A Review of Life

I want you to turn to Psalm 40
and just let the Bible Let me make a few remarks by
way of introducing this message, a review of life and faith. We are, unfortunately, extremists. It is difficult for us to find
balance, and there are two extremes that are to be aborted. First
of all, a state of melancholy and depression, a state of melancholy
and despair which doubts the mercy of God in Christ, is to
be aborted. Now, if someone is here this
morning and that is your state, I'm not preaching down at you. I don't even have you in mind. I'm stating some things that
are true. If the scripture applies to us, let us receive it. Let
us not justify a position. Let's not justify a condition. Let's let the Word of God judge
us. And this state is to be avoided. This is an extreme. God intends
for his people to have assurance. The Lord intends for his people
to enter into a rest. He said, My peace I give unto
you. Not as the world giveth, give
I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be
afraid. Believers in the Bible had assurance.
They had confidence in Christ. Job said, I know my Redeemer
liveth. John said, We know we've passed from death unto life.
Paul said, I know whom I have believed. So a state of melancholy
and depression and despair in regard to your relationship with
Christ is not good. It's to be avoided. It's not
a commendable state at all. People that go around, well,
I hope I'm saved. I hope when it's over I'm saved.
I can't know. That's not the way God intends
for his people to behave. We know that we've passed from
death unto life. Assurance is there. So that's
an extreme. The second extreme to be avoided
is this state of presumption. Now, you may think I'm contradicting
everything I've said thus far. But I'm afraid of that presumption,
that attitude, that confidence, which says, I know I'm saved.
The whole world may go to hell, but I'm not going to hell. I'm
one of God's own. I believe in Christ, and that
settles it. I don't have any doubts and fears. I'm afraid
of that. And that's to be avoided. Now,
I can't explain this. I just know it's so. I know that
the Christian is an unexplainable paradox. He's the most miserable,
happiest fellow in the world. He's the emptiest, fullest, poorest,
richest, dumbest, smartest person in the world. All of these are
things he experiences. And these two extremes are to
be avoided. Someone said, God has hedged
us about, on the one hand with warnings lest we presume, on
the other hand with promises lest we despair. God doesn't
want us to walk either road. He doesn't intend for his people
to walk either road. That's not his divine purpose,
that I walk the road of presumption, carelessness, indifference, or
that I walk the road of melancholy, depression, and despair. Neither
place is in God's will. But I'll tell you this, I believe
I'm more afraid of what we have today than the old Puritans and
some of the old line Baptists. They encouraged melancholy, some
of them did. Some of them encouraged a state
of not being certain about your relationship with Christ. But
I tell you, I'm more afraid of presumption than I am of melancholy
and doubt. I had rather, for myself, be
bothered with the despair and the melancholy and depression
than to be hiding in a false religious refuge. Because that
man, that doubter, can be encouraged. But I have found that the religious
professor who is certain and sure of his eternal well-being
is beyond help. He's in a refuge of lies. He's
building on a false foundation. He's hiding in a storm shelter
that is protecting him even from your encouragement or warnings
or preaching or message. And after all, the scripture
teaches us to examine ourselves. It does. The Bible says this.
Listen, let me just read you a few. You can jot these scriptures
down. 1 Corinthians 11, 28 says, Let a man examine himself. And
so let him eat. In other words, when we come
to the Lord's table, when we have the Lord's table here and
I'm up here reading the scriptures, preparing us to take the Lord's
table, the deacons are sitting here waiting to serve. and you're
there waiting to partake, and I'm up here reading the scriptures.
We are to examine ourselves whether we understand what's going on,
whether we discern what the bread represents, what the wine represents,
whether we have partaken in the broken body and shed blood of
Christ. That's to be done every time we come together. That's
what Paul said. I don't think we're supposed to look around
and say, well, now, you're not a member of the Church, so you can't take
it, and you're not in fellowship, you can't take it, and you did
something wrong last week, you can't, that's not what we, that's
not it. And you lose the whole understanding,
the whole blessing of God's table when you make it a Church fellowship
supper. It's the Lord's table. And when we come together to
take the Lord's table, we are to do some examining, that's
right, but we're to examine ourselves whether we discern or understand
what this is all about. This is my body broken for you,
this is my blood shed for you, and that's to be done every time
we take the Lord's table. Every time. Whether we discern
the Lord's table, whether we discern his body and his blood. 2 Corinthians 13 says this, examine
yourselves whether you be in the faith. Know ye not your own selves,
how that Christ dwelleth in you, except ye be reprobates? 2 Peter
1.10 says, Wherefore the right of brethren give diligence to
make your calling and election sure. If you do these things,
you are not faithful. And then 1 Peter 3.15 says, You
be ready to give an answer to any man that ask you a reason
of the hope that's in you. That's constant examination,
isn't it? That's a constant review of position
and principle. That's a constant review of relationship
and reason for my hope. That's to go on all the time.
