1 John chapter 5. 1 John chapter 5. Now here's my subject. I'm going
to preach a little while on a plain, a plain sermon on faith. A plain sermon on faith. I've
often said there's three things I'd like to know something about,
a whole lot about. One is faith, hope and love. the greatest of these is love.
But I want to know something about faith, don't you? And I'm
going to preach a plain, simple sermon on faith. Now look at the scripture here,
1 John 5, beginning with verse 10. He that believeth on the
Son of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth not
God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that
God gave of his Son. And this is the record, that
God hath given us to us eternal life, and this life is in his
Son. He that hath the Son of God hath
life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. Now what's this next line? Verse 13, the first line. These things have I written unto
you that believe on the name of the Son of God. These things
are written to you who believe on the name of the Son of God.
Did you know the Bible is not written to everybody? The Bible
is written to people who believe. There is nothing in the Bible
for an unbeliever but judgment. There's nothing in the Bible
for an unbeliever but condemnation. But there's a whole lot in the
Bible for those that believe on the Son of God. These things
have been written unto you that believe on the name of the Son
of God. That what? Well, listen. Read
the next line. That you may know, that you may
know you have eternal life. Not perhaps, not maybe. That you may know that you have
eternal life. I know whom I have believed.
We know Him. We know Him. I know whom I have
believed. I'm persuaded that He's able
to keep that which I've committed to Him. I know. So, secondly,
He said, this is written to you who believe that you may know
you have eternal life. Look at the next line. And that
you may believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may
what? Keep on believing. Keep on believing. These things
are written to you that believe, that you may know you have life
eternal, and that you may keep on believing on Him. One of the
great old preachers of the past was named William Guthrie. William Guthrie only wrote one
book. His brother Thomas wrote a lot
of books. But William wrote one book, and
it's called the Christians Saving Interest. The Christians Saving
Interest. And it's a little book about,
like one of my commentaries, just about so big. A little green
book. If you ever run across one, buy
it. It's one of the greatest little
books on faith that you can get. It's The Christian's Saving Interest
by William Guthrie. Now his brother wrote several
books, but William wrote one book. And John Owen, some of
you fellas are familiar with John Owen. He'd been gone a long
time. But John Owen was a great writer.
And John Owen said about William Guthrie's book, It's the greatest
book on faith I've ever read. That's what John Owens said about
this book. The Christian Saving Interest.
I called my son, Paul, the other day. I called Paul to ask him
something. And then I told him, I said,
do you remember that book, The Christian Saving Interest? He
said, In fact, I got one in my study. I said, get it out. I
want you to tell me something. I gave all my books away. I said,
I want you to tell me something about this book because I want
to preach a sermon. And the introductory remarks
are William Guthrie's introductory remarks on that book. And Paul
said, well, I haven't read that in years. I think I'll read it
now that you mentioned it. But anyway, here's what William
Guthrie wrote about the Christian saving interest. Here are four
things. Number one, he said the Christian's
greatest interest, the Christian's saving interest means this, the
Lord commands us to believe. You know, believing on God is
not an invitation, it's a commandment. The Christian saving is a commandment. These things I have written unto
you, that you love the Lord thy God with all your heart, mind,
soul, and strength. This is the first and great commandment. Believe God. That's the first
great commandment, to believe God. Not an invitation, it's
a commandment. Secondly, William Guthrie said
this, Not to believe God. Not to believe God is the greatest
sin anybody can commit. Not to believe God. The scripture
says they could not enter in because of what? Unbelief. That's the greatest sin. A young
man came to Whitfield one time and he said, Mr. Whitfield, he
said, he said, I'd like to know something about being saved.
And Whitfield said, well, I'll be glad to help you if I can.
