Good evening, let's all stand
together. We'll sing hymn number 268. 268. How firm a foundation He is slain for your faith in
his excellent word. What more can he say than to
you he hath said? To you, you for refuge, to Jesus
have fled. Fear not, I am with thee, O be
not dismayed. I am thy God, I will still give
thee aid. I'll strengthen thee, help thee,
and cause thee to stand. Upheld by my gracious, omnipotent
hand. When through the deep waters
I call thee to go, The rivers of hope shall not be overflow. For I will be with thee thy troubles
to bless and sanctify to you thee thy deepest distress. In through fiery trials thy pathway
shall I, by a grace all sufficient shall be thy supply. The flame shall not hurt Thee
I only desire Thy trust to consume And Thy gold to refine The soul that on Jesus hath leaned
for repose, I will not, I will not desert to his foes. Be seated we'll sing hymn number
299. 299. so Day by day and with each passing
moment, strength I find to meet my trials here. Trusting in my Father's wise
bestowment, I've no cause for worry or for fear. He whose heart is kind beyond
all measure, Gives unto each day what he deems best. Lovingly it's part of pain and
pleasure, Mingling tall with peace and rest. Every day the Lord Himself is
near me With a special mercy for each hour All my cares He
faintly would bear and cheer me He whose name is Counselor
and Power The protection of his child and treasure Is a charge
that on himself he lays As thy days, thy strength shall be in
measure in every tribulation. So to trust Thy promises, O Lord,
that I lose not faith's sweet consolation. ? Given me within thy holy word
? Help me, Lord, when to a trouble meeting ? E'er to take, as from
a father's hand ? One by one, the days, the moments fleeting
Good evening. Let's all turn to the book of
Psalms together. I'd like to read Psalm 111. Psalm
111. Praise ye the Lord. I will praise
the Lord with my whole heart in the assembly of the upright
and in the congregation. The works of the Lord are great.
sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. His work is
honorable and glorious, and his righteousness endureth forever. He hath made his wonderful works
to be remembered. The Lord is gracious and full
of compassion. He hath given meat unto them
that fear him. He will ever be mindful of his
covenant. He has showed his people the
power of his works that he may give them the heritage of the
heathen. The works of his hands are verity and judgment. All
his commandments are sure. They stand fast forever and ever
and are done in truth and uprightness. He sent redemption unto his people. He hath commanded His covenant
forever. Holy and reverend is His name. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. A good understanding have all
they that do His commandments. His praise endureth forever. Our kind and gracious and merciful
Heavenly Father, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our Father,
we bow before you and are bound always first to give you thanks.
Thank you for this word. Thank you for your precious promises
on which we fully rely. Thank you most of all for our
dear Savior, Our representative, our substitute, our intercessor,
the one who bled and died, paid the debt due our sin, gave us life eternal, established
a righteousness for us. Oh, how we desire to honor him,
to honor him with our lips, Honor Him in our hearts. Honor Him
in our lives. Honor Him in our walk. Honor
Him in our reading and our praying. Honor Him in our thoughts. Honor
Him now and for all eternity. We counted a privilege to be
here tonight of all the places we could be. We're so thankful
you've brought us to this place where your word is opened and
Christ is preached. We were caused to look to him. Because surely when our eyes
depart from him. We're left to despair. Hopelessness. helplessness, weakness, fear,
but in him we have peace, we have comfort, we have salvation,
we have confidence, we have rest, we have peace and righteousness
and a good standing before thy righteous judgment throne. Him
who is full of grace and truth and of his fullness have we all
gathered Thank you for him. And Lord, we would ask you to
remember our sick ones that's even nine to death. Lord, comfort
their bodies, give them some rest and relieve them of any pain. Most
of all, speak to their hearts. Give them comfort and peace and
assurance. And faith. To continue to continue
believing, holding and trusting and cleaving to the very end.
