Good, good, good, good song.
Turn with me to Hebrews 13. Hebrews 13. The title of my message this evening
is, A Good Thing. A Good Thing. Down in verse 9
it says this, Hebrews 13, 9. Be not cared about with diverse
and strange doctrines, for it is a good thing, see that it's
a good thing, that the heart be established with grace, not
with meat which have not profited them that have been occupied
therein. The apostle gives us some good
exhortation, good exhortation throughout this chapter. And
he's exhorting us to many wonderful and need for truth. Look in verse
1. He says, let brotherly love continue. He says it's there. Brotherly
love's there. You love one another. Let it
go on. Let it continue. Don't let nothing
stop it. Don't let nothing hinder it.
Continue. Let brotherly love continue.
That's a good thing. Can we love too much? Romans chapter 12 says this,
owe no man anything but to love one another. And when we get
that debt paid, we'll be paid in full. Owe no man anything
but to love him. And then he says there in verse
three, remember, remember them that are in bonds
is bound with them. And suffer them as suffer adversity
as being yourselves also in the body. Remember, that's a good
thing. People that are having troubles,
people that are having heartaches, people that are suffering in
their bodies, suffering in their minds, suffering in their soul,
suffering in affliction, suffering adversity, things that's against
them. And says, you know, you be compassionate, be sympathetic.
You know, you as being yourselves also in that same body, as being
like that yourself. And we're one in Christ, and
you know, weep with them that weep, mourn with them that mourn,
rejoice with them that rejoice. And then he said in verse 5,
let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content
with such things as you have, for he hath said, I'll never
leave thee nor forsake thee. Now, when he says let your conversation,
he's talking about your manner of life. A conversation means
the way you live. That's what it means in the scriptures. Communicate, that means to give
in a natural sense. But here, conversation means
your manner of life, your character. And he says, let your manner
of life, let your character, let your conduct, let your manner
of life be without covetousness. Don't go around saying all the
time, I want this, I want that, I'd like to have this, I'd like
to have that other thing. I don't think I can live without
getting this thing, getting that thing and another thing. And
there's people that's got to have the latest of everything.
And that's what he's saying. Let your conversation, let your
manner of life, don't let folks say, that fellow there is never
satisfied with whatever he does. He's just got to be getting something
all the time. And then he says, but be content with such things
as you have. Be content. You know, contentment
is one of the most blessed things that you can have in this world.
Oh, contentment. contentment with what God's done
for us, contentment with our home, contentment with our lives,
contentment with our living, contentment with the days that
the Lord gives us. Do any of us, you reckon, need
anything? We're going to leave here tonight
and we're going to go home and get in real nice comfortable
homes and get there in real nice automobiles. And we're going
to sit in real, real comfortable chairs, and we're going to watch
a flat screen TV that's smarter than us. And we're going to get in a bed
that's so comfortable and nice and soft, and God's going to
give us a good night's sleep. Boy, what a life. What a life. It's a good life, ain't it? It's
a good life. And if you want to eat something,
you got something to eat when you get home. Something good
to eat. And then he says, So be content
with such things as you have. And here's the reason why. Because
God said, Whatever else leaves you, whatever else you don't
have, and what you may never have, one thing you'll always
have. For he has said, I'll never Never,
no, never, no, never, no, never leave thee nor forsake thee.
Whatever else goes, that's one thing that we're going to have.
We're going to have Him. He's going to stay with us, going
to stay with us. Now that's all those are good
things, good things. But the good thing that I particularly
want us to see and to understand and believe is there in verse
nine, that you be not carried about with strange doctrines,
but that your heart be established with grace. That's what I want
to talk about. The heart being, it's a good
thing that the heart be established with grace. God is the God of
peace. God is the God of decency. God
is the God of order. And here he instructs us to have
a heart established with grace. And he tells us here how that
happens, how that's accomplished, how our heart is established
with grace. And oh, and he says there back
up now in verse 7, let's start right here. This is how God has
accomplished this, having our hearts established with grace
and not with meat. He says in verse 6, 7, excuse
me, Remember them that have the rule over you, who have spoken
unto you the word of God, whose faith follow, considering the
end of their conversation. He says now remember them, remember
their calling, remember their office, remember their responsibility
as pastors and teachers that rule over you. Now in any society,
in any society where there's any people that's gathered together
there has to be rule, there has to be rule, there has to be guides,
there has to be government. Without it, there's anarchy.
