Go with me now to Ephesians 3.
Ephesians chapter 3. As you know, we've been studying
through Ephesians. Ephesians 3. Title subject is
God's Family. 1989, February of 1989, this
was one of the first messages I ever preached to you. I remember it well. To be a part
of a close-knit, loving family is a blessing, it's a gift from
God. To have parents, a father and
a mother, grandparents, a husband, a wife, children, That's a gift
from God. It's a blessing, it really is.
It's a real joy in this life if it's a close-knit, loving
family. It's a real joy. Some people
esteem that as the greatest blessing of all. But I want to talk to
you about a greater blessing, to be a part of a much greater
family than this earthly's earthly families. God's family. I hope, I want everyone in here
to be a part of this family. Be a child of God. Ephesians 3 verses 14 and 15,
Paul begins to pray and we'll look at the rest of the prayer
later. But these words struck me for
this cause, that is, for the cause of Christ, because he made
him a preacher of the gospel to the Gentiles, because he gave
him a love for these people, and because he gave them faith. He said, for this cause, I bow
my knees. I pray unto the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth
is named. The whole family. So for this
cause, he says, in humble adoration, like we sing the song, How Great
Thou Art, in great thanksgiving for the kingdom of God, for the
church of God, So I bow my knees and I thank God for this family
in heaven and in earth. God's people, God's family. His
people that have gone before us and we've known them and loved
them and they've gone on before us. My father, your mother, your
mother, your father, your husband. We have many in here, don't we,
that have gone on before us. Oh my, I can't even describe
what they're experiencing right now. And yet they're doing perfectly
what we're trying to do right now. Worship our God and the
Lord Jesus Christ. I am one of the most blessed,
if not the most blessed, men on earth. I was born into a close, loving
family. nearly every one of which were
believers. Both my parents, my father and
my mother, were believers. God saved them by His grace.
Both sets of grandparents My father's parents had nothing
but good memories of them. They were devoted, faithful believers,
supporters of the gospel. They set a good example in faith
to me. My father's parents, John Carey
and Atha Alleyne, an old Alabama name. And then my mother's parents,
both of them, were believers. Robert E. Lee Freese. That was his name. And then Mary
Turner Freese. She wrote many poems about the
gospel, about our Lord. I still have them. I was so blessed.
And my parents. Then two of my three siblings,
believers. And I expect to see them all
again and worship with them. Now in glory, Paul made this
plain in Romans 7. Our Lord said this, there are
no marriages in heaven. There are no relationships like
that in heaven. There are no fathers, no mothers,
no children, no husbands, no wives in glory. That all served
its purpose on earth. But all of God's people are His
children. Christ is their husband, he said. God is their father. My father
won't be my father to me. He'll be my brother. You understand? And this relationship starts
now, to where you realize that. And where the Lord makes you
a part of this family by his sovereign power and grace. And
you begin to love these people like family. And that grows and
grows. So, I'm a blessed person. I have family that were my material
or physical family, and I believe they're my family in Christ. And someday, we'll all be together
worshiping the Lord as the angels. Now sadly, in these last days,
written of so often, 2 Timothy 3 describes the last days, perilous
times that we're in, without natural affection. Families perverted and distorted. and broken down, and because
of the ravages of sin, fewer and fewer families, as
God ordained it to be, parents, a husband, a wife, a male, a
female, grandparents. It's sad. It's especially sad
for children. You parents, you think about
that long and hard before you ever give a thought to divorce. Brother Tom Hardy one time said,
I wish my dad had died rather than divorce my mother. God never meant that to me. He
hurt a lot of people, and these children suffer for your That's what God says. So much strife, so much division,
so much self. It's all about self. I'm not
happy. I had a lady tell me that one
time. She's going to leave her husband. I said, you can't do
that. She said, I'm not happy. Well, who cares if you're happy?
