Now let's open our Bibles again
to the portion of Scripture read by Brother Wembley a moment ago.
Incidentally, we received some response from our 11 o'clock
Sunday night radio program from Danville, Virginia, and from
Detroit, Michigan, and from Birmingham, Alabama, and from the state of
Florida, people who listened last Sunday night at 11 o'clock.
That's 10 o'clock central time, 11 o'clock eastern time, and
the place on the dial is 1530. Now I call your attention to
verse 23 of Colossians 1. Here's our text and here's our
topic. If ye continue in the faith. If ye continue in the faith. I'm not going to throw many pitches
this morning, but I pray they'll all be right across the heart
of the plate. Now, my friends, look at the
first word in this text, if. If. Do not despise the word if. I know a lot of Baptists do.
Do not despise the word if in regard to spiritual blessings.
or in regard to your relationship with Christ. It's still there. If. If. Now listen to some of
these scriptures. I'm going to quote them. You
don't need to turn to them. As I quote them, you'll immediately
call them to mind. Our Lord said to a man one time
who had requested the healing of his son, he said, If you can
believe, all things are possible to them that believe. There it
is, you meet it headlong, if you can believe. Listen to this
one, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That
says if, John, if. It doesn't say God will forgive
you of all your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness
regardless, it says if. Listen to this one, if we love
one another, God dwelleth in us. It does not say God dwelleth
in us regardless of the circumstances, regardless of the conditions.
It says if. We love one another. Listen to
this. If a man say I love God and hates his brother, he's a
liar. If he does. If a man claims to
love God, and he carries hatred and prejudice and bigotry in
his heart, that man's a liar. If he does. Listen to this. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. Oh, I had a good time with the
concordance looking up that word. In fact, Jay, it's just everywhere.
If. If. I want you to turn to these.
Turn to 1 Corinthians 15. So I say, don't you dare. Don't
you dare let some presumptuous, carnal-minded, high-pressure
preacher talk you into disregarding the word ill and disregarding
self-examination. It's a fatal mistake. Paul said
in 1 Corinthians 15, 1, brethren, moreover brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel which I preached unto you and which also you have
received and wherein you stand and by which you are saved. If
you keep in memory what I preached to you." He doesn't say, I preached the
gospel unto you and you received it and you stand in it and saved
by it regardless, whether you persevere or not, whether you
walk in faith or not, whether you live a godly life or not.
He says if you do, you're saved. Turn to Hebrews 3. We can't disregard
this word. Turn to Hebrews, the third chapter,
and listen to these scriptures. I'm saying that we cannot despise
the word ill. It's too big. Ill. Ill. And believers aren't afraid of
it. The only man who stays away from
and shuns this word is the fellow that the word condemns. It's
the fellow that the word points the finger at and says, you're
the guilty party. Look here at Hebrews 3 verse 6, but Christ
as a son over his own house, Hebrews 3 verse 6, whose house
are we? And we, everybody, the average
religionist likes to stop right there. He likes to stop right
there. I made a profession 20 odd years
ago, and I went to church and taught a Sunday school class
and gave a few shekels, you know, Engaged in a little activity,
but I've kind of lost interest, but I'm still saved. And I have
my own way, but I'm still saved. And I don't live for the glory
of God, but I'm still saved. And I'm a hellcat around home,
but I'm still saved. And that's the way we want to
leave it, right there. But it doesn't say that. It says whose
house we are? El! We hold fast the confidence
and rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. That's what it
says. Look at verse 14, but we are made partakers of Christ
because we made a profession and shook a preacher's hand and
walked down front and joined the church because we gave mental
agreement to a few scriptural facts. No sir, we are made partakers
of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to
the end. Now there it is. There it is. If, and that's what
our scripture that Jay read a moment ago, that's what it's dealing
with. It goes back here and talks about some mercies and some blessings
and some benefits and all of these things. And then verse
23 says it's yours, it's yours if you continue in the faith.
