Somebody's got a baby. Oh, it's
Harper. Well, it's good to see you all
out this morning. I'm always glad to see when Harper comes
in to see us. I remember those who requested prayer. Melvin's
in the hospital, and they found him a room in Brevard Hospital,
Transylvania County. They don't know what's wrong.
He's been having some difficulties. He was throwing up some blood
yesterday. He's had some pain, but they've
run all kinds of tests in Cherokee, and now they're going to go to
Transylvania and run some more. So Arlene and Hannah, I think. Cynthia gone too? No, Cynthia's
in South Carolina. OK. All right. So Arlene and
Hannah have gone over to Transylvania County to be with him. That's
all we know. We don't know anything else.
Fred's going for his next chemotherapy treatment on Wednesday, is that
right? And that's the six-hour run, right? Okay. Remember him
in your prayers. Julie's gonna be operated on
with a hip replacement on the 30th of December. So remember
her in your prayers. Seek the Lord's help. And Miss
Debbie's out sick with her stomach this morning, so she won't be
in. So you won't have no pie in her. And Jim's gonna fill
the void with his southern guitar. That's what it is, I understand.
And I'm glad y'all. Let's begin our worship service
this morning. By the way, welcome to all the visitors. Don't feel
like visitors anymore, but still good to see you. Hymn number
70, Holy, Holy, Holy. Holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. Early in the morning our song
shall rise to Thee. Holy, holy, merciful and mighty,
God in three persons, Blessed Trinity. Holy, holy, holy, all the saints
adored thee. Casting down their golden crowns
around the glassy sea. Cherubim and Seraphim falling
down before thee, which were, and are, and evermore shall be. Holy, holy, holy, Though the
darkness hide thee, though the eye of sinful man thy glory may
not see. thou art holy there is none beside
thee perfect in power in love and purity holy Holy, holy, holy
Lord God almighty All thy works shall praise thy name In earth
and sky and sea Holy, holy, holy Merciful and mighty God in three
persons, blessed Trinity. After scripture reading and prayer,
we'll sing your leaflet there, UNWORTHY. If you have your Bibles,
turn to Ephesians chapter 1. We'll read a portion of scripture
familiar to every child of God, to every believer, every true
believer. Beginning with verse three, blessed,
eulogize, let's say something good about, that's what that
word means. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he has
chosen us in him, before the foundation of the world, that
we should be holy and without blame before him, in love having
predestinated us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the
praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted
in the beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood,
We have the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his
grace, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence,
having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according
to the good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself, that
in the dispensation of the fullness of times he shall gather together
in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and
which are in earth, even in him, in whom also we have obtained
an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him
that worketh all things after the counsel of his own will,
that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted
in Christ, in whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after
you believe you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which
is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased
possession under the praise of his glory. Let us pray. Father,
we are thankful for your goodness and kindness
and mercy and grace toward us. We are thankful that we have
been privileged to have been given faith to be able to understand
what we've just read and heard, to be able to rejoice in these
truths that are set forth so plainly that encapsulate the
gospel of Jesus Christ, that tell us what our salvation is
from pole to pole, from beginning to end, alpha to omega, We are
thankful, Father, that you have told us the truth and showed
us the truth, revealed us what we are, our ruin and Adam, our
bent to sin, our death and transgression and sins, our weakness and frailty. And then we hear of your grace,
which fits us perfectly, where there's nothing in us or about
us that can ever merit it. We are thankful for your salvation,
that what you required in it was supplied by you alone and
accomplished by you through your son on the cross. Father, we
pray for those of our company who are sick. Remember Melvin,
pray that your doctors will be able to find out what his situation
is. Pray for Brother Fred as he's getting ready for this next
chemotherapy. We're thankful for the good word on Loretta.
Pray, Father, for Julie as she's still suffering with this broken
hip. We pray that, Lord, you'd be with those doctors as they
prepare to fix her and help her. We pray for ourselves this hour
that you might be pleased to cause us in our hearts to worship
you in spirit and in truth. Be with us throughout this day.
Fix our hearts and minds upon him who's worthy of all praise.
