George Williams - An Unimaginable Love

[Music] [Music] just [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] is [Music] please precious memory [Music] to my soul [Music] [Music] and those precious precious sacred seeds i'm singing [Applause] [Music] but my soul [Music] and those precious precious [Applause] this is the day that the lord has made we will rejoice and be glad in it it's good to be here with you on this lord's day morning and all of those who are members of the body of christ at east side we want to say good morning to you and for those of you who may be visiting with us from elsewhere we want you to know that you are indeed our honored guest and we trust and pray that you will indeed worship the lord with us on this lord's day in spirit and in truth and we trust that all of you who have tuned in this lord's day morning as we say each lord's day that you've prepared your hearts and that you have already put everything aside and your focus is upon the lord and we pray now that you're ready to give god the very best that you have to worship him in spirit and in truth this morning we are blessed to have with us brother bruce maxwell who was going to come and direct our hearts and songs and brother russell clemons is going to come and he's going to direct our hearts in prayer and lead us in our communion and offering service we trust now that you have your communion have your bibles and that your heart has been made ready god bless you at this time brother maxwell good morning our first selection for this morning will be woke up this morning with my mind on jesus i woke up this morning with my mind did it was said oh jesus well i woke up this morning [Music] you know that it's [Music] well i woke up this morning with my mind oh i heard you can't hate your neighbor with your mind well you can't hate oh glory hallelujah [Music] hallelujah [Music] is gonna [Music] jesus comes there'll be no trouble in there no more trouble oh you know that everything is [Music] oh no don't you know that i woke up this morning with my mind is safe oh you well you know i woke up this morning oh glory hallelujah hallelujah good morning i pray that everyone did wake up this morning with jesus on your mind will you join in with me now for a word of prayer our heavenly father we come to you at this time in prayer we want to just start by acknowledging the fact that you are god the almighty god the creator and sustainer of this universe the great i am that i am the alpha and omega we are so grateful that as your children we can call on a god that does not slumber nor sleep a god who knows all our needs and who's able to fulfill our every need the god who owns the cattles on the hills and everything we see around us a mighty god an omnipotent god all-knowing all present we're so grateful that in spite of all that power majesty and glory you sent your son your only begotten son to die on calvary's tree that we might have the hope and promise of eternal life lord we realize that there are times as human beings with frail flesh that we we fall short of how we are to live and how we ought to be how we are to think and how we are to acting at this time lord we pray for forgiveness of those times and help us to know and to realize that it's through your cross that we can be closer closer to you and closer to being able to make heaven our home we confess the fact lord that sometimes we don't walk right or talk right or treat one another right we we confess to the fact that there are times when we harbor bitterness and anger in our hearts we pray that your spirit will help us to to do better to walk better to to live better to to be the children of god that you've called us to be we're thankful we're thankful for your blessings that we so often take for granted the air that we breathe the sight that you've blessed many of us with the the homes the cars the freedom to come into worship we're thankful for our families and for our children and for the things that that all around us that we we know that they're blessings from you help us to be more grateful that our hearts may reflect the love and appreciation because when we can express our appreciation towards you we can share our appreciation towards one another so at this time lord we come praying for those who've asked for prayers there's some among us who are sick may have cancer covet virus or other illnesses that that's holding us back this physical illnesses we pray lord for the families of those who are taking care of the sick and the shut-in and the lord sometimes physical sickness can create spiritual sickness it is our prayer this time that in spite of all the things that many of us are going through as christians the physical ailments the physical pain the the hurt may we never waver in our faith in love and trust in you so often we can't see the road that we're traveling we can't see the future we we don't know what's in store for us but we don't do know who holds the future and you promise to walk with us through all our trials and tribulations we're thankful for that and we lean on you your loving arms we pray now lord for this rest of this service that the things we do and say will be pleasing and acceptable to you we pray for brother williams your servant who's prepared a message today of your word we pray you can call to remember it's the thing that he studied but also that your holy spirit will work with him and through him to touch the hearts and lives of all of us and when this message is finished and that invitation is extended there'll be those who want to surrender their lives to jesus christ the most important decision we can all make help us lord to to know that in worship and service that will do it in spirit and in truth this lord is our prayer in jesus name amen our next election will be thank you lord thank you [Music] lord thank you [Music] oh you know that i just want to thank you lord thank you lord thank you thank you [Music] good to me you've been you've been so so good oh lord you've been so good oh you know that i just want to thank you lord cause you saved my soul you say say my soul oh lord you saved [Music] to save my soul oh [Music] [Music] thank you lord cause thank you [Music] you gave me one more one more day and thank you lord for one more one more thank you lord i thank you thank you lord for all you've done i think thank you thank you lord i just want to thank thank you oh you know that [Music] i want to thank you [Music] song before the message will be hard fighting soldier well oh i think i pissed that wrong is that is that all right is that too low just saying bro okay we'll go back to it then well i've got a helmet on [Applause] [Music] the sword [Music] so while on oh don't you know that i've got to walk right and talk right and sing and pray right while on the battle oh i'll keep on bringing souls to jesus bye yes don't you know precious lord take my hand and lead me on and let me stand you i'll keep on bringing souls to jesus by the service that oh if you are sick and you can't get away or you just call upon them oh if you are sick and you can't get well and you oh i'll keep on bringing souls to jesus service that i the master's hand and i will serve him yes you know that i have taken the master's hand and i will serve him to the end and i'll keep on bringing souls to jesus by the service don't you know that i've got to walk right and talk and sing and pray right while on don't you know that i've got to walk right and talk and sing right in prayer oh you know that i've got to walk right and talk right and sing and pray don't you know i'll keep on bringing souls to jesus by the service that oh fighting soldier