Before we start our worship service,
Brian just told me that Jorge is in the hospital, Winter Park. I think he has pancreatitis.
Jorge. Janelle and Jorge? Jorge. Anyway,
so we need to be praying for him tonight. Okay? Robert, if
you could do that, when you bring scripture, we could pray for
Jorge. Okay? All right. We're going to sing
to him in number 475 in your blue Hymnals number 475, Redeemed. If you could please stand. 475.
Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it. Redeemed by the blood of
the Lamb. Redeemed through His infinite
mercy, His child and forever I am. Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb. Redeemed, redeemed, His child
and forever I am. Redeemed and so happy in Jesus,
no language my rapture can tell. I know that the light of His
presence with me doth continually dwell. Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb. Redeem, redeem, His child and
forever I am. I think of my blessed Redeemer,
I think of Him all the day long. I sing for I cannot be silent,
His love is the theme of my song. Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb. Redeemed, redeemed, His child
and forever I am. I know I shall see in His beauty
The King in whose law I delight. who lovingly guardeth my footsteps
and giveth me songs in the night. Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb. Redeemed, redeemed, His child
and forever I am. Baby seated. I've spent the last 20 years
of my life not knowing what's going on. Is somebody going to
read Scripture? Okay. Robert, that's twice in a row.
We'll get a straight one these days. I was going to read this
Sunday, but would you turn to 1 Peter, chapter 2. 1 Peter, chapter 2. We're going to begin reading
in verse 6. 1 Peter, chapter 2. verse 6. Wherefore, also, it is contained
in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone,
elect, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be
confounded. Unto you, therefore, which believe,
He is precious, but unto them which be disobedient, the stone
which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of
the corner. And a stone of stumbling and
a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being
disobedient or not believing the gospel. were unto also they
were appointed. God has made from the same lump
of clay vessels of dishonor. But ye, child of God, are a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people,
a purchased people, that you should show forth the praises
of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous
light, which in time past were not a people, but are now the
people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now have
obtained mercy. And aren't you glad that we have
a merciful God? Let's pray. Lord, we do come before you in
the name of your precious elect, your dear beloved son, our precious
savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Thanking you again, Lord, that
it pleased you in eternity's past to bring us to this place,
this very moment. Lord, where you have promised
to meet with us, who lift up the name of thy dear son, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, would you come again tonight
and speak to our hearts once again to the preaching of your
word. Lord, reveal to us again how
precious he is, that we may be able to worship him and lift
him up. Lord, we need your Holy Spirit to do that. Unless you
build this hour tonight, Lord, all our efforts are in vain. Give us faith, Lord, encourage
our hearts once again to believe that truly thou art the son of
God. And forgive us of our unbelief. Lord, we come here dirty feet. Needing cleansing, needing to
be forgiven of our sins. Lord, just for this brief fire,
would you just remove all the cares of this world and enable
us to see you in your beauty? Lord, we ask that you would be
with Jorge tonight. Lord, we are resting and knowing
that you are the first cause of all things. And Lord, we know
it's for his good and to your glory. And we ask that through
this trial, Lord, that you would draw him to yourself. Lord, I
pray that you would be pleased to heal him through the means
of technology and through the physicians. Pray that you'd bless
Janelle and comfort them now. Pray for Greg, ask that you would
bless him tonight as he brings your word and bless our brethren
in Lexington. And we ask now that you would
bless Robert as he brings your word. To your glory, Lord, and
for the sake of Christ. Amen. You may remain seated. We're going to sing. Number 176 on your blue handle.
Number 176. Break thou the bread. Number 176. Break thou the bread of life,
dear Lord, to me. Pass thou, disbreak the loaves
beside the sea. Throughout, throughout the sacred
page, I seek thee, Lord, My spirit pans for thee, O living Word. Bless thou the truth, dear Lord,
to me, to me. As thou didst bless the bread,
my gallows Then shall all bondage cease,
all fetters fall, And I shall find my peace, my all in all. Thou art the bread of life, O
Lord, to me. Thy holy word, the truth that
saveth me. Give me to eat and live with
Thee above. Teach me to love Thy truth, for
Thou art love. O send thy Spirit, Lord, now
unto me, that he may touch my Show me the truth concealed within
thy word, and in thy book revealed, I see the Lord. Don't forget to tell me the time.
