I invite your attention back
to Daniel, the ninth chapter. I'm going to take my text from
verses seven through nine this morning. The title of my message is, When
We Understand the Book. We just read the prayer of the
confession. The confession born of one who
understands the Word of God, one who has heard the Law and
the Prophets and has gone to the Bible to see if what has
been said lines up with what God has declared. Daniel said,
I understood when I read the books. I understood when I read
the books. Daniel offers this prayer or
prays this confession in the first year of the reign of Darius.
He was the mead that assumed the throne after Belshazzar had
been dethroned, because he had taken the holy things of God
and had used them for unholy purposes. And a hand that appeared
in the castle and wrote upon the wall, Mene, Mene, Tekel,
Eupharsin, and made everybody scared, and they called for Daniel
to interpret what these words meant. And Daniel, An Israelite
under captivity, back in chapter 5, declared what
these things meant. He stood before Belshazzar, the
king of Babylon, looked him straight in the face,
and said, this is what the writing on the wall means. That's where
we get our phrase, the writing on the wall. And writing on the
wall simply means that something unpleasant is about to happen. And Daniel said to the king,
he said, this is the writing that was written, mene, mene,
tiku yufarsen. This is the interpretation of
the meaning. Mene means that God has numbered
thy kingdom and has finished it. He looked at the king and
said, you're a gone Jesse. You're done. Tico says, O king,
you are weighed in the balances, and you are found wanting. And
Perez, or Eupharsin, says, thy kingdom is divided and given
to the Medes and the Persians. It says, And that night was Belshazzar
the king of the Chaldeans slain, and Darius the Median took the
kingdom, being about three score and two years old. So after that, Daniel offers up this prayer.
Daniel's nation is in captivity, and he sees nothing about him
as he looks about him but desolation and ruin. So he goes to the word
of God and sees clearly that the reason for the sad and ruinous
state of the people is sin against God. This is a picture of God's elect
sinner who hears the gospel and sees what he is in light of who
God is and is made to know that God will deal justly with his
people And the reason that they are in such a fix is that their
own sin and transgression against God has come to full. Those who
understand are those who are given understanding by God's
grace. And that comes through the Word
of the Lord. That's how we gain understanding.
Psalm 19 says, The entrance of thy Word giveth light and giveth
understanding. to the simple. But until that
happens, until God speaks through his word to your heart and to
my heart, men wander in darkness, seeking to find the door to new
and more heinous ways to sin, like the Ahab's of Sodom and
Gomorrah, those struck with blindness or their perverted desires toward
the angels of the Lord. It says of them, after they were
stricken with blindness, they wearied themselves to find the
door, to find the door of Lot's house that they might have what
they wanted and what they felt they were entitled to. They would
not be denied. They would possess what they
believed was their right to possess. And what they got was fire and
brimstone. and the great nations, and all
that dwelt therein became nothing but scorched earth. They can
get away with what they wanted. They didn't get what they wanted,
but I'll tell you this, they got what they deserved. A lot
of people are foolish enough to say, well, I want what I deserve.
You better not. You better not. We have come in this nation to
a place where personal responsibility has been slain and lays bloodied
on the altar of presumption. and entitlement. We look to preachers
and politicians to agree with us and honor our presumption.
The precepts and judgments of this book have been set aside
and men and women claiming rights have no understanding what they're
really doing and what you're doing and what I'm doing when
I boast about my rights. We're oblivious to the fact that
what we're doing is claiming personal righteousness. and denying
that there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that
understandeth, there is none that doeth good, and none that
seeketh after God. We've all gone astray like sheep,
each seeking his own way. And we're oblivious to that. And all this is but a microcosm,
a felt-board display of a greater issue. Scripture says all have
sinned. and come short of the glory of
God. We've missed the mark as we are born into this world. All that we have and all that
we possess is but for a moment and is left to the next in line. We have nothing, you and I, that
lasts We have nothing. All that we
have and we possess for a moment we leave to someone else. Even
our soul and our spirit are not ours. They belong to God and
when we die they go back to the God who made them to do with
as He sees fit. We are property of the Creator.
