Thank you, Art. I trust that
the Lord laid that on your heart because it goes so well with
our message. Let's go to John chapter 12. John chapter 12. After speaking of his soul trouble,
The Lord said, and Father, what should I say? Save me from this
hour. And he said, but Father, he said,
for this cause came out into this hour. And he said, Father,
glorify thy name. And a voice came from heaven,
and he said, I have glorified it. I will glorify it again.
Verse 29, and the people therefore that stood by and heard said
that it thundered. Others said an angel spake to
him. Without God making the Word effectual
in our heart, without Him speaking into our heart, all heard this
Word. All heard it. But they were not
of one mind. They were not in one heart. They didn't understand. Only
when God blesses His Word to our hearts are we of one mind
concerning Christ. We've seen this over and again.
They were always divided when it came to the things of Christ.
The Lord must speak into our heart and He must make us of
one mind, one heart concerning Christ. And they said this as
though Christ needed an angel to speak to Him because of what
Christ said. Listen to this. They said an
angel spake to Him. But Jesus answered and said,
this force came not because of me, but for your sakes. How was it for their sakes? The
word of the Lord always serves this twofold purpose. It's to
strengthen the faith of His disciples and it's to remove all excuse
from unbelievers. God said the snow and the rain
comes down from Him and it always accomplishes His purpose. It
never returns to Him void. And He said the Word of God that
He sends is the very same. It always accomplishes this two-fold
purpose. It never returns to Him void.
This is why we value the preaching of the Gospel and God's preachers
that preach. And this is why preaching the
Gospel is a joy and it's also a heavy weight. Paul said, thanks
be unto God which always causeth us to triumph in Christ and maketh
manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in every place. Now you
know that's got to be of God because no man can say that,
no preacher can say he's able to accomplish that. We give thanks
to God. He always does this so. For we
are unto God a sweet saver of Christ. Unto God. We are a sweet
saver of Christ in them that are saved and in them that perish. To the one we are the saver of
death. Unto death. To the other, the
saver of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these
things? Every word that's coming out
of the mouth of God's preacher is going to save or damn. And there's no middle ground.
And it's always the case. Always. Then Christ declared three things
that he accomplished by his death. Now all this goes together. But
now He goes and He declares three things He accomplished by His
death. And in these three things, the Father's name is glorified.
He said, Father, glorify Thy name. And in these three things
Christ accomplished, the Father's name is glorified. First of all,
judgment. Christ accomplished judgment
by His death. He said in verse 31, Now is the
judgment of this world. Secondly, Christ conquered the
devil. He said, now shall the prince
of this world be cast out. And thirdly, through his death
Christ is calling his people. He said in verse 32, and I, if
I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all unto me. And this he said signifying what
death he should die. Our subject is the accomplishment
of Christ's death. The death Christ accomplished
is the gospel. These three things that Christ
declared is the gospel of Christ crucified. Every message that's
preached must conclude these three things or it's not the
gospel. The gospel hasn't been preached, if not. These three
things are the gospel. And by God revealing this in
our heart, this is why it's so important. By God revealing these
three accomplishments of Christ's death in our heart, He makes
His people of one mind to speak this gospel to one another and
send it forth to intercede to Christ for one another and to
wait on Christ to work this in the heart of one another. This
is what He works because He makes us personally experience the
things He is saying here. Now let's look at this briefly.
First of all, by His death Christ accomplished judgment. He said
in verse 31, now is the judgment of this world. Now preach the
message Sunday on the scriptures use of the words world and all. Because, I knew we were coming
to this passage, and in this passage the Lord uses the word
world, and he uses the word all. He said in verse 31, now is the
judgment of this world. He said in verse 32, and I, if
I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all unto me. Men is
added by the translators. He's saying I will draw all unto
me. He's speaking here of God's elect, and we know that because
Christ did not fail. Scripture says, she shall bring
forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sins. And that's what Christ declared
here. He's saving his people from their sins. And he shall,
that's who he's speaking about. Now in Christ crucified, the
judgment of God's elect, the world, Jew and Gentile, his elect
throughout the world, the judgment of God's elect was accomplished
in Christ on the cross. Christ did not come to judge
the world. He didn't come to judge the world.
