in Winter Park Hospital right
now, so I think she went in yesterday. She has AFib and blood pressure
issues, so I know she'd appreciate your prayers for her. You don't have to look this up,
I just want to read this to begin our service. Hebrews chapter
3 verse 1, Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling,
Consider the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ
Jesus, who was faithful to him that appointed him. The Lord
Jesus Christ was faithful to everything his father sent him
to do. What did the father send him to do? First words that our
Lord spoke recorded in the scriptures when he was here in flesh. was
to his mother at 12 years old. Did you not know that I must
be about my father's business? The last words recorded before
he bowed his mighty head and gave up the ghost was, it is
finished. Father, into thy hands I commend
my spirit. He was faithful to him that appointed
him. What a faithful God we serve.
Let's stand together. Tom's going to come lead us in
the hymn on the back of your bulletin. I once was a stranger to grace
and to God. I knew not my danger and felt
not my load. Though friends spoke in rapture
of Christ on the tree. Jehovah Sidkenu meant nothing
to me. When free grace awoke me by light
from on high, then legal I trembled to die. No refuge, no safety in self
could I seek. Jehovah Sikhenu, my Savior must
be. My terrors all vanished before
His sweet name, My guilty fears banished, with boldness I came. To drink at the fountain, life-giving
and free, Jehovah, Sid Cain, who is all things to me. Please be seated. Good morning, brothers, sisters. Our scripture reading is found
in Psalm 19, Psalm 19. The heavens declare the glory
of God and the firmament show if he's handiwork. Day on today ought of speech
and night on tonight show of knowledge. There is no speech,
no language where their voice is not heard. Their line has
gone out through all the earth and the worst to the end of the
world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun. which is as a bridegroom
coming out of his chamber and rejoices as a strong man to run
a race. He is going forth, is from end
of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it. And there
is nothing hid from the heat of thereof. The law of the Lord
is perfect. converting the soul. The testimony
of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the
Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the
Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is
clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are
true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than
gold, ye much fine gold. Sweeter also than honey and the
honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant
warned, and in keeping them there is great reward. Who can understand
his errors? Cleanse thou me from strict faults. Keep back thy servant also from
presumptions, sin. Let them not have dominion over
me. Then I shall be upright and I
shall be innocent from the great transgression. Let the words
of thy mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in
thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Father God,
we come before you today giving you praise, giving you thank
you for your great salvation in Jesus Christ. for giving us
a place to hear about Christ, Lord. Father God, we now come
before you, asking for your Holy Spirit to fill us, to fill us,
the hearers, to fill the preacher, Father. May he preach Christ.
And clearly, Father, may we come out loving more the Lord Jesus
than before. We need your spirit to do this
for us, Father. We also ask this of all the other
churches that may preach the gospel clearly, Father God. We
pray for Sister Peggy, Father. We ask that you may be with her,
that you might give wisdom to the doctors that are attending
to her, Father God, and that she may come to you and become
more dependent on you as also us, Father God. Once again, we
thank you for a wonderful blessing of having Christ and listening
about him, Father God. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Let's all stand together, we'll
sing hymn number 11 from your Spiral Gospel Hymns hymn book,
number 11. With broken heart and contrite
sigh The trembling sinner, Lord, I cry Thy pardoning grace is
rich and free O God, be merciful to me. I smite upon my troubled breast
With deep and conscious guilt oppressed Christ and His cross
my only plea O God, be merciful to me No works nor deeds that I have
done can for a single sin atone. To Christ the Lord alone I flee. O God, be merciful to me. And when redeemed from sin and
hell, with all the ransom throng I dwell, my raptured song shall
ever be, God has been merciful to me. Please be seated. No works nor deeds that I have
done can for a single sin atone. I've titled the message this
morning, The Work of God. The Work of God. I hear people say sometimes,
well I'm doing the work of God. Only God can do the work of God. Only God can do the work of God. You can't do the work of God.
