the Lord's house. You are watching by the website. I'm standing here in an old-fashioned Bible preaching pulpit, inviting you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Titus. Turn in your Bibles to the book of Titus tonight. Pastor Waldrop, I have decided in the revival this week not to do a series. I have done that for years. Remember our little booklets we give out and we read chapters and count the total. The reason I'm doing it this way, just five, God willing, individual sermons, is because we won't always have the same audience, the same congregation each night. And let me tell you the genesis of this text. Titus chapter two, if you wanna go ahead and locate that. Sometime back, God laid on my heart to preach a whole week from the writings of the Apostle Paul. I had my printer fix up one of those little Bible portion booklets. And I named it Paul's Greatest Paragraphs. That sounds interesting. Paul wrote, if you count Hebrews, which I personally believe he did, 14 epistles in the New Testament. That is a lot of scripture. The New Testament only has 27 books, so numerically, Paul wrote half, over half of those books. Paul's Greatest Paragraphs. And of those paragraphs, this one, this one was near the top of my list. Titus chapter two, verses 11 through 15. It is a sermon about, now get this, the grace of God. Brother Backel, you're gonna preach a whole sermon on the grace of God? Pretty much so. God's amazing grace. God's vast, wide, all-encompassing grace. Let me read you the text, Titus 2, beginning at verse number 11. Titus 2, beginning at verse 11. Follow in your Bibles if you will. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation This grace hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. And anytime Paul brings up Jesus, he's gotta talk about him for a little spell. Jesus Christ, now verse 14, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity. and purify unto himself a peculiar people." Oh, I wanna talk about that. A peculiar people, zealous of good works. Then I close the text with verse 15. Paul, the old season preacher to Titus, the young man of God, these things speak and exhort and rebuke. With all authority, let no man despise you. May God bless the reading of his word. Brother Bagwell, you say this is gonna be about the grace of God? Indeed. Notice how it begins at verse 11. For the grace of God. That's the theme of the entire prayer, the grace of God. Notice how it's word, the Hebrew word there for grace is charis, C-H-A-R-I-S. It means the gift of God. In fact, you can pluralize it, the gifts that God showers down upon us. Grace is traditionally defined, I remember learning it as a beginner in Sunday school, God's unmerited favor. Can I ask a question? Has God been good to anybody listening to my voice? Has God met many a need, answered many a prayer? Has God touched your body over and over again? Has God intervened and, oh, I want to talk about the grace, the unmerited favor of Almighty God. Grace. In English, that is merely a prepositional phrase. But in Greek, of God, it is genitive. It is a genitive case. Now, that's what it means. It means that grace belongs to God. It means that grace is totally God's possession. I couldn't buy it, I can't earn it, and I'd better not go around demanding it. If I get God's grace and it is his prerogative, it is his possession, I'll get it because he pours it on me. I'll get it because he bestows it. I'll get it because he showers it into my life from time to time. I guess I'll just say from morning to evening. He wants to talk about the grace of God. Now, back to verse 11. What is the, what is the, y'all listen to this. What is the greatest thing God's grace does? What would be the earmark? What would be the litmus test for examining the grace of God? Here it comes. The grace of God that bringeth salvation. The grace of God that bringeth salvation. In the Greek text, in the Textus Receptus, it literally reads, the salvation bringing grace of God. Don't you like that? The salvation bringing grace of God. Let me make a statement. Agree or disagree, let me make it, evaluate it if you will. You'll not spend much time in the grace of God. You'll not spend much time studying and learning. You'll not spend much time enjoying the grace of God until you will meet, until you will meet the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior. The pinnacle, the highest fruition, the goal of the grace of God is salvation, belief in Jesus and his shed blood. That's why Paul says, the salvation bringing grace of God. I'll promise you this, if you're saved today, you're saved because you've had an experience with God's grace. For by grace, Ephesians two, for by grace are ye saved through faith, not of