Good evening. Let's all stand
together. We'll sing hymn number 449. 449. To God be the glory, great things
He hath done. So loved He the world that He
gave us His own. Build in his life an atonement
for sin, And open the life-gate 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. O 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 vial. 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. O 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 transport ? 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. We'll sing hymn number
127. Hymn 127. Man of sorrows, what a name For
the Son of God who came Ruined sinners to reclaim Hallelujah,
what a Savior Bearing shame and scoffing rude, In my place condemned
he stood, Silled my pardon with his blood. Hallelujah! What a Savior! Guilty, vile, and helpless we,
spotless Lamb of God was He. Full atonement can it be? Hallelujah, what a Savior! Lifted up was He to die, It is
finished was his pride, Now in heaven exulting high. Hallelujah, what a Savior! When He comes, our glorious King,
All His ransomed home to bring, Then anew this song we'll sing,
Hallelujah! What a Savior! Good evening. If you would, let's
turn to Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians 1. Paul, an apostle
of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are
at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus, grace be to
you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ. according as he hath chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according
to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of
his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. in
whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins, according to the riches of his grace, wherein he hath
abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known
unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure,
which he hath purposed in himself. that in the dispensation of the
fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in
Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even
in him, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being
predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all
things after the counsel of his own will. that we should be to
the praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ, in whom ye
also trusted after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel
of your salvation, in whom also after that ye believed, ye were
sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest
of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession
under the praise of His glory. Wherefore, I also, after I heard
of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the saints,
cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in
my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father
of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation
in the knowledge of him. The eyes of your understanding
being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of his
calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance
is in the saints. and what is the exceeding greatness
of his power to usward who believe according to the working of his
mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him
from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly
places. Far above all principality and
power and might and dominion and every name that is named,
not only in this world but also in that which is to come. and
hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the
head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness
of him that filleth all in all. Let's pray. Our great and merciful father
in heaven, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our savior,
our redeemer, our intercessor, our very creator, we thank thee
for the day. We thank thee for thy many mercies.
We thank thee for thy grace and for the salvation of our souls
through the sacrifice of thy son. We ask thee that may all
things run well today in the preaching of the gospel. Give
brother Donnie liberty to bring the word. Give us hearts to receive
and ears to understand. We ask these things in Christ's
name, amen. Hymn number 258. 258. A wonderful Savior is Jesus my
Lord, A wonderful Savior to me. He hideth my soul in the left
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 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, thirsty lake. He guideth my 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 at last, and filled with His fullness divine. I sing in my rapture, such a redeemer as mine. He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock, that shadows a dry, thirsty land. He guideth my life in the depths
of this 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 He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty lake. He hideth my life in the dance
of His love, and covers me there with His hand. And covers me there with His
hand. If you will, turn your Bible
to Philemon. That's the one chapter right
before the book of Hebrews. Philemon, right before the book
of Hebrews. One little chapter, 25 verses. It's addressed to an individual.
To an individual. And I want to talk about forgiveness
this evening, so let me read down to verse 19. Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ,
and Timothy, our brother, and to Philemon, our dearly beloved
and fellow laborer, and to our beloved Apphia, that's his wife,
and to our Kippus, our fellow soldier, and to the church in
thy house, Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ. I thank my God making mention
of thee always in my prayers, hearing of thy love and faith
which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus Christ and toward all saints,
that the communication of thy faith may become official. In other words, you know, telling
your faith and preaching your faith and communicating what
God's done for you may become effectual by you acknowledging
of every good thing which is in you is in Christ Jesus. That's the way our faith becomes
effectual, acknowledging everything we have in Christ. Everything
we have, every good things in Christ. For we have great joy
and consolation in thy love, because thy bowels of the saints
are refreshed by thee. And that bowel means your heart,
it means your heart, your very soul, your inward being. Wherefore, though I might be
much bold in Christ to enjoin thee that which is convenient,
yet for love's sake I rather beseech thee, being such in one
as Paul the aged, and now am also a prisoner of Jesus Christ. I beseech thee for my son Onesimus,
whom I have begotten in my bonds, which in time past was to thee
unprofitable, but now profitable to thee. and to me, whom I have
sinned again, as thou therefore receive him that is in mine own
bowels, whom I would have retained with me, that in thy stead he
might have ministered unto me in the bonds of the gospel. But
without thy mind would I do nothing, that thy benefit should not be
as it were of necessity, but willingly. For perhaps he therefore
departed for a season, that thou should receive him forever. not
now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother, beloved, specially
to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the flesh and in
the Lord. If thou therefore count me therefore
a partner, receive him as myself. If he hath the wronged thee,
or o'erthee ought, put that on mine account. I, Paul, have written
it with mine own hand, I will repay it, howbeit I do not say
to thee how thou owest unto me even thine own self besides."
