Amen, and what a day that was
when God invaded history and came down to this earth, not
to spy out our sins, but to deliver us from our sins. My good friend
Mark Cunningham is taking pictures, so don't get upset. He's just
kind of walking around. I love to have things documented
in picture form. I like to go back and look and
see what God is doing. Marcus here, he, most of you
know, I'm probably not supposed to say this, but he's the Detroit
Tigers photographer. And here he is with us. That's
a great, great blessing. And Tracy Cunningham. So many things in the last 10
years God has done for us here and for me as a minister of the
gospel and showed me even greater depth into some of the great
truths of God's word, things that for years I was somewhat
confused on. And one of those things was whether
to be a Baptist, a Catholic, a Methodist or a Presbyterian.
I just thought to myself, I really don't want to be any of those.
I want to be a Christian. I was raised in a very fundamental,
independent Baptist church. My dad was a Baptist pastor. The passage I'm going to deal
with today is Ephesians 3.21. Unto him be glory in the church
by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. In our church, we emphasize the
authority of the local church, and it had to be a Baptist church.
And the only way for God to really receive glory was through the
Baptist church. Your offerings, your gifts, everything
you did had to be through the church. And it almost became
another God, another savior. If you weren't a Baptist, you
weren't gonna be in the bride of Christ. Your rewards depended
on how good a Baptist you were. and on and on it went. You will
notice in the passages that Greg read, what is the central subject
of those passages? The greatness of Christ, and
that's exactly what the message of the church is. greatness of
Christ, who he is, and what he's done for poor sinners by his
free and sovereign grace. Unto him be glory in the church.
I said to Miss Pam coming over, what does that mean? And she
said, like I said for so many years, I really don't quite get
that. I know what they said and what
I heard as a child and growing up, what they said it meant,
but I knew it didn't mean that. I mean, in my heart, there was
negativity and depression about all of that. Well, Let's look
at the passage. Unto him be glory in the church
by Christ Jesus throughout all ages world without end. Last
week from Matthew 16, we saw Jesus pulling a little ragtag
group together and asking them one of the most important questions
in time or eternity, who do men say that I am? Whom do men say
that I am? And of course, that loud mouth
Simon Bar-Jonah answered, by the way, you wouldn't want him
to be leader of your church, would you? I mean, he had so
much mess. He was so much like me, it's
pathetic. I mean, Simon Bar-Jonah. Well, on this occasion though,
he gave the only correct answer. Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. And everything, listen, everything
depends on you and I having the right answer to this question. Who is Jesus Christ? Do you know who he is? And do
you own him for who he is? Thou art the Christ, the son
of the living God. What is meant by that? Well,
Simon meant this, you're the true Messiah. You're the one
promised by God, the one prophesied by all the prophets. the one
expected by the people of God, you are the prophet, the priest,
and the king. You're the divine person. You're
the son of the living God. You're the door, you're the way,
you're the truth. You're a wonderful counselor,
mighty God, prince of peace, everlasting father. Christ is
all. What a startup group though.
What a startup group. Who would ever suppose this to
be the beginning of the ecclesia, the ecclesia, the assembly? I mean, it looks like if you're
gonna start your own assembly or congregation, you'd try to
get maybe the president of the United States and, you know,
some well-known people to come in. But this was a ragtag group. There was some fishermen, Ignorant and unlearned, by the
way. That's what the enemy said. That's what the anti-Christ people
said. Christian people are the smartest
people in the world because God's revealed the great truth that
God invaded history, that God came down here, and that we are
saved by grace, unmerited favor, and by grace alone. Well, in
that first church, you had a fisherman. You had, like I said, Simon Barjona,
the loud mouth. You had one manic depressive.
He was so bipolar. He was Thomas. And they had no
drugs back there to give him that doesn't help a lot of people
anyway. There was a traitor in the church. And then they had guys like a
doctor. It's so important that we get
this truth too. that God has chosen the foolish
ones of the world to confound the wise. And the apostle in the Corinthians
said, God has chosen the weak ones of the world to confound
the things that are mighty. I mean, when you look at this
first church and this little messed up group, you kind of
scratch your head and say, that's the church of the King of Kings
and the Lord of Lords? That's what they started with?
