Tell me the story of Jesus, write
on my heart every word. Tell me the story most precious,
sweetest that ever was heard. Tell how the angels in chorus
sang as they welcomed his birth. Glory to God in the highest Peace
and good tidings to earth Tell me the story most precious Sweetest
that ever was heard Sorry Passing alone in the desert,
tell of the days that are past. How for our sins he was tempted,
yet was triumphant at last. Tell of the years of his labor,
tell of the sorrow he bore. He was despised and afflicted,
homeless, rejected, and poor. Tell me the story of Jesus, write
on my heart every word. Tell me the story most precious,
sweetest that ever was heard. Tell of the cross where they
nailed Him, writhing in anguish and pain. Tell of the grave where
they laid Him, tell how He liveth again. Love in that story so
tender, clearer than ever I see. Stay, let me weep while you whisper,
love ain't no ransom for me. Tell me the story of Jesus, write
on my heart every word. Tell me the story most precious,
sweetest that ever was heard. Thank you. Morning, everybody. I'm going to read Psalm 32. While you guys are turning there,
David, I want to thank you for coming. So happy to have you. Okay, so Psalm 32. Blessed is
he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed
is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in
whose spirit there is no guile. When I kept silence, my bones
waxed old, through my roaring all the day long. For day and
night thy hand was heavy upon me, my moisture is turned into
the drought of summer, Selah. I acknowledge my sin unto thee,
and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said I will confess my
transgressions unto the Lord, and thou forgave us the iniquity
of my sin, Selah. For this shall everyone that
is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found Surely
in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto
him. Thou art my hiding place. Thou shalt preserve me from trouble.
Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.
I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt
go. I will guide thee with mine eye. Be ye not as the horse or as
the mule, which have no understanding, whose mouth must be held, in
with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee. Many sorrows
shall be to the wicked, but he that trusts in the Lord, mercy
shall compass about him, or him about. Be glad in the Lord, and
rejoice, ye righteous, and shout for joy, all you that are upright
in heart. Let's pray. Father, we come to
you this morning thankful for our time together, And Lord,
we're thankful for this church that you have chosen to raise
up in this town. And Father, we come to you this
morning, thankful for David. And we ask that you just watch
over him as he brings the message, give him the strength to bring
the message you would have us to hear. And Father, we're thankful
for a time to meet with old friends. And Father, we're also thankful
for the pastor that you've sent us. Lord, we ask that you support
him in his studies. And Lord, we ask that you watch
over him as he brings the messages to us each week. And we ask,
Lord, that you give him traveling mercies as he comes home from
New Jersey. And we also ask the same for David as he goes back
to Kentucky. And Father, again, we just ask that you add to this
church as you see fit, as it be to your will. And Father,
again, we just watch over and care for us in Christ's name. As you remain sitting, let's
sing 332. My Jesus, I love thee, 332. I'll try not to screw this
one up. Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou
art mine. For Thee all the follies of sin
I resign. My gracious Redeemer, My Savior,
our God, if ever I love Thee, my Jesus, this now. I love Thee because Thou hast
first loved me. and purchase my pardon on Calvary's
tree. I love thee for wearing the thorns
on thy brow. If ever I love thee, thy Jesus
dismount. I'll love thee in life, I will
love thee in death, And praise thee as long as thou lendest
me breath. And say, when the death do lies
cold on my brow, If ever I loved thee, my Jesus, just now, In
mentions of glory and endless delight, I'll ever adore thee
in heaven so bright. I'll sing with the glittering
crown on my brow. If ever I loved thee, my Jesus,
just now. Thank you. Dave, Brother Dave. I still lead the singing at home,
and oftentimes I've got a real bad habit, I guess you could
say, of singing the same verse over. I forget what verse I'm
on, and I'll sing verse three again, so I'm not a stranger
to messing up songs, Joe, so you're in good company, my friend.
I was at a conference in Ashe, and the young man there in his
early 20s was a song leader, and I picked up a great point.
