Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus
our blessed Redeemer. Sing, O earth, His wonderful
love proclaim. Hail Him, hail Him, highest archangels
in glory. Strength and honor give to His
holy name. Like a shepherd, Jesus will guard
His children. In His arms He carries them all
day long. Praise Him! Praise Him! Tell of His excellent greatness. Praise Him! Praise Him! Ever in joyful song. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus
our blessed Redeemer. For our sins He suffered and
bled and died. our hope of eternal salvation. Hail Him, hail Him, Jesus the
crucified. Sound His praises, Jesus who
bore our sorrows. Love unbounded, wonderful, deep,
and strong. Praise Him, praise Him, tell
of His excellent greatness. Praise Him, praise Him, ever
in joyful song. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus
our blessed Redeemer, heavenly portals loud with hosannas ring. Jesus, Savior, reigneth forever
and ever. Crown Him, crown Him, prophet
and priest and king. Christ is coming over the world
victorious. Power and glory unto the Lord
belong. Praise Him, praise Him, tell
of His excellent greatness. Praise Him, praise Him, ever
in joyful song. Please be seated. I hope the Lord will enable us
to do that tonight. Praise Him. Scripture says that
He inhabits the praise of His people. We come before Him with
praise. He's delighted in His children
when they praise Him. I ask you if you'll turn with
me in your Bibles to Romans chapter 3 for our scripture reading.
Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3. We will meet together Saturday
morning with the men from 10 to noon, so those of you that
are able to be here, plan on that if you can. And I've been
told that whatever extra dishes are not taken tonight are going
to Goodwill, so you might have to find your dishes at Goodwill. All right, you have your Bibles
open. Romans chapter 3, we'll begin reading at verse 10. As it is written, there is none
righteous. No, not one. There is none that
understandeth. There is none that seeketh after
God. If the Lord doesn't seek us and
give us an understanding, we'll have none. They are all gone
out of the way. They are altogether become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good. No, not one. Talked to somebody this week
and they were afraid of dying and said they just weren't sure
if they've done enough. And I was able to point them
to this scripture. Don't know what the Lord's gonna
do there, but. Verse 13, their throat is an
open sepulcher, and with their tongue they have used deceit. The poison of asp is under their
lips. All men are liars. God alone
tells the truth. Oh, I love thinking about how
those men came back to the Pharisees that were sent to arrest the
Lord, and they said, never a man spake like this man before. You
know, every time we open our mouths, everything we say, we're
guarding ourselves in what we say, aren't we? And he spoke
just with none of that. Whose mouth is full of cursing
and bitterness, Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction
and misery are in their ways. And the way of peace, the way
of peace, that's Christ. He's the way of peace. No peace
with God outside of Christ. They have not known. There is no fear of God before
their eyes. Now we know that whatsoever things
the law saith, it sayeth to them that are under the law, that
every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty
before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law
is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of
Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. For there
is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the
glory of God. Being justified freely by his
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to
declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are
passed through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say at
this time, his righteousness. That he might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. There's no place for boasting. He did it all. By what law? Of works? Nay, by the law of
faith. Therefore we conclude that a
man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is he the
God of the Jew only? Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, the Gentiles also, seeing
it as one God which shall justify the circumcision by faith and
the uncircumcision through faith. Do we then make void the law
of God through faith? God forbid. Yea, we establish
it. Let's pray. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
we're so thankful that you've enabled us to sing songs of praise
and to have some understanding in our hearts. For we know that
left to ourselves, no man understandeth and no man seeketh after God.
