What a joy to be in the courts
of the Lord.
Better is one day, than his courts in
thousands elsewhere.
Here there's joy, here there's peace that surpasses
all understanding.
Here the saints are gathered together and congregated
in his name, that magnify, glorify and exalt
the name of our great God and Saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Thank you again, Pastor, for this invitation to
preach the Gospel.
Thank you very much as well for coming
here tonight.
I believe God would really desire to speak
again to our hearts and edify us by
the preaching of the Word of God.
Our text this night then, we're going to
continue on with the same theme that we
touched this morning, born slaves of Jesus Christ.
This morning we touched on a man of
God called John the Baptist, a man who
burned with holy zeal, a powerful witness under
the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
And tonight we're going to talk about a
man by the name of the Apostle Paul.
Paul the Apostle.
Our text this night is going to be
found in the book of Romans.
We're going to just share one verse this
night.
And of course we believe that book was
written about 60 AD, during Paul's third missionary
journey there in Corinth.
So, this book is an absolute theological masterpiece
that shows us the great doctrinal truths of
our Christian faith.
This is a book that has changed history
time and time again.
You know, it was Romans 1 verse 17,
the just shall live by faith.
That changed the whole context and history of
Europe.
Martin Luther got a hold of that verse,
and the rest of world history completely changed.
Luther himself says of the book of Romans,
this epistle is really the chief part of
the New Testament, and the very purest Gospel.
It's worthy not only that every Christian should
know it word for word by heart, but
occupy himself with it every day as the
daily bread of the soul.
It can never be read too much, can
never be pondered too much, and the more
it is dealt with, the more precious it
becomes, and the better it tastes.
It was reading Luther's prologue to the epistle
of the Romans, that John Wesley, that great
Methodist in the 18th century, felt his heart
strangely warmed.
He was born again by the Spirit of
God, and the mighty Methodist revival came on
its heels.
This book of Romans expounds the great themes
of our Christian faith.
The property of man, salvation by grace alone,
through faith alone, in Christ alone.
It deals with truths of lives in the
Spirit, of the cross of Jesus Christ, of
God's dealing with the people of Israel, and
with the Gentiles, and has many practical applications.
So what we're going to do tonight is
not so much fix on the doctrinal aspect,
of course these things are going to come
out, but what I want to see tonight
is the heart behind this man.
We saw John the Baptist this morning, I
want to look at Paul this evening.
So we're just going to open our Bibles,
Romans chapter 1, and we're going to read
verse 15.
Romans 1 verse 15, and if you want
to go ahead and read that in loud
voice, you just go ahead.
Romans 1 verse 15, I believe this verse
is going to give us an insight, that
will form the base of our preaching tonight.
Romans 1 verse 15.
Praise God, As much as is in me,
I am now ready to preach the gospel
to you that are at Rome also.
As much as is in me.
The title of this message is, As much
as is in me.
As much as is in me, that leaves
room for nothing else.
This is a man wholly yielded up to
Jesus Christ.
This is a man obliged for the gospel.
And so what I propose in this evening
is three things.
Number one, we're going to look at the
heart of such a man.
In second place, we're going to look at
the life of such a man.
And in third place, the reward of such
a man.
The heart, the life, and the reward.
I pray God is going to use this
word to stir our hearts.
To challenge us.
To edify us as his church.
That we too may speak and walk in
the fullness of the spirit of God.
Shining with the glory of Christ no matter
where we go.
Talking about our wonderful God and Saviour.
So I do open our hearts in prayer.
And let's seek God that he would speak
to us in this night.
That we too may say with Paul, As
much as is in me.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Lord we magnify your precious name.
We thank you God that we've been called
by your grace.
You are God above in heaven oh God.
Creator of heaven and earth.
We thank you God that you're not just
creator.
That you are redeemer oh God.
We thank you that you took us out
of the married clay.
You give us life oh God.
When we were dead in transgressions and sins.
We thank you for your great grace.
How can we repay such a debt.
How can we give you thanks oh God.
For your wonderful workings toward the children of
man.
Oh God we know you're the same God
yesterday.
Today and forever.
And we do pray oh God.
That you would speak in this night oh
God.
Directly to our hearts oh God.
Break all the nonsense God.
That you want to be broken in us
oh God.
Shake us oh God.
And fill us with your spirit oh God.
Let us rise up in your name oh
God.
To say with the apostle Paul.
As much as is in me.
May we worship you.
In spirit and truth.
We give you honor.
We give you praise.
We give you glory.
In Jesus name.
And for Jesus sake.
Amen.
Glory to God.
As much as is in me.
Paul's heart was sold out to God.
As much as is in me.
Is the heartbeat of any true child of
God.
True Christianity is nothing else than an all
out commitment.
To serve in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul paid the price to serve Jesus.
In an ungodly and wicked generation.
He knew no compromise.
He was a champion of the faith.
Christ was his all in all.
He was like the vast multitude of believers.
We have in the 21st century church.
Clowns.
Comedians.
And comedians.
In first place he wasn't a clown.
When I was a little kid.
My mum told me I laughed at clowns.
If a clown tells you something.
You don't take him seriously.
Paul never wore a mask.
You see a clown wears a mask.
A clown is a man that says one
thing on a Sunday.
And then there's something else on a Monday.
That's a clown.
Someone that pretends to be something.
That he's not.
Paul said in Galatians 1.15 and 16.
He said it pleased God to reveal His
Son in me.
That I might preach Him among the heathen.
First Christ is revealed.
Then I have authority to preach Him.
