Oh, oh, oh. you Welcome you to the service this
morning. We invite you to take your hymnal. Turn to hymn number
264. I will sing of my Redeemer. Let's stand as we sing. God has taught to me all the
cruel cause He suffered from the curse He set me free. I will tell the one whose story
I lost this day to say, In whose boundless love and mercy He arises
daily. And the cross is sealed by God,
with the dead it make them free. How great Thou art, how great
Thou art. How great Thou art, how great
Thou art. How great Thou art, how great Thou art. How great
Thou art, how great Thou art. How great Thou art, how great
Thou art. How great Thou art, how great
Thou art. Heaven made me free. I will sing of my Redeemer, and
His heavenly love to me. He from death to life enthroned
me, Son of God, the Lamb to me. I will sing of my Redeemer, Thank you and you may be seated
as we take our bulletin hymn. Jesus our Emmanuel and it's to
the tune of Oh God our help in ages past. His name, His glories now behold. A deathless clothe in human flesh,
Thy pow'r bears unforetold. Own of our own flesh, of our
flesh, is is He came to die and by He gave
that death of the cross and by that death His people sang a
breath of endless songs But here does my spirit come, O life and
faith to give, And by his gospel lived. Emmanuel brought with us here,
And he in him enthroned. In great affliction, trial, or
storm, Are never found alone. Emmanuel, God with us now, let
all His saints now say, Emmanuel, Jesus be praised, and worship
all the day. Good morning on this rainy day. Truly, truly thankful to see
each and every one of you this morning that the Lord has brought. We are privileged to be able
to gather, to have the liberty to come and read God's word and
to be in the company of his people. I want to pray this morning when
we pray for, continue to pray for Brother Joe Swartz and for
Ree's family. She's asked me to pray for them,
others that we have on our hearts to remember before the Lord. He's able. I want you to turn
this morning for our reading to Psalm 142. Psalm 142. And sometimes I feel like that
I need to remind us that we're not reading out of a history
book or a commentary or something of that nature, man-made. But this is the Word of God. What I say about it is not important,
but what he says in this book to his people is all important. This is a prayer that David made
while in a cave, fleeing from his own son and Saul and
others who sought to destroy him. I cried unto the Lord with my
voice. With my voice unto the Lord did
I make supplication. I poured out my complaint before
him. I showed before him my trouble. When my spirit was overwhelmed
within me, then thou knewest my path. In the way wherein I
walked have they privately laid a snare for me. I looked on my
right hand and beheld there was no man that would know me. fail me, no man cared for my
soul. I cried unto thee, O Lord. I said, thou art my refuge and
my portion in the land of the living. And I'll pause there
to say, this is one of God's children. This is David, the
man after God's own heart, the sweet psalmist of Israel, a child
of the living God, but he had troubles. He had enemies. And his only refuge, his only
hope was God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Attend unto my cry, for I am
brought very low. Deliver me from my persecutors,
for they are stronger than I. Bring my soul out of prison,
that I may praise thy name. The righteous shall compass me
about, for thou shalt deal bountifully with me. No matter how anybody
else deals with us, that is the believer's hope and consolation
that the Lord will deal bountifully with him. Our Father, this morning we come
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. and often spoke name in our day. But we fear, as you warn in scripture,
that there be few that know the Christ of the Bible. For you must reveal him to us,
give us understanding of what is being said by you in your
word. Reveal to us the true Christ
and what he has accomplished for his people when he came into
this world and died the death of the cross. What does all of
that mean? What did he actually accomplish? reveal that to us and help us
to know who he did that work for. Not a bunch of good people, not
those as the Pharisees were that were righteous in their own eyes,
but he came into this world to save sinners. Paul said, of whom
I am chief. He came to save his people from
their sins. And we pray that we might know
that truth, that we might rest in his work, that we might be
enabled to trust in that which has already been done for sinners. He laid down his
life for the sheep. We ask Lord this morning to bless
those that we mentioned in request and many more that are upon our
hearts, sick and with various diseases and trials and troubles. We pray for your people, those
that the Father has given you before the foundation of the
world. And we pray especially for those
that you have not yet in this life called, brought to yourself,
taught your gospel, made to hear that good news, and believe and
trust and rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for this
day. We thank you that you have brought
and assembled this group together. We pray that it is that you might
show mercy to us, that you might teach us that which we do not
naturally know, that we might be given ears to hear and hearts
to believe and tongues to confess that Christ is our Savior. We thank you for the food we'll
have in a bit, and all blessings that come to us in Christ, especially
all spiritual blessings, and every promise of your grace that
