Lord's Day at 10.30 and two o'clock also on Thursday evening at seven o'clock and there'll be a prayer meeting here on Tuesday evening at seven o'clock.

Let us commence our services today by singing together hymn number 637 the tune is Sheffield 235 Jesus thou art our only rest from sin and guilt and fears we love to lean upon thy breast and on thee cast our cares hymn 637 tune Sheffield 235 Jesus,

Let us read together from the Gospel according to Matthew and chapter 15. Matthew's Gospel, chapter 15, and we'll read the first 20 verses.

Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, Why do thy disciples transgress the traditions of the elders? For they wash not their hands when they eat bread. And he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? For God commanded, saying, honour thy father and mother, and he that curses father or mother, let him die the death. But ye say, whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, it is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by, and honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God, of none effect by your tradition, ye hypocrites? Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men,

And he called the multitude and said unto them, Hear and understand, not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man, but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. Then came his disciples and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended after they heard this saying? But he answered and said, every plant which my heavenly father hath not planted shall be rooted up. Let them alone. They be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.

Then answered Peter and said unto him, declare unto us this parable. And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding? Do not ye yet understand that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the man. For out of the heart Proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, theft, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashing hands defileth not a man. May the Lord bless that reading of his own precious word Grant unto us a spirit of real prayer. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which is and art and art to come, we desire to bow before thy glorious, eternal majesty, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

and we desire to confess our sins, as we have read together in thy word, that out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, uncleanness and unrighteousness, and these defile the man. So we come in confession, O Lord, of our sins, of our wanderings, of our backslidings. We truly leave undone things that we should do, we do things that we should not do. And we find a law within our members that when we would do good, that evil is present with us. There are sins, O Lord, of omission and sins of commission. We come to bow before Thee as poor, needy, fallen sons and daughters of Adam, born in sin, and shapen in iniquity.

We pray that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ may prevail in our hearts, in our lives, in our circumstances, among us as a church and as a congregation. That wonderful grace of our Lord Jesus. We read in thy word, for ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he were rich, yet for our sakes he became poor. We pray that thou wouldst grant us the spirit of faith and of love and that we may lay hold of that hope that is set before us in the gospel, that we may lay hold of the justifying, sin-atoning sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ when he died for our sins and rose again for our justification.

Lord, our hope is all in Jesus Christ and that we do pray that we may this day touch the hem of his garment and draw from that sacred fullness that is in him. As we come together, Lord, around thy word and at the throne of grace, our desire is that I may know him in the power of his resurrection, in the fellowship of his sufferings be made conformable unto his death. Oh we do pray most gracious Lord then that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God our Father and the sacred fellowship of the Holy Spirit may rest and abide upon us as we gather together around thy word.

We think of thy word, for God has sent forth the spirit of his son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Oh, we do desire that sacred spirit of adoption. My God, my Father, blissful name. Oh, may I call thee mine. We do pray that we might know that precious union and communion with Jesus Christ, that we might know the love of our Heavenly Father in Jesus Christ, that we might feel the divine power and the heavenly unction of the Holy Ghost in our hearts. Work in faith and hope and love. divine spirit of truth, convince us of our sin and lead to Jesus' blood and to our wandering eyes reveal the secret love of God.

Lord, we do pray that thou would remember us then as a church and as a congregation and that thou would work mightily, powerfully and effectually among us, that we may see signs following the preaching of the word that we may see the divine work of thy spirit in those that gather. And that thou wouldst quicken souls and make them cry, give me Christ or else I die. And we pray that thou wouldst be gracious unto us and those of us that have known thee and do know thee and have known thee. And we do pray that our souls may be fed that the bread of life may be broken, that we may drink of that living water. Oh, we do pray that it may be so even this day, that thou would pour forth thy spirit. We read in thy word, until the spirit be poured upon us from on high. Lord, nothing spiritual can be done without the Holy Ghost. we read that as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the sons of God. Oh we do thank thee for the Holy Ghost, we thank thee for his divine power and grace and love and mercy that he reveals in Jesus Christ.

