All right, take your Bibles now
and turn with me to the book of Titus. This is a very small
epistle. If you're not familiar with where
it is, you can go to Hebrews and come back. One book is the
book of Philemon, and then the next one back is the book of
Titus. I want to talk to you this morning
about the hope of the gospel. Paul said it's a hope. It's a
hope. He said, I haven't arrived, not
as though I've already arrived. Now, this was an apostle. You
think about the things that attended the ministry and the life of
the Apostle Paul. There he sat on his big white
charger, a handful of papers that he went and sought to persecute
the children of God. And he was riding along on that
big white steed and his head up in the air and his chest out,
and God unhorsed that proud rebel and put his face in the dirt. You don't buy an experience. Blinded him. Very sick. Couldn't see. Scales, evidently,
ugly scales. I picture something like you
see on a tree, you know, old hard scales on his eyes. Whatever it was, it deformed
his look so that he was always talking about it. You read in
the epistles. He said, I bear you witness, he told the Corinthians,
you'd have plucked out your eyes and gave them to me if I'd asked
you. They looked at him and he prayed. Oh, how Paul prayed for
that thorn in the flesh, that's what he called it, to be taken
away. And finally, the Lord just told him, now in taking it away,
he said, Paul, I gave it to you on purpose. I gave it to you,
and my grace is sufficient for you. But you think of the things
this man that attended him and attended his ministry, and yet
he spoke of this thing of the gospel and salvation as a thing
that he hadn't attained to yet. Paul was caught up, it says in
the Scripture, and taught by Christ Himself in the third heaven. I don't know anybody that had
that experience, but he did. And yes, he said, I hadn't arrived. Me and you, we jumped on that
and rode that until we died, wasn't we? I don't care who said
what, we go right before we go back down. I'm telling you, I
was there, my face in the mud, the scales on my eyes, caught
up to the third heaven, and that's all we'd talk about until we
died. Not Paul. Not Paul. He mentioned it on
occasion because the occasion warranted the testimony, but
that's not where his hope was. He said, my hope's out there.
And I got my eye on it. And that's where I'm headed.
I'm headed that way. My eyes on the prize. The prize
is out there. I haven't got it yet. I just
have the hope of it. The hope of it. The real substance,
the real evidence of faith is the Word of God. It's not by
science that we understand the things around us. He said we
understand. This comes from Hebrews 11. We
understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God. That's how faith understands
everything it sees. It believes God. It takes God at His word. And
that's the substance, the evidence of faith, is that this person
who once lifted everything, who once considered everything, he
considered science, he considered his background, he considered
his experiences, he considered all these things. All of a sudden,
this man now will consider nothing except what's in this book. You
couldn't tell Paul anything if you couldn't show it to him in
this book. He didn't care who you were. He said, I don't care
if an angel from heaven comes down declaring another gospel.
He said, let him be accursed. He took God at his word. And
if God says he created the heavens and the earth, that was the end
of the argument for Paul. He didn't care what the philosophers
believed. He didn't care what the Greeks taught. And I'll tell
you this, it's not the Word of God that muddies the waters of
creation, it's science. That's what muddies the water.
And when it comes to the things of God I'm talking about, the
things of God, when it comes to these things, faith, repentance,
conversion, salvation, the person of Christ, the gospel, the new
birth, The condition of man. What is his condition? What is
he in reality? I don't know. Do you? I just
know what I see. I know what I feel from time
to time, but I don't really know. What I know, I've got from this
book. That's all I know about man. I know what's in this book. What do I know about Christ?
I don't know anything about Christ. except what I know from this
book. This is the only information that I have on God right here. I don't have anything else. And I tell you, when God gives
you that, and I can't explain that, but I just know one day
I could care less whether I sought God or not, and in an instant,
just like that, I sought Him with all my heart. Why? Why? Can you? Our Lord told Nicodemus,
he started telling the Lord what all he knew. The Lord said, Whoa,
you can't even perceive the kingdom of God, let alone see it. You
can't even perceive it apart from being born again. It says there's none that understand
it. Why do I want to go to a bunch
of folks who don't understand and ask them to help me understand? You see what I'm saying? This thing is the gift of God. He puts it in your heart to seek
Him. He puts the interest there. I can't create the interest.
