Let's turn again to the scripture
that Brother Jay read a moment ago, Titus, the third chapter. Basically, what the Apostle Paul
is saying to Titus, what the old veteran is saying to the
young preacher, is this. You cannot separate faith and
conduct. You cannot separate faith and
conduct. You cannot divide belief and
obedience. You cannot separate truth and
spirit. They that worship God worship
Him in spirit and truth. And these things cannot be divided.
The Scripture says, As a man thinketh in his heart, so is
he. Out of the abundance of the heart
the mouth speaketh. If any man be in Christ, He is,
not ought to be, could be, wants to be. He is a new creature. These things cannot be separated.
Spirit and truth cannot be divided. Now, I dare not, and you dare
not, and we have a real principle and conviction against it. We
dare not tell a man that he can earn sonship by his deeds. We wouldn't dare. You could cut
out our tongues and we wouldn't submit. You could cut off our
hands or pull out our fingernails and we would not tell a man that
he can be saved, he can be a son of God, that he can be redeemed
by his good deeds. We wouldn't dare do it. Well,
let's be just as reluctant. Let's be just as reluctant to
tell a man that he can entertain any hope of sonship or eternal
life without works of grace. Let's be just as reluctant. We
are so reluctant, we're so afraid that somebody's going to think
they can be saved by their own righteousness. Well, let's be
just as reluctant to tell a man that he is saved who has no righteousness, who has no godliness, who has
no love for Christ, who has no love for his neighbor. Scripture
says, he that loveth not knoweth not God. The apostles were not
reluctant to say that. The apostles were not reluctant
to declare, he that loveth not knoweth not God. Knoweth not
God. Our Lord wasn't reluctant to
say that. The believer, the child of God, the man who is saved,
and that's a big word. The man who's regenerated, who's
been born again, who's been translated from darkness to light, from
the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of God's dear Son. The
person who's been redeemed has a life to live in this world,
in a world that's unfriendly toward God, in a world which
is opposed to the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have a life to live
right here in this world. And our Lord Jesus Christ said
it was not His will that we should be taken out of this world, but
that we should be kept from evil. Turn to John 17. Let me show
you. I text there a moment and turn to John 17. We are going
to stay here a while. I've already been here 54 years. Some of you have been here longer
than that. Brother Jeff, today is your birthday. 70. You've
been here 70 years today. 70 years in this world. God hasn't been pleased to take
us out of this world. We're going to stay here a while.
And our Lord said that in John 17, verse 14. I have given them
thy word, and the world hath hated them." The world is not
friendly toward your God or your gospel. The world is not friendly
toward your Redeemer or toward your message. It hates them because
they are not of this world even as I am not of this world. I
pray not that you should take them out of the world, but that
you should keep them from the evil. That's the evil one. They
are not of this world even as I am not of this world. We're
going to have problems in the home. You're a believer. You're a child of God. All right,
you're born again. You're a child of God. You're
saved by the grace of God. It may be that you have a wife
that is not saved, that is not a believer. That's unfortunate.
That's very unfortunate. That's a great trial. That would
be one of the greatest trials. I feel for you. My heart bleeds
and weeps for you. that the most important thing
in your life you cannot share with the most important person
outside of Christ in your life. It may be your dear wives have
a husband who does not love the gospel, who does not enjoy the
gospel, who does not love Christ. The Apostle Paul says if the
unbeliever is content to remain in a good relationship, you can
be obedient to that husband as unto the Lord without his objection,
then stay with him. If the wife If you're a man and
the wife does not love Christ and does not love the gospel,
and she's a rebel, and if she doesn't love Christ, she is a
rebel, and vice versa, and that wife's content to remain with
you, with you the head of the house and with you the husband
and with you the leader, and she's content to submit to your
authority and to bow to your leadership, then let her remain. But if she departs, let her go.
Let her go. You're not in bondage in such
cases. If a woman's married to an unsaved man, he mistreats
her, he does not let her worship God, he's not content for her
to love Christ and walk with Christ, he's not content to remain
under those conditions, let him go. You're not under bondage
in such cases. That's what the Scripture says.