We do thank thee for our Heavenly Father who's loved us with an everlasting love Therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee. We do thank thee for Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God that was manifest in the flesh, that was made of a woman made under the law that he might redeem them that are under the law.

We desire to enter thy gates with praise and with the voice of thanksgiving for that holy life that Jesus lived for that holy law that Jesus fulfilled and honoured and magnified, bringing in everlasting righteousness for his people. Oh, we do thank thee for that sin atoning sacrifice, that holy sacrifice that he offered, wherein the church is accepted in the beloved and complete in him.

Oh, we do pray that we may be led of the Spirit into these soul-sustaining truths of our most holy faith, that we may behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. We pray that thou wouldst remember our brethren the deacons and give them needed grace, wisdom and help in all their responsibilities.

Remember each one of our brethren and sisters in church fellowship and graciously grant that we may love each other, serve each other, and bear each other's burdens, thereby fulfilling the law of Christ. And we pray for grace, even the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that we may love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our mind, and our neighbour as ourself.

Lord, we cannot do this in the flesh, but we can in the spirit and we pray for thy spirit and thy power and thy love and thy mercy to be shed abroad in our hearts. Lord we pray for the little ones and the children that they may be blessed of thee and that the fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom may be placed in their hearts in their young and tender years We pray, most gracious Lord, that thou wouldst hear our prayers on their behalf.

We pray for those that are not able to gather with us today, for whatever that reason may be, and we commend them to thee and pray that they may be enabled to listen at home. Where there is affliction, do grant healing and restoring mercies. We do humbly beseech thee.

We do pray, most gracious Lord, for our young friends, that they may be richly blessed of thee, and that they may be brought to living faith in Jesus Christ, and that they may become true followers of thee, and of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. We pray, most gracious Lord, that thou, in thy precious mercy, would hear our prayers, Hear our entreaties and send a day of real prosperity.

Remember all in the midst of the journey of life and grant by rich blessing, by divine favour, help parents that they may bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. And remember the prodigals that have wandered from the house of God and the ways of God and the truth of God. and stretch out thy almighty arm and cause them to return. O Lord, we do beseech thee.

And Lord, we pray that thou would remember this village and the surrounding villages and hamlets, and that the light and glory of gospel truth may shine forth again, and that this little house of prayer may be filled with hungry longing souls pressing into the kingdom of heaven, and that thou wouldst pull down the strongholds of Satan and set up the kingdom of our Lord Jesus in the hearts of sinners. Thou hast promised in thy word, I will abundantly bless her provision, I will satisfy her poor with bread, I will bring thy sons from far and thy daughters from the ends of the earth.

O Lord of hosts, O God of Israel, O thou that dwellest between the cherubim, shine forth, let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, the son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself. Remember those of us that are now in the evening time of life's journey, and graciously prepare us for that great change which must come when we shall soar through tracks unknown and see thee on thy judgment throne.

O do hear us and do be with us and do guide us. O Lord of hosts, we do beseech thee. We seek, O Lord, to pray for thy servants as they labour in word and doctrine upon the walls of Zion, that thou wouldst grant them that fresh anointing of the Spirit, and that thou wouldst grant signs to follow the preaching of the word. and that thou, the great Lord of the harvest, would yet send true labourers into the harvest, that we may see a building, a renewing, a reviving, a replenishing.

We pray, most gracious Lord, for those of thy servants that go forth from us among the nations of the earth. We pray for Ian Sadler, that he may know thy blessing as he distributes thy word and gives expositions on thy word in many places here on earth. Lord, we pray that thou wouldst crown his labours with success. Remember the Mombasa mission and thy servants there. Pour out thy spirit, richly bless them, O Lord, we pray thee.

pray for the Savannah Education Trust and that great work that they are doing in Ghana, all that these things may redound to the great glory of thy holy name. We pray most gracious Lord that thou in thy precious mercy would hear prayer then for thy Zion, for the Church of God scattered up and down our nation, throughout the nations of the earth. We pray for those places where the name of Christ is hated and thy people are persecuted even unto death. Send them help from the sanctuary, strengthen them out of Zion.

