Good evening. If you all would,
please open your Bibles to Romans chapter 1. What we're going to read tonight,
the passage we're looking at, could seem to be pretty grim,
pretty dark. And rarely is this passage read
in public. More rare is it preached from
in truth. But it'll be good for us to look
at. That's where we're coming to in Romans chapter 1. And I
was thinking this evening, if I were to go 50 miles east of
here, and I started telling everybody out there in those sand dunes
about a life raft, I wouldn't have much interest, would I?
They don't need one, do they? If I were to go 50 miles west,
and was out in the middle of that ocean, and I started telling
people about a life raft, I think I'd have some people's attention,
wouldn't I? It's good for us to know the condition that we're
in. So tonight we've come to part
of Romans where Paul is moved by the Holy Spirit to give us
a glimpse of what our natural man is. And that is greatly necessary. As we've seen often recently,
the first thing that sinners learn of whenever the Holy Spirit
comes to them is He convinces them of sin. pricks their heart
and shows them what they are, shows them they're guilty before
God. So if you have had Christ revealed to you, revealed in
you, and you know that you're his child and he'll keep you
for eternity, listen to me. Pay attention to me. The more
we know of ourselves, the more we'll see Christ in his majesty.
The more we understand how low we truly are. The Lord won't
show us completely, We'd probably just die right there. But the
more we can understand how low we are, the higher Christ will
be exalted. And if you've not yet believed
on Christ, listen to me. Pay attention. The words here,
it's God's holy high command speaking to us of what we truly
are, what men and women truly are in His sight. What my flesh
truly is in His sight. how every natural man and woman
outside of Christ is seen in the eyes of God. We need to know
what trouble we are in to know that we need to be saved. Look
at Romans chapter 1, we're going to begin in verse 18. For the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who
hold the truth in unrighteousness. Because that which may be known
of God is manifest in them, for God hath showed it unto them.
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world
are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made,
his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Because that, when they knew
God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful but
became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise,
they became fools and changed the glory of the uncorruptible
God into an image made like to corruptible man and to birds
and four-footed beasts and creeping things. Wherefore, God also gave
them up to uncleanness through the lust of their own hearts,
to dishonor their own bodies between themselves, who changed
the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the
creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this cause, because of that,
for this cause God gave them up unto vile affections, For
even their women did change the natural use into that which is
against nature. And likewise also the men, leaving
the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one towards
another. Men with men, working that which
is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of
their error, which was meat, was fit. And even as they did
not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over
to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient.
Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness,
maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity,
whispers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters,
inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding,
covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful,
who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things
are worthy of death, they know these things are worthy of death,
not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
That sounds harsh. Does that worry you? That's the
Lord's opinion of a man. That's how he sees it truly as
we are. Doesn't look like a good outcome, does it? It gets better. Well, let's look at five points
here this evening. It's hard to deal with, but we
must face them. If we can either face them in
this world while we're here on this earth, if the Lord's gracious
to us and gives us a heart to face these things, or we'll face
them in judgment. And it will be the truth. The
first one is God is just. It says there in Romans 1 verse
18, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men. His wrath is revealed. What's
this wrath that's revealed? It's twofold. First off, the
Lord God Almighty has plainly recorded for us that He will
by no means clear the guilty. Visiting the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children and upon the children's children
unto the third and to the fourth generation. The Lord will deal
with sin. It will happen. Psalm 9 says, "...the Lord is
known by the judgment which He executeth. The wicked is snared
in the work of His own hands. The wicked shall be turned into
hell and all the nations that forget God." They know God's
truth, but they choose to forget it. They've been taught these
things. We'll see here in a little while,
every man is taught in their own heart. But God has displayed
His judgment in the Scriptures. But has He shown us what His
judgment is on this earth? throughout history? Because people didn't believe
on God and they forgot God. They forgot His commandments.