He said, now, I want you to understand, preacher, I want you to understand
that I'm a bad man. He said, I'm a sinner. Well,
Lord save sinners. He said, but I've stolen. He said, is that all? Well, he
said, preacher, he said, I've not only stolen things, but he
said, I've used great profanity. I used wicked words. He says,
is that all? He said, well, not only that
preacher, but I've committed adultery. He says, is that all? He said, Mr. Whitfield, he said,
I've named all these things I've done, and you just keep saying,
is that all? He said, well, I'll tell you
why. Because you haven't yet confessed the greatest sin of
all. He said, what's that? Not to
believe God. That's the greatest sin of all.
not to believe God. That's the greatest sin that
a man can commit. They could not enter in because
of unbelief. Now here's the third thing he
said. This is Thomas Guthrie's book. True saving faith, true saving
faith is determined by the scriptures. That's how we learn What to believe,
whom to believe, is from the scriptures. Faith comes by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God. Faith comes by hearing. Faith
comes through the ear gate, not the eye gate. Show me and I'll
believe. No. Hear me. Hear me. Hear me. Feelings come. Feelings go. Feelings are deceiving. My hope is the word of God. Nothing else is worth believing.
That's it. Faith. Faith. True saving faith. Next, this man said is this. William Guthrie. How do we know
that these men in the Bible really believe God? How do we know that
men like Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, how do we know they believe
God? You know how we know it? They
obeyed God. That's it. Abel, it says this
about Abel. He offered a boy a certain, sure,
wonderful, type, sacrifice, a suitable, effectual sacrifice. That's how
we know he believed God. He offered a sacrifice. And secondly,
Enoch walked with God. That's how we know we believe
God. Noah moved with fear and prepared an ark. Abraham obeyed
God. That's faith. All right, now
here's my message now. Here's what I want you to see.
And I want you to jot down seven things, seven things that I got
from this little book. And I know you all have heard
about every sermon I've ever preached. But this one you hadn't
heard. Because I got it from another
fellow. I got this from William Guthrie. This is an outstanding
outline that I got from Mr. William Guthrie. Saving faith. This is a plain sermon on saving
faith. Number one. Saving faith is to
know God. That's what our Lord said in
his great priestly prayer. He said, Thou hast given me power
over all flesh that I should give eternal life to as many
as Thou hast given me and this is life eternal that they might
know Thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom I have
sent. That's saving faith is to know
God. And then this this verse that
Brother Tom read a moment ago, and we know that the Son of God
has come and given us, the Son of God has come and given us
an understanding that we may know Him, that we may know Him,
and Jesus Christ whom He has sent, this is the true God, this
is eternal life. Alright, how does a person come
to know God? Now watch this. We may know that
three things, and I want you to look at three scriptures.
Romans 1, Romans chapter 1, Romans chapter 1 verse 18, Romans chapter
1. We know God by three undeniable
facts. Number one, we know God by creation. That's a strange way to start
preaching. That's nevertheless it. It is it. Look at Romans 1 verse 18. For the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness, unrighteousness of men who hold
the truth in unrighteousness, because that which may be known
of God is manifested in them in them, to them. God has shown
it to them. How has He shown it? Verse 20,
For the invisible things from the creation of the world are
clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made,
even His eternal power and Godhead, so they are without excuse. You've
been talking about these beautiful, beautiful trees and the things
that God has given us in the creation. The stars, the sun,
the moon, the things that God has made. God is revealed in
the things that God has made. That's the first thing that the
person with any good sense notices that somebody made this, that
we didn't make it. He made it. The creation. That's what he says. He says
the invisible things, verse 20, the invisible things of God from
the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood,
by the things that are made, even His eternal power and God,