He is not our property. We are His property. And yet
we still want what we want. and assert our rights to it with
self-righteousness, aplomb, and hubris. And when we understand
this book, what we do find is that we are
really entitled to something. When we understand this book,
we really find what belongs to us. to our kings and our princes
and our fathers and all the people of the land. Daniel said it this way, what belongs to us is confusion
of face. Now that's three words. It's a phrase that actually is
just one word in the original language. What he is saying is
what belongs to us is shame. We're entitled to that. What belongs to us is shame. This is ours. This is what we're
entitled to. And I can remember when this
word actually meant something. But in this day, it is considered
shameful and bigoted to speak of shame or point out shameful
behavior. My, my, how far we've come, what
marked evolution has taken place so that it is immoral to say
that a thing is immoral. I hate crime to say that something
is evil. To us belongs shame. And shame
is a strong sense of guilt, embarrassment, unworthiness, or disgrace. The
condition of knowing that you are strongly and generally disapproved. Let's not talk that way. Let's
give everybody a trophy and tell them how special they are. Though
the whole kid in Caboodle aren't worth a picture of warm spit.
If you understand the book, you know that our singular possession,
what we really have, is our shame. That which is rightfully ours,
that which belongs to us, that which defines us and informs
us is our shame. Because we have rebelled against
God. Even as children of God, we murmur
against His providence. We live in a state of covetousness.
And the reward for that is confusion of faith or shamefulness. This
is ours. This is what we are entitled
to. This is what we've earned. Shame belongs to us. You'll see that if you understand
this book. You'll see that. Bless God and
bless His holy name that when we understand this book we also
find that righteousness and mercy belong to Him. Righteousness
and mercy belong to God. That's what Daniel said three
times in this text. In truth, however, all things
belong to God. They're all His. We'll find that
out someday. It may be transferred in His
time and in His purpose to someone else after we die, but all things
belong to God. And when He winds those things
up and ends this thing and melts this old ball of clay, we'll
find out for sure. Psalm 24 says all belongs to
God. All the earth, the fullness thereof,
and all that dwell therein belong to God. Belong to God. And He will use them as He sees
fit. You are His creation. You are
His creatures. And you will do His bidding,
because He is God. It is not in man to direct his
steps. The steps of the good man are
ordered of the Lord. One that does good, and yet every
step is directed of the Lord. Those who end up in glory are
His, and those who perish in eternal
flames are His. Scripture says He has made you
to destroy, or He has made you for glory and for redemption. You are His. Some might consider this hate
speech. I know many religionists who
do, and they probably want to seek a safe place where such
things offensive to them will not be uttered. I say they have
a safe place. It's called the Hall of Shame.
