But, beloved, remember ye the
words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus
Christ, how that they told you there should be markers in the
last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. These
be they who separate themselves, sensual having not the Spirit.
But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy
faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, Keep yourselves in the love of
God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal
life. This last message, we've seen
how that the Lord Jesus Christ was going to come, and He's going
to execute judgment upon all these ungodly men, and going
to convince them, going to convince them of their ungodly deeds,
their hard speeches that they committed against Him, spoken
against Him. And I want you to remember this.
He's describing religious people. Remember, he started out talking
about we've got to contend for the faith because certain men
have crept in unawares. Teachers. And so these are religious
people he's talking about. Now, they're people that think
you've got to go out here and do all kinds of ungodly deeds.
But it's an ungodly thing when you deny the blood of Christ.
And he read tonight that anybody that does not confess that Jesus
Christ has come into flesh is an antichrist. And that means
that, beloved, they do not understand that Jesus Christ was God manifest
in the flesh. And there's a multitude of people
in this world who don't believe that. Anybody that would turn
you to a saint instead of to Christ. Anybody that would turn
you to Christ Mary, the Lord's mother, instead of Christ. Anybody
that points you to your own works instead of to Christ. Anybody
that would point you away from Christ is an antichrist, he's
ungodly, and he has hard speeches. You know how hard it is? Have
you ever heard preachers stand up and mock God's sovereignty
and mock the election? I've heard preachers get up and
do that. Write out what we call the five
points of Calvinism and say, wrong, wrong, wrong, lie, lie,
lie. Those are hard speeches against
Christ. Hard speeches against God. And it's an ungodly man
that does that. I don't care how many degrees
he's got with his name. And that's what he's talking
about here. He's talking about religious people. And that's
why, you know, a fellow told me one time, said, well, we both
You're still my brother, we're both serving the same Lord."
And I said, no, no, no, no, we're not brothers. There ain't no
way you worship a different God than I am. It's not a different
opinion, it's not a different idea, it's not a different concept,
it's a different God. And so now he turns, now he comes
here to address these people. He comes to address believers
now, there in verse 17. But, beloved, God's people. He's talking to God's people
now, not these false prophets. And He's warning God's people
about these people. And He turns now and He says,
you remember He opened up and says, Beloved. Beloved, I gave
all diligence. And again, He calls them beloved.
You're beloved. Beloved of God. Beloved of Me. Beloved of one another. And then
he says, Remember ye the words which were spoken before the
apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now when he says remember, you
can't remember something you haven't ever heard. You can't
remember a gospel you don't know. You can't remember a Christ you
never knew. You can't remember truths you never know. And that's
why he says remember the words if you haven't heard the words.
of the apostles and understood the truth of the apostles, then
you can't remember those words. Is that not right? Our Lord says
the Holy Ghost would bring to remembrance the things that I
said unto you. Now I want you to see that over
here in Luke 24 with me just a minute. You can't remember
something you don't ever, never know. And that's what He's talking
about here. Remember the words. Luke 24,
verse 7. And that's why so many of you
know it. That's why we have this Word in our hearts. That's why
we turn to the Scriptures and look at what God has to say about
it. Not our opinion. Luke 2 says
here, the Lord Jesus says the saying in verse 7, saying, The
Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men,
and be crucified, and the third day rise again. And then, it
says here, and they remembered His words. This is when they
went to the grave. And the angels told him he's
not here, he's risen. And then they remembered, he
said he had to be crucified, he had to die, and rise again
the third day. And they said, then they remembered.
He told us that that was going to happen. He told us he remembered. And see, that's what the Holy
Ghost does. He brings things to our remembrance. Back over
here in our text, remember the words that were spoken. Spoken
before the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. And, beloved, that's
the thing about it. This Word that's spoken, and
this Word that's spoken is this Word right here. They didn't
have this Bible at those times. They were just sending these
out, and these people were getting these letters. And remember the
apostles, the words of the apostles, the warnings that they gave you.
They told you there would come these kind of men. They told
you that there'd be mockers. They told you there'd be scoffers.
