Here in these verses I read,
12 through 23, there are some things here that some
of the Lord's people enjoy. There's a people in this world
who enjoy some things, have some things, blessed by some things.
I could present them as questions, but yet at the same time, there's
something that the Lord's people enjoy. And those who are not
the Lord's people, they don't enjoy it. Like, you know, every
saved sinner knows that every sin of worth, thought, or deed,
and every sin, past, present, and future, is totally forgiven,
absolutely gone, atoned for by the blood of Christ, blotted
out. Cast into the depths of the sea.
And God said He'd remember them against you anymore. And you
know what He said for some of you who listen to me. He said
in Isaiah 118, Come. God's talking to you now. Come.
And let us reason together. God said, I'll reason with you.
And this is what I'll reason with you about. I'll reason with
you about your sin. This is what I want to talk to you about.
That's what God said. Come let us reason together. Isaiah 118. And though your sins be a scarlet... Remember years ago, back in our
country's first foundation, they put scarlet letters on people?
And though your sins be a scarlet, I'll make them white as snow.
And though they be red like crimson, that word crimson means scarlet,
double-dyed, double-dyed sinners. Though you be red like crimson,
I'll make them as white as snow. That's what God said. Come to
me. I'll reason with you about your sin. But I tell you what,
this is the blessing. that everyone who knows the Lord
Jesus Christ, the blood of Christ cleansed from all sin, sins of
word, thought, and deed, past, present, and future, gone, totally
forgiven. And here's another thing. Everybody who knows the true
and living God, holy, righteous, the God who inhabits eternity,
high and holy, who dwells in the beauties of holiness, Everybody
who knows Christ is totally and completely reconciled to God
Almighty. They have peace with God. Peace
with God. All anger, all wrath, all condemnation
is gone. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ. I know there's a people that's
crying, peace, peace, when there is no peace. They're telling
people that there's peace. But the scripture says that in
Psalm 5, God is angry with the wicked every day. And nations
that forget God, He turns them into hell. And our nation's being
turned into hell right in front of our very eyes. Right in front of our eyes, hell's
a-popping around us right in this country right now. Huh? And this is the blessing. You
know, God says there is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ. Who is he that condemneth? It's
God that justifies them. Who's going to lay anything to
the charge of God's elect? It's Christ that died for them.
And we're persuaded that nothing is able to separate us from the
love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. We're persuaded
of that. And that's why John says, Beloved,
now are we the sons of God. Right now. We fear the Lord,
we reverence and worship God, but the fear that we have and
reverence is the fear and reverence of sons, not slaves. Sons. I'll tell you something else
the Lord's people have. And I ask you, do you have any of these
things? What would it mean to you to have all your sins forgiven,
of your words, thought, and deed, all of them totally forgiven?
What would it mean for you to be reconciled to God? To have peace with God? Not to meet God, not to be angry
with you anymore? For you never to have wrath or
condemnation ever fall on you. What would it mean to you to
have that, bless you? And oh, beloved, and I know there's never
a believer who's been forgiven of their sins, who've been reconciled
to God by the blood of Christ. I know this, that they also have
a new nature. God gave them all a new nature.
If any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. I mean, he's
new. And there was a time, beloved,
that we had a nature that alienated by God from wicked works they
made in our minds. And now, beloved, we have this
new nature. Do you have a new nature? Is
your nature inclined to sin, or is your nature inclined to
worship God? Is going to church a duty, or
is it going to worship a joy and a delight? Huh? Oh, we come
because we want to be here. We delight in being here. And
this is the blessing in things that we experience. Our Lord
Jesus said it this way, I know my sheep, and my sheep know me,
and they hear my voice, and they follow me. That was a time we
didn't follow Him. Now we hear His voice. What gave
you that ear to hear that voice? That new nature of spiritual
ear. What enabled you to follow Him? Because you heard His voice. And He marked your ear and He
marked your feet. And you follow Him now. You don't follow sin. A stranger you will follow. Would
you follow a stranger? Would you ever not follow Christ?
