Scripture reading for this morning is taken from Psalm 119 verses 9 through 16. I forgot my notes. James, you could relate with this. You spend all day making a wonderful meal and then you burn the heck out of it and you can't even eat it. But that was the Lord's will. And I think he wanted us to focus on this word and what it says. And I'll try to remember some of the stuff that I put together. I had all kinds of great scriptures to go along with each verse of Beth. which is the second part of Psalm 119.

And Beth means home. It was a great song. The way of the cross leads home. Beth literally means home dwelling. The word would dwell in your heart and that God would, you know, you'd make a home in your heart for God and his spirit and his word. And that's what this psalm is all about.

Where with all shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy word. With my whole heart have I sought thee, O let me not wonder from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. Blessed art thou, O Lord, teach me thy statutes. With my lips I have declared all the judgments of thy mouth. I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies as much as in all riches. I will meditate in thy precepts and have respect unto thy ways. I will delight myself in thy statutes. I will not forget thy word. Do you remember one of the scriptures was just the first psalm? I'm gonna read it. It's only six verses.

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and his law doth he meditate day and night. See the similarities there? And he shall be like a tree planted by rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit and his season. His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff with the wind drive it the way. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish."

So I can't remember the scriptures I had, but I know one of them was that your body is a temple for the Holy Spirit to dwell in. to meditate on God's word is the food for our souls. Man shall not live on bread and water alone, but every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. And Jesus actually said that when he was being tempted by the devil and he had eaten for 40 days. He was hungry and the devil tempted on me. He said, no, man shall not live on bread and water alone, but every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. And that can only happen if the Lord gives us life And that life is in Christ and his finished work to have that home in our heart for his word to dwell in and for God's spirit to dwell in. And I wish I had all the scriptures that I had to go along with each verse, but. I had the honor to speak to a lot of religious lost people yesterday.

Caroline, Mike's mother, had four children, and of course, three daughters and her son, and each of them having their husband. So there was quite a few, quite a few grandchildren, great-grandchildren were there. And I brought this out. I said, how many of you know anything about your grandmother's religion? what her thoughts are.

Would I be wrong? And I looked right, I looked her right in the eyes. I scanned the room. I said, would I be wrong in saying some of you may not have any idea at all what she believes? And I actually saw people going, yeah, you're right. I have no idea. And I brought out this.

Carolyn doesn't wear her religion on her shoulder, on her shoulder sleeve. It's not tattooed on the side of her arm. I'm religious. She was just a lady of the world. If you were to be around her, you might not even know that she was religious at all. Being a person of the world, sometimes it didn't show.

Yet, even though things don't show, have you ever noticed that when somebody has lost a loved one, the first thing you hear them say is they're in a better place? I've heard that more times than I can say. Oh, yeah, he was in prison for this or that, but he's in a better place now that he's dead. How do you know? What makes you think they're in a better place? What makes these dear brothers and sisters and daughters and sons and grandsons, what makes them think that Carolyn was in a better place today than she was yesterday?

Folks, there's two places that we're all gonna go to when we leave this world, and everybody's gonna go through that doormark death, as I mentioned a moment ago. We're in a world of death. I know this is hard for some as our young ones to take, but I'm not going to back down from bringing it up. It's up to the parents to explain to the children what I'm talking about as far as this world of death. Everything dies. From the moment we're born, we're growing older.

We're becoming closer to that day that the Lord is going to take us out of this world. So what makes us think that anyone that we love is in a better place? Is everything on the other side better? We know better than that, don't we? The world knows it too. Well, how can you say that, John?

Look at all the different religions. What do you think a religion is? It doesn't matter what religion you are, you're trying to satisfy the wrath of God. And every one of them, whether your God is Allah, whether your God is a tree or some gods that follow after spirit animals, doesn't matter. What your God is you, which is what Buddhism is. That's all about worshiping the inside of you, the calmness of the inside of you.

It's all trying to satisfy the wrath of God because we all know by nature we are sinners. We all know that we've done something to cause the wrath of God upon us. So we're going about our way in this world trying to satisfy that knowledge with what we think is right. Every man is doing what they think is right. How do we know that our loved one is in a better place?

