Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
10. Hebrews chapter 10. I believe God's given me a message
for you this evening. Saturday night passed. Shelby and I, after the service
in Dudley, England, went out to get something to eat at one
of the pubs in a motel where we were staying. They were having
some kind of huge shindig. I have no idea how many people
there, it was just packed, hallways packed. And I sat for a little
while and got real quiet and thoughtful. And Shelby asked
me, she said, what are you thinking about? And I said, people have so many
distractions they have to have. Look at all these people. They
have to have the distractions. I know where they are, by which
they try to keep the voice of conscience silent and try not
to think about death and judgment and eternity. So they spend their
lives in distractions. All kinds of distractions. And
the partying went on until the wee hours of the morning, four
o'clock in the morning, still going on. And I couldn't help
but to think how sad, how sad, how sad. I pray that God won't
allow you to silence that voice of conscience that he stamped
in you to warn you of death and judgment. eternity. God make you consciously constantly
aware that soon you will die soon you will meet God in judgment
and you will spend eternity either under the wrath of God in the place of the damned called
hell that no human mind has yet conceived that word describes
are in the bliss of the glory of God in that place called heaven
of which the book of God said I have not seen nor ear heard
neither hath it entered into the heart of man the things that
God has prepared for them that love him. I want to ask you to
give me your attention for just a little while As I try to raise
and answer five questions about things that matter. Things that
matter. I promise you, most of the things that you think
matter just don't matter. These are things that matter.
Let's begin in Hebrews chapter 10. In verse 22, God the Holy Spirit
speaks about the full assurance of faith. Do you know anything
about that? Do I? Let's see. Hebrews chapter
10, verse 1. The law, having a shadow of good
things to come, and not the very image of those things, the law,
that's referring to all the commandments of God, all the ceremonies of
the Old Testament scripture, all the sacrifices of the Old
Testament, all the prophecies of the Old Testament, had a shadow,
just a shadow of good things to come. But they weren't themselves
the things. That law, which had the shadow
of good things to come, can never, with those sacrifices, which
they offered year by year continually, make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have
ceased to be offered? If the law could have made men
perfect, if sacrifices could have made men perfect, once the
perfection were attained, there's no need for a sacrifice. The
law could not do that. The ceremonial sacrifices could
not do that. The earthly priesthood could
not do that. All those things could do was
point to one who is that sacrifice by whom God makes men perfect
before Him and in His Son. Perfect. So that now that this
one sacrifice, Christ Jesus the Lord, has been offered, there
is no more sacrifice for sins. There's nothing you can do. Nothing you can bring to God
that will cause God to forgive your sin. Nothing you can do. Nothing you can bring to God
that will give you peace with God. Bring what you will. It will only tell you this is
not enough. Now, some of you know exactly
what I'm talking about by the experience of God's grace. Some
of you yet without faith in Christ are continuing to try to bring
something to God by which you can appease God and silence your
guilty conscience. It won't work. No matter what
you bring, no matter what sacrifices you make, we don't. Because that
the worshipers once purged should have had no more conscience of
sins. Once made perfect, once purged
by God's sacrifice, Christ Jesus, The believer has no more conscience
of sins. What on earth is that talking
about? Brother Don, we know our sin. We experience it. We struggle
with sin all the time. Yes, but no more conscience of
guilt. No more conscience of guilt. Christ has put my sins away. Now, if you don't hear anything
else I say, Hear this, hear this. God in heaven, in all his holiness,
justice, purity, majesty, and glory, God in heaven, Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost, has no reason to be angry with me. None. No reason to frown on me. No reason to be displeased with
me because God in heaven has accepted his son for me and accepted
me in his son and that acceptance is continual and unchanging forever. And I have no reason to be afraid
of God. I have no reason to be afraid
of God, in spite of my filthy heart, in spite of my coldness
and indifference, in spite of my overmuch love of this world,
in spite of all the corruption I could stand here and name,
I have no reason, no reason to dread meeting God face to face. And pastor, I do not have such
a dread. No such dread. Because my conscience
fully agrees with God, Christ is enough. And I have no conscience
of sins. Read on. Verse three. But those sacrifices, in those
sacrifices, there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. Every time they offered a sacrifice,
every Passover lamb said, we've got to come back and do this
again next year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls
and of goats should take away sin. Not possible even for sacrifices
required by God under the law to take away sin. Wherefore,
when he, the Lord Jesus, cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice
and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared
me. You prepared me a suitable body in which to live on this
earth and bring in everlasting righteousness and satisfied justice. In burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin, thou hast had no pleasure. They never, never, never, never,
never pleased God. God's pleased with the sacrifice
of his son. That then, said I, lo, I come in the volume of the
book, in the volume of this book you're holding in your hand right
here, in the volume of this book, in the volume of the book of
God's everlasting decrees. It is written of me to do thy
will, O God. Above, when he said, sacrifice
and offering and burnt offerings and offerings for sin, thou wouldest
not, neither has pleasure therein which are offered by the law.