It's not preach then have the Son revealed.
No, no.
First the Son is revealed in me.
Then I have authority to preach.
Paul was no clown.
When you're going through hard times and trials.
You don't ask a clown for his advice.
You don't take a clown seriously.
Paul was no comedian.
No funny jokes up his sleeve.
He never tried to win men's approval.
He went to the ends of the world.
No jokes.
No guitar.
No praise band.
No little man there giving him a round
of applause.
Tell him how wonderful he was.
Absolutely nothing.
But the power of the Holy Spirit.
And it proved to be more than sufficient
to meet the need.
Paul had the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit had Paul.
Proved to be more than sufficient.
He was no clown.
Was no comedian.
And he was no chameleon.
A chameleon changes colors.
A comedian just likes to fit in wherever
he goes.
Blue one day.
Green the next.
I've seen men preach in the public who
live like devils in secret.
Keep your gospel to yourself.
Doesn't interest me.
We need people that are going to preach
what they believe.
And believe what they preach.
And more so live the message they give
in the pulpit.
Paul talked for Christ in public.
And talked with Christ in secret.
Christ was all that interested and motivated him.
Never in two minds.
Christ was his all in all.
Paul was driven on by the mind of
Christ.
Redeemed the time.
Preaching the gospel in season and out of
season.
With steel in his bones.
And a mighty fire in his belly.
Paul had the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit had Paul.
They took me around last summer to the
church where Evan Roberts was in 1904.
When that revival came.
Church in Wales absolutely dead.
17 people in that meeting.
They brought me in and the historian said
to me.
He said, Evan Roberts, he said, didn't have
the Holy Spirit.
I said, God, what did that man just
say?
He says, Evan Roberts didn't have the Holy
Spirit.
He said, the Holy Spirit had Evan Roberts.
Oh, glory to God.
Made a whole lot of sense when he
cleared that up.
Holy Spirit had Paul.
Holy Spirit had Evan Roberts.
I'm yet to find a place in the
scriptures where Paul ever asked God.
If it was okay for him to go
back to the world.
If it was okay for him to smoke
a few joints.
Sleep about with a few women.
Get a little tattoo.
Flirt about with the world.
Never.
The moment Paul was born again of the
Spirit of God.
It was Christ all the way.
Christ all his life.
Christ unto death.
It was as if the Holy Spirit had
put a shield over his eyes.
That he lost interest in everything else outside
of Jesus Christ.
This man was so full of Christ.
That the Governor Festus thought that Paul was
a madman.
You know, Paul was a lost man.
Paul was lost.
But he was lost to this world.
Lost to its seductions.
Lost all its lusts and temptations.
Paul was a man that marched on as
a soldier of Jesus Christ.
In faithfulness to God.
A man, little lad, was travelling there with
Paul.
It was a man called Demas.
He loved the world.
Dreamed with the world.
Slept with the world.
He just loved that whole worldly system.
That's why he ends up back to that.
You see, everything is true to its nature.
The pig is going to return to its
mud.
The dog is going to return to its
vomit.
Demas just loved the world.
He just went back.
But not Paul.
Paul was born of the Spirit of God.
You saw the fruit in his life.
There was sanctification.
He pressed on.
Demas did not believe in full separation under
God.
Demas did not believe in allegiance to Christ.
Demas did not believe in separation from a
carnal.
So he thought, just like his father, the
devil.
Paul, anything outside of Christ had no appeal
to him.
The world was his mortal enemy.
And he stood like a mighty rock in
the midst of a gushing stream against the
oncoming flow.
Our present state of Christianity shows a sad
lack of true Holy Ghost power and conviction.
So-called servants of Christ flirting about with
the world.
Why do they do that?
Because they love to do it.
They long for it.
They long for the applause and popularity, pleasure
and prosperity more than God.
They've got one food in the church and
another food in the world.
Never works that way.
Elijah says, if Baal is God, off you
go, serve Baal.
But if the Lord be God, then serve
him.
There's no two ways in this kingdom.
You're either in God's army or in the
army of the enemy.
You're either a sheep or you're a goat.
You're either wheat or you're chaff.
You're one or the other.
You can't have two food in two different
kingdoms.
You're of the kingdom of light or you're
a child of the devil.
In true revival, worldliness is cast away as
a venomous viper.
A true servant of God loves nothing but
Jesus Christ and hates nothing but sin.
Paul's heart was fire filled.
What else could we expect from a man
filled by the Spirit of God?
Hebrews 1-7 tells us that God wants
his servants to be as flames of fire.
Men that burn for the glory of God.
Fire speaks of passion, of zeal, of fervor.
Fire is always hungry and thirsty.
Fire never says enough.
It always wants more.
Paul knew this fire that filled the bones
of Jeremiah the prophet.
He knew the fire that filled the bones
of Ezekiel that gave them divine boldness to
preach the valley of dead and dry bones
and see them form a mighty army by
the power and intervention of almighty God.
He was governed by God.
Draw near to the saints of old, said
Mr. Tozer, and you will feel their heat
after God.
When they come to town, the spiritual atmosphere
rises.
I learned very early on in my Christian
walk to draw near to men and women
that love God, that love to pray, that
love the Word of God.
Why?
Because if I spend my time with people
that love to pray, that burn to study
the Word of God, then that fire is
going to catch me too.
You see, fire is contagious.
God sets you ablaze that you would set
others ablaze too.
You're blessed to bless.
And so if you spend your time flirting
about with people that don't want to take
God seriously, well then you wake up one
day.
Why have I no desire to see God?
