Open your Bibles if you will
to Habakkuk Chapter 2. Habakkuk Chapter 2. I want to pick up right where
I left off last Tuesday night. I pray that God the Holy Spirit
will give me the wisdom and grace and power that he alone can give
to talk to you as plainly as possible about the most important
of all subjects. Because it is the most important
of all subjects, there is enormous confusion raised by Satan concerning
the matter of faith in Jesus Christ. My subject tonight is
faith is. And I want to show you seven
things in this book that faith is. Faith is. Most people have the idea that
faith is simply accepting some facts, some doctrines, having
some knowledge, agreeing with somebody takes you down the Romans
road plan of salvation and at the end you say, okay, I agree. That's faith. I recall when I
was a seven-year-old boy, I was involved in church service, and
I don't really know what was going on, but everybody was all
stirred up emotionally, and I was scared to death to go into hell,
and that's the way they planned it. And several folks came forward
at the end of the service, you know, like the dude kneeling
down at a Baptist confessional booth. They called it an altar. That's exactly what it is. because
they don't have an altar in glory, they invent one on the earth.
And they kneel down and a fellow came up, he was a pilot, he was
on airlines, great big fellow, never will forget him, super
nice man, super nice man. He came up and put his arms around
me and took me down that Romans road, you know, said, you know
you're a sinner, don't you? And I said, what? Well, you've
lied, haven't you? Yeah, I've done that. And he
went through and said, yeah, well, you're a sinner. You don't
want to go to hell, do you? Oh, no, I don't want to go to
hell. That's the reason I'm here. Well, the wages of sin is death. But he that believeth on the
Son of God hath everlasting life. Will you believe on Jesus? What
do you mean? Well, say this prayer after me.
And I did. And that man is all sincerity,
just as sincere as he could be, because he was deluded as the
one he was deluding. He said, now, Don, son, you're
saved. Don't ever let anybody tell you
otherwise. You're saved forever. If that's faith, if that's faith,
I don't know anything at all about this book. If that's what
faith involves, I know nothing about God's salvation. When I
got up off of the morning's bench, the altar, the confessional booth,
whatever you want to call that thing in front of the church,
I was just as lost as I was before. And that's true of everybody
who's gone through the same experience. If that's all the faith you have,
you have no faith. You have no faith, not according
to this book. Faith is, let's read Habakkuk
chapter two, verse one. I will stand upon my watch and
set me upon the tower and will watch to see what God will say
unto me. I come here to preach to you,
but I've been watching to see what God would say to me. Because
if what I have to say isn't something God's spoken to me, it won't
be of any benefit to you. I want to watch and see what
God, the Lord will say to me, and what I shall answer when
I am reproved. And the Lord answered me and
said, Write the vision and make it plain upon tables. You tell
out plainly what I reveal to you, so that he may run that
readeth it. For the vision is yet for an
appointed time. Christ is coming. Christ is coming
in the incarnation to accomplish redemption at the appointed time. Christ is coming to each of his
elect in saving mercy in the power of his spirit at the appointed
time. Christ will come to take you
to himself in the death of this body, translating you to glory
if you're his at the appointed time. And Christ will come in
the glorious second advent at the appointed time. It's for
an appointed time, but at the end, it shall speak and not lie. Though it tarry, wait for it,
because it will surely come. It will not tarry. Behold, his
soul, the soul of the rebel, the unbeliever, the self-righteous
worksmonger, the Pharisee, is lifted up, arrogant, is not upright
in him. But there's somebody, there's
somebody Unlike these rebels who think they're righteous There's
somebody unlike these religious folks who don't know God the
just The man the woman who is just before God Just before God Oh, I pray I pray before you
walk out those doors tonight God Almighty will make you to
know in your conscience by faith in Jesus Christ that you're just
before God. I'm not just before any man with
whom I've ever had any dealings. Not a one. Not a one. I'm not just before my daughter
as a father. I'm not just before my wife as
a husband. I'm not just before you as a
pastor. In all those things, I am a miserable
failure. But I am just before God. And that means, Larry Brown,
I can sleep easy at night. I'm just before God. My conscience
answering to what God himself has revealed in his word. My
conscience answering by faith in Jesus Christ is silent before
God. The just. There's somebody in
this world that God almighty declares just just. Who are they? The just shall
live by his faith. Now those words, his faith, may be properly understood as
referring to the faith of him who is the promised Redeemer,
the Lord Jesus, in verse 3. If read as referring to Christ,
