to the book of Colossians, which
Brother Rick read from, Colossians chapter one. Colossians chapter one. I started
reading this and decided to speak from it and
didn't get very far. got through verse two. So we'll
probably continue this Wednesday night. Old Brother Scott Richardson
up in West Virginia. Most of you know him. He's pastor
of a church up there. Used to be a coal miner for years. Just a simple man working class
man like the apostle, but he has said so much over
the years. The Lord has given him such wisdom,
gospel wisdom, and he's been quoted, I guess, as much as anybody,
but he said this. Scott said, and see if you can
understand what he said, you can't claim He's talking about whenever God's word promises
anything or speaks of anything to anybody. He says you can't
claim the promise unless you fit the character described in
the promise. I'll give you a scriptural illustration
of that. Scripture just says, this is
a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners. That means Jesus Christ didn't
die for you. He didn't come to save you unless
you're a sinner. Scripture says, Christ said,
he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. So you
can't claim the promise of everlasting life unless you believe. And
scriptures are full of promises, but they're qualified, aren't they? Now, every one of these
letters or epistles—that's what this is, an epistle to the Church
of Colossae—and every one is full of promises, full of promises
and comfort. But it's addressed like you would
address a letter to anybody, it's addressed to whom it is
written. and they're described. There's
two descriptions given here to who Paul is writing to and who
these promises are for. All right? There's two descriptions,
and that's, like I said, didn't get past these two things. All
right? Let's look at it. Dr. Paul. For the life of me, I don't understand
anybody calling themselves doctor or anything unless they're a
physician. But men do, don't they? They like titles. Dr. So-and-so. Reverend. The scriptures expressly
forbid that. That says that's a title that's
only for God himself. Reverend. That means to be revered.
No man is to be revered. He doesn't say the Most Right,
Reverend, Holy, Doctor, Father, Paul, and so on. Not at all,
just Paul, because he's just a man like you and I are. Paul. But he does say, I'm an apostle.
Paul, an apostle. And let me remind you that back
then, having that that title or that
office as an apostle, that gets you killed. It did, as one of
the apostles saved John were killed, and John was exiled to
an island. So this wasn't some great title
he's given himself, he's just merely saying that I'm an apostle,
which means messenger, a messenger of Jesus Christ. Christ is the one who called
his apostles, remember? He said, you didn't choose me.
I chose you. As it is with all of God's people.
They don't choose him. He chooses them. But Paul says,
I'm an apostle of Jesus Christ. He called me by the will of God.
See there? An apostle of Jesus Christ by
the will of God, as is everything. I often hear people say this.
If it's God's will, I'll do this. And that's a good way that we
should say that. We say things like this. It must
have been providential. Well, let me tell you, everything
is. Everything is concerning God's
will, whether we know it or acknowledge it or not. God worketh all things
after the counsel of his own will, as Scripture says. Nothing is left into the will
of man. The scripture says in Proverbs,
the lot is cast into the lap. Men appear to be doing what they
want to be doing, but the rest of that scripture says that the
whole disposing thereof is of the Lord, the will of God. If he's God, he must be working
all things after his will. Is anything left of chance or
man? Then he's not God. He's not God. The name God means absolute ruler
and controller of all things. All right. By the will of God.
Everything is by the will of God. Now you want to see that?
Let's turn to Isaiah 45. Isaiah 45. Oh, we could turn to so many
passages, couldn't we? Isaiah 45, the book of Isaiah. If you want to know the God of
the Bible, just start reading the book of Isaiah. Better yet,
start in Genesis 1. But Isaiah 45, and this is a
mystery to most people, but it's so nonetheless. Verse six, that they may know
from the rising of the sun, that is, from the east and from the
west, that there is none beside me. I am the Lord. We don't make
him Lord. He is Lord. And there is none
else. I read on. I form the light and
create darkness. I make peace and create evil. How the Lord do all these things. Now, let me just for a moment,
say that everything that men think is
evil. Somehow or another, and I don't
begin, I don't confess for a minute that
I fully understand it. But based upon a scripture like
that, Deuteronomy 32, 39, and just many other scriptures, Nothing happens unless God has
decreed it. If it does, that means there's
something out of his control. Then he's not God. And we have real cause to worry
if God's not in absolute control of all things. Right? All right. Everything's by the will of God.