Then said he, lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away
the first, that he may establish the second. Now I'm not gonna
spend but just a second on this, but don't miss what he said.
In order for the Lord Jesus to bring in and fulfill the new
and everlasting covenant of grace, he had to take away the old covenant
of law works. The new covenant cannot stand
with the old covenant, and the old cannot stand with the new. He taketh away the first, completely,
totally, absolutely, forever, in all its details, took away
the first, that he may bring in the second. Read on. By the
which will, that is by Christ Jesus performing the will of
God, By the which will, we are sanctified. We are sanctified. Not we should be, not we might
be, not we could be. We are sanctified. The word is made holy. By the which will, we are holy
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all,
one time with finality. And every priest standeth daily
ministering, and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can
never take away sins. But this man, this one man, the
God-man Christ Jesus, after he had offered one sacrifice for
sins forever, one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the
right hand of God, sat down because his work was done, from henceforth
expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. What a word,
expecting. The son of God sitting in glory
today is expecting until his enemies be made his footstool.
All his enemies, you and me, made his footstool. All brought
in subjection under him, acknowledging him as God our Lord, confessing
his right to be God our Lord, either as we seek his face in
grace, or we scream for his mercy as he cast us into hell, but
all will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Read on. For by one
offer, he hath perfected. What a word. The worshipers once
purged have no more conscience of sin. We're sanctified, perfected,
made absolutely complete and entire. Forever, them that are
sanctified. Perfect. Years ago, Brother Scott
Richardson and I were preaching down in Rocky Mount, Virginia.
And Scott said, I want to preach to you tonight on the holiness
of God. And this was his opening statement.
He said, the holiness of God, H-O-L-I-N-E-S-S, has something to do with the
wholeness of God. W-H-O-L-E-N-E-S-S. That's it. That's it. What is it that separates God
from everything and everybody? God. All that he is. That's his glory. That's his
holiness. We somehow get the idea and we
start to say, holy. God's holiness is the wholeness
of his being, his entire character that separates him from everything
and everybody he has made. And when the Lord Jesus comes
to save sinners, he comes to take that which is lame and maimed
and blind and crippled and withered and useless and dead, and Tommy,
he makes us whole. whole, whole men again, whole
women again, as God intended manhood to be perfected by Jesus
Christ the Lord. Verse 15, whereof the Holy Ghost
also is witness to us, for after that he had said before, this
is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith
the Lord. I will put my laws into their
hearts. I want to make them new creatures.
And in their minds will I write them. And their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more. Now, where remission of these
is, there is no more offering for sin. No more offering for
sin. You don't have to do something
to make up to God, aren't you glad? Having therefore, since
we're sanctified and perfected and without sin, having therefore,
brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. Wow. Confidence, liberty, and
ease of heart, speaking to God. Do you know what it is to go
to bed at night terrified to think about God? And wake up and walk through
the day terrified with every thought of God. Terrified. Terrified. Cuss to try to silence
it. Cuss God to try to silence it.