the meaning is this. All who live before God, if you
have life from heaven, If God the Holy Spirit has given you
life and faith in Christ so that now in your own heart and soul,
you know yourself just before God, that life that you have
is by the faithful obedience of Jesus Christ, your Redeemer. That justification you have was
accomplished for you by the faith of Jesus Christ. Read the book
of God carefully when you read it. Little words make big differences. The scriptures speak of faith
in Christ and the scripture speaks of the faith of Christ. And it's
not talking about the same thing. Faith in Christ is our faith
in him as our mediator. The faith of Christ is the faithful
obedience of Christ as our substitute who walked on this earth as the
God-man, believing God and believing God perfectly obedient to God
in all things. Look at the scriptures. Our faith
in Christ receives justification, justification that was accomplished
by Christ, our Redeemer, when he finished his work upon this
earth. Romans chapter 3, Romans the
third chapter. The just shall live by Christ's
faith. All who live, live by the merit
and the efficacy of the faith of Jesus Christ, their Redeemer. Romans chapter 3, verse 20. Therefore,
by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in
God's sight. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin. That's the only reason the law
was given, was to identify and condemn sin. Has no other purpose,
has no other use. By the law is the knowledge of
sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law, that
is, without any obedience on our part to the law, without
the law, is manifested, being witnessed, testified to, attested
to by the law and the prophets. Even the righteousness of God,
now watch this, which is by faith of Jesus Christ. Righteousness was accomplished
by Christ's faith as our mediator, by his faith in God and by his
obedience to God in faith, in perfect faith as the God-man. Read on. The righteousness of
God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all
them that believe. For there is no difference for
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God being justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus. Turn to the book of Galatians.
Galatians chapter 2. Paul states this repeatedly in
the book of Galatians. Galatians 2 verse 16. Knowing
that a man is not justified by the works of the law, not justified
by what you do, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have
believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the
faith of Christ. Verse 20. Paul says, I'm crucified
with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in
the flesh, this life that I have of faith in Christ, I live by
the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for
me. All right, back here in Habakkuk
2. The text may properly then be understood to speak of the
faith of Jesus Christ. Without question, the words his
faith may be understood in that way. But it is clear, as the
word is used by the Apostle Paul in Romans 1, Galatians 3, and
Hebrews 10, that the intent of the Spirit here is our faith. Because every place Paul quotes
the passage, he leaves out the word his. and simply says the
just shall live by faith. So he's talking then about our
faith in Christ. Not that our faith merits life. Not that our faith in Christ
causes us to live. Not that our faith in Christ
wins God's justification. No, that's done by Christ. Our
faith is the evidence, the fruit, the result of all that Christ
has done for us. Our faith is the fruit of life
that's given us. We don't make ourselves alive
by believing God, but rather being alive, we believe Him. You have breath in your lungs. You can't live without it. I breathe in and breathe out
and that's how we live. The faith, however, doesn't cause
or the breath doesn't cause life. The breath is the evidence that
life is there. And faith in Christ doesn't cause
life. Faith in Christ is the evidence
that life is there. And we live continually trusting
Christ, our Redeemer. Trusting Him who is God, our
Savior, the Lord Jesus. All right, now let me show you
these seven things about faith. Faith is, number one, faith is
the gift of God. Now I want you to follow me in
the scriptures. Turn to Ephesians chapter 2. Faith is not the product of man's
imaginary free will. I said imaginary because you
don't have a free will. There's no such animal. There's
no such beast in the world. Free will is but the proud delusion
of deluded men. But man has a free will, bologna. Your will is exactly what your
nature is. It is bound by your nature so
that your will can never be free. Never. Well, how can you say
that? Because it's true. It's true. Now, you do whatever you want
to. But what you want is according to your nature. A woman who loves
her baby has the ability to murder the baby physically. but not
morally. She can't do it. It's contrary
to her nature to do so. The woman's will is bound by
her love for that baby. And so it is in all aspects of
life. We are sinners. We are corrupt. We're rebels. And our will is
bound by our nature. Man has no free will. Let alone
can it be imagined that faith is the result of man's will.