Impossible. That's why David said, the Lord
is my shepherd. I shall not fear. God said, I'm
going to do two things for these people. I'm going to put my fear
in their hearts, and I'll never stop doing them
good. And I'm going to put my fear
in their hearts, and they'll never ever depart from me either.
That's that new nature. And all that new nature, beloved,
is something God's got to do for you. Oh, people, sinners,
you know, I'll just give you an illustration. Sinners are
never satisfied. They're never satisfied. They
always want more. They're never satisfied with
where they're at. They're never satisfied with what they got. They're never
satisfied with the relationships they have. And I'll give you
a perfect illustration of that this morning. Because if one
toothbrush was blue, somebody wanted it green. But she's going to use the blue.
Regardless what happened, that's the one we had out, and she wrote
that she didn't want the blue, I want the green. And beloved,
God's got change in nature, or if God gives you blue, and unless
He changes your nature, you're gonna want green. Is that not
right? If God don't change your nature,
whatever He gives you, you're gonna want something else. And
if God gives you contentment in this world, and satisfaction
in this world and rest in this world, and your hands are not
out like this one more, more, more, more. You are a blessed
individual and indeed you're blessed of God to have that contentment,
to have that rest in priests and Christ. And I'll tell you
what, and let me ask you this, what would you, would you like
to have a new nature? Well, God's people's got it.
God's people's got it. And oh listen, here's another
thing that God's people's got. We know, we know that every trial,
every trouble, every sorrow that we have in our life is on purpose. And it's designed and set by
our Father for our good and His glory. I know that. You know that. At the time we're
going through it, it's not very good, not very comfortable. That's
why Paul said, you know, told the Corinthians, said, God comforts
us in our tribulations that we may be able to comfort those
who are in their tribulations. And see, we understand and we
believe, we know it. We're not guessing at this business.
When God's hand of providence comes heavy on us, we know that
every trial and trouble and sorrow and life is on purpose and God
designed it for our good and His blessed glory. Huh? That's
why Paul said, we know that all things, we know that all things,
and we talk about all things, that excludes everything that's
not in all. Work, work, work. It's comprehensive
and it's going on all the time. Works together for our good and
His glory and to them that love God and are called on purpose. And I tell you, Paul, let me
show you something. You keep Colossians. Look over 1 Corinthians
3 with me just a moment. Let me show you something here. Here's what we're talking about.
And you know, this don't just cheer us up, but this is God's
blessed promises. This is what God says. I'd hate
to be in this world and not have God and deal with things in this
world. Huh? Look what he says there in verse
21, 1 Corinthians 3, 21. Therefore let no more man glory
in men. Don't glory in men. There's no
reason glory in men. Why? Because his breath goes
from him. He's of the dust. So don't rejoice
in men, glory in men, and brag in men. For all things are yours. Paul was given to you to be a
preacher, to be a blessing to you, to teach you things of God
in Christ. Paul was given to you for that purpose. Apollo
was given to you to preach the gospel to you, to teach you and
instruct you. God gets in him. God gave Paul
the gifts. Well, Cephas, that's Simon Peter,
said all these people God raised up and taught and instructed
to be a blessing to you. And he raised them up for your
good, to teach you and instruct you. And that was no reason for
Paul other than to preach the gospel. No reason for Apollos
other than to preach the gospel. No reason for Cephas other than
to preach the gospel. He said in the world, that's
why you don't go in there. God gave this world for us. Life. Gives it for us. Gives the life
of Christ for us. Gives us life. Gives our children
life. Life. Death. Oh, blessed death. I mean death is going to come
and usher us into the presence of Christ. Things present. Things
to come. Everything that happens in this
world are yours. And listen to this. This is the
capstone on this. And you belong to Christ. And Christ is a God. Oh, my. How would you like to
have and enjoy those kind of blessings? What would you do
with them? And I'll tell you something else that I know. Something
else that I know, but I'll turn back over to our text. I'm going
to go down through this in a minute. Here's something else I know.
