All right, tonight we're going
to begin 2 Samuel. 2 Samuel chapter 1. This whole book of 2 Samuel,
it concerns the reign of David as king of Israel. That is up
to his old age, and then 1 Kings picks up at the end there. And
this first chapter that we're looking at It occurs just prior
to, this is a time just prior to David's ascension to the throne. He's not yet coronated by the
people. He's the anointed king. And this is the beginning now,
things are coming together where now he's going to ascend to the
throne. And though he's not yet coronated
by the people, yet we see now that all his humblings, his strippings,
his sufferings are coming to an end by the hand of Saul, his
persecutor. And Saul is now dead. And Saul
is, that persecution is put away. And so now the Lord is going
to raise him to the throne. And David is, we'll see, he's
back in Ziklag, which is under the, I guess, control of the
Philistines, though it was given to David and it remained with
Israel. after that, and he's probably
working on things, repairing the city. It had been burned
by the Amalekites that came in there and pillaged their place
there in Ziklag and took all their goods, took their women
and children, took their cattle, and David had gone forth, retrieved
the people and saved the people, redeemed the people and brought
them back to Ziklag now. And so at this time, a man comes
to him from the camp of Saul on the side of the Israelites
with news of the battle. that's going on between Israel
and the Philistines. If you remember, David almost
went to battle with the Philistines against Saul and against the
Israelites, but the Lord delivered him from that temptation and
blessed him. Immediately, he came into trials
and suffering. As soon as he was delivered,
he gets back and he comes into a great trial with Ziklag being
burned and the people take him. But that's all behind him now. Here in verse 1 and 2 of 2 Samuel
chapter 1, it came to pass after the death of Saul. When David
was returned from the slaughter of the Amalekites, and David
had abode two days in Ziklag, it came even to pass on the third
day, that, behold, a man came out of the camp from Saul with
his clothes and earth upon his head. And so it was when he came
to David that he fell to the earth and did obeisance." He
bowed before David. Now what struck me here as I
was reading this and looking at this is how the scriptures
just love to highlight things that happen on the third day.
Scriptures often emphasize what is happening on the third day.
I'll give you just a little taste of that. It was on the third
day when the Lord gathered together all the waters into one place. A picture of what our Lord did
in gathering His people, which are called waters in Revelation,
His people into one in Himself. And the Lord made the land to
appear. This is the third day, a picture
of Christ rising from the dead. And there was fruitfulness that
exploded across the land there, a testimony of what Christ had
accomplished. Except a kernel of wheat, except
a grain of wheat, of corn or wheat fall into the ground, it
abideth alone. But if it die, if it go into
the ground and be buried, it beareth much fruit. And it's
a picture of our Lord and what he accomplished. It was also
on the third day when Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw Mount
Moriah where he was told and sent of God that he would sacrifice
his son Isaac. And it was on the third day when
Joseph We'll be getting to that soon in Genesis, when Joseph,
having kept his brethren in ward, his brethren were in ward, they
were in prison. And it was on the third day when
he came to his brethren and said, this do and live. I had a picture of Christ coming
to us and turning our hearts to him, whereby we live, believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. This do and live. Look to Christ. Live. It was on the third day
that Esther, Esther, that she put on her royal apparel, the
third day that she put on her royal apparel and was received
by the king, Ahasuerus. right, on the third day. There's
many, many, many more examples. The scriptures just love to highlight
the beauty of what happens on the third day. And all these
things give us some picture, something of what Christ accomplished
for us in his redemption. Christ Jesus, who died for our
sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that
he rose again the third according to the Scriptures. The third
day. And so now we're on here in 2
Samuel, on this third day, David receives news that his persecutor
is defeated. His persecutor is now dead. And his sufferings under the
hand of Saul are ended. They're ended. All that running
and fleeing and hiding and being chased down and hunted and betrayed
by his countrymen, all that persecution and trouble is ended. And so
this third day, it results in a time of a new beginning for
David. It's a new beginning. It's a
new time. The kingdom is now to be established under David. There's just so many pictures.
