All right, if you wish to follow
along, turn to Romans chapter nine. I was away a couple Sundays. Last Sunday, we had that horrendously
cold and dangerous weather, and we didn't meet there, or meet
here that day. Of course, Paul was able to live
stream for us. But the last time I was here, I basically spoke
on verses one, two, and three. And I'll not go back over those
again, but I do want to read those and then go just a few
more verses further and we will deal with those verses. Paul
in this chapter, what we have is chapter nine. Of course, everyone
here is aware of this, but there were no chapter divisions when
Paul wrote this. He was just writing out a letter
to this church. And he wrote these words of what
we have in chapter nine. I say the truth in Christ, I
lie not. My conscience also bearing me
witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual
sorrow in my heart. And I will just stop and say,
I know something of what Paul means there. All of us probably
has someone or a group of someones that we care very deeply about. And our hearts are in heaviness
toward God because of them, because we know they do not know God.
And that's what Paul's referencing here. And he continues, for I
could wish that myself were a curse for Christ, for my brethren,
my kinsmen, according to the flesh. Now he describes them,
who are Israelites, who are Israelites. Now, let me stop just for a moment
and say this. When reading Paul's epistles,
we must be careful. I am, and have often called myself
to be a literalist when it comes to reading and understanding
the scripture, and that is true. I still hold myself to be a literalist,
but you must look at the context, because there are times when
Paul speaks of Israel that he is not talking about natural
Israelites. But here he is, because he has
just said, my kinsmen, according to the flesh, right? Who are
Israelites? To whom pertaineth the adoption? and the glory, and the covenants. Think about this list of things
that these Israelites had, and the giving of the law, and the
service of God, and the promises. Whose are the fathers, that is
all of these, and I mean to say it this way, all of those great
men and women of the Old Testament that believed God, and were a
part of God's family. These people came from them.
whose are the fathers, and of whom, as concerning the flesh,
Christ came. He, Jesus Christ, was a full-blooded
Jew. As who, concerning the flesh,
Christ came, who is over all, that is speaking of Christ, not
the Israelites, who is over all, God bless forever, amen. But then this last, I want to
include that for this morning. Not as though the word of God
has taken that effect. That is, the word of God has
not failed. If we read the word of God and
we look at things like the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the
giving of the law, the service of God, specifically the promises
There are those who believe that the promises have fallen to the
ground for Israel, but Paul says that's not so. Not as though
the word of God has taken none effect. Here it is, for they
are not all Israel, which are of Israel. Now they are all natural
Israelites, but they are not all Israel that is princes with
God. who come forth out of, I am paraphrasing,
but who come forth out of the loins of him who was a prince
with God. So, consider the advantage that
these natural Israelites had. The adoption, the adoption. And
I'm not gonna spend a lot of time on these things, because
I'm not saying you can't, I'm just saying I'm not able to without
it ending up being probably just some large historical lesson,
and I don't want that this morning. The adoption. And our Lord even
said of Israel, the nation of Israel, the nation, because when
he sent Moses down to deliver the Jews out of Egyptian bondage,
he did not send him down to deliver only the elect in Christ, but
he sent him down to deliver the whole nation of Israel. So the adoption, and even there
in Exodus 4.22, you can look it up sometime if you wish, God
said this of Israel, Israel is my son, even my firstborn. Then you have the glory. Think
about the brilliance that followed Israel when they left Egypt,
during the day, It was a pillar of cloud that gave them shade
from the heat of the sun. At night, it was a pillar of
fire to give them light on their journey, even, Mac, they sometimes
may have journeyed at nighttime, and yet that glory was there,
right? This was God Almighty's presence
with them. This wasn't just some supernatural
miracle as men often think of on a natural level. This was
the very presence of God clothed in this pillar of fire or this
cloud. And you remember when the tabernacle
was erected and all things were sanctified by blood that were
to be sanctified by blood? that the presence, the glory
of God came down and went into that little old cubicle called
the Holy of Holies, and God sat right between the two cherubims
whose wings come over the mercy seat, and that mercy seat, and
God sat right there. To them pertained this glory.