you made to be yea and amen in Christ. We pray for your spirit
this morning, that we might Tell the truth about what you say
in your word that we might have that enabling and anointing by
which to declare the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for all things and
we pray in his name. Amen. In your hymnals once again, number
342, when this passing world is done. And Brother Tim, if
you'll wait on the congregation. When I stand with Christ alive,
the King of Rises shall be. Then, Lord, shall I fully know
our God? Teach me more, O world, to show
Why my love, how much I owe. With the praise of Heav'n I hear,
Thou hast wonders to behear, Thou hast many wonders, Lord, He has put my glorious fears
in the jowl. Oh. you Sovereign grace, how sweet the
truth. I've got to change the key. It's
too low. Sovereign grace, how sweet
the truth. We see it by faith alone. This faith against from God above
It never was our own No goodness to be found within Our soul's
corrupted shore But in our substitute we find we are forever pure. His righteousness he freely gives
to all he's called. His blood has paid their debt
for sin His Spirit makes this known All of grace salvation free No
works in which to boast. Save Christ and His own righteousness. This is our only hope. Open your Bibles to the Book
of Acts. I thought about it sitting there,
that when so many churches were putting up signs over their doors, that said something like, this
is the church where everybody is somebody. A friend of mine put a sign over
his door, and it said, the church where
everybody is nobody, and Christ is Lord of all. I hope that can
be said of us. Acts chapter 20, beginning in verse 17. And from Miletus he sent unto
Ephesus, and called the elders of the church. And when they were come to him,
he said unto them, you know from the first day that I came into
Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons,
serving the Lord with all humility of mind and many tears and temptations
which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews, and how
I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have
showed you and taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying
both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward
God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And now behold,
I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things
that shall befall me there, save that the Holy Ghost witnesses
in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things move
me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might
finish my course with joy in the ministry which I have received
of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God. And now, behold, I know that
ye all among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God
shall see my face no more. Wherefore, I take record, I take
you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare
unto you all the counsel of God. Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves
and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made
you overseers, to feed the church which he purchased with his own
blood. For I know this, that after my
departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing
the flock. Also of your own selves shall
men arise, speaking perverse things to draw away disciples
after them. Therefore watch and remember
that by the space of three years, I cease not to warn everyone
night and day with tears. And now, brethren, I commend
you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build
you up and give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. I thought about it this week. What amazing words Paul speaks
in verse 26. That he could stand before those
that he had preached to so long and say, wherefore I take you
to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men. In other words, he was clear
of conscience and no blood was on his hands concerning these
that he preached to. If you notice in the last word
of that verse, that it is italicized. He says in reality that I am
pure from the blood of all. What does that mean? He says,
I am pure, I'm free. I don't have any blood on my
hands to all those that I've preached to, regarding all those
that God has brought under my ministry. I'm free, I'm pure
from the blood of all that have heard me." And that's what God
says concerning the watchman. He says the watchman is to cry
out, to warn, to sound the alarm. And if he does that, the blood
of those in the city is not on his hands. But if he warns them
and they still perish, the blood is on their hands. Also I'm the
free from the blood of all that have heard me. But look what
he says in verse 27. For I have not shunned to declare
unto you all the counsel of God. Some translations read this in
this way, I've not shrunk back from declaring to you all the counsel of God. Does that mean that Paul preached
to them every verse of Scripture in the Bible? I don't think so because he didn't
have the Bible as we have it. All he had was the Old Testament
scriptures. God would use him to write and
pin down the greater part of the New Testament. He did not
preach verse by word. He did not read every verse of
Scripture. And he did not stand before them
and declare to them that which he did not know. So what does this mean when he
says, for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel
of God? Some people quote that as the
whole counsel of God. But as we have it here, it is
all the counsel of God. Well, I tend to believe that
we must look back at Isaiah chapter 9. Look back with me to Isaiah.
