The sermon today is one that I've preached many times from the pulpit. We are recording it and transcribing it into the book just as near as possible as I preach it from the pulpit.

The title of this lesson is "All Spiritual Blessings in Christ" Eph. 1:3. Now, the temporal blessings may be enjoyed by all people, both saint and sinner—it rains on the just and on the uniust. Turning to I Tim. 4:7-10, "Refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe." And he goes on to tell Timothy, "These things command and teach." So all the spiritual blessings can be had in Christ Jesus only. There is no way we can have any spiritual blessings outside of Christ. Do you know why? Eph. 1:3 says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." Now, if they're all in Christ Jesus, there's none out of Him.

Now, the temporal blessing can be had by all as I read to you in I Tim. 4:10, "For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe." The only way that He's the Saviour of all men is through the temporal blessings of life, saying that it will rain on the just and on the unjust—and they can raise just as many crops and perhaps more cane than anyone else.

And now, then, first of all in this lesson we want to see what else we have in Christ. We have redemption and forgivencss of our sins. In Eph. 1:7, "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the foregiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace." Our God did not have to offer us salvation but through His great love and the promise He had made to Abraham long ago that He would send His only begotten Son to die upon the cross in order that we might have remission of our sins, He provided the way that we can have remission of sins, if we worship Him according to His command.

In I Cor. 1:2 He says, "Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus." Sanctification again means to be set apart. So, God set us apart in Christ Jesus that we might worship Him according to His will. I Peter 3:15 says, "Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear." So we should set apart then the word of God in our hearts and be ready always to give an answer. Some people think when you approach them about salvation that it's none of your business, but it's their obligation if they have faith at all of any kind. If they lean toward the Heavenly Father they ought to be willing and ready to answer the question: "What is your faith?" And God provided, through fear (I Peter 3:15) that they were commanded to answer—give a reason—why they believed what they believed.

Now then, the Oddfellows lodge, the Masonic lodge, and many things that we have in this world may be good organizations and maybe they do a lot of good, but they are not the savior of man. The church is the only thing that God is going to save and Christ is the savior of the church. Eph. 5:23, "For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body."

Now because it says that God sanctified us and set us apart doesn't mean that we can't sin any more. There are many passages and scriptures that teach us that we can sin and that we do sin. Even John said, "If we say we have no sin, we make Him a liar and the truth is not in us." So there is no use in us talking about not sinning, because any child of God sins. And again, as we pointed out in other sermons, we have a telephone line to heaven 24 hours a day, seven days a week—no toll and no taxes.

Now then, we not only have sanctification, we have eternal life promised to us in II Tim. 2:10, "Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sake that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory." I'm not talking to you today or writing this sermon in a manner of temporal things—it's eternal things that we are talking about. What's going to become of us after we leave this world? Well, the Bible says that the spirit goes back to God who gives it. Are we going to he faithful to God then, that He might take us and place us in the right place? Now, this should mean everything in the world to us—eternal life. Jesus said in the long ago, "What does it profit a man to have gained the whole world and lose his own soul?" But now somebody says. "Are there wages in sin?" There certainly is!

In Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death: but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." So there are wages in sin. What kind of sin? Well, we often say that the young have to sow wild oats for a while before they can settle down. Well, it's not always the young that want to sow the wild oats—sometimes it's the middleaged and even the elderly trying to sow wild oats. But that's not the way God intended for it to be and that's not what he wants us to do. In Heb, 5:8-9 He said, "Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him."

Well, I want to point out to you another thing about the wages of sin. Moses knew there were wages in sin and what did he do when God sent him into Egypt to deliver the people oat of Egyptian bondage and bring them out across the Red Sea? He knew that there were wages of sin, but what did the writer say about it? He said, "Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward." Would there have been wages of sin for Moses if he had stayed in Egypt? He could have been emperor of Egypt with all the high honor that could have been given to him? Certainly! But what did he do? He chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than the pleasures of sin for a season.

What is a season? How much are the pleasures of sin? How long do they last? Well, do a little figuring up with me if you will, and how long does it last? We grow up to the years of accountability. Solomon said in the long ago, "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shall say, I have no pleasure in them." So, we don't want to wait till we get old and our bodies are withered away with age and then say, "Lord here am I, take me," remembering in our youth that we might be able to work in the Master's vineyard. That's what He wants us to do. The Master's vineyard is a place to work, a place to labor. Mat. 20:1 says, "the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard." That means early in life we should accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ and live a faithful, Christian life.

How long will it last? Life is very short indeed. Job said, "Man that is born of woman is of few days, and full of trouble." David said, "The days of our years are threeseore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away."

So, there are wages in sin! For how long? For a season. How long is a season? A very short time in our life; just a very few years. Eternity goes on and on and on.

Now another that we have promised is if "ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father" God has given us the power to approach His great throne of mercy by prayer. For I Pet. 3:12 says, "The face of the Lord is against them that do evil." That's where we can call our heavely Father "Abba," which means "Father" and simply means a noun. It means one and only one God, creator of this universe. In Gal. 4:6 it says, "Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." So there we have it again. Now these blessings are for the child of God.

