Good evening. Let's stand together.
We'll sing hymn number 228. 228. My faith has found a resting
place, not in device nor creed. I trust the Ever-Living One,
His wounds for me shall bleed. I need no other argument, I need
no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died
and that he died for me. Enough for me that Jesus saves
This is my fear and doubt A sinful soul, I come to Him He'll never
cast me out I need no other argument I need no other plea It is enough
that Jesus died and that He died for me My heart is leaning on
the Word The written word of God. Salvation by my Savior's
name sound. It is enough that Jesus died
and that he died for me. For me his life he gave I need
no other argument I need no other plea It is enough that Jesus
died and Be seated we'll sing hymn number
75 number 75 Abide with me, fast falls the
eventide. The darkness deepens. Lord, with me abide When other
helpers fail and comforts flee Help of the helpless, O abide
with me Swift to its closest Outlines
little days Roar dim, its glories pass away. Change and decaying, all around
I see. O Thou who changest not, abide
with me. I need Thy presence every passing
hour. What but Thy grace can Through cloud and sunshine, O
abide with me. ? Hold thou my word ? Before my
closing eyes ? Shine through the gloom and ? Point me to the
skies ? Heaven's morning praise If you have your Bibles with
you this evening, I'd like to read again from the book of Ephesians.
We'll read Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians 2. Ephesians 2. And you, Hathi Quickened, who
were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past you walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation
in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children
of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace
you are saved, and hath raised us up together and made us sit
together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages
to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. The gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. Wherefore remember that ye being
in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision,
by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands, that
at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise,
having no hope and without God in the world. But now, in Christ
Jesus, you who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the
blood of Christ, for he is our peace, who hath made both one,
and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us,
having abolished in his flesh the enmity, the law of commandments
contained in ordinances, for to make in himself twain one
new man, so making peace, and that he might reconcile both
unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby.
and came and preached peace to you, which were far off, and
to them that were nigh. For through him we both have
access by one spirit unto the Father. Now therefore you are
no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the
saints and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the
chief corner, in whom all the building fitly framed together
groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye also are
built together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. Amen. Our most high and heavenly Father,
Lord God Almighty, we come in your holy presence through your
blessed Son. As we just read, we come to you
through him. Lord, we thank you for being
able to come before you. We thank you for the blessed
covenant we've just read of. We thank you that you have chosen a people out of disobedience
and sin to call your own, to show mercy to, to give faith
to. Lord, we ask that you would cause
your gospel here to be proclaimed tonight, that you would bless
it to our hearts, nourish our spirits with it. Lord, we ask
that you would be with us tonight. Let us not meet in vain. Cause
us to worship you in spirit and in truth. Father, we ask that you would
continue to have mercy. give us grace and uphold us. Cause us to continue in the gospel.
Let us to never stray. Lord, you've brought us from
the world and asked that you would keep us from the world.
Keep us clinging to thee. We ask for mercy and grace, strength
for those who are weak and weary. Those who are in pain and suffering. Fellow saints, Lord, we have friends in this world
who have great pain and suffering and do not know your love and
your grace and your peace. Our lost loved ones, Lord, we ask that you would have
mercy on whom you would have mercy. Save your lost sheep,
wherever they may be, according to thy great, holy, perfect will. We ask for these things, and
that thy will be done for Christ's sake. Amen. Amen. Amen. Hymn number 388. Have thine own way, Lord, have
thine own way. Water, I am the flame. Oh, be it make me after thy wind,
while I am Have Thine own way, Lord. Have Thine own way. Search me and try me Master today Higher than snow, Lord Wash me
just now As in Thy presence only I bow Lord, have Thine own way. Wounded and weary, help me, I
pray. All power surely is Thine Touch
me and heal me Savior divine I know way. ? With thy spirit ? ? Till all
shall see ? ? Christ only always ? ? Living in me ? First Peter chapter two. First
Peter chapter two. I get my subject out of verse
25. Chapter 2 and verse 25. For ye
were as sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the shepherd
and bishop of your souls. Now I've been trying to go through
the alphabet with the Lord Jesus Christ. I did the A's. Now I'm on the B's. I did the
branch. Last week I done the beloved.
