145. 145. Hail Thou once despised
Jesus. Hail Thou Galilean King. Thou didst suffer to release
us, Thou didst see salvation bring. Hail Thou agonizing Savior,
bearer of our sin and shame! By Thy merits we find favor,
life is given through Thy name. Paschal Lamb, by God appointed,
All our sins on Thee were laid, By Almighty Love anointed, Thou
hast full atonement made. All Thy people are forgiven,
♪ Through the virtue of thy blood ♪ Opened is the gate of heaven
♪ Peace is made to expand and grow ♪ Jesus, hail, enthroned
in glory ♪ There forever to abide All the heavenly hosts adore
thee. Seated at Thy Father's side,
There for sinners Thou art pleading, There Thou dost our place prepare,
Ever for us interceding, Till in glory we appear. Worship honor, power, and blessing,
Thou art worthy to receive. Loudest praises without ceasing,
Meet it is for us to give. Healthy, bright, angelic spirits,
Bring your sweetest, noblest lays. Help to sing our Savior's
praises. Help to chant Emmanuel's praise. Be seated. We'll sing hymn number
303. 303. Jesus, Savior, pilot me over
life's tempestuous sea. Unknown waves before me roll
Hiding rocks and treacherous shoal Chart and compass come
from thee He's a savior, pilot we. As a mother stills her child,
though his touch the ocean wide. Ostrous waves, Obey thy will,
When thou sin'st, to them be still. Wondrous Sovereign of the sea,
Jesus, Savior, pilot me when at last I near the shore. And the fearful breakers roared,
Twixt me and the peaceful rest, Then while leaning on thy breast,
May I hear thee say to me, Fear not, I will pilot thee. Good evening. For our scripture
tonight, if you would, let's read 2 Samuel 9, the story of
Mephibosheth. 2 Samuel chapter 9. And David said,
Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul that I may
show him kindness for Jonathan's sake? And there was of the house
of Saul a servant whose name was Zeba. And when they had called
him unto David, the king said unto him, Art thou Zeba? And
he said, Thy servant is he. And the king said, is there not
yet any of the house of Saul that I may show the kindness
of God unto him? And Ziba said unto the king,
Jonathan hath yet a son which is lame on his feet. And the
king said unto him, where is he? And Ziba said unto the king,
behold, he is in the house of Makar, the son of Amel and Lodabar. Then King David sent and fetched
him out of the house of Makar, the son of Amel from Lodabar. Now when Mephibosheth, the son
of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was come unto David, he fell
on his face and did reverence. And David said, Mephibosheth,
and he answered, Behold thy servant. And David said unto him, Fear
not, for I will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's
sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father,
and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually. And he bowed
himself and said, What is thy servant that thou shouldest look
upon him such a dead dog as I am? And the king called to Ziba,
Saul's servant, and said unto him, I have given unto thy master's
son all that pertain to Saul and to all his house. Thou, therefore,
and thy sons and thy servants shall till the land for him,
and thou shalt bring in the fruits that thy master's son may have
food to eat. But Mephibosheth, thy master's
son, shall eat bread always at my table. Now Ziba had 15 sons
and 20 servants. Then said Ziba unto the king,
according to all that my lord the king hath commanded his servants,
so shall thy servant do. As for Mephibosheth, said the
king, he shall eat at my table as one of the king's sons. And
Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Micah. And all
that dwelt in the house of Ziba were servants unto Mephibosheth.
