Back to Ephesians 4. Ephesians 4. I was just thinking
while we were singing that song. What if this was the last time
I ever preached the gospel? You know, right before you stand
up and preach, sometimes you're multitasking, you're leading
the singing while you're trying to collect your thoughts on how
you're about to begin a message and you're asking the Lord to
let me preach Christ, let me preach the truth, let me preach
the gospel. And knowing the message the Lord has given me, knowing
what I'm about to say to you, I had a moment where I was just
very thankful. I honestly, if this is the last
time I ever preach the gospel, I want you to get a hold of this. I mean, this is, we're going
to get to the heart of it. This is my sincere, sincere prayer
right now. It's that we might get a hold
of three words. I mean just three words. If the
Lord will open up these three words to us, if he will let us really enter
into what these three words mean, he will have opened up the truth
of the gospel to us. If we enter into three words
right here, we will have entered in to the life saving eternal
salvation of God almighty. Three words. Three words. They're at the end of verse 32.
You see them? For Christ's sake. Those are about the only three
words we need to know. In those three words holds the
only word we need to know. For Christ's sake. If we want
to get to the heart of salvation, And that's what I feel in this
moment. Let's just not play games. Let's not, let me not, you know,
we just want to get to the heart of salvation. Let's just cut
to the core. We want to know what the heart
of the gospel is. And if we want to summarize what
all of our hope is, It's these three words, for Christ's
sake. That's what it is. For Christ's
sake. The verses that our brother just
read for us in this chapter, leading up to verse 32, they
tell us how we ought to live in this world. All right. He just read to us how we ought
to be and how we ought to live. If you look with me at verse
22, he said, put off concerning the former conversation. That
word conversation means your life, the way you live. He said, put off the old man. which is corrupt according to
the deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, put
on that the mind of the spirit, not the mind of the flesh. Verse
24, that you put on the new man, which after God is created in
righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore, putting away lying,
speaking every man truth with his neighbors, for we are members
one of another." Don't lie to anybody. Brother Scott Richardson walked
into a gas station, a preacher from many years ago, he walked
into a gas station with a fellow who attended the services with
him, and they ran into a guy that they knew, and he said,
how you doing, brother? Brother Scott Richardson said
that. And this fella didn't attend services anywhere, made no claim
on the gospel, had no heart, no interest. And when they left,
that member of Scott's congregation said, do you really consider
him to be your brother? And he said, well, if I missed
him in Christ, I got him in Adam. Either way, we're members one
of another. He said, don't lie to each other, we're all members
one of another. Verse 26, be ye angry and sin not. meaning be angry at sin and don't
do it. He went on to say, let not the
sun go down upon your wrath. If you're mad at somebody, make
it right before you go to sleep. Neither give place to the devil,
let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor working
with his hands the thing which is good that he may have to give
to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communication
proceed out of your mouth. But that which is good to the
use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers,
and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed
unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath
and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you
with all malice and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another. That is how we ought to be in
this flesh. I encourage everyone to strive
for this. There's nothing wrong with any
of those verses. True, right, amen. That's how
we ought to be. Here's the problem, though, for
every single one of us here. We are all sinners by nature,
and we are all sinners by practice. In our flesh, in our flesh, Doesn't
matter if our flesh is, you know, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, it doesn't matter. As long as
we're in our flesh, that's all we will ever be. As long as we are in this flesh,
we are going to be bound to our own sin. And see if that sinks
in. Not just sin, our own sin. As long as we're in this flesh. And the apostle Paul said in
Romans 7, it's a wretched thing. He said, I wanna be just like
that right there, what we just read. That's what Paul said,
I wanna be like that. That's what I want to be like.
