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[0:00] And I have to make the same explanation that Roger Phipps made last week. Read in your bulletin, I am not Joe Baumgartner.

[0:15] So, get that out of the way. For visitors who may be wondering who Joe Baumgartner is, I don't think Joe is here this morning. I haven't seen him. And my sweet Marie is not here either.

[0:27] Either she's under the weather and wasn't feeling up to par at all. And I'm so sorry that she had to miss Mother's Day. But I did order her back to bed, for which she was grateful.

[0:39] And Lord willing, she'll be here next week. So, a special welcome to all of you who are mothers. And I want to remind you that in the entryway out there, these bottles are available from the Pregnancy Resource Clinic.

[0:54] And the idea is, through your generosity, if you will fill these bottles with loose change during the next month and then bring them to church on Father's Day, we will see to it that the folks at Pregnancy Resource Clinic get these.

[1:14] And that will be a real financial shot in the arm for them as churches all over the area are doing that. And if you, like some, say, well, I just don't want to fool with all the change and dropping that in there, that's fine.

[1:28] A check will do nicely. So, just write out a check and stick it in there if you want, or cash or whatever, and it will be greatly appreciated. And the cause it will go for is life.

[1:44] Pretty adequate cause, would you not say? Life, life itself. Preciousness of it. There is an old story that has been told for quite some time, but on certain occasions it always bears repetition, and I think that this is probably a good one.

[2:05] We read that in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and it goes on and records all that God recorded for the first five days.

[2:18] And then it comes to the sixth day, and that's going to be different. Something really extraordinary is going to happen on the sixth day.

[2:31] God is going to fashion a human being from the dust of the ground. Now, we aren't told exactly what steps he went through, but I think the account is given with the intent that we are to visualize what was actually taking place.

[2:56] And I know there are many scholars and many scoffers who say, well, you just can't take that literally. Well, I just don't know how else to take it.

[3:07] While it is true, and I would be the first to admit, there are many things in the Bible that were never intended to be taken literally. And the intent of that is usually given in the immediate context so that you know it is not supposed to be taken literally.

[3:26] And the most stunning example that I have used for you so many times in the past is when the psalmist said, the eyes of the Lord run to and fro on the earth.

[3:36] Well, of course, we don't take that literally. In the first place, God doesn't have physical eyes like we do and a physical head like ours, out of which his eyes jump and roll around all over the earth.

[3:53] But it is a poetic way of expressing something that is true. And the truth that is being expressed is God is aware of everything. He sees everything.

[4:05] Nothing is hidden from him. It is just as if his eyes ran like balls all over the earth, noticing and seeing everything. That's a poetic way of expressing a truth, that nothing is hidden from God's view.

[4:22] And the Bible is just filled with all kinds of figurative language. And if anybody wants to pursue this further, and I would recommend it because it's one of the most rewarding things that I have ever engaged.

[4:36] And it was in just a two-hour class at Cedarville University in 1959, I believe it was, when I took that course on biblical interpretation.

[4:49] And it was a godsend. And in it, we learned some of the principles that I've shared with grace people here over the years, that the vast majority of the Bible is intended to be taken just as it is, quite literally.

[5:05] And I'm going to give you kind of an extended story, but it is a very important one. We've already looked at the concept wherein God is described as spirit.

[5:19] And Jesus said as much to the woman at the well, when he said, God is spirit. He didn't say God is a spirit, but he said God is spirit.

[5:30] That means God's composition is not physical. It's not made up of the stuff that we are, blood and bones and tissue and all of that.

[5:43] God is spirit. That is immateriality. Our problem is, we tend to think of something like maybe a ghost.

[5:56] No, God is not a ghost. In fact, when the disciples saw the Lord as he entered the room after his resurrection, they didn't believe that it was him physically.

[6:11] And the text says, some thought he was a ghost or a family. And Jesus said, handle me and see.

[6:23] For a ghost or a spirit does not have flesh and bones like you see me have. And Jesus was very physical in his resurrection from the dead.

[6:35] It was a physical body that went into it. It was a physical body that came out. But it was a glorified body, one that was radically different than the one that went in. So, God is spirit.

[6:48] And God has always existed in a Trinitarian composition. Father, Son, Holy Spirit. But none of these were physical.

[7:01] Jesus always existed from eternity past, but not as Jesus. Jesus. He existed as the Son of God, the eternal Son of God, who did not become Jesus until he was enfleshed in the incarnation.

