of breaking all thy ten commands. And on me just leave my last,
for thy wrath in wanting But thanks to God it's loud alarms
have warned me of approaching harms. And now, O Lord, my wounds
I see. Lost and undone, I come to Thee. I see my fate. leave righteousness. Can there thy broken law redress? Yet in thy gospel claim I sing. There's hope of pardon in for
me. Here I behold thy wonders, Lord,
how Christ has to thy law restored those honors on the atoning day
which guilty sinners Amazing wisdom, power, and love
Displayed to rebels from above Do thou, O Lord, my faith increase
to love and trust thy plan of grace. All right, just over a page to
hymn number 47. Number 47. This will be to the
doxology tune. Cursed be the man forever cursed. That does one willful sin commit. Death and damnation for the first. ? Without relief and infinite
? ? The Sinai roars and round the earth ? ? Thunder and fire,
vengeance flings ? ? But Jesus, thy dear gasping breath ? and
Calvary sing gentler things. Pardon and grace and boundless
love streaming along a Savior's blood and life and joy and crowns
above. ? Obtained by a dear bleeding God
? ? Hark how he prays the charming sound ? ? Dwells on his dying
lips forgive ? ? And every groan and gasping wound ? Christ Father,
let the rebels live. Go ye that rest upon the law,
and toil and seek salvation there. Look to the flame that Moses
saw. And shrink and tremble and despair
But I'll retire beneath the cross Savior, at Thy dear feet I lie
And the keen sword that justice draws flaming and red shall pass
me by. Does anybody have a song that
you'd like to sing? I'm not going to sing too many
today because my throat is so scratchy. I'm afraid I'll not
have enough voice to finish the preaching. Anybody have a song
that you'd like to sing? turn with me if you would The first verse we're going to
be looking at is in Proverbs today. Proverbs chapter 30. Proverbs chapter 30. We're still in our study of Galatians
and we're into chapter four, going into chapter four, chapter
three, into chapter three, into chapter four. But we're kind of in a little
parenthesis here. And the reason for that parenthesis
is because we see a declaration in Galatians 3, 29 that says,
if ye be Christ, then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according
to the promise. And we are looking at the issue
of, and I guess this would actually be somewhat under the category
of unconditional election. We find that Abraham's seed is
none other than Christ's seed, and Christ's seed, is all those
that was given to him by the father before the foundation
of the world and the everlasting covenant. So whenever we look
at these verses from the Arminian point of view or from the person
who believes in free will and decisionism and that you can
just choose to be saved and choose your own destiny, they will hold
out that Abraham's seed is anybody who will believe into Christ
or believe in Christ and then they will be added to Christ's
people, or they will become Christ's people. But overwhelmingly, throughout
the scriptures, we find that the Bible teaches that Christ
had a people way before the foundation of the world. Christ had a people
that, matter of fact, the Bible says in Revelations that there's
the book of the Lamb slain that was before the foundation of
the world. And in that book, there were names that was written
And there were names that were not written. And those names
that were written in the Lamb's book of life are the ones who
would receive life from Christ. They were the ones who would
have this eternal union with the life of Christ. The Bible
says that our life is hidden with Christ in God. The Bible
says that we have eternal lives because Christ has given us that
eternal life. that he has power over all flesh
to give eternal life to as many that has been given unto him,
and that that eternal life is none other than Christ himself.
He is eternal life. Jesus said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. He said that in him is life,
that he is life. And he gives that life as he
sees fit. And so that life is what we receive
And we received that by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Whenever Christ
is resurrected, after his death and burial, the Bible says that
we were quickened with him, that we were made alive with him in
that resurrection. And therefore, from here forward,
all of us as receiving the spirit of God because of the resurrection
of Jesus Christ, who are the people of God. And those who
have the spirit of Christ are Christ's seeds. They are His. They are the spiritual ones of
God. Now, whenever we talk about this,
we're not talking about the flesh. We're not talking about this
old body. This is of Adam, and it's 100% of Adam. It'll always
stay 100% of Adam. It will never become a spiritual
thing. It is going to die. It is going
to The Bible says that this corruption is going to be put off and that
we will put on incorruption whenever we are given a new body at the
resurrection for those who are Christ. And so we're not talking
about who we are in the flesh, we're talking about who we are
in the spiritual sense, in that spiritual life, that spiritual
union with Christ Jesus, and that spiritual union Because
of that spiritual union, we are his children. And as it says
in verse 29, if ye be Christ, okay, if ye be Christ, that's
the issue. If ye be Christ, the only ones
who are going to receive the promise, are going to be heirs
to the promise, are those that are Christ. If ye be Christ,
then will you receive the promise. Then are you the heir. of the
promise it's not for everybody it's not going to be open to
just whoever wants to pick and choose this was already picked
out before the foundation of the world so that lamb's book
of life is the is where christ or where god wrote down the names
of all of his elect and again is there a literal book i don't
know did god write a literal people down i don't know god
doesn't have to do that he knows everything right but he gives
us that imagery to let us know that it was a determined thing,
that it was a specific thing, that it's a specific group of
people. It didn't say that God wrote down the redeemed in a
book. It said that he wrote down names. There were names written down.
If I'm a child of grace, God wrote Michael Smith in there. Okay. If you're a child of grace,
your name was written there even before anything was created.
Okay. And nothing's going to erase
that out. You cannot be blotted out of the Lamb's Book of Life,
despite what people want to say about certain verses in the scriptures
about being blotted out. That's not ever the case. Nobody is ever blotted out of
the Book of Life. So those who are written in,
the Bible also says in there that there were names who were
not written in. So that means that there is another
group of people that God knows that God is aware of, that God
creates, and he creates them for a specific purpose, but that
purpose is not to be redeemed. To not be redeemed as the elect
are redeemed. They're not gonna be redeemed.
He's not gonna die for them. He is not gonna forgive their
sins. He is not going to reconcile
them to God. He is not gonna grant them forgiveness. He is not going to love them,
he is not going to save them, they will be for his purpose.
The Bible says that he's created all things, even the wicked for
the day of destruction or the day of evil. God has made these
people for a specific purpose and that purpose will find its
ends and all of that will be for the glory of Christ Jesus.