Why am I not pressing on to the
things of God?
Draw near to godly people.
Draw near to men and women that love
to pray.
Draw near to men and women that seek
the Word, that preach the Word, that live
the Word, and that fire will be contagious.
Everything's true to its nature.
Draw near to men and women of God
and refuse to surrender to the chill of
your spiritual environment.
You must be filled, filled overflowing, filled in
every part.
What Paul had in his heart, he spoke
with his mouth.
That fire could not be hidden.
And when he spoke, the multitude stood spellbound,
rich and poor, wise and foolish, old and
young, Jews and Gentiles.
No one could ignore that divine flame that
proceeded from his being.
The fire of God ate him up, just
like the bush that Moses saw back in
Exodus 3.
A fire that was indeed ablaze, but was
not consumed.
What was it that made millions stand transfixed
when Luther, when Wesley, when Whitefield, when Jonathan
Edwards, when these great saints and preachers of
old, what was it that made the multitude
stand transfixed?
It was the fire, the fire, the fire
of the Holy Spirit that captured the attention
of men and women.
Nothing else but holy goes far.
Wesley once said, get on fire for God
and the multitudes will come to watch it
burn.
Mr. John Calvin once said, he said, build
a man a fire, it will keep him
warm for a day.
Set a man on fire and he will
burn the rest of his life.
We've got to be on fire for the
Gospel.
If you follow Wesley and you're an Armenian,
you've got to be on fire for God.
If you follow Calvin and you're a Calvinist,
you've got to be on fire for God.
Armenian Calvinists, blaze for God.
Burn for God in Jesus' name.
Blaze for this Gospel.
They may not understand everything you say, but
they will feel everything you preach.
They may not believe everything you say, but
make sure the person that's listening to your
preaching knows that you believe every single word
of what you're saying.
Doesn't matter if they believe everything, make sure
you believe it.
Fire is what we need.
They once asked that man of God, Augustine,
they asked him, Augustine, tell me three things
you would like to see before you died.
The theologian or fifth century.
And Augustine said, he said the three things
he would like to see before he died.
Number one, I would like to see Jesus
Christ in the flesh.
You know, how was his face?
How was his body?
How tall was he?
What did he look like?
Number one, I would like to see Jesus.
He said, number two, I would like to
see the city of Rome, of imperial Rome,
at the zenith, at the peak of its
glory.
What was Rome like?
And number three, he said, I would love
to hear a sermon of the Apostle Paul.
Praise God.
When Paul preached, no one fell asleep.
I read in the book of Acts of
one little lad called Eutychus.
He made that mistake once.
Paul was preaching, Eutychus fell asleep.
Wasn't five seconds later, Eutychus is lying dead
in the ground.
And if you read the book of Acts,
no one ever made that mistake a second
time.
When Paul came to town, you stood up,
you paid attention.
The man of God comes.
It's time to listen.
What has God gone to say?
The spiritual atmosphere rises when the man of
God comes to town.
Charles Finney said, it is evident that we
must have more arising preaching to meet the
character and wants of the age.
The preachers must pour fire upon their hearers.
When Paul spoke, you couldn't fail but to
take notice.
The Holy Spirit gave him boldness.
He'd been unduned with power from on high.
And he roared like a ferocious lion against
all the works and wives of hell.
A spirit-filled saint of God will know
this far what I'm talking about.
And the servant that is spirit-filled will
automatically obey every other commandment that is written
in this book.
Paul's heart was sold out.
Paul's heart was fire-filled.
And Paul's heart was love-constrained.
Love for Christ, love for his fellow man
was the root of all that Paul did.
He came to bless others.
He came to minister to others.
You know, Christ himself tells us in Mark
10, 45.
He says, The Son of Man hasn't come
to be served but to serve.
And to give his life as a ransom
for many.
Paul himself tells us in the first chapter
of Romans, he says, I've come unto you
to impart unto you some spiritual gift.
He came to bless.
Unselfishness is the mark of the true believer
in Jesus Christ.
It's easy to believe your brother or sister
in the Lord when you realize that the
God that saved you abides within them.
But in spite of a thousand trials and
torments, Paul never wallowed in self-pity or
had a woe is me moment.
The reason why is because Paul wasn't living
for Paul.
Paul was living for the King of Kings.
For the Lord of Lords.
His was a higher calling.
A greater vocation.
No longer I but Christ.
He was a dead man walking.
And one thing you can't do with a
corpse is kill it.
He was dead.
All this world had to offer.
Dead to those lusts of the flesh.
He died at his conversion.
Became a new creature.
And the life he lived in this flesh
was just an opportunity to serve our great
God and Saviour.
He called himself a debtor to all men.
If God has been so gracious in saving
me from an eternity in the lake of
fire and brimstone, then I am indebted every
Jew to every Gentile to preach the Gospel.
Repent!
The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.
I must preach.
I must share with others what God has
shared with me.
He wanted all men to know about this
great saving Lord.
His passion, a longing for souls to come
into the Kingdom was a sure mark that
the Holy Spirit was moving in his life.
Oswald Smith once said, There are four great
results that follow the anointing.
Four evidences that can neither be disputed nor
counterfeited.
The first is victory over sin.
The second, power in service.
The third, the fruit of the Spirit.
And the fourth, a burden for souls.
He prayed for the saints of God.
He wept until Christ was formed in them
with pains, with labor pains.
He never acted through legalism.
He was love constrained.
I believe it is very important to define
this word legalism above all in our evangelical
circle now in 2009.
The purest essence of a legalist, a legalist
does something because he has to do it.
