Thank you. Thank you. Now Gabe understands the value
of Sherry Anderson. And I appreciate him doing that. That helps so much, just that
little bit of help and relief from doing it all. Thank you. Ephesians chapter 6 now. Continue
this study on the whole armor of God. Ephesians chapter 6. This is not my style of preaching,
really. I don't feel very comfortable
doing this topical, you could call it topical, taking a topic. However, this is expository in
that it's verse by verse, and we're taking each thing as it
comes in these verses. It's more difficult to do this.
It's much more difficult to do it this way. as opposed to going, just going
down through the verses. And at first glance, when I first
read this, I thought, what am I going to say for 45 minutes? But then as I kept looking at
it and studying it and reading and reading and reading and reading,
I thought, what can I leave out? I've got two hours worth of material. Let's read verses 11 through
14. Put on the whole armor of God,
that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the craftiness,
trickery, and cunning of the devil. For we wrestle not against
flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high or heavenly places. Wherefore, take unto
you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in
the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore,
having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the
breastplate of righteousness." We are studying the believer's
warfare, that is, the struggles that we go through in this world
with temptations, with sin, with the world, and with ourselves
especially. And the armor of God. We are
looking at the armor of God which he has provided for our protection
against these assaults by the enemy. Now remember, he says,
he begins in verse 11 by saying, put on the whole armor of God. I couldn't help but think of
Paul saying to the Ephesians, you remember when he was leaving
them? And he said, I have not shunned to declare unto you all
the counsel of God, the whole armor of God. It all works together. It all goes together, the whole
armor of God. Well, he says in verse 14, and
all of these things are really one, and in one, found in one. But in verse 14, you remember
this? He said, Stand therefore. Stand. We talked about what that
means. Stand. It means like, at attention.
At attention. Do you know there used to be
congregations back Way back when, some of the Puritans had their
congregations stand for the whole message. I'm not going to start
that, but you just be thankful. At any rate, they thought it
would help them pay attention more, and it surely would. It
surely would. But you can stand and be seated
at the same time. Be it at attention. Let us not
sleep, Paul said, as do others, but watch. Be sober, spiritually
awake, ready. And taking a stand. This means
take a stand. Martin Luther, I always think
of his famous words when he stood against a whole world that was
against him, literally. He was a man alone, or so he
thought, like Elijah. Though the whole world rejected
what he was saying, the truth, he stood for the truth. And he
said, do you remember, when he stood before all his accusers
and before all those people, he said, here I stand. I can do no other. I'm not moving. I'm not compromising one truth. No way. I stand for the truth. And so do we. We stand. And we
stand on the rock, Christ Jesus, for of the foundation can no
man lay than that which is laid, Christ Jesus the Lord. He is
our rock upon which we stand. We stand in him. He is our defense. He is our help. And he says here,
Stand, verse 14, having your loins girt about with truth. I hope you enjoyed that as much
as I do, thinking about how we will stand or be able to withstand
these assaults girded with the truth. How the truth girds us
up, or that is, strengthens us. How the truth undergirds us,
holds us up, holds us together. The truth of who God is. Always
keep that on your mind. That's what it means to gird
the loins of your mind. Always keep on your mind that
our God reigns. Always, in the face of everything,
always keep that on your mind. It will keep you from falling
apart. It's like a girdle. That God reigns. Always keep
in your mind what man is, so that whatever he does, whoever
does it, you'll not be moved by it. You'll not be moved. You're
standing firm. You understand the truth about
man. Even yourself. Whatever you do. Don't be surprised, because that's
just what we are. Every man in his best state is
altogether vanity. Remember that. And who Christ
is. Who is the truth. Christ is the
truth. We're going to stand because
of him. We stand right now because of
him. We will stand because of him. It all is resting on his
great shoulders. We stand in him. So that's the
truth that will gird you up and hold you together. Remember,
like Eli said, it's the law. It's the law. And read on. Now
here's our subject tonight. Verse 14. And having on the breastplate
of righteousness. The breastplate of righteousness. Now, he's talking about a suit
of armor. Back when they The only type
of warfare that they had was a hand-to-hand combat, or on
a horse, but it was basically one-on-one. And they had these
suits of armor, so this is what Paul is talking about, the breastplate. The breastplate was a plate,
a large plate. started out made with skins,
or that is leather, and then when they got into metal works,
it became a metal plate, a plate of brass or mail, a plate of
steel, and it covered the breast area, this whole chest area,
the breast. And what it was, was protection
for that, this vital organ in here, which, if one dart pierces
it, you're a dead man. If one knife thrust or spear
or arrow or anything can reach that heart, you're a dead man,
a dead person. So this is most important, is
it not? The heart, the scripture says, out of the hearts are the
issues of life. This is where it all, this is
where it all is. right here, with the heart, man
believeth unto righteousness. The heart, the heart. If Satan,
through his trickery and wiles and temptations of the world,
can somehow seduce your heart, then you're dead, you're gone.
