This morning is Romans chapter
four, Romans the fourth chapter. A couple of weeks ago when I
drove over to Lexington to preach on Saturday night during the
conference, I wasn't scheduled to preach until the last part
of the service. And someone asked me a question
I'm often asked, said, are you ready to preach? And I responded
the way I always do. We'll find out in just a little
while. I was reminded and often reminded of the first time I
preached in Dudley, England. I had always thought I'd like
to preach in one of those pulpits, those European pulpits that are,
you know, elevated. You've seen pictures of them.
And so I had a chance to and I did. And my head was about
four feet higher than the peak right there in the ceiling. And
you can imagine I found out real quick why they built the pulpits
like that. Everybody sat like this looking at you. They couldn't
possibly go to sleep. But I recall a story. A young man got up to preach,
and he was well prepared. And he climbed the pulpit with
his back straight and walked right up in the pulpit and went
to work and fell on his face. Just a few minutes, he quit.
and came down with his head hanging between his knees. After service,
one of the old men in the church said to him, son, if you had
gone up the way you came down, you might have come down the
way you went up. Never ready, never ready, never
ready. And I always beg God, as I do
now, that he will speak through this worthless instrument, his
word and the power of his spirit to your souls. Romans chapter
4, what shall we say? There's my subject. What shall
we say? In these 25 verses of Romans
4, The Apostle Paul was inspired
by God the Holy Spirit to take us back to two great examples
of faith. Faith in two of the most eminent,
highly esteemed men in all the Old Testament scriptures in all
the history of Israel, Abraham and David. And using Abraham
and David, He demonstrates to us all that he has taught us
in the third chapter of this great epistle. In Romans chapter
three, God, the Holy Spirit inspired the apostle Paul to show us four
things, four things that are written as with the sunbeam across
all the pages of Holy Scripture. And yet there are four things
very few people in this world understand. They're written as
with the sunbeam throughout the scriptures. And yet the vast
majority of people, even religious people, indeed most religious
people, have no idea what the scriptures teach concerning these
four things. See that you understand them.
Pray that God, the Holy Spirit, will inscribe them upon your
hearts. that he will teach you these things by his grace in
the sweet, blessed experience of his salvation. Number one,
Paul taught us in chapter three that there is no salvation, no
justification, no sanctification, no righteousness to be obtained
before God by the works of the law. You can't be saved by what
you do. And what you do contributes nothing
to God's salvation, be it good or evil. You could just as well
be saved by committing adultery as be saved by saying the sinner's
prayer. You could just as well be saved
by committing murder as you could by saying Hail Mary's. You could
just as well be saved by being a brutal man as be saved by baptism. There is no salvation, no righteousness,
no sanctification, no holiness, no justification to be obtained
before God by your works. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, the scripture says there shall no flesh be justified in
his sight. Second, every center. Every center. Every center. who trust the Lord Jesus is fully,
freely, and forever justified, sanctified, perfectly righteous,
completely holy. Every sinner who trust the Lord
Jesus is fully, freely, forever sanctified, justified, righteous
and holy before God. Romans chapter three, verse 21.
Now, the righteousness of the law or the righteousness of God
without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of
Jesus Christ. The righteousness which Christ
accomplished by his faith as our representative, making him
obedient unto death, is that righteousness which we have given
to all and upon all them that believe, for there is no difference. Believe on Christ right now,
right where you are, and perfect righteousness is yours. Believe
on Christ and receive witness as Abel did that you're righteous
before God number three this perfect righteousness Honors
God's law the righteousness of God in Christ the obedience of
Christ the righteousness given to us by faith in Christ honors
God's law enables God to be just and justifier of all who believe
so that by this righteousness God distinguishes himself as
he tells us in Isaiah 45 21 from all the imaginary gods that men
create and make men make gods out of everything men make gods
out of stumps and make gods out of gold and they make gods out
of butterflies make gods out of monsters men make gods out
of everything but God says I am God and And there is none beside
me, a just God and a savior. Find out how God can be just
and justify the ungodly. And you found out who God is.
