Alright if you wish to follow
along turn to Romans chapter 3 And if you do not remember where
I left off the last time I Preach don't feel too bad because I
had to look at my notes Romans chapter 3 I do hope that
we're our back and up going on live stream. We had some problems
there, but Pray God that it's back up and going again. Romans
chapter three. I want to read verses 21 through
26. 21 through 26. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested, being witnessed, or that is,
attested to by the law and the prophets. Even the righteousness
of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ, unto all and upon
all them that believe, for there is no difference. For all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified
freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through
faith in his blood. to declare his righteousness
for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God. To declare, I say, at this time,
his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of
him which believeth in Jesus. Now I have something for you
this morning, but the question is, will God enable me to present
it to you should be presented. And will God open my heart and
mind and ears and your heart and mind and ears once again
to hear this truth. As Joe as ably said, I have nothing
new to preach. I have nothing new to say. But
oft times I have found that I newly discover the old truth that is
in the book. Now thus far, our brother, the
Apostle Paul, and I mean to say it that way. He's not just the
Apostle Paul, he is our beloved brother and our apostle. Thus far, our brother Paul's
letter has exposed our universal and utter corruption. Now he
has mentioned the gospel, and gave some information concerning
the gospel on two occasions up to this point, up to verse 20.
But most of it has been this, Paul exposing the universal and
utter corruption of mankind. In our text, the one that I just
read, in our text, we will now see that God has settled believing
sinners dilemma. You hear what I said? God has settled believing sinners
dilemma. Right, I'll wait till that gets
done. Now I do not say this to belittle
you or belabor you, I say this for Paul's benefit. I realize
that titles are not all that much, but I do also realize that
sometimes when men and women look through religious material,
they look for a title that interests them. And I have to say I do
the same myself. So when I'm doing this, not to
belittle or belabor anyone here, I'm doing this for Paul's benefit.
God has settled believing sinners and put that, is it not a comma,
what is it called? No. Put the, let's see, I've
done lost it now. God has settled believing sinners.
It's all sinners, not one sinner. or not a group of believing sinners.
God has settled believing sinners dilemma, all of them. Now Paul
introduces this good hope, this gracious hope with two words.
And you may be just like me, you read those words and you
read right over them. And don't even stop to consider
because we wanna get to the real stuff. We wanna get to the words
like justification and redemption and propitiation, don't we? Now
don't we? And I understand that. But he
introduces this good hope, this grand and glorious hope of grace
with two words, but now. But now, verse 21, right? But
now. Now listen to me. But now may
seem simple enough, but it is not. And I will try to illustrate
why that's so. But now can mean something was
once valid and is no longer valid. Correct? You can say but now. And there are many, what I'm
going to term hyper-dispensationalists, that love this but now for their
sake. Because they think at one time,
God was saving Israel by the keeping of the law. But now God
is saving people by grace through Christ. That's not what Paul's
talking about. It's not what he's talking about.
But now can mean one issue as opposed to another. Right? One issue as opposed to another.
And of course there are many people who love to take the Bible
and have one issue as opposed to another. And they like to
argue one issue over or against another. So you see what I'm
getting at. But now does matter. It does
matter. Paul's but now, on the other
hand. Paul's but now expresses an eternal
truth being manifested in its absolute form, an absolutely
faithful person, Jesus Christ the Lord. You see what I just
said? Now I've kind of just tried to
paraphrase verses 21 and 22, and I'll read it here in a moment,
but let me say it again. Paul's but now expresses an eternal
truth being manifested in its absolute form, an absolutely
faithful person, Jesus Christ the Lord. But now, the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested. Now, it's just manifested because
it's always been there. He has always been there. And he and God's purpose has
always been considered as our brother. Our surety. He is as the lamb slain from
before the foundation of the world. So you see the importance.
