OK. This is. The. Oldest epistle. In the Bible,
in the New Testament. This is. Thought to be by most
the oldest of all the epistle, the first letter written to the
church The first letter. So it's pretty important. Very
important. As all the Word of God, but this
was the first one the Lord led one of the apostles to write
to the church. It's a general epistle. That
means it's written to all. The first chapter says it's written
to strangers, and that's us. Scattered strangers that's who
we are we're not. Peter didn't know us. Peter's
Lord did. Does. So this is written to us. It's not addressed any church
in particular like Ephesus or Philippi or Galatia. It's written
to all the churches. All right. The first and oldest
epistle and there's three basic parts to this chapter. First
few verses are written to preachers and teachers. I guess in a sense
it could be to you ladies although you're not an elder but you are
teachers and certainly the principles apply. But and there's no other
elder and it's just to me. So it's a very pointed message
to me the first part of it and maybe why I was so blessed when
I heard my pastor preaching at the time. Well no there were
other men there there were other elders like Bob Coffey and Ron
Trebant and so forth. But the first part of it is to
elders. The second part is written to all believers. And then he
ends it up with a word of, well, a blessed word of encouragement. All right, let's just dive right
in. Verse 1, he says, The elders which are among you, I exhort
to them also an elder. Peter says, I'm writing to or
speaking to those who preach and teach the word elders. That's what elder mean. It's
a preacher, a teacher, a church leader. That's what an elder
is. Church leader. He says, I am also an elder.
And go on a witness of the sufferings of Christ. And partaker also
a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. Now, Peter
and the apostles saw Christ with these eyes. They actually saw
him. Peter, you remember, stood in
the wings as Christ was actually nailed to the cross. Well, that is one of the qualifications
of being an apostle. You must see the Lord himself,
receive from him your ministry or your orders. Receive your
orders directly from him and then have all the gifts. So there
are no more apostles, but there are elders. There are elders,
and he says these to these elders, you have witnessed the sufferings
of Christ and have been a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed.
And now all of these fellows didn't necessarily see Christ
crucified. But they have witnessed with
the eye of faith, as I have. And my pastor always likes to
say, you can't tell what you don't know any more than you
can come back where you haven't been. You can't preach what you
don't know. You won't preach what you haven't
seen. The reason preachers don't preach
Christ crucified all the time, the reason they're not altogether
taken up with Christ crucified can only be one reason. That's
right. I haven't seen him. If a man ever sees his glory,
if he ever really sees Christ, That's the subject of subject.
That's what he's going to preach from that day forward. That's
what Peter said. He said, we can't help but speak
the things we've seen and heard. We can't help it. What did you
see, Peter? Him. John, what did you see? We touched,
we handled Him. What's your message, John? Him.
Everything else pales, doesn't it? The partaker of the glory
that shall be revealed. Christ is the theme of heaven.
He is heaven. Christ is the central figure
of eternal life. In other words, when we go to
be with Christ in glory, that's what it means to be with Christ.
We're going to go be with him in glory. He said it in John
17, that they may be with me where I am, that they might behold
what? My glory. The song says to behold his face,
that will be glory. It is. We're going to go to glory.
word better for him. Everybody has some conception
of heaven, you know. Well, heaven to the believers,
glory, and glory to the believers, Christ. We'll see his glory. Christ is, that's what's going
to be so glorious about. What? Him. We're not going to be taken with
streets and toys, but him. That's going to be heaven, glory,
partaker. And God's people now are partakers
of that glory. The song says, oh, what a foretaste
of glory divine. So a true elder, or that is a
leader of the church, a preacher, a teacher of the word of God,
is one who has seen Christ and Him crucified and have been partaker. of his glory. God has shined
in his dark heart. One day God shined in his dark
heart to reveal the light of the knowledge of the glory of
God in a person. And so from that day forward,
what is his subject? Who does he preach? Christ. He's
seen his glory. He's experienced the power of
God. The power of God. What is the power of God? Christ,
he said in 1 Corinthians 1, is the wisdom of God and the power
of God. And he's seen how just the preaching
of Christ crucified transforms people, actually saves people,
actually turns children of wrath into God's people, actually turns
them from darkness into light. What? Just preaching. Like old
Ezekiel. Can these bones live? You know,
Lord, preach. That's the power of God. If a
man knew that and believe that he'd do it and that's all he'd
do. He wouldn't resort, Henry, he wouldn't resort to other means,
would he? So why don't they? They don't know. They just don't
know. They haven't felt it themselves.
