Hebrews 6, controversial chapter
in the Bible with theologians. But since I'm not a theologian,
it's not controversial to me. It's a chapter that speaks to
the children of God having a strong consolation, comfort, peace, There's some strong passages
here. I'll try not to get too weighty,
but we are going to go there a bit to try to see the wonder
of God's grace today. And in that wonder, it will give
you a strong consolation. The grace of God, the goodness
of God, the blessings of God is an anchor for the soul. We
used to sing in the old church, my anchor holds and grips the
solid rock. That rock is Jesus. That rock
is Jesus, the only one. I'm very sure, I'm very sure
my anchor holds and grips the solid rock. Here's what the apostles
said in Hebrews. Let me read it again. Chapter
six, beginning with verse four. It is impossible for those who
were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and
were made partakers of the Holy Ghost. Hmm. They were enlightened. These
people had tasted of the heavenly gift. They were made partakers
of the Holy Spirit. They have tasted of the good
word of God and the powers of the world to come. Now watch
this. Hypothetical if. If they shall
fall away. If you get saved and God loses
you, that if's talking about you. Here's what has to happen. If
you lose God's salvation, remember don't, some of you are about
to pass out right now, like I'm insinuating you can. There's
an if here, hypothetical, 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. Let me
tell you, those of you who are thinking that you have lost salvation,
and by the way, first of all, it's not yours, it's God's salvation.
David said, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, God's salvation. The way that joy is restored
is to hear anew and afresh and again, the message of God's free
and sovereign grace to us in Christ Jesus. If they shall fall
away, to renew them again unto repentance. In other words, if
they're gonna have to be saved again, here's what has to happen. Jesus has to come again. Obviously,
he didn't get the job done the first time. Amen. He has to come again. He has
to be crucified again. He has to die again in order
for you to be saved. And should that happen, He is
put to an open shame. Do you get it? And say, hallelujah,
he did it the first time. He got the job done the first
time. So when people say I got saved
and then I got lost, I tell them, well, there's no hope for you. And then they seemingly decide,
well, maybe I didn't get lost. Maybe I've simply lost the joy.
Jesus is not going to come and die again. He died once. He made the atonement, and I'm
getting way ahead of myself, but he made the atonement and
he sat down, the scripture says. He sat down on the right hand
of God. You know why he sat down? Because the work was finished.
The work was finished. That's what Jesus meant when
he said from the cross, it is finished. It's accomplished. It's done. And I tell you today
that, at least from watching some of the programs on television
on Sunday morning, three-fourths of the modern-day church doesn't
understand that salvation does not begin with a big do. It begins with a big done. It's
finished. It's accomplished. I thought this week, how would
I illustrate this point? And probably there's no one in
here that's done this, except God. Perhaps, let's just say,
you spent an unbelievable amount of money. Maybe gave everything
you had, even the most precious thing you had. You spent months
planning, researching, thinking about your purchase. You made the purchase. You paid
the full price. You delivered the money and waited
for the delivery of the goods and services and never got what
you paid for. How would you feel about that?
Now I want you to just think about this with regard to salvation. You're not redeemed with silver
and gold. You've been redeemed with the precious blood of Jesus
Christ. Redemption means to purchase,
to buy back, to buy off of and out of the slave market of sin. Jesus Christ has bought and paid
for a people and has given them their emancipation papers. And
if the Son sets you free, you're free indeed. But one of our biggest
problems is we do not enter into the blessedness of grace. Many
have not heard the message of grace. And those who have heard
it, have heard it amiss. The hypothetical, if they shall
fall away to renew them again under repentance, the Son of
God would have to come and be crucified and put to an open
shame. This would be just such a purchase. Let me tell you this, God in
Christ is going to get everything he paid for. That should affect you a bit.