And so whenever we're looking at Galatians here 3.29 and going
into four, We see that the people who are going to be the children
or the like servants who are under a tutor for a while, but
then is going to be in maturity brought out of that being under
the law, being underneath the thought process that I can gain
a righteousness by my own doing, by my own works in my flesh somehow. Those that they're the children
of grace at some point in their life, they believe these things,
but at some point God grants them repentance. And whenever
he grants them repentance, they turn from that wrong thinking
that they can make themselves right before God. And then they
turn and they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and believe
on what he has done in their place. And they're trusting in
his righteousness, not in their own. That only comes because
we have been born from above, we've been given the spirit to
teach us, and we've been granted repentance. All of this is part
of what was purchased for us in the everlasting covenant,
in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We receive that. The promises of God are yea and
amen in Christ Jesus. But brethren, there's a whole
group of people that do not receive these promises. And so as we've
been looking at the last couple of weeks, we've been seeing that
throughout scripture and we've seen Old Testament, New Testament,
it doesn't matter. It's clearly declared in there
that there is Christ's seed and there is Satan's seed. Christ's
seed is the heirs of the promise. Satan's seed, they are the wicked
and they were created for destruction. And so we've spent most of the
time the last couple of weeks looking at Christ's seed and
the scripture surrounding, throughout the Bible, surrounding the subject
of Christ's seed. And speckled in there, there
was some stuff about Satan's seed. But today I want us to
look and see that there is definitely a seed of Satan, and the seed
of Satan was created for a purpose. And that purpose was not for
redemption, but was for destruction. And they are not going to be
heirs according to the promise. Neither can they be neither. No matter how much we hope and
try and plead and preach and, and beg and try to convince with
philosophy, they can never be a child of grace because Christ
has not purchased them. They are not his seed. They are
not of his, uh, union. It's not, uh, they are not his. So. Looking in Proverbs chapter
30, let's look at starting in verse 11. Proverbs 30. And let's look at verse 11. Now,
brother, while we're turning here, let me just say this. A lot of people ask me, friends
and family and things like that, you know, why do you dwell on
these things? Why do you even preach these
things? These are so negative. If anybody hears this, if somebody's
an unbeliever and they hear these things, it's going to be off-putting
to them. You're talking about how there's
no hope of salvation for some and only hope for others. Why do you preach that? Why don't
you just preach the positive things of Scripture? Well, number
one, the Bible tells us to preach the whole counsel of God's Word. So as a pastor, I am charged
with preaching the whole counsel of God's Word. A line upon line,
precept upon precept, here a little, there a little, I preach all
of God's word. We try to cover everything throughout
God's word and not just stay on one thing or another. Okay.
Second of all, this is part of the gospel. Part of the gospel
is, is knowing that we have been redeemed, that God has chosen
to save us. Sovereign grace is the gospel.
Uh, Christ, uh, even made mention back whenever he talked to Moses
and revealed his name. And he said, I am that I am that
revealed his sovereignty. He is a self, uh, determining. He is a self existing that nobody
tells him what to do. Nobody changes his mind. Nobody
sways him. Nobody convinces him. Nobody
overpowers him. He is who he is. And he said,
this is my name forever. And let it be a remembrance or
a memorial. to every generation. And so that
means that in every generation we are to preach the sovereignty
of God because that's who God is. And God is sovereign not
only in just his affairs of keeping the world together and holding
it together and running it and predestinating all things, but
he's sovereign in the salvation of his people. And so it's part
of the gospel whenever we teach that. Thirdly, the gospel is
for only those who are God's people. It's not for the reprobate
or the one who is not the child of God. So only the children
of God are going to hear these things and going to understand
these things, going to believe these things, going to love these
things, and they're going to look to these things for their
comfort and their hope. And so whenever we preach these
things, our intent is not to change the mind of the reprobate.
It's not to change anybody's mind. Actually, we declare these
things and the Spirit of God is the one that teaches these
things. And so, the reason we preach on these topics is we
bring these things up and we are so bold. And I know, again,
like I said, a lot of people will say, well, you're not going
to get very many converts by saying that. We don't get converts.
We don't get converts. Christ does. You know that passage
in the Bible that says go out to the byways and the hedges
and compel them to come in. There are many things that's
talking about them. That we're going to go out into
the byways and the highways and the hedges and compel these people
to come in. That's not who's talking about
that. That's Jesus Christ is sending the Holy Spirit out to
compel his people to come in, to bring them in. That's not
talking about us going out and beating the bushes and trying
to get everybody saved. That's the Holy Spirit going
out and doing what the Holy Spirit does. drawing his people to God,
drawing them to Christ, granting them repentance and faith, calling
them to Christ. That's the Holy Spirit's job.
So the reason we preach these things is because not only are
they food and information and edification for the child of
grace, but it is the declaring of the gospel as well. We are
thankful because Christ has put us in this number if we are his.
That's something that should humble us. That's something that
should cause us to be thankful because we are no different than
anybody else. Why God set his love on one and
not the other is his determination and it has nothing to do with
me. So if I'm a child of grace, the only reason that I'm a child
of grace is because he willed it to be such. And I should be
thankful about that because I didn't earn it. I didn't gain it. It
wasn't because I was a nice guy. It wasn't because I'm such a
beautiful person. It wasn't such a, you know, I'm
a great righteous man. It has nothing to do with that.
It wasn't because I'm a buff guy. It has nothing to do with
me. And so we should be thankful
and eternally grateful for that. Now in Proverbs chapter 30 and
verse 11, let's look what it says here it says there is a
generation that curses their father and does not bless their
mother now remember we're looking at physical things here that
have spiritual implications okay there is a generation or there
is a lineage or there is a seed of people that are that curseth
their father and doth not bless their mother. Now we've seen
in scripture the Bible talk about, for one, Christ being our father,
right? He is our father. He is our everlasting
father. He is our God. But we also see
the Bible talk about a mother. The Bible talks about a mother. There are two women in view,
and we're gonna see that in Galatians as we go forward. But while we're
here, let me see, let me look real quick. If I can find it
real quick, we'll read it, but if I can't find it real quick,
we'll move on. Look back, hold your finger
there in Proverbs, but look back in Galatians chapter four, And look at verse 22 with me. The Bible says for it is written
that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid. So there's
a mother of one child, the other by a free woman. That's another
mother, right? Okay. That's a brother from another
mother. Okay. But he who was of the bond
woman was born after the flesh. But he of the free woman was
by promise. Which things are an allegory? For these are the two covenants,
the one from the Mount Sinai which gendereth to bondage, which
is Agar. From this, Agar is Mount Sinai
in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem, which now is, and is in bondage
with her children. But Jerusalem, which is above,
is free, which is the mother of us all." Okay, so here we
see the picture of mother as it pertains to the new covenant,
as it pertains to the free woman, which was Sarah,
Abraham's wife, Sarah. Remember, God had told Abraham
that they were gonna have a child, Well, it went along and went
along and Sarah was never conceiving. And so Abraham took things into
his own hands. And so he slept with his, Sarah's
bond servant and had a child by the bond woman. And that was
Ishmael, right? But God said, Ishmael was not
the child of promise. You and Sarah will have a child.
