28. And I don't know how people can
read that passage in Romans 8 and not just be so doggone excited
about the work of Christ. It amazes me that more people
get mad at me. That's not in the Bible. Where
is that at? I don't know what you're talking
about. What a comfort. What a comfort. Well, last week
we looked at Sections, I believe it was 17 through the 22nd verse
in the last of Acts 28. And you remember that Paul is
under house arrest. He has been given more liberty
as a prisoner than most prisoners, period. That he's not in a jail
cell, but he's at a house in his lodging. and He's got people
coming and going, coming to Him. And so that's where we pick up
in verse 23, we had just finished, and Paul had arrived in Rome,
safe and sound, according to the promise of God, that he had
promised Him earlier in the book of Acts, that he was going to
testify of the grace of God and His gospel to those at Rome,
He arrived at Rome and he immediately set about to find the Jews in
that area. And they said, we didn't know
you were coming, we didn't get any letters that you were anything
about your situation at all. But they said, but we desire
to hear of thee what you think, for as concerning this sect,
we know that everywhere it is spoken against. They heard about
this way. They heard about this gospel
and that they called it a sect. And then we looked at last week
in the Greek that word sect is the same word as heresy is used
in other places in the book of Acts and it's also used other
places as sect. And Paul made a declaration earlier
In Acts, he said, the way they call heresy. That's how I believe. That's how I believe. And there
are many pastors in this town, in this county. If you tell them
you attend this church, they're going to say, oh, you go there. Oh, we've heard about you guys. It's a sect. Yeah, it is. So what? If the Gospels proclaimed
and the Gospels preached, so be it. So Paul is getting ready
to answer to this question. We desire to hear of you what
you think. For as concerning this sect, we know that everywhere
it is spoken against. The Jews wanted to hang on to
their traditions. They wanted to hang on to Moses. They wanted to embrace Abraham.
But Christ consistently and Paul consistently told them, Moses
wrote of me. Abraham saw my day and rejoiced
in it. They wanted to hang on to their
legalism. They wanted to hang on to their
formalism. They wanted to hang on to, well,
this is the way I was taught. This is the way mom taught me
and dad taught me. This is the way the Presbyterians
do it. This is the way the Baptists do it. This is the way the Catholics
do it. And Paul said, what think ye of Christ? What think ye of
Christ? And in Antioch, as we saw earlier
in the book of Acts, that's where they were first, this sect, this
place, these people, this gospel that is everywhere spoken against,
there were they first called Christians, which is simply a
follower of Christ, a follower of Christ. So let's look this
section in closing and in verse 23 we pick it up and when they
had appointed him that is they appointed Paul a day there came
many to Paul into his lodging to whom he expounded and testified
specifically about the kingdom of God persuading them concerning
Jesus both out of the law of Moses and and out of the prophets
from morning till evening." Now, we're just going to stop right
there. I've entitled this message, The Prisoner Speaks. Because
I know some pastors, and I haven't done it myself, but I've done
something similar to this. As we come to the close of our
studies in the book of Acts, we behold something a little
different than the norm. Usually, preachers attempt to
go into prisons And we did some time to nursing homes where people
are captive and you go to them because they can't come to you.
They're incarcerated. But this is a little different.
You've got people coming in and the prisoner is the preacher.
So it's just a little different going on. Usually preachers attempt
to go to prisons and to speak to a captive audience. Here,
the supposed free men come to hear the prisoner preach to them. And I have just several simple
points. What did Paul say? Well, we don't have to guess.
It's not left up to my interpretation. What did he preach? Well, he
expounded and testified first concerning the kingdom of God. Look at it in verse 23. And when
they had appointed Paul a day, they came many to him and to
his lodging, as I said, he was under house arrest, to whom he
expounded and testified. Well, the word expounded in the
Greek simply means to expose by setting out. To expose something
by setting it out. Now, some of you ladies here
enjoy gardens or flowers. And when you plant that thing,
you set it out. You expose it to the sun, to
the elements, so it can grow. You don't hide it. You don't
hide this Gospel, this message, under a bushel. We expose it, as compared to hiding it. I couldn't understand what that
preacher said, because he kind of hit the meeting. I didn't
understand that preacher, because he spoke words I didn't understand. I didn't understand that preacher
because he just kept talking about tradition and talked about
things. One passage in the Scriptures
that I appreciate, because I didn't go to theology school, I didn't
do any of these things, is that the Pharisees, those who were
very anti-gospel, anti-Christ and crucified, One thing they
noticed about the disciples or the apostles, they said, they
noted, they made a statement, they were ignorant and unlearned
men, but they had been with Christ. Now, we got children in here,
education is absolutely wonderful. I'm not promoting to be ignorant.
