About six or seven years ago,
some folks contacted me down in the southern part of Australia,
about 70 miles south of Sydney. The first to contact me was Brother
Simon Bell and his wife Jenny. They'd been listening to our
messages on CD and video. They'd started meeting together.
and watching the messages and then a couple of years ago they
called one of the men in the congregation Brother Angus Fisher
to be their pastor and they wanted me to come down and preach for
them and I still hope that I can do so but I knew at the time
I wasn't up to it physically my doctors didn't want me to
fly that long at one time so I recommended that they have
Brother Clay Curtis down there and Clay has just gotten back
I talked to him this afternoon had a great meeting there There's
another family, meets together with one man, Egglof Eggleston,
I believe is how you pronounce his name. I've been corresponding
with him for I guess 10, 12 years or more. And they're about 70
miles further south. They found out Clay was going
to be there. And they came up with their daughter. And she
said to Clay, she was, Clay said, I think 27, 28 years old, maybe. She said, I never dreamed I would
ever get to meet anybody else who believed God. And she said, tonight was the
first time in my life I've heard a man preach the gospel in person. Oh, what a privilege you have
to whom God has given faithful pastors. Pray for them. Support them and avail yourself
of the great, great privilege of meeting with God's saints
and worshiping our great God and Savior and hearing His gospel
proclaimed from His Word. The highest honor on this earth
is the honor of preaching the gospel. and the next to it I
believe must be hearing the gospel. Cherish the honor and the privilege. Turn with me if you will tonight
to Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2. you hath he quickened brought
from death to life you hath he quickened made alive
who were dead in trespasses and in sins spiritually dead dead
in trespasses and sins dead and corrupt Dead and defiled. Dead and defilant. Dead and depraved. Utterly, totally, radically depraved. That's the nature of man. Wherein,
that is in these trespasses and sins, in this death, wherein
in time past he walked just like everybody else. according to
the course of this world. Some chose the high road of morality
and uprightness, what they call the high road, and others the
low road of rebellion and drunkenness and debauchery. But all, their
old road, all choosing that which they thought suited them best
in this world. No difference. No difference
between the high road and the low road insofar as your nature
is concerned. Those who are outstandingly moral
philanthropists in the eyes of men and those who are drunks
and harlots in the eyes of men are exactly the same in their
hearts before God. Dead in trespasses and in sins. He walked in this condition.
according to the course of the world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation
in time past, in the lust of our flesh, our conversation. You remember how Peter speaks
of that? He said, you're redeemed not with corruptible things of
silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ from
your vain conversation. Your conversation is your way
of life. And it was vain, empty, meaningless, and worthless. People talk about what they sacrificed
to serve the Lord in these revivalist campaigns and have folks come
in and give testimony what they sacrificed to serve the Lord.
Let me tell you what you gave up. An empty, meaningless, worthless
existence. An empty, meaningless, worthless
existence. Your vain conversation in time
past. according to the lust of the
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature children of wrath, even as others. Wrathful children, men and women
living with your fists shoved square in God's face, hearts
enmity against God, hating God and everything having to do with
God. That's where we were. And that's where we spent our
lives, and that's where we'd be now, except for these next
two words, but God. But God. Oh, what a wonderful
interposition of God in the lives of men. But God. Thank God He wouldn't let me
have my way. He wouldn't leave me to myself. But God, who is rich in mercy,
what a description of God. He delighteth in mercy. He's
rich in mercy. For His great love, indescribable,
infinite love, wherewith he loved us distinctly, personally, and
everlastingly, even when we were dead in sins, and quickened us
together with Christ, gave us life together with Christ, raised
us up together with Christ. What does that mean? By grace
ye are saved. This is altogether God's work,
altogether in a substitute, altogether in a representative. We're quickened
together with Christ, made alive in Christ, who is our life. By
grace, ye are saved, and hath raised us up together, and made
us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Now why did
he do that? That in the ages to come, He
must show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. Not the grace, not the faith,
not the saving. That not of yourselves. It is
the gift of God. The faith by which you receive
God's grace is the gift of God. And it is the gift of God's grace
brought in you. The grace you receive by faith
is the gift of God. And the salvation received by
grace through faith in Christ Jesus is the gift of God. It's not of yourselves. It's
not of yourself. Your faith is not a decision
you make. It's a gift God performed and
an operation God performed in you. Grace is not something God
gives you with which to work. Grace is that which works in
you. Salvation is not something that you perform, something God
performed and gave to you. It is the gift of God, not of
works lest any man should boast. Now watch this. For we are His
workmanship, God's workmanship, God's masterpieces. You look around and you see the
creation. I've got to move these things, I'll knock them over
and bust them. You look around and you see the creation all
around you and then you look in here And here's God's new
creation. His masterpieces. Created in
Christ Jesus unto good works. You who believe. You who are
born of God. You who know Christ. You who
are God's masterpieces. Created in Christ Jesus. You
were created by God unto good works. Unto good works. which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. Is workmanship created in Christ
Jesus unto good works? James tells us that saving faith
in Christ is a faith that's demonstrated by works. He says, I'll show
you my faith by my works. What does he say? Paul tells
us in Galatians that faith worketh by love. All through faith worketh
by love. We're told plainly that we are
to maintain good works for necessary uses and to admonish one another
to do so. We're His workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them." Now this is what that means.