You see what I'm saying? They haven't experienced that
power themselves. The gospel hasn't really touched
them themselves, or they may have made a profession. They
had some experience. I'm telling you, preachers, I
got saved about twelve times last week. I heard messages, Jotaro preached
from Romans 9 and Romans 10. I heard that, I bet you literally
a hundred times. But it's the best I've ever heard.
Just thrilled my soul. Thrilled my soul. Weren't they
men there? Man, you just never heard of
them. Charles Fenton preached from Galatians 3. I've heard
this many times, but I'm telling you, it was just fabulous. In
fact, Christ was the theme. And that's what an elder, that's
who an elder preaches. because he himself has been a
witness, and he himself is a partaker of that glory. And so that's
what he does. If he doesn't, well, you can't
come back from where you hanged in. All right, read on. He says to the elder, feed the
flock of God. Feed the flock of God. Now, who
better to say this than Peter. You remember after the Lord arose
and they were sitting around the fire and the Lord pointed
right at Peter and said, Do you love me? Simon, lovest thou me
more than these? More than these boats and all
that? And you remember Peter went fishing. Peter was just
a man. Two days went by. And he said,
I quit. The Lord, you know, was crucified. Two days went by. He said, I
quit. That's the reason he wrote Nancy
and 1 Peter 1 5. He said, we're kept by the power
of God. Peter knows that by experience. He said, I quit. But he kept
me. I wasn't going anywhere. He drew
me. Well, the Lord said to Peter,
he said, Peter, do you love me more than these boats? You want
to go back fishing? He hung his head. Lord, thou knowest. You know
I love you. So what did the Lord say to him?
Then feed my sheep. Feed my sheep. Who better to
say this to us then than Peter? Feed my sheep. Well, over in
Ezekiel, and don't turn, but over there in Ezekiel, he says,
woe unto these pastors that feed themselves. He said they're getting
fats off the wool and so forth. They're feeding off of the sheep
and not feeding the sheep. I told you about that so-called
pastor here in town, you know, that I met. Big bad this church
here in town. Shook his hand and it felt like
shaking a woman's. Well no, our lady's hands aren't
that smooth. Our ladies work. But I looked
at their financial statement and that fellow, he preaches
once on Sunday, one time Sunday morning. I guess you'd call it
preaching, I don't know. And then his youth minister,
or whatever you call him, does it Sunday evening if they have
one. And then Wednesday night they have choir and everything
under the sun, you know. And his base salary is about
$65,000 a year. Lives in a parsonage and has
a car provided for him. An all-benefit. For what? For what? Is he feeding off of them? He's
not feeding them, not feeding them. But Jeremiah said, or God
said through Jeremiah, he said, I'll give you pastors after mine
own heart. They'll feed you. He said, they'll
feed you with knowledge. What's knowledge? What is a feed?
What is, what does a pastor feed the people with? What is sheep
food? Christ said, except you eat my flesh and drink my blood.
Christ is sheep food. And that's what they feed with. All the time. It's always the
food of sheep. That's what they feed with. That's
what they feed on. That's what they grow. They grow
in grace and in knowledge. He said these pastures will feed
them with knowledge. Knowledge of what? Facts? No.
Christ. Christ. All right, read on. He
says, feed the flock, take the oversight thereof. Taking the
oversight thereof. Take it. You don't take it to
yourself. That's what we saw this morning
in Jude, these fellows, they separate themselves. These maverick
creatures, they call themselves into the ministry. They pursue
it themselves. You'll not find one fellow in
all the scriptures that sought to enter the ministry. Not Isaiah, not Jeroboam, none
of them said, I think I'll enter into the ministry. I think I'll
go to school and I think I'll become a preacher. Can't do anything
else. I failed at everything else. I think I'll be a preacher.