That old age, old age, even death, is going to serve our good and
be our gain. Paul said, for me to live is
Christ, and to die is gain. He said, I desire to depart and
be with Christ, which is forbidden. And that's why we reckon that
the sufferings of this present time don't even compare, don't
even bring them up to the glory that shall be revealed in us.
If we suffer with Christ, we will also reign with Him. And
that's why, beloved, for me to live is Christ, to die is Cain,
to be absent from the bodies, to be present with the Lord.
Oh, old age, I mean, it's tough to go through, but Dr. A. Watt,
there's an end to it. There's an end to it. There's
an end to these old bodies hurting and aching. There's an end to
these old troubles and trials and heartaches and sorrows. There's
an end to these tears, there's an end to these heartaches, there's
an end to these weak bodies, there's an end to this mind that
just gets straight until you think it's going to pop like
a rubber band. There's an end to these things.
And the end of them is lies. Lies. And also, let me go back
over it. Forgiveness of sins. Oh, what
a blessing. No condemnation. Justification
before God? Wouldn't you like to know that
all your sins are gone? Would you love to be justified
before God for God to look at you and say, I clear Him of all
guilt and all condemnation, and I count Him before me right now
righteous? Oh, wouldn't you like that? Wouldn't
it be something if God regenerated you and gave you a new nature
so you can know God and walk with God and fellowship with
God in Christ? And enjoy the worship, enjoy
the Scripture, enjoy fellowship with Christ. And then to have
fellowship with God? be reconciled to Him, that, you
know, have fellowship with God, have peace with God, walk, talking
to, walk together, stuff that they agree, and to be able to
agree with God and walk with God like He is walking with God? Oh, my! And then eternal glory,
when all that's over and done with, then eternal glory and
enjoy God forever? And I'll tell you something,
these blessings, they're a reality. They are reality. Where they
at? Look over to Ephesians, back over there to your left, two
books. Look in Ephesians. These blessings, they're reality,
but where are these blessings at? Where they at? Where they at? Look what he said
here in Ephesians 1, 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, or in heavenly
things in Christ. Everything we got is heavenly,
come from above. According, here's one of those
blessings, according as he hath chosen us. That's a heavenly
blessing. Selected in God, chosen in Christ,
before the foundation of the world. Here's a great blessing.
that we should be holy and without blame before Him, in love. Here's
another blessing, according as having predestinated us under
the adoption of children, through God, Jesus Christ. Oh, my. Oh, listen to it. And He did
this according to the good pleasure of His will. And listen. And
oh, my. And listen to this now, "...to
the praise and the glory of His grace, to which He has made us
accepted." Accepted! In the middle of it. And listen to this, in whom?
See, in Jesus Christ, the blessings are chosen in Christ, adopted
in Christ, Grace in Christ, accepted in Christ, and we have redemption
through His blood according to the forgiveness of sins. That's
the riches of His grace, the riches of His glory. And all
beloved, listen. Now you look back over here at
Colossians with me, and let me show you some things here. Oh
my, look what he said here. This is how we got these things.