There are two kingdoms in this world—the kingdom of right and the kingdom of wrong. And Moses again chose to suffer affliction with the people of God than the pleasures of sin for a season. It only lasts a short time. Some won't be a Christian. Why? They don't want to walk in the commandments of God! I Cor. 15:58 says, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord."

Now then, what else do we have in Christ Jesus? We have reconciliation. Let us read from II Cor. 5, beginning with the 17th verse, "Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry or reconciliation." May I stop here long enough to call your attention to the fact that he has given us the word of reconciliation? Now, if the word reconciles us then nothing else can reconcile us. No use in looking for signs in one thing or another—just read God's word and be reconciled in him.

Now then, we say that if we are in Christ we are reconciled to God. I've heard people stand and pray that God will send the Holy Spirit down and save them—reconcile them to God. Here he said that man has to be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. For He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. That's Gods will—that's His eternal purpose, that we might come to Him through Jesus Christ His Son. Now here spiritual blessings of reconciliation in Christ take place no where else. Since reconciliation takes place in Christ, we need to know how to get into Christ. Well, of course we teach that from time to time and over and over. Is it not safe to do exactly what the Bible says? I commend you, I exhort you that you accept it, just as it is. And it's got to be right. You can't do wrong by doing right, and you can't do wrong by doing exactly what the Lord says.

In Gal. 3:26-27 again it says, "For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ." Now, faith only won't save. I'll prove it to you by John 1:11-12, "He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name" To believe on the name of Jesus Christ simply gives us power. It doesn't make us a child of God, but it gives us power to become a child of God.

Now then, we need to turn over and read from the sixth chapter of the Roman letter and see which point we can find there concerning the salvation and how we get into Christ. I want to emphasize to you again that these things that we are recording, transcribing and writing into a book are not my ideas—they're simply the commandments of God and the very word of God. Not out of the word, but in the word. Reading to you from chapter six of the Roman book, "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of as as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might he destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." Now after we have been forgiven our sins we shouldn't serve sin. We were crucified with Christ where our old body of sin was cut off and destroyed when we were planted in the likeness of Jesus Christ. Baptism is a picture of the death, the burial and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus died on the cross, was buried in Joseph's new tomb, and raised up to walk a new life—never to die any more. The apostle Paul wrote to us in I Cor. 15:19, "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable" What in the world is he talking about? He is saying if there is no resurrection there will he no life but we look forward to the resurrection. The Bible teaches it over and over and over—there's going to be a resurrection of the just. In John 5:28-29 it says, "all that are in the graves shall hear his voice. And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation" So we're all going to come forth. We're going to be resurrected to stand before the judgment seat and give an account of the things done in the body, whether they be good or whether they be bad.

Water baptism is preceeded by faith. We must have faith in order to he saved. Repentance plus confession equal the only way we can get into Christ. So we might put it like this: Faith + Baptism = Salvation from our past sins; and baptism puts us into the church—into the one body. I Cor. 12:13, "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body." Now that one body is also the kingdom. In Col. 1:13 we see God has translated us out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son. Now if God does the translation there isn't much we can do about it. We have no right to hold on to people trying to get them into the church because when they obey the Gospel, the Lord sets them in the church, translating them out of the kingdom of darkness; or in other words, out of Satan's kingdom into the kingdom of His Son. Now, he couldn't translate inLo something that doesn't exist. So I know that by this statement the kingdom exists and the kingdom and the church are one and the same thing.

Col. 1:18 says. "He is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence." Unless we are willing to let Christ have the preeminence then we are not willing to he saved. According to his own truth, salvation is extended to us by his death on the cross.

Now all these things that we have been talking about are the work of the Holy Spirit through the Word. I read to you a moment ago in 1 Corinthians that God, through his Word, has given us reconciliation. So, it's through the Word that we're reconciled. No use looking for signs of one thing or another. Just turn to the Word of God and read it, believe it and obey it. So, this is all the work of the Holy Spirit through the Word. If someone says "That's two thousand years ago," well, I continually preach to my people that the seed is the Word and the Word is the seed of the kingdom. In Gen. 1:11-12 it says everything should come after its kind, whose seed is in itself. We don't go out and plant pumpkins and expect to raise corn. We want to raise some roasting ear corn, sweet corn so we plant sweet corn. Now, the same thing applies today no matter where we're at in the world or what we plant. We plant the word of God, the seed of the kingdom—it will bring forth a child of God. Nothing more, nothing less.

When we are raised up from the waters of baptism to walk a new life we are Christians. All our sins are forgiven and we are added to the church; then we can walk as children of Cod. What do we have in this? In Christ means to be in the church, in the one body. In the kingdom of Christ we will find the peace that passes all understanding, love that shall never die and joy unspeakable. The Holy Spirit by the Word baptizes us into Christ not into himself. In I Cor. 12:20, "Now there are many members, yet but one body" Then verse 27 says, "Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular." How pure we are, saved by the gospel.