That's what it says. Now brethren, there's a preservation. of believers, and I would be
the first to preach that. There's a preservation. We are
secure in Christ. Christ said, My Father which
gave them Me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck
them out of My hand or My Father's hand. We're secure in Christ.
We're in Christ. We're given to Christ. We're
redeemed by Christ. We're secure in Christ. There's
a preservation. We're kept by the power of God.
But taught in this Word, there's a perseverance that goes with
that preservation. There's a perseverance, there's
a continuing in the faith. There's a continuing in the faith.
And we are preserved by the grace of God through faith. We're kept
by the power of God through faith. No man has ever been saved who
didn't believe on Christ and continue to believe on Christ
and die believing on Christ. That's it. Now, from between
here and heaven, according to this book, Between here and heaven
there's a gospel to be believed and to be continually believed.
And there's a race to be run and to be finished. And there's
a fight to be fought, fight the good fight of faith. There's
an enemy to be overcome, resisted. There's a faith to be kept. There's
a course to finish and there's a death to die. And let's turn
to the book of 1 John. I want you to listen to the beloved
apostle here, the tenderhearted apostle, the kind apostle who
laid his head on the Master's chest at the last table, last
supper. Here's the gentle apostle. This
is not impulsive Peter. This is not a strong and mighty
Paul, forceful Paul. This is gentle John. And he says
in 1 John 2, verse 19, they went out from us. They left us, but
they were not of us, for if they had been of us, they would, no
doubt, have continued with us. He says no doubt. There's no
doubt about it. If they had been preserved by God, they would
have persevered in faith. If they had been kept by God
and indwelt with the Holy Spirit, they would have persevered in
faith. That's what John says. If they had, they would. And
because they didn't is indication that they weren't. Now here,
go back to the text, and I want to show you in Colossians 1,
five tremendous truths. And I just believe if a fellow
can learn these five tremendous truths, that it'll equip him,
it'll equip him for this fight to be fought, and this course
to be run, and this faith to be kept, and this gospel to be
believed. The first one is found in verse
19. Here are five tremendous truths. First of all, verse 19, it pleased
the Father that in Christ should all fullness dwell. Now these
are the five truths leading up to this last one. Here, one by
one, it comes down to if you continue in the faith. First
of all, it pleased God, it pleased the Father, that in Christ should
all fullness dwell. Now turn with me to Psalm 115.
Here's one of my favorite scriptures. I brought a message one time
several years ago on the subject, It Pleased the Lord. In Psalm
115, verse 2, David is writing here and he says, Wherefore should
the heathen say, Where is now thy God? Where is now their God? And David replies, But our God
is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. And I got interested in that
and took the concordance and looked up the words, it pleased
the Lord. What did it please God to do?
Our God, David says, I know where your gods are, talking to the
heathen, he said, your gods have eyes but they can't see and ears
but they can't hear and they have hands but they can't handle
and feet but they can't walk and their statues in shrines
and altars and special places. Our God is in the heavens. The
heaven of heavens will not contain Him. The earth is His footstool.
God is omnipresent. He's everywhere, but His headquarters
are in the heavens. And our God does as He pleases. In another passage He said, as
He pleases in heaven and earth and under the earth. And I thought,
well, what has it pleased God to do? Has He indicated? Has
he revealed to us in any way what it pleased him to do? He
says, our God's in the heavens, our God created the heavens and
the earth and all that therein dwelleth. But what has it pleased
him to do? And I found a scripture that says this, talking to Abraham
and his seed, it pleased God to make you his people. It pleased
God. In other words, brethren, there's
a rendement Paul said now, according to the election of grace, the
election of God, it pleased God to make you His people. You're
His people not because it was the will of the flesh or the
will of man, but it was the will of God. It was His will, that
was His good pleasure. He says, I'm going to have a
people out of Adam's fallen race, out of Adam's depraved race,
I'm going to have a people. What are they going to be like?