Whereas a love constrained person does something because
he desires to.
He longs to do it.
The person who is a legalist will say
something along these lines.
I pray every day because I have to
pray every day.
I read the Bible every day because I
have to read the Bible every day.
I go to church on Sundays because I
have to go to church on Sundays.
The love constrained believer says, I read the
word every day because I love to read
the word.
I pray every day because I love to
pray.
I go to church because I love to
be in church.
I love to hear the preaching of the
word.
I love to be with God's people.
I love the things of God.
That's not legalism.
That's a believer that's walking in a love
constrained faith.
Paul was no legalist saints.
Paul was love constrained from day one to
the end of his life.
Constrained by love for God.
Constrained by love for his people.
A man whose heart is sold out, fire
filled, and love constrained is going to have
an exciting life.
I guarantee you there's not going to be
much time for boredom.
When a man rises up with fire in
his bones for the glory of Jesus Christ,
hell won't be too far around the corner
in rising up against him.
It won't be too long before Satan raises
his ugly head.
Preaching the truth and living the truth is
going to cost something.
I've heard a lot of men say, Revival's
going to cost an awful lot.
No, no.
Revival's not going to cost an awful lot.
Revival's going to cost absolutely everything.
We've got to be a united people in
prayer and in obedience to the Word of
God.
Paul's life from the moment he was saved
until the moment they martyred him was one
of intense persecution and torment.
The life of a man of God will
always be marked by persecution.
Of all of the fruits you can expect
from ministry, persecution is number one on the
list.
It was Paul himself that said to Timothy,
All those that live godly in Christ Jesus
will suffer persecution.
The witness of the Scriptures show that nothing
is so attacked as a godly life sold
out to Jesus.
You would think that godly men and women
would be applauded by their societies, appreciated by
the people amongst whom they lived.
I mean, what harm did they ever do
to anybody?
They only wanted people to walk right before
God, to be reconciliated with Him.
Surely these fire-filled, love-constrained, sold-out
saints should be applauded by the societies in
which they live.
But not so.
Hated, stoned and left for death.
John the Baptist rises up in the wilderness
with a, Thus saith the Lord.
Six months later, his head's chopped off.
Get little Stephen filled with the Holy Ghost
preaching to that lukewarm religious multitude.
He's stoned to death.
That's the way it is.
When you start to preach, when you start
to live the true gospel, there's going to
be persecution.
The ageless truth is that if you are
going to preach the truth, it's going to
cost you everything.
I suspect that the reason we are no
longer attacked here in our Western world, in
the 21st century, is, it's sad to say,
but there's nothing left worth attacking.
There's nothing left in our churches to attack
anymore.
And that's why we don't face persecution.
I gave a class in Preachers and Preaching
back in May 2008 in the seminary.
They asked me to finish off with half
an hour teaching the people that had come
from a few local churches.
I said to them, just to finish off,
I said, Hated, stoned, martyred, spat upon, treated
like dogs.
This is the inheritance of the preachers of
the gospel.
I welcome you to the ministry of preaching.
You see, what we want today, in the
21st century, we want the applause of man.
We want everybody to soothe their egos.
Tell us how wonderful we are.
Oh, aren't you a dynamic preacher?
Oh, aren't you wonderful and charismatic?
Oh, don't you have a lovely suit when
you preach?
Not so saints in the New Testament and
the Old.
They shed their blood for the gospel.
They give everything to preach Christ and Christ
crucified.
Christ resurrected and Christ glorified.
We want to win favour and feel good
when we preach.
But if you are a man pleaser, you
are not the servant of Jesus Christ.
Paul tells us in Galatians 1 verse 10,
If I were to please man, then I
am no longer the servant of Jesus Christ.
The ageless truth is, preach the truth, it's
going to cost you everything.
If they hated Christ, they're going to hate
you.
If they obey Christ, they're going to obey
you.
But you see, it's not you they hate,
it's Christ in you, the hope of glory.
If you're going to live this gospel, it's
not going to be too long before you
get into trouble.
And I would like to say to you,
if you're not being called a fanatic, if
you're not being called extreme, if you're not
being called a legalist, I would say to
you, there's something wrong with your preaching.
You're not preaching according to the Word of
God.
Every time I see a man starting to
say, Thus saith the Lord, persecution lurks around
the corner.
There was a reaction when Paul came to
town.
The people either bowed down and tried to
worship him like he was one of the
Greek gods from the Pantheon, or they tried
to cut his throat and stone him to
death.
You were for Paul, or you were against
him.
It was black or it was white.
There was no middle line.
You're a man of God.
You're a woman of God.
There must be a reaction if you're going
to walk in the fullness of the Spirit
of God.
It's an easy thing to preach when everybody
says, Yes, Amen, Hallelujah, and lift their hands
in the air.
Oh, what a wonderful sermon.
It's not so easy to preach when you've
got a multitude before you, and half the
men in that multitude have just taken a
vow that they're not going to eat anything,
they're not going to drink anything until you're
a goner, until you're a dead man.
Persecution is the mark of the heart of
the love-constrained, sold-out, fire-filled heart
of the saint of God.
Such a life may expect the fruit of
persecution, but also spiritual fruit.
You see, Paul preached the whole Gospel.
He didn't preach a little one-side, bless
me, man-centered, prosperity Gospel to which we've
become so accustomed in this lethargic and lukewarm
generation.
And so from his preaching, he saw true
converts that lived alone for the glory of
God.
A man of God will produce men of
God.
A prayer, a prayer-filled man will produce
men of prayer.
