I want you to open your Bible
with me tonight to Revelation chapters 2 and 3. The book of Revelation chapters
2 and 3. These two chapters are very familiar
as far as people knowing their content. These chapters contain
our Savior's letters to the seven churches in Asia, letters that
he dictated to his servant, the apostle John, and had John to
send to each of the pastors of those seven churches. The letters
were sent to these specific local churches at Ephesus, Smyrna,
Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. These were literal
local churches, just like this local assembly here in Danville. These seven churches represent
all the churches of Christ in this world throughout this gospel
age. They do not represent seven different
ages of the church or seven different dispensations or seven different
periods of church history. They represent the whole of God's
church on this earth. in various local churches scattered
throughout the earth at any given time. So that no matter where
you find the local church, whether it be a small band meeting somewhere
in somebody's basement or garage or front room or a large congregation
meeting a large metropolitan area, Doesn't matter whether
you find a local church with a faithful pastor or folks gathered
together hearing the word, by whatever means God will allow
them to hear the word. These letters are addressed to
each true gospel church in this world. That means each of these
letters is addressed to you and me. They're addressed to individual
believers, and they're addressed to local churches collectively,
to all of God's saints collectively. I want us to look at these seven
letters together, and I pray that God the Holy Ghost will
be our teacher, taking the words of our Savior contained in these
seven letters and burning them into our hearts. In these two
chapters, the Lord Jesus repeats this admonition seven times. He that hath an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. He that hath an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Our Lord repeats
that admonition in all seven letters. he means for us to hear
what he's speaking to us by his word. The title of my message
tonight is Warnings to the Churches. In these seven letters, the Lord
Jesus warns us, both individual believers and collectively as
the assembled saints of God in this local church. He warns us
plainly of the most prominent dangers we face in this world. the most prominent dangers God's
people face at any time, in any age, in any place in this world. Let me show you three or four
things here. I'll spend the bulk of my time
dealing with the dangers. But first, here is a fact we
must never forget. Our Lord Jesus says, I know thy
works. You see that in verse two? That's
what he said to the saints in Ephesus. In verse nine, he says
the same thing to the church of Smyrna. In chapter two, verse
13, he says the same thing to the church of Pergamos. In chapter
two, verse 19, he repeats exactly the same thing to Thyatira. In
chapter three, verse one, he says exactly the same thing to
the church of Sardis. And then he speaks to that church
of brotherly love in Philadelphia, chapter three, verse eight. He
says, I know thy works. and he speaks to the Laodicean
church and says, I know thy works. Our master, our God says to each
church, to every professed believer, to every true believer, and to
those who merely profess to be believers, I know thy works. He doesn't say I know thy words,
or I know thy feelings, or I know thy experiences. He says, I know
thy works. You see, the works of God's elect
are very important. Our works have no merit before
God. You need not that I should prove that to you. In this place,
I know you're fully aware of that. Our good works can never
atone for sin. Our imaginary good works can
never make us righteous. Our works can never give us a
higher standing or a better place or a richer crown in heavenly
glory. Salvation in its totality is
by God's free grace alone, only by God's free grace. But do not
imagine that God's people look upon their works as a matter
of indifference or something that matters not. Just recently,
someone said at a meeting, excusing ungodliness. We're not under
the law, we're under grace. That doesn't apply. You hear
me well. Everything in this book applies
to you and me. Everything in this book, God's
people are not motivated by law. God's people are not inspired
by law. God's people do not do what they
do for hope of reward by the law or fear of punishment by
the law. But God's people look upon themselves
as men and women saved by God's free grace who belong to Jesus
Christ, the Lord. And everybody who knows God in
the experience of His grace lives in a willful, voluntary submission
to Jesus Christ as Lord. Everybody who is born of God
and taught of God, everybody who believes on the Son of God
walks before God in good works, works that are described in scripture
as works of faith and of love. The Apostle James writes by inspiration
and says, faith without works is dead. Faith without works
is dead. Those who believe God demonstrate
their faith in the Lord God by what they do in their day by
day lives. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Noah believed God. How did anybody
know Noah believed God? Well, he wore funny clothes and
he talked funny and stood on street corners and had his pockets
full of tracks and shoved them in cars as he went by. No. How
did Noah demonstrate that he believed God? And he wasn't even
interested in demonstrating to other folks that he believed
God. He simply lived for God's glory, doing what he knew God
would have him to do. He built an ark. He built an
ark where nobody had ever seen a thunderstorm. He built an ark
when there were no clouds in the sky. He built an ark when
it was contrary to the opinions of everybody in the world that
an ark needed to be built. He built an ark and preached
Christ crucified and salvation by Christ for 120 years, believing
God. And at the appointed hour, he
took his sons and their wives and they walked into the ark. He believed God and he proved
it by what he did. There was a man by the name of
Abraham who believed God. Well, how do you really know
he believed God? He took his son Isaac, his only son Isaac. Now remember what's in Isaac. God said to Abraham, I'm going
to send my son, the woman seed. into this world through your
son, Isaac, through the fruit of your loins, that one who comes
out of Sarah's womb, he is going to be the progenitor of the Messiah,
the Christ of God. God said, kill him now. And Abraham took Isaac up to
Mount Moriah and slaughtered his son, believing that God was
able to raise him from the dead. He sacrificed his son upon the
mount. Well, he didn't really do it.