I can point you to the Savior. I can describe His work. I can
give you some consolation for your soul if he will reveal to
you what you are. I can guide you in the Scriptures
and show you God's testimony concerning man and God's testimony
concerning his Son and God's testimony concerning eternal
matters. I can do that. But I can't give
you the interest to seek him. Now, this is what I want you
to see here in this message this morning. Look here in Titus chapter
1. Paul identified himself here
as a servant. That word is bondslave. It's
the same word that he uses over there in Romans chapter 1. But
he said, I'm a bondslave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ
according to the faith of God's elect. God has an elect. I don't
know who they are. And I know I read to you two
verses back in John chapter 3 that this world uses to prove universal
redemption. For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son. But I'm going to tell you something.
If God loved every man, woman, and child, and Christ came to
atone for their sins, then there's no reason to fear hell. There's
no reason to have a hell. They had no sins. He put them
away, didn't He? So he can't possibly be talking
about every man, woman, and child. Another reason I know he's not
talking about every man, woman, and child is because he uses
the word election 37 times in the New Testament. 37 times! And I'm not even beginning
to mention how many times in the Old Testament he uses it. Over there in Romans 9, I
don't know of a clearer passage anywhere of the Scriptures, than
Jacob and Esau. And he said that he said those
things to her concerning those two twin boys that the purpose
of God according to election might stand, not of works, but
of him that calleth. There is an elect of God, and
the elect of God are given faith. It's the gift of God. They hear
the gospel and God gives them faith. Now, that's what Paul's
talking about. He said, that's why I'm here.
That's why I received this apostleship. That's why I'm a servant. That's
how I got involved in this thing. God give me the faith of His
elect. Now watch this. And the acknowledging
of the truth which is after godliness. What's he talking about there?
He's talking about how long women wear the dresses or how short
men's hair has to be or whether or not we go to the picture show.
What's he talking about godliness? I read it to you last week. Great
is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. He was seen of angels, believed
on in the world, justified in the Spirit, received up into
glory. He is talking about that manifestation
of God-likeness in the man Christ Jesus. In him dwelleth all the
fullness of the Godhead bodily. That is godliness. The only God-likeness
you'll ever see in this world is in that man. That man. You want to see who God is? That's
where you're going to learn it. You remember over in John chapter
1, he said, No man, no man hath ever seen God, no man, save he
that is in the bosom of the Father. He hath declared him. You want
to know who God is? That's the only place you can
find out, right there. Study Christ, you'll be studying
God. You study theology by studying Christ. That's where you come
to know who God is. Will God punish sin? I don't
know. Did He punish sin in Christ? There's Godliness. And I know
this, that this faith, this faith of God's elect, now listen to
me, is an acknowledging of the truth in the light of the person
and work of Christ. That's what he's saying here.
in the light of godliness. It's after godliness. Now, you
can consider truth, and you can know truth, and you can memorize
truth, and it won't do a thing for you until that truth comes
to be seen in him who is the truth. You remember the story
about Lazarus and how Martha came to him, and the Lord said,
Well, you believe Lazarus is going to rise? Well, yeah, on
the last day. He said, Martha, I am the Resurrected. You talk about truth. He said,
I am the truth. I am the truth. Think about that. I am the life. Where's the life? Here it is. Where's the way? Who has the
way? Does the Methodist have the way,
or the Catholics, or the Baptists? Who has the way? Does the Jew
have the way? I am the way. You see what I'm saying? He's
everything. Truth is perceived. We acknowledge the truth in the
light of godliness, god-likeness. How are you going to know the
truth about sin if you don't see it in the light of His perfection?
