I would like for you to turn
back to Romans chapter 1 for just a few moments. Romans, the
first chapter. Christ the Redeemer, Christ our
Savior, is presented to sinners in the gospel. Paul said, I'm
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It is the power of God
unto salvation to the Jew first, also to the Greek. And then he
added this, for therein, that is, in the gospel, is the righteousness
of God revealed. Our Lord Jesus Christ as Savior,
substitute, and Redeemer is presented in the gospel. Look at chapter
1 of Romans, the first three verses. Paul said, I am a bond slave,
that is, a willing, loving bond slave of Jesus Christ. I've been called to be an apostle. I'm separated unto the gospel,
the gospel of God, not a gospel, the gospel of God. There is but
one gospel. He, in another place, declared,
woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. Paul didn't say,
woe is unto me if I preach not. It'd be better for me if I didn't
preach if I'm not going to preach the gospel. It'd be better if
I didn't step up here tonight if I were not going to preach
the gospel. Woe is unto me. He said, I'm separated, dedicated,
consecrated, determined to preach the gospel of God, the gospel
of God. All right, the next verse is
in parentheses. This is a lesson we need to learn.
that that statement there in the second verse, without doing
any damage to the sentence, can be lifted out. Because what Paul
is saying in that second verse is this gospel that I'm preaching,
this gospel of God, is no new gospel. It's no new revelation. It's the gospel Abraham believed,
that Moses believed, that David believed. It's the gospel which
he promised afore by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. That's
the gospel. See, God, there are dispensations
of revelation, but there are no dispensations as far as God
changing his way of saving sinners. Abraham saw my day and rejoiced. Moses wrote of me, Christ said.
Abel came to God, not saved by the blood of an animal, but by
saved by the blood of Christ, of whom that animal was a type.
You see, the blood that Abel shed on that first altar way
back there, the first one we know about, that was typical
of Christ. It pointed to Christ. It showed
Abel's faith in the coming Redeemer. Actually, when Eve gave birth
to Cain, the promise of the Messiah, the promise of the Deliverer,
the promise of the Redeemer was so vivid to her. that when that
first child was born, she thought that was the Messiah. She said,
I've gotten the man. God promised the man. He promised
the seed of woman. He promised the emancipator.
He promised the liberator. He promised the redeemer. And
Eve thought she had him. They thought that the fall and
the consequences of it would be short-lived. You see, they
fell in the garden. And God told him in the garden,
the seed of woman will bruise the serpent's head, destroy the
serpent's power. And he said, I'll send the seed
of woman. The Redeemer will be born of woman. It won't be a
goat or a lamb or a ram raised in some farmer's field. It'll
be born of a woman, a virgin woman. And when she brought forth
that first son, King, she said, I've gotten the man. Evidently,
she and Adam both thought that they fell, and God would quickly
restore creation and restore the glory and restore man to
his place of of joy and happiness and fellowship with God, but
it's been 6,000 years now and God will in the fullness of time
in his own good time when it pleases him Well, he'll he'll
remake creation and so forth. But this gospel, this is what
Paul's saying I'm a bond slave of Christ and I'm separated to
the gospel I'm determined to know nothing among you, even
you Corinthians, but the gospel of Jesus Christ, Christ in Him
crucified. That's my message. That's my
gospel. And it's no new gospel. It's the gospel that God promised
afore, pictured, prophesied, typified by the prophets in the
Holy Scripture. But now look at verse 3, and
lift out that verse 2. Paul, a bondslave of Jesus Christ,
called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God, concerning
his son. That's what the gospel is concerning.
It's concerning his son. Gospel is not a proposition.
It's a declaration. It's a proclamation, Charlie.
It's not God will if you will. That's not the gospel. You will
if God will, and God will if you will. That's both true. But
that's not the gospel. The gospel is not declaring what
you do at all. It's declaring what God in Christ
has done. The gospel's not due. It's done.
It's concerning his son, which was made of the seed of David,
according to the flesh. He came as a man of the house
and lineage of David, according to the flesh. He was a Jew. He
came unto his own, his own people, his own things, his own ceremonies,
his own temple. He came to his own. His own received
him not. He was made of the seed of David, according to the flesh.