Fight with everything and everybody to try to silence it. But terrified
at the thought of God. I know what that is. And I know
what it is now to lift my heart to heaven and say, my father,
Abba, father, that's boldness to enter into the very presence
of God because my sins are put away. I have been made perfect
in Christ, sanctified, made holy, made whole in Christ Jesus the
Lord. How is this? By a new and living
way. which he, the Lord Jesus, hath
consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh,
by his obedience as our substitute in life and in death, and having
a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with
a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled
from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Oh brother Don, I'd like to have
that full assurance. To walk with God in full assurance
of faith. Now I'll tell you why you don't
have it if you don't. Let me change that. I'll tell
you why you don't have it when you don't. Because everyone of
us struggle with this. Everyone has a struggle with
this. We keep trying to bring God something other than Christ. We keep trying to bring God our
repentance, our works, our faithfulness, Our diligence, our sacrifice,
our doing this, our not doing that. And by this, give ourselves
assurance. Now I know I believe because
this is what I've done. Now I know a child of God because
this is how I feel. Now I know a child of God because
I quit that. You will always, always, always hear this word,
not enough! Not enough! And you bring God
only his son. Only his son as you brother David
Edmondson as you therefore receive Christ Jesus the Lord. How's
that? All I had Christ That's all I had. I've naked empty-handed
dirty filthy vile sinner. All I had was Christ so walking
in him Walking him trusting Christ alone with full assurance of
faith trusting Christ as our great sin atoning high priest
Paul says here, let us draw near with a true heart. Oh God, give
me a true heart. Holy Spirit convictions found
in a true heart. Repentance and faith are found
in a true heart. Worship and prayer arise in a
true heart. But our hearts, oh, how vile
our hearts by nature. Zechariah speaks of our hearts
in Zechariah 7 as being like adamant, like adamant, adamant. Job said, God maketh my heart
soft, but our hearts by nature are like The adamant stone, don't know
whether it was a real rock or just mythological, but the adamant
stone was thought to be the hardest of all substances. It would be
used to crush any other rock, but the adamant stone itself
could not be broken or penetrated by anything except one thing,
just one thing. The blood of a goat would soften
and melt the adamant stone. And there is the blood of a lamb
called the Lamb of God that melts and softens our adamant hearts. A true heart is one made soft
by the sprinkling of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. If
I have a true heart, a heart made soft by God, If Christ is
my high priest, if I trust the Lord Jesus, this text tells me
that I can and should draw near to God with the full assurance
of faith, the full assurance of acceptance with God, the full
assurance of divine approval, the full assurance that I belong
to God and God belongs to me. I want you, I want every one
of you, I want you to believe on the Son of God. I want to
persuade you who are here, who do not know my Redeemer, right
now, right where you are, oh may God open heaven and open
your heart and pour His life into you in the person of His
darling Son. And for you, my brothers and
sisters in Christ, I want you to believe the Son of God. God, help us to believe. Help
us to trust our Savior, who is worthy of absolute implicit confidence. And let me raise and answer four
or five questions. I'll be very brief. What would it mean to you to
know that every sin you've ever committed, every sin of your
life, past, present, and future, is forgiven, blotted out, and
remembered no more forever. Every sin of mind, heart, tongue,
head, and hand, Every sin of your soul. Open sin and secret
sin. Known sin and unknown sin. What would it mean to you to
know that in the book of God there's no record of any blemish,
of any sin, of any crime, of any kind, at any time? What would
it mean? Listen to this. The blood of
Jesus Christ, God's Son, Cleanseth us from all sin. Cleanseth us from all sin. It has cleansed us and it is
cleansing us continually from all sin. So that the Lord God
declares that he blotteth out thy transgressions for his own
namesake and will not remember your sins. How can God not remember
our sins? God knows everything. God knows
everything, but he doesn't know what he is not. Did you hear me? He says he does
not remember our sins because he has blotted them out. That
doesn't mean he just covered them up. That doesn't mean he
just took an eraser and smudged out the marks. That means the
whole chalkboard is gone. He blotted them out and they're
gone. Mother Dan Parks, your dad, years ago, referred to the
psalm where the Lord says that he has removed our iniquities
from us as far as the east is from the west. And Moose said,
I'm so glad he said, as far as the east is from the west, not
as far as north is from the south. He said, I can find the south
pole and I can find the north pole, but you can't find the
east pole or the west pole. How far has God removed our iniquities
from us? All our iniquities, past, present,
and future. Brother Don, how could God have
already removed our future sins? They were all future before we
believed, weren't they? They were all future yesterday,
weren't they? He's blooded them out. He did it from eternity
in the land slaves, the foundation of the world. He did it at Calvary.
