Good morning. Let's all stand
together and sing hymn number 449. To God be the glory, great things
He hath done. So loved He the world that He
gave us His Son, who yielded His life and atonement for sin
and and the life, dear, that all may go in. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Let the earth hear his voice. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Let the people rejoice. Oh, come. to the Father, through
Jesus the Son, and give Him the glory, great things He hath done. O perfect redemption, the purchase
of blood, to every believer the promise of God, the vilest offender
who truly believes, that moment from Jesus a pardon receives. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Let the earth hear his voice. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Let the people
rejoice. Come to the Father, through Jesus
the Son, and give Him the glory. Great things He hath done. Great things He hath taught us. Great things He hath done. and greater rejoicing through
Jesus the Son. But purer and higher and greater
will be our wonder, our transform when Jesus we see. Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Let the earth hear His voice. Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Let the people rejoice. O come to the Father, through
Jesus the Son, and give him the glory, great things he hath done. Be seated. In your chorus books
we'll sing number 29. That's page 113. 29 in our course books. On a hill far away died the Christ
of the cross. He yielded to suffering and shame. And there in His grace, He died
in my place, The purpose of God to fulfill. So I'll cherish the Christ of
the cross And before He is thrown, I'll bow down I will cling to the Christ of
the Cross For He is the King I must crown O the Christ of
the Cross So despised by the world as a wondrous attraction
to me. He, the dear Lamb of God, left
His glory above to bear all my sin on the tree. So I'll cherish the Christ of
the Cross And before His throne I'll bow down I will cling to the Christ of
the Cross For he is the king I must crown. In the Christ of the Cross, and
His blood so divine, a marvelous beauty I see. For he opened my eyes, that long
had been blind, to behold him now of his throne. So I'll cherish the Christ of
the cross And before His throne I'll bow down I will cling to the Christ of
the Cross, for He is the King I must crown. To the Christ of the cross I
must ever be true His shame and reproach gladly bear For in love He constrains, Till
all shall be gained, And His glory forever I share. So I'll cherish the Christ of
the cross, And before His throne I'll bow
down I will cling to the Christ of
the cross For He is the King I must crown Happy Father's Day to all of
you. Turn with me to Psalm 116. You
know one thing about that song we just sung, is almost everybody
says, I'll cling to the cross. You know, I trust in the finished
work of Christ, finished work on the cross. But there it says,
I'll cling to the Christ of the cross. That's all the difference
in the world. All the difference in the world
clinging to the Christ of the cross. Read 116th Psalm together. I love the Lord because he hath
heard my voice and my supplications. because he hath inclined his
ear unto me. Therefore will I call upon him
as long as I live. The sorrows of death compassed
me about, compassed me, and the pains of hell got hold upon me. I found trouble and sorrow. Then I called upon the name of
the Lord, O Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my soul. Gracious is
the Lord, and righteous, yea, our God is merciful. The Lord
preserveth the simple. I was brought low, and he helped
me. Return unto thy rest, O my soul,
for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. For thou hast delivered
my soul from death, mine eyes from my feet from falling, I
will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. I believed,
therefore have I spoken. I was greatly afflicted. I said
in my haste, all men are liars. What shall I render unto the
Lord for all his benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation
and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto
the Lord now in the presence of all his people. Precious,
precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. O Lord, truly I am thy servant. I am thy servant and the son
of thine handmaid that has loosed my bonds I will offer to thee
the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of
the Lord. I will pay thy vows unto the
Lord now in the presence of all his people, in the courts of
the Lord's house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Praise
ye the Lord. Lord, we call upon you. David said, Here I call upon
the name of the Lord as long as I live. I was in trouble,
and I called upon the name of the Lord. Sorrows got hold on
me, and I called upon the name of the Lord. And, O Lord, we call upon your
name, that name that's above every name. that name that every
knee shall bow someday, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord to thy glory forever and ever and ever. And Father,
we're so blessed and so thankful to have this privilege, privilege,
not a duty, not a duty, a privilege together with the people of God. together with the saints of the
Lord Jesus Christ, to be numbered with thy people here in this
land of living. We know what living is. We know
what life is, and we know where life comes from. It comes from
you, oh, our Lord God. And we pray that in thy mercy