[7:19] And then, this second person of the Godhead, and we tend to give rank to first, second, and third. But we do that because if you're going to list three, you've got to put somebody first.

[7:31] That doesn't mean that the Father is somehow superior to the Son, or the Son is superior to the Spirit. They are co-equal and co-eternal in the Godhead. Yet, there are not three gods.

[7:42] There is one God subsisting in three persons. If you understand that, please explain it to me after this service is over, and I would be much appreciative. All we know is God is the otherness.

[7:56] God is not to be compared to humanity. He is the sovereign Lord of the universe who has always existed from, well, when you say from, you're talking about time.

[8:12] We'll just say he's always existed. The psalmist spoke of him as having, as being one who inhabits eternity. And when the Son came into this earth, he came as a baby, conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and he was born to be Jesus.

[8:32] Thou shalt call his name Jesus, the angel said, for he shall save his people from their sins. Now, what I want to do is go back, way back, before there was anything.

[8:44] We're going back before there was Genesis 1-1. Well, what was before Genesis 1-1? Just God in the person of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

[8:57] And at some point in time, he deemed it, he deemed it according to his good pleasure to create angels. And the angels are what?

[9:11] They are spirit beings. They do not have physical bodies. Yet, angels apparently have the capacity and the ability to assume a human form.

[9:23] Because we know of many instances in the scriptures when they did. In Genesis 18 and 19, Abraham looked out from his tent door and he saw three strangers approaching.

[9:36] He had no idea who they were. They looked like three men traveling. Excellent opportunity for Abraham and Sarah to show some hospitality to these three men.

[9:53] And they did. But as the text goes on to reveal there in Genesis, two of those three men, and we put quotation marks around men, two of them were angels.

[10:08] They didn't look like angels. We tend to think of angels as having a halo over their head and big wings and long hair. But angels in the Bible look just like humans and are usually taken to be humans.

[10:24] And two of those angels were the destroying angels who were on their way to Sodom and Gomorrah. And you can read the account what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah when the angels got there.

[10:38] And the third being that they also assumed was an angel was a Christophany. It was none other than the Son of God appearing as a human being over 3,000 years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem.

[11:09] So even though he always was, he did not wait for enfleshment in Bethlehem. He came to earth, assumed a human body, and with a human body he created, he fashioned from the dust of the ground a human being.

[11:35] His name is going to be called Adam. And we are told the most extraordinary thing about this. Now, someone says, do you take that literally?

[11:45] Of course I take it literally. Alright, if you don't take it literally, how are you going to take it? How are you going to explain Adam getting here? It is true, God could have just said, Adam, appear, poof, there he is.

[12:01] You know, just like a Hollywood thing and the special effects that they use. You can almost do anything now with special effects, computers, the technology, etc.

[12:12] He could have done that. But he did something very human in the form and shape that he was and he created Adam.

[12:25] He made him. Actually, the text says in two different places he created Adam. It also says he made Adam. He created Adam in that he put something into Adam that didn't exist before.

[12:40] And that was his immaterial part. And he made Adam and the word make in the Hebrew conveys the idea of using pre-existing material.

[12:53] And the material he used was the dust of the ground, the soil. The word human, human comes from the Latin humus, humus.

[13:12] Humus is decayed vegetable matter. That's your composition. We are made up of humus. We are made up of the elements of the ground and our body consists of the very same chemicals and properties that are found in the ground and we have in our body iron and manganese and copper and all kinds of things in our body and this is stuff taken from the ground and what would you expect?

[13:39] So and then the text says something that is I think absolutely stunning, just stunning. And if you don't take this literally, what in the world are you going to do with it?

[13:54] The text says that Adam breathed, that God breathed into Adam's nostrils the breath of life and Adam became a living soul.

[14:18] A soul is that which has a body and a spirit. You do not have a soul.

[14:29] You are a soul. Part of you is material, flesh, blood, and bone. Part of you is immaterial. That's the real you on the inside.

[14:41] And when you die, that real you leaves the body and goes to be with the Lord. Absent from the body, present with the Lord. So, God created Adam, fashioned him from the dust of the ground.

[14:56] And, as the story goes, a couple of days later, Adam was walking around in the garden, and God was admiring his handiwork, and all at once God looked at Adam and says, hmm, you know, I think I can do better.

[15:22] And the ladies love this. And he put Adam to sleep. He says, I'm going to give you the first anesthetic.

