In the 24th verse of Romans chapter
3, God the Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle Paul to declare that
we are justified freely by his grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus. Justified, made right, righteous,
holy, sinless before God. by grace, justified freely by
His grace. This free justification is altogether
the work of God's grace and it is through the redemption that
is in Christ Jesus. It cost our Savior dear to justify
us. It cost our Savior His life to
justify us. It cost Him His precious blood
to justify us. But we receive and enjoy that
free justification, that free salvation, absolutely with no
contribution on our part, freely, freely. I want to focus our attention
just on that word freely this morning, as it is used through
the scriptures. And in preparing this message,
I looked up every place where it is used. Everywhere where
this word is used, it is used in conjunction with God's salvation
and God's grace. Either the freeness of his grace
being bestowed on us or the free grace of God operating in us
so that the scriptures teach us that in this matter of salvation,
In this experience of grace, everything is free. Everything
God does for sinners, everything God does for sinners, and everything
God does in sinners is free. That's not all. Wherever grace
is found in a sinner, saved by God's grace, washed in Christ's
blood, born of his spirit. Everything the sinner does for
God. Everything the sinner does for
God in service to his honor and his glory is entirely free. Now you don't need to turn there,
but in Genesis, what do turn there? Turn back to Genesis chapter
three, Genesis chapter three. In the beginning, Before sin
entered into the world, when God created Adam and Eve in the
garden, everything was free. The Lord God said to Adam when
he put them in the garden, of every tree in the garden thou
mayest freely eat. Freely. Everything's free. Here
it is. Here it is. You can have it all
freely with no condition. No qualification, no contribution
on your part, no coercion, no constraint. You take everything
I've made freely. And he gave one stipulation identifying
himself as God. Of the tree that's in the midst
of the garden, don't you eat that. Don't you eat that. This
one tree, don't you eat that. Everything else is free. ate of that fruit of that forbidden
tree. In defiance of God's right to
be God, sin entered into the world and suddenly nothing is
free. Everything has its consequences. Everything is costly. And the
Lord God, because of sin entering into our Father Adam entering
into the human race, him dying in sin, him living in sin, you
and I dying in him and in him living in sin and from him inheriting
our sinful natures. Before God drove the fallen pair
out of the garden, look what it says to him in Genesis 3 verse
9. Genesis 3 verse 9. The Lord God
called unto Adam and said unto him, Where art thou? Adam wasn't
seeking God. He was hiding from God. Adam
wasn't trying to find God. God came to find Adam. The Lord
God called unto Adam and said unto him, where art thou? My
theology professor since I was 18 years old has been John Gill. And I try to find out everything
I can about him. Gill, as you know, lived in the
1700s. wrote commentary on, he's the
only man ever who wrote commentary on every verse in the scriptures,
the only one who ever did. God used him mightily. When he
was a young man, his pastor, Mr. Wallace, was preaching from
Genesis 3, 9. Where art thou? And God used
it to call him by his grace. I have looked in vain to find
any reference to that in Gil's writings. But this is how God
comes to sinners. He comes seeking the sinner.
And he comes causing the sinner to hear his voice and hearing
his voice causing the sinner to know he's lost and calls the
sinner to life and everlasting salvation in himself by Christ
Jesus. And he said, Adam said, I heard
thy voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and
I hid myself. And God said, who told thee that
thou was naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree where
have I commanded thee? that thou shouldest not eat.
God knew he had eaten of the tree. He wasn't asking for his
information. He is causing Adam to know his
sin. And the man said, the woman whom thou gavest me, she gave
me of the tree and I did eat. Like us all, Adam began to make
excuses for his sin, but God wouldn't allow it. And the Lord
God said to the woman, what is this that thou hast done? And
the woman said, the serpent beguiled me and I did eat. In other words,
Adam and Eve both said, God, it's your fault. It's your fault
we're in this mess. Adam said, you gave me this woman.