When Moses went on to Sinai, the presence of God came down. And they seen the mountain lit
up with fire and smoke and noise. And then we have the covenants,
the covenants. And there are many covenants,
but let me say this because I was born and raised and was taught
that the covenants have to do with various different things.
All of the covenants. If there is a covenant that is
included in what Paul talks of here, the covenants, which were
these Israelites' advantage, what they had, what God gave
them, they all have to do with messianic blessing. There are those who teach there
are covenants that are just for natural Israel, and then there
are covenants for the church, a covenant for the church. You
gotta be careful there. But let me illustrate this in
two of the covenants. There is the Abrahamic covenant.
That is the messianic blessing. the promise from God to Abraham
that through his seed, the nations, the nations, not just your progeny,
not just those that come forth out of your physical loins, but
the nations would be blessed by this one singular seed. There's the Abrahamic covenant.
It is of messianic blessing, but then there is what is called
the Davidic covenant. But that does not negate the
Messiah, nor does it make the Messiah some special person just
for the nation of Israel only, because the Davidic covenant
declares of the Messiah that he shall reign on the throne. So we see pertained to these
Israelites, the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving
of the law. How can that be an advantage?
Because the law exposes sin and sins, and that's a good thing. It may not feel good when the
law exposes your sin and your sins to you, but it's a good
thing to have the law expose to you your sin and your sins,
and I'm not going into the difference on those, but most here, I'm
sure, are acquainted with that. The law lets me know this, and
Paul dealt with it adequately this morning. Mercy from God
is essential. Mercy from God is essential.
That's what the law teaches. That's what the law teaches.
So that was a great advantage to have this law, was it not?
I know most people think the law was just these 10 commandments
that God gave to humankind, here's how you're supposed to conduct
yourselves. There is a very small smidgen in which that's true.
but that law was given to expose what we really are in the fall
of our father, Adam, and what we are by nature when we're born
into this world. But Paul says, to whom pertaineth,
who are Israelites, to whom pertaineth the adoption, the glory, the
covenants, the giving of the law, what about the service of
God, the promises, the fathers, Christ's enfleshment, Christ
who is over all, God bless forever, amen. And there's one that Paul
doesn't list here because he's already mentioned it. And you're
aware of it, but in case you don't remember it, turn back
to Romans three. This is where I got a portion of my title.
Great Advantage Squandered. And in our short passage here,
verses one through six, there is this sincere, true, great
heaviness of heart, but there is that ray of hope too, because
the word of God has not been found to be of no effect, because
they're not all Israel, which are of Israel. God has had and
still has amongst the natural Israelites a people chosen to
salvation in Christ Jesus the Lord. Israel as a whole, elect
or reprobate, was a part of an elect nation. but not every person
in that elect nation was elected to salvation in Christ Jesus
the Lord. And that's the whole of what
Paul absolutely teaches in this chapter. We'll look at that in
more detail, but again. Look at what it says, chapter
three. What advantage, then, hath the Jew? Or what profit
is there of circumcision? Much every way. And of course, in our text, we
find him listing adoption, right? Glory, covenants, the law, the
service, the promises, the fathers, concerning Christ coming in the
flesh. That's an advantage, much every way. But here's the chief
one. chiefly because that unto them
were committed the oracles of God." Now there's something about
this truth here Paul expresses. The oracles of God are not And
I know that's a word that in this day and age with all of
the sci-fi movies and just the weird kind of movies of weird
worlds, that they'll have oracles. And oracles were these beings
or people or demigods, whatever they were, and when they spoke,
you needed to really listen. But the oracles Paul is talking
about is not just some pronunciations from some being. This is the
written word of God. Granted, these natural Israelites
way back then, Mac, they didn't have all that we got today. But
they had, even in the beginning, once Moses arrived on the scene,
and before Moses died, God moved him to write down the first five
books of the Bible. And they are absolute truth from
God. They are the oracles of God. And the Israelites had these
things. Now just as a side note, how much more advantage and responsibility
do we have? Because we got all this. We have
this book that tells us the difference, it defines the difference between
the first covenant and the second covenant. The old covenant and
the new covenant, do we not? But, I don't wanna get into that
yet, yet. in spite of all this advantage,
and that's what he says. Chapter three, let me read it
again. What advantage then hath the Jew? What profit there is
there in circumcision? But remember, he's just told
us in the previous sentences, who is really a Jew? Well, just
being a natural Jew is not what he's talking about. And circumcision
is not just that of the flesh, it's in the heart. So a real
Jew, a true Jew, whatever word you want to use to describe it,
an actual Jew is one of the elect of God in Christ Jesus that God
gives life to. But then he turns around and
says, what advantage did I have to Jew? Well now he's reverted
back to just being a Jew by nature. See, that quick. So you gotta
be careful. You just gotta be careful. What
advantage then has the Jew or what profit is there of circumcision? Much in every way, chiefly because
then unto them were committed the oracles of God. But he brings
up the same problem that he talks about in chapter nine. But many
Jews didn't believe, right? And look where the nation of
Israel was even in Paul's day. Look where it's at now. They're
not believers in the Messiah. There may be some who believe
the Messiah's still to come, but they don't believe he's already
come the first time in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. But Paul
introduces this problem. For what if some of them did
not believe? What about God's promise then? What about His
covenants? What about the adoption? What about all those things?
