Well, let me just tell you this
right from the get-go. I've known Kevin Thacker a good
long while. Every single story that I can
tell you about the man is a good one, is a good one. He was an
impressive boy, an impressive teenager, and he's an impressive
man. And I am very thankful that the Lord sent him to you. I bring
you greetings from your brethren in Ashland, particularly Brother
Eric Floyd wanted me to give all of you his love and his greeting. You might be surprised how often
we talk about y'all. You're in our thoughts, our hearts,
and our prayers. I pray God's richest blessing
on you. If you would, this evening, let's
turn our Bibles to begin with to Philippians chapter three.
I've entitled my message tonight, a thought that has been deeply,
deeply on my heart for some time now, is give me Christ or else
I die. It is so important for us to
know the Lord Jesus Christ, not just know about him, but to know
him. It's so important that we know Christ that we'll perish
in hell if we don't know him. So I say, give me Christ or else
I die. There's no forgiveness of sin,
no mercy from God, no saving grace, no salvation, no acceptance
with the Father, unless I know Christ. So I say for you and
me both, give me Christ or else I die. My great desire this evening
is that you and I walk out that door knowing Christ. I want you
to know Christ. Now, there are things that we
have to have to live in this world, don't we? And I'm not
saying that those things, food and water and clothing, I'm not
housing, I'm not saying those things aren't important. What
I'm saying is they have their level of importance. The Lord
taught us to pray that. Give us this day our daily bread.
He taught us to pray. Give me my daily provisions for
this flesh that I need today. The Lord taught us to pray that
way so they have a level of importance, don't they? Our Lord also reminded
us, lest we get skittish, he knows we have need of these things
before we ask. And he also told us, seek ye
first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And all these
things shall be added unto you. Now, I know we need the things
of this life, but I don't want to trade knowing Christ. I don't want to trade the opportunity
to meet together and to worship him. I don't want to trade the
opportunity of meeting together and hear Christ preached just
so I can have some more temporary things of this life. So I say,
give me Christ or else I die. It's very important to me to
have a knowledge of doctrine, to have a sound knowledge of
doctrine. It's important to have a correct
knowledge of the scripture. But I need a whole lot more than
that. The Pharisees had a knowledge of what the scripture said, didn't
they? They didn't know what they meant, but they knew what they
said. I don't just need a knowledge
of religion. And I don't want you to just have a knowledge
of religion. I need to know Christ. Knowing Christ is life eternal. And if I know Christ, I'll understand
the scriptures. And if I don't know Christ, I
don't care how much I study the scriptures and how many great
writers of the past that I read, I'll never have an understanding
of the scripture if I don't know Christ. So I say, give me Christ
or else I die. I wanna give you five points
on that subject this morning. Give me, or this evening, give
me Christ or else I die. Number one is this. Give me Christ's
righteousness or else I die. Philippians three, verse seven.
But what things were gained to me, those I counted loss for
Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all
things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I've suffered the loss of all things and to
count them but dung, that I may win Christ and be found in him,
not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which
is of God by faith." Now, all these things that Paul lost,
these things that he counted as dung, you know what they were?
They were his works of the law, works of the law that Saul of
Tarsus did, trying to earn his own righteousness. And I have
very little doubt outwardly Saul of Tarsus did all those things.
You and I watching him, we couldn't lay our finger on one thing man
did wrong. Outwardly, I'm just confident of that. I don't think
he's lying. I think outwardly he did those things. But this
is what he found out. They could never make him righteous.
Those works were full of sin because they were full of self.
They weren't full of Christ, they were full of self-righteousness.
And that's why Paul counted them as dumb, because they weren't
saving, they were damning. They were damning. The only way
for sinners like you and me to be made righteous is by being
in Christ. Christ is the righteousness of
his people. Jeremiah called the Savior Jehovah
Sidkenu, the Lord our righteousness. The Lord, our righteousness.
Do you hear that? Righteousness is not a thing.
Righteousness is not a legal state before God. Righteousness
is a person. The Lord Jesus Christ. If I would
be made righteous, I must have Christ. Righteousness doesn't
come by my works of the law. Paul says here, it comes through
the faith of Christ. through the faithfulness of Christ
to obey the law in my place as my representative. That's the
only way I can be made righteous. That's the only way you can be
made righteous. So I say, give me Christ or else I die. I always feel very cautious about
this. I don't want me and I don't want
you to just know things about Christ. I don't want us to just
to know some doctrinal facts about Christ, true as they may
be. I want to know Christ like a
wife knows her husband. I want to be joined to Christ
so that I am one with Him, so that I am what He is. If we're joined to Christ, we're
righteous because we are what he is. I want to be joined to
Christ so that I have his life. That's the only way a dead sinner
can live. It's by being joined to Christ, just like the branch.
