I'd like for you to take your Bibles and turn back to Ephesians chapter 6 this morning. Ephesians chapter 6. I've entitled this message, it's been a couple of weeks now, but we want to pick up where we left off last week. I've entitled this message, The Whole Armor of God Part 2. And I do want to read this opening part, because it all revolves around verse 10 through verse 13, where he says, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the walls of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. And this is where we left off two weeks ago in verse 13 through verse 15. Wherefore, taking to you the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand in the evil day, and having done all to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace." Now, it's going to be kind of hard for you to remember because I know there's a lot happened between this Sunday and two Sundays ago when we met together. But if you'll recall from that previous message on the whole armor of God, I tried to make it clear to you and to me as I've studied these things and thought about them, The whole armor of God in its entirety, and there are six pieces mentioned. We looked at three two weeks ago, and we're going to look at three more this morning. But the entirety of this whole armor of God, folks, all of it, and we've got to get this settled in our mind, it is aimed against legalism. And that's so important that we understand that. As we saw before, putting on that armor, folks, it's an act of our minds, by which we continually, and this is so important, we continually remember that every act of obedience, every one of them, that proceeds from our persons, everything that we do, it never entitles us to any part of salvation. Paul put it like this in Titus chapter 3 verse 5, he said, not by works of righteousness which we have done. I've said this so many times, I feel like it's more than a broken record. Not by works of righteousness. You know what that tells me? We do works of righteousness. Believers do. But he tells us even by the works of righteousness that we do, assisted by God the Holy Spirit. That's the only way we could do them anyhow, is it's God who worketh in you both the will and to do of His good will and pleasure. Even those works of righteousness that we do, folk, He says, not by works of righteousness which we've done, but by His what? By His mercy. He saved us through the washing of regeneration. That's the new birth. Belief of the truth. What's that? That's true conversion. Think about it like this. Now, we're here this morning. We're seeking to worship God in spirit, rejoicing in Christ Jesus, putting no confidence in human flesh. And I hope our minds and our attitudes are in the right places this morning. But folks, listen to me. Our worship, we've prayed this morning, our prayers, our improvements in being conformed to the image of Christ, our growth and grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, I run into race that religion talks about, and anything else that we might do in the way of pleasing God, it does not improve our entitlement to heaven, to eternal glory. Paul wrote to those Roman believers, after he had already told them, all things work together for the good of them that love God. After you told them already that they were justified based on the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ from Romans chapter 2 down through Romans chapter 8. After you told them that they were elect to God in Romans chapter 8, 9, 10 and part of 11. Beginning in chapter 12 he says, I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God. In other words, by what God's done for you, what's been revealed to you that He's done and accomplished through the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice made acceptable by God through Christ Jesus our Lord. And it's not before. It's only after we understand the mercy and grace of our God that we're ever prepared to glorify and honor God in any act of obedience which we partake of. We looked at those first three pieces of the armor in the message a couple of weeks ago. And those first three pieces of armor are pieces that every believer consciously puts on initially in the new birth, in regeneration and conversion. Look back at what he said here. He says in verse 3, Stand therefore, having your loins girt about, with the truth. And if you notice the tense of the verb, having, what is that? It's an event that's already recurred. He doesn't say for us to gird our loins with truth. He doesn't say for us to put on the breastplate of righteousness. Ephesians chapter 6, verse 14. He doesn't tell us to shot our own feet with the gospel of the preparation of peace. But he says, have it. You know, a verse popped into my mind this morning. I'm sitting here going back over my notes this morning. And when I thought about these first three pieces of the army, you know who I thought about? The prodigal son. You remember he was always in that far off country, was he not? And when he was in the far off country, he was always, I remember we preached on this not too long, he was always a son, right? And God moved in purpose to bring Him back. God was teaching us and showing to us a picture of how He saves His people, how He brings His children to a true saving knowledge and interest in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And remember, when He came to His own, and we cannot come to our own on our own will. No, we can't. He came to His own. God moved Him. God made him willing in the day of his power. He said, I'm going to go back to my father. And he said, in my father's house, I know how many servants have more than they need. I'll go back there and I'll tell him, make me one of your hired servants. And he gets up and he goes back, right? And the next thing, the