All right, open your Bibles,
if you will, to Colossians chapter one. Colossians chapter one. One thing I do know about the
Lord's people, they've got to have The gospel, they have to
have it. Can't live without it, just can't. Just can't do it. I just got
one verse of scripture I want to read to you down in verse
28, chapter one, verse 28. Well, I'll read the last two
verses. Talking about preaching Christ. whom we preach the riches
of his glory, Christ in you, the hope of glory, whom we preach,
warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that
we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. Whereunto I
also labor, striving according to his working, now listen to
this, which worketh in me. For as any work is God working
in me. You know, it's God which works
in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. So we have
nothing we can ever glory in of anything that we ever do.
But I want to talk about perfection. Perfection in Christ. Paul said,
I want to present every man perfect in Christ. Now, I don't know
about you, but I can't grasp perfection. I just can't. I can't get my mind around that.
Something without any fault Something without any flaws, something
without any blemishes, without any spots. Perfect. Perfect. The mind can't no more
grasp the idea of perfection than it can eternity. How do
you grasp eternity? Eternity was here before we got
here. Eternity will be here when we
leave. We just broke into time. We just
broke in, you know, we just, Eternity's always been. God just
broke into eternity. God's always been eternity. You
know when eternity started? When God said. And eternity is
God's eternal. He inhabits eternity. He's the
high and lofty one who inhabits eternity. And I'll tell you,
he is so, he said he counts the nations as a drop in the bucket,
as the dust to the balance. measures the waters in the hall
of his hand. So if we could, you know, one of these days,
Revelation says that time will be no more. And what that means
is that time, as far as, you know why we have clocks? God
gave us that so we'd know how little time we got. You know, it goes on, you know,
12, 24 hours in a day. You know how many days you've
lived? Been here a long time. Been here
a long time. And as far as God's concerned,
not even a snap of a finger. So that's what I'm talking about.
You know, when you're dealing with eternity, something with
no beginning and no ending, and when we try to conceive and grasp
perfection, we get lost because we're in ourselves imperfect.
Imperfect in ourselves. I know that myself, I know that
I am. I'm very imperfect. Everything
about me is imperfect. I come from imperfect parents.
I raised imperfect children. I'm preaching to people that's
always imperfect. And an imperfect preacher to
preaching to imperfect people. So we're keeping good company.
But I tell you, I can tell you where perfection's at. I'll tell
you a couple places it's at. First of all, perfection is in
God Almighty. God is perfect. In all that he
is, he's perfect. You know, he's never had to think.
All of his attributes, in his sovereignty, in his majesty,
in his glory, in his power. Who's like his powers? Perfect. His wisdom is perfect. Everything
about him is perfect. And I mean he's perfect in all
of his glory, all of his power, all of his wisdom, all of his
might. He know all things from the beginning.
He declared the end from the beginning. He knows all things
from the minutest detail. to the most immense. His mind
and his power comprehends immensity. I mean, there's no place you
can go that God's not at. And no place you can go where
you cannot find that he is perfect in all of his ways. And I tell
you, you and I, when we go somewhere, we have contingency plans. God
has no contingency plans. He has no plan B. No, no. He comprehends all secrets. He said he knows our thoughts
are far off. He knows what we think before
we think it. Knows what we're gonna do before
we do it. He comprehends all secrets. Grasp
all knowledge all at one time. He knows the end from the beginning
because he said, this is the end that I want. This is what
I want to be at the end. When this thing's all said and
done, this is where I want everything to end up. So he started way
back yonder and he says, fixed everything that would happen
from there to there and everything that's ever gonna happen on this
world, he fixed it so it'd come out that way right there. He
had the end before he ever started the beginning. That's God. That's God. That's a God I believe
in. That's a God I can worship. That's
a God I can bow down to. That's a God that I can say He
is God. He's not a pretender after the
throne. No, no. I'll tell you, who's ever, who's
ever been the counselor of God? Who's ever had to counsel God?
Now, you know these people, they got these counselors and everybody
wants to be a counselor and preachers wanna be a counselor. I tell
you, the only counselor I'm interested in is the mighty God, the everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace, the wonderful counselor. Oh,
I want him to be my counselor and counsel me. And I'll tell
you something else, all his works are perfect. Not only is he himself
perfect, but everything he's ever done is perfect. Look with
me, keep Colossians. Look over with me in Ecclesiastes.
