Sorry about the air conditioning.
I don't know what it is. Remember when, or it would be
good for us to remember believers that met for a long, long time
without any air conditioning at all. Be sitting in here fanning,
but it's not working for some reason. We've got 20 tons of
air conditioning in this building and something's, Caleb checked
the breakers, they're all on, so. Check thermostats in the back.
I already checked these. OK. All right. We're going to be in Judges chapter
14. Judges chapter 14. Titled this message, title that
would be appropriate for any gospel message. Salvation is
of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. What we're going to see in this
story is a woman who, through fear of death by fire, through
fear of death by fire, seeks to manipulate her husband to
save herself. who in the end dies by fire. What a picture of man-made free
will works religion. Motivated by the fear of judgment,
men try to manipulate God to save themselves only to end up
suffering the very judgment that they sought to escape. Salvation
is of the Lord. We add nothing to it. We cannot
achieve it by our works, by our will, by our wisdom. God has to do all of the saving. And those whom he has made to
be sinners rejoice in that truth. They know that if their salvation
was determined or dependent upon anything that they had to do,
they would end up in the judgment of the lake of fire. And yet
men go about trying to establish their own righteousness. And religion is all about the
fear of judgment. And We know, as believers, that
it is the goodness of God that leadeth to repentance. That the
threat of judgment never saved anyone. No one wants to go to
hell. No one wants to go to hell. But the threat of judgment and
wrath doesn't turn the heart to Christ. It's the love of Christ
that constraineth us. It's the goodness of God that
brings us to repentance. And yet the world is filled with
women and men who through fear of judgment by fire, seek to
manipulate God to save them and only suffer the very judgment
that they were seeking to escape. Samson has found a woman in Timnath,
and he's gone down to Timnath to marry her. On the way down,
he came upon a lion, and he killed this lion with his bare hands.
Sometime later, he comes back to the carcass of the lion, and
he finds a hive of bees inside the carcass of the lion, from
which he takes with his hand, honey. It's a picture of Samson
picturing the Lord Jesus Christ, who, as we saw in the previous
hour, has destroyed the works of the devil. That roaring lion,
the one who seeks whom he may devour, the accuser of the brethren,
has been slain as if he was a baby goat. That's what the scripture
says about this lion, that Samson killed him with his bare hands.
And the Lord Jesus Christ defeated the devil on Calvary's cross.
And from that greatest evil that has ever happened in the history
of mankind comes the sweet honey of God's grace and of his word
to his people. God brings our salvation out
of the sacrifice that Christ made on behalf of his people.
Now Samson gives his guest, who are all Philistines, a riddle. And here's the riddle in verse
14. He says, out of the eater came meat and out of the strong
came forth sweetness. And they could not in three days
expound the riddle. Now, the challenge was, if you
can answer this riddle, then I will give you 30, each of these
30 men, I will give you a set of clothing. And if you can't
answer the riddle, then you have to give me your clothing. So
losing their clothing was what was at stake, which is a picture
of man losing his righteousness. Men won't come to Christ because
to come to Christ, you've got to drop that filthy robe of your
own self-righteousness and come naked before God, fully exposed
with all of your sin. And men are holding on to their
old dirty garments in hopes that it will provide a covering for
them before a holy God. It doesn't. It doesn't. That's what these men, this is
what this is a picture of. And so he gives them a riddle.
And in verse 15, and it came to pass on the seventh day, when
they said unto Samson's wife, entice thy husband that he may
declare unto us the riddle, lest we burn thee and thy father's
house with fire. Have you called us here to take
that which we have? Have you invited us to your wedding
in order to leave us naked and to strip us of our clothing?
If we can't figure out this riddle, we're gonna have to give what
we have to Samson. And Samson's wife wept before
him. She thought, surely I can persuade
him. Surely I can manipulate him to
tell me the answer to the riddle. Otherwise, these kinsmen of mine
are gonna kill me and burn me in my father's house with fire.
It was a threat of judgment by fire. You see the gospel in this,
don't you? It's such a glorious picture
of what men do in order to try to save themselves. Samson's wife wept before him
and said, thou dost but hate me and lovest me not. She calls
into question the very love of her husband and accuses him of
hating her. thou hast put forth a riddle
unto the children of my people, and thou hast not told it me.
