Let's turn in our Bibles to 2
Samuel chapter 3. 2 Samuel chapter 3. Lord Jesus Christ is all and
he's in all and he as we're going to see from God's Word, is the
one thing needful. The one thing needful. Life is
full of a lot of things, a lot of distractions, a lot of needs,
a lot of problems. When the Lord, by his grace,
turns the heart toward Christ, we're able to get some understanding
of what the Lord said in Matthew chapter six, when he said, these
things the Gentiles do seek after, but you, but you seek ye first
the kingdom of God and his righteousness. and all these other things will
be added unto you. When God gives his children faith
to believe on Christ, to look to Christ, to rest in Christ,
those things that are pressing on us become, well, that we're
able to rest. No, the Lord's in control. In 2 Samuel, chapter 3, we have the third or fourth,
however you want to number these, one things that our Lord speaks
of in his word. Notice in the beginning of this
chapter, now there was a long war between the house of Saul
and the house of David. But David waxed stronger and
stronger, and the house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker. God had purposed David to be
king of his people, and David, we know, is a type of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And Saul is a man of the world,
a type of the flesh, and there's a long war now that goes on between
the house of Saul and the house of David. And this is a conflict
that you and I experience every day as the flesh wars against
the spirit and the spirit against the flesh so that we cannot be
what we would be, what we long to be, what we want to be. If it wasn't for the spirit of
God, we'd be total devils. And if it wasn't for the flesh,
hell, we'd be just like the Lord Jesus Christ, as we long to be
and will be one day in glory. But in the meantime, we have
these two natures, this long battle going on. And now Saul's
commander, the commander of his army, a man by the name of Abner,
is accused in this chapter of taking one of Saul's concubines. And Abner in response to that
goes to David and promises to David to turn the army of Saul
against Saul and to bring the forces of Saul's army and David's
army together. And David says in verse 13, in
response to Abner, and he said, David said, well,
I will make a league with thee. Now that word league is the word
covenant. I will make a covenant promise
with thee. And this reminds us of the eternal
covenant of grace where God the Father and God the Son and God
the Holy Spirit entered into an agreement, a promise with
one another. Without any regard for you or
for me or for anything that we would do or not do, God the Father
chose in this covenant of grace a particular people, an elect
people. He predestinated them. God the
Son entered into that covenant relationship with His Father
and promised to go in the fullness of time and lay down His life
for those whom the Father had chosen and redeemed them unto
Himself to purchase His wife. And God the Holy Spirit entered
into that covenant, that league, that promise, that agreement
and said, I'll go and I'll make them willing. And I'll give them
ears to hear and I'll give them hearts to believe and they will
be saved. They will come willingly. Not
reluctantly. Oh, they'll see the glory of
Christ and they'll flee to him. I'll turn them. I'll convict
them of their sin and of their unrighteousness and of the reality
of judgment that the Lord Jesus accomplished on Calvary's cross
and they'll come. But there was a condition on
this covenant. David said, I'll make a covenant.
With you, Abner, I'll agree to take the army of Saul and to
unite the nation. That's what David did. He united
the nation. And that's what our David, the
son of David, the Lord Jesus Christ does. He unites the people
of God so that he makes them all members of the same body.
And he gives them all a common faith and a common love for Christ. But David said there's a condition
on this covenant. Now, years before this, David was given Saul's daughter in
marriage. Her name was Michael. And David
Saul said, anyone who brings to me a hundred foreskins of
the Philistines, I'll give to him my daughter and he'll become
the king's son-in-law. And David came back and he had
circumcised these Philistines and had brought them as an offering. Here's the Lord Jesus Christ.
Oh, the circumcision of the heart, the circumcision of Christ as
the scripture speaks of it, the cutting away of his flesh when
he went to Calvary's cross. This is all part of the gospel.
This whole book is a gospel story. You know that, don't you? So
is this. And yet Saul, in his jealousy,
took Michael back and gave her to another man when David had
to flee for his life. And now David puts this condition
on Abner. He says, I'll make a covenant.
