Good morning. It's an honor for
me to be back with you. Before I forget, you can turn
to Ephesians chapter 1. We'll be working our way there
in a moment. When Tony, Bill and Vicki and
Tony came in, I made my way over there. Tony's my buddy. We always high five one another. He told him who would be preaching
today. Tony said he was just here. Something like that. Well, it's been four months.
And Rex just told him that I'll be here again Tuesday night.
How about that, Tony? It's always a delight for me
to be here. As Rex just said, I was here
20 years. 20 years. This month, in a few
weeks, it'll be 10 years Since you sent me on my way, since
I went to Alabama, my time does fly, doesn't it? And the little
flock there at Fairmont Grace Church, they would take me to
task if I failed to send their love and their regards to you.
You are in our hearts and in our prayers, and we are beseeching
God along with you that he would be pleased to send you a faithful,
faithful pastor. I may have mentioned this before.
I'm getting old. I forget what I said on prior
occasions. But one of the passages, one
of my favorites in John 6 when the Lord was going to feed the
multitude, the thousands in that desert place, And he asked Philip,
where are we going to buy bread that these may eat? And we're
told this he said to prove him, for Jesus knew what he would
do. In your circumstance here, Grace
Baptist Church, in your prayer and search for a pastor, a faithful
man after God's own heart, Jesus knows exactly. what he will do. He knows who he's going to send,
when he will send them. That will be the best time. Wait
on the Lord. Wait on the Lord. I mentioned to Mark. Almost forgot who I'm staying
with. I'm sorry. Mark and Regina Hanson. But this morning at the kitchen
table, Mark and I were talking, and I said, Mark, it seems like
each time I'm here, there are empty places. I don't see someone
that was here the last time. And same thing this time. And I glanced at the article
in your bulletin today And I thought, well, that sums up better than
any words of my own that I would convey to you or remind you of. Don's article, there's a better
day coming. We're not always going to weep,
not always going to hurt. Don, in the intro of his article,
the last few sentences he wrote, troubled, afflicted believer,
learn to look beyond your present circumstances to eternity and
the glory that awaits you. Your present troubles are preludes
to your everlasting triumph in Christ. There's a better day
coming. Oh, my. Bill? What a day that
will be when we join all those, our loved ones, our brothers
and sisters in Christ who have gone on, and we're all gathered
around the throne of our Redeemer. Oh yes, there's a better day
coming, a better day coming. When I was here in May, when
I preached to you on Tuesday evening, May 25th, Brother Lindsey,
after the service had concluded, he knew it was my birthday the
following day, the next day, and had y'all sing happy birthday
to me. That was my 70th. 70th, Jim. My soul, where have the years
gone? Where have the years gone? How
time has flown. I think I now have a better appreciation
for how brief life is, as the scripture tells us it is, over
and over again, in many, many places. I remember when I thought
40 was old. Some of y'all remember that too,
when you thought that way, don't you? Some of you young folks
may think that now. Let me assure you, it's not.
I don't think that way anymore. It's been a long time since I
considered 40 to be old. I understand more by experience
now. I've experienced it. What James
wrote in his epistle, go to now you that say today or tomorrow
we will go into such a city and continue there a year and buy
and sell and get gain. That's how I used to think and
speak. I will. I will. James went on
to write, whereas you don't know what will be on tomorrow, but
what is your life? It is even as a vapor, poof,
that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away. And
James said, you ought to say, you ought to speak this way.
Not I will. You ought to say, if the Lord
wills. If the Lord wills, ye shall live
and do this or do that. God help me. to remember that,
to think that way, to live that way. Brother Paul Mahan, in one
of his bulletins of a year or two ago, he had this article. I thought it was good. He said,
I remember as a young believer hearing many sermons and reading
many books and sermons by gospel preachers. And nearly everything
I heard and read blessed me as a young believer. If the preacher
or writer just said, mercy or grace or God reigns, if Christ
was exalted, I rejoiced and thought that was the best sermon I ever
heard. Remember that as a young believer?