I noticed that when he was singing, And verse one, he'd do this on
his right hand, and verse two. And so I've started doing that,
but the problem is, is that I don't count too well either. I'd like
to look down and still sing verse two again. But anyway, I don't
know why I went into that nonsense. It's a pleasure and an honor,
I want to say again, to be with you this morning. And I pray
that the Lord would be pleased to visit us in mercy and grace. Have mercy on us. and that He
give us ears to hear and hearts to believe. You know, when we
come to know the Lord, we still continue to grow in grace and
in the knowledge of Him. And God's means of saving the
lost is through the preaching of the gospel. So I consider
that a great honor. And I don't take it lightly. Your pastor doesn't either. This
morning our text is found in first Peter chapter one. If you
would turn there with me. I'll begin reading in verse 23. First Peter chapter one. And in these three verses before
us, Peter speaking of salvation, that's what he's talking about
here. He gives us two things that, as I said earlier, must
be divinely revealed to us in order for us to be forever reconciled
to God. Now, why do we need to be reconciled
to God? Because we've alienated ourselves
from him by our sin. God can have nothing to do with
sin. And we've alienated ourselves and we must be reconciled to
God. And first of all, man, the sinner,
cannot save himself. That's a very important matter. We cannot save ourself. And the
second thing is salvations of the Lord. I say this quite often,
but nonetheless true. Do you know what follows that
verse in Jonah 2, 9? Salvations of the Lord, a period. It means there's nothing more
to be said about it. Not a comma, a period. Salvation
is of the Lord, period. And it always comes back to these
two things. That's the message of this book
that we call the Bible. Verse 23, being born again. That's what being saved is. It's being born again. The child
of God, there are two births. First, the believer is born physically
in this flesh. This flesh is a temporary dwelling
place. We're only in it for a designated
period of time that God determines. Our days, our months are determined
by Him. But we're born physically in
this flesh, and secondly, the believer is born again, and that
birth is a spiritual birth. That's why the Lord Jesus told
Nicodemus, you must be born again. If we're gonna be reconciled
to God, we've got to be born again. Now, all of us had a parent. We're not self-created. That's
what it is to be born of the flesh. Birth is the gateway by
which we enter physical life. And it's the same spiritually,
exactly the same spiritually. We're not self-created that way
either. We didn't create ourselves. That
which is born of the spirit is spirit. To be born again is to
be born of God. Always remember that born again,
you know religion is taking that term born again and just They've
just It just doesn't mean much anymore to folks born again born
again But it means everything to a believer because if we're
not new creatures in Christ If old things haven't passed away
and all things have become new Then we're in trouble. We're
in trouble to be born again is to be born of God and Not everyone
that's born physically is born again, and some are born once,
and some are born twice. Now, all of us are naturally
physically born, but only the elect of God are born again.
All of us are born, the scripture says, dead in trespasses and
sin. Now, dead means dead. Have you
ever seen a dead man do anything? No, he's dead. We're dead in
trespasses and sin. And that's what Peter goes on
to tell us. He tells us how we can be born
again. He writes in verse 23, being
born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible. Because of the fall of our corrupted
father Adam, our first birth is corruptible. While in this
flesh we're corruptible. Corruptible means dead. It means
decaying. It means a rotting corpse, perishing. And in this physical birth, we're
not living, but we're dying. You know, the minute a child
is born, they begin their road unto death. Now, I know there's,
we have designated times and say that a man or a woman's in
the prime of their life, and I understand that. But we're
born dying. Corruptible means dead. God appoints
how many breaths we take. We had a dear brother in the
Lord that recently passed away. He's been sick for many, many
years. And a couple Wednesdays ago,
he died. He went to be with the Lord.
But he took every breath that God gave him, not one more. Every
second God gives us in this life is what we have. are like an hourglass. That sand
is emptying down quickly, very fast. We're born of decaying,
corruptible seed. But the new birth, and this is
what I want us to think about. Being born again is quite different. It's different from our first
birth. When we're born again, we're not born again of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible. That means it's alive, immortal,
and imperishable. That's what incorruptible is.
What makes this spiritual birth different? Peter tells us here,
by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. The word
of God, my friends, is just that. It's God's word to us. This is
more than just a book. This is a living book. It's a
hymn book, H-I-M. It's all about hymn. It tells
us how sinners can be reconciled to a holy God. And this is what
God tells us about life. This is what God tells us about
our natural physical life. And this is what God tells us
about our eternal spiritual life. All of us who are born of woman
are born under the law. We've offended God's justice,
God's law. And the wages of our offense
against God's law is death. Dead, the soul that sins, it
shall surely die. And every man and woman born
of a man and woman fulfills the desires of their flesh and mind."