If he bought me, I'm heaven bound. And if Jesus Christ did not pay
the price, who's gonna pay it? How's it going to be paid? The
truth is, and the truth is this, if Jesus failed, shame on Jesus. Shame on God. Shame on the Holy
Spirit. put to an open shame. And many preach a God who is
shameful, as far as I'm concerned. His name shall be called Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. Not he might,
not peradventure, not perhaps, not we hope so, he shall. Let me tell you, 2,000 years
ago on the tree of the cross, Jesus Christ paid the price for
a number that no man can number, and every last one of them, their
sin debt has been paid in full. Isaiah said, he shall not fail. I know you're a big sinner. I know that. I know some of you
are thinking, I'm a big sinner. You're haughty. Because in your
mind, you think you're a bigger sinner than he is a savior. And
I want to tell you, you ain't. He saves the chief of sinners,
the worst of sinners, even you. Old man Simeon was hanging out
at the temple because he had been promised, and the Gospel
of Luke tells the story of Simeon. He had been promised by the Holy
Spirit that he wouldn't see death until he had seen the Lord's
Christ, until he had seen the consolation of Israel, consolation. The apostle mentions that here
in Hebrews 6, that you might have a strong consolation. Do you have a strong consolation? Can you say, I know that I know
that I'm saved. I know I'm saved, nothing's gonna
stop me. Nothing can stop me because greater is he that's
in me than he that's in the world. A strong consolation. I often
hear, if you preach that and people begin to feel secure and
that they're saved, it will lead to a life of sinfulness. No,
the same message that saves us is the same message that sanctifies
us. What makes me want to serve God?
To hear that on a hill far away stood an old rugged cross, the
emblem of suffering and shame. And that Jesus died on that cross,
bearing my sins in his own body on the tree. And that God did
not love me because Christ died, but Christ died because God had
already loved me with an everlasting love. Well, old brother Simeon's
hanging out up near the temple and Joseph and Mary brought the
baby Jesus to the temple. And the Bible says he saw them
coming and he ran to them and took the baby up in his arms. This is such a wonderful story.
He took the baby up in his arms and blessed God. And here's what
he said. Now let us thy servant depart
in peace. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Did not our Lord Jesus Christ
say himself from the cross, it's finished, it's accomplished?
Oh, to learn this again, to camp out here, that the work is done,
that the work is accomplished, that the work is finished. Most
of our fretting comes because our head is stuck in our belly
button and we're not looking away from self to Christ. Let me tell you, there's nothing
on the inside of you that's pretty. And what I try to do to myself
and with you every time I preach is to do surgery and to take
your head out of your belly button and say, look away. Look away
to Calvary. Look to God. Look to Christ.
See the grace of God. God does not want his people
to be without assurance. Sloughfoot's greatest desire
is to get you thinking, I got saved and then I messed up. I
don't know anybody that gets saved that doesn't mess up. Oh, that amen ought to be louder
than that. Some of you are looking at me like this. Not me. I'm talking about you. You can't stare me down. You're
a mess. I know. I know that in my flesh
dwells no good thing. You're not fully sanctified. No, you're not. Oh, the wonderful song, blessed
assurance. Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste
of glory divine. But you know, the devil's argument,
you know, he's got a good case against you. In fact, you and
him hung out. He went with you. He encouraged
you. So you better have something
more than just a conversation with the devil. He's got the
goods on you. God doesn't want you to be without
assurance, without consolation, without comfort. In fact, over
and over. And I learned this early on in
my young ministry. And in my life, I think God has
taught me this. God said to Isaiah, comfort ye,
comfort ye my people. That's what God says to pastors.
When you leave here today, you shouldn't leave here all broke
and bruised. Your feet are purple where I
have stomped all over them. You know, I know people, the
preachers used to think that was a great compliment when people
went out abused from church saying, thank you for stomping all over
my feet. Thank you for abusing me. Thank
you for making me think maybe I'm not saved. Brother, it doesn't
take much to get folks thinking they're not saved. Unless they're
strong in this, Jesus paid it all. Oh, the dead owl, sin had
left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. That's
the great truth of scripture. God said to Isaiah, tell them
their warfare is accomplished. Are you there today? Can you
just rest? Jesus said, come unto me, all
ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. tell them their warfare is accomplished.
