Well, here we have in John chapter
3 these remarkable and well-known verses. And they, of course,
are words spoken to the greatest of the religious leaders of that
day. And they are so, so meaningful
and poignant. And they speak, of course, they
speak of the glory of God. I love that the Lord Jesus Christ
prayed a prayer and we have it all recorded and it fills all
of John chapter 17 and I trust that John 17 and all of its promises
are precious to you. But this is how he began with
his prayer to his father in the presence of those 11 disciples. He says, he lifted up his eyes
to heaven and said, Father, the hour is come. Glorify thy son, that thy son
may glorify thee. The whole purpose of the preaching
of the Gospel is the glorification of the name, the name of our
God, the character of our God. And you might have noticed with
me in that verse that there is a description, a glorious description
of what it is not to be condemned. In verse 18 it's people are not
condemned, There is no condemnation for
those that are in Christ Jesus, but to be not condemned is to
believe in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And that name is a reference
to all of the character of the Lord Jesus Christ and all of
the character of the Lord Jesus Christ is but a reflection of
the character of God the Father. As he said to Philip, if you've
seen me, you've seen the Father. All that you will ever see of
God in this world, you will see in the Lord Jesus Christ. All
that you'll know of God, you will know through the Lord Jesus
Christ. And so here we have God revealing God to a sinner. And wouldn't that be wonderful
if that happened today that God would reveal God to a sinner. He goes on to say and speaks
of the condemnation that light has come into the world, verse
19, and men loved darkness. So John 3 presents with us a
great need, isn't it? There is a great need. You must,
you must be born again. You must have a birth from heaven. God must do something to you
for you to see the kingdom of God. God must do something to
you for you to enter the kingdom of God. There is a great need
and there is a great need because there is a great problem. The
great problem, verse 17, describes the problem, isn't it? For God
sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that
the world through him might be saved. The world was already
condemned. You don't come into this world
in a place of neutrality. You don't come into this world
with what men call free will. You come into this world as a
child of Adam. You come into this world as a
sinner. And why do we sin? Why don't you ever have to teach
a baby to sin? Because sin is what we are and
therefore sin is what we do. There is a great crisis, isn't
there? There's a great problem. And
the problem is exacerbated in these verses, isn't it? In verse
19 that we want to look at. This is the condemnation, this
is the judgement of God on people. That light has come into the
world and men loved darkness. At the same time as light came
into the world, darkness was in the world. Men loved the darkness
rather than the light. because their deeds were evil. So there is a great need that
only heaven, only God himself can satisfy and that need is
to be born again. There is a great problem, there
is a great crisis for all of humanity that you're under condemnation. You see, the judgment is already
in, brothers and sisters. It's not as if you're sitting
before the judge and the jury and they're debating whether
you're guilty or not. This is the condemnation all
of the evidence is in before God and the answer of God is
that you're a sinner. You are condemned and therefore
with a great need and a great problem We need a great remedy. And there is a great remedy.
There is just one great remedy in these verses here. It shows
us, isn't it? It's believing on his name. He that believeth
in him, on him, into him, resting everything upon him, is not condemned. Is not condemned. This is the
promise of God. You're not condemned. Notice in verse 18 it speaks
of those that believe not. Unbelief is an active activity
of all unbelievers. You have to be busy in unbelief. You have to turn your eyes, avert
your eyes from the wonder of God's creation. He reveals himself
in creation and he reveals himself in the consciences of people
and you have to continually do as Romans 1 says. What do people
do? What do people in this world,
unsaved people do in this world? It says in verse 18 of Romans
1, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. They're holding it down, they're
holding the truth of God's creation, the wonder of creation we've
just witnessed. That little bird, what a remarkable creation that
is. If you've seen those tiny, ever get to see the tiny little
eggs of a yellow-tailed thornbill, amazed that something so fragile
could contain life and that could be sustained by bugs. It's remarkable. We should be
amazed at creation. God speaks through creation.
He reveals himself through creation. And what do men do? It says that
they hold the truth down. It means they're holding it down,
they're suppressing it. What all of humanity is doing
in their believing not is like someone in a swimming pool with
three balls, aren't they? They're trying to hold them down
with two hands and they're popping up all the time. God is continually
saying through creation and through conscience, there is a God. There
is a God, and He is holy, and you are not, and He holds you
in His hand. And what do men do as they go
on in their suppression if they're left to God? In Romans 1 are
some of the most frightening verses in all of the Scriptures.