Or that faith somehow is something that a man can talk another man
into. You know, if you, I remember
years ago, I was just a young pastor. I was pastoring in West
Virginia. Hadn't been there very long.
And one of the ladies from the church out of the old family,
one of the old families came home for, to visit some families. And she came to church to hear
the new young preacher. And I got done preaching, she met me at
the door, and she said, Brother Fortner, that was an outstanding
sermon, but you didn't give anybody a chance to get saved. Those were her words. You didn't
give anybody a chance to get saved. What do you mean? Well, you didn't have an invitation.
You mean I didn't beg folks to come up front? Not ever going
to happen. Not ever going to happen. No,
no. The invitation is the gospel we preach. And men aren't saved
by chance. They're saved by grace. And you
don't persuade somebody to believe in Jesus by having the quietest
scene just right. doing like Billy Graham, you
know, during his campaign. You might not have known this.
You might not have known this. Do you know they had folks sitting
out in the stadium who were trained at just the right time to get
up and start moving forward? That just kind of psychologically
massage you to want to get up and move forward. That just kind
of move with the crowd, and that'll get folks saved. No, that'll
delude folks. It won't save anybody. Faith
isn't something men can produce, not in themselves and not for
someone else. Faith is the gift and operation
of God Almighty. All other graces flow out of
faith, which works by love. We love God and we love one another
because faith worketh by love. But faith itself is God's gift. Look at this, Ephesians chapter
2 verse 8. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. The faith is not of yourselves.
It's the gift of God. Faith doesn't come by heredity. It doesn't run in bloodlines.
It's not something that some folks have an advantage because
they have a genetic predisposition to believe God. I actually had
a fellow I went to school with, he pastors a reformed church
right now, before I started pastoring, and I used to sell shoes with
him. We were chatting one day and he said to me, as serious
as he could be, he said, I do believe my boys have an advantage
over others. Because I believe God and the
mama believes God. We're faithful. That gives them
an advantage. As if somehow you pass that along
like brown eyes. Oh, no. Faith doesn't run in
bloodlines. There's not anything you can do to give your children
an advantage before God. Faith is God's gift and only
God's gift. Grace comes by the gift and sovereign
work of God Almighty. Paul said unto you, it is given
in behalf of Jesus Christ to believe in him. We believe by
God's gift. And if you obtain faith, you'll
get it by God's gift, by the means God has appointed. And
that's gospel preaching. I know it's been a lot of time
here because I plan to come back to it soon. But turn to Romans
chapter 10. Romans chapter 10. Not by preaching, but by gospel
preaching. There's a huge difference. We've
got more preachers than the world needs. We've had them throughout
history. Far more than the world. We don't
need more preachers. What we do need are some gospel
preachers. Faith comes by the hearing of
the word of God. Comes by the faithful declaration
of the gospel. You've said to me many times,
Bobby, one of the reasons God calls you to Mary Judaistus,
bring you here to hear the gospel. You're raised in religion all
your life. Raised in religion all your life. Raised in conservative
Baptist church, but never heard the gospel. Never heard the gospel. Romans chapter 10, verse 13.
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Back in Genesis, men began to
call on the name of the Lord. That doesn't mean if you're out
here on the highway riding a motorcycle and you cross the path in front
of a semi truck doing 60 miles an hour and it hits your motorcycle
and you're 200 feet in the air and on your way down you cry,
Jesus saved me. That's not calling on the name
of the Lord. The word means to worship. Whosoever shall worship
the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call
on Him in whom they've not believed? You can't worship Him if you
don't trust Him. Does anyone have any difficulty with that?