yes i'll keep on bringing [Music] is fighting [Music] oh when [Music] amen and amen what a wonderful and powerful and meaningful song i am a hard fighting soldier on the battlefield and we are soldiers in the lord's army and there is no greater army to be in than the lord's army and we have no greater commander in chief than jesus christ we have nothing to fear and so we are wonderfully blessed to be a part of the greatest army in the world and that is the lord's army and we're not fighting for a crown as brother clemens so uh ably explained last sunday we're not fighting for a crown that will spoil in a few days that will dry up and that will just be grass or just be flower petals and leaves that have crumbled to nothing we are fighting for a crown that does not fade away eternal in the heavens as paul said i have fought a good fight i have kept the faith i have finished the course henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the lord the righteous judge shall give unto me under on that day but not only unto me but unto all of those who love his appearance and so lord the lord has blessed us and he has given us that blessed promise that we shall indeed receive a crown at the end of this journey we appreciate brother bruce maxwell for leading us in those beautiful songs and for the very powerful and meaningful prayer by brother clemens and i want to thank him again for standing in last sunday did an outstanding job on hebrews chapter 12. i was tempted to go and preach on verse two uh i really had to fight that i say well i want to preach on that but i don't want folk to think i'm coming behind you so i'll leave it alone and get it another time uh but it's such a powerful verse that it talks about jesus christ who is the author in the finish of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross and sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high such powerful verse so we appreciate brother clemens for um sunday did an outstanding job and of course uh quentin smith did an outstanding job on wednesday night appreciate the brothers thinking about me and wanting to give me a break they forced me to do it so brother williams not only do we want you to take off don't you come to the building that's okay i i'll stay home like the other members and watch it on tv so that was a little different but we are thankful unto god for that opportunity and privilege to do that this morning if you have your bibles and we trust that you do we want to encourage you to open them to the book of romans chapter 5. i have not forgotten about the gospel of john it's just that i i'm going to go back but at this time i'm working through some other things that god has put upon my heart john chapter romans chapter 5 i'm sorry romans chapter 5 and i'm going to read verses 1 through 11 romans chapter 5 and i'm reading from the new king james translation the bible says therefore having been justified by faith we have peace with god through our lord jesus christ through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of god and not only that but we also glory in tribulations knowing that tribulation produces perseverance and perseverance character and character hope now hope does not disappoint because the love of god has been poured out in our hearts by the holy spirit who was given to us for when we were still without strength in due time christ died for the ungodly for scarcely for a righteous man will one die yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die but god demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were still sinners christ died for us much more than having now been justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him for if when we were enemies we were reconciled to god through the death of his son much more having been reconciled we shall be saved by his life and not only that but we also rejoice in god through our lord jesus christ through whom we have now received the reconciliation that's a whole lot of preaching i can't do it all but i will do my best to cover what i need to cover this morning i want to talk about an unimaginable love an unimaginable love often when we think of the love of god we think of it before the cross we think about text like the golden text of scripture john chapter 3 and verse number 16 for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life when we think about the love of god we often think about text like john 15 and verse number 13 greater love has no one than this than to lay down one's life for his friends and when we think about the love of god we tend to think about text like first john chapter 3 and verse number 16 which says this is how we know what love is jesus christ laid down his life for us but all of those verses speak of the love of god on the bc side and when i talk about bc here i'm talking about before the cross all of those texts reference the fact that god loved us leading up to the cross and those verses speak about god's love pre-cross but this morning my focus is more on the ac that is after the cross love of god for us this morning my focus is upon the post-cross love of god do we really understand do we truly understand the depth of god's love for us we talk about it we sing about it and we pray about it but do we really understand how much god loves us or perhaps a better question is do we really have an appreciation for how much god loves his children because god not only showed us his love before the cross he not only showed us his love on the cross but god has shown us his love after the cross most of the time when we talk about the love of god we're talking about that love in reference to the cross itself but what about after the cross when christ died on the cross he was paying the price for his bride he was paying the price for his church the bible specifically tells us in acts chapter 20 and verse number 28 that he purchased the church with his own blood and then in that great pericappy pericope in ephesians chapter 5 where paul talks about the deep mystery of the relationship that exists between jesus christ and his church which he styles under the metaphor of a bride and husband and paul said in ephesians chapter 5 and verse number 23 husbands love your wives just as christ loved the church and gave himself for her but i want you to understand that christ did not stop loving his bride after the wedding day i want you to understand that christ did not stop loving the church after he died for the church it's like the husband whose wife asked him says now baby do you still love me and and she said well the reason why i am asking you this question is because we've been married now for 20 years and ever since we've been married i have not heard you say since our wedding day that you love me and the husband responded to that and he said well i told you when we got married that i loved you and i also told you that if i ever changed my mind i would let you know well i want you to understand that that's not how god treats us christ did not stop loving us after the cross and not only did he not stop loving us after the cross he did not stop showing his love for us after the cross and not only did he not stop showing his love for us after the cross but he did not telling us didn't stop telling us every day after the cross that he still loves us and this morning my focus is on that post-cross love of jesus christ i want to talk about god's love for us after the cross it is that love that paul says nothing can separate us from listen if you will at romans chapter eight beginning at verse number 31 through verse 39. romans chapter 8 what then shall we say to these things if god is for us who