Well, good evening. It's good
to see so many faces I haven't seen in a good long while. I'm so thankful that you're here.
If you would, let's open our Bibles together to John chapter
12. John chapter 12. To our congregation here, let
me give you these two bits of information. Aaron Simpson began
his chemo treatments at Ohio State today. If all goes as planned,
he and Michelle will be up there 30 days. We want to remember
them in prayer. And Sheila Thornberry had a surgery
to correct a hernia today, and we want to remember her in prayer.
All right, John chapter 12. We'll begin our reading in verse
20. And there were certain Greeks
among them that came up to worship at the feast. The same came therefore
to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him,
saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. Philip cometh and telleth Andrew,
and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus. And Jesus answered them,
saying, Now this is his answer to their desire to see him. This
is his answer. The hours come that the Son of
Man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth
alone. but if it die, it bringeth forth
much fruit. He that loveth his life shall
lose it, and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep
it unto life eternal. If any man serve me, let him
follow me, and where I am, there shall also my servant be. If
any man serve me, him will my father honor. Now is my soul
troubled, and what shall I say? Father saved me from this hour,
but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy
name. Then came there a voice from
heaven saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.
The people, therefore, that stood by and heard it said that it
thundered. Others said an angel spake to
him. Jesus answered and said, this voice came not because of
me, but for your sakes. Now is the judgment of this world.
Now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if
I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all unto me. This,
he said, signifying what death he should die. It is my hope
that as much as we enjoy seeing each other, we gathered here
this weekend, it is my heart's desire that we've all come here
this weekend, like these Gentiles, to see Jesus. And we're going
to see him. We're going to see him with eyes
of faith. We'll see him as he's preached,
lifted up, crucified as a sacrifice for our sin. And I'm confident
of this, that our two speakers this weekend each have three
messages prepared, declaring Christ and him crucified. It's
my prayer, Lord, bless you, man. May he bless you in preaching,
that he enable you to preach in the power of the spirit, and
that that same spirit will enable us to hear, to hear and to believe. That's why we're here. If not,
we've wasted our time. Let's bow together in prayer. Our father. Oh, how thankful
we are for this opportunity to meet together and to worship
your matchless name. And father, I pray that you would
enable us to worship, to worship thee in spirit and in truth,
that you might enable us to with the eye of faith, see our Lord
Jesus Christ and the messages that we hear preached, and to
sit at his feet in awe and in wonder, his matchless grace to
sinners. Father, I ask that you'd be with
our brothers as they come to preach these messages. Be with
them in a mighty and special way. Don't leave them to themselves,
but uphold them with thy spirit enable them to rightly divide
the word of truth. From their heart, speak Christ
to the hearts of your people. Father, bless us, I pray. Bless
us as we attempt to worship and praise your precious name. For
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, for his sake and his glory, we
pray. Amen. All right, let's stand together,
Shawn leads us in singing hymn. If you would please turn to song
number 32 in the red hymnal. Blessed be the name. All praise to Him who reigns
above, in majesty supreme, who gave His Son for man to die,
that He might man redeem. Blessed be the name, blessed
be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord, Blessed be the name,
blessed be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord. His name above all names shall
stand, exalted more and more, at God the Father's own right
hand, where angels adore. Blessed be the name, blessed
be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name,
blessed be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord. Redeemer, Savior, Friend of man,
Once ruined by the fall, Thou hast devised salvation's plan,
For Thou hast died for all. Blessed be the name, blessed
be the name, Blessed be the name of the Lord, ? Blessed be the
name, blessed be the name ? ? Blessed be the name of the Lord ? ? His
name shall be the counselor ? ? The mighty prince of peace ? ? Of
all earth's kingdoms conqueror ? ? Whose reign shall never cease
? ? Blessed be the name, blessed be the name ? ? Blessed be the
name of the Lord ? ? Blessed be the name, blessed be the name
? ? Blessed be the name of the Lord ? Now, if you would, continue
standing and turn to song number 129 at the cross. You. Alas, and did my Savior bleed,
and did my Sovereign die? Would He devote that sacred head
for such a worm as I? At the cross, at the cross where
I first saw the light, and the burden of my heart rolled away,
It was there by faith I received my sight, and now I am happy
all the day. Was it for crimes that I have
done He groaned upon the tree Amazing pity, grace unknown And
love beyond degree At the cross, at the cross where I first saw
the light And the burden of my heart rolled away It was there
by faith I received my sight, And now I am happy all the day. Well might the sun in darkness
hide, And shut his glories in, When Christ the mighty Maker
died, and the creatures sin. At the cross, at the cross, where
