Obie, thank you. Obie Williams
taught the Sunday school class this morning for Michael. Thank
you, brother. Obie and his family are from
Crossville. Co-laborers. Amen? Co-laborers. Michael is not going
to be back until Saturday. So he'll be all week with his
family up in Illinois. If you weren't here the first
hour, Michael Etheridge's father passed away, I think it was Thursday. He went up and preached his funeral
and is staying all this week with his mother and brother.
So Lord puts it on your heart to pray for Michael. I know he
would appreciate that. Or text him or get with him and let him
know. He'll be encouraged to hear from you. You don't have to look this up.
Isaiah chapter 51 verse 1, hearken, hearken to me, ye that follow
after righteousness. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and His righteousness. And all these other things will
be added unto you. Men, being ignorant of God's
righteousness, go about to establish their own righteousness. Christ
is our righteousness. And our whole purpose for being
here this morning is to seek Him. To seek Him. And how we hope that the Lord
will be pleased to reveal Him to our hearts and save sinners
Oh, that's our hope. Ye that seek the Lord, look unto
the rock from whence you were hewn, and the hole of the pit
from which you are digged. Remember where God brought you
from. Remember where he put you in Christ, the rock. All right,
let's stand together. Brother Bert's gonna come and
lead us in number 39 in your spiral hymnal, number 39. Wretched, lost, condemned, and
dying. Guilty, I deserve God's wrath. Long I fought against my Master. Heaven, I was courting death. But the blood of Christ had bought
me, He refused to let me die. This poor sinner, loved by Jesus,
Must be conquered by and by. At the time which was predestined
in the covenant of God's grace, God in mercy sent His Spirit,
blessed time of loving grace, to reveal His Son's great as
the sinner's substitute. I saw Jesus bleeding, dying,
suffering as my substitute. Precious blood for sin's atonement,
justice could not ask for more. I heard Christ cry, it is finished,
and I could resist no more. Thanks to God for intervening. Grace that broke my stubborn
will. Grace that would not let me perish. Grace that rescued me from hell. Sovereign grace, I will proclaim
it, Irresistible and free. Grace that chose me and redeemed
me. God, by grace alone, save me. Sinner, now you've heard my story. Now I bid you trust my God. Christ, my all-sufficient Savior,
saved four sinners by His blood. Psalm ABC. For our scripture reading, would
you turn to the book of Jeremiah, a very familiar verse. Jeremiah 29, we're going to begin
in verse 8. Jeremiah 29, verse 8. For thus saith the Lord of hosts,
the God of Israel, let not your prophets and your diviners that
be in the midst of you deceive you, neither hearken to your
dreams which ye cause to be dreamed. For they prophesy falsely unto
you in my name, I have not sent them, saith the Lord. Verse 10, for thus saith the
Lord, that after 70 years be accomplished at Babylon, I will
visit you and perform my good word toward you and causing you
to return to this place. One day we will be in his presence,
that's the place. Very soon, very soon. For I know the thoughts that
I think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not
of evil, to give you an expected end. Oh Lord, would you remind
me of that this morning? Then shall you call upon me and
you shall go and pray unto me and I will hearken unto you. And you shall seek me and find
me when you shall search for me with all your heart. And that's why we're here this
morning to do that. Pray he would enable us to do
so. Let's pray. Lord, we do come to you again
in the name of thy dear son, the Lord Jesus Christ, thanking
you for the work that you have begun here. in drawing us here
this morning to be in thy presence. Oh, Lord, so thankful. Ask that you would send your
spirit now to enable us to be able to hear you, to see you,
and to believe with our whole heart that thou art the Son of
God. Lord, would you give us assurance
once again in your word Give us peace and comfort, knowing
that you are satisfied in Christ, Lord, and that all that we ever
need and all that we ever are to be is found in him. Pray your
blessings now upon the preaching of your word. Bless our brother
and bless all your messengers that are meeting this very hour.
