Participants: Jim Gilley, Pastor
Series Code: POF
Program Code: POF000003A
|
00:26 Hello, and welcome once again to, Pillars of Faith.
00:30 This is a program where we examine the truths, 00:32 the doctrines, that we hold so dear. 00:34 Where we lift up the name of Jesus. 00:36 But more than that, where we examine the Word of God 00:39 and those tenants of faith on which the Adventist Church 00:42 is built and which Christianity in general uses 00:47 to buttress its faith and to encourage its people. 00:49 So welcome once again. My name is C.A. Murray. 00:51 And it is my privilege to welcome you to night 00:54 number three of our sitting together. 00:56 Our speaker is Pastor Jim Gilley, who, as you well know, 01:00 for many years was the president of 01:02 Three Angels Broadcasting Network. 01:05 Also the president of the Arkansas/Louisiana Conference. 01:08 He also was a vice-president of the General Conference 01:11 for many, many years. 01:12 And we are so happy that he broke into his retirement 01:17 to come back and be with us 01:19 and to give us this wonderful message. 01:20 The message tonight is entitled, Grace, Truly Amazing. 01:27 But I want to take just a moment to reflect upon 01:29 yesterday's message which I loved and appreciated; 01:32 which was, God's Witness Protection Program. 01:35 That's one of those kinds of messages that encourages you. 01:39 If you are a witness for the Lord, 01:41 if you're trying to witness for the Lord, 01:44 and if you're a little squeamish about the results 01:47 of your witnessing, you can take courage 01:49 that God protects His witnesses. 01:51 Now that's on two fronts. 01:53 One, when you stand up for the Lord, 01:55 the Lord stands up for you. 01:56 So you don't have to worry about your witness having power, 01:59 because the power is in the hands of the Lord. 02:02 He asks us just to open our mouths and to stand up for Him, 02:05 and God will take care of the rest. 02:07 Not our job to convert or convict. 02:09 That's the Holy Spirit's job. 02:11 Our job is to tell the truth and to stand up for Jesus. 02:14 And God does protect His witnesses. 02:18 And so we saw that in a very powerful way 02:20 on yesterday's program. 02:23 As we said today, Grace, Truly Amazing. 02:26 It is a truly amazing thing to be part of the grace, 02:30 to be a recipient of the grace of God. 02:32 And Pastor Jim will tell us about that this very day. 02:36 Our Scripture lesson comes from the book of Romans. 02:40 Romans 3, and we are looking at verses 21-26. 02:46 And so I invite you, give you just a moment to turn 02:48 to that passage of Scripture, if you will. 02:51 Romans 3, and I'm looking at verse 21 and reading down 02:58 through verse 26. 03:01 The Bible says in Romans 3:21, "But now the righteousness 03:06 of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed 03:11 by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, 03:16 through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. 03:22 For there is no difference." 03:24 I'm in verse 23. 03:26 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," 03:30 24, "being justified freely by His grace through the redemption 03:37 that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a 03:42 propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate 03:47 His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had 03:52 passed over the sins that were previously committed, 03:56 and verse 26, "to demonstrate at the present time 04:00 His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier 04:07 of the one who has faith in Jesus." 04:11 So you can see where we're going. 04:12 Talking about righteousness by faith 04:14 and the doctrine of justification. 04:16 And of course, all wrapped up in a package of grace. 04:21 Pray with me now as we ask God's blessing on this message. 04:24 And then the next voice that you will hear 04:26 will be that of our pastor, our friend, Jim Gilley. 04:30 Father God, how we thank You for the gift of grace 04:35 and for what it does in us, for us, to us, and through us. 04:41 Bless now this message. 04:43 Bless him who has been called to speak it, 04:47 and those of us who will listen and hear. 04:51 May our hearts be filled with Your Spirit, 04:55 may our lives be changed. 04:57 May we be emboldened, enabled, to take one more step 05:01 along the road that leads to glory. 05:05 Keep us, even as You teach us. 05:07 And we thank You, dear Father, in Jesus' name. 05:11 Amen. 05:12 And now Jim Gilley. 05:14 Hear ye him. 05:20 Thank you, Brother C.A. 05:22 It's good to be back with you here again at 3ABN, 05:25 and to be in this auditorium speaking to those that are here 05:31 and also speaking to you at home. 05:34 And it's just a real pleasure to return. 05:37 Camille and I are living in California now and we love 05:41 where we're living because we're across the street 05:44 from our daughter and five of our grandchildren. 05:47 Four there most of the time, one is still back here at 3ABN. 05:52 But we really do enjoy being with them, 05:56 but we miss being here at 3ABN. 06:00 And it's great to see the crew again, the production crew. 06:03 We've traveled around this country together 06:05 and done so many programs here in this very auditorium. 06:11 It's good to see Brother C.A., 06:12 and to see Danny Shelton yesterday. 06:15 We had the opportunity to visit, had a good visit together. 06:18 And with Brother Brian Hamilton. 06:20 And looking forward to seeing some of the others 06:24 before we head on down the road. 06:27 But what a real pleasure it is to be back at 3ABN. 06:33 As I've said so many times, I believe in this ministry. 