But look here with me in Ephesians
4 and verse 7, and it says this, But unto every one of us is given
grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. For for
he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive,
and gave gifts unto men. And then you go down in verse
11, and you just said the gifts he gave, and he gave some apostles.
But he has a little parenthesis here. And he says this, before
he ascended upon high, let captivity captive. Now, that one who ascended,
what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of
the earth? You've got to be down before you can go up. And he that descended, the one
that descended, the one that came down to the lowest parts
of the earth as the same one that ascended far above all heavens
that he might fill or fulfill all things. And he gave some
apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and
teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the
ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all
come into the unity of the faith, into the knowledge of the Son
of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of
the fullness of Christ." Now, I want to talk about our Lord's
ascension. It says in verse eight, Wherefore,
when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captives, and
gave gifts unto men. This is a quote from Isaiah 60,
excuse me, Psalm 68 and verse 18. Now the Lord's disciples
beheld His glory. John said they saw His glory
as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and full of truth.
And now Lord Jesus Christ is going up. He said He ascended.
He went up bodily. Now you keep Ephesians. Look
over Acts chapter 1. Let me show you what I'm talking
about. He went up. Our Lord ascended, and some men
were blessed and privileged to see Him go up. You remember,
I preached a couple of weeks ago on how before He left, He
lifted His hands and blessed them. And it's said here in Acts
chapter 1, in verse 1, it says, The foremost treatise have I
made thee, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and
to teach. Now listen to this, until the
day in which He was taken up. After that, he, through the Holy
Ghost, had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had
chosen. He said, I've declared everything
until he was taken up, until he was taken up. And look down
in verse eight. He said, But you shall
receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you,
and you shall be both witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, and all
Judea, and Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.
And when he hath spoken these things, while they beheld, he
was taken up, and a cloud received him out of the sight. And while
they looked steadfastly toward heaven, as he went up, two men
stood by him in wide apparel, and which said, Ye men of Galilee,
why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus which is taken
up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye
have seen him go into heaven." But they got to see Him go up.
They got to see Him ascend. They got to see Him leave this
earth. And boy, would it be wonderful if our Lord was still here with
us. to hear the wisdom from his mouth, to sit and talk and eat
with him like many did. How would you like to have been
sitting at the table of Mary and Martha and Lazarus, eating
a meal with them? How would you like to have been
in Simon's house when our Lord, Mary, came in and began to wash
his feet with her tears and dry them with the hairs of her head,
and listen to our Lord as He set forth His glories in forgiving
her of her sins? Wouldn't it have been something
to have been able to sit on the mountain, sign, and hear our
Lord Jesus Christ preach? But you know what he said? He
said, it's expedient for you, it's profitable for you that
I go away. For it's profitable for you that
I go away. It's the best for you, it's more
profitable for you that I go away. For if I go away, he said,
I'll send the Holy Spirit. I'll send you another comforter.
I'll send you one to comfort you, to teach you, to instruct
you, to lead you into all truth that will take the things that
belong to me and show them unto you. He'll take everything that
belongs to me, everything that the Father gave to me, everything
concerning me, and He'll take these things and show them unto
you. And He'll teach you. And He'll guide you into all
truth. All truth. But it says here in
Ephesians chapter 4, over in our text, that's what he said. It'd been wonderful, but he said,
he got to go away, got to go away. And he said here now, before
he ascended, he said, he also first, but now he that ascended
in verse 9, is he which also first descended into the lowest
parts of the earth. The same one who ascended came
down before he went back up. He descended. He said, He that
went up first descended to the lower parts of the earth. He
descended to be born of a virgin, of a poor woman, and of a peasant
woman. He descended to be born of a
virgin. He descended to be laid in a
manger, laid with a fed cow. He descended to that place. He
descended to be found in fashion as a man. And when you looked
at him, you saw nothing but one who said, this is Mary's son,
and this is Joseph's son. He descended to be found in fashion
as a man. And we see Jesus, who was made
a little lower than the angels, made to suffer death and tasted
death. And the reason he did it, that
he should receive back up into glory. But he came down here
and he was made lower than the angels. And he tasted death and
for the suffering of death. And then he went even lower in
descent to that and became obedient even to death. He descended even
to death. He said, I'll go to death, and
he descended to the death, even the death of the cross, the death
of a common criminal. And then he went lower than that. He actually died and was buried
in a rich man's tomb. And oh my,
he descended to the grave. But as he had power to lay down
his life, he had the power to take it up again, and he did.
