Thru the Bible - Minute with McGee on Oneplace.com

Now I’m of the opinion that many of us today are missing a great blessing. Suppose you’re going through a particular time of trial, trouble, why not set yourself aside to God? You’re a Christian, and you don’t want to get hurt in all of this. You want to live for God, don’t you? And so you set yourself aside for God in a very definite way, to walk closer with Him. And it will make the trial—now it won’t remove the trial, but it will make it more bearable, let me say. And He says, “Take my yoke upon you; learn of me, I am meek and lowly,” and it’s nice to be yoked up with Him.

You want to come into a closer walk with Him? An act of dedication? Now, you can’t consecrate yourself. Only God can. Actually, what it means is to come to God with empty hands. We offer Him nothing. We haven’t anything really that He has to have or He takes particular delight in. We’re sinners, saved by grace. And when we come to Him, we just offer ourselves to Him—our devotion, our worship, our love, our service, our time, and we’re to find our joy in Him and the things of God.

In John 17:6, He says, “I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they were and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy Word.” You’ll notice that the church has been given to the Lord Jesus. The believers have. And then again in verse 9: “I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me for they are thine.” And so we have been given as a love gift from the Father to the Son. And some of us may feel like He didn’t get very much, but it’s not what we are; it’s what He’s going to make out of us that’s important.

We’re told that by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, and when you’re put in the body, you’re put in as a member. Paul says, “As the body has many members … so is Christ.” That is, the church. So that today when He puts you in the body, why He puts you in to serve. Every believer has a gift. You have a gift. And it is the exercise of that gift that’s Christian service. Why I’m told that there are 20-some-odd bones down in your foot; just think of the gifts there must be in the church. My friend, you have a gift, and God wants you to exercise it.

I have a question for you today. It’s a rather personal question. Can you declare your pedigree as a Christian? Well, somebody said, “Why, I didn’t know whether I could or not.” Absolutely. You become a son of God by faith in Christ. There’s no other way. I want to say to you: You can be born again by the blood of Christ and be in the family of God, and that’s the only way. How can you make sure? Take God at His word. If you trust Christ, then you take God at His word. And He says that you’re His son by trusting. “Now are we the sons of God.” Are you a son of God? You are if you’ve trusted Christ, and you can believe God.

Now He saved us by His infinite, marvelous, wonderful grace, but you and I are in a world today—and it’s a wicked world and it’s a rough world. And like the children of Israel out in the wilderness, this world is a wilderness as far as God is concerned, and sin is in the world. And God saves us by His marvelous grace. But then we’re told that we have a fight and we have an enemy. And Paul said to a young preacher in 2 Timothy 2:3, “Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” And he said again, “Fight the good fight of faith.”

“Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures.” There are things that are above human comprehension, and only the Spirit of God can make these things real to us. And our prayer ought to be, “Open Thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy Word.” We need to bring a humble mind to the study of the Word of God. Just because you read it in the Bible, does not mean you know it. The Spirit of God will have to make it real to you. If you bring to the Bible an honest heart and you sincerely want to know God’s truth, if you have doubts, then bring them to Him.

Jesus died. He was buried. He rose again. What does that mean to you? Did you accept Him as Savior? And when I say that, what do I mean? I mean did you believe He died for you? You believe that when He was buried, that means your sins were absolutely buried. The sin question was settled. And that when He rose again He rose—well, let me turn it around. You and I rose in Him, and we’re now “in Christ.” And God sees us “in Christ.” And His righteousness has been made over to us; what He is, His standing becomes our standing. And that’s all that you and I have of which we can boast today.

“The Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.” And you notice our Lord says, “I have prayed, though that you’re going to deny me—I prayed that your faith fail not.” And today He’s our Intercessor. He knows whether you’re moving to the place of failure and of stumbling. And if you’re His, my friend, He’s already prayed for you that your faith fail not. If you belong to Him, your faith will not fail—though you fail, your faith will not fail—and the reason it will not is because He’s prayed for you. You see, He’s our Intercessor. He prays for us today.

“He spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint.” Now He’s giving the other side of prayer. Before He said that you don’t have to storm the gates of heaven and knock the door down to get God to hear you. But He’s also saying here, don’t be discouraged in your prayer life. And just keep plugging at it. I think that we just need to keep praying. I want God to intervene. My, how wonderful it is to have Him intervene. You know, we live in a day when there’s turmoil and trouble and crisis and criticism, doubt, and disaster. And there’s only two alternatives for you today, friends. Either you’re going to faint or you’re going to pray.