That's their safe place. Paul said the Philippian church
whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose
glory is in their shame. who mind earthly things. The elect belong to him in redemption. They are bought with a price,
Scripture says. No creature may boast of anything
being truly his, intrinsically his, because all that the creature
has is that which has been bestowed upon him. Loan to him for a period
of time But nothing is exclusively his. What or who maketh you to
differ from another, saith this book? And what hast thou that
thou hast not received? And if you've received it, why
do you boast as if you've not received it? All our pride is
bound up in empty things, things that we had nothing to do with,
nothing whatsoever. our race, our position, our status. We didn't have anything to do
with that. Sure, we might have worked hard. I know plenty of
people who worked hard all their life and they're still on the
bottom. And I mean nose to the grindstone work. Nose to the
grindstone. I know some people who've hardly
done anything and they're on top. David said, I marvel, and I get
upset when I see the wicked prosper. They have such an ease in their
death. They don't have any problems
in their life. Everything seems to go well for them. People like
to talk about that now, especially during this political atmosphere
that we're in, this great bit of ether that's coming out from
the mouth of all these politicians, talk about rich people and poor
people and all. And it sounds good. It gets you
elected. But the poor you'll always have
with you, and so you will have the rich. You may be upset with
the rich if you want to, but I want you to stop and consider
their end as well as yours. If God don't intervene on either
one of his behalf, you're going to perish in sin. So what have you? What have you? Men are so depraved and shame-faced, they want to believe
that they are the owner even of salvation and co-owner at
least and cooperative in those things, but they're not. So the Holy Spirit has inspired
men to unequivocally attribute these things to God and never
to men. Verse 18 of this same chapter after Daniel had prayed
thusly, he said, O my God, incline thy ear and hear, open thine
eyes, and behold our desolations and the city which is called
by thy name. For we do not present our supplications
before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies. Not
because we're righteous, for our righteousness is as filthy
rags. Scripture says, This is what belongs to us. This is our
soul possession. This is ours. The wages of sin
is death. This is what we've earned. Shame. Shame. I know religion says that's
not the case today. They don't want you to feel shame.
They don't want you to feel embarrassment. They don't want you to feel guilty.
They want you to feel the opposite. One man said, well, sin is just
that which diminishes our self-esteem. My goodness, where'd he get that?
Not from the book. Must have been somewhere else.
Thank God, Daniel not only says shame belongs to us, he says
some things belong to God. Righteousness belongs to Him,
Daniel said. Forgiveness belongs to Him. Mercy belongs to him. It doesn't belong to you. We
ought to be merciful people. But the choice of those who we
show mercy is the people we like. And it's just go ahead and tell
the truth. Just go ahead and tell the truth. Barney, you say
you better be glad I ain't God. And that's the truth. I'm glad
I'm not God because I don't handle mercy well. I don't handle my
wrath and anger very well. I'm thankful that God keeps me
back from doing what's on my mind most of the time, what's
in my heart most of the time. So the things that count, the
things that are eternal, the things that are of value, they
belong to God. Because He will always do what's
right and what's good, what's good for His people and for the
glory of His namesake. Psalm 62, 11 says, God has spoken
once, twice, have I heard this? Power belongs to God. We talk
about power. I saw an outtake of Superman
versus Batman. I vaguely remember reading that
comic years ago, I believe. And somebody on the Senate panel
says power corrupts and absolute power absolutely corrupts. No,
it doesn't. Absolute power only belongs in
one place. Nobody else has it. We have some
people who have authority and power because it's been derived
from God. God has given magistrates and
governments and police officers and such power from on high. That's clear from Romans chapter
13. And we are to obey those governments and those police
officers and magistrates because God has put them there for our
safety. And as long as we don't, we aren't a bunch of law transgressors
and lawbreakers, we don't have to worry about them at all. When
the police go by the house with the siren on, I don't think they're
going to pull in my driveway and draw the guns. I really don't.
Now there was a time in my youth And I can remember it well, an
old song that Harry Nelson sang, do you have to look away when
you pass by the corner before the squad car stops for coffee?
I can remember that. I don't worry about that anymore. I don't worry about it. Is it because I'm righteous?
No. I'm not righteous at all. But I have grown up enough to
know that those things are just stupid to do that I used to do
and get away with. But I have no power. You have
no power. There are men and women here who used to be strong and vital. I look back and even Tejas has
got gray in his beard. He's still a pretty strong fellow. But none of us are what we used
to be. If we live long enough, we'll find ourselves diminishing
more and more and more. Why? Do you want to be young? Do you want to be vital? I look
in the mirror at this old face and skin hanging off of it and
bags under the eyes. And inside I, 19 years old and just
full of beans. But I can't do what I did when
I was 19. Why? Whatever I assumed was power
is fading away. I can't keep myself. I can't
heal myself. I can't fix myself. I can't direct
myself. I thank God somebody has power
to do it. Power belonged to the Lord. Men
speak of power as if they were somehow generators of it, but
all power belongs to God. Breath. How many of those can
you hold at one time? Life. Faster than a weaver's
shuttle. Faster than a post. A vapor.