yourselves. You can't brag about, we're saved by grace, through faith. Paul wants to talk about the salvation bringing grace of God. Notice what he says in verse 11. This grace has appeared to all men. This grace has appeared to all men. Now, ladies and gentlemen, there are two ways of looking at this appearance of the grace of God. Here's one. This would be the lower view, in my opinion. I'm in the state of Florida. I can walk out the door of the church or outside of the motel where the church here is hosting us. I see palm trees. I feel a breezy, warm wind. blowing in my face. There at the motel, there's some ponds nearby. I see those beautiful waterfowl, those huge birds, and every now and then I'll see a fish hit top water and I see a manifestation of the beauty and the glory and the creative handiwork of God. That alone is at least a mild experience of God's grace. Come to think of it, I got up this morning and had the strength to get out of bed. That's God's grace. I'm getting to preach right now and he's giving me the presence of mind and a Bible to hold in my hand. He gave me the strength. That's an experience with God's grace. And if I get to pull up my head tonight and sleep as I did last night peacefully, that is a token of God's grace. The grace of God has appeared to all men. Everybody alive has experienced it. He lets the rain, a token of grace, fall on the just and the unjust and the sun to shine. In that sense, I agree. The grace of God has appeared to all men. But here's the situation with that. It's the verb. The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared, hath appeared to all men. Here's the troublesome thing. That verb is aorist tense, A-O-R-I-S-T, Greek tense, aorist tense. Brother Bangle, that doesn't mean a thing to me. Go on and preach if you will. Aorist tense in Greek means past tense. That's the only way I know to explain it in English. No, there is a better way. Completed action. Brother Jonathan. What is being said here, the salvation bringing grace of God appeared somewhere in the past. It appeared at some time, now I'm thinking long ago, since this has been written for 2,000 years, long ago, God did something that manifested His grace. That verb manifest, to make visible. to make known as though you're in a dark room and somebody flipped the switch and the room is radiantly flooded with brilliant light. Wait a minute, preacher. You're implying that somewhere in the past, God cut the light on? You're implying that somewhere in the past, God manifested grace? I'd like to know when it happened, I'm fixing to tell you. It happened one night in Bethlehem of Judea. It happened one night when a virgin girl gave birth to the Son of God. It happened one night when the heavens were filled with a multitude of angels. It happened one night when the Word was made flesh. It happened one night when God came to earth, when baby Jesus was born. That's when God's grace was most fully manifested, hallelujah. The salvation bringing grace of God has been manifested. But preacher, it says to all men, how in the world you gonna explain that? I'm telling you right now, the gospel story is going around the world. We failed, everybody doesn't know yet, but we're still trying. We're still preaching the gospel to every creature. We're still going to all the, God's grace. And oh, when Jesus comes back, I read it this morning. He's coming back in a cloud of glory. John said, every eye will see Him. Every eye, every eye will see. Oh, the grace of God the Lord, He will be manifested to all men. If not already, it's in process and will be completed. He's preaching about the grace of God. Now I need a Christian to say amen here. We ought to already be worshipfully thankful for the grace of God, because that's what got us saved. The salvation bringing grace of God sent through his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord's death, burial, and resurrection. You know what, I guess? I can pray, conclude the sermon, and let y'all go on and eat your sandwich or whatever, and we can say, that boy preached on the grace of God. Wasn't a long sermon, 13 and a half minutes, but he preached on the grace of God, and he told me Jesus is the grace of God. But I don't wanna quit yet, because I also read verse 12. I want every believer, I want every Christian to get this. God's grace saving you is not the end of the story. God's grace, I need an amen. God's grace saving you is the beginning of the story. What do you mean, preacher? Verse 12, teaching us. God's grace not only saved me, God's grace is teaching me, teaching us. Well, I'm not sure I've ever heard that preached too much. God's grace teaches us. You better go back to theology school. No, no, God's grace saves us. Oh, it