Good evening. Let's all stand
together. We'll sing hymn number 39. Hymn number 39. Done this as a special a couple
different times. I think we sang it as a congregation
a couple times too, and we'll try to sing it as it's written,
but no promises. The third verse there towards
the end, the second half of the second to the last Yep, the battle
has been won. Jesus has died. God is satisfied. Oh, the wonders of his grace. This is my father's world And
to my listening ears All nature sings and round me rings the
music of the spears. This is my father's word, I respect
it. of rocks and trees, of skies
and seas, this and the wonders wrong. This is my father's world,
the birds, their carols light the lily white, declare
their Maker's praise. This is my Father's In the rustling grass I hear
him pass He speaks to me everywhere This is my father's world Oh,
let me ne'er forget that though the wrong seems all so strong,
God is the ruler yet. This is my father's word. Be seated, we'll sing hymn number
36. I'm pretty sure I've never led
this on guitar, but I'm gonna try it. I didn't work on an intro, so
we're just going to get right to it. Our helper He amid the flood
Of portal ills prevailing. For still our ancient foes doth
seek to work us woe. His craft and power are great,
armed, armed with cruelty. is not his ego. Did we in our own strength confide,
our striving would be losing. Were not The man of God's own choosing. Just ask who they may be. Christ Jesus, it is. ? Or sever off his name ? ? From
age to age the same ? ? And he must win the battle ? ? And though
this world with devils filled ? should threaten to undo us. We will not fear, for God hath
willed His truth to triumph through us. ? And hold on for him ? His rage
he can't endure ? For lo, his doom is sure ? One little word shall fail him Lord above all earthly powers,
no thanks to them but by you. The Spirit and the gifts are
ours. Through Him, through Him, thus
I live. Let goods and kindred go. This mortal life. God's truth, the finest thing,
His kingdom is forever. Good evening. If you would, let's
turn to the book of Psalm. We'll read Psalm 63 together. Psalm 63. Oh God, thou art my
God. Early will I seek thee. My soul
thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and
thirsty land where no water is, to see thy power and thy glory
so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. Because thy lovingkindness
is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. Thus will
I bless thee while I live. I will lift up my hands in thy
name. My soul shall be satisfied as
with mar and fatness, and my mouth shall praise thee with
joyful lips. When I remember thee upon my
bed and meditate on thee in the night watches, because thou hast
been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice. My soul followeth hard after
thee, thy right hand upholdeth me. But those that seek my soul
to destroy it shall go into the lower parts of the earth. They
shall fall by the sword. They shall be a portion for the
foxes. But the king shall rejoice in God. Everyone that sweareth
by him shall glory. But the mouth of them that speak
lies shall be stopped. Let's pray. Our most high mercy heavenly
Father, Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we come
under that throne in his name, Lord, through the work of the
cross that he shed his blood for our sins. We ask thee to
be with us this evening in the house of worship, that we may
not worship thee in vain, Lord. Send thy spirit, be with the
speaker tonight, Lord Brother Donnie C. Expounds the word and
glorify Christ. May he lift him up. We ask thee
to be with all the sick of the congregation. Be a comfort to
them, for this be thy will. We ask these things in Christ's
name, amen. Hymn number 326. More about Jesus would I know,
More of His grace to ever show, More of His saving, coldest sea,
More of His love who died for me. More, more about Jesus More,
more about Jesus More of His saving grace ? Who died for me ? ? More about
Jesus let me learn ? ? More of his holy will discern ? ? Spirit
of God my teacher be ? ? The things of Christ to me ?
? Oh, oh, about Jesus ? ? Oh, oh, about Jesus ? ? More of His
saving fullness see ? for me. Or about Jesus in His
Word, holding communion with my Lord, hearing His voice saying, Making each faithful slave mine. More, more about Jesus. More, more about Jesus. More of His Savior. For about Jesus all is well Riches
in glory all is all For of His kingdom sure increase of Jesus. Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter
5. And Lord willing, the next Sunday
night I'm going to start preaching out of Romans. And I'm going
to do it on Sunday night and Wednesday nights both until I
get through it. But I told the men back there, I said, I'm going
to tell you what I'm going to tell you, what I'm going to tell
you, and then I'm going to tell you what I told you. Then I'm
going to tell you You know, that's the way it goes. Tell them what
you're going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what
you told them. And that's why I'm going to do
the same thing tonight. I'm going to tell you what I'm going to tell you,
then I'm going to tell you, then I'm going to tell you what I told you.
Let's look here in Romans chapter five and deal with these first
six verses. Well, verse eight verses, really.
Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by
faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in the hope
of the glory of God. And not only rejoice in the hope
of the glory of God, but we glory in tribulations, in our troubles
also, knowing that our troubles, our tribulations, it works patience.
You wait on God. and patience as you wait on God,
and you go through these trials, you wait on God, and then just
patience will bring you experience. God brought you through it, and
this experience will give you a hope that you'll get through
the next one. And this hope that we have maketh
not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our
hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. For when we
were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the
ungodly. For scarcely or rarely would
a righteous man will one die, yet maybe even for a good man,
peradventure for a good man, some would even dare to die.
