idioms, sayings, and use them
very commonly, understand their meaning, but don't really have
any idea where they originated. Did you ever wonder where the
phrase, blood is thicker than water, originated? I couldn't
find the man's name. It was 1857, when the British
were colonizing China. were doing battle to take the
Taeku forts in China. And though America had no involvement
in the conflict, an American naval officer gave order for
his sailors to give assistance to the British, and some questioned
why. And he said, I can't help it,
blood's thicker than water. And the clear implication was,
These Englishmen are my kinsmen, and I must give them aid. I like
that attitude. It's a family attitude, a family
frame of mind. And I am very much a family man.
A man, if he is a man, takes care of his family. I never had much of a family
until God brought Shelby and I together. And I'll do most
anything to provide for my family. I work three jobs at a time and
then take in some side work, take care of things. Do most
anything to hold my family together, protect my family, care for it.
When it comes to your family, your family, no enemy is very
fearful. No cost is too high. No sacrifice too great. whatever
it takes to take care of the family. There's not a man or
woman on this earth who's not a member of some family of some
sort. The poorest as well as the richest
has relatives and kin and can tell you something about them.
He might not want to, but he can tell you something about
where he came from. We all enjoy family gatherings, Christmas,
Easter, Thanksgiving, young men who've been away from home for
a little while, steal a little time, and go back home, see mom
and dad, these brothers and sisters, young ladies, gather their little
ones up, take them, go see grandma and grandpa. Grandma and grandpa
tickle to death. The house is crowded again. And
brothers and sisters look at each other. Parents look on their
children with great delight and joy. So many questions to ask,
so many things to say, so many things to share with one another
that you Recognize the time is just very, very brief, but oh,
what a blessed time it is. Lord willing, in a couple of
days or a few weeks, actually next week, a few days, I want
to spend a couple of days preaching in my hometown, and I'm going
to get to see some of my family. And though we have so little
in common with regard to the things of God, so much in common
otherwise. ask some questions, catch up
on news, and leave recognizing that soon we'll have some gatherings
that won't be so pleasant. These gatherings are natural.
They're pleasant. I encourage you. You folks, you
young people, especially younger than I am anyway, you cherish
such times. Cherish them. Make the most of
them. Because old men tend to think about things that cause
some pain. We get together with family and
there's some thinking spots, some laughter never heard again,
some voices never heard again. Family is one of the best things,
one of the very few truly pleasant things that has survived the
fall of our father Adam. But our families will soon break
up. Our children begin to go out
in the world. That's what we raised them to do. I only had
one. We raised our daughter to get
married, be a good wife, be a good mother, be a responsible adult,
responsible, productive citizen in society. And just as soon
as it gets close, you start pulling real hard. You want to keep them
close as you can. But you do so because you recognize
the time will come quickly when you'll get together shelter.
You'll see them shelter. Those grandbabies come around
a lot now. A few years, they'll have other things to do. And
I recognize it. Shelby does. You do. And so you
hold as tight as you can. And then we're going to bury
them, or they us. But there is a family. A real
family. A family where there will never
be a vacant place. Where there will never be any
sorrow. Where there will never be any
breaking up. But only an everlasting growing
union. And I want with all my heart
for you to be part of that family. It's called the family of God.
And that's what's described in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 39
and 40. Some members of this family are
in heaven. Most of them, I suspect. Some are on the earth. Some are
here, some are in Africa, some in Alaska. Just met a few last
week, hadn't seen before. Some in Mexico, some in places
we will never see on this earth. But all who are in Christ, Now
God help you to hear and understand what I'm saying. I am not suggesting
by any stretch of the imagination that all religious people, or
even all who profess faith in Christ, but I am saying that
all who are in Christ, whether they be men and women who lived
in the days of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, or men and women who
lived in the days of the apostles, or men and women who live today,
all who are in Christ, young and old, in this building right
here tonight, and in every corner of the globe, wherever many women
are found who believe on the Son of God. All who are in Christ
are the family of God. Let's read verses 39 and 40.