And they warned us about these things. And I want to show you
a couple of them. Look with me in Matthew 24. Even our Lord
Jesus Christ, and that's why I said, how shall we escape if
we neglect such great salvation, which first began to be preached
by the Lord Jesus Christ and then the apostles? Matthew 24,
verse 3. Look what our Master said. And Jesus answered, said unto
them, Take heed that no man deceived you. That's the first thing,
take heed. Excuse me, yeah, verse Well,
no, in verse 3, I meant to say, then as he sat upon the Mount
of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately. Now, this
is just his people he's talking to now, the disciples privately.
Tell us which of these things be and what shall be the sign
of our coming and of the end of the world. And the first thing
the Lord warned them about, take heed that no man deceive you.
There are going to be many deceivers go out into the world. That's
what the Scriptures tells us. And then it goes on to say, for
many shall come in my name. saying, I am Christ, or I am
of Christ. They won't say, I am Christ himself,
but I am of Christ. And shall deceive many, shall
deceive many, just because they use the name of Christ. Now look
down at verse 11. And many false prophets shall
arise, and shall deceive many. And why will they deceive them?
Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
When you love wax cold, you know, you can believe anything. Somebody
comes along with a little heat, a little warmth, a little fire,
next thing you know, they get you stirred up. Look down here
then in verse 23. Then if any man say unto you, lo,
here is Christ, or there is Christ, believe it not, Christ is not in a particular
place. He's in His people. He's in His church. He don't
dwell in houses made by hands. Christ's over there. He's doing
a great work. No, no. Don't believe Christ. Hear Christ.
For there shall arise false Christ, false prophets, and they'll show
great signs and wonders. I mean, they'll make you think
they're working miracles in so much that if it were possible,
they'd deceive the very elect. And if it wasn't for God's elect,
the whole world would be deceived. Ain't that right? Now back over
to our text. That's what he says. You remember
the words which were spoken before the apostles and prophets of
our Lord Jesus Christ. And he says there in verse 18,
he said, How that they told you there should be markers in the
last time. Markers. What do they mark? Well,
they mark God. They mark His sovereignty. They
mark His sovereignty. They mark His sovereignty. God
can't save you unless you let Him. A fellow tried to convince
me the other day that I was wrong and that because he tried to
convince me that man has a free will and that his will controls
salvation. I said, yes, I believe in whosoever
will, but where do you get the will? Because he said, you will
not come to me that you might have life. In the day of his
power, his people's made willing. But they mock the sovereignty
of God. They say, God can't do anything. God is bound by you. And then they come along and
they mock substitution. They tell you that Christ died
for everybody. That He died and His death is
sufficient for every man. And if He'll take advantage of
grace when it's given to Him, He can be saved by that. That's
mockery. I tell you, I know what's mocking
because I've done the same thing in my life. And I'm so ashamed
of it. I heard Wayne Boyd and Norm Wells
both talk about their conversion and how they mocked God and lied
on God too. And they both started crying
when they started talking about it. Oh, I'm so ashamed that I
do that. But oh, beloved, they mock election. Oh, election. They said elect.
This fellow tried to tell me election's under service. I said,
brethren, we're bound to thank God for you because God has from
the beginning chosen you under salvation. I'm sitting in the ground telling
you, under salvation. Don't say nothing about service
according as He has chosen us in Christ before the foundation
of the world. Not for service, but to be holy
and without blame before Him in life. Ah, boy, that's what I mean.
You've got to know this blessed book. And they marked the blood
of Christ. They take hymn books now. Take out, you know, this
thing, you know, about being sinners. Take out songs about
the blood. Y'all got a bloody religion.
Well, I know this, without the shedding of blood, there's no
remission of sins. I know God is eternally and infinitely
and immaculately and immeasurably holy. And beloved, if He's God,
He's got to be that way. He's got to be pure. He's got
to be holy. He cannot be like us at all.
And if you sin against Him, and He made you, and you get your
life and your breath and your being from Him, Then there it
is, beloved, we're bound to Him, we're bound to obeying and worshiping
and honoring, and we don't do that. So what's going to happen?
Either we're going to die, or a substitute's going to die.
Blood's going to be shed, ours or somebody's, and Christ, beloved,
His blood is what washed away our sins. Oh, there is a fountain filled
with blood drawn from Emmanuel's face. And oh, they mocked man's
utter inability. Scoff at man's utter inability. Tell them how they're depraved. I mean, I never will forget when
I really truly understood that man had no power to save himself. When I really got a hold of that
man's utter inability to do anything to save himself or please God,
to give himself life, to do anything spiritual whatsoever. A man has
no ability to do anything spiritual, Godward. He has no power. No man can come to that. Our
righteousnesses are as filthy rags. There's none that understand
it. There's none that do it good.
