The priest up there and brought
back here. But here, let me ask you a question. This is the first Sunday of the
new year. First Sunday of the new year. Why does God bless
us? Why does God bless us? How does
He bless us? If God has blessed us in the
last year, why did He do it? How could He find justification
to bless us in any way? How could God bless us in the
coming year? What would cause God to bless
us in the coming year, to give us anything, to give us any mercies,
give us any grace, give us any strength, give us anything good? What would cause Him to do that?
Why would He do that? What would be the reason? Would
it be because of our devotion? Would it be because of our prayers,
how intense our prayers are and how faithful we are to prayer?
Would it be because of the purity or sincerity of our hearts? Would
it be because of our faithfulness? Is that why God blessed us the
last year and why he'll bless us the next year, because of
our faithfulness? the cause of our obedience? The cause of our holiness? No. No, we all know if God just
blesses us in any way, any way whatsoever, whether it's a spiritual
blessing or a temporal blessing, if it was conditioned on us We'd
never ever know what a blessing from God was. All we'd know would be a curse.
We'd be walking around in darkness, deadness, lifelessness. But the
only reason God does anything for anyone is here in verse 32.
The only reason God does anything for anyone. Ephesians 4.32. And be ye kind one to another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, and here
it is, three words, for Christ's sake, have forgiven you. That's the reason God does anything
for anybody, that for Christ's sake. And look over here in Ephesians
1, 3. And these are the blessings,
these are the true blessings, the blessings that count. They're
in Ephesians 1, 3, blessed. And that's what Paul, you know,
he's blessing God. Since God blesses him, he blesses
God. And those who God blesses, they
turn around and bless God. Those who God give to, they turn
around and give back to God the thanks and the blessing and the
praise for it all. To God be the glory, great things
He hath done. To God be the glory, not unto
us, not unto us, O Lord, but unto Thy name be glory. And he
says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who hath blessed us, blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly, in Christ, in Christ. And spiritual blessings, those
are the true blessings. Those are the true blessings.
Now everybody, we know I thank God, and I know you do. I thank
God. We sang that song this morning,
and that one, we walked through the hills, the forest, the glens,
the glades, and all that. And you know, we do that. We
do that. I give thanks unto God for my
home. Oh, I bless God for it, for the
peace and love of God that's there, a good, comfortable place
to live, that I can have a nice bed to sleep in. I'm very grateful
for that. And I thank God for, He's pleased
to give me all these things on my way to the celestial city.
Gave me my family. Gave me a wife. And he that findeth
a good wife obtaineth favor of the Lord. And you know, and then
He gave us children. And He gave us grandchildren.
And gave us great joy in this world. Gave us great blessings
in this world. And I'm thankful for every one
of them. I'm thankful for every time that I've been able to sit
outside and look around me and say, God, this is something that
you've given. This is something that I see
that you gave me eyes to see. But I enjoy it greatly. Doug
and I was over at his place one day, and he took me to all these
hills, and we looked around. And he says how many times he
goes out and rides around, just sits there and thanks God for
the things that he can see and that he can enjoy and rejoice
in. And all of you all do that. And
then I certainly, certainly give thanks to God, and I bless God
for you. I bless God for you. You're talking about a blessing.
You all are such a blessing. You're gifts from God to me.
You're gifts from God to me. What blessings, what joy you've
brought to me. What joy! Paul says, you know,
he wrote to him, he says, you're my joy and my crown, and if I
have any evidence of being called to preach at all, You're my joy,
and you're my crown. You're the evidence of it. And
I thank God for you, and I bless God for you. This is a blessing
from God. And sometimes we have this great joy, and sometimes
sorrow comes our way. But still yet, it's all for Christ's
sake. I understand that God gave you for Christ's sake. For Christ's
sake. But let's look at these spiritual
blessings. talking about the things that we have in Christ.
You know, people say all the time, well, God sure blessed
them with wealth. Does that mean that people don't
have a lot of wealth? They're not blessed with God? You say,
God certainly blessed them with health. That means that people
that don't have health, that means that God's cursed them.