Ecclesiastes, that's right before the book of Proverbs. Look over
here with me in Ecclesiastes. I want to show you something. Known are all his works from
the creation. Oh my. So I'll tell you, perfection's
in God. He himself is perfect. I heard
a preacher say one time, And he is preaching, we're Lloyd-Jones
priest at Westminster Chapel, where Lloyd-Jones pastored for
30 something years. Well, this fella got up in there
and somebody else invited him in and he said, he said, if I
could get 300 people, 300 people to pray with me, I believe we
could change God's mind to do what we want him to do. If you
could change his mind, he'd change the first person, he'd change
his mind about me. He'd say, I messed up with that
fella. Now that's what people think
about God. That's what people, but oh my.
Listen to what he said here in Ecclesiastes 3.14. I know that whatsoever God doeth,
Listen to this now, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put
to it, nor anything taken from it. And God does this that way
that men should fear before him. He says, you just leave my work
alone, cause it's perfect. Just leave it alone, just leave
it alone. And I'll tell you here on this
earth, we talk about God and his works. One thing on this
earth is perfect. Even after the fall, even after
man fell in sin, when all perfection was lost, when God drove man
from the garden because of man's sin and man's disobedience, when
man rebelled against God and God said, go, get out of here.
And we lost all sense of perfection, of righteousness, and even understanding
of what righteousness is. One thing on this earth that
we possess in our hands right now that is perfect. and the
perfect will of God's contained in it. And that's this blessed
book right here. There is no flaw in this book. So if anybody
ever gets up and tells you that this means this, and this means
that, and they did put the wrong thing here and this, you know,
and start trying to correct God's word, don't listen to them. No, no, God's word is perfect.
And here's what's so blessed about it. You know why I love
the King James Version? I'm gonna tell you why I love
the King James Version. God, you know, men for centuries didn't
have Bibles. They couldn't get a Bible. Only
a few people had a Bible. That's why the Catholic church
got so powerful because it was in the hands of priests and you
had to go to a priest and the priest told you what you're supposed
to believe. And so they didn't have a Bible. So God, in his
perfect will, he provided us a Bible in a language that we
can understand. And I'll tell you the first man
that wrote a Bible, Wycliffe, they hunted him to death and
killed him because he wrote a Bible. And God gave us an English Bible. And why I love this Bible, this
is the only Bible that's honest unto the world, and I'll tell
you why it is. It's because if they added anything to the, when
they translated it, five minutes translated this thing, and when
they translated it, they put in italics what they added to
it. So you can sometimes, you can read it without the italicized
words, it still makes the same sense. But there's honest enough
to say, this word we added. They added. So I tell you what,
if I'm ever around anybody correcting the Word of God, I just get up
and walk away. Listen, God don't need to be corrected. If this
book is God's blessed book, it's perfect in all of its parts.
There's people say, well, I believe this part of the Bible and I
don't believe that part of the Bible. And you know, somebody
said the first 11 chapters of Genesis, just tear it out and
throw it away. Well, who's gonna decide who's
right and who's wrong? Who's gonna decide what's true
and what's not true? Who's gonna be the final authority
on telling you what you're supposed to tear out and what you're not
supposed to tear out? And I'll tell you the perfect
will of God is contained in this blessed book. Perfect in all
of its parts. Genesis 1 warned we wouldn't
even know that there was a creation and said, God said in the beginning,
God said. God said. We wouldn't know what
the end's gonna be unless God said. When the prophets went
to say something, they said, you know what? Thus saith the
Lord. They didn't say, Amos come and
said this, and you don't know. They said, thus saith the Lord.
And I tell you, it's perfectly true, and it's free from error.
There's no errors in this Bible. And I'm not looking for any.
I don't want any. There's no errors in it. And
it's perfect, and it's all, and everything that's necessary for
me and you to know is in this book of Gratitude. It's perfect
to guide us, perfect to warn us, perfect to instruct us. Paul says, the Word of God, all
scriptures given by inspiration of God, and it's profitable.