And so Sarah eventually had child. And that child was Isaac, or
yeah, Isaac, right? And so Isaac was the child of
promise. Ishmael was not the child of
promise. Ishmael was the child of the
flesh. Isaac was the child of the promise, okay? And so Hagar,
or as it says here, Agar, but in the Old Testament it has an
H in front of it, Hagar. Hagar was Ishmael's mother, that
was the bond woman. Sarah was Isaac's mother. That was Abraham's wife, right? Okay. She is likened unto the
new covenant. She is likened unto Jerusalem.
She is the one who is bringing forth the promise. We are, as
we've seen in our passage this morning in Galatians, if you
be Christ, you're heirs according to the promise. Okay. We are heirs of Christ, not through
the law, and they are the flash but we are here to the promise
through the spiritual the miraculous cc if you remember sarah's womb
was closed up she would pass the age of bearing children there
was no way that she could conceive of their children but god miraculously
allowed her to bear a child even after her time of childbirth
so it was a it was a miraculous child it was a child from us continue on it says but Jerusalem
which is above is free which is the mother of us all for it
is written rejoice thou barren that barest not break forth and
cry that thou travailest not for the desolate have many more
children than she which hath a husband but we brethren now
look at that you see that the desolate have many more children
than she which hath a husband who is the desolate That was
Agar. Agar was the desolate. She didn't
have a husband. Abraham laid with her and had
a child. So she basically had a child out of wedlock. And Abraham
thought that that was going to be the way that he's going to
continue on his lineage is having that since he thought Sarah wasn't
going to be able to do it. Right. So she is the one that
had many more children than she would have. Sarah had a husband.
Now what verse, can you think, what verse does this sound a
lot like? Agar has many children, but Sarah
has few children. Broad is the way that leads to
destruction, and many there be that walk that path, right? The Bible says, but narrow is
the way that leads to life eternal, and few there be that find it.
Okay, there's going to be many that are on the broad path that
leads to destruction. But there are only few that are
going to find eternal life, or not find as in we're looking
and we find it, but are going to find that they have eternal
life. There's only going to be a few. That's what it's saying
right here, that the ones who are the children of Sarah, the
ones who are the children of the promise are fewer than those. We're a remnant, right? It says,
now we, brethren, as Isaac, was, are the children of promise.
We, the elect of God, the people of God, the ones who are believing
Christ alone for righteousness, we are the children of promise.
But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted that
was born after the spirit, even so it is now. I believe this
has two meanings, and I could be wrong about this, but You
know, some people take one side or the other. I kind of take
both sides. Some people say that this talks
about how the reprobates are always anti-Christ, anti-Christian. They're always antagonistic against
the Christian. If you're in the workplace and
you stand for your Christian principles and your Christian
beliefs and things like that, you're going to get persecution
for it. I've seen that. Whenever I became a preacher
and said I was going to be pastor in this church and everything,
what happened? They persecuted me for that. We don't, you know,
well, at first they said it was all right until they found out
what I was going to be doing. And then they fired me for it.
Okay. There were times at work, you
know, I was, uh, turned over for promotion because I wouldn't
work on Sundays. Uh, and so, you know, there is
persecution that we receive because of who we are as the people of
God. Okay. So the children of the
flesh. and the children of the spirit
are always going to be at war with each other because there's
antagonistic things. But then the Bible also talks
about another thing, and I believe this is also true, there's a
physical aspect to it, there's a spiritual aspect to it. In
Romans chapter 7, the Bible talks about how the flesh lusts against
the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. Who I am in this vessel
of clay, this pot here, is nothing but flesh. It can't do anything
to please God. It's unrighteous. It's sinful. But within that vessel, God has
placed His Spirit, Him. He is in me by His Spirit. And
that Spirit is holy and righteous. It's a new creation. It's not
part of this vessel. It's something completely and
totally different that's been placed in this vessel. And because
of its perfection and holiness and my complete sinfulness, there
is a war against each other. And Paul said, oh, wretched man
that I am. I want to do good, but I don't
do good. The inner man that's in me loves the law of God, but
the flesh man that who I am, it cannot keep the law of God
and it never does the law of God. There's always evil present
with me when I try to do good. And so he realizes that there's
that, that, uh, warfare all the time. So here we see, this is
what it's talking about in verse 29. But as then he that was born
after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit,
even so it is now. Nevertheless, what sayeth the
scripture? Cast out the bond woman and her
son. Well, that's what happened in
Abraham's time. God told him, he said, I know
that's your son. I know that you love that son, but he is
not the child of promise and he can't have any place within
your life. Cast him out. get rid of him
and so abraham had to cast hagar and her son out of the camp and
turn them loose now god ended up giving a blessing upon hagar
and upon ishmael a physical blessing but not a spiritual blessing
like he did with abraham and isaac okay so uh... there was a physical blessing
that was given to ishmael but it never was part of being in
with abraham and his seed, okay? But as then, sorry, nevertheless,
what say the scripture? Cast out the bond woman and her
son, for the son of the bond woman shall not be heir with
the son of the free woman. So then brethren, we are not
children of the bond woman, but of the free. So here we see brethren
as the children of God, that we are the spiritual children
of God. We are the children of the bond
woman, or the free woman, she is our mother. The New Covenant. We are the children of the New
Covenant. We are the children of the promise. We are the children
without the law as our taskmaster. We are the children of righteousness. We have righteousness imputed
to us and we look to that imputation of righteousness as our salvation
and not our works of righteousness. Go back to Proverbs 30 where
we was at. There is a generation or there
is a seed that curses their father and does not bless their mother. Now remember in Galatians we
talked about if anybody preaches another gospel let them be accursed. That they are not the servant
of Christ. Remember that? Remember that
in Galatians? I believe it was in First or
second chapter, I can't remember now without going back. But remember
it said that if anybody is preaching this gospel that I haven't, that
I'm not preaching the gospel that I preached to you, he said,
that's not a gospel. Okay. That's not the gospel.
And anybody who's preaching another gospel, let them be accursed.
Let them be damned. Okay. Let them be condemned.
He said, and anybody who preaches that is not a servant of Christ. And here we see there is a generation
that curses their father. And does not bless their mother. See, they're not looking to Christ
alone and are not trusting in the promise of righteousness
in the New Covenant. They're not trusting in the in
the promise of God. Look at verse 12. There is a
generation that are pure in their own eyes, meaning that they think
that they're good enough, that what they're doing is gonna be
acceptable, that God's gonna, at the end of the day, God's
gonna say, you know what, you tried hard, I'm gonna let you
go ahead and you tried more than you didn't try. But remember,
brethren, in Matthew chapter seven, the Bible says that there'll
be many on that day that say, Lord, Lord, did we not in your
name, cast out demons and do all these wonderful miracles,
do all these things. And the Bible says that God looked
to them, Christ looked to them and said, depart from me, you
workers of iniquity. They were working the works that
they said were God. They were casting out demons.
