Let's open our Bibles again to
Titus chapter 3. The title of the message is Six Gospel
Truths. Six Gospel Truths. Paul wrote
this letter to Titus, who was the pastor at the church in Crete. And he wrote to help Titus set
some things in order there in the church, to set doctrine in
order and the conduct in order. You see that in chapter 1 verse
5. For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest
set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders
in every city as I had appointed thee." Then in chapter two that
we looked at in our Bible class this morning, Paul gave some
specific instruction to us on the believer's conduct. At the
end of chapter two, and again in chapter three, Paul gives
us the motivation for a believer to live a holy life of faith,
following our Lord Jesus Christ. And that motivation is the grace
of God which we preach, that we not give the enemies of Christ
reason to blaspheme the grace of God which we preach. And I
want us to look this morning at six truths that are taught
in this gospel of grace. Number one is this. The gospel
teaches man's total depravity. Look in verse two of chapter
three. The speak evil of no man, To be no brawlers, but gentle,
showing all meekness unto all men. Now why is it that believers
ought to be meek people? Why is it that we ought not speak
evil of others or never look down our noses at others? Why
should a believer not vilify or make fun of unbelievers? Why should we make fun of their
ignorance? Well, I'll tell you why. It's because we've got the
exact same nature they do. We're born with the exact same
nature because all men are born with a totally depraved nature.
Total depravity is something that's standard equipment in
every son of Adam. Look here at verse three, it's
what Paul says. Four, because we ourselves also are sometimes
foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving diverse lusts and pleasure,
living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. Now,
this is the nature that every person is born with. And whether
you're a believer or you're an unbeliever, you've got this totally
depraved nature that Paul just described here. We've all got
it. It's a nature that's been ruined
by the fall of Adam. It's so ruined, Paul says it's
foolish. Our nature is foolish. It's a
nature that has no spiritual wisdom, no spiritual understanding.
It's no wonder people in false religion do all the crazy stuff
some false prophet tells them to do, trying to please God.
It's no wonder they do it. They don't have the understanding.
They don't understand who God is. They don't understand what
sin is. They have no understanding of who they are or how God saves
sinners. So of course they do this crazy
stuff. But now listen, don't make fun of them for it. Pity
them. Pity them. You know the only
reason we're not right there with them? It's the grace that
Paul's talking about. That's the only reason we're
not right there with them. Our fallen nature's disobedient.
Not only are we disobedient to God's law, we're disobedient
to God's remedy for sin. God commands us to come to Christ
and repent and bow. You know why we don't? Our nature's
disobedient. The only way a man will ever
come to Christ and repent and bow to his sovereign right to
do with him as he will is if God gives him a new nature. Because
that old nature is disobedient. Paul said all of us by nature,
the Jews, but all of us by nature are going about to establish
our own righteousness and we will not submit to the righteousness
of Christ. We won't do it because we're
disobedient. Well, don't make fun of the legalists that are
still out there doing those things. Pity them. The only reason we're
not right there with them, excelling in it, is God's grace to us. Then Paul says, our fallen nature
is deceived. And the word means to wander.
Isn't that what we all do by nature? We wander away from God. We wander into sin and all sorts
of foolishness because we're deceived by sin. We've been deceived
by Satan. Well, you know people who just
wandered out in the left field just into craziness. Don't make
fun of them. Pity them. The only reason you
and I still aren't lost and wandering away is because Christ, the good
shepherd, came to seek and to save that which was lost. With
that long arm that Mike just talked about, he reached down
and got him. and brought them to Himself. That's the only reason
we're not wandering. And our nature serves diverse,
many different, all the different lusts and pleasures of this flesh. And it's not just sexual sins
he's talking about here. It's every sin. We've got a nature
that loves every sin. If you can think it, our nature
loves it. And I'll tell you the sin our
nature loves and lusts after the most. It's self-righteousness. That is the biggest desire of
this flesh. Nothing brings the flesh more
pleasure than self-righteousness. Oh, you think I've got everything
fixed up with me and God because of what I've done. That brings
the flesh so much pleasure. You know self-righteous people,
don't you? It's the nature we still carry. The reason we can
recognize it is we've got it. And the only reason we're not
right there with them, the only reason that nature does not control
us is God's grace. That's right. And don't look
down your nose at somebody who's fulfilling every other lust of
the flesh and desires of the flesh. The only reason we're
not right there with them is God's grace. He kept us from
doing it. It's the only reason. Our nature is full of malice
and envy. We hate God by nature. We're
jealous of His glory. We're jealous of His crown rights
to do with us as He will. We hate that. We just hate being
under the control of God. Even though He's good and holy
and right and just, our nature hates to be under the control
of God. And we hate other people. We're
jealous of everything they got that we don't, you know. And
I tell you when we become unforgiving and hypercritical, it's when
we forget we've got that same This is a loving place. I always
look forward to coming and meeting with you all. This is a loving
place. It's only by God's grace. Because by nature, we carry around
this nature of jealousy and hatred. The only difference is God's
grace. What a fallen, depraved nature that we have. We say we
preach total depravity. But now, you know what that means?