All right. Over in Colossians 1 now. Let's continue. the things concerning his people. He said they're ordered in all
things, I'm sure, in a covenant, something God purposed, that
God made concerning his people before the world began. And Paul
says, I'm an apostle by the will of God, by the will of God. God chose him, as one old writer
said, no preacher ever applied for the job. No true preacher
ever applied for the job. No prophet ever went to a seminary. No apostle ever went to a seminary.
No. Working class people living out
in the world, living like the people, and God went to them,
revealed himself to them. equipped them, taught the gospel
to them, taught the truth to them, instilled his word in them,
equipped them to preach it. Remember Moses? Moses said, Lord,
I can't speak. I've never been an eloquent man.
I've been watching sheep for 40 years. I can't speak to anything. I haven't even spoken to a human
being in a long time. Moses. God said, I made man's
mouth and I'll teach it. The apostles said the same thing
Peter James and John said we've been fishing. We haven't learned
languages we've been fishing we've been watching we've been
fishing. How does that equip you to preach
well God said go and I'll be with you I'll speak through your
mouth. Now it wasn't just anything came
off the top of their head but it was what God had written.
Paul said, I'm an apostle by the will of God, so are all the
other apostles and the prophets and every true preacher. All
right? And Timothy, he said. Timothy. Who was Timothy? He's just a young man. He doesn't
say that he—he doesn't say anything special about Timothy. He was
just a young man's mother, son, and grandson. He doesn't say
anything about Timothy's background. He just came out of the church
somewhere. Timothy, a fellow named Tim. Oh, God used him mightily. He was a pastor at Ephesus. Well,
and Timothy, our brother. All right, verse 2. Now, he says, Now, this is who he's writing
this letter to, and this applies to only these people. Like I said, now, every epistle,
the Word of God qualifies who it's speaking to. It does not
say, Paul does not write and say, to everybody without exception,
to the world, does he? To the saints. Look at it. Here
are two descriptions of these people. and faithful brethren
in Christ. Two descriptions, the saints
and faithful brethren in Christ, which are at Colossae. And you
know that whatever he says to one church applies to all the
church. When Christ talked about his
church, he didn't talk about churches. He never said churches. about the church, the church,
the church. He said, the gates of hell, my
church. He said, Peter, I'll build my church upon this, this
profession of faith and the gates of hell will not prevail against
it. Whatever's written to all, we've been reading and studying
the letters to the churches in Revelation. Well, hasn't everything
that's been said applied to us? Everything that was written to
Ephesus, and Philippi, and Colossians, and on and on doesn't apply to
us too. Everything that was written to Elisha, we need that too,
don't we? There's nothing that God says
in his word to the church, and it all doesn't apply to the church. All right? But it gives us two
descriptions. Now, you can't claim any of these
promises. And the book of Colossians is
so full of promises. You can't claim the promises
unless you fit the description, the character described in the
prophets, or he calls them saints and faithful. Are you a saint? This word has been so used and
abused and made a mockery of, hasn't it? Saints. It's so, you
know, it's a silly song when the saints go marching in. Saints. Men have made such a
mockery of most of God's Word. You take the name Christian,
the title Christian, they've got Christian written on everything
from... I'm not even going to go into that.
But saint, this is a blessed term God Almighty gave to his
people. And it means far much more than you've even got a professional
football team named saints. Hey, one of those fellas is a
saint, that's for sure. Saints. And he uses this term
in this chapter alone. Look at verse four. He says that
he loved all the saints. Verse 12 says inheritance of
the saints and on and on you could go. What is a saint? Well, it's far different than
most people think. It comes from the word sanctify,
which means Now, sanctify has a twofold meaning, basically.
It means set apart or separated from. It means made holy. Made holy. Sanctify clean, made
clean, pure. All right? It's a blessed name
given to, and he uses this term, the Romans, the Corinthians,
Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians? Well, it means then, and I gave,
it means set apart. It means that God has chosen
a people. Yes, elected, the word of God
uses. Separated them from the rest.