Even the strength to sin is derived from God. When Pilate said to Christ that
he had power to put Christ to death or to free him, Christ
said, you don't have any power except that which be given thee
from above. You don't have any power. Pilate
was a powerful man. He was the governor assigned
by the Roman Caesar. An absolute rule by what he said
when. He didn't have any power. Christ
just looked in and Christ is nobody to him. Some shepherd,
some carpenter's son. And he got no fancy clothes,
no crown if he's a king. He looks him in the eyes and
he don't have any power. Except God give you power. Why? Because all power belongs to
God. That's what the book says. Psalm
94.1 says, O Lord, to whom vengeance belongeth, O God, to whom vengeance
belongeth, show thyself. Vengeance. Now how many people,
just think of this political climate we're in right now. How
many people would survive if you had the power of vengeance?
I mean really, how many of your enemies would make it? How many
of those guys on those podiums would stand there more than one
day if you had power of vengeance? That's because we don't know
how this thing is going to work out. We never do. The Lord puts
the man on the throne, the Lord takes him down. And we may scratch
our head and wonder, but there ain't no use to wonder about
it. Ain't no use to wonder about
it. Men like to think of themselves as being able to control these
things, but vengeance belongs to God for a reason, because
He's the only one who can rightfully use it. And let me tell you about
this. There's only one man who's ever lived upon the face of the
earth who's experienced God's vengeance thus far. And that's Jesus Christ. You
haven't. I haven't. We don't know what
it is to be separated from God. We have no idea. God's been with
us all the way. Even those who are lost and have
no interest in Him, He watches over them. He gives them breath
and life and food on their table and shelter above them. And clothes
on their back. And liveness and vitality and
a mind to think. He gives them all that stuff,
though they care not for Him whatsoever. No man has ever known
what it is to be separated from God except for Jesus Christ.
And on Calvary Street, the Lord poured out His vengeance upon
Jesus Christ. He pulled that sword of justice
out of its scabbard and plunged it into the heart of his fellow
and scattered the sheave. And then he turned his hands
of kindness upon the little one. But he held back nothing when
he punished Christ for our sin. God alone can handle vengeance
and He will exercise it. And only He can righteously handle
it. What is vengeance? It is pent-up wrath. against
sin, all sin and any sin. It's pent up wrath. Our Lord
said in Isaiah chapter 63, vengeance is in my heart, seething,
roiling, boiling up, ready to be spent. Vengeance is in my
heart. But the day of my redeemed has
come. So He puts you and me and every
other human being on the face under the authority of the Lord
Jesus Christ to give eternal life to as many as He has given
to Christ. You see, vengeance is about honor
and glory. Therefore, it cannot belong to
shameful men to any degree. Vengeance is about honor. Vengeance
is about glory. Not men's vengeance. God's vengeance. Psalm 68, 20 says, He is our
God. And He that is our God is the
God of salvation. And to God, the Lord, belong
the issues from death. What issues from death? Well,
power over it. Only God has it. Deliverance
from it. Only God has it. The only way
to escape from it, God has it. To the day and the hour of it,
God has it. To the defeat of it and the myriad
ways and instruments used to bring it about, they're all His.
They're all His. How you're going to die is fixed.
Your name is on the bullet, whatever the bullet is. The day, the hour,
the moment is determined. You cannot pass saith this book. To Him belong the issues from
death. They belong to Him. Psalm 62, 12 says, Also unto
the old Lord belongeth mercy, for thou renderest to every man
according to his work. Daniel 9, 9 says, To the Lord
our God belongs mercy and forgiveness, though we've rebelled against
Him. Mercy is not an ursacenemic reservoir
in which you can draw. It's not unrequited affection.