I'm saying you do the best you can at school and do the best
you can in learning and pick things up that's going to help
you in your lifetime. Do those things. I commend you
straight A's and all these things, punctuality, all these things,
fantastic. Do them. However, you do not
need to have an education to understand the Gospel. You leave here, you leave here,
you'll know what I'm saying. Now, whether you believe it or
not, everybody here is going to fall into a category in the
next verse. Some heard Paul, some believed, and some didn't.
That's the way the gospel is. Every time it's preached, the
gospel is a challenge. It's not whether you want to
believe it or you take it or leave it. No, you either believe
it or you won't believe it. But my responsibility is to stand
forth here and not have flowery speech so you're impressed with
my oratorical ability. I don't care for those things.
I'm not much of a speaker anyway. And my intellectual prowess,
who cares about those things? Because we'll see here and as
we go through this message that there was one who was a teacher
of Israel And he didn't understand the basic principles of being
born again Preach to you the gospel not
with enticing words of men's wisdom to expound. What is that? He
just exposed. He just... Well, I'm not sure
what you believe. After I heard that, I'm not really
sure what you believe. Well, that's not clear. Oh, I understand what
you believe. I understand what you preach.
Because you didn't hide it. And it's not just... For me,
when you go home and you speak with your neighbor or your friends
or you lend a helping hand to somebody in the community and
it comes up and you can speak, testify of the grace of God,
do so in the simplest terms. The problem with a lot of preaching
today is that they've forsaken the simplicity of the gospel. It's more politically correct,
and it's more impressive to talk about eschatology. I'm sorry,
I use the big word, in time things. I had a man ask me years ago
in St. Louis, he was talking about all
this stuff, and he goes, what do you think about all that?
What do you think about all that? He wanted me to pull out a little
chart, because that's what he was doing, and do all this stuff,
and I said, I don't really care. He goes, what do you mean you
don't care? I said, well, if I'm in Christ, it's settled. What about the
resurrection? Well, I believe everybody's going
to get where they need to go, where they need to go, and how
they need to go. And also, what else did he do?
He testified. That means to witness, to evidence.
A witness is one who has seen and knows that which he or she
is exposing. Jedediah, can you tell me a little
bit about the storm in Bollinger County? You can? Why? witnessed
trees. Well, you could too, right? We
talked about that. You were an eyewitness to what
happened. So don't tell me about what happened
in South County, St. Louis. You weren't there. And
it might be right, and it might be hearsay. You tell me what
you know. More importantly, who you know. Well, I'm not sure if Grandma
would agree with that. You can't be safe for Grandma.