Always remember this, little is much when God is in it. God
has chosen, God has elected the nobodies of the world and people
who are despised, God has chosen. Drug addicts and street walkers.
and some of us self-righteous church-going Pharisees. God has
even chosen us and turned us around to show the greatness
of his grace, that he might receive all of the glory and the honor. Some of you are saying, you know,
Pastor, one of the hardest things for me to believe is that God
would save a person like me. Oh, you're just the kind of person
that God saves. He only saves sinners. He came
to save sinners. That's the good news. And he
started his church, he began with this little ragtag group,
the nobodies of this world, for this purpose, that no flesh should
glory in his presence. unto him be glory in the church.
This is not a legalistic command. What God is saying here is this,
that in his church, made up of these nobodies, he's going to
get all the glory. That's what the verse is saying,
that no flesh should glory in his presence. So again, we see
the purpose of God. and the chief end of man, it
is to glorify God. I can tell you this, unless you
know beyond any shadow of a doubt that you've been saved by grace
alone. There's not much glory coming out of you for God. But
when you know, I was a poor sinner and nothing at all, but Jesus
Christ is my all in all. I did not first come to him,
he first came to me. The hound of heaven sought me
out of my lodibar, sought me out of the heroin house, sought
me out of the whorehouse, sought me off the streets, came to me
in church. You know, some people, the Holy
Spirit actually goes to church and has to pull them out of their
ecclesia. and show them that Jesus Christ
is all. There are some of you sitting
in here that wandered over here, and it was here that you found
out that Jesus Christ is everything, that Jesus Christ is all, that
you've been saved by unmerited favor. Unto him be glory in the church.
This is gonna happen. This is not a perhaps. He's gonna
receive glory in his church. throughout eternity, while the
ages pile themselves one on top of another. You know, we probably
shouldn't be so proud about this, but oftentimes we say we're Calvinist
here. We believe in the doctrines of
grace. We believe that salvation is of the Lord. We kind of tag
ourselves. But let me tell you, when you've
been there 10,000 years, you've no less days to sing his praise
than when you first begun. In Ephesians 2, while the ages
pile themselves one on top of another, God is going to be revealing
to us the riches of his grace and his kindness to us in Christ
Jesus. So, last week we looked at the
church's history as given us in the first five chapters. What
wonder there was among these nobodies Do you know that you're
sitting in a church today where God has been showing off for
about, I don't know, the last five years he's been showing.
I mean, you're sitting in a building, a church building. That's the
way I should put it. We are the church, but you're
sitting in a church building that for years was a saloon. It was a house of prostitution. Upstairs where my study's going
to be were beds. Okay, that's as far as I'm going
on that. And for years and years and years,
I prayed, God, give me that place. God, give me. And you know, I
really didn't think he would give it to me in the sense of
just, I thought we'd have to raise. you know, six, $700,000,
but that's not the way it happened. Pam got a bracelet and I got
this building on my, kind of from, from the Luther family, $500,000. Think about this. And then people that don't attend
here, they put another $500,000 in it to make it so beautiful. This is a place of wonder. God
showing off his grace. And look who comes here. All
of us mess ups. We're such a ragtag group here.
So, oh yeah, but so-and-so drives here from Birmingham. They're
ragtag too. We're all a bunch of sinners
saved by the grace of God. What wonders God does. You know,
I believe this. Church ought to be the most exciting
place in all the world. the wonders that God does. Here's what I want to say. Here's
what I, I know some of you, you get ready. I'm 73, but I really
think God's going to let me see awakening and revival. You know,
the early church on one occasion, the apostle Peter was preaching
and 3000 got saved. That's what I want. Say, well,
you can't get 3,000 in here. Well, we can have four or five
services at a time. We are so not expecting God to
do much at church. He's able to do exceedingly,
the apostle couldn't even find words, exceedingly, abundantly,
above all that you ask or think. Just let your mind go wild and
ask God to receive glory in his church. 3,000 converted on the
next page in the book of Acts, 5,000. And then the Bible says
multitudes were added. Over and over it says multitudes
was added. This week I was trying to figure
out the membership of that first church. It's thousands and thousands
of people. God did a great thing. And just
let me remind you this while I'm talking about great things.