can be against us he who did not spare listen to this now he who did not spare his own son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things that's before the cross and that's after the cross watch this now who shall bring a charge against god's elect it is god who justifies who is he who condemns it is christ who died and furthermore also has is also risen who is even watch this now at the right hand of god who also makes intercession for us you see that's love before the cross that's love on the cross and that's love after the cross see when jesus went back to heaven he didn't say that my job is done yes he said it is finished but the bible lets us know that he was not finished he got up from that grave and went back to glory sat down at the right hand of the father on high and every day he is making an intercession for you and for me and i thank god for that because every day i need the grace and the mercy and the forgiveness of the lord every day god has to say so christ has to speak on my behalf and say lord i covet that sin so i thank god that his love goes beyond just the cross he says who shall separate us from the love of christ and whose love is this it is the love of christ for us sometimes we read this and we want to say what's going to separate us as if it is our love for christ no sir and no man this is talking about christ's love for us who shall separate us from the love of christ shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword listen when all of these things happen to us never think for one moment that christ has stopped loving us just because we are going through tough times is not an indication that christ has stopped loving us in fact the bible says that will never ever happen as it is written for your sake we are killed all day long we are counted as sheep for the slaughter yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us for i am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature or created things shall be able to separate us from the love of god which is in christ jesus our lord we thank god that his love cannot be done away with paul talks about the matchless love of god and when i talk about the matchless love of god i'm talking about the matchless love of christ as well god talks about paul talks about the incomprehensible love of god he talks about the inexplicable love of god he talks about the incomparable love of god he talks about the unfathomable love of god he talks about the inconceivable love of god he talks about the imaginable love of god and he talks about the unexplainable love of god for us and that is the love that i want to focus on this morning in fact paul said that god's love is so far beyond human comprehension that he finds himself in a divine dilemma he finds himself praying for us to comprehend what is incomprehensible notice that i'm going to pray that you comprehend something that in reality i know it is beyond our ability to comprehend listen to ephesians chapter 3 verses 14 through 19. ephesians chapter 3 verses 14 through 19 the niv version he says for this reason i kneel before the father from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives his name i pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being so that christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and i pray that you being rooted and established in love listen may have power together with all the lord's holy people to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of christ and to no kiss this love that surpasses knowledge notice and to know this love that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of god lord have mercy this is a paradoxical statement it is what we would call an oxymoron paul said i want you to comprehend what is incomprehensible and therein lies the mystery paul is not talking about merely knowing intellectually god's love all of us intellectually know that god loves us and the reason we know it is because we've read it we've quoted it and we can see it in the bible but god is saying through paul i don't want you to just intellectually know it i want you to experimentally know it and so when he talks about this he's not talking about knowing it intellectually because the human mind can never comprehend the love of god because god's love is too wide it is too deep it is too high and it is too long for us to be able to comprehend there is no way to pour a love watch this now that's deeper than the ocean and wider than the sea into a bucket can you imagine taking a bucket to the ocean and saying that you're going to fill that bucket up with the entire ocean it is a matter of impossibility and that's the way god's love is god's love is like the depth of the ocean and the breath of the ocean and here we are like a little small container trying to understand and comprehend the vastness of god's love god's love for us is too deep for the mind to plum its depths it's too high to be surpassed too broad to exclude anyone who wants to come to it and too long to be outlasted or exhausted so what is paul saying then the greek word as i said for no does not mean to know intellectually but it is the word genoska and it means to know intimately it means to know experimentally the bible says adam knew his wife that's the same word in the septuagint it has to do with an intimate love it has to do with an experimental love and so it's a knowledge that is experimental it is something that we not just don't just know intellectually but we actually participate in it we partake of it and we experience it we cannot intellectually grasp it but we know it through experimenting or experiencing god's love how do we do that somebody would say brother how did you do that then how can we experience god's love in in an intimate way we do it by means of his holy spirit notice what the bible says in romans chapter five and verse number five the bible says now hope does not disappoint and i'll come back to this later now hope does not disappoint because watch this now the love of god has been poured out in our hearts by the holy spirit who had who was given to us now notice what paul said he says that god's love has been poured out in other words that is an image that god lavishly pours his love out on us and where does he express his love for so that we can in essence experience it he talks about he pours it out into our hearts church god has given us his holy spirit who enables us to experience his love in our hearts now it's it's something that's mystical it's not something that that's tangible you can't taste it in the sense that we can taste it in our mouth you cannot see it in the sense that we can visibly see it we cannot hear it we cannot smell it it is something that we merely experience we know it when we know it it's like david said oh taste and see that the lord is good but here is the thing love is like knowledge the more you know the more you know you don't know so it is with the love of god the more of his love you experience the more you realize there is more to experience and the more of this love you experience the more you realize that you're only sipping from the salsa and the more you sip from the salsa the more you realize that you will never reach the lip of the cup because his love is always overflowing and the salsa is all we can handle i know in my own life just to be personal i know in my own life there are times that god's love and my heart is so intense that it's almost like i cannot contain it and i can't explain it to you i can't explain it to you only thing i can tell you is that if you have ever experienced it you know what i'm talking about it is something that that stirs on the