They're going to be like my son, just like Christ. I'm going to
have a people to forever enjoy my presence and sing my praises. I'm going to have a people to
populate my heaven. I'm going to have a people to
live on a new heaven and new earth. It pleased God to make
you His people. And then I found out it pleased
God to bruise Christ. It says in Isaiah 53, it pleased
the Father to bruise Him. It pleased the Lord to bruise
Him. His death was no accident. It was the purpose of God. It
was fulfilling that which it pleased God to do. It pleased
God to make Christ our substitute, our sacrifice, our sin offering. It pleased the Father. That's
why it was done. Whatever is done in heaven and
earth is done because it pleases the Father, either in His directive
or permissive will. But if it didn't please Him,
it wouldn't be done. And then I found out it pleased God to
reveal Christ to some folks. Saul of Tarsus. Oh, Saul of Tarsus
was a rebel. Saul of Tarsus was a persecutor
and a blasphemer and a religious devil. He was a religious devil,
like old Rasmussen. Was that his name? Saul of Tarsus
was a religious devil. And it pleased God. Paul, he
said himself, he said, when it pleased God who separated me
from my mother's womb to reveal His Son in me, it pleased God
to reveal Christ to me. Christ is going to be revealed
to those to whom it pleases God. Now that's all there is to it.
You can fuss and fight and fume and do what you want to and fiddle
with it if you want to, but it's so. Christ is going to be revealed
to those for whom God Almighty is pleased to reveal Christ,
to whom God is pleased. And then it says it pleased God
by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. That's
the seed. That's the way God saves sinners through the preaching
of the gospel. Now let's not relegate it to
the scrap heap. Let's not push it under the table.
Let's not push it in the background. Let's not put something else
out before it. Let's exaggerate preaching. Because it's by preaching,
by the foolishness of preaching, that it pleased God to say, let
everything lead up to preaching, let everything point to preaching,
let everything promote preaching. Because it's by preaching, not
the preaching of foolishness now, but the foolishness of preaching. We got that thing twisted around
now. Every preacher thinks he's supposed to be an entertainer.
Every preacher thinks he's supposed to be a comedian. And most of
them are. The world's laughing. Everybody
else, God's not laughing, and saved people aren't laughing,
the Church is not laughing, but the whole world is laughing at
the ministry because they think they're called to be comedians.
But he doesn't say, by the preaching of foolishness. It says, God,
it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching. And what he means by that is
the preaching of the cross is to them who are perishing foolishness.
Preaching is not foolishness to a believer, it's the wisdom
and power of God. But here I see something else
in verse 19, Colossians 1, it pleased the Father who was pleased
to make you His people, who was pleased to make Christ your surety,
who was pleased to reveal Christ to you, who was pleased to make
preaching the source of faith or the foundation of faith, the
preaching of the gospel, but it pleased God that in Christ
should all fullness dwell. Brethren, what is all fullness? Now, there's two words that carry
a big message. That just loaded me down when
I looked at those two words. It pleased the Father. It's going
to be done because it pleased the Father. He's in the heavens,
He does what He pleases. And it pleased Him that in Christ
should all fullness... You want me to tell you what
all fullness is? It's all truth. Not only all truth, Christ is
the truth. I am the way, I am the truth,
he said. But it's all love. He that loveth not knoweth not
God, because God is love. Christ is all love. You can't
have love without Christ. Now, you say, well, I love people,
but I'm not saved. You love yourself. You don't
love people. You love yourself and all of
the love that's motivated out of you and from you and to others
is based on what it'll do for you, what it's done for you,
or what it'll contribute to you, or what it'll bring you. And
you let somebody cross you and you quit loving them. And that
shows you're lost. That's right. I'm telling you
all Christ is all love. It's all in Him. There's no love
outside of Christ. There's selfishness and ego.
but not love. I beg your pardon. All glories
in Christ. All glories in Christ. All of
the glory of God, the manifest image of His person, the express
image of His person, the exact image of His person is Jesus
Christ. All mercies in Christ. Outside
of Christ there is no mercy. Just like outside of that ark
there was no mercy. Outside of that ark there's death,
destruction. And outside of Christ there's
no mercy. All grace is in Christ. All righteousness is in Christ.