06:37 I believe that God has anointed it. 06:39 I believe that its best days are ahead. 06:43 And I think the evidence is that the devil is always attacking. 06:46 When the devil is attacking, you know that you're 06:49 doing something right. 06:51 And he has never let up in trying to do everything he can 06:55 to dissuade people from supporting 3ABN. 06:59 But I beg you to listen to the Holy Spirit 07:03 as the Holy Spirit guides you in your support 07:07 of this ministry. 07:09 This ministry only survives with your support. 07:12 Now I can tell you this because I was here 07:15 for almost eight years as president. 07:18 And it is a ministry of faith. 07:23 There is not some organization anywhere that's ready 07:26 with a safety net to catch it in case things don't work. 07:31 God impresses upon you to support this ministry. 07:36 And I pray that you will be generous in your support. 07:41 I use to make a statement sometimes that 07:44 I thought was good. 07:45 In fact, some of you watch 3ABN and you tell me, 07:48 "This is the ministry that brings me my bread. 07:52 I feed upon the Word of God from 3ABN." 07:57 Well let me tell you something. 07:58 If you get your groceries at Kroger's, 08:01 you don't go down the street at Walmart to pay for them, do you? 08:05 So if you are getting your nourishment spiritually 08:10 from 3ABN, if the bread of life is coming to you 08:14 through these airways, the television and radio, 08:18 then I urge you to support this ministry. 08:22 No gift that you give is too small, and none is too large, 08:27 in order to keep this ministry moving around the world 08:31 and having power in presenting the gospel 08:35 of the Lord Jesus Christ to a dying world. 08:40 Today we're looking at amazing grace. 08:43 Grace, God's grace, is truly amazing. 08:47 And you know that song, Amazing Grace, 08:49 is one of our favorites. 08:50 It's in our hymnal. 08:53 And for years it was just back there in the back of the hymnal, 08:56 you might say, along with, The Old Rugged Cross, 09:00 and, What A Friend We Have In Jesus, 09:02 and all of those favorite hymns. 09:05 There was a time, all of a sudden, when it went public. 09:11 It became a popular song. 09:14 It happened in 1972. 09:17 Judy Collins, a singer, was doing an album. 09:23 Actually, doing a single record. 09:26 In those days, those of you that weren't around then, 09:30 they did a record, and usually on the other side 09:33 they had on the flip side a song that was, 09:36 well some people would call it the throw away. 09:38 Because it was just a song they had to cover the backside. 09:43 Judy Collins had done a song that they were expecting 09:47 was going to be a hit. 09:51 And you know what? 09:53 She really thought this song was going to be. 09:55 But she didn't have another song to go on the other side. 09:58 And the producer said to her, 10:01 "I thought you had a second song." 10:02 She said, "I really don't." 10:04 But said, "Listen, I had a song that I use to sing in church. 10:10 Let me sing that." 10:12 And she sang, Amazing Grace. 10:16 She sang it a cappella. 10:18 Without accompaniment. 10:20 Now today I can't tell you the song that was on the other side, 10:24 because, Amazing Grace, sung a cappella, 10:29 became a hit, a number one hit, around this nation. 10:37 Since that time, I looked it up not long ago, and at that time 10:41 3400 different music artists that were listed on Amazon 10:48 had recorded that. 10:49 Someone told me now that it has gone past 5000 10:53 different musicians who have recorded that song. 10:57 "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound 11:00 that saved a wretch like me; 11:05 I once was lost but now I'm found, 11:09 was blind, but now I see." 11:13 That song, with a message that reaches out to people. 11:19 This is a song that was written by John Newton. 11:23 Now let me tell you a little bit about John Newton. 11:26 John Newton was a man that was born in about the 1700's 11:35 in London. 11:37 His father was a sea captain. 11:40 His mother was a very spiritual person. 11:42 In those days, ninety-five plus percent 11:47 of the population were members of the 11:49 Church of England in England. 11:52 A very formal staid group. 11:54 There were others that had moved out and were looking at 11:58 other possibilities of worship. 12:01 Some of the Wesley brothers, and Whitfield, 12:03 and some of the others. 12:05 There was a little chapel that met in London. 12:09 And John Newton's mother was drawn to that chapel. 12:14 It was a very spiritual place, and a very spiritual lady. 12:18 When John Newton was seven years old, his mother died. 12:23 Now a lot of things happened about that time. 12:27 His mother was a good singer and a good musician. 12:31 People told John, "Well, God just needed 12:34 another singer in His choir," and things like that. 12:37 And it made John hate God. 12:40 You know, when you lie about God, even if you're trying 12:44 to make people feel better, it never works out for the best. 12:48 It's better to go with the truth of God's Word. 12:51 And that story that, "Well, God needed another singer," 12:55 or, "God needed somebody else," or, "God just needed her 12:58 and took her," has caused many a child 13:03 to hate a God that would take away their mother. 13:08 And so he began early in life to hate God, 13:12 to despise Him, 13:14 because he was told that God had taken his mother to heaven. 13:19 So John was put into a reformatory school, so to speak. 13:25 It was a boarding school. 