But he wasn't made the son of God. He wasn't created the son
of God. He was declared to be the son
of God. That's what God declared. This
is my son. This is my son. He was declared
to be the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness
by the resurrection from the dead. So this gospel is what
I'm declaring tonight. This gospel is concerning his
son. And a lot of preachers preach
about the gospel who never preach the gospel. They never preach
the gospel. They preach about it, but never
get around to the gospel. They say, you do this, and you
do that, and you do the other, and God wants you to do this,
and God wants you to do that. When we preach the gospel, we
stand up here and declare who Jesus Christ is, why he came
to this world, what he did, and where he is now. Christ is the
gospel. And God, now let me show you
four or five things here. First of all, the gospel presents
Christ sincerely. The gospel of God, the good news,
the glad tidings. The angels said to the shepherds,
we bring you good news. We bring you glad tidings. Unto
you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, Christ the
Lord. This Savior right here in the
city of David, made of the seed of David. of the house and lineage
of David. We bring you good news. There's
been born to you a Savior. This thing of salvation is not
in your hands, it's in His hands. A victorious conqueror has come. The Savior has been born in the
city of David. That's good news. We bring you
good news. The Lord God does not toy with
sinners. God's not playing games. His
hand is extended sincerely. God says there's a Savior born.
There's a remedy already established. There's a Redeemer already come.
God's not toying with you. And we preachers would be better
off if we'd quit playing games with sinners, if we'd quit sitting
in our studies trying to think up gimmicks and just get out
here and preach the gospel, if we'd quit sitting around our
committees trying to figure out how we're going to get people
to come to church without realizing that that's where they're coming.
That we're going to try to get people to come and hear us preach
without realizing that that's what we're going to do to them.
That we can get people down the aisle to make a profession of
faith without realizing its total commitment to a king. Now, we
better quit that foolishness and just get out here and preach
the gospel. God doesn't toy with sinners.
God doesn't drive a Jew bargain with sinners. Almighty God doesn't
bargain with sinners at all. He doesn't toy with them and
play with them. And it's time that the preachers
quit doing the same thing, that they get out here and preach
the gospel. And it'd be wise if every hearer
here tonight approached this hour in seriousness. It's appointed
unto me and wants to die. Wants to die. And after that,
the judgment. It would be well if we'd examine ourselves whether
we be in the faith. If we determine this thing, give
diligence to make our calling and election sure. My relationship
with you is important, but my relationship with God is more
important. What I'm going to eat, drink, and wear is important,
but what clothed with the righteousness of Christ and feeding on the
blood and body of Christ is more important. Certainly, my future
is important, but my eternal future is more important. And
it'd be well if all of us would seriously and sincerely approach
this subject this evening, this subject of faith, because God
in the gospel presents Christ sincerely. Secondly, he presents
Christ entirely. Entirely and undivided, everything's
in Christ. I've said this so many times,
but I wish we could receive it and believe it. Everything's
in Christ. I don't come to Christ for justification
and go to Sinai for sanctification. I don't come to Christ for salvation
and then go to some rules of the church for wisdom. I don't
come to Christ for justification and then go somewhere else for
holiness. Everything God has for sinners has been vested in
his soul. In Christ dwelleth the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and you're complete in him. He is prophet,
he is priest, and he is king. Of God he is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. If I have Christ,
I have everything. Old Dr. B.B. Caldwell, whom I
knew so personally and so very well, he preached for us here
many times back in the early 50s. Old Dr. Caldwell was over in Greenville,
South Carolina one time back in 52 or 53 when this charismatic
thing really started rolling among Baptists and among Grace
Baptists. I attended a Bible conference
in Chattanooga in the Patner Plaza Hotel and this thing started
moving. They started laying hands on
people and receiving the Holy Ghost and speaking in tongues
and healing one another and this sort of thing. Whoo, they got
excited, you know, just got like a kid with a new toy. Just went
wild, you know, just went wild. And they came up to see Brother
Caldwell. Wanted him to get the baptism.
They wanted him to speak in tongues. They wanted him to have that
what they had. One fellow said he just felt better and happier
than he'd ever felt in all of his life. Yeah, he was saved,
but boy, when he got the Holy Ghost, it was great, you know.
