electronic devices. I'm not very good at those things,
but you kind of find yourself forced nowadays to have to learn
to use some of this stuff. I do bring greetings from Paul
Pendleton. I'm sure most of you know Paul,
my brother, my brother in Christ first, fellow preacher of the
gospel second, my brother in the flesh, and also from Joe
Galusik. They wanted to say hello to you this morning. Let me give
you this song here. This is written by our brother,
John Newton. John Newton titled the song,
To the Afflicted. And his passage is Isaiah chapter
41, verses 10 through 14. Our brother John wrote these
words, pensive, doubting, fearful heart, hear what Christ the Savior
says. Every word should joy impart,
change thy mourning into praise. Yes, he speaks and speaks to
thee. May he help thee to believe.
Then thou presently will see thou hast little cause to grieve. Fear thou not, nor be ashamed.
All thy sorrows soon shall end. I, who heaven and earth have
framed, am thy husband and thy friend. I, the Holy and High
One, Israel's God by all adored, as thy Savior will be known,
thy Redeemer and thy Lord. For a moment I withdrew, and
thy heart was filled with pain. but my mercies I'll renew, thou
shalt soon rejoice again. Though I seem to hide my face,
very soon my wrath shall cease, this but for a moment's space,
ending in eternal peace. Though afflicted, tempest-tossed,
comfortless awhile thou art, do not think thou canst be lost
Thou art graven on my heart. All thy waste I will repair. Thou shalt be rebuilt anew. And in thee it shall appear what
the God of love can do. We all, I know, have our difficult
times. And they vary from situation
to circumstance. But our God rules over all. And our God brings us trouble
for our good. And I do not attempt to explain
that. I simply am forced by the grace
of God to believe it and trust him in it. Isn't it a joy to
be able to gather together to actually worship the Lord of
glory? Listen to this before I begin
my message. Most professed Christians today are too busy to worship,
and many religious services are so filled with man-made promotion
that God is forgotten. People go to church to be spectators
at a religious program, not participants in spiritual worship. They spend
their time in counting, not weighing. As long as there are results,
nobody cares whether or not God was pleased as his people gathered
to honor him and him in spiritual worship. The missing ingredient
is worship. In other words, ascribing to
God all holiness and all worthiness and all majesty and all power
and all merit rather than using God to produce the results they've
already planned. That was the religion I was basically
born into and raised in. And had someone told me 30 years ago that you will be in Danville,
Kentucky, preaching the free and reigning grace of God, I
would have told them you are nuts. But here I am. All right, if
you will, turn to Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews chapter 13. I have just two verses to read
as a text or as a starting place. Hebrews chapter 13, verses five
and six. Hebrews 13, five and six, where
the letter continues with these words, let your conversation
be without covetousness. and be content with such things
as ye have, for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor
forsake thee, so that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper,
and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. Now, because the word and it
is one word actually in the Greek, because the word without covetousness,
that word if you were to look it up, it would actually or could
actually be translated avarice or greed towards silver. So because that word without
covetousness is used, And because the admonition here to contentment
with things, that's what it says, right? That your conversation
or your way of life, your deportment, your conduct, that your conversation
be without, and you could say avarice or greediness to silver.
Let it not be greediness towards silver and be content with such
things as you have. Because it is phrased in this
manner, Most of professed Christian religions erodes in on things
like house, food, clothing, land, money, jewelry, stocks, bonds,
and on and on. Now, before I go any further,
let me clearly say that we are to never discount such things
as being included in this admonition. They certainly are. Listen to
what the Apostle Paul says, and if you wish to turn to it, it's
1 Timothy chapter six. And listen to what Timothy clearly
wrote, or what Paul wrote, I'm sorry, to Timothy in 1 Timothy
chapter six and verse six, he wrote these words. So I'm saying,
remember, though I made the statement that I did about religion zeroes
in on earthly things and earthy things, I am not saying that
these things are not included in the admonition of Hebrews
13, 5, and 6. Because Paul says this, 1 Timothy
6, verse 6, but godliness with contentment is great gain. For
we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can
carry nothing out. And having food and raiment,
let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall
into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful
lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of
money, for the love of money, Henry Mahan said years ago, he
said, the love of money is the love of a million dollars or
the love of one dollar. It's not about the amount, it's
about the loving the money itself. There's nothing wrong with money.