What about the service of God? What about the law? All those
would be included because this is one of the advantages you
had in being a Jew or being an Israelite according to the flesh.
For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the
faith of God without effect? God forbid. So if I view the scripture in
some way that the scriptures, the truth of God has fallen to
the ground, then I am viewing the scriptures wrongly. Based
upon that, there is some who are called dispensationalists
that believe, well, since this thing really didn't seem to pan
out for Israel, then God kinda reverted to the church and he's
gonna save a few people through the church, and then he'll revert
back to Israel one day. Listen to me, anything God does
for any natural Israelite, he will only do for them in Christ,
them being chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.
God will not reestablish Israel as a nation, now listen, he's
already established them as a nation again. but he will not establish
them as a nation to start practicing all of this service again under
the law. All of these sacrifices of animals,
that is done away with in Christ Jesus. So clearly I'm not that kind
of dispensationalist. But what I am doesn't matter.
It's what this book says yet. The sad truth is, uh oh Paul,
I'm getting a tickle too. The devil must be out this morning.
No, I just need a drink of water. Yet, Israel squandered these
great advantages. Did they not? They squandered
it by neglect. How often did they neglect these
things? Even when they were offering sacrifices. Even when they did
offer a lamb. You know what they'd often do?
They didn't bring one without blemish, they'd bring the worst
one. One with a limp. or some kind of bad disease on
it. They bring that to the Lord. And God said, would your master
receive that from you? You see what I'm saying? They
had all these great advantages, but they squandered them by neglect.
They squandered them by distortion. They would distort. They distorted
the law. They distorted the law. You remember
when our Lord came on the scene, he said, you make void the commandment
of God with your traditions. And some of those traditions
were not in and of themselves bad traditions. The problem was
they were trying to skirt the reality and the truth of the
law by those traditions. Okay? So they squandered these
great advantages by neglect, by distortion, by pride, by self-righteousness,
by presumption. Most Jews just presumed that
because they were a Jew, they had the blessing of God. Right? Yet the evidence is God slaughtered
millions of them in the desert when they refused to believe
God and enter into Canaan right at the get-go. And God put it
in the Old Testament, and it's referred to in the New, their
carcasses. God don't talk about his people, even their bodies,
as just their carcasses. He redeemed even this body. Christ
died and when he returns, if I die before he returns or if
I'm living when he returns, if I'm in Christ, he's gonna transform
this body and give me a glorious body. But Israel, presumption,
ritualism, for many Jews, just going through all the service,
sacrifice, all of the law, it was just a ritual. They also
distorted it by nepotism. There were many Jews in Christ's
day, and I'll say that because the testimony of scripture will
bear this out clearly. There were many Jews in Christ's
day that despised other Jews because those Jews were not as
holy as the first Jews were. You see what I'm saying? There's
nepotism. Well, yeah, a Jew has a real
good blessing, but I'm not one of those publicans. I'm not one
that's gathering taxes for the Roman government, you see. So
with all these, they squandered it. neglect, distortion, pride,
presumption, ritualism, nepotism. Even the scripture became what
we call a lucky rabbit's foot, right? And folks, don't we see
that today for sure? I mean, most folks, now I'm not
saying this is true of everybody, but most folks, if you go into
their home and they have a Bible on the coffee table, you know
that that Bible will be sitting on top of every other book that
may be on that coffee table. And you go in to visit them and
you pick up the National Enquirer, that's kind of a rough one, ain't
it? And you lay that National Enquirer on that Bible, it won't
be long before they'll tell you, well you need to move that off
the top of that Bible. Now maybe that, I don't see that
like I used to, but I'm sure that still happens. The Jews
took the Bible to be a lucky rabbit's foot. Ye do search the
scriptures, our Lord told them, do you not? but you don't see
what the scriptures are talking about. You don't see me, he said,