I'll make a league with you. But look, but one thing I require
of thee. And that is that you shall not
see my face except thou first bring Michael Saul's daughter
when thou comest to see my faith. God's people have been sold into the world by their
sin. And we see in this passage of
scripture the one condition necessary for the covenant of grace to
be fulfilled, for this league to be made true, and that is
for the Lord Jesus Christ to bring into glory his wife, to
redeem her out of the world The scripture says that God's word
will not return unto him void. It will accomplish the purpose
for which he sends it. The scripture also says that
in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God, and the Word became flesh. We do not separate
the written Word of God from the living Word of God. The Lord
Jesus Christ is the Word of God. He dwelt among us. We beheld
His glory as the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace
and full of truth. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
ascended back into glory, he did not go empty handed. He fulfilled
the condition of the covenant. He took with him the names of
those for whom he lived and died. And the scripture says that he's
seated at the right hand of God right now, ever living, making
intercession for us. One brother said, if I could
hear the Lord Jesus in the next room praying for me, I would
not fear a thousand devils. All the enemies of the world
would have no effect on me. And yet distance doesn't change
that, does it? The Lord Jesus Christ is praying
for us. He is interceding for us. He
said, Father, I pray not for the world, but I pray for them
which thou hast given me out of the world. Thine they were,
and they've kept thy word. I've redeemed them. The Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled
the conditions of the covenant. He brought back to his father
his wife. Michael, his bride. And not one, the Lord said not one
to be lost. Not a single one. Every single
one of them. He didn't lose a single sheep.
He said, I'll leave the 99 and I'll go after that one lost sheep.
And when the last of God's lost sheep are brought successfully
into the fold, then the end will come. There's our hope. David said to Abner, this one
thing I require of you. When you come back, you will
not see my face unless you bring Michael, my wife, back with you. She was taken from me wrongfully. What a glorious picture. The
Lord Jesus Christ, when he ascended back into glory, saw the face
of God. He said, no man has seen God
at any time except the Son, except the Son. And he was received
back and took his rightful place in glory because he was successful
in what he came to do. What was it that he came to do?
Redeem his bride. You remember the story of David
leading his army and he'd left his wives and his children, all
their wives and all their children, left them back in Ziklag and
they left to fight the Philistines. And when they came back, they
saw that the city of Ziklag was on fire. And when David came
back to the city, His men were ready to kill him. They were
so grieved. Their children, their wives were
all gone, all gone. The city was on fire. And the
scripture says that David comforted himself in the Lord. He rested
in the promises of God. To do what? To make him successful.
He said, the Lord had promised David that he would have a throne
that would last forever. You're going to be a successful
king. And he comforted himself in the Lord. And then he went
and pursued the enemy. And the end of that story, I
love the statement in the end of that story, and David recovered
all. He recovered all. That's exactly
what the Lord Jesus Christ did. He recovered all. I will make a league with you.
I will covenant with you. But there is a condition to that
covenant. My bride must be returned unto me or you will not see my
face. And the Lord Jesus Christ successfully
fulfilled the conditions of that covenant, that league. There's
our hope. Turn to me to John chapter 11,
John chapter 11. And we'll begin reading at verse
47. Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council and
said, what do we for this man do with many miracles? And if
we let him alone, all men will believe on him and the Romans
shall come and take away both our place and our nation. They're
gonna take away our power and our popularity and our position. That's what this man's gonna
do. And that's what he will do to you. He will strip you of
your power. He strips us of our position.
He puts us in our place, doesn't he? And makes us completely dependent
upon him. But men won't have that. That's
the offense of the cross. The offense of the cross is that
men want to glory in something they've done. And these Pharisees
could not allow the Lord Jesus Christ to be to become popular
and successful lest they lose their place and their power.