and in thy blessed grace, you'd be pleased to open hearts to
speak to hearts, sow the seed, open eyes, open ears, give new
hearts, give new wills. Lord, you said that when you
said, seek ye my face, we said in our hearts, oh Lord, thy face
we'll seek. Do that to somebody today. Lord,
you come to them and say, seek ye my face, and Lord, they will
seek your face. And Father, we pray that you'd
be pleased to bring glory to your son today for Christ's sake,
save your people in this place, cause the gospel to be a blessing,
and we pray again for our brothers and sisters who have us, that
you've called to deal with certain things in this world, Doc and
Janie, Rick and Helen, and others among us who are facing obstacles
in their life, facing anxieties in their life, real bodies in
this life. Please be merciful to them. Oh,
Father, Father, Father, for Christ's sake, remember our children and
our grandchildren. Have mercy on them and the children
in this congregation. God, please do something for
the children. You yourself said, bring the
little children under me. for as such is the kingdom of
heaven. So Lord, we look to you, trust
you to meet with us today for Christ's sake. Amen. Let's stand together and sing
the hymn of the day in the bulletin. Jesus, our priest, forever lives
to plead for us above. Jesus, our King, forever gives
the blessings of His love, the blessings of His love. Thou hast redeemed our souls
with blood, Thou hast set the prisoner free. hast made us kings
and priests to God, and we shall reign with thee, and we shall
reign with thee. The whole creation joins in one
to bless the holy name. of Him who sits upon the throne,
and to adore the Lamb, and to adore the Lamb. He breaks the power of reigning
sin. He sets the prisoner free. His blood can make the foulest
clean. His blood avails for me. His blood avails for me. Be seated. Weep over my soul Sweep over
my soul Sweet spirit Sweep over my soul My joy is complete When
I sit at His feet, sweet Spirit, sweep o'er my soul. Turn to the book of Jude. That's
one little epistle right before the book of Revelation. One little
epistle. God willing, I'm going to Start
preaching from here either on Sunday night or Wednesday night,
I don't know which. But I wanna look at a verse of
scripture from here this morning. Pray the Lord's blessings. God be pleased to meet with us.
Look in verse three of Jude, verse three. Beloved, when I gave all diligence
to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for
me to write unto you and exhort you. And this is the reason that
you should earnestly contend, be truthful, deal with, contend
for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. the
faith that was once delivered unto the saints. I want to talk
about our profession of faith. He said, I want you to contend
for the faith delivered unto the saints. I want to talk about
our profession of faith. There was for centuries and centuries
and centuries what was called the Dark Ages. And if you've ever studied history,
there was for centuries what we call the Dark Ages. Catholicism
ruled the world, the whole world, and they wouldn't let men have
the scriptures. They kept the scriptures from
them. The only place that the Bible resided was in a cathedral
or in a monastery somewhere. Nobody had a Bible, didn't know
what was in a Bible. Nobody owned one but the Catholics. And they kept them under awful,
awful bondage. And they taught, and they still
do, salvation by the Holy Mother Church. Salvation comes through
the church. And they sold indulgences, that
if you wanted to indulge your flesh to do something, to commit
some type of sin, could pay them, and then you could go commit
whatever sin you wanted to do. And then by paying for that,
that's where you think they got their money. And they've done
that, sold indulgences, and then people could go indulge in whatever
they wanted to, and then the Catholics would grant them penances. And they sold penances. If you
wanted to not spend enough time in purgatory, if you had enough
money, you could buy your way out of purgatory. And they persecuted, persecuted
all who would not confess their faith in the Pope, who claimed to be the successor
of the Apostle Peter, And they said he was also infallible,
and they still do. This darkness was deep, and this
darkness was long, and it dared for centuries and centuries and
centuries, until one day, God raised up a man, Martin Luther
was his name. He is a German, and he is a Catholic
monk. And he taught the gospel. And
he was on his knees. This was a man who dwelt in a
monastery and he would take and beat himself with, flagellate
himself on the back and emaciate his body to keep it under control. And he was on his knees crawling
up some steps to make his body suffer. his knees, and while
he was crawling on his knees, a verse of scripture came to
his mind. It was Romans 324. Being justified
freely by his grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus,
God opened his heart. He got off his knees and God opened his heart to justification
by Christ, through Christ, and that alone. And he walked to
a place called Wittenberg, in the German it's called Wittenberg,
and he nailed on that door 95 theses of why he did believe
that the Catholic Church was wrong and And that they taught
salvation was wrong. And he, one of the things that
he put up there was that salvation, salvation was free. It was by grace and grace alone.