I believe that He was God manifest in the flesh. But I also believe that He was not any less God because He was man. But, on the other hand, I believe that He was not any more man because He was God. I think He was a perfect man, a real man. I think, very frankly, had you been there in that day, you would have enjoyed His company. I think it would have been a real privilege to have been in His company and to have heard His laughter. Our Lord was so human. You’d have loved Him to have known Him.

“Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.” In other words, his sins are forgiven. The others were healed, but not saved. That’s an interesting thing. This man, because he came back. Today thankfulness is that which must be in a Christian’s heart. Why do you go to church on Sunday? Do you go there to worship God and to thank Him? Well, that’s part of your worship is to thank Him. And that’s about the only thing that you and I can give God—is our thanksgiving.

There’s a third son in the parable of the prodigal son. You see, the younger son broke the father’s heart, and the elder son was out of fellowship and without sympathy. But who is the third son? Well, the man who uttered the parable—God’s Son. He’s His ideal Son without sin. He came to a far country, not as a prodigal, but as the Prince of Peace to shed His blood for the sins of the world. And He says, “To as many as receive him, to them gave he the right to become the sons of God,” even to those that don’t do any more nor less than just simply believe in His name.

You know, when you’re in the will of God, walking with Him, you have the best time you’ve ever had. Christian friend, you’ll never have fun in the far country. And then in the far country, there were tears of trouble; now there are tears of sheer delight. He got kicks in the far country; now he gets kisses. We’re told, “Draw nigh to God and He’ll draw nigh to you.” The very wonderful thing here is that you have this story of the prodigal son. May I say to you, my friend, there is this man that got away from God, and he came back to God, and he came back by confession. The father didn’t even let this boy finish his confession. He brought him right back in. This is the way that a child of God that sins, the way he can get back to God.

Remember that old Pharisee there when he saw that woman washing His feet. He was a Pharisee, and she was a prostitute. But the Lord Jesus said, in the light of heaven, this woman who had many sins, and she’d been forgiven much. And the one forgiven much is the one that will love Him much. You know the measure of your salvation is the measure of your sin. What you think of Christ is what you think of yourself as a sinner. If you are a little sinner, you need a little savior; but if you see yourself as a hell-doomed sinner, then you’re going to need a heaven-bound Savior. May I say, it makes all the difference in the world.

And I’ve learned over the years that the best answer that God’s ever given me to some of the requests I’ve made to Him has been “no.” I prayed as a young preacher for God to open up a certain door to a certain church that I wanted to go to. You know what He said? He said, “No.” He says, “My child, that place is not the best place for you. I have something better for you.” And, you know, He did. And He answered my prayer; He said “No,” and that was the best answer that could be given. You don’t have to storm the gates of heaven. My friend, God hasn’t gone to bed. The door there is wide open. He says, “Knock … seek … ask.” Take everything to God in prayer.

He gives them here what may sound to you like the so-called “Lord’s Prayer,” but I believe that Christ didn’t intend it to become the thing I hear in public service today. It’s not a stilted form. And it’s not for a public service. This was to be spontaneous; it was personal. It’s to be like a conversation. And we just should talk to God. After all, He’s my Father. And I’m His son. He knows me and I don’t think He wants me to put on airs and assume an unnatural voice and try to use some flowery language. I think He just wants me to talk like Vernon McGee talks.

“As he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray.” The reason His disciple wanted to know how to pray was because he saw Christ pray and he heard Him. You see, it was the custom of our Lord to retire alone to pray. That was a habit of His. And this disciple saw Him, evidently overheard Him, and a desire was born in his heart to pray like Christ prayed. And do you know, friends, that the Lord Jesus is right at this moment at God’s right hand, and He’s our Great Intercessor. I think that’s a very appropriate petition for many of us to make. Lord, teach us to pray.

“And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, What shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages.” This is a practical message He gave to all these different classes and conditions. My friend, today if you are a printer, you reveal that you’re a Christian by the way you print. If you today are a soldier, you reveal your Christianity by the way you soldier. If you’re a housewife, you reveal your Christianity by the way you’re a housewife. I don’t care what you are, you reveal it because, “By their fruits ye shall know them.”

Mary paid a tremendous price to bring the Savior into the world. It was an awful price, to tell the truth, to have to stand beneath the cross of the Lord Jesus and see Him die. The cross of Christ has moved many people. Artists have painted the picture. Songwriters have sung about it. Preachers have talked about it. And there’s a danger of dwelling on the sympathy angle, because He doesn’t want your sympathy. Right here in Luke He’ll tell the women who are weeping, “Weep not for Me. Weep for yourselves.” If you have tears for Jesus, save them and save them for yourself. Not for Him. He doesn’t want your sympathy. He wants your faith.