And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same
year, said unto them, You know nothing at all, nor consider
that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people,
and that the whole nation shall not perish. For this spake he
not of himself, but being high priest that year, he prophesied
that Jesus should die for that nation and not for that nation
only, but that also he should gather together in one the children
of God that were scattered abroad. God put words of truth in Caiaphas's
mouth. Caiaphas was an unbeliever. One
man must die for the nation. And that's exactly what the Lord
Jesus did. He actually, I don't know how
to emphasize this enough. I know you believe this. But
the Lord Jesus Christ actually accomplished successfully the
salvation of all of God's people. So that when he went back to
glory, he took with him not just the names of those for whom he
lived and died, but he took those for whom he lived and died. The
scripture says that we are seated in the heavenlies in Christ right
now. You see, it's not as if we were
in heaven, it's as if we were here. We are in heaven. Wherever the Lord Jesus is where
we are. Everything else falls short of
reality and truth compared to that. We are in the heavens in
Christ right now. Why? Because he met the condition
of the covenant He did what David told Abner to do. You will not
see my face unless you bring my wife. Isn't that what Judah
said to Jacob when Joseph back in Egypt wanted them to bring
Benjamin? And Jacob said, you know, I've
already lost Joseph. And I, you know, you want to
take Benjamin also? All these things are against
me. And Judah stood up and Judah said, I will be surety for him. If I fail to bring him back,
hold it to my account. That's what Judah said to Jacob.
And that's the words of our Lord Jesus Christ. Judah was speaking
for Christ. He's saying to the Father, I'll
bring Benjamin to the church. I'll bring Benjamin back to you.
And if I fail to bring him back to you, you hold it to my account. Is it possible? You see, if everyone
of God's elect have not been redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ,
it's his fault. It's his fault. Had Abner not brought Michael
to David, Abner would not have been able to enter into this
covenant agreement with David. There's the gospel, brother.
This one thing I require of you. And the father, when he sent
the son into this world, he said this one thing I require of you.
You bring your bride back with you. And the Lord Jesus did that. And when he ascended back into
glory, he was received of his father. The word of God did not
return unto him void. The living word of God returned
to glory, having accomplished what he came to do. One thing. All comes back to
the same one thing, doesn't it? All comes back to the same one
thing. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
21. Matthew chapter 21. Verse 23, and when he was come
into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people
came unto him as he was teaching and said, by what authority dost thou these
things? And who gave thee this authority?
That's a good question. By what authority do you do these
things? You coming with the full authority
of God? The very last thing our Lord
told the disciples there on the Mount of Olives before he ascended
back into glory was, all authority has been given unto me in heaven
and in earth. You therefore go, make disciples
of all nations, teaching them. baptizing them in the name of
the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them
to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you. And lo, I
am with you always, even unto the end of the world." Our Lord
has been given all authority. John chapter 17, when our Lord's
praying to his Father, Turn to me, turn to me there. John chapter 17. Verse two, as
thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give
eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life
eternal that they might know thee the only true God in Jesus
Christ whom thou has sent. Oh, he's given him power over
all flesh. That means he has complete authority
and power over you. And he has complete authority
and power over me. And he has complete authority
and power over the unbeliever. He's Lord over the living and
over the dead. He doesn't ask men for permission. And so these, these self-righteous
Pharisees, when they saw his miracles, they said, by what
authority do you do these things? And our Lord said, I'll ask you
one question. Look, look at the next verse
in Matthew chapter 21, look at verse 24. And Jesus answered
and said to them, I also will ask you one thing, which if you
tell me I am likewise, will tell you by what authority I do these
things. So if you answer this one question right, then the
Lord reveals to you where he got his authority. One question. Here's the question. The baptism
of John. Whence was it? From heaven or
man? And they reasoned within themselves,
saying, if we say from heaven, he will say to us, why did they
not believe him? But if we say a man, we fear
the people, for all hold John as a prophet. And they answered
Jesus and said, we cannot tell. And he said unto them, neither
tell I you by what authority I do these things. What was John's
testimony? They came asking him, are you
the Christ? He said, I am not the Christ. And then he saw the Lord Jesus
and he pointed them to him physically. Behold, there he is. Behold,
the Lamb of God. This is the Lamb. This is the
Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. This is the successful
Savior of sinners. This is the Paschal Lamb that
had its blood put on the doorpost when God said, I'll pass by you.
This is the Lamb that was put on the mercy seat. And God said,
here, I will meet with you. The Lamb of God, he's the one
that takes away the sins of the world. I must decrease, he must
increase. I'm not worthy to unlatch his
sandals. So they would not believe John's
testimony. That's the one question, the
one question for you and I. Do you believe that what John
said was true? That it was from heaven? That
his words were nothing less than the very word of God? Because
if you believe John, then you believe me. If you believe what
John had to say about me, then you believe on me. And if you
believe on me, you'll know by what authority I do these things.