But God commendeth His love toward us, and that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us." I know this, that wherever, I
m going to talk about grace transforming us. Where the grace of God comes,
it brings salvation, and it also brings a transformation. Colossians
1 says this, Giving thanks unto the Father, who hath made us
meet, fit, and able to dwell in the light, saints light, in
the light of Christ. For he hath saved us, delivered
us, saved us from the power of darkness, and translated us and
put us into the Kingdom of His dear Son. So here you are in
darkness, here you are not fit, you re not able to dwell with
the saints in light, so God saves us out of that power of darkness,
puts us over here in the Kingdom of Light. So you re coming out
of darkness into light, you re coming from death to life. Now,
you tell me that won t transform you! Huh? That s a real transformation,
ain t it? And that s what I want to talk about tonight. It transforms,
the grace of God, when it comes, it transforms a person s character.
Their character is not the same. Their character is not the same.
It transforms all their relationships, and we have a lot of relationships
in this world, but it transforms a person s character, and you
have so many people illustrated in the Bible that do that. You
know, we have this meanness and cruelty about us without God,
without Christ, and then Christ changes our character, changes
us into people that s believers, and that we hope to be kind and
loving and gracious and help one another, but it transforms
our character, and it also, grace when it comes, it transforms
all of our relationships. Our relationships change, they
do, and the scriptures are plain, they re clear, the emphatic about
us being new creatures, new creatures. We re created in Christ Jesus,
and being in Christ Jesus we re created, new creatures, new
creations. And you know when a person s
brought into when God regenerates us, He brings into existence
a person that never was there before, You know, He brings into
existence a new man. You still got the old one, He
brings in a new one. A person that, this new man is
a new creation. God does this. He s the only
one that can do it. And I tell you, it talks not
only about that, but us being partakers of the divine nature. Oh, my! That we cease to be our
own, but we re bought with a price. We re bought with a price. We
re not our own anymore. We belong to Christ. And I want
to look at this statement here in verse 2, Romans 5, 2, and
I want to talk about this grace wherein we stand. He says, You
know, by whom we also through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom
also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand.
I want to talk about this grace wherein we stand, and look at
how this grace changes our relationships. the first relationship it changes
in us is our relationship with God Almighty, with God the Father. Look what it says there in verse
1. Here s the first thing it does, it changes our relationship
with God. When God brings grace, the first
thing it does changes our relationship. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God. Now, that s a new relationship!
we have peace with God. There was a time we didn t have
peace with God. There was a time we didn t know
anything about God. Look over, and you keep Romans
5, look in Colossians chapter 1. Look in Colossians chapter
1. You know, it s not always been that way. It
s not always been that way, and people think that they can make
their own peace with God. But in Colossians 1, verse 21,
look what it says. Well, we're no longer enemies
in our minds, and that's what the scripture says here in Colossians
1, 21, and you that were sometime alienated, alienated, and enemies
in your mind by wicked works. That's why we're enemies of God,
by wicked works. And yet now hath he reconciled
Oh my, no longer enemies in our mind. And here's the thing about
it, not only do we have peace with God, but God's at peace
with US! That's what I love, that God's
not mad, God's not angry. I'm THANKFUL that I have peace
with Him. I'm thankful that He's not angry at me. I'm thankful
that He's not mad at me. But I am more grateful that I
have peace with Him, but that He has peace with me. And He's
the one that MADE the peace. We didn't make peace. Oh, no,
Christ made peace through the blood of His cross. We ain't
won a war since World War II. We've been in three or four wars,
and we was in two at one time here in the last few years. We've
not won a war except World War II, and they brought unconditional
peace is what we demanded that they do. And I tell you what,
God Himself comes and we was His enemy, and what He did is
He comes and He took away that enmity and that enemy that we
had in our minds and done away with it and made peace with us.
