and by our gathering together
unto him so Paul saying that our Lord is coming when he comes
all of us will be gathered unto him he said but I don't want
you to be soon shaken in mind or be troubled neither by spirit
nor by word nor by letter as from us as at the day of Christ
is at hand evidently there were people who thought that Christ
would come back immediately and set up an earthly kingdom and
he said I don't want you to be shaken up go on about your living
go on do what you need to do make your life let no man deceive
you by any means for that day shall not come the coming of
Christ shall not come except there come a falling away first
now he's not talking about falling away from religion he's talking
about falling away from the truth from revealed religion, from
salvation by grace, salvation by Christ alone, salvation of
work of God. That's what he's talking about.
There's lots of religion. Most churches in town have two
services just on Sunday morning because they got so many people
there. But would you want to go there to worship this morning? And that's what he's talking
about. This falling away is happening. And it is continuing to happen.
And that man of sin be revealed, that's the Antichrist, the son
of perdition. And these people, this man of
sin, this one that's got control of these people, who causes us
falling away, opposes and exalts himself above all that is called
God. And I tell you, when a man exalts
his free will above God, that's a bad end. When a man exalts
his righteousness above the righteousness of Christ. When a man trusts
his works more than the works of Christ. When a man tries to
mix them together, that's opposing and exalting yourself above God. Ain't that right? And all that
is called God are his worship, so that he saith, as in the temple
of God, showing himself that he is God. Remember ye not that
when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye
know what withholdeth, or hinders, that he might be revealed in
his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work, only
he now leadeth, and that word leadeth means to hinder, will
lead until he be taken out of the way, the Holy Spirit. And
then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with
the spirit of his mouth, and ye shall destroy with the brightness
of his coming after the working of Satan with all powers and
signs and lying wonders and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness
in them that perish." And here's the reason they perish, because
they receive not the love of the truth that they might be
saved. They hear the truth sometimes
and they presented with the truth but they don't love the truth
and for this cause because they receive not the love of the truth
because they oppose God and for this cause God shall send them
strong delusion you notice that God does this now that they should
believe a lie God said you want to lie I'm going to give you
a lie You want to believe a lie? I'm going to see that you'll
believe a lie all the way through eternity and believe a lie right
up until you face God. That they all, listen to this,
that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, didn't
receive the love of it and believed it not, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. But Big door swing a little bitty
engines, but listen to this we are bound To give thanks all
the way to God for you brethren beloved of the Lord because God
has from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth were unto he called you
by our gospel and to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast
and hold traditions which you have been taught, whether by
word or by our epistle. Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself,
and God even our Father, which hath loved us, that hath given
us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace comfort
your hearts establish you in every good word and work I want to talk about four four
great themes starting here in verse 13 four great themes But we're bound to give thanks,
bound to give thanks all the way to God for you, brethren. Brethren that's loved of God,
beloved of God, beloved of the Lord, because God has from the
beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of spirit
and belief of the truth. You know, there are those who
believe a lie. One thing, and I believed a lie
for years. I did. I have grown up to that.
When I first come to Tennessee, I was Pentecostal. When I first come down here,
when I first started preaching, when I first started preaching,
I preached works. I preached holiness as something
that man could accomplish on his own. I preached that if you went certain
places, it gave evidence that you wasn't a Christian. I've done all those things. If
it was wrong, I preached against it. So self-righteous. So opposed to God. I believed a lie. But thank God
he didn't send me a strong delusion. He could have left me alone and
left me right in that mess. He could have left me alone and
left me to believe that I had the ability and the power to
save myself and convince everybody else to do the same. But thank God he didn't send
me a strong delusion that I'd believe that lie. that God began in His sovereign
mercy to reveal the truth to me. The truth. And I received the
love of that truth. It wasn't immediate. But as I
was confronted with truth and got around men who knew the truth
and began to preach the truth. And here's the difference between
a lie and the truth. The truth gives God all the glory
for everything that's said and done in this world. The truth
gives God all the glory. A lie gives man the glory. The truth makes God high and
man low. A lie makes man high and God
low. And that's the difference. And
just the long and short of it. That's the truth. That's the
business of it. And so we confronted with these
wonderful truths. Wonderful truths. And you get,
you know, you get ostracized for them. All the people that
I used to run with and who believed the same lie that I did, when
God began to teach me the truth, they began to call me and say,
I hear you're going to, you believe in predestination now. I hear
you believe in election now. I hear you believe that only
a few is going to be saved. I hear you, you know, and when
I first started preaching here, everybody around here said Donnie
Bell's got him a cult. They don't fight, they don't
say that about one another. Do they? Church of Christ don't
say that about one another. Freewheels don't say that about
one another. Armenians don't say that about one another. But
when you start believing the truth and start preaching the
truth, they think that you, they've heard a lie so long that they
think when they hear the truth, they think it's a lie. But listen,
I want to give you four great things out of these verses here
today. First one there is this. These
are words and we've learned these blessed words and thank God for
them. But look what he says in verse 13. Here's one of the great
things. Here's the first great thing
I want to talk about. But we're bound always to thank
God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God has
chosen you. I want to do this the first thing.