Forgive us for our sins and our unbelief, and Lord, remove the
cares of the world this very hour, and enable us to enter
into thy presence in worship. For Christ's name and for his
sake, amen. We're gonna sing now to him in
our blue, and we're gonna sing number two. 96, 296, if you could please stand. All
the way, My Shepherd Leads, 296. All the way my Savior leads me,
what have I to ask beside? Can I doubt His tender mercy,
who through life has been my guide? Heavenly peace, divinest
comfort, here by faith in Him to dwell. For I know what e'er
befalls me, Jesus doeth all things well. For I know what e'er befalls
me, Jesus doeth all things well. All the way my Savior leads me,
cheers each winding path I tread, gives me grace for every trial,
feeds me with the living bread. Though my weary steps may falter,
And my soul a thirst may be, Gushing from the rock before
me, Blow a string of joy I sing. Gushing from the rock before
me, Blow a string of joy I sing. All the way my Savior leads me,
O the fullness of His love. Perfect rest to me is promised
in my Father's house above. Spirit clothed immortal Wings
its flight to realms of day This my song through endless ages
Jesus led me all the way This my song through endless ages
Jesus led me all the way You be seated. We have special music
right now. Be Thou my vision, O Lord of
my heart, Not be all else to me save that Thou art. Thou my best thought, by day
or by night, Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light. Be Thou my wisdom and Thou my true
word, I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord. Thou my great father, I thy true
son, Thou in me dwelling, and I with thee one. Riches I heed not, nor man's
empty praise Thou mine inheritance now and always Thou and Thou
only, first in my heart High King of Heaven My treasure thou
art High King of heaven, my victory
won May I reach heaven's joys, O bright heaven's sun Heart of my own heart, whatever
befall Still be my vision, O ruler of all Thank you, Bert. Wasn't that
a blessing, that hymn? Thank you, Brie. Would you turn with me in your
Bibles, please, to Isaiah chapter 45? Isaiah 45. And I want to introduce this
message by asking you, how ought a gospel preacher introduce his
message? How ought a gospel preacher introduce
his message? If you do any public speaking
or you've had any college courses on public speaking, you know
that they will teach you the importance of captivating your
audience within the first minute of your speech. And to do that,
you have to be provocative, you have to use props, you have to
use humor, And all of those things are relevant when it comes to
speaking about something other than the gospel. I want to answer
the question that I ask, how ought a gospel preacher introduce
his message? What do God's people want to
hear in the introduction of a gospel message? And here it is in our
text. It's what every prophet of God
ever used to introduce his message, thus saith the Lord. Preacher, anything else you tell
me, you're wasting my time. You're wasting my time. You're
trying to entertain me. You're trying to captivate my
attention. I want to know what God says. Just leave it at that. And every gospel preacher can
introduce every message to God's people. That may not be very
captivating to an unbeliever, but for God's people, all they
want to hear is what does God say. And so that's my introduction.
Thus saith the Lord. Are you interested? Are you interested
in what God says? Where is she gonna go? Where
else in this world are you gonna go to hear what God has to say? The world is full of voices,
full of sounds, full of the opinions of men. I need to know what God
says. Thus saith the Lord to my anointed." Now Cyrus is being spoken of
here in this passage, and two weeks ago we looked at the events
surrounding Cyrus, the Persian king who God raised up to go
in and overthrow the Babylonian Empire. You remember in Daniel
chapter 5 when Belshazzar saw the handwriting on the wall and
God judged him that night. Cyrus is the one who came in
and killed Belshazzar and overthrew the Babylonian kingdom and it
was all part of God's purpose and plan to bring his people
back to Jerusalem to worship him. But this morning I want
us to consider the fact that this book is not about Cyrus.
It's not about Babylon. It's not about Persia. The book
that we have before us is about Christ. It's all about him. In the volume of the book, it
is written of me. The testimony of Jesus is the
spirit of prophecy. And Cyrus, in our text, if we
have spiritual eyes to see, if we have ears to hear what God
has to say, we'll see that the prophecies relating to Cyrus
were ultimately fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is
God's anointed. Thus saith the Lord to my anointed. Now you know that word anointed
is also translated Messiah. It's also translated Christ. Men refer to Jesus as the Christ,
and then when you hear them define what they mean by that, they
deny the very essence of the anointing. They deny the very
essence of what it means to be the Christ. He came with the
spirit of gladness. He came, well, the very first
passage that our Lord reads from to begin His public ministry
in Luke chapter 4 was a passage from Isaiah chapter 61. If you'd
like to turn with me there in your Bibles over just a few pages
to Isaiah chapter 61, this was the passage of scripture that
our Lord read in Nazareth, where he was well known. As his custom
was, the scripture says, he went into the synagogue and they gave
him the scroll. He's 30 years old. I'm sure that
he had done it many times before. And he stood up to read from
Isaiah chapter 61. Everybody in that synagogue knew
that this was a prophecy relating to the coming of the Messiah.