But if God has your heart, and your heart's protected with this
breastplate, then nothing can get through to them. It's eternally
protected. That's how important this is.
It's not just an allegory, but this is our salvation. Now, here is an allegory. Here
is an allegory. I'm talking about the heart.
You know how much I love John Bunyan, his book Pilgrim's Progress,
and I may love his book The Holy War more than The Pilgrim's Progress. If you've never read it, Try
to do something. It's a wonderful book. But in
that book, The Holy War, it's the story about the conquest
for the town of Mansoul. And I know you've heard this
before, but I want to try to make it interesting to you again.
It's all about the conquest for the town of Mansoul. Listen carefully. The town of Mansoul. Well, Mansoul
was a fortress walled a walled city, and it had two gates, the
ear gate and the eye gate. And in the center of town was
the castle, the castle where the king resided. All right, along comes Diabolus. That's an old word for the devil,
the diabolical one. Along came Diabolus. And he came
up to the ear gate. Now this is what happened in
the garden, was it not? He tempted and enticed Eve with
his subtlety. And what Satan did was used flattery
and trickery and subtlety and lies to get them to open that
gate to him. He wanted in the town of Mansoul. And he used all his subtlety
and trickery and all that until he beguiled them into opening
the gate for him. The eye gate. He brought all
sorts of pleasant gifts with him. And they just opened up
freely, the ear gate and the eye gate. And in came Diabolus
with all his hordes of And the first thing he did was
get Mr. Recorder, that's a conscience,
and silence him. And on and on it went until finally
he went into town and went into the castle and set up his reign
right there. And sat on the throne, reigning.
Are you with me? I've lost some of you already.
Stay with me. Set up his reign in the And he
commanded to close the ear gate and the eye gate and never open
it to anybody else. Don't listen to anybody, don't
look at anybody. Close the ear gate and the eye gate. Well,
God Almighty owned that town. That's God's town, Mansoul. He's
determined to have it back. He made it. Determined to have
it back. There's only one that could take
it. Emmanuel. God's son. So he sent his son
down to the town of Mansoul. And he spoke to the ear gate.
And he came to the eye gate. It wouldn't open. They didn't
see anything in him worth opening the gate. They wouldn't listen
to him. Are you with me? How'd he get
in? He busted the gate down. He busted,
he went in by force. And Brother Kelly, what he did,
he went straight to that castle and bound old Diabolus with chains
and led him through the streets captive. And then he himself,
Emmanuel, went and sat on the throne in the castle, reigning
and ruling, never to be deposed. Read the book. Wonderful book.
Old Brother Bunyan knew something about this struggle for the town
of Mansoul. So the heart is the seat of our
being. It's the vital organ that needs
protection. It's the inner man. It's the
affection. Our Lord says, My son, give me
thine heart. And our Lord said, I'll give
them a new heart. Alright, he says here in verse
fourteen, notice with me, every word is significant, having on
the breastplate of righteousness. Having on. He does not say here
put it on, although that's implied, but he says having on. Meaning, it's something you already
have on. Right? Having on. the breastplate
of righteousness. Every word is significant. Now,
the greatest assault, listen to me, see if this is not true
with you. The greatest assault, turn to
Matthew chapter 4. Matthew chapter 4. The greatest
assault which Satan musters against God's people is to convince them
of their sin, of guilt. To convince them of guilt, that
is God's people. That's what he does to God's
people, those he knows that he does not have in his captivity.
He knows. He knows who's been delivered.
