By the time I get finished with
this book, I should be ready to retire. We've been on it a
long time, haven't we? Ephesians chapter 5, and I was
going to more or less, I've made mention of these three verses,
verses 19 through 21, and I intended more or less to not say anything
else about them, but I will this morning. Try to say something
this morning, maybe the subject of a happy Christian. Just because
you're a Christian doesn't mean you're happy. And I don't know
of any Christian, including the apostles, that were happy continually
and contend always. Paul said, I've learned it. But
I bet he learned it in very difficult lessons. But that's what our
subject is this morning, the happy Christian. I want to begin
reading again in verse 18. And be not drunk with wine, wherein
is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. Be filled with the
Spirit. And we saw that in our last two
studies. And how to be filled with the
Spirit. If we are commanded to be filled with the Spirit, then
it is possible that we can be filled with the Spirit. speaking
to yourselves in songs and hymns and spiritual songs, singing
and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always
for all things unto God in the Father, in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of
Christ, in the fear of God. Now, it seems evident here that
in verses 19 and verse 21, that these verses are very closely
linked, viably linked, to verse 18. Verse 19 through verse 21 is
the consequences, is the effects of being filled with the Holy
Spirit. He said you are speaking to yourselves
in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody
in your heart to the Lord. Doesn't that seem like that's
a happy person? And why I say this is linked
to verse 18, it's obviously linked to. You can't help but see the
correlation between verse 18 and verse 19. Be filled with
the Spirit speaking to yourselves, making melody in your heart to
the Lord. A person may be singing with
his lips and not be happy and not be content. But when it gets
to making melody in your heart, That's something different altogether.
There's a happiness denoted there. I think I told you, I was sitting
someplace, I don't know where it was, but I was sitting and
I heard this, it was above a hum, there was words being sung, I
couldn't tell what they were. But I got to looking around and
it was a lady sitting on the other side of the room from me
by herself. And she was just sitting there
and you could see her lips moving and you could almost hear the
words. And I just got the feeling this
lady is worshipping. You could just feel it. I felt
it in my soul. And I got up and moved over next
to her and I said, if you'll sing just a little louder, I
can understand what you're saying. And her face turned red. And
she said, you know, sometimes my heart is so filled with praises
of Him, I can't keep from singing. And what she was doing, she was
sitting there all by herself making melody in her heart to
the Lord. Not harmony. Harmony takes more
than one, but melody denotes one, just one instrument, one
voice. And I wish I had never said anything
to that dear woman, because she quit singing. And I'm sorry I
said anything to her. But she was obviously happy,
obviously content, making melody in your heart. And verse 20 is
obviously linked to verse 18, being filled with the Spirit,
because it says you're giving thanks, having a thankful attitude. You know a person that has a
thankful attitude is a happy person. And a person who is not
thankful is usually a person who is selfish, It's a person
who thinks the world owes them everything, and they expect everything,
and those people generally are miserable. Being filled with
the Spirit, giving thanks. Being thankful. Being thankful. And then, in verse 21, you can
see how this obviously links to being filled with the Spirit.
Submitting yourself. Subjecting yourselves one to
another. Subjecting yourselves to God. Submitting yourselves to the
will of God. Submitting yourselves to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Submitting yourselves to the
authority of Christ. Submitting to the authority of
His Word. That's a happy person. Submitting
yourself, dear parents, Dear husbands, dear employees, submitting
yourselves to God first, and then submitting yourselves one
to another. I tell you, that's a happy husband who has submitted
himself to Christ. And that's a happy wife who has
submitted herself to her husband. And that's a happy child who
has submitted himself or herself to their parents. And that's
a happy employee who has submitted themselves to their employer.
What's most of the trouble that you and I are facing in society
today? Is it not rebellion? Is it not
submitting to authority? And it begins with submitting
to the authority of God's holy inspired Word. And it works its
way down, doesn't it? But you see a person who is subjective,
He's submissive. And I tell you, that's a happy
person. And it vitally links here to verse 18. Be filled with
the Spirit. Now, you say, Bruce, I don't
always have a song in my heart. I don't either. I don't either. And I don't always go around
with a thankful attitude. Me neither. Me neither. And sometimes
I don't want to submit to anybody or anything. I feel this rebellion
bubbling up in me against any and all authority. You have trouble
with it, and I have trouble with it. But I've got a remedy for
both of us. Be you filled with the Spirit.
