Open your Bible, if you would,
to the book of Hosea, chapter six, but keep your finger in
chapter five, because we're going to read a few verses from chapter
five in connection with chapter six. Our verse tonight will be
Hosea chapter six, verse one. What a wonderful verse for we
who are the born again, blood washed people of God. The name
of the message is return unto the Lord. Return unto the Lord. Now sin has separated us from
God by nature. We're born into this world dead
in trespasses and sins. We are far from God in our minds
and in our hearts. Sin has separated us. God is
holy. Sin cannot be in his presence.
So in order for us to be in the presence of God, we must be made
holy. In an atom we fell, estranged
from God. But when we're born again, although
it's the first time for us to come to Christ, we're returning
to the Lord. Isn't that wonderful? It's wonderful, beloved. Let's read verses 14 and 15 of
Hosea chapter 5 and then we'll read from verse 1 to 3 of Hosea
chapter 6. For I will be unto Ephraim as
a lion and as a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I,
will tear and go away. I will take away and none shall
rescue him. I will go and return to my place
till they acknowledge their offense and seek my face, and their affliction
they will seek me early." Now look at this, right in that verse,
till they acknowledge their offense. Brother Brian, we profess we've
sinned against God, don't we now? We never used to think that. But now, the born-again blood-washed
believers that we are, we confess, I sinned against God and God
alone. When I sin, I'm sinning against God. Now other people
may be involved, but really that offense is against God. And we've
been taught that. We didn't know that before. We
just didn't think, I know I didn't even think I was sinning. But then I found out when I heard
the gospel, that my offense was against a holy and righteous
God. And look at that. This is amazing. Come and let us return unto the
Lord, or no, I will go and return to my place till they acknowledge
their offense and seek my face. So when we're born again, isn't
it amazing? We acknowledge our offense. We
acknowledge we're just sinners to the core, from the top of
our head to the bottom of our feet, right? And then what do
we do? Because we're born again, we
seek his face. My! And we're gonna find out,
as we already have been taught, but I'm just gonna reiterate
it again, that God made us willing, sister, in the day of his power.
And it's wonderful, because by nature, we will not return unto
the Lord. By nature, we will not admit our offenses when we're
born into this world. We won't admit we're sinners,
but I'll tell you what, when God saves you, you say, God,
be merciful to me, the sinner. I'm the chief now. I'm the chief. My, look at verse six. Oh, verse
six is just strung with wonderful gospel truths. Look at this.
Come and let us return unto the Lord. For he hath torn, and he
will heal us. He hath smitten, and he will
bind us up. I'm reminded here of the Samaritan
who stopped on the road. Remember the religious fellow
went by? The priest went by? Remember the other fellow went
by? Didn't stop, and here's the Samaritan
stopping this poor guy dying on the road, torn up. It's a
picture of Christ, what he does for us. He's the Samaritan. We're the fellow wounded down
on the ground, wounded by a fall, aren't we? Can't heal ourselves. Then he takes, the Samaritan
takes that fellow to the end and he says, whatever he owes,
put it on my account. Woo, my! Christ washed us from all our
sins with his precious, precious blood. It's been put on his account,
even though we're the ones who did the sinning. My, it's wonderful. After two days, he will revive
us. In the third day, he will raise
us up and we shall live in his sight. Oh, we're going to be
with him forever, beloved. Then shall we know if we follow
on to know the Lord, He has gone forth as prepared as the morning,
and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former
rain upon the earth. Now a tender father seeks to
guide their children, first to guide their children, first by
gentle means. And we see here how long-suffering
the Lord is with us. You ever consider that, brothers
and sisters? Do you ever consider how long-suffering God is with
us? Here we are, we plunge into sin. Everything we do is tainted with
sin. But how long-suffering is God with us? We've seen in this study that
he's dealt very kindly with Israel despite their sinfulness, despite
their erring. He sent them favor after favor,
hasn't he? And blessing after blessing.
saying by his acts, I've given them their corn and their wine
and their oil, and they will surely turn unto me and say,
our father, thou shalt be the guide of our youth. Surely, after
all they've been given. Well, but the more he multiplied
his blessings and his bounties towards them, the more they multiply
their iniquities. What a picture of us in our lost
state, beloved. Oh my. My, oh my. They burned sacrifices
unto the gods of Edom. They burned sacrifices unto the
gods of Moab. Even to those who were no gods.