so they're without excuse. God has showed it to us. All
that He has done. The heavens declare the glory
of God. The firmament showeth His handiwork. God made it. All right, here's
the second undeniable fact. Conscience. Conscience. Turn to Romans 2. Romans 2. Now he said, when they look at
the things that God's made and they don't see God, they're without
excuse. Now watch this, Romans 2 verse
13. For not the hearers of the law
are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. The doers. For when the Gentiles
have not the law, Yet they do by nature the things contained
in the law. These, having not the law, are
law unto themselves. In other words, when the Gentiles,
who don't steal or do these other things, you know, yet they know
God by the things that are revealed in their conscience. Listen to
that next verse. It shows the work of the law
written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness
and their thoughts to meanwhile accusing or excusing one another. Old Brother Barnard, Ralph Barnard,
you all know of him, I knew him. Brother Barnard, when he was
in his 20 some odd years old, he was born in 1905, but he was
in about 20 some odd years old, he was a student at Hardin Simmons
University. in Texas, Waco, I believe, in
Texas. He was a student out there, and
he was a mean kid. His mama raised him in the church,
but he went back on what she taught him. And he was president
of the Infidels Club in that Baptist College, Hardin Simmons
University. Barnard was the president of
the Infidels Club. And this is what he told me from
his own mouth. He said, I was a young smart
aleck, and they elected me president of the Infidel's Club. But when
I lie down at night by myself, I would pray to the God in whom
I didn't believe that he'd keep me alive so I could deny him. I wrote that down. He told me,
I lie at night. And I'd pray to that God that
I didn't believe in, but I'd pray he'd keep me alive so I
could keep on denying him. Well, he learned. He learned
the gospel. I tell you, another friend of
mine did this. Monroe Parker. He taught you
at Bob Jones University, Cleveland, Tennessee. Darth with the Bob
Jones. Anyway, anyway, Monroe Parker was preaching at Ashland. And He told Doris and I some
of his stories. And he said, he said, I was down
on the street. They used to send the Bob Jones
boys down on the streets in Cleveland. It was in Cleveland, Tennessee
then. But they'd go preach. And he said, I went down to preach
on the street. And a bunch of people got around.
And I preached to them. And there was a fellow in the
crowd, a heckler. And he said, this is what he
said. Preacher, if there is a God, let him strike me dead and send
me to hell, if there's a God." Monroe said, I stopped preaching.
And I said, what did you say? He said, I said, if there's a
God, let him strike me dead and send me to hell. He said, young
man, I've never met anybody say anything like that. And you know
I'm going to ask God to give you what you want. You want God
to strike me, you dead, and send you to hell. I want all these
people here to bow in prayer, and I'm going to lead them in
prayer that God kill you right now and send you to hell." And
he said, Father, and he didn't get any further than that, and
the young man said, the preacher said, you just leave me alone.
You remember this. He said, He said, I'm not going
to leave you alone. He said, I think everybody ought
to go where they want to go and do what they want to do, and
I want God to send you to hell. And I'm going to ask Him to.
Father, preacher, I said, leave me alone. Well, he said, you
don't want me to pray that. I just want you to leave me alone.
He left. That old boy in here, conscience. We know about God
by creation. We know about God by conscience,
their conscience bearing witness, and we know about God through
Christ. Here's the third, Romans 3, here
it is, Romans 3, 21, Romans 3. Now, the righteousness of God
without the law is manifested being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, Even His eternal, even the righteousness of God,
which is by the faith of Jesus Christ, upon all and upon all
them that believe, there is no difference. For all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by
His grace through redemption, says Christ Jesus. Oh, let me
tell you, there's a God, and He's revealed out here in everything
you see. He's revealed right here. They
deny it, but he's revealed. And then he's revealed mostly
in the person of his son. And that's how you know God.