And oh Lord, we do pray for our nation. We live in deeply solemn days when iniquity abounds on every hand, where the spirit of Antichrist is so prevalent, and when our leaders guide us in the wrong way, contrary to thy word, opposite to thy truth, we pray that thou wouldst bring to naught their counsels, and overturn their desires, give wisdom, guidance, and direction to those that guide us, and that remember our King, bless him with that rich grace that is in Christ Jesus, and the royal house with him, O Lord, we do beseech thee.

We thank thee for the throne of grace. We thank thee for this wonderful provision that thou hast made. We thank thee that we have a great high priest who is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God. We thank thee for his precious blood that cleanses from all sin. We thank thee that there is a door of hope that is open wide in Jesus' bleeding hands and side. We pray that thou wouldst now be with us as we turn to thy holy word, that thou wouldst open thy word to our heart and to our understanding, that thou wouldst touch one's lips with a live coal from off the heavenly altar, that thou wouldst make up in giving where we do so fail in asking, as we ask for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.

Let us now sing together hymn number 671. The tune is Penrhyn 553. How shall I come to thee, O God, who holy art, and cannot evil see, but with a loathing heart? I am defiled throughout by sin, and by my very birth unclean.

Hymn 671. Tune Penryn 553.

greatly feeling to need the Lord's gracious help. I would direct your attention to the chapter that we read, the gospel according to Matthew chapter 15, and we will read verse 18 for our text. Matthew's gospel chapter 15, verses 18 and 19. But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. We'll read verse 20 as well. These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands defile if not a man.

What a picture our Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, who knows the thoughts and hearts of every one of us. What a picture he paints here of our condition by nature, We read in the prophecy of Jeremiah that declaration of divine truth, the heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Have you ever stopped to think of that? There's nothing more deceitful, more wretched, more treacherous than our wicked hearts. It's quite a statement of truth, isn't it? It's a solemn statement of truth.

For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts. Evil thoughts. You think of how often that we're overcome with evil thoughts. There is a tendency to always blame the devil. and say well it's the devil. It's temptation. Now indeed it can be the devil and he can put evil thoughts into our hearts. But we mustn't forget that we have a very sinful deceitful heart. It's not always the devil. This is the very truth that the Lord Jesus is setting before us here. Out of the heart, our heart. hearts that are sinful by nature. Just like King David says in the Psalms, he confesses that he had original sin and he says we are born in sin. In sin did our mothers conceive us. That is what we receive from our parents, a sinful nature. a corrupt nature.

You see, the Lord Jesus here is setting before us a conversation going on here with the scribes and the Pharisees in this chapter, this part of the chapter. And we read then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees which were of Jerusalem saying Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they wash not their hands when they eat bread. The later, the scribes and Pharisees laid a greater emphasis on their own traditions. You know, we're given in Deuteronomy and in the book of the Revelation that we're given some very solemn admonitions regarding either adding to or subtracting from the Word of God. We're not to add our own rules. This is what the Pharisees did. Our inquiry should always be, what saith the Scripture? What saith the Scripture? What do the Scriptures teach us? Because, and this happened continually among the Jews, especially the scribes and Pharisees, where they would make a new rule. And that actually became more important than the holy word of God and the truth of God. And this is the very thing that the Lord Jesus brings out here.

But he answered and said unto them, why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? You know, it's right to have good traditions, but it's not right that we should put traditions above the word of God, the truth of God. What said the scripture? And we shouldn't add to it. And we shouldn't subtract from it.

You know, one of the great things in the day in which we live, in these new versions of the Word of God, new translations as they call it, and the persons that translate them, the academics in the day in which we live, they decide what is the Word of God. So they will use their theories and they say to us, You know, it contains the Word of God. There is a very subtle difference there, my beloved friends. The Scriptures are very clear. It is the Word of God. From Genesis to Revelation, it's the Word of God. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. It doesn't just contain the Word of God, it is the Word of God.

