Titus

[0:00] Paul's Epistle to Titus Chapter 2 The 13th and 14th verses The Epistle of Paul to Titus Chapter 2 The 13th and 14th verses Looking for that blessed hope And the glorious appearing Of the great God And our Saviour Jesus Christ Who gave himself for us That he might redeem us From all iniquity And purify unto himself A peculiar people And are zealous Of good works It's a great blessing

[1:05] To know anything Of the least hope In the mercy of God It's a great blessing To know anything about God To believe in him Many today Know nothing of God Know nothing of his power Know nothing of the personal work Of redemption Have no desire for it But how God Has seen fit to Reveal to a peculiar people Those who Were chosen by him In eternity And he calls them In a peculiar way Under himself

[2:06] And not only that They have a blessed hope And how can they hope How can you hope For anything If you do not realise What you're hoping for Hope is an evidence Of faith And faith In the Lord Jesus Will bring about Complete righteousness That is if we have A faith In him A right faith A God given faith To have a hope In this God And how God He brings his people In various ways To hope In him One of the Lord's servants One who we love

[3:06] For the truth To see I've heard him say On more than one occasion That we As a denomination Are known as Hope Hope souls As if we hope And that's as far as we can go In this life Which is perfectly true We cannot go beyond hope Even assurance Which the Lord's people Feel at times Within their heart Is based Upon a hope Because if there was no hope There could be no assurance Now the Lord's people then This That they hope Is for this life As well as the life To come How necessary It is for us To have a hope

[4:07] This side of the grave And how we Are brought into Various circumstances To believe in this God And how he teaches His people By the very circumstances They are brought into To look to him And to hope And especially When we come To the throne of grace Is there that Vitality within our prayers Is there that Reality As we pray Hoping Not only that God Is going to hear us But hoping that Our prayers Will be acceptable Unto him And that we Should be able To obtain Answers To our petitions The throne of grace Cannot be used Too much

[5:07] We know we can Become dead and Formal As we come to The throne of grace That the Lord Has seen fit to Favour his people With it For providence As well as The things of grace And there is Nothing but what We can If under the Influence of the Holy Spirit Take to the Lord In prayer All our Circumstances In this life Everything Connected With this life Our personal Problems Our families And above all Our never dying Soul Have you Ever Had to take Your never dying Soul To the Lord And as you Have prayed to The Lord Have you hoped

[6:08] That the Lord Would hear you And has it Been a hope Within your heart That as you Pray to the Lord That he would Teach you And that he Would bring you Into the knowledge Of true redemption That he would Cleanse you From all your Sin And your Iniquities And that There has been Such a reality As you've spoken Before this God And yet At other Times For the most Part you Seem so Unconcerned And so Careless With regard To your Standing before This God Now the Lord he Teaches us To realise This That we Cannot Pray As and When we Would Pray And Yet There is That command Within his Word Pray without Ceasing

[7:08] And the Lord will Never cease In bringing Something into Our experience To cause us To pray And And if we If we If we May go On for Quite a Period of Time It could Be even Months Without True vital Prayer Or feeling True vital Prayer Within our Heart The Lord Will eventually Bring something Into our Experience And cause Us To pray So that There will be No ceasing This side Of the grave With regard Part of Prayer Another thing The Lord Will teach Us And it's This The difference Between real And formal Prayer Those who Have been Taught What real Prayer is Will know

[8:09] It They'll have Experience Of it It's like This To put it Simply When You're Talking To Face To face With Someone That you Love You're Able To Tell them Perhaps Very Secrets You have A confidence In them And you're Able to Speak To them And there They are You realise That you're Speaking to These people Or this Particular Friend There may Be other Times When you're Thinking of This friend Although that Friend could Be absent But you're Thinking And perhaps You're thinking Of what you Would say So you realise There's a Difference Between Having that Particular friend Personally With you And having Them absent And the Same applies With prayer There are Those times