He came to save and He did not fail. He did not fail. He said
in John 3.17, God sent not His Son into the world to condemn
the world. but that the world through Him
might be saved, or shall be saved. He said in John 12, 47, I came
not to judge the world, but to save the world. He said in Luke
9, 56, the Son of Man has not come to destroy men's lives,
but to save. And Christ did not fail. He did
not fail. Christ went to the cross not
to judge the world, He went to the cross to be judged by God
in place of his people in all the world. He went there to be judged, to
be condemned. to settle justice for all His
people in all the world throughout all time. Christ on the cross
is the one man. He's the one man being judged
by God in place of all His people. That's what was taking place
on the cross. Christ is being judged by God in the place of
all His people. Not for all people, but in the
place of His people. The first Adam was created without
sin. He was given one law and he broke
it and thereby all who he represented became guilty before God. The last Adam came forth a holy
man without sin, made under all the commands of the law, proven
holy, spotless, without sin. The first Adam sinned in a garden.
The last Adam went to a garden. And he who knew no sin willingly
presented himself to be made sin for his people. And he didn't
bear just Adam's one transgression. He bore all the transgressions
of all his people over all time. this world he's speaking about.
God will by no means clear the guilty. If all we had done was
just think one thought that just missed the mark a little, Christ
would have had to die the same as he did on the cross because
to break the law in just one little point is to break the
whole law of God. And he had to go to the cross
and lay down his life for all his people, bearing all the sins
of his people, and God will by no means clear the guilty. Not
any means whatsoever will He clear the guilty. If a man wants
justice, be sure God will not clear the guilty. If a man wants
to be judged based on his own merit and his own goodness, God
will judge the strictest that can be judged and He will not
clear one sin, not one. Not even a thought. Not even
a thought. And when the sin of God's elect
was made to be Christ's sin, This is how strict God is in
justice. God spared not His own Son, but
delivered Him up for us all. That's what was taking place
on the cross. Now the curse of judgment is God justly casting
sinners into outer darkness from the glory of God's presence,
from the light of His presence. And for the sinner who meets
God without Christ, he's going to first die physically. And
then he'll go through that judgment, that final judgment, and be cast
out and endure that second death for all eternity. but for the
Lord Jesus Christ, because that is a living death. He bore that
living death in darkness on the cross. That was Him being made
a curse for His people in the darkness on the cross. He cried
out, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? He's cut off
from the glory of God's presence because that's what holy justice
demands. Not just a slap on the wrist,
you've got to die. And anything less is not judgment.
It's not justice. Gotta die. And that's the death,
that second death that He bore on the cross. And He declared
why He was bearing it. He said in Psalm 22, for thou
art holy and I am a worm and no man. He said that about himself
when he bore the sin of his people and they became his own on the
cross. Now, that was the just judge
executing justice on all his people in all the world on Christ
in place of his people. That was the just judge executing
justice on Christ in place of his people. Christ bore for His
elect the wages of sin, which is death. He bore the second
death and in Christ's death on the cross, all His people died
and justice was satisfied. When Christ finished bearing
the second death, that living death on the cross, Then he cried,
it is finished, and he yelled up your spirit and he died physically
to declare it's done. Judgment. God's judgment. How
God sees it. What God demands of his people
is accomplished. Christ accomplished it. He put
away the sin of his people and he made his people the righteousness
of God. And God says they're righteous.
He says of you, believer, you're righteous. You're righteous.