It's what? It's the love of money. For the
love of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted
after, they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves
through with many sorrows. So again, I emphasize, I am not
saying that these things with which we are to be content do
not include things like houses, food, clothing, land, money,
jewelry, stocks, bonds, and all those things. What I'm trying
to emphasize in this part of the message is this. We are not
set free in Christ Jesus to clamor after greediness of any kind. or toward any thing. But I must
emphasize this. When it comes to such things,
that is again houses, food, clothing, and on and on and on. When it
comes to such things, our admonition in scripture is much deeper than
just not being covetous and being content with things. Now, what
I mean by that is, turn to Matthew chapter 6. These are the Master's
own words about this thing of covetousness versus contentment. And look at the way our Master
puts it, and I want to emphasize just a couple words. Look at verse 25. I'll not read
all of this. Therefore I say unto you, and
he is clearly talking about being content as opposed to being covetous. But look, verse 25, therefore
I say unto you, it's not just a matter of being content. Look
at what it says, take no thought. Ever tried to just do that? The
more you try, or at least I must admit, I must confess to you
that the more I try to take no thought of such things, what
happens? The more I begin to think about
them. So our Lord's not, He's not saying
just do not be covetous and just be content. He says take no thought. Why would He say such a thing? Because every time I try to take
new thought of such things, I find out how fallen and depraved and
earthy I am. Every time. Therefore I say unto
you, take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, what
ye shall drink, nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is
not the life more than meat and the body more than raiment? Look
at verse 27. Which of you by taking thought,
do you see it? By taking thought can add one
cubit unto his stature, verse 28. And why take ye thought for
raiment? Consider the lilies. God closed
them, and they have no capacity to even ask for it. Do they? Well, I better just leave it
there. Look at verse 31. Therefore, take no thought. So our Lord takes it, what I
might say, even a step further than just avoiding covetousness
and being content. He says, don't even think about
these things. And yet I do. And yet I do. Look at Paul's take on this.
Look at Philippians. Paul's letter to the church at
Philippi. And look at Philippians chapter 4, verse 10. He wrote these words, But I rejoiced
in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath
flourished again, wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked
opportunity. The context is, Paul was in need,
and they had sought to help alleviate at least to some degree that
need, but the opportunity had not arisen. Things had gotten
in the way, but God had opened the door. Now look, not that
I speak in respect of want. Now look at Paul's take on it.
For I have learned in whatsoever state I am. Do you see that? This is the lead up to it. For
whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. Do you see it?
Look, I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound. So
you see, Paul is not throwing one off against the other. And
neither was our Lord when he said, take no thought. I believe he meant exactly what
he said, but what he said constantly reminds me of who I am in and
of myself. Paul goes on, I know both how
to be abased I know how to abound in everywhere and in all things. I am instructed both to be full
and to be hungry. Do you see that? So when I think
I'm putting off covetousness, I'm not greedy toward these things
that religion often zeroes in on. And I'm really content with
what God's given me. I'm doing okay. Well, I haven't
even reached it yet. Christ said, don't even think
about these things. Paul said, I know how to be abased. I know how to abound in everywhere
and all things. I'm instructed both to be full and to be hungry,
both to abound and to suffer loss. I can do all things through
Christ. There we get to it. You see it? Paul knew exactly how I felt
about these matters. And Paul knows how you felt about
these matters. I can do all things through Christ,
which strengthened me. So again, I am emphasizing that I am trying to make clear that
I am not denying that we are to be content with house, food,
whatever. But there are some things, listen
to me now, there are some things that we as gospel called believers,
and that's who I'm mainly speaking to this morning, there are some
things that we as gospel called believers, we all have. Do you see the language of our
text? Let your conversation be without covetousness and be content
with such things as ye have." The very indication is you already
have these things. I would not dare tell someone
who has lost their job, well, don't even look for another one.
