Participants: Carl Ashlock
Series Code: OTR
Program Code: OTR000637
|
01:01 Our Heavenly Father, I want to thank you
01:02 for Your love and mercy to us, 01:05 Your kindness and Your goodness. 01:09 I want to thank you for this Michigan Men of Faith. 01:11 I want to thank you for Pastor Jim 01:12 and those who worked around him to put it all together. 01:15 I want to thank you for pastors who encouraged. 01:17 I want to thank you for men who brought men. 01:20 I want to thank you for men who came and took the risk to come. 01:24 I want to thank you, Heavenly Father, 01:25 for the Holy Spirit that's been poured out here 01:28 and continues to be poured out. 01:30 Lord, we know that Jesus is coming again soon. 01:32 We know we have great events in front of us. 01:35 We want to plead with You that we might be all 01:38 that You called us to be, that we might truly fulfill 01:42 that great quote, "The greatest want 01:45 of the world is the want of men." 01:48 Make us those kinds of men. 01:51 In the name of Jesus' we pray. Amen. 02:17 Over a hundred years ago, Ellen White penned these words, 02:23 "The greatest want of the world is the want of men. 02:29 Men who will not be bought or sold, 02:35 men who in their inmost souls are true and honest, 02:41 men who do not fear to call sin by its right name, 02:47 men whose conscience is as true to duty 02:51 as the needle to the pole, 02:55 men who will stand for the right, 02:58 though the heavens fall." 03:03 Let's bow our heads for prayer. 03:08 Loving Father, dare we 03:15 trust our hearts to thee 03:18 that we could be such men. 03:22 Oh, Lord, we know that in and of ourselves 03:26 we can be nothing. 03:30 Only as we die to self can we receive that life 03:37 which is so abundant, that life which empowers us 03:42 to be the men You want us to be. 03:45 And so, Father, bless us 03:47 these last moments of this blessed day. 03:50 In Jesus' name. Amen. 03:55 There was a great Scottish preacher 03:58 by the name of Alexander MacLaren. 04:03 Elder Vandeman used to love to tell the story 04:07 of MacLaren who is a very godly man. 04:13 And he told how that Alexander MacLaren 04:16 was sleeping one night 04:19 and suddenly in his sleep he cried out 04:21 and his wife reached over and shook him awake. 04:25 And she said, "Alex, what's wrong?" 04:28 And her husband rubbed his eyes 04:30 and he shook himself and he said, 04:32 "Wife, I've just had a terrible dream. 04:37 I dreamed I was in Pilate's judgment hall 04:43 and I was standing watching the soldiers 04:45 as they were bringing the horrible 04:50 whip down on his back. 04:52 I saw the blood ooze from his back and I could not stand it, 04:57 I ran forward and I grabbed his arm 05:00 and he turned and he looked at me. 05:02 And wife, it was I. 05:06 I was looking into my own face." 05:12 Shall I crucify my Savior or shall I crown Him 05:16 the Lord of all is the question that faces 05:19 every one of us this afternoon. 05:24 Is Christ the Savior in your life, your Lord? 05:32 You see the one whom you have come to trust 05:35 and know has a better idea for your life than you do. 05:42 Have you come to the place where you believe 05:44 what Paul says, when he says 05:46 "I'm crucified with Christ and, nevertheless, I live yet, 05:51 not I but Christ lives within me." 05:58 Are you crucified? 06:01 You see, God's solution to our problems, 06:04 men, is very radical. 06:08 God doesn't want to give us a refresher course. 06:11 That's not His idea. 06:14 It's not God's idea to simply restore us with a little paint 06:20 and a little glue and a little patch up job. 06:23 That's not His idea. 06:25 He doesn't even want us to come here today 06:29 and to make a lot of new resolutions necessarily. 06:32 What He would like is that most radical of experiences 06:36 and that is for you to be willing to die to self, to self. 06:44 I want to talk to you a few moments about 06:47 the dreaded word "Submission." 06:53 I've often preached on this word. 06:55 In fact, it's often been in the context of a sermon 07:01 for wives and for women. 07:07 And I've noticed that in days following this that men 07:11 have come to me puzzled as to what my sermon 07:15 was about because they would go home to whip the wife 07:18 and to shape and to take charge and to suggest to her, 07:22 "didn't you hear the pastor's sermon? 07:24 He suggested that you be submitted to me." 07:30 And I began to realize that there was something 07:32 grossly missing in my message. 