Turn with me if you will again
to Malachi chapter 1. Malachi chapter 1. I suppose John Newton was one
of the best preachers, if not the best, the Church of England
ever produced. And he was certainly one of the
best hymn writers God ever gave his church. Amazing grace how sweet the sound
to save the wretch like me and he wrote this great hymn. I ask the Lord that I might grow
in faith and love and every grace might more of his salvation know
and seek more earnestly his face. It was he that taught me thus
to pray and he I trust has answered prayer But it has been in such
a way as almost drove me to despair. I hoped that in some favorite
hour, at once he'd answer my request and by his love's constraining
power, subdue my sins and give me rest. Instead of this, he
made me feel the hidden evils of my heart. and let the angry
powers of hell assault my soul in every part. Yet more, with
his own hand, he seemed, intent to aggravate my woe, crossed
all the fair designs I schemed, blasted my gourds, and laid me
low. Lord, why is this? I trembled
and cried. Will thou pursue thy worm to
death? It is in this way the Lord replied,
I answer prayer for grace and faith. These inward trials I
employ from self and pride to set thee free and break thy schemes
of earthly joy that thou mayst find thine all in me. It is my desire, if the Lord
will enable me, to blast our gourds, lay us low, break every remnant
of pride in our hearts, destroy all the schemes we design, that
we might be given grace to look to Christ and find our all in
Him. Malachi's name, I've told you,
means God's messenger. He was the third of a trilogy
of prophets who were sent to the children of Israel after
the long years of Babylonian captivity. Haggai and Zechariah
conducted their ministries while Jerusalem, the city, was being
rebuilt. and the temple was being rebuilt,
and they worked feverishly to reestablish the worship of God
in Jerusalem. By the time Haggai comes along,
the city is built, the walls are erected, the temple of God
had been built again, and the worship of God had been reestablished.
As we will see, not at all like it was. It was just the outward
facade. Things were not as they appeared. It looked like all was well,
but Jerusalem and the temple of God were only outward shows
of meaningless religion to the people who practiced them. As
we read this chapter together, I want to ask you to do something.
Do not read it as a message from God's prophet Malachi to that
nation of Israel 2,500 years ago that had just come back from
Babylon. Brother Don, that's the folks
it was written to. You're mistaken. You're mistaken. It was written
to you, to Lance Heller and to Don Fortner. This is God's word
to God's Israel whenever and wherever God's Israel exists
upon the earth. If you read it only as a historic
prophecy to a historic nation dealing with historic events,
it's nothing but a piece of history to you and you may as well not
read it. This book is not given to us to speak to us about historic
issues. It's given to us to reveal Christ
and his goodness and grace to us today. and to reveal to us
our privileges, our awesome privileges, and our great responsibilities
before our God today. It's given to show us our sin,
to expose our own wickedness, our ungodliness, our unbelief,
and to direct our hearts to the throne of God, worshiping Jesus
Christ the Lord in earnest faith, seeking all in Him. This is God's
message to you and me God's Israel His chosen royal priesthood and
I say to you God's priest today Arise now all ye priests this
message is for you We'll begin in Malachi chapter 1 verse 1 This is a prophecy of judgment
and of mercy It is a prophecy of judgment and of mercy. I'll give you a good assignment. I'll give you a good assignment.
I suggested it to some of the fellows today were talking while
drinking some of Brother Nunes's coffee. Go through the Psalms
and take your pencil and write down every time in the Psalms
we're exhorted to praise God for his judgments in the earth. His judgments in the earth. Our nation is a nation under
judgment. And if you don't realize that,
you can't see anything. From the White House, through
the Senate, through the Congress, it's evident a nation under judgment. God's given the wicked to rule
over us because of his judgment. How dare you say such a thing?
