Well, it's good to see you all
out this morning. Remember those who requested prayer. Perry's going
into the hospital tomorrow to have a brain scan, which is a
common procedure when you have lung cancer, to make sure it
hasn't transferred to the brain. You'll also probably find out
about his biopsies of the tumor and the cancer that took out
of the left lung and also the lymph nodes. So he'll know probably
a whole lot tomorrow and then will know something, what's going
on. But continue to remember him in your prayers. Pat Swaney,
who has cirrhosis of the liver. Pat Forkiller, whose cancer has
come back and put Melvin Ledford on the prayer list also. Melvin
had ketoacidosis and pancreatitis. And pancreatitis is a debilitating
little ailment that will put you out of business for sometimes
eight to ten weeks, just wipe you out. And he's in bad shape
as far as physically weak. So remember him in your prayers
and seek the Lord's help for him. And Inez. Inez Husky. Inez Husky. Still waiting probably the next
procedure to find out something She's got, they think, a benign
tumor in the back of her brain. Her family has had some history
with that as a couple of the family have died with a tumor
of the brain in the same place, but they believe hers is benign,
not malignant. But that's to be seen, so remember
her in your prayers. And all the others who requested
prayers, too. We'll observe the Lord's Table
after this morning's service, and we'll record it. So we'll record all
the way through the Lord's Table. And there'll be no lunch this
afternoon, no Bible study. Midweek services is important.
It's starting 1st of December, this coming Wednesday. We start
our services at six o'clock on Wednesday night rather than seven
because of the darkness of Big Cove. Of course, it's really
lit up here with our beautiful little angel across on the telephone
pole. We'll start at six o'clock Wednesday
night rather than seven o'clock. Let's begin our worship service
at hymn number 212. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that
makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. For my pardon, this I seek, Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. For my cleansing, this my plea,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is a flow that makes
me white as snow. Nothing but the blood of Jesus
Nothing can for sin atone But the blood of Jesus Not of good that I have done,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that
makes me white as snow. Other founts I know, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. This is all my hope and peace,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my righteousness. Oh, precious is the flow that
makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. One other friend, if you will
remember, remember in prayer, Ron Gregg, who's a member of
13th Street Baptist Church up there. He was going in for the,
to have a pacemaker and defibrillator placed in his chest. They screwed
up royally on him. That is a procedure that's been
done thousands of people and Sam and I will attest that it's
hardly anything to it. It's just a matter of cutting
the upper epidermis and slipping, make a little pocket in there
and slip it in. They made a four-inch incision on his lung. They cut
his lung, so somebody didn't know what they were doing, because
you had to go through the ribs to get to the lung. He's had a bad week in the hospital. drain his tube in his chest and
everything else, a procedure that ought to have been over
with in just a matter of moments and been home in the same day.
But remember him, his name is Ron Gregg. He's maybe my age,
maybe a year older than me, so remember him in your prayers.
Let's turn in our Bibles, if you will, to 2 Timothy chapter
one. I want to read one verse of scripture.
2 Timothy chapter one. I'll read it in conjunction with
verse 9. Paul is telling Timothy in the
last part of verse 8 that the power of God who has saved us
and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but
according to His own purpose and grace. which was given us
in Jesus Christ before the world began, but is now made manifest
by the appearing of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who
hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality
to light through the gospel. Let us pray. Our Father, we ask
in the name of Jesus Christ and for His glory that You would
cause us in our hearts this day to worship You as you ought to
be worshipped. We know we'll never meet that
high standard until we leave this world and stand fully redeemed
in that world beyond, looking steadfast in the face of Jesus
Christ without sin and without the flesh to worship your right. But Father, we would worship
thee now as best we are able. Give us grace to do so. Show
us mercy. Father, we pray for those who
are sick, those who have been added to the prayer list. Remember
Melvin, pray that you'll bring him back to a good measure of
health. Pray for Perry, for the others who requested prayer.
We ask, Lord, you'd be with them. Miss Forkiller, also Pat Swaney, and Brother Ron Gregg, we ask,
Lord, you'd be with them, watch over them, strengthen them in
Jesus Christ, and cause them to be brought back to a good
measure of health. We pray that with Perry the results
tomorrow will be encouraging as they further minister to him
in this cancer situation. We ask, Lord, you be with him,
be with Phyllis as she ministers to him. Pray for our shut-ins. Pray for Brother Wayne, Sister
Ethel, Sister Peggy Lambert. We ask, Lord, you be with them
and watch over them. Comfort them in Jesus Christ.