The woman said, you created the serpent. And the Lord God said,
verse 14, unto the serpent, because thou hast done this, thou art
cursed above all cattle and above every beast of the field, upon
thy belly shalt thou go and dust shalt thou eat. all the days
of thy life. And then God preached this message
of grace. And I will put enmity between
thee and the woman, between thy seed and her seed. He speaks
here to Satan. about the sure accomplished redemption
of Jesus Christ through that one who comes into the world,
the woman seed. That promised redeemer who would
come into the world as not the seed of man, but the seed of
woman born of a virgin. But the message he preaches while
he's talking to Satan, Adam is standing right there. Eve is
standing right there and the Lord God is speaking to them.
Read on. The woman's seed shall bruise
thy head. He's going to destroy you. He's
going to destroy you. If you crush a man's head, you've
destroyed it. He will crush your head, destroy
you and all your influence and all your power. And thou shalt
bruise, crush his heel. You will cause the woman seed
to have great pain, but he, as you crush his heel, will crush
your head. Verse 16. Unto the woman, God
said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow thou shalt bring forth
children, and thy desire shall be unto thy husband, and he shall
rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, because
thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten
of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying thou shalt not eat
of it, cursed is the ground for thy sake. In sorrow shalt thou
eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns also and thistles
shall it bring forth to thee. And thou shalt eat of the herb
of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt
thou eat bread. till thou return to the ground.
For out of it was thou taken. For dust thou art, and under
dust shalt thou return. Now watch verse 20. Adam called
his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.
Unto Adam also, and unto his wife did the Lord God make coats
of skins and clothed them. God gave Adam and Eve a picture
of exactly what he declared in verse 15. He killed innocent
victims because of Adam's transgression. And he took the skins of those
victims and clothed Adam and Eve with the skins of those innocent
victims. So the Lord Jesus Christ, God's
Holy Lamb, was slain by the hand of divine justice because of
his people. because of our sin, that he might
redeem us from all iniquity and make us the very righteousness
of God in him. And by the sacrifice of his son,
he satisfied divine justice. And it takes the perfect righteousness
of his son and puts it on us and makes it ours. So that where
sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Now, this is the
thing I want to show you in this message. As it was with Adam
and Eve in the garden. The grace that God bestowed upon
them was absolutely free. So all God's salvation is free. Everything connected with God's
salvation is free. No law connected with it. No
works connected with it. No deeds connected with it. We
renounce what we have done and we rejoice in what Christ has
done. That's called faith in Jesus
Christ, the Lord. Now let's look at several of
these places where the word freely is used. Turn back to Hosea chapter
14. I started to work on this earlier
in the week. And the more I looked at it,
the more I thought, I believe I'm going to camp here for a
little while. Hosea chapter 14. This marvelous prophecy of the
work of our Lord Jesus Christ given by his prophet, Hosea,
is intended of God to be a picture of his love toward the children
of Israel. In Hosea chapter 14, verse 1,
O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God, for thou has fallen
by thine iniquity. I call on you here. who yet know
not God my Savior. Return now to Christ. You're fallen. You're in the
mess you're in by your iniquity. Take with you words, words of
repentance, and turn unto the Lord and say unto Him, say unto
Him, how do I come to God? Come to Him like this, Lord,
take away all iniquity. and receive me graciously, so
will we render the calves of our lips. God have mercy upon
me, the sinner, and I will praise you for it. God have mercy on
me, and I will honor you for it. God have mercy on me, and
I will render to you the praise of my lips. Asher shall not save
us, We will not ride upon horses. Neither will we say any more
to the work of our hands. Ye are our gods. We will forsake
our idols and all creature help. For in thee, the fatherless find
mercy. In thee, the fatherless, people
like us, people cast off, people unworthy, they find mercy. Now
hear what God says. I will heal the backsliding I
will heal their backsliding. I will love them freely. I will love them freely. I will love them without any
reason in them. Without any cause in them. Without any price being paid
by them. Without any condition being met
by them. Without anything being done by
them. I will love them freely. What's he talking about? His
people are loved with an everlasting love. God loved me from everlasting. In a few weeks, you're going
to get to the end of John 17 in your Bible class studies,
and then he's going to be talking to you about the love of God
for us. Having loved us in Christ, he
loved us as himself. from everlasting before the foundation
of the world. God loved me from everlasting. But I lived in this world all
my life. Terrified of God. I knew nothing about that love.