07:35 And as I began to study the word of submission, 07:37 I began to recognize that scripture teaches 07:42 that a man is under greater submission than his wife. 07:48 In fact, submission is that wonderful position 07:53 that we take when we die to self. 07:57 We position ourselves where love flows down. 08:01 We position ourselves under Christ 08:04 because Christ is positioned under His father. 08:07 Paul says that a wife will be submitted to her husband 08:11 who is submitted to Christ who is submitted to His Father. 08:17 Interesting. Jesus submitted. Why? Yes. 08:21 Because love originates with the Father. 08:24 The Father who has this love bestows it on His Son 08:29 and His Son comes to the world 08:31 and shows us what it is like to love. 08:34 And a man submits himself to Jesus. 08:38 And only a man who has submitted to Jesus 08:41 is worthy to have a wife be submitted to him 08:47 because he has something to give her. 08:50 He has God's; love. 08:53 It's interesting how when you go to the book of Ephesians-- 08:56 I used to think that the book of Ephesians 08:58 was the great wedding book, you know, 09:01 because the fifth chapter where Paul says for husbands 09:07 to love their wives and women to be submitted and all of this. 09:11 And I began to recognize that the book of Ephesians 09:14 can be broken down into three very simple words 09:18 as enunciated by a great Chinese preacher 09:22 by the name of Watchman Nee. 09:25 Watchman Nee suggested that the book of Ephesians 09:28 says that Christians must assume 09:32 three postures, sit, walk, stand. 09:40 And he says you must notice that scripture prescribes 09:44 in what order this takes place, that first we learn to sit 09:47 with Christ in heavenly places before we walk. 09:53 Interesting concept. 09:54 We normally exercise and walk 09:56 and then get tired and then sit. 09:58 In fact, it's probably-- it's probably interpreted 10:02 into our lives by the fact that as children 10:06 we emphasize praying at night before we go to bed 10:09 so that we can have a goodnight's rest, 10:12 an easy conscience. 10:15 But the book of Ephesians says that a man begins his life 10:18 by sitting with Christ in heavenly places. 10:22 And as a man sits with Christ in heavenly places, 10:25 he learns to walk with Christ on earth. 10:30 He walks with Christ only after he has sat 10:32 with Christ in heavenly places. 10:34 He is now fit to walk. 10:36 And it is interesting that right in the middle 10:38 of this discussion on walking with Christ, 10:40 Paul drops this little metaphor. 10:43 He says you wanna know a man who walks with Christ? 10:47 He loves his wife. 10:50 A man who walks with Christ loves his wife like Christ 10:54 loved His bride, the church 10:56 and he gives himself for his bride. 10:59 That's the way a man loves his wife. 11:02 Submission, dying to live. 11:07 I was interested in discovering that the word 11:09 humility is related to the word 11:13 humus or soil, dirt. 11:21 Now I'm a gardener. 11:24 And you don't dare desecrate this word, soil. 11:26 Soil is very precious. 11:29 Soil is that substance from which everything 11:31 we have comes from. 11:35 The chairs you're sitting on, the metal, 11:36 the plastic, the clothes you wear, 11:39 everything comes out of the ground. 11:43 Humus, humble, submission, 11:50 that place where love falls-- flows down, 11:54 that resource, that place where we receive, 11:57 where we die, where we spring forth 11:59 with new life to bear fruit. 12:03 Paul was deadly concerned about the people in Corinth 12:07 because he had planted the church there. 12:11 He had preached the wonder of the gospel 12:13 and he had instructed them as to how to have church 12:17 and later he came back, 3 years later, 12:20 to visit them and he was sorely disappointed 12:23 and something that, probably, is the secret 12:28 of why our lives are so impotent. 12:33 He said I want to congratulate you on the fact 12:36 that you're a gifted congregation. 12:38 You have the gifts. 12:41 I want to congratulate you for continuing 12:43 to have church and so forth. 12:45 He praised them but then he said I'm deeply 12:48 saddened by the fact that you're still carnal. 12:51 Some of you are still carnal, he said. 12:56 He divided them into two types. 12:58 He said there are carnal Christians 12:59 and there are spiritual Christians. 13:01 And spiritual Christians are the ones 13:03 who are able to bear the true fruit. 13:06 Their spirit-filled life is the life that represents 13:12 and reflects the character of God. 13:16 And he said, you know, we have to keep feeding you milk 13:20 because of your arrested growth. 13:23 You're still children. You're still babies. 