But that's unfortunate. We're going to have problems
with our children. There's hardly a home in this
church that has not had some difficulty with children. And
that hurts deeply, doesn't it? We have children who are rebellious. We have children who do not follow
the gospel. They do not love the gospel.
They do not love the things that are precious to us. That hurts.
It hurts deeply. We weep over it. We cry unto
God to show mercy to their souls. But those are problems we're
going to have. We're going to have them. You're going to have
problems on the job. You've got to go to work in the morning,
punch a time clock, and you've got to work side-by-side with
a man that hates God Almighty, and he hates Jesus Christ, and
he hates the gospel. You're going to work side-by-side
with people who are probably under a boss that has nothing
but contempt for Jesus Christ. He may be religious. Most of
them are, but they hate Christ. Like Brother Scott Richardson
says, this war, this world, Is it war for God against Jesus
Christ? You think about that a little
while. That's so. This world is at war for God, their God,
a God of their imagination, against the Lord Jesus Christ. They hate
Christ. They hate substitution. They
hate grace. They hate sovereignty. They hate
election. They hate redemption. They hate
the effectual call. They hate perseverance. They
hate anything that smacks of grace. And you have to work with
them. You have to live with them. You
have to associate with them. You have to buy from them. There
are laws and restrictions in your town and country that just
cross your grain. You see oppression. You see greed.
You see graft. You see all these things all
about you. And there's going to be persecution
and slander from religious people. Who was it that hated the Master?
It was religious people. Who crucified the Lord Jesus
Christ? Who led that rebellion against
him? Religious people. Who cried for the blood of the
apostles? Religious people. Who martyred?
Every believer who's ever been martyred on this earth. They
were martyred in the name of religion. The people who burned
in the square in London at Smithfield or wherever that was, religious
people burned them. Religions always hated Christ.
They talk about Christ and they say they preach Christ, but they
hate the Christ of the Bible. And you're going to have persecution
and slander from there. And you're going to have disagreements
and problems even in your congregation. The congregation may be the most
loving, friendly, gracious, gospel-believing congregation in the whole world,
but we're still human beings. And we've still got temperaments
and personalities, and we've still got a whole lot more flesh
than we like to admit. We're still human beings, and
we're going to have things to great us and trouble us, and
in this world you shall have tribulations. That's what our
Lord said. In this world you shall have tribulations. They
that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Marvel not, my brethren, if the
world hate you. That's what Christ said. It hated
me before it hated you. Everyone's not going to see things
as we see them, even here. even here, let alone on the job,
let alone in the world, let alone in the home, let alone in the
school, let alone in the factories, even here, even in the inner
circle, even between Jay and I. We work together. We love
each other. We're like Pat and Mike and Tent and Pat or whatever
you call it, but we don't see everything exactly. He doesn't
see everything as I see it. I don't see everything as he
sees it. That's an impossibility. And everybody's not going to
do what you think they ought to do. They're not going to do
it. Now, that's all there is to it.
Don't expect it. Don't require it. Don't demand
it. They're not going to do what you think they ought to do. We're
not robots. We're not tin cans. We're not
stamped out in a pattern. In Christ we are patterned. But
in the flesh and in personality and our own egos and so forth,
we're different, and everybody's not going to please you and me. They're just not going to do
it. They're just not going to. So,
verse 1 of Titus 3, so, bearing that in mind, keeping that in
mind, put them in mind, Paul said to Titus, put these believers
in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, in other words, to
be subject to authority. To be subject to authority. Put
in mind, put the believer in mind, remind them to be subject
in a world of trouble and toil and problems and trials and cares
and misunderstandings and disappointments, frustration, be subject to authority. Now then, I'm going to stretch
it a little. This authority here is talking about magistrates
and governments. It's talking about people who
have the rule over you in government, and state, and federal, and so
forth and so on. But I believe that a Christian,
a believer, is to be a peaceful, law-abiding person, and not only
towards the government, but towards any authority. That's in the
home, that's parental authority, you boys and girls. Let me remind
you to be in subjection to your parents. with a respect with
a real honor your father and mother honor them with respect
and love and obedience we're to and I don't care how old you
get my parents are both dead but some of you are up in forty
and fifty years of age and your parents are still living they
are to be loved and respected they're to be honored Jay they're
to be honored we may they may disagree with but they're to
be honored we talked about that this week they're to be honored
As a son honors a father, a daughter honors a mother, a daughter honors
her father, let it be respected. I never did like to hear a young
man call his dad the old man. That never appealed to me. I
just feel like that as we think back over the past and our parents'
mother gave birth to us and cared for us and fed us and clothed
us and housed us and and gave us tradition and principle and
brought us up in the things of Christ, in the church of the
Lord Jesus Christ, I thank God for them and I respect them.