You're going to make a lot of other people unhappy. It ain't
about you. This life, this world, your family,
it ain't about your happiness. And that's what it says in 2
Timothy 3, the last day, the first thing, men will be lovers
of themselves. If you've been given a husband,
if you've been given a wife, your vocation from then on is
to serve them. If you've been given children,
their well-being is your life, not yours. This is sad. It's a sad day we
live in. But in spite of all that, thank
God there's a family that will never be dissolved. That sound,
that's secure, that's the same, will always be the same. We've
got a Heavenly Father that's faithful. He will never leave
us. Over in Isaiah, He said, where's
your divorce? Our husband, He said, where's
your bill of divorce, man? It ain't going to happen with
your Heavenly Father, with your Heavenly Husband. He's not going
to divorce you. You may leave Him and be unfaithful
to Him, but He'll never leave you. Aren't you glad? This is why you need to know
Him as your husband, as your father. God's family is sound,
it's secure, it's the same. And our children, your children
need to hear what I just said. This is from God above. Your
children need to. They're not going to hear it out in the world.
They're going to hear that what you're seeing today, all this
perversion, is normal. It's not normal. It's sinful. It's distorted. Mandy and I watch
these We've got 1,453 channels on our
TV. We watch two, House and Garden. We watch them renovating homes. And invariably, one out of two
of these homes involves two men living together. I say, turn it off. I don't want
to watch this perversion. That ain't normal. It's perverted. It's a sad day, isn't it? As
I said, that's why this family, you need to be a part of this
family. God's family. It will continue forever. And
it begins now. It begins now. It says that He's
the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and His children. Every
single epistle Every single epistle that Paul writes, he begins with
God our Father and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Every
epistle. Now, I've got to deal with this.
I've got to deal with this. Turn with me to Acts 17. Got to deal with this briefly.
God is everyone's God whether they know it or not. He said
that. He said, I've girded you, though
you don't know me. God provides, God is the creator,
reigns and rules over. He's the judge, the provider
of all. His tender mercies are over all
His works. He's everyone's God, whether
men acknowledge Him or not. That's what He said, though you
haven't known Him. Only a fool says there's no God.
But he's not the father of all mankind. This book does not say
that. It tells the opposite. In Acts 17, Paul is speaking
on Mars Hill to people in Athens, Greece, a city much like New
York City or somewhere like that, full of you know, metropolitan
city of people all over the world, who all had this notion that
God is the Father of all. And in verse 23, he talked about
the unknown God. He saw an inscription to the
unknown God. All right, look at verse 27.
He said, verse 26, I'm sorry. Verse 26, he said, God hath made
of one blood all nations of men to dwell on the face of the earth.
What one blood is that? Adam. We're all brothers in Adam. We all came from one man. Is
that not right? That's what Scripture said. Okay? Adam was created by God. He didn't
come from God. He's not the begotten of God.
You understand me? God has one begotten son, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Is that not right? God calls
him his son because I believe he was born of God, later, spiritually. Okay? All men and women are created
by God, but they're not the sons of God. You with me? Alright, read on. It says He's
determined the times, verse 26. He's determined the times of
the four appointed, the bounds of their habitation. Job said
their days are determined, the number of their months are with
the Lord. They cannot pass, their death, their life, everything.
That's what God's Word says. He's their God. Not their Father. Verse 27. that they should seek
the Lord, if happily they might feel after him and find him,
though he be not far from every one of us. For in him, read carefully
with me, in him we live and move and have our being. You see, he's in absolute control
of every human being. Is that right? As certain of
your own poets have said, This is what these poets say, like
Aristotle and Plato or whoever. We are his offspring. Who said that? These pagan poets. God didn't say that. So, he says, if this was so,
verse 29, for as much as we are the offspring of God, we ought
not to think that God's an idol. He's a person. You see the context
of what Paul... If God is our Father, if we're
His offspring, He's not a dead idol. He's a person like you
and me. Do you see who He's dealing with
and what's in the context? But he's careful to say, he's
not, he never said, God is your father. Did he? Did he? You ready
with me? Did he say that? God's a father.
No, he did not say that. He said, your poets say that.
And if that works out, that means he's a person like you and me.
That he is a person. And he is a father. Without a
doubt. Romans 9. Romans 9 with me. All
right? Let God be true and every man
a liar. I didn't say this, God did. Romans 9. You have it? Romans 9. Now on the Sermon on the Mount, you
remember that Sermon on the Mount? Who's our Lord preaching to? If you read it, it says He spoke
to His disciples. Every single time the Sermon on the Mount
is written in the Gospel, it says it's to His disciples. Everybody heard it, but He's
preaching to His disciples. He calls them the light of the
world. He calls them the salt of the
earth. He says to them, Your Father. They said, teach us to pray.