And when you choose something, you pass by the other, don't
you? You set it apart. God says, I've chosen you from
among the people. I pluck you as a bran from the
burning." It means separate from the rest. Sanctify. Now, separate from the rest. It also means to make holy. Now,
he doesn't choose because they're holy. Because they're better
than anybody else. As a matter of fact, if you want
to look at how God elects, it seems to be he chooses the worst. The chief of sinners, the worst. Paul says, I'm a pattern of who
God chooses because I'm the chief of sinners, he said. Well, it's
God separating from the mass, choosing out of, separating for
his holy youth to make them holy, to make them like his son, Jesus
Christ, to sanctify them, make them like Christ, all right?
And he calls them saints for short. Now, God's people don't think
of themselves as saints, do they? When people ask you about yourself,
do you call yourself a saint, so-and-so? My, my, you wouldn't
think of it, would you? It's like Jacob. You remember
old Jacob? God changed his name, didn't He? Jacob means cheat,
liar, supplanter, and he was all that, wasn't he? Well, he
did it to his own brother. It's unthinkable. People wonder
how God could hate Esau, which the Scripture says he does. He
hated Esau and he loved Jacob. I don't have any trouble believing
and understanding how God could hate Esau. I have no trouble
at all. Esau absolutely said you can
have all that religion. When he sold his birthright,
that's what he was saying. You can have all that stuff concerning
God. I'm hungry. Give me something
to eat. Here's the thing is God loved
Jacob, a liar, a thief, a cheat, a supplanter, a sneaking, conniving,
no good mama's boy, you know. that was just underhanded, even
to his flesh and blood brother. But God said, I've chosen him.
I've loved him. And God changed his name. Remember? God changed his name. He said,
you won't be called. Remember when God did change
his name? He came to him and he said, the first thing he said
when God revealed himself to Jacob, he said, what's your name?
Now, God knew his name. But just like God, when every
single sinner, every single person He chooses to reveal Himself
to, to save, He demands that they acknowledge who they are
and what they are. What's your name? And Jacob said,
Jacob. That's me. I'm a Jacob through
and through. I'm a no good, worthless, I don't
deserve to be loved, chosen or anything. God said, I've changed
your name. Israel, Prince of God. Now do you think for a minute
from that day forward that Jacob went around calling himself Israel?
There's no record whatsoever. If they'd asked him, what's your
name, what would he have said? Jacob. If you ask old Peter, God, Christ
changed Peter's name. It was Simon. Simple sinner Simon. Christ changed his name to Peter,
which means rock. Peter never acknowledged himself
as that until, well, much later on, because God did. Asked him
his name, he said, I'm just an old Simon. And the believer never
calls him or herself saint. Doesn't even think of themselves
as a saint. What are you? A sinner. Are you better than
anybody else? Why, no, I'm the chief of sinners.
Why did God choose you? I don't know. It looks to me
like He chose this person, not me. They don't call themselves saints,
but God does. Look at 2 Thessalonians, Chapter
2. All right? 2 Thessalonians, Chapter
2. Saint means to be set apart.
It means to be declared holy. And this is what sets apart God's
people. the saints from the wraith. This is what makes them saints.
This is what God separates them to. Look at it. 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2, beginning with verse 10, it says of some that Satan
with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, that means
unbelievers, because they receive not the love of the truth That means the truth of God's
Word, the love of the truth, the truth that they might be
saved. They've received it not. All
right. And for this cause, God shall send them strong delusions
that they should believe a lie. And men and women do today, don't
they? They believe anything and everything. It doesn't matter
how far-fetched or how ridiculous it is, especially in religion. It can be so far from the Word
of God. Acts absolutely opposite of what God's Word says. They
believe it. Why? They receive the love of
the truth. Verse 12. He said, They believe a lie,
that they all might be damned, who believe not the truth, but
had pleasure in unrighteousness. Verse 13. But, Paul says, we
are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, for
the love of the Lord. Who's he thanking here? Thanking
men for accepting Jesus, no, they would never have even received
him, believed him, thought about him, unless he had thought about them
and decided for them. Look at it. We're bound to give
thanks always to God for you. This is Father's Day, isn't it? Who are we acknowledging? This
is Father's Day, all right. And every time the Church of
God meets together, it's Father's Day, because they're thanking
the Father for making us His sons. We're bound to give thanks always
to God. The true Church is not thanking
men for doing something for God. They're thanking God for doing
something for them. They're bound to give thanks always and every
time they meet together and every place to God for you, brethren
and beloved of the Lord. Look at this. Because who chose
who? Because God has from the beginning
chosen you to salvation. How'd He do it? Through sanctification
of the Holy Spirit. Setting apart of the Holy Spirit
and belief of the truth. whereunto he called you by our
gospel." This is what separates. This is what the Holy Spirit
uses. This is the shepherd's voice.