My wife is my timekeeper. I can't see the clock from here.
So she has to tell me when to quit or I'd go on for hours.
If you ever ask me a question and I give you a dumb answer,
it's because I didn't hear you. So what I've done the last five
or six months, Somebody say you want to come over and eat with
us Friday night. I'm not sure whether they said
cook something or bring it over and we'll eat it Friday night
or whatsoever. I always say ask my wife. If you say it's important,
tell her and she'll tell me. People in this church have made
a lot of concessions for me. I do a lot of weird things, and
they still like me, still love me and everything. I want to
open with a prayer for Jorge. He's in the hospital, and when
one of us suffers, all of us suffer. If one is sick, all of
us feel bad for them, and we'll pray for him before we start. Father, we'd ask You to watch
over Jorge, Father. Give him the grace, Father, to
give You the glory in all things. Give him the resignation, Father,
to accept Your will no matter what it is. Give us the grace,
Father, not to murmur, to turn to Thee for strength, for grace
to help in time of need, and give all of us grace, Father,
to love one another and pray for one another. We ask in Jesus'
name, Amen. Let me speak unto you this evening
out of the book of Colossians. Colossians is the letter that
Paul wrote to the church. It's kind of a different type
of a letter because Paul had never been to this church. He only knows one person that
goes to this church. In Colossians chapter 1 and verse
7, Paul says, as you also learned of Epaphras, our dear fellow
servant, who was for you a faithful minister of Christ, who also
declared unto us your love in the Spirit. Epaphras had apparently
went to Rome when Paul was a prisoner there to make sure that the instructions
he had about the Gospel were right, because the Judaizers
had come into Colossae and brought their law heresy with them, and
they were having trouble there. If you look over in chapter 2
and verse 1, Paul says, For I would that you knew what great conflict,
that's either fear or care. For I would that you knew what
great fear I have for you and for them at Laodicea, and for
as many of you as have not seen my face in the flesh, that their
hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, A gospel
church is governed by love for Christ, number one, and love
for one another. And this love comes from the
heart. If it's really a gospel church,
it's not a put-on love. It's a love that God gifts us
with for one another. It's a love that will cause you
to do things for other Christians that you would normally not even
think about. It's a love that completes our
life. It's a love that points us to
Christ. Because no matter how much we
love each other, Christ loved us more. We're all in this together. Gospel churches all have this
one thing in common. Christ is number one. A gospel church will tell you
that every word in this book points to Christ. Every word
in this book is about Christ, about Christ, what He's done
for us. There's nothing in here about
what we can do for Christ. Because there's nothing we can
do. A gospel church will hold up
the truth that everything has been done. Christ has done everything
for us. A gospel church will see Christ
in everything in the Scriptures. The matter of law and grace is
something that I never really considered for years and years
and years. I followed Puritan theology. Most of the Calvinists do. And
when you study Puritan theology, one thing, if God calls you out
of it, one thing will be abundantly clear. There's no room, there
is absolutely, positively, 100%, no room in a gospel church for
grace and law. They're like oil and water. You
cannot mix them. Anyone that's given over to law,
whether it's a church or whether it's an individual or no matter
who it is, they'll find out in the long run that it's nothing
but a competition to see who is the holiest. It's not a question of what we
do for God. It's not a question of what we
do for Christ. A gospel church answers that
question with, Christ has done it all for us. And that goes
straight to the heart. And it's a comfort. The Bible
says, the Scripture says, comfort ye, comfort ye my people. And
that's what a gospel church does. You're not going to get comfort
when you're around the law. The law was a burden that neither
the disciples nor the fathers were able to bear. You could
never do enough to keep the law. Grace is you don't have to do
anything. Christ has done it all. That's
the distinguished mark of a gospel church that the Lord Jesus Christ
is number one. He's the first issue. And everything
else is secondary. It'll take care of itself. So
Paul says that I've written you this letter that your hearts
might be comforted. And you say, well, I don't know
if that's important. My wife used to tell me people
would leave the church, and they'd say there's nothing here for
the kids. I'd say, well, the truth is here. And all of the
truth wasn't there. You need comfort. Everyone here
at one time or another in their life is going to need to be comforted
about one thing or another. and everything about Christ comforts
us, even the second coming. The Lord Himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the trump of God and the voice
of the archangel, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then
we which are alive and remain shall go together in the air
to meet the Lord, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Comfort
ye one another with these words. Number one is the Lord's coming
again. Number two is comfort ye one another with these words.