You could say, but now, and then start from your opinion of what
but now should mean, then you start trying to interpret what
Paul says to fit your idea of what but now is. But you must
interpret the but now based upon the doctrinal facts that Paul
presents in the rest of the verses. But now, the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested. And I don't wanna get too ahead
of myself, but You probably could go back and listen to this series
I've preached, starting from Romans. I've probably quoted
this, verse 21, and I've probably put in there, but now the righteousness
of God without the law, that is without any effort on our
part. That's certainly true, but that's
not what Paul's saying here. That's not what Paul, he doesn't
say it. See, we're so prone to add in our explanation rather
than God show me what he actually said and bow me to it. but now
the righteousness of God without the law on anybody's part. The context of what Paul is talking
here about is the person and work of Jesus Christ. Now don't
come to me later and say preacher I think that maybe you indicated
Christ never kept the law. I never said no such thing and
I mean no intent of any such thing. But our redemption in
Christ Jesus was not a mosaic, Sinai, Levitical act. It was a divine act of the almighty
God manifest in human flesh. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested and the law and the prophets
are not adverse to this thing, this righteousness. They attest
to it. They witnessed to it, and I had
many verses I was gonna go through about the law and the prophets,
and I thought, no, you can look those up yourself. I'm just gonna
drop that, because my title and my subject is God Has Settled
Believing Sinners' Dilemma. Our dilemma is the law. But more
importantly, our dilemma is our sin and sins down in here. So again, Paul now, his but now,
expresses an eternal truth be manifested in its absolute form,
an absolutely faithful person, Jesus Christ the Lord. Men debate,
and I've been there, and God help me, I probably will find
myself there again. But let me just say this, you
do not, no one is ever converted by debating the scriptures and
by arguing the scriptures. They're converted by the proclamation
of the person and work of Jesus Christ. Now there is a time for
debate. There is a time for argument,
okay? But one thing we don't do is
debate with unbelievers, or argue with unbelievers. Now we may
debate and argue amongst ourselves, but we must do it in the sense
of long-suffering with one another, because none of us knows anything
really yet, as we ought to know it. But we don't debate and argue
these things with the world out there in general. That is not,
just tell them what God's done for you. And who it was, who
the person is he did it in. Jesus Christ the Lord. That's
all you gotta do, Joe. Just tell them what God's done
for you. Look, but now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested,
being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness
of God. Now that's twice he's called
it the righteousness of God. Which is by faith of Jesus Christ. Now when you read that, you know
what that means. Oh, and it's called an apostrophe. That's
what that mark I was looking for earlier with Paul. Put the
apostrophe, Paul, after the S. Sorry for that little interlude
there. Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of
Jesus Christ, his own personal faith. Unto all, that means it's
a gift, because it's unto, not worked up by. Unto all, and upon
all, that means it's personal for each and every one of them.
This ain't some just collective and God saved us as a big old
group. Now he saved a lot of people
at different times, a lot of people at the same time, but
he did it individually to each and every one of them. If it
was one woman at a whale or if it was 5,000 at another time,
he did it individually for each and every one. It's unto all
and upon all them that believe for there is no difference. Every
one of these believers is sinned and comes short of the glory
of God. That's the meaning of what Paul just said. Now when
I was in religion, I was taught that's the verse you prove to
everybody that we're all sinners. No, verses nine through 20 prove
we're all sinners. Verse 23 states that even believing
sinners, believers have sinned and still do sin and come short
of the glory of God. That's the actual context now.
Now I must say it's wrong to tell someone, the book says we've
all sinned and come short of the glory of God. It does mean
everybody, but that's not actually what Paul's saying right there.
He's saying even believers have sinned and come short of the
glory of God. Believing doesn't wipe out your
sin. Only the redemption of God in
Christ Jesus could wipe out our sin. So again, I say men debate, and
think about this. And I know we could probably
get into some big arguments about this, but they debate. Is this
righteousness, legal righteousness? And I've got several commentaries,
I read them at times. I usually do not because they
confound the devil out of me. And they usually get my mind
away from what it really says because everybody's trying to
explain what it says rather than emphasize what it says. Okay,
so men debate, is this legal righteousness? Is this essential
God righteousness? I read a couple commentaries,
this is not the essential righteousness of God. Okay, just hold on my
ear while I argue. Or is this some other kind of
righteousness? Is it imputed righteousness or imparted righteousness? See, you can argue all day long.