[9:09] When you Feel beyond All doubt That the Lord is With you That the Lord is Listening To your Poor Petitions And you Hope and Believe That he'll Answer Those Petitions For instance We may Ask a Friend For a Certain Paper But as We ask We hope That they'll Concede To our Request But on The other Hand They may Not But there's A hope Now when The child Of god He prays To his God He hopes Now looking For that Blessed hope And that Glory is Appearing In other Words Paul in Writing to Titus He's not Saying well Now you're In the full Assurance of This god And god Is with You in Everything No You may Not feel The presence Of god

[10:10] Now But you Look forward To this This god Is going To appear This god Is coming To you He's going To appear To you And it's Something to Look for Because it's Going to be A blessed Hope The very Thing that You're Hoping For is A blessed Hope Because this God Would never Put such A hope Within your Heart Unless it Came from Him And he Was going To bless That hope Now There's a Difference Between a Hope And a Blessed Hope A blessed Hope Is a Hope Which is God Given We can Have a Hope From the Devil We can Hope That this God Is our God To escape From hell We can Hope That this God Is our God Because we Want him To appear For us In this Life Or we Want him To extend Our Life But to

[11:12] Have a Blessed Hope Is to Have a Hope With a Blessing In it And it Will be a Spiritual Blessing That we Should be Seeking After And that Blessing We should Look for Looking for That blessed Hope And the Glorious Appearing Now we've Spoken on the Last Lord's Day with To this Appearing Haven't We But it's A Blessed Thing A Wonderful Thing To have This God Appear To us Personally And especially When we feel To need Him And when His people Have need His goodness Will find out A way And he Will appear To them And he Will appear To them Not as a Just and a Holy God But he Will appear To them As this Great God

[12:13] And our Saviour Jesus Christ A great God Now this Great God We cannot Comprehend Or understand Only As he Sees fit To appear To us In various Ways And at Various Times But his Greatness Is such One says They aren't Coming To a King Large Petitions With Thee Bring For his Love And grace Are such None Can ever Ask Too much You may Think as you Come before This God That you're Asking too Much You may Think that Your sins Or the Particular Pleading Of your Heart Is far Too much For this God To give You You may Feel your Unworthiness Or you May feel

[13:13] That this God Would not Look upon You As he Does His People Because There's Something About you Which is Different To anybody Else Well let me Put it to you Like this In other Words You're a Very Peculiar Person As far As your Religion Is Concerned Well this Text is About Peculiar People And they Walk In a Very Peculiar Pathway It's a Pathway Which is Only Known To them And their God It's not A pathway Where Everybody Walks the Same Path And Follow In the Same Footsteps It's a Lonely Pathway And it's a Very Peculiar Pathway Too The way In which The Lord Deals With His People Because The very Things Which One Would Think The Lord Would Preserve Them From The Lord Permits Them To go Into And the Lord Teaches Them The foolishness

[14:13] Of their Very Heart How he Permits Them He Doesn't Force Them Into Sin But he Permits Them To sin He Permitted Adam And Eve To sin He Permitted Satan To Tempt Job A God God The Father Permitted Satan To tempt His own Dear Son And thus We can See The way Which God Permits Certain Things To come Into the Experiences Of his People Which May cause Them to Feel That this God is Not their God He's Not These Things Don't Proceed From God But they Do They're All Known To God And there Is a Purpose In all These Things Now the Lord then As we've Already Sung Will teach His People That they're

[15:15] Sinners And he Does this By permitting Them to Sin And they Know it Now there Are some Who go Into Great Sin And there Are others Who Are more Or less Lead a Sheltered Life But the Lord he Teaches Them By his Spirit In his Own peculiar Way That they're Sinners And as Sinners He also Teaches Them That they're In need Of salvation Now as They're brought There This is a Peculiar Path Way Because at One time They never Realised That they Were sinners And they Never realised That they Were in need Of redemption They thought Like so many Think well Of course If they Did this And they Did the Other And they Lived A good Clean Life And if