Paul said, I've written to you to comfort your hearts. being
knit together in love, verse 2, chapter 2. And unto all riches
of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the
mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ, in whom are hid
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. So there is an understanding
of the mystery of God. And in order to understand the
mystery, you have to acknowledge that there is one. Now, there
are several parts, you might say, to the mystery of God. The
calling of the Gentiles is part of this mystery. No one really
even considered that until the Lord came. And even then, after
the Lord was crucified, when Paul, well, Peter took the Gospel
to the Gentiles, but God called Paul to specifically go to the
Gentiles. That's part of the mystery. The
fact that there is a mystery has to be acknowledged. Turn
to Matthew chapter 11. Matthew 11, whenever John the
Baptist sent two disciples to the Lord Jesus Christ, and he
asked Christ, he said, Art thou He that cometh, or do we look
for another? And the Lord Jesus Christ told
the disciples that the blind see, the deaf hear, the lepers
heal, the lame walk, and the Gospel is preached to the poor.
Go back and tell John that. And then He told the multitude
that was following Him John was the greatest of anyone that was
born of a woman. John was a forerunner of the
Lord Jesus Christ. John was the last Old Testament
prophet. The last one. John is the law. And the Lord Jesus Christ said,
notwithstanding that the smallest one in the kingdom of heaven
is greater than he. Why is that? Because we know
who Christ is. John hoped for and guessed that
He was the Christ. We know. We know what Christ
did. We have the complete New Testament
to look back and see Christ. John only had 1,500 years of
law to look for a coming Christ. We know more about Christ than
John the Baptist did. That's why we're considered greater
than him. But nevertheless, the Lord Jesus
Christ told them, He said, John was the greatest that's ever
been born of women. Like I said, John symbolizes
the law. So the Lord Jesus Christ said
in verse 25, At that time, Jesus answered
and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
Thou hast hid these things from the wise and the prudent and
revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for it seemeth
good in their sight." What has been hidden from the wise and
the prudent? Like I said, they had 1,500 years
of law. 1,500 years when they were restricted
in what they ate, restricted in what they drank, restricted
in who they could fellowship with, restricted in everything
they did. The law had pressed them down
until it ground them into dust. There's no love in the law. There's
only do this and live. Don't do it and you die. The
mystery that's been hid from the beginning of the world really
is liberty in Christ. That's it. They didn't know anything
about liberty. They didn't know anything about
Christ that we know. Their hearts had not been opened
to it. The thing that was hid was that
the Lord Jesus Christ did everything What can you do for Christ? Nothing. What can you do to be saved?
Nothing. That's the mystery that's been
hid. Keeping the law never saved anyone. It was never intended
to save anyone. But that's all they knew. That's
the only thing they knew about God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit was, whosoever doeth not everything
written in this law is cursing. The book of Galatians. Cursed
is everyone that continueth not in all things that are written
in the book of this law to do them. They were so depressed
under their idea of the law that when the Lord Jesus Christ healed
a man with a crippled hand, a withered hand on the Sabbath, what did
the ruler of the synagogue say? Don't come up here on the Sabbath
to get healed. You've got six days to get healed. Don't desecrate the Sabbath.
