God shall supply all of our needs
and he has done just that. For me, it's always a tough time
to miss church because just what if the Lord came today and was
here in the service and I wasn't here. Plus it's always an encouragement
to me to be with you and in God's house, and especially on this
kind of a special day. I always look forward to New
Year's Day. It's kind of like a starting
over, forgetting those things which are behind and moving out
and forward. All right. So I want to wish
you a very happy, happy New Year. It ought to be a great day tomorrow.
Hope you Have a great time tomorrow, whatever you're doing, and whoever
you're with, you enjoy yourselves and give thanks to God for another
year. The Bible says that two men went
up to the temple to pray, we're told in the Gospel of Luke. One
was a Pharisee. That means he was very religious. He's a churchy. had Bible verses
written all over his clothes so everyone would know that he
was religious, the commandments. He hadn't kept them, but he gave
the impression that he had. The other was a publican. Now for those of you who say
I'm way too political, I didn't say Republican, I said publican. He was a publican. tax collector,
someone who was hated and despised and no one saw them as a good
person. The Pharisee said, I thank thee
God that I'm not as other men are. I just wonder if there's
anybody in here today like that. You're in a heap of trouble.
I thank the God that I'm not as other men are. You see, because
that too is a lie. He was as other men are. He was a sinner and had come
short of the glory of God. And the other was the publican
who wouldn't even so much as raise his head but smote himself
upon the breast and said, God be merciful, God be propitiatory,
God be my propitiation. The sinner, I'm the sinner, as
if he were the only sinner. God be merciful to me. And then I love this little phrase.
And this man went down to his house justified rather than the
other. Wouldn't it be glorious today
if you came up here a sinner and you went down to your house
a justified sinner? Old things have passed away.
Wouldn't it be wonderful today if God in his sovereign grace
and mercy quickened, regenerated, and gave life and light to a
dark soul while this gospel was going forth? I thought coming
over here, just think, Kent, just think about it, Kent, today,
Somebody could leave that building justified, knowing it, through
experiencing Jesus Christ. And you would no longer be a
crack addict or heroin addict or a self-righteous Pharisee. You could sing with a songwriter,
with Jesus my Savior, I'm a child of the King. That would be wonderful. In fact, that's what I came to
see today. I'm here today because I just believe that God is going
to do something awesome. I waited until I was in my car
to text about the money. I just had a hunch. I just had
a feeling that somehow God, you know, he's an on-time God. You
think over $1,700,000 in 30 plus days. That's a whole lot of money. In a few weeks, I'll go to North
Carolina where I'm to speak at the thrift store convention.
I'll speak a couple times. And I've never done this. It's really a trick. I'm going
to speak on how to raise millions of dollars. And so I'm going to tell them
at the night service, that's going to be my subject, I'm going
to tell them some of the fabulous stories that have gone on here.
Just unbelievable things that could not have happened unless
God intervened and God did something. And then I'm going to say, now,
if you really want to know the key of how all this money was raised,
in the morning devotion, I'm going to tell you the secret.
And I want to tell you again the secret. It's to blame God
for all of the good that happens. But I will elaborate on that.
And to you that are here today, there is no reason for us to
be in this building, for it to be as beautiful as it is, to
be purchasing the union building next to the Women and Children
Center. There is no reason that we're
able to do what we do except God's in this place and God's
in this work and God is doing something. And as I thought all week about
what I would say to you, the word new kept coming up, new,
new year. Or how about this one? If any
man be in Christ, he is a new creation. A new creation. Are you sick and tired of you?
You can be a new creature today. You can know you're a new creature.
And old things pass away, and behold, all things become new. Wouldn't it be great if somebody
started off the new year without chains? Their chains fell off. And they were free and followed
Christ. I wanna first of all tell you
how bad you are. And then I want to tell you how
good God is. Those are some of my favorite
passages in Ephesians 2. The apostle starts out in Ephesians
1 by saying, I'm praying for you. And there's some things
that I want you to know. And one of the first things that
he says in Ephesians chapter 1, he says, In verse 19, and let's look at
18 also. The eyes of your understanding
being enlightened. You know you need revelation,
right? You need your eyes to be enlightened, where you can
enter in and see this glorious truth. We've just been talking
about the past few weeks, how God has invaded history at Bethlehem. That God came down to earth.