A prayerless man will produce men of prayer.
Scripture tells us everything produces after its own
kind.
Paul was sold out to Jesus Christ, and
that example, and that fire brought forth multitudes
into the kingdom who were willing to lay
down their lives for Jesus Christ.
Commitment, discipline, and faithfulness marked those first-century
believers who turned the devil's world upside down.
When Paul came to town, something was going
to happen.
He lived by faith in communion with God
on the edge, never conforming to the nonsense
he saw around him.
There was a rise, as I said before,
in the spiritual atmosphere.
Someone says, Paul's coming to preach.
Glory to God.
I'm going to go down to the town
center to hear him.
Ah, but you can't go today.
Grandmother's coming around to the house on the
Sabbath.
You've got to be here to let her
in.
Well, tell grandmother she can do one of
two things.
She comes with me to go listen to
the man of God, or she stays back
at her house.
Tell grandmother to call round next week.
Oh, I see that old preacher in the
synagogue, full of himself, with his chest puffed
out like a proud peacock, says, well, you
know, I'm preaching this Sabbath.
You can't go listen to Paul preach.
Well, sir, there's 52 weeks in a year,
51 of which I'm sat under your ministry.
I've heard what you preach.
You've no life.
You've no unction.
You've nothing.
I think I'm entitled to one week off
to go listen to hear what the man
of God's got to say.
When someone's walking with his spirit, when someone's
eyes not set the Lord, there will be
hunger.
There will be thirst amongst the people of
God.
God will speak to those that have ears
to hear, heart to understand, and eyes to
see.
This is the way ministry should be, passionate,
exciting, and powerful.
A blind man cannot lead a blind man,
but Paul was a free man, and that's
why he could lead multitudes in to the
kingdom of God and preach Christ.
He was a free man.
He knew the freedom that came with the
fullness of the Holy Ghost.
Everywhere he went, the sick are raised, the
dead are coming back to life, devils cast
out, lepers are cleansed, did what Christ told
him to do, reckoned it all to the
grace of God.
He comes the demon-possessed man.
He's living in communion with God.
He's in prayer day and night.
He speaks to the devil.
The devil goes, that's just the way it
is.
I know Jesus, and I know Paul.
Paul is in communion with the Most High
God.
Full stop.
End of story.
No debates.
The demon comes out.
But we've led people to believe that they're
saints, because by our lives, we've preached to
them a gospel that doesn't upset hell, a
candly floss, effervescent message that tickles ears and
doesn't change anything.
When Paul preached, people knew if they were
saved or if they were lost.
If Paul or Peter came back to one
of our average churches in Great Britain, I
suspect they'd probably take a whip and clean
all the nonsense right out of the place
and call the people back to prayer, back
to the Word of God.
If we use carnal means to attract people
to the church, we're going to have to
use those same carnal means to keep them
in the church.
The cross of Jesus Christ is the only
attraction of the church.
The cross of Jesus Christ is the only
way in here.
That's the only way.
And if you're not coming by the cross,
there's no place for you in this kingdom.
Mr. John MacArthur said a few years back,
he said when the first century church came
together, they came and they congregated to worship
the Lord.
They didn't come to entertain goats.
Paul had no time for gimmicks, just saturated
and soaked in the presence of the Holy
Spirit.
He had heart religion.
So true, pure, holy fruit was always the
outcome wherever he went.
It's wonderful in the book of Ezekiel in
chapter 47 that as Ezekiel goes advancing in
that river, the waters were up his ankles,
up his knees, and then up his hips
there.
But Ezekiel never saw fruit in Ezekiel 47.
There's never so much a mention of fruit
until he had been in those deep waters
where he started to swim, where the Holy
Spirit took control, where God was in charge
of His servant.
And then when he came out of the
river, after he'd been swimming in the depths,
then he saw the fruit.
What's the lesson there?
If you want to see fruit from your
ministry, all you've got to do is start
swimming in the deep waters.
Don't be satisfied with the water at your
ankles.
Don't be satisfied with the water at your
knees.
Don't be satisfied with the water at your
hips.
Start to swim.
Be guided by the Holy Ghost.
Be a man of prayer.
A woman of intercession.
Live in obedience to the Word of God.
And fruit will come.
A tree doesn't have to be in pain
to give birth to fruit.
It's natural.
It's the consequence.
Get in the river, saints.
Delve in.
Swim in the river of God.
Let the Holy Spirit fill you.
Be guided by Him in every moment.
And the fruit will come.
Such a life may experience persecution, yes.
But such a life will experience true spiritual
fruit.
True converts.
Yes, persecution.
But also spiritual fruit.
And as a result of that spiritual fruit,
the fullness of the blessing of the Gospel
of Christ, the life of the man or
the woman of God can expect true fellowship.
True converts are going to walk with true
converts.
A man that loves God, a woman that
loves God, will love to talk to other
saints that love God.
There's such a wonderful communion.
I love to talk with saints, with men
and women that love Jesus Christ.
There's such a unison of spirit.
There's such a beautiful harmony.
I never knew anything about before I was
born again.
You see, it's hard to commune with lukewarm
believers because their heart's not in the same
direction.
They're always looking down to the things of
this world.
But when you meet a saint that's just
caught up with the glory of God, oh
how the hours pass by.
You're there three hours and it feels like
five minutes have gone by.
It refreshes you.
It restores you.
It's not worked up.
You don't have to manufacture it.
It's sent by the Holy Spirit.
It's that love and flow between saint and
saint.
Men of God, women of God love to
be with men and women of God.