Here's how you're going to consider sin. Let's just take that out
of the equation. Let's just take God out of the
equation here for a minute. And now we're going to consider
sin. What are we going to do? I'm going to consider how good
I am compared to how good you are. If you're better than me,
I'm going to find somebody a little worse. I ain't going to find
that person that's better than me. I'm going to find a person that's
a little worse, and I'm going to compare myself to him, and
I'm going to come out smelling like a rose. And that's all the understanding
we can have of sin apart from the perfection of God. When you
start to see yourself compared with God, then you're nothing. Then not just your bad deeds
begin to be bad, but all your righteousnesses begin to be filthy
rags then. And sin becomes exceedingly sinful. It's in hope of eternal life,
this acknowledging is. It's an acknowledging of the
truth which is after godliness. Here's two boys back here in
the garden. Cain and Abel, the first two
sons of Adam and Eve. And their daddy and mommy, when
Cain was born, he was the firstborn. When Cain was born, Eve said,
I have gotten the man. Now, she didn't say, I've got
a boy and rejoiced over that. She said, I have gotten the man. That is, the man whom God promised
over here in Genesis 3, the woman seed. She thought that Cain was
the fulfillment of that promise. I've gotten the man. And there
is not a doubt in my mind that her whole life she had a special
affection for Cain. She thought he was the Messiah.
And there's no doubt in my mind. In the back of her mind, she
thought this is who he was. And all her life she treated
him that way. Let him probably get away with
things that she didn't let Abel get away with. I don't know that. I realize I'm reading things
into that, but I've got a good reason for it. And then it comes
time for these two boys to worship God. Now, they've been instructed,
both of them, by the same parents. They're one but two parents.
One but one husband here involved, Adam. One but one experience,
God slayed an animal and took the skins and clothed them in
the garden. And they instructed those two children how to approach
God. And here they come. And Abel
brought his lamb down, and Cain brought the fruits of his labor.
He brought who knows what. I guarantee you what that boy
brought would have worn the blue ribbon at the fair. He brought
the best he could produce. He brought the best vegetables,
flowers, whatever it was he brought, he brought was the best. And
I know he brought a lot, and he laid it down. And here comes
Abel, and he's got a lamb, and he cuts its throat, and it bleeds
and jumps around for a few minutes and lays down on the ground.
And he opens that thing up and rakes all the insides out. and
peels the skin off of it, and then he throws it on a bunch
of wood and fires it up and burns it. And God comes along, and here's
all this beautiful stuff over here, and here's this bleeding,
dying lamb. And God has respect to Abel's
offering, but it says he has no respect to Cain. None. Zero. Zip. Nothing. And it said Cain got upset. He got angry. And his countenance
fell. You know what that is. Tell your
kids no sometimes. They'll show you what that countenance
is. Boy, that smile come into a frown
real quick. His countenance fell. And Abel
loved him. And I can just picture what in
the world was they doing out in the field talking? Abel felt
bad. toward his brother. And he took his brother out in
the field. And he started to explain to him what this thing
was all about. You have to bring the lamb because
the lamb identifies you with God. It's the substitutionary
sacrifice. Buddy, he killed his brother
right there in the field. Who do you think you are? I'm
the eldest. I'm the firstborn. I'm the authority
here. You don't teach me. You don't
tell me. That's how man reacts to the
gospel. We all have done it. Every last one of us has done
it. You hear the truth? Boom! The countenance falls.
What do you mean God spits on my righteousness? He had no respect
to it. God wouldn't even look at it. Everybody else was impressed
with it, but not God. And I'm telling you, that's how
we come. We come, we get the thinking in our mind. I think
pretty good. My parents think a lot about
me. I can't be all that bad. And I just need a few things
cleaned up and I get a few things fixed up and I'll be alright. And so I come down to worship
and I bring the best I've got. And God spits on it. I'm upset. I'm upset. But I can't get to God, so who
do I go to? I go to the preacher. That's
the first one. That preacher. And then I go to the other believers
that are backing him up. And I go to them. Clench my fist. Set my face. My countenance falls.