The situation here is this, there is a man named Onesimus, he was
a servant, a servant of Philemon, and he took off, he ran away.
And in those days you could execute a man for running away if he
was a servant. They called them slaves, bond
slaves, and he could run off and not ever come back, or he
could have been executed if they caught him. But in this little
verses I read tonight, it's very obvious about forgiveness. and
oh, blessed thing to have forgiveness, oh, to be forgiven. He read it
tonight in the office back there, James did, having forgiven you
all your trespasses. He read it tonight, having forgiveness
through the riches of His blood. Forgiveness, oh, forgiveness
is essential if we're to have a clean conscience. Forgiveness
is essential if our heart's conscience will be ever clear. WE NEED FORGIVENESS,
AND WE NEED TO EXTEND FORGIVENESS IN OUR EVERYDAY LIVES. IT'S ABSOLUTELY
NECESSARY THAT WE DO THAT. IN FACT, FORGIVENESS IS REQUIRED.
IT'S NOT AN OPTION. IT'S NOT AN OPTION. IN MARK CHAPTER
11, LOOK WHAT IT SAYS OVER HERE. MARK CHAPTER 11. YOU KNOW, FORGIVENESS
IS REQUIRED. IT'S NOT AN OPTION. You know, a lot of folks, you
know, say, I forgive you, but I'll never forget. Well, then
if you don't never forget, then you never forgive. With God, when He forgive us,
He don't remember our sins and iniquities anymore. But I tell you what, we can dredge
up. Oh, thanks, it's happened over the years. But oh, forgiveness
is, oh, we need forgiveness and extend forgiveness to others
in our everyday lives. Look what he said in verse 25.
Mark chapter 11, and when you stand praying, forgive if ye
have ought against any, that your heavenly Father also which
is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if you do
not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive
you your trespasses. It's absolutely, it's a requisite.
If God don't forgive and we don't forgive, we won't get forgiveness. And when a man's been forgiven
of his sins, forgiven of his sins by God Almighty, he doesn't
find it hard to forgive others. He don't find it hard at all
to forgive others. Paul told the Ephesians, he said,
Oh, be kind, tenderhearted one to another, forgiving one another,
and love one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath
forgiven you." For Christ's sake. What God did for us was for Christ's
sake. Surely we can do that for Christ's
sake. And I tell you, here in Philemon,
we have six, seven things, seven elements of Onesimus, a runaway
slave, and seven elements of forgiveness in this little few
verses that I read tonight. You know, there's elements that
things that has to take place before you have forgiveness.
And the first element is this, being unprofitable, you're guilty.
Look what he says there in verse 11 here in Philemon, which in
time past was to the unprofitable, unprofitable. He was guilty,
he was unprofitable. He had no profit whatsoever to
anybody, to his master, to God or nobody. And Onesimus was unprofitable
Philemon. He wasn't faithful. He ran away. He was a slave. He was a bond
slave. And I'll tell you what, that's
the first thing that a man's going to have to face before
he'll ever get forgiveness, and that is guilt. He's guilty. He's
guilty before God. He's guilty before the Scriptures.
And if God don't save him and God don't give him that, and
let me ask you something. What prophet? Now, he said he's
unprofitable. And he was guilty of being unprofitable. He ran away. And some people
say, and some of the commentaries say, that he stole some things
from his master. He ran away from his master.
And his master had a church in his house. Philemon had a church
there. He was head over a church there.
There was a group that met the church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He ran away from the gospel. He ran away from his master.
And I tell you, he was unprofitable, he wasn't faithful, he ran away.