Read the laws they pass, called good evil and evil good. The rescue for that, come get
me, I ain't changing. I ain't changing. Nation under judgment. But God's
judgments are never against his people. God's judgments are never against
his people, never. God cast away the nation of Israel
as Malachi plainly declares he would because of their ungodliness. But he cast away the physical
nation that he might gather the spiritual nation, the Israel
of God. He sent blindness to the physical
nation. That he might gather his elect
out of all the nations of the world and the fullness of the
Gentiles be brought in. That is the fullness of his elect
among the Gentiles as well as the Jews. And thus all Israel
shall be saved. So bless God for his judgment
as well as his mercy. For his judgment is but the acting
of his mercy toward his own. the burden of the word of the
Lord to Israel by Malachi I have loved you saith the Lord yet
you say wherein hast thou loved us was not Esau Jacob's brother
saith the Lord yet I love Jacob and I hated Esau and laid his
mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness
whereas Edom saith We are impoverished, but we will return and build
the desolate places. Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
they shall build, but I will throw down, and they shall call
them the border of wickedness, and the people against whom the
Lord hath indignation forever, and your eyes shall see. And
ye shall say, the Lord will be magnified from the border of
Israel. That is to say, the triune Jehovah
will be magnified in the salvation of his people. Verse 6. A son
honoreth his father, and a servant his master. If I then be a father,
where is mine honor? And if I be a master, where is
my fear, saith the Lord of hosts unto you? O priest that despise
my name. And ye say, wherein have we despised
thy name? He offer polluted bread upon
mine altar. And ye say, wherein have we polluted
thee? In that ye say the table of the
Lord is contemptible. And if ye offer the blind for
sacrifice, is it not evil? And if ye offer the lame and
the sick, is it not evil? Offer it now to thy governor.
Will he be pleased with thee? Or accept thy person, saith the
Lord of hosts? Then in verse 9, the Lord God
himself pleads with Israel. Not the physical. Israel among
Israel. He pleads with Chris Cunningham
and Don Fortner. He speaks to you and me. This
is his word to us. He says, you plead with God. God says, you plead with God.
You plead with the God of Israel, urging us, He is, to beg Him
for mercy while acknowledging our own wickedness. Look at verse
9. And now I pray you, beseech God that He will be gracious
unto us. This hath been by your means,
that is, all this evil is what you have done. Will He regard
your persons? Now look at it, saith the Lord
of Hosts. God's speaking by Malachi and
He's urging us to beseech Him, to be gracious to us, to be gracious
to us in the light of the fact of the evil we have done. Verse
10, Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for
naught? I'm sure you didn't read that
like it ought to be read. Who is there sitting here in
this chapel tonight, July 4th, 2009? Who is there sitting here
who would shut those doors right there if you didn't get something
out of it? That's the word. If there was
something for you to gain from it, read on. Neither do ye kindle a fire,
O my daughter, for nothing. Oh, brother Don, that doesn't
describe me. I hope before you leave here
tonight you'll understand that it does. I hope you'll understand
that it does. I have no pleasure in you, saith
the Lord of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your
hand. He declares that he shall be
worshipped. His name shall be magnified from
the border of Israel. His name is going to be magnified
and he's going to be worshipped by such things as he has just
described. For from the rising of the sun
even unto the going down of the sea from east to west In every
habitable part of the world, my name shall be great among
the Gentiles. And in every place, incense,
prayer shall be offered unto my name. And a pure offering,
an offering that I cannot but accept. A sacrifice I cannot
turn away. A sacrifice I must be pleased
with. For my name shall be great among
the heathen, saith the Lord of Hosts. But ye have profaned it,
in that ye say the table of the Lord is polluted, and the fruit
thereof, even his meat, is contemptible. Ye said also, Behold, what a
weariness is it! And ye have snuffed at it, saith
the Lord of hosts. And ye brought that which was
torn, and the lame, and the sick, thus ye brought an offering.
Should I accept this of your hand, saith the Lord? But cursed
be the deceiver. Who's that? The fellow which
hath in his flock a male, and boweth and sacrifices unto the
Lord a corrupt thing. You got better, but you won't
give it. He's a deceiver. He's a deceiver. You've got better,
but you pretend to worship God and keep the good. He's a deceiver. Is that what
it says? Is that what it says? You've got the good, but I'm
going to keep this. I'm going to take this thing
over here I couldn't throw in the garbage and then take it without
me giving them some kind of receipt for it. I'll give that to God. I'll go worship God. Cursed be
the deceiver, for I am a great king, saith the Lord of hosts,
and my name is dreadful among the heathen. Now in the light
of this solemn, solemn word from God to you and me, I want to
make four observations. Four observations, things by
which the Lord God has reproved my own heart. and is breaking
my own gourds and my joy and laying me low before him. If
the things I have to say don't apply to you then I apologize
and I hope you'll forgive me. But I suspect that you will find
that you can't escape this next few minutes without deep wounds. Deep wounds that are very well
deserved it's my prayer that there will be wounds the Lord
makes for the wounds he makes he heals that you might grow
in faith and love and every grace might more of his salvation know
and seek more earnestly his face Number one, be sure you get this,
be sure you get it. No matter what we do or fail
to do, no matter what we do or fail to do, God's sovereign eternal
purpose of grace in Christ, that is the salvation of his elect,
shall be accomplished. The triune God, Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit will perform exactly what He has determined
from eternity to perform. He will save His people. That doesn't depend on you. That
doesn't depend on me. It doesn't depend on your faithfulness
or my faithfulness. It doesn't depend on Grace Church
in Danville, Kentucky or Rescue Baptist Church in Rescue, California.