Judgment was on Adam in the garden. Adam and Eve were expelled, weren't
they? Cherubims were placed in the
garden to prevent them coming back in. There's eternal separation
there. God judged the world during the
times of Noah. He looked down and saw that every
heart was corrupt, every thought, every imagination of man's heart
was only evil continually. And he sent the flood and all
perished. That sin was punished. But there
was an ark. Those that were in that ark lived,
didn't they? Sodom and Gomorrah. The Lord
looked down and saw the evils taking place in those cities.
And he sent fire and brimstone from heaven. Some people argue
Saul was a meteor shower. Well, he sent a meteor shower
and he burnt those two cities to the ground, didn't he? But
not before he brought his man out, didn't he? Brought Lot and
his family out. He had those one righteous man left in that
city. But nowhere in the Bible, nowhere in these scriptures,
nowhere in history, in man's history, is God's wrath more
clearly stated than on the cross in Christ's tongue. Those for
whom Christ died are righteous. They are holy. They're sanctified. They're just in the eyes of Almighty
God because Christ bore that wrath that was due to those to
Noah and his family in that ark to Lot, to me. He bore that for his elect children.
The sun was darkened for three hours. The veil in the tabernacle
was torn from top to bottom. They estimate that veil weighed
about four tons. It's huge. There'd be a sound
with that, wouldn't there? The earth shook. There was an
earthquake. The graves of the sleeping saints were opened and
they walked within the holy city. People that they knew, they recognized. They're family members. Because
Christ was forsaken. And on that cross he cried out,
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why did he cry that
out? He fulfilled Psalm 22. Go home
and read that this evening. That's to it. Tea. It wasn't
about David. And when he had given up the
ghost, people knew it. Matthew 27 says, Now when the
centurion and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw
the earthquake and those things which were done, they feared
greatly, saying truly, this was the Son of God. They were brought
to an understanding, weren't they? And the end of verse 18 in Romans
1. The second point, men and women
are without excuse. says, "...who hold the truth
in unrighteousness, because that which may be known of God is
manifest in them, for God hath showed it unto them. For the
invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are
clearly seen, but misunderstood by the things that are made."
I'm sorry, "...being understood by the things that are made,
His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse."
No man, woman, or child is saved without the revelation of Christ
in their hearts through the preaching of the gospel. The Lord clearly
states that's how he saves his people. But there are some facts
that's in each and every man's heart and woman's heart and child's
heart that the Lord put there. Throughout history, all over
this world, they know that there's an almighty God. As a child,
I knew that there was an Almighty God. I believed in God. I didn't
believe God, but I believed in Him. They know He's all-powerful,
and they know He'll judge the world. Romans 2.15 says, "...which
show the work of the law written on their hearts, their conscience
also bearing witness, and their thoughts, the meanwhile accusing
or else excusing one another." It's in men's conscience. We
know these things. But how do natural, unregenerated
men and women know God's truth and power? How are they aware
of that? How does their conscience bear
them witness? First off, they're without excuse because the truth
of God is revealed in creation. Psalm 19 says, The heavens declare
the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto
day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge.
There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.
It's all over the world. Sun rises all over the world,
doesn't it? Stars shine, no matter what country you're in. You can
be in the Amazon or in Alaska or here in San Diego, it don't
matter. There's a sun and stars and moons. We know those things.
The Lord said those, as surely as the sun comes up every morning,
as my covenant will be with thee. His promises are sure. That's
a reminder to the believer every day when the sun comes up. The
Lord's will keep those promises. The line has gone out throughout
all the earth, and their words to the end of the world, and
then which he hath set his tabernacle before the sun, which is as a
bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth us as
a strong man to run a race." The sun hanging in our solar
system is a picture of Christ. It shines on this earth, gives
us warmth, grows her food for us, does everything. We can't
control it. The Lord can. Job wrote, God
thundereth marvelously with his voice. Great things doeth he
which we cannot comprehend. And he immediately says, for
he saith to the snow, be thou on the earth. And likewise, the
small rain and the great rain of his strength. Natural man
will be convinced. Well, that's just the weather.