But he said, in my flesh, I'm just not. And he said, I can't find a way
to be. He said, every time I try to
do good, evil is present with me. And I'm telling you, that
is the truth. That is the truth. What he was
saying was every time I kind of seem to be in line on the
outside, Every time things look okay on the outside, he said,
on the inside, I am raging so full of pride and self-righteousness. Every now and then, things may
look okay on the outside, but on the inside, he said, sin is
raging within me. He said, there's a war going
on inside me. Now, I know that that is so with
me, And you know that so with you. And God in His goodness
brings us to a place where we admit that. Honestly, honestly before God,
if we had to stand before the judgment throne right now, and
there's no line before God, He sees straight through us. He
sees the molecules of our being. No point in lying to God. Honestly,
knowing what goes on inside, knowing what goes on in the mind,
knowing what goes on in the heart, knowing what goes on in the desire
of this flesh, have we ever really put off the old man? Dear brethren, put off the old
man, put on the new man. Sounds great. Have we ever really
put off the old man? all of his corruption, all of
his lusts, all of his covetousness, all of his desires, have we ever
really put off the old man? In this flesh, do we really walk
and live and think and do righteousness and true holiness? Honestly, do you feel holy? You feel holy? I don't. I don't. In this flesh,
do we really believe that we have the ability to stop sinning? Do we really believe that? Well,
here's all you got to do is stop sinning. Sin happens in the heart. Out
of the heart of the issues of life, everything that comes out
of the mouth started in the heart, whether it makes it to the mouth
or not, it was committed. Whether it's ever brought out
by the hand or not, the mind thought it. Do we really believe that we
have the ability to stop sinning? Here's my answer. And I believe
this is your answer. No. No, as long as we are in what
Paul called the body of this death, we will be captives to
our own sin. Turn back a couple of pages with
me to Galatians 4. Verse 21. Galatians 4 verse 21, it says,
tell me you that desire to be under the law, or meaning that
you that desire to be saved by your obedience to the Bible. Tell me you that desire to be
under the law, do you not hear the law? Men and women think, if I'll
just obey what this is saying, I'll get to go to heaven. But
he said, do you not really hear what this is saying? The depth of the perfection that
God requires? The spotlessness that his holiness
demands? Salvation is not in a sinner
doing his or her best before God. I basically had a man tell
me that about 15 years ago. I remember the whole scenario
and he wanted to witness to me and he asked me a question and
I responded with a question. And he basically told me, you
know, if you do the best you can, that's salvation. Salvation is not in a sinner
doing the best that he or she can. Salvation is in a sinner
having no sin. That's where salvation is. And
you hear that and you say, well, that's impossible. How can a
sinner have no sin? With man, it's impossible. Sinlessness is something that
a sinner will never attain on his own, never, never. He can't because he's a sinner. He is a sinner. Not a sinner
because he sins. He didn't become a sinner because
he sinned. He sins because he's a sinner.
Just like a dog does not become a dog by way of barking. If you bark, you can become a
dog. A dog barks because he's a dog. That's what dogs do. Well, sin is what sinners do. And that's all that we are. That's
all we'll ever be in this flesh. Now, with that being said, let's
get to the only hope. The only hope that we have of
being saved. I want every person here, every
young person here, every old person here, I want every person
here to enter into this. This is the only hope we have
of being saved. If we wanna get to the heart
of it, it's these three words, for Christ's sake. All right,
this is the heart of it. God the Father made a covenant
with God the Son. concerning all of the sinful
souls that God the Father chose to save. God the Father said
to Christ his Son, if you will do this for them, I will accept
them. Christ said, I promise I'll do
it. Now, what was it? What did Christ
promise to do? What did He enter into a covenant
with God, His Father to do for His people? Look at Galatians
3. Galatians 3, verse 10 says, for
as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. For it is written, cursed is
everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them. That means anyone who tries
to be saved by his own works of the law is gonna end up cursed. Because if you break one, you've
broken them all. Verse 11, but that no man is
justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident. For the
just shall live by faith. Faith in what? Three words. And the law is not a faith, but
the man that doeth them shall live in them. Verse 13 says,
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made
a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is
everyone that hangeth on a tree. Christ took the place of his
people and made himself to be cursed instead of his people. And he hung himself on the cross
of God's judgment for sin instead of his people. Galatians 4 verse
4 says, when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth
his son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them
that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption
of sons. And because you are sons, God
had sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying,
Abba, Father, wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a
