Now Is the Day of Salvation
First B Jackson
2015-10-04

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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With us this morning, Scott Humphrey, you know, works for the Bar J. He's here all summer long because he's gotta be because he works at the Bar J. But he and the family, including Diane, our office manager, his sister, all of them went towards South Carolina to go on this big family vacation. Have you all seen the news lately? Y'all can pray for them.

Hurricane Joaquin had a was making a beeline for Hilton Head when when they took off but I think that it's turned but I just want to tell you, Bob's up here with me singing this morning but Scott is not going to be. Would you all stand with us? And we'll start off with a couple of songs. Revive us again. Hymn number four thirty four.

Revive us again though the son of thy love for Jesus who died and is now gone

Wait just a second. Okay. We we were singing something different than you were playing and he was doing something different altogether. It's hymn number 434. No.

Yeah. Four thirty four. Revive us again. We'll try to all start on the same words this time. We praise thee, oh God.

I started wrong. Lindsey was right. Alright. Okay, one more time. God is here.

Amen. God is here. Amen. That one is hard for me to sing without singing it like this. Normally, that was a primitive baptist church song in the town that I grew up in and when we go over for a singing, it was more like this.

We praise thee honk honk honk when we get to the chorus part, it was it was hallelujah, thine the glory. It was just like that, I promise. So, oh how I love Jesus. Hymn number 92. Here we go.

Y'all can have a seat. Thank you, Florine. Florine is sitting in for Judy who is on a mission trip to Georgia, not my Georgia. Georgia, the one near Russia, that Georgia and Florina is from Romania and is here playing for us but he's playing, he plays by ear and we have a ball. So, announcements for this week, the connect hour happens about tenish every day.

Somewhere about ten when the first service is over. We gather down there for coffee and donuts and fruit because it's Jackson. Around tenish usually until eleven. Monday nights at first B is an alternative worship time and we have changed the time a little bit. It's at 06:00 in the evening.

Every Monday evening, you have meal, music, and a message. Carl is the pastor of that little church plant on training wheels. He is going through Philippians. He starts this week expository preaching through the book of Philippians. So, 06:00 for that.

It lines up with the 06:00 kids program, Awana. Awana is a lot about scripture memorization. There there's a lot of scripture being memorized but they also play games and have council time and it's great. That's for kids ages three through sixth grade every Monday at 06:00. This week, at the Good Samaritan Mission and this has changed.

Last week, it was in the bulletin that it was gonna be at Redeemer Lutheran Church but it is actually at the Good Samaritan Mission at 12:10 through 12:50. There will be a time of prayer and fast and as a part of worldwide forty days for life and this is a community wide event. It's not just first B and it's for anyone who would like to see a peaceful end to abortion. And that's they'll the prayer and fasting people who have who have dedicated themselves to this are fasting for twelve hours a day for these forty days and prayer at churches. It's rotating around.

So, this week, it's gonna be a Good Samaritan Mission. I think next week is gonna be a river crossing. Solid Rock Youth Ministry, Lindsey's gonna.

Alright, just a couple announcements for this. This is a busy week for our youth. Today, we're heading out to do a wood gathering thing. There it is. Giving the gift of firewood.

So we've rounded up the middle school and high schools. We're gonna go grab some wood. We're gonna split it and have it stacked. So if there's any middle schools or high schools that wanna join us for that, we're gonna meet here at twelve. It's gonna be about from twelve to four.

But if any of you guys would like some wood, we can also deliver that because now we'll have some. So if you guys aren't getting out and you don't gonna go gather wood, you've got a wood burning stove and you would like some, let me know because we can we can make that happen

Okay.

Which is exciting stuff. So also on Wednesday, we've got a concert at River Crossing. Sean Mcdonald, Jonathan Tulin, and Jeremy Vanderloop are going to be in town. The youth alliance here in Jackson brought these guys to town and it's gonna be a great show at River Crossing. Doors open at six and the concerts at seven.

And then the big culmination this weekend, we're heading to Idaho Falls for the Newsboys. They're gonna be in Idaho Falls this Saturday. So we're gonna leave here around 02:00 and we're gonna head over there for that show. So if any of you guys are middle school, high school aged, see a few of you right here in front. Come join us or if you would like to go to any of these shows, you guys are welcome as well.

So, it's youth and family stuff. It's gonna be a good time.