Lord, we pray that you would continue to draw us to thyself
Enable us in this hour to worship thee. Enable us, Lord, to hear
what it is you would say to our hearts. From thy word, we pray
for your Holy Spirit to be sent in power. We ask, Lord, that
you would save us from our sins and cause us to rest in Christ
as the propitiation the only one that's righteous and the
only one that's worthy. For we ask it in his name. Amen. Let's all stand again. Yeah. Sinners Jesus will receive, Sound
this word of grace to all, Who the heavenly pathway leave, All
who linger, all who fall, Sing it o'er and o'er again. Christ receiveth sinful men,
Make the message clear and plain, Christ receiveth sinful men. Come, and He will give you rest. Trust Him, for His word is plain. He will take the sinful last. Christ receiveth sinful men. Sing it o'er. and or again. Christ receive a sinful man. Make the message clear and plain. Christ receive a sinful Now my heart condemns me not,
pure before the law I stand. He who cleansed me from all spot,
satisfied its last demand. Sing it o'er and o'er again,
Christ receiveth sinful men. Make the message clear and plain,
Christ receiveth sinful men. Christ receiveth sinful men,
even me with all my sin. Purged from every spot and stain,
heaven with Him I enter in. Sing it o'er and o'er again. Christ receiveth sinful men. Make the message clear and plain. Christ receiveth sinful men. Please be seated. Thank you, Tom. What an appropriate
hymn to introduce this message. You've heard it said wrong on
the fall and you're wrong on it all. Well, I've titled this
message right on the fall and you'll be right on it all. I listen sometimes to NPR in
my car and I listen to the the authors of so many books that
are answering all the deep questions of life. And I think about that
verse of scripture of the writing of books, there is no end and
much study, where is the soul? But it seems like the philosophers
and the psychiatrists and the The religious gurus are all delving
into trying to solve the problems of relationships. How do I understand
myself? How do I get along with people?
How do I understand my circumstances? How do I discover happiness in
life? And of course, they come up with
all sorts of answers to that question, and they go into your
birth order. and your potty training, and
whatever other circumstances you may have had in life, the
relationship that you had with your parents, and of course,
the power of positive thinking, all those sort of things. I thought,
you know, the answer to all these questions is so simple. It is
so simple. If God ever makes you to be a
sinner, I mean, really a sinner. Not a philosophical sinner. Not a theological sinner. I'm
talking about a bona fide sinner. God makes you to be a sinner.
then all these questions in terms of who I am, how do I understand
myself, how to understand life, how do I get along with other
folks, how to understand my circumstances, how do I have peace in my heart,
how do I have hope and assurance of eternal life, all these things
come together. If you're right on the fall,
you're right on it all. If God ever makes you to be a
sinner, it just clarifies everything. And I've said before, and I'll
say it again, that the problem that people have with the gospel
is not really particular redemption. It's not really limited atonement. It's not really irresistible
grace. It really doesn't even have to
do with law and grace. The problem that men have with
the gospel is that they have never been made a sinner. God
makes you to be a sinner, then everything else makes sense. You'll have assurance of your
salvation. You'll have hope of eternal life.
This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. Did he succeed in what he came
to do? Yes, he did. Yes, he did. So if God's made me to be a sinner,
then I have hope. I have hope that I've got a Savior.
If the Lord makes you to be a sinner, you'll understand yourself. You'll
be able to say, in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good
thing. You'll know that you are without
strength and that your only hope is the grace of God and the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. But without Christ, I can do
nothing. You will join your voice to the
voice of the prophet who said, you will loathe yourself. You won't worry about self-esteem.
All of your esteem will be placed on Christ, and knowing Him for
who He is, knowing yourself for what you are, you'll have an
understanding of who you are in this world. I know what I am, and I know whom I have believed,
and I'm persuaded that though I'm not able because I'm a sinner,
He is able to keep that which I've committed unto Him against
that day. Your confidence will not be in
yourself if God makes you to be a sinner. All your confidence
will be placed in the Lord Jesus Christ. You won't go around having
to prove yourself to men. You'll just know what you are.
Know what you are. If God ever makes you to be a
sinner, you'll know that all you have in this world and in
the next is all of grace. We lose sight of the fact that
we're sinners when we become materialistic, don't we? And
I've said this before, I want to say it again. Materialism
has absolutely nothing to do with your bank account. It has
absolutely nothing to do with how much you've got or how much
you don't have. It's a problem of the heart,
isn't it? It's craving after that which is going to give me
some meaning in this world. And it all comes because we lose
sight of the fact that we are sinners. You want to break materialism? God makes you to be a sinner.
