Thus saith the Lord unto you,
be not afraid, nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude,
for the battle is not yours, but God's." This is what, writes Frank Tate,
this is what the Lord says to all of his people about every
one of our enemies. And I want to stop there for
just a moment. What are our enemies? We think our enemies may be the
guy that may be trying to rob us, or those who are trying to
take the gospel message away from us. What about that inward
sin? You know, our greatest enemy
is what's within this flesh. Our greatest enemy is doubt. Folks, you're not alone in this
world if you have doubt. Some ministers out there will
tell you, you know, you have doubt, you're just full of sin
and you may not be saved. That's not true at all. When
the disciples heard the first time about Judas, when the Lord
Jesus told them, one of you is going to betray me, every single
one of them stepped up to the plate and said, is it I, Lord?
Now you talk about doubt. That's doubt. Lord, is it I? Am I the one? Am I the one that's
not saved here? There's a lot of different things
inside of us and around us that we can call enemies. So Frank goes on to say this,
what comfort, what comfort, I'm sorry, first he says, the battle
is not yours but God's. That's what we just read in 2
Chronicles 20.15. What comfort that brings to the hearts of
God's people. The captain of our salvation,
the mighty conqueror, has taken it upon himself to defeat every
enemy of his people, and he has done it. He has done it. Notice Frank's words aren't,
I have done it. I've conquered that fear that's
within me. No, Christ has conquered whatever
fear we may have. Well, it doesn't mean that it
goes away. We still battle this battle with
the flesh, but our Lord has won that battle for us, folks. He
will, as the sovereign God of all things, deliver His people
no matter what. That's His promise. And we trust
Him, don't we? Even if it's a little. We still
trust Him. You know, I have folks that say
to me, John, I just don't know that the Lord loves me. I mean,
look at all the stuff that's going on in my life. Look at
the turmoil that has come and filled my life. Where's that peace the Lord told
me about? Well, the peace is not in here,
I can tell you that. The peace is that He's conquered it, and
if you're His, He will deliver you. no matter what happens in
this flesh, because he's above and more powerful than anything
that this flesh can have. He's the creator of all this
flesh. Going on with that article, Brother
Tate writes this, he says, the battle against sin is not ours,
but God's. Sin is defeated. But now once
in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by
the sacrifice of himself. That's what he tells us in Hebrews
chapter 9 verse 26. He goes on to say this, the battle
against the law is not ours, but God's. The law cannot condemn
God's people, blotting out the handwriting of the ordinances
that was against us, which was contrary to us and took it out
of the way, nailing it to his cross. That's Colossians 2.14. So our God has won the battle
as it is, as we just read there, nailing it to his cross, the
battle of the law. The battle against Satan is not
ours, he writes, but God's. Satan's head has been crushed. The God of peace shall brew Satan
under your feet shortly, it says in Romans 16, 20. The battle
against the world is not ours, but God's. As we read in John
16, 33, in the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good
cheer. Be of good cheer. I have overcome the world, saith
the Lord. The battle against death is not ours, but God's. Death cannot harm God's elect. But it is now made manifest by
the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who hath abolished
death and hath brought life and immortality to light through
the gospel, 2 Timothy 1.10. The last enemy that shall be
destroyed is death, 1 Corinthians 15.26. The message of the scriptures
is this, folks. The message is to sinners is
quit your fighting and rest in Christ, just as we read in the
psalm. All them who trust in him, blessed
are you. When I first heard of the situation
here in San Diego, I want you to know My heart. I can't even express. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for you
folks. I'm sorry for what you have to
go through. But I know this. Our God works out everything. That's his word. And I know it. I know it. Do you? I was told this. I said, I just
don't know what's going to happen to our church. And I felt the
pain. I felt the pain. But, man, you
folks have been through a lot. A lot. But I want you to look around
right now. Look who's here tonight. Look who's sitting here right
now, brothers and sisters in Christ. The man who stands in
this pulpit is not the church. You know what the church means? You know what the word church
is? It's the called out. It's you. You who were called
out of darkness into the glorious light of the Lord Jesus Christ.
