Started back with our message here. Before the break,
we were looking about the fact and we're looking about why or
how are we accepted in Christ and we're seeing that it's tied
to God's grace and that the reason that grace has to be given to
us is because we do not have the ability to do anything God
willed. spiritual life, spiritual ability
is foreign to us. We are the nature of Adam. And
so I was sharing with you guys that who we are and why we need
grace. We need grace because we missed
the mark and we cannot reach that standard ever. And all of
our good works, even religious works, will always fall short.
And so we need a Savior, we need grace. Now, as we come to this
next hour and let's bring this to a conclusion where we're willing,
I want us to look at a couple of things here. Back in our passage
in Ephesians, we see that this word
accepted here, The word accepted there is a
word that's, I mean, the English word is used several times in
the Bible, but the particular Greek word behind this word here
is only used twice in the New Testament. And it's kind of funny,
Brother Denny Parks, who's a gentleman over at First Baptist Church
of Delaware, where my Uncle Tom was a pastor, Uh, he, uh, teaches
the adults there. And, uh, uh, he actually texted
me last night on, or this morning, maybe it was, whenever I was
posted about what we're going to be talking about, preaching
about this morning. And he told me, brought up the same thing
that I had here in my notes about the Greek word, uh, and everything. So that was kind of a, maybe
an affirmation about what I was going to talk about. But anyway,
uh, in the, in the Greek, This word is only found two times
in the King James Bible. When you take it, and as I've
shared with you guys on many occasions, whenever we look at
the Bible and we look at definitions of words, we don't go to Strong's
and get the definition. We don't go to a lexicon and
get the definition. We don't go to Webster's and
get the definition. We wanna get the definition the
way God defines it. And some say, well, how do you
know that unless you look at the lexicons? Well, you look
at the Bible. The Bible interprets itself,
defines itself. You look how God uses the word. God is the one who created language,
right? He created language. Man didn't
create language, God did. And so God created language and
created it in such a way that it would convey meaning. And
that's why we always say words have meanings, and you need to
know the meaning of the word to get the understanding of what's
being said. And so that's why we refer back to these words,
not to show any kind of intelligence, because you guys all know that
I'm not an intelligent person. And I'm not a scholar person
or a school or a seminary person. Uh you don't have to be that.
Thank god you don't have to be that. Praise the lord. That's
not a requirement to be a preacher uh uh be called to be a pastor
or a preacher of god's word, okay? That's not a requirement. Matter of fact, that's not even
needed. One of the things that we have
been given is uh the record of how this book was And so we have that and are able
to find out what these words were. And so whenever we look
behind this English word accepted, we find a Greek word and that
Greek word being only found two times in the scripture, we need
to go and look how God used that in another place. How did God
use that word? And if you would turn with me
to Luke chapter one, Because we want to know, how
are we accepted? Well, how are we going to know
how we're accepted unless we know what being accepted means,
right? So Luke chapter 1, Luke chapter
1. Look with me, if you would, at
verse 28. And the angel came in unto her
and said, this is when the angel told her that she was gonna be
with child, gonna have Jesus. So the angel came in unto her
and said, Hail, thou art highly favored. There's that word, the
word for accepted. Thou art highly favored. The
Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. And so, if you'll see here, the
Lord uses that word accepted, the word behind accepted, in
only one other place in Scripture. And whenever we go into that
and read that, it explains to us what this word accepted means.
Highly favored. You are highly favored and blessed
among others. Now, does that jive with the
rest of Scripture? Well, the Bible says, about the
elect of God that we are loved with an everlasting love. I would
say that's highly favored, right? The Bible says that he has chosen
us above all the other peoples of the world. Okay, that's highly
favored. The Bible says that you have
been given to him and that he is yours and you're his and that
there's a oneness between you and Christ Just as there is a
oneness between, hey, that's highly favored. The Bible says
that he has chosen you before the foundation of the world.
That's highly favored, right? That's before anything was. The
Bible says before the boys had done anything good or bad so
that the purpose of election might stand, God chose Jacob. We find in Malachi that the reason
that God chose Jacob was because he had sent his love upon Jacob.
