Think about it, you today on
death row, pass me not, O gentle Savior. He's gonna pass by this
morning and if I were you, I'd give it a shot. I'd cry out,
pass me not, O gentle Savior. There's something about any message of of failing that
just doesn't appeal to me. My personality tends to be that
of never giving up, believing. I remember when I was playing
high school football, we'd have just a few minutes left on the
clock and we were getting our clock rung as well. And I thought,
there's still time. There's still time. Although there never has been but one
truly accomplished finished work, if you think about it just a
little bit, there's only been one finished
work. There's never been a completely
perfectly built house. Never a completely perfect piece
of art. No one has ever written a book
and thought they finished it. You have to be an author to know
that. There's always more to write. You seem like you want
to write more. Loser to me is kind of a nasty
word, but the truth is we're all losers. I mean, you made
a New Year's resolution. You haven't kept it one day. You haven't finished what you
said you were going to do. My mind kind of thinks this way
when people say things like, I did pretty good. I came in
second. What you really mean is you lost. Someone said almost only counts
in horseshoes. All kinds of words tell a different
story than finished and accomplished. Have you finished building that
new house? Almost. What does that mean? No, I haven't. You get that new job? Getting
close. Are you a Christian? I'm working
on it. I like to hear things like it's
a done deal. It's finished. I want to talk to you today about
big business. Jesus said, I must be about my
father's business. He's the only one that's ever
finished a work. And some of you in here have not got to that
place yet of complete, absolute faith. And therefore you have
no rest. Some of you in here I think are
Christians probably, heaven bound, but you have no assurance. You believe some religious, doctrine or creed, you have attended
some kind of church and you kind of believe what they believe,
but you really don't have rest for your soul because you don't
completely know this and have not entered into this as the
Apostle Paul talked about in the book of Hebrews. You have
not entered in to rest. over in the book of Hebrews,
there's an amazing statement there. I hope you read your Bibles
daily and I hope you're growing in grace. By the way, most of
you know this and you have heard me say this, grace doesn't grow. You grow in grace. In other words,
grace doesn't get any bigger because it's as big as big. where sin piled up, grace piled
up higher. And as you enter into that grace,
you find rest and peace, knowing that Jesus paid it all, that
the debt is paid. Why aren't you resting? You let
the devil bring up stuff to you and accuse you of so much, and
your mind registers it this way. Oh, geez, I still have to deal
with that. I'm telling you this, if he didn't
deal with it, you'll never get the job done. Only the Lord Jesus
Christ can deal with sin and put it away. But in the book
of Hebrews, it says, talking about this big business, this
salvation business, I must be about my father's business. I have finished the work. which
you gave me to do. You know, Jesus came to do something.
And I'm going to put it out there to you for you thinkers. Did
he do it or didn't he? Well, the message here at Grace
Gospel is he did it. It's a done deal. He has finished
the work which the father gave him to do. What did he come to
do? He came to redeem. Then I ask
you, did he or didn't he? He came to seek and to save that
which was lost. Is he or isn't he? Is the work
finished? I want you to leave here today
just contemplating this. It's okay. It is well with my
soul. Because Jesus finished the work
of redemption. He paid the debt. How are you
ever going to rest if you don't know it's finished? Because every
day you have new mess. Oh, the amens ought to have been
louder than that. Every day you have fresh mess. Does he got your back? Does he
got your front? Has he got it covered? Is the debt paid today? I said, well, pastor, you know,
I hear you say stuff like that and just kind of, I keep thinking,
well, does that mean we can just live like hell and still go to
heaven? Listen, there's nobody in here
that in their flesh lives like heaven. You do live like hell
and you still get to go to heaven. In your flesh dwells no good
thing. There's bad things going on inside of every Christian
today. Say, well, we ought to be holy.
The truth is we are holy in our new nature. That's what puts
up the fuss with the old nature. You got a war going on on the
inside, but don't ever get to the place where you're thinking
that you are completely sanctified. Nada. There are no perfect people
here, only mess ups. Mess ups are welcome here because
we have a message, a comforting message. Have you wallowed in
the stables of crack cocaine and heroin and drug abuse? Have you prostituted yourself? Have you lived on the street?
I got good news for you. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save you. Jesus said, I finished the work.
Just let me keep bearing down. I finished the work. He came
to do a work. He finished the work. I must
be about my father's business. What was he doing down here?