And when our Lord finished these words, they wondered at the gracious
words that he spoke when he said, this day, this prophecy has been
fulfilled in thy sight. So the Lord Jesus Christ publicly
begins his ministry by declaring himself to be the Messiah, the
Anointed One, the Christ. Is this not the son of Joseph,
they said? We know you. You can't be the
Christ. Oh, yes, I am. And then the Lord
defines what it means to be the Christ when he says, in the days
of the prophet Elijah, there were many widows. There were
many widows in Israel, but the Lord showed mercy towards the
widow of Sarepta, the Gentile woman. And then he goes on to
say, and in the days of the prophet of Elisha, there were many lepers
in Israel that God didn't heal. But he did show mercy towards
Naaman, the Syrian, the Gentile. You see, the fact that, and of
course, they're wondering at his words of grace, where now,
their spirit is now turned into rage, and they take this very
one, who's professing himself to be the Christ, the Messiah,
the anointed one, and they try to kill him. Why? You telling me that you have
sovereign control over who would be saved? And you would show
mercy toward a Gentile before you would show mercy toward a
Jew? And yes, the Lord's saying, yeah, I'm the potter. I'm the
potter. You're the clay. I have the sovereign
right to make out of the same lump of clay some vessels of
honor and some of dishonor. I do whatsoever I will. No man
can stay my hand. No man can say unto me, what
doest thou? I am the Christ. Period. This prophecy in Isaiah chapter
45 is about the Lord Jesus Christ. You have your Bibles open, Isaiah
61, look. The Spirit of the Lord God is
upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings
unto the meek. He has sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening
of the prison to them that are bound to proclaim the acceptable
year of the Lord. I came to blow the trumpet of
Jubilee, to set all the prisoners free, to pay off all the debts,
to reestablish all the property that you lost in your father
Adam. That's who I am. That's what I came to do. I'm
the anointed one. Is it possible? for God to send
His Christ into this world, and for Him not to accomplish what
the Father sent Him to do. No, it's not. Even that woman
at the well who was a Samaritan who only believed the first five
books of the Bible, Even she said, I know, I know
that when Messiah comes, that is the Christ, he'll teach us
everything. No Jew has ever had any thought
of a Messiah that would fail saving all of Israel. That's
a Gentile heresy. Nothing in scripture ever suggests
that when the Christ comes, he's going to fail in accomplishing
what he came to do. What did he come to do? He came
to save his people. He came to save sinners. And he was successful. He didn't
come to make an offer of salvation to be accepted or rejected by
us. He came in order to accomplish the salvation of God's elect. He is the Christ, the Messiah. Don't call Jesus Christ. It's not His last name, it's
His title. Don't call Him the Christ. Unless you ascribe to
Him all glory, all power, and all honor, because that's what
the Christ is. He's my anointed. He's the one
that I have sent. Exodus chapter 28 verse 41. The first mention of anointing
in the Word of God. God is speaking to Moses and
He says, Thou shalt put them upon Aaron thy brother and his
sons. He's talking about the priestly
robe. Put them upon Aaron and put them
upon his sons. and you shall anoint him and
consecrate him and sanctify them that they may minister to me
in the priest office. In order for the priest to be
able to minister to God. That's what Christ came to do.
First and foremost, the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world
to do business with his father. That's what he came to do. He
cannot minister as the priest without the anointing. And so
he came in the full power of the Spirit of God in order to
minister satisfaction, justification to his Father. The Lord Jesus
Christ offered himself up to God. God the father saw the travail
of his soul and God the father was satisfied You see the success
of the Lord Jesus Christ doesn't have anything to do with our
faith with us Accepting or rejecting or being satisfied with him?