All justice is in Christ. It's all in Him. All things pertaining
to God for men is in Jesus Christ. Now that's all fullness. Where
is it? It's in Christ. He's the only
one who can contain it. There's no other place God can
put it. He couldn't put all fullness in an angel. He couldn't put
all fullness in a man. He couldn't put all fullness
in any creature. He couldn't put all fullness
in a denomination. He couldn't put all fullness
in a law or in ordinances. The only one who can contain
all fullness is because even the universe cannot contain Him. He contains the universe. It's
Jesus Christ, and the only one who can retain it Oh, God might
have put it in an angel, but you couldn't trust him. He might
have put it in a man, even you and me, but we can't be trusted
either. We like to think we can, but
it all depends on the circumstances. It all depends on the return. Christ Jesus is the only one
who can retain all fullness, and he's the only one fit and
proper and wise enough to distribute all fullness. It's in Him. Why is it in Him? Well, I'll
give you one answer, and that ought to be sufficient. It just
pleased God. It pleased God. It pleased God. When? When is all fullness in
Christ? Look at it. It pleased God that
in Him all fullness dwell, dwell, dwell. It's right there, right
now. It's always been in Christ. It's never been anywhere else,
and it's never exhausted, and it's never diminished, and it
continues. That's where it is. If you even
get a pinch, we used to talk, I hear the old ladies talk about
a pinch of snuff. That means just a little bit.
But if you ever get a pinch of God's mercy, you'll find it in
Christ. If you ever get a pinch of it,
if you ever get just a smithering of it, if you ever get any of
God's mercy, it'll be in Christ, God's glory, God's love, or anything
else, because in Him dwelleth all fullness, all fullness. Oh, fullness. Look at verse 9
of Colossians 2, right across the same page. For in him dwelleth,
dwelleth continually all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. That's where it is. Alright,
here's number 2, verse 20. And, having made peace, here's
the second tremendous truth. and having made peace through
the blood of his cross by him, by Christ, to reconcile all things
unto himself. I say whether they be things
in earth or things in heaven. I want to ask you a question.
Would you do something for me? Turn to two verses of Scripture.
First of all, I want everybody in here to turn to Matthew 10.
Matthew chapter 10. Matthew chapter 10, verse 34
and 35. Now just hold that right there, put your hand right there,
and then turn, that's Matthew 10, 34, and then turn to Luke,
chapter 2, verse 14. Now I want you to do this, I
want you to listen, and I want you to get a hold of this right
here, it's very important. Brother Barnard one time brought
a whole series of messages on this and brought a series of
articles one time, wrote a series on this, because this is what
the world does not understand, this is the misconception that
the world has of Jesus Christ. Total misconception. Not only His person, but His
mission. Alright, let's read Luke 2 first.
Luke 2, verse 13. You know the setting. Here are
the angels that have come down to announce the birth of Christ.
Verse 13 said, And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude
of heavenly hosts, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the
highest and on earth peace. Goodwill toward men. That's on
every Christmas card you send. Peace, the Prince of Peace. Peace
on earth, goodwill toward men. We have a special love whenever
two nations are fighting, they quit fighting around Christmas
because that's peacetime. Jesus is the Prince of Peace.