Hebrews 11, 39. And these are, these are, having
obtained a good report through faith. received the promise,
or received not the promise. Now we'll look at this a little
more closely the Lord willing next week. But this is what the Holy
Spirit is telling us. All these of whom he's been speaking
in the previous 38 verses. More than that, all who are believers
in the Old Testament era, of whom these folks were just representatives. These all received a good report
through faith in Christ. They received a good report in
their own consciences that they were accepted of God because
of Christ's blood and righteousness, having not received the promise.
Now, in the scriptures, the promise is always one. The promise is
Christ the Lord. They had received him by faith,
but he had not yet come physically He had not yet come in actuality
to the earth, so they had not yet received Him so as to hold
Him and see Him and touch Him, but they believed Him just like
we do. They believed Him and were saved by Him, looking to
Christ who was to come, just as we are saved looking back
to Christ who has come, both being saved by grace through
faith in the Lord Jesus. Having not received the promise,
God having provided some better thing for us, that they, without
us, should not be made perfect, complete, entire. And I ask you
to give me your attention for just a few minutes while I talk
to you about the family of God. I want to show you what God's
purpose for His family, who His family is, and how He's going
to accomplish what His purpose. Let me answer three questions.
who is this family, or who's in this family. In the text we
read, Paul speaks first of these all, referring to the Old Testament
saints. And then he speaks of us, that
is, those who today Please believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. And then he speaks of them and
us being made perfect together. And so he's speaking of this
family as being made up of all God's saints in the Old Testament
and in the New. Those who live from Adam to the
coming of Christ and those who live since the coming of Christ
unto our Lord's second coming. In other words, he's telling
us that the whole family in heaven and in earth is the family of
God, the church of God, the kingdom of God. It is one great family,
a family more numerous than the sands by the seashore and the
stars of the sky. This family of God is made up
of all God's elect, of all true believers, of all who are redeemed
by the blood of Christ, of all who are born again by God the
Holy Spirit. Let me give you some synonyms
for it. If you read the scriptures and read without paying any attention
to the notes men make about the scriptures. If you have one of
those Bibles that folks have messed with and put notes down
at the bottom of it, do the best you can to ignore it. I really
suggest you throw that Bible away and get a good one that
doesn't have any man's notes in it. But do your best you can
to ignore the notes. Because almost always they mess
up. They just mess up. I recall one
time A fellow looked at me, his teacher's Sunday school class,
I was sitting right where Shelby's sitting. He said, now there's
the family of God and the church of God and the kingdom of God,
but the kingdom of God is not the church of God and the church
of God is not the family of God. Isn't that right, Pastor? I said,
no, that's not right. That is not right. No, no. You
see, all of these terms are synonyms for the church and the family
of God. The elect of God, that's his family. The household of
faith, that's his family. The body of Christ, the bride
of Christ, that's his family. Well, how can we be both his
family and his body and his bride? If that bothers you, take it
up with him. The fact is, not one illustration can serve to
illustrate and picture our Redeemer, and not one earthly illustration
can serve to illustrate and picture the believer's union with Christ.
We are his body. And a man who marries a woman
takes her to be his own flesh. And Paul said, now I'm not talking
to you about husbands and wives, I'm talking to you about Christ
and the church. We're one with him. The temple of God. That's the family of God. the
sheep of Christ, that sheepfold to which we belong, we're his
family. The church of the firstborn,
that holy nation, that royal priesthood, those who are called
the Israel of God, these all are terms representing the family
and the church of God. Now, membership in this family
does not depend upon and cannot be determined by anything on
this earth. It doesn't come by natural birth,
but by new birth. No preacher can give a man or
a woman a position of sonship in this family. The waters of
baptism cannot make you a member of the family of God. Moms and
dads can't bring their children into this family. One of the most commonly received
Abhorrent heresies among folks who sometimes claim to believe
grace is if you bring your babies up here and some preacher acts
like a priest and sloshes a little water on their face and you stand
and say we agree to raise this child to be a Christian, you
brought him into the family of God. All you've done is made
him twofold more child of hell than he was before. No sir, mom
and dad can't bring you in the family of God. You can't educate
children into the family of God. You can educate them in morality,
you can educate them in knowledge about things doctrinally, but
you cannot educate children into the family of God. You've been born into the noblest
family of the most noble, faithful parents imaginable. You weren't
born into the family of God and you weren't born in the air of
heaven. To belong to the family of God, we must be born again. I can't think of a term, Larry,
that's used more commonly and understood less than that term
born again. God Almighty must invade your
dark dead soul and give you life. You must be born again. God must
