I will remind you of what we
were talking about this morning, Luke 7, about the Lord forgiving
this woman of all her sins and her reaction to it. And what
I said this morning, I want to take her experience and convert
it over into theology this evening. Her experience of being forgiven
of sins, how she loved the Lord and what she did in the light
of that. I want us to think maybe about
justification this afternoon. Justification, and maybe in the
light of that, just a little about sanctification. And when
I talk about sanctification, I'm not talking about the sanctification
that Brother Bob was talking about this morning, or just when
he read a minute ago. There's two ways sanctification
is used in the Scripture. One is, it's our position in
Christ. And if you think about sanctification,
just think about it like this. Set apart. Basically, that's
what the word means. Set apart to God. Set apart for
holy uses. In Jesus Christ, we are perfectly
set apart to God. In Him. Perfectly sanctified. Perfectly set apart in Him. But
then there's another way the Scripture uses that. It just simply means our manner
of living. Set apart to serve God, to worship
God, to love Christ, to follow Him. And that's a progressive
work. Some don't like that. Bless their
hearts, they don't like that. But the Scripture teaches that.
You may call it growing in grace or knowledge or whatever. But
sometimes when we talk about sanctification, that's what we
talk about. But let's look at this this evening.
Let me read just verse 50. of Luke chapter 7. Here is the
Lord's final remark to this lady before He sent her away from
these miserable, self-righteous Pharisees. And He said unto the
woman, Thy faith has saved thee, go in peace. Thy faith has saved
thee, go in peace. Justification by faith in Christ. What does that bring? Well, it
brings peace with God, doesn't it? It brings peace with God
and justification by faith in Christ. Therefore, it brings
peace with God and from this, from this, now this is so important,
from this springs a life of love to the Lord Jesus Christ. Her sins which are many, are
forgiven her." Now, what is that? That's justification. Your sins,
which are many, are all forgiven you. You're justified. And look
at this. From that sprang a life of love
and worship and service. She loved much. See those two
things? Justification and sanctification. Thy sins are forgiven you. She
loved much. And she showed that love by her
deeds. Now, I'm aware, brothers and
sisters, that guilt is one aspect of our coming to the Lord Jesus
Christ. No man ever come to the Lord Jesus Christ apart from
guilt. The law is our schoolmaster to
bring us to Christ, and by the law is the knowledge of sin. And we come to Christ because
we're guilty to be washed. But when faith lays hold upon
the Son of God and forgiveness of sins that's by Him, guilt
and condemnation gives way to peace with God and a life of
love and freedom from sin. And this forgiveness of sins
and this peace with God, this deliverance from condemnation,
this justification came to this woman by faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's what she's told here in
verse 50. It's not because she deserved
it. It's not because she earned it. It's not because she merited
it. But it came to her all together
through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Your faith has saved
you. That's what he said. Your faith
has justified you. Your faith has brought forgiveness
of sin. Now, don't this remind you a
lot of Romans chapter 5 and verse 1? Being justified by faith,
we have peace with God. That's Paul's doctrine. I've
heard men imply that the Lord Jesus and the Apostle Paul contradicted
each other. That's not so, is it? Paul's
doctrine and Christ's doctrine is in perfect harmony. Why is
that? Because Paul's doctrine was taught
him by Jesus Christ. Paul said, I didn't receive my
doctrine at the hands of men, neither was I taught it by man,
but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. And the same thing the
Lord Jesus taught this woman, your faith has saved you. Boy,
Paul picked up on that. And he said, we are justified
by faith, and therefore we have peace with God, just as this
woman did. Now let's look at the doctrine
of justification by faith in Jesus Christ. And we need to
be so clear about this because this is the only way that you
and I can live for the Lord Jesus Christ properly, is by understanding
and never leaving this doctrine of justification by faith in
Christ. I want you to look over here in Acts chapter 13. When you see in the four Gospels,
you see a lot of experience. And in those experiences, you
see these two things. You find it as you read through
the four Gospels. You'll see justification and
you'll see sanctification. You see this. It's taught in
experience everywhere. And what's taught there in experience
is taught in the New Testament epistles in a theological manner. Now let me give you some examples.
