This tower, our text is actually going to be the exact same one that it was the last hour, which is Ephesians chapter six. Ephesians chapter six. As Paul continues to teach the Church of Ephesus, and that's something we have to understand, is that the Word of God is written to every one of the Lord's people, all the elect, collectively. But Paul's writing to a specific church about specific issues that that specific church is having, and we can take it and apply it to ours. It's not a problem to do so, but if we take it and start making laws and church covenants and constitutions and all this other stuff out of each of the, we missed the whole point. We missed the whole point. Paul is saying, hey, direct your eyes back to Christ. Yes, your servitude should be about Christ, not about what you do. Shouldn't be about self-recognition. Serve with singleness of heart. Serve simply unto the Lord. And that's what he's saying here.

Whether it be children obeying your parents or whether it be servants obeying your master and we, kind of don't understand the servants obey your master because we don't have masters in this time and well, at least in our country. I mean, I'm sure there's some slavery that still is going on, but you understand what I'm saying. It doesn't really pertain to us, but then it did.

They had servants. They had people that would devote their life to, they would be, they could be purchased. You know, we understand that. They're saying that servants submit yourself unto your masters. And a lot of that had to do with the, and not to get too historical, but a lot of that to do with the economy. So some people couldn't actually afford their own place to live. So rather than struggling to try to find a place, they would offer their servitude unto the master and stay there at his place, working for him for, um, what their wages would have been, uh, because they, that's just how it was back then. He's saying, submit yourself unto your master. Now, That all being said, we heard the first hour. We spoke already on verses five through eight in pretty good depth. And I'm going to read that again just to give the context of verse nine. But all of that has brought us to verse nine.

And what we have here is a glorious title of our heavenly father. One of the few places that the word master is actually used. Um, several times men would come to Jesus and they would say, good master, what must I do to inherit eternal life or good master this or that, but this is actually a capital M. It's referring to our Lord. Paul says he is the master.

And so let's read this together. Ephesians chapter six, verse five through nine. Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling in singleness of your heart as unto Christ, not with eye service as men pleasers, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart with goodwill, doing service as unto the Lord and not to men, knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond, Now listen to this verse, verse nine. And ye masters do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening, knowing your master also is in heaven. Neither is there respect of persons with him, your master.

I've titled this message The Master. I guess you could say our masters would be our bosses in this day and age that we live in. I said that the first hour as well. That's the only thing I could think of. We go to work to serve and every one of us at some point in time having a job has grumbled and complained about that job in some way, shape or form because we're in the flesh. That's what the flesh does is it murmurs.

And what Paul's saying here is don't think about serving the company. Don't think about serving the man. Don't think about serving the boss. Think about serving Christ. And if we can put that as our focus, that would really help change some perspective, wouldn't it? It really would. But that being said, we would miss the gospel message in all of this if that's what we spend this hour focusing on is how we should be better behaved in the workplace. We're not going to do that. That would be a waste of time.

The Lord will teach his people, and he does teach his people, by his spirit, how they should conduct themselves, how they should behave, how they should serve. And he lays it upon their heart. And it's not the preacher's job to stand up here and say, this is how you should be living, this is what you should be doing. That's not the preacher's job. The Lord does that. It's according to his will, according to his word. I don't have the authority to do that. My authority is the word of God. My job is to preach the word of God, simply, plainly, and clearly.

Now, this message is simple as far as the physical. We don't serve men for men's sake. We serve the Lord in all things that we do. Paul said, 1 Corinthians 10 31, whether you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. Now, can I do that in the flesh? Absolutely not. The flesh hates God, everything about God.

So what's my hope is that my glorious substitute did everything on my behalf because I can't do anything right. The glorious substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ, did everything perfect, because I can't do anything perfect. My hope is that the Lord looks at His service, not my service.

That's the point. So if we're placed in a position of servitude, the word is, serve unto the Lord, look to Christ, look to Christ. That's the message here. Very simple, very simple. Now, oftentimes, men, serve, and I think that's something else to mention just briefly, oftentimes men serve for recognition, for self admiration, for self value. Look at what I've done. Look at me. I've done this. I've done that. I've done a great job. Nebuchadnezzar was the example I gave the first hour. It's an example I'll give this hour. Look at great Babylon that I have created. He wanted all the glory. And the Lord said, no, you didn't build that. I built that. And you know what happened? The Lord made him into a beast for seven years. So that's exactly the point.