You know the peace treaty's been signed, don't you? Long time ago, the peace treaty
was signed. God's not after you in a bad
way. I remember reading during the,
after the Civil War, Lee had surrendered, the peace treaty
had been signed, and in the hills of Georgia, in the caves of Georgia,
there was some Southern soldiers that were hiding out there. And
the president commissioned a special group of people to go to those
caves and to bring them the good news. Come on out. The war is
over. The conflict has ended. The peace
treaty has been signed. And that's what I'm saying to
you today. Come on out of your cave. The peace treaty has been
signed. The war is over. And there's
victory in Jesus Christ. God doesn't want you blown about
by every wind of doctrine. That's why it's so important
that you hear and hear and hear the message of the gospel of
God's free grace. Because your flesh is still active.
and will give you every reason to doubt. The old songwriter
said, prone to wonder. Anybody in here prone to wonder?
Prone to leave the God I love. Is the tendency there? Full blown
in your flesh to leave the God you love. Isaiah said, tell them
their warfare is accomplished, that their iniquity is pardoned,
for God hath received of the Lord's hand double for all your
sins. I used to wonder, what does that
mean? Double for all my sins. What that means is this, your
debt has been paid and a perfect righteousness has been imputed
to you. See, God didn't pay your debt in Christ and leave you
naked. He clothed you with the perfect righteousness of Jesus
Christ. So when you stand before God,
your sins have all been paid for and you have a perfect robe
of righteousness without spot or blemish or any such thing. The accuser can't get a foothold. Because not only has your debt
been paid, but you have a perfect righteousness. You ever thought about that passage
in Romans, where it says, blessed is the man to whom the Lord will
not impute sin. Yeah, but he did it. Yeah, but
you did it. Charge him, God. No, Jesus paid
it all. Wait a minute, wait a minute,
pastor, pastor, pastor. Are you saying that 2,000 years
ago, Jesus paid for sins that I haven't committed? Just as
sure as you're alive. Oh, you're not through sinning. Oh, I know you don't hear that
in most churches. You're not through. Your flesh
is not dead. It's completely alive. You need
a rock to stand on here. I don't want to sin. I hate sin. But when I do, on Christ the
solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. I said, well, I think I'll just
go out and get drunk. You'll go to hell, too. No, you
don't have that kind of attitude. Christians don't have that kind
of attitude. They've got a new nature. They may get drunk, but
when they do, they hate what they did. Let me say that again. All right. I don't want you playing church
and hear a line because I won't be able to profit you any today
unless you can enter into this, have a strong consolation. And
that's what the apostle talked about. You shouldn't be blown
about by every wind of doctrine. You ought to stand on this. God
chose me. Christ redeemed me. The spirit
of God called me. There you go. Our God, like Abraham,
has called us, having found us down in Lodibar, found us, came
to our grave when we were dead in sins and trespasses. God doesn't
want you full of anxiety. He doesn't. Suspicion. I read one of the old Puritans,
"'Tis a point I long to know." Now this sounds real spiritual,
but it's not real good. "'Tis a point I long to know,
am I his or am I not?" Well, if you think you're not, believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And you
can know you are. I'm not going to go through life
wondering whether I'm his or not. I know whom I have believed
and am persuaded that he's able to keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day. And when I get to heaven, he's
not gonna hear the last of it. Let it ripple on back there to
some. Let it go. I'm gonna praise them. We're sojourners down here. That's
what we are. But here's the deal. On Wednesday
nights I've been talking about Christ has come that we might
have life and have it more abundantly. Yeah, we're sojourners down here.