You who know that there was a day when you were blind to these
truths, and today you see the truth of who God is in the face
of His Son, the Lord Jesus, what He has done. He's laid down His
life and shed His blood. He took your death. That's how
He conquered death for you. You don't have anything to worry
about when we go through that doormark death. God's taken the
part that we deserve for us. He laid down the life of His
only begotten Son. How shall He not give us everything
else? Look with me here at verses 19. This is Hebrews 10, verse 19. Having therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. Did you catch
that? It's not entering into the holiest by something you
have done. It's not entering into the holiest
because you believe. It's not entering into the holiest
because you're showing up to church on Wednesday night. It's
entering into the holiest by the blood of Jesus Christ, and
God's people know that. We know there's nothing in this.
We have no confidence in this flesh. We have no confidence
in what we think. We have no confidence in what
we feel. Our only confidence is in what Christ has done for
us. I was telling a man who was distraught, distraught over the weakness
of his flesh, the weakness of his faith. I asked him, I said, That's salvation. Don't get me
wrong. Believing doesn't save you. Christ
Jesus saved you. But you wouldn't believe Him
if He didn't save you. You'd be just like the rest of
the world out there thinking of some Jesus of your own imagination. And God's people, we see that,
don't we? Once I was blind, but now I see. Verse 20, by a new and living
way. which he hath consecrated for us through the veil." That's
that veil that was in the temple that separated the people. They
couldn't go into the temple, into the holiest of holies. But
here now, by the blood of Jesus, that veil is ripped apart, and
we see the mercy seat before us. We see the blood of Christ
on the mercy seat for us. That is to say, His flesh and
having a high priest over the house of God? Let us draw near
with a true heart in full assurance of what? having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us
hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he
is faithful that promised. And let us consider one another
to provoke unto love and to good works, not forsaking the assembling
of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting."
Exhorting. Encouraging. Lifting up. How can I lift up? We know how
pastors lift up, don't we? Preachers and pastors. They lift
us up by telling us that despite the sin that we face daily in
our own bodies, God has put that away for us in His Son, the Lord
Jesus. That's how they lift us up. Preaching
the Word. Preaching Christ and Him crucified. That's the only message you're
ever going to hear from me, folks. I told those dear folks up there
in Rescue, I said, I'm not a counselor. I'm not here to teach you anything.
I'm here to tell you what my God has done for me. I'm here
to preach to you about a Savior to a people. And you know what?
That's what we need to hear the most, isn't it? That one single Message. And I know we go through all
kinds of different places in Scripture and find it and look
for it and we get on the path to it and we just, we get right
on there, but that exhortation is knowing that my sins have
been put away by the blood of God in the face of His Son, the
Lord Jesus. That's Christ and Him crucified. Is it not? Am I wrong in that?
Is that not what we show up for? Folks, I've got six days of the
week I can walk around and act stupid in the world. I need at
least to hear for an hour about my Savior, don't you? What are you folks here for tonight?
You're here for that very reason, aren't you? I need to hear about
my Lord. You know, I had some thoughts
today that I shouldn't have had. How many of you can say that?
I see all your heads bobbing up and down. Yeah, he's right. Me too. Exhorting one another,
lifting each other up in the Spirit. Encouraging one another
to stand strong in the faith. Mark your place there in Hebrews
10 and turn back to Hebrews 3 if you would. How do we exhort one
another? This is my heart's desire, this
is my thought as I prepared this message, and I'll be honest with
you folks, I preached this message to the folks there in rescue
this last Sunday. I had a different message I thought
I was going to bring down here to preach, and after I preached
that message Sunday, I thought to myself, well what a better
thing for you folks to hear. Look at you folks, coming together
here on a Wednesday night to hear God's Word. Do you realize
how much exhortation you're giving to each other? If you looked
around the building right now and you saw one person, you wouldn't
have much thought of exhortation, would you? I'm glad there's one
or two of us, but look how many there are! There's a bunch of
folks here tonight. What a blessing! God's people
are still in San Diego, despite what has happened. Despite where
you folks sit right now in the situation you're in, there's
still folks here who love to hear the gospel. I want the world to know that.