13:27 They were just about like reform schools with tuition. 13:32 And he hated it. 13:34 His dad put him there because his dad was going out to sea. 13:37 And then his father also had remarried, and the stepmother 13:42 did not like John. 13:44 John ran away from school. 13:46 He got down to where his father was on board ship, 13:49 and he joined his father. 13:51 And his father said, "Well, you might as well 13:52 come on and go with me. 13:53 I don't have time to take you back." 13:55 And so for the next few years he traveled with his father 13:59 on the ship. 14:01 He learned a lot about shipping. 14:05 He learned by working with the captain 14:08 how to be a captain. 14:10 And then he decided that he wanted to be in the Navy. 14:14 So he joined the Navy. 14:16 He saw these fellows in the Navy running around 14:19 in their nice uniforms, so John thought, 14:22 "I want to be in the Navy." 14:23 But when he got in the Navy, he realized that was not for him. 14:29 And you know what? 14:31 As soon as he possibly could, he went AWOL. 14:35 He thought, "If I could just get to my dad, 14:37 my dad has got a lot of influence. 14:39 If I can get to my dad, he'll get me out of all of this 14:42 and I can go back into the merchant marines 14:44 and be back with my father." 14:46 But he was caught in the meantime and put in jail. 14:50 He served out his sentence there for going AWOL. 14:54 And finally did get away and went with his father 14:59 back in the sea for a while. 15:02 And then he got a place on a freighter. 15:08 A freighter that was going down to Africa. 15:12 He met a friend while he was on that trip. 15:16 And the friend said, "Why don't you come on and 15:19 come to my house with me." 15:21 John said, "Well, I have no other place to go," so he did. 15:25 But when he got to the friend's house, 15:28 the friend's wife said, "Why did you bring this fellow here? 15:32 I don't want him here." 15:34 And she did everything she could to make life miserable 15:38 for John Newton. 15:40 She would not even let him eat at the table. 15:45 And she only fed him the scraps from the table. 15:48 When the family was through eating she would dump all the 15:51 scraps on one plate and give it to him. 15:54 And he said, "You know, this reminds me of a story 15:57 my mother use to tell about a prodigal son." 16:01 And so he was just happy when he finally got away from there. 16:07 He got aboard, got another job on another ship. 16:10 He understood shipping. 16:12 And he became the captain's helper on a slave ship. 16:17 And one night they were in a storm. 16:21 He was manning a position when the captain came along 16:24 to him and said, "John, go downstairs and get me a knife. 16:27 I need a knife, I need to cut a rope here." 16:30 And John ran down and got a knife. 16:32 Another man stood in his place. 16:34 And while John was downstairs getting that knife, 16:37 a giant wave came over that ship. 16:42 And the man who had taken his place 16:46 was washed overboard, lost. 16:50 He died. 16:52 When John came back, he realized that wave would have taken him 16:58 had the captain not asked him to go down. 17:03 And he just felt like God had spared his life. 17:07 But he didn't know why. 17:08 He went into the captains room after the storm was over. 17:11 They had some time, and he got the captain's Bible. 17:16 And he started to read. 17:19 The chapter that he went to was Romans the third chapter. 17:24 Now John Newton knew that he was a sinner. 17:26 In fact, he said, "I did everything that I could 17:30 to pollute anybody around me. 17:34 To destroy their faith, to destroy their morals. 17:37 To destroy them in every way," he said. 17:40 "I did everything that I could." 17:43 But the Holy Spirit was still working on John. 17:50 And He led him to the passage that Pastor C.A. read. 17:56 Romans the third chapter. 17:58 What a chapter this was. 18:02 It says, "Now the righteousness of God 18:06 apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the 18:10 Law and the Prophets, 18:12 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, 18:17 to all and on all who believe. 18:20 For there is no difference; 18:21 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 18:29 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption 18:33 that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth 18:37 as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, 18:41 to demonstrate His righteousness..." 18:46 And he knew at that moment that the great God of the universe 18:53 loved even him. 18:56 And he made his commitment to Jesus Christ. 19:01 Now, you know, it was a real growth period 19:05 that took place in his life. 19:07 For a while he even remained in the slave trade. 19:12 He remained even as a captain of a slave ship. 19:15 He did not somehow see the difference that you and I 19:20 would see, because of the morality of the age. 19:24 Later on, after he was married, he suddenly began to have 19:31 seizures and fits. 19:35 And he was no longer able to go to sea. 19:39 He came home from the sea. 19:41 He began to study. 19:43 It was amazing. 19:45 He began to study biblical languages. 19:47 He studied Greek and Hebrew, and he became a pastor 19:52 in a little town named, Olney. 19:56 He was a part of a group there that was so spiritual. 20:03 And it grew so tremendously that he was then invited 20:08 to go to London. 20:10 This was after sixteen years at Olney. 20:12 He went to London, he was a grown man 20:14 before he became a minister, and he went to 20:16 London as the pastor. 