Find out how God can be just and justify the ungodly. And
you've learned the whole revelation of this book. Find out how God
can be just and justify sinners. And you've learned the gospel
of Jesus Christ. How? Can God be just and justify
me? In that man, seated in glory,
who came here, lived as a man in obedience to God, and died
as my substitute, suffering all the wrath of God to the full
satisfaction of justice, and rose again. And yonder he sits
on the right hand of the majesty on high. That's how God can be
just and justify the ungodly. Number four, the only way centers like you
and me, the only way centers like you and me can fulfill God's
law. The only way we can honor God's
law. The only way we can establish
God's law is by faith in Christ. Now, those are the four things
the apostle taught us in chapter three. Let's look at chapter
four together. Here in Romans 4, 1 through 25,
the apostle illustrates these four facts by using these two
prominent examples of faith, Abraham and David. We'll look
at these 25 verses in six brief points. Number one, what shall
we say about Abraham's righteousness? Abraham is held before us as
the friend of God. Abraham is the imminent example
in the Old Testament scriptures of faith in Christ. Abraham is
the imminent example of righteousness, the father of all God's Israel,
the father of them that believe, the father of all the seed God
promised him, all God's elect. Abraham is that one who's held
forth as the example of that man Christ Jesus with whom God
made his covenant and gave all blessings to all his people in
one man. Well, where did he get his righteousness? How is it that this man Abraham
was such a righteous man that God said Abraham is my friend? Romans 4 verse 1 What shall we
say then that Abraham, our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath
found? He found this. For if Abraham were justified
by works, he hath whereof the glory, but not before God. For
what saith the scripture? Now that's the test. What saith
the scripture? Not what saith the Pope, not
what saith Don. Not what saith the fathers, not
what saith the creeds, not what saith the confessions, not what
saith this man or that. What saith the scripture? Nothing
else matters. This is what the scripture says.
Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. That's what the scripture says.
How does a man get righteousness? Abraham believed God and it was
counted to him for righteousness verse 4 now to him that worketh
is The reward not reckoned of grace, but a debt if he had worked
for it It would have been his just wages But to him that worketh
not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith
is counted for righteousness Abraham the friend of God found
righteousness and justification and sanctification and holiness
before God in exactly the same way you and I find righteousness
and sanctification and justification and holiness before God. He believed
in the Lord and it was counted to him for righteousness. Now,
that statement Paul gives in Romans 4 is quoted from Genesis
chapter 15 and verse 6. There we read plainly, Abraham
believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. But
the Holy Spirit tells us plainly in Hebrews chapter 11 that Abraham
believed God before that. Abraham, we're told, left irrationality
by faith when God called him to go out. So that it's impossible
really to stick your finger on a spot and say, that's where
Abraham began to believe God. We're not told that. We're not
told that. We're not told that for a reason. We're not told exactly when this
man believed God for a reason. It is pointless. absolutely pointless
and Very very harmful to the souls of men to mark a date say
this is when I believed It's pointless to do so we have a
few occasions in Scripture where men like Paul were unhorsed and
laid down on the Damascus Road and a bright light shines from
heaven and we see a Exact time when God called Paul called Saul
of Tarsus by his grace and converted him but few Very few examples
like that are found in the scriptures. Why? Because just as sure as
you mark a time, that's going to be your shots. I know I'm saved because I was
there when it happened. I know I'm saved because I remember
the day I prayed and I had just a warm feeling go all the way
up and down my spine. I know I was safe cause that's
when I quit drinking. I know I'm safe cause back yonder
I wrote it down in my Bible right there. The man told me to write
it down right here. This day you were born again. If you've
got to look to yesterday to find assurance of salvation, your
assurance is false. If you've got to look to this
morning to find assurance of grace with God, your assurance
is false. What assurance do you have that
you are God's? I believe God. That's all. Nothing else. When
Abraham was called, he believed God and left earth a cowardice.
When God told him that he would make his seed more numerous than
the stars of his... Look up in the sky, Abraham.
Count the stars. I can't do that. Look down on
the seashore. Count the sand on the seashore.
God, I can't do that. I'm going to make your seed more
numerous than the stars in the sky or the sand by the seashore. And Abraham believed God. He
said, God can do that. God can do that. Here I am a
man 100 years old. My wife's 90 years old. God said
he's going to give me that seed. He promised to my parents in
the garden that one through whom all nations of the earth would
be blessed, through whom a multitude shall be saved, more numerous
than the stars of heaven and the sand on the seashore. I believe
God. I believe God. What a remarkable
statement. When God promised him a son,
He believed God we're told in verse 21 being fully persuaded
Being fully persuaded that what God had promised God was able
to perform He and Sarah had given up hope of having children I
Would too by this time They'd given up hope of having any children.
