Chardon church of Christ

Job - Epilogue

Job - Epilogue
Job 42:7-17

INTRO: Good morning church. I suspect many of us are familiar with the Book of Job and the story told there. I find the answers that are provided in Job to be challenging because the things that God explains are often not the cliché Christian answers of how we want to explain suffering. I believe that God's answer in this book is really full of comfort. This morning I want to concentrate on what is often called the Epilogue of Job, chapter 42:7-17.

First though, I want to take a step back and then look at the final text of Job 42. To appreciate that epilog, we need to bring to memory how we got there.

In Job 1:1 we read, “There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil.” If you remember in the first two chapters, we see that Job was put into a trial, because Satan asserted that God was not just in how He blessed people. Satan said the reason people served God is for what they could get out of it. In other words, they served for selfish reasons.

Satan alleges that if “you take away everything Job has; he will curse you to your face.” Thus proving that people are basically mercenaries for God and only serve for what they receive, not for whom He is and not for how glorious He is. This becomes the basis of the trial that Job must go through. God allowed Satan to take away from Job his wealth, his family, and his health. After losing his children, his wealth, and his health, Job does not curse God, as Satan said that he would.

Job feels, though, that he has lost his relationship with God and maintained his righteousness even after all that he had lost. His three friends then arrive to, quote, “comfort him” and give explanations for why these things have happened.

As we continue reading we find that those three friends keep repeating the refrain that Job needed to repent. If he would only repent, then all of the blessings would return… The problem with that is… it would have proved Satan correct. It would show that Job's just in it for the blessings he receives and that's all he's concerned about.

Job shows that that's not what he's concerned about. He is concerned about justice and righteousness, and he maintains his integrity throughout. Job's stance, you might say, is that God has not treated him fairly. The thing that confronted Job was that, despite his integrity toward God and the absence of any gross wickedness that could have deserved the terrible misfortunes that had overtaken him, he was judged by his friends, and everyone else, as a wicked sinner who was getting exactly what his conduct deserved.

Then Elihu starts to speak, who we did not know was there through this whole scene, and gives his explanation about what is going on and his understanding of how God runs the world. There is much to be said about Elihu who is the worst of the lot, but that is a whole study in itself. As he is giving his answer, God answers from the whirlwind interrupting and terminating Elihu’s remarks with a question addressed to Job, “Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?”

God at this point speaks repeatedly to Job, asking many questions about many different things. The great truth that shines here is not so much related to the particular things about which God questioned Job, as it is to the incredible and glorious truth that Almighty God Himself was carrying on a conversation with a mortal man! Through this God shows His power and His wisdom, and that is what is to be trusted, for God is running the world.

Who are we to challenge or question the power of God or the wisdom of God in the slightest? This brought the final words of Job in Job 42:6, “Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Of what did Job repent? Certainly, he did not repent of such sins as his friends had alleged against him; and neither is it enough to say that Job repented of his pride. Repentance here is of a man who realizes his creaturehood and that God is eternally God. 1st Corinthians 3:19 reminds us, “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.”

When we reach this point we find that no answer has been provided for the overriding question about the reason behind human suffering. One commentator wrote "God is not so much concerned with strengthening man's faith by giving him answers to his questions, as he is with encouraging the kind of faith that does not demand answers." (Coffman)

EPILOGUE - Now the epilog… What are we to understand from this book? Look with me now at Job 42:7-17. “7. And so it was, after the Lord had spoken these words to Job, that the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has. 8. "Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and My servant Job shall pray for you. For I will accept him, lest I deal with you according to your folly; because you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.''

9. So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the Lord commanded them; for the Lord had accepted Job. 10. And the Lord restored Job's losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.

11. Then all his brothers, all his sisters, and all those who had been his acquaintances before, came to him and ate food with him in his house; and they consoled him and comforted him for all the adversity that the Lord had brought upon him. Each one gave him a piece of silver and each a ring of gold. 12. Now the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys.

13. He also had seven sons and three daughters. 14. And he called the name of the first Jemimah, the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-Happuch. 15. In all the land were found no women so beautiful as the daughters of Job; and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers. 16. After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children and grandchildren for four generations. 17. So Job died, old and full of days.”

The Friends - The first scene is given in verses seven through nine. The Lord turns His attention to the three friends. Verse seven just flat out declares “… you have not spoken of Me what is right…” Step back and think about what have they said about God that isn't right? The point that they have continually made was that suffering means you're being punished by God for your sins.

Over and over they indicate the only explanation for your suffering is that you're being punished for your sins. You are getting less than you deserve. You should just be grateful for what you're going through because you're an awful sinner.

God is very clear in this verse in declaring that what the three friends said was wrong. He indicates that's not right, that's not the way that I operate. In fact at the end of verse seven “…you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has. ”

The three friends had adopted the false theory, which many still hold, that you can measure the righteousness of a person by the degree of their prosperity. Essentially the proposition espoused by Satan, with the variation that the only reason prosperous people served God was as a way of assuring the continuation of their prosperity. Based on that false view, the three friends insisted that Job was a reprobate sinner. Job vehemently denied this, pointing out that the wicked often prospered; and it is primarily of that basic truth that God spoke in this verse.

In reading Job we learn that God had not sent affliction upon Job to punish him, nor to discipline him; all of his sorrowful experiences were due to Satan and to no one else.
With lying persuasion Elihu, pretending to be inspired of God, promises mercy, prosperity and pleasure if Job will admit his sins, and he lays down the proposition that Elihu himself, as God's representative, is present to help Job remember those sins he has surely committed, but which he may have forgotten. This was Satan's trump card; and when Job refused to believe it, ignored and rejected it, God's judgment of Job was gloriously vindicated.

What then do we know of the suffering we face? It is not as punishment, we learn that from Job. It does have a corrective nature, but a corrective nature is not the same as saying God is going to barbecue you every time you've done something wrong.

These things are permitted to correct us and move us in the right direction. What does scripture say? We've observed many times how the New Testament uses this concept. James, Peter, and Paul tell us this. See Romans eight, 1st Peter one, and James one.

We look at suffering and understand it to be the refining of faith, the molding of our character, the changing of who we are, to draw us closer to God, to make us what we ought to be. Would we like to believe that we would change ourselves during prosperity and good times? Yes. Yet it is often through adversity, trials, and suffering that change occurs.

Paul, Peter, and James all say that same thing, these things are given to us, to be used by us, to refine us—again a corrective.

God allows these things so that we would become more and more of what God has called us to be and to refine those edges, to strengthen that faith, to change that character.

The idea that suffering is punishment is firmly ingrained in human thought though, isn’t it? Look at John 9:1-2 “Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?''” The scriptures reflect how often that was a common idea. Here's this man who's been born blind. Who sinned? The first thought is somebody sinned. God must be punishing. Is he punishing the man or punishing the parents? Who sinned?

Here is what happened. Jesus answered; “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” It’s not how things operate. “ but that the works of God should be revealed in him.” I love that answer… to display the glory of God.

If there is nothing else you take away when you study Job, it’s that you will understand the function of suffering in life. If you study it and say, God must be punishing me for something I did yesterday and He's now zapping me today. That's not what the Book of Job shows.

The friends set forward that theology, and God has knocked it down very strongly and said that's not what I'm doing. These things are intended to help us, to correct us, to move us in the right way.

I find it astounding to read the reaction of these friends to Job’s situation. Look at the picture painted. They have said of Job; you are a terrible, awful sinner. I mean, you're the worst of the worst. You trampled the poor. You reject the widows. The list of things these friends have charged Job with is staggering, especially in light of all that he has lost. Yet, we remember Job 1:1, “There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil.”

Notice what God says in the Epilogue that the three friends must do. He doesn't just simply say you need to pray to me and repent. No, we find that God sets up Job as a priest of sorts. They must find intercession, through Job, to God. You bring your offerings and Job will pray for you to Me and I will hear Job. He is My servant.

My Servant - Job is set up as this priest figure which we find interesting because remember the book started that way. Job 1:5, “So it was, when the days of feasting had run their course, that Job would send and sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, "It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.'' Thus Job did regularly.” He is My servant.

Especially strong are those words. In verses seven and eight of the Epilogue, we see a repetition. God says four times “My servant” when speaking of Job. The unavoidable implication is the vindication of Job before these friends.

All of these friends are saying; you're a miserable wretch and God is punishing you. God addresses three of these men and says; actually, that's My servant Job and if you want to have any relationship with Me, any restoration whatsoever, you better bring your sacrifices to him and he'll pray for you. What a reversal! Who has been shown to be righteous? It is not the three friends, but Job.

Here is a beautiful picture of who Job is and the relationship that Job is able to have with God. We recall that Job had thought his relationship with God was destroyed and God was far from him. God shows that's not the case.

I’m thinking now of Isaiah 53. Isaiah prophesied that people would not esteem the Christ, but would consider Him stricken by God, verse 4. In fact, He's the servant of God, as Isaiah called Him in verse 11, and this righteous servant of God would come and take away the sins of the world.

When you study the Book of Job, you will find Job said some things that were not right. After God spoke, what did Job do? Job 42:6 Job says, “… I repent in dust and ashes.” We see repentance and immediately Job is back in a wonderful condition before God because he repents before Him.

Consider the three friends. They have said some awful things about Job. They've outright lied about Job and also said things that are wrong about God. Yet God says, if you will have an intercessor come before me, I'll accept that prayer and you will be restored too. The beauty of forgiveness! Here is this picture of God who restores when we repent.

At the end of this whole event, they will be able to stand before God whole. God will receive them if they repent. One of the great parts in this book is just how amazing it is that after all that has transpired, God is making this offer, and restoring Job, and restoring the three friends.

Job Comforted - The final part of the epilogue gives us a picture of Job being comforted. Some folks jump to the wrong conclusion here so we need to look at it and understand this ending in its proper light.

One of the things that we can not help but notice is that in terms of Job’s possessions, everything doubles. In Job 42:10 it says, “And the Lord restored Job's losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.” As we read on in verse 12 we find all of those numbers are doubled from what we see in chapter one.

I suspect there is also an increase in terms of his lifespan. In verse 16 we read Job lived 140 years, which corresponded to that of the patriarchs, such as Abraham (175), Isaac (180), and Jacob (147). This fact alone lifts him out of the category of ordinary persons.

Wait a minute though… but there are not 20 children now! After all, Job started with 10, 7 sons and 3 daughters (Job 1:2) and now he has the same number, “10”. Bible scholars tell us the number “10” has special significance as indeed numbers tend to do in those times. The number “10” occurs 242 times in scripture and indicates completeness. Ten…that was the number of children he had, a complete family, remember? What we have now is the complete family that's been put back together again.

God - What are we supposed to take away from this restoration Job receives? Are we supposed to read this book and say, okay, so at the end of the trial you're going to be fully restored and everything will be fine if you just hang on? God will put all the pieces on the checkerboard back into place right where they were before.

Anybody who's been through trials in life knows that's just simply not true. I think we ought to recognize that's not what's happening with Job either. God will bless who He will bless and our actions do not obligate God. That thinking is what Satan alleges.

What Job points out and the writer of Ecclesiastes does too, is that being righteous doesn't mean you're going to be prosperous or successful or that you will have good times. One of the things that God has made very clear, God is not under any obligation to Job.

Folks, how often do people have a trial that they will have for the rest of their days? Remember what Christ told Paul when Paul prayed to have the “thorn in his side” removed? There's nothing that says that God must come in and put the brakes on what you are facing.

If we come to the end of the Book of Job and we believe that that's what God does, then Satan is right. We're only serving God to get the goodies in this life.

What we learn from the Book of Job is that God does not have to act out of any obligation of Job's righteousness.

Why then do you suppose God blesses us? Why does He comfort? Not because we are righteous, but because of who He is. God, in His wisdom and His power, chooses who He will bless, and what He will give, and He does it from His own will and to His purpose. I think that is a critical message that we should get from the Book of Job.

When we suffer trials not only do we have suffering and pain, but sometimes we feel so hopeless. Like there is nothing good in the future, I can not survive this. We need to remember that God is faithful, God is still with us, God will still bless us, God still cares for us, and that there can still be blessings to come.

God's generosity is only tied to His prerogative and His character. Satan had said God cannot do this. God is not able to bless people because if you bless them, they will serve for selfish reasons. God's answer is, that I can bless my people because it's not tied to their activity. This is not a quid pro quo kind of thing.

Let’s continue in the epilogue at verse 11. “Then all his brothers, all his sisters, and all those who had been his acquaintances before, came to him and ate food with him in his house; and they consoled him and comforted him for all the adversity that the Lord had brought upon him. Each one gave him a piece of silver and each a ring of gold.” You'll notice in verse eleven, right in the middle, it says, they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the “adversity”. That word can also be translated “evil” that the Lord had brought upon him.

We see that God declares He is ultimately responsible for everything that has happened. One thing made very clear in the Book of Job is that it was Satan, not God, who slaughtered Job's children, impoverished him, and reduced him to suffering and disease; yet here, it is stated that, "the Lord had brought" all these things upon him. Here we have enunciated the Biblical premise that God indeed "does" that which He “allows” to happen.

It is something that we struggle with. The idea is that God says, at the end of the day, the buck does stop with Him.

That doesn't mean that Satan isn't the one doing the evil, he is the active participant. Are we recognizing God did allow it? God could have stopped it. Everything that Satan does is within the knowledge and the power and the control and the sovereignty of God. God is in control. There is nothing that is outside of His knowledge, nothing that is outside of His realm, outside of His rule, outside of any of those things.

That's the great comfort of chapters one and two. Before Satan can do one thing, what does he do? He talks to God and God permits Satan… with limits. God constantly places boundaries upon what Satan can do and has knowledge of what he is doing, and awareness of those things, and God is pointing that out here.

I’m thinking of 1st Corinthians 10:13 where it says, “No temptation (some translations say testing) has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” We can believe that text by understanding that God is ultimately in control and responsible for the things that are going on and puts boundaries on them.

God does rule over evil. He rules over suffering, He rules over Satan, and He decrees the limits of temptations and trials. His message is; trust My power, trust My knowledge, trust My wisdom…trust…Me.

When we look at our suffering and look at our trials, we understand it is not God trying to hurt us or punish us. How then can this be used to refine our faith? How can this be used to draw us closer to God and to make us more like who God has called us to be?

CONCLUSION:
Now I would like us to turn to James 5. In James, chapter five, he speaks of Job. What James says about Job, I think is a great final summary of the message of the book.

James 5:7-11 – “7. Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. 8. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. 9. Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door! 10. My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. 11. Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.” I find how James puts that description of Job very poignant.

James starts and says “Be patient until the Lord returns”. He uses the image of farming. Wait for the Lord's return and be patient. He uses some examples.

The first example is to look at the prophets. We can do that by studying Jeremiah. Look at their example of suffering and patience. He says you see in them their faith, their endurance. See their steadfastness through suffering, through difficulties, and their patience through all things.

Then you'll notice he turns his attention to Job and says, I want you to consider the steadfastness of Job. The marvelous endurance of Job’s faith in God is inherently visible in his reaction to one disaster after another. When death overtook his family, he said, "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord" (Job 1:21). When even his wife suggested that he curse God and die, he said, "What, shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?" (Job 2:10). When his philosophical friends accused him of sin, citing the calamities which had overwhelmed him as proof of it, he said, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust him" (Job 13:15).

In James 5:11 he says “You have heard of the perseverance of Job (Watch what he puts with that) and seen the end intended by the Lord that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.” When we come to the end of the Book of Job, the epilogue, that's what we're to see, the compassion and mercy of God.

One of the things that I hope we take away is that God has a greater purpose when He allows evil and suffering in this world. I suppose we want God to give us the manual and say; explain to me how this, this, and this is accomplishing Your purposes. Please tell me. Kind of what Job was saying. You need to explain to me why I, as a righteous person, am enduring this. God's answer is; trust me. Put your faith in Me, and believe in My wisdom, in My knowledge, and My power. I am a compassionate and merciful God and I desire to bless My people.

