedience. It will show your faith. And so, if you've got faith, you're obedient to God, and God's grace will do what you cannot do. But even as you are obedient and have faith, your faith does not make you righteous. There is no one righteous in the building. Understand? You can have been living for God for 40 years. You're not righteous, and I'm not righteous. Our righteousness is as filthy rags. But faith is evidenced by obedience, which causes God's grace to span the gap between our best efforts and his holiness. And when the gap is spanned, there is a connection, and God begins to impute his righteousness unto us.
Now, James 2:23 says, "The scripture was fulfilled, which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God." That there was an imputation of God's righteousness that occurred. And because of that, there was a relationship that caused Abraham to be called a friend of God. Now, this is a theological term, imputation, that that righteousness was not given to Abraham, but it was imputed unto him. There's a difference. He did not become righteous from his faith in God, but his faith was counted unto him as righteousness. What it means is when a person comes to God, they repent of their sins in faith. In faith, they receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Now, they've not become completely right themselves in that moment. Because if we were completely right, we'd no longer have a sin nature. But how many can testify, even after the Holy Ghost, you still got the flesh? You still got that nature of the flesh. And so, we're not right ourselves when we get the Holy Ghost. That doesn't happen until we receive our glorified body and we are changed to be like him. We're given a completely new nature that is unhindered by being tethered to the flesh. Now, at that moment in the resurrection, righteousness is imparted, not imputed at that moment, but it's imparted or it's given completely to the believer. But on this earth, when we have faith in God, we act according to that faith. Righteousness is imputed or counted unto us as our own righteousness. So what it means is God takes off the robe of his righteousness and he covers us. That the righteousness around us does not belong to us. It did not spring forth from within our hearts, but it's God's righteousness that has covered us. It's God's blood that was shed to remit our sins when we had no way to do it on our own. God's righteousness and holiness span the gap and covered us. Amen.
But you see, as God covers us with his righteousness, our response to what God has given us is that we should become more and more righteous by the work of the spirit of God and of the word of God. That this cloak of righteousness is all around us. It's, it's reminding us that we can't do what we used to do. We can't say what we used to say. And so if you submitted yourself unto him and God has imputed his righteousness unto you, then there will be a constant progression of holy living in your life. You won't stay a babe in Christ for 20 years, constantly needing the milk of the word. That there will be a progression where you learn to desire strong meat and people don't have to tiptoe around you and, and you just say, "Lord, show me anything you want me to do. I'll do it 'cause I'm not a baby anymore. But I have progressed in righteousness. I progressed in holiness."
Now look, your flesh is no better than it was the day you repented. But there is more there. This cloak of righteousness is continuing to work all around you. That there are layers of righteousness and faith. You, you built yourself up on your most holy faith by praying in the Holy Ghost. It's, it's not anything you deserve, but it's the cloak of God's righteousness that has been imputed unto you. And so, we've got to understand the difference in these principles. Righteousness does not belong to us. Holiness does not belong to us. Love does not even belong to us. It's what we feel when God loves us is the human heart's reaction to God's love. 'Cause God is love. And all we can give him in return is his love through our human vessel. That we say, "God, I'm going to return unto you what you've already given unto me. What, what you gave unto me when I was so unworthy. How could I try to hold it in and say and use it as a license to live how I want?" But God, I've got to open myself and return unto you what you've given me. And this applies to all that God would give you. It applies to blessing. It's the philosophy of the open hand, or theology of the open hand, rather, that I'm not going to try to hang on to anything that God gives me, but I want to be a conduit through which anything God sends, anything God sends through my funnel, I want to let it flow through me.