How did He do it? Through the blood of His blessed
cross. I thank God I have peace with Him, but I'm more happy
that He has peace with me. It'd be awful. I remember when
I thought God was mad at me. I was all the time trying to
get on His good side. I tried to dress certain ways,
tried to pray certain so much, and you know, tried to give so
much, tried everything in the world to get God to be happy
with me. None of it worked. But when I
realized that Christ made peace, that I understood, believing
on Christ, being justified by faith, now I've got peace with
God, and God has peace with me. In fact, He's called the God
of peace. Oh, no longer under the wrath of God, no longer strangers
but sons. And I'll tell you, we didn't
make this peace, Christ did, our Lord Jesus Christ. So that's
our first relationship. Our relationship with God the
Father changes, it changes. Here's the second thing. Our
relationship, when grace comes, it changes our relationship with
the Lord Jesus Christ, too. It really changes us. Paul said,
I knew Christ after the flesh. He said, I did. One time I knew
Christ after the flesh. What does that mean? I knew him
with my flesh and him as a flesh. I only knew him by nature. I
know that he was Jesus. I know that he was a man. I know
that he lived, but I just knew him after my flesh. But he said,
oh my, when the grace of God come, I no longer knew him after
the flesh, I knew him by the Spirit. And that's how we come
to know the Lord Jesus Christ. Look what it says down here in
verse six. For when we were yet without
strength, where did we get our strength from? It is grace wherein
we stand. And look what it says in verse
eight. Well, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. Oh, look what man will do. Man,
you know, he'll go around here and he said, maybe just scarcely,
scarcely for a righteous man will one die. Yet maybe for a
good man, but there was no good man around. And yet maybe for
a good man was said, but God's not that way. He didn't see a
righteous man, He didn't see a good man. He saw His blessed
Son, and I tell you, His blessed Son, He's the one that come and
done something for us. Christ died for us. Look what
He says in verse 25 of Romans chapter 4. Christ was delivered
up for our offenses, for our sins, how fit to be was to God
raised for our justification. And oh my, now look with me over
here, and you know, our relationship with Christ our Lord changed.
Look with me down here in verse 12. I want you to see this. You
know, there's two men in the world that God deals with, Adam
and Christ. And he said, wherefore as by
one man sin entered into the world, that's how sin come, by
this one man and that one sin. And so death passed upon all
men for all have sinned. how in the world are we going
to get LIFE? And oh, look what it says down here in verse 19, For by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners. Now, listen to this now, So the
obedience of ONE, ONE man shall many, many be made righteous. and so our righteousness comes
by Him, everthough blustification. Look back here, if you will,
look with me in verse 9 and 10. Oh, listen, it changes our relationship
with our Lord Jesus Christ. I tell you what, His blood justifies
this. Look what it says in verse 9,
If God commendeth His love toward us, then why will yet sinners
Christ die for us, if He died for us? while we were yet sinners,
and God showed His love for us that way, much more than, if
you think that's something, much more than being now justified. How? By His blood. And then what
happens then? We're saved from wrath. How?
Through Him. And then look what He says, For
if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God, by the death
of His Son, if His death reconciled us and brought us to God and
took God's immaterial way and made peace between us and God,
if His death done that, much more, again, it says, being reconciled,
if He saved us by His death, how much more shall we live while
He's living? Because He lives. You see what that says? We shall
be saved by His life. If His death reconciled us, if
His death put away our sin, then how much more shall we live because
He lives? Oh my, we believe God's, I'll
tell you something, I'll tell you something, death reconciled
us to Him, His righteousness is given to us, and it's by Him,
it says there by Him, in verse two, by Him also we have access
into this grace. The only way we have record of
being in the grace of God is we believe the record of God
s grace concerning His Blessed Son. We are REJOICED to be in
Christ. It changed our relationship with
Christ. Here s the third thing it changes our relationship where
this grace comes, and grace wherein we stand. It changes our relationship
to the Holy Ghost too, to the Holy Spirit. Look what it says
there in verse 5. Now, I want you to know this
grace, that's what I'm talking about. Grace changes all these
relationships. Until grace came, we didn't have
a relationship with the Father. We thought we did. We didn't
have a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. We didn't
have a relationship with the Holy Spirit. There was no relationship
between us and the Holy Spirit. But look what He said here in
verse 5. Oh, it changed our relationship to Him, and He's a person. and
hope maitheth not ashamed." Here s the reason, because the love
of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which
is given unto us. You know, He is given unto us
and He comes into our hearts. You know, when our Lord was sent
back to heaven, He told His disciples, He said, Terry in Jerusalem,
until you be endued with power from on high. And you know what
happened when they got up on the day of Pentecost, started
preaching, the Holy Ghost come on them, and the Spirit of God
come on them, and they began to preach, and 3,000 souls got
saved that day. The Spirit of God come, and the
gospel, and the love of God, and the power of God come in
a miraculous way. And I tell you, He shed abroad,
the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. How? Somebody
else had to do it, and the Holy Spirit had to do it. And He was
given unto us, He was given unto us. Look over with me, keep this,
and look in John chapter 14, I believe it's what I want to
look at. John chapter 14. He was given unto us. You know,
the Holy Ghost that was shed abroad in our heart, which is
given unto us. The Holy Spirit's given to us.
Grace is given to us, He s the one given to us. Oh, what was
He given to us to do? Well, first, He s given to us
by promise. Secondly, He s given to us to teach us. Thirdly, He
s given to us to guide us. Fourthly, He s given to us to
comfort us. Fifthly, He has given to us to shed the love of God
abroad in our hearts, the love of God. How we see the love of
God? The Holy Spirit in us shows us
the love of Christ. But look what He said in John
14, I think it s, let me see, 16. It s our Lord speaking now. And I will pray the Father, and
He shall give you another Comforter. You see how that s capitalized?