Lord says, humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. Look to Christ. If we're placed in a position of service, who'd realize that what we deserve is hell. And if we have anything less than that, Lord's been so merciful and gracious. Don't look at what you've done and think that you did that. Thank God that you have that. Thank God that he did that for you on behalf of Christ alone. That's a good way to look at it. Look to Christ in all things. Pharisees did not want to confess Christ because they loved the praise of man more than the praise of God. So that tells us how bad our flesh really is.

But thanks be to God, he keeps his people. Those that met or will meet the master are given faith to believe, love that looks unto him. We love for him to have all the glory. These are they which the father elected, the son redeemed, and the spirit regenerates. And now we get to the spiritual part, which is my favorite. We often go over verses and I think it's very important to talk about the physical because it does have physical meaning to it.

But the spiritual part is this, seeing the master is eternal life. Seeing the master is eternal life. If I am made to see the master, the God of this universe, the creator and sustainer of all things, That's eternal life because he's the one that had to do that.

I will no longer be looking at my service and wondering if I've done enough. I'll no longer be looking at my life and wondering if I've lived a good enough life. I'll no longer be examining myself and seeing if I'm doing the things that I used to do like I used to do them, or am I getting better? I won't look at myself at all. There may be moments of weakness and doubt. There may be some unbelief that creeps in because it always does. That's the sin that doth so easily beset us. But what does the believer look to? We heard the first hour, Christ alone.

I'm looking to his service because that's who God is looking to. I'm looking to his sacrifice because that's who God is looking to. I'm not examining my service towards you or towards the brethren. I pray that I serve. I pray that the Lord keeps me serving. But I'm not looking to that to see if I'm saved or not. I'm looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not looking for evidence. The only evidence I'm looking to is the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation of the Lord's people. That's evidence. That's evidence.

Seeing the Master is eternal life. So I have a question for us this morning, which is gonna be answered by three questions. Have I met the Master? Have I met the Master? Not a Master, the Master, capital M. Have I met the Master? Before we leave here today, I pray that the Lord will answer that in each of our hearts, including mine.

Have I been taught, number one, that He is absolutely sovereign? Have I been taught that He is absolutely sovereign? Number two, have I been taught that my only hope for salvation is the finished work of Christ alone? And number three, have I been taught if I am to be kept to the end and confess Him in my dying breath by His grace, that's how it's gonna be, is by His grace alone.

He's gonna have to be the one that does it. So he's absolutely sovereign. Salvation is of the Lord. And if I'm going to persevere, it's going to be because he's the doer of it. That's the three questions or the three things we're looking at this morning. Have I met the master? Well, have I been taught God is absolutely sovereign?

Now we really shouldn't have to put absolutely in front of that, but I do because it emphasizes the word sovereign, but the word sovereign in and of itself doesn't need any, um, Would that be an adjective? I don't know. Doesn't need any help. It can stand by itself. Sovereign means supreme. Totally.

There is nothing that can touch God. nothing that can stay his hand or stop him, nothing that can question him, nothing that can challenge him, nothing that can test him or confuse him. You know, in a lot of false religion, they act like the Lord, and I say this reverently, but I've heard people actually say this, I know what I'm talking about, and we don't believe this, this is foolishness, but they believe the devil and the Lord are having a chess match over the souls of men, and that's so silly. No, he's God. Why would he waste time with games? He's God.

He's seated as the successful sovereign savior of his people. He created the universe for the very purpose that he might redeem his people back to God. That was the reason the world was created. And he did just that. He's sovereign. He's sovereign over the inhabitants of heaven. You say, well, Lucifer was in heaven and he was cast out. Who do you think purposed that? God's sovereign.

He purposes all things. He's not just controlling all things. He's purposed it and he sat down. Do we see the difference? He's not just moving pawn pieces around, trying to hope it works out. It might figure itself out. No, he's purposed it. He's not moving any pawn pieces.