There's confusion. And then every man will end up
doing that which is right in his own eyes. That's what'll
happen in any society, whether we're in a church, whether we're
in our homes, whether we're in our nation, whether we're in
a town, whether we're in a township. There has to be rules and guides
and governments. If you don't, every man will
end up doing what's right in his own eyes, and there'll be
confusion and anarchy. And that's why, you know, when
people used to have business meetings, it would just turn
into a knock-down drag-out. Never failed. Never failed. And then he says, remember them
not only that guide you and teach you, but look here, and this
is what he says about more than anything, who have spoken unto
you the word of God. That's how they rule. That's
how they guide. That's how government is run
in the church of God. This is the way, the rule to
God that we, those of us as pastors and teachers and those that do
preaching, that's the way they rule in God by declaring and
teaching and instructing from God's Word. Spoken unto you the
Word of God. Not have to get a book from some
denomination, not have to get some guide, you know, some book,
you know, and say, we're going to go through this book here
and find out what they have to say about that. I know preachers
that's went through the Pilgrim's Progress, got a whole Bible,
and what in the world would you do being preaching through the
Pilgrim's Progress when you got a Bible? Why would you have a thing that
says, well, we're going to teach marriage for 10 weeks? I don't
know all the scriptures that tells you. I'll tell you what
it says about marriage. Husband, love your wives even as Christ
loved the church and gave himself for it. And wives, submit yourselves
unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. That's the long and
the short of it. If you do those two things, things
will be all right. Ain't that right? Husbands, if
you love your wives as Christ loved the church, oh my, you
can't love her enough. And you wives, submit yourselves
the way you submit yourself to Christ. You love Christ, you
obey Christ, you desire Christ, you do that, and I tell you what,
you'll have a good marriage. Ain't that right? Now, why do
we want to talk about that for ten weeks? Takes you two minutes. Then, oh, we're talking about
speaking unto you the Word of God. And when we talk about,
this is how our heart's established in grace. We preach the Word
of God, revealing the Word of God, making plain the meaning
of the scriptures, not our opinions, our thoughts. And this is great,
great business. There's not a higher calling
in this world than the call to preach the gospel. I'd have to
step down anybody that's called to preach the gospel. I'd have
to step down to be the President of the United States. It would be beneath the calling
of a preacher, called of God, to preach the Word of God, to
guide the Church of God, to govern the Church of God by the Word
of God. It would be beneath his office to do anything than that. Beneath His calling. And oh,
let me show you a couple of things. Look over here in 2 Timothy 3.
You keep Hebrews 13. Look in 2 Timothy 3. Back to
your left just a little. 2 Timothy 3. Two books as a matter
of fact, Titus and then Timothy, 2 Timothy. You know that's what he says,
God gave some apostles prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers. that we all may come together
in the unity of the faith, that we all may come and be one in
this faith, one in this Christ, that Christ may grow up under
the, we may grow up under the fullness of the stature of Christ
and grow up as people who strong in the faith. And people say,
Christ is there. Look at the measure and the stature
of Christ among them people. And that's what he's saying.
But look what he said here in second Timothy. 3, verse 14,
talking about teaching the scriptures, speaking the word of God. But
continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been
assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them. Now continue
and be assured that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures. which are able to make thee wise
unto salvation through faith which is in Christ." Now I said,
you've learned these things, be assured of it. And you be
assured of this, that all scripture is given by inspiration of God,
breathed of God, and is profitable for doctrine. for reproof, for
correction, and, oh, bless his name, for instruction in righteousness,
that the man of God, not the woman of God, that the man of
God may be perfect, throughly furnished, throughly furnished
unto all good works. Look in verse 1 of chapter 4.
I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ,
who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing, preach
the word, Don't preach the word. Don't preach about the word.