I can't do the work of God. And someone else will say, well
I'm doing work for God. What would God need for us to
do anything for Him? Psalm 115 says that their idols
have hands but they do not feel, they have eyes but they do not
see, they have eyes that they have ears that they do not hear,
mouths they have but they speak not. A person who says I'm doing work
for God, I hear people say well I'm God's hands and I'm God's
feet and I'm God's eyes and I'm God's ears. Well, the only God
that we would be eyes and ears and hands and feet for would
be an idol. The living God has his own eyes, he's got his own
feet and he's got his own hands and he's got his own ears and
his own mouth and he doesn't need to use you or me. Now, if God is pleased to do
a work through us, then it is the work of God And we become
nothing more than an instrument. But, but the instrument will
never take notice of the fact that they were used as an instrument. The instrument will say on that
day of judgment, Lord, when did we see you this way and not do
these things? We've been unprofitable servants
all our lives. Whatever you've done, you've
done it in spite of me. Not because of me. Lord, I've
never done the work of God. And I know that you don't need
me to do work for God. Turn with me in your Bibles please
to Psalm 64. Psalm 64. We have seen so clearly in the
Psalms that these are the words first and foremost of the Lord
Jesus Christ who is pouring out his heart to his Father. One of the prophets said, when
you come before the Lord, bring with you words, bring with you
words. Well, when we come to prayer
before God, before the throne of grace, to pour out our hearts
in time of need, what words do we speak? Let me remind you that
what God requires, God provides. The words that we're to speak
back to God are the very words that He gave us in the Psalms.
The Lord's taught us to pray. We offer up to God the very words. He's only pleased with that which
He has provided. This is the work of God. The work of God. In Psalm 64
verse 9, The scripture says, and all men shall fear God and
shall declare the work of God. For they shall wisely consider
of his doings, of his doings. Oh, brethren, life is short.
Soon will pass. And only what's done by Christ
will last. It is the work of God that lasts. Everything that you and I do,
well, look back to your fathers and your forefathers and your
grandfathers and your great-grandfather. Where's their work? Where's their
work? It's gone. I pray this morning the Lord
will give us a desire for His work. Declare the work of God and the
wise will consider of His doing. Verse 10, the righteous shall
be glad in the Lord. What is it to be glad in the
Lord? It's to be looking to His work and rejoicing in His work
and resting in His work. That's what it is to be glad
in the Lord. The righteous, not the self-righteous,
the truly righteous. David said, I will speak of thy
righteousness, even of thine only. The Lord is our righteousness
and the only righteousness we have is in him because of his
work. He's the one who is the end of
the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. The
Lord Jesus Christ is the righteous advocate that we have with the
Father. And our righteousness is only found in him. We are
accepted in the beloved. God requires perfect righteousness
and the Lord Jesus Christ provided that. So the righteous, not those
who are looking to their own righteousness, but those who
are looking in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ and His righteousness,
the righteous shall be glad in the Lord and shall trust in Him. And all the upright in heart
shall glory. Turn to Ephesians chapter 1. Beginning in verse 4, according
as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world,
that's the work of God. What do you have to do with that? Before the world was made, before
Adam was made, before the planets were made, before the universe
as we know it was made, God chose in the covenant of grace before the foundation of the
world that we should be holy and without blame before him
in love. How are you going to be holy?
How are you going to be without blame before God? Only if God puts in your heart
a love for the righteousness and the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ as your advocate before God. And God has ordained. God has purposed. This is His
work. It's not your work. Look at verse 6. To the praise
of the glory of His grace wherein He has made us accepted in the
Beloved. The only way that you and I are
going to be accepted before God is not because we've done work
for God or that we've done the work of God. It's because we
have acceptance in the beloved. Who is the beloved? Well, it's
the Lord Jesus Christ. This is my beloved son, in him
I'm well pleased, hear ye him. We find our hope in the Lord
Jesus Christ. We have no righteousness outside
of him. You remember in John chapter 6 when they said, what
works can we work that we might do the work of God? We wanna
do the work of God too. We wanna do what you're doing.