Don't ever forget this, that when God is doing great things,
the devil's gonna do something to him. The devil never slumbers
or sleep. He's had our churches asleep
for a long time. That's why we got all this mess
in this country. Because we went to sleep. It
wasn't Obama's fault directly. We went to sleep. And when the
church goes to sleep, all kinds of things happen. Who would ever
imagine that we would have partial birth abortion? Who would ever
imagine that God would be outlawed? Who would ever imagine that we
would, you know, approve same-sex marriage? Who would ever imagine? I know this, my maw nanny, my
grandmother would be turning over, I'd have to explain to
her. kind of, these things. And then she wouldn't understand
them. Because back years ago, back, you know, we haven't experienced
revival in America in a hundred years. But I think something
is, you know, I turn on the TV and I watch people who God preachers
that God is bringing to grace. They're not fully there yet.
I mean, but this morning I was just, Pam and I were watching
someone who was talking about the new covenant and the grace
of God. And let me say this to you. I'm
getting a little ahead of myself, but thank you, Mark. But you know, there's always
going to be persecution when God is doing something. Just get ready for that. I want
you to go back to the book of Acts with me, just remembering
this passage. Unto him be glory in the church
by Jesus Christ throughout all ages, world without end. He's
going to do marvelous things here. He is doing marvelous things
here. I read some of the things that God did this week. This
is a new life for me in this sense. I'm seeing God do things that
are the most, that totally unexpected. From people that I would never
expected that to happen. Just things happening. I don't
know whether they're here today, and if they are, I don't want
to embarrass you, but I don't know, was it 10 years ago I married
the doctor and his wife? Second marriage for both of them. But they called me Friday and
said, we're doing our financial planning, our state planning,
and we want to come over and talk to you about what we want
to do for Grace Centers of Hope. Isn't that something? They were
older people when I married them, so God must be doing something
there in a financial way. I know many times maybe you don't
see this. I hope we all can begin to see
God. He's everywhere. He's just everywhere. Most church people, most Christians,
it's been a long time. When's the last time you experienced
God? When's the last time you were flooded with the peace of
God and the joy of God? You say, well, pastor, you sound
kind of charismatic. Get over yourself. I'm talking
about the apostle Paul said, oh, that I might know him. Here's
a man that's been preaching for 30 years and he's crying out
to know the Lord in a greater way, a more intimate way, a more
personal way. This week, did you experience
God? You know, I did. All right, we were going
over to the book of Acts. And last week we got to about,
The sixth chapter before we ran out of time. I don't know why the Lord permitted
men to invent a clock anyway. It's already 1154. Anyway, here's
what happened with this local church. Here's what was going
on. Here's what ought to happen this
morning. Here's what ought to happen this morning here in this
place. miracles ought to happen. What kind of miracles? Somebody
who's been smoking crack or heroin or shooting up or street walking
or a self-righteous person who's all churchy ought to come to
realize that they're the chief of sinners. and that only the
blood of Jesus Christ can make them white as snow. And they
see it, and they believe it, and they acknowledge it. People being converted. Here's
kind of what's happening in my life. Go to Acts 6. I can tell
you this. I can tell you this. Look at
Acts 6 in verse 1. in those days when the number
of the disciples was multiplied. There's the word multiplied again.
Throughout the first six chapters, it just keeps using that word
multiplied. So we know 3,000 were converted.
We know 5,000 were converted. We know multiplied hundreds were
converted. We know that even some of the
Pharisees came to know Christ in a very dramatic way. But here
the number of the disciples was multiplied. There arose a murmuring
of the Grecians against the Hebrews because there were widows neglected
in the daily passing out of food. Well, this ought to be happening.
This church ought to be helping people with food, and especially
widows and orphans. There's a lot said to the church
about taking care of other people who are members of the church.
Right? And let me just say this to you.