Yes, he does. You remember I told you about,
was it, I think it was Bunyan that said this, that Satan, and
I read this as a young believer and it gave me such hope because
Every believer, even as a young believer, is assaulted with sin
and temptations, and thoughts arise that you wonder where they
came from, and you feel so guilty in your sin, and you feel so
rotten. Like Psalm 38, your sin has gone
over your head, and your loins are filled with a loathsome disease,
and more than you can bear. And Bunyan said this. Satan will take that self-righteous person, a religionist,
somebody who is not looking to Christ at all, but just religion,
and will not give them temptations, will not send temptations and
things like that, will not try to bother them. Because they're in his captivity already, and
he belongs to their self-righteous. They think they're saved, but
they're not. And Satan will withhold from
them temptation, so that they think they're too good not to
be saved. Have you seen these people? Really? I don't think they have
the problems that I have. I know they don't. And they think
they're too good not to be saved, because they're not assaulted
like the believer. But yet they're in a false refuge
of lies. Self-righteous. But then, now,
Satan knows when a child of God is looking to Christ. And it says, he said, Satan will
bombard that child of God with temptations, after temptation,
after temptation, to sin, so that that child of God thinks,
I'm so bad, I can't be saved. I remember reading that as a
young believer, and I just, I was by myself, and I let out a little
whoop, thinking that John Bunyan felt that way. Maybe there's
hope for me. I thought, yes, that's the way
I see it. Is that the way all God's people think? Yes, it is.
Young and old alike. Assaulted. He's called the accuser
of the brethren. Look at Matthew 4. Our Lord,
the scripture says, was tempted in all points like as we are. Our great high priest was tempted
in all points like as we are. Now, it's significant how Satan
tempted him. Look at it. Matthew 4, verse
1. Then was Jesus led up of the
Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And
when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward
in hunger. And when the tempter came to
him, he said, first thing that Satan said to our Lord, our representative,
our great high priest, the one who was tempted for us, was this. if you be the Son of God, if
you are. Look down at verse 4, or verse 6. The devil said to him again,
if thou be the Son of God, if you really are, then And I find that taught, being
leveled at me, an accuser, in the same way. What makes you
think you're a child of God? Why, if you're a child of God,
how could you think such a thing? How about you? Anybody? Why,
you're nothing but a sinner, a rotten sinner, in word, in
thought, in deed. You're guilty of breaking God's
law on every hand. How could you be? Well, you're
this and you're that. But our Lord said, and our Lord
told Peter, remember what he told Peter? Peter, this night
you're going to deny me. Before the crow, before the cock
crows three times, you're going to deny that you even knew me.
No, not me. Yes, you will, Peter. Yes, you
will. And so we're with you. And have
with you. And we're with you. Again, you're going to deny me.
But now here's what the Lord said to him for his peace and
ours too. Look, Peter, I've prayed for
you. Let your faith fail not. And
then he went on in chapter 15 there to say, let not your heart
be troubled. Let not your heart be troubled.
Don't let it be troubled. You're wearing something. Don't
let him trouble you. Don't let him hurl these fiery
darts at you. You're wearing something. Having
on the breastplate of Righteousness. This is perfect protection against
these assaults, against all charges. It's a righteousness. Now, this
is it. It's the righteousness of Jesus
Christ imputed to your account, charged to you, placed upon you.
It's justifying righteousness, holiness, which God put on you. Of God are you in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. Look over Luke 15 with me. I love this. I started to quote
it to you, but I want you to look at it with your own two
eyes. Luke 15, our Lord told the story,
as you know, of the prodigal son, that no good, worthless,
sinful, ungrateful, wretched, wicked son of the Father. who wasted his substance and
riotous living and went out into the world to make his way and
ended up, where did he go? The way that he thought was right
ended up in the hog pen. He almost killed himself, but
he came to himself, for that is, God brought him to himself. That is, to see himself where
he was and to see the goodness of the Father. The goodness of
the Father led him to repent and to turn. to go back, and
the grace of the Father and how much he needed and wanted to
be with the Father again. So he came back. Remember the
little speech that he planned to say? It was a good little
speech. He said when he came to himself,
verse 17, or verse 18, he said, I will arise, and this is where
we got that song, I will arise and go to the Savior. I will
arise and go to my Father, and I will say to him, Father, I
have sinned against heaven, and before thee." See, sin is against
God. "...and am no more worthy to
be called thy son." And he continued his little speech, or was going
to make it. "...make me as one of thy hired
servants." And he arose and came to his father, but not when he
was yet a great way off. his father saw him. Why is that? Because he was looking
for him. He knew he was coming back. Our
father foreknew us, and called us. And the father saw him, and
the father, his father had compassion, and ran, his father ran to meet
him, and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said,
so the son has his little speech prepared. Now, don't you know
that the Father knows before He acts? He knows. He sees Him
coming back in humility and meekness and brokenness. He sees the countenance
of His wayward Son. He sees. And the Son did not
say anything. But out of the abundance of the
heart, the mouth speaketh, right? So the Son says, Father, I've
sinned. against heaven, and in thy sight
am no more worthy to be called thy son." And he couldn't finish
his speech. But the father said to his servants,
bring forth the best robe and put it on him. See, he was dressed
in rags, tattered garments, filthy rags. He smelled like a hog.
