I've never been so lonely, and
I knew I'd someday. Without the piano. Come Holy Spirit, heavenly love,
with all thy living power. All right. I know this will be a profitable
study. As always, hopefully always,
Christ is the subject. And then all things come from
that subject. All things arise from Him. We're going to see Christ, our
righteousness. We're going to talk about baptism. And we're going to also look
at this anointing of the Holy Ghost. All right, let's get right
into it. Verse 21. Just want to look at
two verses in this book, several other verses elsewhere. Luke 3, verse 21. Now, when all
the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also
be baptized and pray that heaven was opened.
Christ came to be baptized. Turn over to Matthew chapter
three with me. Matthew three, this is recorded
in all four Gospels. And I remind us that whatever
is written is important. If it's once, if it's twice,
it's three times. But if all four Gospels are recorded,
something here is. Matthew 3 gives a little more
information here. Matthew 3, verses 13 through
15. Then cometh Jesus from Galilee
to Jordan. unto John to be baptized of him. But John forbade him, saying,
I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto
him, Let it be so now, suffer it so now, for thus it becometh
us. to fulfill all righteousness. It becometh us to fulfill all
righteousness. The word become, it becometh
us, that means it's what's fitting to sons. It's befitting. It's necessary. It's needful. for sons to fulfill all righteousness."
All right? He says, "...it becometh us to
fulfill all righteousness." To a son of a holy God, the son
of a holy God ought to be holy. The son of the righteous God
ought to be righteous. Okay, it's becoming of a son
of God to do what God said. That's what he said. Fulfill
all, to be righteous. To fulfill the law. It's becoming.
It's just right, isn't it? Let his son do what his father
tells him to do. Well, very quickly, if you want
to turn to Hebrews 7. Hebrews 7, we just looked at
this, and this means even more now. After looking at this, it's,
I love how this scripture is bearing witness with scripture. You see, we've broken every law,
haven't we? We've broken every law of scripture
that says there's none righteous. Well, Christ says, but it becometh
us to fulfill all righteousness. But we broke, we were not righteous,
are we? Well, so, look at verse 26, Hebrews
7. For such in high priest, became us. He couldn't have done
it that way, so he became us. To offer up sacrifice. And this
he did, once. when he offered up himself. So
it becomes thus to fulfill all righteousness. But we're not
righteous. We broke the law. We're unrighteous. So he became
us. He became the Lord, our righteousness. The righteous son, the righteous
one. He was made flesh to fulfill
all righteousness for us. He wasn't telling John. John,
you and I have got to work this thing out. Nobody said it. When you see the meeting there,
it becomes a thing, if we're going to be sons, to fulfill
all righteousness. So Christ, our righteous representative,
came to be baptized. Why? He didn't even need to be circumcised,
did he? When he was a boy, he didn't even need to be circumcised.
Why'd he do that? Why'd he do that? Because we
need to be circumcised. All right? So he did it already.
He didn't need to be baptized, but he did. Why? Because we need
to be baptized. You see, he's fulfilling all
righteousness for love, for us. You see that? He didn't need
to do any of this to prove it. He was the Son of God, didn't
he? He is righteous, but he's our representative. You see that?
Don't you think? All right? Now, remember, John preached
the baptism of repentance. Christ had no sins to repent
of. He didn't. He didn't. He came to be baptized. All right? Now, back to the text,
Luke 3. Luke 3. Baptism is mandatory. It's mandatory. It's not an option. It says, look here at verse 21,
when all the people were baptized. See that? All the people were
baptized. And all of God's people were
baptized, too. You say, wait a minute, the people
on the cross wasn't. Yeah, they was. Christ did it for us. Infants
aren't. Yeah, they are. Christ did it
for us. See that? It's like that thought
Sunday morning on Christ as a 12-year-old boy. If a 12-year-old boy is
going to be saved, he's going to have to be a perfect 12-year-old
boy. And so Christ was. If infants
are saved, it's because there was a perfect infant. That's right. A representative. All right. Christ was baptized,
point. He fulfilled all righteousness
for all of God's people. All right? It says all are baptized.