All who are born of God walk in good works. If God created us unto good works,
and foreordained that we walk in good works, then all who are
new creatures walk in good works. If God foreordained it, God brings
it to pass. They walk in good works. All
true believers walk in good works. Now I've got a question. This
is the title of my message, and this is the thing I want to try
to answer. What are those good works? I'm
often accused of not preaching enough about works. I'm told
all the time you need a balanced ministry. A balanced ministry. But it's
always lopsided. Because by balanced ministry
that means don't ever talk about sovereign grace, just talk about
good works. Don't ever talk about God's work,
talk about man's work. Well, let me balance it a little
bit now. I want to talk to you about good
works. That's all I've got to talk about is good works. A while
back after preaching a message, God's saving grace, a man came
up to me after the service and said, if what you are saying
is true, that if a person believes on Jesus, it's okay for him to
go out and sin all he wants to. Needless to say, my blood began
to boil. And it showed. Yet this is the
response I get everywhere. I get it everywhere. Everywhere. From freewill worksmongers and
legalistic Calvinists who are forever preaching about works.
Talking about works. And it is amazing to me that
those who talk most about talking about good works practice the
least. Oh, let's talk about good works.
We need to preach more about good works. Well, when men and
women cannot refute our doctrine, and they refuse to bow to the
truth of God, they always attempt to cast a slur upon truth. Of course, you're preaching salvation
by grace alone. Then it's alright to go out and
sin all you want to. I sin a whole lot more than I
want to. But that slur, folks, attempt
to cast upon the gospel of God's grace is only the slur, the slander
of weak men who have no leg to stand on for what they believe. They accuse us of teaching such
blasphemy, teaching licentiousness and ungodliness, teaching what
they call antinomianism, being against the law. And they know
full well it's not so. They know full well the charge
is a slander. They know full well. Let me make
three statements very clear and I'll get to my message. Number
one, I want you to understand, I want everyone who hears my
voice to understand, salvation by grace alone. By grace alone. What does that mean? That means
your works don't have anything to do with it. Not in the beginning,
not in the process, not in the continuation, and not in the
end. Your works have nothing to do
with it. Not in redemption, not in justification,
not in sanctification, not in glorification. Your works have
nothing to do with God's salvation. Salvation is Christ, our Redeemer,
whom God has made into us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption, and this is the reason that according as it is
written, he that glorieth, let him glorieth in the Lord. If
Jesse can stand, can put your finger on something that you've
done or decided to do, anything, be it great or small, in that
thing you will glorieth. In that thing you will glory.
You can talk about everything else, but I did this! That's
what you glory in, and that's what you trust in. Our only righteousness
is Christ our God who has made of God unto us righteousness.
Our righteousness is his righteousness imputed to us in the justification
of our souls and his righteousness imparted to us in the new creation
in regeneration with Christ formed in you. That new man created
in righteousness and in true holiness. But salvation is not
in any way determined by or dependent upon our works, good or bad. Second, good works. Good works in no way determine
our relationship with God. Not before we were saved, not
since we've been saved, and not when we stand before God in heaven. They don't do it. They don't
do it. When was David most accepted
with God? When he's carrying the Ark of
God up to Jerusalem and he's leaping and dancing before the
Ark of the Lord because God chose him. Ah! Now he's highly favored
of God. Or when he's in Bathsheba's arms
and he plots the murder of Uriah. Quincy, most favored of God. Quincy, most favored of God.