That we have a totally depraved nature? It means our nature can
never produce salvation. Now, if we see that about ourselves,
that we have a depraved nature, then it's obvious, isn't it?
We can't produce salvation. Look at verse four. Here's the
only way salvation can come. But after that, the kindness
and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of
righteousness, which we've done, because we can't do any, but
it's according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration
and renewing of the Holy Ghost. Well, you read those verses and
Paul makes it sound like there's some hope for sinners. Our nature
can't produce any salvation, but Paul's making it sound like
there's hope for sinners, doesn't he? Well, the reason for that
is there is hope for sinners. Not in our works, not anything
we do, but there's a good hope in God's grace. So here's the
second thing the gospel teaches. The gospel teaches full, free
salvation in the blood of Christ. The gospel teaches we're redeemed
by the blood. Now God's promised that from
eternity. He's promised salvation by the
blood of Christ, the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
And he gave us the Old Testament full of pictures of just that.
Salvation in the blood, the blood of the sacrifice. And the Jews
observed those sacrifices for thousands and thousands of years.
And one day, Christ appeared. And when Christ appeared, Now
we see God's kindness and his love to sinners. We've been going
on in this nature, we read about our foolishness, our disobedience,
our wandering, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in
hate. And one day, Christ appeared in the hearts of his people.
And now we saw God's kindness and love. The only explanation
for it is God's kindness and His love. Only the love of God,
only the kindness of God could save somebody like me and appear
to me. He appeared and brought salvation.
This word kindness, it means more than gentleness or goodness. It means usefulness. Christ appeared
in the flesh. Now there's a useful name. He's
useful. This man appeared and he was
obedient to the law of God. And that obedience that he produced
as a man, that's the obedience he imputed to his people. He
gave it to them for free. He just gave it to them. What's
more useful than that? God demands obedience, but we're
disobedient. We can't keep the law, but Christ
did. And he gave that obedience to
his people. Our nature is to pray. He's holy. That's the nature
he gives to his people freely. What is more useful to a sinner
than being made righteous through the obedience of Christ? This
man, the Lord Jesus Christ, is useful. He's so useful, he gave
himself, his whole self, to be the sacrifice for the sin of
his people. He's useful. I could tell you, well, I'd be
willing to die for your sins, but that's useless. I couldn't
bear the weight of your sin. But Christ is useful. He can. He did bear the sin of his people. He bore it and he carried it
away like the scapegoat of old. Christ is useful because his
blood is perfect blood. And that perfect blood can blot
out the sin of his people. That perfect blood can pay the
sin debt of his people. Now, what's more useful to a
sinner than being cleansed from all of our sins in the blood
of Christ? This is useful blood. We're redeemed
by the blood. And when Christ appeared, we
saw God really does love sinners. Why he must? He must. Look what
he put his son through to redeem him. You see, if sinners are
going to be saved, the son of God must appear in the likeness
of human flesh. You and I can't understand how
humiliating that was for the son of God to take on the likeness
of this flesh, how humiliating. Yet he did that. You know why?
Because he loved his people. They needed a representative.
They needed a second Adam so they wouldn't have to stay in
that first Adam. The innocent are going to be saved. That holy
son of God who took on him flesh had to be made sin. Now, we've
got no concept of that. We've got no concept of how humiliating
that was for the holy son of God to be made sin for his people.
