EP 451 | Justification by Faith - Clint DeFrance 2022 California Memorial Day Meeting

We're going to be reading tonight from The Book of Romans,

the 14th chapter. Romans chapter 14.

Romans 14 · chapter mention

Beginning in verse 10. The Apostle Paul says, we shall

all stand before the Judgment seat of Christ for it is

written. As I live, says the Lord.

Every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to

God. So then, Each one of us will

give an account of himself to God over the course of the

meeting so far, we have been considering the theme of The

Establishment and increase of the kingdom of God.

And we're not going to be breaking from that theme

tonight, but we're going to be exploring a very significant

part of it, which is The Marvelous question of how it can

be possible. That Jesus Christ is able to

redeem Sinners back to God's good favor.

In the early 1900's, there was a Christian evangelist named

tiller, test Ed Lee who was holding a gospel meeting in a

small west, Texas town where it happened, that a murder trial

was going on at the same time. Curiosity carried mr.

Ted lie to the court room and he took his seat with the rest of

the spectators and the crowd. Hashed as the judge entered in

his long, black Road and took his seat behind the wooden bar

that separated his bench from the audience.

The accused man was brought forward and the charges against

him were read and the judge He leaned forward to him and he

asked him a grim question. How do you plead he expected

that the man would claim to be not guilty but of course

accusations have been made evidence had been brought

forward. So why should the court believe

that claim and allow him to go and live free?

For that, man. This was the question of life.

It was probably the most important question anyone had

ever asked him because how he answered would determine whether

he lived or died. Mr. Ted Lee, was deeply

impressed by that scene and he went back to the place where he

was lodging. And he wrote these words which

are probably familiar to most of us.

Someday. You will stand at the bar on

high. Someday your record, you will

see someday. You will answer the question of

life. What will your answer be?

Mr. Ted Lee was referring to the teaching of the Bible from the

verse in Romans 14, we read before we prayed that one day,

every human being who has ever lived since the creation of the

universe small and great. According To Jesus in

Revelation, 20 and verse 12 from every nation throughout the

world and across time. According to Matthew 25 and

verse 32 will be gathered together and judged by God for

crimes that we are accused of having committed against him and

against his creation. The Bible teaches that God

created the universe with an orderly -, and a structure that

both dictates its proper function and reflects his

perfect wisdom and Holiness. And when that orderliness is

communicated in the form of a teaching, or a commandment, this

is what we call the law of God. The law of God has appeared

throughout history and many forms.

There was the law of Moses, a code, or a list of hundreds of

Commandments and prohibitions and precepts and instructions

over 600 in all. It was given by Moses to Israel

as a part of God's covenant relationship with that people.

And then there's what the Apostle Paul called the law

written on the heart. In Romans 2 verses 14 and 15.

Romans 2:14

The aspect of God's orderly, structure of creation that we

can discern by observing the world around us with moral

reasoning. And then there is the law of

Christ. As the Apostle, mentions it in

Galatians, 6, and verse to the precepts and instructions and

prohibitions that have given to Christians through the

teachings, of the Apostles and Prophets of We'll have more to

say about God's law in a moment, but the law is that which

defines right and wrong. Good and evil, and to break the

law to do something that the law forbids or to leave undone.

Something that the law commands is to sin.

The Bible says that sin is lawlessness or one translation.

The transgression of the law. First, John chapter 3 and verse

John 3 · chapter mention

4, the one who breaks the law is convicted by the law.

As a transgressor, a sinner, a criminal, James 2, and verse 9.

And the same Bible that teaches all of those things, makes this

Dreadful statement. All have sinned, Romans 3, and

verse 23. Now, all is a broad term broad

enough to include me and all of you and all of you, and everyone

who is out there and everyone who was born before us and

everyone who will come a long after we're gone, all mankind is

accused of sin. And the same Bible says that the

wages or the penalty for sin is death, Romans, 6, and verse 23.

Now, we can spend a great deal of time discussing the nature of

this death, but it's sufficient now to say that it means

something more than the termination of physical life.

This is an eternal death. Jesus said in Matthew chapter

Matthew 10 · chapter mention

10, and verse 28, do not fear the one who can kill the body,

but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear God, who is able

to destroy both body and soul in Hell, one day we will all appear

before God to answer to this accusation of sin and to be

found guilty. is to be destroyed in hell, Now there's some people

in this world who are very foolish and they are hardened in

the deceitfulness of sin. And they would tell you, they

know that they are guilty against the law of God, but they

claim not to care. One day, they will care.

