Well, it's good to be here. Let's
turn to Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5. If Todd and
Lynn's watching, I wanted to know how much I love them and
Aubrey. And our heart hurts for them.
And they are precious, precious, precious people. And I've told them this before,
I feel as comfortable in their home as I do almost in my own.
I've been in their home so many times. And they have ours. But if you're watching, boy,
we love you. Really love you. You're in the land. Trust the
Lord to get you through what you're going through. And he
will. He will. You know, Romans 8.28
is more than just a verse of scripture. It's more than just
a verse of scripture. It's a life. It's a life that
we've experienced, all of us, at one time or another. You know, all things work together
for good, not to everybody, not to everybody, but all things
work together for good to them that love God. And here's the
kicker, and the called according to his purpose, his purpose. I wanna look here in these first
six verses and read them of Romans five and hopefully bring a message
of titles, Grace Transformed or Transforming Grace. Therefore
being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ. by whom also we have access by
faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope
of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory
in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience,
and patience experience, and experience hope. And hope maketh
not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our
hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. For when we
were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the
ungodly. Now the grace of God, it says
there, the grace wherein we stand, we have access by Christ into
this grace wherein we stand. And I know this, that where the
grace of God comes, and salvation's by grace, no ifs, ands, or buts
about it. But where God brings His grace,
and where God puts the grace towards a person, it also brings
salvation. It brings salvation with it.
It's produced by it. It comes from God. And it also
brings a transformation. When grace comes, it transforms
you. It transforms a lot of things.
Paul said over in Colossians, he said, We give thanks unto
the Father, who hath made us meet, made us fit, made us able
to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light, who hath
translated us, took us from one place, translated us from the
power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son
of His love. Now you go from one place of
darkness And then you go over here in the kingdom of his son.
Now you tell me that ain't a transformation. You tell me that God didn't do
something when he takes you out of here and puts you over here.
When he brings you out of the grave and gives you life. When he takes you when you're
blind and gives you sight. He takes you when you're deaf
and gives you ears to hear. Now that's a pretty radical transformation,
isn't it? And I'll tell you something about
grace, where it comes and brings this salvation and transformation.
It transforms a person's character. I mean, it really changes a person's
character. And I'll tell you something else
that it does. It transforms all the relationships. Relationships
don't stay the same. They don't stay the same. And
I, you know, the relationships with the world, that changes,
and I relate. You know, you look at all the
different people in this congregation today. God so transformed us
by the grace of God that we all have different ideas, different
opinions about a lot of things, political philosophy, social
standing, different education levels, and all kinds of different
things about us. But God in his blessed grace
made us all, brought us all together, and makes us all one, and puts
us all on the same ground, and we're glad to stand there. Ain't
that right? Only grace can do that. Only
grace can do that. And the Scriptures are clear.
The Scriptures are plain. They're emphatic about being
new creatures. You know, if any man be in Christ,
he's a new creation. That means that there was a time
that he wasn't. But if he's in Christ, God made
a new creature out of him. And old things are passed away.
The laws passed away. Sins passed away. All these old
things are passed away. And I tell you, not only does
it talk about us being made new creatures in Christ, but about
being partakers of the divine nature. And that means that God
gives us, makes us a partaker of His blessed nature. He puts
His nature in us. Christ dwells in us by faith.