They were trying to get people saved. They were trying to do
miraculous things. They were doing all these things.
But God said, those are works of iniquity. Those were works
of iniquity. You were trying to perform a
righteousness and that righteousness was not meeting my standard,
therefore it's iniquity. All of it is. Anything you try
to do in your flesh is iniquity. The only thing that's righteous
is me, my righteousness. And so they thought they were
pure in their own abilities, in their own works, that that
was what was making them pleasing to God, either to be accepted
into salvation or to be kept in salvation. throughout their
lives. But look what it says here. There's
a generation that are pure in their own eyes and yet is not
washed from their filthiness. That means that they weren't
washed in the blood of the Lamb. Christ didn't die for them. They're
still in their filthiness. They have an outward appearance
of religion. Listen, there are a lot of people
who have an outward appearance of religion. They go to church.
They pray over their food. They, I mean, they're in church
every time it's open. They pray for the food. And they
give the money to the church. They go out and do good deeds
for the poor. I mean, they do all these things,
you know. They think they're pure in their own eyes by what
they're doing for Jesus. And that they're establishing
a righteousness or a keep-rightness with Jesus by keeping the law. But yet, the Bible says here,
They are not washed from their filthiness. It says there is
a generation or a seed. Oh, how lofty are their eyes
and their eyelids are lifted up. You remember the Pharisees
was a great example of this and Jesus combated that and we're
going to read some verses about that here in just a minute, excuse
me. But it says here how lofty are their eyes. They think that
they're great. They think they're wonderful.
They think they're above everybody. And their eyes are lifted up
in pride. They think that they have no
need for humility because they are right with God. They're doing
the things right with God. They are just certain of themselves.
But the Bible says that the sacrifice that God desires or loves is
a broken and contrite heart. Opposite of what this is. Instead
of the lofty eyes, It is the downward cast face, the downward
cast eyes that is looking down in humility and shame and guilt
because they know who they are before a holy God. Ones whose
eyelids aren't lifted up in pride thinking that, hey, I'm good
and I can, you know, I have what it takes or I'm hitting the mark
or I'm pressing on for Jesus or, you know, boasting in what
they do. The Pharisees was like that.
Again, I bring up the illustration that we've talked about a few
times about the Pharisee and the publican who were there praying. And that publican was standing
with his eyes up towards heaven saying, I thank you, Father,
that you have not made me like this poor publican. And then
that publican was just the opposite. He had his head bowed and he
was prostrated before God and he was praying, God have mercy
upon me a sinner. That's the difference between
the child of grace and the religionist. The generation or the seed of
Satan are going to be religious people who think they are performing
before God and is acceptable to God. Verse 14, there is a
generation or a seed, a lineage, whose teeth are as swords and
their jaw teeth as knives to devour the poor from off the
earth and the needy from among Man, again, they attack, even
amongst themselves, the religious people. Man, you see it on Facebook
all the time. There are people who are professing
Christians and all they do is attack other Christians all the
time. Okay, now I'm not talking about
attacking false doctrine, that's a total different thing. I'm
talking about they attack each other. Look at verse 15. Oh,
I'm sorry, that's the end. We'll stop right there in Proverbs. Turn with me now to Matthew chapter
3. So we see here that there was a generation of people who
are like this. This is the generation or the
seed of Satan, right? All right, Matthew chapter 3. Matthew chapter 3. And look with
me starting in verse 7. But when he saw, now this is
where John is out baptizing. John the Baptist is out baptizing. And the Pharisees came to John. It says, matter of fact, let's
back up. It says in verse five, then went
out to him Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region round
about Jordan and were baptized of him in Jordan. confessing
their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees
and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation
of vipers. Now, what's a generation of viper?
Isn't that a seed of Satan? Whenever we talk about the viper
in scripture, we're talking about the serpent, the snake, the dragon. We're talking about a viper.
Okay, and I'm not saying that a dragon necessarily is a viper,
but the imagery is there. Those are things that the Bible
used to depict who Satan is. Okay. It says, O generation of
vipers, O seed of Satan. See, John had been given spiritual
eyes to understand. These men were the ones that
we just read about in Proverbs. Okay. He says, Who hath warned
you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth fruit, therefore
fruits meet for repentance. And think not to say with yourself,
we have Abraham to our father, for I say to you that God is
able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And now also the ax is laid under
the root of the trees, therefore every tree which bringeth not
forth good fruit is shewn down and cast into the fire. Now this
good fruit is a good works. He's not telling them to go out
and keep the law. These men were already trying to perform the
law and even kept it better than everybody else that was out there
was trying to keep the law. They were quote-unquote exemplary. Now they weren't keeping it.
Okay. Well, hopefully you guys know by now they weren't keeping
it. However, they were more proficient in doing it, trying to do it
than anybody else because of their image and who they were.
but yet they were breaking it at every turn. They were breaking
the law in several matters, and we won't go into what all they
were doing, but they were. And so what John says here is,
listen, you will know them by their fruits. The fruits is not
outward fleshly works. The fruit, we always think that
fruits are, oh, we know them because they're a good man. They
don't cuss. They don't get drunk. You know,
they come to church, they do all these things, it's outward
stuff. That is not the fruits it's talking about. The fruits
of repentance is those who have ceased in their labor of the
law for righteousness and are looking to Christ alone for the
righteousness. That's what repentance is all
about. Repentance isn't you stop sinning. That's not repentance. You cannot stop sinning as long
as you're in the flesh. Now that's not a deal to go out
and say, well, all right, well, since I can't stop, I'm just
going to do as much as I want to do. No, I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is that nothing
in you can produce anything righteous. It's all flesh. So there isn't
anything that you can do. So this fruit that is being talked
about is not the fruit of outward appearances, of outward law keeping,
of outward righteousness. This fruit is an inward thing.
It's repentance. It is love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness. That's the fruit of the Spirit.