That is a very vital thing, that we believe that it is the Word of God, and that it's a sufficient rule of life, of faith, of practice, and that the will of God is revealed to us here, in the Word of God, in the Old and the New Testament, in the holy law of God, in the gospel of Jesus Christ, in the teachings of the prophets and in the teachings of the apostles of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It's the word of God. I always think of that as a word in Isaiah, to the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to my word, it is because there is no light. in them, my word, God's holy word. And God has preserved his holy word for us. May we ever reverence God's holy word.

It was said of John Bunyan that, I think John Bunyan wrote 60 books, and it was said of him, prick him anywhere and he bleeds scripture. And that is so true. Whatever doctrine we believe or teach must be drawn from Holy Scripture. This is God's template and everything must match to the Word of God, to the truth of God. And we can have absolute confidence in the Word of God. so the Lord Jesus here he says to them for God commanded saying honor thy father and mother and he that curses father or mother let him die the death but ye say see how they were changing the word of God but ye say whosoever shall say to his father or mother it is a gift by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me, and honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have you made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. You hypocrites.

You know, the disciples were brought up among the Jews, they were all Jews, And the Jews held the Pharisees in very high esteem. They were reckoned to be the people that most closely practiced the Jewish religion. And so when the Lord Jesus spoke in this sharp way unto the Pharisees, it must have been quite a shock to the disciples. They said, no you're not. that they were offended? Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, this is the Pharisees, this people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth and honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

What a terrible condition to be found in. To be accounted as being the most religious people of their day, people looked up to them, et cetera. But the Lord Jesus, he exposes them. Hypocrites. But in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. not the word of God.

You see my beloved friends how we need to be very careful how we need to examine ourselves to where we stand how we stand as before God and that he says here and he in verse 10, and he called the multitude and said unto them, hear and understand.

Oh, what a mercy if we can hear. You might say, well we can hear, we're listening to you preaching. There's something deeper here, my beloved friends. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened. The Lord Jesus, he calls the deaf to hear. We know that that was natural, but he also calls the spiritually deaf to hear. We need a spiritual hearing. We need spiritual eyes, the eye of faith. We need those to be given to us. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are spiritually discerned. It has to be revealed. Real religion is something that is revealed. This is exactly why the Lord Jesus speaks like He does. You must be born again. Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

My dear beloved friends, have you been born again? You can be very religious. You can be very strict in your religion. This is what the teaching here of our Lord Jesus is. And yet you can be wrong. You can be wrong.

When the Lord Jesus here, he exposes their wrong thoughts by, they were saying that washing, they needed to wash their hands and that was one of the rules of the Pharisees. And he called the multitude and said unto them, hear and understand. Not that which goeth into the mouth, defiled the man. You see, the Pharisees, everything was outward. Everything was outward appearance. But the Lord Jesus said it's actually our hearts. Is our heart right? We can have a religion that appears to men to be right, Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man, but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defiled the man.

Then came his disciples and said unto him, knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended after they heard this saying? To me it's almost as if they say, you've offended the Pharisees, they're the most religious people. And they are the most strict in practicing their religion.

But he answered and said, every plant which my heavenly father hath not planted shall be rooted up. What a solemn word that is, isn't it? Let them alone. They weren't the Lord's people. They were looked up to and respected as being the most strictest sect of the Jews, but the Lord Jesus exposed them. He said they're hypocrites. They add to the word of God. Let them alone. They'd be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, they shall both shall fall into the dead.

And then Peter, he says, declare unto us this parable. And the Lord Jesus, he reproves them. He said, are ye also yet without understanding? Do not ye yet understand that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly and is cast out into the draft? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the man. They defile the man. The hymn writer says, doesn't he? And this is a person that is truly being taught by the Spirit of God. Defiled I am indeed. Defiled throughout my sin. when we're being taught of the Spirit, we're brought to feel the defilement of our heart. And as the Lord deepens that work of grace in our hearts, he brings us to feel more fully, more deeply.