God certainly blessed them with beauty. Does that mean that somebody's
kind of homeless? Does that mean that God didn't
bless them? So you see, we get all out of whack over these blessings.
We really truly do. And we want to talk about the
blessings that count. The blessings that God has given
us, what He gave us in Christ, those are the things that count.
Those, when we come time to leave this world, the only thing that's
going to matter is what we have in Christ. And look what the
first thing He done, all these spiritual blessings. In verse
4, He chose us in Christ. Thank God for His electing grace,
blessed according as He hath chosen us. That's why Paul blessed
God for these blessings. And he started out with this
spiritual blessing, according as He hath chosen us in Him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before Him in love. Chosen in Christ, elected of
God, Do you know what it is to be chosen of God, elected of
God, and chosen of God before the world ever began, before
time, as Scott used to say all the time, before time ever was?
And you know that before God put us in His blessed Son, before
the world ever began? An election is something that
we bless God for, we thank God for. You see, election. People
find fault with it, but if God had not elected us and chosen
us, where would we be? Just exactly where we would have
been born. Exactly, we'd still be rebels and we'd still be just
where we always would have been. So the only reason we come to
God is because God comes to us. The only reason we chose Him
is because He chose us. The only reason we call on Him
is because He called on us. We seek Him because He sought
us. And oh, look over here in Isaiah 42 with me just a moment. You know, Christ was God's first
elect, and then we were chosen in Him.
The Lord Jesus Christ was God's first elect. He said in Isaiah 42, 1, Behold
My servant, whom I uphold, Mine elect, and whom My soul delighteth. I put my spirit upon him, he
shall bring judgment or bring truth to the Gentiles." You see,
the Lord Jesus Christ was God's first to make, and He was the
one that God set up from all eternity to be the Lamb slain
from the foundation, for us to be chosen in Him, to have a head
of a particular race, to be the people, a coveted head of a particular
people. And here's the situation, beloved,
a holy God. A holy God could not deal with
us as we are. Not even from eternity He couldn't.
Before Adam ever sinned, God couldn't deal with us and had
always dealt with us in Adam, there'd be not one soul saved
on the topside of God's earth. So God chose us in Christ and
chose Christ to be the head of a particular people. And our
holy God could not deal with us as we are personally. So what
he done, he chose his blessed son, said he is sent up from
all eternity to be the head, to be the select person, to be
the mediator, to be the surety, to be the go-between, to be a
substitute, to be in our stand, to be our mediator, and then
he chose us in him. That's yet the son in all of
his glory. And God said, I'm going to give
you a people, and you're going to be the redeemer of those people,
the substitute for those people, the mediator for those people,
the security for those people. I'll never require anything from
them. I'll require it all from you,
but I'm going to give them all to you. And we were chosen in
Christ, and this is the kicker, before the foundation of the
world. That was before me and you ever had an idea there was
a world. And then look what else it says
here. That we should be holy and without blame before in Him.
How in the world are we going to be holy without blame? Only in Him. Then look in verse 5. And I love
this. Here's another one of them blessings.
Having predestinated us. unto the adoption of children."
And here again, it's by Jesus Christ to Himself, according
to the good pleasure of His Son. Now, what does adoption mean?
Now, see, here's the thing about it. God only had one Son. One Son's all He had. But that
Son was so wealthy, God the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness
thereof, He inhabits eternity. And He committed everything to
that Son. And that blessed Son, God chose
us in that Son, and He only had one Son. But He has so much wealth,
and He has so much glory, and He has so much pleasure, and
so much grace, and so much justification, and everything that we would
need. He said, I'll tell you what, I'm going to adopt a family
to make them legally heirs. That's what adoption has to do
with. It has to do with us being legally heirs. And so since Christ
is the heir, and we were adopted into the family of God, that
means that we is as much an heir as the son is. Ain't that right? It's like when Abraham sent Eliezer
down to get a bride for his son Isaac. You know what Isaac, you
know what the first thing he says? God has made his son to
be the heir of everything. What is the heir of? Well, here's
some gold. Here's some silver. Here's some beautiful clothes.