Who did? His disciple. What did he say? Say this, our Father which art
in heaven. Everybody prays that. He's not
everybody's father. Look at Romans 9, verse 8. They which are the children of
the flesh, he talked about Abraham, Isaac, They which are the children
of the flesh, these are not the children of God. You see that? But the children of the promise,
that is, the chosen, the elect. There you go again, preacher.
God said it. And I don't apologize for it.
And I thank Him for it. If He hadn't chose some to be
His children, none would be. We don't choose Him. Did you choose your earthly parents?
You say that's ridiculous. It's more ridiculous to claim
that you chose God to be your God and your personal Savior
and you let Him let you into His heaven. Are you serious?
What kind of God is He? You have control over Him. You
decide who gets in His heaven. You let this holy and just and
righteous God, and you're a rebel against Him. You let Him forgive
you. That's blasphemy. It's God. It's God. How then do they become His children? Romans 8. Go back a chapter.
Romans 8. How did they become his children? Look at it with me. Adoption. Adoption. Anybody in? Well, Brother
Ed back there was adopted. Ed, did you choose your parents? So there's a man and a woman
named Barry that came to the adoption agency and we said,
we want that one right there and gave you their name and purpose
to raise you and provide for you and love you. And they set
their love and affection on you. That's what happened. It wasn't
vice versa. Aren't you thankful for your parents that they chose
you? Aren't you thankful God chose you? See, this is one of
the things all God's people know. Adoption is not our choice, it's
His. Look at it, Romans 8, Adoption,
verse 14. As many as are led by the Spirit
of God, they are the sons of God. Who gets the Spirit of God? Those that He sends the Spirit.
Our Lord said to His disciples, My Father will send the Spirit
to you, and you'll be led by Him. Read on, verse 15. Talking about believers. Didn't
he say that? He prayed it. And verse 17, if children and
heirs, heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ. Joint heirs. Adoption. How else are they made children
of God? Well, he chose them, and they're
born of God. They're born of God. John 1,
it says, as many as received Him. You say, see preacher, they
received it. Hold on. Not accept. Receive. It's a huge difference. Receive. If I had a glass here,
I was going to pour this in it. Okay? Alright. This is me doing
it. Got an empty glass. And that's
everyone else. Empty. Don't know God. Don't know Christ. Don't know
anything. Empty. No spiritual, no life,
empty. I choose the glass and of my
fullness, I pour it in there. I'm not going to ask that glass,
would you please accept this water? No, no, no, no, no, no.
I'm going to pour it in there and the glass received it. The glass didn't do anything.
It was a receiver. A receptacle. Not the giver,
not the decider, the receiver. It had no say. Didn't he say,
I'm the potter, you're the clay. Clay has no say. I had a potter's
wheel one time, my brother and I did. We made pottery. We never once asked the clay,
what do you want me to do with you? Would you please let me
make you a cup? No, that's ridiculous. That's
what God said. Don't you understand that I'm
the potter? And you're the clay? Clay has
no sin. Clay is inanimate, dead matter. And unless God gives it life.
Receiver, as many as received Him by His grace, by His choice,
to them gave they the right to become the sons of God, which
were born, not of the will of the flesh, Not of bloods, not
of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man, but of God,
born of God. He's the one who chose them to
be the recipient of this mercy and this grace to be a child
of God. Put His seed in them, the Word of God, Christ in them,
the hope of glory. Gave them life. Gave them repentance. Gave them faith. Gave them eyes.
Gave them ears. Gave them life. He did it all.
