onward go. May his beauty press upon me
as I seek the lost to win, and may they forget the channel,
seeing only him. Good hymn goes well with what
we're looking at tonight. May the Word of God dwell richly
in me. That's what Paul wrote in the
Colossians, didn't he? The Word of God. Let the peace
of God rule in your heart. Let the Word of God, Christ dwell
in you, richly teaching, admonishing one another in songs and hymns,
in spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart unto the
Lord. Let the peace of God rule my life and everything that I
might be calm to comfort, sick and sorrowing. Look at Romans
15. Well, Romans 14, all of Romans
14 and the first part of Romans 15 is an exhortation to believers
to bear with and support the long-suffering with the weak. That's what he's talking about,
weak in faith. And not offend them, but edify
them, build up, exhort. Want to know, look at Romans
14, 17, Kingdom of God, speaking about liberty to eat, drink,
and that he says that's not what the Kingdom of God is about,
but righteousness and peace, joy in the Holy Ghost, but he
that in these things serveth Christ. And remember James said,
the peaceable fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by them that
make peace. He that in these things serveth
Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men. Let us therefore
follow after the things which make for peace, things wherewith
one may edify one another." He went on to say, don't destroy,
don't condemn someone for whatever. Do you remember this? I put this
on my desk where I could see it all the time and I'm trying
to Memorize it, I think I have it memorized. It's a good thing
to memorize scripture. But it says, comfort the feeble
mind, support the weak, be patient unto all men. I need that, I
need that. How can we be, how can we put
up with or bear with and support We be patient toward all by considering
our Lord's treatment of us. That's what Paul is going to
use in these verses in Romans 15 to motivate us to hold Christ
as the motive and as the reason in all of this. It's His glory. There's a proverb
that says it's the glory of a man to pass by a transgression. That's exactly what he did. And it's for His glory if we
do the same. All right, read verses 1 through
7 of Romans 15. This is where we've been looking
at it, you know, in the Bible study Sunday morning, but tonight. We then that are strong ought
to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his
neighbor for his good. to edification. For even Christ
pleased not himself, but as it is written, this is Psalm 69,
the reproaches of them that reproach thee fell on me. For whatsoever
things were written aforetime were written for our learning,
that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might
have hope. Now, this is a short prayer. Now the God of patience and consolation
grant you to be like-minded one toward another according or after
the example of Christ Jesus, that ye may with one mind and
one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore, receive ye one another
as Christ also received us to the glory of God. That's good,
isn't it? Now, he's addressing strong believers. He says, we that are strong.
And several in here that have been hearing the gospel for a
long time, we ought to be strong. Strong means mature. Strong means
those who are supposed to be men and women, not babes in understanding,
not children. You remember John talked about
the fathers in the faith, mature, more like Christ, young men,
strong and courageous, and then there's babes, children. Abraham,
it was said of him, he was strong in faith, giving glory to God.
Paul, who was strong, he said, be strong in the Lord, in the
power of his mind, didn't he? That's what he told us to do.
The power of his mind. Strong in his spirit. Strong.
Does anyone in here feel strong? I don't feel strong. Now, the
same Paul said, who is weak and I'm not weak. But, Christ said
to him one day, that his strength was made perfect in weakness. And Paul said, when I'm weak,
he is strong. They were not talking about personal
strength. None of us have any. None of us have any. We just
read in Galatians, if any man thinks he's something when he's
nothing, Paul one time said, if any man thinks he knows anything,
he knows nothing as he ought to know. One time he rebuked
the Hebrews, wasn't it? He said, you ought to be teachers,
but start all over again. None of us feel strong. We all
feel weak in ourselves. We have no strength. We have
no power. We have no ability. But He is our strength. And there
were some men and women in the Scriptures. Hebrews 11 mentions men and women. They
weren't better people than us. They didn't have special graces
above us or whatever. They had the same Lord. They
had the same source of strength, didn't they? Didn't they? You think Daniel was born a better
man than us? No sir. I tell you what, Daniel
was a praying man, wasn't he? Wasn't he? So he was strong in
faith. What's that mean? It means he
believed God. It wasn't anything in himself.