The only way the branch can live is if it's joined to the vine.
The only way you and I can live is if we're joined to Christ.
That's what Paul says when he goes on here in verse 10, that
I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship
of his sufferings be made conformable unto his death, if by any means
I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead." Here's what Paul's
saying. I don't want to just know some
facts about the resurrection of Christ. I don't want to know
just some doctoral ramifications of the resurrection of Christ.
They may be true, but I want to know more than that. This
is what Paul's saying, and I am in him. I want to experience
that same life giving power that raised the Lord Jesus Christ
from the dead. See, I'm dead in sin. You're dead in sin. And
the only way we can have spiritual life is if God, the Holy Spirit,
he moves in that same life giving power and raises us from the
dead by that same life giving power that he raised the Savior
from the dead. See, I need to be given spiritual life. And
the only way I can be given spiritual life is if I'm given life for
the very same reason that Christ was raised from the dead. Now
think about for a minute, why did Christ die? He died for sin,
didn't he? He died for the sin of his people.
The sin of his people was made his and that sin demanded his
death. Isn't that right? Three days
later, why did he rise again? Because all that sin that was
laid on him was put away by his sacrifice. See, his sacrifice,
which put away sin, demanded that he be raised again from
the dead. If Christ died for me, if Christ died for you, his
death puts your sin away. And the justice of God demands
you be given life. If Christ died for you, this
I promise you, God's gonna raise you from dead. He's gonna give
you spiritual life. Now, that's not just religion.
That's not just good Calvinistic doctrine, that's a vital union,
a vital relationship with a person. And that's what salvation is,
isn't it, Kevin? It's a union with, it's a relationship with
a person. So I say again, give me Christ
or else I die. Now I know how Christ made his
people righteous. In two or three sentences, I'm
going to tell you. It's something you've heard before. It's not
anything new. But I don't want you to listen
to this and just hear this as doctrine. This is how legally
God made his people righteous. I want you to listen to what
the Savior did for his people. The righteous, holy son of God,
who knew nothing but holiness, took the sin of his people away
from them, and he made it his, knowing what
it would cost him. He took the sin of his people
into his own body on the tree, and the father turned his back
on him. The father himself, plunged the sword of justice into his
fellow. And he suffered as no man has
ever suffered in the history of this planet, body and soul. And he suffered and he died.
He gave up the ghost. They couldn't kill him. He had
to give up the ghost. And you know why he gave up the ghost?
The transaction was done. Sin was paid for and he gave
up the ghost. And he did that for the likes
of you and me. He did that so wretches, rebels
who are nothing but sin would be made the righteousness of
God in him. See, when he took the sin of
his people, you know what he did? He traded them his righteousness.
And that's not just a legal document saying I'm righteous, he made
His people made them righteous. He gave them a righteous nature. Now that's a whole lot more than
doctrine. That's a salvation from a loving
Savior. I say, give me Christ or else
I die. All right, number two, 1 Peter
1. Give me Christ's blood or else
I die. 1 Peter 1 verse 18. For as much as you know that
you're not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from
your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers,
but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot. Now this is what I know. I know
I'm a sinner. I know I need to be redeemed
from my sin. And that sin is an astronomical,
infinite debt. Because all of my sin is a sin
against an eternal, infinite God. And I have willfully sinned
against Him. And there's nothing valuable
enough to pay that debt. All my silver and gold. all my
works, giving up my family, giving up good Kentucky bourbon, giving
up smoking cigars, whatever it might be, nothing's good enough
to pay that debt, nothing. But the blood of Christ, the
blood of Christ, the perfection of the Lord Jesus Christ makes
his blood so precious, there isn't any other blood like it.