He took it up again. And then after 40 days, before
he ascended back to glory, he gave many infallible proofs,
and showed himself to be alive, and appeared unto his disciples,
and speaking to them thanks concerning the kingdom of God. And then
the scripture says that he ascended, he first descended. But he did
ascend. He did ascend. You know what
he said? You know what I said? You know
what? Some things had to be done before he ascended. He says,
Father, I finished the work that you gave me to do. Now give me
the glory that I had with you before the world was. And then
not only did he ascend back up into glory, but he ascended into
heaven and ascended into glory as a public person, just like
he was a public person here on the earth. He was a representative
for his people on this earth. He was our high priest here,
and he was our sacrifice here, and he represented his people
here. He represented us before the law. He represented us before
God. Everything he did, he did for
somebody else. And so you see, when He ascended
up on high, He ascended as a public person, as I represented. He
ascended there not just for Himself, not just to get His own glory,
but also ascended there so that He could take our names there
with Him, take our persons up there with Him, take our cares
up there with Him. And not only that, but He ascended
to the very highest places there is in this whole universe. And you know where that's at?
at the right hand of the majesty on high." Look over here at Ephesians
1. Look what it says here in verse
19. He ascended. He did ascend. And
it said here in verse 19, and the apostles telling us, O that
God would give you eyes to see the glory of what is the exceeding
greatness of His power to us who believe. according to the
working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ when
He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right
hand in the heavenly places, far above all principalities
and powers." Everybody can talk about their power. Everybody
can talk about their authority. I said, here He's moved above
all principalities and powers. and against every might, and
every dominion, and every name that's named, not only in this
world, but He's set high above everything that will ever be
mentioned in the next world. And, O Beloved, that He put all
things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over
the church to all things, which is His body, the fullness, and
fills all. Now back over here in our text,
let's talk about our Lord's ascension. It says there in verse 8, Wherefore,
he saith, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive,
and gave gifts unto men. Now it says there he led captivity
captive in the margin, it said he led a multitude of captives. He led a multitude. Our Lord
ascended, first and foremost, as one who's won the victory.
As one who defeated everything. And then when He led all these
captives, captives, what was it that He led? Captivity. And
this is Isaiah, this is Psalm 68 and 18, the exact words that
were said there. When He ascended up on high,
He gave gifts, led captivity, captives, and gave gifts unto
men. He led captivity captive. What was the captivity? The things
that held captivity captive, a multitude of captives captive. Now you know what to be held
captive is. It's somebody to hold you and
keep you, and you're not able to get free. Now what did our
Lord keep captive? That was captive. What captivity
did he lead captive? Well, first of all, I'll tell
you this. He led the world captive. He led the world captive. What
I mean by that, beloved, he says, let not your heart be troubled.
Be of good cheer. I've overcome the world. This
world has a lot of allurement. This world has a lot of power.
But he says, don't let your heart be troubled. Don't you be troubled.
Don't you be afraid. In the world, in this world here,
while we're living in this world, he says you're going to have
tribulations. You're going to have trouble. But you just go
ahead and be a good cheer because I've defeated this world. I've
overcome this world. And it'll never keep you captive.
I took it captive. And it'll never take you and
keep you captive. Preachers are preaching all the
time. Come out from among the world. Don't be worldly. Don't
be this, that, don't be that. Well, listen, I got news for
you. God's people will never be worldly because Christ overcome
the world for his people. The world holds nothing for us.
And we talk about the world, we're talking about a system.
