All right, now let's open our
Bibles to Psalm 103. Psalm 103. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Bless the
Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. He forgiveth
all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases, who redeemeth
thy life from destruction, who crowneth thee with lovingkindness
and tender mercies, who satisfy thy mouth with good things, so
that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's. The Lord executeth
righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed. He made
known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel.
The Lord is merciful and gracious. slow to anger, and plenteous
in mercy. He will not always chide, neither
will he keep his anger forever. He hath not dealt with us after
our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the
heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward
them that fear him. As far as the east is from the
west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like
as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that
fear him. For he knoweth our frame, he
remembereth that we are dust. As for man, his days are as grass,
as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind
passeth over it and is gone, and the place thereof shall know
it no more. But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting
to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness
unto children's children. to such as keep His covenant,
and to those that remember His commandments to do them. The
Lord hath prepared His throne in the heavens, and His kingdom
ruleth over all. Bless the Lord, ye His angels
that excel in strength, that do His commandments, hearkening
unto the voice of His word. Bless ye the Lord, all ye His
hosts, ye ministers of His that do His pleasure. Bless the Lord,
all His works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the Lord,
O my soul. I hope the Lord will enable us
to do that tonight. Let's bow in prayer together. Our Father, we come into thy
courts this evening, a thankful and a grateful people. Oh, how
we thank you that you are the redeemer of your people. How
we thank you for your mercy and your grace that would move you
to sacrifice your only begotten son to put away the sin of your
people. Father, we stand amazed in awe
and amazement at your mercy and your grace that you would cause
your son to suffer so much that the likes of us could be redeemed. Father, we're thankful. And Father,
I pray that this evening you would enable us to worship your
precious name. Enable us to, by faith, see Christ
our Redeemer. And Father, enable us to believe
Him. Enable us to see that He is everything that we need. And
cause us to rest in Him, to trust our soul to Him and Him alone. He is worthy. He's worthy of
our praise. He's worthy of our trust. He
has done all things well. Father, cause us to trust Him
to do everything that it takes. to save our sinful souls. Cause
your word, Father, to go forth in power and bring glory to your
name. And everything that we do here
tonight, Father, cause it to bring glory to your name. And what we pray for ourselves,
Father, we pray for your people wherever they're meeting together
tonight. Father, bless for your great namesake. In this dark,
dark day, Father, cause the gospel, the glory of your gospel, to
shine forth, we pray. And Father, we thank you also
for the many, many blessings of this life, how richly you've
blessed us. It's beyond measure, and we're
thankful, knowing we haven't deserved any of it. It's all
come freely of your hand. Father, we're thankful. We pray
that you give us the wisdom and the grace to use all these many
gifts that you've given us wisely and not selfishly. And Father,
we pray a special blessing for your people that you brought
into the time of trouble and trial. There are many going through
sicknesses and disease and many different difficulties, awaiting
tests and treatments. And Father, we pray that you'd
be with your people. how thankful that we are to know
that these things are not an accident, but they've come directly
of your will and purpose, and that you'll work them together
for good. For it calls us to find our rest and hope and peace
in thee. All these things we ask in that
name which is above every name, the name of Christ our Savior.
Amen. All right, now if you would,
turn back in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 48, My text is just a
few verses, two verses. So I thought I'd just read them
as we get started. Genesis 48. We'll begin reading
in verse 15. This is Jacob on his deathbed
and he blessed Joseph. He said, God, before whom my
fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all
my life long until this day. the angel which redeemed me from
all evil. Bless the lands, and let my name
be named on them in the name of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac,
and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. Here,
Jacob describes God the Savior in two ways. First, by what the
Lord did, and second, by who the Lord is. First, Jacob says
what we looked at last Wednesday, the Lord fed me. all my life
long. That word fed means that the
Lord has shepherded me all my life long. The Lord's ruled me
my whole life long so that he kept me from wandering off from
him. The Lord ruled me, kept bringing me back to Bethel where
he would reveal himself to me. The Lord associated himself with
me. That's what that word fed means.
