I'm turning in the Bible to Romans
5 and reading verse 1 of Romans 5. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God. We have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. We're talking about some big
things here this morning, justified. That means without sin. That means saved eternally, justified,
innocent, just as if I'd never seen. And we're talking about
peace with God. Peace with God. I've heard people
say, I made my peace with God. Did you now? How did you do that? I made my peace with God. Then
I've heard other people say this, I'm ready to meet God. I'm not. I don't want to meet God. I don't want to stand before
God. Now, I don't mind if Christ is there meeting God for me,
if he's my refuge and my hiding place and my covert in time of
storm, and if he does the interceding and the talking, that's fine.
But I don't want to meet God, not in myself. So we're talking
about some big things. We're talking about eternal matters,
justification and peace with God. Now let me ask you this.
This is where I'm headed. When can I reasonably, with some
measure of confidence and assurance, speak peace to my heart? When
can I, in this course of life, When can I come to any kind of
place or position or time when I can say, I have peace with
God? Now remember this. Please remember
this. This came to me and I think it's
very important. I'm not an infant called from
my mother's womb to the skies. I'm already 57 years old. I'm
not an infant. So I can't go back here to some
kind of infant state and talk about, well, God's going to save
infants and God's going to take infants to glory. That has nothing
to do with me. I'm for it if God does it. The
judge of the earth will do right. But that's not, I can't make
any application to myself in regard to infancy. I'm already
a full-grown man. pretty far along the way of life,
about three-fourths done, or maybe five-sixths, or maybe nine-tenths,
who knows? Secondly, I'm not an Old Testament
believer. I'm not an Old Testament believer
walking in the dim light of shadows and promises. I'm not even as
Abraham and Moses and David and those fellows, because they They
were in the time of shadows and types and pictures and things
of this nature. And I'll tell you something else,
I'm not a dying thief. And this is, I think this is
where a lot of today's decisionism is born. The dying thief, now
listen to me, the dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain
in his day, and there may I, though vile as he, wash all my
sins away. But the dying thief died just
a few hours after he professed Christ. After he looked to Christ
and believed on Christ, he died. But I didn't. I made a profession
of faith some time ago. But I live on and on. I live
on. I've lived 30, 40 years since
then. And I've got to continue in that
faith. I've got to persevere in that faith. And the Scripture
plainly says, If, having made a profession, I don't continue
in the faith, I'll perish. If I depart from Christ, I'll
perish. So there's got to be, you see, what I am, and I've
got to regard this thing where I am, and so have you. If we've
got some infants in the service this morning, and God's pleased
to take their lives and take them on to glory, I say, well,
they're saved. If we've got some folks in the
congregation this morning who recently received Christ and
believe Christ, I say, well, if they continue in the faith,
they'll be saved. If they don't, they won't. And as the Word of
God comes to them and is revealed to them, they'll believe that
Word. You see, we have been saved, we're being saved, and we shall
be saved. What I am, I'm a living, responsible man living in a day
of revelation and truth. I have the word of God in my
hand, I have the gospel revealed in its full glory, I have the
responsibility to believe God, to trust God, and to persevere
in grace. And if I do not continue in the
faith, it's evident I have the wrong faith. Now, that's exactly
what I'm saying. Now, let's look at Romans 4.
Let's go back to Romans 4. I hope I can help you a little
bit here on this thing of peace with God. I just am fearful and
I tremble about trying to find any confidence in what happened
a long time ago, in a profession, in a decision, in experience.
You see, this thing of salvation is not a decision, it's not an
experience, it's a living union with a living Lord. It's a living
union. And we've got to, we've got to,
we've got to look for that and reach for that and hope for that.
In Romans 4 verse 16, therefore this thing of salvation is a
faith. This is where I quit reading
a while ago. It is a faith. What's a faith? Salvation's a
faith. Redemption's a faith. Righteousness is by faith. Why?
To the end that the promise might be sure to all to see. It might
be by grace, and it might be sure. The only way that salvation
can be sure and certain for us is for it to be on the basis
of grace alone. Grace alone. Grace alone, for
Jew or Gentile. All right, look at verse 17.
As it is written, I have made thee a father. Now, this speaks
of Abraham. I have made thee a father of
many nations. before him whom he believed,
even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things
which be not, as though they were." What are we talking about
here? When Abraham stood here before God. Turn to Genesis 17. Let me read you that passage.