That's it. That's it. I'm not saying these
things come automatically. I'm not saying that at all. I'm
not saying they even come automatically when you and I are filled with
the Holy Spirit. Nothing comes automatically,
does it? But I am saying be filled with
the Holy Spirit and it's possible. He has grace enough, He has power
enough, strength enough to help us be thankful to sing and to submit. He can work in us to will and
to do of his good pleasure. I will put my Spirit within you
and I will cause you to walk in my stature. And I'm not saying
this I'm not saying that it's automatically, and I'm not saying
be filled with the Holy Spirit and you'll never have any more
trials in this lifetime. You'll never have any more temptations
or any burdens or any distresses. I'm not saying that. I'm just
saying this. You can't help but see the correlation
between being filled with the Holy Spirit and then being a
happy Christian. Here it is, I think, in these
verses. Be filled with the Holy Spirit
and you shall be a happy person. There's that potential. And just
having the potential for that is a wonderful prospect. I want
to be happy. I want to be content. I don't
want to be miserable. I don't want to be a Christian
and be miserable. I want to be a Christian and
I want to be happy. We're not seeking happiness for
happiness' sake. If a man seeks to be happy, he'll
be miserable. You don't seek happiness just
to be happy. But what these verses here teach
us is this, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord
is happiness. That's happiness in and of itself.
Being a thankful person is happiness. submitting to the Lord and submitting
one to another, that is happiness. And the things that are contrary
to these things is what makes us miserable. So instead of seeking
happiness, you know what we ought to seek? To be filled with the
Holy Spirit. That should be our aim and our
goal. Being Christian to our fill with
the Holy Spirit. Now, let's look at these things
right quickly. In verse 19, speaking to yourselves
in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody
in your heart to the Lord. Now, what does this mean? Speaking
to yourselves. If you read your commentaries
and you read your different versions of the Bible, and I've got several
different versions of the Bible, And the King James is one I prefer. And I'll tell you why I prefer
it. You look at so many other versions, like the NIV, for example,
and they come here and they translate this scripture this way, speaking
one to another in Psalms and hymns. Now, could that be the
meaning of that verse? It could be. But if you go to
the parallel passage of this verse, Colossians 3.16, and you
know this, you've read this, Paul quotes this very same passage,
but it's just a little bit different. And it says this, Let the words
of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing
one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. So the NIV,
so they make everything seemingly harmonized, they come here and
they translate this scripture, speaking one to another in Psalms
and Hamlet. Here's what I love about the
King James Version. It doesn't seek to harmonize
all these things. It lets us expand our thoughts
and our imaginations, you see. In Colossians 3, it's clear that
we're to speak one to another. But here, he says, speak unto
yourselves. And he allows us to interpret
that this way. Speak unto my own soul. And I
tell you, here's what's important about this. And here's why I
love the King James Bible. I was preaching one time at a
place. And I preach the message to you. Jesus followed him in
the way. Somebody may remember that message.
Matthew's account says that Jesus followed him. Jairus, his daughter,
was sick, and he came and got the Lord, and the Lord said,
I'll go with you to heal her. And Matthew says Jesus followed
him. Another one of the Gospels says
Jesus went with him. And I took my text, Jesus followed
him, and I was preaching to these people, and I knew they weren't
even understanding what I was saying. Because the NIV, the
New International Version, said in both places, Jesus went with
him. And neither of their places,
well, they wanted to harmonize, see, and make it perfectly match
in both places. So I lost my text. Jesus wasn't
following him at all. He went with him. Well, of course
he went with him, but the King James let us broaden our imagination. We see Jesus not only going with
him, but we see him following him. And here, we love this, because
we know that while we can speak one to another, We can imagine
speaking to ourselves. And I think, I truly think, no
matter what the commentator, sometimes you've got to go against
these smart people. They're smart, they're brilliant,
