Transcription
As Paul concluded the first letter that he wrote Thessalonians, he puts down commandments for believers. And one of these, in 1 Thessalonians 5:19, is expressed in these brief, true words: "Quench not the spirit." "Quench not the spirit." That this morning is not a text, but it's a launching pad. And we'd like to go into orbit, not out in space, but on the streets of Los Angeles, in and out our homes, places of business, and our schools, with this wonderful verse: "Quench not the spirit."
Last Lord's day, we put on display the Fruit of the Spirit. Our motive in doing that was the same that prompts the supermarket to put up front an attractive display of fruits and vegetables. They put it there to create a desire, to lead to an effort to possess the fruit, to make a purchase, if you please, to ring the cash register. Now, there is a price tag on the fruit of the spirit. I want to be very candid. It's rather expensive. Someone asked Henry Drummond years ago about salvation, whether it was free or not. He says, "Salvation is free. The admission fee is nothing." But he says, "The dues are rather expensive." May I say to you this morning, to be saved will cost you nothing. The price has been paid. But if you are to have the fruit of the spirit, you'll have to pay a tremendous price for it.
There has been an oversimplification of sanctification, as if it's some little easy thing to do. It's not at all. There are three commands in connection with the Holy Spirit which the believer must carry out before that can be the fruit of the spirit in his life. Two of these commands are negative, and one of them is positive. The next three Sundays, we're to take them up. This first one we're taking today is the negative one of the negative commands: "Quench not the spirit."
What, what does Paul mean when he says, "Quench not the spirit"? Well, one of the figures that's used in the word of God for the Holy Spirit is fire. The Holy Spirit is not a fire, but like fire. They were taught that in the Old Testament, very early, that was a pillar of fire which led the children of Israel by night. It was a pillar of cloud by day. It was what led the children of Israel. And you will find that on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came like as a fire, tongues like as a fire, not fire, but like as a fire. The symbol, and one of the principal symbols of the Holy Spirit, is fire.
Now, Paul says, "Quench not the spirit." Don't put the spirit out. Don't extinguish the spirit. We find this word, and I think it'll be helpful for us, over in Ephesians, the 6th chapter, the 16th verse. He says, "Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one." You'll be able to quench, you will be able to put out these fiery darts. And Fairbairn, in his ponderous lexicon, gives the meaning for this word "quench": to suppress or to stifle.
Now, the Holy Spirit is spoken of as a fire. It's metaphorical sense, and the meaning here is metaphorical. A fire possesses and consumes anything which it has control until it is quenched, until it's stifled, until it is impressed. Now, will you listen very carefully? What does it mean to quench the Holy Spirit? To quench the Holy Spirit is to resist His leading. It means to say no to God on the part of a believer. It means to put the will of the individual over against the will of God. That is what it means to quench the Holy Spirit.
Now, that was the condition of all of us at the beginning. That fundamentally is what it means to be a lost person, to be a sinner. Basically, our problem has been this. Isaiah expressed it in the 53rd chapter, the 6th verse, when he said, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." Now, basically, our problem is "his own way." Each one has turned to his own way. That's what Paul means in the 8th chapter of Romans when he says, "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." So that those that are in the flesh cannot please God. Why? Because in our old nature, there is one thing that is uppermost: we want to have our way. And this old whole nature is going to have its way. It'll let you be religious. You can become the most pious little person you've ever seen, provided you let the old nature have its way. He wants to have his way. That's our problem. The old nature, his own way.
It was Jeremiah who put it like this: "O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps." (Jeremiah 10:23). It's not in man. Man is totally incapable of directing his steps as God has ordered them. He's unable to do that. And that old nature wants its own way. "There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death."
Now, this new nature can obey God. When you are born again, become a child of God, you're given a new nature. That new nature will obey God. Paul even put it like this: "For as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God." They will obey God. "For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh: but they that are after the spirit they'll mind or obey the things of the spirit." So that a child of God is given a nature whereby he can obey God. And when a child of God will not obey God, he quenches the Holy Spirit.