father, looking, sees him a great way off. And the father runs to him. We don't have to go back through all this. And he brings him and he tells the servants to do what? He says, put a robe on his back, put a ring on his finger, put shoes on his feet. Three things. Three pieces of armor. What pieces? Have your loins girt about with truth? He didn't tell him, put on the breastplate. He didn't say, put on the robe. He told the servants, you put on my son, what? You put the robe on him. You put the ring on him. They say, hand it to him and say, would you please put this on? Put it on him. Put the shoes on his feet. Because this my son that was dead, that's where we were at. He's alive. So this is an act. These first three are acts that have already been done. Like I told you a couple of weeks ago, we might say that they're kind of like the believers boot camp in becoming soldiers in the king's army. Apart from having already put on these pieces of armor, folks, there can be no warfare unless we have on the breastplate of righteousness, unless our loins are girded about with the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, and unless we have our feet shod with the gospel of the preparation of peace. We're not in the battle yet. We might be fighting to be moral. We might be trying to be sincere. But see, we're exhorted to use what we've already put on continually in our fight against the deceptions of Satan. We have to be reminded continually of these things because they're vital parts of our defense, and we have such a tendency to forget. These are things that are established from the beginning, and they're things that that never changed. So knowing that we put on these first three pieces this morning, we want to look at these next three pieces that you and I are encouraged to put on, we're to put them on. And you know what? We're to keep on putting on as we grow in grace and knowledge. This is a continual, lifelong thing where we put them on. Now notice the first one. Here's three more pieces. And the language changes too. Before he talks about having, in other words, because you have it, these first three. But then he starts in verse 17, or verse 16, and he says, above all, take. You see that language changes. We don't have it, what do we do? We take, and what do we take? We take the shield of faith. Faith is an unusual thing. We know this much, all men have not faith, do we not? We know that some men believe, but I tell you what, their faith is the faith of devils, is it not? He said the devils believe, and what do they do? They tremble. The language that the Apostle uses here to these Ephesian believers, take to yourself the shield of faith, it has the same sense as when the Apostle Paul told the Hebrew believers, you know what he told them? He tells you and me, and it's actually from Habakkuk, the first place it's recorded. You know what he tells them? The just live how? The Apostle John put it like this, and they overcame him who the accuser of the brethren. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. And they loved not their lives unto death. Turn over to 1 John chapter 5. See, we seem to be of the opinion you and I can overcome things on our own, don't we? We can't overcome anything on our own. That's why we fail so many times in our attempts to rid our lives of certain things. We try to do it in our own strength. We think, well, we'll become new and improve. We'll try harder. We'll resist more strongly. And see, that's the thing, is if it's us doing the resisting, you want me to tell you what's going to happen? you're going to fail. Notice what he says here in 1 John 5, verse 4. 1 John 5, verse 4. For whatsoever is born of God, it attempts to overcome the world. And what it says, no, it overcomes the world. And this is the victory that overcomes the world, evens and italics, so it wasn't in the original. What overcomes the world? Our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world? But he that believeth, language is so important that Jesus, where did you see that word the first time there? Matthew chapter 1 verse 21, Thou shalt call His name Jesus. What does Jesus mean? Jehovah our Savior. What do we believe? Jehovah our Savior. Who is He? He is the Son of God. See, think about it like this, we neither walk by nor judged by outward appearance and circumstances. You and I, as God's children, we believe, we walk by, and we judge by what God's revealed to us in His Word. But notice what He tells us in our text. He says, taken to you the shield of faith, wherewith you shall be able to do what? Quench all the fiery darts, not some, but all the fiery darts of the wicked. Who's the wicked? That's Satan. These flaming darts, these fiery darts that he talks about here, they refer to the various particulars of Satan's deceitfulness. And you know what deceives us most of the time? Legal doubts. Legal obedience. Most people that are in church today, you know why they're in church? Because they're scared if they're not in church, what's going to happen to them? It's wrong motive. You know why most people give a tenth of all that they've got? Because they've been wrongly taught if they don't give a tenth of all that they've got, what have they done? I can still hear the old preacher over in Freeport just thundering it, me and you. If you don't give a tenth of everything that you've got, you're a God-robber. I can hear it. You God-robbers. We were poor. We didn't have a tenth. You can't give a tenth of nothing. And I just felt, Pam and I felt so guilty about that. I don't, I mean, it was just, just ugh. And he makes things like, if you don't give it, God's gonna get it. And my card break down, I'd say, there it is. It's just, that's legal bull. That's mumbo jumbo what that is. That's nothing but religious hocus pocus is what that