So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem, for he did eat continually at
the king's table and was lame on both his feet. Our great high and merciful Father
in heaven, Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we come
to you in his name, Lord. Loving to read the word, the
story of the mercy. Mercy for all sinners and saved
it through Christ's blood. Lord, we asked to be its preacher
once again tonight is may you uplift Christ. May all things
glorify him. We asked to be with the downtrodden
in the sick of the congregation. Bless them, be their stay. We
ask that the gospel run well here tonight. And if there be
one that you might fetch, and set him at your table. Amen. Hymn number 511. 511. Face to face with Christ my Savior
Face to face what will it be? When with rapture I behold Him,
Jesus Christ to die for me. Face to face I shall behold Him,
far beyond the starry sky. Face to face in all his glory,
I shall see him by and by. Only faintly now I see him, With
the darkling veil between. But a blessed day is coming When
His glory shall be seen Face to face I shall behold Him Far
beyond the starry sky Faced to face in all his glory I shall
see him by and by But rejoicing in his presence When our banished
grief and pain When the crooked ways are straightened,
And the dark things shall be plain, Face to face I shall behold
Him, Far beyond the starry sky. Face to face in all his glory,
I shall see him by and by. Face to face, O blissful moment,
Face to face to see and know Face to face with my Redeemer
Jesus Christ who loves me so Face to face I shall behold Him
Far beyond the starry sky. Face to face in all His glory,
I shall see Him by and by. Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians
chapter 4. I want to get my subject from verse
15. Ephesians 4, 15. But speaking the truth in love
may grow up unto him, into him in all things, which is the head,
even Christ. Speaking the truth in love. I'm
always concerned about speaking the truth. I hope and pray that
I speak the truth. and certainly hope and pray that
I preach the truth and speak the truth in love. What preaching
is, is communicating. It's an interaction between the
hearer, the speaker, and the hearer. It's things that goes
on between us. And the Word here is what God
communicated with us with, with His Word. But when the Apostle
tells us to speak the truth, love he means for us this is
what he means for us to hold the truth maintain the truth
living the truth and speaking the truth but his emphasis is
in this in love speak the truth in love you know at Titus 2 10
says adorn let us adorn the doctrine of God our Savior And I tell
you if we was mean and arrogant and full of pride and self-righteousness
and just calvinist wanting to fight everybody and straighten
everybody out and make everybody come our way, then we couldn't
adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. We couldn't do it at
all. And we don't want to hold the truth and dispense the truth
in a deceitful spirit. We don't want to do that. Don't
want to be deceitful and certainly don't want to use our liberty
i don't want to use my liberty as a cloak of maliciousness now
how could you use your liberty i'm the one that's up doing the
talking how could i use my liberty as a cloak of maliciousness i
get upset with somebody i don't like the way they're acting don't
like the way they're doing i don't like lots of things that they're
saying or doing or something so what i do when i get up here
i'm going to use my liberty to get even with them to lambast
them to deal with the things that I think's wrong with them.
Let everybody else, they're gonna get hit just as bad as the fella
I'm after, but they're gonna get hit. So that's the reason
why we don't do that. And oh my, and where there's
doctrinal orthodoxy, and we ought to be, we ought, our doctrine
needs to be straight, but where there's doctrinal orthodoxy without
love, it's just dry, cold, and it's lifeless, so lifeless, so
lifeless. apostles instructing us that
sound teaching should be held and handled and lived in a loving,
loving, loving spirit. And his reason is here in verse
15, that we may grow up. You know, you tell people all
the time, Boy, I tell you, you need to grow up, and that s what
he s telling us. Speak the truth that we may grow
up, grow up mature, mature in all things which is the head,
and mature in the things which is in Christ, the head of Christ. And that we may grow up in Him
in all things, grow up in Him in love, grow up in Him in faith,
in knowledge, patience, gentleness, goodness, meekness, perseverance,
and grow up in these things in Christ, grow up in Christ. And I pray the Holy Spirit would
help us tonight to learn something about holding the truth in love.
Hold it, maintain it, live it, speak it, and live it for the
glory of God. Now I wanna give us some reasons
why we're to speak the truth in love. And I'm gonna go back
up here and start in verse one. Let me read these first three
verses and then go back and deal with them. This is why we speak
the truth in love. I therefore the prisoner of the
Lord, Paul was being held captive by the Roman government, but
he said, I'm a prisoner of the Lord. And he said, I beseech
you, beseech you. I, Paul, beseech you. And he
says, that means to beseech you is almost to beg you that you
walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called. With all loneliness
and meekness forbearing, and with long-suffering forbearing
one another in love, endeavoring to keep you, the Spirit, in the
bond of peace. And why are we to speak the truth
in love? First of all, because He beseeched
us to, and that we would walk worthy. Now, we're believers,
we walk, we walk in this world. Enoch walked with God, Abraham
walked with God, people walked with God. Here we have this walk
worthy of the vocation. That word vocation means our
calling. Everybody s called, it s a vocation,
it s a calling, and when He talks about our vocation, we re called
to this walk, we re called to this life in Christ. And the
vocation also means our profession, Some people called to be doctors,
some people called to be teachers, we re called to be believers,
we re called to make a profession, and we re called by that profession
to walk in love and to endeavor, and look what he said, walk worthy
of vocation. God called us to this profession,
God called us to this walk, God called us to walk and speak the
truth in love, He called us to do that, And look what else he
says. And then when you do this, how
are you supposed to walk? How are we gonna speak the truth
in love, show the truth in love? With all lowliness of mind, with
lowliness and meekness, with long suffering for bearing one
another in love. You know what lowliness is? It's
the opposite of pride. It's the very opposite of pride.