The Lord's purpose will come to pass because He is God. He is absolutely sovereign in all things that He does. Who hath known the mind of God? For His ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. As the heavens are high above the earth, so is his ways above our ways, and his thoughts above our thoughts. He's sovereign. Everything about him is other than we are.

Now the question is, have I met the master? Have I been taught that he is absolutely sovereign? Sovereign in everything. You mean salvation as well? Especially in salvation, because that's where men get it wrong most of the time. They'll say he's sovereign in everything else. He's sovereign in creation. He's sovereign in this. He's sovereign in that. But when it comes to the salvation of men's souls, he's not sovereign. He's only mostly sovereign.

You're going to have to do your part. That's not true. God's not dependent upon man for anything. God is not looking to you for anything that He requires. Not one thing. Everything He requires, He must provide because He only accepts what He provides.

He is sovereign. I'm not, and neither are you. He is. Everything that He does, everything that He says is perfect and is truth because His word is truth. It's not true just because He says it. It's not true, it's true because he says it. Not just that it's truth that he's saying, it's true because he says it. I mean, whatever comes out of his mouth is truth. Regardless of our opinion, it's truth. We sing a song sometimes and it has the word, I am false and full of sin, oh God, thou art full of truth and grace. That's the truth, isn't it? He's so other than we are, we have to calculate. You know, God's never calculated one thing.

He knows. He knows from the beginning to the end. He knows it from the start to the end. As a matter of fact, He knows eternity to eternity, and I'll explain that one. I don't know, but He doesn't have a beginning, and He's never gonna have an end. This is the God that we serve. He's not some puny, inconsistent, insignificant God. He's sovereign and he reigneth. And I like the old English for that. ETH means it's continual. It's happening now and now and now he reigneth.

He's in the heavens seated as the successful Redeemer of His people. He's seated as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He's seated as prophet, priest, and king. He's seated as the mediator between God and man. He's seated as our propitiation. He's seated as our substitute surety. He's not trying to accomplish anything.

Everything God has purposed, He accomplished. Why? He is sovereign. The question remains, have I been taught of God? Now, it's not of man that we can learn this, because if a man can talk you into it, another man can talk you out of it. Have I been taught of God? He is absolutely sovereign.

Somebody told me one time, and I say this, gently because I'm not trying to seem heartless in this. Because certainly we care for humanity and things that happen in the world that are tragedies, different things that happen that we consider tragedies.

I remember when Hurricane Katrina came up through the Gulf of Mexico and it slammed into Louisiana, and I think that's the one that did that, pretty devastating. A lot of lives were hurt or killed, and a lot of flooding happened. And I remember the people I was around in false religion said the reason that happened was because of their sin. It's because of all their sin. And my thought when I was, I believed the gospel at the time. And I thought, do you think there was a single brother in that place? You think there was one or maybe 10? Because if that's the case, that wouldn't have been the reason why God did that. Because if God pours out his wrath upon us again, it would be unjust because Christ took all the wrath of God for his people. Now, all that being said, if that is the case, if God did that, he's a reactive God to what men does. What I'm trying to say is, Their sin caused God to do that. No, God had purposed that hurricane before the world ever began, knowing full well and purposing all things.

He's God. We have to flip our minds on that. We can't think, okay, I've done this. I've made God do that. No, we can't make God do anything. We can't constrain him and we can't restrain him. Meaning I can't make him do something and I can't prevent him from doing anything. Thank God that I can't do that. He's God, I'm not. I'm not.

Men say, well, if you pray a little bit more, prayer changes things. All that prayer changes is me and you. Prayer don't change God. Prayer's not for God. Prayer's for you and prayer is for me. And it is our glorious lifeline to the throne room of heaven, right into the presence of God. That's what prayer's for, for us to speak to him Cry out for mercy. Prayer's not for God, it's for us.

It doesn't change him, it changes us. I am the Lord, I change not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. I am the Lord, I change not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. He says, God, which cannot lie, has spoken it. Can't lie. He can't lie.

Brethren, if your salvation is completely dependent upon the sovereign God of this universe, that's a good place for it to be. Because if it's up to me and you, we'd lose it. If our salvation is dependent upon our faithfulness in any way, we would lose it. But our salvation is completely dependent upon the sovereignty and the finished work of our God. Have I been taught? How do I know I've met the master? Or moreover, he has met me? How do I know? Have I been taught God is absolutely sovereign? He alone has all power.

