All right, let's look back at
2 Peter chapter 3. Several weeks ago, I had an article
in the bulletin that I wrote entitled, Are We Getting Better? And somebody who read that on
our website wrote me a note, speaking of how much they enjoyed
the article and how much it helped them and asked if I'd ever preached
a whole message on that subject and I told them no. Today's the
day. The title of this message is
Are We Getting Better? Now let me go back here to 2
Peter chapter 3 though to start off with. You know the whole
issue of this passage here has to do with true believers living
with this knowledge and that is an expectation that this world
is going to end. This world is coming toward its
last days. Even back then in Peter's day
when he was writing this epistle, they had that on their minds.
Christ is coming again. the second coming of Christ,
and this world is going to be destroyed. This fallen, evil
world is going to be destroyed. And of course, when you say that,
when you deal with that subject, you are always going to have
scoffers. Peter called them scoffers here. And those are people who do not
believe. in Christ, who do not believe
in his second coming, who do not believe in the bodily resurrection,
things like that. Paul dealt with that in 1 Corinthians
15, you remember. Christ is coming again and he's
going to gather his people unto himself, his church unto himself. And then this world is going
to be burned up and destroyed. And those scoffers would say
stuff like, you know, well, you know, it hadn't happened yet.
Hadn't happened yet. For example, he goes back here
in 2 Peter 3 and he talks about how they say, well, things are
going on just like they always have gone on. I mean, nothing's
ever changed, which is a lie. That's not true. Things are not
going on as they always have. Man fell. God destroyed the world
by a flood. That's the truth. They perished
in the flood and saved eight souls, Noah and his family. But
he says in verse 8, look at verse 8, he says, But beloved, be not
ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a
thousand years, and a thousand years is one day. Time means
nothing to God. It means a lot to us. Time does. I mean, we're creatures of time,
that's why we wear these things. You've got to be somewhere tomorrow
morning at a certain time, usually, unless you're a person of leisure
or retired or whatever. But even at that, you've got
time on your mind. And that's what we are. We're
subject to time. But now God, listen, God's not subject to
time. God created time. And I can't explain that to you,
but I just know it's true. Salvation, for example, is a
matter of time and eternity. And we can't really grasp the
infinite mind of God in eternity. We know it's so. He's the eternal
I am. But when we look at time and
we say, well, things just seem like they're delayed, you know,
going so slow. And then we get older and they
seem to go faster. You know, nothing's really changed.
That's just our perspective, isn't it? I mean, it seems to
me like the days are flying by anymore. And I know when I was
like you teenagers, it seemed like it would never get here
to where I'd get my license, stuff like that, or when I'd
be 21 and all that. But now it's flying by. But really
it hasn't changed. It's not sped up. But with God,
it never changes. He's the eternal I am. He said,
I never change, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed.
But here's verse nine, look here, he says, the Lord is not slack
concerning his promise. Now the promise that he's talking
about is the promise of the second coming of Christ and the destruction
of this world. God has promised that. That's
a promise of God. All the promises of God are in
Christ. Yay and amen. And he says, the
Lord is not slack concerning his promise. God is not waiting
on anything to happen. I hear people talk about, you
know, well, God's waiting on the people over in Palestine
to rebuild the temple before he comes back. No, no, no, no.
You don't know God. That's not the God of this book.
Whatever happens over there, I'm going to tell you something.
God's working all things after his own wisdom and will. He's
determined. He's the determinate God. Nothing
takes Him by surprise. He doesn't have a plan B or contingency
plan. He's God. You say, well preacher,
I just don't understand all of that. Well, I don't expect you
to. I don't either. He's God. Paul wrote about that
in Romans chapter 11. Oh, the infinite God. Who's known
the mind of the Lord? He's high above us. Isn't that
the way it should be? That's right, isn't it? He's
God. He's the creator. We're the created. He's sovereign. We're not. So, He's not slack
concerning His promise, as some men count slackness. See that? In other words, God's not measuring
this thing the way we do. He's on a totally different plane,
but He's long-suffering to us-ward. Now, who's the us there? That's
the church. That's His elect. God's got some
people. Christ said this. He said, all
that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh
to me, I will in no wise cast out. He said, this is the will
of him that sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I
should lose what? Nothing. None of it. But raise him up again at the
last day. Some of those, some of this us
word here, may not have been born yet. That's right. You say, well, I feel like he's
gonna come back in my lifetime. He may, he may not, but I guarantee
he's not slack. He's not waiting on you to die
or me to die. He's not waiting on us to do
anything. He's got some people, and He's not willing that any
should perish. Now this is not teaching universal
love or redemption as if God's trying to save everybody, but
we just won't let Him. No, no, no, no. That's not what
Peter's talking about at all. God has an appointed time for
all things. And He's not willing that any
of His people should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And repentance is the gift of
God. If he's waiting on us to come to repentance of our own
will and our own works, then he's going to be waiting forever
and ever and ever, because it won't happen. That's what the
scripture teaches. But he says in verse 10, look
here, he says, but the day of the Lord will come as a thief
in the night. That's when no one expects it.