He came to satisfy the father he came to offer to God a a blood
sacrifice that would be acceptable to the Father for the putting
away of the sins of His people. He came to save His bride, His
church, and as the Christ, He succeeded. He succeeded. Not a drop of His blood was wasted. He's not a failure. He's not
in the heavens like most people portray Him, wringing His hands,
wishing that men would let Him have His way. He's the Christ. He's the Anointed One. When Cyrus
came into Babylon, he came in with full power. Belshazzar was
killed that very night. The Babylonian Empire was overthrown
that very night. The empire of the Medes and the
Persians was established that very night. Why? Because God
gave him power. God gave Christ power to save
his people. He is the anointed. Don't you love in John chapter
11 where the Lord's talking to Martha and he's talking about
the resurrection and Martha said, well, I know my brother will
raise in the last day. And the Lord said, Martha, I
am the resurrection and the life. Whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Believest thou this? And what
did Martha say? Yea, Lord, I believe. that thou
art the Christ, the Son of God. I believe you're the Christ.
I believe you came in the full power of God to accomplish the
salvation of your people. I believe you sovereignly reign
over all the inhabitants of the earth, the living and the dead,
and that all the armies of heaven do thy bidding. I believe you're
the Christ. I believe you have the sovereign
right to do with me whatsoever you will. And then when Philip preached
the gospel to that Ethiopian eunuch, he said the same thing.
Philip began in Isaiah chapter 53 preaching Jesus unto that
Ethiopian eunuch, and the Ethiopian said, look, here's water, what
doth hinder me to be baptized? What Philip say, if thou believest
with all thine heart, thou mayest. Now let me ask you a question,
what do you believe with all your heart? If you know your heart, your
heart's wicked and deceitful. Hey, I mean, you're pretty fickle,
aren't you? You believe something real strong
one minute, and not so strong the next minute. If God has revealed
Christ to you, you can say with the Ethiopian eunuch, I do believe
that that Jesus you just preached to me, Jesus of Nazareth, who
laid down his life on a Roman cross, is the Christ, the Son
of God. Now, I may not know much else,
but I know that. I know that for sure. And all
I know to do is risk my very immortal soul on Him. I say risk, rest. We ain't got no place else to
go. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed and I'm persuaded. I am persuaded. What are you
persuaded of? What is your persuasion? Paul
said, I'm persuaded that he's able. Why is he able? Because he's the anointed one.
He's the Christ. He's the Son of God. There's
nothing he's not able to do. He's able to do whatsoever he
wills. Lord, if you're willing. Now what those, the lepers came
to the Lord. You see, modern day religion
believes that God is willing to save everybody, but he's not
quite able unless you participate. The gospel says he's able to
save everyone he's willing to save. He's able. He's the Christ. Now Cyrus, look
back with me in our text in Isaiah 45. Thus saith the Lord. That's
my only introduction. I hope to always use that as
an introduction. Because I know God's people are
thinking, that's what I want to know. That's what I want to
know. Pastor anything else you do is
just wasting your time in mind. Tell me what God says Thus saith
the Lord to my anointed Cyrus Now you can look this up Cyrus's
name means the possessor of the furnace The possessor of the
furnace and I'm sure you've seen some of
those. Obie and I were talking about this last night. Our minds
are influenced by bad medieval art that some pagan painted to
try to portray a biblical event. And most times the events don't
have anything to do with the way those things were painted
out. But when those medieval artists tried to portray hell,
they portrayed the demons torturing those who go to hell. The demons are tortured in hell. Hell is God's hell. It's the
fire of God's wrath that fuels hell. The demons aren't... Cyrus is the possessor of the
furnace. The Lord Jesus Christ said, don't be afraid of men
that can kill your body. Fear him rather who has power
to cast both body and soul into hell. Fear him. Why? Because he's the
possessor. He's the one who Now, fear God. There's a way to fear God without
being afraid of hell. To know that the Lord Jesus Christ
went to hell for you. To know that when he walked in
that fiery furnace with those three Hebrew children, the reason
why a hair on their head wasn't singed, the only reason why the
smell of smoke was not found upon them is because that fourth
man, who was like unto the Son of God, consumed all the heat
of that furnace. He consumed every bit of it.
And when the Lord Jesus Christ hung on Calvary's cross, the
fiery wrath of God's justice fell upon Him and He consumed
it all. And He put away all the sins
of all of His people once and for all. We don't, believers
don't walk through this life fearing hell. We do fear God. And we know that hell has been
put away. We have great hope. We're gonna
see that in just a moment. You know, the religious, the
religious point their fingers at the bars and the brothels
and they say, that's demonic. And what the religious don't
realize is that the man who's standing in their pulpit serving
up a more damnable spirit than any bartender serving up and
The man that's standing in their pulpit as the as the The great
well what the revelation calls him Babylon the mother of harlots and The prostitution spiritually
that's being committed in religious organizations with people sitting
around looking, you know, like the picture of goodness. What's happening there? That's
weird. Just down the street from my
house, there's an abortion clinic. And every single day, every single
day, the religious people are gathered outside of that abortion
clinic with their signs And I tried talking to him one time. That
was a mistake. I'm not going to do it again.