That's what they say, these fellows today. You will not find one
in all the Bible. None of the apostles, none of
the apostles sought to enter the ministry, did they? They
were called. They were called. They were put into it. But when
God called them, like Isaiah, Now, the Lord said, Now whom
shall I send? And Isaiah said, Here am I, send
me. Take it. If a man desire the
office of a bishop, after the Lord has put that in his heart,
after the Lord has called him and put it in his heart and opened
the doors and all that, if a man desire the office of a bishop,
the scripture says, he desireth a good thing. Take it. Don't
refuse it. But the Lord called, take it.
And it's an awesome undertaking. He said, but take it, read on.
Taking the oversight thereof. Oversight means the rule. And
over in Hebrews 13, just we'll turn back there a couple of pages.
Hebrews 13. Hebrews 13. Says this in verse 7, remember
them which have the rule over you. See it in Hebrews 13, 7. Remember
them which have the rule over you. Remember them in prayer. Remember them before the throne
of grace. Remember to support them and
so forth, as you do here. Who have spoken unto you the
word of God. whose faith follow. Follow a
man? Yeah, if he's following Christ.
If he's following Christ. That's what Paul said. He said
that several times. Follow me as I follow Christ.
Considering the end of their conversation. What is the end,
the goal, and the purpose of that fellow? If you can conclude
that the end, the goal, the purpose of that man's ministry Like Paul
said, you've fully known my manner of life, my ministry, my doctrine.
If you can conclude that the gold end of his preaching, the
purpose of his preaching, is that you might win Christ and
be found in him, that you might know him, that you might know
God's Word and be conformed to Christ in him, that you can follow
that man. You can be safe in following that man. I have. Still do. I still do. Not just one. There's several
men who the end of their conversation is God's glory and our good. Verse 17, Obey them that have
the rule over you. All right. Submit yourselves.
Watch for yourselves. All right. Go on. Back to the
text. So that's the oversight. It's the ruling. That's what
it is. And there must be a captain of the ship. You know that. We
don't have any problem with this here. All right, read on. Not by constraint. Now, this is still written to
me. Take the oversight, take the rule. Any man that would
do it or pursue that is a fool. But if God puts him in it, it'll
work out. But not by constraint, he says.
Not by constraint, or that is, it's not just a job. Don't do
it as a job. I know men that have done that,
that have approached this as a job, like a business. It's
not a job. Don't do it because bills constrain
you to do so. Don't do it. Not by constraint.
Read on. But willingly. Not for filthy
lucre. Not for money, but willingly.
Of a ready mind. Ready, willing, lovingly. Of
a ready mind. Neither is being lords over God's
heritage. Not little dictators. I've seen
this pulpit, this podium, this piece of wood change men. Turn men from Dr. Jekyll into Mr. Hyde. I've seen
it happen. And the scripture says it particularly
happens in novices in the faith. In the faith. You remember that?
It says, don't lay hands on any man suddenly. Don't ordain a
man to the ministry suddenly. There are some who, being lifted
up with pride, fall into the condemnation of the devil. It
says not to be a novice in the place of pastor, a novice in
the faith. new to the faith, lest he be
lifted up with pride and fall into the condemnation of the
devil." I've seen it happen. I know a man who destroyed the
congregation he went to. Nearly. Nearly. A young, new to the faith. And it's got a hold of him, this
authority. And boy, that's what he said.