It means he believed God. He trusted God. He believed God's
Word. He believed Christ. He had full
assurance of faith in God, in Christ. He had an understanding.
He had an understanding. He believed in what God had promised.
God was able. That's Abraham's strength of
faith. Huh? I'm not talking about the man
being strong in himself. Be strong in faith. Wisdom. God. Christ was made unto him.
If we do not feel strong, we're exhorted to be. We ought to be.
Well, how do you grow in grace and the knowledge of the Lord?
How do you get strong? Huh? That's what we're doing
right now. That's what you're hearing right now. Being strong means strong in
the faith. That means believing in a strong God. Believing in
the certainty of His Word. Believing in sure and certain
promises in Christ. Yay and amen to the glory of
God. Believing what God has promised God is able to perform. Believing
in what Christ has promised is ours. That's strength. Strength of faith. Being strong
means to be strong in fear. Every single man who was strong
in faith was also a God-fearing man. It was said of Job that
he was a man who feared God and eschewed evil. A perfect man,
upright. He feared God and eschewed evil. Meaning, he trembled at His Word. He feared sin. The older we get, the more we
ought to fear sin too. He feared reproach. David said,
I fear bringing reproach upon my God. And he did one time,
didn't he? And he did more than once, more
than once. And it was ever before him. So we ought to grow in that fear,
shouldn't we? He said one time, David said
one time, he said, unite my heart to fear. Meaning, don't let me
be double-hearted. Let me fear not being merciful. Let me fear not being forgiving. Let me fear not being forbearing. Let me fear not being as our
Lord. That's strength. Strong in fear. Strong in character. Strong in character. which is
the fruit of the Spirit. We just read about that, didn't
we? Our Lord Jesus Christ was the strongest man to ever live,
wasn't He? Well, how many men did He wrestle
to the ground? How many men did He fight? He
didn't fight anybody. He was so strong, He didn't fight
anybody. He turned the other cheek. Now
that's strength, isn't it? In words of commendation, in
words of slander, the Lord was the strongest
man ever, strong in faith. Our Lord Jesus Christ lived by
faith as a man. He didn't provide one thing for
himself. He didn't have a place to lay his head, but he knew
where his next meal was coming from, from the Lord. Strong in character? Was he strong
in character? Oh my! Listen to this verse. I love this. You do too. He that
is slow to anger is better than the mighty. And he that ruleth his spirit,
or that is, has total control of himself, is stronger than
he that taketh the city. That's the Lord Jesus Christ
in it. That's strength. And this is exactly what he's
telling us to do. You that are strong. You that
are strong. So it is written in verse 1,
we that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak. Bear with, cover over, support,
comfort the infirmities of the weak. and not to please ourselves. Verse 2 and 3, let
every one of us please his neighbor for his good edification, for
even Christ pleased not himself. But as it is written, the reproaches
of them that reproach thee fell on me. Again, everything he tells
us to do, the motivation, the thing, the rule is because of
Christ. You see how Christ bears with
us? You see what all the Lord covers over and bears with? He
didn't please Himself, but it pleased Him to totally deny Himself. to serve us. And isn't that what
he said? If you're going to follow me,
deny yourself and follow me. And you have to give yourself.
So this is what, and the title of this message is on being pleasing
and patient. That's a description of the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's a good description of
him. The pleasing and pleasant Lord. Isn't that a good description
of him? He said, one time, he said, I
do always those things that please my Heavenly Father. And God Himself
said, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Why? Because He gave Himself. Because like the Father, He was
so full of love, mercy, grace, kindness, that boy is just like
me. And it pleased Him. Sometimes
we love our daughter. You know her. Sweet, Christ-like
young lady. And sometimes me and I both think,
is that our daughter? How could she be that sweet kind?