They weren't gods at all. They're false gods. saying, these
be thy gods, O Israel, which have given unto thee thy corn
and thy wine and thy oil. So instead of giving the glory
to God, they give glory to these false idols. How did we do before the Lord
saved us? We did the same thing, didn't
we? It may not have been the gods of Edom or Moab, but it might have
been self or things of this world. Oh my, it's in all of us. So they spent the mercies of
God in sacrifice to their idols. And they committed transgressions
with the false gods of the heathen, consuming upon their lusts the
very mercies which God had sent to bring them to repentance. And this is true of we who are
the people of God in our natural state, before the Lord saves
us. Now, When at last God saw that
this measure did not move them, because their sin was written
with an iron pen upon their hearts, upon the granite of their hearts, then he tried harsher methods.
He bought harsher methods. He didn't try. He bought harsher
means. Bought to them the prophets who
rose early. and prophesied unto them from
the going up of the sun to the going down of the sun. They laid precept upon precept.
They threatened them with the anger and vengeance of God. Then
at last vengeance came. That vengeance that was prophesied
came and what did it do? It carried them away into Babylon.
carry them away into Assyria. That at last they had been rent
and torn, they might say within themselves, come let us return
unto the Lord. Let's read verse one again of
Hosea chapter six. Come and let us return unto the
Lord. For he hath torn, and he will
heal us. See, he brings us down, doesn't
he? We're going to find out later. The gospel tears us down, doesn't
it? The gospel tears us right down. Oh, my. And then we're
built up in the balm of Gilead in Christ. My, oh, my. Come and let us return unto the
Lord. For he hath torn, and he will heal us. He hath smitten,
and he will bind us up. Beloved of God, dear brethren, the people of Israel are but
a picture of ourselves. Oh, may we fix our eyes, beloved
of God. Fix our eyes of faith upon Christ
and him alone. There's so many things in this
world that distract us. May we look at the case of Israel
tried and tested and say with Israel, come, let us return unto
the Lord, for he hath torn and he will heal. He hath smitten
and he will bind us up. Whenever trial we are facing,
whatever sorrows we're going through, Let us together, beloved
of God, hold fast to the Lord Jesus Christ, because He's our
only hope, isn't He? We don't have any hope outside
of Him. May we cast ourselves upon the great King, cast ourselves
upon the King's mercy, and cry out, I will rise and go unto
my Father. Here are four things, four things
that the tempter, that the tempter will come and bring upon your
mind, especially when you're being
drawn to Christ, but also upon believers' minds. The tempter will come and bring
this to your mind. He says, nothing prospers with
you. Pains of body, you suffer. Depressions
show that God's a tyrant. That's what some people believe.
They go through pain and suffering and they actually believe God
is a tyrant. They get mad at God for the things that they're
going through. They think, oh, he treats me
cruelly. And it's the tempter that puts these thoughts into
the sinner's mind. You know why? To set your teeth
against God. And if we're a believer, to set
our mind against God. It isn't hard for us to get bitter,
is it? Oh, my. An attempter tells sinners
who are being drawn to Christ that Surely God can't love you. And then we find out as believers,
he's loved us with an everlasting love, unchanging love. Do you
see how that's the tempter? He's just a liar. Oh, when the hammer of the law
comes upon the heart of the sinner, when we're being drawn to Christ,
these thoughts can come. And even worse ones. After we're believers, even worse
thoughts can come. The vilest thoughts can go through
my mind, but praise be to God, the effectual drawing of God,
the Holy Spirit, upon a sinner's heart, will bring us to Christ. And we who have these thoughts
go through our minds, praise God that our sins are forgiven,
that they're washed in the precious blood of Christ. And we confess
them, don't we? Say, oh Lord, please, I don't
want to think these thoughts. Take them out of my head. My, oh my. And the born-again,
blood-washed believer praises God Saying, I bless you. I bless you for the loving ways
which you used to restrain me, Lord. Think of the loving ways
he's restrained us. Think of things we wanted to
do and he restrained us before we were saved and even after.