Fix their hearts and minds upon him. Help us, Lord, to remember
each other in prayer, to call out each other's names. love
one another and seek the welfare of our brothers and sisters in
Christ. Pray for our missionaries as they're in the field preaching
the gospel in other places. Ask Lord you'd be with them.
We pray you'd stand with every man today who preaches your gospel
and uplift his arms and uphold him and cause him to say right
things concerning thee, including me as I stand here this day. Help us as we go through this
day, as we this afternoon observe the Lord's table, and remember
His death until it comes again. Help us now, we pray in Christ's
name. Amen. Hymn number 477. Years I spent in vanity and pride
Caring not my Lord was crucified Knowing not it was for me He
died on Calvary Mercy there was great and grace was free There
my burdened heart found liberty at Calvary. ? By God's word at last my sin
I learned ? Then I trembled at the law I'd spurned ? Till my
guilty slowly floor returned to gallery ? Mercy there was
great and great and there was multiplied to me
that my burden o'erth found liberty at Calvary. Now I've given to Jesus everything. Now I gladly own him as my king. Now my raptured soul can only
sing of Calvary. Mercy there was great and great. There my burdened soul found
liberty and salvation. Oh, the love that drew salvation's
plan. Oh, the grace that brought it
down to man. Oh, the mighty gulf that God
did span at Calvary. Mercy, there was grace. and there was multiplied to me. There my burdened soul found
liberty and calvary. I'll ask Stan and Steve to receive
the elements this morning, please. Let us pray. Father, again we
approach in the name of Christ. The unspeakable gift that you
have given to your children freely. I cannot begin to imagine the
cost of our salvation. That you, God Almighty, took
on the form of human flesh and came in the likeness of sinful
flesh to destroy sin in the flesh. Offered yourself to the judge
of all the earth as the perfect sacrifice to satisfy your law
and justice and put away sin. We thank you for the gift of
salvation, for the gift of forgiveness, for the continuous gift of mercy
and grace. We know that we have what we
have because you have been good and merciful to us. Let us return
these gifts to Thee with thanksgiving, in Christ's name, amen. and and and and and Write your attention back to
2 Timothy chapter 1. Verse 10, Paul says, But it is
now made manifest by the appearing of our Lord, our Savior, Jesus
Christ, who hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality
to light through the gospel. verse 9 we know that Paul set
forth an indisputable truth concerning the eternal aspect of the salvation
of God's people. There are those who rebel against
any idea of an eternal aspect of salvation but we have in eternity
according to Revelation 13 8 the Lamb slain from the foundation
before the conception of the world. The only reason why Jesus Christ,
the Lamb of God, was slain was to put away sin. But Him being
slain before the foundation of the world means that before man
ever sinned, God had already set aside the remedy for that
sin. in the shed blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he sets forth INDISPUTABLE
FACTS about the POWER of God SAVING us. He said, Who has SAVED
us, in verse 9, that is past tense, Who has saved us and CALLED
us, past tense, with a HOLY CALLING. What is that calling? That calling
is the GOSPEL of Jesus Christ. Paul said concerning those who
are elect, he said, Brethren, we are bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God has
from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief in the truth, whereunto you are called
by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ. So they are called, Paul said,
to the Roman Church He said, Whom he foreknew, he did also
predestinate whom he conformed to the image of his Son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
he did predestinate, them he also called. And whom he called,
them he also justified. Whom he justified, them he also
glorified. So there is an aspect of our
salvation which is eternal. Eternal. If blood has been shed,
there is an aspect of our justification which is eternal. No doubt about
it. There has to be. And so our Lord
is set forth here as our Savior and He says this, He called us
with a holy calling and that calling had nothing to do with
our works. And He explains why that is a fact later on in the
same verse. It had nothing to do with our works whatsoever.
We were called for a wholly different reason. We are called for the
purpose of His grace. He said not according to our
works but according to His own purpose and grace. which was given us in Jesus Christ
before the world began. So, if it was given to us in
Jesus Christ before the world began, what works could we have
possibly produced? We didn't exist. and yet it was
given to us because we existed in the purpose and will of God.
We were already His children. It is clearly set forth in Hebrews
chapter 2 that because the children were partakers of flesh and blood,
Jesus Christ partook the same. We were already children and
we partook flesh and blood, so Jesus Christ came for His children. I am the children that thou hast
given me. And this was all done in eternity. We weren't even
existing and certainly when we did exist we'd had no interest
in it. We had no desire for it. We didn't
know anything about it until someone was sent by God to our
house, to our lives to tell us the good news that God has saved
his people by the grace of Jesus Christ. That is an indisputable
truth he set forth here. He said, He has declared that
our salvation was purpose and plan from the foundation of the
world, having no input and allowing no input from us and that it
was given to us in Jesus Christ before the world even existed.