And so when you understand these principles, you can understand why when someone goes down in the water, they don't come up perfect. They don't come up knowing everything about the kingdom of God. They don't come up having total dominion over every desire of their flesh. Now, when they receive the Holy Ghost, they've got a new nature that's going to help them and, and strengthen them and teach them to walk after God, but they're still a babe. They've still got to walk toward him. So, they, in this moment, let's just take the moment. Someone's, someone's been baptized in the water. They've come up out of the water. They're speaking in tongues. If they walked up to the top of those stairs and got hit by a Mac truck, they're saved. They're in total right standing with God. But there's no Mac trucks up there in that upper room. So if they continue to live, they've got to progress in their walk with God. They can't stay where they are on that day. They, they are in right standing with God at that moment, but they are not perfect and they are not righteous. It's just in that moment, because of their obedience and submission, God has covered them with a cloak of his righteousness. So to stay in right standing with God, they can't remove God's righteousness and say, "Hey, I'm going back to live an unrighteous lifestyle because, because now God's given me his righteousness." No, that's, that's taking off the cloak. That's taking yourself out from under the umbrella of God's protection. But you've got to stay under the umbrella and you've got to live a lifestyle that is evidence of the change that you have received. You got to say, "Hey, I'm not going to do some things I used to do 'cause I've got a new nature. I'm not going to say some things I used to say 'cause I've got a new nature. I'm not going to go some places I used to go 'cause I've got a new nature."
[Applause]
Paul would say it like this in Ephesians 4:22, that "ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the, according to the deceitful lust." That that you put that old lifestyle, that old man away, and you are renewed in the spirit of your mind. So when the Holy Ghost comes, you don't stay the way you were. You, you've got to let God renew your mind and give you a new mind. And then when you got a new mind, you got to put on a new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. And so when we talk about holiness, it's not a dirty word. It's something we put on. God's holiness. We put it on when we are saved and when we are obedient. That, that if God saved you, there should be an evidence in your life that you have been saved. There should be a change in your lifestyle because God has saved you. The reaction to the Holy Ghost is not to sit back and say, "Well, Jesus paid it all. I can do anything that I want to do now." Now, that's that perversion of the gift of God's grace that Jude wrote of. It will lead to damnation of your soul. God has given you the gift of his grace, the gift of his mercy, the gift of his love. The deepest gift that God has given you is his holiness, because his holiness is his most foundational base nature. The angels around the throne, they don't say "love, love, love." God is love, though he most assuredly is love, but they say "holy, holy, holy." And so the gift that God would give above all is his holiness. And the gift that you give him in return is your separation and your worship. We worship him for he is holy. We stay separated unto him, for he is holy and for he has called us out and for he has covered us with a robe of righteousness. And so God gives you what you could never attain on your own, and you give him in response what no one else on the face of the earth can give him. And that is your separation according to your choice. That no one can force you to separate yourself for God. But there's got to be a call that goes forth to study the word and to see the principles of separation in the word. That it's got to be something you decide to do. And nobody else can separate you for God. Only you can make the choice. I'm going after him. I, I'm separating myself. I, I'm keeping myself for him. I, I'm keeping my mind fixed on him. I, I'm keeping my heart fixed on him. Why? Not because everybody else does it. My mind is fixed because I love him. My heart is fixed because I love him. Because he first loved me.
And so love is the foundation for successful relationship with God. If you don't learn to love him, then you will naturally look at your walk with him as a simple rules-based system in which you won't want to do one single extra thing that you don't have to do to stay in relationship. Now, if that's the way you look at the Bible and your walk with God, your spirit reveals that you don't really love him in the first place. If you can't understand the spirit of this book and instead you want a chapter and verse for every single thing that you would do and not do, then you've revealed that your love with him is not deep enough to sustain proper relationship. You cannot obey his commandments because the foundation of love has not been cultivated. For love does not demand to know the bare minimum so that you can do the bare minimum. But love says, "What is your desire? What, what is your pleasure?" Like Paul said, "What can I do? What wilt thou have me to do?"