Tonight I'm going to talk about Christ the Bishop, the Bishop
of our souls. And it says here He's called
Bishop, Overseer. It means an overseer, someone
that sees over all those that's given to Him. And there's men
in this world that's called bishops, and they have a certain area
that they're responsible for. Well, our Lord Jesus Christ,
He calls Him the Bishop of our souls. He oversees our souls,
not our bodies, our souls. There's a big difference there,
you know. He said He's the Bishop of our souls, not our bodies. And that's the most important
thing that we need to understand, that we are living souls, inhabiting
dying bodies. And this soul's gonna live on
somewhere. And I want it to live on in Christ. And if he's the
bishop of my soul, and the one that oversees my soul, that's
responsible for my soul, I believe I'll be all right. But a bishop
must be called. Bishops don't call themselves.
It's an office. It's an office. And he must be
called to that office, set apart to that office. But we know our
Lord Jesus Christ is set apart. He was anointed by God, set apart
to preach the gospel, set apart to be our Savior. And then not
only that, but Him must be qualified. He has to be qualified to hold
that office. You reckon you know He's qualified
to be the Bishop of our souls? You reckon He's qualified? But
it says there, we were as sheep going astray. but are now returned
unto the shepherd and bishop of our souls. Now I want you
to go back up with me, start in verse 22, and I'm going to
read all this again. Who did no sin, neither was guile
found in his mouth. Who when he was reviled, reviled
not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously. who his own self bare our sins
in his own body on the tree, or in his body wherein he held
it to the tree, that we being dead to sins should live under
righteousness by whose stripes ye are healed. And we were as
sheep going astray, but have returned unto the Shepherd and
see how both of those are capitalized. There's offices titles of our
Lord Jesus Christ shepherds capitalized bishops capitalized Because those
are titles of our Lord Jesus Christ and we were a sheep going
astray He's quoting here from Isaiah 53 We said we all like
sheep have gone astray Everyone is turned to his own way And
we've always, sheep will go astray. And when they go astray, they
can't find their way back. They don't know how to get back
to where they're supposed to be. And we've always been sheep,
just been stray sheep. And there's only two kind of
sheep in this world. That's the lost sheep and the
found sheep. And we were sheep Always sheep,
but we went astray we turned to our own way and We was returned
under the shepherd and bishop of our souls Now you returned
and I'll get to how we return here in a little bit, but it
says now you are returned We're not astray anymore. We're not
out there in the middle of nowhere anymore You've returned under
the shepherd shepherd Now our Lord Jesus Christ is called the
shepherd in three different ways in the New Testament. He's called
the Shepherd. First of all, He's called the
Good Shepherd. In John 10, He's called the Good Shepherd. You
know why He's called the Good Shepherd? Because the Good Shepherd
lays down His life for the sheep. The Good Shepherd lays it down.
He's responsible. David, he was a shepherd over
the Lord's sheep. And a bear came to get a sheep
one time. He took that sheep away from
that bear and we defeated that bear, killed that bear. A lion
come to get a sheep. And he took the sheep out of
that lion's mouth and defeated that lion. And so he's a good
shepherd. And I'm telling you what, he's
such a good shepherd, such a good shepherd, that he looked at all
of his sheep And even those that were astray, everyone that turned
to their own way, he looked at all those sheep and he said,
I tell you what, I love them sheep. Those sheep were given
to me. and I'm so good, and I love them,
I'm gonna lay down my life for those sheep. They're stray, Lord,
they're my sheep, I don't care. They're stray, I'm gonna get
them. They're stray, he's the good shepherd, said, I'm gonna
lay down my life for the sheep. And then he's called the chief
shepherd. Over here in I Peter chapter five, and look in I Peter
chapter five, over here he's called the chief shepherd. Oh,
thank God he's a good shepherd. Oh my, he's a good shepherd.