does a whole lot more than save us, teaching us, denying ungodliness and worldly love. I gotta give you that word teaching. It's the paideia group of words in the New Testament. Pideia, it is the word for a little boy. It is almost the word for a mischievous little boy. Pideia, that word group gives us words like pediatrician, a doctor who specializes in children. God's grace teaches me. It literally means God's grace child trains me. It literally means God's grace helps me to grow up from being an infant, babes in Christ, to being a young man, to being more mature. And paideia, that word, it means raising your child, get this, including a whipping or two along the way if he needs it. Raising your child with a disciplinary spirit in the back of your mind. Wait a minute, Preacher Bakewell, God's grace has been sweet to me, got me saved. Now you're telling me God's grace can take me to the woodshed? God's grace can teach me and whip me if I don't live right? I'm not telling you that, Paul is telling us that right here, teaching us, child training us, whipping me if need be, teaching us that denying ungodliness. And worldly, God's grace will teach me there's some things that have got to go. There's some things that have got to go in my life. Wow. I don't think in my years of pastoring, nearly 40 years, I don't think in my years of pastoring, I ever saw anybody get saved. But that very soon after they got saved, they didn't quit. Quit, Q-U-I-T, quit doing some things. I can think of an old boy that got saved and in the next to the last church, a pastor, he had a wild lifestyle. He was so far from the goodness of God. Watch me, watch my handkerchief. He no sooner got saved and a lot of that stuff fell, dropped. by the wayside. He learned to deny ungodliness and worldly lust. Deny ungodliness and worldly lust. That word deny, I wish we had time to go into the detail. It literally means, it's a blend. It's a blend in Greek that means no longer talking about, not to discuss. Shut your mouth. Won't come out of your lips. Denying ungodliness. What is ungodliness? It is a word that means refusal to acknowledge God, refusal to adore God, refusal to worship God, refusal to even admit the existence of God. You get saved, you'll hush up about that refusal to acknowledge God. In fact, if you get saved, about all you'll talk about is God for quite a spell to come, I would predict. God's grace will tell me some things to quit doing. You quit, you quit disrespecting God, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts. Quit talking about, quit craving, quit desiring worldly lusts in your life. And all of us, when we were sinners, we were big on worldly lusts. The word lust, epitomeia, it just means strong desires. Sudden there's a reason he put worldly lust there. Hear me, all lusts are not wrong. Epithumia, that word, if you've got a strong desire to learn the Bible, if you've got, and it would be okay, a lust to acquire knowledge of that, but that's not wrong, that's not a sin. God's delighted that you have that. If you've got an epithumia, a strong desire, a lust to see sinners saved, you love to see them get born again, there's nothing wrong with that lust, that desire either. God's very pleased with that. But my text says you'll lay aside, you'll drop, you'll deny worldly lust. That sensual stuff, that stuff that feels good to the base you, to the lower man, that stuff that involved a bunch of cussing, that stuff that involved a bunch of sexuality, that stuff that involved a bunch of bitterness and hatred, you will deny those things. Think of that. Well, now, Brother Backel, I heard the preacher preach a sermon and I just manned up and I got a lot of gumption and I quit all that stuff in my life. You didn't do any such thing. You didn't man up. You didn't do it under your own power. I need an amen. The grace of God helped you do it. The grace of God caused that to drop aside. He said, now, grace can't do that. Listen to Paul. I am what I am. by the grace of God. And it's not two verses later, he says, I labor more abundantly than all of, talking about the apostles, I labor more abundantly than all of, but it's not me that labors, it's the grace of God in me that labors. God's grace will put you to work. God's grace will have you set aside your reverence. It'll have you set aside filthy, low down worldly lusts. But wait a minute, I'm in verse 12. The grace of God will not only teach me negatively to deny those things, it will also teach me to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present evil. Watch this. First thing, God's grace, it comes in negatively. Stop this. Then immediately it comes in positively. Start this. Two things to stop. Three things to start, God is generally