He said one time when he got in the pulpit, he said, when
I get up here, I'm not your friend. I'm your pastor. He's a grace, I mean, grace preacher. Sad, sad. Well, he tells me if
he'd have read 1 Peter 5, he wouldn't have said that, would
he? 1 Peter 5, not as lords over
God's very good examples. You don't command respect. You've got to earn it. Don't
you? You husbands probably know this
from experience. A young man tries his best to
just bow a woman. I am man, your wife. At first, it's so. But the strength of the sin is
the law. Isn't it, Rick? Isn't it, Stan? The strength of sin is the law. What did you say, man? That's the way it happens. You can't
command respect. All y'all are laughing because
you know it sucks. It's sad, isn't it? You've got to earn
it. And the way you earn respect
is by example. Examples to the flock. You lead
by example. You do it with authority, yes. Without fear, yes. But you do
it by example. Verse 4. He said, When the chief
shepherd shall appear, you shall receive a crown of glory that
fadeth not away. Preacher is going to receive
a crown of glory. What's that? A little crown? A little crowd. Don't be ridiculous. 1 Thessalonians. Turn back there
and it tells us. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. Most crowds wouldn't fit on the
heads of most of these fellows. You couldn't find one big enough. 1 Thessalonians 2. Look at this. Paul said, here it is. Verse
19, what is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing, of glory? Are not even ye in the presence
of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? You are our glory and
our joy. You are my crown. In other words,
for a preacher, that crowning glory, a crown of rejoicing crown of
glory, or that which he will glory in, not that which will
give him glory. No, no, no, no, no, no. Paul said, I have nothing to
glory in, but necessity is laid upon me. Woe is unto me if I
preach not the gospel. God said, if you don't do it,
I can raise a rock up to do it. I raised you up. You as hard
as a rock. He doesn't glory in that. He doesn't receive the
glory, but that which he glories in. which is a crown or that
crowning glory to him will be to stand side-by-side with those
people he preached that gospel to. Stand up in glory in heaven someday.
John, is that you? Yeah. Is that you? Yeah. That will be glory. Joe, it's
me. Now, that'll be glory, he said.
All right, read on. Glory. That's what he, that's
why he does it. That's why he does it. All right,
read on. Verse 5, now this is to everyone.
Likewise, you younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Now,
obviously, in the context here, he's not talking about age, is
he? He's not talking about an elder
and age at all. He's talking about a teacher
and a preacher. And younger here means younger in the faith. A man can be 60 years old and
the pastor be 30 years old and the man 60, younger in the faith.
And this is what it's saying here. Submit to yourselves unto
that elder. That's what it's saying. Submit
unto him. Now this doesn't mean bow and
scrape, kiss his toe, kiss his ring. Can you imagine, Peter, if they
say he's the first pope, can you imagine what he'd do to somebody? Well,
he did it. Remember when the disciples, when, was it Paul? It was Paul and somebody else,
when they said there were gods. Remember that? The gods are among
us. What'd they do? They ripped their
clothes. If Pope John Paul was anything, he'd rip that robe
off and throw that hat down and say, I'm nothing. Peter, well, whoever it was in
Revelation 1, remember John fell down before him? And was it Revelation 1? No, it was
another chapter where, Revelation 19, I think. John fell down before
this angel to worship him, and he said, don't do that. Then
he's saying, but get up. I'm one of your brethren. I just
look glorious because he's changed me. You're going to look just
like me. Don't get up. Worship him. So submit here doesn't mean to
bow and scrape and worship a man. We know that. What does it mean
to me. It means to listen to. God gives
men that he puts in his church as leaders Joe read it in Ephesians
four he gave gifts to me for the edifying. Of the body. For the perfecting of the saints. He gives these men a double portion
of wisdom and insight and discernment. He does. He just does. And we
would do well to listen and heed. And heed. That's what he says.
Submit. Heed his advice. Follow his example. Be subject
to it in that respect, to their leadership. All right, read on.
Yea, all of you be subject one to another. Be clothed with humility. All of you be subject one to
another. What that means is give in. Be a peacemaker. Give in. Don't demand your rights. Seek their rights. Seek others'
rights. Blessed are the peacemakers.
Give in. Be a reconciler. But, but, but
she, she offended me. Oh, be like Christ. Was Christ
offended? Blessed are the peacemakers.