A work. that he had agreed to before
the foundation of the world. The verse I was gonna read you
in Hebrews is Hebrews 4, 3, which ends this way. Although the works
were finished from the foundation of the world. You say, well,
pastor, what does that mean? That means it's been finished
a long time. That means there was no doubt
about what he was going to do. That means that God was in the
business before he ever created the world of saving a people. You say, well, I don't get that.
Me neither, but isn't it awesome? Isn't it wonderful? You were
blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places before the
foundation of the world. Did you get a blessing this week?
Oh, God had planned and purposed that for you before the foundation
of the world. You didn't just bump into it.
What I hope today will happen in every believer's heart, there'll
be an explosion of, I see it and I'm at peace and I'm able
to rest today in this mighty God. Because what are we talking
about really when we talk about entering into this rest? We're
talking about trusting. Many don't enter into rest because
they haven't learned to trust. That's why I've told you for
nearly 38 years here, if I was going to ask for one thing, it
would be that God would give me more faith, that I would live
by faith and not by sight. That all to Jesus I would surrender. That I would be able to believe
that everything's working for my good because He planned it
before the world. That He is outrageously good
to me. The works were finished from
the foundation of the world. I said, well, now, you know,
I think sometimes, Pastor, you get over our heads. I want to
be over your head. I want to be over my head. I
want to be lost in the marvel and the wonder of the grace of
God. When Paul says, we're his workmanship
created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before
ordained. I'm predestinated to good works. I'm resting in this, that I,
as a child of God, am going to do some good works. I haven't given up. In fact,
every day I think about, I want to do a work today that God has
ordained. That it is so that God works
in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. You think
God can leave you to yourself after He saves you? You think
God can trust you? Oh, I want God working in me. The only one God can trust is
Himself. I love that passage in the Old
Testament where God breaks out singing over us. And I always
say to myself, what would he sing? What would he sing? Oh, what a wretched man Kent
was. I don't know what he would sing,
but he sings over us. He's happy about his love. Listen,
God's love for you is not stinted. He's not, God doesn't go, there
goes John again. He's had five chances now, I'm
gonna squash him like a bug. God doesn't do that. It wouldn't
take long for you to get squashed if that was God's object, or
me either. Grace is flowing out to you,
grace, marvelous grace, infinite grace, matchless grace, sovereign
grace, free grace, wonderful grace. Unmerited favor. Unmerited favor. I think it's important that you
get this, that salvation is a finished work. In fact, it was finished
before it got started. So that doesn't make any sense,
I know. I was trying to figure it out last night. If it's eternal
salvation, when did it start? Well, if it's eternal, Boy, I'm deep, aren't I? I mean,
I'm a deep thinker, aren't I? You go, yeah, what the, yeah. I mean, eternal. I give unto
them everlasting life. Isn't that something? The gospel is good news. It's
glad tidings. Now, I'm gonna tell you some
things, some of you, I hope you like it. You need to like it
because it's good. There was no doubt on God's part
before the foundation of the world as to who he was going
to save. Because he chose them. Now, I'm
telling you, this doctrine of God's unmerited choice of folks
under salvation is a Bible truth that you cannot get away from.
You either have to run like a rebel or bow and say, thank you, Lord,
for saving my soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me
whole. Thank you, Lord, for giving to me salvation so rich and free. Because there is not one good
reason God should have looked your way. And if you come up
with some reason that God should save you, and you are saved,
then you were saved by works. And if it's of works, it can't
be of grace. I didn't say that, Paul said
that. If it's of works, any part of it of works, anything you
do. And I know probably some of you
are sitting there thinking, well, I did do my part. Well, what
was that? Unless you say my part was the
sinning, then you have the wrong answer. You and I did our part,
all right? We were the babes in the open
field. We were the bones in the valley of dry bones. We were
the dead dog beside the road of Mephibosheth's day. And when you read those stories
in the Old Testament, it was God who came and found the baby
in the open field. The baby was laying there without
strength, deserted of its mother and father, left to the wiles
of Satan. And God came walking. And it was a time of love. And
God said, live! That's exactly your testimony.
You were in the valley of dry bones. You weren't even put together.
