You will turn with me to the book of Titus. Titus chapter 3. Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work. to speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, showing all meekness unto all mean.

For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers' lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

What is that hope? Christ in you, the hope of glory. What's he revealing to us? Christ. Christ. That's the hope. And this is a faithful saying, and these things I would that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed, that is, believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, are resting in him, might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men, but avoid foolish questions and genealogies. and contentions and strivings about the law for their unprofitable and vain.

A man that's a heretic. This is a man who just will not believe. He's gobbled up by some worldly heresy. He's a heretic. After the first and second admonition, you went to him and talked to him, and you went to him a second time and talked to him. And now, and I'm talking about a pastor, somebody comes to visit, and I admonish him twice. I tell him, no, free will is not the way God saves sinners. And I've told him twice now. And after the second admonition, I'm to reject him, that is, as a believer. I reject him as a believer. Because there's just one foundation, there's just one hope, that's Christ. If your hope is in what you do, or somebody else does, or what some nation does, if your hope's in that, it's not in Christ. It's not in Christ. You're not a believer. And as far as the church is concerned, and your interest in it, I'm to reject you. Not to punish you, but to show you that you're wrong. You're wrong.

You know, if we tell somebody they're wrong and then we just keep on shaking their hand and putting our arm around them, what's wrong with that picture? You don't do that to your own children, do you? No. And we do that knowing that he that is subverted and sinneth is condemned of himself. I'm not condemning him. He's already condemned. Isn't that what the Lord said? I didn't come to condemn men. I come to save men. And they like to come into this world. Men love darkness rather than light. And this is the condemnation. They won't come to me. They won't come to me. And it's a self-condemnation. You condemn yourself if you want to reject Christ. That's what the scriptures say.

All right. If you will, turn back with me now to the book of Titus, Titus chapter 3. And while you're finding my text, let me tell you a little bit about this man Titus and why Paul would Write this man a letter.

Titus was a Greek by nationality. He was a Greek. He was an uncircumcised Gentile. Now, what that meant in that day and what it still means is a heathen, just to put it bluntly. You've heard people talk about some man somewhere who just You can't reason with him. You can't do anything with him. He's just no heathen. Well, that's what he was, a heathen. He was a Gentile.

Actually, the Bible divides all mankind into two groups, Jews and Gentiles, Jews and heathens. The Jews were a people called of God Separated from the world, God established his covenant with them by way of their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob, whose name God changed to Israel, had 12 sons, and they made up the 12 tribes of Israel. God grew them into a nation called by name, Israel, sons of Jacob. And natural Israel, as I said in our lesson this morning, is typical of spiritual Israel, the elect of God. And for sure, his elect were among them also who were Gentiles.

God had an elect people among the typical people, and he had an elect people among the Gentiles. You remember how mad those Pharisees got at Christ when he started talking about naming? A lot of lepers in the land of Israel, God didn't go to any of them. He went to this old Gentile, this old heathen. Named him. Told him to go down deep in the Jordan River and cure his leprosy. Many widows in the land of Israel in the time of the famine, God didn't assist any of them. He assisted this Gentile woman, this heathen woman. Blessed her barrel. It didn't run out of oil. And the meal, it was always there. I don't care how much you used, it stayed the same level.

And although there's passages in the Old Testament promising salvation to the Gentiles, for the most part, it was hidden from men until Paul the apostle was separated by God to the Gentiles. He was the apostle of the Gentiles, and the mystery was plainly declared by him. And Titus was converted under Paul, called into the ministry, and was a close friend and helper of Paul. And he writes to him now, hoping to see him in person at Nicopolis, which is where Paul, this was in between his imprisonments, And Paul's hoping to meet him there in winter there in Nicopolis.

And Titus, under the authority of the apostle, was commanded to make a circuit through the assemblies began throughout the cities in Crete. God had been pleased to raise up churches in these cities all across the land of Crete. And he was to establish order among these churches. Our God is a God of order. I go into some of these churches years ago and sat down, and I was in a Pentecostal church. And man, I'm telling you, I sat there about as long as I could stand it. And finally, the pastor came over, and they were doing some kind of a march. They were going all around the outskirts of the thing. And he said, don't you have something you feel like you need to do? I said, I sure do. He said, well, go ahead and do it. I said, fine. I left.