Oh, he really did do it. It was done in his heart when
he walked up the mountain. Abraham was looked upon by God. God said, you've not withheld
your only son from me. He believed God. There was a
woman by the name of Rahab, a harlot. I know folks say Rahab was an
innkeeper. Well, the kind of inn she kept
was just kind, you think she was. She was a harlot. But she
heard report of the God of Israel and the way the God of Israel
delivered his people and how that God had overthrown nation
after nation by those people called the Jews. And Rahab believed
God. And when she believed God, she
took the spies who'd come in to spy out the land and hid them
by faith and turned them loose by faith and looked for deliverance
by faith. She believed God. Hold your hands
here in Revelation 2 and turn back to the book of Ephesians.
I want you to see this. God has ordained that all who
are saved by his grace walk in good works for the honor of His
name. And what God has ordained, God
brings to pass. Ephesians 2 verse 8, By grace
are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For
we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. The entwelling presence of God,
the Holy Ghost, makes believers new creatures in Christ. And
being new creatures in Christ, God's people live not after the
flesh, but after the spirit. They live not as carnally minded
men and women, but as spiritually minded men and women. Men and
women seeking God's glory. Fail horribly, we do. Fail miserably, we do. The very best that we do, we
recognize is altogether insignificant. And our righteousness, that is
our most righteous deeds, are but filthy rags before God. God's
people recognize that. But they are like that woman
who brought the alabaster box and anointed the Savior with
it and washed his feet with her tears and wiped them with the
hairs of her head and kissed them. They have done a good work. Our Savior says concerning her,
she wrought a good work on me. Whatever it is you do for Christ,
for his glory, for his honor, whether you eat or drink, whether
you come to the house of God, make great sacrifice, or lay
down your life as a martyr, whatever it is you do for Christ is a
good work. It is wrought in you by God,
and those things that honor God are matters of great concern
to God's people. If I profess faith in Christ,
but by my works deny him, my profession is an abomination
to God and I'm reprobate. They profess, Paul says in Titus
1, they profess that they know God. but in works they deny him,
being abominable and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate. In the light of these facts,
let all who profess faith in the Lord Jesus hear the Savior's
words, I know thy works. For the hypocrite, those words
are terrifying. For the hypocrite, those words
keep him scared all the time. Because the hypocrite is full
of the leaven of the Pharisees. That is, he with great swelling
pride thinks himself righteous when he cannot perform anything
righteous. He thinks himself righteous because
he has a religious creed, a religious doctrine, a religious formality,
a religious ceremony, a religious way of life. But the master says,
I know your works. I see through the facade. You
see, all things are naked and open to the eyes of him with
whom we have to do. To the believer, these words
are full of cheer. I know thy works. The master,
our God and our savior, looks upon his people as they seek
to serve him. And he teaches us that God is
well pleased with the faltering, stumbling steps of his children
seeking him. I remember well when our daughter
took her first steps. I got down on my knees and I'd
say, come to daddy, come to daddy. And finally one day she let go
of the edge of that table and started to walk to her daddy.