He associated himself with me. That's just amazing to Jacob.
He associated himself, he calls himself The God of Jacob. Christ
came in the flesh with a body just like ours. A body and a
human nature just like ours so he would be associated with his
people. That's amazing, isn't it? And then that word fad means
my special friend. The Lord has been my special
friend all my life long. Greater love hath no man than
this that a man lay down his life for his friends. What a
friend we have. That's a special friend. He saved
me and he kept me. Led me and guided me my whole
life long. That's what the Lord did. Now,
second, Jacob describes God the Savior for who he is. Jacob calls
the Lord Jesus Christ the angel. And you know that, notice that
that angel begins with a capital A. That's one of the names of
the Lord, the angel. Now in the scriptures, you read
through the scriptures, you find the word angels fairly frequently. Sometimes that word angels refers
to angels in heaven, those glorious creative beings, the seraphim
that fly around the throne crying holy, holy, holy. Sometimes angels
refer to preachers who are God's messengers. And sometimes the
angel, is the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you read that in context,
you pretty easily figure out which one is being talked about.
And tonight I want to look at three times in scripture that
the angel is Christ our Savior. So we learn something about him
and what he's done for his people. As I began preparing this message,
I found a whole lot more than these three. We just don't have
time to cover any more than these three. but you might find a blessing
if you want to look those up for yourself this week. But the
first one I want to look at is here in our text, Christ, the
Angel of Redemption. Jacob says, the angel which redeemed
me from all evil, bless the lads. Now I know that this angel, it's
a capital A, it's referring to a person, I know this is our
Lord Jesus Christ. John Gill, he phrased it in a
way that I really like, Gil said, this is not a created being,
but an in-created being. I like that, it's the in-created
one. The Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal
God. And Jacob says, that's who redeemed
me, delivered me from all evil. Not only did the Lord deliver
Jacob from earthly troubles that he had, Esau and Laban, so many
people set out to hurt him, the Lord delivered him from them,
didn't he? But Jacob says, the Lord redeemed me from all evil. He delivered me from all evil.
The Lord has redeemed me from the evil that I am, my evil sin
nature. The Lord's redeemed me. He's
delivered me from the evil punishment that my sin deserves by suffering
it for me. The Lord redeemed me. He set
me free from that evil curse of the law, being made a curse
for me. The Lord redeemed me from the
controlling power of sin by causing me to be born again, giving me
faith that can't not trust Christ. I think this bears repeating
every time we talk about it. Being redeemed from the controlling
power of sin doesn't mean that you sin less than you ever used
to, because every believer knows that's not true. Being redeemed
from the controlling power of sin is now I have a new man, a new
nature. God caused that new nature to
be born in me and that new nature rules. My flesh tries to get
me to not trust Christ every single day. Many times a day,
don't you? But I can't not trust Christ.
Whereas before I couldn't trust him, now I can't not trust him.
That's that new man ruling. That's how God's delivered his
people from the controlling power of sin. Now we can only trust
our souls to Christ. And when Christ redeemed me from
all evil, He did more than simply pay the price that was on my
head. He didn't just go down there like, you know, we think
about being redeemed down to pawn shop and you go down and
you pay the price, you know, pull out your wallet and you
pull out a few bills and you pay the price and redeem something,
buy it back. Christ did more than just get
out of his wallet and pay the price. Christ redeemed me. He paid the price for my sin
debt with Himself. by sacrificing himself. He sacrificed everything that
he is. For a time, he sacrificed being
the prince of glory and humiliating himself to come to earth and
appear in the likeness of our sinful flesh. He sacrificed that. He sacrificed the lawgiver. Sacrificed and put himself under
his own law to obey it because his people couldn't do it. He
obeyed it for them. And then he sacrificed himself at Calvary,
body and soul. He sacrificed his body in that
awful, bloody, horrible sacrifice, and he made his soul an offering
for sin. He sacrificed everything that
he is so that he could redeem his people from their sin. That's
a whole lot more precious than just getting out a few dollar
bills to pay a price, isn't it? He sacrificed himself. That's
how much he loves and cares for his people. This word redeemed
that Jacob uses refers to the kinsman redeemer. It's the first
time the word redeemed is used in scripture. And it's used referring
to the kinsman redeemer. You remember what the kinsman
redeemer is in that great story of Boaz and Ruth, don't you?