Now he's gonna find his sheep, lay down his life for his sheep.
And look what it says here. I'm gonna start reading in verse
one to make this make sense. The elders which are among you,
I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings
of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. He says, now I'll exhort you
to feed the flock of God. Sheep are always called a flock.
There's two people down here on Lantana Road. They got sheep.
They got sheep. One on the right and another
on the left down there right across from the church. They
got a field full of sheep. One thing about sheep, SHEEP
ALWAYS STAY TOGETHER. THEY STAY TOGETHER. THAT'S WHY
THEY'RE CALLED A FLOCK. AND HERE HE SAID, FEED THE FLOCK
OF GOD WHICH IS AMONG YOU. THEY'RE AMONG YOU. TAKE AN OVERSIGHT
THEREOF. DON'T DO IT BY CONSTRAINT. DON'T
DO IT BECAUSE YOU FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE TO. THAT SOMEBODY SAYS,
WELL, IF YOU DON'T DO THIS, THIS WILL HAPPEN. BUT DO IT WILLINGLY. Do it willingly. Don't do it
for money. Don't do it for old filthy lucre,
but do it because your mind is ready to preach the gospel. And
he said, and I tell you something else, don't be lords over God's
heritage. It's God's heritage. Don't be
lords over them, but be ensembles to the flock. And listen to this,
and when the chief shepherd shall appear, He's gonna appear. And when the chief shepherd shall
appear, and he's gonna appear, oh, and ye shall receive a crown
of glory that fadeth not away. Oh, he's gonna appear. He's the
chief shepherd, the chief shepherd. And look, now you keep I Peter
2. And look over here with me in Hebrews chapter 13. Just go
back to your left a little bit, tell you about another shepherd.
Our Lord is, David said, the Lord is my shepherd, my shepherd. And as a good shepherd,
we shall not want for salvation because He lays down His life
for the sheep. As for the glory and entering
into the glory with Christ, He s the chief shepherd. We ll not
want for glory. We ll not want to enter into
glory with the Lord Jesus Christ. And look what it says here in
Hebrews 13 and 20. Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead,
raised up our Lord Jesus Christ, from the Lord Jesus Christ, listen
to this, that great shepherd of the sheep. Oh, good shepherd, chief shepherd,
great shepherd. What makes him great? He provides
a great salvation for great sinners. And it was what was the great
shepherd through the blood through the shedding of His blood, that's
that Good Shepherd again, through the blood of the everlasting
covenant. And what does this Good Shepherd
do for us? Make you perfect in every good
work to do His will, working in you. You're gonna do a good,
gonna be working in you that this, listen, I love this right
here. Working in you that's well-pleasing in his sight. He gotta work in
us to even be pleasing in his sight. He said, worketh in you
that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ
to whom be glory forever and ever. So our shepherd, no wonder
David said, the Lord is my shepherd, and I shall not want, I shall
not want. We could not want for anything
that we need for eternity, but not possibly. Christ provided
it all. Now back over here in 1 Peter
2, and not only is he called the shepherd, we've returned
under the shepherd, but the bishop of our souls. the overseer of
our souls. He laid down his life for the
sheep. He's gonna appear for his sheep.
He was a great shepherd that saved us by his blood and works
in us to please himself. And then he becomes the bishop,
the overseer of our soul. Well, how did he become our shepherd
and our bishop? How did that happen? Well, and
how did we return? How did we return? Well, it's
plain as day to me here in these verses. This is how we return. Look in verse 22. We return because
our Lord Jesus Christ was the good shepherd that laid down
his life for his sheep. And here's how we return, talking
about the Lord Jesus Christ who did no sin, who did no sin. did no sin. We were astray, but
God had an everlasting covenant and we were astray, but He did
no sin. He was made to be sin, but He
did no sin. David said, my sin is ever before
me. We're conscious of our sin. WE
ARE CONSCIOUS OF OUR THOUGHTS. WE ARE CONSCIOUS OF OUR ATTITUDE.