I had no knowledge of that love. Folks could talk about it. All
they want to talk about it. All I could see is anger and
wrath and just anger and just wrath against this sinful man. Until the Lord God revealed his
son in me, giving me faith in Christ Jesus. And God is here
speaking to sinners who need his mercy. Sinners to whom he
will be gracious. And he says, I will love them
That is, they shall come to know and experience my love for them
without anything done by them. Here's the reason. Now watch
it. For mine anger is turned away. Listen to me now. I will love them freely. For mine anger is turned away
from one person. I will love them freely because
my anger is turned away from Him, the Lord Jesus, our Redeemer. He who was made sin for us, who
bore all the fury of God's wrath for us. Now, justice being satisfied,
my anger is turned away from Him who redeemed them. I will
love them freely. This is God's great promise of
grace, superabounding grace to sinners who come to him seeking
mercy and grace in Christ Jesus. I will heal their backsliding. I will love them freely for mine
anger is turned away from their Redeemer. The Lord God ever gracious,
ever merciful to his people. He speaks here particularly of
a people who deserve his wrath. A people unfit for him. They're called Ephraim. Ephraim. God's elect. God's elect, Ephraim. But Ephraim was full of iniquity.
Ephraim was like a backsliding heifer. Ephraim was worthy of
God's wrath, abandoned to be deserted of God forever, full
of idolatry, joined to his idols, so that God said to his prophet,
Ephraim is joined to his idols, leave him alone. So that Ephraim
was looked upon as outcast and cast off, but God would not leave
Ephraim alone. God says, Ephraim is mine. I've heard him. Referring back
to verses one, two, and three, the Lord God speaks of Ephraim
and says, I will take away all iniquity and receive him graciously. I will cause this one who asked
for me to take away all iniquity to receive him graciously. And
I will do what he's asked of me. I've observed him. I've observed him. I look at
him and I watch him. I see him. My eye is on him. I think of the particle sun when
he was a great way off. His father saw him. I've observed him. I've had my
eye on him all the time. Oh, if you're God's, God's had
his eye on you from eternity. And he will bring you to himself
no matter where you go. Ephraim turns to the Lord. If you want to turn back to Jeremiah
for just a minute, listen to this. This is how Jeremiah, or
how Ephraim speaks of this turning of himself. Verse 18, Jeremiah
31. I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning
himself thus. Thou hast chastised me, and I
was chastised. As a bullock unaccustomed to
the yoke, I was a wild, unbroken, untamed bullock in the yoke,
chastised by God's hand. And Ephraim says, turn thou me,
and I shall be turned, for thou art the Lord my God. Back here
in Hosea 14, verse 7, 8, God says, I've observed it. I'm a
green fir tree. This is our all-glorious Savior. I don't suppose I've ever seen
a green fir tree, but reading about these, particularly in
this part of the world, I'm told that the green fir tree is a
tree with branches hanging so low to the ground that anyone
who wishes to can take hold of it. That its branches are so
full, so full that If you're in the midst of a heavy rainstorm,
you can take refuge under this green fir tree and be sheltered
from the storm. And if you get close to it, though
the fragrance is not overpowering, it is a scent, a fragrance. You
get close to it and the scent rubs off on you. A sweet, subtle
fragrance. That's Christ the Lord. Take hold on Him. If you wish
to do so, you may. If you want to, you may. If you
want Him, you can have Him. He's within the reach of any
who seek after Him. And this fern tree's branches
are so thick, so massive, that you can find shelter in the midst
of any storm here. And as surely as you do, the
scent of Christ crucified, the sweet savor of Jesus Christ,
God smells upon you. Now read the last line of verse
8, Hosea 14, and learn its doctrine. From me is thy fruit found. Grace is God's gift. Grace, salvation
is altogether the work of God. If we live, if we revive, it
will be because he gave us life. because he brought us to himself,
because he gave us faith, because he wrought repentance in us.