I first saw the light, and the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I received
my sight, and now I am happy all the day. The drops of grief
can ne'er repay the debt of love I owe. Dear Lord, I give myself
away, tis all that I can do. At the cross, at the cross, where
I first saw the light, and the burden of my heart rolled away,
It was there by faith I received my sight, and now I am happy
all the day. O Lord my God, when I in awesome
wonder Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made, I see the
stars I hear the rolling thunder Thy power throughout the universe
displayed Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee How great Thou art! How great Thou art! When through the woods and forest
glades I wander And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees
When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur And hear the brook and
feel the gentle breeze Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee How great Thou art! How great Thou art! And when I think that God His
Son not sparing Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in. That on the cross, my burden
gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin. Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee, How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee How great Thou art! How great Thou art! When Christ shall come, wish
out of acclamation And take me home, what joy shall fill my
heart Then I shall bow in humble adoration And there proclaim,
My God, how great Thou art Then sings my soul, my Savior God,
to Thee How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Everybody, like me, you're just
busting, aren't you? He'll lead us, let everybody
sing that chorus. You're busting, aren't you? I
am. Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee How great Thou art, how great Thou art Then sings
my soul, my Savior God, to Thee Our first speaker this evening,
Pastor Kevin Thacker of the San Diego Grace Fellowship. It occurred
to me over the last couple of days. Brother Kevin is a much
loved brother. Tom Harding in Pikeville, Kentucky
tries to claim Kevin as one of their very own because Kevin
spent time in Pikeville, Pike County. Clay Curtis, I'm not
lying, tries to claim him as one of his own because he spent
time in New Jersey. But now we here claim Kevin Because
he grew up here, and in my humble opinion, the only legitimate
claim is ours, except now to the brethren in San Diego. We
give you to them. And we're so thankful that Kevin
and Kimberly could be here with us. Kevin, you come and I hope
this feels like a homecoming to you. You feel comfortable,
and you bring the message God's laid on your heart. Good evening. How are you all
doing? I appreciate that chorus at the
end. I like to sing, but I ain't no
good at it. So when there's enough people
singing, I can sing as loud as I want, and I can't even hear
me. It's nice. That'll be like that one day,
won't it? You brethren in San Diego, California, if you didn't
know it, you have brothers and sisters there, and they say hello,
and they love you, and I'm going to send the warmest welcome I
could to you. And I spoke to Brother Cody Henson this evening.
He's preaching for me tomorrow. He says hello, wishes he could
be here. And thank you for having me.
Thank you. It's an honor and a privilege to come here. Frank called me and said, would
you like to come here? Chris preach. I said, I'd love to.
I called him a couple days later. I said, am I supposed to preach? So I will if I go first. I won't
go second. I'm the new guy. I get to go
first. I was trying to figure out how to start this message.
Years ago, 25 years ago, I started learning how to fly airplanes.
I didn't finish learning how to fly airplanes, but I started
learning. And right now, if you could get
me an airplane, I could fly it, but I can't start it. You've
got to start it for me. I can get up in the air and take
care of it. I thought of Henry. He helped me through English
class in high school, writing essays. He said, just tell them
what you're going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what
you're told. That's it. So I want to tell
you a few things this evening off the camera. I want to tell
you what happened before time began for us, what we consider
time, our small brains think of it, what the Lord purposed,
what Christ entered into that covenant of grace eternally for
His people in love. I'll tell you what He accomplished,
how He accomplished it, and how He speaks to men and women in
days of old, in our day, and any day to come. If he's going
to speak to a child of God, how he's going to do it is through
the preaching of the gospel. I started this study in Romans
15. Paul was talking and he said
he had not failed to preach the full gospel of Christ. And boy,
I thought, do I preach the full gospel of Christ? I know what that is. You know
what that is. Is that the gospel I was saved under or was I saved
under another gospel, which is not another, he said. I have
some great concerns over that in our day. Don't you? So many people. So many so-called
Christian soldiers, they want to know if I preach the full
gospel of Christ. And I said, what's that mean
to you? I said, you preach the full gospel, not the full gospel
of Christ, you preach the full gospel. And so many times, if
you boil it down, it's one thing they're looking for. You preach
baptism, you preach Sabbath keeping, you preach speaking in tongues. You preach morality. Ooh, that's
a big one. You preach men and women, they
got to toe the line? Is that what you preach? Is that
the full gospel? What a shame. You and I care about the full
gospel of Christ. Do we know what it is? Do we want to hear
the full gospel of Christ preached to us truly? Not teach, talk
about it. Do we want it preached to us?