First of all, for instruction in righteousness, to tell you
where righteousness really is in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
perfect in doctrine to tell you what the teachings of the Bible
is. That's what doctrine means, teaching. And it's perfect for
reproof, perfect to correct, perfect to instruct. Now that
covers about everything about us, don't you reckon? And so,
you know, Davis said, forever, oh Lord, thy word is settled
in heaven. I'm gonna tell you how much God
thought about his word. He said, I magnified my word
above my own name. Now, what do you reckon he means
by that? You know what he means by that is, is that I can create
another world, and he is one of these days. You're gonna destroy
this and make a new one. But he said, I'll never give
another word. He said, if I make up another
word, then that means there's something wrong with this one.
And so he said, I'll magnify my word above my name. He can
make another world. He can create as many things
as he wants to create. All he's gotta do is do it, it's
done, and it's finished, and that's all it takes. And so I
tell you, and our Lord Jesus said, heaven and earth, pass
away. The one thing will never pass
away. My word will never pass away. You know what? Books are
gonna be open to judge men in heaven. He's not got a book broke down
with all your sins. He gonna open it up and say,
well, you've done this, you've done that, and you've done something
else. A God who I just described a moment ago, you know how long
it's gonna take him to judge everybody in this world? You know why? Because everybody's
already been judged, either in Christ or they're gonna be judged
in themselves. There'll be no middle ground. It don't take
him long. He gonna judge the world quicker
than he created it. And I tell you, when we come to ourselves,
I talk about perfection. Now, when we come to ourselves,
back over here in Colossians, where is perfection? Where is
it? He told us, there you know that we were sometimes alienated
enemies in our mind by wicked works. Do you feel perfections
in you? Every day that goes over our
head teaches us that we're not perfect. Our consciousness tells
us that we're imperfect. And the harder we strive to be
like Christ, the more imperfection we see in ourselves. No wonder
the apostle said, that is in me, in my flesh dwells no good
thing. Not no good thing at all, in
my flesh dwells no good thing. And honestly before God, we have
to confess, now in how we conduct ourselves in this world, and
in the conversations we do, no perfection, no perfection. You
may long for it, oh, I long one of these days to be perfect.
We may long for it, we may moan for it, cry tears for it, but
every tear we shed says imperfection, every sigh, you hear, you go,
sometimes you'll get so heavy hearted and you'll get down and
you'll just go with a sigh. You just sigh, your heart's heavy.
Then you know every sigh says imperfection. Every harsh word
we say says imperfection. Everything we say and everything
we do, imperfect, imperfect, imperfect. We just have to say, Lord, I'm
imperfect. But let me tell you something
now. Perfection, according to the scriptures, is absolutely
necessary for all who hope to enter in glory. Nobody's going
without being perfect. Got to be perfect. You all heard
Scott say that how many times? You heard Scott say that over
the years? Has to be perfect to be accepted. God said, be
as holy as I am holy. I'm gonna show you, look over
here in Leviticus 22. You know, look in Leviticus 22, verse 21. You know, people talk
about holiness and they want to be holy and they wanna get
sanctified. Let me tell you something, holiness is a state of being.
Is God any more holy at one time than he is another? And you know, people say, you
know, preachers can preach the gospel so clearly and then they
come down and tell people that they need to start being more sanctified, more dedicated. But here's the thing, holiness
is a state of being, either you're holy or you're not. Either you are or you ain't.
Christ said, you know, he said, I sanctify myself. I set myself
apart. Now, does Christ, did he need
to sanctify himself? When he said, I sanctify myself,
what he's saying is, I set myself apart to the cross. And sanctification,
that's all it means, is set apart, separated for somebody else.
Well, God took us by the gospel and set us apart for himself.
He said it sanctified to the truth. How did he do it? He shared
the truth to us and he said, this is mine. Everybody had bowls
in Israel. Everybody had cups in Israel.
Everybody had spoons in Israel. But God had his spoons and his
bowls and he said, these are holy. What made them holy? God
said they was. And what makes us holy? God says
we are. He said, be as holy as mine holy.
When people are laboring to be as holy as God is holy. And how
can you be as holy as God unless you, God makes you and counts
you as holy. Oh, I tell you, you gotta be
as holy as God. I am. But anyway, oh my. It's absolutely necessary. Look
what it said here in Leviticus 22, 21. And whosoever offer the sacrifice
of peace offerings to the Lord to accomplish his vow or brings
a freewill offering in bees or sheep, listen to this now, it
shall be perfect to be accepted. There shall be no blemish in
it. And every time they brought a lamb, they put that lamb up
and they washed that thing, make sure there's no blemishes in
it. If you're gonna bring a sacrifice,
it's got to be perfect. Got to be perfect. And if a person
wants to be saved by keeping God's law, by going to the law,
as the Galatians did, and you want to be saved by God's holy
law, you know how long you have to keep it? Perpetually and perfectly. Cursing is everyone who continueth
not in all things written in the book of the law to do them.