in the scriptures. But, oh, this is the glory. This, when you look at, and other
parts of chapter three, yes, as well, but specifically chapter
nine, verses one through five, it is very disheartening. Here's
a people who had great advantage Chief advantage, Paul calls it
both, chief advantage, right? And yet they squandered it. But
here's the glory. But Israel's utter failure did
not negate God's intent. You see that? And that's exactly
what Paul means when he says, not as though the word of God
hath taken none effect, and the reason is, he says, they are
not all Israel, which are of Israel. God's still doing for
his Israel exactly what he purposed to do for his Israel. Not a promise
has fallen to the ground. Not a promise has fallen to the
ground. And let me tell you something. The promise was that the Messiah
would sit on David's throne. Now, you think about this. And
I was always taught, well, that'll actually be fulfilled in the
kingdom in a thousand years. Well, a thousand years is gonna
end. If he's sitting on some physical
throne, how can that be? Someone will sit on your throne
forever. Do you see what I'm saying? This
throne doesn't have to do with a piece of wood overlaid with
gold sitting in downtown Jerusalem. It has to do with the reign of
Messiah over all the earth. God giving him power over all
flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as God hath given
him. That's what it's talking about.
So they're not all Israel, but you're of Israel. What if they
did not, what if some, and I like to think God, what if some did
not believe? What if they didn't believe?
Shall their unbelief make the faith? And some say that could
be faithfulness. And it's true, but faith is faithful. Or it's not faith. You don't
have a faith that ain't faithful. Although there's a lot of professed
Christians today that have that kind of faith. They went forward
and make their profession, so they got their faith, but they're
not very faithful. Such as that don't exist on the, that creature
don't exist. That's the hen's tooth. You ain't
gonna really find one. You might think you have, but
it's a P.T. Barnum deal. You've been hoodwinked. God forbid. God is faithful to everything
he's ever purposed to do. It will not fall to the ground
flat. God will fulfill it, and if we
think something's not been done, then it either means this, we
misunderstand it, or this ain't time for it to be done yet. because
if God promised it, it will come to pass. You see, think about,
turn to, now let's turn to 2 Corinthians, or I'm sorry, 1 Corinthians 10,
and I will try to move along. That food in there smells mighty
good, doesn't it? 1 Corinthians chapter 10, just
turn there, get to that spot, and I'll make this statement,
and I'll read through this and show you what I mean by this.
Yet in spite of Israel's utter failure, even men's utter failure,
Now I know some folks don't like this, but that's tough. I don't
care what they don't like. Even men's utter failure, God
Almighty designed for his elect's good. Now let's read chapter
10 of 1 Corinthians. Moreover, brethren, I would not
that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under
the cloud. You see, whether they were elect
or reprobate. You see it? Whether they were chosen in Christ
or not chosen in Christ. But yet they were all what? Under
the cloud, they all experienced some benefit of being an Israelite,
did they not? Look at it. I would not have
you ignorant how that all our fathers were under the cloud
and all passed through the sea. There wasn't one Israelite left
on the other side of that Red Sea. They all went through it,
right? I mean the worst reprobate Jew
among them went across like everybody else did, right? and all were
baptized unto Moses in the cloud, in the sea, and did all eat the
same spiritual meat, the manna and stuff, the quails, gifts
from God. He didn't just send that to the
elect, did he? He didn't just say, okay, there's
an elect in Christ, I'll send that tent some manna and some
quail, huh? He sent it to them all. They
all had some benefit. And there's a lot of people benefiting
today because of the church. A lot of people benefiting today
because of the church. But he goes on. Did all eat the
same spiritual meat? And did all drink the same spiritual
drink? And he's gonna say something
about this one now. For they drank of that spiritual rock
that followed them, and that rock was Christ. So they actually
drank literal water, but the water was coming out of a thing
called a rock. It was a rock, but it was Christ
also. And every one of them drank.