These were heathens. Don't ever get the idea we're such an educated society that we're not heathens before God. I'm talking about ignorance before God. We're heathens. You read about that laugh about men dancing naked around a golden calf. after Moses went up to receive the law of God and come back down and here's all Israel, here's this nation, the elect of God, and they all got their clothes off and they're dancing around a golden calf. You think we ain't heathens? We're heathens.

Man's only got one soul. It's eternal. You lose your soul, you lose it forever. So what do men tell these men with this precious soul, this eternal soul? Well, you just walk down the aisle. Are you going to rest your soul in that? Just kneel down at this altar. You going to rest your eternal soul on that? Sign this pledge card. Agree to do this and not to do that. Repeat after me. Huh? Why? Who are you? I'm going to tell you something. When God does a work in a man's heart, he don't need to be told what to say. He'll know what to say.

I'm a sinner. What'd that old public in that? There's a heathen. Comes into the church of God. He can't even look up at heaven. He knows what he is. What'd he say? Lord, I need a new truck. No. Ain't nobody see it. He said, Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner. The sinner. Don't ever get above that. Just stay right there. I'm a sinner. We've got a song we sing sometimes. Only a sinner saved by grace. Love that hymn. Oh, my.

Well, he's going to establish order among these churches there in Crete. And he was to ordain pastors and deacons. God gave that commandment to the apostles concerning deacons. What is a deacon? Well, you've got a board of deacons, and they sit, and they examine the pastor and determine whether or not he needs to stay and how much we need to pay. That's not a deacon. deacons were ordained into the church to take the pressure off of the pastor so they could study. And they walked over out here. If somebody has a need, they see to it that that need is met. They come to the church, and they said, oh, widow such and such, her husband died, and she don't have an income. And she's having an awful time trying to put food on the table. And the pastor said, well, get some food and take it out there and give it to her. Well, rather than this pastor getting out of his study and going to do that, the deacons do it.

Deacons also kind of watch over the church. If they see something the pastor don't see going on, they'll come and talk to him and tell him about it. But mostly, it's to fulfill the needs of people who need help. They need some help. They need a place to stay. Food, they need clothing, they need something. Deacons.

Pastor, what's his job? He has the rule over the church. In the book of Hebrews, it said, obey them which have the rule over you. Who's he talking about? He's not talking about the government. He's talking about your pastor. Obey them which have the rule over you. Why? Why should I listen to him? Who's he? He watches for your soul. If he's got that, he watches for your soul. He don't look to see if you're wearing lipstick or you're not, or how long your dress is, or how short it is. What's he doing? He's watching for your soul. You can change your dress, but you can't change your soul.

He watches for your soul, now listen to this, as they which much give account, when? Some way out there in the future at a judgment? No, sir. Right then, right there, immediately, continually, give an account to God. You don't think God can't take a man out of the ministry? He'll take him out so fast he'll make his head spin. I've seen it. I've seen it. Promising men. Men who seem to have a great future in the gospel, they apt to teach good attitudes, all boom, just like that, gone. Gone. They give an account to God.

And I don't know if you know it or not, but men hate pastors that preach the gospel. They hate them. They despise them. My cousin came to me, and they had a little community chapel between Ashland, Kentucky and Greenham. And he come up to me and he said, I'd like for you to come up and hold what we used to call a revival, hold a revival for us. And I said, I'm not so sure those folks are going to want to hear what I got to say. And he said, if it's between the two covers on this book, he said, they'll hear it. I said, OK. I went up and preached. Next morning, before daylight, I heard these footsteps out on my porch. It was my cousin. He was walking back and forth. And so I put on a pot of coffee and called him in. And I said, what's on your mind? And he said, well, the church came to me and told me that if you come back, I couldn't. And I said, well, what do you want me to do? And he said, well, I guess don't come back.

They despise pastors. But the people of God don't. They're precious to them. They're precious to them. You know what our Lord told his disciples? He was telling men the necessity of hearing the gospel. You can find this over in John chapter 6. And he said, except you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life to live. That is, I'm going to be your food and drink. Your life. That's what he's telling them. I'm going to be your life. And they thought he was teaching cannibalism. That's how ignorant men are. You think they ain't heathens? We're heathens. He's preaching cannibalism. And the whole outfit deserted him and took off, and all the disciples took off. And nobody's there but the 12 that he chose. And he said, will you go too? And they said, where are we going to go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.