And it's mandatory. And we've said this before. All who can be baptized must
in order to be saved. Because Christ said, he that
believeth and is baptized shall be saved. All who can must, in order to
be saved. Is that right? That's what he
said. Those who do not? Is that right? That's just right. It fulfilled, it behooveth, it
becometh us. All right, baptism. Let's look
at this. So Christ was baptized as our representative. He was
baptized, and that means so much. All right, look at 1 Peter chapter
3. Baptism. What's baptism all about? Well,
it's vital, it's necessary. We just said that, didn't we?
It's mandatory. Christ said so. He that believeth
is baptized shall be saved. Look at 1 Peter chapter 3. What
is baptism? 1 Peter chapter 3. All right, look
at verse 18. It says, "...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." Put to death in the flesh. His flesh was laid in a grave,
immersed in a grave, but quickened by the Spirit. Crucified, buried. There rose again by the Spirit. All right? Now look at verses
20 and 21. Now he says, Noah, in the days
of Noah, the ark, wherein few, that is eight souls, were saved
by water. Eight souls that were in that
ark were saved. By what? Verse 21, the like figure,
whereunto even baptism, the like figure, baptism, doth also now
save up. Not the putting away of the filth
of the flesh, no, baptism. That's just water. Like John
said, I just baptized in water. It's just plain old water, Franklin
County water. It's not holy water. As a matter
of fact, he's got a lot of impurities. All right? Look at what he says
here. It's not to put in the way of the field for the flesh,
but it's an answer of a good conscience toward God. All right? Remember that. Now,
let's read that without the parenthesis. Okay? Even baptism, whereunto even
baptism doth also now save us by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ. All right? It doesn't put away
the sins of the filth of the flesh, but it's the answer of
a good conscience toward God. Baptism, resurrection. All right? If you're still with
me, turn to Romans chapter six. Baptism. We're talking about
baptism. He says here, baptism is the answer of a good conscience,
or that is, someone who has been saved. Someone who has been saved
by the blood of righteousness and the blood of Christ. Paul
talked about it in 1 and 2 Timothy, he talked about a good conscience
and faith unfaith, a good conscience. What's that mean? It means that
an answer of a good conscience is a conscience that's been convinced
of sin, righteousness, judgment. A good conscience, a godly conscience,
or a conscience God made, God gave. Sinners, an actual man
doesn't have a conscience. Sin doesn't bother him, does
it? He doesn't think about God when God, the holy, when he,
God does this new birth, he gives conscience. He writes the law
in their hearts, and it convinces them, convinces them, and convicts
them, and leads, and teaches, and so forth. All right? A good conscience. And it's the
answer of a good conscience. Baptism is the answer, or that
is the profession, the outward answer, profession of somebody
who's been worked on by God, that they know who Christ is. They feel their need for Christ.
And they believe and they love and desire him, and so they identify
with him. All right, you got that? All right, Paul goes into more
detail here in Romans chapter 6. Look at Romans 6 beginning
with verse 1. I need to turn that. You got
it? Romans 6. It says, let's see,
let's go on down to verse 3. Know ye not that so many of us
as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death. What he's saying here is that
we're baptized into Christ. That is, when Christ went to
the cross, and I was in him, Therefore,
I was crucified with Christ. God killed me in Christ. That's what they say. We were
baptized. We were found in Him. And then
when God killed Him on the cross, He killed us. And when God buried
Him, He buried us. He killed the old man. All right? Now, read on. No, you're not. So many of us that were baptized
into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death. And that's what
baptism is saying. That's what we say when we get
in this pool up here. That I believe that what Jesus
Christ did, he did for me. OK, that's what we say when we
get in that pool. All right, therefore, verse four,
we are buried with him by baptism into death. buried with him by
baptism into death. That like as Christ was raised
up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also
should walk in newness of life. Verse 5, if we've been planted
together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the
likeness of his resurrection, a new creature in Christ. All right? Verse 6, knowing this,
our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might
be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. Look
at verses 10 and 11. In that Christ died, he died
unto sin once, and in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise,
reckon ye also yourselves to be dead, indeed, unto sin, but
alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Don't let sin
reign. Verse 13, neither yield ye your
members as instruments of unrighteousness. Yield yourselves unto God as
those that are alive from the dead. Verse 13, members of instruments
of righteousness. Verse 19, Now, I speak after
the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh,
because of the weakness of the flesh, as you have yielded your
members, your bodily members, servants, to unclean, the iniquity
of the iniquity, even so now yield your members, servants,
to righteousness, unto holiness. Now turn over to chapter eight.