You might say, well, I see sin in me. God says He puts your
sin away and you're righteous. That's what He says. And that's
so. That's how it is. That's how
it is. He justified His people. Final
judgment. What will that be? May I have
a word about final judgment? What will it be? Judgment took
place at the cross. The world was judged at the cross. Final judgment will be God declaring
that His elect were judged in Christ on the cross. Christ said
He'll separate the sheep from the goats. He'll separate the
sheep from the goats. And God shall declare that Christ
accomplished the judgment of His people, His sheep, and made
them the righteousness of God. That's what final judgment will
be. It will be God declaring that every word Christ spoke
was true, every word His preachers spoke was true, and that His
people are the righteousness of God in Him. And everybody
standing there without Christ will be cast out in the outer
dark. They're going to bow the knee to Christ and confess He's
Lord to the praise of God's glory. And then they will be cast into
outer darkness where there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
But now brethren, this is the good news. Here's the good news. This is the good news God blesses
to the heart to settle His people at Christ's feet from the first
hour to the last hour. It's this message of what Christ
accomplished at Calvary. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation for therein is the righteousness of God revealed
from Christ the faithful to the faith He has given His child.
And He does that to Jew and Gentile. And this is how He saves through
the preaching of this Word from the first moment He converts
His child all the way until you draw your last breath. This is
it. The power of God unto salvation
is the revelation of Christ Jesus, the righteousness of God. Justice
cannot be executed on anybody Christ died for more than God
executed it on Christ and God won't let it happen. God handled the judgment of his
people and he handled it for all time. God accepts His people
because Christ made us the righteousness of God. Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. Don't take for granted you have.
God's people never do. We say, Lord, increase our faith. Give us faith today to believe
on You. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Slip under His yoke and slip into His robe of righteousness
and you shall be saved. You need to be saved from something
right now. All God's people do. It's not that, oh, we got that
taken care of. We need to be saved today. How am I going to
do it? Only in the righteousness of
Christ. Only looking to Christ and believing on Him. Now secondly,
by His death, Christ conquered the devil. He conquered the devil. Verse 31, He says, Now shall
the prince of this world be cast out. Now it's obvious that before
Christ came, the devil was permitted to have more power upon the world
than he had upon the world after Christ came. Now, what do I mean
by that? God's people's always been saved
through the preaching of the Word. They've always had to be
born again by the Spirit of God, and that's how He saved everybody
He's ever saved. Before the cross? But when Christ
went to the cross and He arose again at Pentecost, He poured
out the Spirit and it became obvious because the gospel began
to go forth in all the world and He began calling sinners
to repentance and believing on Christ. And so it's become more
and more obvious that He really did what He said here. Now shall
the prince of this world be cast down. Now the devil is still
in the world. But he's always only been able
to do anything by Christ's permission. But he's conquered. He's conquered
on the cross. Now, how has Christ cast out
the devil? What does that really mean? We
just read in 1 John that he that's of God keeps himself and the
wicked one touches him not. Do we say that's not so? Look
at Job. Do we say that's not so? Look
at Peter. That obviously doesn't mean that you can't be touched
by Him. You can't be taken from Christ
by Him. That's what it means. But what's Christ doing? What's
He doing? Come over to Revelation 12 and
let me show you. Revelation chapter 12. Revelation 12 and verse 10. I heard a loud voice saying in
heaven, ìNow has come salvation and strength and the kingdom
of our God and the power of His Christ.î Christ said, ìNow, is
this world judged? Now is the prince of this world
cast out.î And He says here, ìNow has come salvation and strength
and the kingdom of our God and the power of His Christ.î Thatís
all Christ right there, every bit of it. He did all of that.
For the accuser of our brethren is cast down. That's the devil. Which accused them before our
God day and night. That's the first way the devil
is cast out. Right there, before God. Before
our God. Here's the second way. And they
overcame him. It's in the hearts of his people
that he casts him out. They overcame him. Watch how
they overcame the devil. By the blood of the lamb. By
the word of their testimony. That's the preaching of this
gospel. We speak this gospel to one another. And you hear it spoken to you.
