The name of the message is trusting
Jesus, that is all. Trusting Jesus, that is all. Turn if you would to Hebrews
chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11. Now the Old Testament saints
who were born again by the Holy Spirit of God, they rejoiced
in the absolute sovereignty of God. They'd seen God moving in
their lives and God had taught them that he's in full control. We even see that when it says,
not by might nor power, but by my spirit, sayeth the Lord. So
anything that we do that's good comes from God, comes from God. And the fact of his sovereignty
is so comforting to the believer to know that our God is in absolute
control of all things. What a comfort for us. What a
comfort for us. And as we grow in grace and trust
Christ, He becomes more and more our all in all. And we trust in Christ, and we
always say this, we trust in Christ and Him alone. That's
trusting Jesus not as all. That's all. For the salvation
of our soul, we trust Him. We trust Him in all other things
in our lives too, don't we? In the Old Testament, saints,
they rejoiced in the absolute power and sovereignty of our
great God, knowing that He was in control of this whole universe
and everything in it. Look at here. We see here in
Hebrews chapter 11, verses 17 to 19, Let's read this. It says, by
faith, Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac. That he, and
he had received the promises, offered up his only begotten
son. So he had received a promise
from God. And what is that? Well, we'll look at verse 18.
Of whom it is said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called. Accounting that God was able
to raise him from the dead. So remember when God told Abraham,
you go up to Mount Moriah and you sacrifice your son. Go up
to the Mount and sacrifice your son. And by faith, he went up
there. And remember, Isaac said, we
got the wood and we got the fire because they carried a torch
with them. But where's the sacrifice? And
Abraham said, God shall provide himself a lamb. And remember, just as he raised
up his knife to plunge it into his son, God told him to stop. And there was a ram caught in
the thicket. And God provided a lamb, didn't he? But think
of this. Abraham said, God shall provide
himself a lamb. That ram caught in the thicket
died as a substitute of Isaac. It was picturing the Lord Jesus
Christ, God in the flesh, who gave himself up for our sins. God provided a lamb, and that
lamb is the Lord Jesus Christ, who shed his blood to redeem
our eternal souls. What great joy that gives us.
And look what it says. Abraham believed God, and it
says in verse 19, accounting that God was able to raise him
up. So he figured, well, if I sacrifice my son, God will just raise him
from the dead. Even from the dead. From whence
he received him in a figure. See, God delivered up his own
son and didn't spare him. I've got an article for this
week in the Bolton about the love of God in Christ. And it
goes through Christ's immense, sovereign love for his people. That love was manifest at Calvary's
cross by both the Father and the Son. The Father gave up his
only begotten Son, and the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ,
God incarnate in the flesh, gives himself up for the sacrifice
of his people. He says, I'll bear their wrath.
Let it fall upon me that they may be saved. My, what a Savior. And we see proof here in verse
19 that Abraham believed in the absolute sovereignty of God,
beloved. How can we say that? Well, we
see that Abraham believed that God would raise Isaac from the
dead because of the promise of God in verse 18, of whom it was
said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called. So he believed
even if he sacrificed Isaac that God would raise him from the
dead because in him, in him thy seed shall be called. So the fact of God's absolute
sovereignty is what God the Holy Spirit reveals to his saints
all throughout the gospel age. He revealed that to you and I,
didn't he, Brian? Sister Lindy revealed it to you. He reveals
it to his people that he is in absolute control. Now, we don't
fully understand that. We never will. But as we've walked with the
Lord and as he's taught us, we've seen more of the sovereignty
of God even in our own lives at work. And now we can even
look back and we see that even before we were saved, the sovereignty
of God was at work in our lives, preserving us and keeping us.