WE ARE CONSCIOUS OF THE WORDS WE SAY. AND WE CANNOT SAY WE
DID NO SIN. BUT IT CAN SAY HERE, HE DID NO
SIN. NO SIN. HE NEVER THOUGHT IT,
NEVER SPOKE IT, NEVER ACTED IT. HE DID NO SIN. ONLY MAN ON THIS
EARTH WHO DID NO SIN. AND LISTEN TO THIS. and neither
was guile found in his mouth. That word guile means deceitful,
hypocritical. And you know thy Lord Jesus Christ,
there was no deceit found in his mouth. There was not a strange
word found in his mouth. There was not a deceitful word
found in his mouth. There wasn't a hypocritical word
found in his mouth. Every time he opened his mouth,
nothing but truth came out. Nothing but power came out. Nothing
but honesty came out. HE COULD LOOK AT ONE PERSON AND
DO SOMETHING FOR HIM IN A MIRACULOUS WAY, AND LOOK AT ANOTHER PERSON
AND SAY, YOU'RE A SERPENT AND YOU'RE A SNAKE. HE'D TELL THESE
OTHER FOLKS THAT YOU'RE JUSTIFIED, AND HE'D LOOK OVER THESE OTHER
PEOPLE AND SAID, HOW ARE YOU GOING TO ESCAPE THE DAMNATION
OF HELL? NO GOWL WAS EVER FOUND IN HIS
MOUTH. I MEAN, THERE WAS NEVER ANYTHING
TO COME OUT OF HIS MOUTH THAT WAS WRONG IN ANY WAY. Now that,
we're not, there was no exaggeration ever come out of his mouth. We
exaggerate, we tell things, we hear something and we'll tell
it again. We may embellish it a little bit and we may take
a little away from it. But we, you know, there's so
much guile in us that we oftentimes don't even, we'll tell something
and don't even remember what we said. You've heard that old
saying, they have to tell a lie to prop up the lie that they
already told. Christ was not that way. Christ
was not that way. And then look what he says. Who? How did we return? Who? When he was reviled. Oh, how
reviled he was. How was our master reviled? I'll tell you what, they laid
traps for him. They took how many, you believe
in Matthew 11, how many times in Matthew 22, they said, trying
to tempt him in his words. When the woman was taken in adultery,
they brought him, thought, well, we've got him now, you know,
he'll have to go against Moses or he'll have to let Moses' law
go. They thought every time they
was trying to trap him, trying to tempt him, trying to find
him at his words. And oh my. And he was reviled. He has a devil. He's a drunkard. He's deceiving people. He don't
know the law. Oh, all the things they said
about him. Oh, my. He saved others, but
he can't save himself. He's calling for Elijah. Elijah
ain't, see if Elijah'll come. Oh, they reviled him. found fault
with everything he said, found fault with everything he did.
And listen to what happens here now. He never wants to revile
back. Never wants to revile back. As
I said this morning, when our Lord Jesus Christ was on the
cross, he was on the cross dying, a bloody, bloody, bloody, bloody
mess. And right before he said it is
finished, He said, this is how, they reviled Him. They remarked
Him. They had Him in derisions. They cursed around Him and they
mocked Him while He hung on that cross. And the last thing He
said before it is finished, He said, Father, they were reviling
Him. Everybody there is reviling Him,
but five people that was around that cross. Everybody else was
reviling Him. You know what He said, Father,
You forgive them. You forgive them. How many times,
I think the awfulest thing anybody can do is use the Lord Jesus
Christ's name in vain. That's reviling. He won't revile
back. I mean, men will say all kinds
of things about him, but he never once fought them back. Well,
now I'll tell you pilots, they smote him and said, tell us who
smote you. They blindfolded him and they
beat him and everything they said. He never reviled. They
would curse him and he would not curse back. Oh, what a lesson
for us. Somebody don't like us, somebody
says something negative to us or something ill to us, it just
upsets us to no end. Why would they say that? Why
would they feel that way? And our Lord, he was felt, people
hated him from the day he was born till the day he was, and
they still hate him. But yet our Lord Jesus never
once, never once said, I'll get even with you. Listen, you curse
me, I'll curse you. That's not the way he done. They
reviled him, he didn't say a word. Didn't say a word. Robe around him, purple robe,
oh, look at this great king. Oh, my, but he never said a word,
never said a word, never reviled back. Looked at that cursing
crowd around him and said, Father, forgive him. And oh, look what
else he had in him. When he suffered, and oh, how
he suffered. Nobody suffered like our Lord.