That's just not possible and God came and said to Abraham. I'm gonna give you a son And
I'm going to multiply your seed as the stars of heaven and the
sand in the seashore. And Abraham said, honey, let's
go to bed. It's exactly right. Let's go. God said, we're going to have
a son, but it went on for years. It went on for years. No child
was conceived. They even gave way to the lust
of the flesh and tried to have a son by Hagar and they got Ishmael. That's what flesh always produces.
We still have to live with it. But Abraham continued to believe
God, and one night he and Sarah went to bed and Sarah conceived
seed in her womb, that dead womb. Abraham, that dead man. was given
a son because he was fully persuaded that God who made the promise
was able to perform it. That's what it is to believe
God. Can God save a wretch like me? I believe he can. Did God
promise life to sinners who believe his son? That's what he promised.
I believe his son. Do you? God's able to save even
me by his grace and most distinctly Abraham took his son Isaac up
on Mount Moriah at the command of God Imagine what we what we
read just a few minutes ago in Hebrews 11 imagine this God said
to Abraham take your son Isaac Your son whom you dearly love
that boy that boy. I gave you by miracle That boy
I gave you through your dead body in Sarah's dead womb you
take that boy in whom the promise of salvation is You take that
boy in whose loins is he who is to be the seed of woman. You
take that boy, that one through whom Christ is to come into the
world to redeem and save his people and kill him. Sacrifice
him on an altar to me. And Abraham took Isaac up to
Mount Moriah and offered him up to God by faith. Well, he
didn't really do it. Ask God about that. Hebrews 11
says he did. God's I see you've not spared
your own son. You've not withheld your own
son, but on the way up the mountain Abraham Understood fully That
when he killed his boy God, we're gonna raise him from the dead
He told his servant wait right here I and the lad are gonna
go yonder and worship God and we're gonna come back together
with you And as they're going up the mountain, Isaac said,
Father, we've got the fire in the wood for sacrifice. But where
is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, my son, God
will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. And Abraham
believed God, looking to Christ the promise seed, the surety
and substitute and sacrifice God ordained and God accepted
for his people. He believed God. Abraham, our
savior said, rejoiced to see my day. The basis of it all was
just this. This appeal that Paul makes,
he says, I'm calling for you to believe God. I'm calling for
you to trust God. And here's the basis of my appeal.
What saith the scripture? What does God say? Faith is not
meritorious. Faith does not produce righteousness. Faith does not put away sin. But faith receives and appropriates
the work of Christ the Redeemer. All that Christ did as our substitute. Faith in Christ is that by which
we receive testimony from God that we're righteous. That Christ redeemed us! Christ
put away our sins! We're righteous before God. All
right, here's the second thing. What shall we say about David's
blessedness? Verse 6. Even as David also describeth
the blessedness of the man to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness
without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are
forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Now, here's the long and short
of David's testimony. If anything were required of
man as a condition of righteousness, if anything were required of
man as a condition of justification, all men must be forever damned. If God waits on you, if God waits
on me to do something before we can be justified and made
righteous, we will be forever damned. As long as you look to
your hands and the work of your hands, the deeds of your mouth,
the deeds of your body, the deeds of your mind, the deeds of your
heart, as a hope before God, you will be forever damned. Because
there's none that doeth good, no, not one. None. This is how David prayed. Hear
my prayer, O Lord. Give ear to my supplications.
In thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness. And
enter not into judgment with thy servant. For in thy sight
shall no man living be justified. How can a man be just with God?