What do we think that is? What do I think it is? You know
what I think it is? It don't matter what I think
it is. What does John Gill say? Oh, what does Mr. Spurgeon say?
Don't matter what they think. What's God say? His full gospel
of Christ is. That's what I want to know. Let's
turn to Psalm chapter 40. Psalm chapter 40. I hope there's a verdict today.
If God will enable you to stay with me, we'll walk out of here
saying that's the message of salvation. We'll walk out here
ignorant of the grace of God. May God bless his word to our
ears tonight. May this be the hour that he
is glorified, as our brother just read. Psalm 40. This is a messianic psalm. All
of them are. David wrote it. These are David's
words. But David wasn't just made a king by God. He was God's
prophet too. After his own heart. Holy God
purposed to save a people long ago before this earth was made.
How he did it. The work of doing that. Conforming sinners to the image
of Christ. That is unimaginable to me and
you. You can't enter into those things.
Man cannot fully enter into it. The love in this purpose, the
love in this work towards his elect is unmeasurable. It's unimaginable
and it's unmeasurable. We may have a taste of it. We
might be able to see through that glass dimly. That's all
we'll have. Here in verse 5, Psalm 40 verse
5 says, Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which
thou hast done and thy thoughts which are to us worth. They cannot
be reckoned up in order unto thee. If I would declare and
speak of them, they are more than can be numbered. Someone
may say of a preacher, God's preacher, he's not that good. I have a hard time listening
to him. He's not thorough. or is not easy to follow. Who
can preach the fullness of the Lord's covenant of grace towards
us and towards his sheep? Can you? Can I? Who's sufficient for these things?
Who's sufficient for these things? People say count your blessings.
That's what this verse is talking about. Number them. We sang a
song there in our hymn. Times are tough. You count your
blessings. Number them one by one. You're going to take your
mind off of that trouble you're in, ain't you? What a blessing
it would be. We're going to be tied up for
a while if the Holy Spirit's given us a new heart, made us
a new creature, given us eyes to see our Redeemer. Our blessings
are immeasurable. They're innumerable in Him. All
that was done for His chosen. All that love towards usward
in His power. All that was not because of something
in the person. The Lord didn't look through
crystal ball and see the future. He's not a fortune teller and
said, that's the people that's going to choose me. Those are
the people that aren't going to choose me. And so I choose the one that
chooses me. That's not it. There's nothing
in the center that's dependent upon a salvation. It wasn't our
doing. The Holy Ghost moved upon us, just like he said in Genesis
one, when it moved upon the deep and moved upon the water. Paul
says he abounds towards us. I always think of a linebacker.
Ain't no getting away from it. He abounds towards his people.
Gives us life. Gives us ears to hear. Convicts
us of sin. Convicts us of Christ's righteousness.
And we are completely persuaded that that judgment that He satisfies
is satisfied forever. Eternal. I look in verse 6 there. It says, Sacrifice an offering
thou didst not desire. Mine ears hast thou opened. Burnt
offerings and sin offering thou hast not required. What will
the holy God that we offended accept. We're told in the whole
Old Testament, all of it points to the sacrifice that was acceptable. Ever better. The lamb God was
satisfied with. The blood that truly covered
sin. Not in picture, not in type,
not in those sprinklings. All those spotless lambs. Think
how many there was throughout time. All those lambs that were
It pointed to the land. Across the land. Across our Lord,
the spotless land. That's what it pointed to. Look
at verse 7. This is our Lord speaking here.
Then said I, Lo, I come. In the volume of the book it
is written of me. What did he come to do? He came
to honor the Father. He came to uphold His glory. His holiness. There's a single
attribute of God we need to affiliate ourselves with primarily. It's
God's holiness. He's a holy God. And you know
what Christ did? He fulfilled. He came to declare
His holiness and He did. He upheld His Father in all things.
He came to save His people from their sins. Call His name Jesus.