That's what they said to the Lord Jesus Christ. We see that
you are a man of God. We see that you are able to do
the work of God. What work can we work? That we
might work the work of God. And what the Lord say to them,
this is the work of God that you believe on him whom he had
sent. In other words, the work of God
in your heart causes you to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You
see, faith is the work of God. For by grace, or you say, through
faith and that not of yourself, it's a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. We can't boast in having faith. We can't boast in doing the work.
Well, I've decided to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, so
therefore I've done the work of God. No, the work of God is
that you believe. You can't believe until God does
His work in your heart, giving you faith and repentance, opening
the eyes of your understanding, unstopping your ears, and causing
you to come unto Him. That's the work of God. It's
not our work. men who proudly rob God of His
glory, look at the rest of this verse, to the praise of His glory,
the glory of His grace, verse 6, wherein He has made a success
in whom we have redemption through His blood the forgiveness of
sins according to the riches of His grace wherein He has bounded
toward us in all wisdom and prudence. All these things are the work
of God. This is the work of God. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
prays in Psalm 65 and says all men shall fear and they shall
declare the work of God and the Y shall speak of his doing God's
people don't walk around talking about what they've done for God
they don't talk about what decisions they've made or what prayers
they prayed or what what what good thing they've done Those are the ones the Lord spoke
of in Matthew chapter 7 when he said, depart from me, you
workers of iniquity, I never knew you. But Lord, we've cast
out demons in thy name. We've done many wonderful works
in thy name. The righteous shall be glad in
the Lord. Being made a sinner is the work
of God. You can't just decide, well,
you know, I think I'm going to be a sinner. I'm going to understand
that I'm a sinner. It's the work of God. Let me show you that, Ecclesiastes
chapter 7. Ecclesiastes chapter 7, right
after Proverbs, before the Song of Solomon, is Ecclesiastes chapter
7. Look with me at verse 13. Consider
the work of God. That's my hope this morning is
that we will consider the work of God. Consider the work of God for
who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked. Now that's
the work of God. Once God makes you crooked, you
can't make yourself straight. The Lord has to show you how
crooked you are. Wait, once the Lord shows you
that you're a sinner, that's the work of God. Let me show you that again in
another place, Exodus chapter 32. Exodus chapter 32. Verse 15, and Moses turned, now Moses has
been on the mountain of the law, he's been on Mount Sinai, just
he and God. God's given him the tablets of
the law. God sees what's going on with Aaron and the children
of Israel and the making of the golden calf down at the foot
of the mountain. Moses doesn't know what's going
on yet, but God sees it. And God says to Moses, I'm going
to destroy those people, I'm going to start over with you.
And Moses interceded for the children of Israel. And Moses
is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ here. He's the only one that
can go up on a mountain of the law and not be destroyed by God.
And he intercedes on behalf of his people who are by nature
idolaters. And Moses goes back down. And
Moses turned and went down from the mountain in verse 15. and
the two tables of the testimony were in his hand and the tables
were written on both their sides, on the one side and on the other
side were they written and the tables were the work of God. So the law written on these stone
tables by the finger of God was the work of God. Now religion
is very good about making for Commandments, the commandments
of men, the doctrines of men. We like to, men like to make
up their own list and rules of do's and don'ts, but this is
the law of God. And this is the work of God. And the writing was the writing
of God graven upon the tables. Now turn with me to Romans chapter
three, please. Romans chapter three. We're talking about God making
you to be a sinner. Sinners are the only ones that
flee to Christ. Sinners are the only ones that
look to the Lord Jesus Christ for the work of God. Everybody
else thinks, well, I can do something for God. I can do the work of
God. I can do a work for God. Sinners
realize, Lord, I can't bring anything to you. That tablet
of stone, that law of God, that's the work of God. And what was
the purpose of the law? What was the purpose of the law?