They are born of God. Of His own will, James said,
beget he us with the Word of truth. Peter said, you're born
of God. The Word of God. The Gospel. Is that clear? That's clear. That's what God's
Word said. No argument. Are you a child
of God? Are you a son of God? How? When? Why? Does it have anything to
do with you? Is it anything you did? If so,
you're not a child of God. If you see that you are merely
a recipient of His mercy, His grace, His love, the gospel,
the truth, and all you know is, I was blind, now I see. I was
dead, now I live. And then maybe you are a son
of God. All right? Here are several distinguishing
traits, truths, things about God's people. Okay? Ephesians
4. Go back beyond our text to the
next chapter. Ephesians 4. All right? All of
God's children, God's people, God's family were chosen of God,
adopted of God, born of God, born by His Gospel by His Word. And in chapter 4 of Ephesians,
it says in verse 6, there's one God and Father of all. Who's above all and through all
and in you all. Who's He preaching to? Who's
He talking to? The church. You all. Alright? One God and
one Father. There were four children in my
family. All right, I had three siblings,
four children. We had one father. Okay? Every single one of us children
knew that same father. We knew that father. The more
we grew, the more we grew to know him as he is. Okay? We got to be teenagers. Now we
were conscious of our father completely. And you asked us
all to describe our Father and we would all give you the exact
same description. Don't holler at me. One God. What's that mean? He's God. What's that mean? It means He's God. Let go and
let go. That's not God if you let Him
be God. Do you understand? Sure you do. If you're a child of God, you
understand. We all have the same conception of our Father, not
different. My oldest brother didn't say,
well, he has red hair, he's 110 pounds, and he's 4'3". No. And I say, well, he's 5'10",
and he has black hair, and he's 200 pounds. No, we all describe
him the same. John 6.45, our Lord saying, they
shall all be taught of God. And that's from Isaiah 54, where
he says, all thy children shall be taught of thee, and great
is the peace thereof. They all know him as God. One God, He's God. God is not
God if men let Him do anything. You understand? God is not God
if men must accept Him. God must accept. God must let. God is God. How can I make this
clear? We're talking about one, you
know, I've been reading this Methodist periodical. I picked
it up in Methodism. It made me angry. And this fella,
and it's all over in all the stores and everything. The senior
news is what it is. The senior news for those over
50. I picked one up to see what we could do at the YMCA. But this fella in there, he's
the resident false preacher. And in that he said, He said 2,000 years later, God's
still trying to get everybody's attention. This is what everybody's reading.
This is what everybody thinks about God. He's trying to do
something for you. He won't let it. He's trying
to speak to you. When God created the heavens
and earth, did He say to the stars, What happened? God spoke and
it happened. Let there be light. When God
created Adam, he was clay. Let there be life. What happened? This is the same God. He says,
I don't change. The God who created everything
and spoke everything into existence. Scripture says He upholds everything
by the word of His power. God says, I will, and you shall. That's God. Is that the God you
believe in? Is that your Father? If not, God is not your Father. God's people don't have a different
conception of God. Oh, it's just a matter of doctrine.
No, it's not. It's different gods. Different gods. This is life
eternal, our Lord said, that they might know Thee, the only
true God. The only one who is God. The God today, men, He wants
men to accept Him as God. Not the God of the Bible. His people, they're going to
know he's God. He doesn't ask them, he tells
them. He comes to them in power through
the gospel, what I'm doing right now, what the world calls foolishness.
Miraculously, mysteriously, in His good time, He comes and tells
you. There was a time you didn't give
Him a thought. There was a time you thought. There you are, a
Methodist, sitting right there. There's a time she thought she
let go and let God, let Him into her heart. And God, but God,
rich in mercy, sat you down to hear the gospel and came and
told you, I am God. She said, yes, you are, aren't
you? And you love it to be so now. It's God. You were born of God
when He said so. Not when you decided. When He
said so. Let there be light. God. One God. One Father. All taught of God. He's God. He's the Creator. He's the Judge.
He's the Ruler. He's the Provider. God. His principle
chief attribute. Not love. Holiness. You cannot, you cannot understand
hell by the love of God. If God is nothing but love and
chiefly love, why is there a hell? Why is there death? You can't, you can't understand
except by his holiness. Holy, holy, holy. He's just He's
right. He's righteous. God is love. Whoever God loves, He saves. Whoever God loves, they're loved
forever. There's nobody in hell that God
loves. What kind of love is that? Do you need a love like that?