You reckon you'll go with him? I'm going to go with him. Look over in Romans 8. Keep Ephesians.
Look in Romans 8 with me just a moment. Age 16. You know, and
here's the thing. People talk about, you know,
they walk around and people, you know, they show on television
these wealthy people in their homes and all of that. Listen, they ain't got a home
even close to comparing to the home we have. Oh, no, no. I mean, you know. And I'm talking about there.
And they talk about wealth? Wealth? You're talking about
wealthy. Would you rather have the wealth
that you have in Christ or have the wealth of Bill Gates? I'd rather have the wealth of
Christ. Wouldn't you? And you know how many times it
talks about his riches, his riches of his glory, the riches of his
grace, made wealthy in Christ? And look what it said here in
Romans 8, 16. So He made us heirs. The Spirit
Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children
of God. God sent forth the spirit of His Son into our heart, the
spirit of adoption. And so He says, and if you're
children then, watch this, then you're heirs. Heirs of who? Heirs of who? You know, everybody here is going
to leave somebody something. A lot of people leave nobody
nothing but debts. A lot of people leave just a little bit of money.
Some people leave a house. Everybody's going to leave somebody
something. God says that we're his children.
And we're heirs, and this is, listen, heirs of God. It was this. And join heirs with Christ. And listen, if so be that we
suffer with Him, we're going to be glorified together with
Him. Here's the thing, beloved, everything that God has, He gave
to His Son, and everything the Son inherits, we get. What did
the Son inherit? He inherited eternity. What did
the Son inherit? He inherited glory. What did
the Son inherit? He inherited grace. What did
the Son inherit? He inherited a throne, and what
this Son inherited, He inherited a crown, and everything He has,
we get too! We get to walk and be with Him
through all eternity and get treated like children, not outcasts. And oh, that's why it goes on
to say back over here in Ephesians 1, He adopted us, predestinated
for this adoption, and He'd done this to the praise of His glory,
of His grace, and listen, He made us accepted. Accepted in the Beloved. In the Beloved. And then, oh,
let me show you another blessing. Down in verse 7. In whom we have
redemption. You're talking about a blessing.
In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of
sins. According again, there's some
of that wealth according to the riches of His grace. Now, Beloved,
when it talks about redeemed in Him, Here's the thing, we
were in bondage. In bad bondage. Slaves to sin. Slaves to self. Slaves to free
will. Slaves to tradition. Slaves to
our self-righteousness. And what redemption means, it
means to buy out. It means perching us a slave
with the intentions of setting that slave free. Now, we were
all slaves to sin, in bondage to the law, in bondage to the
justice of God. Slaves to sin. And God, in Christ,
set him up to be our Redeemer. And it means to set free on receiving
a ransom. To release by paying that ransom
price. When the price has been paid,
the person in bondage has to be let go. Huh? Look over in
Romans 3 with me just a moment. You know, if Christ died for something,
Christ redeemed something, He's going to get it. He's going to
get it. You know, you get these coupons
to redeem this, redeem that, and do this other thing, that
means you go take it and you get what you pay for. Well, Christ
paid for his elect. How did he pay with them? He
paid with his blood. He paid with his life. He paid
with his death on Calvary's cross. His blood was shed out. That
lamb that's slain, the blood ran from the altar, as Moose
wrote in his hymn. And here we were, we inhaled
by God's justice, and He can't let us go. We're sinners. We
were held by sin, and we can't break the chains of sin. People
say, stop your sinning. I went to God, we could. And oh, and he goes on and he
says, oh my, the rest have been paid, and that's why this idea
of free willism, this idea, you know, that Christ died for you,
and still yet, until you cooperate with him, until you let him,
until you have the faith to activate his blood, is hatched in hell
itself! I mean, if Christ saved His people,
will they be saved? If Christ paid for somebody,
will they be set free? If He shed His blood for somebody,
has the payment been made? Oh, I'll tell you, look what it said
here in Romans 3.24. And this is just being justified
freely by His grace through the redemption. What's it in? In Christ Jesus. Oh my. We were redeemed. Oh my. I paid
for that fellow. Yes we was. It's like a man being
on the slave market. And I mean he's worthless. He's
used up. His strength is gone. He's old
and he's stooped. And he's weak and he's helpless.