There was a man by the name of Simeon. “And he came by the Spirit into the temple: the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation.” What did he see? A little baby. That’s all he saw. Salvation is not something you do. Salvation is a person, and that person is Christ. You either have Him or you don’t have Him. You either trust Him or you don’t trust Him. Do you have Him? You trust Him today.

The future promise of blessing rests upon the solid history of the past when God delivered them from Egypt, you see. He said, “Now I have done this for you; don’t you know I will do it for you in the future?” And that’s what He tells us today. “Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you….” Has God blessed you, friend, and brought you up to this moment? Why do you think He’s going to let you down? Well, you can be confident of this very thing—that He that has brought you up to this very moment, why, He’s going to lead you right through to “the day of Jesus Christ.”

“And I will walk among you, and be your God, and ye shall be my people.” God promises, you see, to fellowship with those who obey Him. That’s what He tells us today. “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another.” That is, with God. And the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, just keeps on cleansing us from all sin. And He says that He wants to have fellowship with us. “As God hath said, I will dwell in them, walk in them, be their God and they shall be my people.”

God by a miracle could have furnished the bread as He fed the 5,000, but He didn’t do it that way here. And He doesn’t do it that way for us today. He wants us involved in the Lord’s service. And if you’re in a good church, a good Bible church, you ought to get involved in helping the pastor. It’s amazing today how many ways people could help in the church if they just would get involved. That’s all they need to do is to keep your eyes open and notice something that you could do that maybe somebody else is doing. You could really do it better. May I say to you, friends, that we need to get involved.

Now God has saved you, friends. Now, don’t misunderstand me. When God saves you by grace, He doesn’t save you with the idea that He puts you in debt. Grace does not put anyone in debt. And I personally disagree with that song that puts words in the mouth of the Lord Jesus He never said. “I gave, I gave my life for thee. What hast thou done for Me?” What He’s saying is He saved you by grace; that doesn’t put you in debt. But He did save you, didn’t He? And don’t you love Him? And now you are to do this. Why? Because it’s your duty? No, because you love Him. Because you love Him and you want to please Him.

God is speaking now to the nation, and He’s saying to the nation, “I want you to be holy because I am holy.” God is asking them in their daily life, they’re to be holy. We’re told today “whether we eat or drink or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” And “if any man’s in Christ today, he is a new creation” or “there is a new creation.” That means that we today, that just more than in little habits, that we’re joined to the living Christ and old things have passed away. We’re no longer joined to a legal system, but joined to Christ and we’re to seek to please Him today.

There is all of this lax and loose thinking about God today. God is only approached as a holy God, and we only come as sinners to Him. Now, my friends, when you have that great chasm between, you have to have something to bridge it. And you and I just don’t have enough goodness to do it. You and I can’t bridge it. The only thing that will bridge it is the one who came from heaven’s glory and died on the cross for us and made a way. And He says “I am the way” and that “no man cometh to the Father but by me.”

It’s not the cross that’s the important thing, it’s the One who died on the cross. After all, there could have been 300 crosses erected there that day of men that were crucified. But it’s the value of the One who died upon that cross for the sins of the world. And to remind us that we “were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from our vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of as a lamb without spot and blemish.” We have been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ.

There is a great gulf between God and man, but it’s been bridged today. God offers encouragement to man to come to Him, for He says, “For by him we have access through one Spirit to the Father.” The invitation is to “Come.” And the writer to the Hebrews says, in Hebrews 10:19-22, “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the Holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us.” Now it means we’re going to come God’s way, and if we do, then we can come and come with great assurance.

You don’t make the terms to come to God. God makes the terms, my friend. God says that your righteousness and mine “is filthy rags,” and He won’t have it. He won’t accept it. He won’t take it. And a great many people think that the righteousness of God is just a projection or a little higher level of the righteousness of man. Nothing of the kind. It’s altogether different. And the only way you can get the righteousness of God is through faith in Christ. You can’t work for it. You can’t buy it. And you haven’t anything to offer for it. Friends, the way of the cross leads home. There’s no other way. “No man cometh to the Father but by Me.”