Of course, we don't have all the information that we would like to have. Folks, if we had all the information, then why would God call us for faith? We turn our hearts to God and believe that He is acting for our good and that these things will be, so that ultimately we will be able to be with Him.

You see in the lives of so many people in the Scriptures from Joseph down through the prophets and the apostles—this is how God operates.

____________________________________________________________________________________

We learn from the New Testament how to be saved. We need to hear the word; believe in Jesus; repent of our sins; we must confess our belief that Jesus is the Son of God; and be baptized for the remission of our sins… If we follow these steps, the Lord adds us to His church.

Perhaps there is someone in the assembly today with the need to be buried with Christ in baptism. If you have never done these things, we urge you to do so today. If anyone has this need or desires the prayers of faithful Christians on their behalf, we encourage them to come forward while we stand and sing.

# ???
Based on Sermon by: Brent Kercheville

Handling Discouragement

HANDLING DISCOURAGEMENT
Nehemiah 4 : 10-23

An old-time minister tells the story of a man lost in the desert: “He has been out of food and water for days.
His lips are swollen, his tongue is swollen,
he’s all beat up and bloody.
Some of his bones are almost peeking through.
He has been scraped and beat up by the cactus,
the sand and most of all the sun.
He’s blistered all over his body.
As he’s crawling over this little hill
he comes across this little plant
and props himself up on one bloody elbow,
looks down at this plant and says,
‘You know, if things keep going like this
I might get discouraged!’”

By God’s Grace I Will Not Quit
Joshua 1:9 says Have I not commanded you?
Be strong and courageous.
Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed,
for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

There is a legend that Satan decided to get rid of a number of his tools, so he arranged an auction ...
There was envy, deceit, malice, sensuality, enmity, thoughtlessness and many other tools which Satan had used successfully (priced very low).
One piece,
marked very high, was labeled Discouragement.

"Why do you want so much for this tool?" asked one bidder.
"This tool," replied the old tempter,
"has always been my most useful one.
You can see it has had more wear than the rest.
It is used as a wedge to get into a man's mind when all other means fail. Practically every human being has had this tool used on him,
although very few know that I'm the one wielding it." . . .

As it worked out,
none could afford the price Satan demanded for Discouragement ... so he is still using it.

One day a mother saw 5 of her children gathered in a circle in the middle of the yard. Something had their eager attention & she couldn't see what it was.
So, very quietly, she came up behind them
& peeked over their shoulders,
only to discover that in the center of their circle
were 5 little skunks.
Suddenly horrified at what could happen,
The mother cried at the top of her voice,
"Children, run!"
Instantly, each child grabbed a skunk & ran,
leaving their mother stunned & frustrated.

I don't know if you have ever felt like that
but Nehemiah surely must have.
God had said,
"Nehemiah, go to Jerusalem & rebuild the wall around the city."
It sounded so easy, & Nehemiah must have thought,
"That's a piece of cake!
I can do that & be back here again as cupbearer to the King in no time at all."

So Nehemiah went to Jerusalem & started out on his task with great enthusiasm.
But immediately,
he & his workers met opposition, criticism,
complaints, & mockery.

The result was discouragement.
And Nehemiah had to learn how to deal with that discouragement.

What he learned is recorded in Nehemiah 4:10- 23.
To begin with,
listen as I read vs’s 10-12. “Meanwhile, the people in Judah said, ‘the strength of the laborers is giving out,
& there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall.
Also our enemies said, 'Before they know it or see us,
we will be right there among them
& will kill them & put an end to the work.’
Then the Jews who lived near them came
& told us ten times over,
‘Wherever you turn, they will attack us.’”

PROP. Now with that beginning,
let’s look more closely at the entire passage & discover,
first of all, the source of discouragement;
secondly, the causes of discouragement;
& finally, how to deal with discouragement when it comes our way.

I. THE SOURCE OF DISCOURAGEMENT
Vs. 10 says, “Meanwhile, the people in Judah said,
‘the strength of the laborers is giving out,
& there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall.”
Right here is the beginning of all the complaints
& discouragement that come Nehemiah's way.

Do you realize who Judah was?
On his death bed, Jacob called his sons together
& in Genesis 40:10 he said, “The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
until He comes to whom it belongs...”

What Jacob was saying to Judah was this,
"You will be the leader. You are the chosen tribe to lead God's people until the Messiah comes."
So if anybody ought to be leading the effort in the building of the wall around Jerusalem
it ought to be the people of Judah.
They are the leaders.
But NO,
from the people of Judah,
Nehemiah received only complaints & discouragement.

I wonder, how often have we found that those who ought to be helpful & supportive are not?
And that those who should be encouraging us are actually the source of our discouragement?
Watch out for sources of discouragement!

II. THE CAUSES OF DISCOURAGEMENT
Secondly, notice that in these verses
we are given 4 causes of discouragement,
& it is interesting how God gives them to us in a very special order.

A. First of all, we’re told that they lost their strength.
Listen again to vs. 10: “The strength of the laborers is giving out...”
They started out with tremendous enthusiasm,
but now their strength is beginning to fail. Why?

Go back to vs. 6 & you’ll find the answer.
It says, “We rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height...” Notice the word "half." They were half way through.
They had come half way, but they still had half of it to do.

An automobile half paid for has to be one of the most depressing things in the world. The newness is worn off.
It has scratches & dents, & it needs repairs,
but you still have as many payments left as you have already paid.

A mountain half climbed can be very depressing.
You have expended tremendous energy getting this far,
but you still have as far to go as you have already come.

That is exactly the situation that Nehemiah & the children of Israel faced. The wall was half finished,
but they still had as much to do as they had already done,
& their strength was gone.
They were exhausted & discouraged!

B. Secondly, they had lost their vision.
Vs. 10 goes on to tell us that the people of Judah began saying, "There is so much rubble...."

Do you get the picture?
When they started out to build the wall there was a lot of rubble lying around.
So they all pitched in & cleaned it up
stacking the usable bricks & stones together
& hauling off the rest.

But as they mixed the mortar
& started laying the wall more rubbish began to collect.
Piles of unused mortar
& broken stones were lying everywhere.

And as they began to lose their strength,
they also began to lose their vision.
The result is that they begin to focus their attention on the piles of rubbish & not the work to be done.

I suppose that's a lot like being a mother with multiple children in diapers at the same time.
Here's a dirty diaper,
there's a dirty diaper
everywhere there are mountains of dirty diapers.

When those children were born
the mother had a vision of them growing up to be strong
& successful
& intelligent
& beautiful but right now,
all she can see are dirty diapers!

That is what was happening to Judah.
They once had a vision of a completed wall,
but now all they see are piles of rubbish,
& rubbish is very depressing.

C. Thirdly, they lost their confidence
& began to despair.
“There is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall.”
When they first started out they were supremely confident.
They were convinced that Nehemiah was the greatest contractor in the world,
& that they would rebuild the wall in record time.
But, now, half way through,
they had lost their confidence.

Have you ever been that way?
You get up in the morning convinced that you are going to seal a deal & that it is going to be a successful day.
But you don't seal the deal,
& you feel beat down
& unsuccessful.

After that happens about 3 or 4 times
you lose your confidence.
You begin to think, "I really can't do the job the way I thought I could."
And confidence is gone.

D. Fourthly, they lost their sense of security.
Vs. 11 says, "Also our enemies said,
'Before they know it or see us,
we will be right there among them
& will kill them & put an end to the work.”

Those are strong words.
They had enemies who were threatening them
threatening even to kill them to stop the work
& they lost their sense of security.

Listen again to vs. 12, “Then the Jews who lived near them came & told us ten times over,
‘Wherever you turn, they will attack us.’”

They lost their sense of security because
their security was in the wrong thing in the first place.

1. How about us?
Today we hear a lot about job security.
As long as things are going well
as long as we’re climbing the ladder of success
as long as we’re getting raises
as long as the boss likes us
we feel secure.

But the company changes hands
& new management comes in.
Pressure builds,
& you feel that your job is threatened
& the sense of security leaves.

2. Or maybe you put security in friends.
You spend time with good friends
& you feel comfortable & secure.
Then your friends move away.
You find it hard to make new friends
& security leaves.

3. Worse yet, you move.
You place your security in a home
in familiar sights & sounds & people.
But one day your husband says,
"We’re being transferred."
So you have to leave your home,
your friends,
your church,
& your schools.
And your sense of security is threatened.

In our highly mobile society today
one of the greatest challenges facing the church
is reaching out to people who have had to leave familiar environments,
move to a new location,
& who need to develop a new sense of closeness,
of family, & of security.

So, let's look at the people of Judah again.
They lost their strength.
They lost their vision.
They lost their confidence,
& they lost their sense of security.
And the result was discouragement.

III. WHAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT DISCOURAGEMENT?
Nehemiah realized that he had to do something.
You never ignore discouragement anymore than you can ignore a flat tire.
Flat tires don't fix them-selves.
When a tire goes flat you can try to drive on
& hope that it will suddenly get air in it again
but no,
the tire will stay flat until the object causing the leak is removed & the hole repaired.

It is the same way with discouragement.
It just doesn't leave by itself.
You must do something about it.

So what did Nehemiah do?
The scripture tells us 4 things Nehemiah did.

A. First, he saw that there needed to be unity among the people. Listen to vs. 13: "Therefore I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall at exposed places,
posting them by families,
with their swords, spears & bows."

What did Nehemiah do?
He brought the people together in family groups
so that they would be working together as families
& placed them in strategic spots all along the wall that they were building.

What had they been doing?
They had been scattered as individuals all along the wall
- each one doing his own job where he was.
But there had been no sense of interdependence,
working together as a unit,
working in harmony & close association with one another.
But now they were working together as families,
helping & protecting each other.
Today, God encourages us to worship together as a group so that we can encourage one another.
We read this in Hebrews 10:23-25
23 let us hold fast the confession of our hope that it waver not; for he is faithful that promised: 24 and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works; 25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as ye see the day drawing nigh.

B. Secondly, Nehemiah realized that he needed to redirect their attention to the Lord. So vs. 14 of our test says,
”After I looked things over,
I stood up & said to the nobles,
the officials & the rest of the people,
‘Don’t be afraid of them.
Remember the Lord, who is great & awesome,
& fight for your brothers,
your sons & your daughters,
your wives & your homes.”

You see, their problem was that they were focused on rubbish. That was all they could see.
They failed to see that the wall was already half done.
They were half way home
& the Lord had brought them there.

So Nehemiah said, "Remember the Lord.
Remember who He is,
how great & powerful He is."

Folks, every once in a while we need to do the same thing –
to get our eyes off the rubbish that surrounds us
& look to God.
Remember who He is
& how great He is.
He created the world
& hung the stars & sun & moon in space.
He gave us the breath of life,
& He promised to watch over
& care for us all the days of our life.

Remember that the Lord has said in Matthew 7:26,
"Don't be anxious about tomorrow.”
“Look at the birds of the air;
they do not sow or reap or store away in barns,
& yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are you not much more valuable than they?”

Remember also that “...in all things God works for the good of those who love Him,
who have been called according to His purpose” [Romans 8:28].

He is talking about us,
for "God so loved the world that He gave His one & only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life" [John 3:16].

"Remember the Lord," said Nehemiah.
"Get your eyes off the rubbish,
& remember what He has done
& what He is doing."

C. Thirdly, Nehemiah said,
"We need to rally together."
Listen to vs’s 19 & 20: "Then I said to the nobles,
the officials & the rest of the people,
'The work is extensive & spread out,
& we are widely separated from each other along the wall. Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet,
join us there. Our God will fight for us!'"

We, too, need a rallying place where we can come with our worries & cares to be strengthened again.
We need to get together & encourage one another.
That is the task of the church.
"Whenever you hear the sound of the trumpet," Nehemiah said, “join us there”, & God will fight the battle for us."

D. Finally, Nehemiah said, "We must help each other."
Vs’s 21 & 22 say, "So we continued the work with half the men holding spears, from the first light of dawn till the stars came out. At that time I also said to the people,
'Have every man & his helper stay inside Jerusalem at night,
so they can serve us as guards by night & workmen by day.’"

You see, Nehemiah realized that the task was so great that it needed everybody working together, helping each other.
And that is still true today!

 

 

Sermon Contributor: Melvin Newland

Hidden But Not Forgotten

HIDDEN BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
Genesis 14:17-20

OPEN: During WWII, the Geneva Convention allowed Allied POWs to receive gifts from home.
Some of the most popular gifts were board games and decks of playing cards, and one of the most popular board games was Monopoly... especially the Monopoly games sent to them by British government.

The reason this was so popular was because, hidden in the box were tools for escape.
There were real bank notes mixed in amongst the Monopoly money, and – concealed inside the box –
were Compasses, metal files, and a silk map (so it wouldn’t be affected by the elements).
And it worked; soldiers DID use these to escape.

Decks of “playing cards” were also popular because these card decks contained special cards that, when soaked in water, revealed hidden maps of routes the POW’s could use for their escapes.

Hidden in these games - were the keys to freedom.
And hidden in our text today, is one of the most important keys to OUR freedom.

But first, a little background.
Abraham and his family have been living down near the Dead Sea. There were 5 major cities in the area (including Sodom and Gomorrah) and these cities were part of the powerful Kingdom of Elam to whom they were obligated to pay tribute.
Apparently, they decided they didn’t like that arrangement any longer and they rebelled.

Now, the King of Elam didn’t like that, so he led a massive army down from the North and devastated Sodom and Gomorrah - raiding their cities and carrying away plunder and captives... including Lot and his family.

When Abraham heard that this had happened, he led his own personal army of 318 men against the Northern King. And he rescued all the captives, including Lot and his family and brought back all the goods that had been plundered.

What I found interesting about our story today was that, as Abraham is making his way back home, we’re told in Genesis 14:17-20:
“... the king of Sodom went out to meet (Abram) at the Valley of Shaveh. And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. And he blessed him and said, ‘Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!’ And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.”
Did you notice that the King of Sodom comes out to meet Abraham FIRST. But it’s like Abraham ignores him and gives all his attention to this King of Salem, this man named Melchizedek. And it seems that even Melchizedek ignores the King of Sodom.

NOT that the king of Sodom was worth their attention.  SODOM was one of the wickedest cities that ever existed and apparently neither Abram nor Melchizedek thought he was worth their attention.

But in this part of the story, Melchizedek is front and center.  He not only gets Abraham’s attention, he gets a 10th of all the plunder Abram rescued.
Long ago, I learned that if Bible mentions something it’s there for a reason.

In fact Romans 15:4 tells us that
“whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”
That would include this story about Melchizedek.

But ... wait a minute! That doesn’t make any sense!
Genesis only gives Melchizedek 3 verses. And that’s the only time he’s mentioned in Genesis. In fact, in all the rest of the Old Testament, Melchizedek is only mentioned in one other verse.

And even when you get to the New Testament, the name of Melchizedek is never mentioned in the Gospels, the book of Acts, or in any of the “Epistles” Paul wrote nor the writings of John or Peter.

It’s like the guy disappeared from history... like nobody paid him any attention.
Well... that’s not entirely true. There’s one New Testament book that dedicates – not just 3 verses but – 3 entire chapters to Melchizedek.

And in those 3 chapters of that one New Testament book, this Old Testament King and Priest becomes one of the most important men in all of Bible History. He’s hidden away everywhere else in bible... but NOT in this book!

We read in Hebrews 7
"For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, 2 to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being translated “king of righteousness,” and then also king of Salem, meaning “king of peace,” 3 without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest forever."