Genesis 17. When Abraham stood here before
God in Genesis 17. Genesis 17, verse 1 through 5. Abraham was not a father, that
is by Sarah. Abraham was 99 years old, 99
years old. Sarah was 90 years old. Here
this man, this old man, here stands a childless old couple.
One of them is 99 years old, he is and she is 90 years old,
probably gray, wrinkled, stooped, tired, worn, weary, past the
age of bearing children. And verse 1 of Genesis 17, when
Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to him
and said, I am the Almighty God, walk before me and be thou perfect,
that's upright or sincere. And I'll make my covenant between
me and thee, and multiply thee exceedingly. And Abraham fell
on his face, and God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold
my covenants with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. thou shalt be a father of many,
neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name
shall be called Abraham, for a father of many nations I will
make thee." Abraham believed this. That's
what Scripture says, Abraham believed it. Look now back at
Romans 4. It says in verse 18, who against
hope." Now, what Paul is saying in verse 17, God calls those
things as not, those things which be not as though they were. God
is able to quicken the dead. God was able to give life to
the dead womb of Sarah, and Abraham believed that. He believed God.
Verse 18, "...who against hope believed in hope." What are we
talking about? Hope for a son against all natural principles.
There was no way by nature that Sarah could have a child. There
was no natural possibilities of her ever giving birth to a
child. But his hope was not in her, it was in God. Abraham,
against hope, believed in hope. Verse 18, that he might become
the father of many nations according to that which be spoken, so shall
thy seed be. Verse 19, and being not weak
in faith, He considered not his own body now dead, when he was
about a hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb. He staggered not at the promise
of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory
to God, and being fully persuaded that what God had promised he
was able to perform." Here stands a childless old couple. He's
99, she's 90. And God says to them, He says,
I'm going to make you a father of many nations. Your people
are going to be the sands of the seashore and the stars of
the sky. And that old man believed God. He believed God. There was no
possibility of her, no natural possibility of her having a child,
but he believed, he just believed God. Now let me show you. This was the pattern of Abraham's
life from then on. When the Heavenly Father told
him to leave his father's house, he believed God and he left.
But that wasn't the end of it. Almighty God tried and tested
Abraham's faith through more severe measures and more impossible
promises. God came to Abraham and said,
leave your father's house and go to the land I'll show thee.
Abraham believed God. That's sort of like when we're
growing up in religion and we hear the Bible is the Word of
God and Jesus is the Son of God and died on the cross and bared
and rose again and we accept it, we believe it. But then as
the days go along, God reveals more important and deeper things
from his Word, the cause of Christ's death. the reason why Christ
died, and these things. And if that faith is genuine,
that stepped out the first time, it'll continue to receive these
things. I'm not saying anything more important than the death
of Christ, but he gives us the cause of the death of Christ.
I've often said this, a man doesn't have to believe in God's sovereignty
to be saved. But if a man's saved, when he
hears God's sovereignty, he'll believe it. You see, a man doesn't
have to believe God chose a people to be saved, but a man who refuses
to believe that when he hears it is not saved. You see, Abraham,
here he was in idolatry, worshiping idols. And God said, leave your
father's house and go to land, I'll show thee. And Abraham believed
God and he left. And then God stood out here one
day when he was 99 years old and he said, you're going to
have a son. And you're going to be the father of many nations.
This man who's whose confidence was in God, who believed God.
Believe that too. Now, that's far more difficult
to believe than leaving your father's house and go to land
I'll show thee. You see, we're talking now, and
this is evidence that Abraham believed God. This is evidence
that God had begun a good work and would continue that. Now,
watch this. Here's something more difficult. And that's when he came to him
and said, Take thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, upon
a mountain, and kill him, and offer him as a sin offering to
me. Now, you know, how do you determine if a man believes that?
That's how you determine it. When he comes to, Abraham wasn't
just, Lord, I left my father's house. Now, that's sufficient.
I left my father's house. I made a decision. I stepped
out for Jesus, I walked out for Jesus, and that's sufficient
back there. That declares that I believe
you and I'm saved. Abraham, take your son, your
only son, whom you love, to the mountain and offer him a sacrifice. And I'll tell you this, faith
still believes God and acts. And if it doesn't act, that decision
to leave home wasn't worth a hill of beans. That's what I'm saying. You understand what I'm saying?
