A Believer's Attitude

Q: What does the Bible say about the Gospel of Grace?

The Bible proclaims that the Gospel of Grace is central to salvation, emphasizing faith in Christ alone without works. The Apostle Paul asserts in Galatians 6 and throughout his epistle to the Galatians that salvation is by grace alone through faith in Jesus Christ. He expresses amazement that the Galatians would turn to a gospel mixed with works, stating that any deviation from the pure gospel of God's grace is a perversion (Galatians 1:6-7). The law does not save or show mercy, but instead leads us to Christ, our true source of salvation. Justification and sanctification are entirely rooted in Christ's finished work, highlighting the sufficiency of grace.

Q: Why is the concept of grace important for Christians?

Grace is vital for Christians as it underscores salvation's conditionality on faith, freeing believers from the law's demands. The significance of grace in the life of a Christian cannot be overstated. Grace assures believers that salvation is not based on their ability to adhere to the law, but solely on Christ's righteousness. Paul warns us against returning to the bondage of the law, urging that true freedom is found in Christ who has set us free (Galatians 5:1). It is through grace that believers are empowered to perform good works, which are the fruits of the Spirit nurtured by faith and love, rather than as a means to earn salvation. Thus, grace is both the foundation and the sustenance of the Christian life.

Q: How do we know the doctrine of justification by faith alone is true?

Justification by faith alone is affirmed throughout Scripture, especially in Paul's letters, where he emphasizes belief in Christ as the sole means of being right with God. The doctrine of justification by faith alone is a pillar of Reformed theology, rooted deeply in Scripture. Paul makes it explicitly clear in Galatians 2:16 that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. This principle is consistently affirmed in other New Testament writings, asserting that faith, apart from works, provides the pathway to righteousness and acceptance before God. Furthermore, this doctrine safeguards against any notion that human effort can contribute to obtaining salvation, maintaining the purity and sufficiency of Christ’s redemptive work. It is this truth that the Reformation vigorously upheld, proclaiming that it is Christ alone who justifies the ungodly.

Q: What is the role of good works in a believer's life?

Good works are the evidence of genuine faith, showing the transformative power of the Gospel in a believer's life. While salvation is not contingent upon good works, the New Testament clearly teaches that true faith produces good works as its fruit. Paul emphasizes this in Galatians 5, where he speaks of the fruit of the Spirit manifesting as love, joy, and kindness. These works are not the basis for salvation but rather evidence of the Spirit's active presence within the believer. The believer's good works reflect their love for Christ and their response to His grace, demonstrating that they have been genuinely transformed by the Gospel. Ultimately, good works serve to glorify God and confirm a believer's faith to others.