We have about 400 here today, and this church is going to grow
and multiply, and great things are going to happen here. But
right now, right now, I need help. Do you know that this church
is the mother of Grace Centers of Hope? Do you know this church
is supposed to be, we just passed a seven, $8 million budget. The Grace Centers of Hope board
just passed the budget. Do you know that our people in
authority here are to look over that budget and then we vote,
the church elders vote to approve that budget. That's our responsibility
because we're the mother, they're the child. The mission doesn't
run the church. The church is supposed to oversee
the outreach ministry. Now, I know tomorrow somebody's
gonna hear what I just said. I just told you the absolute
truth, it's legal. It's in the papers. It's in the
legal papers. So here's what the first church
did. And this is what we've got to
do. You can't just come here and sit on Sunday. You know,
I need Dr. Christopher's help on a church
board like thing. I don't need him telling me how
to preach. I already know that. I don't need a deacon board to
tell me what to preach and blah, blah, blah, blah. I already know
that, but I do need help. We've got people that need to
be visited in the hospital. We've got decisions to make. We've got food to make. We've
got the administration of the center to take place. And you
know what I'm realizing is God has brought you here. I don't
know what the purpose is, Jack. I don't know what God's brought
you here. I'd like for you to serve on that committee. I don't
know how we're going to do this exactly. I heard a guy told me
this once. He said, you know, my church
is very small. I only have 15 people. Let me tell you, if you
got 15 people to hear all of their problems and trials and
their needs, you got a big church. So we're going to be moving forward
here in this congregation. This congregation is going to
be the greatest giver to Grace Centers of Hope. I promise you
that. And I'm gonna tell you, I'm gonna tell you this too.
I said that to the mission board 30 years ago. God is going to raise up and
save people from all walks of life, all walks of life, from
the president of the bank. In fact, my first name for this
church in the inner city was the Prince Pauper Church. That's
what I say. I've even got the papers. I've
seen them. I mean, in my pile of mess I've got in my office. I've got the papers, the Prince
Pauper Church. And in those papers, I said, where the president of
the bank sits down beside the streetwalker who has been using
crack cocaine, they both have come to know Jesus Christ as
their Lord and Savior, and they're worshiping God together and giving
him glory, and they're giving back. and they're giving back. All right, so you see that in
chapter six. Then the 12 called the multitude
of the disciples unto them and said, it is not reason that we
should leave the word of God and serve tables. Wherefore,
brethren, look ye out among you, seven men of honest report, full
of the Holy Ghost. Ah, it qualifies what kind of
men. full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over
this business." Kind of have a background in business. Not
of all of you can read a spreadsheet. I'm not a good numbers guy, but
God's given me Amy to help me here. And others that surround
me to make it safe. You know, seven, $8 million is
a lot of money. And we're not even talking about
the church budget. We're talking about across the street, our
baby budget, right? I guarantee most of you don't
even know what we have in the treasure. We need Paul Wagner
as our treasurer. He lives in Florida. He's been
our treasurer for nearly 30 years. So we can kind of report back
what's going on. Most of you probably don't even
understand what's moving up with that elevator. There's like,
I don't know, a couple hundred thousand dollars have come in.
I mean, somebody ought to buy me a red marker. There are so many things. You're
laughing, but yesterday I was thinking, I got to get a red
marker. I got to get a red marker. I forgot to get the red marker.
Kurt came in today and said, where's the red marker to mark
that? I'll do that for you. I thought about it yesterday.
Some of you are looking at me kind of strange. Well, what is
all of this about? It's about what God is doing
to receive glory. This is not a one man operation. And I hope a whole lot of you
are full of faith because you're gonna need it, that the Holy
Spirit is filling us. And notice what happened here
in chapter six, and I'll move right along. Notice what happened.
And the saying pleased the whole multitude and they chose Stephen,
full of faith, of the Holy Ghost and Philip. Now, I mentioned
those two. They chose others. But notice
what verse 6 says. And the word of God increased,
and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly.
And a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith. And
Stephen, full of faith, full of faith, Full of faith, without
faith it's impossible to please God. I don't know, I can tell
you this. Every week somebody says, pastor,
we can't do it. Pastor, we can't afford it. Pastor,
that's kind of crazy, don't you think? Let's slow down here,
let's do this, let's, you know, full of faith. Is our God able
to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask and think?
Then let's live that way. Stephen, full of faith and power,
did great wonders and miracles among the people. And then there
was disputing took place. And they were going to kill Stephen,
and they did kill him. But notice verse 10, and they
were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake. These men were not apostles. They were like the first deacons.