Now Melchizedek was NOT Jesus. Verse 3 says He was RESEMBLING the Son of God. It’s kind of like that driver’s license you have in your wallet. Everybody hates them. It’s not a perfect resemblance of you, but its good enough that if a policeman pulls you over they can tell it’s you.

It’s not a perfect picture... but its close.But when God took a snapshot of Melchizedek, it was a perfect picture – it perfectly resembled who Christ was going to be.

Now remember, there’s only 3 verses in Genesis that describe Melchizedek – And that’s deliberate, because all that God wanted you to know about Jesus is wrapped up in those 3 verses.

For example:
His name was Melchizedek – which means “King of Righteousness.” And in Romans 3:22 we’re told “This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus.”

In addition, Melchizedek was the King of “Salem” – which means “King of Peace”. And in Romans 5:1 it says “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Jesus was our King of Righteousness and our King of Peace. And when God introduced Melchizedek He deliberately left out who his parents were!

We’re told this was because that declared this King had “neither beginning of days nor end of life, BUT… resembling the Son of God he continues a priest FOREVER.”

In fact, in Psalms 110:4, God makes that declaration about the coming Messiah: “The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”

So, what we find is that God declared that when Jesus came HE (JESUS) would be our Peace and our Righteousness, and that He would be our PRIEST FOREVER.

PRIEST?
Why would Jesus need to be my priest? I mean, I can understand Him being my King and I can appreciate that He would RULE over my life... but why would Jesus need to be my Priest?

Well what does a priest do? In the Old Testament, a priest would make sacrifices so that sins could be forgiven. And the Bible repeatedly teaches us that the guilt/shame of our sins had to be paid for and that something OR SOMEONE had to die to PAY for my sins.

So, as our Priest, Jesus made a sacrifice for our sins. But when did He do that? He did it when He died on the cross.

Hebrews tells us in Hebrews 10:11 "11 And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, 13 from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool.  14 For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified."

When Jesus died for you and I – His one sacrifice wiped away ALL our sins for ALL time for those who believed on His name, repented of their sins and were buried in a watery grave for the forgiveness of their sins.

You see... that’s what church is all about. We haven’t gathered here just to be a social club, to slap each other on the back, sing a few songs, listen to an encouraging message, and then go out and eat some potluck food together.

We are HERE at church services... because Jesus died for our sins. We remember that every time we take communion. We take of the bread and Jesus said “This is my BODY broken for you.” And then we take of the cup and Jesus said “this is my BLOOD that is poured out for you.”

We gather every Sunday and remember His High Priestly sacrifice in these communion elements. It’s what we do and who we are.

And that’s not the only thing we do to remember His sacrifice. Every time we baptize someone into Christ,
Paul tells us in Romans 6:3-6 "3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be [a]done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin."

We see His sacrifice in the Lord’s Supper and in our salvation action of baptism. His sacrifice is what we are about.

And if we ever forget that this is our primary purpose and teaching... we have nothing to offer this world.So, Jesus Is Our High Priest! And because that is true, He gives us confidence that now that our sins are removed we can boldly go into the presence of God without fear, without shame and without guilt.

In God’s presence we now simply have peace! Now, I want to go back to Genesis 14... Do you remember me saying that Melchizedek ignored the King of Sodom? Why would he do that?

Well, he did that because OUR King of Righteousness, OUR King of Peace, Our High Priest... wants nothing to do with the sin.

Sodom was the wickedest city on the face of the earth, and it - and it’s king – were ultimately destroyed because of their wickedness. And so Melchizedek had nothing to do with the king of Sodom!

But while Melchizedek didn’t focus on the King of Sodom... he DID focus on someone, and he did bless that someone. Who did Melchizedek bless? Abraham. We read the following in Genesis 14:18-20, "18 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. 19 And he blessed him and said:“Blessed be Abram of God Most High,Possessor of heaven and earth;20 And blessed be God Most High,Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.”And he gave him a tithe of all."

Now, why would he do that?  Well, he did that because Abraham believed in God and Abraham followed God and Abraham gave his life to God. And you can see that in what happens when Abraham meets Melchizedek.

ILLUS: An old preacher made this observation: “When Abraham saw Melchizedek he was looking at Christ because he resembled Christ.”

SO notice that when Abraham SAW Christ that day... two things happened: 1)“Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine.... And 2)Abram gave him a tenth of everything.”

That was how Abraham worshiped God that day. And that’s how we should be worshiping Jesus... IF we really see Him. If you are really seeing the face of Christ that should compel us to DO something.

It should compel us to make sure we take of Communion every Sunday and it should compel us to make sure we give back to the lord every Sunday.

One last observation...
the CHURCH is the one place that we know we are going to see Jesus.

Ephesians 5:25 says “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” You mean Jesus died for this building?
Of course not, He died for this GROUP OF PEOPLE because YOU are the church. Granted He died for your own personal sins, but He also loved us as a group and He died to establish His church... US.

What’s interesting is how the church is described in Ephesians 1:22-23 which says Jesus is “the head over all things to the church, which is his body.”

We are the BODY of Christ. So (work with me here) when I see the church... I’m seeing His body. When I see the church, I’m seeing Christ.

Because that is true It’s only when we gather as a church that I really see Jesus. When I sit at home, I can turn on the TV and here a preacher preach a message, and I can turn on the radio to a religious radio station and listen to uplifting songs of praise, and I can turn everything off and offer up prayers to Christ. I can do all that at home.

But the one thing I can’t do at home is see the “body of Christ” – which is you.It is here that I experience ... the BODY of Christ.

CLOSE: A preacher shared a story about a woman in his church who’d gone to the doctor because she had a spot on her head that was irritating her. He looked it over and noted it was a small spot on her head and he told her was nothing to worry about... he’d look at it again in a month. But at the next appointment, the spot had grown dramatically and proved to be melanoma. It was serious enough that he scheduled surgery and removed – not only the skin on her head, but part of her skull.

In addition, they inserted blue dye into her veins at the affected area to see how far the cancer may have gone in her lymph nodes.  As soon as they pumped in the blue dye she IMMEDIATELY began to feel pain. The Doctor tried to comfort her as best he could but explained that the dye had to do its work... and there was no way to relieve the pain.

But many had found it helpful to “Find their happy place.” Thinking about the things that would make you feel safe,relaxed, and at peace often helped people deal with the pain.

Knowing how much this woman loved riding horses, the preacher remarked “Well, I guess your happy place was thinking about the times you’ve spent riding your horses in the field.”

“Oh no,” she said “the first thing I thought of was Church. Church was my happy place. I began to focus on the faces of people at church. I started on the right side of the building and remembered each of their faces and prayed for each one of them, thanking God that they were my friends and that I knew they prayed for me.  And then I focused on the songs we sing and am thankful that they encourage me to praise and worship God. And then I focused on the Word of God presented through sermons and Bible Study THEN …. After ALL that I thought about riding my horses.”

Church was her happy place! Why? Why was the church her happy place? Well, it was her happy place... because when she looked on the faces of the people at church... SHE SAW JESUS.

 

 

Contributing Sermon
Given by Jeff Strite

What Difference Does it Make?

Why Make a Fuss?

Some Can Not be Saved

Some Can Not be Saved
John 3:16

Good evening to everyone. It's a pleasure to be here. Mark said don't worry if he passes out. I've never had that problem with anybody when I've been preaching, but I have had a problem with people going to sleep sometimes. That's the one I have to watch out for.

It is a privilege to be here. It is great to see Ralph and his family and to be with Dale and have some of us guys that were in class together for two years at the Memphis School of Preaching. That was certainly some great days. We look back on them with fondness and it's hard to believe it's been that long since we were in school.

Time goes by in a hurry. I've enjoyed time this week. I got to go to Lake Erie yesterday and to go to see the Graveside of James Garfield today and John D. Rockefeller and Elliot Nest and the man that invented the phrase rock and roll. I never knew that.

We learned that today that tomorrow we get to go to the NFL Hall of Fame. My daughter said, I didn't know there was that much up there to do. I didn't either, but am finding out there's a lot to do here. It's good to be here and study God's word. There's nothing better that we could be doing, is there?

That's the greatest thing that we need to know is what is the will of God. How does God want us to live? The Bible tells us. Let's look at the topic first. It may sound strange to you, but our topic tonight is Some Cannot be Saved. That seems contrary to what we've already been studying because we're here to teach the Gospel and we've offered if anybody wants to study the word of God we would be glad to do that at any point.

Let's look at some things first. Let's notice in John 3:16 and a verse that we've used a couple of times already in this meeting and a passage that everybody knows well. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. What? Whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

That seems to defeat the case that I just said, doesn't it? Jesus Christ came, that man may have life and live forever with God when he comes back. Let's notice some other passages.

First Timothy 2:4. The Apostle Paul is writing to a young evangelist. Notice what he says in reference to God who will have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. God wants people to know truth. Notice how very important truth is.

He wants men to come to the knowledge of the truth, not just any thought, but what is truth? It still sounds like I'm building the case that people can be saved and we're going to go through some things tonight. We'll eventually come to a conclusion before this is over.

Second Peter 3:9. I remember in school, by the way, in Brother Liddell's class, having this chapter given to me to present a sermon on in class. We had to be timed. You had to have a time. If it was ten minutes or 15 minutes, whatever it was, you were not to go over. If it was 15 minutes, don't stop at ten minutes, don't go to 20 minutes.

We were taught those things. Notice what is said in Second Peter three, verse nine. The Lord is not slack concerning his promises, as some men count slackness. God keeps his promises. We know that.

We know that God does what He says that He will. Notice what he goes on to say, but is long suffering to usward not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Why hasn’t the world come to an end already? Sometimes people get into a conversation. You see what's going on here and there in our country and around the world.

Why does God keep putting up with it? That verse answers that right there. Because God is long suffering. He doesn't want anyone to perish. There are people out there that when the Gospel is presented to them, they will still obey the Gospel.

We have some brethren out there, and this is at every congregation. It doesn't matter where you're at. We have brethren that have fallen away. God knows that some can be brought back, maybe not all, but some can. God is long suffering.

He doesn't want any to perish, so he bears with us. When you stop and think about it, God bears with us for a lot of things, doesn't He? We as his children sometimes don't always do what God wants us to do, but he's long suffering. Notice another passage, Hebrew 7:25. The Hebrews writer said wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, Jesus, He ever liveth to make intercession for them.

All these passages look like this is leading to salvation. That's true. Jesus makes intercession for us. Aren't we glad that we have that? I'm glad that I have somebody pleading my case.

We have the greatest attorney that we could ever have in Jesus Christ. I know you probably have them here, too. We have those back home. We call them ambulance chasers. When these attorneys get on TV and say call them if you're in some kind of automobile accident.

That's not really the kind of attorney I want to represent me. I want somebody that is upright. We have the one that is the most upright in Jesus Christ. He pleads our case. What does that mean? We're in good hands, right? Let's go back to what I started with. There are some that cannot be saved. Let's notice some of those situations tonight. With this being said, maybe we as God's children can help them to get over the hump with these things.

We want to always keep that in mind as we go through this. That's always important, because if you look back in our lives, before we were Christians, what were we? I know this is pretty simplistic, but before we were Christians, we were lost? Right? We were living in sin.

God, through his Son, through the blood that he shed on the cross, made it possible for our salvation. We didn't stay in the same condition that we were. There are other people that can do the same thing. Notice first some people that cannot be saved. There are those who do not desire salvation. Yes, there are some that simply don't want to have anything to do with God. That would certainly include the atheists, the evolutionists, but much more than that. There are some people that know and believe in God. That's not really the problem. I'm not going to obey Him. I'm going to do what I want to do. They can't be saved because they don't desire salvation. They had rather be on the weekends or in the evenings when they get home drinking and doing whatever they do. They had rather do that than serve God. They don't desire the salvation that is made possible by God.

Notice in Romans 1:28, and there's some other reading there we could do, but we won't cover that in this particular sermon. Romans 1:28 says, even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, didn't even want to think about Him. That's getting pretty bad, isn't it? God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient. The King James says not convenient, not right, and not proper. Go do those things, but when you read the entire context there in Romans one, you're not going to enter the kingdom of God living like this.

There's some that just simply don't have the desire to serve God. One thing that we do and have done since I've been at Chalmette is knocked on doors. It has to be in the thousands. Ralph and Dale and myself, when we were in school, we learned in campaigns about knocking on doors. I don't know if I ever told you two guys about being there.

I don't know who went to Godfrey, Illinois, and somewhere in Indiana. I got with Patrick Morrison. I know you remember he was a year behind us. We were out knocking on doors, and we went to one apartment. We knocked on this one. Patrick and I would take time about, and it happened to be Patrick's time, and this one worked out well for me. He knocked on this door. I'm Patrick Morrison. This is Mark Lance. A woman said, I don't care who you are, and she slammed the door. She didn't want to hear about God. So we proceed. You don't stop because somebody slams a door in your face. You can't do that.

Think about what Jesus went through. Are we going to stop because somebody slams a door in our face? Of course not, but it's not over just yet. We went on to the other apartments up above. We come back. She had put the dog outside on a chain. She certainly didn't want to hear about the Gospel. Some people don't want to be saved. They're not interested in what God has to offer. That's a shame, isn't it? They just don't want anything to do with it.

Think of the great price that has been paid so that we can be saved. Remember what we've already read. God wants everybody to be saved. That's his goal. That's the reason that Jesus died, that all men could be saved. It doesn't mean they're all going to be saved.

Number two, some cannot be saved because they reject the Bible. We have the word of God, and we mentioned that last night. If we read the Bible tonight, come back next year. Next year it's going to read the same. It doesn't change. It doesn't need to be updated. It still tells man how to be saved, how to live, how to treat other people. Yet some are not satisfied with this. They want to come up with something else and teach for themselves what will benefit them, what they like. We could go into other subjects that I'm not going to go into tonight, but we don't have the time for that. They change, even the worship. Why do they do it? It pleases them. I like it. That's not the way that we look at it when we worship God. It's not what pleases me.

When we come together to worship, as God has commanded us, we should enjoy that, so don't misunderstand, but there are some that are not satisfied with what God said and they want to go beyond that and worship in a manner that is not pleasing to God. They reject the Bible and set their own standard. Notice in John 17:17 what Jesus said sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. Thy word his word. The apostles that he sent out were guided by the Holy Spirit, thy Word is truth.

Where does that leave the other words of men? Another testament? It's not the word of God is it? God has given us all things that pertain to life and Godliness. What else do we need? We've already got it. We have all that we need.

Notice also John 8:31-32. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him. If you continue in My word—conditional now they believed on Him. Here's a condition if you continue in My word, then are you My disciples indeed. You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Who's the audience? It always matters who's speaking, who's being spoken to. Jesus speaking, speaking to people that believe. He says if you continue in His word, not the words of some other men.

There were people in the days of Jesus and the apostles that were teaching things that were not true. Jesus had to deal with that. There were false apostles claiming to be from God. Jesus said if you abide in My truth, you can be saved. He also said something else—you can know the truth.

Do you realize some people think that you can't really understand what the Bible says, you just can't know it. God didn't give us this word right here and give us a word that we can't comprehend. That wouldn't be a loving God, would it? He gave us a word that we can understand. Even me, I can understand the plan of salvation, how hard it is.

Is it to understand? He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. How many years do you have to go to school to understand that one? That's pretty simple, isn't it? That's not a complicated plan.

You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Then again, in John 14:6, Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one cometh unto the Father but by Me. Well, there are some that have said, some are very popular people too in our society, “Jesus can't be the only way.”

That would make Jesus a liar then, wouldn't it? Because he says you can't come to the Father except by Him. There's somebody teaching that Jesus is not the only way. There's another way that you can be saved.

They both can't be right, can they? Because they're teaching different doctrines, different things. Abide in the truth, the word of God. We read also back in the book of Hebrews again chapter four, verse twelve, where he says for the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow and as a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. God knows even our thoughts.