And they do that honor and that respect. But as much as is in
you, live peaceably with all men. The believer is to be a
person who is submissive and peaceful, who seeks peace. who
seeks peace. That's what he's saying. Put
them in mind to be subject, subject to principalities and power,
to obey magistrates, to obey the law, pay their taxes, be
good citizens, to be ready to every good work. Let our lives
be characterized, not by division and strife and malice and hate
and bickering and quarreling and smart-aleck attitude. Let our lives be characterized
by peace, gentleness, good works, kind, good neighbor. Look at
the next verse. Remind them to speak evil of
no man. And my friends, a man's name,
a man's reputation, a man's character, whatever it may be, a man's name,
his character, his reputation, whatever it may be, It's still
a tender topic. It's still a tender, very tender
topic, and it ought to be handled carefully. I believe the best
place to talk about anybody is in the prayer closet. I believe
that's the best place in the world to call anybody's name
and to talk about them and call attention to their faults is
in the prayer closet before God. Otherwise, speak evil of no man.
Look at the next line, and remind them to be not brawlers. What
is a brawler? A brawler's a fighter. We're not to be fighters. We're
not to be contentious and quarrelsome. I don't know where this started,
but sometime back yonder, the idea was impressed upon people
that the person who was the most sober and rigid and demanding
was religious people. They're supposed to be sober
and demanding and contentious and quarrelsome and always going
around with a chip on their shoulder trying to prove their point,
you know. But here Paul tells Titus, teach them not to be brawlers,
but to be gentle people. Gentle people. Happy people. Rejoicing in the Lord. Showing
all meekness to everybody. There are other ways of fighting
than with fists and guns. You say, I'm not a fighter with
my fist or guns. Well, are you an arguer? That's
fighting. That's brawling. There are other
ways to brawl. You don't have to get a gun and
shoot it out with somebody to be in a brawl. You don't have
to get into a fist fight to be in a brawl. Brawling is contentiousness
and quarreling. That's brawling. Some homes are
brawling places, quarreling. They quarrel at the table, they
quarrel in the morning, they quarrel at noon, they quarrel
at night, they quarrel all the time. That's not becoming to
the gospel. We're to live at peace. We're
not to bicker. We're not to strive. We're not
to harbor grudges. These things are unbecoming to
Christ. Now, you may think it manly to
be cruel, but it's not. You may think it's manly to be
quarrelsome, you may think it's manly to throw your weight around,
but it's not. It's not godly either. It's not
godly. My wife will do what I say or
get her mouth mashed, that's not godly. That's not godly. There's nothing godly about that.
He says be gentle, be gentle, be forbearing, be courteous.
to all men, unbending harshness and cruelties not of God." Listen
to me. If there wasn't any need for
this, Paul wouldn't have taken up the time in the Scripture
to write it. He wouldn't have taken the time. If this was not
something that ought to be dealt with, the Apostle Paul wouldn't
have taken the time in this short epistle to Titus to devote several
verses to this instruction. He said, remind them, remind
them, put them in mind, he said, to be submissive to authority.