They say yield to the Spirit. What's that mean? Well, don't grieve, but yield. Don't
quench, but yield. We know what that means, don't
we? Let me ask you a question, see if it's not so with you. Times when you're tempted with
sin, are those not times when Scriptures
just plug your mind and your heart. Is that so with you? And so with
me, the scriptures just seem to pour in my heart, warning
me, telling me, telling, do they you? Anybody? See a few heads
nod. What's that? Yield your memory. Yield to the Spirit. Don't grieve,
but yield. Heed, all right? That's what
that is. Look at chapter eight, verse one. Now, there's therefore
no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. If Christ is crucified for me,
then my sins are gone. The sentence was carried out
on me, and the law has no claim on me. I'm dead. My sins are
gone. They can look for them, but they
won't be found, because they're And they don't do a cross. Where's
the cross? You can't find it. It's gone.
All right, that's fact. For them, they're in Christ with
no condemnation. Now, look at the qualification
of proof of the fact. You ain't look at the proof of
the fact. Who walk not after flesh, but after spirit. That's just a fact. They still
don't get it backwards. They don't say, if you walk right,
then there's no condemnation. No, no. Don't get it backwards.
Don't get the cart before the horse. But don't leave this out
either. And I'm guilty. I leave this
out all the time, half of this verse. See that? Alright, what does
this mean? What we've been talking about? Yielding. Yielding, not
quenching. But yielding. good conscience.
All right, look down at verses 3 and 4. It says, What the law
could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, our flesh,
God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. And for sin, that is a sacrifice,
condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law
might be fulfilled in us. So he became us to fulfill all
righteousness. All right? That's imputed righteousness,
isn't it? Well, Rick, there's an impart
of it. Scripture's clear about that. Who first for whom walk
not after. I look at a personal if the spirit
of him the Holy Spirit of God that raised up Jesus from the
dead dwell in you, if he is, if he dwells in you. He that
raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal, mortal body, not new body, this
body. See that, Jeanette? Mortal. Not
that immortal body rule. We'll give it mortal body. Shall
quicken, make alive your mortal body by His Spirit. Now, you don't do it. It's not
your doing. It's His doing. But it is by
the Spirit that dwelleth in you. All right? Verse 14, For as many
as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Now,
that's the verse. Go back to Luke 3 now. As many as are led
by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. As many as are led by the Spirit
of God, they are the sons of God. All right? And if Christ came to fulfill
all righteousness for us, He did. He did it to our account. And then Christ was baptized,
and then Christ was, the Holy Spirit came upon Him here at
His death. Same thing happens to us. Exact
same thing. All right? As many as are led
by the Spirit of God. How did we know that this was
the Son of God? Here, look through. John said, because the Holy Spirit
sent on Him. As many as are led by the Spirit
of God, they are the sons of God. It's just a fact. Isn't
that right? All right. And Romans 6, I hope
you were able to follow along a little bit in that. I understand,
because you understand what you read. And Paul spends a great deal
of time talking about it, especially Romans 6, talking about How shall
whither dead sin live any longer therein? You can't. If you're
dead, you can't. If you're alive, you're not dead.
If you're dead, you're not alive. Right? You can't. He said, Sin
shall not have dominion over you. Well, you say, I don't know. I don't understand. Romans 7.
What about Romans 7? What about Romans 7? When Paul
said, but the things I would, I do not. Things I would not,
that's what I do. What about that? Well, listen. That's the answer of a good conscience.