If a person lost everything like Ruth and Naomi did, maybe they
lost everything because of bad management. Maybe they lost everything
because of bad economy or something. They lost everything and now
they're homeless. Now they're destitute. They have
no way to provide for themselves. But a kinsman redeemer could
come and redeem their property and give it back to them. That's
what Jacob's talking about here. Now in order to be the kinsman
redeemer, the person had to meet three qualifications, had to
meet all three. First, he had to be related by
blood to the debtor. And he had to be the nearest
He had to be the nearest relation. Second, he's got to be able to
pay the debt. And third, he's got to be willing.
I'd say that was a sticking point oftentimes, wouldn't you? A person
could be able, but rich people don't tend to give money away.
He had to be willing to pay the debt. Jacob's talking about our kinsman
redeemer. Christ the Savior, he's our kinsman redeemer. He
was made flesh so that he would be related to his people in the
flesh. He humiliated himself. Brother
Happy Eight said the longest journey ever was made, Christ
was made flesh and dwelt among us. Second, he's able, isn't
he? Oh, he's able to save to the
uttermost. He's able to pay the sin debt of his people because
he has sinless, pure blood that he can offer on the altar to
satisfy God's justice. And thirdly, this is the most
amazing story that's ever been told. He's willing. He's willing
to pay the price for the sin of his people because he loves
them. And even on his deathbed, Jacob
is amazed by this. The same way every person the
Lord's ever redeemed, we're amazed by this. The most amazing story
I can ever think of is The Lord of glory would do that for the
likes of me. He redeemed me from all evil. And now I'm free. I'm free from
any debt to God. I'm free from any debt to God's
law. I'm free from any debt to God's justice because Christ
paid my sin debt for me by dying in my place. Jacob says, that's
the Lord that redeemed me. The angel that redeemed me. And
Jacob's dying desire is that the Lord would bless his sons
the same way the Lord blessed you. He said, I want my name
to be named after the God of Jacob. I want him to be your
redeemer, your savior too. His dying desire was his children
be given faith in Christ the same way he had been. That's
a pretty good legacy to leave to your children on your deathbed,
isn't it? There's nothing better than knowing Christ. He's the
angel that redeems his people from all evil. Redeems us from
the evil of original sin and Adam, and redeems us from all
the sins that I've committed on my own. He's redeemed us from
all evil. He's the angel of redemption.
All right, now look over at Exodus chapter three. Here's the second
thing. Christ is the angel of the sacrifice. Exodus chapter three. Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro
his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock
to the back side of the desert, and came to the mountain of God,
even to Horeb. And the angel of the Lord appeared
unto him in a flame of fire, out of the midst of a bush. And
he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush
was not consumed. Now I know this angel of the
Lord is Christ. Because of what he says later
on, look at verse six. Moreover, he said, I'm the God
of my father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God
of Jacob. And Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look upon
God. This is God in that bush talking
to him. Look over at verse 14. And God
said unto Moses, I am that I am. And he said, thus shalt thou
say unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent you. This one
speaking in the bush is the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember how he
told those Pharisees? He said, I am. Before Abraham
was, I am. This is Lord Jesus Christ. He's
the angel speaking to Moses. He's the Son of God,
the Word of God that speaks to men. And here's the message that
Christ gives us at the burning bush. And it all tells us, works
together to tell us about salvation through the sacrifice of Christ,
the Son of God. The message of the burning bush
is God's holy. Verse three. And Moses said,
I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush
is not burned. And when the Lord saw that he
turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of
the bush and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, here am I. And he
said, draw not nigh hither, put off thy shoes from off thy feet,
for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Now God tells
Moses, Christ tells Moses, God's here. God's here. That makes this place holy. Now
you approach it reverently, carefully. God's chief attribute is his
holiness. Everything God does must be holy. If God's gonna save sinners,
and he's promised he's gonna save sinners, but now if God's
gonna save sinners, it's got to be done in a holy manner.