Preach the word. Be instant in season, out of season. You know
what that means? There never is a season not to preach the
scriptures. Just ain't no season. If you're in season or out of
season, that means there ain't no season. You just preach. Just preach. And all rebuke,
reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. And doctrine. So it says, remember
them. that have the rule over you,
who's spoken unto you the word of God, and back over again in
Hebrews 13. And then look what he says, whose
faith follow. Whose faith follow. What does
he mean by this? This is how our hearts are established
with grace. Whose faith follow. Faith here
could mean three things. And I believe we could say it
means all things. Faith means the act of what we
call believing. Do you trust Christ? Do you believe
Christ? Do you have faith in Christ?
That's what we call believing. And then the thing that's believed.
What do we believe? We believe the scriptures, we
believe Christ, we believe that we're sinners, we believe the
salvations of the Lord, we believe the salvations by grace, we believe
that our whole salvation is entirely and completely outside ourselves,
accomplished outside ourselves. That nothing we say, do or ever
have accomplished can add anything to what Christ has already done. And then not only does it the
thing that we call believing, but the thing believed the object
of our mind. And then sometimes it means faithfulness. And I hear we could say all three
that, you know, whose faith fallen and you go through men and men,
men and women you've known, or people you've known all your
life and preachers you've known. They were strong and are strong
in the faith. They give glory to God. God gets
the glory in what they say. God gets the glory in what they
preach. God gets the glory. And they're unshaken, unshaken
in their doctrine of Christ. Don't care what anybody says
or what anybody's opinion is, they're unshaken in the doctrine
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, they're established in
that. They're rooted in that, grounded in that. And the reason
being, look what it says down here in verse 9, and this is
the reason why we have to be strong in faith, giving glory
to God, whose faith follow, be not carried about with diverse
and strange doctrines. Oh my, that's why you got, there's
diverse and strange doctrines out there, lots of diverse and
strange doctrines. And that's what he means, follow
their faith, not them. Don't you be carried about with
all them strange doctrines and all them diverse doctrines out
there. Don't change your creed. Don't change your faith. Don't
change what you believe because you hear somebody that could
be a little bit better, a little smarter, a little gooder at what
they do. And oh, listen. And it says again, you know,
there whose faith follow. Hold to the faith of your pastors
and your teachers. Follow their faith. Follow it. If they're following Christ,
Paul says, follow me as I follow Christ, whose faith follow. You
know, Romans 4.12 says this, that we walk in the footsteps
of that faith of our father Abraham. Now, what kind of footsteps did
Abraham walk in? He believed God and God said
he is righteous. when he even took his son up
on he believed God that God's gonna give him a son God gave
him a son born according to promise born supernaturally then when
he had that son and all the promises him God said take your son now
your only son take him up there and offer him to me Abraham never
batted an eye Strong in faith, giving glory to God. Do you know
why he went up there? Said, men, that boy's coming
back down off that mountain. We're going up there to worship
and we're coming back down. If I offer him God's promises
in him, God is so faithful, God is so, his promise is so glorious
that he cannot fail. If I do, he'll raise that boy
from the dead and I'll come off that mountain with him. Now that's
how strong in faith he was. And oh, he says, now you follow
their faith. And they continue steadfast in
the truth of Christ, the gospel of Christ, right to the, and
he says, listen to this, to the end, considering the end of their
conversation. Oh, look in 2 Timothy again. Oh, listen, this is what we want,
2 Timothy 4. Oh my. Oh, to continue in the doctrine
of Ed, when we built this building, Ed said this, and he prayed.
One of the first prayers in this building, we moved in it in the
first Sunday, January the 6th, 1991, is the day we moved in
this building. 1991. I was 41 years old. Mary was 39. Young, young, young. And we moved in this building, and Ed prayed. He said, as long
as this building stands, may the gospel of the grace of God
be preached in it, may the free grace of God be preached in it.