We pray in Christ's name, amen. Unworthy. Unworthy am I of the grace that
he gave. Unworthy to hold to his hand. A maze that a king would reach
down to a slave, this love I cannot understand. Unworthy, unworthy A beggar in
bondage and alone But he made me worthy And now by his grace
His mercy has made me his own My sorrow and sickness laid stripes
on his back. My sins caused his blood to be
shed. My faults and my failures have
woven a crown. of thorns that he wore on his
head. Unworthy, unworthy, A beggar in bondage and alone,
but he made me worthy. And now by his grace, his mercy
has made me his own. Unworthy am I of the glory to
come. Unworthy with angels to sing. I thrill just to know that you
love me so much. A pauper I walk with the king. Unworthy, unworthy A beggar in
bondage and alone But He made me worthy And now by His grace
His mercy has made me Let me see, how about Sam and
Fred receiving the office this morning, please? Let us pray. Father, again we
approach in the name of Christ, in a heart full of thanksgiving
and praise, knowing full well that everything we have this
of the hell we deserve is by your mercy and grace. As we return
unto that which rightfully belongs to you, let us do so with joy
and thanksgiving. We pray in Christ's name. Amen. I think that's it. Okay. you draw your attention back to Ephesians
chapter one. Everyone here who's heard me
preach for the last 44 years knows that I've preached from
this text many times and probably will preach many times from it
again before I pass off this mortal coil and enter into glory. This is the story, if you will,
encapsulation of our salvation. salvation of everyone in god
is chosen from the foundation of the world history begins with
the word blessed as i said it means to eulogize or say something
good about god several things in this passage of scripture
that are despised by religion the first is election they say
it's a confusing doctrine hard to understand that stupidity
encapsulated election is one of the easiest words in the world
to understand. It means to choose. Anybody don't
understand that? Having difficulty with that?
But it's in the Bible. Some 144 times in different forms
from chosen to elected to picked out to severed. Things like that. The Lord did it for Israel back
in Egypt. We've seen that in our study
in Moses. People have an idea that when
you say you're elected, and let me tell you this, the only way
they're going to know you are is if you tell them. And that's
how they know. Our Lord said that, that the
world's going to know that I have chosen you in John 15. He said
the world is going to know that I've chosen you. Now, how are
they going to know that? They'll never know it unless you tell
them. And the minute you tell them, they'll think you're bragging.
They'll think you think you're something special. But those
who know the scriptures know that's absolutely not true. We
were chosen because we are not special. The same people he said were
chosen before the foundation of the world, those he describes
as being dead in trespasses and sins in verse chapter 2. That's
the ones he chose who were dead in the trespasses and sin, twice
dead and plucked up by the roots. What can a dead person do? Nothing. How can he be reached? Go to
the graveyard and see. Preach all day long. You're not
going to get anybody to come out of those graves. They're
not going to get anybody to hear you. They're insensitive and
unable. They followed the course of the
world. That's who he saved. Who he called. Who he chose for
the foundation of the world. They followed the course of the
world. They followed the prince of the power of the air. And
by nature they were no different than anybody who perishes and
goes to hell. By nature. Thankfully. by divine election. They were
made different. Election is a Bible doctrine,
and if you look at this book and say, well, I don't believe
in election, then just go ahead and admit it. You're an unbeliever.
Because belief ain't about picking and choosing what you're going
to believe in this book. It's about believing what God has revealed
in this book. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, according as He has blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in Christ, That simply means that if you
are a child of God today, whether you are educated or uneducated,
whether you are a pauper or a king, whether you are intellectual
or not so, whether you are brave or whether you are a coward,
it does not matter. If you are in Christ, you have
it all. You have everything, all spiritual blessings. Now
why is the word spiritual added to that? Because people call
blessings a lot of things. They feel blessed if they have
something new. They feel blessed if you have a lot of things.
But that's not blessings. Spiritual blessings are eternal
blessings. Blessings that you will and actually
carry with you to glory. When you die, you say, can't
take it with you. Well, there's some things a believer can take
with him. You can take all the blessings that God has given
him, and these blessings ARE set forth about 25 times in this
passage of Scripture, what these blessings are. Now, these blessings
COME according as God has chosen us, or based on the FACT that
God has chosen us. If God has NOT chosen you unto
salvation, these blessings will NEVER, and CAN NEVER, apply to
YOU! They are HIS blessings HE HAS
BLESSED US WITH ALL SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS ACCORDING AS HE HAS
CHOSEN US IN CHRIST. WHEN DID THAT TAKE PLACE? BEFORE
THE WORLD WAS. YOU SAY, WELL THAT'S HARD TO
UNDERSTAND. IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO UNDERSTAND. THIS IS A VERY LOGICAL
BOOK TO GOD. AND WE STRUGGLE WITH THINGS EVERY
DAY. BUT THE FACT IS THIS IS WHAT
GOD SAYS. This is what God says, according
to His chosenness before the foundation of the world. That
means prior to the conception of the world. And that in itself
is a strange phrase because God has never conceived anything.