God's promised to save sinners, but now if he's gonna do it,
God has to make it right for him to do it. Because everything
God does must be holy and without sin. Well, here's our big problem. Man is unholy. Our nature is
unholy. Everything we do, think, and
say is unholy. That's why Moses had to take
off his shoes. It's a sign of humility and reverence. This
is a sin of her approaching the holy God. He's gonna do it reverently
and humbly. But now no man can approach God
in our sin as we are. Something's got to be done about
our sin before we can approach God. And the way God puts the
sin of his people away is through the sacrifice of his son. That's
what this burning bush is a picture of. This bush burned with fire,
but it wasn't consumed. It didn't turn to ash. And this
bush, interestingly enough, is a thorn bush. That's a picture
of Christ bearing the curse of sin for his people. When Christ
was made sin for his people, he bore that fire of God's wrath
because he was bearing the curse of sin. That's what that thorn
represents. When did thorns first start growing
on the earth? As a result of Adam's sin, wasn't
it? Thorns represent the curse of
sin. And this bush burned, but the
wood wasn't consumed. The wood wasn't burnt up. That's
a picture of Christ the self-existent Christ the Savior, He was made
a sacrifice for the sin of His people. He burned in the fire
of God's wrath, but He wasn't consumed. He wasn't destroyed. Oh, He died, because that's what
the law demands. The law demands death for sin,
doesn't it? He died, but He didn't stay dead. He rose again. He wasn't destroyed. He couldn't
be destroyed because He's the sinless sacrifice. That's how
God can put away the sin of His people. is by the sinless sacrifice
of Christ the Savior. He suffered until the fire of
God's wrath went out. The fire only went out when sin
was gone. When the sin of God's elect was
gone, the fire went out, the suffering ended, and the Savior
gave up the ghost. That's how God puts the sin of
his people away. That's how the angel redeemed
his people from all evil He died in their place, and now their
sin is gone, and they can come to God and be accepted. It's
all because of the angel of the sacrifice. All right, thirdly, look at Malachi
chapter three. Last book in the Old Testament,
Malachi chapter three. This is Christ the messenger.
the angel of God's covenant. Malachi 3, verse 1. Behold, I will send my messenger,
and he shall prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom
ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger
of the covenant whom ye delight in. Behold, he shall come, saith
the Lord of hosts. Malachi mentions two angels here.
The word messenger, behold I send my messenger, he shall prepare
the way before me and even the messenger of the covenant. Those
two words messenger, the same word translated angel back in
our text in Genesis chapter 48. This first angel or messenger,
that's John the Baptist. He was sent by God as the forerunner
of Christ. He came to tell folks, Christ
the Savior is coming. John's message was, behold the
Lamb of God. Look to him. You see, behold
the Lamb of God was taken away the sin of the world. This is
him. Now you trust him. You trust
him. John had those disciples and
you know what he did? He pointed his disciples to Christ
and they left him and followed Christ and John wasn't upset
about it. Because that's what he wanted.