Why did God give Moses the law? Well, here it is in Romans chapter
three, verse 19. Now we know, now we know that
what things soever the law saith that saith to them who are under
the law. that every mouth may be stopped
and all the world become guilty before God. So the law of God
shows the holiness of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one who
kept the law. And when we look to Him and see
His fulfillment of the law, we can only come to one conclusion.
I'm guilty before God. So the work of God in writing
the tablets of stone with his own finger is for the purpose
of shutting the mouths of men and causing us to be guilty before
God. Therefore, By the deeds of the
law shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law
is the knowledge of sin. All the law does is expose me
for what I am, a sinner. That's all it does. The law can't
be my rule of life. The law can't be my achievements
before God. The law just exposes me for what
I am. But now, Now the Lord's going
to give us a contrast between the hope of salvation and the
judgment. All the law can do is curse us.
All the law can do is condemn us. All the law can do is say
guilty. All the law, that's, that's, the law can't save. The law was never given as a
means of salvation. But now, The righteousness of
God without the law is manifest being witnessed by the law and
the prophets. Who is the righteousness of God? The Lord Jesus Christ.
He is witnessed by the prophets. We just saw that in Zechariah
and all the prophets pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ and
the law pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything points
to Him. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is being manifest. It's being made known
by the law and the prophets. for even the righteousness of
God which is by faith of Jesus Christ. It's his faithfulness. God gives us faith, but the hope
of our salvation is not in the strength of our faith. The hope
of our salvation is in the one to whom we look. He's the one
that's faithful. unto all and upon all them that
believe, for there is no difference, for all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God." Now y'all have heard me say this
many, many times, but that verse right there, to me, is the clearest
definition of sin in all of scripture. And we know that there's other
definitions, transgression of the law, missing the mark, and
all those things, but All you have to do is ask yourself, what
in my life falls short of the glory of God? And if God's given
you any light at all, the only answer you can come to is everything. There's nothing in me that's
like Him. Nothing. You see, if God makes something
crooked, no one can make it straight. And when the work of God was
used to write the law of God, it was for the purpose of making
us sinners. Verse 24, by being justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus. The work of God is the redemption
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's redeemed us by His blood. That's the work of God. It's
all the work of God. Consider the work of God. It's His work. And He did it
perfectly. He is able to save to the uttermost
them that come to God by Him. Now that word uttermost just
means perfect. He is able to save perfectly
those who come to God by Him. is the work of God. Verse 25,
Whom God hath set forth that be a propitiation for our sins.
That's the work of God. God set forth His Son. God put
His King on the throne of His holy hill. It's the Lord Jesus Christ that
said, lo, in the volume of the book it is written of me, I've
come to do thy will, O God. The Lord Jesus Christ has done
the work of God. The wise will consider his work
and put all the hope of their salvation in his accomplished
work. whom God had set forth to be
a propitiation. Now the word, people say, well God's not angry.
Read Psalm 711. The scripture says God is angry
with the wicked every day. It is a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of an angry God. God is angry at sin. Where do
we see the anger of God most demonstrated against sin? At
the cross. At the cross. When the wrath
of God poured out in all of its fury on the Son of God and it
pleased God to bruise Him. And God Almighty sheathed the
sword of His justice into the heart of His own Son. And God saw the travail of His
soul and God said, now I'm satisfied. I'm not angry anymore. Not with those for whom He died. So how do I know He died for
me? Because I've got no place else to go but to look to Him.
I've got no works. The law has made it clear that
I'm a sinner. I need a God who's been made
propitious. A God whose anger has been put
away. A God who no longer has wrath
towards me. And the only way that I can have
any comfort or any hope in that God is to look to the one to
whom He poured out His wrath. whom God set forth to be a propitiation
through faith in his blood. All I can do is look to the shed
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, that's where God's looking. My brethren and my friends, look
where God's looking and be satisfied with what God's satisfied with.