You become generous, a faithful steward with the things that
belong to Him. You'll understand that everything
you've got is by God's grace. Why? Because you're a sinner. You'll be grateful and thankful
for all the things that the Lord's done for you. We received an
offering from a lady. I don't know who she is. Somebody
in Texas that's been listening to our broadcast and she sent
a check to the church and she said, thank you. The Lord is
so faithful and kind and long suffering to us. He is so good. And then she wrote the word all
in caps all the time. all the time. Now that's the
voice of a sinner. To believe that all things work
together for good, for them that love God and those of the called
according to his purpose. Lord, everything I've got in
this life, I am a hell-deserving sinner. Now let me ask you a
question. What do you have in your life
right now that's better than hell? Everything. Everything. You know what? Why? You see,
all this comes into focus when God makes you to be a sinner. He humbles you. You don't have
to measure your worth by your possessions. You know that everything
you have in this life is a gift from God. And you're able to
say, Lord, I'm thankful in all things, for I know that all things
are the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning me. You see,
if you're right on the fall, you're just right on it all. Everything comes into focus when
you're able to see yourself as a sinner. And particularly when
you come to see yourself as a sinner, you know that everything in the
next life is all of grace. It's all of grace. It's all through
the accomplished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know that
your will is corrupted. You know that your ways are corrupted. You know that you have no righteousness
of your own. You know that your only hope
of standing in the presence of God is to stand in Christ and
have Him present His righteousness on your behalf before God. What? But that can only be true of
a sinner. You see, if you've got a shred of righteousness,
then you're not a sinner. Being made a sinner will put
you on your knees in prayer, and it will give you assurance
of your salvation. Only if you're a sinner. You see, all these questions
that the world struggles with, this is the silver bullet, if
you will. It really is. It's the one cure
that just makes everything make sense once God makes you to be
a sinner. Sinful. We just sang that hymn,
didn't we? Sinful. We're going to answer that question
in just a moment. What exactly is a sinner? God makes you to be a sinner,
you can't stand in judgment of anybody else. Not if he makes
you to be a sinner, because when he, what Paul said, this is a
faithful saying, worthy of all acceptation, Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. God makes you to be a sinner,
you can't take the high moral ground and look down your self-righteous
nose at anybody else. I don't care what they're doing. You won't be pointing out other
people's sins because you'll know that yours are worse. Be patient with people. God makes
you to be a sinner. Terminate Galatians chapter 6.
Verse 1. Brethren, if a man be overtaken
in a fault, ye which are spiritual. Now who's spiritual? Who does that describe? Every
believer. He's not talking about you which
are, you know, walking above fault. He's talking about all
believers. So he says, if one of your brothers
is overtaken in a fault, you which are spiritual, restore
such a one in a spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou
also be tempted. Only a sinner's gonna do that.
And what are we gonna do to restore a brother who's overtaken in
a fault? We're gonna come to him as a
sinner. Knowing that I've done worse than you've done, I'm capable
of everything that anybody could ever possibly do. Let me tell
you about Christ. Let me tell you about the one
who delivered me from my sins and he'll deliver you as well.
Bear you one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.
This is the law of liberty. This is the law of grace. This
is the law of spirit. Here he's called the law of Christ.
Only a sinner is going to be able to do this. This is the
relationship that we have with one another, isn't it? We're
not pretentious. We're not judgmental. We're all sinners seeking to
bear one another's burdens. And look what he says in the
next verse. For if any man think himself to be something when
he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. You look down your nose at anybody
else and think, well, I wouldn't do that. You're deceiving yourself. You're not a sinner. You see
how being made a sinner just fixes everything, doesn't it?
It fixes everything. You become forgiving. You understand
that your offense to God is so much greater than anybody else's
offense to you. So the Lord says in Colossians,
Be ye kind, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for
Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Being made a sinner just, it
fixes everything in our relationship to people. As far as, you know,
conditions of our hearts. You can't harbor bitterness,
you can't harbor resentment, you can't harbor an unforgiving
spirit. Look at the rest of this passage in Galatians chapter
6. But let every man prove his own work, and then he shall have rejoicing
in himself alone and not in another. For every man shall bear his
own burden." Is that a contradiction? The scripture says, bear ye one
another's burdens, and then he says, bear your own burden. You know, that's real simple.
We're talking about being a sinner. We're saying, what the Lord's
saying is, never use the fact that you are a sinner to excuse
bad behavior with someone else, and always take it into consideration
for the bad behavior of somebody else. Bear you one another's
burdens, and then bear your own burden. Don't ever say, well,
you know, I just can't help myself, that's the way I am. You know,
that's the way I was raised. That's just, that's my, that's,
you know, you just have to, you just have to bear with me. Never
demand someone else to bear with you and always bear with them. Only a sinner is going to be
able to do that. If you're right on the fall,
you're going to be right on it all. You're going to be right
on who you are. You're going to be right on your
circumstances. You're going to be right on salvation. You're going to be right on relationships
with other people. You will not have a holier-than-thou
attitude. You'll be able to say to folks
that wrongfully use you, people who say despiteful things about
you, you'll be able to say, if you're a sinner, you'll be able
to say, oh, if you knew me like I know myself, you'd have worse
things than that to say about me. Only a sinner can do that. You'll be able to esteem others
more highly than yourself in sincerity. And all vainglory
will go away. And as you know, strife between
men always comes from vainglory. Vainglory is setting yourself
up to be something that you're not. Any man thinks he's something
when he's nothing, he deceives himself. Oh, this is the one thing that
fixes everything. God makes you to be a sinner.