Things get messy every once in a while, but the truth is Jesus
has bought and paid for innumerable, boundless blessings for us. Sometimes we don't recognize
them, but they're boundless blessings. They come from the hand, the
right hand of the most high God. They were all bought and paid
for. They're all mine. That's what we talked about a
little bit last week. God hath blessed us. And faith
is the divinely appointed way of receiving the blessings of
grace. You want to be like Abraham? Believe God. You know what your
problem is as a Christian and mine is? We don't believe God. Well, it kind of comes down to
this. You think God's a liar? Believe God. The truth is that
in this life providence, God's providence sends us many trials. But they are all sent for us
to exercise and increase our faith. Without faith it's impossible
to please God. So what happens to you that doesn't
seem right? Some of you are like, well, you
know, I don't know whether I believe Romans 8, 28 or not. All things
work together. Look, you know, to those that
love the Lord, look at what's happening to me. What you don't
understand is that providence sent what's happening to you
to you to increase your faith, to shut you up. There's no consolation in unbelief. I'm just resting in unbelief.
I don't think so. There is a place for unbelief,
but it's not in heaven. There is no comfort in the doctrine
of the blessedness of doubt. Think about the blessedness that
there is in the gospel of Jesus Christ. There's a little verse
in the gospel that says this. Have faith in God. I would say to all of us who
claim to be Calvinistic and theologically correct, have faith in God. Trust God. You've heard me say
this thousands of times. If God would give me the one
thing that I would ask for, it'd be this. Give me all kinds of
faith. I want abundant faith. I want abounding faith. I want
to believe God. I want to trust God. I want to
lean on the everlasting arms. So, back in Hebrews 6, again, let me read these words. We're
in God willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs a promise. God wants to show abundantly
to the heirs a promise. You know what I am? You know
what you are? You're an heir of God and a joint heir with
Jesus Christ. And God says, I want to show
you abundantly. There's something God wants to
abundantly show you. I love this. The heirs of promise,
the immutability of his counsel. Now, if you don't believe God's
a God of predestination, a God of plan, this isn't going to
help you much. But God says, my plan is immutable. I do not change. I'm the same
yesterday, today, and forever. the immutability of his counsel.
And he said, I'm going to confirm it in an oath. Oh, I can't imagine
what happened in heaven when the angels looked over the banisters
and they saw God, maybe he was sitting on the throne, I don't
know, stand up and lift his hand. I, God, Do promise that what I'm about
to say is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And I will carry out my purpose
and my plan. God took an oath. He tells us
not to be doing that unless we're going to keep it. God wants his children to know
and to have this deep consolation. Hey, I got my hand on you. I'm
watching you. I have a plan for you. There's
nothing. I'm gonna say it. Hang on to
your seat. There's nothing that happens
except it fits into God's plan with you. Everything. Say, what about the evil? He
permitted it and we'll use it for your good in his glory. Whatever God has spoken and purposed
in his eternal plan, he's gonna carry it out. And this brings
up the subject here of his eternal counsel. I brought my old Bible
today. I told Greg, when I'm really
gonna get down deep, I pull out Old Faithful. This is the one
I've been studying for years and using. It's all marked up,
but it's the truth of the word of God. And I've got in darkened
letters. When God couldn't swear by anybody
else, he swore by himself. That we might have a consolation.
And here's what he says. The immutable counsel. What is
that verse 17? The immutable, the immutability
of his counsel. You'll find this throughout scriptures. In the book of Hebrews, it talks
about the last chapter. It talks about the everlasting
counsel. Here's what it says in the 13th
chapter of Hebrews. Now the God of peace, verse 20,
that brought again from the dead, our Lord Jesus Christ, that great
shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting
covenant. What's that? That's the everlasting agreement.
There was this council held, you see, hang on now and don't
look away, look at me square now. There was this council held
in eternity past. There was this meeting between
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, and
there was a plan made. And God chose a people, and this
is so tiny. I mean, I can't blow this up
big enough. I don't have the time to do it
and couldn't do it if I wanted to, but here's the summation
of it. God the Father chose a people. Now, you might as well throw
your Bible away if you don't believe in election because election
is there. You have not chosen me, I chose
you. That's what Jesus said. If you
got a problem with that, go take it to Jesus. I didn't say it. I'm just repeating
what I heard. Don't get on me after church.