So then, it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth,
but of God that showeth mercy. I told the folks last night,
first time I preached in Louisville for Redeemer Church, Brother
M.B. Magruder was still pastor there,
and I got done preaching He said to me, after saying you gave
our Reformed friends some trouble tonight, he said, isn't it strange,
isn't it strange that man takes the weakest point of his character
and makes a god of it, his will. This religious world is a world
of will worshipers. The whole of the religion of
the world is will religion. But God declares salvation is
not by that weakest aspect of your being. Oh no, it is not
of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that
showeth mercy. This is God's method of grace.
Look at verse 9. God Almighty saves whom he will. And those he saves are the most
obstinate, undeserving, apostate rebels to be found among men. And he saves them in such a way
as all together to glorify his grace and make us know that he
loves us freely. Who is wise and he shall understand
these things prudent and he shall know them for the ways of the
Lord are right. And the just shall walk in them. God's ways are right. And all
who are justified by His grace walk in them with faith and joy
and gratitude. You will not find any of God's
people, any who are justified by God's grace, any who are saved
by God's grace, rebelling against God's sovereign character, Christ
accomplished work, God's free salvation. You won't find that.
But the transgressors, Folks who will not be saved by the
righteousness of Christ, folks who will not be saved by the
blood atonement of Christ, folks who will not be saved by free
grace alone, the transgressors shall fall therein. In other
words, that very foundation stone upon which God's people are built
is to the rebel, the unbeliever, the reprobate, a stone of stumbling
and a rock of offense. Everything hinges on this word
freely. I will love them freely. God's love gushes out to sinners
like a mighty river from heaven freely through Jesus Christ crucified. We have many, many, many illustrations
of God's love in scripture. How can I begin to portray it? The love of Adam for Eve. Oh, what a picture of God's love
for me. The love of Jacob for Rachel.
Jacob served seven years for Rachel and he was tricked and
he served another seven years for Rachel and he said it was
just as if it was a day. Oh, how he loved that woman. Boaz loved Ruth. Took that Boabitis and redeemed
her because of his love for her. He would not rest until he had
done all that was required for her. Hosea, here, God said to
Hosea, you go down among the harlots and find you a wife.
Love a woman out of the red light district, and I'll show you my
love for my people. Oh, what love Hosea had for Gomer. made her his wife. And when she
abandoned him, he never abandoned her, but pursued her and provided
for her until he brought her back to his house and caused
her to love him. What a picture of our Redeemer's
love. But if you would know the love
of God, go to Mount Calvary. Hereby perceive we the love of
God, because he laid down his life. for us. Herein is love, not that we loved
God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. Now briefly, look back at Romans
chapter three, verse 24. Here in our text, the book of
God declares that we are justified freely by his grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus. To be justified is to
be made righteous. Righteous. I hesitate to say
what I say all the time, righteous before God, as if to imply that
it is just as though we appear righteous. Oh, no, no, no, no,
no. To be justified is to be made
righteous before God. Righteous. Really and truly righteous. To be justified is to be forgiven
of all sin. Forgiven of all iniquity. Forgiven
of all transgression. To be forgiven, Randall, of all
that we are by nature. And forgiven of all that we have
done and do. contrary to God's holy character. Justify. Justify. We're justified freely by God's
matchless free grace through the redemption that's in Christ
Jesus. Would you care to look again at 2 Corinthians chapter
5, verse 20? Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ. as though God did beseech you
by us. Merle, I'm utterly overwhelmed
at that. I'm overwhelmed at that. That God would speak to you by
the lips of this man, through this man's voice, His Word, and
beseech you. Be ye reconciled to God. Oh, rebel, quit fighting God. Quit your rebellion. Cease your
rebellion. Raise the white flag of surrender
in your soul to King Jesus. Give yourself to the Savior. Well, how can you expect that
from anybody? For he hath made him sin for us. who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. God says I love them