Things that would have destroyed us, beloved. Thank you, Lord, for denying
me my own will. People talk about will all the
time. Thank you, Lord, for denying my will. Thank you for restraining
me before I was saved and even after. Thank you, Lord. Praise
your mighty name. I praise you, Lord Jesus, that
you stood in my path and thwarted my mad desire, that you'd not
let me destroy myself. Isn't that amazing? That's what
he's done for us, beloved. It's absolutely incredible. See,
Satan would have us turn our minds away from God. And when
we keep our minds on Christ, that's when we get peace. That's
when we get comfort. And sinner friend, Jesus Christ
is the savior of sinners. Good people, supposed good people
who don't think they need Christ, He didn't come for them. He says,
I didn't come, I came to call the sick. And that's sin-sick
sinners. See, in our natural state, we
don't think we're sick. We don't think we're sin-sick.
And then God reveals to us, we say, oh my, I'm such a sinner.
Lord, I need to be saved. and praises God. Has he ever
turned one away, Brother Brian, who said that and come to him?
Not one, has he? He never turned one away. Oh,
flee to Christ. The second thing, first of all,
too, listen to this. Beloved, let us rejoice, I got
this from Spurgeon, that behind the black clouds in our lives,
the sun of Christ's mercy is shining. Isn't that wonderful? The S-U-N, the sun of God's mercy
is shining. The second thing the tempter
brings to the mind of sinners who are being bought to Christ
is bitterness. And this can even affect the
born-again blood-washed believer, too. Something happened in the
past, and I'll tell you, I'm going to be honest with you,
it's not hard for me to think of something that's happened
in the past, in religion, and even in grace, and have to ask
God, please forgive me. for even getting worked up about
this again. Help me just to let it go, Lord. I don't want to
get bitter about it. Do you know bitterness is like
a tree that starts to grow in your heart? And it gets bigger and bigger
and bigger until it's all consuming. And you know what, Brother Brian,
we're told to take the acts of the gospel. and cut that tree, that root
of bitterness, just cut it right at the root. Go, cut that axe, put that axe
to the tree of bitterness and just chop it right down. Oh my. My, oh my. We can get bitter
about situations, we can get bitter about how people treat
us in the past or in the present, can't we? And sinner friend,
let not bitterness keep you from Christ. Just because the way
someone treated you in the past might have professed to be a
Christian, don't let that keep you from Christ. If you're being
drawn to Christ, flee to Christ. Oh my. And again, this bitterness
can plague believers as well as unbelievers. Beloved brethren,
let not the root of bitterness take hold in our hearts. Let
us take the axe of the gospel to it. Chop that tree down. Or say, Lord, cut that tree down.
Take it out. Take it out. The third thing
the tempter brings to the minds of sinners who are being bought
to Christ is despair. I've talked to many people, said,
oh, there's no way God could save me because I'm such a sinner.
Well then, so you're saying, you're saying that your sin is
greater than Christ? Christ saves the chief of sinners. I can say I'm chief, can you?
He saved me. Save this chief of sinners. Paul
called himself the chief of sinners. He can save all who come to him.
Oh my. The enemy comes to sinners that
are being drawn to Christ and says, there's no hope for you.
All the things you've done, there's no hope for you. Even your conscience
can be seared by this. And then there's a settled regret. There's a settled regret then.
And that sorrow, that regret, will end up in despair. Despair. And then, for the unrepentant
soul, it'll lead to eternal destruction from the presence of the Lord.
Because you feel like your sins are too great, too many for God
to forgive. Now, let me tell you. God saved the Apostle Paul, who
went around murdering Christians. God saved David, who was not
only a murderer, because he sent Uriah to the front lines, but
he's also an adulterer. Right? God saved... Well, he saved us, didn't he?