And if it don't, Lord, burn it down, destroy it, let a tornado
destroy it, let some destroy it, if the gospel ever ceases
to be preached in this place. That's a good prayer, ain't it? And oh, look what the apostle
said here in 2 Timothy 4, 6. For I'm now ready to be offered. I'm ready to be offered. Who
are you going to be offered to? Oh, I'm going to offer myself
to the Lord Jesus. Lord, I'm yours. Come take me. And the time of my departure
is at hand. You get, I got an airline ticket already. Tells
me where I'm supposed to be and the day it's supposed to depart
and when I'm supposed to leave the next place and the time it's
supposed to depart. And I gotta be there in time for that thing
to depart, to be on it so I can depart. Well, Paul says the time
of my departure has come. Now, I'm not gonna get on no
airplane. He says the time of my departure to leave this flesh,
to leave this body, to leave this world, to leave my trials,
to leave my burdens, to leave my preaching. Listen to this. I fought a good fight. I never,
I never backed down. I fought the good fight. I fought
it. I fought, I fought the heresy. I fought strange doctrines. I
fought men, false brethren. I fought lions. I am, I fought
a good fight and I finished my course and I've kept the faith. Henceforth, thou hast laid up
for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but
unto all them that love his appearing. Oh, my. And whose faith follow,
and back over here again it says here, considering, remember them
which have the rule over you, in verse seven, who have spoken
unto you the word of God, whose faith fought considering the
end of their conversation, considering the end of their manner of life.
What is their manner of life? The end, the result. The end
of their life. The end of their manner of life.
And this looks beyond this life into eternity. And all to continue
steadfast in their faith and their profession of Christ right
to the very day that we cease to be in this world. Oh, so this is how, and look
what else it says now. Doing this, remembering your
pastors, your teachers who have spoken the word of God unto you,
follow the faith, consenting then to the manner of life. This
is one of the means, just one of the means God uses to establish
our hearts in grace. And look at the second thing. And this is why. Jesus Christ,
the same today, yesterday, and forever. Oh, that's the message. That's
what he said, whose faith follow. What is our faith? Jesus Christ,
the same today, yesterday, and how long is he going to be the
same? Forever and ever and ever. Oh, the Lord Jesus never changes. One thing that never changes
about him is his mind and will never changes. That mind and
will of our Lord Jesus Christ made known in his blessed word,
it never changes. Our mind, you say, oh, it's all
over the place. Man's opinions, ideas, and convictions,
they're always changing. But Jesus Christ never changes. This world is changing faster
than we can keep up with it. The government's changing faster
than we can keep up with it. This world has lost its mind. But we ain't lost ours. You know
why? Because the Lord Jesus Christ
is the same today. Man's opinions, they change. Man's ideas are always coming
up with something new. Man always, everybody's got a
pocket full of convictions. The devil's tickled to death.
They're changing. But Jesus Christ never changes.
And then he says he's the same. Never changes. And the same as
yesterday. He is the same yesterday. When we got up yesterday, was
the Lord Jesus Christ just like he was the day before? Yesterday, the same truth, the
same Savior, the same Lord, the same Messiah, the same Christ,
the same blessed Savior, the same Redeemer, the same doctrine.
To Him, all the prophets give witness. Yesterday, the same
thing it was yesterday, He is today. This is what's so wonderful
about this. Today, the same truth concerning
our Lord Jesus Christ. The same salvation that Abel
had, that Abraham had, Isaac had, Jacob had, that's what we
have. Today, Jesus Christ is exactly
the same. And oh, I'm telling you what,
you're talking about something to soak your soul in. I've looked
for a message on Hebrews 13.8 for months. And I ain't found one yet that
I just, I can't, you know, you just can't, what are you going
to say about it? Every one of you could say something
about this. Jesus Christ, let me tell you
about Jesus Christ. What are you going to tell me
about him? He's the same. He never changes. That's what
you'd tell me about him. He's the same in his beauty.
He's the fairest among 10,000. Oh, he's the lily of the valley.
