Well, I want to turn you back
to Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy chapter 33 and looking at the last verse
of Deuteronomy chapter 33 this morning, verse 29. And I've called it the happiness
of God's Israel. You'll have seen that theme reflected
in the first two hymns so far, and the same is true of the last
one. You see, the Bible, as I've often told you, the Bible is
primarily overwhelmingly the revelation of the grace of God
to the elect of God. That's the purpose. It's not
to teach humanity in general how to live, and if only they
would live like that, wouldn't it be a lovely place? No, it's
to reveal to the elect of God the grace of God. and there are
basically two messages in the bible don't jump ahead of me
don't worry I'll calm any fears that has raised when I say that
but there are basically two messages one is a fiery law in verse two
of Deuteronomy chapter thirty three it says a fiery law went
for them for the people of God from the right hand of God a
fiery law went out a fiery law which showed the absolute strictness
of the holiness and the justice of God. How God cannot tolerate
sin, he is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. And it's
not just you must be on the whole good, you must be 100% perfect. What Peter read in Galatians
3, cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things written
in the book of the law to do them and it implies continually
without ever failing in one tiny respect it is a fiery law and
that fiery law is given do this and live the covenant of works
do this and live but set against it all of the time from front
to back is redemptive grace because the fiery law can do nothing
other than curse whereas redemptive grace shows us salvation, salvation
from sin, salvation from that which is so opposed to the nature
and person of God, redemptive grace, grace which is free, freely
given to his people, and redemptive in that it means it has paid
the price, it has bought the salvation, it has been bought
with the precious blood of the Lamb of God. The purpose of the
law, the fiery law, is to show us the impossibility of works-based
salvation. There's nothing wrong with the
law, it's perfectly good and right and just, but the weakness
of the flesh means that it is impossible for anybody, ever,
to be declared righteous before God by the works of the law. So we read again and again, therefore
by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified in his sight. Impossible. And what does that
do? We read it in Galatians 3. It is a schoolmaster. It's not
like a modern, kind, nice, I'm looking at you children, you've
got lovely, kind, nice school teachers, haven't you? Schoolmasters.
You know, they're generally speaking, they're so concerned about your
welfare. Not like the days when I was at school. where the headmaster
was a man that was feared because he had a big cane and he would
use it and it was very painful and he would drive you to behave
yourself and that's the schoolmaster that the scripture talks about
in Galatians 3. The law is a schoolmaster that
drives us away from trying to be right with God by the law
and drives us to find salvation in Christ and Him alone. Now Moses in the first five books
of the Bible is the mediator of that old covenant of law works. He's the mediator of it. Do this
and live. He is the one who stood at Sinai
between God whom the people feared greatly. They shook with fear.
They trembled. They told Moses to put a veil
on his face because they couldn't bear to look at him because he'd
been in the presence of holy God and they are sinners. and
he stood as a mediator between God on Mount Sinai giving the
law and them in their situation. He mediated the covenant of the
world. Here is the law, do this and you shall live. But not only
was he a mediator of the law, but he was typical, he was a
type, he was a pattern of Christ And Christ is the mediator of
a better covenant than that covenant of works. Christ is the mediator
of the new covenant of grace. This is what God says in the
Old Testament, doesn't he, time and time again. In Jeremiah he
says, the covenant that I will make with them is not like the
covenant I made with their fathers, that covenant of works, but this
is the new covenant. I will put my laws in their minds
and in their hearts. I will give them a heart of flesh
and take away the heart of stone. It's a new covenant, a new covenant
of grace. And so we read in John's Gospel,
chapter 1, verse 17, the law, that fiery law of strict do and
live, offend in one point and die. Surely you shall die. The
law was given by Moses, the mediator. But grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. Nevertheless, as I said last
week, Moses knew gospel grace. Turn to Hebrews, chapter 11.
Just follow this with me. If you can look at these scriptures,
it will be good. If you can't, keep up, doesn't
matter. Don't worry, you can get it later. But Hebrews 11,
verse 23. Hebrews 11, as you know, is the
chapter of faith. It's the chapter of what the
patriarchs saw. Faith is a sense, it's a spiritual
sense. It's the spiritual sense of seeing
spiritual things that the natural man cannot receive, for they're
spiritually discerned. It says in verse 23, by faith,
by what he saw spiritually, Moses, when he was born, was hid three
months of his parents because they saw he was a proper child.