That's a wondrous thing. That's a wondrous thing. And
as for assurance, salvation was forever established and settled
before the world began. It was already established and
settled. That was the plan. That was the
purpose of God. And the purpose of God is that
the perfect man would come and offer a perfect sacrifice to
God so that God's law requiring death for sin would be satisfied. God is a God of means. He's a
God of means. He uses things to accomplish
His purpose. He doesn't count on them to accomplish
His purpose. He uses them. And one of the
things He uses for the children of God to know about what He
has done is the preaching of the gospel. In fact, it is exactly
what He uses. Perfect sacrifice must be offered
and was offered. Now, since no man or no son of
Adam, no sinful man could meet or even come close to this, to
the stringent, exacting requirement of the law to offer God a perfect
death, they would have eternal wait someone else had to come. God,
in His grace, came into this world, born of a woman, born
under the law to redeem them that are under the law. He came
without the stain of Adam's sin because God was His Father, not
Adam. He was born of a woman. He was
born without that stain. He was holy and harmless, gentle
and tenderhearted and without sin, all the way through His
existence as a human being upon the earth. for 33 and a half
years. He took on human flesh. And a
thing that had never occurred before in the universe and would
never occur again took place. A man was born who was perfect. Perfect humanity. And that man
was Jesus Christ. And that man was God. Manifest in the flesh. The Word
was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory as
the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." Immanuel. Call Him Immanuel. Why? It means
God's with us. God is with us. He came into
the world, took on Himself the seed of Abraham, not the nature
of angels, but the seed of Abraham and fulfilled that purpose, that
plan, that salvation, given the elect before the world began.
He came to fulfill what God had purposed in eternity he came
to die that's why he came he didn't come to set up a kingdom
he didn't come to set up himself as an example he didn't come
to die as a martyr he came to die to redeem his people to offer
that sacrifice to God without spot or blemish and he did it
and he did it all and he did it alone he by himself purged
our sins and sat down on the right hand of the father that's
all a part of this eternal salvation. And then Paul says, but all that God did back there in
eternity is now made manifest. That's what he says in verse
2, but is now made manifest. That refers to that salvation
accomplished in eternity. Since we did not exist and could
not have known of that great salvation, God made that salvation
manifest. He publicly set it forth. If you study the doctrine of
predestination in the New Testament, there's six times the word pro-rezo
predestination is used. Our Lord did some wondrous things
in predestination that we didn't know anything about, that actually
accomplished our salvation, and we didn't know. So how are we
ever gonna find out about it? He ordained the gospel. He ordained
the preaching of the gospel, and in that gospel we found out
that we had forgiveness. We found that God controlled
all things, and that God had predestinated us in inheritance,
proving that we were indeed His children, His sons. He wrote
our names in the will. That's proof of it. That's proof
of it. God satisfied Himself with the
sacrifice of Christ. And now, for you and I, poor,
wretched sinners who don't know nothing from nothing, salvation
is made manifest. Manifest. The word manifest means
to unveil a mystery. Unveil a mystery. Paul often
referred to the gospel as a mystery. As a mystery. And in this first
letter to Timothy he referred to Christ as the mystery of godliness. God manifest in the flesh. All
throughout the Old Testament the Messiah has been promised
and prophesied. All the prophets gave witness
of Him. who he was and what he would do was shrouded in pictures
and types and symbols. And the Jews and the Gentiles
were promised a Savior that would save some out of every kindred,
nation, tongue and people. And salvation was theirs. It
belonged to them. God had saved them and it was
freely given to them. But now it's made benefit. Now
they find out about it. That's the language of Scripture.
Turn to a few passages. Turn over to 1 Peter chapter
1. 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 18, For as much as ye know
that we are not redeemed with corruptible things as silver
and gold for your vain conversation, or from your vain conversation
received by tradition of your fathers, but we are redeemed
with the precious blood of Christ as a Lamb without blemish and
without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation
of the world, but was manifest in these last times to you, who
by Him do believe in God." That's how you believe in God, by Jesus
Christ. And how did that happen? He was
manifest. he was manifest in first john
chapter three said he was manifest unveiled the mystery was unveiled
he was manifest to take away our sins to take away our sins
that is our salvation and we found out about it we were walking
around as god's elect god's own sinners all not caring for the
things of god and yet god had something to tell us he manifest
this But now is made manifest, but now is made manifest by the
appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord speaks through Paul
in his epistles many times of those who love Christ's appearing. He appeared on this earth. The word appearing occurs six
times in the word of God, five times, one of which is in our
text. The word means in the original language, a glorious, illustrious
advent of gods, of gods. Here it refers to the only one
of whom such words could actually and surely be applied, the one
true and living God. The other time the word is used,
it means apocalypse. which is the Greek word translated
a revelation. And there's the name of a great
and final book of the Bible, the Revelation of Jesus Christ,
and the Greek is the Apocalypse of Jesus Christ, Jesu Christu.