Nothing has ever occurred to Him. But before the conception
of the world as the language applied for us to understand,
it just took place before anything was. This whole thing called
human history, laid out from the fall of Adam to the return
of the Lord Jesus Christ, was all according to His instant
plan and purpose. What a thing. What a thing. Paul said to Timothy, God has
saved us and called us. with a holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which
was G-I-V-E-N, given to us in Christ before the world began. Given to us! You mean we had
it before we had it, yet we had it before we knew it. in God's
purpose we had it and that is set forth in this passage of
scripture when he talks about hearing the word of truth which
is the good news the God's gospel the good news of what possessive
pronoun your salvation you mean it's my self it had to already
exist if I'm gonna hear the news about it this is what he said
You believed after you heard the word of truth, the good news,
the gospel of your salvation. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings, according as he has chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy. So he's fixed it so
his children, those whom he's chosen from all eternity, will
be holy. What does that mean? I don't
drink, I don't smoke, I don't chew, I don't mess around with
people who do. Is that what that means? Holy means separate. Holy means perfect. Holy means like God. Be holy for I am holy. That means
holiness is a state of being. Be holy. It didn't say act holy
or do holy things. It said be holy. be holy, that
we should be holy and without blame before Him. How can we
be without blame? It must be that there be no place
upon which the holy law of God and God's holy searchlight can
find any fault in us or find any place in which He can accuse
us. The law can't accuse us. God can't accuse us. You mean
there's something about God's children that makes them where
they can never be blamed for anything? That's exactly right. that's a spiritual blessing you
know you sit here this morning as a believer in Jesus Christ
you're without blame you're as clean as a whistle and neat as
a pin we used to say when we was kids before him and that's where it
counts before God in love having predestinated us there's another
word that people don't like Another word that religiously preachers
like to say, well, that's confusing. Well, it's not as far as practical
understanding of it. Lorraine Bentner wrote a book
a long time ago called Practical Predestination, I think it was,
or something like that. And what he was saying was that
predestination is practiced by everybody. All of you predetermined sometime
either last night or sometime this week or this morning to
get up and get in a car and come here that's predestination and
everything that was involved in that determination you did
you got out of bed on time you ate breakfast you had your cup
of joe went out to the garage or the carport or out in the
yard and you opened a door, you got to open a door, and then
you got in the car and you just didn't sit there and close your
eyes and show up at Sequoia. You had a key, you started that
car, you moved that car, and you had a map in your mind of
how to get to this place. And then you got to this place
and got out of that car and come in here and sat down and hear
me preach. That's predestination, the whole bit of it. And yet
we say God didn't predestinate. God predestinated all things.
He predetermined all things. Well, even the bad things? Yes,
even the bad things. I am the Lord, He said in Isaiah
45. I create the light, I create
darkness, I create evil, and I create good. That's God. Barnard used to say, if you think
God's a monster, get ready to meet a monster. Because the God
of the Bible does exactly as He pleases, when He pleases,
where He pleases, with whom He pleases, because He is God. And
He has chosen a people out of a dead race, and predestinated them to the
adoption of children, that they become His family by Jesus Christ. They are twice His family. They
are His family by adoption, and to his family by new birth. Twice
his family. Now he has ordained that or predestinated
that. So is it going to come to pass?
God says whatever I purpose shall come to pass, whatever I have
spoken shall be done. He is absolutely sure that this
is going to take place. And he did it, why? For the good
pleasure of his own will. What does that mean? That is what he wanted to do.
When God wants to do something, that's what He's done. When God
has wanted to do something, that's exactly what He's done. I know
preachers today, religious, God wants this and God wants that. God wants you to be happy. Well,
if God wants you to be happy, you know what you're going to
be? You're going to be happy. Whatever God wants, God gets.
And He did this for us. He chose us in Christ before
the world began and predestinated us to the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ Himself. He did it because He loved us.