inside of us when you are in tune with god and in touch with god and you're in prayer and you're reading god's word and god just speaks to your heart in such a way that something happens on the inside of you that it feels like you just can't contain it it stirs your heart so much it just feels like you're going to explode because his love is so intense he may say well brother williams i've never i've never been there well i'm going to pray that you do because it's an awesome feeling it's it's an awesome thing to know that god loves us and that is love is so great that we cannot contain that love within ourselves that is too great that it makes us feel like it's beyond us but yet we enjoy and when those moments come i don't try to comprehend it in the sense of can i explain this no i just appreciate the moment when those moments come i find myself just breaking down and weeping with tears of joy and saying thank you lord for loving me so intensely because i know i'm not worthy thank you for loving a wretch like me and i want to say this morning and i want to be honest with you and i want to confess to you i've not always been there i've not always been where i am now and i i'm trying to keep growing in that love because we cannot exhaust that love but i know that there were times in my own life that i did not understand nor did i really appreciate god's love for me and there were times that i i even questioned the love of god for me i struggled with that concept of god loving me and because of that i walked in fear and i lived in doubt and there may be someone listening to me this morning you're right there you walk in fear fear of death fear of living fear of the judgment fear of god and i'm not talking about that that are expired that inspiring that inspiring that fear that says i i hold god up in reverence but i hold him up in awe i'm not talking about that kind of fear i'm talking about that cringing fear that says i'm afraid of god because i believe that god is out to get me but god wants to destroy me and there was a time that i felt that way i was always trying to be good enough to earn god's love i was always trying to live righteous enough to appease god's wrath and there may be someone in the same boat and some of you may be saying well brother williams that's what i do right now you may not want to acknowledge it but that's what you do because you don't have that inner peace you don't have that inner tranquility you're not resting in his love and abiding in his grace my biggest problem was an awareness of my own deficiencies you see that's what makes us have that trepidation that's what makes us have those doubts because we are aware of our own deficiencies we are aware of our own shortcomings we are aware of our own failures and because we know us better than anyone else knows us and we see those things in our lives that no one else sees we ask ourselves the question how can god love me [Music] how can god love someone who still struggles with all of this stuff how can god love love me when there are times that i don't even love myself and maybe that's where you are this morning you you want to believe that god loves you but you feel like you're too bad for god to love you're too filthy for god to love you're too sinful for god to love and maybe you feel like you're too damaged by life for god to love some of us feel like we're just we're just damaged property we're not worth anything we might as well be thrown aside because no one cares and no one cares about me and sometimes i don't care about me and so maybe you feel like you're too damaged by life for god to love you know you you've done too many wrong things for god to love you've done too many people wrong for god to love you've done too many bad things for god to love you have too many bad habits and vices for god to love your actions and your thinking are too bad for god to love you struggle with too many sins for god to love if that's the thing about god we can never fool god and the bible says that that we're naked before him and that god's word pierces even to the divide and ascend of soul and spirit and of the joy and moral and that he exposes even our intentions god knows the deepest and the darkest part of our being and yet after knowing everything that there is to know about us even the ugliest stuff god still says i love you sometimes we feel like we are beyond help we feel like we're beyond hope and some people get to the point that they just simply say i might as well give up i can't do this i keep failing anyway and i know that i don't have a chance i know i don't have a hope and so i i'm like a snowball in hell it's not gonna make it and so perhaps i might as well just give up on god because i don't deserve the love of god you are right and you're wrong you are wrong to give up on god but you're right when you say you don't deserve the love of god and you can never earn the love of god and never deserve the love of god but here is the good news you don't have to deserve it you don't have to earn it because god loves you in spite of you if no one else does he still does if you don't he still does in fact watch this now god loved us before he even made us and before listen watch this now god loved us before he even made us that he loved us even though he knew we would mess up before he made us in other words when god was making us he already knew that these people that i'm making are going to mess up and not only going to mess up they're going to forsake me and they will not reciprocate my love but i'm going to make them anywhere anyhow and i love them in hell look at ephesians chapter 1 verses 3 and 4. ephesians 1 verses 3 and 4. bible says praise and underscore that word that's an interesting word he says praise be to the god and father of our lord jesus christ who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in christ for he chose us god chose us in christ before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight in love paul said blessed and that that word blessed is the word from which we get our english word eulogy it is the word you logitose and it means to praise it means to adore and it means to celebrate watch this now paul said this is something to celebrate this is something to to be excited about this is something that deserves giving god the highest and the highest of the highest praise what is it paul it is the fact that god chose us in christ before he ever created the world look at first peter chapter 1 verses 18 through 20. i'm going to show you the implications of that in just a few minutes just stay with me first peter chapter 1 verses 18 through 20. paul says for you know peter said rather i'm sorry that you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors but with the precious blood of christ a lamb without blemish or defect he has chosen or he was chosen rather before the creation of the world but was revealed in these last times for your sake again peter like paul confirmed that christ already was slated to die before god ever said let there be light before god ever created the world the heavenly council had convened and god already said the man that i'm gonna make in my image will be marred by sin will be separated from me but jesus said i'll take care of their sins i'll pay the price so that they can have access to you and be reconciled to you and have eternal life like you intended them to do what a god we serve church that's reason to celebrate that's reason to get excited what that tells us is that god's love for us has nothing watch this now god's love for us has nothing to do with our worth in this he loved us before he made us so it couldn't be about us being worthy