13:28 I thought it was interesting, a book I read recently, 13:30 the author divided men into three categories. 13:34 He said that we're born and we become boys. 13:39 And he said, you know, all boys don't become men. 13:42 He said they just become stronger boys. 13:46 They become richer boys. 13:47 They're able to buy bigger toys, better toys. 13:52 I was telling the man that my friend 13:53 Doug Batchelor was sharing with me the fact 13:55 that there was some incongruity between 13:58 him and his father who is a true pagan. 14:03 Doug, a new convert, a man now whose life has-- 14:07 is a new life and Christ was so incompatible 14:11 with his father who was such a heathen man. 14:15 But his father was a man who loved his son 14:17 as much as he could and he asked him, 14:20 he said, "what do I give a person like 14:22 you now for Christmas gift or a birthday gift?" 14:28 And Doug said, "Oh, I don't know dad." 14:30 He says "you don't have to really give me anything. 14:32 I know you love me." 14:34 But the father couldn't stand it. 14:36 He remembered that Doug as a little boy loved tonka toys. 14:40 And so one day on a Christmas, 14:43 Doug was surprised when a great, 14:45 big semi with a big trailer on the back 14:49 pulled up to his ranch, his farm in Northern California 14:53 and had a big, big tractor on the back. 14:58 It was just a bigger tonka toy. 15:03 I said, "Doug, what do you do with this thing?" 15:04 He said, "I drive it around my ranch and dig holes." 15:15 There are a lot of boys who never become men. 15:17 They just get bigger toys. 15:20 I don't mean to infer by that that Doug is still a boy. 15:23 He certainly is not. Proven so many times. 15:28 But I must tell you that down in St. Petersburg, 15:32 the place where there are so many retired people, 15:37 those old men down there are just old boys, old boys. 15:45 The writer of this book went on to say 15:46 that some boys become men. 15:48 Men are those boys who become 15:52 provisionary proprietary males. 15:56 What does that mean? 15:57 Well, proprietary simply means they're responsible. 16:00 They take responsibility. 16:04 They know what they're supposed to do 16:05 because they consult often with the fountain, 16:09 the fountain of wisdom. 16:10 They know what they must do 16:12 and so they become proprietary. 16:15 They are proprietary in their relationship with their wives. 16:18 They know they have a responsibility as husbands 16:21 to love them like Christ loves the church, 16:24 to nurture them, to adorn them for the coming of Jesus 16:28 by the way they love their wives. 16:31 And they're provisionary. A man is provisionary. 16:36 A provisionary man-- just break it down. 16:38 "Pro-vision." He goes before his family. 16:42 He charts out the land. He scouts out the dangers. 16:46 He knows what is safe for his family. 16:49 His home is a refugee that is safe 16:51 for his children to grow up in. 16:54 He knows that it's best not to have 16:57 the instruments of the devil in his home. 17:01 He knows what is insidiously 17:04 destroying the character of his children. 17:06 That is a provisionary man. 17:10 The word provisionary was used for men like 17:12 the scouts in the west, like 17:14 Kit Carson and Jim Bridger, you recall. 17:17 They were sent out ahead of the wagon trains 17:20 in order to know where the danger was. 17:22 That's a man. 17:25 And then the author said that a man 17:26 as he grows older should become a patriarch. 17:31 A patriarch. 17:32 And I love the way he described this 17:34 because so many men do not grow into patriarchs. 17:38 They just grow into old codgers. 17:41 They just become old sages that sit 17:44 at the court house steps and tell how all is hopeless. 17:51 But you see, when an old man becomes more and more like Jesus 17:57 he is a greater lover and he is a greater giver. 18:02 And the whole church becomes his family. 18:05 There is no one in the church that will go alone 18:08 as long as this man is there because he is a greater giver. 18:13 He has died to self and he is living 18:17 because Jesus lives in him. 18:19 That's a patriarch. 18:22 I'm thankful for the patriarchs we have. 18:33 The man who wants to reflect the character of Jesus, 18:40 I've discovered as I've grown older, 18:45 will become a man of prayer. 18:50 I wish I had the words, men, to convince you. 18:57 If I could convince you what will take place in your life, 19:02 if you will make prayer the most important thing 19:07 that you want to learn in the next few days. 19:13 It should trouble most men in our church 19:16 that it would take a man, formally a Satanist, 19:21 a Satanist who is a salesman in the North East 19:23 to become the great prayer guru 19:25 of our church, Roger Morneau. 