When we've been there ten thousand
years Bright shining as the sun We've no less days to sing God's
praise Than when we first begun 1 Peter chapter 3. 1 Peter chapter
3. We've been going through this
on Wednesday nights. And I came to verse 18 and didn't
really deal with it and looked at it a great deal since Wednesday. and thought this must, must,
must have a message of thyself. This is the gospel, verse 18.
But let's read verses 15 through 18. Sanctify the Lord God in
your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man
that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you, with meekness
and fear, having a good conscience, that whereas they speak evil
of you as of evildoers because of what you believe or who you
believe, They may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good
conversation in Christ. For it is better, if the will
of God be so, that you suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing. This is something worth suffering
for. Four. Here it is, verse 18. For Christ
also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that
he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but
quickened by the Spirit. I am always amazed, always thankful
when I listen to the radio program And he quotes my text. Did you
hear it this morning? He quoted this verse. I pulled
that CD out of the file cabinet. I drew a bow at a venture. I
know all of them are good, and I looked at, well, that hadn't
been preached in a while, and put it in there not knowing.
And he quoted my text. The saints will suffer, he said
that in verse 14, if you suffer for righteousness sake. He said
in another place, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus will
suffer. Saints, God's people are not
going to suffer for sins. They're not going to be punished for
our sins. Christ suffered for sins. He suffered for sins. We will suffer because of them,
and we will suffer the consequences of them a great deal. Not eternal
consequences, but we often suffer the consequences of our own sins
and others. But the suffering that we've
been looking at and he's speaking of is suffering for the cause
of Christ. Suffering persecution. and false witnesses against you for
Christ. Our Lord said it. We looked at
that, didn't we? How He said, you will be, you shall be hated
for My name's sake. If you truly, from the heart,
God is sanctified in your heart, the Lord is, you really know
whom you believe, You know who God is and what you are and who
Christ is. You know the truth, not just
in your head, but in your heart, out of the heart of the issues
of life. With the heart, man believeth. You believe this with
your heart, not just your head. And out of the abundance of the
heart, the mouth speaks, got to. And that's what he said,
you'll give an answer, be ready. Because they may ask you, be
ready. And you can, out of the abundance of your heart, you'll
speak. Do it with meekness, he said.
Considering your own self, realizing that you are what you are by
the grace of God. If you believe God elected you,
you have to be humble. Right? That you didn't choose
Him. You have to believe. You have
to be meek. And with fear, he said, fearing
not speaking on his behalf, fearing being a coward, fearing not telling
the truth, because it's too urgent. Like Brother John prays, it's
just too urgent. It really is life or death, people.
It really is. Our Lord said that. Fearing for
people you talk to, fearing for their souls. If you really believe
this, those that we are around, if you love them and care for
them, they're dying. If they don't believe this gospel,
they're going to perish. Anyone that doesn't believe this
gospel will perish. Anyone that doesn't come worship
God, that has no need for Christ, doesn't know God and they're
going to perish. That's a fact. And such were
some of you. We suffer for the cause
of Christ, and it's a good thing to suffer for. He said in verse
14, Be happy. Our Lord says, blessed
are you when men shall revile you and persecute you and say
all manner of evil falsely against you for my name's sake. He said
in verse 16 here, having a good conscience, they speak evil of
you. Are you reading it with me? Verse 16. Having a good conscience,
whereas they speak evil of you. For what? For the cause of Christ. For just telling the truth about
God. Let's just sell people. We just read in Ephesians 2,
didn't we, I said that we talked about children of wrath, children
of disobedience, children that walk according to the course
of this world, the prince of the power of the air, that hate
God. Hate the God of the Bible, the true and living God, that
when God comes, but God. When it comes to you, it quickens
you and gives you an understanding of who God is. You know who God
is. You fear God. He says, holy, holy, holy. And
you fear for other people and you tell them who God is. Out
of love and concern for their souls, you tell them who God
is. This is the true God. You don't know the true God.