chapter 9. If you're going to have all the
counsel of God, you have to know the counselor appointed by God. Isaiah 9 and verse 6, a verse
that will be read many times in these days. For unto us a
child is born, Unto us a son is given, and the government
shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful
Counselor. Counselor. The mighty God, the
everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. The only way that any sinner
can know all the counsel of God, the only way any preacher can
preach all the counsel of God is to preach the counselor himself,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is all the counsel of
God. He's not only the counselor,
but He is Himself all the counsel of God. Everything is about Him. Turn over in your Bibles to Colossians. Colossians chapter 3. In the midst of what Paul is
saying here, in chapter 3. He talks about God's people putting
on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image
of him that created him. Listen now. Where there is neither
Greek nor Jew nor circumcision nor uncircumcision barbarian,
Scythian, bond or free, but Christ is all, and in all. Christ is all. That means that the Lord Jesus
Christ, the man Jesus of Nazareth, He came into this world to be
exactly what He was and has been from eternity all. The Bible tells us that He is
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. That's the mystery of godliness. that Christ is all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. He's the only God that anyone
will ever see. He's all the fullness of God,
and He's all in creation. The Bible says that there is
nothing that was made that was not made by Him. by him and for
him. He's all in creation. He's the creator, and he's all
in providence. He's the one in control. He's the king of kings in reality,
and he works all things according to the counsel of his will. Everything that goes on in this
world is ordained and ordered by God who does simply that. Works all after the counsel of
His will. There is nothing that is accidental. There is nothing that is out
of His control. There is nothing that the devil
does that God has not ordained that he do. He's all in providence. And we know if we read the scripture
that He's all in salvation. He's the Savior. He's all in
righteousness. There's no other righteousness
but the righteousness of Christ. He's all the hope of His people. He's all that there is, and that
He's all that there is in grace and mercy, and He is all in the scriptures, all the scriptures. And if he's all in the scriptures,
there can't be more. That's what people want sometimes,
more. They want more than Christ. They want more, something that
is better, something that will appeal to their minds and challenge
their intellects and tickle their ears. They want more. But turn
with me to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 24. Luke, chapter 24, beginning in verse 25. Listen to what Christ, the resurrected
Christ, who came to those that supposedly knew Him after the
resurrection, but they didn't know Him. They didn't understand
who it was that talked to Him. And He says in verse 25, Then
said He unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all
that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses
and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures
the things concerning himself. That means that all the Old Testament
scriptures, all that the prophets wrote, prophesied, preached,
all that they said had to do with the Lord Jesus Christ. And every one of them, as they
wrote, They wrote something particular about Christ in harmony with
each other. Lots of different circumstances
and details and such, but it all had something to do with
this. The suffering of the Messiah, the Christ that would come, the
suffering that he suffered, and as a result, he'd enter into
glory. He'd be exalted because of what
he did. He'd be exalted in His death. And all through the Bible, if
we seek to really know all the counsel of God, we've got to
find out, and God has to reveal to us, about Christ. About the Lord Jesus Christ. So that wherever we are in the
Bible, Old Testament or New Testament, Whatever is being said, whoever
the writer is that God has used, he's writing and telling us something
about the Lord Jesus Christ and his sufferings and the glory
that would result in it. He's like a many-faceted diamond. He's being lifted up in something
about His person, something else about His work, something else
that He did, some reason to give His people hope and faith. That's what He does. Turn over
to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Listen to the apostle in 1 Corinthians
15 and verse 3. He said, for I delivered unto
you. He's telling or reminding these
Corinthians what he preached to them, what he had to say,
what his ministry was all about. For I delivered unto you, first
of all, how that which I also received, How that Christ died
for our sins according to the scriptures. Everything is how Christ died. How he died for the sins of his