is. It's like waving a magic wand. Guilty feelings. Does he deceive us with that? But see, this is the thing. When we're guilty, we are to act upon what we believe that is revealed in God's testament. What does God say of me? Not what do I say of me, or what does my conscience say of me, or what does the accuser of their brethren say of me? There was only one that he could find nothing in. the Lord Jesus Christ. Hope we're to live by faith, walk by faith, judge by faith, all according to God's testimony, not according to Satan's lie and not according to human reasoning. And this especially applies, and this is the one that gets so many, this applies specifically in this area of judging saved and lost. In this area of speaking peace or not speaking peace to who? To our friends and our family. I love my family. I've got a brother that I love dearly. And I know all you do too. But I tell you what, I love my God more than I love my family. Don't you? You better. And since I love my God more than I love my family, one of the things I will not compromise is, you know what I won't compromise? I won't compromise His glory and His honor in order to include them in something that they don't believe to begin with. You say, well, that's just being mean-spirited. No, it's not. Read 2 John 9-11. If any man abides not in the doctrine of Christ, what is he? He's not God. He's not God. If he don't abide in the doctrine, you say, well, there we go, we're back on that doctrine thing. You're saved by doctrine, are you not? Isn't that what the word tells us? Doctrine's important. Doctrine's not some big mystical mystery. It's teaching. It's the teaching of the Scriptures. And we have to judge our friends and our families accordingly. Here's the next piece. Look what he says. Take the shield of faith. But he says the next piece, what do we do? We take the helmet. The kids ought to remember this from when we had vacation Bible school, that helmet of salvation. He says you take the helmet of salvation. And what do you do? Take it means you take it. You put the helmet on. Now again, this is all a picture of a Roman soldier. And at Roman's shoulder, there was the vital things that are protected. He had on the breastplate of righteousness, which protected all of his vital organs. Everything that's important concerning salvation. But then he's to take and put on, what, this helmet of salvation. Why is that important? Well, it refers, when we talk about covering this thing up, what are we covering up? Our mind, our intellect, our reasoning. You know, he said through Isaiah the prophet, come now, let us do what? Reason together. That involves this thing, this mind. It involves my conscience. And see, it refers to judgment in areas of saving loss. It refers to discernment concerning good and evil. You know, by nature, we don't know what's good and what's evil. See, let me give you an example. By nature, before God saved us, what did we think was good? Go to church. Right? To tithe. How did we determine whether in our lost estate, how do we determine whether or not we considered somebody safe? They went to church, right? Or they pray. That's a praying man. I know he knows God because he's a prayer warrior. You don't think Judas Iscariot prayed? You don't think the scribes and Pharisees prayed? You don't think the Muslims prayed today? There's a pack of Jews over there still praying to Jehovah God. The same group in our Lord's day that claimed they had one father, even God, they claimed Jehovah's our father. Our Lord looked at them and said to them, he ain't your God. Who's your father? Satan, the devil. They were serving in his temple, participating in religious ceremonies that God had established. And God said, you're not God's children. You're of your father, the devil. See, this showed me in this thing of salvation, you know what's involved in it? Our minds. Our minds. And you look at the battlefield that we're fighting this warfare in, it's not out there. Where's it at? You fight it every day as a child of God right in here. I'm going to tell you what, every sin you've ever committed, where did it start at? David. up on the roof. King David, remember? When he should have been out as the leader of Israel, he should have been out in the battlefield fighting. But he stayed at home. And he was up on his rooftop. And he looked. And what did he look and see? Bathsheba. And when he looked, what did he do? He lusted. But see, the way his eyes got turned over there, that mind had to make a conscious decision to look over there. So this is the battlefield. And that means that we who believe, we're to understand and view ourselves. Here's how you're to view yourself this morning. You believe this gospel. If you've rested in Christ as the Lord your righteousness, you're to view yourself as saved, as justified, listen to this, as sanctified, and as sure and certain for eternal glory as if you're already there. You say, we can't do that. That's what faith demands. And it's not based on carnal reasoning. And this is where everybody goes astray. It's not based on feelings. I've told you this for years. I feel, most of the time, more loss than I feel saved. But it's not about what I feel. What does God's Word say? What's He told me? He's told me, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall never be ashamed. All of it is according to God's Testament. All our thoughts, all our reasoning, all our imaginations, folks, they have to be determined in the light of the Gospel. What does God's Word tell us? I like this. Listen to this. 2 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 4 and 5, Paul wrote this, For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. They are not of this earth, but they are mighty through God, to the pulling down of strongholds. Now, when we started