No liberty and no love. And Paul said in chapter 2 of
Colossians that I'm writing this letter to you to show you that
these things must be acknowledged because the mystery that's been
hid from the foundation of the world is liberty in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he's worried that they're
going to be deceived by the lawmongers because natural man, that's all
of us, natural man is absorbed with doing something. I mean,
and I'm not as bad as I was, but I used to be the worst in
the world. I wouldn't let you do anything for me because I
didn't want to owe you. I'll do it. You can owe me. Natural
man wants to be able to accept Jesus, so Jesus will be grateful
to him. That's about what it amounts
to. Free will is the devil's lie, and free will will not ever
give you liberty, comfort, or anything. Look in verse 26 of
chapter 1. The mystery which has been hid
from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to His
saints, to whom God would make known what is the riches of the
glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in
you, the hope of glory. They didn't know anything about
union with Christ. They did not have the ability
or the desire to even know that we're crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, we live, yet not
us, but Christ liveth in us. And the life we now live in the
flesh, we live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved us
and gave Himself for us. They didn't know that. They didn't
have any idea that we would be resurrected with Christ. Ephesians 2.4, But God, who is
rich in mercy, for a great love were with thee, loved us, even
when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ,
and raised us up together to set in heavenly places in Christ. For by grace are ye saved." They
didn't know that. They only knew the law. And they're down there now in
the church at Colossae preaching the law to these people. Oh yeah,
it's okay to believe in Christ, but I'm going to tell you from
1,500 years' experience that it's not enough. You've got to
be circumcised. You've got to keep the law. You've
got to go down to the temple once a day and offer an offering. You've got to go up to Jerusalem
once a year to do these things. You cannot just be saved because
you believe in Christ. That's what's going on there.
Paul absolutely, positively will not put up with that. So this
letter to the church that he's never been in, but he knows it's
a gospel church, is about liberty in Christ. Turn to chapter 2
and verse 10. talking about the Lord Jesus
Christ. He said in verse 8, I'm sorry,
"...Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain
deceit after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the
world, and not after Christ. For in Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in Him which is
the head of all principality and power." Not one thing left
out. We are complete in Christ. And they didn't know that. So
they're down there pushing their idea of religion. Look at verse
14. Blotting out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us,
and took it out of the way, nailing it to the cross. The law was
fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ. He kept the law, and that's it.
We don't have anything to do with it. We don't have to worry
about the keeping of the law. People that feel like you have
to keep the law are confronted with this. There was a crowd of people and
one of them was a lawyer. And tempting Christ, he asked
him, Master, what is the great commandment in the Law? And the
Lord Jesus Christ said this, the first and great commandment
in the Law, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and
great commandment. and the second is likened to
it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments
hang all the law and the prophets." That's it. That's it. If you love the Lord with all
your heart, with all your soul and all your mind, you're not
in this life. You've already went on to be with Him. We don't
have the ability or the desire to do this. Christ has done it
for us. The Lord Jesus Christ loved the
Father with all of His heart, all of His soul, and all of His
mind, and everything He ever did, He did to please God, and
we are in Him. Therefore, we did it. But if
it's possible to do this, to love your neighbor as yourself,
when you keep those two laws, then you can move on to the rest
of them. And no one can do them. No one can do them. The law is
a burden we are not able to bear. Without liberty in Christ, we
couldn't make it. We cannot make it through this
life. Liberty in Christ. Grace is what keeps us together. Grace is what causes us to love
one another. Grace is what opens our minds
to the truth. All of this is the gift of God. All of it. Verse 1 in chapter
3. If you then be risen with Christ,
seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right
hand of God." Where your heart is, that's where your treasure
is, right? That's what the Scripture says.
Where is your treasure? It's up there. Christ is our
treasure. Look up, there He is. Look above
where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. That sounds like
such a small thing, but that means the work's complete. As
long as there's anything to do, He's not going to be sitting
down. The work is complete. Redemption
is done. It is finished. So set your eyes
above. Look upon Christ where He sitteth
on the right hand of God. Verse 2, "...set your affection
on things above, not on things of the earth, because you are
dead and your life is hid with Christ in God." It's hard not
to set your affection on the things of the world. Now, there
are affections that are lawful. Your wife, your children, your
daughter, your sons, all of these things. It's not talking about
not to love anyone. But who takes the preeminence?