He's the fairest among 10,000. I am my beloved and he is mine. He walks among the lilies and
I smell him. He's got, it's his face is ruddy
and his hair is bushy black. And then you see Him with that
golden girdle around Him, and that hair, white hair, snow white
there in Revelations, and that beautiful robe on Him, and that
golden girdle around Him, and that rod of brass. Oh my! You see Him as the Lamb. You see Him as the Lion. You
see Him as Mary's Son, and the Son of David, and the Son of
God. That's one who would dwell with
God in eternity, came in time, and he's still the same that
he was in eternity. And that man was here that went
back to glory. He's the same man that was here. Every one of you can tell me
that. It's what I need to preach. Oh my. He's the same today, the
same truth. Same doctrine, same Savior. Children, have you got any bread?
No. Have you caught anything, nothing? Well, come here and dine. Oh my, not only is he the same
yesterday and today, but look what it says, forever. Oh my, what a message. Never,
forever he's the same. That's why, you know, whatever
heaven's going to be, wherever Christ is, that's where heaven's
at. Every once in a while we get just a little taste of that
here. God lets us leave this just sometimes for just a few
minutes, sometimes for longer than a few minutes. Sometimes
He so takes us up in the service that He lets us leave this world
just for a little while. And one of these days when we
see our Lord Jesus Christ, we're going to know Him just like we
knew Him today. We're going to know Him just
like we knew Him yesterday. And we're going to know Him just
the same way He is right now forever. He never changes. When you go to glory, He's gonna
be just like He was in your mind and in your heart, except it'll
be a living reality then. He ever lives, His love for you
never changes, never varies. His care for you, His care for
His people never changes. We men live and we die and we
love them that do and we highly regard them. But our Lord Jesus
Christ, We'll never change. We go through our changes and
we're changes, we're fading. We're walking through the valley
of the shadow of death right now. Right now. And the shadow is getting longer
and longer and longer until one of these days we'll take that
final step. But Jesus Christ will be the
same forever. I'm changing day by day and you
are too. Oh my, Jesus Christ the same.
Let Christ be the same to you yesterday, today, and forever.
He's the same in Himself. He's the God-man. His doctrine
is the same. It's always true. His promises
are sure. His laws are wise and good as
they ever were. And you've embraced Him as Savior
and Teacher and Redeemer and Lord and Righteousness. Abandon Him. Abandon Him. Because He'll never abandon us.
Now look what He goes on to say now in verse 9. These are the
things that the Lord uses to create for our hearts to be established
in grace. Be not carried about with diverse
and strange doctrines. You see that word doctrines is
plural. Since Christ is the same, there's
nothing different about Him. But when it says divers, strange,
that means it's foreign. It's against the gospel. Anything
that's against the gospel is strange. Anything that's against
the scripture is strange. Anything that tear down Christ
and his blessed truth is strange and it's diverse. Strange doctrines,
they're strange to the scriptures. Strange to the scriptures. Strange
to free and sovereign grace, strange to the glory and honor
of God. Anything that detracts from Christ and His glory is
strange. Leave it alone. Now, anything
goes. I'm going to tell you all something.
I don't know if you know it or not. Pentecostals, Jehovah's Witnesses,
Unitarians, Nazarenes, Camelites, You can go and find exactly when
they came into existence. You can go to history and say,
this is when the Camelites were born. Their church started. You can find out when the Nazarene
church was started. You can find out when Pentecostalism
and tongue speaking started. You can find out where Jehovah's
Witnesses started out. Where Seventh-day Adventists
started out. You can find where the Catholic
church started. You can go to a point in history
and say, right there is when they done that. And every single
one of them is diverse and strange from the Gospel. Ain't that right? Every single
one of them is diverse and strange from the Scriptures. They ever
won Seventh Day Adventist? Meet on Saturday. And they call us the beast. They
say we're partaking of the beast. Because we meet on Sunday. Unitarians,
I don't even, you know, Unitarians they don't even exist because
they think everybody's going to heaven and everybody ought
to feel good about it. And it don't make no difference
what you think about God, just come over and meet with us. And I tell you, you can find
exactly when something started. But you know what? When it comes
to the gospel, you know where the gospel started? God, who a four time promised
through the scriptures. To him, all the scriptures give
witness. In the beginning, God. In the beginning, God. How was
Abel saved? God found him. God clothed him. How was Abraham, how was Enoch
saved? God come and got him and took
him to be with him. How was Noah saved? He found
grace in the eyes of the Lord and the Lord told him what kind
of an ark to build. How was Abraham saved? God called
Abraham out of idolatry and said, go, and Abraham went. Every person you find in the
scriptures say, God saved them. And every person you find in
the scriptures like David said, he said before the Lord said,
who am I and what is my house that thou should even think about
me? Every person that God saved,
every single one of them say, how can it be? How can it be? And you find anything besides
that, you've found a false doctrine. You've found this diverse and
strange doctrine. And he says, don't you be carried about there.