I know because I was just like you. And you tell them and they
get mad at you. Why? Fine. Paul said, he suffered
trouble as an evildoer. And all of the apostles did were
killed because of it. And he said, you will too if
you just tell the truth. The truth of who God is, the
truth of what man is. Man is not a good creature. Man
is unjust. And we're going to look at that,
what that really means. But having a good conscience, what's that
mean? Several things, but number one, it means a heart that's
broken over sin. I was thinking about this world
today. You know, they don't believe
there is a God, and they certainly don't believe He's holy, and
they certainly don't believe He'll punish sin, and so therefore
there is no sin. Nothing is a sin. Right? All
right, we come saying But the Word comes to us. Here's
a good concept. The Word comes to us and quickens
us and shows us the first thing that God does to a person that
He quickens is convinces them of sin. Sin against God. And I've sinned
and come far short of the glory of God. God has fed me, clothed
me, cared for me, done all this put-up-with-me, long-suffering
to me, and I've never given Him a thought. I lived all my life
without giving God a thought. Or if I did, I was religious
just for games, just for show, thinking I was somebody, thinking
God needed me, not knowing what I really am. before God, and
what it took to put away my sin. It took God's Son suffering hell
on the cross, going through God making Him a sacrifice, laying
on Him all my iniquity, and sending Him to hell, putting Him on Calvary's
cross. How dare I ever think that there
was something that I could do? And this is religion. comes and convinces us of sin.
Some of you were in religion, and you really didn't think you
were sinners, did you? You really didn't think that.
But when the gospel came, the truth came, convinced you first
thing, sin. And boy, if you find out you're
a sinner, then what? You find out who God really is.
He will by no means clear the guilty. He will punish sin. He doesn't love everybody. He
shouldn't love anybody. That's when you find out what
man really is, what you are. You find out God shouldn't love
anybody. Nobody deserves a chance to be
saved. Salvation's not for those that deserve it. It's for those
that don't deserve it. And you find that out and you
say, oh, John quoted it, didn't he? This is the heart. This is
of good conscience. Men's consciences don't work
now. The Word of God doesn't convict them. God can say all
He will about Himself, and it doesn't faze them. They're dead. But when God comes, the Holy
Spirit of God, through the preaching of His Word, through the preaching
of the Gospel, through the preaching of Christ, convinces you of who
God is, what you are, and how can God have anything to do with
man? And then he shows you Christ.
A good conscience is one that's convicted of sin. A good conscience
is one that is purged from dead works. Oh, the scriptures is
full of this. Purged from dead work. As I said,
many of you were religious before, and you thought, God must be
pleased with me. I've come to worship him. Oh, my goodness
gracious saints. What took you so long? What about
the rest of your life? And you think God ought to pat
you on the back for just giving him thanks? And such were some
of you. Huh? And thinking there's anything,
anything, anything other than Christ. God's angry. He's more angry
with religion than he is this present evil world. That's what
he calls them, workers of the A good conscience is purged from
dead works, realizing that it's not by works of righteousness
we can do, because all our righteousness is a filthy rag. That's a good
conscience. And a good conscience is a sincere
conscience. Worships God in spirit and truth. Really does worship God. Sincere
conscience. Not hypocrite. Someone was talking
to my wife on the phone not long ago and saying about Most Christians
are a bunch of hypocrites. No, they are not. There's not
one Christian that's a hypocrite. There's not one true child of
God that's a hypocrite. Hypocrite means acting. No, no, that's not so. We do
some things that are hypocritical, but not hypocrite. I'm not playing
a game here. And you're not either. Sincerity. Look at 2 Corinthians 2 with
me. 2 Corinthians 2. This has always
meant a great deal to me. 2 Corinthians 2. I preached from this when I first
started preaching. It meant a lot to me. It gave
me some comfort because I could say from my conscience. Like Paul said in Romans 9, my
conscience bearing me witness. I could say from my conscience,
this is, that's me. Look at it, 2 Corinthians 2 verse
17. We are not as many which corrupt
or deal deceitfully with the word of God. Keep it back or
take off the offense or add to it or know what it says and pass
over it. Oh, no. No, sir. This is God's
Word. But as of sincerity, this is
real. I'm sincere about this. Are you?
As of sincerity. As of God. I'm very conscious
of whose Word this is, as you should be, in listening to it. You know that? I'm not preaching
what I think. I'm not telling you what John
Calvin said. I'm telling you what the Word of God says. As of God, in the sight of God. Holy God's people are aware of
His presence and tremble in His presence. And here's what we do. Look at
it. Speak we in Christ, or of Christ. Here's what we do. As of God. In the sight of God. As of sincerity. As of God. In the sight of God.
We preach Christ. We believe Christ. Look at our
text. Go back in our text. He said
they will falsely accuse your conversation, your good conversation,
in Christ. A good conscience. will produce
a good conversation. What? Christ. That's what you're talking
about. When you go to tell somebody
what you believe, your hope, you know what you'll say? Christ.