And I'm going to tell all the world that will hear me that. This message that we just talked
about is not addressing just preachers, or pastors, or deacons. In verse 19 of our text that
we just read, it said, brethren. These words that we just read
in Hebrews chapter 10 are for all of us. We'll be there. I'll
catch up to you there in three in just a minute. I haven't lost
you. In verse 24 of what we just read, it said, consider one another.
You see how the Lord's Word is talking to us, telling us, exhort
each other? In Hebrews chapter 3, we read
in verse 1, Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling. How does God call His people?
You know the answer. It's through the preaching of
His Word. That's what you've gathered here tonight. Whether
it be me standing here, or you watching another pastor somewhere
else preaching a message on the screen here, you're still gathered
together In the name of the Lord Jesus, where two or three are
gathered in His name, He says, I will be in your presence. You're
still gathered together in the name of the Lord Jesus to hear
His Word preached. Brethren, Paul is calling us
his brethren. And he's saying, partakers of
the heavenly calling, Consider. Think about. Ponder this for
just a moment. Ponder in your mind. And that's
what's going on right now in your mind. You can't help it.
You're sitting there listening to me talk about it. You see,
we've taken our mind off of what's outside that door, and we've
put our mind on Christ. You'd be amazed at what happens
when you take your eyes off of the things around the world.
the things that are going on in your life when you put your
eyes on Christ alone. You'll see all those terrible
things that we go through on a daily basis in this life just
kind of veer off. Wait a minute, he's in charge.
I know he's going to get me through this. He says he will. I know it's harsh, but he says
he'll get me through it. ponder consider the apostle did
you know the lord jesus was an apostle he is the apostle everything
the twelve apostles did in the name of the lord jesus they did
it exactly that way in his name he is the apostle the word apostle
just means a messenger with power power to prove what he says so
he's the apostle We know that because it says that it ends
the sentence with Christ Jesus, doesn't it? He's the Apostle.
Consider Him. Consider Him as the Apostle and
High Priest of what? Our profession. If somebody came
up to you on the street and said, who is your God? Are you prepared
to answer that? Oh, it might be scary. Who is
my God? He's the Almighty Jesus Christ,
the Son of the Living God, that's who. It's as simple as that. Oh, yeah, I know all about Him.
I go to this big church up here on the corner up here, and they
teach, you know, they preach about that guy, Jesus Christ.
Yeah, yeah, if I'll let Him, He'll be my God. What kind of God is that if He'll
let you? Oh, I used to believe in one of those. That was where
my faith was. Oh, I didn't go to church and
worship or anything like that, but I knew about a guy named
Jesus who was just waiting for me to let him be my God. You
know, we got a sign right over the... I don't know if you've
ever been to rescue, but there's a little walkway that goes underneath
an overhang in front of our fellowship hall. And at the very end, you
can't miss it, the beam is dark, so this white sign stands right
out. You know what it says? It says, if your God is trying,
Your preacher is lying. Michael Evans came up with that.
I said, that's great. I got to put that up. I want
everybody who comes to rescue to see that. If your God is trying,
and that's what they are, they're all preaching. They're all trying
to teach about a God who's doing nothing but trying. Folks, God
doesn't need to try anything. If he has purposed it, shall
he not do it? Is that not the word of God? We are all in the exact position
we are today. This very position right now,
no matter what it is, no matter where you are in this life, no
matter what's going on in your life, right now, we are in the
position that God has purposed us to be in, and it's for our
good. How do you know, John? Because
His Word says so. The question is, do you trust
Him? Do you trust God? Consider the apostle, the high
priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to Him
that appointed Him, as also Moses was faithful in all of his house.
And I'd like you to turn now, if you would, over to Psalm 122.
