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Christ’s Kingdom Exalted

Eric Lutter October, 7 2025 Video & Audio
2 Samuel 5:11-25
The two victories our Lord gives to David over the Philistines pictures the victories of Christ over sin and his enemies for his people.

Sermon Transcript

Auto-generated transcript • May contain errors

Brethren, turn with me to 2 Samuel, chapter 5. 2 Samuel, chapter 5. Now, we know that David is a type and a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. But like all pictures and types, They're not the substance, there's a weakness in them. They're not the perfect type, but there is imperfection in them. And what that shows us is our need for Christ's salvation. Every one of us comes to Christ as needy sinners. imperfect in ourselves. It is to make us to know our need of the Savior of men. We're not saving ourselves. We don't get ourselves saved. We don't save ourselves. The Lord saves us. He brings us to see our need so that we would flee to Him and not trust ourselves. lest we should hear those condemning words in that day of judgment that depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Thinking that we saved ourselves, just like the Pharisees were not approved of Christ, not received of Christ. He's the Savior. And that's what we are being made to know. Now, tonight, we'll see that sin and imperfection of David. We're going to look at that first. this man David, this King David, who is yet in his flesh. And though Christ is his Lord and Savior, this man is established by God. His kingdom is established. He is anointed the King of Israel, just as God promised him. And yet we see in this man sin in his members. We'll still see in his body. We see sin. However, this sets us up for the declaration of grace. We are saved by grace. And God makes that distinction known in his people through the preaching of grace. Because grace is going to drive needy sinners to Christ. And at the same time, it drives Pharisees away from Christ. Grace does that. We don't need to do any dividing and separating. Our Lord does it through the preaching of grace. But what I'm getting at here is that we're going to see a picture of the grace of God revealed in the salvation which he has accomplished for us, for needy sinners, in the Lord Jesus Christ, and also how that he makes this salvation known. What he continually drives us to see as we continue serving him in this kingdom, his kingdom, while we remain in this world as the body of Christ, we are given to look to Christ. We are shown Christ and given that to look to him. And so we're going to see here that salvation is wrought for us by the Lord through faith, not by works, so that we come to know it's not my faith plus baptism. It's not my faith plus membership. It's not my faith plus good works. It's not my faith plus holy living. It is entirely by the Lord Jesus Christ. And those fruits follow. As a result of the Lord's grace in us, those fruits of his spirit do follow. And so we see this here in two victories that the Lord records in his word, two victories over our enemies. Pictured here in the Philistines who come against David to destroy him, but they are defeated, defeated. All right, so I want to begin first by just taking notice here that we are sinners saved, sinners saved by grace. Now David is a child of God here. He knows the Lord. He's not ignorant of the Lord. He knows the Lord and he is a child of God here. And it says in verse 11 first, this is where we'll begin. And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David and cedar trees and carpenters and masons and they built David and house. And so David's house is continuing to gain strength. He's continuing to be established by the Lord, his house getting stronger and stronger. and he's receiving these blessings. God is sending him blessings. Pictured here in the building of his house by Hiram, king of Tyre, graciously doing this for him, just giving him these men at his own cost and expense, sending it to David. Verse 12, and David perceived that the Lord had established him king over Israel. and that he had exalted his kingdom for his people Israel's sake. So this here is a picture of what our Lord does for his people. This picture is the spiritual blessings for us given to us of God in Christ Jesus. And so that we would know it's not by works. We're going to see it's not by our works. It's not by our goodness and compliance with God and partnership with God. That fellowship with God is wrought for us. It's a blessing given to us in Christ. Our works don't earn us that blessing. All right? So I want you to see that it's by grace, that it's all by grace. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter 1. I just want to look at the first seven verses with you. And I know these are very familiar to us here. But it's important that we understand these eternal truths of the grace of God. It's important that we understand that we are saved by grace. And as we'll see here, this is all the grace of God that does this in his body. And it's good for us. That's how we rejoice in thankfulness for what God has done. That's how we are made kind and gracious to others, because we see what God has done for us to save us who are sinners and weak and imperfect in ourselves. So verse 1, Ephesians 1.1, Paul and Apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, not by Paul's will, but by the will of God to the saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. And so we see here, first of all, it's God's will that has made Paul, that has given Paul the gifts, the measure of the Spirit, to fit him in the body, to put him in the body as an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. God did that. God gave him that measure of the spirit. And he does that for us to this day. He gives by measure of the spirit for his pastors and preachers and teachers and those who serve and minister in the body. He gives the measure of his spirit. And that's how we are fit in or made members of the body, whether it's a hand, a foot, an eye, a mouth, whatever it is, a torso, a heart, The mind, it's of the Lord's doing. It's of His doing, by His grace, as it pleases Him. Grace be to you, verse 2, and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. And so here, we are reminded who has made us partakers of these things. It is of the Lord. It is of His blessings. Verse 3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. And so all our blessings, all our spiritual blessings, all our understanding of God, all our fellowship with God is in Christ, not outside of Him. It's all in Christ. It's all found in that man, the son of God, who came in the flesh to bless us. It's all found and met in him. And Paul is declaring what God has done in saving us by grace now, apart from our works. I want you to notice this is all of God's grace here. Verse four, according as he hath chosen us in him, before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. And so we see here, one of the things we see here is that God chose us. We didn't choose God. God chose us first in Christ Jesus. before we did any good or evil, apart from our works, having predestinated us." And that means he laid out our path. The predestination has to do with our walk. He laid out that path and how we would come to Christ and how we would be made to know that we are needy sinners. He predestinated that. He determined that. He laid out those works ordained for us that we should walk in them. He predestinated it. unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself. So that how we came to Christ, how we came to a knowledge of him, how we believed and were made members of his body, his family, was all predestinated, all laid out. And it's according to the good pleasure of His will. His will, entirely based upon His will. That's humbling. That is humbling for us, to know that all things are according to His good pleasure. His good pleasure. But it's also comforting to know that Though we see in ourselves how we mess things up, how we just ruin and destroy things and bring things down, yet it's all working according to the will and purpose of God. Not to justify our sin, not to justify ourselves, but to know My Lord knows exactly what he's doing. Lord, reconcile me to your will. Teach me to trust you through difficulties and hardships that bring me low in myself, that I would find my all in Christ. To the praise, verse six, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace." He just keeps turning us back to see it's of his grace, it's of his grace, and that's what brings forth that thankful heart. When we see what we are, when I know what I am, that God should still meet me in love, in Christ, that he may be loving and kind and gracious to me, a sinner, and receive me in Christ and be kind to me and gracious to me and give me all these blessings. So we're entirely saved by grace apart from works. I emphasize this, this point about it being grace, because it shuts the mouth of those of us that would boast of our works and what we're doing to save ourselves, and how we've improved ourselves by the law of Moses or by religion. Because when we focus on that, when we focus on us and what we're doing in the flesh to improve ourselves, it forms in us an air of superiority over our brethren. And rather than bearing fruits of the spirit toward our brethren in the way that God meets us in Christ, very graciously, very kindly, very gently, how he deals with us, when we think we're something, we deal with brethren in a very harsh and fleshly way. And so he humbles us so that we don't deal with our brethren in that pharisaical spirit, and bite and devour, which are all works of the flesh. Those are works of the flesh, Galatians 5 tells us. So, now, we're given this detail here about David's flesh, and it shows us in verse 13 that he is still a sinner, and this is emphasized in verse 13. David, right, so God has blessed him, he's perceived God has established him, and David took him more concubines and wives out of Jerusalem after he was come from Hebron. And there were yet sons and daughters born to David." And then the next three verses list 11 sons that were born to his wives and his concubines. And no, it's not okay because he's the king. There's no justification for him having more than one wife. He's clearly breaking the law which says in Deuteronomy 17, 17, to the kings, says, neither shall he, that is the king, multiply wives to himself that his heart turn not away. And the point here is that David is a sinner saved by grace. God is still being very merciful to David. He's still establishing his kingdom, even though David goes and takes more wives and more concubines to