The one question, one simple question, is what John said about
me true? Oh, yes, Lord. No hope for my sins to be taken
away, but by the blood of that lamb. John said, I'm not the Christ. I'm but a voice of one crying
in the wilderness. This wilderness world needs a
voice to do what? To say, behold, behold the Lamb
of God, which taketh away the sins of the world. Look to Christ. Rest all the hope of your salvation
on him. He's the only one capable, the
only one capable of saving you. And if he does it, he'll do it
all by himself. Turn with me to Mark. We're looking
at the nine or 10 verses of scripture
where God puts these two words together, one thing, in order
to simplify the gospel for us. I need the gospel to be simple.
If it's complicated, I can't figure it out. Lord, just give
me one thing, one thing. And here in Mark chapter 10,
we'll begin reading a verse. in verse 17, and when he was
gone forth into the way, there came one running and kneeling
to him and asked him, good master, what shall I do to inherit eternal
life? You see anything wrong with that
question? You don't do anything to inherit
something. Those who inherit something are on the receiving
end. He thought, well, surely there's something I need to do
to make sure I inherit eternal life. And Jesus said unto him,
why callest thou me good? For there's none good but God.
You're referring to me as good. Only God's good. Paul said, in me, that is my
flesh, dwelleth no good thing. Dwelleth no good thing. to will
is present with me about how to perform that which is good,
I find not. I can't perform that which is
good. Only God can do that. The Lord Jesus is not saying
to this rich young ruler, I'm not good. He's forcing his hand. He's saying to him, do you realize
that you just referred to me as God? He didn't. Thou knowest the commandment.
You want something to do? I'll give you something to do,
you know the commandment, do not commit adultery, do not kill,
do not steal, do not bear false witness, defraud not, honor thy
father and thy mother. And he answered and said, hey
master, these I've observed from my youth. I've been faithful
to your law, to the law of God, ever since I was old enough to
understand them. And he answered and said unto him, Master, these
things I have observed from my youth. Then Jesus, beholding
him, loved him. Now, that one statement right
there is all the evidence we need to know that whoever this
rich young ruler was, he was one of God's elect. He was one
of God's elect. He loved him. And he said to him, one thing,
one thing thou lackest, one thing thou lackest, go thy way, sell
whatever thou hast and give to the poor and thou shall have
treasures in heaven and come take up the cross and follow
me. And he was sad at that saying.
and went away grieved, for he had great possessions. Preacher,
are you telling us to sell all that we have? That's the one
thing we need to do? Well, let's read on. As the disciples were
confused about this, and Jesus looked around about and said
unto his disciples, how hardly shall they that have riches enter
into the kingdom of God. Another place he goes on to say
it's easier, well he goes on, and the disciples were astonished
at his words, but Jesus answered again and said unto him, children,
how hard it is for them that trust enriches to enter into
the kingdom of God. Now there's the problem. There's the problem. It's easier
for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich
man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Who then, Lord, can be saved?