And he said unto her, behold, I have not told it to my father
or my mother, and shall I tell thee? And she wept before him
the seven days while the feast lasted, and it came to pass on
the seventh day that he told her. He was just, you know, like
all men, your wife cries enough, you're going to give her what
she wants. And that's, you know, that's what's happening here. She wept before him while the
feast lasted. It came to pass on the seventh
day that he told her because she lay sore upon him. And she
told the riddle to the children of her people. And the men of
the city said unto him on the seventh day before the sun went
down, what is sweeter than honey and what is stronger than a lion?
And he said unto them, if you had not plowed with my heifer,
you had not found out my riddle. Now here we have a picture of
religious men who get the answer to the gospel, but they don't
understand the meaning of it. How many people would agree in
saying that salvation is of the Lord, but they don't have any
understanding as to what he did to accomplish the salvation of
his people. They will say that Jesus Christ
is the savior of sinners. but they have no understanding
of what that means. They said, they answered him
the riddle. They said, what's sweeter than
honey? What's stronger than a lion? We don't know what that means,
but that's the answer to the riddle. They didn't understand
what Samson had done in rending this lion with his bare hands.
They didn't understand the destruction of Satan. They didn't understand
the coming forth of the sweetness of the honey of God. They just
had an answer. They had an answer. And here's
what religious men do. They say, Jesus, I believe in
Jesus. And yet they rob the Lord Jesus
Christ of his glory by making him an offering of salvation
to man, not to be made effectual until man does his part. You see that, don't you? This
is a threat of judgment by fire, manipulating her husband to give
her an answer. And yet, look how this story
ends. We'll pick up again in chapter 15, verse three, and
Samson said concerning them, now they have taken Samson's
wife from him. Her father did, and gave her
to another man. And when Samson came back to
Timnath, he found out that his wife had been given to another
man, and so now he's gonna get vengeance. And Samson said concerning
them, now shall I be more blameless than the Pharisees, though I
do them a displeasure. And Samson went and caught 300
foxes. Here again, here's a miracle.
How do you catch one fox? He caught 300 of them. And he
took firebrands, 300 foxes, and took firebrands and
turned tail to tail and put a firebrand in the mints between the two
tails. So he's gonna put a torch, gonna tie these foxes together
by their tails. So we got 150 pair of foxes. Each of them have a torch tied
to their tail and he lets them loose. Verse five, and when he had set
the brands on fire, he'd let them go into the standing corn
of the Philistines, burn up both the shocks, that was the corn
that had already been harvested, and the standing corn, that was
the corn that, it's harvest time. So everything's at stay, all
the, it's time to bring in all the fruit of the harvest with
the vineyards and the olives. So these foxes burn up everything
that belonged to the Philistines. Then the Philistines said, who
had done this? And they answered Samson, the
son-in-law of the Temnite, because he had taken his wife and given
her to his companion. And the Philistines came up and
burnt her and her father with fire. Our Lord said in Mark chapter
eight, verse 35, for whosoever will save his life shall lose
it. And whosoever shall lose his
life for my sake and for the gospel shall save it. Now in
a few minutes, we'll conclude this message with that passage
and hope the Lord will give us some understanding of what it
means. But here we have a person trying to save their life only
to lose it. Only to lose it. This is exactly
what men do all the time. They know that there is a God.
I can say this with confidence. You know that there is a God.