For He shall not try, not attempt. He shall save His people from
their sins. And He did. It's done. It's finished. He came to fulfill
all the law and all the prophets. We couldn't do that. He did. It's done. He came to finish
the will of the Father. He did that. He came to ratify
His Lordship. The crown right to the King of
Kings and the Lord of Lords. And that's proven that He's accomplished
that by where He is now. He's ascended on high. He's seated
at the right hand of the Father above. All the Old Testament. It all pointed to him, all those
bloody sacrifices, those spotless lambs, the Messiah. He's coming. He's coming. All the gospels,
the God man is here. He's here with us. Here's what
he did. Here's what he said. Miracles
he performed on his people. Here's what he preached. The
epistles, he's coming again. He's coming again, primarily
first in the heart of his people. who are going to reveal Himself
in their hearts. And then when that last sheep
is called home to see Him, given life in Christ, this world is
over. He'll come again. He came, He lived, He died, He
was buried, and He rose again all for His elect, for His sheep.
And He did all that willingly. Willingly. I can't absorb that
enough. I can't enter into that enough. obligation, not out of a strict
stoic law, willingly out of love. Look in verse eight, he said,
I'd like to do that. We owe my God. Yeah, that law
is written within my heart. Our law is written within my
heart. He was a servant of the law. He was born under the law,
made a law servant to the law. Profitable, sir, a good servant,
a faithful servant. So many of us, like Onesimus,
we were unprofitable, sir. That's how we're born. That's
how we were made in Adam, in our head, come into this world.
The cross was the good, sir. Now, because of him, we're dead
to the law. That law's been fulfilled. The first five books of the Moses,
the first five books of Moses, I mean, call that, the Jews clung
to that, didn't they? They never did read that sixth
book in the scripture, Joshua. Jesus, Savior. We can see the
whole story of salvation, the whole promise of glory in that.
It starts in those first two verses of Joshua. Now, after
the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass
that the Lord spake unto Joshua, the son of Nun. Moses is minister. Joshua served Moses. Christ served
the Lord. Moses said, Moses, my servant,
is dead. Now, therefore, arise, go over
this Jordan, thou and all this people, unto the land which I
do give thee. That's us. Christ was risen for
us and he takes us across that Jordan, all of his people into
a land that the Lord gave. He said, I've prepared a place
for you. And that is to who be the children of Israel, his people. That's who that's for. Verses
five through eight there. This is what happened before
you and I was born. There was a purpose and a covenant that
took place before this world was formed. He says in verse
five, Many, O Lord, my God, are thy wonderful works, which thou
hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us worth. They cannot
be reckoned up in order unto thee. If I would declare and
speak of them, they are more than can be numbered. Sacrifice
and offering thou didst not desire. Mine ears hast thou opened. Burnt
offering and sin offering hast thou not required. And said I,
lo, I come, and the volume of the book is written of me. I
delight to do thy will. O my God, yea, Thy law is within
my heart. That's that covenant of grace.
Christ, our substitute, our surety. He entered into before we came
on the scene. And what happens to us? What
about that preaching of the gospel? That's where it comes to sinners.
That's how the Lord's chosen man to save his people is the
preaching of the gospel. Christ said. Christ spoke. You don't have to preach to us.
That's where we enter in. Here's the full gospel preached. The full gospel of Christ preached
from Christ Himself speaking to His Father. There's six things
here I want to look at. Five things, a result, and then
the end. What the end of it is. What the
result is in His people from this preaching. And it's simple. It's not complicated. Just a
few verses. Paul said it by, Fearless by any means as a serpent
beguiled Eve, through His subtlety, so your mind should be corrupted
by the simplicity that is in Christ. This isn't a complicated,
systematic theology. See, verse 9 and 10 is Christ
speaking to His Father, telling Him what He preached in this
earth and what He preaches in the hearts of His children through
the Holy Ghost. I want to listen in to that.
This is holy communication between the Son and the Father. I want
to know what they have to say. I don't want to speak up there.
I just want to be quiet and listen. First and foremost, here in verse
9, it says, I have preached righteousness in the great congregation. Lo,
I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest. I have
not hid thy righteousness within my heart. God is holy. All of his righteous acts are
because of his holy nature. All of our sinful acts come from
our sinful nature. All of his acts come from his
holy nature. What he does is right. I've been told that my
whole life. God doesn't do what's right.