That don't mean just the Ten Commandments, that means everything.
That means everything that you do. And I tell you, God says,
listen, there is no gonna be any imperfection in my presence.
Now, unless you and I can find perfection somewhere, we're gonna
have to have perfection or get it from ourselves or for somebody
else. God himself, God himself would be unjust if he did not
punish and reject a man who is not perfect. You know that? If he ever accepted a man who's
not perfect, then God would be unjust. He'd be unjust. If he didn't punish and reject
a man who is not perfect, he said, the soul that sinneth it
shall die. Job asked this question. He asked this question. And Job
8 20, it says this, God will not cast away a perfect man. They told Job that, God will
not cast away a perfect man. You know what Job said? He said,
you're exactly right. That is true. But you know what
he said? How can a man be just before
God? You talking about being perfect?
Job said, if I said I was perfect, you know what would happen? He
said, I'd deceive myself and I'd be lying to myself and everybody
else. That's what he said in Job 9.
And I tell you, if God does not punish every transgression, he
loses his throne. If he does not punish every sin
and every transgression that everybody commits, then he's
not God. He must have perfection. or men
will be eternally lost and rejected of God. And I'll tell you why. First of all, we wouldn't be
fit company for the saints that's already in glory. You know, he
said, the spirits of just men, listen to this now, Hebrews 12,
the spirits of just men made perfect in glory, already made
perfect. They're already there, they're
already perfect. We must be made perfect. If we
wasn't made perfect, how in the world would we enjoy heaven?
How could you do it, huh? Let me tell you something. Death
does not change how you are. You know, I know every funeral,
there's some way or another, they get a rebel into heaven.
Every single one I've ever been to. The only one, I'll take that
back. There was one fellow, Elbert
Blalock was his name. The Lord done took him home.
He had a speech impediment. And oh, he was the sweetest man.
He took care of my water and tapes for years. And his nephew
got killed in a car wreck and asked me to take care of the
funeral. We walked up there, the casket and all that, and
Elbert come up there and he says, ah, that boy wasn't worth anything,
he got just what's coming to him. Said he wasn't nothing,
so you know, he just nothing to him, never was nothing to
him, he got just exactly what he had coming. You know, he said
he's already going where he's gonna go. But here's the thing,
death does not change us. You know, if we, what I'm saying
is, if you're in Christ, You're gonna be in Christ eternally.
Without Christ, death does not change a man's nature. The only thing that can change
a man's nature is the Holy Spirit of God, that God changed a man's
heart. And when people go into hell,
and I don't like talking about hell, I really don't, but when
men go to hell, they will not ask to be let out of hell. You
know why they won't? Because they went there with
the nature they had when they left this world. You can find
that in the scriptures where they would not repent. They would
not turn. They would not say, I'm sorry.
When that rich man was in hell, did he say, please get me out
of here? Did he say, I'm sorry? He said, I wish I'd treat Lazarus
better. I'd have fed him if I had another
chance, I'd feed him. Only thing he asked for was one
drop of water. Just one drop of water is all
he asked for. He didn't ask to get out, didn't
say, I'm sorry. And so when men go, they go there
with their nature. Adolf Hitler still a tyrant and
a murderer in hell right now. Pilots down there still trying
to wash his hands. And that's what I'm telling you,
death does not change a man. People say, oh my, well he's
died, he's gone to glory now. If he didn't know Christ, he
ain't. And I tell you, we got to be
made perfect if we're gonna go to heaven. What would God do
with a bunch of rebels in heaven? How many times you all heard
the rapture? How many times you all been talking,
you ever heard about the rapture? That's where you know God go
sneak in here, sneak his people out of here and leave everybody
else here if you don't. To have car wrecks and airplanes
to fall out of the sky and all that stuff. And then they're supposed to
leave people here for seven years to go through seven years of
tribulation. Now, let me ask you something. If a man, and
they say, now he that, and this is what they say, he that endureth
unto the end, the same shall be saved. Now, listen. And they say the Holy Spirit
goes out with the church. Now you tell me how a man can
be saved without the Holy Spirit. You know what these fellas come
up with? I call it a Baptist purgatory. They dreamed up a
way to get all these people into heaven who didn't live right. And didn't attend the services
all the time. So they figured out a way to
get them to heaven by seven years of tribulation. That's just nothing
but a Baptist purgatory. Boy, I tell you, anybody, if
they could just, if they went to hell and only had to stay
seven years, don't you think, boy, listen, I'll go. No, that's
not the way it works. No, no, uh-uh. There's just one
judgment. When this thing's over, it's
over once and for all. God don't have sneakiest people
out here. He owns everything. He owns the
cattle on a thousand hill. It's by Him we move and have
our being. When God winds this thing up,
it's gonna be just like this. Sheep on the right, goats on
the left. Thrust in your sickle, that's
just preached on that last time, thrust in your sickle. Oh, I'll tell you now, oh my.