It's absolutely marvelous. And when we're born again by
the Holy Spirit of God, the born again blood washed believer
is given a knowledge of who the true living God is. We're given
a knowledge. How does that come to us? By
revelation. By the Holy Spirit of God revealing
himself and revealing Christ to us. We're born again. Oh my. And then we hit now, see,
now we have a knowledge of the true and living God we never
had before. When the Lord saved us, He revealed
himself to us in Christ, who's God. Now we know why he came,
to save sinners. We now know he was sent by God
the Father to do that. We now know where how he died
we understand it now that it was a sacrifice for our sins
because i sinned against god christ is sinless but as the
perfect substitute he dies in my room in place and that's what he's done for
his people it's absolutely amazing Greater love hath no man in this
than a man lay down his life for his friends. And God's people
are called the friends of God. And God in the flesh, the Lord
Jesus Christ, laid down his life for his friends, for his people,
for his bride. My, oh, my. So I rejoice tonight
for the opportunity to confess to you all that are here and
who will listen to this message that Jesus Christ is my Lord
and Savior. He's my Lord and Savior. My confession is this, also,
that Jesus Christ is Lord over all. He's Lord over all, all things
visible and invisible. That means things that we see,
Invisible, meaning the angels, the demons, Satan himself, he's
lord over them all. He's king. And he's not just the lord of human
beings, no. He's the lord of everything visible
and invisible. Scripture says not even a sparrow
falls to the ground without him knowing that. That's how sovereign
he is. That's how in control he is.
It's marvelous. Do you know even the devil? And
all the evil forces of darkness have to get permission from the
Lord Jesus Christ before they can do anything? Anything. My oh my. You ever seen a snarling,
vicious dog, mean dog that's chained up? You ever seen one
of those? You might see it on TV or something. A junkyard dog,
they used to call them. Just vicious, barking like crazy,
ready to just chew you up if it could get to you. But it's
chained, isn't it? It can go as far as that chain
will allow it, but it'll reel back. If it hits the end of that
chain on speed, won't it? Or if the owner heals it back,
it'll come flying back, won't it? My, oh my. They can only go,
that vicious dog can only go as far as the chain that's around
it. Beloved of God, the devil and all the evil forces are like
chained up dogs. That's what they are. You know
who holds the chain? Who holds the chain, brother?
Christ holds the chain. Amen. And they can only go as
far as he will let them. He holds all the chains of all
the devil and all the fallen angels in his hands. And those
demons can only go as far as King Jesus will allow them to
go. And when it pleases the Lord
of glory, here, pull that chain. and heal him back. How do we
know that? Open the Bible up to Mark chapter
1. This is incredible. We see here, now this is Jesus
Christ who's God incarnate in the flesh. Oh my, and he goes into a place
called Capernaum. My oh my, Mark chapter 1. Mark
chapter 1. Look at this. How do we know?
How do we know that that the Lord's in control of the devil
and the angels, fallen angels like that? How do we know? And
he's also Lord of over all the elect angels who didn't fall.
My, oh, my. Look at this. This is wonderful.
You talk about show the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
this is in his humility. This is him as a man, fully God,
though, and yet fully men. And listen to what these demons
call him. and marvel, marvel at how they
speak to him. Look at this. Mark chapter 1
verse 21. And they went into Capernaum
and straight away on the Sabbath day he entered into the synagogue
and taught. So that's a temple where the
Jews would get together. He goes into the temple, a local
synagogue, a local church like this. Look at this. and taught. And they were astonished at his
doctrine. They were amazed at what he said. Well, here's the one speaking
is the very one who wrote the scriptures. Because men penned those words,
holy men of God penned those words, but the true author of
the word of God is the Holy Spirit of God. And Christ is as much God as
the Holy Spirit, and as much God as the Father. They're all,
the three are one. Look at this. And they were astonished
at his doctrine, for he taught them as one that had authority,
and not as the scribes. He taught as one that had authority,
because he's God. He's God. Now look at this. And
there was in the synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he
cried out, saying, Let us alone. What have we to do with thee?
Look at this. Thou Jesus of Nazareth. They
know his name. They know who he is. This is
a demon. This demon knows who he is. But
look at this. Art thou come to destroy us? They are terrified
of the king of kings and the Lord of lords. Look at this. I know thee. Who thou art? The
Holy One of God. He's not saying that demon's
not saying disrespect. That demon is terrified. How does he know who he was?
Because he's God in the flesh. Before the angels fell, they
worshipped him. And notice what they call him?