20:19 He was still bothered by all those journeys that he had made 20:24 on those slave ships. 20:27 And he would think about it from time to time. 20:31 A young man started coming to his church. 20:34 A young man by the name of William Wilberforce. 20:39 And Wilberforce had the same conviction, 20:43 and he talked to him. 20:45 He said to William Wilberforce, he said, "You cannot imagine 20:49 how many of those slaves died in the hold of my ship." 20:54 And he said, "I still wake up in the night thinking what I did 21:01 was wrong." 21:03 And he said, "William, I believe that slavery is wrong." 21:09 Wilberforce became a real strong person in the movement 21:16 against slavery in England. 21:18 And he is credited with being the one 21:21 that brought about the change of the law so that 21:25 slavery became illegal in England twenty years 21:31 before it became illegal in the United States of America. 21:37 And the influence was from John Newton 21:41 through William Wilberforce. 21:44 Now when you look at this Scripture, 21:48 you realize that this is a Scripture that is so amazing. 21:53 In just an hour that we have here together, 21:56 there is no way that I can take this whole Scripture apart. 22:00 I can look at some of the parts of it, 22:02 but you need to study it yourself. 22:05 You need to look at Romans the third chapter 22:08 because this is the chapter that changed the life of Augustine. 22:14 This is the chapter that changed the life of Martin Luther. 22:20 This is the chapter that changed the life of John Wesley. 22:25 If you can just stop and think for a moment 22:30 how many people have been influenced by this. 22:34 It is the chapter that changed John Newton's life. 22:37 It is the chapter that changed Spurgeon's life. 22:42 And when I was struggling as a young man 22:47 to find the truth of righteousness by faith, 22:53 it was this chapter that more than any other 22:59 impacted my life. 23:02 And my friend, I will tell you this. 23:04 It will impact your life. 23:09 You see, the Bible tells us that the gospel of Jesus Christ 23:14 changes us. 23:16 If you go back to the verse just before that, verse 20, 23:19 it says, "Therefore by the deeds of the law shall no flesh 23:25 be justified in His sight, for by the law 23:29 is the knowledge of sin." 23:32 You see, the law was never made to save you or to save me. 23:38 The law is made to tell me what sin is. 23:42 Now sometimes we get the idea, "Well, if I just don't 23:45 steal, kill, commit adultery, if I don't break the Sabbath, 23:49 then I'm keeping the law." 23:51 But in Matthew 5, Jesus expands that 23:55 and He lets us know that, wait a minute, 23:59 it's not just because you don't kill somebody. 24:03 You can't even hate them. 24:06 And if you actually study the depth of the Scripture 24:10 that Jesus is talking about in Matthew 5, 24:13 it goes even beyond that. 24:15 If you actually look at the words in the Greek 24:18 and in the Aramaic, you will see that it means, not only 24:23 if you don't kill them, if you think all of them 24:28 or if you assassinate their character through gossip, 24:34 it's just like killing them. 24:38 It's amazing how we just, at the drop of a hat, 24:43 will gossip about somebody, steal their character, 24:47 kill their reputation. 24:50 And we think that we are holy and just. 24:54 And God says, "No, you are a murderer. 24:58 You are a murderer." 25:01 He talks about adultery. 25:04 He said, not just abstaining from adultery. 25:08 No, it's even the very thought, the impure thought. 25:14 You cannot lie, steal. 25:17 All of these things the Bible says. 25:19 And we do it in some ways. 25:22 You know, somebody says, "But wait a minute. 25:25 There are different variations of the law." 25:27 Yes there is. 25:28 There's the difference between murder and jaywalking. 25:31 But both are breaking the law. 25:34 And when it comes to the Bible and to the law of God, 25:39 if you are not absolutely one thousand percent 25:43 perfect, then you need a Savior. 25:47 And there's not one single one of us who does not need 25:52 to be covered by the blood of Jesus. 25:56 There is only one that ever was one thousand percent perfect. 26:03 And that is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 26:08 And so He must die in our stead, in our place. 26:13 He is the propitiation. 26:16 He is the one that stands in our place. 26:19 He is the one who died on the cross 26:24 that we might have life eternal. 26:27 And He changes lives. 26:30 "...being justified freely by His grace..." 26:34 It says in verse 31, "Do we then make void the law through faith? 26:38 Certainly not! 26:40 On the contrary, we establish the law." 26:45 You know, we have a lot of failures in our lives. 26:47 We fail, but God says, "Don't give up. 26:50 Because remember, you are not the one that's saving you." 26:55 That's what we'd really like to do. 26:57 Every single one of us would like to save ourselves. 27:01 That's what we would like to do. 27:04 In fact, there have been some that have said 27:06 that the sin that so easily besets us is the sin of trying 27:12 to save ourselves. 27:14 Because we fall back in to legalism, 27:19 to depending upon ourselves, 27:22 rather than depending upon the Lord. 27:25 When we fall, we need to get back up. 27:28 We need to learn from our failures. 27:30 I was just reading the other day about Michael Jordan, 27:34 the great basketball player. 27:36 He said that in his career, he missed over 9000 shots. 27:44 He lost over 300 games. 27:49 And he said, 26 times the ball was thrown to him 27:55 where if he had made that final shot 27:58 they would have won the game. 28:00 And 26 times he failed to make that shot. 28:06 He talks about those failures. 