Who has most of your love? Who do you turn to in a time
of need? Where is your real, eternal love? It's in heaven, sitting on the
right hand of God. He ever liveth to make intercession
for us. Set your affections on the things
which are above. When Christ who is our life shall
appear, then shall He also appear with Him in glory. Verse 5, mortify
therefore your members which are upon the earth. What does
it mean to mortify something? That's what you would consider
an archaic word. If you mortify someone, you shame
them to the point that they are so embarrassed they could die.
That's to mortify someone. If I am mortified, I am so ashamed
I can't lift up my head. So when it says, mortify those
members which are upon the earth, it means very plainly, be ashamed
of them. Get away from them. Get as far
away from them as you can. Don't glory in them. Don't love
them. Don't do anything. Be ashamed
of your members which are upon this earth. fornication, uncleanness, inordinate
affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry. For which things sake the wrath
of God cometh on the children of disobedience." If you're not
fully aware of what's going on, you'll be terrified when you
read that. All of us are guilty of every sin that's just been
listed. fornication, uncleanness, inordinate
affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry,
because that's what causes the wrath of God to fall on the children
of disobedience. But consider this. David was
guilty of every one of these sins. Every one of them. And yet, the wrath of God fell
on Christ. It didn't fall on David. We're
not ever going to have the ability in this life to totally forsake
sin because we're in the flesh. We're sinners when we're born.
We're sinners until God calls us. And when God calls us, there's
not that much difference. We're still sinners. But we are
ashamed of some of the things we think. We mortify them. We're
ashamed of some of the things we do. We mortify them. That's
what children of God do. You mortify your sin knowing
that it's been paid for. To know that your sin has been
paid for is not a license to sin. It's an incentive to keep
you from doing it anymore because you love Christ. You don't want
to grieve the Holy Spirit. Every one of us here has done
things that we're ashamed of and we'll do them again tomorrow
and the next day. into which ye also walked some
time when ye lived in them. But now also put off all these."
So we're talking about putting off things. This is in reference
to taking off a jacket. Put off your outer garment. Lay
it aside. Just throw it over here out of
the way. Put off all these anger, wrath,
malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not to
one another, seeing that you have put off the old man with
his deeds." It's gone. We're a new creation in Christ
Jesus. We're still living in the same
sinful body, but this is new up here, and this is new here.
God has given us a heart of flesh, taken away the stony heart. He's
given us a mind to receive Christ and the things of God. We put
off the old man that worried about all of these silly things
that don't amount to nothing. So put all of that away from
you. And have put on the new man which
is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created
him. It tells us in Ephesians chapter
10 that we are His workmanship. God's workmanship. Created in
Christ Jesus unto good works, which is before ordained that
we should walk in them. We are the workmanship of God. We're created unto good works. We're going to do these things
because God has ordained that we do them. We're going to want
to do them. You don't just do things because
God makes you. God puts a desire in your mind
and in your heart to want to do them. He gives you new ideas
about how things really are. New ways to want to please Him
and to please one another. He makes a new creature out of
you. You have thoughts and desires toward others now you never had
before. I never cared about anybody in
the whole world except that lady sitting right there until God
called me. And now I care about every other
child of God in the whole world. I care about other people that
are not even Christians. I pray that by the grace of God
and the mercy of God, He'll call them and born them again and
cause them to be a new creation in Christ Jesus. I'd like to
see them all saved. I know they won't, but God puts
a desire in His children for everyone to want to love Christ,
to want to serve Christ, to want to do unto others as you'd have
them do unto you. That's part of what Christ died
for us, is the privilege of being able to love others. It's not
born in us to love anyone but ourselves. God takes care of
that. God gives us a love for one another. and put on a new man which is
renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him,
where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision or uncircumcision,
barbarian, Scythian, bond or free, but Christ is all in all. Put on therefore, this means
do this because, put on because you are the elect of God, holy
and beloved, Only the elect of God are holy and beloved. Did
you know that? Ephesians 1 and verse 4 said
that we stand holy and without blame before Him in love. That's
been taken care of before the world was ever created. But the