more abundant on the positive side than the negative side. His blessings outweigh the burdens, the mountains outweigh the valleys, hallelujah. God's grace will teach you to live, let me get these adverbs, soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. Could I address those for two or three minutes? God's grace. It'll teach me soberly, righteously, and godly. Watch my fingers, I'm gonna point. Soberly, that's how I live inwardly. Righteously, that's how I'm to live outwardly. And then godly, That's how I'm to live upwardly. Isn't that a stroke of genius when it comes to writing? Soberly, the word literally means of a sound mind. It uses sozo and the little noun phren, friend. It means now I've got a saved mind, a born again mind, a sensible mind. When I was lost, when I'm out there in that lost world, they do a lot of silly things. I don't want to abuse the world. They do a lot of stupid things. They do a lot of, I'm afraid, suicidal things. But when you get saved, it affects your mind. God not only saved my soul, God not only gave me a new heart, I'm glad He transformed my mind. Absolutely, hallelujah. Soberly, I think different now that I'm saved. And if you believe you're saved and you're not yet thinking differently, the grace of God hasn't got a hold of you real good yet. Soberly. Then the grace of God will teach me, it'll paddle me if I don't do it, too. It'll teach me to live righteously toward my fellow man. Wonder what that means. I wonder if it means I'll pay the back bails where I cheated the florist that time. of where I got my clothes and walked out at the dry cleaner. And I wonder if that means I'll be honest in my taxes and if I'll be truthful there. Yeah, living righteously means you'll do right with your fellow man. God's grace will teach you this. Living righteously means you'll be straight. You won't be a crook in your dealings. Living righteously might even mean you'll have to go back and get a clear conscience, repay a past bill, maybe with a little interest on top of it. And that's righteous living. And then godly. Just a minute ago we had ungodliness, now we have godly. It's the adverse, it's the reverse. I'll now live with reverence and honor and glory and respect and yes, and worship to my Father. And he's the greatest thing that ever happened to him, hallelujah. I'm gonna tell everybody what he means to me. God's grace, negative, tell me what, stop. Positively, it will tell me what to start. Look what's happening, watch this text. God's grace, past tense, Jesus was born over 2,000 years ago. God's grace presently, it saved me. It's taught me what to quit doing. It's teaching me what to start doing and I'm learning. I'm growing in the grace of God, we say. Well, now you don't reckon if God's grace has got a past tense. and a present tense. You don't reckon it's got a future tense, do you? I am convinced it does. I need an amen. There is such a thing as saving grace. There is such a thing as living grace. And I'm pretty sure there's such a thing as dying grace. Looking to the future. Would you look at verse number 13 in our text? Looking for, that means anticipating. looking ahead, looking for the, what are we looking for, preacher? That blessed hope. That blessed hope. What is the blessed hope? I'll tell you what I believe it is. If you disagree, I'm just gonna love you anyway. I believe it's Jesus coming back to get his church. I believe it's the rapture, the rapture of the church, looking for that blessed hope. The word hope, the Greek word is elpis, E-L-P-I-S. What does it mean, preacher? Let me tell you what it don't mean. It don't mean crossing your fingers. Oh, I hope, I hope, I hope. Let me tell you something else it doesn't mean. I used to do it. I was a kid carrying a rabbit's foot in your pocket and you thought, man, that'd be good luck. I'm hoping something will turn out good. It's not crossing your fingers. It's not rabbit's foot hope. It's not finding the four-leaf clover out there in the patch. Hope is not good luck. The Bible word for hope means God said it. I need to hear a good amen. God said it and it's gonna happen. God said it and he's gonna bring it to pass. God said it, I'm relying on it, there's no doubt it will transpire. The blessed hope, I'm telling you what, though I know the scoffers are saying, where's the promise of his coming? Things are going on like, ah, you mark her down, he is coming again, he is coming again, he always keep, that is our blessed hope. The word blessed means happy. I actually had somebody tell me once, I'd preached on the coming of the Lord, and they said, oh Lord, I hope he don't come yet. I hope he don't come yet. They said, I want to see my kids get grown. I want to see my grandkids. I want