God has chosen you. Election. Four things about election. We're not ashamed of election.
You're not ashamed of it. Not ashamed to be called God's
people. God's not ashamed to be called our God. Christ's not ashamed to be called
our brother. So why should we be ashamed about
election? Why should we be ashamed about
the truth? Why should we be ashamed about
the truth of election? Here's the first thing about
election. It's true. It's true. It's true! Huh? Our Lord Jesus Christ said
in John 15, 16, Brad preached on this one time about a year
or two ago, but he said, God has, he said, you have not chosen
me. Our Lord Jesus said, John 15,
16, you have not chosen me. We didn't, you, you, you did
not choose me. Not one of you chose me. Peter, you didn't choose me.
John, you didn't choose me. Matthew, you didn't choose me.
Not one person in this building said, I chose him. No, no, no. He said, you have not chosen
me. You know what he did say, but
you will not come to me. But he also said, you have not
chosen me. But he said, I'll tell you what
I have. I chose you. I chose you. And I ordained you. So it's true. It's true. And the Scriptures tell us over
in Mark 13 this. It says that in the last days
people would come with signs and lying wonders and if it were
possible, if it were possible, they would even deceive the elect. You know why we're not deceived
and not going to be deceived? Because it's not possible. God
said it's not possible. In John 17 2 Our Lord Jesus Christ
says this, Thou hast given Him power over all flesh that He
should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him.
Election is true. It's a true thing. Look with
me over in John. Chapter 6. Let's look at this together. We've seen this before, but let's
look at it again. And you know it's true because
it's God's will. It's God's will. And God said,
you know, when He talked about the unjust judge, that woman
wouldn't let him alone. She'll not, I avenge mine elect
who cry unto me day and night. Shall not I avenge them? Of all
the things that's been said about him and done towards him and
acted towards him, shall I not avenge mine and elect? And oh
my, look what he said, it's God's will. The election's not only
true, but it's God's will. Look what it says in verse 37. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. There's a one gonna come to me.
No man can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me
draw him. And all that the Father hath given me shall come to me. Not go to religion, but shall
come to me. And him that comes to me, there's
nothing that I'll ever do to cast him out. And this is the
reason why. For I came down from heaven,
not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
What was the Father's will? That all that they gave me should
come to me. That's the Father's will. and
I come down to do that and this is the Father's will that all
that He's given me and all that come unto me and this is the
Father's will which has sent me that of all which He has given
me not only will I not cast them out but I'm not going to lose
them and not only that but I'm going to raise them up at the
last day. So it's God's will. That's why
Paul said as the elect of God Put on vows of mercy. Kindness
intended. Tell you something else about
election. Not only is it true and it's God's will, but it's
eternal. Look what he says. He chosen you, God has chosen
you from the beginning. From the beginning. When did
this election start? When did God start? He says from the beginning. Election
is eternal. Election is eternal. Election
doesn't start when we believe. We believe because we are elect. Election from the beginning.
Romans 8 says, For whom he did foreknow, them he also did predestinate. To be conformed to the image
of his Son, and whom he did predestinate, them he also called. Then he
called, he also justified. Well, what shall we say to these
things? If God be for us, who can be against us? Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? You know why you
can't lay any charge to God's elect? Because it's Christ that
died. Christ that died. Not only did
He die, but He rose again. And He says in God's right hand,
intercede for us. Election is eternal. Look over
at 1 John with me. 1 John chapter 4. Excuse me, chapter 1. When is
the beginning? When is the beginning? Oh my. In the beginning was the Word.