Romans 7 is the answer of a convicted conscience, a contrite heart. If Paul were to say in Romans
7, everything I'm supposed to do, that's what I do. Everything
I'm not supposed to do, I don't do. That's a self-righteous heart. But the answer of a good conscience,
smitten by the Holy Spirit, convinced of sin, a contrite heart says,
oh, the things that I would, I don't do. The things I would
not, that's what I do. But wait a minute, John. Paul said over in 1 Timothy,
he said, I was before a blasphemer, injurious, persecutor. Is he that? Was he that? Now,
in Romans 7, a blasphemer, injurious, persecutor? No, sir. Not a blasphemer. Praising God. Not injurious. It's harmless. Is that right? See, the answer of a good conscience,
Brother Stan, somebody ask us, what do you think about yourself?
I'm a rotten cynic. See what I'm saying, Joe? That's
the answer of a good conscience. A contrite heart. I ought to
say that. Things I ought to do, I don't do. What I don't want to do, that
seems to be what I do. But you ask somebody else about
Stan Anderson. I don't know if anybody in here
knew Stan before the Lord worked on him. Stan knew Stan. Anybody in here knew Stan before
the Lord revealed himself to him? Everybody's glad you did. Right, Stan? The fact of the
matter is Stan is not the man he used to be. Is that right? John Newton, I
think it was, said, I'm not what I want to be. I'm not what I'm
going to be. I'm not what I ought to be. But
thank God. And I don't take any credit.
I'm not what I used to be. Is that right? The Spirit that
dwelleth in us shall quicken your mortal bodies also. It means they're led by the Spirit
of God there, the sons of God. Not the works of the flesh. They
don't live. Paul talks in Romans 8. They
that live after the flesh shall die. It means they're led by
the Spirit of God. I don't know if Stan actually
literally laid it together. I don't know how rotten he was. But he's not doing it now, is
he? He's not there now. He's sitting
in the pew worshiping God. His body, even. You understand where I'm coming
from? This is the whole work. God doesn't save half a man.
Am I right? Saves a whole man. Saves
a whole man. All right? And when Paul talked about this
body of death, John, he's not talking about this. When he said,
Who shall deliver me from this body of death? There ain't a
thing wrong with this. God made it. There's nothing
wrong with this flesh. When he's talking about, In my
flesh dwelleth no good thing, and who shall deliver me from
this body of death? He's talking about a principle of sin that
feeds on the flesh. Nothing wrong with this body.
Adam had a body. Christ had a body. Flesh is not sinful, things are
sinful. Out of the heart the issues arise. Out of the heart we see adultery,
fornication, evil thoughts, and so forth. Right? All right. Okay. Luke chapter 3, and we
just looked today here led by the Spirit of God. They're the
sons of God. Those have been baptized into Christ, and the
Holy Spirit comes upon them. Look here in Luke chapter 3,
and this proves him to be the Son of God. Luke chapter 3 verse
21, and being baptized and praying, the heaven was opened. All that call upon God through
Christ, all that confess Christ, call on Him, God has His ear
open. Heavens open. Read on. And it
says, And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove
upon him. The Holy Ghost descended In a
bodily shape, like a dove upon it. Actually, a dove. Bodily shape, a dove landed on
his precious shoulder. A dove. Don't have to tell us
what color it was. But a dove landed on his shoulder.
All right? Now this is written, listen to
me, I'll just read it to you. I've got it written down. In
John's gospel, John said, and I knew him not, but he or God
that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me,
upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending. And remaining on him, sitting
on his shoulder, sang his hymn, which baptizes with the Holy
Ghost. And he said, and I saw, and I bear record, this is the
Son of God. When he saw this dove laying
on the cross, he said, that's the Son of God. That's the Father. Now what's the significance here?
What's this dove all about? We just sang a song. Come Holy
Spirit, heavenly dove. Look back at Genesis 8, all right?
This is where this is the first mention of a dove, and this is
the law of first mention. You better believe that whatever
starts first is talking about Christ, because He's the first
and the last, right? Whenever you have something in
Genesis, it means Christ and all the way through the day.
Genesis chapter 8, all right, you see it? Genesis chapter 8,
look, read verses 6 through 8. And it came to pass at the end
of forty days that Noah opened the window of the ark which he
had made, and he sent forth a raven which went forth to and fro till
the waters were dried up from off the earth. He also sent forth
a dove from him to see if the waters were abated from off the
face of the ground. This is all a picture here, a
title, a figure. After the fall, after the fall, sin, like these
waters, cover the earth. Covered flesh over their head. Sin. Christ often visited this
earth, didn't he? Huh? Oh yeah. He took many bodily
form and came and visited this earth. Like Noah here. Noah represents God. And, of course, God was in Christ
reconciling the world to himself. God was in that ark. When God
heard God... ...which tells us of Christ.