[16:16] They Helped Others And did Their very Best To live A good Life Within Then the Lord Would reward Them For it That's Not the Way At all You see Because The more We do The more We're brought Into bondage Because we're Brought to Trust in Ourself Trust in Our works And our Good deeds But the Lord He will Show you That whatever You do And whatever You pray For Will be Of no Avail It will Be You'll be Brought Absolutely Dependent Upon him Not only To For your Salvation But also To teach You to Pray And also To look To him To answer Your petitions Or in The way In which The Lord Will deal With this And how The Lord Will deal With you As a Sinner And you'll

[17:19] Be brought To realise That this God This God Alone Is able To help You And you'll Look upon This God In a totally Different way In which He once Did Now looking Then for That blessed Hope And that Glorious Appearing Deep down In your Heart There may Be this Hope And yet In this Peculiar way You're wondering Is this Of the Lord Is the Lord Going to Be Gracious Has His Mercy Clean Gone Forever Shall I Ever Know Anything Of the Work of Redemption In my Life In my Soul Are these Things For me Or are They Not And that Shall Come With the Hymn Writer And perhaps You won't Get very Far Or much Further Than this

[18:19] It is a Point I Long to Know Not a Point I Want to Know How the Hymn Writer Was led By the Spirit With those Very Words It is a Point I Long to Know After it Causes Anxious Thought Do I Love the Lord Or No Am I His Or am I Not Well now Let me Ask you Have you Always Thought this Have you Always Longed to Know Or was There a Time in Your Life When You Weren't Very Concerned Whether You Knew The Lord Or Not But Now There is Something Peculiar Taken Place In Your Life Which You Can't Rightly Understand You Can't Describe It is So Peculiar But You Long To Know Because There is This Deep Down Within Your Heart And Then Perhaps This

[19:20] May Be Your Pathway You Look At Others And You Say Yes Well Of Course They Do Know Themselves As Sinners But I Don't Feel Myself To Be A Sinner Well I'll Tell You This May The Lord So Be Merciful To You Because If You're Led To Really Know What You Are As A Sinner Whether You've Gone Into Sin Openly Or Whether You've Been Kept It Is A Most Solemn Is The Most Painful Pathway And Yet As One Of The Hymn Writers Says A Sinner Is A Sacred Thing There's Something Very Sacred In Being A Sinner A Sinner Is A Sacred Thing The Holy Ghost Has Made Him So In Other Words The Holy Ghost Comes

[20:20] To This Peculiar People And In His Own Peculiar Way Shows Them That They're Sinners And They Know They're Sinners And They Know That They Cannot Enter Heaven Without Their Sins Being Pardoned Now Why Did We Read That 14th Of John Well I'll Tell You Because It Says There Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled You Believe In God Believe Also In Me You Believe In God And In Your Peculiar Way You Believe This God Is Just And Holy But How The Lord Jesus Has Believed Also In Me Not Only God But Also In The Lord Jesus Why Why Because It Is Through The Lord Jesus There's Access To God

[21:21] The Father And It Is Through The Lord Jesus And Only Through Him That We Should Get To Glory Now He Says In My Father's House Are Many Mansions If It Were Not So I Would Have Told You I Go And He Was About To Go To Prepare A Place For His People And That Preparation Was Done Upon The Cross Where He Suffered Where He Took Upon Himself The Sins Of This Peculiar People I Believe That One Of The Evidences Of Being A Child Of God Is To Feel Peculiar To Feel Unlike A Child Of God To Feel If Only You Could Be More Holy More Righteous More Of The Love Of God Felt Within Your Heart Less Worldly Minded Less

[22:21] Taken Up Of The Things Of Time If If Only You Could Have Your Heart More Centred Upon This Blessed Hope And This Glorious Appearing Within Perhaps You Might Have Some Evidence Of Grace Within Your Heart But You Haven't Got It No I'll Tell You Why Because This Is The Peculiar Way In Which The Lord Keeps His People And He Keeps Them In That Circumstance In Those Circumstances So That When He Does Appear You Know It's Him And Not Only That Having Once Appeared To You You Long For Him To Reappear Now Looking For That Blessed Hope And The Glorious Appearing Of The Great God And Our Saviour They Are Joined Together The Great God And Our Saviour Now The Great God Brought About This Great Scheme Of Salvation Whereby