reach down from heaven by the power of his spirit and give
life to you where there's nothing but death. Only God the Holy
Spirit can make dead sinners to be living members of this
living temple, which is the family of God. It's his special function. It is his office prerogative
to bring chosen redeemed sinners into a living union of life and
faith with the Lord Jesus Christ. As no earthly thing can bring
men and women into the family of God, certainly the mere exercise
of your will won't do it. These days folks have the notion
that if they decide to become the sons of God, they will be
the sons of God. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that
wonderful? When I was growing up, I knew some folks who were on
the other side of the tracks and went to school with their
boys, went to school with their girls, and I often wished I had been
born on that side of the tracks. I often wished I had been in
that family instead of the one I was in. I often did. But you
know what? I never dreamed that I could
walk up to Mr. R.J. Reynolds, knock on his door,
and say, Mr. Reynolds, I've been observing
your son, Zachary. He and I go to different schools,
but we see one another now and then. I've been observing how
things are for him and I've decided to let you be my daddy and I'll
be your son. For one thing, I don't think
I would have got to the door. I don't think so. But men and
women presume that they can decide they will be the sons of God,
not on your life. Let me show you some scripture.
Turn to Galatians chapter 4. We're told concerning the sons
of God that they're born not of blood, nor the will of the
flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. We're told it is not
of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that
showeth mercy. Well, how is it that God makes
his sons his sons? Look here in Galatians 4. When
the fullness of time, verse 4, when the fullness of time was
come, God sent forth his son made of a woman, made under the
law to redeem them that were under the law. that we might,
look at the word, receive, that we might receive. That is, in
order for us to receive The adoption of sons, we were adopted in Christ,
Ephesians 1, 6, before the world was. We were adopted and accepted
in the beloved, but we could not come into this privilege
of sonship except the Son of God first come and put away our
sins by the satisfying of God's holy law, his righteousness and
his justice. Now read on. That we might receive
the adoption of sons. Now look at this. And because
you are sons, not in order to make you sons. That was done
before the world began. We were adopted in Christ from
eternity, but because you are sons, God has sent forth the
spirit of his son into your hearts, crying Abba Father. In other
words, when a man or a woman comes into this blessed experience
of sonship, he brought into it for he knows it. And first thing
he knows, He lifts his eyes to heaven and calls God his father
with confidence. God the Holy Spirit come in your
heart, give you faith in Christ and you look to God as your father.
Look at this. Wherefore thou art no more a
servant, no more a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an
heir of God through Christ. Turn over to 1 John chapter 3.
First John chapter three. Oh, I hope never to get over
the wonder of this. Behold. What manner of love the Father
has bestowed on us. You want to see what love is?
Watch this. You want to see what the love of God is for sinners?
Watch this. Stop here. Take a long pause
and look it over. What manner of love the Father
hath bestowed on us. Us. Us. Such things as we are. Us. If we would look on us, we'd
throw us in prison or hell one. us that we should be called the
sons of God. And Lindsay, God never calls
us what we ain't. Who's next line? Beloved, now
are we the sons of God? We are right now God's sons. Better to be the sons of God
than the angels of glory. We are the sons of God right
now. And it doth not yet appear what we shall be. Who can tell what we shall be?
It's an astonishing wonder. We'll see it in a minute. But
look at this. But we know this. When Christ shall appear, we
shall be like Him. For we shall see Him as He is. when we see him in his glory. We shall be like him in his glory. And every man that hath this
hope in him, this hope of sonship, this hope of everlasting glory
with Christ, purifies himself even as he is pure. All right. That's the first thing. Who is
this family? Who's in this family? All who
are in Christ. All who are chosen, redeemed,
and born again by God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy
Spirit. Now here's the second thing. Why does the Bible speak of God's
elect as one family? One family. And it does. Turn
over to Ephesians 3. Before I answer the question,
I'll show you where it speaks of it. One family. One undivided family. One in Christ. One in faith. One in hope. One in heart. One
in spirit. One family. Folks say, well,
God's church is divided. I beg your pardon. God's church
is not divided. Christ said, I pray there'll
be one, there'll be one. God's church is not divided. Brethren
are not divided. Look at this, Ephesians chapter
3 verse 8. Unto me, Paul writes, who am
less than the least of all saints, is this grace given. Oh, what
a grace that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable
riches of Christ, and to make all men see what is the fellowship
of the mystery which from the beginning of the world hath been
hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ, to the intent
that now under principalities and powers in heavenly places
might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God according
to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our
Lord in whom we have boldness, confidence, and access with confidence
by faith in him. Wherefore, I desire that you
faint not at my tribulations for you which is your glory.