You know what he tells his pastors? He that heareth you, heareth me. That's what the Lord said. You take it for whatever it's worth. They're precious. He's precious to his elect. I've never been anywhere to preach among God's people that they did more than take care of my expenses to get there and get home and treated me like royalty when I was there.

He was to go through and appoint deacons and pastors and order in the churches. There's an order to worship. There's a place for music, but it's not the main place. The main place is for the preaching of the gospel. How are you going to worship God when we don't hear him preach? There was hardly a dry eye in this place last week. Huh? What do you call that? I call that worship. Worship. Standing in awe. In awe of the glory of God. A perfect, glorious God of everything that He is. looks down and saves a heathen. What do you reckon that heathen's going to do? He's going to love him. That's what he's going to do. He's going to fall down at his feet and worship him. Here's a man worthy of honor. He's worthy to be followed.

He was to look after and make sure that they were preaching the doctrine of Christ. When God does a work, he establishes order in it. And Titus was to establish these pastors and deacons and check on the gospel they were preaching and appoint, no doubt, treasures in the church. And he was to stir them up to defend the faith against these Judaizers and law preachers Lawmongers who were constantly trying to infiltrate the saints of God, trying to work their way in. They come in like a bug. They creep in. That's the language the scripture uses. They creep in unaware.

I went to my bedroom to go to bed, and I didn't have a glass of water. I like to go to bed with a glass of water. And I went back in to get it. And I looked down, and here's a little old spider growing across my floor. And it's real light colored. I could see it. I went over there and squashed the bug. You tell them, Titus, squash the bug. Squash the bug. Don't say, oh, wow, here's a spider. Let's put him on display. No, just step on it. There'll be another one.

And this letter is a letter of instruction to this preacher, and it's called by those who studied the scriptures, a pastoral epistle. And the same for 1st and 2nd Timothy. But you cannot instruct in these matters apart from the gospel of Christ. If I'm going to instruct you to love, I'm not going to stand up here. You can tell people love from now to doomsday. It don't mean anything. You have to illustrate that love in Christ. You have to show them where the love is. Here's what it is, and here's where it is, and this is how it is. And if you don't have this, you don't have anything. Oh, I got faith. Well, faith worketh by love. If you don't have love, you don't have faith. You can't construct in these matters apart from the gospel of Christ, and especially talking about how God saves sinners.

I was a builder for many years. I mostly built homes. I did build a few other things, but I mostly built homes. And we got this house ready to sell. I come in with a dozer or a front end loader, and I dug a foundation and laid it all up. You remember when we were doing our house. We got pictures of it. And you get all that ready, and then you frame up the house. It just looks like a big clearing. There ain't nothing there but mud and a house. If you want to sell that house, you're going to have to landscape it. Now, people will love the house if it's what they're looking for, but they're going to love it 10 times more if it's landscaped. Now, boy, now it's attractive. Huh? Now it's attractive. And that's what this man Titus is doing. He used to go among these churches. And he's going to make them attractive because he's going to establish order there. And he's going to establish that the gospel is being preached there. And if it is, then love and mercy and grace and all these things are going to reign. It's going to be a precious thing, their fellowship.

Well, on the landscape, I was just a young boy. I didn't know too much about it. So the books I got had three pictures, before, during, and after. Boy, you want to see something to make an impression on you. Look at this old house out here surrounded with mud. And now look at it with those big old flowers and trees and shrubs and all this stuff on it. What a difference. So that's what Paul's doing here in the book of Titus chapter 3. He's showing us before and after. And that's what he's telling that pastor. You got to see this group. You get too picky, you know. We start just picking every little thing. That's not what I want to look at. I want to look at what you was, I want to see what God did for you, and I want to see what you are now. That's what pastors are looking for. They're watching for your soul.