himself. which is clearly written not to do in the law. There's no wishy-washy thing about it here. So David is saved by grace. And what that shows us is that a man is made righteous by God, by the Lord Jesus Christ. And if Christ makes you righteous, then you may trust him to teach you, to guide you. And he does so by giving his spirit. that teaches you and instructs you in your heart as he's leading you and showing you by his predestinating power how you fit in the body of Christ. It's what he does in you, and you may trust him to do that. It's by the blood of Christ that we're righteous, not by my works and my striving and my spending. It's by the blood of Christ who died for me. And he gives faith in his child to confess Christ and to believe in our hearts that God hath raised him from the dead, and that he's shown me this and unraveled this mystery to me, lest I should continue in the flesh, thinking that that's how I come to God, by perfecting myself. No, I trust that Christ is my righteousness and perfection and holiness, and He turns my heart so that I want to serve Him. I want to abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. He does that. And when He shows me my sin and deals with me on some sin, it may not be your sin, but it's what He's showing me. that I need to work on. I don't worry about what somebody else has liberty to do. If the Lord says, you don't do that, then that's where he teaches me to not do that and to trust him for it. And when it rises up, to beg him, Lord, have mercy on me. Keep me from that thing that you told me not to do. The Lord has to help us in that, and we trust him to do that. Now, if we can get hold of that truth, we'd be a lot more gracious to others, a lot more understanding of others who sin against us. And it would give us another heart toward the God of all grace. It would give us a heart toward them who are in his body. It would give us a heart for him and a desire to lean upon him. and to trust him, and to seek his grace, and seek his face to help us. Now, before being moved away from the will of God, or rather, without being moved away from the will of God, where God doesn't turn against David because of the sin in his flesh. God doesn't turn from David here. Now, we're told in verse 17, when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David. So we get this detail about David and his wives and concubines. But now the Lord says, when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines came up to seek David. And David heard of it and went down to the hold. So David, being anointed king over Israel, is this trigger. for these Philistines to come out against him, to destroy him. These Philistines want to end this. They want to destroy this kingdom right now. And this is where we see David as a type of Christ. This is where we now see David as a type of the Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation of his people from their sins. The Philistines are a picture of the sin. The Philistines are a picture of the enemies. The Philistines are a picture of this wicked world. coming to destroy the kingdom of Christ. And so here's where we see our Lord accomplish His salvation, and the Salvation God works for David in defeating the Philistines here. And what we see in David, what we see the Lord do here, these are the emblems and the witness that God gives us, that gives us a hope in Him. to turn us from the flesh, to turn us from our ways, to turn us from our form of religion, to turn us from things that cannot save, and see the salvation of God. That's what we're going to see now is the salvation that the Lord works for his people here. And so, when the Philistine enemy comes against us in the temptation of sin, when accusations come, when trouble comes and difficulty comes, and there's an accuser accusing you of your works, of your sin, and your failures and everything, we have a hold, brethren. We have a hold of God that we may go into, that we may enter. And that hold provided for the people of God, that haven of rest, that tower of refuge, is the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the hold that we flee to. He's the one that is our hiding place. He's the one that is our deliverance. He's the one that is our Savior, and this is declared to us and brought out in the scriptures over and over again because Christ Jesus is the savior of sinners and there's no other salvation. There's no other way to have peace and fellowship and forgiveness with God but in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the hold. That is the hold. Spiritually speaking, that is our hold to whom we flee for refuge. We're told in verse 18, so here we go. Verse 18, the Philistines also came and spread themselves in the Valley of Repham, or Repham, or something like that. But what that means is it's the Valley of Giants. This is where the giants were. And I don't know if it was just a nice, convenient place to set up your battle array, or if the Philistines went there because it was a place with mystique and something like that. This is where the giants were, a place of darkness, a place of terror and fear for the Israelites. And they thought, we're going to launch our attack from this place after them. And that's what sin is, right? It comes from a dark place. It comes from a place where we feel shame and guilt from. And that's