Thou holy one of God. They acknowledge, Brother Brian,
they acknowledge his deity. The scripture says in James that
the devils believe in tremble. They're smarter than most humans. Most humans say, I don't believe
in him. Nah, he's a fairy tale. No, he's not. Even the devils,
they know who he is, and they are terrified. Look at what they
said, too. They'll come to destroy us. They
know. They know. They know their eternal doom
is coming. They know. They don't know when
it is, but they know it's coming. And look at the authority here.
Look at this. And Jesus rebuked him saying,
hold thy peace. And come out of him. Hold thy
peace. He shut him up just like muzzling
a dog. Just with words. Those words
have power, don't they? Because he's God. This is our
Savior. Brother Brian, this is our Redeemer.
He's Lord of all. Who would love He had to come
here and die and bleed for us and give Himself a ransom for
our souls? And look at it. Could the unclean
spirit say, well, you know what? I'm going to stay here for a
little while. Absolutely not. Our King is sovereign. And at that command, just a command
of words, And when the unclean spirit had torn him and cried
with a loud voice, he came out of him. Look at now, now look
at the folks, look at the folks around. And they were all amazed
in so much that they questioned among themselves saying, what
thing is this? What is this? What new doctrine is this? For
with authority commandeth He even the unclean spirits, and
they do obey Him. They saw, they witnessed it. They're amazed. No one's been
able to do that. And just with a word, He commands
them, and they obey. What authority our King has.
See, He's sovereign. He's King of kings and Lord of
lords. And then, look at, Look at this,
and immediately his fame spread abroad throughout all the region
around about Galilee. So remember this, all Satan and
all the fallen angels are like chain vicious dogs. And when
the Holy One of God says, heal, they must obey our all sovereign
Lord and King. What power! See, our Savior is
not a mere man. He's God. He's the Holy One of God, meaning
He's absolutely sinless. And they recognize Him, beloved,
as I said, because before He became a man, He ruled and reigned
in heaven. And before those angels fell,
they worshiped Him. They know who he is, the Holy
One of God. Now, have you ever watched someone
try to take five or six dogs at once for a walk? People do
that sometimes, right? And what happens when one of
those dogs see a squirrel or something? They're in for a ride,
aren't they? Right? They're in for a ride.
But you know what? You know what? Oh, my. That person loses all control. But beloved of God, that can
never happen with the Lord Jesus Christ. He never loses control
over not one of the evil forces that exists. Never. Never. He never loses control
over anything. Another part of my confession
is that the Lord Jesus Christ is my sovereign savior. He's my sovereign savior. You
know, beloved of God, he didn't try to save us, did he? Folks in religion says, oh, Jesus
is trying to save you. He's wringing his hands up there.
Oh, he wants you to come so bad. You can't do anything unless
you let them. That's not true. If God doesn't draw us, if God
the Holy Spirit doesn't draw us to Christ, we'll never come.
And the whole reason we're drawn to Christ is because Christ died
and bled for us and because the Father chose us in Christ before
the foundation of the world. Now, you know what's something
too? I read something that was fantastic
and I want to share it with you. I read it this afternoon. God
doesn't bring us kicking and screaming. No. He makes us willing in the day
of His power. He makes Christ so irresistible to us. We fall in love with Christ.
We see ourselves as sinners, don't we, brother? And we cry
out, I need to be saved. And he gives us faith to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. And with that faith comes a desire
to flee to Christ, to cling to Christ. That's not natural for
us, is it, brother? By nature. I remember before
the Lord saved me, I wanted nothing to do with God. Oh, I was a Catholic. And I said,
oh, I'm a Catholic. I'm good. No, I wasn't. because
that's all works-based system. And the scripture says, not by
works of righteousness has he saved us, right? We're not saved
by our own works. We're saved by Christ's work
and Christ's work alone. Not by works of righteousness,
which we have done but according to his mercy What mercy is shown
to sinners and I see as we're falling in love with christ We
realize the mercy of god shown to us poor wretched sinners in
christ That he would have mercy on me That's why I say he's my
sovereign savior I never would have come to him unless he came
to me first. There's a beautiful portion in
Luke chapter 15 where a sheep is lost. It's out crying in the night. And left to itself, it's lost.