Christ said, my sheep will hear my voice. He said to some fellows,
you'd believe not because you're not my sheep. As I said unto
you, my sheep hear my voice. He said, and the other sheep
I have which are not of this foal, them also I must bring. They shall be, there'll be one
shepherd and one foal. They're going to hear my voice.
What is the voice of the shepherd? What is the call? What is it
the Holy Spirit uses to separate the sheep from the goats, the
wheat from the chaff, the church from unbelievers? Verse 14, he
said, The gospel. The gospel. The gospel. Oh, boy. We need a couple hours,
don't we? I want you to turn to this, Isaiah
43. Paul said there's another gospel
out there. He said there's some preaching
another gospel which we have not preached. He said it's not
the gospel. But it's another, as some preaching
another Jesus, he said, which is not the Jesus Christ of Scripture. It's another Jesus. It's a Jesus
made up, a Jesus of their imagination, a weak, helpless, fickle Jesus
that's in men's hands to do with as he pleases. He's standing
there, everybody up for acceptance or rejection. That's not the
Jesus Christ of Scripture. that Jesus Christ, the Scriptures
described in Scriptures, is sitting on a throne with the world under
His feet and all men in His hands to do with us. He pleases that
we're not, that He's not in our hands. We're in His hands. That's
the Lord Jesus Christ, the Scriptures, sitting on a throne. He's not
walking the floor of heaven over you and looking over the banisters
of heaven and hoping you'll do something. No, He's seated. with
his feet propped up on the world, as Scripture says, expecting
every single thing that God has ordered and purposed to come
to pass and every single one that he died for to absolutely
come to him. And he sends the Holy Spirit
to round them all up. That's what sanctification is,
round them up. They've got a mark on them, you
know that? God's elect, God's people have a mark on them. What
is it? I don't know. It's not outward. Paul said the circumcision, true
circumcision, the mark of God, the mark of God's people is not
outward. It's not in the flesh. And he gave those three marks
there in Philippians 3, verse 3. It's in the heart. They worship God in the spirit.
They rejoice in Christ and Christ alone. They put no compass in
the flesh. True worshippers come to the
house of worship to do one thing. What's that? Worship. They put no compass in the flesh.
Crosses, pictures, robes, choirs, and this and that and the other
that men might be, you know, good feelings in the flesh. We're
not here to exalt the flesh, to make the flesh feel anything.
We're here to abase the flesh. We're here to exalt God. We're
here to worship God in the Spirit. We need to put aside everything
that has to do with the flesh. Salvation is not on emotion.
Salvation is based on truth. Salvation is not based on feeling
good about yourself. Salvation is based on believing
the Lord Jesus Christ. And the sooner we do away with
all this stuff, the more clearly we'll see the truth. Isaiah 43. I didn't even turn there myself. Isaiah 43, the gospel, declares who God is. We started
reading, didn't we, about who God is back in Isaiah 45. Verse 8, he said, Bring forth
the blind people that have eyes. That's a strange statement, isn't
it? They're blind, but they have eyes. Well, the deaf that have
ears. Huh, that's strange. Well, the
Scriptures talks about all men and women being born blind, being
born deaf. They don't see who God is. They
don't see the truth. They don't believe the truth.
They're dead. They don't hear God's voice unless
He gives them eyes to see and ears to hear and a heart to receive
it. John 1, 12 and 13 says, "...to
as many as received Him." Verse 13 says, "...they received
Him because they were born of God." They were born again. Men aren't
born again because they believe. They believe because they're
born again. Are your children your children because they acknowledge
it? Because one day they realize it? No. Because you gave birth
to them. One day they do come to understand
and acknowledge it. Faith is a result of life given.