to see them love them. I hope he don't come yet. I'll just tell you what, and I thank God for kids and grandkids and great grandkids. I hope he comes tonight. I hope he comes today. Even so, come Lord, the blessed hope. There's a lot more in that word blessed, but I'm gonna run out of time. If I'm not, God's grace will teach me to look for the blessed hope. You say preacher. I don't know that I'm looking for it. Preacher, to be honest with you, I don't even know if I thought of the second coming in six, seven, eight months. Might have been a year or two. Then you are not interacting with the grace of God like you ought to be. God's grace past tense sent Jesus. God's grace present tense saved us, teaching us what not to do and what we ought to do. God's grace future teaching me to look for that coming of my Savior looking for the blessed hope. Watch this. In case you're doubting, I've told you, but in case you're doubting what the blessed hope is, and the glorious appearing, Paul put it, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Blessed hope, the parallel, the glorious appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's that word manifest again. It's the English word epiphany as we have borrowed it from the Greek term. One of these days. And Jonathan, this may not be the rapture now. This may be when he rides away. One of these days, God's gonna unveil his son. One of these days, God's gonna show his darling child. One of these days, the light of the glory of the Lord, every eye will see him. God, God's gonna manifest his son. The blessed hope is on the way, and God's grace will teach me to love it, look for it, anticipate it, and long for it to happen. You know what I'm saying? I mean, standing right here, what I'm saying? This text has a manifestation of God's grace in the past, and a manifestation of God's grace in the future. In the past, that's a virgin birth, that's when Jesus was born, and the manifestation in the future, that's Jesus when he comes back again, hallelujah. Oh, watch this. First time he was manifested, it was sad. There was bloodshed. He died on Calvary, hallelujah. Next time he's manifested, there's no bloodshed. There is no cross. There is no Calvary. There is no suffering. It's all glory. He's coming back to rule and reign. Bless the name of the Lord. The glorious superior of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Great God and, that's a conjunction, our Savior. The particular type of conjunction this is demands that both entities, a conjunction's a connecting word, it connects to the great God and our Savior. This conjunction demands that they be considered as equals. Great God, our Savior. No, Brother Michael, I don't see it that way. The great God is the Father, and our Savior, that's the Lord Jesus, the lowly Son of God. Well, dramatically, that won't work. The great God and my Savior needs some amen. Co-eternal, co-equal, co-deified. Jesus is God, God is Jesus. You can't take a butcher knife and cut God up into pieces and pieces. Our God is one. Jesus Christ is very God, oh very God. The great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Let's go to verse 14. I've been preaching to you 30 minutes and I'm committed to try to conclude our text. Jesus Christ who gave himself for us. Who gave himself for us. Brother Bagwell, what does that mean? Let me tell you one thing it means. It means they didn't murder Jesus. It means they didn't overwhelm him and chain him and put him to death against his own will. He gave himself for us. If I get a good amen, it'll save five minutes of preaching here. They didn't crucify Jesus against his will. Jesus willingly laid down his life, gave himself for us. I find this interesting. My Bible says in John 3, 16, God gave Jesus. God gave Jesus. My Bible says in the book of Hebrews, the Holy Ghost, as Jesus died on the cross, Jesus, through the eternal spirit, offered himself to God. That's the Holy Ghost giving Jesus. Now there's no contradiction in the Bible. I'm 100 miles from implying that. But I got a verse that says God the Father gave him to die for us. I got a verse that says God the Holy Ghost gave him through the eternal spirit. And now I got a verse where Jesus says, huh, I gave myself. He gave himself for us. That implies, in fact to me, that's rock solid proof the Trinity was present at Calvary. God the Father was there until he had to forsake it. God the Father was there. God the Holy Ghost was there. God the Son is there. Jesus gave himself for us. That little preposition for, hupir, that little preposition for means in my stead, in my place, in your stead. I should have been crucified, but he died on Calvary and took my place, so I will not have to pay the wages of sin. He died