Well, Noah sent out this dove, all right? to see if the waters
were abated. Christ came to this earth. It
says that in Psalm 19, it says, the Lord looked down from heaven
upon the sons of men to see if they were in it. When the angel of the Lord came
to Abraham, remember that? Will it destroy Sodom? That's
Christ. That's crap. You save one, right
you're locked. Christ is this done. Like Noah
sent out. All right? Look at verse, now,
look at verse 7. They sent forth a raven, which
went to and fro, looking for flesh to devour it. What's that? Who's that? What
color's her raven? Black. God said to Satan and
Job, Job, Satan, where hast thou been? He said, I'm walking to
and fro through the earth. Satan has a roaring lion, seeketh
whom he may devour. A devourer of flesh. That's the
raven there. Represents Satan, all right?
Christ came before. All right, look at verse 9. But
the dove found no rest for the sole of her feet. She returned
unto him into the ark. So the waters were on the face
of the whole earth. Then he put forth his hand and took her and
pulled her in unto him into the ark. The dove was not to light
upon the earth, not yet. And Christ the Son stayed with
the Father until the fullness of time was come. I don't know
why I've never seen this before. I guess because it wasn't time.
All right, look at verse 10. But when the fulness of time
was come, and he stayed yet another seven days, the dove did, again
Noah sent forth the dove out of the ark. Now go. Go. In the fulness of time God sent
forth his Son, made of woman, made under the law of redeem
them who are under the law, that we might receive the adoption
of sons. that we might receive the adoption of the Son. How? Why? Because Christ
the Son was forsaken by God. But the dove came. What did Solomon say about his
beloved, about his eyes? What do you say about his eyes?
He said, that was a dove's eyes. Dove's eyes. Scripture says he's
holy. What do you think about a dove? Have you ever looked into a dove's
eye? A live one? This innocence, total innocence,
sweetness, harmless. The noise they make, you know,
music to his soul. In the morning though, you go
out in the morning and hear the music to his soul. So is the voice of the beloved
in the garden. He has dove's eyes. Scripture
says he was holy, harmless, separate from sin, undefiled. Dove's eyes,
dove. Well, when Christ came, to this
earth and set foot on this earth, what did he obtain? What did
he fetch for us? What did he do for us? Look at
verse eleven. A dove came back to Noah in the
evening, and lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off. So Noah knew the waters were
abated. Now, if you were with me, we'd
talk about sin covering this whole earth, all right? And in
the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son made of woman,
made under the law to redeem them that were under the law,
redeem them from the curse by being made a curse for us. Christ,
and what is an olive branch? An olive branch is always represented
one thing. Christ obtained peace for us
by the blood of his cross. It says that we might receive
the adoption of sons. We're going to see in a minute
in Luke 3 where he said, because the Spirit ascended on him, God
said, you're my son. And because Christ made peace
for us, now he said, you're my son. We're sons, we receive the
adoption of sons. And the waters were abated. Sin's gone because Christ had
made sin for us. By the blood of His cross, He
was obtained peace. And then verse 12, this is good. And He stayed yet another seven
days. Christ lived the full life then. Stayed on this earth. In
fact, He stayed in Jerusalem seven days at the Passover. And
then He sent forth a dove which returned not again. The dove flew off and didn't
come back. Christ left this planet, and
he's been gone ever since. But he obtained peace. Do you
see that? And the dove, it says in our text, Luke 3, back there
now, Luke 3. The dove landed on his shoulder,
indicating that he is our peace. He is our peace. And that's how
I know who Christ is. And the voice says, and the same
voice, listen to me, the same voice and the same Holy Spirit
tells me, look at verse twenty-two, the Holy Ghost descended in a
bodily shape like a dove upon him and the voice came from heaven
which said, Thou art my beloved son, in thee I am well pleased. And I hear the same thing from
the word or the voice of God through the Holy Spirit I hear
him say that I am accepted in the beloved. I hear him say to
me he is well pleased for his righteousness. Well pleased. And a couple of the men and I
were talking in study before we came here. You remember how when Christ