That s talking about the Holy Spirit, a COMFORTER. You know, when Christ was with
them, HE was their comforter. He was their comforter. Christ
said, I m not going to leave you without comfort. I m not
going to leave you without SOMEONE to love you, care for you, and
SOMEONE to comfort your heart, comfort through your troubles,
comfort through your tears, be a comfort to you while you re
living in this world. And He goes on to say that He
may abide with you, how long? And listen to this, the Spirit
of truth, the Spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit can do nothing
but bring the truth. He is the Spirit of truth. And
the world cannot receive the Spirit of truth. You know why? Because it don't see Him. It
don't see Him. It don't see Him. And it can't
possibly know Him, the Holy Spirit. But you know Him. We know the
Holy Spirit. We recognize Him. HE'S THE ONE
THAT TAUGHT US ABOUT CHRIST, HE'S THE ONE THAT SHOWED US THE
THINGS OF CHRIST, AND LOOK WHAT HE SAYS, FOR HE DWELLETH IN YOU,
AND SHALL BE IN YOU, AND I WILL NOT LEAVE IT YOU COMFORTLESS,
I WILL COME TO YOU. NOW, HOW DID HE COME TO US? HE
COMES BY THE HOLY GHOST IN US, AND LOOK WHAT ELSE HE GOES ON
TO SAY, YET A LITTLE WHILE, AND THE WORLD SEETH ME NO MORE, BUT
YOU'RE GOING TO SEE ME, HOW ARE WE GOING TO SEE YOU, BECAUSE
I LIVE ye also shall live." How are we going to see Him? The
way we see Him right now, by the Holy Spirit. Huh? By the
Holy Spirit. He's the one who witnesses to
us being saved. The Spirit Himself bears witness
with our spirit that we're what? The children of God. I've heard
different people say, and I've heard preachers say, and I say
it myself. When I'm sitting here and somebody preach, dealing
with the Word of God, preaching the gospel, preaching with Christ,
blesses me more than anything that I can enjoy in this world.
When I sit and listen to somebody else do it, I get more assurance,
I get more comfort, and I get evidence that I truly belong
to Christ, that I really am one of God's children. You know,
He bears witness that we're the sons of God. WE WOULDN'T KNOW
WE'RE SONS IF THE HOLY GHOST DIDN'T LET US KNOW! WE WOULDN'T
KNOW CHRIST IF THE HOLY GHOST DIDN'T LET US KNOW! WE WOULD
NEVER UNDERSTAND WHAT SIN IS IF IT HAD NOT BEEN THE HOLY GHOST!
And oh my, He's the one to witness us being the Son of God! You
know, God's eternal! Oh my God, He brought to us and
comforts us, Christ's love for us! God's eternal love shed abroad
in our heart, His electing love shed abroad in our hearts! Oh,
he done it. So we have a relationship, new
relationship with the Holy Spirit. A fellow asked me the other day,
he said, what do you think about speaking in tongues? I said, well, I don't think it's
scriptural. I don't think it's scriptural.
He said, so this stuff that people call speaking in tongues is not
real? And I said, no, it can't possibly be. What happened was
when the apostles, this is what the Holy Ghost does, when the
apostles was preaching, God gave them the ability, if they went
to France and they was from Jews and they spoke Hebrew, if they
went into Spain or France or anywhere else, God would bless
them to speak in French and everybody would understand what they had
to say. Wherever they went, they could preach in those people's
language. God, that's what language, that's what it meant. They was
not an unknown tongue, and then when you talk about an unknown
tongue, that means it's unknown to the person listening. Now,
if I go to Mexico and I get up and preach like I'm preaching
now, they won't understand one word I'm saying. Why? Until somebody interprets it
for me. Somebody's got to interpret it. And if I go somewhere and
I sit down and somebody's preaching, somebody's got to interpret for
me so I can understand what they're saying. But that's what the Holy
Ghost does for us. He takes the things of Christ
and He interprets them for us. He brings them to us. And when
the love of God's in our hearts, where do you think that come
from? That's not natural to us. It didn't come to us. How'd it
do it? God in Christ comes and dwells
in us by the Holy Ghost and the love of God shed abroad. Oh,
shed abroad to who? Everybody I'm preaching to tonight.
My heart reaches out to all of you. And your heart reaches from
inside you to me. You reach out to me in your love. I think I've said enough about
that. Now let's talk about law, a new
relationship to law. New relationship to law. Look
down here in Romans 5 in verse 20. Verse 20. Let me tell you something about
the Law. When He talks about the Law, He s talking about not
just the Covenant Commandments, but all the rituals and all the
blessings. You know, in Deuteronomy 30 it
talks about all the blessings that God will give you if you
obey the Law, and if you don t, Deuteronomy 31 says all the
CURSES that will be brought on you if you don t keep this Law
over here. Keep ALL of it! Well, I tell
you what, Look what he says, and verse 20, Moreover the law
entered, that the offense might abound. Now every one of us at
one time or another have tried to live under law. Every one
of us at one time or another have been a legalist. We actually
thought that we could quit sin, that we could live without sin,
that we could overcome sin. And here's the thing about it,
If you bring law to somebody, there's two things happen. They'll
get mad at you, and you'll get mad at them. And that's the way,
when God brought the law, He said, it works anger. When God
brings the law, Paul said, I had not known sin. I didn't have
a clue what sin was until the law said. What did it say? You shall not covet. Paul said,
well then SIN, I was all of a sudden I was aware of SIN, never had
been aware of it before, didn't know what it was until the law
come. And the law, let me, and I've
used this so many illustrations so many times, you married folks When you get to the house tonight,
you lay down the law to your wife and tell her what you want
her to do, and if she don?t do all of it, you?re in trouble.