All other blood is spoiled by sin. So only the blood of Christ
can pay the sin debt of his people. So I say, give me Christ or else
I die. Now again, I didn't want to just
know about the blood of Christ. I want to know Christ so that
I know when he shed his blood, he shed his blood for me. And this is what I tried to say
a minute ago. I hope. that in all of our love
of the gospel, those foundational tenet truths of the gospel that
we love, that separate us, the difference in doctrine from the
Armenian and freewheeler and all that. I hope we don't ever
forget, maybe because we've heard it so much, maybe for whatever
reason, I hope we never forget what a precious thing it is that
the Lord Jesus Christ loved his people so much. He sacrificed
himself. He shared the most precious thing
that's ever existed on this earth, the blood of God, to put away
the sin of his people. That's precious. that's loving,
that's a whole lot more than a legal thing. That's something
that gets to the heart. I need him, don't you? So I say,
give me Christ or else I die. You know, my sin is not just
a violation of the rules. Sin is a defilement of my soul. See, sin gives me a twofold problem.
First, I got a debt I can't pay. And second, there's a defilement
of my soul, a filth on my soul that I cannot cure. I can't get
rid of it. I'm defiled through and through.
And the only hope I have is the blood of Christ. The Apostle
John said, the blood of God's Son cleanses us from what? All sin. cleanses us from all
sin, washes the souls of his people white as snow because
of his precious blood. So I say, give me Christ or else
I die. Now I'm telling you, I need my
sin. You need your sin to be taken
away from you. And the motions of religion won't get the job
done. Now I want you to listen to me
real clearly here. Even the motions of correct religion won't get
the job done. Even being around the gospel.
Even mentally saying, I think that's so. Even being around
folks that believe it and love it. Now listen to me, I'm telling
you I know what I'm talking about because I've experienced this.
I told somebody the other day, as long as I've ever understood
language, however old that is, that's how long I've been a Calvinist.
I mean, I just, I made, I understand those five points of Calvinism.
It's the only thing that makes sense. I believe those things
were so. You want to know what makes the
difference between tulip and salvation? is when I understand, God teaches
me, shows me, I'm totally depraved. See, I always believed in the
total depravity of man. When Lord revealed himself to
me, I understood I'm totally depraved. so that the only hope
I have is Christ. That's the only way my sin can
be put away. I always believed in unconditional election. Of
course God had to choose the people to save, because dead
people are never going to choose God. I understood that. But once I
understood who I am, I understood how desperately I need God to
choose me. I need Him to choose me. Limited atonement. I always believed
in limited atonement. Christ died for his people. He
didn't die for the whole wide world. If he did, hell would
be empty. Hell's not empty, so Christ didn't die for the sins
of every man that ever lived. That's obvious. When God showed
me who I am, oh, I need his blood. I need him to die for me, to
offer atonement for me. Irresistible call of the Spirit.
Of course, the only way anybody is ever going to come to Christ
is he calls them through the gospel and he calls them with
such power. Of course, they come to Christ. That's obvious. When Lord showed me who I am. I understood. I need to be where
the gospel is preached. Because that's the only way I'm
going to hear that call. That's the only way I'm going
to find out who Christ is and come to him. I need him to call me
or I'll never come. Well, Frank, you know, the Lord
showed you who you are. He showed you who he is. He chose
you. He died for you. He called you
by his gospel. Brother, we ain't done. I need
him to keep me. Perseverance of the soul. I understood
that. I mean, from the time I was a
little shaver, I understood that. When we tell you right now, I
mean, I need God to keep me. And I need him to do it by his
grace. Never because I deserve it. By his grace. That's the
difference. between doctrine and salvation. That's the difference between
TULIP and knowing Christ. I didn't have that in my notes,
but I hope that helps. I hope that helps you. The motions of
religion aren't gonna do it. The Jews had motions of religion,
didn't they? They had the sacrifices, they had the priesthood, they
had the holy days. Nobody else had them. The Philistines didn't
have them. The Amorites didn't have them, the Jews did. Didn't
do them any good. All the blood of animals and
bulls and goats that they offered year by year continually, that
never made them perfect. All it did was remind them every
year of sin. But the blood of Christ takes away the sin of
his people so that they're sanctified, made holy by his one offering
for sin. So I say, give me Christ or else
I'll die in my sin. Number three, look at Romans
chapter nine. I need Christ's love or else
I'll die. Romans chapter nine, verse 13. As it's written, Jacob have I
loved, but Esau have I hated. Now here's what God had to say.
This is not what some theologian has to say. This is what God
had to say. God said, I hate Esau. And how did Esau end up? Well, I mean, truthfully, Esau
ended up very rich in the things of this world, but Esau also
ended up a reprobate that God sent to hell. Jacob, his twin
brother, was a scoundrel. You read your pastors going through
the book of Genesis. Now, you think back across those
messages and cross reading through the book of Genesis, you're hard
pressed to find one thing old Jacob did right, aren't you?