freely. God says I justify you freely. Now turn to Revelation 21. Revelation
21. Hear what our Savior says. The
Lord Jesus Christ, God's darling Son says in verse 6, or verse
16 rather, I will give to him that is a thirst of the fountain
of the water of life. I will give to him that is a
thirst of the fountain of the water of life. The Lord Jesus
is a fountain, a gushing fountain. of the water of life. And he
says, when I give you of this fountain, when I give you to
drink of this fountain, this fountain shall be in you, a fountain
of living water gushing up unto everlasting life. He says, I
will give to them of the fountain of the water of life. Free me,
free me. This is not a fountain, it's
just glass. Ah, but can you picture it as
a gushing, gushing artesian well just springing up and you're
thirsty. That didn't cost me a thing.
That didn't cost me a thing. I will give to them a fountain,
the water of life freely. And he invites sinners to drink
from the fountain. Look at verse 17. And the spirit
and the bride say, come. And let him that heareth come,
and let him that is a thirst come. Are you thirsty? Are you thirsty? No, preacher,
I'm not interested. Well, I pity you. And I pray God will
make you thirsty. Are you thirsty? Oh, preacher. What I wouldn't give to have
that eternal life. I heard you talking about a little
while ago. That eternal life. A life of righteousness before
God that never ends, but continues forever in bliss and only grows
better when this mortal flesh is gone. Oh, preacher, I thirst
for that. I thirst for forgiveness. I thirst
for peace. Oh, how I want that. Freely, the Savior said, come
and drink. Come and drink freely. Now read the next words. Well,
I don't know whether that includes me or not. so ever will, who so ever will,
who so ever will let him take of the water of life freely. I hear fellows preach about God's
sovereignty and God's election and particular redemption and
the effectual call, irresistible grace of God's spirit. A lot
of times, as if they're scared to death, one of the non-elect
might get saved. That ought not be the case. That
ought never happen. We preach the gospel. that throws open the doors of
mercy to needy sinners, and any sinner who wants God's grace
has God's grace. Whosoever will, let him come
and take the water of life freely, freely. But preacher, you know
that only the elect are going to be saved. I know, I think
I know that. You know that only those who
are predestinated are going to walk with Christ in life. I think
I've been preaching that to you for a while. You know that only
those for whom Christ died are going to live with him. I think
maybe I've preached that about as clearly as anybody does. Well,
how can you dare say that? Cause it's so. It's so. And you will never know that
God chose you. and Christ redeemed you and the
Spirit called you until you take of the water of life. So come
and drink. No, I don't think I will. Okay. I'm sorry for you. Sorry for
you. Oh, give me that water. You're
the one I came seeking today. Get me to drink. You're the one
I came seeking. This water of life is free to
all who desire it. Look at 1 Corinthians 2. 1 Corinthians
2. Verse 12. Not only is salvation
free, without cost, without cause, without condition, without qualification,
every blessing of God's grace is free. Look at verse 12. Now
we have received not the spirit of the world. We have received
not the spirit of the world. The spirit of the world is you
do for me and I'll do for you. The spirit of the world is I'll
do for you if I feel good about it. You watch these commercials
on television about suppertime and they show you pictures of
flea-bitten animals with a mange and you're trying to eat your
biscuits and gravy and You can't hardly choke it down and say,
it just cost you a dollar a day and you'll feel so good about
it. That's the spirit of the world. It'll make you feel so
good. It'll make, oh, now, man, I give
a dollar a month to take care of poor animals. What'd you do
for it? I stand in the soup kitchen and
help folks. What'd you do for those folks? They need us this
time of year, you know. As if they didn't need you the
other 12 months of the year. The spirit of the world says you
do for me and I'll do for you. I'll do for you if I get something
from it. That's the spirit of the world. We didn't receive
the spirit of the world. The whole of this religious world,
Bobby Estes, is the spirit of the world. God'll do for you
if you'll do for him. God will give to you if you'll
give to him. God will work for you if you'll work for him. God
will bless you if you'll do something good. That's the spirit of the
world. We've not received the spirit of the world but the spirit