This is where we get these things from. talking about sins being forgiven,
giving thanks unto the Father. Colossians 1.12, giving thanks
unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the
inheritance of the saints in light, who hath delivered us
from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom
of his dear Son. Oh my, you know what this tells
me? That salvation's a thwart. We give thanks to the Father
because He made us fit, sufficient, able, able to be a partaker of
the saints in life. You see, salvation does the Father. He delivered us. He laid hands
on us. He come and that word delivers
means saved us. It's salvation. And He, we give
thanks to Him because He came and He saved us. Salvations of
the Lord. He loved us. He loved us before
we ever loved Him. He chose us. We would have never
chosen Him. He called us one day. We call
on Him now, but we call on Him because He called on us. And He made us meek. That word
meek means able or sufficient. He made us fit. He made us sufficient. He made us able to stand in His
holy and glorious presence. He not only delivered us, but
look what it said, in verse 13, has translated us. Now translated means if you're
one thing or know something you know, it's like to say, let's
say we have a foreign language. And somebody has to stand and
translate that language for you. Well, we was foreigners with
a different language. Aliens and God in Christ took
us and put us over here and changed our language, changed our nature,
and made us citizens of a new country. Tim James brought a message here
one time years ago. on the language of God. And he
brought it out of Genesis, you know, remember, when they tired
of Babylon and Tim brought that message on the language of God. And I tell you, the only people
that understand the language of God is people that God taught
the language to. And how do you do that? He has
to translate you. He has to translate you. And
that's why he says, and I'll tell you something, If you keep Colossians, look
in John chapter 1. This is what I'm trying to say. This will
give you a perfect John chapter 1 verse 11. He chose us. That's why David says, you know,
the Lord hath made with me a everlasting covenant, ordered in all things,
ensured. Sure. Paul, that's why Paul told
Timothy, God who hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works, but His own purpose and grace, giving
us in Christ before the world began. Look in John chapter 1,
in verse 11. He came unto His own, and His
own received Him not. That's the Jews, that's the Jewish
nation. But as many as received Him, He gave them the power,
He gave them the right, He gave them the privilege to become
the sons of God. to them that believe on his name. How do you know you're a son
of God until you believe on his name? And here's how you believe on
him and receive him and believe on his name, which we're born.
That's that nature I'm talking about. Not of blood, nor the
will of the flesh. Flesh can't contribute to this.
Nor the will of man, but of God. Born of God. His salvation is
of the Lord. It's of the Lord, you know. When
Hannah prayed, when she prayed, and old Eli told her, said, now
listen, she's praying in her, praying silent her lips were
moving. He said, boy, this woman's drunk. He said, leave off the
wine. She said, I'm not drunk. He said,
I'm here before the Lord. I'm here calling out to the Lord.
And, boy, when she told him, said, I'm going to have a son,
I'm going to dedicate him back to the Lord, because the Lord killeth
and maketh alive. The Lord maketh rich, the Lord
maketh poor. The hearing ear and the seeing
eye comes from the Lord. And listen, and she said this,
she said, He lifts the poor, the beggar, from the dunghill.
He lifts up the beggar from the dunghill and says, He will be
among princes. He hath delivered us into the
kingdom of the Son of His blessed life. Oh, wouldn't that be wonderful
if everybody was ahead and understood that? I know I was took off a
dunghill. Paul knew he was took off a dunghill.
He said, I count everything that I ever had before. Dung. I was
living on a dog hill. God cut me off of it. God cut
me. Let's look over in our text now
again. Oh, this salvation is of the Lord. The Father hath
made us to meet. He hath delivered us, hath translated
us into the kingdom of His dear Son. Now, this salvation is not
only of the Lord, but this salvation is in Christ. Look in verse 14. In whom? We're in the kingdom
of His dear Son, in that kingdom of His dear Son. His kingdom,
in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of
all things, all sins. The forgiveness of sins. I can't
begin to tell you how much sin... I don't have a clue how much
sin I have. I don't have a clue how much sin I have right now.
I know that it gets heavy sometimes, and I feel it, and I'm conscious
of it. But yet, at the same time, I read those things right there,
and God tells me that He has forgiven me all sins. When that word redemption means
to pay a debt that's owed. And Christ paid the debt I owed,
and all to Him I owe. You see, all things are by Him.
And you know, that's why The scriptures tell us, and this
is why salvation is in Christ, in the dear Son in whom we have
redemption, in whom we've been redeemed by His blood. That's
why we know, we sung that song, in Christ is wisdom. How in the
world can we know God except in Christ? He's the wisdom of
God. He gives us the spiritual mind
to understand and fear God. He's our righteousness. Christ
is our righteousness. We don't have a righteousness.