Christ said, all power is given to me both in heaven and in earth. What does the word all mean to you? And I don't say that condescendingly, I mean it. Because so many times we hear a word and it doesn't have the brevity or the weightiness or the gravity that it needs to. All power is given to me both in heaven and in earth. What does that mean, all? Well, if I have all of something, then I have literally every single bit of it.

There's nothing left to share. There's nothing left that you and I can have. He has all power, I have none. That's called absolutely sovereign. He has all power, I'm powerless. Does that frighten you or do you love that? I love that. I can't do anything to mess up salvation. I can't do anything to get it, and I can't do anything to lose it, because if I could get it, I would lose it. How do you know? Because I lose things all the time. I lose things all the time, you do too. When's the last time you looked for your car keys? Well, you got the car keys, but what happened to them? I don't know. Aren't you glad salvation's not like that? That it hinges completely upon the sovereignty of God? Not me and you and our minds that are so frail and fragile? Have I been taught that God is absolutely sovereign?

I said this the first hour and I'll say this again. Even when it comes to salvation. I might've said this earlier too, but even when it comes to salvation, God's sovereign, that's where most people miss it. Salvation is a choice, and I'll say that time and time again, but I always say this immediately after, it's not my choice and it's not your choice, it's not the choice of man, it never was and it never will be. Salvation is God's choice alone. Before the world began, before time existed, God purposed to save a people.

Salvation is of the Lord entirely. Have I been taught? God is absolutely sovereign. Secondly, how do I know if I've met the master? Well, am I trusting, or is my only hope, I should say, in the finished work of Christ alone for my salvation? Just that, the finished work of Christ alone for my salvation.

So many people will say yes to that, but then there's something that they must do, either before salvation, when they are confessing, or they are crying out, or they are asking, or they are begging, or whatever they may be doing, praying, or after in their life. Ok, well we can tell that you have received salvation because you are living this way and you are not living that way, or you are doing this and you are not doing that.

We don't preach frivolous living here, but the Lord teaches His people how to live. We don't live the way we live as evidence of our salvation. We live looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith. That's how we live. We live as dead dog sinners begging for another crumb from the master's table. We never get puffed up and think that we're better than we were when we started. We keep getting worse, don't we?

Oh, wretched man that I am, not that I was, who shall deliver me from this body of death? Have I been made to hope in the finished work of Christ alone? Now, some would believe you have to do your part. And brethren, that's so blasphemous, because it says that the completely sovereign God that I just described to you has his hands tied unless you do something. How foolish. God doesn't have his hands tied. He's not pacing the floor, scratching his head. He's seated. He's not sweating. No, he's seated as the successful redeemer. He's not trying to have his way.

You ever heard somebody, ever heard a man say, let God have his way. They get that from, I guess, the verse that says, let God be true and all men liars. What that verse means is never miss an opportunity to shut up. That's what that means. Never miss an opportunity to shut up. We don't let God do anything. It's just saying, shut up, don't talk. Don't open your mouth because you're a liar. That's what he's saying. Don't miss the point there.

We don't let God do anything. No, he saved his people from their sin. Are we looking and hoping in nothing more than the blood of Christ for our salvation? Are we looking to ourself, examining ourself and hoping that God will see us? greater than what we are or better than what we are.

I'm getting better. I'm progressively getting better. No, I'm not. I have no hope in this flesh whatsoever. Every time that I look at myself, I loathe myself more and more. In false religion, I loved myself. I thought I was something, but I was nothing, less than nothing. Until you and I meet the master, we are dead dog sinners. Dead dog sinners.

Our belief, brethren, is not the cause of salvation. Our belief is the result of salvation accomplished and bestowed freely by grace. Our belief is the result of salvation, not the cause. Somebody says you have to believe. If you find yourself believing, that means God has made you alive.

1 Timothy, 2 Timothy 1.9 says, God saved us and called us, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ before the foundation of the world. He saved us first. Then he let us know by calling us out of darkness into his light. You and I believe because we've been saved, not to get saved. Somebody says, I got saved. No, you didn't. We don't get saved. God saves us or we're not going to be saved. That's the truth of it, isn't it?