And that's how he proved that he loved him is because he chose
him. We're highly favored. That doesn't
mean we're better than anybody else because we just read the
lot that we are in Adam. We just read that in and of ourselves,
we missed the mark. In and of ourselves, we are sinners
who the wages of those sin deserves death. And you will receive that
wage of death if the Lord doesn't give you grace. If the Lord doesn't
give grace, then you will reap the wages of your work, of your
sin. But here we see that it means
to be highly favored. It also says to be blessed among,
here it says blessed art thou among women. But if we put that
in regards to accepted in the beloved, blessed art thou among
men. Well, does the Bible not say
that he has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places? Doesn't the Bible speak in the
Beatitudes when Jesus goes through all that list, blessed are the
meek, blessed are the poor in spirit, all these things, the
person, all these things. Those aren't saying go out and
be this way so that you can get blessed. No, it's saying that
if you're this type of person, You are blessed. Why? Because
you've been given that attitude that only God's people have. See, we've been blessed. We've
been blessed. And so that word accepted in
the beloved doesn't just mean that you made the cut. Let's
come on in. It doesn't mean that you made
the mark. You were accepted because of
what you did as I spent a whole hour showing that is not what
we're accepted on. We are accepted upon or accepted
in the beloved based upon grace and grace is given to those who
are highly favored. Grace is given to those who are
highly favored. Turn with me to Romans chapter Verse 22, what if God, willing
to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with
much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction,
and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the
vessels of mercy which He had aforeprepared unto glory, even
us whom He hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the
Gentiles? So, here we see that there is
a glory that will be given. That's highly favored. We've
been highly favored. The Bible says in chapter eleven, starting in verse one, I say
that hath God cast away his people, God forbid, For I also am an
Israelite at the seat of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin. God
hath not cast away his people, which he foreknew." Now, in verse
one, now, I need to make a little bit of a side road here so you
get to understand the context here. Paul's making an argument
about, in this point of the letter, now, about the actual Israelites. Because the question, if you
remember, going into verse chapter nine, was has God's promise fallen? Is God's word not any good? Because
he said he was gonna keep his people, but yet we see God destroying
Jerusalem, destroying the temple, doing away, making this house
desolate. And there are many who are dying
and not receiving Jesus, not believing upon Jesus. And so
some are saying, well, what's the deal? I thought God was gonna
save all of Israel. I thought all of Israel was gonna
be saved. And Paul is trying to explain to them, as we just
read in verse nine, Jew and Gentile make up this group of people. It's not the Jew that is one
outwardly, but one that is one inwardly. The Bible says that
the true Israelite is the one who's been circumcised at heart,
not outwardly by the circumcision of flesh. It's not the children
of the flesh that are the children of the promise, okay? It's the
children of the Spirit, it's the children of faith. Okay? So Paul has been making this
clear. Guys, you're thinking on an ethnic national mentality
here, but that's not it. It's on a spiritual mentality.
That which is flesh is just flesh. That which is of the spirit is
spirit. The flesh cannot please God,
it profits nothing, but the spirit is life. And so he's trying to
make this connection to these people, letting them know, hey,
It isn't about being an Israelite of the flesh, it's about being
an Israelite of the spirit. It is being one of the people
that God has chosen to highly favor. And so he says here, has
God cast away his people Israel? No. He said, I'm an Israelite
of the seed of Abraham, the tribe of Benjamin, and here I am, I'm
born again, Christian. God's called me, I'm serving
him, and you know, I'm saved. So no, he hasn't cast away all
of Israel. But the thing is, is it's not
all of ethnic Israel that he's talking about. He's talking about
all of spiritual. That's why he goes into verse
two and says, God hath not cast away his people, which he foreknew. Now remember that word foreknew
means foreloved, right? Highly favored. He has loved
us with an everlasting love. He loved us before time. That's
what foreknew means. He knew. in a loving way. He knew in a relational way. That's what that word, remember
I've told you that same word is used when it talks about Mary.
In fact, back in the passage we just read, when it talks about
Mary was a virgin and she knew not a man. Well, she knew Joseph,
she knew her dad, she knew all the other men in the village.