It doesn't depend on Don Fortner or Gene Harmon. Whether we do
what we ought to do or despise what we ought to do, God's work
goes on. Exactly as God has determined. Your eyes shall see and ye shall
say the Lord will be magnified from the border of Israel. From
the rising of the sun to the going down thereof, incense shall
be found in every place and a pure offering offered before God.
Turn to Isaiah 45, let me show you. Isaiah 45. Again the Lord God speaks. Isaiah 45 verse 20. Assemble
yourselves and come. Draw near together, ye that are
escaped of the nations. The Lord God is motioning Come here, right in front of
me. All of you. Come close by. Come close by.
I want to talk to you. You that are escaped to the nations. They have no knowledge. That is their, as Brother Bell
would say, dumb as a box of rocks. They have no knowledge, spiritually.
No spiritual perception. No spiritual understanding. No
spiritual insight. No, they don't have a clue about
anything spiritual, true and divine. They have no knowledge.
They set up the wood of their graven image and pray unto a
God that cannot save. Go down the road tomorrow morning.
No, come here tomorrow morning, but get a tape and listen to
it. And listen to the Bible. Just
stop at the first church that way, the first one that way,
the first one that way, the first one this way. I don't care which one you
stop at. And get a tape of the message, and listen to the preacher,
and listen to the people. PRAY TO A GOD THAT CANNOT SAVE! I need your help. And he can if you'll let him.
He can if you'll pretty please give him your permission. He
can if you will untie his omnipotent hands. He can if they have no
knowledge. No point in trying to reason
with them. No point in trying to persuade them to come to a
better understanding of the gospel because they ain't got any. Got
no knowledge. Read on, read on. Tell ye and
bring them near. Yea, let them take counsel together
Let them all get together. Let them have all their committees
and councils and denominational meetings and synods and whatever
they want to have. Who hath declared this from ancient
time? Who hath told it from that time?
Have not I the Lord? And there is no God else beside
me. Now that means there is no other
God sitting up here on this throne beside me. And that means there
is no other God here. Who are you? A just God and a
Savior. A just God and a Savior. just and the justifier of all
who call on the name of the Lord, of all who worship me through
the sacrifice by which I have my justice satisfied through
the blood atonement of my darling son. Verse 22. Look unto me. Look unto me. You who are sitting out there
tonight, who do not know our God. Right now, right where you
sit, without moving your eyes, let alone your feet, look unto
me, he said. Look to me. Look to me like a
child looks to his father. Look to me as a wife looks to
her husband. Look to me as a handmaiden looks
to her mistress. As a servant looks to his master.
Look to me in confident trust. Look to me to fulfill your need. Look to me to put away your sin. Look to me for righteousness
and salvation. And be you saved. You mean just trust Christ and
salvation is mine? I think that's what it said.
I think that's what it said. Look to me and be you saved.
All the ends of the earth. For I am God and there is none
else. I have sworn by myself, the word
has gone out of my mouth in righteousness and I'm not going to take it
back. It shall not return. This is what I'm going to do.
These five things, look at it. Unto me every knee shall bow
and every tongue shall swear. Sooner or later you're going
to bow down and worship me as God. Either as I cast you into
hell or as I take you to my bosom. But bow to me, you will. Number
two, surely shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness
and strength. Here's water. In the Lord have
I righteousness and strength. Number three, even to him shall
men come. That's what salvation is, is
coming to Christ. We come to Him and we're coming
to Him and we shall come to Him. Even to Him shall men come, number
four. And all that are incensed against Him. Do you know who
that is? That's every child of Adam that
ever drew breath on this earth. All that are incensed Incensed. That's what we were talking about
a minute ago with regard to folks opposing you. Incensed. Incensed. Angry. Angry. Incensed. Not against a man, but against
God. Against the Christ of God. Everybody
who hates God. What does that say there? Shall
be ashamed. The day is coming. You're going
to blush with shame before him, either as you bow before his
throne. A poor, penitent, empty-handed,
bankrupt, hell-bent, hell-deserving, doomed, damned, lost sinner with
nothing to offer God, ashamed of everything you are. Ashamed
of every thought of your heart. Ashamed of every act of your
hand. Every action of your will. Ashamed. Or, when he cast you into hell,
forever blushed with naked shame. Having yourself fully exposed
to God and everybody. Ashamed. Number five. in the Lord. Oh glory, shall all the seed
of Israel, north, south, east and west, out of every nation,
all the seed of Israel shall be justified and shall glory. Back to our text, Malachi 1.