19:29 It should shame us the fact that somehow 19:32 we all send our letters to him and say, 19:34 "You pray for my child." Why? 19:37 Because God says every man may be an intercessor. 19:41 In fact, scripture says God wondered 19:44 that there was no intercessor. 19:47 You have the privilege of joining with Jesus, 19:50 the great intercessor, where two or three-- 19:52 well, any time you pray for your family, your wife, 19:55 your child, there are two at least, you and Jesus, 19:59 praying and interceding for your family. 20:03 Oh, man, I wish I could convince you 20:05 that prayer is what you need to do. 20:09 Jesus didn't teach his disciples how to preach. 20:12 He didn't teach them how to teach or to heal. 20:16 He taught them how to pray. 20:19 And when He left and went back to heaven 20:21 and entrusted His work unto these lonely men, 20:24 He said "you will be ready if you go to the upper room 20:27 and pray for 30 days and fast. 20:30 You will be ready then." 20:32 And then there are things 20:34 that we need to accomplish in our families. 20:36 There are things we need to accomplish 20:37 in our personal lives that only prayer will do. 20:41 Only prayer will take them out of our hearts, our lives, 20:44 will perform the necessary surgery 20:47 to get rid of the cancer that's there. 20:50 I've discovered marvelous things in prayers. 20:52 I pray and pray for my wife. 20:55 I've seen with my very eyes God working in my own heart 20:59 and making me the kind of person 21:01 that enables my wife to be a more beautiful person. 21:05 A husband who is a godly man is a person 21:08 who leaves a legacy for his children. 21:10 In fact, it's interesting, Paul uses the modality that-- 21:14 that we are living epistles. 21:18 We are books being read, he says, by all people. 21:21 I want to tell you a secret. 21:23 There is certainly some who are reading your book. 21:26 It's your wife and it's your kids. 21:29 They know what's in that book and they are reading it. 21:33 When I was dean, a man at Andrews University-- 21:37 I had in my dorm an awful lot of young men 21:40 who were the sons of auspicious fathers. 21:43 I had sons in my dorm who were the sons of professors 21:48 and General Conference Vice Presidents 21:52 and very well known authors and teachers. 21:59 And the thing that must have amazed me as a young man, 22:01 a young dean, because I had a father 22:05 who is very nurturing and deeply spiritual, 22:08 was to discover that some of these young men-- 22:12 some of these young men had read an epistle 22:14 at home that destroyed all their faith in God. 22:21 I had a young man whose father was in the General Conference 22:23 whose name was well known. 22:25 And since this was many years ago, 22:27 I think that I can safely tell the story. 22:31 This young man hated 22:32 everything we stood for there at the school. 22:34 And I called him into my office 22:36 because I could see the sour look on his face 22:39 and the enormous dissatisfaction in his life. 22:42 And I asked him, "Why don't you enjoy worship? 22:45 Why don't you come? 22:46 Why--what is the problem?" 22:48 And being young and inexperienced, 22:50 I reminded him, after all you are the son of the-- 22:57 this very, very famous man. 23:03 And his face got sour and he curled his lip 23:08 and he did everything but curse at me when he said 23:10 "I do not want the religion of my dad." 23:18 I used to play intramural sports out there occasionally 23:21 on the field to try and develop rapport with some of the guys 23:24 that I couldn't reach, it seemed, in other ways. 23:27 And I'm not sure that's correct but I did it then. 23:30 And I remember sometimes brushing up against 23:34 some of the young men who were the sons of faculty there. 23:37 And I remember one time 23:40 I'd just read a book that one of our faculty had written. 23:42 It was a wonderful book and I asked the son, 23:46 I said "have you read your dad's book?" 23:49 He said "No. Did my dad write a book?" 23:51 I said "yes. It's a good book. 23:54 I bet it's a book that will really be well-read. 23:57 It's a good book." Huh. 24:00 He didn't seem very well impressed with it. 24:02 I said "are you telling me you're not interested?" 24:05 He said "No." 24:07 He said "I don't care what my dad writes." 24:10 And I thought to myself, yes, you do. 24:14 You're reading it. The epistle your dad is writing. 24:19 And it's making a deep impact on your life. 24:24 Men, we are living epistles. 