======================================================================== LORD, I AGREE by Richard Owen Roberts ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of believers entering into explicit agreements with God to reflect characteristics like charted reefs, moisture-laden clouds, fruit-bearing trees, gentle rolling waves, and fixed stars. It highlights the need for personal revival and obedience to God, addressing the dangers of unbelief, pride, rebellion, and the importance of repenting of root sins. The speaker shares personal experiences and challenges listeners to align their lives with God's purposes. Topics: "Covenant with God", "Personal Revival" Scripture References: Matthew 7:24, John 15:5, James 1:22, Psalm 1:3, Jude 1:12 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon emphasizes the importance of believers entering into explicit agreements with God to reflect characteristics like charted reefs, moisture-laden clouds, fruit-bearing trees, gentle rolling waves, and fixed stars. It highlights the need for personal revival and obedience to God, addressing the dangers of unbelief, pride, rebellion, and the importance of repenting of root sins. The speaker shares personal experiences and challenges listeners to align their lives with God's purposes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ In 1981, I received an invitation to lead an eight-day Founders Week conference at the Whitefield Tabernacle, London, England. George Whitefield has been a favorite of mine among preachers of the gospel, and so I was absolutely delighted for that wonderful opportunity of ministry. The very first day that I was there, it was a Sunday through Sunday series, I discovered that the pastor was living in adultery. The evidence just suddenly was there. And on Monday morning, I said to him, it's very difficult for me to lead a series of meetings commemorating the ministry of a man mightily used by God, when that ministry is now in the hands of a rotten fellow like yourself. Well, he denied up and down that there was anything illicit taking place, and the more he denied it, the more angry he got. And finally, in a rage, he went racing out of the flat, left me there all day to seek God's face and help in terms of how to handle the situation. Came back late in the day and said, I don't know how you know, but it's true. All that week, I was burdened and concerned for this man, and every day kept after him to repent and to get right with God. The final day, I had told him, you either tell the congregation the truth or I will. And on the last Sunday, he stood up in front of the congregation, had little tiny slip of paper about the size of a large postage stamp, and he read from that, I have an adulterer's heart, please forgive me. Then he disappeared, didn't see him the rest of the day. The next night, the leadership met and put him out. I heard nothing further of him for numerous years, and then out of the blue, I had a letter from Richmond, Virginia, telling me he was now pastor of a church there, and did I ever come anywhere in that region to preach, he would like to see me. And in the providence of God, I had a series of meetings scheduled for Richmond and three weeks from then, and I simply sent a note saying, if you wish to see me, you can contact the pastor, he has all the arrangements in mind. He came every night in Richmond, the final night, and stood in front of me with tears coursing down his face, and he said, do you think there is any hope for me? And I had to say, I don't know. All I know is that until your pride is broken, there is no hope. He died recently, having been in the ministry for upwards of 50 years, but never without some kind of an adulterous relationship going on. The distress, the spiritual burden of that week at the Whitfield Tabernacle prompted me to preach a sermon there late in the week, which I entitled, Lord, I Agree. Twelve articles of explicit agreement between the covenant-keeping God and the revived believer. It was published later in this booklet form. There are copies downstairs. I think when we've been in a conference like this, it would be a mistake to leave without entering into some kind of an explicit agreement with God. In regard to obedience to him, I weighed carefully, simply using the 12 articles that are in the pamphlet, but then I thought, no, that's too much for this morning, and instead, what's on my heart to do is to take that incredible book of Jude and to draw out of it five articles of explicit agreement between the covenant-keeping God and the reviving believer. Am I speaking foolishly when I express the hope that we are all reviving believers, and that by the grace of God, although we may have not seen corporate revival this week, we have experienced the reviving of our own hearts. So the book of Jude, please, quite an incredible epistle, not unlike Psalm 80, of which I spoke earlier in the week, this is an epistle so up-to-date, so urgent, and so relevant that it could have been written by God this morning and couldn't have been any more relevant than it is having been written thousands of years ago. Let's read the epistle. I'll give you a general outline of how the epistle is constructed and what its great issues are, and we'll focus upon two verses. Let me ask you to look at them first. Verses 12 and 13. These men are those who are hidden reefs in your love feast, when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves. Clouds without water, carried along by winds. Autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted. Wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam. Wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever. But just a word or two, and then we'll read through the epistle in its entirety. This was written by a half-brother of Jesus Christ. He does not mention that in his opening words, I believe simply because he's too humble to make a claim like that, true as it is. Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James. To those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ. May mercy, and peace, and love be multiplied to you. Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about the common salvation, I felt the necessity to write you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain persons have crept in unnoticed. Those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our Lord God into licentiousness, and deny our only master and Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, having, after having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, he has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day. Just as Sodom, and Gomorrah, and the cities around them, since they, in the same way as these, indulged in gross immorality, and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire. Yet, in the same manner, these men also, by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesty. But, Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil, and argued about the Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, the Lord rebuke you. But these men revile the things which they do not understand, and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed. Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perish in the rebellion of Chara. These men are those who are hidden reefs in your love feast, when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves. Clouds, without water, carried along by winds. Autumn trees, without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted. Wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam, wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever. And about these also Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied saying, behold the Lord came with many thousands of his holy ones to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds, which they have done in an ungodly way, and all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. These are grumblers, finding fault. Following after their own loss, they speak arrogantly, flattering people, for the sake of gaining an advantage. But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they were saying to you, in the last time there shall be mockers. Following after their own ungodly lust, these are the ones who cause divisions, worldly minded, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life, and have mercy on some who are doubting. Save others, snatching them out of the fire, and on some, have mercy with fear, taking even the garment polluted by the flesh. Now, to him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, blameless, with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time, and now, and forever. Amen. Now, I don't know whether you were able to catch it in the reading, but Jude has a very analytical mind. In this brief letter, there are not less than 13 times when he puts three things together in combination. Now, that may not sound very significant to you, but now listen, if it has never dawned on you, an immense help comes in studying the scripture when you can get inside the mind of the individual that the Holy Spirit inspired to write. Just an outside illustration of that principle. Did you ever try to outline the gospel of John? It can be done very readily, but did you ever try to outline the first epistle of John? It can't be done, for the first epistle goes around in circles, ever- ascending circles, higher and higher. Now, that is the tendency of the old man. I guess I'm in a position to be able to say that safely. It's not like a young guy knocking down an old man, but when you understand that the epistles were written toward the end of his life, the gospel much earlier when his mind operated, then you get huge help in coming to the writings of the Word of God and interpreting them wisely. Now, I stress this because the two verses I told you we are going to focus upon are badly messed up in most translations. Look again, if you will please, at verses 12 and 13. Let me point this out. Many of you, I'm assuming, have a new international version, or a King James, or even a New King James, and if you're using any of those translations, it's all wrong. And we know it's wrong because Jude had an analytical mind. He was a thinking man. Or to put it another way, smart men don't confuse issues. In the King James, in several other translations, in verse 12, it says that these men are spots or breeches in the feast of charity. Now, that's silly. How does a spot or a breech in the feast of charity fit the rest of the two verses? I'll come to that later. I'm just asking you to be observant of the fact that this is a wonderfully constructed epistle. Let me just show you a little more adequately what I mean when I speak of these combinations of three. Look at verse 1. Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are, number one, call. Number two, beloved in God the Father. Number three, kept for Jesus Christ. The lovely thing about the book of Jude, among many others, is the preacher hardly has to do any work to give a series of 15 sermons out of this book. They're all outlined for him. But notice now, verse 3. Oh, well, you say, what about two? Well, all right, if you insist. Number one, may mercy. Number two, peace. Number three, love be multiplied in you. But verse 3, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation. Now, thank God, Jude did not succeed in doing what he intended. And woe unto those preachers who do succeed in what they intend. The curse of America is preachers who are successfully doing what they intend, but they're not doing what God intended. Jude had the plan to write a nice, pleasant epistle about the common salvation, but he was prevented from doing so by the Holy Spirit. Amen. Would to God that every preacher in the room was always under the constraint of the Spirit. But verse 3, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation. Now, thank God, Jude did not succeed in doing what he intended. And woe unto those preachers who do succeed in what they intend. The curse of America is preachers who are successfully doing what they intend, but they're not doing what God intended. Jude had the plan to write a nice, pleasant epistle about the common salvation, but he was prevented from doing so by the Holy Spirit. Would to God that every preacher in the room was always under the constraint of the Spirit. Instead of writing the common salvation epistle, the pleasant letter he had in mind, he found it mandatory that he write earnestly contending for the faith. The faith, he says, that was once for all delivered to the saints, because certain persons did creep in unnoticed. And again, he uses his pattern of three in verse 4. Number one, certain persons had crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation. Number two, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into life's anxiousness. And number three, ungodly persons who deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if you'll pardon the personal reference, I was initially in a Presbyterian church. And very often as a youth, I observed men being ordained to the ministry in the Presbyterian church. And I'm not knocking Presbyterians, Baptists are as clever at this as our Methodists and Episcopalians and Lutherans and the whole tribe. But in these Presbyterian settings, men would be on the platform with fellow preachers, and they would take ordination vows. And so this series of powerful statements would be read. And to the congregation, these men would say, I believe. But it was as if they cupped their mouth and turned to the guys on the platform and said, of course, you know what I mean. And what they meant was the people are stupid enough to believe that we believe, but all of us know that the Bible is a lot of nonsense. And that's what's been preached now for decades in most of the churches. You know, there's something utterly ridiculous in many of us who are ready to acknowledge that somewhere in the range of 70 percent or more of all professed Christians in evangelical churches are as lost as Satan himself. And they are. But then we pretend that 100 percent of the ministers are Christian. There has to be some correlation between unsafe people and unsafe clergy. Now, you say that's speaking too strong. Well, it's not as strong as you. You got those three things he said about these men. He's writing this letter to the church because they have taken in unaware a group of leaders who are, as he says in verse three, or verse four, men long beforehand marked out for condemnation. I began by telling you about the pastor of what was once the largest English-speaking church in the world, founded and led by one of the greatest preachers God ever gave the world. It appears to me there are men in ministry today who were long beforehand marked out for condemnation. They meet the other two requirements as well. Ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness. Think of how many pastors you have heard of from pastoring very large churches caught in adultery. I don't know the value or accuracy of the statistics that people compile, but I've read that 60 percent of all evangelical pastors in America are addicted to internet pornography. I hope it's not true, but suppose it was wrong by double. Instead of 60 percent, suppose it was only 30 percent. Does that make you feel good? No. What if it was only 15 percent? They deny our only master and Lord Jesus Christ. Now, don't misunderstand. I'm not preaching on this portion of Jude. I'm just giving you the background. We're going to focus on verses 12 and 13, but you can understand readily that Jude is under an incredible spiritual burden because the church has been betrayed by false leaders. And a great deal of what occurs in this epistle occurs because, excuse me, of these false leaders. But now look, if you will, at verse 5. I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. Now, we have another combination of three, but not three in one verse, but three in three verses. Verse 5, about Israel. Verse 6, about angels. Verse 7, about Sodom and Gomorrah. And strangely and wonderfully, verse 8 is another combination of three, but it's dealing with the same three in verses 5, 6, and 7, except running it backward. Do you see that? Let's get the order now from 5, 6, and 7. Israel, angels, Sodom, and Gomorrah. Get the order now in verse 8. Sodom and Gomorrah, angels, and Israel. We know, in other words, how to interpret 5, 6, and 7, because verse 8 tells us the precise point that is being made. Now, what we have in those four verses is an immensely important and helpful statement about one of the most critical issues affecting the church in the world today. The issue of root sins. Most of the focus in what little biblical preaching there is, is upon the fruit of sin. And the problem of millions who think they're Christians, the only repentance they know is repentance of the fruits. They never come to repentance of the roots. And obviously, I must ask you, do you know the difference between repenting of the fruit of sin in the life and repenting of the roots of sin? Three root sins are singled out here. The root sin of Israel, unbelief. The root sin of Sodom and Gomorrah, pride. The root sin of the fallen angels, verse 6, stubbornness, rebellion. And I ask again, have you dealt with the roots of sin in your life? And let me carry it beyond you. All of us, I trust, have a holy passion to win the lost to Christ. You don't