Not just the elect, but the reprobate as well. Well, you know, I'm
a good, solid Calvinist. May not mean squat. It may not
mean squat. Now, you ought to be a good,
solid Calvinist, but just being a Calvinist ain't gonna cut it.
If you could still drink the water that came forth from that
rock, and that rock was Christ, but look, With many of them,
God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. You see that? Now these, oh,
here we go. Now these things were written
for our examples. To the intent, we should not. You see that? Everybody wants
the positive examples. It's the negative ones that hit
home a little further, don't they? Huh? We all want the good
role model. It's a little more difficult
to look at the bad role model. Correct? You see what I'm getting
at now? Remember what I said? Even men's utter failure, God
designed for his elects good. To the intent, we should not
lust after evil things as they also lusted. Somebody says, well,
how you conduct yourself in this world don't make a difference
in this world. Yes, it does. It may actually manifest who
you really are. regenerate or unregenerate. It
may manifest who you are, reprobate or elect. But you're not gonna
know either one of them until you're regenerate. And then you
start to walk according to the way of the regenerate. Look,
neither be ye idolaters. As were some of them, as it is
written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up
to play. And folks, they're playing that, that wasn't Monopoly. This
ain't talking about a game of cards or dice. Neither let us
commit fornication as some of them committed and failed in
one day, three and 20,000. 23,000 people got killed in one day. That's a big funeral procession,
is it not? Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also
tempted and were destroyed of serpents. Remember, some were
bitten and died and did not have a serpent of brass to look upon,
did they not? Neither murmur ye, oh, now it's
starting to hit home real well. Some of us might be, I'm not
a fornicator, I'm not an idolater. What about, what about that,
what about, oh God, I'm about to use a word, I'm glad God stopped
me. What about that sour look on
your face and in your soul? Who are you complaining against?
God, all the time. Mighty even if the worst reprobate
in the world was the source that God used to bring you your pain
You remember what David said when he had true faith and was
walking in that faith and shimmy I was up there throwing rocks
and dust at him. He said if God bit him cuss let
him cuss Maybe God will requite me good this day for his evil
that he does against me. I Do you understand that? Neither
murmur ye as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of
the destroyer. So it sounds like to me they
went to hell. Does it not? They went to hell.
Now all these things, these have all been bad things, ain't they?
Uh-huh. Now all these things happened
unto them for our, and remember what I told you, there's end
samples, not egg sample. An end sample may be something
to show you what you ought not to do, you see. For end samples,
and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends
of the world are come. Wherefore, don't be presumptuous. Wherefore, don't take God's grace
for granted. The Jews did. Look at it. Wherefore, let him
that thinketh he standeth take heed, lest he fall. And this fall here is not just
a fall, it's to fall away. And you see that illustrated
in verse eight. They fail, they didn't just die,
they fail. But look. Here's the thing, there
hath no temptation taken you, but such as common to mellow.
You don't know what I'm going through. Maybe I don't, but God
does. And there's other people in this
world that does. And there's some people in this
world that's going through even worse than what anyone here,
even this morning, has been through. But if God takes you through
it and you're in Christ, it's a blessing. And yet, what are
we prone to do? That's what a murmur is, not
even saying the words. Well, I didn't say anything. No, but
you murmured. I mean, boy. And when I see that one, I see
Walter Pendleton's picture right all over that one right there.