And that puts most of us as believers on the horns of a dilemma. Our Lord expressed it like this: "No man can serve two masters: for either he'll hate the one, and love the other; or else he'll hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." So that this morning, you and I, as a believer, we're on the horns of a dilemma. And many of us are trying to do both. On Sunday, my, how pious we are. But you ought to see us during the week. We are not quite so pious, and we're not so well pleasing to God. My friend, this morning, you can't do both. "A double minded man is unstable in all his ways." You have to drop on one side or the other. No way out.
Now, the believer must choose the will of God. And when you choose the will of God, you renounce self-will. And it does reduce itself to this very simple statement: it means to say "yes" to God. But I need to add something there. Will you listen to Paul where he's talking now of believers in the 6th of Romans, the 13th verse? He says, "Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God."
Now, he says here, the first one is a present tense. Just don't keep on yielding yourself time and time again to the flesh. But once and for all, that's an aorist tense, once and for all, yield yourself to God. And he picks up that theme when he gets over the dispensational section of Romans and comes to the 12th chapter. He starts in again: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present" – it's the same word as "yield" – "that ye present or yield your bodies unto God."
Now, that is something you'll have to choose to do. And I want to be very careful this morning, and will you follow me very carefully? Because my, how this is misunderstood today. This is not a reference to a particular situation or circumstance in life. Now, a great many people think, "I have bumped up against an emergency. I've got a decision to make. Now, in this particular matter, I'd like to have God's will." Doesn't mean that. Will you listen? It is making the will of God the rule of your life from here on out. Not just one little thing. It means all of life. It means the total life. It means the minutest details of your life, as well as the big decisions that you make. It means that once and for all, you have presented or yielded yourself to God to do His will. And it's not a question of doing some one thing. Great many folks say, "Well, what's God's will for me? Shall I go as a missionary?" I'm not even talking about that right now. The question is, will you do the will of God? Not in one thing, but will you do the will of God in anything and everything? And that's what it means by yielding. That's what it means by presenting. And until you and I have done that, we are quenching the Holy Spirit in our lives. It means to accept by faith the will of God. Doesn't mean to know it. It means total submission to God. Then, by experience, day by day, "do not quench the spirit."
Oh, there's going to be a time when there'll be a struggle. They're going to be daily decisions to make. You're out on the arena of life, and as a child of God, you come to a crossroads. You have to make a decision. He's saying now, "Stop quenching the Holy Spirit in that area of your life. Let Him have full sway." Now, will you continue to follow me, my friend? It's not a problem of finding and knowing the will of God. Now, after a few years' experience, I'm confident that's not the problem of believers today. Here is the problem: Will you do the will of God when you know it? Oh, somebody says, "But I want to know what it is." That's where our problem is. Most of us think the will of God is like going down to a department store and making a purchase. We say, "Let us see the material. If we like it, we'll buy it. If we don't like it, you can put it back on the shelf." God says, "You choose My will without knowing it, and then I'll reveal the step by step to you." And our problem today, and I believe the problem this morning of 9 and 9 and 44/100% of believers, is right at this point. Oh, we get letter after letter: "How can I know the will of God in this particular matter?" Well, your problem is that you never made the decision back relative to your entire life. You're in a tight place now, and if God's will is a nice little easy way out, I'd sure like to have it. Has God got some little cute formula for me to get out of my bad spot that I'm in? That's not the will of God. It's when you elect, when you make a choice, when you say to God, "I'll do anything You want me to do." And my friend, God is able to make a willing soul know His will. Our problem is we want to know it beforehand, and that's just not the way that He does it. Have you ever noticed that He never does it that way? Never does He do it that way. He always speaks to those who have made the choice of making the will of God the rule of their life.
Now, we have an illustration of this, and it's given to us as an illustration. The Lord Jesus Christ is the perfect illustration of this. And Paul even writes to you and me and says this: "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." Now, what kind of a mind is that? Well, we sometimes sing, "Oh, I hate to see people sing this song, so few mean it." "I will go where You want me to go, dear Lord. I'll be what You want me to be. I'll do what You want me to do." And they always have a proviso, though, that they do not sing, "Provided it's according to my way, provided I like it, provided it fits into my program." Now, the Lord Jesus Christ, He left Heaven's glory. Paul says here, "He was in the form of God." It was not something to lay hold of. He gladly left heaven with all of its glory and joy and the prerogative that He had where angels worshiped Him, and came down to this earth where He was not only ignored, but the first thing they did, they tried to kill Him. Someone has said, "God had only one Son, and He was a missionary." He could say, "I'll go where You want me to go." And then He could say, "I'll be what You want me to be." He became a servant. Paul says here, the writer to the Hebrews puts it like this: "Then said I, Lo, I come in the volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O God." And He not only could sing, "I'll go where You want me to go, and I'll be what You want me to be," but, "I'll do what You want me to do." He said this: "John 6:38, I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me." My friend, today, He is our perfect example of one who made the will of God the rule of his life.