very word election means that God chose us out of this life. And He caused us to love Him. He gave us to Christ. He gave
Christ for us. We are holy and without blame
before Him in love. And because we are, there's some
things that we need to put on. There's some things that we need
to do because they're becoming to Christians. They show forth
our love to God when we love one another. One of the first
things is bowels of mercies. That's not an archaic phrase. Bowels of mercy come from here,
from inside, from the heart, and not from the mind. If you're
going to put on the bowels of mercy, you do not look at someone
and say, well, what's in it for me if I do this? Or what good
will I get if I'm good to them? There are people in this congregation
that have done more for me than ever before in my whole life. And they did it freely. No, and they never get anything
back. They did it, number one, because
they love the Lord. Number two, because I'm a brother
and they love me. Anything we do for each other
has to come from the heart. And that can only happen if you're
a child of God. Because the heart, Scripture
says, the heart is desperately wicked and deceitful above all
things. Who can know it? But that heart's
been taken away from us. We've been given a new heart
and a new mind and new eyes. All of these things God's done
for us. And we are required to put on mercies, bowels of mercies
from inside toward others that cannot be done unless you're
a child of God. If you're not a child of God,
whatever you do for others comes from here. for what we can get
out of it, not for what we can give others. So put on bowels
of mercies. Kindness. Kindness is doing something
for a brother or sister without being asked. I mean, it's one
thing for somebody to come and do me a favor, oh yeah. It's
another thing to walk up to them when they look troubled and say,
can I do anything to help you? Is there anything you need that
I have? That's kindness. Kindness is
when you look at someone that squandered all their money on
something stupid, and you say, can I buy you dinner today? That's kindness. Kindness is
an act that's undeserved. That's like grace. Grace is undeserved. Grace is a gift of God, but a
child of God's kindness towards others is also a gift of God. People, as a general rule, don't
really see other people's problems. They only see their own. I look
on downtown LA or downtown New York City, those people are going
down that sidewalk wide open. You don't dare get in their way.
They're concentrating only on themselves. You could be laying
on the ground, run over, and they wouldn't even notice you
when they walk by. Kindness is when you look for someone to
help. Kindness is whenever you're willing
to help, even if they reject you. You say, well, if you need
anything, let me know. Give me a call. You don't even have to
ask. I'll be glad to do it. Kindness is a favor that you
do people without expecting a repayment. Humbleness of mind. That's one of the hard ones right
there. Some people are just naturally
humble. Others of us are not. Others
of us are real defensive. We don't think that there's anything
we'll ever need. We'll tell others, no, I don't
need your help. I'll take care of this on my own. Humbleness of mind will cause
your mouth to say things that you don't really mean. Humbleness
of mind, if you don't have it, will cause down to look down
on others that don't have your ability to do any particular
thing. Humbleness of mine is something
that only comes with conversion. You're never going to be humble
until you realize I was drifting through life, hurting other people,
doing anything I wanted to do, despising God, not caring anything
about Christ or salvation, and God born me again. I was dead in trespassage and
sin. I didn't have anything to do
with coming to Christ. And yet, in spite of who I am,
God saved me. In spite of who I am, Christ
died on the cross for me. Nobody in this congregation knows
how bad I am inside. Everybody here, I feel like,
is more spiritual than I am. I consider how often I forget
to pray, how many times I don't read the Bible, how many times
I give somebody a smart answer. It seems like everybody in the
world is better than I am. It don't always happen that way,
but as a general rule, I'm willing to give everyone else the benefit
of the doubt. That's being humble in mind. Meekness. And I will tell you this, getting
mad and jumping out of the car because somebody blew the horn
at you is not meek. Doing things to other people
before they do it unto you is not meek. Scripture says Moses
was the meekest man that ever lived. Moses didn't say much
about anything except when it came to God. He wouldn't let
you talk bad about God. He wouldn't let you talk bad
about Christ. Meekness is something that we have to really work for. Meekness is when somebody says
something you know is not really the way it is and you keep your
mouth shut rather than start an argument. Meekness is not
having to be right all the time. Meekness is willing to stand
there and listen to someone's problem when you'd rather be
a thousand miles away doing something else. Out of everything that's
been mentioned so far, I think meekness is the hardest one to
ever get a grasp on. We're all too proud. We're all
too sure of ourselves. We all think we know the only