He did it in our consciences, and he continues to do so, so
that God says he will not charge his own with sin, no matter what. David learned that. David learned
that. He said, blessed is the man to
whom the Lord will not impute sin. Oh, now, Brother Don, you've
got to give some qualifying statements. If you think so, there's something
wrong with your thinking. Or people will, they'll take that
and run wild with it. Only folks who don't know God.
Only folks who don't know God. Blessed is the man to whom God
will not impute sin. The man who wrote that, Bob,
had taken a faithful servant's wife and had him murdered to
cover his sin. And it appears to me he wrote
it on the very day his sin was exposed to him by a faithful
prophet. He went home and said, oh, blessed is that man whose iniquity
is pardoned, whose sins are put away, whose transgressions are
forgiven. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute
iniquity. What would you give to have such
blessed knowledge? Believe on the Son of God. Trust Him. Don't say a prayer. Don't come up here and do something
right where you are right now. Don't wait. Trust Him. Trust
Him. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath everlasting life. And this is God's word to you.
The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Number two, what would it mean
to you to know that the eternal, holy, righteous, and just God
has totally, completely reconciled you himself. Turn over to Colossians
chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1. What would it mean to you to
know that there's no wrath, no fury, no anger, no enmity in
God toward you? Not even afraid. that you're accepted in love
and peace. I'm not talking about the sham,
pretend peace of religion. I'm talking about peace bestowed
by God himself. Our Savior said, my peace give
I unto you. What? His peace as the God-man
mediator, as Jehovah's righteous servant, his peace, the peace
of that man, who lived in perfect, total obedience to the will of
God in every detail, the full age of a man, even right down
to that Gethsemane's garden, as he anticipates suffering the
wrath of God, being made sin for us, anticipating that which
was most contrary to all his being. And he said, nevertheless, not
my will, thy will be done. That's peace, Bob. That's peace. That's peace. That's peace. He said, my peace give I unto
you. The peace of one perfectly obedient
to God. Perfectly submissive to God. Oh, brother Don. Oh, what would
I give to have that kind of peace? Believe on the Son of God. Look at Colossians 1 verse 20.
Had he made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to
reconcile all things to himself, by him I say whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven. And you, you that were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, You lived with your fist shoved
in God's face every day of your life. Yet now hath he reconciled. That's peace. Peace. Nothing between my soul and my
Savior. So that his blessed face may
be seen. Nothing preventing the least
of his favor. Jesus is mine. There's nothing
between. I'm talking about peace. Number
three, what would it mean to you to have a new heart, a new
spirit, a new nature that really loves God? That really loves God. A nature as truly inclined to
God as your flesh is to self. A new nature that hates evil
and loves the things of God, the Word of God, the people of
God, the worship of God, and finds its greatest delight in
the will of God and the presence of God. That's the heart, that's
the spirit, that's the nature of all who believe on the Son
of God. That's the nature of all who
are born again by God's almighty grace. If any man be in Christ,
he's a new creature. Old things are passed away, and
behold, all things have become new. The old man, the old nature,
there's no change in that. That old nature, bless God, soon
will be totally eradicated from us in death. But until this body
is in the grave, that nature thrives under condemnation in
us and is constantly at war with that new man. But that new man,
that new man is created in righteousness and true holiness. That new man
is Christ in you, the hope of glory. A friend of mine asked
me just the other day, yesterday, I said, what does that mean?