Oh, that freshness, that wide-eyed wonder. God had mercy on me. God saved me. Paul wrote, because
I was hungry for truth. As our Lord said, we need to
hear the word as a little child. May the Lord give us all that
hunger and thirst for the sincere milk of the word. It may be that
the message will be the best you've ever tasted. And you might
think the preacher is a better preacher than you thought he
was before. I hope and I ask that today,
you would pray that God would be pleased to make his word effectual. One of the last things I say
to my wife, Robin, when we're going to church and I'm getting
ready to preach, I say, honey, please, please pray for me. Pray for me that God won't leave
me to myself. because I know what that's like. It's not pleasant. Pray that
God will be pleased to make His word effectual, to remind us
with wide-eyed wonder what an unspeakable gift God has given
to us in His Son. We'll be like Paul said as a
young believer, Everything he heard. If the word grace was
mentioned, that was enough. That was good. That's good preaching.
Pray that God would be pleased to make that so today. The word
of the Lord, we're told, endureth forever. Yes, it's true. Our
life is like grass, withereth, and the flower thereof falleth
away. But the word of the Lord endureth
forever. And this is the word. This is
the word which by the gospel is preached unto you at this
moment. At this moment. It is true. You've often heard it said, but
it's yet very comforting to be reminded of it, isn't it? We
do not know. We do not know what tomorrow
holds. But I know something better.
Something better than that. I know who. I know who holds
all my tomorrows, the Lord Jesus Christ. I want us to look, beginning
first in Ephesians chapter one, we'll look there and consider
this verse as the foundation for the others that we're going
to look at. The title of my message is In
Christ Jesus. How about that? Oh, Larry, you've
bitten off more than you can chew. Don't I know it? Don't
I know it? In Christ Jesus, in Christ Jesus
now, now, at this very moment, child of God, no matter what
changes have taken place, as the hymn writer so accurately
and truthfully wrote, change and decay all around I see. Every
time I look in the mirror, O thou who changes not, abide with me
in Christ Jesus right now. Verse 3, here in Ephesians 1. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings. Put a circle around that. All. all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ. Now, without reading any further,
and Paul goes on from there and mentions many of those blessings,
many of those, but without going any further than that verse alone,
I know this. Whatever all of these spiritual
blessings are, whatever they are, Whatever they include, I know
this, they can only be found in Christ Jesus. In Christ Jesus. Nowhere else. None of those that
Paul mentioned. None of those that are mentioned
in the entire Word of God. All those spiritual blessings
that we have can only be realized, can only be enjoyed, can only
be experienced, can only be claimed in Christ Jesus. Nowhere else. Larry, you mean
they're not found? They can't be had in a Baptist
church? or any other church. No, not
in a Catholic church or any other. Not from a priest or from a preacher. No, as Brother Scott Richardson
used to say, and you heard him say it many times here, God has
put all of his eggs in one basket. And of course, he meant Jesus
Christ. All of his blessings are in Christ
Jesus. Outside of Christ, outside of
Christ, a sinner, outside of Jesus Christ, a sinner can expect
nothing from God but God's wrath. Is that right? That's exactly
right. That's what the Word of God plainly
teaches. God's love, God's election, God's
grace, every aspect of God's great salvation, grace now and
glory hereafter, they're all in Christ Jesus. They flow from
one glorious fountain, and that's from the fountain and the merit
and the worth of the Son of God. Outside of Christ, I repeat,
a sinner can expect nothing from God but his wrath. The wages of sin is death. You've earned that. We've all
earned that. By nature, that's what we can
expect. If God gives me what I've earned,
if God gives me what I've earned, isn't it ironic and sad? And just proof of religious folks'
ignorance when they speak of God giving them what they have
a right to, you better hope he doesn't. No, if he gives you
what you've earned, what you deserve, I just read it. The wages of sin is death. If
God gives me that, I'm lost. I'm a doomed man. I don't have
a hope. Is that right? The wages of sin
is death. And death passed upon all men,
because all have sinned. There's no exceptions. From the
oldest to the youngest, there's no exceptions here this morning.