was born That miraculous birth, remember how we saw that that's
a picture of the believer? Remember that? A new creature
created in Christ Jesus. A paradox, that holy thing. God,
man, but a mystery. Remember that? How we saw that
that's a picture. Well, everything. You see, Christ
is the head and we're the body. And nearly everything that applies
to the head applies to the body. As he is, so are we. What happened
to him happened to me. And he said, in turn, what's
ever done to us has done to him. Can't separate the head and the
body, can you? It's marvelous to me how what
all happens to Christ, and Christ said this, he said, they hate
you, they hate me, they hate you. They persecute me and I
persecute you. They receive me and I receive
you. He did it. On and on he went. He said, I've
done wonderful works and if you do this, you'll do it too. If
the Father hears me, he can hear you. As he is, so are we. And all of this happens to every
son of God. We're baptized. We call on the
name of the Lord. We pray. The heavens are open. The window. of heaven is open. The Holy Ghost descends upon
us like a dove. Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly dove.
And a voice tells us, John pointed out here, that right here, God
said this to his son, didn't he? He said, Thou art my beloved
son. Well, on the Mount of Transfiguration,
when Peter, James, and John were up there, what did God say then? Yes, who's he talking to there? He's talking to them. First time
he said to his son, you're my son, I'm well pleased. Up on
the mountains of those witnesses, those two or three witnesses,
he said, he's my son. And the same Holy Spirit lands
on us. Now I want you to turn to Matthew
10 with me, OK? Now it won't be much longer.
This is good. Remember how I started this whole
thing out? Everything I'm saying is good. It's true. It's right.
It's biblical. It's profitable. So, this is how I know who Christ
is. All right? He's baptized and
the Holy Spirit landed on Him. And this is how you know who
the Son of God is. All right, look at Matthew 10,
verse 16. He said, Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst
of wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpents
and harmless as dogs. And over in Philippians, you
don't have to turn, Philippians 2, it says that he makes us harmless. One of the fruit of the Spirit,
a fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5 is this. You've got love, joy,
and gentleness. Gentle. Now, why this keeps coming
up, I don't know, but I well do know. It's this Christ. Gentle. Gentle. This gentleness, this harmlessness,
this peaceableness, His Christ-likeness is what distinguishes God's Son
from the rest of the world. What distinguishes God's Son
from the rest of the world. David said this in his psalm.
He said, They're for war, I'm for peace. When the Holy Spirit begins to
operate on a child of God, He makes them harmless as death.
I use three men as examples. Ain't a one of them here tonight.
Shame on them, but ain't a one of them here tonight at any rate.
Talking about those soldiers, you know, being worthless, rebel,
rousing, violent men, you know. When the Holy Spirit begins to
operate, He makes, they're not children of wrath, these messengers. This world's a violent world,
isn't it? Look at the newspaper. It'll
grieve you just to read the newspaper. Every page, every line is just
something horrible that's happening. A violent, violent world full
of hatred, wrath, strife. That's what Scripture said. They're
not God's sons. They're not God's sons. They're
peaceable, gentle. James says, easy to be entreated.
They're for war, not for peace. He'd ask David, do you want to
fight, David? He said, no. Shimei one time cursed him, and
Joab said, I'll cut his head off. David said, no, I won't
do that. There'll be time for that, but not now. I'll have
my son do it. But no, no, they're peaceable,
gentle, easy to be entreated. Like we've said so many times,
Joe, that, you know, we're just glad the hat didn't toll on us. Somebody cusses us, we're just
glad they didn't tell it all. Why should we get mad? We want
to fight. In John 14, our Lord said, when
I send the Comforter to you, He says, peace I leave with you. Peace with God. He obtained it
by the blood of His cross. And my peace I give unto you. Makes them peaceable. Peaceable. If anybody had a right to get
mad, I'm glad he didn't. Aren't you
glad Christ didn't when those soldiers were spitting at him
and kicking him and pummeling him? Could you take that? We deserve it. But he didn't. But he took it. Aren't you glad?
