We'll be looking at our handout
tonight to start with, but open your Bibles to the 14th chapter
of Matthew, if you would, and we'll read those first 12 verses
in just a moment. But I want to begin with the
handout, if you would. I've titled tonight, and this
is, you know, As I was studying for this, and I started thinking
about these, Norman and I were actually talking a little bit
about this before he met with Shannon this week, the fall of
men. You know, one of the things that
we struggle with the most in this flesh is recognizing what
we would be if it wasn't for the gracious, restraining hand
of God. People don't want to think of
themselves as a possible Hitler. People don't want to think of
themselves as a possible Pharaoh who enslaved millions. People don't
want to think of themselves as that kind of a heinous person. But folks, the only thing keeping
you and I and all that we have in this world, the very air that
we breathe, in place is the sovereign hand of God. His hand rules all
that is. In our handout here, we begin
with this from Jeremiah 17.9. It says, the heart deceitful, above all and desperately wicked. I removed some words out of there
that were in italics. I wanted you to read the original
way it was written. It says, the heart deceitful
above all and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Who? Who can really know the depth
of our depravity? I would be too ashamed and too
embarrassed to share with you some of the depraved things that
I've done in my life, but I can see myself now, I could have
gone a lot worse if it had not been for the restraining hand
of our Lord. Listen to this, in Noah's day,
the Word of God states this, it says, and God saw that the
wickedness of man was great in the earth, And that every imagination,
did you notice what it said? Every. That includes Noah. Noah was just as much a sinner
as you and I. Every imagination of the thoughts
of his heart was only evil continually. That's speaking of all mankind.
It was evil. It was only evil and it was continually,
it was a continual process. The hardest concept of natural
man is the fall. In our unregenerate state, in
our current state of battle between the flesh and the spirit, we
just can't fathom the depth of the fall. We come into this world
thinking there must be some good in us, maybe a small flame, but
with a little fanning as I can be better. or I can turn over
a new leaf, all those kinds of things that point us to I can,
I can. Folks, thus saith the Lord, as
it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There
is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after
God. They are all gone out of the
way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher,
and with their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of Asp
is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.
Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery
are in their ways, and the way of peace have they not known.
There is no fear of God before their eyes." That was our description. That was the description of every
mankind, all of mankind who have ever Walk this earth outside
of Christ Himself. And that was a picture of you
and I as well. Where is it written? That was
from Romans 3.10. Remember it started there, as
it is written? Well, where is it written? It's
written in the Psalms, 14 verses 1-3. The fool hath said in his
heart, there is no God. They are corrupt. They have done
abominable works. There is none that doeth good.
The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see
if there were any that did understand and seek God. They are all gone
aside. They are all together become
filthy. There is none that doeth good, no, not one." Page 2, the
fool is he that elevates himself above God. To say that God has
done all that he can and the rest is up to man is to elevate
yourself above his authority. That's what the devil told Eve
in the garden. He said this in Genesis 3, verses
4 through 5, and the serpent said unto the woman, ye shall
not surely die, for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof,
Then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, with
the little g, knowing good and evil. That's exactly what the
devil told Eve. The first of the doctrine's teachings
of grace The first of the doctrines, teachings, of grace in Holy Scripture
is this, total depravity. Now I want you to hold your place
there for just a moment. When Adam and Eve tried to cover
themselves with the leaves of a plant, it was completely useless. It didn't cover them at all.
They were still naked before God. It took God to cover them
with His righteousness. That's what this is talking about,
total depravity right there. Some use the use of phrase bankrupt. Back in our handout again. But
that implies that you had something and lost it. Folks, we came into
this world dead in trespasses and sin, spiritually dead, dead
dog dead, as Pastor Gene would say often. What can a dead man
have? Nothing. Adam and Eve had something
and lost it, but you and I were spiritually dead from birth.