24:27 We are being read. 24:29 I wonder if we understand what it means how when-- 24:34 for instance, let me just-- 24:35 if you have your Bibles turn with me. 24:37 I wanna show you something 24:38 that just thrills me when I read this. 24:42 It's the story that everyone knows 24:45 but it's not the part of the story 24:46 that you would assume I would want to emphasize. 24:49 It's the story of the lost boy. 24:52 Luke 15. 24:58 In reality it's not the story of a lost boy. 25:02 For many of you it's the story of a father, isn't that right? 25:09 And for many of us, it's the story of an older brother. 25:12 And it's the older brother 25:14 I'd like for you to look at for a few moments. 25:17 I'd like for you to notice verse 25, reading on, 25:24 "Now his older son was in the field 25:27 and as he came and drew near to the house, 25:31 he heard music and dancing. 25:33 So he called one of the servants 25:35 and he asked what these things meant? 25:38 And he said to him, your brother has come 25:40 and because he has received him safe and sound, 25:43 your father has killed the fatted calf. 25:47 But he was angry, would not go in. 25:50 Therefore, his father came out and pleaded with him. 25:54 So he answered and said to his father, 25:56 "lo, these many years I've been serving you. 26:00 I never transgressed your commandment 26:02 at any time and yet you never gave me a young goat 26:06 that I might make merry with my friends. 26:10 But as soon as this son of yours came, 26:12 who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, 26:14 you killed the fatted calf for him." 26:18 And he said to him, "Son, you are always with me 26:21 and all that I have is yours." 26:25 Oh, my friend, it's almost as though the heavenly Father 26:31 has lifted the trumpet and He sounded 26:35 to every man in this room, 26:36 "Do you realize, sons, that you are with Me 26:41 and all that I have is yours? 26:44 All that I have is yours." 26:47 What more, men, do you want than what the Father 26:51 has when He says, "Everything I have is yours?" 26:57 The affliction of a Laodicean church 27:00 that is lukewarm is a church whose works 27:04 are pitiful in the mouth of God because we have not accessed 27:10 the very character and goodness of God. 27:13 The God who is so loving, 27:16 who want's to give us everything He has. 27:19 It's right there. 27:24 All that I have is yours. All. 27:31 Oh, I think-- 27:38 I think of how it is that we live our lives 27:40 so often that in our-- with our families 27:43 and our neighbors and our fellow workers. 27:46 So much of our behavior is reactionary 27:49 instead of pro-actionary, if you will. 27:55 We're sensitive. We're easily offended. 27:59 We play the game according to how it's played at us. 28:02 And finally as I was praying about God working in my life 28:09 and helping me to truly represent Christ in my home 28:12 and in my neighborhood, the final piece of the puzzle 28:15 came when I--one day I was reading scripture 28:19 and discovered Jesus was never offended 28:24 except when His Father was being desecrated. 28:29 Jesus was never offended 28:32 and I thought how easily I am offended. 28:34 How easily I react. 28:39 And then I discovered the greatest-- 28:41 the greatest of all rules in the Bible. 28:43 It's even greater than the golden rule. 28:45 It goes like this, "Freely you've received, 28:47 freely--" what's the rest? 28:49 "Freely give." 28:53 If my wife gives me 28:58 words that are offensive, 29:03 it is my privilege to give her words that God has spoken to me. 29:13 I told the men in my seminar how that there was a boy 29:15 playing football in Oklahoma, who was asked by the reporter, 29:21 it must be easy to play in Oklahoma. 29:23 That's the only thing going there. 29:25 You have these huge crowds coming out to see your games. 29:28 It must be inspiring to hear the crowds. 29:31 He said, "We don't play to the crowds. 29:35 We play to the coach." 29:39 Man, it's about time we stop playing to the crowd. 29:43 We've got to play our lives according to the will of God. 29:51 Not only does God have a purpose for your life 29:53 and a will for your life, He's willing to provide 29:56 you the very thing that will help you fulfill it. 30:00 Everything He has is yours. 