Give in. Give in. OK, I'm sorry. If I've offended
you, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. I really...
Give in. You be the reconciler. You be
the one to call and say, Is there a problem? I'm sorry. Humble yourself. That's what
that means. But I've been wrong. You don't realize they did me
wrong. I haven't done anything. What if Christ said that? Give in. Be subject, one to another. It also means to listen to. That's
what we talked about this morning, isn't it? Being good listeners.
We can still learn from one another, can't we? Joe, you can learn
something from Henry still, and Henry from Joe. And everyone here, we can still
learn something from one another. We can learn from our children
to some degree, can't we? We can. Be subject one to another. That's what it means. Clothed
with humility. They say clothes makes the man. It doesn't help some men. It doesn't help. That's just
his best guess. Clothes don't make the man. Humility
does, though. Humility makes the man. I mean,
makes a real man. Christ said, you take my yoke
upon you and learn of me. He said, I'm a man. God said
he was a man. Now here's a man's man. What's
he like? He said, I'm meek. Humble. Gentle. A gentle man. Want to be a man? Be a gentle
man. Not a macho man. A gentle man. That's what Christ was, wasn't
it? Oh, that doesn't mean... A meek man. And that doesn't
mean weak, does it? Was Christ weak? Oh, when time
came to put His foot down, boy, He put His foot down. He let
people walk over him for a while, and when it came time, nobody was going to bend him. Right? That's what it means to
be a man clothed with humility. Read on. Why? Because God resists
the proud. God resisteth the proud. God
resisteth the proud. Now, if God be for us, who can
be against us? But if God resisted us, and God
resisted the proud. Payday someday. I see these,
all these high and mighty athletes and all these, you know, all
these world, these movie stars and everybody's so lifted up
with pride. Payday someday. God hates, said
six things he hates, seven are abomination, the first thing
is pride. It says He knows, He resists
the proud. He's going to bring them down
someday. Is He ever? Why does He hate the pride in
man? Because we are what we are by
the grace of God. Everything we have and everything
we are is owing to the grace of God. There's no room for boasting. in anything, any way, shape,
form or fashion. No room for boasting about anything. About your pretty face? God gave
it to you. About your strength? God gave
it to you. About your brain? God gave it
to you. He gave it to you and withheld
it from somebody else. It's by grace. What do you have that
you haven't the proud. Payday Sunday. But it says he gives grace to
the humble. So he said, verse 6, Humble yourselves, therefore,
under the mighty hand of God. How do you humble yourself? How
do you humble yourself? Well, you become as a little
child. I come before you. I'm 40 years
old. I'm younger than you, Vicki. Vicki's 43 now. I like saying that. It doesn't
bother her. She's gracious. She's humble.
She really is. But you come and listen as a
little child. You don't listen as a 43-year-old
mature woman. You listen as a little child.
You listen like you've heard it for the first time you've
ever heard it. You listen as if you've never heard this before,
and as if you don't know what I'm talking about. So you come
and say, teach me. That's what it means. You put
down your self-will, you put down your pride, you put down
your knowledge. If any man thinks he knows anything,
he knows nothing he has yet to know. That's what it means to humble
yourself, to come, submit to, surrender to the Word. Say, Lord,
speak to me. Oh, I've heard this. I know the
doctrine. I've been taught. I think I know
some things, but Lord, teach me all over again. That's what it means. Humble
yourself before, under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt
you. Verse 7, casting all your care upon him. Your fears, your
family, your future, your worries, your need, cast it all on him.
Why? He cares for you. That's a good
version. He cares for you. That means
two things. He cares for you. You tell your
husband or your wife, say, honey, I care for you. That means I
love you. Cast your care on him. He loves
you. And he cares for you. in that
he provides for you. He's the one taking care of you. So cast a care on him. It's not
yours anyway. It's his. Oh, our pastor, our
great elder, has taken the oversight thereof. Not by constraint, but
willingly. And I've already met him, haven't
I? And he feeds us. Cast your care
on him. He cares for you. Read on. Be
sober. Now this is to everyone. Be sober.