And that's what being women do. That's what we do by nature.
as we sit and try to argue all these things and find out what
it really is. It is what Paul wrote it is. It's that simple. It's the righteousness of God
without the law. Isn't that what he says? I said
don't go looking for more explanation. It's not a legal righteousness,
it's a God righteousness. Right? It's not a legal righteousness,
as a matter of fact, Now, dare I say this? Yes, I dare say this.
Nowhere in this Bible does it say that God imputes or imparts
to us legal righteousness. It says it imputes and imparts
to us the righteousness of God in Christ. And God's righteousness
is far more than mosaic, Sinai righteousness. Does God worship
only himself? God's not worshiping himself.
He is. He is. But the Son worshiped
the Father. You hear what I'm saying? Even
the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ. Now, I generally like the amplified
Bible. It sometimes helps, but now remember,
because I mentioned that, you've never read one, you get one,
don't take it as thus saith the Lord, because it is amplified. It is a paraphrase. But sometimes
it's very helpful, especially with some of the old English.
But I was so disappointed when I read the Amplified Bible on
verse 22, because it did not emphasize the personal faith
of Jesus Christ. It only talked about believing
in Jesus Christ, and that's not what Paul wrote. even the righteousness
he mentioned in the first part of verse 21, he now is again
describing but elaborating on a little more this God righteousness,
even the righteousness of God by faith of Jesus Christ. Most people would be surprised.
God's got faith. God is the only source of faith. Faith is, called by Paul, a fruit
of the Spirit, the fruit of God, along with love, joy, peace,
longsuffering. They are a characteristic or
an attribute, some argue as to which is better. Arg, arg, arg,
arg, arg, arg, arg, arg, arg, arg, arg, arg. Faith is a quality,
a perfection, found only in God. And somebody says, well, is faith
and faithful different? No! You can't be faithful without
faith, and if you got faith, you're gonna be faithful. So again, men debate. Well, let's
just look at what it is. Now, let me give you six things.
It is God's righteousness without law. Christ kept the law, but he didn't
keep the law so that we might have a legal righteousness. Paul
said he had a legal righteousness. Now did he or did he not? He
said before the law I was blameless. I don't want my own righteousness
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ. The righteousness which is of
God by faith. Is that what he wrote or not?
I have far better than illegal righteousness. Far better than
illegal righteousness. The law was satisfied and obeyed
by Christ to show his absolute perfection before God. And Earl
emphasized that to us over and over for years. And I didn't
really catch it. I didn't really catch it. I hope
I'm starting to get a little glimpse of it now. It is a God-righteousness
without law. That's exactly what Paul wrote,
right? That's exactly what he meant, okay? Now secondly, it
is Jesus Christ's faithfulness. We read that, first part of verse
22. Turn to Hebrews 3. Hebrews chapter 3. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers
of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of
our profession, Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus, who was, what's
that next word? Faithful. Faithful, and faithful
to who, to men? No, he was faithful to men. He didn't covet after his neighbor's
wife, did he? But he's faithful to him that
appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. Jesus Christ is the only man
who had this true, absolute, both divine and human faithfulness. both divine and human righteousness. Not one or the other, not a mixture
of the two, but it's one righteousness accomplished by the God-man.
By the God-man. It's just like there's not imputed
righteousness and imparted righteousness. There is righteousness that's
imputed and there's righteousness that's imparted. It's the same
blessed righteousness. There's not different kind of
righteousness. but there is simply righteousness. As a matter of fact, as I told
you, this book never says or even indicates that we're imputed
a legal righteousness. It says by faith, and I've lost
my thought, by faith we establish the law. It says also that we,
The law is fulfilled in us, not by us, but in us, who walk not
after the flesh, but after the spirit. And what's that mean
to walk after? Love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness, meekness, temperance. Against such, there
is no law. So when I do those things, being
led by the spirit of God, I am walking in righteousness. As a matter of fact, Christ kept
the law. But guess what about this? Paul said the law is not
of faith. Did he not say that? The law
is not of faith. We're talking about a faith righteousness.