And if any of that is in you, then that is the work of the
Spirit in you, okay? God's granted us repentance. It's granted us faith to believe
on Christ Jesus. It's given us hope. In Christ
Jesus, it's given us love for the brethren. It's given us a
desire for the word of God. It's given us peace that we know
that because of Christ, we have peace with God. It's given us
a peace within our heart. It gives us peace with our fellow
man, where we can learn to love our neighbors as ourselves. So it says here, Who warned you to flee from the
wrath? Come bring forth fruits, meat
for repentance, and think not to say with yourselves, we have
Abraham to our father. See, they thought because they
were the fleshly children of Abraham that they were going
to get in just because of who they were. See, they had a pride
among themselves. We are Abraham's children. We
don't have meat for repentance. We don't have need for anything,
we are Abraham's children. See, that was their pride, their
haughtiness, their lofty eyes, their uplifted eyelids. That
was who they thought they were, we think, because, you know,
we are called Christians, that we have this right. Listen, brethren,
the child of grace is humbled by that. Look with me, if you would, to
chapter 12 of Matthew. Chapter 12. Look with me down
at verse 34. Now this is Jesus speaking here,
not John the Baptist. This was after Jesus healed all
these people and he was accused of healing people in the name
of Beelzebub. Jesus said, and the same religious
leaders, by the way, the Pharisees, He said, O generation of vipers,
verse 34, O generation of vipers, here again, seed of Satan, how
can ye being evil? So he's calling them evil. You
hear in the world today, people say, say, well, people aren't
inherently evil. You know, there's some bad people,
but they're not inherently evil. Everyone's got a little bit of
good in them. well that's completely opposite, well that's a lie.
That's completely opposite of what the Bible says. The Bible
says there is none righteous, no not one. The Bible says that
God looked down from heaven and he saw that the intent of the
man's heart was continually evil, or was evil continually. That's
all it was, was evil. The heart is desperately wicked,
above all things. So to say that we have a little
good in us, a little spark in there, that man is inherently
good, that is absolutely positively against God's word. God's word
is the authority, not man, not the philosophers or the psychiatrists,
not the school system, not the religious people out there that
is saying that, okay? It is not true. The Bible says
that we are all Uh, wicked and evil, but looky here, he's talking
specifically to this generation of vipers or this seed of Satan,
who is evil. God has created all things. Yeah.
Even the wicked for the day of evil. Got to have evil people
to do evil, right? He's created evil people to do
evil things by grace. He keeps us, uh, by grace, we
have been given salvation. We in the flesh are just as they
are, but we have been forgiven. We have been kept by God, given
a righteousness outside of ourselves. But he says, how can ye being evil speak good
things? For out of the abundance of the
heart, the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure
of the heart bringeth forth good things, and an evil man out of
the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you
that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give
an account therefore in the day of judgment. For by thy words
thou shalt be justified, and by thy word thou shalt be condemned. The child of grace is gonna speak
that my righteousness comes from Christ alone, not from what I
do. The evil person who is speaking,
They're not going to be speaking good things, righteousness to
Christ. They're going to be speaking,
what? Look at me, look at me. And like Stuart, look what I
can do. Nobody's going to know what I'm talking about, except
for in caps. But we see here, there is a specific
group of people that Jesus talked to, a generation of vipers who
are evil out of the abundance of their heart. What's in their
heart is evil. What's in their heart is self-righteousness. Okay, look at chapter 23. Matthew 23. Here again, Jesus is speaking.
This is whenever Jesus there was a. The multitude have come
to him. The disciples were there. The
Pharisees were there, and this is where Jesus began to preach
the woes upon the Pharisees or the curses upon the Pharisees.
He says. Ye serpents verse 33 ye serpents. OK, here again he's calling them
serpents. What do you think about a preacher
if he would call somebody that today? What do you think people
would do? It wouldn't be too popular, would
it? He said, ye serpents, ye generation
of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? There's no way they're going
to escape the damnation of hell. because that was not their lot. That was not their destiny. They're not going to escape the
damnation of hell no matter how religious they act, no matter
how much law-keeping they think they're doing. They are not going
to escape the damnation of hell because they have not been given
the righteousness of God. We see the same things in Luke,
basically the same stories of John the Baptist. We see Jesus
and what he is saying here. So I'm probably going to skip
over most of those. Look at Luke 11 if you would.
Luke chapter 11. And look with me if you would
at verse 50. start uh in verse 50 it says
actually i'm going to back up verse 46 and he said woe unto
you also ye lawyers or these are the religious leaders for
ye laid men with burdens grievous to be born and ye yourselves
touch not the burdens with one of your fingers woe unto you
for you build the sepulchers of the prophets and your fathers
killed them truly you bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your
fathers for they indeed killed them and ye build their sepulchers
therefore also what he's saying there is you're just like your
fathers who remember they are a seed of satan they reproduce
after their own kind right they are a they are a seed of satan
they are uh killing the prophets all through the old testament
they were killing the prophets And even Jesus, they tried to
kill Jesus, or did kill Jesus, but they were trying to kill
anybody who was speaking these things, was speaking about Christ
in such a way. And so they killed the prophets
and these men were building the sepulchers of the very ones who
were God's people. Verse 49, therefore also said
the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and
some of them they shall slay and persecute. That happens. still happens today. Verse 50,
that the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation
of the world may be required of this generation. From the
blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias which perished between
the altar and the temple. Verily I say unto you, it shall
be required of this generation. This seed of Satan, these people
who are haters remember we went back to ishmael and isaac and
we said listen these two houses these two groups of people are
always going to be at odds with each other it goes back to uh
we see the same thing later on in jacob and esau and those two
houses are always going to there's always going to be the wicked
and the righteous there's always going to be the flesh and the
spirit they're always going to be at battle with each other
and this is no different He says, from the blood of Abel unto the
blood of Zacharias, which paired between the altar and the temple.
Verily I say unto you, it shall be required that God is going
to judge these people, this seed of Satan, this group of reprobates. He will judge them for all that
they have done in the last day. Look with me at Luke chapter
17 and verse 24. It says, for as the lightning
that lighted out of the one part under heaven shineth unto the
other part under heaven, so shall also the son of man be in his
day. But first must he suffer many
things and be rejected of this generation. The only ones that
reject Christ Jesus are the seed of Satan. The child, the children
of grace, all receive Christ Jesus as their righteousness.