And let me say, young people here, if
you're not married, a man of God is
to marry a woman of God.
And a woman of God is to marry
a man of God.
If you're flirting about with some girl or
some guy that doesn't know anything about God,
it's time to take out your mobile phone.
Give him a little call.
Set's over with.
We're finished.
You don't want to go to heaven with
me.
I don't want to go to hell with
you.
I'm going God's way.
A man of God marries a woman of
God.
And a woman of God marries a man
of God.
Aaron sharpens Aaron.
Amos 3 verse 3 says, The two cannot
walk together except they be agreed.
Paul never lost that blazing love for Christ.
It increased day by day.
He fellowshiped with men and women of God
and ignited them with his holy zeal.
You see, unfortunately, I tend to see that
many people, instead of pressing on for God,
in depths of gratitude and godliness, people tend
to stunt in their growth in God.
I've just seen them become lukewarm and become
apathetic in the things of God.
They get caught up with all the things
of this world.
A thousand things that don't mean anything.
Their faith almost becomes stunted and they almost
cease to grow.
But those that are sold out for Christ
continue to grow even in times of drought.
The Scripture tells us that our souls shall
be satisfied by His goodness and His rivers
of mercy even in the desert land, even
in the dry ground.
The true distinguishing mark of the disciple of
Jesus Christ is hunger.
Hunger is a sign of life.
If I took a corpse, I stuck him
just there in the pulpit, and I put
his favourite bar of chocolate in his nose,
and I invited all of you just to
leave the door, and we'll leave that corpse
there with a bar of chocolate for the
next 15 minutes, I can absolutely guarantee you
that by the time we walk in here,
that chocolate bar is still going to be
sitting in his nose.
How come?
He's dead.
Dead people aren't hungry.
Dead people don't want to eat.
You see, someone tells me they're a convert
of Jesus Christ.
Someone tells me they've been born again.
I don't see hunger for God.
I don't see a desire to pray.
I don't see a desire to seek out
of the Word of God.
I don't see a desire to be in
fellowship.
Hunger is a sign of life.
And if there's no hunger, it's a pretty
good sign that there's no life there.
There's been no new birth.
There's no new nature.
We can have fellowship, true fellowship with those
that love Jesus Christ, with those that wait
upon Him.
You know how it is when you meet
these believers, brothers and sisters in the Lord,
and the conversation is just a delight.
It flows because Christ is the center, and
you just don't want to leave.
I've just spent the week here down in
Southern Ireland here, and some of my best
friends in the world have just, you know,
let me spend this week in their houses,
have been there visiting them.
And this week has just flown by like
it were two minutes, talking about Jesus.
Sharing the gospel with one another.
Talking about the things of God.
It's so effortless.
You don't have to conjure anything up when
you're with saints of God.
It's the most beautiful, harmonious thing.
This is God.
You know, God says where there's that harmony,
He sends blessing and everlasting life.
Saints of God commune with other saints.
That's true communion.
You can't have that with a lukewarm believer
because the lukewarm man or woman is living
in sin.
They've got filthy hearts.
They don't have clean hands and a pure
heart.
And your fire, your passion for Christ exposes
them for what they really are.
They see you as a threat, you see.
They can't open up to you because they're
hiding something here.
So they can't come into the fullness of
this conversation about Jesus.
Mark my words, the lukewarm man or woman
doesn't want to be found out.
If I've ever learned anything in my spiritual
walk with God, it's that the first thing
that sin does is cut your zeal for
God.
Sin tries to choke that spiritual life.
It's the pure man that is free.
It's the pure man that's as bold as
a lion.
Purity and holiness.
The man that's trusting in the blood of
Jesus Christ is a free man to burn
for the glory of God.
With such people, you can have true godly
fellowship and you don't have to manufacture anything.
Do you have people like that in your
life?
Do you have godly friends?
Do you have brothers and sisters with whom
you spend your time?
Do you draw near to them?
Do you pray with them?
Do you share the Scriptures with them?
You've got to look for men and women
of God.
Spend time with them.
Learn from them.
Teach them.
And comfort them.
We've seen the heart of such a man.
We've seen the life of such a man.
And I said we'd also talk about the
reward of such a man.
The reward of the apostle Paul.
Paul's life was one of a sold out,
fire filled, love constrained nature.
Persecution everywhere, but spiritual fruit and true fellowship.
Paul from his conversion was possessed by a
vision of the glory of God.
Nothing else could move him from a stability
in Jesus Christ.
He knew that Christ was coming soon.
And that hope moved him to move forth
in obedience unto the Gospel.
He forsook all that he may know the
glory of God.
He tells us in Philippians 3 verse 8,
I count it all as loss.
As loss for the surpassing knowledge of our
Lord Jesus Christ.
That word there, loss, comes from the world
of the nautical world, of the sea and
of ships.
And the word loss there in Greek comes
from a context when a ship was going
over the sea.
And when a ship was sinking and just
about to go underneath the water, what the
people on board had to do was start
to throw off all the goods and all
the cargo and all the produce that was
on that ship in an attempt to keep
that boat afloat.
And all those goods that were left upon
the sea, they were called loss.
They were called loss.
In other words, Paul's saying, everything that's not
Christ is getting right out of my life.
I can't afford to hold on to anything
that's not Jesus Christ.
I'm going on in this race.
I'm pressing on.
I'm going to keep fighting the good fight.
No time for anything in the flesh.
I must press on for Jesus Christ.
Some have had their faith shipwrecked because they
love the things of the world.
But what was it that led Moses to
forsake all the riches of Egypt to go
and follow God?