Most accepted. Quincy, closest to the Lord.
If you have an answer, you've missed something. David's acceptance with God is
in Christ. Not Uriah, and not Bathsheba,
and not the ark that represented Christ. Our acceptance with God
is Jesus Christ the Lord. When we are behaving and when
we misbehave. When we do that which somehow
we imagine to be spiritual and right. And when our hearts are
as cold as ice, as hard as steel, as unlivable as hell itself. Our acceptance with God is in
Jesus Christ. And my glory, it doesn't vary.
It doesn't vary. Brother Don, if you talk like
that, then how do you get people to do what they ought to? I keep talking like that. You see, God's people aren't
mercenaries. God's people don't serve Him
because they get a good reward for doing it. And they don't
serve Him because they're scared He's going to whip them if they
don't. They serve Him because they're loving. And ransom sinners
are full of gratitude for His grace and for His mercy. And understand this third thing.
All who are saved by God's free grace in Christ do walk in good
works. All of them. All of them. Well, but some of them are carnal
Christians and they don't, no. No, they're just religious fools
who've been conned. All who are saved by God's grace
walk in good works. You and I who are born of God
are sinners still and we know it. Sin is mixed with and mars
everything we think and everything we do so that we acknowledge
honestly before God our righteousnesses are filthy rags in God's sight. I'm not talking about your righteousness
Gene, I'm talking about mine. Our righteousnesses are filthy
rags to God. What do you have that you have
done or thought that you thought? What aspiration, what high, holy
desire do you have with which you're going to offer yourself
to God and say, there, that is worthy of God's smile. Name it. Brother Don, I wouldn't dare
do that. Then shut up about your good works. Shut up about your personal righteousness. Shut up about your godliness
that separates you from other men. Just shut up about it. I
have no idea what you're talking about. And yet the believer,
every believer, in the daily, day by day, year by year, Generation
by generation, tenor of his life, walks before God in good works. Mother of God, if that's the
case, what are they? What are those good works? Does the word
of God tell us? Churches do. Religions of every
brand have laws and rules and regulations and customs and traditions. Do's and to-do's. Do this and
you'll be good and holy. You'll be close to God. Don't
do that and you'll be good and holy and you'll be close to God.
And it's strange, folks always kind of pick things they like
or don't like. Brother Mahan and I were in a
meeting in Hartsville, Ohio many years ago and we were close to
where they were playing a major league baseball tournament and
some of the fellas went to the ball game and one of the preachers
found out those preachers went to the ball game oh he was fit
to be tied how worldly what a terrible thing to do what an example But
the Mahan said to him, you don't like baseball do you? He said,
no, never could stand it. And we have our list of taboos. And folks call them good works.
But the things that religious people, I'm talking about Methodists
and Mohammedans. I'm talking about Pathists and
Presbyterians. I'm talking about Baptists and
Buddhists. The things that religious people call good works. are always
things anybody can do. They're always things anybody
can do. Where we live, central Kentucky,
we have a lot of Amish folks. They, uh, women are pretty homely. Deliberately so. Matter of fact,
we've got some stone feces that are less homely. And they think
that They're living the sinful life, you know. Living the sinful life. That's
living close to God. We don't drive cars. We don't
drive trucks. We plow our fields with jackasses
rather than John Deers. They're the sinful life. That's God damn. Well, you wouldn't
do that, no. No, because you don't like to
live like that. But for you, I don't smoke, drink, cuss, or
chew, and I don't go with the girls who do. You like that,
don't you? I have folks tell me all the
time, I remember when God saved me, he took the tip out of my
toe. You say that all the time. And
I said to him, he didn't take it out of mine, I still want
to dance. And I'm going to. My wife was raised where she
wasn't allowed to dance. She never has danced in her life.
Except a little bit she and I in the living room by ourselves.
First time I get a chance to, I'm going to take her to get
ballroom dancing lessons. You can't do that. Watch me.