How shall they worship Him whom they've not believed? How shall
they believe in Him of whom they've not heard? You can't worship
Him without believing Him. You can't believe Him without
somebody telling you about Him. How shall they hear without a
preacher? Gotta have a preacher to tell
you about Him. Gotta have somebody who knows Him to tell you who
He is. And how shall they preach except
they'd be sent? Man's sent of God to preach. Oh God, don't let me stand and
fill in a few minutes time entertaining men with religious knowledge,
but send me with your word to your people. I can't tell you how that weighs
on my soul. I can't preach to you, Bob Duff,
this moment unless God sends me to you with his message. Can't do it. How shall they preach
except they be sin? Now watch this. As it is written,
how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of
peace and bring glad tidings of good things. But they've not
all heard, not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah saith, Lord,
who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing
and hearing by the word of God. If you obtain faith, you'll obtain
that faith by God's gift, by the means God has ordained. He
won't bypass this business of preaching. This is how God saves
sinners. And you'll obtain that faith
by the revelation of Christ in you, by the gospel coming in
the power of God, the Holy Spirit. When it pleased God, Paul said,
who separated me from my mother's womb, when it pleased God at
God's appointed time of mercy, who separated me in sovereign
love and grace, in sovereign election from my mother's womb
and called me by his grace, he revealed his son in me. That's how faith comes. Flesh
and blood hath not revealed unto thee, but my father, which is
in heaven. Faith is wrought in us then by
the regenerating power, by the omnipotent grace of God the Holy
Spirit. Look at Ephesians chapter 1. What does it take to cause a
sinner to believe? What does it take? What does it take? If you go
out to the cemetery down the road and pull out one of those
coffins from one of the mausoleums in there and open it up and look
at that corpse that's been in there for a while. What will
it take for that corpse to get up and walk again? What will
it take? You tell me, what will it take?
Will it take properly arranged choir music in the background?
Will it take the pastor making sure he tells a real tender,
heart-touching story and strikes just at the right time? What
will it take? I know, Brother Don, that's stupid.
You know better than that. It would take God raising the
dead. That's what it'd take. God raising
the dead. Look at Ephesians chapter 1,
verse 18. The eyes of your understanding
being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of his
calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance
in the saints and what is the exceeding greatness of his power
toward us, toward usward who believe according to the working
of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ. when he raised
him from the dead. What does it take? Alan, it takes
the very power that resuscitated the dead corpse of the Son of
God. Well, you talk like the new birth
is a resurrection from the dead. I wouldn't say that for anything.
God did. God did. You're dead. And God raised us
from the dead. This is the first resurrection.
Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection,
on such the second death hath no power. Faith. Is that which is exercised in
us and that which we exercise wittingly, knowingly, but we
exercise that faith by the operation of God. So we're told in Colossians
chapter 2 verse 12, faith is the gift of grace alone. My God,
how can it be that you should choose in saving love to give
that gift to me? Number two, faith is in Christ,
in Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior,
the Son of God, is the object of all true faith. Our faith
in God is faith in the man who is God, Jesus Christ, our Lord,
Savior, our mediator, our hope. Christ is the bread of life. Faith eats the bread. Christ
is the water of life. Faith drinks the water. Faith
looks to Christ like the children of Israel look to the brazen
serpent. We look to Christ beholding all
grace and all salvation in him who alone is the revelation of
God. Look unto me, he says, and be you saved all the ends of
the earth for I am God and beside me there is none else. Number
three. Faith is the gift of God and
faith is in Christ, in Christ. Christ is the object of our faith. He is the embodiment of the triune
God, the fullness of God. And we're complete in him believing
God by the operation of God himself. Number three, faith is receiving
Christ the Lord. Turn, if you will, to Matthew.
I'm sorry, Mark, chapter eight. Mark chapter 8. Faith in Christ
is not merely hearing about Him or knowing about Him or even
acknowledging Him. Faith in Christ is the committal
of my life to Him as my Lord. Mark chapter 8, verse 34. When
He had called the people unto Him with His disciples also,
He said unto them, whosoever will come after me, let him deny
himself and take up his cross and follow
me. What does that mean? What does
that mean? I could say a lot about what
it means and be completely accurate, but our Lord tells you in just
the next sentence, what does it mean to deny yourself? For whosoever will save his life
shall lose it. But whosoever shall lose his
life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save him." What is this commitment? It's giving up the rule of your
life. That's what it is. It's giving
up the rule of your life so that you give up all that you are
to the rule of God's Son. Give it up. So much so that what
you're not willing to give up, you beg him to take from you. It's losing your life to him. Remember what I told you last
week when Paul Thacker stated to me many years ago, when I
first met him about faith, he said, faith is not what we believe. Faith is acting on what we believe. This is not something that's
done once back yonder 20 years ago. Boy, I remember when I,
I gave up my life to Christ the Lord. I remember when I did that. You can't take that from me.