Grandma can't be safe for you. What think ye of Christ? So,
this is what he did. What did he say? Well, he expounded
and he testified, first of all, of the Kingdom of God. Turn to
John chapter 3. What is the Kingdom of God? John
chapter 3. Well, certainly not what the
Pharisees and not what the religious proselytes of the day thought
it was. They thought, as you know from
history and from the Scriptures, that the Jews thought that Christ
was going to come and set up an earthly kingdom. And they
were going to get those vile, corrupt Romans out of their territory,
because they're being occupied. They're being occupied. And they
wanted them out of their country. So they said, the Messiah is
coming, and we know when he comes, he's going to set things right,
and he's going to establish an earthly kingdom. They didn't
have a clue. He preached and exposed and testified
of the kingdom of God, which John chapter 3 tells us exactly
what that is. What is the kingdom of God? John chapter 3, look
at starting in verse 3. Jesus answered and said unto
him, Nicodemus, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man
be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Spiritual
things. And Nicodemus said unto him,
to Christ, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter
in the second time into his mother's womb and be born? And Jesus said,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a man be born of water
and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
And Paul is exposing and preaching the kingdom of God. That which
is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit
is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto you, you must be born again. In verse 9, Nicodemus answered
and said unto him, How can these things be? And Jesus answered
and said unto him, Art thou a master? of Israel and knowest not these
things, Paul expounded and preached first of all of the kingdom of
God. Paul spoke and exposed the truth
about the kingdom of God to his listeners. And that is the kingdom
of God is a kingdom of free grace, not one of earthly persuasion
or political power, but it's grace in the heart. You must
be born again or you will not see, you will not understand
the kingdom of God. So here they were looking for
a kingdom, a visible kingdom, a place to bow, a Mecca to bow
a certain way, to face toward... They were looking for physical
things to do. And Paul is preaching as Christ... The Kingdom of God is in the
heart. And it's put there by the birth. And that's done by my grace. You see, when you go about to
try to establish your own righteousness, to get into heaven or a kingdom,
Christ said, no, you must be born again. It's a spiritual
kingdom. It wasn't, they were looking
for the physical kingdom. This kingdom is one where God
reigns in the heart and His call chosen and redeemed sheep. It's
not one of tradition or form or do's and don'ts. And preachers
today should take heed and leave off this political, man-pleasing
way of preaching. We are not to try to change this
world and we're not to be so wrapped up in the fibers of this
world and to be caught up in its web of political correctness
and easy believism, but we are to be about our Father's business,
speak of the way of grace, salvation in a substitute. I've given an
example years ago. from an old pastor friend of
mine, and he said, here's the problem with preaching today.
Here's the situation. You're in a kitchen, and the
sink is clogged, and the water is turned on. Both spigots are
running full blast. That water goes up, gets out
of the sink, on the floor, and preachers today, they got their
mops out, and they're just mopping like crazy. It's not going to stop. Turn
the spigot off. So I can sit here and tell you
a bunch of do's and don'ts, and you need to say yes to this politician,
say no to that, I can preach about things that you must do
or must not do, your hair, your length, your skirt, we can talk
about smoking and chewing and running around with those that
do and don't, and we can talk about all those things, and you
can try to do them. But that has nothing to do with
the Kingdom of God. What has to do with the Kingdom
of God is really outside of your power. Because it's not by the
will of the flesh, it's not because of your last name or your first
name, male or female, your race, your ethnic background. It's
all of God's grace. Salvation is by the pure, free,
Grace of God. That's what Paul preached. They
wanted to figure out how to get into this kingdom. What must
I do to be saved? Or how can I be in Christ? You
must be born again. If you're going to see the kingdom of God,
you must be born again. Okay, what? Now how do I do that? What do you have to do with your
first birth? Nothing. What do you have to do with your
second birth? Nothing. We preach as Paul did, salvation
in the substitute of God. We preach, as one old writer
wrote, the three R's, ruined by the fall, redemption by the
blood, and regeneration by the Spirit. This is what Christ told
Nicodemus, and he didn't even understand it, though he had
letters and he was learned. I told you I read, I don't know
if it was Josephus, the great, Josephus, the Jewish historian,
back in the time of this, he wrote about historically, as
you can go get the book and read what his story records about
these things. And he made a comment about the,
it wasn't the Sadducees, it was the Pharisees, how well they
knew Now, you remember, they didn't have it in book form.
They had the Old Testament, so they had scrolls. But they were so intellectual,
they were so smart that it was said that some of the doctors
of the law that Paul was raised under Gamaliel, that they could
take a couple of those scrolls and roll them out so thick and
take a pen and run it through one of the letters in one word
and tell you what letter it hit on each scroll. Wow, that's impressive. I'd like to have him on my team
on Bible trivia. Here he is. Here's Nicodemus,
a master of Israel. He says, you don't know these
things? You know the best thing we can
do for this country, the best thing that you can do for your
neighbor, the best thing is come, hear the gospel, and if God gives
you grace, opens your heart and saves you. Because you know
what? Even though you got the old flesh,
we still have that old nature. You know what? You have a new
heart that beats and pants after righteousness. And you know what?
I believe you will desire to be the best husband you can be.
You won't have to go sign up for 50 Lessons of the Promise
Keepers. I think you'll desire to do what's right by the Scripture.