The salvation purposed and given to the elect before the world
began is now manifest, it's unveiled, and it's unveiled with the appearance,
the illustrious advent of God the Savior. Christ is our salvation. That appearance was not merely
showing up or walking into a room. That appearance was the illustrious,
glorious advent of God the Savior. The appearance was the manifestation
of the fulfillment of the salvation given to the elect before the
world began. That's how we know it's over. The world holds the
Lord's appearance, if not in contempt, at least with indifference.
Religion holds the Lord's appearance as an effort to save or an appearance
that would make salvation possible. But this text and context belies
the efforts of heretical religion to put salvation in any way in
the realm of man's will or decision. No! The salvation given to the
elect before the world began was manifest and a possibility,
a probability, cannot be given. It cannot appear. It is a real,
effectual, substantial, past tense salvation that has already
been given but now is made manifest by the appearing of the Lord
Jesus Christ. The elect had it though at the
time they knew nothing of it. When Christ appeared, he appeared
as the Savior and the salvation that had already been accomplished
was now manifested. We know about it through the
preaching of the gospel. The salvation manifested accomplished
great things. He has appeared, it said, to
put away our sins by the sacrifice of himself. He has appeared into
the holy place not made with men's hand and hath obtained
eternal salvation for us. The Savior, Jesus Christ, has
abolished death. That's what it says. This manifestation
is now made manifest by appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ who
has abolished death. Abolished death. My goodness. The one thing that exacerbates
fear and haunts the existence of humanity, death and what follows,
has been abolished by the appearing of manifest salvation, that is
the Lord Jesus Christ. Fear. Fear has been abolished. The fear of death has been abolished.
You want to find out what people are truly afraid of, listen to
what they think the results of any calamity might be. Climate change, what are they
talking about? We're all going to die. We're all going to die. COVID, we're all going to die.
This is the language of the apocalyptic language. Why? Because people
fear death. Listen, Christ has abolished
death. By his manifestation, death is
abolished. This salvation is accomplished
when death, for those whom this salvation was given, was abolished.
Death put to death by death. This death abolished death but
not natural death. We all will die physically unless
the Lord comes while we are still alive. But this death that he
died was not for everyone. This death abolished not the
natural death, it abolished what was called in scripture the second
death. which is eternal dying and never dying the second day
the sentence of every son of Adam by nature but out of that
multitude of guilty ruined sinners salvation was promised to some
accomplished before the world began for some but manifest in
these last days by the appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ A just
salvation was promised, a promise that would honor God's law, satisfy
His justice, and propitiate Him for the sins of His people. Satisfy
God. The salvation is the death of
the perfect sacrifice wherein the Lord's substitutionary death
abolished the second death. So though our physical body will
die, our soul lives on forever and will one day miraculously,
wondrously, Paul said it's a mystery, we're all going to be changed.
I don't know what that means, neither do you or anybody else. We're reunited with our bodies.
We're once again ourselves in glory but without sin because
the second death for us has been abolished. Now some people are
going to suffer the second death. hell and all the followers of
Belial and all the followers of the whore of Babylon, all
the false religions are going to suffer the second death which
never ends but not us how do we know? Well God before the
world began did something wonderful for us and then in time manifested
by the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ through the preaching
of the gospel we understand for us Death was abolished. Death was abolished. I remember
when my brother, Billy, whose this last week has just been
three years since he passed away. Billy was my older brother, my
hero, my big brother. I talked to him as he was laying
on his deathbed, and he died in that bed a few days later. He said, you know, you get this
close to it, you know it's going to happen. It gets kind of a
little bit scary. He says, you really, what's it
going to be? I said, well, all we've got to
count on is the Word of God, what God says it's going to be. And we have a natural aversion
to death. We just do. I don't want to die, and I'm not going to, in the
second death. One fella said, I wouldn't mind
dying, I wouldn't mind, I wanna go to heaven. And I wouldn't
mind going now if I could take all y'all with me. I just can't
stand the thought of leaving you. That's what really matters
to people in death. For us, death has been abolished.