They believe upon Him. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. That word come there, it means
to believe. All that the Father giveth me
shall believe upon me. They will receive me. They're
not going to reject me as their righteousness. They're going
to accept me as their righteousness. They're going to believe on me
as their righteousness. They're going to come to me for
their righteousness. But this generation, the generation
that rejects me, the seed of Satan. And as it was in the days of
Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the son of man. They
did eat, they drank, they married wives. They were given in marriage
until the day that Noah entered into the ark and the flood came
and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the
days of Lot. They did eat, they drank, they
bought, they sold, they planted, they builded. But the same day
that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from
heaven and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the
day when the Son of Man is revealed. In that day, he which shall be
upon the housetop and his stuff in the house Let him not come
down to take it away. And he that is in the field,
let him likewise not return back. Remember, lost wife, whosoever
shall seek to save his life shall lose it. And whosoever shall
lose his life shall preserve it. And so we see here that the seed
of Satan is going to be destroyed by the son of man. whenever the
Son of Man is revealed or whenever He comes again. Look at Luke
chapter 21 and verse 32. Jesus says, Verily, verily, I
say unto you, this generation shall not pass away till all
be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away,
but my word shall not pass away. So again, of course, the context
of this is Jesus talking about the destruction of Jerusalem here, and the things
that were gonna transpire not long after his resurrection,
whenever he came and judged Israel. But we see that he brought judgment
temporal judgment. He brought temporal judgment
here upon the seeds of Satan, the Pharisees, the religious
leaders, all those who thought their righteousness came by their
temple worship and their law keeping. He brought an end to
all that. Jesus said that he would cause
their house to be made desolate, and he did. And so we see that
that was for the generation of religious people. The generation
of the Viper, the seed of Satan. Look with me, if you would, at
1 Peter, chapter 2. We're just about done. 1 Peter, chapter 2. Look at verse, start in verse 5. It
says ye also as the lively stones, this is speaking of Christy,
the lively stones are us, okay? We're stones in the house of
God. We make up the house of God. He's building a temple not
made with hands. It's not a temple of wood. It's
a spiritual temple. And we are the stones, so to
speak, okay? That's symbolic imagery. We are the stones, the lively
stones. He says, Remember, we just read
a while ago that John the Baptist says that he was able to raise
up stones to be children of God, right? And so we are considered
those lively stones that's been brought to life, right? Ye also
as lively stones are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood
to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to to God by Jesus
Christ. Okay, so our sacrifices are acceptable
to God, but it's not by what we do in the flesh, it's by Jesus
Christ, right? Our spiritual sacrifices are
offered up by Christ Jesus. We look to what he has done,
not to what we have done. Verse six, wherefore also it
is contained in the scriptures, behold, I lay in Zion, a chief
cornerstone elect, that's Christ. Christ is the chief cornerstone.
We are Zion. He is laid within us. The spiritual
house, the spiritual holy priesthood, the spiritual building. Among
those lively stones, Christ has been set as the cornerstone. The cornerstone is the foundation
stone. It's what all the other stones
are held together and built upon. He says, wherefore also it is
contained in Scripture, behold, I, Lanzine, a chief cornerstone,
elect, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be
confounded unto you, Christy, still talking about Christy,
unto you, the elect, therefore, which believe he is precious. But unto them which be disobedient,
the stone which the builders, being the seed of Satan, disallowed
the same as made the head of the corner. See, they were trying
to build a religious house. They didn't want Christ. They
wanted their law-keeping. They didn't want Messiah. They
didn't want Messiah to be their righteousness. They wanted in
on their own efforts, on their own law-keeping, on who they
were by Abraham and their physical lineage. We are Abraham's children. We don't have any need of anything.
And so they thought that they were gonna do that, so they didn't
think nothing. Can anything good come out of
Galilee? That's what they said about Jesus. Can anything good
come out of Galilee? Who is this man? And what did
they do? They wanted to kill him, right? They didn't want
him to be the chief coroner. They didn't want him to be the
foundation of all of their salvation. They wanted part of their own
salvation. But he said, but unto you, the
seed of Christ, not the seed of Satan, the ones who disallowed, Unto you he is precious. Verse 8. He is a stone of stumbling
and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word.
Now let's stop right there. Whenever we preach these things
of election, predestination, when we preach about reprobation,
that Jesus didn't die for everybody but only his elect, that that
righteousness is given to them without anything that they did.
That repentance is something that comes after the fact. It
isn't something that gets you salvation, but comes because
you have been saved. When we talk about faith, it's
something that is not something that's inherently in you, but
it's something that is a gift of God. And that gift is not
something that you can make strong on your own, that we are dependent
upon God for everything. Whenever we preach those things,
whenever we preach a Jesus that is like that, when we preach
God that is like that, people stumble with that. They don't
like it. They don't hear it. That's why we have friends and
family that hate this gospel, that do everything that they
can. They run all over the place preaching
against it. They run all over the place,
you know, setting up, you know, stuff to, to, to counter against
it. and they try to convince us otherwise
and things, it's because that is a stumbling stone for them.
It's a rock of offense. It's offensive to them to think
that God would not give them the choice. That somehow love
and choice has to be the, you have to have choice to have love. For that to be true love, listen,
brethren, we can't love God. We can't love God. perfectly. Remember, we can't love God perfectly. And so choice has nothing to
do with how much we love God or don't love God. Choice is
given to us by God. The Bible says that they shall
be made willing in the day of His power. So the preaching of the gospel,
the preaching of Christ alone for righteousness, Christ alone
for salvation, His faithfulness alone as our righteousness, that
becomes a stone of stumbling, a rock of offense, and they stumble
at the Word, and they become disobedient. They don't obey
the gospel. What is obeying the gospel? Is
that going out and keeping the law? No, to be obedient to the
gospel is to believe on Jesus alone for your righteousness.
To not law keep, but trust. To not try to work for acceptance
or keeping, but to trust Christ alone, to look to Him alone,
to be thankful to Him for obtaining all of your salvation, for Him
sanctifying you and obtaining all of your salvation and providing
for you a righteousness that is 100% holy and perfect. Law-keeping has all been done
for you. That is what being obedient to
the gospel is. But those who don't like this
message of sovereign grace, Those who don't like the message of
election and predestination and of imputed righteousness based
upon Christ's work alone and not upon your repentance and
faith and your law keeping, they are disobedient to the gospel
by trying to do that themselves through whatever means it is
that they say you have to do to get saved. So therefore the
Bible says, look there in verse eight, even to them what stumble
at the word being disobedient. But look at here, brethren, and
this is what it's all come down to. This is why I'm saying it
all has to do with election, and that is part of the gospel.
Reprobation is part of the gospel. That in this Galatians series
that we're going through, the heir of a promise is a group
of people that cannot be, the number cannot be added to, and
it cannot be diminished. All that the Father giveth to
Christ is gonna receive that inheritance. because they are
his seed. Everybody who is the seed of
Satan that were not given to Christ, they will receive their
just reward for what they have done. They have tried to make
their own righteousness, and that righteousness falls short,
and the Bible says the wages of sin is death, and they will
be destroyed. And here's why, look at verse
eight. And a stone of stumbling and a rock of fence, even to
them which stumbled at the word, being disobedient where unto
also they, the seed of Satan, were appointed. Brethren, they
were appointed for that end. The ones who stumble at the message
of the gospel, the ones who don't believe what we are preaching
today, the ones who don't receive that and trust on that today
are the ones who were appointed unto destruction. They are the
ones who were appointed to not trust, to disobey the gospel. They're the ones who, and listen,
they're good religious people, but they are not the ones that
Christ died for. One more passage of scripture.