He says, I'll write my law in your heart. I'll write my law
in your mind. What does that mean? I said,
that means Christ in you. Christ in you, the hope of glory. That's the new nature. That's
the old man. That's me. in my flesh, in my
father Adam, the new man, that's me, in my spirit, in Christ,
my redeemer, the last Adam. That new creature, that new creature
is born of God and cannot see it. So that while you sit here,
and listen to me and your pastor, Brother Todd and his other men
preach to you, and you listen and you hear and you struggle
with sin, here is how you must understand this. That about you that does not
righteousness, 1 John chapter 3, is of the devil. It's born of the flesh. It's
just flesh. That's what you are, Todd. That's
what you got from your daddy. That's what you pass along to
your daughters. That's what we are by nature. That's what we
are by nature. It does not righteousness. Never. All it does is sin. And there's another man, a man
that cannot sin, that only does righteousness. That's born of
God. That's the new man. That's the
new man. Oh, to be born again is to have God drop in you him
who is life. Him who is life. Most people know nothing at all
about life. You hear these religious folks
get up and talk about what they gave up to serve the Lord. What did you give up to start
serving the Lord? Hell. Hell in me. Hell around me. Hell running through me. The hell that's in me, corrupting
everything around me. What'd I give up? Death. What'd I give up? Curse. What'd
I give up? Constant turbulence. What'd I
give up? Constant, constant torment in
mind and heart and soul. What'd I give up? Nothing! Nothing. Nothing. Less than nothing and
vanity. That's what I gave up. Christ
came to this man I'm gonna tell you something
about the life he's given me. I wouldn't trade places with anybody in
the world at any time in history. This is my life. It is Christ living in me. You understand that? Believe
on the Son of God and go home tonight loving God. Delighting for God to have his
way everywhere all the time. Delighting in his will, delighting
in his presence. Number four. Turn to Isaiah chapter three. What would it mean to you to
know, to know? Your pastor read just a little
bit ago, we know that all things work together for good to them
that love God. to them who are the called according
to his purpose. Not we guess, not we think, we know. We've
been convinced by the word of God, by the spirit of God, and
by experience. We know, we know. What would
it mean to you to know that every trial and every failure, every
joy and every sorrow, every good day and every difficult day,
is ordained, designed, purposed, and ordered by your Heavenly
Father for your eternal good and His glory. That all things
that come to pass are the very best things that could come to
pass for you and your family and everything dear to you. That's
the experience and the heritage of every sinner who trusts Christ. Look at verse 10, Isaiah chapter
three. Say ye to the righteous that it shall be well with him.
Now stop right there for a minute. Who are the righteous? The righteous are all who have
been made righteous in Christ Jesus by the grace of God. all who have been made the righteousness
of God in Christ, made righteous in free justification, having
all the righteousness of Christ imputed to us so that we are
justified before God, made righteous in sanctification, that is in
the new birth, in regeneration, having the righteousness of Christ
imparted to us in the new birth, being made partakers of the divine
nature, made righteous in the experience of grace by faith
in Christ, receiving the righteousness of God by faith. Now listen to
this word from God. God commands his prophet, say
ye to the righteous, it shall be well with him. As says my friend, Brother Larry
Brown, hadn't seen you in a couple of weeks, been longer than that
now. Take that word as broadly, as
fully, as widely as your imagination can possibly carry it, and then
keep stretching your imagination. In all circumstances, in all
times, in all experiences, say to the righteous, it shall be
well with them. There's no qualification, no
conditions. The promise stands on its own.