And we were all those things too. My, oh my. Do you know that every law of
God we've broken? That's why we need Christ. That's
why we need Christ, beloved. Moses, he doubted God. He said,
well, I need someone to go with me to speak. God was ready just
to send Moses. Now he knew he was going to send
Aaron, too. Jacob was a liar. Abraham lied about his wife,
told, what did he say, she's my sister? God saved them, didn't he? Every sin that's imaginable to
man, that man can perform, God can forgive. Oh my. So you may feel like there's
no hope for you, sinner friend. You may feel that you're beyond
the lines of mercy. You may feel that the arm of
grace is not long enough to reach you, to reach such a wretch as you.
Well, let me tell you this, Satan's a liar. And Lord, we pray for grace for
one in that state, as this is where every one of us is born
again, bloodwashed believers were. You know, I used to think, oh
man, I've sinned so much. Could there be mercy for me?
Mercy for sinners in Christ. It's wonderful. Only in Christ. And every single one of us who
are born-again, blood-washed believers have been in that spot. Sinner friend, do not despair.
There's full salvation in Christ. Full salvation. We've experienced
that, haven't we, Brother Brian? Praise God's mighty name. My,
oh my. Full salvation for the worst
of sinners. For the chief of sinners. In
and through the Lord Jesus Christ. And we who are saved will say,
I'm the worst of sinners. Oh my. Let's read, let's read
Hosea 6, 1 again. Come. Well, and let us return. Well,
that means we went away. Come, let us return unto the
Lord. That's Jehovah. That's the self-existent one.
For he hath torn, and he will heal us. He hath smitten, and
he will bind us. So sinner friend, do not believe
what Satan whispers in your ear, because he's a murderer of souls. He's been a liar from the beginning.
He'll tell you there's no hope for you, but I'll tell you there's
hope for you in Christ, and in Christ alone. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only Savior of sinners. Call out to Him. Cry out, God,
be merciful to me, the sinner. And if you do, it's because God's
drawn you. Rejoice, sinner friend. Rejoice, beloved of God. The
gospel's still preached to us. It's still freely presented to
us, we who are hearing it. May you today come, let us say,
come, let us return unto the Lord. and he will heal you, he will
bind up, he will receive you to his heart, and he will in
no wise cast out. Isn't that wonderful, beloved? He would never cast out his people.
Never. My, oh my. The fourth thing the
tempter brings to the mind of sinners being bought to Christ
is a false hope of self-righteousness. You know what part of my duty
as a preacher is? To tear down the refuge of lies
people trust in. To tear down the refuge of lies.
Self-righteousness. I'm a good person. No, you're
not. And neither am I. Oh, my. The tempter will tell
you, sinner friend, that there's no need for you to flee to Christ.
You're a good person. No, you're not. The scripture tells us there's
none good, no, not one. Oh, my. Do you know hell is full
of supposed good people? full. Hell's full of religious
people who've trusted in their own self
and their own works. That's a refuge of lies. That's
not, that's not firm ground. Firm ground is Christ and him
alone, the only savior of sinners. And you know what heaven's full
of? Heaven full of sinners saved by grace who will admit that
the only reason we're saved is because of the Lord Jesus Christ
and His perfect sin-atoning work when He shed His blood to redeem
our eternal souls on Calvary's cross. My, oh my. Turn, if you would, to Hebrews
chapter 7. Hebrews chapter 7. And, oh, sinner friend and beloved
of God, listen to these wonderful words in the book of Hebrews.
Listen to these wonderful words, Hebrews chapter 7, verses 25
to 27, speaking about Christ, the great high priest of his
people. Hebrews chapter 7, verses 25
to 27. Look what it says about our great
Saviour. Wherefore he is able now he is able to save we're
not able to save ourselves, but look at that. He's able He's
able to save them to the uttermost Yeah, if you're in the gutter
of life a bonafide sinner he's able to save you My oh my heaven's full of bonafide
sinners have been saved by grace, right Yeah, oh, yeah He's able
to serve to the uttermost. Look at that. He's able to save them to the
uttermost that come unto God by him. He's the way, the truth,
and the life. He's the sent one of God to save his people from
their sins. Look at this. Seeing he ever
liveth to make intercession for them, for such an high priest
became us who is holy. Oh, look at this. This is Christ.