Now, some people wait until a day that a preacher preaches a sermon
like this. They go on, they have little
time for personal inventory, they have little time for soul
searching, they have little time for confirmation of vows and
commitments to God, they have little time for examining faith,
and when the preacher comes along with a sermon like this today,
they get busy finding out, you know, if they've got a hope.
Well, that's not good. Or some people, wait till they
get sick. Now, boy, they can get real, in a real mood for
soul-searching when they're sick in the hospital. All you've got
to do is lay them up for a few days, and they begin to think
on their relationship with God. I've heard, I've gone in, people
have been in the hospital, they'll preach, I'll tell you, when you
come to this place, you do some soul-searching. Well, I say,
this ain't the place for it. That's what I want to say, but
I ain't got the courage to talk that way. Where is the place for it? It's
when you wail. Anybody can start doing examination
when there's trouble. That's when we examine the house,
see if it's going to leak when it starts raining. That ain't
the time. You know when the day to look and see if you got a
leak? When it's not raining. That's when you fix leaks. We need to think about what I'm
saying here now. It's serious. Some people wait till they hear
a sermon like this, or they wait till they get in the hospital
and get sick and get in severe trouble or sorrow, and then they
start getting real religious. Real concern, real upset. Now,
I've seen too much of this, and I'm not becoming callous. I want you to understand what
I'm saying now. I'm not becoming without feeling, but somebody
gets all sick, and then they get on the phone and start calling
the preacher to come and talk to them about the Lord. And I'll
go, but I'd rather not. Now, you think about this, men,
don't misjudge me. You here who had some experience
along this line know what I'm talking about. It doesn't matter
who the individual is. When he faces death, he's going
to try to make some kind of bargain with God. Now, that's human nature. People start getting old and
death is right around the corner. Sure, they begin to think about
eternal matters. I have never, I've been preaching
31 years, and I've preached a lot of funerals. And at the funeral,
generally, there's a brother, he's all broken up and weeping.
He says, I'm going to preach, I tell you, I'm going to straighten
out. You look for me Sunday, I'll be there. Another man, I
guess it's so commonplace, I preach and boy, he said, now that message
touched me, I'm going to start reading my Bible, I'm going to
start coming to church. Another said, well, Mother's in heaven
and I'm sure going to be preaching, I'm going to do something about
this, I'm going to meet Mother. I've never in 31 years ever had anybody
under a situation like that prove to be a diligent follower of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Or I've had some make professions,
even be baptized, even come to church for a few Sundays, a few
months. But never, there's not anybody here, to my knowledge,
if I may be wrong, but rarely is it so, who was converted because
somebody died. Or who was converted because
somebody got sick. Or was converted even because
you got sick. Now, when is the time? And I pray you give this some
consideration now. I'm not saying it's not true,
because our Lord Jesus Christ had a thief on the cross who
was dying. And he looked to Christ and he said, Lord, remember me
when thou comest into thy kingdom. And the Lord said, today shalt
thou be with me in paradise. There was just one thief on the
cross, lest we despair, and only one, lest we presume. Only one. Spurgeon said, what's wrong with
deathbed repentance is it doesn't last. When people get well, they leave
it. The time, and now you listen
to this, the time for searching, the time for taking inventory,
the time for reviewing life and faith is during the days of understanding,
when emotional pressures are not pushing in upon you, when
you are at yourself, as somebody said. The day of prosperity is the
day to take inventory. That's when you'll determine
your real relationship with God. The day to review your life is
not in the darkness of a storm. The day to review your life is
when the light is shining brightly, and then your real relationship
with God will be revealed. Today is the day of salvation. I like what John Newton wrote,
"'Tis a point I long to know," right now. "'Oft it gives me
anxious thought,' not just when I'm in trouble, Do I love the
Lord or no? Am I his or am I not? Right now.
Lord, decide this doubtful case, thou who art the people's son.
Shine upon this work of grace, if it be indeed begun. Let me
love thee more and more, if I love at all, I pray, and if I have
not loved before, help me to begin today. Such a review of life is found
here in Psalm 40. David is reviewing his life.