You remember when they brought that lady to the Lord Jesus taking
an adultery? And they were going to stone
her or wanted the Lord to stone her. And He said, Whosoever among
you does without sin, let him cast a stone at her. You remember
that. And they went out one by one
from the least to the greatest. And the Lord looked at her and
said, Woman, where are your accusers? Don't none of them accuse you
and condemn you? She said, No, ma'am, Lord. And
He said, Neither do I condemn thee. Now what is that? That's
justification. Okay? In the light of that, what's
the very next word He said to her? Go and sin no more. Now what is that? That's sanctification. But justification comes first,
because what does justification do? It releases us from the power
of sin. It forgives us our sin. It puts
us right with God. He delivers us from the power
that Larry was talking about this morning. The prison house
of sin. The power of darkness. And then
when it does that, then the Lord Jesus can say, go and sin no
more. That's sanctification. In Mark chapter 10, the blind
barn of Baal sat by the highwayside begging. The Lord Jesus brought
him up to Him. and opened his eyes. And here's what he said to him.
Thy faith has made thee whole. And immediately he received his
sight. Now that's justification there.
The Lord Jesus taught the same thing Paul taught. Thy faith.
Thy faith. Your faith in Christ has made
you whole. That's justification. And immediately we see sanctification. Because remember what was said
to him in the very next verse? Remember what was said about
Blind Martin is, he followed Jesus in the way. See the power
of counsel sins, it's broken. And then becomes love and then
service, a loving service. And one more place before we
go to Acts 13, you remember that maniac of Gadara. The Lord Jesus
cast the devils out of him, and the Scripture says he was set
in at Jesus' feet, clothed, and in his right mind. And remember
what that man did? He went out everywhere and published
what great things the Lord had done for him and had compassion
on him. Now why I want to put these together
this evening is for this reason. Sometimes we have difficulty
doing this. And when we go to the doctrine of these things,
it seems so cold. And there is division among us. But if our doctrine will line
up with our experience, sanctification is no more than this. When the
Lord sets us free from the power of sin is to continue to love
the Lord and live in the light of that justification every day
of your life. And out of that love, just serve
Him. Sanctification shouldn't be so
much just a doctrine that we learn, but it's an experience
of our everyday life. That's what you see in the four
Gospels. In the epistles, you see it in theology, but in these
Gospels, you see it in experience. We don't come here just to fill
your head with doctrine and to go out here and do nothing, but
to go out and live your life in love for the Lord Jesus Christ,
as this woman did. Now look here in verse 38 of
Acts chapter 13. Paul had been preaching the Lord
Jesus. You know the context. If you're good Bereans, you know
the context. Paul had been preaching Christ
to them. Now, I want to come back. This is very, very important
to know the context, and I won't look at it in a minute. But Paul
had been preaching the death of Christ, His crucifixion, His
resurrection. And God raised Him, and He ascended
on high. And in verse 38, Be it known
unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man
is preached unto you the forgiveness of sin. And by him all that believe
are justified from all things, by which you could not be justified
by the law of Moses." He says here, by him, by Christ, all
that believe are justified from all things. What's he talking
about? Sins. He just mentioned forgiveness
of sins. And then he turned around and
said, by faith in Christ, we're justified from our many sins. Remember how that woman, he was
told that woman this morning, your sins which are many are
forgiven thee. You're justified from them. You're
not condemned. All the thoughts of your heart
towards God, all the enmity, all the words, all the deeds,
You're justified from those sins. And this justification does not
come, he said, by the law. See what he said there in verse
39? By Him all that believe are justified from all things by
which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. The law requires us to be perfect. That's what the law requires. We can't be perfect. And the
law doesn't require repentance. And the law doesn't accept repentance.