And He adopted us. Because He wanted to. According
to the good pleasure of His own will. Because He wanted to. Think about that. He wanted to. And why did He do it? Why did
He want to do it? it says, to the praise of the glory of His
grace. Now this is the encapsulating
theme from Genesis 1 to Revelation that everything ultimately will
redound to the glory of His grace. So we can be sure that if a person
is saved, he is saved by grace and if by grace then it is not
of works less Grace is no more grace. If he's saved by grace,
that means the kind of people that God saves are not good people. They're not righteous. They don't
do good. They're the worst of humanity.
They're the off-scouring of the universe. They're the scrapings
of the bottom of the barrel. They're called maggots. Maggots. How does a maggot live? if you put a maggot on your flesh,
your live flesh right there, it'll die. It will not eat. It lives off corruption. Off of carrying. Want to put that on your resume? Here's your resume. I'm a maggot.
I'm dead in trespasses and sins. I'm lame. I'm haught. I'm dead. I'm damned. I'm doomed. I'm dying.
I hate God. I love sin. That's my resume. And that's
who God graciously saved. Think about that. To the praise
of the glory of His grace. It's going to be an astounding
thing at judgment when men who have thought all along that they've
measured up, that they've done the right things, that they've
done what they could do to stand before God and say, none of that
matters. None. I saved you because you
were foul and unclean and undone without help and without hope
in this world. That's why I saved you. Why? To glorify My unmerited
favor, My grace. This is why He does what He does.
For the glory of His grace. To the praise of the glory of
His grace. And in that grace it says we are accepted. This
is what the world wants. Acceptance. Everybody wants acceptance. Today, if you're a person and
you have an idea, no matter how stupid it might be or how ridiculous
it might be, you demand acceptance. You do. And if somebody disagrees
with you, you get offended and your feelings get hurt. And you
can sue and probably win. Everybody wants to be accepted.
I want to be accepted. When I came up here 44 years
ago, I wanted y'all to accept me. And you did. And I'm thankful.
But I didn't come to you and say, you've got to accept me.
Because you can't do that. But according to God's grace
and honoring His grace and glorifying His grace, He's accepted His
people in Christ. Completely accepted. What does
that mean? There's nothing you can do to change that. There's
nothing you can do to alter it. There's nothing you can do to
make it not to happen. You're accepted before Almighty
God. And then it goes to what Christ
has done. In Christ we have redemption. What does that mean? Being bought
back from the prison market of sin. That's what redemption is. It's a monetary term, a commercial
term, if you will. It has to do with a legal tender,
and that legal tender is the blood of Jesus Christ. That legal
tender is the death of Jesus Christ. That's the payment. that
was made, and that payment was death, and that death payment
made secured the salvation of His people. He brought them off
of the slave market and brought them to Himself, and they are
called, in verse 14, the PURCHASED POSSESSION. PURCHASED POSSESSION. What does that mean? Somebody
bought them, and somebody has them. They are the PURCHASED
POSSESSION. Every time you see the word peculiar
in the New Testament, that is what it means. PURCHASED POSSESSION
of peculiar people. They are PURCHASED POSSESSION
of God. They are PURCHASED POSSESSION. We have REDEMPTION through His
BLOOD, that is His DEATH, His SACRIFICE, His OFFERING to God.
In that GREAT REDEMPTION we have also the FORGIVENESS OF SINS.
I am thankful for that. That's a spiritual blessing.
Because I know what I am. And I know my thoughts. And they're
not worthy. But I'm forgiven. Forgiven. And that's done how? According
to the riches of His grace. Not because we confess it. But
because He's rich in grace. Now if we confess our sins, He's
just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness.
But the key word in that phrase is He is just. Is He just because we confess?
No, that doesn't make Him just. What makes Him just? Having had
our sin debt paid for. According to Romans chapter 3,
He's just and justifier because Christ was made to be the propitiation
for our sins. just and justified we have forgiveness
when? all the time all day long 24
hours a day while we're asleep and while we're awake while we're
walking and while we're laying down we have forgiveness why? because of Christ's blood we
have forgiveness this is a spiritual blessing it also says he's a
bounty toward us and wisdom and prudence I love this passage. I love the thought of this. It
simply means that you as a child of God, you're a know-it-all.
You are. Just go ahead and admit it. You
know everything. You know the reason for everything. You know how everything's going
to end. You're a know-it-all. He's abounded toward you in wisdom
and prudence. Wisdom and prudence. You're a
smart aleck. You just are. Why? Because God has made you so.