Psalms, the book of Psalms has
a lot to say about singing praises to the Lord, and I just enjoy
it so much, and I'm thankful for these who sing for us, all
of them. Now let's open our Bibles this
evening to Galatians 6. While you're finding the Scripture,
We got a little bad news for Doris today. When you go to Australia,
you can't just go to that country. They have to fill out all kind
of papers and send it to the Consulate General in New York
and get permission to go to Australia. So I sent my papers up there
and I got a questionnaire that said, where you're going and
where you're going to stay and what you're going to be doing.
Well, I told them who, where I'd be visiting, whom I'd be
visiting, and I'd be preaching a little bit in the churches.
Well, they sent back a paper that said, you'll have to get
a temporary, some kind of temporary visa that
introduces you as a parochial or evangelistic worker. So I filled out all that and
sent it back and told them I'd be coming back on the 3rd of
October, 1990. Well, I got all the papers back
today, and they got mine just right. I can come back on the
3rd of October, but Doris has to stay till the 1st of August,
1992. So we're going to miss her around here. I showed her that, I said, honey,
I'm just going to buy you a one-way ticket. 1992. Galatians 6, most of you are
familiar with the subject matter of this book. I know that you
are. You know, the Apostle Paul had planted several churches
in Galatia. And Paul was now a prisoner in
Rome, and his ministry was nearing the end. He was coming to the
close of his ministry. And the word had gotten to him
that some false teachers had crept into these churches in
Galatia and had seduced many of the people in that area from
the gospel of God's free grace to a gospel mixed with works
and grace. They insisted, these false teachers
insisted upon the observance of the Levitical law, circumcision,
Sabbath day, all these various things. These false teachers
insisted that while we were saved by Christ It was necessary to
sanctification to keep the Levitical law and to fulfill all these
different duties. And you know, Paul wrote to him
and he said, I'm amazed. I'm amazed, he said, that you're
so soon removed from him that called you into the gospel of
the grace of God to another gospel. He's talking about himself. I
taught you the gospel of God's grace and now you're getting
into A gospel which is no gospel. He said, you've turned to another
gospel which is not a gospel at all. It's a perversion of
the gospel of God. And he said, I don't care if
it's an angel from heaven that preaches this other gospel. Let
him be accursed. Oh foolish Galatians, who bewitched
you? He said, you don't begin in the
spirit and are made perfect in the flesh. You begin in the Spirit
and continue in the Spirit of Christ. And this is what he was
writing to them about. And practically the entire book,
almost the entire book of Galatians, deals with this subject, even
down to chapter 4. You open your Bible there to
chapter 6, you can look across the page and see chapter 4, verse
21. See it? Verse 21, he said, Tell
me you that desire to be under the law. Don't you hear the law?
See, even in the 4th chapter, he's still hammering this thing.
The law doesn't save. There's no mercy in the law.
There's no salvation in the law. The law shuts us up to Christ.
The law is the schoolmaster that brings us to Christ. The law
was never given to save. And then he sums it up in chapter
5, the first 5 verses. I preached on this not long ago.
He comes to chapter 5. Are you with me? Verse 1. Now
stand fast, therefore, in the liberty, liberty, freedom from
bondage, freedom from the elements, freedom from the rudiments, freedom
from the laws, freedom from the Levitical captivity and bondage.
Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath
made us free, and do not be entangled again with this yoke of bondage. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you,
that if you be circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing, even
if you do it as a precaution, even if you do it as an added
measure. In other words, if you believe
on Christ, then you feel like this is necessary to the work
of Christ, he profits you nothing because you're putting a question
mark on what Joe was talking about tonight, the effectual,
sufficient work of Christ. It's all Christ or nothing. And
when you do this, you say, well, just in case I'm going to be
baptized, just in case I'm going to keep the Sabbath there, just,
I'm no preacher, the New Testament doesn't teach tithing, but I'm
going to do it any kind of just in case. Watch out now. Watch
out. You're saying Christ is not enough.
And don't even put a question mark on the work of Christ. But
I testify again to every man that does these things, he's
a debtor to do the whole law. If you're going to start here,
you better go all the way. Christ is of no effect to you,
whosoever of you are justified by the law. You've fallen from
grace. But we, through the Spirit, wait for the hope of righteousness,
holiness, acceptance. How? By faith alone. Now watch this. Here in chapter
5, lest any man should be deceived into thinking that the believer
has no works, he's on just as dangerous ground
as the man who's trusting his The man who is trusting his works
and looking to works for salvation is under no more condemnation