And here's the whole situation about that. Now, let me ask you
something. You know, I've talked to people,
and maybe you have too, that they don't, you know, they don't
hardly believe that you, you know, when you say you're a partaker
of divine nature and that you're holy, and you don't have to do
anything to be that way. They think that's strange, but
let me ask you something. What was it that God did for
you that made you to see God, understand God, call on God,
read the Bible, understand the Bible, and talk to God? What
nature is in you that caused you to do that? It's not the
old nature, I know that. It's that new nature. It's that
partaker of the divine nature. God puts his nature in us and
you'll not know God until he does that. And I tell you, that's
the only way we can commune with him. That's the only way we can
fellowship with him. That's the only way we can enjoy him. It's
by that. And I tell you, we cease to be
our own. We cease to be our own. We're bought with a price, with
the precious blood of Christ. But I want to look at this statement
there in verse two, where it says, by faith also we have access
into this grace wherein we stand. I want to look at this grace
wherein we stand. And look how this grace changes
our relationships. Look how it changes our relationships. You know the first relationship
it changes with us? God Himself. Look what it says
in verse 1, Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with
God. Do you remember you didn't have
peace with God? I remember very well. I remember
very well trying to have peace with God. Doing all kinds of
works and legalists and being a self-righteous Pharisee. Oh,
never, never was satisfied with myself and could never have peace
with God. But the scripture says that we
were enemies in our minds. By wicked words, alienated from
the life of God. But we're no longer enemies in
our minds. And the carnal mind that says
that it's not subject to the law of God. And now, beloved,
we don't have that carnal, that carnal mind, that mind that we're
no longer under the wrath of God. I was told some folks this
morning, I remember where I was at, what I was doing, the chair
I was sitting in and what I was reading. And I was a, I was just
a legalist. I was a fundamentalist. And I
knew the Bible, I could quote scripture just blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, you know, and thought that that would impress
people. Well, come to find out it didn't impress God, certainly
don't impress people, but here's the thing about it. I was sitting
there and I started learning and started reading and God began
to teach me the gospel. And I was sitting there and I
read there where it said, there's therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. and that Jesus Christ saved us
from the wrath to come. And I knew right then and there
that I'm not under God's wrath anymore. And I so rejoiced, I
hollered and I whooped and I carried on. And you think I get loud
now, you ought to have been there then. I found out God wasn't
mad at me anymore. God wasn't mad at me and I didn't
have to try to make peace with him. Oh, to try to make peace
with God? Preachers say all the time, make
your peace with God. We can't make peace with God. There's no way we can make peace
with God. We ain't had peace. The only
peace you'll ever know is what God gives. We ain't won a war
since World War II. And we haven't had no honor as
a nation, but I'm telling you, when God Himself, if you ever
have peace with God, God's got to be the one to bring that peace.
He establishes that peace. And you know how He did it? He
did it through the blood of His blessed Son. God made peace with
honor. That's what I'm telling you.
Oh listen, when He comes in, the white flag comes down, everything
comes down, all the weapons are laid down, all the enmities set
aside, everything's over and done with. And God comes and
He made peace through the blood of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what He said, the
faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We didn't make this peace. God's
the only one, and now we have peace with God. And you know,
here's the thing about it. Because I have peace with God,
I don't have to enjoy a lot of peace in my heart as long as
I know God's at peace with me. That's what counts. Is God at
peace with me? Is God no longer angry at me?
Does God accept me? Will God let me into His presence?
Will God look at me and say, I approve of Him? You know, I'll
tell you, I've got more confidence in what he knows about me than
I know about him. And I'll tell you, here's another
thing that transforms our relationship, not only with God the Father,
but with the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Oh my, with our Lord
Jesus Christ. Look what it says, it says, by
whom also through Jesus Christ we also stand in this grace wherein
we stand. You know, look down here with
me. In Romans 5, 12, look at this. Wherefore, as by one man,
sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so death passed
upon all men, for all have sinned. That's where we were, sinners.
Without God, without hope in this world. But look what it
says back up in verse six. For when we were yet without
strength, In due time, Christ died for the ungodly. Look in
verse eight, but God commendeth his love toward us and that while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. We were ungodly. You know what it takes to be
ungodly? Just to be without God, that's all it is. That's all
it amounts to, being without God. We were sinners and God
commended his love toward us. And I'll tell you, our Lord Jesus
Christ, our relationship so changed with Him. Look down at verse
19. Now here we were, we were in Adam. Do you know, when Adam
sinned in the garden, that was a catastrophic event. I mean,
that event has affected the whole human race from the creation. It's had a catastrophic effect
upon this world and everybody in it. And the only way is this
catastrophe. Castos, cast, cast? Castrophe? Castostrophe! I'll get it right. Told you we
was all different. I can't even, I can't even talk. But anyway, when Adam sinned,
we got in trouble. Everybody understand that? I
mean bad trouble. Real trouble. It affected the
whole human race. It affected every human being.
It affected every baby come into this world and every old man
that leaves this world. It affected them. But our Lord
Jesus Christ came into this world where we lost everything in Adam.