Don't send me nasty letters. According as he hath chosen us
in Christ before the foundation of the world But we are bound
to give thanks for you brother and beloved of the Lord because
God has from the beginning chosen you Now what the Apostle says
here is God ain't gonna change his mind What if God were not
immutable and he changed his mind I mean you've done a lot
of stuff right after you got born and What if God scratched
his head and said, well, I didn't know Johnny was going to do that.
I didn't know that was going to happen. He can't be on my
team. The Bible says, the psalmist
said, God looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see
if there were any good. God got his big telescope out
and looked right down through time, saw all the popes, priests,
preachers, rabbis, and could not find one good person. And
he says, there's none good, no, not one. Well, if there's none
good, then this choice must have been by grace. It must have been
unmerited favor. How am I preaching today? Are
you getting it? Say, well, I chose the Lord.
I know you did, but he first chose you. You wouldn't have
chose him had he not chose you. Yeah, that's the truth of the
Bible. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
So God said, I choose them. Now, my son, this is in the eternal
council, the everlasting covenant, the agreement between Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit. So God chose a people and he
gave them to his son. My son, I want you to go to Calvary. I want you to bleed and die in
their stead. I want you to pay their sin debt. And Jesus said, Father, all you
have given me shall come to me. And those that you have given
me, I have lost none of them. That's what he said in John 17. And Father, you love them as
you love me. And you love me before the foundation
of the world. That's in your Bible, read it
in John 17. I'm smiling because I'm happy. I know this is true. I know it's true. And I have
a strong consolation. And God wants you to have that
strong consolation. Heirs of promise. You know, you
were a promised child long before you came into the world. You
were like little Isaac. Old man Abraham, Sarah, up in
years, impossible for them to have a baby. Sarah, she even
laughed. And she blamed it on the old
man. He's already old. He doesn't have any seed left. God said, I saw you laughing
in the tent. Sarah said, I didn't laugh. You see how sinful we
are? She lied to God. I wasn't laughing at your promise.
Say, yeah, you're going to have a baby. And so Abraham and Sarah, this
is what happens when we get in the mix. And we want to change
God's plan. God's plan doesn't change. He
has eternal counsel. So Sarah says, I can't have a
baby and you're too old. Why don't you take my handmaid?
But the old man wasn't through yet. Because he went and slept
with Hagar and she got pregnant. Don't underestimate the old guys. Anyway, and what a mess that was. And
we still have that mess over in Israel, right? Finally, they threw Hagar and
the baby Ishmael out, who are now the Arabic nations. Sarah did get pregnant, and she
had a baby, but it was out of the ordinary way. Isaac was a
promised child. See, you've been promised. And
because God promised, you're gonna be born again. You're gonna
come to know Christ. God's got a plan for you. And
God took an oath and swore by himself. I hope this helps you today.
I hope you have a strong consolation. Now I want to bring it on home.
All things are yours. I've been thinking about this.
I've been wanting to say this for years and years and years.
It's all mine. It's all yours as a child of
God. Jesus said that. All things are
yours. You know, we don't live like
that. We live like paupers. You're not going to be blessed.
You're already blessed. You're already blessed. They're
all coming this way. You wanna get stronger? You wanna
have a stronger consolation? You wanna get happier? Start
believing God. I said, I'll just believe God.
You're not going to be accepted. You're already accepted in Jesus
Christ, accepted in the blood. God has great plans for you.
Look what you cost him. What I'm praying here is that
your faith will increase. Can you imagine what would happen
in this city, in this church? If we were all believers, I mean
by that, we believe God? How come you say I can't when
God says you can? You can do all things through
Christ that strengthens you. Why do you say you can't when
God says I am able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that you
ask or think? We live miniature lives. May
God increase our faith. This is kind of funny, but if
the truth was known, some of you guys in here want a wife.
God has a wife for you. She may be on the way sooner
if you believe God. God has a husband. You know how much we've given
up just by not believing God? God has a house for you. Oh,
no. No. God has a car for you. Say, yeah, but that's just stuff.