To their Savior. Special member Brother Joe in
this hour of need and member. James and others that are sick. We pray for our pastor tonight
as he stands and opens the word and sets forth the bread of life
and preaches and uplifts Christ. Help him, give him strength,
and help us to hear as hearers. Help us to be faithful hearers,
to be prayerful hearers, ready hearers. And we look for a word
from thee tonight, Lord, to lead us and guide us and instruct
us And may we leave this place rejoicing in all that we have in Christ,
in all that we are in Christ. Bless his holy name. And we ask
all these things in his dear name. Amen. Amen. Amen. M number 361. Sweet hour of prayer Sweet hour
of prayer That calls me from a world of care And bids me add
my father's throne, make all my wants and wishes known. If seasons of distress My soul has often found relief,
and often escaped the temptation. Sweet hour of prayer Sweet hour of prayer Sweet hour
of prayer Thy wings shall my petition bear, to Him whose truth
And faithfulness engage the waiting soul to bless. And since he bids me seek his
face, Believe His word and trust His grace. I'll cast on Him my
every care. And wait for thee, sweet hour
of prayer. Sweet hour of prayer. Sweet hour of prayer, may I thy
consolation share. Till from Mount Biscot's lofty
heights, I'm near my home and take my flight. This robe of flesh I'll drop
and rise. the everlasting prize, and shout
while passing through the air, farewell, farewell. Let's turn to Jeremiah chapter
6, if you will. And let me tell you a couple
things. I was planning on preaching Romans
Sunday night and Wednesday night, but I decided against that that
Folks couldn't hardly keep up. I don't think maybe they could
but I need some direction. I'm asking
the Lord direction on Sunday night I've got Galatians or John
on my mind, so I don't know which one I'll do and Also, let me
tell you this. I forgot to tell the men about
it the other night. I We had 4,200 downloads last month. That's a lot of downloads. A lot of people. And it kind
of shocked me. 25 countries. 25 countries it went into. 25
countries. A little old fellow here in Crossville,
Tennessee, You know, it just blows my poor little old weak
mind. It don't take much, but before that, the most we had,
33. So that was a blessing. I hope it's an encouragement
to you. But let me look here in verse 16, Jeremiah 6, 16. Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways and see. Stand and see. Stand in the ways
and see. And when you see, ask. Ask something. Ask for the old paths wherein
is the good way and walk therein and you shall find rest for your
souls. I want to talk about rest for
your souls. How do you find rest for your
souls? And one of the blessed and distinguishing marks of the
good way, as it says here, the good way and the old paths, is
that by walking in them, you find rest, you find rest for
your souls. So if you got rest for your souls,
you're walking in the old paths and the good way, the good way
and the old paths. This is how we can tell the false
from the real. We can judge which is the old
path and the good way if we find rest for our souls, if we find
rest for our souls. And he said, Ask for the old
paths. And you know why he says ask for the old paths? It's because
there's been many new ones, lots of new ways that people's come
up with, lots of new paths for folks to go down on. There's
been deceitful paths that people go down on. People go down a
deceitful way. Down a deceitful way. And then
there's those who go down a destructive way. Wide is the gate and broad
is the way that leadeth unto destruction. And there's destructing
ways that people go. And then there's delusive ones.
And oh, I tell you, I see so many people so deluded I tell
you, most churches now are just three-ring circuses. That's about
what goes on. Preachers are entertaining men
on the way to hell. And I tell you what, if one thing
we don't need to do is entertain people. If you want entertainment,
watch television. If you want entertainment, go
hear some music. If you want entertainment, go to a circus. But don't bring entertainment
into the place where the gospel is supposed to be preached. Don't
do that. And here's the thing, if you
have no rest for your souls, you know why? Because you've
not found the good way and the old path, the good old way. You know, our Lord Jesus Christ,
He says, Come unto me and I'll give you rest. And he that takes
my yoke upon you, he shall find rest. That's two rests there.