But look what it says down in verse 19. Oh, what a relationship. It changed our relationship with
Christ. Oh, what a relationship we had
with Adam. Sin, death, condemnation. But
look what here, for as one man's disobedience, we were made sinners. So by the obedience of one, just
one man, one man, the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Lost in Adam, saved in Christ,
dead in Adam, life in Christ. And back over here, look with
me now, down here, in verse nine and 10, talking about our relationship
with Christ. Oh, listen, I tell you what,
I didn't even have a relationship with Christ until he taught me. But look what he says down here
in verse, well, I'm in the wrong place, in verse nine. God commended His love toward
us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Now, Paul has this way of saying things. He tells us something
that took place, and he said, if you think that's something,
you really think that's something, much more, I'm gonna tell you,
I'm gonna just add a little bit more to it. He says, much more
than being now justified by His blood. God said, when I see the
blood, I'll pass over you. It's the blood that makes reconciliation
for sin. It's the blood that God said
puts away sin. It's the blood and being justified
by His blood, we're saved from wrath through Him. Now listen
to this. If we were enemies, if we were
enemies of Christ, and we were reconciled to God by the death
of his son, again, here he goes, much more. We shall be saved
by his life. If his death saved us, if his
blood justifies us, then how much more, because he's alive
right now, sitting at God's right hand, how much more shall we
have life because he lives? His blood justified us, his death
saved us, and now he lives to ensure that we're gonna stay
saved. And then we have His righteousness
given to us. And, oh, it's only by Him. Our
standing is in Him and Him alone. We believe God's record of His
Son being justified by faith. You know, people say, well, what
in the world can I boast about? What's my part in this? Where's
my part in it? Where's boasting then? It's excluded. You can't have it. Well, why
in the world can't you? Well, by what law? What reason
can I boast? By the law of faith. By law of
faith. Believing, not doing, but believing. Believing. And then let me tell
you another relationship that changed with us. Look down here
in verse five. Lord, not only did he change
our relationship, grace, when it came, changed our relationship
with God. We have peace with him. With
our Lord Jesus Christ, he died and undone Adam's awful sin,
awful catastrophic, got it, catastrophic event that took place. And oh,
listen, look what he says. And hope maketh not ashamed,
verse five. And here's that we haven't changed
our relationship with the Holy Spirit. For the love of God is
shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given
unto us. So our relationship with the
Father, our relationship with the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit,
all of these relationships have been changed. And I tell you,
the Holy Ghost came and shed abroad in our hearts the love
of God. You know, we love him because
he first loved us. And he was given to us. He said
he was given unto us. He was given to us by promise.
God promised. He says, you go and tarry in
Jerusalem and you'll receive the promise of the fathers. The
promise of the Holy Spirit. Our Lord Jesus said, I'm going
away. I'm going away. But I'm going to give you a comforter.
I'm going to come to you in another form, in another way. I'm going
to come to you by the Spirit of Truth, by the Comforter. I'm
going to come to you, and when He comes, He's going to lead
you, He's going to guide you, He's going to teach you, He's
going to bring you into all truth. And I tell you, He has given
to us to teach us, to guide us, to comfort us. And you know what
love was shed abroad in our hearts? God's eternal love was shed abroad
in our hearts. He loved us with an everlasting
love. And then the love of Christ was
shed abroad in our hearts. He said, having loved his own,
he loved him to the very end. And then the electing love of
God was shed abroad in our hearts. You see, and you know, we wouldn't
even know we're children of God, but by the Holy Spirit, look
what he said in Romans 8, 16. We wouldn't even, you know how
we know we're children of God? What he said there in 8.16, the
spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children
of God. Now, what in the world are you
talking about here? Well, when a person's preaching the gospel
and a person's dealing with the scriptures, the spirit that's
in you answers to the spirit of the Holy Ghost and comes to
the spirit of Christ in the scripture. And when you hear the truth in
that, you'll say, Amen, that's so, that's true, I believe that. And you're responding, why? Because
the Spirit of God makes witness to your spirit that you are the
child of God while you're listening, while you're listening. And I'll
tell you what, I know this, I get more, my greatest assurance is
when I'm sitting listening to somebody preach. I get my greatest
assurance sitting and listening to somebody preach. I love to
hear somebody preach the gospel. Me just sitting and listening
to somebody. And while they're doing that, my heart is saying,
