Let's read Titus chapter 1 and
let's just read verse 4. We've looked at the first three
verses and now we'll look at verse 4, the man that he was
writing this epistle to. To Titus, my own son, after the
common faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father, and
the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior to tide us. Now, we could probably read over
that and go ahead and study into the body of this epistle, but
you know if you found a document somewhere and it was as plainly
written as this is and you could read it all and the person's
name on it was very plain And that was 1900 years old. You'd
probably be interested in that person, wouldn't you? What kind
of person is this? Can we run some records? Can
we find out who he is? And so we don't know very much
about this fellow, but the Scripture tells us some things about Titus. And let's just begin with that.
We know that he lived in Paul's day. We don't know exactly when
he was born. We don't know exactly when he
died, where he died. But we know that he was a man
of Paul's day. He was a friend of the Apostle
Paul. We also know that he was a Greek. He was a Gentile. He was an uncircumcised man and
never was circumcised. He was converted under the Apostle
Paul's ministry. He tells us here in the verse
I read to you that he's my son after the common faith. And that
simply means he heard the gospel under my ministry. And we're
told in 2 Corinthians 8.21 that he was Paul's partner and fellow
laborer. They were partners in spreading
the gospel. and he helped the Apostle Paul
in his ministry. And if you'll study II Corinthians,
look at II Corinthians sometime, you'll see that he's mentioned
so many times in that letter to the church. He was a minister. He spent a lot of time there
at Corinth ministering to those people. Paul had several people. We're told about some of them.
He had several people that were under him. as missionaries. And He would send them out every
place. Here in the third chapter, He
tells us here in verse 12, chapter 3 of this book, When I shall
send Artemis unto thee, and Tychicus, be diligently to come unto me,
to Neocopolis, for I have determined there to win her. So He's sending
these men out to different places to do different missionary work.
Timothy was this way too. If you remember Timothy, he left
Timothy there at Ephesus to set in order things that was needed
there in that church and to charge them that they teach no other
gospel. I bet you there were times, knowing
human nature, that these young preachers like Timothy thought,
What's he getting me into? Because Timothy was just a boy.
He was a young man and Paul told him, Don't let anybody despise
your youth. And you can imagine when he went
into a church like Corinth all of those know-it-alls, them theologians,
you know, there in Corinth. And here's this young man trying
to guide them. And Paul said that you would
charge them, that they teach no other gospel. And that's what
he did there in the church at Ephesus. He was a minister. And something else we know here
about this man Titus, he was with Paul. When Paul wrote his
last recorded letter that we know of in 2 Timothy, when he
said, I'm now ready to be offered, the time of my departure was
at hand, Titus had been with him then. And he'd sent him off
into Dalmatia, a portion of Europe, way up in Europe, a long ways
from where the Apostle Paul was in jail. And he was a faithful
servant of the Lord. He was a faithful missionary
in his work. We read of him in 2 Corinthians
that he rejoiced in the Lord for the work that the Lord was
doing there in Corinth. We read that he took great comfort
in those saints for their faithfulness in the Lord. And he was a man
that Paul held in high esteem. and he got a lot of comfort and
enjoyment out of this man. I want to show you two places,
and it shows the Apostle Paul's mind towards this man. Look in
2 Corinthians. Keep your Bibles handy. We'll
turn to three or four places here in a minute. In 2 Corinthians
chapter 2, one thing you'll have to remember
about the Apostle Paul, when he got an opportunity to preach,
He just never turned it down. Wherever the door was open to
him to preach, he preached. But this is one time that he
refused to preach and left the place. And here he is going to
tell us why he left the place in 2 Corinthians chapter 2 and
look in verse 12. 2 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse
12. Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ's gospel,
and a door was opened unto me of the Lord." A door was opened
there to preach. Yet he says, "...I had no rest
in my spirit, because I found not Titus my brother. But taking my leave of them,
I went from Thence unto Macedonia." So boy, he didn't even stay there
because he wanted to see his brother. He called him brother.
One place he calls him son, and now he calls him brother. Look
over in the 2nd chapter, or in the 7th chapter, 2 Corinthians
chapter 7, and look in verse 5. He went to Macedonia, and
here's what happened when he came to Macedonia. Look in verse
5. For when we were coming to Macedonia,
our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side.