Our Lord was meek and lowly in heart. Lowliness means that you
don't walk around with your eyes cast down. That's not what it
means. That means you think rightly
of yourself and you esteem others better than you do yourself.
You brag on them and not brag on yourself. You'll tell how
much you love them and how much you appreciate them and in lowliness
of mind means you take the lowest place until somebody calls you
up high. And in not only lowliness of
mind and longsuffering, oh my. You know, that's one thing, it's
a, Billy Argeropoulos asked me how Shirley's doing last night.
I said, she's doing very well. She's learned how to be a persevering
of a saint. Yet, when you marry somebody,
that's what's called perseverance of a saint, you know. But that's
what we're talking about, longsuffering. Long-suffering. We suffer long
with one another. We all suffer long with one another.
You know, we got lots of things, but there's the thing. He said,
this is the way we walk. This is how we walk in love.
And then he goes on to say, forbearing one another in love. Now, what
does that forbearing mean? To endure means to bear up and
do it in love. You know, everybody's heard that
story, and maybe even seen the movie. One time, they had a place
called, they was going to an orphanage, and they got up to
this orphanage, and this boy was carrying his brother on his
back. And he got there, and he walked up there, and they said,
Why in the world you carrying this? He's heavy, won't you set
him down? He says, no, he's not heavy,
he's my brother. And that's the way we are. We
are not heavy to one another. And you know, and if we do get
heavy to one another, There's things that you have to put up
with, things that you have to forbear, and you endure it, and
you do it in love. You don't do it because you have
to. You don't do it with grit in
your teeth. You're not a stoic. You get under,
you forbear people, and you endure people, and he said, and do it
in love. Dave's not a heavy person in
this building, and I certainly hope I'm not heavy to you. I
hope that you, and I appreciate you for bearing with me. And
then here's cause, cause we're all one in Christ. And look what
he said in verse four. This is why we walk, speak the
truth in love. There's one body, just one body. What is that body? It's the body
of Christ. You know, Christ only got one
body. I don't care where you go on the face of this earth.
He only has one body. We all have just one head and
Christ is that head. And he said one body, one body,
the body of Christ. And we maintain and hold and
live and speak the truth about him, to him and glorify our head
by walking and speaking and living the truth in love. You know,
it's from him that we have our Christ himself is our life. He's
our life. And then He goes on to say this,
and now, oh, here's why we speak the truth in love, is because
there's only one Spirit. One Spirit. We all have one in
Christ. One Spirit. One Holy Spirit. And that's what
He's talking about. It's always capitalized. You know, it's the
Spirit that came to us and gave us life. The Spirit quickened
us from the dead. The Spirit came and REGENERATED
us. The Spirit came and TAUGHT us
Christ, and brought Christ to us. He QUICKENED us and TEACHES
us, INSTRUCTS us, and TAKES us things of Christ, and TEACHES
us and INSTRUCTS us in these things. And let me tell you something,
there ain't no... You see these fellows all the
time, Dr. So-and-so, Master of Divinity, so-and-so, and Doctor
of Literature, and DDs, and all that kind of stuff. Listen, there
is no Master of Divinity in this Bible. Paul said, I'm not yet
attained, and that's what he's talking about here. One Spirit,
one Spirit. Oh my, it's the Spirit that God
blesses us with, and gives us the knowledge of the Lord. Now
you keep this, and look with me over in 1 Corinthians 12.