We don't pay any attention to that. You can't do it. You can't make
it snow or make it rain. The Lord can. We know this in
creation. Man looks around and sees God's
Almighty. He's all-powerful, isn't He? Men and women are without excuse
because the truth of God is revealed in Providence. It says, The King's
heart is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of water. He turneth
it, whithersoever He will. We think about the governments
of this world. How is it that we're not constantly
in warfare. All those different nations in
Europe and Africa and Asia and all over the world. How are we
in somewhat of an agreement enough not to just kill each other on
a daily basis? The hand of the King's heart. The King's heart
is in the hand of God. He controls that. Turns it as
he wills. Satan requested of the Lord.
He came to report to the Lord like in the military. you go
to your superior, he showed up to report. And he said, Hast
not thou made a hedge about him, speaking of Job, and about his
house, and all that he hath on every side? Thou hast blessed
the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the
land. Have y'all ever gardened? Tried to grow a garden? Real
quick, you'll find out that man has no hand in the yield of that
garden. Now you can take it, I'm good
at tomatoes. You can take a tomato plant and I can pick the sucker
leaves off so it grows larger tomatoes and you can fertilize
it right and you can water it right and keep them shaded and
keep them sunned and then bugs come in, they're gone. You go
out and they're all, or it rains and all those tomatoes bust,
they get too much water in them, don't they? We try to get grass
to grow in our yard. We have two big old trees cut
out. and worked so hard to get that grass to grow. Could not.
And then down my driveway, there's gravel. I drove a big old truck
down it every day and grass was growing up so thick I had to
cut it. Am I powerful? Am I more powerful than the Lord?
The Lord declares His power and providence every moment of every
day. I got up this morning, I was
going to get here early, study, get my message ready. I went
to go wash my face and brush my teeth, I had no water. Well,
it wasn't working. There goes my plans. Men and women are without excuse
because the truth of God is revealed in the Holy Scriptures through
His gospel. The Lord creating everything
is declared in Holy Scripture. The orbit of the planets is declared
and the constellations is declared. Before there was ever a telescope
made, the belt of Orion was declared. Light making sound was declared
in Job before spectrum analysis ever came out. God's providence
was declared and recorded, being executed exactly as it was written. The Lord Jesus was born of a
virgin, exactly where it was written, exactly when it was
written, how it was written. He fulfilled every prophecy in
the Old Testament, his life, his death, his burial, his resurrection. Paul wrote, for I delivered unto
you, first of all, that which I also received, how that Christ
died for our sins according to the scriptures. The Lord used
these holy scriptures, he's preserved them to declare who his son is,
who he is, didn't he? And he declares to us who man
is. We have no excuse not to bow
to God. Even if we've never heard of
the Bible. Some tribe people have asked
me before, what about those people that have never had contact with
other humans down in the Amazon? They see the Lord's creation.
Those things have been written on their hearts and they know.
God's truth is revealed in creation, providence, and His Holy Scriptures.
Alright, further there, Romans 1.21. Sinners always turn from wisdom
to their own foolishness. Romans 121, Because that when
they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were
thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their
foolish heart was darkened. It says that foolish heart was
darkened. When men and women's consciousness
know God, They can't stand it. Just like those Galatians we
saw the other day, Sunday. They became fools, didn't they?
Why were they foolish? They turned from Christ. They
looked to anything other than Christ. It's a definition of
a fool. Left to ourselves, that nature
that's in each of us cannot and will not seek the Lord. It leads
to eternal death. Proverbs 14 says, There is a
way which seemeth right unto man, But the end thereof are
the ways of death. Most people cry, that's not fair. I can figure this out on my own.
I have a brain. My heart's not completely bad. Prophet Isaiah wrote, For my
thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my
thoughts than your thoughts. The Lord doesn't think the way
we do, does he? Why can't a human sort out salvation
by himself? Because the carnal mind is enmity
against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed
can be. So then, they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
It's not in us. Man can stand up and say that
it is. The Lord says different. Says they're professing to be
wise. Romans 1.22. Professing themselves to be wise,
they became fools. There's no true wisdom apart
from knowing Christ. Proverbs wrote, 1 7 The fear
of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but the fool despises
wisdom and instruction. What else is foolish that this
world thinks? For the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it
is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy
the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding
of the prudent. I come out here once a month for a year or so.