There's none that's righteous, no, not one. There's none that
seeks after God. You're dead in trespasses and
sins. But then they stand up and tell
you, you know, everything's depraved but a man's will. Everything's depraved but a man's
will. I asked a fellow brother today, I said, how you doing?
He said, oh, I said, I'm mean, hateful, ill, and wicked. I said,
you told the truth that time? That's one time you've told the
truth in your life. Isn't that right? But they didn't,
you know, man's utter inability. You know, we won't talk about
our children. We love our children, love our grandchildren. But I
mean, they ain't just a few days old, and you find out real, real
quick that they got a spirit, they got a meanness, they got
a selfishness, they want their own way, they want all the attention. And I tell you, even, you know,
and you start telling them no, face will get red, shake. Why is that? It's their nature. If they do that against us and
we're in God's stead, what do we do when we do it against God? And, oh beloved, they mock the
work of the Holy Spirit. There's a whole congregation
that don't even believe in the work of the Holy Spirit. Mock the new birth. Don't even
know anything about a new birth. You can join the church and they
never hear or mention the new birth. Join the church and the
new birth's never mentioned. You can go to the Baptist church,
Methodist, Pre-Baptist, and the new birth's not mentioned. As
long as you're confirmed and go through the catechism and
join their church and sign their card and walk their house, you're
alright. The new birth's never mentioned.
The new heart, the new will, the new mind, the new understanding,
the new spirit, The new nature. I know a so-called sovereign
grace preacher that makes fun of man having two natures. He
said, which one of my natures sin if I got two of them? Which one of your natures commune
with God? If you ain't got only one nature,
there ain't but one nature outside of Christ. That's a fallen nature. And that's why you have a new
birth. It's to get a new life, to get a new heart, to get a
new will, to get a new spirit. And that says new. It doesn't
say reformed, reworked. Brush it up on just a little
bit. No, no. New, new, new, new, new. And so that's what he says. Now,
they warned you about these things. Look what 2 Peter said about
it. 2 Peter chapter 3. He wanted,
you know, the apostles of our Lord wanted. These men are mockers. And I wouldn't walk from here
to this glass to hear one of them preach. 2 Peter. The second epistle,
3-1. The second epistle, beloved,
I now write unto you both which I stir up your pure minds by
way of remembrance. He says, remember the words.
That's what he said. I want you to remember some things. And that you might be mindful
of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and
of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Savior,
knowing this first, that thus shall come to the last day scoffers
walking after their own lusts. So that's what they said. That's
just many, many places. Now, let's look back over in
our text. Not only are these men markers. He said, they told
you that they'd be markers in the last time. And you know,
Timothy has several places where Paul says, you know, in the last
days, he said, prayerless times will come. Men shall be lovers
of thieves, proud, boasters, heavy, high-minded, unthankful,
ungodly, unholy, disobedient to parents. And another says,
do you know that in the last times, seducing spirits, and
doctrines of devils would come, and men would teach these doctrines
of devils, and seducing spirits. And they'd forbid men to be married,
and having their conscience secured, and all these things. So he's
warned of these things so many times. But now what else does
it say about them? They told you there should be
markers who should walk after their own ungodly lust. Now,
what does that mean, to walk after their own lust? Well, that's
what he said about them up in verse 18, 16, excuse me. These
are murmurs, complainers, walking after their own lust. What does
that mean, going after their own desires? Lust just means
desire, strong desires. You know, you can You get real,
real hungry sometimes, all you can think about is a hamburger,
big old cheeseburger. That's a strong desire to that.
And these desires, if they walk after their own lusts, their
own desires, they don't walk after the Word of God. You'll
find no place where these men walk after the Word of God. They
walk after their own desires, they walk after their own opinions,
and they, Look what they said up there in verse 16 about them.
These are murmurs, complainers after their own last walking.
And their mouths speak great swelling words. Man, they come up with some doozies.
Come up with something new. They can tell you all about prophecy
and what Israel is going to do and God's time clock. And they
got charts, you know, going this way, yon way, and another way.