But not Christ. God says He's just like me. So
well-pleasing. Pleasing to the Father. I do
always those things. What pleased God about the Son? Well, the Scripture says it pleased
God to make us His people. It says how merciful, how loving,
how gracious, how kind our God is. Who did it please Him to
make His people? Who did it please God to make
His Son's bride? Gomer. Who did it please God to adopt?
That child in the field like Ezekiel. And He made her beautiful
through His coming. What'd she do? Got ugly, boasted in her beauty,
and that made her more ugly than ever did. Brother David, I was
hoping you'd tell the story. I've already told you. But you
know, his daughter and her husband adopted a very, very sick black
child, and paid a great deal of money to do so, and signed
a covenant, you know, that they were going to take care of this
child. They didn't need that child, did they? Boy, they didn't
choose a beautiful man, a well-made man. But since they've done that,
I just have to believe, I just have to hope, don't you, that
that's one of God's elect. Like Brother Tony Moody and his
wife going all the way to China, all the way to China to get a
baby. I just have to believe it's got to be one of God's elect.
Put them under the gospel of all the people. Well, it pleased
the Father to make us His people, and it pleased the Father that
the Son was pleased, and for the joy set before Him, endured
the cross. Son, will you go and marry this
woman of whoredom? Will you go and give your life
for these unworthy rebels? Yes, I will. That's well pleasing
to the Father. When you lay down your life for
these unworthy, undeserving though they may, he pleased not himself. He pleased not himself. And in
making himself a servant, laying down his life, enduring the cross,
he sure pleased God. And it sure pleases me. Galatians
1. Go over to Galatians 1. Now,
when Paul said, let us everyone please his neighbor, to edification,
for His good to edification. He's not saying let us be man-pleasers
in the sense that we shouldn't ever say anything to offend them.
That we should just let bygones be bygones, you know. Everybody's
a different face, but we're all going to go to God. Just don't
make people uncomfortable. It's okay, they believe it. No. Anything but that. Look at Galatians
1. I have to say this because, you
know, most religion would probably agree with everything I've said
thus far. But Galatians 1, Paul said this,
and look at verse 7. He said this other gospel is
not a... there's some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel
of Christ. He said it's not another. It's
not the gospel. Though we, verse 8, or an angel
from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which
we preached unto you. And I say the same thing. If
anybody's preaching any other gospel than what I'm preaching, let him be occurred. Oh, preacher,
you're not the only one. I didn't say that, but I am saying
let God be true in every man's life. I am saying what Paul said,
there's one gospel, there's one Lord, there's one faith, there's
one hope of your calling, there's one calling, there's one truth,
one way, one truth, one life, one faith, and this is the faith,
the liberty of the saint, the faith of God's elect, All of
God's people are taught of God, John 6, 45. None of God's children
believe differently. They all believe the same. If
anybody rejects the truth, any part of it, they don't know God.
Anybody who preaches any other gospel, it's not the gospel. I say that as adamantly and dogmatically
as I possibly can. Paul did. He said, I'm going
to say it again. Verse 9. So I say again, if any man preach
any other gospel unto you than that which you have received,
the gospel of God's sovereign, electing, saving grace in Jesus
Christ, the hell-deserving, undeserving creature of particular saving,
effectual, eternal love, not universal love. God doesn't love
everybody, but God loves His people, and whoever God loves,
buddy, they're loved forever, and He saves them. And whoever
Jesus Christ died for, they're saved forever because it's the
blood of Christ that saves us, not our acceptance of it. Besides,
He doesn't ever ask anybody to accept it. He just applies it
and gives them faith in it. Any variance from this is not
the gospel. It's another gospel. Another
Jesus. Another Jesus who wants to save
people, trying to save people, loves everybody without exception.
Still crying up in heaven, hoping men will accept. That's another
Jesus. That's not the Jesus Christ description.