And I tell you this, what prophet, if he was unprofitably his master,
what prophet is any man to God Almighty? What prophet do any
of us give to God? What prophet? What prophet is
any man to God? What does our lives contribute
to God's being? What profit is, you know, what
do our lives contribute to God's being? Look over in Job chapter
22. Look in Job chapter 22. You know, it's, oh my. You know, our Lord said, after
you've done all you're supposed to do, you're still unprofitable
servant. People say, well, God needs you.
No, God don't need anybody. He really doesn't. I mean God
existed before we did, and He'll exist after everybody's gone.
God will always be God, and we can't contribute anything to
His being. We don't make Him better, we
don't make Him worse. We don't make Him any different
than what He is, no matter what we think about Him, what we say
about Him, what we believe. It does not change God's being.
And look what He said here in Job 22 and verse 6. No, Job 21.1, I'm sorry, I can't
read my own writing here. 22.1, life as the Timonite answered
and said, can a man be profitable unto God? As he that is wise
may be profitable unto himself. Is it any pleasure to the Almighty
that thou art righteous? Or is it gain to him that thou
makest thy ways perfect? Will he reprove thee for fear
of thee? Will he enter into thee with
judgment? Is he afraid of you? And that's
what he said there, is God Almighty, what can we contribute? And the
scriptures tells us we're like sheep that's all gonna stray. And I tell you when it says none,
none good, no, not one, none righteous, no, not one, none
that understandeth, no, not one, none that seeketh God, none. And I tell you, Onesimus, you
know what his name really means? It means profitable. But Paul
said he's unprofitable to you. He's unprofitable to you. And
I tell you what, a man that's unprofitable, he understands
that we absolutely contribute nothing to God. God does it all.
We absolutely add nothing to God's being. And the second element
of forgiveness of sin, here is in verse nine, look what he says. Yet for love's sake, for love's
sake. Oh, he's sending Onesimus back,
for love's sake, for love's sake. There's no forgiveness without
God being love. There's no forgiveness for me,
you, or anybody else without God being love. We sang that
old song, you know, about God loves me, but we love him, but
oh, he loved us first. You know, there's several things
about God. God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at
all. God's holy, God's righteous. And oh my, God is love, He is
love. The scriptures tells us it don't
say He's a God of love, He is love. And James said, every good
and perfect gift cometh down from the Father of lights. comes
down for the Father, no variableness or shadow of it. And let me tell
you, love must be expressed. And that's what Paul said, he's
unprofitable to you. But oh, listen, listen, for love's
sake, receive him back, for love's sake, then love must be expressed. If there's love in a person's
heart, and there's love in your soul and love in your heart,
God's love had to be expressed. You say, well, but he only loved
who he would love. But God, love has to be expressed.
And God expressed His love in an explicit, an explicit and
glorious way. Who He expressed it to? He expressed it to sinners. Who
He expressed it to? Wretched people, oh, wretched
people, blind people, deaf people, dumb people. And oh, my love
must be expressed. And God expressed His love. And
if we have love, it must be expressed. Must be expressed. People say,
well, I find it hard to express my love. Listen. you got love,
it s not hard to express it. It really ain t. I mean, it ll
come out on you. Oh, and this aged apostle, look
what he said back here in verse 9. He said, For love s sake I
rather beseech thee, Paul the aged, the aged Paul. He said, I m an old man now,
I'm an old man now, I'm up in Rome, I'm in jail, I've got bonds,
I'm held in bondage. And the ace apostle calls on
love. He said, if you're gonna receive
a message, do it for love's sake. Love is the motive. And oh my,
love is the cause of receiving this runaway slave. And I tell
you, and receive him with complete forgiveness. And bless God's
holy name. His love was expressed towards
us, and because that love was expressed towards us, all our
sins are gone, forgiven. because of God's blessed love.
And then you see, here's another element of forgiveness. Not only
guilt, you gotta be guilty, but then there's love has to be shown.
And God is love. Oh, no forgiveness without love.
I beseech thee. Oh, for love's sake, I rather
beseech thee. And look at the second thing
about it. Third thing about it. Here in verse 18 and 19. Listen
to this. If he wronged you, if he hath
wronged you, and nor thee anything, put that on my account. Oh, put it on my account. Oh,
and he said, Paul said, listen, I've written it with my own hand.