And they say, this prophet done this, and this means that, and
that means another thing. And they drink these great swelling
words, and then somebody comes in and they go with him. But,
oh, beloved, they don't walk after the Word. They don't walk
after Christ. They don't walk in love. They
don't walk by faith. It says they walk after their
own lusts, their own desires. And all beloved, these false
teachers, they don't seek the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
They don't seek it at all. But they seek their own glory.
Seek their own glory. Let me show you something in
Acts. You keep that. Look over in Acts chapter 20. Here's a
perfect illustration of what I'm telling you. Acts chapter
20. And how many times do you find
where it says, And they were envious of the Lord Jesus Christ.
They were envious of the apostles. They were envious because people
came and listened to them preach. They were envious. They were
full of jealousy. And look here in Acts 20, 28. Paul's in Ephesus. He's been
there three years, and he's fixing to leave. He's fixing to leave. And he says, Now take heed, therefore,
unto yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost
hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God which he hath
purchased with his own blood. Now watch this, for I know this,
that after my departure shall grievous wolves enter in among
you, and they won't spare the flock. And that's why he called this
fellow over here a brute beast, natural man, just like a beast.
You can't teach a beast, you cannot change a wolf where he
will not kill the sheep. If he can get to anything he
can kill, he's going to do it. Now watch this, and also of your
own selves, shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to
draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch," and watch it
again, "'and remember that by the space of three years I cease
not to warn ever one night and day.'" Now he's telling them
exactly what's going to happen after I'm gone. And I've done
it with tears. And now, brethren, here's what
happens. And God helped us to do this.
And now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the Word of
His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance
among all them which are sanctified. Oh, my! I'm going to leave, and
I tell you what, I'm going to tell you exactly. Even among
your own selves, there'll be men rising up. Let me show you
another one over here in 1 Timothy 4. I think I quoted it a minute
ago, but let's look at it again, 1 Timothy 4. And this is the
Spirit speaking now. These men walk after their own
lusts, their own desires. They lust to be They have ambition,
and they lust after men's praise, and they lust after money, and
they lust after clothes, and they lust after gold and silver,
and they lust after having a bunch of converts. But they don't care
a thing in the world about the glory of Christ. Chapter 4, verse
Timothy, Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter
time some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing
spirits, doctrines of devils. They'll speak lies and hypocrisies. Their own conscience will be
seared with a hot iron. Forbidding to marry, commanding
men to abstain from eating certain meats, and God created them to
be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know
the truth. God give us everything. All right,
back over in our text. These men walked after their
own lust, and that's why John, you know, in his third epistle,
he says, you know, I wrote unto the church, but the atrophies
who loveth to have the preeminence among them receiveth us not.
When I come, I'm going to remember his deed, which he doeth padding
against us with malicious words, and not content therewith neither
do himself receive the brethren, but forbid them that would, and
cast them down to church. I mean, he wants all the recognition. He wants all the power. All right,
back over here now in verse 19. And not only that, but, beloved,
these be they who separate themselves, having not the Spirit. They separate
themselves. They separate themselves, you
know, they're a hierarchy. We're all the lay people. We're the preachers. We're the
popes. We're the priests. We're the
preacher. We're the ones got all the authority.
We're the ones got all the power. We're the ones going to tell
everybody else what to do. We know they separate themselves. We know more than you do. We
got holier lies than you do. And they separate themselves.
Sensual. That word, sensual, means controlled
by their senses and also means strictly a natural man. Sensual
means, and it says here, having not the spirit. They're without
the Spirit. And boy, without the Spirit of
Christ, do you know what Romans 8 and 9 says? If any man have
not the Spirit of Christ, he's none of his. And the Spirit Himself bears
witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And as many as are led by the
Spirit, what are they? They're sons of God. No regeneration, no spiritual
understanding, no love, no worship. Everything is done by the energy
of the flesh. Because they don't have the Spirit.