Anybody preaches anything else, let them go to hell. That's what
this is saying. Verse 10, he goes out and says,
do I persuade men or God? Do I seek to please men? If I
get pleased men, I'm not the servant of Christ. Isn't that what he said? So he's
not pleasing me. That's not what he's saying.
Not trying to offend anyone's religion. They're trying to please
everybody. Telling them what they want to
hear. Smooth thing. Let's not rock the boat. Like
that fellow said to me one time, the railroad had this Friday
service for everybody. It was religious. I went to it. I heard them. Man, it was bad,
bad, bad preaching. One time a fellow asked me to
provide the preacher. I said, yeah, I'll do that. And
this was before I was preaching. So I got about the strongest
preacher I could get. Darwin Pruitt was preaching at
the time. Young, about 25 years old. 27 at the most. And he came in there and the
fellow started getting worried. He knew what I believed. I talked
to him about it. And he started getting worried as time approached.
He said, now, it's sickening. You've seen him. Poor fellow. I feel sorry for him. I hope
the Lord revealed himself to him. But he said to me, now brother,
let's just tell him just preach Jesus. Don't preach doctrine. So Brother Darwin, Preached from
1 John 2, if any man abide not in the doctrine of Christ, he's
none of his. Just what they needed to hear.
But anyway, he's not saying that to please
men. He's trying to please everybody
like false prophets hireling. That's what hirelings do. That's
what they keep to themselves, teachers, having itching ears,
prophesying this smooth thing. If you tell us what we want to
hear, we'll make you rich. We'll fill your building up. No, that's not what he's saying.
At all. At all. Our Lord sure didn't say things
to please people, did He? They killed him for what he said.
They crucified him for what he said. They said, these are hard
sayings. The religious people said, these
are hard sayings. We can't take this anymore. Didn't they? He was no man pleaser. The truth
doesn't please man. The truth offends man. The truth
offends man's self-worth. The truth offends man's supposed
wisdom. The truth offends man's righteousness.
The truth offends everything about man. We need offended. The pride of man, the religion
of man, the self-righteousness of man is an offense to God.
And He's going to bring it all down. And those He saves, He
offends. Those He saves, He breaks. He
brings down at His feet to see that they're nothing and nobody.
They need mercy. They need grace. They need salvation.
And it's all a free, undeserved gift bestowed to the unworthy. And they're all real thankful.
Now where was I? When he said, let us please men
to edification, go back to our text. He said, let every one
of us please his neighbor for his good to edification. That
means not being offensive in a character or anything. Laying
down our own personal rights, our own personal freedom, our
own personal wants to do them good. Edification. We have liberty, but we don't
want to offend anybody. We don't want anything about
us to be an offense that the ministry be not blamed. Isn't
that what Paul said? That the ministry be not blamed.