You understand who you have confidence in this world? You have confidence
in who you are? You don't have to pretend to
be something you're not? You have confidence in knowing
that all your circumstances are sent from God? You have confidence
in believing that the Lord has forgiven you? And he's given
you grace and humility to forgive others and to love freely and
to bear one another's burdens. All the things that all the philosophers
and all the psychologists and all the religious gurus are trying
to answer is answered with this one thing, being made a sinner. It really is. Now, even as I went through that
list, I want to warn you against trying to prove that you are
a sinner by creating these sort of behavioral things in your
life. Most folks think that God's like
Santa Claus. You know, he's making a list,
he's checking it twice, he's going to find out who's naughty
and nice. You know, and so I want to be forgiving, I want to be
gracious, I want to be confident in my circumstances and in myself
and in my relationship with God, so I'll just work on doing those
things. And if you make a list out of those things, those things
come naturally as the result of being a sinner. They are as
natural to be in a center as heat is to fire, as breathing
is to life, as fruit bearing is to a healthy tree. Don't inspect
your fruit. Don't try to figure out, well,
am I acting this way? Am I being this way? You're just
gonna put yourself under the law. You've got your Bible open
there to Galatians. Look at Galatians chapter five.
Verse 22, but the fruit of the Spirit. Make a tree good, and its fruit
will be good. Make a tree evil, and its fruit
will be evil. All the good trees are sinners.
The trees of righteousness, which are plantings of the Lord, are
sinners. And this is the fruit of the
Spirit. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance. Against such. Now that word against
such means out of such there is no law. You can't manufacture this behavior. You can't create this behavior.
If you do, it's just going to be It's just going to be religious
phony, isn't it? Cleaning up the outside of the
cup while the inside is still full of corruption. Trying to
patch up an old holy garment with new cloth and it just gets
worse, doesn't it? When that new cloth shrinks,
the hole just gets bigger. There's nothing worse than pious
self-righteousness, trying to prove yourself to be religious
when you're not. What is a sinner? What is a sinner? What we read from Romans chapter
3, what I think is the clearest definition of the sin. Robert,
you brought this out in a message you preached here some time ago.
In defining the word sin in the scriptures, most often times
it's used, the meaning of the word is missing the mark. Missing the mark. You remember
the illustration you gave about little children that were shooting
arrows and they were just, they didn't even make it to the target,
much less hit the bullseye. That's what that word sin means,
missing the mark. And that verse in Romans chapter
three says, all have sinned and missed the mark. Come short of
the glory of God. Now, what in your life falls
short of the glory of God? Everything. People err in defining sin as
a behavioral problem. It breaks out in behavior, no
question about it. But, brethren, everything we touch
is corrupted. Their throat is an open sepulcher.
In other words, when God looks down the throat and He looks
into the heart, He sees that every imagination of the heart
is only deceitful. It's only corrupted. And that
continually. You've never had a holy thought.
You've never had a holy motive. You've never done anything that's
not corrupted with sin. That's what a sinner is. A sinner is a person that cannot
not sin. Most folks don't see themselves
that way. Everybody's got a conscience
and everybody feels bad about the bad things that they've done,
but they don't see that the best thing that they ever did The
most righteous thing they ever did, the most sacrificial thing,
take that word righteous away because there's nothing righteous
about it, but the most sacrificial, the most dedicated thing that
they ever did, the most sincere prayer they ever prayed is sinful. It's got to be washed in the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ to have acceptance before God.
If God should mark iniquity. If God judged us based on the
best thing he just picked out the one. I mean, you just think
about everything you've ever thought and done and spoken it
and take the best thing you've ever done. God judges you by
that. You're going to hell. If God should mark iniquity,
who shall stand? Now that's what a sinner is.