I will repay it, whatever he owes you, I will repay it. I'll
pay it, whatever he owes you, I'll pay it. Oh my, put it on
my account. Someone has to pay the debt,
has to pay the debt. When God is wronged, When God
is wronged, and every man wrongs him, everybody's wronged him,
who's gonna pay the debt? Who's gonna pay the sin debt?
Who's gonna pay the debt that nobody could pay? We read it
this morning. What would a man give in exchange for his soul?
If he had everything he ever wanted, got all that he could
possibly possess, and he could never want anymore, could he
turn around and give that for his soul? Once that soul is lost,
what would man give in exchange for his soul? And that's what
he's talking about here. If he owes you anything, put
it on my account. And that's exactly what God did.
That's what Christ did. Lord, we owe you everything.
We've wronged you. Oh, how we've sinned against
you. How we've talked against you. How we rebelled against
you. How we had hard thoughts against
you. Our Lord Jesus says, if what they owe you, put it on
my account. Put it on my account. Put it on my account. Oh my,
who's gonna pay the debt? He is. He is. And oh my, that
Lord Jesus Christ, by Him, we're justified from all things. Isaiah,
I preached it this morning, Isaiah 53. The Lord bruised him. The Lord made his soul an offering
for sin. The Lord laid stripes upon him. The Lord made his soul an offering. The Lord laid on him. The Lord
wounded him. And what for? For our sins, for
our transgressions. And our Lord Jesus Christ had
our sin put on his account, and by his precious, precious blood,
and through his death, we have forgiveness. And here's the most
blessed thing about it. God justly, justly forgives us
of our sin, because Christ, somebody's already paid. Christ said, put
it on my account. Put it on my account. Who's gonna
stand up for these people that sin so? I will. I will, I will. Blessed is the man whose sins
is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputes not iniquity. Oh, our Lord Jesus Christ. He
said, Oh Lord, please. He was the shepherd, shepherds
responsible for the sheep. Then we have forgiveness and
justly so. Look over in first John. First
John at the end of Hebrews, you've got James, and you've got Peter,
and then you've got I John. Look over here in I John in chapter
2 and verse 12. Look what he says, Now write unto
you little children, because your sins are forgiven you for
his name's sake. forgiven for HIS namesake, for
Christ s namesake. Oh, Lord, thou is forgiveness
with thee, that thou mayest forgive. Not only forgiven, our sins forgiven,
but God said that He ll not remember our sins and iniquities against
us. But oh, my, it s so obvious there. If he hath wronged thee, or owed
thee Put that on my account. I will repent. And I tell you,
our Lord Jesus Christ, and this is the difference in what Christ
done for us and forgave us. He forgive us of all of our sin.
He's just asking him to receive him for what he done wrong as
running away slave. But I tell you, when Christ forgives
us and God forgives us, it's all our sin, past, present, and
future. When Christ died, ALL of our
sins were taken away, all of them. We sing that all, they're
all taken away, they're all taken away. And I tell you, they're all God.
And then look what He, then there's an intercession. We have love
and substitution, guilt, love, substitution. And look here at
intercession. He said here, He said in verse
10, I beseech thee for my son Onesimus,
whom I have begotten in my bonds. I beseech thee for my son. He
calls him his son now. He run over, you know, I beseech
thee for my son. You know, intercession, I beseech
you, I beg you, I plead with you for Onesimus. I plead with you. All of John
17, all of John's gospel chapter 17 is our Lord Jesus Christ interceding
for us. That whole chapter is Christ
taking our, praying for us before we ever existed. And the first
thing he said when he looked up into heaven, he looked up
into heaven and I tell you, he said, Father, you gave them to
me. You gave them to me. And everyone
you gave to me, I've kept them and lost none of them. And he
said, and I pray not for the world, I pray for them that you've
given me out of the world. I don't even ask you to take
them away from the evil one. I just ask you to keep them when
the evil one comes. He said, Father, they belong
to you. You gave them to me. And I tell
you what, I'm not gonna lose a one of them. And I want them
also to know this, that if you've loved me, I want them to know
that as you've loved me, you love them the same way. Oh, he
prayed for us. He even said, I pray for them
that shall believe on me through their word. Our Lord Jesus Christ,
everything that in John 17 was a prayer, was a prayer. And oh my, He didn't pray for
everybody in the world. No, no, He only prayed for those
that the Father gave Him. He only prayed for those who
had no abilities, who had no, our Lord Jesus Christ prayed
for us before we ever existed. And that's why Paul says, I beseech
thee, I beseech thee. our Savior praying for us. Look
here in Hebrews chapter 7, Hebrews chapter 7. Look what
it says here in verse 23, talking about the priesthood now. They
were truly many priests, lots of priests, lots of them, and
they wasn't allowed to continue by reason of death. You know,
if they got a blemish, they couldn't serve in the priesthood anymore.