Now, my mom told a story today about last week in church. She was sitting with Atlas, and they were sitting back there and were getting ready to receive the offering, and she reached in her purse and took out four coins and gave them to him. Now, he clutched the coins in his hand and he thought for a minute and he turned. He turned back to her and said, "I, I think that I should keep some of them." Now, now he's got a piggy bank at home he's zealously trying to fill with any change he can find. And so she said, "If you want to keep some for yourself, then you can." And she said, as the bag began to make its way back to their row, he, he began to get more and more fidgety until he finally turned to her and said, "I, I grandma, I think that I should only give one." And so he laid the coins out on the bench, two quarters, a nickel, and a dime. And he chose the smallest one, the dime, probably assuming it was the least in value. And that's the one that he gave in the offering.
Now, often times we approach our walk with God this way. We want to know, "What's the very least of myself that I can give and still be okay? What, what's the least that I can give God and still make it to heaven? What, what's the least that I can do and still be a Christian? Show me why I have to do that. Show me why you do that. Why? That's not necessary. I don't believe you have to do all that. Show me the minimum that I can do and still be saved." Now, when you approach your walk with God this way, wanting to give the very least of yourself that you can give, you have showed a lack of maturity in your love for him.
And if you sit here every day of your life and you try to figure out, "What's the least I can do and still be saved?" friend, you're not going to make it to the end of the race. You will not make it at the end of the day. If, if your motivation is, "I want to hang on to every piece of carnality and worldly lifestyle that I can and, and still be saved," your relationship cannot sustain obedience to the commandments of God. Your love for him is not what it should be because you're unwilling to release every part of who you are to God. You, you can't see how much of your old life you can hang on to and bargain with God about. But you got to say, "Hey, that's an old dead creature. I, I'm releasing that old identity. And God, whatever you want me to do, this, this new creature, I'm going to step away from what I was and I want to be whatever you called me to be." So when you're a new creature, you don't come up out of the water bargaining with God to see what parts of the old creature you can, you can put into the new. But you want to say, "Hey, let there be, let there be a separation from who I was. Give me a new nature, new desires, new, new thoughts in my mind, new feelings in my heart. Help me to be new in you."
But you see, in that moment, in his childlike way, he was exhibiting the human nature. We naturally want to hold on to everything that we can and give the very least amount possible. Now, he had the spirit of his uncle Clark on him. I told, I told a story at Clark's wedding about when he was about Atlas's age. We had a problem in the church because Dad would preach. He'd give the altar call. People would come to the front, weeping and crying, pouring themselves out unto God. He would begin to sneak up to those who were kneeling and to dig in their pockets, trying to get change or dollar bills out of their pockets. Now, this went on for a little while until finally one of the men told Dad what had been going on. He handled the situation. You see, the problem was that Clark was not on the altar at four years old for relationship. He was trying to pick the pockets of other people to make a profit for himself.
Now, there are many people, I'm about to get you. There are many people that come to church trying to pick God's pocket. You want a financial blessing. You want a spiritual breakthrough. You want a healing. You want God to work a miracle. But you're not willing to sacrifice any part of yourself to build a relationship with him. You're nothing but a pickpocket if you come to church with that mentality, demanding God's blessings and giving nothing of yourself in return. You ought to say, "Lord, whether you bless me or not, you've done enough. I, I want to return my love to you. I, I want to give my obedience unto you. I, I want to submit myself in relationship unto you, Lord. I don't want to come to church trying to steal from God and making demands of God when I've not submitted myself to what God has clearly told me to do."
How many people come through the doors of this church, and I understand the most likely time for people to come to God is when they're broken and they're down and they're in sin. This is the proper formula for coming to God. This is right. Okay. Don't, don't feel condemnation if you're here in that, in that condition. That's the right condition. But your response as God lifts you should be to yield all that you are and say, "I, I'm not going to withhold myself as God lifts me out of bondage and out of darkness, but anything the King desires should be my desire. Anything the King wants is what I want 'cause I'm in relationship with him. I'm no longer in relationship with the God of the world. I'm in relationship with the God that made the world and made the heavens and made all things therein."