But the shepherd goes out and searches for and finds that little
sheep and picks that little sheep up and puts it on his shoulders. You know why? So that little
sheep can gaze at the Savior's feet, or face, can gaze at the
shepherd's face. And then he takes that sheep
home and he has a feast and says, I found my lost sheep, or that
lost sheep, brother, and Christ is the shepherd. He sought us
out. I didn't seek him out. But he
sought me out. One day I'm dead in trespasses
and sins, the next day I'm born again and I want to worship Christ. The day before I didn't want
nothing to do with him. He's given us an interest in
him. And if you have an interest in Christ, read the scriptures. Listen to gospel messages because
not everyone has an interest. Not everyone has an interest. So He didn't try to save us.
He saved us. He obtained eternal redemption
for us. He accomplished my salvation. He accomplished it. And he didn't try to redeem me,
which means to purchase my soul. He didn't try to. He did it,
brother. Amen. He did it. He purchased
our eternal souls. How? With the shedding of his
precious blood. See, it's the blood that makes
atonement for our sins. When God sees the blood, he says,
I'll pass over you. And that's the blood of Christ.
That's been applied to all believers. My oh my and and he he shed his
blood and gave his life as a sinner substitute And praise be to god he didn't
try to purge all my sins he purged all my sins And this is true
of every believer, right? Every believer can say this.
This is a confession of every believer. He purged my sins. He took my sins away. So much
so that God looks upon me and he doesn't see my sin anymore.
He sees some because of his righteousness that I'm clothed in. Now, I can't
see that righteousness. But God says, when I see the
blood, I'll pass over you. Now, there's a story I want to
tell you. John Claude told me this. I know you guys have heard
it, but I'm going to say it again. Two brothers in Africa. Two brothers
in Africa. Some local guy got mad at them.
One guy's a believer and the other one's not. Some local guy
got mad at them and went to the witch doctor. Said, I want to
curse these two men. I want to curse them both. You
know what that witch doctor said? So I can touch the one, but the
other one's under the blood. I can't touch him. Oh, my. Under the blood of Christ, beloved.
Is so powerful. Mm. And I ask you. Is the Lord Jesus Christ your
Savior? Then rejoice, beloved of God,
because He did all those things I just mentioned for His people.
He purged our sins, so much so that our sins are out of God's
sight. When I see the blood, I'll pass
over you. His wrath will not fall upon us because it fell
upon Christ in our room and place. My, oh my, what a Savior. And
the born-again blood-washed believer, we trust Christ. He's our all
in all. And when I say that, we're trusting Him for our eternal
souls, but we also trust Him in our everyday life, too, don't
we? We walk by faith now, not by
sight. Oh, my. Trusting Him would e'er
befall. Trusting Jesus, that is all.
That is all. So Abraham, let's go back to
our text in Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11. Abraham,
in our text, looked forward to the Messiah,
beloved. He looked forward to the Lord Jesus Christ. That lamb
caught in the thicket, that ram caught in the thicket, was a
picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah. And when he sacrificed
that lamb, It pictured the Lord Jesus Christ being sacrificed
for our sins, and for his sins, too. Scripture says, we're going to
look at it in a minute, in Romans, that Abraham believed God, and
it was counted to him for righteousness. Look at this, though, in Hebrews,
again, 11, 17 to 19, by faith. that's God-given faith Abraham
when he was tried offered up Isaac and he that had received
the promise offered up his only begotten son of whom it is said
that in Isaac shall thy seed be blessed or be called accounting
that God was able to raise him up even from the dead from whence
also he received him in a figure now turn if you with the Romans
chapter 4 Romans chapter 4 We'll see what the scriptures
here declare, and it's amazing. It declares that Abraham believed
God. How did he believe God? He must
be born again. He must be given faith to believe,
right? For by grace are you saved through faith. It's a gift of
God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Oh my. Look at this in Romans chapter
4 verses 1 to 3. What shall we say then that Abraham,
our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if
Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof the glory, but
not before God. You see, if we think that our
works can get us to heaven, then we're just boasting in ourselves. But when the Lord saves a sinner,
we find out we can't save ourselves. That God must save us or we're
gonna perish in our sins. He must save us. And we see here, he's bringing forth, if Abraham
were justified by works, if he was justified by something he's
done to gain merit and favor with God, He hath whereof the
glory. Then He has the glory. He's got
something to glory in. But not before God, but only
before men. Look at this. For what saith
the Scripture? Abraham believed God. Have you
believed God? Have you believed God about Him
telling us we're sinners in the Scriptures? Have you believed
God that Christ is the only Savior of sinners? Have you believed
God when He says you must be born again? Have you believed
Christ when he says, I'm the way, the truth, and the life?