The God-man, Emmanuel, God with us. What an exciting and awesome
message that is. That God himself has actually
come to earth. Think about it. That God so loved
us that he came into this world when no one could help us but
he himself. Walked the Judean acres, went
up on Calvary, and died in our room, stead in place. The eyes
of your understanding being enlightened. It's been about 53 years since
I started preaching. I can't tell you how many times
people have made this kind of statement to me. You don't believe
that born of a virgin stuff, do you? See, the eyes of their
understanding hasn't been opened. Yes, he was born of a virgin. Yes, he was. And God had predicted
that in the long ago. Born of a virgin. You don't believe
that substitution stuff, that God actually punished his own
son. Well, I thought you said Jesus
was God. Yes, I did. You don't believe
that, do you? Yes, I do. The God man, the perfect
man, The only one that could redeem me came and died on the
cross. It's so important for people
to see. If you're sitting here and you
have just come to service, to be in on a New Year's Eve service,
what we want to happen today is for you to get your eyes open.
And you know, if you get your eyes open, have you ever been
looking at one of those pictures that they have a picture hid
within the picture, you know, and if you stare at it long enough,
I've watched people do that, and all of a sudden, them go
like this, oh my goodness, I see, I see. I'll tell you this story. We had a couple attending our
church in Bryantsville, And they were not a nice couple, either
one of them. They were not nice people, but they got under Holy
Spirit conviction. And one morning about three o'clock
in the morning, someone was banging on our door and I got up and
it was this couple. And his wife said to me, he's
driving me crazy. He says that he's lost and needs
Christ. Oh, I said, welcome. And this is how it happened.
I was just a young guy then. I said, Gene, I'm going to pray
that the Lord will open your eyes. Now this is in the country. And I was praying, we were all
down on our knees and I was praying and suddenly Gene started screaming,
I see him, I see him. He jumped up out of our living
room, ran out the door and ran all around our big yard out there
screaming, I see him, I see him. He didn't literally see with
his eyes. But the burden was lifted, the
sin was gone, the condemnation was gone, and he saw Jesus Christ
in reality as his substitute. Oh, that God would open someone's
eyes today. Wouldn't it be great to be sitting
here this morning and someone began to cry out, I see him as
my Lord and my Savior and my Redeemer. That would be an awesome
thing. And you know, I think I'm going
to live long enough to see that happen in this place. I'll just
keep on preaching and you keep on saying, I see him. I see him. The eyes of your understanding
being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of his
calling. He didn't call you to lose you.
He called you on purpose for a purpose. Have you ever heard
your Savior calling? We used to sing in the old church,
I can hear my Savior calling. I'll go with him, with him all
the way. What an awesome thing it is to
hear from the Lord and calling you out of darkness into light.
And I want you to know, Paul said, what the riches of the
glory of his inheritance in the saints. Oh, we have an inheritance
in Jesus Christ, incorruptible and undefiled, and that fades
not away. But I like verse 19. And what
is the exceeding greatness of his power to us who believe according
to the working of his mighty power? My friend, if you are
a believer, you had nothing to do with it. God made a believer
out of you. What power is needed? I often
say on TV and radio and other places where I'm being interviewed,
I often say, there's only one thing more powerful than heroin,
and that's the Holy Spirit of God. And he is. Amen. The exceeding greatness of his
power. It takes power to save a sinner.
Some of you sitting here probably this morning are something like
this, blank to blank. The only reason I'm here is because
they made me come over here. You may be sitting here that
way. You don't want to know anything about God. You don't care anything
about God. You just love living in your
mess. It's going to take a great God
to save you. But then, don't forget this. We have a great God. A God of
power. How much power is it going to
take? It's going to take this much power. You were dead. You're dead. Those of you without
Christ, you're dead. You're dead in your trespasses
and sins. In other words, you are inactive
toward God, but you're very active in your sins. You're not dead
to sins, you're alive to sin, but you're inactive toward God. And then Paul reminds them in verse
two of in times past you walked. Walk there is the verb form of
a continual walking. You continually walked according
to the course of this world. Whatever the world was doing,
that's what you wanted. However the world dressed, that's
the way you dressed. Whoever was getting high, that's
what you wanted to do. You walked according to the course
of this world. It gets worse. In this life,
you have three guides. One is the world. The second
one, according to the prince of power of the air. That's a
scary one. Your guide through life is the
devil himself. You know who's leading you? Not
you, you're not the captain of your own ship. You have been
overcome by the Prince and power of the air and to be delivered
is going to take someone greater than the devil to deliver you. according to the prince of power,
the heir, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,
among whom also we all had our manner of life in times past
in the lusts of the flesh. Wow. I could really dig in there. The lusts of the flesh. Does
your lust ever scare you? The lusts of the flesh. You think
about all the things that are going on in this world. Human trafficking, I hear so
much about it now and how awful it is. We have more slaves now
than we've ever had in the history of the world. Slavery's not over. It's mammoth and it's awesome.