I mean, she knew men, right? What does that mean? relational
way. She didn't know a man in a intimate
way. Okay. And that's what God that
word for knew that's what that means and the word for before
that F O R E, the word for means beforehand, right? So, he knew
us beforehand or he had a relation to us beforehand. There was a
love relationship of God to us. The people of God, the call according
to his purpose, the Beloved, in little b, before the foundation of the
world. And so God hath not cast off the people that he foreknew,
but the people that he has not knew, they are gonna be cast
off. And in fact, that's why Paul
also says, and quotes to the end, I believe it's Romans 7,
and I might be wrong, be corrected on this, but he says that there
will be many that say, Lord, Lord, have we not cast out demons,
done all these miraculous things? We've served you, we've done
all this in your name. We have been Johnny on the spot
for Christ ever since we accepted you as our Lord and Savior. And he's gonna say, depart from
me, ye doers of iniquity, for I never knew you. to the people of God, he will
say, enter into your inheritance, enter into heaven, enter into
salvation, enter into your your place that's been prepared for
you. Why? Because I have known you from
everlasting. I have known you and loved you
with an everlasting love. I have highly favored you. See, going back to that definition
in the Luke where we looked at with Mary, did Mary choose to
be the mother of Jesus? Can you imagine being Jesus's
mom? I mean, we got some pretty good
kids here, okay? For the most part, we have some
pretty good kids here. They have their moments, okay?
They're not perfect. We have some pretty good kids.
Can you imagine having a kid that is perfect? Can you imagine
having a kid that does no wrong, that knows more than you? Now, I believe he did grow in
stature and he grew in knowledge that as he, in his formative
years, as he was coming up, that he began to, world and human
things, he began to experience those things that he didn't know
before, okay? not that he didn't know of them,
because he's God, he's our mission, he knows all things, okay? But we know that whenever he
was of age, 12 years old, he'd sit in the temple, and all those
learned elders that was in that temple, he was in there answering
all their questions, and they was bewildered. This little kid
knows more than all of us. But could you imagine, though,
being Jesus' mom, and especially when it came to the time where
he was betrayed by his friends, abandoned by his friends, falsely
accused by all the religious leaders, called a blasphemer, stripped of his clothes, beaten,
crucified on a cross. Can you imagine being his mom? Do you think that Mary chose
that? Did she, was she praying, Lord,
I know the Messiah's coming at some point, would you please
make me her, his mom? No. Matter of fact, if you look
at the account here, both Mary and Joseph had a lot of reservations
about what was going on. Wait a minute, wait a minute.
Wait a minute, I don't know a man. Wait a minute, how's this gonna
work? See, Mary didn't make the choice.
but yet God gave it to her anyway. Do you think she would have,
at the end of her life, at the end of Jesus's life, and after
his resurrection and ascension, do you think that Mary would
have done it any different? Do you think she would have went
back and said, I'll tell you what, I'll just say no next time. Do you think she would have done
that? No, I think she would have probably, she looks back and
says, I have been highly favored. Christ in the world. Not that he wasn't
already in the world before, but in this capacity, in this
messianic way, in this savior, high priestly ministry that he
came to do. Now, she looked back and said,
you know, it could have been any woman, but I was highly favored. I didn't deserve it, but I was
highly favored. And I didn't even know it was
gonna happen, but it was already decided because he already chose
me before he even came and asked me or did anything. He didn't
ask, but so she was highly favored. So we look here and we see that
Paul is making this clear to them that he has not cast away
his people who he foreknew. What ye not, what the Scriptures
say of the Malaise, how he maketh intercession to God against Israel,
saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets and digged down
thine altars, and I am left alone, and they seek my life. What saith
the answer of God unto him? See, there are many out there
today saying, man, even me, I mean, I posted on my Facebook the other
day, a guy crawling in the desert, a bunch of church buildings in
the background, but he's crawling in the desert looking for a good
church and he keeps saying scripture, scripture, scripture, and he's
about to die because, and it has Amos 8 down at the bottom
of it. The Bible says that in those days that he's gonna send
a famine, not of bread, but of the hearing of the word, that
there's gonna be a time whenever God makes it where the word ain't
gonna be plentiful around. And brothers, I think that we're
definitely living through some days like that. We're definitely
living through some days like that, where the true gospel of
Jesus Christ, the true church and how it functions, isn't being
preached and taught around anywhere. And so, right here, Isaiah is
saying the same thing. He's saying, man, where's everybody
else at? I'm out here all by myself. There's
probably a lot of people out there thinking the same thing.