Mysterious words, a proper child. It means that he was in the purposes
of God for the good of his people. And they were not afraid of the
king's commandment. Pharaoh had said that children like Moses
were to be put to death. By faith, Moses, when he was
come to years, when he grew up, He, you know, he was brought
up as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He was brought up in the palace
of the Pharaoh of the greatest empire of the time, Egypt. He
was brought up as a royal person. But when he grew up and came
to maturity, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,
the adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter. What did he choose
instead? Look at verse 25. He chose rather to suffer affliction
with the people of God because the Hebrews were suffering affliction. He chose that rather than to
enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. What would you have
chosen? Would you have chosen the pleasures of sin for a season?
He chose... Why? Why did he choose that?
We've already read it. By faith. By what he saw. By
the reality of spiritual things that he saw. And he esteemed,
verse 26, the reproach of Christ. Because if you follow Christ,
the kingdom of this world, the kingdom of Antichrist, the kingdom
of Satan, will pour scorn on you. It will oppose you. it will
try to bring you down. He esteemed that reproach of
Christ. Greater riches, oh what great
riches in Christ that the world cannot see. Greater riches than
all the treasures in Egypt, don't forget he was brought up prince
in Pharaoh's household, the adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter. all
the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense
of the reward." What reward? The reward of salvation, accomplished
by the Christ that he looked to. He esteemed the reproach
of Christ. He looked to Christ. 1500 years or so later, he looked
to Christ, the promised seed, the seed of the woman. the heir
of Abraham, the seed of Abraham who would come to redeem his
people from the curse of the law and by faith he forsook Egypt
and it's verse 28 through faith he kept the Passover he didn't
just kill a lamb for the sake of killing a lamb and shedding
its blood he did it because of what he pointed to and what it
graphically illustrated that the Lamb of God The Lamb of God,
slain from the foundation of the world, would come into time
and be slain on a cross for the sins of his people. He kept the
Passover, looking to that blood which would speak better things
than the blood of Abel. The blood of Abel, who was murdered
by his brother Cain, only cried out from the ground for vengeance,
for justice. that the blood of Christ cries
out to God for justice for he has established it for he has
put away sin in the death of himself in the sacrifice of himself
in the shedding of his own precious blood and when the Passover was
sacrificed it was all pointing in pictures to what Christ would
come and do. And through faith, through belief,
Moses looked to that. You see, Moses knew Christ. He was typical of Christ as a
mediator of the new covenant. He knew that grace. Now, back
in Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy, as I told you last
week, Deuteronomy, the name means, literally, second law. It's a
reiteration of the law that Moses had already given in the other
books of the Pentateuch, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers. But
in chapters 32 and 33 just before the end and chapter 34 is only
about Moses going up on the mountain to see the land of Canaan but
there to die because God has said you will not go in yourself
to see the land. So in chapters 32 and 33 it's
full of gospel grace. Right here in these books of
the law written by the man who was the mediator of the old covenant
of works are two chapters of glorious gospel grace electing
grace because that's the true gospel of God electing grace
particular redemption you read about it, it's all about the
blessings upon Israel's tribes, what's he speaking of? that God
is a God of particular redemption For whose sins did the Lord Jesus
Christ die? Who did he redeem? Did he make
it possible for everybody without exception? That's not what the
scripture says. The scripture says, for the transgressions
of my people was he stricken. the transgressions of my people.