I'm going to give you a rest. And when He gives you that rest,
He said, you find rest. There s nothing like rest, rest
of heart, rest of soul, rest of mind, nothing like it, nothing
like it. And I tell you, the LAW couldn
t give us rest, the law couldn t give us rest. Moses, Moses,
you know, he didn t take the people into Canaan. Joshua, Jesus
our Savior, Jehoshua, Jehovah our Savior, He IS the one that
took them into the Promised Land. Moses, the LAW couldn t take
them there. Moses couldn t cross Jordan. Moses couldn t take,
the LAW can t take anybody ANYWHERE and give them any rest. Can t
do it. And the PRIEST under the LAW,
They had no power and no place to ever rest. They never had
a place to rest. They went from morning, they
offered a morning lamb, and all day long, they offered lambs
and offered goats and offered bullocks, and all day long, they
offered sacrifices. There was white garments that
the hat was bloody, and they never, ever, ever sat down. You know why they didn't sit
down? Why they couldn't have no rest? There was no place to
sit down in offering sacrifices. They had no rest and they had
to continually offer the same sacrifices over and over and
over and not one of those sacrifices gave rest to one soul. Not one. The priest didn't rest. The people
brought the sacrifices didn't rest. But oh, my rest, oh, rest
of soul has been enjoyed for God's people and is now being
enjoyed by His people. Rest, I tell you, rest is never
found apart from the gospel and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
You can't find it, you can't find it apart from the gospel
and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. You take all the types and all
the sacrifices under the law, so many types, so many times,
and all the sacrifice under the law never gave anybody rest on
a permanent basis. Oh, no! They had to be offered,
as I said, over and over again, and this is a lot of people think,
If I could just get enough wealth, I could finally rest. There s
a fella done that one time in the Bible, The scripture says,
you know, he said that he had gathered many goods. He had so
many goods, he tore down all of his barns and built bigger,
and he filled up all of his barns. And he sat down and said, now
soul, take thine ease. You've got many goods laid up
for many years. And he said, thy soul, this night
your souls require you. Oh, people think if I can just
get enough money, I'll have some rest. If my health will just
hold out, the wealth and health, and oh, if I can just be honored,
if I can be glorified, get my name somewhere where people don't
recognize it. Oh, there is no rest in any temple
thing on this earth. There really isn't, there really
isn't. But he said here, asking the old ways and seeing as for
the old paths in the good way. Let me give you a few things
about the good way where we find rest if we walk, and that's what
he said, walk, walk therein, the good way and walk therein.
Well, I do know this, that we walk by faith in this gospel
way, we walk by faith in it, and I tell you, you know what
the good way is that we walk in? The full, free atonement
that God give us rest through the atonement of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Oh my, it's full, it's free,
and an atonement gives rest to our conscience when our Lord
Jesus Christ died for us and gave us our rest. Now look with
me over here in Hebrews. I want you to look with me in
Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. Let me show
you what I'm talking about. You know, man's conscience, and
I, you know, Scott Richardson, the first time I heard him say
that, it's just a saying that you hear and they just get you
right then and there. And he said so many things that
nobody else ever said until he said them. And one of the things
he said, he said, a conscience, a screaming conscience, and your
conscience will always ask for rest, ask for something to satisfy
it. If you got a conscience and you
do something to override your conscience, your conscience will
never be satisfied if it's trying to find rest for itself in anything
else it does. But the only thing that will
satisfy a conscience is a perfect sacrifice. And when you get a
sacrifice that's perfect, that'll quieten your conscience and it
will never ever ask for anything else. Never ask for nothing.
When my conscience was, when I was trying to make peace with
God on my terms, and I was trying to work on my terms, trying to
be a legalist on my terms, trying to have my own rights on my terms,
I never ever had any rest in my conscience. But when Christ
became everything to me, and He became my atonement, and He
put away my sin, and it was full and it was free, then my conscience
never asked for anything else and ain't never asked for nothing
yet. But look what it says here in Hebrews 10. Look at verses
one through three with me. The law having a shadow, but
listen to this, of good things to come. But oh, there's some,
you know, it was just a shadow. Shadows got no substance to it,
but it was a shadow of good things to come. But it wasn't the very
image, it was still a shadow. of the things, the very image
of the things, can never, with those sacrifices which they offered
year by year, continually make the comers thereunto perfect."