And she fell and busted her behind. And she was hurt. She was coming
to daddy. I was tickled to death. Her fall
didn't matter a bit to me. She was coming to daddy. Now
hear me. We're coming to God by faith
in his son. And he accepts us as these hearts
are motivated by faith for his glory coming to him. But far,
far, far more importantly, He accepts us in the totality of
our lives because of Him in whom we live and move and have our
being, Jesus Christ His Son, in whom He is well pleased. so that our God is well pleased
with you who seek to honor Him living in this world by faith
in His Son. Let no one imagine that good
works are meaningless, that good works are something that ought
not concern us. Let us have great concern that
in everything we think and say and do, in the church house,
in our own house, in the business house, wherever we are, that
we honor God our Savior. Honor Him. I have a friend who
called me three times one Saturday several months ago. Her husband
was irate with her. She was scared to death what
was gonna happen. And wanted me to tell her what she ought
to do. I said, are you afraid he's going to hurt you physically?
She said, no, I don't think he will. I said, go home and love
him. Be the best wife you can possibly
be. Honor God. God may just use it. God may
just use it. How can you expect that? You're
a believer. You're a child of God. There's
something more important in this world than you feeling good.
and you enjoying life. There's something more important.
This is the way I want things. There's something more important.
That's the will of God, the glory of God, and the name of God.
Let every believer then be careful to maintain good works. Now second,
our Lord warns us of certain dangers that must be overcome. In Revelation chapters two and
three, The Lord Jesus identifies six conditions, which if they're
not resisted and overcome, will result in apostasy and eternal
ruin. If they're allowed to go unchecked
in any local church, the church will soon wither and die. It
may continue to exist in name, but that's all. Christ will withdraw
the light of the gospel from it And instead of being a house
of light, it will become a den of darkness. My soul, how often
I've seen that happen to individuals and to churches. If you find yourself described
in these letters as one, in one of these conditions of decline,
I've warned you, No, the master warns you, repent and turn again
to him. Here's the first one. The Lord
Jesus says in chapter two, verse four, I have somewhat against
thee because thou has left thy first love. What's he talking about? What's
he talking about? That fervent, zealous love which
inspired you to throw caution to the wind and give yourself
utterly to the Son of God when first you experienced His grace.
That first love. I'm not talking now about the
emotional excitement of that hour when first you believed.
I'm talking about that love inspired in your heart by the knowledge
of him who loved you and gave himself for you. Oh my God, let
that knowledge stir and inflame my heart relentlessly. Let me never, never, never lose
that first love. But how often I do. And I'll tell you when it happens.
Whenever something else gets in the way. Whenever something else gets
in the way. I have on occasion, as you know,
I don't do much counseling. And there's a reason for that.
I tell folks the same thing in private. I tell them from the
pulpit. And most times folks don't come twice for that. But
every now and then somebody come to me, I've had men and women
come to me say, say, I'm going to leave my husband, I'm going
to leave my wife. And I'll say, I'll come, I don't love him anymore.
My response is, you found somebody else to love. And they seem shocked. You would think I had just dipped
them plum naked right in front of me, because that's just what
I've done. And they know exactly what's
happened. I'll tell you when you lose your first love, is
when somebody else attracts your affection. Something else wins
your heart. Love not the world, neither the
things that are in the world. If any man loved the world, the
love of the Father is not in him. Mother Dawn, what do we
do to keep our hearts inflamed with the love of Christ? David Peterson, you can't do
it. But he can. He can. Listen to this. If ye
then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above,
where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection
on things above, not on things on the earth, for ye are dead. and your life is hid with Christ
in God. Make it your business, my soul. Make it your business, my brother,
my sister, to put yourself continually at the Savior's feet and hear
his word. Put yourself continually at his
feet and ask him as Eli told Samuel to ask him, speak Lord
for thy servant heareth thee. Set your affection on him. Constantly
set your heart on the Savior. Look at verse 14, chapter two.