yes, yes, yes, yes. Why is that? Because your spirit,
the Holy Spirit in you is responding to the word. Listen, I'm a child
of God. That's what happens when people
find out that they converted, you know? Some people sit around
and they'll say, oh, I wonder if I'm saved. I'm wondering if
I'm saved. And then one day they'll hear something and they'll say,
yes, I got it. Yes, I see it. What happened? Holy Spirit says, you're one
of mine. Let me tell you something else
it does. It changes our relationship to
the law. Look over here in Romans 4, 5,
20. It changes our relationship to the law. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound. Paul said it this way. He says,
the sin became exceeding sinful by the commandment. God gave
the law to give us the knowledge of sin. God gave the law to make
us know how evil we truly are. And the law, all it did was made
sin to be what it is, exceeding sin. And we're condemned and
we're guilty, whether we felt it or whether we're not. We were
under its curse, whether we knew it or whether we're not. There's
people that you don't have to feel guilty to be guilty. You
don't have to be condemned to feel condemned. That's what's
gonna shock folks when they get into eternity. Well, I didn't
know I was condemned. Well, you'll know there, but
listen, you don't have to be. But whether we felt it or not,
and sin finds its strength in the law. You know what I mean
by that? Sin finds its strength in the
law. Let me tell you how I can tell you, I'm gonna tell you
how to find out how that works. When you all get to the house,
when you get out in the car with your wife, say, now listen, I'm
going to lay down the law to you. I'm going to lay down the
law to you. This is the way it's going to
be from now on. If you ever do this, or do that, or do something
else, it's going to be trouble. For the very minute you start
laying down the law, you know what's going to happen? You're
going to have a fight. That's right. Want me to lay
down the law to you? Oh, listen, I want this done
at one o'clock, I want this done at three o'clock, and if you
don't get that done by five o'clock, you're gonna... Listen, there
ain't no love in that. But that's what the law does.
The law comes, all it can make you do is fight against it, make
you angry. There's very few people can bear
having someone have authority over them. And I mean, you know,
a boss comes around as quick as he leaves, says, boy, I wish
they'd get ready. That guy ain't got shit enough
for nothing. It's hard to be under authority
to anybody. And they'll show their hatred,
their resistance, their struggling, their murmuring. That's proof
of their sin. You put somebody under law and
you're gonna make somebody sin and sin greatly. You put somebody,
and this is amazing to me, how that a man can preach grace and
say, you go to the cross and you get your sins put away there,
there's where your sins are taken care of once and for all, and
then they turn back around and tell you that the law is your
rule of life. How can that possibly be? When
it says we're justified by faith, we live by faith. Not by law,
we live by faith. And I tell you this, you know
what fulfills the law more than anything else? Love. Love. You love somebody, you don't
need no law. If you love somebody, you know
you've got a ring, you've got a wedding certificate, you've
got evidence that you've been married, you've got licenses,
and you've got things on the wall, but listen, a ring don't
make you married, a preacher don't make you married, a certificate
don't make you married, and a license don't make you married. You know
what makes a marriage? Love. Not long love. And oh my, I despise that business
of that. Now, let me show you this. Not
only we're not under, you know, it changed our relationship with
the law. Look down here in verse 16, 14 of chapter six. Oh, look what it says here now. Not under law, but under grace.
Where grace were sent, where the law entered, grace did much
more abound. But look here in verse 14, Romans
6, for sin shall not have dominion over you. There was a time that
sin, it's a sovereign, it's got power, it's got authority, it's
got might, it's got great strength. It's got, it's so powerful that
a man cannot save himself from it. It's got a power that man
says, well, stop your sinning. I'd love to. But oh my, but you're
not under law. You know why sin won't have dominion
over you? Because you're not under law.
Ain't nobody got a finger at you. You're condemned. You're
guilty. You should have done that. You
shouldn't have done that. You shouldn't have thought that.
You shouldn't have went there. You shouldn't have dressed this
way. You should have dressed that way. Dressed somewhere else.
And then to come with that law with just wagging the finger,
putting that law on everything you do. But you're not under law, you're
under grace. Oh, my. And I tell you what,
you know, when we talk about we're not under the law, that
means, beloved, we're not under the law as a covenant, as a curse,
a condemnation. And then it says, what then? We're under grace. What then?
Are we going to continue to sin because we're not under the law?
We don't have to go under bondage, but under grace? God forbid. Oh, you know what we're under?
Now instead of the reign of sin, we're under the reign of grace.