where the accusations of the enemy come against us. They bring up our weaknesses. They bring up our failings. They bring up our past. They show us what we are. And they come against us to accuse us. And this is where the attack comes. Now, this first attack is going to be David taking head-on his enemies. He's going to come against his enemies head-on, going right at them. Let's read this together, verses 19 through 21. And David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up to the Philistines? wilt thou deliver them into mine hand? And the Lord said unto David, Go up, for I will doubtless, without a doubt, deliver the Philistines into thine hand. And David came to Baal-perazim, and David smote them there. and said, the Lord hath broken forth upon mine enemies before me." Right? He made a breach upon them. He went right into them and gave a severe wound to them as the breach of waters. Therefore, he called the name of that place, Valparaiso. And there they left their images and David and his men burned them or took them away. And so David takes on these Philistines head first. He just goes line for line, just coming right at each other. And the Lord just makes a breach on the enemy, just punctures right through their holes. And they overcome them. They take on the enemy. and they beat them. And it reminds me actually something that Job said, when Job said, he, speaking of the Lord, he breaketh me with breach upon breach, he runneth upon me like a giant. Whatever the enemy thought they were going to do in launching their attack from the valley of the giants, well the Lord trampled over them. has a giant running over you, roughshod over you, just taking you out and stomping you down. They got what they thought they were going to do to David, David did to them by the grace and power of the Lord here. And so the spiritual picture here of this victory is understood, best understood, when considered in Christ, our captain, the captain of our salvation, our mighty savior. After our Lord was baptized, and he was taken by the spirit into the wilderness, and overcame the temptation, which Adam fell in, He comes back and his public ministry begins. His public ministry begins, and as soon as he comes forth declaring that he was sent of the Father, working miracles, speaking the truth, which he heard of the Father, telling the people exactly what the Father sent him to do and to say, they opposed him. They opposed him. And so we see Christ taking the religious leaders, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the scribes, the doctors, the lawyers of the law, he takes them on head-on, head-on. And he's saying, my father is God, and your father, he says, is the devil. And in John 8, 44 and 45, he charged his enemies, saying, ye are of your father the devil. Your religion You're coming at the people with this pharisaical spirit of legalism, is bondage. You are harming and destroying the people of God, these people. And your father is the devil, and the lust of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there's no truth in him. And because I tell you the truth, he said, ye believe me not. And so he exposed their religion as just form, outward form, as bondage and legalism that could not save. I mean, he just took it head on. He just dealt with it very straightly, very plainly. And just as the devil was a murderer, so his children, the scribes and the Pharisees and the religious Jews, took him. And although it was by the determinate counsel and will of God, they took him and with wicked hands crucified and slain him on the tree. They turned him over to the Gentiles to be crucified. But it was there on that cross, right, when Christ, this was all according to that head-on victory over them. Christ on the cross defeated them. He defeated our enemies. He took them head-on. And I think this is what Paul has in view when he says, the weakness of God is stronger than men, so that in his death, He accomplished salvation for all his people. He obtained the victory over all his enemies, your enemies and his enemies, put them to death, destroyed them, annihilated them, wiped them out, gave a breach against them. Turn over to Colossians chapter 2. I want you to see this because I want to show you two passages here. First in Colossians 2. verse 14 and 15 and it says there that there on the cross he was blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us right that law which you and I cannot keep We cannot keep the law for righteousness. Well, he blotted it out. He took it out of the way, putting us to death to that law so that we're no longer married to that law, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, made them a public spectacle, shaming them before all, triumphing over them in it. And what we see there is that he obtained eternal redemption for his people by the shedding of his precious blood. He delivered us from death. He delivered us from the enemy. He delivered us from the accusing devil. He delivered us from the law that could never be satisfied by our works because of our weaknesses and infirmities and imperfections and sin of the flesh. He defeated it all. And if you turn now to Colossians 1, chapter 1, verse 20 through 22, we see what this triumph of Christ means for us, you that believe him. And having made peace, peace, brethren, the war there is over between us and God. The enmity that is in our heart against God and fighting and resisting and always warring and all that we do in this flesh. He made peace for us through the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things unto himself. By him I say whether they be things in earth or things in heaven, Christ made peace for us with holy God. That is power. That is wonderful salvation. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, and think about that. He's writing to Gentiles who were worshiping and bowing down to stumps and rocks and sticks and thinking, this is salvation here. Yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight." In other words, he's taken you unto himself so that he is your provider, he is your savior, he is your salvation in all things, and he's not going to let you come short of that salvation by his grace and power, brethren. by His grace and power. So, when we were yet enemies and ignorant of the truth and life, that didn't stop Christ from obtaining our eternal redemption. It did not stop him. And all the idols that the enemies were trusting in here, a picture of all that worthless, religious junk that we trust in and think is our life and salvation, he puts them to death. He takes them and burns them up. Just like David, all those idols were left behind, and he takes them away and puts them away. That's the repentance that Christ works in the hearts of his people, to turn our hearts which had a veil of flesh over it that cannot see nor understand the mystery of God, he turns that heart by his spirit to see and to behold Christ is all. He makes us to know that. And so we see what he's done for us. Isaiah 53, 12 says, therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death, and he was numbered with the transgressors. And he bared the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors." Trust him. That is the hold that God has provided for you that are sinners. Flee to Christ. Fly to Christ. Trust Him. Beg Him. And He says, you seek Me with all your heart. I'll show you. I'll give you all these riches. I'll make known to you this mystery of what I've done and accomplished for you. He's done that. So that's the first battle. That's the first thing Christ did. He had to take on the enemy head on. That's what's pictured there. He took the enemy head on and defeated the enemy. And this brings us to the second battle that's described here. And you're going to see this is exactly what the Lord does for us in salvation. This speaks of the grace of our Lord being brought to the heart and understanding of his people. This is what the giving of the Holy Spirit And the preaching of the gospel is declared here in this battle, this second battle here. And the Philistines came up yet again, so back in 2 Samuel 5.22. They came up yet again, and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. They're going right back to it. And when David inquired of the Lord, he said, Thou shalt not go up. You're not going to do what you did before. You're not going to do that again. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. There's not going to be another offering. That's not how these other battles are going to be fought here. Fetch a compass behind them. Go around them. And come upon them over against the mulberry trees. You think about what I was saying, how the Lord, His spirit comes upon us and turns us in another way. Turns us from the things that cannot save. He turns us from that in a way that is contrary to us. And let it be when thou hearest the sound. of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt bestir thyself. For then shall the Lord go out before thee to smite the host of the Philistines. And David did so, as the Lord commanded him, and smote the Philistines from Geba until thou come to Gazer." So this battle is different in that the Lord tells David, you wait for a signal here. And you wait till I come, till you hear the sound in the mulberry trees. And when you hear that sound, and I suspect that was the sound of wind in the mulberry trees. He heard something passing in the mulberry trees. And so then they would go out and smite that host of the Philistines. And so what this picture, brethren, is what we experience. as the children of God, predestinated as the children of God, to come into that family of God, this is the picturing the new birth and the giving of the Holy Spirit that God sends to come upon his people, to lead his people, to enter the heart of his people, to form Christ in the heart, to bring that gospel word for us to hear that sound of the voice of Christ and to follow him, to believe him, and to follow him. And so this is what he works in his people, a description of the giving of the Holy Spirit, overcoming the enemies of Christ in our hearts. Christ went to the cross first and defeated the enemies. But now it pleases God to bring that salvation home to our hearts. For us to personally close with Christ, to call out upon Him as our Savior. So let me just show you a couple verses on that, that truth there. 