but they were full of the Holy Spirit and great faith. And when
the resistance came to the gospel, those enemies were not able to
resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake. Oftentimes
I speak and I can tell people totally disagree. They disagree. They don't want to believe what
I say, but they just don't have it. They can't argue with what
God is doing. The proof is in the pudding,
and we have the proof that God is doing something here in a
mighty way. Well, Stephen begins to preach,
and of course, next few chapters, he's stoned
to death because of his message. Verse 51, Stephen was pretty
bold. Verse 51, chapter six, you stiff
necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears. Well, somehow power
has to be restored to the pulpit where we call it the way we see
it and what the Bible says. You're stiff necked. That got
him killed. Look at verse 52. Which of the
prophets have not your fathers persecuted? And have they slain
them which showed before of the coming of the just one of whom
ye have been now the betrayers and murderers? In other words,
you're the very people that killed Jesus Christ. You nailed him
to the cross. And they took him outside the
city and they stoned Stephen. This guy, this second deacon,
this Philip, chapter 8, verse 1, and Saul was consenting unto
his death, and at that time there was a great persecution against
the church. What was the church doing? Well,
God was doing signs and wonders and awesome things were happening,
and they were persecuting the church because the church was
preaching Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of poor sinners. That's why they were persecuted.
That's exactly why they were persecuted. Chapter 8, verse
1 says, And Saul was consenting unto his death, that is, Stephen's
death at the time, and there was great persecution against
the church. So Saul of Tarsus, which is a
young Pharisee, probably a rabbi, is standing there holding the
coats of the people who are throwing rocks and killing Stephen. It is pleased God through the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. And so this
young, zealous, religious person is standing there while they
stone Stephen to death. And Stephen was preaching the
gospel. Just read chapter seven. He preached
the gospel of Jesus Christ. And the church was scattered
because Saul of Tarsus, he was like a bloodthirsty dog. And
you remember what happened to him. God intervened. Have you met
up with God yet? Have you had a Damascus Road
encounter with the living Lord Jesus Christ? Unto him be glory in the church.
And that's what began to happen. Well, there was a great awakening
going on, or actually a revival. Philip was down in Samaria, and
verse 26 of Acts chapter eight, I'm trying to end this, but I'm
going somewhere with it, so just stay with me. Verse 26, and the
angel of the Lord, who's the angel of the Lord? Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament, the angel
of the Lord made several appearances, the Lord Jesus Christ. And the
angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go
toward the south, unto the way that goeth down unto Jerusalem,
unto Gaza, which is desert. So here this great revival is
going on. I got happy all by myself last
night. I had church in my study last night. Here's what's happening.
They're having a great awakening there with Philip's preaching.
And the Bible says in verse eight, and there was great joy in that
city. Wow. Great joy in the city. Jesus
Christ preaching brings joy to the city. It really does. Anyway,
verse 27 says, and Philip arose and went, now watch this, King
James. And behold, What does behold
mean? Oh, the Bible's full of those.
And look, look, look what happened down in this deserted place.
You see, here's what you have. You have a ready preacher and
a ready sinner, and you have God working on both ends. And
they're coming together in a deserted place. I remember the first time
I read this, and it registered on me this way. Why on earth
would you leave a great revival and go down to a deserted place
where there is nobody? Oh, but there was one somebody.
There was an elect of God chosen before the foundation of the
world, whose name was written in the Lamb's book of life, for
whom Jesus Christ had shed his blood for. And guess what this
eunuch is reading? Of all things, the gospel of
Isaiah, chapter 53. And the angel of the Lord said,
go join thyself to this chariot. And Philip ran and joined himself
and saw he was reading Isaiah 53 and said, do you understand
what you're reading? And the eunuch said, how can
I except some man show me? And verse 35 says, then Philip
opened his mouth and began at the same scripture and preached
unto him Jesus. Jesus from Isaiah 53. And this
old boy was converted, and Eunuch said, what hinders me from being
baptized? And Philip said, well, if you
believe, verse 37, with all thy heart, thou mayest. And he answered
and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I wonder if there's anybody here
today. See, I know people don't like
me to use this word too much, but I'm a predestitarian. Listen,
let me tell you this. You didn't get in here by accident.
God brought you from Lodibar, the place of no bread, the place
of no pastors. Down in the hood, God brought
you. You're not here by accident. You were in the deserted place.
And God sent a crazy hillbilly preacher to preach the gospel
of God's saving grace to you. And the power of the blood of
Christ and the hound of heaven sought you out and brought you
to faith in Jesus Christ. This is the history of the church,
the book of Acts, telling what God has done. And I told you
last week about this too. Over and over in the book of
Acts, you'll find this kind of language, and a certain woman
and a certain man. Zacchaeus was a certain man. Lydia was a certain woman. God, our God is a God of certainty. Think about this. Think, just
think about this. I know you've read this many
times. Okay, I'm gonna quit, but think about this. If you're a Christian, young
Christian, older Christian, this is something to always rejoice
in. And we know that all things work together for good to them
that love the Lord. All things. You know that mess
you got in your life? Our God is big enough to take
that mess, turn you around, turn it around and use it for your
good and God's glory. That's the God of the Bible.