We're all guilty of it. It's like drinking water to us. It's just so natural to us. And we are by nature the children
of wrath, even as others. But with this second birth, God
gave us a nature too. But it's a nature that cannot
die. It's born of incorruptible seed. It's not like the first birth,
born of corruptible seed. No, it's incorruptible. This
new nature is born of God. And God has infused his own life
with ours. Now that's an amazing thought,
isn't it? God has made us alive. The incorruptible word of God
produces an incorruptible life. The child of God has a new nature
that never dies. The child of God will never see
death. Christ, who is in us, is the immortality in the life
and whosoever liveth and believeth in Christ shall never die. The
Lord said, Believest thou this? Do we believe this? Oh God, enable
us by faith to believe these things. So again, let me quickly
remind you two things. Man cannot save himself and salvation
is of the Lord, period. How do I know that to be true?
Peter tells us here very plainly. You know, the scripture is so
plain. If we just slow down and read
the scriptures, don't get in a hurry. You know, this stuff
trying to read through the Bible in a year. It's more of a deterrent
than anything, because we read through it fastly and then we
think we've done something after we do it. Oh, I read through
the Bible seven times, you know, in two years. Well, how much
of it did you understand? How much of it did God reveal
to you? Take your time when you read the scriptures. Look at
verse 24. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man
is the flower of grass. And the grass withereth, and
the flower thereof falleth away. What does grass do? You know,
it happens every year at my house. And I, you know, I try to take
care of my yard. I want my yard to look nice,
but every year my grass withers. and the flower thereof falleth
away. Our flesh is as grass, it withers
away. Our glory is like a flower, it
falls away. Well, what hope then do any of
us have of being saved? Well, this is the only hope that
any of us have, verse 25. But the word of the Lord endureth
forever, And this is the word which by the gospel is preached
unto you. You see, friends, the only hope
that we have of redemption is in the preaching of the gospel
of God's word. And that's why you meet together
here in this place. That's why you called a pastor
to preach to you week in and week out. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians
121 that the wisdom of that in the wisdom of God it pleased
God by what the world calls foolishness, that being preaching, that God
is pleased to save them that believe this is the means that
God has ordained to save sinners, what we're doing right now. That
should give us an idea of the importance of it. What endures
forever? The eternal God and His eternal
word. And the preaching of the cross
of Christ. Christ to Him crucified. That's
our message. It's to this world foolishness.
But to them that are saved, it's the power of God. Oh, I love
to talk about God's mercy and grace in saving sinners. It's
the power of God. It's the glory of God. And God
gets all the glory. The Word of God is quick and
alive and powerful and sharper, the writer of Hebrews said, than
any two-edged sword. It can penetrate even into the
thoughts and intents of the heart. You know, a two-edged sword is
just that. It's a sword that has two edges. It has two cutting
edges to it. It cuts on two sides. And that's
what we see right here in what we're being told here in Peter.
We see that God's Word's two-edged. First, it reveals the inability
of man. our inability to come to Christ,
our inability to keep God's law, our inability to do anything
good that would merit us before God. And secondly, it reveals
that God is sovereign in the salvation of sinners. If you're
saved this morning, it's because God saved you, not because of
anything that you did, but what God did for you. And everything
that Christ did for you was everything that God required, and He did
it perfect. I love to talk about His finished
Word. It's finished. And all flesh, though, is grass. It withers as grass. The flower
of man's glory fades away, but God and His Word abide forever.
And, you know, that's the problem with preaching today. Now, I'm
not wanting to bring a message to you that downgrades religion,
but, you know, sometimes in preaching the truth, you've got to reveal
what's not true. And the first problem with the
world's preaching today is that so-called preachers tell us what
men should do for God instead of telling us what God must do
for them. You know it and I know it. We
hear folks talk, oh, let me tell you what we're doing in my church.
Let me tell you what we're doing. What has God done for you? That's
the message. Who then can be saved, the apostles
asked. Our Lord said, with men, this
is impossible. But with God, all things are
possible. Men go about to establish their
own righteousness. Why do men and women do that?
Our righteousness is filthy rags. Why do men and women try to submit
to their righteousness to the righteousness of God? They're ignorant of God's righteousness.
That's what he said. That's what the Apostle said.