they know words. But you know when it comes to
your... Just read verse 19 with me. Speaking to yourselves. Now, if you read that, what would
you think? You're talking about speaking to yourself, wouldn't
you? Making melody. Where? Not in somebody else's
heart. But yours, this is talking about
what we personally do, being filled with the Spirit, speaking
to yourself in your own heart. Well, first of all then, let's
look at this. Let's look at it like some of
the commentators said, like our parallel passage says, speaking
to one another. That's important. If you want
to look at it, fine, that's the way. Look over in Malachi chapter
3, the last book of the Bible. We know that the scripture teaches
that you and I should speak one to another. Look over in Malachi
chapter 3, the very last book in the Old Testament, and look
at this. Now, if you know anything about
the book of Malachi, you know it was a difficult time for Israel. Things were bad. Things were
low. The Lord had begun to bring all
these fusiations against them, that they were bringing their
sick animals for sacrifices. There in verse 5, the cities
were full of sorcerers and adulterers and swears and oppressors and
Cheating men of their wages. In verse 8, will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me that robbed
him of tithes and offerings. They weren't given as God had
prospered them. And he says here, look at this,
in verse 13, your words have been stout against me, yet you
say, what have we spoken against you? In verse 14, you have said,
ìIt is vain to serve the Lord, and what profit is it that we
have kept His ordinances, and that we have walked mournfully
before the Lord of hosts?î And look at verse 15, ìYou call the
proud happy, and they that work wickedness are set up, yea, they
that tempt God are even delivered.î It was an awful time. And you
remember that, what was it, 400 years or more after this time? The visions were ready to stop. God would not speak again for
400 years to give any visions or any more scripture. I mean,
you think you and I live in a bad day. We think we've got some
tough times coming. 400 years of never hearing God's
voice. This was a bad time. Do you know
a good remedy for bad times? It's in verse 16. Then, in this
very bad time, they that feared the Lord spake often one to another,
and the Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance
was written before him for them that feared the Lord and that
thought on his name." I wonder what they talked to each other
about. What do you talk to your dear brothers and sisters about
when you get with them? Speaking one to another. And
they did. When you get together, brothers
and sisters, and please, please, don't forget each other. Stay
in contact with each other, especially in the day that we live. Call
each other on the phone. Go by and visit each other. I
can't visit all of you. I can't talk to all of you. You're
too big. Look at the masses of people. I can't keep in contact
with all of you, but keep in contact one with another. Can't
you see these dear brothers and sisters getting together and
talking about the sovereignty of God? Talking about the preciousness
of the coming of the Messiah? Talking about their fears? Talking
about their trials. Talking about their hopes. Talking
about their faith. Talking about their victories.
They just got together. They sang. They read psalms to
one another. They just got together and spake. And how often did they do it?
Often. Often. One to another. I left you a
few Sundays ago. And I was so down, because one
of you in this congregation this morning, and I ain't going to
mention which ever one, you didn't speak to me all day long. Sunday
morning or Sunday evening, in both services, you didn't even
acknowledge me. You were so busy running to and
fro, you didn't even speak to me. And I went home, and I'm
telling you what, I was so down, I was so hurt. I just got off of it myself,
and I thought, what have I done to that poor soul? I've said
something to them. I've hurt them some way or another,
and now they're certainly offended at me, and I may lose them as
a friend. Oh, I went on for two or three
hours, and then you called me. You called me and put my poor,
burdened mind at rest. I had done nothing, and you hadn't
even noticed that you hadn't spoke to me. And I was so confident. Why? Just be you calling me and
speaking to me. That's it. Speaking often one
to another. That's important. Don't stop
doing it. That's important. Make friends
of God's children and stay in contact with God's children.
If your life is getting so busy with cares and the things, then
get rid of some of the cares. Get rid of some of the things.