Perfection, where we gonna get it, where we gonna get it? Where
is it? Well, there's people that have
ceremonies, they love ceremonies. They like to put on their robes Oh, I said, I'll tell you how,
listen, bring your baby up here and let me baptize it. Bring
your baby up here and let me dedicate it. Take this wafer
and take this wine. Then you'll get grace through
that. Oh my. Baptizing men that are dead.
People say, well, I prayed through on an old fashioned altar. Listen. I was at a fella's place one
time, I stopped at a gas station. He found out I was a preacher.
He said, come in here, preacher. And I went in there and he said,
see my baptismal certificate up there? He said, you know,
I got baptized. That was his whole profession,
that baptismal certificate on the wall. That was his hope. And oh my,
some say perfection's to be attained by this flesh. by us doing our
duties. John Wesley, he wouldn't have
known the gospel if he met it in the middle of the road, and
I don't care to say that. He taught sinless perfection. Go
find his books. Find them and read them. He said
that a person could live sinlessly in this world. He said have sinless
perfection. And let me give you a little
history lesson. Thomas Aquinas, you know where the idea that
saints came from? Thomas Aquinas was a Catholic
priest, bishop, whatever he was. And anyway, he is the first one
who said, you know, some priests and some saints on this earth
have enough merit and enough grace that more than enough that
they need so they can give it to somebody else. So listen,
that'd be like me saying, listen, I got more grace than I need.
Here, I'm gonna give you some. I got more merit than I need,
I'll give you some. And that's how they ended up
praying to saints. He's got more merit up there
than he needs. He's got more grace than he needs. So you pray
to him and he'll give you some. Oh my. Oh, just... Oh, I saw a thing the other day
said, train yourself to lead a godly life. And they say, oh
yes, yes, you gotta accept Christ first. You gotta accept Jesus
first. You gotta believe, they say. Then lead real, real devoted
life. Observe all your religious duties.
Get up and pray first thing in the morning. Read your Bible
so much. And then you'll start climbing. You'll get up to the
first run, you'll get higher and higher and higher. And then
you'll get to where you're justified. Then you'll get to where you're
sanctified. Until you reach the highest plane. Well, let me ask
you something. Can you get higher than Jesus
Christ? But people teach that. And they'll
tell you it don't take much to ruin their perfection. Just cross her path while these
times say, oh, listen, I thought you was perfect. Tell them that. But oh, I'll tell you something,
look what it are. Let me back over here in Colossians.
Oh, I told enough negative things. Now let's get to some good positive. Oh boy, look what it says here. Oh, look what he says in verse
Colossians 127. Watch me go down through here
now. Paul said he has made a preacher,
in verse 26, to preach and fully preach the Word of God. And here's
what he said, even the mystery that hath been hid from ages
and from generations. I mean, it was hid in the Old
Testament. People couldn't see it. The Jews couldn't see it
and people still can't see it, but now it's made manifest, clearly
seen by his saints. And these are the people God
would make known to his saints What is the riches of the glory
of this mystery? Among the Gentiles, among people
like us, what is this great mystery and the riches of this glory?
Christ in you, the hope of glory. And I'll tell you what, we're
preaching him that every man may be made perfect in Christ.