God, who cannot lie, made the promise. And our hearts ought
to respond, if God has said it shall be well with me, then it
is well with me, no matter how I feel. And it has always been
well with me. no matter what I've experienced.
And it shall forever be well with me, no matter what I meet
tomorrow. Say ye to the righteous, it shall
be well with him. It's well with the righteous
now. I recall when I was 17 years old, hadn't
been saved very long, and I was going through what a 17-year-old
believer thinks is a real trial. You find out they were just preparatory
falls, kind of like a baby falling on his knees when he's learning
to walk. But at the time, I thought, man, I don't know whether I'm
gonna make it. I don't know whether I'm gonna make it. I'm serious,
I thought, I'm done, this is it. And I read across a word
from God, reading scriptures, and I got
to 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 18. I don't think I'll ever forget
it. Late in the evening, I was by myself. This is the will of
God in Christ Jesus concerning you. This is the will of God in Christ
Jesus concerning you. If it weren't, it wouldn't be
here. If it weren't, you wouldn't experience it. It's well with
the righteous when it appears that everything is ill. If you
were to look at Brother Joe, And come to the end of that one
day in his life, one day in his life, when he lost his sons,
and his daughters, and his cattle, and his wealth, and his health,
and his name, and his reputation, and he was just utterly devastated. Everything that had given him
joy up to this day is suddenly at one time wiped out. And there
he sits in his putrid condition. Well, Brother Job, it's well
with you. If he could have gotten the strength,
he'd have popped you in the jaw. What are you talking about, well
with me? Don't you know what's happened to me today? No, Job
wouldn't have said that. His wife tried to get him to.
She said, why don't you curse God and die? He said, this is
God's doing. It's well with the righteous,
even when everything seems to be otherwise. It's well with
the righteous, even when it's ill with everyone else. There
was famine in the land, and God sent his prophet to take care
of one widow of Zarephath. It's well with the righteous
when temptations come, for God makes a way of escape that you
may be able to bear it and cease to it that you can. When trials
come, blessed is he that endureth temptation, he shall receive
the crown of life. When Satan buffets, it's still
well with the righteous, for when we're weak, our God says
we're strong, even when we sin. These things write I unto you
that you sin not. Don't sin, don't sin. Don't ever take sin to be a light
thing. Don't sin. If any man sin, we
have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. It's
deal well with me. Come back to Micah, Micah chapter
seven. But Brother Don, I've fallen
so miserably. I've made such a mess of things. It's well with the righteous.
Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down. For the
Lord upholdeth him with his hand. Here in Micah chapter 7, verse
8, Micah says, Rejoice not against
me, Oh, my enemy, when I fall. There are a few folks out there,
nothing on this earth could tickle them any more than to find out
Don Fortner had flat made a mess of things. Some of you, I know this is gonna
go out all over the world, so I say it just to irritate religious
folks who don't know any better. But I might, sitting at your
house tonight, Bob, sitting there with you and Jeanette, have a
glass of wine. I might do that. Probably won't, but I might do
that. Might do that. And I don't mind the world knowing that.
It's all right. Our Lord said it's fine. He said it's just
fine. But if here, here, or if we're out at dinner and I'm driving
home, I won't even taste it. For one reason, there are folks
all over the place be tickled to death, say I got arrested
for driving under the influence or even had the suspicion of
it. Oh, they're anxious to see you folks all over Lexington,
Kentucky watching for that, for Todd and I. Just get something on him, tickle
him to death. Well, it may happen. I'm not above it and he's not
above it. It may happen. Because we're
just weak, fickle, sinful flesh, just like you. Rejoice not, O
mine enemy, when I fall, I shall arise. When I sit in darkness,
the Lord shall be light unto me. You know what that is, sit in darkness?