But every priest died, every priest after a while died, died. But oh, look what says this,
but this man, because he continues ever, Never a time that he doesn't
exist. Hath an unchangeable priesthood.
He's not gonna die. He's not gonna pass his priesthood
on to anybody else. Father went down from father
to son, priesthood, priesthood, priesthood. But he said, he's
never gonna change the priesthood. And oh, listen now. Wherefore
he is able also to save them to the uttermost. Boy, I'm glad
it says that. that come unto God by him, listen
to it, seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them. We
got somebody in heaven right now, Steve read it tonight, that
there's gonna come a time he'll gather everything in heaven,
everything in earth, all together in one place, all together in
one place. But no matter what's going on
in your life, you may think, oh, I don't know how I'm going
to deal with this. This is dark days. This is tough days. I don't
know how I'm going to live with it. I don't know how I'm going
to deal with it. But I tell you exactly how you're going to deal
with it. Christ is going to take your name, take you before the
Father, and He's going to intercede for you and keep you. What do you think about Christ
praying for you? What would you think about if you was in this
building today and the Lord Jesus Christ in here and He prayed
for you? He prayed for you. How would you feel to hear His
voice praying for you? Well, I tell you one thing, we
may not hear His voice, but I tell you what, He's taken up our cause.
He's taken up our cause. And I tell you, I'm so thankful.
Paul said there in verse 17, He said, If thou count me therefore
a partner, receive him like you'd receive me. Receive me. Oh, receive
Onesimus for my sake, for love's sake. And look what he goes on
there in verse 9, Whom I have begotten in my bonds. When I tell you, Oh, Onesimus,
run away to Rome, And while he was running away to Rome, he
run across an apostle, and Paul preached to him, and Paul, he
was saved. God saved this man, Onesimus. And our Lord says, Father, forgive
them, receive them, keep them. He said, Peter, I prayed for
you that your faith fail not. not. And then here's the fifth
thing, look what it says about in verse 15, For perhaps he therefore
departed for a season, that thou shouldest receive him forever.
Oh, restore him. He departed for a season, listen
to this, that you must receive him forever. He left for one reason, God to
save him, God to save him. I remember a young man out of
Canada. He decided he's gonna go to Mexico
and be a missionary, him and his wife, and he had a little
bitty girl. And he learned Spanish, he gonna go down there and be
a missionary. And he come out of a Reformed Baptist church
up there in Canada, and he got down in Mexico. He's walking
around giving out tracts and trying to witness to people and
do all that and he run across Walter Groover and Cody Groover. He didn't know a clue, he didn't
have a clue about the gospel, didn't have a clue. He run across
these men and then he started going to service with these men
and you know what? God sent him all the way from
Canada to Mexico just to save him. And God saved that man down
there, saved his wife, And that's what happened here. He left his
master, good master. And he went away over here in
Rome. And what happened when he got over there? God saved
him. Now he departed for a season.