I mean, can you write off, can you think of one that he did
right? Everything Jacob did, he did wrong first time, every
single time. And this is after the Lord saved
him. I'm talking about after the Lord revealed himself to
him at Bethel. Jacob, this is me. Here's this
ladder. I'm showing you a picture. This
is how I'm gonna save sinners. This is how I'm gonna save you.
He confirmed his promise to Jacob and Jacob just kept messing up,
messing up, messing up, messing up. But me too. But Jacob ended up
being blessed of God with every spiritual blessing that Almighty
God has. You know why? God's grace. God loved him. When Jacob came
to the end of his life, you know what he said? He said, the Lord
has shepherded me my whole life long. And that word shepherded
means fed. I've tried to wander off. I've
messed it up. And Lord's fed me and led me
and kept me my whole life long. And when Jacob died, The scripture
says Jacob went to be with the Lord. Genesis 49 verse 33 says
he was gathered unto his people. Who are his people? Abraham and
Isaac. Where were they? They were with
the Lord. Jacob was too. Now let me ask you, there's these
two men. What's the difference? What's
the difference between Jacob and Esau? The only difference
is the love of God. It's the only difference. The
love of God made the difference between being saved and being
lost, between heaven and hell, between life and death. So I
say, give me Christ or else I die. I want to know him so that I
know he loves me. It's the only way I can be saved.
See, I must have the love of Christ. I must. If Christ loves
me, He'll teach me, he'll feed me, he'll shepherd me just like
he did Jacob. Mark 6 verse 34 says, Jesus came
out and saw the people and he was moved with compassion
toward them. When's the last time you saw
a big crowd and you looked at them and you were moved with
compassion? The Savior was moved with compassion.
for that people. It says, because they were sheep,
not having a shepherd. And he began to teach them many
things. Boy, wouldn't you love to heard
that lesson. And we tell you what he's teaching them? Himself.
Himself. He's the teacher and he's the
lesson. He's teaching them himself. And after he taught him, you
know what he did? He performed that miracle, the
loaves and fishes and fed those people just because he had compassion
on them. The Lord loved that multitude
and he taught them and he fed them. That's just what I need. So I say, give me Christ or else
I die. See, if Christ loves me, this
is what I know for sure. If Christ loves me, he sacrificed
himself for my sin. Now you think of that, but that's
true of every one of God's people. It's what our Lord told his disciples
before he went to Calvary. John 15, verse 13, greater love
hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. All right, I understand that.
Here's the miracle of it. And you're my friends. And you're
my friends. I need the love of Christ or
else I die. And I'll tell you something else
about the love of Christ. Do you know his love? His love for
his people will be the theme of the song of heaven. Revelations
1 verse 5 tells us that they sang unto him that loved us and
washed us from our sins in his own blood. That's gonna be the
theme of the song of heaven. I wanna learn the melody now,
don't you? I can't sing it as well as they do, but I wanna
start singing it now, don't you? All right, here's the fourth
thing. Give me Christ's presence or
else I die. Now, you don't need me to tell
you that this world is a hard, hard, hard place to live, especially
for the believer. Now, every son of Adam has to
endure the effect of sin. the effect of sin in our bodies,
the effect of sin in the world around us, every son of Adam
has to endure that. But the believer also has to
endure the hatred of this world, has to endure being misunderstood
by this world. The believer has to endure the
heartache of dragging around that old dead man with him everywhere
he goes. He has to endure that. The believer goes through trials
and troubles that are sent by the Lord and sent only to his
people. He's gonna send, he promised
us he'll send them to his people. Writer to the Hebrews says, if
you're without chastisement, you're a bastard and not a son.
So every son, every believer endures that chastisement, endures
those trials and heartache in deep, deep waters. Look back
at Isaiah 43. If you're not going through those
deep waters and going through these chastisements like I'm
talking about at this very moment, I'm sorry to tell you, you will
soon. You will soon. And when that happens, what's
the believer's only comfort? What's the only thing the believer
has to hang on to in those dark, stormy waters? Isaiah 43, verse
one. But now thus saith the Lord that
created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, you
fear not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy
name, and thou art mine. When thou passest through the
waters, I will be with thee. And through the rivers, they
shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shalt not be burnt, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee, for I am the Lord thy God. the Holy One of Israel,
thy Savior. I gave Egypt for thy ransom,
Ethiopia and Sheba for thee, and here's why I did it, since
thou was precious in my sight. Thou hast been honorable, and
I have loved thee. Therefore will I give men for
thee, and people for thy life, so you fear not, and here's why,
for I am with thee. Now if you're a believer, this
is what you'll find. you'll find you can endure any
trial, any heartache, as long as you have a sense of
the presence of the Lord with you. You sure can. Our brother John Newton wrote
these words. He said, when Jesus no longer I see, sweet prospects,
sweet birds and sweet flowers have all lost their sweetness
to me. The midsummer sun shines but dim and the fields strive
in vain to look gay. Everything's dull and lifeless.