Came to Brother Carwell, and he said, they told him all about
this experience. They told him how that now they
loved the Lord, and now they loved his word, and now they
loved his people, and now they found delight in the things of
God. And Old Brother Carwell said,
well, that's salvation. That's no second work. That's first
work. He said, boys, let me tell you something. He said, anything
that you claim that's better than coming to know Christ is
not of God. Because coming to know Christ
is the greatest gift of God's grace. He said anything, watch
this now, you boys, let me tell you something. He said, I've
been around a long time, but let me tell you, anything, any
experience, or anything that comes your way that eclipses
that day you met Christ, is not of God. It's not of God. Because in Christ dwelleth the
fullness of God. He that knoweth the Son knoweth
the Father. He that seeth the Son seeth the
Father. And now you can grow in grace. You can grow in love. You can
grow in patience. You can grow in all these things.
Well, they said, Brother Caldwell, they said, we believe you're
saved. We believe you're saved. And they said, we believe you're
going to heaven. He said, as far as I want to
go. As far as I want, I don't want to go right on by. And they
left the old man alone. Well, let me tell you something.
He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. I'm not discounting, as I told
you Wednesday night, there's the filling of the Holy Spirit
for special service and gifts and witnessing and preaching.
I pray you sit right here While you're singing and pray that
God will anoint me with his power to preach his word in a special
fashion in a special feeling You see the whole the Lord Jesus
had the Holy Spirit without measure. I don't you don't nobody else
does Now I have to have the Holy Spirit I have to have his feeling
and I told you Wednesday night I couldn't there's no man can
live 24 hours a day under the under the filling and power,
endowment of power of the Spirit of God. Well, you couldn't sleep.
You couldn't eat. You couldn't come down. There's
no way. So there's a special filling
for preaching or witnessing or whatever God's called us to do.
I know that. I'm not discounting that. Be
not drunk with wine where it is excess, but be filled with
the Holy Spirit. But I'm saying if a man have not the Spirit
of Christ, he's none of His. And when I met Christ, when I
came to know the Redeemer, when God gave me Christ, He gave me
Himself, His Spirit, life, His grace. And right then, every
believer, when he comes to salvation, knows Christ is sufficient, He's
meet, sufficient to inherit the Kingdom of God. If God takes
him home right then, he has everything he needs, because he has Christ.
Now that's so. And the gospel presents Christ
sincerely, and it presents Christ entirely and undivided. He's
prophet to reveal God. He's priest to redeem us. He's
king to reign over us. Now, the third thing, the gospel
presents Christ exclusively. Now, this gospel doesn't give
you Christ and something else in order to be saved. He's the
only Savior. His righteousness, his blood,
his intercession needs nothing added, not anything you can contribute,
not anything you can bring, not anything you can present. It
does not need your help. God doesn't ask you to produce
a righteousness but to receive one. God doesn't ask you to work
for a pardon but to receive one. God doesn't require you to present
anything. He requires you to receive his
son. Everything in Christ neither
is the salvation in any other There's none of the name unto
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved other Foundation
can no man lay than that which has been laid Jesus Christ the
Lord either crash is all to you or he's nothing to you Now that's
so Show us the father Philip said he that had seen me had
seen my father. I and my father one So it presents
Christ exclusively. He is the only Savior, prophet,
priest, and king, exclusively. Nothing needs to be added. No
law, no rules, no service. It's not Christ and baptism.
No, sir. I know he that believeth and
is baptized shall be saved. But baptism is a declaration
of faith. It's a confession of faith. It's
not part of faith. It's not Christ and the Lord's
table. It's not Christ and living right. I beg your pardon. Well,
if you'll come to Christ and hold out, you just blew your
gospel right there. If you come to Christ, that's
the end of it. Now, when that man came and fell at the apostle
Paul's feet and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? Paul said,
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And no, he didn't either. and
be baptized, and tithe, and witness, and win souls, and... No, sir. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Believe. That thief who hung
on that tree never walked a step for Christ. Did he? He never witnessed. Oh, I know
God used his witness, but he never had won a soul to Jesus
Christ. He never washed in the pools of baptism. He never worked
on any church program. He received Christ, he believed
on Christ, and he died. That's right. And my Lord said,
today shalt thou be with me in paradise. Christ is the exclusive
Savior. He will not share his glory.
And I know these things have their place. Our souls are justified
by grace before God. and by faith. Our faith is justified
by works before men. You see what I'm saying? There's
no conflict between James and Paul in the book of Romans, none
whatsoever. I don't understand why Martin Luther ever had that
problem. As wise, as intelligent, as sensible, as great as he was,
And yet he did his best to leave James out of the word of God.
It upset him so much. He was such a strong. Well, I
know why, too. He was raised in Catholicism.