Oh my, Colossians 2, 9 and 10, look what it says there. For
in him, In Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
And ye are complete. And that word complete, the same
word is perfect. You are complete in him, which
is the head of all principalities and powers. You know how long
we've been in Christ? I didn't know this. You know
what, we'll deal with it. We were in Christ before the
foundation of the world. I found that out. I never will
forget when I found that out. Chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world. And you know what the next verse
says? In love, having predestinated
us under the adoption of children of Jesus Christ. And one of my
favorite verses And this is the one that God used to teach me
the gospel. I don't know if I've ever told you that story or not.
You know, when God began to deal with me, I read the Bible. That's
all I'd read. For three years, I'd read nothing
but the Bible. Wouldn't read any other book. Scared to death
to read any books outside the Bible. And I read and read and
read and read and read and read and read and read. And then when
I'd go hear somebody preach, I'd go to the house and I'd look
up and see what they were saying was true or not. And every time
I'd hear something, I'd find out whether it's so or not, and
if it wasn't so, I'd just ignore it and then move on to something
else. But anyway, I set all that to say this. You know, I needed
to know, I really needed to know, this is the condition I was in,
in the mid-70s, 76, 77, somewhere in there. And I said, Lord, I
need to know whether salvation is of works or of grace. I need to know whether a man's
holiness has something to do with himself or you. And I prayed
that way. I was in a great quandary. My
soul was in agony. One day I had a farm and I went
way up on a hill, way up behind the house. And I had a shotgun
with me. I was going to go up there and
kill a few squirrels. And I got up there and I sat down. I got
my Bible out, a little old paperback Bible. And I opened it up. And
it just, you know, wasn't a light to shine on, but just almost
like a light shined on it. And it was 2 Timothy 1.9. God
answered my prayer with one verse of scripture. You know what it
says? God who hath saved us. That's the first thing he said,
God hath saved us. When he talks about salvation,
it's always in the past tense. Not according to our works. So
I, that settled that issue real quick. but according to His own
purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the
world began. That opened my mind up and I
started studying the scriptures through that one word purpose
and I found out that God did everything on purpose. My mind
just went wild. Oh my goodness. I just, I couldn't
hardly, I couldn't hardly wait to tell somebody, you know, and
then, and then, you know, and here's the thing. We was in Christ
in a covenant of election before the world ever began. And let
me tell you something about this covenant. You and I never made
a covenant with God. God never made a covenant with
us. He made a covenant with His Son. Him and His Son made a covenant. And in that covenant, God gave
Christ a people. And He gave Christ a people before
the foundation of the world. And He said, and He gave all
His people, and then the Lord Jesus Christ agreed covenant
to come into this world and take all of their obligations, take
all of their sin, take all of their shame, take all of their
guilt, and do what is necessary to save them from their sin. But the only difference that
was Christ come and laid down his life not for everybody but
for those that was given to him in this covenant of election.
And I know this, that wherever you're at, and I don't care where
you're born, there's people that's not been born yet, that Christ
died for, that was in the covenant of grace and the covenant of
election, and that ain't even been born yet, and if Christ
died for them, as sure as God's on his throne, he's gonna cross
their path with the gospel someday. God sent a man all the way from
Canada to Mexico, and he's gonna go down there and be a missionary
and win all these souls to Jesus. You know why God sent him to
Mexico? To save him. To save him. Joseph Murphy, pastor's
down in New Caney, Texas right now, where Jack Shanks was. He
went down there and he met Walter Groover and Cody Groover and
started running around with those fellas. Next thing you know,
he was sitting on the side of the gospel. And he said, Lord,
the Lord saved him. And he went home, told his home
church, and it was a Reformed church, said, we can't have nothing
else to do with you. Can't have nothing else to do
with you. And that's what happens. Our Lord Jesus came to pay the
debt we owe. Here's our surety. And let me
show you something over here in Ephesians. Look over here
in Ephesians chapter two. Let me show you this. I've got
to hurry. I'll tell you what I've done went too long already. Look here at Ephesians two. Let
me show you something. What Christ did, we did. When he died, we
died with him. When he suffered, we suffered.
