M number 42. M number 42. All hail the power of Jesus name
let angels prostrate fall. Bring forth the royal diadem
and crown him Lord of all. Bring forth the royal diadem
and crown him Lord of all. Ye chosen seed of Israel's race
Ye ransomed from the fall Hail Him who saves you by His grace
And crown Him Lord of all Hail Him who saves you by His grace
and crown Him Lord of all. Let every kindred, every tribe
on this terrestrial pole To him all majesty ascribe, and crown
him Lord of all. To him all majesty ascribe, and
crown him Lord of all. O that with yonder sacred throng
we at his feet may fall. We'll join the everlasting song
and pray him Lord of all, we'll join the everlasting song and
crown him Lord of all. Be seated. We'll sing hymn number
497. 497. When I can read my title clear
to mentions in the skies, I'll bid farewell to every fear and
wipe my weeping eyes and wipe my weeping eyes and wipe my weeping
eyes. I'll bid farewell to every fear
and wipe my weeping eyes. Should earth against my soul
engage and Fiery darts be hurled Then I can smile at Satan's rage
And face a frowning world And face a frowning world And face
a frowning world Then I can smile at Satan's rage And face a frowning
world Let cares like a wild deluge come and storms of sorrow fall,
May I but safely reach my home, my God, my heaven, my all. My God, my heaven, my all. Oh, my God, my heaven, my all,
may I but safely reach my home, my God, my heaven, my all. There shall I bathe my weary
soul In seas of heavenly rest, And not a wave of trouble Roll
across my peaceful breast. Across my peaceful breast Across
my peaceful breast And not a wave of trouble roll Across my peaceful
breast Open with me to Galatians chapter
1. We're going to start a study
through Galatians here. Trust it's the Lord's will. You know, the first church conference
that they had was in Acts 15. What started
it was because some men come down from Judea and taught the
disciples that they had to be circumcised and keep the law
of Moses to be saved. And they had quite a dissension
over that. And Paul and Barnabas and Silas
refused to believe it and would not let it happen for a moment.
They withstood them to their face. And Simon Peter stood up
and says, Men and brethren, you remember how that God, a while
ago, sent me to Cornelius' house and opened the door to the Gentiles,
and I went and preached to them. And then he says, We shall be
saved, even as they, by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
that's what happened, and that's where the book of Galatians come
from. People come down and tried to teach that you had to keep
the law of Moses, had to be circumcised before you could be saved. And
Paul answers those things in this whole book. Now let me read
the first, let me see where I want to go. Well, I'll read the whole
first chapter. Paul, an apostle, not of men,
neither by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who
raised him from the dead, and all the brethren which are with
me unto the churches of Galatia. Grace to you and peace from God
the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for
our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world,
according to the will of God our Father, to whom be glory
forever and ever. Amen. I marvel that ye are so
soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ
unto another gospel, which is not another, but there be some
that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though
we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than
which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said
before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel
unto you than that you have received, let him be accursed. For do I
now persuade men or God? Or do I seek to please men? For
if I yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ. But I certify you, brethren,
that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I
neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation
of Jesus Christ. For ye have heard of my conversation
or of my manner of life in time past in the Jews' religion, how
that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God and wasted
it. and profited in the Jews religion
above many my equals in my own nation, being more exceedingly
zealous of the traditions of my fathers. But when it pleased
God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by
grace, by his grace, to reveal his son in me, that I might preach
him among the heathen, Immediately I conferred not with flesh and
blood, neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before
me. But I went into Arabia, and returned
again unto Damascus. Then after three years I went
up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days. But other of the apostles saw
I none, save James the Lord's brother. Now the things which
I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not. Afterwards I
came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, and was unknown
by face unto the churches of Judea which were in Christ. But
they had heard only that he which persecuted us in times past now
preaches the faith which he once destroyed, and they glorified
God in me." Our Lord and our God, our blessed,
blessed Savior, our Redeemer, our glorious Lord Jesus Christ,
the Savior of our souls, washed in his blood, cleansed from all
sin by him. Lord, I thank you and praise
you that you've enabled us again to meet this side of eternity,
to be numbered among the living, to be one of the sheep that you
died for. One of the sheep that heard your
voice. One of the sheep that came unto you. And I thank you
and bless you for that. And Lord Jesus, we've opened
your precious word. And Lord, I'm incapable of doing
anything with it without the Holy Spirit of God. And Lord,
I don't want to lean to my own understanding, don't want to
lean to my own power. I want to lean on you and trust
you to take the scriptures and open them to our understanding.