Watch me. Well, what will people think? It's time their sacred tale be
kicked in the head. What are these good works? Good
works that God's people always do. And the unbeliever cannot
do. Whatever they are, they're works
that the unbeliever cannot perform. They cannot be imitated. They
cannot be mocked. They cannot be replicated by
the unbeliever. I know he's a saved fella, he
used to smoke three packs a day and buddy he dropped them like
that. You don't have to be saved to do that, I know lots of us
folks who dropped them just like that. He was a drunk and buddy
he laid his bottle down quick. You can go to Alcoholics Anonymous
and quit drinking. Amen, that's right. That's right, it don't take the
grace of God to do that. He was a philanderer, he ran
around, just vile, immoral fellow. He quit acting like that. If
you find out it cost you enough, you'll straighten up. He was
a dope and he quit taking his dope. You don't have to just
say quit taking dope. If you suffer enough from it,
you'll quit. You'll get clean. I know what
I'm talking about. I know exactly what I'm talking
about. But what are these good works
then? Let's look in the book and see. Let's see what God says
in his word. Turn with me if you will to Zachariah
chapter 12. I found five things in this book that every believer
does and no unbeliever can do. Five things that every believer
does continually from the day God saves him to the day God
takes him to glory. Every believer does and the unbeliever
cannot do. Number one, every heaven born
soul, every saved sinner, everyone who trusts the Lord Jesus Christ
lives before God in repentance. In the loathing of himself. In the loathing of himself. Habakkuk said, I heard God's
word, my lips quivered and my knees trembled Daniel said, my
covenants was God Job said, I abhor myself, I repent in sackcloth
and ashes Isaiah said, I saw the Lord, and I cried, Woe is
me For five chapters, he'd been
crying, woe is you, woe is you, woe is you. Get to chapter six
and say, I saw the Lord, woe is me. Woe is me. The believer is born of God,
convicted, convinced of his sin. And the longer he walks with
and knows and trusts Christ, the more convinced he is. And he lives in the loathing
of himself. I have repented, I am repenting, and I shall repent. My prayers need to be bathed
in the blood of Jesus Christ, and my tears too. I repent of
my sin, what I am. David said my sin is ever before
me. A friend wrote and said was that
talking about what happened with Bathsheba or Uriah? Talking about
both of them? I wasn't talking about either
of those. I was talking about what he is. My sin is ever before
me. Ever before me. I can't get away
from it. We need to quit talking about
if you sin or when you sin. You're sinning right now. Which one of you will stand up
here and open your heart and tell this congregation every
thought going through your mind in the last 30 minutes? Stand up and talk! Well I'm not like other men are.
Oh yes you are. Just exactly like them. Me too. Me too. And if you ever meet
God, you'll acknowledge it. You'll acknowledge it. Zechariah
chapter 12 verse 2. Here's what he says, I will pour upon the house of
David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace
and the supplications. I'll pour upon my chosen covenant
people. That's the house of David. That's
the inhabitants of Jerusalem. God's church, his chosen. I will
pour upon them the spirit of grace and supplications. I will
pour out my spirit upon you, he said. And they, when God pours
out his spirit, causing them to supplicate his throne, they
shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall
mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be
in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his
firstborn. Looking on Christ, mourned because
of Him, and being bitterness because of Him, because when
we see Christ crucified, our Redeemer sacrificing His life
for our souls, that He might put away sin. For the first time,
you begin to see what sin is before God Almighty. It demanded
the execution of God's own Son when He found sin on Him. My sin. Where can I begin to
confess it? If we confess our sin. If we
confess our sin. I've been coming to the altar
in Baptist churches for a hundred years. Glad y'all don't have
one. It's on purpose. You just as
well go to a papal confessional booth. That's exactly right. We're not priests. We're not
priests. Christ is our priest and he's
our altar. Y'all come confess your sins
to us. I don't even hear about your
sins. Talking to me about your sins is easy. Because I'm one
of you. That's easy. Talking to God about
your sin. That's something else. That's
something else. To confess your sin is to rip
open your heart before God and quit trying to pretend you're
not what you know you are. If we confess our sins, He's
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. Alright, here's the second thing.
You turn to Ephesians chapter 4. I'll get there in a minute. Every saved sinner walks in love. Not a sham, showy pretense and
talk of love. But genuine love for God and
his people. Saving faith, I repeat, is faith
which worketh by love. Believers, all of them, love
the Lord Jesus. If any man love not the Lord
Jesus Christ, let him be damned, Paul said, the Lord's coming.