That's Joe. What happened to you yesterday
morning are 25 years of mornings ago. Totally irrelevant. Can you get hold of that? Totally
irrelevant. You want to know that I'm living?
Wouldn't you think I was nuts to go back to the safety deposit
box at the bank and pull out my birth certificate and say,
here, read that. I was born Bladen County, June
10th, 1950. There's my mama's name, my daddy's
name, and there's a seal that proves I'm alive. Well, Brother
Don, something's wrong with you. But people do that with religion
all the time. I know I'm alive because I was
there when it happened, bless God. No. I know I live because I believe
Christ and I bow to him, my Lord. That's all. That's all. Lord, do with me what you will. Do with mine what you will. You
mean you're perfectly willing to have God kill your family
or not kill your family? No, no I'm not. God forgive me,
I'm not. I'm not. But I am willing, I
am willing for God to do what he will and teach me by his grace,
the sufficiency of his grace. And when the time comes Rex,
I'm fully confident he'll give me that grace. I talked to A
friend of mine this week, pastor friend, is going through heartaches
I can't imagine. I can't imagine. I just, I can't
imagine. I just, I can't imagine. And what
his last word to me was, God's on his throne and we'll bow. God's on His throne, and we'll
bow. That's what I'm talking about.
Faith is the surrender of my life to my Lord. Trusting Him
for everything. Faith is resting on Christ. Turn to Hebrews chapter 4. Hebrews
chapter 4. I've got to hurry. I won't spend
any time here, but I want you to see this. is true Sabbath-keeping. Faith is true Sabbath-keeping. I have a lot of people I know
who pretend to keep the Sabbath. Some of them actually do it on
Saturday. I know some folks who are Saturday Sabbatarians. They
at least keep the day right. But most folks call Sunday the
New Testament Sabbath. Well, there's nothing like that
in this book. There's not a hint of anything
like that in this book, Bill. And they said, we keep the Sabbath
day. If they drive to church, they don't keep the Sabbath day.
If they turn the fire on in the morning to fix coffee, they don't
keep the Sabbath day. If they go out and walk in the
yard too far, they don't keep the Sabbath day. If they pick
up some sticks to build a fire in the fireplace, they don't
keep the Sabbath day. No, they don't keep the Sabbath day. They
just fake it and pretend that they're good because they do
certain things that other folks don't do. That's not Sabbath
keeping. That's like suggesting that we
keep the Passover sacrifice because we went out and got a dog and
once a year we sacrifice that dog and we call it worshiping
God at Jerusalem and take the blood in here and put it on a
table somewhere and call it sprinkling the mercy seat. That's not keeping
Passover. That's just a mockery. That's
just a sham. It's a put on. Nothing else.
True Sabbath keeping is faith in Christ. What did God require
on the Sabbath day? Quit working. Quit working. That's it. Just quit working.
Quit working. Most people spend their lives
in turmoil working for God's favor. Oh, no. Oh, thank God he delivered me
from work salvation. I know. I know you saved by grace,
but boy, I've been working hard trying to trying to make up for
all the past. That's what I said. Most folks
spend their lives working for salvation and spend their lives
in turmoil, working for God's favor. Look at Hebrews chapter
four. Verse 2. Unto us was the gospel preached
as well as unto them. But the word preached did not
profit them, not being mixed with faith. They heard the same
gospel you're hearing tonight, but they didn't believe God.