I believe you'll desire to love your wife as Christ loved the
church. I believe your wife will desire
to love you back and submit, and I think there'll be harmony
there. And I believe the children will
respect that, and they'll be raised in the home the way they
should be raised, without a bunch of rules and regulations. Obviously,
we have to... The orders are important, the
things that are in the Scriptures. But Paul said, the love of Christ
constrains me, not the law. And these people were trying
to seek a kingdom And Paul says, you've missed it. I'm going to
expose and I'm going to testify to you of the Kingdom of God.
It's in a person. Entrance into glory or God's
Kingdom is by the select operation of the Spirit of God opening
and revealing the things of Christ to dead sinners. Like one old
writer said, if a dead person can take the first step, I believe
he can go the rest of the way. You can't do it. You're dead
in trespasses and sins. You're dead in trespasses and
sins. The Jews were for setting up and waiting for this earthly
kingdom. And the Gospel says it's here ruling and reigning
in my elect's hearts. So whether it's salvation, justification,
glorification, whatever you want to look at, it can't be legislated. It must be created newly and
that by God himself. You can talk about revival, or
reformation, or religious awakening, all you want to, but if it is
not from God, run away from it. You know, I guess it's, I guess it's, not
my comp, I get that one confused. Religion is the opening of the
people. Wasn't that Russian, was it Stalin, or? Yeah, Marx, that's it. He's right. In this country, we've got a
lot of opium fiends. I've seen it. Some of the meanest
people you ever meet are religious people. Why? Because they're searching and
looking for a kingdom on earth and have missed it. Grace makes people gracious. Christ is in the business and
shall be and who's sovereign, He's over all things. He's in
the business of making and conforming us to His image. You think He's
going to do it? I'd say He will. Do we need encouragement and
help and rebuke and those things? Yeah, that's in the Scriptures.
I don't have any problem with that. But, cannot the Lord take
care of His own people? Secondly, What else did Paul
speak of? Well, let's go back in our text
and also in verse 23, not only did he expound and testify or
preach of the kingdom of God, but he persuaded them, all who
would listen, concerning Jesus. How would he do that? The New
Testament hadn't been written yet. Both out of the law of Moses
and out of the prophets from morning till evening. Boy, what
a time that would have been to listen to that. Where did he
get his information from? From the Law and Moses. Turn
to John chapter 5. John chapter 5. This book that you have in front
of you and I have in front of me, it is not a rule book. It
is not a book of morality, though those things are all in there.
It's a book about a person. It's a book about, from stem
to stern, the redemptive accomplishments of the Son of God to do two things,
to glorify His Father and redeem His elect. And the sooner you
find Christ in the Scriptures, the better off you'll be. If
you haven't seen Christ or the Gospel of Grace from the Old
Testament, you haven't seen Him in the New. Because listen to
what Christ says in John chapter 5. John chapter 5 and verse 39.
Christ said, "...Search the Scriptures, For in them you think you have
eternal life, and they," that's the Scriptures, "...are they
which testify of me." Like one old writer said, the responsibility
of the young preacher, the intermediate preacher, the old preacher, is
to find Christ in the text and expound Him. Turn to Luke chapter 24. This
is one of my favorites, Luke 24. Brethren, they're on the
road to Emmaus, and Christ was with them, but He hadn't revealed
Himself to them yet, so they didn't know who they were talking
to. And starting in verse 22, they're recounting, the disciples,
a few of the disciples were recounting what had happened to Christ,
because they didn't know they were speaking with Him. They
said, "...Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished,
which were early at the sepulcher, And when they had found not his
body, Christ's body, they came saying that they had also seen
a vision of angels which said that he was alive. And certain
of them which were with us went to the sepulcher and found it
even as the women had said. But him, that is Christ, they
saw not. Then Christ said unto them, O
fools and slow of heart, to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into
His glory? And look at verse 27, And beginning
at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all
the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. Boy, I would have liked
to have been there. I would have loved to have been
there. Paul preached. Christ and Him
crucified. Paul spoke of Christ evidently
set forth, Christ, Jesus, the Lamb of God, Christ the Lord,
Christ our all in all, the anointed one, that just one, that only
one God has accepted and thus all who are in Him are accepted.
Paul exposed the free favor of God in the person and work of
his darling son. He therefore, by testifying of
God's grace, denounced man's futile efforts to please God
by his worth and works." When you preach grace and you say
it's all of God, you're also saying it's none of man. And
that's what's so offensive in the flesh. Well, I've got something.