Do you love your children? There's somebody here with a
little child. Do you love your children? You've never known
love really until that came, didn't you? If you had the power, To let nothing bad happen to
them. To save them eternally. Would you do it? Oh my! God has that power. All power,
he said. Not one of his children are going
to perish. If they do, what kind of love
is that? You don't need a God like that.
You need a God who loves you to the end and beyond that. Not
till death do us part, till death do us unite forever. That's the
love of God. Saving love, eternal love. I
got to holler this. The whole world needs to hear
it. It's eternal love, the love of God. Never fail it. That's my father. That's my only
hope. You tell me that God loves Adolf
Hitler just like he loved me? What good is it? But if you tell me God set His
love on me before the world began and will never leave me or never
quit loving me with an everlasting love and with that everlasting
love He'll draw me by His gospel and His grace and cause me to
love Him forever and be with Him forever. That's the power
of God. That's the God of the Bible.
That's the truth. That's the gospel. It's the only
God there is. It's the only gospel there is.
Any variation from that is not the gospel. That Christ came
down here and the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, put away every
sin of every one of God's elect according to the purpose and
the power and the decree and the Word of God. That the blood
of Jesus... When I see the blood, God said, here it is. Dictum
factum. Say it now. When I see the blood,
not when you accept it, when I see the blood that I put on
you, I will pass over you in mercy and grace. You're mine.
Not that child in the field. Cast out. Nobody wanted that.
When I came by, I said, live, and I spread my skirt on you,
and I put my righteousness on you, and I put a ring on your
finger, betrothed you to myself, and I will not leave you ever.
That's the salvation. That's the God of the Bible.
That's the father of his people. He will never leave them for
something. You had a faithful father, didn't you, Stephen?
I did too. He loved you to the end, didn't
he? He's with the Father there. We've
got a God like that. One God, one Father. Look at chapter 4. Look at verse
5. One Lord, one faith. One Lord. What's Lord mean? Well,
you notice it's capital. You've got these fellows over
in England that wear these little powdered wigs and parliament,
you know, and they call them lords. They ain't lord over nothing. They must be idiots. I'm sorry,
I'm not supposed to say that. They're probably good to me,
I guess. I don't know, fine men and all that, but they call them
lords, rulers. They really don't rule over anything.
You know who Jesus Christ is called in Scripture? King of
kings and Lord of lords. In other words, there's not one
single Lord in Parliament that wiggles his finger except Jesus
Christ directs it, allows it. Lord of lords. One Lord, one
absolute sovereign controller and ruler over all flesh. He says the King's heart, Bible,
King's heart is in the hands of the Lord. Like the rivers
of water, turneth it whithersoever you will. I love that. I'm so glad. Why? I'm not trying to exclude
anybody. Because this is the only hope
that human beings have. Our hope is not in mankind. Mankind
is perverted and sick and sinful and will destroy himself. But
God chose some of these rebels against him. If he hadn't, it
all got worse. But now this God, in him we live
and move and have our being. He's in absolute control. And
it says, all things work together for good to them who, God speaking,
called according to purpose, who love this God, who have this
Father. Everything's good. One thing,
one thing, that scripture I quoted by our Lord in John 6, 45, it
says, they shall all be taught of God and every man. and have
heard and learned of the Father," can you quote the rest of it?
"...cometh to me," Christ said. Every single child of God hears
from God, you need Christ. Christ is your hope. Christ is
your righteousness. Christ is your sanctification.
Christ is your redemption. Christ is your all. Christ is
your sin atonement. Christ is your burn off. Christ
is your lamb. You must have a lamb. Christ
is the only one. He's the only way to me. He's
the only way to be accepted by me. He's the only truth. He's
the only life. He's it. He's the water. He's the bread.
He's the high priest. You don't need another priest.
You've got one great high priest. He's a prophet. You don't need
another prophet. You need Him. He's a king. You don't need a
king. You need Him. That's what the Father said.
