You're good to go. Good evening. I hope that what I provide today gives you comfort. I believe that at any point in
time, anybody that comes up here provides you with comfort. A
believer knows their nature, knows Christ's nature, and once
saved, is not content with their condition at that point in time
of being given the knowledge and the wisdom of being saved,
but instead is hungry for more. So I hope tonight you can be
fed. The message titled tonight is
the better promised path. And if you were to ask me my
path at the age of 13, I was looking for a driver's license.
At the age of 16, I was looking to graduate high school. At the
age past that, I was just hoping to be upright and breathing at
a certain point in time with a job. We design our own narratives
of what we want. What we design is based on our
health and our wealth or possessions early on. There is a better promised
path, and it is not by our design. I spoke on our wants, let's discuss
our needs. We design our own narrative of
what we need. It came up again today, it comes
up very often because I teach in the same hometown I was raised
in. I teach in the same hometown
my wife was raised in. It's a unique situation for this
particular congregation. There's only two people in this
room that can understand this situation. And if you were to
tell me that I would marry a woman six years older than me from
the same town. Six years, sorry. I didn't think
that through. Six years older than me from
the same town. She looks younger than me. and stay here, and stay here
in my hometown when I was 13, 16, or 18, I probably thought
you were pretty crazy because there was nothing here for me.
There was not. My narrative of wants were not
set here. And even my narrative of needs
were not set at this point in time to be ever, ever in Jackson,
Missouri. because there's nothing here
for me. A need by our own narrative is
something that's established in our own natural heart. It's
something that we can validate to make true. We can make it
solid as a rock. We can make it unwaverable in
our own hearts. And it takes a lot for anybody
to even convince you otherwise. And I'm talking humanly speaking.
I'm talking your friends away from this congregation. They
can still sway you at that point in time and they can make a really
good point. Wants and needs are not, by our
design, in reality. But we still have them naturally.
It's something we cannot live without at that point in time.
We can validate that we can not be here. We can not listen to
the scripture. We can even itemize it to the
point where, well, I know what you're saying. I hear what you're
saying, mom, dad, or believer of the actual congregation that
we're in, because I grew up in a grace church, and we can itemize
it. Well, not now. Not now. The need does not need to be
fulfilled now, later, because we cannot live without these,
humanly speaking, needs in our body, our wants that are material
or emotional. Our needs and wants are to bring
us only to derision. In reality, when we see the truth
that the Lord Jesus Christ has delivered us, our needs and our
wants bring us to only derision. Then what can be our true need
to bring us peace? And that's what I hope to speak
to you tonight about is Christ. That is our need and our true
need to peace. The Better Promised Path was
the title of my message, and the Better Promised Path, you
can replace that with Christ. The Better Promised Path will
not be created nor found if it's made by us. It has nooks and
crannies, it has obstacles in our way, and it's faulty. If
we were to build a bridge that would lead us to salvation, it
would fail. The Christ, on the other hand,
is something totally different. The Lord will make straight the
direction you will go. Because if you're one of His,
it's unwavering that you will go. You will go His path. The better promised path is His
path. You will go. He fails not one
of His souls. So if you're here tonight and
hopefully I've been sent up here and I preach to you the truth
and if you've never heard it or if you've heard it before
all you hear in my words are His path is true and His path
is Christ and He will not fail His souls whatsoever. Ephesians 2 verses 4 and 5, and
I'm going to flip you seven times tonight, and I hope that you
see His path all seven times. Ephesians 2, chapter 4, verses
4 and 5. But God, who is rich in mercy
for His great love, wherewith He loved us, even when we are
dead in sins, hath quickened." He had make us alive. That's
what quickened means. Make us alive. Us together. He quickened us together with
Christ. Because by Christ are you saved. His path makes us
alive because He first loved us. His great love wherewith
He loved us is incomparable. Incomparable. You can't compare
it to your own love. Drew married my wife and I to
one of my favorite verses, and as I was blubbering at the altar,
I gave my love. And in a wedding, you say, I
do. Until death do us part, I do. sicker, poor, sickness and health. I don't remember all of them
exactly. That tells you how good my vows were. I do. The point of that comment was,
I'm really failing up here tonight with this, with my wife. It waivers. It wavers. I meant the most intention
of my humanly body at that point in time, and yet at every point
in time that I turn around, you can find a fault in my love to
someone who I've sworn my entire soul and body to, and it's humanly. That's what it is. It's humanly.
And while I hope to love and to be honest and cherish and
so forth, it just doesn't by our nature. It doesn't serve
the purpose of what takes us to perfection of love. However,
there is a love out there that actually does say, I do, and
it does deliver. And we are known also as a church
and are saved as the bride. And so our groom, Christ, when
it's been said, and this is metaphorical, I say, I do, He does. He does. As in, it's already
taken. It's done. It's permanent. His
love does not waver. His is a incomparable love. There is no other love like that.