We're not talking about the heavens and the skies and the sun, the
moon, the stars. We're talking about systems.
Talking about an attitude, a nature, a principle. This world is full
of ambition, and pride, and arrogance, and self-righteousness, and self-aggrandizement,
and walks in a vain show. And God says, I'll let it captive,
and it ain't gonna get you. You'll have trouble in it. But
He says, you'll be in good cheer, I'll overcome it. I'll tell you
something else He let captive. He let sin captive. Sin held
us captive one time, He took it captive. He defeated it. He stripped sin. He, by the sacrifice
of Himself, He put sin away once at the end of the world. And
the Scriptures tell us that there's sins and iniquities I will remember
no more. And you know, He stripped sin
of its power. And you know how He did it? By
being made sin. No, not that he was a sinner
himself. No, no. But he was made sin for
us. And the scripture says thus,
that we are no longer under the law, but under grace. We have
become dead. Well, look in Romans chapter
6. Let me show you what I'm talking about. Look, we have become dead
to sin. Dead to it. Look what it says
here in Romans. It says in Romans 6, knowing this, that our old man
is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed,
that henceforth we should not serve sin. Now listen to it.
He that is dead is freed from sin. Dead. When you're dead, why in the
world is it going to affect you? And he says, we're dead to sin.
Where did we die to sin at? Where did Christ die to sin?
And watch what he says. Knowing that Christ, being raised
from the dead, dies no more, death hath no more dominion over
him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once, but in that
he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise, reckon yourselves to
be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through our Lord
Jesus Christ. So he let sin catch him. Sin
held us, he took it captive. And it ain't never gonna hold
us in bondage again. It can never lay hands on us
again. Can't do it. And then I'll tell
you something else he led captive. He was trying victor over, victor
over the world, victor over sin, victor over Satan. He bruised
the serpent's head. I mean, he bruised his head and
bruised it good. The Scriptures tells us, you
know, that over in 2 Timothy, you know that We're to pray for
those and preach to those and instruct those who are taken
captive by Satan at his will. And there was a time we were
taken captive by Satan at his will. He'd just come move in
and out on us just at his will. And beloved Christ come and took
Satan captive, put him on a chain. Everybody talks about how much
power the devil has, and the devil can do this, and the devil
can do that. The devil cannot do anything against the child
of God because Christ whipped him! Defeated him! I told you this morning, I said,
the prince of this world comes and he has no part in me! And
oh, beloved, what can he do that he hasn't already done to our
Lord? And oh, beloved, he's been defeated.
Look over here to your right in Colossians chapter 2. I mean,
he whipped him. That's what he talks about here
over principalities and powers. He's been defeated. And you all
know the story. You've heard the story before.
When Martin Luther said Satan come to him in a dream or a vision
one time and rolled out this old scroll of all of his sins
and just laid them out there and said, oh, Martin Luther,
look at him! Brought up the sins of crawling
on his knees and beating himself and torching his body so he could
be justified until God opened his eyes to the truth of justification
by faith. And he laid them out there and
says, yes! There they are. Look at them
scrolled. Signed in blood. The blood of Christ. He said,
they'll never be remembered against me again. And oh, beloved, look
what he said here in Colossians 2, talking about having power.
Look what he says in verse 14, verse 13. And you being dead
in your sins, And the filthiness, the uncircumcision of your flesh,
hath he quickened, given life together with him, having forgiven
you all trespasses." How did he do it? He brought out the
handwriting of ordinances that was against us. All that law
written on those tables of stones. He took it out of the, what was
contrary to us, that was against us, and took it out of the way.
What did he do to it? Nailed it to His cross. Oh, listen.
Here's the warrant. Here's the warrant for your arrest.
You're guilty of all these crimes. You're guilty of all these crimes.
You're guilty of pride and self-righteousness. You're guilty of hatred and enmity. You're guilty of lying, stealing,
cheating, murder, adultery, you name it. You're guilty of it.