The old is passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. It's a new day. It's a new dawn. David is now
ascending to the throne. He has risen from that trouble,
and he's ascending to the throne. And so the picture gives us hope
and comfort to all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, that
this is the witness. He has come and accomplished
our salvation. And on the third day, he rose
again. And all the promises of God are
given unto us, fulfilled unto us, made known unto us on the
third day. third day. Why? Because we died
with Christ. When He went to the cross, you
that believe on Him, you died also. When He was buried, you
were buried. And when He rose from the dead,
we were raised in Him to newness of life. And he brings that in
the time of his appointing when it pleases him to make us to
know all these things that Christ has accomplished for us. So if
you turn over to Romans 6, I just want to show you a few scriptures
there regarding what Christ has accomplished. It's important
for, I just want to establish the hope that we have in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And you'll see how it relates
then to to what we're going to see later in this chapter. But
Romans 6, verse 3, it speaks of the believer's baptism in
Christ, what our hope is. He explains this, who we're looking
to, what he accomplished, the hope and confidence we have in
him. Verse 3, know ye not that so many of us as were baptized
into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore, we're
baptized, therefore we're buried, buried in baptism, buried under
the water with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ
was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even
so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been
planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also
in the likeness of his resurrection. And so that is a picture of the
hope of our confession. When we're baptized, when we
obey that ordinance which is given to us to identify with
Christ, because that's really what we're doing. The baptism
doesn't wash away the sins. Christ has washed us of our sins. Baptism is a confession that
that's my hope. I believe that I am washed of
my sins by the Lord Jesus Christ, that his blood cleanseth me from
all sin. That's what we're identifying
with. We're identifying with his death. We're going without
the city from this world and all its vain confidences and
bearing the shame with Christ. who despised the shame and sat
down at the right hand of the throne of God." We're going to
Him. We're going to our Lord and our
Savior and identifying with Him. In our baptism, we believe, we
confess, Jesus Christ is the Son of God, sent of the Father
to save me from my sins. And he did it. He accomplished
it. And that's our confession. That's our hope. That is what
it is to confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. That is
the doctrine of Christ that we confess, who he is, why he came,
what he accomplished. And so Paul then states this
plainly. He says in verse 6 and 7 there
of Romans 6, knowing this, that our old man is crucified with
him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth
we should not serve sin, for he that is dead is freed from
sin. Our Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished
our salvation. And he brings that hope, he brings
the reality of that truth to bear in us, revealing that in
us, giving us his spirit and driving away the mist of darkness
to make known the mystery of the righteousness of God in the
face of Jesus Christ. Make that known unto us, brethren,
to reveal what Christ has accomplished for us in the cross, to give
us life, to give us salvation, to give us hope in him. And so
he makes us new creatures in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so
what it means that henceforth, when Paul said that we should
not serve sin, let me just give you three things to help you
understand what he's saying there when he said that henceforth
we should not serve sin. First, we have the context in
which Paul says that here in Romans 6. He says in verse 12
that we should not obey it in the lusts thereof, regarding
sin, that we should not obey sin in the lusts thereof. So
let's read verse 11 and 12, Romans 6, 11 and 12. Likewise reckon
ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin. Now mind you,
he's talking to believers. He's not talking to the world,
he's talking to believers, all believers here in whom this salvation
is revealed. But we're alive unto God through
Jesus Christ our Lord. And so Sin is still present in
our members. Sin is still there. They wouldn't
tell us to not obey the lusts if there were no lusts present.
There's lusts present. They're still in this flesh. It's still present, just like
the Philistines and those The Canaanites were still on the
land of Israel. It's a picture that sin is still
in our members, in this flesh here. But we have the promise
of God that it is defeated, that it is overcome. that our sins
have been punished in Christ, that they are put away, and that
our sin is not dictating our inheritance. It's all settled,
all accomplished, all obtained, all established by the Lord Jesus
Christ. So it's still in our members,
but believe God, who has declared to us, it's done. It's finished. I've overcome your enemies. I
defeated them. They're defeated. They have no
more power over you. Where faith comes in is believe
that promise. Where faith therefore comes in
in this is believe the promise of God who tells you. When Christ
said, I've overcome the world. I've overcome. I've overcome
your sin. I've overcome all your enemies. Believe that promise
that he's with us, that he's overcome the world in us, and
that he shall return for us. And it's all resting. It's all
predicated on him, on the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't withdraw
from that. Don't pull back from that. Don't
turn to the law to try and fix the sin in you. Keep looking
to Christ. Keep crying out to Him. Keep
trusting Him. Verse 12, let not sin therefore
reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts
thereof. How do we, who are weak, sinful
creatures, who had the plague of sin in us since the time we
were conceived in our mother's womb, and yet still seed in our
members, even after faith has come, how do we, How are we going
to not let sin reign in our mortal bodies that we should obey it
in the lust thereof? Look at the end of verse 11,
the previous verse there. We are alive unto God through
Jesus Christ our Lord. We're alive unto God through
Jesus Christ, our Lord, so that we live upon him and by him. We cry out to him who saved us
to save us, right? Just like Peter crying out when
he was on the water, we keep crying out to him. We keep looking
to him, Lord, save me. Lord, save me. Lord, deliver
me. Lord, help me. Lord, keep me. Lord, don't let
me go astray. Lord, save me from this temptation.