You can't go and fathom the love of Christ Jesus and compare it
to yourself. You can only compare His love
to Him because it's so permanent. It is so infallible. It is the
only love that exists like that, where He would take a derision
and save it because He loves. He would sacrifice Himself. He
would go through hell to save His people. It's incomparable.
It's the only true love in this equation. unless you look at
what he does to you. We are dead in the same verses
and even so Christ saves. And it was preached not long
ago in this church about Lazarus. Lazarus was dead and yet was
made to walk. He was dead bones and he was
made alive. More importantly More importantly,
especially for Lazarus and for the picture of us, not only was
his humanly body made to live, his soul was made alive. Lazarus
was one of the elect. He was dead, yes, and Christ
said, rise. And so he did. So if Christ can
make Lazarus walk, why would you doubt what he can do for
you? If you're one of his elect, he's gonna spread love and he
is going to make dead alive. He is quickened, made alive,
and by grace are we saved. By grace. Grace is an unbestowed
mercy that owes nothing after the sacrifice of Christ Jesus. You owe nothing. It's already
been taken care of. The debt has been paid. I get
upset when somebody picks up my tab at a restaurant. Now you're
talking about eternal tab? That's a really lame way to put
it, but the debt is completely paid. So I get to go to eternal
salvation. Why? Because somebody sacrificed,
Christ sacrificed and paid all debt. You're quickened and you're
now made alive. Not on this plane. A believer
doesn't want to be just alive on this plane. That'd be a failure
if that's all it was. Now, I should also verify that
I'm teaching in my classroom Hinduism and Buddhism. Both these
religions believe in reincarnation. And if I speak honestly with
you, reincarnation is a backdoor to people who do not know anything
about true salvation. It's a hope that if you mess
up on this earth, you get a second chance. It's not how that works. There's no gray area in salvation.
There either is or isn't. And Christ is. That's plain and
simple. By grace and mercy are you saved. Psalms chapter 51. And I apologize for the flipping,
I went down a rabbit hole that I hope you see what I see here
and you're blessed by what I was blessed with. Psalms chapter
51 in the first two verses. Have mercy upon me. O God, according
to thy loving kindness, according unto the multitude of thy tender
mercies, blot out my transgressions. wash me thoroughly from mine
iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin." His path bathes us to
be clean of all of our sins. All of our sins. Have mercy according
to Thy lovingkindness. Because our versions of lovingkindness
could never satisfy. His satisfies all of our sins. Have mercy according to your
Lord, your lovingkindness, the perfect kind of lovingkindness,
the perfect kind and unwavering kind of lovingkindness. Blot
out my transgressions. We plead, make sure, Lord, that
you have taken care of all. And once we hear the word, we
know what that actually means. Blot out my transgressions. If
you're a believer, it's been done. All transgressions. What's transgression? Sin, lie,
thought, ill will of another person, all these little minute
things, little white lies, all these little things have been
fully forgiven. Blot them all out. What do you
do when you blot? Been in an art class before,
not very good at it, but when you make a mistake, which happens
very often, you blot them out, especially when you're working
with watercolors. You eliminate them. You hide
them. Nope. You eliminate them. They're gone. They're not just
hidden. They're gone. Blot out the transgressions.
Have mercy according to Christ your loving kindness. Wash me
and remove my transgressions, my sin. If you're washed of something,
you're clean. You're cleansed from sin. His path bathes us in His blood
and cleanses us of all of His sins. Micah 7.18 The magnitude of the salvation
of Christ is never partial. And I struggle with delivering
that particular message, that particular sentiment, that the
magnitude of Christ's salvation is full. And I hope you hear
that when you read these verses, is that it is so magnificent,
it is so permanent, it is so full and satisfied, There is
no and if or buts on any piece of salvation. He keeps all souls
that is part of his elect. You want to talk absolute, let's
look at Micah 7, 18. Who is a God like unto thee that
pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant
of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger forever,
because he delighteth in mercy." In this section, his path, the
better promised path, shows there's no other God. Not one. Islam, Judaism, monotheistic
religions, all creating itself around Christianity, They kind
of book into Christianity. They're not true. They're not
true. They're monotheistic. They want
to talk God the same way. They're not true. Hinduism is
polytheistic. According to India's government,
there's between 400,000 and 600,000 gods. So if you're growing corn,
you may have a god that can help you grow corn. In Buddhism, which
was stemmed by an individual who left Hinduism, He believes
in the ethereal, there's no God, but instead is the enlightenment
by you. It says here, who is a God like
unto thee? There is not. There's no other
God. Keep reading on, and he talks about the remnant. And I thought originally that
a remnant was like a piece of something, a leftover, if you
will. That's kind of what I had as
kind of a, part of a cookie or something along that line, that's
not what that means. That's a set-aside piece. That's
a saved piece. A remnant is a saved piece of
something. So, in that case, the Lord passeth
by the transgression of a set-aside piece. But look at this. Of His heritage, we are given
His heritage. His bloodline. Does that mean you're a descendant
of Him? By children? No. Bathed in a blood. You inherit what Christ inherits. Now that's the one that in the
past probably ten years is the newest to me. And it's the one
that is probably the most shocking, if you will. I don't know another
word other than shocking. That you would have the same
heritage, you would enter into heaven as the same as Christ. How could that possibly be? You're
the same as Christ. You were given His heritage. He delights in the mercy He bestows. That last verse, we could probably
quit right now because He delighteth in mercy, the mercy of His people. He went and died and suffered
for our sins. And what do you get from that?