The most important thing that you can do is stay in contact
with the Lord's little children. They need you and you need them. Don't forsake the assembling
of yourselves together so much the more as you see the day approaching. But brothers and sisters, let
me say this, there's something more important than getting together
here this morning and talking with one another, and that's
getting together out there. That's talking out there. I have
learned a lot. And I appreciate so much our
brethren being willing to study and come here and preach and
teach to us on Sunday morning. I appreciate that so much. But
you know what's more important than that? You know what's more
important than that? Out there where we live. talking
to one another, communicating to one another out there where
we live. Speaking one to another in songs
and hymns. And secondly, let's look at this
in this way then, as I think that our text would teach us,
speaking to yourself, speaking to your own soul. David did this
a lot, didn't he? He said, Why are you cast down,
O my soul? He didn't have anybody else to
comfort him, so he comforts himself. Why are you cast down? Why are
you so disquieted? Why is all this racket and this
rage and turmoil going on in your mind? Why are you cast down? Hope thou in God, soul. I will yet praise him who is
the help and the help of your countenance. Hope thou in God. Speak unto yourself. I tell you,
we get down on ourselves sometimes, don't we? Do you ever get so
mad at yourself that you curse yourself? Job cursed the day
he was born. And he cursed the doctor that
said, You've got a man, child. Curse me, that doctor, and curse
me the day, he said, that I was born. Boy, we can get down on
ourselves, can't we? Paul said, O wretched man that
I am. That's all right. That's what we are. But listen,
would you talk to somebody else the way you talk to yourself
sometimes? Don't be so hard on yourself
you forget to encourage your own soul. You need encouragement. Speak to yourself. Let me tell
you a story about David. David, bless his heart, he was
a man after God's own heart. But boy, he got in a fix one
time. You'll read about this in 1 Samuel
27, 28, 29, 30. King Saul, David lived in the
cave. Six hundred men came down and
joined themselves to David. Some of them were some sorry
rascals. Some of them were some good fellows. But he had six
hundred men, their wives and their children. And Saul, King
Saul, ran David and his men out of Israel. and ran him down to
the country of the Philistines. The Philistines didn't like him,
so they ran him out of their camp and their country, and he
had to go back up to Zaglag. One of his king friends gave
him this little town of Zaglag to dwell in. That's the last
place he had for refuge. David and his 600 men and their
wives and their children and all their cattle and stuff was
there at Zaglag. David got back up to Zaglag when
the Philistines ran him off. Ambalakites have invaded the
south and they burned Zaglag. They took all their wives and
all their children and all their stuff. And when the men come
up there to that little town where they lived in, everything
was burned and everything was gone. Abigail, remember sweet
Abigail, David's wife, they took her with them. And boy, they
were mad at David. The Scripture says they were
so grieved that their wives and children and sons were gone that
they said, We're going to stone David. I mean, he had came to
the end of his road. And here's what the Scripture
says he did. In 1 Samuel 30, verse 6, But
David encouraged himself in the Lord. He spoke to himself. He began to speak to his soul
that was full of turmoil. And he says, wait now soul, wait
a minute. Hope thou in God. Sure things look bad, but I'll
yet praise him who is the help of my countenance. The Lord is
my shepherd. He prepares a table before me
in the presence of my name. Don't you think he said that?
Don't you think he encouraged himself in that song? I will
lift up mine eyes unto the hills from which cometh my help. David, who does your help come
from? From the Lord. Who is that who made heaven and
earth? He encouraged himself in the
Lord. The heathen came to David and
they said, David, where is your God now? What's he doing? Look what an awful shape you're
in. Where is your God, David?" David said, where he's always
been. He's in heaven. What's he doing there? Whatever
he pleased. Wouldn't that encourage you?
Wouldn't that encourage you? God is my refuge and my strength,
a very present help in time of need. He said, therefore, in
Psalm 62 and verse 5, My soul, O my soul, wait thou only upon
God. From Him comes everything that
you need, everything that you desire, everything that you hope
for comes from your God. Therefore, wait upon Him. He encouraged himself. He spoke to himself in Psalms. Do you ever do that when you
are down? When you are afraid? When you are discouraged? When
you are failed? Do you ever quote Psalms to yourself?
Do that. Do that. And hymns. He spake to himself in Psalms
and hymns. Do you know the first hymn that
we ever have recorded? I am sure it wasn't the first
one that was sang. But the first recorded hymn is
in Exodus chapter 15. That's the first time we ever
read of a hymn being sung, and here's what it said. Do you remember
the occasion? The Lord had just brought back
the waters and grounded all the Egyptians, and here stood the
Israelites looking out over that sea, and nothing was left. They
were free. The Lord had delivered them from
their enemy. And here's what it said. Then sang Moses and
the children of Israel unto the Lord. I will sing unto the Lord,
for he hath triumphed gloriously, the horse and his rider hath
he thrown into the sea." They sang. They sang. Sing a hymn. Sing a song and hymn. And what else did Paul say? Speak
unto yourself in songs, hymns, and spiritual songs. Here is
a good spiritual song. When I can read my title clear
to mansions in the sky, I'll bid farewell to every fear and
wipe my weeping eyes. Speak unto yourself. Talk to
yourself. If somebody sees you doing that,
they may think you're crazy, but that's all right, ain't it?