He is worth nothing to nobody. What do you give for this slave?
Nothing. He ain't worth anything. He ain't
got no strength. He can't do any work. He's ready
for hell. He's black in his heart. He's weak in his mind. He ain't
got anything. Who's gonna pay for him? Well,
that's what we were. Black-hearted, black-minded,
weak, helpless, old, decrepit, sin, pelvis, and bondage that
we could not raise ourselves up. And Christ stood up and said,
I'll buy him. I'll pay for him. And when we
were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the
ungodly. Let Him go! And the minute they let Him go,
He gives strength. He has the ability to make them
like they're brand new. Which we'll get to that a little
later. And we were redeemed from sin
and slaves to it. And how were we redeemed? He
gave Himself. And 1 Peter 1.18, you've seen
that so many times, but you don't need to turn there. I'll just
quote it to you. We were redeemed, not with such corruptible things
as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ
as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Redeemed from the
vain conversation, the vain manner of life that you lived. And I'm
telling you, son, everybody that's without Christ lives a vain life. I mean, you're living a vain
life. I don't care what you're doing, I don't care what kind
of life you're living, how good you think you are, how smart
you think you are, what accomplishments you're making, how successful
or whatever you are. I'm telling you this, that you've
got a vain life. It's absolutely vain. You're
going to live your life, you're going to be vain all the way
through your life, and you're going to die in vanity, and you'll
be in vanity all the days of your life, throughout eternity.
And Christ redeemed us from this vain manner of life. Useless,
empty manner of life. And listen to this. And from
the traditions. Oh, this is what I like. From
we were in bondage to tradition. How many people here was in bondage
to traditions? St. Paul's, we didn't even listen
to the hymns of it. Didn't even listen to the words.
Went to altars because that's what everybody had been doing.
Let people stand up and testify, because that's all we ever do.
Everybody had to have a song, everybody had to have a word,
everybody had to have something to say, because is all hearts
and minds clear yet? Man, I'll tell you, you'll learn
that in a while. Quit saying that. Some people's minds and
hearts are never clear. Are they, Floyd? Well, I better ask Bruce that.
He knows more about people than anybody. But that's what I'm
talking about. From legal traditions. Thank God He saved us from our
traditions. And His redeeming blood. His redeeming death. It says there, forgiveness of
sins. He purchased a complete forgiveness
of all of our sin. Our justification. Now, justice. must let us go. Why? Because
the ransom price has been paid. He saved us from the penalty
of sin, power of sin, the power of the guilt of sin, and now
we've been set free to live and worship the one true and living
God. And oh, let me show you this
in 2 Corinthians 5. I've got to hurry. 2 Corinthians
5, 17. You talk about these spiritual
blessings, chosen, adopted, accepted, redeemed. Now we're going to
talk about creation, created in Christ. Therefore, if any
man be in Christ, what's that? A new creature. Old things are
passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. You know, when we were dead, we were strangers, we were foreigners. We were without God, without
Christ, without hope in this world. But it's said here, if
any man be in Christ, in Christ, how in the world do you get in
Christ? First Corinthians 1.30 says, of him are you in Christ. Who put you in Christ? God put
us in Christ. And of him are you in Christ.
And so, if we're in Christ, and that's the key, not getting in
the church. Not being in a denomination. Not being in a baptistry pool.
No, no, being in Christ. And you know the scripture said
in 1 Corinthians 12, 13, and all are baptized into one body,
by one spirit. The Holy Spirit put us in Christ. And that's how we get in Christ.
