Grace tis a charming sound, harmonious
to the ear. Lays in heaven the topmost stone,
well-deserved praise. We're looking here today and
continuing to look in Hebrews chapter 10, and I'm going to read the last
nineteen verses as we read the whole chapter last week and uh... today uh... that remember I had
said that this chapter really is divided into two parts uh... that which Christ has done that
is the cause and then the result because in the nineteenth chapter
uh... there is a result that takes
place uh... on the account of what Christ
has done And so beginning there in verse 19, it says having therefore. Now someone has wisely said we
need to find out what the therefores are there for because this is
very important as Paul in writing to the Hebrews has built this
case from the beginning of the book exactly to the present moment. He has been laying the foundation
of the finished, completed, absolute work of Christ as the atoning
sacrifice for sin. God who at sundry times, in divers
manners, hath in times past spoken unto us by the prophets, hath
in these last days spoken unto us by his Son. And we must never move beyond
that. That's all we need to know is
what Jesus Christ has come both to do and to say and to perform
in his people. For he does indeed work in us
both the will and to do of his good pleasure as it pleases him.
So beginning there in verse 19, we read, having therefore brethren
boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new
and living way, which he hath consecrated for us through the
veil, that is to say his flesh, and having an high priest over
the house of God. Let us draw near with a true
heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us
hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he
is faithful that promised. And let us consider one another
to provoke unto love and to good works, not forsaking the assembling
of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting
one another, and so much the more as ye see the day approaching. For if we sin willfully, after
that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth
no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for
of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three
witnesses. Of how much sorer punishment
suppose ye? Shall he be thought worthy who
hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted the
blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing,
and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know
him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me. I will recompense,
saith the Lord. And again the Lord shall judge
his people. It is a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God. But call to remembrance
the former days in which after ye were illuminated, ye endured
a great fight of afflictions. partly whilst ye were made a
gazing stock, both by reproaches and afflictions, and partly whilst
ye became companions of them that were so used. For ye had
compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling
of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better
and an enduring substance. Cast not away, therefore, your
confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience,
after that ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the
promise. For yet a little while, and he
that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just
shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall
have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw
back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of
the soul. Now it is very important as we
look at this passage of scripture that we understand what the conclusion
is. Because it's knowing the conclusion
that helps us to understand what it is that he's talking about.
He says here, but we are not of them who draw back unto perdition. Now that is our nature. That
is our way. That is the way we would go if
left to ourselves. It's not within us to keep ourselves
from falling. But we are not of them that draw
back to perdition. Why is that? Because of what
we just sang about a moment ago, the grace of God. It's grace
that inscribed our name in the book of life, and it's grace
that will bring us home. And so it is, it is the mercy
of God from beginning to end in the salvation of God's people.
There's not one thing that a man can lay claim to having done,
said, or whatever that is a part of his salvation. Christ is the
author and the finisher of our faith. He's that one to whom
we look. We have no confidence in any
other, most especially not in ourselves. Man that has confidence
in his own faith is a fool because as Peter learned, that is a precarious
place to be, to be trusting in your own self. Lord, though all
these go away from you, I won't do it. The Lord said, Peter,
this very night, you're gonna deny me three times. He said,
not me. And he went off. He didn't figure
that was gonna be the case. He knew he could stand. He knew
he was faithful. He knew he had the faith, and
that he would be faithful to the end. The Lord said, though,
to him, in mercy, he said, Peter, Satan hath desired thee to sift
thee as wheat, but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail
not. And the only reason that Peter
was not cast away, just like Judas, the only reason Peter
was not cast away was the grace of God. The mercy of God visited
upon him. The Lord prayed for him. He prayed
for him in the garden. He said, Father, I pray not for
them. I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast
given me out of the world. They were thine and you gave
them to me, that I might keep them. And so he says here in
verse 19, having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiest
by the blood of Jesus. Everything that he has taught
these Hebrews up to this point is showing them how that the
law and all of the ceremonial aspects of the law were fulfilled
in Christ. That the blood of bulls and goats
could never take away sin. but that Christ came as that
perfect sacrifice and he satisfied the law. And where the satisfaction
of the law is, there's nothing beyond that. If perfection comes
by the law, then men are in a bad condition. Because no man's ever
been made perfect by the law, because the law reveals sin.