What's impossible for man is possible with God. What does
God have to do? He's gotta strip you of those
things you're trusting in. You gotta sell it all. Coming to Christ means that everything
else that you ever trusted in for your salvation and for your
safety has been laid on the line for the one thing needful, the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's what men won't do. They
want to have their cake and eat it too, don't they? They want
to have Christ and diversify their investments. Unless one
thing, in case Christ is not enough, well, you know, I've
got this and I've got that. And I'm gonna trust in my works,
and I'm gonna trust in my wisdom, and I'm gonna trust in my experiences,
and I'm gonna trust in the praise that I get from men, and I'm
gonna diversify my investments so that when the end comes, I'll
come out a winner. And what did Paul say? What did Paul say? He said, I've
got all my eggs in one basket. I'm persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. What
did he commit unto him? Child of God, the very same thing
you committed unto him, everything. Everything. And if you haven't
committed everything unto him, then you haven't done that one
thing that the Lord told the rich young ruler, and you have
no choice but to go away sad. Go away sad. everything. Lord, I've got nothing
else to look to and nothing else to trust in and no one else to
help me. All my hope and all my salvation
is in the glorious person and in the accomplished work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's what our Lord's teaching
us here. One thing thou lackest, sell all that you have. give
it to the poor and follow me." Take up your cross. What is it
to take up your cross? Does that mean to bear the burdens
that you have to suffer in this life? No, it means to identify
with the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. It means to say what
Paul said, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live,
yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. The life that I now live,
I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and died
for me, gave himself for me. Christ is my life, died to everything
else. And it's not something that you
just do one time, is it? Paul said, I die daily. Why? Because we're always prone and
tempted to look away from Christ, to find our security, our safety,
and our salvation somewhere else. And we have to keep hearing the
gospel lest we get caught up in the things of this world and
we lose our hope in Christ. Turn with me to Luke chapter
10. The one thing needful. Luke chapter 10. Verse 38, now it came to pass
as they went that he entered into a certain village and a
certain woman named Martha received him, this is Bethany, received
him into her house, and she had a sister called Mary, which also
sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word. Martha and Mary, sisters. Lazarus is their brother. They
live in a little town called Bethany, just walking distance
from Jerusalem. And our Lord resorted there often. Now it seems like perhaps this
is the first time he's gone there and Mary's sitting at the Lord's
feet. But Martha was cumbered about much serving. Oh, isn't that what we do? We
get cumbered about with the things of this world. We do jobs, children,
duties, responsibilities, trials, and troubles, sicknesses. Oh,
all these things encumber us. They distract us. They become
our focus of attention. That's what they were for Martha.
Lady's not just talking about just being diligent and providing
the things that were necessary for guests. That's a good thing. You're talking about being encumbered,
which we all are. with the things of this world.
And where's Mary? She's sitting at the Lord's feet.
Martha was cumbered about with much serving and came to him
and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath let
me to serve alone? Bid her therefore that she help
me. Oh, look at Mary. She's just sitting there lazy.
I'm gonna have to do all the work. Just tell her to get up
and help me. And Jesus answered and said to
her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many
things. Can you relate to Martha? Careful
and troubled about many things, but one thing is needful. One thing, not the main thing,
not the most important thing. One thing is needful to put all
these other things into perspective. Those things aren't going to
go away. But I remind you again what the Lord said in Matthew
chapter six, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.
All these other things to be added unto you. Your father knows
what you have a need of. Look at the lilies of the field,
they don't spin. Solomon in all of his glory was
not arrayed like they are. Does not your father love you
more than the birds of the air? You provide those things, but
you seek first the kingdom of God, the rule and reign of the
Lord Jesus Christ over his kingdom and all these other things that
be added unto you. One thing is needful and Mary
hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken from her. When the Lord ministers grace
to the heart by sitting at his feet and learning of him and
from him, these things cannot be taken away. After John was put in prison,
Mark chapter one, Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel
of the kingdom of God and saying the time is fulfilled. The kingdom
of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel. Believe the gospel. One thing
is needful. I know many of you have heard
this illustration before, but I love it and I haven't heard
it in a while. Haven't told it in a long time. There was a man
and his son, very, very wealthy, and they were very, very close.
And one of the things they enjoyed doing together was traveling
the world and accumulating very rare, valuable art. And they'd bring it back to their
mansion and hang it up and enjoy looking at this rare, valuable,
these rare, valuable pieces of art. One day, the son died. The father grieved over the loss
of his son. Sometime later, the father died.
And all the art in the mansion was put up for auction. And so
very wealthy people came from all over the world to be able
to buy some of this rare, exquisite art. And the auctioneer put up
the first piece of art, nobody recognized it. It was just a
common painting. Nobody was interested, let's
bring out the good stuff. And the auctioneer asked a dollar
for it and no one, put that away, let's get the stuff that we came
here for. Finally a man in the back of
the room made a bid and bought the unknown portrait for a dollar.
