A believer talks like a believer. You know the thing that I notice about all God's people? Christ is all, and they are nothing. The thing I notice about God's
people is that there is no confidence in the flesh. Brother Carl, that is a blessing. It is a miracle of God's grace
that God Almighty would give a man or a woman any heart at
all to speak, say anything of consistency toward Him. Let's take our Bibles and turn
to Proverbs 11. Proverbs 11. I'd like to look at verses 11
to 14, and let me say this. If the Lord pleases, we'll look
at all of them. Let's pray together. Our Father, how thankful we are
that You've given us, Lord, a good day. This is the day that You've
made. that we might rejoice and be
glad in it. Father, I thank you that you've
allowed me to be here. It is a miracle of your grace
that any of us want to be here. Lord, forgive us where we failed
you. Help us, we pray, for Christ's sake. Amen. I know this. The greatest blessing that God Almighty ever sends
to any place is a place where He permits,
allows His gospel to be preached. I know that. Heaven and earth are going to
pass away, but He said, My Word will never
pass away. the Word of God. That work of Almighty God to
send a preacher a place. I know this. Where He sends a preacher, There, His Word is not going
to return void. It is going to accomplish the
purpose for which it was sent. When the Lord is pleased to call
out His own, He blesses that Word. I think in Ezekiel 36 where He
said, I will, Gil, I will. I will give them a new heart.
I will give them a new mind. I will give them a new spirit.
Yet for all these things will I be inquired of." Prayer. Oh, pray that God might
bless His Word. You say, but isn't the Lord going
to do that which He is pleased to do? Yes, He is. And do you realize the honor
that is bestowed upon Him when His people are made to think
differently and call upon Him out of need, out of their desire
of a new heart, a new willing heart? He causes the objects of His
mercy to cross paths with the gospel. And they hear because He gives
them ears to hear. I tell you, I know there's times
when men must travel great distances to hear. And they will. If the Lord's
given them a heart for the gospel, they'll be here. They'll come.
There's some of you here that travel great distances. I know
that. I go about two miles. Some of you travel an hour and
a half. That's about how far you guys have to go. Nancy, Joy,
an hour. Donna, you're from California. God's people are going to be
where God's message is preached. Proverbs 11 says this, By the
blessing of the upright, The city is exalted by the blessing. The word blessing
there means the benediction. The benediction. And it's a word
that is a prayer for future blessing. I thought that was an amazing
word. by the blessing of the upright,
by the prayer for future blessing. There is only one way that the blessing, the benediction,
the prayer for future blessing is set forth. It's the preaching
of the Gospel. Folks could say, well, what do
you have? What do you have for kids? This is what we have. This is what we have. We've got
the preaching of Christ. Yeah, but how about the little
ones that don't understand? somewhere along the line. If
the Lord is pleased, He is going to bless it to their understanding. The blessing, the prayer, the
benediction, the prayer and desire of future blessing. I know this,
the only thing by which any man, any woman has
any hope This is it. It's the preaching of Christ.
It's the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus. It does not grieve
me. It doesn't grieve me to go back
to Ephesians 1.4. How many times have we read that? Look at it again. Ephesians 1.4. Turn over. Look at it. Oh, it
does us so much good. Let your eyes look down. The blessing of the upright,
the blessing, the benediction, the prayer for future hope and
blessing. The blessing of the upright. By the blessing of the upright,
the city is exalted. It does not grieve me to read
these words to you again. Ephesians 1, 1, Paul, an apostle
of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, by the will of God. To the saints,
to the sanctified, to the set-apart ones, those that God Almighty
set apart in electing grace, Paul is saying, I'm writing to
you that God Almighty has done something for, according to His
will and His purpose. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ
by the will of God to the saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ
Jesus. I think about this. Here's a lump of dust. Marvin, a preacher by the will of God. to the saints that are at Cady, to those set apart by the grace
of God, those that God Almighty has everlastingly loved and assembled, gave you heart to be here, kept
you by His grace. Gene Harmon, a preacher of the
gospel, to the saints that are at rescue, California. Grace be to you. God's grace. Eternal grace. And peace. Peace
wrought by the blood of Christ. No condemnation. Peace before
God. Not by your works, but by His
purpose. From God our Father and from
the Lord Jesus Christ, Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ. I was thinking about what Brother
Carl was just saying a few minutes ago, talking about the home, how God's
people, that's where they want to be. They want to go home. Where is that? It's where He
is. I know that. I know this. Wherever He is,
that's where I'll eternally be, and that's where I'll be comforted,
and that's where I'll be at peace. How is that? How is that blessing? How has He blessed us with all
spiritual blessings? We've got so much in this world.
I know that. We've got so much. Lord willing,
we'll go down to Mexico in a couple of weeks and visit with the saints
there in Mexico. And photographs just don't show it. They have so little as far as
this world is concerned. Houses made out of sticks. I'm
telling you, I have so little. But I'm not talking about that.
I'm talking about spiritual blessing. I'm talking about when one of
the saints in Mexico leaves this world and one of God's people
in the United States leaves this world. Do you know what they
have? They've got the same spiritual blessings in heavenly places,
in Christ. Pardon of sin. Adoption. God Almighty has adopted you. Put away your guilt. According
as He has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ. How is that, Paul? What has He
done? According as He has chosen us
in Him, before the foundation of the world that we should be
holy and without blame before Him in love, set His affection
upon, chosen, made a choice. The word in verse 1, to the sanctified,
to the set apart. Does God, according to Romans
9, does God have the right out of the same lump to make one
vessel under honor Worth the cost. That's what that word honor
means. Worth the cost. And another vessel under dishonor.