And we speak it to one another. This is the word of our testimony. This is how we are saved. Isn't
this our witness? What Christ has done? This is
how they overcame him. And they love not their lives
unto death. Christ said, if a man loves father
or mother more than me, loves his wife, husband, wife, children
more than me, yea, if he loves his own life more than me, he
can't be my disciple. You're going to have to take
up your cross and follow him. That means when you suffer, you're
going to have to look to Christ only. only. They didn't love
their lives in the death. When we've experienced Christ's
power in our heart, we do not usurp Christ's authority to work this in the hearts of
His people. We lay down our lives. We trust Christ to work in the
heart of His sinful people through the gospel. It's called in 1
John, the love of Christ in our heart. And many who have done this have
been killed by Pharisees who hate this message because they
would not resort to other means and submit to Pharisees. Now,
before God, if you want to look to Jude, before God, by the blood
of the Lamb, by Christ's intercession for His people on our behalf,
since He settled judgment for His people, since He fulfilled
all righteousness for His people, since He put away the sin of
His people and made us the righteousness of God, the devil has nothing
to accuse us with before our God. This is illustrated when
the devil accused Joshua the high priest before God. It's
speaking here about men, it's talking about false religionists
who say that to preach grace is going to teach sinners to
be lascivious. And they speak evil of dignitaries,
they speak evil of God's people and his preachers. And he says
here, verse 9, Yet Michael the archangel, that's Christ, When
contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses. Now, Christ wasn't disputing
about the body of Moses, the devil was. He was accusing Joshua
of breaking the law of God. That's the body of Moses he was
disputing about. He was accusing Joshua, the high
priest, of breaking the law because Joshua had broke the law. He
was accusing him before God, but Christ did not bring against
him a railing accusation. What did he do? He said, the
Lord rebuke thee. Why did he do that? Because Christ
intercedes for his people before the Father. In other words, Christ
stood there, and while the devil is accusing Joshua of his sin,
Christ stands before the Father and says, Father, I'm his righteousness. And he trusted the Father to
honor him by rebuking the devil for his sake because he was Joshua's
righteousness. So God the Father rebuked the
devil because Christ made intercession for Joshua. Now be sure to get
this. Christ didn't bring a railing accusation against Joshua. I
mean against the devil. He just made intercession and
trusted the Father to work this. to honor him by rebuking the
devil for his sake. Turn over to Zechariah 3. This
is where you see this. And hold your place in Zechariah
3. This is all before God now. This is how this work's done
first. We don't know anything about
what's going on there. This is what he's doing for his
people when we're being accused. Zechariah 3.2. And the Lord said
to Satan, it tells us there that, if we look at verse 20, He showed
me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord,
and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. And the Lord
said to Satan, the Lord rebuke thee. Now look at that, we're
talking about Michael the archangel said this. The Lord said to Satan,
the Lord rebuke thee. It's Christ speaking to the Father,
saying, the Lord rebuke thee, Satan. Even the Lord that hath
chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee. Is not this a bran plucked out
of the fire?" That's what he said of Joshua. Now I owe you
a place right there. The second way he cast the devil
out is he does it in our own hearts. It does it in our own
hearts. By the blood of the Lamb, He
said in Revelation, Christ continuing to make us experience His power
personally. Him coming and breaking our hearts
personally by showing us our sin and showing us how He's given
us mercy because He's put our sin away and made us righteous.
That's what breaks our heart. It's the blood of the Lamb. He
does it in love for us despite our sin and that makes us speak
the word of His testimony because you've experienced it in your
own heart. His power in your own heart. and you speak the
gospel to your brethren because this is the message, the only
message, that God's going to bless and He's going to make
you who know Him have your way. Don't you want your brother restored
to Christ? You want Christ to get all the honor and you don't
want to get any? And you want to be counted a fool for acting
the way you've acted? You want Christ to have the glory?
That's what you're going to get. That's what you're going to get.