Let me go get my baptismal certificate. Or let me go get the papers when
I was sprinkled or whatever they want to call it. Or I walked
the aisle and made my decision for Jesus. Or I did this or I
did that. Take the eye out. Because in Ezekiel 36, when the
Lord says, I come and I give a new heart, He says, I will
sprinkle them with clean water. I'll give a new heart. I will
wash you. I will suffer you. Get rid of our will and see His
will. Can you imagine Paul, from morning
until evening, speaking of Christ out of Moses and out of prophets? Can you imagine that? I don't
know, a couple of years ago we went through I don't know how
many lessons of the tabernacle and everywhere in that tabernacle
was a picture of Christ. And the believers of the Old
Testament, they knew that and they saw that and they were persuaded
and they rejoiced. The Old Testament saints looked
forward and saw Christ. The New Testament believers,
they saw Christ and we look back and see Him by the eye of faith. He's not here with us now or
He's not physically present. He wasn't physically present
then, but they saw him. Every time Moses spoke, the showbread,
Christ is the bread of life. The candlestick, he's the light
of the world. Well, the tabernacle itself,
it was as ugly to look at. Badger skins on the outside.
Christ. They didn't even know Christ
walked among them. He was a man, he was a carpenter's son. They
didn't know who he was, but inside the tabernacle, the Shekinah
glory. Oh, Christ. Every time that tabernacle was
set down and taken and put back up, and the Ark of God was moved,
Christ. Noah's Ark, you tell your children
those little stories all you want to, but I know those who
were in the Ark were safe, and the Ark was a picture of Christ.
And those who were outside of Christ, they died in the flood.
One window, just one. How many ways of God? How many
ways to see God? How many ways of salvation? How
many windows was there in the Ark? One. One Lord, one faith,
one baptism. The word pitch that Moses used,
the pitch, the Hebrew is atonement. Atonement. The animals, you think
there wasn't animal sacrifices? Every time there's an animal
sacrifice. Every time Moses' day and when the Levitical priesthood
was set up, every time they got that lamb, they couldn't just
take any lamb, they had to take a lamb without splemish and blot. Without splemish and blot. Who's
that? Christ. And they just slayed that innocent
for the guilty. Well, what about the scapegoat?
When it was a sacrifice, but it wasn't the lamb, the scapegoat.
They had two. One they sacrificed, and the
other one, what did the high priest do? He put his hand on
the head of the beast, and they took it without the camp. Shows
transfer of sin. Their substitution. Ruth, Boaz,
kinsmen redeemer. He's everywhere. David? Jonathan? Paul exposed and preached the
way they call heresy. He said, so I preach of Jesus
Christ. Not just my imagination testified. Paul, as it were, simply, boldly
and singularly tells how God can be both just and justify
the ungodly. He proclaims liberty to the prisoners.
He proclaims the day of jubilee. Go back in the scriptures, Leviticus,
and look at the day of jubilee, and look at all that it signifies.
I think it's seven times seven, 49th and 50th year. That trumpet
blew. Guess what happened? If you were
a bond, if you were a servant, you got to go free. If you owed
any debt, not anymore. If you lost your property due
to some... you got it back, fully restored. You know what we lost in Adam?
We're going to more than get back in our day of Jubilee. Paul spoke of Christ, the foundation
hope of all who believe, the rock of all fence and the sure
word of prophecy. Jesus of Nazareth, the true Son
of God. Now you tell me, is there any
other thing or any other person worthy to speak of, to seek after,
to live for, or to die for? There's a lot of people who have
a lot of causes. You know, it's for a good cause. And there is a lot of things
for good causes. But nothing like Him with whom we have to
do. We could not exhaust the subject
of Christianity or Christ, so let us be about His honor and
His glory by telling people the same thing Paul tells those folks
here." Well, what was the reception?
I told you we'd get to that point. Verse 24, "...and some believed
the things which were spoken, and some believed not." When
we speak concerning Christ and His vicarious death upon the
cross, the results are always the same. Some believe, and some
don't believe. We won't turn there, but if you
want to, you can write down 2 Corinthians 2, verses 14-16. When we preach that sweet-smelling
Savior unto God, the sacrifice of Christ, Paul says to some
it's life unto life, and to some it's death unto death. To some,
Like Paul, they kick hard against that rock, and the Lord breaks
their heart. And others, that rock is going
to smash in judgment. Some are crushed, and some are
broken. Because Christ will not be...