He was raised in works. He was raised in law salvation. He was raised in rules. He was
raised where some of you were raised. Do this and go to heaven.
Don't do this and go to hell. And when he came to see justification
by faith, faith, faith, faith, faith alone, he didn't want to
even have anything to do with works. And so he just wanted
to throw the book of James out. But what James is saying, or
Paul is saying, we're justified before God. Our souls are justified
before God by faith in Christ, Christ's work, Christ's righteousness,
Christ's blood, Christ's obedience. And James is coming along and
talking to those people. who claim to know Christ but
who live in lasciviousness and evil and sin and rebellion. And James says that's not so.
True faith leads to godliness. True faith produces works of
faith and labor of love. True faith produces righteousness,
not only imputed but imparted. And James is saying this, you
show your faith by your works. To whom? You don't need to show
God anything. He knows your heart. You show
men your faith by your works. You show that your faith is real
faith. It's true faith. It's God-given
faith. Why, you have every right. If
I'm a crook, if I'm dishonest, if I don't walk before you in
the way that God requires, I'm not talking about perfectly.
But I'm talking about if any man's in Christ, he's a new creature,
then you have every reason to question my faith. Because John
said, he that loveth not knoweth not God. How can you say you
love God and hate your brother? So the gospel presents Christ
exclusively. Then what's the fourth thing?
The gospel presents Christ freely, absolutely free. There's nothing
required on your part. In Isaiah 55 1, it says, ho,
everyone that thirsteth, come to the water. Come without money,
come without price. I hear people make such a serious
mistake when they say, well, I intend to be saved. I intend
to become a Christian. But I've just got to straighten
up my life first. I'm just going to, you know,
I just, yes, I intend to become a Christian. I intend to believe
on Christ. But my life is just all fouled
up. It's been fouled up since the
day he was born. And to be honest with you now,
It'll be fouled up the day you die. That's exactly right. You better come to Christ like
you are. But what I'm pointing out is this, you don't prepare
yourself for Christ. You come just as you are. Charlotte
Elliott captured it, just as I am, without one plea, without
one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me and that you
bid me come to thee, just like I am, O Lamb of God, I come.
waiting not to rid my soul of one dark blight. Christ is free. Come, God says, without money
or without price. Everyone that thirsteth, come
to the water. That woman at the well, Christ
said to her, if you knew the gift of God, the gift of God. He didn't tell that woman, now
you go back to Samaria and straighten up your life and go back and
make restitutions to all five of these husbands. No, sir. No,
sir. He said, if you knew the gift
of God and who it is that speaks to thee, you'd ask of me and
I'd give you living water right now. Just like you are. I'd give
you living water. Now you talk about a messed up
life. Here was a dear woman that she had five husbands behind
her and she was living with a man who was not her husband. Her
life was all messed up, fouled up. And Christ didn't tell her
to go down there and make restitution, straighten up that mess. I don't
understand preachers of today. A fella can be a dirty dog thief
and come down this aisle and confess Christ, and they'll rejoice
over him, shake his hand, take him into the church, and make
him a deacon or a Sunday school teacher or something. A fella
can be a drug pusher, an alcoholic, you name it. But you let a divorced
woman or man come forward and confess Christ. They're put on
probation. They can't be deacons. If they meet somebody and want
to get married, the preacher won't marry them because he won't
marry divorced people. They can't serve on an office.
They can't teach a class, and they can't preach. Now, what
made that particular scene the most offensive one of all? Now,
I want to know what dictates this thing. I don't understand.
And yet our Lord said to this, he made her a preacher right
then. She went down in Samaria and told those people. She said,
I want you to come and hear the Messiah. He's right outside town. Our Lord Jesus Christ chose as
his messenger a woman divorced five times. He chose as his the
person whom he would meet in the town By the instrument by
which he'd save a town, the instrument by which he'd revive a city,
that's who he chose and sent her. Because we're so fouled
up. I'll tell you what our problem
is. We're going to pay our little penny any righteousness in return
for God Almighty's justification. We're pure, and we're clean,
and we're holy, and we're this, that, and the other. And we thank
God we never have done this, that, or the other. And God passes
us by and turns around down here to an old publican who doesn't
have any pride at all, but who's filled with sovereign guilt and
beating on his chest and hollering, God have mercy on me, a sinner.