Psalm 122. It's obvious how a preacher exhorts
the congregation, is it not? He gets up here and he brings
a message in hopes of encouraging poor sinners in their walk before
God. We point them to Christ. We sing
the song, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus. Look on His wonderful
face, and the world will turn strangely dim in the light of
His glory and grace." Yeah, we must bring out a few things in
that message. We must bring out the depravity
of man. If you don't know how depraved
you are, if you don't know that you're blind, then how are you
going to know what it is when you see? You gotta know what blindness
is to say these words, once I was blind but now I see. Blindness. Blindness is not being able to
tell the color blue. Have you ever thought about trying
to express blue to somebody? For fun, go try it one of these
days. Find a blind person and try to express to them what the
color blue is. It's impossible. That's the way
it is with you and I before God gave us a new heart. Before God
comes to us and gives us light to a totally depraved, dead sinner. And that's what we all were at
one time or another. As children of light, you see
that. We must bring out the total depravity
of man so that they may see the grace in unconditional election. We must know that we would have
never chosen God if he hadn't have chosen us first. We must
see the grace, must see our total depravity and for us to see the
grace in our atonement, the payment that God gave by giving his son
on the cross. For us to see how gracious that
is, we must see our undeserving of it. And the only reason for
it is because of His love. And because of His love, some
are saved. We must see how that grace is
irresistible. It's a grace that comes to us
when we were dead in trespasses and sin, yet we are made alive. Quickened is what the Word of
God says. Made alive that we might receive His grace. And of course, we don't want
to leave out the grace in His preserving and keeping His people
by His power. But our text is talking about
all of us. You and I both. And I don't mean
just about you exhorting me. I'm talking about how do we exhort
one another? How do we exhort each other?
We show up. We gather together. The word
exhort means to call near, that is, to invite, to invoke, to
beseech, to beseech with comfort, to desire, to exhort, entreat,
or pray. King David was lifted up with
joy and was raised in his heart when the people of God did something.
Remember the words just before our text in Hebrews chapter 10,
not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together? Look here
at verse 1 of Psalms 122. I was glad when they said unto
me. Do you see the exhortation that
David received here? I was glad. He was lifted up. when they said to him, how did you all feel about that
first meeting afterwards? Scared? Do you recall how you felt when
you walked in the room and you saw the folks here? Did it lift you up like it did
me today? Don't get me crying now. I'm
telling you. Tim and Sarah come all the way
over here from the desert. Brian. Bob. Thomas. The Hotsons, all of you
folks. Folks, I am so lifted up by seeing
you here tonight. And it's not like being lifted
up as we went to some place for a party. We're here for a reason. It's Wednesday night. It's worship
time. We've come together to meet in
the name of our Savior and worship Him for saving us, for loving
us, for giving Himself for us. What a blessing. What an exhortation. King David says, I was glad when
they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord. Oh,
we're still a church in San Diego. That's wonderful. Our feet shall
stand within the gates of Jerusalem. Jerusalem is built as a city
that is compact together, whether the tribes go up or the tribes
of the Lord, unto the testimony of the Lord, to give thanks unto
the name of the Lord. For they are set thrones of judgment
and the thrones of the house of David. Pray for peace. for
the peace of Jerusalem, that they shall prosper that love
Thee. Peace be within Thy walls, and
prosperity within Thy palaces. For my brethren and companions'
sake I will now say, Peace be within Thee. Because of the house
of the Lord our God, I will seek Thy good. Are you glad to be in the house
of the Lord? Folks, if you're here tonight,
Feeling a dreaded necessity. Oh, I've got to be there. I just
have to be there. Something's wrong. Something's
wrong. Worship services should be a
time of refreshment. I like to look out and see the
smiles on your faces. The Word of God is being preached.
I'm not encouraging anyone to jump up and down and flap around,
bringing some attention to oneself and disrupting services. I'm
talking about the joy of the heart. Salvation to a sinner
is a joyous thing. When one has had the depth of
what they are, a sinful creature before a thrice holy God, salvation
becomes the greatest desire. The house of the Lord is where
we hear of this salvation, and I'm glad to see you here. I'm
glad to see you come out tonight and gather together in the name
of our Savior. I am exhorted, encouraged to
see God is still doing a work right here in San Diego. If our numbers were just but
one or two, it would be sorrowful. But that's not the
case. You're here. I want you to look
at your brothers and sisters in Christ who have come to feast
right alongside of you on the day of Jubilee. That day is today. God has brought his sheep into
graze in green pastures. We have come for the still waters.
Look over at Psalm 23. I know some of you could quote
this. This is a psalm that we all learned as little children,
but read with me, will you? Look with me and think about
how these words apply to you at this moment. Psalms 23. Consider with me just a moment. The Lord is my shepherd. He's the one who cares for me.