That's what I have when I don't have a sense of his presence.
But our brother went on to say that when I do have a sense of
his presence, December's as pleasant as May. And prisons do palaces
prove if Jesus would dwell with me there. Oh, I say, give me Christ. Give
me his presence or else I die. The Lord's presence is so precious
to the hearts of his people that the sweet psalmist of Israel,
in his own words, said, give me Christ or else I die. Psalm
51, verse 11, he said, cast me not away from thy presence and
take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Give me your presence. That's the constant cry of every
believer, isn't it? Andre Hill even go to Oregon.
or Washington or wherever far-flung place you're going, he's already
there. He's already there. Then here's the last thing. Look
at John chapter six. Give me a commitment to Christ
or else I die. I want to be committed to him.
John six, verse 65. And he said, therefore said I
unto you that no man can come unto me, except it were given
unto him of my father. And he said that to a big crowd.
He had many people following him. And from that time when
he finished, our Lord finished this great message. Many of his
disciples went back and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus
unto the 12, will you also go away? Huh? The door's open. I'm not keeping
you against your will. Will you also go away? And Simon
Peter answered him, Lord, to whom should we go? Thou hast
the words of eternal life, and we believe and we're sure that
thou art that Christ, the son of the living God. Peter was committed, wasn't he? I know Peter's gonna stumble
and fall one or two times, but Peter was committed to Christ.
I want to be that. You're the only people who are
going to be crowned are the people who finish the race. And you
know what finishing the race is? The writer to the Hebrews
gave us a whole lot of examples of in Hebrews chapter 11. These
all died in the faith. That's finishing the race. Now,
if I quit before I die, all that shows is I never knew Christ.
I may have known some doctrine, You may have known some things
about Christ. I can quit doctrine. I can quit knowing facts, but
I can't quit Christ. If I know him, I can't quit him. The Lord, and here's, this is,
oh, this has been on my heart. The Lord has been committed to
me. He chose me. He loved me. He sacrificed himself
for me. He called me to Christ. He gave
me faith to believe Christ, faith and life to come to Christ. And
he's promised he's going to keep me to the end. And I'm not going
to help him one step in all that journey. I'm not going to help
him one way. But that's commitment, isn't it? For him to promise
his people, I will never leave you nor forsake you. Now I don't know about you, I'm
thankful for that. I want that to be clear. I'm thankful. But I don't want
that to be a one-way street. I don't want to be trying to
leave him. I want to be committed to him. I know he's got to keep
me, but I want to be committed to him. Brother Henry said one
time, he said, when I go to other places, he said, I tend to preach
a little longer and tend to use more examples because when I
visit places, they ain't heard all my illustrations before.