And Father, we pray for those among us who are still in trouble,
still in heartache, still having troubles in their homes, in their
life, Jim and Debbie. God, we do pray for them. Pray
that you'd restore Jim home again. Pray for Rick and Helen. Lord,
they gotta have mercy on them. Lord, strengthen and encourage
them. Lord, we pray again for Albert, that you'd be with him.
When he goes to have surgery Thursday, God be with him. See him safely there and back.
May everything come out to your glory and his good. We know that's
what your word teaches. Bring glory to yourself through
us tonight. Have mercy upon our children.
We ask these things in our blessed Savior's name. Amen. M number 258. 258. A wonderful Savior is Jesus my
Lord, A wonderful Savior to me. He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock, where rivers of pleasure I see. He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock, that shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths
of his love and covers me there with his hand. and covers me there with his
hand. A wonderful Savior is Jesus my
Lord, He taketh my burden away. He holdeth me up, and I shall
not be moved. He giveth me strength as my day. He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock that shadows a dry, bursty land. He hideth thy life in the depths
of his love. And covers me there with his
hand And covers me there with his hand With numberless blessings each
moment he crowns and filled with His fullness divine. I sing in my rapture, O Glory
to God, for such a Redeemer as mine. He hideth my soul in the
cleft of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty lake. He hideth my life. in the depths of his love, and
covers me there with his hand, and covers me there with his
hand. When clothed in His brightness
transported, I rise to meet Him in clouds of the sky. His perfect salvation, His wonderful
love I'll shout with the millions on high. He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty lake. He hideth my life in the depths
of His love, and covers me there with His hand. And covers me there with His
hand. Amen. These first three verses are
all I'm going to deal with tonight, if God will help me. You know,
Romans is a revelation of the Gospel. That's what it was. It's a revelation of the Gospel.
And Galatians is a recovery of the Gospel, where men brought
in such heresies that the Gospel had to be recovered. That's why
Paul said, I marvel, marvel that you're so soon removed from Christ
to another Gospel. And the apostle wrote this letter
to the churches in Galatia. Judaizers had come among them
and turned them away from Christ to another gospel. And there's
two ways that error creeps in and heresies creep into the church
or into an assembly or a group of believers. You know, it's
a First, you discredit the preacher.
And that's what they did with Paul. They discredited Paul.
You know, he called himself an apostle. And what they come to
the conclusion is, if he isn't a true apostle, then his doctrine's
not true either. And he answers them, look with
me over in Galatians chapter 4 and verse 13. They didn't think
he is a true apostle. You know how that through infirmity
of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first. And my
temptation, which was in my flesh, you despised not, nor rejected. But you see me as an angel of
God, even as Christ Jesus. Where is the blessedness, then,
that you spake of? For I bear record that it had
been possible you would have plucked out your own eyes and
given them to me. Am I therefore become your enemy
because I tell you the truth? Oh my, so they they'd already
found fault with him. Look down verse 19. My little children. Of whom I
travel in birth again until Christ be formed in you. I desire to
be present with you. Now to change my voice. For I
stand in doubt of you. I stand in doubt of you. This
was the way they were told, and this was the way they were until
legalists, they was willing to do anything, treat them as an
angel of God, even as Christ, until legalists come among them,
until some men come among them, changing the gospel, perverting
the gospel. And let me show you that. You
keep this and 2 Corinthians is right back to your left. Just
go back to chapter 10. Just go back over to chapter
10. Let me show you some verse 9 and 10. This is what they,
these men done to Paul. They first discredit the preacher. And they did that with Paul.