Does He have the right? Yes. Why? He said all souls are
mine. All souls are mine. According as chosen us in Him
before the foundation of the world that we should be holy
and without blame before Him in love. How? How, Lord, how can it be? I'll
walk around sometime and I'll just look at where I am and the
thought will come to my mind. Lord, I know Your Word is so. And I know, I know, I've read,
Lord, where You made choice I didn't come up with that. Almighty God
declares it. Somebody said, well, that's just
y'all's doctrine. We proclaim that which God has said is so. It's just, we didn't make this
up. According as He has chosen us. Somebody said, well, I don't
believe it. Doesn't change anything. Heaven and earth is going to
pass away, but He said, not my word. chosen us before the foundation
of the world, having predestinated us, determined the destination beforehand
unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself. Do you know who makes the choice
in any adoption? The parents. That one which is adopted has
no legal say-so. Oh, they're the recipient of
that adoption. I understand that. But I'll tell
you who does the adoption, the adopting, is the parents. They
choose. Their will. their purpose. According as He
has chosen us, determined our destination beforehand unto the
adoption of children. How? By our works? By our will? By Jesus Christ to Himself according
to the good pleasure of His will. to the praise of the glory of
His grace wherein He hath made us accepted." How is God Almighty
going to accept any man, any woman, only in Christ? There are two things that they
are going to have to have. Let me say it like this. Two things
that are necessary. Let me try it that way. Two things. Number one, my debt's going to
have to be paid. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner by
birth. I'm a sinner by choice. I'm a sinner. And the soul that
sins is going to die. It's going to die. Alright, now,
how should God be just in dealing with sin and justify a sinner? How? How? Here's the only way. The only way. As I've told you,
the Lord Jesus Christ did not merely legally, as men set forth, He died. He died. How did He
die? He was made what I am. Made sin. Made the guiltiness. How so? God forsook Him. If the Lord Jesus Christ died
and He did without being made sin, If He was not truly our
substitute, there hanging upon that cross is what we are. If God Almighty killed one who
was not truly made sin, God was unjust. How can I be accepted in the
Beloved? He's got to take all that I am
in rebellion against God. and make it to be His own. He
said in Psalm 40, mine iniquities have taken hold of me. More than
the hairs of my head, the bulls of Bashan gaped upon me. He took what I am in rebellion
before God, made it to be His own. And a second thing I need is
I need a righteousness before God that I can't produce in myself. And the righteousness of Christ
here is the righteousness of one that came into this world,
truly a man. A man. A man. God-man. Not half God, half man. Totally God, totally man. great is the mystery of God and
God was manifested in the flesh. And as a man, he as the substitute,
the representative of his people, obeyed God perfectly. And God
looked upon that man, God's law. Now listen, God's law is going
to look not outwardly, not as a man sees, only outward. God
looks on the heart. and saw the thoughts of His heart,
every intent, every moment, every second, every second, every second.
And this was God Almighty's answer concerning Him on the Mount of
Transfiguration at His baptism. This is My beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. I am well pleased. And He earned
the righteousness that is imputed to all God's people. And here they are. Here's what's
happened. He has taken what I am, the source
of what I am. What you see is the manifestations
of what I am. The transgressions. Yeah, but
it goes deeper than that. What caused it? What caused it? Where did it come from? Why do
I act the way I do? He was made the source of. It goes too deep for me.
I mean, I can see some things that I do, but He was made the
guiltiness. That's what that word means,
the guiltiness. Made sin. The body, Paul the Apostle said.
That's how he described it. The body of sin. He personified
it. It was the body of sin. He was
made sin and paid my debt. Imputed His righteousness to
me. And now here, I have no debt
owed to the law of God. He obeyed God's law perfectly.
That righteousness is imputed to me. God's law finds no problem
with me, not because of me. I've told you before, you don't
want to deal with God's law yourself. Oh, no, no, no. I'm telling you,
God's law does one thing. It shows you what you are. By the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified in His sight. The Lord Jesus Christ
honored, honored, honored God's law. And He is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone who believes. To the praise of the glory of
His grace wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. One way in which you will hear
these words, well done, my good and faithful servant. Me? Well done. Wherein He hath made us accepted
in the Beloved, not in ourselves. In whom, verse 7, we have redemption
through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of His grace. Wherein He hath abounded toward
us in all wisdom and prudence, And listen to this, and I'm going
to close. Having made known unto us the
mystery of His will according to His good pleasure which He
hath purposed in Himself. God Almighty was pleased because it pleased Him according
to His will. You haven't chose a people. Set them apart before the foundation
of the world. You're mine. I chose you. That's what he said. He said,
You haven't chosen me. That's what the Lord told him. You haven't
chosen me. I chose you. Sanctified. Saints set apart. That they should be holy and
without blame before Him in love. How? How can that be? He hath made Him sin who knew
no sin, that we might be not... He didn't die to make salvation
possible. I'm telling you, the Lord Jesus
Christ came into this world and redeemed His people. Took their
debt. Paid their debt. He didn't make
anything possible. Only in the sense... You know
what I mean. Oh yes, we have life in Him.
That's not what I mean. What I'm saying is, He didn't
make it possible so that anybody at their own will, by their free
will, He's not trying to do anything. He said the last words, He said, It's finished. Father, into Your
hands I commend my spirit. It's finished. Brother Carl read those words,
I began to think, and Lord willing, I'll preach next time out of
Proverbs 11. I've got some notes on it by the grace of God. I'll look at that. But Brother
Carl started reading, I'd rather be a doorkeeper. Oh, how is it
that I might be found there only by the grace of God? May the
Lord bless these words to our heart, to His honor, His glory,
His praise. Amen.