Lazarus, when buried in that tomb, was dead, stinking dead,
and God had to give him life that he would hear the command,
Lazarus, come forth. That was me. That was my state
before He gave me ears to hear, eyes to see, and a heart to love
Him and His Word preached. Now I know this because once
I was blind, but now I see. The waters compassed me about,
even to the soul. The depth closed me around about. The weeds were wrapped about
my head. That's in Jonah 2, verse 5. We're given just a glimpse, in
those words right there, of the depth of our depravity. The best
thing we can teach our children is the depth of our sin and our
need of Christ. I recently brought a message
titled, House of Sinners. In fact, that was the message
I brought for the folks down there in San Diego. This is a
faithful saying, reading from 1 Timothy 1 verse 15. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of whom I am chief, wrote Paul. Or how about
this, and it came to pass that as Jesus sat at meat in his house,
many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and
his disciples, for there were many, and they followed him.
And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and
sinners, they said unto his disciples, how is it that he eateth and
drinketh with publicans and sinners? When Jesus heard it, he saith
unto them, they that are whole have no need. of the physician. Notice it said THE physician. There's only one physician who
can heal the soul, and that's our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus.
But they that are sick, he says, I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. Page 3. Total depravity leaves
a true bona fide sinner with absolutely nothing. For he saith
to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I
will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then
it is not of him that willeth. nor of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy." That's Romans 9, 15 through 16. It's
not your will. It's not your works. That's what
running is. It's works. And will, it's not
of him that willeth. That's just clear as a bell.
It's not your so-called free will. It's not something you
even desired. Folks, we come into this world
shaking our fists, saying we will not have that man to rule
over us. It's not your free will. It's
not the will that is bound by sin. The will that's bound by
sin we see in the picture of the folks who cried out, crucify
him, crucify him. But God, it's none of that. It's not your will, it's not
your works, but God that showeth mercy, salvation of the Lord. Now here in Matthew 14, Herod
stands before us as a glaring example of human depravity, and
I'd like you to look at your Bibles now. Leave the handout
and look at your Bibles. Chapter 14, beginning at verse
1, Herod the Tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus, and he said
unto his servants, This is John the Baptist. He is risen from
the dead, and therefore mighty works do show forth themselves
in him. For Herod had laid hold on John,
and bound him, and put him in prison for Herodias' sake, his
brother Philip's wife. For John said unto him, John
speaking to Herod, it is not lawful for thee to have her. And when he would have put him
to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a
prophet. But when Herod's birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias
danced before them and pleased Herod. whereupon he promised
with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask. And she, being
instructed of her mother, said, give me here John the Baptist's
head in a charger. And the king was sorry nevertheless
for the oath's sake, and then which sat with them at meet,
he commanded it to be given her. And he sent and beheaded John
in prison, and his head was brought in a charger and given to the
damsel, and she brought it to her mother. and his disciples
came and took up the body and buried it and went and told Jesus. Now how depraved, what an atrocity
that he committed because he had promised his stepdaughter,
his wife, that he had taken from his brother, that he had conned
his brother from. Because he had promised her something,
he went on ahead. He just took the life of a human
being for that very little reason. In our handout, mid-page three,
who thinks of themselves as capable of such atrocities? God's people
do. That's who. We are brought to
know the depth of our depravity. If left to my will, I know what
I am capable of doing. Do you?" The religious people
of that day, they cried out all at once, saying, away with this
man and release unto us Barabbas. Now, do you think, do you have
the thoughts that you could have been in that crowd right along
with these people? God's people do. We know we would,
don't we? We know there was a time in our
lives when all of us did this very thing. They cried out, release