That's a good conscience. A good conscience will produce
a good conversation. What's a conversation? Peter
wrote, Paul, remember a few weeks ago? Our conversations have happened.
Remember that? Peter wrote in the last chapter
of 2 Peter, seeing that all these things shall be dissolved, what
manner of people we ought to be in all holy conversation,
talk. Read Brother John Flavel's article
in our bulletin. Did you read that? Was that not
wonderful or not? He talked about ravishing talk. Read that! It's hard to read. Read it until you understand. But he said in verse 16, they'll
speak evil of you as evildoers, but your conversation is good
if it's of Christ, and they'll speak evil of you, falsely accusing
you. We're falsely accused. I've got
to hurry. We're falsely accused of many things. We're called
many things. We're labeled many things. And Paul said it in another
place, he said, we've been slanderously charged with some things. It's
just not true. Consciously. We're falsely accused of being
antinomians. If you preach salvation by grace
clear enough, justification by Christ alone clear enough, and
sanctification, It's all in Him. It's nothing to do with you.
You don't have any part in it. It's nothing you do. Nothing
you do has anything to do whatsoever with your salvation. It's all 100% by Jesus Christ
by Himself. They will call you an antinomian.
Oh, you don't believe in good work. You don't believe in the
love. I'm going to answer those children.
Just keep listening long enough. You'll hear it. You'll hear it. We preach the whole counsel of
God. Keep back nothing profitable. Preach every word, line upon
line, line upon line. But we're falsely accused of
being antinomian. You're against the law of God.
No, I'm not. No, I'm not either. Not at all. It's holy, it's just,
it's good. But what we're saying is the law is a curse. Nothing wrong with the law, but
there's a whole something wrong with us. That's the problem. And what it took to save us was
nothing from us under the curse, but Christ being made a curse. For it is written, Cursed is
he that hangeth on a tree. This is the gospel, isn't it? You're an antinomian. Well, go
ahead and tell me that. If by that you mean that all
my hope is in Christ alone and not in anything I do, that's
what I am. It will be called hyper-Calvinism. Hyper-Calvinism. Y'all believe
that only elect can be saved. Yeah, that's right. I do believe
that. That's what this book says. Doesn't
it? But you believe that the elect
can elect no matter what, no matter if they hear the gospel.
No, I don't believe that. Why am I preaching right now?
Huh? If I believed that, I wouldn't
be a preacher. There's more money elsewhere. Huh? Why get on the radio? Why
get on some audio? Well, we don't believe that.
We believe people have to hear the gospel. That's what this
book says. We believe you have to repent and believe and call
on the Lord, and whosoever shall call unto the name of the Lord
shall be saved. Right? That's what this book
says. But here's what we do say, that you won't call unless He
calls you to. That you won't come unless He brings you. You
won't repent unless He gives it to you. That you're dead and
He has to quicken you. Now if that's hyper-Calvinism,
that's what I am then. You believe babies go to hell.
No, I don't. That's slanderously charging
us. You will be falsely accused of
that. You're narrow. Yes, we are. Because straight is the gate
and narrow is the way. Who said that? Not John Calvin.
Jesus Christ. He said there are few. He believed
that only a few chosen would be saved. That's right. That's
what Christ said. Few relative to the population
at that time. A whole lot of babies have died
every day. There's a number which no man
can number. But at any given time, there's just a few. And
the rest of this chapter is going to talk about eight souls. You're narrow. I'm not open-minded at all. You're
right. I'm not open-minded at all. My mind's not open to anything
that the world has to say. Not at all. I've got a closed
mind. I want to bring my mind, as the Scripture says, into captivity
to Christ, to everything God says. Everything I think, everything
I preach, and you believe, everything we believe, we need to believe
it because this world says it. That's narrow to the world. Oh,
you need to be a freak. No, you don't. Your thoughts
run wild. Only good mind is an open mind.
No, it's not. Your mind will run wild. You're unloving, you're uncaring.
Oh my. Unloving and uncaring. The greatest friend that somebody
can have is somebody to tell them the truth. If you don't
love somebody, you won't tell them the truth. You won't. Right? You won't. Well, you all
are, you're a cult. You think you're right and everybody
else is wrong. No, brethren, I think there are
many that believe it's true, but they're just hard to find.