It's so horrible. He sweat blood, blood. I don't know how that flowed
backwards or what it did. Blood came out of his pores like
sweat comes out of our pores. Just at the thought of being
made sin, bearing the sin of his people. Yet he did it because
he loves his people. His great desire to see them
redeemed. Then the holy son of God, life
himself, had to die for sin to satisfy the law. Now why on earth
would he do that to great people? He loved them. That's the only
explanation. He loved sinful men and women. This man, the
Lord Jesus Christ, he is so useful. His life, his death, his resurrection
purchased the redemption of an untold, uncountable number of
people. Oh, the blessing. What a blessing
to be bought back from the law, to be bought back from sin, to
be set free by the blood of Christ. Nothing but his blood to pay
that debt. And the gospel teaches just that,
redemption from sin through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Third, the gospel teaches the new birth. The gospel teaches
regeneration by the Holy Spirit. Verse five, not by works of righteousness,
which we've done, but according to his mercy, he saved us by
the washing of regeneration. That washing of regeneration
is being born again. Now, regeneration of the soul
does not happen by the washing of H2O, water. In a few moments,
Terry's gonna be baptized. Well, he's not gonna have his
sins washed away when he's dunked down under that water. I filled
that pool up yesterday with water from a garden hose. It's impossible
for that to cleanse anybody's soul. Terry's being baptized
in H2O water as a confession that he already has been washed
from his sin in the blood of Christ. He's confessing he's
already been given life in Christ. He's confessing that already
happened. The water in that pool can't make that happen. But God,
the Holy Spirit did. Water in scripture is frequently
a picture of the Holy Spirit because pure water can wash away
the filth of the flesh. You know, if you've been out
working, you've got all dirty and you don't use dirty water
to try to wash, you use clean water. Clean water can wash away
the filth of the flesh. That's the Holy Spirit. giving
us a picture how the Holy Spirit washes away the filth of sin.
And you know how he does it? He does it by causing a new man
to be born. A man who's holy. A man who's never existed before.
We must be born again. We already saw why we must be
born again. Because our nature is depraved.
It's fallen. We're ruined in sin. Now something
that's ruined Can't be fixed up, can it? No, it can't be remodeled. Not if it's ruined, it can't.
If it's ruined, you've got to throw it away and start over.
That's what the new birth is. The new birth does not fix up
the flesh, doesn't remodel the flesh. The new birth is the birth
of a new man who's born with a different nature than the old
man. He's got a different nature than that old man because he's
born from a different seed, from a different father. That new
man is holy. That new man born of God can
never sin because he's born from the holy seed of our heavenly
father. And it's that new man that will
enter glory and be accepted by the father when this flesh finally
dies. I show you that back in John
chapter three. It's very familiar passage, but
let's read it again because this is what the gospel teaches us.
That we're regenerated, born, by the spirit, born again by
the spirit. John chapter three, verse three. Jesus answered and said unto
him, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him,
how can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter the second
time into his mother's womb and be born? See, there's that foolish
nature that we're all born with. No spiritual understanding. I
had to go back into my mother's womb and be born again? Verse
five, Jesus answered, barely, barely I say unto thee, except
a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into
the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. So marvel
not that I said unto thee, you must be born again. You must
be born again. And the Holy Spirit's got to
do it. We can't make ourselves be born again. We can't do anything
to get the spirit to cause us to be born again. The new birth
is something that the Holy Spirit sovereignly gives to whom he
will, when he will. That's what our Lord says in
verse eight. The wind bloweth where it listeth. Now hearest
the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and
whither it goeth. So is everyone that's born of the spirit. They're
born sovereignly of the spirit. Now, don't ever be mistaken about
this. The work of the Holy Spirit, you know, we say the Trinity,
the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, just because we say the Holy
Spirit third in line does not mean that the Holy Spirit or
His work in salvation is less important than the work of the
Father and the Son. No, it's just as important. Because
what our Lord said, you must be born again. And the only way
we'll be born again is through the work of the Holy Spirit.
In order for a sinner to be saved, this is why we must be born again. If a sinner's going to be saved,
our sin's got to be put away, doesn't it? It's got to be paid
for, blotted out under the blood. But if Christ washed us in his
blood, cleansed us from our sin, and he didn't make us be born
again, left us with the same nature we always had, what would
happen? We'd just make ourselves guilty all over again, wouldn't
we? So we've got to have our sin put away under the blood.
But then God's got to give us a new nature, a nature that's
holy, a nature that cannot sin so that we won't be made guilty
again. That's the nature that God, the Holy Spirit, gives in
the new birth. And that's the salvation God gives all of his
people. That's the salvation that the
gospel teaches, redeemed by the blood, regenerated by the spirit. Fourth, the gospel teaches this.