My biggest problem in growing up around religion when I was a young man, young kid, was the hypocrite. the hypocritical attitude of religious people. It was the holier than thou crowd. You know what that is? You've ever witnessed that? I go to church every Sunday. I pray at the restaurant every time I eat. I want everybody to see me pray. I want everybody to know how religious I am. I wear a cross around my neck so everybody knows that I'm a religious person. And I'm holy for what I do.

They brag about how they go to church on Sunday or Saturday. I have family members who tell me that They go to church on Saturday because that's what God commanded them to do. They don't follow any of the other commandments, but that one's a good one for them to follow, so they follow that. It's an easy one. Instead of getting up on Sunday and going to church, I'll just get up on Saturday. That's an easy thing to do, isn't it?

Or they pray. They pray in public places. You remember what the scripture talks about? The Pharisees who pray in public places, they do it just for show. I'm in total agreement with our brother Don Fortner who refuses to pray in pubs and restaurants.

He said one time in a group that we were all sitting around, he said, do you think the Lord knows your heart? Yeah, we agree. Well, he knows you're thankful. Let's eat. Why make a public show of it? We want everybody in the restaurant to know how religious we are? Or how about this one?

I got baptized. You know, when I'm in a public place somewhere and somebody finds out, you know, whether somehow or another I bring it up or whatever, that I'm a pastor of a church, what do you do for a living? I'm a pastor of a church. in Rescue California, first thing I hear about is this, oh, I turned myself over to the Lord Jesus when I was 12 years old, or some point in time in their lives. It's gotten to a point now, I dodged it this one time, and I didn't understand it either until I was actually in the position of a pastor. For some reason, when they find out I'm a pastor, they've got to tell me everything about their religious life and how religious they are.

It's like they wear it on their shoulder, on their shirt sleeve. Oh yeah, I pray, I got baptized, I went down and prayed the prayer at the front. Some of them have even tried to convince me that they've been filled with the Spirit at times and talk in tongues. And I just shake my head and I'm like, yeah, okay, whatever. What they're saying is this. I do all of this that they tell you that they do.

I do this and I want you to know it because I'm righteous and I'm not a sinner. And you don't do it. Therefore, you are a sinner. I did that very same statement yesterday with the folks down there in San Diego, and I pointed out to them, I said, you know, when they're doing that to you, and they're pointing to you and saying, you don't do it, therefore you're not holy, you're not righteous.

I wonder if they realize they've got three fingers pointing right back at themselves. Folks, I grew up with that. If I can remember anything at all of what I heard when I was attending church as a child before I got old enough to tell my parents I ain't doing this anymore, it was this, that a bunch of people who were hypocrites sitting around talking about how good they were in God's eyes when they were nothing more than hypocrites like me. They wore their religion on their sleeve, on their shoulder. Look here, see how religious I am?

Over in Romans chapter 10, would you turn to Romans chapter 10 for a moment? This is a familiar story. You're all familiar with it. Some of you may be able to quote some of it by your heart. But what an example God gives us of those who wear their religion on their shoulder and those who are truly justified by the blood of Christ. Look here, if you would, at Romans chapter 10. Oh. I got out of my notes here for just a moment. Look at Romans chapter 10, verses 2 and 3.

Before we get to that familiar story, let's look what the Word of God tells us about those who are shining their righteousness, the righteousness of their own. Look here at verses two and three. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant, of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God." That's what Paul is saying here to the Romans. He's telling them about Israel, those that his hearts desire for, as it says in verse 1. And his prayer to God is for his brethren in Israel, that they might be saved.

The Pharisees were going about in their own righteousness. Now turn over to Luke chapter 18. In Luke chapter 18 we see a familiar story. giving us an example of one who is justified by grace and one who is holy by his own works. Look here at verse nine of Luke chapter 18. Notice who the scriptures point to right off the bat. For he, the Lord Jesus, the Lord Jesus has been talking here since right there at the first of chapter 18.

He says, he spake this parable. unto certain which trusted in themselves, that they were righteous and despised others." That's the whole ear of it now, isn't it? That's those who sit around and look to their own works for their righteousness, those who put all of their trust. That's what they're talking about there. They trusted in themselves. They had confidence in what they were doing.