And then when we get to, you know, the 29th verse or on and
on through that eighth chapter of the book of Romans, we ought
to all be on our feet. There is no reason for you Christian
to be down today. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate. And whom he predestinated, them
he also called. And whom he called, them he also
justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? I am persuaded that neither life,
nor death, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor any other creature shall be able to separate
me from the love of God. And you know what you just did
and I did in my own heart? I gave him glory. Unto him be
glory in the church. That's what we're all about.
We're not all about here about how many nights of stay people
stayed in the center, how many meals we serve, how much money. What we're about is Jesus Christ
is the Son of God who came into the world to save poor sinners,
even you or me. And he has done it. He is a victorious
Savior. Last thing, you can stand up,
this will give you a little rest. Last thing, last thing, here's
what I want you to remember. Throughout eternity, What's going
to happen in heaven? You can talk about streets of
gold and all of the other things, and mother will be there, and
daddy will be there, and grandma will be there, and that's wonderful.
That's awesome. I probably have more friends
there now than I have alive, and that's going to be good when
we all get to heaven. We'll sing and shout the victory.
That's good. That's good. But there is one
who sits on the throne of God, Jesus Christ, With five wounds,
we're going to give him glory throughout eternity. You don't
and I don't know how good God's been to us. You don't. It's going
to take God an eternity to show the riches of his grace. The
riches of his grace. I often think this, because in
my flesh dwells no good thing. I can tell you every person in
here has a problem. You need to come next Sunday
and get some comfort. Oh, wretched man that I am. This
is the way we Christians think. Oh, wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death. You as a Christian,
you think that way. You know you're wretched. You
know in your flesh draws no good thing. But thank God, Romans
didn't stop at the end of Romans 7. There is a Romans 8 one. There is therefore now no condemnation
to those that are in Christ Jesus. Nothing can stop us. We're heaven
bound. Nothing can stop us. God has
predetermined and ordained, and He walks with us and talks with
us. And let's enter into it and give
Him glory and praise and honor. Look what's going to happen next
Sunday. A man who has been totally devastated. A man that four years
ago, when I was at his Bible conference, I couldn't get within
100 feet of him because of thousands of people. And how God brought
it around. I told some of you, maybe I told
the whole church. When I got home at his Bible
conference, I said to him, I'm gonna get that guy to come up.
I think he knows the gospel. I think our people would enjoy
that. I couldn't even get close to him. So I called him four
years ago. Actually, he didn't get on the
phone. His secretary said to me, it'll
be about two years before the pastor has a Sunday open. I said,
I could be dead by then. And here he is, and Dr. Christopher and Leah and God's
providence went to San Diego, met his pastor, told him about
Grace Centers, and here he is gonna be here on Sunday morning.
I don't know. I don't know. I don't know him. I really don't know a lot about
him. I do know this, God has brought him a mighty long way.
And for the purpose of people like us who need to be comforted. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people.
I think that's probably the greatest need in the church today is for
God's people to be comforted by a pastor preaching the gospel
of God's free grace. Yes? Are you an addict? If you
ask me that question, I say yes. I have several addictions, all
kinds of addictions, really. You do too. But through the power
of the Holy Spirit, I'm being worked on and I'm working on
them. Let me come down here. I got a call from Arizona yesterday
or day before from a pastor who said, what kind of drug do you
guys use in the mission? I said, Well, he said, to help
them get past. I said, well, we use this pill.
It's called the gospel. That's our bill. It's the gospel. And if you ever get high on God,
you'll seek another high. You'll never get enough of him.
The joy of the Lord is our strength. That's how we're overcomers.
Let me say to you today, and I know some of you in the back
have been busy and trying not to listen to me, but I want to
say this to you. You came in here lost. You know
you could leave here justified? Two men went up to the temple
to pray. One was a Pharisee. He thanked God that he was not
like other men. The other said, God be propitiatory
toward me, the sinner. God have mercy on me. And God
did. And he went down to his house
justified rather than the other. You could be declared without
sin today. Isn't that something? Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust him and confess him, will
you, today, right now, while we sing.