And here's your crimes. Our Lord says that He took all
our crimes. Nailed them to His cross. And look what happens now. And
then having spoiled all these principalities and powers, that
word spoiled means that he stripped them, stripped them of their
authority, stripped them of their power, took the crown off of
everything that would have been against us. And he made a show
of them openly, triumphing, being victorious over them in it or
in himself. Do you see that? Oh my. So you see, He led captivity. He took, He triumphed over the
world. He triumphed over sin. He triumphed
over Satan. And everything that held us captive,
our Lord led captive and conquered them all. And I'll tell you something. I'll tell you some of the things
that He led captive, that held us captive morally. People say
He's a good moral man. No such animal. We may look like a whitewashed
sepulcher on the outside. That's what our Lord said. He
said, you look like a graveyard, beautiful graveyard on the outside,
but you know what you are on the inside? And He said He took
this moral evil, the power of our depraved natures, and He
had no sin, did no sin, and He was a sinless, perfect, holy
being. And this moral nature, that depraved
nature that we trusted Him, He left that captive. And we don't
trust in our morality anymore. And then our difficulties and
trials. He led them captive too, you
know. He said, he told Simon Peter, Satan has sought to sift
you as wheat. But listen to it. I prayed for
you that your faith fell not. and 11 and in all these trials,
you know why he saves us from our trials and difficulties?
Because he was tempted in all points like as we are, yet he
himself was out sinning. His whole life was a trial. And he was victor over every
trial that you and I would ever go through, and he's the mighty
conqueror. And that's why we say this, who
shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is
in Christ Jesus? Huh? Anything that's going to... He done defeated them. That's
why we say life or death or angels, principalities, things today,
things tomorrow, things to come. It don't make any difference.
Tribulations, He done ripped them off. And they're not going
to get us. And then let me... Oh, this is...
I love this. You know, He even led self-captive. What do I mean there? You know,
he did not have a power of self and self-motivation. He made
himself of no reputation. He emptied himself. He emptied
himself. He emptied himself of the glory. And when you saw him, you saw
someone who was absolutely full of humility, perfect humility. Perfect meekness, perfect submission. Self never entered into his vocabulary. I came not to do my will, but
the will of him that sent me. And so you see, now we no longer,
because of this power, we have a power self and we have this
power self motivation. We've taken up with self, but
our Lord Jesus Christ led that, and He didn't have that. Now
we no longer are trying to save ourselves or find our own lives. Now you look while I'm going
to tell you what I'm talking about. Look over in Matthew chapter 10 verse 39. Let me show you something. Our Lord didn't have any power,
self, or self-motivation. And now we're no longer trying
to save our lives or find our lives. And we spent most of our
lives trying to save our own lives. Look in Matthew 10, 39.
Our Lord said in verse 37, He that loveth his father more than
more than me is not worthy of me. What do you reckon that means? That means if you love your mommy
or daddy more than you love me, and you put them in my place.
Now, He said, honor your father and honor your mother. We're
going to do that. We're going to respect them. We're going to love them.
We're going to take care of them. But he said, if you put them in my
place, because your mother and father cannot save you, your
mother and father can't die for your sins, your mother and father
can't make you acceptable to God. And then he goes on to say
this, and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not
worthy of me. And oh, we love our children, my soul how we
love our children. But our children can't save us,
and we can't save them. And he that taketh not his cross
and followeth after me is not worthy of me. Now watch this.
He that findeth his life shall lose it. You find a way to save
yourself by your own means, by yourself, by your flesh, and
find a way around the cross. Find a way around this commandment
that our Lord just said that he that findeth his life, he'll
lose that. But watch this. He that loses his life, He said,
I give up self. I don't want self to be involved
in this religion anymore. I lose myself. I give myself
away. I have no trust in myself. He
that loses himself and his life for my sake, he's the fellow
that's going to have life. And that's what he's saying here.