Just be content with where God puts you. No. No. But here we're told to be content
with such things as we have. There are some things that we
all, as gospel called believers, already have. And we're to be
content with those things. You see it? That's the main emphasis. Again, not denying these other
things. But there are some things we
all have. Have. It doesn't matter whether
we're male or female. We all have them. There are some
things we have, it doesn't matter whether we're young or old. Now,
we know this to be a fact of living in this world, and while
it is not a 100% fact, the older you get, the more health problems
you're going to have. There are exceptions to that
rule, I understand that. But the older you get, your health,
for most people, will deteriorate, right? And it's hard for the
young believer to hear, but don't worry about your health. I'm
getting close enough now to the jumping off point, as we say,
that I'm concerned about my health, but I know there's whatever damage
I've done in the past, it's too late now to try to do anything
about it. No, there are some things, my
brothers and sisters, that we all have. and where to be content
with those things. I want to give you just five,
or maybe I should state it. I want to deal in some detail
with five in particular. There are more. I may, if time
allows, mention those things, but I won't deal with those much.
I'll give you the five first. We have an infallible directive. Here's another thing we all have.
We all have this now. Young or old, male or female,
this is not things that the pastor or the preachers have, and you're
to work your way toward that we all have them. We have an
infallible directive. We have an inexhaustible deliverance. We have an invaluable gift given. We have an indestructible encouragement,
and we have an irreproachable supporter. Turn to 2 Peter. Let me give you the first one. 2 Peter. And you please bear with me because
I want to not be long on each one of these, but I want to deal
with each one of these things because these are the things
that we're to be content with. I would not dare Stand here this
morning and tell you that if your health is going downhill,
that just lay on your back and give up and just take it from
God. You're going to have to take it from God whether you
lay on your back or you stand up against it. You're going to
take it from God. No, there's things that we all
as gospel called believers have, and we're to be content with
those things and not be covetous toward things that would be opposite
to these things. So as I told you, we have an
infallible directive. Now listen to what Peter wrote
in 2 Peter 1 beginning in verse 16. This is astounding to me.
For we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known
unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but
were, think about it, eyewitnesses of his majesty. and he explains
exactly the event he's talking about. For he, that is Christ,
for he received from God the Father honor and glory when there
came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, this is
my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. And this voice which
came from heaven we heard, who was it? If memory, Peter, James,
and John, if memory serves me correct, they were on a mountain.
with Christ, just those three in Christ. And all of a sudden,
the very looks of Christ, His clothes changed. His clothing
shone like the noonday sun. And God spoke from heaven. This
is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. And He continues,
and this voice which came from heaven, we heard when we were
in Him, with Him, in the Holy Mount. I think to myself, what an experience
that must have been, right? To see Christ transfigured, as
the word is. But then look, we have. Do you see that? We have a more
sure word of prophecy. More sure than that? Yes. Think about it. More sure than
that? You know what my flesh says? No way. No way. God give me something
like he gave Peter, James, and John, I'd be fixed up for the
rest of my life. No, Peter faltered right when
they were on the mount. He faltered right there in the
midst of that. What does he say? Here's what we have. We have
also a more sure word of prophecy. Long story short, it's the scriptures. It's the scriptures. We have
an infallible directive. Good brother in Christ, fellow
preacher Joe Galusik wrote these words, false preachers will not
let the scriptures get in the way of their theology. Ever thought
about that? Humanity is so geared on what
they think the Bible says rather than just bowing and saying,
here's what the Bible says. Case in point, there are some
people that get their truth about the Bible from the history channel
rather than getting it from the Bible itself. Ever noticed that?
Some of these channels on TV are just prolific. They'll tell you what the Bible
really means when the Bible means just exactly what it says. You don't need me. to even tell
you what the Bible says. You don't need me to interpret
to you what the Bible says. I'm not trying to be mean here.
I have used the phrase myself. God's men. I think sometimes
we use the phrase just because somebody else said it and it
sounds good and we say it too. Well, the interpretation is this.
No. One, it's already been translated
into our language. Here's English. And this, look,
knowing first, verse 20, knowing first that no prophecy of the
scripture is of any private interpretation. What's that mean? It means what
these men wrote was not their own personal take on the matter.