or danger than the man who thinks that faith apart from works will
save. That's right. So powerless, anybody
should think that the believer has no works, or works of righteousness
are not important. Oh, yes, they are important.
They certainly are. Well, the Apostle writes, verse
6, of chapter 5. Now, he just strongly stated
this position. It's Christ, all Christ, the
complete Christ, the sufficiency of Christ, so forth. And then
in verse 6, he said, for in Jesus Christ neither circumcision abateth
anything, no uncircumcision. A man says, well, I keep the
Sabbath. That won't abate anything. That man says, well, I don't
believe in keeping Sunday. It won't help him either. The
man says, I diligently, systematically tithe. He's got himself under
law. This man over here says, well,
I don't give anything. He's an outlaw. Neither one of
them. You see, they're both in bad
shape. This man says, well, I believe our works make a contribution
to our sanctification. The man over here says, I don't
work because I'm sanctified in Christ. No, you're not either.
Because he says this, faith worketh by love. Not by law, but by love. Faith worketh by, not by law,
faith worketh by love. Faith worketh, it works, true
faith works, works of faith and labors of love. And then he comes
on down to verse 22 of chapter 5 and says the fruit of the Spirit,
not the fruit of the law, not the fruit of religion, not the
fruit of standards in church creed, the fruit of the Spirit
who dwells in us. The produce, what is the fruit? It's the results. It's the produce. It's that which comes forth from.
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no love. The fruit of the believer is
not the fruit of love, it's not the fruit of duty, it's the fruit
of the indwelling Spirit who lives in him. And I say this,
I contend that the most loving, the most generous, the most gracious,
the most forgiving, kindest, obedient people in the world
are those who believe in the gospel of God's grace. I believe
that. I believe the most generous,
gracious, kindest people in the world are those who believe that
they're saved by Christ alone, plus nothing, minus nothing,
without the duties, deeds, and works of religion, motivated
solely by their love for Christ. I believe they're the finest
people in the world. The most generous, kindest, gracious,
obedient, exemplary people. Now chapter 6 picks up this very
thing. Chapter 6, he closes this exhortation
on the free grace of God, defending the free grace of God, redeemed
by Christ alone, saved by Christ alone, apart from works, apart
from any duties or deeds on our part. He gives us five things
in this chapter. I divide this chapter into five
parts. Number one, Paul's going to talk
about our attitude toward one another, particularly towards
the weaker brethren. Our attitude towards one another,
particularly the weak. Secondly, he's going to talk
about our attitude toward ourselves. And then thirdly, he's going
to talk about our attitude toward those who labor in the gospel.
And then fourthly, he's going to talk about our attitude toward
God's providence and the results of our duties and deeds and works,
the results of them. And then last of all, he talks
about our attitude toward the gospel, toward the cross. These are people who who know
grace, who love grace, who rest in the grace of God. All right,
verse 1, here's the first part, verse 2 verses. Brethren, if
a man be overtaken in a fall, now this is not a habitual, continual
life. Here's a man who's a drunkard
or a whoremonger or a liar or a thief, that's his trend of
life, that's his way he walks, that's his That's not who he
is. He says, if a man be overtaken
in a fall, if a person be overtaken in a fall, you which are spiritual,
restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself,
lest thou also be tempted. Now, we're redeemed. We're redeemed by the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. We're children of God. We desire
to walk in truth and righteousness and obedience. We desire that
our conversation and our behavior and our conduct be glorifying
to our God and pleasing to our God and according to the scripture,
don't we? Wouldn't you like to be without
sin? Totally, completely without sin. Never think or speak sinful
things or do sinful things. Never, never, never. Well, that's
not the case. All believers are still flesh,
and we reside in bodies of the flesh. We reside in this natural,
physical body, and the motions of sin and the potential to sin
is in every one of us. The motions of sin, the desires
of the flesh, and the potential to fall. Therefore, if a brother
or if a sister falls into sin, It doesn't matter whether it's
a sin of spirit, a sin of attitude, or a sin of the flesh. What's
to be done? What are we to do? If a person
in this congregation falls into some sin, whether a bad spirit,
a bad attitude, or a bad deed, or flesh, what are we to do?
Exclude them? Are we to avoid them? Are we
to wound them? The Word here is restored. If
this person is overtaken in a fall, don't exclude them, don't wound
them, don't avoid them, but restore them. Restore them. Recover them. Resettle them in
the fellowship. Go out of your way to make them
feel welcome, forgiven, and accepted. That's what we're to do, especially
you which are spiritual. You which have been around a