We never have had a righteousness. And I'll tell you something,
I do not believe in an imparted righteousness. I personally believe
that God gave us a new nature. And our righteousness, the only
righteousness that God gives us and makes us acceptable in,
is the righteousness that we have in Christ. Now, He gives
us a new nature. He makes us a partaker of divine
nature. But, beloved, I'll tell you one
thing, there's only one righteousness that God will accept us in, and
that's in Christ. I know a lot of men believe that,
and I think they're fine men, but that's not where I'm at.
So He's my right, and He's my sanctification. That's why I
say, in Christ, in whom we have sanctification, you've got to
be holy to be able to come into the presence of God. You've got
to have what that new nature's about. You can't, you know, if
you don't have a nature, you can't go to God. If you don't
have a holy nature and a new nature, and you don't have that
nature, that holy nature, that sanctified nature, that holiness
before God, God can't have anything to do with you. And so Christ
is our sanctification. He's our holiness. Do you have any holiness in you? But you've got to be holy. That's
why Peter said, Be ye holy as He is holy, where you gonna be
as holy as God is holy. The only place you can be as
holy as God is holy is to be in God Himself. And that's being
in God, being in Christ. I love it. And then redemption. He's our redemption. What could
I ever do to pay for one sin I've ever committed? Can I cry
enough tears? Can I do enough with my hands
to help somebody else? Can I have enough sincerity?
Can I attend enough worship services that it entails something with
God? What can be my redemption? What
can pay for my sins? What can wash my sins away? Nothing
but the blood! of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. And then, beloved, He's the power
of God unto us. He was the power of God by creation. He's the power of God in salvation.
And He's the power of God by which He keeps us day in and
day out. Day in and day out. I was telling somebody yesterday,
I don't know who it was, but I was telling them that our salvation
is miraculous from start to finish. It's a supernatural work. It's
miraculous that we're saved at all. It's a miracle that we're
saved. It's a miracle that Lazarus,
dead four days, come out of the tomb. That's a miracle. It was
a miracle that that man, young man, in that casket, going out
of town to be buried, and Christ raised him from the dead. Miracle! And that twelve-year-old girl
that was laying there dead, and Christ went in there and got
her by the hand and says, I say unto thee, Talitha, to my right,
give up, give up, give up, give up! Now, fix us something to
eat. That's our salvation. A miracle! And I tell you another miracle
is that this salvation goes on day after day after day after
day after day, year after year after year after year, and all
in spite of what we are in ourselves and the things we do and say
in our lives that God keeps us sane. Now, that's a miracle. It's a miracle. People talk about, oh, come see
miracles. Well, you won't see miracles,
beloved, just look at yourself. That's why you tell people, say,
boy, I'd like to see a miracle. Well, you're looking at one.
You're looking at one right here. It's a miracle that God got me
up this morning and gave me my right mind and let me come here
and worship and enjoy it, delight in it, rejoice in it, Let me
tell you something about this redemption now. Who this Redeemer
is? Look back here in verse... Who is this Redeemer? Who is
this One whom we have redemption through His blood? Who is this
Redeemer? Look what it says there in verse 15. Colossians 1. He's the image of the invisible
God. That's who He is. You know who
this Redeemer is? He's the image of this express
image. Ain't that what I'm saying? He
is the image of the invisible God. Hebrews 1, 3 says, He's
the express image of God. And He by Himself purged our
sins and sat down on the right hand of God. You want to see
God? You've no see Him in Christ.