Well, He delighteth in that. He delighteth in His mercy. Find
me a more strong love. Find me a better path you can
be set on." His love is that He delights in His people receiving
mercy. He takes His remnant, which is
His heritage, and pardons Him from all, and I underline it
in my notes, all transgressions. He does not half-heartedly take
care of you. He wholeheartedly takes care
of you. So you're going to get to that point and we all do,
vacation or otherwise, or work gets too big and so forth, and
so you find yourself, and I'm speaking of myself, so I don't
know if this translates properly, but you pigeonhole church. You pigeonhole that piece where
I'm coming in, and then as soon as we're done, hey, load up,
let's go, we gotta go, and then we're back into the world. And
then Wednesday comes around again after Sunday and we pigeonhole
it again and it just becomes this automatic roll. Church is
church and that's all we use. We use the term church for a
while and then we go on. Or my dad always talks about
the blandness sometimes that we come in and we don't hear
for a while. Even in a grace church that's
going to come numb sometimes. It's just what we're challenged
with. at that point in time and yet during those times the Lord
still keeps you and he will find his, well he won't find, he will
not find, he has found his moments where he's going to chastise
you at that point in time and he's going to corner you and
he's going to show you your condition, your doubt, but more importantly
how much that he wholeheartedly will take care of you. You're
part of his heritage. And the fear I have is how often
that takes place, because it does. It does. You know, I remember
not too long ago I left church. Man, it was a great message.
And I just remember I got a ding on my phone and I had to set
my fantasy football draft. And I just remember sitting there
thinking, my goodness, like how frail is our attention span of
the grace of God after what He has done? But isn't that our
nature? That is our nature and that's what's already been forgiven.
That's the blessedness. And that's where I struggle always
putting verbiage to that is knowing that situation where yet we do
what we do and yet He saves how He saves. And we have future
sin that's going to take place and yet it's already forgiven.
And so I guess you can play the game where it's case-sirah-sirah. I'm going to go do and so therefore
It should be, that's not a believer. A believer would never think
that way because we see, we're part of his remnant and we're
part of his heritage. And that part has been put into
us, therefore, we love too. We love too. That love cannot
come in the sequence where you love first and then he loves
you. It doesn't work that way. Our sin supersedes when that
happens. The Lord loves you in that appointed
time, set before time. You're part of his remnant and
then he grabs you and he shows you his love and then you can't
let go. And I'm terrible about this. Who reached up and touched
his garment? Couldn't let go? The woman with
the issue of blood. Desperate. At a certain point in time, we're
the same way. Don't let me go. Don't let me
go. 2 Chronicles 30 chapter 9. 2
Chronicles 30 chapter 9. One verse, well, if you turn again unto
the Lord, your brethren and your children shall find compassion
before them that lead them captive, so that they shall come again
into this land. For the Lord your God is gracious
and merciful and will not turn away his face from you if ye
return unto him. His path is that of diligence,
of care, a permanent love even if you try to find your own path
again. He'll bring you back. He'll bring you back. Wandered
for 40 years, they found their way. He will never turn. His grace is everlasting. What I so appreciate of the Lord,
among other things, if I simplify this to the core, is that every
time I wander, the path is corrected. Because if you're straight with
the Lord's path, because that's what it would be in reality,
because He's perfect, the path would be straight, and ours is
not. It would wander, it would probably
turn around a couple times even and run, and yet He will not
turn his face away from you no matter what. That's hard to fathom
because like I've said in the past up here, I know my own nature
and I know the core of my heart and it's like how could you ever,
how could I ever be listed amongst those? To be part of that path
that goes straight? You're kidding me. I would never. Well I got my head on straight
for about a month and then all of a sudden about a week comes
off. And you go, well, how could I ever be part of that? Why?