Call his name Jesus, for he shall save everybody if they want to
choose him. It doesn't say that. He shall
save his people from their sins. This is gospel grace, electing
grace, particular redemption. And it's summarized in verse
29. Now look at verse 29 with me.
Happy art thou, O Israel. Who is like unto thee, O people
saved by the Lord? the Lord who is the shield of
thy help and who is the sword of thy excellency and thine enemies
shall be found liars unto thee and thou shalt tread upon their
high places that's the verse I want to consider this morning
in the time we have available but first of all I want to answer
this question, because I want it to be absolutely clear. Who
is Israel? If you get a copy of the bulletin,
I know I haven't printed many this morning, but it's on the
internet, on the website, I've written an article about who
is Israel. Who is Israel? Who is it? There's
so much confusion in our day. There always has been. Down the
years there's been so much confusion. we need to be clear when the
scripture speaks about israel what's it talking about there
are hordes and hordes of so-called protestant christians who believe
it is talking about that nation in the middle east today as a
fulfillment of the prophecies of the old testament and that
the jews are returning back to their homeland and christ is
going to come again to reign from jerusalem and they're going
to reinstigate uh... reinstitute the uh... the temple
sacrifices et cetera et cetera that's absolute nonsense Do you
know the trouble that that causes? The trouble and the political
conflict in our day, down the last hundred years, the political
conflict that that has caused, because of that fundamental error
of thinking. Let's see, what does the scripture
teach us? Who is Israel? Turn to the book
of Romans. We've been looking at Romans
on Wednesday evenings, and last Wednesday we were in chapter
9, And I want you to turn to verse 4 of chapter 9, Romans
chapter 9 and verse 4, where Paul is saying how much sorrow
he has because his fellow Israelites, the Jews of his day, because
Paul was a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, His kinsmen, according
to the flesh, had rejected the gospel of grace. There they were,
the ones who were meant to be the custodians of the truth of
God, and they had rejected the gospel of grace. And he talks
about them in verse four. He says, these are the Israelites,
to whom pertaineth the adoption, to whom The adoption of God,
to be called the children of God. In a sense, all are children
of God by virtue of creation, but all are not children of God
by virtue of grace. He says to the Israelites, pertained
that adoption of children and the glory. What do we mean? When
they wandered through the wilderness, the glory of God went with them.
And where we're looking in Deuteronomy, it's the end of the 40 years
of wandering and the glory of God went with them. And the covenants
were there. The covenants were there. The
giving of the law. The service of God. The promises. All this belonged to those who
were called Israelites, of whom Paul himself was one. Whose are
the fathers? The patriarchs. Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob. They were Jews. This is where
the Jewish nation came from. And of whom, as concerning the
flesh, Christ came. Christ came from the Jews. He
was born a Jew. That's where he came from. That
line was preserved. That godly line that had the
truth of God, and the temple of God, and the sacrifices of
God, and the priesthood, and the word of God, and the umim
and the thumim. All of these mysterious things
where God revealed himself to this little people. Christ came
from that people, who is over all. Christ came, who is over
all. Who is Christ? He's God, blessed
forever. not as though the word of god
is taken on effect see what what is it what why are they not then
now wholeheartedly pursuing the gospel of christ because they're
not ah he says They're not all Israel, which are of Israel. They're not all the true Israel
of God, the spiritual Israel of God, the spiritual people
of God, who are descended from Abraham. Neither, because they
are the seed, the physical seed of Abraham, are they all children
by virtue of faith, spiritual children. But you see Abraham
had other children, he had Ishmael and others after that, but it's
in Isaac, shall thy seed be called, that is, they which are the children
of the flesh, Jewish descendants from Abraham, these are not necessarily
the children of God. they're not children of God by
virtue of being descended from Abraham but the children of the
promise are counted for C Abraham's descendants by faith are the
Israelites that the scripture speaks about now turn over to
Galatians where we read in Galatians chapter 3 and in verse 7 we read
this before know ye therefore that they which are of faith
same faith that Abraham and Moses and the patriarchs had looking
to Christ. They which are of faith, the
same are the children of Abraham. I ask you this morning, do you
have the faith of God's elect? Do you trust the Lord Jesus Christ?