Look with me in I Corinthians 12. You know, it s, oh, He helps us, not only does
He give us the knowledge of Christ, quickened us and keeps us and
preserves us, He continually gives us the knowledge of Christ. It d be awful to get up here
without the Holy Spirit. you couldn't learn anything without
the Holy Spirit, and it's the Holy Spirit that enables us to
communicate and be connected to one another. And look what
He said in verse 13, For by one Spirit, and that's
what we just heard, one Spirit, are we all, all who has that
one body of Christ, for we're all baptized into that one body,
the Lord Jesus, whether we be a Jew or whether we're a Gentile,
whether we was bond, we was slaves, or whether we're a free man,
and we've all been made to drink of that one Spirit. That's where
we get our nourishment from, that Holy Spirit of God. Now
back over here in our text, and he says now in verse four again,
there's one body, one Spirit, and listen to this, even as you
are called in one hope of your calling, You know, He called
us, and this is why we're so one in Christ, so united in Christ,
and He called us to the same hope of our calling. Now, when
we find the word hope in the New Testament, it always has
to do with the future. We sing that song, face to face
with Christ our Savior, face to face with Christ our Lord.
And that's what it always has to do with the future, always
have to do with the resurrection, always have to do with when we
get to the end of this way. And that's why I said we're saved
by hope, but when what you've hoped for becomes reality, then
you don't need hope anymore. And so we were called to one
hope of this calling. One hope, one hope, we all got
the same hope. I hope by the grace of God to
see Christ face to face one of these days. I hope by the grace
of God that he'll give me a new body. Give me a new body. And oh my, and our hope's the
same. Oh, our hope is to be justified. Our hope's to be sanctified.
Our hope's of eternal life and eternal glory with the Lord Jesus
Christ. And Paul said, we get this good
hope, how do we get it? Through grace. Oh my, and you know what this
hope is? When, you know, we sing that
song, Jesus save your pilot, me. John, back in those fellas'
days, John Newton's days and John Flable's days, everybody
traveled by ship, little old wooden ships. They wasn't big
ships. They was so small. And they'd always, Flable's got
a whole big chapter of speaking to sailors in these ships. That s what John Newton was.
He was a sailor. He was a slave trader, and God
cast him overboard, and he about drowned, and God saved him, and
that s why he became a preacher. But anyway, to say this, you
know, that our hope, and you and me, we re tossed about, wonder,
sovereign of the sea, When they're near those rocky shoals, Lord
Jesus, Savior, pilot me. When we're tossed about in this
world, you know what keeps us anchored? Our hope. Would you
give up your hope? Would you give up your hope in
Christ? Would you give up your justification, your sanctification?
Would you give up? No. Oh, no. Oh, you can't take, no, they
can take lots of things away from them, but they can't take
our hope. Can't take our hope. Oh my. And then look what else
he says on down here in verse five. This is why we speak the
truth in love because of this union, our oneness in Christ. And he says, one Lord. And you
know what he says, Lord, there, he's talking about a sovereign
Lord. an almighty Lord, an immutable Lord, a powerful Lord. You know,
he's talking about no man can call Jesus the Lord but by the
Holy Ghost, sovereign, eternal, and immutable. We have one Master,
one Master who orders all things, all things for our good. And
oh my, one faith, one faith. Oh my, there's not, everybody
says, what faith are you? There ain't but one. And this
faith that he's talking about, he's talking about the faith
that we experience. You know, not only what we believe,
but what we actually experience. We've experienced a new birth. We've experienced God's Word. We've experienced salvation. We've experienced repentance. And that's what faith is. It's
not a creed or system of doctrine. It's talking about our experience
of faith. God comes and saved us by faith. And if He saves you by faith
and you got faith, then you live by faith and we've experienced
faith. and we experience faith every day we live, every day
we live. That's what he's talking about
here. But you know there was an old, old man talking about
one Lord. He had been serving Christ for 86
years. I don't know how old he was and
I don't know when he became a believer, but he is well-known in these
days and there's lots of things written about him. But he is
brought before Caesar and he is commanded Call Caesar Lord. Call him Lord. Acknowledge him
as Lord. Bow down to him. You know what
Polycarp told him? He said, I've served 86 years. Have I served him, my Lord? He has done me no wrong. How
then can I blaspheme my Savior, my King, and my Lord? How can
I do it? How can I do it? So one faith,
Paul said it this way, I know whom I have believed. That s what we re talking about.