No man can come unto the Father but by me. If you have, that's
because God gave you the grace to do that. It's amazing. But we truly believe in God. The unbeliever becomes a believer.
The rebel becomes someone who praises God now. The one who
cursed God now lifts him up in song and praise and admiration. Abraham believed God, and what?
It was counted unto him for righteousness. He was looking to the Messiah.
Who's the Messiah? The Lord Jesus Christ. He's the
sent one of God. He's the holy one of God we saw
in the scriptures. He's the sovereign Savior. And
God had given Abraham faith, and you know what? That's the
same faith, Brother Brian, you and I have. And you too, sister.
It's the same faith we have. Faith, there's only one faith.
There's only one Savior, right? All the New Testaments are saved
the same way, by grace through faith. They look to the Messiah
coming, and we look back to the Messiah dying for us on the cross.
And now we look up, we look outside ourselves, and we look up to
our King of Glory, the Lord Jesus Christ, who rose from the dead,
ascended up into heaven, is now interceding for us at the throne
of God. That's amazing. So our Lord told Abraham to take
his son, his only begotten son, the son that Abraham loved with
all his heart, and to offer him up as a sacrifice. Now Abraham,
that's hard for us to understand, right? But Abraham had received
promises from God that had not yet been fulfilled. And the promise
of a great multitude of people, a number that no man can number,
which is the elect of God, great multitude of people that would
inherit the land of Canaan, which is the Israel of God, nations
of people who would come through his son Isaac. Abraham knew the promised seed
was the Lord Jesus Christ, and he must come through his lineage. Ah. The Messiah, he's being told
that the Messiah's gonna come through your lineage. So he believed that even if he
had to sacrifice Isaac, that God would raise him from the
dead. But he pulled that knife up to do it, and God said, wait,
stop. There's a ram right over there,
caught in the thicket. Sacrifice that. And that, again, that pictured,
see, that pictured Christ dying for sinners such as you and I,
but God the Father didn't spare him, did he? He plunged his sword
of justice in him, and the wrath of God do us fell upon him that
it might never fall upon us. What a Savior. No wonder we're
in love with him. No wonder we fall in love with
the King. Oh my goodness. And Abraham, by raising that
knife and getting ready, he proved to God that he loved Him. And you know what he proved?
He proved that he loved God even more than Isaac. And if God the Holy Spirit has
enlightened our minds, if we're born again by the Holy Spirit
of God, we do have a measure of trust in the Lord Jesus Christ,
because He's our only Savior. And my sincere desire is for
we who are the people of God to learn to trust Lord Jesus
Christ more and more. Lord, help my unbelief. I'm in
the boat right with you. May God give us grace to trust
him more and more and more and more and more. Oh, for grace to trust him more.