Now, will you listen? "Let this mind be in you." No command. "Let this mind." No effort. "Let this mind." You are not asked to do some great thing, to make some great stride, to make some great effort. "Let this mind be in you." It's a matter of submission. It's a matter of obedience. It's a matter of not quenching the Holy Spirit. It's saying "yes" to God.
Now, will you listen? How can I translate the will of God into my life? I do think it resolves itself down to this question: How can I know and do the will of God? I do not say this morning I'm exhausting this subject. On the contrary, we are not. We have two more Lord's days in which we're going to discuss this. But this morning, I'm going to suggest to you three things that are in the word of God. Will you listen to this very carefully and closely? This is so important today.
First of all, there must be a desire for the will of God in your life. I believe that it must be a consuming passion. "I want the will of God above everything else in my life." Must be there. And I'm very candid to say to you that if you're satisfied with yourself, if you this morning are a comfortable Christian, and you say, "Well, look at me. I'm a member of the church at the open door, and I'm a leader. Just look at me. I have nothing for you." And you might as well get up and leave right now, because the rest of the message is wasted as far as you're concerned. God's final message to the northern kingdom was through Hosea. Hosea said this: "Ephraim waxed fat and kicked." A lot of saints are like that today. They're the greatest complainers and critics we got today about everybody else, not themselves. They can tell you what's wrong with everybody except themselves. Ephraim could do that. "Ephraim waxed fat and kicked." That's not all. God says, "Ephraim is a backsliding heifer. Let her alone. You're wasting your time. I have no word for you this morning." If you are "waxed fat and you're kicking, if you're a backsliding heifer." Is not an awful expression? And a great many people think it means to slide backwards. It doesn't. That's the difficulty today in not being a country boy. I thank the Lord, I used to have to milk three cows when I was a boy. One was an old muley cow, and she had the meanest calf that you ever seen. I do not know who the father of the calf was, but the calf got everything from the mama: mean. And you know, you let the calf in for a while to the cow, then you want to lead the calf out. You ever tried to get one of them and pull him? Backsliding means that that little old heifer put her two front feet down just like that, and you had to skid her along like a sled. That's backsliding, not doing the will. "Ephraim is a backsliding heifer. She bowed her little old head, she set her little feet, and she's as stubborn as a mule. She's a backsliding heifer. Let her alone." God says, "Well, we didn't do that with the calf." I learned a secret: if you can't pull them in front, you can go work on the other end. And I learned if you twist the tail more, they'll move forward. But God says, "Let her alone. Do nothing." So this morning, God wants – don't even do that with you. You're not willing. This is for those who are willing.
When Saul of Tarsus was converted, the first thing he said to the Lord, after he came to know who He was, he said, "What will You have me to do?" And that became the rule of his life. "What will You have me to do?" And everywhere you find it, it's still that: "What will You have me to do?" Now, the will of God is not necessarily the easy way out, as it's been made the point this morning. Is this: regardless of what it is, are you willing to do it? No condition, no "if," no "but," no "perhaps." Are you willing to do God's will? Means total submission.
Now, we've heard in the past few years about dedicated Communists. I wish we had more dedicated Christians today. A dedicated Communist is one that does not think for himself. He has no personal plans. He's one that takes his orders from somebody else. That's a dedicated Communist. We need dedicated Christians today that have no plan and program for themselves, but they're willing to do His will. That's what it means: total submission to Him. Even Abraham got out of the will of God, and he quenched, if you please, the Spirit in his life. He ran off to Egypt. God never told him to go to Egypt. And you cannot find one place where God ever appeared to Abraham in Egypt. The reason today there are many Christians that are out of touch with God, out of fellowship. This morning, may I say to you, when you quench the Holy Spirit, you have lost your fellowship with Him. It means total submission.