That's what it means. You don't need me to interpret
it. It's already been interpreted. God gave these men what? Knowing
this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private
interpretation, for the prophecy came not in old time by the will
of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy
Ghost. I am called just to remind you
of and emphasize these things, not try to interpret them for
you. Now, we have no need for human
opinion. Why? We have a more sure word
of prophecy. Something even better than seeing
Jesus Christ transfigured in front of us itself. That still astounds me when I'm reminded of who I am
and how often I float around concerning earthly things. You
don't need my opinion, though I will often give you my opinion. But I do, by God's grace, try
to let you know anytime I preach to you or anyone else, this is
just my opinion. We have no need to go clamoring
after opinion or interpretations or even supernatural phenomena. We don't need signs and wonders. We have an infallible directive. The scripture. The scripture. That's all we need. Paul told
Timothy, I won't read it. I will loosely quote it, 2 Timothy
3, 16 and 17. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God. It's not Peter's take and Paul's
take and Matthew's take and Mark's take, but what all scripture
is breathed of God. When these men wrote God in his
great power and wisdom, knew how to do it so that their own
personalities may be reflected in the language. But the language
itself, the words, the truth in the words are God's himself. It was not their take. It wasn't
their interpretation of what happened. It's just the facts,
sir. Just the facts. Now think about
it. We have this. Why do we need
anything else? Why would I go clamoring after
anything else? Kind of obvious, isn't it? Here's
the second thing. Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians
chapter 1. Here's the second thing. We have
an inexhaustible deliverance. Just one verse, Ephesians 1 verse
7. In whom, what's those next two
words? We have. You see? Not might have,
not could have, in whom we have. So here's some things, clearly,
if we're gospel called believers, we have, right? I'm not off key
here. I'm not trying to give you my
own interpretation, my own take. Here's some things we know that
when Hebrew says, don't be covetous, But be content with such things
as you have. If all you're thinking about
is food and clothing and raiment, you're missing what you really
have. No matter who you are, if you
believe God. You see what I'm trying to say?
I'm trying to point out. In whom we have redemption through
his blood. Pardon me for putting it this
way, but that sounds like some big words, right? Redemption.
But here we can see it define the forgiveness of sins. I can
relate to that, Nate. I can see that. I have, you have,
have forgiveness of sins. in whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins. Oh, but here it is. Here's the wealth house. Here's the bank, if you will.
Look, forgiveness of sins according, not just out of, not just from
the storehouses, according to the riches of his grace. I'd say that's something pretty
good to have. Now one note to anyone who does
not believe. If that doesn't really seem like
a big deal to you, then your eyes have never been opened by
God. Because when God begins to open
your eyes to your sin and your sins, to even hear of the possibility
of the prospect of being forgiven of your sins will begin to go
a long way. But then when you finally hear
in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins, according to the riches of his grace, that'll start to
mean something to you. Start to mean something to you.