So let's begin there. First of all, let's look at what the saints were when God called them. Look down here, Titus chapter 3, verse 3. Now, he's telling them to obey magistrates. You know what he's talking about there, don't you? He's talking about obeying your government and all the officials that are ordained in it, the policemen, the army, the whatever, men of authority, magistrate. Do it willingly. If you read about it in Romans, he'll tell you they're the ministers of God to you for good. That's what they're there for. They may do other things. They may have all kind of other problems, but that's what they're basically there for. And honor them for that. Honor them for that. Pay your taxes. Obey the law.

For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish. Disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice, envy, hateful, and hating one another. So let's look at these signs. Here's before. Foolish. Oh, how foolish to have a Bible and never read it. How foolish to have the Word of God and not even know the basics of what it's saying. Foolish. That's me. Number one selling book of all time in the world is the Bible. You'd think somebody'd read it. How foolish to hear the gospel and ignore it. How foolish to receive not the things of the Spirit of God. To ignore God's means of grace. How foolish.

We were sometimes foolish. What else? Disobedient. We all have a conscience, but we're disobedient to it. We all have creation out there, God's witness to us. We're disobedient to it. We're without excuse. That's what it says in Romans 1. We wake up in a world created and sustained by God to show us his glory, and we ignore it. We all live out our days in the providence of God, but we live and act as though circumstance or some random occurrence without purpose or subjection to it. Disobedient. Disobedient.

The carnal mind is enmity against God. It's not subject to the law of God, that is the authority of God, neither indeed can be. And oh, how foolish. How men hate to be told the truth. They hate that. Tell me anything, but don't tell me the truth. How they hate to be told what to do. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. You think multitudes run down? Huh? Run to Christ. We're disobedient.

And here's why we don't. We're deceived. I don't know if you know this, but we've been lied to. My wife, the first time she heard the gospel, got mad. Why would she get mad? She'd been lied to. Didn't know who, but somebody was lying. Grace and works are not the same. They're totally opposite. If a man's telling me I'm saved by works, he's a liar, or I am one of the others. We both can't be true. We've been lied to, knowingly or unknowingly. We've been lied to, and most of us were told we had a free will. You don't have a free will, not so. We're following an atom, aren't we? That's what the scripture says.

Under sin, Paul said, I before proved, proved, before God and men, I before proved that both Jew and Gentile are all under sin. Well, if sin reigns in me, Sin is my nature, then I'm not free. My will's not free, my love's not free, my words are not, nothing's free. I'm in bondage. I'm like a prisoner in a cell. He's free to go as far as he can go to the right, as far as he can go to the left. That's as far as he can go. He's in a cell. We're in the cell of our nature, and that's as far as we can go. We're not free. There is no free will.

The Bible tells us plainly we come forth from the womb speaking lies. It says, you hath quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. walking according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit which now worketh in the children of disobedience." We're sinners. We're in bondage to sin.

Oh, but what about salvation? Our Lord said, you've not chosen me. I chose you. Huh? Who chose who? Did you know beforehand that this book plainly declares God's election to salvation? Anybody know that before the Lord Savior? Boy, I didn't. I had no idea. Listen to this verse over in John chapter 6. No man can come unto me, this is Christ talking, except my Father draw him. As it is written, they shall all be taught of God. The drawing of God, God's providence draws us. Why are you here today? Chance? I just thought, well, I'd go today and see what everything's all about. I'll tell you why you're here. God brought you here. Huh? That's God's problem. Now, listen. Hear what Scripture says. We have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. Huh? What's that cover? That covers everything that is. Doesn't it? What's all mean? It means all. Big controversy over in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 about Christ being made sin. What's made mean? It means made. Well, I don't like it. So what? Who art thou, old man, that replies against God? God said made. Made's what he meant. If he didn't mean it, he wouldn't have said it.

Our problem is we don't want to hear it. That's our problem. It's the same thing with free will. It's the same thing with everything that's contrary to God. We don't like it. And the reason we don't is because we're not like God. That's exactly right. We're deceived. I've been told since I was old enough to actually understand language that if I was good, I'd be rewarded for it. You know the problem with that? They're none good. That's the problem. They're none good. If God saves a man, it's going to be by grace. It's going to be according to his goodness and not yours. Read it in Romans chapter 3. None good. And Paul knew they were going to come back at him, so he said, no, not one. He said the same thing about righteousness. They're none righteous. No, not one. Not one.