Now, I want to see this, because there are so many people afraid today of this. Why should you and I do the will of God? God knows what's best for each of us. He alone knows. God today has equipped us with everything. These bodies that we have, and these minds that we have. The psalmist could say, "I am fearfully and wonderfully made," and we are. But God has put everything on us except a steering wheel. Not one of us has a steering wheel on us. Why, we don't even know what a day brings forward. We cannot plan. May I say to you that this morning, God knows what's best for each one of us. Been thinking about that man Gagarin, that made the trip around the earth. Seems to be some misunderstanding about how he got down. I do not know of those. But I do know this: that when he got in that spaceship, he was no longer in control, and somebody else directed every move that was made until he got back down to terra firma. He made it because he was under the control of someone else. That's what it means to be in the will of God: that He's controlling every move of your life. He knows what's best for us. He alone knows what's best.
Second thing is, God has power to place you in His path. A great many people said, "Oh, if I could only get here, or if I could only do that." If you really want God's will, submit to Him. He not only knows what's best for you. This morning, God has the power to put you in His will.
Third thing, God loves you and He wants you in His will. Oh, we've heard the story about the young fellow that said, "I'd yield to God, but I know what He'd do. He'd pick me up and put me down in a swamp in the middle of Africa, and I don't want that." May I say, when you say that, you're saying that God's a hard taskmaster. He's not. God loves you, and His will for you is the best thing in your life. And if He wants you in a swamp in Africa, that's the only place in the world where you'll be happy. But if He doesn't want you there and wants you here, this is the only place you'll be happy. He loves you, and He'll pick the best thing for you. Oh, my friend, today, we need to have a desire, an overweening passion for the will of God. And until we have it, we haven't even got the first base with Him.
I come now to the second thing that is required if we are to know and to do His will. There must be a knowledge of the word of God. When Paul wrote to the Colossians, in the first chapter, 9th verse, he talked about what he prayed for: "For this cause we also since the day we heard it do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding." Now, Paul says, "For you, Colossians, I have been praying that you might be filled with the knowledge of the will of God." Now, what is the will of God? May I say to you that here is the will of God. Right here. That's what he's talking about. You might be filled with the word of God.
Someone has defined sin: "Sin is any transgression of or want of conformity unto a transgression of the law of God." That's not adequate, because you do not find all the will of God in the law of God, but you do find it in the word of God. And sin today is to fall short of what He wants, and you won't get that, friend, anywhere else except in His word. Now, the Holy Spirit will never lead contrary to the word, but He'll always lead in accordance to the word of God. And a great many people try to use the word of God like it's a sort of a Ouija board. They get into a particular circumstance, and they go to the Bible, and they begin to thumb through it, and they find a nice, comforting verse, and they say, "Well, this is what God gave me." I'm always suspicious, and I'd like to say this to the missionaries: I'm always suspicious, even with these missionary letters that come, "God has given me a verse." I'd like to know how you got it. God is not giving out verses like shuffling cards. He gives the word, the whole word, the word of God. And you don't go to the word of God and pick out one little verse. What do you think this is? Las Vegas? This is not a game. You must know the word of God.
My beloved, the Bible's not a spare tire. It's not a first aid kit. It's a chart and compass. In fact, here is God's radar screen. Fact, this is His radar. They have a thick fog over Los Angeles, and they sometimes have it, especially out around the airport. Here comes in a plane. This plane says to the airport, the man at the tower, "I want to come in, but I don't care about you taking over. If you'll just tell me whether I should go right or left right at this particular point, and I'll appreciate it and come on in." Is that the way they do it? No. But that's the way a lot of Christians are doing it. "Lord, I want You to tell me whether I should go right and left at this particular point." He doesn't do it. You can't find that in the word of God. When the plane comes in in the fog, he gets in position. The man in the tower says, "I have you now. I take over. You're in my control. Higher, more to the left. Come down, down, down." And he brings him in. My friend, that's what it means to know the will of God: is to have this radar screen before you all the time. This book is a chart and compass, and we're to grow in grace and knowledge of Him.
There must be a comprehensive knowledge of the word of God. Listen to Paul now: "Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God." The most glorious privilege you and I have is that we have a book here that the Holy Spirit alone can interpret to us, make real in our lives. And you and I can never know the will of God ignorant of the word of God. And again, that's the reason a great many believers today are cruising in a fog, totally ignorant of the word of God. He's the author of the book, and He alone can interpret it to our hearts and lives.