How does one become a sinner? How does one become a sinner? Well, first by being born as
a child of Adam. Listen to what the scripture
says in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, by one man came death. for as in Adam all die wherefore Romans chapter 5 verse
12 as by one man sin entered in the world and death by sin
and so death passed upon all men for all have sinned now I
brought this just point up recently about Adam being our federal
head or being our seminal head, and I've done some more thinking
about that, reading about that, and truth is that he's both. If we think about the covenant
of works, the covenant of works, God put Adam under the covenant
of works and he represented all of mankind in that covenant. And so when he sinned, he broke that covenant. And in breaking
that covenant, we all broke that covenant. The scripture says
in Romans chapter five, verse 12, that therefore all have sinned. And Adam is our federal head
when it comes to the covenant of works and the covenant of
the covenant of works. He's our federal head. We died. We broke that covenant in our
father, Adam, but he's also our seminal head. He's also our natural
head. We were actually there in our
father, Adam. We were there in him. So when
it comes to our spiritual union, you see the problem is a lot
of people want to think about the gospel only in legal terms. And this is one of the reasons
the message I preached last Sunday about Christ becoming sin. And men are offended by that
because they just want to interpret the message of the gospel only
in legal terms. And in legal terms, Christ was
our federal head. But in spiritual reality, he
was our seminal head. He was our natural head in that
we were there in the loins of our father Adam. When he died,
we died in him. That's spiritual union. That's
a mystery that we can't understand, but we know it's true. Adam died,
we died. Federal, we have a federal government,
and that federal government is based on a covenant that the
states have with one another. So when the federal government
passes a law, that is, becomes, it becomes effective to all the
states. There's state laws and there's
federal laws. And it has to do with the covenant
relationship that the states have with one another. Christ
was our federal head in the covenant of works. When he broke that
covenant, we broke that covenant. But in terms of spiritual union,
he was our seminal head. He was our natural head. We were
actually there in our Father Adam. And so how does one become
a sinner? All you gotta do is be a child
of Adam. And there's only one man that ever lived in this world
that was not a child of Adam. Conceived in the womb of a virgin
by the Holy Spirit. He received none of that corruption
that we received. How does one come to know that
they are? Now, based on that, based on
what I just said, every person in this world is a sinner. Every
person in this world is a sinner. That's true. But few know that
they're a sinner. So how does one become aware
of the fact that they are a sinner? How does one become convinced
that they are a sinner? The answer to that is grace,
divine revelation. The Lord Jesus Christ said, it's
expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away, the Comforter
will not come. But when he comes, when he comes,
he will convict the world of sin because they believe not
on me. Now there's the root cause of
all sin, unbelief. Unbelief. A person who doesn't
look to Christ alone for all their righteousness because they
believe they've got some of their own. And when the Spirit of God
does a work of grace through the new birth, then we come to
conclude, yes, we are sinners. Listen to what Joseph Hart wrote
in a hymn. What comfort can a Savior bring
to those who never felt their woe? A sinner is a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost has made him so. The Spirit of God's got to make
you a sinner. I can't make you a sinner. You can't make your
children a sinner. You can't make your spouse a
sinner. It's the work of the Spirit of God in the heart causing
us to say, woe is me. How does one see themselves as
a sinner? I'm trying to make this thing
of being a sinner the real answer to all these problems that we
face in this world. In terms of understanding ourselves
and understanding our relationship with men and understanding our
relationship with circumstances and understanding our relationship
with God. And it really is all solved when God makes you to
be a sinner. But here's the truth of it. You
can't be made a sinner. until you see Christ for who
He is. That's why Paul said, we preach
Christ and Him crucified. We profess to know nothing among
you save Christ and Him crucified. Why? Otherwise, we will compare
ourselves to ourselves and convince ourselves that we're not all
that bad. We'll compare ourselves to one another and convince ourselves
that we're at least average or maybe a little above average. You know, that's just the natural
way that man does. But if God is pleased to reveal
the Lord Jesus Christ as the holy, harmless, undefiled, separate
from sinners, Son of God, if Christ is lifted up, He said,
I'll draw men to me. It wasn't until Isaiah saw the
Lord Jesus Christ, and John chapter 12 makes it very clear that what
Isaiah saw in Isaiah chapter 6 was none other than the Lord
Jesus Christ seated upon His throne, high and lifted up. And the seraphim hovered over
the throne and they cried, what? Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