It belongs to God. Mercy is His to give and His
to withhold. That's what mercy is. Even when
you ask for somebody's forgiveness, you have to attribute sovereignty
to them on a human level. You can't go up and say, you've
got to forgive me, because they don't got to forgive you. You
can ask, and it's up to them to give it. But people have even
messed that up. When old President Clinton got
in all that mess with Monica Lewinsky and got called in to
lie and said things like what is is and all that silliness,
he went for spiritual counseling to Jesse Jackson. That ought
to do it. And Jesse Jackson said to him,
listen, go out there and apologize to America. That will obligate them to forgive
you. That's what he said, because
that's what he believed. And people believe, they confess
that obligates God to forgive you. God ain't obligated to forgive
you at all. If God forgives you, it's because he's tender, and
long-suffering, and merciful. But he doesn't have to. You see,
that's his glory. His glory is his mercy and his
grace. He said that. When Moses said,
after Moses had seen God do wondrous things, Moses saw some stuff. Moses saw stuff that nobody else
saw. Moses was spoken to God face-to-face. He spoke to the
fathers by the prophets. He said, I speak to Moses, my
servant, face-to-face. He showed his acts unto Israel,
his ways unto Moses. His ways. He saw the Red Sea
party. He saw the ten different plagues
come to Egypt. He saw the fiery pillar and the
cloud by day. He saw all these things. He saw,
God says, see to that rock. I need some water. Well, I've
done that. I've looked at a rock and I thought,
how in the world can that be? I need some water. Smashed that
rock. And he smoked that rock one time.
He smoked the second time, he got in trouble. And it come forth
water. And that rock, a rock, according
to 1 Corinthians 10, followed them throughout the desert. They always had water. They said
they didn't know. They're lying. We're thirsting
to death out here. There's water. Well, we'd like
some of that Egyptian beer. We'd like some of that mead.
We'd like something other than that. They had water. They never
would have had water. They said, we'd like some real
bread, we're tired of this manna. We've got water from Iran. Moses
had seen some things. And yet he said, after he had
seen all those things, he said, Lord, show me your glory. I know
all these things glorify your power and your majesty, but I
want to know what really glorifies you. And the Lord said four things. He said, I will proclaim the
name of the Lord before you. I will make my goodness to pass
before you. I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy. And I will be gracious unto whom
I will be gracious. To whoever he decides to be or
has decided to be, because he don't decide nothing. He's already
decided everything. That's my glory. I will show
mercy. And then he stood on the rock,
or set Moses on a rock and passed by him, and he says, I hold mercy
for thousands. Yet, I will in no wise clear
the guilty. And I'll visit their transgressions
upon their fathers to the second and third generation. Mercy belongs
to the Lord. People don't like that. When
Paul told that, spoke that kind of language in Romans chapter
9, rebelled against that. They rebelled against that. Moses
says, whom he will, he'll harden them. People didn't want that.
People were opposed to that. That don't sound right. It sounds
only right if I ask for mercy, I ought to get it. No! You ask
for mercy and you attribute sovereignty to the one who has it and says,
please, give me mercy. Have mercy on me. And if God
does it, He does it, and if He don't, He don't. And it's His
business. For it's not Him that willeth, nor of Him that runneth,
but of God that showeth mercy. Daniel 9, 7 says, O Lord, righteousness
belongs to Thee. Ah, there's the rub. Men will
balk here as at no other place. This is the fact, however, that
only God possesses righteousness. That righteousness is revealed
in the gospel from faith to faith. And that righteousness is Jesus
Christ, for He is the end of the law for righteousness to
all who believe. But it belongs to Him. And He,
because of the meritorious work of Jesus Christ, accounts some
with it. But He assures that if you have
a righteousness that will stand you well with God, It is His
righteousness and not yours. It is accounted as yours by imputation
and clothed upon you in regeneration, but may in no case ever be attributed
to you. We, as a human race, and even
as those who know the Lord Jesus Christ, have no Righteousness
of our own. We can neither produce it or
work it up. The fact is we're not right.