And from then on, God taught him the gospel. And then he raised
up a man named John Calvin. And Calvin taught strong, strong
believer. Then he raised up a man named
Zwingli. I believe he's from Switzerland.
Then he raised up a man named John Huss in England. John Knox
in Scotland. And he called these other men,
and they started a reformation. They started a reformation. They
began to contend for the faith that was once delivered unto
the saints. And these, through their struggles
and through their sorrows and through all the battles that
they fought, they came to a three-point conclusion. Three-point conclusion. And this is the things that they
taught clearly and plainly. And the best commentary, the
best thing written on the book of Galatians was written by Martin
Luther. If you don't have it, you ought
to get it and read it. But they came to a three-point
conclusion, and this became the cry of the Reformers. First one
was, Scripture's alone, not the Catholic Church, not the Pope. They started saying, the Scripture's
alone, the Scripture's alone. And the second cry was, grace
alone, grace alone. And the third cry was, Christ
alone. And we had on our sign before
we got the new one, and those were the three points we had
on there. Scriptures alone, grace alone, Christ alone. And the same thing's on our bulletins
even now. And I believe that if we'll continue
to adhere to these three wonderful, blessed truths, no doubt that
that would, if you believe these things and really, really believe
these things, you'll be fundamentally sound in what we call the faith
and contending for the faith. And this is what we profess when
we say our profession of faith. This is our profession of faith,
scriptures alone. What do we mean by this statement,
scriptures alone? For what purpose, for what reason? First of all, for our faith,
for our faith, for our faith, for what we believe, for our
subjective faith and our objective faith. comes from the Bible and
the Bible alone. And how are we to live in this
world? What are we to practice as Christians
in this world? Where do we get our practice
from? We used to get it passed on from tradition to tradition
to tradition. They done it, so we done it.
They done it, so we done it. But we found by the grace of
God and God taught us that our practice is only based on what
God says. What we believe is only based
on what God says. Oh my, the scriptures, the scriptures
is the only book in this whole world that God himself says this
belongs to me. All scripture is given by inspiration
or breath of God. And all scriptures is profitable
for all things, for all things. preserved the Bible. He preserved
the writings in this blessed book, and that's why he says,
you know, the word of the Lord endureth forever. He said, Psalm
119, verse 89, thy word, O Lord, is forever settled in heaven. Heaven and earth shall pass away,
but my word shall never, ever pass away. And I say, and we
say boldly, and this is what to faith we contend for, boldly
and emphatically, we are what we are. We do what we do because
we have a book which we believe to be the very Word of God itself. And this, I don't have a, my
Bible's not a red margin. I've got a new red margin back
there. Because that's all they had. But they say the red, the
red margins, you know, all those red, red letter Bibles, you know,
that they have the words of Christ in red. Every word in this Bible's
Christ. I don't have to have red to understand
whether it's from God, it is from Christ. Thus saith the Lord. This is God's blessed book. It's
in black and white. It's a spiritual book. And oh,
my, they said faith alone. Oh, my, we believe this to be
absolutely the Word of God. And when we read it, we're hearing
from what God said. This is God saying. And the Bible,
I'm telling you, it settles all arguments. It's the rock. This is the rock of infallibility.