What he does is right. We need to enter into that, don't
we? An unclean thing cannot be in his presence. A holy, unapproachable
God. That's who we offend. If we could
get a hold of that, well, we'd have a need, wouldn't we? We'd
have a need of a mediator. We'd have a need of an intercessor
to represent us, an advocate on our behalf. You don't want
to approach him. The holy God. He's righteous. It's what Christ preached. Everything
about him is holy. His angels are holy. His scriptures
are holy. His tabernacle, his temple are
holy. His throne above is holy. God's holy. That's what verse
10 says about not haunting thy righteousness. But up in verse
9 it says, I have preached righteousness. God has his own holiness, his
own righteousness before his people. You who believe Him through
Christ being made sin for us, we are made the righteousness
of God in Him. That's unmeasurable. That's innumerable. We can't count those blessings.
Can't enter into it. Can you reckon that? Can we tally
it up? And this is not hid of those talents that were given
to those servants. It's not covered up with a napkin.
This is high doctrine that we talk about when the grown-ups
are here and all the kids are gone. We don't cover that. This
is not hidden. It's the fruit of the Spirit.
It's spread abroad outwardly as it is inwardly. If God makes
you His righteousness, you will follow Him and it's going to
come out of you. You're going to tell whose righteousness you
have. Not something you performed. Not something you polished. Not
something you progressed in. His righteousness. He is our
righteousness. We're going to preach the full
gospel of Christ, we're going to have to tell about thy righteousness
and how sinners are made righteous in him. That's going to take
a lot of preaching to cover that in. I don't think I'm going to
be out of a job anytime soon. I'm going to work myself out
of a job. We'll never cover it. What else is preached? Secondly,
here in verse 10, it says, I have not hid thy righteousness within
my heart. I have declared thy faithfulness. God's holy. And he's faithful. He's faithful. God is faithful to his people. He said, I will never leave you
and I will never forsake you. He's faithful. I'm not faithful.
I'm prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I
love. He's faithful. He said, I'll never leave you.
I'll never forsake you. I'm always with you. And he's faithful to
comfort us. You that's been walking with
the Lord for a while. A trial comes on you. Boy, it's
going to be rough. Oh, thank you. Look at this huge
hurdle in my life. How hard this is going to be.
Take a second, count your blessings. Remember who's righteous. Remember
who's faithful. What's going to be the end state
of this trial I'm just starting? I'm going to see Christ at the
end of it. He's going to be glorified. He's going to be lifted up. I'm
going to trust him again. Look to him again. Come to his
feet begging mercy again, ain't I? And then right that quick,
we go right back to crying. I do. You probably don't. I go
right back to hurting. Oh, what am I going to do? That's
the end state. We know that going into it, don't
we? He's faithful to comfort us, and he's faithful to correct
us, and he does not change. He's a good father. Malachi said,
for I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore, because he doesn't
change, because he is faithful, his sons of Jacob are not consumed.
That's our hope. Speaking of a verdict, is that
your God? That's the God of the Bible. Hebrew writer said Jesus Christ
the same yesterday, today and forever. There is no Old Testament
God and New Testament God. He's the same. He's the same.
Paul said in Romans 11 for the gifts and calling of God are
without repentance. When a faithful God, the one
who is faithful, thy faithfulness, not us, not you, not me. He is faithful. When he gives
his faith, the faith of Christ to a sinner, It's not returned. Boy, isn't that something? This
ain't a dime store of salvation. The Lord's given you faith to
believe on Christ. If it's true faith, it's forever. You'll look
to Him for eternity. Trust in Him only. That's why you and God are faithful
to His people. But what a blessing He's faithful
to Himself. Not just to us, to Himself. He
honored His own holiness, that righteousness that was primary.
He honored Him. For His namesake, Christ was
faithful to the Father. How was He faithful to the Father?
How did He honor His righteousness and His holiness? He was our
substitute. He was our willing Redeemer. Our cross dying on
that cross. God was just and at the same
time justified those in Christ. He remained holy and was merciful. He was holy and was merciful.
There's so many times we say these things and we write these
words down and we read them. And boy, we think that's something. We got something right here.
Oh, if we can get it here. My children ain't here with me
and they probably ain't going to listen. I'm dad. They hear
me all the time. So I can probably tell it. My oldest one, he had
some goals he had to hit to go on the trip to the grandparents
this summer. He was pretty far away from those
goals he had to hit. And then boy, he come. Way up
close to them goals. I was so proud of him. Two or
three areas succeeded to gold. He was behind in one. And I wanted
to be merciful. My God was merciful to me. I
want to be merciful to him. Oh, it worked so hard. I was
happy with him. He was trying to please me. He
wanted to go on this vacation. But I had to be just. I'm dead.