He called himself apostle. But if he's not a true apostle,
then it's what he teaches. It's not good either. Not true. But look what he said in verse
9, that I may seem not as if I would terrify you by letters,
for his letters say they are weighty and powerful, but his
bodily presence is weak and his speech contemptible. Now that's
what they said about him. That's what they said. They didn't
say that about Simon Peter, never said that about John, never said
anything like that about James, but they did about the Apostle
Paul. So what they've done, discredit him, doubt the messenger, and
then you can doubt his message, doubt his message. And here's
the second thing that they did and brought in this heresy. They
claim to believe in Jesus. They claim to believe in his
blood. They claim to believe in his death. They claim to believe
his work. But what they said was he alone
isn't sufficient for our complete salvation. You must be circumcised. You gotta go back and do like
the Jews do, be circumcised. And you gotta keep the law of
Moses. Then you'll not only be saved,
you'll also be holy at the same time. And oh my, that's the issue at
the first council. Men come down and said, told
all those folks, except you be circumcised and keep the law
of Moses, you cannot be saved. And you know what they said?
Moses is preached ever. Moses is preached constantly.
If you want to hear what Moses got to say, go where they preach
Moses. But Paul said, I'm not preaching Moses. And we're not
going to adhere to Moses. We're not going to keep the law
of Moses. We're not going to be circumcised. We're not going
to take away from the death of Christ and the grace of God.
And all they stayed, they done that. And oh my, that was the
first issue of the church. And when Paul went forth after
that thing that they had in Acts 15, you can read it yourself
when you get home if you want to. He went forth delivering
the decrees. And the decrees that was taught
there in Acts, and what it was was the Declaration of Independence. You know, Galatians is the gospel
of freedom. They brought men under bondage.
And Paul says, stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ
has made you free. Don't let nobody bring you under
bondage. Stand fast in that liberty. And
that's what he did. He came forth delivering the
decrees, and it was a declaration of freedom. And whom the Son
sets free, he is free indeed. And know the truth, and the truth
will set you free. That's why Paul said, am I become
your enemy because I tell you the truth? Oh, my. And oh, the gospel, he preached
the gospel of free grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. And in submitting
to circumcision or any law, any Sabbath day, any holy day, Paul
said it's a falling from grace. You know, Easter comes around,
and nice people, they celebrate it for a whole week. They call
it a Holy Week. Baptists do it. Lots of churches
do that. They call it the Palm Saturday,
Palm Sunday, and this, that, and the other, and they go through
a whole week. They have the Advent and the
Ascension and the Advent. They have all kinds of rigmarole.
And that's what, that's exactly what Paul's meaning. If you have
a holy day, you have a Sabbath day, you have anything that you
keep to add to Christ, you fall from grace. Grace don't enter
in to keeping a holy day. Grace don't enter in to keeping
anything. Don't enter into it. And that's
what he said. It's a denial of Christ's work
and his precious blood. Look over here in Galatians 221.
Look what he says here. I'll tell you, this is a recovery
of the gospel. Look what he says here in verse
21. I do not frustrate the grace
of God. I'm not going to frustrate it.
You fellas can frustrate all you want, I'm not going to do
it. If righteousness by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
If righteousness come by us doing, there was no need for Christ
to go to that cross. And if a man can be saved by
anything he does, that's why Paul said, why did Christ go
to that cross? What's the purpose of it? It's
vain if you try to bring anything else besides Christ in. And oh
my, and I tell you, let me, I'll get into this in a minute, but
look over in John chapter nine. I want you to see this, talk
about Moses. Look in John chapter nine. This
is where our Lord opened that blind man, that man that was
born blind, he opened his eyes. Well, that upset the Pharisees,
that upset them to no end. That upset the religious people.
And look what he said here down in, in, Verse 28 and 29. He asked them,
said, I told you who opened my eyes. You want to be his disciples?