We're the only ones that believe this stuff. We're the only one,
there was a time that I knew just a few guys that believed
what I believed. And then all of a sudden, the
Lord's revealed, hey, there's a lot more than I thought there
were. There's still very few compared to the masses out there
preaching false things. But there were a lot more than
I thought. But at one time, I thought it was just me and a few other
guys. What did God say? 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee
to the image of Baal. So, Isaiah thought he was all
alone but little did he know that there were 7,000 more somewhere
else. He didn't know. Even so, then
at this present time, also, there is a remnant according to the
election of grace. And if by grace, then it is no
more of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace
is what I said a while ago, right? If anything that you do is is
what makes you accept it, then it's worse, right? And if by
grace, then it is no more of worse. And the only way that
you're gonna be saved, because the Bible says, for by grace
are you saved, not by worse. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourself, it's the gift of God, not of
worse, lest any man should boast. And here it says, if it's by
grace, then it is no more of worse. So, if salvation is by
grace, as God claims it, then it's not by worse. Otherwise,
grace is no more. If you gotta do something to
get it, then it's not grace, it's works. And if it's works,
then it's not salvation because God is not gonna save based on
those terms. But if it be of works, then there's no more grace.
Otherwise, work is no more work. What then? Israel hath not obtained
that which he seeketh for, but the election hath obtained it.
and the rest were blinded. A hoarding has arisen. God has
given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see,
ears that they should not hear unto this day." So here we see that God has to
show mercy. So even upon ethnic Israel, those
who were given the promise, there is a remnant among them. Just
as there is a remnant among every nation, tribe, and tongue, there
is a remnant among each people group. and within Israel, there
was a remnant. God saved it for himself, a remnant
out of Israel, ethnic Israel, that he was saving and that they
would see these things and that they would be brought to understand
and they would know these things. They have obtained it, but the
rest who are not of the election were hardened. They were blinded.
Why? Because God didn't show them
grace. They weren't highly favored. Now, listen, don't get in your
mind because you are saved and highly favored, that there is
some worth to you. Remember where we started this
conversation. You are dead in trespasses and
sin, always missing the mark. So God didn't find something
good in you. Now, let's look at how God does it. Hebrews, once again, where we
left off a while ago, Hebrews chapter 7. One way, or part of the way,
or how Christ makes us accepted. And I would probably say, as
I mentioned before, one of the reasons why He's the Beloved
is because of His union with God. Jesus makes us accepted because
he is our surety. He has become our surety. Hebrews
chapter seven, verse 22. By so much was Jesus made a surety
of a better testament. Now that word surety there, we
all are familiar with the term surety. A surety is someone who
represents or takes the place of another person, stands on
their behalf, and pays what is due to them or owed by them,
he pays that. So you've heard the term a bail
bondsman. You've probably seen those around,
okay? That's what a bail bondsman does,
right? Guy gets thrown in the clink. What does the bail bondsman
do? The bail bondman goes in and
they set bail at like $1,000. The bail bondman goes down and
stands on his behalf and promises his debt will be paid. Here's
the money. I'll make sure that he pays his
debt, okay? Well, the surety is someone who
stands in our place, stands for us as our representative. and he is the guarantor that
all will be paid in full. He is the one that is promising
that everything that is required will be met, okay? God demands perfection. God demands
that the law be kept fully. God demands that sin be punished. And so he has our surety has
now stepped forward to those who have been highly favored
and he has taken their place and said, everything that is
owed and everything that they deserve, I will take on for them. I will pay their penalty. I will receive their punishment. Let them go free. I will be the
one to take the take That's what a surety is. Jesus
is our surety and he was made a surety of a better covenant. Look back with me if you would
in Genesis chapter 43. Genesis chapter 43, look with
me if you would at verse, I tell you what, I want you to get the
context of this. Let me back up. Let's start at verse one and
I'll read down here. This is a perfect, now brother,
what I'm fixing to read here is something that actually happened
in real life with real people going about their real lives
Okay? But yet God has orchestrated
that in His providence, by His purpose, directly working in
the lives of people to bring about this happening. And in the New Testament, the
Bible says that all those things that happened in the Old Testament
happened so that they might be examples for us. Right? And we look at the Old Testament
and we say, it was filled with types and foreshadows, It was
filled with metaphors. It was all that kind of stuff. Types and foreshadows. And we're
fixing to see one right here, okay? Now, this really happened.
This isn't a story, okay? It isn't a make-believe story.
This really happened. These people really was engaged
in this activity, but yet whenever they finish this activity, it
beautifully pictures exactly Christ as our surety. Verse one. And the famine was sore in the
land. It came to pass when they had eaten up the corn which they
had brought out of Egypt, their father said unto them, go again.