We live in expectation of it, but we don't know when it's going
to happen. It could be today. It could be tomorrow. We don't
know. But he says, in which the heaven shall pass away with a
great noise, the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth
also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Now
that's the promise of God. Don't hold too tightly to this
earth. Don't overvalue the things of this world. Here today, gone
tomorrow. And then verse 11, seeing then
that all these things shall be dissolved. Now here's the issue
that really I'm getting to for this message on are we getting
better? What manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conversation
in godliness? What kind of people should we
be? He's talking about sinners saved by grace. Seeing that all
these things are going to dissolve. Now you know, now listen to me,
you know how we are so prone to be so involved with the things
of this world. Now we are. And we have responsibilities,
no doubt. And people who don't take care
of their responsibilities are going against the revealed commandment
of God, aren't they? It's like a man or a woman who
won't take care of their family, or won't work a job, or won't
do all of these things. But you see, this world isn't
filled. It's not our home. It's not our home. You say, I
love the land. Well, this land's going to be
burned up. Don't love it. You're loving something that's
temporary, temporal. Love that which is eternal and
lasting and glorifying the God. And take care of what God's give
you. Be a good steward, but don't be so tied to it. That's what
he's saying. What kind of people should we
be? All right, in all manner of holy conversation. Now before
I get started on this issue, now let me tell you about that
word holy. Now you've got to understand
this now. What does holy mean? Well, people mean different things
by holy. All right? First of all, some
people when they use the term holy, they mean sinless perfection
or moral perfection. And the word holy itself, let
me tell you what it means. It means separate, distinct. That's what it means. Sometimes
the word sanctify is used. Sanctify, holy. It means to be
separate, all right? We talk about sanctification.
God separated a people out before the foundation of the world in
sovereign electing grace. That sanctified us. Christ sanctified
His people in redeeming grace by the blood of His cross when
He put away the sins of His sheep. That's sanctification by the
Son. And then the Holy Spirit sanctifies
us when He separates His people out under the preaching of the
gospel and they're born again by the Spirit. But they're still
not sinlessly perfect. The Bible says we're a holy people.
The church is a holy people. Now I know we're sinlessly perfect
in Christ. washed in His blood and clothed
in His righteousness. But we're not sinlessly perfect
in ourselves. We're sinners saved by the grace
of God. Yet we're still holy. We're separated. That's what that means. And it's
not because of what we eat or what we don't eat or what we
watch or what we don't. Yes, there are things we shouldn't
eat. There are things we should. There are things we shouldn't
watch. There are things we should. But that's not our holiness. That's
not our separation, you see. It's the grace of God in Christ.
That's our separation. So what kind of people should
we be in our conversation? Now that's not just our talk,
that's everything about us. That's our conduct. And godliness. Godliness. That is our being
disciples of Christ. Well, here's what he says. Look
at verse 12. He says, first of all, we should be a looking people. That's people of faith. Looking
for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God. We ought to
live in expectation of the coming of Christ. Wherein the heavens
being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat. All these things that we're so
involved in. They're going to be gone. Nevertheless,
we according to His promise look, there's that look again. Look
for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.