And so this whole, "Show me exactly in the scriptures where it explicitly says that this action will send me to hell," that attitude reveals above all else, it reveals a lack of proper relationship with God. You are unwilling to give one single part of yourself that might not be explicitly demanded by God. You don't want to take a chance on accidentally taking one foot over the border of lost and saved. You want to make sure you're standing exactly on top of the fence. You, you wouldn't want to give up one carnal vice or one, one life part of your lifestyle that might not be required by God, but you want to walk right on the edge of that bottomless pit and say, "Well, if the Bible don't tell me exactly that'll send me to hell, why would I do it?" You, you want to say, "Show me chapter and verse why you have to do all that that church says and all that that preacher says." But no, when you understand what God has given you, there's a carefulness and you say, "Hey, I'm not just going to get away from sin. I want to stay away from what leads to sin. I, I want some boundaries. I want some fences in my life to keep me from being lost."
And so it is a lack of love for God that causes people to demand a reference for every single thing they would abstain from. It, it's a lack of love for God that causes people to have that attitude and that approach toward what is meant to be a loving, reciprocal relationship between you and God. What about examining your actions to say, "Hey, is this pleasing to God?" What about examining your life to say, "Does, does this part of my life, does it make it easier or harder for me to live a holy lifestyle?" When, when people see me doing this, wearing this, saying this, does it, does it, does it show them that I'm trying to live according to God's holiness, or does it show them that I'm following my own way? What, what about examining your actions to see, "Is it pleasing to you, Lord?" What, what about asking if it's a weight or even a distraction to your walk with God? The writer of Hebrews said, "Lay aside both the sin that easily besets you and also lay aside every single weight that you might run your race." That, that's a command that we lay aside all sin. But on top of that, there's a whole another category of weights and distractions and hindrances that, according to the Bible, they are not sin, but they are prohibitive to living a holy lifestyle. They, they're not conducive to walking after God in righteousness and true holiness. And so I don't just get rid of sins, I get rid of every weight.
I say, if you want to make it to the end of the race, if you really believe in heaven and you really believe in hell and you really believe that we are running a race to get to God at the end of the day that we might make it and be saved, then you would be willing to go to any extreme measure that would make sure you last the whole race. Why would you risk your soul over one bit of entertainment or one bit of instant gratification or pleasure? You got to understand you're going to spend eternity somewhere.
And so if you really love him and you really understand the race, then you're willing to go to whatever measure it takes to make sure you finish your race. I was reading today about the great lengths that Olympic swimmers will go to in preparation for their race. Now, of course, they diet, of course they exercise, of course they train, of course they work on their routines, but when competing at the very highest levels for the very greatest prizes, you understand there's no extreme that's too extreme. These Olympic swimmers would do anything to win their race. And so in 1956, you can read about this for yourself, but in 1956, the Australian superstar swimmers shaved off all their body hair to reduce drag in the water and quickly captured gold medals. Leg hair, chest hair, armpit hair, facial hair, all gone, all sacrificed to win the race. Now, it was not that this was in the racing rule book. It's not that they had to do this to win the race, to finish the race, in no way was this required. But you see, because the prize was so great, if there was any chance that it could slow them down or hinder them in any way, it was a chance they were unwilling to take. Now, from this point forward, after their gold medal wins, this practice became a common part of the identity of the Olympic swimmer. That certainly led to more uniformity and cohesive identity and less individual expression in their appearance. But even to this day, as you examine pictures of the swimmers today, Olympic swimmers today, their desire to win the race trumps their desire for individual expression. But they say, "Hey, if this would help me be more effective in any way, even the smallest, most fractional way, it, if it helps me be more effective, it's not even a question, 'cause I've got a prize I'm trying to obtain. I, I've got a race that I'm trying to make it to the end of."
You see, when you love him, it's not a problem to sacrifice your identity for him. It's not a problem to give up parts of your individual expression for him. When you're in love, you don't need a rule for every part of your relationship. But there are some things you do for the sake of love. There are some things you do 'cause they're effective for your relationship.
So I don't have to have an explicit rule for everything I do. But if it seems to be advantageous in my approach of walking, watching for him, and walking for him, then why in the world would I withhold? Why in the world would let my pride, my fleshly desire keep me from giving up anything that would cause me to identify with him or with his people?
