The world is in the habit of measuring success by… “The world is in the habit of measuring success by health, by wealth, and by fame; but a man may be ever so healthy in this world; he may be ever so wealthy in this world, and he may be ever so famous in this world, if, on the great Judgment Day he is ordered to go down from God’s face where the departed ones are – the lost – that man surely has not been successful.
“And He spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? Shall they not both fall into the ditch?”
“Do you see yonder man with a rope in his hand, and with his sight gone, and with the rope tied around the neck of a dear child?
Oh, how little we know about heaven here! How little we know about that great crown that God has in store for you and for me, if we will repent, and be faithful until death!
God not only rules Christians; He rules the universe. “In Him we live, and move, and have our being,” whether we are children of God, or an Alexander the Great. In Him we live, and move and have our being, whether we are the apostle Paul, or some scientist.
There is nothing in the Bible contrary to reason, but there are thousands of things in the Word of God away above reason.
“No, there is nothing in the Bible contrary to reason, but there are thousands of things in the Word of God away above reason, and this is one of them, the essence of God, one God in three persons.
Are we any better than Adam and Eve were? Go back with me this morning to that beautiful paradise of Eden, where every flower bloomed before the face of the God who gave it, and where every flower threw out its aroma into the nostrils of the perfect man and woman.
Luther held up his Sword and said, “You can get forgiveness of sins alone through the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ..Then all Germany was aflame, and all France, and Spain, and Holland, and England, and that flame came across the seas to America in the Mayflower, and with the followers of Luther himself, until today we have in all the world living seventy million Lutherans, to say nothing of the other Protestants who are living and enjoying the liberty which that man of God, by the help of his Master and the holy angels, brought into existence three hundred and eighty-seven years ago.
“How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” May the Holy Spirit help us tonight to take a view of the Spotless Sacrifice that our consciences may be spotless, and that in eternity our souls and bodies may be spotless before Him who gave us The Spotless Sacrifice.
I know of no better rule of life than to ask yourself the question every day, what influence are my actions now having on the Church of God? What would you think of me as a minister of the Gospel if I stood here tonight and preached purity of life, and tomorrow you find me staggering on the street as a drunkard?
The way children learn to walk, is by walking; the only way you can grow in strength and grace, and plow deeply and bring forth a harvest of the fruit that will please God on this road to heaven, is to use every gift that God has given you, and every power that you are blessed with, to His glory and for the upbuilding of His kingdom.