He's done this wonderful thing, this blessed word. Nobody can
understand it except the believer. The spiritual mind is the only
one that conceives and understands this book according to scripture.
The natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit. There
is foolishness to them, neither can he know them nor discern
them because they are spiritually discerned. But you understand them. Why?
He did this thing in the promise of a new covenant in Jeremiah
31 and repeated in Hebrews chapter 8 and Hebrews chapter 10. he
said when he converted you when Christ died for you and died
in your room instead God wrote his word on your heart he wrote
it on your heart you say well I don't know the whole word of
God I read no you don't but it's written on your heart you know
why to respond when you hear the word preached
your heart goes there you go That's it, that's what I've been
hearing, that's what I've been needing to hear. Why do you respond
that way? And I remember Peggy Lambert
years ago, she was sitting right over on that second pew, back
when they were old pine wooden pews, they were very uncomfortable.
And that was when I was preaching about an hour and a half, and
they really got uncomfortable in here. Don't do that anymore.
But they were sitting there, and I preached on election, preached
from this passage of scripture, and Peggy Lambert was sitting
there, and George, little old George, and Peggy, Peggy tall,
George small. She slapped George on the thigh when I was talking
about election. She said, that's it. Why did
she say that? Because it was written on her
heart. And her heart responded to the
truth. All wisdom and prudence. He's abounded toward you. And
you get it when you read this book. You know it's about Christ. And you search and look. and
rejoice to find him on page after page after line after line, here
a little and there a little. It's a wondrous thing. And he's
made known to us the mystery of his will. Boy, that's the
hook religion uses all the time, putting people jaw-dragging around,
trying to find out what God's will is for your life. Will the
mystery of his will be made known to us? What is the mystery of
his will? The mystery of His will is just
what we read as spiritual blessings in this passage. Chosen in Christ,
predestinated in Christ, all to the praise of His glory, forgiven
in Christ, redeemed in Christ, those things. Men say, No, that
hasn't happened yet. You see, it's up to us to make
it effectual. No, this has happened. Mysterious and wondrous it is.
We were walking down the street after we heard the gospel or
we were sitting in church after we heard the gospel and in one
second we were an unbeliever but we didn't care anything for
God and suddenly we believed. And now nobody can convince us
otherwise. What a world. What a mystery. This is His will. Christ said
this, All that the Father giveth of me shall come to me, and him
that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out, for I came down
from heaven, not to do mine own will, but of the will of him
that sent me. And this is my Father's will
which is sent me. You want to know what the mystery
of His will is? Of all that Christ has been given, He will lose
nothing. Everybody whom he came to save
is going to be saved. They already are redeemed. They
already have been given wisdom and prudence in their heart.
They just don't know it yet. They just don't know it yet.
And he did that that in the fullness and the dispensation of the times,
he might gather all his people in Christ. That's where they
belong, they're in Christ. Later on he says they're going
to sit in heavenly places in Christ now, chapter 2. It says, in whom we've obtained
an inheritance. This is the fifth time or the
sixth time the word predestination, proorizo, is used in scripture.
It's used five times or six times, that particular word. It never
has to do with anything. It always has to do with people.
in whom we have an inheritance. We're heirs according to promise,
an inheritance being predestinated, there you go. And we're predestinated
by someone who always gets it right and is never thwarted and
cannot fail. These things are predestinated
by him who worketh all things. Now if you can show me a thing,
something that's not a thing, we'll go ahead and debate the
subject. But if you can show me, everything's a thing. All things according to the purpose
of Him who worketh, all things after the purpose or counsel
of His own will, God's will, will be done. And it says the reason he did
that, the praise of his glorious grace, is so we'd be something
in this world. Everybody wants to be something.
Remember that? I am somebody. That was a phrase
back in the 70s or 80s. I am somebody. Well, there are
some somebodies in this world. God has ordained them to be.
State of being. They would exist. They would
be in this realm. Walk this earth and breathe this
ether. for one reason, to be for the
glory of his grace. To be. To exist. You're here as a trophy of his
grace. You're of that Adamic lump that he split in two, made
one a vessel under honor and another under dishonor. And you
he made a vessel of honor, a trophy to put on his shelf, a trophy
of his grace. You know what that means? you know what they say about
you you know that if they're mad at you they say I can't believe
that guy's a Christian I can't believe that guy's a believer
did you know she does that? do you know he does that? one
day before God the world according
to John 17 is going to know the world is going to know that you,
with all your faults, frailties and failures, are exactly the
one God loves from the foundation of the world. And you exist in this world to
show that for me. A sinner saved by grace. That's
what I am. Only a sinner saved by grace.