unto us Barabbas, who for a certain sedition made in the city and
for murder was cast into prison. Pilate, therefore. willing to
release Jesus, spake again to them. Now he was willing to release
Christ. But they cried, saying, crucify
him, crucify him. And he said unto them the third
time, why? What evil hath he done? Did we catch that? Does that
sink into our minds? Here is a man who has done nothing,
nothing but heal people, nothing but bring sick people out of
their sicknesses, give life to those who had died, nothing,
nothing but good. And the people were crying out,
crucify him, crucify him. He says, I have found no cause
of death in him. I will therefore chastise him
and let him go. And they were insistent with
loud voices, requiring that he might be crucified. And the voices
of them and of the chief priests prevailed. And Pilate gave sentence
that it should be as they required. And he released unto them him
that for sedition and murder was cast into prison, whom they
desired. But he delivered Jesus. to their will. The will of the people was to
crucify the innocent. Folks, if I had been there that
day, I've been right there with that crowd crying out the very
thing that they were crying. I said that for 40 years as I
walked this earth before the Lord arrested my soul and cut
away that old stony heart that cried out that very thing. Those
words we just read were from Luke 23, 18 through 25. Last two paragraphs of page three,
that's the so-called will of man, folks, right there where
we saw. The Lord, he doesn't just put words in the Word of
God for just to fill in spaces. They have meanings. They have
purposes. The fact that the Lord recorded
here in the book of Luke, that Pilate delivered Jesus to their
will is important to see. This is the will of men, our
natural state. That's the so-called will of
man. Crucify this one who has done nothing but heal the sick,
cause the blind to see, heal the lame and the dumb, kill him,
and give us the murderer. That would be you and I, if not
for the grace of God. Psalms 40 verses 2-3 at the bottom
of page 3, He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of
the miry clay, and He set my feet upon a rock. That's our claim now. We stand
upon the rock, the Lord Jesus. the solid rock, and established
my goings, and he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise
unto our God." Page 4. Over and over again and again
the Lord declares the sin of man as greater than even we can
imagine. Listen to these words from Ephesians
2, 1 through 5. And you who were dead in trespasses
and sins, wherein times past ye walked according to the course
of this world, according to the prince of the power of air, the
spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among
whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lust of
our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." I could have stopped right there,
and I think that would have made our point. But I couldn't resist
putting these next verses in as well. Because even though
we see ourselves on that side of the day the Lord called us
out of darkness, On that day, when he called us out of darkness,
even though we see ourselves on the other side of that, God
gives us hope when he says, but God, who is rich in mercy, rich
in mercy for his great love were with thee loved us, even when
we were dead in sins, have quickened us together. with Christ by grace
ye are saved. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that
the hope? That's the hope that Deanne was
talking about just a little while ago. The hope that Christ has
promised. He has promised this one who
is rich in mercy. Even though we were dead in trespasses
and sin, He has given us life, quickened us, made us alive together
with Christ by grace you are saved. Faith and godliness are
never passed from father to son. Our children will not ride our
coats and tails to heaven. Only God can give a man faith,
and only God can make men righteous, but ungodliness and wickedness
are passed on to generation after generation over and over again. The Herod mentioned in Matthew
14 was Herod the Tetriarch, also known as Herod Antipas. He was
the son of Herod the Great, a Gentile, a descendant of Esau. Herod the
Great was infamous for his cold-blooded atrocities. He murdered the entire
Jewish Sanhedrin because they dared to challenge his authority. He murdered one of his wives
on just a whim. He murdered two of his sons for
fear that they might take his throne. And he's the one who
had all the male children in Bethlehem slaughtered in a vain
attempt to destroy our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus when he was
a baby. Herod the Great was vile and
a detested man. His sons were just like him.
After Herod's death, the Roman government divided his province
into three parts, giving three of Herod's many sons authority.