That's even the prayer that he taught his disciples to pray.
Deliver us from evil. Deliver us from the evil. Deliver
us from temptation. Deliver us from these things.
We keep crying out to him, Lord, save me. Lord, help me. We seek
him to save us from the lusts yet present in our members, in
our flesh. And we wait upon him for the
relief of his grace to do that. We keep looking to him. Don't
withdraw and go back to the law to try and fix it, because it
ain't going to work. It's only going to provoke more legalism,
more sin, more perdition in you in turning back to the law for
righteousness. And so, as I said, Romans 8,
25 and 26, but if we hope, 826 825 but if we hope for that we see
not then do we with patience wait for it we don't withdraw
from Christ and go back to the law we seek unto him." Likewise,
the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should
pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession
for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. So our life, brethren,
is Christ evermore. He is our life, and that's what
we continue. He's our life. So that's the
first thing that we should obey it, not obey it in the lust thereof. Keep looking to Christ and crying
out to Him. That's how you're not going to
obey the lust thereof, is just crying out to Him to save you,
to keep. And when you do sin, we have
an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. That's
who we go to in all things. Second, that henceforth we should
not serve sin. It means that old things are
passed away. Behold, all things are become new. We're not continuing
in that form of dead letter religion. where we thought we were coming
to God and pleasing God by tinkering around with little religious
things and candles and robes and doing this and sitting here
and sitting on hard seats versus soft seats and doing things the
way we did them in religion because we thought this is it, this is
how I beat this stuff out of my flesh by doing these things.
It's not dead letter religion that saves us and keeps us. And so that bondage that we were
under, that's not our hope anymore. It's that form of relation. That's
not our hope anymore. Our hope is Christ. It's the
Lord Jesus Christ. And then third, we see that henceforth
we should not serve sin. It means that those fears and
terrors that drove us back to the law, that turned us to the
law, to Mount Sinai under the weight of it, right? And that
yoking of the law that we were so terrified under and so fearful. and never settle, right? They'd
say sweet things about our Lord Jesus Christ and then follow
it up with the law and beatings and whippings and threatenings
and all, you know, this threat of curses. And it just wiped
out all that comfort that we had because that's what was exaggerated
in our minds. That's what we heard, right?
And then over and over again, And this is why what our Lord
said is so precious to the weary sinner in Matthew 11, 28 through
30, when he said, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. You come to me, take my yoke
upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart,
and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and
my burden is light." And living upon Christ in the new man by
faith, brought in us by the grace and power of God through the
Holy Ghost, we find rest for our souls from him. And we're
told in Hebrews on that, Hebrews 2.18, for in that he himself
hath suffered being tempted, right? And it says we're tempted.
as he's suffered being tempted, he's able to succor us, to help
us, to minister the Spirit unto us that are tempted. And so it all comes back to looking
to Christ, doesn't it? It's all looking to Christ, it's
all going to Christ, continuing in Christ, walking by faith,
looking to Christ, and not looking back from what we came from.
Not going back to that, but continuing in him who's revealed himself
to us by the Spirit in the light of the gospel. All right, so
Christ is all, Christ is all, right? Of God are ye in Christ
Jesus who is made unto us wisdom and righteousness, sanctification
and redemption, that according as it's written, he that glorieth
Let him glory in the Lord. Brethren, glory in Christ. Make your boast of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is salvation. He is the Savior
whom the Father sent to save you from your sins. And there's
not another. That's your hope. Let him be
your boast. What did he say, was it Isaiah?