I go to church on Sundays. Oh, I got baptized. Oh, I make the prayer. Listen to what the Lord says about these ones, says this parable that he says to these in verse 10, he says to two men. Did you know that there are two religions in this world? There is the religion of grace, the religion the true religion of mercy and grace that is only found in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and what he has done, Christ and him crucified, and then there's works. And you can put all those other religions that I mentioned a moment ago underneath that thing of works. You must do this, you must do that. They're still under the old covenant, the old covenant of God's law. I was listening to a message this morning that our brother Anthony over in the Bay Area sent me, just a brief one. And the young man was talking about the covenant of grace.

And if you recall, there was an ark. Remember the ark? It was a golden box and it had holes that go through it. It was all certain detail to it. And inside that box was the 10 commandments, the tables of stone. the rod of Aaron that budded daily, continuously, the manna from heaven, all these different things that point to Christ, and then the box was covered. Now, remember, on top of that box, on the cover, there were two cherubim, some kind of a creature with wings, and the wings were folded up to where they almost met in the middle, and the Lord says, I will meet you there. Not in the box, but outside the box. He says, there I will be with my people over in Second Samuel.

Some folks decided, well, we gotta have something to do. We're not righteous in Christ. Christ is not sufficient. We need something more. So they opened up that box to see what was inside and God killed them all. And he brought out this. He said, those folks were looking to the law of God, and the law of God is death. Death. So he killed them all. Something like 3,000 people who were standing around looking in that box killed them all.

Two men, back in our text again, two men went up into the temple to pray. The one, a Pharisee, and the other, Pope. One, a very, very religious man, one who wore the clothes of religion, who stood in the marketplace and prayed where everybody could see, and the other one who did what? Elected. Elected the money and the taxes for the governor. Pharisee stood, verse 11, and look what he did. Catch this, read this for yourselves. Prayed thus with himself. God didn't hear it. He didn't approach God under the mercy of his Savior, the Lord Jesus. He prayed within himself.

Oh, you talk about works, you talk about having confidence in something of your flesh. He was pretty confident, was he? Do you know that Paul was exactly in these very same shoes at one point? The Apostle Paul, when he was known as Saul of Tartus, before God gave him the new name of Paul, he was a Pharisee of Pharisees. He was one who had learned and studied under the best teachers there were. He was the Pharisee of the Pharisee. He wore all the right clothes.

He had letters from the chief priest that said, go out and kill, go out and harass, go out and cut down those who believe on the Lord Jesus, those who worship the Lord Jesus. those who do any kind of religion towards Christ, Jesus, the Lord, outside of their own religious beliefs there, the ceremonies that they would go through, swinging the different incense and stuff like that, slaughtering the animals every day over and over again, all the blood that had to be shed in those days because it never covered sins.

Folks, by the blood of Christ, All the sin of every single one for whom he is loved is paid for. Christ's sacrifice is perfect. It's the sacrifice of God. It's the blood of God that was shed for you and I. This is where our surety is, is in Him, in His blood that was shed for us. This Pharisee stood up and he prayed within himself. He said, God, I thank thee that I am not as other men.

Oh, do you see the finger pointing? Do you see that going out? Just pointed all these up? And then, as if that's not good enough, then he says, I'm glad I'm not made as other men. All these other unholy, unrighteous people He points at one. I pray thus with himself that God thank thee that I am not as other men, as extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican, this dirty, rotten collector of taxes who ain't worth nothing to nobody around here but the governor. Thank you that I'm not like him.

Not even realizing that the whole time he prayed that, he was pointing three fingers back at himself. Exactly an extortion or everything else with it. And the publican standing, or no, he said in verse 12, I fast twice a week. See how all of a sudden now he starts to brag. See, I go to church on Sundays. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I possess. See what I do for you, Lord? See all the good things about me? Thank you, Lord, that I'm such a good person. I know people like this. And I'll bet some of you do as well.