In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, is his
testimony. Now, here are the universal testimonies
of Scripture. Sinners are justified entirely
and alone by Jesus Christ, whose name is Jehovah's in Kenya, the
Lord, our righteousness, believing on Christ. Righteousness is imputed
to us without us doing anything, believing on Christ. All our
iniquities are forgiven us in our consciences. Believing on
Christ, all our sins are covered in our own souls. God testifies
in us that we're righteous. Our iniquities are removed. Our
sins are covered. And believing on Christ, we're
assured that God will never, never, never. God will never
impute iniquity to us. Oh, Skip Gladfelter, that's the
most wonderful thing in this world, to know that God won't
charge you with sin. God won't charge me with sin. When Satan accuses me, Martin
Luther said, I send him to my Lord. I have nothing to do with
him. My Lord Jesus took away my sins
and God declares that he will never impute iniquity to me. That's called grace. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me. All right, here's the third
thing. What shall we say then about
religious rituals and ceremonies? To make his argument even more
clear and to convince us more fully, the apostle here proceeds
to tell us that the idolatrous and imaginary merit and efficacy
of religious ordinances, rituals, ceremonies, and rites is without
foundation in the word of God. Religious activity will never
save you. You can walk down every church
aisle in the country, kneel at every altar in the country, and
repeat the sinner's prayer at every morning's bench in the
country, and still go to hell. You can go to the confessional
booth at every papist booth in the world, and confess your sins
to every priest you can find, and rub your rosary beads until
they fall off the cord, and you'll never find righteousness. Righteousness
is not to be had by religious rites and ceremonies. And he
gives us a very clear example. God commanded the ordinance,
the ceremony, the right of circumcision. He told Abraham to be circumcised
and to circumcise every male child. And by that circumcision,
he put a sign in their flesh saying, you belong to God. Signs say all my covenant promises
to Abraham are yours But Abraham was righteous before he was circumcised
Indeed he was righteous God declared him righteous before he had ever
heard tell a circumcision look what it says verse 9 cometh this
blessedness Upon the circumcision only or upon the uncircumcision
also I For we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. How was it then reckoned? When
he was in circumcision or in uncircumcision? Did God declare
that he was righteous when he was circumcised or before he
was circumcised? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. God reckoned him righteous. God told Abraham he was righteous
before he was circumcised. And he received the sign of circumcision. Now watch what it says. A seal. Underline that. That's what it
is. A seal. A seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had, yet
being uncircumcised. He received the seal of circumcision
after he believed God. He received the seal of circumcision
being a righteous man who believed God. He don't that he might be
the father of all them that believe though. They be not circumcised
that righteousness might be imputed to them also and The father of
the circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision Only
but who walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham
which he had being yet uncircumcised for the promise of that he should
be heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through
the law, through circumcision, through his works, but through
the righteousness of faith. Circumcision was not given in
the Old Testament to be a sign or an emblem or a type or a picture
of baptism. Come here, listen close now,
listen close. I'm not talking to anybody sitting
here. We haven't talked to you because I want you to hear me.
But for every papist and for every Protestant and everybody
who sloshes a little water on a baby's face and finds an excuse
for it in circumcision, listen close. That ain't what circumcision
teaches. Circumcision has got nothing
to do with baptism. The only reason, folks, point
to it is to try to retain from scripture some semblance of faithfulness
while they retain in their practice the Popish doctrines set forth
in hellish heresy teaching that baptism somehow gives a child
a step up on God. I don't pressure folks to make
a profession of faith. I don't pressure you to be baptized. If young children come to me
and want to be baptized, I always say, let's wait a little while.
Well, why would you do that? Because I want them to know what
they're doing. I want you to know what you're
doing. I don't ever, don't ever, don't ever pressure folks to
do so. Circumcision didn't portray baptism. Circumcision portrayed
the new birth. Circumcision portrayed God's
gift of his spirit read it for yourself in Ephesians chapter
1 verses 13 and 14 After that you believed you were sealed
You were sealed that is having believed God's sealed to you
all the blessings given to you in Christ before the world was
When you believe God saves your mind When you believe, God says
you're righteous. When you believe, God says you're
just. When you believe, God says you're sanctified. When you believe,
God says you please me. God gives you peace of conscience.
We are the circumcision. We are the circumcision which
worship God in the spirit and rejoice in, trust in, rest in
Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. And be sure you
understand this. Religious rituals, the practice
of religious ceremonies, the performance of religious works
without faith in Christ is damning. It's damning. Folks baptize their
babies. I can't tell you how many times
we witnessed folks. Somebody tell me, I was baptized when
I was a baby. And they look at that. as being
some hope they had before God. It's damning. It's damning to
practice religion without faith. Tonight we will receive the Lord's
table. And I warn you now, he that eateth and drinketh unworthily
eateth and drinketh damnation to himself. That's not suggesting
that somehow that if you're not good enough, holy enough, if
you have some unconfessed sin in your life, if you haven't
prayed enough, haven't read your Bible enough, you can't eat the
bread, drink the wine, because if you do, it'll turn into poison
and it'll kill you. No. No, that's stupidity. That's
idolatry. No, no. What that means, Larry
Brown, is that if you eat the bread and drink the wine, not
discerning the Lord's body, not trusting Christ, you eat and
drink damnation to yourself in the practice of religion without
faith. Religion without faith is damning. It's damning. Save sinners, those
who walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham.