Now, I come quickly to the last. First, there must be a passion for the will of God. Second, there must be a knowledge of the word of God. And third, this is going to let you down: we must use sanctified common sense. You know, the Christian life is not lived by rote. Where the Spirit of God is, there's liberty and freedom. And you and I today depend too much on circumstances. I know that as I look back at my life, I have worn out 25 fleeces, putting them out, squeezing water out of them. My friend, God is not leading us today by fleeces. That's not the way that He does it. The Holy Spirit dwells within us. Paul says, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." And instead of running around looking at the fleece, I tell you, we need to let the Holy Spirit of God prompt us in our own hearts and in our own lives today, for He indwells every believer.
God wants to lead us. As the psalmist says, listen to him: "Psalm 32:8-9, I will instruct thee, and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. Be not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee." Now, what kind of a believer are you today? Do you have a bitten bridle in your mouth? And a lot of Christians are like that today, and that's what they want: somebody to pull on a bit here, pull on it there, to tell them where to turn. God says, "I guide thee with mine eye. I want you to stay close to Me, so you can see Me, so I can lead you, so I can prompt you and guide you." It's not a voice or a vision from heaven.
I always think of the little girl that I love above all others in the Old Testament, and that's Ruth. Ruth the Moabitess came back to Bethlehem. Nobody had given her a map of the streets. Even she didn't know her way around at all. But when she got there, they were so poor, she had to go out to glean. And I read in Ruth the 2nd chapter, 2nd verse: "And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace." She said unto her, "Go, my daughter." And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her hap – that word "hap" comes from "perhaps," just word of chance – and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was the kindred of Elimelech. I think that's one of the most wonderful statements in the Bible. Had you met Ruth coming out of Bethlehem that day, and you would have said to her, "Ruth, where are you going?" She said, "I'm going down here to glean in a field." And you'd have said, "What field are you going to glean in?" She said, "I don't know." "Well, Ruth, it's going to be very important what field you glean in. If you glean in the wrong field, Jesus won't be born in Bethlehem." And I'm confident that God has got a red and green light down there for you somewhere, and He'll show you, or you'll hear a voice from heaven, or the angel Gabriel will appear to you. Her hap was to light on a field belonged to Boaz. She went down there, and she got to a place, and you said to her, "This is a crucial moment. I feel you going." And she said, "Well, I started to go over there, but there are not many people gleaning there, and that means that old boy is a skinflint. I won't go and glean this field. But over here in this field, I don't know whose it is, but I'm going over here and glean there. A lot of poor people gleaning over there, and he must be a generous man." Oh, you say, "Ruth, that's so wonderful that you made the right choice, because now Jesus can be born in Bethlehem." That's the field of Boaz. She says, "I know nothing about that. I prayed about it, but when I got down here, I just used sanctified common sense. I didn't go in that field. I went in this field." And my friend, today, that's the way God leads His own.
Let me give you another illustration. The church met in Jerusalem in the First Council. It was one of the most important councils that was ever held. In fact, the gospel of the grace of God was at stake. And surely, in that meeting, the Holy Spirit again would let come wind and fire, but He didn't. They got up and debated. Peter got up and said what is on his mind. Knew he'd speak. He got up and he spoke on behalf of Paul, and he said, "I agree with brother Paul." They would never wear disagreements. And so he says, "I agree with brother Paul." And some of the Judaizers said, "I think we ought to put these believers, these Gentile believers, under law." Paul says, "I'll tell you what happened." James got up and said what he thought. And then the council voted, and they voted that they had not put the Gentiles under law. And this is what they wrote: "For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things." It just seemed good to us and the Holy Ghost. We prayed about it. We discussed both sides of the issue. These were men that were Spirit-filled men. They could be led of God, and they came to the mind of the Spirit. Oh, how we've gotten away from that today.