Isaiah said this, if it's not according to this word, the law
and this word, it's because there's no light in them, no light in
them. We receive nothing, nothing but the truth, but what agrees
with scripture. You know how I come to these
conclusions and because of these men? I didn't do it because of
Martin Luther or John Calvin or John Swingler, anybody. I
come to these truths because God taught them to me. God showed
me. God showed me. And the scriptures,
I'm telling you something, the Bible and the Bible alone tells
us how this world came into existence. It's the only way you know that
how this world come into existence because the Bible tells us so. In the beginning, God. That's
the first thing it says. In the beginning, God created
out of nothing. Created the heavens, the earth. And he said he separated the
two. Then he said, I want to put a
sun up there, sir, light by the day. I'm going to put a moon
and stars up there for light by night. Oh my, and oh my. They alone, the scriptures alone
tells us, give us a true account of man and what man is. Did anybody
ever teach their children to lie, to cheat, to hate, to be
deceitful? No. You know why? Because they're
born that way. And if God don't do something
for them, and you know it doesn't, the Bible doesn't exaggerate
the man's goodness and don't conceal his faults. They paint
him just as he is. It tells how man was created.
The first man was a creation. And that tells us clearly clearly
how he fell into sin. And it tells us how he disobeyed
God. It tells us of his nature, a
fallen nature, a sinful nature, a hateful nature, a God dishonoring
nature, a nature that did not know what it was to trust God.
And they show him to be what he is, a sinner. And you know
what it says, man, at his best estate is? Altogether vanity. Altogether vanity. And the Bible
alone gives us a true view of God. That's the only place you
can find out a true view of God. What do I mean by that? Well,
let me give you man's natural conception of God. First of all,
he's like himself. Man made a god to suit himself.
All the way through the scriptures and even today, man makes a god
to suit himself. And when he is, he's low. He's
low as a man is. He's debased. He's degraded. Look at the man god. You look
at the heathen gods. They had thousands of God in
Rome, and there's lots of gods in this world today. Lots of
gods. You can go see them set up in
people's yards, set up on their dashboards in their cars. And then there's the Armenian
god. What's he like? Well, I'll tell you what he's
like. First of all, he loves everybody. That's the first thing
He does. He loves everybody. And I tell
you what, we do too. And then there's the Armenian
God Jesus died for everybody. And the only way you can be saved
is let Him. And when He gives you your chance,
you let Him. You let God do what He wants
to do. And He'll save you if you'll exercise your will. Oh,
my. And then there's science's God.
This is the most ridiculous thing. There was a big bang out yonder
somewhere billions of years ago. And out of that big bang, we
got what we got left. And then the other side of a
science God is that there was this little old slimy stuff on
the face of the earth, and there's this little old amoeba. He crawled
up out of all that murk, And he was out there for a while,
and he sprung a leg on one side, and he sprung a leg on the other
side. And the next thing you know, after a few million years,
he was walking upright. And after a few million years,
he got a brain. After a few million years, he
got a heart. And he became a man. And he became a man. And we've
all been evolved since then. You believe man's evolving? Oh, my. It gives us a true view
of God. The Bible tells us that he's
holy, that he's just, and that he hates sin. He's angry with
sinners every day, angry with sinners. People say, well, he
hates the sin, but he loves the sinner. That's not what the Bible
says. He's angry with the wicked every
day. angry with the wicked every day. He hates sin. And what does he do when he finds
it? Well, when he found sin and man's imagination's only evil
continually, he sent a flood. Destroyed the whole world, but
ate souls. Then there's a place called Sodom
and Gomorrah. known for its wickedness, known
for its sinfulness, known for its sexual deviancy. And God
said, I'm not put up with this. And he destroyed it and only
saved one man out of that whole bunch. And now I'll tell you what, when
he wanted his people to have a place to live, you know what
he did? He said, I'll destroy seven nations
to let you have that place. And I'll tell you something else
the Bible tells us about God. We're talking about true view
of God. The Bible tells us God is a God of purpose. He's a God
of purpose. He does what he does on purpose. And he decreed, we say decrees,
there's only one decree. God decreed the end from the
beginning. God said this, He said, He said,
I am God, and remember the days of old, I am God and there's
no one like me. I declare the end from the beginning,
and I will do all my pleasure. He done that from ancient times.