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to
man, but God is faithful. Let me tell you something, and
I'm gonna put it this way. If you're his, he will not let
you go too far. Too far, T-O-O. He will not let
you go too far to where you fall away. But you will still fall. You will still fall. But bless
God, if you're one of his, you will not what? Fall away. And as I stated this, I preached
on this years ago. Jay Smith was still living. And
I think it helped him a lot when I said it. And it wasn't I that
helped him, God helped him, but I said, you know, when a person is elect
and they fall, and a person is reprobate but has made a profession
of faith and they fall, the fall all looks the same. But one falls
into the hands of the loving God. The other one falls away
from God. And that's a big, big difference. that God is faithful, who will
not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able. Now,
do I believe him or not? Do I believe him or not? Even
when you do fall, quit murmuring. It's a good thing to be corrected
of the Lord, because everybody he corrects, he does what? He
loves. If he lets you fall away, he
don't love you. You see it? but will with the
temptation also make a way of escape that ye may be able to
bear it. Wherefore, my dearly beloved,
flee from idolatry, do you see? Just run from it. Sometimes that's
the only thing you can do. Don't fight against it. Don't
try to overcome it. Just run from it. Just run from
it. I gotta move along. I won't be
able to give you all that I had wrote down here in these notes.
But sadly, much of what is called the church today by men tends
to the same squandering of advantage that Israel did back in their
day. Think about it. Just in this
past, just the past couple weeks, I'm not saying everybody in the
world, but I would venture to say the vast majority of humanity
knows that Jesus of Nazareth was born into this world and
we just all celebrated it, or most did, just a couple weeks
ago. Am I wrong or right? Men and women know Jesus of Nazareth
came into this world. They know he was some special
individual, do they not? They even celebrate his coming
into this world. And is that one part that Joe
likes, he's seen in that movie one time, he got the manger scene,
the little creche there, and he said the part of the baby
Jesus was played by a three watt light bulb. I always just liked
that, I had to find a way to say that this morning. But you
understand the advantage that humanity has today? People have
things like this, and they can be in Russia, communist Russia,
and they can pick up a thing like this and still get the gospel.
You know that? When years ago, it would have
been tough to get the gospel to them, would it not? There
are people that's listened to this little group here, this
little group of people here, through your three pastors preaching
from Libya, Tasmania, West Virginia, and we're just as bad as everybody
else. Think of the advantage. Men and women today know of the
necessity of prayer, but they so distorted it, they think prayer
is how you squeeze things out of God. That's what it is. They think prayer is how you
can extort a few goodies out of God. You remember when our
Lord taught us after this manner, now he didn't say just pray the
words, that's the problem. A lot of people just pray the
Lord's prayer. He said after this manner of your prayer, what's
the first thing you do? You honor God for who he is.
And the first thing is not even acknowledging his holiness, did
you know that? The first thing is our father. You gotta be a
part of the family first before you can even commence to pray
in this prayer. Our father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy
name. And then he teaches us you have
to ask God for all your physical blessings and benefits as well
as all your spiritual blessings and benefits. Is that not what
that is? And then he says, your kingdom come, thy will be done. Is that the way people pray today? They don't even want the 1,000
years real quick like. If there's gonna be 1,000 Mac,
they don't even want that to happen tomorrow. Let that be
way down yonder somewhere. Because I really like my life
right now. Because I'm squeezing God for
every little more so I can get. But you can watch TV and they
all talk about prayer. They sing the songs of Zion.
There are people who sing Amazing Grace, how sweet to sound, but
have no idea of the grace John Newton was talking about. Do
you know that? What great advantage we have today, and we squander
it. We squander it. We make much of the Ten Commandments,
do we not? And we argue, even in politics,
as whether they ought to be up on a wall or not up on a wall.