Other human beings buying and selling and trading for sex acts. Fulfilling the desires of the
flesh. In your flesh dwells no good
thing. Isn't that a scary thought? You live to fulfill the desires
of your flesh. It's gonna take a mighty God
to deliver from this. Fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and of the mind. Think about what your mind thinks. Don't think about it too long,
it'll scare you. And we're by nature the children
of wrath. Oh, how we deserved hell. That's
why a Christian has never met another person that they cannot
say to them, if God saved me, he can save you. Amen. I, the chief of sinners, children
of wrath, even as others. And then I heard you respond
to Dr. Christopher's, but God. Oh, I love that. You know what that is? That's
an intervention about to happen. All we like sheep had gone astray. We turned everyone to his own
way, but God. Can the leper change his spots?
No, but God. God can cause his people to be
willing in the day of his power. There was a time when I can remember
saying, leave me alone, I'm not going to church tonight. Of course
I had to go, my dad was a preacher. But I can remember thinking in
my rebellion, I don't wanna go, I don't wanna be there, leave
me alone. Thank God the spirit of God did
not leave me alone. but God who is rich in mercy. If there's one thing I know,
it's this, to save me, he has to be rich in mercy. Mercy, the mercy and grace of
God. Sometimes when I think about
it, like even this morning, I was thinking as we sang Amazing Grace
and my chains fell off, how much happier we ought to be. What
a greater demonstration there ought to be with regard to this
grace as it floods our souls that it was unmerited favor.
So often I want to stop my ears when I hear people say, I just
want what I deserve. I just want God to give me what
I deserve. And they're so enthusiastic about
it. I think you are flat down out
of your mind. You don't want God to give you
what you deserve. You want him to have mercy. where
you're able to say, oh, what a wonder that Jesus found me.
I was so lost, I didn't even think Jesus could find me. Out
in the darkness, no light could I see. He put his great arm under,
his great arm. Some of you guys working out
over in the little gym over at the mission, I see your biceps.
You're walking around. You know, you even walk weird.
I see all of that. God put his great arm under,
and wonder of wonders, he saved even me. I didn't think anyone
could save me, but there was one, the mighty Jesus, who's
the savior. Now, rich in mercy for his great
love were with he loved us. I have a grandson named Caleb.
I'll just flat out tell you, I would not give my grandson
for the likes of you. Why are you so quiet in shock?
I thought you loved me pastor. Yeah, but not that much. See, I have a fleshly love for
my own grandson. You think about the great pure
love of God. That God so loved you that he
gave his only son, Now to me, that's amazing. And he did it in a holy and a
righteous way that you and I might have life and have it more abundantly. He loved us even when we were
dead. He loved you when you were a baby rattlesnake and when you
were a full grown rattlesnake. He loved you when you were drunk.
when you were committing adultery, he loved you when you were using
drugs, whatever, he loved you. Somebody said to me the other
day, you know, I gave God a piece of my mind. Yes, he's such a
loving God, isn't he? He could have snuffed you right
out. First of all, your mind is depraved,
so God doesn't want a piece of it. But we do that. That's how merciful
God is. Have you ever been hurt and hurt
so bad that you said, well, where is this God who is so good and
so gracious? Why did he do this to me? Well, for your good and for his
glory. I know, I know. Many times when things happen
to a child of God that seems so dark and ugly, God's about
ready to bless in an awesome way. God has taught me so many
wonderful things through trials. I'm thinking now of when our
Pam was in the car wreck and our firstborn was stillborn. The week before, There was a
lady called me. I was on five radio stations
and pastoring two churches and just doing all kinds of crazy
stuff. But she called and she said,
I heard you on radio, Pastor. I'd like for you to come up and
pray with me in the hospital. I just gave birth to a stillborn
baby boy. And you know, to me, it was like
yesterday. I think of this so often. I grabbed
my Bible and I said something, I have got so much to do. I really don't, I mean, I was
complaining to myself and anybody that would listen, how am I gonna
go up there to the hospital? I went up there and she was weeping
as I went in, just sobbing. I opened my little New Testament
and read something to her, had a short prayer and left. One
week to the day, I was in a morgue in Beckley, West Virginia with
my own little boy. God teaches some great lessons
about compassion. Be careful about what you say
and do to other people. God is a great and gracious God. Be kind to one another, enter
into one another's feelings. Well, anyway, even when we were
dead in sins, have He quickened us together with Christ? What
an amazing thing it is when He comes to you and quickens you. It means to make alive. You see,