people according to the scriptures. He's pictured in that Old Testament
as the priest. And yet at the same time, he's
the sacrifice. Yet at the same time, he's the
author. Everything in that Old Testament
economy pointed to one person. And one work showed us much about
his glorious person and his work. All the priestly garments, the
fine garments that were made for the priest, they just showed
the deity and the humanity and the perfection and glory of the
Lord Jesus Christ. All the work that they did going
into the temple, everything that they did in offering sacrifices
showed not only his work in that priestly sense, but he's the
sacrifice that was offered. He's the one that was was offered. His blood was shed in a type
and picture by the blood of bulls and goats. But it wasn't that
which took away sin. It was just pointing and showing
that this Christ is the Savior, the Sacrifice, the Priest, the
King, that Prophet, as Moses said. Moses said, there's a prophet
coming from among you. He's that prophet. You better
hear him. You may not hear me, but there's
one thing for sure. You better hear that prophet. You better hear the Lord Jesus
Christ. Turn over to 2 Peter. 2 Peter. Chapter 3. Peter writes in chapter 3 of
2 Peter and verse 15, these words. an account that the longsuffering
of our Lord is salvation. In other words, the reason that
God is bringing all these things to continue to go on and has
not already removed every evil and brought this earth to its
consummation, the reason of His longsuffering is the salvation
of His people. an account that the longsuffering
of our Lord is salvation, even as our beloved brother Paul also,
according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you,
as also in all his epistles, or letters, speaking in them
of these things, in which are some things hard to be understood. which they that are unlearned
and unstable rest, as they do also the other scriptures unto
their own destruction." You rest the scriptures. When
you take the focus of the scriptures and put it on morality or words
or things of this nature, and not on Christ." If the gospel that men preach
is bad news, it's not the gospel. It's what Paul called another
gospel. The gospel is good news to who? Sinners. Are you a sinner? I'm sure of one thing. I can't
point any finger at anybody or anything if I know something
about my sins. Christ died for sinners. He came not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. He laid down his life for these
ungodly sheep. And he's going to save every
one of them, and they will each be a trophy to his glory, of
his grace, and of his power. Every did not. The angel is revealing
something about Christ. I am thy fellow servant, and
of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God. How are we gonna worship God?
For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. It's all about Him. All for His
glory. Turn over to 1 John, I mean to
John chapter one. John, the gospel of John chapter
one. Verse 45, Philip findeth Nathanael, and
saith unto him, We have found him of whom Moses in the law
and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Who were they writing about?
Who were they talking about? Who were they giving the preeminence
to? This Jesus of Nazareth that would
come into the world. Turn over to Acts chapter 10. Acts chapter 10 and verse 42. And he commanded us to preach
unto the people. God commanded all these apostles. He commanded us to preach unto
the people and to testify that it is he which was ordained of
God to be the judge of the quick and dead. In all judgment, Christ will
be all. And to him, give all the prophets
witness. They were all in unison. They
were all in harmony. They had one voice, one message,
that the sins of believers have already been remitted, forgiven
by the death of Christ. And that's what's the good news. It's not what you're to do. It's not dependent upon a decision
of your will. It doesn't rest in human actions
or feelings. Everything is accomplished in
salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And that's why he said on the
cross, it is finished. The work which
the father gave is finished. And many teach verse by verse
and they write commentaries and they preach moral lessons. They expound historical details. They show people how they're
to live while they're all missing life himself. I don't know about you, but I
know a whole lot more about how I am supposed to live than I
live. The Bible says that the Gentiles
have the law written on their conscience. We live in a society
where the law of the land is greatly directed by that Judeo-Christian
ethic and the law itself. Thou shalt not. So why come every week and tell you to do something? that you can't get to perfection, that you probably already know
you ought to be doing, or tell you that if you don't
do something, God will get you for it, when the truth is, the Lord Jesus
Christ is all of salvation. Now we, in that very passage
