All right, I'm gonna take my
text tonight from Ephesians chapter four. If you would turn with
me to Ephesians chapter four. I actually was going to, I was
studying in the chapter five and beginning to prepare a message
from the first couple of verses in chapter five and then as we
must do in studying the scriptures, I kind of backed up a little
bit to read the verses that preceded verses one and two. And then
there was a statement that it just caught my eye. And it's
in verse 32 of chapter four. So this is the verse from which
I'll take my text. Paul says, and be ye kind one
to another. tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as
God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you." I choose those
three words for the title of this message, For Christ's Sake. This being the last service of
the year 2023, I can think of no other portion
of scripture more important to set before you this evening than
this one that I believe that the Spirit of God has led me
to land on for you tonight. This is the key. This is the
key to receiving every good thing from God. He gives every good
thing to us for Christ's sake. Something we need to learn. And
I would say to begin with, this is a great argument for anybody
here, anybody who's watching, who's troubled over sin, interested
in salvation, interested in forgiveness, You've read about Christ Jesus. You've studied about Christ Jesus. You've heard about Christ Jesus. I preached this morning. I labored
on the point of the blood of the Son of God that cleanseth
us from all sins. Maybe there's somebody, you want
this salvation. You want righteousness. You hear
us preach from the pulpit. You must be righteous. A righteous
God, a holy God demands righteousness and holiness. You hear that,
and you want this righteousness. You want to be right with God.
You want to be saved by His grace. Here's the key to receiving this
salvation from God. It's to understand that God saves,
God forgives, God makes people righteous for Christ's sake. I tell you, this is the key.
This is the key. I hope anybody who's clothed
in their own self-righteousness will abandon that self-righteousness
and come to God as a naked sinner, needing his salvation. and praying from the depths of
your soul, oh God, save me, save me, for Christ's sake, for Christ's
sake. Let me tell you something, this
is the password to doing business with God. You're all familiar with password. I have these, apps and accounts
on my computer and on my cell phone. Got to have a password
for every one of them. And sometimes I'll get on a site
and they'll say, it's time to change your password. What is
your old password? Well, I usually go by face recognition. And if they ask for my old password,
a lot of times I can't remember it. You ever have that problem? That's just, we're forgetful. Let me tell you something, here's
a password that will never change. You'll never have to remember
a new password to do business with God. If you, from your innermost
being, I mean dead serious now, I'm not talking about a shallow
type of thing, just a passing fancy of religion, but if you're
serious about doing business with God, here's the password. You come to God and ask Him,
ask Him what you will. And if you ask in the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ, if you ask God for Christ's sake, He
gives. He gives. This is what opens
up glory for us. This is what opens up the bountiful
blessings of God for us. For Christ's sake. Lord, I'm
a guilty sinner. I'm ungodly by nature. Would
you save me? I hear preachers. I hear this
preacher. I hear other preachers. I hear
other people talking about being saved by the grace of God. Lord,
would you save me and do it? Not for my sake, but for Christ's
sake. See, we've never done anything
to merit God doing something for us. See, the religious world says,
do something for God and then God will do something for you. But we understand if anything
is ever done for us, God's going to have to do it and it won't
be for our sakes. It's not going to be because
of something we've done. Not going to be for something
we've said. If God shows me mercy, if God
shows me grace, if God forgives my sins, if God gives me a righteous
standing before Him, the only way He can do those things is
for Christ's sake. This is the key to understanding
the gospel. Now, I know many people use these
three words, for Christ's sake, in a blasphemous way, in an angry way. They'll say,
for Jesus' sake, for Christ's sake. But I'll tell you what,
when these words are spoken from your heart, and let me tell you
something, if you want to do business with God, you better
talk from your heart. That's why Solomon said, my son,
give me your heart. We're in the heart business.
Brother Scott Richardson, one time, after the service was over,
Tim James and I were talking to him, and he put his finger,
he pointed at my chest, pointed at Tim's chest. He said, let
me tell you something, fellas. We're in the heart business.
We're in the heart business. See, too many people are just
in the mouth business. And our Lord Jesus said of the
Pharisees of His day, He said, with their words, they say a
lot of stuff, but their hearts, now they're far from me. You want to do business with
God? Better do it from your heart. And I'm not talking about this
heart that pumps blood. I'm talking about your innermost
being. If you want to get God's attention, if you want God to listen to
you, if you want God to grant your petition, you've got to
learn this is how to come to God and ask for anything. Lord, do it for Christ's sake.