have no need to go coveting after confessionals. And I don't care
whether it's Popish or Baptist. The only difference between me
as I was basically born and raised as a Baptist, the only difference
in that religion was we didn't do it in a box with a little
window between the two where the priest sat and the confessor
sat. We came forward to what's called
an altar and we confessed our sins there. We don't need to
covet after that, but I need some way to get it out. No. I
was born and raised where people were actually encouraged to come
forward and then start spilling out all their skeletons. Anybody
ever get raised in that? We were encouraged to just let
it out, just confess it all. No. We confess our sins to God. We confess our faults to one
another. We acknowledge our faultiness
to one another. I don't want to know about your
sins. I really don't. And I'm not going
to tell you about all mine either. We have an inexhaustible deliverance. This forgiveness of sins that
we have, my brothers and sisters, is according to the riches of
His grace. Think of the context. He chose
us, predestinated us, redeemed us, and forgave us, knowing what
we would be in and of ourselves. He'd done it in spite of us,
not in light of us. Here's the way Paul put it to
the saints at Colossae. Listen to how he put it. Colossians
2 verse 13, and you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision
of your flesh, Has he quickened together with him? This is when
we were still unbelievers, before we'd even been called by the
gospel, though we can never claim this. And I almost hesitate using
that word because of how it's often used today, but it's still
a proper word. Oh, we cannot claim it until
God calls us by his grace. It was true for me before he
called me by his grace. I had it, I just didn't know
I had it. And the glorious thing is, one
day he came along and said, here, you've got it. Look, and you
being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh,
hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all
trespasses. Do you see that? blotting out
the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was
contrary to us. And what did he do with it? He
took it out of the way, not by sweeping it under the rug, but
by nailing it to his cross. He paid for it there. He dealt
with it there. God will never deal with it again. And having spoiled principalities
and powers, he made a shoe or show of them openly, triumphing
over them in it. Let no man therefore judge you
in meat or in drink on respective and holy day. or of the new moon,
or of the Sabbath days. We don't need what religion says
we need. We need Jesus Christ and Him
only. No need for Hail Marys, no need
for kneeling at altars, no need for rededications. I remember
Tim James said when he was, many, many years ago was a member at
Antioch Baptist Church, he said, they used to call me Mr. Rededication.
He said, because we were told, if you need to rededicate, come
forward. He said, I felt like I went every service. I always
felt like I needed to rededicate. You ever been there? I'm not
talking about you was raised up in that kind of religion.
I'm talking about sitting right here in this assembly. You feel like,
I need to be better. Yes, you do, but you're not going
to be. You're not going to be. You're
going to get no better. Your flesh is what it is and
will never improve. Your new man is who he is and
it will never improve. You will carry him right into
glory. You will just drop the old man
and this body of flesh completely. That ought to astound us. I will
be no more perfect when I get to glory other than in this outward
flesh and the nature that it carries on. I already have, we'll
look at that in a moment, the new man. I'm not going to get
him one day when I get there. I have him now. We have an inexhaustible deliverance. Thirdly, we have an invaluable
gift given. Look at 2 Peter 1. This is quite
simple, I might say. And yet, because this thing I'm
about to read about is so marginalized and lessened, and faith today, this thing I'm going
to read, faith today is just, it's almost like people think
everybody's got faith. Look at what it says. Simon Peter,
a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that Do you see
that? To them that have obtained like
precious faith with us. How? Through the righteousness
of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. God's given us something that
he did not even require we muster up. It's called like precious faith
and it's like. It's the same one. I didn't even
say, though I'm sure I've said it before, the same kind. There's
only one kind that matters. That's the faith of God. The
faith of God. We have an invaluable gift given. We have obtained like precious
faith. Consider the precious character
of this gift we have. Just a few of them. It is a fruit
of God, not us. Aren't you glad? Galatians 5.22,
the fruit of the Spirit is. It's not a fruit the Spirit works
in us. It's a fruit of the Spirit who
is in us. It's Him doing it, not me. The fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness, meekness, jealousy, faith. Faith. Another thing, it believes
God's ability to perform what he promised. Romans chapter 4,
20, 21. Abraham was strong in faith.
What does that mean? Because I was about to say rarely
ever, even when I think I do, I don't know that it's really
a reality. I rarely ever think of myself
as having strong faith. What about you? But you do. Remember that our
Lord said that faith as a grain of mustard seed is able to say
to this mountain, just be removed into the sea. And you think,
but I can't do that. No, you can't because it's not
us doing it. It's God doing it. But if you
have even faith as a grain of mustard seed, where did it come
from? God. God. I don't even know how to word
this. Abraham was strong in faith. How's that defined? Giving glory
to God and being fully persuaded that what God had promised, God
was able to perform. That's strong faith. Strong faith
is not, boy, I overcome everything. I face every calamity with my
chin up and my head held up. No, you're living in la-la land. That's not faith. Faith goes back to its source
always. God. God. God. Faith is persuaded and confident
in God. Faith. causes me to find no confidence
in my flesh. We have an invaluable gift. We
have it. Think about it. This faith that
this book talks about, it submits to Christ as God's righteousness. I'd call that a marvelous faith,
wouldn't you? Because everything cries within
me But Lord, have not I? Lord, I'm trying. I've done a
little better today. You folks don't ever do something
like that to you. No. We have. We have this invaluable gift
given. It submits to Christ as God's
righteousness when everyone else around us says, well, we need
Christ, but he is my only hope in everything. This invaluable gift that God
gave us, here's another thing, it is the impetus, the motivation
of our lives. According to Paul in Galatians,
if you wish to turn, look at these words, what Paul wrote.