Without were fightings, within were fears. Nevertheless, God
that comforteth those that are cast down, He comforted us by
the coming of Titus. So that's what he thought of
this young man, or man, whoever, however old he was. And it shows
you, really, how we need close friends, doesn't it? We need
close brothers and sisters in Christ because they do comfort
us. I've often wondered, and I think
I know why, the Lord Jesus sent those disciples out to preach
and cast out devils, and He always sent them out for twos. He never
did send them out one at a time. And I think there's a good reason
for that. We encourage one another, don't we? When you've got your
friend to lean on and to talk to and sharpen your understanding
and encourage you, that's helpful. If you don't have any friends
in the Lord, then make friends of God's children. Call them
or visit them or do something, but make friends of the Lord's
children. That's what Paul said here. of
Titus. I had no rest in my spirit because
he wasn't there. So this shows you how close these
two men were and I'm sure Paul had many brothers and sisters
in Christ that he was close to. But something when I was looking
at this man's life and how the Apostle Paul used him, something
else I thought was interesting, Paul used him one time to prove
to these Judaizers Those fellows that said you needed to be circumcised
and keep the Law of Moses to be saved, Paul used this man
to prove to them that that wasn't so. Now I want you to turn to
two or three places with me. I want you to look in Galatians
chapter 2. Just over to your right, Galatians
chapter 2. These men, I call them Judaizers,
they taught circumcision and keeping the Law of Moses. And
some of them were the Bible calls of believers. They never believed
savingly, but the Bible calls them believers. And they would
follow the Apostle Paul around. And they would accuse him of
things, like they would go to the Galatians and some other
places and said, you know, if Paul was here, he'd agree with
us that you guys need to be circumcised. That was a big issue in the early
church, being circumcised. And Paul had such a run-in with
these Judaizers that he determined he was going up to Jerusalem.
He said, ìWeíre going up there and weíre going to settle this
once and for all with these apostles up there because thatís where
these Judaizers were coming out of, out of Jerusalem.î So look
what he does here in chapter 2 of Galatians. ìThen fourteen
years after, after the Lord had converted him, I went up to Jerusalem
again, again to Jerusalem with Barnabas and took Titus with
me also. And I went up by revelation,
the Lord revealed to him that he should go up. and communicated
to them that gospel which I preached among the Gentiles, but privately
to them which were of reputation, mainly the apostles, lest by
any means I should run or had run in vain." If he had got up
there and they didn't agree with him, then it would have been
a mess. if Peter and John and James and those apostles. But
in verse 3 he says, But neither Titus, who was with me, being
a Greek, a Gentile, was compelled to be circumcised. They wouldn't
circumcise him. Paul wouldn't circumcise him.
And that because of false brothers unaware brought in who came in
privately to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ. Liberty
from that ceremonial law. that they might bring us into
bondage, to whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an
hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you." Now,
we have it recorded of what happened when they got up there. And I
want you to look at that back in Acts chapter 15. The book
of Acts never mentions Titus' name. You never see him until
2 Corinthians. But here is where they went up
to Jerusalem, and He tells us here why they went up. And He
tells you why He didn't circumcise Titus to begin with. Look here
in verse 1, Acts chapter 15. And when certain men which came
down from Judea, there in Jerusalem, taught the brethren, and said,
Except you be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you cannot
be saved. Now isn't that amazing? It's
amazing, isn't it? Christ is not enough. Faith in
Christ is not enough to justify you. You must be circumcised
and keep the Law of Moses. You've got to be converted to
the Jewish style of living and keep the Sabbath days and all
of these new moons and all of that. And look in verse 2, And
therefore Paul and Barnabas and Titus was with them, it doesn't
say, but it says there in Galatians 2. Paul and Barnabas had no small
dissension and disputation with them. They determined that Paul
and Barnabas and certain other of them should go up to Jerusalem
unto the apostles and elders about this question. And look
in verse 5. when they got up there. There
arose up certain of the set of the Pharisees which believed,
saying that it was needful, necessary to circumcise them and to command
them to keep the law of Moses. And then Peter speaks in verse
9 and he says, God put no difference between us Jews and those Gentiles,
purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore why tempt you God
to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither
our fathers nor we were able to bear. But we believe that
through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved
even as they." And then James, he stands up and he begins to
talk. And look what he says in verse 19. Here is the conclusion
that these apostles came to in this conference. Wherefore my
sentence is, that we trouble not them which from among the
Gentiles are turned unto God, but that we write unto them that
they abstain from pollution of idols, and from fornication,
and from things strangled, and from blood. For Moses of old
hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the
Sabbath every day. Now look down in verse 24, here's
the letter, just a portion of it. Forasmuch as we have heard
that certain went out from us, have troubled you with words
subverting your souls, saying you must be circumcised and keep
the law, to whom we gave no such commandment. And here's the thing,
here's the thing, here's the reason I wanted you to see this.