A faith righteousness. And this faith righteousness
dwells only in one single human being, that's the God man. As
a matter of fact, now just turn to it, I want you to return to
Psalm chapter 22. But before I read the one verse,
and if you look at it while I'm, if you get there before, when
you begin to read this chapter, it is no question, this is Jesus
Christ. I believe many of the Psalms.
have dual application. The psalmist himself may be speaking
of an experience he himself had, but it also be messianic at the
same time. And I'm sure that the psalmist
David, a psalm of David, it says, felt at times, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? I'm sure he felt that way, but
this ain't talking about David. This is talking about Christ.
Did you know one of the main things they mocked Christ about
when he hung on that tree, do you know what it was? Anybody
know? Look at verse eight. He trusted
on the Lord that he would deliver. They mocked him because of his
faith, because of his trust of the Father, because of his devotion
and love and submission to the Father. And they mocked him for
it when he hung on that tree. You see that? He trusted on the
Lord that he would deliver him. Let him deliver him, seeing he
delighted in him. They were mocking Christ. But
what they mocked and who they mocked is my only hope. That's my, mock all mockers.
I rejoice in it. I rejoice in it. There's a third
thing, this third thing. This righteousness is Jesus,
God's son, now notice how I said that. This righteousness is Jesus,
God's son's perceptive obedience. We're gonna see his faith. John
chapter 17, he mentions it. Now, these, the writer, I know,
I know, you read your Bible, you'll say sometimes you, Jesus
Christ the Lord. Sometimes it'll say Christ Jesus
the Lord. Sometimes it may just say Christ
Jesus. Sometimes it may just say Jesus Christ. Sometimes it
may just say the Lord. This is not just men being a
little lazy at some times or a little more exuberant at other
times. This is the Spirit of God pointing out certain things
to us. These words spake. Not Christ, he's still the Christ. I'm not denying he was the Christ.
But why'd the spirit move John to say Jesus? Because we're talking
about a man. A man. These words spake Jesus
and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, so now he's
acknowledging that he's the father's son, is he not? The Father, the
hour has come, glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify
thee, as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he
should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only
true God, Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. Now here it is,
I, who, Jesus, God's Son. You see? Jesus, God's son, that's
the way it's presented to us. I have glorified thee on the
earth. Do you see that? He was faithful,
you see it? I have finished, there's his
perceptive obedience. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. He's talking about all of his
faithfulness to God in his sojourn here on this earth. We see it,
as I say, this righteousness is Jesus, God's son's preceptive
obedience, but it's also more than that. Number four, this
righteousness is Jesus Christ, the Lord's penal obedience. Turn to Philippians chapter two.
Now you all heard this over and over again from me, Joe, Paul,
you've heard us mention these things. Number four, this righteousness
is Jesus Christ the Lord's penal obedience. Clearly, Paul writing
to the Philippians said, verse five of Philippians two, let
this mind be in you which is also in Christ Jesus. And he's
given us here practical instruction about the way we ought to try
to think. Right? And he's given us instruction
based on how we're all to walk. Think and walk and talk and everything
else. And that's the import, but look
at what he says. Verse eight, speaking of Christ. And being found in fashion as
a man. He humbled himself and became
obedient. That's not in the sense that
he was disobedient and started being obedient, but this is a
specific obedience. He'd already finished the work
the Father gave him to do. Did he not pray that? But he
still had to go to Calvary. But because that work he was
talking about or prayed about in John 17 was his preceptive
obedience. Him obeying God's law, God's
sovereign will. More than the law. Right? Everything,
everything that God commanded him. Did he not say this commandment
have I received of my father? Evidently Mason, the father commanded
him to go do some things. Right? He obeyed. Oh, but here
we see it crescendoing in his penal obedience and humbled himself
and became obedient unto death. But not just any death. We're
gonna be obedient unto death. You're gonna die when God says
you die. And you're gonna obey that whether
you like it or not. But he set his face like a flint
toward disobedience. And became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. Oh, time fails me and words fail
me. An experience, I don't have any
idea what it was like, of what it was like for him when he cried
out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? I don't know
what that's like. Jack Mattis, when I was in my
rebellion and unbelief, And in free willism, God was still protecting
me. Being gracious to me and merciful
to me. I didn't know it and I despised
it, but he was. But something happened on Calvary
that we can't explain. The everlasting father turned
his back on the everlasting son in a way that the son experienced
what it was to be separated from his father. I just want to believe it because
that's my hope. If the Father turned his back on the Son, for
me, bless God, he will never turn his back on me. Never! Never! But I've sinned. We've
all sinned and come short of the glory of God. You and I have
sinned today. We sinned when we walked in this
building. We're probably sinning right
now. Some of our thoughts, my thoughts, even my thoughts wander.