One day, they will cry to the rocks and the mountains to fall

on them. That would be painful, but it

would be better in their eyes than to have to face the Wrath

and Judgment of God. And they will only wish that

they had escaped that fate and that those that they loved would

be wiser than they do. I think there's no one here.

Who is so foolish. I trust that you're here today

because you believe Eve in God and you believe the Bible and if

you believe those things and you know that this day of judgment

is coming and we will be asked the same question as that man in

Texas a long time ago but will be asked by God how do you

plead? They want to make sure that we

will give an answer that leads to our acquittal to are being

found not guilty and spared the penalty of eternal.

Colonel death of the idea of being found not guilty before.

God is the meaning of a very prominent scriptural term

justification. I suggest that justification has

been a neglected theme among our people, Now, I don't want to

project my own ignorance on to all of you but I didn't

understand it for most of my life.

I was thinking about this just this morning.

Brother Ronnie Wade, wrote a column in the Old Paths advocate

for 30 years, where people would ask questions and seek Bible

answers and people ask questions about whether or not you should

eat a meal and a church building or whether or not you should

call on a man to wait on the table if he didn't wear a

necktie. But in 30 years, no one asked a

question about justification. The word was never mentioned.

In his column. That wasn't his fault.

It's the questions that he was asked by other people, but that

tells us something, doesn't it that this subject, which is very

important in the Bible has perhaps been a blind spot for

many of us. And I know it was for me, I did

not understand the meaning of the word, the first 15 years of

my preaching career. Justification does not mean

salvation. The two terms are not synonymous

as we're going to see in a moment.

There is only one way to be saved, but there are many ways

to be justified, depending on who the judge is, and the manner

of the Judgment, justification means being regarded as not

guilty of a crime. Now this subject is all over the

scripture, but the Apostle Paul wrote more frequently and

perhaps more thoughtfully about the subject than any other

biblical writers. So tonight, I want us to use

Paul as a legal counselor and primarily to use his writings to

help us understand what the right answer is how must we

plead in order to be justified to be found not guilty.

Guilty in the sight of God. Now the most reasonable plea,

that one could offer. If he hoped to be acquitted of a

criminal charge would be to plead not guilty by reason of

Innocence. I didn't do it.

Now in the Bible, the Apostle Paul expresses, this concept

with the phrase justification by works of law that phrase or some

form of it appears several times in Paul's writing.

And in some English translations you might have that the

translator has inserted the word v in front of Law and capitalize

the ale and when you see that you might be inclined to think

that he's talking particularly or maybe even exclusively about

the law of Moses that's a mistake.

He is in fact talking about the general concept of law.

He's not focusing on any particular.

Legal code. But rather speaking.

How any law law by its very nature, Works in justifying a

person or showing that a person is not guilty and quite simply

the law, only justifies a person who is truly innocent, that is a

person who has never failed to do anything that it commands and

has never done anything that it prohibits and has carried out

all of, its Haitians, absolutely flawlessly.

The Apostle Paul using the law of Moses.

As an example said, in Galatians, 3 verses, 10 through

12, it is written. Cursed is everyone who does not

continue in all things, which are written in the book of the

law to do them. But the man who does them shall

live by them, Jesus agreed. When he was asked, what must I

do to inherit Eternal life. He said oh that's a simple

answer to that question. Love the Lord, your God with all

of your heart and all of your soul and all of your mind and

all of your strength and love your neighbor as yourself and

demonstrate that by keeping all of The Commandments.

And then you'll live. He said that in Luke 10 25 to 28

and Matthew 19. 16 through 19 and James, the brother of Our

Lord, it was an elder in the church Jerusalem and wrote one

of the books of the New Testament.

Said it with particular Clarity, James 2, verses 10 through 11

James 2:10–11

for whoever shall keep the whole Law, whatever lot is, if you

keep the whole thing. and yet stumble in one point he is

guilty of all For he who said do not commit.

Adultery also said, do not murder.

Now if you do not commit adultery but you do murder, you

have become a transgressor of the law.

Really make sense. If you were dangling over a pit

by a chain of 10 links, you're holding on to the last one.

How many links have to break for you to fall?

Just one. One link broken compromises, the

Integrity of the chain and one commandment broken makes a

transgressor of the law. Now, in that particular passage,

it might appear that James is talking about the law of Moses.