this off several weeks ago, a month or so ago, I told you about them preachers I was under. We was out there actively seeking to destroy and root out demons out of everything. That's not what this is telling me. Because notice the language. Notice what he says in it. Casting down imaginations. Where's imaginations at? They're not some mystical demon floating around here that makes Toys fall off of shelves. Imaginations, where are they at? Right here in our mind. And high thoughts, where are they at? They are all in here. That does what? What do all of these strongholds, these imaginations and these high thoughts seek to do? They exalt themselves against one thing. The knowledge of God. See that? Told you this over and over and over again. One thing Satan wants you of, he wants you ignorant and having no knowledge of the true and living God. Knowledge of God. And when you're ignorant of the knowledge of God, what does he do? And he wants us, he encourages us, bring into captivity every thought to the obedience, not my obedience, but to the obedience of Christ. Who kept the law? perfectly and completely. Who magnified the law and made it honorable? Not me. I should have strived to honor God. If you want to try to keep the Ten Commandments and you do it, you can actually do it from a motive of sincerity and you can actually convince your mind that you're not doing it thinking it saves you or qualifies you or entitles you to more grace here or more glory hereafter. Go for it. But if you think somehow or another that what you do or don't do makes a difference between life and death, examine yourself. Our minds, folks, our minds are not to be focused on us. We're to look unto Jesus, right? The author and completer of our faith, folks, the language, Hebrews chapter 12, verse 1, he ran the race. He finished the race, did he not? And he did it not as a private person. What did he do it as? As a representative. He did it in my place. He did it in my stead in such a way that it becomes just as much mine as if what I've done. People in my day are trying to run the race. We ran the race in Christ. And now because we've won the race and we have obtained the prize. What's the prize? Mansion over the hilltop. No, Christ! And I tell you what, when we put on this helmet of salvation, folks, it's the opposite of having a divided mind, and it's the opposite of being tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine that both James and Paul warned us against. But here's the last thing. Take the sword of the Spirit. Notice what he says. He says, Take the sword of the Spirit, which is what? This is the only weapon that we have that's offensive. Not offensive as in defensive. It's an offensive way. It could be offensive and defensive, could it not? The Word of God, when we think about a sword, you can either kill your enemy, or when your enemy seeks to kill you, what can you do with it? You've seen sword fights before. You can block them. The attempts to end your life. What's our soul? He tells us here, it's the Word of God. The Bible. The Holy Scripture. Look over at 2 Timothy chapter 3. He had already told Timothy in verse 15 of chapter 2 study to show thyself approved unto God a workman that need not be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth. But he tells this same young man again here in 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 14. But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned. Now if you've learned something, what's happened? Somebody's taught you. who had done the teaching, his mama and his grandma. Thou hast learned, and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them. And from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation. But to salvation is one way. Where is the dad? through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works." What are you saying there? Well, this sword of the Spirit that we have, the final authority in every argument for the child of God, what is it? The second Lord. But notice how he closes this thing out. Look at verse 18 through 20 of our text. Praying always, with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints, and from me that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds, that therein I might speak boldly as I ought." You see, as I ought to speak. You know, God uses means. There's no doubt about it. And prayer is one of the main means that God has given His children by which we grow in grace and by which we receive His blessings and by which we withstand all the enemies of grace. But you know, sadly, God, since even though God gave you and me as his children that name, it's one of the most neglected means that has been given to us. I'd say the second one that's close to it is the one we just talked about. The weapon that we've given, which is the word of God, you know what we don't do? How many of you this week, myself included, how many of you really studied to show yourself approved under God this week? I'm not talking about how you live. Did you pick this book up one time this way, just once, and read a portion of it? That's indicting, isn't it? How much time we waste. This is a love letter concerning our Lord, and yet how poorly we pay attention. And it's the same way with prayer. We neglect prayer. How many of you this week have prayed? How many of you prayed for our worship service this morning? Prayed for me as your pastor that like the Apostle Paul, that I might have the ability to speak boldly the way I ought to speak. It's tough to stand up here and look out on people's faces. I can tell you over the 27 years that I have been your pastor, I've had some looks come from me from people that sit out there that if looks could kill, I'd be blowed all over this curtain back here. And it's hard to stand up here and say some of these