Well, the scripture says you're a child of Abraham. you're one
of the sons and daughters of Abraham you're children of Abraham
because he had that faith he epitomized that faith which is
the mark of God's elect of God's people have you got that faith
if so you are the children of Abraham they're the same thing
and in verse ten we saw uh... about the law and its curse verses
thirteen but christ has redeemed us from that curse of the law
being made a curse for us for his people for it is written
cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree why was he cursed verse
fourteen that the blessing of abraham the blessing promised
to abraham might come on the gentiles not just on those who
were physically descended from him through Jesus Christ that
we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith and
then verse 21 is The law then against the promises of God God
forbid for if there had been a law given which could have
given life Verily righteousness should have been by the law But
the scripture has concluded all under sin that the promise by
faith of Jesus Christ by what he faithfully accomplished might
be given to them that believe but before faith came We were
kept under the law, shut up unto faith, which should afterwards
be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring
us to Christ. But after faith is come, We're
no longer under that law, schoolmaster, we're under Christ. Ye are all
children of God, all, Jew, Gentile, irrespective, by faith in Jesus
Christ. It's your faith which is the
gift of God that he has given you to see your justification
in the Lord Jesus Christ, irrespective of what your racial, ethnic background
is. For as many as have been baptized
into Christ have put on Christ. So there are no differences,
no Jews, Greeks, bond, free, male, female, all one in Christ
Jesus. And if you be Christ's, are you
Christ's? Then you are Abraham's seed according
to the promise. You see, Old Testament national
Israel was just a picture. It was just a type of the true
Israel of God. It indeed contained the true
Israel of God. But they were never all of them,
it was never possibly even a majority of them. Look at Romans again,
turn back to Romans and chapter 2. And you don't need to get
there, I'll get there for you. Romans chapter 2 and verse 28.
where Paul says clearly he is not a Jew that is a true servant,
child of God which is won outwardly which is won by virtue of physical
descent neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh
just the physical, you know you're not a child of God because you've
been baptized in a pool of water, you're a child of God because
of regeneration of the Holy Spirit which you seek to demonstrate
to this world by being baptized He is a Jew which is one inwardly,
and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not
in the letter, whose praise is not from men, but from God. This is the Israel of God. Jesus
saw Nathanael coming, he said, look, there is a Jew, clearly,
he says, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile. In Philippians
3 verse 3 Paul says we are the true circumcision We Gentiles
he's talking to a Gentile church because why because we? Worship God in the spirit. We
rejoice in Christ Jesus and we have no confidence in the flesh
Not descended from Abraham but because of those things, those
spiritual things. True spiritual Israel is the
elect of God, the manifest people of God in this world. How do
we know them? as Paul says to the Thessalonians,
by sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. It's
the people, the multitude that no man can number, written in
the Lamb's book of life. Multi-ethnic multitude of sinners
saved by Christ and qualified for eternal glory in Him. So
what's the conclusion of this? When we read the Old Testament,
and we read about the blessings and the promises to Israel, and
the glorious situation for Israel, and the wonderful things that
are promised to Israel, this is the key to it. If you get this right in your
mind, you will be saved from such terrible error. When you
read that, you are perfectly justified in substituting the
New Testament Church, the Church of Christ, the true Zion of God,
the Church of Jesus Christ, His people, His redeemed people.
Those promises in the Old Testament to Israel are for the Israel
of God, Galatians 6.16, the Israel of God. Now, let's go back then,
with that in mind, to verse 29 of Deuteronomy 33, and it says,
Happy art thou, O Israel. Happy are you, believing people
in these New Testament days, happy are you, if you've trusted
the Lord Jesus Christ, if you know that you're resting in him,
happy are you. What is the cause of your happiness?
The cause of your happiness is not, if I can put it this way,
it is not the waters of this world. It is not, you know, I
use the term water because water, if you were here on Thursday,
in this country on Thursday, apparently, they're yet to confirm
it, but it seems like it was the highest temperature ever
recorded in Britain at Cambridge on Thursday. It broke the highest
temperature ever recorded. It's unofficial at this stage,
but 99% certain they're going to say that that was the highest
temperature ever. And here, it was absolutely dreadful. In this
country, unlike you folk in the United States, we generally don't
have air conditioning in our houses because 99.9% of the time
you don't need it. The air is nice and fresh enough
off the Atlantic Ocean that we don't need it. But on Thursday,
wow, it was unbelievable. And I don't know how many pints
of water I drank on Thursday just to try and keep hydrated
and refreshed. We stayed indoors with all the
windows and doors closed because it was so hot outside. And in
here we blew the air from a fan over a clothes airer covered
in damp towels. And we actually managed to reduce
the temperature in here by about 8 to 10 degrees below what it
was outside. water was a very refreshing thing
it was a very satisfying thing it was a lovely thing so using
that analogy the waters of the world the things that refresh
the spirit the things that make the spirit happy Jesus said to
the woman at the well in Samaria, John 4, 13 and 14, she was drawing
water from the well and it was stagnant water down the old well
of Jacob. And oh, they thought that was
such good water, this water of this world, this well of Jacob.