Couldn t do it. See, couldn t make them perfect.
For if they could have made them perfect, they would have ceased
to be offered, because that the worshipers once purged should
have no more conscience of sins. If you had purged your conscience
by those sacrifices, you d have no more consciousness of sins.
But oh, listen to this, But in those sacrifices, there is a
remembrance again made of sins every year. And that's what's
so sad about Arminianism and free will doctrine. They keep
telling you that you got to live above sin. You got to quit your
sinning. You got to come up in some way
or another. You know, if Christ comes and
finds one sin in you, if you ain't got, if you got one sin,
then you're going to be lost. it says here that you know when
that's the thing about it when when you got when you ain't when
you ain't got nothing but your own self to satisfy and not God
Himself your own self then you'll never be satisfied and that's
why I said there's this remembrance now look down in verse 11 and
12 and every priest stands," you
notice he's standing, he ain't sitting, he's standing, "...daily
ministering, offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can
never take away sins." But now watch this, but this man, this
man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins FOREVER, sat
down. He sat down, why? Because he
didn't have nothing else to do. Everything was done, and that's
what he says. And sat down in the right hand
of God. And look in verse 14. For by
one offering, he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. And oh my, let me go down here
to verse 17. There's so much here. And he
says now, and their sin, this is what the Lord said now. and
their sins and iniquities will I remember no more." Well, God
said He wouldn t remember no more, and He said, Were their
sins and iniquities I will remember. Now, the payment, the remission
of these are you don t need another offering for sins if your sin
has been paid for, you don t need another offering. No, because
of that we've got boldness, confidence, liberty, and we come into the
holiest of all, how? By the blood, that atonement
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh my, so that's what I'm talking
about. Oh my, I tell you only the sacrifice of Christ is a
perfect and complete and that will satisfy the conscience.
It'll satisfy the conscience. And let me tell you another way
of the good way, not only a fool from walk therein, the way of
believing the word of God as a little child. Oh my, that'll
give you rest to your understanding. You know, it's, it's, it's, it
really, you know, you take, you think about believing everything
it's in. This is just, it's in black and
white, just black and white words on paper. Words on paper. But yet we say this is what God
said. Every bit of it's what God said. And we come as little children
and we find rest for our hearts and our minds and our understanding
because we said God said it and that's it. We don't have no more
questions to ask. We don't have no more questions
to ask. And oh my, to read the Bible, to be able to read God's
blessed book, and say, well, what is my rule? People always,
you know, when we read the Bible, the only rule we have is this
right here. Now, folks like to have rules.
They do. They'd like to be told how to
dress. They'd like to be told where they can go. They'd like
to be told how many things they have to do. They'd like to be
told how many services they have to go. They'd like to be told
how many Bible, how much Bible they're reading they're supposed
to do, how much prayer they're supposed to do, and how many
times a day they're supposed to do. People like rules. They
like structure. But the only people that you'll
ever find rest for is people who say, God said this. That's
what we just read. Thus saith the Lord. That s enough! That rests your poor old mind,
don t it? Not trying to figure out what God s saying, you just
read it. Just read it like I read this morning. They were astonished
beyond measure. I m astonished beyond measure
at the Word of God. Oh, my! To read and see the Bible
is my only rule. How am I supposed to live in
this world? Whatever God said, that s how you re supposed to
do it. That's what God said, huh? All of a sudden, you know,
and then there's some places that's hard to be understood.