He's the one that when I wander off in my own selflessness, my
own thoughts of my own body, my own mind. He's the one who
grabs a hold of me with His Word and pulls me back. He's the one
who reaches down to Peter when he began to sink in the sea.
And he says, I love you, you're mine. I'm not going to let you
go. He's my shepherd. And because He is my Shepherd,
because He is the Son of the Living God, the Lord Jesus Christ,
I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green,
pastors." You know, folks, the only time
I have any peace is when I'm in the Lord's Word. I don't mean that I sit around
in God's Word all the time, every day, all day long. Some men do
that, and I'm thankful for that. Don Fortner was one who was in
the Word of God 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and I'm thankful
for that. I'm not Don Fortner. And I'm
not ashamed to tell you that I'm the weakest link in his ministries,
in his ministries. I'm probably that last link on
the chain, way down there at the bottom, just barely scraping
off the, you know, you ever go behind somebody when they're
pulling a trailer and you see their chains dragging on the
ground? I'm that one setting off the sparks down below. Good sparks. But when I'm in His Word preaching
or studying for a message, even if it's only for a few moments,
I'm in the green pastures of my Lord. I'm reminded of words to bring
to you of peace. Peace. Be still. Watch the Lord
do His work. Wait on Him. That can be tough
at times, huh? I'm not much of a guy to wait. I'm one of those fools who likes
to jump in feet first into everything. And sometimes that can be detrimental
for me. Lord, teach me. Lord, help me. My prayer for me is Lord, help
me to be more patient in waiting on Him. He leadeth me beside
still waters." There's nothing more still than the One who has
the Word of God, the Word of Life. Where are we going to go,
said the Apostles, when the Lord asked them, are you going to
go away too? Most of His disciples got up and walked away when He
started talking about, you've got to eat my flesh and drink
my blood. They didn't understand it was spiritual. They didn't
understand that that's the only food that gives nourishment to
the soul, to the spirit, the food of Christ. Are you going
to go away too, He says? Where are we going to go? You're
the one who has the words of life, Lord. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth
me in the paths of righteousness. for His namesake. Notice it wasn't
because of anything of me. Notice He didn't do that because
of something I had done. He did it for one reason and
one reason only, for His namesake. Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou
art with me. Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort
me. Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of my enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil,
my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the
house of the Lord forever." What a comfort is described in this
song. Now look over at Ezekiel chapter
34 if you would. Ezekiel 34. God is not done searching out
His sheep. Yes, He knows where they are.
They just don't know they are His sheep yet. They're blind. They're dead. They're lame. Just
like you and I were at one time. They do not seek the One that
heals. Just as you and I were not seeking
the true and living God, yet He sought us, didn't He? He sought
me out and He found me there in Rescue, California. He brought
me. It says, He must go through Samaria. Isn't it wonderful that He must
go through San Diego? He must go through Rescue? He
must go through Yuba City? Why? There's some of His sheep
there that don't know their sheep yet. His Word, He says, come, and
by His power we come. Listen to these words from John
chapter 10. Again, very familiar words. You
probably know them by heart. My sheep hear My voice, He says,
and I know them, and they follow Me. You folks are here following
the Lord Jesus. You're not following a man standing
in this pulpit. You're following Christ. You didn't come here to hear
about John Reeves. You came here to hear about the
Lord Jesus. And that's what we've come together
for. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow
me, and I give unto them eternal life. Here's the promise, and
they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out
of my hand. Did you know that's talking about
John Reeves? I'm not going to be able to pluck
myself out of God's hand. He's going to keep me by His
power no matter how far I try to wander off. There's a message
that I want you all to go home and listen to. If you haven't
received it yet, it's a message from Henry Mahan, and it's titled,
what is the title of that again, Tim? Do you remember? It's titled, The Error of Ministers. Something like that. We'll get
it to you. If you don't have it already, I want you to go
home and I want you to listen to it. Too often we take the
men that stand in this pulpit or any other pulpit and we put
them up on a pedestal. Don would cry in tears of his
heart knowing that people had put him up on a pedestal, even
though he tried to tell them not to. What is it? The Fallibility
of the Ministers and the Church Leaders. Fallibility of the Ministers
and the Church Leaders by Henry Mahan. If you don't have that,
we will get it to you tonight before you go home. I want you
to go home and listen to it. Folks, no man can pluck God's
people out of his hand. If they can, then he's not God. And he's just one of those who's
trying, and the preacher's lying. Our God rules over everything.