When they said about Paul, is it hard for thee to kick against
the pricks? You're not going to do it. Well, lastly, in closing. So, some believe and some don't
believe. In verse 25, when they agreed not among themselves,
they departed after that Paul had spoken one word. They're
getting ready to leave. Well, we don't believe what you're
saying. We don't like this thing. Paul says, wait a minute. I got
one more word for you. He said, Well spake the Holy
Ghost by Isaiah the prophet unto our father, saying, Go unto this
people and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand. Seeing you shall see and not
perceive. For the heart of this people
is wax gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their
eyes have they closed, lest they should see with their eyes, and
hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should
be converted, and I should heal." So, what are we to do? We've
been gathering together for quite a while. People come and people
go. We get nasty comments. We get good comments. We get... Started writing articles
in the paper and that lasted, I don't know, it didn't last
very long. And the paper called and said, we're not going to
allow this anymore. We don't like what you're writing. She
basically tried to get me hemmed in. She says, well, don't be
controversial and don't write this and don't write that. Basically,
she wanted me to write some nice little religious political thing.
And I said, I've got one responsibility. And that's what I'm going to
do. And they let me write for a couple of times. And then they just
shut it down. And we were paying for it. No,
I'm sorry. It was free. They said, we're
not going to do this. If we can't say no to you, we've
got to say no to everybody. So they just cut the column out. It can be discouraging. It can
be upsetting. Yet, what do we do? We rest. We rest. God's will and God's
purpose shall be accomplished. And his church is right on schedule. Look at verse 28. Paul said,
Be it known therefore unto you that salvation of God is sent
unto the Gentiles and that they will hear it. Everybody in here
is a Gentile. And some believe And some don't. We don't know who they are. We
just preach the gospel. And His elect are going to hear. And they're going to come. They
will hear it. Rest assured, God is having His
way among the inhabitants of earth. His sheep are being called
out. His church suffers no real harm.
And all that are given to Him in eternity past shall be brought
into the fold. Look at in closing here. And
Paul dwelt in verse 32 whole years in his own hired house,
which many say that that's where he wrote most of the epistles. Because Nero, who was going to
be the king here in Rome historically, he didn't like the Christians
and, you know, he's going to kill Paul here in a little bit.
But not until the Lord has everything done as needs to be done for
the church's edification. Look at verse 31, preaching,
what did he do? He preached the kingdom of God and teaching those
things which concern the Lord Jesus with all confidence, no
man forbidding. Why in the world, how can it
be that you and I are sitting here this morning, Sunday morning
in a free country and now I have to be running the scare for our
life because God has the presidents, The governors and the kings,
he's got their heart in his hand and he turns it. Whithersoever
he will. Now it might not be that way
one of these days. But God's will shall be done. His purpose
cannot be thwarted. I'm going to close by reading
Psalms 135 and verse 6. You're probably
familiar with this verse. Psalms 135 verse 6. Whatsoever
the Lord pleased, That did He in heaven, and in
earth, in the seas, and in all deep places. That which He pleased,
He does. And you know what pleases Him?
This is my beloved Son, in whom I'm well pleased. And if you're
in Him, He's pleased as well. Now that's... So you go too far
preacher. No I don't. If you have the righteousness
of Christ, So, well, God's not pleased with us. No, not in and
of ourselves. But when He looks at you, He
sees a substitute. He looks at you, and just like
those in the Old Testament, those Jews, and the firstborn, and
those houses in Egypt, were just as sinful as the Egyptians' firstborn.
Well, why didn't they perish? When I see the blood, I'll pass
over. And you know what? That's the
Old Testament. New Testament, we have more than that. He not only passes
over us, but we have His imputed righteousness. You can't have
the lack of the negative, you better have the presence of the
positive. Or it's a partial salvation, which is no such thing. Or, I
don't do this preacher, and I don't do that. Yes, but do you have
the positive righteousness of Christ? And if you do, it is well with your soul indeed.
Matt, would you close us? The more we ask that we're held
captive.