That's the problem. We won't submit. We won't bow
to what God's Word says. Jesus Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness. Who is Christ the end of the
law for? To everyone that believes. If
you're a believer, this is for you. Believe that the Word of
God abides forever. Now if you're going to do something
for God, as we said in the first hour, it's going to have to be
perfect in order for Him to accept it. And we cannot provide that
which is perfect. Salvation belongeth unto the
Lord. His blessings are upon his people.
But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord, David said. How
are they righteous? Christ is their strength in the
time of trouble. Preachers today plead with men
to do something for God. And the prophets of old pleaded
with God to do something for man. Oh God, show mercy. I love those short prayers of
the Scriptures. Lord, help me. Lord, save me. Have mercy on me, Lord. Oh, those
are the prayers that are heard and are answered. You don't have
to pray long, elegant prayers. Lord, help me. Lord, save me. Lord, have mercy on me. You know,
do men actually think that they're doing something for God when
they supposedly let God have His way? I hear men say, oh,
let Jesus have His way in your life. Give Jesus your heart.
Make Jesus your Lord. You're too late. God made Him
Lord a long time ago before the foundation of the world. We don't
let God do anything. We don't give Christ anything.
We don't make Him anything. How can you let God have His
way when God already does whatsoever He wills? And He does so in the
armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. And
none can stay his hand. None can slap God's hand. You
know, my children used to reach for something that wasn't good
for them. We'd smack their hand. But you can't do that to God.
You can't put God in handcuffs. No, sir. None can stay his hand. How are you going to give to
Christ something when everything already belongs to him? I'd like
to ask folks those questions. Give your heart to Jesus. He
owns everything. Listen, He's your Lord whether
you know it or not. You may not bow to Him as your
Lord, but He's your Lord. He's your Lord. He's the God
with whom you have to do. How are you going to make Jesus
Lord when God made Him Lord before the foundation of the world?
How is one going to do any of these things when they're dead
in trespasses and sin? Dead. Look over at 1 Timothy
chapter 1 with me. You might stick your marker here
in Peter, but look at 1 Timothy chapter 1. You know, the mercy
of God is something that's just become too common in our day. And what I mean by that is preachers
have obligated God to be merciful. They claim that God is obligated
to show mercy. No, He's not. He said, I'll have
mercy on whom I'll have mercy. I'll have compassion on whom
I'll have compassion. And on whom I will, I hearten.
And of course, immediately, men and women say, well, that's not
fair. God never promised to be fair.
God is holy. And he can by no means clear
the guilty. Here in verse 13 of 1 Timothy
chapter 1, Paul says, I was a blasphemer. I was a persecutor. I was injurious. That's some pretty self-defamating
terms. I was a blasphemer, one who spoke
irreverently of God, calling Christ an imposter and a deceiver. I blasphemed, Paul said. He said,
I was a persecutor, not just content to speak evil things
of the Lord Jesus, but he acted out his evil intent and through
those who loved the Lord in prison, held the coats of those that
stoned Stephen. He threatened, he slaughtered,
he destroyed those who called on the name of Christ. He said,
I was injurious, not just using words, but using force and violence
with those words that he used. He made havoc of the church.
He pulled men and women out of their homes, threw them into
prison. He did all these things, but then Paul said, I obtained
mercy. I obtained mercy. In spite of
being a blasphemer, in spite of being a persecutor, in spite
of being injurious, I obtained mercy. That word obtained, what
a wonderful word. He didn't say, I earned mercy.
You see, mercy can't be earned. He didn't say, I deserve mercy.
Mercy and grace are undeserved, unmerited favor. He didn't say,
I merited mercy. Mercy's unmerited. He said, I
obtained mercy. I received mercy. I acquired
mercy. Mercy was given to me. Mercy
was God's gift to me. Mercy was purchased for me by
another. I obtained mercy. And every child
of God says the same thing. I didn't earn it. I didn't deserve
it. God freely gave it to me. Paul did all these things, this
persecuting, this blaspheming, this hurting of folks. He did
those evil things ignorantly in unbelief. Look at verse 14. Yes, and the grace of our Lord
was exceedingly abundant with faith and love, which is in Christ
Jesus. Back to that, always back to
that. We obtain mercy for one reason, one reason only. It's the grace of the Lord Jesus. And it's not only abundant, it
exceeds abundance. It exceeds abundance. He's able
to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we could think
or ask. But that's not all. The abundance
of grace is accompanied with the faith and the love of God.
