Good evening. Let's all stand
together and we'll sing hymn number 326. Number 326. More about Jesus would I know. More of His grace to others show. More of His saints More of His love who died for
me. More, more about Jesus. More, more about Jesus. of his saving. More of His love who died for
me. More about Jesus let me learn. More of His holy will discern. Spirit of God, my teacher be,
Showing the things of Christ to me. More, more about Jesus, about Jesus more of his saving
fullness More of his love who died for
me. More about Jesus in his word. Holy communion. union with my Lord, hearing His
voice in every line, making each faithful saying mine. More, more about Jesus More,
more about Jesus More of his saving fullness see. More of his love who died for
me. More about Jesus. on his throne riches in glory
all his own more of his kingdom More of His coming, Prince of
Peace. More, more about Jesus. More, more about Jesus. Thank you and be seated. Hymn number 257. It is so sweet to trust in Jesus
Just to take Him at His word Just to rest upon His promise
Just to know, thus saith the Lord Jesus, Jesus, how I trust
Him, how I've proved Him o'er and o'er. Jesus, Jesus, precious
Jesus, oh, for grace to trust Him Oh, how sweet to trust in Jesus
Just to trust His cleansing blood Just in simple faith to plunge
me Neath the healing, cleansing flood Jesus, Jesus, how I trust
Him, how I've proved Him o'er and o'er. Jesus, Jesus, precious
Jesus, O for grace to trust Him o'er Yes, tis sweet to trust in Jesus
Just from sin and self to cease Just from Jesus simply taking
Life and rest and joy and peace Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him,
how I need Him o'er and o'er. Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus,
oh, for grace to trust Him more. I'm so glad I learned to trust
Thee. Precious Jesus, Savior, Friend,
And I know that Thou art with me, Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him,
how I've proved Him o'er and o'er. Jesus, Jesus, precious
Jesus, oh, for grace to trust Him more. I'd like us to read together
a few verses in 1 Corinthians 1. Begin reading in verse 17. 1
Corinthians 1, 17. Paul writes, he says, For Christ
sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. not with wisdom
of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness.
But unto us which are saved, it is the power of God. For it
is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring
to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the
wise? Where is the scribe? Where is
the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews
require sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ
crucified. unto the Jews a stumbling block,
and unto the Greeks foolishness. But unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom
of God. Because the foolishness of God
is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
For you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after
the flesh not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God
hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the
wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound
the things which are mighty, and base things of the world,
and things which are despised hath God chosen. Yea, and things
which are not to bring to naught things that are. that no flesh
should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord. Oh, our kind and gracious and
merciful Heavenly Father, we bow before you tonight and give
you thanks for all that great blessings to us. Thank you for
the gospel of which we just read, our brother Paul, the gospel
that he preached. And thank you, Lord, that it's
preached here in this place. I ask, Lord, that you'd continue
to bless us with your gospel. being boldly proclaimed in this
place throughout the generations to come, for be your will. We
gather together tonight, ask you, Lord, to take our eyes off
of the things that are seen, the things which are temporal,
fix our eyes on the things that cannot be seen, which are eternal,
the things that can only be seen by faith, by the gift of faith,
Lord, give us faith to look into your word and believe your word,
to understand your word, to hear your word in our hearts, to be
instructed, to have our eyes fixed on Christ,
our only hope. All around us is fleeting and
fading and dying and decaying. weak and wounded and weary. But
we look to Christ who has everlasting strength, everlasting life, everlasting
power, everlasting salvation, eternal in the heavens, no beginning
without end. And if we're in him, we're safe,
shall live forever and shall never die. How we bless you for
the blessed gospel that brings that salvation to us, the doing
and dying of our savior, his intercession for us, his love
to us, his electing grace. Thank you as we heard this morning
that he will show mercy. Oh, how we thank you for his
mercy. Thank you that you can justly be merciful to dead dog
sinners and still be righteous. Oh, what glory is in that blessed
gospel, the just dying for the unjust, and it becomes more precious. We look for no other message.
It just continues to grow more beautiful, more lovely as we
look upon it and hear it preached, and our hearts are made to rejoice.