while, you which know the gospel and love Christ, you go out of
your way to put your arm around that person and let them know
you understand. And there's a two-fold basis
for this. Brethren, verse 1, that's where
you get, if a man, woman, boy or girl, young person, is overtaken
in a fault, you which are leaders, spiritual, restore them, recover
them, resettle them in the fellowship. in the spirit of meekness, in
the spirit of humility, not with a holier-than-thou. Now, I'm
going to show you how big I'm going to be about this, and we're
going to forgive you. We're going to show you the grace
we have now in the spirit of humility. based on Christ's love
for you. Here's what he said, be ye kind,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God forgives you.
I'm going to forgive you because He forgives me. That's the basis. I'm going to forgive you and
love you and recover you and restore you because He does that
for me every day. And not only that, but here's
the second foundation, considering myself. lest I also be tempted." He didn't
say, lest you fall, lest you be tried and tempted, because
I guarantee you this, if the Lord ever turns you over to the
evil one, you will fall. It's only his grace that keeps
us from falling. Now, you know, he said to Peter,
he said, Satan hath desired thee that he may sift thee as wheat.
Peter didn't have a chance. when Satan personally dealt with
it. Not a chance. Deliver us from the evil one.
Alright, notice this next verse, verse 2. And bear ye one another's
burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. That word, write this
in your margin. That word burden. Bear you one
another's burdens. That word burden is Weight, W-E-E-I-G-H-T. I remember when I think of that
word, I think of that little boy, not much bigger than the
one he was carrying. He was carrying this little fellow.
This little fellow was weak, and tired, and weary. And he
picked him up and carried him, and a man came up to him and
said, That boy's heavy, isn't he, son? Isn't that boy heavy?
He said, No, son. He's not heavy. He's my brother. And that makes all the difference
in the world. The weight. The word weight, it carries with
it this, infirmities. This little fella, the older
fella could walk, this one had a hard time walking. The older
fella was stronger, this one was weaker. The older boy was
able, the other one was frail. And so he was bearing his weight. You understand what I'm saying?
That's what that word means. Look it up yourself. That's what
that concordance, you got strong. Look in the back, it's, I forget
the number in the Greek lexicon, but it's bear one another's weight. True love beareth all things,
hopeth all things, believeth all things, endureth all things.
How many times shall I bear this weight? Seventy times seven.
How many times shall I have to carry him? 70 times 7. And keep on carrying. How many
times has the Lord carried us? 7777 times 7. Carry his weight. That's right, that's what that
says. And so fulfilled the law of Christ. Here, now we are under
law. What's the law of Christ? This
is my law, my commandment, that you love one another, even as
I've loved you. That's the law of Christ. That's
one picture called the royal law. You want to obey the law? Love one another. You fulfill
the law. Because the whole law is fulfilled
in two words. Love for God and love for one
another. That's the whole law. That's the law I'm under, Charlie.
The law of His love. My rule of life. All right, now
our attitude toward ourselves, verse 3. For if a man think himself
to be something when he's nothing, he deceives himself. Now in Christ
I'm something. In Christ I have all things.
I have the righteousness of God, the wisdom of God, accepted of
God. In Christ I am something, but
in myself I'm nothing. And if a man thinks himself to
be something, when we're in reality, outside of Christ, he's nothing,
he's deceived. Who maketh thee to differ what
hast thou that thou didst not receive? Let me read you a couple
of scriptures, don't turn to these, I can turn to them more
quickly, but listen to 1 Corinthians 8 too. If any man think he knoweth
anything, he knows nothing, as he ought to know. First Corinthians
9 and 16, listen to Paul here. Though I preach the gospel, I
have nothing to glory of. Necessity is laid upon me, woe
is unto me if I don't preach the gospel. I don't have anything
to glory of. Over here in 2 Corinthians 6, listen to this, verse 9 and
10. as unknown and yet well known,
as dying, behold I live, chastened and not killed, sorrowful yet
rejoicing, poor yet making many rich, having nothing yet possessing
all things." That's us. Empty, poor. Rich, poor. Now consider verse 3 in the light
of what we've been talking about. What have we been talking about?
Paul has been talking about the week of Right? Here's a man that's
weak and frail, or a woman, and they've fallen into sin, or into
a bad spirit, or whatever, they're all taken with a fall. Now, you
who are spiritual, if you think yourself to be something, you
really think yourself to be something, why would you think that? You
never got that impression from the word of God. You never got
that impression from his presence. You never got that knowledge
from comparing yourself with him. Where did you get the idea
you were something? By looking at his fall. That's