You don’t have to come to Christ. But if you’re going to be saved, friends, you’ll have to come. God has no other way. The Lord Jesus said, “No man cometh to the Father but by me.” You may think that’s dogmatic and narrow—and it is. But the interesting thing is it’ll bring you there. And the other part of it is you don’t have to come. That’s where your free will comes in. You don’t have to come, but if you’re going to come to God, you’ll have to come this way because God has elected this is the only way. In fact, He can’t take your righteousness; He won’t have it. “It is not by works of righteousness which we have done. According to His mercy that He saved us ….” This is His way.

Today whether you eat meat or don’t eat, it doesn’t make any difference. Meat won’t commend you to God. You just eat what you want. But the point is it was teaching Israel, by the way, to make a distinction, and that’s important. They had to make a decision, you see, about this. This one’s clean; this is unclean. You have to make decisions today as a believer, by the way, about your conduct. You have to make a decision whether you accept Christ or not, whether you’re going to study the Word of God, whether you’re going to walk in the way that’s well pleasing to Him. All of this is here.

The word and the walk will identify a child of God today. The clean one, if you please. And today, what a marvelous, wonderful spiritual lesson that you have here. And the emphasis is put upon the study of the Word of God and the walk of the believer; they go together. My friend, the walk of the believer is tied up with the Word of God. And if you’re going through this world, you’ll have to chew the cud, the Word of God, and you’ll have to have that separated walk that only the Word can produce. They both go together.

God was, and He is, interested in the details of the lives of His people. There’s no detail that’s too minute to escape His interest and concern. Someone said to the late Dr. G. Campbell Morgan years ago, “Do you think we ought to pray about the little things in our lives?” And Dr. Morgan, in his characteristic manner, said, “Madam, can you mention anything in your life that’s big to God?” You and I can divide in our lives big problems, little problems. Your problems and my problems are not divided that way before God. They’re just little problems. And He wants us to bring everything to Him in prayer. Worry about nothing; pray about everything.

“He put the mitre upon his head; also upon the mitre, even upon his forehead, did he put the golden plate, the holy crown; as the Lord commanded Moses.” Now this was put upon him, and it was holiness unto the Lord. These garments distinguished the high priest from the other priests. And we need to recognize you and I can come as lost sinners to Christ, and we can come today as soiled saints, but, my brother, you and I have to know He’s holy and He’ll not tolerate sin in our lives. If we’re going to come and accept Him as Savior, we turn from sin to Him. If we are to serve Him today, we have to deal with sin in our lives.

A great many people say, “Well, I’m saved.” You are? Hallelujah. And you think that justifies you to do any kind of service? And they say, “Yes.” And I say, “You’re wrong. You have to be cleansed to be used.” Listen to this. “It’s not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.” The Holy Spirit renews as we go along. And we’re told “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” You want to be used of God? Then go confess your sins, Christian.

A prophet comes out from God to speak for God to man. A priest comes out from man to go to God to speak for man to God and to represent man. You see, the Lord Jesus is both prophet and priest. He came out from God and spoke for God to man. He reveals God to man. Now He goes from man back to God and is our great High Priest. He represents us there. In fact, we’re in Him. And, my friend, if you’re not in Him, you’re not up there, because you and I could never get there on our own.

We’re to stay very close to Christ for peace of conscience and power over temptation. My Christian friend today, stay close to Him. That’s the thing that’s all important. He only gives peace to those that are His own. And He only gives it to His own who have entered into this glorious, wonderful fellowship with Him—that look to Him, rest upon Him. Oh, when you find Christ adequate and wonderful, then the peace of God that passeth all understanding is going to enter into your heart.

I find that when we’re told that we’re to offer ourselves a living sacrifice unto God, that’s the hardest kind of make, because when you crawl upon the altar and the fire gets hot, I crawl off. I don’t know about you. I find a lot of folk do that. But it was only the Lord Jesus; He could say, “I do always the things that please Him.” I wish I could say that. I’m afraid you can’t say it. But the Lord Jesus could. But that’s a challenge to every believer today, because God delights in the continual obedience of His children. This is, I think, real food for God. What love and obedience.

You and I have a High Priest that is in heaven today, and He’s as busy as He can be. Now when He says He sat down, it means that His redemption was complete. It’s just the same as when it says God rested on the seventh day. He wasn’t tired. The Lord Jesus didn’t sit down up there to do nothing. He’s busier today than He’s ever been. He died down here to save us; He lives up yonder to keep us saved. And you and I ought to keep in touch with Him. This is reality. This is spiritual. The trouble today is we’re out of touch with the living Christ, and He’s no longer a reality to us.