So by the deeds of the law, by our own obedience, we cannot
justify ourselves from all our sins. One sin, we've ruined ourselves. And by our own obedience, we
cannot justify ourselves. That's what the Apostle Paul
is talking about. If a man has sinned, he must be forgiven and
justified from that sin by a different means, by a different way, other than his own obedience,
other than his own works. How is that? If we can't be justified
by the law of Moses, how can we be justified? Now, I want
you to hold this. Just put your marker or something
there. I want you to turn over to Romans chapter 3. Paul said we're justified by this man, through this man. Now, I want you to hold that
thought, and I want you to turn over Romans chapter 3. I want
us to see in doctrine what I was talking about this morning. Romans
chapter 3. I want us to look, as we did this
morning, from a theological standpoint, what is the cause? What is the
cause of our justification? We have to be justified, or God
must damn us. As far as I know, that's the
only options he has. How then are we justified? Let's
look at the cause. In Romans chapter 3, here in
verse 20, he just told us that by the deeds of the law, every
mouth may be stopped and the world become guilty before God,
verse 19. And now he says the same thing
he's preaching over there in chapter 13 of Acts. Therefore,
by the deeds of the law, by our own works or by our own obedience,
no flesh shall be justified in his sight. For by the law is
the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of
God without the law, without our obedience to the law, without
us being required to keep the law, it is manifested, being
witnessed by the law and the prophets. Even the righteousness
of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all
them that believe, for there is no difference. All have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. Therefore, here is the cause
of our justification." Look at verse 24, "...being justified
freely by His grace." Now there's the cause of justification. Remember
what we said this morning? That woman experienced that she
had nothing to pay, did she? She had nothing to pay. She had
run up this great debt. And if the Lord had looked at
her and said, now I'm looking for some cause in you why I should
justify you from your sin, He couldn't find it. She had nothing
to pay. So He freely forgave her all. Now Paul comes over here in his
theology and says, now this is how we're justified. Freely. Freely. By His grace freely by
His unmerited favor." This word freely means without a cause
in us or a cost to us. But by what is in the heart of
God that is exercised towards us unworthy and lost sinners. It's what's in God. It's what's
found in God is the cause to justify our sin. Now listen,
grace is not conditioned on any quality in the human heart. For there is no quality there.
It's just sin. But grace which justifies us
is a quality found in the heart of God. It's His disposition
to be kind and merciful to those who are lost and undeserving. Not only those who are lost,
but those who cannot have any means to justify themselves. Grace to the guilty. That's what he said. Grace to
the guilty. Grace doesn't look for anything
in the sinner. It finds all it needs in God. Now that's a wonderful thing,
brothers and sisters, because you and I are always looking
inside, aren't we? But justification has to do with
everything outside of us. This is why the world hates the
doctrine of justification, but this is why we love it. And the
more we see of it, the more we love it, and the more assurance
we have because we come to this conclusion, and it's Paul's doctrine,
that the cause of our being justified from everything is not found
in us. But it's found in the heart of
God. And what is it? Grace. God's favor. God's unmerited favor. I tell you, there's no wonder
that this is the most difficult doctrine to teach people. And
there's no wonder that we keep forgetting it so easy. And why
we have to teach each other more and more of it. Because we know
so little about grace. God's heart towards us. is gracious,
and good, and kind, and loving. So the cause of justification
is this, it's grace. Being justified freely by His
grace. But look in verse 24, the rest
of that verse. Here's the meritorious cause.
Now this is important. Here's the meritorious cause.
Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath
set forth to be an atoning victim, a bloody mercy seat through faith
in His blood. And Paul adds this for this reason. God cannot allow His grace to
override His justice. The rule of law must be upheld. God must have valid grounds to
forgive a sinner. He must have valid grounds to
justify us and accept us as righteous in His sight. And these grounds
are altogether and completely outside ourselves. Now, ain't
that a wonderful thing? The cause of our justification
is found outside of ourselves. It's in God. And now the meritorious
cause is found outside of ourselves. It's in Christ. the Son of the
Blessed God. And these grounds are the doing
and dying of Jesus Christ in the days of His flesh upon earth. This is why Paul said we seek
to be justified by Christ. By Christ. And note this, The
meritorious cause of our justification is so far outside of ourselves
that it took place almost 2,000 years ago when the dear and blessed
Son of God hung upon Calvary's tree in our humanity and poured
out His heart's blood and satisfied offended justice. You and I must
be saved by an event that took place in history altogether outside
of ourselves. Now, ain't that a wonderful thing?