[15:33] And he put Adam to sleep, and we don't know what he took from Adam. The tradition says that he took a rib from Adam, and I don't know that that's true. And I don't know that it's true either.

[15:45] When Adam came in late one night, especially late, Eve was concerned that Adam might have been stepping out on her, and after he went to sleep, she counted his ribs.

[15:57] I don't think that that part is true at all. So, at any rate, but the beauty of it is, woman is going to originate from Adam.

[16:16] This is the only time in all of human history that a woman will be taken from a man.

[16:27] Think of that. And thereafter, it will be man who will be taken from a woman. But the first time it was a woman taken from a man, something that we don't understand because we're not told a specific body part.

[16:52] And the Bible doesn't say that it was a rib. It just says he took something from man and he used it and built around that a woman.

[17:07] man. And boy, from there on, we have been unable to do without the women. Mother, this is your special day and I think you deserve every possible honor you get.

[17:27] I think you ought to milk this day for all it's worth. Let them wait on you hand and foot and whatever they want to provide because this is your special day and nobody deserves it. more than you.

[17:38] And would you open your Bible please? Well, actually you don't need to. Just open your bulletin to the text and just read from the text and I think it would be great if we focus on what is said here from Timothy, particularly about mothers and grandmothers.

[17:55] And if you would stand please as we read the word of God and give respect to it. Let's read responsively if we may. And I'll begin with the first verse and you read the second and we'll just switch off all the way through.

[18:09] This is a wonderful chapter and I want you to keep in mind that what we are going to be reading is probably the last thing this man ever wrote before he was beheaded.

[18:24] He is going to be executed by the Roman regime for his faith in Christ and when he writes this letter to Timothy, he will be writing from the Mamertine dungeon and from that dungeon he will be taken out to where we are told there was a clump of trees and the apostle Paul would lay his head on a chopping block and a Roman soldier would use his sword and sever Paul's head from his body there in Rome and you know when a man knows that he is soon to die really collects his thoughts and it's important to understand as we read this epistle this is the last thing this man probably ever wrote and when he knows that it's going to be the last thing he writes and is inspired by the spirit of God it's pretty serious stuff so let us go through this if we may

[19:31] Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus I thank God whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day when I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice and I am persuaded that in thee also therefore I give thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God which is in thee by the putting on my hands for God has not given us the spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind who has saved us and called us with a holy calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in

[21:07] Christ Jesus before the world began whereunto I am appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus this thou knowest that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me of whom are phagellus and hermogenes but when he was in Rome he sought me out very diligently and found me thank you so much be seated please as we go to prayer now we want to remember in particular

[22:53] Weston Renner and Rachel Leach whom it was my privilege to join in matrimony yesterday in West Liberty Ohio it was a beautiful ceremony and as usual the bride was beautiful and the groom was nervous and it all went very well and it was a wonderful time of worship and fellowship in the Lord so as is our custom let us pray for this newlywed couple father we are truly grateful for this day that you've given us for the presence of each one here today and especially do we think of Weston and Rachel as they are even now enjoying a honeymoon time together and we ask that you'll undertake for them in maximizing this special time that they can enjoy thank you so much for all of the friends and family and loved ones who were able to attend yesterday we ask now that as this young couple begins a completely new page in their life that you will undertake for them heighten their joy and their anticipation we are so grateful for the faith that they already possess in the