Do it for Christ's sake. Go back to, I want you to turn
to Matthew 7. Here's some folks over here in
Matthew chapter 7. And our Lord Jesus in teaching the
people, He says to them, and He talks about people who just
lip, give Him lip service. Matthew 7, look at verse 21. He says, not everyone that saith
unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but
he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven. What is the will of the Father?
Well, read in John chapter 6. This is the will of the Father,
that you believe on Him whom He sent, that you bow to Christ
Jesus, that you receive Him as prophet, priest, and king, the
only Savior. That's the will of God. That's
His revealed will. And then our Lord He sets forth
this like an illustration of that which is going to happen
in the last day, the final day, the judgment day, that day. You
notice he says, many will say to me in that day. What day? The last day, the judgment day. And it's as though they're anticipating
that after they say these things to the Lord, the gates of heaven
are just gonna fly open for them. And they'll just go right on
in. They're gonna say, Lord, Lord. perhaps in response to the Lord
saying or asking, why should I permit you into this holy city
called paradise, called heaven? Why should I permit you into
my presence? Well, they'll say, Lord, Lord,
have we not prophesied in thy name? That's why you ought to
let us in, because we preach for you. And in thy name, we
cast out devils. We exorcise demons out of people. And in thy name, we've done many
wonderful works, outstanding works. Surely Lord, you've taken
notice of the works that we've done. And then they anticipate heaven's
glory awaiting them. And the gates flying open. And
the Lord said, well, based on what you've done, come on in. They didn't say, for Christ's
sake, let us in. They said, because of what we've
done, let us in. Fatal mistake. And then while I profess unto
them, they made a profession to me, they professed. They professed
all that they had done for Him. And then, well, I profess unto
them, I never knew you. The Lord knoweth them that are
His. He didn't know these people.
Oh, He knew about them, but He didn't know them in love and
in grace. and in a saving way. Then will
I profess unto them. And I tell you what, what he
professes carries the weight, not what they profess. Then will I profess to them,
I never knew you. Depart from me. Not come on in. Not come on in, but depart from
me. Because everything you've done
is just works of iniquity. You're just workers of iniquity. When you stand before the Lord,
and I don't know, I don't know exactly how this is going to
happen, but we're going, All souls are mine, the Lord says,
and in Ecclesiastes, when the soul dies, or when the body dies,
the soul goes back to God who gave it. I do know that. Ecclesiastes
chapter 12. And should it be asked of you, why should I permit you to enter
into my holy presence? What are you going to say? I believe I'll say let me in
for Christ's sake. I think that'll work, Alvin.
Yeah. That's the key. That's the key. Don't you go talking about what
you've done. Now, that'll merit hell for you. Only way you're going to get
into the city of God is that you're permitted to enter
in for Christ's sake, for Christ's sake. See, don't plead your own self-righteousness. You remember what Job said? Job
said, if I justify myself, my own mouth would condemn me. You know better than to brag
on what you've done, don't you? because you've never done anything
that was without sin. Even coming here this evening,
though we want to worship, we want to honor God, there is sin
in everything we do because we're sinners in the heart. And it pollutes everything we
do. Would you offer to God that which
is polluted and expect him to accept it? He will not. But I'll tell you what, he will
accept your worship for Christ's sake. For Christ's sake. This is the key. These three
words are the foundation of the gospel. Why does God forgive
anybody of their trespasses? For Christ's sake. And it isn't
because we prayed, Lord, forgive me of all my sins. That is not the basis of forgiveness. The basis of forgiveness is the
person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Your faith and
your repentance are not powerful enough or glorious enough to
put even one sin away or to merit you a place in glory. For Christ's sake, God forgives. We're told to come to God in
prayer. What's the secret of our prayers
being accepted by God? I heard a preacher on TV the
other day. He said, you know, the Bible
says, come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy
and find grace to help in time of need. Come boldly. That's really taking that verse
out of context. Turn over to Hebrews chapter
four. You see it isn't, God's not gonna
receive you because you come boldly. Hebrews chapter four, verse 14. Seeing then we have a great high
priest. That's the basis of us approaching
God, and it's the basis of God receiving us and receiving our
prayers, who our great high priest is, for Christ's sake. Seeing then we have a great high
priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God,
let us hold fast to profession. For we have not an high priest
which cannot be touched, with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly
to the throne of grace. How so? Through Christ, our great
high priest. Do you remember what he told
his disciples? If you ask anything in my name. You better put that name in there. Lord says you'll receive it.
Turn over a little further into Hebrews. Look at chapter 10.