Titus was right in the midst of this meeting. And the reason
Paul took him up there so Peter and John and James and those
other apostles there would be introduced to Titus. And they
said, Peter here is an uncircumcised Gentile. Do you believe that
he's justified before God? Peter said, I do. Do you believe
he's saved by the grace of Christ? He's not been circumcised. Peter
said, I believe he is. Well, you set these Judaizers
back in the back, shaking their head and gritting their teeth.
There's no way this can be happening, they said. And they settled it
that day. And one of the men they used
to settle this with was Titus. He was an uncircumcised man.
And Paul went back preaching again, but they still hounded
him everywhere he went. And they'd go around telling
people that Paul preaches circumcision. He still preaches circumcision.
And they used Timothy. I imagine, you know, that he
was a half-Gentile and a half-Jew, and Paul took him and circumcised
him. He had reasons to do that. But they said, he's circumcising
people. Paul said, listen, if I'm still circumcising people,
if I still preach circumcision, why are they still persecuting
me? No, he said, they're persecuting me because I'm preaching faith
in Christ alone to be justified. And he said, that's why they
hate me. If I started circumcising, they'd let up on me. But he used,
I thought it was interesting that he used his dear brother.
That's why he took him up there with him and used him as an example
that Christ saves without circumcision, without the ceremonial law of
Moses. Here he identifies him in this
way. And the second thing we want
to look at, Titus, my own son, after the common faith. Common means belonging equally
to all. Universal, belonging to all. All who believe have the same
kind of faith. That is what he said. Just one
kind of faith. Many degrees of this faith. But if you have this faith, it's
the same faith I have. And it's the same faith all that
God's elect have. When He calls them, He gives
them one faith. Different degrees. Some have a lot of faith. Some
have little faith. But it's the same kind. It's
the same nature. If you have it, there's no difference.
And here's some of the things that I thought about as I was
thinking about this common faith, and it's so confident to me.
The Bible says this, that faith is a gift of God. Faith is a
gift of God. And you know something? If you've
got it, you've got it at the same place everybody else got
it. It's a gift of God. There's no
such thing as you getting it some other way than the way it
comes. Faith is a gift of God. It's
given to you to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's common, isn't it? That's
common. No distinction in how we get it. It's a gift of God.
The object of our faith is one common object. Have faith in
God. The object of our faith is God. It's the Son of God. What must
I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and you shall be saved. Faith is not in itself. It looks
outside of itself to an object, looking unto Jesus. That's common. If you have faith,
you've been given faith, you've got an object. and that object
is Jesus Christ, God in Christ. This faith is common in another
sense. Everyone who has it, without
any exceptions, are children of God. Everyone that has this
faith are children of God. As many as received Him, to them
gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe
on His name. As many? that has this faith are children
of God. Galatians 3.26, you are all the
children of God by faith in Jesus Christ. Now, we looked at faith
the last couple of weeks, didn't we? About a temporary faith that
believed for a while and a faith that can be overthrown, the faith
of devils and all of that. But I'm talking about this common
faith, this faith that's a gift of God. If you have that faith,
then you are indeed a child of God. a child of God. It is common
in this sense. Everyone who has this faith has
Christ abiding in their hearts. We are told by some today, and
they do not have a head on their shoulders, they obviously never
read their Bibles, that we can be saved and not have the Spirit. You can be saved and not have
the Spirit of Christ in your heart. No, every believer has
Christ abiding in him. Christ dwells in our hearts. How? By faith. If you have this
faith, then Christ is in your heart. And listen, that's not
just for the apostles. That's not for some eminent Christians
of the early church. This is for everybody who has
this faith. It's common. It's common. And one of the things that's
common and universal about it, if you believe, then Christ dwells
in your heart. There's no such thing as believing
in Christ not dwelling there in your heart. Fifthly, there's
something else coming about this. Everyone who has this faith is
justified from every charge that could ever be brought against
him. Everybody that has this faith is forgiven of all of his
sin. Everybody that hath this faith
hath eternal life. Now isn't that wonderful? And
I guess what we have to say and examine ourselves to see, do
I have this faith? Have I been given this grace
to believe? Is Christ the object of my faith? And boy, if you know that He's
granted you faith, then you can know this, you don't have a charge
against you. There's no condemnation to you.