There's only one reason why. His grace is everlasting. He
will not turn his face away from you. Romans 6.15. His path is diligent. His path is gracious. His path
cleanses of all sins. His path makes alive what was
once dead. Romans 6.15 What then? Shall we sin because
we are not under the law but under grace? God forbid! His path forbids his own failure. God forbid we satisfy the law
because we can't. Knowledge of Christ's salvation
is not the excuse to sin freely to be saved. We want to no longer
sin because of the wisdom granted by Christ's salvation of us. The want of evil begins. Now, it's not perfect. It is
not perfect on this earth and hopefully if you are saved, you're
granted the ability to no longer sin but yet live in reverence
in heaven of God. The law is satisfied. We can't
do that. So his path forbids his own failure. It's not possible. God forbid
that. Nehemiah 9 and 31. I've only got two more verses
for you. Nehemiah 9, 31. And if you're wanting a book
that will sneak up and pull something out very clearly, Nehemiah will
definitely do that. It will sneak up and show you
Christ's mercies. Nehemiah 9 chapter 31. Nevertheless, for thy great mercies." It doesn't
say good or average. It doesn't say maybe. It says,
for thy great mercies sake thou didst not utterly consume them
nor forsake them, the people of Christ. For thou art a gracious
and merciful God. His path grants frequent mercy
from being consumed from our own paths. Nevertheless, no matter
what, the Lord's mercies are daily and consistent. We will
never consume and destroy one of His paths. Why? Because He is gracious and merciful. He wouldn't let you do that.
It's a mercy and it's a grace that we are kept by Him. Constantly and mercifully we
are delivered. His path is one of mercy. Now, Sovereign Grace Church, that
is a good name. Who said that? Was it Tim? Somebody that said that? It was
such a great name. And it really was, because sovereign
grace over all reigning mercy, a grace is only delivered by
someone who could make the decision of ultimate death or ultimate
life. So the knights of old, if you
wronged a knight during the feudal times, And he called you on it,
he was judge, jury, and executioner. So you pronated, that meant that
you put yourself down on your knees, you put your arms out
in front, you exposed the back of your neck, the most weak point
of your body, and if the knight did not agree with the charge,
he charged you with your life, and he would cut your head off. But if he had grace upon you,
that you didn't even deserve at that point in time, you were
given life. That's a human making that assumption. Imagine Christ. See, that's just,
to me, is a measure of just grace. But what if you talk about, you
put the word on the front, that's why I like the church so much,
is sovereign grace. Sovereign is overall. It's a
grace that cannot be broken. It's a grace that cannot be superseded
by any other grace whatsoever. So sovereign grace is Christ's
grace, ultimate delivery of His people, His soul. He is gracious
and merciful. And the last verse, 2 Corinthians
12, 9. His path is a deliverance. His
path cleanses. His path is a mercy. And His
path is His. And He said unto me, My grace
is sufficient for thee. For My strength is made perfect
in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will
I rather glory in my infirmities than the power of Christ that
the power of Christ may rest upon me. His path is of mercy
only. That's it. If you're a believer and you
are granted His path, you're on a path of mercy. My grace
is sufficient for thee. You don't need anything else.
Sufficient satisfies all. All satisfying. My grace is all you need. That's all. You can glory, it says, in your
infirmities because we know what we are. And the power of Christ
will rest upon you. That is a believer in Corinthians
that knows the Word of God. Most gladly, therefore, will
I rather glory in my infirmities, physical, emotional, mental,
stress, that the power of Christ rests upon me." And I cannot say this enough. Go back to the beginning of that
verse and in the little second part there, my grace is enough
for thee. It's all for thee. Strength is made perfect in weakness. Why? By the mercy of God. Where
do you find that? The path that the Lord has set
before you. The path that you are saved for eternity. The path
that the Lord loves you if you're one of the elect. Drew, will you pray? Father, this grace, this
sovereign, grueling, reigning grace is nothing new to any believer
throughout all time. Abraham, he saw the covenant. He saw this grace and was fully
persuaded that You were able to do it. Even though the promise
was not realized, it was realized in his heart. And Father, every
one of these examples We see mercy reigns and grace reigns,
but it reigns because you're a covenant with God. And that
agreement that you've entered in with the Son and the Father
and the Spirit, it cannot be broken. It will not be broken. Father, this is our peace. This
is our hope. This is our rest. And Father,
may we always be thankful. You could have left us alone.
You could have left us The way that we thought was right at
the end of death. Father, your counsel and mercy
and grace has stood and it will stand. And it will stand for
every single elected, chosen child. And for this, Father,
we are ever grateful and ever thankful. In His name we pray. Amen. Remember, goodness is good.