Like Elijah, he said to that Lord, I'm the only one. That
Lord said, no, Elijah, I've got 7,000 that happen to need a bail. I have 7,000. Elijah said, I
can't find them. I can't find them. The Lord said,
they're out there. I know my sheep. They have known
of mine. I have. No, we're not a cult. Not a cult. Different, strange doctrine,
yes. Strange God, yes. Because that's what the Scripture
says. The Scripture says you're a peculiar people. A cult, no. Right, here's what we do believe. We believe God is right and everybody's
wrong. That's what we do. We believe like Noah, unless
you're found in Christ, you're going to perish. If that's narrow,
that's just the way it is. Read on with me. So he says it's
better, if the will of God be, that you suffer for well-doing.
What I'm saying this morning is a good thing. What I'm doing
right now, what you're doing, is well-doing. All of the people
of Hebrews 11 did well. A good report. Work of faith. Labor of love. Well-doing. Well-doing. That
doesn't mean works of charity. That doesn't mean humanitarian
efforts or community service and all that. That's not what
that's talking about. He's talking about suffering
for the cause of Christ. He's talking about witnessing,
preaching for Christ's glory and honor, for worshiping God,
for declaring who He is. This is well-doing. Hebrews 11 gives all those examples
of well-doing. Abel brought the blood, and his
brother Cain hated him for it. My works are just as good. Oh,
no, they're not. Enoch walked with God, and he
walked alone. You can't walk with God unless
you agree with God. Noah then warned of God, moved
with fear, and prepared an ark to the saving of his household.
And by doing that, he condemned the world. You're condemning
the world, preacher. You don't have anything good
to say about it. You're unloving, uncaring. No, truthful. This
is a prophet. This is the apostles. This is
the truth. This is it. Evil-doer. No, no, no, no. Well-doing. Abraham left his
home and family to go follow God. Moses said, I'm not in this
world. I'm not of Egypt. I'd rather
suffer reproach with the people of God. Moses said, there are
greater treasures than these treasures in Egypt, and that's
where I'm headed. Well doing. And of all of them,
in the end, God said to every one of them, well done. Thou good and faithful servant.
But they just did what they had to do. They just did what they
believed in their heart. They just did what God put in
them. Right? Is that you? All those people? All right, look at this. Verse
18. For Christ also hath once suffered
for sin, the just for the unjust. Once suffered for sin, the just
for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. Being put to death in the flesh.
Christ, once. That's a key verse. I wanted
to go over to Hebrews 9, Hebrews 10. Once, once, once. Now, once
and in the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice
of Himself. In the Old Testament, the high
priest, one man went into the holy place to offer one sacrifice. And it says of Christ, He, our
great High Priest, our Lord and our Savior, our High Priest,
entered into the holy place, not made with hands, and offered
one sacrifice for sin, forever. Once. Keep saying that over and
over again. Once. We talk about Catholicism,
because we need to, because it's such a widespread, it's Babylonian
religion. And the mass is evil. It is sacrificing Christ all
over again. They actually say that. That
the wine turns into the blood of Christ, and a man is the one
that administers that. And the Pope can forgive your
sins. That's anti-Christ religion. Anti-Christ. We've got to say
that. We need to say that to our Catholic friends and family. We've got to. Their soul is in
danger. Christ is the only hot brick. Christ's blood is the
only thing that put away sin. And He did that once, and we're
not to kill Him again. We're not to offer Mass again. And this table is nothing but
bread and wine. It has no saving efficacy in
it at all. There's nothing in it. It's just
a remembrance of what Christ did once. Is that important? There are
people dying all over this world because they don't believe it.
Let me tell you this. Talking about suffering for Christ,
you know that most of the martyrs went to the stake and were burned.
Their bodies were burned because they took a stand against this.
They said, no, salvation is not in the sacraments. It's not a
sacrament at all. Salvation is not in the sacraments.
It's in the blood of Jesus Christ. Is that important? Oh, preachers
splitting hairs. People are going to split hell
right open if it's not according to every jot and tittle. It's
that important. Christ once suffered for sins. Suffered for sins. Whose sins?
Not His own. Now, he's talking about Christ,
our example here, and says, This is our example. Christ also,
in chapter 2, says He suffered. He was reviled or reviled not
again. He suffered not. But it went on to say, His own
self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we being
dead to sin should live unto righteousness by whose stripes
we were healed. He said He suffered not for His
own sins, And we're not going to preach Christ, you're not
going to believe Christ, you're not going to witness Christ,
you're not going to suffer for Christ if He's just your example. But when you realize He's your
substitute, then, then, You take great offense
to anybody giving anybody else glory for what Christ had to
do. You see what I'm saying? He's your substitute. He suffered
for sin. And he didn't do it needlessly.