For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, look at this now, of whom the whole family in heaven
and earth is named. That's what God calls us, one
whole huge family. That you, or that he would grant
you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened
with might by his spirit in the inner man. that Christ may dwell
in your hearts that you being rooted and grounded in love as
one family may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth
and the length and the depth and the height and to know the
love of God that passes knowledge that you might be filled with
all the fullness of God. Now watch this. Now unto him
that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we
ask or think according to the power that worketh in us. Unto
him be glory in the family, in the church. It's talking about
the very same thing. In the church by Christ Jesus throughout all
ages, world without end. Amen. Well, why is this church
the kingdom of God? Why is it that all true believers
are called one family. It is because we have one Heavenly
Father. We now no longer look upon the
Holy Lord God with dread and fear as a just judge ready always
to punish. But rather, we say, Our Father,
which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. And Wes, that's
not just the words of a prayer we learned to say in Sunday school.
It's the cry of our hearts and the sweetest words imaginable
to our redeemed souls. God Almighty, is my father. I came to him empty, destitute, dirty, broke,
starved, dead, like the prodigal. And this great holy Lord God
ran and fell on my neck. and he never
quit kissing me. I hope never to get over the
wonder of this. The only time in this book God Almighty is
ever referred to as getting in a hurry is to receive a sinner
coming to him for mercy. You reckon God will receive sinners?
Go read the story for yourself. We are called the family of God
because we all have confidence in, that is all believers, we
all have confidence in, we all trust in, we all lean upon, we
are all named after one great and glorious name, and that name
is Christ Jesus the Lord. The one thing that unites all
believers together is Christ. As living members of Christ,
we all with one heart and one mind rejoice in this Savior. Every heart in this family is
built upon Christ as the only object of hope, the only hope
of everlasting life. Every tongue in this family will
tell you immediately, Christ is all. every one of them. The death of Christ as our substitute
is the only atonement we have for our sins. The righteousness
of Christ imputed to us is all the righteousness we had before
the Holy Lord God. The intercession of Christ as
our advocate and high priest in heaven is the only security
we have of everlasting life. The dominion of Christ is our
Lord. Our God and our Savior sits on the throne ruling over
all flesh to give eternal life to as many as the Father has
given him. That is our only peace in the midst of the turmoil of
this world. Our Redeemer sits on his soul.
The blessed hope of Christ's advent is the blessed hope of
every member of the family. Behold, He cometh, and every
eye shall see Him. And when we see Him in His glory,
we'll be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Turn to Romans chapter, no, you
turn to John chapter 17. I'll give you something out of
Romans 8. John 17. Why are all believers referred
to as one family? Because we are all heirs of God
and joint heirs with Christ. Listen to this. The Spirit himself
bears witness with our spirit that we're the children of God.
Now, how does he do that? By giving us faith. That's how
he does it. I hear folks foolishly. They say, You know, the spirit
just bears witness with my spirit that Bob does not believe a hogwash. No sir, that is so. Well, he
just, he smiled. You can see the glow of the spirit
in his face. No, you can't either. No, you
can't. Well, I just feel he's my brother. That's got nothing
to do with anything. Your feelings and your thoughts and your aspirations
and your imaginations and mine are always wrong. The spirit
bears witness with you that you're God's child when he gives you
faith in Christ. It's exactly right. When he gives
you faith, then I know I'm his because I believe him. Now then,
look at this. If children, then heirs of God
and joint heirs with Christ. Now look at John 17. These words
spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father,
the hour has come. glorify thy son, that thy son
also may glorify thee, as thou hast given him power, authority,
dominion over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to
as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that
they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom
thou hast sent." Eternal life is knowing the true God And the
only way to know him is to know him as he revealed himself in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Eternal life is not knowing there
is a God. Eternal life is not saying your
prayers. Eternal life is not joining the
church. Eternal life is not turning over a new leaf. Eternal life
is not getting religion. Eternal life is the knowledge
of the true God in the face of Jesus Christ, God's darling son. All right, read on. I have glorified
thee on the earth. I finished the work thou gavest
me to do. Christ came here as a covenant
head, mediator, representative, as the surety of a covenant,
with a work to do. And he said, I finished your
work. I've brought in everlasting righteousness. I'm about to make
an end to sin. Now read on. And now, O Father,
glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I
had with before the world was. What on earth is he talking about?