it is about who god is god loved us before he ever created us his love for us is based upon who he is not upon who we are and according to first john chapter four and verse 8 the bible tells us god is love that is the essence of his nature he is the epitome of love he epitomizes love he defines love and he personifies love brothers and sisters thank god that we don't have to earn the love of god because if we had to earn the love of god we would never be able to do it but here's the reality is the reality many of us grew up with this work based salvation mentality we felt like we had to earn our salvation and we felt like we had to earn god's love and consequently it's difficult for us to answer just a simple question and i know i'm talking to someone right now because i know i'm not the only one who grew up understanding this i'm not the only one you you see we say one thing intellectually but it's what we actualize in our lives that matters we may say we understand this but it's how we live it we may say well yes i know i'm saved by grace but i got to work for it got to work real hard because heaven is on the other side some of our our songs even tell it we got to do all of this work so when we get it to get to the end of the road god will say well let me see did you do well enough to come in and we take verses that talk about our works and and we use those to try to say yes god is going to judge us based upon our works as to whether or not we'll be saved if that is the case we might as well quit right now close down shop and go home because we can never do enough to put god in our debt some of us grew up with that understanding and we still have that understanding that we've got to earn salvation and you ask the simple question are you saved and what's the answer well i hope so or you say well i'm trying to be or you say well i'm praying that i will what's wrong with that picture you know what's wrong with it is you are saying i gotta work for it and then sometimes you know we recognize what we're saying and we try to pretty it up and we want to make it sound holy and righteous now i hope i'm gonna be saved i'm trying to be saved i'm praying that i'll be saved and you recognize that what you're really saying is that i gotta do enough to be saved and so instead of you says owning it and saying well i'm gonna be saved i don't want to say that because i don't want to be guilty of presumptual sin or i don't want to be guilty of arrogance and pride brothers and sisters have an assurance about our salvation and knowing that we're saved and not is not a matter of being presumptuous that it's not a matter of being full of pride that it's not a matter of arrogance it's a matter of being biblical listen to what john said in first john chapter 5 verses 11 through 13. god has given us assurance church the bible says and this is the testimony that god has given us eternal life god has given us eternal life god has given us eternal life and this life is in his son or you in his son are you in his son he who has the son has life he who does not have the son of god does not have life it's just that simple if you're in christ you have life watch this now these things i have written to you who believe in the name of the son of god that you made k-n-o-w you know what that says that you may know not that you may feel not that you may think but that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may continue to believe in the name of the son of god now stay with me i hear you're already debating me oh yeah brother williams but but but you know i still got to be faithful that's right get get it in your head i'm not saying that you can just believe and not be faithful to the lord that's not what i'm saying but what i am saying is god's love for you is not predicated upon your faithfulness god loves you in spite of that now i'm not saying that god will save you if you're not faithful but i am saying that god loves you see the devil will tell you that if you're unfaithful god does not love you and that's a lie and he'll use that to keep you away from god but i want you to understand that god never stops loving us and understand this listen now this verse is trying to get us to understand that once we have come into christ listen once we are believed that jesus christ came suffered bled and died for our sins that he was buried and rose again once we repent of our sins once we confess the name of jesus christ and we are baptized into christ we are saved and the only reason and the only way that we can lose that salvation is that we've got to stop living for christ all together apostasize or we have to stop believing all together but as long as we are living for the lord to the best of our ability not trying to earn it but just saying lord i love you sometimes i'm not going to get it right and god already knew that that's why he made a way for us even after coming into christ to get it right with him without having all of these fears and anxieties about our salvation stay with me you may say well brother williams what about my imperfections what about my habits and my hang-ups what about my failures what about my thoughts sometimes i don't pray like i should sometimes sometimes you may miss a day in prayer are you saying now you're lost because you didn't pray today sometimes you you just you just don't feel like reading the bible are you saying because you didn't read the bible today you you're going to hell sometimes you're not the best husband sometimes you're not the best wife sometimes you're not the best parent sometimes you're not the best children are you saying when you mess up because you're not what you ought to be that you're going to hell [Music] sometimes you miss the boat sometimes you mess up so brother williams what happens when when i don't measure up what happens when i i don't i don't get it right but i don't get all the t's crossed and all of the eye i started thank god christ crossed all the t's and dotted all the eyes so i don't have to you need to understand this morning that it's about lifestyle not one bad moment it's about lifestyle not a bad day it's about lifestyle where is my heart what is my attitude how is my walk where is my faith that's what it's about it's not about me messing up today it's not about me not doing what i ought to do today it's about god looking at my heart and watching my walk you know when i was in school we used to have these frivolous nonsensical debates but that's what we did he said well you know what if you're driving down the highway and you have something happen to you all of a sudden and you say a bad word and then die of a heart attack right in that second or you lost the saved jesus help me jesus help me don't you know sometimes you say oh no you ain't gonna make it cause you die saying a bad man if there's salvation let us quit right now i'll close my bible and go on home and you need to cut your television off cause you ain't gonna make it and i ain't gonna make it either he might say well well brother brother you say you say bad now i'm not talking about that i don't use profanity but what about a bad thought see because god deals with our our thoughts as well paul said i would not have known sin except the lord said you shall not covet so god got inside of the heart so god not only looks at our actions he also looks at our words and he looks at our heart so you can't escape god's scrutiny that's why i thank god it's not about me checking all the boxes look at first john chapter 1 verse 7 through 9 quickly i got a long ways to go i may have to skip some of those verses that i gave y'all because i'm looking at the clock all right watch this now