Look back over here in Acts again, and this is why I said the context
here of Acts chapter 13 in Paul's message is very, very important
because he's speaking here of what took place when Jesus Christ
was upon this earth. What the Lord Jesus did. If you'll
begin reading here, around verse 21 or so, let's just read it. Turn your Bible over and let's
just read it. Your Paul is saying that through
this man, through this man, is preached unto you the forgiveness
of sin. Through this man that lived almost
2,000 years ago now, died on the cross, was buried and rose
and descended to heaven, through this man is preached unto you
the forgiveness of sin. And if you believe in this man,
you're justified. You're justified. But look what
he's saying about this man. Now look over here, beginning
around verse 21. And afterwards Israel desired
a king, and God gave unto them Saul the son of Kish, a man of
the tribe of Benjamin by the space of forty years. And when
He had removed him, He raised unto them David to be their king,
to whom also He gave testimony, and said, I have found David
the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, which shall fulfill
all my will. Of this man's seed hath God,
according to his promise, raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus. When John the Baptist had preached
before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people
of Israel, and as John fulfilled his course, he said, Whom think
ye that I am? I am not he. But behold, there
cometh one after me, whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to
loose. Men and brethren, children of
the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you that feareth God, to
you is the word of this salvation sent. For they that dwell at
Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor
yet the voices of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath
day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him. And though
they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate
that he should be slain. And when they had fulfilled all
that was written of him, they took him down from the tree,
the cross, and laid him in a sepulcher. But God raised him from the dead,
and he was seen many days of them which come up from him from
Galilee to Jerusalem, which are witnesses unto these things.
And we declare unto you glad tidings." Out of the promise
which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled unto us their
children the same, in that he hath raised up Jesus again, as
it is written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have
I begotten thee. As concerning that he raised
him from the dead no more to return to corruption, he said
on this wise, I will give you the sheer mercies of David. Wherefore,
he said also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thy Holy
One to seek corruption. For David, after he had served
his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was
laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption. But he whom God raised
again saw no corruption. Now, he says, be it known unto
you men and brethren, that through this man, through this man who
has already lived, who came into this world by the womb of a virgin,
who knew no sin, who had no sin, who struggled with sin, who overcome
sin, who put away sin with the sacrifice of Himself, who got
a great victory over the devil, and was buried and rose and ascended
to heaven through this Man who has already invaded our history
and already gone back to heaven through this Man is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sin. And all you that believe in Him,
you are justified." See that? There's the way we're justified.
It's in somebody and an act of history that has already taken
place some 2,000 years ago now. The moratorious cause of our
justification is not found in us, but in that One who has already
completed His course and finished it and is going back to heaven
through Him, through Him. Christianity, one man said, is
the only true historical religion. And that's so. It's the only
true historical religion. All other religions, this fellow
said, teach that salvation is found in some process within
the worshiper. Therefore, they're always preoccupied
with their own internal experiences. And ain't that so? They're always
hoping to end where the true believer begins. They're always
looking within. If I can experience this, if
I can do this, if I can be that, finally I'll be justified. Finally
I'll be saved. But that's where the believer
begins. Because he doesn't look within
himself. He looks outside himself. And
there is where he finds justification in this glorious person of the
Lord Jesus Christ and His perfect obedience that has already been
accomplished. Christianity alone proclaims
a salvation which is found in an event and person outside of
the believer. Now that is the mystery of justification.
And it's an amazing thing. You remember when the Lord Jesus
said, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even
so must the Son of God be lifted up, the Son of Man, that whosoever
believeth in Him. You go back and study closely,
and the more you study, that over, I think it's in Numbers
21, the children of Israel were bitten by these poisonous serpents,
and many of them died. And God told Moses, that brazen
serpent, beat you out of the serpent, put it on a pole, and
it will come to pass. You tell these people, you invite
them, you command them to look at that serpent. Now here was
an amazing thing, brother and sister, because the poison was
inside of them. And how could they look to something
outside of them and be healed of the poison that was inside
of them? Ain't that a wonderful thing? It's the same way with
the Son of God. How long has it been now since
He lived in this world and since He died upon Calvary's tree?
But you and I, with our sin that's within us, we look outside of
ourselves, away from ourselves, to Him. And there's where we
find healing of our souls. Therefore, we are justified in
a means and through the merit of one, altogether, outside of
ourselves. Now, here's what free will cannot
stand. Here's what Arminianism cannot
stand because of this truth right here. They cannot turn their
eyes away from themselves. But I'm telling you, we can stand
and look at ourselves, our experiences that we have inside, and there's
nothing there but death. It's only when we can look away
from ourselves to this Son of God in our humanity that has
already came and fulfilled the law and rendered perfect obedience
and put away sin and has been received up into heaven with
joy and victory. It's when we look to Him that
we're justified. God does not justify us from
sin. and count us righteous and accept
us the cause of anything in us or anything done by us. But He
justifies us by the person of His dear and blessed Son, the
representative man. All that He did, all that He
is, is put on the account of those who believe in Him. When He was barned, you were
barned. When He was tempted and yet was
without sin, you were tempted and was without sin. When He
got the victory over the temptations of the devil, you got the victory.
