I was able to really enter into
that. And when we sing these songs, these songs are not perfect
sometimes, but the words, some of these people wrote from the
heart. And verse two right there said,
thou canst fill me gracious spirit, though I cannot tell thee how,
but I need thee, greatly need thee. Come, O come, and fill
me now. This is a prayer for worship,
a wonderful prayer for worship. Verse three said, I am weakness.
full of weakness at thy sacred feet I bow. Blessed, divine,
eternal spirit, fill with power and fill me now. If you don't
fill me, I'm not gonna be filled. If you don't help me, I'm not
gonna be helped. And I pray the Lord will help us and fill us
with his spirit and let us worship him one more time. Turn with me now, if you would,
to the book of Jude, just before Revelation. Jude, there's only one chapter.
This morning, we looked at verse 25. Tonight I'd like for us to look
at verse 24. And I want us to emphasize one
word in it. One word in particular in this
verse. Jude verse 24 says, now unto
him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you Faultless. Faultless. Before the presence
of his glory with exceeding joy. Faultless. That word means without fault. That's what the word means, without
fault. without fault. What that verse
is saying is Christ is able to remove all fault from us. All guilt. He's able to remove
all guilt from us so that there is nothing left on us and nothing
left in us that could bring blame or shame or regret or guilt,
He is able to present us faultless. Just think about that line. Just
think about that line, the glory of that line. He is able to present
us faultless. That's amazing. You talk about
the ability of the Lord Jesus Christ for his people. He's able,
this is what, what can he do? What has he done? He is able to present us faultless. That is just, that's just amazing
to me. The gospel is good news. And
I don't know about you, but I think that's the best news I've ever
heard in my life. I honestly do. I know that you adults know
exactly what I'm talking about. I know that you adults do. But
you kids, maybe not. You young people, maybe not.
I think about this often. You young people, maybe not.
Sometimes it takes a little while in life before you do something
that you really regret. Sometimes it takes a little while. And sometimes young people don't
understand and cannot enter in to our absolute conviction and
embarrassment over our sin. I'm very sorry to say to everybody
that for everybody, that time will come. It's going to come. The reason is because we're all
sinners. You know, the children are sinners
just like we, the parents are sinners. We're all sinners and
sinners sin. That's just what sinners do.
We sin daily, we sin all the time, we sin inwardly, we sin
outwardly, we sin in deed, we sin in mind. Oh, do we sin in
mind. Oh my goodness, do we sin in
mind. It is just, this mind is a wicked
thing. You know, the scripture says
the heart is deceitful about all things. Well, that's everything
of the inward man. The mind just so, so sinful. But even though we sin daily
and we know we sin daily, all of us have things in our lives
that have scarred us. All of us, they have cut us so
deep. They are things that we have
done. Things that as time has gone
on, our minds have held on to. Reoccurring memories. You adults
know what I'm talking about. Reoccurring memories that are
like worms that die not. And every time they work their
way back into our minds, we think, oh, not that again. Not that
memory again. Not that thought again. Not that
remembrance of my sin again, daily, we know we're sinners. Daily we do, but there are some
regrets that we have that every time they enter back into our
minds, we think if there was any doubt in my mind, whether
or not I'm a sinner, that settles it. If there was any doubt in my
mind on whether or not I'm a good person or a bad person or a, oh, that concretes it in my soul. I am beyond any shadow of a doubt,
a vile, wretched, wicked sinner. Do I wish it wasn't so? Oh my
goodness, I do. All of God's children, have experienced
that or will experience that. If God's Holy Spirit comes to
a person, he will convince that person that he or she is beyond
any shadow of a doubt, a sinner. And this is how sin works within
a sinner. This is how sin works in a sinner
and how the flesh tries to deal with sin. The flesh, the heart,
the mind says, maybe nobody will know. Oh, maybe nobody will find out.