Oh, there were other times in between. There was a time when
God tested Abraham with riches. Lot and the people down here
in Sodom were captured, do you remember, by the wicked kings
and taken off? And Abraham got about 400 men
together and went after them and set them free and brought
them back. And the kings of Sodom said, Take all the goods, the
gold, the silver, the precious stones, everything, you just
take it, it's yours, and we'll take the people." Abraham said,
No, sir, I've lifted my hand to God, and God will supply all
my need. I'm a child of God, I'm a son
of God, I've lifted my hand to God, God has a special purpose
for me, God will meet my need, I don't want one thing from you.
That was a trial of this faith. There was another trial when
Lot, you know, their herdsmen were conflicting, and Abraham
said, Well, let's not quarrel among us. We're brethren, and
the land is big enough for all of us, and we're going to have
to divide. Now, Lot, you take what you want. You make a choice,
God's going to bless me, he has the way prepared for me, I'm
going to take what God says. So you take, Abraham took the
well-watered plains and Abraham went to the mountain. Lot took
the plain, Abraham went to the mountain. So this thing, what
I'm saying in the case of faith, this thing of faith, it's not
I made a decision for Jesus and then from then on, I kind of
decide my own theology and my own direction. If I go this way
or that way or the other way, it doesn't matter, I've made
my decision, I've had my experience. A lady came up to me the other
night in North Carolina and she said, well, I was a Christian
before I ever heard the gospel of grace. Now you weigh that
a little while. I was a Christian before I heard
the gospel? There ain't but one gospel. And
that's the gospel of God and the gospel of grace, and how
can a person be saved without hearing the gospel? How shall
they call on him whom they've not heard? So what I'm pointing
out to you is this. I don't know when a person is
saved. I can't put my finger on the
day and the hour. I do know this. I know that God
chose a people from the foundation of the world. I do know that. And I do know that Jesus Christ
was appointed as their surety, as the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. Jesus Christ is our surety. He's
our Redeemer. He's our Lord. He's our Savior.
I do know that he came into this world in human flesh. He was
our federal head, our representative. I know that he walked this earth
and he fulfilled the law. He obeyed the law. He imputed
to us a perfect righteousness. He went to the cross and died
for us. He redeemed us by his death. I do know that the Lord
Jesus Christ was buried and rose from the tomb and ascended to
the right hand of God where he sat down as our advocate and
intercessor. And I do know that in time God
is pleased to call his people to come to know that Christ,
not a Christ, some Christ, any Christ, but that Christ. to rest
in him, to trust in him, to believe on him, to find in him our refuge,
our prophet, priest, and king. And in order to be saved, a person's
got to hear that gospel of that Christ and come to rest in that
Christ. Now, I know a lot of us in our
early days, we wrestled along through through Arminianism and
freewillism and flesh and all of these different things, we
didn't know the sovereign God, the living God, the almighty
God, the effectual, sufficient Christ, and it may be that God
Almighty used those things. Maybe He gave us some interest
in the Word or interest in the things of God, interest in spiritual
matters. Perhaps we had some kind of interest
in it, but let me tell you something. Before a man can speak peace
to his heart, there are four or five things that are going
to take place. Listen to this. First of all,
before a man can speak peace to his heart, he is going to
be dealt with in his heart on this matter of S-I-N-S, sins. I guarantee you that. I was in
a meeting one time in Texas and a bunch of children, while I
was leading the singing, another preacher was preaching, and a
whole bunch of children made professions of faith. They were
just little fellows. And I looked at the evangelist
and I said, This thing troubles me so much, bringing these children
down the aisle, getting professions out of them, it troubles me.