That I don't tear down my witness. That's what he's saying. We don't
compromise the truth, but we sacrifice and lay aside all our
wants and wishes and our liberties and things like that. Paul, in
one place, he said, I become all things to all men, that I
might by all means save some. Now false religion uses that
to say you can do any old thing, any trick and gimmick and scheme
and sell things and do things and sneak it up on them, do by
all means save some of them. That's not what Paul is saying. He said he was weak, I was weak,
under the law, I was under the law, and so on. But he's talking
about laying down our own rights, our freedoms, our wants, our
liberty and everything so that we might do somebody some good. We're here on earth, number one,
to bear fruit to the glory of our God, to be a witness of our
God. Not for ourselves. Christ came,
didn't He say? That He came, not to please Himself, but to please others. For His good, for our good. And
that's what we're to do. Notice He said, please your neighbor. You remember the Pharisees asking
the Lord, who is my neighbor? Who do I have to love? That's
what they were saying. Who am I forced to love? I sure hate that fella next to
me. Well, if we love those that love
us, the Scripture says, what thank have you? What virtue is
there in that? That's easy. He said, be as your
pet McFarlane. He makes the rain. He doesn't
love all his enemies, but he loves some of them. In fact,
all of them were His enemies. Us. Now here's the thing. We're here not for ourselves,
but for the glory of God to be His witness, witness of His Word,
His truth, His Son, and we also bear witness through His character. Herein is the Father glorified
that you bear much fruit. What's that? Love, joy, peace,
gentleness, That describes Christ, doesn't it? Most of you know
who Booker T. Washington was. He was a former
slave, born and raised right down the road here. I don't know if he knew the Lord
or not, but he said some good things. And he said this, a man
can show his strength two ways. He can show his strength two
ways, by holding someone down or picking someone up. That's good, isn't it? He said,
I began learning, another quote by him, he said, I began learning
long ago that the happiest people on earth are those who do the
most for others. I wonder where he got wisdom
like that. Our Lord said, it's more blessed
to give than receive. He said only little people, narrow-minded
people live for themselves. But a much greater quote than
that is these verses. Christ pleased not himself. The
reproaches of them that reproach thee fell on me. So he says in
verse 4, whatsoever things were written aforetime were written
for our learning. And that was Psalm 69. I advise
you to go back and look at it yourself. Read the whole psalm.
It's the psalm of the cross. And in that psalm he talks about,
in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. He said, I was a song of drunkards. He said, they mocked me. I was reproached. They reproached me. So he says, this is written for
our learning. For our learning. We learn faith. The Lord Jesus Christ who when
he was reviled, reviled not again, but committed himself unto him
that judges righteously. He knew that to cross Sibor was
the will of God the Father. So it is with that. We learn
faith. We learn hope. The trial of our
faith worketh experience. There are patience, and there's
patience, experience, experience. Hope. Hope. Our Lord had to hope in God's
mercy. Leave not my soul in hell. We did. We learned patience by
looking to our Lord Jesus Christ. Not Job, but looking to Christ. Patience. Oh, how patient He
was. Patiently enduring all that the
Father put upon Him. Patiently enduring us. How long
suffering is He with us? How patient is He with us? Scripture
says he waits to be gracious. Our natural tendency is this,
I've had it, that's it, it's over, I'm done with you. Aren't
you glad? Aren't you glad? In fact, Peter
said, you know something, our salvation is in the long suffering
of the Lord. The fact that he will never say,
I've had it, that's it, it's over. I'm not receiving you again. He left me once, I'm not going
back after you again. Oh no. See, that's our salvation. So he says, we do the same. We do the same. We learn comfort. We learn comfort by looking to
our Lord. He was a man of sorrows, quaint
with grief. From the time he was old enough
to have understanding, He was headed to the cross and
he knew it. He was hated. He was maligned. He was sought to be killed from
early on. And he knew it. It's awful to
be hated. It's awful. And our Lord was
hated by everybody. He left a place where everybody
loved Him to come to a place where everybody hated Him. My,
my. And he knew it. He was patient. He endured that. He knew this
is God's will and it's going to be good. Good, good. Patiently, patiently looking
to Him and looking at Him. We have hope by looking to Christ.
We learn hope by looking to Christ. When He says, bear the infirmities
of the weak, I thought about a few things here. And in Galatians
6 we read it says, Strong, Galatians 6 says, brethren, if a man be
overtaken in a fault. And who's not at some point in
time? You have weakness that I don't
have. I have weakness that you don't have. We're all weak somewhere,
somehow. Or we'll be weak in every area
at some point, won't we? Different things cause us to
be weak. We go through bad times, hard
times, difficult times, trials, tribulations, troubles, things
that make us weak, that weaken us. We're all going to go through
them. So it says we're to bear with,
bear with, cover over the infirmities, the weakness of our breath. That's
what our Lord does. That's exactly what He does. He knows our frame. What does
He know? What does He say about our frame?