We can find no other rejoicing in anywhere else. Thank you,
Lord, for this time of worship. Thank you for our pastor. Thank
you for our brothers and sisters. Remember those that can't be
with us that would be. Remember our children and our
grandchildren. Lord, keep them safe. And to
your time of salvation that you call them to your feet, soon
call them to sue for mercy. Save them by your grace. We look
to you to rescue them, intervene in
their lives, we pray, and leave them not to themselves. Go with
us through this service. Honor Christ in our midst. Come
and be with us, we pray. In Christ's name, amen. Hymn number 252. 252. Come, every soul by sin oppressed,
There's mercy with the Lord, And He will surely give you rest
By trusting in His Word. Only trust Him, only trust Him,
only trust Him now. He will save you, He will save
you, He will For Jesus shed his precious blood,
rich blessings to bestow. Plunge now into the crimson flood
that washes white as snow. Only trust Him, only trust Him,
only trust Him now. He will save you, He will save
you, He will save you. Yes, Jesus is the truth, the
way that leads you into rest. Believe in Him without delay,
and you are fully blessed. Only trust Him, only trust Him,
only trust Him now. He will save you, He will save
you, He will save you now. I think the last two Sunday nights
I've preached from Colossians, and I'm going to preach from
it again tonight. Lord willing, Colossians chapter 1. Colossians
chapter 1. It started in verse 25 of Colossians
chapter 1. Whereof I am made a minister
according to the dispensation of God, which is given to me
for you to fulfill the word of God, or fully preach the word.
Even the mystery, which hath been hid from ages and from generation,
but now is made manifest to the saints. God hid it, and only
the people of God know it now. And this is what God's mystery
that had been hid, to whom they made manifest to His saints,
and it's His saints to whom God would make known what is the
riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, not the Jews,
but among us, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory, whom
we preach, we preach the Lord Jesus Christ, warning every man
teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man
perfect in Christ Jesus, whereunto I also labour, striving according
to his working, which worketh in me mightily." Now, I want
to show you there that he said in verse 28, we re warning and
teaching and preaching, and it says that we may present every
man perfect, perfect in Christ Jesus. THAT'S WHAT I WANT TO
TALK ABOUT, PERFECT, PERFECTION, PERFECTION, PERFECTION IN CHRIST,
IN CHRIST ALONE. YOU KNOW PERFECTION IS ONLY IN
CHRIST, AND IT'S HARD FOR US TO GRASP, GRASP PERFECTION, NO
FLAWS, NO FAULTS, NO BLEMISHES, NO MORE THAN THE MIND CAN GRASP
THE IDEA OF PERFECTION OR ETERNITY. IT CAN'T, HOW YOU GRASP THE IDEA
OF ETERNITY. AND WE MENTION ETERNITY ALL THE
TIME, BRAD MENTIONED IT IN PRAYING. NO BEGINNING AND NO ENDING. ETERNITY
HAS NO START AND HAS NO STOP. WHERE'S THE START AND WHERE'S
THE STOP? WHEN DOES IT BEGIN? WHO'S IT BEGIN FOR? But I mean
you think about eternity. Eternity was here before we got
here. Eternity will be here after we're gone. Eternity is what
it is. And to think God's the one who
made eternity. Because He inhabits eternity. There wouldn't be an eternity
had not God made eternity. And you know who He made eternity
for? His people. Just His people. That's what
He made it for. and He made Christ known to us
as Christ in us, the hope of glory. But now we can't grasp
perfection. I'm gonna read a verse to you
out of Job and try to set this message up a little bit. Job
said in Job 9, 20, he said, if I justify myself, my own mouth
shall condemn me. If I say I am perfect, it shall
prove me perverse. THOUGH I WERE PERFECT, YET WHEN
I KNOW NOT MY SOUL, I WOULD DESPISE MY LIFE. He said if I claim perfection,
it s going to be awful. I justify myself, I prove myself
to be perverse. But I tell you what, you know,
because we re with Christ is without spot and without blemish,
and we try to convince and to conceive to grasp perfection,
we can t because in ourselves we re so imperfect. But I know
where perfection's at. I know where it's at. I know
where it's at. It's in God. God is perfect. Everything about God is perfect.
All of His attributes, what attribute does He have that don't have
any spot or blemishes in it? Every attribute of His is perfect,
absolute, glorious. He's full of majesty. HIS GLORY,
NOBODY CAN SURPASS HIS GLORY, AND HE SAID NO FLESH WILL GLORY
IN MY PRESENCE. IF ANY MAN GLORY, LET HIM GLORY
IN THE LORD. AND ALL POWER, OH HIS POWER IS
PERFECT, AND IT BELONGS TO HIM. Wisdom, oh His Wisdom, how perfect
His Wisdom is to devise a way that He could stay holy and just
and righteous and save unholy, unrighteous sinners like ourselves. And I tell you what, He knows
all things from the minutest to the most immense He has no
contingency plans. He ain't gonna have no flat tire.