And then if you try to help them at all, they'll kill you in the
field the same way Cain killed Abel. Same thing. He's not going
to have it. We will not have this man reign
over us. We ain't going to have it. That's
sin. That's sin. And that's how it's shown. It's
shown in the light of godliness. Godliness. Listen to this over
in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 4. It says, By faith Abel offered
unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained
witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts,
and by it he being dead. yet speak." God had respect to him, didn't
He? Godliness has to do with association and knowledge and
will and deed with the will and purpose and character of God. And I mentioned this last week,
great is the mystery of godliness. And I tell you, it's a mystery. Iniquity is a mystery. You know,
good works aren't offensive. They're not offensive. I can
stand up here and preach good works all day and none of you
are going to get upset. It's not offensive until we see
those good works in the light of God's perfection. The rich
young ruler came to Christ and he said, Good Master, and Christ
stopped him right there. Right there. What did he do? What did he say? He said, Why
callest thou me good? There's none good but God. Huh? How many? None. None. Well, they didn't know my mama. Yeah, he knew your mama. And
he knew her mama. And he knows all the mamas right
on back to Eve. And he knows all the daddies
right on back to Adam. And that death passed on to all
men. The faith of God's elect is always in conjunction with
the acknowledging of the truth. And this truth has to do with
the true character and purpose of God. What about the will of
man? There's nothing controversial
about the will of man. I believe man has a will, don't
you? I don't think we do anything against our will. I don't. Now, somebody may have to hold
a gun to your head to get you to do it, but when you do it,
you do them what you will. A man doesn't do anything apart
from his will. But his will is biased. It's
like a jury that's been paid off. You know, they play the
game and they go through it all and the jury says it's guilty.
They can listen to it. Why? Because they're biased.
Your will is biased by your heart out of the heart proceed evil
thoughts and adulteries and all these things, the heart's evil,
out of the mind, the mind's enmity against God. The affections,
he said, I know you that you have not the love of God in you.
It's all sin, it's all corrupt. So how can the will be anything
except corrupt? It will, what will it do? It
will not. That's what it does. There's
the definition for man's will. You will not, he said, come unto
me that you might have life. You search the Scriptures because
in them you think you have eternal life. They are they which testify
of me, and you will not come unto me that you might have life.
I could stand up here this morning and tell you there's life and
dancing around that shade tree and everybody go out there and
go round and round and round the shade tree. That's the way man's
built. That's what he does. Tell him
anything. If another comes in his own name, him you'll receive.
The Son of God comes and God testifies on Him by miracles,
evidences, 6,000 years of prophecy, things, undeniable things. Man
won't have it. Another man comes along and he
says, oh, I'll tell you what this thing is all about, getting
the baptism of the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues. He's
got 25,000 people just like that following him down the road.
He can come and just some off-the-wall cult and everybody will run out
there and follow him down the road. Preach Christ and you'll
get a handful. A handful. That's man's will. It's biased.
Biased by sin. It's you seeing your will in
the light of His will. I can show you that in Scripture.
Here comes the leper. And that leper came to Christ
and he threw himself down on the ground and he said, Lord,
if you will, you can make me clean." You reckon he wanted
to be clean? Yeah, he did. You reckon he thought
he could do it? No. Where was the will? It was in him. If you will, you
can make me clean. Brian Bartimaeus said over there
in crying, Jesus, thou Son of David, Jesus, thou Son of David. Hush, Bartimaeus. This man is
important. Jesus, thou Son of David!" He
cried out the louder. Finally, the Lord had him brought
up. He said, what would you have
me do? What's your will in this manner?