We'll dismiss back to Matthew chapter 13. And I wanted to leave
this one for the last because it is so clear. the two seeds, and it's even
considered seeds in this passage of Scripture. We even use the
term. Matthew chapter 13. We're going
to start reading in verse 24. Matthew 13, verse 24. Another parable, parable, parable,
another parable put he forth unto them saying the kingdom
of heaven is likened unto a man with so good seed in his field. Here's that term seed, right? The kingdom of heaven is likened
unto a man with so good seed in his field. But while men slept,
his enemy came and sowed tares. There's two, right? Good seed
and tares. Sowed tares among the wheat and
went his way. So the wheat is the good seed,
the tares is the enemy's or bad seed, right? Okay, let's go forward. But when the blade was sprung
up and brought forth fruit, Then appeared the tares also. So the
servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst
not thou sow good seed in thy field? From whence then hath
it tares? He's like, hey, didn't we just
go out and just plant good seed? How come we have tares among
this wheat? He said unto them, An enemy hath
done this. The servant saith unto him, Wilt
thou then that we would go and gather them up? But he said, Nay, lest while
ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. So what does that tell us? Let's
just stop for a minute here. There are those who are the children
of God, and then there are those who are the reprobates. And there
are religious reprobates, those who have an outward appearance
of religion, of outward appearance of Christianity. But they're
not trusting in Christ. They're thinking that they, by
their free will, by their choice, by their believing, by their
receiving, by their being baptized, by their whatever the issue is. They think by that, that they
have been saved and their sins washed away. Their sins taken
away. And by that, doing that, that
God has caused them to be born again. By that, that they are
received as sons now and adopted of God. But the Bible says all
that stuff happened before. Every bit of that, including
their quickening, it all happened before. But listen, he says, leave them there. Don't go up
and tear them up, lest you pull up the wheat with the tears.
See, we're not going to know. Sometimes we're not going to
know, brother. There may be people among us who come into this church
and who act like Christians. And we think they're Christians.
We want to hope that they're Christians. We don't know. But
yet, as time goes by, it may be evident that they may not
be. They may not believe. They may not believe what we're
teaching, the gospel that we're preaching. And they may get riled
up about that and everything. And yes, is there discipline
that needs to be taken within the church? Absolutely, there's
discipline. But we don't just pluck them up and just say they're
just, they're lost, they're not, they're reprobates. We don't
know that, okay? We can injure a child of grace
if we become too harsh in our dealings with them whenever all
of us are learning and growing in the grace and knowledge of
the Lord Jesus by the Holy Spirit, not by our own efforts, by the
Holy Spirit. And he's doing that in his time. so we need to be that's why we
should be uh... meet and that we should be gentle
and we should be long suffering with those who oppose us and
what we believe and that we should go with the word of god and continue
with the word of god but the bible says also there's this
other side of there a little leaven can leaven a whole lump
you don't want that getting into your church and so if there continue
to be a problem with spreading false doctrine then you have
to remove them from the church in hopes that if they are a child
of grace that that will bring them to repentance, that that
will cause them to repent and come back for acceptance again
back into the church. So it's not our job to determine
who the elect is because we can't know. Not one of us has looked
at that book of life. So be careful how we treat those
who profess to be Christians. All right, back to where we was. Verse 30, let both grow together
until the harvest. And in the time of harvest, I
will say to the reapers, gather ye together first the tares. Wait a minute. I thought all
the Christians are going to be raptured first. Aren't the Christians
going to be raptured first and all the wicked are going to be
left here on earth and then they're gonna have to go through a tribulation
while we're enjoying heaven for seven years. And what does it
say here? It says, gather ye up the tares, or excuse me, let both grow together
until the harvest. And at the time of the harvest,
I'll say to the reapers, gather ye together first the tares and
bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into
my barn. Jesus spoke of the sheep and
the goats being separated. Jesus spoke of, matter of fact,
we talked about it a while ago, about as in the days of Noah.
The Bible says that as in the days of Noah, they were eating
and drinking and all this stuff, and it said there were two people
working in a field. One was taken and one was left
behind. And then it says, as in the days
of Noah, so will it be in the coming of the Son of Man. But
yet everybody presumes that the ones who are taken are the Christians
and the ones left behind. Matter of fact, there's a whole
video movie series called Left Behind. There's a book series
called Left Behind by Tim LaHaye. Them are false. Them are absolutely
not based in scripture whatsoever. And there's a lot of people who
believe in this pre-tribulation, pre-millennial, dispensational
view of eschatology. And I didn't mean to get off
on that, but I wanted to just show forth here. Here's another
place where we see that it is very clear that the ones who
are taken and the ones who are left behind are two categories
of people. The ones who are taken are not
the Christians. It is the tares. It is the goats. It is the wicked. In the days
of Noah, who was taken and who was left behind? The ones who
were taken were the evil, the wicked. Who was left behind? The whole world died, except
for who? Noah and his family, and the
ones that was on that ark. The ones who were in Christ,
that's what that ark represents. The ones who were in Christ,
they were preserved. They were the ones, Jesus says
right here, leave them be at the end, we will gather them
together and separate the tares from the wheat. The tares, we
will bundle them together. They'll cast into the fire. And
then my wheat, I will gather into my barn." Now look at verse
31 here. Another parable put forth, he's
saying, I'll tell you what, let's drop down to verse 36. I don't
wanna go through the rest of that. Go to 36. Then Jesus sent
the multitude away and went to the house and his disciples came
in saying, declaring to us the parable of the tears of the field. And he answered and said unto
them, he that soweth the good seed is the son of man. The son of man has sowed the
good seed. That's his seed. He has sowed
his seed. The field is the world. That's
the whole world, right? So he has sowed his seed across
all the world. Remember the Bible says that
out of all language, nation, tribe, tongue, out of every people
group that he has an elect that he will be bringing. The angels
are gonna come and gather his elect from all the four corners
of the world. What does the four corners of
the world mean? From every area of the world. There's not gonna
be one area that's not gonna have God's elect in it, represented. But what does he say here? He
says, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of Man. The field
is the world. So Christ has scattered His elect
across the world. The good seed are the children
of the kingdom. But the tares are the children
of the wicked one. See there, there's the two children.