And he said to her, whosoever drinketh of this water, that
you're drawing out of this well, of the world's water, shall thirst
again. but whosoever drinketh of the
water that I shall give him shall never thirst again. There is
a water that God in Christ gives to his people that is eternally
satisfying. Fundamentally eternally satisfying. The cause of Israel's happiness,
that water from God. Jeremiah 2 verse 13 my people
have committed two evils the nominal people of God they have
forsaken me the fountain of living waters and hewed them out cisterns
broken cisterns into which to put the water of the world but
it can't even hold the water of the world what are the waters
of the world? let me suggest some health isn't
that it? if you haven't got it I tell
you if you've got it you don't notice it But as soon as your
health is taken away from you, how much you notice, how much
we desire in this flesh to have healthy bodies? Wealth. Oh, you
say, well, as long as I'm just nicely ticking along, fine. But
when hard times come and it's all taken away, wealth is the
water of this world that you want. family relationships of
what you want things in this world the peace that comes from
being at peace with society and neighbors all around us and colleagues
at work and friends and all that sort of thing these are the waters
of the world that give us a happy life in general gives the world
a happy life but you know for the people of God he often embitters
the waters of this world to teach us not to rely on the waters
of this world When the Israelites came out of Egypt and into Sinai
and at Exodus 15, so not long into their journeys, because
the Passover's chapter 12, so not long in there, they'd gone
across the Red Sea and they start wandering and they're getting
thirsty, because it's a wilderness. And they come to Marah, and there
was water there. And they, oh, great, look, look,
great, big lake of water. Right, let's go and drink. Ah,
bitter, bitter. they couldn't stand it. I imagine
that's where the French word for bitter, amer, is it amer,
yeah? bitter waters and God had to
show Moses when he prayed, he showed Moses a tree and he cast
the tree into the waters and it made the waters sweet, that's
a picture of Christ and of grace but God embittered the world's
waters taste to his people that they might not overvalue them
to wean them away from the world's waters there are so many warnings
against valuing the world's waters in scripture charge them that
are rich in this world says Paul to Timothy in the church there'll
be rich people in the church that's a good thing we need people
that have got some money the church needs resources to do
the business the commission that God has given it charge them
that are rich if you have money that they be not high-minded
not trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who giveth
us richly all things to enjoy. Israel's happiness is in God's
grace. God has chosen you to salvation
in Christ. Happy is Israel. If you know
God has chosen you to salvation in Christ, what need is there
to envy to envy any if you have God's grace within. Do you see
how it's the absolute trump card for everything in life? If you
have the grace of God within and the knowledge of eternal
life that comes with that, what need is there to envy anybody
or anything? You look at all that glitters
in this world. You look at the prosperous and
the famous in the world whose existence is so fleeting Somebody
put it like this, like gilded dragonflies on a summer's day.
Have you seen them? You wander by water courses this
time of year and you see some beautiful dragonflies. But many
of them are only there for a day. That's it. It's here today, gone
tomorrow. Don't misunderstand me. We need
believers with riches in this world, as I've already said.