But what they don't realize is that the doctor that stands in
their pulpit is killing more people than the one in that abortion
clinic. The Lord says that when Satan
comes, he's gonna come as a minister of light, an angel of light,
a minister of righteousness. He comes as a preacher, promoting
morality and deceiving men. And the Lord says, thus saith
the Lord, my anointed, This is to my anointed, Cyrus. Cyrus,
the one who possesses the furnace. Somebody please turn that phone
off. Help him out there, Ed. All right, you have your Bibles
open to Isaiah 45. Thus saith the Lord to his anointed,
to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden. The Lord Jesus Christ, He holds
the keys of heaven and hell. He's the one that we have to
reckon with. Why do the kings of the earth
rage and the heathen imagine a vain thing? I've set my king
upon my holy hill. Isn't that what Psalm 2 says?
And then it concludes with, kiss the son, kiss the son lest he
be angry with you. We've got to do with the anointed
one, with Christ. He's the one that you and I have
to do with. And God says I have Holding his
right hand. I've strengthened him turn with
me over in your Bibles to Psalm 16, please Psalm 16 verse 8 This book is about the Lord Jesus
Christ why because he's the only one that can save you He's the one you need Psalm 16, verse 8, I have set the Lord always before
me. Now you're going to see this
is clearly a prophecy about the Lord Jesus Christ who has set
his Father always before him. He had perfect faith. Now that's
what God requires. What God requires from you and
me is absolute perfect faith. How do you measure up? Oh, to be found in Him. Not having
my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that righteousness
which is by the faith of Jesus Christ There's my hope Right to his
dying breath. What's the last thing the Lord
Jesus Christ said from Calvary's cross? He said it is finished. The work of redemption is accomplished.
Nothing can be added to it Nothing can be taken away from it father
into thy hands. I commend my spirit. I So to
his dying breath, he trusted the father to reward him for
his work. He says, I set the Lord always
before me because he is at my right hand and I shall not be
moved. Therefore, my heart is glad,
and my glory rejoiceth. My flesh also shall rest in hope,
for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer
thy Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of
life, and in thy presence is fullness of joy at thy right
hand. There are pleasures for evermore. At thy right hand there are pleasures
forevermore. Now the flesh might find pleasure
in sin for a season, but in the end it leads to death. The pleasures
of salvation are found at the right hand of God, and the Lord
Jesus Christ is God's right-hand man. So he says, I'm the anointed. I'm the Christ. I'm the one who
came in the full power of the Spirit of God to accomplish the
salvation of my people. There's no possible way for me
to fail. I'm Cyrus. I'm the possessor of life and
death. You're going to be right with
God, you're going to have to come to me. Come to me. I hold the keys of
heaven and hell Why Because I've been at God's
right hand and he's helped me he strengthened me go back with
me to our text in Isaiah chapter 45 You remember in Revelation chapter
5 when John has this vision of heaven and he sees God sitting
upon a throne with a scroll in his right hand. And John looks
all over heaven for someone that has the power, the authority,
the right to take that scroll which has been sealed with seven
seals and open it to reveal the salvation of God's people. This
is the scroll of life. And John finds no one, and he
weeps bitterly because he finds no one. And finally, the angel
says, John, weep not, for the lion of the tribe of Judah hath
prevailed, and he is able to open the seals. And the Lord
Jesus Christ, as the lamb slain before the foundation of the
world, takes the scroll from the right hand of God. And now Cyrus is referred to
as the one who is strengthened by God's right hand. What a picture
of our Christ. This is the savior of sinners. He's our only hope. He's our
life. What hope he is, what pleasures
there are to be found at his right hand. Thus saith the Lord to his anointed,
to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before
him, I will loose the loins of kings. Now, Daniel chapter five, when
Cyrus came in and overthrew, well, when God wrote on the wall,
The scripture says that Belchazzar's loins were loosened and his knees
knocked together. He is scared. And we watch heads of state. We've seen it in the last few
days between North Korea and Russia and our president. And it's all a matter of intimidation,
isn't it? Sword rattling. See who's going
to be able to present themselves in such a way as to intimidate
the other guy. Every single one of those men.