28:09 But then he says, "The failures were the secret to my success." 28:15 Somebody says, "How?" 28:16 Because he said, "I learned to humbly work at practicing 28:22 and being better." 28:24 When we fail, we need to know that it's because we're 28:28 depending on ourselves. 28:30 We're depending on ourselves rather than depending on 28:33 our Savior, Jesus Christ. 28:35 Because He is the one that gives us the power. 28:40 He is the one that gives us the strength. 28:43 He is the one that will change our lives. 28:48 You know, one of the most wonderful things that 28:50 I've had the privilege of, over the years, 28:53 is doing evangelism and seeing lives changed. 28:58 I remember one night there was a man in Dnipropetrovsk Ukraine. 29:06 We were staying at a hotel. 29:09 And this hotel was, I think that we were 29:13 paying three dollars a day. 29:14 And my friend, that tells you the condition of that place. 29:19 But it was a rough place. 29:21 The only place that we could afford to stay in town. 29:25 But we were staying there. 29:27 And so, every night when I would go to the hotel, 29:31 several of our pastors would go along with me. 29:34 Now these pastors had all been in the service. 29:38 And in Russia, they were not allowed to be in the medics 29:42 or something like that. 29:43 They had to be in the armed forces. 29:46 And I will tell you something. 29:48 These men, I would have walked down any alley 29:52 in the world with them. 29:54 Because they could have protected me no matter what. 29:57 And they would go, four or five of them, right along with me. 30:01 And I knew that I was not going to be rolled, 30:05 I was not going to be knocked in the head. 30:07 Nobody was going to harm me. 30:09 And there were those from some organizations even 30:13 there in Ukraine and Russia that would have done 30:17 whatever they could to bring physical harm to you. 30:20 We have had a number of situations where 30:23 we saw that the potential was there. 30:27 Anyway, this night we got out of the car, 30:29 and all of a sudden a man came out of the dark. 30:33 And I tell you, those fellows were ready to 30:37 lay hands upon him. 30:39 And they wouldn't have been spiritual hands, I'm afraid. 30:42 And I said, "No, no, no, wait. I recognize him. 30:44 He's coming to the meeting." 30:46 And he came, and through a translator 30:50 he told me, he said, "I have given myself to Satan." 30:55 He raised his shirt, and there was a satanic tattoo 31:01 on his midsection. 31:03 He said, "But I want to give myself to Jesus." 31:07 I laid my hand on him. 31:09 Now let me tell you, this fellow, 31:10 you could smell the alcohol on him. 31:12 He reeked of alcohol. 31:15 He smelled so strongly of tobacco 31:18 that it was one of those kind of individuals that you knew 31:22 smoked so much, used tobacco so heavily, 31:25 that it almost came out his pores. 31:29 And you could just smell it. 31:31 I put my hand on that tattoo and I prayed that God would 31:36 release him, that God would honor his desire 31:39 that he wanted to give his life to Jesus. 31:41 And I prayed that Jesus would take him. 31:45 And I prayed, and I'm praying verbally 31:48 and I'm praying silently at the same time. 31:51 And I'm saying, "Lord, You must do this for him. 31:54 There is no way that he can throw off all of these things 31:59 that have hold of him. 32:01 You must perform a miracle in his life. 32:05 Take away the tobacco from him, Lord. 32:07 Take away this alcohol. 32:09 Any drugs that he might us. 32:11 Lord, take it away from him. 32:14 Because You're the only one that could." 32:17 And when I finished praying, and he went off into the night, 32:23 I thought, "Oh Lord, there's no way unless You do it 32:28 that there can be a change in his life." 32:31 But you see, my friend, when God says that He will 32:35 do things for us, He will do it. 32:38 And the righteousness of God can come through 32:42 the power of the Spirit. 32:43 All have sinned and come forth. 32:45 But the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin, 32:51 the Bible tells us. 32:54 And so this man, I kept waiting and praying. 33:00 Night by night I would preach and I would see him there. 33:04 And then we gave the call to give their life to Jesus. 33:09 He was one of the first. 33:10 He didn't walk down the aisle, he ran down the aisle 33:15 to the front. 33:17 And he gave his life to Jesus. 33:21 He was a seaman, by the way. 33:23 And later on after he was baptized 33:29 I would go back to the area. 33:31 I went back over the years many, many times. 33:36 Each time I would go back, I might even be in a 33:38 different city, but I would sometimes see him 33:41 in the audience. 33:43 Sometimes I didn't, and I would ask people, 33:45 "What about the man..." and I'd describe him. 33:49 "Oh," they'd say, "he's faithful to church. 33:51 He comes always, but he's a seaman and right now 33:56 he's probably out to sea. 33:58 But when he gets back, he'll be at church." 34:01 I remember the last time I saw him. 34:04 He was in the balcony. 34:06 The place was totally packed. 34:08 Every seat in that great giant auditorium was full. 34:12 People were standing down the aisles, standing in the front. 34:16 We had people behind us that were standing. 34:20 And the balcony was full. 34:22 But I looked and I saw him. 34:24 One of the advantages of preaching with a translator 34:27 is that while the translator is doing the translation, 34:31 sometimes you can think a little bit. 34:33 You might even study a little bit or 34:35 you can look around at the audience. 