Now, see how long that goes. You know what?ll happen? She?ll
get mad at you and you?ll get mad at her when she don?t obey
you, you?ll get mad at her and she?ll get mad at you, and that?s
all the law can do is make you mad! And the law makes you mad
and makes you angry with God and makes God angry with you!
The law comes to show us by the law is the knowledge of sin.
These people that try to be law keepers, you know, I've met several
of them. There's been folks here before
that come, and they told me about living under the law. Called
me an antinomian, but listen, I'm telling you, I'm telling
you, if you bring one law, one law, one rule to bear on Lord's
people, just one, just one, I guarantee you, they'll fail before the
day's out. All it'll do, and that's why
the law come. You know when we became sinners?
When the law came. You know, if a fellow decides,
say, well, I'm going to live right, I'm going to start living
right, and I'm going to start doing good, and I'm going to
start today, and I'm not going to never sin again. You let somebody
do that. If they can do it, let them do it. But here's the problem.
What are you going to do with everything that happened in your
life up to that time you started? That's got to be dealt with.
Well, how do you know you're a sinner? God said you are. and the law said that you are. And if you break one, offend
in one point, that s what people say. Well, I haven t committed
that, that s what the Pharisee says, I have not, their whole
life is about negatives. I have not done this, and I have
not done that, and I have not done another thing. That s all
it was about, what I didn t do. But what about what Christ did?
It don't matter what WE didn't do, it's what Christ did! Because
the BEST we ever DIDN'T do, our righteousness, is a filthy rag,
and Christ is the only one that can do something about it. So
the law come, moreover the law entered, that our sin may UTTERLY
ABOUND. Abound. And oh, but look what
He says next. But where sin abounded. Oh, where
sin abounded. Oh, it abounded in me. Oh, how
much it abounded in me, but where sin abounded. Grace, grace come. It abounded so much more. Oh,
that law says you're guilty, but grace comes along and says,
no, you ain't. I deal with that. Grace comes along and says, listen,
I dealt with that sin. Grace comes along and says, listen,
I put your sin away. That's what this grace, that
changes our relationship. It, you know, condemned and guilty. And here's the thing about it.
A person may not feel guilty and may not feel condemned, but
that does not negate the fact that they're guilty and they're
condemned. Now, how do we get out from under that condemnation?
Only through Christ. Oh my, we're not under His curse. Sin finds its strength in the
law. Just lay down the law and you'll find out how strong sin
is. And oh my, you'll see what I
mean. You know, I'll give you another illustration about the
law. You know, when people get married and then they get in
a fight and then they start fighting and then they end up in divorce,
you know why it is? Because of law. One of them won't
live like the other wants them to. And so they go to the law
And that law is the only thing they've got to save them, and
that law, and I'm talking about the natural law out here in the
world, but it's because they can't live together, and you
know where there's grace, you can live together. If you're
under the law, you ain't gonna make it very long. You ain't
gonna do it. And we're not under it as a curse.
Oh my, very few people can bear someone having authority over
them. And I tell you, when our hatred and resistance and struggle
and murmuring is proof of sin, proof of sin. And oh, look, I
tell you, when I talk about the law, look what it says over here
in Romans 6.14. I want you to see this. We are not under law. Thank God
we are not under law. Oh my! I heard a fellow preaching
one time. I know I've told you this, I'm
sure I have. He was preaching about our two
righteousness. We have a righteousness of our
own, and then Christ has a righteousness. And so you've got to walk this
tightrope, you know, because if you go too much to the righteousness
of Christ, you'll become an antinomian. You'll be without law. And if
you go too far this way, you'll become self-righteous. You reckon
that'd work? Oh, my goodness! But we're not
under law, but under grace. Look what it says here in verse
14. You know, here's the thing about it. When you try to be
saved by law, that's why when we were legalists and fundamentalists,
All we could do was just, we just went around feeling awful
all the time because we couldn't live the way we wanted to. We
just felt miserable all the time. I know some of you know exactly
what I m talking about. You ve been there. You know,
you had to dress a certain way. I was telling Shirley on the
way over, I said, You couldn t go to ballgames, you know,
you couldn t go to a picture show, and women had to dress
a certain way, and women couldn t wear breeches, you know, and
we d go to the law to prove it! And all that rigamarole. ask
a fellow one time years ago back in fundamentalism, so strong,
he asked a preacher, he said, Do you all have mixed bathing?