Yeah, but you want it, don't you? You'd like to have a companion
for life, wouldn't you? I mean, why do you think God
wouldn't give you good gifts? It's gonna get quiet now. Yeah. God has a job for you. Heaven's
yours. You're headed that way. Nothing
can stop you. He said, well, you shouldn't
say those kind of things. I, again, I plead not guilty. I didn't come up with it. Blame
the Apostle Paul. And the Apostle Paul just said
this, for whom he did before love, he predestinated. Whom
he predestinated, them he also called, and whom he called, them
he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
Go tell Paul it's not true. And you know there's not one
mention in there, they're all he's. Not used, not mean. It's he foreknew, he predestinated,
he called, he justified, he glorified. Is that in your Bible? If it's
in your Bible, raise your hand. Some of you didn't raise your
hand because you don't know it's in your Bible. Well, you ought to go read it.
Oh, so I got some doubters in here, huh? Well, I'm gonna keep
working. Listen, if you come back here,
you know what I'm gonna tell you? God is a great God. He's
a sovereign God. God has a plan. God has a purpose. God has bought and paid for gifts
for his kids. Every good and perfect gift comes
down from the Father above. Is that right? Are you getting old and weary?
Well, if you are, if you, listen, One of the things, Ms. Pam and
I talk a little bit about this, about the cords are being broken
and we have a lot of friends already in heaven and things,
we know we're headed that way. But this is the way I have been
thinking is, God's not through with me yet. I mean, I want more. I'm like a kid at Christmas,
are there any more presents? Are there any more? You know,
I suspect God has more gifts for me. I mean, he's a big God. I mean, if you just consider
how big he is, he probably isn't through giving to you because
you're still breathing. A woman said to me once, you think
I'll have dying grace? I said, are you dying? She said,
no. I said, then you don't need it. You know, there are things
you don't need now. Don't worry about things that
you haven't come to yet. Just let the blessings flow.
You keep trusting God. There's people you haven't met
yet that are going to bless you. I know this. You know, when the
pipe bursted and the roof was leaking yesterday and there's
some water damage upstairs a little bit where the roof's leaking
and snows and big icicles hanging from this building. And I thought,
my Lord, this thing's going to crumble. And the Lord said, who
gave you this building to begin with? I don't give cruddy stuff. I'll take care of this. So I
kind of looked this week. There's gonna be a roofer on
the way somewhere. And you know my dear brother Rob, Rob here? Mom's here, right? Yeah, yeah. Rob's dad keeps these furnaces
going. He came all the way over here
yesterday and fixed that, he and Kurt. And I loved this. I went in that
back door, and I got here before everybody else, and there's huge
icicles hanging down from right over the door. I said to myself,
well, actually, I got in my car and backed my car up, because
I said, those icicles are going to fall on somebody. We got to
do something about that. I don't want it to be me, more
my car. So I backed my car up. I looked at the icicles and ran
through the door. When Rob's dad got here, he said, those
icicles are gonna kill somebody. I'm gonna get up on the roof
and knock them off. You say, well, Pastor, what's
the big deal? I hadn't much more got that out of my mouth than
God sent a man with a hammer to knock the icicles off. That helps me to enjoy life. I said, thank you, Lord. Miss
Pam and I were talking about, I said, I want to start a grieving.