way. Only God can give us a spirit
of meekness. Only the Lord Jesus Christ can
give us the ability to not worry about whether we're always right
or always wrong. To not get upset when someone
blows a horn at us. To move aside and let them get
through. Meekness is the one that's the
hardest to learn. Because none of us are naturally
meek. All of us are naturally defensive. So meekness is the one that we
would really have to work on. Long-suffering. Well, I know
what long-suffering is because you people have been long-suffering
with me. I know I'm aggravating. I know
I usually always say the wrong thing at the wrong time. If I
say ten words, three of them are going to be foolish. Long-suffering
is when you keep right on hugging me, you keep right on telling
me you love me, you keep right on listening to me, you keep
right on letting me get away with it. Long-suffering is when
you'll put up with it until you're sick to death and then put up
with it some more. Long-suffering is whenever someone's
telling you about a problem you could care less about and you
stand right there and listen to every word they say and give
them whatever comfort you can. Long suffering, I think, would
be a learned attitude. You have to learn to stand still
and listen. I'm long suffering with some
people, but not with everybody. I'm not long suffering with free
will people. I'm not long-suffering with people
that tell me that God told them something. We were sitting in
a restaurant one time, and a man told me, he said, well, God told
me that he could learn something from his children. I told him,
let's just get up and get out of here. I'm not long-suffering
with heretics. But I try to be long-suffering
with the other children of God. If I'm not, tell me about it. Forbearing one another. What
does it mean to forbear for one another? It means to try to take their
burden on before they ask you to. It means to know that someone
is going to have to move out of their house, and before they
ask you, say, I'll come over and help you move. Forbearing
one another is looking for people that need help, here in this
church especially. Now all these things I've told
you so far, you need to do them for everybody. Do good unto all
men, especially those of the household of faith. Be long-suffering
toward all men, especially toward one another. Forbear one another,
all everyone in the world, especially to one another. Be on the lookout
for other Christians that are downcast or Christians that have
problems or they need an encouraging word or anything like that. Be
ready to help without being asked. That's what Christians do. You
don't have to tell me your problem. You just have to say, I need
help. Okay, what can I do? Forbearing one another and forgiving
one another I can honestly say that I don't think anybody in
this congregation would say anything that would offend me so bad that
I wouldn't get over it. I hope that I would get over
what anyone told me. To forgive another is more complicated
than just saying, oh well, you're forgiven. To forgive one another
in a gospel sense is this, I'm not just going to forgive you
for what you've done to me, I'm going to forget what you've done
to me. I'm not going to dwell on what
you've done to me. I'm not going to sit around for
hours at a time brooding about what you've done for me. I'm
going to forgive you like Christ did. I'm going to put it away
from me and not think about it anymore. You are forgiven. Whenever you tell me, oh well,
I'll forgive them, but I'll keep an eye on them. That's not forgiveness. I'll forgive them, but I'm not
going to trust them anymore. That's not forgiveness. Forgiveness
in a gospel sense is a total letting go of whatever the wrong
was. It's the ability to say, well,
it could have been worse. It's the ability to say, well,
I'll get over it. By the grace of God, whatever
it is, I'll get over this. Forgiving one another. It's not
so easy to forgive ourselves. Because I know what's in here
and you don't. I have an awfully hard time forgiving
myself for some of the things I've done. You got to let them
go too. You got to realize that God doesn't
remember them and I need to forget them too. forgiving one another, a total
putting away of whatever the wrong was, and not putting your
mind on it again, just going on from there like nothing happened. That is true forgiveness. And that's the way we're supposed
to treat one another. If any man have a quarrel against
any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. Christ forgave
me freely, didn't He? Christ forgave me of all of the
times I ever spoke against Him, all of the Christian feelings
I ever hurt, all of the sins I ever did. He forgave me and
forgot them. If I have an argument with somebody
else, I need to get over it. I need to go to them and tell
them, It's not right that two children
of God should argue about whatever it is. Let's just forget it. Let's get along. Let's see if
we can't patch this up for the good of other Christians, for
the good of the church, and for the good of my assurance. Forgiving one another and not
arguing with one another. Do you realize the Scripture
says that children of God don't answer again? That's what little
kids do. They'll answer you back. We're
not supposed to do that. We're not supposed to do that.