But the father clothed him in the best robe. The father did
it. He didn't say, here, would you
like to have it? The father put it on him and put the ring on
his finger and took off those old worn out shoes and shot him
with good shoes and killed the fatted calf. That is, the calf
was being prepared already for the wavered son. He, the father,
knew he was coming back. So it is in Salish that we're
clothed by the Father. Of God are you in Christ, who
is made unto us. this righteousness, imputed,
charged to our account. Now, listen to it. Turn with me to 2 Peter chapter
1. I believe, along with nearly
every old preacher, I mean old as in times past,
And most present day preachers, grace preachers, I believe in
what some call imparted righteousness. Imparted righteousness, I don't
have any trouble with that term. That is, what it is, is another
word for the character of Christ that's in the believer. It's
the new creature, the new man created in the image of Christ
and true righteousness and true holiness. Some people argue against
that, for those that are really listening. Some people argue
against that, but I believe it's a good term taken from this. Look at 2 Peter 1, verses 1 through
4. Simon Peter, a servant and an
apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious
faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior, Jesus
Christ. Grace and peace be multiplied
unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,
according as his divine power, his power, hath given unto us
all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the
knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue, whereby
are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by
these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped
the corruption that is in the world through lust." Now that's
where we get the term, I believe, isn't it Ed? That's where we
get the term, imparted, or that we are partakers of the divine
nature created in the image of Christ. William Gurnall said
this. He wrote a whole book this thick.
on these six verses in Ephesians. I read it for a long time today. And he said this, the imputed
righteousness, this imputed righteousness, is that which Jesus Christ worked
out for the believer. Okay? He did this for us, on
our behalf, as our substitute. This imparted righteousness is
what the Spirit of Christ works in the believer, this new nature,
this new creature, you could call it justification and sanctification. OK? But it's both God's work. Neither one of them is our work.
It's both God's work. Now, Bernal said this. He said
man at the fall lost two things. At the fall of man, he lost the
favor of God. God loves righteousness. God
can't love anything but holiness and righteousness. Man became
sinful. How can God love that sinful
thing? He can't. The righteous Lord loveth righteousness
and hateth iniquity. Man became full of iniquity.
He lost that. He lost the image of God. Man
was created in the image of God, upright. But he lost that image. But Jernal said, but Jesus Christ,
the second Adam, restored both of those things. The love of
God, that is, Christ was righteous. The Lord is well pleased for
his righteousness sake. The love of God, God loved his
son, his only begotten well-beloved son. Why? Because he's holy and
righteous and good and perfect. The will of God, the good and
perfect will of God, and delights to do the Father's will. And
God has to love him. that holy son. And Christ charged
that to us. We're charged with perfection. So God, that's restored. The favor of God. And the image
of God. We're created in the image of
Christ Jesus, a new man. So we've been restored in that
image. It does not yet appear what we shall be. Nevertheless,
the scripture says, as he is, so are we. And Christ does both. And it's
a new life, it's a supernatural life. Now wait a minute, I think,
and I know old Grinnell missed it here. And I read and read
and read and read and read and he said some good things, but
he left me, as do so many. And that won't do you any good.
That's not this fresh place. That's not this fresh place.
That's not what will protect you. We can't contend with Satan
on the grounds that, well, I'm a new man. You can't. Adam was perfect. And he couldn't
stand up to Satan, could he? He was perfect. So that righteousness
didn't do him any good, did it? The only defense against Satan,
sin, and self-righteousness is to plead Christ our righteousness. Even Gabriel the angel, listen
to me and I'm about to finish. Even Gabriel the angel, who's
holy, when he was contending with Satan,
he said the Lord rebuked him. There's only one stronger than
him. Truly. Oh, but he is stronger. The scripture
says, Whom resists, steadfast in the faith. That's what Peter
said. Peter knew he was no match. He
thought he was. He said, Well, I'm a new man.
I won't deny you, Lord. I'm a new man. I've been saved.
Yeah, Peter. Peter, I have prayed for you.