And they all come to Christ by faith. From Abel to Zerubbabel. From A to Z. They all know the
only way to approach this thrice holy God is by faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. They all know. No exceptions. No exceptions. One Lord, one
faith, one God, one Father, one family. One. One. No exceptions. Now, here's some
special evidences and I have clothes. Just give me a few more
minutes. We're not to look to evidences. There's nothing wrong
with looking for them. Know ye not your own selves,
brethren, how that Christ dwelleth in you, unless ye be reprobate? But every child of God bears
these distinguishing marks, okay? I've already said this. They
have the same name. I was thankful and honored to
be the son of Henry Mahan, but it's a much higher honor to be
called a son of God. Do you consider that a high honor? Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, God's people, that we should
be called sons of God. You know, if you look on that
with amazement, if you look on that as something you don't deserve,
as you look on that as the highest honor that could be put upon
you while on this earth to be called a son of God, then you're
a child of God. People every day, you know, they
make light of this sort of thing, use it flippantly, you know.
Christian. Christian. I hate the way the modern religion
is so abused and used this name. I'm almost ashamed to call myself
Christian. But that's the greatest honor
conferred on a human being is to be called a Christian, married
to the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe my wife considers it
an honor to be the wife of Paul Mahan. I humbly say that, but
I believe she does. And Irene, you're the same, and
Tammy and Deborah, don't you? You take that name with honor.
You're thankful, aren't you? This is your husband. Christian. Are you a Christian? Boy, I hope
so. I believe so. Am I a follower,
a lover, a believer of the Lord Jesus Christ? Is Christ my all? Is Christ my salvation? Is Christ
my redeemer? Yes. Yes, he is. Christian. Same name. Same family resemblance. Same
family resemblance. I've said this so many times,
but some of you didn't know Joe Park. Several did. Is that not
Joe Park sitting right over there? Deborah's smiling like, isn't
it? Nancy, isn't it? That was your husband. Is that
not his spitting image? Well, every one of God's people,
they bear the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. They're created
in Christ Jesus. They're predestined to be conformed
to the image of Christ. Now, you look at yourself in
the mirror. of this Word. If you look at
yourself, you know what you see? A sinner. You're looking at this
Scripture and you look and say, that's not me. That's not me. I'm just a sinner. Creating the
image of Christ, love, joy, peace. I'm just a sinner through it.
In my flesh there is no good thing. That's what you see. You
look in the mirror. But God's people look at you.
Steve, you probably don't think you look like your father, do
you? Boy, we know you do. You are. You see, you look at
your brother and sister, you see the image of Christ, don't
you? You see them, and you see them as the years go by, as they
sit under the gospel. You see them grow in grace and
the knowledge of Christ. They're counting the change.
Everything about them becomes more Christ-like. And you say,
that man is like Christ, like his Lord. That's a son of God.
That's a daughter of God. You don't see it. But they see
it. They see it. Oh, now. But sometimes, sometimes, sometimes,
he did. I look down sometimes at my hand.
I say, that's my dad's hands. I have my dad's legs. They're
just like him. I remember looking at those legs
since I was this high. That's my dad's legs. I'm him. I catch myself saying things
like him and all that. Do you not? No, you're not your
own selves. Do you believe God is God? Do
you? That's not presumption. That's
not pride. It's faith. It's God. It honors God. Yes,
I do. There's a time you didn't have
that. You didn't have it. Do you love these brethren? Oh,
not like I ought to. I know that. Do you love them? Oh, not like I ought to. I know
that. But do you love him? When our Lord said to Peter,
Simon Peter, lovest thou me more than all this? What'd he say? Well, I hope so. I don't. Yay, Lord. Now, brothers and sisters, that
is not of yourselves. That's God. There was a time
I didn't give God a fault. Ron, there was a time when we
didn't care of God. There was a time when I thought
this was foolishness. I told my friends that. But God, for His great love,
came in the Gospel and said, I'm your God. I said, yes, you are. I'd love
to have it so. Oh, there are times when you
can. But don't look to these evidences. We have the same speech. We have the same speech. Our
conversation is in heaven. It's of God. It's Christ. It's
the Word. It's so great salvation. Our
vernacular is the same. What's that mean? Well, it's
a fancy word, but we say things the same. God's people. People everywhere say, life is
good. Not God's people. They say, the Lord is good. People
everywhere say, I sure was lucky. Not God's people. They say, God
blessed me. People everywhere say, well,
I had an accident. Not God's people. They have no accidents
with God. They say, the Lord did this. The Lord did this. You know, you can tell somebody
from New York and some from Alabama. Right there. You can tell. No mistaking it. It's no mistaking
that Sarah's from New York. No mistaking that Robin's from
Alabama. Right? They have certain things
that they say. North Carolina. Kentucky. I told Kelly before
he knew Johnny Parker, I said, you've got to meet this fella.