Now remember, this is Jacob and his sons and Joseph being his
prized son, remember. And what happened, remember,
with Joseph? You know, his brothers threw him into a pit, sold him
into slavery. Then he ended up coming up and ended up being
a slave in the Pharaoh's governor's business and all like that. And
then finally, he had made a few dreams. You know, he told about
a few dreams. And then what happened? He became
the second most powerful person in all of Egypt, right under
Pharaoh. Okay, this is who we're talking about here. It says,
it came to pass, when they had eaten up the corn which they
had brought out of Egypt, their father said to them, go again, buy us
a little food. And Judah spake unto him, saying,
the man did solemnly protest unto us, saying, ye shall not
see my face, except your brother be with you. Now think of this,
remember, think of the spiritual application of this. God is saying,
you will not see my face, except your brother be with you. If thou wilt send our brother
with us, we will go down and buy thee food. But if thou wilt
not send him, he will not go down. For the man said unto us,
ye shall not see my face except your brother be with you. Now
he's talking about Joseph. Joseph is the one who is telling
them, and of course they don't know it's Joseph, they haven't
seen him in all those years. And he's grew up, now he's become
this powerful man in Egypt, and they don't know who he is. They
don't recognize him, but he knows who they are. And he said, go
get, go here, take his food. Okay. And they said, don't come
back unless you bring your brother with you. Cause if you remember,
Jacob didn't want to send his son Benjamin with him because
Benjamin now was the apple of his eye. The Joseph was gone.
Benjamin was the apple of his eye and he didn't want to send
Benjamin. So he had all the other brothers
go, but he wanted to keep Benjamin in case anything happened, in
case the Pharaoh decided to kill them all for coming and asking
for stuff. He didn't want Benjamin to go. He wanted to preserve
Benjamin's life, so he kept him. But Joseph said, sent for Benjamin.
Benjamin and Joseph shared the same mom, remember? Okay, same
dad, same mom. Now, I believe that's true. I'm probably not gonna wanna
check in on that. And Israel said, wherefore dealt
ye so ill with me as to tell the man whether he had? The other
brother's like, what's wrong with you, boys? Why'd you even
tell him that we had another? Well, that was kind of shady
on Jacob's part, right? Why did you even let him know
you had another brother? And they said, the man asked
us straightly of our state and of our kindred, saying, is your
father yet alive? Have ye another brother? And
we told him according to the tenor of these words. Could we
certainly know that he would say, bring your brother down?
And Judah said unto Israel his father, Israel is Jacob by the
way, send the lad with me and we will arise and go that we
may live and not die, both we and thou and also our little
ones. Okay? I, and here's what I want you
to pay close attention to, and everybody listening and watching
all that, listen to what is being said here. What is Judah telling his father? I will be a surety for the lad,
for Benjamin. I'll be a surety for him. Of my hand shalt thou require
him. If I bring him not unto thee
and set him before thee, let me bear the blame forever. So Judah was agreeing, volunteering
to be the surety for Benjamin and said, if I will go and take
the lad and if I do not come back with the lad and set the
lad before you, then you can require all that is required
of punishment from my hand. That's what surety is. Surety
is a guarantor. He's guaranteeing that if this
doesn't happen, then I'm the one to blame. Who is Judah in
this picture? Well, in Revelation, he's called
the lion of the tribe of Judah. It's the Lord Jesus. And the
Lord Jesus in the everlasting covenant stood before God and
said, send me and them down into this creation that you've created.
Send them down. And if I do not return with them,
what does it say here? Let me bear the blame. Let me
bear the blame. So Jesus has put his name on
the line. his reputation upon the line,
his honor upon the line, his glory upon the line. Jesus is
putting his royalness on the line, his
kingship on the line, his deity-ism on the line. That's a word. Jesus
is putting everything on the line of who he is. He is God
manifested in the flesh. He is the everlasting God. He
is almighty. He is omnipotent. He is all powerful,
all knowing, with all wisdom, with all power, all glory, all
honor, all everything. He is everything. And he's saying, if I fail, the blame
goes on me. So Jesus is saying that if there
is one that does not come back, then I'm the one to blame, not
them. You understand what I'm saying?
You get the, you see what's happening here in our understanding of
things. Jesus is promising as God, to God, as the surety, I
will make sure this transaction happens. This covenant will go
through as purposed. And if it doesn't, then it's
my fault. Nobody else's. It's my fault.
Punish me for it. Now, what was the contract? What
was the covenant? What was the contract saying? Well, the contract was this.