Oh, he said, that I could have my sight. But he couldn't will
them eyes, could he? His will was in subjection to
this will which stood in front of him. It was in subjection
to the Lord Jesus Christ. And he gave him his sight. And
you can just go on and on and on. Our will is a will not, cannot. It's a biased will. And the believer
prays. He's taught to pray, not my will.
I don't want my will. My will is always wrong. It's
always wrong. Whatever it is I'm wanting, it's
wrong. Always wrong. But not his. And he teaches us
to pray by experience and by counsel. He teaches us to pray,
Lord, not my will, but thy will be done on earth as it is in
heaven. And I think first because we
see the futility of our will. He said, which one of you, just
close your eyes and grit your teeth and bar up your fists,
which one of you can add one second to your life? that your will. All he has to
do is will it. And you live till that will says
you die. Because none can resist his will. We see the futility and the weakness
in our own will. And secondly, because we see
the evil influence about this will. And thirdly, because we
see the goodness and the mercy that accompanies the will of
God. Our Lord said, I came down from
heaven not to do My will, but the will of Him that sent Me.
Here is the Father's will. Here it is. That every one which
seeth the Son and believeth on Him might have everlasting life,
and I will raise him up at the last day. That will is always
accompanied by mercy and goodness. David said, surely, goodness
and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. Why? Because God willed it. That's why. And this is where
I'm trying to go this morning. The faith of God's elect is an
acknowledging of the truth. That acknowledging has to do
with an interest. God has to give you that interest
and sincerity of heart to seek his word and to seek his will.
And where are you going to find it? I'm trying to tell you, it's
in Christ. It ain't in me. It ain't in this church. It's
not in anybody I know across the country. It's in Christ.
It's in Christ. That's where it's at. It's the
truth of my sin in the light of His goodness, and the truth
of my righteousness in the light of His. The truth of my faithfulness
in the light of His faithfulness. and the truth of the gospel in
the light of his eternality and glory. It's the truth in the
light of godliness demonstrated in the life and death and resurrection
of Christ. And all that see it, when you
see it, you're left with hope. Hope. Hope. That's what he talks
about, hope of eternal life. You see your life. in the light
of His life. Now, won't you listen to me?
This is important. My life, from the time I can remember, has
been self-serving. I've went back and examined it.
I live my life for me. For me. I give some to my kids,
and I've given some things to other people, Basically, my life
has been self-serving. It's been for me my whole life. Self-promoting, self-righteousness,
self-oriented, comparing myself with others. His life is sacrificial. Think about that. He gave himself
completely for others. Paul said, Let this mind be in
you, which was also in Christ Jesus. who made himself of no
reputation. Self-sacrificing. Self-sacrificing. I always reached out to people
I thought was trying to do the best they could. He reached out
to folks who wasn't reaching at all. Yeah, he said, there's some of
you who might give your life for a good man. For a good man. But he said, here is my love.
I gave my son and his life for you while you have yet enemies.
Enemies. Sinners. Filthy, vile, wretched
sinners. Christ died on the cross. He
reaches out to those that are past trying, past looking, past
putting forth any effort. Reconcile to God while we've
yet enemies. And there's a life, this is what
I want to talk to you about, there's a life in Christ that's
so far superior to the life in us that when we see it in its
glory and in its sacrificial, redemptive glory, when you see
that love freely given and that grace freely bestowed, when you
see the goodness involved in it, He has the power to destroy
all, but he doesn't. He saves some. When you see that goodness, you
want it. You want it. And the more of
it you see, the more of it you want. That's life. That's the life of God. without
possibility of sin, unblameable, unreprovable in His sight. This
hope of faith is life. It's life eternal. Salvation
is a new life. It's a new life. It's not getting
fixed up. We think about eternal life.
I've thought about it since I was that big as a continuation of
the life I have, but a few things getting fixed up. Ain't that
what folks think? I've got some sins, I've got
some transgressions, I've got some evil thoughts and things,
but boy, if I can get them out of the way, I'm good to go."