Here's the second observation. Our great God and Savior, our
Father, our Master is a great king and he deserves the best
of all things from you and me. And my buddy Bob Hartman, he
deserves the best, doesn't he? Let's see. Sons ought to honor their fathers. Servants ought to reverence their
master. Our God deserves the very best
from us, the best of praise, the best of service, the best
of time, the best of devotion, the best of gifts, the best of
consecration, the best of worship. He deserves the best. He deserves
the best Because he's God. Because he's our father. Because
he's our master. He deserves the best because
of all he's done for us. He chose us. Chose Wayne Bowen to be his own. He chose us. He chose me. He
redeemed He called us by his grace. He preserves and keeps
us in the midst of trial, trouble and all our sin and perversity
and our falls a thousand times a day. He preserves us. He sanctified us. He accepts
us. He smiles upon us. He's made
us his own sons and daughters. He deserves the best. because
he's done all the wonders of his grace for us oh my God he reached way
down for me he deserves the best but here's
a third observation He usually gets the leftovers. He deserves the best of everything. The best of everything. He usually
gets the leftovers. Turn to 1 John chapter 1 verse
10. Hold your hands right here, we'll
be right back. In John chapter 7, the 7th verse,
the Lord Jesus says to those religious hypocrites standing
in front of him, the world cannot hate you, it cannot hate you,
but me it hateth. Why? Do you remember what he
said? Because I testify of it. that
the works thereof are evil. Now I'm going to tell you something. He's not talking about telling
them the honky-tonk is evil. If you don't know that, you need
to go back to kindergarten. He's not telling them that stealing
is evil. Is there anybody here who needs to be told that? Anybody?
I'm talking about the youngest kid in here. Anybody? He's not
telling them that you ought not to cheat. That's not it. Everybody knows that. Everybody
knows that. He's not telling them you ought not to get drunk
and run the streets naked. Everybody knows that. Everybody
knows that. Even the folks who do it. They
all know that. That's not what he's talking
about. What's he talking about when he says the works are evil? Everything they do that they
consider good Everything they do that they think gives them
a foot up toward God. Everything they do by which they
have hope in themselves. Your sacrifices, your devotions,
your worship, your prayers, your faith, everything. I tell them it's all evil. All our righteousnesses are what? Do you really believe that? First John chapter 1 verse 10.
Remember how the wise man describes that prostitute in Proverbs chapter
7. After she has allured her companions
to her bed, Father Goodman of the house is going on a far journey
and he is not talking about a prostitute. He is not talking about one of
these guys you find on the street corner. He is talking about the ones
you find in the church house. He's talking about religion,
false religion. She wipes her mouth and said,
I didn't do anything wrong. I didn't do anything wrong. Now
you find me something you've done. You find me anything. No, let's forget about what you've
done. That's too much. Something you thought about doing.
And just the thought of it, you thought, that's good. If we say
we have not sinned, when we prayed or even thought about beginning
to pray. When we came to the house of
God and we rejoiced in the hearing of the word, rejoiced in preaching
the word, we sang God's praise. If we sin, we've not sinned. We make him a liar and his word's
not in us. He shows us, Christ, that our
works are evil. They're evil. We seek to assure ourselves of
our mercies in Christ. We seek to soothe our consciences
and pacify our consciences, calling our leftover sacrifices, our
leftover services, our leftover gifts, worship, and service to
the Lord God. Religion operates trying to get
heathen to act like Christians. It operates trying to get men
and women to do stuff. Religion functions trying to
get you to look to yourself and say now I'm a good Christian
because this is what I've done today and you check it off. The only people who think they're
righteous are the unrighteous. And the only people who think
they've done good are folks who do evil. Come you blessed in my father.
Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. I was hungry and you fed me and I was naked and you
clothed me. I was in prison and sick and
you visited me. When did we do that? When did I do anything like that?