He ain't gonna get no wrecks. He ain't gonna be in a situation
he can't get himself out of. God's not gonna do that. He comprehends
all secrets, grasps all knowledge, knows the end from the beginning,
and he never had a thought. That's God. And that's why He
said, WHO HAS BEEN MY COUNSELOR? WHO HAS EVER SAT DOWN AND TOLD
ME WHAT OUGHT TO BE DONE AND HOW IT OUGHT TO BE DONE? WHO
EVER SAT DOWN TO COUNSEL ME? And all His works are perfect.
Look in Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes is right after the
book of Isaiah. There's a song of Solomon in
Ecclesiastes. I want you to see this, you've
seen this so many times, but in Ecclesiastes, and here in
chapter 3 and verse 14, while you get over there, you know
it's Ecclesiastes right before the book of Proverbs, and oh
my, his works are perfect, his works are perfect. It said in
Ecclesiastes chapter 3 and verse 14, I know, there s some things
that, you know, how many times has it said, I know or we know?
Well, here s what the preacher said, I know that whatsoever
God does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nothing
can be taken from it, and God doeth it that men should fear
before Him, and I do! I do. You can't put nothing on
the work of God. It's perfect. It's perfect. And
I'll tell you one thing, another thing on this earth, that's on
this earth, right here, right now, we're talking about God. We have seen by faith. We're
understanding by faith. Know His attributes by faith.
But one thing on earth is perfect. Even after the fall, when the
whole human race became imperfect, when all was lost because of
man's sin, because of man's disobedience, where everybody became imperfect.
Everybody was a fallen creature. But the one thing on this earth,
I'm talking about here now, we've been talking about God. One thing
on this earth is perfect, and that's the perfect will of God
contained in these Holy Scriptures. Now that s one thing on this
earth that we know, that the perfect will of God is contained
in the Holy Scriptures. I mean the perfect will of God.
Do you know the Scriptures are perfect in all their parts? I
mean there s not a part of it that s imperfect. It s perfectly
true, and there s no error in it. I know that people want to
correct it, and they like to correct it, And they would say,
I've read a theologian that said the first 11 chapters of Genesis
don't even exist. And they say that the book of
Daniel, half of it don't mean anything. So they can take the
scriptures, but I say, I say that the scriptures are absolutely
true and have no error in it whatsoever, none, no error in
it. And that's perfect in all its
parts. And I tell you, it's perfect in all that's necessary for a
man to know on this earth. All that you need to know about
God is in this book. All that you need to know about
man is in this book. All that you need to know about
sin right here tells us about it. All you need to know about
grace and salvation and God and Christ and everything about it,
it's all found in this blessed book. And I'll tell you, and
it's also perfect to guide us while we're in this world and
to perfect us and to warn us and protect us. No wonder David
said, oh Lord, thy word is forever settled in heaven. He spake and
it was done. He commanded and it stood fast. All scripture, all scripture
is given by inspiration of God and it's profitable. But now
when we come to ourselves, God's perfect in all of His attributes.
The Bible's perfect in every way. But when we come to ourselves,
to look at ourselves, where's perfection? Where is it? Huh, huh? Look what He said here
in verse 21. of Colossians 1, and you that
were sometime alienated, alienated from God, alienated from the
Scriptures, alienated from Christ, and enemies, enemies in your
mind by wicked works. Oh, my! Do you feel there's any
perfection in you? Do you feel like there's any
perfection in you? Well, I'll tell you, every day
that goes over our head teaches us that we're imperfect. Our
consciousness tells us we're imperfect. It tells us that. The harder we strive to be like
the Lord Jesus Christ, the more imperfection we see in ourselves,
the more imperfection we see, oh, how we see imperfection.