At which time the auctioneer took his gavel and slammed it
down on the podium and said, the auction is over. The old man put into his will
that whoever got the picture of his son got all the art. There's one thing needful. And
Mary had chosen that one thing. You get Christ, you get it all. Everything is in Him. All these
other things that we spend our time worrying about and fretting
over, like Martha, the Lord says, choose that one thing that's
needful. If you get Christ, you've got everything, everything. John chapter nine, you know the
story. The whole long chapter deals
with one story, the healing of a blind man. And the disciples
saw him, a man born blind, and that's you and me. We're born
blind. This chapter ends with the Lord
saying, I came in order that those who are blind might see,
and those that see might be made blind. At the beginning of this
long chapter, the disciples saw This man born blind, and the
disciples said, Lord, why is this man blind? Is it because
of his sin, or is it because of the sins of his fathers? And
our Lord said, neither, neither, but that the works of God should
be made manifest. Now let me just give a little
caveat here, because I heard a man say one time that what
the Lord was saying was that The cause of his blindness is
not important, but since he is blind, let's let the work of
God be made known. That's not what the Lord's saying
at all. The Lord's saying, I caused him to be born blind. He's been
blind all of his life in order that this moment might take place
where I would heal him and I would get the glory. Say, well, that's
not the kind of God I want to serve. Well, then you won't serve
the God who is. Because the God who is has the
sovereign right to make out of the same lump of clay some vessels
of honor and some of dishonor. And no man can say unto him,
what doest thou? Why have you made me such? No
man can stay his hand. He's God. And faith just bows
to him. The Lord said, No, but that the
works of God may be made manifest. He went on to say, As long as
I am in the world, I am the light of the world. And then I, Lord,
spit on the ground. And the scripture says he made
clay out of his spittle and anointed the eyes of this man who had
been born blind. and he sent him away to the pool
called Siloam, which translated, the scripture says, means sent. Now what's the picture here?
In the Old Testament law, if a man who was unclean, ceremonially
unclean, spit on someone that was clean, then that person who
was clean became unclean. So the very thing that's illustrated
as uncleanness under the law, the Lord Jesus Christ uses to
anoint the eyes of this blind man. It's a picture of his sinless
perfection, his deity. And then what's the ground a
picture of? The dust of the ground. That's what man was fashioned
out of. And that's what the body of the Lord Jesus Christ was
fashioned. He was fashioned made in the
likeness of sinful men. What do we see here? The Lord
Jesus is showing us his deity and his humanity. The two natures
of Christ coming together. The fact that he is fully God
and fully man. And as God, as God, he's able
to satisfy the demands of God's justice. And as man, he's able
to bear the full fury of God's wrath and bear their sins in
his body upon the tree. And he anoints the eyes and he
sends him to the pool of Siloam. And that word translated means
scent. And that's what the Lord's doing, I hope, right now. For
the pool of Siloam is a picture of the word of God. We are washed. by the washing of the word of
God, made clean by his word. That's what the Lord said to
Peter. Peter, you're already clean. Yeah, Peter said, wash
me all over. No, Peter, you sat there with
your feet clean. You've been out in the dirty
world. You're already clean. You've been washed by the water
of God's word. And God sent you and me here
today to hear his word. that we might be made clean and
that we might leave this place seeing. Seeing what? Seeing Christ for who he is. Seeing ourselves for what we
are. And he came back seeing. And
the Pharisees wanted to try to trap our Lord because he had
done this on the Sabbath day. And they condemned themselves
when they said, we don't know who this man is. We're the disciples
of Moses. We're living our lives under
the law. We're going to look to our law keeping as the hope
of our salvation. We don't know who this man is.
Well, they didn't know who he was. And so they asked the blind
man, what do you know about him? And the blind man said, Well,
here it is. Look it with me in the scriptures,
verse 25 of John chapter nine, verse 25. And he answered and said, whether
he be a sinner or no, I know not. But one thing I know, that
whereas I was blind, now I see. There was a time when I thought
sin was what I did. And then the Lord opened the
eyes of my understanding and showed me that sin is what I
am. I was blind. Everybody's got a
conscience. You don't have to be a believer
to feel guilty about doing something bad. Everybody does that. If you don't feel bad about doing
something wrong, then you've got a seared conscience. But
that doesn't mean that you're convicted of sin because you
feel bad because you did something wrong. You're convicted of sin
when the Lord shows you that you're a sinner through and through.