And then verse 28, they reviled him and said, thou art his disciples. But look what he said, we are
Moses' disciples. We know that God spake unto Moses. As for this fella, we don't even
know where he come from. We don't know what he's about.
They was talking about Christ. And they chose Moses We're just
Moses' disciples. And there's still a lot of Moses'
disciples around. Still lots of them. Lots of them.
And oh my, the issue was law and grace. The issue is Christ
or Moses. The issue was justification by
works or justification by faith in Christ. And the self-righteous
put Moses in Christ's place. And the self-righteous people
still put somebody in the place of Christ. In the place of Christ. That's why Paul said, and I want
you to see this in Galatians 5. Look over here in Galatians
5. This is a scary thing to me. And I'll tell you what, this
is, he makes it as plain as he possibly can. He said in chapter
5 verse 2, Behold, I, Paul, say unto you,"
Now, these are Gentiles now in Galatia. I, Paul, say unto you,
if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. His death won't profit you. His
blood won't profit you. His righteousness won't profit
you. His grace, nothing about Christ will profit you anything.
You'll get nothing from it. Now, that's kind of scary, ain't
it? But there's lots of folks in that condition. Oh, my. If you want to be under the Lord
under works, that's for the flesh, the old man. But righteousness
by faith is for the new man. That new man is created in Christ
Jesus. And Paul said Christ is raised
for our justification. And we're so identified with
the Lord Jesus Christ. When he was raised, we were raised
with him. When He ascended to heaven, we
ascended with Him. When He sat down on His throne,
we sat down in the heavenlies with Him. And sin can have no
place there. Sin can have no place where Christ
reigns in the heart. For there's no law in heaven.
There's no law where Christ is. Where there's no law, there's
no, can be no transgression. And oh my, All right, let's see
who wrote this letter. Who was Paul? Who was Paul? Look what he says. His first
thing he says, and I'm an apostle. Paul, an apostle. That's the first thing he says,
apostle. These people to whom he wrote needed to understand
the true nature of the gospel. And they didn't understand it
clearly. And they also got to understand who he was and the
authority by which he spoke. You know, he said, Apostle. And
what authority do you reckon he had? You know, Did the New
Testament writers and the Old Testament writers, did they just
write off the top of their head, just say, well, I need to write
a letter to the Galatians, so I'm gonna just, I'm gonna think
about what condition they're in, gonna think what they're
going through, and think what they've been taught, and I'll just sit
down and write a letter and try to straighten them all out. You
reckon that's what happened? No, no, no, no. No, no. I tell you, they wrote by the
Holy Ghost, by the Spirit of God, and I tell you what, they
were sent of God and blessed of God to write. I'll tell you
what, my Bible is nothing but in black and white, with apostrophes,
periods, chapter divisions, paragraph
divisions in it, black and white. But that black and white is the
Word of God itself. When I read Galatians here tonight,
I was reading what God said. what God had to say to the Galatians.
As Paul, he said, Paul, I'm writing to you, but God is writing to
these people. God is telling these people what
a mess you're in. And I tell you what, and I say,
you know, he said, by what authority? Then look what he said, an apostle. Oh, listen, who sent him then?
Who sent him? He said, well, man didn't do
it. Man didn't call me, neither by man. Oh my. But who sent Him then? Jesus
Christ. And God the Father, He sent me. And look what He said about God
the Father. He raised Him from the dead. So I know who sent
me, the Lord Jesus Christ sent me. Oh my. And what He's saying
is my gospel did not originate with men. It wasn't commissioned
by men. He said, I didn't go up even
to Jerusalem. I never went up to let those
fellas teach me. I didn't do that. Oh my, his
gospel didn't originate with me and wasn't commissioned by
man. His gospel and apostleship came from the Lord Jesus Christ,
who met him and brought him down on the Damascus road. Oh my,
chose him, ordained him to be a light to the Gentiles. And
then look what, to whom the letter was wrote. Look what he says
there in verse two. And all the brethren which were
with me, he said, I had a lot of men with me, unto the churches
of Galatia, the churches of Galatia. I go often to the, when I want
to find out where some place is at, I go to the maps in the
back of the book. And the churches, he said not
just the church of Galilee, the churches at Galatia. Galatia
was a Roman province. You know, the Romans ruled there.