He said in Psalm 40 verse 1, I waited patiently for the Lord.
He inclined unto me and heard my cry. He brought me up also
out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay. He set my feet
on a rock, established my going. He hath put a new song in my
mouth, even praise unto our God. Many shall see it in fear and
shall trust in the Lord. Blessed is that man that maketh
the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn
aside to lies. Many, O Lord my God, are thy
wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which
are to usward. They cannot be reckoned up in
order unto thee, if I would declare and speak of them They are more
than can be numbered. That's a review of life. Right
now, in the full enjoyment of ease from pain and distress and
discomfort, in the full enjoyment of life and happiness and in
the prime of your life of experience, 45, 50, 55, 60, After all is said and done, not
under any pressure of lowering a casket into a grave, not under
any pressure of the presence of a cancer or a bad organ in
the body, not under any pressure at all to make any kind of decision
so that mother will be happy and daddy won't cry anymore,
but under the light of freedom from all of these pressures,
Christ is my Lord. Christ is my rock. Christ is
my refuge. I look back, and there's a whole
lot there I'd like to erase because of imperfections and failures,
but I can say, Oh Lord, my hope is in thee. I love thy gospel. It's in my heart, it's in my
mind, it's interwoven in my soul. Everything that's behind me,
everything that's before me, everything that's above me, everything
that's beneath me, and everything that is in me. is because of
your love and your grace in Christ Jesus, the Lord. This is the
time. This is what I'm saying. Now
is the accepted time. Behold, today is the day of salvation. Seek ye the Lord while he may
be found. Call upon him while he is near. Everybody in the world will grab
a life preserver when the boat is sinking. The man is wise,
wise, wise, who can put his own with understanding when the boat
is on the glassy seas as smooth as a mirror. Here are five things that David
said he has preached in verse 9 through 11. And in these five things you'll
see the hope and confidence and foundation upon which we build
our hope and our ministry. In verse 9, David said, I've
preached righteousness. I've preached righteousness.
Verse 10, he says, I've not hid thy righteousness within my heart. This is the main point to be
dealt with in our testimony, in our review of life, righteousness. It is by righteousness that a
man is made fit for heaven, Charlie. It's by righteousness. But whose
righteousness? It is by righteousness that men
are made sons of God. But whose righteousness? It is by righteousness that men
fellowship with the living God, men walk with God, but Whose
righteousness? David said, I have preached thy
righteousness. Now, preaching righteousness
must come from a threefold approach. Now, watch this. If we have rested
in and if we have declared and we have trusted in and we have
proclaimed and preached God's righteousness, we approach it
in a threefold manner. Number one, we preach God's positive
righteousness in himself. Do you understand what I'm saying?
God is holy. God is righteous. Shall not the
judge of the earth do right? The absolute, immutable, immaculate
holiness of God struck fear in the hearts of all who saw it.
David said, I have preached thy righteousness. Now, if we're
going to have confidence, if we're going to have assurance,
if we're going to examine our refuge, if we're going to examine
our foundation, if we're going to find a reason for the hope
that is within us, we're going to have to find it in the Scriptures.
And David said, I've preached thy righteousness. This is my
hope, thy righteousness. God is holy. God is righteous,
and everybody who ever saw the immaculate, immutable holiness
of God, it struck fear in their hearts. Job said, Lord, I've
heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth
thee, wherefore I hate myself. In the year that King Uzziah
died, I saw the Lord high and lifted up, his train filled the
temple, and the cherubims and seraphims cried, Holy, holy,
holy Lord God of hosts. And he said, I cried, O Lord,
I'm a man of unclean lips. Daniel said, When I saw the Lord,
My beauty melted into corruption. John said on the Isle of Patmos,
when I saw the Lord, I fell at his feet as a dead man. The children
of Israel, when they saw the mountain with its glory and holiness,
they fell back and cried, Lord, Moses, don't let the Lord speak
to us. You get between us and God. God's
holy. And if we preach his righteousness,
we preach it in such a way that his absolute, immutable holiness
strikes fear in the hearts of men and women. I know this is not what's being
preached today. Everybody ought to love Jesus.