God gives people over. Why? Why is this world so depraved
and why is there so much evil and wickedness? God gives people
over, three times he gave them over. And the end result of it
in verse 32 of chapter 1 of Romans is, who knowing the judgment
of God, these are people who are doing these things and given
over, they know the judgment of God, that they that commit
such things are worthy of death, not only do the same but have
pleasure in them that do them. Just turn on your television,
pick up your magazines, look at what's going on in social
media all around. There is light, isn't there,
that's come into the world, and men love darkness. So let's just
be reminded of this condemnation. All of Adam's children are born
under a covenant of works. They are born under the law.
The Jews were given specific laws and they broke every single
one of them all the time. But everyone, every child of
Adam is born, born under Law. And let's just get clear about
the Law of God. The Law of God reflects the holiness
and the justice of God and the character of God in many ways.
But if anyone ever thinks that they can keep the Law of God,
they have no understanding of three things. They have no understanding
of three things that are fundamental. They have no understanding of
the character of God. They have no understanding of
their own character and worst of all they have no understanding
of what happened on the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. James
2.10 says if you break one law of God you have broken all the
law of God. The law is a package. It's like
a beautiful vase, isn't it? If it's broken it's smashed to
smithereens. We have broken it. But these
verses not only speak of that condemnation. One of the wonderful
things about preaching to God's people is that there's never
any problem convincing God's people that they're sinners.
And God's people own the fact that they're sinners because
God is the one that makes sinners to be sinners. That's what the
work of the Holy Spirit is, isn't it? In John 16.8, He convicts
the world of sin. And what's the sin He convicts
the world of? The sin He convicts the world of is they believe
not. They believe not. They believe not. But there is. Lisa, can you do something about your
creation? It's challenging us this morning
in delightful ways. So you'll just have to bear with
me. I don't know how the early church
managed. They didn't have a building for the first three centuries.
One of the joys of having a building is that we sort of shut out some
of the noise from outside. So I trust the She'll be fine. Okay, let's come back to it. There is a condemnation because
you have broken the law of God. God requires that you love Him
with all of your heart, all of your mind, all of your soul,
all of your strength, and you are to love your neighbour as
yourself, and you do neither of them. You do neither of them
ever. which is why we need a substitute. And these verses here speak again
of the problem, the second problem, the second cause of condemnation
in this world. And that second cause of condemnation
should be before us in John chapter 3 because John chapter 3, the
Lord Jesus opens with a declaration of being born again and then
he gives the example of what it is to be saved. And you'll
be saved You'll be saved in exactly the same way by exactly the same
saviour who was pictured as that serpent that was lifted up in
the wilderness. And why was the serpent needed to be lifted up
in the wilderness? It was because men who had been taken by the
very hand of God out of Egypt and carried through the wilderness
for all of those years and fed and watered by God and clothed
by God in the most remarkable ways, their shoes didn't wear
out for 40 years. It was a standing miracle. Every morning they went
out and there was a miracle. Every time they looked around
they saw that Shekinah glory. They saw that cloud and they
saw that light by night. He gave them light by night and
shade by day and fed them and clothed them in all of that time. And yet, what did they do? They
said this is light bread. Our souls loathe the light bread. The bread, of course, is a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ. God is jealous for the reputation,
for the name of His Son, and He's far more jealous for it
than you can possibly imagine. But that's the second cause of
condemnation. Just listen to it again in verse
19. is come into the world. Now we don't have any reason
to doubt what the light is in John's gospel. The light of course
is the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, I am the light of the
world and John began, he says in verse 4, in him was life and
the life was the light of men and the light shineth in the
darkness. It continues to shine in the
darkness. It's shining in the darkness today, isn't it? And
the darkness comprehended it not. The darkness cannot perceive
the light of the Lord Jesus Christ but the light has come into the
world and men loved the darkness rather than the light. There is a great need to be born
again. There is a great problem. that humanity is not, as people
would want us, everyone to understand these days, that we're under
the love of God. The world is under the condemnation of God.