when it happened. He fell and you said or thought,
I wouldn't have done that. He said a certain thing and we
said, I wouldn't have said that. We think we're something in the
light of his weakness. That's where it came from, that's
why he mentioned that. But verse 4, listen to this.
But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have
rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. Don't compare
yourself with the weaker, brethren. Don't compare yourself with the
weak and say with the Pharisee, I'm not like that publican. Why
did this Pharisee get the idea that he was not an adulterer,
not an extortioner, not this, that, and the other? He was looking
at that publican. That's where he got it. But if
you let a man prove his work in the light of God's holiness,
and if he sees some growth in grace, if he sees God using him,
if he sees God blessing him, then he can rejoice, not comparing
himself with the weaker, but rejoice in the blessings of God.
Thank God for his preserving grace. Thank God for his providence. Thank God for his mercy. Thank
God for an opportunity. to walk with him. Look at verse
5. For every man shall bear his own burden. Now, right in your
margin, the word task, T-A-S-K, or service, S-E-R-B-I-C-E, that's
what that word means. You just have to look these words
up. I knew they were different. Here we come along, here's a
brother overtaken in a fall. He's just plumbed He just plumb
blew it. He just plumb did what he shouldn't
have done, said what he shouldn't have said, went where he shouldn't
have gone. And he's down. Now what are we going to do?
We're going to lift him. We're going to restore him. We're going to love
him again and again. We're going to pray for him.
We're going to resettle him in the fellowship. Because we're
going to bear his infirmity and bear his weight and bear his
load and bear his frailty. And we're going to do it in the
spirit of meekness. We're going to do it with a love for Christ
and considering ourselves. We're nothing. If you're not
careful, you look at him and start thinking you're something. I tell you, pride is an awful
thing. Even in the restoration of the, we say, we say, what
did you all do about that belly fat? Well, we forgave. Watch
out now. You see, that very, that very
pharisaical, we did this, you know. We were big about it. Well,
what's that now? But now, if God gives you the
real grace to love Him, without pretense, without pride, God,
if you detect in your heart, yeah, I really do have a love
for that brother, and I really do do this for the glory of Christ,
I really do do what I do, that's God in you, that's not yourself,
you didn't do that, God did that for you. And you can rejoice
bearing your own, doing your own task, doing your own service.
You can rejoice that God gave you the privilege of doing that. Rejoice in it. Rejoice in it. Every man performs his own task
in the kingdom of God and fulfills his own responsibility and service. Task. Every man bears his own
service or task. Alright, now here's our attitude
towards those that labor in the gospel, verse 6. 6 through 8. Let him that is taught in the
word of God communicate unto him that teacheth in all good
things. Be not deceived, God's not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth,
that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh
shall of the flesh reap corruption. But he that soweth to the Spirit
shall in the Spirit reap life everlasting. You know, I've heard
this verse of Scripture, be not deceived, God is not mocked,
whatsoever man shall he reap. I've heard that quoted hundreds
of times in messages. And rarely ever, rarely, rarely,
rarely ever, I'm not talking about grace preachers now, but
these preachers everywhere, rarely ever have I heard it applied
to what it's saying. Rarely ever. I'll tell you what
this is talking about. Now I realize there are many
phonies in the ministry. Most of them are phonies. There
are a lot of con men in the ministry. There are a lot of parasites
who use people, who abuse people, who misuse people for personal
gain. They're just wretched, wretched
parasites. They don't belong in the ministry.
They just, they feed off the sheep instead of feeding the
sheep. They're just wicked men, that's
all. And I try to protect this church
from those kind of people. Some of you may not understand
a lot of times when sometimes it takes a little time to discover
that type of person. And sometimes you may not understand
when I don't just present a person here and Missionaries and all
these different things, you know, come through and urge you. I'm
trying to protect you from crooks. And I can discover them a lot
more quickly than you can. Because I'm in the ministry.
And I know these men. I know how they operate. I know
how they talk. I know their methods and means.
I've been in this thing 40 years. Some of you have been in your
particular business a long time, and you can detect A man that
doesn't know what he's doing, or he's doing it wrong from a
long ways off. And I can, and I try to protect
you from these people. You see, God has given us Bill
Clark, Ken Wymer, Walter Gruber, Milton Howard, Danny Parks. These men that we help in the
ministry, these are genuine. genuine men who love Christ. I know them. I live with them,
walk with them, preach with them. They are men who labor in the