And there was lots and lots of towns in Galatia. You know, Lystra
was there, Paul preached at Lystra. He preached at Pisidia, Antioch,
and Pontus. Bunch of little cities and little
towns there, and Paul preached in all of them. And oh my, and
Paul's salutation was a summary of the gospel. All the brethren
which are with me unto the churches of Galatia. Galatia. Big, big area. And then look
what he said. Oh, he says the gospel. He talks
about grace. Grace be to you. You know, the
gospel always begins with grace. I never ever get tired of talking
about the grace of God. I never get tired of it. I hope
you never get tired of hearing it. But he said, Grace be to
you and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
And you know grace, grace, grace, it means God giving, God giving. And all that God does in dealing
with His children, He does it by grace. He chose us by grace,
called us by grace, keeps us by grace, and we'll end up in
the last step in this world, in the last breath we draw, will
be by God's grace. And if we end up in glory, grace
will take us all the way there. We will not get ourselves there. We will not do anything. Grace
is called a covenant of grace. For by grace are you saved. Through
faith, and oh listen, grace and faith is not of yourselves. Not
of works. If it's of works, man would boast.
And it was God who created us in Christ Jesus unto good works,
and listen to this, which he ordained before this world ever
began. Anybody won't talk about the
good works they've done if you've done a good work God created
you to do that and ordained you to do it And I've never done one if I've
done one, I don't know it And oh my but the hardest thing For
human beings and for human nature is to grasp then and even now
salvation by grace and works never enter into it. Never ever
enter into it. Not religious works. Oh, people
like their religious works. They like to talk about their
religious works. They like to dress like they're religious.
They like to talk about their religion. And I tell you, not
by religious works, salvation is by grace, not by any effort
of the human will. There's no works before our conversion,
no works after our conversion will contribute to our salvation. Salvation is entirely the work
of God himself, of his grace. God gives and we take. God does and we receive. God
says and we believe. Man contributes nothing. Not
even his faith. You know that? This is one of
the most mysterious things of the gospel to me. I don't know
what it means to you. We contribute nothing to our
salvation. Even our faith is given to us
by Christ. For by grace are you saved through
faith. By grace are you saved through
faith. God gives us faith. Faith is
the gift of God, and He gives us that faith and treats us like
it belonged to us. And then He rewards us for it.
He gives it to us and then rewards us for it. I mean, we can't even
talk about our faith if God gave it to us. You know, and let me tell you
something. You got to You got to have a
new birth. There has to be a new birth.
That's one thing that before a man can believe. Abraham believed
God. And now how did Abraham believe
God? He had to be regenerated before he could believe God.
A man has to have life from the dead. And life from the dead
is where faith comes from. You don't, faith don't give you
life. You get life from Christ and then that's where the faith
is. Dead men can't believe, and that's
what's so sad about religion. They're trying to get dead men
to act alive. I've said it so many times, funeral
directors, the better they are at dressing people up when they're
dead and making them look like, oh my goodness, they look so
good. I tell you what, everything's
just perfect, you know. Oh, they want to make the dead
look like they're just asleep. And that's what preachers are
doing, trying to make the dead people look like they're alive.
But you've got to have life. There has to be a new birth.
And when God gives that new birth, that's when faith comes. You
cannot believe until God gives you life. And that first thing,
the first evidence of life is crying out. The first evidence
of life of a baby. That baby's got life in the womb.
And I tell you what, but he don't speak, he don't do nothing until
he's born. And when he's born, that's when
he starts crying. And that's the way we are. When we're born
of God, that's when we start crying. That's when we start
believing. And once you ever believe, you cannot not keep
believing. You cannot keep from believing.