I hear that phone. Why did I just block it out and
go on? Because I sin against God. I can let everything and
everyone take me away from the truth of God in a heartbeat. Number four, this righteousness
is Jesus Christ the Lord. Jesus Christ is it, Jesus is
the Christ. But every mouth's gonna confess
that he's what? Lord, to the glory of God the
Father. Thank God for those he makes
to confess it now. Now. You ain't gonna have a hard
time confessing it at the judgment. But if you don't confess it now,
God's gonna force you to confess it at the judgment. Number five,
thanks to God. Thanks to God, this righteousness
is to everyone who believes Christ in spite of their having sinned.
Do you see the context of it now? Look at it. Even the righteousness
of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all, this righteousness
is unto you and upon you. If you believe, believe what? Believe who? Believe him. Believe
him. For there is no difference for
every believer has sinned and comes short of the glory of God Number six this righteousness
includes blood redemption free gracious Justification now we
may or may not I don't know yet go back and look at some of these
things or I may just move on I don't know yet But this righteousness
includes blood redemption, we see it here, free, gracious justification,
propitiation, remission of sins. Sins before Christ died and sins
after Christ died. That's what he's talking about.
Look at it, verse 22. Even the righteousness of God,
which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that
believe, for there is no difference for all, and you can say all
believers, that's the context, right? For all have sinned and
come short of the glory of God. Being justified. Even while we
were sinning, we were being justified. Is that not what that's saying?
Being justified, so clearly it's not by what we were doing. Was
it not? Being justified freely by his
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
God. So it's a person. This righteousness
is a person, is a person, is a person. I know we hammer on
it, but it's a person. You come to a person. Peter said,
to whom coming? Now if you come to the right
whom, you're gonna start understanding, begin to start understanding
the what's. You're gonna start coming to
know the doctrines because you're gonna wanna know who he really
is and what he really said and what he really demands, are you
not? You even gonna love his law that says thou shalt not
covet even though you know you do. and your desire is to never
covet again, but as soon as you desire it, you start doing it.
You start coveting again. Whom God hath set forth, an amazing
word, to purposefully exhibit for worship. When I read that,
it's actually two words. If you just look at the one word,
you get part of it, but then you look at the other word that
the Greek word is made up of, it means to purposefully exhibit
for worship. God intends for men and women,
believing men and women. Now God demands all men and women,
but God intends for believing men and women to worship Christ,
and they do. It's okay to worship that man.
Now you don't worship this man. You don't worship any other man
or woman. But it's honoring to God to worship this man, whom
God has sent forth to be a propitiation, a mercy seat. Propitiation through
faith in his blood. Who's the nearest antecedent? Not our faith in his blood, God's
faith in his blood. And that's why God would justify
people who had sinned against him even before Christ died.