You remind them. Put them in mind. not to speak
evil of people, put them in mind not to be fighters and quarrelsome
and contentious and arduous. People can't even discuss the
scriptures without getting in a fight. They can't even discuss
household finances without getting in a fight. They cannot even
discuss a dinner engagement without getting in a fight. They cannot
discuss anything without getting in a fight. Something wrong with
that. I'll tell you what's wrong with it, it's an absence of grace.
That's exactly what's wrong with it. And we're to be gentle, we're
to be meek. Now then, where are you headed?
Well, I'm headed right here in the next verse. What does the Spirit use to motivate
this type of behavior in a believer? Now, what does the Holy Spirit
use to motivate this in the life of a believer? In other words,
we come to our congregation, you as a pastor, and Brother
Jay as a pastor, and Joe, These Bill and these other men that
praise Charlie, we come and we remind them of these things.
All right, what are we going to, where are we going to, we're
going to put our, what are we going to, where are we going
to come from? What are we going to base it on? What's to motivate
us? Watch this, watch the next verse.
But, oh boy, we ourselves one time, We're justice, foolish, disobedient,
deceived, lustful, pleasure mad, filled with malice, envy, hateful
and hating one another. When you, the next time, Paul
says, Titus, the next time you find it in your heart to take
out your anger and vent your temper on somebody, remember
what you were before God saved you. That's what he's saying.
The next time you find it in your heart to be overly critical
of a person's behavior or a person's attitude or a person's deportment,
just remember what you were when God saved you. The next time
you look at your son or daughter and you feel like just mopping
up the floor with them because of what they said or what they
did or what they didn't do, just remember your mom and daddy sure
would have mopped up four floors with you. And if they'd have
whipped you every time you needed it, you wouldn't even be walking
now. You'd be bruises from the nape of your neck to the bottom
of your feet. Just remember what you were. The next time you want
to find fault with a man who does not believe the gospel,
remember what a rebel you were against the gospel one time.
There's nothing, there's nothing, there's nothing that will subdue
a man's pride. I mean absolutely whittle it
down to nothing. There's nothing that will subdue
a man's pride. There's nothing that will moderate
his temper and severity toward others. There's nothing that
will cause him to be gentle and forgiving like remembering. Remembering. Remembering. Remembering what? Remembering
what he was. That's what he says. He says,
you put them in mind. You put them in mind, remind
them to speak evil of nobody. You remind them to be not fighters
and quarrelsome and contentious and hard to get along. Remind
them to be gentle. Remind them to show patience
and long-suffering and kindness and mercy and forgiveness and
meekness toward everybody, everybody, everybody, for we ourselves,
huh? We ourselves. Here's my first
point, what we were. We ourselves. You want to point
out somebody else's rebellion? You want to point out somebody
else's faults? You want to point out somebody
else's sins? We ourselves. That's what Paul
says. We ourselves. Pastors, elders,
deacons, fathers, mothers. We ourselves. We ourselves. ought not to hesitate
to join in this humble confession. Let's everybody blend our voices
and hearts together. We ourselves, we ourselves. That little fellow, that little
son of yours you know, he's supposed to be in at ten, he wasn't in
until one or twelve-thirty. Did you ever do that? Yes, sir. He tends to do something, he
turns and gives you that contemptible If I was 200 pounds, I'd whip
you, look. Did you ever do that? Huh? Did you ever do that? He comes home with a toy he stole
down at the store. Did you ever do that? He's out
in the apple trees stealing the neighbor's apple. Did you ever
steal anybody's apple? Huh? That's what he's saying.
And it goes not only from these little everyday things, it goes
to Right here in the congregation, in the home, it goes in your...
Did you ever do that? Yes, sir. We ourselves. We ourselves. And there's nothing that'll whittle
the pride down. There's nothing that'll moderate
the temperament. There's nothing that'll subdue
the severity. There's nothing that will bring
forth gentleness. There's nothing that'll bring
forth a tear. There's nothing that'll bring forth forgiveness.