gospel. They are men who are not extravagant.
They are men who won't misuse you and abuse you and use your
gifts wrongly. They don't seek their own. They
seek the things of Christ. The things we give these men,
every one of them lives simply and humbly and devote not only
themselves, but everything they have right back into the ministry.
They preach the Word, teach the Word. Now this is what verse
6 is saying. So you that are taught in the
Word, verse 6 says, you that are taught in the Word, support
these men, help these men, encourage these men, communicate unto them.
Give to them that teacheth in all good things. He teaches good
things, you help him with good things. And you do. This church is the best. Let
me give you an illustration. Did you notice that last Sunday
when Brother Gruber was here, and we received our morning and
evening offering, did you notice I never announced from this pulpit
that we were taking a special offering from Brother Gruber?
Didn't announce it Sunday morning, didn't announce it Sunday night.
Did I? Where'd you learn it? It's in the bulletin. I had a
little note in the bulletin, one line in the bulletin. If
you have something for Brother Groover's ministry, put it in
a pink envelope and drop it in the plate. There was no pressure. I didn't stand up here and tell
how the people were hungry down there and we had food and the
starving Chinese and all this stuff, you know, and pass out
cards. pull on you, I announced it in the bulletin. Besides our
regular offering, do you know what you gave Brother Grover
last Sunday in that special offering? $2,000. Now that's what I'm talking about,
that's generosity. Without any pressure, without
any push. Why'd you do that? You loved
him. You believed in his ministry?
You believed in your pastor who brought him here? That's confidence. And God blesses that. Verse 8, He that soweth to the
flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. In other words, if
my whole life is devoted to myself and my luxuries and my vanities
and my living in this fleshly thing, Then what's going to happen? It's all going to rot. I shall
of the flesh reap corruption. In other words, if I give my
money and my time and my efforts only to the things of the flesh,
as I get old and wrinkle and grow and the house falls down
and rots and the car wears out and all these things that I put
everything into, it's all done. That's corruption. But if I sell
to the Spirit in helping others and sharing and preaching the
gospel, and our church is preaching the gospel all over this world.
I don't know of a church this size anywhere in the world with
the influence this church has. We got open doors in Africa,
in Mexico, in the Virgin Islands. In Australia, our tapes are in
India, our tapes are all over the world, our books are all
over the world in four languages. Our Sunday school books being
used in preacher school with hundreds of people studying them,
hundreds of people. Television, tape ministry, that's
sowing to the Spirit. You see what I'm saying? That's
our attitude toward those who labor in the gospel. And I'll
stand before you and between you and con me artists and parasites,
but sometimes it takes time to discover them. Sometimes it does. But when you do, with all those
faithful men who minister the word, let's keep helping them.
Let's keep helping them. Let this be a... and we're carrying
the major support of several missionaries, and your generosity
blesses my soul and my heart. I'm so thankful, thankful for
you. Now look at verse 9. Here's our
attitude towards the results and the providence of God. But
don't be weary in well-doing. In due season, when's due season? In God's season. Don't get tired. Don't be weary. You'll reap if
you don't quit. Now, some of you have been giving
and helping a long time. You've given generously. You've
given even to sacrificing. You've done this for years. Don't
quit. What is weariness? Let's just look carefully at
verse 9. And let us not be weary. He wouldn't warn us if there
wasn't a danger. That's right. He wouldn't warn
us if there wasn't a danger. What is it to be weary? Discouraged.
Discouraged. What else? To get indifferent.
What else? It's to quit. It's to quit. Don't do that now. Don't get discouraged. Don't
get indifferent. Don't quit in well-doing because
if you don't quit and don't fail and don't get discouraged because
of failure, lack of results, it pulls you. God will bless
you. soon in his due season. Go with it. Keep on helping.
Your hand gets better time or two, keep reaching it out. Don't
put it in your pocket. Keep putting it out. What are
the things that would cause a person to be discouraged? I thought
a minute. I thought about this. You've
been giving and giving and giving and helping and giving people
work and all these What would discourage you? What would discourage
you? Why would you be weary and well-doing?
Why would you be discouraged? Why would you even think of quitting
helping folks, reaching out? One is ingratitude. Ingratitude. Folks just, I don't care what
you do, human nature to be ungrateful. People just aren't grateful.
No matter how hard you work, what have you done for me lately?
In gratitude. That makes you discouraged. Secondly,
disappointment in people. Just flat disappointed. What you expected was not what
you sought. You just went all out to encourage and to help,