The Word was with God. The Word was God. Look what He said, talking about
the beginning. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we
have seen with our eyes. Who's that? The Lord Jesus Christ. We've looked upon Him. Our hands
have handled the Word of life. This life was manifested. We've
seen it. We've seen it. Bear witness to
it. And we're preaching unto you
and showing unto you that eternal life which was with the Father,
which was with God Almighty from eternity and was manifested in
time. And that what we've seen and
heard declare unto you that you also may have fellowship with
us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His
Son Jesus Christ. You know the first time you ever
confronted with the word beginning? in the first verse of the Bible
very first verse in the Bible Genesis 1-1 in the beginning
God stop right there don't need to say anything else in the beginning
God and I tell you beloved that's why Paul says when it pleased
God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by
his grace Huh? And then there's a group of people
that stood before the Lord Jesus Christ and said, Lord, we've
preached in your name. We've cast out devils in your
name. We've done many wonderful works in your name. And they
hear the four awfulest words that anybody will ever hear.
Depart from me. Why? I never knew you. Didn't know you. had no relationship
with you. You loved the lie, you believed
it, and you're going to live with it through eternity. So
election is eternal. I'm telling you it's eternal.
You know when we was elect? Before God ever created this
world. Before there was ever a star
put in the skies. Before the sun ever started its
race. When there was nothing but darkness
and void upon this world, God chose us in Christ before the,
what did He say? Before the foundation of the
world. So it's eternal. And then not
only is that, is it true, and it's eternal, but it's personal. It says there twice, we thank
God for you, and God hath chosen you. Chosen you. This election's personal. I want you to see something in
Revelations chapter 13 and 8. You know God wrote names in the
Lamb's Book of Life. And election is personal. Election
is personal. God saves people. He don't write
numbers down in the Lamb's Book of Life. He writes people's names
down. Not numbers. He told Jeremiah, before I formed
you in your mother's belly, before I formed you in your mother's
belly, I knew you and I called you. And I set my heart on you. I set my affection on you. On
you. There an infant cast out in Ezekiel
16. He said he saw him and he loved
him. And he loved him. But look what
it says here in verse 8. It's talking about this beast
that we were talking about. That's Antichrist we were talking
about a minute ago. And all they that dwell upon
the earth shall worship him whose names are not, not written in
the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. God wrote down names. He didn't
write our names down when we believed. A lot of people think,
well, I believe God put my name in the book. Listen, He put your
name in the book before you ever existed on this world, before
He ever done anything else. He wrote that book and wrote
every name in it. The old hymn writer said, there's
chained to the throne of God, a book, a book. with all the names God gave him
from eternity. And you know what? You say, if
you reckon my name's there? There's only one way to tell
if your name's there. Do you trust Christ? Do you believe
Christ? Do you bow to Christ? Do you
embrace Christ? Do you submit to Christ? Is He
all your righteousness? Is He all your hope? That's the
only way you can know if your name's written in the book of
life. Do you believe? Do you come to Christ? Do you
come to Christ in your heart and in your soul all the time?
Huh? Oh my. There's a chosen people. There's a people that God chose.
He called them My people. Mine elect. And I tell you, here's the fourth
thing about election. Not only is it true, not only
is it eternal and personal, But it's unto salvation. Look what
he says. God has from the beginning chosen
you unto salvation. Elections unto salvation. Elections
unto salvation and redemption. My, my. You know, I didn't know I
was elect till after I heard the gospel. But that never nullified
my election. You know because I didn't believe
that didn't nullify my election. And my belief did not make me
elect. I believed because I was elect. And I didn't believe and then
I was redeemed. I was redeemed. That's why I
believe. That's what it means Christ was
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. People put the
cart before the horse. Faith is what causes all this.
No, all this is what causes faith. Election unto salvation. Salvation brings faith. Salvation
brings life. When Christ stood as a lamb slain
from the foundation of the world, He was already, as far as God
was concerned, dead, and all His people, and raised again,
and all His people were in Him. Chosen in Him. died in Him, lived in Him, died
in Him, and rose again in Him, and sat down together right now
in the right hand of God, sat down with Him in the thrones
of glory. Oh my! And I tell you what, there's
two infallible, let me show you this, there's two infallible
marks of election. Two infallible marks of it, look
what they are. The first one is sanctification
of the Spirit. That's the first one. How can
you know you're elect? Well, under salvation did God
set you apart by the Spirit. That's what sanctification means.