He cannot be talking about the Father glorifying Him as God
the Son. Our Lord Jesus Christ never ceased
to be, nor did He ever lay aside His glory as the eternal Son
of God. That cannot be. He who is God
changes not. Larry's talking about the glory
the Father gave Him As our covenant sure lifted when he struck hands
with the father and said, I'll come do your will. And the father
said, all right, I'll give you all flesh and dominion over all
things and put everything under your feet. Now we don't see it
yet, but he sees it on the throne. And the father did it when he
swore he'd do it. When Christ said, I'll redeem them, the father
gave him all things. The father has put all things
in the hands of the son. John 3.35. Now then, look down
at verse 22. Hold on to your seat and shout
praise to God. And the glory which thou gavest
me. What glory? The glory the Father
gave him as the result of perfect obedience as a man. All the glory God the Son has
right now in heaven as our covenant mediator, I have given them that
they may be one, even as we are one. Now this is what he said,
Bobby Estes. The glory that he has, he gave
to you, all of it. And me, all of it. And we're
going to be one forever. All of it. And we're called the family of
God because we have such a strong family relationship, a family
resemblance rather. If you care to see family resemblance,
and you could get a picture of my uncle on my mother's side
and take just a few more hairs off the top of my head, you'd
be looking at him. when he was 50 years old. I mean,
family resemblance is undeniable. Like it or no, I look like him
and he looked like me. Like it or no. And there is an
undeniable family resemblance with all God's people. I'll show
it to you. Philippians chapter three. Philippians
chapter three. Verse three. We are the circumcision. We are
the people of God. We are God's Israel. We are God's
covenant people. We are God's family who worship
God. We worship God. Holy, sovereign,
just, and true. We worship God. Our God is in
the heavens. He's done whatsoever he has pleased.
We worship God who has mercy on whom he will have mercy, has
compassion on whom he will have compassion. We worship God in
the Spirit, in the Spirit. We worship God
in the realm of the Spirit, by the power and grace of his Holy
Spirit. We worship God in our spirits,
not materially. not through images, and not through
pictures, and icons, and idols, and all the trash that men have
today in this day of superficial froth religion. Everybody under
the shining sun carries some kind of a religious symbol. Most ungodly reprobates on the
earth walk on their crosses over their necks. No, no, we worship
God in the Spirit, and we rejoice in Christ. Know what that word
means? It means we boast in, we have
confidence in, we trust in Jesus Christ. That's all. Where's your joy? He's sitting
on the throne. What gives you joy? That one who's sitting on
the throne. What gives you peace? He's sitting
on the throne. What causes you to have hope?
He's sitting on the throne. What settles your soul? He's
sitting on the throne. We rejoice in Christ. He's made
of God unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
We trust Christ alone. Now look at this, and just in
case you misunderstand, nobody in this family, nobody in this family has any
confidence in his flesh. Nobody does. No confidence in
his experiences. No confidence in his knowledge.
No confidence in his emotions. No confidence in his feelings.
No confidence in his, in his family. No confidence in his
background. No confidence in his education.
No confidence in his words. No confidence in the flesh. Our
only confidence is on the throne. That's all. That's all. Now my
brothers and sisters, Let us do what we can to keep up the
blessed unity of this thing there. Paul writes to the Ephesians,
I therefore the prison of the Lord beseech you that you walk
worthy of the vocation wherewith you're called. We are called
the family of God. What a vocation. The family of
God. or walk worthy of it with all
lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering forbearing one
another in love." That's how you keep the family together,
isn't it? Is that how you keep the family together? Yeah. You
just give in. Just give in. All right. Doesn't
matter. Doesn't matter. And you give in without letting
anybody know you gave in. You just give in. You prefer
one another's rights, one another's feelings, one another's desires.