You know, we have the power to destroy ourselves. We already
did that. But our Lord Jesus Christ left
self captive. And you know what we have now
in the place of self? We have Christ. We have Christ. He became to us what self was
before. And damn many times have you
heard these men get up here and pray and say, Lord, save us from
ourselves. Leave us not to ourselves. And
that's what I'm telling you about right here. He comes to us what
self was before. And He's the substitute for self
in our standing before God. Before it was self that stood
before God. It was our works that stood before
God. It was our commitment that stood
before God. It was our prayers that stood
before God. It was our alters that we went
to and our experiences stood before God. Now we count all
ourselves and everything we ever did but done. Now, instead of
everything that we ever believed in and hoped in and trusted in,
we count it but done. And we want to be found in Christ.
We want to win Christ. We want to know Christ. And you
know what? When the Holy Spirit comes, the
first thing He does is set aside self. Yeah, he writes death on
self. And oh, beloved, he sets aside
self-injustification and acceptance. And that's what our Lord meant.
He says, you know, if any man will follow me, let him deny
himself. And that don't mean quit buying
so many Cokes. That's not what that means. I've
heard preachers say that. They say, boy, you need to start
spending money on something besides yourself. When he said, deny
yourself this, deny yourself that, deny yourself that new
car, that's not what he's talking about. Deny you. You ain't got
absolutely nothing that you can bring to God. Absolutely nothing. You deny
self. You ain't got nothing you can
bring. And when you deny self, you come
empty-handed. You come empty. You come empty.
You come as you are. You have nothing. You know why
he says deny yourself? Because you ain't got nothing. You got a sinful heart, sinful
mind, sinful faith. And so what can we bring to God
of self? And that's why Paul says, you
know, I've written the sentence of death in myself. Oh my. Paul did. That's what he did
in Philippians. He says, you know that righteousness
that I had after so long? That's done. You know I was a
full-blooded Jew? That's done. You know I was a
Pharisee? That's done. You know I had a
lot of zeal? That's done. Well, what have you got good,
Paul? Christ. I want to know Him. I want to
win Him. I want to be found in Him. And
all that was against us. Oh, Christ is in the place of
self now. And oh, Lord Jesus, please not
leave us to our self. If there be any, that's why we
pray, Lord, if there be any wicked way in me, save me, deliver me,
Saved me from it, all that was against us, He took it out of
the way. The law was against us, He fulfilled it. He nailed
it, and the handwriting to it on His cross. Death was against
us. And now we say, O grave, where
is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting? Thanks be unto Christ, which
giveth us the victory. And I tell you, beloved, nothing
in earth, nothing in heaven, nothing in hell that you can
think of can be against us now, because Christ took it all captive
and took it to glory with it, and it ain't going to come back
and get us again. Huh? That's why I said, if God be
for us, who in the world is going to be against us? It's God that
justifies who in the world is going to continue. And guess who else they conquered
and laid captive? All of us. Did He conquer? Did He triumph
over us? He held us captive. Lord, go
ahead and put them chains on me. Chain me to you. Chain me to you. I'll be your
captive. I'll be your slave. Just chain me to you. Huh? And
then it says not only that he ascended up on high and led captivity
captive, a multitude of captives. Everything that held us captive,
he took captive. And now we're the Lord's free
men. And look what it said here, not only that, that he led captivity
captive, then he gave gifts unto men. And look in Isaiah, I mean,
excuse me, Psalm 68. Let's look at this verse over
here. And this has a little deeper meaning to it, I think, if we
can look at it and see it. Psalm 68, verse 18. It said,
He came, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. And
it said in Psalm 68, verse 18, Thou hast ascended on high. Thou
hast led captivity captive. that has received gifts for men."
And if you look in the margin, it says, "...that has received
gifts in the man." What does that mean, in the man? He received
gifts to put in men, and Christ received the gifts in His man.
And He, not only that, but He received gifts for the rebellious
also, that the Lord God, might dwell among them." And what are
some of these gifts he gave? He said, well, he said, blessed
be the Lord, he outloads us every day with benefits, even the God
of our salvation. Now it says there that he receives
gifts in man, or for man, and he received them in himself.