You might even think we'll he quotes from The Ten Commandments

but not. So he makes it clear.

He's speaking to Christians about what he calls the law of

the king, that is the law of Christ.

And my point there is that these Statements are generally true of

any legal system. And the lesson is this, the law,

only justifies a truly innocent person, that is a perfect

Flawless person who has kept all of its parts with all of their

hearts. That's what the Bible says, and

that's why the Apostle concludes.

If you are a sinner, if you have ever in any respect violated,

Any part of God's law, you cannot be justified by works of

law. Only the innocent will be found

innocent and that excludes me. And it excludes all of you.

And you and those who are out there, those who came before we

were born and those who will live after we are gone only

Christ himself and the Holy Angels can make such a claim

because other than those all have sinned.

And that's the reason for Paul's consistent unassailable,

unyielding, conclusion, in, Romans, 3, and verse 20 by the

Deeds of the law, no flesh. Will be justified.

Now if this is the case, if the law will not help us to be found

not guilty, instead it will be that which screams our guilt.

Then what hope do we have? We might hope to be found not

guilty by reason of insufficient evidence throughout history.

There have been many people who committed crimes even very

serious crimes and they were arrested and they were brought

to trial but in the end it was determined that the a Evidence

was not sufficient to prove their guilt and so a righteous

judge was unable to condemn them and there's no doubt that God is

a righteous judge. He will not condemn any person

unless it is shown. But before Heaven and Earth, and

all creation, that, that person really is guilty, but that's no

consolation for me. Not for you either because God

knows everything about our lives, he knows us better than

those who know us best in this world.

The writer of Hebrews declares that the word of God is living

and powerful and sharper than a two-edged sword piercing even to

the division of Soul and Spirit and of joints and Marrow it,

slices through the facade of are externalities and exposes our

innermost being it is a Cerner of the thoughts and intents of

the heart and there is no creature hidden from his sight.

But all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom.

We must give an account. Hebrews 4 11 through 13 the Old

Testament, prophets described God as one, whose eyes scan to,

and fro throughout the whole earth.

And so, the Prophet Jeremiah said there's no iniquity.

ET hidden from his vision, Jeremiah 16 and 17.

And with all of this, the Apostle Paul agrees.

He warns that in that day, God will judge the secrets of men,

Romans 2 and verse 16. The wise men Solomon says that

the life passes by like a vapor and every moment even the most

meaningful in heavy burst like a bubble and they die.

And you might think well there went that that's over now we

just move forward into the future.

But God in that day will by his mighty power gather up, all

those moments. And the Bible says in

Ecclesiastes 12 and verse 14, he will bring every work into

judgment including every secret thing.

Whether good or evil. I've known people who were very

smooth talkers even in very difficult situations.

I've never been that kind of person myself, but I've known

people who you could, you could catch them in the act and they

could talk their way out of it. They have the ability to obvious

Cade and muddy the waters. But that won't work with God.

I know, because in the Bible, there was a man like that met

Jesus. He's the man who asked him what

must I do to inherit eternal life and Jesus gave him the

answer and he tried to justify himself.

The Bible says there in Luke chapter 10 by sort of

Luke 10 · chapter mention

insinuating, that the words God had used, didn't really have any

meaning. Jesus answered him and he had

nothing to say. And in that day of the Bible

says, every mouth will be stopped, no one will be found

not guilty by reason of insufficient evidence.

Perhaps then, we should resort to some of the arguments men and

women give for why, even though they are technically guilty,

they should not be held responsible or suffer any

penalty for their actions. Some people plead not guilty by

reason of privilege, they might claim that because of Of their

race, or their nationality, or their family, or their

education, or their position in society, or their money, that

they should be treated differently than others.

And, in this world, those things will generally cause you to be

treated differently than others, but not before God, Paul says

there's no partiality. No, favoritism with God Romans 2

and verse 11, if you think that you might give some In to God a

gift. Something that could change his

mind and his disposition towards you.

You know how he would respond? Psalm fifty nine through 12, I

will not take a bull from your house nor goats out of your

folds, for every beast of the forest is mine and the cattle on

a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the

mountains and the wild beasts of the field a mine if I were

hungry, I I would not tell you for the World is Mine.

And all of its fullness. You see everything we have in

this world, God gave to us. We don't have anything that he

needs and even if you could think of something he wouldn't

take it because you can't bribe him.