We're under the reign and power of love, life, and liberty. Oh, listen. Grace reigns where
it does. Love reigns. Life reigns. Freedom reigns. Oh, His blood
cleanses us from guilt. And where the guilt's gone, the
freedom and power is gone. Stand fast in that liberty where
with Christ it's made you free. Sins manifested, let me give
you four ways sins manifested. And I tell you, listen, every
one of y'all understand this. First of all, sin's deceitful.
It's a very deceitful thing. Very deceitful. You'll see something,
and there'll be a temptation, and a temptation comes along,
and Satan paints this pretty, pretty picture and says, oh,
listen, you can do that. You can do that. Nobody'll know
anything about it. And you know, and it just makes
it look so good. But after it comes along, it
deceives you. And then you sin, and then it
keeps on deceiving you. Because, you know, it's like
somebody saying, well, if God don't like what I'm doing, why
don't he strike me dead? If he'd done that to everybody
that ever said that, then half of the world would be dead. Well,
it only strikes me dead. But that's what I'm saying is,
sin is deceitful. Sin is deceiving. Once you start
it, it just keeps deceiving you and deceiving you. And not only
that, but sin is hard. Very hard. It's hard. You know, hard sin's hard. It'll make you hard. It'll make
you cold. It'll make you lifeless. It'll
make you mean. And not only is it hard, but
it's hardening. It'll harden your heart. It'll
harden your mind. It'll harden your feelings. It'll harden your relationships.
It'll harden. And then let me give you this
in rec, quick. Galatians 1, verse 4. Let me give you this. In all
these relationships, it's changed because of grace. These relationships
have changed. Look in Galatians chapter 1. Oh my. It changed our relationship
with God, with Christ, with the Holy Spirit, with law, Our relationships
changed, changed, changed. I'm not going to get under the
law and I don't want nobody else under the law. I won't be under
grace. Grace is what I need. Grace is
what I got to have. Grace is what God gave me in
Christ before the world began. Amazing grace, how sweet is that
blessed sound? But look what he said here in
verse three of Galatians chapter one. Grace be to you and peace
from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ. Listen
now. Who gave himself for our sins. Gave himself for our sins. All our sins. All the sins, when
He died for us, we did no sin, but oh, He delivered us, saved
us from all our sin. And then He goes on to say this,
that He might save us, save us, bring us salvation, deliver us
from this present evil world, according to the will of God,
our Father. Oh, He saves us from this present,
present evil world. We once walked according to the
course of this world, according to the Prince of the Power there,
the world's got a course. And the course says if you want
to be successful, this is what you got to do. If you want to
be popular, this is what you got to do. If you want to be,
have a lot of friends and influence a lot of people, this is what
you got to do. You got to go certain places, you got to be
around certain people, got to have certain education, got to
dress a certain way, you got to do all these things. The world
says this is what it takes to make it. That's what it takes
to make it. And God, we say, well, we're
not walking according to that course anymore. God saved us
out of this evil world. And the world's evil. Oh, how
evil it is. The government's evil. Religion's
evil. Economy's evil. Man's evil. Religion's evil. Evil, evil,
evil. Everywhere you look, there's
evil. It's an evil world. It's a wicked
world. It's a cruel world. There's one
man down home, every time he sees me, he says, Donnie, how's
the world treating you? He does it just to aggravate
me. And you know what? I've told him every time he's asked me
that. I said, the world has never, ever been good to me. Never been
good to me. When I came back from Vietnam,
I spent 18 months in hospitals. And I had a lot of friends, a
lot of people that I knew, but you know, not one of them visited
me. Not one of them said, what can I do for your family? Not
one of them said, I love you. What can I do? Can I come help
you? I'm gonna come spend the day with you. Not one of them
done that. Not one person in the world. Nobody in the world
has ever treated me right. You know who's ever treated me
right? God. You know who ever treated me
right? The Lord Jesus Christ. You know who treated me right?
The Holy Ghost. You know who treats me right?
God's people. God's people treat one another
right. They love one another. And they're going to watch out
for one another. You know, every one of you right now, you think
about Todd. You pray for Todd. What can I do for Todd and Lynn? What can we possibly do for them?
That's what you think. But the only thing I want you
to say, pray for us. Pray for us. And I tell you,
that's what I'm talking about. We've been chosen out of the
world. We've been called out of the world. We've been redeemed
from the world. We're in it. You all have to
go to work. You have to go shopping. You
have to do banking. You have to make house payments.