We're supposed to shut up and let it go. We're not supposed
to answer again. We're not supposed to quarrel
one with another. Now, when it comes down to something
that has to do with Christ and the church, Even then, you don't
quietly tell them, I'm not going to listen to this, that's not
scriptural, and I don't want to hear it. Don't stay there
and argue with them for ten or twelve days and ruin whatever
little friendship you have left. And above all these things, put
on charity, which is a bond of perfectness. Charity is brotherly love. Charity includes all of the things
I've just told you. But charity includes a real desire
to please other children of God. Charity causes a willingness
to put others before yourself. Charity is the ability to not
get up in somebody's face and tell them how wrong they are.
Charity is especially important in a marriage. Charity will cause
you to overlook your mate's fault because you have faults of your
own. Charity will cause you not to judge another because except
for the grace of God, you'd be doing the same thing. On top
of all these, you put on charity. Let the Word of Christ dwell
in you richly in all wisdom, teaching, admonishing one another
in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in
your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever you do in word
or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving
thanks to God and the Father by Him." That's life encompassing. If you're going to be an iron
worker, be the best one there is for the glory of God. If you're
going to be a painter, be the best painter that ever lived
for the glory of God. You're doing this to please Christ,
not whoever you work for. Whatever you say or do in word
or deed, do it all as unto Christ. It's been especially hard for
me to learn these things. I'm not by nature a meek person.
I'm not by nature a forgiving person. I'm not by nature a person
that puts on charity. But other people help. The grace of God, you'll get
it in time of need. These are not things that God
wishes you would do. These are not things God would
like for me to do. These are things we better do
and we will do. That's what it takes to make
a gospel church. The love amongst the brethren.
The helping each other. the bearing of one another's
burdens, all of these things that we do for each other. That's
what it takes to be a gospel church. And we don't do them
to make others happy. We do them to make ourselves
complete in Christ. We're good to them because Christ
has been good to us. Father, we thank You for being
here, Father, for the privilege of being Your child, for the
tremendous thing You did for us, Father, when You sent Your
Son to the cross for our sins. We ask, Father, in Your grace
and Your mercy, that You'd give us the right words, Father, to
talk about this. That You'd not let us be lifted
up. You'd not cause us to be angry
with one another. You'd give us the grace, Father,
to bear one another's burdens. We'd ask again, Father, You'd
be with Jorge. You'd watch over him. That You'd
give him the grace to deal with whatever it is wrong with him,
Father. I praise Your name unto the end. We ask in Jesus' name,
Amen. 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, All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground
is sinking sand. When darkness fails his lovely
face, I rest on his unchanging grace. In every high and stormy
gale, My anchor holds within the veil. On Christ the solid
rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground
is sinking sand. His oath is covenant, His blood
support me in the whelming flood. When all around my soul gives
way, He then is all my hope and stay. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground
is sinking sand. When he shall come with trumpet
sound, O may I then in him be found, Dressed in his righteousness
alone, Faultless to stand before this throne. On Christ the solid
rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground
is sinking sand. Hey Adam, can we get a couple
of the young guys?