No wonder Paul cried out, Oh, wretched man that I am! Oh, wretched
man that I am! And honestly, right now, before
God, before God Almighty, we have to confess, right now, in
our conduct, how we conduct ourselves, in our conversations, no perfection,
no perfection. You may long for Oh, we do. One of these days, God's gonna
conform us to the image of His Son. You may long for it. You may moan for it. You may
cry tears for it. But every tear, every tear says
imperfection, imperfection. Every sigh that you have, imperfection. Every harsh word, imperfection. Every impatient act, imperfection. Every neglected duty, say, I'm
gonna get to that, I'm gonna get, every time you put something
off, imperfection. Imperfection, imperfection. Oh my. And but for God Almighty,
we're guilty of being imperfect. And let me tell you something, imperfection according to the
scriptures is absolutely necessary for all who hope to enter into
glory. You can t get there without being
perfect. You ve got to have perfection if you intend to enter into glory. It s absolutely necessary. Because
we LOST perfection doesn t mean that God has changed His DEMAND
for imperfection. Look in Leviticus 22. Look in
Leviticus 22. Oh, my! God said, Be ye holy as I
am holy, and there's people that honestly think that they can
be holy in this life as God is holy by their own strivings,
by their own workings. But O my, be ye holy as I am."
But look what He said here in Leviticus 2, 21, And whosoever offereth a sacrifice
of peace offering unto the Lord, to accomplish his vow, or freewill
offering in beefs or sheep, it shall be perfect to be accepted. There shall be no blemish therein. I mean anything you bring to
God's gotta be perfect, gotta be perfect. Oh my, if a person
wants to be saved, wants to be saved by trying to keep all the
commandments and by trying to keep all the ceremonies and trying
to do all the works that they think's necessary to be saved,
oh my, it has to be kept, you have to do it perfectly, you
have to do it perpetually. Paul said, Cursed is every one
that continueth not in all things. Oh my! No, God says, No imperfect
person is going to be in my presence. It's not going to happen. It's
not going to happen. We must have PERFECTION. We're
either going to have to get it from ourselves, or we're going
to have to find somebody that's got it, that can give it to us. because we certainly ain't got
it. Let me tell you, beloved, talking about God, God would
be unjust if He did not punish and reject a man who is not perfect. He'd be unjust to do that. He'd
be unjust if He did not punish and reject a man who is not perfect. the judge of all the earth, he
must do right. He said, the soul that sinneth,
it shall die. My word has gone forth and he
said, I've wedded my sword. I'm angry with the wicked every
day. I hate the workers of iniquity. And Job said, Lord, I know that
thou will not cast away a perfect man. Job 8, I know that you'll
never cast away a perfect man. I know you won't. And that's
what all these fellas talking to Job, we're perfect, Job, you
ain't. And he said, I know you wouldn't cast away a perfect
man. But Job ended up saying, but how in the world can a man
be just before you? You wouldn't dare cast away a
perfect man. Oh, my. And if God does not punish
every transgression that every soul commits, He loses His throne
and He is unjust. He's unjust. And we must have
perfection or eternally be lost and rejected of God Almighty. I know without perfection, we'd
never be fit company FOR THE SPIRITS OF JUST MEN ALREADY MADE
PERFECT! WE WOULDN'T BE FIT COMPANY FOR
THE ANGELS, THEY'RE PERFECT! WE CERTAINLY WOULDN'T BE FIT
SUBJECTS TO GO INTO GLORY! OH MY! WE MUST BE PERFECT! WE MUST BE! WE'LL NEVER EVER
ENJOY HEAVEN! AND I'LL TELL YOU SOMETHING,
DEATH DOES NOT CHANGE A REBEL INTO A SON OF GOD! I've never
known anybody die yet that wasn't turned into a saint after they
died. They was the best people, they
was the kindest people, they was ready to help you anytime. Call over the midnight and they'd
come running. Oh, everybody, I tell you what,
everybody turns into a saint. But death does not change a man.
Where a tree falls, that's where it lays. Revelation said if a
man is unjust, let him be unjust still. If a man's a dog, let
him be a dog. If a man's just, he'll always
be just. If he's righteous, he'll always
be just. Without our abomination and dogs and unwicked things. But I tell you, death does not...
DEATH ITSELF has to come stand before God. And that death itself,
when they open that book, death itself will have to face God
in all it did. And I tell you what, God, that
death doesn't change a man. And I tell you, if you're not
perfect now, you better find out where you can get it. Oh my, where are we going to
find it? Where are we going to find this perfection? Where are
we going to find it? Well, a ceremonialist, he'll
come along, he'll put his robe on, put his robe on, I'll give
you perfection, bring your baby up here and let me baptize it.