And you've got life eternal. And all your sins that you've
committed in all your life is gone. Listen to what Paul said,
Through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins,
and by him all that believe are justified. Isn't that wonderful?
Bruce, all of them? Every last one of them. It may
be the faith that is a grain of mustard seed. It is not the
amount of faith that we have that justifies us. It is not
the amount of faith that we have that gives us life. It's this
faith that lays hold upon the Savior and all of His gifts come
to us from Him to us. It's not the amount of faith
that we have. Boy, just a look to Him, a glance at Him will
bring all these blessings of Christ to a man's soul. These things have I written unto
you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may
know that you have eternal There is no such thing as believing
on Christ in this Bible sense and not having eternal life.
You believe on Christ, you have eternal life. Now isn't that
wonderful? That's wonderful, isn't it? But Bruce, I know I
need to do this and all this. Lay all that aside. Lay all that
aside. The instant a man believes in
Christ, he has eternal life. What those Jews and those Pharisees
were working after, the end What must I do that I could have eternal
life? I've done this, I've done that,
and surely by the time my life is over, I'll obtain eternal
life. That's the beginning of the Christian way. Where they
hope to end up is where we start. We have life as soon as we believe.
That's wonderful, isn't it? That's common, too. That's common.
That's common faith. This faith has one common goal.
And that's to overcome this world. And when I say overcome the world,
I mean everything that's in it. Your old self, the lust that's
in this world, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, devils,
all these things that appeal to us in this world. That's our
goal, isn't it? To overcome this world. And who
is He that overcometh the world? But He that believeth that Jesus
is the Son of God. And that's common to every one
of us. I know what your goal is. Your goal is my goal. Overcome
this world. And the reason I know that is
this, because that's common. That's faith. That's faith. You know, I can't let this world
overcome me. I can't let this old man overcome
me. I've got to overcome. And who is he that overcometh?
But he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God. And faith
has one common end. One common end. The salvation
of our souls. Receiving the end of your faith,
even the salvation of your soul. Faith longs to be with Christ,
to depart and be with Christ, which is forever. And that's
for every believer. That's for every believer. We
don't have to fear death. We don't have to fear the judgment.
We don't have to fear eternity. Simply because He that believeth
that faith will end in sight. Now that's the Bible. And there
won't be a single believer that will miss that because that's
common. It's a common faith. Jude speaks
of the common salvation, doesn't he? When we read the book of
Jude, he talks about a common salvation. I'm writing to you,
he said, of the common salvation. And that simply means this. We
don't have a salvation for the young and then a salvation for
the old. We don't have a salvation for
the Baptist and one for the Muslim, one for the men and one for the
women, one common salvation. And that's that salvation that's
in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter said,
There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby
we must be saved. One name. one person, one word,
one person's marriage, one person's righteousness. We're saved by
one person. We must be saved. But listen, no matter where you
go in this world at any given time, there's just one salvation,
and it's common to all, and that's the name of Jesus Christ. Some
of you may have watched that little I used to have it on a
little 8-track or something, and I was so disappointed, so
disappointed when I saw this. Billy Graham and Robert Shooter,
they were talking. Larry has seen this. They were
talking to each other, and someone was interviewing them. Maybe
it was Larry King. Larry, I can't remember. But
Billy Graham was saying, these people in these tribal situations,
He was talking about some of the tribes in Africa and New
Guinea and those tribal situations. He said they've never heard the
name of Christ. They don't know that Jesus Christ is the Son
of God. Nobody's ever told them that. But he said they know there's
a higher power. And they do the best they can
and therefore they'll be with us in heaven. Now is that the
common salvation? When you read the Bible, do you
see that? There is none other name under heaven given among
men whereby we must be saved. This is why we send missionaries.