[23:22] This Peculiar People Would Be Redeemed Now You Know The Children Of Israel They Were Sinful Men The Way In Which They Dealt With Joseph There Was Murder There Was Envy Or If We Were Able To Look Into The Way In Which They Treated Joseph The Numerous Sins That You Would See That They Committed And Yet How The Lord Had Mercy Upon Them That Great God But The Wonderful Way In Which The Things Of Time And The Things Of Grace Are United Israel Under The Old Dispensation Was A Type Of The Church Of God And How We Can See

[24:23] The Sins Of Those Men And Women As Later They Journey Through The Wilderness How That God Who Had Done So Much For Them And Delivered Them They Were A Peculiar People You Know And They Looked Back Upon Egypt And After They Thought Of The Flesh Pots And Then You See They Came To The Mara Where The Waters Were Better And How The Lord Again In A Most Miraculous Way He Made Them Sweet And You See All These Things Are Types And Shadows Of The Pathway Of This Peculiar People That As They Are Brought Into Better Trials Represented By That Better Water So The Lord Appears And Like That Tree That Was Cast Into The Better Waters So

[25:23] When The Lord Appears The Very Trial Itself Becomes Sweet And One Is Able To Partake Of It In A Different Way There's Nothing Bitter In It Sweet There May Be One Here Tonight Passing Through A Very Bitter Trial For The Lord In All Probability Is About To Make That Sweet If You're A Child Of God And You're Passing Through A Bitter Trial You rest Assured Of This The Lord Will Appear When I don't Know But I Know He Will Because The Lord Will Never Leave His People In A Bitter Trial There Will Be That Sweet Tree That God God Of All Grace Who Will Come And He Will Sweeten Your Pathway In Such A Way You'll Say Yes In That Trial The Lord Appeared To Me In Such

[26:23] A Way I Had Such A Blessed Hope I Had A Hope That He Was My God Because I Felt The Sweetness Of That Trial I Felt The Lord Was In It I Was Left In No Doubt That This God Was With Me And Prayer Seemed To Be Different It Seemed That In That Bit Of Trial I Was Able To Pray Different Even In Prayer It Seems If The Lord Was With Me And Then As From Time To Time I Was Able To Take Up His Word And Read It Sometimes I Would Find A Portion That Be Such A Help To Me And It Raised Me Up To A Little Hope That This God Was My God And Thus Looking For That Blessed Hope And The Glorious Appearing Of The Great God And Of Our Saviour Jesus Christ Now We Look

[27:23] Look Up On This Saviour As Saving Us From Our Sins But He Goes Further Than That Not Only Does He Save From Our Sins But He Saves Us From These Great Trials And Difficulties Overwhelming Us We May Be Like Jonah And Say All Thy Waves And Thy Bellows Have Gone Over Me But They Will Go Over You But They Won't Remain Over You The Time Will Come When The Lord Will Deliver You Out Of Those Billows And Those Waves And The Lord Will Be Gracious To You And It Will Be A Glorious Appearing Of That Great God Now The Lord Won't Bring You Into Some Little Trial To Show You His Great Mess The Lord Will Bring You Into A Great Trial And That Trial Can Be Anything Which Is Peculiar To You You

[28:26] May Think Well Of Course No One Has Ever Walked The Pathway That I Walked No One Has Ever Had Such A Peculiar Life As I Have No Because The Lord In His Own Way Has Seen Fit That That That Is Your Peculiar Pathway But Has The Lord Appeared To You In That Pathway In A Peculiar Way Because It Says Here Who Gave Himself For Us That He Might Redeem Us From All Iniquity And Purify Under Himself A Peculiar People Now This Peculiar People Are Zealous Of Good Works Now Then Satan Will Come And Say Yes For Now There You Are Salvation Is Dependent Upon Good Works Not At All The Good Work Here Mentioned Is The Good Work Of A Precious Christ In Going To Prepare A