There's your hope. There's your help. Oh my, Peter thought, and that's
when Peter was ridden with guilt afterward. And Peter thought,
well, everybody else is saved but me. I'm the only one lost
here. And that's when the Lord, His
righteousness said, go tell the disciples and Peter. Make sure you tell Peter, the
chief, the worst, the proudest. Tell him that I prayed for him
and I continue to pray for him. And he's not lost. But he's mine. All that God has given me, I'll
lose nothing. So we resist steadfast into faith,
Peter said. We're told to run the race, Paul
said, Hebrews 12. Run the race, not looking at
how well you're running. What would a runner do if he's
always looking at his feet? Can I hear runners in here? How
far would you go? Whoa, look at me, man, I'm really,
poof, he falls. Or how about looking, look how
far I've come, man, I'm really making progress. Yeah, that's
not what you do. He said, let us run the race
that is set before us, what? Doing what? Looking unto Jesus,
the author, looking to him. Look unto him, like old Peter
again. He said, the Lord came walking
on the water. Well, you know we can't walk
on water. Peter knew he couldn't walk on
water. But he wanted to get to the Lord so bad. He said, Lord
bid me come to you. He wanted to get to the Lord.
He did. He didn't just want to walk on
water. And the Lord said, well, come on. Come. See, we can't come. We can through
Christ that strengthens us, withdraws us. Well, Peter did. He got out
on that water. He was walking on the water.
As long as he was looking to Christ, he would walk. He was
doing that which with man was impossible. But when he looked down and saw
the waves, it says, boisterous, and heard the wind, and he thought,
I can't do it. He couldn't. The Lord reached
down. The Lord is not going to let
him sink. And raised him up. Well, we run looking unto him.
See, he's our goal. And he's our help. That you may
be able to stand, verse 11 in our text says, that you may be
able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Verse 16, that
you may be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. There's only one thing that will
repel these accusations, Satan. And our conscience and everything
smites us is only one thing that will silence Christ, our right. Whatever he says, you're guilty,
but say, yeah, but Christ is not right. We don't say it. Presumptuously,
we don't say it carelessly, we don't say it with impudence,
we say it, but we do say it and the chief of sinners can say
it. And whenever he says you're guilty, I say, yeah, but God,
but Christ is my righteous. When he said, but you've come
short of the glory of God. But Christ didn't come short. He perfectly fulfilled. But you've broken every law in
the book. The law, the handwriting, the
ordinances are against you. You say, yes, but thank God Christ
kept every jot and tittle of the law. and blotted out to handwrite
in an ordinance. That's what you plead. Christ,
who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God
that justifies. Who is he that condemneth? For it's Christ that does. That's
our defense. That's our only defense. We can't
plead how good we've become. But Christ, we plead, cry, and
keep pleading, cry, and keep pleading, cry, and Satan will
leave you alone. Those temptations will flee for
a while. For a while. Until the next time.
Let me quote in closing a good poem to you. We were going to
sing this. Written by Joseph Hart. This
is good. Joseph Hart. He had a good name,
didn't he? Hart. Well, I believe the man
had a heart. for the truth. He loved the truth.
He wrote this hymn in reference to Ephesians 6. He said, Gird
thy loins up, Christian soldier. Lo, thy captain calls thee out. Let the danger make you bolder. War and weakness, dare not doubt. Buckle on thy heavenly armor.
Don't patch up in glorious peace. Let thy courage wax the warmer
as thy foes and fears increase. Bind thy golden girdle round
thee, truth to keep thee firm and tight. Never shall the foe
confound thee while the truth maintains thy fight. Righteousness
within thee rooted may appear to take your part, but let righteousness
imputed be the breastplate of thy heart. Shod with gospel preparation
in the paths of promise tread, let the hope of free salvation
as a helmet Guard thy head, and when beset with various evils,
wield the Spirit's two-edged sword. Cut thy way through hosts
of devils while they fall before the Word." They can't stand to
death. This is what our Lord pleaded,
and Satan left him for a season. So, having on the breastplate
of righteousness. Huh? All these tears and sorrow,
it's not going to be any more. It's going to be that much sweeter. Huh? It'll wean us. It weans
us from this world, too. If we didn't have any troubles,
we wouldn't stay here, wouldn't we? But God in wisdom and in
mercy and grace and love sends trials. Yes, sends trials. Sometimes you think they're unbearable
trials. But He said, Oh, you'll be able
to bear him. I'm not sending you anything
you can't bear. Why? He cares for you. And it's good
that I've been afflicted, David said, that I might learn thy
statutes and that I might be weaned from this world, that
I might find here no continuing city, but look for that which
is to come, whose builder and maker is God. Gonna make it sweet, Barbara.