It don't mean that you're holy and you're going to get more
holy. Sanctification means set apart. God set apart the tabernacle. God set about the things that
was in the tabernacle just to be used for His glory, just to
be used for His purpose. Well, that's why God saved us
on purpose and on purpose He set us apart from the rest of
the world. Well, how did He do it? By His
Spirit. He come and set us apart. He
took us out of the world. He took us from a lie. He took
us from false religion. He took us out of Adam and put
us in Christ. Huh? If any man have not the
Spirit of Christ, he's none of His. And the fruit of the Spirit is
love, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance against
his soul. And here's the second one. Belief
of the truth. Set apart and believe the truth. The word of truth. The love of
the truth. Here's the difference between
people who just listen and people who love it. People who love
it have to have it. They cannot live without it.
They'll go to great lengths to hear it. They'll go and they'll
drive miles and miles and miles and spend lots of money because
they love the truth and they're going to hear the truth. Oh,
love of the truth. Our Lord said this. He said,
sanctify them through thy word. Thy word is truth. Now beloved,
I've told you this before. Every religion that ever started
with man, you can go to the time and the place it started. You
can go when Camelotism started. You can go when Arminianism started. You can go where Christian science
started. You can go where Jehovah's Witnesses
started. You can find every religion where
Pentecostalism started. Where the holiness movement started.
Where Pentecostalism started. You can go to a time and a place
and a person who taught it. But if you believe the truth,
this is the only thing that you listen to. Now where did this
start? Where did the gospel start at?
Who brought the gospel? Who taught the gospel? Who started
the gospel? You see the difference? Oh my,
thank God. You know, sin is like this. Sin
is, I will, I will, I will. Sanctification of the truth says,
not my will, but thine be done. Not my will, but thine be done.
Here's the second great thing. Look at it with me. Verse 14. Oh world, to He called you. He called
you. He called you. God has called you. Oh my. This is one thing you know that
people really, really miss is they don't understand God's calling. Shirley said on the way over
here, you know, she is baptized as a child, said it was forced
upon her, forced upon her. And here's the difference. If
man calls a man, he'll end up failing. But if God calls you,
God calls you. He said, my sheep, what did he
say? My sheep, hear my voice. Remember that message that Paul
Mayhead brought, two word sermon, follow me. He just walked up
to that man sitting there with all his money and said, follow
me. He didn't say, well, let me finish my work day and then
I'll do it. He didn't say, wait till I get
done here and I'll do it. Wait till I get done with my
work week and then I'll follow. He said, no, follow me. What
happened to him? He got up and followed Him. And
if God calls you, guess what you're going to do? You're going
to follow Him. He called you. You reckon that
you couldn't hear. You know people say, well, I
think the Lord is trying to say something to me. I tell you one
thing, if He's got something to say to you, you're going to
hear it. That's one thing I believe with all my heart. I hear people
say all the time, I think the Lord is trying to show me something.
Listen, God don't try to do anything. He does it. Sometimes we won't
listen. Sometimes we'll say I'm gonna
do what I would know and then God what he'll do he'll talk
to you in such a way You'll say Lord. I'm sorry. I've done that
But oh my God's called you you know an election Is a salvation
it's unto salvation Election is a salvation Christ is salvation
Christ himself is salvation And let me tell you something. Here's
the thing about it. Nobody is saved unwillingly.
Not one person is saved unwillingly. Scott Richardson used to say,
God saved me against my will with my full consent. You know, no one is saved unwillingly. God does not force anybody into
his kingdom. We know when God told Noah, said,
prepare an ark to the saving of thy house. Do you reckon Noah
sat down and said, well, if I'm going to be saved in this flood,
God can save me without an ark. No, no, he went, he prepared
an ark to the saving of his house. Do you reckon that God, that
when they had that ark, that he was unwilling to go into that
ark? Do you reckon that he looked up and said, well, I don't know
if I want to get in that thing or not. I don't know if it'll
stand the storm or not. No, no. God said, come. You know what Noah went? He went
into that ark just as willing and just as happy and just as
rejoicing as he could be. And you know what? God shut him
in. And when God saves us and he
calls us, we come willingly. Has anybody here ever come to
Christ unwillingly? We every one of us come unwilling.
You know how we were made willing? In the day of His power. The gospel in the day of His
power. He made His, listen to this,
His people willing. I'm here today willingly, willingly,
gladly, joyfully here today. And I've called on Christ this
morning willingly. Huh? And you know who he calls
his people to? Himself. Himself. When I said, he said, depart
from me, you workers of iniquity, I never knew you. He says, just
the opposite to his people, come. Come, you blessed of my Father.