Bring your baby up here and let me dedicate it. Here, this bread,
this bread's got some saving efficacy in it, this wine's got
some saving efficacy in it. And oh my, they run in and they
pray over a dying man. Oh, Lord, he's dying. Will you
ask the Lord to help you? Will you ask the Lord? Oh, you're dying, you're dying.
Yeah, you're throwing a lifeline to a person that's on their deathbed,
and you think, listen, as the tree falls, so
shall it lay. And here's another thing. You
know, Shirley and I was talking about this this afternoon, when
a person loses their mind and don t know Christ, they ll never
know Christ. And there s a lot of people out
there that absolutely in nursing homes that never knew Christ,
wasn t interested in Christ, wasn t into attending a service,
and may have been in church one time or three times in their
life, and they lose their mind and they don t know who they
are, and they ll NEVER know who God is until they get into eternity. That's an awful thing to think
about, ain't it? If you're in your right mind and you got any
sense at all, boy, you better seek Christ while you're yet
alive, while you've yet got time. And I tell you, they'll tell
you about praying over a dying man. I never will forget. There's
three or four people that I've went to pray with that were dying,
that were dying. And the first person I went to
go to pray with was an aunt of mine. She stood over six feet
tall. She's a big woman, big, big woman. And I went in to ask her, I said,
Lord, Edie, would you love me to, would you like me to pray
for you? And she said, no, no, I don't want you to pray for
me. She said, I've lived my life without praying. I've lived my
life without anything. I've lived my life to suit myself,
and I don't need nobody to pray for me now. Went into eternity
like that. I went up to the hospital one
time to pray for a man. Some people asked me to go pray
for him, and I went in to ask him if they wanted prayer. He
went to cussing. Get your blankety blank out of
here. I don't want to hear a thing
you got to say. Went to Cushing. How many people gonna go into
eternity like that? And then they'll tell you their
old ceremonies and say, listen, we got an old-fashioned altar
up here. You come up here and you pray through. You get prayed
through. Where you gonna get when you
do get through? Where you gonna be at when you
get through? Where you gonna end up when you
do get through? Where do you get through? You
know, we done stuff like that, and we didn't have a clue what
we was doing. God have mercy on us. And some say perfection's
to be attained by the flesh, by duties. John Wesley, and I
know folks awful high on him, but I read his gospel, and he
said that you could attain sinless perfection in this world. Sinless
perfection. I remember, let me tell you a
little story, just stop and tell you a little story. We was up
at Ashland, Kentucky in a meet, and we're standing in this motel
upstairs, downstairs, and a fella come down, and I was downstairs,
and he said, boy, I finally live above sea, and I finally found
out how to live above sea. How's that? Live over the room
you're in. That's the only way you're gonna
live by sin, to live by sin. Oh, my. But oh, he's taught sinless
perfection. And I've told you this before,
Thomas Aquinas, he's the first one who taught that he had enough
merit, he had enough grace, more than enough for himself, So if
you started asking him, he said, I'll give you some of my merit,
I'll give you some of my grace. And then he started teaching
that the saints, Mary could give you grace. Mary could give you
some of her merit. Any saint that was already in
glory could give you their grace and give you their merit. Now
he taught that and the Catholics still believe that. Oh my. And oh my, if I read one time
where it fell, I read it myself, and I wrote it down. Train yourself
to lead a godly life. Huh? Oh, they'll say Christ first. Oh yes, Christ first. You must
believe Him, they say, and then live a real, devoted, devoted
life. Reserve all your religious duties. And He said you start at the
bottom and you'll climb and you'll get higher and higher and higher,
and you'll get high enough to be justified, then you'll get
high enough to be sanctified, and then one of these days you'll
reach the highest PLANE that you can in this world. Well,
I tell you, you can't get any higher than being in Christ.