Look, whom God has set forth to be a perpetuation through
faith in his blood to declare his righteousness. So this is
connected to this righteousness, right? This his God righteousness,
God's right to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that
are passed through the forbearance of God. The only reason any Old
Testament saint had any hope was because Jesus Christ was
their surety before the foundation of the world. God the Father
trusted him and his blood to do everything that was needed
to satisfy God's divine justice. Through the forbearance of God,
to declare, I say it, this time. Now what's this time? After he
died, because he's already died. See it? To declare, I say it
this time, his righteousness, so we see it's all still connected
to this righteousness, that, and this is amazing, that he,
that God might be right, that God might be just, and the justifier
of him which believeth in Jesus. That's good news, ain't it? It
is if you believe. It is if you believe. So again
I say, this righteousness includes blood redemption, pre-gracious
justification, propitiation. Aren't you glad your sins are
remitted? Remitted. They still exist with
you. Mine still exists with me. I
can't get away from them. I can't get away from them. But
God's put them behind his back. He says I forgot about them.
and he's right to do so because they've been paid for by Jesus
Christ on that tree. To declare, I say, at this time,
his righteousness. Now let me just sum this up.
Now, how stupid are we if we wanna
sit around and debate and argue as to what kind of righteousness
this is? It says it right here, does it not? It says it right
here, does it? Sit around and argue. But here's
another thing, I submit that we give the earnest heed, earnest
heed, to believing Christ. And as we will see, God willing,
later, Abraham believed God. That means he was believing Christ.
And the only law he had, which was God's law, was written in
his heart, but he didn't have it in tables of stone so he could
see what it really was. It was in his conscience, but
conscience is depraved just like the heart is. But yet he believed
God in a way that caused him to walk in honor of God. Yeah. I don't have to have that
law set before my eyes because every time I do, you know what
I see? Sin, sin, sin, sin, sin! That's all I ever see in the
law. If you see anything else in the law, if you see your righteousness
before God in that law, you are blind to this God righteousness
by the faith of Christ. And thousands are. Now again,
I'm not saying we despise God, we don't despise. Believers are
the only people who truly establish, make to stand the law. Because
they acknowledge the law for what it is, holy, just, and good. And they delight in the law of
God after the inward man. And they serve it in the inward
man. But with their flesh, what do
they serve? The law of sin. And you're not going to escape
that if you're a believer. And be thankful for it. You know
what I said? I know it's hard to thank for
the second part, but be thankful that you don't hate God's law.
Because most folks do. Oh, they give great lip service. But they think, who is God to
demand of me? He's our creator. He's our sovereign. He's our Lord. He has the right
to demand of us everything that is right and just and holy and
pure. And he provided it for us in
his son. And now we can properly take the flowers upon the grave
of the law and say, I honor you. You are wholly just and good.
And I look to Him who totally satisfied you and satisfied the
Father as well. Believe, what does it say? Believe,
believe, isn't all this blessing to believers? Believers, believers,
right? Believers, verse 26, to declare,
I'll say it this time, his righteousness that God might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Last thing, turn to
Hebrews chapter 10, I'll close with this. Hebrews chapter 10. I submit this to us, that we
believe Believe, believe. And somebody said, but that's
all? Yeah, when you believe God, everything else will follow after. By faith, Abraham what? Did what he was supposed to do,
right? By faith, being moved with fear by faith, Noah built
an ark like he was supposed to do, right? The obedient act,
Mason, flowed from faith. Not a devotion to law. Not a
devotion to self. Not a devotion to reward. But
devotion to God. I believe God. God says build
a boat. Bless God, then what do you do?
You build a boat. When God says don't covet, you
know what you do? You try not to covet. Now notice
I said that time, you try not to covet. Because there's some
things down in here we can't do. Can't do. I submit that we believe, believe,
believe. Do I have scripture for that?