Before time, God elected a people. And the son, the Lord Jesus Christ, agreed to redeem those people. He knew the price. He knew the consequence. He knew he's God. He knows everything from the beginning to the end. This was his purpose. And because of this purpose, he created the world and all that therein is. The spirit agreed to regenerate everyone that the father elected, that the son agreed to redeem. In the fullness of time, Christ became a man, born of a woman, born under the law that he might redeem us, his people who are under the law, in bondage, in captivity, unable to get to God, unable to fix our sin.

Every time we would go to the law, it says guilty, death, guilty, death, and we think, okay, I'm gonna do better, I'm gonna get better. We go back to the law, guilty, death. No matter what we did, we can't get rid of a single sin. But God commended his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Not when we were righteous. Christ said, I didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Christ Jesus went to the cross of Calvary, having lived a perfect life, he drank the cup of damnation, drank the bitter dregs of our justice, our wrath, everything due us. The scripture says, God hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. The Lord hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all. He hath made him a curse, for it's written, everyone is cursed that hangs upon a tree.

And when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, thou shalt be satisfied. Not whenever thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin and you see Caleb Hickman living a perfect life, no. The satisfaction God has was in his son and his son alone, not in my choice, not in my life, not in my works, not in my actions or deeds, but by his life, death, burial, and resurrection alone. It's the blood that cleansed from all stains. It's the blood that cleansed our sins.

It's not what we do. Don't you love the fact that you can't make it effectual? I can't make the blood of Christ effectual. Like I activate it by something that I do. How blasphemous is that? No, it's effectual. It accomplished what it was supposed to. Why? Because it come from the absolute sovereign God. That's why. It's absolute sovereign blood. It accomplished everything it was supposed to accomplish. Every single elected sinner made the very righteousness of God and the Lord Jesus Christ being robed in his righteousness, being made perfectly spotless without blemish. Not because of what we are or what we've done, but because he said, I will do this for my own sake. I have loved you with an everlasting love.

Think about this, and this is a message in and of itself, but look at the end of verse nine, it says, Neither is there respect of persons with him, the master. Neither is the respect of persons with him. Now in religion, false religion, men would say, okay, well that just means he'll save anybody. Well, the truth of the matter is he saved his people and we preach a whosoever will salvation. We do. Whosoever will let him come, take of the water of life freely. The problem is, Only the whosoever's the Lord calls are going to come.

That's just that simple. That being said, him saying he's no respecter of person isn't a reference to the world in general. It's talking about the sun. Whenever the master saw sin upon the sun, he's no respecter of person. He hath put him to grief. He hath caused him to bear our sin in his body on the tree. He caused the wrath and the judgment of God to fall upon him. He's not a respecter of person. And the scripture says, if he spared not his own son, what makes you think that you and I can get by if we have sin upon us? He didn't even spare his son.

So the question is, have I met the master? Well, is my only hope Salvation by Christ alone, by Christ alone. Have I met the master? Has God made my hope of salvation, the finished work of Christ alone? Thirdly, have I been made to know that if I am to be kept, God must be the doer of it? Now there's some that believe, okay, God is the alpha of salvation, but he's not the omega.

They won't say that, but what they say is, is you have to live the, you have to live the Christian life is what I was going to say. I had a man one time in this building talking to me. He's like, well, what, what church discipline do you have? What does it, what is, what does your members Christian walk look like? What kind of classes are you having for the Christian walk? And I said, I don't understand, he said, well, what does a Christian walk look like? I said, in this church, it looks like dead dog sinners begging from the master's table.

And he didn't know what to say, or he didn't say anything about that. He said, okay, well, yeah, well, in our church, it's like this and this and this, okay. And you notice he ain't been back, but the point I'm making is, what he was saying was is, yeah, Christ is salvation, but you have to live this way. You have to do this and not do that. So that's just going back to the taste, not touch, not handle, not law is all that is.

We can't go to the law for justification before or after salvation. You know who we go to justification for? Christ, who is our justification. If we go to anything else, we're gonna find out we haven't been justified. We have not been justified if we go to anywhere else but Christ alone. He's the one that justified. He's just and justifier of his people. If I am to be kept, God is the doer of it.