He's harmless. He's undefiled. He's separate
from sinners. He knew no sin, did no sin. He's
perfect, he's sinless, and made higher than the heavens. Who
needeth not daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifice
first for his own sins? He was sinless. See, the high
priests of old, they had to offer up sacrifices for their own sins
first. Christ is sinless. He don't have
to do that. He's the sinless, spotless Lamb
of God. He's God incarnated in the flesh. Look at this. And
then for the peoples, for this He did once when He offered up
Himself. Look at that. Brother Brian,
He offered Himself up for you and I. Oh, my. What a Savior. What a Redeemer. And He did it once, never to
be repeated. It's finished. It's perfect. Oh my! Oh! Let's go back to Hosea now and
read verse 1 again in light of what we just read. Hosea 6, verse
1. Come. See, there's the cry. What's the gospel cry from the
Lord? Come unto ye, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and
I'll give you rest. Remember he says that? Oh yeah? That's rest for your soul. That's
rest in your life. Peace with God. Oh my. Look at this. Come and let us
return unto the Lord. Let us return unto Jehovah, who
when Adam fell, we're separated from him. And see, we're bought nigh by
the blood of Christ now, aren't we? Look at this. Come, let us return unto the
Lord, for he hath torn, and he will heal us. He hath smitten,
and he will bind us up. Now note, note how, now here
we're gonna get in, note how the blessings in this verse.
Oh my, remember we saw Israel sinned against God and went after
false idols? And now we come to this portion.
Come, let us return unto the Lord. The gospel message in here
is just wonderful. First verse carries with it evident
tokens to sinners of God's grace and God's mercy. The other parts of this book
is there's been judgment falling upon Israel. We've seen glimpses
of hope and glimpses of the gospel through it all the time. But
this verse is both important and interesting, beloved. Let
us ponder the wonderful sayings written here. This is like gold
for God's people. We see the grace and mercy of
God on full display. Look at this. And how do we return
unto the Lord, we who have are born dead in trespasses and sins,
in and through the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the power of God,
the Holy Spirit, who draws us to Christ, who regenerates us,
who gives us faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
gives us repentance before God. And then we say, oh, praise your
mighty name, Lord. And when we get to heaven, we
say, praise your mighty name, Lord, unto you who purchased
us with your precious blood and redeemed us from all our sins.
Oh my, we fell in Adam. Because we fell in Adam again,
we're born dead in trespasses and sins. And when we hear the
gospel, well, we're torn down, aren't we? Right? We're torn
down. Oh my. From our state of sinfulness
and from our state of self-righteousness, thinking we can save ourselves.
We're torn down from that. The refuge of lies is torn apart. My let's read that verse again.
Look at this. Come let us return to the Lord for he hath torn.
He tears us down beloved Does he leave us there though? No,
he don't leave us there does he oh Praise his mighty name
No, look what it says and he will heal us Right, remember
what Isaiah 53 by his stripes we are healed Healed and that's not that's
not like someone taking that and naming it and claiming that
for healing the body. That's spiritual healing That's
healing from all our sins in that wonderful sister, it's wonderful
Wonderful, so he tore us down with the gospel and he healed
us The palm again just like that Samaritan did didn't he for that
trap just he he put all the balm on him bound up his wounds, took
him into the hotel, or said, everything
you need to get him back on his feet, I'm paying it all. Everything for us to return unto
God is being accomplished by Christ and Him alone. Isn't it
beautiful? What gospel truth is flowing
through this little verse? My, there's no healing without
Christ's stripes. This is for God's people. There's
no healing without Christ's stripes. His precious blood cleanses us
from all our sins before our great glorious God. And now,
now we can stand in his presence. He says, let us therefore come
boldly to the throne of grace. Our sin that separated us has
been bought and paid for. And God looks upon us now and
sees us in Christ. Oh my. Praise God for the cleansing,
precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ that cleanses us from
all, all our sins. So let us marvel at this text,
because only he who is torn down can heal us. Only he who tore
us down can heal us, because in our natural state, we don't
even think we need to be healed. We're sin sick and we don't even
know it. And he reveals to us our sinnership,
doesn't he? He reveals to us that we're infected
with the pandemic of sin. And there's only one who can
heal us from that pandemic of sin. And that pandemic of sin
has a 100% kill rate, doesn't it? And the soul that sinneth, it
shall die. So Christ dies in the room and place of his people.