And that's who God blesses. We let the Lord pass us by because
we're trying to pay Him for His salvation. The wages of sin is
death, the gift of God's eternal life, the gift of God. You'll
receive it as a gift or you'll miss it. You'll receive it as
a free gift or you'll miss it. You'll receive it as a gift that's
free without any return on your part or God will pass you by
and find somebody that needs it. That's so. Isn't that so? That's just the truth the gospel
presents Christ freely and then in the fifth place The gospel
presents Christ and his blessings in their proper order Now you
watch this God first gives his son and then with his son and
As a consequence of that gift he gives us all things turn to
Romans 8. Let me show you something Romans
chapter 8 Romans chapter 8, verse 32. Now watch this. Now when
a woman, here's a woman that's dating a man, and she's a very
poor person. She doesn't have proper clothing.
She doesn't have good food. She has a little run-down house.
He has a fine home up on the hill. He's a very wealthy man. He's a very influential man.
He has everything, she has nothing. Now, he's in love with her and
he wants her to marry him. Now, let me tell you this. If
she ever marries him and takes his name, then she has everything
that's his. There's no way she can have what's
his. No way she can have proper clothing
or food or care or shelter, whatever, from his hands. without marrying
him, taking his name. But once she takes his name,
he is obligated for all of her debts, for her care, for her
happiness, for her comfort, because she now wears his name. And that's
the same thing as the sinner. The sinner cannot have peace
till he has the Prince of Peace. He can't have joy till he has
Christ. My joy, Christ said. He can't
have the blessings of the Father. He can't inherit the joys of
the kingdom till he has the King himself. And when I take his
name, when I become his bride, when I become his own, and I
wear his name, Christian Christ person, then everything that's
his is mine. It's in that order. And don't
you change the order. God won't reverse it. Show me,
Lord, and I'll believe. Oh, no. Give me this, that, and
the other. And Lord, I promise I'll hold
it. This woman says, give me the clothing, and give me the
shelter, and give me the food, and then I'll marry you. No,
sir. Take my name upon you. Take my yoke upon you. And when
you bear my name, everything I have is yours. Look at Romans
8.32. See if that's not so. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him? with him freely give us all things. It's not the gifts and then the
giver. It's always the giver and then the gifts. That's it.
That's it. All right. Having presented the
Lord Jesus Christ in the gospel to us, what does the Lord require
of thee? What does he require of thee?
Look at Romans 4 again. You're going to have a son. Lord,
I'm 100 years old, and Sarah's 90. You're going to have a son. You don't have any heir, but
you're going to have an heir, seed. And your seed will be like,
look at the stars, Abraham. Count them. I can't count them,
Lord. That's how many seed you'll have. Look at the sands of the
seashore. Count them, Abraham. I can't
count them. That's how many seed you'll have. He said, verse 20,
he staggered not. That didn't stagger him at the
promise of God through unbelief, but he was strong in faith, giving
God the glory. He says to you and me, your sins
are so great and so many, so deserving of wrath and judgment,
but I'm going to make them white as snow. That doesn't stagger
me. Now, some preacher told me that dipping that water in that
hat might stagger me. If some preacher told me that
he stuck a wafer in a wine glass and told me to stick out my tongue.
And you know at the Lord's table, our Lord said, you take and eat. He didn't go around slapping
that bread on their tongues. They took it. See, the Catholic
Church is giving you salvation in the hand of the priest. That's
exactly what that's symbolic of. They give it. No, sir, they
don't either. You take it. God gives. This
man up here ought to get right out of the way. Just set the
class down and get out of the way. You take and eat. You drink. Drink ye all of it. No, sir,
man tells me, this will put away your sins. That'll stagger me.
Or if he says, get in that little old booth and whisper something
in some old sinner's ear, and he'll give me indulgence that
would stagger me but when the God who made heaven and earth
and the God against whom I've seen and the God of the highest
court of the universe says Through my son's precious blood you have
forgiveness of sin that doesn't stack up Because Abraham was
strong in faith, in verse 21, he was fully persuaded that what
God promised, God was able to perform. He is able to save to
the gutter most them that come to God by him. Oh, I've fallen
so far, preacher. He delights to show mercy. He
delights to show mercy. And Abraham believed God, verse
22, and that was his faith. Because of his faith, it was
imputed to him for righteousness, holiness. God accepted him in
Christ holy. Now, it was not written for his
sake alone that it was imputed to him, but for us also, to whom
this same holiness, without which no man will see the Lord, this
same righteousness shall be imputed. What does imputed mean? It means
to account, charged to his account, reckoned to be his. God gave it to me, charged it
to my account. And be imputed to him if we believe
on Christ, if we believe on him that raised up our Lord from
the dead, who was delivered for our offenses and raised for our
justification. Now, this is what I said this
morning. I repeat it again tonight. And
John Flavel wrote this many years ago. He made this statement.