Galatians chapter three, verse 11, but that no man is justified
by the law and the sight of God, it is what? It is what? Evident. So if somebody don't see that
it's evident, that means they must still be blind. Right? Only blind, a blind person could
not see something that is what? Evident. But that no man is justified
by the law in the sight of God, it is evident for the just shall
live, how? By faith. As he'd already put
it in chapter two, verse 20. For I am crucified with Christ,
nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and
the life which I now live in the flesh, notice what he says,
I live by the faith of the Son of God. not my faith in the Son
of God, but by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave
himself for me. There's a precious faith right
there. And you know what God does? He takes a piece of that. And
I do not mean this in an irreverent way because Paul tells us in
Romans chapter 12, the first few verses, that every one of
us, those of us who've been called by the gospel, have been dealt
the measure of faith. God gives us a piece of himself
and gave it to us. We have like precious faith. Why would we covet Merit. And effort. And deed. And personal righteousness. And
legal righteousness. When we have that. Somebody says, but I just don't
see how that's enough. You've just said it. You don't
see. You don't see. Number four. We have and indestructible
encouragement. Turn to Hebrews chapter 6. Hebrews
chapter 6. Now remember, we're to avoid
this covetousness, but to be content with what? Such things
as we have. We may look at these other things
of the world and Sometimes we may have them, sometimes we may
not. Sometimes God may rip them from us. Sometimes he may just
freely put them on us. But these things I'm talking
about now, we have them, and he will not take them away. We'll
see that. He will not take them away. We
have an indestructible encouragement, Hebrews 6 verse 11. And we desire
that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full
assurance of hope unto the end. That you be not slothful, but
followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the
promises. Who when God made promise to Abraham, because he could
swear by no greater, he swear by himself saying, surely blessing
I will bless thee and multiplying I will multiply thee. You see
it? God swore on this. Do you see it? And so, after
he, that is Abraham, had patiently endured, he obtained the promise,
for men truly or verily swear by the greater. And an oath,
that is they say, I'm going to do this, I swear, I swear, for
men verily Swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation
is to them an end of all strife, wherein God, willing more abundantly
to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel,
confirmed it by his oath. He promised it, and then he swore
it. You see it? He promised it, then
he gave oath concerning it that by two immutable things in which
it was impossible for God to lie, that is his promise and
his oath on the matter, we might have. Do you see that? Now, someone
says, well, that's might. Maybe so, maybe not. Well, you
might could say that if it just stopped there, but it doesn't
just stop there. We might have a strong consolation
who have, do you see that? who have, now if you haven't
this, then you can't claim this, but who have fled for refuge
to lay hold upon the hope set before us. Which hope we have. You see it? As an anchor of the
soul, both sure and steadfast, and that which entereth into
that within the veil, whether the forerunner is for us entered,
here's that hope. Here's the one we have fled to
for refuge, who is our refuge, who is an anchor of our soul,
even Jesus. Jesus. I'd say if God promised it and
swore on it, it's an indestructible encouragement, is it not? The
question for me is, have I fled for refuge to lay hold of him?
That's the question. And I find myself being constantly
forced to do this. It wasn't something I did a long
time ago. It's something that every morning
when I open up my eyes, it's not long before I find myself
being forced to flee to him for refuge. I often think if I could just
make it through one day without having to deal with me
as I am by nature, what a glory that will be. Well, one day I
will, but it won't be in this life. It will not be. That's why God
gave us this indestructible encouragement. Here's the fifth thing, turn
to 1 John chapter 2. You know what amazed me? When I walked, my wife and I,
Penny walked in this morning, of course we sat down, we walked
over and got a couple of the bulletins and I began reading
and then I turned to that third page there and there was 1 John
chapter 2. We have an irreproachable supporter. See it? 1 John 2. My little children, these things
right unto you that ye see and not, that's the admonition. Again, remember what I said.