Nothing but righteousness there. No sin there. The new heavens
and the new earth. Christ and His people forever
and ever and ever. Without any sin. Without any
contamination of sin or presence of sin. And then verse 14. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that
you look for such things, be diligent. We ought to be a diligent
people. That means eager, busy about the discipleship. He said
that you may be found of Him or some translations say in Him,
in Christ, in peace, without spot and blameless. Paul said
it this way in Philippians 3, Oh that I may know Him and be
found in Him. Not having mine own righteousness
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ. He says in verse 15, an account that the long-suffering
of our Lord is salvation. As long as this world is existing,
what does that tell us? God still has some people He
is going to bring into the kingdom. Even as our beloved brother Paul
also according to the wisdom given unto him has written unto
you. As also in all his epistles speaking in them of these things. That is the long-suffering of
God to bring his elect people into the kingdom. in which are
some things hard to be understood. What do you think Peter's talking
about there? Things hard to be understood.
I've heard some preachers, listen, I've heard some preachers say,
well, he's talking about Paul's doctrine of predestination there
or election. Oh no, that was Peter's doctrine
too. Read the epistles of Peter. He talked about predestination
and election. He didn't have any problem with
that as far as believing it. What did Peter have a problem
with? Read the book of Acts. You know what his biggest problem
was after the Lord ascended and the gospel was being preached
out? His biggest problem was the very thing that God revealed
specifically to the Apostle Paul concerning the inclusion of who? Gentiles in this thing. That's the thing he's talking
about. See the context, see? The long-suffering of God is
the salvation of his people. As long as God, as long as this
world's existing, Christ has some sheep out there yet to be
brought into the fold. You know what? Some of them are
Gentiles. Aren't you glad? I am. But he said here, he said, which
they that are unlearned and unstable rest. That word rest means to
twist, as they do also the other scriptures unto their own destruction.
They twist it to their own destruction. I believe he's talking about
the Judaizers there. False brethren. But he says in
verse 17, ye therefore beloved, seeing you know these things
before, you've been told, God's revealed them in his word, Beware,
lest you also, being led away with the air of the wicked, fall
from your own steadfastness. Be a steadfast people. Now what
does it mean to be steadfast? It means to be unmovable. It's
what Paul wrote in Galatians 5, when he says, when he said
over here in Galatians 5, let me turn over here just a minute. He says, stand fast. Therefore,
in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not
entangled again with the yoke of bondage." You keep your eyes
on Christ. That's what he's talking about.
Don't be moved away from Christ. Don't let any preacher, any doctrine,
any novelty, anything take your eyes away from looking to Christ. For all salvation. All salvation. Now verse 18. Now here's where
we get to it. But grow in grace and in the
knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This is 2 Peter
3.18. To Him be glory both now and forever. Amen. Grow. Now what is growth there? Well,
you could say it's improvement. Wouldn't you? Is there anything
wrong with that? Does this mean that we're getting
better and better as we grow? What does that mean? Are we getting
better? Well, some say that true growth
in grace and in knowledge of Christ involves this. Now listen. It involves seeing
ourselves as more sinful than ever and seeing our need of Christ
and the glory of His person and the power of His finished work
more and more. You know what? I agree with that. I believe as you grow in grace
and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, you'll
see your sins even more. You'll see your weaknesses even
more. In fact, growth is where we come to be less and less dependent
upon anything in and of ourselves and more and more dependent upon
Christ. I see my need for His blood to
cleanse me from all my sins more than I ever have. His righteousness
to justify me before God more than I ever have. And you know
what happens there? He becomes more and more precious to you.
Christ becomes more and more precious to you. And I think
that's true as you approach the grave. Don't you believe that? But I want to just give you some
example scriptures here. believers in the Bible who expressed
their thoughts in their old age. One of them would be the Apostle
Paul. You don't have to turn to these, just let me read them
to you. Mark them down if you want. Listen to the Apostle Paul
writing to the church at Rome. In Romans chapter 7, he talked
about the struggle that he had with sin. Well now, Paul, you
still in your old age have problems there? Well, here's his conclusion
to the whole matter. Here's what he said in Romans
7, verse 24. He said, O wretched man that I am, not that I was. He said, O wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? And then
he said, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then
with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the
flesh the law of sin. And then he said in Romans 8,
1, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are
in Christ Jesus. Oh, wretched man that I am. Now
here's what I'm asking. Do we ever come to a point in
this life where we rise above what we call the wretched man? And the biblical answer to that
is no. No, we don't. Paul said in 1 Timothy chapter
one in verse 15, listen to this, this is Paul, the old man, the
old believer, the old warrior, the one whom God used to write
over half the New Testament, probably one who had grown in
grace and in knowledge more than just about any human being. Here
is what he says in 1 Timothy 1 verse 15. This is a faithful
saying, worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners of whom I am, not was, I am chief. Somebody said, well Paul is just
being poetic there. No, Paul is being realistic. Let me read you the dying words
of King David. 2nd Samuel 23 5 deathbed Although
I am what I am supposed to be That's not what he said was He
said although my house be not so with God yet He hath made
with me an everlasting covenant ordered in all things and sure
for this is all my salvation This is all my desire. Although
he make it not to grow David's dying words What was he saying there? He
said, I've got no hope in myself. My only hope is in Christ. That's
what he's saying in there. But here's something interesting.