No, you ain't. No, you ain't. You ain't near
that good to go. When you see that life of Christ,
they're so far apart you can't even compare them. He said, you thought I was altogether
such a one as yourself. But he said, I'm going to set
these things in order and I'm going to reprove you. And you're
going to see what your life is. Your life is filthy rags. You've
got no potential of goodness. You've got no potential of holiness.
You've got no potential of righteousness. There's nothing in you worth
saving. He has to put it in you. We're not born with it. It's
not in us. It's the gift of God. The wages
of sin is death. What's this life? It's the gift
of God. The gift of God is eternal life. And this life is what this
book and eternity and all these things are all about. Over in
1 John chapter 5, John said this is the record. He said that God
has given to us eternal life and this life is in His Son.
I think that's wrong about verse 12, 1 John chapter 5. This life
is in His Son. You can't see it anywhere else. You can't find it anywhere else. You can't receive it anywhere
else. It's in Christ. That's where it's at. It's not
in you. It's in Christ. We look at one another. I remember
they used to tell us that all the time. But you've got to live a certain
way so men can see Christ in you. They couldn't see Christ
in Christ. I know they're not going to see Him in you and me. It's not in religion. It's in
His Son. It's not in the water. It's in
His Son. It's not in the doctrine. It's
in His Son. It's not in the experience. It's
in the Son. He that hath the Son hath life. How do you have the Son? By faith. By faith. How do I know I've
got Him when you quit hanging on to everything else and hang
on to Him? That's what I'm trying to get you to do. We'd love to
have you here. I hope you come back every week.
I hope the place fills up and the parking lot fills up. That'd
tickle me to death. But that's not what I'm up here preaching
about. I'm trying to get you to hang on to Him. Go to Him. Life's in Him. You quit arguing
when you see that life. You see it in Him. And you compare
yours to his and you say, I don't want mine anymore. I want his.
It's just like, you know, you've got this nice looking car and
all of a sudden you go down to the car lot and they come out
with this brand new car. Man, you see that thing and all
of a sudden you hate yours. Huh? You go home and start scratching
your head trying to figure out some way to buy that new car.
I've got to have it. Why? You was perfectly satisfied
before you seen it. But you went down there and saw
that big shiny red car, and you said, man, if you're throwing
rocks at yours now, I've got to have this one. I've got to
have this one. Years ago, down in Ball, Louisiana, one of the
fellas had a seafood restaurant. I went down there the other day,
and his son still runs the restaurant. I walked in there. I told my
wife, I said, I can remember the smell from 25 years ago. I went in there, and they got
this whiz over there one night. And they got this tray that's
got these little half ears of corn on it. Now, this is a seafood
buffet, all you can eat. And I don't know what they put
in there, but they put some spicy butter in there of some kind.
And these things are cooked in it. Boy, you ladies know what
I'm talking about. Got the little stick in it, you
know. And there was a couple that come in and sat down over
from us. And Kathy and I was done, and we was waiting on Gerald
to get done with his business so he could come and visit. And
so we were sitting there, and this couple finished eating,
and they were getting ready to go home, and this little boy
still had that ear of corn. And he had it all over him. He
had it all ear to ear. And all he got left now is a
cob. There ain't no corn on it. And
he's still nibbling around on that cob, getting them butter
and spices out of it. They got ready to go, and they
tried to get him to lay that corn down. Boy, he got a hold of that
thing. And they tried to take it away
from him, and you could hear him for three city blocks. He
went to just, you know, and they tried to get him quiet down and
not make a big ruckus in the restaurant. We sat there out of laughter.
They tried everything. They tried to bribe him, and
they tried everything. That little boy wasn't turning
loose of that corn for nobody. And finally, the owner of the
restaurant came over, and he said, if you don't carry, he
said, I've got something I'd like to try. We're exhausted. You go ahead." And he pulled
out a Hershey bar. He dropped that coin. Huh? When are we going to drop our
little toys? Huh? When are you going to turn loose
of your coin? When you see the Hershey bar. When you see something
better. Christ is better. That's where
that light's at. That's what you see. That's what
makes him better. In him, he said, is the brightness
of the Father's glory. The express image of His person. There's life in him. And when
you see that life, you spit on yours. I just don't want it anymore. I want that one. I want that
one. And you've still got this one,
and you're going to drag it through this world. But that ain't what
you want. That's what you want out there.