[29:26] Place For His People And You Will Be Zealous For That You See There Is None Good None Righteous No Not One But This God Is Good And It's His Good Works The Way In Which He Has Worked Within Life Of His Experiences Of His People And That Good Work Of Redemption When We Read Of These Good Works Yes They Will Follow Faith But All The Good Works Must Come From The Right Source And That Is The Lord Alone Now You'll Be Zealous Of Good Works In Other Words These Peculiar People They will Not Rest Upon What They've Done But It's The Good Work Of Redemption Now When You Come To Consider As We Spoke With regard To Joseph And The Children Of Israel You know Joseph Was

[30:26] Very Good To His Brethren Wasn't He He Could Have Cast Them Out He Could Have Sent Them Back And They Could Have Died Of Salvation He Could Have Said I'm Having Nothing To Do With You I'm Joseph Your Brother You're The One Who Treated Me So Shockingly And I'm Having Nothing To Do With Go Away But He Didn't He Filled Their Sacks He Didn't Half Fill Them He Didn't Say Well You're Not Going To Have As Much As You Need But He Filled Their Sacks They Took The Sacks And Their Sacks Were Empty Now That's A Good Work Wasn't It Of Joseph To Fill The Sacks He Could Have Said Look There's A Little Bit To Be Going On With But I'm Not Going To The Lord And You Take A Big Sack In Other Words It

[31:26] Doesn't Matter How Big Your Case May Be The Lord Is Going To Fill That Sack He's Going To Fill It With Blessings The Hymn Writer He Speaks About It The Clouds He So Much Dread Are Big With Blessing The Clouds He So Much Dread Are Full Of Mercy And Shall Break In Blessings On Your Head Now You See These Are Blessings These Trials And I Say It I Say It Reverently When You Go To The Lord You Take The Biggest Set That You Can Find And You Tell The Lord How You Need Him To Come And To Fill With His Goodness And Will That Glorious Appearing And I Tell You This Your Sack Won't Be Big Enough It Won't Be Big Enough When The Lord Comes His Blessings You See They Overflow David Knew It He Said My Cup Runneth

[32:27] Over Surely Goodness And Mercy The Lord Had Appeared To Him You See Now He Appeared To David In A Most Peculiar Way Especially When You Can't Consider David Sin Uriah Not Only Was There Adultery But There Was Murder You See David Was A Murderer And An Adulterer He He Needed Much Mercy But The Lord You See He Appeared To Him In Such A Way That When He Did Appear He Said Goodness And Mercy Have Followed Me All The Days Of My Life He Goodness Who He Was

[33:32] To 따라 that he was my God if only he'd appear that once plainly I'd be satisfied well I'm going to tell you now you wouldn't you wouldn't because you're looking at it from a natural point of view but the Lord he deals in spiritual things not in temporal things now if the Lord appears to you it's something very very personal and the Lord appears in such a way that your heart will go out in love and adoration to him that you'll want him forever and you'll want to be with him forever now when he withdraws you'll want him to appear again now there's nothing better in the experience of a child of God than the appearing of the Lord especially with regard to that glorious appearing now he appears then as a glorious appearing over sin death and hell that's where we see the glorious appearing of the Lord Jesus the way in which he appears the glorious way in which he laid down his life the glorious way in which he dealt with his brethren the glorious way in which he watches over them all the glory that there is in this

[35:11] God and how little glory we give him how little true worship is there that flows forth from our heart towards this God of all glory for the glorious appearing glory now you won't understand what glory is and you can't understand what glory is rightly until the Lord appears to you and when the Lord appears to you you'll have a little idea of what glory is you'll have a little idea of what the saints in glory are partaking of what they're enjoying looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ and you'll be brought to that place where the things of time will receive to such an extent you'll be longing to go to glory because the Lord has appeared I'm sure it doesn't matter who you are and it doesn't matter what time the Lord appears in your life whether it's early life middle life or the end of your life if the Lord appears it'll have this effect you'll know the Lord's appeared and there'll be something within your heart which will glorify the Lord and you'll long to remain in that state in that frame of mind now this glory is brought about by the Saviour