You see, when you're in love, you don't always have to have a rule. Now, my wife, those of you that have spent time with her, you know she loves Jim and Nick's barbecue. She ate Jim and Nick's barbecue today. Now, there was a time that I absolutely loved Jim and Nick's barbecue. But because of her love for it, I'd be just fine to never eat it again. I, I'd be just fine with it. You. But you see, the one who I love, she really loves Jim and Nick's barbecue. Now, there's no law that says I have to take her there just 'cause that's what she wants. There's no law that says she can divorce me if I don't take her to Jim and Nicks. In fact, I would propose she would likely not divorce me if I didn't take her to Jim and Nicks. But you see, I don't intend to test the hypothesis because I love her. And when she says that what she wants, I turn the nose of my van towards Jim and Nicks because the one I love, she has a desire. It wasn't part of our marriage covenant because I know what she wants and I love her. I want to see her get what she wants. You see, because I love
Her, I don't look at every decision from the perspective, "Will my wife leave me if I do this?" or "Will my wife leave me if I don't do this?" And because she loves me in return, she doesn't look at our marriage with that perspective either.
Now, I hadn't packed a suitcase one single time since I got married. Not one time. Now, that's not part of the marriage rule book. It's not part of the marriage requirements. I don't have any problem packing a suitcase. I could pack one tonight if y'all decided to run me out of town. I have no problem packing a suitcase. I traveled all around the country before we were married. Since we've been married, I've never one time asked her. Never did I ask her, "Can you start packing my suitcases?" It's just something she did as an expression of her love for me. And when you're in love, you don't need a law for every single action. You don't need a demand for every single action. You start to search to understand the nature of your counterpart. You want to make sure your actions are in line with their natures, in line with their desires. When you love somebody, you know them, you understand them, and you sacrifice who you are in some ways to be pleasing unto them.
Now, how often do you read this book as an attempt to really understand God's nature? I would propose that most of the time when people crack open the book, they're trying to understand what they have to do to be saved. The book is written that you might understand his nature. And when you love him and you understand his nature, you will be saved because your lifestyle will be in obedience to what the book says. But you got to fall in love with the author.
And so when you've read the book, you'll see that God's nature, which by the way, changes not. He said, "I am the Lord and I change not." His nature is a nature of order and of holiness and of righteousness. Why would we think that we can just bring God any old sacrifice and demand that he accept it? Why don't you ask Cain how God feels about any old offering that you decide you'll bring your way? Why don't you ask Cain what God thinks about a sacrifice that's brought without obedience and without water? A was still a sacrifice. I still gave some. His sacrifice was deemed irrelevant and disrespectful and abominable by God. Because he was not obedient. There was no relationship between Cain and God. And because there was no relationship, he thought he could just do whatever he wanted and everything would be okay.
But you see, God has order and standards for how we should live. Bear with me. I'm not far from being done. God has order and standards for how we should live, how we should worship, how we should separate ourselves, how we should behave, how we should talk, how we should dress. When God caused Noah to build an ark that would raise him and his family above the floodwaters, God was separating Noah and his family from everyone on earth who had not obeyed him. He separated those who loved him from those who did not love him. Because if they loved him, they'd have obeyed the word that he told them. You better believe there were those knocking on the door of the ark that said, "Lord, if I'd have just known, if I'd have just had a warning." They'd been given a warning. They'd had a preacher preaching the truth unto them, but they had become mockers and said, "Hey, there's no flood coming. There's nothing wrong. There's nothing going to happen." And so God, the great separator, drew a line of separation between those who loved him and those who did not love him. God had a standard that the world was not following. And so those who refused to show their love for God by their obedience to his commands were destroyed.