In the book of Daniel, you know, the thing about the Bible that
has always been kind of fascinating for me is that the scriptures
do not hold back. on dealing with reality. You
know, you read biographies of men and a lot of times they'll
be dressed up and washed up, you know, and made to look, you
know, like this is some kind of a superhuman being. But now
the scriptures don't do that. The best and the most choice
of saints, their dirty laundry is right here in this book. But yet, if you go read the book
of Daniel, you know there's not one negative thing said about
Daniel in the whole time of his recorded life in the book of
Daniel? There's not one piece of his
dirty laundry that's aired out in the book of Daniel. And yet,
listen to this, Daniel chapter 9 and verse 20, he's praying. And Daniel says in Daniel 9 verse
20, he says, while I was speaking and praying and confessing my
sin, and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication
before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God. I'm
confessing my sin, Daniel said. And then over in Daniel chapter
10, in verse 8, he was given a vision. It says, therefore
I was left alone and saw this great vision and there remained
no strength in me for my comeliness, my beauty was turned in me into
corruption and I retained no strength. My beauty, everything that I
thought was beautiful about me, melted into corruption. It's
kind of like Paul in Philippians 3, isn't it? When he said, all
that I thought recommended me unto God, now I count but dumb
that I may win Christ and be found in Him. Isaiah says this
in Isaiah 64, 6, We are always an unclean thing, and all our
righteousnesses are as filthy rags And we all do fade as a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. In the book of Revelation, chapter
1 and verse 17, the old apostle John on the Isle of Patmos saw
a vision of the glorified Lord. And it says here in verse 17,
when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. I fell down like
a dead man. I had nothing to recommend me
unto God in myself. But thank God, it says, He laid
His right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not, I am the first
and the last. I am He that liveth and was dead.
And behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of
hell and of death. My hope is in Christ. Our prayer and our desire now
and forever ought to be what Paul expressed in Philippians
3, that I may know him and be found in him, not having mine
own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through
the faith of Christ. Now, are we getting better? Should
we strive to be better? Well, let me give you two questions
to consider. Number one, what do you mean by getting better?
What do we mean by getting better? When we say that, what do we
have in our minds? Well, some people mean by that,
holier. Are we getting holier? And as
I said, some people have that definition of holy, moral purity,
sinless perfection. But let me tell you something
about holiness. Holiness has no degrees. Let me ask you this question.
What is one degree less than holy? I'll tell you exactly what
it is. One little three letter word.
S-I-N. That's what one degree less than
holy is. Sin. And what are the wages of
sin? Death. One sin, a billion sins. The wages of sin is death. Somebody
says, oh, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus
Christ our Lord. That's right. But you know what
that talks about? His holiness, not yours. His holiness, not mine. His righteousness,
not mine. You see what I'm saying? That's
His holiness. Some, when they talk about getting
better, they mean by that a term that some of you may have heard
called progressive sanctification. Have you heard that term? Progressive
sanctification. Now some of the old writers used
that, and what they simply meant by that was growth in grace.
I wouldn't disagree with that. I disagree with the term progressive
sanctification. I believe it's a bad term. But
what some people mean is that as they grow, they're getting
closer and closer to moral perfection. More righteous. Incidentally,
there's no degrees of righteousness either. You knew that, didn't
you? One degree less than righteous
is what? Sin. And they have different views
of how to deal with what they call falling into sin. Some say,
well, you just backslid. And some say, well, you've lost
your salvation. They're both wrong. Some who
claim they're getting better imagine that their efforts in
all these areas to get better and make any improvements they
see contribute to their holiness and their righteousness before
God. My friend, that is anti-biblical,
anti-gospel. Let me just say this, for example.