help anybody if you get them repenting of the fruit of sin without dealing with the roots. Because as long as the roots are in place, additional fruits will keep appearing. So we need to get a hold of this basic biblical concept of root sins. Number one, I repeat, unbelief. Number two, rebellion. Number three, pride. And as I pointed out already, verse 8, is running these same things in a different order. These men by dreaming defile the flesh. Sexual impurity. All of you, I hope, understand that the root of sexual impurity of every form is pride. The homosexual says, there is nobody in all the world big enough to tell me how I can use my own body. But there is. The adulterer, the fornicator, whatever the sexual sin is, at its root is pride. You see, the problem of the man I introduced my message with, the pastor of the London Whitfield Tabernacle, was pride. When I was urging him to repentance, he kept saying to me, oh, I know what the law is, but that affects ordinary men. Now I'm special in God's eye. The Lord knows I'm a viral, red-blooded man. No one woman is enough for me. But it's not my task this morning to preach about this. I'm just giving you the background. Michael, the archangel, disputing with the devil. You see, we've got another combination of three in verse nine. Disputed with the devil, number one. Argued about the body of Moses, number two. Didn't dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, the Lord rebuke you. Well, I dare not go through all of these. A couple more, however, I really must draw to your attention. Look at verses 22 and 23. Have mercy on some who are doubting, number one. Save others, snatching them out of the fire, number two. And on some, have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh. You get that? There are three great categories of sinners. The doubter, the contaminated, and the contaminator. If you've memorized some little spiel that you use in soul winning, I'll just tell you bluntly, you're acting idiotically. Jesus didn't do anything stupid like that. Jesus treated every individual as if they really were an individual. At the heart of effective witness is discernment. Knowing who you're talking to, where they are. Now there was a time in our society when doubters were prevalent. In all my early years of preaching, virtually everybody I preached to knew the basic truths of Christianity, but doubt it. We don't meet very many doubters today. What we've got today is a vast array of people who have been drawn into the contamination of vile sin. Then we have the third category, and it is a growing number. We now place the third category in the White House and in other political positions. Men who are sold out to bring contamination upon the nation and the world. They are by their very nature those persons who cannot be content merely to be evil themselves. They must spread evil as far and as wide as they know how, and they don't even know what they're doing in most cases. They have no sense of right or wrong. But again, I'm not preaching on those verses. I do want to call just one more portion before we go to the text. Verse 16. These are, number one, grumblers finding fault. Number two, following after their own lust, they speak arrogantly or they're boastful. Number three, flattering people, excuse me, for the sake of gaining an advantage. You got that? The murmurers, the mumblers, the complaining, category number one. The boastful, number two. A lot of that going on in the pulpit. And number three, the flatterer. In order to gain advantage, they're always pouring out compliments, making you feel good about yourself. By the heart of all of this, I hope is clear to you, Jude wanting to write a pleasant epistle on the common salvation is prevented from doing so, because after all, what is true preaching? What is true gospel writing? Is it not letting God's heart affect your heart to that point where God's heart, passing through your heart, touches the hearts of those who listen or who read? But now, verses 12 and 13. Have another look at them and see for yourself what we have here. I have been stressing these combinations of three, but not in verses 12 and 13. What we have in verses 12 and 13 are a pattern of five. Is that clear to you? I belittled those translations that use such terms as blots or blemishes. What we have here are five similitudes of nature. They are indeed each a similitude of promise. So the five similitudes are, number one, reefs. Number two, clouds. Number three, trees. Number four, waves. Number five, stars. Now obviously, in the epistle, these are couched in negative language. Jude is describing what these men are, not what they should be. But let's not look at it from a negative standpoint. It's perfectly acceptable to look at it from a positive perspective. I told you what was in my heart in choosing this passage this morning. I wanted to give you five principles for the reviving believer. So what I'm going to ask you to do now is to envision yourself in these five ways. Envision yourself as a reef. Envision yourself as a cloud. Envision yourself as a tree. Envision yourself as a wave. And envision yourself as a star. Jude is saying these men are not charted reefs, but hidden reefs. These men are not moisture-bearing clouds, but dry clouds. These men are not fruit-bearing trees. But fruitless trees. These men are not gentle rolling waves of the ocean, but wild raging waves. Number five, these men are not fixed stars, but wandering stars. Now think very prayerfully about yourself. And we're not concerned about condemning our past, but about confirming our future for the glory of God. What if every person in the room were to enter into explicit agreement with God to be a charted reef, a moisture-laden cloud, a tree heavily laden with fruit, a gentle wave, and a fixed star. Fixed