Not my life that keeps me, not my works that keeps me, but him by his spirit alone. In time, his spirit comes and blows upon a dead creature of dust, spiritually dead creature of dust and says, live, live. And we receive the breath of life, born again, born of his spirit, born from above. By his own power, the same resurrecting power that resurrected Christ from the dead, the scripture says. That's how we know that salvation is not up to us, not our choice, because it's the resurrecting power that resurrected Christ that resurrects you and I from the dead whenever salvation comes to a sinner. It's by his own power. It's the same spirit whereby we are sealed into the day of redemption. Scripture says you are bought with a price. You're not your own. You're not your own. None of this is up to you and none of this is up to me. The Lord chooses. He chose before the foundation of the world. Not that he chooses, I said that wrong. No, he chose before the beginning of time and he purposed when he would redeem them and when he would call them out of darkness into his light.

So if I've been made to believe that, then I must believe he has to be the one that keeps me. He has to be the one that keeps me, otherwise I'm not gonna be kept. Have I been made to see salvation as all of the Lord, all of grace, and election, redemption, regeneration, and perseverance, that I contribute nothing?

That's the question. Have I met the master? Now, in closing, I wanna give us a wonderful example of this in Mark chapter five, if you'd like to turn there. You know this story, it's the story of the maniac of Gadara. But brethren, this is you and I, and there can be no doubt about that. Preach the message one time when the master met the maniac. And it's the same points here that we just had that basically were the same points in that message. But listen to this individual here. Verse one of chapter five, Mark.

And they came over into the countryside of the sea into the country of the Gadarenes. And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs of man with an unclean spirit who had his dwelling among the tombs. And no man could bind him, no, not with chains, because he had been often bound with fetters and chains. And the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces. Neither could any man tame him. In all ways, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying and cutting himself with stones. But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshiped him.

I want to stop right there just for a minute. Because we have to understand something very important. The picture of all these chains and fetters, this is this man's servitude to God. This represents every single false religion on the face of the earth.

All you're doing is you're binding yourself to the law. You're making promises to God saying, I'm going to do this and I'm going to do that. And what do you do? No sooner do you make those promises, then what happens no sooner than when you make those promises, you break them.

Chains broken. Why can't, that religion didn't work out. I'm gonna move on to the next one. And you find, men find the easiest religion they can where they think they're still gonna get to God, but they don't realize that they are at the tomb just around a bunch of dead people. They're just cutting themselves, offering themselves up to God.

It's what he said, he cut himself daily. That's what they were doing. If you remember the prophets of Bell, whenever they were up on Mount Carmel, the prophets of Bell were cutting themselves trying to get Bell's attention. Bell's dead, he can't go hear nothing. But it was they were cutting themselves. They were trying to get his attention.

And it's not going to happen. It's false religion. It's a picture of self sacrifice. It's a picture of self. trying to what's the word I can't think of it right now, whenever you harm yourself in order to I've been bad, so I'm gonna harm myself. Anyways, that's what they were doing. They were offering themselves up to God. Well, that's what this man's doing.

And it's the same as what every man and woman does in false religion. They say, Okay, well, I'm gonna cut this out of my life. And I'm going to cut this out of my life. And I'm going to cut this out of my life. And now Now I've made good chains that I can hang on to and obligate God to do something for me. No, still dead, still amongst the dead in the tombs, still out of your mind. The maniac at Gadar, let's read on.

When he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshiped him. And I forgot to mention this, when the master comes to us, When the master comes to one of his elect children, one of his sheep, one of those that he has predestinated and purposed to be conformed to the image of his son, the very first thing you will do when you see his face is you will worship. The very first thing I will do when I see his face is I will worship. Why?

We'll see him as the absolute sovereign God that he is. Like Isaiah, he's high, lifted up, seated. He gets all the glory. His train was filling the temple. We'll see him like Job. We'll see him as high and say, behold, I'm vile. I'm vile. Verse seven.

He cried with a loud voice and said, what have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God that thou torment me not. For he said unto him, come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. And he asked him, what is his name? What is thy name? He answered, saying, my name is Legion, for we are many. And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country. Now there were nigh unto the mountain a great herd of swine feeding, and all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine that we may enter into them. And forthwith Jesus gave them leave.