This Word, it pierces even to the heart. This Word does all that it needs to do. We don't need anything else. Some are not content with that, are they? They want more than that. You can't be saved that way. Jesus said I am the way.

Number three, those who trust in their own goodness. Some of you are going to think of some situations like this. That sweet lady, she seems so nice and she does good things. She even takes baked goods to people. That's wonderful, isn't it? That is great that she does that. Here's the problem with people like that. Think about this. If we could be saved by our own goodness, if I could be good enough to be saved, Jesus would not have to have come here and died on the cross. I cannot be saved by what I do.

I can't earn my salvation. That is that very thing. That is when somebody says, what did I do that was wrong? There's something sometimes that we misunderstand about being Christians. Sometimes people think of the list. Here's what the Bible says don't do. There it is. There's certainly some things the Bible says don't do. No doubt about that. You know that God's going to say some things of that nature.

There's another part of that that's just as important. There's things that God tells us to do, to be out doing and helping, helping others. When we are Christians, members of the body of Christ, and we help, it brings glory to God.

Hurricane Ida, we get the hurricanes where I live. I guess you guys get the snow and the tornadoes and different things. During Hurricane Ida we were able to set up and power was out, but we still had enough people that showed up and cooks came. We fed over 17,000 people with hot meals doing that. That brings glory to God. Who did that?

Who helped people? We had a whole semi that came down from Nashville of boxed goods and we gave those out. We had a group from Mississippi that came over, young people that have stronger backs than I do, and they unloaded that truck in a heartbeat. It helped a lot of people. That also happened to be the week that I caught COVID. That was a difficult week. No electricity and we've got a hurricane and now I've got COVID. Anyway, we could help people by the things that were there. There's something also that's interesting. There was a man that showed up just by his own desire to do it and wanted to help. How many times do you see that? Not a lot. Do you? It's usually you're trying to find somebody who will help.

This guy showed up and he helped. The next day he was there again. Next day he said, I'd like to talk to you. I said sure. We went in the office and sat down and he asked the question that any preacher wants to hear. What do I need to do to be saved? We covered that.

Sometimes you go through lengthier studies. You can do things different ways. When people ask you that direct question, you might start in a different place. We went through that study. He did not obey the gospel that day and we studied more. A few months later he became a Christian.

On the third Sunday nights, we have singing and a fellowship meal afterwards. This past Sunday night and the one before, he led a song. Here's a man that just simply showed up to help people, but along with that, he learned the word of God. He was saved by that.

He didn't trust in his own goodness. He said what must I do? I know there's something that I have to do. He was willing to do that. He is always ready when somebody needs something to be done, you can call upon him. We still study to this day. We study normally once a week when things are intact.

Now to get back to the passage I was on. Let's look at Matthew 7:21-23. We were talking about those that trust in their own goodness. This passage covers that not everyone that saith unto me, lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. You can stop there. There are a lot of people that do that very thing. Lord, we love you, Lord, this.

Keep on reading. But not everyone that saith. Lord, Lord, unto me shall enter the kingdom of heaven. But he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven, many will say to me in that day, lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name cast out devils and in thy name done many wonderful works? What is Jesus going to say? Then will I profess unto them. I never knew you depart from me, ye workers of iniquity. There's only one way you can be saved, and that is through Jesus Christ.

They had devised their own plans. Here's how we're going to serve God. We still see people like that today. I used to work at a community college, even did through Hurricane Katrina. I worked there for 15 years. We had a guy and I knew him quite well, talked to him often when he came up to me and said, I want to be baptized. You would think, well, that's great, isn't it? I said, I'd like to sit down and study with you a little bit. He got extremely mad because I said that I wanted I'd like to sit down and talk to you, son. There were certainly some things to talk about because I knew him. I knew that he was living with a woman. I knew that he was living a worldly life, drinking and everything. I also understood we needed to talk.

Are you ready to repent? Not just be baptized. You need to repent first. He didn't like the repentance part, just the baptism part. Obviously somebody else in a different group baptized him. That's one thing we need to learn in the Lord's church. Some people are not ready to be baptized. They have to repent first. Don't they? Peter told those on the day of Pentecost, repent and be baptized and you shall be saved. Your sins will be washed away. Just because one had never sat down to speak to him, he was very angry. People were looking around, what's going on here? Some people refuse to obey the will of God. I want to be saved my way.

In Jeremiah 10:23, he said, O Lord, I know the way of man. It's not in himself to direct his own steps. It's only in thee to walk and direct his steps. It is in God, isn't it? That's the only way that we can do it. Jeremiah understood that. Go back to the days of Jeremiah. Can you imagine anybody that has stepped in a pulpit? Jeremiah was told to preach. Go preach to the people, and they're not going to listen.

That would be a tough one. That would be a hard one, but that's what he was told and he did it. There were some false prophets that said, it's not going to be like Jeremiah said, all those things are not going to come to pass. What happened? Just like the word of God said, it came to pass. What those false prophets said, they couldn't be saved by their own goodness, by any other man's way of salvation. It had to be by the way of God. That was the only way they could be saved.

Number four, those that can't be saved—those who refuse God's call. We are called. Some misunderstand that badly. They think that the Holy Spirit comes and speaks to them. He does not.

Once we have the completed will of God, once the last letter and all the books were put together, what we call the Bible, we don't need anything else. It's finished. God is not going to reveal anything else to us. One example you can look at a building. When I was growing up, my father, he built houses and various things and he laid the bricks on the outside. When you were laying the bricks, you had to have some scaffolding on the outside when you got to a certain point. When you got there and all the bricks were laid, what did you do? The scaffolding came down and was taken away. It's not even there anymore. Those miraculous indwellings that people had, like the apostles had, they don't exist anymore.

How did people get the power to do various things? Acts eight, verse 18 says, when the apostles laid their hands on them, they imparted the power to do that. When those people died, and the apostles died, we have the complete revelation of God. That's the end of that period.

Notice this and this passage will answer that Second Thessalonians 2:13-14. But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. Notice sanctification of the spirit. Now we're seeing that thing. We’ve got to keep on reading. You can't stop there. That's not the end of the writing. Whereunto? What was already said whereunto he called you. How did he do that? He called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. How are we called by the gospel? By the word of God. That's the only thing that will save people. The preacher can't save anybody. It's not within me or any other man. We don't have that ability. God does.

There's power in that word, power that saves man. In Romans 1:16, Paul said, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it, the gospel of Christ, is the power of God unto salvation. He understood there's power in the gospel. One time I was preaching, actually when we were in school, and I think Dale went over to this congregation and preached one time, just a small group. We would go over on Sunday mornings and preach.

There was an older man, member of the church, but he wanted to entangle a young preacher. Sometimes you meet those guys and that subject came up, well, how do you know that's how God speaks to us? I referred to this passage and then after that he didn't say anything else. That happens sometimes, you meet those people.

How does God speak to us? Through his word. Stop and reason. If God gave some this plan of salvation and gave others another plan of salvation, I might like that one better than this one. God's not fair.

God is fair. He gave the one gospel in order to be saved. In Hebrews 11:6, But without faith it is impossible to please God. For they that come to God must believe that he is and he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.

We can put some emphasis on that word, diligently. That takes some effort, doesn't it? We should want to put our heart, our entire being into knowing God's will. Our salvation is the most important thing that we have. It's not our houses, our cars, our 401K, those things are all going to perish at some point. The house that we live in, do you realize at some point somebody else is going to stand in front of that house and say, this is my house. It used to be ours, didn't it? It's going to change. It won't always be ours. It may have the same number on it, going to be in the same location, it won't belong to Mark anymore. We can't keep those things, but you can keep what God has given unto us and what we call the Great Commission in Mark 16:15-16, and Jesus said unto them, go into all the world.

What are you supposed to do? Would you go into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature? He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be damned. Preach the gospel. Preach the word of God. Jesus, why do you want us to preach the word of God? Because that is the only thing that will save man's soul. We see even people in the Bible, like Demas that once was faithful, but for whatever reason, he went back out into the world. He forsook Paul. He turned away from that. He turned away from the salvation that he had and no longer followed God as he should.

Number five, those who will not turn from their sins. That covers quite a few people, doesn't it?

They are not willing to change their life. God, here's how I'm going to serve you and you better accept it. They don't say it in those words, do they? Their life, that's exactly what it is. Yes, they may even go to services sometimes, or may not go to services sometimes. If you ask them are you going to heaven…

I know you have been to funerals and you know the people. Of course, the preacher gets them right into heaven. I knew them pretty good. I didn't know all those things about them.

We go to heaven based upon God's word. Jesus is the judge, not man. I can't preach anybody into heaven or out of heaven. Only the word of God can lead us to heaven. Notice in Isaiah 59:1,2, what the Old Testament prophet had to say. Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save. God can reach out and save us. That's not the problem. He can. He will. Keep on reading. Neither is his ear heavy that it cannot hear. God could hear us if we would call to Him in the right manner. What is the problem? He tells them, but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear.

I'm living a life of sin, but I still want to go to heaven. It won't work. You've got to turn from those sins. I will not stick out my hand to save you. I will not hear your prayers. He knows the people pray, but if they're not serving him according to his will, he will not save them. It must be according to his will. Sin is a bad thing. Sometimes we do this. I think we've been guilty of this, probably a lot of us. Big sins, little sins. You know what the big sins are and what the little sins are, don't you? Other people have the big sins, I have the little sins. That's usually how that works. I don't have those big sins.

What the problem is? Sin period. That is the problem. Isaiah said, it will separate you from God. That's pretty powerful, isn't it? Isaiah spoke some powerful words. He was inspired to write this. Isaiah also foretold about the coming of the Christ. He never saw that, but he wrote about him some 750 years before he ever came. Isaiah had some strong faith, didn't he? And he was willing to teach the truth.

Sometimes they didn't treat the prophets so well. Today what's the worst usually here, at least in America now, it could change. Don't think that it couldn't change, but the worst thing is somebody slams the door, somebody says something bad to you. It’s not that we like those things. That's not what they went through. They went through beatings, or like Jeremiah put in a mirey pit, but they still stood for God.

Notice in Luke 13:3, let's go to the New Testament and the time period of Jesus. Jesus said, I tell you nay except (unless) you repent, you shall all likewise perish. I thought Jesus was loving. Didn't you? Jesus is supposed to just save. Isn't he just like a big teddy bear? Jesus loves us more than anybody could ever love us. Dying on that cross like he did, that is true love. Man's never seen any love like that. He says, except you repent, change your life, change the direction you're going. That was verse three. Go to verse five. He says exactly the same thing again. Why? For emphasis sake. This means something. It's important. Does Jesus love us? Did he love us when he said those things? Yes.

He wanted them to repent. He wants all of us to repent. That would include those who have never become Christians. Those that are, when we do sin, go to First John, of course. If we walk in the light, as is in the light, we have fellowship one with another in the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son cleanses us from all sins. It's a continual walk, a continual cleansing. Even though we've become Christians, we're not going to be perfect.

I had a brother one time, he had become a Christian, I studied with him. Unfortunately, he's fallen away since then, and this may be one of the reasons he fell away when he was a member and he was doing some good things. Anything that he did that was wrong, yes, if it's wrong, you shouldn't do it. We agree with that. It was like, I can't be saved anymore. What was happening he depended upon himself. You can't do it that way. You can only be saved through the blood of Jesus Christ. Quit carrying that weight on your shoulder. Turn things over to God.

There's going to be some big things in life that happen. You can't bear them by yourself, but with the help of God, you can. Notice Matthew 16:24. Then said Jesus unto his disciples (Who's speaking? Jesus unto the disciples), if any man come after me, (any man doesn't matter who it is, and that means mankind.) Let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

I thought we were saved by the grace and mercy of God. We are. Absolutely. You can't be saved without the grace of God, can you? You can't be saved without the mercy of God, but we're also saved when we do our part. God wants us to do something. He said, Take up your cross you're following me, you're teaching God.

We were talking on the way over here as we were riding here. There's a shortage of preachers in the brotherhood. Sometimes in congregations there's a shortage of members. There's that small nucleus, and the weight of the congregation should be upon everybody. You will notice in most congregations, I think you will find this to be true. Likely here. There's usually more women carrying the weight than men. Men? Where are they? They need to do what this says right here and take up their cross and follow Jesus.

The last one, number six, those who reject the death of Christ cannot be saved. This is the last group that we're going to look at. In Romans 3:23-25, it says for all have sin. Again, who's writing? Paul. Who's he writing to? This is important. He's writing to Christians. Christians. You need to understand this.

You need to understand some things that have taken place in life and that are taking place in life and that will take place in life. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, been justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God. Look at the plan God has for us. Jesus is bearing our sins.

Why did he die on that cross? Not a single sin was his, was it? Mine were part of it. All of ours were, weren't they? Every man that has ever lived and that means mankind, all of those sins he died for, all mankind. He was the only perfect sacrifice. No animal sacrifice could do it. The blood of bulls and goats can't take away the sins, but the blood of the Lamb of God could. Do you remember Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane? Father, if there be any other way, let this cup pass from me. What? But thy will be done. He's bearing his cross. Thy will be done. Father, I'm going to do what you told me to do. What did he say on the cross after he'd been there? Father, it is finished. Into thy hands I commend my spirit. I did what you wanted me to do. This wonderful plan works.

We're going to stay in Romans for just a little bit. Let's go to Romans 5:-8-9. But God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners there, there's where we are. And remember Paul's writing to members of the body, that's where I was. I need to remember that Christ died for us much more than being now justified by his blood. We shall be saved from wrath through him.

That's how we're going to be saved, through him. You reject that. If you reject that, there's no other way, there's no other plan that will save you. There may be something that becomes popular with some people, but it won't save you. Only the Gospel of Jesus Christ can.

One thing to think about, sometimes is people may try to make the Christians look like they're not very smart people. You ever watched a movie and somebody's supposed to be the religious person and he looks like a dork all the time? That happens so often, and evolutionists and the atheists, they think we're not smart. I beg to differ.

I beg to differ if you think that there was nothing and it became all that we have. It became the Earth, the sun, all the planets and all the stars, and everything is perfectly aligned. If the sun was any closer, we would burn to death or any further away, we would freeze. Look at this earth. Some of the things I've seen even today like Lake Erie.

You go down where I live. We got the Gulf of Mexico. I love to fish. I've seen a lot of the kind of different, various fish. They say man crawled out of that did and he became male and female, and they procreated and finally become to what we are. You think my faith is crazy? I think you're the one that has the problem--not being a Christian.

Do you understand? Never be ashamed. Remember what Paul said. I'm not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. Never be ashamed to be a child of God. You don't have to be.

In Romans 6:3-4, Paul said, no, you not. We might say today, don't you know that so many of us were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death, therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death. That like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, we also should walk in newness of life. I remember the date, the time when I became a Christian. I remember I had boots on, they were shaking just a little bit, but I still remember the time, of course, the person that baptized me. You buried something, he said, something was buried. What did you bury? That old man of sin. What was resurrected? He said, resurrected to walk in newness of life. What did Jesus talk to Nicodemus about in John chapter three you must be born again. There's that new birth you see Paul even telling about it. It’s the same thing here.

The last passage I want us to look at is First Corinthians 15:3-4. Paul says, for I delivered unto you first of all that which also I received. What he received, not what some man says, how that Christ died for our sins. How do you know that? He says, according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day.

How do you know that? According to the scriptures? Brethren, we have the same message today, don't we? According to the scriptures. This evening if anybody here is not a child of God, we can certainly help you. We've covered several scriptures that talk about becoming a Christian, and that's important. If there's something in our life that we need to take care of, never let it stand between you and God.