Yeah, Hebrews 10 verse 31. It is a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God. Now that means exactly what
your mind is telling you that means. It's a fearful thing to
fall into the hands of the living God. It will not be pleasant
for all who go under it. called to remembrance the former
days in which after you were illuminated, and let me just
say this, after God saved you, after you opened your eyes and
your ears and your heart, after you were illuminated, you endured
a great fight of afflictions, partly whilst you were made a
gazing stock, both by reproaches and afflictions. In other words,
you suffered after God saved you. And I'm here to tell you,
any of you all, you know this, but I'm here to tell anybody
else, when God saves you, it's not gonna be pie in the sky and
a sweet bye-bye. Sometimes it's gonna feel like
hell on this earth because even your loved ones will come to
despise you if you stand up for the truth of Jesus Christ. Now
if you sit back in the corner and keep your mouth shut all
the time, everything will go okay, but when you stand up for
the truth of God, even your loved ones will rain down on you. But
I tell you what, it's not just that. And partly, whilst ye became
companions of them that were so used. Those you really care
about in Christ, you find people doing the same thing to them
too, and it hurts. It hurts. You know that? If it
don't hurt you, you got a problem. If it don't bother you that some
people mistreat God's people, talk bad about God's people,
then you've got a problem. Well, what they said about God's
people's true. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. This is believers and they are
being justified. So quit taking the unbeliever's
side against the believer. The unbeliever is all disobedience. The believer is both disobedience
and obedience, because he or she believes God. Let me go on.
For you had compassion, he gives an example, and for you had compassion
of me and my bonds. Here he was in jail, I think
it's Paul, but whoever this is, here he was in jail, and what
they did, they sent things to make it just a little more comfortable. Right? Just to make sure he got
plenty to eat. You remember he said, Tim, bring
them scriptures. Bring them scriptures. But remember my coat, too. Oh, I'm so spiritual I could
go naked. Well, you're a fool. You just
don't get it. For you had compassion of me
and my bonds and took joyfully the spooling of your goods. This
wasn't just a couple pennies. But let me tell you this, you
remember what our Lord said about giving? That one widow gave just two
mites, and it was insignificant compared to what others were
dropping in. But he said what she gave was more than them all,
because she gave all she had. You see that? That's what honors
God. For ye had compassion to me in my bonds, and took joyful
the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in
heaven a better and enduring substance. These are just trinkets
and things, but we still need some of these trinkets and things,
don't we? Like Henry Mahan once said, he said, the love of money's
the root of all evil. He said, I don't care if it's
a million dollars or one dollar. Now I thought when I first, I
thought he was gonna say two or three, but no, it's a million dollars
or if it's one dollar. The love of money is the root
of all evil. That just put me down in the
ground when he said that. Cast not away therefore your
confidence. Confidence in who, themselves? God, which hath great recompense
of reward. For ye have need of patience,
that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the
promise. For yet a little while, and he
that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just
shall live by what? By what? Faith. Because if God
gives me real, genuine faith, all these other things will flow.
They'll be there. They'll be there. The just shall
live by faith. But if any man draw back, if
he abandons faith, if he abandon, and if you abandon faith, what
are you abandoning? Christ. Christ. Because faith seeks its
source. Christ is the source. He even
tells that, that's that in chapter 12, wasn't it? Look, if any man
draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him, but we are
not of them who draw back unto utter ruin. Not if God really
illuminated you. You might think you're drawn
back. You might fall flat on your face seven times. You might
fall flat on your face 70 times seven. But God is faithful. He remembers the merits of his
son. He knows what he's doing for you and in you. But we are
not of them who draw back unto perdition, but of them that And
you can say this, that believe and keep on believing. Not believed
to the saving, see it? Although that's certainly true,
there's a time when you start believing, right? There's a time
when you start believing. But it's unto them which believe
to the saving of the soul. That's the initial saving of
the soul, the continual saving of the soul, and the final ultimate
saving of the soul. As Tim James said, I know I've
quoted him, I heard him say, it's okay to believe God. Now
if you really know what believing God is, I'm not talking about
accepting the facts, this is what most people think believing
is. I believe Jesus was a virgin
born, that he lived a perfect life, that he died on the cross,
that he was buried, rose again, and went back to heaven. That's
not God-given faith. The devils believe that. and
they tremble at it. Most people believe that and
don't even tremble at it. But I'm talking about this belief
that you can't get Jesus Christ out of your mind. And when you fail him, you're
so miserable inside your soul that it hurts. And you think
God ought to damn me in hell forever. But he won't. because he's already turned his
back on his son for you. You're okay. Just believe God. Mason, would you close us in
prayer, please?