[23:59] Lord Jesus Christ and we know that because of that they have everything that is needed to make their marriage everything that they want it to be and everything that you want it to be so we are grateful for those families that have begotten these young people and we trust that as they go forth now to make this new life together you will bless in every way enrich them and only you can in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ we pray amen well we are sorry that Mother's Day has to have liquid sunshine to remember us by but after all you've got to remember that rain is just one more gracious provision of God whereby he keeps humanity going and we are grateful for it so tomorrow may be a day of sunshine whatever it is you know mothers and grandmothers with a smiling face bring all the sunshine into this place it's needed so what have we to worry about it we just enjoy your presence and and I can say in a real way we all enjoy your contribution otherwise we wouldn't be here so thank you for being a mom thank you for your love and devotion that you poured into many times multiple lives and rearing them to adulthood and and I was just thinking yesterday as this as this beautiful bride was coming down the aisle and as her groom stood there beside me the thought just occurred to me you know this this moment this moment is what the parents of these two young people have raised him for this is what it's what it's all about and it's a beautiful thing when the father walks his daughter down the aisle arm in arm and she stands there with her father and the groom is there beside me and when you ask who gives Rachel to be married to Weston and he replies her mother and I and then the man who had always been Rachel's number one man in her life steps aside and a new number one man takes his place and her father is someone that she is remaining endeared to with love and respect but her father is no longer the number one man in her life her husband is he takes over that role it's a beautiful thing it's almost kind of like a changing of the guard you know and her protector has changed from her father to her husband her provider has changed from her father to her husband indeed it is a beautiful thing and I want to talk a little bit about mothers and grandmothers and in the text that you have before you it is interesting to note that as much as Paul has to say and he's even going to be talking later in this chapter and in this same epistle it's just got four chapters in it but he's going to talk about the time of my departure is at hand which means he's saying I know I'm going to die pretty soon and you know when we don't know the time of our death we usually aren't thinking of it unless of course we're gravely ill and we know that it may not be far away but very often we don't have any idea when death will be

[28:00] knocking at the door but if you do know as I've said it really enables you to collect your thoughts and to think some things seriously because you you know it won't be long until you're going to take that proverbial last breath and then what then where Paul had the assurance that actually it's going to be a promotion and for everyone who is in Christ that's exactly what it's going to be it's going to be a promotion and he's going to say as he writes to Timothy his young protege to encourage him he's going to say Timothy I fought a good fight and you know this has nothing to do with winning or losing it just has everything to do with contending with fighting Christians are engaged in a fight it's a battle and our battle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers and wickedness in the high places in other words it's a spiritual combat that we're entering into a lot of people don't understand that but it is and it's not with swords and knives and guns and all of that it's a spiritual battle and we are engaged in it sometimes it gets very intense and this is what Paul is talking about when he says he fought a good fight it doesn't mean that he whipped the Roman army it just means that he contended and fought valiantly for the issues that God had committed to him and the things that really mattered and he emphasized that by saying and I kept the faith well what does that mean what is the faith what what is what the faith how do you how do you keep it what what is the faith the faith is truth the faith is doctrine the faith is material the faith is facts the faith is real the thing the things that that our connection with God is made up of and faith is something well it's something really special and it isn't what most people think it is when you hear people say things like have faith what they usually mean is just think positively and and everything's going to come out okay that isn't faith faith doesn't mean just look on the bright side of things no no that that isn't faith faith is something that everybody has and there are no exceptions and when it comes to ultimate issues if we talk about the meaning of life the reality of death and what happens then faith has to do with belief belief trust confidence and when I say everybody has faith that simply means everybody whoever they are doesn't make any difference where they are doesn't make any difference what language they speak or what color they are everybody has faith that is everybody has something or someone that they are trusting in that they are relying upon do you know who it is for most people it's themselves it's themselves I trust me more

[32:06] than I trust you or more than I trust anybody else I trust me so everybody has faith and as I pointed out even an atheist who says there is no God he has faith if you tell him he has faith he'd probably laugh at you and say you're crazy I don't have any faith yes you do your confidence your reliance your trust is in yourself your own intellect your own perception you trust you to which I'm confident that any fair-minded atheist would say well yeah I do that yeah that that's yeah I trust me I have faith in me I don't believe there's a God but I have faith so everybody has faith the thing that distinguishes the Christian faith from the kind of faith that everybody has is the object of your faith biblical faith requires an object and it is the object of your faith that the Bible says makes all the difference in the world and Paul goes on to talk about this here in verse 5 when he says when I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith what is an unfeigned faith it's a true faith it's a real faith as opposed to a phony faith or a put on faith or a temporary faith an unfeigned faith is a particular definite faith and it is the faith that is placed in relies upon someone other than yourself and in the biblical case insofar as

[33:59] Christianity is concerned the faith the object of our faith is to be deposited placed in relied upon the person of Jesus Christ why him he is the one who made it possible for you to be forgiven of your sin because he took all of your sin upon himself when he died on the cross and he paid the penalty for the sin of the whole world and the most remarkable thing about that is he didn't pay anything for his sin because he didn't have any sin Jesus was the only one who deserves the title