Alright. And this is the time of year. You wanna hand that to Matt Lutzman? I do. This is the time of year where lots of our programs are kicking off for the fall season and Matt has an announcement.

Good morning. We'll be starting men's fraternity again on October 21 and I wanted to well, first of all, invite you but I wanted to tell you a little bit about what men's fraternity is and then why you should consider coming. First of all, we've been meeting here at First Bee for over five years. It's a culmination or a gathering of men from the community and from a number of churches in the in our community. And it's about it's about a band of brothers, about a group of men of armed together, linked arms arms together to to be better men, to to grow, and and what it really means to be godly men, and how to facilitate that, how to pour that into our families.

So, the quest for authentic manhood answers some questions. First of all, what's what's it mean to be a man? Give you a definition and why and how. Secondly, the reason I'd I'd love for you to come is, you know, I I shared the example on earlier this morning that as you're laying in your bed at 05:00 in the morning deciding whether or not you're gonna come to the 06:00 meeting when it's cold winter, winter day, breakfast is a good incentive. But most of all men's fraternity is providing the tools and the relationships that we need to be able to be the godly men that God's called us to be.

And and for quite frankly, our our families, our community need us to be those men to lead and to to step up and and take initiative in our families and our community. So I encourage you to come be a part. It's a lot of fun.

Come. Wednesday mornings at 6AM.

Yes, sir.

Starting October 21 and I have one more announcement and Anne's gonna do that.

So, good morning, First B ladies. Today is the last day to sign up for the second annual Heart six Women's Retreat. So, this upcoming Friday, we're gonna carpool or drive to Buffalo Valley, is about fifty minutes north of town, and we are gonna have some fun, and we're gonna have some fellowship, and we are gonna have some soul nourishment from God's Word. The idea of the retreat is in order to advance our personal walk with God and with one another. But because we know that you all are busy, there's a lot going on, maybe you wanna go to the Newsboys for instance on Saturday and IF.

Well, we want to accommodate you, so you can come just for Friday and you could come for dinner and to listen to the first speaker or you can come on Saturday, the program starts at nine concludes about three if you want to do dinner, you can do that and listen to the final person who will share their testimony. Scholarships are available. Five First B ladies are going to be teaching us. They are going to share their hearts and their faith journeys as they teach us how to be the body of Christ for one another. So they're going to look at New Testament commands.

There are about 40 of them or so and along the lines of come, let us encourage one another and build each other up. Be kind, tender hearted and forgiving to one another. Don't complain against one another and tolerate one another in love. So we could all use to ingest this like spiritual vitamins, right? So our worship our worship team teams, will make our hearts sing.

Small groups will help us grow deeper in love with God's nourishing word. We're gonna enjoy five delicious meals that we don't have to plan for, shop for, prepare for or clean up. So it'll be really great and then it's supposed to be terrific weather. Have you looked? It is supposed to be wonderful.

So we're gonna go out and in the afternoon on Saturday we're gonna hike, maybe we're gonna do Zumba, not sure, bring a fishing pole, it's right there. And then we're gonna watch a movie with that night with popcorn of course. So line up childcare, line up pet care, there are registration forms in the corner. I will not be there, but you can call the office and sign up or just leave it in the back and somehow it will magically make its way to where it needs to be. And if you cannot come, please pray for us that God will be glorified.

Thank you.

Amen. Thank you, Anne. Appreciate that and now, if y'all would, would you stand and just greet one another and we'll bring you back together with a song. Always, you can check your bulletins for all this stuff. We like to give a little extra time in the fall.

That's hymn number five zero eight. If you want to see your part, hymn number five zero eight is Love Lifted Me.

I was thinking deep in sin far heard my despairing cry from the waters lifted me now say am I lifted me lifted me all my heart to him I give ever to him I'll clean his blessed presence live ever his praises sing love so mighty and Jesus completely saved he will lift you by his love out of the angry waves he's the master of the sea Amen.

He always says, you lead and I say, no, you lead. He says, you lead. We figured out on Sunday morning. Hymn number three thirty seven. That's beautiful, Florine.

Thank you. Hymn number three thirty seven. Nothing but the blood.

What?

Which one of us is leading now? Okay. One more time. Alright.

But the blood of for my pardon this I see nothing but the blood of for my

Thank you, Florine. When I y'all can have a seat. I'm gonna ask the frontline team to come forward. And I'm going to pray. Lord God, I thank you for the assurance that we can have that covered with your blood, we are as white as snow.