You can't buy him. He is a righteous Incorruptible

judge. He gives the same judgments to

the rich and the poor. He never condemns the righteous

but Terrible thought he never justifies the wicked by his own

testimony. In Exodus 23 Verses 4 through 8.

Exodus 23:4–8

No one will be found not guilty by reason of privilege.

Well, what about this? One, Not Guilty by reason of

moral or religious superiority. This is a rather popular answer

among religious people. And I think most of us are

religious people. So we need to think about this

and the Bible has a lot to say about it.

This was the reasoning of the Pharisees in Jesus own day and

it found its way into the church, through their influence,

in the doctrine of the judaizers.

I want you to consider how they thought the Pharisees and the

judaizers knew that they had not kept the whole law perfectly.

They knew they were not innocent, that was to use the

words of the Apostle Peter, a burden that Neither they nor

their fathers had been able to bear, so to justify themselves.

I think about that when you think of a Pharisee, what's the

first word that comes to mind? Probably the phrase.

Self-righteous what does self-righteousness mean?

It means self-justification. To justify themselves.

They reinvented the meaning of perfection into something that

was more manageable for them and preferably less manageable for

others. So they would select and create

a short list of laws and they came out of God's law but these

were the laws that mattered These were the ones to use some

of our own language that were essential oils.

Germane to salvation Salvation issues.

This was the important part and everything else could be

overshadowed, and ignored, and relegated to the status of

non-essential. That's why when the Rich Young

Ruler was told that he had to keep the Commandments in order

to have eternal life. He said which command Moments

certainly you can't beat all of them.

Nobody does that. But which ones to be just

enough, which ones to make us better than others, different

than others. Now, this can be structured in

many different ways, not guilty by reason of moral, or ethical

superiority. I live better than other people.

Not guilty by reason of religious superiority, I worship

better. Or I serve God better than other

people. Not guilty by reason of

doctrinal or theological superiority.

I believe better than other people.

Now you might even be able to find them and drag them as

evidence for your plea. You might be able to point over

there and say look there's an example.

We are better than that church. We teach better than them.

We worship better than them. We work better than them.

We are better than them in all these ways.

Now, where will that kind of plea?

Get us. Jesus told us because he told a

story about a man who made that very argument and he was able to

point out a fellow that was right by him and tell God I'm

better than this man. And I can even tell you how And

Jesus said that men did not go home Justified.

The Apostle Paul says, if we reason this way, if we say I am

justified because I do this thing or these things, right?

And even better. Then the law will become a curse

to us because the law does not demand better.

It's not satisfied with superiority.

The law demands Perfection and it's satisfied with nothing

less. If you have read your Bible, you

know that what I'm about to say is true.

God has not divided his word into Essentials and

non-essentials. Any such division is man-made

arbitrary, a fabrication. And if we seek to be justified

by works of law, everything is an essential and if everything

is an essential, you have failed already.

Even if you manage to keep your short list perfectly for, he who

said do not commit. Adultery also said, do not

murder. Let me bring it home for us.

He who said, take this cup and drink from it.

All of you also said, love one. Another as I have loved you,

You. so, if you do the one, but you failed to do the other You

have become a transgressor of the law.

No one will be justified or found not guilty by reason of

moral or religious superiority. Now we're nearly out of options.

What about this one? Not Guilty by reason of

ignorance. Now, here like the first plea we

considered and in contrast to all the others, the Bible

actually indicates. God takes this one seriously.

God does not judge a person who is truly ignorant when Israel

sinned against God at Kadesh barnea, they said that they

wouldn't obey God because they were concerned for the welfare

of their little ones and God told them you have sinned and

you're To die. But your little ones and your

children who you say will be victims, who today have no

knowledge of Good and Evil. I'm not judge them.

They'll go in there and I will give it to them and they shall

possess it. Deuteronomy 1 and verse 39.

The little ones were not judged because they were truly morally

ignorant. So, God is Mindful and merciful

toward those who truly do not, and cannot know.

No. There's some people like that in

this room, but most of them are being held in the arms of their

mother. That does not mean anything to

the vast majority of us or of other people in the world.

In Romans 1 verses 19 through 20 and 2 verses 14 through 15, God

Romans 1:19–20

declares that in creation. And in the capacity, to exercise

moral reasoning, which most people develop as they grow,

older, comes accountability to the law and condemnation to

those. Those who break it.