I have that problem. There's a lot of places hard
for me to understand. You know, you go to Ezekiel and
you find them wheels within wheels within wheels, and you find them
on fire running down there through there. And you go through all
these Zechariah and Zephaniah and Habakkuk and all those books
and you try to say, what in the world is he talking about right
there? A lot of things hard to be understood. And here's the
thing about it, my father doesn't condemn me because I don't understand
it all. You know why? How can a little
child understand everything his father does? So if we can get about that much,
I'm satisfied with what little I know. I am very happy with
what little I know. I really am. Because you know,
when we get into eternity, here's the thing about it. God is so
great. God is so glorious. God is eternal. There never was a time He wasn't. and everything that he ever was,
he always is and always will be. He inhabits eternity, and he measures the waters and
the hollows of his hands and the nations as a drop of a bucket.
Now, when we get into eternity, God will still be eternal, and
we'll still be, and even though we got a new body, you'll NEVER
understand all there is to know about it. Well, it's impossible
to know how God is. I mean, when He's EVERYWHERE,
how you gonna find Him? When He knows EVERYTHING from
the beginning. He declared the end before He
ever started the beginning. And he knowed all of his children
by name before he ever created the world. He said, this is gonna
be his name. Oh, my. So if we can understand
just a little bit here, that's why I get so happy when I'm preaching,
because you know, you give me something. This is one of the
most wonderful things, and if anybody's been preaching, You
know, you get to preaching sometimes, and the Lord will open something
up to you that you didn't even know was there until you start
preaching. He just unlocks your mind while
you're doing it. Yeah, boy, that's really something for me! But oh, my, and I'll tell you
what's hard to understand, and when it is hard for understanding,
do you know what it is? It's good to try our faith. But
what's essential, what's essential for us to know is plain as the
nose on our face. Let me show you over here in
2 Peter. Look in 2 Peter 2. Let me show you something. I
hope I can show you something over here. 2 Peter 1, verse 16,
talking about the way, the good old way of believing the Word
of God and coming as a little child gives rest to our understanding. But look what he said here in
II Peter 1.16. Now he's talking about Christ
being on the mountain now. He said, This is the first thing
we've done. We have not followed cunningly devised fables, making
up fairy tales, fables, something with a moral story behind it. when we made known unto you the
power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ," and listen to
this, "...and were eyewitnesses of His majesty," now HE'S talking
about when they was on the Mount of Transfiguration, "...for He
received from God the Father honor and glory when there came
such a voice to him from the excellent glory. This is my beloved
son and whom I'm well pleased. And this voice, which came from
heaven, we heard when we were with him in the Holy Mount."
But now listen to this. He said, I was an eyewitness
to all this. I heard God speak. I was with
Christ and saw Moses and Elijah. But he says, we have a more sure
word of prophecy. I'd rather trust God's word than
going back to my experience. That's what he's saying. We have
a more sure word of prophecy, where unto you do well to take
heed as a light that shines in the dark places until the day
dawn and the star arise in your hearts. So, oh my, he said, oh,
I was there on that mountain. And I tell you, we ain't there,
but I'd rather have the word of God is what he's saying. I'd
rather have the word of God than that. And oh my, so we gotta
take the word And some people find rest and find things by
reading theology that they say and seek and say, an ordinary
person can't see it. You know, there's people say,
well, you know, we got some insight that you just can't understand.
Let me tell you this. You know, there's places where
they call people, like sitting out in the pew, they call them
lay people. So what that does is that means the preacher is
not, he's different from you lay people. You lay people ain't
supposed to know nothing. We're supposed to know everything. That's potpourri, that's potpourri,
potpourri, potpourri. Catholicism, that's what that
is. But what I'm trying to say is this, there's men that I know
of and people that I've met that they think they've got a little
bit of secret theology here that nobody else can get it. And if
you don't say your shibboleth exactly the way they say their
shibboleth, then they won't have no fellowship with you. Just
like here a few, not too far back, A bunch of people that
I knew, and one fellow I was getting ready, I done asked him
to come and preach. And I said, when you get time,
give me a holler and I want you to come preach for us. The next
thing I heard from this fellow was, he believed the earth was
flat. And then they made that to be
their gospel. And if you didn't believe the
earth was fat, you're the one there's something wrong with
you. And in there, fellows, it s got
this New Covenant theology. It s called New Covenant theology.