Deceived, that's what we are. What were we deceived about? Sin, salvation, providence, heaven, time, death, life, faith? Deceived. Deceived. Been sold a bill of goods and We laid it up in our hearts as though God said it himself. And why? Because we love the person that told us. That's why. And do you know that's why he said your family can be the greatest of your enemies, is your family? Why? Because you love them. They love them.

Oh, now watch this. Serving divers lust. What's that mean? That means doing whatever your heart desires. That's what that means. Diver's lust. Various kinds of lust. And pleasures. Oh, my. I'm not even going to go there. There's no end to the pleasures that men live for. No end to it. I couldn't hardly wait. I own a brand new truck. I bought one, but it didn't take long before I wanted another one. It got old quick, especially when the payments come around. Oh, pleasure. Man, dump your soul for one night, one night's pleasure. What's it talking about? Whatever floats your boat, that's what it's talking about. Whatever it is. Whatever it is that you love so much that you actually live for it.

Ephesians 2, 3 says, among whom also we all had our walk of life and times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as others." And then listen to this. It says, we were living in malice. Malice. Malice is the desire to do ill to someone. That's what malice is. I hate his guts. Boy, if a bus runs that red light, I hope it hits him. I hope IRS takes him to the gleaner.

I got picked for jury duty one time. And the only man, the whole time I was in business, ever beat me out of any money was this man. And he was accused of something or other. I don't remember what it was all about. But I had to sit on a jury and judge him. And I sat there for about two minutes and held my hand up. And I went down and told the judge, I said, I can't sit on this jury. He said, why? I said, because I don't like you. He did me wrong, and I'm pregnant. He said, you better not let me sit on his jury, because he's guilty. He said, you're dismissed. That's the way we live. We live that way, don't we? Somebody does a little something to us, boy, I don't want nothing to do with it. I want nothing to do with it. That's malice, living in malice.

Oh. and envy, always wanting something that somebody else has. I want his station. I want his respect. I want his reputation. I want his dog. I want something. I was over at Lowe's one day, and this guy got out of the truck, and he had a poodle. I mean, a full-sized poodle, big old poodle. Man, that thing looked like something out of a picture. I told my first wife before she died, I said, boy, I'd love to have his dog. That's the prettiest thing. That's the way we live, envy, envy. Honor, money, station, power.

The Jews envied the apostles' multitude that God sent there to hear. And then listen to this, hateful and hating one another. What do you do when you hate somebody? You cut them off. You don't talk to them. You killed him. That's what you've done. You just cut him off. I don't want to talk to him anymore. The dictionary said it's an extreme dislike for someone. Boy, I'll say that's putting it mildly. Can't even look at him without getting red in the face. The mention of his name riles me up. Christ said they hated me without a cause. Oh, that's where God found us. We hated him. Oh, I never hated God. Yeah, he did. It'd take me a minute or two, but I can show it to you in the scripture. You hated God. They told Christ, they said, we'd be Abraham's seed. We're not of the devil. He said, no, you're of your father the devil, and the lust of your father you will do. Oh, no, we'd be Abraham's seed. Well, he said, Abraham, you hated me without a cause. Abraham didn't do that. Huh? Abraham didn't act like that. Oh. They hated me without a cause. And that's where God found us, and that's how sinners are, whether they admit it or whether they don't.

But something happened. Titus chapter 3, verse 4. But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man, that word man, mankind, the love of God our Savior toward mankind appeared, when was that? That was when you heard him preached. That's what that's talking about there. Well, when you preach Christ, How do you preach him that he might appear before people? Well, I preach him that he appeared before God in the covenant of grace before the world was. Huh? He appeared there. Why did he appear there? For me. God told me in him. Can't choose somebody in another if another ain't there. He's there. Read it in Proverbs. He'll tell you. He was there before the mountains. He was there before anything. He was there. He appeared before God. He appeared in the promises of the prophets. There is no promise apart from Christ. He's the promised Redeemer. He's the Messiah. He's the promised one.