Oh, but that verse didn't stop there, did it? Yes, absolutely. The wages of sin is death. But,
but, don't you like those blessed interventions? But the gift of
God is eternal life. Where is it at? Through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Blessed grace, blessed substitute,
blessed salvation. Oh God, don't give me what I've
earned. Give me what Jesus Christ earned on my behalf. Give me
what he's merited. Give me what he deserves. Forgive
all my sins for Christ's sake. Now that's solid ground. I can
rest there. Oh, all these blessings are in
Christ Jesus and nowhere else. I'll tell you what I have experienced
again as a result, I think, of getting older. I still don't
think of myself as old, Rex. I look in the mirror, and I don't
see an old man looking back at me. Other people remind me every
now and then. My grandchildren remind me how
old Pawpaw is. But Pawpaw doesn't think so.
I know that's vanity. But one thing now, after 70 years,
I'll tell you this. I'm not impressed by too much.
By God's grace, I've experienced and learned by that experience
that whoever drinks of the waters of this world, the wells of this
world, they're going to thirst again. I know that's so. I know that's so. I've entered
into a little bit of what the wise man said when looking out
on the world, and he said, it's just all vanity. It's all empty. There's really no lasting satisfaction
in anything this world can offer. Whoever drinks of this water
shall thirst again. So I'm not easily impressed with
anything other outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm impressed
with Him. I'm impressed with Him. I'm impressed
that Jesus Christ Since the day he opened the blinded eyes of
this sinner and called me out of darkness into his marvelous
grace, yet keeps me and loves me. And though I've been fickle
and frail and unfaithful, his love, his grace, his mercy, there's
been no change whatsoever. No matter what condition I'm
in, he's always the same. always loving, always faithful,
always doing the very best for me, whether I realize it or not."
Oh yes, I'm impressed with him. Mr. Spurgeon wrote this. He called it a trip to heaven.
He said, Christ is the chariot in which souls are drawn to heaven.
The people of the Lord are on their way to heaven. They are
carried in everlasting arms, and those arms are the arms of
Christ. What a blessed, blessed picture.
Christ is carrying them up to his own house, to his own throne. In time, his prayer, Father,
I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, shall
be completely fulfilled. And it is being fulfilled now,
for he is like a strong charger, drawing his children in the chariot
of covenant grace unto himself. O blessed be God that crosses
the plank on which we swim to heaven, that crosses the great
covenant transport which will weather all the storms, and reach
its desired heaven. This is the chariot, the sides
are pure gold, and the bottom of silver. It is lined with the
purple of the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, what a
foundation. And on that foundation, he prayed,
Father, I will that those whom you have given me be with me
where I am. That's the will of our sovereign
Savior. If he wills that his people be
with him where he is, I ask you, who's going to hold them back?