Well, what in the world is New Covenant theology? I don t know! I just know that theology is
the science of God, and I tell you what, and how do you understand
like I ve already told you, how do you understand God to be how
GREAT and GLORIOUS He is? Oh, and then some read it philosophically,
read the Bible philosophically. And they'll say, I can't make
out what they mean or can't make head nor tails out of it. And
they bring a cloud of smoke over it. You know, they can't, oh
my. But brothers and sisters, there's
no peace, no rest for a soul in making the scriptures fit
your system. You know, that's, the Bible don't
fit Calvinism and it don't fit Arminianism. The Bible comes,
it's a, It's something that only God can make you understand it. Some things seem to contradict
themselves, and then you go over here and scripture, interpret
scripture, and then you find out it all goes together. It's
just like a wonderful puzzle. You put the pieces together and
you say, I see it. I see it. I see it. I see it. Oh my. Let's just take it like
it is. My father said it. Well, I don't
need, my mind's gonna quit asking. I'm gonna quit worrying about
it. And then let me tell you this
one. Here's the third thing about it. The way of living by faith
daily, living by faith daily, trusting our lives with God. I mean all day, every day. daily,
you know, trusting God for our lives. You're talking about giving
rest for your mind, giving rest for your mind. And oh my, our
lives can't be divided up. Our lives can't be, I know some
of y'all gonna get up tomorrow and go to work. But your life,
your life with God, your relationship with God, and your living by
faith, you can't separate your life from my working life, my
daily life, you can't separate your life. Our lives are not
in separate parts, though we have to do different things,
but still yet, we have to trust God. We do trust God daily with
our lives. LORD, WHATEVER MY LIFE IS IN
YOUR HANDS, DOETH YOU WILL. DOETH YOU WILL. NOW LET ME, OH
MY, OUR WHOLE LIFE IS DEPENDENT ON GOD, LIVING BY FAITH, LEAVING
OUR AFFAIRS IN HIS HANDS. ABRAHAM DID. HE WENT OUT NOT
KNOWING WHERE GOD WAS where he was going. When God told him,
take Isaac up on the mountain, he took him up on the mountain.
And he said, I and the lad will come back. Enoch, he lived by
faith and gave his affairs into the hands of God. And Enoch was
not, he walked with God and he was not, for God took him. Daniel
gave his life to God every single day. And God called him as a
beloved man. Called him beloved. Paul did. Oh my. He said, I know whom I
believed. And now I'm persuaded he's able
to keep. And oh, our affection, set your
affection on things above, not on things of the earth. Set your
affections up there that when Christ, Christ shall appear,
shall we also appear with him in glory. When Christ, our light,
Christ our life. You know, I don t know how to,
that we was, my sweetheart and I, we were on our way home today
and there was this car in front of
me and I seen it. It says, No worries, God s got
everything covered. Now, I m not a worrying person,
but I have some care and some concern for people. And I know
that God's grace is sufficient, but you cannot be in love with
the Lord's people and be in love with Christ and not care about
the people that you know. You cannot not do it. When you
see you're the Lord's people in trouble, you see they're Lord's
people in burdens, you see people going down from being big healthy
people going down to just a little bit of nothing and just wither
and wither and wither away, you cannot not be concerned for it. I wouldn't say I call it worry,
but I would say that they own my mind an awful lot. When you,
huh? Does that mean that I don't give
my life to God daily? That's what we have to do, we
have to take everybody to the Lord. Everybody, oh my. Being a Christian,
being a believer is trusting God with a sick child. Being a believer and being a
Christian is trusting Christ, trusting God with a sick self. Oh, trusting God and seeking
His guidance for this world and everything that's in it. Oh Lord,
give me wisdom in what to say. Give me words to put in my mouth. Give me the ability to call on
You for what's necessary for Your people. And oh my, oh Lord,
when to do something, when not to do something. And oh Lord,
if we just give him our daily lives and I tell you our lives
governed by him, oh rest, rest, rest, peace and rest for our
souls. Oh, peace and rest for our souls.