That's how you know God. But I won't take too long. That's
the first point. Y'all going anywhere? Okay. That's the first point. Saving
faith is to know God. Secondly, saving faith is to
know who I am. who are a sinner. I mean a sinner. You know, the book of Genesis
is called the beginning. Turn to the book of Genesis,
chapter 1. This is called the beginning. That's the beginning. Chapter 1 of Genesis. And it goes to verse 31. Genesis 1, 31. You got it there? God saw everything that he had
made. And behold, it was very good. It was very good. That was a
good start, wasn't it? God made everything, and it was
very good. And the evening morning was the
sixth day. All right, turn to the last book
of that same book, Genesis. The last book. Chapter 50, the
last chapter in this book here of Genesis. The beginning. God
saw everything that he made was good. Good. Good. Now, the last verse. In verse,
chapter 50, verse 26. And Joseph died, being 110 years
old, and they bombed him, and put him in a coffin in Egypt.
Man started out, He wound up dead in a coffin. And that's
the story of our life. That's right. You want me to
give everybody's biography here? Turn to Romans 3. Everybody's
biography. Everybody's biography right here.
Romans chapter 3 verse 9. Romans 3 verse 9. Here's everybody's biography.
What then? Romans 3 verse 9. What then? Are we better than they? Nope.
Nope. No in, no wise. For before, we
have proved before, both Jew and Gentile, they're all, they're
all under sin. As it is written, there's none
righteous, no not one. There's none that understand
it. There's none that seek after God. They're all gone out of
the way. They're together become unprofitable.
There's none that do it good, no not one. Their throat is an
open sepulchre. With their tongues they've used
deceit. The poison of snakes is on their lips. Their mouth
is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed
blood. Destruction and misery in their way. The way of peace
they've not known. There's no fear of God before
their eyes. Now we know That all things, whatsoever the law
sayeth, it sayeth to them that are under the law, that every
mouth may be stopped, and all the world become, what? Guilty before God. I was sitting
in my study one day, and the phone rang. And the voice at
the other end said, is this Brother May? And I said, yes, ma'am.
I forget her last name. I forget her last name. But she
was a member of our church in Ashland. This is a long time
ago. She said, brother man, she said, my husband's been hurt
in an accident. He never came to church. She
was there pretty regularly, but he never came. And she said he
was working in a sewer line and gas exploded. And he's down in
King's Daughters Hospital. And she said, I don't think he's
real bad hurt, but he's real bad scared. She said, he wants
you to come talk to him about the Lord. It's a true story. So I went down there. I had my
Bible. And I went down to see him. His
name was Fred. I forget his last name. But I
went down. And she's right, he was scared. He had an explosion and burned
and hurt a little bit. But he said, preacher, he said,
why don't you come talk to me about the Lord? And I said, I'm
glad to do that, glad to. I said, now, first thing, Fred,
you are a sinner, aren't you? He got real quiet. He looked
at me and said, no, I wouldn't say that. Honestly, he said,
I wouldn't say that. I said, what would you say? Well, he said, I haven't always
done what I ought to do. I haven't always done what I
ought to say. But he said, I'm not what you
call a sinner. He looked over his wife and said, I'm a honey. She said, no. I closed my Bible. I wasn't trying to be a smart-ass.
I was trying to be honest. I closed my Bible. I said, Fred,
I'm sorry you got hurt, but I don't have anything for you. Because
salvation is for sinners. And you're not a sinner, then
I got nothing for you. If you want to come hear me preach
sometime, you'd be glad to do it. So I left. That's not unkind,
that's just truthful. That's what we are. Who is God? He's God. Who am
I? I'm a sinner. I need help. Thirdly, saving faith is to know
this. It's to know how God can be just
and justify a sinner. How we can change from being
an unsaved, guilty sinner to a believer in Christ. How God
can be just and justifier. That's right. The book of Genesis. I want you to turn to a few scriptures.