You and I didn't have it together. Nobody in here has it together,
really. And God spoke to those dry bones. Chosen of God, just settle in
just a little bit. Quit trying to defend yourself
and quit trying to defend salvation by works and just believe Ephesians
1, 4, according as he has chosen me before the foundation of the
world. Well, well, well, well. Maybe it ought to be like this.
Well. God chose me. It's all right
for you to say that. God chose me. And I know somebody's
going to say, so you think you're something special? Oh yes, I
am special. I just, I just, I'm special. I just don't know why I'm special.
I can't figure it out why he would choose me, why he would
love me, why he would plan this big business plan. Oh, it was
a big purchase, you know. Because you're not redeemed with
corruptible things, such as silver and gold, but with the precious
blood of Jesus Christ. Oh, you were expensive too. It
cost Christ his blood. You were chosen. God didn't just
get a snowball rolling called salvation and let it roll down
the hill and hopefully it'd pick up a few people. God is not counting on you. God
never has counted on you or I. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that he first loved us. Well, Pastor, what are you trying
to do? You know, you're always rubbing this in our face. I'm
trying to give him glory. I'm trying to give him praise.
I'm trying to... Listen, if you came here for
me to lift you up and tell you how good you are, you're in the
wrong church. I'm going to say how good he is, how awesome he
is, how gracious he is, how merciful he is, how compassionate he is,
what a redeemer he is. Before the foundation of the
world, I must be about my father's business. It consumed Christ. Not a lot of people have trouble
with this, but this shouldn't be a problem. There was no doubt
on God's part as to how they would be redeemed. He was the
lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Let me ask you
this. When a price is paid, when you
go into Macy's or wherever you shop, and you buy something and
you pay the price, is it paid? I mean, is it paid right then?
You give the money, you give your credit card, it's paid,
they give you a receipt. Jesus Christ, before the foundation
of the world, redeemed a people in purpose and thought and heart. He paid the price. Or if you
don't want to go that far back, you have to go this far back.
At Calvary, he paid the price. Listen, the price wasn't paid
when you trusted Christ. The reason you got faith is because
the price was already paid. Did you hear what I said? That
kind of tickled me what I just said. The price was paid 2,000 years
ago. And let me tell you, God got
the receipt because on the third day, up from the grave he arose
with a mighty triumph for his foe. He arose a victor from the
dark domains. Hallelujah, Christ arose. Because he was successful. Had
he not paid the debt, he'd still be in the tomb. Jesus said, it is finished. And
three days later, God the Father said, it is finished. Come up
hither and sit at my right hand. And that's exactly what happened. You know, the scripture says
this, his name shall be called Jesus. We say, hallelujah. How
about the second part? For he shall. Save His people. Don't read it this way. For maybe
if they cooperate, if they take the first step, He will save
them. If they will exercise their free
will. If they will, if they will, if
they will. Really, I want to say to hell
with if they will. Because because it's not about
you. It is not about you. The older I get, the more I sense,
you know, I'm closer home than I was yesterday. But I do know
this, inside of me, there rings a melody and a desire to ring
the old gospel bell louder than I ever have in 50 years to tell
out the message of his grace. Hebrews 1 3 I love this verse
when he had by himself purged our sins. Oh He did it by himself. I mean you weren't there in cooperation
with you. He wasn't Asking you anything
When he had by himself purged our sins This is where rest comes
in. The Bible says, he sat down.
You know why he sat down? Because he had purged our sins.
There was nothing else to be done. You sit down when you're
done. Well, some of us do. When you're
finished. Hebrews 10, 12 said, but this
man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, forever sat
down on the right hand of God. He said, it's finished. You ever
thought about this? I was thinking about this last
night. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute
sin. Every day, every day, every day. Satan goes like, did you
see Kenna boy there? Did you see your boy there? See
what he's thinking? You ought to send him straight
to hell. You're not following, you're
not, you know, you're not going along with all that, he's a pastor
stuff, are you? Look what he's doing. Look what
he's thought. Are you still with me? And God goes, no, never will. I'm never gonna charge Kenna
boy with sin. Sin's never gonna be, but look,
or how about Susie? Look, she just relapsed. She's
out there in the crack house selling herself. Look what a
mess she's made of our life after you saved her. Damn her. No,
because Jesus paid it all. It's an awesome thing that God Almighty not only loved
us, but continues to love us. and work in us. There was no
doubt. And so I rest today. This is
where I rest. I find no rest in the Republican
debates. I don't know how much more I
can take. Thirdly, there was no doubt as
to how the chosen would be quickened and called. All the Father giveth
me shall come to me. Yeah, but look. Look how far
away they are. Look how they've wandered. Oh,
I will seek them out. Yes, I will leave the ninety
and nine and go into the far country and follow that sheep
that is blood marked. And I will lay hands on that
sheep. and I won't drag that sheep back, I'm gonna carry that
sheep back. In case you haven't noticed,
you're being carried. Carried by the master. I'll call
him from the hog pen, prodigal son, taking all of his money,
despised his father, left home, eating hush down there. That's
not what a child of the king should be doing. I'll go down
there and work in him a work. And the next thing you know,
he's going to be saying something like this. I know what I'll do.