the bible says in first john chapter 1 verse 7 through 9 he says but if we walk in the light if we walk in the light and what paul is dealing with i want to say paul john what john is dealing with here is this notion that you can live any way you want to live and still be a christian you can live in sin that's the issue because you had the gnostic teachers who were teaching this antinomianism idea anti-meaning against most meaning law against all law and they said listen the spirit of god abides in us but watch this now the flesh is evil and so god knows that the flesh is evil this is what these prosthetics and these gnostics were teaching they were saying in essence watch this now that the flesh is evil consequently the flesh and the spirit are separate entities and what you do in the flesh does not affect and impact your spirit so you can live a sinful life and live in rebellion to god and still have fellowship with christ and paul and john says that's a lie watch this but if we walk walk walk is a direction it's a euphemism for lifestyle we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship with one another speaking of god in us and the blood the blood of christ the blood of jesus christ his son cleanses us from all sin if we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves he's talking to christians now if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us if we confess our sins not before the church this context is not dealing with confessing to the church is confessing to god if we confess our sins he is faithful he is faithful he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from how much all unrighteousness look at what john said john said if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of jesus christ cleanses us from all sin notice this now you may have missed it the only thing that the blood of christ can cleanse is sin yet the bible says walking in the light if and when we are walking in the light we still need the cleansing blood of jesus christ so what is he telling us he's telling us listen listen god already knows that you're not going to get everything right but watch this as long as you're rocking in the direction of christ as long as your lifestyle is in the direction of christ you're not going to get everything right but don't worry about it don't fret over it don't lose losing the rest of it because god has the continual cleansing blood of jesus christ working on you 24 7 so you always stay clean in the sight of god that she always stays saved somebody ought to say amen now quickly let me close out by looking at our text because i want you to see just how much god loves us even after our salvation and i want you to understand that our salvation is not fragile and it's not tenuous it's not some entity that that we can have one moment and gone the next moment god did not send his son jesus christ to die on the cross for something that fragile you're gonna let christ go through all of that and then make salvation 100 contingent 100 contingent upon us look at romans chapter 5 and verse number one therefore having been justified by faith we have peace with god through our lord jesus christ that conjunction therefore goes all the way back to chapter three where paul begins to argue in earnest his point that our salvation is not work-based salvation but is faith-based salvation now i want you to jot these scriptures down we're not going to read them because of time but i want you to go back and read romans chapter 3 verses 19 through 31 romans chapter 4 verses 1 through 12 and then romans chapter 4 verses 16 through 25. now we'll read romans chapter 4 verses 16 through 25 in all of those verses paul is letting us know that salvation is not contingent upon human works of righteousness nor keeping a legal document such as the law because man could never be justified by keeping rules and regulations and he could never be justified by human works of righteousness he says our justification is based upon the finished work of jesus christ and putting our faith in him hallelujah thank god for that now i want you to see this now because even though our justification is predicated upon the finished work of christ on the cross and i will put in our faith in him it does not mean that we don't have to be obedient to god watch this and this this verse proves it watch this therefore it is a faith that it might be according to grace so that the promise might be such i might be sure rather to all the seed not only to those who are of the law that's the jews but also to those who are of the faith of abraham that's the gentiles who is the father of us all he is the father both jews and gentiles the jews physically through that but also the gentiles through his faith and when the jews follow the example of abraham's faith and the gentiles follow the example of abraham's faith then we're all the children of god and we are all connected to abraham through that reality he says as it is written i have made you a father of many nations in the presence of him whom he believed god who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did watch this now who contrary to hope talking about abraham in hope believed so that he became the father of many nations according to what was spoken so shall heal your descendants be watch this now and not being weak in faith he did not consider his own body already dead since he was about a hundred years old and the deadness of sarah's womb god says you're gonna have a child abraham sarah is gonna be the mother abraham looked at himself that ain't gonna happen god not on my own merit not on my own strength i can't do it because everything in me is dead viagra and cialis and none of that stuff ain't helping nothing i'm just trying to get you to understand this i'm keeping it clean are y'all watching are you and sarah's womb is dead but because you said it god i'm gonna take you at your word and so he said he believed god that god was going to give him a seed and he said come on sarah let's go where are we going abraham what we're just going to do what god told us to do and let god handle his business so you see in faith and obedience merging together watch this now he did not waver at the promise of god through unbelief but was strengthened in faith giving glory to god and being fully convinced that what he had promised he was also able to perform and therefore it was accounted to him for righteousness now it was not written for the sake along that it was imputed to him but also for us it shall be imputed to us who believe in him who raised up jesus our lord from the dead who was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised because of our justification for our justification now what is he telling us paul is saying i want you to understand that god has given us the prototype he has given us the paradigm he's given us the example in abraham that it has always been about faith because god made the promise before he ever gave the law the promise came before the law and so what god is trying to tell us is that the law could not nullify the promise that came before it and so god always intended to justify man on the basis of his faith and not on the basis of works of righteousness and keeping rules and regulations because he already knew that man could not do that so god did something for him that he could not do for himself he said christ to die for him fulfill the law and now he says you don't have to worry about keeping all the rules and regulations put your faith in the one who did it hallelujah and now he says in verse number one i'm almost where i need to be notice what he says in romans chapter 5 and verse 1 now romans 5 and