I told, I forget who I was talking about in the meeting, but I said,
you could go to the average church, and if the Holy Spirit was ever
there, he could leave and they'd never know it. He could just leave and most
folks would never know it because they're going in the energy of
the flesh most of the time anyway. And oh, well, look what it says
here in verse 20. Oh, listen. How are we going to keep from
being deceived? How are we going to keep from following these
false teachers? How are we going to keep from falling away and
contend for the faith? He says, Oh, but beloved, first
of all, remember the words. Remember the words that were
spoken by the apostles, by the Lord Jesus. And oh, but beloved,
build yourselves up. on your most holy faith, praying
in the Holy Ghost. Build yourselves up on your most
holy faith. And holy faith, it's holy because
God gave it to us. It's a holy faith because it
deals with holy things. It's a holy faith because, beloved,
God separated us under this faith. He's the one that gave it to
us, and He's the one that teaches it to us. And it comes from a
holy God, and it's worked in us by the Holy Spirit. And, oh,
beloved, I'll tell you another reason why it's called the Holy
Faith, because Christ is the object of our faith. Oh, our
blessed Redeemer, our holy Redeemer, our blessed Savior, He's the
object of our faith. That's what makes it holy. He's
what an object of faith. I mean, the Lord Jesus Christ
said, looking unto Jesus, the author, author and finisher of
our faith. He gave it to us, and He's going
to complete it. And, oh, it's holy because it
grasps the holy subject. It deals with holy things. And,
beloved, the Word of God is the foundation of our faith. I mean,
beloved, this right here is the foundation of our faith. I mean, beloved, you can, when
the world, our Lord Jesus Christ says, heaven and earth will pass
away, but my Word will never pass away. Huh? When the world's
burning, this thing, this is the book that's still going to
be in glory. This is the book that's going to be open to judgment.
That's why it says judgment begins at the house of God. Judgment
begins every time we preach the gospel. Every time the word of
God, this is where judgment begins. We pass judgment upon ourselves,
to believe or not believe. I receive Christ or I don't.
I believe that's true or I don't. Every time we're preaching, judgments
begin right here. And here we are, beloved, and
that's what He said here, you know, and that, the Word of God
is the foundation of our faith. Genesis 1 to Revelation 22. It's solid, it's real, it's got
substance to it. And oh, beloved, and we are in
the intercession here praying, you beloved, building up yourselves
on your most holy faith. How do you build yourselves up?
And we're not content. What he's saying here is we're
not content to stand still. Anybody content other than with
the Lord Jesus Christ. But we're not content to stand
still. We desire faith to be increased. We desire to grow
in faith. We desire to grow in grace. We
desire to grow in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. You
brethren, pray and say, Lord, give Brother Donnie something
that we may learn more about Christ. Then, beloved, that's
what our disciples said. I preached it here a few weeks
ago. The disciples said, Lord, increase our faith. Have you ever prayed that, Lord?
Increase my faith? And, oh, beloved, let me keep
Jude. Look with me over here in 2 Thessalonians
real quick. 2 Thessalonians. I'm going to
show you something. Chapter 1, verse 3. That's why
Peter, man, he says, grow, grow in the grace and knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And, oh, beloved, faith grows.
Faith is not stagnant. Faith is a living, vital principle
of life in us. And it grows. And how does the
faith grow? It grows by the Word of God in fellowship with the
saints. But look at what he said here in verse 3, 2 Thessalonians
1. We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as
it is me, as it is necessary, as it is fit or right to do,
because that your faith, groweth exceedingly." Oh my, he went
once, and they had faith. He went back in a while in April. Oh, y'all grown in the faith.
You've grown in faith. How strong you've got in your
faith. And oh, how does he know? And the charity of every one
of you toward each other abounds. Your faith groweth exceedingly.
Oh my. Have you ever, you know, you
said that about people. Boy, the Lord's blessing him. He's
really growing. He's really growing. That's what we say about people
who's growing in grace. And then it says, praying in
the Holy Ghost. And beloved, Paul said, I would
rather pray, pray in the Spirit, than to utter five words in an
unknown tongue. I'd rather pray in the Spirit.
And that's what they mean, praying in the Holy Ghost. And that's
what our Lord said, you know. And over in Romans 8 it says,
we, the Holy Spirit, we pray in the Holy Spirit, we groan
with groanings, but the Spirit helps us with our infirmities.
Helps us with our flair. Helps us to pray. Helps us to
pray. And that's why he says, pray
without ceasing. The psalmist said, Lord, teach
us to pray. And all pray to persevere. Pray to be kept from temptation.