That means serious. This especially applies to pastors
and teachers, and this is a thing a man has to establish and has
to never be caught up in being a clown. He just can't be a clown
or nobody's going to take him seriously. The fly in the ointment
of the apothecary doth cause it to stink, so doth a little
folly in him that is known for wisdom. So he says to all of us, don't
be taken with levity and foolishness, especially here. We come here
to worship, we come here to hear from him, and it requires some
serious preparation. Be vigilant, or you don't. Be
vigilant, or that is watchful. Be watchful. And these fellows
that we talked about this morning won't sneak up on you. Your adversary, the devil, as
a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. Resist
him steadfast in the faith." How do you resist the devil?
James said that, didn't he? Resist the devil and you'll flee
from him. How do you do that? He said, in the faith. Do you
see that? This goes well with Jude, doesn't
it? He said, Michael, Michael, even the archangel, didn't try
to handle the devil one on one, did he? No match for him. He's the prince of the power
of the air. He's the ruler of the darkness,
spiritual darkness of this world and so forth. Principalities
and power. We're no match for him. Adam
wasn't. Peter wasn't. No match for him. Sons of Seba
weren't. And we aren't either. How do we resist him? In the
faith. What does that mean? We call
on a stronger than he. So the Lord rebuked thee. He's called the accuser of the
brethren. You ain't no Christian. How could
you do that and say you're a Christian? Look at you. How could you say
those things? How could that come out of your
mouth and be a Christian? Well, you ain't no Christian. You're
a sinner. The Lord rebuked thee, Satan. He said sinners are Christians. He said he came to save sinners. The Lord handled you. Read on. He says the same afflictions
are accomplished in your brethren in the world. They're getting
the same accusations. I bet you I'm getting them worse. Oh, how do I fight in the faith? Oh, Lord, help, help. That's it. Lord, help. Oh, did
we in our own strength confide? Our striving would be losing.
We're not the right man on our side, the man of God's own choosing. Just ask who that may be. Christ
Jesus, it is He. The Lord of Sabbath, that's His
name. Age to age the same. He must
win the battle. And He did. He does. He said,
Peter, I pray for you. There you go. All right, let's
go now. Let's go on. In a hurry. But,
verse 10, the God of all grace. the God of all grace, who hath
called us. He's called us unto his eternal
glory. He's called us by the gospel,
and he said, You're going to glory with me. You're going to
behold my glory. We've beheld it now, but we see
in part, we know in part, when that which is perfect shall appear,
we'll know as we've been known. We'll see it clearly, his glory. He's called us to that glory.
That's what he's called us to do. not just to go to heaven,
but to behold his glory. He's called us for that, the
God of all grace, chosen us, elected us, called us to this
glory, to this glory. He says, after you've suffered
a while, this is part of that glorification, suffering. It's needful. You must, through
much tribulation, enter the kingdom of heaven. This place Why do
we go through trials and troubles and tribulations and afflictions?
Oh, it's going to make heaven that much sweeter. Huh? All these tears and sorrow, it's
not going to be anymore. It's going to be that much sweeter. Huh? It weens us. It weens us
from this world, too. If we didn't have any troubles,
we'd want to stay here, wouldn't we? But God in wisdom, And in
mercy and grace and love, sin's trials. Yes, sin's trials. Sometimes you think they're unbearable
trials. But he said, Oh, you'll be able
to bear them. I'm not sending you anything
you can't bear. Why? He cares for you. And it's good
that I've been afflicted, David said, that I might learn thy
statutes. And that I might be weaned from this world. That
I might find here no continuing city, but look for that which
is to come, whose builder and maker is God. Gonna make it sweet, Barbara.