That's why you be. That's why you exist as a child
of God. to show the world the kind of
people in God's face, in whom we also trusted, that we should be for the praise
of the glory of His breath who first trusted in Christ. Now, some
have said that that's Paul talking about him trusting in Christ.
Others said he's talking about God the Father trusting in Christ,
God the Father putting all things in Christ's hand, that He trusted
Christ first. And I think both can be applied.
Both are reasonable. But in whom you also trusted. After. Underline that in your
book. After. Not before. After. You heard the word of truth. Say, well, I preached a mystery
years ago and had people leave the church. I had this doctor
who was one of them guys, does your eyes. had a heck of a practice. Wrote me. Asked me what I preached
and I told him what I preached. He said, well I'm coming to your
church. And he came. He was here for about six weeks. I preached from this passage
of scripture. And I said, you did not believe and trust Christ
until you heard the gospel of God's grace. Until you heard
the truth. You didn't come into grace. grace
come in to you. It's that simple. He said, wait
a minute, Calvary me on the porch. I said, wait a minute, preacher.
I believed a long time ago. I said, was I preaching this
Christ? No. He said, but I believed in
Jesus. I said, I'm sorry. That doesn't jive with scripture. He called me up later and was
on the phone. Bo Paris was talking to me when the guy called me
on the phone. He was giving me a hard time. And I said, listen,
you show me anywhere in this book that a person is saved before
he hears the word of truth, and I'll agree with you. I said,
why do you want to hold on to that old mess? What's so pleasing
about that? I mean, I made a profession of
faith when I was 12 years old. I was guilty. And they preached
about guilt, so I went up front and cried and moaned and carried
on and got baptized. Then I got baptized again, and
then I got baptized again. I just kept on getting baptized,
rededicated, all that stuff. I didn't know Christ. And one
night, I'll never forget, W.R. Oh, sovereign grace Bible preacher
on TV. Preached at a little old church
in Winston-Salem. Heard the truth that night. And that night I trusted Christ
and got baptized again. Because I wanted to confess the
Christ I knew was the true Christ. You don't believe until you hear
the word of truth. Well, what is the word of truth? This is the
sweetest thing in the world. What is the word of truth? It's
the good news, the gospel of your salvation. The good news
is not that you can be something, or if you do something, you will
have something. The good news is that you already
have something, you just didn't know it. The good news is that
you have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. That's the
good news. It wouldn't be good news if they
tell me as a dead man I got to do something. That wouldn't be good news. Good
news is I have been redeemed. It don't get no better than that.
I have been quickened from the dead. That's good news. And that's what the Word of Truth
is. It's not about possibilities or probabilities. It's about
an actual thing that took place. Your salvation. the good news
of your salvation in whom after you believed you
were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise." What does that mean?
That from that moment on the Holy Spirit of God took you to
this Word and showed you Jesus Christ and the things of Christ
because that's what the Holy Spirit does. He'll not glorify
himself. He'll not speak of himself. He'll take the things of Christ
and show them unto you. That's how you're sealed with
the Holy Spirit. From then on it was all about Christ. It's
all about Christ. When people talk about other
stuff, you just kind of cringe. People get religious on you,
you feel uncomfortable. You want to leave the room. From that moment on, everything
was all about Christ. Christ did it. Christ is all. He's my hope. Nothing less than
that. Nothing else than that. And that
Holy Spirit was like a down payment put in us that says one day everything's
going to be okay. it's alright okay in your mind
and heart right now you're at peace with God because of the
blood of Jesus Christ but one day everything's gonna be okay
why do I know that? the Holy Spirit's in me pointing
me to Jesus Christ as I know He's the earnest the down payment
of our salvation of what? of what God has bought and paid
for by His own blood according to Acts 20 28 bought and paid for by his own
blood. This is sweet news. It's an old
story. That's the title of the message.
It's an old story. I love telling it. I'm as free
preaching this passage of scripture as I am in preaching the passage
of scripture at all. I love this passage of scripture
because it sets God up as the savior of my soul through Jesus
Christ by his spirit through the word. And you don't get no
clearer gospel than that. Father, bless us to understand
and pray in Christ's name.