And let me tell you why nobody suffered like our Lord. Because
He, being a sinless man, would never ever have to suffer. We
suffer because of sin. We suffer old age. We suffer
memory loss. We suffer all kinds of ills and
things because of sin. Christ did not never have to
suffer. He had no sin. So the sufferings
that he had in this world, he was willing to suffer. And he
suffered by being born in a stable. That's the first place he started
suffering. He suffered poverty all the days
of his life. Everybody went to their own house
one night and this Lord Jesus Christ was left standing there.
Nobody said, would you go spend the night with us? And oh my,
when he suffered, he never said, listen, you're gonna pay for
that. He didn't threaten them. Them
fellows that said, you got a devil, he didn't threaten them. The
men that beat him, he never threatened them. It's like Apostle Paul,
him and Silas, when they was in that Philippian jail and that
Philippian jailer beat them and then put them in stocks, they
began to start singing. They began to start singing.
God shook that jail and shook the foundation of it. Those fellows
were set free and the doors fell open and everybody went out.
But you know what? They said, Paul said, that fellow
is going to kill himself because they don't, they're going to
kill him anyway for letting these prisoners go free. Paul said,
don't you hurt yourself. Don't you hurt yourself. We're
not going anywhere. We're not going anywhere. We
got a gospel to preach. And that's the way our Lord Jesus
Christ was. When he suffered, Pilate said,
don't you know, he stood before Christ, and they had already
beaten him, he's plucked his beard, and Pilate said, don't
you know I've got the power to kill you or let you go? Our
Lord says, you ain't got no power. But he never threatened anybody.
He never threatened a soul. He had compassion when he saw
a bunch of hungry people. Set them down. Lord, we ain't
got but two loaves of bread and five fish. Set them down. There's 5,000 of them. We ain't
got enough money to buy food for them. Set them down. And
he took that two loaves of bread and that five fish and he fed
all 5,000 of them and took up 12 baskets full and said, you
folks wanna take some food home with you? I got plenty. Oh, there's nobody like our master.
He never did threaten. He didn't threaten back. He didn't
threaten back. Oh my. And then, and here's what
he did. And this is, oh, this is what
we need to do when folks mistreat us in any way or we think to
do, but he committed himself. He committed himself to him,
God, who judges righteously. He said, oh father, I commit
myself to you. In your hands, I belong to you.
And he said, God will judge righteously. And oh my, let me show you there
in verse 24, look at this. Oh my, what a, what a blessed
savior we got. Oh my, we was astray. We was
sheep astray. How in the world we gonna get
back? We can't get back. Until this happens. And oh, he
started out no sin, no guile, didn't revile, suffered, he didn't
threaten anybody. And then it come right down to
this. It come right down to this, who? His own self. Now I tell you what, when it
says talking about himself, it talks about himself. He offered
himself. Whatever, I'm, never one of us
has got a self, an ego, an id, or whatever you wanna call it,
that makes you you. Well, Christ, look what it said,
his own self. Self, that that made him a man,
that that made him perfect, that that made him without sin and
did no sin, his own self. What happened to him? He bare
our sins, in his own body, that body that
was on that. Hebrews said, thou hast prepared
me a body. Why did he have to have a body?
Because he could not suffer unless he had a body. He could not die
unless he had a body. He could not rise again from
the dead without having a body. He could not put away sin without
a body. And so he had a body, and on
that body, when he was on that tree, and that's what he calls
it, to that tree, and to that cross, when he was on that cross,
he had in his body our sins. He bare them. Didn't say that
they were in him. He had them on him. He bare them.