Can you? Huh? Oh, Clarence Poor met a
fella coming out of the pulpit one time and he says, says, uh,
there's more to priests than just Jesus. And he got to preaching
on bus things and Clarence, a big old boy. He met him at the pulpit
and said, you didn't say what ought to be said, and you didn't
tell the truth. Met him at the pulpit and said,
Christ is all we need, and you didn't do that. I'll tell you what, and if I
ever get up here and start preaching works, and I'll start preaching
that you need to do something in order to be saved, listen,
you come up here and meet me before I get out of the pulpit,
because you don't know I've lost my mind. Oh, my. And I tell you, you know, you
find a fellow who thinks he's perfect. It don't take a whole
lot to ruin his perfection. All right. All right. Head down this God will tell
you perfection. Where's it at? It says, I want
to present every man perfect in Christ. That's the only place
perfection can be no place else. And I tell you, God's people
are in Christ. Look what it says down here in
Colossians 2, 9. For in Him, in Christ, dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Everything that God is
dwelt in the body of our Lord Jesus Christ. Every attribute,
every word, everything that God is was in Christ. And look what
it says. And then the next verse says,
And you are complete, And that word COMPLETE is the same word
as PERFECTION. You are COMPLETE in HIM, which
is the HEAD of Principality and Power. So God's people are in
Christ. Well, how in the world do we
get in Christ? You read it tonight. God MADE us. God did it. God made Christ. Under us, WISDOM,
RIGHTEOUSNESS, SANCTIFICATION, and REDEMPTION. We didn't make
Him that way. God made Him that way, and God
made Him that to us. And I tell you, how do you get
in Christ? How do you get things in Christ? How do you do it?
First of all, in the covenant of God's elected grace, chosen
in Him before the foundation of the world. And my, oh, a verse
that God's blessed me with over the years, giving thanks unto
the Father. Oh, listen, God who called us
with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
His own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world ever began. Now, that s how you get in Christ.
I told you this morning, before I ever existed, any man ever
existed, God chose us in Christ. Before God ever put a star in
the heavens, before He ever said, let there be light, He had a
people in Christ. That's the only reason He made
this world, to have a people for Christ. He only made this
world for His elect. And He said, and this is not
good enough for them to live on for eternity. I'm going to
destroy this and I'm going to make a brand new one where they
can dwell in it and there ain't nobody but righteous people going
to live in it. And that's why it's called a covenant of election.
The elector in Christ, he bought us and paid for us. He's the
one that chose us. He came to pay a debt, and oh
what a debt we owed. How much debt you reckon we owed?
I heard, I think I heard Todd mention the other day, if you,
how many sins you could commit in a day, actually how overt
sins that you commit in a day, and it goes way, way, way, way,
way up into the millions and millions and millions and millions. Now you're talking about a debt.
We started out when we was first born, just being born. We got
in debt just being born. Then we grew up, and as we grew
up, our debt just got greater and greater and greater and greater
and greater and greater and greater. And Christ said, listen, I'll
pay it. I don't care how big, that's
an awful debt. It's a debt that above the truth
that no man can number. It's a debt. That's like mounds
on mounds upon mounds upon mountains. Christ said, Father, give me
their debt. Give me their debt. And I'll
pay to the uttermost farthing. I'll take away every single debt
that they own. And they'll be clean. They'll
be clear. And I'll never find a debt against
them again. And I tell you what, we were
so united to Christ that what He did, we did. He died, we died
with Him. When He suffered, we suffered
with Him. When He was under God's wrath, we were under God's wrath.
When God's justice came to punish Him against sin, He punished
us against sin. all of our sins from Adam to
the last soul, all of them came marching like giant armies and
met on the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. And I'll tell you,
He got our death, we got His life. He got our death, we got
His liberty, His freedom. He got our sin, we got His righteousness. He got our wrath, and now we
got God's favor. Oh, my. Oh, our Lord, everything,
everything about Christ, He took our place and everything about
Christ in all of His perfection became ours, became ours. And let me tell you, not only
we're in Christ by election, but right now, right now, you
know, when you're actually in Christ, actually in Christ, I'm
not talking about in way back yonder, I'm talking about now. When are you actually in Christ?
To our knowledge, when we believe. You know, we didn't know we was
elect until somebody told us. We didn't know about a covenant
of grace until somebody told us. We didn't know about our union
with Christ until somebody told us. And I'll tell you what, when
we believe Christ, believe Christ, That's when, in our knowledge,
we say, I actually have Christ. I actually know Christ. I'm joined
to Christ. We were always in Christ, but
we didn't know it. And we were secure from the foundation
of this world, but we didn't know it. We didn't know it. Now we know
it. I like knowing it, don't you?
Oh my, I'm gonna show you something. Look with me over here. Let's
see. Galatians, Galatians chapter
four. Turn back to your left, you get
to Galatians chapter four. You see, here's the thing. You know folks come and talk
to you about the state they're in They trusted Christ, they
know the Lord, and Christ always knew them, and it was always
in Christ, but they didn't know it until somebody come along
and preached it to them. Now, look what it says here in
Galatians chapter 4. I'm going to read these first
seven verses, make a few comments. Now, I say that the heir, as
long as he is a child, now he's an heir, but he's a child. differs
nothing from a servant, that fellow that's labored in the
house, though that child may be lord over everything. But
he's under tutors, he's under governors, people that teach
him and govern over him until the time appointed of the father.