Paul starts out on his second missionary journey. Paul, where? Africa? You know where you're going? No. Don't know where I'm going. Well, you're a mighty funny missionary and not knowing where you're going. I've heard young people say right here that they could tell eight years from today where they're going to be. Paul couldn't tell you where he's going to be next week, because he was led of the Spirit of God. Will you listen to him on his second missionary journey? Acts 16:6: "Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia, after they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not." Paul started out. Paul looked up first, down toward Asia, saw Ephesus and all these cities. He said, "Say, that's a great place to preach the gospel." The Spirit said, "Not now, Paul." Paul said, "Then the only other place to go is to go up north here by Bithynia. There's another great populated area." Spirit said, "No." Paul scratched his head, said, "Well, I don't know where to go." And he moves on over to Troas. God had told him where not to go. He's closed two doors, but when God closes a door, He always opens another. Then there's the man of Macedonia. It took that to bring that man over into Europe.
If you please, may I say to you that the word of God says, "Quench not the spirit." Don't say no to the Spirit of God. Don't smother the Spirit. Don't get the fire extinguisher and try to put Him out by having your own way. When the children of Israel went through the wilderness, there was a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire. In Numbers 9:16, I read, "So it was alway: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night." And "when the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, then after that the children of Israel journeyed: and in the place where the cloud abode, there the children of Israel pitched their tents. At the commandment of the Lord the children of Israel journeyed, and at the commandment of the Lord they pitched: as long as the cloud abode upon the tabernacle they rested in their tents." They never got the fire department to put the pillar out. If you had met Moses and Aaron out in front of a morning on the east side, you would have said, "Moses, you fellas going to travel today?" Said, "We don't know." "You mean to tell me, Moses, you're the leader of this crowd, and you don't know?" "No." "Well, if you do travel, do you know where you're going?" "No." "Well, you're mighty funny leader. Why don't you know?" "See the pillar of fire up there? It'll change to a pillar of cloud in just a few moments, and if it lifts and moves out, we go. If it doesn't, we stay right here." How many believers today are looking to the Holy Spirit of God to lead them?
I must close. "Quench not the spirit." Don't say no to God. Say yes. I can reduce this now to the lowest common denominator. I can make it really very simple. And I must make this confession, Christian friend, and I'm now talking to believers. I have you on a spot, did you know it? I don't. The word of God has you. You have to go out of this place this morning either saying "yes" or "no." No, there's no middle ground. You got to say "yes" or you have to say "no." You can't willy-nilly. Now, you can't shilly-shally, Crazzle-dazzle, flim-flam, wishy-washy. You can't be tweedled and tweedled and tweedled-e both. You either are going to say "yes" or you're going to say "no." You either quench the Spirit or you quench not the Spirit of God. This is the first time I've ever had this congregation and those listening in on this kind of a spot. But my brother, my sister, you're on a spot. When you walk out of this church this morning, you will know in your heart whether you said "no" or "yes" to God. And I don't have to say anything else. I'm through. Shall we pray?
Now, I know this morning if I asked a dedication, that we'd feel this altar down here, and a lot of people would come that ought not to come. So we're not going to ask it. This is between you and the Lord. This is a decision that you know whether you said "no" or "yes" to the Spirit of God. The Lord Jesus Christ demands total submission, or else you quench the Spirit. We've said to live the Christian life is cheap. Who told you that? It means to submit your heart and life to do anything God wants you to do. And unless you're willing to say that, you're saying now, "You have quenched the Spirit of God." I say that on the authority of the word of God.
Now, in closing, I'm wondering if there's coming here today those that you thought being a Christian was a cheap thing. May I say to you, you can do just as Saul of Tarsus did. He first had to come to know Christ as Savior. He had to know that He died and was buried and raised from the dead. And when he knew that and trusted Him, he became a child of God. And at that very moment, he said, "What will You have me to do?" God never showed him right there and then the blueprint for his life. He gradually unfolded. But here's a man, oh, dedicated to God. And my friend, today, the only place in the world you and I will ever be contented and satisfied and happy is when we reach the place where we are abandoned to the will of God. And until you get there, oh, you're going to be a Christian that's unhappy and miserable and critical and hateful and ugly and disloyal. Oh, today, to be a dedicated child of God. But my friend, this morning, this wonderful Savior died for you on the cross, and He asks you to come all the way to Him. All the way to Him. He says, "My sheep hear my voice, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; they shall never perish." Oh, to have Him today as a Shepherd. Is He your Shepherd? He's a wonderful Shepherd. A wonderful Shepherd.