God's not satisfied with you and he's not satisfied with me,
he's satisfied with his son. And God's not looking to our
works. He's not looking to what we do for God. And if God's pleased
to do anything at all through us, we will not take any notice
of that, but we will come to one conclusion. I'm but an unprofitable
servant. Matter of fact, if God's ever
pleased to use us in any way, to do the work of God through
us. The only thing that we're going
to be aware of is how much in a way we got ourselves. That's the only thing we're going
to be aware of. Now I can say that from personal experience
because I can't stand in this pulpit and speak for God without
getting out of my own way. I just, I can't do it. And you
can't either. And the only thing I'm ever aware
of is how much in the way i was and if god ever does a work through
any of us it'll be in spite of us faith is a gift We need a God
who's been made propitious and God made himself propitious through
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. To declare, verse 26, to declare
I say at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. To declare his righteousness,
not my righteousness, what can I do for God? Where is boasting then? I know you have religious friends
and family members. They love to boast in what they're
doing for God, don't they? Where is boasting then? There's
no boasting. I'm ashamed of how much in the
way of God I am all the time. There's nothing to boast in,
but I can boast in Him. Because the work of God is a
perfect work and he did it perfectly. Where is boasting then? It is
excluded by what law? Of works? Nay, but by the law
of faith. Therefore, we conclude that a
man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Go back with me if you will for
a moment. Psalm. We've seen that being made a
sinner is the work of God. Having faith is the work of God. Having redemption is the work
of God. Election is the work of God. When the Bible talks about the
work of God, it's talking about something God did all by himself
without any contribution on your part or mine. This is the work
of God. The work of God is the only hope
we have. Only hope. All men shall fear. Verse 9 of
Psalm 64. and shall declare." See, every
time we come together, all we're trying to do is declare the work
of God, aren't we? And shall declare the work of
God. And the wise? How do I know if
I'm wise? How do you know if you're wise?
Because I'm considering His doing for all the hope of my salvation. The righteous shall be glad in
the Lord. I'm thankful that his work is
the work that saves. I'm thankful that it's his election.
I'm thankful that it's his depravity making me depraved. I'm thankful
that it's his redemptive work on Calvary's cross. I'm thankful
that it's God making his son to be our propitiation. I'm thankful
that the revelation of the gospel is the work of God. Now you know that. If God's given
you eyes to see and ears to hear and a heart to believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, you know that was the work of God, don't you?
How many times people come and they hear the gospel and sometimes
they'll sit here for weeks or months and then they're able
to just walk away, walk away. Or they'll come and they'll listen
to what's being said and you know they're coming from another
church that preaches a different gospel and they'll say, well,
what's the difference? It sounds like the same to me. Well, who
made a thing to differ? What do you have that you did
not receive? You see, the revelation of the gospel to your heart is
the work of God. It's not your work. You're not
going to study it out. You're not going to figure it
out. That's why the Bible calls the gospel a mystery. When the
Bible refers to the gospel as a mystery, it doesn't mean that
it's strange or mysterious. It means that it's hid. It's
hid. And it has to be revealed. And
only God can uncover the mystery of the gospel and reveal it to
us. And when He does, it's so crystal clear. And we come to
realize it's all of God. All of God. That's the work of
God. The fact that I have any understanding
of the gospel at all is the work of God. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. There's the work of God. There's
the work. How are you going to be just?
We justify ourselves all the time, don't we? We're easily
offended. We're always defending ourselves.
We justify ourselves of one another a lot, don't we? Who's going to justify you before
God? You're going to justify yourself? You're going to make
excuses? You're going to tell God how good you've been? Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that
justifies. Turn to me to that passage, Romans
chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. Verse 33. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Who's going to charge God's elect
before God? It is God that justifies. Who
is he that condemns? There is now therefore no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. It is God, it is Christ that
died, yea, rather than is risen again, who is even at the right
hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. How are
we going to intercede? How are we going to come into
the presence of God and speak to God? Well, we have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. He ever lives
to make intercession for us. That's the work of God. And if
God ever enables us to pray, that'll be the work of God. Somebody asks us to pray for
them. I've said I will and I haven't.