And it might be that there are people in this world who have

never opened the Bible and never heard about Jesus, but if they

have shown that, they have no interest in God himself, in

spite of all that, he's done to reveal his glory to them in the

things that are made, then they show that they would equally

reject the Bible or Christ if they were exposed to those

things. And so the Apostle Paul

concludes they are without excuse Today, it's very popular

to be agnostic. And the sense is that those who

claim to be agnostic, they think it's a safe position, whatever.

Turns out to be, right? I'll be okay because I didn't

commit to anything but myself and my own opinions.

Some people think you're smarter if you're an agnostic which is

very strange because the word agnostic is the Greek word

version of the Latin word ignoramus.

It means to be without knowledge.

Now, in reality. if you have a thought, if you have an opinion,

you're not an agnostic. You might be ignorant but you're

not that ignorant. You're not ignorant enough to

justify you. You're not safe, just because

you choose to neglect certain information.

No one capable of observing the world and reasoning about Good

and Evil will be found not guilty by reason of ignorance.

So then what hope does anyone have?

Nah. Not.

That's what I'm trying to show us.

If it's just us, if we come before God ourselves we're

hopeless. There is only one way for a

sinner to be found, not guilty, and that is by pardon and

religious terms. We would call it the forgiveness

for the remission of sins. And we might use the word

salvation, pardon is the judicial term.

If the judge tells us that though, we are guilty and he

knows it, we will be pardoned, then we will be treated as

though, we're not guilty. Justification will be accounted

to us and we will be allowed to live even though we deserve to

die. Just as the Apostle, Paul speaks

of those Not Guilty by reason of Innocence with the phrase

justification by works of law. He speaks of those Not Guilty by

reason of Pardon, with the phrase, justification by faith.

And for our remaining time, I want us to consider the meaning

of that expression, the doctrine of justification by faith is

simply this centers are Justified or made right with

God. By means of Pardon on the Of the

work of Jesus Christ, especially his death on the cross and on

the condition of Faith, pardon is the means that's how we are

made, right? The work of Jesus is the basis,

that's why we are pardoned, but to whom does God give this

remarkable gift. That is to those who believe.

Why would God forgive anyone's sins at all?

Because of Jesus. Jesus is the Lamb of God who

takes away the sin of the world, says, John 1 and verse 29.

Jesus defeated sin, and Satan and death and he made pardon

possible. He accomplished our

justification by his own bloody death on the cross, Romans 5,

and verse 9 and by his resurrection, Romans 4:25, and

Romans 4:25

by his present rain and intercession for us.

Romans 8:33 34 and he gives this pardon to everyone that believes

Romans 8:33

Romans 1:16 and that's the consistent answer throughout the

Romans 1:16

Bible. But what does it mean to

believe? This might be the most important

part of the study, we've discovered that there is hope

for Sinners. But only one hope pardon is

given because of the work of Jesus Christ and this offer of

Pardon has both a universality And a limitation it is to

everyone that believes. Now everyone is a broad term

just as broad as all as in all have sinned, it's broad enough

to include me and you and you and everybody out there and

everyone who lived before us or comes after us, but among

everyone only those that believe.

So what does it mean to believe what is Faith?

Now we're going to look at this in Is simple terms faith in the

Bible includes three components or aspects knowledge trust and

I'm using the word repentance alongside that word.

I'll explain that in a moment and then loyalty knowledge and

you might hear the term mental assent, simply means that you

have to learn something and you have to accept it before.

You can believe it. The Apostle Paul says, how shall

they believe in him of whom they have not I'd heard Romans 10:14

Romans 10:14

and he concludes. So then faith comes by hearing

and hearing by the word of God, Romans 10:17.

Romans 10:17

What is the content of the knowledge that you must learn

and accept in order to be pardoned of your sins?

Not everything. Thank God.

The knowledge that you must have is the person and work of Jesus

Christ. Who he is the Christ, the son of

God, what he has done, especially his death and

Resurrection Ascension. What he's doing ruling, and

reigning from Heaven, what he will do.

When he comes again to fully accomplish his work of

redemption, that's why the ancient Christians.

When somebody was going to become a disciple, they ask them

the question. What do you believe?

And the right answer Was I believe that Jesus Christ is the

Son of God. Trust means the personal

appropriation of that knowledge into one's own life and I find

it to be. So seamlessly connected with

repentance, it's difficult to see where one ends and the other

one begins when One Believes on the Lord with all of his heart

trusting him fully that necessitates a personal turning

to Jesus and that's what the word.