Archelaus was given the southern province of Judea and Samaria. That's spoken of in Matthew 22. Philip was given the northern
provinces Trinocitus. and Eturica, Etura. And Herod
Antipas was given the area that included Galilee and Perea. Now,
this Herod, the Tetrarch, Antipas, was a ruthless, shameless, henpecked,
lustful man given to every imaginable evil. He was no less ruthless
than his father, but he was a little less defiant and less courageous. He was henpecked by his wife
that he had stolen from his brother Philip. And he was lustful towards
her daughter. That's what it was for women
to come and dance before the king. It wasn't something that
they came out in a ballroom dressed in. They came out scantily dressed,
if not completely naked. It was a lustful thing. So this
man was lustful. And as wicked as his father,
he just wasn't as courageous as the first Herod. Page 5. While visiting Rome with his
half-brother Philip and his wife Herodias, Herod and Herodias
became involved in an affair. And when Herod returned to his
province, he was married to Herodias. In order to have her, he betrayed
his brother and divorced his wife and almost lost his kingdom. His enraged father-in-law, King
Aretas, would have killed him had it not been for the Roman
army intervening. Shocking as it is to read of
the brutality of Herod, Herodias and her daughter, they stand
before us as glaring examples of the depths of that depravity
to which all Adam's race has been reduced by the fall. That which one person is capable
of doing, all are capable of doing. If you and I do not act
out of the depravity of our hearts as fully as these did, it is
only because of God's restraining hand. Robert Hawker wrote this,
he said, the seeds of every sin are in every heart. The same
by the fall. Reader, do you believe this? Yes, if God the Holy Ghost has
convinced you of sin. And until this feeling known
in the heart, never will an infinitely precious redemption by the Lord
Jesus Christ be understood or valued. Oh, how precious to them
that believe in Jesus. And he quotes from 1 Peter 2,
verse 7 through 8. Unto you, therefore, which believe,
he is precious. But unto them which be disobedient,
the stone which the builders disallowed, the same has made
the head of the corner, and the stone of stumbling, and a rock
of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient,
whereunto also they were appointed. Hawker goes on to say this. He
says, hence, a child of God reads this account of Herod, therefore,
to abhor himself and to love Jesus. And again, he quotes this
time from 1 Corinthians 4.7, for who maketh thee to differ
from another? And what hast thou that thou
didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it,
why dost thou glory, as if thou hast not received it? Do you
know why Herodias wanted John the Baptist's head? He declared
God's word. He declared adultery is a crime
against God and man. Herod's adulterous marriage to
his brother's wife was a matter of public scandal and wickedness
that had to be reproved. Adultery is what we do when we
turn to anything but the true and living God. And that declaration
is what God uses to bring his people to Christ. The first Baptist
preacher in the history was John the Baptist. He was a faithful
servant to God. He set the standard and he laid
the example for all who would come after him to follow, page
six. His message was repentance towards
God, calling upon all who heard him to behold the Lamb of God,
Christ the crucified. His ministry was the ministry
of preaching. Not counseling, not preaching,
not educating, not preaching, but preaching. Not building shelters
for the homeless and hospitals for the sick, but preaching.
Now I'm going to hold it there for just a moment. This is what
my pastor taught me. He said, John, get on the path
to Christ. And I've heard other preachers
say this thing as well. Get on the path to Christ. Every
message is that path. If you're not on the path to
Christ right off the bat, you're not preaching. That's your job. And he goes, this will get you
in trouble because people think that pastors have to be counselors. And that's not true at all. I'm
not a learned counselor at all. I don't know anything about counseling.
But I do know about what God's grace towards me is, and I can
preach on that. I can preach about Christ and
His love for His people. That's what Pastor Gene taught
me. Preach. Keep on keeping on preaching
the Word. If there is anything this generation
needs to learn about the work of ministry, we're back in our
handout. It is this. Those who are called of God to
work the ministry are called to preach the gospel of Christ
and only to preach the gospel of Christ. Let all who are called
like John be faithful. Listen to these words of 1 Corinthians
4 verse 1-2. Let a man so account of us as
the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover,
it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. Faithful in what? Faithful in
preaching the gospel, Christ and him crucified. John was faithful
even unto death. He was neither a compromiser
nor a diplomat. He was a faithful gospel preacher. He was no more reluctant to confront
Herod and Herodias with the claims of God than he was with the scribes
or the Pharisees. God's servants are God's servants
everywhere. We do not consider the cost or
the consequences of delivering God's message. Being God's servants,
John the Baptist feared nothing and no one but God. Now consider
with me John's message. John's message to Herod exemplifies