The law shows us what we are by nature. When we go to the
law, It's reminding us in every jot and tittle of it what we
are. And the Lord said, thou shalt not. Of course, see, everything
that you by nature desire to do, the Lord said, thou shalt
not. So the law has no power to save a man. But the blood
of Christ is that offering for sin with which the Lord is pleased. That's our boldness. Having therefore
boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. You see
a Jew growing up when the temple was in its glory, or the tabernacle
as well, even before the temple was built, seeing that high priest
every year once going into that place, that holiest place of
all, and nobody else could go in there. He had bells sewed
around the hem of his garment so that they knew that he was
still alive while he was in there, because if he died, they couldn't
get him out. So he went in there with a rope
tied around his leg, and if he died while he was in there, they
could pull him out, because he couldn't go in there. And the
Lord says to these Hebrews, he says, by the blood of Jesus Christ,
you have been given boldness to enter into that very place
that no man could go. Now men by nature think they
can just come to God anytime they get ready. They think the
Lord's just sitting up there hoping somebody will do something
for him, and he's just pleading with men to help him out, give
him his money, and do all these things that'll just make God
happy. And men just think that, well,
you know, they've got it figured out. Well, I know, you know,
God, I just, I believe God understands me. Yeah, he understands every
one of us. I mean, he knows Ian from the
beginning. He knows exactly what we are.
And so yes, he does know us. How foolish it is for men to
think that they can approach unto God because the scripture
says it dwells in the light to which no man can approach. He only hath immortality and
only those who have immortality can come into his presence. How
can we go there without it? We must be given eternal life.
And he is the giver of such, as he said to Nicodemus. Nicodemus,
except a man be born again, he cannot enter, he cannot see the
kingdom of God. So he said, having therefore,
brethren, boldness. We've got it. What is our boldness? It's not what we've done, but
our boldness is Christ. I don't have any boldness to
come into the presence of God. When I think about my sin, it
makes me hide my head in shame, and I fall on my face, and I'm
timid. I can't even look upon him. But you see, he says here, in
Christ. We have boldness to enter into
the very holiest place. There is no place that we cannot
go in the blood of Christ. And so, what a glorious thing,
the blood of Jesus by a new and living way. a different way,
a new way. Now we know that this was the
only way from the beginning. So it wasn't new in the sense
that the Lord changed his mind or something and came up with
a new plan. Now that's the way a lot of people
look at it. You know God created Adam in the garden and Adam messed
it all up and he, you know, God said, man, what am I gonna do
now? And he thought about it for a, he thought up a plan.
He said, well, I'll institute the law and give these sacrifices. And well, that didn't work either.
So what am I gonna do now? Well, I'll send my son. And so
they say that, you know, this is the new and living way. This
is something God came up with. Because God mellowed out over
time and he's, you know, he's different than he was back in
the Old Testament. You've heard that. I mean, God's
not the same God that He was in the Old Testament. You know,
He's different. I mean, now He's kind and loving
and cares about people. And when He was in the Old Testament,
He was just full of wrath and judgment and all of that. No,
He doesn't change. He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. He's the same from the beginning.
And so this way, which Paul is describing here as a new way,
is actually the old way. It's the only way. But God has
seen fit to reveal it unto men in such a way that what we say
the Old Testament and the New Testament, the New Testament
is actually the explanation of the Old Testament. You know,
a man could read the Old Testament and he could have a lot of knowledge.
Now, you see, we can see Christ in the Old Testament. But those
who were living in those times in the Old Testament, they couldn't
see him like we can see him. We still see through a glass
darkly, but they saw even more darkly than we. They only had
him in types and foreshadows. But Paul said, we have seen him
face to face. We've seen the glory of God in
the face of Jesus Christ. And so there's our boldness to
enter in. by a new and living way which
he hath consecrated for us through the veil. He has done something
that was never done before. He rent the temple, the veil
of the temple in twain from top to bottom. Now you know I've
never read anything about, I don't know that anybody ever recorded
what happened when the veil of the temple was rent in twain.