You lost him for a season. He was gone for a season. But
now when he comes back, you get to keep him forever. Oh my. You know, we have eternal
life. We've got eternal life. Not going
to get it, we've got it. And oh, Paul sent him back. and
the Holy Spirit brings us to this, like Paul sent him back
to Onesimus, I mean to Philemon, Christ, the Holy Spirit brings
us unto the Lord. And I tell you what, we was departed
for a season. We always blown to Christ. He
was always our master. But I tell you, we was out there
in the world and the Holy Spirit brought us back, brought us to
the Lord Jesus Christ, gave us eternal life, and He received
us forever. And I tell you, you reckon old
Nessimus, he wants to turn around and go back to Rome again? He
wants to run away again? He's come back. God done, he's
begotten again. He's been born again. He's been
restored. Oh, to receive him forever. You
want to run away again, be a fugitive again? Oh, no. I tell you, it's sad. It's so
sad to see folks leave the gospel, leave the gospel, but I don't
believe that old Nesimus would ever go away again. He said he
went away for a season, you get him back forever, you get him
back forever. And then for forgiveness he also
has to be free, has to be free, has to be free. Look what he
said in verse 8, Wherefore though I might be much bold in Christ
to enjoin thee that you do that which is convenient, you know,
that you do that, that you don't have to do. And he says, and
look what he said up in verse 14, But without thy mind I would
do nothing that thy benefit, that you, I would have kept Onesimus
for myself, but that I would do nothing that thy benefit,
that what you do, I would do nothing that your benefit should
not be because I forced you to do it, but you was willing to
do it. And oh my! by Laman, according to the law,
could have been executed. They could have got him and executed
him, crucified him, burned him, chopped his head off. Oh, nothing
about Onesimus was right. He ran away from his master,
and he says, You know, I m bold, I m bold in Christ to ask you,
ask you to do that which is convenient, which is right, which is really
what you ought to do. He left His Master, He was freely
forgiven, fully forgiven, and forgiven forever. And look what
else happened here. The last thing is this, a new
relationship. Look what it said in verse 17,
excuse me, in verse 16. You receive Him now, not now
as a servant, He s not a servant anymore, though He is a servant,
but you don t receive Him back as a servant. But above a servant,
a brother, a brother that you love, but He s especially loved
of me. But how much more to you both
in his flesh because he s born again, he s got the new nature,
he s been saved by the grace of God unto thee in the flesh
and in the Lord. So when he comes back to you,
you receive him in a much, much better relationship, no longer
a servant, he s a brother, one with you, of the same family,
one with the same family. Now look here in Hebrews 2.11.
You know, Christ was the firstborn among many brethren, but his
man left a slave, left as a bondservant, became a fugitive, crossed a
preacher's path, and came back a member of the family. A member of the family. Look
what it says here, our Lord said here in verse 11, talking about
Christ now, for both He that sanctified, Christ is the one
that does the sanctifying, and they who are sanctified, He said
they're one, they're one, for which cause? Because we're all
the same, Christ, He sanctified us, and He sanctified, and He
sanctified us, He was holy, and He made us holy. FOR WHICH CAUSE
HE'S NOT ASHAMED TO CALL US BRETHREN, BECAUSE WE'RE ONE. AND HE'S NOT
ONLY GOING TO DO THAT, BUT HE'S SAYING, I WILL DECLARE THY NAME
UNTO MY BRETHREN IN THE MIDST OF THE CHURCH, WILL I SING PRAISE
UNTO THEE. OH, SO MANY THINGS INVOLVED IN
RECEIVING FORGIVENESS. I KNOW I DIDN'T DO A VERY GOOD
JOB OF IT, BUT THERE'S A LOT INVOLVED. in us being forgiven. First thing is, you got guilt. If you don't have guilt, you
don't need forgiven of anything. And if it wasn't for love, we
certainly wouldn't be forgiven. Certainly wouldn't be forgiven. Our Father, in the blessed name
of Christ our Lord, we thank you for this day. Oh, you gave
us another day. another day together to worship
you, together with the people of God, together with the word
of God. And Lord, I thank you for your
dear people here. Lord, I thank you for every single
one of them. Lord, when we talk about the faithful, when they
write to the faithful in Christ Jesus, they write to a particular
type of people, faithful in Christ Jesus. Faithful to Christ. Faithful to His Word. Faithful
to His love. Faithful to one another. Faithful. Faithful in their heart and in
their very soul. And I thank you for them. God
bless them. God encourage them. I pray for
my brothers and sisters who just went through this time of losing
a dear, dear, dear man, husband. Dear friend, I pray for your
blessings to be upon them, that you would encourage them, that
you would continue to uphold them. Such wonderful, wonderful,
blessed memories. Please help us to consider them.
Meet the needs of every heart, every home represented here. And again, we pray for our children,
our grandchildren, husbands and wives, sons and daughters. Lord,
you're the only one that can cause them to have a need. And
Lord, you can cause them to be guilty. And then, Lord, you can
express your love toward them when they get guilty. We ask
these things in our Lord Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Good night. God bless you. We'll
see you Wednesday night, Lord willing.