The gospel teaches a living hope. Look here back in our text, Titus
chapter three, at the end of verse five, he says, and renewing
of the Holy Ghost, renewing of the Holy Ghost. In verse seven,
look what he says, being justified by his grace, we should be made
heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Now, this hope
of eternal life that a believer has is a living hope. That's
what Paul meant when he talked about the renewing of the Holy
Ghost. Now, when Paul talks about the new birth or the experience
of a believer and renewing of the Holy Ghost, he does not mean
that the new birth is the renewing of the old man. No, the new birth
cannot mean that our flesh is somehow put back into some sort
of spiritually living state like what Adam had or something. No,
the flesh cannot be renewed. The flesh is totally depraved. If through some way this flesh
could be renewed into spiritual life, that means there's got
to be some hope left in there somewhere, doesn't it? There's
got to be some hope left in my flesh. Well, that can't be true. We just read our Lord said that
which is flesh is flesh. It'll never be anything but sinful,
fallen, depraved flesh. We're ruined in sin. So that
old man, the man of flesh can't be renewed, but the new man can
be renewed. This renewing is a refreshing.
It's the strengthening of the new man through the preaching
of grace, through the preaching of Christ our Savior. The believer
has a living hope. We're continually living on Christ. We're continually feeding on
Him and continually being refreshed by Him. And every believer in
here knows exactly what that's saying. How often, especially
on a Wednesday night, do you just drag this old carcass in
here? You're so beaten down by the
world. You feel so dead, so cold, just like everything else in
this world. You think, oh, what's the use? There's no point in
me going to service. There's just no way I can hear
anything. But by God's grace, you come in where you just drag
that carcass in here, that seat, and you sit there. And in spite
of yourself, you listen. In spite of yourself, you hear
something. And you leave with a little bounce
in your step. What happened? Your soul was refreshed. through
the preaching of Christ, you took a long drink from the water
of life. You're able to feed for just
a little bit on the bread of life and you're refreshed. Now,
like Adam said, I can make it to Sunday. Now I can make it
to Wednesday. I was refreshed, strengthened,
so I can go on just a little further. That's the hope a believer
has. It's a living hope. It's not
like, well, I was saved, so I don't have to worry about that no more.
No, it's a living hope. We're constantly coming to Christ
and constantly feeding on Him, having Christ constantly sustain
and hold this life up. We have a living hope because
our Savior who died for our sins also rose again, 1 Peter 1. We have a living hope because
our Savior lives. 1 Peter 1, let's begin in verse
2. Elect according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace unto you
and peace be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy
hath begotten us again. We are born again unto a lively
hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance
incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away, reserved
in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith
unto salvation, ready to be revealed at the last time. We have a living
hope because our Savior who died rose again from the dead. The
gospel teaches a living hope. In fact, the gospel teaches us
this. that salvation is by grace. It must be by grace. Verse seven
in our text. That being justified by his grace,
we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Do we say that too often? Salvation is by grace. We looked
at this last week. Look at 2 Timothy chapter one.
Salvation is by grace alone. 2 Timothy one verse nine. who has saved us and called us
with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. Salvation is by grace. I'll tell
you what grace is. Grace is God giving us what we
do not deserve. Now, salvation can't be ours
because sinners like you and me did something right to deserve
it, can it? No, if it's by grace, we didn't
do anything right to deserve it. We can't do anything right.
Our nature's ruined. Salvation by grace means this,
that God gives his people not what they deserve. No, God gives
his people what Christ deserves. He gives his people what Christ
earned for them. None of us have earned a righteousness
by our own obedience. We haven't been obedient for
one nanosecond of our lives. Then why does God call his people
righteous? Why does he call them obedient,
even though they've never been obedient? Because of the obedience
of Christ. God gives his people the obedience
that Christ earned for them. Not their obedience, but their
obedience in him. We know what we deserve. We deserve
eternal damnation. We deserve God's eternal wrath.