Paul said in I Tim. 1:15, "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief." And Paul said in Rom. 1:16, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." Verse 17 continues, "For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith." In other words, this is a system of faith He has given us—the gospel coupled with our faith. Then we can know we are a child of God because Romans 8:16 says, "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." In Heb. 11:6, it says we must believe in God "for without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." We not only have to believe in God, the Father, but we have to believe in God, the Son, Jesus Christ. John 8:24, " Jesus says, "for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins." And again Romans 1:16 we have to believe in the Gospel. Paul said it was God's power to save; we just quoted it a moment ago.

In II Pet. 3:9 he says, "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." Now this is a command, that we have to repent. Many people don't want to quit their meanness and do right. In Acts 17:30 Paul said that the "times of this ignorance God winked at but now commandeth all men every where to repent." These men were worshipping idols and all kinds of gods and everything else—they were heathens. This kind of ignorance God winked at but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent. Why? "Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." Here we have proof again of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and the command of God to repent. Repentance simply means to turn from our evil ways and do that which is right. We can't do wrong by doing right and we can't do wrong by doing exactly what the Lord says.

Matthew 10:32 and 33 teaches us that we have to confess Jesus Christ after we have heard the Word and create faith in our hearts. Romans 10:17 says, "faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" Then we go on down to our repentance that we have already talked about, already brought out. In Mat. 10:32-33 it says, "Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven." Now, let us read Rom. 10:8-9: "But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach." In other words, the word of the Gospel, which we preach. Paul was saying to the Roman brethren that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation" Now, you notice everytime it says anything about this, it's in the direction of—towards—salvation. He said confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt believe with the heart God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." This does not put us into Christ. How do we get into Christ? We're all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus for as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. That's the only way!

Now then somebody asks the question, "Will everybody be saved?" or "Who will be saved or who won't be saved?" In Matthew 7:21 he says. "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." Now, if we do the will of the Father it doesn't matter what color our hair is or skin—black, red, yellow, white or whatever, if we do the will of God we will be saved. Of course, we have to find out what the will of the Lord is. He also said in Matthew 7 that "Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?" And then He will say unto them, "I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." Now this doesn't mean he didn't know they were down here, that he didn't hear their cries unto him-it simply means that they would not accept the plain gospel, the plain simple teachings of Jesus Christ and there fore they are going to be cast out. Now, we don't want to be cast out. God gave us two laws of pardon. We go back to the 8th ehapter of Acts and find out about Simon, the sorcerer. After he had believed and was baptized and was following along with the other disciples and apostles, he wanted to buy the gift of the Holy Spirit. Peter told him his heart was not right in the sight of God. "Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee." He asked Peter to pray for him.

Then we find we have a second law of pardon: confess our wrongs and pray to God. Now then, let us study this just a minute here. In the book of Jeremiah, the great prophet said "A horrible and terrible thing has happened in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely and the priests bear rule by them own means and my people love to have it so: But what will ye do in the end thereof?" Now, we had better think about this seriously and not be prophesying false teachings or preaching false doctrine. We are going to stay right on the line and do exactly what the Lord says. We have no business trying to add or take away from the word of God. Satan tried that on Eve but it didn't work. In Acts 16:31 Paul told the Philippian jailer to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. But was that all he told him? It was not! The very next verse he preached unto him the word of the Lord and took him that same hour of the night and baptized him and all his straightway. Now what did he do all that for? Because Jesus said in the great commission, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, he that believeth not is condemned already." So they had to get him to believe and have faith in his heart before they could tell him about Christ. He was a heathen before and perhaps knew nothing about Christ. So Paul and Silas told him about it. Then he wanted to be saved. Now, many preachers here today will tell you all you have to do is believe and you can be saved at that minute. If that is so, why did Paul tell him about Jesus and then he was baptized in the same hour of the night? Remember, that was at the midnight hour—in the middle of the night. Now, as a gospel preacher I have no business preaching anything I can't prove by God's word. In I Peter 4:11 he said. "If any man speak (that's me), let him speak as the oracles of God." Or In other words, speak what God said. Do we think today that there are not false preachers in the land the same as there were 1900 years ago? This letter is absolutely the way it was when Peter wrote it. But there were false prophets also among the people even as there shall be raise teachers among you who shall bring in damnable heresies even denying the Lord who bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction, and many shall follow their pernicious ways, by whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. Now, we don't want to speak evil of the truth, surely we don't want to do that.

In II Pet. 3:7 it says the heavens and the earth are reserved in store by the word of God. What do we have now? Let's sum it up like this: when we began we had redemption from our past sin, we have sanctification, we are set apart in Christ Jesus, we have the promise of eternal life. In II Cor. 5:8 we have reconciliation from Paul's writing to the Corinthian brethren. The fifth chapter and the sixth chapter, reconciliation in Christ.

So I beg you today to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ, to be baptized for the remission of your sins, and let the lord add you to the church, live a faithful Christian life, be faithful unto death and he'll give thee a crown of life. We don't want to hear him say to us, "Depart from me, you workers of iniquity. I never knew you" by rejecting his counsel and his teachings. The only way we can be saved is by accepting the teaching and the counsel of the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved by the mercies he has extended to us, through the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord. We should do it at the first and earliest convenience. You could do this very thing. I beg that you do it. We may live together in the after while.