We love Him because He first loved us. We don't brag about
our love, we don't talk about our love. Not fit to be called love, but
love Him we do. Love Him we do. so you're not being sincere I
love that lady there but my love for her when I think about my
love for her and her love for me I can't even call what I have
for her love and her love for me is nothing compared to his
love for me you understand that? We love Him because He first
loved us. It's easy to stand up and sing,
oh how I love Jesus. And it's easy to talk about your
love for Jesus. It's easy to talk about loving
each other. But believers truly do love Him and love one another. Listen to this. Hereby perceive
we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us, and
we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath
this world's good, and seeth his brother hath need, and shutteth
up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of
God in him? My little children, let us not
love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And
hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our
hearts before him. By this shall all men know that
you are my disciples, because you have loved one for another."
And this brotherly love is manifest by specific deeds. I don't know
why people pretend it's difficult to understand love. Love provides. Love provides. Provides for subjects. I got married when I was a young
man, 18 years old. Wasn't long before we found out
we had a daughter coming. And I was in school full time. And
I worked three jobs and my wife worked two. Why would you do that? It's called
taking care of folks you love. Oh, I've got to work three jobs.
I'm through with that. Rest of them say I do too. Well,
I can't imagine that. You know what I'm talking about,
don't you Jesse? Take care of folks you love.
That's all. That's all. And you don't think
anything about it. Think nothing of it. Just take
care of them. Take care of them. You provide for them. You protect
them. I haven't been in a fist fight
since I was 16 years old. Yeah, 16 years old. Before God
saved me, just in case you're wondering. But I've come close
a few times. A few times. Then two or three
times I can think of right now, I've come that close to knocking
a fellow's head off. And every time it's because of
something he's done to that girl right there. If I'd have dropped my
hands on them instead of anger, one of us would have been hurting. How come? Because I love that
lady. And I'm going to protect her
if it costs me my life. I'm going to protect her. Love that man too. And I'm going
to protect him if it costs me my life. It's called brotherly love. provides
for and protects. I'll tell you something else
love does. Love covers up wickedness. Religion loves to expose it.
Religious folks love to talk about it. But religious folks
are haters. God's people are lovers. Religious
folks are fighters. They love to fight. Man, they
love to fight. God's people despise it. Look
at this passage. Hold your hands in your feet.
I want to get there. Look at Proverbs chapter 10. Proverbs
chapter 10. I want you to say something. Love covers weakness, flaws,
faults, and sins. You remember when Ham went in and saw Noah in his drunken stupor,
and Ham went out and said to Shem and Jacob, hey boys, come
here, I want you to see daddy now. And he exposed his father's
shame. That's what reprobate, godless,
religious people do all the time. They talk about what another's
thoughts. Shem and Jacob, those who represent
God's elect, Do you remember what they did? They took the
blanket and went in backwards and covered their nannies nakedness
and refused to look on it. Well, Brother Don, I'll just
be honest. I don't want to be dishonest. I've got to tell you
what I heard Brother Jesse say. Why don't you be honest and tell
me what you said in the station? Don't you be honest and tell
me what you did and say it. A brother in love doesn't do that. He doesn't
do that. Look here, Proverbs chapter 10
verse 12. Hatred stirreth up stripes, but love covereth all sins. You try to get one of these mamas
to talk about her boy's evil. Try to get one of these daddies
to talk about his daughter's evil. Go give it a try. If he
will, he ain't worth shooting. I promise you, he's not worth
shooting. You start to write a biography
of somebody and you'll You'll find every excuse in the world
for the things that you just have to expose because it's just
necessary to find every excuse in the world for it because you
care for them. You care for them. That's what love does. It covers
sin. It covers evil. Doesn't expose
it. Love forgives and forbears and
excuses. Love forgives, forbears, and
excuses. You didn't get that. Love forgives,
forbears, and excuses. Steven, how long have you and
Rosemary been married? But I've got you on the spot now. However
long it is, I won't put you there. However long it is, I'll tell
you why you survived so long. Because love forgives and forbears
and excuses. Exactly. God's people forgive,
forbear and excuse. Look here at Ephesians chapter
4 Paul says, quenching out the
spirit and he said put away all evil speaking from among you.
And by that he's talking about bitterness and malice and anger
and wrath. All that talking bad about each
other. Now look at verse 32. And be ye kind one to another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's
sake hath forgiven you. Be ye therefore followers of
God, imitators of God, imitators of God, as dear children, and
walk in love as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself
for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling sake. Here's the third thing. We read
Ephesians, you turn to Ephesians 5. Faith in Christ teaches the believer
to practice submission. Faith in Christ is neither more
nor less than submission to Christ as Lord. Faith is bowing to Christ,
surrendering to Christ. The issue between you and God
is not whether or not you want to go to heaven or go to hell.