I'm speaking generally to everybody. And I know that to be true. Because
the scripture teaches it. God has put into the hearts of
every man the knowledge of himself. And he's written his law in men's
hearts. Men know by nature. Now, a person
can lie to themselves and lie to other people until they believe
the lie. But even they know they're lying. Even they know they're
lying. In their heart of hearts, where
the rubber hits the road and when judgment and death comes,
they know there's a God with whom they must do. And that's
why we have so many forms of religion in the world. Men trying
to atone for themselves, men trying to make themselves acceptable
to that God. Do this, don't do that. Wear
this, don't wear that. Touch not, taste not, handle
not. The world is full of many, many
different forms of works religion, like this woman trying to escape
the threat of judgment by fire, only to end up suffering the
very judgment that they try to escape. There is a way, the scripture
says, that seemeth right unto man, but the end thereof leadeth
unto death. The way that seems right unto
man, that is, I could earn favor with God through something that
I do. I can manipulate God. I can cry hard enough. I can
be sorry enough. I can be sincere enough. You
know, how sorry do you have to be in order to be saved? How sincere do you have to be? Salvation's of the Lord. This
is a work of grace that God must do in order for us to be saved. We cannot save ourselves. Motivated by fear. Now, all of
us know what fear is. There are three different kinds
of fear. There's natural fear. If you can't swim, it's probably
a good idea that you'd be afraid of water. It's probably a good idea to
have some natural fear of snakes. There's natural fears that we
have. You have a brush with death and
you feel a sudden panic of fear that grips you. That's just natural
fear. That's a good thing. That'll
protect you and preserve your life in this world, to have a
little bit of natural fear about some things. Then there's sinful fear. Sinful
fear is what drove Adam to sew together fig leaves and hide
behind the trees in the woods from God. Sinful fear is that
is that shame and guilt that comes as a result of sin that drives us away from God and puts
us in charge of our own salvation and puts us at trying to save
ourselves. That's sinful fear. This is the
fear that gripped Peter's heart. When after having denied the
Lord, with cursings three times said to the disciples, I'm going
back to fishing. I've destroyed any hope of being
used of God. I doubt there's any hope of me
ever being saved after what I did the other night. I'm just gonna
go back to fishing and just waste my life fishing for fish. And then, The Lord Jesus Christ
appears on the shoreline of the Sea of Galilee. And Peter's in
the boat. He says, it's the Lord. And godly
fear grips his heart. Godly fear grips his heart. And
he jumps out of the ship. And rather than going away from
the Lord, flees to him and falls at his feet and says, depart
from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man. That's godly fear. That's a good fear. The fear
that drives us to Christ. This fear that this woman has,
having been threatened of judgment by fire, is a sinful fear. She thinks, you know, I can fix
this. I can avoid this judgment. I can manipulate my husband and
I can get some answers to this riddle. And if I have the right
words to speak, I can avoid death. The false gospel is based on sinful
fear. You remember when Elijah the
prophet met with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel and he
mocked them because the prophets of Baal weren't answering the
cries of the prophets. And what did Elijah say? Cry louder. Maybe he'll hear
you. Cut yourself more. Make more
sacrifice. Elijah knew that they were praying
to a God that didn't exist. that their God was nothing more
than a figment of their imagination, but he was playing into their
sinful fear, saying to them, maybe if you just do a little
bit more, he'll be pleased to save you. That's man-made religion. And man-made religion will end
in the same way that this woman's life ended. The very fire that
man seeks to avoid ends up to be their judgment. You know, if you're really sorry,
pray this prayer. And if you really mean it, God
will save you. You can manipulate God into doing
something for you. He's made an offer of salvation.
And if you'll do your part, he'll be obligated to reward you for
your good works. Well, how sincere do I need to
be? And make sure that you pray the prayer right. Make sure you
mean it with all of your heart. Well, how much of my heart do
I have to, you see what's happening here? This is a woman who is
threatened of judgment by fire, trying to manipulate her husband
to come up with the right words so she can escape the very judgment
that she will end up suffering. Salvation's of the Lord. He's
the one that has to give faith. For by grace are you saved? Yes, through faith, but that
faith is not of yourself. It is a gift of God, not of our
works. Lest any man should boast. We
have nothing to boast. Don't you know that this woman
had a smile from ear to ear when she went to her companions and
said, ah, what's sweeter than honey? What's stronger than a
lion? Oh, we got the answer. We got the right words. Surely
that will, that'll do it. In religion, men are trying to
prove how sincere they were by competing with one another over
their spirituality and their knowledge and their works. Such hypocrisy. Talk to an irreligious person
and they're offended by the hypocrisy of religion, aren't they? They're
not near as offended by the hypocrisy of religion as believers are. And believers aren't near as
offended by the hypocrisy of religion as they are by the hypocrisy
of themselves. What offends you the most? Your
own hypocrisy, isn't it? Oh, but in religion, it's broad
near phylacteries. Touch not, taste not, handle
not. Touch this, don't touch that. Do this, don't do that.
We're gonna figure out a way. Turn with me to Titus chapter
three. Titus chapter three. First and second Timothy, and
then Titus. Verse four. in Titus chapter
3. 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
wherein 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. Justified by his grace. God, in the covenant of grace
before time ever began, chose a people. We didn't have anything
to do with that. Christ 2,000 years ago on Calvary's cross
bore in his body all the sins of everyone that his father had
chosen and put them away by the sacrifice of himself, covered
our sin. God the Holy Spirit comes in
power through the preaching of the gospel and he opens the heart
and the mind and the eyes and the ears. Lord, I was deaf. I didn't do anything to hear
the Gospel. You made me to hear. Lord, You
gave me faith to believe. Religion is all about this woman. Oh, she's using her emotions,
her feelings, her traditions. Men use their confessions and
their creeds. What do we say? What sayeth the
Scriptures? What does God say about salvation?