Let me give you another one, that good way, that good old
path. The way of obedience to God's
commands gives rest to the soul. Now what do I mean by that? A
lot of men want to be their own master, but I want Christ to
be my master. That's the difference. You know,
I don't want to be my own master. Whatever my master says, that's
what I want to do. It's like Simon Peter, when the
Lord Jesus fixed Worship's feet, he said, no, no, no, no, no,
you're not going to do that, not my feet. He said, if I don't
worship, you've got no part in me. Oh Lord, start at my head.
who works me all over. He changed his tune real quick.
And that's what I'm talking about. But oh my, oh, to be under our
Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, He's a good master. He never
tells you something wrong. He never tells you to go any
place wrong. Never tells you to believe anything
wrong. Never tells you to do anything wrong or believe anything
wrong or act any way wrong. And oh, if God's your master,
Oh, we'll follow his word. We'll ask for his will, and then
we'll have peace of mind and heart. You know, the way of the
transgressor, that's who's hard. Look over in John with me in
chapter 14. John 14. John 14. Let's see where it's
at, John 14, verse 15. Look what
our master says here. Talking about keeping His commandments
now. Here's the first thing He said,
If you love Me, keep My commandments. If you love Me, that's the first
thing. Do you love Him? That's an easy answer for a believer. If you love Me, do what I tell
you. If you love Me, do what I tell
you. Look what He says over here in John 15, 10. If you keep My commandments,
and you know, if you keep My commandments, you shall abide
in love. Even I have kept My Father's
commandments and abide in His love. These things have I spoken
unto you, that your joy might remain in you, my joy, and yet
your joy might be, this is my commandment, and this is the
long and short of it, of everything Christ tells us to do, that you
love one another as I have loved you. Now that's easy. That's pretty good. Is that hard? Is that hard? And listen to this, greater love
hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. And listen to this, ye are my
friends if you do whatsoever I command you. Love and friends,
oh my. WILL NEVER EVER LOSE ANYTHING
BY TRUSTING GOD, EVEN TO OUR OWN HURT. GOD WILL KEEP US AND
GOD WILL PRESERVE US. HERE'S ANOTHER GOOD OLD WAY,
ANOTHER GOOD WAY TO WALK IN, THE WAY OF COMMUNION WITH CHRIST
OUR LORD, THAT GIVES REST TO OUR HEART. YOU KNOW MOSES, WHEN
HE WAS FIXED TO GO OUT, GOD SAID, HE TOLD GOD, HE SAID, LORD, HE
SAID, If you don't go up with us, I don't wanna go. He's getting
ready to go out over into the promised land, getting ready
to go. He said, Lord, I don't wanna go. Why don't you wanna
go? Unless you go. If you don't go,
I don't wanna go. That's why we're talking about
communion. And I tell you what, communion with Christ. You know,
the presence of the shepherd gives rest to the sheep. He makes
the sheep to lie down in green pastures. When the Beloved takes
us into His banqueting house, it's a time of love. We don't
have to wait till we get to heaven to commune with our Lord Jesus
Christ and have rest of heart. We rest in Him right now. Oh,
in Him, our salvation is complete. Our righteousness is His. His atonement for our sins is
fully made. We are beloved of the Father,
preserved by grace, supplied by His glorious providence. We
can carry our burdens to Him and leave them there. Being in
His service is so sweet. His yoke is easy. Peace is enjoyed. Oh, my soul indeed find rest
in him. In him we have rest from our
desires, rest from our fears, rest from our regrets. The gospel
accomplishes this for us. And last of all, last of all, the good way, the old path, the
way of salvation by grace, gives rest from our works. Salvation
by grace, the way of salvation by grace. If it's of works, it's
no longer grace. And if it's of grace, it's no
longer works. Can't be both. Oh my. I'll tell you what, if I grace
Oh, the way of salvation by grace, free grace, sovereign grace,
mighty grace, power grace, electing grace, enabling grace, justifying