When he suffered upon the cross, you suffered. When he died, you
died. When he was received into heaven,
you were received. When God accepted him, God accepted
you. He is a representative man. And his acceptance and his work
is finished. It's accomplished. Through this
man, Paul said, is preached unto you. Through this man who invaded
history. and did what he did and accomplished
what through him is preached unto you, the forgiveness of
sin. Sin has to be punished. It has
to be punished. And it was punished. Your sin
has already been punished in Jesus Christ. By His glorious act outside of
us, God has accomplished our deliverance. Our forgiveness
of sins, our justification, and restoration to glory and honor
has already been accomplished through the person of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now that's a wonderful thing,
brothers and sisters. And the book of Hebrews especially
tells us that He is now in the presence of God for us, in our
stead, as our representative. He's there for us. That's a wonderful
doctrine. A wonderful doctrine. How does
such a salvation come to us? How are we justified? Well, he
tells us here in our text in verse 38, "...through this man
is preached unto you." Here's the way it comes to us.
It's preached unto us. It's proclaimed unto us on the
authority of God's Word, just like I'm trying to do to you
this evening. I'm trying to preach unto you
this man. This man. And the only way that you can
get it across is by preaching Him. There is no other way. Zion, O Zion, He said, that bringeth
good tidings, get you up to the high mountains. O Jerusalem that
bringeth good tidings, lift up your voice with strength. Lift
up your voice. Don't be silent. Don't be silent. Lord, what do you want us to
say? I want you to say to the cities of Jerusalem, behold your
God. That's what I want you to say. What about Him? Behold what He's
already done. Look outside yourself as those
Jews looked away from their poison to that serpent. Behold what
your God has done. That's the way this justification
comes. It doesn't come to us building
it. It doesn't come by our frames of mind, good or bad. It doesn't
come by meriting or working to get it. It comes by hearing about
it. Just hearing about it. This is
only what I learned of you, brethren, Paul said. Did you receive the
Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Hear
and your soul shall live. We just sat here, you see. We
just come here as a congregation and somebody said, you don't
want to do nothing, you just want to sit down. Well, that's
what we're supposed to do. Be still and listen. Hear and your soul shall live.
If you're running around or screaming out or something, you're not
hearing. Through this man is preached. God chose by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. This is the best good
news anybody could ever hear when it comes to preaching. Ain't
that some weak, poor means? I mean, look at me. Sue asked
me if I was losing weight. I am losing weight. Ain't this a poor means to have
such treasure as this? But you know why God did it that
way. that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of
us. It's just one poor sinner. Tell more poor sinners how they
can be justified by this one man. Oh, he sends angels down
here to preach it if he so chose, but he don't do it that way.
He sends poor people, poor people who feel their unworthiness and
leave and feel like they ought to go find a hole and get in
it and pull the dirt in after them. But that's the way God
chose to do it. You preach it. Through this man
that's preached unto you, that forgiveness of sin. That's the
way it comes. Here's another way it comes,
personally to us, and we receive it. Look at this. By Him, all that believe are
justified. It comes to us, it becomes ours,
by faith. All that believe in Him are justified. Woman, thy faith has saved thee. That's exactly what the Apostle
Paul is saying. How did that woman obtain forgiveness
of sin? The Lord Jesus said, your faith
in Me has saved you. Your faith in Me has put away
your sin. Faith does not bring salvation
into existence. Faith does not produce a righteousness. Faith takes. Faith receives. Faith accepts that which is already
in existence. Faith receives that which is
already done and already accomplished outside the heart. Faith does not fix itself upon
anything which is upon this earth or anything seen. Faith does
not affix itself. Now listen to this. Faith does
not affix itself to a work that God is doing within us. It does not affix itself to anything
God is doing within us. But faith affix itself to God
who is working in us. And there is a difference, you
see. Faith is not in the continual
and imperfect work of sanctification or in any other experiences that
you and I may have. Faith is affixed to that which
is in heaven, to that we have in Christ at the right hand of
God. Faith doesn't look within. Faith
doesn't look out at the horizon. Faith looks up where Jesus Christ
is seated at the right hand of God. Faith is affixed to this
person. Though now you see Him not, you
see Him not, you see Him not, yet believe Him, you rejoice
with joy unspeakable and full of glory. If Jesus Christ is
our true and only righteousness that justifies us before heaven's
court, then our faith must be in Him and not in any way shape
or form in us. So what do we see here then about
justification? Well, number one, that we are
justified by the grace of God, by the free sovereign grace of
God. When they had nothing to pay,
he frankly forgave them both. We saw the grounds of our justification
is the work of Jesus Christ himself. The blessing of justification
comes to every sinner who receives it in faith. So here's what we've
seen. Everything in justification takes
place outside of ourselves. The cause is found in God. The
grounds is found in Jesus Christ. And He has invaded history 2,000
years ago. And faith is affixed to somebody
outside of ourselves. and not in us. Now, why is this
important to remember this and forever walk in the light of
it? Because only this will fill us with love and gratitude and
keep us cleaving to the Savior and enjoying His presence and
serving Him in love, not out of the legal and self-righteous
spirit. We're too busy with preoccupation,
aren't we? One of the things that happened
to us in the fall, we became occupied with self. All of us
have trouble looking within, looking at self. And what is
that? That's egotism. Is that what they call it? Egotism? When you look within yourself?