There's the children of the kingdom. There's the children of the wicked
one. There's the children of Christ. There's the children
of Satan. God has scattered His children
across the world. But guess what? Satan has scattered
his. across the world along with them. By the way, have you guys ever
seen the wheat and the tare? Everyone knows what wheat looks
like, right? Y'all ever seen wheat? Have you
ever seen what a tare looks like? A tare looks just exactly like
a wheat. Exactly. If you hold them side
by side, you can't tell the difference. They look identical. But there's
only one difference between wheat and tares. The tares, you can always tell,
their stalk, the little part at the end of the stem, the little
where the wheat is, on the tares, that stalk stands straight up. Stands straight up. The wheat,
at the end of that stalk, It curves over like its head is
bowed. Remember, we just talked about
the people of false religion, the people of Satan, how they
stand with lofty eyes and uplifted eyelids in their pride and their
arrogance, thinking that they are keeping in their self-righteousness,
keeping the law. The Pharisee that stands up and
I don't have any need. I'm Abraham's child. I don't
have to worry about it. I'm keeping the law. where the
child of grace, like the publican, has his head bowed low, the wheat
and the tares. God knows who the wheat and the
tares are. We don't. But what does he say there? The
enemy that sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end
of the world, and the reapers are the angels. As therefore
the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in
the end of this world. The Son of Man shall send forth
his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things
that offend and them which do iniquity and shall cast them into the
furnace of fire and there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth."
Who is going to be gathered and taken away? The wicked, not the
Christians. The Christians are going to be
left. The wicked are going to be taken. Then shall the righteous
shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their father who hath
ears to hear. Let him hear. Brethren, we see
clearly there is two seeds. There is Christ's seeds who will
be heirs according to the promise as Galatians 3.29 says. And then there are Satan's seeds
who is appointed unto destruction. And at the end of time, they
will be gathered together. They will be bundled up because
their purpose for which God created them will be over. Their destruction
will be, the destruction will be their end. They will receive
their just judgment. God is not going to throw them
in there for nothing. They sinned against God. They
thought they were keeping the law. They thought they were doing
something for righteousness. They transgressed the law of
God and they deserve their punishment. The potter has the right over
the clay to make whichever vessel he desires to use. One for glorious
use, one for non-glorious use. The potter has the right to make
one a vessel of honor or the one a vessel of dishonor. To
make one to bring forth glory, the other one for destruction.
He is the sovereign potter. And therefore his promises are
secure to all his seed because none can change the pot. Well, I better shouldn't say
pot because this pot's going to perish. I should say that
none can change who is going to be the recipient of that.
All of his seed will be the recipient of the promise. And so we don't
have to worry about, oh, there's people dying and going to hell
that could have been saved if we were to reach them with the
gospel. Preach the gospel wherever you're at. Teach the gospel wherever
you're at. And listen, Christ will bring
his people in. Christ will bring his to himself
by his spirit and not one will be lost. OK, all right, that's
going to conclude our look at the two seeds will be back into
expositional preaching not next Sunday, but Sunday after that
next Sunday. Remember, We are going to have
our Thanksgiving service here together at the church. We're
going to speak a little bit on being thankful about Thanksgiving,
not Thanksgiving as it pertains to the pilgrim, but Thanksgiving
as it pertains to the child of grace. And then after that, we'll
have our Thanksgiving dinner together as a church. And so
that will be next Sunday at 11 o'clock. We're not going to be
here at 10 o'clock. Don't be waitin' for me at 10 o'clock.
We'll be here at, we'll be at 11 o'clock. And so, like I said,
we'll have a time, we're gonna read a few scriptures pertaining
to thanks, thankfulness and things like that. We'll take a time,
if anybody wants to share anything that they're thankful for, we
can do that as well. And then we'll eat together whenever
we're all through. Probably won't have a live stream
next week, so anybody watching our live stream, probably won't
happen next week, but the week after that, we'll resume. I'll
try to put a reminder out on our Facebook page later this
week. Does anybody have any questions
or any comments? Remember Brother Ed Bart? He's down in Texas. His son's memorial was yesterday. His son who passed away, his
memorial was yesterday. And he traveled down there by
way of Greyhound, left Friday, and he'll be back on Tuesday
morning, early morning. So be in prayer for him and his
travels. And continue to remember the Carlson family, Beth and
Michael, and also the rest of the family, the ones who weren't
members here. Beth was the only one that was
a member here, but Remember the rest of Sister Louetta's family
and everything also who recently passed away. Remember them. Do you remember my grandma? Her
health is doing better. So keep her in your prayers also.
Anybody else? Oh, also remember Brother Gabriel
Gonzalez, his wife. Uh, he has prayer for her. Uh,
she's going through some, uh, uh, medical issues and everything. Uh, not everything's been quite
disclosed. And if you want to know what
they are, you can ask him. I don't want to do that publicly
unless they want that to be known. So, uh, just remember her if
you don't mind, uh, continue prayer. I forgot to mention that
during the live stream last week, but sent out a message on Facebook
after the fact. So. Remember, Gabriel's wife,
Tori, is her name, so keep her in your prayers, if you would. There's a lot of other people
we could probably mention and everything, so. Anyway, let's
have a word of prayer and we'll be dismissed. Father, we thank
you for this day, and once again, we are grateful for the gospel.
We're thankful for Jesus Christ. We're thankful for the life that
we have in and through him. We thank you, Father, that we
have a hope that's been given to us by the Spirit of God. We
thank you, Father, for righteousness that has been given to us by
the Son of God. And Father, we just are grateful
for all that you do on our behalf. We are grateful for salvation.
Lord, we just want to pray and ask that you would help us each
day by faith to continue to look to you as you promised that you
would keep us. But Father, so often we feel
our flesh, we feel our sin, we see our sin. We feel our unworthiness
and in our mind, Lord, we can become discouraged and we can
be downcast. We can be depressed. We can have
all kinds of things going through our mind because of the circumstances
of our life. But Father, you have promised
that your children are heirs according to the promise and
that can't be taken away. and that you love your children
and that you will chasten each child because we are your children
and you do love us. And father, so often we see through
that chastisement, uh, the wretchedness of our flesh, the harshness,
sometimes maybe of the, of the trial or the, or the, uh, uh,
affliction that you bring us through for learning and our
growing in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. But Father, we know that
it's all for our good, and we pray that you give us discerning
eyes, spiritual understanding of those things, that we might
not lose hope in you, that we might not wander far from you,
but that you might keep us as you've promised. Father, we pray
for those we've mentioned this morning, for brother Gabriel's
wife, Tori. We pray for my grandmother. We
pray for brother Ed. We pray for Kevin and Jacqueline,
who's not here with us this morning. Lord, for certain circumstances,
Lord, we ask that you would just be with them, give them safety
in their travels. Father, we pray for Sister Beth,
and we ask, Lord, for blessings upon the whole family as they
continue in their grieving process after Sister Louetta's death.
And for Brother Ed after his son's death, Lord, we just pray
that you just might be with them. Give them strength and peace.
Give them grace, Lord, through these times. May they bring glory
to you through your spirit, Lord. And may you just be with us now
as we eat this food that we're about to eat. May it nourish
our bodies and keep us, Lord, until we meet again. And it's
in your name that we pray.