I'm sure it must have been a staggering thing for those priest to go
into that place and see that curtain all torn open. What did
they do? Patch it back together like Adam
and Eve got fig leaves and put upon themselves to establish
their own righteousness? Or what did they do? I don't
know. But we know this, that the Lord opened the way unto
the holiest of all, and he showed it by the destruction of that
veil which separated between the inner and the outer sanctum
of the Lord, by a new and living way which he hath consecrated
for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh. And having
a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with
a true heart and full assurance of faith. See, we're not talking
about partial faith. We're talking about complete
faith. Now, it's not the faith, it's not, well, you know, I've
got to work up enough faith to believe in him. No, he is the
faith. See, men talk about faith as
if it's some activity of their mind and heart. But faith is
that which God gives to a man when he sees Christ as the Savior. And that's his faith. My faith's
not my faith. See, a lot of people have faith
in their faith. They say, oh, well, I know when
I believe, brother. Oh, man, I, back when I was 14
years old, I walked down that church aisle, and I believe,
and if I get in a doubt on whether or not I'm one of the lords,
I just look back and I remember back when I believed. Well, brother,
if you gotta look back to when you was 14 years old to know
when you believed, then that's too long. Because you see, faith
is a very present activity of the Spirit working in the hearts
of God's people, causing us to believe Him. See, He said, I'm
the Savior, and I believe it. I believe it more now than I
did 14, 15, 20, 30, 50 years ago. I believe He is the Savior.
He is my faith. Having a high priest over the
house of God, let us draw near with that heart. Full assurance
of faith. Having a heart sprinkled from
an evil conscience. Now, you know, the conscience,
the scripture as we have spoken, as he said that, you know, the
sacrifices of the law could never make the conscience clean because
every year had to be a new offering. Every year they were conscious
of the fact that they had to have a new sin offering. and
they were hoping they could have it because they didn't have anything
to take away their sin until the priest went in there. Well,
dear brethren, we have a conscience that's sprinkled with the blood
of Christ. We have forgiveness in Christ. That's our faith. That's our
hope. That's our expectation. And our body's washed with pure
water. Now there's some who've tried
to make that into the waters of baptism. That's not what he's
talking about. I mean, we do believe that God's
people should be baptized in water in obedience to Christ. That's a command that He gave. We believe that. But this has
nothing to do with that, because baptismal waters will not cleanse
you of anything. It's just the answer of a good
conscience toward God, because that's what He said to do. But
this water, he says, our bodies washed with pure water. See,
these Jews would understand this because there were many carnal
washings that the priest had to do in their sacrifices, did
they not? I mean, if you read back, I believe
it's in the book of Leviticus when it talks about when Moses
set Aaron and his sons apart unto the priesthood, They had
to, he bathed them. I mean, he cleansed them in water.
They had to be clean to go in to minister the sacrifices. Well, our conscience and our
body, that is, he has cleansed us from head to foot. There's
no part of us that he has not cleansed. Because else, how could
we come forth from the grave unto him if our bodies were not...
See, He's redeemed us body and soul. He's redeemed us completely. He died that we might be raised
from the dead. We believe in the resurrection
of the body. I don't know how it happens. The scripture says
that the graves are gonna be open. Now, I don't know if that
means, I believe it means they're literally gonna snatch open from
wherever they are and all of the, those that was eaten by
the fish or whatever is gonna come forth, even people that
was burned up or whatever. They're gonna come back together.
I don't know how it is. Don't get me to explain it, I
don't know it. But by the grace of God I believe
that Jesus Christ has cleansed even the very bodies of his people.
He's made us free from sin. Now we don't see it in present
time because you see the last enemy that shall be destroyed
is death. And these bodies are susceptible to death according
to his good pleasure. So let us hold fast the profession
of our faith. Now this is our faith. Christ,
let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering.
Why? Because He is faithful. Not because
we're faithful, but because He is faithful that promised. See,
that's where our hope is built, on what He promised. What He
said, and not only did He promise it, but He made it with an oath. He said, I promise it, and He
said, I swear it. He didn't have to, but he did.