So that he's constantly teaching us the word of his testimony
is the only word to use. The gospel. What Christ has accomplished. It's the only thing God's going
to bless. and he's going to make you love not your life unto death,
he's going to make you by this willing to lay down your life
even when the devil's hurling all his fiery darts at you, lay
down your life for the sake of your brethren because you don't
love your life unto death. It's even been so that when God
blessed some of his people to do this, they were killed, they
were martyred for this, for preaching Christ because they would not
turn from any other means or message. And that's what he makes
his people do. He makes you not usurp Christ's
authority. He makes you not try to climb
into the judgment seat and work this in your people. It's not
worked the way the flesh thinks it's worked. But here's the problem.
That's what the devil's wanting us to do. That's exactly what
he wants you to do. He wants you to not count that
God has settled the judgment of his people. He wants you to
not use the gospel, the testimony. He wants you to use the law.
And he doesn't want you to wait on Christ to work this. He wants
you to love your life unto death and he appeals to your pride
and he wants you to stand up and have your way. Because he's
proud and he's a murderer. And that's what he wants to do.
He don't want you to submit to Christ and trust Christ. But
look at this, this is illustrated in Joshua, verse 3, Zechariah
3. Now Joshua was clothed with filthy
garments. Joshua had sinned, ain't no two
ways about it. And he stood before the angel.
That's where you want to be found, standing before Christ. And he
answered, the angel answered, listen now, and he spake unto
those that stood before him, saying, take away the filthy
garments from him. Take away all his sin from him. Take it away. And unto him he
said, Behold, I have caused an iniquity to pass from thee, and
I will clothe thee with the change of raiment. And I said, Let them
set a fair mitre upon his head. So they set a fair mitre upon
his head and clothed him with garments, and the angel of the
Lord stood by. He's made us kings and priests
unto God. He's robed us in His righteousness.
And the angel of the Lord protested unto Joshua. Now, Christ can
get this done. Christ can get this done. He
spoke into Joshua's heart, showed him, I've taken away your sin.
I've robed you in my righteousness. I've put a crown on your head.
And He said to him now, this is what He says unto your heart,
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, If thou will walk in My ways,
And if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt also judge my
house, and shalt also keep my courts, and I will give thee
places to walk among these that stand by." God's mercy, for Christ's
sake, Christ's workiness in Joshua, broke Joshua's heart. It broke
his heart. It granted him repentance. It
brought him down to the dust. and made him thankful for God's
mercy. Joshua experienced God's mercy
for Christ's sake in the face of all his sin. Joshua overcame
by the blood of the Lamb. It's how he was corrected. It's
how he was humbled to go on serving the Lord. He's brought to see
what Christ's blood did for him. The judgment Christ accomplished
for him. And it's how Joshua was made
to use the gospel, the word of his testimony. This is what Christ
means when he says, if you walk in my ways, don't use your word. Don't use your means. You're
going to use the word of your testimony. You're going to tell
people what I've done for you. That's what I'm trying to tell
you. What I know is what God's done for me. That's all I can
tell you. And I'm telling you what Christ works in the heart
of his people. And by Christ's love He was made
to lay down His life and love to His brethren, praying to Christ. He interceded with Christ for
His brethren, just like Christ interceded for Him with the Father.
And He waited on Christ to work this in the heart of His people.
So He preached nothing but the blood of Christ. This is what
God will make you do, because you see That the power of this
gospel is able to break your heart. It's able to bring you
down. It is the correction. It's the chastening rod. It's
the strengthening rod. It's the settling rod. It's everything
we need at all times that we need it. But the devil, he sends
his ministers of righteousness, but they're not preaching Christ's
righteousness. They are preaching your righteousness.
Because the devil is appealing to your pride. The devil is wanting
you to think you are wise. And more wise than anybody else.
And he wants you to appeal to other people's flesh so you can
puff them up too. So that the whole world can be
leavened because you just spread leaven. So that for long everybody
is proud. Nobody is looking at Christ.