And then he says here, down here again, one Lord, one faith, one
baptism. Now this one baptism we re talking
about here is there s one, under the gospel there s one baptism,
and that baptism is water baptism. It's just there's one Lord to
be obeyed, one Lord to be worshiped, one believing experience that
unites us unto Him by faith. There's one outward visible ordinance
by which believers confess their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,
and that's by water baptism. That's what water baptism. And
you know, that's exactly what it is. In the New Testament,
everybody that confess faith in Christ done it by baptism. They ve done it by baptism. And
so there s only one baptism, one. You know, they talk about
the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I don t know what that would
be. I don t know what that would be. I know we all have one Spirit. God does work, that one Spirit
works in all His people. That one faith is in all His
people. Ain t that right? We have that
one Lord over all His people. And then look what He said in
verse six. This is why we speak the truth
in love. One God. One God. You know, this, our
faith is so simple. It all boils down to one. Everything about us is one. You
know, back years ago, when they made music, it was called mono.
They only had one channel to record things in. Then it becomes
stereo. Then it becomes four tracks and
eight tracks and 16 tracks. But that mono, we're still mono. We're not stereo, we're mono.
One Lord, one faith, one baptism. And oh, my one God, just one,
one Father, one Father of all of us, of all of us. And oh,
listen, here s what we know about Him. He s above everything. He
s above everything. Is there anything? You know,
he said, he said himself, he said, he humbles himself to behold
the things that are in heaven. That's what our Lord said about
himself. God said about himself, he had to humble himself to behold
the things that's in heaven. He said, look at them stars.
They're not pure in my eyes. The sun and moon, not pure. Oh my. And he's above all. And here's this, I love this.
And he's through all. Everything that goes on, He s
through it all, and whatever we go through, He ll get us through
it all, He ll get us through it all. And here I love this,
and He s IN every one of you all. Look what it says over here
in Ephesians 2.22, just look over on the other page left of
you there in Romans excuse me, Ephesians, talking about Christ
being in all of us, God being in all of us. He said, Here in
whom also you are built together, God built His Church together,
built together for a habitation of God through the Spirit. God
built His Church so He could dwell in it by His Spirit, and
He dwells in us by His Spirit. He dwells in us by His Spirit. Let me show you something. You
keep this now, Ephesians, look with me in 2 Corinthians 8, 2
Corinthians 8. I want you to see something over
here talking about one God and one Father of all. The one true, living, sovereign
God, the source of all spiritual unity we have as believers. Oh my! He controls and sustains
everything, but look what He said here in verse 5. 2 Corinthians
8 and 5. Let's see. 1 Corinthians. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I thought I had two
there, but I don't. 1 Corinthians 8. This ain't the
first time it's ever happened. I'm sorry. I should have cleaned
my glasses for it, but here we go. Yeah, 1 Corinthians 8 and
5. Now watch this now. though there
be that are called gods, you see how that little G s there?
Whether it s in heaven or on earth, everybody s got gods,
some kind of a god. And oh, as there be gods many,
He said there s lots of gods, and lots of lords many, but to
us, but to us, one God, the Father of whom are
all things, and we re in Him, and one Lord Jesus Christ by
whom are all things, and we by Him, or because of Him. They
got all these lords and gods, but unto us there s just one,
just one, just one. Oh, my! Oh, bless His Holy Name. Then we go back over here in
our text, back over in Ephesians 4, and then we speak the truth
in love because God give us grace. Look at what He said in verse
7, but unto every one of us is given grace. Oh, given it. You know, if you get grace, it
has to be given. It can't be merited, it can't
be earned, it can't be deserved. If it's grace, that means it's
given. And then look what it says, not only that, to every
one of us given grace, and I love this right here, according to
the measure of the gift of Christ. Do you wonder how our Lord measures
how much grace he gives? You know how he measures it? He said He gives us grace for
grace. He gives you grace, you get in trouble, He gives you
SUFFICIENT grace. You get in grace and you feel
like you can t carry on, He said He gives you SUSTAINING grace.