things that I say. It ain't no easy. Any of you men that have ever stood there, this is tough to stand up and be honest with people. I tell you, this thing's life or death. This is not a game that we're playing. We're talking about the eternal destiny of men and women's souls. We better be truthful. And I need your prayers. I covet your prayers. How many of us prayed for Bill? How many of us really, actually, sincerely prayed for Bill as he was down there in Albany this last week? I mean, in Australia? Did it even cross your minds? He told me this week, I said, how'd it go? He said, well, he said, a lot of them, they're reformed. But he said, they all looked at me with this puzzled look when I talked about true repentance, like, what in the world are you talking about? Pray. See, the ones Paul wrote to, their prayers were the means that God used to deliver Paul and other ministers from the dangers and enemies of the gospel. And our Lord told us, men ought always to pray. Didn't He say, pray without Paul said it, pray without ceasing. We ought to remember to pray for our brethren who minister the Gospel everywhere. We ought to pray for Brother James down in Malawi and those men who he is training up in the Gospel. We ought to pray for our teachers. We ought to pray for our brethren who are going through trials and afflictions, whether it's sickness or whether it's temptation or whether it's sin. How many times have you offered a prayer this week for one that you know is your brother or sister? in Christ. We have a tendency to take it so lightly, either out of lack of teaching or out of lack of gratitude, one of the two. We've got to always remember, God's sovereign. You hear? He's absolutely sovereign. And He has declared the end where? From the beginning. And there is no thing on this planet that's going to catch Him by accident. But you know what? He's also, even though He's sovereign, even though He's declared the end from the beginning, He's declared the means to accomplish that end. God saves His elect, does He not? But how does He save them? He saves them through the hearing and the preaching and the believing of the gospel. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing comes by what? The Word of God. How shall they call on Him of whom they have not what? And how shall they hear except one preach? And how shall they preach except one be? What? Sin. God delivers us. But He delivers us how? How do you deliver Paul? By prayer and by encouragement from His Word. God comforts us, does He not? You want comfort this morning? He comforts us through a continual renewal in our minds of what? His truth. His Word. And let me say this, because I know some people, they just get all bent out of shape, but truth is truth, whether you like it or not. Prayer is not a modification of God's will. Let me be very frank. I know people say, well, how dare you say something like that? Our prayers, do you hear me? Our prayers do not change anything. You say, oh yeah, they do. No, they don't. Now, let's just be honest. Our prayer, if it's true prayer, true prayer, you know what it is? It's a glorification of God's will and purpose. Saints are called to pray. You know what true prayer is? If you really pray, it's an act of worship. It's an acknowledgment of your total dependence on who? On the God you're praying to. True prayer is an evidence Lord, save me or I perish. That's a prayer. You know, when he was out there walking on the water, got his eyes off of Jesus, he started to sink. What would he do? Peter prayed, didn't he? Sometimes sinking makes us pray. Sometimes we ought to be looking for sinking so it'll draw our hearts out to him. Now, I'm not saying I hope the Lord sinks my boat this afternoon where He'll draw me out. But listen, when problems come our way, we seem to hold the problems in contempt. But the problems are used to do what? To drive our hearts and our minds and our souls to hell. But it doesn't change anything. One of the greatest encouragements to be diligent in prayer is to know that God has chosen that particular means as a channel of blessing for His people. The disciples one time they were with our Lord and they said, Lord, teach us to pray in Luke chapter 11. And He said, after this manner pray. Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. What's the next word? Thy will be done. And most of the prayers that we pray, you know what it is? I won't. Lord, do this for me. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth, down here, the same way it's done where? In heaven. And it's a great encouragement to be diligent in the use of all the means of grace that God's given us. I love this verse, the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man. availeth much." Well, hold on. Didn't Paul say, there is none righteous, no not one? The only way I can be a righteous man, wherever I've got to be, is to be in Christ. Now that for which Paul desired prayer, he wanted boldness. He wanted boldness to preach the gospel as he was engaged in this warfare that he's telling these believers, look, you're in the battle with me too. And when we think about this boldness, it has to do with the courage that it takes to tell sinners the truth that exposes Satan's wiles, his deceitfulness. His boldness concerns that truth that shows sinners that their only hope of salvation and final glory is in the Christ who has established the only righteousness that enabled God to be just when He justified the ungodly. That's why I read Galatians chapter 2 to you. See, we need to pray in this area and we need encouragement and support in this area from our brethren because we all have a tendency, when Paul stood before Peter, the tendency would be because he was shorter in the faith as far as time-wise than Peter, sometimes we have a tendency to draw