We're supposed to be at peace. All right, let's hold that right
there now, and let's go to Matthew chapter 10. Let's see what that
says. I told you to hold that place there. Verse 34, Christ
is speaking. Think not that I am come to send
peace on the earth. I came not to send peace, but
a sword. Whoo! How are you going to handle
those two Scriptures? We done got ourselves all...
can't preach those on the same Sunday. You separate those about
seven days apart, you know, because folks can't handle that. Want
me to handle it for you? All right, Christ Jesus is verily
the Prince of Peace. Christ Jesus is verily Shallow
Peace. Salem, King of Peace. King of
Salem, King of Peace. He did bring peace. Yes, sir,
he did. He did not fail. He came down
here and fulfilled what those angels said. They said, we bring
you glad tidings of great joy. Unto you is born a Savior, Christ
the Lord. And they glorified God and said,
peace on earth, good will toward men. Christ brought peace. But
let me tell you the peace they're talking about. When Adam fell
and the race was plunged into darkness and death and separation
from God, We were under God's wrath and God's judgment. We were at war with God, and
God was at war with us. And Christ came down here, the
Prince of Peace, and He reconciled us to God. He brought peace from
God to every believer. Turn to 2 Corinthians 5, and
let me show you that. God reconciled the world in Christ
to Himself. God was in Christ. You see this,
2 Corinthians 5 verse 19. Now look at it. In verse 18,
the Apostle Paul says, 2 Corinthians 5 verse 18, And all things are
of God, who hath reconciled us to himself. He's reconciled us
by Jesus Christ and he's given to us a ministry of reconciliation
to wit, or namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world
unto himself. In other words, because of our
sin and darkness and evil, God was angry. God is angry with
the wicked. That's what Psalms says, God's
angry with the wicked. I know the preachers can travel
around here saying God loves everybody and God's at peace
with everybody, but the Scripture doesn't say that. God loves men
in Christ. God is at peace with men in Christ. God's mercy is upon men in Christ.
I tell you no lie, I tell you the truth. He that believeth
not on the Son, the wrath of God abideth on him. Isn't that
what Scripture says? The wrath of God, he that hath
not Christ, hath not life, hath not love, hath not God. He's
a stranger, a foreigner, an alien. He's without God, without Christ,
without hope in this world. Where there's no hope, there's
no love. That's so. God hateth. I hate to say this
without reading it. Let's turn to Psalms 5 because
somebody's going to say that I made this up. But let's turn
to Psalm 5. Psalm 5, verse 5. Psalm 5, verse
5. The foolish, look at this, the
foolish shall not stand in his sight, thou hatest all workers
of iniquity. Jacob hath a love, Esau hath
a hated. Brethren, what I'm saying to
you is the truth. God being holy cannot love unholy. God being love cannot love, cannot
tolerate, cannot live with, cannot look upon, cannot fellowship
with, cannot commune with hatred. Can't do it. God Almighty being
justice and righteousness cannot side with unrighteousness. He
cannot be a party to iniquity. Oh, but you say God loves the
sinner and hates his sin. The sinner and his sin are one
and the same. You can't separate the sinner
and his sin. Only by substitution, by Christ
separating me from my sin, God loves a sinner now, but this
sinner's got no sin. That's right. That's right. In
Christ we have no sin. In Christ there is no sin. Christ
has paid for our sins. Christ has cleansed us from all
sin. You know what it says, Bill?
Christ has cleansed us. For heaven, the sinner is sin.
Notice this. We read over there in Romans
8, 7, the natural mind is at enmity with God. That's not what
that says. It says the natural mind is enmity. It is enmity. The sinner and
his sin are one and the same. And Almighty God, I beg of you
to hear me out. Jesus Christ came down here.
There's no peace. There's no peace toward unbelievers
on the part of God, and there's no peace between unbelievers
on the part of God. But Jesus Christ, who is our
peace, came down here and reconciled those whom he represented. He
reconciled us to God. He removed the cause of wrath.
He removed the cause of anger. He removed the cause of condemnation. There's no condemnation to them
who are in Christ, who are redeemed in Christ, who are loved in Christ,
who are accepted in Christ, who are seated in Christ. There's
no wrath anymore. God's reconciled us to Himself. He's reconciled us. There's no
cause for wrath. We have no sin in Christ. And
he's made peace between believers. Christ is our peace. He's our
peace with God. He's our peace with ourselves.