He wanted them to follow Christ. That was his message. And so
that's what I told you at the beginning of the message. Sometimes
this word angel means a preacher. This is one of those times, referring
to John the Baptist. But this second messenger, or
this second angel, is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the messenger
of the covenant. He's the messenger of God's covenant
of grace. And Malachi says, this messenger
is the Lord whom ye seek. And I looked at that, and I know
this is only, he can only be speaking to spiritual Israel
here. Because it doesn't look to me like very many people are
seeking Christ as a Jew. Even when Christ came in the
flesh, not everyone was seeking Christ, were they? Some were,
but not everyone was. There were some who were seeking
him, but they were just seeking him for temporal blessings. They
were seeking glory for the Jews. They wanted a restoration of
the good old days. They wanted to restore the glory
and the power that the Jews had when David and Solomon were king. That's what they wanted. They
were living in the past. And that's something we need
to be very careful to never do. We're not trying to recreate
the past. We're trying to serve God today.
Today, in our generation. And that's what many people,
if they were looking for Christ, that's what they were looking
for. They were looking for an earthly king. But then there were some
who are like Simeon and Anna. Simeon was waiting for the consolation
of Israel. Simeon was waiting for the salvation
and the comfort of Israel. He was waiting to seek God's
salvation. He understood exactly what Malachi
was talking about here. Behold, he shall come. That's
who Simeon was looking for, the Redeemer. Simeon was looking for him. and
I was looking for him. Maybe a few others were looking
for him. And suddenly, Christ appeared in his temple. Suddenly,
the Lord Jesus appeared in that building of stone, that building
that was dedicated for his worship. Suddenly, the object of worship
was there. I mean, nobody expected him to
come that day, but he did. Here he came. The Lord suddenly,
unexpectedly appeared in his temple as an eight day old baby. to be circumcised. Simeon probably
wasn't expecting him that day, but when he saw that baby, somehow
he knew this is God's salvation. Somehow he suddenly appeared.
Years later, he suddenly appeared at his temple. The disciples
were all excited about these stones and this temple, this
great building, and our Lord told them, one greater than Solomon's
here. He suddenly appeared at his temple. But I tell you mostly
what this is talking about. Now that truly happened, didn't
it? He suddenly appeared. But what does that mean to your
soul today, in 2024? Not much, does it? Not much. Tell you what this is mostly
talking about here, when Christ appears in salvation to His elect. You know, believers are the temple
of God. That's what Paul tells us, 1
Corinthians 6, 19, If you're a believer, you're the temple
of God because the Spirit of God dwells in you. That makes
you His temple. He dwells in your heart. You're
the temple of God. Just like the church. When we
talk about the church, it's not a building. The church is people. Every believer on earth, every
believer in heaven. There's one church. There's one
church. And Christ comes and He appears
in that. He appears to His people. He appears in their hearts. He
dwells in their hearts. And I can tell you, the story
of how this goes on. We're going through our lives
in unbelief, in darkness, can't see, don't care to see. And suddenly, Christ appears
in his temple. Suddenly, he appears in the hearts
of his people through the preaching of Christ. And suddenly, there's
spiritual light, spiritual life. Interestingly enough, I say that
happens suddenly. You may not know what's happened
at first. You know that? I'm as sure as anything that
I have faith in Christ right now. Sure as anything. I trust
him. I do. It's weak faith. I'm ashamed of the strength of
my faith. But now, Eric, I trust him. I do. I trust him. But I
can't tell you the first day that I did. The light was turned on. It took,
maybe it took me a while to realize it. I don't know, but you might
not just, you know, Christ can suddenly appear in his temple,
but now you may not just exactly know it right away, but this
is the angel of the covenant suddenly appearing to one of
his people. And I'll tell you why that happened. Because before
human time began, the father, chose that person to salvation. He chose them unto salvation.
He chose them and he put them in his Son to redeem. And Christ
the Son came in the fullness of time. And he redeemed that
person by the blood of his sacrifice. And now the Holy Spirit has come.
He supplied that blood of Christ to the heart. He gives faith.
He gives life. He gives light. And now I see
Now I see Christ, and once I see Him, I trust Him to be all of
my salvation. That's God fulfilling His covenant
of grace in the heart of one of His people. And now that covenant
is fulfilled, isn't it? It's fulfilled in that person.