and you were disappointed. I tell you, you're disappointed
a lot more than you are encouraged. Because we're dealing with human
nature. Thirdly, criticism. There's nobody in this world
that's an authority on a particular thing like a fella that don't
know nothing about it. You know who can write a book
on how to raise boys? Man ain't never had one. That's
right. And folks critical. And you just,
they don't know what you're doing. Because you don't tell them what
you're doing. You don't reveal to them what
you're doing, what you're giving, what you're helping with, what
you yourself are doing without the help. You don't tell them
that, for they don't know, and they're critical. And sometimes
you say, well, what the heck? I'll just quit. No, don't do
that. Don't do that. I'll tell you something else.
Lack of cooperation. Just plain lack of cooperation. You just have to do it yourself.
Lack of help from others. And here's another thing. It's like preaching. This is
one thing in preaching. So little results. Like a preacher called me one
time. One of the fellows in our school, in his church, something
had happened and he called me and he told me what he'd done
and the results of it. And I said, well, why didn't
you call me before you did it? Call me and ask me what to do
now that he's done it. Call me before you did it. So little result. So little immediate
result. But he says this, don't quit.
Don't be discouraged. Don't get weary in well-doing.
Verse 9, you're going to reap. You're going to reap. You're
going to reap. Oh, what a harvest. Cast your
bread on the water. You're going to reap in his good
time. But now if we don't, we're not going to reap. We'll
be saved so as by fire, wood, hay, and stuff, instead of gold,
silver, and precious stuff. And verse 10, look at this. So
as you have therefore opportunity, as you have opportunity, as you
have the means, There's certain things that I can't do, certain
things you can't do, certain things I can do you can't, or
you can do and I can't, as you have opportunity. Do it. Do good to whom? All of them. All of them. Especially the brethren. Especially the believers. Especially. As you have opportunity. The
opportunity itself will roll around, it will roll around in
God's due time, and there's going to be ingratitude, and there's
going to be discouragement, there's going to be disappointment in
people, there's going to be criticism, there's going to be lack of cooperation,
and you're not going to see results immediately, because the results
are up to Him. Right? In due time. How many of us are willing to
wait on due time? I tell you this about the wicked,
he said their feet will slide in due time. Well, our feet will be planted
in due time. All right, closing, our attitude
toward the cross. Here's the last thing I'm going
to talk about. You see how large a letter, verse 11, I've written
to you with my own hand? As many as desire to make a fair
show in the flesh. Boy, there's a lot of those.
They constrain you to be circumcised, they constrain you to be baptized,
they constrain you to raise your hand, they constrain you to come
to the front, they constrain you to dilly-daddle or whatever,
only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of
Christ. For neither they themselves who are circumcised, they don't
keep the law. These fellows don't keep the
law. They desire to have you circumcised
that they may glory in your flesh. They don't even do what they
tell you to do. But God forbid that I should
glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the
world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. I tell you, I glory in the gospel,
don't you? I glory in the gospel. God forbid
that we should glory in anything else. We don't have anything
else to glory in, do we? It's still true. It doesn't matter
who doesn't believe it. It doesn't matter who leaves
it. It doesn't matter who despises it. It doesn't matter who quits
preaching it because of the offense. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross. And when we say the cross, we're
not talking about that post. We're talking about the whole
work of redemption. by the blood of the Son of God.
The whole work of Christ's redemption in saving his people from eternal
covenant to eternal glory. That's all included and headed
up in the cross. And that's what we glory in.
Not in the law, not in our deeds and duties, not in our growth
in grace, we glory in Christ. All right, I hope that's a blessing.
Let's sing when I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince
of Glory died, my richest gain I count but loss and poor contempt,
contempt on all my pride. What number?

A Believer's Attitude

What does the Bible say about the Gospel of Grace?

Why is the concept of grace important for Christians?

How do we know the doctrine of justification by faith alone is true?

What is the role of good works in a believer's life?

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A Believer's Attitude

What does the Bible say about the Gospel of Grace?

Why is the concept of grace important for Christians?

How do we know the doctrine of justification by faith alone is true?

What is the role of good works in a believer's life?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

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