He didn't do it as an offer. He didn't do it as a down payment. He didn't do it as an attempt
to save. He did it as an absolute payment. My former master teacher said
this morning, if Christ died for our sins, if Christ had to
die for our sins, if this is what it took to put away our
sins, do you remember? He said, number one, we must
be lost. Terribly lost. There's nothing
else that could do it. Awfully bad. Sin must be awfully
bad. What was the next thing? It must
have been purposed by God. He wouldn't send His Son to do
what He did without purpose, without His blood actually affecting
and saving His people. Would you do that? Would you
send someone you love to die and not know if it's going to
work or not? Make an offer to people that
don't deserve it? Would you offer up the life of your child to
people that hate it? No. It's going to accomplish
something. You're going to do it for some
people you've got your love set upon, and you're going to make
them love you back. You're going to change them. Here's the next thing. We must
have been far off from God. This is what it took to bring
us back. We read in Ephesians 2, didn't
we? And on and on he went. It was such a good message. But,
oh my, people, it says here in our text, in verse 18, that he
died the just for the unjust. The just for the unjust. Just. Holy. Just. It means right. The other Scripture says there
is not a just man on the earth that doeth good and saith not. The Lord looked down on men and
women by nature, all of us. I was going to have you read
Romans 1, Romans 3 with me, Psalm 14, and on and on it goes. It tells us what man really is,
what God said. And it says the Lord looked down
upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand and seek
God. No, they don't. They won't. No
one will until God does something for them in mercy. He said there's
an unrighteous. No, not one. The unrighteous.
Christ is just. He's righteous. We're unrighteous.
Christ is holy. The opposite of that is sinful.
Christ is lovely. The opposite of that is unlovely.
Christ is pure. The opposite of that is divine.
Christ is holy, the opposite of that is filthy, the just are
the unjust, unjust, unjust. Let me just read it real quickly. This is who Christ died for.
Well, turn with me to Romans 5. You must see this. Romans
5. While you're turning, this is
what God says of the human race, people. He says there's none
unrighteous. No, not one. They're all under
sin. They've gone out of the way.
They've together become unprofitable. The word means stinking. There's
none that doeth good. No, not one. Oh, but preacher,
I know a man, you're calling God a liar. Remember this, God
looks on the heart. Their throat is an open sepulchre.
Their tongues have used deceit, the poison of Asp is under their
lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their
feet are swift to shed blood, destruction and misery are in
their ways, a way of peace they have not known. There is no fear
of God before their eyes." Romans 1, oh my, what all that
says, being filled with unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetous,
maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate. That's the human
race. Thy nature. That's what God said. And such were some of you. You know it, son. And you still
feel, you still see something. You have this old man in you.
You still have this old nature in you. You know that's you.
And you wouldn't have known it until God gave you a new man,
a new creature. And you know it. All right? And somebody may say,
that's not me, preacher. That's not me. Then Christ didn't
die for you. Christ didn't come for you. He
said, I didn't come to call the righteous. I came to call the
unjust. I'm just. I'm the only one. And
I came to bring the unjust to God. And I'm going to give you
an illustration here to close it. The unjust. But look at Romans
5. It says in verse 6, we were yet without strength, unable,
unwilling to come to God. In due time, Christ died for
the ungodly. Scarcely for a righteous man
will one die. I wouldn't die for one of these
self-righteous hypocrites. I wouldn't do it. There's no
way I would take my daughter and have her crucified, my granddaughter,
my lovely granddaughter, for one of these self-righteous religious
hypocrites. No way. God did it for a few. Saul of
Tarsus, Nicodemus. Read on. For a good man, some
would even dare to die. There are some people that seem
to be good and moral and upright out there in the community, don't
they? People you work with and people you know and do business
with, seemingly moral, upright people. I wouldn't send my daughter
down to hell. They don't love God. They don't know God. But God, but God, verse 8, commended His
love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, unjust,
unclean, children of wrath, even as others, but God, for His great
love was with the loved ones, even when we were dead in sin.
Quicken us together with Christ. Oh, it's by grace, you say. He
sent the just for the unjust. The unjust, unjust, unjust. To bring us to God. To bring
rebels to God. To bring enemies to God. Not
good people. Christ did not die for one good
person. He died to make them good, yes.
But they're sinners. to bring them to God, because
they don't even care about God, don't even give God a thought.