Aren't you glad? Because that was me standing
there getting pummeled. Oh, why did he not fly off? I said, I've had enough. Is he obtaining peace for us?
And that peace he had knowing he was in the Father's will.
And it's all right, this is bad, this is bad what's happening,
but it's always going to be good. It's going to be good for the
joy that was set before me. Endure it properly. And so should
we, peaceably. Well, I'm getting mad. And you
know, and let me read this in closing, Hebrews 13, all right? Hebrews 13, this is the last
verse, I promise you. You say, and someone might be
discouraged by this, I just don't feel much different. I don't feel
much growth. Well, other people see it. It's like your child in your
house. When you see it every day, you
don't notice the growth much, do you? But somebody who hasn't
seen that child in a while, wow, he's not the same. Is that, why
is that? We went to somewhere recently,
we hadn't been for years, and Hannah's grown a foot. Not a
foot, foot, but a dog. It's something. If she's not
growing, she's not alive. Isn't that right? If she quits growing, she dies. She dies. And it's the same with
us. We may not feel it, and we're
around ourselves all the time. And we don't see it. But bless
God, other people do. Other people do. And
like I was talking about the answer of a good conscience,
it's a slow work. It's slow, too. Growth in grace
and spiritual growth is just as slow, if not slower, than
physical growth, you know, because it's a greater work. It's a deeper
work. But it's sure, because he that
hath begun a good work, If God's in it, if you're laden with the
Spirit, you'll grow in grace and the knowledge of Christ.
And so Hebrews 13 says this. And we read there in Luke chapter
3, verse 22, where it says that God said, This is my beloved
Son, and thee I am well pleased. And He sends forth His Spirit
to us. And that we might receive the
adoption of sons. And here in Hebrews 13 verses
13 says, Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp bearing
his reproach. Here we have no continuing city,
but we seek one to come by him therefore. By him, by Christ. Faith in Christ. By his Spirit. Let us offer The sacrifice of
praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lip, giving
thanks to his name. This is worship. And to do good
and to communicate or forgive, forget not. For with such sacrifices,
God is well-placed. And that was it. He's well played. We've been
baptized. Do you see the correlation there
all the way through? We've been baptized into Christ, and we're
anointed by the Holy Spirit, whereby He gives us the spirit
of adoption. We're sons, thou art my beloved
child, daughter of Abraham. With these fruit of our lips
and this worship of his son, God is well-placed. He's well-placed. Well, I hope
that was profitable to you. It's two short verses, but oh,
there's so much there. The dove. Come, Holy Spirit,
heavenly dove. in these cold hearts of ours.
Kindle a flame of sacred love, and that shall kindle our heart.
All right. Stand with me. Our Heavenly Father, we thank
You for Your Word, every line of which speaks of Christ. We
thank You. that you reveal Christ to us
so clearly through every page. We see out of obscurity wondrous
things. You open our eyes to behold wondrous
things from your Word. We see and know and believe that
Christ is indeed the Christ, the Son of the living God. We
know. We've seen your Spirit on Him and in Him without measure.
We've seen Him as our peace. And now, Lord, we believe. that
you have done this work for us. Many in here can say that. You've
done this work in us by your, that same Holy Spirit bearing
witness with our spirit. We're the sons of God, whereby
we cry, Father. And now, Lord, enable us to be as Christ, Christ-like
in our walk. As many as Walk not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit. So lead us and guide us. We always
pray this. Lead us and guide us by your
Spirit. Let not sin have dominion over us. May grace reign unto
righteousness. Enable us to yield our members,
servants unto righteousness, as we once did unto sin. Reign in us, we pray, O Holy
Spirit. May we be as Enoch who walked
with God. May we be as your servant, who
is a friend of God, you spoke face to face with. And in Christ
we are accepted in the beloved. And I would thank you for him.
Now, Lord, give us his character. Create him in us. We pray, for
your glory is our reasonable service, and it becometh us as
sons of God. In Christ's name we pray, let's
get together and ask all these things. Do it, Lord. Amen.