You can't do it. Henry May has got a message on
one thing a child of God cannot do. And it's out of 1 John. He cannot not believe the gospel. He cannot forsake the gospel.
These people forsook the gospel. These folks left Christ, separated
from Christ. And I tell you what, you know,
there's got to be some life before there's any evidence of anything
going on in this life. And then God gives us, and not
only does He give us faith, but then He gives us repentance.
Acts 531 says Christ granted repentance unto the Gentiles. Repentance is granted. Repentance
is given too. And this thing of faith and repentance,
they're not isolated acts. And people say repent of this
sin, or repent of that sin, or repent of your sins. The Bible
don't say about repenting of your sins. It says repent. And
repentance has to do with a change of mind. Your mind is changed
dramatically when God gives you new life. Your mind is changed
dramatically when God gives you repentance. And what it changes
about, first and foremost, it gives you a change about God.
God's not like I thought He was. He's like He is. I thought I
was a pretty good fellow till I seen Christ. I didn't know
what sin was until God taught me what sin was. So I mean, you're
talking about a radical change in our minds and a radical change
in how we view this world, ourselves, and one another, and the gospel,
and the scriptures, and sin, and righteousness, and God, and
Christ. I mean, that's what repentance
is. You hear these fellas say, Boyd, you know, turn from your
sin. I've been trying to do that all
most of my life, and I ain't got away from it yet. You know
why? I used to think all the time,
I probably told you this, I don't know how many times. Years and
years and years ago, I'd get so discouraged, oh my goodness. And I still do, but not as bad
as I used to. But I'd get so discouraged and
I'd say, boy, I'll tell you what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna move
off somewhere where nobody knows me and I'm gonna just buy me
a place and I'm gonna get off to myself And I'm not gonna let
anybody know who I am or what I do or nothing like that. And
then it dawned on me that wherever I go, I gotta go, me gotta, me
goes with me wherever I go. So no matter where I am, I'm
gonna still be what I am. I can move to Alaska, it ain't
gonna change my nature. It ain't gonna change my standing,
but what I say was, I tell you what, you feel like you make
such a mess that you think, I need to get out of this. I need to
get someplace where folks don't know me. But repentance is what
it is. And once you start believing,
you're always a believer. And once you start repenting,
you're always repenting. You're repenting of what you
think and what you feel and how you act and how you treat somebody. You repent. Those are not isolated
acts. They're continual things that
go on in our lives. Don't y'all agree with that?
And all these things come from God. They come from Christ. both
are one. You can't have repentance without
faith, and you can't have faith without repentance. And then
look what else he said, grace. And then he said here in verse
3, and peace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, peace, as grace is the cause of salvation,
peace of God is the consequences of our salvation. The consequences
of salvation by grace, peace from God. Grace first and then
peace. Oh my, grace and peace. Grace
comes first and then peace. And you know, when I first come
down here, I don't remember how many preachers would get up and
preach about, you know, make your peace with God. Make your
peace with God. And I never did understand that,
but grace and peace, you know, peace comes through the blood
of Jesus Christ. Peace with God costs our Lord
Jesus something. He made peace through the blood
of His cross. And what that mean is, is that
peace is more than just ceasing from our hostility toward God. You know, our hostility towards
God, toward Christ. Oh, that's hostile. Hostile,
our hostility toward God and Christ. It's an ongoing experience
for believers. Once, you know, let me show you
in Philippians. Go to your right there and look
in Philippians with, you know, talking about peace. Philippians 4, verse 4. Oh, my. you know, ceases our hostility
towards God. It's more than that. It's an
ongoing experience for believers. Verse six, be careful for nothing,
but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving,
let your requests be made unto God and the peace of God, which
passes all understanding. shall keep your hearts and minds
through Christ Jesus." Oh, the peace of God keep us through
Christ? Oh, my. And this is the situation. Dirk and Reba and I were talking
about it this morning, standing out in the foyer. Those who seek
to be justified by their own efforts, they can't never know
peace. They can't never know peace.