34:37 And so I looked up at him and I pointed to him. 34:42 And he knew I was pointing. 34:43 And he jumped up and he raised his hands above his head, 34:48 and he did like this... 34:51 And I knew that what he was saying, "Jesus is still 34:58 giving the victory in me." 35:02 And I praise God. 35:04 You see, this is what preaching is all about. 35:07 You see these lives that are changed. 35:09 You see things that are happening. 35:11 And it's only by the grace of God. 35:15 When I was a very young evangelist starting out 35:17 in New England, there was a great deal of opposition 35:20 to our meetings. 35:22 And I remember that the college president who was backing up 35:29 his Bible department chairman, they spoke out against 35:37 public evangelism. 35:39 In fact, I had to meet with the conference president, 35:42 and the college president, and the head of the Bible department 35:45 to defend holding public meetings. 35:50 They kept saying, "The day of evangelism is over." 35:55 And they resented, somehow, that any amount of funds were 35:59 being spent by the conference for public evangelism. 36:02 They wanted it all put in the educational area. 36:08 And I remember visiting with them, and how discouraged 36:14 I was when I left there. 36:17 I went down to the little town in Massachusetts 36:21 right along the Connecticut border, 36:25 and I held an evangelistic meeting. 36:29 And there was a couple coming to the meeting. 36:32 The lady was the sister of that college president. 36:39 She'd been out of the church for over forty years. 36:43 She was married to a man who had never 36:45 been a member of the church. 36:47 But night by night they came, and I would go and visit them 36:51 at their work. 36:53 Because they worked at a very well known establishment there. 37:01 And I would go and get permission, and go in 37:03 and actually talk to them at work. 37:05 Because I couldn't see them during the day at any other 37:08 place, and at night they were coming to our meetings. 37:12 Visit with them, have prayer with them. 37:15 Finally the night came we were giving the call for surrender. 37:20 I was hoping and praying that they would come forward. 37:24 I remember that as it got down towards the end of the call 37:29 all of those had come forward except this couple 37:34 that I had kind of expected would come. 37:38 And so I thought, "Well, I'm going to slip off my microphone 37:42 and I'm going to go back and I'm going to talk to them. 37:45 They were sitting on the back row. 37:47 And I got around behind them and I said to her, 37:50 "You know, I've been praying 37:52 that you would make your decision for Jesus. 37:58 That you would come back to the church. 38:01 Don't you want to do that tonight?" 38:03 She shook her head no. 38:05 And I was just so disappointed. 38:10 I walked back towards the front. 38:11 On the way down, the Holy Spirit spoke to me, 38:14 not audibly, but in such a strong impression 38:18 that there was nothing that I could do except follow. 38:23 "You didn't ask him." 38:26 "Well, but she's the one that knows the message. 38:30 And if she's not going to come, he's not going to..." 38:33 "You didn't ask him." 38:35 Boy, the Holy Spirit can... 38:37 I turned around right in the middle of the aisle 38:40 and I walked back, and I said to him, 38:43 "You know, I've been praying that you would 38:45 make that decision too. 38:47 Would you want to do that tonight?" 38:49 He said, "Yes, I do." 38:51 And she looked at him and she said, "You do?" 38:54 He said, "Yes I do. I've been waiting for you." 38:58 And she said, "And I've been waiting for you." 39:01 And they stood up and they hugged each other. 39:05 And they came forward. 39:08 And you know something? 39:11 The next week we asked the college president if he would 39:15 come down and baptize his sister 39:19 and his favorite son-in-law... 39:21 Brother-in law. Excuse me. 39:23 ...favorite brother-in-law, if he would baptize both of them. 39:28 And he did. 39:30 You know something? 39:31 Every time I would see him, he would grab my hand. 39:33 He never told me, "You know, evangelism 39:35 still is working, isn't it." 39:38 Never said that. 39:40 But he was on the conference committee. 39:42 And different conference committee people would tell me, 39:45 "I don't know what you did with doctor so and so, 39:47 but he is the best support that you have 39:51 on the conference committee. 39:54 Whenever you put a request for a budget in, 39:58 you know something, he will answer it. 40:01 He will say, 'Let's support that man. 40:04 Let's give him what he needs.' 40:06 He speaks up for your budgets. 40:09 And he makes the motion." 40:12 You see, when evangelism touches the heart, 40:17 touches the family, touches the immediate needs of those 40:22 that are around us, then all of a sudden 40:28 it still works, doesn't it? 40:30 The grace of God out there, the grace of God being presented. 40:37 The grace of God is the one who comes and gives 40:44 to each one of us. 40:46 The Bible says that it is by faith. 40:51 It is accepted by faith. 40:52 If you look at all the times in this chapter here, 40:56 verse 21 forward, it says, "by the Law and the Prophets," 41:03 it is accepted by faith, "even the righteousness of God, 41:08 through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. 41:14 For there is no difference..." 41:16 In other words, in Jew or Gentile. 41:18 "...