That's right. When our conscience, if our conscience
and hearts begin to speak up and say certain things in justice
to us, we say, well, thank God, Christ is my justification. Christ
is my righteousness. And he's peace between believers.
Here are two believers in an argument. And they settle that
argument because Christ dwells in them. And they say to one
another, they say, here, you take it. I want you to have it.
I'd rather you have it than me. Let's not argue over it. You
have your way. You have your will. Give me your
coat. Here, take my cloak too. Go with me a mile. Let's go too.
I like your company. You see, that's peace. But that
can only be realized as Christ dwells in both of you. For the unbelievers, now listen
to me, I'll tell you the truth. It says there in our text, in
Colossians, you see it there, in Colossians 1, verse 20, He
made peace through the blood of His cross. And by Him, He
reconciled all things to Himself, whether they be in earth or heaven.
Christ has come down, He's the Prince of Peace, He's the King
of Salem. He's my peace with the Father. I look toward heaven,
I say, Our Father, We call Him Father because Christ is our
Lord and Savior. He's made us sons of God. And
then Christ is the peace in my conscience and heart. When I
read the Word and the Word speaks in judgment about my thoughts
and my deeds and these things, I say, I want to be perfect.
I want to live for God. But Christ is my peace. And when
a brother and I fellowship together, Christ dwells in both of us.
We love each other. We're at peace. Christ brings
peace to the home. Where there's no peace in the
home, Christ does not dwell. Husbands and wives fight, one
of them don't know Christ. I don't care what you say, one
of them doesn't know Christ. He's the Prince of Peace. He
says, I came to send not peace but a sword. He didn't mean between
believers. He meant between believers and
unbelievers, Jay. Believers and unbelievers are going to have
trouble. If a believer tries to build a home with an unbeliever,
they're going to have trouble. But two believers aren't, because
they have peace. There's peace with God, there's
peace in conscience, and there's peace with others. And Christ
is that peace, because He reconciled. You see, He reconciled us to
God and took away the wrath. He reconciled us to one another.
And he took down the middle wall of petition between Jew and Gentile,
between bond and free, between male and female. He just tore
down that wall between us, that wall of selfishness and wall
of ego and wall of pride and wall of having my way. Christ
destroyed it. And now the joy is pleasing others. That's the joy of living. It's
more blessed to give than to receive. That's language an unbeliever
doesn't know anything about. It's a language an unbeliever
doesn't talk. because he doesn't know the Prince
of Peace. But now wait a minute, verse 21, here's another tremendous
truth. God's put everything in Christ, and Christ, as far as
God is concerned in our relationship with Him, made it all right.
And then now watch verse 21. And you that were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind, By wicked words, He's even reconciled
you. Now there are two meanings to
this, and I'm going to take the second one. The first meaning
is this. The first meaning is this. God's
put everything in Christ, His Son. He sent His Son down here
on a mission of peace. Peace on earth. Peace on earth. Goodwill from God to men. Goodwill
between believers. Goodwill. And you, even you,
Even you. Even you, Saul of Tarsus. Even
you, Simon Peter. Even you, John Halson. Even you,
Hermann Poe. Even you who were alienated,
who was an enemy of God, who hated the God of the Bible, who
hated His grace, who hated His redemption by grace. Even you. He's reconciled you to Him. But
here's the second meaning of that that I prefer here. He's
reconciled you to God. In other words, when Christ came
down here and died on that cross, now were you with me? When He
died on that cross, He paid my debt, put away my sin, cleansed
my unrighteousness, made me holy and unblameable, unreprovable
in Him, and God Almighty didn't hate me anymore. His wrath, and
I was a child of wrath even as others, but Christ put away that
wrath. But boy, I'm telling you, it's
still in here, wasn't it? Saul of Tarsus, would you doubt
this? Saul of Tarsus, when he was standing there holding the
coats of the people who stoned Stephen, did he love God? No,
he didn't love God. He didn't love God. Did he love
Christ? No, he didn't love Christ. Did
he love Stephen? He hated Stephen. But God loved him. Christ had
reconciled God, but old Saul wasn't reconciled. He still hated
the gospel Bible. He still hated gospel by grace.