for me, hallelujah. Who gave himself for us. The preacher bagel, can you add any more? Only if Paul does, let's look. Jesus gave himself for us, verse 14, that he might redeem us from all iniquity. Anybody been redeemed? It's here in my voice this Sunday night that he might redeem us from all iniquity. That word iniquity is something. Ah, nomos. It means without law. God's law is clear. God's law is apparent. Paul says some of God's law is written into our hearts and the rest of God's law is written into... But I became lawless. I didn't wanna do a thing God told me. I became a rebel, that's what a sinner is. I became a rebel against the Almighty. We saw last night here at church, the sin offering, it is a violation of the commandment, a violation of God's statutes, a violation of God's precept. I was a lawless, hell-bound sinner, a rebel against Almighty God. And he came down here and he gave himself that he might Redeem me. I believe I can go over here and still be seen on the camera. Here I am sold into the slavery of sin. I have kicked, I have rebelled, I have thrown off, I have broken the bands asunder of every law God Almighty ever gave me. And it got me in prison. I'm now a slave to my own passions. I'm now a slave. The wages of sin in one way is more sin. You sin and sin and sin, and God will remove the restraints. You'll keep saying, I was unpresent to my wicked, vile passions. And Jesus redeemed you. Oh, listen to that. It is literally a verb that means to buy, to purchase. It involves the expenditure of a great deal of resource. Oh, Brother Jonathan, I'm in jail. I'm a slave to all my sins and passions, and those sins are gonna send me to hell. I'll die lost eternally without God. Jesus shows up one day, he gave himself on Calvary, he shed every drop of his blood, and Jesus says, how much would it take to get him out of the prison house of sin? How much would it take to bust him free? No wonder Micah calls Jesus the breaker. He breaks us out of our sins and the bonds, and Jesus paid the price, and Jesus knocked the gates off the prison house, and I walk out free, thank God. free, redeemed at liberty in the Lord Jesus Christ. He has redeemed me. He has redeemed us from all iniquity. But he did something else. He purified us. He purified us unto himself. He purified, I'll give you that word. Now, this is not what happened when you got saved. When you got saved, your sin was washed away by the blood of Jesus. This purified, it's the catharsis word of the New Testament. Though I'm saved, I occasionally get a little dingy. Though my body's been washed, I've been saved, my feet occasionally get a little dusty. He is purified, and it means God comes, Jesus comes and he bathed me down. This is probably rather than being washed in the blood that happened when I got saved. This is probably being bathed, being washed in the water of the Word of God. He's purifying me. There was a stain. Oh, it's a little dingy, yes. He is purifying me. He is in the process of cleaning me up unto himself. Oh, he wants me to be clean for the church. He wants me to be clean for my family. He wants me to be clean for where I go to be a good man, but unto himself. He mainly wants me to be pure and holy and clean for his honor and glory. Say, a peculiar people, a peculiar people. Peculiar people, what in the world does that mean? A peculiar people. You mean God's people are said to be peculiar? Yes. May I give you the word. I told you when I read the text, I wanted to. It's interesting. Ah, that it is here translated peculiar. No doubt the Spirit of God led our translators specifically here. It means this. Here's my finger again. I'll just illustrate with it. The word peculiar means God saying, I am all the way around you. I am all the way, it's peri-ami. I am all the way around you. That's peculiar. The man out in the world can't say that. The prostitute on the street can't say it. The drunk in the gutter can't say it. The lost politician in his plush office can't. But old brother Bagwell, you too, God says, I got you covered. I'm all, boy, that's peculiar. That is precious. It means one's own. I'm glad tonight he's above me and below me. I'm glad he's on my right hand and my left. I'm glad he's ahead of me and he's my rear ward. He is behind me. He's got me covered. That's why, oh my, his grace does all that. His grace implies all of that. A peculiar people, zealous of good works. He wants me to be zealous of good works. What does that mean, preacher? Zealous, it's a Greek verb, zeo, to boil, zeo. To boil is what it means, red hot. boiling hot, extremely fervent unto good works. I love it. I love to think about it. I love to part boiling hot to good works. You don't have to beg them to give a testimony. You