In fact, they spend their life cussing Him, ignoring Him, taking
His glory for the pride of things that He did for them. God ought
to send them to hell. He said, I'm not like you. I'm
merciful. I'm gracious. I'm kind to the unkind. Just. I sent my son, the just
one, for the unjust. He was made sin for his people. He who knew no sin. The just
one. That we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
that God might be just and the justifier of them that just believe. Because He did it. The just law
for the unjust. To bring us to God. I told you
I was going to give you a few illustrations in closing. To
bring us to God. Now, if you think that God ought
to have you, He won't. He won't. But if you think From your heart, and you know
in your mind, God ought to send me to hell. That he hath not
dealt with me after my iniquity. That he ought to... I'm totally unworthy. If I got
what was coming to me, God would send me to hell right now. That's who he died for. That's
who he's going to bring to God. Now everyone's going to be brought
before God someday. Everybody's going to be brought
before God to be judged. That's what the Scripture said.
To be judged according to their works. The whole human race. And our Lord said many will say, This is being blind. Lord, Lord,
we did this. We did that. We did many wonderful
works in Jesus' name. We believed on You. We let You
into our heart. We accepted You. We witnessed
for You. We did that. Mind them hand and
foot. And over here stands Rahab the harlot. A harlot. And God says, bring her
up here. Son, is that your bride? Yes,
it is. Bring her up here to me. To bring us to God. Sinners. Like old Joseph and his brethren.
They were all sorry brethren. No good. They hated him. They
despised him. They were jealous of him. They
sold him. They would have killed him. And from doing that, he
would have killed him. But Joseph, the type of Christ, he brought them into his house,
brought them to his table, brought them to Pharaoh and said, these
are my brothers. And they all to a man said, oh,
I can't believe, I can't believe we're here, what we did to him.
Oh, he's so merciful. Rahab, Joshua's calling me. Rahab, you're one of the few
in all of Jericho. He's going to destroy the whole
city. Rahab, he sent us to get you. Joshua, me, Harlot. That's
right. I'm going to bring you to the
promised land. David, is there any of the house
of Saul that I might show kindness to? Saul, they're your enemies. They think they ought to be on
the throne. They'd kill you if they could. Is there any of the
house of Saul that I might show kindness to them for Jonathan's
sake? I made a covenant with my beloved
Jonathan, my brother, and I told him, I swore to him, I was going
to have mercy on one of my enemies. Jonathan died. That's Christ. And God the Father said, I'm
going to have mercy for Christ's sake. There's one. There's one
fellow that you don't have any need to hear. Where is he? He's
far off. He's way down there in Lodabah,
in the house of no bread. David says, Captain so-and-so,
Captain so-and-so, go get him. Go fetch Him. What if He won't
come? I didn't say, ask Him. I said, bring Him. I said, pick Him up and bring
Him home. Bring Him to me. And I'm going
to show kindness today. And in being brought to Him,
seeing such mercy, it changed on the finish yet, didn't it?
And David said, I'm showing you kindness for someone else's sake.
Ephesians, you come right up here and you sit at my table
to bring us to God. One of these days, God's people,
who? Sinners, harlots, publicans,
no good, are going to sit at God's table with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob
and David and who? Me. Does that amaze you? One last illustration, okay? Maybe the best. Our Lord Himself,
the Savior Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ said to His disciples,
get in the boat, we've got to go over, and then we're going
to go to Samaria. Well, Lord, that's a bunch of
mountain people. A bunch of dumb, ignorant mountain
people, half-breed mountain people, inbred mountain people. Lord,
they're so superstitious. They're so full of tradition.
They're just lost. All of them are lost. Wow, people
up in the mountains. We're going to Samaria. And he
went to Samaria. And he sat on a wheel. Well,
you ain't going. That came all the way from glory. To get a
woman. Who is she? Well, she's been
married five times. I've come for her. I'm her true husband. I'm going
to bring her to God. I'm going to take her to God.
I'm going to present her thoughtless, holy, unblameable, unapprovable,
thoughtless in the presence of God. In fact, when she walks
down that aisle someday, God's going to say, look, a virgin. Dressed in white. Whose robe? Who did this? Who did this? Why are you here?
She's going to say, that man I met at 12. I'm here because of him. One hundred percent. Is that
you? The just for the unjust to bring
us to God. And he did it by laying down
his life But he rose, quickened by the Spirit, proving that God
accepted. Proving. And you're accepted
in the blood. Amen. All right. Let's sing,
in closing, Amazing Love. How can it be? What is that? 67. Maybe not going to run out of
here. 67. How can it be?