He says it's flesh. He knows that. He says we're
nothing. He knows that. He knows we're weak. I want to
be strong in that wisdom, don't you? I want to be strong to understand
my brothers in Firmament. There are people that are weak
because they're babies in the faith. They're new in the faith. They're new. They don't have
much knowledge. They don't have much understanding. They're going
to say the wrong thing. They're going to do the wrong thing. I told you about Garvin Pruitt's
father, old brother Herman Pruitt. The Lord saved him when he was
about 75 years old. And he was a Nazarene preacher
for about 50 years. I mean, he preached the false
gospel for about 50 years. And the Lord saved him like Abraham,
an old man. And he got in the preacher's
class with a bunch of 25-year-olds. And some of us were raised under
the truth. We cut our teeth on the truth. We knew the doctrine.
We knew it. And that old man, he sat there
like a child, learning, listening, soaking it all in. And he came
to my dad. He was going to preach one day.
It was his time to preach. He came to my dad with big tears
running down his ruddy cheek. He was a carpenter. He had arms
like Popeye. And a strong man. Hands like vice grips, you know,
but gentle as a dove, you know. And he came up to Dad, big old
tears running down his sunburned face, rugged faith, and he said,
Brother Henry, you will forgive me if I say something wrong when
I'm preaching. Oh, Brother Herman, yeah, it
will forgive you. You know how many years my dad
preached the false gospel? You reckon he forgave him? You know how many people he would
love to undo what he preached to? People are going to say some
wrong things, do some wrong things. There are people young in the
faith that haven't grown. There are people that are weak
in the faith because they just haven't grown much. Some people
just don't grow very rapidly. Some people don't seem to grow
at all. It shouldn't be, but it's so. Paul said the reason the Hebrews
were weak and had the need to start over again was because
they were dull of hearing. Because faith comes by hearing.
They were either not under the sound of the Word very often,
not reading it for themselves, or not hearing while they were
there, or both. But there are some who haven't grown. You just
can't expect much from babies, can you? You just can't. You shouldn't.
Not to bear infirmity. There are those who are infirm
through sickness and trials. There's trials, there's sickness,
there's troubles, there's trials, there's things that leave us
cast down, discouraged, in a weakened state both physically and mentally
and spiritually. We've all been there. And you
can stay in that state for a long time. It's a bad thing if you
stay in that state Well, there's a consolation and there's a healing
balm, and it's a reproach upon Christ
if we stay in that state too long, but the fact of the matter
is, we can, can't we? So you that are strong, bear
the infirmity of the weak. There's those that are infirm
or weak through age. I was going to have you turn,
just jot this down, 2 Samuel 19. Jot this down, 2 Samuel 19
and read it for yourself. There was an old man named Barzillai. An old man who was 80 years old.
Back then that was way over the time. David was old when he was
70. He died at 70 years old. That
was old back then. They fought so many battles.
They worked so hard that they began to be very old at 50. At
60 and at 70, their lives were over. Old men. Well, there was a really old
man named Barzillai. David had come back and they
were going to Jerusalem from exile and this Barzillai had
done things for David, an old man. He had nurtured him. He
was a great man. He was a rich man and he gave
him things. He was in David's company while
David was in his country. He loved David. He served David.