You know how many people said, why in the world would you fly
from New Jersey to California to go preach to them people?
Ain't there somebody in between here and there that can go out
there? That's dumb. That's foolish. And I said, yep,
that's exactly right. It is, isn't it? The Lord says
everybody thinks it's foolish. That means He chose to do it. With a foolish heart and no wisdom,
Men change God's glory into something corruptible just like themselves. Verse 23, Romans 123. And change the glory of the uncorruptible
God into an image made like to a corruptible man and to birds
and four-footed beasts and creeping things. Now it's easy for many
people to find something wrong with worshiping a cow. I think
there's about a billion people that do that on this earth. for
seven other billion people, that's pretty laughable. If somebody
worshiped a monkey, I wouldn't put too much weight into it.
We know those things. Many people worship a statue
of a very heavyset fellow that tells everyone about self-control.
Those things are laughable. We can look at that logically
and see that. But our nature will keep us looking
to anything and everything but Christ's finished work. We'll
keep turning from Him, won't we? To anything. To cows. To monkeys. If He takes His hand
off of us. One of the commentators wrote
this, Idolatry is the madness of man running free. Children of God do not worship
God through things or acts or animals. We worship Him in the
heart, don't we? Our Savior said, God is a spirit,
and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in
truth. I find it funny too when people,
they push legalism, they push the law, but they have no reverence
for it. They want the Ten Commandments
on every school in the nation. And they went on every government
building. That's a big, I don't know about here. That's a big
fight where I'm from. They want the 10 commandments on the wall
and concrete at the local schools. And the whole time they're doing
that, they got a cross around their neck. Or they got pictures of
angels in their house or a very handsome Caucasian man that we
don't know who, where that image came from, but it's all over.
They surround themselves in these things, but they're fighting
for the 10 commandments of Moses. Take those people back to Sinai.
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness
of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth
beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not
bow thyself down to them, nor serve them. For the Lord thy
God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon
the children unto the third and fourth generations of them that
hate me." That's to hate God. And religious people will tell
you, well, I don't worship those things, they just remind me of
God. Throw them away. Well, I can't do that. Why not? Well, it's important. Those things,
I need that. No, you need the Lord. What is that likeness of things
on earth? Paul writes, made like to corruptible man. In most churches,
most churches, what men call churches, man is worshipped. How? How does that take place? They take the power that is God's
alone and they put it in the hands of men. They make salvation
man's doing. It's his choice. It's his prerogative. It's something he does. They
make perfecting themselves their accomplishment. Well, the Lord
saved me, but look how far I've grown. I'm going to get a bigger
crown in heaven. I'll have more jewels in my crown.
They don't look to Christ's accomplishments on the cross. What's the result
of that? What's the result of a man knowing
God's truth and power, His perfection, His judgment, and His heart turning
from it? What's the result of men and
women who hear Christ faithfully preached, and they reject it? There comes a time when God hardens
the heart of the reprobate. God turns His back on them. It
says in Jeremiah, don't even pray for them. I sat with that a long time today.
There comes a time when God allows sinners to be with themselves
and He turns away from them. So what are we to do? Seek Him
while He may be found. For those that do not, the Lord
says, cast them aside. That got my attention. Does that get your attention?
The Lord casts people aside. He hardens their hearts. If that
doesn't grab you, if that doesn't shake your soul, nothing will. What is it to harden hearts?
I've been picked on quite a bit for that. You say the Lord makes
people not be able to believe. You all know what concrete is?
We're sitting on it. You ever seen a concrete truck
Josiah? What's it doing going down the
road? It spins, don't it? You know why a concrete truck
is spinning? You got to work it or it gets hard, don't it?