And therefore, the world needs a redeemer, not a teacher. The Lord Jesus spoke to these
religious people and I want us to understand that the darkness
that's being spoken of here in the context of John chapter 3
is the darkness of religion. The darkness of pharisaical works
righteousness religion where men think that by their worth
and by their works and by their will they can cause God to be
put under obligation to bless them and to save them. But all of the solution, all
of the solution is tied up in who is the light, is to believe
on the name. What's the name that we are to
believe on? What's the name that reveals
the light? Well, the Lord makes it abundantly
clear throughout John's Gospel and throughout the rest of the
Scriptures, the name of the Lord Jesus Christ is God. The name
of the Lord Jesus Christ is God. He says to the Pharisees in John
8, 24, he says, I said therefore unto you that you shall die in
your sins. I don't know that we understand
what that means. If we knew what it was to die
in your sins, to die in the midst of your sins, to die surrounded
by your sins, to die eternally, to live in that living death
where your sins surround you. He says, You shall die in your
sins, for if you believe not that I am, you shall die in your
sins. The Lord Jesus Christ owns for
himself the very name of God. That was the name of God that
God revealed himself in Exodus, wasn't it? He says, I am. Moses
said, Who shall I say sent me unto you? And he says, I am that
I am. I just love that name of God. It can mean I save as I save,
but it also is just a lovely, extraordinary description of
the pre-existence, the self-existence of God. He is in need of nothing. He sustains everything and is
in need of nothing, our God. I am. And if He is, therefore
you are not what He is. I am. You tell them that I am
sent you. if you believe. We have to present,
as the Lord enables, as John does here, we have to present
the character of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, I am the good
shepherd, I am the light of the world, I am the door, I am God. He promises in John 12.46, he
made this remarkable promise. He says, I am come a light into the world,
that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. See there's a second condemnation
isn't there? And the second condemnation is
a greater condemnation than the first condemnation. To reject
the light of the gospel is far, far worse than rejecting the
light and the reality of God at Mount Sinai. We've come, if
we come into the presence of God and hear the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ, this is a far more serious event and a far
more dangerous event and a far more glorious event than we can
possibly imagine. You listen to what Moses said.
What happened to Moses, you picture Mount Sinai and it's hard for
us to picture a mountain that was covered in smoke and was
quaking like a volcano and Moses and two million people trembled
at the foot of Mount Sinai. And listen to what God says.
He says, that they that heard entreated
that the word should not be spoken to them any more, for they could
not endure what was commanded. And if so much as a beast touched
the mountain, it shall be stoned or thrust through with a dart.
So terrible was the sight that Moses said, I exceedingly fear
and quake. And in the context of Hebrews,
we've come to something far more serious than that. That's what
is being said here. But ye are come unto Mount Zion,
unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, unto
the innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church
of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, unto the God, the
judge of all, and the spirits of just men, made perfect, and
to Jesus. where the gospel preached the
Lord Jesus is present and he is lifted up and to Jesus the
mediator of the new covenant and to the blood of sprinkling
which speaks of better things than Abram and then he says see
not that you refuse him don't refuse him that speaks it's the
Lord Jesus Christ who speaks through his word isn't it Hebrews
repeats that again and again and again. Don't neglect, don't
neglect the word said. There is a condemnation. There is a light that's come
into the world and men loved the darkness because their deeds
were evil. There is a court, isn't it? The
court of God's law. And there's a second court. It's
the gospel court. And I fear, I fear for people. who having heard turn away from
the gospel light. And we have been gathered together
by the Lord and we have preached the gospel long enough to know
that people have turned from that gospel light. And where
they have turned just causes me the greatest horror. We have
seen it again and again and again. The people of Israel couldn't
enter into the Promised Land. Why? Hebrews 3 and Hebrews 4,
they never entered in because of unbelief. Darkness. What's the darkness? The darkness of course is the
darkness of sin. It's the darkness of us as fallen
creatures. We do always what Adam does,
we hide from God. But that darkness, that darkness
is the darkness of Satan's rule over this world and Satan's dominion
in the hearts of people where we once again want to have Satan's
words coursing through our veins, you shall be as gods. To be in
darkness is to stand in judgement of God. Did God really say? To be in darkness is to doubt
the character of God. God is not being good, God is
withholding things from you. To be in darkness is to doubt
the very words of God. It's an extraordinary thing,
isn't it, that men in the most extraordinary places and under
the most extraordinary privileges will actually love the darkness
more than the light. You who have been in darkness
know what darkness is, don't you? Men love the darkness. We live in the darkness. As sinners
we live in the darkness, as fish live in the sea. We have no idea
of what we're in. When you're in darkness you can't
see what's around you. When you're in darkness you're
unaware of what lies around you. In darkness you're unaware of
the obstacles and the dangers that lie before you. And in darkness
all of your senses are limited, aren't they? You can smell something,
but you can't smell the object. You can hear something, but you
don't know what the object is that's speaking. You can feel
something, but you have no idea of who is being touched. You can taste, but you have no
idea. Darkness. Darkness. What a great description,
what an extraordinary description of all of Adam's children. And to be in darkness is to be
aware of the fact that there is no source of light within
you. There is no source of light within you. They believe not. They believed not, because their
deeds were evil. They loved the light rather than
the darkness. In verse 20 it says, For everyone
that doeth evil hate the light. They hate the light. The light
is a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is hated by people. You're not in a position of neutrality. You're in the courtroom and the
judgment has been made. And there is, there is in these
verses, a description of the seriousness of the state that
you are in, and there's a great and glorious description of the
Lord Jesus Christ. See, it's only the Lord Jesus
Christ who is the light that exposes what the darkness is.