Don't be unsettled in your mind, unsettled in your conduct. I'm
taking too long, but look in Matthew with me, Matthew 24.
That's why John said, he said, try the spirits, whether they
be of God or not. Try them. Try the spirits. Are they talking
about Christ or are they talking about their works? Are they talking
about Christ or how many souls they won for Jesus? Are they
talking about Christ or are they talking about God has so many
in the altar? Talking about Christ or we got
13 children saved last week. And that's who got them saved.
They got them saved. God didn't save them. And look
what it said here in Matthew 24 verses 4 and 5. And Jesus answered and said unto
them, Take heed that no man deceive you. Now he's talking to his
apostles. Take heed that no man deceive
you. For many shall come in my name saying, I am Christ or I
am of Christ. And listen to what it says here.
And shall deceive many. Shall deceive many. Do you know what it also says? The elect shall never be deceived.
They'll never be deceived. And I'll look back over here
then in our text in verse 9 here, Hebrews 13. You see, truth, truth
is a perfect unit. Error is many. We have one faith,
one Lord, one baptism. And when the scripture speaks
of the truth, it's always doctrine, it's always singular. Our Lord
Jesus Christ, he that heareth my words, he'll know whether
my doctrine is of God or not. And you know, if any man brings
not the doctrine of Christ, don't bid him Godspeed. But wherever
you find error referred to, it's always in the plural. He calls
it the doctrines of men, the doctrines of the devil. The truth
is one. The truth is one unit. Stanza
falls together. And you can take it what we call
Calvinism, anything you want to do, but this is the truth.
This is the way it goes. If you miss what happened in
the garden, you're going to miss everything. If you don't understand
how you became a sinner, you'll never know how in the world you'd
be saved. And you just ask, let me say
this to you. You just ask some folks that
you know, said, did you know you became a sinner in Adam?
Did you know you was born a sinner? You ask somebody that one of
these days and see how they react to it. I mean, you ask some Southern
Baptist, you ask some Camelite, you ask some Jehovah's, ask somebody
that you just ask them, said, and another thing to ask them,
if they do a good deed for you, said, do you think God's going
to bless you because of what you did for me? You'll find out real, real quick. Ain't that right? Huh? You know
how truth where it begins? It begins with God and ends with
God. Huh? Oh, the truth, the truth, the
truth, the truth. And then he says here in verse
nine, again, it says, it's a good thing that the heart be established
with grace and not with means. be established in the truth of
grace, sovereign grace, free grace, the free favor of God. And to have your heart established
is the opposite of it being carried about. Let me show you, look
here in Revelations 22, 21. I thought of this today when
I was looking at these notes again, talking about grace. It's a good thing that the heart
be established with grace. the truth of grace, sovereign
grace, the salvation. God gives grace to whom he will.
And if it's owed to man, it ceases to be grace. And if you ever
earn it, a blessing from God, it ceases to be grace. We're
talking about the free favor of God. And look what he said
here in verse 21. Well, you know, John says, He
which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly.
Amen. Even so comely, Lord Jesus. And
then he says, and this is the last words in the Bible, The
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. That's what I want. I want the
grace of God to be with me always. Amen. Oh, listen. The God of all grace who hath
called you unto His eternal glory. We're talking about eternal grace.