That's not the issue. Everybody wants to go to heaven
if he's got a choice. Nobody wants to go to hell if
he's got a choice. That's not the issue between
you and God. The issue between you and God is Christ the Lord. He demands the rule of your life. And you won't give it until he
graciously bows you to himself. And then you submit. You bow
to him. You bow to his will. His word. His way, His doctrine. So brother God, I've got a lot
of rebellion in me. Me too. You've still got Adam
in you. But if you're His, He will make you bow. He'll make
you bow. You'll submit to His will. You
may kick against the prince before he's done. You'll bow to him
and be glad you did. You'll bow to his word, his ordinances,
his doctrine, you'll bow to what he reveals. No, I know believers
kick against the bricks, but you will bow. He'll make you
glad you did when he has. You'll bow to him. And this submission
to Christ as my Lord and Savior shows itself in a very practical
way. Believing children submit to
their parents. They just do. They just do. Believers submit
to authority. We submit to government and rulers
as ordained of God. We submit to them. We submit
to those who are placed over us. We bow to them. Because this
is God's design and God's intent. Believing women submit to their
husbands. I'm not going to submit to any
man. If you ever meet God you will. Oh man is that out of touch
with this generation. That's never been my desire. Believing wives submit to their
husbands. Believing husbands submit to the authority above
them. For we submit to Christ. Believers submit to their pastures. Obey them that have the rule
over you, whose faith follow. They submit themselves. What
do you mean? You just bow down to a man just
created before men? No. No. It means that you bend
to another. It means that you don't insist
on having your way. It means that you just don't
insist on doing things your way. You bow to the will of another.
That's called walking in the spirit. Believers walk in the
spirit. I'm not talking about they jump
cues and throw hymn books and roll on the floor and holler
hallelujah and wave their hands and shake their feet. I'm not
talking about that nonsense. I'm talking about believers walk
in the Spirit. It's called believing Christ.
They walk in the Spirit. Look here in Ephesians chapter
5. Let's see if we can find the description of it. Verse 18. And be ye not drunk with wine
wherein is obsessed, but be filled with the Spirit. What does that
mean? Speaking to yourselves in psalms
and hymns and spiritual songs? Singing and making melody in
your heart to the Lord? Giving thanks always for all
things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus?
Verse 21, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of
God. Let each of you Think not of
its own things, but each one on things of others. Take care
to watch out for each other, to provide for each other, to
make sure each other's comfortable. Well, Brother Dodd, if I don't
look out for number one, who's going to look out for me? Oh, may God put you in his kingdom
and discover you're not number one. Believers look out for each other.
Each esteeming other. What is that? Better than himself. Better. Should I esteem John Reeves better
than Don Fortner? Absolutely. And not to I pray for grace to treat me
that way all the time. How can that be? Cause I know
something. What goes on in here. All the time. In bitter experience. And I don't know you that well.
I know you in Christ. And you know how he is in Christ? He's perfect. He's righteous. He's holy. Worthy of God's approval. I reckon that means I can approve
of them all, right? Each is the mother better than
himself. Here's the fourth thing. You
don't need to turn to this, you're familiar with it. Believers,
men and women who trust Christ. Trust Christ alone as Savior
and Lord. All of them. Persevere to the end. He that
endureth to the end shall be saved. The righteous shall hold
on his way. He that hath clean hands shall
be stronger and stronger. They went out from us because
they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they
would no doubt have remained with us until this day. But they
went out from us But it might be made manifest that they were
not all of us. Now the just shall live by faith. But if any man draw back, my
soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who
draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving
of the soul. Believers keep on believing. They keep on trusting Christ.
They keep coming again and again to the fountain, open for sin
and uncleanness, and keep washing. They keep confessing their sin.
They keep calling on the name of the Lord. Keep asking God
for forgiveness. David said for this shall everyone
that has God left pray unto thee while you may be found. Somebody
called me the other night and wanted me to know how smart he
was. He said you know the Lord revealed to me that I shouldn't
pray for forgiveness anymore. I said huh? He said the Lord
revealed to me that I shouldn't pray for forgiveness anymore.
He said I've been forgiven. I said God didn't reveal that
to you. Well, you said we were forgiven before the war began.
I said, I didn't say that, I just told you not to pray for forgiveness.