You remember the Lord Jesus on the cross cried, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” On the cross, Christ became sin for us. But He was holy. God withdrew from Him; yet God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself. Let me say this and let’s not let it out because some folk think I know the answer to all these questions, but I don’t. May I say, I don’t know. I don’t understand this. This is a great mystery. He was holy and my sin was put upon Him. And, my friend, He’s still holy. You and I will never know what He suffered there on the cross because He’s holy and you and I are not.

Religion can never satisfy the heart or meet the holy requirements of God. Only the death of Christ on the cross can give us forgiveness of sin. It took that. We’re sinners by nature. We’re not fit for heaven. And if God consigned this entire world into a lost eternity, He’s righteous and good. But thank God He didn’t do that. Oh, my friend today, if you’ve never turned to Him and trusted Christ. See that He’s adequate. See that He meets the deep need of your heart and your soul.

My friend, the thing for you to understand and for me to understand that when Christ forgives your sin, He forgives you, friend. Nothing more to be said about it. He has put it in the bottom of the sea, and it will never be remembered any more. He settles the sin question. That’ll get rid of your guilt complex. Somebody says, “Oh, I wonder if He’s forgiven?” Oh, my friend, He took it all away. He took it all away. This was the remedy, you see, for the conviction of sin, and the only one that could satisfy the mind and heart—and when you come to Christ and see Him, you’ll find Him adequate.

Christ is the only One, friends, who can break down the walls today that are separating individuals; that separate families; that separate races; that separate religions; that separate nations. All are made one in Christ. Then they become a habitation of God in the Spirit and they have access to the Father. You see, only believers can join together in partaking of the wonders, the beauties, and the glories of Christ. And they can have, through that, communion with the Father and fellowship one with another as they share the things of Christ.

It’s what God saw in Christ—the sweetness that came out under pressure. Now sometimes today sweetness doesn’t come out of us under pressure. But the more tension upon Him the sweeter He was, and the Lord Jesus made this statement, “And He that sent me,” He says, “is with Me. The Father hath not left Me alone, for I do always those things that please Him.” And, therefore, believers have the high privilege of sharing Christ, you see, with God the Father. It’s what God sees in Christ. But what do you see in Him? Is there sweetness about Him? Have you smelled the sweetness and the fragrance of His life?

It’s rather amusing to hear about these peaceful demonstrations, and they all end up in a brawl. Man today, he’s trying to perfect some very fiendish instruments of frightful destruction. That’s not the goal of man. God has another purpose and another thing in view for man. And if you want to see what He’s got in mind, look at Jesus. Here’s the man who pleased God. There was a glory in His manhood. The loveliness of Jesus was truly a sweet perfume. His coming was a doxology. His stay was a blessing. His departure was a benediction. And His winsomeness has filled the world with a new hope and an ideal concerning man.

“This Christ, the Lamb of God, the true burnt offering shall be accepted for thee to make an atonement for thee.” My friend, between you and your sins, do you have the sacrifice of Christ? Has His blood been shed that you might live? Have you trusted Him today? I say to you that’s all-important. God sees Christ as the One that can alone satisfy Him for your sins. Have you seen Him like that? Are you still trying to bring your little puny self and your little goodness and offer that to God? God won’t take that. He only accepts what Christ has done for you, and He makes over to you His righteousness. Trust Him today and live.

In Deuteronomy we’re told—Deuteronomy 4:24, “For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.” My friend, you’re not going to play around and get very far with God. That’s the reason that there’s so much that’s phony today in our churches. And there’s so much that’s phony today in Christian service. My friends, I want to say it kindly, but I want to say it: You’re not serving God unless you’re letting Him cleanse and purify your life. We’ve forgotten this matter of holiness today, and we need a little bit more of it in our churches.

The spotless life of Christ and our approval of Him does not save us. Only His death can save the sinner. Only His death opens the way to God. His perfect life shuts us out. Because if what God demands is the life of Christ, I can’t reproduce it. I know that, friend. And anyone that’s honest knows they can’t. Now if that’s the minimum standard and He can only say of Him, “He is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased,” then I must have another basis on which to come to God. But the minute that you and I come through the death of Christ, for that opened the way to God, and only the death can save a sinner.

Paul said in Ephesians 5:2, “… He is a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor.” Now this is what God sees in Christ. It may not be what you see in Him or what I see in Him; it’s what God sees in Christ, and that’s the thing that’s all important. After all, what God is doing is saying He’s satisfied with what Jesus did for your sins and my sins. And actually, the gospel is just asking man, “Will you be satisfied with it?” God is satisfied that Jesus has paid it all for you. And that He can save you to the uttermost—if you’ll trust Him. Question is: Are you satisfied with that?