I know that, but we fear the Lord. If you'll buy your Bible
and go through the Bible, you'll find that the word Fear, in reference
to our relationship with God, is used just as often as the
word love or more. The beginning of wisdom is the
fear of the Lord. Come, my children, I'll teach
you how you ought to fear the Lord. Fear God. And if we see his holiness, his
immutable holiness, his absolute holiness, his righteousness,
God's righteousness, his positive righteousness in himself, That's
the reason Adam ran and hid, from the glory of God. No man
can look on God and live. And then secondly, we preach
the righteousness by which God justifies the ungodly. If we
understand righteousness, God's righteousness, we understand
it in a threefold way. We understand it first to mean
that God is holy. God is immaculately holy. There's
no darkness in him. There's no shadow of turning.
There's no change. Perfect in knowledge, in wisdom,
in holiness, in all things. Independently holy. And then
secondly, we preach the righteousness by which he justifies the ungodly. Turn to Romans 3. Let me show
you this over here. Romans 3, verse 25. This is so important. Romans
3, he says, Romans 3, verse 26, "...to declare, I say at this
time, his righteousness, that he might be just, and the justifier
of him that believeth in Jesus." We must not ask for pardon at
the expense of God's righteousness. This would be to dishonor God.
We must not ask God to forgive our sins. without our sins being
paid for. This would dishonor God's righteousness.
We must not ask God to set us free and to deliver us from condemnation
without that law and that justice being satisfied. That would be
to dishonor God's holiness. Say we are in charge of an organization
and there are certain rules laid down for entrance into that organization. And my friend Cecil Roach comes
to me, and I'm the president of that organization. He comes
to me and he says, now, Brother Henry, I'd like to join. And
I say, I'd like to have you. But there are certain things
on there I can't meet. bends at you, you know, and you're
my friend, and I love you. I'll waive these things in your
regard. That's dishonest. But now, I
know that we bend things, and so for the mother, sister, child,
you absolutely cannot go to Johnny's house Friday night at 8 o'clock.
You just can't go. So he comes along about 6.30,
and can I go? No, you can't go. About 7.15. Mother, this... Well, I'll tell
you, this one time now you can do it. No, that's not right.
You see, I'm not saying it's not right for you, but it's not
right for God. I'm saying you're fallible in your reasoning and
in your understanding and in your perception, but God's perfect
and what God says must stand. I'm not saying you and I are
to take our stand. We make mistakes. And we set
down certain rules and regulations, and they are not to be unbending.
Our rules can be bent, but God's rules can't. Here's a perfect. You understand what I'm saying?
God must be just if he's going to justify you and me. He's righteous. Paul said, or David said, I'll
preach righteousness. I know the first reference of
this scripture is to Christ. I know that, but it belongs to
David, it belongs to me. But he said, I'll preach righteousness.
I'll preach your holiness. God is to be feared. And secondly,
I preach your righteousness in justifying the ungodly, how God
is just and justify by sending Christ down here to pay the debt.
And then we preach God's thirdly, God's method of imparting righteousness
by the power of his Holy Spirit. Now listen to me. God's people
are declared to be holy, that's right. God's people are holy. They're not just declared holy.
We don't just preach an imputed righteousness. Brethren, if we
do, we violate God's word. We preach an imparted righteousness
too. Not only am I justified and righteous
and sanctified before God, but I am also being sanctified
by the work of the Holy Spirit progressively. before men. Now, it does matter what people
think. I'm not saying we're to trim
our gospel to suit anybody. You know better than that. But
I believe that our lives are to be conducted in such a way
that we bring glory to Christ, and the man or woman who loves
Christ wants that to be so. He wants to be truthful. He wants
to be godly. He wants to be holy. He wants
to be holy as his Father in heaven is holy. He wants to be merciful
as his Father is merciful. He wants to be righteous as his
Father is righteous. He wants to be kind as his Father
is kind. He wants to be like Christ. So
when David said, I have preached thy righteousness, He meant by
that, I preach God's positive righteousness in himself. He
is holy. God is holy. Who do I think I
am to dare call God my Father? He's so holy and I'm so unholy.
He's so righteous and I'm so unrighteous. Innumerable evils
encompass me. My iniquities have taken hold
upon me. I'm not able to look up. That's
the reason the publican would not so much as lift his eyes
to heaven. Heaven's holy. He was unholy.