verse therefore since we have been justified by faith and not by works we have peace with god through our lord jesus christ now here's what i want you to understand notice that expression we have peace with god some translations were translated let us have peace with god because it could be translated either way in other words now that you know that you are justified by faith and not by works you don't have to fear you don't have to be uptight you can enjoy the peace that you have with god because it's not predicated on your works you just relax and enjoy the relationship that you have and don't worry about trying to get everything right because god has already settled the matter at calvary look at verse 2. through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of god now watch this now i want you to see this because now he's bringing up this image of the temple he says through rome also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand there was a veil in the temple that separated the holy from the most holy and the place behind the veil the most holy was in the presence of god and only the high priest could go in once a year on the day of atonement but watch this now when christ died on the cross that veil was torn as something from the top to the bottom and god says now that veil is gone in christ jesus but look at this now all of the jews have access to god because of what christ did on the cross but then when you come outside of the temple that was a court of the gentiles and the court of the gentiles that they could only be in that court and they couldn't go into the inner court in fact there was a sign that warned them that if you pass beyond this like this level if you pass into this court it means death for you and so christ not only removed the veil but he came according to ephesians chapter 2 and he tore down the walls that separated us and now jew and gentile through christ have access to god because of what happened at calvary now let me give you a moment here to think about this because here's one of those what i call shouting moments i see that word access that noun access in the greek means the privilege to approach someone of higher status but watch this in order for you to approach the one of highest status you've got to be granted access by favor through someone who knows the person of higher status get it now in other words you don't just walk up in to the president's office you don't do that you're not going to make it that far am i right about it even before all of this stuff happens you ain't making it that far because of all of the security marriages that they have around the president so if you're going to get to him you got to have somebody that has a relationship with him that can give you access to him and bring you through all of those methods of security and bring you into his presence and that's the essence of what that word access means that one who knows god has removed the barriers and now he comes and he brings you and gives you access to the father without fear thank you jesus that is the love of god look at verse number two verses three through five three through five and not only that but we also glory and tribulations knowing that tribulation produces perseverance and perseverance character encounter hope now hope does not disappoint because the love of god has been poured out in our hearts by the holy spirit who was given to us now quickly let me tell you what he's saying so we can move to the conclusion here paul is saying that when we go through trials and tribulations those trials and tribulations should not make us better but should make us better those trials and tribulations ought to polish us up for the glory that is to come we have hope in spite of the trials and that hope is reassured by the love of god that he's put in our hearts so we know that god is going to keep his word based upon the love that he has given us and based upon the love that he has shown us how does this love look look at verse number six watch this now for when we were still without strength in due time christ died for the ungodly now let me try to walk you through this real quickly when we were without strength when we were weak poor helpless had no power to change our condition on the way to hell on the way to being destroyed and we couldn't do anything to change it in due time christ died for the ungodly and when you see christ died for the image that he gives in the greek language is one who stands over another if i had someone to illustrate this and we weren't dealing with covet 19 i would illustrate it with a person but since we're dealing with all of that i can't do it but imagine a person who is beneath me and i stand over that person and i lean over that person to protect them from what is about to happen to them so instead of that person receiving the blow from above that would destroy them i put myself in that stead and i allow that blow to fall upon me so that i receive the punishment and they go free that's what jesus did for us he took the beating that should have been ours he died on the cross when it should have been us being eternally separated from god we were without strength we couldn't do anything to help ourselves but christ died for the ungodly he died for us look at the next verse watch this quickly but scarcely for a righteous man will one die yet perhaps we're a good man someone would even dare to die now paul is using what we call hyperbole and he's not only using that but he's using what we would call something that is hypothetical he says hypothetically speaking you may find somebody in the world that would dare to die for a good man the salt of the earth kind of man you may find somewhere you may search the world wide you may go into some look of some crinus cranny somewhere and find someone who will do it but the chances are slim to none and slim left town amen that's his point you might find it but i doubt if you find it but watch this verse 8 but god but god but god demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were still sinners christ died for us here is his point you can't find anyone in the world who would die for a good person you'd be hard-pressed to do that and if you can't do that you surely cannot find anyone in the world who would die for scoundrels who would die for sinners who would die for those who are in rebellion but that's exactly what god did god did what man would never do he died for us when we were ungodly when we ended when we were in the worst condition that we could be in when we were shaking a fence a rebellion in his face he died for us now watch this because i want to show you the after the cross keep going much more then much more than having been justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him watch this through him through christ for if when we were enemies we will reconcile the god through the death of his son much more having been reconciled we shall be saved by his life what are you saying paul well let me put it like this paul is saying if god did the greater you know he will do the lesser now watch this if god moved us from wrath to grace while we were in rebellion to him if he died for us when we were rebelling against him when we were his enemies now that we are his friends now that we have come into christ now that we have been redeemed now that we've been justified how much more will god do for us if he did all of that for us when we were his enemies look at what he'll do for us now that we're his friends watch this if god could move us from grace from from from wrath to glory from after grace then surely he can move us from grace to glory which is the easiest to save