Then why doesn't God give that wrath? Why did he give that damnation
to his people? If that's what they deserve,
that's what they earned, why did he give it to them? Because God
gave that damnation. He poured out his wrath against
the sin of his people on Christ, our substitute at Calvary. And
now the wrath is gone because God has been satisfied by the
sacrifice of our substitute. That's salvation by grace. And
that's why every believer, I don't care where you find them, every
believer loves to sing about grace. It's in their heart and
they love to sing about it. We love to sing. Amazing grace,
how sweet the sound, saved a wretch like me. Grace, oh that's a charming
sound, harmonious to the ear. It was grace that saved me, It
was grace that kept me to this day and it will not let me go. I know I won't be reprobate because
of God's grace. Saved by grace alone, by grace
alone. God's grace is all my plea. Jesus died for sinful men and
he died for me. That's God's grace. Sinners love
to hear grace. Now here's the last thing the
gospel teaches. The gospel teaches a salvation
that produces good works. Listen carefully to me. I have
lost my Calvinism and I'm not contradicting everything I've
said up to now. I'm not contradicting salvation by grace alone. Look
at verse eight in our text, Titus chapter three. This is a faithful
saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly that
they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain
good works. These things are good and profitable unto men. Now, Paul tells us that believers
are to be careful to maintain good works. Now, if we're understanding
what this means, we've got to understand good works. What is
good work? Well, good works are not something
we do that are filled with all of our goodness. That must not
be what that means, because everything we do is mixed with sin. Good
works are works of faith and works of love. Good works are
not something we do to make God happy with us so God will save
us. Good works are not something we do that makes us more savable
than somebody else. No, good works are works that
are done by a believer. Only a believer can do good works.
And we do them because God has already saved us by his grace.
They're done out of a grateful and thankful heart. John Gill
says that this maintain means to excelling, a believer to excel
in good works. And he's on to something there,
because if you look back in verse two, or chapter two, look at
verse 14. Who gave himself for us that
he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar
people, zealous of good works. These people have a desire to
be zealous, to excel in good works. Now I tell you why God
did that, a believer or why a believer desires that. Because God didn't
save his people so we continue living in sin. No, look at chapter
two again, verse 11. For the grace of God that bringeth
salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying
ungodliness and denying worldly lusts, we should live soberly,
righteously and godly in this present world. A believer sins
far more than we want to. Because our desire is to be holy.
Our desire is to never sin again. And yet while all we do is sin,
the believer has a nature, a new nature, that nature is born in
them from the new birth, that constantly resists sin. Because
our desire is to live righteously and godly in this present world.
That's where that civil war between the old man and the new man is
constantly coming from. Because that new man resists
sin. He hates sin. We have no desire to live in
sin. I tell you what good works are.
If you want to do good work, it's serving the body of Christ.
It's doing something good for somebody else, for others, just
for the glory of God, not for your own credit or recognition,
but for the glory of God serving others. It's washing the feet
of the disciples, not literally their feet. You know, that would
not be refreshing to me. My feet are so ticklish. You
try to wash my feet and just I'd be miserable. I can hardly
wash my own feet without giggling and laughing. They're just so
ticklish. Washing the feet of your brethren is refreshing them
by your kindness to them. I think of times y'all have been
so kind to me. It's just, what a refreshing. It's just like you've been washed
all over. That's good works. Good works
are being faithful to serve the Lord in whatever capacity He's
given you. Not so you'll get any notice,
but for the good of somebody else. And if God will enable
you to do that, you'll be profitable to all men. Those things are
profitable. There's no denying this. Our
gospel is profitable to men and women. Oh, if God would give
ear to hear. Nothing's more profitable than
the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, you know, we who
believe that gospel, we who are joined to Christ, we ought to
be profitable to men too. We ought to be. True salvation
produces good works. Now, any salvation that comes
from our good works or depends upon our good works is not salvation
at all. Salvation is impossible. Keeping
that salvation or somehow improving it is impossible by anything
we do. Just like Mike said about that
song, you can't get on a higher plane than being in Christ. But
this is also true. Any religion, any preaching,
any gospel, any salvation, any faith that does not produce good
works is not faith. It's not salvation and it's not
gospel. It's just as wrong as somebody earning their salvation
by their good works. God's salvation produces a new
man, gives birth to a new man who has faith in God, who loves
God. And true faith in Christ produces
good works every time. I can show you that from scripture.