Sentence means you turn to Jesus as your profit and your priest

and your king. You make him the sole source of

knowledge about God of reconciliation with God of

Authority for the direction, and course of your life.

For how can you call on him in whom they have?

Not believed that expression calling on the name of the Lord

refers to that last point of loyalty or Allegiance?

It's Just something you do with your mouth.

It's an act of the whole person and of the whole heart.

It's bowing the knee, and confessing that Jesus is Lord of

the universe, therefore, Lord of your life, it begins with

baptism in water. The event in which God pardons

our sins and washes them away according to Acts 2:38 and Acts

Acts 2:38 Acts 22:16

22:16. But it doesn't end there, it

continues from thenceforward in a never intensifying

transformation into the it. Age of Christ himself.

And if we put all of these components together than perhaps

it's better and well within the range of definition for the

original terms, used by the apostles to say that we are

justified by faithfulness. When you read the Apostle, Paul

talking about justification by faith.

He means faithfulness. But what does it mean to be

faithful? Faithfulness is not

flawlessness. I used to think that it was, but

it's not. If it was flawlessness, we

wouldn't need any part, we would be truly innocent.

Faithfulness is not hiding your shortcomings and sins and

pretending to be better than you are.

You can't hide them from God. Anyway, in fact, faithfulness

demands an honest, recognition of our imperfections.

It's impossible to be faithful. If you do not acknowledge that,

you are flawed, Weak ignorant imperfect and you need to

improve faithfulness is not just doing better and being better

than others. That's superiority.

And when we think that we're right, because we are better,

we've changed everything, the condition of justification

becomes our superiority. And the means becomes our

flawlessness and whatever it is that we've convinced ourselves

were Flawless about. And then In the basis is no

longer Jesus, it's ass and that's why the Apostle Paul said

in Galatians chapter 5 that if we think that we can be

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

justified by works of law we are severed from Christ and fallen

from Grace. Listen very carefully if you

stand before God. And he asks you how do you

plead? And you say one loaf one cup?

No Sunday school. No, instrumental music, no women

teachers. You will go to hell.

With everyone else in the world who did not trust in Jesus

Christ. That will not justify you.

I don't know what God would say to it, but he might say that's

not what I asked. You're not on trial for using

multiple caps. You're on trial for the sins,

you committed, you're on trial for the things that you failed

to do. And telling me all the things

you did, right? Doesn't change any of that.

That's not faithfulness. Faithfulness is not just going

to the right church and living clean and staying away from

people who don't faithfulness is much more than that.

It is the Relentless lifelong pursuit of the will of King,

Jesus in all things to know it and to do it in worship.

Yes. And in life and in truth and in

character and in everything, it is the understanding that we are

flawed every step of the way. But without despair, it is the

determination to pursue Perfection and the confidence

that through the revelation of Jesus Christ.

In his word, real progress can be made.

It is the recognition that we will never be perfect in this

world. But without despair because we

are not justified by our perfection.

We are justified by his part. And therefore for his glory and

for his sake we press on to the end.

What is faithfulness Jesus? I should say, rather the Apostle

Paul offered this definition in Philippians, chapter 3 verses 9

Philippians 3:9–14

through 14. It is to be found in him.

Not having my own justification, which is from the law, but that

which is through faith. Faith in Christ, the

justification, which is from God by faith that I may know him and

the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his

sufferings being conformed to his death.

If by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead,

not that I have already attained or I'm already perfected but I

press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has

also laid. Hold of me Brethren.

I do do not count myself to have already apprehended.

That's not faithfulness. It's not deceiving yourself into

thinking that because you've gotten these five things, right?

You've crossed the line, you can settle down and wait for Jesus

to come and scoop you up and take you to Glory.

That's not faithfulness. What is faithfulness?

He said forgetting those things which are behind your failures.

Yes. But also your progress, don't.

Boast in it. Don't think that it makes you

any better. Don't think that it will be the

basis of your justification, forgetting those things which

are behind And reaching forward to those things which are ahead.

I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God

in Christ. Jesus.

That's faithfulness one day, you will stand at the bar on high

one day your record, you will see.

One day. You will answer the question of

life. What will your answer be?

Remember the last verse of that song?

Now is the time to prepare my friends.

Make your soul spotless and free.

Washed in the blood of the crucified one.

He will your answer be.