And nothing, including John Reeves, can pluck John Reeves out of
God's hand. To a lost sheep, that's a pretty
joyous thing, isn't it? To the blind man, who told all,
he said, I don't know who, I don't know how, and I don't know why,
but I know this, once I was blind, but now I see. Look here at verse
11, if you would, in Ezekiel 34. For thus saith the Lord God,
behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep and seek them
out. As a shepherd seeketh out his
flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered,
so will I seek out my sheep. And I will deliver them out of
all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark
day. And I will bring them out from
the people. and I will gather them from the
countries and I will bring them to their own land and feed them
upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers and in all the
inhabited places of the country and I will feed them in the good
pasture and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be
there shall they lie in good fold and in fat pasture shall
they feed upon the mountain of Israel. and I will feed my flock,
and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God." That's
what the Lord says to you and I. That's what you're doing here. Folks, Jesus Christ is that mountain.
He's the food that we're going to receive on that mountain.
He's the pastures of that mountain that we're going to sit in and
lay in. He is every bit of everything that He just described He was
going to do for us. I'm encouraged to see His sheep
in this pasture. I'm delighted to see God's not
done yet. Maybe there's another who shall
be called in yet. Look back again in our text in
chapter 10 of Hebrews, and I'll bring this to a close. I want to go back a little bit
further this time. than verse 19. I want to begin at verse
12. In Hebrews chapter 10 we read
in verse 12, But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice
for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth
expecting till his enemies be made his footstool, for by one
offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified." You,
who have been set apart by God, are as perfect as His Son, the
Lord Jesus, right now. That's pretty hard to see, isn't
it? I look out across you, folks, and I see a whole bunch of perfect
people. All the eyes kind of like, God,
you need some better glasses, John. Our Lord says right here, by
one offering, He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Folks, if you're in Christ, that's
the key to it. In Christ. In Christ we are as
perfect as He is. I know we don't see that when
we're looking in the mirror. Quit looking in the mirror! That's
my exhortation to you tonight. Stop looking in the mirror and
look to Christ our Savior! How do I exhort you? How do you
exhort each other? Oh, brother and sister, I know
you're troubled. It doesn't get more troubling
than losing a child. Did you go to your brother and
sister and say, I know, I may not know personally, but I'm
hurting with you? Did you go to your brother and
sister and say, keep looking to Christ? When my older brother
Lee lost his son, the Lord sent our pastor who had also lost
a son. When he was 10 years old, 10
or 11 years old, he died. of drowning. And Gene held him
in his arms. And he went to my brother and
he said, don't look at the mirror, Lee. Look to Christ. Look at the Word of God in Romans
chapter 8, verse 28. I know you can't see. I couldn't
see that either, he said to my brother Lee. I couldn't see it
either. But, Lee, look to 8, 28. Look to 28 of Romans chapter
8. To this day, 20 years later,
my older brother Lee, still him and his wife mourn over and over
again for their son. But he'll tell you himself, looking
to Christ is what got me through it. Folks, how do we exhort each
other? No matter what is bothering you in this world, look to Christ. Be with God's people. Look into
Christ. How do we exhort one another
by holding fast our profession of faith? What is my faith? I believe the Lord Jesus to be
God Almighty in the flesh. I believe the Lord Jesus Christ
to be my Savior when He laid down His life and He was made
sin, that I would be made the righteousness of God in Him. How do we exhort another? By
provoking one another unto love. Love your neighbor. Love those
who've wronged you. Why? Why should I love those
who've wronged me? Because Christ has loved you,
and nobody's wronged anybody worse than what you have done
to Christ. We exhort each other by not forsaking
the assembling of ourselves together, and so much more as we see the
day approaching. Oh, you folks raise my hopes.
You folks bless me more than you'll ever know. Let me close with these words.
God's grace is greater than all our sin. Folks, that should encourage
God's people to assemble together and to praise His name.