Whatever God is, and God said don't ever make nothing in my
image. Don't make a bird, don't make a beast, don't make a building,
don't make an idol, don't make an image of me in anything because
you can't know me. I dwell in a life that no man
can approach to. No man's ever seen me. And yet here comes God. And when
he talks about the express image of God, it means that all the
attributes of God, all the work of God, all the glory of God,
all the power of God, all the salvation of God, all the sovereignty
of God, and omnipotence of God, and omniscience of God, all dwelt
in Christ and was expressed there and manifested. God became visible
in his blessed Son. That's the only God we're going
to see when we get to glory is Him. And not only that, look
what it says here in verse 16. Not only does he have the express
image of God, but it says all things were created by Him. That
are in heaven, that are in earth, visible and invisible, dominions,
principalities, power. And listen to this. And by Him, and then verse 17,
and He is before all things. Before any of these things ever
were, He's before. Before there's ever a star put
in the sky, Christ was before that. Before the sun was ever
put up there, Christ was before that. Before ever a mountain
was built, Christ was before that. Before a man was ever made,
Christ was before that. when there wasn't nothing but
eternity, and God and His blessed Son enjoyed in one another throughout
all eternity, and He was before anything ever was. And then,
you know what? They came into existence because
He created them. Everything in heaven, everything
in earth, He made them. Ain't that what it says there?
For by Him were all things. And not only that, but look what
it says there in verse 18. He's before all things. And by
Him did everything consist. And this is what else it says
here. He is the head. Everybody's got to have a head.
The head's got to make the decisions. The head's got to be the one
to control the body. The head's the one that all things get lost
from. And he's the head of the body. He's the head of the church.
Huh? He is. He's the head. He's the beginning. And not only
that, but look what it says here. And he's the firstborn from the
dead. What does that mean? That means he's the firstborn
who ever, by his own power, came out of the grave by himself.
Now, he gave other people life, but he had to give it to them.
He's the only one that can give life. But when it came to raising
firstborn, the first person that ever come from the dead by themselves,
by their own power, by their own life was the Lord Jesus Christ. He was the first person who ever
rose from the dead by his own power. Everybody else was raised
from the dead by his power. He was the firstborn. He's the
firstborn that ever come up out of the tomb, out of the grave,
God said. And you know what that tells us? If he's the firstborn,
then everybody who's in his family is going to come out of the grave
just like he did. He's just the firstborn. And then everyone after that,
they're born. That's why He calls it the firstborn
from the dead. To die means to be born. To go into a new life. Then, oh beloved, look what it
says in verse 19. For it pleased the Father that
in Him all fullness should dwell. How much fullness is in Christ? How much do you need? How much do you need? Every how
much you need from Christ, He's got it. He's full of it. You
need grace, He's full of it. You need forgiveness, He's full
of it. You need life, He's full of it. You need strength, He's
full of it. You need mercy, He's full of
it. You need forgiveness, He's full of it. You need righteousness,
He's full of it. You need justification, He's full of it.
You need righteousness, He's full of it. He's full of it. Whatever you need from God, whatever you
want from Him, you come to Him, He's plentiful of it. He'll give
it to you. The earth is the Lord in the
fullness thereof. Look over here in Colossians
2, in verse 9, look what it says here. In Him all fullness dwells. Look what it says there in verse
nine. For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. In Christ, everything that's
in the Godhead, everything that's in the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit dwell bodily in the person of Jesus Christ. Oh, my. We don't even have, we cannot
get into the, we just, our little puny brains can't. But I can
believe it. I can enjoy it. Look what else it says. And here's
what it says, all things dwell in Him, and listen to me, and
you are complete in Him. Whatever He has, you have. Whatever
fullness He has, you have. And you are complete in Him,
which is the head of all principalities and powers. complete in Him. Wouldn't you love to be complete
in Christ? Wouldn't you? Then look what He said. Now,
what has He done? We told you who He is. It's Christ's image
of God. Before all things, the head. He's the beginning, the
firstborn from the dead. And all fullness dwells in Him. Now look what He said here. What
has He done? Look in verse 20. And having
made peace, this is that justification I was talking about. And having
made peace through the blood of His cross. Made peace. He made peace. People say, all
time making peace with God. Christ did it. It's a done deal. And how in the world do you get
peace with God? Now, if you're not in God, Christ is angry.