You see that? which is in Christ Jesus. It's
the faith of Christ that saves us. Not our faith in Christ,
but the faith of Christ. We don't talk about our faithfulness
to Him. We talk about His faithfulness
to us. This is a faithful saying, verse
15. This saying can be trusted. It
can be believed. It's worthy of being accepted
by us. It's worthy of all acceptation.
What is it? That Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners. Are you a sinner? This is good
news. It's good news for you. Christ
came in the world to save sinners, Paul said, of whom I am chief.
And that's how every believer sees themselves. I've known Scott
Cross for several years now, and I've never found anything
that we disagree on. But I would say if there's one
thing we disagree on, it might be which of us is the greatest
sinner. Which of us is the chief of sinners?
That's how every believer sees himself, as the chief of sinners.
In seeing ourselves as such, we say with Paul, for this cause,
for this reason, I obtained mercy. I didn't earn it. I obtained
it. And I'm so thankful that God
gave it to us freely. That's who obtains mercy, those
who see that they need it. The Lord Jesus said, those that
are well have no need of a physician. Have anyone here ever gone to
the doctor just because they like their doctor? No. We go
to the doctor when we're sick, when we need medicine, when we
need help. Those that are well, those who are righteous in their
own eyes, have no need of a physician. But those that are sick do. Yeah,
if you're sick, you've got a great physician. And that's who Christ
shows forth all long suffering and patience. And because of
God's mercy and patience to us, we believe unto everlasting life. As I said earlier, God didn't
find grace in the eyes of Noah, did he? Noah found grace in the
eyes of the Lord. Who were dead? Who was dead in
trespasses and sin? Those that he hath quickened.
were dead, but they're alive now. It's God who separated them
from their mother's womb and called them by His grace. Why? Because He was pleased to reveal
His Son in them. There's no other reason. And
then secondly, today's preaching puts an emphasis on heaven and
hell. Have you ever noticed that? The
gospel is not a heaven or hell issue. It's not. The gospel is an issue of Christ
and sin. The question preachers ask today
is, wouldn't you like to go to heaven? Well, who wouldn't? Who wouldn't like to go to heaven?
I want to go to heaven, don't you? Of course you do, and of
course we all do. The question today is, you don't
want to go to hell, do you? Well, who does? I certainly don't
want to go to hell, do you? But I want you to see the difference
here. It seems anymore the goal of religious men and women is
to somehow make it to heaven. But the believers greatest desire
is to know Christ to know cry. The difference is Paul said it
this way that I may win Christ. That I may know Christ. That I may be found in Christ. Not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that righteousness, which is of God
by faith in Jesus Christ. That I might know the power of
his resurrection. That I might know the power of
his suffering. That I might be conformed unto
his death. And most men and women in churches
today are not interested in Christ. If they could make it to heaven,
honestly, if they could make it to heaven without the Lord,
that'd be just fine. Just want to go to heaven. Don't
care how I get there. And most will tell you there's
different ways to get there. There's not. There's just one
way. The Lord Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life,
and no man, no woman comes to the Father but by me. I had a man tell me once that
we're all heading to the same place, speaking of heaven. He
said, we're just traveling on different roads. Oh no, we're
not. Oh no, we're not. I only have three things to say
about that. No, no, no, we're not traveling the same road.
There's one road, one way, one gate to enter. Brother Mahan
used to say, we're not heading to a place, we're heading to
a person. Salvation is in a person. And we're heading to that person,
and that person is Christ. And he's the one mediator between
God and man. How many mediators are there?
Just one. Only, this is a narrow thing. Narrow gate. It's a narrow way. And few there be that find it.
A lot of times, and I know you get this, being a small group.