Has God ever spoke to you in a strange place? Several years ago, there was
a young man that came into the center and he told me this story. I said, so how'd you hear about
Grace Centers of Hope? He said, well, pastor, do you
really want to hear? And I said, I really do. And
he said, I was in bed with a prostitute using crack cocaine. Oh, praise
God. And I know it startled him because
he was thinking, what? But I was praising God because
God is so awesome that he'll even follow you into a hell hole
to get the good news to you. That's how he found Grace Center.
That's how he heard the gospel after he come up here. And you
know, she OD'd and died. She died and that traumatic event
was used of God. He's an awesome God. Awesome
God. Sometimes people say, well, you
know, those people that you minister to over there, I know you have
a hard job with those people. I think to myself, you is one
of those people. God comes to his sheep and he
quickens them. God intended to make you alive.
Dead people don't do anything. You were dead in your sins and
trespasses and he came to you and quickened you, regenerated
you. I know you got problems, I do
too. We all have problems. But thank
God, even in the worst depression, even in my bipolarism, whatever
that is, manic depressive, there's good news. There's glad tidings. Jesus paid it all. This is something that isn't
proclaimed in many, many churches, but it's true. There was no doubt
that all the chosen redeemed called would come and persevere.
They were given eternal life. You know why you don't quit as
a Christian? Because you can't. Because greater is He that's
in you than He that's in the world. Do you think by yourself
you would overcome this world? Think about what you would do
were it not for the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit who
will not leave you nor forsake you. Many, many times these passages
in the last 50 years in Hebrews 6, I want you to turn there real
quick. These passages have been used on me to prove that you
can fall from grace. Now, let me tell you something. You can't fall out of grace.
You may fall away from it. In other words, you may one day
be saying hallelujah to the doctrine of election and predestination
and particular redemption and irresistible grace and calling
of the spirit of God. But, you know, somebody might
talk to you a little bit, or you may miss church and kind
of, you know, get out from under the gospel for a while. And you
began to fall from it. The Galatians fell from it. They had left grace. They turned
their back. They went away from it. And the
apostle Paul said in the third chapter of the book of Galatians,
I'm amazed at you. Somebody has bewitched you that
you should believe a lie. This is Galatians 3. I placard
Christ in front of you. And then Paul goes like this,
having begun in the spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh?
You have left the gospel and turned to another gospel, which
is not another. Somebody bewitched you. Let me
tell you this, you get off of this grace trail and fall from
it, fall away from it. Listen, I'm going to be somewhere
where I can hear grace. I'm going to be somewhere where
I can hear grace. I'm just not going to attend where I can't
hear grace. I'm going to preach grace. I'm going to proclaim
grace. I'm going to sit under the message of grace because
it's God's message. But in Hebrews 6, people use
this to try to show you can fall from grace. Here it is, verse
4. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and
have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the
Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers
of the world to come, if they shall fall away." And I say to
you, brothers and sisters, that's a hypothetical if. If they shall
fall away. to renew them again under repentance,
seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put
Him to an open shame." And I'm going to tell you this flat out,
that ain't going to happen. Jesus Christ is not going to
be put to an open shame. I had a person tell me just a
few weeks ago, I've been saved five times. No, you have not. You have not been saved five
times. Because Jesus paid it all the
first time. And if you can be saved today
and lost tomorrow, then the only way to get saved again, I got
some bad news for you. The only way to get saved again
is Jesus is gonna have to come. And he's gonna have to walk the
Judean acres again without sin, represent you. And then he's
gonna have to go on Calvary and pay the debt again. That's not
gonna happen. He didn't save you to lose you,
he saved you to keep you. I'm telling you, he was about
the master's business. Could I just say this? Getting saved is a big deal. It's a big deal. You know, I hear about multimillionaires
and they, this and that happens to them, and they make billions
of dollars. Mr. Trump, I've heard him say
about, what did he have, 10 billion? When God saved you, it was a
big deal. You can't get any more expensive
salvation than you got. Because it's blood salvation.