You're always looking at yourself? Preoccupation with something
outside of man is the only thing that will correct the egotism
that's within man. One scripture in closing. Look
over to your right in Colossians. Look in Colossians chapter 2. You and I must always hold this blessed truth of justification
in our hearts and our thoughts. These blessed truths that we've
been thinking about this evening. If we leave that and try to go
on to a life of sanctification, a life of separation, more and
more, to walk with Him, it won't work. It just will not work. I said this morning, if we want
to love the Lord Jesus and be washing His feet and kissing
His feet, then we've got to walk in this light. Thy sins are forgiven
thee. Thy sins are forgiven thee. And
here we see this in Colossians chapter 2, these two things coming
together. We can't separate them. We can
separate them technically in theology, but in our experience,
one always must be following immediately upon the heels of
the other. Sanctification must follow immediately upon the heels
of justification every day in every experience. Look what he
says in chapter 2 in verse 9, in Christ, in Him, dwelleth all
the fullness of the Godhead bodily." In Jesus Christ you see a complete
God. Everything God is, is in Jesus
Christ. And you are complete in Him. You can't add a thing to that,
can you? You can't add a thing to that. Complete in Him. This
is what, brothers and sisters, we must remember always. Accepted, complete, justified
through this one outside of ourselves. But now look, look up in verse
6. As you have, therefore, received
Christ Jesus the Lord, how did you receive Him? A full Christ,
a complete Christ. You received Him into your empty
heart, didn't you? So walk ye in Him. See that? The minute we take Christ away
from our eyes, the minute we do what some fellows tell us,
we've got to get beyond Christ. We've got to quit preaching justification
and go to sanctification. We need to grow. We need to grow.
We just need to work and do better. The minute we do that, what do
we do? Oh, we become self-righteous.
This egotism flares up within us. Hear, as you have received
Christ Jesus the Lord. Don't ever get away from that.
I'm receiving Him right now. I'm as empty right now as I've
ever been. Oh, Lord Jesus, I receive You into my emptiness. I'm complete
right now in Him. Therefore, walk in Him. Walk
in Him. Endear in Him. Love Him. Sell
all that you have. Buy these alabaster box of ointment
and go pour it on His feet. Always be kissing His feet. Go
home and kiss His feet. Go home and stay at His feet.
Go home and do all that you do for His glory because you're
accepted in Him. Oh, Father, we do thank You.
Thank You, blessed Father. Oh, thank you for such a good
news, for such glad tidings. Oh, when we think that our justification
has already been accomplished, redemption has already been accomplished
by somebody else before we were ever born, and you tell us to
simply believe you, take it as your word that you've done it.
Oh, Lord, this seems so high. Oh, this is such strange doctrine
to us. But when you open our hearts
that we begin to see a little of it, our hearts leap in us
for joy, for such good news. Lord Jesus, thank you for doing
for us, for finishing a work that we had no part in, only
as you represented us in it. We bless your name. Thank you
for this, dear people, who had it in their hearts to come here
this afternoon. Oh, Lord, keep us. Keep this congregation. Oh, may you send a revival among
us. For Christ's sake, we ask these
things. Amen.