us when we're sinners or to bless us after we're saved it's very simple if he did all of that for us before we were saved he'll do much more for us now that we are saved and since that is the case he says we don't have to fear we don't have to worry heaven is ours we can join rejoice in god in christ now and we can join rejoice in him in the future thank you so very much for listening i pray that i've said something that will help you to understand that christ loves sinners that he redeems our failures he delights in second chances and fresh starts he never tithes or pursuing his lost sheep he always he's always waiting with open arms for his prodigal children to come home and he is always seeking to rescue those who have been damaged by life the author of the book of hebrews says in hebrews chapter 7 and verse 25 therefore he is able to save us completely because he ever lives to make intercession for us i pray that you understand a little bit better just how much god loves you he loves you so much that he sent his son to die in your stead to do for you what you could never do for yourself so that you would never have to worry about getting it all right because christ got it all right and my faith is in him and not in me if you believe that jesus died for your sins that he was buried and rose again if you're willing to repent of your sins confess the name of jesus be baptized in water for the remission of your sins and the lord in heaven will add you to his church thank you for listening if you need help assistance with the obedience or just we're trying to be restored to christ if you've fallen away give us a call at the church of christ here at east side at 512-477-1647 god bless you at this time we'll have a song in preparation for the communion and brother boozer is going to do that thank you god bless you in preparation for the communion and offering we're seeing uh an empty mansion here i labor into look [Music] [Music] oh is waiting for me and a gentleman [Music] just waiting for me at the end of life's troubles many friends and dear loved ones will welcome me there near the door of that mansion someday when my legs and my hands shall not i'll exchange this old home for a [Music] angel asked there's a mansion now empty just waiting for me [Music] many friends [Music] near the door of that mansion someday in an offering i want to say thank you brother george for a very wonderful message about god's love is unimaginable love for us scriptural reference that we have for communion is taken from matthew 26 beginning at verse 26 and it reads as follows and as they were eating jesus took bread and blessed it and break it and gave it to the disciples and said take eat this is my body if you would at this time let us give thanks for the bread our father now god so thankful are we for all that you've done for us and for the sacrifice made on our behalf as we partake of the bread lord help us to keep in mind that it represents jesus body in jesus name that we pray amen let us partake of the bread continue with verse 27 and he took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying drink ye all of it for this is my blood of the new testament which is shared for many for the remission of sins but i say unto you i will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when i drink it near with you in my father's kingdom let's have a word of prayer for the fruit of the vine lord we continue our prayer just being thankful for all that you've done for us and for jesus who died on the cross for our sins as we partake of the fruit of the vine lord help us to keep in mind that it represents jesus blood that was shared for us in jesus name we pray amen let us partake of the fruit of the vine that concludes the lord's supper we also commanded on the first day of the week to give the scripture reference is taken from first corinthians chapter 16. it says now concerning the collection for the saints as i have given order to the churches of galatia even so to ye upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store as god has prospered him that there be no gatherings when i come here at eastside there we have three methods by which we can make our offering we can go to our church website at eastsidecoc.com and follow the prompts there if you have the shelby nap on your app on your smart device you can give to the shelby app there or you can mail your offering in to the church of christ at eastside p.o box five austin texas seven eight seven six one just as it says there on the screen if you would please pray with me at this time for the offering our father not god so thankful are we for all that you've done for us and for just a means to make a living we pray lord that as the offering is collected and dispensed we pray that you'll be with those who have charged with those funds give them wisdom and knowledge and discernment lord and help them to have a benevolent heart please watch overs and guide us as we continue to do your will in jesus name we pray amen all right that concludes our offering we're close to the end of our worship service this morning where we have a couple of reminders for you if you have a prayer request if you have a prayer request you can go to the eastsidecoc.com website and and make your prayer request there and one of the elders will be happy to respond to you can also do that by calling the church office the number is 512-477-1647 and leave a message and someone was will get back in touch with you i also want to remind everyone that we do have bible class on this coming wednesday and we're going to continue i believe our study on the book of revelation so please tune in and also a reminder to everyone please remember to check in let us know that you are attending worship service virtually with us and these are all the announcements that i have is there anything else brother clements i do want to make one brief announcement you should have received an inv a notice that on this coming saturday at 9am we're doing a a special forum concerning vaccines and vaccination there's a lot of thought and concern and questions around the whole notion of whether or not we should take the vaccine about vaccination and all that so we're going to have a forum the invitation will be sent out this week the director of austin public health will be presenting that particular forum it'd be a lot of good and great information so we want to really encourage you to make time to be a part of that so you can get some questions answered if you have any questions questions about it submit them to myself or brother brown and i think you'll find this be most helpful and most um informative at this time which so much is going on around this vaccine and vaccination so please be a part of that forum and we look forward to seeing you then take care all right thank you very much brother clemens at this time let us have a word of prayer as we close out our father now god thank you for this time which we have to worship and we pray lord that our worship service has been pleasing and according to your word and we just pray lord that you'll watch over and guide us as we go through this the furtherance of this week please be with us keep us safe help us that we'll do our part as well and we just pray lord that you'll watch over and guide us all be with our church family lord many who are going through some tough times at this time help us lord that will be encouragement to them and that you will be with them and strengthen them in a very special way please be with us as we depart from this service in jesus name we pray amen you

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Published: Sun Jan 24 2021