And so God has always had standards for his people. The thread of God's expectation for his people is woven from Genesis to Revelation. And yet somehow there is a whole church world that has come to believe that standards are a dirty word. I would ask you, how many would like to eat at a restaurant with no standards? Anybody can just come in and cook. In fact, not only can anybody cook, they'll cook you whatever they want to cook you and you'll just eat it. No standards whatsoever. Now, how about bringing your kids to a school with no standards? Teachers, no formal education, no code of conduct. Just do anything you want to do with my child. Just teach them anything you want to teach them. Somewhat similar to some schools, but not all schools. Thank the Lord. We got a great Christian school here.
Now, what about you got a terrible calamity in your body? A disease is bringing you to the gates of death and you walk into a hospital that has no standards. A doctor comes that's not really a doctor, but he's never been to medical school, but who are you to judge? Who are you to judge? He said he's a doctor. He's got a desire to be a doctor. I would ask you, you're laying there on your potential deathbed. He wanders in. He's got shorts and a t-shirt on. You wouldn't judge him based off of his clothing, would you? Surely, surely you'd not do such a thing. You would not say in that moment that his clothing says something about who he is, would you? Surely we'd not make such a claim.
Now, I would ask, why in the world would you want to go to a church with no standards? Why would you want a pastor that just says, "Everybody do exactly whatever in the world you want to do, and we'll just see what happens." Just as long as you come to church, you do anything you want, say anything you want, dress however you want, do whatever you want outside the walls. As long as you come to church, everything's okay. Is that the church you desire?
You see, this leads to a spirit that we read about in Judges which says that every man did that which was right in his own eyes. This is a way that leads to destruction. But when there is relationship, you'll seek what is right in God's eyes before you seek what's right in your own. You'll seek what God desires above what your own carnal heart desires. Hallelujah.
And so in Exodus last week, Bishop Lambeath preached to us so powerfully about the golden calf. And when we refuse to submit ourselves to God, we begin making a golden calf that we'll worship for ourselves. And so in Exodus 33, the aftermath of the golden calf is given. God's people have broken the law. And so Moses has taken away the tabernacle. He's taken it far away from the camp. He's pitched it, set it up far beyond the camp. And so if the people want to get to where God is, they'll have to travel a long way, and they'll have to search for him. It won't be an easy thing. It's not about being seeker-friendly, but he says if you want to get to where God is, there's a journey that you're going to have to go on.
And so, the word would say that everyone that sought the Lord went out into the tabernacle. Everyone who wanted to be in relationship with him, they left the place where they were and they traveled to the place where God was. Those who had a heart for him, they weren't worried about how far away Moses had pitched the tabernacle. They just said, "Show me the way." They had relationship that they wanted to reestablish. And so, they just went to where God was. They didn't complain and say, "Why can't God just come to me where I'm at?" No, they said, "If that's where God is, that's where I want to be." Those who had a heart, they searched for him.
And so, Exodus 33 tells how Moses went into the tabernacle of the Lord. And as he went in alone, the people stood back in the doors of their tent and they watched as Moses entered that pillar of the cloud descended down upon the tabernacle. And the scripture says that the Lord began to speak with Moses face to face as a man speaks with his friend. Now, there is an intimacy of relationship in this moment that's far beyond nearly any other moment in the word of God. And in the power of this moment of intimate relationship and connection with God, I want you to see the words that Moses speaks. He says, "Therefore I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I might find grace in thy sight." That Moses does not demand a blessing. Moses does not demand riches or strength or favor from God. He said, "Show me the way to deeper relationship with you." It doesn't matter what I have to do, what I have to give up, or how far I have to go. Show me the way to know you in a deeper place to understand your nature, to understand your desires. It's not what do I have to do. It's, Lord, just show me what I can do to get closer to you.