Who's going to prevent it? Now, look again, if you will,
here in Ephesians at chapter 2, verse 13. There are just three
scriptures, three different places in God's word we want to look
at this blessed truth of being in Christ Jesus. And these places
speak of the experience of it. I know in chapter one it spoke
of us being chosen in Christ before the foundation of the
world. But I cannot lay claim to that. I cannot know anything
about that. There's no way. It's not possible
that I can know that I was one of those chosen in Christ, that
I was one of those elect, until I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. I can't know otherwise. It's
the experience of God's grace in time that assures me that
His purpose of grace included me. from eternity. And here's
the first place, Ephesians 2 verse 13. But now, another one of those
blessed, blessed interventions. But now, in Christ Jesus, you
who sometimes were far off, remember how far off you were, are made
nigh by the blood of Jesus Christ. But now, right now, in Christ
Jesus now, always now, always now, like Jesus Christ himself,
the same yesterday, and the day, and forever. So is everyone that's
in Jesus Christ now, now, in him. We must look at, as Paul
does here in chapter 2, look at the before picture. to better
appreciate this after picture that he gives us beginning at
verse 13. Being made now by the blood of
Jesus Christ. Here's the before picture. Look
at verse 1. Here's where we were before the
experience of God's grace. This is where we were by nature. This is the pit from which we
were digged. Look back. Look back. You have
he quickened, that is, made alive, who were dead in trespasses and
sins. Wherein in times past you walked
according to the course of this world, just like everybody else,
no difference. According to the Prince of the
Power of the Air and the Spirit that now worketh in the children
of disobedience, you didn't have any interest in God, His Son,
His Gospel, His Church, or anything else. That's just a fact and
you know it. You say, Larry, but I was religious. It still
applies. You had no real interest because
you had no need. You're like those our Lord spoke
to. Before His grace made us thirsty, we were content. We
didn't need a physician. We didn't need healing. We weren't
sick. We were so busy perhaps weaving
our own robe of self-righteousness, we didn't need anybody else's
righteousness until God Almighty came to us and turned the light
on. into a God who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness, shine into our hearts. Remember
that? Oh, my soul, it was like I awoke
from death, which I did. And for the first time in my
life, I thought, I'm lost. I'm lost. Now, if I was ever
buttonholed by some soul winner, I would give lip service to that
just to get him off my back. You know you're lost? Sure, I'm
lost. Now go on out here and leave me alone. Didn't mean a
thing. Oh, oh. But when God got me lost, ooh,
that was different. I knew I was lost. I felt I was
lost. Perhaps I told you I remember
a occasion back in the mountains of West Virginia, and that's
the entire state, walking some railroad tracks. Because I thought
I'm the most miserable person in the world, and anybody can
see me. They know how miserable, they know how sinful I am. I
didn't want anyone to see me. So I'm walking these tracks home
by myself, and God, Oh, my soul, I was lost. And every railroad
tie that I lay my foot on seemed to shout back in my face, you're
lost, you're lost. And I thought, man, I'm lost.
And there's nothing I can do about it. Someone told me. Well, what you need to do is
get you a Bible. So I did. Read it. So I did. Go to church. So I did. Go to office. So I
did. I jumped through every religious
hoop I was misdirected to do. And still every night when I
lay down in my bed, God said, you're lost. You're lost. And all you're doing, all this
Bible reading, All this trotting, all these sinners' prayers, all
these decisions you're making, you're still lost. They don't
mean squat. They're filthy rags. That's not
what Larry says. That's what God says, doesn't
he? All of your righteousnesses, plural, are filthy rags. You're
lost. Remember, that's the before picture.
That's the before picture. Look at verse 4 here in Ephesians
2. Here's the after picture. after he describes where every
believer was by nature and where they would yet be. Remember that. Remember where you would yet
be, where we would yet be, brothers and sisters in Christ, except
for this, but God. Verse four, but God, who is rich
in mercy, for his great love were with he loved us, even when
we were dead in sins. He didn't say, wiggle your way
out of that grave, no. He came to where we were. He
came to us, just like he did Lazarus. We couldn't come to
him. He came to us, and he said, live, live. even when we were
dead in sins, have quickened us together with Christ by grace
you are saved, and have raised us up together and made us set
together in heavenly places in Christ. Look down at verse 11. Wherefore remember that you being
in times past, Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision
by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands, that
at that time Are you looking at this with
me? Verse 12. That describes where we were
by nature. Does this describe where you
are at this moment, right now? At that time, you were without
Christ. Being aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise, having
no hope, and without God in the world. What a terrible description. Without Christ, Bill. Without
Christ. Oh, but Larry, without Christ. Oh, but Larry, I'm a good person.