Turn to the book of Job, I mean. Turn to the book of Job. Here's
the book of Job chapter Chapter 9, Job chapter 9. And Job and his friends asked
these questions. Job chapter 9, verse 1. Job answered
and said, I know it is so of a truth, but how should man be
just with God? How can a man be just with God? How can he be holy? All right,
Job 15. They ask it again. Listen to
this. Job 15, verse 14. Job 15, 14. What is man? That he should be clean. He that
is born of a woman, he should be righteous. Behold, the Lord
putteth no trust in his saints. The heavens are not clean in
his sight. How much more abominable and filthy is man who drinks
iniquity like water? How's he going to do it? Look
now at chapter 25, Job 25 verse 4. How then can man be justified
with God? How can he be clean that's born
of a woman? Behold, even to the moon it shineth
not. Yea, the stars are not pure in
God's sight. How much less man that's a worm
and the sort of man that is a worm. How can man be just with God? Well, let me tell you. Let me
tell you. Turn with me now to Romans chapter
3. Back to that biography of the
sinner. Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter
3, verse I read this while ago. Let's
read the rest of it. Romans 3, 24. Being justified
freely by His grace through redemption of the sin of Christ Jesus, whom
God has set forth. God has set forth Christ. God
has set Him forth to be a propitiation, cleansing, redemption, salvation,
through faith in His blood, to declare, I say, His righteousness
for the remission of the sins that have passed through the
forbearance of God, to declare, I say at this time, God's righteousness,
that He might be just and the justifier of them that believe
in Christ. God set him forth. God set him
forth first in the covenant before the foundation of the world,
God set him forth in that covenant, everlasting covenant. God set
him forth in the woman's seed. He said, I'll put enmity between
thee and the woman, between her seed and your seed. You'll bruise
his heel and he'll bruise your head. He set him forth in the
Old Testament pictures, the lamb slain, the brazen serpent lifted
up, The old places where the manslayer
could go. That's what I'm trying to... Yeah, they set him forth there.
And then he set him forth in the flesh, in human flesh. Then he set him forth on a cross.
And then he set him forth at his right hand to be a propitiation
for our sins and to be... give us eternal life. And God
set him forth in this gospel. God set him forth. Oh, God set
him forth that he might be just and the justifier of those that
believe on Christ. All right, number four. Saving
faith. Saving faith looks, trusts, believes,
and receives and rests only in Jesus Christ. Charles Spurgeon
was one of the greatest preachers, I believe, that ever lived. It's been a great blessing to
me, his messages. But he said, I've run across
a lot of definitions of faith. But he said the best definition
of faith is found in 2 Timothy chapter 1, Verse 17, he said,
this is the best definition of saving faith. Let's look at it. 2 Timothy, chapter 1, verse 12. 2 Timothy, chapter 1, verse 12. For which cause I suffer these
things? Nevertheless, I am not ashamed.
Number one, I know whom I have believed. That's knowledge. I know whom I have believed.
I know Him. Secondly, I know whom I have
believed. I am persuaded. I'm confident. I trust Him and Him only. I not only know Him, knowledge
of Him, but I trust Him. Old Job said, though He slay
me, I trust Him. I trust Him. And thirdly, a commitment. That which I've committed unto
Him against that day. Look to me. Look to me. Rest
in me. Look to Christ, not to your parents. We love our parents. We love
our parents. Thank God for them. But we don't
look to our parents for salvation. We look to Christ, not to my
preacher. We love our preachers. Thank God for them. I thank God
one day Brother Barnard came along and told me how God saves
sinners. I'd pastored a church for almost
three years, didn't know the gospel, didn't know God, and
he came along and told me who God is, and who I am, and what
God had done in Christ. I thank God, but I can't rest
in Him. Don't look to your faith. Not
faith in your faith. Look to Christ. Don't look to
your profession. Somebody said, well, I never
will forget back to so and so. Don't go back on anywhere. Look
to him now. Salvation is in person. Look to Christ. Don't look to
your profession. Don't look to your brethren.
A fellow said to me one time, said,
I'll never have confidence in another preacher. I said, well,
that's good for you. I'll never have confidence in
another person. We don't have confidence in Christ.