And then the public, in standing afar off, catch the difference here. Here's a man who stands up proudly in the temple and declares himself thankful for not being like other men, and another who can't even lift his head. He's standing afar off. He can't even stand in the presence of the temple, and he would not even lift up so much as his eyes into heaven, but he smote upon his breast. This is the attitude of grace saved God's people. Those who are saved by grace saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

You know, there's so many religious folks who say you can be a better person if you'll just come to church on Sunday. You folks know me. You've heard me often. When you know what sin is, you come to find out you're not a better person at all. In fact, as you go and walk in this world in the grace of our Savior, the Lord Jesus, in his mercy, you find out how big of a sinner you truly are. Where sin aboundeth, grace aboundeth more. The more I see of the depth of my sin, the greater I see of my Savior's salvation and grace for me. Oh! He smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. And then the Lord says this. He says, I tell you, this man went down, went down to his house justified.

I like what they say about the word justified, don't you? It's just as if I'd never sinned. How can that be? How can I be just as if I'd never sinned if somebody who is perfect paid for it? If somebody who was righteous in every single way was made sin, my sin. that I would be made the righteousness of God in him. That's how. That's how God's people are justified.

It's not in any way that they have done. It's not anything that you can do. If it could be, then it wouldn't be grace, would it? It'd be something you'd earn. It's what these holier-than-thou people think. And folks, don't get me wrong. I could be exactly right there where that holier-than-thou person is if it wasn't for the grace of God. We would not see the depth of our sin. We would not walk in humbleness as this publican did. We'd walk like the Pharisee.

Look what I've done. Hit that golf ball right down the middle of the fairway. Next time, I'll hit it off in the bushes and prove who I truly am. I was playing the other day, and I was, you know, I was having a good game. It started off really, really good until the third hole. There's 18, so third hole's not very far. And then at the third hole, I had to turn to the group and say, the real John Reeves has arrived. And from that point on, my game for some reason just You've never been there, have you, Marie? You don't understand that at all, do you? Yeah, you do. Oh, folks.

If it wasn't for our Lord's mercy and his grace, we would stand in the temple just as this man did, trusting in something that we have done but yet died. Aren't you thankful? But God. But God. God, who is rich in mercy and love, has shined the light of his Son in our new hearts. Romans chapter 1 verse 17, it says this, For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, shall live by faith." Listen to these words over in Psalms 34, verse 18. Our Lord says this. He says, through the prophet, the Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. He saveth. He saved those who have a contract. Who makes us contract? When you see your sin and the truth about what you are before an almighty, all-righteous, holy God, holy, holy is his name. Oh, that'll break the heart. That'll show a man what they truly are.

The apostle Paul, chosen of God to preach the gospel unto the Gentiles, as an example to you and I, shows us his heart before God. Turn to Romans chapter seven, if you would. Paul, again, one who had every right of this world to stand up and say, I have not been made as others, wearing the clothes of a Pharisee, following the law as best as any man could. And I say that in that way, very carefully. Paul was ignorant. until the Lord blinded him with the light of his son, until the Lord shined the light of the Lord Jesus in his heart and blinded him. He was ignorant of the righteousness of God, going about trying to be righteous in his own way. And here, Paul tells us in Romans chapter seven, beginning at verse 11, he says, for sin, taking occasion, taking the opportunity by the commandments, the 10 commandments, deceived me, and by it, you see what it says next?

Slew me. Remember what I told you a moment ago about the ark? How everybody that looked upon that ark, looking into that ark to see what they could find to be saved, All they could see were the tablets of God, and what did that do? It slew them. Folks, if we're trusting anything, anything that we do in this flesh that we think is following the Ten Commandments or any other commandment that God has given us in His Word, we are going down the path of death.

There's only one way to life. And Christ says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh under the Father, but by me. Paul goes on, he says in verse 12, wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Folks, God's law is good.

You know, I mentioned this yesterday, and I think I've mentioned it several times to you as well. If we could, If we could walk the way we want to, you know, people will say, you're lawless, you're antinomian, you just go about living any way you want to. If I could live the way I want to, it would be perfect. It would be like my savior.