30:02 He will provide you His very will. 30:05 And when I talk about prayer, I would want to describe 30:12 to you a type of prayer that goes far beyond 30:16 the kind of prayer that merely informs God 30:19 what you want Him to do. 30:22 Learn to pray where you get beyond 30:24 your list and discover His list. 30:27 Learn to pray to the point where you discover 30:30 that everything God has will for your life 30:32 is much better than you have will for your life. 30:36 Learn to pray to the extent that you have discovered God 30:39 and that God is bigger than you are. 30:42 God is bigger than anything you face. 30:44 The biggest issue that will face us 30:46 as we face the time at the end is 30:48 how big your God is, your faith in Him. 30:53 There were 10, there were 12 spies 30:55 that were sent out when, you know, 30:57 they came out of Egypt and God wanted to take them into Canaan. 31:01 God doesn't want to just take you out of sin. 31:03 He wants to take you right into His blessed life. 31:07 That is His purpose. 31:08 And there's an interesting story of the 12 as they went in. 31:11 They saw the giants. 31:12 They saw a land that seemed inconquerable. 31:15 And they came back and 10 men said, 31:17 "No, we can never ever conquer that land. 31:20 They are giants." 31:23 Two men saw the same giants and they said, "It's ours. 31:28 It's ours. God has already promised it to us." 31:30 What was the difference? 31:33 Two men had a God that was bigger 31:35 than the giants, ten didn't. 31:38 That was the difference. 31:40 You have Meshach and Shadrach and Abednego, 31:43 men who, Ellen White tells us, 31:45 were hardly over 20, maybe 18, 19 years of age, just teenagers. 31:51 Standing up in a bow down world, standing up, why? 31:55 Because they were serving a God 31:56 that was bigger than a furnace. 32:00 A God big enough to face what they were facing. 32:05 In fact, when you come to know God and His character 32:08 and it's straight and it's accurate and it's real 32:11 and you've discovered this through great prayer. 32:14 Praying and praying in humility and meekness in searching God, 32:18 searching His heart, searching His will. 32:20 When you come to know this God, 32:22 you will know the God that Job knew when he said, 32:25 "Though he slay me, yet will I serve Him." 32:29 That's the God Job knew. Do you know Him? 32:34 It is your privilege to know Him. 32:42 I think of how eclectic our religion is. 32:47 We try to put together all these different philosophies, 32:51 all these different ideas and we've figured 32:53 that the more we know and the more knowledge we have 32:55 and the better educated we are 32:57 in certain areas he better we will be. 33:00 But I think, men, that it truly comes down to the point 33:03 of this view of God that you have, 33:06 this faith in Christ that you have. 33:10 Do you have faith in Him? 33:13 Is your faith sound in Him? 33:16 Do you truly trust Christ with your life, with your wife, 33:20 with everything you face? 33:21 Do you really? 33:24 I think of the story that was sent to me not too long ago 33:28 about a boy that went off to war to Vietnam. 33:34 And this young man before he went to Vietnam 33:37 had a hobby with his father who is very, very wealthy. 33:41 They used to purchase very expensive art. 33:45 They would buy, you know, the famous artist pictures, 33:49 Van Gogh and Renoir, 33:51 and Wuwu-- and these other guys. 33:53 And they would put these pictures up there, you know, 33:56 on the wall and admire them 33:58 and realize what an investment this was. 34:03 And then the boy went off to Vietnam. 34:08 And word soon came that the man's son 34:11 whom he adored and loved, 34:13 had invested his life in had been killed. 34:19 The old man's heart began to fade. 34:21 And he used to sit in front of the hearth 34:23 and he would mourn and he would sob. 34:27 And they realized that he was dying of a broken heart. 34:30 And one day a ring came at the door 34:32 and he went to the door. 34:34 There was a young soldier standing there. 34:38 He had something rolled up in his arm and he said, 34:40 "Sir, you don't know me." 34:41 He said, "Are you so and so's father?" 34:44 He said, "Yes, did you know him?" 34:45 He said, "Yes, I served with him in Vietnam." 34:49 He said, "I found his address. 34:51 I didn't know he lived in something like this. 34:53 My goodness" he said. 34:55 The old man invited him in 34:57 because it was refreshing to see someone 34:59 who could tell him something about his boy. 35:02 So the young solder came in and he brought his package in 35:05 that he had under his arm and he said, "Sir." 35:07 He said, "The reason I came was your son 35:09 was such a fine young man." 35:11 And he said, "I am an amateur artist." 