And all known unto God are all His works from the creation.
And the Bible alone, when we're talking about the scriptures
alone, the Bible alone explains the state of this world in which
we live. You know what God calls it? He
says it's an evil world. God said, Paul says, you know,
he delivered us from this present evil world. You think it's got
any better? Men say, you know, that God so
loved the world that He gave. And they want to say, they mean
that the meaning of God ever loves everybody. But what about
where the whole world lies in wickedness? And what about the
verse that says the whole world's going after Him? How can the
whole world, God loved the whole world, and then the whole world
lie in wickedness at the same time? You're the only way you
can get an answer. That's from the Bible. From the Bible. Oh, all the inequality that's
in this world, all the failures of nations and politicians, the
abounding of sin, the Bible tells us why the world's in a state
of sin. And the Scriptures alone tell
us the way of salvation. Search, search. The scriptures,
John 5, 39 says, search the scriptures. For in them you think you have
eternal life. But they are they, the scriptures
which testify. All the scriptures point to the
Lord Jesus Christ. And how it tells us the way of
salvation and how a sinful man could be made acceptable to God
Almighty. And I want to know that. I really
want to know that. You know, this day alone, the
Bible alone could make us wise in the way of salvation, like
it's old Timothy. And being born again, not of
corruptible seed, but incorruptible. And by his own will, He begat
us with the word of truth that we should be a kind of firstfruits
of his creation. And the scriptures alone are
profitable for all things. Now, I hope I don't wear you. Grace alone, scriptures alone.
What am I to believe? The scriptures, what it tells
me to believe. How am I going to live in this
world? The scriptures tells me how to live. Grace alone. What do we mean by this statement? We mean this, that the salvation
of sinners is entirely, from start to finish, an act of the
sovereign, free grace of God given in Christ Jesus. There is no salvation any other
way. You know, when we talk about
grace, that means that there's no cooperative effort. You don't
cooperate with grace. You don't cooperate with God.
God don't cooperate with us. If righteousness come by the
law, then Christ is dead in vain. Now don't frustrate the grace
of God. Grace is a gift. Being justified
freely. By what? By his grace. You know,
it's not by man's decision. It's not of him that wills, it's
not of him that runs, but it's of God that shows mercy. And it's not by man's will, it's
by God's free choice, God's electing love. Brethren, we are bound
to thank God for you because he has from the beginning chosen
you unto salvation. through Christ Jesus, the Lord.
What I'm saying is, grace is God's will, and you shall. In the day of His power, His
people, His people are made willing. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest, and I like this here, cause, causes, There's got to
be a first cause for everything. There's got to be a cause and
effect. Well, this is the cause. God bless the man whom the Lord
causes to approach unto you. And you know what the effect
is? We come. Oh my. Grace is God's will and
you shall. For by grace are you saved through
faith and that's not of yourself. It's not man's goodness, never
has been, never will be, but it's God's goodness. It's not
man's merit, but it's God's mercy. In Christ, if salvation is not,
and I'm telling you this, everybody that knows anything about salvation
by grace, you'll come to this conclusion. If salvation is not
by the free grace of God in Christ, Then there is no salvation. There is no God. There's no afterlife. There's no hope. We're just marking
time like animals. If salvation's not by grace. Grace is sovereign. Grace is
unconditional. And when we talk about grace
and with grace alone, It's sovereign grace. What does that mean? It
reigns. Grace reigns through Jesus Christ. When we talk about
free grace, that means that nobody deserves it. It has to be free
because you couldn't pay for it. Like that bulletin article
where Martin Luther said, could I buy with a penny what costs
a million dollars? When being preached works by
salvation, how could you pay for it? What work would it take? How much money would it take?