He said, What do you mean by that? He said, Well, do you bathe
they have mixed bathing. I said, what are you talking
about? He said, I'm talking about swimming. Do you men and women swim together?
You know, cause he thought that'd be the awfulest, sinful thing
in the world. He said, no, no, women get to prove themselves. And that's what, now that there
is law. That's putting a burden on people
that nobody can bear. You know, and when you put a
burden on somebody and say you can't go here, you can't go there,
You can't do this, and you can't do that, and you can't play cards,
and you can't go to a ball game, and you can't whoop, and you
can't holler, and you can't wear pants, and you can't, oh, listen,
oh, you fellas wear all that makeup, and listen, it was AWFUL! And you know what it did? It
just made sin that much stronger. We could NOT, could NOT get out
from under. But look what happens here now.
Verse 14, for sin shall not have dominion over you. It ain't gonna come and put a
heavy hand on you. Why? Because you're not under
law. Why are you then? Under grace? Oh, well, since we're under grace,
this is what they say. Well, this is what people accuse
us of. What then? Shall we sin? because we re not
under the law, under grace. Oh, God forbid! You know, I tell
you what grace does for us. We re not under the law as a
covenant, as a curse, and under its condemnation. We re under
the reign of grace, Grace gives us LIFE! Grace gives us LIBERTY! Grace gives us LOVE! Oh, my! Oh, the RAIN now should ascend
and reign over us! Christ in grace reigns and abounds
through us and in us! Oh, my! Now we're FREE! not to
sin, free to worship God, free to call on God, free to come
in here and worship, free to come in here. We got liberty
and we re gonna stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ
has made us free. Oh my, grace wherein we stand
changes our relationship to the power of sin. Sin ain t gonna
have dominion over you. His blood cleanses us from guilt
where the guilt is gone, the shame is gone, and if there ain't
no guilt, then there's no sin. And I tell you what, it's been
a lot, and I don't mean to, I hope you understand what I'm saying.
I don't know the last time that I felt guilty over anything I've
done. You know why? Because guilt is gone. If there
ain't no sin, there ain't no guilt. And when you really truly
understand that there ain't no sin, then there can't be any
guilt. The only reason you'd ever be
guilty of something and feel guilt is if you don't truly understand
what Christ did for you when He put away all your sin. You
say, but you do sin, don't you? I do! I do! I've sinned enough while I'm
preaching tonight to damn me forever if it wasn't for Christ!
Huh? But I'm telling you, here's what
I'm telling you, if Christ put your sin away, then the guilt's
gone. So the only reason guilt would
come back is because you feel like you've done something wrong,
and then you've got to go back and have that guilt taken care
of again. The guilt's been taken care of. Well, I'll tell you what, well,
let me give you another one. chapter one in verse four. Let's
look over here and I'll wind this up. I don't know how long
I've been preaching. But oh my, we're not under law but under
grace. That's the first thing people accuse people who really,
really, really, really believe grace and live by grace and save
by grace. One of the first things they
accuse you of, well, you believe you can just live any way you
want to. You can just lie, steal, cheat,
do all those kind of things. But oh, no. No, I said it changed
our character. We're made new creatures. We're
not what we was. We're not what we're gonna be,
but bless God, we're a lot different than what we were when we was
lost. And I'm so thankful to that. Ain't you? I'm thankful
that I don't hate God anymore and God don't hate me. I'm thankful
that I'm not mad at God and God's not mad at me. I'm thankful that
all the sin I've committed in my life and all the sin I commit
for I live this world has all been taken care of by Christ.
when he died 2,000 years ago, he put away all my sin till the
day I enter glory. Am I going to sin? Yes, I am.
Am I going to say, Lord, have mercy on me? Lord, I'm sorry. Yes, I am. But the guilt don't
come with it. You know why? Because I understand
what Christ has done. If we really believe that, I
mean, I don't know how else to say it. I don't. And then look
what He said here in Galatians 1.4. Verse 3, Grace be to you and
peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, now
listen to this, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might save
us, deliver us from this present evil world. What's this present
evil world? Where we're at right now. Right now, where are we at right
now? Oh my, listen. Save us from this present evil
world. How did He do it and why did
He do it? According to the will of God our Father. Paul said
we once walked according to the course of this world. Oh my. We walked in this world, we loved
this world, we delighted in the world. But now it's a burden
to us, but we've been chosen OUT of the world. We've been
called OUT of the world. We've been redeemed OUT of the
world. We're IN the world, but we're not OF the world. Oh, we
don't think like they do. We don't act like they do. We
don't want the same things that they do. I don't want the things
the world wants. The world wants RECOGNITION.
The world wants POWER. The world wants wealth. The world
wants wisdom. The world wants to have everything,
everything all at once. And they'll do whatever it's,
they'll climb over one another's back to get what they want. And we're not like that. No, no, no, no, we're not like
that. No, no, we're not of the world.