Don't look to your brethren, either the best one or the worst
one. Don't look to the flesh. Look
to Christ and not to your brethren. Look to Christ and not to your
experience. Not to your baptism. I've run
into something now. I've run into this just a few
years now. And it bothers me. I've got a good friend I've known
a long, long time. In fact, he was my first friend
in Ashton, Woody Thompson. He was my first best friend.
He had drove an old 34 Ford. And this was back in 1947 when
I was pastor of that Armenian congregation. But anyway, he learned the gospel. And that's
1947. And he died about three or four
years ago, so we knew each other 55 years. Good friends. Loved him. He came
to me one day and he said, I believe I need to be rebaptized. And I said, why? Well, he said,
you know, I've learned a whole lot these last few years. Maybe
I ought to be just re-baptized. I said, would it add anything
to you in any way? No. I said, baptism contribute to
your salvation? No. I said, you know what you're
going to do? You're going to have all these
friends of yours and young people and your own family. Well, if
Papa's not saved, I guess I'm not saved. Maybe we all ought
to get re-baptized. Bad, bad, bad news. I said, don't do that. Don't
do that. You don't need that. But you
know, I've read into that again and again and again. Another
friend of ours down here in North Carolina, I've known him 40 years,
50 years. Now they want to be re-baptized.
A pastor friend of mine called me. He said, my daddy, I'm not
going to tell you his name, but he said, my daddy wants to be
re-baptized. He's 92 years old. Don't do that,
you see. Don't look the experience. Don't
look to your feeling. Don't look to your brothers.
Look to Christ. I said that to Woody. I said,
you've been looking to Christ all these years. Now you'll look
to your baptism. Don't do it. It's just, look
unto me and be you saved. All the ends of the earth, I'm
God and there's nothing else. And there's none else. That's
it. I ran into this recently. I may
have given you this. I stole it from somebody. I forget who it was. Maybe I
can't remember, but here it is. Why Christ died. Why Christ died. Number one, He was made sin for
us in order that we might be made the righteousness of God
in Him. That. He died to declare God's righteousness,
that God might be just and a justify, that God may be righteous and
justify. Thirdly, God raised him from
the dead, that in the ages to come, he might show forth the
riches of his glory through Christ Jesus. He died that we might
be made righteous, that God may be just and justify, that we
might be eternally eternally holy in God's perfect
presence, not that we were baptized. These dangerous things, there's
nothing to it. There is something to it, too. Don't start anything that way
you get everybody doing it. You know what I'm talking about,
don't you? Baptism is a confession of faith. It's not a re-confession, re-confession. It's a confession. And when you
believe on Him and trust Him and rest in Him, you leave it
right there. That's just... Here's the fifth thing. Saving
faith produces a principle of love to Christ and to others,
which makes His yoke easy and His burden light. Saving faith
is a principle of love. It's called regeneration. It's
called salvation. It's called a new birth. This
is the work of God alone. It does not involve any work
on my part or your part. You have to quicken who were
dead. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth. If
any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. That's regeneration.