You know, when I was very young in the way, and used to listen to the men at the prayer meeting, and their confession of sin, and I used to think, well, He's such a godly man, he's such a good man, he's such an upright man. And yet listen to him, he's saying how wicked he is, how sinful he is, how corrupt he is, how unclean he is. I didn't fully understand, I couldn't understand, I thought he's a godly person.

But you know friends, the truth of God, like John the Baptist said, I must decrease, he must increase, He was speaking of himself and Christ. I must decrease. He must increase. And that is the teaching of the Spirit in the heart, in the experience of the true living child of God. I must decrease. That is, when the Holy Spirit truly convinces us of our sin, then we decrease in the estimation of ourselves. We have to confess our sins. We have to confess the corruption of our nature. We have to confess what it says here. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. That's in our hearts. That's what defiles us. And if we truly taught of the Spirit in some little measure, we'll know that, we'll feel that, that we're sinners. And we have to confess it. We have to confess it, that we're sinners, that we have a corrupt nature, that we're unclean and unrighteous altogether.

You know, when the Lord convinced David of his sin, truly convinced him of his sin, when he fell with Bathsheba. And when Nathan the prophet came and pointed out to him the terrible wickedness, the adultery, the murder. It was all there in David's sin, adultery and murder. The man after God's own heart. It's a solemn thought, isn't it? But what happened when the Lord truly convinced him of his sin? We find it in Psalm 51, against thee. He says, have mercy upon me, O God, have mercy upon me, for against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight that thou mightest be clear when thou judgest. I was born in sin. He acknowledges that this proceeded from his own heart, I was born in sin, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. He felt it, he confessed it before his God.

But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the man. defiled man. What a mercy if you know anything of this inward work of the Spirit in your heart, if you know what it is to be defiled and it's when we feel that defilement of sin, when we feel that uncleanness, it's then that we desire and we long to be delivered from it.

The Pharisees didn't feel that. Now, I thank God, this is the Pharisee, I thank God that I'm not as other men are. And especially he despised the publican who smote upon his breast saying, God be merciful to me of sin. But the Pharisee, I thank God, I'm not like this publican. You see, he was self-righteous. He was righteous in his own eyes. And that is the deep flaw in the religion of the Pharisee. Righteous in their own eyes. They're right in their own eyes. They condemn everybody else. They cast aspersions on everyone else. They stand in judgement on everyone else. But they don't know. you read that Pharisee he didn't know and it always strikes me it's very solemn the Lord Jesus when he speaks of the Pharisee in that two men went up to the temple to pray and he says of the Pharisee he praying with himself his prayers didn't reach to heaven he praying with himself

In actual fact, when you analyze what he said, there was no prayer in it. I thank God that I'm not as other men are. I do this, I do that, I do something else. That's the Pharisee. That's the Pharisee's religion. He depended on his own good works and he was right in his own eyes. He was self-righteous. And the Lord Jesus teaches us very clearly. that self-righteousness is something abhorrent in his eyes. And he said, every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up. Let him alone.

Who are the Pharisees? Let him alone. They be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall. into the ditch. You know, friends, it's a solemn thought, isn't it? Let him alone. And the Lord Jesus in another parable, he speaks of the barren fig tree. Cut it down. Why cumber it at the ground? Then he says, let him alone. Dig and dung him about. see if there'll be any fruit in the coming year if we dig and dung it about.

You think of the parables, they're very practical and in the ministry of the word there is a digging and a dunging about. There's exhortations, there's solemn warnings and admonitions, digging and dunging about. It's an integral part of the ministry of the gospel to warn and to expose. As the Lord said to the Prophet Jeremiah that he was to pull down and destroy but he was also to build up. We're to pull down that which is of the flesh and we're to build up that which is on the foundation which is Jesus Christ and him crucified.

If we're truly brought to feel our sinnership, our wretchedness, our hopelessness, our insufficiency, and then we're brought to trust in Jesus Christ alone. No help in self I find, yet oft have sought it well. The native treasure of my mind is sin and death and hell. That's where we are by nature. That's what we are by nature. That's the native treasure of our mind.