When was grace given us? Given us in Christ before the
world began. Electing grace. Grace is what
chose us. Chose us in Christ before the
world ever began. Establishing grace. God just
keeps establishing us. Keeps us hearing the grace and
believing the grace and keeping us in grace, enabling grace. Whenever you're going through
a trial, whenever you're going through a heartache, whenever
you're going through things that you feel like you just don't
know how to deal with. God, don't God give you grace
always to enable you to get through it? Grace we're talking about is
undeserved. Grace is unsought. And it's born
in the heart of God. by the spirit of God. Oh, the
gospel is called the gospel of the grace of God. And what is
it? It's Christ in you, the hope
of glory. Look over in 1 Peter 5, 10 with
me, right to your right, James and then 1 Peter, Chapter 5. God puts grace in us because
he chose us in grace. We not only have grace for us,
but grace is in us. Listen to this. But the God of all grace, he
just got through talking about the devil, roaring about as a
roaring lion, seeking whom he did devour. He says, but listen,
the God of all grace, who hath called us, listen to this, unto
his eternal glory by Jesus Christ. Called us unto eternal glory.
That means, beloved, that means that that's our destination.
An eternal glory to be with God in Christ. And then he says,
after that ye have suffered a while, and it'll be just a little while
on this earth. Our lot of affliction was just
but for a moment. He'll make you perfect Grace
will. He'll establish it. He'll strengthen
you. He'll settle you. To Him be glory
and dominion forever and ever. Oh, my. Oh, I tell you what grace
does for us. Our heart's established with
grace. It affects our speech. It affects how we walk in this
life. It affects our life, it affects our thinking, it affects
our relationships with the people around us. It affects our heart
like nothing else does. And then he says, You, your heart,
be established with grace, not with meads. Not with meads. What does he mean, meads? Anything
you can touch, taste, and handle, they're all to perish with the
using. And those who are occupied with them, occupied with what
they eat, what they drink, what they wear, and worried about
all these things. It did not profit them one iota of nothing. Huh? And I tell you what, that's
why we don't bring anything to the altar. You know why? Because
in verse 10 we have an altar. That establishes your heart and
grace. We got a place to go. We got an altar to go to. Huh? who's already made an offering
for us, who's already made a sacrifice for us. We got a tabernacle to
go into, a sanctuary to go into, and that's in the presence of
our Lord Jesus Christ. And, oh, beloved, let me show
you this. I'm going to show you two things,
Acts 18, 27, and Acts 20, 32, and then I'm done. Oh, your hearts be established
with grace. Look in Acts chapter 18 verse
27 with me just a moment. Oh, my. Your heart be established
with grace. I don't want to have it. You
know, grace is profitable. Truth is profitable. worrying about the kingdom of
God's not meat and drink but righteousness and joy and peace
in the Holy Ghost. Look what it says here now in
Acts 18 27. This is this is Apollos now and
he finds Priscilla and Aquila they find Apollos. And when he
was disposed to pass into Achaia the brethren wrote exhorting
the disciples to receive him who when he was come helped them
much which had believed through grace." How did you believe? Through grace. Look at verse
32 of Acts chapter 20. Paul says in verse 31, therefore
watch, he's leaving the Ephesian church now, That's the one he
wrote to, said, Oh, all spiritual blessings are in heavenly places
in Christ. God chose us in him before the found. I mean, he
starts out with the, Oh, God's glorious grace at the beginning
of that. Therefore watch and remember that by the space of
three years, I cease not to warn everyone day and night with tears.
And now brethren, I commend you to God and listen to this and
to the word of his grace. which is able to build you up
and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified."
It's a good thing to remember them. It's a good thing that
Jesus Christ is the same today, yesterday, and forever. And these
are the things God uses to establish this heart in grace. Oh, God,
establish, establish us in grace, in grace. Oh, Lord Jesus, our sovereign,
our savior, our glorious, blessed redeemer, our master who sets
at the right hand of God, Lord, we come to you. The word of your
grace, may it establish us, build us up. May we grow through the
grace of God. May we realize that everything
we have is because of you. You chose us, your grace saved
us, come where we was, worked in us, Oh, blessed be your name. Lord,
open hearts here. Open minds here. Save those that
are unsaved in this place, if it pleases you to do so. In Christ's
name, I bless you. Amen. Amen. Get your chorus book. I'll tell you a song I want us
to sing. Get your chorus book. I think it's number 20. Number
20.