And then he appeared in Bethlehem's manger, didn't he? Angels declared his appearance. Peace on earth, goodwill toward men. And then he appeared at Calvary in his substitutionary sacrifice. He appeared before God with my sin on his back. In my room instead at the cross in God's church, he judged him looking at my sin. And he poured out his wrath on him. And Christ didn't open his mouth. He didn't try to defend himself. He didn't try to make excuses. He took what God poured out on him. Why? Because he's my substitute. He bore. Boy, you look that word up. He bore our sins in his own body on the tree. He bore the wrath of God. He satisfied the justice of God. Oh, my soul. He appeared. Once, it says, in the end of the world, hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. That was an appearance. And you know something? He said he's going to appear again, this time without sin. That is, he's not coming to put away the sin he already put away. He's coming without sin unto salvation. He's coming in the glory of His salvation, in the glory of His Father's house, in the glory and purpose of God from before the foundation of the world. He's coming. And He's coming with the whole house, the holy angels, the whole outfit's coming. And He's coming.

Well, now He tells us when the Gospel speaks, all of these appearances are revealed in Him. Now, he appears to us as he is. That's what he's telling us. Not like you thought he was. Not poor little Jesus, boy, who wants to save men and men won't let him. That's the most ridiculous thing I ever heard. That preacher stood up there and told me, he said, God's done all he can do. Now, it's all up to you. Really? God that made the world's done all he can do. And he said, I need your help. How ridiculous can words get? Man, I'm telling you, man will invent anything. I don't care how crazy it is, he'll invent anything. Just ludicrous. Now it's all up to you. God's going to best all his, that's not what the scripture said. He saved us in Christ, that God may receive all the glory whose first trusted in Christ. And then what's this? In whom you also trusted after you heard the word of truth. And that's what Paul's telling Titus.

After the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, I tell you, if God wasn't merciful to this world, He'd never send them a gospel preacher. He wouldn't do it. Never do it. But he leaves one here, and he preaches to the just and the unjust, just like Christ. I preach to my sheep, and I preach to whatever else is out there, goats or pigs or whatever it is. I preach to them, too. But here's the difference. My sheep, he said, hear my voice. If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly." He said, I told you, plainly. I'm the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives us his life for his sheep. I told you plainly. But you believe not, but you're not my sheep. Read it yourself over in John chapter 10.

What happened? Christ appeared. That's what happened. God called his preacher in. He preached the gospel. And when he did, they saw Christ as God set him forth, not like some idiot had told them about, some deceived man. They heard the truth. They saw Christ as God had set him forth in his word. Oh, there's one mediator between men and God, the man Christ Jesus. There's no other way for you. No man cometh unto the Father, Christ said, but by me. And that's not me ever how you want to imagine me. That's me as I'm set forth in the Word of God. You see what I'm saying? There's a big difference between leaving men to their imagination and declaring the truth to them.

God, I say, Do you really believe that Jesus of Nazareth is God? He's God. God come into the flesh. He's talking about God our Savior. Not by works of righteousness, which we've done, but according to his mercy, he saved us. How? What's this? By the washing of regeneration. What in the world is that? That's the revelation of Christ in you. And that revelation in you cleanses you from all your deceit. It cleanses you from all your inabilities.

You know, over in 2 Corinthians 5, he said, you're a new creation in Christ, a new creature in Christ Jesus. Now watch this, old things have passed away. That old condemnation in Adam, it's gone. It's gone. Why? Because right now I see Christ. Christ is my head, not Adam. I had a head before that head. He's the head of the body of the church. He's my representative man. And as I fell in Adam's disobedience, I'm saved in his obedience. He lived the life I couldn't live and died the death I couldn't die. That washes me from my old inabilities, don't it?

In fact, this washing is so inclusive that he said, now you have the mind of Christ. When we think, we think with the mind of Christ, the believer does. He's cleansed from all that junk. You're not going to sell him on free will. You're not going to sell him on walking the aisles Signing cards. Well, you just accept Jesus as your personal savior. That's more ridiculous than free will.

Oh. The washing of regeneration. That's not God putting this invisible power in you and now all of a sudden you're going to resist this and do that and do all this other stuff. He's talking about the truth being established in you. And that truth is Christ our Savior. He saved me. As you receive Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him, rooted and built up in Him, established in the faith. In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Now watch this. And ye are complete in Him. Everything I need to go out of this world and meet God is in Christ my Savior.

You really believe that preacher? I've vested my soul on him. Huh? If he's not sufficient to save my soul, I'm not saved. But he is sufficient. He is sufficient. How do I know that? Because he appeared to me in that gospel message as he is set forth of God.