But, do you envy the things of this world? if you have the grace
of God in your heart you see look happy art thou oh Israel
who is like unto thee the people of God and when I say remember
when we say Israel we mean the church of Christ we mean the
people redeemed by his grace we mean all the people of God
who is like unto thee people of God answer nobody is like
unto thee there's only Israel only Israel, these are God's
manifestly believing, Spirit-sanctified people. Are we among them? These
manifestly believing, you know, in other words, it's known that
we believe the gospel of God's grace, and we're sanctified by
his Spirit, and we're the people who are the objects of his blessing. He has said he will bless his
people. And he blesses especially, and particularly, and distinctively. He favors them. How does he favour
us? In electing grace. He said to
Moses, Romans 9.15, he said to Moses, I will have mercy on whom
I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will
have compassion. He's a God of grace, and if he's
put you in that number, if he's written your name in the Lamb's
book of life, oh, what a blessed thing. not because of what you
are as he said to Israel in Deuteronomy 7 verses 7 and 8 he said the
Lord did not set his love upon you nor choose you because you
were more in number than any people for you were fewest of
all the people but simply this because the Lord loved you just
because of undeserved love and grace only for Israel only for
the Israel of God Has God paid redemption's price with the precious
blood of his darling son? He says by Paul in 1 Corinthians
6.20, you are bought with a price. He says by the prophet Malachi
400 years before Christ came about his people, the ones he's
bought with a price. He says, they shall be mine,
saith the Lord of hosts. In that day when I make up my
jewels, These people that he's favoured, he calls them his jewels. If you and I are among them,
we're the jewels of God according to his word. And he says, I will
spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. He
kept Israel, we read, as the apple of his eye, as the most
tender spot. You cannot, nobody will, you
won't let anybody touch the apple of your eye, the core of your,
it's so sensitive. And God says his people, this
people that he's saved, are so sensitive to him he's so protective
of them he kept Israel and that's the New Testament church as the
apple of his eye he who spared not his own son but delivered
him up for us all how shall he not with him freely give us all
things he who made his beloved son who knew no sin to be made
the sin of his people that his people might be made the righteousness
of God in him for he paid the penalty for that sin oh what
a glorious thing how greatly blessed of God and so Isaiah
says Isaiah 61 verse 10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord happy
Israel happy who's like you? nobody I will greatly rejoice
in the Lord my soul shall be joyful in my God for he has clothed
me with the garments of salvation and covered me with the robe
of righteousness. How things appear now is not
how they are for eternity. Jesus told the parable of the
rich man and Lazarus the beggar and he said there was this rich
man who lived sumptuously, he fared well, he dressed in the
richest clothing he had the best furnishings he had the best food
and lived in his palace and the poor begging man Lazarus had
nothing and he was covered with sores he didn't even have health
and he sat begging at the gate of the rich man and that was
the state of them in this life but Lazarus Lazarus was in the
bosom of the Lord Jesus Christ Lazarus was a saved person though
he had nothing in this life and they both died and they went
into eternity and the rich man who had had no thought for the
things of God or the salvation of Christ in this life went to
where all such go he went to hell and in hell although the
parable does not teach us doctrine about how things are in hell
it shows us that the reality of the fact that there is bitterness
and regret over a life misspent and the rich man is in torment
saying please go to my brothers and tell them to repent and to
seek God and Lazarus from heaven in the bosom of Abraham has to
tell him there is a great gulf fixed between us and it cannot
be you cannot go it's absolutely impossible what you are in this
life is what you will be for eternity we're told that clearly
in revelation but oh how blessed to be amongst the Israel of God
and know that you are saved because we're rescued and armed and I'll
be very quick with what I've got left because look Who is
like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, who is the shield
of thy help and the sword of thy excellency. A people saved
by the Lord. Get the sense of that word. and
put yourself in that position and think is that me saved by
the Lord you imagine a bonfire about once a year I have a great
big bonfire down the end of the garden with all of the waste
stuff from the summer usually in about November when everything's
died back and it makes good ash which fertilizes the ground so
that's a good thing but you get some big lumps of wood And can
you imagine that the fire is going and it really gets very,
very hot, and you get sun that are light. And I tell you, when
I leave it, the next morning when I go down there and it's
smouldered all night long, those hard pieces of wood are just
dust. It's just disappeared, there's
just a thin layer of dust there, it's gone. Now you imagine one