If that's so, then leave those people alone. For God's sake,
don't go in there and bother them. Let them be saved that
way if you can be. But that's not the common salvation,
is it? That's not the faith. He that believeth is not condemned,
but he that believeth not is condemned already. And they're
condemned. And they'll be condemned till
they hear of the Son of God and believe on Him and be saved. That's the common faith and that's
the common salvation. Christ alone. Christ alone. And that's what we find in the
Bible, isn't it? And that's what he means here when he's writing
to Titus and he says, my own son, after the common faith,
the common faith, it's universal. It doesn't change. The nature
and kind doesn't change from your believing to the man in
Russia believing. It's the same faith. That's when
we meet God's people and we start talking to them. And you just
feel like you've known them forever, don't you? You have the same
interest, your faith in the same person. My own son. Thirdly, he said right quickly,
my own son. In what sense could Paul call
Titus his own son? We know it wasn't biologically.
Paul wasn't even married. But Paul was an instrument. He was the instrument in Titus
hearing the gospel. How shall they hear without a
preacher? And you can be an instrument of a person's salvation. In that
sense, all of us can have sons and daughters in the Lord. Look
here in Philemon, just one page to your right in verse 10. Look in verse 10. Philemon chapter
1 and verse 10. Paul speaks of this about this
slave that had ran off. And they had Paul in prison and
they put this slave in prison and Paul preached to him. And
look what he says in verse 10. I beseech thee for my son Onesimus
whom I have begotten in my bonds. Now what does he mean begotten? We know that there is no way
that the Apostle Paul could have made this man new. He did not
have that kind of power. But he begot him as an instrument
He preached the Gospel to him and the Lord saved him. He said,
you know what he said about him and Apollos? I sow and Apollos
waters. We do that all the time, don't
we? We sow that precious seed of the Word of God. And you know
something? That seed has life in it. And
it can spring up just like a seed in a garden. And Paul said, I
sow and Apollos waters But he said only God can give the increase. Only God can begot a man in that
way. So when the Apostle Paul says
here, He's my Son and I begot Him in the Gospel, he's simply
saying as an instrument, as one who preached the Word to Him,
and I begot Him that way. He says in John 1.13, As many
as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of
God, even to them that believe on His name, which were born,
not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will
of man, nor of the will of the preacher, but of God. Of His own will begot He us.
So when Paul says, He's my son, That is what he means by it.
I have begotten him by the Gospel or through the Gospel. And you
know something the Apostle Paul would have never demanded? He
would have never required Titus to call him Father or Holy Father. He would be horrified if Titus
ran up to him and got down and kissed his hand and said, Oh,
Holy Father, wouldn't he? An angel won't even let you do
that. A holy angel won't let you do that, much less a mere
man. The Catholic priest wants us
to call them Father. And if you've not experienced
this, take my word for it. You just address them in their
first name. And you keep on doing that, especially
if some of their friends are around or some of their congregations
are around. You watch. They'll get mad at
you. They'll resent you calling them
Charles or Tony. They'll want you to call them
Father, so and so. But here's the question to ask
them. In what sense are you my Father? If I could talk to the Pope and
they'd go up and call him Holy Father, here's what I'd ask him.
Pope, in what sense are you my Father? You're not my Father
biologically, that's obvious. You're not the one that begat
me through the gospel. You don't even believe the gospel
as far as I'm concerned. So in what sense are you my father? And you know what sense he's
my father? Entitled only. That's it. Entitled only. And he's taken that title to
himself. And the Lord Jesus tells us about
these Pharisees and these scribes. Don't you accommodate those fellows.
Don't accommodate them. They got so lifted up in their
pride and arrogance. They wanted the chief seats when
they went into the synagogue. They'd always come up front.
Can't get you folks up front, but you couldn't get them in
the back. When you went into the feast,
they wanted the chief rooms. They wanted to be called rabbi.
They wanted people to greet them in the marketplaces and say,
Rabbi! Master! They loved that. And
what did the Lord Jesus say? Don't you be called rabbi. One
is your master. One is your master. Now what
did He mean by that? Because Paul tells us in Ephesians
6, Masters, you do the same to your servants. You servants,
you be obedient to your masters according to the flesh. So there
are masters, aren't they? Back in the slave days, they
called them masters. But it's according to the flesh.
When it comes to the conscience, when it comes to the heart, you've
got one Master, and that's Christ. And you've got no other but Christ.