But when the spirit teaches us when the Holy Ghost enters the heart in those Immortal words of our Lord Jesus Christ in John 16 when he the spirit of truth is calm He will reprove the margins has convinced the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment That's what the Holy Ghost does Has he done it in your heart? Has he done it in my heart? Is He continually doing it in our heart?

You know, the Holy Ghost in Scripture is called a witness. And when He dwells in a poor sinner's heart, He witnesses. Every time you sin, He'll witness to your sin. And that's how He convinces us of sin. You think... I think it's only right to properly expose this particular part of divine truth, but the word convince. Many of the Lord's people, the work of the spirit in their heart is very gentle. It's like it says in Isaiah, here a little, there a little, line upon line, precept upon precept. It's very gentle. And it's a gradual opening up of the truth of our sinfulness, of our emptiness, of our poverty, of our need of salvation, of the need of Jesus Christ. Gradually that is opened up.

Now with others, like we read of Saul of Tarsus, when the Lord dramatically called him by grace, and the Lord still does that. And it's a much more dramatic work, deeply convinced of sin. My own father, when he went away from chapel, he was a drunkard, he was a gambler, but the Lord brought him back. And he told me himself, for three months, he said, he walked around, he said, and I feared that the earth would open up and swallow me. He so deeply felt the sin and corruption of his heart.

then the Lord delivered him. You see the Lord is a sovereign but more often than not as I observe it the work of the Spirit is not always so dramatic it is with some but the point I want to make is this that word convince which is the alternative word to reprove whether you're led very gently or whether you're led dramatically, both are brought to exactly the same place.

God, be merciful to me, a sinner. That's where the Lord brings us, pleading for mercy. We read of Saul of Tarsus, behold, he prayeth. You see, The Lord has stopped him. Behold, he prayed. What wilt thou have me to do, O Lord? What wilt thou have me to do? Where wilt thou have me to go? Guide me, direct me, teach me.

David, he says, doesn't he, let thy word, and this is a word of direction, my beloved friends. Let thy word, this blessed book, the word of God, it is you can absolutely depend on the word of God it will not lead you astray let thy word be a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path thy word the word of the lord how thankful we should be for the word of the lord in our own language to lead to guide to direct us and that we should always remember this the spirit of God will never lead you opposite to the word of God to the truth of God

I've heard people say sometimes well the Lord led me to do this and it's something that is absolutely contrary to the word of God You know friends, the Lord would never leave you to do something or lead you to do something that is contrary to His Word. It's according to the Word of God. That's why we should always be studying and meditating continually in the Word of God. Every day we should read the Word of God. Every day we should pray over the Word of God. for his divine guidance and leading.

And it's by the word of God. Isn't it Jeremiah that says, thy words were sweet and I did eat them and they were the joy and rejoicing of my heart. See, it was something he digested in his heart, in his soul. That was spiritual food that he fed on the word of God. Thy words were sweet and I did eat them. He rejoiced, that was of course the word of his grace, the word of his love, the word of his mercy. That is very sweet to the soul. And it's nourishing to the soul. And it will lead us unto Jesus Christ.

From Genesis to Revelation, there is a revelation of Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament, there's a clear revelation of Jesus Christ from when in the garden, when the Lord, he showed them the seed of the woman, he spoke to them of the seed of the woman. And of course, he's speaking of Christ, the coming of Christ, the incarnation of the Son of God. And that is what would deliver man from his sinful, wretched, helpless condition.

Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever. Jesus Christ, there is none other name given unto heaven whereby you must be saved but the name of Jesus Christ. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me.

My beloved friends, do you know Jesus Christ? You may have read about him, you may hear him preached, but do you know him yourself? Do you have a personal acquaintance with him? Has he been revealed to you? Has he been revealed to you? My mind, it always goes, and I often refer you to it, to the epistle to the Corinthians and the first epistle and the second chapter. and there it speaks of the divine work of the Spirit.

Verse 9, 1 Corinthians 2 verse 9, But as it is written, again he's referring to the Word of God, to Isaiah, As it is written, I hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit, For the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. But what man knoweth the things of a man, save the Spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God.