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 41:21 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption 41:26 that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth 41:30 as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, 41:35 to demonstrate His righteousness, 41:37 because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins 41:42 that were previously committed, 41:44 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, 41:49 that He might be just and the justifier of the one 41:53 who has faith in Jesus." 41:57 And then it says, "Where is boasting then? 42:00 It is excluded. By what law? Of works? 42:04 No, but by the law of faith. 42:09 And therefore we conclude that a man is justified 42:12 by faith apart from the deeds of the law. 42:15 Or is He the God of the Jews only? 42:19 Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? 42:21 Yes, of the Gentiles also, since there is one God 42:26 who will justify the circumcised by faith 42:30 and the uncircumcised through faith. 42:34 Do we then make void the law through faith? 42:36 Certainly not! 42:38 On the contrary, we establish the law." 42:42 Then he goes down to Abraham, and it says, 42:44 "What then shall we say that Abraham our father 42:47 was found according to the flesh? 42:49 For if Abraham was justified by works, 42:52 he has something to boast about, but not before God. 42:57 For what does the Scripture say? 42:59 'Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him 43:04 for righteousness.'" 43:06 My friend, faith, trust, and belief in the Lord Jesus Christ; 43:14 that is the thing that changes lives. 43:20 It gets us ready for heaven. 43:24 Saved by grace. 43:26 Saved by faith. 43:29 Saved by the blood of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 43:36 He is the one. 43:38 He is the one. 43:40 The only way that we will be saved. 43:45 There's another man that lived about that same time. 43:51 His name was William Cowper. 43:54 You'll find his name in our hymnal. 44:02 It's C-o-w-p-e-r. 44:04 And some people want to pronounce it Cow-per, 44:05 but it's pronounced "Cooper." 44:08 And William Cowper had a life that was very close 44:15 in many respects to John Newton's. 44:19 When his mother died, he was very young himself. 44:25 His father remarried. 44:28 His stepmother did not want him to be around. 44:33 She was against him being in the family at all. 44:39 So his father sent him off to one of these boarding schools. 44:43 His father was an attorney. 44:46 And he wanted his son to be an attorney. 44:48 And when the boy finished the boarding school, 44:51 he sent him to a school where he would learn to be an attorney. 44:58 But he had a nervous breakdown while he was at that school. 45:04 It was so severe that they had to institutionalize him. 45:11 It looked like he would never, ever come away 45:17 from that particular place. 45:20 But he did. 45:22 He finally did. 45:25 Because someone brought him the gospel. 45:28 There was a man there by the name of Nathaniel Cotton. 45:31 He was a doctor. 45:33 And he began to read this chapter 45:36 of Romans the third chapter to him. 45:40 And he also began to read to him some other text. 45:45 You see, there are two ways to salvation. 45:49 One is through divine accomplishment, 45:52 the other is through human endeavor. 45:54 But the only one that works is divine accomplishment. 45:59 Depending upon Jesus. 46:01 Human endeavor always fails. 46:05 And so Nathaniel Cotton shared some other text. 46:09 He shared this one, it says in Romans 4:5, 46:14 "But to him who does not work but believes on Him 46:18 who justifies the ungodly, 46:21 his faith is accounted for righteousness..." 46:26 "...his faith is accounted..." 46:29 Again, in Ephesians 2:8-9, "For by grace you have been 46:34 saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; 46:37 it is the gift of God, not of works, 46:40 lest anyone should boast." 46:42 Can you imagine if we could earn our way to heaven 46:47 the boasting that would take place? 46:51 Well I can just see some people standing there saying, 46:54 "Well now look at this mansion. 46:56 I deserve this. 46:57 I was so good on earth that there's no mansion 47:02 anywhere in heaven that could be greater than I deserve." 47:07 Boasting, that's what it would be if we could save ourselves. 47:13 Boasting. 47:14 The Bible says that if it were by works, 47:19 then we could boast. 47:21 But we cannot boast, my friend, because we are saved by faith 47:27 through grace, and it is the gift of God. 47:31 The Bible says in 2 Timothy 1:9, God has "saved us 47:36 and called us with a holy calling, not according to 47:40 our works, but according to His own purpose and grace 47:45 which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began..." 47:54 Salvation through grace. 47:58 Jesus; the plan of salvation was made before the earth 48:03 was even planned. 48:06 God says, before the foundation of the earth 48:09 that Jesus was ready to die for you and for me. 48:13 Titus 3:5, "...not by works of righteousness 48:18 which we have done, but according to His mercy 48:22 He," being God, "saved us, through the washing of 48:27 regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit..." 48:35 And then Galatians 2:16-21. 48:43 It says, "...knowing that a man is not justified 48:48 by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ..." 48:56 "I do not set aside the grace of God; 48:58 for if righteousness comes through the law, 49:02 then Christ died in vain." 49:06 And again, over and over, Paul says to us, 49:10 now this doesn't mean that the law is done away with. 49:13 No, the law tells us that we need a Savior. 