And in the moment Moses speaks the words, he says, "Show me your glory." And this is the moment where the Lord hides Moses in the cliff of the rock. He covers him with his hand. He passes before him and reveals his hinder parts unto Moses. There's an intimacy. This is the pinnacle of intimate relationship for one of the greatest men in all of human history. It's the pinnacle of his intimacy with God. And after God passes, after this moment of relationship has been established, the next thing that God says is, "I want you to take your hands, take the chisel, take the hammer. I want you to hew out two tables of stone." Now, the first time God had hewn out the tables of stone, and God had given them to Moses. But this time, Moses, you're going to get your hands into the work. You're going to do what I tell you to do. And you're going to dig and pound into the earth. And you are going to make two tables of stone in obedience to me because that's what I've told you to do. And when you dig out the tables, on those tables, I will write my commandments. You see, these moments in Exodus 33 of intimacy and relationship with God, they were the only foundation upon which the commandments of God in Exodus 34 could possibly stand. Without the foundation of relationship and love, everything else comes crashing down. Where there is love, there will be obedience. This is why Jesus would say, "Of all the law and the prophets, they hang on obedience to the commandments of love." I would tell you until you learn to love him, you can't last in walking with him. And so tonight, God has called his people to learn to love him. He's calling you to examine your deepest, most foundational motivations for serving him. I would ask you to stand. Musicians, you can come. Please give me your close attention as we close.
Now our original text from the Song of Solomon, it tells of the moment that relationship between the Shulamite, who represents us, and the shepherd, who represents Jesus. These verses tell the moment that that relationship was etched in stone forever to be unchanged. That the church would forever be his wife, his bride, his love. The Shulamite has been to the palace already. She's experienced all the vices of the kingdom of the world already. She has fallen flat on her face and been separated from the shepherd already. But at this moment, she finds herself re-establishing relationship with the shepherd. The scripture tells the story that her head lies upon his chest, his arm is wrapped around her. And as she finds herself wrapped in the embrace of the shepherd, the Shulamite makes a vow that is the most important moment in my opinion in the Song of Solomon. And if you can understand this vow and the depth of love here, there's a power that can refocus you and keep you in your relationship with him. She said, "Set me as the seal upon thine hand, as the seal upon thine arm. For love is as strong as death." That just as nothing can stop death, even so nothing can stop the love that I share with the shepherd. Jealousy is as cruel as the grave. This speaks not to the carnality of man-made jealousy, but it speaks to the perfect and holy possessiveness that the love of God possesses you with the finality of the grave. It's a love that God never intends to take away from you. But if you'll just respond to his love from this day until your last day, there's a final part of God's love that God wrote it in stone and said, "This is my child that I love. I have covered them with my righteousness and there's nothing that would make me remove my righteousness from them." You see, God will never remove his righteousness. It's only you that can remove God's righteousness from your life.
She said, "The coals thereof, they're coals of fire which hath a most vehement flame." That this love is not a dead and a dull and a dry love. But when you love God, there's a vibrancy to your love. There's a heat. There's a flame of fire that does not die, but you continually grow in love for him. She said, "Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it. That let the enemy come in like a flood. Let the ground shake and let the wind blow. But as long as I have his love, I have everything that I need." I would ask every head to be bowed and every eye to be closed. This love is a love that is unbound by circumstance. It cannot be destroyed by opposition or discouragement of any kind. It's a love unbound by time, unbound by circumstance. She said, "If a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would be utterly contemned." That don't you ever think for a moment you can buy his love with your money or buy his love with your works, but this love can only be paid for by blood. And I would draw your attention in closing to the expression of this love in verse number six where it says because of this love that is unquenchable, unstoppable, irrevocable. Because of this love, I want you to set me as a seal upon thine heart and as a seal upon thine arm. That both inwardly and outwardly let me be sealed or stamped or branded by the shepherd. That when there's a seal of inward holiness of the heart, there's a seal of outward holiness in response. It is visible to everybody around you that distinguishes you as somebody who is in covenant relationship with the shepherd. You become a city set on a hill. You become a light that is unquestionable. You become the salt of the earth. Why? Because you've been branded by your love for him and his love for you. These altars are open. When there's a death of relationship, it's not a problem to sacrifice parts of your identity to be identified with him. Friend, when your motivation is to love him, to know him, then there's no extreme too extreme. There's no requirement that is too extreme.