He bare the weight of them. He bare the weight of them. And
oh my, and let me tell you three things about our Lord's suffering
death, bearing in His own body on the tree. And our Lord's suffering
death here and being on that tree. First of all, the thing
about it is it's penal. Now if somebody breaks the law
and they end up going to the penitentiary, they broke the
law so they have to pay the penalty. Christ's sufferings and his bearing
our sins on the body was penitent. He suffered the penalty of them.
The penalty of them. What's the penalty of them? Death. He suffered the penalty of them.
It's like if you broke the law and you kill somebody and they
say, Penalize you go put you in prison well Christ He was
he went under the law and justice of God and bore our penalty on
that cross And I tell you God can't look on sin without punishing
it and when he found all our sins on his blessed son But he
found all our sins, and he was bearing them on his body on that
tree God said I can't look at him I can't. I can't. I can't have nothing to do with
him. He's got to die. But whose sins was he bearing? Ours. Ours. Ours. And the second thing about
it, when it says he bears sin, that means it was vicarious.
It was for somebody else. I see parents, and you have too,
they live through their children vicariously. You know, if they
wanted to be a beauty queen, so they couldn't do it, so they
have their children start them out little and make them into
beauty queens. Or they get them in sports, and
they wasn't good at sports, so they put them in sports and they
live vicariously by their children. And you know they can't do it,
so listen, my child can't, so I'm gonna be able to do it through
them. Well, our Lord Jesus Christ, He vicariously bore our sins. He took all our sins and said,
listen, that means that He carried them for somebody else. We live by Him, by His actions,
by His doing. And oh my, God showed his displeasure
against sin in his son. And for those for whom he suffered,
whom he suffered. And oh, let me tell you the third
thing about his suffering for sins. It was effectual. Who his own self by our sins
on the tree. Oh my. And look what it says,
and he read it tonight. You who were dead in trespasses
and sins, hath he quickened together with him. And look what he says
here. That we being dead to sins, first thing it says, should live. We're gonna live because he bore
our sins in his own body on the tree. We have life because he
bore our bodies on it. We shall live. Now to hope you
live, I'd like to live, I need to live. He said we should live. Oh my, we were dead to sins,
we should live. And look what else had happened
here. We're gonna live under righteousness. Christ established
righteousness. How God could be righteous. God
could be just. He established righteousness.
He established, God said listen, This is righteousness that I'm,
this is a righteous act I'm doing here, putting my sins on, putting
their sins on my son. This is a righteous act. And
so Christ, he established righteousness by his death on the cross. This
is what God requires. And our Lord Jesus Christ, and
we live under righteousness. How do we live under righteousness?
Only because of him. Huh? I'm alive to righteousness. I'm alive. I'm alive to the righteousness
of God in Christ. You don't delight in sin. You're
not sitting here thinking, Boy, I just can't wait till I get
out of here so I can go get in some. No, we live under righteousness. Not our righteousness, but His.
We live in righteousness because of His righteousness. Oh, my. We were dead, now you're alive. Not only are you alive, but you're
righteous. How? Because of him. Now, now, we're not sheep goin'
astray anymore. We've been returned, how? Through
Christ, dead, now we're alive. Oh my, we've been returned. And
look what it says here now. By whose stripes you're healed? Oh, what stripes is he talking
about? All those stripes they put on the Lord Jesus Christ.
He healed us. Healed us from our death. Healed
us from our sinfulness. Healed us from our self-deception. righteousness and self confidence
and self hope. Oh, he healed us from our false
notions and false. He healed us. He healed our minds,
healed our hearts, healed our souls, healed our wheels, healed
everything about us. Oh my. And I say what? And so you were
astray. You were astray. But now we're
back. Now we're back. Oh, my. How did we get back? By him. By him. Oh, my. You returned unto the shepherd,
that good shepherd that laid down his life for us, that chief
shepherd that shall appear, that great shepherd that is brought
again from the dead through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
and on the bishop, bishop, of our souls, overseer of our souls. And here's the thing about it.