Now we have absolutely no trust in the Lord Jesus Christ until
we're born again by the Holy Spirit of God. God must regenerate
us. He must enlighten our minds to
the gospel of God's sovereign, amazing grace, giving us faith
to embrace that truth. Because by nature, the scripture
says, there's none who seeks after God. That's why we must
be made willing, because none of us is willing by nature. And Scripture says there's none
good, no, not one. There's only one good man who
lived on this earth, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ, the sinless,
spotless Lamb of God. All the rest of us are just a
bunch of sinners. But think of this. God regenerates
us, gives us faith to believe the gospel of salvation in and
through Christ alone, We embrace that by faith, and
we believe the record that God has given us of his son. Folks say, well, how do you believe
that book? It's thousands of years old, because it's authored
by God. And by faith, I believe it. I
didn't believe it before, but I sure believe it now. I believe
everything in it. My, oh, my. I don't understand
everything, I probably never will. But I
believe it. Cover to cover. And when I come to something
I don't know, I'm reading a passage and there's nothing there for
me. Well, there's something there for me, but I'm not getting any
light on it at that time. I'll just leave it for next time.
And then, how many times have we had this happen, brother?
We go back and we read something, but boom! Where did that come
from? Never saw it before. Oh my. That's how our King works. So we must know who Jesus Christ
is. He's God in the flesh. We must know what he's done.
He gave his life a ransom for sinners. He came to save sinners
from their sins. His people. Who did he do it
for? He did it for his people. Where
is he right now? He's in heaven right now, ruling
and reigning. He's not up there wringing his
hands. He's reigning right now. My oh my. And before we can believe
on Him, before we call on Him for mercy, before we love Him
and trust Him, He must reveal Himself to us. He reveals to us that he's the
eternal son of God, the second person of the Trinity. And he
reveals to us also as we grow in grace that he's the creator
of all things, everything we see. You see, we humans make
things out of things that he's already made. He created everything
out of nothing. He just spoke it into existence.
We need materials, don't we? You know, Crystal and my wife,
they paint. You need materials. You need canvas. You need brushes. You need paint. He just speaks, and it is. We build houses. But we're using
wood that he's provided. metal that he's provided. We
have to have something to build. He builds stuff out of nothing.
He spoke the universe into existence and hung this world exactly where
it is, at a perfect angle, a perfect distance, the moon
a perfect distance away, all by the power of his voice and
the might of his hands. And our great creator, oh, marvel
at this, our great creator became a man so that he could lay down
his life for sinners such as we by his perfect sin-atoning
sacrifice. And I know that he's redeemed
me with his own precious blood. I know, yes. I must know that I'm a helpless,
hopeless, hell-deserving sinner before I can see my need of Christ.
And that's what he showed us, didn't he? He showed us that
we're helpless, hopeless sinners in need of a Savior. And then
we cry out to him by God-given faith. And I must believe that
Jesus Christ is the glorified God-man seated on this sovereign
throne in glory, with the power to deliver me from my helpless,
hopeless condition before I will ever cry out to him for mercy. And once we cry out, we never
stop crying out, do we? And all these things must be
revealed to us, because by nature we don't know these things. And
when we're born again by the Holy Spirit, he reveals these
wonderful truths to us. And by God-given faith, we trust
the Lord Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and ruler over
all. He becomes our all in all. There's not one person in this
whole world who trusts God until Jesus Christ is revealed to them. If you don't know Jesus Christ,
any God they claim to be trusting in is nothing but a figment of
their sinful, corrupt mind. Why do people bow down to stones
and statues and act like they're gods when they're nothing but
figments of their imagination. And you know what? I was there,
but by the grace of God, he saved me. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing
by the word of God, and our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ begins
When God, the Holy Spirit, under the preaching of his gospel,
delivers us from the power of darkness. When he enlightens
our minds with his glorious gospel truths. But our trust is based mostly
on our increased knowledge of biblical truths. As God the Holy
Spirit reveals scripture truths to us, experiences won't increase
our trust. But as we grow in grace, by the
power of God the Holy Spirit working in us, we drink the milk
of the word. Then as we mature in the faith,
God the Holy Spirit reveals the strong meat of his gospel to
us. Now here's some good juicy steak
here. Turn to Romans chapter 8. Here's
some good juicy steak for the believer in Christ. Some strong
meat of gospel truths. This passage I'm about to read
to you is full of strong meat. And if God has sent the Spirit
of His Son into your hearts, I believe you're going to enjoy
this glorious feast set before us in these little verses here.
Romans chapter 8. starting in verse 28 and going
to verse 30. Let us feast on these truths.