You just don't get in Christ by raising your hand. You don't
get in Christ by walking the Romans' road. You get in Christ
by the Spirit of God putting you in Christ. And oh, beloved,
His redeeming work, what happens, we talked about redemption, His
redeeming work must be applied. And how is it applied? The Holy
Spirit applies it. And when He talks about Him being
a new creature, It means being a new creation. Our Lord told
Nicodemus, said, set the man be born again of water and the
spirit and water. He said he can't even see the
kingdom of God. So how in the world are you going to get in
it? So being a new creature, everything's new in Christ, all
the old is in Adam. Old things are passed away, all
things become new. Everything's new in Christ, all
the old is in Adam. We have a new name. God gave
us a new name. He gave us a new nature. made
partakers of the divine nature. And you know, let me tell you
something about that. When God gives a man a new nature, when
he's regenerated by the Spirit of God, he brings into existence
a man who never was there before. I believe that with all my heart.
I believe that he brings into existence someone... That's why,
you know, we have babes in Christ, young men in Christ, old men.
You take somebody that's ten years old, would you think they
was an adult? Well, that's the way it is in Christ. We grow
in Christ. And so you see in this talk, we've been given a
new nature and a nature that never existed before. Let me
ask you this. Did you ever know what sin was until you had a
new nature? Was you ever conscious of God
until he gave you that new nature? Was you ever conscious that your
righteousness was as a filthy rag until you got a new nature?
Did you ever desire God until he gave you a nature to desire? With what eyes now do you see
the Lord Jesus Christ? You certainly don't see Him with
these eyes. With what heart do you worship? You certainly don't
worship with that one that's pumping blood. With what mind
do you love the will of God and love the Word of God? It's not
this brain in your head. So that's what we're talking
about here. And that's what I mean, it's a nature that never existed.
Old things are passed away. Our old standing is passed away.
Now we stand in Christ. Our old relation to law is passed
away. We're no longer under the law,
but we're under grace. Our relationship to God, His
new relationship, our old opinions, our old views, our old plans,
our old desires, our old principles, our old affections, they're all
gone. And all things have become new.
We now have new views of the truth. There was a time we didn't
know the truth. We have now, we have right views of the truth,
new views of the truth. We have, beloved, new principles
to how we live in this world, how we treat other people. We
have a new look, a new apprehension of man as the way he is, not
the way we think he is. As much as I love little old
Riley, she loves me, I know what that child is. She is born in
sin, she is shaped in iniquity, and she'll grow up. And she'll
commit sins all the days of her life if God don't have mercy
on her and change her. Ain't that right? And I would
lay my life down for her a snap of a finger. But I'm not a bit
deceived in what a human being is. Do you understand what I'm saying?
And oh, we have new apprehensions of men. Now we understand that
grace saves us, not works. And, oh, beloved, we have new
purposes, new purposes, oh, new desires. We have them, all these
things, in Christ. New purposes for the soul. They
govern the soul. And why? Because it says in verse
18 here of 2 Corinthians 5, Because all things are of God. That's
why, James, all things are of God. Somebody said one time,
that's high doctrine. I don't know if it's high, if
it's low, whatever it is. I know it's Bible doctrine. I
know it's the truth. All things are of God. All things
are of God. And God has created us in Christ
Jesus unto good work. And listen, which He brought
before Dane. And I know, go back over here
in Ephesians just a moment. Let me show you something now.
You're in Ephesians, and look up here in Galatians. If you're
in Ephesians 1, look up in Galatians chapter 15. And that's why there's so... You
know, there's people here. I don't know if this is true
or not. I really don't know. But I know what I think. I know what I feel. I have my
opinions. And when I have an opinion, I'll tell you it's my
opinion. But if you're here and you understand, understand deeply
in your heart that you have no hope in yourself, in your righteousness,
in your strength, and you know what sin is, and that's what
you are, and if you know that if you don't have Christ, You
don't have anything. Then you want Christ, you need
Christ, and you feel in your heart you have this nature that
I desire God, I desire Christ, I'm looking after Christ, I want
Him, I need Him, I got to have Him. And you have this nature
in you that makes you want Him. And you don't want your life
to be governed by yourself or by anything else. You want it
to be governed by Christ. And Lord, I want you, I need
you, and I acknowledge that I have no strength. And if that's what
you feel that, and you've never confessed that, and you've never
come up here to this baptismal pool, and you know in your heart
that that's what's going on. I can tell you right now, you're
a regenerated soul. God done done something for you. And that's what he said here
at verse 15 of Galatians 6. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision
availeth anything. Now circumcision, that means
anything to make yourself clean or acceptable before God. Nor
uncircumcision. Well, I'm not under law, I don't
have to, you know, I just, you know, I live the way I want to
live and I don't have to answer to anybody. But no, that don't
avail anything either. But a new creature, a new creature,
And watch this, and as many as walk according to this rule,
what rule? A new creature in Christ, peace beyond them, and
mercy upon the Israel of God. Let me show you another near
that quick. I've got to hurry. Look at 1 Corinthians 1 with
me, chapter 1, verse 2. Not only were we chosen in Christ,
adopted in Christ, and made in the family of God, redeemed by
Christ, accepted in the Beloved. made new creatures in Christ,
and God made us this for Christ's sake. But we're also sanctified
in Christ, and that means to be made holy. People say, well,
you need to be holy. I'll tell you what, I'm already
as holy as God. Holiness is a state of being.