He still hated redemptive love. He still hated the mercy of God. He still had hatred, enmity,
alienated. On the road to Damascus, Bob,
God reconciled him. On the road to Damascus. On the
cross of Calvary, God reconciled Saul to himself. On the road
to Damascus, he reconciled himself to Saul. He broke his spirit,
conquered his heart, brought him to love and not hate Christ.
And so this is what he's saying. He's put all fullness in Christ,
who reconciled you to God. But bless your heart, the same
Savior who reconciled you to God also in his grace and mercy
by his Spirit and Word has reconciled you to God. He conquered you. He's conquered you. This is what
I'm saying, that this kind of preaching won't hold water, James.
It just won't do it. Having God reconciled in the
sinner unreconciled, it won't do it. It will not do it. This
thing of claiming Jesus Christ as your Savior and later on making
Him your Lord, it won't work. And this, some of you, I hope
not, but I fear, with your heads, you've accepted a doctrine. and
a system of truth. And what you've accepted is true.
It's as true as the writings on that paper. And you believe
as strongly as anybody in this world that the Bible is the Word
of God, and that God is God, and Jesus Christ died on the
cross and was buried and rose again, and that men are saved
by grace. But you've never been conquered.
You've never been broken. You've never had the suit knocked
out of you by God's grace. You've never been brought down.
You're still too high and mighty. You're still too arrogant. You're
still too proud. You're still too self-minded. You're still too rebellious.
You're still too hair-triggered. You're still too filled with
fight. I think a man ought to have some sphyserictum, whatever
that means, Jim. You know, that's just a word
I picked up down there where we were raised. But I'll tell
you, it's not where God's concerned. and not where love's concerned.
And you women too, you rebels, that's right, God never conquered
you, you've never been saved. Now this is what I'm talking
about, I'm talking about Christ reconciled us to God, but he
also, he also, Jay, he also breaks the spirit and brings a man to
submission and humility and a contrite heart and a broken spirit. And
that man can say, I'm sorry. And that man can say, I love
you. And that man can deal kindly and temperately and tenderly
and graciously and gently with those with whom he deals. Or
he doesn't know Christ. Now, I'm not saying Christ doesn't
know him. I'm not saying Christ someday
won't save him, but he hasn't yet. Is that all right? He hasn't yet. He hasn't yet. And I'll tell you this, this
is what I mean by conquering. I mean it's all right for God
to be God now, as far as you're concerned. That's all right,
I'm willing for God to be God. Is a man saved who's not willing
for God to be God? It's all right for Christ to
be the sole Savior. Is a man saved with whom it's
not all right? What he does is right. I'm not
mad at God anymore. And I'm not mad at anybody else.
That's it. I'm not mad at God anymore. And
I'm not mad at anybody else. I'm not mad at anybody else.