He just smote on his breast. How can I have any fellowship
with God in his immutable holiness? Because Christ came down here
and brought me God's righteousness by his perfect obedience. In
Christ, I'm holy. In Christ, I'm accepted. All
right? That's the threefold approach
to preaching righteousness. God's positive righteousness
in himself, God's righteousness in justifying the ungodly through
Christ the Lord, being just and justified. And thirdly, the imparted
righteousness of God by the Holy Spirit. If any man be in Christ,
he's a new creature. That's right, got a new attitude,
new conduct. All right, look at the second
thing quickly. David said, I have declared thy
righteousness, verse 10, I have declared thy faithfulness. God
keeps his promises. God is a faithful God. This is
one reason why, another reason why I have hope. I understand
his righteousness in a limited fashion, as a man can understand
it, as God's taught it. Not saying I've apprehended or
attained, I haven't. But I do understand this righteousness,
and I understand this faithfulness. Turn to Romans 4.21. Listen to
this right here. Romans 4.21. He's talking about Abraham here,
and he said in Romans 4.21, "...and being fully persuaded that what
God had promised he was able to perform." That's what Abraham believed.
That's what he believed, that what God promised he'd do. Hath
he said, and shall he not do it? He said in Malachi 3.6, I
am the Lord, I change not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed.
He said in Romans 11.29, the gifts and calling of God are
without change. He said in John 10.27, my sheep
hear my voice, I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. You want to know the two foundations
on which we build our hope and our ministry? God's righteousness and God's
faithfulness. That's the two foundations. I believe in everlasting love
and an everlasting covenant. That's what David said before
he died. He said, this is my salvation, this is my desire.
God hath made with me an everlasting covenant. and its order in all
things ensure." That's the two things. God's righteousness and
God's faithfulness. I don't know what will happen
to me tomorrow. I don't know what misfortune,
humanly speaking, I'll suffer. I don't know what direction I
may fly off in, but I know God is unchangeable. in his righteousness
and in his faithfulness. And then thirdly, he said in
verse 10, I have preached thy righteousness, thy faithfulness,
and thy salvation. See verse 10, Psalm 40, I have
preached thy salvation. Here's something I want you to
get now if you struggle with these other things, but get this.
This is so important. There was a man called Simeon.
who was in the temple when Joseph and Mary brought the child Jesus
to the temple. And the Lord had said to Simeon
that he would not die until he had seen the Christ. That's what
he promised him. And that old gentleman was in
the temple when Mary and Joseph brought him in Christ and to
do with him after the ceremonies which Jewish children participated
in at that time. And they laid him in the arms
of that old man who had that promise. who was waiting for
the consolation of Israel, and he looked at that child and he
lifted his eyes to heaven and he said, Lord, now let me die
or depart in peace. I have seen thy salvation. He didn't see Christ down on
the cross. He didn't see his body broken.
He didn't see his blood shed. But he saw God's salvation. Now
listen to me. God's salvation is not in a plan. It's not in a program of service.
It's not in a powerful ecclesiastical organization. It's in a person,
first. It's in a person. Secondly, it
is true that we are redeemed by the work of Christ. Now listen
to me carefully. And this is the very heart of
the gospel right here. And this is where this generation
is, I'm afraid, and their preachers are all missing it. Just come
and trust the finished work of Christ. Just come and believe
Jesus died on the cross, was buried and rose again and you're
saved. Not so. Not so. For this reason, now
listen. The Bible says, Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. I don't just believe
he died. I don't just believe he was buried
and rose again. The devil believes that, but
he doesn't believe on Christ. He believes the work was done,
but he doesn't believe the person who did it. Are you with me? He believes that such a person
was on the earth. He saw him. Everybody here in
these days saw him. They didn't believe on him. on
him. They didn't receive him. They
were willing to receive the benefits of his power. They said, feed
us, we're hungry, and he did. Heal us, we're sick, and he did.
But they didn't receive him. They were willing to receive
the power. They were willing to receive the benefits. They
were willing to receive the blessing, but not the person. Are you with me? It is true that
we are redeemed by the blood of Christ. by the obedience of
Christ. But it's not true that we're
redeemed only by his obedience and by his blood. We're redeemed
by his person. It's Christ the Lord that is
our salvation. This is why Abel could be counted
righteous before Christ was ever born. Because salvation was in
the person. This is why Aaron and Moses and
Abraham could be declared righteous before Christ ever died. Because
salvation is in the person. This is why Job could exclaim,
I know that my Redeemer liveth. How can you be a Redeemer if
you've never redeemed? But he had redeemed. He's the
Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. Now listen to me, we're trusting
the blood of Christ to cleanse us, to make our atonement, but
we're not trusting the blood of Christ only, we're trusting
Christ. Yes, we're trusting. We believe
that his body was broken for us. We believe he obeyed the
law when he was on this earth. But we're trusting a person.