It was a vision of the glory of
God.
A vision of the glory of God.
If you've been called to preach the gospel,
never stoop down to be a president or
a king or some lawyer or politician.
You've got to be single-eyed, one purpose,
governed by the Holy Spirit of the Most
High God.
Paul out-preached.
Paul out-prayed every believer of his generation
and reckoned it all to the pure grace
of God.
Nothing else.
Ecclesiastes concludes by telling us that man's chief
end in this life is to glorify God.
Many people fail in this high and lofty
calling.
They don't share the same spirit as Moses,
of Stephen, of Paul.
We're looking for a brand of men that
are going to say, well, if they converted
the preaching of the gospel, glory to God.
If they're born again, glory to God.
If they repent and are baptized, glory to
God.
If there's awakening, glory to God.
But God's also looking for people that not
only are going to say this, but people
that are going to say, well, if they
stone me, glory to God.
If they persecute me, glory to God.
If they try to cut my throat, glory
to God.
If they murder me, glory to God.
In all things, in life and death, let
Christ be glorified.
Let all men say, glory to God in
the highest.
Glory to God in the highest.
I'm not important.
I don't need anything.
I'm a new one.
It must be Jesus Christ.
Let His glory be our preoccupation.
Let Christ be all in all in our
lives.
Nothing else mattered to Paul.
He was moved by a vision of God's
glory, pressing on for that wonderful reward.
Such a man is granted into the glory
of God and is approved by the smile
of Jesus Christ.
You don't want to say the smile of
Christ.
I mean His approval.
Stephen, that faithful martyr, stayed faithful to the
end.
And the Scripture says, Stephen looks up and
sees the Son of Man standing at the
right hand of the Father.
Heresy, you say.
Heresy.
Hebrews tells us Christ sat down at the
right hand of the Father.
Ah, but Jesus, it says here in Acts,
stood up.
You know what I believe?
I believe that the Son says to the
Father, Father, if it's alright with you, I
think I'll stand in honour of my faithful
martyr.
Stephen, I see you, son.
I've seen your faithfulness.
I've seen what you've gone through.
I've seen your hell.
I've seen your tribulation.
But you've been faithful, son.
Up you come now, and you come to
the kingdom.
I think I'll just stand in honour of
my faithful martyr.
Christ is watching your faithfulness.
Christ sees your tears.
Christ knows what you're going through.
Be faithful.
Don't give in.
Don't throw in the towel.
Keep pressing on for the love of God
and the love of His Gospel, a proof
of God.
Paul knew the smile of Jesus Christ upon
his life.
He that is holy and righteous delights in
Him that is holy and righteous.
Christ in us, Christ in us is a
great delight to our Heavenly Father.
The Father delights in the Son, and when
that Son is manifest in us, it is
a pleasure to God Almighty.
He loves those that keep themselves pure as
He is pure.
Christ refused to dwell in corruption, and Paul
exactly the same.
He had the hope of glory within, and
so he pressed on.
Christ the Head.
Christ the Master.
Christ the reason for my waking up in
the morning.
Christ the reason for my living.
Christ the reason for my dying.
I hear Him right from an old little
prison cell.
For me to live is Christ, and to
die is gain.
He is all in all.
And if you don't have Christ, I'm not
interested.
Where is Christ?
I want to know Him.
I want to press on in the knowledge
of God.
Paul knew that day was drawn near when
he was going to hear those words, Well
done, well done, good and faithful servant.
Enter thy in to the joy of the
Lord.
And as Paul was so giving up to
Christ, it was Jesus Himself living through His
faithful servant, carrying out His will through Him.
The yielded vessel.
I would give everything to hear those words
from the lips of Jesus.
D.
L.
Moody once said, he said he was born
again, he heard a man preaching in the
streets, and the man said, the world has
yet to see what God can do through
one man fully yielded up to Him.
Moody went from that new birth experience, growing
in God, started to preach the Gospel, wherever
he went preaching, preaching the Word of God,
times he faced persecution too.
After all the years of ministry, after all
the years of serving God, he comes to
the end of his life, and he asks
the great man of God in his deathbed,
what would you like to be remembered as
your final words?
And he says, the world has still yet
to see what God can do through one
man fully yielded up to Him.
He still believed there is a generation, there
is a people, there are men and women
that are going to rise up with fire
of God Almighty to preach the Gospel in
midst of a dark and perverse generation.
A man that lives on these lines, a
woman that has this spirit, is a man
or a woman with whom Christ can do
business.
Paul knew the smile of Jesus Christ upon
his life.
The reward for Paul's heart and Paul's life
was the smile of Christ, was the glory
of God, and as a last point, eternal
peace and rest.
Eternal peace and rest.
For over 30 years this man was treated
like a diseased dog wherever he went.
Every corner they wanted this man of God
dead.
He was the most wanted man on hell's
hit list.
Over three decades of torment and trials, of
affliction and trouble, but what does that all
compare to eternity with Jesus Christ?
30 years suffering, 30 years in trouble, but
now he's with Jesus.
It's all been forgot about.
Paul said if we suffer with him, we
shall also be glorified together.
Yes, there's going to be a time of
suffering.
Yes, you're going to go through hard times.
If I told you that you were going
to have a life free of problems, I'd
be a false prophet.
That's what a little prosperity man is going
to tell you.
If you've any problems, you're outside the will
of God.
If that's the truth, then none of the
disciples were ever in the will of God.
Jesus himself wasn't even a single day in
the will of God.
There will be problems.