I said, I don't see any sign of repentance. I don't see any
sign of remorse. I don't see any sign of grieving
over sin. He said, isn't it wonderful they're
saved before they have anything to repent of? Well, my friends,
that's impossible. A man's got to be convinced of,
in some measure, and dealt with in his heart on this matter of
sins. Christ came to save us from our sins. He came to deal
with our sins. David said, My sins are ever
before me, my sins. If any man says he has no sin,
he's a liar in the truth, not him. Now, watch this. Here's
the second matter that God deals with. That's S-I-N. The second
matter is this matter of S-I-N, sin. We not only have a conflict
with S-I-N-S, that's what we do, what we do, our behavior,
our sins. We think, we speak, we act, we
walk, we do all these things, the sins, sins of the mind, of
the tongue, of the heart, of the hands, of the feet. But there's
this matter of S-I-N, S-I-N, and that has to do with what
we are. Why we do what we do? Now, you can call it original
sin, you can call it the fall of man, whatever you want to,
but when Adam sinned in the garden, we died spiritually and we became
in our minds enemies of God, lovers of darkness. Our nature,
that's the problem, is our nature. And we have to have this nature
dealt with that's got to be given to us, a new nature. And then
the third thing, before a man can speak peace to his heart,
he's going to deal with this matter of righteousness. Now
turn to Isaiah 64, verse 6. Isaiah 64, verse 6. Now here's
what I'm talking about. Our righteousness. I'm talking
about the best thing that we do. The best deeds that we do. The best works that we do. worship,
prayer, preaching, teaching, praising God. Anything that we
do because of our flesh has sin in it. We have no perfect works,
we have no perfect righteousness, and that's what Isaiah is saying
here in Isaiah 64, verse 6, "...we are all as an unclean thing,
and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. We do fade as
the leaf, our iniquities like the wind have taken us away."
Our righteousnesses are filthy rags in God's sight. Brethren,
there are some good people in this congregation, good people.
You say, Preacher, your Bible says there's none good, no, not
one. I know, but do you understand what the Bible is saying when
it says there's none good, no, not one? The Bible is not saying
that there's none on this earth that are good compared with other
men. There are some people who treat
their neighbor right, there's some good citizens. There are
some people who are generous and who are kind, and compared
with other people, they are good folks. They are good neighbors,
they are good friends, they are good daddies, they are good mothers,
they are good brothers and sisters, they are good children. They
obey their parents. You have been a good boy today,
that's all right. But what we are saying is this,
before God there is none good, because of his His immutable,
infinite holiness. His holiness. We've all sinned
and come short of the glory of God. We haven't sinned and come
short of the standards of men, or the laws of men, or the expectations
of men, or the demands of men. We've come short of the glory
of God. Do you understand that? We're
sinners in God's sight. No man will be justified by the
law in His sight. What the law says, it says to
them that are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and
all the world become guilty before God. And so when I bring my offering
this morning, and I try to lead this church in giving, I give
of my income, just like you do, to support the television, the
missions, when I bring it, that's an example. That's good. A pastor
should do that. The deacon should do that. Everybody
should do that. But when I bring it, there's
no way that I can give it in total love to God, in a way that's
without any selfishness. There's no way that I can do
anything. I can do things that you approve of, and that look
good in your eyes, and that you're pleased with, but you see, God
can never be pleased with anything I do because of God's standard
of holiness. And I can never meet that standard.
If I love someone, you say, that's good, but I can't ever love anyone
like God loves them. You see what I'm saying? I asked
the question here a few weeks ago, if somebody's baby's got
to get sick and die tonight, mine or yours, well now you put
it to me, which one will it be? Well, now, if I loved God with
all my heart and believed in his sovereignty, and I loved
you as I love myself, I would say, let it be mine. You'd argue,
say, no, let it be mine. You see what I'm saying? But
we don't love that way. We have a commendable love as
far as the world's concerned, but as far as God's concerned,
it's not commendable. There's nothing we can do to
please God in the flesh. In the flesh dwelleth no good
thing. In the flesh, no man can please God. So what I'm saying
is this, even my preaching, do we preach from a pure motive
of the glory of God? Do we sing, Mike, when you sang
your special, was it 110% for the glory of God? You know that's
not so. Then it's filthy rags in God's
eyes. Well, how can it be accepted? Only in Christ. You see what
I'm saying, Charlie? It's his righteousness. And so
a man's not going to speak peace to his heart until Number one,
he knows something about S-I-N-S. Now, listen to me. You say, well,
I say when I was ten years old. Okay, you hold to that if you
want to, but when I was ten years old, I didn't know anything about
S-I-N-S. I didn't know anything about
S-I-N. I didn't know anything about the righteousness of God
in Christ Jesus. I didn't know anything about
my righteousness being filthy rags. Did you? I didn't. Now
that preacher told me to come down the aisle if I believed
there was a heaven, if I believed Jesus died on a cross, if I believed
the Bible was the Word of God, and if I would accept Jesus as
my personal Savior. I had believed those things since
I was five years old. I was taught that in kindergarten.