God's angry with you. This idea that God loves everybody
is just foreign to the Scriptures. Oh, I just warned him. He hates
the workers of the deacons. He's angry with the wicked every
day. And yet, beloved, he made peace. Where are you going to
get this peace at? And I tell you what, in Christ. You get
in Christ, and Christ took all the anger, took all the wrath.
He was angry with the wicked every day I was wicked. And he
was angry with me. But Christ made peace for me
through the blood of His cross. And when I understood that, peace
was made 2,000 years ago. But boy, when I understood that
if I could have peace with God, God would never be mad at me
again. When I found out God wasn't mad at me again, I can't tell
you. I was sitting in a chair at the house reading. I believe
I was reading Arthur W. Pink. And I was reading on his
Fourth Full Salvation. And I found out, you know, that
I was sitting in this chair and I was sitting there reading.
And I said, Lord God, I said, God's not mad at me anymore.
I have no condemnation anymore. I jumped up out of that chair.
And I just almost passed in there. You know, I looked up and started
blessing the Lord. He's not angry with me, not mad
at me. I've been trying to get on the good side of God for years
and years and years. I quit smoking, started changing
the way I dress, got rid of my television. I've done all kinds
of things to try to get on the good side of God. And then come
find out in Christ already died. And in Him, I was over. In Him, I
was over. We've all been there, haven't
we? And all made peace, look what He said here. And to reconcile. Oh, you know, you know who needs
to be reconciled? God ain't, you know, we're the
ones, we're the enemies. And God takes enemies and reconciles
them. He slays that enmity there. That
anger there, that sin that's against God, and those things
that we have in our nature that's against God. What He does is
He puts that away through the blood of His cross, and He makes
that peace. And then that peace is made,
and we come to God, and He takes enemies and reconciles them to
Himself. That's why people, you know,
they get in odds with one another. Somebody's got to go and make
the peace. And then they fall on one another's
neck, and they hug one another, and they cry and say, oh, I'm
sorry, I'm sorry. Well, listen, Christ has made peace, and now
you enemies can come to Him. He'll hug you up, because He's
taken His enemies and reconciled them to Him. Now, through that
enmity that's there. And, oh, my, ain't that what
He says? And I urge you to be reconciled
to God. Be reconciled to God, you know.
And I tell you this, our Lord Jesus Christ, He, by his disobedience,
by his obedience, by Adam's disobedience, we became sinners by Christ's
obedience. He put away that sin and he made peace, reconciled
us to God. And then look what else it says here now. Down here in verse 22, look what
it says. That's why you see, this is people
need to be reconciled. Then verse 21, You that sometimes
alienated the enemies in your mind, yet now hath He reconciled
me. I was every one of those things. Wasn't you, James? And
now He reconciled me. He threw all that, took all that
out of the way. And now Him and I, there's no enmity between
us now. And He's the one that did it.
He's the one that did it. I didn't go to Him and say, Oh
Lord, do this for me and do that for me. He did it 2,000 years
ago in Christ. And look what else He's done
now. Look here in verse 22. Oh, my. Listen to this. And He hath reconciled you, not
within the body of His flesh, through death. That's how He
reconciled us, putting away our sin through the blood of His
cross, by dying. And He did this to do this. This
is what He done by His death, by making this peace and reconciling
us. He's going to present us. holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in His sight. Oh my! Unblameable? Unreprovable? Without blame? Oh my! How in the world do we
know this has happened? How do we know this has happened?
Well, I'll tell you how we know. I tell you how we know. It's because just like that high
priest, when he went behind the veil once a year, and he went
in there with that blood of that lamb, went in there with that
blood, and he sprinkled that blood seven times on that mercy
seat and sprinkled it seven times in front of it. It means perfection,
ten foot away perfect. And then, you know, he came out
from behind that veil. That means, beloved, that atonement
has been made, peace has been established, everybody's been
reconciled to God. Well, guess what? Our high priest
went behind the veil and he's come out. How do we know? He has been raised
from the dead. He comes out from behind that
veil and he's been raised from the dead. And that's the evidence,
beloved. Look what it says there in verse
23. Oh, my! What's the evidence? Christ!
Christ was raised from the dead. Christ came out from behind.