Let me tell you, it's not worth it, is it? Then I mentioned also sometimes people fall away because they didn't take action at one time themselves when they needed help, not necessarily living in sin. That's not what we're talking about. They were struggling, needed help, but didn't ask. They could have had the help they needed.

Brethren that are faithful, we need to be built up, don't we? That's what it is about being a child of God. If we can help you in any way, please let it be known as we stand, as we sing.

The Church that Jesus Built

It’s Great to be a Christian

It’s Great to be a Christian
Acts 8:35-38

Good afternoon. I hope you're as full as I am. When you hear preachers say it is challenging to preach after lunch, it is because I just like you feel right now. To tell the truth, you'd like to lay down and take a nap, but we're going to try to not do that for at least a little while. Maybe afterwards, everybody can go home and take one.

But it's wonderful to be here. I appreciate all the people that have prepared food. It was a wonderful lunch and especially the fellowship with each other. This evening I'd like for us to think about It's Great to be a Christian. Sometimes it's presented in the world, as I don't want to become a Christian? All these things I can't do.

That's actually not the way we need to think. You think about people, what they can't do, I can't get out and drink and do all these things. Think about the Christian for just a moment. He didn't wake up this morning with a hangover. He didn't wake up in jail.
He didn't wake up wondering where his car was. He didn't wake up in trouble with his wife because he got drunk and did whatever. Why is that a bad thing not to do? You could do that with a lot of things. It is actually great to be a child of God.

Anything that God has said don't do is for our benefit. On the other hand, there are things God does tell us to do. Let's notice and you're familiar with this event in the Book of Acts, chapter eight, verses 35 through 39 about the Ethiopian eunuch. Beginning in verse 35, it says, then Philip opened his mouth and began at the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus. And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water. And the eunuch said, see, here is water. What doth hinder me to be baptized.

If you back up, what had taken place? He had told him about Jesus. When you teach people Jesus, it doesn't mean just to say, let Jesus come into my heart. He said, See, here is water. What does hinder me? What stops me, what prevents me from being baptized? That was obviously taught. Philip said, if thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

He commanded the chariot to stand still, and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. When they were come up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord caught away Philip that the eunuch saw him no more. Notice this last part and we want to think about this last part—and he went on his way rejoicing.

He didn't think that all these things have been taken away from me. He looked at what he had gained—salvation and all the benefits of being a Christian. There's a lot of people that pray, but God will only hear the prayers of the righteous. We have that benefit. Think about that for a moment, that we can actually go before the throne of God and present our petitions to him and have this communication with him.

What a wonderful blessing that we have because we are a Christian. Think back to the day that you were baptized. You became a Christian. I can remember that day, July the 13th, 1986, at 10:45 A.M. I remember that day. My feet were shaking.

I was a little bit nervous, but I became a Christian that day. I have never regretted that. It's one of the greatest blessings. The greatest blessing that we can ever have is by being a child of God. Notice also in Acts 5:41 and they departed from the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.

They suffered because of being a Christian. They didn't come out and complain about it. They weren't happy that they had suffered. That's not what they're saying, but they were thankful that the reason that they did suffer was because they were a Christian.

Remember, Paul said, yea, all that live Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. They have these things in our lives, but they were thankful. They rejoiced, “We're children of God even if they take our lives.”

The apostles dealt with this. Even if they take our lives, we win the victory. That's still true today. It's no less true today and it's still true. It's still true that even if we lose our lives serving God, and it's still that way in some countries. In some countries, being a Christian is not the most popular thing to do, especially in some Muslim countries. They're not too happy with that idea.

In Philippians 4:4 This has always impressed me greatly that Paul could write this from prison. What would we write if we were in prison and we were writing to a family member or maybe even to the church and telling them the conditions that we're in? Let's see what Paul wrote. Rejoice in the Lord always. And again I say rejoice. He was thankful even when he suffered. It didn't mean that the suffering was not there. It was real, very real, but he was still thankful. He still rejoiced. He still counted it a blessing because he was a child of God.

Let's look at some reasons today besides what we have mentioned just in the introduction of this, but some reasons we have to rejoice.

Number one, because God loves me and wants me to be saved. God wants me to be saved. God, before this world existed, had a plan for us. If it had just been one person, you or me, it would still have been the same plan. God loves us that much. It's hard for me to comprehend with my grandchild saying, I'll give my grandchild to get some murderer out of prison. I don't know that I could make that deal. God sent his only begotten son Jesus in order for us to have this salvation that we have, and Jesus was willing to come.

There's two parts there, we notice in Psalm 46, verse one. God is our refuge, a very present help in trouble. When Katrina hit and I could do this with Hurricane Ida and various other things, and you could too, with other storms that we know, Hawaii's going through what they're going through, you will see a lot of people say, let's pray to God. That's a good sentiment to have.

The only thing is, as soon as they got the benefits as people helped them. They weren't so interested in God anymore. They got what was good for them and they don't need God anymore. They really didn't want God to start with, they just wanted the benefits. In John 3:16, as we noticed earlier in the other sermon in Bible class, for God so loved the world, not this earth, not this round ball, but the people. God so loved this world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. There's no greater love than that. There's no greater love that man has ever known or ever will know. The greatest event that has ever taken place was when Christ died on that cross, and three days later he was resurrected.

Salvation was gained. Satan did not win. Jesus Christ won not Satan. He may have thought he won the battle, but far from it. Our Lord won the battle.

In Matthew 1:21, it says and she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name, Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Do you see that plan? It's in place. It's taking place.

Romans 8:31-32, Paul writes what shall we then say to these things? Notice this if God be for us, this is us, if you're a Christian, this is you. If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spareth not his own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall he not with Him also freely give us all things? If he gave us His Son, you don't think he'll take care of us in this life?

He'll bless us now, backing up just a little bit, who can be against us? There's people that are against the Christians. They are against Christians. Satan is, but if we're faithful to God, we know that we will win. God will take care of us but if he has provided all the blessings that he has, he will continue to provide in the future the blessings that we need.

Number two, the reason it's great to be a Christian is because Christ died to save me from sin. We talked more about God and what he has done, but Jesus was willing to come. He was willing to come to this world. Go back to the garden of Gethsemane when he prayed, Father, if there be any other way, let this cup pass from me. He knew what was before Him, but he said, “Thy will be done.”

There was no other way. We couldn't be saved any other way so he died on that cross. Salvation had been brought down to mankind. In John 15:13, it says, greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Let's think about something for a minute. I'm sure if our friend was in trouble we would try to help. I have no doubt about that, but you think about us. We were actually enemies of Christ, and he laid down his life. We weren't actually living the life that we were supposed to live before we were Christians. We were lost living in the world, living contrary to God's will. He died for even people that were his enemies. You read it there in Acts, where the apostles preached to those that have gathered there together. They were some that had yelled, crucify him, crucify him. They were in the audience. They hear about this Jesus, this same Jesus whom you have crucified. God has made both Lord and Christ. They now understand what has taken place. Men and brethren, what shall we do?

They see what took place, and because Christ was willing to sacrifice, because he loved us that much, we have the joys of being a Christian. That day, about 3000 obeyed the Gospel. They repented and were baptized. It says in that chapter, those that gladly received his word were baptized. Do you ever take notice of the word gladly? They were happy here's how I'm going to be saved from my sins. This is the way. They were happy about that. It says gladly.

Sometimes we do things in life, and it's not always gladly. I bet sometimes when Monday morning, rolls around, you don't get out of the bed gladly—not ready to go back to work. We don't always do things gladly. But those that gladly received the word of God, they were baptized. They obeyed God. In Hebrews 9:22 it says and almost all things are by the law. Purged with blood and without shedding of blood is no remission. If Jesus hadn't shed that blood, man couldn't be saved.

You could try to devise a plan. It won't work. There's only one, only one plan, and that is the man Jesus Christ. And his blood that washes us. Brethren, think right now, if we are still walking in the light, his blood is still washing away our sins. What a blessing. Why? Because we're Christians. Because we have that benefit of being a child of God.

Hebrews 4:15-16. Seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God. Let us hold fast our profession, for we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin, the things that we face, the everyday things of life. He faced much more, but he faced all those things, too. On that Day of Judgment, we'll never be able to say, Jesus, you don't know what it was like being down here. He does. If he wanted to, he could say, you don't know what it's like to go to the cross. Because we didn't, but he did because of His wonderful love.

Number three, because Jesus Christ is my high priest. That's one reason it's great to be a Christian. In the Old Testament, under the Law of Moses, they had the high priest, but he was limited as to what he could do. Our high priest today, Jesus Christ, our high priest, is not limited by the things that he can do. Notice in First John 2:1, my little children. Notice John the apostle, he's called the Apostle of Love. You know what he and his brother James were called earlier, don't you? Sons of thunder. Something changed in John, didn't it? He seems to have grown and mellowed out. See how he addresses them? He's writing to them with encouragement and his love.

He cares for them. My little children, these things I write unto you that ye sin not. There's a problem, though, John. We still have moments when we do sin. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Yes, we still sin not because we want to live a life of sin, but we still fall short, but we have an advocate, somebody pleading our case. We still have the ability, even though we have been baptized, not go back and be baptized again, but that blood washes away our sins as we walk in the light.

We have that advocate. If somebody gets in trouble, especially somebody famous that has a lot of money. What do they do? They hire the best attorney they possibly can, and sometimes, probably too many times, they get off with things they did. You probably could name some. We have somebody far better than anybody that's ever been in any courtroom. Jesus Christ pleads our case. There's not a better attorney around anywhere. Never has been, never will be. He's the one that pleads my case because he loves me. He can plead my case in a way nobody else can.

What a wonderful blessing it is to be a child of God. What a wonderful blessing it is to be a Christian. In Hebrews 2:17, it says wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. You mean He's dying on the cross because of sins? What did he do? He must have done something really bad that they put him on a cross. Not one single sin.

He never committed the first one. It was our sins that put him there. That is love. That is tremendous love. We talked about the love of the Father. We see the love of the Son as well. Yes, it's great to be a Christian, somebody that cares that much about me that they died for my sins, the ones that I committed.

Sometimes in our life there are things we did we wish we never had done, but you can have it as though it never was done. Those sins can be forgiven. Man sometimes doesn't forget like that, but God, once that blood washes away our sins, he forgets as though it never happened. He knows it happened, but he doesn't hold it against us like some people would. That's a tremendous difference.

In John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me. Do you want to go to the Father? I do. I want to go to the Father.

Again, as we discuss some in Bible class, it's hard to imagine what it will be like to be in his presence. That is beyond what we can comprehend. Man's mind just can't do it. Think about this, brethren. It's going to be a reality. It's going to be a reality. It's going to happen. It's coming because Jesus died. He is our high priest, and like in the Old Testament, they had to continually offer sacrifices. Jesus died once, just one time. That's all that it took.

Number four, why is it great to be a Christian? Because of the purpose and meaning of life. That makes a tremendous difference. I don't know if you've ever had any discussions with people, but there's a lot of people may even surprise you sometimes that wonder what their purpose in life is. Why am I here? Where am I going? I mean, I'm here, but for what reason? People that are out in the world living as they are now in reality, they don't have a purpose in living that way, do they? That means you better enjoy what you have now, because if you continue in that, that's all you're going to have. You're going to live it up now. Then. It's not going to be so good on the other side, but it's different for the child of God.

In Ecclesiastes12:13, we find out the purpose of our life. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. Who wrote that is very important. Solomon. Why is that important? The life that he lived? Not that it was all good either. He had more money. I looked it up, what it would be in modern time, (I don’t know how accurate the count was.), but it was in the trillions.

Sometimes billionaires and somebody's got so many billions. You take all the richest men in the world, the Bill Gates, Elon Musks and all those guys, add them all together, they don't come close to what Solomon had. It's not even in the same ballpark.

Solomon had all that. Since I have all this, I can pretty much do anything that I want. I'm the king. He pretty much tried everything too, didn't he? It didn't all work out so well. He married strange wives. He even married wives just to make allegiance with other countries on different occasions. That wasn't God's commandment. That was not what God wanted him to do. When you start reading the entirety of Ecclesiastes, he says, all's vanity, it was all a waste. Does that remind you of how you see how people are living today? It's all vanity. It's all a waste. What is our purpose?

The next time you're talking with somebody and also for us, show them their purpose. Fear God and keep his commandments. That is our purpose. We have a reason to get up every day. Some people (this is a sad reality) they get up each day and think why continue? What's the purpose? Isn't that a large part of suicides? I know there are other reasons, but people don't see the point of continuing to go on. Jesus is the reason to continue to go on. There is a reason. There's still a reason in life to continue to live even when things are difficult.

We have a reason to live that should make us live differently than the world. The people that sometimes you may see don't live a Godly life. It seems like they do better than I do. You may not want all the headaches that go with it. A lot of their toys they probably can't even pay for. They're probably having problems in their home because of the way that they're living. You may not want what they have. Be careful what you wish for. Be glad that you're a Christian. It is a blessing to live as a child of God.

We also notice in John Six, verse 38, Jesus said, for I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. That should be our purpose. We have that purpose to do the will of God. We became Christians. What did Jesus say? Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

We have a purpose. We have something we're supposed to be doing. Everybody can't go to every country, but we can send people to go. We all work together in this thing, and then we see in John 17:4, Jesus said, I have glorified thee on earth. Notice I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. He did everything that God wanted him to do. He didn't leave anything undone. The work that God sent him to do was finished.

Number five why is it great to be a Christian?

Your setting here today helps me with this point because the fellowship with other Christians what do we call these? A lot of times we call it potlucks, but a lot of times it's called what? A fellowship meal. The food's great, but the fellowship should be great too, shouldn't it? It's great that you can sit and fellowship and eat at the same time. I like that idea. That's a pretty good idea. The fellowship that we have with one another, we have people, if something happens, we can get on the phone and call them, I need help. Even if they can't do it themselves, they can go into action.

We can help one another with these things in life. That's the way it is with the child of God. In First Corinthians 12:26 Paul writes to the church at Corinth. He said, and whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it, or one member be honored all the members rejoice with it. If one suffers, we all suffer. I don't even know the family that was mentioned this morning with a child that has terminal cancer. That can't help but bother you. That hurts.

We suffer, but we rejoice. Can you think when you see somebody is baptized and everybody goes up and gives them a hug and they're so happy? We suffer with those that suffer. We rejoice with those that rejoice. Philippians 1:27 stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving for the faith of the gospel. One spirit.

Let us all work together. God doesn't want us to be divided. He wants unity based upon the word of God. God didn't tell us to do something that was impossible. God never told us to go do something that we couldn't really do. We're able to do what God set forth to do. We also see in Psalm 133:1. This is a beautiful passage. Psalm 133:1, Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.

What a wonderful thing. When a congregation and brethren listen to this it does not matter how big a congregation is. If you have unity and you have the truth, you have a reason to rejoice that you're a Christian. God didn't say you had to have the biggest congregation in the brotherhood to do good to be faithful. You serve God wherever you are. Some people in some countries face things that are very difficult, but they still serve God. What a blessing.

Number six, the last one that, well, sorry folks, there's going to be one more after this one. Those getting ready to get up, don’t put your shoes on yet. Number six, because of the peace it brings by being a Christian.

Somebody told my wife, it's actually a Christian that I have known all my life because he's older than me. When she was baptized, he said, you're going to sleep the best sleep that you ever slept. You could actually have a deathly sickness and still die, still be a child of God, still go to heaven when the Lord comes. What does it mean? We can have a peace that passes all understanding.

It doesn't matter what happens in life when those tragedies come, even when we're shedding those tears and we've all been in those situations in life. It hurts, but it's still so good that we have the peace that it brings. In the book of Colossians 1:20, it says, and having made peace through the blood of his cross. in Matthew 6:34, notice I referred to Matthew 6:33 today seek the kingdom of God in his righteousness, though this should be added unto you. Look at verse 34. Take therefore no thought for tomorrow.