I wish somebody preached this to me a few years ago, what I'm
trying to show to you. Like remembering. Remembering
we, our, self. That's not talking about somebody
way off. Bob, we, our, self. Me and you. Dick, you. Charlie. That's what
we were. What were we? Well, he gives
a threefold set of evils. He's going to really, Joe, he's
going to bring us down here. He's going to humiliate us now
is what Paul's going to do. He says three sets of evils.
First, the evils of the mind. We were foolish. We didn't know
anything about wisdom. You're talking about a fool.
You're looking at the biggest fool that ever walked on this
earth. Just foolish. Absolutely foolish. I knew nothing
of any kind. We thought we were wise. I saw
an article in Reader's Digest. I told the fellows in the preacher's
school, I'm going to preach a sermon on this. When I get a little
bit older, I think I'm going to postpone it a little while.
The title of the article, I don't know what it was dealing with.
But I saw just the title, The Things We Learn After We Know
It All. Now you think about that a little
while. Oh, the things I've learned since
I knew it all. The things I'm learning. I've
learned one thing, I sure was a fool. What fools? We were foolish. Not only that,
but we were disobedient. You say, my child's so disobedient.
So was I. So was I. So were you. Disobedient. We didn't have any regard for
obedience. We got away with everything we
could get away with. We were disobedient to God. We
were disobedient to the church. We were disobedient to the laws
of God. We were disobedient to our parents. Our minds were filled with rebellion. We were disobedient. We were
deceived. We were the dupes, somebody said,
of custom, company, and ceremony. I wish my child had some individuality. He just wants to dress like everybody
else, talk like... We did too. We did too. We sang the same song. You talk
about the rock and roll. I don't like it either. If you
sentenced me to stay in a room with that junk for 24 hours,
you'd have to put me in a straitjacket when you brought me up. But I
wish you could have heard what I did listen to. Mazzy Doats
and Dozy Doats and Little Lambs at Ivy. and three little fishies
and a mommy fishie too, you know, that's just silliest stuff. Don't
sit on the apple tree with anyone else but me. You know, I tell
you, it hadn't changed much. We thought, oh, we were the dupes
of custom, company, and ceremony. We did what everybody else did.
We walked according to the course of this world, according to the
prince of the pie of the air. Our kids wear their hair long,
we wore ours like everybody else, flat tops. We didn't dare. You know why
we didn't wear it long then? Because nobody else did. You
know why they don't wear it short now? Because nobody else does.
That's right. We were deceived. We thought
we knew it. We were foolish, disobedient, deceived. And then
secondly, the evil is not only the mind, but the flesh. It says
here that we served divers lusts and pleasures. We served them.
We served lusts and pleasures. The word served means being,
Jay read it right, slaves. Slaves. Being under servitude. We were slaves. We were slaves
of what? Of lust and pleasure. Slaves. Passions. The word lust That's
not just a sexual term. That's lusting. Some people lust
for fame. Some people lust for power. Some
people lust for strength. Some people lust for gold. Some
people lust for silver. Some people lust for prestige. Some people lust... Lust is a
passion, or a longing, or a desire, or an ambition. And some people,
we at one time were ruled by these things. Our master was
greed. Some of you told me things like
you wanted to be rich, you wanted to be somebody. Your master was greed, your master
was fame, your master was flesh, your master was covetousness.
But all of it's of this world, and we're either the servants
of lust and pleasure, or the servants of Christ. That's what
a man does when he's saved, he changes masters. Paul is saying
to Titus here, go easy Titus, and tell the people, easy now.
You say, well, this person is nothing but a slave of sin. You
were too. You were too. If Christ is not
your master, it may not be drunkenness, but your sin was along another
line. You see, the thing about it is sin takes different shapes
in different people. It's all at the same headquarters. Satan is the commander-in-chief. But you've got all these different
categories in which people live. You say, well, I wouldn't do
this. Yeah, but you'd do this. Well, I wouldn't do that. Yeah,
but you'd do this. Well, I don't care for that. I've never cared
for... Well, you care for this. You see, we've each got a...