Praise his mighty name, that we might be saved. Oh, that's
wonderful. Listen to this verse over in
Isaiah 9, 13. For the people turneth not unto
him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the Lord of hosts.
So that's our natural state, right? Our natural state is we
don't seek the Lord. But he turns us, doesn't he?
by his almighty power. See, those who are said in Isaiah
9.13 that don't turn to him, despite him smiting us, and we
don't seek the Lord, Romans brings that out, there's none that seeketh
after God, Romans 3, and yet he seeks us out, doesn't he? Christ seeks out his sheep, and
he sends the Comforter. And the Comforter comes to God's
sheep, because ye are sons. God has sent the Spirit of his
Son into your hearts, whereby you now cry, Abba, Father. This
is amazing. This is amazing grace. So by
nature and birth, we will not and do not turn to God. Therefore,
the Holy Ghost must turn us to Christ. He must. Because we don't see ourselves
as sinners in our natural state. He must convict us of our sin.
He must show us our sinfulness. Sister Diane was telling me one
time that the Lord showed her her sinfulness and her need for
Christ, and then, boom, the balm of Gilead. There is Christ. And
the Lord saved her just like that. Isn't that wonderful? Woo, my, I'll tell you what. My, oh my, God is so good. And the only one who can comfort
us, the only one who can convince us of our sinfulness, the only
one who can convince us of Christ's all-sufficiency to be a Savior
that actually saves and is a Savior who's saved because the work's
already done, the only one who can convince us of that is God
the Holy Spirit. So here we are one minute shaking
our fists at God, and here we are the next minute going, Lord,
praise your mighty name. Oh, my God is so good, isn't
he? He's so wonderful, beloved. He's
so wonderful. The Holy Spirit brings the balm
of Gilead, and that's Christ, isn't it? He binds up our wounds. Oh, my. And the Holy Spirit is
and can be the only comforter to convince us again of the all-sufficiency
of Christ's righteousness, to justify us, because in our natural
state, we think we can justify ourselves before God. That's
what people are actually saying when they say, well, I'm not
a bad person. They're saying that they're justifying themselves
before God. They're not believing what God
says about us. And the natural man is enmity
against God. And then he takes us, we who
are enmity with God, and we're born again, given faith to believe
on Christ. And those who had enmity with
God now love him, now praise him. We're still sinners, aren't
we? Yeah, we are. But we're not the
same people as we were before. We're new creatures in Christ.
You must be born again. You must be born again. And to
be born again is all by the power and might of the Holy Spirit
of God. And when we're born again by His power, we're given faith
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we're given repentance
before God, and we return unto God. We fell in Adam, we're separated
from God. Now we've returned unto God.
And it's Him who has bought us. It's Him who tore us down with
the gospel. And it's Him who healed us of
all our sins, beloved. by the precious blood of Christ,
my, washed in the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, who
is God incarnate in the flesh. Turn, if you would, to John chapter
16. We're going to close with this.
John chapter 16. My, oh my, this is wonderful.
John chapter 16 verses 7 to 15 talks about the Lord's talking
about the comforter. He's going to send the comforter.
I need comfort. Do you? I need comfort all the
time. And God, the Holy Spirit, gives
us comfort. Why do we love coming to hear
the gospel preached? Because it gives us comfort,
tells us about our Savior. Amidst all the turmoil and craziness
in this world, we can come here and just sit and listen to the
gospel and clear our minds of all the stuff going on. Isn't
it wonderful, brother? Just clear it all and come and
hear about Christ. And God, the Holy Spirit, gives
us comfort. Oh, He gives us such comfort.