stars, but wandering stars. Now think very prayerfully about yourself. And we're not concerned about condemning our past, but about confirming our future for the glory of God. What if every person in the room were to enter into explicit agreement with God to be a charted reef, a moisture-laden cloud, a tree heavily laden with fruit, a gentle wave, and a fixed star. Some of you might be thinking already, and may be inclined to do some more as we proceed. Well, I would really like, I really would like to be the man, the woman God has called me to be. The happy thing is friends, God doesn't call us to be anything, but what he makes it possible, excuse me, makes it possible for us to be exactly what he's called us to. These men failed in all these things, not because of Christ's inadequacy, but because they were truly unbelievers. You see, we have done huge disservice to ourselves and to others by pretending that faith is passive acquiescence. But faith is not passive acquiescence, faith is active obedience. For those of you who have never made this study, may I commend to you the tremendous urgency of going through the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and paying close attention and making notes about every time God connects obedience and faith. And just as an illustration, if you love me, keep my commandments. I have found at least 40 times when our dear Lord Jesus Christ connected faith and obedience, and if you love the book of Hebrews like I do, and you're acquainted with chapter 11 like I am, every person who is named in the book of Hebrews in chapter 11 was told what to do by God, and they did it. And that was accounted to them as faith. So I say again, the wonderful pattern of the revived life set forth in verses 12 and 13 is not something beyond us. Oh, it's beyond us personally. It's beyond our human ability, but it is wonderfully provided for us by the Lord Jesus Christ. So let's take these five similitudes of nature. Now remember, I've already said they're not only similitudes of nature, but similitudes of promise. Now what do I mean by that? Well, number one, verse 12, these men are hidden wreaths, hidden wreaths. Let that get a hold of your heart and ask honestly, am I a hidden wreath or a charted wreath? You understand, don't you, that many of the finest natural harbors in the world are created by charted wreaths? Yes, ocean wreaths. Thank you for calling out on that. By the way, anybody else who isn't getting it, let me know. What's the sense of our being here if you miss it? Charted wreaths. Think about this. God designed you. He sent Jesus to redeem you from your sin and to make you a part of his everlasting family in order that you might be a charted wreath. I like to hope that by the grace of God, anybody in all my world can draw the ship of their life up next to me in the charted wreath of my life and know perfectly well they are saved. We all want to be able to say, follow me as I follow Christ. And we don't want anybody to have the bottom of the ship of their life ripped out because they sail across the uncharted wreath of my life or yours. And so be quite clear now in yourself. Are you a charted wreath? Does your life make a safe harbor for anyone in all your world to draw near and to anchor beside the ship of your life and to know absolutely safety, certainty, and enjoyment? Now let me repeat again. I'm not talking about human skill. I'm not talking about innate ability. I'm talking about the power of Jesus Christ to take an uncharted wreath that has caused many a soul to be ruined under the power of Christ being a charted wreath. Never out of place. Never taking anyone by surprise because you've had a season of backsliding and you are not now what you once thought you were. No, charted wreaths. You need to enter into an explicit agreement with God by the grace and the power of Jesus Christ. I will be from now on without any exception a charted wreath. So any sailor in all the world sailing on the seas of life can know where there's a safe harbor created by the grace of God in my life and yours. Number two. Clouds without water carried along by winds. Did you ever go to church with a desperately hungry spirit and leave feeling even worse than you went? Maybe you had a season of prayer before you went and you prayed with God to meet you in the service that morning but the sermon just robbed you of what little was there and you went away crushed and empty. If I may again speak personally, I had a terrible season in my life having been grievously befrauded by some Christian men and I plunged into an awful season of uncertainty and doubt and on the Sunday I was so deeply thankful that I wasn't preaching anywhere because I knew I had nothing from the Lord to say but I went to church myself and as the preacher was proceeding, now I'm not crediting myself with speaking or thinking kindly, I'm just telling you actually what happened. As he was preaching I was saying to myself, I wonder if this old duffer had had a little automobile accident this morning, one of those fender benders that kept him from getting here and speaking these silly words, what would he have missed if he hadn't gotten here and preached this sermon and in my nasty spirit I was thinking he wouldn't have missed anything but the paycheck. Now I'm not justifying, I'm telling you I was in desperate need of a word from the Lord and what I got was lousy chaff. Did you ever give out chaff in your Sunday school class, in your preaching, in your personal witness? Were you ever a dry cloud? Are we not living in a world where there is an incredible thirst? Oh it's not known usually to the person what it is they thirst for so they chafe after entertainment and pleasure for sex and money for prestige for recognition but deep down what they're longing for is an