I was brought up in a home where that was the rule of life. You
weren't even welcome in my home if you didn't go to church. my
daddy and mother's home. You weren't even hardly welcome
there if you didn't have religion. There was some fellas sitting
on the front porch playing cards one day and my dad ran them off.
Called the preacher. Boy, I'll tell you. But that's
not salvation. And I'll tell you another thing,
before a man can speak peace to his heart, he's going to deal
with this matter of unbelief. Now, unbelief is the granddaddy
of all sin. The Lord Jesus said, all things
are possible to them that believe. And this man said, Lord, I do
believe, help my unbelief. Now, have you ever dealt with
unbelief? No, I've always been a believer. Oh, come on now.
Boy, I tell you, if you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you'd
move that mountain. Boy, I mourn over my unbelief.
I tell you, he that cometh to God must believe that God is. And I go back there and look
at that experience way back when I was 9 years old, when I was
16 years old, and I tell you, did I believe God? Not like I
believed God when He revealed to me Christ. I found peace in
Christ. Peace in Christ. How can you
find any peace in a freewill Jesus? How can you find any peace
in an Arminian God? You can't find any peace. There's
no rest, there's no satisfaction. And then I'll tell you another
matter that we deal with. Turn to Romans 10. Romans chapter
10. In the 10th chapter of Romans,
listen to this. And that is, we're going to deal
with this matter of Christ's righteousness. Christ's righteousness. In Romans chapter 10, it says,
Brethren, verse 1, My heart's desire and prayer to God for
Israel is that they might be saved. I bear them record that
they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For
they are ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish
their own righteousness, and have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God." Now, that's exactly where most
of us were several years ago. We didn't even know anything
about the righteousness of God in Christ. We were going about
to establish our own righteousness. We had our rules and regulations.
We had accepted Jesus, but we were going about to establish
our own righteousness. And that's exactly what the Jews
were, they were orthodox religionists, they were legalists, they were
separationists, they were dedicated to their religion, but they did
not have that submission to Christ, that rest in Christ, in his righteousness
and his obedience. I look at my text one more time
in Romans 5, in Romans chapter 5. being justified by faith. And that faith, like I said,
that faith of Abraham, his faith that led him out of Ur of the
Chaldeans, that faith that stood him one day in his old age before
God, and God said, by my sovereign power you'll have a son, he believed
God. That faith that led him down
by the waters when he gave Lot the beautiful plains That faith that led him to refuse
the riches of the world because he opened his hand to God, a
sovereign God. That faith that led him when
God spoke to him and said, take your son, the son whom you love,
and sacrifice him to me. He bundled the boy up, put him
on a donkey and started for the mountain. That's the faith I'm
talking about. That faith that's convinced of
my inability, of my unworthiness, of my sin, my sins, the sinfulness
of my righteousness, that finds its refuge in Christ and its
rest in Christ. And that's the kind of faith
that I'm obligated to. As I said, I'm not an infant
that God takes to glory through supernatural means. I'm not an
Old Testament believer who even struggles along like Abraham
under types and shadows. I'm not a thief on the cross
that makes a decision like this and supernaturally has Christ
revealed to him as Lord and Savior. I am a living, responsible human
being who lives in a world that involves years and walk and so
forth, and this is the thing, I walk with the King. And when
I stopped walking with the King, it's evident I never knew the
King, It's evident I never knew the King. Therefore, being justified
by this faith, this kind of faith, this faith, we have peace with
God. And what's this? It's through
our Lord Jesus Christ. There you have his whole office
work. We don't have peace with God
through Jesus and accepting Jesus. We have peace with God through
the Lord, that's his deity. Jesus, that's his humanity. Christ,
that's his office. Lord, Jesus Christ. Lord, that's his right to reign,
his power to reign. He purchased the right to reign.
That's his crown rights. Lord, sovereign God. Jesus, Son
of Man. Son of God, Son of Man. Christ,
that's the priest. That's the Messiah. That's the
firstborn. That's the one who redeemed us.