Not being mixed with faith in them, they heard it. For we which
had believed, watch this, do enter into rest. Brother Claus,
do you know what that word rest is? That word is Sabbath. We which have believed do enter
into the Sabbath. We enter into a keeping of the
Sabbath, a sabbatism. As he said. As I have sworn in
my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest, my Sabbath, although
the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise,
and God did rest the seventh day from his works. What did God do on the seventh
day? He quit working. He quit doing anything. He rested. He ceased from works. And in
this place again, if they shall enter into my rest, seeing therefore
it remaineth that some, oh I love this word, must enter therein. There are some folks, maybe you're
among them, who must enter into this blessed rest. Folks chosen
of God and redeemed by Christ, every one of them must enter
into this rest. And they to whom it was preached
entered not in because of unbelief. Again, he limiteth a certain
day, saying in David, Today, after so long a time, as it is
said, Today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. For if Jesus, that is Joshua,
had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken
of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest
unto the people of God. Now this is the whole explanation
of it. For he that has entered into his rest, he also hath ceased
from his own works. When you stop working for grace,
you have it. When you quit working for God's
favor, it's yours. When you cease working for mercy,
it's because you've obtained mercy. And the only time you
quit working is when you start resting. Resting in Christ. Number five, faith is resting
in Christ alone. That word alone is important. Because anything you mix with
Christ is to deny Christ altogether. Doesn't matter what it is. It's
not resting in Christ. I believe in Christ and I read my Bible
every day. Read your Bible every day, but don't mix that with
believing in Christ. I believe on the Lord Jesus and
I go to church every Sunday. Go to Sunday every day. But I
don't care if you've got Sunday school pens, as long as I am
tall, that won't help you a bit in the world before God. Oh,
no. Attend worship services, but
don't mix that with faith in Christ. I believe on the Lord
Jesus, and I want you to know I know what it is to be a person
of prayer. Well, pray. By all means, pray. Pray more,
not less. But don't mix that with believing
on Christ. Well, Brother Don, do you mean that the whole of
salvation is resting in Christ? resting in what he's done, resting
in his power, resting in his merit, resting in his intercession. That's the whole of it. That's
the whole of it. It's resting in him. Someone
said God has established a bridge of communication between heaven
and earth by the obedience and blood of Christ and every other
passage. is blocked up by holiness and
justice of God. Faith looks to Christ and receives
everything. Faith brings nothing. Faith promises
nothing. I recall when I was a 16-year-old
boy, terrified of going to hell, terrified. I laid awake at night just terrified
of going to hell. And I tried to bargain with God. I promised God all kinds of things. Promised
God what I'd do if he'd just save me. I promised God what
I'd bring him if he'd just save me. I promised God how I'd reform
my life if he'd just save me. But that's not faith. Faith brings nothing, promises
nothing, and does nothing. Faith receives everything. How's that old little acrostic
go? Forsaking all, I take Him. That's faith. Forsaking all,
I take Him. Six. Faith is resting on Christ
as he's presented in the gospel, as he's presented in this book.
Resting on him as the Christ who has come. Whosoever believeth
that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. And then John says, whosoever
confesseth not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not
born of God. He's not a God. He's Antichrist.
Well, brother Don, everybody believes that Jesus came into
the world. That's not what he's talking about. That's not what
to believe that Jesus is the Christ. James is to believe that
he who was born at Nazareth at Bethlehem 2000 years ago and
died at Calvary 2000 years ago. It is to believe that he has
fully accomplished everything the prophet said he would accomplish.
It is to believe that He actually did bring in righteousness, that
He actually did put away sin, that He actually has satisfied
justice, that He actually saved His people from their sin. Do
you believe that Jesus is the Christ? If you do, you have eternal
life. He that believeth on the Son
of God shall have everlasting life. That's not what the book
says, is it? He that believeth on the Son
of God hath everlasting life. You couldn't and you wouldn't
believe if God had not given you life. Faith is, number seven,
resting upon Christ alone for everything. For all my salvation. all righteousness, all holiness,
all sanctification, all redemption, all acceptance with God. Faith
is resting on Christ alone for everything. I picked this up
a couple of weeks ago when I was in England. Joan Buggins had
it posted on her kitchen wall. Listen carefully. No other son
to light the day. No other shepherd for the way.
No other shield to guard the soul. No other name to make us
whole. No other helper when distressed.
No other pillow but his breast. No other gate to enter in. No
other pardon for our sin. No other blood that we can plead.
Thou, Lord, art ever all we need. Amen.