We're wrong. Righteousness belongs to God.
It belongs to Him. That means it's intrinsically
His. It's His possession. When it speaks of what our righteousness
is. The Bible doesn't hinge. The Bible doesn't play with our
feelings. Isaiah, the great prophet, said all our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. All that good stuff we thought
we done is filthy, monstrous rags that we try to hand to God.
Things that need to be atoned for, we're trying to hand to
God. Things that put us outside the camp. Things that cause us
curse, cause us to be called cursed. We hand those to God,
they accept me on the basis of my filth. Righteousness belongs to the
Lord. Our Lord said there's coming a day when God will look at Judah,
that is the people of God, and God will look at Jerusalem and
He will find no sin. He'll look for it and it will
not be there. Why? Because Christ has put away our
sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And He says, that day I'm going
to set forth a branch and this is the name by which
you shall be called. The Lord. Our righteousness. My righteousness sits at the
right hand of the Father on high. You can't touch my righteousness.
Because you know, you look at me, I'm not. By nature, I'm not. But it's sitting at the right
hand of the Father. And I'm sitting in heavenly places with Him even
now. He's my righteousness. He's my righteousness. God has
made Him to be unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption, saith the Lord. Don't go thinking otherwise,
Mr. Shameface. Unless you've found a thief and
a robber trying to make yourself God, righteousness belongs to
God. It's His. Finally, salvation
belongeth to the Lord. That's what it says in Psalm
3.8. Salvation belongeth to the Lord. Now all of us have grown up in
a day and an age where that word salvation has come to mean absolutely
nothing. I mean it. Absolutely nothing. A walk down an aisle, a shake
of the preacher's hand, a nod, a smile, whatever, you know,
means nothing. But salvation does mean something.
If you understand this book, from cover to cover of Genesis
to Revelation, it's about the salvation of God's people. And
it does mean something. Now, if you don't feel like you
need to be saved, it don't mean anything to you. And I can say
to you quite honestly, I'm not talking to you. I'm not speaking
to you. If you don't have any need of
it, I can't create a need in you. I can't make you thirsty. I can't
make you hungry. I can't make you need something. You're going to have to be stripped. Your
water is going to have to be taken from you. Your food is
going to have to be ripped from your table until you start feeling
in your stomach and all at your bones. Then you'll know I'm hungry,
and you'll say, I want to eat. But I can't make that happen. I can't make that happen. You
understand what it is to be thirsty and what it is to be hungry. Salvation presupposes the concept
of being captive and held captive. Why do you need to be saved if
you're not in trouble? But people don't believe they're
in trouble. They've had kind of a warm, fuzzy feeling toward
the God of this age. Because He just is blubbers all
over them. Me instead I would say, God loves
you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Well, okay, I'm
good. I'm good. God is who He says
He is to do all things after the counsel of His own will.