Trust Christ alone. Depend on Christ alone. Live in communion and walk with
God as Abraham did in union with Christ. All God's elect, all
true believers, are one holy, spiritual, heaven-born family,
united in common with one another in union with Christ, in union
with God, his mystical body. All right, number four. I ask,
what shall we say about faith in Christ? Verse 14. For if they which are of the law
be heirs, if you can get saved by something you do, Faith is
made void. If your works make you holy,
faith is meaningless. If salvation depends on you saying
the sinner's prayer, if salvation depends on you making a decision
for Jesus, if salvation depends on your free will, if salvation
depends on you choosing the Lord, if salvation depends on you performing
righteousness, then faith is meaningless. And the promise
is made of none effect. Because the law worketh wrath. The law worketh wrath. It works
wrath in you. It stirs you up. It stirs up
the wrath of God in you. I'll prove it. I'll prove it.
Some of you here still look to your goodness. Something in you
say, that's it. Now I know I'm God's. I feel
good. I've been behaving right. I've
been reading my Bible. I've been praying a lot. Now, I know everything's
all right. And then you mess up. And you
realize, maybe I'm not as good as I thought. Maybe I'm not strong
enough. Maybe I'm not righteous enough.
Maybe I'm not holy enough. And suddenly you're seized with
guilt and terror in your soul. The law works wrath. It can never
speak peace. The only way you get peace by
measuring yourself against the law is if you bring the law down
to your gutter, is if you make the law fit you, because you'll
never fit in. The law worketh wrath, for where
no law is, there's no transgression. Therefore, it is of faith that
it might be by grace. Faith, faith, God-given faith. Faith, not the work of the flesh,
but the fruit of the spirit, that it might be by grace. To
the end, the promise might be sure to all the seed. Sure. Sure. You don't really mean you'd be
sure for said. To the end, the promise might
be sure not to some of the seed, all the seed. How I believe God. And Rex Bartley, just in proportion
as you and I believe God, God's promise to Christ is sure. Ask of me, I'll give everything
to you. And he puts everything in his
hands and gives us all things in him. Read on. Not to that
only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the
faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. All right, fifth. What shall
we say about the hope of life? Verse 17. As it is written, I have made
thee a father of many nations before him whom he believed,
even God, who quickeneth the dead. I love this next statement. And calleth those things which
be not as though they were. I'll come back to that. Abraham,
against hope, believed in hope. God said, Abraham, you're going
to have a son. Sometimes the best way to be
clear is to be ridiculous. I believe that chair is going
to walk out that door this morning. If you believe strong enough,
it'll walk out the door. That's what folks talk about faith.
I was watching a little bit of the Cats ballgame earlier yesterday,
and they kept talking about the UCLA A-team, said they've got
to get that belief system working. They've got to get that belief
system working. Just got to believe they can do it. Well, believing
ain't going to make it happen. Ain't going to make it happen.
No, not the kind of believing, but believing God. That's something
else. You see, God didn't promise that
that chair was going to walk out the door, did he? And you
can believe it all you want to, it ain't walking out the door.
You may even get to smoking something pretty good and think the chair
walked out the door. You may get you a good dose of
religion and see the chair walk out the door, but it's still
sitting right Shonda. It had done a thing. That's not faith. As much as I believe God, I believe
God can do anything. That's not faith. That's not
faith. Bobby Estes faith is believing
that God will do what God said he would do. That's faith. Faith is believing that God will
do what he said he would do. God said, Abraham, you old man,
you, you old man, you. He was a hundred years old. He
was a hundred years old. He said, you're going to have
a son. And Abraham, against hope, believed in hope. He said, I'm
going to have a son. I'm going to have a son. Sarah,
honey. God said, I'm going to have a
son. Read on now. Watch what it said. And being not weak in faith,
he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about a
hundred years old, neither the deadness of Sarah's womb. Verse
20. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but
was strong in faith, giving glory to God. What's that mean, strong
in faith? Oh, I can do anything. I believe
God. Nothing bothers me. I believe
God. That's not what strong in faith is. Strong in faith is
believing God. Believing God will do what God
said he would do. Being strong in faith, he staggered
not at the promise of God, but was fully persuaded, verse 21,
that what he had promised he was able to perform. Therefore,
it was imputed to him for righteousness. You and I who trust Christ have
hope of eternal life in and with Christ because God quickeneth
the dead. God makes dead sinners to live.