You can't be more holy at one time than you can at another.
And that's what really throws people a loop. They start looking
to themselves for some evidence that they know God by the way
they live. And if you start doing that, you're going to either
be a Pharisee, Or are you going to be depressed and discouraged
all the time? And look what he said here in
1 Corinthians 1-2. Under the church of God, which
is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified, here we go again,
in Christ Jesus, called to be saints. That's what sanctified
means. A saint means a sanctified one, a set apart one. Call the
saints. Paul says, Beloved of God, call
to be sanctified. And what call to be sanctified
means to declare holy, to be actually holy. God said, Be ye
holy as I am holy. Now, you reckon God's not going
to let us, you think He's going to let us into His presence without
us being holy? He just read to you over in Ephesians
1, He says, you know that according Chosen us in Him that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love. Now ain't that what it said?
And oh beloved, to declare holy and to actually be holy. In Christ
we're all of these. We're holy and actually sanctified. Sanctified. And oh beloved, the
firstborn, when they were first come out of the womb, whether
it was an animal or whether it was a child, the firstborn was
holy unto the Lord. They dedicated it to God and
said, this is God's, right here. And the vessels and the tabernacle
were holy in the service of God. If it was a spoon, if it was
a bowl, if it was a snuffer, whatever it was, God said, that's
holy. Have you ever seen a snuffer
that was holy? Have you ever seen a bowl that
was holy, a spoon that was holy? What made them holy? God said,
ìTheyíre mine, and theyíre only going to be used in My service.î
Thatís what made them holy. You know what makes us holy?
God said, ìI declare them holy, and theyíre used in My service,
and I sanctified them, and I said theyíre holy.î And when that
blood was applied, they were actually holy. Look in Hebrews 10. You've got
to see this. You've just got to see this. We've seen this
so many times, but to go with this right here, you've got to
see this. Hebrews 10. And then, my beloved, not only
are we called to be saints and set apart in Christ and actually
holy, but God sets us apart by the truth. He chose us in Christ
and sanctified us through the spirit and belief of the truth.
God sets us apart by the truth, the truth keeps setting us apart.
Sanctify them through thy word, thy word is truth. And that word
constantly keeps cleaning us and setting us apart. And then
we're set apart by the offering of Christ, Hebrews 10.7. Then
said I, lo I come, in the volume of the book it is written of
me. To do thy will, O God. So above, when he says sacrifice
and offering, and burnt offerings and offering for sin, was not
your will, you never had any satisfaction therein, which are
offered by the law. Then he said, I come to do thy
will. He takes away the first. What
first? Sacrifices and offerings. The fact that there was no satisfaction
in those offerings. that he may establish a second.