What effort would it take for a man to be saved by something
other than free grace? Huh? Oh, my. It's never at any time
deserved. And it's effectual grace. What
does that mean? It effectually saves God's people. It effectually keeps them saved. It effectually breaks into a
man's heart and establishes itself in a man's heart and soul. And
I tell you, it doesn't never, ever depend upon us in any way.
And it's justifying grace. Paul said in Romans 5, too, he
said, this grace wherein we stand. We stand. And then there's glorifying
grace. Oh, for whom he did nor foreknow,
them he also called. Whom he called, he justified.
And whom he justified, he also glorified. I want to show you
something in Zechariah. You know, Zechariah is a book. Malachi is the last book in the
Old Testament. And then Zechariah is right before
Malachi. And I want you to look in chapter
4. Chapter 4. Oh, thank God, salvation's by
grace. Zechariah 4, 6, and 7. Then he answered and spake unto
me, saying, This is the word of the LORD that came unto Zerubbabel,
saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith
the LORD of hosts. Who art thou, O great mountain?
Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain, and he shall
bring forth the headstone Therefore I was shouting crying grace grace
unto it The foundations grace and when they put the top stone
on it, it'll say grace If we got that close to heaven And it took some effort for us
to get in the rest of the way that's as far as we'd get That's
as far as we'd get Oh, my. And then let me give you the
last one. Christ alone, scriptures alone, grace alone. Oh, I love
that hymn we sung today. I cling to the Christ to the
cross. Before his throne I'll bow down
and must crown him the king. When we talk about Christ alone, by this declaration of
Christ. Now, you know, if you went back
to where I was in Jude, there's a little book right there called
the second epistle of John. Go back over there and look at
this with me. When we talk about Christ alone, we're talking about
abiding in the doctrine of Christ. And second, you know, Jude, and
then there's the third epistle of John, second epistle of John,
right on the opposite page, and it said there in verse 9
of the 2nd Epistle of John, whosoever transgresses and abideth
not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. Now, that's our
confession of faith. That's what the Bible says, and
that tells us what grace is. He that abideth not in the doctrine
of Christ, he that doeth abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he
hath both the Father and the Son. And if there come any unto
you, and bring not this doctrine, don't even have him into your
house, nor bid him Godspeed. For he that biddeth him Godspeed
is partaker of his evil deeds. Now we abide, live, abide in
the doctrine of Christ. And when we talk about this declaration
of our faith, our perfection of faith, we believe that Christ
alone, His person, His person, and His work is our only plea
before a holy God. When God put all things into
the Son, the Father can put everything into the hand of His blessed
Son. Old Barnard used to say God put all of his eggs into
one basket. Everything that God purposed
in this world, everything that He created by, everything He
did, He did through and by His Son. This is my Son, hear Him. This is my beloved Son, whom
I'm well pleased. And He's the grand design of
all for God's kingdom. The Scriptures tells us in Colossians
that By Him are all things. Through Him are all things. By
Him, everything consists. By Him, everything exists. And not only does it exist and
consist by Him, but He upholds it, upholds it by the Word, just
the Word of His power. It don't take nothing but God's
Word and His power to hold this whole world up. And you know
what it's gonna take to destroy it? God's Word and God's power. He'll destroy it just like He
built it, with His Word, with His Word. And oh my, all things
by Him and for Him. And I tell you, I told you, I
think we is denied. I'm gonna do this too. I've done,
got to talking to a fellow the other day where I mentioned that
I, Scripture says to him, Acts 10 40 through, to him all prophets
give witness. And I started thinking about
that and we got to talk about that. I can start in Genesis
and spend almost a month or six weeks just in