You have to buy insurance. You have to do all those things.
And you do them, but you're not of the world. You do them because
that's what it takes, and that's what you're doing. And oh, my. Let me give you one more. I'm
taking too much time. But let me give you another one
back over here in Romans 5. Let me give you another thing
that changed our relationship in Romans 5. Let me give you
another one. It changes our relationship to our trials, to our afflictions,
to our burdens. You know, he says there, he said,
not only do we have this, verse two, we have access by faith
into this grace through Christ when we stand rejoicing in the
hope of the glory of God. Not only we rejoice in the hope
of the glory of God, but we rejoice, and oh listen, not only so, but
we glory in tribulations also. Now how in the world does he
mean what you're talking about? Tribulation means trouble, trouble. You know, in Romans 14, it says,
he asked this question. There was a great multitude standing
there. And this angel asked John, said,
John, where'd all these people come from? Where'd they come
from? He said, Lord, sir, you don't. He said, these that are came
out of great tribulation. and washed their robes white,
and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Now let me tell
you something. It's through much tribulation
that we enter into the Kingdom of God. And our relationship,
when we were lost, when we were unconverted, our trials, they
were considered our enemies. They weren't for our good. But
God says that they're for our good. And we glory in our tribulations. What do you mean? How many times
has God taken you and put you in a great, great trial? Put you and afflicted you. And
let me tell you something. Most of our afflictions are inward.
Most of our afflictions are inside of us. It goes on within us. But we have these trials and
we have these burdens and these tribulations. And we get through
them and we go back and we glory and say, well, listen. You know,
God got me through that. God got me through that. And
look what he says here. We know that that tribulation,
after we get through that and God gets us through it, it works
patience. You get through this thing, you
say, I don't know if I can get through it or not. I don't know
if I'm going to get through this. I don't know if I'm going to
be able to make it through this trial. I don't know if I'll be
able to stand through this. But then that trial's over, and
then that tribulation, it works patience. You wait, and you wait,
and you wait on God. Be still, know that I am God.
And then this patience, what it does, you go through that,
and then you have this experience. You've experienced this thing.
You've experienced tribulation. You've experienced God saving
you from it. Experienced God saving. And then experience gives
you this blessed hope. And it goes over and over and
over again. On and on and on. And you know
over in 1 Corinthians 4, 2 Corinthians 4, it says there that our light
affliction which is but for a moment, for a moment, worketh for us,
works for us an exceeding eternal weight of glory. Now what in
the world does it mean, a light affliction? In light of what Christ suffered,
it's a very, very light affliction. In light of what we deserve,
it's a very, very light affliction. In light of eternity, it's a
very, very light affliction, because it lasts just for a moment.
And all these trials and all these afflictions, they're working,
they're working, they're working to bring us to the place where
this old tabernacle will be dissolved and we'll have a building made
of God, without hands. And we're more than conquerors
through Him. And I tell you, our trials and
afflictions, we have a different, different relationship to it.
Different relationship to it. And then let me tell you this
one, and then I'm done. Look in 1 Corinthians 15. Look
in 1 Corinthians 15. Talk about changing a relationship. It changed our relationship to
death. To death. Look what he says here in verse
55. Oh, death. Oh, death. He's talking to death. Oh, death. You're a frightening thing. Oh,
death. You're a dark thing. Oh, death.
Here you come with your grim reaper. There you come with your
scythe. Oh, death, where is your sting? Oh, grave, talk to the grave,
where is your victory? Oh, my. He said the sting of
death is sin. You know, and if you ain't got
no sin, it ain't got no sting in it. Word Christ took when
he went to the cross, he took the stinger out of it. He took
sin out of it. He took sin, put away. And I
tell you, that's why we don't have the sting of death. And I tell you what, thanks be
unto God, which gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus
Christ. It changed our relationship to
death before grace came. Death was called that old grim
reaper. He always come in an old, dark, black-looking thing,
you know. But you know what he is now?
He's a dear, dear friend. A dear friend that one of these
days gonna come and say, it's time. Come on. It's time. It's time. It's your time. Come on. Where you taking me? I'm gonna take you to your friend
of all friends. I'm gonna take you to the Lord.
I'm gonna take you up to the presence of Christ. Oh my. We was talking back at the study.