He's faithful. And let us consider one another
to provoke unto love and good works. One of the results. You see,
the work of the Spirit of God in God's people is to cause them
to exhort one another unto faith, to love, to good works. We don't
want to see brethren walking contrary to the way of God. We
don't want to see brethren walking in open rebellion against the
commands of God. And so we're given the charge
to provoke one another to love and to good works. Then he says
something very interesting. And this is something that is
almost roundly neglected. in the present time in which
we live, men think that they assemble together for their benefit. Well, I don't go to church because
I don't get nothing out of it. Well, probably because there's
nothing in you. If a man doesn't get anything
out of worshiping Christ and coming together with brethren,
magnifying the name of the Lord, it's probably because there's
nothing in you to be working to cause you to do that. But
that's not the reason we come together. We don't come together,
according to what the scripture says here, for our benefit. Now we are benefited by it. But
what does he say here? Not forsaking the assembling
of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting
one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching.
Let's consider one another. Why do we come together? Because
we have consideration to the brethren. See, that's why we
meet together, because we love the brethren, because we have
consideration for their benefit and we want them to be helped.
And so we come together. Now, every part of the body,
every joint supplies that which the body needs. I know we live
in a time when it's pretty much considered that the only ministry
that takes place is what's done behind the pulpit. That's considered
the ministry. You hear men talk about when
he's gone into the ministry. Well let me tell you, every one
of God's people are ministers one to the other. Now, all men
are not given the same gifts and all men are not given the
gift of gab or whatever you want to call it to expound the scriptures
or to do those things in a public fashion, but we're all called
to minister to one another, to help one another, to pray for
one another, to build one another up in the faith. You see, we
get built up in the faith when we see one another, do we not?
because we go through the week and we're beset by this, that,
and the other, and we think about, man, we're just gonna quit all
this. You know, it just ain't worth it. And then we come together
and we see old brother Ed over there, and we think, well, man,
he's still going on. He hasn't quit yet. You know, he's still
believing. He's still going on, and I'm
encouraged. It helps me. And so when we neglect,
forsake assembling, and that doesn't mean we never miss a
meeting, but it means not forsaking it. In other words, that is,
we don't cast it off. That is, we, it is an important
part of our life. Now, I believe it's so important that
it's the most important activity of the believer. Everything else
is secondary. Now this is how I view it. I
know a lot of people might not think this way, but I do, and
I think it's what Scripture says. It's the most important activity
for God's people to be involved in. And I don't think anything
else is more important than that. Not forsaking the assembling
of ourselves together, as the manner of Psalm is, because the
manner of Psalm is to do that. I mean, you know, today, I mean,
most people, I mean, you know, they go to church when they got
time. But we need to make time, not for our sake, but for the
brethren's sake. For if we sin willfully, after
that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth
no more sacrifice for sins. but a certain fearful looking
for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries. Wow. That's pretty strong, isn't it?
You ever committed a sin that wasn't a willful sin? Now, I've
heard men try to explain, you know, what a willful sin and
a non-willful sin. I never could see the difference
in anything. I mean, everything I've ever
done in my life, I did because I wanted to do it. Now, a lot
of times we might, we look back and we say, well, I wish I hadn't
have done that, or I'd have rather done this or I'd have rather
done that, but at the point in time in which you do the things
you do, you do it because you decide to do it. And don't ever
try to blame somebody else for it. Most especially, don't try
to blame God. Now, God's the first cause of
all things, and there's not a thing transpires in the world that's
not ordained by Almighty God. But brethren, we're accountable
for our every action. And we sin because we willfully
sin. Now, so if he means this absolutely
in the strictest sense of the word, if we sin willfully, after
that we have received knowledge of the truth, there remains no
more sacrifice for him. We're in trouble, I believe.
I mean, that's a death knell for every one of us. So what's
he talking about? Well, he's talking about what
he's talking about. And he explains it. He says, he that despised
Moses' law died without mercy. Of how much sorer punishment,
here's the willful sin. How much sorer punishment, suppose
ye, shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden underfoot the
Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith
he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the
Spirit of grace. What's he talking about? What
is the willful sin? The willful sin is turning away
from the gospel. The willful sin is saying, I
don't believe. The willful sin is saying the
blood of Christ is not sufficient. See, that's the willful sin.