It's the Gospel that exposes men for what they really are.
We keep thinking and talking and the context of this is that
we have this nation of Israel, a million people possibly, at
a Jewish festival when all this was spoken. And that Jewish festival,
in that Jewish festival they thought that they were honouring
God. And yet when the gospel comes, when the light of the
world comes to that religious Jewish festival where those men
knew the Bible off by heart and had their mission organisations
and other things, it was in that very place that they dishonoured
the very place of God. They dishonoured the name of
God at his temple and they dishonoured the Lord Jesus Christ. It's only
the Lord Jesus Christ coming who exposes the darkness of what
we are. You never knew you were a sinner
until you met the Lord. Paul never knew he was a sinner
until he met the Lord on the Damascus Road. When the Lord
meets you, there's one thing that's absolutely abundantly
clear. He is God and you're not. He is holy and you're not. You're
a sinner. You're a sinner and you need
a Saviour. So why don't they come? It's because they have no need
of coming. Why do they have no need of coming?
Because they believe they're righteous. They believe that
they can do righteousness or they have done it or they can
do it in the future. They can be righteous in their
intentions. The light has come into the world
and men love darkness. There is one place, of course,
where the light is seen, the one place where we must see the
light if we're really going to see the light of who the Lord
Jesus Christ is, and that is the cross. If you want to see
your sins, don't look within. Don't look within. If you want
to see your sins, don't look at this world. The sins that
are within us and the sins we do are horrifying and horrible
and no one ever commends them being done. But if you want to
see yourself as a sinner, if you want to be seen as a sinner,
if God shows you a sinner, he'll take you to the cross of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Here you will see your sin in
evidence. Here you will see what man does
when man can get his hands on God. They hate the light. It's not a neutrality. People
are not sitting in some area where they're saying, well, I'm
going to weigh this up. I'm going to debate this thing. I want
to discuss this thing. The Gospel's not there for your
debate. The Gospel is there presented to you to bow, to bow in need. What can wash away my sin? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. See, not only do we see in this
one event in human history, we see all of the character of God
revealed. If you want to know how holy
God is, you go and look at the cross. When he found sin on his
son, God the Father with pleasure, it says in Isaiah 53, put him
to death. If you want to see the absolute
sovereignty of God, you look at the cross. All the things
that were done there were done according to the foreordination
of God. His determinate counsel caused
all of those things to happen. Men did as they wished. And God
is absolutely sovereign. They had no idea that they were
following the script of the Old Testament down to the most minute
details of what they had to do. And yet they were doing exactly
as God says. That's what it is for Him to
be the I Am, isn't it? God is holy. God is absolutely
sovereign. God is infinitely just. cannot pass by sin and maintain
his name and his reputation. To believe on the name of the
only begotten son is to believe in the God who is, the God who
is holy, the God who is just, the God who is absolutely sovereign
over all things, the God who is righteous in all that he does,
the God who is good to his people, the God who is love to his people. See not only do you see your
sin and you see God in his true character on the cross of the
Lord Jesus Christ, you see the only remedy for sin. What a glorious
remedy for sin. What a glorious, glorious solution
to that great problem and that great need we have in the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I love what my friend Todd Nybert
said, the most God-like thing God ever did was put his son
to death on the cross of Calvary. The most God-like thing, the
one event in all of history that reveals the character of God
and the character of man. And it makes it easy, doesn't
it, to sort out in a confused world who is telling the truth
about God. The Muslims deny that he even
died. So you don't have to go beyond
that verse in Shura 4, do you? When they say that he didn't
die, you don't even have to consider that. That's darkness now from
everything else. It doesn't matter what they say
and what good things they do, it's all darkness. God is revealed. To believe on his name is to
believe on the character of God as revealed in the cross of the