Thank you, Lord God that we have received your grace and not in vain. God, you are good and we are so thankful. We stand before you amazed lord that you have given us so much. God, we take this time in the service to give back a portion of that which you've given us. Saying lord that we trust you and we want for your good gospel and your grace to extend to the outermost parts, to the ends of the earth.

So lord, would you take this like the loaves and fishes? Would you multiply it? Would you feed hungry souls with it? Lord, in Jesus name, would you multiply this to do your kingdom's work and see it advance. In Jesus name, Lord, would you bless it?

Amen. Amen. Thank you, Florine. Well, I concentrated a lot of effort this week. That says October 3.

I know today is October 4. I concentrated a lot of effort this week on October 3 because there's a funeral that was held here yesterday, a memorial service for miss Mariana Ojea and the flowers that are up here and are have to do with that service yesterday. But I just wanted to say a thank you from mister Earl and from the family for all of your help, for everybody that came out and helped out with with hosting duties basically from a first beef for so many people in this valley far and wide actually that came to the funeral. So, thank you for preparing and helping and for cleaning up afterwards and all of those things. I'm I'm very very grateful for that and so is the family.

Thank you. I have a picture up here and some of y'all know who this is. Some of you have seen it. That picture was taken on 10/01/1950. Now, I've been a little bit nostalgic.

I saw this picture and going over pictures from miss Mariana's funeral and also looking back, I looked at a couple of high school yearbooks and annuals. So, I'm I'm a little nostalgic this morning. I'll I'll admit it. The southern accent may kick in a little more than usual but this picture, 10/01/1950 was the wedding of Jack and Bev Babcock. So, they have been married for sixty five years.

And I just wanted to say, that's that is great. I love the picture by the way and we heard that and what a testimony it is to God's pursuing love and it keeps you together and I just love both of you. So, thought I'd mention that and then, today is the day. Even if it says October 3, yesterday was not the day. Today is the day, okay?

It's October 4 but today is the day and our our passage is gonna be second Corinthians five seventeen through six two actually. I shortened it a bit and that passage five seventeen to six two is gonna be what we get to today but I wanna start with a story before that. If y'all will indulge me, I'm gonna tell you a little bit of my nostalgia that I've been going through this week. So this is a picture from the Harris County High School yearbook of nineteen sixty four, sixty five school year. My dad was a junior that year.

And these this was the English department. And you all know that I'm a grammar nerd. And so I I just thought that I'd mention this. This was one of the funniest things I saw this week. I looked this up, and it was on the Internet.

So it's just somebody's yearbook that was scanned in. And this lady right below her picture had written in red ink, and it said, Bobby, teaching you was an education for me. I thought that was priceless. But I'd share that. We have lots of teachers and lots of school administrators here today.

But this lady on the top is what this story is gonna be about. This is missus Margie Palmer from nineteen sixty four, sixty five school year. It was the year that my dad was a junior in high school, and he was he was in her care in the grammar class. My dad is a brilliant guy. He's very smart, but he's mathematically smart, and English grammar is not his strong suit.

Not at all. And so miss Palmer came to him near the end of the semester of the school year and said, Billy, if you don't make an a, at least an a minus on this test, you're not going to pass this class. And he said, miss Palmer, that's very gracious of you. He said, but I'm real good at math. Not really good at math.

I'm real good at math. And he said, I'd have to make 127 on this test to pass this class. So she flunked him. And this is a this is actually the way that he remembers her though. Not not not this way, but more like this.

So this is miss Palmer from nineteen sixty six, sixty seven. This is the year that my aunt Laura, who my dad calls the goody two shoes of the family, was in her class and she smiled at aunt Laura all the time because she was a star student that year and miss Palmer was her star teacher. And they love one another. They went on vacations together when I was a little kid. This is miss Margie Palmer teaching in nineteen sixty six, sixty seven.

And you can see the intensity with which she's doing that then. And she maintained that intensity and she inspired in her students not just greatness. She inspired fear. It was an an awe, a reverence, but it was really just fear. It was almost bordering on terror.

This is miss Margie Palmer teaching in nineteen eighty five, eighty six. That's the year I was a freshman in high school. And she smiled for those pictures in the yearbook. That's where we saw her most of the time. She was grading papers, and she really graded the papers.