the necessity of repentance. John the Baptist was the forerunner
of the Lord Jesus Christ. As such, his ministry was in
some ways typical of the work of God the Holy Spirit in preparing
the hearts of chosen redeemed sinners to bow down to the claims
of Christ Jesus and receive him as Lord. and master and a savior
of their lives and their souls. Christ and Him crucified. That's what that whole paragraph
right there just stated, Christ and Him crucified. John the Baptist was faithfully,
he He faithfully held sinners' feet to the fire, telling them
that God demands and will settle for nothing less than all-out,
unconditional surrender to the claims of Christ, and that only
those who bow to the scepter of King Jesus can know him in
pardon of their sins and salvation." Page 7. Herod knew that John
the Baptist was a faithful prophet. He said these words, a just man
and holy. As such, he respected him, but
he was also afraid of him and observed him. He did many things
because of him, because of John the Baptist, and he heard him
gladly as it was such. That's what we read in Mark 6,
verse 20. John's message cost him his head. A man by the name
of A.T. Robertson observed this. He says,
it cost him his head, but it is better to have a head like
John the Baptist and lose it than to have an ordinary head
and keep it. His message to Herod was a sermon
about the demands of a holy God. It was a sermon on the character
of God himself. John stood before Herod as God's
mouthpiece. Here is a preacher facing the
king of Judea and with his ungodly wife and her ungodly daughter
and all the court that stood about. And when this old king
hears from God through the lips of God's preacher and God's prophet
that it's not lawful for him to have his brother's wife, that
sermon, that faithfulness, that truth cost John the Baptist his
head. But folks, it cost Herod. his
immortal soul, because he refused to hear it and bow before a thrice
holy God. Listen to John 5, verse 39-40,
our Lord speaking says this, he says, search the Scriptures,
for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they
which testify of me. And ye will not come to me that
ye might have life. John the Baptist linked the Old
Testament with the New. Just as the Old Testament prophets
from Genesis to Malachi demanded repentance towards God from the
beginning of John the Baptist's ministry throughout the New Testament
and throughout this gospel age, repentance has been and is demanded
of the gospel. Every prophet, the Lord Jesus
Christ himself, in his prophetic mercy, and all the apostles,
and every faithful gospel preacher through the ages declare that
God is a holy God, that his demands have not been lessened, and that
everywhere men are still called upon to repent towards God and
believe. on the Lord Jesus Christ. In
the Old Testament, God's prophets constantly called the people
they served to repent. When John the Baptist came as
the forerunner of Christ, preparing the people's hearts to receive
Christ, he called all who heard him to repentance. In Matthew
3.2, we read that very thing. Repent ye, for the kingdom of
heaven is at hand." Those were the words of John the Baptist
at that time, page 8. The first sermon of the Lord
Jesus ever preached on this earth was a call to repentance. In
Matthew 4.17, from that time on, or from that time, Jesus
began to preach and to say, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is
at hand. The message has not changed.
Acts 1730, God commendeth all men everywhere to repent. Repentance
is God's command and back of God's command is God himself.
Repentance turning from and coming to God by faith in Christ is
nothing less than the utter surrender of our lives to Christ the King. Don Fortner wrote this, he says,
it is being willingly resigned to the will of the sovereign
Christ. Repentance, faith in Christ, involves taking up your
cross and following Christ. It's not an act performed, but
a life surrendered. That's what we do. I've shared
this before, before I read for you the scripture I've got here
from Luke chapter 14, before I read that. I've shared this
with you before. We're driving down the road,
and we hit every single red light. Well, folks, there was a day
when that would have angered me to no end, especially being
a truck driver. I've got to get to my deliveries.
But after the Lord calls us and gives us a new heart that surrenders
ourselves to him as Lord, we see those red lights and we know
to ourselves, those are for our good. Maybe he's keeping us from
something down there, down the road a piece. Or maybe he's holding
us up that we should be in some kind of an accident of some kind. Folks, all things, all things,
everything, that goes on in this world around us is for the good
of His people. For them that love Christ, for
them who are called. Called according to His purpose.
Listen to these words from Luke chapter 14, 25-33. And there
went great multitudes with him, and he turned and said unto them,
if any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and
wife and children and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own
life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his
cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of
you intending to build a tower sitteth not down first and counteth
the cost? whether he hath sufficient to
finish it, lest happily after he hath laid the foundation and
is not able to finish it, that all that behold it begin to mock
him, saying, this man began to build and was not able to finish.
Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth
not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with 10,000
to meet him, that cometh against him with 20,000? Or else, while
the other is yet a great way off, he sitteth in an ambassage
and desires conditions of peace? So likewise. Whosoever he be
of you, that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my
disciple. And then in Luke chapter 3 verse
3 we read these words, Except he repent, ye shall all likewise
perish, just as Herod. It was the preaching of repentance. that cost John the Baptist his
head. Like the rich young ruler when
Herod heard of John and his message, he did many things and heard
him gladly, yet he lacked one thing. He lacked repentance. He refused to bow to Christ as
God his Savior and King. Page 9. I've got to ask you this
question. You know, we all suffer through
this life. with weaknesses of the flesh,
and that includes our faith, our belief. There are times when
our faith is the size of a mustard seed, so small that you can't
even see it. Lord, where are you? Where have
you gone? Where are you in my life? I'm
utterly, utterly in desperation. Do you realize when you're in
that situation that you're bowing to Him as Lord still? When we cry unto the Lord for
our weaknesses, do you realize that you're still bowing to Him
as Lord? Oh, what grace! What grace that would allow us
to be in such a desperate situation in this world and yet still know
that He is on His throne. I may feel that I don't even
love Him, but I still know He's on His throne. I may not have
any faith that I can see it all, but I still know that He is God
and on His throne. The world does not know that.
We did not know that before God came to us in grace and in spirit
and in truth. John knew, top of page nine,
he knew exactly where Herod's point of rebellion was. And he
deliberately and boldly and unmistakably put his finger on the spot. Herod
betrayed his brother Philip and took his wife. The faithful Baptist
told Herod that relationship with his brother's Philip's wife
openly displayed his hatred and defiance of God. He said to the king publicly,
it is not lawful for thee to have her. Herod was willing to
do many things. He was happy even to listen to
good preaching, even the good preaching of a faithful man,
so long as it cost him nothing. But when John stuck his finger
in that reprobate king's heart and told him that God demands
surrender before he would bow, that old rebel had John the Baptist
beheaded. Repentance is turning from the
wisdom of this world to faith in Christ. It is the willful,
deliberate surrender of my life to the Sovereign Christ. The
Lord Jesus says this in Mark 8, verse 34-35, Whosoever will
come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow
me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, but whosoever
shall lose his life for my sake and the Gospels, the same shall
save it. Repentance is losing your life
to Christ. Has the Lord granted you repentance? Has He made you willing in the
day of His power to put your life in the hands of the Son
of God? Have you utterly turned yourself
over to His rule as your Lord? Have you renounced all hope of
life and salvation in yourself, trusting Christ alone as your
Savior? If you have, Your repentance
towards God and faith in Christ are the fruit of His mighty and
gracious work in you and for you. Listen to Acts 5 verse 31. Him hath God exalted with his
right hand to be a prince and a savior, for to give repentance
to Israel and forgiveness of sins. Folks, Israel is a picture
of God's people. If you and I belong to Christ,
if His blood was shed for you and I, we are Israel, spiritual
Israel. Your repentance, your faith,
your trust is His gift and His operations. That's what we read
in Romans 6.23, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift
of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Or how
about Philippians 1.29, for unto you it is given in the behalf
of Christ not only to believe on him, see where the belief
or faith is a gift, but also to suffer for his sake. Colossians
2.12, buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with
him through the faith of the operation of God. who hath raised
him from the dead. And then, of course, we can't
pass all those by without reading these very well-known words. Ephesians 2, 8 through 9, for
by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves,
it is a gift of God, not of word, lest any man should boast. And
he who began his work of grace in you will continue it and complete
it, being confident of this very thing, writes Paul to the Philippians
in chapter 1 verse 8, that he which hath begun a good work
in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. If you
have had the depth of your sin, The depth of what you would be
capable of, if it had not been for His grace revealed unto you,
then there is good news. Christ came to save sinners.
Of whom I am chief, wrote Paul, and every child of God agrees
with that. 1 Peter 2 verse 7, unto you therefore
which believe, he is precious. I am so thankful. He did not
leave me to my will. Amen.