Our proud priest, now he sits in heaven, making intercession
for us. And I tell you, I've asked him.
Let me ask you this before I get to this point. How many times
have you said, Lord, please, please take up my cause? Intercede
for me. Intercede for me, Lord Jesus.
Intercede for me. Intercede for me. Please take
up my cause. I don't know what to say. I don't
know how to deal with this. I don't know what prayers I need
to pray. I don't know how to say. I don't
know how to approach it. I don't know what to say. I don't
know what to ask for. So Lord Jesus, You please, You please
take up my place. Take up my petition. Take up
my cause. Intercede for me. Intercede for
me. I don't know what to say. So Lord, You take and intercede
for me. Intercede! Go into the Father
for me!" And, oh, listen, that's what he does. There's our great
high priest. And I'll tell you what, I hope he intercedes for
some of you that don't know him. Oh, and I'll tell you what, oh,
he takes up your cause. I hope he takes up your name.
I hope he takes up everything about you and takes you to the
Father and says, Father, here they are. Do with them that seem
good in your sight. And I hope it seems good in his
sight to save you by his grace." Look what he said here now. What's
the evidence? How do you know that these things
have happened to him? If you continue in the faith,
grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope
of the gospel which you've heard and which was preached. You know,
why we know these things are true is because of our faith. Because of our faith. God's people,
are believing people, and we're kept, and you continue in the
faith. Look with me over in Hebrews, go back over to your right, in
Hebrews chapter three. You know, believers, they continue
in faith. They're kept through faith. We're
having this confidence that he which hath begun a good work
in you shall perform it under the day of Jesus Christ. My sister, she's in and out of
church, in and out of church, in and out of church. She's a
preacher for a while, then Pentecostal for a while, then something else
for a while. One day she told me, she said, you know, don't
believe a thing in the world I preach. Don't believe nothing
I preach. Just don't believe. She got a
son that's a religious nut. I mean a religious nut. Aint
he, Mary? Just a nut. Wouldn't know God
from a goat. But anyway, to make a long story
short, she told me one time, she said, Matt, no matter what's
happened, she said, you know what, you're still a believer
in the same thing you always did. She said, you're still a
believer. She said, you're keeping on. She said, I've been all over
the map. She said, you know, something must be right about
you. No, it ain't about me, it's about him. You know, I would
have been all over the map too if it hadn't been for him. But
he says that he has picked us up out of the horrible pit. He
set our feet on a solid rock. He established our goings. We're
kept by faith through the power of God. Now look what it says
here in Hebrews 3, 6. But Christ as a Son over His
own house, whose house are we? If we hold fast to confidence.
Did you have confidence in Christ? Do you have confidence in Him
now? And you rejoiced? Will you hold that firm to the
end? That's what he said. Look down at verse 14. We are
made for takers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our
confidence steadfast unto the end. Well, what about confidence?
That I'm a poor sinner and nothing at all. But Jesus Christ is my
all in all. That's where I started. And Rick,
that's where I'm going to end up. I'm going to end up right
where I started. A poor sinner with nothing at
all. But Jesus Christ is small. That's our company. Now, how
much faith does it take to believe that? I don't know. But whatever it is, God gave
it to me. Amen. Amen. All right. Let's put our hearts together
and pray. Our Father, Father, Father, in
the blessed Name, glorious Name, precious Name, That name that's
saving, that name that gives comfort to a believer's heart,
that name that the crown sits upon, that person the crown sits
on, that person who sits at the right hand of God with all majesty
and glory. It's in His blessed name we come
to thank you for the gospel. Thank you for the gospel. God
bless it to our hearts and understanding. and bring glory to yourself through
this body of believers, in Christ's holy name, amen.