I'd rather be confident and have people think I'm crazy than have
them think otherwise and be tormented in my soul. Speak to yourself. Speak to yourself. Brother Donnie
Bell told me one time he was going up through the woods and
he used to preach to himself. We talked to ourselves, he preached
to himself. He's going up through the woods on this old log road
in his truck and he's just preaching away. This is the way he's doing
it. He said, I'll just preach it away. And he looked over there
and there stood two farmers looking right at him. He said, I looked
at them, waved at them and just kept on preaching. Speaking to
yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. That's the
first thing. I've got to hurry or I'm going
to keep you too long. I'm going to wear you. In verse 20, right
quickly, look at this. Speaking to yourselves in psalms
and hymns and spiritual songs. And the second point is this.
Giving thanks always for all things unto God the Father in
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. William Hendrickson had something
to say about this verse and what it means to be thankful and to
be given thanks. And this is what he said. Let
me quote him. Thanksgiving is a grateful acknowledgment
of benefits received. And it presupposes that the person
who engages in this activity recognizes three things. Now
listen to this. If you're a thankful person,
you recognize these three things. Number one, that the blessings
which you enjoy are bestowed upon you so that in all honesty
you cannot, in and of yourself, take credit for it. If you're
truly thankful, it's because you realize that this blessing
was bestowed upon you freely. That's why you're thankful. That's
why you're thankful. And secondly, he said this, that
it is totally, that you are totally unworthy of them. It is indeed
a blessing. And it's an unmerited, unearned
blessing. And thirdly, he says this, and
since we're to give thanks always, he says this, that these benefits
that God bestows are great and there are many. If we're to give
thanks always, then the benefits, these blessings, must be many,
must be all kinds of them. When are we to be thankful? When are we to give thanks? Look
at this. You're in verse 19. In verse 20. Giving thanks when? Always. Giving thanks always. Always. Always. Did you wake up this morning?
Of course you did. You should have given thanks
right there. Did you sleep any at all? Did you rest any at all? You should have given thanks
right there. You have the desire, you have
the ability, you have the means to get out of bed, to get yourself
ready and come to the worship. You should be thankful. You can
sit and participate in worship and hear the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. You should be so thankful. We'll
leave here, we'll eat a meal, we'll come back and worship again,
and then we'll leave and we'll get in our fine cars, we'll go
to our nice houses. We should be so thankful. When should we be thankful? Always. Are you here this morning and
you know the Lord? Are you saved? Oh, you should be so thankful.
You're here this morning and you're not saved, you should
be so thankful because you're here in this world and not in
hell. You should be so thankful. When we're filled with the Spirit,
we can constantly be reminded of what a thankful people we
should be always. That's what the Spirit does.
He reminds us, be thankful. You know the first step to reprobation
is an unthankful heart. When they knew God, they glorified
Him, not asked God, neither were thankful. Therefore, their foolish
hearts was darkened. Unthankful attitude is the first
step to reprobation. Be thankful, always. What should we be thankful for?
Look at this. Give Him thanks always for all
things. Everything. You ain't going to
do this from your heart if you ain't filled with the Spirit.
Only He can enable us to be thankful for everything. And why should
we be thankful, brothers and sisters, for everything? Because
all things work together for good. If everything is working
together for good, then why not be thankful for everything? I tell you, the story of Joseph
is one of the best illustrations of why you and I should be thankful
for everything. Can you imagine how awful it
was, what a bad thing it was for Joseph's brethren to sell
him as a slave down into Egypt? That was awful. When he got down
there, he was accused of trying to rape his boss's wife. They
put him in jail for two years almost. Put him in the stock. That was awful. That was awful. But you know something? Without
that, he wouldn't have been on the throne down in Egypt. There would have been no corn
for Jacob's son to go down and buy. All those lives that were
saved would not have been saved without these bad things happening
to Joseph. Be thankful for everything. You
ladies make a cake. You ever make a cake from scratch?
I can go ask you to raise your hand, because most cakes now
are made out of butter. There are some of you, though.
There are some of you. You can bake from scratch. Could you imagine Getting all
your ingredients out to make a cake. And you take your box
of soda out, baking soda, and you taste of that. And you say,
well, there ain't no way I'm putting that in there. That's
awful. So you set it aside. Then you get you some flour.