We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And what
I'm doing, I'm not making salvation complicated. I'm simply saying
this, and like the lady said to me the other night, she said,
I was a Christian before I ever heard the gospel of grace. And
I went home and I said to the pastor, if people are saved without hearing
this offensive, despised, hated gospel of grace, then why bother
to preach it? Why divide homes and divide churches
and divide denominations? Why take the flak and the static
and the battle and the bloodshed? Why take the persecution? Why
bear this offense? If men are converted and saved
without ever hearing the gospel of grace, then why preach it?
Well, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It's the power
of God unto salvation. And there's no need for us to
claim. I'll tell you what she meant. She meant by that that
she had made a religious decision, she had walked an aisle, she
had joined the Church, she had refrained from some of her outward
habits and picked up new ones. But if you would have asked her,
who is the Lord Jesus Christ? What did he do? Why did he do
it? Where is he now? What is your
righteousness? She couldn't have told you. She
just accepted Jesus. And my friends, that's not salvation.
Salvation is a new birth. It's a quickening of the Spirit.
It's a life-giving change. It's a living union with a living
Lord. And what I would do, like Brother Barnard used to say,
I'd forget those things which are behind. And I'd establish
right now, do I know Christ right now? Do I rest in Christ? Do
I know something about this thing of sin and sins and righteousness
and unbelief and the obedience of Christ and the Lordship of
Christ and the refuge which is Christ? What does it matter whether
or not you were saved when you were twelve years old? What does
that matter? Possibility you weren't. But what does it matter?
What does it matter if you were saved six months ago? What does
it matter if you don't know Christ now? The main thing is to know
Christ now, in whom we trust and find our hope. That's it.
And I want you, Dr. Moore, to preach tonight on this
thing. Take heed to yourself and to
the doctrine, for in so doing you'll save yourself and them
that hear you. And I want, believe me, I want to know Christ. I
want a living relationship with Christ, and I want you to have
that. And it doesn't matter about, sometimes you say, well, surely
the people saved in all these denominations. I don't know,
I don't have to answer that question. Well, surely this person was
saved when you made this decision. I don't know, I don't have to
answer that question. I do know salvation is in a person.
And if you know him and rest in him and find your peace in
him, being justified by faith, you have peace with God. If you're
not in Christ, I don't care how you live, morally or immorally,
legally or illegally, I don't care how you spell your name
or what denomination, I don't care about it. And here's another
thing. You say, well, what about my
brother? I don't know about your brother. I don't know about my
brother. But I do know this, that I must
know Christ myself. What about all those people back
there? I just don't know. I know that of the folks that
left Egypt, only two entered the promised land as old as 20
years of age. And when Joshua and Caleb walked in the promised
land, they couldn't say, well, Lord, what about those other
folks? Their carcasses died in the wilderness. It lets us to take heed to ourselves. I've got to know Christ, whether
Darsh does or not, whether Paul or Mende knows Christ. I'm the
only one who can do anything about this thing but myself,
and they've got to handle this themselves. I've got to lay hold
upon him. And I'm not talking about just
any Jesus. I'm talking about the Lord Jesus
Christ as he's revealed in the beginning of the message, and
I hope you caught this. I can't thrust myself into a
position of not knowing. I know these things. I can't
thrust myself into a position as an infant or a thief on the
cross or an Old Testament believer. I know these things. God, Abraham,
God said one thing at a time to Abraham. And you know these
things and you'll act on them if you're God's son. If you're
God's son. Now you'll just act on them and
you'll walk in that light. And if you don't walk in that
light, it's because you never had any light. You see what I'm
saying? I hope so. It's the simplicity. They give
me all this simplicity thing. There's a oneness and a singleness
of Christ. But this thing of life is complicated,
and the gospel is a mystery, and a relationship with God is
a living relationship. It's not just a decision, it's
not just an experience back yonder, it's a living relationship. Don't
settle for anything less. Our Father, bless the Word. It's the Word that must reach
the heart. It's your word, it's not my word,
it's not coming to me, it's not coming to this church or coming
to this doctrine. It is being shut up to Christ.
It's being stripped of everything we have and are and know and
have ever done and be clothed with the righteousness of Christ.
It's being received into your fellowship, into your presence
in the person of Christ, except in the Beloved. And I do believe,
help thou mine unbelief. We do lay hold upon Christ. Lord, thou knowest all things,
thou knowest that we love thee. Receive us, reveal thy love to
us, help our unbelief, increase our faith. Speak to every heart
in this congregation. We pray for Christ's sake. Amen.