Genesis showing you that this book is and then go to Exodus,
then go to Numbers, and then go to Leviticus, and then go
to Deuteronomy, then go one prophet after another, and show you that
every one of them talk about Christ. I'm gonna do that just
to show you. And oh my, and the Declaration
of the Scriptures tells us something. And Henry Mahan used to say this
all the time. I probably got it from him, because
I remember it. The Old Testament tells us one
who is coming, the seed of the woman, I'll put
enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. And thou shalt bruise his head,
crush his head, but thou shalt bruise your foot. That's talking
about Christ. There's only one person that
was the seed of the woman, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
Oh my. And the gospel tells us one who's
come. Tells us he's come. He's here. John the Baptist says, when they
told me, he said, I was one coming after me. And then when he saw
him, he said, this is he of whom is spake. This is him. This is him. And oh, the gospel
tells us one who's come. You know how many times when
our Lord met that woman at the well, you know what she said
to him? She said, I know that when the Messiah comes, when
the Christ comes, he'll tell us all things. And you know what
our Lord said to her? I am. You know, he says I am
seven times. And the first time you hear where
I am is, you know where it's at? Moses is on that mountain and
God's gonna send him back into Egypt to set his people free.
And he got ready to walk away and then he turned back to God
and said, who am I gonna say sent me? He said, you tell them
I am, that I am sent you. And our Lord Jesus said seven
times, I am. I am the light of the world.
I am the water of life. I am the bread of life. And when they come to get him
in the garden, he stood there and they said, who are you looking
for? Jesus of Nazareth. He said, I am. I am. I am. Oh my. Everything that was made
was made by Him. And without Him there wasn't
anything made that was made without Him. Because He in the beginning
was the Word. And Christ is that Word by which
God made everything. Christ is that Word by which
God saves all of His people. Christ is that Word. Oh my. Oh, the Gospel tells us He's
come. The epistles tells us he's coming again. Oh, Paul says,
when he shall appear, we shall also appear with him, glory. He said when Christ appear, he's
gonna change, change this body. And what's he gonna do with it?
He gonna fashion it like unto the one he's got. That's what
he said. Oh, behold what manner of love
the Father's bestowed upon us that we should be called the
sons of God. As though we have not seen him
now, we don't appear, we ain't seen him now, but we do know
that when he appears, we shall see him as he is and be made
just like him. Oh, my. Look over here in Colossians
chapter two. Look in Colossians chapter two. I can't, I'm an inadequate, anybody's
inadequate talking about Christ, the way he deserves to be talked
about. But one of these days, I'll be
able to speak to him the way he deserves to be spoken to.
I really will. When I get to glory, I'll speak
to him and speak of him and worship him the way I would in this world
if I could, if I could. But look what it says here in
Colossians 2, verse 9. Talking about Christ now. For in him,
in Christ, dwells, lives all the fullness of the Godhead in
his body. Everything that God Himself is. Eternal? Christ is. Infinite? Christ is. Having all
power? Christ does. Having all authority? Christ does. Whatever God is
and everything He is. When you looked at Christ and
His body, the fullness of God had dwelt in that body. And then
look what He says here. You talk about it. And ye are
complete, perfect, complete in Him. You can't get better. That word
complete means perfect. Do I look perfect? No. Do I act
perfect? No. But God says I'm perfect. Now, I'm going to be glad or
believe myself. I'm going to believe God. Huh? You know, feelings come
and feelings go. There's nothing else worth believing
but the Word of God. Oh, my. I tell you, it's complete
in Him. And oh, my. It's Christ alone
in mercy and grace to sinners. We'll wind it up with this right
here while you turn to 1 John, back over to 1 John with me.
You know, it's in Christ alone that God gives us mercy and grace.