What's the second will? What's this will? By the which
will? The will that Christ came to do. By the which will we are
sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once
for all. And watch this now. Look down
at verse 14. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever being sanctified. As many times as I've read that
and preached from that, it still does something for me that I
can't describe. It still does something for my
heart and my soul. And then last, I think this is
last, I don't, it's not. Not only we're sanctified in
Christ, but there's no condemnation in Christ. Paul said he cried
out when he said, That that I wouldn't do, I don't do. And that that
I wouldn't do, I do do. He said, I see then that in my
flesh was no good thing. He said, O wretched man, who
shall save me from this body of death? And he said, I thank
God through Christ Jesus our Lord. And then the next word
out of his mouth, Therefore there is now. No condemnation to them
that are in Christ. Well, you just got through saying
there was no good thing in your flesh. You just got through saying
you was a wretched man. You just got through saying that
you had a body of death. And what in the world? He said,
I'm not looking at my flesh. I'm not looking at my standing
in myself. There is therefore now no condemnation to them that
are in Christ. And why is there no condemnation?
There ain't nothing to condemn us. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Is Christ the God? Who is He
that can give it? Is God that justifies? Who shall
lay anything to the charge? Law can't. Christ fulfilled it.
Sin can't. He put it away. Flesh can't. We're not in the flesh. We're
in the Spirit. Why? Because God was in Christ
reconciling the world unto Himself. And this is last. No, it ain't. Oh, I'll get it here in a minute.
Look with me in 2 Corinthians 2.14 real quick. 2 Corinthians
2.14. Oh, now, this is another thing.
Oh, these spiritual blessings. Would you rather have these blessings
right here and know them and be like that woman that John
Bunyan went to have dinner with, stopped by to visit her one time,
She was sitting there and they were getting ready to eat. She
set a piece of bread on the table and a glass of water. That's
all she had in the house. She bowed her head and she said,
Lord, thank You for this bread and thank You for this water. Thank You for this bread and
thank You for this water. And thank You for what I have in
Christ. He's my bread and He's my water.
And I tell you what, we can give thanks for anything if we're
in Christ. And that's what he says here, 2 Corinthians 2.14,
Now thanks be unto God, which always, always causes us to triumph
in Christ. Triumph in Christ. My word. Triumph. Come in here with a
long face like that. Don't let anybody see it. Don't
let God see that long face. Don't let me see it. I don't
want you to see mine either. You know why? Because we triumph
in Christ. Oh, do we get discouraged? Of
course we do. Do we get depressed? Do we get stressed out? Sometimes do we get tried severely
till we think, oh Lord, I cannot bear this burden. Do we get disgusted with ourselves? Do we get disgusted with others?
Do we get offended and are we offensive? Surely we're not inconsistent. Do we feel slow, ignorant, dumb
in the things of God and Christ? Feel as if we don't have a spiritual
breath in us? Feel absolutely, totally carnal? Will these things defeat us?
No. When will we triumph? It says
right here, always. Always. You say, I certainly
don't feel like it. That's why we don't grow by feelings.
That's why we don't grow by feelings. If we weren't by feelings, how
many would have been here today? I said, I felt sorry for myself,
Gary. That's what I'm doing. Life's
so tough. Got a bunch of children that
don't care a thing in the world for God? Always, how will we triumph?
Always. How will we do it? In Christ Jesus. You see, we
are persuaded that neither life, nor death, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, things present, things to come, nor any other creature
shall be able to separate us from the love of God, where's
that at? In Christ. Our love waxes and it wanes,
it ebbs and it flows, but His love doesn't. That's why nothing
will ever separate us from the love of God that's in Christ,
because God loves us in Christ. And this is my last one, Philippians
3, talking about these spiritual blessings. I'm going to preach
from this again tonight, but go from it entirely. I'm not
going to go to Romans or Corinthians tonight. I'm going to deal with
this again and go from an entirely different way of looking at it. Not only do we triumph in Christ,
chosen in Christ, redeemed in Christ, adopted in Christ, and
the family of God, heirs of God, sanctified in Christ, new creatures
in Christ, triumph in Christ, but we rejoice in Christ. Finally,
my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write Philippians 3.1, to
write the same things to you, to me, indeed is not grievous,
but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil
workers, beware of the concision, for we are the circumcision.
Which worship God in the Spirit, and listen to it, and rejoice
in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Who
else are we going to rejoice in? Who else are we going to
rejoice in? All's in Him. All's done by Him. All depends on Him. Let others
rejoice in the flesh. But we're going to rejoice in
Christ, because He did it all, all to Him alone.