Hebrews chapter 10. Look at verse 19. Having Therefore, chapter 10 of Hebrews
verse 19, having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest
by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he hath
consecrated or dedicated for us through the veil, that is
to say his flesh, and having a high priest over the house
of God, let us draw near, draw near to God. with a true heart
and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Don't try to come to God apart
from Christ. Did not our Lord say, and we
quote this so often, did not he say, I am the way, the truth
and the life, no man cometh unto the Father. I'm glad it doesn't
end there. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. You're not going to God for anything
except through Christ. He's not gonna come anywhere
close to you except through Christ. God will meet you where you can
meet God, only in the Lord Jesus Christ, for Christ's sake. That's the key to drawing near
to God. Charles Spurgeon, I read a couple
of his sermons on his passage of scripture and they were excellent.
He tells a story of a widow who sent her only son off to war. He was in the Navy in England.
She wrote him and in time she got letters back from him. And
then the letters stopped. And word came to her that her
son had been killed. The ship that he was on was sunk
by the enemy. But he was put on a lifeboat,
and the lifeboat landed on the shore of wherever it was. And that's where he died. And word of that, the body wasn't
sent to her. And it just broke her heart,
as you can well imagine. A long time went by, Mr. Spurgeon
said. And one day there was a knock
at the door. And she went to the door and
there was a very thin, frail-looking young man. Looked like he was
needy, looked like he was hungry. And he said, are you Mrs. So-and-so? And she said, yes, I am. And
this man said, I was in the Navy with your son. And we served
on the same ship together. And our ship was sunk, but we
got on the lifeboat and went to shore. Your son had been seriously
wounded, and he died in my arms. But before he died, he told me,
my mother lives in such and such a village on such and such a
street. If you ever find yourself in
need, go see my mother. And then this dying sailor pulled
out a New Testament. And he said, give my mother this
New Testament. She gave this to me before I
went off to war. And she will know then that you
and I were good friends. And he pulled out the testament
and he said, Mrs. So-and-so, here's the testament
that your son held so dear to himself. And she started crying.
And she said, you come into my house. And I'm going to feed you. I'm
going to clothe you. I'll do whatever is necessary
to make you comfortable. and I'll do it for my son's sake. And you put yourself in that
dear lady's place, or you dad's, if the situation were with a
father, why, you'd do anything for your son. Let me tell you
something, God has many sons. He's bringing many sons unto
glory, but He only has one that is His only begotten Son. And you come to God in your mess,
in your sinfulness, in your lost condition, you come to God and
ask Him in His Son's name, for his son's sake to save you and
wash your sins away. Well, you reckon it's gonna happen.
He's not gonna turn anybody away who comes to him and ask for
Christ's sake, for Christ's sake. Now, quickly, why is this name? by which we come to God, why
is it to be used? Why is the name of Christ to
be used? Well, I'll give you several reasons.
Number one, because of His person. He's God manifest in the flesh. All of the attributes of God
belong to Him. All of the names of God belong
to Him. All of the works of God belong
to Him. When you use the name of Christ
Jesus coming to God, you're using the name of the Almighty God. That one whose name is Wonderful,
Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace. You got the right name. And secondly, because why will
God Take heed to this, asking for Christ's sake because of
His relationship. He's God's only begotten Son.
He's the darling of the Father's heart. He's been with Him for
all eternity. Right by His side. One with Him
in essence, in glory, in power. The Father loveth the Son. He's
given all things to him, that's what John says. Wow, for God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish but have everlasting life. He's the one who came down here
and lived a life of perfection and suffered and bled and died
in order to satisfy divine justice. And the Father has exalted Him
above all. He sets at the right hand of
the majesty on high. Ask God for anything for Christ's
sake. He'll even give you His great
salvation. He forgives sin because of who
Christ is. And I'll tell you what, it's
because of his work. For the sake of Christ and his
work of redemption, sin's been put away. And God never hold
you accountable for any of them. In the books of God, as you sit
here tonight, and those of you who are watching by way of the
internet, you think about your sins that you know about, and
that's only the tip of the iceberg, what you know about. You think
about how many, the multitude of your sins, sinful thoughts,
sinful words, sinful motives, And then you find out that God
has, like it says over here in our text, for Christ's sake,
forgiven you of all of them. It's on the basis of his work
of redemption that they're all gone. And in the record book of God,
Not one sin is recorded against those for whom Christ suffered,
bled, and died. The sins of God's elect have
been erased. And there's a positive righteousness
in the books of God when it comes to His children. And it's all
for Christ's sake. And I'll tell you, it's because
of his position in the covenant of grace. He's the mediator of that covenant. I don't have time to turn to
it, but in the book, 1 Samuel chapter 20, David and Jonathan, they went
out in the field. Jonathan said to David, let's
go out here and talk a while. David and Jonathan, I love those.