standing before God Every say I don't care how bold and brash
and cocky they are in this life Every man who stands before God
Will be brought to his knees be brought to his knees. Every
knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess." Turn with me
to Psalm 2. I know you know this passage,
but I can't quote it all, and you're going to be so encouraged
to see this. Psalm 2. Why? Here's God speaking. Why do the
heathen rage? Why do men stand and raise their
fists to God? Why do they resist Him? Why do
the people imagine a vain thing, an empty thing? To think that
I can control the hand of God. Or that I can manipulate Him.
Or I can intimidate Him. Or I can decide for myself when
I'm going to be saved. The people are imagining a vain
thing. Or that I can offer God something
that's going to earn His favor and cause Him to save me. Why
do the people imagine such a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves
and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against
His anointed. And what do they say? Let us
break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us.
We'll not have this man reign over us. Oh no? On the authority of God's word,
I'm here to say to you right now that the Lord Jesus Christ
is your Lord. Whether you believe him or not,
he reigns sovereign over your life and he is doing with your
life whatsoever he wills. Now you'll either bow to that
and rejoice in that, or you'll find this to be true, he that
sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall have them
in derision, then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex
them in his sore displeasure. I have set my king upon the holy
hill of Zion. I will declare the decree the
Lord hath set unto me. Thou art my son, this day I have
begotten thee. Now, when the scripture speaks
of the Lord Jesus Christ being begotten, it's referring to his
resurrection. Not his virgin birth, his resurrection. It's the resurrection of the
Lord Jesus Christ that puts all proof to the gospel. All the evidence that you and
I need is to know that God would not allow His Holy One to see
corruption. God the Father was obligated
to raise the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. Why? Because as
the Christ, He accomplished everything the Father sent Him to do. Ask of me. You have not because you ask
not. And God's speaking. What is your
warrant for asking? God's commanded us to ask. Ask
of me. and I shall give the heathen
for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth
for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a
rod of iron. Thou shalt dash them in pieces
like a potter's vessel. Be wise now, therefore, O ye
kings. Be instructed, you judges of
the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the son, kiss the son, lest
he be angry. Bow to him. This is Cyrus. This is the anointed one. This
is the one who looses the loins of kings. And look back in our
text. You've got to see this. This
is glorious. I will loose the loins of kings
to open before him the two-leaved gates, and the gates shall not
be shut. Now, we're not going to do it
this morning, but if you go to 1 Kings 6 and read the description
of Solomon's temple, you'll find that the gates going in to the
place where the holies of holies came through, the Ark of the
Covenant, it's called the Oracle in 1 Corinthians 6, which is
the Ark of the Covenant. And for that Ark of the Covenant
to come into the temple, it had to go through two leaved gates.
Babylon had to leave the gates that Cyrus tore down and overthrew
the whole nation, but this is not about Babylon This is about
the Lord Jesus Christ opening up the gates of heaven This is about the Ark of the
Covenant going in before us the Lord Jesus Christ as our forerunner
he's called in the book of Hebrews and in the Old Testament the
priest would station themselves outside those two lead gates
and they would warn the people don't come close don't come close
in fear of death When the high priest went into the holies of
holies on the day of atonement once a year and took the blood
of the lamb and put it on that mercy seat, God said, here, I
will meet with you. And inside that ark were three
things. There was an ofar of manna. That
was the bread that came down from heaven. The Lord Jesus Christ
is our prophet. There was the rod of Aaron that
budded. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
priest. And there were the tablets of stone, the law of God, the
Lord Jesus Christ is our king. He's our prophet, priest, and
king. And that ark is the oracle of God. And it came through the
two leaved gates and it opened up the gates. And he said, when
I opened, no man can shut. And so now what happens when
the Lord Jesus Christ bowed his mighty head on Calvary's cross,
what did he say? It is finished and immediately.