You know what's in this world? Everything but God and Christ.
The world lives without thinking of God, thinking of Christ, thinking
of sin. All they think about is one old
preacher said, Get all you can, can all you get, and then sit
on the can. And that's the way the world
is. God save us from it. I've got family, that's all they
think about. crossing their fingers and having good luck. Oh my. Well then, I've got to hurry. And now I want you to look back
over here in Romans 5, 7 if I think, I think it's where I wanted to
go. Yeah, back over in Romans chapter 5 and verse 7. Let's
see if that's right. Romans 5 and verse 7. You know,
in our relationship to good works, our relationship to good works,
there was a time that we wanted to have good works. Look what
it says here in verse 7, For scarcely for a righteous man
would one die. If a man was righteous, why would
anybody want to die for him? Yet, and that word perventure
means maybe, perhaps. For a good man, some would even
dare to die. But oh, no, that s not the way
God deals with us, and that s not the way He deals with all. You
see, we weren t good men, we weren t righteous men, but until
grace came, we trusted in our good works for salvation. We
trusted in our good works for blessings. When grace came, it
showed us our best were just filthy rags. All of our righteousness
was nothing but filthy rags. And oh, that's all it was. We
wanted to be blessed. Get up, oh my goodness, if I
get up and pray, God will give me a great blessing today. People
say that all the time. They say, boy, if you'll do such
and such, God will give you a great blessing. Oh my. Let me tell you something. I've
said it so many times. We've never, ever earned a blessing
in our life. All spiritual blessings are in
heavenly places in Christ. If we got any blessings, it comes
through Christ. Now we understand, by grace,
not saved good works, good works merit does not enter into them,
but yet at the same time, we're not saved without them. But here's
the difference between us and people that trust in works. There's
not a soul in here that believes they've ever done a good work.
Anybody in here want to stand up and say, Boy, I've done a
good work today. I've done a good work last week. Huh? No. No, you wouldn't do that.
But oh, because we have been saved. We walk preordained to
walk in good works, what God said. And then let me give you
another one. Romans 5. Look down here in verse
three through five. Let me show you. Oh my, we have
different relationships. Grace brought different relationships
to our trials and our afflictions. He said, and not only do we rejoice
in the hope of the glory of God, do we glory in tribulations,
in our troubles, in our troubles. Knowing that tribulation, it'll
work patience. You got to wait on God. Have
to wait, I say, on the Lord. And patience, experience, and
this word patience, it doesn t mean just sit around and wait,
it means you go on LIVING, you re going through these things,
and you go on LIVING, and you wait on God to come and bring
the LIGHT, to bring the COMFORT, to bring the STRENGTH, and we
experience that getting through that trouble, and that gives
us HOPE, and we ll go through another, and we ll get more EXPERIENCE.
And oh my, When we were unconverted at our trials, we considered
our enemies, but now they're our good, they're our good, more
than conquerors, more than conquerors through Christ who loved us.
Oh my, you know, there's people in this congregation right now
going through great trials, great trials. They got bodily problems in their
body. And their burdens, their trials. My mother-in-law, before she
died for several years, she said, I get so TIRED of being sick! I?m so WEARY of being sick! I?m so TIRED of being sick! And
people get TIRED of feeling bad! They get TIRED of being weary!
They get TIRED of troubles! They get tired of having to deal
with something all the time. But God, He says, we glory in
that because that works for us a more exceeding eternal weight
of glory. They're just light afflictions
compared to what Christ went through. They're nothing compared
to what our Lord went through. And look what it says in Romans
8, 18. Let me show you this, and I'm gonna wind this thing
up. I hope I'm not wearing, yeah. Oh my, look what it says here
in Romans 8, 18. This verse of scripture right here has been
a blessing to me, not only me, but I know it s been a blessing
to many people. I reckon, Romans 8, 18, For I
reckon that the sufferings of this present time, whatever you
re going through right this minute, this present time, is not worthy
to be compared with the glory which Christ is gonna be revealed
in us. Huh? That's the end of this world,
that's what he's saying. The sufferings of this present
time, don't even compare them. Don't even compare them. Oh my,
well, I'm gonna give you two and I'm gonna do it within three
or four minutes if I can. Look in 1 Corinthians 15, 55. You know, we have a different
relationship with death, such a different relationship
with death. Look what it says here in Romans,
excuse me, 1 Corinthians 15, 55. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin, so we ain't got sin, so it can't
sting us. It's like catching a bee and taking the sting out
of it. Let it crawl all over your arm, it can't sting you
anymore, and that's the way death is. Christ took the stinger out of
death. And then look what He goes on
to say now. The strength of sin is the law.
Well, we're not under law, but under grace. But all thanks be
to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. You know, before grace came,
death was called the grim, grim reaper. And do you know what
he is now? He's a conquered foe. He's a
friend that's going to come and take our last breath, and we're
going to be carried away from him. Oh, death, you ain't going
to bother me. Oh, grave, I got victory over
you. How? Through our Lord Jesus Christ. He's not a grim reaper. He's
a friend. That's why we rejoice. Boy, I'm wound up, I reckon.