And everybody is going to have their own way. How is that prince
of this world going to be cast out? You and I are no match for
him. We can't cast him out. They overcame
by the blood of the lamb. Since Christ satisfied judgment,
he's not going to let his people go. He made us righteous. The word of their testimony,
they spoke this word to one another. Christ is going to intercede
for us at God's right hand. He's not going to let the devil
bring an accusation against us. And He's going to put down that
devil's accusation in our own hearts. How's He going to do
it? He's going to show you personally you are the worst sinner of everybody. That's what He's going to show
you. So that, then he shows you, and I've taken away your filthy
garments, and I've robed you in my righteousness, and you're
without sin. And you know what that does?
It crushes this old pharisaical legalist in us that wants to
condemn. And he says in your heart, who's
going to lay anything against my people? It's God that justified
them. It's Christ that's interceding
for them. And this breaks your heart. Now brethren, if you want
to see the opposite of this, the devil succeeded with Cain.
Cain was the devil's child. John told us, love not as Cain.
How did he succeed with Cain? Well, the devil abode not in
the truth. And Cain didn't abide in the truth. He heard the truth
of God's free grace from Adam. But he didn't abide in the truth.
He came with the fruit of the cursed earth because he really
believed he could bring forth some fruit by his cursed flesh
and God would receive it. And two, he didn't love his brother.
John said we perceive Christ's love for us in that he laid down
his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for our
brethren. It's what John meant in Revelation when the Lord told
him they love not their lives unto death. It ain't about me
and it ain't about you. Somebody here made a statement
this past year or two that said this is bigger than you. It's
bigger than all of us. Do you know it's bigger than
you? I know it's bigger than me. It's
Christ's glory. And he's going to have the glory.
But Cain, he was an accuser just like his father because he thought
himself righteous by his works and he thought his brother Abel
was a sinner. And just like the Pharisees thought
Christ was a sinner and thought his disciples were sinners. And
so when God rejected Cain and received Abel, Cain became furious
and he murdered his brother. Truth is, it was Cain's works
that were evil and his brothers righteous. And I guarantee you
this. Think about Jacob and Esau. Which one of those men, if you
knew those men in person, which one of those men would you say,
that's got to be a believer, that can't be? Which one? Esau
was a far more honorable man in the world than Jacob was.
Jacob was a supplanter. That's what his name means. And
that's what he was. A lot. And I guarantee if you
looked at Cain and Abel, you'd say the same thing. God saves
sinners to show that it's God that does the saving. And sinners
that know they're sinners rejoice that it's so. You rejoice that
it's so, because you know you're a sinner. Then thirdly, by His
death Christ is arisen and He's calling all His people to Himself.
He said in John 10.32, And I, if I be lifted up from the earth,
will draw all unto Me. This is the only way this has
worked in the first hour and it's the only way it continues
to be worked. Now we saw there when they heard the voice from
heaven, they just disagreed just over that. No, thunder. No, it
was an angel speaking to them and they're disagreeing. They're
not in agreement about a thing. And we've seen that over and
over and over. Every time Christ would say something or God would
speak from heaven, they just fuss and fight and argue and
just didn't agree about nothing. The only thing they agreed on
was, let's get him out of here, let's kill him. They agreed on
that. What's going to make God's people
of one mind? Christ does the calling. He asked
them, why don't you understand my speech? Why do you keep rejecting? Why do you keep opposing? Because
you cannot hear My Word. That's what He told them. But
Christ was lifted up on that cross and He accomplished these
things and so now He's at God's right hand and it's Christ who
does the calling. He said, I will draw all unto
Me. He's the only one that can say,
I will. He's the only one that can say
it. If we say that, we've got to say it will be if the Lord's
will. He can say, I will. He is not saying here, I am not
willing that any should perish and I will try to call them.