We're not set free in Christ to clamor after greediness on
anything. We're not set free to serve ourselves. We're set free to serve God in
Christ. Before God called me by His grace,
I couldn't. Oh, I tried, and I tried. But
I'd get tired after a while, and I'd just give up, as we say,
until God laid hold of me. And now every time I start to
veer, He corrects me. I said every time I veer, He
corrects me. We have an irreproachable supporter,
see it? My little children, these things
right under you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have."
Do you see that? We have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. Do you see that? We have the the righteous advocate on our
side at our worst time. Do you see that? It doesn't say,
and if any man confess, though confess we do according to chapter
1 verses 8, 9, and 10. Because if, verse eight, if we
say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, the truth's not in
us. If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and cleanse us all from all unrighteousness. If
we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word's
not in us. Now don't sin. And if you do,
he's already your advocate. When we sin, We confess because he has been
advocating for us. He's our advocate when we sin,
not when we confess. Now somebody says, why don't
I just go out and sin all I want? You will. You will. I have these people, I've been
doing this for quite a while, but if I believe that, I would
do that. I know you would. I'd do it too. Because immediately when I set
myself to saying, I will not do that again, it's not long
before what? I do that very same thing again. And you know what's really tough? I find it always down in here
trying to well up. Always. Always. We have the righteous advocate
on our side. worst time. Now that doesn't give me license
to sin as people say, but bless God it gives me hope when I do.
Does it you? Jesus Christ the righteous. This
is not he advocates for us at our best efforts, but even during
our worst ones. Consider this. We have access
by one spirit under the Father, Ephesians 2.18. That's Jew or
Gentile. That's male or female. That's
bond or free. That's black or white. Doesn't
matter. There are no classes here. All
who are called by the gospel, all who believe Christ, we all
have all this. As fully as we're going to have
it. We all have access by one spirit
under the Father. We have such an high priest who
is set, S-E-T, not S-I-T, though that's true as well from the
wording of Scripture, but who is set, S-E-T, that is placed
there on purpose, not dropped off, not set on the
right hand of the majesty in the heavens, Hebrews 8 verse
1. We have an altar. that some people are not allowed
to approach, need that. We have an altar, Hebrews 13
verse 10. Like I said, there are more.
We have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will, Ephesians 1 verse 11. Now turn to Colossians chapter
3. Colossians chapter 3. So I've
tried to deal with these things we have, at least five of them
in some detail, and I've mentioned a few more others to you. Here's one more. I don't have a title or anything
for this one. I just want to read it. Colossians
chapter 3, look at verse 8. But now ye also put off all these,
anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your
mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing
that ye have." You see it? Now, granted, this is in the
active sense. The others were in the passive
sense, and they were simply bestowed upon us. This is no different. But in this thing being bestowed
upon us, we become, because of God's power, because of God's
work, remember, even our faith, we obtained it, how? Through
the righteousness of God, not through our own effort. So here
it's in the active sense. Lie not one to another, seeing
that ye have put off the old man with his needs, and have,
do you see it? and have put on the new man which
is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created
him. And Paul told the Ephesians that this new man what is created
in righteousness and true holiness. I have something I can't even
fathom. I can only relate to it in the sense that God says
I have it. It's there. But it's like I rarely ever see
it. Usually, I am of the persuasion
after all these years, when I think I saw it, I didn't. It was me. It was something else. And when
I'd never seen any of it, that's probably when God was working
that in me. And somebody says, is that really true? I don't
know. I don't know. How many times have I tried to
do the right thing? It just seemed like it was shot full of hail.