I can't. Look in James chapter 2. You
know, God sees faith in the heart. I can't see your heart. All men can see of your faith
is your actions. And that's what James is talking
about here in James chapter 2, beginning in verse 18. Yea, a man may say thou hast
faith and I have works. Show me thy faith without thy
works. I'll show thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that
there is one God. Thou doest well, the devils also
believe and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man,
that faith without works, any faith that does not produce good
works is dead faith. Was not Abraham our father justified
by works? He wasn't justified before God,
but his faith was justified before men by works. When he had offered
Isaac his son upon the altar, Seest thou how faith wrought
with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the
scripture was fulfilled with Saith. Abraham believed God,
and it was imputed unto him for righteousness, and he was called
the friend of God. You see then how that by works
a man is justified, and not by faith only. Again, you know that's
not before God, but his faith is justified before men by his
works. Likewise also, was not Rahab
the harlot justified by works when she had received the messengers
and sent them out another way? Whereas the body without the
spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. Any faith
that does not produce good works is dead faith. Just like I told
you in the lesson, you cannot separate faith and conduct. Faith
always produces good works. Now that's the gospel that the
scriptures teach. This is the gospel. It's the
only gospel that God uses to give life to his people. Thankfully, he's still doing
it. God's still in the business of saving sinners. I'll tell
you what else this gospel teaches. This gospel teaches that anybody
that believes this Christ should confess Christ and believe it's
baptism. And when we're baptized, we're baptized to publicly confess
just exactly what I just preached to you, this gospel. When we're
baptized, this is what I'm confessing. I am a totally depraved sinner.
The only way a sinner like me could be saved is if Christ,
the very Son of God, had to die for me. That's the only way my
sin debt could be paid. The only way my sin could be
put away is under the blood of God's own Son. That's how I'm
saved. When I'm baptized, I'm confessing.
I'm a sinner who deserves to die. I deserve to die the eternal
death. The only way I'm going to live
is Christ died for me. My hope of life, my living hope
of life is this. That Christ died for me. He died
for my sin. And they put a dead body in the
tomb because he was dead. He really died. He was raised
again from the dead. He was raised again because his
sacrifice justified me. Took my sin away. And that's
what our brother Terry is going to confess publicly here in just
a few moments. We'll sing a song and Terry will
be ready and we'll rejoice together as he confesses his sin. Appropriate song will be 190.
190. Stay please. We bless the name of Christ the
Lord, we bless him for his holy word, who loved to do his Father's
will, and all his righteousness fulfill. We follow Him with pure delight,
To sanctify His sacred right, And thus our faith with water
seal, To prove obedient that we feel. Baptized in God the Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit, three in one, with conscience free, we rest
in God, in love and peace, through Jesus' blood. By grace we have a father cry. By grace the comforter comes
nigh. And for thy grace our love shall
be forever only, Lord, for thee. I didn't think you'd choose that. Last week, Terry came and talked
to me about baptism, expressed his desire to be baptized. I can't tell you how I went home,
floating on the edge, and it felt like my thighs never hit
the ground. good conversation about the Savior, about areas
of hope in the Lord. He told me this, he said, I've
been waiting for some sort of aha moment where I suddenly know
and see. And he said, it never came. And he said, all I know, he said,
I don't know when. I don't know when the Lord first
revealed himself to me. All I know is, I believe right
now. That's all I know. Now, that's
the way it was with me. I think that way it is with almost
everyone. Very few people I know know that
moment where Christ revealed himself to them. But you know,
it doesn't matter. Honestly and truly, it does not
matter when the Lord reveals himself to anyone. It doesn't
matter when the Lord reveals himself to anyone. All that matters
is he believes now. That's all that matters, is that
he believes. Yes, I believe that Christ is
the Savior. I baptize you in the name of
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen. We're going to sing a chorus
and then we're going to sing a prayer. Would you all come up here? Oh, how merciful, how merciful. Blessed Lord, how merciful thou
art to me. Oh, how merciful, how merciful. Blessed Lord, how merciful thou
art to me. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we rejoice
and give thanks for your mercy revealed. Oh, how merciful you
are to us, Lord. We thank you for this, our brother,
for this remembrance that you've given
us. of an effectual sacrifice, Christ, our Savior, who died
for our sins, who was buried and yet rose again, showing that effectual sacrifice, that
sacrifice that saves sinners. gives us a righteousness that
we might come before Thee. Father, we're so thankful that
You sent Your Spirit to reveal Your Son to this our brother
Terry, that he might identify with our Lord Jesus
Christ, that he might confess that through no works of his
own, that his sins were put away through the sacrifice of Jesus
Christ. And that although dead in sins,
he's raised now a new man, a new man who loves the Lord, who clings
to Christ for all his righteousness, for all salvation. Father, we're
so very thankful and we pray that that you might use this
confession to bring others to our Lord Jesus Christ, that they
might see a difference, that they might see their need, that
they might run to Christ as well. Father, we are so, so thankful. We thank Thee and we praise Thee
and Father, We love thee, we want to know
in Jesus Christ. Amen.