You know, when I've seen, I've been with some folks and seen
them take their last, last breath. And the minute that breath leaves
them, I lift up my hands and say, Lord, I thank you. They
are not here anymore, they're with you. They go from, you know,
you think about it, they go from here, one minute they're laying
there, take their last breath, and the next breath they take's
in glory. Why would you be afraid of that?
Why would anybody be afraid of that? Well, it's according to
how I die. It don't make any difference. You may get hit by a car, may
have a wreck, may die of a heart attack, may lose your mind, but
it don't make, God's gonna take us. And that's the most blessed
thing. And when we get there, we're
gonna know Abraham, we're gonna know Isaac, we're gonna know
Jacob. And here's the thing about it, all the people that's went
before us, there won't be no earthly relationships. Oh my
death! I was telling them this morning,
well when I was a kid I lived in some places that was, oh my
goodness, it was tough. The water bucket would be froze
up in the winter and you'd have to build up a fire on an old
cook stove and heat the water bucket so you could have a drink
of water, wash your face. It'd be froze. And you stay in
these old houses, and I mean, you know, and the wind blowing
through them cracks, and snow get up on the second story. You'd
have so many, you know, and you'd have so many blankets on, you
couldn't even turn over. And you know, and you fry an
egg, and you put it on the plate, and the large you put it in,
you finish you put it on your plate, it'd turn white. And you didn't have an inside
bathroom, didn't even have electricity. You had to go out there and use
a Sears catalog. Corn shucks, whatever they had. But I mean, now who in the world
wants to go back to living like that? But that's the kind of
bodies we got. That's the kind of bodies we
got. When I first started coming up here, I had darker hair. And
all y'all had a little bit of kids. And now your kids are gone. Done went to college. Some of
them's done graduated from college. And these bodies are getting
weak. They're getting frail. Who wants to stay in an old drafty,
leaky, sorry body that's just getting weaker and weaker and
weaker? I don't want to go back to living
in them drafty houses. I don't want to go back to a
frozen water bucket. I want to go someplace where
it's perfect. Unto Him that's able to present
you faultless before His presence with eternal glory. That's what
I'm looking forward to. Oh, the gold will be with Him.
People say, I want to go up there and see my mother. A woman asked
me today, she said, don't you think we'll know one another
when we get there? I said, we probably will, but I mean, it
won't be no earthly relationships. When I see my mother-in-law,
I won't know her. She said, well, there's my mother-in-law over
there. There's my father-in-law. That's not the way it's going
to be. I'll know that I know them, but it won't be no earthly
relationship whatsoever. Flesh will not be there. Oh,
death, you don't scare me. Oh, grave, put me in there. You
know why? Because there's coming a day
when the Lord shall descend with a shout, with a voice of an archangel,
and he'll descend from heaven, and he'll bring the saints with
him, and the dead in Christ shall rise first, And they which are
alive, the dead in Christ, are gonna rise before those that
are alive. The dead in Christ shall rise
first. And then they which are alive
and remain shall be caught up together to be with him forever,
ever, and ever. And you know what he said next
with that? Comfort one another with these words. Huh? Oh. That's why when I don't care,
and I know it's hard on people to lose people they love. It's
hard, I'm not minimizing that. But oh my, anybody that you've
ever known that God's called into that next world, called
them home to be with him, it never ended your moment. Mine,
not for one second. Oh, if I could just have another
moment with him. Never enters your mind. I'd like to say one
more word. Oh no, no, no. Why would you
bring him back? Why would you break them back?
And then they say these people, oh, mama's watching us from heaven.
That wouldn't be heaven if somebody could see down here and see what's
going on. Wouldn't be no heaven in that, huh? Well, I tell you,
grace changed our relationship and just look at what relationship
just gave us, huh? You know, that changed all our
relationships. We wouldn't even know one another, have anything
to do with one another if it wasn't for the grace of God.
Ain't that right? You see me out somewhere and
say, what, look at that poor, pitiful old man. That's what
you'd have said. That poor old guy, I wonder what
in the world his problem is. You know, that's what you'd have
seen if you'd seen me. You know, we're outside of Christ,
but because this relationship we have in Christ, here we are. We have these wonderful relationships.
We can hug one another, love one another, enjoy one another,
delight in one another, love to have one another in our homes.
How'd all that happen? Grace, grace. Lord bless you
all.