She counted off for everything, which she should have. She's a teacher. That's what she should do. She holds to the rules and to the law, and she was a very, very good teacher. And I appreciate her very, very much.

But I was scared of her. And I was not the only one. Though she's legendary. I heard that miss Morton was the one here that was like that at the same time period. In fact, Tom Lamb said that he rode home from school with her one day.

He told me this after the first service. He said, he rode home from school with her and when he got just about to where they were going, he noticed that she had a Colt 45 pistol strapped to the steering column of her car. He said he was even more scared of her after that. I never saw any firearms around miss Palmer but she she could look at you and give you the look, you know. So, she was teaching 1988, '89 was the year the '89 was the year I graduated.

So, this was me, 1989. Yep. And she taught us grammar, and this was, you know, object of a preposition, objects, and subjects, and things like that. She taught us about grammar. I think that was my ninth grade class with her.

I I also had her for composition in the tenth grade and the eleventh grade, I think. I had her for every year in high school, ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grade. She taught us about in composition, about objective information, reviews many points of view. It's intended to be unbiased. We don't see a whole lot of that objective information on television anymore.

That's subjective for me to say that. But anyway, news news reporters are supposed to be objective and report the facts of an event. Encyclopedias and other reference materials provide objective information. Subjective information information is one person's opinion. It can be based on facts, but in a newspaper, the editorial section is a place for subjectivity.

And I'm just writing this out. This is an example of the type of stuff that she taught. Examples. 99% of US households have at least one TV set. Objective or subjective?

If it's based on facts, it's subjective. Right? It's clear that even though many people are poor, television is more important than anything else. Is that objective or subjective? That's one person's opinion.

Right? Might be based on facts, but they've taken their own opinion with it. Composition. She taught us all of that source to how how to make a a decent compelling argument and to write paragraphs, that sort of stuff. In literature, oh my goodness, I loved miss Palmer's literature class but it was not easy.

We went through Oliver Twist by Dickens, Canterbury Tales by Chaucer. I remember that one taking forever. The Grapes of Wrath, this morning, I promise you, somebody had a Steinbeck book on the front row. They brought the pearl with them. I thought that's great.

During the sermon, they'll be reading that. Of Mice and Men, The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams, that was great. Jane Eyre, girls love that one. Charlotte Bronte. Ethan From, I actually loved.

I don't know why. Edith Wharton, it was just great. As I lay dying, William Faulkner, what beautiful sentences. Southern writer, William Faulkner, loved him. Beowulf, we did in old English.

And the one that I remember standing out above all others was this one and this was in my either eleventh or twelfth grade year. We studied sinners in the hands of an angry God. So, it's a sermon that was delivered 07/08/1741 by Jonathan Edwards, Great Puritan preacher, pastor. More preacher than pastor, court up from what I see right here. He had some hard things to say and I I wanna read you.

This is what I studied in miss Palmer's literature class, okay? In high school, in a public school, in the textbook. So that thus it is that natural men are held in the hand of God over the pit of hell. They deserve the fiery pit and are already sentenced to it and God is dreadfully provoked. His anger is as great towards them as to those that are actually suffering the executions of the fierceness of his wrath in hell and they have done nothing in the least to appease or abate that anger, neither is God in the least bound by any promise to hold them up one moment.

The devil is waiting for them. Hell is gaping for them. The flames gather and flash about them and would faintly hold of them and swallow them up. The fire pent up in their own hearts is struggling to break out and they have no interest in any capital M, mediator. There are no means within reach that can be any security to them.

In short, they have no refuge, nothing to take hold of. All that preserves them every moment is the mere, arbitrary will, and uncovenanted, unobliged forbearance of an incensed God. That's the first paragraph. Actually, it's the first paragraph of this edited version. Going down, couple paragraphs down, just at random.

Your wickedness makes you as it were, as heavy as lead, and to tend toward downwards with great weight and pressure towards hell and if God should let you go, you would immediately sink and swiftly descend and plunge into the bottomless gulf and your healthy constitution and your own care and prudence and your best contrivance and all your righteousness would have no more influence to uphold you and keep you out of hell than a spider's web would have to stop a falling rock. Were it not for the sovereign pleasure of God, the earth would not bear you one moment for you are a burden to it. Wow. I studied that in miss Palmer's literature class and I remember a lot of it actually when I went through it and it means a lot and you know what? That's not the way that I deliver sermons but it's true.