It's fulfilled in their heart. They've been saved by grace through
the obedience and through the sacrifice of Christ, just exactly
like God promised in His covenant of grace. It's been fulfilled
in their heart. And every single time before
I preach, that's what I pray for. Maybe today will be the
day of salvation. Today will be the day that Christ
will suddenly appear in the hearts of one of his people. Malachi calls Christ our Savior,
the messenger, the angel of the covenant. And in that covenant,
that covenant of grace, Christ is everything. He's everything
in that covenant. He's the surety of that covenant. He's the mediator of the covenant,
and he's the messenger of that covenant. He's all in it, isn't
he? Everybody here knows that God
has a covenant of grace, don't we? We all know that. I would
say many people know that. God has a covenant of grace.
That covenant is talked about all through the scriptures, isn't
it? Well, Malachi tells us Christ is the messenger He's the messenger
of that covenant. Now Christ didn't come just to
tell people about the covenant. People already knew something
about the covenant, didn't they? That's what preachers do. Preachers
can tell people about the covenant. The most that I can do is tell
you about God's promise of grace in Christ. I can tell you about
it. I can tell you about Christ.
I can tell you about his sacrifice. I can tell you about his grace.
I can tell you about his beauty. And I can tell you to trust him,
but I can't give you the faith to do it. Christ came to do a
whole lot more than that. Now, he did come preaching the
gospel, didn't he? He came preaching the kingdom,
but he did a whole lot more than preach. When Christ came, he
revealed the covenant of grace. See, Christ gives his people
eyes of faith so that they see. He reveals it to them. So they
see the whole covenant of God is fulfilled in Christ Jesus.
And once Christ comes to me, once I see in His light, now
I see. Now I see what all the fuss is
about. Now I see why everybody loves Him so much. Now I see
why people sing His praises. Now I see. Now I see how a sinner
can keep the law that God requires. It's in Christ. It's in His,
I can't do it, but He did. I see that righteousness is in
His obedience. Now I see. Now I see how sinners
can be truly made righteous. It's by the sacrifice of Christ.
Christ was made sin for His people, and He made that sin to not exist
by His sacrifice. Once sin's gone, I'm righteous.
It's by the blood of Christ. Now I see. It's not by me straightening
up and acting more moral and acting holier than thou. It's
by Christ putting my sin away. Now I see. Now I see. How could God choose
me? I see that in scripture. It is
plain as day in scripture. Almighty God elected a people
unto salvation. My big problem is I can never
figure out why would God choose me. But once I see Christ, now
I see it's because He chose me in Christ. Now I see how can
God accept me? How can I come to Him in prayer
and God hear my prayer and accept me? How is that possible? Once
I see Christ, now I see I'm accepted in the beloved. It's not in how
well I act, I'm accepted in Christ. Now I see how can God be just
and holy and right and still justify a sinner like me. How's
that possible? It's only by the sacrifice of
Christ. I see now, I see how God can be just and merciful
at the same time. It's in Christ. He gave Christ
the justice and punishment that I deserve so that he could be
merciful to me. The blood of Christ made it right
for God to be merciful to me. Now I see. See, salvation by
grace is obvious once I see Christ. The gospel of Christ is the most
simple thing on this earth. It's the most simple thing. Sabrina
teaches it to three, four, and five-year-olds every Sunday,
and they understand what she's saying. But I can't believe it
until Christ comes to me. Then it's so obvious, it's so
clear. See, that's how Christ is the
messenger, the angel of the covenant. He reveals Himself to His people. And this is not just a mere head
knowledge. Now, you know, if God saves you, you know some
things. Now, you know some things. But this thing of knowing Christ,
being saved by Him is a whole lot more than head knowledge.