When did I ever do anything like that? Depart and you curse it! I was hungry, and naked, and
sick, and imprisoned. And you didn't feed me, and you
didn't clothe me, and you didn't visit me. You didn't care. Oh
yes we did, we got record right here. We got Sunday school pages
to prove it. We wrote that down. I visited
you on July 4th in Rescue, California, 2009. I drove all the way across
the country to go to the Bible conference. I did good! Here are ten charges in our text
against you and me. Ten charges in this first chapter
of Malachi. Oh, how I wish I could escape
them, but escape them I can't. If you can, I'm thankful. No,
I'm not. No, I'm not. That's not so. I'm
sorry for you. In verses 2, 3, 4, and 5, the
Lord tells us that we despise his elected love. Well, that
can't be true of us. We preach about it all the time.
Yeah, but we constantly fail. to appreciate it. And we constantly murmur and
whine and complain as though we were not the objects of God's
special love and God's special choice. And we constantly fret
and carry on as though God didn't care for us. God forgive us. Number two, he says you despise
my name, verse six. How so? Verse 7, you offer polluted
bread on my altar. Well, when did I ever do that? Where did I do that? How did
I do that? Verse 7 again, he said, you say the table of the
Lord is contemptible. Contemptible. I don't need that. I don't have to have what God
provides. I don't have to have the bread he spreads on his table.
I'm above that. I've gone beyond that. Well,
when did we say that? Look in verse 8. He offered to
me that which is worthless to you, the blind, the lame, and
the sick. Verse 10, you wouldn't even shut
the doors of my house, you wouldn't even kindle a fire on my altar
if you didn't get something out of it, if it weren't some kind
of advantage to you, if it weren't something that profited you.
You say with regard to the things of God, This is meaningless. You profane my name. He says
in verse 12. How do we do that? You say, what a weariness is
it? This is a whole lot to do about
nothing. What a weariness to go worship
God three times a week. Let's cut it down some. What
a weariness to attend the services of God twice a week. Let's cut
it down some. What a weariness to worship God
Sunday morning, Sunday morning, Sunday school, classes and worship
hour. Let's cut it down some. What
a weariness is it to listen to a man get up and preach for 45
minutes. Let's put some restraints on that. What a weariness! I'm tired of God interfering
with my life. What a weariness is it? Are you
snuffed at it? Snuffed at the great privilege?
with worshiping at my altar, he said in verse 13. How do we
do that? We don't. You bring me for a
sacrifice. Not for a sacrifice that I've commended. Not a sacrifice for putting away
a sin. No, no, no, no. You bring me
a sacrifice that's supposed to be a sacrifice of gratitude,
Praise and adoration that cost you nothing. Cost you nothing. I want to bring you a gift. I
wouldn't want you to know this, but actually I found it on the
street out here. And I want you to know how much
I admire you. Brother Milton, we've been friends a long time,
buddy. I've been waiting for the chance to give you this and
I want to show you how much I love you and appreciate you. Where
did I get that? Oh, no, no, get that. That'd
be good enough, Milton. And if you knew what it came
from and where it came from and how much thought was in it and
what it cost, you'd take it and throw it away. or save it to
give somebody else. You dare come to God like that? You dare bring to God what cost
you nothing? As I look over these past 43
years since God called me by His grace, these 43 years in which I've
tried to worship and serve Him, I've got to confess with shame,
the whole of it is less than nothing. My best attempts have
been horribly corrupted with evil. All of it, all of it is
just dung, a pile of manure, filthy rags. Is that what the book says? Is
that what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 3? Just dog. Just dog. God says offer it now to your
governor. Take your pile of dog to your governor. Will he be
pleased with thee? Will he accept thy person? And
the obvious answer is no. But blessed be God. Oh bless
God's holy name forever. Our God is not a man whose favors
can be earned or forfeited. His favors cannot be earned by
anything and they cannot be forfeited by anything. I waited till now
deliberately to give you the title of my message. Unacceptable. Unacceptable. But still accept it. And now I pray you beseech God. This is God talking to his prophet.
Beseech God that he will be gracious to us. And the prophet throws
himself in there. Beseech God that he will be gracious
to you and me. This hath been by your means. All this evil. All the corruption,
all the pollution, all the defilement of all the worship, it's been
by your hands. You put your dirty hands on it. It's all corrupt. Will he regard
your persons? Sayeth the Lord of Hosts. Turn
to Ecclesiastes chapter 9. Will he regard your persons?