It's true. He based what he had to say off of the objective truth of scripture. That's tough though. That's tough preaching. It's hard.

It gets people to the place of realizing their own lostness and I confronted that in school with miss Palmer and she illustrated it very well actually. We also were thoroughly familiarized with the works of William Shakespeare. We study Julius Caesar. We did Macbeth. We read through Hamlet.

And then one day, oh my goodness. It was the day. Hamlet's soliloquy, act three, scene one from Hamlet. Do you all remember it? To be or not to be.

Did how many of y'all had to memorize this at some point? There are a few of you. How many had to do the Friends Roman Countryman instead? Yeah. It was one of those popular passages that a high school high schoolers had to memorize.

And I got to class that day, and I heard her say, alright, put your books up. Today's the day. And I didn't know where she was gonna start. I really didn't even know what she was talking about. She said, Hamlet, act three scene one.

Oh my goodness. I didn't do it. I didn't do it. I didn't study it. I don't know it.

I don't know any further than to be or not to be. That's as much of it as I know. I hope she starts over there, because I sat in the next to the left. It was not the furthest left, but it was this one. And I hope she started over there, and she would have had 20 something students in between the beginning and me, but she started over here.

And there are three students on this side and one in front of me. So four people went before me to do that whole thing. Now it's a great soliloquy and it means a lot to me now. But at the time, I had not studied it. I don't know what I was doing.

I don't know what I was thinking. I had I had passed by. I had not considered it. I had not considered that this day would come. I don't know but I didn't know it and so when it got to me, I said, miss Palmer and I was, I'm shaking now thinking about it.

I did this in the first service and I said, miss Palmer, I don't know it and she said, Billy, what do you mean you don't know it? She called me Billy. She flunked my dad twenty three years before that. Billy, you know this is gonna bring your grade down. I said, yes, ma'am.

I know, but I don't know it. And all I know is to be or not to be, and I can't say any further than that. I'm I'm sorry. I I don't know it. I didn't I didn't do it.

Didn't study it and she she looked like that. And she continued to look like that and she would go two or three more and she looked back at me and she just scowl. Or at least that's what I read into her look. But it upset her and it upset me to be in that position. So, anyway, I tell you that story just to tell you.

Let's let's get to this and then I might come back around at the end. Actually, if I don't come back around then, somebody stand back up and tell me to come back around at the end. So, second Corinthians five seventeen through six two. I am not gonna go into as much grammar detail as I as I often do today because I feel like this is a very very straightforward passage. It's very straightforward in its intent and I want to give you the what, the how, and the when.

I could say the who and we might get a little bit of the who. There are two groups primarily here but the what, the how, and the when. So, we're starting in second Corinthians five seventeen. The what. Now, we covered this one last week at the very end of the sermon.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation. All things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. This is a new King James version that I'm using. If anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation.

That implies though, if someone is not in Christ, the old things are carrying on, right? Just like Jonathan Edwards said, suspended like a spider, he goes on to say, like a spider with the flames licking at that at that strand. If anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation. All things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.

The old things have passed away In studying English grammar with miss Palmer, it was great because she gave me such a firm foundation in my own language that I was able to learn other languages much much easier. There's more of a formula when you know how we do things in English and looking at the Greek, this is an heiress past tense. All things passed away. It happened. Bam.

Once. On the cross at Calvary, Jesus paid the price for sin. All things passed away. Now, your subjective experience of that, he appropriated. I mean, he made it possible.

For anyone who is in Christ, all things have passed away. He did the work and all things have become new and the interesting thing about that have become new is it's a perfect tense which means it is an action that has happened in the past but it has carrying on continuous effects all the way into eternity future. That's a beautiful thing. So, the old things have passed, the old things passed away and all things have become new. Now, all things are of God and in the Greek, it does have the the in there.

So, it's the almighty, one and only, not to be confused with anybody else. All things are of the one God and he has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ. And he has given us the ministry of reconciliation. So, when Paul says, he's given us, he's referring to those who have accepted Christ. Those, if anyone is in Christ, now, all things are of God who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ.

That's how he did it and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, he says it again, that God was in Christ here temporarily on the Earth. God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself through Jesus's perfect life and his sacrificial death and his resurrection, that is, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us that word, that ministry of reconciliation. So, if you have accepted Christ, you are a part of this. He says that he has reconciled you and he has given you the ministry of reconciliation.