dead men don't come to Christ, only living men and women come
to Christ. It's called regeneration. And the church world is so messed
up here, so messed up here. They make believing a condition
for regeneration. If you will believe you will
be regenerated while you're without faith, you're dead. Regeneration
comes first. Do you know that you were born
and then you cried? In fact, when you were born,
you didn't even know you were alive. I'm sure that there are
people sitting in here today that have been regenerated by
the spirit of God. And you think in your head, for
sure you're going to hell. I mean, you know that you're
a sinner. Let me tell you this. By the
time you find out you're a real bona fide, certified sinner,
you've already been regenerated by the Spirit of God and made
alive. And that's why I say quite often
here, not every Sunday, but come to Christ. And I go like this,
come to Christ just as you are. Can you, are you able right where
you are to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Or I might say
something like this, without moving a muscle, right where
you are, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Because see the
spirit of God already does his work. He gives you life. He quickens
you. You see your centership. When
people start arguing with me about total depravity, I know
to pretty soon end the discussion, because you're not ready to hear
what you really are. But when one says I'm a sinner,
I was telling the church, I think it was Wednesday evening, before,
I think I missed this Wednesday, Wednesday evening before, about
Tootsie and Ronnie that came to our church in Bryansville.
Tootsie and Ms. Baker came together the first
Sunday I'd ever met them. They drove 10 miles to our church. And after service, in fact, one
of our self-righteous members said, do you know who those two
are? Before service. I said, no, I don't. He said,
well, they're the town harlots. And he wasn't happy they were
in our church. I really got excited about it.
Because God saves sinners. Anyway, this is what happened.
As Tootsie was going out the door, she took me by the hand. And she said, preacher, I think
I'm a sinner. And I know that my reaction wasn't
what she was expecting. To see that's great. Because only sinners need a savior. If you're not a sinner, you don't
need a savior. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. And he's raised us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Oh, I
love this verse. That in the ages to come. 50 years ago, I brought a message
at the Bible conference at Grace Baptist Church from these passages. and it was 50 years ago that
God taught me what this passage means, that in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches
of his grace. That while the ages pile themselves
one on top of another, while eons of time are passing by,
God is revealing the riches of his grace. You may be a five-pointer,
but you don't know anything about God's grace yet, and neither
do I. Kind of a little starting place,
but know where to end up. Amen. While eternity passes,
while eternity passes, is it 12 o'clock? While eternity passes,
God is going to be showing us how gracious he's been to us.
See, I should have killed you right then. If you got what you
deserved, I'd have killed you then. Yeah, you know, that thought,
I should have knocked you in the head then. the riches of
his grace. When we've been there 10,000
years, we've no less days to sing his praise than when we
first begun. And then he says this, it's not
of works. You've been saved by grace. Boy,
if there's anything I want this church to know, it's this, the
grace of God. The grace and mercy of God. And then he says this, don't
you know this? We're his workmanship. We're
his workmanship. Tom Dune made this. I could say
this is Tom Dune's workmanship, but not really. It's not the
same as what God means in Ephesians 2.10. We are his workmanship. It would mean like this if I
said Tom Doon made this. Well, he made the wood. He cut
down the tree. He made the tree, cut down the
tree. Then he made the wood, made the glue, made this, made
this. This whole thing was Tom Doon's workmanship. Not really. But when God says you are my
workmanship, you really are. And God doesn't do bad work.
He does perfect work. And then it says this, I didn't
only make you, I created you. You're a new creature. And I
predestined you to good works. All of us in here ought to get
busy. We've been predestinated to good
works, to walk in them. God never mocks you. If God has
saved you, he has called you and he has a work for you. Be
still and know that he's God. He'll take the scales off your
eyes and he will show you, not only show you, but you know what
God demands, God provides. Isn't that true? That's the grace
of God. Now let's look forward to 2018
with great anticipation of great blessings. On the way over, I
was thinking about it and I was thinking, What a great five years. What a great four years. What
a great three years. What a great two. What a great
year. This has been God just meeting
our needs in a spectacular way. He's an awesome guy. All right,
let's stand together. Well, we made it together. That's
a good thing. I want you to have a happy New
Year.