We're a small group, too. But a lot of people judge the
success of a ministry or church on numbers. Most of the time,
when people find out that I'm a preacher, the first thing they
ask me is, how many people go to your church? I told Scott
before services, whether it's 10, 15, 20, 30 or 40, I'd rather
have 10 people that love the Lord and wanted to worship the
Lord in spirit and truth than a thousand who didn't. It's not
about numbers, not about how many. There's one way, one road,
one gate, and that's Jesus Christ. Paul said, I have a desire to
depart to be with Christ, not to be in heaven. I hear people
talk about cloud hopping and walking the streets of gold and
shining up the pearly gates. But the believer talks about
being face to face with Christ. One day I'll see him, Joanne,
I'll be just like him. That's what I'm looking forward
to, seeing the Lord face to face. I have a desire to depart and
be with him. To be with Christ is far better,
far better. Heaven is heaven because Christ
is there, and the sooner we see that, the sooner we'll have peace. Men and women are concerned about
walking a church aisle. Men and women are concerned about
making a profession of faith. Men and women are concerned about
joining the church and getting baptized, all because they don't
want to go to hell. But the safe center is concerned
about being saved from their sin. Saved from their sin. David said,
blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute, will not
charge sin. Romans 4a. Blessed is the man
whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. That's
the blessed man. That's the blessed woman. If
I have Christ, I have heaven. Heaven's mine. If I have forgiveness,
there's no hell for me. That's the issue. Christ did
not come into the world to save His people from hell. Thou shalt
call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their what?
Sin. That's right. Not from hell.
From sin. I personally don't know anyone
that doesn't want to go to heaven and wants to go to hell. Do you? But I do know many who have no
interest in Christ. Or they may attend a church.
I know many who show no concern for deliverance from their sin.
Thirdly, today's preaching is nothing more than a sermon to
the head and not a message to the heart. Again, Brother Mahan
said one time, I'll never forget, he was at our church, and it
really stuck in my mind. He said, it's a long way from
right here to right here. That 18 inches is a long way,
and only God can move it from here to here. My, my. I've been preaching for a little
while now, but yet my constant prayer to the Lord is that I
might preach to you and to all that I preach to, that I might
preach to your heart, not just to your head. If it's here, it
won't do you any good. It's got to be here. Lord, enable
us to preach to men and women's heart as dying men preaching
to dying men and women. You know, today, men preach way
too much about what they believe instead of who they believe.
We preach way too much on what we know instead of who we know.
We preach too much to instruct sinners instead of preaching
to bless sinners. Folks talk a lot about when they
believe. I have people tell me, oh, I
was saved July the 12th, 1974 at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. I know that I'm still coming.
I'm still being saved. I was saved, I am saved, and
I'm still being saved. Those that endure till the end
shall be saved. God enabled us to endure to the
end. Men preach a great deal about
Jesus Christ, but they never preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Most of today's preaching is
to the head, but not to the heart. Oh, that God would enable us
to preach to the heart. Fourthly, what is called the
gospel today has to do with standing up and being counted. Sad but
true, God calls men and women to bow down and worship Him,
not to stand up and be counted. The psalmist wrote, oh come let
us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our
maker. Psalm 95, 6. Isaiah said, woe
is me, I'm undone, I'm a man of unclean lips, I dwell in the
midst of a people of unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen
the King, the Lord of hosts. When God's people, when God reveals
Himself to God's people, what do they do? Woe is me. I'm in
trouble. God's holy and I'm unholy. God's just and I'm unjust. What am I going to do? Well,
that's just it. You're not going to do anything.
God's going to do it for you. You're going to have to, because
you can't do anything. My, my. When will men and women
bow down and worship? Only when they truly see King
Jesus. Have you seen the King? Have
you seen the King? Have you seen the Lord of Hosts?
That's when we see in who and what we are. David said, my sin's
ever before me. You know what? So is mine. We
were talking, Johnny and I were talking right before service.
That's one of my biggest problems. I look way too much within and
not to Him. And when I look within, I don't
have any hope. I don't have any confidence.
Why? Because there's just nothing
but deadness and corruptness there. But if I look to Christ,
everything's going to be all right. Everything's going to
be all right. The Apostle Paul said, oh, wretched
man that I am. He didn't say, oh, wretched man
that I was before I straightened up and started flying right.
My mother used to tell me all the time when I got in trouble,
boy, you better straighten up and fly right. Well, I never
could, and I still can't. And if I've got to straighten
up and fly right before I'll be saved, then I am in a heap
of trouble. But thank God we come to Him
just as we are, without one plea, but that His blood was shed for
us, just as we are. Come to Christ. Come to Christ.