Now listen, even so, when we were children, there never was
a time we weren't children. We were in bondage. We were under
the elements of the world. The world held us, all the ceremonies,
everything about the world, elements held us. But now listen, but
when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son,
made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were
under the law. Now listen to this, that we might
receive the adoption of sons And now, I love this, and because
you are sons, because you are sons, God has sent forth the
Spirit of His Son into your hearts, and you cry, Father. Abba's like
a baby crying, and Father is when you learned out how what
He is. And listen to this, wherefore thou art no more a servant. What
are you then, a son? And if you're a son, then you're
there. of God, how you get this inheritance? Through Christ. Faith, faith, faith lays hold
the inheritance in Christ. We don't need nobody to tutor
us at school. We're not under schoolmasters.
We've come of age. We've come of age. And oh, let
me close with this. Every soul Every soul that is
in Christ is perfect, is perfect. Whether you're a brand new believer,
the moment you believe, you're perfect. And I mean even believers
that's fallen into sin, fallen into sin. David, oh, what an
awful sin he committed. Committed adultery, committed murder, But he is still God, he said,
God made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things
and sure. Peter denied the Lord three times. Noah got drunk. Abraham lied about three times
about his wife. And if you'd have been around
watching them, you'd have said, boy, I don't know if them fellas
know the Lord or not. Oh my, but if God didn't take
care of all of our sins, what would we do? What would we do? And then there's the old believer,
the old warrior, the one that's been at it for a long, long,
long time, that old warrior. He'll tell you there's more perfection
in me, but there's perfection in Christ and I'm in Christ and
I trust Christ. And I'll tell you who's ever
sold in Christ, whether the believer with all of his infirmities.
I wonder how many infirmities we have. I know I got lots of
them. I got lots of them, and you don't
have to look far to find them. Got lots of them. I'm one of
the worst procrastinators you'll ever meet. I really am. They put on my tombstone, he
said, it'll keep till tomorrow. That's gonna be what they'll
say about me. It'll keep till tomorrow. But oh my, we are,
all of our infirmities, hasty temper, slips of the tongue,
falls, falls, but Paul said, our Lord said that he is present
to his church without spot, without blemish, and holy before him
without spot and blemish. Oh, all the things. Solomon said,
I'm black, but I'm comely. And are we justified by works
or by grace? For by grace are you saved, not
of yourself, gift of God, not of works, lest any man should
boast. If I never, if I had no good works at this moment, and
yet had faith in Christ, I'm as completely justified as if
I had 10,000 good works to face Him with. That thief on the cross will
enjoy Christ as much as the Apostle Paul did, who suffered so much
for Christ. He'll enjoy it just as much as
any man in heaven. He'll enjoy it just as much.
Faith, let me tell you, faith in Christ is the foundation.
Faith in Christ is the cornerstone. Faith in Christ is the topstone.
For our justification and our acceptance and our perfection,
nothing in myself saves me in any way. It's Christ and Christ
alone. Look in Hebrews 10 and verse
14 and let me close with that. Hebrews 10, 14. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. Forever. Forever. Not one soul, not one soul that
knows Christ would ever claim perfection under any circumstances,
any time, day or night. And that's why we keep coming,
keep looking, keep believing, keep cleaving to our Lord Jesus
Christ. Our Father, in the blessed name
of our Lord, We look to you, thanking you
for your great, great mercies, your great grace. Oh, many are your wonderful works
towards us, more than can be numbered. We have no starting
place or no ending place as to what you've done for us. And
you do it all day, every day of our lives. But oh Lord, we
need you, we want you, we desire you. Our soul cleaves to you,
our very soul cleaves to you. Our very heart and soul embraces
you. Oh Lord, oh how we need you,
cleave to you. And Lord, bring glory to yourself
through these messages today. You use them to your glory and
the good of your dear people. Save sinners by your gospel. Save sinners by the Holy Spirit.
Bring them to our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for our completeness. Thank you for our perfection
given to us in our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you, Lord. Blessed
be your name. Amen. Amen. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look
full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow
strangely dim. in the light of His glory and
grace. I'll see you Wednesday, God willing.