Let him be your fear, let him be your dread. Fear him, that
is, fear departing from him. Don't turn from him, hear what
he says. And he says, this is my beloved son in whom I am well
pleased, hear him. You stay there, right there in
him. Now, these truths that I just
declared to you, they're not held by all religion. They're
just not held by all of religion. There's many in our day, and
many throughout history whose hope of eternal life and their
acceptance with God depends on what they do, something in them,
who they are, whose family they're from, what denomination they're
in, where they were baptized, what they say, what they hold
to, their traditions, their customs. That's their hope, that they
shall be received by the true and living God. Their decision,
they're giving their heart to Jesus and they're walking the
aisle or being baptized or whatever it is. Much of the world has
a hope like that, a vain false hope. And so in our text here,
we have this man who comes to David. And this man is a picture
of free will works religion. This man is not coming in the
confession that we just heard revealed in Christ. He's coming
in his own free will. He's trusting in his will worship. That's the picture here. So he
looks very sincere. In verse two, we're told his
clothes were rent, that he had dirt put on his head. He looked
very humble, very sad. And when he got to David, he
fell to the earth and did obeisance. He was bowing before David. He's giving honor to David now
as the rightful king who should succeed Saul because Jonathan
and the other two sons, they're all dead. They're all dead. So
just seeing this, though, we know, we've seen the sincerity
that people have in their religion. And this man is feigning sincerity. He's putting on a show of piety. He's putting on a show of seriousness
and soberness here. And so it is that people do that
when they come in. into a church, they put on these
garments of dirt on the head, honoring God. They want to look
the part. They don't want to stand out
and do anything offensive when they're coming into the church,
typically. And David asks this guy about the battle. and he
learns that Saul and Jonathan are dead. And it says, verse
five, David said unto the man that told him, how knowest thou
that Saul and Jonathan, his son, be dead? Now, this is where we're
gonna find out this man's a liar. because he tells a completely
different story from what we read in chapter 31. These are
not the details that are recorded in 1 Samuel 31 or, again, repeated
in 1 Chronicles chapter 10. It repeats Verbatim. Exactly what was in chapter 31.
It says those details. That's how Saul died. Not what
this guy says. Not what this guy says. I'll
just read it here. The young man, verse 6, the young
man that told him said, as I happened by chance, upon Mount Gilboa,
behold, Saul leaned upon his spear. And lo, the chariots and
horsemen followed hard after him. There wasn't much time.
There wasn't a lot of time here. The enemy was close at hand here.
And when he looked behind me, he saw me and called unto me.
And I answered, here am I. And he said unto me, who art
thou? And I answered him, I am an Amalekite. He wasn't joined
unto the people. He was an Amalekite. Which is
rather interesting, the Amalekites were the grandchildren of Esau. And Esau is the seed of the serpent. Esau didn't believe. He's not
a child of God. Esau was content in this life,
but had no hope in God. And this is a descendant of Esau. And it was the Amalekites, actually,
that Saul was told to slay them all by Samuel. He said, go to
the Amalekites, put them all to death, don't spare any of
them, put their sheep and oxen, women and children, the whole
thing, put them all to death. And it's a picture of how nothing
that we are, nothing that we bring is acceptable to the Lord. We need a complete salvation
by the Lord Jesus Christ. We need the Savior. And so, but
Saul didn't do that. And now here's this Amalekite
reporting of Saul's death here. Verse nine, he said unto me,
again, stand I pray thee upon me and slay me for anguish is
come upon me because my life is yet whole in me. And that
word, I looked up that word anguish and it looks like it means that
he was snared and couldn't get free. He was saying, I'm stuck. And you remember, he said, the
chariots are coming. The chariots are coming. There's
an alarm. You better get to Jesus, because the hellfire is coming.
It's coming. And so he gets in there. And so, verse 10, so I stood
upon him and slew him, because I was sure that he could not
live after that he was fallen. And I took the crown that was
upon his head and the bracelet that was on his arm, and I brought
them hither unto my Lord." And so we see, first of all, that
this is totally different from what the scriptures say. This
is this man's account. But 1 Samuel 31 and 1 Chronicles
10 say very different details. There was nothing about a spear.
He had been struck by the archers, randomly hit him. And then he
asked his armor bearer to slay him, and he wouldn't, so he fell
on his own sword. And so that's when this man happened alone
because he did get his crown and his bracelet, so he clearly
did come through there, but he didn't do what he said. He's
telling David that he had a hand in the death of Saul. Saul's
a picture of this old man of flesh, and he's saying to David,
and we know David is a picture of our Lord and our Savior, our
God, our hope, our confidence, the hope of Israel. He's the
Savior. And He's coming and saying, I
had a hand in the old man of flesh's death. I put him to death. I did this for you, David. I did this for you. I had a hand
in defeating your persecutor, and I suppose he was hoping for
a reward from David, perhaps being accepted into his company.