He's huge. He's just like you. Y'all talk alike. You're just
alike. And sure enough, Kentucky, we
all say, right nice tonight, isn't it? Right nice. You can tell them. You're from
Kentucky, aren't you? You can tell somebody is born
of God by the way they say things. The world says grace. We say
amazing grace. We say sovereign grace. When
we say grace, we don't mean it's an offer. We mean it's an act
of God. Something God does to us and
for us in spite of us. Grace is getting that which we
don't deserve. Mercy, what's that mean? Not
getting what we deserve. When we say mercy, we mean it. We mean it. No mistaking about it. No mistaking. What we say and how we say it,
it's clear. The fear of the Lord is in all
of God's people. The fear of the Lord. The way
we say His name, we fear His name. We don't use God's name.
We don't say, Oh my God. God's people don't do that. They
fear His name. Our children don't do that. They
fear His name. We reverence His name. The songs
we sing, it's not about mama. It's not about heaven. It's about
Christ. It's not about, you know, in
the sweet by and by, won't you meet me? It's about our Redeemer.
It's about the blood of the Lamb, as worthy as the Lamb that was
slain. And Him who has redeemed us and
washed us from our sin. That's the song. of all of God's
people. It's not about anybody or anything
else but Him. No mistaking it. The songs we
sing, the way we sing them, the way we play our instruments,
the way we conduct ourselves in the service, it's fear, it's
reverence, it's respect, it's a holy awe and reverence and
respect for this God in whose hands we are. We want to worship
Him, we want to glorify Him, we want to give Him all the honor.
We're careful not to give any human being any honor whatsoever
but God. Why? Because all things are from
Him. Had the same walk by faith, not
sight, in love with God, not the world. Don't walk with the
world. It had nothing to do with it. We have the same mind, the
mind of Christ. The Word of God dwells in our
mind. The same interest. Here's what all of God's children
want more than anything at all. Oh, that I might win Christ and
be found in Him. No exceptions. That's all of
the family. Same love. When the love of God
is shed abroad in the hearts of His people. What does that
mean? Who does God love supremely? Why did God create the heavens
and the earth? For His Son. God loves Christ. That's why everything was created.
That's why there's a kingdom. That's why there's a people.
To marry his son, to give his son to glory. When God puts that
love in his people, you know who they love supremely? Jesus
Christ. John Bunyan, who wrote Pilgrim's
Progress, was put in prison like Paul, who wrote this. He said,
I'm the prisoner of Jesus Christ. He said, I'm thankful for it.
He said, I count everything but done. Everything's done but Christ. John Bunyan was in prison. And
he was in prison for preaching what I'm preaching. He preached
exactly what I'm preaching. And he was put in prison. They
told him, you can't preach that anymore. He said, I have to.
And they told him, if you quit preaching this, you can go free.
Just whenever you sign this paper, you quit preaching this, you
can go free. Just walk out of this jail." He said, I can't.
I can't. He had 12 children. He had a
blind daughter that his wife brought to see him in prison,
who loved him dearly, and she was the apple of his eye. And
she pleaded with her daddy to come home. Can you imagine? Daddy, please, please come home. He said, I can't. And they said,
don't you love your children? He said, don't you love your
wife and your children? He said, compared to Jesus Christ, no,
I don't love them at all. What if you had a choice, a decision,
to renounce Jesus Christ or renounce that man? What if you had a choice? Renounce your daughter or renounce
Jesus Christ? What would it be? God's people, they really do,
they love him, they love Christ. They love God, they love the
word, they love the truth, they love Christ, they love his brethren.
For this cause, and there are some in here, and I'm so grateful,
and for this cause I bow my knee under the Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is
named, that God has sent his gospel, this gospel, and made
a people and love him and love one another. And someday we're
all going to be, all this mess is going to be over. We're going
to be with him. Do you look forward to that day?
All right, let's close with a closing hymn, Brother John. I forgot
the number.