don't have to put a sign up seat to get the bathroom cleaned. You don't have to ask somebody to drive the bus next Saturday afternoon for the youth activity, to go out and hand out trash. You don't have to do, here, eager. What can I do? Give me something next. I'll ball and hop on the good works. And the word there for good works, it means pleasant. It means beautiful. It means acceptable in the eyes of God. God's grace will keep me busy working for his sake. Sermon's over. Don't get your hopes up. I still got one verse to talk about, but the sermon's over. We've seen God's grace. We've seen it in the past. We've seen it in the present. We've seen it in the future. We've seen what it wants me to quit. We've seen what it wants me to start. We've seen how, oh my, we've seen God's grace. And so Paul, The wise elder statesman writes to Titus, the younger, not too experienced yet pastor, preacher. And he says these things, verse 15, these things speak and exhort and rebuke with all authority. Jonathan, Titus is a young man. It'd be easy for people to run over him. You're just a young whippersnapper. We're not gonna do what you, don't you let them despise your authority. When a young preacher mounts that pulpit, he's not young anymore, he's not old, he's a man of God. And if he gives you thus, saith the Lord, you better not despise his authority. And he says, you need to speak and exhort and rebuke this message about the grace of God. Watch this, and then I'll be through. Watch this. Speak. It just means you tell them. God loves you. He has saved us. He wants us to live right. There's some things he wants us to quit, and some things we're not, and we need to apply this in our life. Speak. Speak. But everybody won't get it when you first speak it. Everybody in church that don't have their ears on, they're not speak and exhort. That's a little stronger. Exhort means you might have to go to their house and knock on the door. You might have to sit down with them on the side of the couch. You might have to put your arm around and say, now listen, I don't think you got that when I, you wouldn't use these words, I don't think you got that when I preached it. I've come to personally urge you of the importance of quitting this sin and getting in church and Sunday school and learning my, you exhort, you go a little, you speak, they won't all get it. You urge, you exhort, and they still won't all get it. Sheep are not the most brilliant animals on the farm. They don't get it. There's one more verb, speak, exhort, and rebuke. Ribbit, boy, that's a strong word. That's a my finger in your face word. That's a if you don't do this, God's liable to discipline you. God's liable. This is a course in pastoral theology. Young preacher, tell them, preach it to them. If they don't, go to their homes and urge them and encourage them. Do it one on one. And if they don't get it to, lambast, warn. Do it in love. Do it in fervor. But tell them the consequences of not living by God's grace. Then he said, don't let anybody despise you. Despise, it literally means to think around. Don't let anybody ignore you. Don't let anybody belittle you. Don't let anybody despise. I want to say something and I'm closing. I'm not ashamed of what I preached to you this evening. I am not the least bit hesitant. I would say it all again. I'm not gonna let anybody despise me. I'm not gonna back up. I'm not gonna quit. I'm an advocate of, a recipient of, and a cheerleader for the grace of God. The grace of God that came 2,000 years ago in Jesus. The grace of God that saved me. The grace of God that told me some things to quit. and is still telling me some things to start doing. The grace of God has got me looking for Jesus to come. The grace of God that's purifying me. The grace of God that is making me peculiar, zealous of good works. Thank God. I'm not gonna let any of you talk me down. Let's be thankful and let's be proud of what we believe about the grace of God. Sunday night sermon. in the Fletcher First Baptist Church Revival. May we bow our heads. May we close our eyes. Father, Lord, I don't know how the pastor wants to continue the invitation, but Father, from the bottom of my heart, I'd like to ask that out there, out there in cyberspace, wherever these words might go, would you put some sinner under conviction, Would you show somebody that's on their way to hell that they don't have to die and go there? That Jesus loved them. The grace of God appeared on their behalf. Would you bring them to Jesus? Oh God, create that desire now and help them by grace through faith to trust you. There's that word grace. Lord, save that soul listening to me who is nearest hell. I ask it in Jesus' name. And I ask it for Jesus' sake, amen.