which is of God that we might know the things that are freely
given to us of God. All things are yours for ye are And Christ is God's. Isn't that
something? You mean, Brother Don, the whole
of God's grace, the whole of God's salvation, the whole of
God's blessing is altogether free, given only through Christ
and freely by Christ to all who desire his mercy. That's what
he said. Free grace. Free grace! That's God's grace. Now, look
at Matthew chapter 10. Matthew chapter 10. Some of you men will remember
my first discussion with you when you talked to me about becoming
your pastor. And you asked me about what I
needed to live on. I refused to say. And I said
this to you, Lindsay. I said, I'm perfectly willing
to come here and work and provide for my family and preach to folks
who want to support me and can't. I want pastor folks who can support
me and won't. That'd be dishonoring God, dishonoring
the gospel. I won't do that. I won't do that.
But I'm perfectly willing, perfectly willing to spend the rest of
my life laboring and preach the gospel to folks who want to support
me and aren't able to. How can you say that? Look at
Matthew chapter 10, verse 7. As you go, preach, saying, the
kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick. Cleanse the lepers. Raise the dead. Cast out devils
freely. you received, freely give. Paul said to the Corinthians,
I preach the gospel to you freely, freely. I get more than a little disturbed
when people presume that you've got pay a preacher to come preach. You've got to meet certain expenses.
Folks ask me, how many people do we have? I've actually had
people ask me this. I've had preachers ask me, how many people do we
have to have to get you to come? One or two will do fine. One
or two thousand is better, but one or two will do fine. That's
fine. I've gone many times and done so. Many times. Well, what
would it cost to get you to come? Now I get a little upset. I've been preaching the gospel
of God's free grace for 47 years. To this date, I've never asked
anybody for a dime. And don't poor math folks and
act like, boy, I'd do if I could afford to do so. Never, never,
never. Why? Merle Hart, I served the
king of glory. You understand what I'm talking
about? All that I've received through God, I've received freely. And we are to serve our God just
that way, freely, freely, giving ourselves wholly to the cause
of our Redeemer. Yes, God's servants are worthy
of and should have the generous support of his people. Our Lord
sent his disciples out and he said, don't go from house to
house. Don't go begging. Don't go begging. Don't go asking folks to take
care of you and provide for you. The laborer is worthy of his
hire. He tells us those who preach
the gospel should live of the gospel. Those who labor in the
word are worthy of double honor. They're worthy of being taken
care of to the very best ability you have to take care of them.
But God's servants aren't hirelings. They preach the gospel freely.
And God's people serve him that way. Turn back to Psalm 54. Psalm
54. Word to God, I could get preachers
everywhere to learn this. God's people worship and serve
him freely. I will freely sacrifice unto
thee. I will praise thy name, O Lord,
for it is good. For he hath delivered me out
of all trouble. And mine eye hath seen his desire
upon mine enemies. I will freely sacrifice to God. I will freely praise his name. I don't have to be forced or
coerced to do it. Years ago, my friend, Brother
Ernest Lucas, told about an old preacher he knew. I heard him
tell the story. He saw a preacher standing by
the riverbank and he walked down to him and he watched him for
a little while and he saw a preacher standing there. He said, he said,
preacher, what are you doing? He said, I'm just standing here
watching the river flow. And he stood there with him for a
little while. He said, what are you watching for? He said, oh, it just does
me good to watch something move that I don't have to prime, pump,
push, or pull. And that's generally the way
churches operate. Preachers prime, pump, push,
and pull. Beg and plead, beg and plead, beg and plead, but
that don't work to get out the whip of the law. You're going to do
this if you're a real Christian. You're going to do that if you're
a real Christian. No, not God's people. God's people worship
Him and serve Him freely. Read the sixth chapter of Ezra
when you get home. Artaxerxes made a decree and
sent the Jews back to Israel to build the house of God, reestablish
the worship of God, to rebuild the temple of God. And he gave
him pockets full of gold. Pockets full of gold to everyone
who wished to return freely. He didn't force anybody to leave.