[35:04] Savior do you know of anybody else that can wear that title Savior so when we transfer our faith our confidence our reliance from ourself to Jesus Christ because of who he is and what he did for us we are placing our faith in the Savior and when you do the Savior saves he responds to our faith he makes us a new person on the inside in a way that we don't understand this happened to me in 1956 and I still don't understand it all I know is I enjoy it to the max and it made me a whole new person on the inside gave me new interests new desires new ambitions new everything this is what Paul meant when he said if anyone be in Christ he is a new creation it's like starting life all over again it's like a brand new start it's just like just like you're just beginning your life when Christ comes in because he comes in with a new life and he does something that none of us understand he does it inside of us that makes us new on the inside you still look the same still come across the same maybe to other people they don't see any difference in you unless maybe it's somebody who knows you well and your attitude has changed or something like that but this is the mystery of regeneration and it comes to everyone who has put their faith in Christ and Paul is saying here in verse 5 this unfeigned faith that is a genuine faith the true faith that is in thee that is it was in Timothy

[37:11] Paul is saying the kind of faith that he had Paul the same was in Timothy and not only that but before Timothy ever came along that same faith was in Timothy's grandmother and in his mother Lois and now it is in Timothy but it's important that you understand something and that is that these people didn't have faith because they inherited it you know when you're in a family and someone dies you can inherit money you can inherit goods and things like that but you cannot inherit what that person was on the inside because someone has said that God has children but he doesn't have any grandchildren think of that because everyone who is a child of God is a child of God not because they were born into the world not because they had

[38:16] Christian parents and Christian grandparents but they become a child of God because they personally have put their faith and their trust in Jesus Christ when I did that when I did that in 1956 I became a new person on the inside but you know my mother and father were not believers and they had not been a new person on the inside so it certainly wasn't because I was born of them because they were still in that old person what the Bible calls the old Adam and I'm happy to say I look forward to seeing my mom and dad in heaven someday because at some point in time after I came to know the Lord they too came to know the Lord so in a sense it was just kind of reversed here was a child coming to Christ first and then the mom and dad it was kind of reversed but the point I want to make is this it's personal and it's individual and it is not something that you can do for someone else everybody has to do it for themselves because

[39:24] God gave you and me and everybody a thing called volition volition and that's just another word for a will God gave you a will and you can will to do this or will to do that by exercising that volition you can will to get up and walk over there and do this or do that and it's all a personal decision that you make and the point that the scriptures make all throughout is receiving forgiveness from God and becoming that new person on the inside where your life starts all over again is something that you do with your will and when you exercise that will and take your faith away from yourself or maybe take it away from a church or take it away from your parents or take it away from your good works or your good deeds and you take it away from all of those things and you take your faith your belief your trust your confidence and you put it all on Jesus Christ then you become that new person then you have exercised your will and God responds to your faith with what we call regeneration and it comes from that word you know we're all familiar with genes you could study this in science about genes and chromosomes and stuff like that and you know that these are the building blocks of life and this word regeneration literally means you are re-gened think of that you are re-gened on the inside in a spiritual way and it isn't something that you can see but it's something that is just as real and it is it is amazing it is an unfeigned faith that is in thee dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and I'm confident that this grandmother passed it on this grandmother Lois passed it on to her daughter Eunice and she passed it on to Timothy and all that means is this grandmother and mother knew what was important and they taught and trained young Timothy and they told him the things that they needed to know about Jesus Christ and who he was and why he came and what he did and why it mattered and Timothy made a decision of his own and he couldn't say well grandma and mom because that was your faith then that's good enough for me then I automatically have it and I'm automatically born with it no you're not no you're not you're born with their genes physically but you're not born with their genes spiritually you've got to be re-gened on the inside and only God can do that and when we first of all come into grips with the reality of our need because like Paul said all who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved then the question is who calls and why would they call why would they call you call just for one reason you have become aware that you have a need that you can't meet and only one can meet it now it's entirely possible that someone say

[43:21] I don't have any needs that I can't meet I'm happy the way I am I'm satisfied I don't need anything I don't need anybody and that's just braggadocia and hot air talking but tough guy talking you know is trying to sound independent and cool and don't need anybody that's kind of the way I was so I know what I'm talking about 21 year old soldier boy and when I first heard the gospel the salvation is in Jesus Christ you know what my thought was I thought well that's good you know for people people who need Christ some people let's face it some people need a crutch you know they just get through life they need something or somebody to lean on but here I am a self-sufficient 21 year old know-it-all soldier boy and I don't need nothing or nobody I am a complete man and I got it all together and religion is great for children and women but if you're a man you don't need that stuff you can hang it on your own well that's just so much malarkey and as I look back on it