And the unclean spirits went out and entered into the swine, and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea. They were about two thousand and were choked in the sea. And they that fed the swine fled and told in the city and in the country.

And they went out to see what it was that was done. And when, and they come to Jesus and see him that was possessed with the devil and had the legion. Now here's the, here's how they found him sitting and clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. And they saw it told them how it befell him that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning the swine, and they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts.

They would rather have the pigs than have the man that was the maniac. Ain't that interesting? I understand you and I are born Maniacs. Binding ourselves to contracts of self-righteousness that we could never keep. Going to the law in hopes. Well, Scripture calls it a covenant. The Lord said, you've made a covenant with death and with hell you're in agreement. He says when the overwhelming scourge comes, whenever the wrath of God comes, he says, I'm going to disannul your covenant. The only covenant that's going to stand is the covenant of grace, which is before time. That's how far it exceeds. And every time we make those promises or we try to make a covenant with God, we just break them over and over and over. It's just the facts of the matter. Until we meet the master one day.

The Lord comes to where we are amongst dead men, because we are dead, in trespasses and in sin. We're born into sin, shaped into iniquity. We have no hope of getting to God or understanding anything about God in the flesh. The flesh is enmity against God. It means it hates God. It's hostile. That's what the word means, hostile against God.

And yet in mercy, the Lord comes to where we are and he walks right up to us and he causes us to fall on our face and confess everything to him. We're full of demonic thoughts about who you are and about who we are, about what you are and about what we are, about your power and our power, about your choice and our choice. We're full of demonic thoughts. And the Lord says, depart. And he makes all those demons leave. All those demonic thoughts that we thought were right and the right thing to do and the right way to go.

And he says, no. And he says, sit down and rest. Rest on the Sabbath. Rest in the finished work of Christ. Here's a robe of righteousness that I have wrought for you by my own blood on the cross of Calvary that was purposed before time ever began. Now you're in your right mind.

What does all that mean? That means that this man believed God was absolutely sovereign, that he trusted in nothing but the finished work of Christ alone for his salvation, and that he knew that if he was gonna be kept, God was gonna have to be the doer of it.

He didn't have wrong thoughts anymore, he didn't have his own righteousness anymore, and he wasn't working for his salvation anymore, he was resting. Have you met the master? Are you resting in the finished work of Christ? Are you sitting at his feet or are you still trying to work?

When Paul said, work out your own soul's salvation with fear and trembling, he wasn't actually talking about working, figuring it out. He was saying, look to Christ with fear and trembling. Stop wondering about all these things that don't matter. Stop trying to figure out isms and shisms and whatever else. Look to Christ and live because he is salvation. You're not going to find it in a book. You're not going to find him at all. As a matter of fact, he's going to have to find you. He's not the maniac.

I am. He's got to come to where I'm at among dead men in the tombs. That's exactly what he does for every one of his children at the appointed time. He renders us powerless and calls us out of darkness into his light. Once we meet the master, we are clothed, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but having the righteousness, which is by the faith of the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

He's seated. We're resting in the sovereignty of God. We're resting on the Sabbath. Therefore there remainest a rest. under the people of God. That's what the scripture says. And we are believing that the finished work of Christ is all our hope and salvation. For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourself, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. And we're in our right mind. Salvation's of the Lord, it ain't about me.

If I'm gonna be kept, he's going to have to be the doer of it. He'll have to be the one that keeps me. How long till my last tick of my heart, till the last breath that I exhale, till my eyes close in death, do not leave me to myself for one millionth of a second. Because if you do, Lord, I will fall away.

In closing, I have the question, have I met the master? Well, have I been taught that he's absolutely sovereign? Have I been taught that my hope of salvation is only in the finish work of Christ alone? Have I been taught that if I'm going to be kept?

He's gonna have to be the one that does it. I can't keep myself. It's gonna have to be by his power. And the good news, the scripture says, you are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed at the last time. If you're clothed, seated, and in your right mind, God's the doer of it. God's the doer of it. Let's pray. Father, we ask that you would take these words and bless it to our understanding for your glory. Thank you for saving maniacs. Thank you for saving your people and doing it all. In Christ's name, amen.