He said, if you want to go back, you can. And he filled pockets
full of gold. And he said, I'll tell you how
to build the house. Artaxerxes made the decree exactly according
to God's law given to Israel in the beginning, exactly according
to the word that God gave to Ezra. He said, Anybody who wants
to can give anything they want to. Give freely. If you have a willing heart,
give freely. Give freely. And the house will
be built. Well, a lot of folks don't want
to do that. Well, they'll suffer great loss. They'll suffer great loss. Oh,
yeah. The loss will be theirs. They
can keep their pockets full of gold. and they can keep their
time and they can keep their labor and they can keep their
strength. But oh, what they lose. These
who come and bring the gold and silver and jewels to the house
of God and build his house and repair his house and worship
God because they want to. They get to worship God. They get to have a hand in God's
work and they get to serve God. So every man according as he
purposeth in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of
necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace
abound toward you, that you always having all sufficiency in all
things may abound to every good work. Last night I challenged my brethren
who preach the gospel. Some of us get a little older.
Our days are about done. God, give me grace to give myself
more relentlessly to this work now than ever I have. Are you looking to retire? No.
You're looking to slow down? No. No, I'm not. I'm really not. I'll tell you
what I'm doing. I'm looking for more to do, not
less. That doesn't make sense. It doesn't
make sense in the business Lindsey Campbell's in. You've got to
operate your business by the spirit of the world in that regard.
You can't stay with it. You work for the retirement.
That's a different story. I'm sin of God to preach the gospel
of his grace. Who on earth would get tired
of that? Who on earth would want to give that up? Oh no. Those
to whom much is forgiven love much. And they manifest that
love in two ways. Two ways. Doing and giving. Forgive me for making such constant
referrals to this, but this lady here, you know how she spends her life?
You know how she spends her life? Doing for me. Just doing for me. She's with
me in the office here at least 60, 65 hours every week, every
week. And when I go and put my feet up, she's washing clothes
and ironing clothes and cooking meals and washing dishes and
cleaning the house and goes to bed exhausted. Doing what? Doing for me. How come? Well, I'm sure you wouldn't understand
this. Just because she loves me. That's all. That's all. That's
all. And you know what I've never
done? In 45 years of marriage, I've never ordered her to do
anything. I started saying I've never asked
her to do anything. That'd be a lie. I sat in my easy chair to ask
her to get me a drink of water. But no, how come she doesn't? Just because she loves me, that's
all. And love manifests giving, giving. First, they gave themselves.
And then they gave what they had to the Lord. Grace, Rex Bartley,
is free. Everything you get from God,
you get free in Christ Jesus. And everything you do for God,
give to God, you do so freely in Christ Jesus. Well, we need
some laws and regulations. I know, but grace is free. But
we need some rules and orders. I know. But grace is free. But we need somebody to pump
and pull and prime and push us. I know. But grace is free. Grace is free. So if you want
to come to Christ, come. And salvation is free. And if
you want to worship Him, worship Him. Salvation is free. And if
you want to give to His cause, give. Salvation is free. And
if you want to preach the gospel, go preach. Salvation is free,
free, freely. Oh, may God freely grant you
his grace. Amen.