Look at this. John chapter 16, starting verse 7. And remember
again, Christ promised He would send the Comforter. And the Comforter
is the Holy Spirit of God. And He's the only one who can
regenerate us. And you must be born again. You
must be regenerated. Because without regeneration,
we won't have no faith. And without regeneration, we'll
have no repentance. So you have to be born again. People make
faith the object of their salvation. Christ is the object of our salvation. Faith and repentance are gifts
from God given to us when we're born again. It's wonderful, look
at this. Nevertheless, I tell you the
truth. So here's the truth. We know Christ didn't lie. This
is the truth. It is expedient for you that
I go away. So he's saying, I have to go
and I have to die. I have to. I have to go away. Meaning he's got to go back to
heaven from whence he came. For if I go not away, the Comforter
will not come unto you. Look at this. But if I depart,
I will send him unto you. Brother Brian, he sent him unto
us. Oh, my. Oh, my. And when he's come, he
will prove the world of sin. That's what he's done for us,
right? He's he showed us that we're sinners in desperate need
of Christ. So here we prove the world of
sin and of righteousness and of judgment. We now understand
is born again, blood washed saints of God. And even when we were
sinners coming to Christ, he's revealing Christ to us. We see
he's holy. God's holy. God's God's God's
righteous. And I'm such a sinner. We don't
know a whole bunch of truth, do we? But we know we're a sinner
who needs Christ then, don't we? And then as we grow and we
learn, he teaches us. He teaches us of righteousness,
which is only found in Christ. He teaches us of judgment, which
God must judge sin. Praise God our sin was judged
in Christ by Calvary's cross. Look at this. Of sin because
they believe not on me. So that's our natural state. We must be convicted of our sins
by God the Holy Spirit. See how it's all connected? He
has to send a comforter because otherwise we will never think
we're sinners. Oh my, the mighty power of God
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in purposing and
planning our salvation, in executing our salvation, and then in sending
the Comforter to teach us the things of Christ. So our natural state, we don't
believe on God. Of righteousness, because I go to my Father and
He see me no more, meaning with earthly eyes. of judgment because
the prince of this world is judged. My, Satan's already judged. He's a liar. Our Lord said, the
prince of this world cometh and he hath nothing in me. He got
lots in us, doesn't he? Because we're sinners. He got
nothing in Christ. Nothing. He's sinless, spotless,
the perfect Lamb of God. live in that perfect life for
you and I, beloved. Oh, and for all who will come
to Him by faith. I have many things to say unto
you, but you cannot, you can't bear them. Look at that. We have
to, it overwhelms us. Howbeit, when He, the Spirit
of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth. Look at that. I was caught up in religious
error. And I didn't know I was one of
God's people. And he guided me to the truth.
He did the same for you. You're brought to the church
where the gospel's preached. And God, the Holy Spirit, regenerate
you. I believe. Isn't that wonderful? Now look at this. For he shall
not speak of himself, God, the Holy Spirit, he won't
speak of himself. But whatsoever he shall hear,
that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come. He shall
glorify me. Look at that. Christ says, the
Holy Spirit's gonna glorify me. He won't speak of himself, he's
gonna glorify me. And you know how that happens?
We're taught by God, aren't we? We're taught by God, the Holy
Spirit. He's the comforter. He teaches us the things of Christ.
Then what happens? We glorify the Lord Jesus Christ.
Oh my! All because God's been working
in us, beloved. God, the Holy Spirit works in
us. Oh, we see the gospel. We see Christ. We're like, praise
your mighty name, Lord Jesus. Oh my. Look at this. I'll read that
again. He shall glorify me for he shall receive of mine and
shall show it unto you All the things that the father hath are
mine therefore said I That he shall take of mine and will show
it unto you. Oh precious Lord Jesus Praise
your mighty name for this wonderful gospel truth We were fallen And
you bought us back. You tore us down with the gospel.
You built us up and healed us with your precious blood. Oh
my. And we seek thee, Lord. We seek thee. We praise your
mighty name. Let us wake up every morning
and say, thank you, Lord. I love Brian Tobin. He wakes
up every morning. Thank you, Lord, for another
day. Amen. Let's do that. Let us rejoice. Sometimes I can't get out of
bed because I'm a little sore, but I still think, thank you,
Lord. for another day. Thank you, Lord. There's people
worse off than me. My, oh my. Praise God for his
grace and his mercy. And pray that the Lord would
comfort your soul with this message. Brother Brian, will you close
us in prayer?