Pardon my language, but it was shot full of hail. And there
are other times when I feel like I just, I just miserably failed. And somebody comes up and said,
that blessed me. To God be the glory. It ever happened to you? It's
like it's rare, but you thank God for it because what is God
working in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. But
look at it. Seeing you have put off the old
man with his deeds and have put on the new man which is renewed
in knowledge after the image of him that created him. Remember
I said we all have these. Where there is neither Greek
nor Jew circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond or
free, Christ is all in all. We all as gospel called believers
have all these things in all the fullness necessary in this
life for now. One day, I'm persuaded by the
testimony of this book, we'll be able to see it in its fullness,
experience it. We'll be able to worship Christ
as he deserves to be worshiped. Now turn to Ephesians chapter
four. I'm about to wind this up. Ephesians chapter four. Now seeing that all these things
are so, According to this book, I'm not
asking anyone to raise your hand, but according to this book, what
I've told you is so from this book, right? Certain people, those who believe,
those who are God's people, those called by His grace, those who
believe Christ, trust Christ, they have these things. We're not to go clamoring after
other things. Be content with such things as
we have. And I've given you five of them
in some detail. A sixth one in a little detail
here in Ephesians. I'm sorry, Colossians, but now
look at Ephesians 4. And think about this, seeing
these all are so concerning all of us, seeing that they by the
very promise and oath of God are secure for us all and about
us all, there's one other thing we're to be content with. One another. one another. To not be content with one another
in light of at least these five things and especially that fifth
one that we have this this this perfect advocate when we sin. He's for us when we sin. Why would we not be content with
one another even when we sin. Because if and when I'm not content
with you or other believers in Christ when they sin, it is the
heist of self-righteousness. No matter how free, sovereign,
grace-bound I am, content with one another Somebody, but so-and-so
did this. Yeah, they did. Yeah, you're
right. Ever found yourself on that end?
Ever found yourself being the one that made the mistake? That's
how we start out with it. We start out with it as a mistake,
and then finally we find out, oh, it was a sin. It was rebellion
against God. You ever been that person? What
was it that helped you the most when it comes to other believers
is when somebody comes up and just gets a hold of your arm
or your hand and says, I understand. I've been there. Not this. Not this. That may scare the
daylights out of you, but that don't help. What helps is when someone puts
their arms around you and says, I understand. I've been there. Look at what Paul wrote, Ephesians
chapter four, verse 31. We'll just start there for the
context. Let all bitterness and wrath
and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you
with all malice. Now, You read that and it's like,
okay, well, I'm supposed to do that out yonder, right? The world
and this anti-Christ, Christ-hating religion and just the immoral
and godliness that surrounds us. Yeah, but that's also necessary
right in here. Right in here. Look, and be ye
kind one to another. Tenderhearted. forgiving one
another. Why? Because we need it. We need it. Even as God, for Christ's sake,
hath forgiven you. Now, how did he do that? Even
when I was shaking my fist at him. He did it for me, he did
it for us before we were ever born, knowing we would be shaking
our fists. And he arrested us just like
he did Saul of Tarsus, right in the midst of our rebellion.
And we all, if we're truly called of the gospel, have to cry out
with Paul the apostle, oh, wretched man that I am. I thank God I don't live under
the constant burden of that. But God reminds me of that quite
often. He reminds me of that. Now go
back to our text. Let your conversation be without
covetousness. Remember that includes all things.
All things. Not just something, all things,
but here's the thing. And be content with such things
as ye have. For he has said, I. You see that whole thing now?
It's him that's with us in these things. We have these things
because these things only come where he is present. Faith only dwells where God is. There is no faith outside of
God. I will never leave thee, nor
forsake thee, so that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper. You see that? He's my helper.
I will not fear what man Now she'll take away from me. You
see, that's not the point. He can't take these things away.
God might suffer him to take some of these other things out,
houses, lands, stocks, bonds. God may take all of that from
you, but he will not take these things you have because he is
the source of these things. He's with us. He will not leave
us. He will not forsake us even when
we sin. The Lord is my helper. I will
not fear what man shall do unto me. All I can say about that is amen. Heavenly Father. These things
are far beyond our ability to muster up, far beyond
our ability to continue to lay hold of. God, please work in
us, force within us, force upon us, Lord, by your mercy, this
willingness to be content with such things as we have. We praise
you and honor and rejoice in you through Jesus Christ, our
Lord. Amen. Okay, I'm done.