That's you and you that were alienated, you that were enemies
in your mind, you who had a mind of enmity and a mind of rebellion
and a mind of defiance and a mind of determination and a mind of
your own way and will. He's reconciled you. You've been
reconciled to Him, and when He reconciled you to Him, He reconciled
you to His preacher. And He reconciled you to your
wife, and reconciled you to your husband, and reconciled you to
one another. He reconciled you. You put down
your... You ever seen some religious
people? They always got their fists up. They're always looking for a
fuss. They're always looking for a fight. I just don't believe
that. I believe people who are saved
have their hands out to give and to receive. They've been
reconciled. They're not mad. They're not
mad anymore. Angry. The fourth thing now, quickly,
I hope you'll think about this. He says, "...in the body of his
flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and
unreprovable in his sight. God, it please God that in Christ
should all fullness dwell to reconcile you to God and to reconcile
God to you. And watch this, to present you,
you, me, to present you holy and unblameable, unreprovable
in his presence. I tell you, I got to thinking
about this yesterday. I got to thinking about the presence
of God, the glory, the holiness, the immaculate, infinite love
and beauty and riches of His glory in me and you. We find ourselves presented before
His court. Oh boy, by name, by name. And the Lord Jesus Christ, there's
the Heavenly Father. And I know this is paraphrasing
and speculative, but this is what it says, something along
this line, Heavenly Father, I want to present to you, I want to
present to you, this person. And I'm telling
you, It's going to have to be something done for me before
that takes place. I can't stand up there in my
rags. Wouldn't you be ashamed if you
were going to appear before the Queen of England next week? Wouldn't
you be kind of ashamed to wear your t-shirt and tennis shoes
and your blue jeans? And stand there, especially if
there's ragged. And stand there in front of her and you'd be
kind of ashamed, wouldn't you? You'd got to look for a chair
to get behind, you know, to wave at her over the chair. But I
tell you, boy, if you had a brand new suit, and a brand new white
shirt and tie and a pair of cufflinks and shiny black shoes and boy,
stand there in a $500 suit and you just turn all the way so
they could all get a good look at it. You know, well, the Lord
Jesus Christ is going to present me clothed in His righteousness. Whoo! I'm going to turn around
and let everybody look at it. You know, just get this. How's
it look from back there? How's it look from the from the
blimp up there and all these places. Present me, not in my
righteousness, in His holiness. He's going to present me. He's
going to present me. Here He is! Here! I went after
Him and here He is! I went to save Him and here He
is! I came down from heaven not to do my will, but the will of
Him that sent me, and this is the will of Him that sent me,
that of all that He has given me I lose nothing. Here He is!
I guarantee you, through many dangers, toils and snares, I
have already come. It was grace that brought me
safe thus far, and grace will take me home. He's going to present
me. I'm longing for the day, aren't
you? He's going to present me. Look how He's going to present
me, holy, unblameable, and even—now you may not believe this, but
this is so—even the eye of God Charlie will see no fault in
me. Unreprovable. Unblameable. Now that's really,
let me tell you this, that's really the only way you can stand
in His presence. Who shall stand in His presence?
He that hath clean hands and a pure heart. That's the only
way you can get there. That's the only way you can exist
there. That's the only way you can continue there. So I've got
to have Christ. You see that? You can go on talking
about being saved by works and baptism and all this junk, but
let me tell you this, to stand in His presence, I've got to
be holy, unblameable, and unreprovable. And He's the only one who can
present me that way. He's going to present me. It's
His holiness, His grace. Now watch this last thing, and
I quit. Brother Mahan, that sure sounds good, all of that. All
right, to whom is it given? Verse 23, "...to you, if you
continue in the faith." I'm not in a faith, the faith. Sincerity
is not the Savior, Christ is. If you continue in the faith
of Christ, grounded, you watch out if you wishy-washy ways.
You watch out. Grounded and settled. I'm just
not sure where I ought to go to church. I'm just not sure
who I ought to listen to. I'm just not sure what to believe.
You're not grounded nor settled if you continue in the faith
grounded and settled. I know whom I have to leave.
Brethren, I'm telling you this, I'm not, there's not one, there's
not one, there's not one fluctuation as far as works enter into my
salvation. I don't have any works. or deeds,
I don't have any. Or self-righteousness, I don't
have any. All fullness is in Christ. All
of it. All of it. And by the body of
his flesh and by the blood of his cross, he reconciled us to
God. And he'll present us faultless
and holy and unblameable and unreprovable in God's sight.
And that's the faith in which I'm grounded and settled.