That's what the picture of these foxes and fire were. Samson sets loose these foxes
with firebrands tied to their tails. And the Bible says in
Jeremiah chapter 23, verse 29, is not my word like a fire, saith
the Lord? You see, here's where our hope
is. Our hope is in God's precious promises, in his infallible word. And our feelings and circumstances
are not always consistent with that. But here's where we place our
hope. When the Lord Jesus Christ comes
in the day of judgment, the scripture describes him or displays him
as one having a tongue of a sword, a flaming sword. He is the living
word of God. Here's the judgment of God's
word. It comes against the enemies
of God. When God gives you faith, you just believe, you believe
God's word. On the day of Pentecost, when
the Spirit of God came, he came as a cloven tongue of fire. When
John the Baptist baptized, he said, I baptize you with water,
but there's one that's coming after me, whose sandals I'm not
worthy to unlatch. He's going to baptize you with
the Holy Ghost and with fire, with fire. And the fire of God's word comes
effectually to the hearts of God's people. It burns away their
hope of anything other than Christ for their salvation. It kills
their idols. It's a purifying fire. And the
Lord keeps it. Every time we hear the gospel,
the Lord's putting a little more fire to the crucible, isn't he?
And the faith which is more precious than gold is being purified a
little more and a little more, causing us to come to a better
understanding and a firmer belief that Christ is all in my salvation. I cannot manipulate God. My motivation
cannot be just to escape the fire of judgment. Lord, you have
to put the love of Christ in my heart. You have to put faith
in my heart. You have to cause me to desire
you, not just to desire the escape of hell, but to desire Christ,
to want to know him. That's what Paul said, oh, that
I might know him. I've not yet apprehended that
which has apprehended me, but this one thing I do, I press
towards the mark for the prize of the high calling in Christ
Jesus. The fellowship of his suffering, the power of his resurrection.
Lord, convince me again that when you died on Calvary's cross,
I died in you. Convince me again that when you
raised from the dead victorious over death and over hell and
over the grave and over sin, I raised in you. Lord, give me that hope in Christ. Give me a love for Christ. This
is the difference between just wanting to escape hell. That's
what she wanted. She'd been threatened. by judgment, a judgment of fire,
which she ends up suffering anyway. We're going to know anything
about the grace of God in salvation. Lord's gonna have to do a work
in our hearts. Turn me, oh Lord, and I'll be
turned. Lord, open my eyes. Lord, we love him because he first
loved us. Now, I told you at the outset
of this message, I was going to elaborate a little bit on
that verse I read. He that seeketh to save his life
shall lose it. And he that loses his life for
my name's sake and for the gospel shall save it. That's what this
story's about. Men are trying to save themselves
rather than losing their life to Christ. And in the end, the
very thing they feared will be their judgment. Turn with me
to Mark chapter eight. Mark chapter eight. Verse 34. And when he had called the people
unto him, with his disciples also, he said unto them, who
so ever? You fit that category? Now we
know that narrow is the way. And straight is the gate. And
few are they that find it. And broad is the way that lead
it to destruction. Like this woman, there's a lot
of people on that road to destruction trying to figure out a way to
save themselves through works religion. And we know that God
has elect people that he chose and every single one of them
are going to be saved. Saved by pure grace alone. Saved
by Christ alone. Saved through faith alone. Truly
no other name has been given among men whereby we must be
saved. The way is narrow. And yet this word from our Lord
begins with whosoever. The call of the gospel is very
broad. It's very broad. It goes out
to the whole world. All men everywhere are commanded
to repent and to believe. So that no man can stand before
God in the day of judgment and say, well, I wasn't a whosoever. My name wasn't written in the
Lamb's Book of Life, and so there was no chance of me being saved.
When the Lord calls his people, he says, whosoever. I remember
one time being asked to preach at a church in St. Petersburg. And these people
had means, but They didn't use any of it to promote the gospel. They were primitive, hard-shell,
hyper-Calvinistic Baptists. They had bought a building in
the worst neighborhood in St. Petersburg. They had literally
rags. I mean, I'm talking about torn,
tattered, dirty rags hanging over the windows for curtains.