And we know that all things work together for good to them that
love God. A lot of people stop there. Let's keep going. To them who
are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate. to
be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the
firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called. That's what occurs in our lives
when we're born again by the Holy Spirit of God. And whom
he called, them he also justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. Notice it's all past tense. It's
in God's economy, it's done. We're locked in time and space
here. God lives outside of, he dwells outside of time and space.
It has no constraints upon him at all. Now let's turn to Colossians
chapter 3. In respect to this subject of
trusting Jesus Christ, we are to appropriate his gospel truths. To take those gospel truths and
appropriate them for our own benefit. The definition of the
word appropriate is take something for one's own use. So we're to take the gospel truths
for our own use. The promises of God for our own
use. Because all the promises of God are yea and amen in Christ,
right? All of them. William Romaine said this, an
old preacher of old. He said, Jesus Christ is no security
against storms because storms will come in the believer's life.
but he is a perfect security in storms. He has never promised you an
easy passage, only a safe landing. Oh, he has, hasn't he? He promises
a safe landing. Peace rules the day when Christ
rules the soul. Someone asked me one time, how
can you and Vicki be so calm with all the stuff going on in
the world? It was my boy. How can you and mama be so calm? Because we know who rules. We
know who's sovereign. I can put my head down at night
knowing my king is sovereign. And if I die in the middle of
the night, I'm going home. And if I wake up the next day,
God's already, his mercies are new every morning. Isn't it wonderful? It's wonderful. Oh my. My oh my. So every believer will
go through storms, won't we, in this life. Every believer
goes through storms. Believers and unbelievers go through storms
in this life. But as we appropriate, as God's
people, as we appropriate, take for our own use God's gospel
truths into our innermost being, as his gospel becomes a living
part of us, we'll learn to rest in Christ. We'll learn just to
trust him. More and more and more as the
storms of life come, we will learn more and more and more
to rest in him. Now look at this in Colossians chapter 3. We'll
read verses 12 to 17. And 16 and 17 are the main verses
I want us to look at, but I also wanted to read the context, so
we read from 12 to 17. Put on, therefore, as the elect
of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercy, kindness, humbleness
of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another and forgiving
one another. If any man have a quarrel against
any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. That's why we're
to keep short accounts. And above all these things put
on charity, that's love in the Greek, which is the bond of perfectness,
and let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which
also ye are called in one body, that's the body of Christ, and
be thankful. Now here's, look at this. We
can appropriate these truths here. Look at this. Let the word
of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom. teaching and admonishing
one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing
with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever you
do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving
thanks to God and the Father by him. Beloved of God, may our great
God give us grace and strength to appropriate the word of Christ
to us, that his gospel might dwell in us richly, teaching
us to trust the Lord Jesus Christ in every situation that comes
up in our lives. And as we journey through this
life, our Lord will bring us face to face with many storms.
They all have different names, names of incurable diseases like
cancer. storm of financial difficulties,
storm of unemployment, just to name a few. And there's many,
many, many more. Nay, our great God helps us to
face those storms, doesn't he? Like the saints of old did in
the name of the true and living God of Israel, the Lord Jesus
Christ. We see that in Philippians. Paul's
just telling them, just rest in Christ. And then we even saw
that this week in the book of Acts when Barnabas told the believers,
cleave to the Lord Jesus Christ. Cleave to him. And that's in
all circumstances. And facing these storms in life
in humble recognition that the outcome of the battle is in the
hands of the Lord Jesus Christ will bring us great comfort. Great comfort. so much so that those around
us will know that our testimony is this, our Lord Jesus Christ
saveth not with sword and spear, but by his own sovereign hand. By the Lord Jesus Christ. Beloved, he, the Lord Jesus Christ,
is the true God in spiritual Israel. In his name, again, his
name is the Lord Jesus Christ. As those demons said, the Holy
One of God. May our great God give us grace
to lay these words to heart, trusting Jesus, that is all. Then we can truly say with the
hymn writer, it is well with my soul. Brother
Brian, can you close us in prayer?