Well, let's go on. Isaiah 43, he says in verse 10,
"'You are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant, whom
I have chosen, that you may know and believe me, and understand
that I am he. Before me there was no God, for
neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am the Lord. Beside me there is no Savior.'" I am the Lord. He says that all
the way through. There's none other. Satan is
not Lord. Man is not Lord. Jesus Christ
is Lord. Back to Colossians. So they're
separated. They're set apart from the rest.
God says that you might know me, that you might know the true
and living God. Christ says this is eternal life,
that they might know thee, the only true God. Not the God that
people think, small g. God wants to. He doesn't say
that anywhere in Scripture. Nowhere in Scripture does it
ever say God wants anything. Never! Let God. Don't you let God. Nowhere
in Scripture does it say let God do anything. Nowhere! As a matter of fact, in that
Isaiah 43, verse 15, I believe it is, it says, God will work. Verse 13. He says, I will work. And who shall let it? Who's going
to let me? God says, who's going to let
me? You're going to let me do what? It's God who made the planets
for anybody and everything that was around, huh? Who made man? Man's going to let God do something. Well, they say, you know what
preachers say, he has no hands but your hands. Let's go on. That's not God at all, a God
who's a quadruple amputee. Scripture says we're in his hands.
I believe he has hands and we're in it. We're the ones who don't
have any hands until he gives us hands. All right, read on. He says to the saints, that's
to be separated to know that he's God. They've been separated
from the mass of people who don't believe there is such a thing.
one is God, as he is, and they're faithful. Saints and faithful brethren
in Christ. Now, before we go on to faithful,
let me ask you, are you a saint now? I didn't ask you if you
quit your this and quit your that, or if liquor never touched
your lips, or you never smoked, never cussed, never chewed, never
ran around with women that do. I didn't ask you that, did I? Do you believe the gospel? Do
you believe God is God? Do you believe that man's in
His hands? That He reigns and rules. That Christ is indeed
who He, Scripture says He is. The Lord seated on the throne.
That He came to do what He set out to do. Save His people. And He did just that. Didn't
make an attempt. Made an atonement. Then you're a saint. You believe
the truth. Now all I've done is quote Scripture.
Look at Scripture. The truth of who God is, the
truth of who Christ is, the truth of God's word. God's word, not
my opinion. Do you believe the truth? You
love the truth. It makes you a saint. Saint John. We're not talking about that
one. We've got two John's. Three. We've got two in here. Three of the other ones here
today. First Saint and third John. Saint
Teresa. And I ain't talking about that
little woman. But the one who's sanctified,
made holy by the men don't canonize and make us saints. God does.
Saints so and so. Are you a saint? Well, you wouldn't
claim it. You wouldn't call yourself that.
But if you believe everything has been declared from God's
Word, that's fine. Sounds pretty good. St. Henry. As far as I know, Brother
Henry, there's not a St. Henry anywhere in Scripture.
Well, there's a name in glory. There's a name written, and nobody's
seen it, but him, I believe, has got a St. Henry in there. And look at the next thing. Faithful. Faithful. Let's ask Peter. Peter, are you faithful? Peter would say, you know, there was a time when
Peter thought he'd be the only one that would be faithful, didn't
he? Remember, the Lord said, all
of you all are going to deny me this day. And Peter spoke up. Peter, the
only one that did. Peter spoke up and said, oh,
not me. They may. Not me. He's the only one that openly,
publicly did it. God's going to bring us down
to see we're nothing. That the only way we're ever
going to be faithful is because great is thy faithfulness. He said to Peter, Peter, Satan
hath desired thee to sift you like wheat, and I'm going to
turn you over to him, and he's going to sift you But here's Peter's hope. Christ
said to him, Peter, I've prayed for you, that your faith fail
not. What I give you, it won't fail. What I do to you, it won't fail.