So let me give an illustration of this. Back in, I forget what every
year it was, but our youngest daughter, Savannah, she's about
two. And we were going to the service one Sunday mornings,
big, big snow come on the ground. You know, they'd scrape the parking
lot, but you know how it is. Well, maybe y'all don't know,
but if you've ever seen snow, you scrape the parking lot, there's
snow and it's all slippery stuff, you know, left on top of the
parking lot. And we are walking, me and Savannah, and I had a
hold of her hand, good and tight. And we're walking across that
little bit of snow and ice that was left there. And this two
year old looks up at me And she says, don't worry, Daddy, I won't
let go. And I said, that's good, baby. Daddy won't let go either. Now,
who's keeping that little one safe? Was it her hanging on to
me? Or me hanging on to her? I know the Lord has promised
I will not let you go. But here's one thing old Jacob
did right. He said, Lord, I won't let you go except you bless me. I want to be that guy. I want
to not let him go. I want to be so committed to
Christ. I want to be committed to his
gospel. I don't want to just give mental agreement that it's
true and make fun of the Armenian that don't believe it. I don't
want that. I don't want, don't do that. When I think of the
gospel, I want to think about my need to hear it. I need, I
need to be in the public worship service. And here's why, because
the Savior said where two or three are gathered together in
my name, there I am in the midst of them. I want to be where he
is. I want to be where he is. I also have a need to do whatever
it is I can do to help the ministry. so that I and my family and my
community and my friends in this community can have a place to
come hear the gospel. When Paul wrote to Philemon,
he told him, he said, brother, he said, the saints are refreshed
by you. Philemon believed the gospel
and buddy, he put his back to this thing. When God's people
were passing through, he came, he took them, and he said, come
stay with me. Come stay with me. I'll take
care of you. Philemon took me around today, just keeping me
fed and entertained and fellowship. That's what Philemon did. You
know why he did it? That man was committed to the cause of
Christ. And you know how he showed it? By a commitment to God's
people. By a commitment to his people. And I want to be committed, committed
to my pastor who faithfully preaches Christ to me. I got another illustration
for this. In writing to the church at Galatia,
the apostle Paul said, chapter four, verse 15, he said, I bear
you record, if it had been possible, you would have plucked out your
own eyes and given them to me. Apparently, Paul had eyesight
problems and those people, if it was possible, would have took
out their eyes that saw and gave them to Paul to help him. That's
commitment, isn't it? If you knew Brother Henry Mahan
very well, you knew that he was hard of hearing and he had hearing
aids and Those hearing aids weren't as good as they are today. He
told me, he said, here's the thing about these hearing aids.
He said, especially if I get in a crowd, I can hear nothing
or I can hear everything. He said, but either way, I can't
understand what's going on. The people that knew him would
have gladly plucked off their ears and given it to a man who
would have had 10,000 ears if it was possible. That's commitment. I want to be committed to this
thing, because I need to hear of Christ. Look at 1 John 3. This is the last passage we'll
look at. I don't know if I've preached
too long or not, but I want you to get this here. 1 John 3. Verse
16. Hereby perceive we the love of God. How do we know God loves his
people? Because he laid down his life for us. And we ought
to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this
world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his
bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God
in him? How can that be possible? My little children, let us not
love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and truth. This is what John's saying. If
I'm committed to Christ and I love Christ, I'm gonna be committed
to you and I'm gonna show it by my love for you. So I say
one more time, give me Christ or else I die. Give me a commitment
to him and to his cause so that I can help this ministry
be a help and encouragement to call sinners to come to Christ. I've been around preaching preachers
in the gospel pretty much as long as I can remember. And I'm so thankful for those
men. So many of those those old war horses are gone now. Well, does that mean there's
no hope for sinners today? Huh? My earnest prayer is that God
would cause us to serve our generation. And I'm thankful for those men
in the past. I'm not saying I want to forget them or diminish their
importance, diminish how God used them. You know what I'm
saying. I mean, I love those men. I love
them. Someone was telling me recently
about Brother Henry, said, well, you know, nobody preaches the
gospel like him. Well, I mean, I guess that that
could be true, but people preach the same gospel. If we're dependent on these men
that the Lord's called home, we're in trouble. Now we're in
trouble. Well, let's take up the mantle
of our fathers. I want to be committed to this
thing. So that we serve our generation.
Somebody served us, didn't they? I want to serve our generation. Hope I don't sound like I'm on
my soapbox. I'm saying that to me. This is so important to me. And I hope it'd be helpful to
you. I hope it'd be a blessing to you. And I thank God for you. I thank God for your friendship
and your fellowship. I thank God that you would invite
me here to preach. You come out on Tuesday night
instead of Wednesday night. I thank God for you. And like
I said, to open the service, I pray God's richest blessing
on you. All right. Thank you. You can tell me what it was after,
but one of the elders there at 13th Street said, there's two
kinds of preaching that makes me want to preach, and that's
good preaching and bad preaching. That's good preaching. That's the difference between
preaching about Christ and preaching Christ. That was it. That's the difference between
professing him and possessing him. Thank you. We appreciate you, brother. Let's
pray together, and then Mike can lead us in a song, and you'll
be dismissed. Visit Frank, but now he's got
to get up early. He's still on East Coast time.
Love him some, but let him go to bed, too. Father, thank you
for your word. Thank you for blessing my heart
tonight. Thank you for blessing your people's
hearts. Oh, that we might win Christ
and be found in him. What a redeemer we have, the
Lord, our righteousness, and to thank you given people like
me, his name, whereby she shall be called the Lord, our righteousness. Thank you, Lord. Thank you. Because of Christ, we thank you.
Amen.