Malachi says here, once we see Him, we delight in Him. We delight in Him. Christ becomes
our delight. Salvation isn't just mentally
agreeing to a few facts from the Bible. Salvation is knowing
Christ. It's knowing a person. Salvation
is a person. Salvation is finding joy in Christ,
joy in Him. And this is not joy, like you
gotta have, you know, a bunch of music and, you know, a band
with a, you know, what is, you know, a good drummer can get
that beat going. Kind of gets you feeling pretty good, doesn't
it? They can play that electric guitar and, I mean, you know,
get your heart pumping, get you, you know, feeling a certain way.
Everybody being excited around you, they can get you feeling
a certain way. But what about when you go home,
you're all by yourself? and you're alone with God. What
about that? A dear brother recently told
me he's been in a great deal of pain and it keeps him up all
night. He typically can't fall asleep
after sunrise. Now, what do you do at three,
four in the morning when it's all dark and everything looks
the worst, right, at that time of day? There's joy in Christ. There's joy in trusting Him. He's in control of this thing.
Not me. There's joy in that. There's
real joy. Even in pain and heartache and
disappointment in this flesh, there is genuine joy knowing
Christ has died for my sin. Since He died for my sin, I'll
never be condemned. Maybe this pain, this suffering,
maybe this is what the Lord's gonna use to take me out of this
place, take me out of this world. That's all right. I have joy
in knowing that when he does, I won't be condemned. There is
real joy. This is not just a doctrinal
thing. Now, there's real joy in knowing Christ is my righteousness. Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord, our
righteousness. I hate my sin. I wish I would
never sin again. I wake up every day determined
to sin less than I did yesterday. And as of yet, I have not succeeded
in that endeavor. But when I do, I hate it. I hate it. I don't want to give
in to it. But I don't have to worry. God's going to cast me
off because of my sin. Because Christ has already died
for my sin. Christ is not looking to me for
that perfect obedience. He looks to Christ for it, not
me. If Christ is my righteous, I have genuine joy. God's not
gonna cast me off. He'll never cast off the righteous. There is real joy in knowing
I can come to the Father in prayer. I can come to Him thanking Him. I can come to Him praising His
precious name, praising Him for doing something so wonderful
for somebody so wretched as me. I can come before His throne,
pleading the person and merit of Christ, and know I'll be heard. You know, if I sin, God's not
gonna suddenly quit hearing my prayer. If that were true, if
God just suddenly, He's gonna quit hearing my prayer because
of my sin, God never would have heard one of my prayers, because
all I ever do is sin. But God hears my prayer for Christ's
sake. Now there is real joy in that
knowing I can come before the throne of grace at any time,
at any time of need, and I'll be heard for Christ's sake. Doesn't that give you joy? There is real joy in not having
to fear death. I don't have to fear the death
of this body if Christ already died for me. If Christ already
died for me, I know this is appointed unto men once to die, and after
that, judgment. If Christ died for me, I'll never
be condemned in judgment. If Christ was condemned for me,
I can't be condemned for the same sin, because that would
be unholy. And that's what Moses told us
about the burning bush. The first thing I know, God's
holy. He's not going to do something unholy. He's not going to condemn
me for my sin if he condemned Christ for it. If Christ died
for me, all the death of this body is gonna do is usher my
soul into glory, into the very presence of Christ. When that happens, you can weep
with those loved ones of mine that are left behind, but don't
weep for me. There'll be no more tears. That's
joy. Now that's joy. You can take
that with you out into the world tomorrow. And you can live with
that joy. And that's joy to die by. And it's all because of the angel
of God. All right, I hope the Lord will
bless that to you. Let's bow together. Our Father, we can't even find words to sufficient
to say thank you there's no word sufficient to to praise you for
correctly for who you are what you've done but father from our
hearts we do thank you we praise your matchless name father it's
our prayer that you take your word as it's been preached tonight
that you'd apply it to each heart here let each one of us see the
glory of the angel of the covenant, the angel of redemption, the
angel of the sacrifice, and cause us to have that genuine joy and
peace and rest of heart in trusting Christ, Christ and Christ alone. Father, it's in his name, for
his sake and his glory, we pray, amen. All right, Sean.