Here's another danger. The doctrine of Balaam. We're warned here not to embrace
the doctrine of Balaam. For I have a few things against
thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of
Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the
children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit
fornication. Now if you want to read Numbers
chapters 22, 23, 24, and 25, You'll find that Balaam was an
unusual fellow. He was a false prophet, but he
didn't really say anything specifically. You could put your fingers on
and say, there, he denies that Christ is the son of God. He
denies the Trinity. He denies atonement. He denies
inspiration. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. He didn't
do any of that. The doctrine of Balaam is just
this. It is the doctrine of compromise. Balaam taught the children of
Israel to embrace the ungodliness of all the religion around them.
And Israel wound up following his course of action, eating
things offered to idols and committing fornication. That was what they
were known for in their practice of religion. Balaam said, you don't have to
be such straight-laced, orthodox people. You don't have to be
so narrow-minded. You don't have to be so bigoted,
so isolated. You can find a way to get along.
All you got to do is compromise. Just acknowledge that you go
your way and I'll go my way. We're both going the right way.
You say this, and I'll say that. We both say the same thing. You
say it's light, and I'll say it's dark. I'll say it's dark,
and you'll say it's light, and we're both telling the truth.
That's all right. You're just a mistaken brother. We'll embrace you as such. Be
warned. I know that compromise is the
way of the world. I know that all men love a compromising
person. They love folks who get along
and don't cause trouble. I know that, especially preachers
who get along and don't cause trouble. But compromise with
false religion is damning to your soul and damning to those
you influence. Compromise is the way of least
resistance. It's the way approved of by the
world, the way that's easiest to the flesh. But any compromise
with God's truth is an outright denial of Jesus Christ. I want
to be crystal clear. Turn to 2 Corinthians 6. 2 Corinthians
6. I have absolutely nothing to
do with freewill works religion under any name, by any representation,
or with anyone who does. Have nothing to do with it. I
urge you to do the same. I do not ever consider the possibility
that somebody might be saved who does not believe the gospel
of God's grace. Don't ever give that a consideration. Does that mean you're mean to
folks who don't believe what we do? No. Be nice to folks,
love them, be gracious to them, be kind to them, but don't compromise
the gospel. 2 Corinthians 6, verse 14. Be ye not unequally yoked together
with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness
with unrighteousness? Now I know this passage of scripture
is used by men to say that you ought not go to places where
worldly folks go, you ought not buy groceries at a store that
sells beer, you ought not to go to the movie house, you ought
not to wear this or that, you ought not to look like a world,
you ought not to marry the world, so on. Take it and use it any
way you want to. But this is what it's talking
about. It's talking about unequally yoked together with unbelieving
religious apostates. Read the passage. It's talking
about religion. Verse 14 again, the very last
verse. What fellowship, our very last
part of the verse, what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?
And what concord hath light with darkness? And what communion
hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ
with Belial? How are you going to mix Christ
and the devil together? Or what part hath he that believeth with
an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple
of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the
living God. As God hath said, I will dwell
in them and walk in them, and I'll be their God, and they shall
be my people. Well, what are you supposed to
do with these folks? Get out of the place. Just get out of
there. Well, I'm teaching Sunday school
there. You ain't teaching anything. I hear this from folks, literally
I hear it from folks all the time. People I've known for years
and years and years try to tell me they're in this Armenian churches,
liberal churches, Baptist churches, Presbyterian churches, this non-denominational
church. I'm teaching Sunday school there.
I have an open door. You ain't teaching a frazzling
thing. If you were, they wouldn't have you teaching. That's just
fact. I don't care who it is. That's
just fact. What do you do? Come out of Babylon. The Lord Jesus never says, stay
there and see if you can't change things. He says, come out from
among them. Read it. Come out from among
them and be you separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean
thing. And I will receive you and will
be a father unto you, and you shall be my sons and daughters,
saith the Almighty. The only way to remove the offense
of the gospel is to deny the gospel. We must never give credibility
to the religion of this world denying the gospel. Those who
preach man's free will deny God's sovereignty. Those who preach
the freedom of man deny the sovereign freedom of God. Those who preach
salvation by the will or the works or the worth of man deny
salvation by God's free grace. Those who preach universal atonement
deny the efficacy of Christ's blood. Those who preach universal
atonement deny the atonement was actually effectual, accomplishing
redemption for his people. And those who preach universal
grace deny the efficacy of God's saving grace. Brother Dunn, you
just, you can't say things that way. If I had time, I'd repeat
every one of those things again here now. Such people may talk
about grace. They may talk about redemption.