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 13 and 14. So remember, our salvation, when we're brought to this salvation, it's worked in us, wrought in us by the giving of the Spirit, and the hearing and belief, that faith in the gospel, in Christ. So 2 Thessalonians 2.13, but we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord. Give thanks to God, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit. The Spirit came upon you and separated you apart From that, from the children of wrath, from the children of disobedience, he separated you out to hear this. And belief of the truth, which means you heard the preaching of the gospel, which directs your hearts to Christ, not to Mount Sinai, but to Christ. whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." In other words, he made that word effectual in your heart. He opened your ear to hear the sound of it and to believe the Lord Jesus Christ. All right, look at 1 Peter, 1 Peter chapter 1. At the end of that chapter there in verse 22, Peter says, seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, and see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently. So that your souls are purified because of what God has done in giving you a spirit whereby you believe, you obeyed the truth. you return from trusting dead works that cannot save to trust Christ, whom the Father sent to save you from your sins. Being, again, here it is, not your works, but new creatures, right? It's not circumcision nor uncircumcision that makes a difference, but a new creature, Paul said. So being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falls away." That describes our works. That describes what we are. We should be proud and puffed up. No, we're grass. We're flesh. It's burned up. Just like you see, David took concubines and wives and had more kids. Yep, all flesh. all burned up, but were born again. But the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you." So this word that we're looking at here is that we're seeing Christ, looking at Christ, because that's the gospel word which is given for you, to drive you to the hold when the enemy comes, accusing. To flee to Christ. And so this is what the Lord does to snatch us out of the jaws of defeat, to bring us out of that death, to give us life, to bring us out of darkness, to open the prison that we're in, and to bring us into the light of Christ, to trust him. And that gospel is heard, received, and believed. Even so, this battle is accomplished by Christ, the captain of our salvation, by the sending of the Holy Ghost to the earth, just as he promised, and to raise up that witness through the preaching of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. So our Lord, just to show you this moving through the mulberry trees, our Lord told his apostles, this language is in the New Testament, He told them in Acts 1, verse 4, it says, in being assembled together with them before Christ ascended to heaven, he was with his disciples. He commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait. Just like the Lord told David, you wait until you hear the sound in the tops of the mulberry trees. Wait for the promise of the Father. which saith he, ye have heard of me. And then in Acts 1.8, he said, but ye shall receive power. After that, the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses. You shall be preachers and declares of the gospel, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth. And so once that was done, they would go forth. preaching this word, right, of what God had done, and of what he had done of raising Christ from the dead. Now listen to this, in Acts 2, verse 1 and 2, And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing, mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And then they all received the Spirit and went forth preaching the glory of God, every man hearing in his own language the glory of God. And they glorified God. They worshiped God for what they had heard. And so this picture's here, first, that taking on the enemy head on, is a picture of Christ taking on our enemies. on the cross to defeat them, to destroy them, to reconcile us, to redeem us. And then the second battle here is when the Lord sends his spirit and his word, seeking out the lost sheep and bringing that word to our hearts effectually, to hear Christ, to receive that word of Christ, to come to the Lord in Christ, believing him and trusting him. And that's where we are met by God and received of God graciously, wondrously, all by His grace and mercy. It's a new birth. Salvation is not manufactured and forced and worked by the flesh. All that does is produce divisions and harm and hatred and bitterness and an evil response. in us. But he does it graciously with his power in making us new creatures, born-again creatures, whereby we hear these things. He told Nicodemus in John 3.8, The wind bloweth where it listeth, wherever it wants, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but cannot tell whence it cometh, and where it goes. So is every one that is born the Spirit we are we must be born again we must be born again and the Lord Jesus Christ sees to it that just as he defeated our enemies in the first battle so he defeats all our enemies in the second battle he's the one that comes and obtains that salvation for us brethren he is the whole he is the salvation he is the Savior run to him cry to him Pour out your heart to him. Ask him for grace and mercy because it delights him to show mercy to needy sinners. Not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. So that's why he does it this way, brethren. To the praise, honor, and glory of his name. Amen.