We're all in different cells under a different warden. But
we're all slaves of sin by birth and nature and practice. You
see, we were serving these things. slaves to them. They were our
masters. Greed was our master. A man may
be clean morally, outwardly, and his master be envy and hate,
bigotry. That's right. A man may never
touch a drop of liquor, but his master may be greed. He's just
grasping at greed. You know, I've seen religious
businessmen. They didn't smoke. They didn't
drink. They didn't cuss. They didn't swear. But you couldn't
trust a dollar laying on their desk. Greed. You see what I'm saying? It takes
a different form. And yet this very businessman
took great pride in the fact that he didn't do these things. He supports a missionary. He
does this. He doesn't drink. But he sells
it to somebody else. Huh? A different master. His master's money. Gold. Greed. Just a different master. That's
all. But still a slave. So he says, we ourselves. Boy,
this whittles us down, doesn't it? The evils of the mind, the
evils of the flesh. Now watch this next one. Evils
of the heart. He said, we ourselves lived in
malice. What is malice? Anger, ill temper. Ill temper. Oh, I tell you, some
old John Gildley once said, men can sin against God and we don't
get too upset, but let them cross us. And we get upset. Ill temper. Envy. Envy. Envy. How dare that man have more than
me? How dare that fellow have more influence than I have? How
dare that fellow have more recognition? Envy. Envy is such a terrible
sin. It just needs to be flushed out
of our system. Need to be brought to the place
where we can weep with those that weep and rejoice with those
that rejoice. That we can rejoice in the prosperity
and blessings that God has for any person. But we lived in envy. We hated one another. Hated one
another. This is what we were. You say,
well, I didn't do this. Well, you didn't have the opportunity. Sometimes we're restrained by
circumstances, but the sins in all of us. The sins in all of
us. And that's what he said we were.
But now here's the next thing. So he says that to promote kindness
and gentleness and grace and mercy, to promote these things,
let's remember what we were. And then secondly, let's remember
what God did for us. Let's remember what God did for
us. Down there in the cesspool. Somebody said he reached down
his hand. No. I like that song pretty well.
But he didn't reach down his hand, but he came right down
there in there beside me. and became one with me. He didn't
just reach down his hand, get his hand dirty lifting me. He
came and took my dirt, and my filth, and my slime, and my envy,
and my hate. He took it on himself. And he
lifted me, identified with me. He identified with me. I like
the outline Paul gives us. Look at verse 4. That's the first
point. The kindness, but after, here's what we were, but after
that, Kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared
when did God's mercy grace love and kindness appear toward us
first in the councils of eternity first in his eternal councils
in his everlasting covenant God Almighty was piteous and kind
toward us and then it appeared when Christ came down here in
the flesh and was made flesh and identified himself with he
appeared to put away sin with the sacrifice of himself. And
then thirdly, it appeared to us when the Spirit of God arrested
us and called us. God separated me from my mother's
womb, but call me one day by His grace. And then it shall
appear when He comes again. His mercy and kindness and love
toward us. So this is motivation. Motivation. He says that when you're dealing
with others, remember what you were. And remember what Christ
did for you. His love appeared. And then what
did he do? Verse 5, not by works of righteousness
which we've done. It wasn't because of what we
did. It was according to his mercy
that he saved us. My righteousness was filthy rags.
My salvation is all of His mercy and grace. I'm saved by His love
and mercy and grace and merits and sacrifice and sin offering
and obedience. But I tell you, if you promise
you'll never do that again, I'll forgive you. That's not what
Christ did for you. It wasn't by works of righteousness.
Huh? But I'll tell you what I'll do.
I'll show mercy to you and I'll forgive you and I'll live at
peace with you if I'm glad God didn't put it that way to me.