49:17 The law tells us that there's no way that we can be saved 49:22 without a Savior. 49:25 It is so important that we trust completely 49:31 in a God that saves us. 49:35 In Jesus Christ our Lord, our God, our Savior. 49:43 It's so important. 49:45 You know, my friend, there's no way that 49:48 we can, in our own strength, save ourselves. 49:53 There's no way in our own strength we can even face 49:56 the problems that we have here in our life. 50:00 You look at how many people are falling apart 50:03 constantly because they're trying to carry 50:05 the load themselves. 50:08 We have to let the Lord take our yoke. 50:11 He says, "Take My yoke. It's light." 50:14 Because He's carrying the weight. 50:17 He's carrying the load. 50:19 And He's saying to you and to me, "I want to save you. 50:23 I want to save you." 50:25 And my friend, I heard somebody say one time, 50:28 it's more difficult to be lost than it is to be saved 50:32 when you've given yourself to Jesus. 50:35 Because He loves you. 50:37 He says, "I will never let anything be taken 50:43 out of My hand. 50:45 If you are in My hand," He says, "I will not allow you 50:51 to be taken away." 50:54 And so, my friend, I am saying to you today, 50:58 whatever you do, give your life to Jesus. 51:02 Trust in Him. 51:04 Allow Him to be fully in control. 51:09 Give your life to Him unreservedly. 51:14 And trust totally in His righteousness, 51:18 not in our righteousness, because we have none. 51:21 The Bible says that our righteousness is as filthy rags. 51:26 We know our sins are, but He says our righteousness 51:33 is as filthy rags. 51:36 Our goodness is as filthy rags. 51:39 Our goodness is not good enough for God. 51:45 It has to be that we are saved by the blood of Jesus. 51:53 And His goodness, His righteousness, 51:57 takes full control if we will allow Him. 52:02 If we will let Him take full control of our lives, 52:07 He will do it. 52:09 It's a promise. 52:11 He says in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world 52:16 that he gave His only begotten Son, 52:19 that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish 52:24 but have everlasting life." 52:27 John 14:1-3, He says, "Let not your heart be troubled; 52:31 you believe in God, believe also in Me. 52:33 In My Father's house are many mansions; 52:37 if it were not so," He says, "I would have told you. 52:42 I go to prepare a place for you. 52:45 And if I go to prepare a place for you, 52:48 I will come again and receive you unto Myself; 52:52 that where I am, there ye may be also." 52:56 In Galatians 2:20, he says, "I am crucified with Christ." 53:01 This is Paul speaking. 53:03 "Nevertheless, I live." 53:05 We still have a life to live. We die with Christ. 53:08 "Nevertheless, not I but Christ liveth in me. 53:16 And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith 53:20 in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." 53:28 Oh my friend, God loves you and He loves me. 53:35 And He becomes a part of our lives. 53:39 We're crucified with Him. 53:40 Nevertheless we live. 53:42 Yet we don't live, but He lives within us. 53:46 And He must live within us. 53:48 If we are to be filled with Him, He must live within us. 53:53 And this is the message that Dr. Nathaniel Cotton 53:58 gave to William Cowper. 54:01 William Cowper. 54:03 He said, "You must depend upon Jesus 54:07 and quit depending upon yourself." 54:10 And he did. 54:11 Now he moved from that place. 54:18 He started staying with a family that lived 54:21 just outside the institution. 54:23 And the head of the family, the father, died. 54:26 And so they moved to Olney. 54:30 Remember Olney. 54:32 I mentioned it earlier. 54:34 John Newton was the pastor of the church there. 54:37 And those two men, William Cowper and John Newton, 54:43 became fast friends. 54:46 They wrote songs together. 54:48 They did a hymnal, I think it has 370 some odd hymns 54:53 and it's called, The Olney Hymns. 54:58 Sixty-six of those were written by William Cowper. 55:03 One of which is, "There is a fountain filled with blood 55:11 drawn from Emmanuel's veins..." 55:15 And then he says, "...drawn from Emmanuel's veins; 55:20 and sinners plunged beneath that flood 55:25 lose all their guilty stains." 55:30 William Cowper had lost his guilt. 55:34 He had lost all of that which was condemning him 55:42 because he accepted Jesus, and he accepted the blood 55:49 of Jesus. 55:52 Can't you just feel that song? The experience. 55:57 "There is a fountain filled with blood 56:00 drawn from Emmanuel's veins; 56:02 and sinners plunged beneath that flood 56:06 lose all their guilty stains." 56:11 Today, if you will accept Jesus, I would invite you 56:16 to know that it is not by our works. 56:21 It is by His faith, His works, our acceptance of His 56:27 death upon the cross. 56:29 Oh that changes your life, friend. 56:31 That will change your life a whole lot more than 56:34 trying to do what's right; is to accept Him 56:38 and the infilling of the Holy Spirit. 56:41 Christ living in you, your life will be changed. 56:47 I promise you that. 56:49 The things that you think that you can do in your own strength, 56:53 you can't. 56:55 But when the Holy Spirit comes into your life, 56:58 then you begin to walk with the Lord. 57:03 Father in heaven, I thank You today 57:06 that You have promised to us life eternal 57:09 through Jesus Christ our Lord. 57:12 I thank You, Lord, that You have given to us a prescription 57:18 for life eternal; that is, to depend upon Jesus Christ 57:23 as our Lord, our God, and our Savior. |
Revised 2017-02-06