That doesn't mean you don't make plans—things you need to do. We do that. We need to do that. You don't have to worry that you're not going to be taken care of. God will take care of us. We have surgeries. I see some with canes.

I'm tired of having surgeries. I had a preacher elder friend that said some people go play golf for a hobby. He said, some people go fish for a hobby. He said, Mark goes has surgeries for he had so many. We have those difficulties, but God's going to be there for us and with us.

Take no thought for tomorrow. There may be some pain or whatever it may come, but don't think God's left us. He never has, never will. We read in the book of Philippians, this is one of my favorite passages, Philippians four, verses four through seven. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men. Notice the Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving (qualification) let your request be made known unto God. Then notice the rest and the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

He's going to keep us. He's going to preserve us. When you think back to when you were just a boy or girl, and usually it would be the mother we would run to most often, but you hurt yourself a little bit. What did you do? Run to Mama. Why should Mama take care of it? Mama's going to hug me and tell me it's going to be okay, and pretty soon we’re back out there going again. In a sense, that's what we do with God. We hurt, we run to God, and He'll be there for us. We're going to have that peace. You don't have to worry about that. God's got us covered. God's got us covered with this.

The last one, number seven, we can rejoice as a Christian because of the assurance of heaven. Brethren, that is a blessing—the assurance of heaven. We can know that we're going.

When is it going to be? I don't know, that could be soon, could be a long time, we don't know the date. I do know the Lord's coming, and I do know when he comes in the clouds, we shall meet Him there. In the book of First Corinthians 15:19, it says, if in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men, most miserable. We don't just have hope in this life only. We have hope beyond this life, don't we?

Not just in this life. Not just this life. We have hope way beyond that. We have hope that will last into eternity. Death is something that we look at, and since we've never been through that door before, I think we all have some kind of fear or uncertainty about it because it's something that's never happened. When you truly think about it and read of the promises of God, you don't have to fear it. Remember when Lazarus was carried to the bosom of Abraham by the angels? There's a day coming for us too. God will send the angels for us when the time is right and we can go to paradise. When the time is right, that trumpet will sound.

Assurance. We have the assurance of heaven in the Book of John 14:2-3, and this is also an encouraging passage, in my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself that where I am, there ye may be also.

There's the assurance, isn't it? There's the guarantee he's coming back for us. What, Jesus is doing something now? He's preparing a place for us. When God says this is the time he's coming back, Jesus will come back.

In First John 5:13. We see these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God. That's us, isn't it? We believe on the name of the Son of God. Notice that ye may know that you have eternal life and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

Brethren, it is truly great to be a Christian. We have reasons. The Bible gives us that. It shows us how great it is to be a child of God. Is there an invitation? There is. 605. If there's anybody here I don't know everybody's situation, but if there's somebody that needs to be baptized, we can certainly help with that. If there's somebody that needs to ask for prayers, we'd certainly be glad to help with that as well as we stand as we sing.

The Christian Family

The Christian Family

Genesis 3:16

Good morning to everyone again. We have some here that may have not been here for the Bible hour. We're glad to see you. I think that I have spoken to everyone. If I missed you, I'll catch you after services.

Looking out in the audience, I think I did get to speak with everyone and say hello to you and it is good to be here with you. I want to let you know that I appreciate the support that you are to us, it is of a great help. Let me give you a little history of the Chalmette congregation. At one time, they were self supporting and like a lot of congregations, a lot bigger. Even before I was there, they were like 110-120, but then the oil bust came and some other things, and a lot of people left town and the congregation goes down, but still a decent sized congregation, at least around 60 somewhere in that neighborhood.

Then Hurricane Katrina hit. I know you know about that. In 2005, I mentioned that in Bible class. A lot of people moved off after that, so we had even fewer after that, and then we had some people that died, and since we have had some that have retired from their jobs, and so, as you know, we have become an older congregation. We do have some that are younger, but they're not just ready to lead singing and wait on the table just yet. I want to get to one of those in just so that's kind of where we are, but I do sincerely appreciate your support, I appreciate Tom and Nina allowing me to stay in their home, that is a good blessing. I have met some cats since I've been there, can you believe that?

That I have met some cats and they have introduced themselves to me and I have become friends with at least one. He has finally decided, he's okay, I'll let him pet me. I appreciate that, I appreciate Dale picking me up yesterday at the airport. I have known Dale, we were talking as we were coming from the airport. I've known him for 25 years now, and we went to school together for two years in the same class, so we spent every day together, became good friends. I remember going on the restoration trip together. We did campaigns together, so I spent a lot of time with him and some other good preachers. You miss those days. You go out and everything changes, but it's still good to be with other brethren and meet some new Christians.

I told you I was going to talk about one in particular I do have. My first grandchild was born two months ago, and his name is Calvin. I actually want to tie this in with the lesson. You're going to say, how's he going to do that? I'm going to try at least to do that, but he is named Calvin after an elder in the church in Georgia. How do you name somebody after an elder in the church in Georgia? How does that take place?

They had a tornado hit some years ago, not to the building, but in the community. Some of our members sent some help to them. Calvin is the elder that I got to speak to and talk to. Of course, we had in common, being Christians, number one. After that, we found out that we both were big western fans, and so we talked a long time about westerns.

Then we found out that we both liked to fish, and so we talked about that. Then we found out that we both liked the Atlanta Braves, so we talked about that. Then later on, they went out west on a trip. On their way back through, they actually did this twice, they stopped and stayed with us for a few days. His wife Anne became good friends with my mother, and my mother had since passed away.

Calvin and I did make a fishing trip. I think it was actually Calvin's last fishing trip. He was actually on oxygen then, but we enjoyed ourselves and watched some westerns. He made a great impression upon my daughter. This is where I'm going with this. I think you can maybe see where I'm going to tie this in with this.

He made an impression on a daughter about gardening. Before I went to school, we had a big garden. Every year, my wife and I, we grew a good sized garden, canned and froze different foods. We did a lot of that, but Calvin still did that, and he and my daughter got to be friends with that.

He made such an impression upon her that even though Calvin has since died, they named that child after him. You see the impression that was made. This morning we're going to talk about the family. I know it says fathers, but we're going to expand out just a little bit beyond that. And you see in our nation that the family is in bad shape, to say the least.

You look at our country and you see all the crime that takes place, all the murders that take place. So many things that are really bad are happening. We say, what's the problem? What do we need to do? There actually is an answer.

I know the people that are in power don't want to listen to me and do that, but there is an answer. It's right here—the word of God. If families went back to following the Bible and fathers were in their home, like they need to be with mothers. If the children were obeying their parents like they should be, it would change society rather quickly. You would still have some crime, but nothing like we see taking place in our nation now. Of course, in the school systems and pretty much in all society, they want to shove God out of everything, don't they? We've seen that take place, but now you would think they would reason at some point, but they don't, back when we didn't have all this killing in school and when we didn't have so many things taking place and all the crime that's taking place?

I'm sure you've seen on the news where out in California and various different places, groups of people go in stores and just run out, 20 people, 30 people, and take all they can carry out with them. Nothing happens to them. There's no fear of God, no fear of law enforcement doing anything, because God has not been instilled in those people.

What do we need for our families? We need God. I want to mention this right now, that this week, while I'm here now, whether it be this subject or any other subject, I would be happy to sit down and talk with anybody about anything that I can possibly help with. I would gladly do that. If there's any kind of study that we can have, I would be more than happy to do that.

Always remember, we're never here to win the argument, we're here to teach the word of God. That's what wins souls to God, isn't it? That's what changes our lives now as we present this. And this is something that's hard for me to do, but it will show you some of the reality and some of the background that, hey, I've been in some of those places. I came from a broken home where when I was about kindergarten age, my father left and didn't have a lot to do with us in our lives. What he had to do was not good, it was usually very bad. I grew up with just my mother and that puts a strain on the family.

I know that in our society now, there are a lot of mothers by themselves that are raising their children. It's not unusual in congregations to see where a mother is bringing the children to services and the father's not in the picture or even if he's in the home, he's not spiritually involved in the picture, but he needs to be. That's God's plan for the home. You go back to the very beginning, it was one man and one woman that God put together that made the family and they had children, they procreated. That has been God's plan since the very beginning of time, since Adam and Eve, and it still is today. If we do what God has instructed us to do, we could solve a lot of our problems.

We're going to look at some things today that I hope it will help. I mentioned coming from a broken home. When I was around my father, I saw alcohol every day—every single day, not just on the weekend. It was every day. A lot of times seeing a stepmother with black eyes and bloody mouth and things of that nature. Those things are bad. We need to change those things with the word of God and it can be done. I want us to think this morning even fathers, mothers, whatever the situation may be, grandparents and still with my girls—I have two girls grown, I still should be having an impact upon their life by the life that I live just like Calvin did with my daughter.

Even though he be dead yet speaketh. We see that the impression that has been made in somebody's life can have a great deal to do with the rest of their life. Let me tell you about some things that were good in my life growing up. On the other hand, there were my grandparents that were members of the church, my grandfather an elder in the church, and we got to spend a lot of time in the summer out on their farm. Growing up, he had cows and always had a big garden.

I remember my grandfather kept the garden spotless and he didn't use a tiller or anything. You're going back to the old time way of doing things. They got up and worked, didn't they? That was involved. People were not afraid of work at that time.

I mentioned that I like to fish. They had a pond. That's where I first learned to fish is in that pond with blue gill and bass. Oh, if we caught a bass that weighed a pound or pound and a half we were doing something big back then as boys growing up we had to run back to the house and show our grandmother what we caught. With that being said, see they have made a tremendous impact on my life in a good way.

There's one hand and then there's the other and you see how much of a difference we can make on the lives of our children, our grandchildren and even with those that are around us like my daughter did with Calvin, that has gone on. The lives that we live don't just affect us and our children and grandchildren, it affects other people around us. It has a lot to do with what they see. They see that person lives differently. What causes them to live differently? It's the word of God. They live as God instructs them to do. That's something that they may want to emulate and put into their lives.

My grandmother was still living when I became a Christian but my grandfather had already died. I regret that one, that I hadn't become a Christian by then, but I do look forward. I do look forward to that great day of reunion that we can be back together again. Also some Christians that have gone on, my mother and some other faithful children of God that I miss, that have passed on, that have gone on before us. I know you feel the same way.

There are those that have gone on ahead of us and we want to see them again. As much as I love my mother and she was a faithful child of God and my grandparents faithful children of God, I want to be with them again and the example that they set, but if I truly want to be with them again, there's something that Mark's going to have to do. Nobody else can do it for me. You can encourage me, but I will have to make the decision.

When it comes down to it, what will I do? God has shown us the way. Just as they walked in the steps of Jesus, I will have to do the same thing. If I do that, I will get to be with them again, and there won't be any more parting. There won't be any more death, there won't be any more tears.

Let's notice something. In Genesis three, verse 16. It says unto the woman, he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children and thy desire shall be to thy husband and he shall rule over thee. Why was that? Because Eve first sinned, she was the one that first took of the forbidden fruit. Adam did too. Adam had a plan when God confronted him. It's the woman that you gave me. It’s either the woman or you, but not me. Man still does that today, don't we? It's always somebody else's fault, not ours. Adam wanted to blame his wife. God placed man in a leadership role. Men, we need to make sure that we do lead.

Here's something also to remember. As I said about my grandfather, this is important. He didn't live to see me become a Christian, but because of his example that he set, it had a great deal to do with me becoming a Christian. Without that in my life, I may not be a child of God today. That impact that we have upon somebody's life makes such a great difference.

In Ephesians 5:23, it says, for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church and he is the savior of the body. In the New Testament, God has put the man to oversee the affairs. There's a lot more goes with that. I've seen some men that want to take that verse out of context. When you do that, you can make a verse mean anything you want it to mean?

That's pretty much what they do. The man is head of the house. Slow down just a little bit. You may be right about something, but there's a lot more goes with that. Read the rest of the chapter in Ephesians five and you see how the husband is to take care of his wife. He's to cherish her to what point as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it.

The father is the one that is to set the tone in the home. Sometimes we have our children and I see people sometimes they want their children to do well, to go off to some university and to be able to get some good job. There is nothing wrong with that. I'm not condemning that, but what about making sure that they have a life in Christ as they're growing up?

You're preparing them for college and we want to make sure when they come home from school that they did their schoolwork. We had to do that with our children. Sometimes what they brought home, I was scratching my head about what I was supposed to help do with it. We want to make sure they have that schoolwork. I wonder sometimes how often do we check to see if they did their Bible lesson for their classes, did they learn the memory verse and did we help them do those things? Those things are important. Actually they're more important than the other, aren't they? It’s important that we help train them to walk in the ways of the Lord. That will have an impact upon them way beyond the job, way beyond the time they leave our homes. They have their own families.

Here's what was taught in my home and it will have an impact upon them. I want to see my grandchild. If you want to see pictures afterwards, I've got some believe me, on my phone. I can spend some time with you and we can look at that. One thing I want to see my grandchild do as he grows up. I want to see him taught the word of God when he's young too. I don't have an impact upon that, but I want to see my daughter and her my son-in-law teach them. They're both members. I want to see him grow up in the time when he's of the age of accountability. I want to see him obey the gospel, whether it's me baptizing him or somebody else, that doesn't matter. I want to see him be a Christian. That will happen when he's taught the will of God. That must take place early. We must teach them when they're young. You only have them when they're young. It seems like you're going to have them in your arms. It's going to be like this forever. They grow up in a hurry, don't they? They don't stay young very long, do they? It changes so quickly. You wonder, how did they grow up so fast? Then you look at your age, you say, well, that's how they got to be the age they are. Look at my age, they have grown up.

Here's something about a father. A father is one who will lead in his household. He should be the head of his house, but he should be considerate of the thoughts of his wife. They're making some major decisions. Here's what I've decided. No, he should consider what his wife thinks, and we're going to buy a house. You certainly would want the wife to be considered with those thoughts about what's going to take place. So he must lead in the home. When the father leads in the home, he will have a home that will be different than what we see taking place in the world. What did Paul say? Fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but rather bring them up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord.

Think of that word for a minute. Provoke not your children unto wrath. That's a pretty strong term, isn't it? A father can actually do so much to his children that as they grow older, they don't want anything to do with them. I've had this happen on a couple of occasions.

A couple people that I work with and they’re older than me, I would see their children about my age, and well, I worked with their father. They didn't want to talk about him, didn't want to mention him because of what he was doing in his life. They didn't want to mention that. I remember one time going to a funeral and I just wanted to pay my final respects to somebody. Didn't have any idea I was going to wind up being a pallbearer because they couldn't find anybody. Not enough people showed up to be the pallbearers. Why was that? Because of the life that was left. He provoked them unto wrath.

We want to respect our parents. Here's something. Let's go back to the children for just a moment. Children, I'm talking about adult children. As we grow up, we still should show respect to our adult parents. We should show our love for them later in life. The last seven or eight years of my mother's life, she came to live with us. She had leukemia, got to the point she couldn't live by herself, so she lived with us. I was glad that we could spend those last years together and spend that time together and help take care of her.

Here's one thing that happens in life when children are young. The parents, they are taking care of the children. You know what happens a lot of times later in life? The roles reverse. The children are taking care of the parents. That's the way that it should be. It shouldn't be that the parents are neglected because the children have their own life. They do, but helping take care of their parents is part of that. It says, children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

You ever been in a store? Let's just do Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart’s always the place, isn't it? You ever seen somebody in Wal-Mart or anywhere else for that matter, a child's out of control? They'll tell them stop. You stop doing that. You stop doing that. They'll tell them again and they'll tell them again, all right, I'm going to count to 3. One, two, two and a quarter. When are you going to get to three? When are you going to make the child do something? Children obey your parents, but they have to be taught to obey, don't they?