You're without Christ. Larry, I've been good all my
life. You're without Christ. Larry, I belong to the big Baptist
church. You're without Christ. What difference
does it make? Without Christ, that equals,
as Paul tells us, that equals no hope. To be without Christ
is to be without hope. To be without Christ is to be
without God. To be without Christ is to be
in a Christless condition. In your heart of hearts, you
cannot say with the Apostle Paul, you cannot say with any child
of God, you just can't identify with this. I know whom I have
believed. You don't. And you know you don't.
You know you don't. You're in a Christless condition,
living a Christless life. No matter what else you have
or claim or are striving to grasp, a Christless life. And if God
doesn't interpose, if Christ doesn't come to where you're
at, you're going to die a Christless death and go out into a Christless
eternity. Oh, my soul. And you may do that
all the while you're embracing a Christless religion. That's the picture. without Christ. But look at verse 13. Here's
the after picture. Here it is again. Oh, I like
it so much better, don't you? Yes, I was exactly described
in that before picture, but not anymore. But now, verse 13, but
now, in Christ Jesus, you who sometimes were far off are made
nigh by the blood of Christ. You're not far away anymore.
You're near. The blood of Jesus Christ has
broken down every barrier, has removed those mountains of sins
between you and a holy God. As we just sang a moment ago,
justified, justified by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Through
his blood, God now can be just when he justifies this sinner.
Oh, I love that passage, that parable the Lord spoke in Luke
18. There's so much there, so much
instruction. But I love the part where he
said, you see that publican right there? You see that poor, self-abasing
publican? He's going home. Justify. How about that? In Christ Jesus,
brought nigh by the blood of Christ, Paul was telling us you
should remember what you were, what you have been, where you
were, so you might better remember where God's grace in Christ has
brought you. We were so far from God without
Christ. We could not have been any further
away. But now in Jesus Christ, we couldn't be any closer. You
couldn't be any closer. You're as close as Christ himself.
So near, so very near to God, nearer I cannot be. For in the
person of his son, I am as near as he. So dear, so very dear
to God, more dear I cannot be. The love wherewith he loves his
son, such is his love for me. Say, Larry, that's just too good
to be true. It's true. It's true. To every believer,
it's true. The true grace of God is reigning
grace. It's grace that's greater than
all my sin. Can anything less than that do
any good for you? Anything other than reigning
grace be sufficient for you? Nothing less than that will help
me. God's grace is abounding grace. It abounds over and above
all our sins. And God's grace, as Paul tells
us here in Ephesians 2 and 8, is saving grace. Bring all that
together. Saving grace, reigning grace, grace to the very uttermost,
and place them at the feet of that one from whom they all come,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Where would we be without Him? Thanks unto God for His unspeakable
gift. By grace you are saved. God's
grace is an everlasting salvation, or rather His salvation is an
everlasting salvation. His grace, as we read, is saving
grace. He has no other kind. The grace
of God brings salvation. It doesn't attempt salvation.
It doesn't offer salvation. It doesn't compromise salvation. It doesn't work out a deal, make
a deal with the sinner. No, His grace brings salvation. Salvation to the very uttermost. Christ, when He came into this
world, declared, I come in the volume of the book. It is written
of me to do thy will, O God. When I was a young boy living
up that hollow holler, y'all have heard about that more than
once back in West Virginia. My father was old fashioned.
He gave me and my brothers chores. And we were expected to do them,
be in trouble if we didn't. Sometimes I would try to skimp
on it, what I was supposed to do. Thought he won't notice.
He'd get home from work and he'd say, Larry, you've not finished
the job I gave you to do. It's only half done. Half done. God never, never said that about
his son, did he? The very opposite. God says,
behold my servant. Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth, I will put my spirit upon him."
God says, look at him. Behold my son. There's none like
him. Look unto him and be ye saved.