Aren't you glad? I'm glad he didn't. I'm glad
he didn't. It wasn't because of works of
righteousness, which I did. It's according to his blessed,
infinite, everlasting, eternal mercy, grace, and grace. We always got a if. We always
condition our love. And it's not love at all. We
condition our mercy, we condition our gift, we condition our support,
we condition everything on a return on our investment. I'll invest
a little love in you, if. I'll invest a little mercy in
you, if. I'll live at peace with you, if. Thank God He didn't
do that to me. He says He loved me from eternity. His love appeared in His graciousness
toward me. And then it wasn't by works of
righteousness, which I did. It wasn't return on His investment. It was, listen, it was according
to His mercy He saved me. According to it, by the washing
of regeneration, that is, the cleansing of His blood and His
Word, is by the renewing of the Holy Ghost. That's a new life,
a new heart, a new spirit, a new creature, a new way. Look at
verse 6, which He shed on us abundantly. That word is richly,
sufficiently, freely. He just poured it all over me
and in me and upon me and unto me and over me and through me.
His love. His love. I just love you, He
said. I just love you. I just love
you. Not by works of righteousness
which you've done do I love you, but according to my mercy I love
you. which he shed on me abundantly
through Christ." Everything I have is in Christ, through Christ,
because of Christ my Lord, justification in Christ, sanctification in
Christ, wisdom in Christ, righteousness in Christ, and all abundantly.
I like what that old lady said. She went to the seashore. She
had lived in Ireland, somebody said, all of her life. She had
never seen the seashore. She lived in a little old village
with a thatched hut. She never had enough bread, enough
water, enough milk, enough nothing. Everything had been so scarce. Tried to eke out a living, you
know, on a little plot of ground, never had enough to raise her
children, never had enough of anything. And when she was real
old, somebody took her over to see the ocean. She stood there
on the shore, and she looked at that vast ocean, and she said,
well, I'm glad to see it last. Something is plenty of. But you know, when I see the
grace of God, there's plenty of it abundantly,
like standing looking at the ocean, but always remember, you
just see the top of it. That's all you can see, the top.
You don't know how much there really is. If that dear old soul
had been able to see the bottom and the extent of it, and so
I look at the grace of God, And it's so abundant, so rich, so
full, so sufficient, so free, and yet I just see the top of
it. It just goes on and on and on, to the uttermost, infinitely. It fills the universe, the mercy
and grace of God in Christ. And he says in verse 7 that being
justified by His grace, what we really expect to be is my
last point, what we long to be, We'll be made heirs according
to the hope of eternal life. Now, brethren, if we can somehow
base our conduct, conversation, and attitude and spirit toward
our Lord, toward our brethren, toward our families, toward all
men, on this principle, on this persuasion, what I was, what
I was, what you were, What we were I don't like to think about
it to you Not proud of it We can't be proud of it. That's
not what we say. I Don't like for parents to say
well and my kids this that and the other but I was around her
myself I don't like to hear a man brag on his sins I don't like
to hear testimonies where a fella seems to be taking delight in
the fact He was a drug addict or a drunk. I don't want to hear
about it If you're going to tell that, tell it like it ought to
be told. That's wretched, filthy, hell-deserving rebellion. That's the way it ought to be
dealt with. Don't brag about your sins. But let's remember
what we were. And let's remember what God's
done for us and how He did it. His love appeared, not by return
on His investment, not because we're going to cooperate. I don't
cooperate now. I wish I did, don't you? I wish I was what I ought to
be. I'm not what I used to be by his grace, and I'm not what
I'm going to be. And then what we're going to
be. Oh, that ought to motivate us. You know, a son of the king
ought to act like a son of the king. He just ought to act like
a son of the king. In his home and church and other
places, I believe we ought to just act like sons of the king
in our attitude and spirit. and deportment and conduct. All right. I told my Sunday school
class this morning I was going to meddle in there, and I meddled
out here. But meddling is good for us. It's good for us. It's good for
us to take inventory, to examine ourselves, our relationship with
God. Because our relationship with the Lord totally, completely
determines our relationship with one another. It's all based on
that. If my relationship right with
Him It'll be right with you. If it's wrong with Him, it'll
be wrong with you.