Number two here, a father is a father who is led.

The first one and this are very similar in the way they're titled, but completely different. A father is one who leads, but a father is one who is led. He is led by the word of God, not by the world, not after work, going down with the boys to drink some beers and live that kind of life. No, he is led by the word of God. His concern is for his family, that they will see how God wants them to live and that he will make sure that they are taught the word of God.

You only get one shot at it. You don't get a redo on it. You only have one chance to do that. I want to mention this. If there's anybody in the congregation that is struggling with something in the family, prayer makes the difference. You could go with somebody and pray. You can come before the congregation and let them pray with you. Here's something I'll do. We'll do it this morning as well. We always want to extend the invitation if somebody needs to become a Christian, certainly, don't we? I somebody's a member that has fallen away, but you know, there is a third category and we don't want to forget about them. Th fits in with what we're looking at this morning. Those that are members but are struggling, it could be with the family, could be with something else that it might be. Think about this. In this congregation or Chalmette or any congregation it may be there's going to be the empty pew where somebody used to be.

What if way back over here they had got help and encouragement for somebody and prayed together and stayed strong together? They might still be members of the body of Christ faithfully serving God.

Number three, a father is somebody that is a leader by divine appointment. It's not that he wants to rule his household with an iron fist. Here's an old saying if you treat your wife like a queen, then she'll treat you like a king. That's the best way for that to happen, fellas.

We can't expect our wives to treat us like a king. I guess I could get by with a few things since my wife's not here, couldn't I? You might tell on me, so I'm not going to do that. If you want your wife to treat you like a king, treat her like a queen. Take care of her needs. See that she's taken care of. Cherish her. She is someone that you have made a commitment with. That is for a lifetime.

Next number five. A breakdown in leadership can lead to a breakdown in followership.

A father must be somebody that leads by example. If he quits doing that, it may be that the wife, the mother, stops following and the children and eventually the whole family. It may be that one time the whole family was a part of the congregation at some place and the whole family is gone.

It started somewhere, though. It always does. It doesn't just happen overnight. It's a transition that takes place and start to look back into the world and go back. We have to be careful with that.

A father is one that loves his family and he will do anything that it takes to take care of them. Notice another verse in Ephesians 5:25. I refer to this. Husbands love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it.

What did Christ do when he gave himself for the church? He died on that cross so we could be saved. I think most husbands would say, if somebody was trying to harm my family, I would certainly step in. I think that's true, but there's more to it than that. To truly guard your family, you have to understand something. You've got to guard them from Satan. Do you understand that? Satan wants your children. Satan wants your grandchildren. And if we don't watch it, he will take them. He will snatch them. We've got to be on guard. Yes. Guard against somebody coming into the house, certainly, but guard against Satan coming into the house.

What do we watch on TV? What do they see the parents doing? What do they see mom and dad engaged in? How do they see us conduct ourselves toward each other? Do they see that we always argue? Or do they see that it's a loving home? I told you about my home. I told you that for a purpose so you could see that I have experienced some of this. It took me and my brothers several years before we could kind of put that behind us even when we grew up.

I told you that so I can show you. Yes. It's not just something that's easy for you to say. I've seen some things, and I didn't tell you a lot of other things and I'm not going to, but a father provides for his family. In First Timothy 5:8, it says, but if any provide not for his own, especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith and is worse than an infidel.

If a man won't provide for his family, we typically think I've got them a place to stay, I gave them food, I bought them clothes. That's good, that's good. They need the spiritual leader in the home. Fathers, that's the father that they need a father that will train them. They need those other things, but they need the spiritual training in the home, and they must have that teaching and we must not provoke our children.

Here comes one that maybe seems that it's unheard of today fathers. Sometimes we have to discipline our children. I'm not talking about our big children. Obviously I'd have trouble with that. They're stronger than I am. When our children are younger, we have to discipline them.

There comes a time we have to say, no, you can't do that. Sometimes we have to guard, what company they are keeping, what company are you allowing your children to be around? It could lead them to get in all kinds of trouble. I knew a young man, he was in the congregation. I don't think that he ever became a member, but he was around some guys in the congregation that were good. Later in years he got around some that were not so good out in the world. Then he wound up in prison. See, the kind of people that we are around has a great deal to do with what our children will do later in their life.

Notice this. Do we remember this passage? Proverbs 13:24. He that spareth his rod hateth his son but he that loveth him chastens him betimes. More than once. Sometimes we have to say no. I remember when my children were young, I like to see things we could do together. We're going to go do this. There were some stipulations. We have to clean your room first, then we'll go. You can't just say that and then they won't clean the room when you take them anyway. You have to train them and teach them. I remember those days, taking them to McDonald's.

I don't know if they had them here or not, but they had all those tubes and things. They could get up there and climb in. I would go over there and let them play in those things and spend time with them. I didn't crawl on the tube. I couldn't get back out if I did. I didn't try that part.

We see in Hebrews 12:6. For whom the Lord loveth, he chastens and scourges every son whom he receiveth.

God disciplines us. It's a necessary thing. Our Heavenly Father trains us. We notice that we must not be selfish toward our families. Sometimes children don't have what they need as far as food and clothing, because the Father is drinking up the money and not bringing them home.

There's more than one, but I know a son back home that a woman, she's got three different children by three different men and never been married to any of them. That situation is sad. Think about what it does to those children as they grow up. It's very difficult.

We see in First Corinthians 13:5, it's talking about love. Love does not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil. Love takes care of, love is concerned about our wives and our children and the home.

I want my wife to go to heaven. I want my children to go to heaven. If I see that something's in the way, even as adults, I want to try to help them to overcome that.

We also notice that the Father is to be one that will spend extra time when he might have wanted to go do something else. Last night, I hate to have to say this. I wanted to watch the Tennessee football game when they were playing Florida. Unfortunately, I did watch it, and Tennessee didn't do so well. What I was getting to sometimes, we want to spend time as men. We love ball games and we love this and that. I've known men, they spent so much time going to play tennis, going to play basketball, going to do this, but they never spent time with their children. Now the children are grown, they can't go back and get those days.

In Job 1:5, notice about Job. And it was so when the days of their feasting were gone, about that Job sent and sanctified them and rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offers according to the number of them all. For Job said, it may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually. He was concerned for his family.

Let's look at the wife for just one moment and the mother. Look at Proverbs 31 and you see that spiritual mother that cares for her family all the time. She's working, taking care of their needs. She even buys land. She's doing whatever it takes to provide for her family.

I talked about saying something, whether my wife's not here, but actually I'm going to say something, but it's good. My wife is a very dedicated worker. I have been blessed to have somebody that will stand by my side as I've preached the Gospel these years. Sometimes preachers don't always stay in the same place. That can make it difficult on the wife not wanting to move away from family, but that takes place. I have had a wife that God has blessed me with that has stuck by my side no matter what has taken place. I have been blessed by God above.

What about us today? Are we following God according to his plan for the family? Start with the husbands as we close out.

Husbands, fathers, are we leading the family in the way that will help them to go to heaven? Are we doing the things that will help them to reach their heavenly home? Or do we stand in the way that may hinder them from going? We don't want to do that. We don't want to be a roadblock to them.

What about the mother? The Book of Proverbs talks about a nagging wife and a contentious wife. It's better to be on the rooftop than to be with a woman like that. The mother, the wife needs to be somebody that is a good person that works and helps provide for her family.

Children need to also obey and learn and be taught. Brethren, you could see a country that could be turned around not with some political stance, but with the word of God if we would follow it. How do we do that, since we're not in control of everything? We do it one soul at a time. That's how we do it—one soul at a time. We take this gospel first. We live it and we teach it to our families and we teach it to anybody that we can. This morning, are you a child of God? I want you to think for a moment not what I think, not what anybody else thinks.

I can't get you to heaven. That's the truth. I can't do anything that will help you by myself to go to heaven. It takes God. What did God say? Let's look at the day of Pentecost in Acts two. The apostles were there and they were standing up and proclaiming the word of God. The people heard them. The people there were some of them that helped crucify our Lord. They said Men and brethren, what shall we do? We've been guilty of sins. We didn't believe that he was the Christ, but we believe now. What shall we do? Peter said unto those that believe, repent, change your direction and be baptized, every one of you. If we do what the Lord says today, it'll make us the same thing it did in the first century. It'll make us Christians.

As children of God, if there's something in our life that we need to correct, let's be willing to do that. Let's be willing to take care of anything that stands between us and God. If there's anybody here that needs prayers of encouragement, don't be afraid to ask.

Heaven is worth it. Will you come? As we stand as we sing.

Boldness by the Blood

BOLDNESS BY THE BLOOD

Hebrews 10:19-21

 

Good morning. It is good to be here. He mentioned that I am a recent grandfather. It was just two months ago I became one. I'm going to show you pictures for the next 45 minutes. I could do that, but I'm not going to do that.

 

It is a blessing to be here and to teach God's word. We'll have a few more things to say at the worship hour. This hour, I want us to think about Boldness by the Blood. Of course, that’s the blood of Jesus Christ. That's the reason that we're here this morning, isn't it?

 

It’s because of the blood that Jesus shed on that cross. Without that, we wouldn't have a need to be here and we wouldn't have a need to look forward to anything. We’d just be like an animal. We die and that's the end of things. It's not like that with us.

 

Also, I want us to think that we're not just…I hope I'm saved, maybe I'm saved, rather we can know that we are saved. The Bible teaches us that. And we can live a life knowing without a doubt that we are saved. We have a lot of material with this. We'll try to squeeze it in, in this amount of time.

 

Starting in Hebrews 10:19-21, the Hebrews writer, a lot of people think it is Paul, but that doesn't matter as long as we get the message that comes from it. He says here“Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; And having an high priest over the house of God;”

That boldness we have because we're in Jesus Christ. His blood cleanses us from our sins. Are we perfect? No. We'll look at that here in just a moment. But because that blood continues to cleanse us of our sins and we're going to need that. We make mistakes, don't we?

 

As children of God, we fall short. We're not always everything that we need to be. Sometimes we go beyond and do things that we should not do. Sometimes we fall short and don't do what we should do. But we know as long as we're striving to serve God that blood continues to cleanse us.

 

In Romans 3:23, Paul said, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Think about that for a moment. He's writing to Christians, those at Rome, and he tells them, all of us have fallen short of the glory of God. What does that mean? We need that blood that Jesus shed on that cross so we could be saved from our sins.

 

There's no other way that we can be saved. Man cannot devise a way to be saved. You go back to Genesis when Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden. You see man’s first sins. They ate of the forbidden fruit that they were told not to, and they were punished for that.

 

Sin had entered the world. You also read in Ephesians 3:8-10, where God already a plan before this world existed. He knew that man would sin. He knew that man couldn't save himself. He had already devised a plan through our Lord Jesus Christ that we could be saved, and that is by his blood.

 

Let's go back to Romans 3. Let's back up in the chapter a little bit. Let's look at verse nine. What then? Are we better than they? No, in no wise. For we have before proved, both Jews and Gentiles that they are all under sin. The Jews thought they were special because they were Jews. The Christ Child came through them, and had they obeyed as they should have, it would have been great, but what do we see through their history?

 

Constantly falling away from doing what God told them to do. Gentiles needed salvation. I was studying about Jonah on one of the airplanes, and you see some interesting things. Therefore, Jonah, a Jew, was told to go to the Gentiles, the Ninevites. I won't go into that because that's another study that is interesting.

 

We all need God, don't we? All people today, we need God. We look next at the book of Isaiah 58:1-2, and you see all through the history of men. It says, Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, neither his ear heavy, that he cannot hear.

 

That's not the problem. God can and is willing to save us. What is the problem then? He tells us there, but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you that He will not hear. That separation comes between us—God, man--and sins come between.

 

In order to be in the right relationship with God, I have to be free from my sins. God has made a way for that. Notice this. Go back to the New Testament in the book of Luke 19:10, and it tells us about Jesus. Here's where the good news comes in.

 

Jesus came to seek and save the lost. That's us. We have an answer, don't we? Jesus came to this earth and lived. Think about that for a moment.

 

Our idea, our plan is to go to heaven. What is our imagination of heaven? Whatever it is, it's greater than whatever we can think, isn't it? Our mind can't comprehend what it will be like to walk in heaven and be with God, to be with the Lord Jesus, to be with the Holy Spirit where the angels are where all the righteous of all time have been.

 

That's what we look forward to. Stop and think. Jesus left the glory of heaven and came here and faced all the same things that we faced. We'll notice that as we study today. He came to do that and go through the same things that we went through in our lives, and he went through much more, as we know. In John 3:16, (a passage that most of us can quote), for God so loved the world that what he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should be saved, that man shall not perish, but have everlasting life. That's a promise from God. Now stop. Which promise has God ever made that he failed to keep? Not a single one. So we can have that everlasting life in Jesus Christ, and it comes by the blood of Jesus.

 

Then going back to the book of Hebrews 9:22, this time, notice what the writer says. Almost all things are by the law, purged with blood, and without shedding of blood is no remission. Go back to the Old Testament, the Law of Moses, they had to offer animal sacrifices. Even Abel did that. You see throughout the Old Testament that they had to offer these blood sacrifices.

 

Those animal sacrifices, that blood could not wash away man's sins. It made a remembrance of sins. The old law condemned sin, but we had to look to Jesus Christ for our salvation, don't we? That's the only way that man can be saved.

 

Isn't it good news that we can live our lives with joy? We're going to notice that after we eat lunch today, that it could be dangerous. Everybody has eaten, the preacher has eaten. Everybody is ready for a nap.

 

That hour may be the most challenging of the whole week right there, but we'll give it our best shot. We also notice there's a song that everybody pretty much sings at every congregation. What? There's Power in the Blood. We understand that men have written songs about that and we sing it, there's power in the blood, not of those animal sacrifices, oh, no.

 

In the Lord Jesus Christ, there's power, how much power? It can take us from a lost state when we're washed in the blood of Jesus at the point of baptism and we're in Christ, we are saved. That is power. That is tremendous power, isn't it?

 

Then we see in John 14:6, Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one cometh unto the Father but by me. There’s our answer, there's our boldness. We want to look at three ways this morning that we can walk with boldness that will help us in our daily walk as we strive each day of our life to serve God and to keep his commandments. I want you to think today and throughout this week, we'll look at some different subjects, obviously, but let's think about how we can live our lives with confidence.

 

We can know that we're safe. Sometimes we live with doubt, even if we're a member of the church. I've been baptized, that is great, but how do we live our lives? We should live our lives knowing that whatever we face, God is there for us. He never will fail us. He's not going to leave us.

 

There's never going to be a time that we call upon Him, that he will not hear us. That makes us live our lives differently, doesn't it, when we understand that.

Number one, let's draw near to God. That's one thing that we are told to do. Notice in Hebrews 10:22, let us draw near with a true heart. Notice this in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water. What happens at the point of baptism? We contact that saving blood. Jesus shed his blood in his death on the cross. John 19:34.

 

Romans six, three and four says, we're baptized into his death and we're resurrected to walk in newness of life. That's what Jesus talked to Nicodemus about, wasn't it? He came and Nicodemus talked to him and Jesus said, you must be born again. Nicodemus said, how are you going to do that? You can't enter the second time into your mother's womb.

 

He said, you must be born of the water and the Spirit, and the Spirit through the apostles. And of course, we have the word of God today and it tells us what we need to do to become Christians, to live our lives as Christians. He says, draw near to God. God is there to comfort us. Thinking about that grandchild, I already miss him.

 

I just left yesterday, but I already miss him. Think about that child as he grows up. He's going to face difficulties. Even when he's small, a child he faces difficulties that sometimes we may think are nothing. It is to him, it is to that child.

 

What do we want to do as parents and grandparents? Come here, I will help take care of you. We comfort that child. Our Father says, draw near, I will give you comfort, I will take care of you. There's not going to be a time that you can't be near me. You can always be near me.