It is Christ who is my Redeemer, not his blood. It is Christ who
is my Redeemer, not his death. It is Christ who is my Redeemer,
not his obedience. It's not the finished work of
Christ that makes me whole. It's Christ that makes me whole.
The power is totally in the person. The efficacy is in the person.
The redemptive work is in the hands of the person. And I can sit down and look back
at what transpired, some acts of Christ, some works of Christ.
I must not put my faith in those works. I must receive the person. That's what Simeon is saying
when he's looking at Christ. He's saying, I've seen your salvation.
And this is the reason Abel, when Abel brought the blood and
put it there on the altar, he just as much believed in Christ
as I am. When Abraham brought his son
Isaac to sacrifice him on that altar, he believed in God. He's
not trusting a work, he's believing a person. Resting in a person. Receiving the scepter of a king. bowing in submission to a person. You see what I'm saying? I hope
you do, because believe me, this is the heart of the gospel. And
this is one reason why you see so much of false professions today, and
people with unreal experiences, and with no happiness and peace
and joy and rest and assurance. This is the reason they have
no assurance. Preacher said, you want to go to heaven? And
they said, yes. You don't want to go to hell?
They said, no. He said, well, the way to go to heaven is to
believe on the finished work of Christ and believe he died
on the cross for you and make a public profession. They do.
And they come, they believe these things up here, that Christ died,
that he was buried and rose again. They believe that's the way God
saves sinners. But they have never bowed to
and received and committed themselves to a person, whatever he did
and whatever he's doing. For whom ever he did it, Christ said, come unto me, not
to a doctrine, to me, and I'll give you rest. Christ, when he comes in, you
see, he sits on the throne. He controls your life, your thinking,
your attitudes, your principles. He controls those things. He's
king. You've received a person. And that's what Simeon's saying,
that's what David's saying, I preach thy salvation. And in closing,
quickly, he said, I preach thy lovingkindness. Thy lovingkindness. He loved us when we were unlovely.
What a thing, the love of God. To love such as we are. I preach thy lovingkindness. Mercy
to the unmerciful. And then he said in closing,
I preach thy truth, thy loving kindness and thy truth. Brethren,
we come to a crossroads, every man does eventually, whether
he's going to receive the truth of God or the ideas of men, this
is God's word. I believe David is saying, I
preach the truth of thy word, the truth of thy word. I preach
the truth of man's fall. Man's condition by nature. I
preach the truth of thy grace. Salvation by grace alone. I preach
the truth of thy Son, Christ the Lord. I preach the truth
of thy coming. We're not speculating. We're
not seeking new invention. We're not entertaining sinners
on their road to hell. We're preaching the truth of
God. Why? I sat down last night and
thought about this. Why? His righteousness. His salvation, his faithfulness,
his loving-kindness, his truth. Why preach it? Well, I'll tell
you why I preach it. Four reasons. Number one, because
it is the Word of God. That's why I preach it. Here
it is right here in God's Word. Secondly, I preach it because
it meets the need of any sinner. I know that. I know it's the
only gospel that will meet your need. I know if I stand up here
and give you a law to keep, you'll break it. If I stand up here
and give you a work to do, it won't satisfy God. But I can
stand and preach to you a gospel of free grace through the blood
of Christ, through the person of Christ, through the intercession
of Christ, through the mediatorial work of Christ, through Christ
himself. That will meet your need. And
thirdly, I preach it because it glorifies God. This gives
God the glory. Salvation by grace gives God
the glory. Salvation by human works gives
man the glory. I want to glorify God. And then
fourthly, we preach it because we believe it. I believe this
gospel. I believe Christ. I can say with
the apostles, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of
eternal life, and I believe and am sure that Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. There is no other gospel. We
have no other hope. There is no other way. I have
preached Thy righteousness, Thy faithfulness, Thy salvation,
Thy lovingkindness, and Thy truth. Our Father, anoint the word by
the power of Thy Spirit to our understanding We believe that
the Son of God hath come and hath given us an understanding
that we may know him that is true. Jesus Christ is the truth,
and this is the true God in eternal life. He is our Lord and our
Savior, King of kings and Lord of lords. We have by thy grace
received him, bowed to him, crowned him King of kings and Lord of
lords. We pray that thy word shall bear
fruit in the life of every person here today for thy glory and
for their good. O Lord, bring us to receive Christ. Thou hast promised as many as
received him. To them gave he the power to
become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. On his name. Use this message
for whatever purpose it pleases thee. For Christ's sake we pray. Amen.

A Review of Life

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A Review of Life

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