[36:43] Jesus Christ who gave himself for us in other words he gave his life a ransom for many not for all a ransom for this peculiar people he gave it now it's not a question of them asking for it he's already given now the peculiar thing about it is this the child of God he prays for mercy but the Lord's already given it they pray for their sins to be pardoned but the Lord's already done it but you see they're working out work out your own salvation with fear and trembling the salvation is accomplished but there's a working out of salvation and this is the peculiar part of it whilst their salvation is already assured the child of God has not got the assurance that he would desire and therefore the Lord works in this peculiar way where he pleads for it and where the Lord already has performed this work of redemption on his behalf and there is nothing more certain than that sinner who prays for mercy has already received it as the hymn writer puts it like this more happy that is when they're in glory more happy but not more secure the glorified spirits in heaven in other words that soul that peculiar person where the Lord works within their heart is redeemed already the work of redemption is complete there's nothing to be added to it nothing can be taken from it but the soul itself is not in the enjoyment of it the fullness of it but the Lord does from time to time receive it to enable that soul to rejoice to the glory of his God now who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people now this peculiar people they need purifying and they need their iniquity to be forgiven have you felt the need of purification

[39:16] I have and there's not many days that go by but what I feel to need it most impure thoughts words actions impure now how this God then who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity now iniquity is all sin every type of sin that you can think of all iniquity and also to purify or to be purified to be spotless now when the Lord purifies you know it wasn't like when he washed the disciples feet how Peter wanted to be washed all over didn't he when he realised what the Lord was doing now when the Lord purifies whatever the

[40:18] Lord does there's perfection in it when the Lord purifies an individual one of the members of his church he doesn't leave a spot or a mark upon that one the old sacrifices which were carried out under the old dispensation they were to be faultless as near as the priest could see with a natural eye he'd have to search and see where there was a mark or a spot upon that sacrifice before it was offered now the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus was perfect in this the Lord Jesus was pure undefiled separate from sinners he was the perfect sacrifice for sinners perfect and therefore everything that flows forth from Christ is perfect and if he takes a sinner in hand it doesn't matter how black that sinner may be it matters not what sins that person has committed that one will be purified in such a way so that in glory there's no distinction all are pure all wear that wedding garment garment now you see when the Lord of the marriage came he saw that one without a wedding garment he saw that which was imperfect that it wasn't pure the wedding garment is pure it is the garment wove in everlasting love now who gave himself for us he gave himself as a sacrifice you come to take the religious world generally I'm speaking the general religious world what do they know this sacrifice do they look upon it as a glorious appearing when that sinner is smarting under the law there's nothing more wonderful than the glorious appearing of the Lord

[42:38] Jesus as that all atoning sacrifice as he's brought to see that there's the sacrifice there which is sufficient he's a great God looking for that blessed hope that glorious appearing of the great God and thus that sinner he has a blessed hope he's a great God and he's that sacrifice for sinners and I'm a sinner and he can purify it's his work to purify and there's a hope raised up within your heart that this God is going to appear for you am I coming into your pathway tonight are you one of these peculiar ones all on your own no one upon the face of the earth like you no that's the way the Lord teaches his people you expected to be one of the Lord's people and walk with them in a particular way and you wanted to do this and you wanted to do that and you expected it do you know with all the prophecies and the way in which the prophets prophesied the way in which the

[43:54] Lord Jesus would appear on this earth how many were there that knew him when he appeared yet it was very clear the way in which he would appear and yet when he did appear upon the face of the earth as a little babe it seemed impossible but there were one or two peculiar wise men who were made wise unto salvation by the work of the Holy Spirit they recognised him and how did they recognise him by a great light no they didn't it was by a star not a great sun not a great moon but a star and how the Lord uses stars today stars represent the Lord's servants you see the moon represents the church the sun represents the triune God so when we read in scripture of the sun the sun of righteousness and he rises with healing in his wings the church has no light whatever in and of itself but the church the true church of