[44:36] I was just selling myself a bill of goods and a lot of people do that because we're good at conning ourselves you know making ourselves believe that something is so when it isn't and that's what I've been bitten with but you know in my heart of hearts I had always wondered about this thing called death especially when go out to places where like the rifle range and advanced infantry training where I'm sure I left part of my hearing because in the 1950s on the rifle range no man in the army who was a man even needed or even thought of wearing hearing protection that's just how stupid we were nobody did and I left part of my hearing there on that rifle range and you just kind of think that you you're so smart and so sophisticated and so wise and you got it all together but I remember a couple of sad instances where some lives were taken very abruptly in the prime of life youth and sometimes we young people tend to think that well maybe maybe I'm not indestructible but I've got at least a good 60 years ahead of me you don't know that and don't we read some tragic incidents every now and then in fact every day of young people kids barely started to live lives snuffed from them what happens then where do you go what do you do how do you know we've got provision made for us and what we have to do is take advantage of what is made for us and it is this thing called faith the unfeigned faith that is in thee was first in your mother in your grandmother

[46:53] Lois and your mother Eunice I'm persuaded that in thee also and then he goes on to tell Timothy verse 8 don't be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord don't be embarrassed by it main reason we shouldn't be is because it's true who or why would anyone ever be embarrassed of the truth but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel afflictions of the gospel afflictions what happens when you are afflicted you're hurt you're hurt you're physically hurt or mentally hurt or emotionally hurt but afflictions are bad things afflictions are afflictions are pain we don't want anything to do with them and here he's talking about afflictions that come with the gospel with the good news why in the world would afflictions come with that good news should have nothing but no afflictions but it sometimes comes with afflictions and the reason that Paul suffered afflictions was because he preached the best news that the world ever heard and he preached it to people who didn't believe it didn't appreciate it and actually wanted to kill him for saying it and you know what they did they did

[48:31] Jesus told the truth too and they killed him for doing it and Paul the apostle is telling the truth and they're going to kill him and they did and all over this world today there are people who have a devout faith in Jesus Christ and some of them have paid for it with their lives they're called martyrs why in the world would anyone want to kill someone for simply preaching the best news that the world's ever heard whereby if you embrace that news God forgives you of your sin and gives you an assured place in heaven with him when you die whenever that is and people have to pay for promoting that kind of news pay with their life just doesn't make any sense unless the people you are preaching it to are on the complete other side of the issue and they don't believe what you're preaching they believe they're good enough as they are and they resent someone coming along and telling them that they're a sinner

[50:01] I'm not one of those I'm a good person I'm a nice person I do this and so and so and on they go and finally the level of hatred and animosity can get to the place of where just like an angry mob you've seen the old westerns where somebody's accused of a crime and they get up a posse and they're ready to lynch the guy and take him out of jail and hang him without a trial and all of that and the hero sheriff stands in his way because he's got the badge and he's law and order and he won't let them do that well that's not too far fetched when it comes to what we're talking about I'm going to tell you something that you may reject and you just may say well I don't believe that but it's true and that is the vast majority of people in this world are on the wrong side they're on the wrong side and you know what a lot of them are what you would call good people nice people kind people but they're still on the wrong side because if you do not have

[51:26] Jesus Christ in your heart you're on the wrong side let that sink in it may be hard for you to believe it was for me when I first heard it but it's true so be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God who has saved us look at this verse 9 at the bottom of the page who has saved us might save us but he has saved us and called us with a holy calling called him to do what called him to proclaim that message not according to our works boy that's the clinker right there not according to our work not according to our works he saved us not according to our works well according to whose work according to

[52:32] Jesus works think of that that's the amazing thing this is why Jesus is called our substitution Jesus stood in for us and hung on that cross for us as our substitute so that it is his good work Jesus said I lay down my life of myself no one has the power to take it from me I have power to lay it down and power to take it up again Jesus went to that cross because he did not refuse to go and he could have and he could have called the 12 legions of angels to have rescued him but Jesus went to that cross to pay for something that you could not pay for and he picked up the tab and he assigned it to your name so that you get his benefit and his eternal life put to your account based on his works not on your works that is amazing that's that's what the bible calls the gospel which means good news the good news is you cannot pay for your own sin and you don't have to somebody else paid for it for you why would he do that why would he do that because god loved you in a way far greater than what your mother loves you and hey that's going some that's that's going some if you can transcend a mother's love and a grandmother's love what greater love is there than that pray tell me only god's love only god's love can exceed the love of a mother and the love of a grandmother but god's love does and god so loved the world everybody used to sing a song god loves the little children of the world all the little children in the world and god loves you and that's why jesus went to that cross if you say you don't understand that kind of love neither do i i don't understand it either greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends for his friends you know that that's not terribly unusual a lot of people a lot of people have voluntarily surrendered their life so that their friends could live especially in combat in places of the military we've got all kinds of records where men gave their lives so that a buddy could live but