He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not
fail. And when the angel told Joseph
to call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their
sins, he did not fail. When he come to live and die
for his people to satisfy God and to bring in an everlasting
righteousness and to put away their sins, glory to his name,
he did not fail. Is that not so? Thank God for
our blessed and glorious sovereign Savior. Here's the second verse,
Romans 8. You know it by heart. Romans
8 and 1. That speaks of being in Christ
Jesus right now. Romans 8 and 1. There is therefore now, right now, no condemnation to
them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. What a wonderful chapter Romans
8 is, isn't it? It begins with no condemnation,
as we just read, and then it ends with no separation. And
everything in between those glorious truths, those glorious events,
We have our great, wonder-working God doing everything for our
good to bring those to pass. There is therefore, therefore,
it's there for a good reason, the very best reason. The only
reason such a truth can be realized, no combination, because we are
in Christ. We are in Christ. We've been
justified from all sin. crucified with Christ, risen
with Christ, made righteous by Christ. Not under the law, but
under grace, because we're dead to the law and married to Jesus
Christ, our glorious husband. There is, we're told, therefore,
there is. Not that there was, used to be,
but the time may come that this may no longer be true. Oh no,
this is an ever glorious present truth, now. You see that little
word, now again. At this very moment, At this
very moment, this will always be so. There will never be condemnation
for a child of God. A child of God will never hear,
depart from me, I never knew you. There is no condemnation
because God is dealing with us because of, through His Son. Justified in Christ, we can never
be unjustified. called to life and faith in His
Son, it will never be taken away. Now, no matter, and let me repeat,
brothers and sisters in Christ, no matter where now finds you,
and I'm sure I know that now finds you weeping, troubled,
fearful, And we're more often than not
found in that condition, aren't we? But it doesn't change this. Remember, there was a time when
now found David that God had raised up from being a shepherd
lad to sitting on the throne over Israel. But found that man
lusting after another man's wife and plotting that man's murder.
Remember that? There's another time that now
found Peter, who said, Lord, I'll never deny you, standing
at the campfire of the Lord's enemies, cursing to try to convince
them that he could not be a follower of Christ. But neither of those
incidents changed this. There's no condemnation. No condemnation. God didn't disown them. They
were God's sons before, they're God's sons now. No earthly trouble,
no spiritual trouble, nothing on earth, nothing in us. Nothing in heaven, nothing in
time, nothing in eternity can change this. There is therefore
now no condemnation. God had made Him, Christ, seen
for us. Did that not happen? Is that
not so? Well then, so is this, that we
might be made the righteousness of God in Him. If I'm accepted
in to be loved, I'll never be unaccepted, never unjustified,
never unloved, never unsaved, even as God, for Christ's sake,
hath forgiven you. That sounds so much better, so
much more comforting than for my own sake. Oh no, for Christ's
sake. God loves me in Christ. Oh, I'm
saved. God chose me in Christ. I'm secure. God called me in Christ. And
Christ says, I want that sinner. I've bought with my own precious
blood, with me in glory. Redeemed. Redeemed. how we love
to proclaim it, to them that are in Christ Jesus. There are a multitude, sad to
say, but you know it's so, that hope there's no condemnation
to those who are in the right church, or in the right doctrine,
or in the right morality, in the right conduct, in the right
profession of faith. But the promise is only to those
who are in Christ Jesus." In Christ. In Christ. We sang it
a moment ago, didn't we? I don't know. I know not how
this saving faith to me He did impart. That's a mystery. Nor
how believing in His Word brought peace within my heart. That's
a mystery. Oh, but that's okay. I don't
need to understand all that. I just know whom I had believed
and persuaded that He's able to keep that which I've committed
unto Him against that day. Here's the last place, 1 Corinthians
1 verse 30. Again, you know these by heart,
but let's look at it briefly and I'll wrap this up. but of Him, that is, of God. Are you in Christ Jesus? There's
that precious truth again. In Christ Jesus, who of God,
is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. It sounds like that makes believers
complete, doesn't it? Sammy? Wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. What else do we need? And we
have those in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, what a blessed place
to be in Christ Jesus now. That's where Paul said he wanted
to be found rather than where he was once found. Remember,
he spoke of it often before kings, before governors in his epistles.