Come, that you've been given faith. Come, you that's been
elected. Come, you that's been chosen.
Come, to you that has eternal salvation. Come! He calls his
people. And I'll tell you what, our Lord
has no unbelieving people. He has no unbelieving people. When they hear the gospel, they're
gonna believe it. And for us, for anybody, I'm going to tell
you something. I'm going to do a little seriousness
here. For me or you or anybody to comfort those that we love
that's never heard the gospel and they die without ever hearing
the gospel. For us to say, well, we don't
know about them, that they're going to be in heaven. That can't
happen. We can't give false comfort to
a person. If a mother or a father or a
brother or a sister, people that we love, die without ever hearing
the gospel. And there's people that believe
that men without ever hearing the gospel, that God does things
without means, that people who's never heard the gospel, that
they'll be in heaven. I don't believe that. Don't believe
that at all. If you can find any time In this
book, in this Bible, that God ever saved anybody apart from
His Word, apart from means, I want somebody to show it to me. He uses means. And I'm telling
you, if I have to preach a person's funeral that died without Christ,
I will not give his family comfort. I will not give their brothers
and sisters comfort. A man asked me one time, a people
asked me to preach their mother's funeral one time. And they said,
we want you. And he gave me a list of things
I need to say about their mother. I said, I can't do that. I'm
not going to do that. They said, well, we'll get somebody
else in. Our Lord Jesus Christ, everybody
that he saved in the gospels, he went to where they was and
he saved every single person by a means. He went to the woman
at the well by himself. He went to Lazarus' tomb and
he called Lazarus. He went to the man by the Bethesda
pool and he said, wilt thou be made whole? And when Simon Peter went to
preach the gospel, he preached the gospel. You know, this man
was a religious man that Peter was sent to. And he says, we're
gathered here to hear what God has to say. I'll tell you what. I've got
a lot of lost people in my family. And they've already gone. And
they're already gone. and you can't have a tree fall,
that's the way it's going to lay. You live in this world and
you don't believe the gospel, you're going to leave the world
without believing the gospel. You live in this world without Christ,
you're going to go out of this world without Christ. You leave
this world without faith, you're going to go out of this world
without faith. And that's what he said and that's
what he goes on to say. One, two, you're called, you
listen to this, by our gospel. The gospel gospel means good
news And all my good news it is I said this morning this rejoiced
in the Lord and said Lord What a gospel what a gospel you've
given us look over here. We're second Thessalonians look
over at first Thessalonians chapter 1 Oh My I called you by our gospel
I The gospel has become our gospel. It's the gospel that saves us.
It's the gospel we believe. It's the gospel that comforts
us. It's the gospel that gives us
assurance. Look what he said here in verse
4. Knowing brethren, beloved, your
election of God. Oh, there's that word election
again. For our gospel. It came. It came. The gospel comes to where you
are. Not unto you in word only. I'm
using words this morning. Words is what we use to communicate
with. Words are vehicles of communication.
Our gospel didn't come unto you in word only. But it did come
in word. But it also came in power. That
word power, the gospel and power over in Romans 1 means dynamite. Dynamite and I tell you the gospels
dynamite. You know what the gospel do you
it blows up everything you ever believe smather shatters this
to smithereens Tires down your foundation blows it up Blows
up your self-righteousness blows up your self-confidence blows
up all hope in yourself And it comes in power and it
comes in the Holy Ghost the Spirit of God and And with it comes
assurance that this is it. This is it. There's nothing else.
This is it. Comes with great assurance. God
sends the word in the gospel in power and in the Holy Ghost.
Now, let me give you the fourth. That was the second great thing.
God has called it by your gospel. Here's the third great thing.
Verse 16. Look here. I love this phrase. Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. You know how many times it talks
about Himself. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
Himself. And God even our Father. Oh my. Our Lord Jesus Christ. He called
you by the Gospel. Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself
and God even our Father. Look what it says about Him.
Which hath loved us. We start out with election and
we're going backwards. He loved us. And that word hath
means you got it. That's also in the past tense.
Wherever you find that word hath, it's in the past tense. It means
accomplished. It means done. Hath loved us. When did He love
us? When did he not love us? That's the question. When did
he not love us? Oh, John said it like this. He
said, unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in
his own blood. Look in Romans 9 with me. Romans
9. You know, our Lord Jesus Christ said in John 13 while you turn
to Romans 9 he said God having loved his
own loved his own which were in the world how long did he
love them to the end to the end father you've loved them as you've
loved me is what our master said look what he says here in verse
11 for the children being not yet born talking about Esau and
Jacob neither one of them not born yet neither have done any
good or evil neither one of them have done anything good or done
anything evil that the purpose of God according to election
might stand not of works that's why it didn't do any good or
evil not of works but of him that calleth it was said unto
her the elder Esau shall serve the younger. Listen to it now.