He's your Master. He rules in your conscience by
His Word. He sits upon the throne of your
heart. And in that sense, call no man Master. And He said, call
no man Father, didn't He? You've got one Father. One Father. Now what did He mean by that?
Because He instructed us, honor your Father. And I always call
my dad, Dad or Father. And you probably did too. But this is a spiritual Father. This is the Father that's begot
us into life eternal. And if I acknowledge the Pope
as my Father, I'd be acknowledging that He was the one that begot
me. He can't beget anybody, can He?
He can't beget anybody. He's a man that wears a dress,
and He can't beget children either way. And I wouldn't address Him as
Father for nothing, would you? And we're forbidden, even the
angels, When John got so beside himself, when that angel was
showing him all these mysteries, he fell down to worship him.
And the angel said, you see that you do it not. Is that what he
told him? Don't you do that! Get up! That's
what he said, wasn't it? Worship who? God. Worship God. And that's what
this is in calling these Catholic priests Father and the Pope Father. That's worship. There is no sense,
brothers and sisters, that we are to dress them men as fathers. They are fathers in title only. And they give it to themselves.
God did not give it to them. And I have not dressed them as
fathers. And you will not either. You will not either. That is the way that He was His
Son. And let's close out with this. He says this, and I love
this. Grace, mercy, and peace. from God the Father, ours our
Father, and the Lord Jesus our Savior. The Lord Jesus Christ
our Savior. Somebody was making a distinction
between grace and mercy in the definition. And I like this about
this. One person said grace is giving
us what we don't deserve, salvation. And mercy is not giving us what
we do deserve, damnation. And peace is the effects. Peace
is the effects. And boy, it's grace that brought
the Savior down, wasn't it? That's what brought our Savior
down. Grace, nothing but grace and love. You know the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Grace brought Him down. Grace
emptied Him of all that He had before and brought Him down to
this earth in our likeness. hung Him to the cross. Grace
atoned for our sins. Grace set redemption's table. Grace set the table of meat and
of wine. And it's mercy now that bids
us and calls us and brings us and sets us down at the table.
And what's the effects of setting there? Peace, isn't it? It's
peace. Grace and mercy and it brings
peace. He made peace by the blood of
His cross. Being justified by faith, we
have peace with God. And the peace of God shall keep
your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. This world is seeking
after peace, isn't it? It is seeking after peace. And
here is its whole problem. It is seeking after peace in
the wrong place. There is no peace apart from the Prince of
Peace, apart from the blood of His cross. And boy, when He gives
you His peace, it's not like the peace the world gives. When
He gives you His peace, I mean, when trouble comes, it's still
peace, isn't it? It's peace. Peace. One man wrote
an article, I don't know who wrote this, it's a true story,
I know that, but I didn't find out who wrote it. But this is
what it said, and I'll read this and we'll close. I like this. A minister was asked to visit
a poor dying woman. The messenger, being ignorant,
could not give account of her spiritual state except that she
was a very good woman and very happy and was now at the end
of a well-spent life. Therefore, sure of heaven, sure
of going to heaven, the minister went saw that she was very ill,
and after a few kindly inquiries about her bodily condition, he
said, Well, I understand you are in a very peaceful state
of mind, dependent upon a well-spent life. The dying woman looked
very hard at him and said, Yes, I am in the enjoyment of great
peace. You are quite right, sweet peace,
and that from a well-spent life. But it is the well-spent life
of Jesus. Not my doings, but His. Not my merit, but His blood.
Yes, it is a well-spent life. Yes, only one man has spent a
life that has met all the requirements of God's holy law and on which
you and I can rest before God. That's peace, isn't it? That's
peace. Grace, mercy, and peace. David, would you just miss us,
please? Father, we thank you for your love. We thank you for
the fast salvation you provided. We thank you for your mercy and
grace. We thank you for having the calm
faith in all of us. We thank you for your words. If you would, I'd like to take
four. You see the Shannon family's not here. If you would, I'd like
to take one. Rhonda, Steve, we asked that
guy who doesn't have any help, but he can bring all of us to
each one. Those of you sick, we ask you
to help with your presence. How far, I'd like to take, how
close can someone get to your apartment? And so forth. I realize
for me to be receptive to you. If you're able to help each one,
those of you who missed, we ask you Amen. Thank you, Dave. Be
careful going home.