Now back over in our text, over in Ephesians. Well, God gave
him. He received the gifts himself.
And God gave Him glory, God gave Him power, God gave Him sovereign
rule over everything in this universe. And the Father gave
Him grace. And then look what it says, what
He gives us. In verse 7, Ephesians 4, But unto every one of us is
given grace. That's what He gives us. He gives
us grace. Oh, my! Grace was given unto
Him. Grace was the first thing given,
and grace, and He was given to Him from eternity, and He gives
us grace. Huh? Oh my, He gives us grace. When did He give us this grace?
In Himself before the foundation of the world. And then when this
grace, when He gave us this grace, you know what He gave us? He
brought the Holy Spirit with Him. And He says when the Holy
Spirit would come, He would convince us of sin. because we believe
not on Christ. Not only would He convince us
of sin, but He would convince us of righteousness, the righteousness
of Christ, that our righteousness is our appeal to Him. He'd convince
us of judgment, that we have nothing but judgment to face
unless Christ saves us by His grace. And He said, they shall
look upon Him whom they feared, and shall mourn as one mourns
for an only begotten Son. And He comes to convince us,
and then He gives us the revelation. of salvation in Christ Himself,
these gifts that He gives us when He brings this grace to
us. He gives us the revelation of Christ, makes us to see Christ,
to understand Christ. He says the Holy Spirit, when
He's come, He'll take the things of mine. And He'll show them
to you. Show them to you. Show you the things of Christ.
Not the things of the millennial. None of the things that's going
to happen in the eternity. None of the things that's going
to happen in the dispensations. None of the things that's going
to happen when this happens, that other thing happens, when
the Jews get this thing right, and we're watching the clock
move. No. He said He'll take the things of Christ and show
them to us. And oh, beloved, that's why Simon,
when he came into the temple, and Christ was eight days old,
and they took him there to offer him, newborn baby. They took him to offer him firstborn,
to offer him unto the Lord. And they had to bring their sacrifices
to offer him as the firstborn, to redeem him according to the
law. And they're in there, and there's no telling how many other
Jewish mothers, but that old man Simon, the Lord had already
told him, said, Simon, you're not going to leave this world
until you've seen my salvation, until you've seen my Son, until
you've seen Christ. He walked through there, and
he's looking around there one day, and he saw this little baby
was still wrapped up like a baby. He picked that child up. Now,
how in the world would he know how all them babies, which one
was And he says, Lord, now lettest thy servant depart in peace,
for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast promised. He's
looking at the midday old baby, and he's ready to go now. Why?
Because he saw. Where did he get that sight to
know which one was the Christ, which one was salvation? The
one that God, the same way we did. And the same way you will. The Holy Ghost took and shows
you the things of Christ. And, oh, beloved, He comes and
brings us this grace, and when He brings grace, He brings repentance.
And you know what repentance is? I don't mean take too long,
but repentance is a change of mind. It's a great change of
mind. It's a sorrow over your sin. It's a sorrow of your thoughts.
It's a sorrow of yourself. It's a sorrow that changes your
mind. You change your mind about God.
You change your mind about salvation. You change your mind about the
way you say. You change your mind about how
you think of yourself. Your mind is changed dramatically
about God, and about Christ, and about salvation, and about
yourself, and about sin. Your mind will change about sin. You'll understand that sin is
not what you do, it's what you are. It's in nature. It's in
your heart. And He brings His repentance
to you. Oh, my. Then he brings faith. He goes, when he gives his grace,
he brings faith with him. All men have not faith, but by
grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It's
the gift of God. Oh, my. Faith is the operation
of the gift of God. If men have these abilities of
repentance and faith and grace in themselves, they have some
word of both. But he says, what have you got that you didn't
receive? Who made you to differ? And then
I tell you what, He comes and He brings the Word of God to
us. He brings the Word of God to us. Look over here with me
in John 17, just a moment. John 17 and 8. Just look at this
a moment. Talking about He gives us the
Word of God. He brings us the Word, gives us an understanding
of it. You see, He was the Word manifested in the flesh. And
then the written Word, Makes us understand the living word,
and you can't separate the living word that came here and the written
word. You'll never know Christ apart from the written word,
and you'll never know the living word apart from the written word.