If you live by concrete alone. That's its nature. It's concrete's
nature is to get hard when you stop working it. How does the
Lord harden a man or a woman's heart? He stops working them. Takes his hand off of them. Leaves
them alone. And that's our nature. It gets
hard, don't it? It's rough, callous. That's what happens here. Romans
1.24. Wherefore, God also gave them
up to uncleanness through the lust of their own hearts, to
dishonor their own bodies between themselves, who changed the truth
of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more
than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. for this cause. Because man is worshipped above
God, God gave them up unto vile affections For even their women
did change the natural use into that which is against nature.
And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman,
burned in their lust one towards another, men with men working
that which is unseemly, don't even want to talk about it, and
receiving in themselves the recompense of their error, which was neat,
which was fitting. And even as they did not like
to retain God in their knowledge, because they had no interest
in it, God gave them over. He gave them up to a reprobate
mind to do those things which are not convenient, those things
that are not of profit. He let them go. Being filled
with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness,
full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, and he goes on without
understanding. If God leaves sinners to themselves,
leaves them alone, he takes his hand off of them, there is no
end to the wickedness that will come out of them, that will sink
into, because our heart's naturally wicked. It says, the heart is
deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know
it? We looked at that last week, didn't we? That means I don't
know my own heart. I don't know how wicked and deceitful
it is. Christ said, for out of the heart
proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts,
false witness, blasphemies, That's the guns don't kill people. Murders, where's the source of
that? Adulterers, fornications, false
witness. Mom and dad wasn't nice to you?
No, this is out of the heart. What mom and dad gave you when
you was born, that's the source of it. Second Thessalonians says, even
him who Whose coming is after the working of Satan with all
power and signs and lying wonders and with all deceivableness of
unrighteousness and then that perish because they receive not
the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this
cause, God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe
a lie. To believe anything other than
Christ alone. is idolatry. Anything that you
put between you and God other than Christ is an idol. Idolatry of man's will, man's
wisdom, man's holiness. And wherever idolatry is rampant
throughout history, sodomy is rampant throughout history. What
happened in Iowa the other day has zero impact on my studies. Somebody looks at the date on
this, they'll probably disagree with me. That's fine, they can just
disagree with me. But what are nations heading towards? Is that
a surprise? No. One president, accidentally,
he said a whole bunch of right stuff. He said, this isn't a
Christian nation. That's exactly right. They despise the things
of Christ, don't they? They look away, no, I want to
do something. They turn from him. What comes
next? These things listed here. That's
not a surprise. If the sodomites end up running
the politics or whatever, I don't even watch that stuff. I can't
avoid it. That's not a shock. That's not
a surprise. That's the Lord's will coming.
His scripture is coming to providence, isn't it? It's coming to fruition.
People think we've become enlightened and progressed to a new level,
and, oh, we're so sophisticated now, and we have a better understanding
of nonsense. They think this is something
new. Throughout history, nothing's
changed from Sodom and Gomorrah to Rome to today. Nothing's changed. These cycles keep happening.
Every king that God's raised up to further His gospel, what
did they do? They got rid of all the idols
and either killed or run off the Sodomites, didn't they? Quickly
thereafter, the Lord took His hand off of people and we fell
right back into it. We're just like a dog returning
to our vomit, as the Proverbs said. We just keep going back
to it. We're almost done. It's rough on me too. And once
God gives up sinners to themselves, they want others to do the same,
don't they? After the unregenerate man is left alone, they continue
to sin willfully towards death, and they encourage others to
do the same. It says there in Romans 1.32, who knowing the judgment of God,
they know these things, that they which commit such things
are worthy of death. They know that these things are
in our hearts. Death's coming. They not only
do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. Every form
of sin is encouraged in our society today. It's in all societies.
But there's no correcting this world. There's no making this
world a better place. Our situation may be worse now
than before. We may be more aware of our situation.
Our nation's in a worse spot. But our heart hasn't changed.
Natural man hasn't changed. Been the same since Adam, hasn't
it? My brother does a little bit better than me, I want to
kill him. Just like Cain. That's all grim, dark stuff.
And I'm exhausted. It took a toll on you, it took
a toll on me too. Those things are real. The Lord recorded these.