of those bits of wood and it's a light but I decide to save
it from the fire and I pluck it out. That's the idea that
we as sinners are plucked as brands from the burning. Or another
picture, imagine a raging ocean and someone's overboard and they're
going to drown and it needs the helicopter and the helicopter
comes with the winchman and down upon the storming sea gets that
man and can he do anything? Here's a rope, grab hold of it,
can't, no strength, no strength, about to drown, about to die
but the winchman comes down and rescues him and saves him, this
is the word, saves out of that raging ocean oh what a blessing
to be chosen by the father you see this is this work of salvation
is a work of the trinity of the godhead chosen by the father
in electing grace before the beginning of time redeemed by
the son who suffered and bled in the body that was prepared
for him a body hast thou prepared for me he came in that body who
thought it not robbery to be equal with God, left eternal
glory and came down humbly, became obedient as a servant, obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross, the shameful death
of the cross that he might bleed and die in that body to satisfy
the justice of God regarding the sins of his people. and regenerated
in time, from being what we are by nature, which is children
of wrath even as others, to be renewed by the Spirit and made
new, so saved by the Lord. What a blessed thing to be. Would
you do as Esau did? You know what Esau did? He sold
his birthright for a bowl of soup. No, if you truly know the
grace of God, how blessed of God to know it in your head,
to believe it in your heart, to enjoy it in your life, to
rejoice in Christ Jesus. But he doesn't just save us,
he arms us. You know in Ephesians 6, take unto you the whole armor
of God. He says he is the shield of thy
help. God shields his people from their
foes. What are our foes? What are our
foes? you see there are external foes
outside of us and there are internal foes within us our own self is
the biggest foe that we have more often than not but he protects
us from a fiery law, that fiery law that would condemn us the
shield of faith says Ephesians 6.16 take to you the shield of
faith faith which is seeing the truth of God and all accomplished
in Christ is a shield against those fiery darts that come from
Satan of accusation He shows Christ accomplishing, having
accomplished the redemption of his people. He shields us from
a guilty conscience which would drag us down and would convict
us, but Christ's redeeming blood has silenced all accusations.
You know, conscience convicts us but the blood of Christ cleanses
from all sin. Romans 8.33, I know it's one
of my most often quoted verses, but who shall lay anything to
the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who
is he that condemns? It is Christ that died, yea rather
that is risen again. Who is even at the right hand
of God who makes intercession for us? And Satan, of course,
is constantly coming as a foe at the people of God. But God
shields us. You know, we see a picture in
Zechariah chapter three of Joshua the high priest and Satan standing
beside him to accuse him. And he accuses him of being a
sinner and filthy and vile. And God says there, I've cleansed
him. I have cleansed him. God is the
defensive shield of his people. He is the defensive armor, but
also the offensive armor of his people. He gives them a sword.
He is the sword of excellency, the sword of God's excellency. Because again, in the next verse
in Ephesians 6, 17, take to you the sword of the Spirit. What's
the sword of the Spirit? It is the word of God. In Christ,
when we see him in Revelation, in Revelation 19, 13 to 15, we
see this glorious being and his name is called the Word of God. And out of his mouth goeth a
sharp sword. What does it do? It cuts down
and slays all opposition to the truth of God. It's a sword of
the Word, the Word of God. Acts like that sword in cutting.
It cuts right down to the core of us. from external sources
outside to internal sources. When your sinful flesh rises
up in opposition to God's truth, which I know it does, doesn't
it? When you're in this world, when you're taken up in the things
of this world, when the world is clamouring in all around you
and your sinful flesh rises up in opposition to God's truth,
what should you do? Pick up the sword of the spirit.
Pick up the sword of God's word and kill it, kill that opposition,
put it to death, put it to flight. How do you do it? Peter alluded
to it in his prayer. By this word of God, get it in
you. When I read the histories of
the men of God of a couple of hundred years ago, the preachers
that I so greatly admire and read so much of, I see what was
the one thing that marked them out from the rest? their study
of this book. They studied it, they ate it,
they took it into them, they meditated upon it, they compared
scripture with scripture, they were fed by it they were armed
by it and they wielded it in the purpose of God and so we've
run out of time so I won't finish the final point just victory
promised about your enemies being liars and standing upon their
high places will be triumphant in the end we're going to eternal
glory that's it we're going to eternal glory for the salvation
of God is triumphant over everything that opposes it. O happy art
thou O Israel. We are indeed blessed with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Amen. Well let us now sing our closing
hymn.