back, do we not? And he was praying, you pray that the Lord would give me grace to stand up in the face of whoever stands before me, whoever sits in front of me, to be honest with men and women's souls. And folks, that's why we put on the whole armor of God. This boldness comes from a God-given knowledge and a God-given understanding of the truth of God's glory, of Christ's preeminence, and the fact that His righteousness alone is the only way of salvation for sinners. You think about when He talked with His apostles as He stood before those men in John chapter 12 that claimed they believed the gospel, claimed they trusted and relied on Him, and many of them had believed on His name. And he said to them, Nevertheless, among the chief rulers also many believed on him. But because of the Pharisees, they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue. For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God." Paul says, Don't let me be found in that number. Let me stand up when I'm presented an opportunity to preach the gospel. and never draw back, never pull away. Consider what the Lord Jesus Christ told His apostles in John chapter 16 verses 1 through 4 when He said, These things have I spoken unto you that you should not be offended, that they shall put you out of the synagogues. And they did. Yea, the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that they do God's service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor have they known Me. But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, you will remember that I told you." What? If they hated Me, who else are they going to hate? They are going to hate you. Why do they hate Christ? Because He fed the five thousand. Because he restored sight to the blind. Surely that's what angered him. Maybe it was because he raised the dead. Surely that would anger him. Here's a man that everybody loved and admired and respected. He raises him from the dead. And they hate Christ over it. And not only do they hate Christ, but they hate Lazarus over it too. What was it that did it? Why do they hate Christ? Because he told them the truth. What truth did he tell them? He told them, get this, that their deeds were evil. Now what were their deeds? They were a bunch of lowlife scumbag drug dealers is what they were. No, what were their evil deeds? They thought that by their keeping the law and by their serving in that temple and that tabernacle and by their tithing and by their long prayers, that God was pleased with him and he would bring them to glory based on their performances. And he said, you're deeds are evil. And because he told them the truth, they said, we will not have this man rule over us at all. And I tell you, this boldness that we're talking about doesn't come magically or mystically. It comes as we continually put on that whole armor of God. And as we study to show ourselves approved unto God as a workman that is never ashamed, and as we learn and grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. I tell you, one of the greatest weapons that Satan has, one of his most legalistic tools that he uses, is to promote peace in the name of love. It is. Paul said to those Galatians that he had been so harsh with, he told them, if you be circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. He told them, he said, am I your enemy because I tell you the truth? See, people seem to think that if you tell people the truth and it hurts their feelings, that you've wronged them. You want me to tell you the greatest love I could show to you this morning? To be dead honest with you. To point out to you that the only hope any sinner has is in Christ Jesus and His accomplished work, period. But I've got to have faith, not by works of righteousness, which you've done. Can you rely totally and completely on one that you've never seen, that you've never handled, that you've never heard his voice physically, and trust in a righteousness that he established over 2,000 years ago by his very obedience unto death as your only hope of salvation? You can't do that by nature. That's impossible. With men, that's impossible. It is. But thank God, with God, what is impossible with men is possible with Him. And He causes His children. I've got no hope. We sing just, My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest brain. Holy Ling. Can you lean on anything any better than that? Can you have any more sure hope than that? That hope that's entered within the veil where the Lord Jesus Christ sits? I tell you, we have to learn and be convinced that one of the most uncompassionate things we can ever do is to tell or to even imply to a lost sinner that he's saved. A lot of people ask me, they have through the year, do you think I'm saved? That's not for me to determine. Do you believe the gospel? Because see, I tell you what they're wanting to say. Most people when they ask you that question, do you think I'm saved? They're wanting to tell you, oh yeah, brother, sister, I know you're saved because you come to church every Sunday. Because you love people. I tell them, have you rested in Christ as the Lord your right? Have you cried out and have you called upon the name of the Lord? I mean His name, Jehovah Sitka knew the Lord our right. And if you have, what do you need me to tell you you're saved for? Huh? It's not my thought. It's what God thinks of us. And if a man or woman is found in Christ Jesus, folks, I tell you what, they are accepted in blood. Unto him who is able to keep you from falling, and present you holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in his sight, be all glory and praise for ever worlds without end. Let's stand together and we'll be dismissed. I appreciate your presence this morning. The Lord bless you and keep you until we see you next Lord's Day. Okay.