I want to have a ministry here to those that are grieving. You know, I don't know exactly
because it didn't happen, but if Pam had have died, well, she
did die, but it's hard to explain she's here today, but yeah, she
accepted the God. But let's say she had passed
away and we would have buried her somewhere. I would have had
a problem. I'm just telling you as your pastor, I'm not nearly
spiritual as you think I am. Amen. You don't know what you'll
do till you get somewhere. I know that night I was crying
out like I have never cried. But anyway, so I said, I want
us to, I want this church to be full of ministry. I want things
going on here. God didn't call you here to sit. If God's brought you to this
church, he's got something he wants you to do. Maybe it's being
the head of a group with regard to those that are grieving. I wanna have a cancer, we have
four or five people in this church with cancer. I want us to have
a cancer group. I mean, when somebody says you
got the big C, your mind changes. You begin to think all kinds
of things about, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna leave this world, I'm
gonna leave my kids, I'm gonna leave my husband, I'm gonna leave,
I'm gonna leave. There's a lot of things, and
I'll tell you this, counseling with someone or talking with
someone who knows the Lord, there's a consolation there. There are
so many ways that we're gonna talk about for us to ministry,
but I was telling Pam about wanting that grieving group here, and she said, well,
you know, was it Kensington? Kensington is going to have our
people over, and I don't think there's gonna be much of a charge,
but we've got about 14 or 15, I don't know how many you said,
that are gonna go over to Kensington for their grieving committee
meetings or sessions. The phone rang. Am I telling
the truth? Shake your head yes, okay. I'm telling you, the phone rang.
She was in the bathroom. I had laid down on the bed for
just a little nap before we went out to dinner. She came in, as
she got off the phone, I heard her talk. She came in and she
looked at me and she said, you're not gonna believe what just happened.
She said, the person that was going to lead that group says
they're full over there. He wants to come over here and
do, Now you can tell me all day that
was an accident, but I was there when it happened. And you know
what I did? I started crying. Tears of gratitude. Thank you,
Lord. Thank you, Lord. And I do thank
him. I am so honored to pastor this
church. I'm going to keep pushing you because I want God's best
for you. I want you to have blessed assurance. I want you to have abundant life.
I want you to have a little heaven on the way to heaven. And I know
you can have that in Jesus Christ. Now, let me point-blank those
of you who do not know Jesus Christ and have not trusted Jesus
Christ as Lord and Savior. I want to encourage you to do
that. There is no other way. He's the way, the truth, and
the life. It's a heaven-hell issue. Trust Him. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved. You say, that's just too simple,
Pastor? It's just too simple. And so you turn to the rigmarole
of religion. You've been baptized, you take
holy communion, you know you're constantly trying to work your
way to heaven, and you know you're a liar on the inside. You know
you're deceiving yourself. You know you're not nearly as
good as you act. You know there's a worm in the
apple. Let me tell you, here's how great
it is. And what an insult it's not for
you to do this, for you not to do it. Believe God. God sent
his only begotten son into the world. Trust him, believe on
him, and thou shalt be saved. I hope you'll do that. I hope
you have done that while I've been speaking. You fell in love
with Jesus Christ. And you know what? I'm gonna
give you just a moment here to upchuck it. You know what that
means? That means I'm gonna give you
a moment to confess Christ. This is how great it is. If you
have trusted Christ, you know it. Amen. Stand right there just
a minute, baby. Amen. We had this happen Wednesday
night. Young man just came and fell
right there while I was preaching. Say, well, what'd you do? I kept
on preaching. He'd already come to Christ. Everything's all right,
right? Let me just say this. Just like
that happened, without any music to sing to, without standing
up, I'm going to make it really difficult. It's going to have
to be a bold move on your part. You're going to have to have
really a strong consolation to do this. But if you've trusted
Jesus Christ for the first time in your life today, I want you
to just stand up and come forward and stand right here. You don't
have to say anything. I won't ask you any hard questions. The Holy Spirit got a hold of
you. If he doesn't, you're not coming. But if he has, come on.
I'm going to give you about 60 seconds. Amen. Amen. Amen. All right. That's what I'm talking about.
Amen. Amen. Amen. Praise God. Amen. Anyone else? You know what's
going on in heaven? Heaven is rejoicing. Evan is
rejoicing. Okay. All right. I'd love to see that, don't you?
God bless all three of you. Greg is going to get your, Greg
Guidus over there is going to get your, I know your name, but
Greg's going to get your name. Now, let me tell you this. I'm
one guy. Need follow up with these men.
What a glorious thing that is. Think about one young lady and
two young men came to know Christ. I want to say to the devil, na,
na, na, na, na. And what a bold thing it is to
see the Spirit of God working in such power to bring people
to Jesus Christ.