And did you ever try to eat flour of itself? Try that something. Get a good glass of milk, because
you've got to wash it down. You ain't going to eat that,
are you? That old dry powder? So you set it aside. You break
a couple of eggs and you put them in the bowl, and what's
those little white things in there? I don't want to eat that. That's awful. So you pour your
eggs out. And after a while, what have you got left? Well,
you've got your milk. That's good. You've got some
sugar. That's good. Maybe some vanilla
flavor or some other flavor. That's good. But try sticking
that in the oven and baking it and see how that comes out. What
is it that makes a cake good? It's the balance, isn't it? You've
got all your stuff combined together, and then when you bake it, it
comes out fine. Now, if you and I were in control
of this life, we'd have all good things, but how would that come
out? We'd be so proud. We'd never pray. We wouldn't
need to pray. We wouldn't need faith. It's these things that
we think are evil. It's these awful trials. These
awful things happening in our family and in the church. And
people getting killed out on the highway. Our friends having
cancer and dying. All these awful things. It puts
balance in our life. And I tell you, when God mixes
these things up, And when he puts them in his
oven and bakes it, then it all comes out just right. And then
you can say, Lord, thank you for that trial. Thank you for
that heartache. Thank you even for when I fail.
Thank you for the loss of a loved one, a friend. Thank you. Thank
you for everything. Being thankful always for all
things. I'm lonely a lot, and you are
too. Especially you mothers and you
wives, you stay home sometimes. You get lonely, don't you? See,
loneliness is a dreadful thing. You get lonely in your soul.
You're off at work. Go off to work. For you go off
fishing, and there you sit, and you're lonely. In your soul,
you're lonely. And that's an awful trial. That
in itself would get you down after a while. But thank you,
Lord, that I'm lonely. I flee to Christ when I'm lonely.
I find a companion in Him when I'm lonely. To whom should we
give thanks? Look at it again in verse 20.
To God and the Father. To God and the Father. We give thanks unto Him. Why
do we do that? We'll look over in chapter 1
in verse 3. Here's why we give thanks to
God and the Father. Because all blessings come from
Him. All benefits come from God. Look what He says in verse 3.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
hath blessed us with what? all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus. And he said there in verse 13
and verse 14 that He has called us and we trusted in Him, and
in verse 14, He sealed us with the Holy Spirit of promise for
how long? Until the redemption of the He
chose us in Christ, He has given us all these spiritual blessings,
He has called us to believe the gospel, and He sealed us until
the day of redemption. From first to last, He has blessed
us with grace. Isn't that a wonderful thing?
How would you live in regards to being thankful? How would
it affect you? If you can live in the faith
that the eternal God has fixed your everlasting happiness, how
would that affect you? That no matter what you suffer
in this world, whatever may come upon you, it just doesn't matter
because God Himself, in His eternal decrees, has fixed your everlasting
happiness. Oh, wouldn't that make you thankful
to Him? All your doubting, all your fears, all your trials will
not change this fact. God has fixed it. Oh, render
thanks unto God and the Father. And how? In the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Boy, this changes everything,
doesn't it? Oh, when you mention Christ. When you bring Him into
the equation, that changes everything. Brother Donnie is often used
in the illustration, you mark a million zeros, and what have
you got? You've got nothing. But you put
one in front of that, and what have you got? You've got a million.
You've got something there. We've got nothing without Christ.
But with Christ, we've got everything. He changes everything. There was nothing but God's frown. But now, God smiled. Why? Because of the Lord Jesus
Christ. There was nothing but darkness,
now there's light because of the Lord Jesus Christ. There
was nothing but a space in the cold, stern justice of God, but
now there's mercy because of Christ. There was guilt, there
was condemnation, but now because of Christ. There is forgiveness
of all our sins. With Christ. With Christ. In Christ. Because of Christ.
We have everything. Everything. One of my favorite
verses in all the Bible is there in Hebrews chapter 13 where we
are told to go without the count bearing his reproach. the reproach
of Christ. Here we have no continuing city.
We seek one to come. Let us therefore offer the sacrifice
of praise continuing, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving
thanks to his name. And how did he say to do that?
By him. By him. God will receive our
worship. He will receive our thanksgiving,
our praise, through him, because of him. He won't receive anything
apart from Christ. Old Scott used to say, he won't
speak to us, he won't let us speak to him apart from Christ. Everything is because of Christ,
in Christ, through Christ, thy Christ Jesus, our Lord. That's
why he's so precious, ain't he? That's why he's precious. And
I'll save this last one for some time else, but let me just say
this. Submitting yourselves one to another. And that's the problem. in our day. That's the problem
in our school system, our legal system, the church not wanting
to submit to God's authority, to His rule. May the Lord bless
His Word. Let's pray.