As it is written, Jacob have a loved, but Esau have a hated. Blessed are the people who has
the God of Jacob as their God. First thing about Jacob, he is
loved of God. First thing about Jacob, he was
chosen of God. First thing about Jacob, he is
called according to God's purpose. Oh now our Lord Jesus Christ
himself and God our Father loved us. I've loved you with an everlasting
love. God's love doesn't love like
people does. God's love doesn't love. We love people. We do. We love
one another. But our love is just up and down,
this way, that way, this low, high. It's like water. It's just everywhere. But God's
people, God's love is like Himself. It's unchangeable. It's eternal. If He ever loves you, He'll always
love you. And He always will love you.
And that's one thing, God will not love us anymore when we get
into eternity than He loves us right now. We'll just enjoy it a heapside
better. We'll really enjoy it there.
And then let me give you the fourth theme. The fourth theme
is this. Isn't that verse 16? Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Himself. Not somebody else, Himself. And God, even our Father, which
hath loved us, and listen to this, and hath, hath, there we
go, again, got it, hath given us an everlasting consolation. Oh my, everlasting consolation. How long is everlasting? It has
no beginning, it has no end, that's for sure. And this word
consolation means to comfort, means to console. You know, some
people, you see people, they're unconsolable. They get in such
a state of mind over things, you can't console them. Well,
he says, God's given us an everlasting consolation, an everlasting comfort,
and He consoles us. Now, let me ask you, what comforts
you and what consoles you? What comforts and consoles you?
I'll tell you what consoles me and comforts me. Know all our
sins are forgiven. Oh, what a comfort, what a consolation
that is. All our sins are gone. They're
all taken away. They're all taken away. And I'll
tell you what else will comfort and console us. We're justified.
What does justified mean? That means that God himself looks
at us and says these people have not against them no way, shape,
form or fashion. They're justified. They have
no guilt. They have no sin. They have nothing against them.
We can stand in the presence of God. And who's he that condemneth? It's God that justified them. And oh, I tell you what else
makes us comfortable. It consoles us. We're accepted
in the Beloved. Accepted? Accepted? People worry about getting accepted
at this school, that school. Well, you reckon these people
accept me and people worry about how people are going to accept
them and receive them and all that. It don't matter diddly. But I'm telling you this, if
you're accepted of God, that's acceptance. Be accepted anywhere
else and it won't amount to much, but you'll be accepted in Christ
and it lasts forever. And I'll tell you what else comforts
us and consoles us. We're righteous. How righteous
are you? Righteous is God. We have the
righteousness of God in Christ. Righteousness of God? That's
another thing. I'll be no more righteous when
I get to heaven than I am right now. And oh, here's the kicker. Here's
the kicker. And we are complete in Him. That word complete is the same
word. Word is perfect. We are perfect in Him. That's
pretty confident, ain't it? That'll console you, won't it?
That consoles you. And then look what he says here.
And it's everlasting consolation. That means it's never going to
change. That means my position is never going to change. You
know why? Because God never changes. Huh? God never changes. And look what else it says there.
And hath given us a good hope. Oh, what a good hope. All those
things I've said to you. Ain't that a good hope? And how
did we get this good hope? Through grace. I love that word grace. I just
love it. I love to say it. I know what it means. Free grace. Amazing free grace. Through grace. In grace. Now listen to me and I'm winding
this thing up. Ever staying spiritual that we have. Grace gave it to
us. Everything spiritual that we
know, grace taught it to us. Grace, grace, grace, grace, grace,
grace, and more grace. Huh? The foundation, grace. The top stone, grace. The building
that God builds, He lays it in grace and He raises it up in
grace. And God gives us grace through
the Lord Jesus Christ, His Son. No wonder we sing, Amazing Grace. Huh? And all, everything that
we have is through grace. Our hope is good. And I hope
because it comes from our Lord Jesus Christ and our Father and
it cannot ever not be good because it's established on grace. Amen. I love them four things,
don't you? I may just run that by you again
tonight. I tell you. Oh, that blesses my heart. I
may just run that by you again.