It's neglecting all those things that is the very basis upon which
we stand, to turn away from it. So what's he telling them? He's
saying, look, if you turn back from that which Christ has done
back to the ways of the law, I mean, you've learned that it's
not by the blood of bulls and goats that sin is taken away,
but only in the blood of Christ. If you should say, well, I'm
not going to trust the blood of Christ, I'm going to go back
to the bulls and goats. That's the thing. I'm going to
trust in my own righteousness. You know, I'm gonna do good works.
This all this grace business, you know, I'm having second thoughts
about that. I think that we, you know, we're
not only saved by what Christ did, but we're saved by some
of the stuff we do. You know, there's things we have
to do. You ever heard anybody say that? Well, there's gotta
be something for you to do. I mean, you can't, it's not all
what Christ did. There's some stuff in there for
you to do. Pretty common concept. I mean,
most free will religion is built on that concept. May talk about
what Christ did, but it doesn't talk about the totality of what
Christ did, the finality of what Christ did, the absolute nature
of what Christ did in the behalf of his people. He's satisfied
the claims of the law. There's not a thing in the world
you can do to add one whit to the righteousness that you have
before Almighty God. Not one thing. You can't ever
be sanctified enough. You can't ever be made holy enough
by anything you ever do. You cannot perfect perfection
because perfection is found in Christ. In Christ alone, He is
our perfection. He's our sanctification. He is
our cleansing. He's our justification. He's
all in all. Christ is all. So, if you trod
underfoot the Son of God, the blood of the covenant, you turn
your back on it, you willfully cast it away, what is there left?
Nothing. It's impossible to renew a man
to repentance who will not believe that the blood of Christ is sufficient.
See, a man can say, oh, well, you know, I repent, but I just
don't believe that Christ is all. On Christ the solid rock I stand,
all other ground is sinking sand. His oath, His covenant, His blood,
support me in the whelming flood. Dear brethren, that's our hope.
And to depart from it, to have some other hope, to think that
some earthly priest can give you absolution, or that some
preacher can lay his hands on you and give you something that'll
cause you to be received by God, is a lie. You cannot trust it. For we know him that said, Vengeance
belongeth unto me. I will recompense, saith the
Lord. And again, the Lord shall judge
his people. It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the
living God. Don't think that a man who turns away from Christ
has any hope before Almighty God. But call to remembrance the former
days in which after that you were illuminated. In other words,
remember how it was to begin with. Remember, look, you see
it's a good thing for us to take stock in our lives. And to look,
not so we might see what all great things we've done for the
Lord, But look at how merciful God has been to us and how he
has kept us. And through all the different
things that we could have been destroyed by, yet he has preserved
us even to the present moment. called to remembrance the former
days in which after ye were illuminated, that ye were given some understanding,
ye endured a great fight of afflictions, partly whilst ye were made a
gazing stock. In other words, you became an oddity to your friends. They
say, you know, he's gone off the deep end. I mean, you can't talk any sense into
him. All he wants to do is talk about the grace of God, the mercy
of God, the kindness of God to his people.
Cast not away, therefore, your confidence, which hath great
recompense of reward. There is great reward for the
sons of God. That's not a reward in the sense
that we do something to earn it, but it's a reward that's
given to those who are in Christ. What a glorious thing, dear brethren.
You see, the Lord is working in His people. He's calling them
out of the darkness and into the light. You can't teach a
man the light. Take a blind man, and you can
turn on every light in the house. It'll help him a bit. It won't
do him any good. You can describe to him, well,
you know, this is a, do you think this LED bulb is brighter than
this fluorescent bulb? Doesn't mean anything to him.
Why? He can't see. And so we can't, the men of this
world, they have no concept of this. And so they've not been
illuminated, but you see, God's people, and he's speaking to
these Hebrew believers, he says, you've been illuminated. You've
seen Christ. You know these things to be true.
He said, why would you ever think about turning back or away from
it? Cast not therefore away your
confidence. What is our confidence? It's
our boldness. It's Christ. For ye have need
of patience. After that ye have done the will
of God, ye might receive the promise. Oh, it is the work of
the Lord that will keep us. We have need of patience. We
don't have much of it by nature. Don't have any really, but the
Lord works in us patience. What is the patience of the saints?
Christ. They're looking for Him. They
can't do anything else. They're desiring to look to Him. They're hungering after Him.