They can't never enjoy peace. They don't know how to rest in
Christ. They don't know how to rest in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And what they're doing, and I know personally this is the way it
is, they're always striving for assurance. Always striving for
assurance. Always doing something to get
assurance from God. They can never, never rest in
Christ. Always, always looking to and
looking back and redoing some religious experience. Always
trying to refine their obedience. And they said, if this don't
work, I'll try something else. If this don't work, maybe I'll
get peace with God doing this. Maybe I'll get peace with God
doing that. Maybe I'll get peace with God if I quit this. Maybe
I'll get peace with God if I start doing this other thing. Maybe
I'll get peace with God if I dress a certain way. If I give so much
money, maybe I can get peace with God. And that's a hard road to live.
That's a hard road. That's a hard life to live. I
remember there's some folks lived across
from Steve and Janet when they lived up in Indiana where Bruce
lives now. I can think of their names, but
I can't hardly. But anyway, they were super religious, you know.
I mean, they really were. And they came over and we got
to We got to preaching the gospel to them and tell them about Christ
and tell them about grace and tell them about what Christ did
and what he accomplished and that salvation's all of grace
and God chose us even in grace. And oh boy, they sat there and
listened to that and listened to that and listened to that.
And finally, the woman said, that's just too good to be true.
That's just too good to be true. I just can't believe that. And
she didn't. She wanted what she had. Bruce
Crabtree will tell you this himself. His father, his father, Bruce
would come down here and stay with his father a week or 10
days at a time to help his dad. Take care of his dad. Watch out
for his dad. And years and years ago, his
father was a free will Baptist preacher. And he quit preaching. But, you know, Bruce would talk
to him and talk to him and talk to him about grace, talk to him
about salvation, trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, talk to him
about Christ's obedience and in Christ's righteousness. And
the old man got ready to die. And Bruce told him one more time,
Daddy, trust Christ and His righteousness. And you know what his father
told him? He said, Bruce, I just can't face God without something
of my own. Without something of my own.
Do you know how hard that broke Bruce's heart? Can't face God. And you know
how tender-hearted he is. What a preacher he is. You're
talking about breaking a man's heart. I just can't face God without
I can't face God without at least something of my own. I'm just the opposite of that.
I won't face God without anything of my own. It's like Todd told
us down here in this last meeting. I don't want my fingerprints
on nothing. On nothing. Oh my. But there's so many people
go out into this world like that, and they go out in this world
with peace. But those who rest in Christ, talking about peace
now, but those who rest in Christ has entered into God's rest. Ceased from their works as God
did from his. God didn't need to rest, his
work was finished. And we rest, why? Because the
work is done. It's finished. There's nothing
for us to do. Just rest, just rest. And oh,
true preachers, true priests of heart and conscience can only
be ours by trusting, looking to our Lord Jesus Christ and
his blessed, blessed, glorious person. Look to him and him alone
and his glorious work that he did in his life, in his death,
in his resurrection, in his ascension. Always look to Christ and his
righteousness. Never, ever look to ourselves
or our experience. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now
I'm found. Was blind, but now I see. T'was
grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear,
the hour I first believed. Grace, grace is a charming sound,
harmonious to the ear. Grace reveals sin put away, and
peace makes the conscience quiet and restful in Christ. Our Father, Oh, our Father and
our Lord Jesus Christ, I'm at a loss of words other
than just thank you and bless you. I'm so grateful for the rest
and the peace that we have in our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, what
a rest, what a comfort, what a rest of soul, no guilt on the
conscience, no sin on the conscience. Oh, Lord, all because of your
blessed grace and your precious life and death for us. Thank
you, Lord Jesus. Thank you, God, our Father, for
giving him. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for coming. And bless the Holy
Spirit for bringing Christ and his gospel to us. Bless the Trinity
and all three of their glorious persons. We thank you and bless
you. Amen. Amen. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look
full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow
strangely dim. In the light of His glory and
grace. I'll see you Wednesday, God willing.
Lord bless you this week and keep you.