[45:13] God reflects the light of the glory of God and the stars they have no light either of themselves but they reflect the word of God for the church now this great God the universe and everything with regard to nature which God has created there is a simile to the things of glory only a simile but how we need to be taught these things by the Holy Spirit now you may think well of course this God would appear to me in such a different way if I was one of his he wouldn't have permitted this he wouldn't have permitted the other but the fact remains he did and he did it to show you his honour and his glory he brought you into that deep distress he brought you into that sorrow to prove to you that he knew all about you he cared for you in it he gave you an unseen hand and a secret prop and you didn't realise what the

[46:31] Lord was doing but underneath out of your sight where you couldn't see and where you couldn't feel but underneath were the everlasting arms those arms which went forth to save you in all your sin long before the foundation of the earth before you were born those arms were ready to save you as a sinner peculiar people now this peculiar people they are zealous of good works well as we've already said the good work was the work of redemption the way in which the Lord appeared to them the way in which the Lord suffered in their place and stead there was no greater good work upon the face of this earth than the work of redemption it was a good work when the Lord said let there be light it was a good work when the Lord led his people through the wilderness it was a good work when the

[47:31] Lord raised up his servants to go before them but the greatest work upon the face of this earth has been the work of redemption by the Lord Jesus and that is the work in which the people of God are most zealous in but they'll also be zealous in good works they'll cling to this good work it's their only hope there's no other hope apart from the good work of the Lord Jesus and they will not trust in themselves they may endeavour to but they'll be stripped of all that but there'll also be that Christ like spirit at times I'm not one who believe in good works for salvation but I'm sure of this that there'll be those good works proceeding even with regard to the brethren he who seeth his brother hath needs as James and shutteth up his bowels of compassion how dwelleth the grace of God in that one good works there'll be a care there'll be a concern one for each other there'll be a concern about other mortals you won't be able to see a poor sinner going headlong to hell without some concern within your heart there'll be a concern within your heart for others and there'll be a concern as you come to the throne of grace for others too you won't the grace of

[49:13] God it won't make you selfish you'll want others to know and I believe that when the Lord first appeared to me and I could take you to the very spot now where the Lord first appeared and what was the result I told the Lord if only the Lord would do something for me and deliver me then would I tell the sinners round what a dear saviour I found and it's a good work to tell the sinners round what a dear saviour you have found is there one here tonight tempted a peculiar person you've got these peculiar trials these peculiar exercises and yet you want to tell the sinners round but you can't why because Satan is trying to shut him out it's good work to tell the sinners round what a dear saviour you have found and point to his redeeming blood and say behold the way to God who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people to tell us of good works the

[50:31] Pharisees never needed purifying they were righteous in themselves these various religious sects the high priests they were so pure so holy in their own eyes we've got them today they are about today the Pharisees and these high priests they are so good so wonderful in their own eyes they don't need the gospel it's sinners that need the gospel are you one of those sinners that look to the gospel as being a glorious good work a work which perhaps you'd long to lay hold of or the hymn writer puts it like this ye lambs of Christ fold ye weaklings in faith who long to lay hold of Christ by his death who in your best room would gladly receive him but fear to presume you're fearing to presume upon this

[51:34] God well you take that great sack to this God and you tell this God you're a fearing sinner you fear to presume the Lord will welcome you and the Lord will fill your sack and not only that he'll put Joseph's cup in that sack and that cup is an evidence of redeeming love that cup which the Lord Jesus drank all the bitter sufferings of the church of God in that cup that cup which is so bitter no soul is able to rightly understand this side of the grave looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God ah you see but it says here in our Saviour I don't feel I can say that well then keep looking keep looking for that blessed hope and that glorious appearing and when the Lord does appear you'll be able to say in that great

[52:42] God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works or to have a zeal for this God a zeal for this work of redemption does it suit your case it suits mine and I believe it suits some of you here we must leave it may the Lord have his blessing amen amen bye bye b