The veil was rent from top to bottom. No longer do the priests
station themselves outside the Ark of the Covenant saying, stay
away, stay away. You remember Uzziah went in one
time and tried to usurp the authority of the priest and God struck
him with leprosy. That's how this book starts out
in the year the King Uzziah died, the book of Isaiah. Under the law, under the law,
you can't get close. You try to earn favor with God
by your obedience, God will kill you for it. The Lord Jesus Christ opened
up the two-leaved gates. He went in before us as the forerunner,
and now the Spirit and the Bride don't say, stay away. Oh no! The Spirit and the Bride say,
come! Come! It's all been prepared. The table's
set. The blood's been shed. The Shekinah
glory of God has fallen. God is satisfied. Come that you
might have life. Come unto me. All ye that labor. Man-made religion is nothing
more than laboring, laboring, laboring, laboring, trying to
earn favor with God, trying to prove our salvation by our outward
behavior. Have you labored enough? Come
unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden. See, a lot of
folks laboring, but not many folks are heavy laden yet. That's
a work of the Spirit of God. Laboring is a work of the flesh.
Being heavy laden is a work of the Spirit of God. When the Spirit
of God convinces you that your labor is not enough, then what's
the Lord say? Come unto me all you that labor
and are heavy laden. Take my yoke upon you. My yoke
is easy. My burden is light. Learn of
me. I'll give you rest for your soul.
I've opened the leaved gates, and what I've opened no man can
shut." If you and I don't come through
those leaved gates, it's all on us. If we do, He gets all the glory. Our Heavenly Father, we're so
thankful for the revelation that You've made of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and oh, how we pray, how we pray that You would strive
with us, forgive us for our unbelief, cause us to find all our hope
in our Cyrus, the Anointed One. the one who looses the loins
of kings and opens up the two-leaved gates. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Brother Burt's going to come
and lead us. 258. 258. Let's stand together. Number 258. a wonderful Savior. Jesus, my Lord, a wonderful Savior
to me. He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock where rivers of pleasure I see. He hideth my soul in the
cleft of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths
of His love, And covers me there with His hand. And covers me there with His
hand. A wonderful Savior is Jesus my
Lord. He taketh my burden away. He holdeth me up and I shall
not be moved. He giveth me strength as my day. He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depth
of His love and covers me there with His hand. and covers me there with his
hand. With numberless blessing, each
moment he crowns and filled with his fullness divine. I sing in my rapture, O glory
to God, for such a Redeemer as mine. He hideth my soul in the
cleft of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths
of His love, And covers me there with His hand. And covers me there with His
hand. When clothed in His brightness
transported, I rise to meet Him in clouds of the sky. His perfect salvation, His wonderful
love, I'll shout with the millions on high. He hideth my soul in
the cleft of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths
of His love and covers me there with His hand. And covers me there with His
hand. You all can be seated. I hope
you all got to know Adam, Sharon. I've known him since he was 10
years old. Claire and Annie, his mom and dad flew down from
Lexington to be here for Adam's baptism. Adam grew up on your
gospel. Listened to Tom and Iger preach
all his life. And the Lord's pleased to give him faith to
believe what he's been hearing all his life. And what a joy
it is for us to be able to baptize you and to witness your confession
of faith. This is such a blessing for all
of us and for both our churches. We have a very special bond with
the church in Lexington, in particular, all the churches, but particularly
Lexington. And Adam, we just rejoice in
our Lord's grace towards you. So I baptize you, my brother,
in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, buried
with Christ, in baptism, to raise the walk
of new life in Christ Jesus. And all God's people said, amen. Bert, we'll sing Amazing Grace.
Amazing Grace. You all know the words. If not,
it's on 230. 236. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found. Was blind, but now I see. T'was grace that taught my heart
to fear, and grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear,
the hour I first believed. Through many dangers, toils and
snares, I have already come. Tis grace that brought me safe
thus far, and grace will lead me home. When we've been there ten thousand
years, bright shining as the sun, We've no less day to sing
God's praise than when we first begun. If somebody didn't know about
lunch, please stay. Yes, we do have lunch. There's
plenty. Please stay. Would you bow your
heads with me? Lord, such an amazing grace that
can only come from your heart. Lord, we just bow before you
and just just admire your beauty, your glory, your honor and your
power and everything that has taken this place. You have purpose
in eternity's past and we're so thankful. Pray your blessings
upon now and our fellowship, Lord. Oh, thank you for everything
you've provided, the gospel, this food, and everything that
we need to get us to our expected end. For we give you all the
glory now, for Christ's sake, in his name, amen. Bye!