He does His will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants
of the earth and none can stay His hand or say unto Him, what
doest thou if He is for me? He loves me, I ain't worried
about nothing. You can talk about salvation
and all that is, is me accepting Him. A worm accepting a king. How precious is that? And what
a lie. Salvation presupposes a situation
that can't be remedied unless you're saved from it. Psalm 9, 14 says, that I may
show forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of
Zion. I will rejoice in thy salvation. Thy salvation. Psalm 13 says,
but I have trusted thy mercy. My heart shall rejoice in thy
salvation. Psalm 21, His glory is great
in thy salvation. Honored majesty has thou laid
upon Him. Psalm 40 verse 10 and verse 16,
I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart. I have declared
thy faithfulness and thy salvation. I have not concealed thy loving
kindness and thy truth from the great congregation. Let all those
that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee. Let such as love
thy salvation say continually, the Lord be magnified. Restore
unto me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit. Show us Thy mercy, O Lord, and
grant us Thy salvation. Thy salvation. Salvation belongeth
to the Lord. Old Simeon David told me the
other day, that's one of her favorite stories of all. In Luke
chapter 2, the devout man, waiting on the consolation of Israel,
which is Jesus Christ, waiting to be comforted. As he looked
around him, he saw all the mess that was going on. I sugar you
some consolation, he said. God told him, you'll not die
before you see the consolation of Israel. One day Mary and Joseph
brought Jesus in for some type of Jewish ritual. They say he was probably six,
eight weeks old about that time. He was just a baby swaddling
clothes. And old Simeon was there. When
they came in, he looked at that baby and cocked his head and
walked over and took that baby and looked in the face of that
baby. He said, Lord, You can take Your
servant home. I have seen Thy salvation. That salvation is Jesus Christ.
Salvation to Jesus Christ and Mother. Salvation. Word bandied about all the time.
What does it mean? It means to be delivered. To be saved. To destroy those who captivate you
and hold you. To bring them to naught so that
you can be delivered. It means to have the chains cut
off your feet and your hands. It means to open up the cell
door and let you out. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me, he said, to heal the brokenhearted and set at liberty them that
are captive. Ever been in jail? It ain't no
party. I've been in jail. And I'll tell
you what, when they open the door, They didn't say, well,
I want you to decide whether you want to be let loose or not. They opened the door and all
they saw was my rear end heading out the door. That's all they
saw. Why? Because I'm free. I was free. That's what salvation is. And
it's not yours. It belongs to God. It's his salvation. Joe, old Jonah down in the belly
of that fish. Seaweed wrapped around his head. Probably choking on the smell. Lifted his eyes and said, Lord,
I'll pay all my vows. I've been wrong. I'll straighten
up. Okay. I'll do what I'm supposed to
do. Alright. He's still in the belly of the whale. Finally,
he said what he needed to say. Salvation is of the Lord. And God made that fish spit him
out on the banks of Nineveh. Salvation is the Lord in its
conception, in its inception, in its accomplishment, and its
culmination. Christ Jesus is the author and
the finisher of faith. God has blessed His people with
all spiritual blessings. You can't do something to be
blessed of God. He's either blessed you in Christ or He ain't going
to bless you at all. Now you can count what you have as blessings.
I do. You know, it's alright. I've
got a fat automobile. I count that a blessing, but
it's not really a blessing. I'm still paying for it. God
didn't give it to me. I'm still paying for it. Whatever God gives
to me don't cost me nothing. I found that to be the case.
But God has blessed His people with all spiritual blessings.
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 unto Himself, to the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein He has made us accepted in the Beloved. He did all that and gave you
faith when you heard the truth. And you believed after you heard
the word of truth, the good news of your salvation. You were sealed
with the Holy Spirit of promise. More and more than this day in
which we live. And it may be just that I'm becoming
an old fogey, I don't know. I'm sure my children would accuse
me of that. That's just an old way of thinking.
Yeah, it's old. I like old stuff. More and more. It's just right here. Because it's here when I got
here. It'll be here when I'm gone.
It's here when you got here. It'll be here when And it ain't a book to be toyed
with. It's to be believed and bowed to. And when you understand
this book, you'll know this. Because it'll tell you in no
uncertain terms, no flowery language. It ain't going to make you feel
good about yourself. It'll tell you that you're just
shameful. I'm just shameful. But it'll also tell you Though you've rebelled, there
is mercy with God and forgiveness. And it belongs to Him. It belongs
to Him. Will He give it? I can't say. But I do find this encouraging
in Scripture. Wherever I look, when somebody
called out for mercy, the Lord didn't turn them away. I find
that comforting. It may be just anecdotal evidence,
but it's enough for me. Father, bless us to understand
and pray in Christ's name. Amen.