Oh, maybe that'll stay quiet. Maybe that won't come out. Maybe those who know about it
have forgotten. Maybe if it's not talked about,
maybe if I could just stop thinking about it, maybe if it would just
stop going through my mind, maybe it'll go away. Here's the problem.
It won't go away. Will it? It just won't go away. keeps coming back. We try to
tell ourselves, maybe I'm overreacting, maybe it's not as bad as I'm
making it out to be, but the shame, the shame we feel, the
regret we feel, the guilt, it won't let us believe that. It
won't let us believe that I'm making more out of it than it
really is. No matter how badly we wish we
could go back and change it, we can't. It's done. We're guilty. We're guilty and
we have no choice but to acknowledge that to God. No choice. It's my fault. It's my fault,
I'm at fault before you. You come to that place where
you can't rationalize anything, you can't, it's my fault. I'm
at fault before you. Now, if you know what I'm talking
about, if you can relate, if I'm describing you, then this
gospel message is for you. This message of good news is
for me and for you. Jude verse 24 says, he is able. Now unto him that is able to
keep you from falling straight into hell itself and to present you faultless. I mean faultless, without fault,
without wrong, without sin, before the presence of God Almighty's
glory with exceeding joy. He's able to undo all the blame
that haunts you. He's able to erase all the shame
you feel. He's able to remove all the fault
that you're trying to hide. And He's able to present you
openly, out in the open before the all-seeing eyes of God. The eyes that see without, the
eyes that see within. He's able to make you stand there
so spotless and so pure, nothing, nothing, nothing could ever be
brought up or be remembered, come into mind that could possibly
condemn you before the holy throne of God. Now I'm going to tell us the
absolute truth. All right, here it is. Here is
the absolute truth. The gospel is for the guilty. That's who the gospel is for.
The gospel is for the guilty. The gospel cries, this is the
cry of the gospel message. It cries, take that burden of
guilt and shame that you're carrying around because of that horrible
sin, all of those horrible sins. You take the blame of it, take
the shame of it, take the regret of it, The whole burden that's
dragging you down into the depths of fear and despair and sorrow
and condemnation, you take that whole burden to the Lord Jesus
Christ and leave it there. Leave it all with the Lord Jesus
Christ. He said, I'll take it from you. I'll take it from you. The shame,
I'll take it from you. The blame, I'll take it from
you. The guilt, I'll take it from you. And he
says, I'll do this because I've already taken the punishment
from you. I've already taken the wrath from you. I've already
taken the judgment, the penalty. I've already taken it away from
you by laying it on myself. If you from sin, that reoccurring
sin, sin is real. If you from sin are longing to
be free, look to the Lamb of God. He alone is able to keep
you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence
of his glory with exceeding joy." The gospel is the most freeing
thing that a guilty soul could ever hear. If a person is guilty,
if a person feels guilt, everybody here has felt guilt, guilt. The gospel is the most freeing
thing that a guilty soul could ever hear. Our Lord said, you
shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Just like Adam and Eve, they
sinned against God. What's the first thing they did?
They hid from him. They sowed these fig leaves together,
they tried to, cover what they were. They tried to cover what
they done. They tried to hide from him,
hide everything that they were before him. But this is what
God did in love and in mercy. This is what he did. He exposed
their sin to them. That's what he did. Adam, where are you and what
have you done? He exposed their sin to them. And then He slew a lamb and He
covered them with the skin of that lamb. And in doing that,
He said to them, I am your lamb. Now you've sinned, but I am your lamb. I will take
that sin from you and I'll suffer this judgment. You see what I've
done to this lamb? You see what happened to this
lamb? You see the horrible outcome that came to the lamb? I'm your
lamb. And I'll take all that sin from
you and I'm gonna suffer this judgment right here so that you
can take my innocence, take my spotlessness and stand absolutely
faultless before the throne of glory. The gospel is for the
guilty. is for the guilty. The gospel,
the whole reason God sent the gospel. You know, the law came by Moses,
but grace and truth came by the Lord Jesus Christ. The whole
reason the gospel came was for the guilty. It came straight
to the guilty. He said, I did not come to call
the righteous. I came to call sinners. The Apostle
Paul said, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. Jesus Christ came into the world
to save sinners and I'm the chief. Boy, it's tough to admit that.