No, he said, I will call all to me. He is not trying. All of those he redeemed, the
world for whom he settled judgment, the world for whom he prayed,
and he draws in power, same word as Peter when he drew his sword
out, cut off the soldier's ear. Christ said the Spirit is irresistible
and He draws irresistibly. No man cometh to Me except the
Father which is in heaven drawing. And Christ just says, I will
draw all to Me because He and the Father are one. Christ never
stops calling us to Him. Here's the truth. If He ever
stops calling you and me to Him, we will stop coming to Him. He will allow His people sometimes
to show you that you will not come to Him if He does not call
you. He will let you act like anything but a believer to show
you that if He doesn't work this in you, you won't keep coming
to Him. Ask Peter. But because He will call us and
never stop calling His people to Him, we never stop coming
to Him. Now brethren, this was the joy
that was set before Him. These three things right here.
that he would accomplish. This was the joy set before him.
This is why he, as he despised the cross, this is why he was
willing to despise the shame, he was willing to endure the
cross because of this joy set before him. He was going to settle
judgment for God and his people, declaring God just and justifying
his people. He was going to cast out the
prince of this world and he would be raised to his glory and begin
calling all his people to himself. That was his joy. He just said,
now is my soul troubled. And then he set that joy before
him and spoke about it. This, brethren, is the joy that
he sets before us. This is the joy he brings to
our heart when our soul is troubled. He makes us consider Christ when
we're weary and faint in our minds. After Peter was sifted, He was
converted all over again. He was just like a new conversion. Have you ever felt like you were
converted all over again? God's people go through that
many times. He told Peter, after you're converted, Peter, strengthen,
feed my lambs. And here's what Peter said. He
said, the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal
glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, make
you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you. and from your conversion
until the day you go to cross that river of death, this is
the good news of what Christ accomplished by his death, by
which God's gone blessed to the heart to make you perfect, to
establish you, to strengthen you, to settle you, no matter
what your need is. The only way we overcome is by
the blood of the Lamb. He settled judgment for His people. God is satisfied and in our hearts
He's going to keep you satisfied with His blood. And he cast the
devil out and the power he's going to use is the word of our
testimony, his gospel. And he will break our heart. I mean break it. I mean break
it to where we can't lift up our eyes to God and say I've
been self-righteous, I've been a sinner, I've been vile, I've
been undone. Lord save me, have mercy on me. And it shows you he's had mercy
on you and he's never stopped having mercy on you. And that makes you speak this
word because you know, because Christ called you in your heart,
and he called you again in your heart, and he called you again
in your heart, and you've experienced his power to call and get this
job done in your heart. I don't need to put my hand to
it. I don't need to touch it. What do you do? Preach the Word. Speak the Word. Go to Him. Intercede for your brethren.
And just wait on Him to work. He's got it. And He's not going
to let one of His people, He's not going to let His church be
harmed in any way. I know we get all these troubles
and we get opposed and we have all these things happen and we
say this is just getting in the way of the ministry. This is
the ministry. You want to grow in grace? Don't
you pray, Lord, grow us in grace? This is how He's growing us in
grace. It's exactly how. And He will. Now, we can't make anybody hear
this. That's why you can't love your
life unto death. It's because God's people are going to hear
this gospel And they're going to rejoice in mercy due to his
mercy. Because that's the only just
thing to do to brethren. Brother Don used to say this
book's written to tangle up legalists. And I didn't know what he meant,
but I'm beginning to understand. Goats want to go straight and
try to find the briars and try to cut people with saw briars.
Because people are cut by those briars and brought down. And we're not trying to get devils
out. That's what Pentecost stands before God and boasts about.
We cast out devils. And that's a self-righteous boast
they're going to say. They're saying, we're not devils. We cast them out. God's people aren't trying to
cast people out. We want those devils to leave, yes. But we
want sinners to come and sit down and hear the gospel of Christ
and be saved. And that's what God's going to
do. And he's going to keep doing it. I pray you'll bless that.