It is SOVEREIGN grace. Oh my, you know, He measures
grace just Somebody said, ìWell, boy, I hope God gives me dying
grace.î You wonít need dying grace until youíre dying, but
Heíll give you grace. Heíll give you a measure of grace
to leave this world to His glory. Heís always got the right measure.
Huh? You say, ìBoy, I donít feel like
Iím had enough.î Heíll give you what you need when you need it.
Huh? Oh! Oh, He gives me a good measure! He gives me a good measure! He gives me a real good measure!
Is He you? He gives me a good measure of
grace! Oh, my! Oh, He gives us a generous,
gracious, joy, wonderful measure of grace! And leave this, and
look back at Romans chapter 12, listen to this, I want to show
you something else. I hope I'm not taking too long for you.
Romans chapter 12, talking about this grace that's given. Look
what he said over here in Romans chapter 12, verse 3. How big
you suppose our Lord's measures? I sure I do do this and it's
generous. It's good just like this morning. You know how generous our Lord
was? He fed over 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and
two fish. and had food left over. His measures
so good, always good, always good. But look what He said here
in Romans 12, verse 3, For I say, through the grace given unto
me, and it's always grace given unto me, to every man that is among you,
not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think,
Oh my, grace won't let you think higher than you can, sorry, just
won't let you, and oh my! But to think soberly according
as God, listen to this, according as God dealt to every man the
measure of faith. He gives us the faith that we
need, gives us the grace by the measure that He does. All right,
let me hurry up here, let me hurry up. Then look what He says,
there's a little thing here that He says, And He says this measure
of Christ, and He says, Christ says this from Psalm 68 where
this comes from, When He ascended up on high, when Christ ascended
to glory, He led captivity captive and gave gifts unto man. What
that means is that sin and death and corruption, and everything
that was an enemy of ours, everything that held us in bondage, everything
that held us captive, Christ said He TOOK that captive. Everything
held us captive, He took it away from us, and He took it captive.
He took death, He took sin, He took wrath, He took justice,
He took everything that was against us, He took the law, And everything
was, He took it away from us and make it captive. And He ascended
on high. But when He ascended on high,
He gave gifts unto men. He said, I'm gonna give some
things. I got some things to give. But now He said, but He
that ascended, He had to first come down here. He got to come
here before He can go back up there. Ain't that what it says?
He descended first into the lower parts. Before He can go up, He
had to come down. And oh, how low our Savior came
down. And oh, listen to this, he that
descended is the same also that it is ascended. He came down
here and he went back up far above all heavens and might fulfill
all things. And that's what it means, fulfill
all things. And then he gave gifts. He gave gifts. Ain't that what he says there
in the last part of verse eight? He ascended on high and gave
gifts unto men. Now, what are some of those gifts
that he gave? Well, he gave some apostles. There's no more apostles. He
gave some apostles, men sin of God, blessed of God, mightily
used of God. And he gave some prophets. That
means preachers, evangelists, traveling preachers, and some
pastors and teachers. And he gave these gifts, what's
this? For the perfecting, for the perfecting of the saints.
cause them to grow up in the fullness for the work of the
ministry, for the work of the ministry, and I love this right
here, for the building up, for the building up of the Body of
Christ, edifying the Body of Christ, the Body of Christ. And
He does this work of the ministry and bring us till we all come
in the unity of the faith, And all come to a knowledge of the
Son of God. We all come to a mature man,
a perfect man, unto the measure that God gives us of the stature
of the fullness of Christ till we come of age. And oh my, wherefore
we be no more children, we're not children anymore, tossed
to and fro, carried about with every wind of doctrine. Oh no,
no, no, we speak the truth in love. And I tell you what, we
speak and maintain and hold and live the truth in love because
we love our Master. We love our Master. We love our
Lord Jesus Christ. Our Savior said, Lovest thou
me? Yes, Lord, thou knowest that
we do. We don't love Him like we should. We don't love Him
like we want to. We don't love Him like we're
going to. But we do love our Master. And I tell you what,
we love His message. We love what He taught us. We
love that message of sovereign grace. We love that message that
Christ is the one, Christ is the way, Christ is the Savior,
Christ is our mediator, Christ is our all in all. Oh, we love
that message, free and sovereign grace, discriminating love, effectual
redemption. Oh, we love the truth of the
perseverance of the saints. And oh my, tell you something
else we love. We love His manner. We love the
way He deals with us. I love the way He deals with
us. If He dealt with us what we deserve, He told David, you
know, over in Psalm 103, He said, He'll not always be angry and
He'll not always chide us. He's not angry, He's not gonna
chide us, no, no, no. Oh, His dealing with us. Have
you ever wanted for anything? He said, The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want. I love His dealing with us. Oh,
I love how He deals with us. Oh, my. And I tell you something
else we do. We love His people. We love His
people, no matter where we go. Last time Shirley and I went
up to Wheelersburg, Spent the evening and went out and had
dinner with some folks and spent the evening after that and sat
and talked for about three or four hours, had the best time. Oh, listen, there's nothing,
nobody like the Lord's people. I tell you, we love His people.