They had folding chairs, and they had a big sign painted by
hand on the front lawn that said, Sovereign Grace Predestinational
Baptist Church. And what they were declaring
to the community is, don't even come near our building unless
you're one of God's elect. That's what they were saying.
We're gonna do everything we can to keep the reprobate out
of our church. Now that's what men come to when
they take election and predestination too far. When they take it to
its natural conclusion, that's the wisdom of man that they will
come to. Here's what God's word says,
whosoever. That's the broad end of the gospel.
Yeah, it's narrow in getting through the gate and that Christ
is the only way. And God has chosen a people.
But you don't know who the elect are. I don't know who the elect
are. So when the spirit of God voices the gospel, he says, whosoever. A man may be able to stand before
God in judgment and say, well, my name wasn't written in the
land, but here we have whosoever. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Whosoever will take of the water of life
freely. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Son of God is born of God. Whosoever believeth on me, shall
not abide in darkness." Aren't you glad? You see, all men are without
excuse. All men are without excuse. Whosoever will come after me, All of God's elect will come
after him. The Lord Jesus prayed in John 17. He says, Father,
I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where
I am that they may behold my glory. The Lord Jesus Christ
prayed in his high priestly prayer for his children. I go and prepare a place for
you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come
again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may
be also." Coming after Christ is being with Him in glory. If any man, whosoever, will come
after me, If any man serve me, let him
follow me, that where I am there he shall be also. And we need to call the people
unto him with his disciples also. We're looking at verse 34 now.
Bear with me for just another minute, please. Whosoever will
come after me, let him deny himself. Now, does this mean to live a
reclusive monastic life of personal sacrifice and denial of all earthly
comforts and pleasures. Is that what it means to deny
yourself? Men have made that conclusion. They've locked themselves
up in monasteries and they've thought, well, if I can just
deny myself enough pleasures and privileges in this world,
the Lord will be obligated to save me. And they're trying to
escape the threat of fire by manipulation, just like this,
just like Samson's wife was doing, only to end up in the very fire
that they tried to escape. It's not what it means. Here's
what it means. It means to deny yourself any
contribution or any credit for your salvation. That's what it means. Oh, there
are some things in this world we ought to deny ourselves of.
And there are things that, you know, that believers will not
have because they're making other contributions to the gospel,
you know, but, but that's not the, that's not the point. You're
not going to, you're not going to self-sacrifice yourself into
heaven. Listen, the reason why hell is
eternal, we're talking about this fire of judgment, is because
hell never satisfies the justice of God. Never. So if hell doesn't satisfy the
justice of God, then how do we think that we can make sacrifices
in this life to satisfy the justice of God? Deny yourself any credit
or contribution for your salvation. If any man or whosoever will
come after me, let him begin by denying himself. Lord, I didn't seek after you. Lord, I was a I was a bran plucked
from the fire. Lord, I was blind. I couldn't
see. I didn't have any interest in
the gospel. Lord, I can't take any credit
for you saving me. It's not that I'm smarter than other
people, or I figured things out, or I'm more spiritual, or I had
a heart for God. No, deny yourself those thoughts. Deny yourself any thought of
having made any contribution to your salvation. Whosoever will come after me
and be where I am and escape that fire of judgment and know
me and be made like me. Let him begin by denying himself. Mephibosheth wasn't looking for
God, was he? David asked his servant Ziba, he said, is there
anyone left from the household of Saul that I might show him
kindness for Jonathan's sake? And Ziba said, well, there's
a cripple boy over in Lodabar. That's the land without bread.
And he's hiding from you. And his name is Mephibosheth.
And David said, fetch him, go get him. And Ziba brings Phibosheth
back. Don't you know, Phibosheth all
the way back to Jerusalem thought, this is it. King has found me. I'm the last one left. I'm the last threat for his throne.
I'm the last one left of the household of Saul. And when David
saw Mephibosheth, he said, oh, Mephibosheth, Mephibosheth. He
saw the likeness of Jonathan, whom he loved, in Jonathan's
son, Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth didn't get any credit
for that. He denied himself any contribution of his salvation.