Gonna make it sweet. Suffer for a while. After that,
he's going to perfect you. After you've suffered a while,
make you perfect. And the trial of your faith does perfect you.
Mature you. Make you perfect. Establish you. We need established, don't we?
Unmoved. Strengthen you. We need faith. We need assurance. We need courage.
Settle you. give you peace of mind, heart,
contentment, no matter what comes, we need to be saddled up. To
him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Now he says, I've written
to you by Silas, he sent the letter, exhorting and testifying
that this is the true grace of God wherein you stand. This God
of all grace, that's where it comes from. All grace, every
good and perfect gift comes down from the Father. And this is
the true grace. Very quickly, if you're taking
notes, I took these, and this is good. It really demands a
whole message by itself. But listen, true grace, this
is the true grace of God wherein you stand. True grace, now, is
the grace that saves and keeps safe. That's true grace. The grace of God wherein you
stand, that's going to make you stand, is grace that saves and keeps
you. It's going to keep you standing.
You're not going to fall, Joe. Why? It's true grace where you
stand. You're standing on grace. I'm
in grace that saves you, and grace is going to keep you safe.
It's true grace. Oh, the world talks about grace,
but this is true grace. It saves and it keeps. This is
the true grace of God. This is grace that forgives the
unfaithful. Catholicism says you better repent
right up to the end. You better repent of that last
sin or you're going to be lost. People, this is the true grace
of God, that when it's all said and done, if you lose your mind,
what if you lose your mind? Alzheimer's disease, huh? You
still seeing? Oh, this is the true grace that
keeps forgiving. It keeps forgiving, even though
you don't even have a mind to repent. It keeps forgiving, forgives
the unfaithful. This is the true grace that welcomes
and receives the prodigal. Boy, this is a grace I stand
on. This prodigal just keeps on going
astray. Keeps on going astray, but this
is true grace, the love of the Father to bring him back. And
doesn't rebuke him or reprove him, per se, or just humiliate
him, but falls on his neck and kisses him. That's true grace. This is a
true grace that cancels the debts that we were talking about this
morning. They talk about the blood of Christ, it paid for
your sins. But, now, that's not the true
grace I stand on. True grace cancels the debts.
Broughts out the handwriting. Christ said, He owes something,
charge it to me. Onesimus owes you something?
Charge it to my account. I'm going to pay it all. That's
the true grace wherein I stand. Jesus paid it all. All the debt
I owe. That's the true grace. True grace
forgets the debt. Has somebody, have you ever loaned
anybody money and they didn't pay it back? And it's hard to forget that,
isn't it? And I remember. And I'll forgive you this time,
but I won't forget. The Lord said, there's sins and
iniquity. I'll remember no more. The only
thing God can forget is your sins. This is the true grace. God forget the sins. forgets
the debt. Remember, no more. This is the
true grace of God that continues to forgive. How many times? Seven times. Seventy times and
on and on and on and on and on. This is the true grace of God
that where you stand. Like Martin Luther, I said, here
I stand. No place else to stand. Or like Peter and the fellow
said, to whom shall we go? Where are we going to go? Where
would we turn? This is the grace wherein I stand. All right. The church at Babylon elected
to give a salute to you. By the way, 13th Street salutes
you. Read on. Greeting one another
with a kiss of charity. That means show your affection. You can kiss if you want to.
That doesn't, that doesn't, kiss if you want to, if you're comfortable
with that. But what the principle is, show
your affection. I haven't seen my wife in a week. What if I didn't even acknowledge
her when she walked in the room? Huh? He tells us to do this several
times, doesn't he? Greet one another. One of the
brethren this morning, And it greeted me so warmly, and it
made my day. Peace be with you all that are
in Christ Jesus. Amen. All right. May the Lord
bless that to our hearts. Stand with me, and I'll dismiss. Our Lord, how we thank you for
your Word. It meets our every need. It deals with us. in every area that we need dealt
with. We thank you, Lord. It speaks to everyone, without
exception, all of your people, and wisely deals with them. Thank
you for your word. Apply it now. As we've said and
asked before, apply it to our lives. Let us be doers of the
word, not hearers only. Bring these things to our remembrance.
Cause the Holy Spirit to give us a good memory. Don't let the
fowls of the air now take these things away, but plant them.
In Christ's name, amen.