Faithful, faithful. Peter, are you faithful? No,
I denied the Lord. I thought I would be. I thought
I was. But I denied the Lord. Denied
that I even knew Him. But wait a minute, right here
it says saints are faithful. Turn with me to, well, don't
turn, I'll just quote it to you. Paul said, talked about the fullness
of him that filleth all and in all. That's Ephesians 1 verse
23. He talks about Christ is going
to, God is going to fill you to the church, to the saints
at Ephesus, he said. God's going to fill you with
the fullness of him that filleth all and in all. Full of faith. Are you full of
faith, Roberta? Yes, you are. See, she didn't,
oh no, unbelief. Sometimes I feel like and act
like I don't even know him. What is faith? What is faith? All right, let's
ask Peter. Peter, are you faithful? No. No, I'm
unbelieving. Peter, what's your hope? Christ. Christ and Christ alone. Peter, what's your desire? Why do you desire to go to heaven? Oh, that I might see Christ and
win Christ and be with Him. I want to be with Christ. Peter,
what's your desire upon earth? What do you desire down here?
Like Paul said, Oh, that I might win Christ if I know Him and
be conformed to His image and be just like Him and grow in
grace and knowledge. It sounds like he's full of faith
to me. Robert, let me ask you again. What's your hope of salvation?
Christ? Anything else? Then your hope
is totally, 100%, based on Jesus Christ and Him alone. Your hope
is just full of Christ. All right? Who do you long to
see in heaven? Christ. You don't know if Mama's
going to be there today. You don't know that at all. You
don't know if Dad's going to be there. You don't know if Kendra's
going to be there. In heaven, there's no marrying or giving
in marriage. There's no relationships like this. We're all one, no
male, no female. We're all one in Christ. So who
do you hope to see in heaven? Who's your real desire? Christ? Down here, do you have great
aspirations? Do you want a bigger house? Do you need a bigger house?
Do you need a bigger car? Do you want to get rich? Are
you getting too old to enjoy much of anything? What is it
that you want down here? You want to win Christ and be
found in Him and know Christ and grow in grace? You sound
like you're full of Christ to me. You sound like you're full of faith
in Christ to me. What is faith? Hope, trust, belief, desire,
love for a person. and the fullness of him that
filleth all and in all." The faithful. Saints, are you a saint?
No, not me. Yes, you are if you believe Christ.
Faithful, full of faith. Not me, I'm not. Yes, you are
if Christ is all your hope. He's all. Well, hmm. That's faithful and
didn't even know it. But this too, this means this
too, you know, when you say someone's faithful, when you say someone's
faithful, that means you can count on them, don't you? That
means you can count on them. Let me give you, before I go
to that, and I've got to hurry. You remember that little girl
asking her father one time as she came home from here in the preacher, and he's
talking about Christ being in you, Christ in you, Christ in
you, Christ in you, and she didn't understand. And she said, Dad, how big a
man do you reckon the Lord Jesus Christ was? And he said, I don't
know. He's just an average man, about
like me, I guess, about five Whatever, 5'8", 5'9", 5'6", whatever
men were back then. And she said, I'm 4'3". OK. How much do you reckon he
weighed? And the father said, I don't
know, honey, about 150 pounds, something like that. She said,
I weighed 85 pounds. She said, if Christ was in me,
he'd stick out, wouldn't he? Yeah. Yeah, he was. And so this faithful means that,
too. It means they're like Christ. And the chief thing, Christ said,
Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. I am meek and lowly. Christ, though he deserved all
glory, did not glorify himself, but he glorified the Father.
as a man, as a representative man, like we should. And I tell
you, every believer, everyone that's in Christ, they don't
glorify themselves, they glorify Christ. Although Christ was holy and
righteous like His Father, and the believers like His Lord,
but they don't go around talking about it. Oh, but they're the salt of the
earth. They're saints, Jenny. Believers are what makes this
world worth living. If it wasn't for believers here,
I wouldn't want to live here. Would you? Saints. Faithful. They're faithful. You
can depend on them. You can count on them. They have
confidence in a faithful brother. They stick closer than... I've
got a flesh and blood brother named Dan. I have no relationship with him.
He has no interest in God Almighty. None. He's too wise. He's a doctor. He thinks he's way above all
this. He thinks I'm stupid. He's wise and he's prudent. Right back there sits a man named
Dan that I have a much closer relationship now. I haven't known
him eight months. That's what Christ said, Who
is my mother? Who are my brethren? They stick closer than a brother.