You know, our Lord in Luke 15, he used three things
that was lost to show how he finds them. First of all, there's
a lost sheep. He looks, he looks, goes into
the wilderness till he finds that lost sheep, and he brings
it back. Second thing is, is a lost coin. And they sweep that house and
look all over that house, and that lost coin's found. That
lost coin's found. And the third one is, a lost
son, a prodigal son. He's a far off, a far off. He's eating hogs slop. He said,
I'm gonna go home. I'm gonna go back to my daddy's
house. And you know what he expected when he got back there? Nothing. Nothing. And I tell you what,
ain't you grateful he did no sin? Who did no sin? Perfect truth come out of his
mouth. Reviled, he never said a word. Threatened, he never
said a word. And now I'm telling you, No matter what we do, I
want to make this as plain as I can. I don't mean for us to
go out here and abuse the grace of God in any
way, but there's nothing that a child of God will do that the
Lord Jesus Christ didn't atone for their sin, didn't put their
sin away, not one, not one. When David was, I heard Don Fortner
say this, and it's so, I had to agree with him. He said, David
was as much a child of God and saved as he is ever gonna be
saved in the honor of Bathsheba as he was when he was fighting
the Lord's enemies. And that's why our Lord said
this. We were sheep going astray, but
now we're back. Where are we at? The shepherd.
and the overseer of our souls. That's a good place to be, ain't
it? Ain't you, we couldn't find our way back. He had to come
to get us. We didn't know how to get back in there. We couldn't,
once we're out of that sheepfold, we can't get back in, unless
the shepherd brings us. Oh, oh, what a wonderful savior
is Jesus our Lord, huh? Oh, thank God he's my Lord, my
God, my Savior. I'm like old Thomas. Oh, my Lord
and my God. That's who I'm like. He's my
Lord and my God. Our Father, the blessed, blessed,
blessed name of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior,
Oh, we bless you, praise you. Lord, we look at your word and
it tells us who you are. Tells us what you did. Tells
us who you did it for. And that tells us why you did
it. Oh, Lord, we're so thankful. Oh, I'm so thankful for you,
Lord Jesus. I'm so thankful for your father
providing us a savior. I'm thankful, Holy Spirit, that
you bring the things of Christ to us, show them to us, teach
them to us, reveal them to us. And Lord, bless it to our hearts,
our understanding. Let us never look to anyone else
but our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you, Lord. Oh, thank you,
Lord, for bearing our sins. Oh, Lord, thank you for bearing
our sins. Oh, bearing our sins. And you did it there on your
own body. You yourself did it. Oh Lord, thank you. Thank you
for bearing our sin. Thank you for you giving us life.
And Lord bless these dear saints as they go their way this evening.
Bless brother Brad as he's on his way home and Pam as she stays
down there. Give them traveling mercies and
strength. And our blessed Savior, we pray for those who are weak
in their bodies, can't be with us. Oh, God bless them. Lord, encourage them. Father,
thank you for the gospel. Keep your people. And we ask
these things in Christ's name, amen, amen. 318 in the hymn book,
we sang this, we'll stand together and sing this, and you'll be
at liberty to go home. 318, everybody all know this one too. Everybody all know this one.
Let's stand together. I need thee, I need thee, oh
Lord, I need you. ? I need thee every hour, most
great. ? ? Gender, voice like thine,
suffer. ? ? I need thee, oh, I need thee. ? I need Thee. Oh, bless me now,
my Savior. I come to Thee. I need Thee every hour. Stay Thou nearby. ? Temptations lose their power
? When Thou art nigh ? I need Thee, oh, I need Thee ? Every
hour I need Thee ? Oh, when I sit down to sleep Bless me, Lord. Oh, I come to You. I need Thee every hour Enjoy
all your pain Come quickly and abide ? For 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 Oh Lord, make me. 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, I come to Thee. You know what the best line in
this whole, all four of these verses? I come to Thee, I come
to Thee, All these needs, I come to thee. That's where we come,
we come to him. Lord bless you, see you Wednesday,
God willing.