Lord Jesus Christ. The Catholics deny the character
of God. They say that Mary is a co-redemptrix
and they say that you can actually represent the Lord Jesus Christ
to his Father, represent that sacrifice. He cried out, it is
finished. To believe on the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ is simply to believe on everything he says
about himself. And to believe on the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ is to turn away from everything that denies his character in
all of its glory. He saves us. He saves his people. The other thing that the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ reveals is how serious your condition
must be. If the only possible way that
God can have you into his presence, the only possible way that you
can enter the Kingdom of God, the only possible way is to believe
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, how serious must your
condition be. in the death of the Lord Jesus
Christ when he is hung naked on Calvary's tree, bearing the
infinite wrath of God and bearing all the scorn of humanity. How
serious. And when he is seen, when he
is seen on the cross, How could we possibly think that we can
come into his presence with our works, or come into his presence
by our worth, or come into his presence by our will? Light has come into the world,
and men love darkness. They're both evident at the very
same and particular time. And how do you know, how do you
realise your love of the darkness? How do you realise your love
of the darkness? It's your response to the light.
It's as simple as that, isn't it? Your response to the light
reveals your love of the darkness. There are so many glorious pictures,
aren't there? And I love the one where the Lord Jesus Christ
is in a Pharisee's house and there's a woman there. And she
brings an alabaster jar and she anoints the Lord Jesus. And she
wipes his feet with her tears. And what did the Lord say of
her? She loved much because she was forgiven much. Your love of the darkness will
be revealed by your love of the light. Why do men naturally hate
the light and turn from the light as the Lord Jesus Christ promises
here? Well, we're sinners, aren't we?
And we are. If you've been bushwalking, you
turn over a rock and you have all those little bugs and they
scurry as soon as the light comes on them. They scurry away to
hide again in the darkness, don't we? This light has come into
the world. This light comes into the world
and men love darkness because their deeds are evil. God's children are brought to
that light. Nicodemus was brought to that
light. He was brought out of the darkness
of religion and he was brought into the light of the Lord Jesus
Christ. When Satan entered Judas, John just makes a very simple
comment as Judas went out and he says, and it was night. To
leave the light is to go into the darkness. And in that darkness,
in that darkness, you don't know where you're going and you don't
know what lies before you. A sinner brought to the light
sees the suitability of the Lord Jesus Christ for every aspect. In every aspect of his name he
speaks of something of every aspect of our need and our character,
isn't it? We love a sovereign God because
we know that we can't control anything. We love the fact that
this creation is in His hands. We love the fact that God is
holy because He sees that God only accepts holiness and He
sees that He's none in Himself. We love the fact that He is righteous
because all of our best deeds are just filthy rags and He is
the Lord our righteousness. It's the name He gives His church. As a husband gives his name to
his bride, he is the Lord our righteousness, and that's a name
by which she shall be called the Lord our righteousness. You
can read about it in Jeremiah 23 and 33. And he's our substitute
before God. Everything that God requires
of us, he looks to his Son for. Because God requires perfection. He doesn't require our best efforts.
He requires absolute perfection. He requires holiness because
he's holy. He requires perfect righteousness because he's perfectly
righteous. And that's what the whole substitution of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He didn't come as an example.
He didn't come as a martyr. He came as a substitute to save
his people from their sins. We love the fact that he's able
to save. because God's children need a
Saviour all the time. We're always in need of a Saviour.
We love the fact that He's mighty to save because we're kept prisoners
in that darkness. We love the fact that He is called
the Elect One of God because we would never choose Him in
our natural state and we are thankful that He chose us in
this Lord Jesus Christ from before the foundation of the world.