grace, to be justified because of our own works would never
bring any peace or never bring any rest. And oh, if that's what
it is, when will I know I've done enough? If giving got to
have something to do with it, how will I know when I've given
enough? IF WITNESSING HAS TO HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH IT,
WHEN WILL I KNOW I'VE WITNESSED ENOUGH? AND HERE'S THE DIFFERENCE
IN GRACE AND WORKS. IF I DO ENOUGH IN QUANTITY TO
SATISFY SOME CHURCH OR SOME PREACHER SOMEWHERE, THE QUALITY, THE QUALITY
WOULD NOT BE WORTH ANYTHING. AND THAT'S WHAT COUNTS. IT HAS
TO BE PERFECT IN ORDER TO BE ACCEPTED. Oh, sincere obedience
not the same as perfect obedience. Works are not the same as it
shall be perfect to be accepted. So, oh, salvation by grace gives
rest from our works. Oh, he that seethes from his
works as God did from his. I read a story one time about
the Catholics have masses, they have a mass, and that s I've
got a whole thing in there about it. But what it is, they had
a cardinal died. Cardinal died. And you know,
that's a cardinal is just one step below being a pope. And I mean, you know, they wear
red robes and red funny-looking hats and fish hats, you know,
and it's an awful-looking regular robe. But anyway, they dress
like women and want to be called men. But oh my, this cardinal died. Name was Wiseman. And they all
had a big mass. Oh, they all got together and
had a big mass. And they prayed for the repose
of his soul. Prayed for the repose of his
soul. If you ain't got rest and repose
of soul before you leave this world, you ain't gonna have it
when you do. I'll tell you what, I get home and we got one of
them chairs, you push a button, and then it goes way back. I'm
gonna get home this evening and I'm gonna repose. I'm gonna take
clothes and I'm gonna repose. And that's what I do in Christ.
We repose in Him. We rest our souls in Him. Now
that's the good way. Everything I brought out tonight
has to do with Christ and His work and on our behalf. And I
tell you what, in everything about Him, everything about Him
gives us rest, don't it? Huh? Gives us rest. And you know
where we need rest at? Before Him. I got it. I got it. Oh, bless his holy name. Our father, thank you for meeting
with us this evening. Oh, Lord, what a blessed God
you are. What a blessed savior. What a
blessed master. What a blessed sacrifice you
offered. You put away sin once and for all. by the sacrifice
of yourself. And by that sacrifice, you have
perfected us, made us complete. Oh, Lord, and we want, oh, how
we just, Brad already prayed, Lord, we want to walk upright
before you, want to walk before you, love you with our hearts
and souls, and give us a greater love for you and a greater love
for one another. and help us to always pray for our brothers
and sisters, especially those in great need. Never let us forget
them. And Lord, you told us to love
one another, and you proved what love was. You laid down your
life for your friends, and you called us your friends. So Lord,
we bless you and praise you that you've done that for us. Oh,
blessed be your holy name. Oh, blessed be your holy name.
Blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed be
your holy name. Oh, Lord, blessed be your name.
Oh, you're such a good master. You're such a good master, such
a wonderful master. The yoke is so, so easy and I'm
thankful for it. Oh, how thankful I am. Bless
our dear brothers and sisters now for Christ's sake. Amen. Amen. Every moment and every way. Go ahead if you got it. Let me
see if I can find it here. What did I start on? Every moment of every day, every
scene and every way. I'm leaning on Jesus. He's the rock of my soul. I'm singing His praises. If I didn't have that, I'd have
messed us up bad. Well, you know, I was telling
the men back there in the study, I said, Paul Mahan, Somebody
told me the other day that he gets what is called PPS. And
I said, what was that? Pre-pulpit syndrome. You know,
that gives when you get stressed out before you preach. And then
he has PPS when he gets done. Post-pulpit syndrome. And I've got that right now. I love you. Good night. God bless
you. Excellent.