That's salvation. That's a new birth. It's the
work of God. It's not done again and again
and again. It's the work of God. But conversion,
now that's different. Regeneration is an implantation
of new life. Conversion is the exercise of
that new life. It's the principle of that new
life. Regeneration is a single act
of God, complete in itself, never repeated. But conversion is a
constant, continual growth in grace. And the knowledge of Jesus
is to grow up. When my daughter's expecting,
granddaughter's expecting a baby in about a month, his name is
going to be Benjamin, Patrick Simpson. Now that baby is born. And that baby will have, they've
already taken a picture of it. You can see his lips, tongue
sticking out, sucking his tongue. And when he's born, he's got
everything he'll ever have. He won't grow another leg or
another arm or another toenail. He's got everything. But he's
going to be a character, I bet you. He's going to have to grow
up. He's going to be whipped. He's going to be straightened
out. He's going to be helped out. He's going to grow, grow,
grow. He's born once. One time. He's redeemed one time. But he'll
grow in grace and knowledge of Christ. That's what it is. It's
growing in grace. God's saving faith is a principle
put within us. It's a new life, a new heart,
new nature. It's a new way. You know, I used
to have an old song. I wrote it down here. A change. Some of you are old enough to
remember this song. Salvation is a new birth. It's life from the dead. It's
salvation. It's not repeated. You grow up them. So there'll
be a change in the weather, a change in the sea, and from now on,
by God's grace, there's going to be a change in me. My walk's
going to be different. My talk and my name. Nothing
about me is going to be the same. I'm going to change my way of
living, and if that ain't enough, I'm going to change the way I
strut my stuff. That's what happens. change and
decay. And all around me I see, O thou
that changest not, abide with me. All right, I'm going to tell
you something else and I'm going to quit. Number six, saving faith. Saving faith is to make the grace
of God and the goodness of God to me, to be the model of my
conduct and my treatment of others. You know, the shame in faith
is the grace of God and the goodness of God in me and to me. And that's to be my model. My
treatment of others, my conduct in the presence of others. In
other words, be merciful to me. Be ye merciful as your Father
in heaven is merciful. You be merciful like he is. You
be merciful. Here's another scripture. Turn
to Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4. This is
what we... Here's our example. In Ephesians 4.32, Be ye kind
one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God
for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. You forgive like you've
been forgiven. Several years ago, my son, Paul,
was building a house, and he called me and asked me if I'd
come over and help him a little bit on this house. And I went
over, and I worked for two days, and I lifted, and I perspired,
and I did everything he told me to do, but I didn't receive
any wages. I didn't get any reward. I didn't
receive any certificate of merit. And I don't think anybody knew
I helped him. But I did it because I love him. And that's our reason
for what we do. Because we love God and love
His people. That's the reason. And I'll close
with this. Seventh, this saving faith will
continue. It will continue and it will
bring eternal glory to God. It says in Hebrews 11, these
all died in faith, not having received the promises, but they
were persuaded of them and they embraced them and they confessed
them And they grow stronger and stronger in faith. And I jotted this down. I want
you to hear this. These may be my last words in
public. This may be. I wrote it because
of this. This may be. The scripture says
heaven and earth shall pass away. But God's words shall not pass
away. So these may be my last words
in public. And I say this to you and to
me and to everybody who will hear them. The Lord cares not
what may become of this world or anything that's in it. He
doesn't care. One day we will see heaven pass
away and the earth with all its works burned up. But His Word
shall endure forever. What I'm preaching this was going
to endure forever. God can make more worlds like
this, but He cannot make another truth like this, another gospel
like this, or another Savior like this. Heaven and earth shall
pass away, and all the world with it, and its works burned
up. But this truth, this gospel,
and this Savior will be forever and forever. I hope that's a
blessing to you. Our Father in Heaven, we have
so very much for which to be thankful. And we do praise Thee
from the depths of our hearts, give thanks unto Thee for Your
goodness, and Your mercy to us. We thank You for this Word that
You've revealed to us. We thank You, Lord, for the preachers
that You've sent our way that preach to us the gospel of Your
grace. We thank You, Lord, for these
who are assembled here today and who have heard this gospel
and believed it and rested in Christ Jesus the Lord Trust in
Him. Give your thanks. We thank you,
Lord, for our children, our grandchildren, our loved ones, and our friends.
We thank you so much, Father, and ask Thy mercies and blessings
upon them. We thank you for this group meeting
here together today and pray your blessings on the meetings
and days to come and for those who will come and preach the
gospel to us. Lord, bless them. Bless them. We do praise Your Name and give
You thanks. Continue to make Your Word a
blessing to us and give us health and strength as it pleaseth Thee.
And we ask Your blessings and mercies upon our friends and
loved ones and Thy people everywhere. Lord,
bless us as it pleaseth Thee In the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ we give thanks. Amen.