I was walking down my driveway one day and I said, how can I
be just and merciful? I can't. You can't. You can either take the hard
stance of the law or you can take love. That's all we can
do. It's either love and grace and
mercy or it's sternness. No, no, we can't do that. I can't
do that. You can't do that. David wrote,
mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed Where did that take place? The cross of Christ on Calvary. That's where that took place.
I'm not able. God is able. Salvation is not
of man. Salvation is of the Lord. Jonah
had to learn that. Every one of his children are
going to have to learn that. He says in verse 10, I have not
hid thy righteousness within my heart. I have declared thy
faithfulness. Christ preached. this, the apostles
preached it, God's preachers in this day preaching. God is
faithful, not man's doing, not our strong faith. I have my faith, I have his faith,
I have any at all. It's God's who's faithful, the
object of our faith that we look to. Thirdly, it says in verse
10, I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart. I have declared
thy faithfulness and thy salvation. Salvation is the workmanship
of God in His people, for His people, and for His glory. Jonah learns. He had to spend
three days and three nights in the belly of a whale. That was
the trial the Lord gave him to show him. He had to be slew. He died. And he come out saying
salvation to the Lord. If we could just savor those
things. I try to tell our folks that
often. I read too much and I try to read big. When I sit down
to read, I always, oh boy, I want to keep reading. I want to see
what's next. I bite off more than I can chew is what I do.
Oh, if I could take just little bites and savor it, wouldn't
that be something? We read Romans 8 so often. Quote it. Quote it
to one another. For whom he did, he did foreknow. Then he also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his son. that he might be
the firstborn of many brethren. Moreover, whom he did. Set one
day about 15, 20 minutes. It's done. He did. We did predestinate
them, he also called and whom he called salvations of him. He also justified and whom he
justified past tense. Then he also glorified. Salvations
of the Lord from the conception of the thought of salvation when
it pleased the Lord. to make a people just like his
son, that covenant made with Christ before time began to the
ordering of all things, his providence, every atom that's ever been.
What did it take for God to save you? Everything. Everything. To the saving of his people,
to the preserving of his people and to the culmination. And we're
brought home to glory, salvation to the Lord. It's thy salvation. This world has things backwards.
They all say you need to do something for God and he's going to do
something for you. Wrong, right? God needs to do something for
the center. Then we're safe, isn't it? Fourthly, Christ preached
thy righteousness within my heart. I've declared thy faithfulness
and thy salvation and I have not concealed thy loving kindness.
If the Holy Spirit has given you life, you'll be moved by
this. Get a hold of it. The loving
kindness in the Father's purpose of His salvation to an undeserving
people. In love, He purposed to save
a people. The love of the Son in His person. Him being made a man. Him being
made somebody just like me. Born of a woman. His work. His person and His work. His
attitude of love while He willfully did those things. His accomplishment. Him being able to lay down his
life for his friends. His friend for a wretch like
me. What love? That's love. That's his lovingness,
his faithfulness. The loving kindness of the Holy
Ghost after this took place, coming to us, showing us what
we are. Boy, that stung. I don't feel good now when the
Lord reveals my sin to me. I'm ashamed. Guilty. But that's love. He needed to
show us that. Convincing us of Christ, His
righteousness, His faithfulness, His salvation, wrought in and
for His people because of love. Because of love. And the love
we now have, we possess. That love is ours. He's loved
us with an everlasting love. And He's coming to His people.
And in that new man in us, now we love Him who first loved us. And we love our brethren. My
family. I like you and I love you. Didn't have it before, did we?
We might have really liked somebody. We might have cared for them
some. Now we love them. They have the same God I have.
That's my brothers and my sisters. I love them. I'm declaring to
you what the full gospel is. The full good news. That's what
that is. What's that climax in? Can we
make that simpler? Can we boil it down to something
else? Something more savory. Look there in verse 10 again.
I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart. I have declared
thy faithfulness and thy salvation. I have not concealed thy loving
kindness and thy truth. Thy truth from the great congregation. What's all that summed up in
truth? Truth. Who's the truth? Christ said,
I am the way. the truth and the law. That's where it all lands. Christ
preached Christ. To who? The great congregation.