That left to yourselves, you have nothing but sin. You have
no righteousness within yourself. This is the anointing that the
Lord has to do on our eyes. This blind man said, you know,
there's a lot of things I don't know. Don't engage me in a theological
debate. One thing I know, one thing.
Once I was blind and now I see. Now I see the truth about what
I am. Now I'm able to say with my brother Joe, behold, I am
Bile. I am vile. Or Jeremiah in Lamentations
when he said, I have become vile. And he's speaking prophetically
of Christ who became vile on Calvary's cross in order to take
away our sin. Or Daniel when he said, my comeliness
has turned into corruption. Or Isaiah when he said, woe is
me. I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. I
live among a people of unclean lips. We're all sinners. We're
all a bunch of sinners. I see now. Why? Because I've
seen the Lord high and lifted up. And in seeing him, I see
myself in light of who he is. And I abhorred myself in dust
and ashes. That's all I know. Once I was
blind. Now I see. Now I see truly all my life,
I guess, I would have agreed to the statement that Jesus Christ
is God. And yet for many, many years,
at least 40 years, I denied the very deity of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now I see he is God. He is fully
God. He's the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. And as God, he was successful
in saving his people. Oh, he is, he's God. We don't limit his power. We don't deny him his glory. We don't honor him with our lips
and have our hearts to be far from him. As God, he is the successful
savior of sinners, fully satisfying all of God's justice and securing
the salvation of his elect as their surety once and for all. He's God. He reigns. He's not a subject to be debated. He's a Savior to be loved, to
be followed, to be bowed to. God's going to open your eyes
for that. He has a difference in saying and believing it. They will have lips, they will
have eyes, but they will not see. We say things we don't. God opens
your eyes and you see. One thing. One thing I know,
I was once blind. Now I see. I see that if there's
any hope of me standing in the presence of a holy God, the Lord
Jesus Christ is going to have to be my surety. He's going to
have to be my sin bearer. He's going to have to satisfy
God's justice for me. I can't add anything to or take
anything away from him. And in closing, turn with me
to Philippians chapter three. Philippians chapter three. Paul said in verse 12, not as
though I had already attained. Oh, I'm not there. Either we're already perfect,
I will be one day. Right now, my perfection is in
Christ. One day when this corruptible
is made incorruptible, I'll be made like Him without sin. And in the meantime, In the meantime,
I follow after, if that I may, apprehend that for which I am
apprehended of Christ Jesus. He's apprehended me, and oh,
I'm seeking to apprehend him. Brethren, I count not myself
to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those
things which are behind. and reaching forth unto those
things which are before, I press towards the mark for the prize
of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Perseverance. The only true final evidence
of salvation is perseverance. And the child of God says, oh
Lord, keep me. Keep me looking to Christ. Keep
me pressing towards the mark, for the prize of God is the Lord
Jesus Christ. This one thing we do, one thing,
we just keep putting one foot in front of the other, don't
we? We've not yet apprehended. We're wrestling in this world,
but this one thing we do, Look to Christ. I told y'all this
story. It happened to me, Tricia and
I, 25 years ago. We went on vacation to Hawaii
and showed up in Kona the day after the Ironman Triathlon. I mean, what a, what is it? Two point something mile swim
and 200 mile bicycle ride and then a 27 mile run. And we noticed when we got there
that the finish line was still up. But the fanfare was over. The cameras were all taken down.
Everybody had gone home. There was some trash still littered
on the road. But it was over. The race was
over. We rented a car and started down
the road. And we saw a man. barely able
to get one foot in front of the other. This is the day after,
working his way towards the finish line with a number written down
his thigh. If I had to do over again today,
understanding a little bit more about the struggles of life,
I would have stopped my car and got out and walked the last mile
of that race with him, encouraging him all along the way. I would have said to him, you're
almost there. Press on, friend. The finish line's still there. Yeah, there's no one there to
cheer you on, maybe. But the finish line's there.
Press towards the mark for the prize. Finish the race. Finish the course. Keep the faith.
Look to Christ. It's the one thing and needful. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
bless Your Word to the hearts of Your people. We ask it in
Christ's name. Amen. 175. Let's stand together. 175.