I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I've sinned
against him until he plead my cause and execute judgment for
me. He will bring me forth to light
and I shall behold his righteousness. So long as you live in this world
you who believe it shall be well with you and in the hour of death
it shall be well with you in the judgment It shall be well
with you. You will hear your Savior say,
come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. Well done, thou good
and faithful servant. Imagine that. Well done, thou
good and faithful servant. That's what awaits you, Brother
Gary, on the other side. Now, why would anybody want to
resist that? Well done, thou good and faithful servant. How
can you be sure of this? Look at the last line of that
text, Isaiah 310. For they shall eat of the fruit
of their doings. What? What? They shall eat of the fruit of
their doings. Believe on the Son of God. And
go home tonight with this assurance. All that Christ did while he
walked on this earth in perfect obedience to the will of God,
loving God with all his heart, loving his neighbor as himself,
All that he did, complete compliance with the will of God, trusting
God perfectly. All that he did, you did in him. And when he died at Calvary's
tree, you died in him. When the sword of justice wore
itself out on him, The sword of justice wore itself out on
you. And now God says, fury is not
in me. And when you leave this world
and drop this robe of flesh, you shall eat the fruit of your
doings forever in heaven's glory land. One more question. What would
it mean to you to know to assuredly know that growing
old and dying is the very best, most wonderful thing that could
happen to you. Growing old and dying is the
best, most wonderful thing that could happen to you. To be absent
from the body is to be present with the Lord. Blessed are the dead that die
in the Lord. They shall see his face. And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes. Oh, how blessed it is to live
in the anticipation of heavenly glory. To live in the expectation
of eternal life. To live with the excitement of
leaving this mortal life and entering into immortality in
glory that I has not seen. nor ear heard, neither has entered
into the heart of man. Believe on the Lord Jesus, and
this is yours. Some years ago, I read a true
story. A man, a very wealthy man in
Chicago, he was a widower. He raised his son, and when the
Vietnam War broke out, his son felt obliged to join the military,
and he signed up for the military, went to Vietnam, and he got a
note one day that his son was killed in Vietnam, and the father
was devastated. This man was very wealthy and
he had a huge collection of art. I don't know anything about art
and artists and all that stuff, but they had a huge collection
of rare, rare art and loved to look at it themselves and enjoy
discussing the pieces of art they had together. And one day
he got a knock at the door and there's a fellow standing there
and he had a package under his arm and he said, I know you don't
know me, but he introduced himself and he said, your son and I were
good friends. He said, in fact, when your son
was killed, he had come to rescue me from enemy fire when I'd been
wounded, and he was killed, saving my life. And your son had told
me often of your love of art and what good times y'all had
together. He said, I'm no artist, but he
said, Took the paper off and he said, I did this portrait
of your son best I could. And the man's eyes just, you
can imagine. He said, come in. And he took
him right into the finest room in the house and took down what
was hanging over the top of the fireplace and hung that picture
up. And wherever folks, whenever folks came over, first piece
of art they saw was that picture of his son. He was so delighted
with it, so delighted with it. And when he died, You can imagine
folks who came for the auction. They were anxious to buy all
they could get for nothing. And there was just one easel
there with one picture on it, covered up. And the auctioneer
started the bids. He said, we were first to sell
this picture of the sun. And folks just laughed and mocked
and carried on. He said, no, this has got to
go first. Nothing can be sold until this is sold. So finally,
fell in the back. He'd been gardener for that family
for years. He paid $10 for that picture.
And the auctioneer struck the gavel, he said, the auction's
over. And folks just devastated, just angry. He said, I'm sorry,
he said, I have one other stipulation to the will that I couldn't read
until now. And this is how it reads. He who gets the son gets all. Will you hear what God says? He who gets my son gets all. Believe on the son of God and
go home tonight justified, sanctified, perfected, holy, accepted of
God with peace in your heart that the world can never fathom. Amen.