And David said, Mephibosheth, sit here at my table. You're
going to eat at the king's fare the rest of your life. When God sees his children, he
sees the likeness of his son and he sheds his love abroad
in their hearts. He saves them for his glory sake,
not for any contribution they made. Abraham had to send Eleazar to
fetch Isaac a wife by the name of Rebecca. Rebecca would have
lived the rest of her life in Laban's house had Eleazar not
come and got her. Lord, I didn't have anything
to do with this. Deny yourself. Deny any contribution. or any credit for your salvation. Onesimus had run from Philemon's
house as a slave and ran to the big city of Rome, only to end
up in the same jail cell with the Apostle Paul. Oh, Onesimus didn't have any... Paul sent him back to Philemon's
house. Onesimus didn't have anything
to do with his salvation. The Lord did that. You didn't have anything to do
with your salvation. Deny yourself. Take up your cross. Now, surely
there are trials and troubles that the Lord's ordained for
his children to suffer in this world for the perfecting of their
faith. But our troubles are not any worse than other men's troubles,
physically speaking. People get sick, people die,
people have divorces and financial problems and physical, mental
problems, all kinds of things. You know, there's no temptation
taken you, but such as is common to all men. But God is faithful,
who will not allow you to be tempted above that which you
are able, but will with the temptation provide the way of escape. We've been given a way of escape.
What is the way of escape? The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Take up your cross. Paul said, I am crucified with
Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. The life that I now live, I live
by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and died for me.
Taking up your cross means to identify with the death of the
Lord Jesus Christ. It was my sin that put him to
death. Christ died, I died. That's what Paul meant when he
said, oh, that I might know him in the fellowship of his suffering.
He didn't mean I wanna have more suffering in my life than I have
now. No, he meant I want to know him in the fellowship of his
suffering. That when he suffered, I fellowshiped
in that suffering. That's what it means to take
up your cross. That the only hope of my standing in the presence
of God and being made like Christ is that Christ paid for my sins
himself. Denying that you have any contribution
or credit for your salvation, taking up your cross and following
him. Now that'll come. The Lord gives
you grace to deny yourself in salvation. If the Lord gives
you grace to see your sin paid for in Christ on Calvary's cross,
you'll be just like Levi, also called Matthew, when the Lord
Jesus Christ walked by his table of customs. Matthew had a good
job. I mean, he had a profitable career.
And just out of the blue, here comes the Lord Jesus Christ.
He looks down at Matthew, he says, follow me. I could just
see the Lord. He looks at him, he says, follow
me. And the Lord doesn't stop to get an answer. He just keeps
walking. And the Bible says immediately Matthew got up from his table
and followed Christ. You see, the following hymn will
come. What men won't do is they won't deny themselves in salvation.
They won't believe that the death of Christ on Calvary's cross
was all that God required and everything that God required
for the salvation of their sins. They still want to try to atone
for their own sins. They still want to try to manipulate
God. They still want to try to save
themselves. And they're going to end up in
the same fire of judgment that they're trying to escape. Now look at the next verse in
light of that verse. The next verse makes perfect
sense. And we'll close with this verse. For whosoever will save
his life shall lose it. Whoever tries to save themselves
like Samson's wife did by manipulating God to give them the right answers
and thinking that because they spoke some words and prayed some
prayers, they were saved. Whoever tries to save themselves
will lose it. But whosoever, here it is again,
Here's that whosoever. No one can say I'm not a whosoever. All men, whosoever shall lose
his life for my sake, deny himself his work in salvation,
that Christ might get all the glory. lose his life for my sake. And the Gospels. This is the heart of the Gospel. Shall say it. Samson's wife's life was lost
in the end. She motivated by The fear of
death by fire sought to manipulate her husband only to suffer the
very thing she tried to escape. Whosoever shall lose his life
for my sake and for the gospel sake shall save it. Our heavenly father, thank you
for your word. Lord, thank you for the forgiveness
of our sin. Thank you for putting away all
the vain thoughts of self-atonement that we have passing through
our mind. And thank you for once again,
uniting our hearts together in the truth of your gospel and
causing us to rejoice together in the finished work of thy dear
son. For it's in his name we pray.
Amen. 236. Let's stand together. Number
236. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found. Was blind, but now I see. ? Was grace that taught my heart
to fear ? ? And grace my fears relieved ? ? How precious did
that grace appear ? ? The hour I first believed ? ? Through many dangers, toils and
snares ? ? I have already come ? ? Tis grace hath brought me
safe thus far ? ? And grace will lead me home ? When we've been
there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, We've no
less days to sing God's praise than when we'd first begun.