And he kept arguing. I said, I'll tell you what, if
you don't need forgiveness, I wouldn't ask for it. I sure wouldn't. And he started saying to me,
if I didn't need forgiveness, I wouldn't ask for it. I wouldn't
ask for it. But I've never gotten there.
I need forgiveness. As ye therefore have received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. One more thing. I want you to turn to Philippians
chapter 3. All believers live in repentance. They love Christ and one another.
They walk before God submitting one to another. They persevere
in the faith. And all believers Worship God
in spirit and in truth. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. Now folks, we're forever trying
to get folks button-holed, getting them to make a profession of
faith. His notions, he that winneth souls is wise, but he that winneth
souls is not what folks these days call a soul winner. Brother
B.B. Caldwell, an evangelist many
years ago, lived in Greenville, South Carolina. He was sitting
out in the park one day feeding some pigeons and some of the
young preachers from Bob Jones University came by and walked
up to him and said, Sir, are you saved? Caldwell threw whatever
it was after the pigeons and he looked up and said well if
I ain't what are you two goober heads going to do about it? and
they didn't have a clue what to do because he wouldn't follow
them down a Roman's road in whose service you call in the name
of the Lord shall be saved somebody out here in a car wreck and you
went out there and said Call Jesus! Call Jesus! Call Jesus! Save me! That's salvation. No,
that's not it. No, that's not it. What is it
to call on the name of the Lord? Go back to the book of Genesis
where men began to call on the name of the Lord. To call on
the name of the Lord is to worship Him. It's to bow to the Lord and worship
Him. Whosoever shall worship the name
of the Lord shall be saved. Now look here at Philippians
chapter 3 verse 3. We are the circumcision. We are God's true
covenant people. Circumcised in the heart. Circumcision
made by the spirit, not with the hands. Which worship God. Worship God. The idea, really, of that word
is... Overhead in Psalm 2, kiss the son. Did you ever have a
dog Got out of line and you had to whack him pretty good. I mean
you just had to flat whack him. I know that's taboo these days.
You don't even whack mice these days. But if you're good to your
dog, good to your children, you whack them once in a while. That's
the art. And that dog comes with his tail
between his legs, crawling to you, and just doing his very
best. You just reach out your hand
and let him kiss it. Just lift your hand hoping for acceptance. That's the idea. You bow to Christ. You trust Him. And you kiss His
hand of dominion. We worship God as He revealed
in this book in the person of His dear Son. We worship Him
in spirit. Spiritually, in our spirits,
by the Spirit. We don't need crosses and all
that nonsense people have. At Missolonghi Easter all over
television you can see those old men in drag over in Rome
walking around with Jesus on a stick. And they call it spiritual. It's idolatry. We worship God
in spirit and in truth. according to revealed truth and
sincerely in truth. Some of you say, I don't know
whether I worship God or not. Yes, you do. I beg to differ. Yes, you do. I don't know whether
I trust Christ or not. Yes, you do. Yes, you do. You know full well. You may not
acknowledge it, but you know. You know. We're the circumcision,
we've been circumcised in our hearts. God the Holy Spirit has
sealed to us all the blessings of the covenant by his grace.
We worship God in spirit and in truth. And rejoice in Christ
Jesus. Have no confidence in the flesh. Now there's one example given
in the scriptures. In Mark chapter 14 there was a lady who
came up to the Lord Jesus as he sat at supper in the house
of Simon the leper and she had been a woman of ill
refuge whom the Lord had forgiven and
she's the only one in the whole crowd who understood what the
Lord Jesus said about his dying as our substitute in rising today.
And she came up behind him with an alabaster box of ointment,
sparkling, very precious, worth a year's wages. And she broke
it and anointed him for his burial. And she thought about what he
was about to do and she wept. and washed his feet with her
tears and wiped them dry with the hairs of her head as he picked
up his feet so she knelt down at him and kissed his feet and
Judas started a commotion why this waste? why you could have
taken this money and taken this woman and sold her for three
hundred pence and fed the poor with it and the other disciples
joined in and the Lord Jesus said concerning that woman Somebody never said about any
other human being ever walked on this earth. He said, you leave her alone.
She's wrought a good work on me. She's wrought a good work on
me. What'd she do? She did what she had opportunity
to do. Master said she had done what
she could. Just because she wanted to. Just for Him. Because she believed God. Amen.