son. And if a son than an heir of God through Christ, no more
servant, but a son because of what he did. That's what Christ
promised to do for his people. That's what Christ did for his
people. He died in a covenant that secured
the place for his people. And because he did that, because
that promise was fulfilled. All of his people are saved,
all of them. All of them are safe and all
of them are saved for Christ's sake. Now I've preached for a
minute and I'm gonna tell you something. There is no better illustration
of this than the story of Mephibosheth. And a brother just brought up
Mephibosheth in one of the messages recently, but this is how the
story goes. When they were young, two boys,
David and Jonathan, became friends, best, best friends, absolute
companions. They were in a true fellowship
with one another. The scripture says, David loved
Jonathan. And it says, Jonathan's heart
was knit to David and happened when David slew Goliath. Goliath
was taunting the whole army of Israel. No one would go fight
him. David went out there with a sling. Goliath fell. He took Goliath's own sword,
beheaded him, and brought that head to Saul. And Jonathan, when
he saw David do that, his heart was knit to him. He said, I love
him. That's our Redeemer. That's what
Jonathan was saying in his heart. That's my Redeemer right there. Jonathan's father, Saul was the
King that made Jonathan the heir to the throne. All right. His father was the King. Jonathan
was going to be the King heir to the throne, but Jonathan loved
David so much. He said, I know that you're going
to be the King. And he said, I'm going to help
you become the King. But he said, I want you to promise
me something. He said, I want you to enter into a covenant
with me. He said, after you become king,
I want you to promise me that you will show kindness to my
house, to my family, my children, because of this covenant, because
of you becoming king, me helping
you become king. David said, I promise I'll enter
into this covenant with you. I'll do it. Well, you know the
story. You've heard the story of how
Jonathan helped David. Saul wanted to kill him. Jonathan
helped David escape. They had one final meeting. They fell on each other's neck.
They kissed each other. They had to part ways for David's
safety. Saul wanted to kill him. And
even after that, Jonathan continued to help David. Jonathan continued
to send word to David and David was spared because Jonathan helped
him. Well, years later, they grew
up, became men and years later, a battle came and Saul and Jonathan
both died in the battle. And when David found out that
his dear beloved friend had died, he wept over Jonathan. He sorrowed
over Jonathan and he became king of Israel, just like Jonathan
said he would. And it says, David slew all of
his enemies around him. That's the first thing he did.
He slew every enemy around him and he sat down on his throne. And when he sat down on that
throne, he remembered his covenant. He remembered the promise he
made. And he said to his servants that were standing around, he
said, is there anybody left of the house of Saul that I may
show kindness to him for Jonathan's sake? Not for their own sake, but for
Jonathan's sake. And they said, Jonathan has one
miserable, wretched, poor, lame son down in Lodibar. And David
said, bring him to me. Now it was the custom back then
that when a new family took over the throne, when a new name was
the king, they slew every man in the old family tree so that
nobody could rise up and say, the throne rightfully belongs
to us. They slew them all. So when those soldiers came in
and picked up lame Mephibosheth and said to him, the king wants
to see you, you know he thought, I'm a dead man. It says in 2 Samuel 9, that when
they brought him into the presence of David, he fell on his face,
Mephibosheth, fell on his face and did reverence. And David
said, Mephibosheth, and he answered, behold thy servant. And David
said unto him, fear not, for I will surely show you kindness
for thy father's sake, Jonathan, thy father's sake, and will restore
thee all the land of Saul thy father, and thou shalt eat bread
at my table continually. And Mephibosheth bowed himself
and said, what is thy servant that thou shouldest look upon
such a dead dog as I am? Why would you do this for me? One reason, three words for Jonathan's
sake. And that is our hope. That is the only hope a sinner
has before God for Christ's sake. For Christ's sake. It's not because
of anything we have done or haven't done. It's only because Christ entered
into a covenant with God, the father, and he died to fulfill
that covenant with God the Father. We're redeemed for Christ's sake. We're accepted because of Him,
for Christ's sake. And every soul that God the Father
has placed in this covenant will plead this covenant. Every soul, every one of them.
The Holy Spirit will reveal this covenant to God's people. They
will stop thinking about their works, and they will start thinking
about God's covenant. And I'm gonna repeat that a hundred
times. They will stop thinking about
their works, and they will start thinking about God's covenant.
That's what everybody thinks in the flesh, going to heaven,
you know, it's all about me, me, me, I, I, what, what. They
will stop thinking about their works and they will start thinking
about God's covenant. That's what will happen. The
Spirit will come to every person that this covenant was for. Every person in the covenant,
every soul in the covenant will stop thinking about their works
and will start thinking about God's covenant. That'll be their
only hope. They'll look at their own works
and say, I see no hope here. They'll look at God's covenant
and say, I see all my hope there. That's the only hope I have.