These people right here are worthy of hell. But they are sinners,
fallen short of God's glory. But Christ, if he keeps the law,
and if he takes God's punishment of sin on their behalf, then
God will clear their account and God will accept them just
as he would his son. God will accept us just like
he would accept the beloved. We will be the beloved just like
he is the beloved, not on the same level, but we will be the
beloved as well. We will be loved of God. We were
already loved by God, but we will see our love that God has
for us. That's what John 3, 16 is all
about. And so Jesus here is making the
promise. That's why I say, that's why I believe in particular redemption.
That's why I believe in efficational atonement. That's why I believe
that all for whom Christ died will be saved bar none. There's
not going to be one person in hell that Jesus died for. There'll
be a lot of people in hell that Jesus didn't die for, but there
will be a lot of people that think that they are saved because
they accepted Jesus. And the Lord's gonna say, depart
from me, you doers of iniquity. And there are gonna be a lot
of people that didn't do a lot of stuff, but yet the Lord saved
them. who's going to be accepted in
the beloved. And there are going to be people saying, well, how
in the world did they get in? They didn't do very much good
works. See, it's not about good works.
The acceptance is upon grace. And the reason that we are accepted
and that grace is bestowed is because Jesus is our surety.
He promised he would make the transaction and do it successfully. That's why the new covenant is
better than the old covenant. The old covenant was based upon
things that never was meant to be successful. The new covenant,
the Bible says, is built on better promises. Why? Why are they better
promises? Because they take man out of
the equation. They take everything that has
to do with man out of the equation. They take conditionalism out
of the equation. In the old covenant, it was do
this or die. If you do this, you'll die. If
you do this, I've given you this, if you'll bring a dove, if you'll
bring a ram, if you'll bring this or that, so much grain,
all this, if you'll go through all these motions and stuff,
I'll let that pass. It doesn't remove your sin, but
it will cover your sin. It doesn't cleanse you from sin,
it will cover your sin. But yet the fact remains, it
was a conditional system based upon man. The reason the New
Covenant is a better promise is because it takes man completely
out of it. It's a contract between God and Christ. It's a contract
between the Son of God and God about saving His people. And
Christ has said, if I don't bring them back and set them before
you, let me bear the blame. He's assured. It shall come to pass when he
seeth that the lad is not with us, that he will die, and thy
servant shall bring down the gray hairs of thy servant, our
father, with sorrow to the grave. For thy servant became surety
for the lad unto my father, saying, If I bring him not unto thee,
then I shall bear the blame to my father forever. Now, therefore,
I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead of the lad, a bondman
to my Lord, and let the lad go up with his brethren. For how
shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me, lest
perventure I see the evil that shall come on my father? Then Joseph could not refrain
himself before all them that stood him but I stood by him,
and he cried, caused every man to go out from me, and there
stood no man with him while Joseph made himself known unto his brother."
See, that moved Joseph so much that Judah was gonna be surety
for the lad and didn't wanna displease his father so much
he said, listen, if I don't bring this kid back, I've already told
my father, The blood's on my hands, I'll bear all that and
my father will be displeased with me. And he's never, he's
not been displeased with me. You see why Jesus doesn't fail
in saving? You see why we think it's atrocious
to believe in this Arminian system of salvation? that Jesus wants
people to be saved and He offers them a gift, but if they don't
take it, then He won't do it, even though He died for every
person in the world that's ever lived, but not every person is
going to be saved? That Jesus actually died for
people and He didn't bring them back to the Father as He promised?
Jesus is now the failure. That's why we say, and I know
you kids have heard me say this before, and I'm sure the rest
of the church has heard me say this before, that that Jesus
is a failure. Whenever you preach a gospel
that doesn't have a success, a 100% success for what it was
intended to do, then it's a failure. Jesus did not save. He's not
a Savior. And He is a failure because now
He goes back to the Father and those for whom He pledged is
not with Him. But Jesus promised that He would
do it, right? He will do it. By His righteous
hand, He will justify the many. So He is our surety. Well, brethren, I tell you what,
I thought I'd be further along on that than this. I kind of
got going on some other things that I hadn't planned to talk
about. And we're just about to the end of my battery life on
my phone. So I Think we'll just stop right
there. I guess there'll be a part five
Lord willing next time I meet now remember we won't be here
next week be down at the church in Santa Ana, Texas for the weekend
there, but we'll be back the next following week, Lord willing,
and we will continue on with these things. Anybody have any
questions or any remarks or anything that you'd like to add to this? We'll pick up with that. I've
got a few more points on why or how we're accepted in the
beloved But we'll stop there with the heart bypass surgery.