When he was under God's wrath, we were under God's wrath. When
justice was satisfied and come against sin, justice was satisfied
in Christ and us. Our sins were laid on Christ,
and now his merit is laid on us, his righteousness. Look what
he said here in verse five. Even when we were dead in sins,
listen to this now, hath quickened us together with Christ. See, together with Christ, by
grace you're saved. Now listen to this, and hath
raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus. So I'll tell you what, whatever,
we're together. We're together. Oh, God took
our sins, laid them on his blessed son. And when he laid them on
his blessed son, our Lord Jesus paid for those sins and Christ
turned around and gave us his righteousness. the very righteousness
of God. And let me say this, and I'll
wind this up real quick. And then we were in Christ actually,
actually, to our knowledge, when we believed Him and believed
on Him. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the Word of God. We were always in Christ, but
we didn't know it till somebody told us. Ain't that right? We
were secure from the foundation of the world, but we didn't know
it. It's like a child. You know, he's going to be the
heir. He's going to be an heir, but he's a child. And so that
child's got to be trained. That child's got to be governed.
That child's got to be disciplined. And that's what happened. We
were always sons, always heirs. And then when we come of age,
when that fellow comes of age, he don't need no more tutors.
He gets the whole inheritance. And that's the way we was, we
was under tutors. Under all kinds of tutors and
governors and they governed us and God disciplined and taught
us and then all of a sudden, he comes and tells us what we
had. We trusted Christ and he comes out and tells us what all
we had in Christ before we ever, we already believed him. Faith
lays hold of that blessed inheritance. Oh, it lays hold on us. Ladies,
hold on. And let me close with this. Every
soul that's in Christ right now is as perfect as they're ever
gonna be. I'm not gonna be any more perfect when I get to glory
than I am now. I just won't have this flesh
to deal with. I won't be no more righteous when I get into heaven
than I am right now. If you're a brand new believer,
just a brand new believer, you're as perfect as the Apostle Paul. The believer who's fallen into
sin. You say, oh, well, they don't. Oh, yes, they do. This
much today, it's all David with Bathsheba. They said, oh my goodness
alive, he's not saved. Don't let him in the church,
whatever you do. And then if you've seen Peter deny the Lord
Jesus Christ, oh, he don't know the Lord. He said, oh, he don't
know the Lord. And you saw Noah drunk, laying
naked in the tent. Oh, that man don't know the Lord.
And you hear Abraham tell two lies, more scared for himself
than he is for the safety of his wife. You say, oh, that fellow
don't know the Lord. But you know what we're called?
We're called the sons of Abraham. What did Abraham do? He believed
God. What did God say about him? He's a righteous man. And the believer, the old believer,
the warrior, no perfection in themselves, but in Christ. And
this is the way we are. You know, when we would do good,
then evil's present with us. And what we hate, we do. And what we love, we don't do. No wonder he said, I know that
in me, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. an old wretched man
that I am. But the very next verse says
this, there's therefore now no condemnation to them that are
in Christ. With all of our infirmities,
hasty temper, you got hasty temper? God says you're perfect. Slips
of the tongue, God says you're perfect. Solomon said this, he
said, I'm black, but I'm comely. We get black sometimes, but God
says we're comely. You see, that's what's so wonderful
about the gospel. It takes everything away, no
hope in us, but everything in Him. Every one of us sitting
here tonight, I'm so imperfect. I sometimes think ain't no sense
me going to service tonight. I'm such a hypocrite. Things
I've said and done today, if I go to church, I'm such a hypocrite,
don't even need to go. But I go. You know why? Because I need it. I need it. I need Christ. Christ. And that's what he does. He meets
everything that's against us. And he took it out of the way,
nailed it to his cross. And now, the only thing I'm waiting
for, and boy, you're talking about a future. I'm talking about
that inheritance. I say, y'all are just, You know, when you get an inheritance,
you four girls, I don't know how many of you are in your family,
but whenever you all get your inheritance, it'll be split three
ways, four ways, or whatever. But now for a believer, you know,
when you got big families, Dee back there had 14 kids in her
family or something, so when they got, their mom and dad had
died, they might have got two or three dollars a piece, you
know, I don't know. But, you know, but the thing
is with us, You know, here we are with us. When we get the
inheritance from Christ, it's like a pie. You know, when you
got a big family, everybody gets a little bitty piece of the pie.
And if it's only a couple, they get half of the pie. But for
us in Christ, every single one of us get the whole pie. We get the whole pie. We get
it all. Every one of us get exactly the
same thing. Well, enjoy your pie!