authentic word from God. We need to enter into explicit agreement with God that we will never tolerate another day in our life when we're a dry cloud. By God's grace I'm going to live in such a way that anybody who comes under the cloud of my life will be rained upon with the fresh graces of Jesus Christ. I want to be so saturated with Christ that if you come near me you're going to get all wet with that which is truly precious. This doesn't come automatically, this doesn't come as a result of an experience in a conference, this comes as a result of an agreement with God. From now on through the grace and power of Christ my life will be a heavy laden cloud dripping fresh graces from the mercies of God upon all who come under the cloud of my life. Remember that incident in the old testament after that confrontation between the prophet of God and the prophets of Baal and the servant was sent out to look to see if he could spot a cloud and he came back and said no cloud sent again and the same report and again and then eventually I have seen the cloud the size of a man's hand and the prophet says run run get back home quick it's going to pour. Why shouldn't our lives be clouds so laden with a fresh moisture of God's grace that people know when they come near us they're going to get drenched. And number three, trees. These men of whom Jude writes are barren trees. Jesus spoke strongly about barren trees. John the Baptist had a strong word on the tree that doesn't bear fruit that will truly be cut down and cast into the fire. But God is inviting each one here. Isn't it wonderful you don't have to be educated, you don't have to have a long experience as a Christian. The only requirement of being a tree constantly bearing the fruit is an agreement with the Lord. From now on the power of Christ will work in me so that I am perpetually bearing fruit in season. Number four, waves. Now I don't know how you are. Maggie and I as some of you know live near Chicago and we don't get to sit down on the ocean shore very often. And in fact to be quite truthful Maggie doesn't really care to go with me all that much to the ocean shore and I'll explain why. There are times when we're so tired we hardly remember our own name. For a number of years we had a dear friend who owned a big hotel on the ocean front at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Now he contacted me a number of times and asked when are you coming and never really. What I thought was that he was sort of like a salesman filling up his hotel rooms. But he kept at it and he kept at it and he called at a time when I was so weary I could hardly lift my feet. And I said no what do you mean exactly by this invitation? Oh he said I mean I have a hotel room free for you. So I said all right. And I had some other meetings in inland South Carolina. I said Maggie can come down and meet me and we set on the calendar the dates. Well the next day we got in the what do you call it mail, the overnight mail, tickets, plane tickets. Then when we arrived at the airport there was someone standing at the gate and said oh welcome Robertses and they handed us a contract for a car paid for in full. When we stepped into the hotel the clerk said oh we're glad to see you Mr. and Mrs. Roberts and they handed us an envelope with five hundred dollars cash. So we put our bags down, went down, sat on the shore and the waves rolling in and out, in and out, in and out. And in a few minutes I said to Maggie well I'm refreshed let's get to work. Something wonderful about the gentle rolling waves. But another time when this dear man had gotten us to agree to come there had been one of these incredible storms. The waves were up over the power lines on Ocean Boulevard. The first three floors of his hotel were washed out. How would you like to take a vacation sitting on the shore with waves 36 feet over your head? These men says Jude are wild raging waves of the sea dashing out their own shame. Everywhere we look in America we see these wild raging waves of the sea in the churches. No wonder they're being vacated rapidly. No wonder so few lost people are willing to pay any attention to our claims of Christianity. Have you ever entered into an explicit agreement with God through the power of Jesus Christ to be a gentle rolling wave? So that anybody in all your world could sit down beside you and know profoundly the peace of God. And number five stars not wandering stars that Jude describes for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever but fixed stars. Now not fixed stars in the sense of important or popular or well-known but fixed stars in the sense that we are where God put us. I like to hope that anybody in all my world can find out where Mr. Roberts is at and know where they need to be. That they can take a bearing from my life. Fixed stars are a source of wonderful good. Wandering stars of untold damage by God's grace. Years ago I entered into explicit agreement with God to be a charted leaf, a moisture laden cloud, a fruit bearing tree, a gentle rolling wave, and a fixed star. I'm not making a boast. I'm not saying that it has happened fully as it ought. But I am saying that agreement is in place. I'm not looking for praise. I'm not trying to make followers. All I want is to be the man that God called me to be and made possible by the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And I'm urging you before you leave this place to enter into explicit agreement with God to be a charted leaf, a moisture laden cloud, a tree full of fruit, a gentle raging, no, a gentle rolling wave, and a fixed star. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/PWwGR0HpXKQ.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/richard-owen-roberts/lord-i-agree/ ========================================================================