He preserved His word, didn't He? What hope can I have? That's me. I've seen how, in
part, how low a man can get. The Lord sent me on the other
side of the world to know what depravity was, and I got a glimpse of it
in myself and in others. But what hope can I have? As
the Lord took His hand off of me, Has he took his hand off
of you? Do you worry about those? I hope
I'm the only one that worries about those things. Don't leave
me to myself. Let's turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
6. 1 Corinthians 6 and verse 9. Know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God, but be not deceived. Neither fornicators, nor adulterers,
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. It's that
same truth, isn't it? Verse 11. And such were some
of you. But ye are washed, ye are sanctified,
but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the
Spirit of our God. Did I lift myself up by my bootstraps?
Let's read that again, verse 11. But ye are washed. Somebody
washed you. But ye are sanctified. Did I
make myself holy? No, someone made you holy, didn't
they? But ye are justified How? In the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ and by the means that He uses in the Spirit of God.
The Holy Spirit comes to us, doesn't He? That's a good hope. I don't have to come back to
these things. Now what's going to happen as soon as the Lord,
the Spirit, through the Spirit comes to me and shows me what
Christ is and shows me that He's washed me, He's sanctified me,
He's justified me? Am I just going to keep living
in sin? Am I going to just dive deeper into that cesspool of
the heart? No, I've got a new heart. I don't want to do those
things. I want to push it down. I want
to make those things stop. And I look forward to that day
when I can live as He is and be made perfect. That's what
the Lord saved us from. Paul gave us a glimpse of those
things. That's how wicked we are. Christ had to bear the wrath
of that for Kevin Thacker. He was made Kevin Thacker that
day. He was made sin for us. Do I
have to get better first before we can do that? It says, but
God commended his, in Romans 5.8, but God commended his love
towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us. Much more than now being justified
by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. We can't do anything to save
ourselves. He's the one that saves us from that wrath, and
it's through Christ. For if, when we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more
being reconciled, shall we live, shall we be saved by His life.
Do not refuse to believe on the one that can save you. If you
don't know Christ, I pray He does not leave you to yourself
Pray turns you. Look to Him today. Seek Him while
He can be found. Run to Him. As Philip did, run. Those men leaving the boat that
were caught, straightway leave the boat. Run. Run to Christ. It's His blood that saves us.
He's the one that bore that wrath. And He's the only one that can.
Child of God. The ones that know Him. Turn
to Christ. Run to Him. Praise Him for everything. And I hope and I pray that your
cup runs over with love, devotion, praise and gratitude and thanksgiving
for what He saved us from. He saved us from ourselves that
night. That doesn't give a pride of grace. I always say worry
about pride of face, pride of race, pride of grace. How could
I be proud of that? Do you know what I was? You know
what I'm living with now is two men worn in me. That's what the
Lord saved me from. I can't have pride in that. I
have pride in Him. I have pride in the One that
delivered me, my Deliverer. I hope I'm always reminded to
look to my Lord, to be reminded of what He actually done. If
I could taste just a little bit of understanding, I'd live like
a man that hath believed it. My life would be a lot different,
wouldn't it? If I could look to Him only. I pray that for
everyone in this room, everyone that's the sound of my voice,
somebody that's just years from now. Look to Him. He's able. Let's pray together. Father, thank You for Your Word.
Let us learn, Lord. Let us know that Your salvation
is not something that's convenient. It's not something that's slightly
beneficial, that it's needed. We're wretched, Lord. Thank you
for your Son. Forgive us our sins through Him.
Don't look to us. If you look on us, Lord, look
to Christ. Look on His righteousness and
His holiness, His works, His accomplishments. He's all we have, Lord, and thankfully
He is more than we need. How blessed we are, that double
cure of sin. Lord, that makes us look forward
to the day that we get to shed this body and be perfect, be
holy, be without sin, be able to worship you as you deserve,
and to truly be able to enter into how deserving you are of
glory. Keep us till then, Lord, as you
promised you will. Be with your people everywhere.
Pray for those that are among us that are sick. Comfort them,
Lord. Give us the grace and then the
grace to bow to your will. It's in Christ's name that we
ask it. Amen.