We know we've passed from death unto life because we love the
brethren. And you know what? We're members
one of another. When one of us is hurting, we
pray for them and all of us start hurting. Start hurting. I'll
tell you something else we love. We love His Word. Oh my, I love
His Word. I love this Word. You know you love this Word.
This Word is what God communicates with us by. This Word is what
God teaches us from. This Word is what God Himself
wrote down for us to learn. Oh my. And God help us, God help
us, we don't speak the truth in hatefulness, pride. Let's not be proud of race because
of who we are, what race we are. Let's don't be, have pride of
face because of we're somebody. And certainly not pride of grace
because we know something somebody else don't. Let's not be arrogant. Let's not have no malice, envy,
greed, or covenants. But oh my, SPEAKING THE TRUTH
IN LOVE, MAINTAINING THAT TRUTH IN LOVE, HOLDING THAT TRUTH IN
LOVE, LIVING THAT TRUTH IN LOVE, TILL ALL OF US, ONE OF THESE
DAYS, WE ALL COME TOGETHER IN THE UNITY AND KNOWLEDGE OF OUR
LORD JESUS CHRIST. HUH? OH MY! LET ME SHOW YOU SOMETHING,
TURN TO YOUR RIGHT, to Philippians and look in chapter 2, excuse
me, chapter 3, and I'll close with this. Philippians 2.13, excuse me, 3.13, I'm sorry, I'll
get it right here in a minute. Oh, this is what we're talking
about. Paul's talking about himself,
Brethren, I count not myself to apprehend it. What he's saying
is, I don't apprehend everything, I don't apprehend everything. But this one thing I do, forgetting
those things that are behind, this is what I am going to do,
one thing, there we go to one again, forgetting those things
that are behind, Reaching forth, and that's what we're talking
about, reaching for that thing called love, that precious love,
reaching forth unto those things which are before us. I press
toward the mark. I'm going toward that mark of
the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Speaking the truth in
love. I hope that's a blessing. Oh, Lord, oh, our Father, in
the precious name of Christ our Lord, thank you. Oh, blessed
be your name. Your word is just, it does things for us that nothing
in this world can do. It encourages us, it strips us,
gives us life, it reproves us, it rebukes us, it instructs us. And most of all, Lord, it causes
us to keep looking to you. We forget the things that are
behind, but oh Lord, we're pressing, we're looking, pressing toward
that mark, that cross, that day that we cross the finish line.
in this glorious, glorious high covenant that you gave us in
Christ our Lord. God bless these dear saints.
Oh Lord, bless them in their homes. Bless them on their jobs. Bless them in their hearts. Bless
them, oh God, with the salvation of their children and grandchildren,
sons and daughters and husbands and wives. And oh Lord, bless
us to have such a unity of heart and purpose for the furtherance
of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. And Lord, when we gather
here in a minute to have some fellowship and have a bite to
eat, please be with us and help us to honor and glorify you.
We ask these things in Christ our Lord's name. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Lord, for saving my
soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me
whole. Thank you, Lord, for giving to
me THY GREAT SALVATION SO RICH AND FREE. Now, there are all
kinds of cake back there and lots of ice cream, so I hope
everybody goes back there and eats a double portion. Double,
not just a portion, a double portion, because I ain't taking
it home with me because we keep it in the freezer. Gotta keep
fishing. I love you all. Thank you very
much for listening.