Pray for God to give you guidance. Flee to God in prayer. Our Lord
said men ought always to pray and not to faint. And oh, beloved,
I tell you, you know when you know you're praying in the Holy
Ghost? It's when it's just spontaneous. I know people set aside time
for prayer. I understand that. And it's a
good thing to do. But when you pray in the Holy
Ghost is when it's just spontaneous. When it's just immediate, you
just automatically, that's when the Holy Spirit's praying through
you. That's when you pray. And then he says there in verse
21, keep yourselves in the love of God. There's two things here
about keeping yourselves in the love of God. Keep before your
remembrance, keep before your mind, the love of God for us
in Christ. Keep yourselves in the love of
God. Keep before your mind. Keep before your view. Keep before
your faith. Keep before your heart the love
that God has for you in Christ. That's what it is to keep yourselves
in the love of God. Keep it always before you. Keep
it always in view. That's why Paul said, I'm persuaded
that nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of
God. We're in Christ. Having loved his own, which in
the world he loved him unto the very end. Paul said, Christ who
loved me and gave himself. And he says, Father, thou hast
loved them just like you loved me. So we keep the love of Christ.
How can it be? How can it be? And that's what
it means, keep the love of God before you, the love of God for
you in Christ. And then the second thing it
means is this, keep yourselves in love with God. Whenever you
start feeling yourself getting cold, and feel yourself, your
heart getting cold, and feel your heart getting weary, keep
yourselves in love with God. How do you do that? Fear the
love of God. Look to God. Call on God. That's why Simon
Peter, that's what the Lord Jesus said after Simon denied Him three
times. And the Lord Jesus come and set
that cove afire, and fish on the fire, and they'd fished all
night, and then they come and they're set, and they're eaten.
And the Lord Jesus turned around Simon Peter, and the first thing
He said to him, Simon, son of Jonas. He didn't call him Simon
Peter. You know, Simon the Rock. No, no. Simon, son of Jonas,
do you love me? Oh, keep in love with God. You know, one of the things that
the Lord held against Ephesus was that you have left your first
love. I've got this against you. You've
left your first love. And I'll say this without any
reservations. People, you know, they've been
married for years, and they go back and say, well, I never was
in love with them, and I found my true love over here. I don't
believe that. I don't believe that for a minute.
I don't believe. I know that our love can wax
cold. I know we can get indifferent
in it. But I know this, that if you can leave the love of
God and forget the love of God and not love God, you never did
love God. If I could walk off and leave
Mary Bell, that's a good sign that I never did. Everything
was just to pretend, just to put up. Ain't that right? And that's why it says perfect
love casts out fear. Mature love casts out fear. It casts out the fear because
we know that God loves us, and He loves us unconditionally.
We didn't do anything to get God to love us, and we can't
do anything to stop God from loving us. I mean, you know,
He loved us before we were. He loved us when we were dead
in our sins. And He called us to Himself.
He put the love of God in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. And
we cannot do anything to cause God to stop loving us. And He
not only put the love of Christ in us, but He put in our hearts
a love for Him. One of the last things I heard
Scott Richardson say was talking about God putting the love for
Christ in our hearts. Oh, Christ put His love in our
hearts. And now we know that He is where
He don't need faith anymore. He don't need hope anymore. But
He's still got the love of Christ in Him. Ain't that right? And, oh, beloved,
mature love cast out for you. We're not afraid of the judgment.
We're not afraid of God casting us out. We're not afraid of sin
destroying us. That's why Paul said, I'm persuaded
of nothing. Oh, and being in love with God
motivates us to good works. Loving God makes us satisfied
with Christ and satisfied to feed on Him and live to Him. And let me give you this last
thing. No, I ain't preached too long. I think I've been, oh my,
I'm going to take another 15, 20 minutes. I ain't been on that. No, I won't. But look here, what
it says, keep yourselves in the love of God. Looking for the mercy. Looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto
eternal life. Oh my, remember them past mercies? Oh, we've been looking for mercies.
I got up this morning looking for mercy today, and I'll get
up tomorrow looking for mercy tomorrow, Gary. Let me show you
something over here in Psalm 40. Remember the past mercies,
these covenant mercies? God said, I'll give you the sure
mercies of David. What were the sure mercies of
David? God hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordering
all things in sure. Psalm 40, I want you to see this.