Do you want to be better? You fathers, do you want to be
better fathers? Well, of course you do. I hope
you do. I hope you wouldn't say no. I hope you don't think that when
Webster puts father in the dictionary, your picture's not there. You mothers, you want to be better
mothers? Well, sure you do. You want to
be better husbands, better wives? You want to be better church
members? I hope you do. I want to be a better pastor
than I am. I want to be a better grandfather,
better father, better husband, a better friend. Don't we all
want to be better? I mean, I don't think we've reached
the pinnacle yet, have we? And have we ever made any progress
in any of those areas? Have we? Now be honest now. You don't have to answer out
loud. But just be honest. Have you ever made any progress
in any way? I think you would say yes. And
I know if you know yourself and you know the power of God, you'd
say by the grace of God, yes. Yes. But let me say this, if
you think that your improvements in those areas, in any of those
areas, contribute to your holiness and your righteousness before
God, you've missed it. No sir. I have one righteousness
before God, one holiness before God, that's Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. Many speak of getting better
as if the sinfulness of the flesh is dying more and more and the
contamination and effects of sin rendered less and less powerful
so that they see themselves as getting holier and more righteous. That's self-righteousness. That's
exactly what that is. As you're growing in grace and
knowledge, do you see your sin, your tendencies towards sin,
your flesh getting less and less powerful? I don't. At no time,
listen, at no time do our efforts to improve ourselves, even when
we do see some improvement by the grace of God, make us holier
or more righteous before God. No, sir. Somebody may ask, well
then how can any of us be accepted with God? How can I worship?
We're met here today to worship. And let's say today, let's say
last Sunday you were here, and your mind went everywhere except
on what was being preached. Has that ever happened? You had
a bad day. You don't expect the Lord to
accept that, do you? But let's say today you're just
fixed and focused right on every word. That's a good day of worship. Now, does that mean that you're
more righteous this Sunday than you were last Sunday? And the
answer is no. Because your righteousness is
Christ if you're a child of God. But let me ask you this. Somebody
may say, well, how does the Lord accept our worship at all then?
Well, look back over here at 1 Peter chapter 2 that I read
in the opening. Now you understand here that
Peter is writing this letter to believers. Children of God. Sinners saved by the grace of
God. And here's what he starts off
with in verse 1. Wherefore, laying aside all malice. You know what
malice is, don't you? That's hatred. That's hatred. I heard a preacher
say there's no room in a Christian's heart for hatred. My friend,
that's not true. If there's no room in your heart
for hatred, then you don't have to fight that warfare of the
flesh and the spirit. There's too much room in our
hearts for this stuff. You know that's so. That's why
we're in a warfare. That's why we fight the warfare.
That's why we need God's grace and mercy at all times. That's
why I'm not righteous in myself. Somebody said, well, I have a
new nature and sin doesn't contaminate it. Where are you from? Where have you been? Not in this
word. I'll never forget Brother Mahan
standing up behind this pulpit, and I was not a believer when
he said this. I almost got up and walked out
on him. He said, there's enough sin in the best prayer I've ever
prayed to sink a world to hell. I never heard a preacher talk
like that. I thought, what in the world
are they teaching at this place? But I didn't know myself. I didn't
know sin. I didn't know the holiness of
God. I didn't know my need of grace and the righteousness of
God in Christ. You see what I'm saying? If there's
no room in a Christian's heart for malice, why would the Holy
Spirit inspire Peter to tell Christians to put malice away?
Why would you have to fight that? Why would that even be an issue?
He goes on all guile. That's dishonesty. Hypocrisies. You know what? Envies. Evil speakings. Look at it. And verse 2, as newborn
babes desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow
thereby. What kind of growth is he talking
about? Well, he tells us over in 2 Peter 3, 8, growing in grace
and knowledge of Christ. And then he says, look at verse
3, he says, if so be you've tasted that the Lord is gracious. This
is for those who've been born again by the Spirit. That's what
that means. Have you tasted that the Lord
is gracious? Have you been like that old publican,
beating on God? Be merciful to me, the sinner.