The apostle used this man to pen the biggest part of the New
Testament. You know what he said about himself? I'm less than
the least of all saints. I'm not fit. I'm not worthy to
be an apostle. And that's the way you feel,
and that's the way I feel. Because in and of ourselves,
it's true. But in Christ, as we saw earlier,
no sin. Today's preachers and pastors
are licensed and ordained and they're sent by religious denominations,
but true gospel preachers are called in sin of God. Preachers
today are armed with degrees and credentials, but God's preachers
go forth with the anointing of the Holy Spirit and power. Modern
day harlings are employed to preach the creeds and the doctrines
of their association. But a man of God preaches, thus
saith the Lord. This is what God said. Hear ye
Him. You better hear Him. Paul said,
if the offense of the cross is gone in my preaching, then I'm
not preaching. Preachers are afraid that they're
going to offend someone that they preach to. And Paul was
afraid that he wouldn't offend somebody. If the offense of the cross is
gone in our preaching, then we're not preaching. Woe unto me if
I preach not the gospel. With true preaching, there will
always be a work of conviction before there's ever a work of
conversion. God empties before he fills.
God wounds before he heals. God kills before he makes alive. And men are abased before they're
exalted. The law of God wounds, and it
breaks, and it strips, and it humbles. But when we truly hear
what the law says to us, we see clearly that we fall short, way
short of the glory of God. And it's then that God's grace
reveals that Christ has restored to us all that we lost, giving
us a double portion for our sins. why he not only put away our
sin, but he gave us his perfect righteousness. My, my, what a
blessing that is. A few weeks back, I took a pretty
hard fall. I was at my son's house and staying
in a spare bedroom and got up in the middle of the night, as
old men do, to use the restroom. I tripped on a little table and
went head first into a A door facing got a pretty good little
cut on my arm and it knocked me out when I came to he was.
He was over me, had an ice bag on my head and I'm sitting there
and disillusioned and it was a pretty bad fall. I got scars
to prove it. But friends, my fall. Was nothing
compared to the fall that we all experienced when our father
Adam failed. And I don't believe that we're
able to understand just how far we fail. But we fell a great
fall. And it takes more than just us
doing something to be reconciled to God. But to those who Christ
restores, our only scars are the ones found in His hands and
in His feet and in His side. And remember, the gospel is a
twofold message. All flesh is withering grass,
the flowers fading away. all our glory fails and falls
as the flower. But God, but God. Two words that scream the gospel,
but God, but God. But the word of the Lord endureth,
it abides, it continues, it dwells, and it remains forever. And this
is the word which by the gospel, the good news for sinners is
preached unto you. There's no hope. None at all
for any of us apart from God's free and sovereign grace in the
Lord Jesus Christ. So may we always remember that
we can do nothing to save ourselves and the salvation is of the Lord. And again, thank you so much
for having me. I appreciate it. And I hope that
God may be pleased to make these words effectual to your heart
and mine. Thank you, Joe. Thank you guys.
Appreciate it. Love you. Continue to pray for
you. You do us if you would. We're going to have a closing
him standing. Brother Scott, can you do a word of prayer after
the him, please? Let's sing 488, My Redeemer,
488. He will sing of my Redeemer and
His wondrous love to me. On the cruel cross He suffered,
from the curse to set me free. Sing, oh sing of my Redeemer
With His blood He purchased me On the cross He sealed my pardon
Paid the debt and made me free I will tell the wondrous story,
How my lost estate to save, In His boundless love and mercy
He the ransom freely gave. Sing, O sing of my Redeemer,
With His blood He purchased me On the cross He sealed my pardon
Paid the debt and made me free I will praise my dear Redeemer
His triumphant power I'll tell have the victory he giveth over
sin and death and hell sing oh sing of my redeemer with his
blood he purchased me on the cross He sealed my pardon, paid
the debt, and made me free. I will sing of my Redeemer and
His help. He from death to life hath brought
me, Son of God, with Him to be. Sing, O sing of my Redeemer,
With His blood He purchased me. On the cross He sealed my pardon, Thank you. Father, we come to
you again, thankful this morning again for our time together.
Father, we're thankful for the one that you sent to save the
people and elect people that you foreordained to save. And Father, we ask that you have
us look towards Christ and as David said, not avoiding hell
or earning a place in heaven, but Father, we ask that you have
us look to the one that you sent to save. And Father, we ask that
you watch over, again, Brother Eric on his trip home. Father,
we're thankful that you sent David to preach to us today and
we're so thankful you gave us the words that we need to take
care of. And Father, again, we ask that you watch over him as
he heads home. Lord, we just ask that you watch over us during
the week and bring us back here next Sunday. And again, just
watch over and care for us in Christ's name.