Death has been put to death. No dying for you. No eternal
death. Eternal life. the salvation manifested
by the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ brought immortality
to light the thought I'll live forever immortality this mortality
must put on immortality this corruption must put on incorruption
and then we can say oh death where is thy string oh grave
where is thy victory immortality you're immortal here until God
is done with you physically you're immortal here nothing can touch
you without God's permission but the immortality that was
brought to life was this eternal glory and bliss that awaits the
child of God immortality so death has been removed therefore we
don't fear death in the sense that men fear death in the second
death or even the first death because we know it's a transference
from one place to the other. Our Lord said in Hebrews chapter
2 and verse 14 that He came to put aside or to put to death
the one who gave people the fear of death. You see, mortality
is eternal life and has to do with quality rather than length.
It goes on forever but it's a quality of life. a life without sin a
life without stress a life without tears a life without pain a life
without sickness that's quality a dear friend of mine Charlie Payne
had a heart attack and had a heart operation had to have open heart
surgery and it went bad afterwards he got a very bad infection in
his heart and he wasn't going to make it. Brother Mahan went to see him
because they were friends for years. He was a member of that
church as long as I can remember. Brother Mahan went out and sat
down in his bed and talked to Charlie and said, how you doing?
He says, well, I'm going to get better or I'm going to get plum
better. He got plum better. He got plum
better. immortality. How do we know about immortality?
The Gospel brought it to light. The manifestation of Jesus Christ
brought it to light. Now I know that men propose a
natural idea of living forever. They've invented ways to explain
it such as reincarnation or cosmic haunting or being up there looking
down or getting wings and becoming angelic though in scripture angels
have no wings, but this immortality is life from the dead, perfectly
accomplished and demonstrated when Christ Jesus rose from the
dead. This immortality is brought to
light and disclosed and revealed through the preaching of the
gospel. is how the elect find out about it when the gospel
tells them what God has done for them only that way only that way you
can't discern it naturally you can't come up with an equation
that'll make it happen what you hear is the gospel Paul said
it this way to the Ephesian church you believed after you heard
the word of truth what was the word of truth the gospel the
good news what was the good news of your salvation not of the
possibility of it of a thing that was yours when was it yours
according to this text it was yours before the world began
yours and you believed after you heard the good news that
God had saved you. That's good news. Not good news
that something might occur that if you will put your input into
it, it'll take place. But the good news is that something
had happened without your knowledge FOR YOUR BENEFIT THAT HAD ETERNAL
IMPLICATIONS THAT WOULD GUARANTEE YOU WOULD NEVER SUFFER AFTER
YOU PASSED FROM THIS WORLD TO THE NEXT. AND YOU WOULD NEVER
FACE THE SECOND DEATH. YOU KNOW WHAT? THAT SOUNDS LIKE
GOOD NEWS. THAT SOUNDS LIKE THE GOLD SPIEL,
THE GOSPEL, THE GOOD NEWS. THAT'S WHY WE CALL IT THAT. That's
why we call it that. It's good news because it's something
that has happened, taken place, and is now being reported unto
you. That's what news is. Good news. Immortality, salvation, all because
of the life, the blood of Jesus Christ, His body and His blood
will now receive the Lord's table. Master, Sam, Fred, would you
help me serve today? That's the Lord's blessing upon
the elements. Father, bless this time together as we consider
the glory of what you've done for us in Jesus Christ. Now that you have saved us, called
us to the holy covenant, not according to our works, but according
to your own purpose and grace, which you've given us in Jesus
Christ before the world began, but is now made manifest by the
appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are thankful, Father, that
we can partake of these elements, that we can stop and consider,
and we do show forth the Lord's death until He comes again, a
death that abhors death. We thank You, Father, for the
perfection of that sacrifice which finished it all. who satisfied
your law and justice, who made it possible for you to be a just
God and still justify sinners. He tells us in the book of Jesus
Christ to declare you in doing so that you were righteous. We
can't imagine. But thou hast said it, and we
do believe it by your grace. Help us now as we partake of
the elixir of this day to rejoice Yes, yes. And the line I rode was betrayed
and took bread. The bread was the unleavened
bread of the Passover feast. And breaking it, handed it to
his disciples and said, take it. This is my body broken for
you. So I'll let you do it. He was
in there. On the same night, he took the cup,
and after he blessed it, he said, this cup is the New Testament,
the New Covenant. So I'm going to eat this bread
and drink this cup. And you shall hold my head until
I come in. Do this in the name of Jesus. Scripture declares, they stood,
sang a hymn, and went out and out over the tree. Let's stand
together. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, no other ground It's our privilege to be your
pastor. Let each other know how you love each other. God bless
you. Good night.