But this man says these things, believing this is going to impress
David. David's going to like this. And
I've just handed the kingdom to David, the kingdom in my heart.
You can just see the parallels here. And he had the spoils of
Saul's crown in his possession. And if you know anything about
a battlefield, I mean, if there's someone like who, if there's
a general right there and says, everything on this field is mine,
don't take it, well, then it is his. But if there's no one
there and no one calls these orders out, what you find is
yours. And if you see some cool armor, that becomes your armor
if you want to take it. It's yours. That's just the rule
of the battlefield. And he had the crown and the
bracelets. Not that he would be king, but
he just had these things. But he gives it to David as a
gesture of saying, David, Personally, you are my king. I'm making you
my king. I'm bound before you, and I'm
going to let you be my king here. However, his words and actions
were not received well by David at all. David wasn't impressed
at all. This was an offense to David. Verse 14, David said unto him,
how was thou not afraid to stretch forth thine hand to destroy the
Lord's anointed? And David called one of the young
men and said, go near and fall upon him. And he smote him that
he died. And David said unto him, thy
blood be upon thy head, for thy mouth hath testified against
thee, saying, I have slain the Lord's anointed." And so in this,
we see a picture of the very nature of the will worshiper. the will-worshipper. Paul uses
that term back in Colossians chapter 2. You'll see it's a very fleshly
hope that the will-worshipper has based on what they do or
don't do. At the end of chapter 2, At the end of chapter, let me
just read verse 20 to the end. Wherefore, if ye be dead with
Christ, from the rudiments of the world. We're delivered from
the rudiments of the world, the elements of the world. That's
dead letter religion. They're just rudiments, elements, they're
just pieces of flesh of this world. And if you're dead from
that, delivered from that, why as though living in the world
are you subject to ordinances? Why are you picking up these,
binding yourselves and yoking yourselves with the law? Why
are you doing that? You're dead from these things.
These things have no power, no sway, no effect. They're not
sanctifying you. They're not helping you. They're
turning you from Christ. And he says it, verse 21, touch
not, taste not, handle not, which are all to perish with the using
after the commandments and doctrines of man. Why are you looking to
those things? Which things have indeed a show
of wisdom in will, worship, and humility, right? If that's your
hope, sure, it sounds good. The Greeks talk about this stuff
all the time. And neglecting of the body, but
not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh. It does nothing
to satiate the lusts that are yet present in your members.
Only Christ can deliver you from that. These will worshipers are
glorying in the flesh. They're glorying in what they
do. or don't do. And that's what this man pictures,
a well-worshipper in religion. And they tell tales of what they've
done for God, don't they? They tell you what they did.
I did. I said. Then I did this. And
then I did that. And I turned from that. And they
tell you. They'll lay out all the things,
all the works that they've done to please God as though they
had a hand in salvation. They put to death the old man.
I took care of him. I did it for you. I did it. And
without them, that old man might still be possessed by the Philistines
in the land. They might have taken Saul. That's
what he was worried about. They're going to come and make
sport of me. They're going to mess with me
and keep me alive and just slowly torture me to death here. And
Jesus wouldn't be our king unless we let him be our king. Nobody
will believe unless we allow God to save us. And so Saul here,
that's what he's picturing here. He must die. He must be put to
death. But you and I don't put him to death. We're in league
with him until the Lord puts us to death, until the Lord brings
life and salvation to us and slays that old man. He does it.
He does it. It was the Lord that led Saul
down that way and brought an end to Saul. that David might
be exalted. And it's the Lord that brings
this old man to death and puts him to death and puts him down
and humbles him and strips him and shows him his abominations
and all that we are in the flesh. And then he brings us to Christ
and shows us that Christ is all that. He is our salvation. He's
my Lord. He's my Savior. It's all his
work to do that in his people. And so the believers boast isn't
what I've done for the Lord, but what the Lord has done for
me, a sinner, a sinner. And that becomes our hope, not
what we've done, but what he's done. And if you look at the
song of redemption in heaven by those that we see in heaven
in Revelation 5 verses 9 and 10, it says, they sung a new
song saying, now who are they glorifying here? Thou art worthy
to take the book. We can't take it. We can't open
it. We can't do the will of God. That's what that book pictures.