It's substitutionary salvation. It's propitiation salvation. It's somebody suffering your
hell salvation. Somebody paying your debt salvation.
It's once saved, always saved salvation. It's the security
of the believer in Jesus Christ. That's why I say you'll never
have rest. until you begin to enter into this. And the more
faith and the more trust, the more you look up to him and say,
thank you, Lord. And the more you praise him.
I know you did it for me. It was not me. The less confidence
you have in yourself and the more you have in him, the more
rest you're gonna enter into. It's just true. I had a little
church service by myself last night. I was trying to close
this thing out, and I wrote down here, if you want rest, believe
the gospel. Rest from the law. Rest from
the Ten Commandments. Are the Ten Commandments beating
the heck out of you? Oh, I did that one. Oh, oh, oh,
oh, oh. Already seven out of ten. This
is getting serious stuff. Rest from the Ten Commandments.
Rest from your faults. Rest from your failures. Rest
from church. And Lord knows, rest from churchy
people. Come to Jesus. I was saying this
to myself. He's the rock of ages. He's a
soul's harbor. He's a shelter in the time of
storm. He's a lily when you're in the
valley. He's a bright and morning star
when you're coming out of the darkness. He's more than wonderful. He's a counselor. He's a comforter. He's a friend that sticketh closer
than a brother. He's life's choices theme. He's
the great physician when you're sick. He's vitamin C for your
soul. He's the Christ. Listen, I laughed
at myself. He's the Christ for the crackhead. He's the hymn for the heroin
addict. He's the Redeemer for the religious
addict. He's the Savior of the sinner.
He's the Lord of the lost. He's the Messiah of the messed
up. come to Christ and rest. And I say that, I hope I've got
you all. I hope I've covered us all. And
that we're all this morning, even, you know, years ago, I
was converted as an eight year old boy, reconciled to this truth.
What a glorious day that was. And hundreds and hundreds of
more days that I have found glorious awesome peace and rest in Jesus
Christ. It's almost a daily thing now
that I'm on my tiptoes, that there's joy in my soul and peace
in my heart because of this gospel of Jesus Christ. I hope we all,
even though we were converted maybe years ago, we just come
to Him today by faith. And I hope we're saying together,
I see it! I really see it! He chose me. He redeemed me. He regenerated
me. And he's got a cord tied around
my leg and he's drawing me with cords of love. Rejoice in this. You know, when all of those little
parts of you were coming together in mother's womb, God loved you. Isn't that awesome? You say, ah, Pastor, how do you
know? If I could just know God loved
me. Let me ask you this. Are you a no good for nothing
sorry person? Oh, there's a few hands going
up across this, a few more, a few more. Then I can tell you this,
God loved you. Don't worry about that. If you're
sorry and no good. Christ came into the world to
save sinners. And you know what we sang just
a few minutes ago? And this is so awesome. Pass
me not, O gentle Savior. There you are on death row, locked
up. Jesus is passing by and he's
passed by today with the keys to your cell. And I guarantee
you this, it is worth a shot. Pass me not, O gentle Savior,
I'm over here. And Jesus is such a great, He
doesn't have hearing aids like me. He can hear. That sounded
like one of my sheep. You see, my sheep hear my voice
and I know them. And they follow me and I give
unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. And he who hath begun a good
work in you will complete it. A work. It's not your work, it's
His work. You know, one of the great surprises
is when we get to heaven. That's it, that's the statement. I'm here. Look over there. There's the
thief on the cross. There's the adulterous woman.
There's loudmouth Simon Peter. There's the Apostle Paul. There's
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. There's mom and dad. You know,
it's going to be a great place. It's going to be a great time
when we all, when you sing this in the old church, when we all
get to heaven, we'll sing and shout the what? Victory. That's what's going to happen.
Sing and shout the victory. Let's stand. I would urge you
to trust Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Come to Christ just as you are.