Faith is that bond of union with Christ. It is that instrument
of justification. And in its place, faith is as
important as the blood of Christ. And I read that, and I thought,
Mr. Flay, well, that's pretty strong.
But the more I read it, the more I see exactly what he's talking
about. Because the grace of God is the moving cause of redemption.
It all began with God. It began, he's the author and
finisher of our faith. He's alpha and omega. It began
with God. God is the moving cause of justification. He's the moving cause of redemption.
God will save whom he will. I will have mercy upon whom I
will have mercy. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious. Whom he foreknew, he predestinated,
he called, he justified, he glorified. If God be for us, who can be
against us? And the blood of Christ is the meritorious cause
of redemption. He merited our righteousness.
He merited our mercy. He merited our forgiveness. Yes,
salvation is by merit, his merit, not mine. He purchased it. But my friends, faith is the
instrumental cause, the instrumental cause, to him that believeth.
to him that believes. Our Lord said, if you can believe,
all things are possible to them that believe. Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. He that believeth and
is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. And it's got to
be It's not something I talk you into. It's not something
I persuade you into, something I pressure and push you into.
It's a willful, loving, deliberate, intelligent confidence and committal
to Christ Jesus. And I just don't think we ought
to use these methods. I really don't think we ought
to use high-pressure emotional methods to pressure people into
making commitments for which they'll be sorry later on, and
which they'll question later on, and put them in a false refuge. Just preach this gospel. And
say, now sinner, seek the Lord. Count the cost. Sit down. I'm not afraid of you going home
and sitting down with your Bible and opening it there to Romans
4, and read this for yourselves. And talk with God about it. Lord,
that preacher said this, and your word says this. Now, is
that so? I want this. I want this life and righteousness.
I want eternal life. Lord, do something for me. Reveal
Christ to my heart. If a man can talk you into religion,
another fellow can talk you out of it. That's so. If a fellow can push you and
persuade you, persuade you and pressure you into making some
kind of emotional commitment at the end of a service while
people sing and all this atmosphere is going on, when you get in
another atmosphere of hoop-de-doo, you'll lose it. That's exactly
right. Some fella comes along, promises
you heaven for 10% of your income, and heaven for this, that, and
the other. Another fella comes along, offers you heaven on earth
for something else. You'll do that too. See what
I'm talking about? But I'll tell you this. Man didn't
save me, and man can't get me lost. God gave me a knowledge
of his Son. God did. And that's what some
people here say the same thing. My confidence is not in the flesh.
It's in Christ. I met Christ not under an emotional
strain. I met Christ under a plain, calculated
experience. It was a willing, loving experience. It was deliberate. I counted
the cost. I committed my life to God Almighty
through Jesus Christ. I received him as my Lord and
Savior. I bowed down. It's between me and God. And
there's nobody that can change it but God Almighty. And he's
not going to. He said, I'm the Lord. I don't
change. I don't change. That's so. That's so. And our methods had better fit
our message, or we're in trouble with him. Our father blessed the word.
How grateful we are for the good news, good news from a far country,
glad tidings delivered to us by thy Holy Spirit, in the name
of thy dear son, the promise of redemption. We don't stagger.
You're able. You're able to save. You're able
to keep. You're able to raise our vile bodies and make them
like your son. We don't stagger. We rejoice
in Christ Jesus. We have no confidence in the
flesh. We belong to thee by thy grace, by thy power, by the purchase
of Christ. Strengthen that faith, O Lord.
Forgive our sins. Help us to be more like our master.
But what we've done for us, by your grace, we pray you'll do
for others. And Lord, we would not hinder your spirit. We would
not vex or grieve your Holy Spirit. But Lord, we would not try to
make proselytes, pressure men and women and boys and girls
into religious commitments, when that's the work of thy spirit.
But we preach thy word tonight and declare the gospel of thy
son. And we leave them, we commend them to thee. We leave them in
thy hands. Lord, do a work of grace. Reveal
thyself to their hearts forever. For Christ's sake, we pray. Amen.