And I'm not gonna engage in any of that. They argue about all
that. Here's the problem. But they
distort the law's holy intent. And what's that? To drive you
to Christ. To show you how bad you really
are so that you got no alternative but to flee to Christ. And if
you see any other reason for the law, you really ain't seeing
the reason for the law yet. They make much of gathering together,
do they not? I mean, they will even gather
together on a cold Easter morning at a cemetery to celebrate the
resurrection of Christ, do they not? During his crucifixion day, you
know, when they celebrate the crucifixion of Christ, they'll
carry big crosses on their back down the street, right down 19,
in front of two or three church buildings. but they are ignorant
of whose name they're supposed to be gathering in. And they
think, just because they gather, Jesus will be there. No, that's
not what he said. He didn't say, where two or three are gathered
together, thou shalt be in their midst. That's not what he said.
He said, where two or three are gathered together in my name,
I'll be in their midst. Well, everybody knows his name.
It's much more than pronouncing the phrase of the name. You see,
they speak of this gathering together, but they do not see
that Jesus Christ is God manifest in the flesh. Vinny gave it to
this morning. I read it in Gabe Stoniker's
bulletin. It's actually a quote from Tom
Hardy. But Christ said these words,
if ye believe not that I am, now the KJV will put a he in
there, but you'll see it's in italics. Christ said if you don't
believe that I am, you'll die in your sins. So you are either
gonna believe that Jesus Christ is God himself, the great I am
that Moses talked to back there in the Old Testament, you will
die in your sins. So it is that vital. You see
it? Think about it. They look for
glorious God experiences, but they're unaware of where God's
glory is actually seen. And you know where God's glory
is actually seen? In the face of Jesus Christ. And how's the
only way that folks like us could do that today? Where's he at
now? Bodly, Bodly, he's in glory. He is with us, we might say,
forgive me if you think it's not, he's with us in spirit if
we're gathering in his name right now in this little group. but
it's to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
How can that be done? Only by the gift of faith. Only
by the gift of faith. They make much of God's word,
as I've mentioned, but they are stuck on always seeing in God's
words their actions and their works rather than the work of
God in Christ. I'm not saying that our works
and actions are nothing and do not matter, but I'm saying if
you miss the work that God sent Christ to do, I don't care how
good your works are, you will perish. You will perish. Oh God, how corrupt I am. Because I see Israelite wrote
all over me. as squandering the advantage
of God. I ought to be the happiest individual
on the face of God's green earth this morning. Do you know that?
But, Red, I rarely ever am. I rarely ever am. When I have to stay late for
work one day, I ought to be praising God for it, huh? but then I get angrier because
the health nurse is 15 minutes late calling me when I get home.
Ever been there? Yeah, it happened just the other,
I waited 15 minutes on that lady to call. She was supposed to
call me at 5.30 and it was 15 till and I thought I'm in these
work clothes and I'm hot and I'm tired. I'm going to the shower
five minutes later. Ring, ring, ring, there she was. What'd I do? I complained against
her. She probably had some other idiot like me on the line, kept
her over 15 minutes. Huh? Oh God, how corrupt am I? How prone are we to corrupt His
way? God, save us from ourselves. God, don't quit saving us. from ourselves. I know religion
teaches men and women that you come forward, as you said, Paul,
you give your heart to Jesus, make a profession of faith, be
baptized, all of those things, and all of a sudden your life's
gonna be so much greater and better. That's when the battle
really starts. And I say that to people that
maybe never heard me before, if you ever bow to Christ, that's
when the battle starts. And as you grow in grace, It
didn't say grow in graciousness, it says grow in grace. What's
that mean? You grow in knowing your utter need of Christ every
moment of the day. It's not talking about getting
better and better and better, it's about seeing how bad you
are more and more and more and crying out to God for mercy in
Jesus Christ. Again, I end it and I'll have
a prayer. I don't need to be saved from
the Democrats or the Republicans. They've been around a lot longer
than me. And once I'm gone, if this country stands, they'll
still be around a lot longer than me. I don't need to be saved
from the Democrats or the Republicans. I don't need to be saved from
all of these earthly, I need to be saved from myself. That's what I need. Father, God
constantly teach us these things we're so prone to forget. We're
so prone to see the enemy out there, and Lord, we do acknowledge
there are enemies out there, and we're not belittling that.
But oh, God calls us to recognize the enemies that is ourself within
us. Be with us in Christ. Thank you
for the food. Give us good fellowship and just
an enjoyable time together. In Christ's name, amen.