He was confident in David, the king. Okay, David is going back
to Jerusalem and he says to Barzillai, I said, come go, come on, go
with us. He said, I can't, I'm too old. I'm too old. I can't make it. David said, it's okay. It's okay. And Barzilay said, you'll remember
me, won't you? I'm just going to stay here and be buried with
my fathers and so forth. It's okay. You know, there's
some people listening to this right now over at Sermon Audio
that would love to be here. They'd love to pack up everything
they have and come here and hear what you're hearing. They would if they could, but
they can't. And if you're listening to me,
it's okay. It's okay. It's okay. But it's not okay if you can
come here or not. It'll make you weak, and you
won't be any good for others. Look at the next verses here,
okay? Now, the God of Patience, here's a short prayer, verse
5 of our text, Romans 15, verse 5. Now, the God of Patience,
what a name. I started looking at scriptures
that talks about a patient, pitiful, and kind, and compassionate,
and ready. I may preach on that word, ready. Scripture says He's ready to
pardon, waiting patiently to pardon. Boy! Slow to anger, ready
to pardon. Wow! That's something. God of patience. Aren't you glad
He's a patient God? Slow to anger. God of patience
and consolation. He consoles. He comforts. He consoles. Like a kind father
that he is. You know, that's what a father's
for. I think it was Paul one time
who said, fathers, provoke not your children to anger. And oh
my, you fathers can relate to this. Oh my, don't you wish you
could do it over again. Don't you wish you could take
back those times when you were so hard on your kids, when you
didn't need them, when you expected so much out of them, when you
shouldn't have? Huh? The job of a father is to console,
to comfort. Yes, we're proving or we can
correct, with kindness and love and consolation. It's okay, son. It's okay. Now, the God of patience and
consolation grant you to be like-minded, to be the same way. Are you with
me? One toward another. According
to or just like Jesus Christ. that you may with one mind and
one mouth, one mind, not self-minded, not naked of me, poor me, what
if the Lord had done that? Poor me, I'm leaving, I'm going
back where everybody loves me. What if the Lord had only thought
of Himself? One mind, let this mind be in you, took the form
of a servant. One mouth, Not murmuring, not
complaining. That's what the world does, doesn't
it? We're not of the world. This
is how the world needs to know we're not of the world. We're
not complaining like everybody is. Huh? But we're submitting to it. Patient
in the will of God, in the ways of God. That's what waiting on
the Lord means. Patiently waiting, submitting
to whatever He brings. It's the Lord. Boy, that brings
glory to Him. With one mouth glorify God. Even
the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. If we're called sons,
then let's act like the Son. Let's act like the Son. Like Christ. He's the one that
always pleases. If we're called Christians, let's
be like Christ. Who always did those things that
pleased the Heavenly Father. How long have I been? I don't
know. I've got one minute. Verse 7, so he says, Therefore
receive one another as Christ also received us to the glory
of God. Receive one another. Well, here
it is. I can sum all this up in one
verse. The Lord went to the cross, came
to this earth for the likes of me, endured all that He endured,
for the likes of me, for love to me. Even while we were yet enemies,
he went to the cross and the first words out of his mouth
on that cross were for me. He said, Father, forgive them. He doesn't know what he's doing.
He's so weak. He's so ignorant. He's so poor. He's so blind. He's so deaf. Forgive him. Just forgive him.
Bring the best robe. Kill the fatted calf. Bring the
ring. Put it on his finger. And let's
have a party. Let's rejoice. That's our Lord. So he says,
you do the same. Okay, stand with me. Our Heavenly Father, we thank
you so much for this word, in season. We need it. We need to heed it. Oh Lord. So let us hear it and not just
hear it, but do it. Our Lord, you said, Christ said,
if you know these things, happy are you if you do them. So Lord,
take these words and write them on the table of our heart. Let
them sink down deep in our ears. And let them come up at a time
when our self crops up. And anger and hatred and wrath
and strife and bitterness and envy crops up. Let this crop
pop up in our mind. Let this mind be in you. O Lord,
let us not please ourselves. Let us hate ourselves. Let us
loathe ourselves. But we want to please Thee in
all things, as Christ pleased Thee. Make us like Him for Thy
glory, for Thy honor. Thank You, Lord. Thank You for
sending Thy Son to this earth. In Christ's name, amen. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Oh. You preach the word of God more
than any man I've ever heard. You preach the word. I love it. I love it. How are you? I come here to be very just and
wordless, but for the hidden man, I will be very just and wordless, but for the hidden
man, I will be very just and wordless, but for the hidden man, I will
be very just and wordless.