Let me tell you what I used to be. what I once did, what I once
was trusting. I thought I was robing such a
beautiful garment of my own righteousness that God Almighty would have
to accept it. And Paul was convinced that he
would. Convinced, wasn't he? Oh, I was a Pharisee of Pharisees. I was one of the most religious
of the elite. But what happened, Paul? What happened to you? I hear
you say you now have renounced that, you've taken off that robe
that you spent your entire life weaving, making by your works
and dotting every I and thinking you were keeping the law and
now you're saying you're throwing it out? It's done? It's garbage? What do you hope to stand before
God in, Paul? Why do you now think God will
accept you, Paul? If you won't be found in that
and flung it away, what hope do you have? That I'll be found
in Him. Found in Christ. Not having my
own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through
the faith of Christ. The righteousness which is by
God, above God rather, by faith. Found in Him. Don't you love
that expression? How safe? Could you be safer,
child of God? How secure? How accepted by holy
God? And again, I'm aware that I've
told this story probably more than on one occasion. But I like
it. I like it. I hope you will, too.
We're back up that holler in West Virginia. Oh, man, it was
two miles long. There wasn't any lights. There
was no street lights. It was a red dog road. And our
house was the very last one in the hall. When you came there,
you could not go any further. The road ended, and there sat
our house. Me and my buddies would be out watching. We would
go out after we caddied at the golf course, made a few dollars.
We'd go to the movies. We'd watch The Mummy and the
Werewolf. We'd come to the challah, and they lived down in what they
called the camp, the coal camp. They'd say, Larry, we're getting
ready to park company. They'd go down the hill, three
or four of them, and I'm by myself. Larry, better not let that werewolf
get you. Be careful. I'm not afraid of
him. I'm not scared to death. Man, I start up at challah, and
it's dark. It's dark. Oh, that's him. I heard that werewolf. Man, I'm
beating it down. I am laying them down. And I turn that last little curve
in that road, and there's the house. Mom's got the porch light
on. And I go in, go upstairs where
our rooms were. Remember, my brother's kind of
in the attic, two bedrooms. And Mom come and tuck me in. Boy, she just tuck it all. bedspread around me, you know.
I wasn't scared anymore. Rex, I wasn't scared anymore.
I felt so safe, so secure. I was home. That's what Paul's saying. In
that day, listen, in that day, when every one of us stand before
God Almighty at the man's perfection, It must be perfect to be accepted.
In that day, this sinner is going to stand there wrapped up in
the perfect robe of Christ's righteousness, with his spotless
garments on, as holy as God's own son. And God's going to say,
welcome home. Welcome home. Come on in. All
of this has been prepared for you from the foundation of the
world. And so shall we ever be with
the Lord. You remember when Brother Rupert
Reibenbach would be here and be one of the preachers for the
conference? Often he would sing this, wouldn't
he? In the Beloved, in the Beloved accepted am I, risen, ascended,
and seated on high. Saved from all sin through His
infinite grace, with the redeemed ones accorded a place. In the
Beloved, how safe my retreat. In the Beloved, accounted complete. Who can condemn me? In Him I
am free. Savior and Keeper forever is
He. In the Beloved I went to the tree, There in his person
by faith I may see Infinite wrath rolling over his head, Infinite
grace, for he died in my stead. He took my place. He took my
place. In the Beloved God's marvelous
grace Calls me to dwell in this wonderful place. God sees my
Savior, and then he sees me. In the Beloved, accepted and
free. in Christ Jesus right now, right
now. Brothers and sisters in Christ, while we're making our pilgrimage
through this world and the storms of life are raging, may the captain
of our salvation speak to us words something like this. O Israel, fear not, for I have
redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name, you're mine,
you're mine. And because of that, when you're
passing through the waters, I will be with you. And through the
rivers, they shall not overflow you. When thou walkest through
the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon you. For I am the Lord thy God, the
Holy One of Israel, thy Savior, thy Savior, in Christ Jesus. God bless you. Thank you for
your attention.