They may talk about God and Jesus and salvation. But their doctrine
is free will. It is works. It just as well
be Hinduism. It is the religion of Antichrist. It's following the way of Balaam
to unite with them. We must never seek agreement
with such men, even in the name of peace, unity, and brotherly
love. I recall years ago, I was just,
oh, 18 years old, maybe 19. That might
have been right after Shelby and I were married. Went up to
Virginia to a Sovereign Grace Theological Society. Had a bunch
of college fellows who decided they'd put a big name on something.
And they'd have preachers come in once a month and they'd do
some preaching. And this was during the time
when the Charismatics, the folks who speak in tongues, first began
to start having some respectability in the religious world. and folks
were doing all kinds of things trying to be so nice. And my
friend, Brother Harry Graham, was asked to speak right after
some other fellow got up to speak. And this fellow had done everything
he could to just, you know, our Arminian brethren, our charismatic
brethren. And he was just hugging everybody,
sweet and slobbery. And then Brother Harry got up
and he said, well, I'm gonna tell you something, brethren.
If you're not careful, you're gonna love yourself right out
of the kingdom of God. And he was exactly right. To
compromise the gospel in the name of love is to deny Christ
in the name of love. To compromise the gospel in the
name of unity is to deny Christ in the name of unity. Number
three, we're all by nature tempted to
embrace the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. I spent a good bit of time today,
again, trying to find out something about these Nicolaitans. Look
at verse 15, chapter 2. So hast thou also them that hold
the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. Now, our
Lord Jesus does not say, you are Nicolaitans. He said, you
have in your midst folks who hold the doctrine of Nicolaitans,
and you keep your mouth shut about it. That's what we're talking
about. You got folks sitting there who
hold doctrine of Nicolaitans. What was that doctrine? Best
I can find from history, and that's all I have to go by, the
Nicolaitans claimed to have descent from Nicholas, one of the first
deacons in the church at Antioch. Though there's no indication
at all that Nicholas was involved in their heresy. The Nicolaitans
were a group of heretics who lived in John's day, teaching
that it's all right for believers to engage in the sexual immoralities
of pagan religions. John Gill put it this way. They
committed a fornication, adultery, and all uncleanness, and they
had their wives in common, and also ate things off of Dido.
In other words, they were antinomians, real antinomians. Somebody asked
me the other night, what's that word mean? It means against the
law. God's people are not against
the law. I know that it's impossible for
a man to preach free grace without some will-worship Arminian saying
he's antinomian. If you care to look up your pastor's
name on any of the search engines on the internet, you'll find
a lot of folks who say Don Fortner is antinomian. And I just ignore
it, pay no attention to it. It's impossible to preach free
grace and someone not accused of being an antinomian. They
did the Apostle Paul as he tells us in Romans chapter 3. But it's
impossible to be a child of God and be an antinomian. One who
is against God's law. One who lives in violation of
God's law. One who ignores what God teaches
plainly in his word to gratify his own flesh. That is antinomianism. That is antinomianism. These
Nicolaitans were like many in our day, lawless, licentious
rebels who wear the name of Christ and pretend to be believers.
God's elect are not such people. I know we live in this age when
folks wink at fornication and wink at adultery and wink at
theft and robbery. Everybody you know answers for
himself and you don't want to judge anybody. God makes some plain statements,
some plain statements. And if you care for your soul,
you'll hear what God says. And if you care for the souls
of those you influence, you will make them hear what God says.
Some things are right and some things are wrong. And I'll tell
you what makes something right or makes it wrong. If God says
it's right, it's right. If God says it's wrong, it's
wrong. You don't have to invent anything. You don't have to make
up rules and regulations. God declares that which is right
and that which is perverse. And God's people follow his word,
his will, and seek his glory. Number four, look at verse 20. The churches of Christ and individual
believers, you and me, are constantly pressured by the world to be
tolerant of false prophets and false religion. Look at verse
20. Notwithstanding, I have a few
things against thee, because thou sufferest, that's a pretty
strong word, isn't it? Thou sufferest that woman Jezebel,
which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants
to commit fornication. and to eat things offered to
idols. The church at Thyatira was a charitable, diligent, faithful
group of people. Patient in trial, well-established
in the faith of the gospel, well-established in the doctrine of Christ. But
they were bent over backwards to be tolerant. To be tolerant
of all things, with a gal named Jezebel, who told the church
she was called of God to be a prophetess. She was called to be a preacher.