We'll look at this one really next week, or next time we get
it. We'll continue to remember Sister Louetta as she continues
rehabilitation for her broken hip and for the stroke that she
had. She's pretty much pretty good
stroke-wise. It didn't really do a lot of
damage there, but she did have to have a little bit of therapy
for that. But mainly just her getting up and being able to
walk again after her hip surgery. So remember to keep her in your
prayers. The assistant living out there
is still not letting anybody in to visit her. So we're basically
having to go and stand outside her window and talk with her
through the window on the telephone and things like that. Converse over the phone if we're
not there also. and everything, and same thing
with her family. Even their family can't come
in. So it's a really hard time for her. So remember her not
only in your prayers, but if you have an opportunity, give
her a call, give her a call. And I'm sure that will be uplifting
to her and encouraging to her. So keep her in your prayers. I also want to ask everybody
to continue to remember my Aunt Jay. She still continues to have
some health issues with her kidney surgery and everything. So keep
her in your prayers. And my Aunt Judy. She also has
some health issues going on, and if you'll remember those
two, definitely in your prayers. And then, of course, again, remember
us as we travel to Texas next weekend, traveling to Mercy. Anybody else got any things you
need prayer for? Request of any kind? Well, let's bow and have a word
of prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you
today for your mercy and once again for the wonderful grace
of Jesus. Father, without that grace, we
would be destitute, deserving of all damnation because of our
sin. Father, when we hear the message
of the gospel, as we've heard today, the message of Christ's
work on our behalf, the message of our desperate need but of
his love for us in coming and dying, being a substitute, assuring,
taking on our punishment, living our life for us, and then giving
us all things. All things. We are truly humbled by that,
Father, and we truly thank you for all that you've done for
us. just in giving a breath in life is a wonderful thing. For
the beautiful day that you've given to us, for the opportunity
to meet and gather as a church. It's true they're a blessing,
but Father, they far outweighed by the blessing of being accepted
in the beloved. Father, we're so grateful that
you've given us your word to read and to study Learn of these
things. We thank you for the Holy Spirit
that's given as our guide and teacher of them. Father Lord,
I pray to increase us in knowledge and understanding of God's Word. Father, I ask that for myself.
Even preachers and pastors still need to learn, grow, grace and
knowledge of the Lord Jesus. It might be understanding of
these things as you have given them gift to preach and to pastor
their churches. Lord, we need that. So I pray
that you'd help me be a better preacher and a better pastor,
better father, better friend, Christian brother. Father, I
pray that you would be with our loved ones that are not here,
for Sister Louetta, for Sister Beth, Lord, for Sister Mindy. I pray, Lord, that you would
be with them wherever they're at. Pray for Sister Louetta and
her health. We know where she's at. We know
why she's not here. We know she'd be here, Father, if it wasn't
for her health keeping her away. But Father, we ask that you'd
be with her in all that, that she might heal quickly. She might
be able to be back and worship with us. But we pray for Sister
Beth and Sister Mindy, Lord. We pray that those things that
might be keeping them away from coming back and worshiping again
with us, Lord, we pray that you just might minister and teach
there, that you might reveal truth. Lord, that they might
hunger for the gospel. Father, we pray for many of the
people that have come and gone from here for whatever reason.
Lord, we continue to pray for them. We lift them up. We don't
hold any grudges or anything against them, Father. We just
pray, Lord, that you would minister and bless them wherever you've
taken them. Lord, we just ask that you just
might continue to use our church to be a beacon of truth here
in Joplin and the surrounding areas. We pray for our sermon
audio site, Lord, that thousands of people go to and listen to
these messages, Lord, that your word would go out to these people
and be an encouragement, conviction, that they might hear it, Lord,
and that they might be grown in the grace and knowledge
of Christ through it. Father, Lord, I pray for our YouTube
or Facebook live stream and our ministry there, Lord, that you've
given us. Pray that you might make it blessed and that you
might send it forth to people who need to hear these things.
And you know who they are, you know who needs to hear them,
Father, so we pray that they might be of help and encouragement
to your people wherever they're scattered. Again, Father, we
are so thankful for Christ. We ask you to bless the food
that we're about to eat now to the nourishment of our bodies
and the fellowship that