Long-suffering forbearing one another. And it ain't hard to
do. It's hard for other people to
put up with me. It's not too hard for her to put up with me. I
know it's not. You might think it is. It's not.
Because she loves me. She loves me. It's not hard for
her to put up with me. Endeavoring to keep the unity
of the spirit. in the bond of peace. They're
just one body. They're just one spirit. They're
just one hope of your calling. They're just one Lord. They're
just one faith. They're just one baptism. They're just one
God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all
and in you all. But what has God promised to
do for his standing? Let's go back here in Hebrews
11 again. Paul tells us in verses 39 and
40 that our brethren in the Old Testament, our daddy Adam and
our mama Eve, our brother Abel and our brother Abraham, our
brother Isaac and our brother Jacob, our brother Moses and
our brother Malachi and our brother Isaiah, our sister Sarah, our
sister Rahab, our sister Tamar, they without us could not be
made perfect. Couldn't happen. Couldn't happen.
The family could not be completed. Could not be finished without
us. Because God has provided some better thing for us. What
does that mean? Two things. I'll let you go home.
In Ephesians 1, the Lord God tells us that the
church The church of God is the fullness
of him that filleth all in all. What's God going to do for his
family? He's going to complete it. He's going to fill it up. He's going to bring every chosen,
redeemed sinner into the glorious, Delightful adoption of sons. He's going to bring every one
of us to call him father from heart faith. He's going to unite
everyone in his family to Jesus Christ the Lord so that one Lord
and one body and the body is complete, not one missing. And
all the family shall be made perfect in Christ. to the glory of God. When God gets done, Ephesians
2.7, when God gets done with this world, when judgment's over,
the damned are cast into hell, Satan and the beast and the false
prophet are cast forever into hell, and all the saints of God
are gathered around his throne. He shall forever spread out his
to the wandering worlds of angels and saints in heaven and demons
and the damned in hell and said, look here at my family. Look
here at my family. With me, I go talking about my
family, showing off pictures. There's a whole lot of evil in
it because I can't be proud of anything without being wickedly
proud. But God Almighty is going to
take such things as he's found in the dumb heap of fallen humanity
and he's going to display us forever with greater delight
than any man ever displayed the noblest of admirers to wonder
worlds as trophies of his grace in Christ Jesus the Lord. I don't know where I first read
it or heard it. Years ago, when adoption was not such a horrid
legal process as it is now, men would find street urchins and
just take them off the streets and go through whatever process
necessary, they'd be theirs. As a young boy in Chicago, he'd
pick up papers and he'd sell them, had no family, lived on
the streets. Where he knew he could sell the
papers, he'd go find the rich section of town. And he started
this one house. And he'd go knock on the door
and the servant would come and buy paper from him. Always bought
paper from him. One day he went and knocked on
that house. That boy had been thinking, boy, I sure wonder
what that place is like. Wonder what it'd be like to be
in that same house. One day he knocked on the door.
And the fellow who owned the house came to the door. He chatted
with the little boy a little bit, and he looked at him, and
he said, mister, you live in this house? He said, sure do. He said, you and your family?
He said, well, it's just me and my wife. We don't have any children.
He stood there for a minute. He said, you know, mister, I've
been thinking. Would you take me to be your
son? Is there room enough in that
house for me? He called his wife out of the
room. He said, honey, there's a little boy here. Wonder if
there's room enough in this house for him. And she grabbed him
up and took him inside. Brought him a bath of water.
Gave him a bath. Went to the store and got him
some brand new clothes to put on him. Fed him like he never
dreamed anybody could be fed. And that night put him to bed,
most comfortable bed. Down pillows and a down comforter
and he just snuggled down. And went to sleep. Taking in his heart, oh, it sure
is good to be here. Let me tell you something. It's
good to be here. And there's plenty of room in
the family. And our Father takes everybody who knocks at his door. Amen.