Why? Because they're going to stick
together to the end. My flesh and blood brother, if
he doesn't bow the knee to the Lord Jesus Christ and acknowledge
who he is and acknowledge that he himself is nothing, knows
nothing, is nothing, can do nothing, that Christ is all, he's not
going to be in glory. We're going to stick closer than
that. We're going to be right sides of each other. Before I
find him. And that's all right with me.
That's all right with me. That's the reason Christ said
there's no marrying, giving, marriage, and no relationships.
Because I'm not going to be sad my flesh and blood brother's
not there. I won't think of him as that.
I'll be overjoyed that Dan Ogle's there. I'll be absolutely overjoyed." No tears in heaven. I'm not going
to cry over anybody that's not there. I'm going to rejoice over
everyone that is. Faithful. But they're faithful.
Yes, they are. You can depend on them. God made a man like
Christ. He's like Christ. Paul said that. Yes, he did.
He said, I have confidence in you, brother. And you know what
he's saying. If it wasn't for the grace of
God, we'd lie and cheat on each other too. But because of the
grace of God that's in you, because of the restraining, constraining
power of God, God's grace upon you, He keeps you. He makes you
faithful. He grants the fruit of the Spirit.
You know what I'm saying. Well, and so you can grace unto
you and peace from God our Father. That's what we're talking about.
Grace and peace. The song says this. Let me quote
this to you. Ah, but for free and sovereign
grace I would have lived estranged from God till hell had proved
the destined place of my deserved but dreaded abode. But, oh, amazed
I see the hand that stopped me in my wild career. Yea, a miracle
of grace I stand. The Lord has taught my heart
to fear. Grace is a charming sound. It's harmonious to the ear. Heaven
with echo shall resound, and all the earth's going to hear.
Grace first purposed the way to save rebellious men, and all
the steps that grace displayed which drew the wondrous plan,
grace first instilled It taught my soul to pray and
pardon and love to know it was grace that kept me to this day
and will not let me go. Grace all the works shall crown
through everlasting days and it lays in heaven the utmost
crown and well deserves the praise. Grace. I am saved by grace. One hundred percent. Ask Peter. Peter, why are you saved? Because
you're a Roman. Yes. Paul, why are you saved? Because
you're a religious thought. Blasphemer. Grace is why I'm
saved. Grace. Grace unto you. That's
why you're a saint. God didn't choose you because
it's something He saw that you could do for Him? No, sir. This
is something He saw He could do for you. God didn't choose you because
you were faithful. No, you didn't even believe or even think about
God when He chose you. He chose you to make you faithful.
Grace unto you. Grace unto you. And peace. God
is angry. The world doesn't know anything
about this God of the Bible. This God of judgment, this God
of anger, this God of wrath. Scripture says God is angry with
the wicked every day. It says the wrath of God abides
on the undoubted. It says then that believe not
are condemned already. That comes after John 3, 16. This world doesn't have... God doesn't love everybody. Scripture doesn't teach that. God loves his people that are
in Christ, that he's chosen to put in Christ. God's not at peace
with everybody. Now, I'm not offering overtures
of peace toward everybody. No, sir. Colossians 1 that he read says
that Christ made peace by the blood of his cross for the saints
and the faithful brethren in Christ. Now, what does Scripture say?
God's at peace with us because Christ made peace for us. Christ literally was beaten to
death in my blood. Outside of Christ, God's a consuming
fire, as Scripture says. God's angry. And in Christ, he's
my Father. He's my Father. Not a father to everybody. He's
a father to those who have been adopted because of Jesus Christ. You got it. We're thinking about
the same thing. What number is that? 209. Marvelous grace of
our loving Lord. Grace that exceeds our sin and
our guilt. Where is it found? Well, yonder
on Calvary's Mount, I'm told. There, that's where the blood
of the Lamb is. That's where peace was made. All right, let's
sing a couple of those. Let's sing the first and the
third verse. Harvest grace of our lovely Lord,
Grace that exceeds our sin and guilt. Onward, thou that bringst
down our foe, Land where the blood of the Lamb was spilled, God's grace, grace, fills the
heart and everything within. Grace, grace, God's grace, grace.