He said, I am the chief. I'm the chief. Turn over to first
John chapter one. It's back just a few pages. 1 John 1, verse 8. If we say that we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we
confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He is able to cleanse us from
all of our unrighteousness. He's able to wash it all away. In what? Unto him that loved us and washed
us from our sins in his own blood. washed it all away in His own
blood. Turn over to Psalm 51. Psalm 51, verse one. David said, have mercy upon me,
O God, according to thy loving kindness, according unto the
multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions. I acknowledge them. and my sin
is ever before me. Against thee, the only, have
I sinned and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest
be justified when thou speakest and be clear when thou judgest.
Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive
me. Behold, thou desirest truth in
the inward parts, and in the hidden part thou shalt make me
to know wisdom. But he said, purge me with hyssop,
cover me in blood, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall
be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness
that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy
face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities. Create in
me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy Holy Spirit
from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy
salvation, and uphold me with thy free spirit. Verse 13, he
said, then will I teach transgressors thy ways. Then I'll go to other
sinners just like me, and I'll tell them all the gospel is for
the guilty. I'll teach transgressors thy
ways. And he said, sinners shall be
converted unto thee. He said, they're all going to
come running to you. He said, when I tell them the glory, the
good news of all their sin being washed away in your own blood,
they'll all come running to you. Where else can they go? Where
else is there to go? Once a sinner hears that there
is cleansing from all sin, In the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,
this is what the sinner will say. A true sinner will say this,
that message is for me. That gospel is for me. I am a
guilty sinner before God, and that's the greatest news I've
ever heard in my life. It was to Jude. It was to John. It was to Paul. It was to David. It is to us greatest news we've
ever heard in our lives. Turn with me to first Corinthians
chapter six. First Corinthians 6 verse 9, know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither
fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor
abusers of themselves with mankind. nor thieves, nor covetous, nor
drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the
kingdom of God and such were some of you, but you are washed. but you are
sanctified, but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus
and by the Spirit of our God. Washed, sanctified, justified
in Christ. Look at Ephesians 1. Ephesians 1 verse 3 says, Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ,
according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
Him in love, holy and without blame. That's what He chose us
unto. When God the Father chose us
and chose to put us in Christ, it was for this reason, to make us holy and without blame. Look at Ephesians 5. Verse 25, it says, "'Husbands,
love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave
Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with
the washing of water by the Word, that He might present it to Himself,
a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such
thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish." No
spot, no wrinkle, no blemish. Without, within. In body, in
character. None whatsoever. This is what
the Apostle Paul said. He said, I have espoused you
to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. This is what Martin Luther said.
We had this in our bulletin recently, but he said, every time you insist
that I am a sinner, you call me to remember the benefit of
Christ my Redeemer. upon whose shoulders, and not
mine, lie all my sins. Every time you remind me of the
fact that I'm a sinner, you cause me to remember Christ my Redeemer,
the one who all my sins were laid on Him. In Christ, there
is hope for a soul that's hopeless. How bad are you? after God reveals the truth concerning
us to ourselves, and it gets so much worse than we thought
it was. How bad are you? There is hope for a soul that
is hopeless. In Christ, there is liberty for
a soul that's bound. In Christ, there is purity for
every soul that's filthy. And in Christ, there is blood
for every soul that has sinned. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ is for all who are guilty. Are you guilty? Are you guilty? The gospel is for all who are
guilty. Our text, back in Jude, verse 24, it says, now unto him,
that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless
before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only
wise God our Savior, Be glory and majesty, dominion and power,
both now and ever. Amen. Amen. Lord, you purge us
and we'll be clean. If you wash us, we'll be whiter
than snow. Amen. All right, Brother Eddie, you
come lead us in a closing hymn.