Look what he said in John 17 and 8. For I have given unto
them the words which thou hast given me, and they have received
them. That's one of the most astounding
statements you'll ever read in the Bible. He said, I gave you
the words. I gave them the words that you
gave to me. And they received them. And have
known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed
that thou didst see me. They believed the words. Our
Lord Jesus Christ says, the words that I speak unto you, they're
spirit and they are life. And oh, he brings us the Word
of God and makes it alive to us. And he brought us the knowledge
of God. When he brings grace, he brings
us the knowledge of God. He says, The Father loveth the
Son, giving all things into his hands. No man knows the Son,
the Father, but the Son, and he to whomsoever he'll reveal
him. And I do know this, with this
knowledge comes life. When Christ brings the knowledge
of God, He said, this is eternal life that they might know be,
the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom thou canst see. And then
guess what He does? When He brings this grace, He
also brings love with it. The love of God is shed abroad
in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. Oh, Father, I want them to know
that I love them just like You love me, and that You love them
just like You love me. And we love Him. Why? Because
He first loved us. And we love one another. Why?
Because His love is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost.
And so, you see, beloved, and not only does He give us these
gifts, but He also gives us, and I love this, He'd give us
the gift of perseverance. What does that mean? Well, look
in Hebrews 10. I'll show you. You say, well, do you reckon
you'll... You know, I remember folks saying this all the time.
He said, pray for me that I'll hold out to the end. I used to
hear people say that all the time in the service. Pray for
me that I'll hold out to the end. You all ever heard anybody
say that? And when they give a testimony
service? Pray for me that I'll hold out to the end. I want to
hold out to the end. You know, here's the thing about
salvation. We're in a person. We're in Christ. You didn't put yourself in there,
so you can't take yourself out. And salvation is a new birth. And you can't give yourself this
spiritual life, so you can't take the spiritual life back.
That's why he says the gifts and calling of God are without
repentance. And he gives us the gift of perseverance, that we
will persevere all the way to the end. Look here in Hebrews
10, verse 38. Hebrews 10, 38. Now the just
shall live by faith. If any man draw back, my soul
shall have no pleasure in him. But now listen to this. But we
are not, we are not, we are not of them that draw back under
perdition. Demas has forsaken us, having
loved this present evil world. But Timothy didn't. Luke didn't. Barnabas didn't. Silas didn't.
What's this now? But we are not of them who draw
back unto perdition, but to them that believe." To the saving
of ourselves. Ah? Oh, beloved, we have this
confidence that He, which begot a good work in you, He'll perform
it unto the day of Jesus Christ. And He says, these all died in
faith, having not received the promises. We've got the promises
that they was died looking for. Ah? And you know what persevering
means? Arthur W. Peete made it this
way. Maintaining a profession of Christ. Maintaining a profession
of Christ. Maintaining a profession of his
doctrine. Maintaining a profession of faith in Christ until you
leave this world. And that's what it is. You maintain
that profession, that confession that you have in Christ. And
this grace is all a gift of Christ. And that's what he said in our
text. Didn't he say that? He said, unto every one of us
is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. This grace justifies us, pardons
us, adopts us, sanctifies us, and it's given to every one of
God's people. Christ gives them a gift of grace.
Gives them a gift of grace. Then he gave gifts to the church.
He gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers. And why did
he do that? Why did he give these gifts to
the church? For the perfecting of the saints sitting out here. When I'd hear these men preach
years and years ago, I'd still hear them preach. I'm being perfected. Whenever we're being perfected,
this gospel comes and perfects us and makes us mature. And guess
what? We'll grow up unto a perfect
man. And what is that perfect man to we're just the fullness
of the statue of Christ. When we get like that, we're
leaving this place. Ain't no place else to go. Ain't
that right? Amen. Amen.