And God who gives life to poor, helpless, dead sinners calleth
those things which be not as though they were. He called us
his people before we were his people, before he gave us power
to become the sons of God. He called us righteous before
he made us righteous. He called us holy before we experienced
his holiness. He called us justified before
he spoke peace to our consciences in free justification. Like Abraham,
all who are born of God, all who believe God against all hope
in ourselves being fully persuaded that what God has promised he
is able to perform. Let me tell you what I believe. whopping the teeth of all my
sin, knowing my own spiritual lethargy,
knowing the corruption and depravity of my heart, knowing the vileness
of my life, I believe God has made me righteous. I believe God can save me. I'm sure of it, because I trust
his son. And that gift of faith, which
God has wrought in me, teaches me that I'm God's, and I'm righteous,
and I'm holy, and I'm sanctified, and I'm justified in Jesus Christ
the Lord. Now, that brings us to verses
23, 4, and 5. What shall we say about Jesus
our Lord? Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was
imputed to him. That is God didn't tell us all
this about Abraham for Abraham's sake. He could have done that
without recording it. He told it for us, but for us
also to whom it shall be imputed. If we believe on him that raised
up Jesus, our Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses.
and raised again for our justification. To believe for salvation is not
merely to believe in the existence of God, but to believe on him,
to believe him, to believe in him in regard to his own gospel,
saving faith looks to Christ, the same surety substitute and
sacrifice to whom Abraham looked. Same one. Abraham, back in Genesis
15, when we're told he believed God, it was counted to him for
righteousness. Let's see if I can remember what
he took. He took a ram, and a she-goat, and a turtle dove, and two young
pigeons. You know what those were, Merle?
Those were all the sacrifices appointed by God in the ceremony
of the law given 400 years later to Moses by which he typified
the sacrifice of Christ. And Abraham took those sacrifices
and split them in two and laid them on the altar to God. And
when the buzzards came about to devour their sacrifices, Abraham
drove them off. He drove them off. But this is
my hope. This is my hope. Christ alone
is my hope. And when the buzzards of free
will and the buzzards of works and the buzzards of baptism and
the buzzards of religion and the buzzards of good deeds come
to devour the sacrifice, drive them away and cling tenaciously
to Jesus Christ crucified. Preacher. Is that what this is
all about? That's what it's all about. He
that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. He that believeth
not the Son of God shall not see life, but the wrath of God
abideth on him. I love the story of Happy Jack. I've told it to you many times.
He was a fellow like John Bunyan, just a tinkerer. He went around
repairing pots and pans. One day while he was making his
rounds, this vile, blaspheming, drunk, heard two women singing
a little ditty. I am a poor sinner and nothing
at all, but Jesus Christ is my all in all. And it kind of found
its way into his mind, and for long he found himself whistling
that tune. I am a poor sinner and nothing
at all, but Jesus Christ is my all in all. And in time, God
put the words in his heart. And he went to confess Christ
in baptism. And as is the case with many
today who think they're doing God's service, I guess, folks
customarily would examine a fellow. And he asked the pastor to baptize
him. He said, well, you'll have to come before the board and
the deacons will examine you and the elders. And so they made
an appointment, and he went before the church board, and they said,
well, what's your confession, Jack? And he said, I am a poor
sinner and nothing at all, but Jesus Christ is my all in all.
And they said, is that all there is to it? He said, what more
could there be? I am a poor sinner and nothing
at all, but Jesus Christ is my all in all. But don't you ever
get low? I am a poor sinner and nothing
at all. I can't get any lower than that.
Well, don't you ever have any spiritual highs? He said, Jesus
Christ is all in all. I can't get any higher than that.
And finally, they admitted Jack in the church and baptized him.
And from that day on, he was known as Happy Jack. Because
he went everywhere singing, I am a poor sinner and nothing at
all. But Jesus Christ is all in all. Call me happy. I am a poor sinner. and nothing at all but Jesus
Christ is all in all. Oh may God give you now the faith
of our father Abraham and the blessedness of David and give
you grace to walk in the steps of that faith trusting Christ
the Lord. Amen.