Yes he will. He will be gracious to us though
we deserve nothing but his wrath in the unmitigated terrors of
damnation forever. Yes the Lord God still accepts
us and he even accepts our poor worthless attempts at honoring
him, even our sacrifices that we polluted. Listen to Peter's word for me,
the wise man in Ecclesiastes. He also as lively stoves are
built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood. to offer up
spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ we who believe we sinners wow
it's hot in this place we sinners believing on the Son of God offer
God that which God Almighty accepts In the totality of our lives. In the totality of our lives. As his priest doing business
in the holy place. Ecclesiastes 9 verse 7. Go thy
way. Eat thy bread with joy. You can
leave here just a little bit. Go outside and have some sandwiches.
He said go out there and do it with joy. Drink thy wine with
a merry heart. He didn't say drink until you
get drunk. He said drink your wine and enjoy
it. Enjoy it. For God now accepteth eating
your bread and drinking your wine. God now accepteth thy works. Let thy garments always be always
white, always robed in the righteousness of Christ, and let thy head like
no other, always filled with His Spirit, living by faith in
Christ, in the joyful assurance of acceptance with God. Are you
sure he's talking about just everyday ordinary life? Well,
let's see. Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all
the days of the life of thy vanity. May not be much of a description
of things in this world, is it? Well, it's true. Vanity. The life of life, vanity. You
ladies, some of you have. You've got a place like it, whether
you've got one or not, in your bathroom, in your bedroom, you
have these pretty little desks with little stools that a man
can't dare sit on, with a mirror in front of them. You know what
they call them? Vanities. Vanity. That's what this life is. And
God says to you who believe, fellas when you come in from
work, take a little time and have your wife bring you your
evening glass of wine and sit down in your easy chair and smoke
your pipe and set your wife on your lap and pat her on the leg
and enjoy it. God accepts your works. You keep
them. You've been worshipping God?
It is if I'm his. It is if I'm his. It's called
believing God. It's called walking in Christ.
Read on. For that is thy portion in this
life and in thy labor which thou takest under the sun. Now, whatsoever
thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might. For there
is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave whither
thou goest. Our only opportunity to serve
God in these bodies of flesh is while we're in these bodies
of flesh. So whatever God gives you to do, whatever it is God's
put in your hands. Whatever it is God gives you
to do, do it with all your might. Malachi 1.11 For from the rising
of the sun, even to the going down of the same, my name shall
be great among the Gentiles, and in every place incense shall
be offered unto my name, a pure offering, Christ Jesus the Lord,
for my name. shall be great among the heathen,
saith the Lord of hosts. And we come to God in the totality
of our being in the name of Jesus Christ the Lord. God, here I
am, a sinful man. Today and every day I will praise
you. Today, as every day, I will walk
before you in the uprightness of my heart, trusting my Redeemer. Accept me, I ask for Christ's
sake. And God says it's done. It's done. Number four. Inspired with gratitude, constrained
by his love, overwhelmed by humility before his throne, Let us from
this day forward offer God our best. Just our best. Nothing else. Nothing else. Know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? And such were some of
you. But you wash but you sanctified,
but you justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the
Spirit of our God. What? Know ye not that your body
is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have
of God and you're not your own. You're not your own. You bought with a price. Therefore
glorify God in your bodies and in your spirit, which are God's. Brother Don, what should we do?
What should we do? Brother Cunningham referred to
Luke chapter 7, that lady, that harlot, out of whom the Lord
had cast seven devils. She understood what he was about
to do for her, and she came and knelt down behind him at his
feet and weeping with gratitude she washed his feet with her
tears and she uncladded her hair and wiped his feet dry with her
hair and she picked up his feet imagine this in public in public
right in front of that religious crowd in public there's a woman who
just lays everything out. Just lays everything out. Humbles
herself before God and men. I can just picture those Pharisees,
we always knew she was still a harlot. I can just picture
her. She hadn't changed any, look
at her. Look at her. And she kissed him. And Judas said as he saw the
ointment poured forth, What a waste. And all the brethren joined in,
mocking her. And the master said, you leave
this girl alone. You leave her alone. She has done what she could. God give me grace to do what
I can for my Redeemer. Nothing more is required. Nothing
less will do. And the Lord Jesus said, wherever
the gospel of my grace is preached until time shall be no more.
Folks are going to be talking about what this gal did. She
did what she could. Go do the same. Amen.