Now we have received, not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things which are freely given to us of God. which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

My beloved friends, we're born in a state of spiritual death. The Apostle says in the Ephesians chapter 2 and the first two verses, you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and in sins. The dead know not anything. But he that is spiritual, see the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him. neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned but he that is spiritual judges all things yet he himself is judged of no man.

How vital then my beloved friends is the work of the Holy Ghost to quicken that is to give life to convince of sin to show us our lost condition as sinfulness, to reveal the things of Jesus. Christ says he will testify of me. He shall not speak of himself, who the Holy Ghost, but he'll speak of Christ. He'll speak of the blood of Christ. He'll speak of the glory of Christ. He will speak of the everlasting righteousness of Christ. He will reveal unto you that there is a righteousness obtainable by faith. That's what the Spirit reveals. He reveals to us that we're unrighteous. He reveals to us that our heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. He will make us hang our heads in shame.

Just as we read of Ezra, I blush before the Lord. Why did he blush? He was embarrassed. Why? Because he was a sinner and he felt his sinfulness. Therefore, he was embarrassed when he came before the God of heaven. I blush before thee, O Lord." Do you blush before the Lord when you confess your sins, when you confess your blackness, your vileness, your wretchedness?

Mercy, if you know something of this inward teaching, power of the Spirit of God, But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness." You see, James, he says in his epistle, doesn't he, that we're led astray by lust. and when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin. It's from our hearts. They were blaming it on others and he says do not err my beloved brethren. The sin is within us. The corruption is within our hearts. The vileness I do love that hymn. The vilest sinner out of hell, that lives to feel his need, is welcomed to the throne of grace, the Saviour's blood to plead. The vilest, the most wretched, the most undone it is. The Lord Jesus said, and he says it very clearly, very plainly, I come not to call the righteous. You see, the Pharisees were righteous in their own eyes. He says, I come not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Often when the work of the Spirit is begun in the heart, when we begin to feel how sinful we are, how corrupt we are, And as soon as that happens, I'm speaking now from my own experience, we begin to try our hardest to make ourselves better. You might say, well, that's a good thing. Yeah, but you have to prove you can't do it. You can't do it. I remember when we were young in the Y, when the Lord had begun convicting and convinced me of sin, and I would make a resolution when I got up in the morning, I wouldn't do this, I wouldn't do that, I wouldn't do something else, and within two hours I'd broken every single resolution that I'd made. And it's by those means that the Spirit of God brings us to see, myself I cannot save, myself I cannot keep. You can't. And it's a mercy if you know it.

You know, I look back to my, this is after, long after I was, Christ was revealed and I'd been baptized. And those words in Ezekiel walked up and down in my very soul for several months. Turn again, O son of man, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these. Until one day, I was in Crobra, I was working in Crobra, and one day this deep sense of my sinfulness, my wretchedness, my hopelessness, so filled by all this sin and corruption of my heart, it so filled me and it was one line of a hymn that it seemed the Spirit of God brought it right into my mind, nor can I promise future good to bring. How that sealed that teaching in my heart. I saw in a moment, not only could I keep God's holy law, not only could I not lead a righteous, good life in and of myself, but I never would have been able to

It is only by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that we can ever live a life of faith and hope and love. We cannot produce, the human heart cannot produce the fruits of righteousness. It's only the grace of God in Jesus Christ that can produce those fruits of righteousness, of love. And it's when Christ is revealed and Christ is made precious, Christ becomes the altogether lovely one and Christ becomes the chiefest among 10,000 and then, then my beloved friends, then we are enabled by his grace to live to him, we're drawn to him, we want to follow him, we want to serve him, we want to do what is right in his sight.

But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashing hands defileth not a man. May the Lord add his blessing. Let us now sing together hymn number 81. The tune is La Salle's 843.

Well, canst thou read my heart, and feel the plague of sin? Does siny eye's thunder make thee start, and conscience roar within? Hymn number 81, tune La Salle's 843.

Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, the sacred fellowship of the Holy Spirit, rest and abide with us each. Amen.