Nancy and I love those two names together so much. That's why
we're named David. David Jonathan Byrd, that's his
name. So let's go out here in the field
and talk a while. And Jonathan said, forgive me
for kind of paraphrasing, but Jonathan said, David, the day's
gonna come. when my ungodly father is gonna
be dead, and I'm gonna be dead. And I want you to enter into
covenant with me that if there's anybody in my household still
living when that happens, that you'll help them. And they loved one another. And they hugged and shook hands.
And David said, I promise you. Jonathan said, you're going to
be king one day. I know that. My father, he doesn't
love God. He's an enemy of the Lord. You promise me. You promise me. When that day comes, if I have
anybody in my household left, You'll take care of him." And
David said, hey, trust me. Years go by. Jonathan had a son. His name was Mephibosheth. And when Mephibosheth was five
years old, King Saul got killed in battle, as did Jonathan. And the woman who was babysitting
Mephibosheth, she took off a running when she heard the news. Somehow
or another, she dropped Mephibosheth and I guess broke both of his
legs. He was lame on both legs the rest of his life. A few years later go by. I mean,
long enough where Mephibosheth got married and had a boy of
his own, Micah. David rises to the throne. I called one of his servants in
one day, Zip, and he said, I want to ask you something. Is anybody left of the house
of Saul and Jonathan that I may show them kindness for Jonathan's
sake? I said, yeah. His name's Mephibosheth. But he's lame on both feet. David said, go fetch him. I want
to show him kindness because of a covenant. And they went
and got him and brought him in. And they set him at the feet
of King David. And he looked up into the face
of that king, David, the most powerful man in the world, sitting there in the glory that
God gave him in being the king of Israel. And he said to David, why in
the world did you bring me here? David said, I'm gonna show you
mercy for your daddy's sake. I loved your daddy. We entered
into a covenant. I'm going to take care of you."
And Mephibosheth said, me? I'm just a dead dog. That's all
I am. You're going to take me in? David
said, you're going to sit at my table? I'm going to make you
one of my sons. And all because of a covenant. And you see, God shows us mercy. because of a covenant he made
with his son to bring us into his family.
And we was crippled on both feet. We couldn't come to him. And
in almighty, effectual, sovereign, fetching grace, he brought us
to him. He said, you're gonna sit at
my table forever. You're one of my sons. You're
one of my children. All because of a covenant. For Christ's sake. For Christ's
sake. And I'll tell you, God Almighty
looks down upon the dungheels of this world. He sees you and
He sees me. There's nothing good about us,
nothing lovely about us, nothing commendable about us. But He shows love and mercy and
grace to a worm like me. For Christ's sake. That's why
He does it. And I'll tell you, He shows this
forgiving mercy because of who our representative is, and Christ
is our representative. He's the last Adam. We fell in
the first Adam. We raised up in the last Adam. We became unrighteous by one
act. of the first Adam, we become
righteous by the obedience of one, even our Lord Jesus Christ. And I'll tell you, this is our motive for serving
the Lord. Let me just show you this and
I'll quit. Turn back over here to the text. This is to be our
motive for serving the Lord and for being kind and generous and
merciful and forgiven to one another. You see, the instruction is,
be ye kind. Now God's been kind to us. So be ye kind one to another. Be tender-hearted. God's been
tender-hearted to us. He hadn't been hard-hearted toward
us. Forgiving one another, even in
the same way for the same reason that God has forgiven us. Why
should I be kind to you? And if you wrong me, why should
I be forgiven of you? For the same reason that God's
kind to me. and forgiven to me. God help
me to be kind to you for Christ's sake. God help me to be forgiven
to you for Christ's sake. And this is the motive for our
service to God. You see, The Lord doesn't use
his law to motivate us, to threaten us, or promise us rewards if
we're kind and forgiving to one another. No, because the law
is obsolete. It doesn't have anything to do
with us anymore. It's the gospel. Be kind and
forgiving for Christ's sake. That's the three most powerful
words. You forget everything else I've said today if you remember
those three words. For Christ's sake, God deals
with us in mercy. Well, that's the last message
I'm gonna preach to you this year. And we'll sing one more song
this year together, hymn number 11.