They're patiently waiting. We're often anxiously, patiently
waiting, but we're anxious and patient. We're patient and anxious
at the same time. Isn't that an amazing thing?
But he works those things in us. That we might receive the promise
for yet a little while. And here's the good news. He
that shall come will come and will not tarry. Now that was
2,000 years ago that this was written. i believe it you know we cannot
honestly say i don't know it might be another ten thousand
years but one thing is certain that our salvation is nearer
than when we first believe so we exhort one another see why
do we preach the gospel now a lot of people think that you preach
the gospel in order to get folks saved no we preach the gospel
first to bring glory to God to magnify the name of Christ. Now
the Lord does call His people and He gives them light through
the gospel. But we preach the gospel to encourage
the saints. See, to remind the saints of
what it is Christ has done because there's our faith and therein
are we made strong. He will come. Now the just shall
live by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall have
no pleasure in him. The man who casts Christ away.
It doesn't make a difference what he's learned. See, Peter
talks about them, does he not? He said they're like the sow
that's washed, returns to its wallowing in the mire, like the
dog that returns to its own vomit. Those are those who apostatize. In other words, they've been
illuminated, they have some light, but they turn away from it. Now,
were they the children of God who were lost? No. They were
those who were illuminated, but they didn't have the truth. Now,
but God's people are illuminated, and listen to what he says in
the last verse, and this is where we began, and it's where we're
gonna end. But we are not of them. That drawback. Now, John said they went out
from us because they were not of us. Now, God's people are
gonna believe. There's nothing that the world
can do to keep it from happening. There's nothing the devil can
do to keep it from happening. God's people will believe. Why
will they believe? Because faith is the gift of
God, not a work lest any man should boast. Now, are they gonna
believe in unbelief? See, when I grew up, in the church
I grew up in, they used to preach what they called, once saved,
always saved. Now there, like most error, there's
an element of truth in that. I do believe that's a true thing,
because once Christ paid the price for my sin, it was done. But the idea was, because salvation
depended somewhat on you, that you could come along and make
this decision to be saved and then brother, it's just like
writing it in a book, it's in there and it doesn't matter then
what you do from then on. Well, that was to believe in
unbelief. Can't be, there's no such thing as that. See, God's
people believe in belief because our trust is Christ, we continue
to believe. Because faith, the gift of God,
faith, the gift of God is not a temporary thing. It doesn't
believe one day and doesn't believe the next day. That doesn't mean
we don't have doubts and fears and question ourselves and things
we might understand, but we can never not believe. We can't help it. If God be for
us, brethren, who can be against us? And so it is. We are not of them who draw back
into perdition, but to them that believe to the saving of the
soul. We can't help it. We're not of
them. Now we might not measure up to
some men's standard of what righteous men look like. We might not fit
every bill that they like. We might be in error in some
doctrine or something that they might feel is vital. We might
not have been baptized according to their rubric or whatever how
they think it ought to be done or who they think it ought to
be done by. But we are not of them that draw back because we
have boldness to enter in to that holy place in Christ. And
Christ is our hope. And so we don't care really what
other men might think of us or what they might think how we're
in error Take away everything I've got,
but give me Christ. That's what Paul said. He said,
I count all things but dung that I might win Christ. That's all
that matters. None of this other stuff makes
any difference whatsoever. It's Christ. And so it is that
you can't add anything to it. But by the grace of God, you
can't take anything from it. Because what Christ has done
satisfies the law of God. It satisfies the guilty conscience
who's been given faith to believe. I don't want anything else. You
know, there's no religious activity that a man could come and press
upon me and say, well, now you've got to do this because I know
Christ is none at all. And He's faithful. I may not
be. But He is. We're not of them
that draw back. We believe. We believe that Jesus
Christ is the Savior of sinners. What a glorious thing. You know,
as old John Newton said on his deathbed, the only two things
that he could remember, what a great sinner he is and what
a great Savior Christ is. Brethren, if you know those two
things, you are blessed of God because that is the essence of
faith. Nothing in my hand I bring, Simply
to thy cross I cling, Naked come to thee for dress, Helpless look
to thee for grace. Foul I to the fountain fly, Wash
me, Savior, or I die. Don't ever draw back from that.
May the Lord help us.