Every one of them. Every one. Where I grew up, I
took care of them up ahead of Meat House. That means probably
nothing to most of you folks. Where I was brought home from
the hospital in Big Creek, Kentucky. In that area, there's some people
that believe that Christ died for a people and you don't ever
have to hear Him. You don't ever have to see a
Bible. You don't have to know nothing about God. And if you're
His, you're just going to wake up in glory one day. The Lord said
He preached these things. He preached Christ, the full
gospel of Christ to the great congregation. They're going to
know Him. He's going to reveal Himself
in them. That's simple. What's the full
gospel of Christ? God wanted to make a whole mess
of people just like his son and in his perfect holiness. That's where it began. He was
faithful to save them to the uttermost salvations of him.
The whole time remaining just, remaining holy in a great act
of love and every bit of this, the whole Godhead was manifest
in a body. Jesus Christ, our Lord. How are
we preserved? That needs preached to that.
Don't just stop at yon yon. Do good. You got to. We got to
train them was off yon yon from here. That's not it. Look at
verse 11. Withhold not thy withhold, not
bow thy tender mercies for me, O Lord, let thy loving kindness
and thy truth continually preserve me. The love of God in Christ. The truth is what eternally preserve
sinners saved by grace, not us. Him. His salvation is eternally
preserved in his son as well. It began there. It was at its
fulfillment there and its culmination there and it's preserved forever
there in him. Paul said he preached the full gospel of Christ. What he preached was exactly
what Christ preached as he walked this earth. That's exactly what
he preached to the great congregation that he affirmed with his father
here in Psalm 4. Paul preached to the Gentiles.
That's good news to a Gentile. I preached the other day on our
high priest. Most of us, most people walking down the street,
you say, we've got a high priest. Well, that's nothing to him.
Is he in a special city or something? Well, he is. That's something
to it. That's precious to the reprobate.
Naaman, he was wroth hearing these things until he was broken.
So he went down that Jordan and dipped seven times. Nebuchadnezzar,
oh, he was jealous. He thought the Lord was doing
great things for those three Hebrew children because of him.
He said, I was a king. Look what the Lord's doing because
I'm here. Oh, and he broke him. He took that pride from him.
How does a child of God respond to this preacher? full gospel
of Christ. What happens when it's declared
in the heart? I can stand up here and I can be doctorally
on nose and have all my ducks in a row and tell you exactly
what the Bible says to people. But God, the Holy Spirit doesn't
move on you. He doesn't come in power and bless it to the
hearts of his people. That ain't going to do me no
good. He has to do it. What's going to be the result
of this declared in the heart? Look in verse 12. for innumerable
evils have compassed me about. Mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me, so that I am not able to look up. They are more than
the hairs of mine head. Therefore, my heart faileth."
When we see our sin, the Lord reveals, I'm not faithful. Salvation
ain't mine. I ain't righteous and I don't
love. I don't even know what love is unless He reveals it
to me. I'm nothing. I'm sin. I'm a noun. Sin ain't
what I do, it's what I am. Every fiber of my body, that's
me. Verse 13. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver
me. O Lord, make haste to help me. What's that saying? Lord,
if thou wilt, you can make me whole. It's your salvation. If you're pleased to do so, you
can save me. You're able. Do we bow to the person of Christ?
Him preaching Christ in our hearts? Or do we cling and bow to something
else? Do we have our own righteousness? Do we have our own faith? Do
we have our own salvation? Do we make a choice? Or is it
Him? The Lord had to do it all, didn't
He? I pray the Lord will be with
us, be with His people today. Show us Himself. I pray that
hour had come, that He's glorified. His salvation, His righteousness,
His loving kindness, His perseverance. And that every bit of that's
wrapped up in His Son. Amen. I hope that's good. Blessings
to you. You know, I did not ask Brother
Kevin to come three-quarters of the way across the country
to come here this weekend just to have Old Home Week. No, I
asked him to come here this weekend because our God's enabled him
to preach Christ. You never go wrong preaching
Christ, can you? In a very short time, he's proven himself to
be a faithful pastor. And I thank God for you. Thank
you for being here. Take an official break. I don't
want to stop our momentum. If you need to use the restroom
while we sing a couple songs, feel free, but rush back. Shawn's
going to lead us in singing a couple songs and then brother Chris
will come preach for us.