You know, this is what caused the fall of Satan, the very thing I'm telling you this morning. I don't know the situation. I suppose God is enlightening this race of creatures that he's created to be ministers to those who shall be heirs of salvation. That's how Paul puts it in Hebrews chapter 1, describing angels. And he's telling these angels what's going on. Christ is going to become man. He's going to robe himself in human flesh And he's going down to save these people, and I'm going to raise him from the dead, and I'm going to sit him at my right hand on my throne. That's what's going to happen.

And listen to this. Let me see if I can find it again. In Isaiah 14, verse 13, Satan said, oh, no. He said, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I'll sit also upon the mount of the congregation. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I'll be like the Most High. Now, he didn't actually say that. He just thought it. And the thought no sooner appeared in his heart, he was out of there. He fell from heaven, the prophet said, like lightning. He was gone. And he'd gone forever. There's no salvation for angels. All that went with him is gone forever. You can read about it in the book of Jude. Reserved in chains of darkness until that great day.

And I preach this gospel to men, and that's exactly what they say. Oh, no, I'm the captain of my salvation. I'm the one who's going to decide my future. You better hope you're not. You better hope you're not. I'm going to be God. Chapter 2, verse 7, it said, thou madest man a little lower than the angels. Huh? That's what Satan was looking at. He's the, oh, he was something. He was something. And now he's looking at man going to be made a little lower than the angels, but he's going to sit on the throne. He said, I ain't having that. Man lower than the angels, yet crowned with glory and honor, and set him over all the works of his hand. He's talking about Christ. And he's talking about us in Christ. World's his, yeah, but it's ours in him. We're joint heirs on him. A savior, redeemer, propitiation for our sins. And in that last great day, he's going to appear again without sin unto salvation for all those that look upon him.

But this appearance Paul's talking about is how he appears in the gospel, which incorporates all of his appearances. And it's not by works of righteousness which we've done, but according to His mercy He saved us. Now listen to this, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. He said when the Spirit has come, He said, now I have to go to the Father. That's absolutely necessary. But I'm not going to leave you without any comfort. I'm going to send the Comforter.

And when He's come, He's not going to speak of Himself. I'm so sick of hearing men talking about the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost. They don't know the Holy Ghost because when He comes, He's not going to speak of Himself. He's going to take the things of mine, Christ said, and He's going to show them to you. Has He shown you Himself, His glory, His salvation, His sufficiency? How'd He do it with the Holy Ghost? Well, how does the Holy Ghost do it? Through the preaching of the Gospel. Explain that. I can't. I can't. I just know it's so.

That man standing up here telling me these things are so and he's trying at the best of his ability, he's trying to reason with you and he will if the Holy Ghost is in it. He will. He will. He'll reason with you. And you'll know that it's coming from God. I can't explain that. I just know it's so. So Henry, he preached to me that gospel. And he's only about this high. But he was six foot tall and bulletproof to me. I knew he was God's servant. And God was speaking to me through that man. That's how this washing of regeneration takes place. It's the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. He's establishing these new principles, this new love, this new understanding, this new covenant. He's establishing all these new things in you. It's a renewing of the Holy Ghost.

Well, how does he do it? Verse 6, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. That being justified by his grace. You know what that means? That means God looks at you and he says, you're free to go. You're free to go. There's no charge against you. Oh, I can think of a hundred. Nope. Nope, there's none. Whom He did justify, then He did also what? Glorify. Glorify. He justified us. And who's gonna lay anything, Paul said, to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. And Christ that died. Huh? You can't find assurance in that. You can't find assurance.

All right. I'm way over my time. I apologize for it. Well, you say, people believe that. They're going to act any way they want to. No, they're not. No, they're not. You think old Barabbas, I've used him so many times. I guess I wear him out. But he's down there in that prison cell. Them guards come down and get him. And they say, you're free to go, Brams. Well, what kind of trick is this? It's no trick. Another's been chosen to diagnose him. And he said, you're free. You think he went back to his life of crime? No, I think he went straight down and found him a preacher to tell me about Christ. Tell me about my dying substitute. Show me something about His glory, that's what I'm hungry to hear.