That's hope. Now Paul said, if you've got
it, why do you yet hope for it? You ain't got it. You just got
the first taste of it. You just got a little foretaste.
That down payment. That surety of the covenant. You just got the Holy Spirit
come and just give you a bite. Just a taste. That's why Peter
said, if so be you tasted that the Lord's gracious. You got
the taste of that lie. But I tell you, you haven't tasted
of it. You don't want anything else.
You don't want anything else. You want to come to Him. That's
where that glory is. It's all in Christ. And I know
we pretend to be religious, and we pretend a lot of things, and
we'll fight to the death over these things sometimes. I did. I fought tooth and toe. Now,
if God had come along and just whopped the head off my idols,
shove them down like He did Baal, turn them over on their face, Oh, he says over there, I think
it's Matthew chapter 15. You ought to read through there
sometime. The Lord's telling His disciples
the difference between religion and eternal life. And here's
all these religious people. And these are the big shots out
of Jerusalem. These are the Pharisees and the
scribes out of Jerusalem. And they come along and they...
How come your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders?
Who's the elders? He said, why do your elders transgress
the commandments of God with their traditions? Nowhere in the Scriptures are
we commanded to form the church into one body, in one organization, with one head or a council at
the head. Now are we? But that's what everybody's
done. We're not commanded to dress
our pastors up in robes and call them reverend and doctor and
master and father. But that's what we've done. We're
nowhere in the Scripture commanded to observe the birth of Jesus
Christ. But next December 22nd, go down
to the city square and stand up and preach against See what
happens. Huh? They'll stone you on the
courthouse lawn. We're not commanded anywhere
in the Scripture to keep or observe the resurrection of Christ by
a holy day. More people go to church on Easter
than any other day of the year, don't they? I could go, we're
not commanded to sprinkle babies. I'm not commanded to sprinkle
anybody with anything, let alone water or sugar or anything else. Baptism is by immersion. I've
commanded two ordinances, the Lord's Table and baptism. That's
it. That's it. How many traditions
do men teach? He said, you come to worship
God and you teach for doctrines the commandments of men. That's
what you do. And you call it worship. You
call it worship. And we think we have life. And
he said, that's not life. He said, it's not what goes into
your mouth that defiles you. You read through Matthew 15.
He said, out of the heart proceed all these things. Out of the
heart. Evil thoughts and adulteries
and all these things. And if they proceed out, if the
heart's bad, if the spring to the river's bad, the river's
polluted. If the river's polluted, all the little things to feed
from is polluted. You see what he's saying? It
requires a new life, not just fixing up. And that life is in Christ. It's
in Christ. This life is going to the tomb. This body is going to the tomb.
Oh, what He's put in me, He's going to preserve forever. He's
going to preserve it forever. And that life is His. You can't
lose it. I guess we worry about losing
it, don't we? I don't. It ain't mine to lose. It's in
Him. He put that life in Christ. He put it there so it would be
secure. He put it there because, well, you can't fall. How are
you going to fall? It ain't yours, Russell, it is. It's mine by faith. I look at
it, see it, hope for it, live for it. And the more I see of
it, The less satisfied I am with this world. You want to talk
about good works? Here they are. When you figure out what you're
doing is ungodly, you'll quit doing it. You just quit. I don't have any
laws up here. We don't have Ten Commandments
out in the parking lot. Nobody in here is a drunk that
I know of. I don't see any rank sinners
in here, do you? Why not? They've come to see
the evil of it, and they don't want it anymore. They want this.
They want this. God help us to see that life
in Christ.