And the church said, well, you know, her grandma and granddad
have been in church all our lives. They've always been faithful.
She's got to be all right. There couldn't be anything too
bad wrong with her. And they suffered Jezebel to
teach. Called Jezebel by our Lord Jesus
after the name of that wicked woman back in the book of First
Kings called Jezebel. Ahab's horrid wife, Jezebel. Now the Scriptures are abundantly
clear. God forbids female preachers,
period. God forbids female preachers,
period. Anybody, anywhere, anytime, God
forbids it. The scriptures are explicitly
clear. I had a letter a couple of weeks ago, fella so concerned
he'd been duped into giving some money to this missionary, she
was raising money, and he wasn't present when they were taking
her to the office, he found out where she lived. And he had to
go through a gated community and drove up to this palace to
give her a few dollars. He said, he said, what do you
do? I said, for the start, you don't
support female preachers. That's a start. They're always
wrong. And they will always lead you
to that which is wrong. And God's servants and God's
churches are not to tolerate false prophets of any kind. Men who deny the gospel of God's
free grace are to be identified as the Apostle Paul identified
Hymenaeus and Thyletus. They're to be identified as the
Apostle identified Simon Magus. Flesh says don't make a fuss
about these men, that'll only cause trouble. The world, quotes
our Lord, says, judge not that you be not judged. But if they'd
read the rest of Matthew chapter seven, our Lord warned us again
and again and again and again to beware of false prophets.
Number five, look at chapter three, verse one. We must guard
earnestly against the tendency of our flesh toward religious
hypocrisy, ritualism, and lifeless orthodoxy. Unto the angel of
the church in Sardis write these things, saith he that hath the
seven spirits of God and the seven stars, I know thy works. Thou hast a name that thou livest
and art dead. Oh my God. Please, please, please don't let me be satisfied with the mere
mundane exercise of religious practice and the mere carnal
knowledge of true doctrine. But as we come to your house,
my God, move my heart to my Redeemer. Move the hearts of your people
to the throne of grace. And as we believe the gospel
of your grace, oh, God calls your word to burn in our hearts
with effectual power subduing our carnal passions, and inflaming
our hearts with love for our Redeemer and zeal for Him. One last thing, chapter three,
verses 15 and 16. Our Lord warns His churches of
the most dangerous of all fleshly tendencies, lukewarmness, apathy,
and indifference. I know thy works, that thou art
neither cold nor hot. I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm
and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. I don't know about you, but I,
I like milk. I love it. Shelby and I go through
two to four gallons of milk a week. Love it. I like it especially
poured into a cup that's been frozen so it builds up cream
on the side. I love it. I don't want it lukewarm. If it sets out, gets warm, just
pour it out, I ain't having it. I don't want it. I like soup,
stew. Hot, hot, hot. If it gets lukewarm,
just throw it away. I don't want it. I'm not that
hungry. I don't want it. I like hot things
hot and cold things cold. I despise things that are in
between. My God, let my heart be inflamed with
Calvary's love. Inflamed by the blood of my Redeemer. Inflamed with the debt of gratitude
to you for your grace. And let that flame consume my
every breath, until my last breath on this earth. Be warned, children
of God. The Lord Jesus says, remember
from whence thou art fallen. Repent. and do the first works. What's that talking about? Repent
and do the first works. I'll tell you what it's talking
about. Listen now, I'll send you home
with this. As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. I well remember, I well remember how I came into God's house on
the day God was pleased to call me by His grace and reveal His
Son in me. And I well remember how I went
home. Oh God, give me grace to go home this hour just like that. believing on the Son of God,
acknowledging my sin, rejoicing. Oh, rejoicing in the complete,
full, absolute, unreserved, free forgiveness of all sin. I was
so overwhelmed. My immediate thought was, oh,
Lord, take me. Take me. Oh, Lord, take me. All of me,
for Christ's sake. Amen. You're dismissed.