It's His name, the Elect One of God. We love the fact that
we're accepted in the Beloved. It's the name He gives His Son,
the Beloved, and we're accepted in the Beloved. He's the Great
Physician. When the light from heaven shines,
the light from heaven reveals the Lord Jesus Christ. The light
from heaven shines a light on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
on His character. And the Holy Spirit takes those
words and He makes them spirit and life to God's people. People
love the darkness because Satan's goods are kept secure, according
to Luke 11, in a palace. He keeps them secure. by keeping
them in the darkness of who the Lord Jesus Christ is. He keeps
them in the darkness of who they are. He keeps them in the darkness
as he did those Jews that were captive to him. He keeps them
in the darkness by their religious activities. Billions are kept
in darkness by their religious activities of all sorts. There are only two religions
in the world, aren't there? There is a religion of works
and there is a religion of the sovereign grace of God reflected
in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The other
thing that is revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ is the seriousness
of unbelief. You believe not. Unbelief is
an extraordinary serious crime that God wages against you in
that court. They'll be in the court of his
people here and they'll realise the depth of their unbelief.
Believing not. See the reality is there is no
just cause for your hatred of him. There is no just cause for
your turning from the Lord Jesus Christ. Whatever did he do to
cause people to turn from him? All the fault is in them and
none is in him. You examine the Lord Jesus Christ
in his character as revealed in the scriptures and what do
you find? A friend of sinners! What do you find, a man who did
nothing but speak the truth? What do you find in him, a man
who had nothing but infinite and extraordinary love for his
people? What do you find in him, one
that is willing to suffer the cross for the glory of his Father's
name and for the good of his people? There is no door, is
there, except him. And He is the door and His perfect
humanity is the door. He is God in human flesh. He is God. As Norm said, He speaks
to the waves and they stop. He speaks to the wind and it
stops. He just speaks a word and creation comes into existence,
our God. He walked for three and a half
years in His public ministry on this earth and all you ever
saw in Him were the beauties of holiness. All you ever saw
in him, as the Shulamite said of him, he's altogether lovely. There's no spot in him, he's
glorious. And there is in none of the scriptures
ever, ever, any evidence of one needy sinner approaching the
Lord Jesus Christ, seeking mercy, and ever being turned away. There
is not one, brothers and sisters, not one needy sinner was ever
turned away. All the needy who met him were
accepted, loved, healed and forgiven, and not one of them had anything
to offer him whatsoever. All they did is come empty-handed
and say, I'm in need. See, believing not is worse than
breaking the law of God. In closing, I'd just like to
turn to one of the stories came up in my notes yesterday and
I was just amazed by this story. In Luke chapter 13 there's a
story of a woman. And I'll read the story and it
doesn't need much comment because it is so delightful. And I want
us as we read this story to think of what it is to turn from the
light of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what a wonder it is that
he gives us saving faith and believe on him. Luke chapter
13 verse 10 and he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the
Sabbath and behold there was a man there was a woman which
had a spirit of infirmity 18 years which bowed which was bowed
together and could no wise lift up up herself. And when Jesus
saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou
art loosed from thine infirmity. And he laid his hands on her,
and immediately she was made straight and glorified God. And
the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that
Jesus had healed on the Sabbath day, and said unto the people,
There are six days in which men ought to work. In them, therefore,
come and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day. The Lord then
answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one
of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall,
and lead him away to watering? Ought not this woman? being a
daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound that lo, these eighteen
years be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day. He's glorious in his salvation,
isn't he? These are all pictures of salvation.
And when he'd said these things, his adversaries were ashamed,
and all the people rejoiced for the glorious things that were
done by him. All he ever did was glorious.
All he ever did was glorious. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we pray
that you would protect us from the terrible evil of believing
not, and that you would grant us, Heavenly Father, the very
gift of heaven, which is to believe in the name, in the very character
of your dear and precious Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh our
Father, You alone can speak to the hearts of Your people to
reveal to them what they are and to reveal to them who You
are and to reveal to them the glory of Your salvation that's
all in Your dear and precious Son. Oh our Father, You alone
make His blood precious. And as we take these elements
that remind us of what happened, we pray, Heavenly Father, that
we would do it acknowledging the body and the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ and that we would remember. Heavenly Father,
cause us to know Him so that we can come back again and remember
Him. We do pray, Heavenly Father,
Pray for us as your people here that we would live in such ways
that honour and glorify your dear and precious Son, and that
we might treat as a precious thing the faith that you give.
that we might cling, or we might find ourselves simply relying
on the Lord Jesus Christ for everything in this world and
everything into eternity. We thank you, Heavenly Father,
that the sins of His people were put away and they're gone forever. Cause us to remember Him, and
in remembering Him, remember that you remember our sins no
more. They're gone. What a glorious
Saviour we have. Bless your words, Heavenly Father,
to the hearts of your people, for we pray in Jesus' name and
for his glory. Amen.