The law is good. That's what he said. It's holy. It's just and it's good. But look at verse 13. Was then that which is good made deaf unto me? God forbid. But sin, sin is the inability to follow the law according to God's way. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good, that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal. I'm in the flesh. soul, under sin.

Verse 15, for that which I do, I allow not. For what I would, that do I not. But what I hate, that do I. See what I'm talking about? If Paul could walk the way he wanted to, there wouldn't be any problem. But he doesn't. That what I hate, that I do. If then I do that which I would not, verse 16, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing.

This is why God's people say these words. We have no confidence in the flesh. I don't even trust my own thoughts, Mike. My own thoughts can deceive me. But I trust God's word. And I trust that God has provided a way for his people. And I trust that I'm one of those people because I believe God. Not because what I think, what I do, but because I believe his word. And he tells us this, whosoever believeth shall have everlasting life.

Paul goes on, he says, for I know that in me dwelleth, that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, for to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good, now catch this, read this carefully. Oh, I missed this for so many years. For the good that I would, I do not, but the evil which I would not that I do. Now, if I do that, I would not. It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me.

Paul's saying this. He's saying, I go out to volunteer to help cook at the soup kitchen. That's a good thing. Would you not say that? Would you not agree? That's a good thing. I invite people to come to services. That's a good thing. What he's saying is this. Even in the things that I do good, I find sin. How can that be, John? Pride. I said that word and almost every one of your heads went, yep, that's it. There it is. That's exactly right. I started doing something good. It's just like hitting that ball down the middle of the fairway. All those kids, yeah, you're in the end. Will the real John Reeves please stand up?

Folks, pride is our biggest sin. That's what free willism is. That's what's saying that my I have power over God to make a decision of my own life is it's pride. It's the pride of the flesh. Let's go on, shall we? Verse 22, Paul says, for I delight in the law of God after the inward man. Oh, how I want to walk in the way of my savior. How I want to be any part of the righteousness that I can be in this life, but I'm just not going to be. I need something. Do you? I'm going to assume you do because you're here today. And it's the same story we talk about every Sunday, and that is we need a savior.

We need the righteousness of God, and we're not going to find that in anything we have in this flesh. The only place we're going to find it is in the one who has made sin for us. The one who knew no sin that was made sin, that we would be made the righteousness of God in him. Ride the light in the law of God. after the inward man, but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members.

Oh, wretched man that I am." I love the first time I heard that from Pastor Gene. He says, did you notice? He says, I am. Right now, when he wrote these very words, Paul knew what he was before God. Oh, wretched my name. And look now, look what he says next. He says, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I pointed out to those who were mourning for their grandmothers, for their mother, for their sister, This dear lady, Caroline, she has passed from death unto life.

Actually, she did that long before she even knew it. Folks, God has loved his people from before the world was created. He says that so clear in his word. We just didn't know it. Everything that has happened in our life, in our world, is purposed by God to bring us to Him and show us where our life is. Where is it? It's in His Son. Do you realize that the more we learn that, the more we cry out, praise Him, praise Him.

Jesus, my blessed Redeemer. Paul says next in verse 25, I thank God. I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So then with the mind, I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. This body of death, Folks, there's only one way unto eternal life, as I mentioned a moment ago, and it's through Christ Jesus, the Lord. I am the way, the truth, and the life. Listen to 2 Corinthians 5, 21.

He who knew no sin was made sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Hebrews 10, 14 tells us this, for by one offering, he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Over in Romans chapter nine, Paul wrote this, after he had written For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then, this is verse 16, so then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.

How do we know? How do I know that Carolyn or you or anyone that I can say profess the Lord Jesus Christ as their savior under the grace of God, how can I say that they are in a better place? God's word tells us this, whosoever believe it shall have everlasting life. And then, of course, we know in Ephesians chapter 2, we're saved by grace through faith, a gift of God that not of ourselves, lest man should boast.

Amen. I'd like to ask you to stand with me, if you would. Turn in your handbooks to page. I will praise him. Listen to these words from the second stanza. Though the way seems straight and narrow, all I claimed was swept away. That's what Paul was saying. All of those days that he walked this earth in his own righteousness was swept away. My ambitious plans and wishes at my feet in ashes lay.