They will stop thinking about their works and they will start
thinking about God's covenant. That's what will happen. And this is what they will do.
They will plead the covenant. They will see my only hope is
to cry for Christ's sake, for Christ's sake. Please, for Christ's
sake. You know how when we pray, we
close our prayer with something along these lines, for Christ's
sake. We ask these things for Christ's
sake. We pray in Jesus' name, only because of Him. Please, for Christ's sake, that's
what will happen. A sinner will cry, please, I'm
a sinner, and this is all I have to say to you, for Christ's sake,
please, for Christ's sake, please, for Christ's sake. And when the
father hears that, this is his promise in his word, he said,
I will remember my covenant. When I hear a sinner crying for
Christ's sake, I'll remember the covenant and he will say to that sinner,
I will surely show kindness to you for Christ's sake. And you can
come and eat at my table. You're no longer a servant but
a son. You come sit at my table and
you eat bread with me for Christ's sake. Now, I told you this A
while back, but a few years ago, Sophie was probably in, I'm going
to guess, first or second grade. It was about that time when you
don't have any front teeth. But there was a function going
on at her school. They had a Thanksgiving lunch and the parents were invited. And Hannah couldn't be in two
places at the same time, so we tag teamed a little bit, and
I went to Sophie's Thanksgiving lunch at school. And when I got
there, I walked into the cafeteria and Sophie was standing in line,
had her tray, standing real close to one of her little friends
in her class there. And that little girl is so cute.
She's just a cute, cute little girl. But anyway, they were standing
there together and I waited on them. I saw them and waited.
They got their food and they're walking across the cafeteria
toward me. They see me and it's loud. You know how elementary school
cafeteria is. It's really loud. And the whole
time they're walking over to me, Sophie is talking to me,
telling me something, and I'm trying to figure out what I'm
supposed to do. And it's loud. And I can't hardly
hear what she's saying yet. I'm trying to register what all
this is. And she's just talking to me
and telling me something. And I started realizing that
she's saying her little friend who's walking with her, her parents
couldn't come today because they had to work. So she doesn't have
anybody coming for the Thanksgiving lunch today. And she wanted to
know, could her little friend sit with me, sit with us. But
it's taken me a minute. And as they're walking, the closer
they get, and as I'm listening, Sophie's explaining, and I look
over at that little girl, and she is locked onto me. And the whole time, she's nodding
like this. And she's saying, it's okay. It's okay. And then she's looking at me.
She said, it's okay. And she's saying it's okay, and
Sophie's saying something. And she said, the girl said,
I know her mother. And I looked at Sophie and Sophie
saying her parents couldn't come because they had to work. And
I look at her and she said, it's okay. I know her mother. And I looked back at her and
she said, I know her mother. And I'm starting to gather now.
Sophie's asking if she can sit with us. And I looked back at
her and she said, I know her mother. And I said, oh, wait a minute.
You know her mother? She said, yes, I know her mother. Absolutely. Come and sit with
us. You come eat bread at our table.
You know her mother? Yeah, you're coming with us.
Do you know what that little girl was saying, honestly? You
know what she was saying? For Hannah's sake, for Hannah's sake. Please, will you have me? Please,
will you accept me for Hannah's sake? You better believe I will. I'm telling you any soul, this
is real. any soul who stands before the
judgment throne crying for Christ's sake. Please, will you have mercy?
Please, will you show kindness? Please, will you show kindness?
Please, will you spare me? Please, will you deliver me?
Please, will you accept me for Christ's sake? Any soul who cries
that will hear, you better believe I will. I will, and I have. The only reason you're crying
that is because I already have. You're welcome, you're accepted,
and you have a reserved seat at my table in Him. because of Him. Honestly, honestly,
we're gonna take our turns going to meet God. We're all gonna
take our turns. It's gonna be one, I don't know
when, but it's gonna be one after the next. We're all going. And this is our hope. We can
forget about everything else. This is our hope. This is our
acceptance. This is our gospel, this is our
salvation, it's these three words. Say these three words. Believe
these three words. When you stand before God, in
heart, let the mouth say, for Christ's sake, please, for Christ's
sake. Every soul who says that. Every soul. Amen. All right, let's all stand together.