A mercy beggar. And then he says, to whom coming
as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of
God and precious. This is talking about Christ.
Is Christ precious to you? He says, you also as living stones
are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood separated,
you see, to offer up spiritual sacrifices. You know what those
spiritual sacrifices are? That's our worship, that's our
prayers, that's our obedience. Listen to it, acceptable to God. What's the last three words there?
By Jesus Christ. That's how they're accepted.
Our prayers, our worship are not accepted of God because we're
getting better at it. We may get better at it. Don't
deny that. But that's not why they're accepted
of God. You know why they're accepted
of God? Because of Jesus Christ. That's why. And He's the only
reason. Accepted in the Beloved. That's right. As a true Christian,
chosen of God, redeemed by the blood of Christ, clothed in His
righteousness, as one truly born of the Holy Spirit and dwelt
by the Holy Spirit, given a new heart, as one who truly desires
to be like Christ, at no time can I come before God and plead
any merit in my best efforts or any righteousness before God
or any reason for God to bless me or commune with me upon any
other basis than Jesus Christ, the Lord my righteousness. You see, our holiness and righteousness
is in Christ alone and not in ourselves. So that at my best,
There's enough sin to corrupt and contaminate me and my best
for God to sink a world to hell and that justly so. So here's
the second question. How is there any progress in
the Christian life? Peter said over here, 2 Peter
3.18, grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. Well, that's what he's talking
about. Growth in grace and in the knowledge of Christ. First
of all, there's no question that we all need to improve in many
areas of our life, every area of our life. I need to improve
in my love and appreciation for Christ and His Word. I need to
improve in my love for you, my brethren. I need to be better
in that. My character, my attitude, my
conduct, my knowledge of and skillfulness in the scriptures,
I want to get better at it. my diligence in prayer, my devotions,
worship, my relationships with other people, especially my brothers
and sisters in Christ. I want it all to be better. I
ought to try harder to be better. I ought to pray every day and
make a serious effort continually to be a better Christian, a better
pastor, a better man in every way. You say, well, isn't that futile? No. What does it say about a
true believer in the Scripture? That his goal is what? To be
like who? To be like Christ. I heard a preacher say one time,
he read a biography of Spurgeon. And he said, I wish I could learn
to forgive like Spurgeon. Now no casting off on Spurgeon
here about this. But my friend, if you want to
forgive like Spurgeon, I want to tell you something, you're
shooting too low. I don't care what the biography said. Our goal is to be like Christ. That's perfect. We ought to strive
to be like Christ and follow His example of holiness and righteousness
and love. We know that our best efforts
at our best times, we still fall short. We need Christ. He's precious. David said this,
As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness. I shall
be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. As believers, we're
totally satisfied with Christ, but we're not totally satisfied
with ourselves. We're at war with the flesh,
aren't we? And then secondly, our godly efforts and even improvements
in these areas, our growth, Our efforts to be like Christ,
what are they? Well, they're the work of the
Holy Spirit within us by the grace of God who's given us a
desire to obey him as we're motivated by grace. Paul wrote, he said, it's Christ
living in me. I'm not the source of it. I'm
not the cause of it. You can't even attribute it to
me. Don't brag about me on it. brag on my Savior, God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
If I pray a beautiful prayer, if I sing a beautiful hymn, if
I preach the best message you've ever heard, God forbid that I
should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. If
I'm able to forgive anybody at any time for anything, God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
You see what I'm saying? In Christ we can be no better
than we are, for in Him we're perfect. We're dead to sin, Paul
wrote in Romans chapter 6. Sin cannot condemn us. I'm righteous
in God's sight. Sin cannot be charged to me. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn us? It's Christ that does. I have
a righteousness right now that justifies me before a holy God
forever without change. And that righteousness cannot
be improved. It cannot get any better. It
cannot be contaminated. It cannot change. It's the righteousness
of God. It's His righteousness imputed
to. But in myself, by the grace of God, I need a lot of growth.
I need a lot of improvement in all areas of being conformed
to the image of Christ. So let's strive to be better. Yes, oh yes, better than we are
as we rest in Christ for all salvation and glory in His cross
alone for all holiness and righteousness before God. Isn't that the way
it is? I believe so. All right. Let's sing as our closing hymn,
Blessed Assurance. Hymn number 255, Blessed Assurance.