And I've tried to be a little more faithful to say, you know,
as the Lord enables me. As the Lord enables me, I will.
Because that's what true prayer is. True prayer is the work of
God in the heart, enabling us to pray. Verse 34, who is it that condemneth?
It is Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again, who
is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
For it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long.
We are counted as sheep for the slaughter. There's nothing in
us. Paul's saying, I can't present myself to God for my justification. I can't intercede for myself.
I'm a dead man before God. I'm in need of someone to do
that for me. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors
through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the
love of God which is in Christ Jesus. That's the work of God. Providence is the work of God. All providence is the work of
God. And you know, brethren, that all things work together
for good. For them that love God and those that are called
according to his purpose, you know that he hath done whatsoever
he wills and that he's not out of control at any point. He's
ordained every moment of time. for every man, woman, boy, and
girl in this world. Our God makes everything beautiful
in His time. He reigns sovereign over the
armies of heaven and all the inhabitants of the earth. And
no man can say unto Him, What doest Thou? He hath done whatsoever
He pleases. That's the work of God. Now,
everything you see happening in this world, you say, God did
that. God's the first cause of that. You say, well, even has
evil come to the city and the Lord had not caused it? Does
he not cause good? And does he not bring darkness? Yes. Our God reigns. I had someone tell me recently,
everybody's a child of God. No, they're not. Adoption is
the work of God. Adoption is the work of God. The adopted child has nothing
to do with the adoption. They're passive, aren't they?
It's the adult that goes into the adoption place and picks
out the child and chooses the child and makes the expense to
bring the child home. That's the work of the parent,
not the child. And the scripture says, he came
unto his own and his own received him not, but to as many as received
him. To them, to them gave he the
power to become the sons of God. Adoption is the work of God. It's not our work. It's God's
work. Turn with me to Ecclesiastes
chapter 8. Ecclesiastes chapter 8. Verse 16. These are the words
of the preacher. Solomon, wisest man who ever
lived, but he represents the Lord Jesus Christ, doesn't he?
He's the one. Verse 16, Ecclesiastes chapter
eight. When I applied my heart to know
wisdom and to see the business that is done upon the earth,
for also there is neither day nor night that seeth sleep with
his eyes, Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man, a man,
that's you and me, cannot find out the work that is done under
the sun. Because though a man labor to
seek it out, yet he shall not find it. Yea, rather though a
wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find
it. The work of God is infinite. It's way too big for you and
I to understand. The work that He accomplished
in redemption, in justification, in adoption, in election, in making us to be sinners, in
revelation, all those works of God, oh, they go far beyond our
understanding, don't they? The point is God's doing a whole
lot more than we think he is. But faith, faith knows that it's
the work of God. It's the work of God that saves
and the wise man considers the work of God and rejoices in the
work of God. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father,
We're thankful for the revelation of truth that you've given us
in thy word and Lord, how we hope that you would enable us
to rest our immortal souls in thy work for it's in Christ's
name we pray. Amen. Number 36, let's stand
together. Number 36. Behold my soul, the love of God. Behold the grace most free. Before all worlds His purpose
stood. His heart was fixed on me. Elected by eternal love, the
covenant firm and sure, the triune God agreed in love, salvation
to secure. My soul was given to the Son
He promised to redeem By blood and righteousness His own He
would my soul reclaim In the due time Emmanuel came To live
and die for me He lives today and bears my name, Christ is
my surety. In love He sent His Spirit down,
who gave me life and grace. He drew me and I followed on,
my Savior to embrace. Now I rejoice in covenant love,
amazing grace I sing. I now am conquered by His love,
my Savior is my King. Okay.