we read, Paul gave instructions, all of which are summed up in
one thing, that we're to love one another. But he says this, as Christ loved
the church and gave himself for it. Oh, you say, preacher, I love
everybody. Oh, really? How much did you love that fellow
that cut you off in traffic yesterday? How much did you love that person
that you read about that has some moral flaw or moral past? And here you are now feeling
so good about yourself because you've not done that. You love everybody. No, we don't. That's where we need Christ. Amen. Oh, we're told. Just like the Old Testament law
said thou shall not, the New Testament words of Christ and
the apostles say thou shall. But there was no more ability
to believe in this flesh, the things that are spoken in the
New Testament, than we were able to do under the law of God, the
Old Testament. That's why Christ is all. That's why he's the preeminence,
the one rejoiced in, the one teach, the one pause. That's
why he's all, all the counsel of God, is bound up in this glorious
person and his finished, accomplished work, and his purpose, the purpose
of God, to save a people by him. So here's the man who said, I
have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. for what he preached. He said, I determined to know
nothing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. He said the preaching of the
cross is foolishness, is a stumbling block, to the Jews and the Greeks. But to those of us who are being
saved, it's the power and wisdom of God. You know, I don't feel like that
I will ever be accused by God himself of saying too much about
his son. I remember there was a preacher
friend of mine, when the Lord taught him the gospel, and he
started preaching, he had all kinds of people leaving his church
and doing this and that and the other. And one man said this,
he said, he's made an idol out of Jesus Christ. Accused me of that. I've already told you I want
on my tombstone what was said of John the Baptist. They said, those that heard him
said, John did no miracle, but all he said about this man was
true. The Lord Jesus Christ. The fact is, every believer,
every true regenerated person, they're gonna read the scriptures.
They're gonna hear all the instructions, all the warnings. But you can know all that and
not know Christ. Not know him. And so I've got
a lot of scriptures, but I'm not going to even take the time
to read them to you. If you want them, I'll give them to you.
But all the scriptures, wherever Paul or any of these men went,
what did they do? They preach Christ. It's so plain
in Acts and Romans and 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians and Ephesians
and Colossians. Everywhere they preach Christ. And they had one fear. Turn over to 2 Corinthians chapter
11. 2 Corinthians chapter 11. This was their fear. This was
Paul's fear. This is my fear. 2 Corinthians 11, verse 1. Would to God you could bear with
me a little in my folly, and indeed bear with me. For I am
jealous over you with a godly jealousy. For I have espoused
you to one husband, that I might present you as a chaste virgin
to Christ. How in the world are you gonna
be a chaste virgin to Christ? Only to be clean and washed and
righteous in Christ. Only if your righteousness is
that imputed righteousness which God charges you And you are said
to be made the righteousness of God, where? In Christ. In Christ. But I fear, lest by any means,
as the serpent beguiled Eve. You do know that the Bible says
that it was Eve that was deceived in the transgression. I'd like
to be a warning to all you ladies. You tend to think with your hearts.
That's one thing we love about you. But we have to think according
to the scriptures. The serpent beguiled, he tricked,
he deceived Eve through his subtlety. He appeared as an angel of light. That's what Christ said men do
today. So your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity
that is in Christ. Not from the simpleness of Christ. That word simplicity there means
singleness. I fear lest your mind be beguiled
by the trickster, by Satan, the adversary, that you be deceived,
and that you look upon him who looks so right, and you take
your eyes off what the scriptures say. From the singleness of Christ. It's easy to put up a sign in
a church building and say, the scripture's alone, grace
alone, Christ alone. But it's another thing for Christ to be alone. And you're
preaching, and you worship, the singleness of Christ. And Christ is the motive for
all obedience. It's for Christ's sake. Love
the brethren for Christ's sake. Be good to your wives for Christ's
sake. Be good to your husband for Christ's sake. Forgive for
Christ's sake. It's everything. He's all. And I am so, so glad he is. Father, we thank
you this morning for your dear son. All of our salvation, all
that is worthy of any note in this world, all righteousness,
he's everything and only. what we have and we have by a
gift of your grace. We thank you and pray in his
name. Amen.