You have the message of the cross and you have accepted it if you're Christian. If you're not and you haven't, he's not talking to you yet, okay? That is that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing the trespasses to them and has committed us the word or ministry of reconciliation. Now then, we're ambassadors for Christ as though God were pleading through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf.

Be reconciled to God. That's an imperative. This is something that Paul is saying flatly. He's got the message. He knows it well.

He's experienced in his own life and now he has given them a direct invitation to appropriate subjectively. That objective truth that Christ died. For sin. Can y'all see? Excuse me just a second.

Take a break. This is a hard one. Is that any better? Now, then, we're ambassadors for Christ as though God were pleading through us and I I carry that myself. It is not an easy thing to stand up here and know that the difference in someone's eternal destiny depends on how you articulate the message of God but I know God and God is sovereign and he has the people here today to hear this message today and he's brought you here and it's not by accident.

We implore you on Christ's behalf and I join Paul saying, I implore you on Christ's behalf. Be reconciled to God. He's made the way. So, the what is, Christ reconciles people with God. That's what God, that's what Christ does.

Christ reconciles people with God. There's one verse really that tells the how. How does he reconcile people with God? For he made him who knew no sin. Who is that?

Jesus. Right. That's the answer every time, right? No. For he made him who knew no sin, that is Jesus, to be sin for us, to take on sin for us, to become sin for us and what happened with that sin?

We hear the message of the cross nearly every Sunday. That sin was nailed to the cross at Calvary and the price was paid for whosoever will receive. It. For he made him who knew no sin, that's Jesus, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. When you accept and appropriate God's plan, He imputes to you the righteousness of Christ that is surely by grace.

You don't deserve it. I don't deserve it but it's surely by the grace of God that he offers it. Amen. And you have to either accept it or reject it. Those are the two options.

So, as I'm imploring, you are either accepting or rejecting. Just like Paul. Now, most of the people that he was writing to, he knew were Christians but there were some scattered among them that were not and he knew that. The how is by Christ's sacrificial death on the cross. Christ reconciles people with God by his sacrificial death on the cross.

So, Imma read back at verse 20 and go on through. This is, he says something. He says it again at the end and he's got this really important part in the middle that some people would say that's a kioskic construction, an ABA. The most important part of this is right there in the middle. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ as though we were pleading as God as though God were pleading through us.

We implore you on Christ's behalf. Be reconciled to God. For he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him for those who are in Christ. They're a new creation, right? We then, as workers together with him, also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain.

It is by sheer sovereign grace, uncovenanted as Jonathan Edwards says, that you're here today, hearing the message of the cross, presented. We then as workers together with him also plead with you not to receive that grace in vain. Don't take that God brought you here and he's having you hear this message as it's going to happen every Sunday just like this. It doesn't happen every Sunday just like this. We preach whatever the passage is.

This is the passage today. Today is the day. We plead with you not to receive this word or this ministry in vain and just deny it or reject it. In the last verse, we'll go over today is second Corinthians six two in this passage anyway. For he says and that's God, for he says, in an acceptable time, I have heard you and in the day of salvation, I have helped you and Paul adds a commentary on that that quote from Isaiah.

Behold now is the accepted time. Behold now is the day of salvation. He's quoting from Isaiah forty nine eight which is a messianic passage. You know, Isaiah is a prophet writing about nine hundred years before Christ. In an acceptable time, I've heard you in the day of salvation.

I've helped you. So, the when, according to Paul and according to Isaiah according to God, is that today is the day. Today is the day of salvation. Today is the day. Now, objectively, it happened on the cross and it's the finished work of Christ.

He's seated at the right hand of the father, interceding for us but today is the day of salvation. Amen. So, I'll finish my story now about miss Palmer. As she looks on. So, about every two or three people should look back over me and glare just a little bit.

And after it went through about 12 more people, I thought, I've heard this thing now about 16 times. Billy. Ray. Ray. Miss Palmer, was embarrassed before.

I I think I might be able to do it. Let me can I can I try? Yep. Go right ahead. And so I went through it, and I said, to be or not to be.

That is the question. Whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or to take arms against the sea of troubles and by opposing in them. And I went on, to die, to sleep, no more, and by asleep to say, we end the heartache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to. Tends a consummation devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep, to sleep perchance to dream.