Remember his past mercies? That's why Paul, he says, you
know, He says, this is a faithful sin
and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners of whom I am chief. But I attained mercy
because I did it ignorantly and unbelieving. Look here at Psalm
40 and verse 4. Blessed is the man that maketh
the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn
aside to lies. Many O Lord my God, and thy wonderful
works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to usward,
they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee, and if I would
declare and speak of them, there more than can be numbered. Oh, what a life! Anybody here
want to declare what God has done for them? The mercies He
gave you? His thoughts toward you? What
order they was? Where they started? When they
started? How many they are? Ah, can't be done. Can't be done. And then His present mercies.
Oh, look in Philippians. I'm going to show you these things
in Philippians chapter 2 right quick. Then His present mercies.
The mercies we have right now. Mercies we have right now. And you know, when the Lord has
mercy on somebody that we love, when they get sick, When they
get afflicted, God has mercy on us, too. Philippians 2.25. Yet I supposed it necessary to
send to you Epiphaditus, my brother, and companion in labor, and fellow
soldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my
wants. For he longed after you, all was full of heaviness, because
that ye had heard that he had been sick. For indeed he was
sick, nine to death. But what's this? But God had
mercy on him. And not on him only, but on me
also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. When Greg Elmquist's daughter
was in the hospital here a few weeks ago, she has this rare,
rare liver cancer. And she had to go in and have
a bunch of tumors taken off her liver. You remember me telling
you all about that? She done real well. But then she took
a real, real bad turn. Bad turn. Greg and him sat up
all night. During the middle of the night,
she just took a real bad turn. Talked to him several times.
They was prepared for the very worst. The Lord's will be done. But when he spared her, and let
her get well, and got her through that rough patch, I immediately
thought, not only did God have mercy on him, but he had mercy
on everybody that loved him and loved his daughter. By sparing
her, he spared us sorrow upon sorrow, because we love him so
much. That's the way we feel about
the Lord's people, ain't it? If it happens to them, it happens
to us. And that's, you know, with Peggy. That's just the way it is. And
then let me show you another future mercy. Look over in First
Timothy with me right quick, and I'm through. We're looking
for the mercy. A lot of folks are looking for
a lot of things. They're looking for a mansion in the sky and
pile by and by. Looking for a cabin next door
to Jesus. But I'm looking for the mercy
of the Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. We look here in
2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 16. The Lord give mercy unto the
house of Onesiphorus, for he oft refreshed me, and was not
ashamed of my change. But when he was in Rome, he sought
me out very diligently and found me. Now listen. The Lord grant
unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day. What
day? That day Elisha's world. That
day when you draw your last breath. That day when you're dying. That
day when you're sick. That day when you're going to
have to face God. Mercy. They may find mercy of the Lord
in that day. And, oh, beloved, that's going
to be shown to us at the resurrection of eternal glory. Oh, my. The Lord come in mercy and bless
you and fill His presence. When you're laying and your eyes
getting dim, sight's starting to leave, blessed
comings shall You go to sleep, the more Jesus Christ there in
mercy. It's a mercy for Him to come
and take you home. Oh, thank God for His gospel,
for our Lord Jesus. Our Father, O our Father, gracious,
gracious God in Heaven, thank You for Your Word. Thank You
how it strengthens us, encourages us, instructs us, edifies us,
builds us up. Oh, how it does things for us
that nothing in this world can do like it does. How it stirs us in our hearts.
How it quickens our understanding. How it gives light for us in
our darkness. How it gives strength for us
in our weakness. How it gives God light for our
steps and our paths so we know where to walk and how to walk.
And Father, I thank you for those gathered out tonight. God bless
you. Strengthen and encourage you, dear saints. Oh, Father,
bring someone to that faith that they can't build themselves up
into most holy faith until you give them faith. And I pray that
you would give them that faith and give them faith to confess
their faith in Christ. And I pray, Lord Jesus, for the
sick among us. Pray for pain. Pray for Daryl,
who's going to have the test tomorrow. Now, Lord Jesus, I
pray for my dear brethren who are going through trials and
afflictions. Thank you for allowing us this day and giving it to
us. We bless you in Christ our Lord's name. Amen. Amen.