Gonna make it sweet. Suffer for a while. After that,
He's gonna perfect you. After you've suffered a while,
make you perfect. And the trial of your faith does
perfect you. Mature you. Make you perfect. Establish you. We need established,
don't we? Unmoved. Strengthen you. We need
faith, we need assurance, we need courage. Settle you. Give
you peace of mind, heart, contentment. No matter what comes, we need
to be settled. To him be glory and dominion
forever and ever. Now he says, I've written to
you by Silas. He sent the letter exhorting
and testifying that this is the true grace of God wherein you
stand. This God of all grace. That's
where it comes from. All grace, every good and perfect
gift comes down from the Father. And this is the true grace. Very
quickly. If you're taking notes, I took
these. And this is good. It really demands
a whole message by itself. But listen. True grace. This is the true grace of God
wherein you stand. True grace now. is the grace
that saves and keeps safe. That's true grace. The grace
of God wherein you stand, that's going to make you stand, is grace that saves and keeps you. It's going to keep you standing.
You're not going to fall, Joe. Why? It's true grace. Where are
you standing? You're standing on grace. I'm
in grace that saves you, and grace is going to keep you safe.
This is true grace. Oh, the world talks about grace,
but this is true grace. It saves and it keeps. This is
the true grace of God. This is grace that forgives the
unfaithful. Catholicism says you better repent
right up to the end. You better repent of that last
sin or you're going to be lost. People, this is the true grace
of God, that when it's all said and done, if you lose your mind,
what if you lose your mind? What if you get Alzheimer's disease? Huh? You
still sin? Oh, this is the true grace. It
keeps forgiving. It keeps forgiving, even though
you don't even have a mind to repent. He keeps forgiveness,
forgives the unfaithful. This is the true grace that welcomes
and receives the prodigal. Boy, this is the grace I stand
on. This prodigal just keeps on going
astray. Keeps on going astray, but this
is true grace, the love of the Father to bring him back. and
doesn't rebuke him or reprove him, per se, or just humiliate
him, but falls on his neck and kisses him. That's true grace. This is a
true grace that cancels the debt. We were talking about this morning.
They talk about the blood of Christ, it paid for your sins,
but that's not the true grace I stand on. True grace cancels
the debt. brought out the handwriting.
Christ said, he owes something, charge it to me. Don't Nessun must owe you something,
charge it to my account. I'm going to pay it all. That's
the true grace wherein I stand. Jesus paid it all, all the debt
I owe. That's the true grace. True grace
forgets the debt. Has somebody, have you ever loaned
anybody money and they didn't pay it back? It's hard to forget that, isn't
it? I remember. I'll forgive you
this time, but I won't forget. The Lord said their sins and
iniquity, I remember no more. Only thing God can forget is
your sins. This is the true grace. God forgets
the sin, forgets the debt. Remember no more. This is the
true grace of God that continues to forgive. How many times? Seven times? And on and on and on and on and
on. This is the true grace of God.
Is that where you stand? Like Martin Luther, I said, here
I stand. No place else to stand. Or like Peter and the Fellows
said, to whom shall we go? Where are we going to go? Where
would we turn? This is the grace where I stand.
All right. The church at Babylon elected
together salutes you. By the way, 13th Street. Salute
you. Read on. Greeting one another
with a kiss of charity. That means show your affection. You can kiss if you want to.
It doesn't, it doesn't, kiss if you want to. If you're comfortable
with that. But what the principle is, show
your affection. I haven't seen my wife in a week. What if I didn't even acknowledge
her when she walked in the room? Huh? He tells us to do this several
times, doesn't he? I greet one of the brethren this
morning. It grieved me so warmly, and it made my day. Peace be
with you all that are in Christ Jesus. Amen. All right. May the Lord bless
that to our hearts. Stand with me and I'll dismiss
it. Our Lord, how we thank You for
Your Word. It meets our every need. It deals with us in every
area that we need dealt with. We thank You, Lord. It speaks
to everyone, without exception, all of Your people. and wisely deals with them. Thank
you for your Word. Apply it now. As we've said and
asked before, apply it to our lives. Let us be doers of the
Word, not hearers only. Bring these things to our remembrance.
Cause the Holy Spirit to give us a good memory. Don't let the
fowls of the air now take these things away, but plant them.
In Christ's name, amen.