I, there's the rub. For in the sleep of death, what dreams may come? When we have shuffled off this mortal coil must give us pause and I didn't miss a word. I said it exactly, exactly what needed to be said, exactly what the assignment had been, and didn't miss a word of it. And so I was like, that's pretty cool.

I'm pretty smart. I never would have thought I could've done that. And she looked on like that. She went to the next person. That reminds me of these verses.

It's just a page back in Isaiah forty five twenty three. It's God speaking again through the prophet Isaiah and he's speaking for himself. You can see the capital M up there. By myself, the Lord, by myself, God. By myself, I have sworn.

There's nothing higher than God and he's swearing by himself. I have sworn from my mouth has gone out and righteousness a word that shall not return void or shall not turn back. It's going to come to pass. To me, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear allegiance. That's pretty hefty.

Does it sound like anything else you know? It does. It sounds like Philippians. The great passage we come to it a lot in Philippians two talking about the humility of Christ and having our having the same mind as Christ. The capstone to this passage is nine through 11 where it says and therefore, because of Christ's great humility, because of his death and his death on the cross.

Therefore, God has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow. Of those in heaven, of those on the earth, of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is lord to the glory of God the father. This is going to happen. Every single soul, every single person is going to bow the knee and every single one is going to confess that Jesus Christ is lord to the glory of God the father. Everyone of us is going to do that.

Every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess. Jesus Christ is lord to the glory of God the father but when will you do it? When will you do that? Will you do it in this life before the teacher calls on

you? Or

will you wait and bow the knee and confess dangling and dropped like Jonathan Edwards says. Paul says, for he says, speaking to the Lord, in an acceptable time I've heard you and in the day of salvation, I've helped you. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. You know what grade I got from miss Palmer for saying that perfectly?

A zero because that's what I deserved. When she called on me, I did not know it. Every knee is going to bow. Every tongue is going to confess but when will you do it? I got the zero because I deserve the zero.

That actually pulled my grade down where I wasn't in the front runners anymore. It's something that I've I've I've finally come to live with it because it works right now. But now is the accepted time and now, today is the day of salvation. So, the what is Christ reconciles people with God. We hear that every Sunday, the message of the cross and he does that by his sacrificial death on the cross.

If anybody tells you that substitutionary atonement is not in the Bible, they are wrong. It's all over it. And today is the day. That's the win. So, I'm actually going to do and we don't do this every week here.

An altar call. It's an altar call. Florian, you can come on up if you want to and it is not just for salvation but it is for that. If you're here today and somebody dragged you here or you just wanted to come along with someone or you just felt like I need to be in church today. Don't receive the grace of God in vain.

He's reaching out to you. Would you come forward and accept him today? Now, I know it's not the culture of this place. It it kind of is weird to me because I was raised in Georgia and every single sermon had an invitation, every single one, no doubt about it. It was going to end with either just as I am or trust and obey or why do you wait dear brother?

It was going to end with one of those and we were going to sing at least four verses and might sing seven. Until somebody came. I am opening the altar not just for you if you want to receive Christ and salvation but it's open for that but it's also open if you have loved ones that you're praying for and you particularly want for. Them to be saved. Please feel free to come up and pray at the altar.

We are going to sing just as I am. So, the invitation is this, behold, now is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation. Would you stand with me and sing? And pray for.

Those who don't know

I believe oh lamb of God I come I come

this lady. I loved her very very dearly and she passed away 01/02/2009 about four months after her husband of more than fifty years and she taught so many people, so much. I actually wrote her a letter. I don't write a whole lot of letters or didn't write a whole lot of letters at the time and I wrote one to her and I said, miss Palmer, I love you and you are a stalwart Christian educator and I appreciate you more than you'll ever know and I'm sure that you would receive more letters like this if people were not afraid that they would be returned to them with red marks all over. And she loved that and she shared it with my grandmother and she was a very very dear friend and her family continues.

I just found out where they're living in Colorado right now but I just want to pray a quick prayer blessing on you as you leave. Lord, would you take those teachers and administrators and those who are shaping and molding young people's lives and would you work through them lord. I thank you that so many of them have chosen first B as their church home and would we always be keeping our nose in the text and seeing what it is that you have to say. Lord, let us say unflinchingly what it is that you have week in and week out. Would you bless us now, make your face to shine upon us, and give us peace that we can carry as ambassadors to the world.

In Jesus

name, amen. Amen.