There will be suffering, but there's coming a
greater glory.
Paul says the glory that's coming, he says
I consider that the sufferings of this present
time are not worthy, are not worthy to
be compared with the glory that shall be
revealed in us.
I know I'm going through hell.
I know I'm going through high water.
I know sometimes I don't know where to
look.
I don't know if I can even cry
anymore, but there's coming a glory.
There's coming a day.
Christ is going to speak.
Christ will protect me.
Christ will take me through to the end.
Yes, suffering.
Yes, pain.
But the glory's just around the corner.
Eternity's just ahead.
The faithful for the love of God.
The faithful for His Gospel.
In Jesus' name.
The Puritan Jonathan Edwards said of Paul, he
lived after his conversion not much more than
30 years.
And in those 30 years, he did more
than a thousand men do in an age.
Man of God T.
Walker wrote a book.
He said about Paul, he said, Paul followed
the gleam of his grand vocation in spite
of suspicious friends, scornful skeptics, sectarian bigots, superstitious
pagans, self-seeking whirlings, well-intentioned though mistaken
fellow Christians.
But right on to the end, his was
the glory of going on and yet to
be.
Walker also tells us a story in those
pages of his book about a man by
the name of Reverend Coilard and his devoted
wife who opened up a work amongst the
Barutzi people in the Zambezi region.
He says, they encountered untold obstacles.
Their journey there to begin with was one
of a long series of disasters.
Sickness among the followers, bullocks dying by the
road, their goods stolen, and so on.
And when they reached their final destination and
commenced their work, trouble after trouble followed.
One of their fellow missionaries proved unfaithful, crocodiles
got their pigs and dogs, hyenas seized their
goats, and when their long-expected stores arrived
from Paris, box after box was found riddled
with white ants.
With all the goods destroyed, thieves forced open
the locks and stole their tents.
But this man of God, Reverend Coilard, a
servant of Jesus Christ, born slave of the
Lord, could write with calm resoluteness behind us
these waves, saying but small things, God will
grant each of us not merely to hold
on, but to go from strength to strength.
And his wife could write at that same
time, we have never been so happy in
mission work as we are right now.
For how can this be?
We live in a generation, you get a
little believer, cracks his nail, or gets a
bruise in his leg, he starts to cry
and he wants to go to hospital.
People, men and women that are giving their
lives, saying God's with me, I can rejoice
in the midst of the torment, I can
rejoice in the midst of the trial, God
will give me strength, God will lead me
on.
When again they had erected their new house
with infinite pain and trouble, and to their
dismay, it was seen on fire a few
days later, Coilard looked around to see what
he could get to save his house from
the burning flames, and he said to his
wife, we must save the harmonica, for we
shall yet live to sing.
We will sing.
We will rejoice.
Yes, there's hell.
Yes, there's torment.
Yes, there are problems, but we are going
to keep singing.
We are going from glory to glory, from
strength to strength, in the power and in
the might of Almighty God.
If God before me, then let all hail,
let all the world, let all men be
against me.
One with God's majority sings.
Let God before you, and all men, and
all churches, and all religious organizations be against
you.
Press on to God.
Believe God, the faithful to the end.
They held on to the end, and their
bodies lie buried in Baruch Zealand under a
great tree.
No, it wasn't easy.
No one ever said it would be easy,
but they gave their all.
There with Jesus forevermore, an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled,
fadeth not away, reserved for us in the
heavens, moths not going to eat anything there,
no thieves are going to steal anything there,
not on your bottom dollar.
That's where our treasure is.
Eternity is just around the corner.
It's not too long, saints.
It's not too long.
So do not grow weary.
Keep pressing on.
Keep seeking Jesus Christ.
Keep pressing on to the fullness of God.
It will be worth it all.
It's going to be worth it all.
There's a day of great recompense.
There's a day when Christ will give the
prize.
He will give that crown of life that
loved the Lord, Jesus Christ.
If we march on as they marched on,
with their heart and their life, as we've
seen with the Apostle Paul in this evening,
we also shall know the reward.
Paul encountered demons and enemies everywhere he went.
They lasted for a moment.
Those demons, those enemies, they're down now suffering
an eternity of hell.
Paul's with Jesus Christ.
And I can tell you something, he'd be
prepared to go through those 30 years of
torment just to hear those words again.
Well done, good and faithful servant.
It's worth it all.
It's going to be worth it all.
Keep pressing on.
Are you willing to walk down that same
path of self-suffering and sacrifice?
Are you willing to press on with Christ?
Are you willing to keep believing on in
the trials?
God is with me.
The recompense is just ahead.
I don't know when we're going to see
each other again, but remember these words.
Be faithful to God.
Keep seeking Christ.
Whatever you do, don't compromise the gospel.
Preach the Word.
End season and out of season.
Seek God.
And glorify Jesus Christ above all things.
Oh God, we praise you, Lord.
You're worthy of all glory.
You're worthy of all praise.
We magnify the love of God.
Oh God, we render salve to you, God.
We bow down in worship to a great
sovereign, almighty God.
God, I pray for every heart in this
place.
Touch their lives.
Touch them, God.
Raise up preachers.
Raise up prophets.
Raise up evangelists.
Raise up young men and women.
Fill with the fire of the Holy Ghost.
Oh, let us be a people that seek
you.
Seek your faith.
Oh God of Jacob, move in our midst.
Move in our midst.
Holy Spirit, have your way.
For Jesus' sake.
We'll bless you, Lord.
Blessed be your name.
Hallelujah.
Blessed be your precious name.
Hallelujah.