I can't help myself. Tonight, I don't know what's
going on, but I don't want to shut up. Most of the time I'm
saying I'm preaching too long, but you know, When Scott reaches,
the Lord calls Scott home. Henry Mahan prayed every day
for him and Scott Richardson, Lord, take us home, take us home. Let us go to sleep tonight and
wake up with you. Every day he prayed that for
you. Well, Scott got to go home before he did. But I remember
going up to see Scott, just a few days right before the Lord took
him home. But when I walked up and looked at his casket, and
I walked up to his casket, and three of his boys were standing
there. And I went to laughing, I went to rejoicing. I went,
I got happy. They said, I said, you fellas
understand what I'm doing, don't you? He said, I'm so happy for
him. Thank God. Bless the Lord. He ain't got
this world. When he died, he had a colostomy
on his side he had had for years. He had a catheter on his leg. He was a sick man. And the Lord took him home. I
walked up there and I just started rejoicing. I told his son, I
said, do you all understand what I'm doing? He said, I understand
completely. Because it's a rejoicing thing. It's a rejoicing thing. And I
said, you know, we put Bill in the ground. I patted that casket
and said, I'll see you real, real soon, my dear brother. I'll
see you soon. Death don't bother us. Death
don't scare us. And when it comes settin' on
our trail, God helpin' us, we'll face it by the grace of God like
I've seen so many before. And I'll tell you somethin' else,
and I was tellin' my dear wife this other day, I said, you know,
when we go through troubles in this congregation, that's one
thing that I'm so thankful for, when we got somebody and our
family's dyin', This church is always rounded around, and they
come, and they bring food, and they come and visit, and they
pray for you, and they care for you, and they ask if you need
anything, and how would you make it if it was nobody but you and
the one person you died if you didn't have believers coming
up and comforting you, praying for you, visiting with you, talking
with you, bringing food for your sick husband or wife. What causes that? Craze. Love. Huh? Oh, my. Oh, he's our friend now. And he gonna come and usher us
into the very presence of our glorious God one of these days. Marvin Starnaker put a song in
his bulletin two weeks ago. And don't weep for me at my grave.
Did you see it? We're going to have to get that
out and sing it. Don't weep for me in my grave. Don't cry over my
grave. Oh, my goodness. Well, last one
is we have a different relationship because of the grace wherein
we stand to judgment. Judgment's not coming after us.
We've already been judged. There's therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. Huh? The hour is coming, and
now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God,
and they that hear shall not come into condemnation, but into
everlasting life. Oh, my, no wonder we sang that
old song, Grace is a Charming Sound. Oh, well, I hope I didn't worry
you out, but I've got to stop. If I don't stop, I'll just keep
talking. I'm like one of them fellas,
you know, them toys you used to get as a kid. They'd wind
them up in the back, turn them loose. Somebody's winding me
up tonight. I don't want to quit. That's
awful. But it's rare for me to preach
that long. I hope it is, anyway. But I've
been. You all make it easy. You make
it easy on me. You really, really do. Thank
you. Oh, our Father, in the blessed
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, oh, how you've blessed us today.
Oh, how you gave us your spirit and power. How kind, how tender,
how loving you've been with us. As a father, as a father loves
his children, takes care of his children, you've took care of
us so well today. You take care of us so well every
day, and I thank you for it. Thank you for the attention the
dear saints paid tonight. Pray for your blessings upon
their homes, upon their hearts, upon their bodies. And Lord,
meet the needs. Oh God, they so many have needs.
Please, please, please, oh God, for Christ's sake, meet their
needs. Forgive us, oh Lord, of everything that's so unlike you.
Bring glory to yourself through us. Cause us to keep cleaving,
cause us to keep believing. For the Lord Jesus Christ's sake,
amen, amen. 318, we're gonna sing it and
you'll be at liberty to go. 318. 318, we'll stand
and sing this and then when we get done with it, you can go
to house. I think it's 318, yep, 318. I
need thee, oh I need thee, every hour I need thee. I need thee every hour, most
gracious Lord. No tender voice like thine can
peace afford. I need thee, oh, I need thee. Every hour I need Thee O bless
me now, my Savior I come to Thee I need Thee every hour Stay Thou
nearby ? I need Thee, oh, I need Thee
? Every hour I need Thee ? Oh, bless me now, I say Oh, how we
need Him, how we need Him. ? I come to Thee ? I need Thee
every hour Enjoy your pain Come quickly and abide Or life is
vain I need thee, oh, I need thee ? Every hour I need thee ? Oh,
bless me now, my Savior ? I come to thee ? I need thee every hour
? Most holy one ? O make me Thine indeed ? Thou
blessed Son ? I need Thee, O I need Thee ? Every hour I need Thee
? O bless me now, my Savior, my God Good night, God bless you, appreciate
you very much.