1 John chapter five, you know, Believers are chosen in Him.
We're chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. Before
God ever made a foundation, we were chosen in Christ. Believers
are saved and accepted, we're at in the beloved in Christ. Believers are made holy and righteous
in Him. He hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. In Christ, we are made righteous. We have the righteousness of
Christ. Believers are justified in him
and by him. That means that there is no guilt. There is no sin. God himself
justified us. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's will? If Christ had died, who is he
that condemns? It's God that justified us. And believers are free from the
curse of the law. Christ was made a curse for us
to redeem us out from under the curse of the law. I tell you what, the scriptures
tells us that we are risen and are seated together with him
in heavenly places. We're as good as there right
now as far as God's concerned. And that's why we talk about
the God of purpose. That's what the Bible teaches.
Oh, my. And who's going to separate us
from this love of God? Nothing. Look down here in verse
11 and 13 of 1 John chapter 5. Oh, my. Our Lord says, no man,
no man. Well, I said I was through, but
I'm not. I got another note. I got another. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to lie to you,
I really didn't. But look what he said in verses
11 and 12. And this is the record that God
has given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
He that hath the life, eternal life hath the Son. No man comes
unto the Father but by me. And let me say this, and I will,
I will, I hope I haven't preached too long. Boy, I have, I've been
doing it for a while. But may God grant that as long
as this building right here lives and exists, as long as this body
shall stand, this building shall stand, and as long as worshippers
come into this place, true worshippers, that the subject priest at all
times shall be the person and work of Christ. May that be our
message forever. Christ in his infinite, indisputable
Godhead, very God of very God. Christ in his true humanity,
rendering perfect obedience to God. Christ Jesus crucified on
a cross. Christ buried in a rich man's
tomb. Christ risen from the dead. Christ ascended back into glory. Christ having made atonement
for us. Christ wounded for our transgression,
bruised for our iniquity. Christ raised from the dead,
seated, and sits at the right hand of God, the majesty on high. And the Lord Jesus Christ being
the only mediator between God and man. The only way you can
ever approach God is through His Son. The only way God can
ever approach you is through His Son. You can't approach God
without Christ, and God can't approach you without Christ. And oh my, Christ Jesus, King
of kings and Lord of lords. God give him power over all flesh
that he should give eternal life to those who gave He gave unto
them. Jesus Christ is worthy to receive
honor, power, and glory divine, and blessings more than he can
give, O Lord, be forever thine. Is that your profession of faith?
That's my profession of faith, and that's what I've contended
for for so many years. And may God, as long as I live,
let me continue to contend for those things. Our Father and our God, in the
blessed, glorious name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Thank you
for your mercy. Thank you for your grace given
us in Christ before the world began. Thank you for your blessed
book. Thank you for your grace that's
given us. Oh, Lord, one stands with the other, and they all
go together, or they all fall together. Lord, thank you for
teaching us these wonderful things. Thank you for making us to understand
them, to know them, to believe them with all our heart and all
our souls. God bless these dear saints and these fathers. We
thank you for the fathers. Fathers that love their families,
take responsibilities for their families, to raise their children,
to abide for them. I thank you for them. And Lord, please meet our needs
for Christ's sake. Amen. Let's sing 118 in the hymn
book, and then you'll be at liberty to go. 118. Let's stand together on this. I think this is the one I want.
I'm pretty sure it is. When I surveyed this cross, on
which the Prince of Glory died. My richest gain I count but loss,
and poor contempt on all my pride. Forbid it Lord, that I should
boast Save in the death of Christ my God, All the vain things that
charm me most, I sacrifice them to His blood. See from his head, his hands,
his feet, Sorrow and love flow me go down. Did there such love and sorrow
meet? Or Thor's composo reach a crowd? Were the whole realm of nature
mine, That were a present far too small? Love so amazing, so
divine. Dim as my soul, my life, my all. See you tonight, God willing.