[55:58] I have never ever read of an incident where anyone gave their life so that the enemy could live that's what Jesus did that's what makes his love so special Jesus Christ gave his life not merely for his friends he gave his life for those who hated him what do you what do you what do you call that kind of love we call it calvary love the love of the cross and that just leaves us speechless we just can't get into that kind of love but I tell you what you can appropriate that kind of love and you do that with this will that you're talking about here the unfeigned faith marvelous saved us not according to our works well sure you ought to be nice you ought to be kind you ought to be loving you ought to be good you ought to be cooperative but none of those things or the combination of them will satisfy

[57:28] God who is perfect and when you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ Christ gives his standing to you so that you become as acceptable to God as Jesus was that's what it means to be in Christ that is amazing that is that is so amazing that John Newton wrote a song about it and called it amazing grace and we sing it all over the world and speaking of singing and music didn't we have special music for this morning isn't there in the bulletin special music was somebody supposed to have that because I think if you do it'd be a fitting thing to close with didn't it Sheila well bless bless your heart you come right up here I think it's so wonderful that a mother that a mother would be willing to do that hey mothers are the greatest givers in the world and they're still giving and if it doesn't say that in the bulletin then I misread it and it's my mistake and you've got to love old people so well old perfect love

[58:43] I just kept thinking about this throughout your message and I thought this is just what you're talking about God's perfect love and I know it's for a wedding but it could also be for a mother don't you think well yes yes so I'm like I just feel like God wants me to sing this yes mother you go right ahead we will enjoy I have to do it oh it's page 458 oh perfect love like I said it's sort of like for a wedding but it's God's perfect love and it could also be meant for mothers because they have this wonderful love for us you can follow along love love oh perfect love a human thought transcending lowly we kneel in prayer before thy throne that theirs may be the love which knows no ending whom thou forevermore dost join in one oh perfect life be thou their full assurance of tender charity and steadfast faith of patient hope and quiet brave endurance with the life be thou with child like trust that fears not pain nor death grant them the joy which brightens earthly sorrow grant them the peace which calms earthly strife and to life's day the glorious unknown morrow that dawns upon eternal love and life love and life love and life thank you thank you thank you so much sometimes the impromptu things are better than the things you plan and we appreciate that thank you so much for volunteering mother we do appreciate that would you bow with me in prayers be closed loving father we are so grateful for the message that the apostle Paul wrote to his young protégé Timothy for the truth that resides in it that is just as powerful 2,000 years after it was given as it was then and our prayer for anyone here today young or old man or woman is that they may know the joy and the peace the assurance that comes from knowing that the

[62:45] peace that everything is right between themselves and you and it's because Jesus Christ is who he is and did what he did that things could be made right we can enjoy forgiveness of sins whatever they may be however they may be whenever they may be total and complete forgiveness because you already paid the penalty for them and they want to appropriate that payment and make it their own and make it their own and for anyone here today who may be in that position all you need do is say Lord Jesus I recognize that I'm just like everybody else I'm just one more member of the human race and I have my faults and my failures and my sins and everybody knows that and I admit it and I admit it and I also want to express my gratitude for you knowing that and for you loving me even though you know what I am and what I've done and you love me still I want to respond to that love and as best as I know how I want to simply deliver myself to you for your salvation for your forgiveness for your cleansing I don't know how you do that but that's what I want and that's what I need and I pray that I'll have the courage to tell somebody about the decision that I've made and Father our prayer in closing is for the comfort and assurance and stability of anyone young or old who may have made that decision may they know internally what we've been talking about the peace and the joy the sense of forgiveness and cleansing that only you can provide and we recognize that it all comes through our Lord Jesus Christ we are so grateful for him being who he is and for doing what he did and making it available to us even today in Christ's wonderful name Amen

[65:00]  Amen