 

Draw near to God. God is always going to be where he always has been. So what do we need to do? Draw near to God. Sometimes we have to refocus. This includes me. I'm not just saying this to other people. We have to refocus. Sometimes we have to sit down and think, I need to do some self inventory, looking over myself, and I want to draw near to God, how's my prayer life? Am I praying to God?

 

That's our communication to God. You ever thought about prayer and the effectiveness of prayer? Think about this. We're going right before the throne of God when we do that. That is some thought, isn't it? God does not allow just anyone to come before his throne, but his children.

 

He will allow us to come before his throne. What a privilege and what an honor! We can come and talk to Him, and he does hear us. He takes care of us. He understands us. Sometimes people, we do help each other, we understand that. There are times we may feel nobody understands me.

 

God does. God always understands. He knows what's going on. He knows what's taking place in our lives. In John 3:5, as we were mentioning, Jesus answered, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of the water and the spirit (noticed the other part that I didn't say), he cannot enter the kingdom of God, so you must be born again. Go back to the part of baptism that we just mentioned, what do you bury? You bury something that is dead. What's dead? That old man of sin, what we used to be.

 

That man is buried, resurrected to walk in newness of life, a new child, as though I never sinned. We may remember what we used to do, but that life is over with. I'm walking with God now, so my life will be different. Let's read Romans six, three and four. I referred to it, but let's read it specifically and see how he starts out.

 

That part is important. Know ye not? We might say this today, don't you know? Don't you understand this? Again, he's writing this to Christians.

 

When you write this to Christians, why are you writing to Christians about baptism? You're reminding them. That's what even those that have been members, I'm sure some of you have been members for a long, long time. What do we gain? We may say I've studied that subject before.

 

We need to be reminded about things, don't we? When you go back to the Bible, and I know we would make statements very similar to this, “I've studied that before, but I never noticed that.” Some other preacher comes and preaches on the same subject, and covers that, but in a completely different way. We still gain from that. Know ye not that as many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ? What? Were baptized into his death. There's what we were covering. Notice the next word. Therefore, because of what just took place, that you were baptized into the death of Jesus, therefore, we are buried with him.

 

How? By baptism into death. That like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. Christ was in that tomb three days. The tomb couldn't contain him.

 

Death, he overcame it, and up from the grave he arose. Like our Lord, we rise from that watery grave. That old man's been buried. That new man has been resurrected. In the book of First John 1:7, and in thought we have referred to this.

 

We didn't read this. It says, but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, (God, the Lord Jesus, is always in the light). Never was a time that they were outside of the light. Jesus is that light. As we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another.

 

The blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanses us from how many sins? I can see that God will forgive me of some sins, but there's some he just can't forgive. No, no, he forgives us of all sins, whatever it was. Think back to what you read in the Bible.

 

What about Saul of Tarsus that persecuted the church, and he even held the garments while they stoned Stephen to death. Do you think that wasn't something that bothered him even after he became a Christian? My point is, the power that is in the blood of Jesus even washed away his sins. Why tarriest thou rise and be baptized and wash away thy sins calling on the name of the Lord. That blood will save you, Paul. You can be saved by that blood of Jesus Christ.

 

There's a word here, a phrase here, the first two words. But if—but if we walk in the light.  Sometimes I like to say it like this. What if we don't? We get the point real quick, don't we? All those things we just talked about, we don't have the benefit of. I want to think about and I want to take advantage of what's been offered to me by God.

 

He has blessed us. He's made the way for us. This life can be difficult at times, we know that. There are always some bumps in the road, isn't there? A lot of potholes. Some of those are pretty big, but nothing that we can't live with in this life. This life is brief. James said that. It's like a vapor. It appears for a short time and vanishes away. I just turned 60. When I was 30, 60 sounded like an old man.

 

Dale and I we're talking about this yesterday when he picked me up from the airport. 60 don’t seem so old now after I got to this age. It sure did when I was 30. Take whatever age you happen to be. How old does man live to be in his 70s, maybe in his 80s and some, if they even live to be real old, might hit 100.

 

I know a lady that used to be a church secretary made that age. Even with that, if I make it to be 80, I've got 20 years to live. That's pretty short, isn’t it? That means two thirds of my life is already over. That's if I make it to 80. If I die in my 70 less than—you get the idea, don't you? This life is brief. It's only for a short period of time, and then we have that benefit.

 

Here's one thing I like to do, and it's beyond comprehension. We already talked about how beautiful will heaven be, what is it going to be like? If we die now, before the Lord returns and we're faithful to God, we go to paradise. What do we think paradise will be like? That must be something to behold, paradise, we think, even in living here.

 

What's the greatest place you've ever been to? I've been talking to people this week about that. What's the greatest place that you've ever been to? Why? I’ve been to this place? You ought to see this place. It is something to behold. What about paradise? You die and you go to paradise before the Lord returns. How beautiful heaven must be.

 

You see how limited our mind is about what we can even behold, about what awaits us. That's what we need to live our lives for, not always looking at the negative things. Oh, they're going to be there, but don't let them control your life. Live as though we're going to heaven, because if I'm serving God, I am.

 

If I see myself and I need to take care of some things, I'm going to take care of them. God wants you to go to heaven. That's one thing that we must understand. God wants you to go to heaven. Some people, I think, in life, and this may not fit as much in this group, but I think they think that God's looking up from heaven just waiting for us to make a mistake.

 

I got you. That's not the picture of God. In the Bible, we have a God that loves us even when we fall short. We've read that in First John, chapter one. He still loves us, he still cares about us, and he still wants us to go to heaven.

 

We notice in Romans 3:23 and 25, this is prior to chapter six of what we read. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We notice that already being justified freely by his grace through the redemption what that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. Oh, I need to do what God tells me to do. I need to obey him. Yes, indeed, but I still can't be saved because of my good deeds. I still need the mercy of God, the grace of God. It's two parts—God's part and man's part. God has made it available.

 

Everything that man needs, God has made available. He wants us to do, take advantage of it. Living down close to New Orleans, just outside of New Orleans, we have some hurricanes sometimes. Hurricane Katrina was something else. It wiped out our house.

 

I worked at a community college there and the church building. A wave of water came through, (the building's brick) water washed through one side of the building, went right out the other and everything was gone. That's tremendous power there destruction.

 

When we finally could come back at nighttime, there were no lights anywhere. Let's go over to McDonald's and grab something to eat. There's not a McDonald's. Let's go to Home Depot and get some supplies. There's not a Home Depot.

 

Everything was wiped out, but as things came back and sometimes there would be places that would either sell food or even given away food, you would notice people got in line. Why? To take advantage of the benefits that were being provided. That's smart, isn't it? We need to eat.

 

Even if it's given to you or you're buying it, we need that. Why not take advantage of something that is far, far greater than that? Then in First John 5:13, John says, these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God. That's who he's addressing. You believe.

 

He's writing to the members that you may know that you have eternal life that you may believe on the name of the Son of God. That you may know. Go back to where we started. Not just I think and I hope that you may know. He has made a plan that will save us, and it's 100% perfect because God did it. He set the perfect plan in process. Man just simply needs to take advantage of it.

 

Number two, and I'm heading number two at this point. I said there's a lot of material to cover, but number two, Hebrews 10:23, but let's notice fast. Number two is hold fast.

 

We need to draw near to God, but hold fast once you get there, where salvation is, where God provides the benefits. Hold fast, don't leave it. If just a storm is coming through, and I say an average storm, the wind's blowing really hard and it's raining really hard, I want to go in the house where there's safety. I want to stay there. Hold fast in that house, but let's hold fast in Jesus Christ.

 

Notice Hebrews 10:23. Let us hold fast their profession of our faith without wavering. For he is faithful that promised.

 

Who promised? God did it, and he's faithful. He's going to keep his word. He will not fall short of it. He's going to do what he said that he would do.

 

When we read his word, He's made some promises to us about salvation. You go back and read Matthew six when Jesus was talking about the necessities of life. I'll provide those. Come to verse chapter six, verse 33, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.

 

He's going to take care of the things here. He's got something better that awaits us, so take advantage of those things. Then we notice in First Corinthians 15:58 therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast unmovable always abounding in the work of the Lord.

 

Notice for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord, we can know, we can have assurance, we can have boldness in the Lord. Not our greatness, not our goodness, but that of our Lord. Hold fast to what we have available for us, that has been made possible for us. There's so much that Jesus has done for us. You see these verses in the Bible and it's telling us, stay faithful, keep on doing what you're doing, it will be worth it.

 

I imagine all of us can think about some people somewhere that have fallen away, no longer serving God, and that hurts. We hate to see that. That's the reason. Some of these verses you see here written to Christians.  Christians, stay faithful, don't give up, don't quit. It will be worth it.

 

There's something that awaits you, and I'm here to help you. In Second Timothy 4:7 Paul says, I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. We know what Paul went through. He was beaten on several occasions, left for dead, in a shipwreck, bitten by a snake. Bitten by a snake would be enough to be dead. I'd probably die of a heart deck right there, just bitten by a snake, but he survived all these things.

 

When these things were happening, when he was beaten and left for dead, what did he get back up and do? Let's go back just a little bit further. Paul and Silas were in prison. What would we do today if we're put in prison because we taught the gospel to somebody?  Is this what I get for serving God? Is this what God has for me?

 

The prison that Paul and Silas were in is not like the local jail, not that the local jail is where we want to be, but these prisons were not of that nature. What were Paul and Silas doing at midnight, singing praises unto God. What faith they had. They were determined. You're not going to stop me, whatever you do, from serving God.

 

Peter and John did the same thing. They told them not to speak in the name of Jesus. They could only speak the things that that saw and heard and were not going to stop doing it. They were determined to keep on doing that.

 

Oh, what it cost them. It cost them dearly, but they kept on doing it because they knew that it was worth it. In First Corinthians 16:13, watch ye stand fast in the faith. Quit ye like men. Be strong. That means we have to grow stronger. Sometimes people become members, and at the point of baptism, yes, we need to do that, but they stay at that level. Ten years later, they're still at that level.

 

We need to grow well. We start out on milk. That's natural. My grandson certainly likes milk, but eventually he's going to grow stronger. He's going to want something besides milk.

 

He's going to want some of that table food. He's going to grow stronger. We need to do that in the faith. In First Peter five, verse seven, it says, casting all your care upon Him, for he careth for you. Cast your care upon him. What are you going through?

 

What are you struggling with? Don't try to bear your burden by yourself. To start with, you can't, but with Jesus Christ you can cast your burden upon Him. He's able to handle it. He's able to do whatever is necessary. There's no problem that is too big for God. He's able to do everything.

 

We see in Hebrews 10:23, let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful that promised. Don't waver, don't go one way or the other, you stay solid. We've seen several verses already. In Second Timothy 1:12, for the which cause I also suffer these things. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.  He had confidence, didn't he?

 

Paul was writing to a young evangelist. You stay strong, Timothy. You may be a young evangelist, and you're going to face some things. You've been left there to take care of some things, but you stay strong. I know who I have believed and am persuaded that he is able he is able to do all these things and provide all of our needs.

 

We all have needs. I can say it without doubt and I don't know all of you. Some of you are dealing with some problems right now. It's been said you're either in a problem, you just got out of a problem, or one's about to start. Sometimes it may be a combination of some of those things.

 

God's there, that's real life. Some people, I think, have the idea when you become a Christian, there are no more problems. That's not true. If you have too many bills, and you become a Christian, guess what? After you're baptized, you still have too many bills. It doesn't work that way. That's not what God's promised us.

 

Number three provoke each other. Now, sometimes we use the word provoke in a different way. You may take two guys that are provoked him into a fight. That's not what we're talking about. I like Westerns. Sometimes the guy that is really fast with a gun, will provoke somebody that he knows is not as fast into a gunfight, knowing that he's going to win. We're not talking about that, though.

 

That word is used to encourage. Notice this verse, Hebrews 10:24. We usually look at Hebrews 10:25 about, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. That's fine. That is good, but notice the verse before it, and let us consider one another to provoke, encourage unto love and to good works.

 

Brother, I want to encourage you to do this. How about go with me, make this visit. We haven't seen so and so in so long. I did something one time. I'm still preaching there, though. In the front, there are two different artificial plants. One weekend I took one in the back. I wanted to see how long it took for somebody to notice that it was gone. At the first service somebody knew there was a plant missing.

 

Where's that plant at? What about some member? I haven't seen them for two years. We need to go check on them too. It's more important than that artificial plant is that you're going to eventually throw in the trash. Encourage each other to do those things.

 

In Second Corinthians 9:10, Paul says, for I know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia that Achaia was ready a year ago, and your zeal hath provoked very many. It has encouraged very many. You have this zeal to serve God, and it has encouraged others. Look at those folks, how they love God and serve God. It encourages others to do the same thing.

 

We're told to do that. Consider one another to encourage unto good works. John 13:34. Jesus said a new commandment I give unto you that you love one another as I have loved you that you also love one another. How much did he love us?

 

We know that. We already talked about that. He loved us to the point of death on the cross. We are to love one another. That's the way that the world will know that we are God's children, that we love one another.

 

If they see the Lord's church fighting amongst itself, it's hard to invite others to want to be a part of that. We love one another. We care about each other. You have a need. I need, to help you with that if I possibly can, and vice versa.

 

In the book of Revelation 20:12, we see this John said, and I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God. And the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works. That's how it's going to take place. You may be faithful, but I'm going to have to stand on my own two feet when it comes to following God.

 

I worked with a guy one time and there was a conversation going on, but he said, I believe in Jesus when I see Him I’ve got some questions for Him. I beg to differ. He'll be the one asking the questions. Every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess.

 

You won't be asking the questions, and you can't serve God on your terms. A lot of people do that. I believe in God and I do this and that, but they're serving God on their own terms. We must serve God on his terms, but what about our name in that book that was opened? Is our name written in the book? I want my name there. Sometimes our name could be removed. It is possible that we can stop serving God. In Galatians five, verse four, it says, if you're justified by grace, you are falling from grace.

 

That is possible, not only for that reason, but many more. What about our name in the Lamb's Book of Life? Is our name there? We can't directly see it, but do you realize that you can really know? That's what we've been discussing, isn't it? We can know that we're saved. God has made his plan known to mankind. If I follow this plan that he's given me, I can know that I'm saved. Not maybe, not that I hope I'm saved. I will be saved. So I can know that my name is written there. And what a great day it will be when my Jesus I shall see and I look upon his face the one that saved me by his grace. You ever been around anybody that's important?

 

Usually, if you are, you probably get nervous, don't we? After one storm hit up in the Baton Rouge area, since we had been helped with Katrina, and other things, some of us went up there and I got near, most important person ever.  It wasn't like he was standing here. He's in the automobile, you could say when he passed by, he was president at the time. President Obama came through and I said to the guy standing next to me, “There he is.”

 

He looked, there he was. That's him standing next to a president. Of course, it wasn't like we were standing there talking, but still, it doesn't matter what president it happens to be. We would be nervous, wouldn't we? Maybe being near some star, we might be nervous. They're famous for this. They fail in comparison to the Lord. I want to be with Him, but I don't have to be afraid. I can live with confidence.

 

Notice this in 1st John 3:1, behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. What manner of love God has shown to us because we do love Him. That's a great love, isn't it? That's what we need to dwell upon. Think about what we dwell upon.

 

I'm going to be guilty sometimes knowing I shouldn't be doing this, but things that are bad, this happened, that happened. Sometimes we'll let the least little thing dominate our day. That's not what we're supposed to be thinking about all the time, is it?

 

Philippians 4:8. Those things that are good and lovely think about those things. Think about going to heaven. Our time is up, so we shall stop there and we'll look forward to the worship hour.

 

Thank you.