It was locked. John's crying because he can't
do it. He can't, he can't, nobody can be found in heaven open and
he's crying. But who did open it? Who did
establish the will of God? The Lamb. The Lamb of God slain
from the foundation of the world. Right? And so So they sung this
new song, thou art worthy to take the book and to open the
seals thereof for thou was slain and hast redeemed us to God by
thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation
and has made us unto our God kings and priests and we shall
reign on the earth. So everything you and I have,
believer, is because of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's all of him. He did it. He did it all. But
the proud well-worshipper, like this lying man, he boasts of
what he's done. I stood upon him, and I slew
him. I did it. I made my decision,
and that's it. I'm leaving the world behind,
and look what I've done. Look what I've done. And he comes
to David, of all people, and tells him this. We see that, right? That's what
the natural man does. I have decided. I'll let you
save me now. I'm going to give my heart to
Jesus. That's what we see in the will worshiper. Well, we
don't make Jesus king of our life. God has already made him
king. We bow before him. It's him who
brings that light and salvation that reveals that he is our all
unto us. So the problem is we think by
nature that we can save ourselves, but the scriptures don't speak
like that. They testify of him who wills,
and we hear of them we shall. I will and you shall. When I
come to you, that's when you're going to believe. And someone
might say, well, that's what they mean. Well, then tell them the truth.
And if they agree with the truth, if that's what they mean, they'll
love you for explaining that and revealing that clearly to
them. But the problem is, when you tell others that truth, how
that the Lord saves and we don't save ourselves, that's where
suddenly so many people get offended and fight against the plain revelation
of scripture. And we try to show them the truth.
And if they are his, they will come out. They will come out.
Maybe it'll take a long time, but if they are his, they will
come out of darkness and confess that Christ is all. And so we see there when a man
boasts of what he's done for God, who is he rejecting? He's rejecting the anointed of
God. He's crucifying a fresh Christ. He's saying, he's not my savior.
I don't believe him. And he's putting him to death
again, if you will, by saying, I don't believe that. That's
not my hope. And so the Lord delivers us from
that. And let me just say then, That
our Lord, he was raised from the dead the third day. He was
raised from the dead the third day. All his enemies have been
defeated. And he's not left himself without
a witness. He's given us the witness of
who he is. why he came, what he accomplished. He's declared and revealed that
witness through the preaching of the gospel by his church,
whom he's gathered together and established in this world to
make this known, and to call out his sheep that are lost,
to bring them under that word, and to reveal himself to them
in the hearing of faith, to minister the spirit to them in the hearing
of faith, declaring Christ, believe him. He saves His people and
all who believe Him and trust Him and come to Him. They're
His, and it's an evidence that they're His. Otherwise, they
wouldn't believe Him. Otherwise, they wouldn't trust
Him for all. And so if your hope is in Him, then hear what He's
done to put away your sins, how that He has saved His people
to the uttermost. Let Him be your post. Rejoice
in Him. Speak of what Him, how it's by
His grace empower. And hearing that, He teaches
us, right? We're hard-headed, we're hard-hearted,
we're thick-headed, we're numbskulls, we don't get it, we're so slow
to believe, and yet the Lord patiently teaches us the gospel,
and we hear it, and by His wonderful way, He breaks down the things
that we're hoping in in the flesh, and when we're off, and when
we're looking here and there, and He brings us back to see
Christ. And that's our hope, that He's a loving, caring, providing
King and Savior, that He doesn't deal with us when we go astray. He doesn't deal with us as our
sins deserve, but He continues to be merciful, to keep showing
us this truth, teaching it, revealing it in spirit and in truth, to
bless you. And He grows you in the grace
and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And He shows
us these things. and gives us that spirit whereby
we worship him in spirit and in truth, rather than as the
Amalekite did, in their own spirit of deadness. So the spirit in
which redeemed sinners come to the Savior, it's not by a proud
confidence of man's spirit, but by the Holy Ghost, by the Holy
Ghost. And so I'll leave it there. There's other things, and maybe
we'll see. We'll see them through the preaching of the gospel always,
so I pray the Lord bless that to your hearts, brother. Amen.
Our gracious Lord, we do thank you for your grace. We thank
you, Lord, that you are the king, that you are the savior, that
you work salvation in the hearts of your people. Lord, that we
see that you're not impressed by the will worshiper. You're
not impressed by the one who has boasted of their part in
salvation and what they've done and how they've made you king.
Lord, you are king. And we're thankful how you melt
the heart of stone, how you give a new heart, how you make us
new creatures in the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, bring this word,
this hope, the hope of the Lord Jesus Christ home to our hearts.
that we would find our all in Him and make our boast of Him.
It's in Christ's name we pray and give thanks. Amen.