35:14 Evidently the son had not told this boy that these guys 35:17 were really, really experts in art. 35:20 And so he said, "I am an amateur artist 35:21 and I had a photograph of your son 35:23 and I painted this picture of your son 35:25 and I thought you might like it." 35:27 The old man said, "Oh." 35:28 He took the picture and he said, 35:30 "That does looks-- that does look like him." 35:32 He said. "Oh, I will treasure this picture" he said. 35:35 And he put the picture right over the mantle. 35:39 And they said, he would sit for hours 35:41 and stare and look at the picture. 35:44 He would never look at his treasures, just the picture. 35:49 The old man died. 35:52 Soon there was an auction at the mansion 35:54 and people from all over the world 35:56 who were art aficionados came to bid on this art. 36:02 They could hardly wait because 36:03 there were priceless treasures in this collection. 36:05 And as they sat there, the auctioneer stood 36:10 and he said, "We have one bit of business 36:12 to take care of before the rest is done." 36:16 And he held up this picture of the son and people murmured 36:19 and complained and said, "What picture is that? 36:21 I've not seen that painting." 36:22 And he said, "Well, it's a picture, 36:24 an amateur picture of the son 36:27 of the man who owns all this art, owned all this art." 36:32 They said, "Well, it's just a piece of junk." 36:34 They said, "Hurry up and get rid of it. 36:38 Throw it away." 36:40 But the old janitor was standing in the back 36:42 who had served and worked in this family 36:44 and he knew the boy. 36:46 He recognized the piece and he thought to himself, 36:48 I don't have any money. 36:50 Let's see. He looked in his pocket. 36:51 He had $5. He said, "I'll give $5. 36:55 I knew the boy. 36:56 Sure I'd like to have that." And so he pulled out $5. 36:59 And the auctioneer said, "going, gone to you sir, $5." 37:03 And people shouted, "Yeah, great. 37:06 Let's get on with the auction." 37:08 Well, the auctioneer came down with his gavel 37:10 and he said, "The auction is over. 37:13 He that gets the son gets everything." 37:20 Man--man, he who gets 37:27 the son must die. 37:32 You need to die to self. 37:34 Whatever it takes, you need to do that. 37:41 Ours is the only religion that requires a man 37:47 to die for his Lord in order to receive the new life in Christ. 37:53 It is symbolized by baptism. 37:56 But, man it is real. You must die to self. 38:01 You cannot continue this old impotent self any longer. 38:07 You cannot go home tonight the same man 38:11 that came here this morning. 38:15 Every single one of us can go home 38:17 having been improved by the vision 38:20 we have received here by a gracious God. 38:24 But, my man, nothing can happen in your life 38:27 that is real to God unless you're willing to die to self. 38:32 You must die to self in order to live. 38:37 He who gets the son gets everything. 38:42 I think the greatest hymn that was ever written 38:45 in all the history of the church is a hymn 38:48 that I was overjoyed to see printed in your song sheet. 38:55 It is that wonderful song that was penned by 38:57 Charles Wesley, "And Can it Be." 39:01 And I believe the greatest stanza of any hymn at any time 39:08 is that third stanza that says, "Long my imprisoned spirit lay, 39:15 fast bound in sin and nature's night. 39:19 Thine eye diffused to quickening ray, 39:21 the dungeon flamed with light. 39:25 My chains fell off, my soul was free, 39:28 I rose, went forth and followed Thee." 39:34 Man, when we die, we begin to recognize 39:38 the life God has in mind. 39:41 Don't you want it? 39:45 Let's bow our heads. 39:52 Father, unless You have spoken to these men 39:59 what I've said is of absolutely no worth. 40:05 Oh, God, there are men here this evening 40:12 who need to die and perhaps, all of us, Father, 40:18 like Paul when he said, "I die daily," need to die anew. 40:25 Lord, if there is anything left in us 40:27 that represents self, help us to give it up. 40:33 Help us to lay it down. 40:36 Help us to recognize that submission is the freedom 40:40 from the tyranny of having to have our own way. 40:44 That having to have our own way and being selfish is a ugly, 40:48 awful heavy burden that if we give it up and become a giver, 40:53 a lover, a server, 40:57 a kindly, gentle, strong man 41:07 that we will recognize that growth 41:11 that takes place when the seed has died in the soil. 41:16 Bless every single man here. 41:20 Teach him how to pray. 41:22 Teach him how, oh, Lord, to understand Your will. 41:26 Teach him how to pray 41:28 for Your will, Your list in his life. 41:32 And, Father, when Jesus comes, 41:36 may the circle not break where I stand. 41:41 I pray in Jesus' name, amen. |
Revised 2014-12-17