God of hosts. Heaven and earth is filled with
His glory and the doorpost shook. and his train filled the temple,
and the temple was filled with smoke, and what's the first thing
out of Isaiah's mouth? For five chapters he had been
prophesying, woe unto you, woe unto you, woe unto you, and now
in Isaiah chapter six, he sees the Lord Jesus Christ, and what
does he say? Woe is me, for I am undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. I
live among a people of unclean lips. Lord, I'm a sinner. It's
always the case. Always the case. It wasn't until
Elihu came and preached Christ to Job that Job was able to say,
oh, he'd been justifying himself. He'd been justifying, this isn't
fair. I don't deserve this. And then when Christ is preached
to him, what's Job say? First words out of his mouth,
behold, behold, I see something I never saw before. And I love
that passage we looked at Sunday. He became vile in lamentations,
but Job didn't say I became vile. Job said, I am vile. I've always been vile, but I
didn't know it until now. Now that I've seen Christ, what
did Peter say when he saw the glorious resurrection of the
Lord Jesus Christ? What'd he say? He jumped off
that boat, swam to shore, and he said, depart from me, Lord,
for I am a sinful man. Daniel the prophet the one who
trusted God in the lion's den the one who stood up to to the
king of Babylon What did what did he say when he saw the Lord? His Beauty His strength his righteousness
was all turned into corruption It's the way it always is That's
why we have to lift. Yes, being made a sinner. It
just answers everything. But you can't be made a sinner
until you see Christ for who He is. That's why we have to
preach Christ. We have to lift up Christ. And
then the conclusion that men come to is the same conclusion
that Job came to, and Isaiah came to, and Peter came to, and
Daniel came to, and the Syrophoenician woman came to. She knew more
about being a sinner than those disciples knew. They had been
walking with the Lord, watching him perform miracles, listening
to every word that he spoke, and when they got in the presence
of this poor Syrophoenician woman, they said, Lord, send her away. She's not worthy. Well, they
were looking down their self-righteous nose at her. She's a Gentile
dog. And then the Lord called her
a dog, and what'd she say? Truth, Lord. Truth, Lord, that's
what I am." She knew more about being a sinner than those disciples
knew at that time, didn't they? Only when you see the spotless
Lamb of God becoming the scapegoat having God placed His hands on
His very head and imputing to Him on Calvary's cross all the
sins of all God's people and forsaking Him. Forsaking Him
that we not be forsaken. Can you come to the conclusion,
Lord, I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. This is a faithful saying. And
this is worthy of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save centers. Every thought he ever had, every
word he ever spoke, everything he ever did, he did it as the
sinless son of God. And then when he went to Calvary's
cross, he bore in his body upon that tree all the sins, all the
sins, not just the stuff that you know about, not just the
stuff that you feel bad about, all your sins. Truth is, our sin is truly a whole lot worse than
we think it is. Being made a sinner is not being
able to experience the full depth of your sin. Don't try to do
that. You'll make a work out of that. If I can just wallow in the shame
and guilt of my sin enough, then maybe I can be made a sinner.
Now you look to Christ. You see what he had to go through
on Calvary's cross. That's all you need to know about
your sin. What God had to do in order to put it away. And if the best thing you ever
did was the only thing that had to be forgiven, nothing would
have been different. Nothing would have been different.
Do you believe that? being made a center, you know,
all the things that, that cause us so much grief in this world,
forgiveness, relationships, understanding ourselves, knowing God, it's
all inseparably linked to God, making you to be a center. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father,
we ask that you would cause us to look upon Christ and find him
to be that spotless lamb of God who
laid down his life for his sheep. Lord, that you would cause us
to see that that we are sinful. And yet, in the person of our
substitute, we have the hope of knowing that every sinner
has been saved, and every sinner stands in thy presence, in the
person of our substitute, with absolute perfect righteousness
before thee. Oh, what glorious hope that gives
to our hearts. We pray that you would minister
that grace to us by your spirit. We pray it in Christ's name.
Amen. For the time for 74. Let's stand
together. No chorus, no chorus. We'll just
sing the hymn without the chorus. Not have I gotten, but what I
received. Hath bestowed it, and I have
believed. Boasting exclusion, Pride I abase,
I'm only a sinner, saved by grace. I must have the wrong tune here,
anyway. Once I was foolish, causing my footsteps from God
to depart. Jesus hath found me, happy may
my case. I now am a sinner, saved by grace. Tears unavailing, no merit had
I. Mercy had saved me, or else I
must die. Sin had alarmed me, fearing God's
face. But now I'm a sinner saved by
grace. Suffer a sinner whose heart overflows,
loving his Savior to tell what he knows. Once more to tell it, would I
embrace? I'm only a sinner saved by grace. I like the words. I don't know
where I got those notes from.