Would you turn back to Luke chapter
21? Beginning in verse 5, And as some spake of the temple,
how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said, As
for these things which you behold, The days will come in the which
there shall not be left one stone upon another, that they shall
not be thrown down. And they asked him, saying, Master,
but when shall these things be? And what sign will there be when
these things shall come to pass? And he said, Take heed that you
be not deceived. For many shall come in my name,
saying, I am Christ, and the time draweth near. Go ye not
therefore after them? But when you shall hear of wars
and commotions, be not terrified. For these things must first come
to pass, but the end is not by and by. Then said he unto them,
Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
And great earthquakes shall be in diverse places, and famines
and pestilences, and fearful sights and great signs shall
there be from heaven. But before all these, they shall
lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the
synagogues and into prisons, being brought before kings and
rulers for my namesake. And it shall turn to you for
a testimony. Settle it therefore in your hearts
not to meditate before what you shall answer for I will give
you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries shall not
be able to gainsay nor resist and you shall be betrayed both
by parents and brethren and kinsfolks and friends and Some of you shall
they cause to be put to death and you shall be hated of all
men for my namesake but there shall not an hair of you your
head perish and In your patience, and in your endurance, in your
perseverance, possess ye your souls. And when you shall see
Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation
thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judea
flee to the mountains, and let them which are in the midst of
it depart out, and let not them that are in the countries enter
thereinto. For these be the days of vengeance, that all things
which are written may be fulfilled. But woe unto them that are with
child, and to them that give suck in those days! For there
shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people.
And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led
away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem shall be trodden
down of the Gentiles, until the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
And there shall be signs in the sun and in the moon and in the
stars. And upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity, the
sea and the waves roaring, men's hearts failing them for fear
and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth.
For the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall you
see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great
glory. And when these things begin to
come to pass, then look up Lift up your heads, for your redemption
draweth nigh. Now this was the Lord's answer
to the disciples' question. They heard him say that the temple
was going to be leveled to the ground. Their response obviously
is, when's this going to take place? When's this going to take
place? In Matthew's account, They said
also, what shall be the sign of thy coming? And when shall
the end of the world be? Now, beloved, the end is coming. The world as we know it shall
be no more. And there will be an end. Now the Lord answers both of
these questions, when the temple will be destroyed and what the
time of his second coming shall be. In verses 20, and when you
shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the
desolation thereof is nigh. Verse 24, And they shall fall
by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into
all nations. And Jerusalem shall be trodden
down of the Gentiles, until the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
Now this refers to the Lord's prophecy concerning Titus, the
Roman governor, coming in in 70 A.D. and completely leveling
the city. And if you would get the Jewish
historian Josephus, he tells all about it. And it's one of
the most horrific things to ever take place, the torment that
they experienced at that time when Titus came in and completely
leveled the city. And indeed not one stone was
left upon another. And the Lord foresaw this because
the Lord ordained it. He foresees the future because
he's in control of the future. And he lets them know that this
is what would take place. And then in verses 25 through
29, he's speaking of the second advent. Now, it's important for
us to understand in this passage of Scripture, some of the things
have already come to pass. The leveling of Jerusalem in
70 AD. Some of these things came to
pass in the book of Acts. He said, you'll be hated of all
men for my sake. Don't think about what you're
going to say because I'm going to give you the words which you
need to say and nobody's going to be able to resist the spirit
in which you say them. You can read about that in the
book of Acts. Now, we don't have time to consider
all the ridiculous end times teachings that people make with
regard to this passage of Scripture. Most of it has already taken
place. Let me show you an example of that. Turn to Acts chapter
6. Remember when he said in verse
14, Settle it therefore in your hearts not to meditate before
what you answer, for I give you a mouth and wisdom which all
your adversaries shall not be able to resist. Acts chapter 6 verse 9. And there were certain of the
synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines and
Cyrenians and Alexandrians, of them of Cilicia and of Asia,
disputing with Stephen. And they were not able to resist
the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake. Then they suborned
or hired men which said we've heard him speak blasphemous words
against Moses and against God. He's against the law. And they
stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes came upon
him and caught him and brought him to the council and set up
false witnesses which said this man ceases not to speak blasphemous
words against this holy place. For we have heard him say that
this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place and shall
change the customs which Moses delivered to us. And all they
that sat in the council, looking steadfastly on him, saw his face
as it had been the face of an angel." Now after his message,
look in verse 54 of the next chapter. And when they heard these things,
they were cut to the heart. Acts 7, verse 54, And when they
heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed
on him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy
Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory
of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said,
Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on
the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud
voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord,
and cast him out of the city, and stoned him. And the witnesses
laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul.
the Apostle Paul, who would become the Apostle Paul. And they stoned
Stephen, calling upon God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my
spirit. And he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, Lord,
lay not this sin to their charge. And when he said this, he fell
asleep. Now we see this as an example of what our Lord prophesied
in Luke chapter 21 coming to pass in the book of Acts. And the last few verses that
I read talk about his end I look forward to that, don't you? To
think of the Son of Man coming with the clouds and with great
glory and every eye will see Him and everybody will know exactly
who He is. Oh, we say even so, come Lord
Jesus. But in this passage of scripture,
what really caught my attention, what I thought about was verse
12, that before all these, they shall lay their hands on you,
at Luke 21, 12. They shall lay their hands on
you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and
into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my namesake. And it shall turn to you for
a testimony. Look in verse 16. You shall be
betrayed both by parents and brethren and kinsfolks and friends. And some of you shall they cause
to be put to death, just like Stephen. And you shall be hated. of all men for my name's sake. Now we're going to get back to
that in a minute, but let's look real briefly at what he's saying
in verse 9. And when you shall hear of wars
and commotions, be not terrified. For these things must first come
to pass, but the end is not by and by. You're going to hear
of all kinds of political upheaval, wars, commotions. Isn't that
right now? We have that going all the time.
Now you see that? The end is not yet. Then said
he to them, nations shall rise against nation, kingdom against
kingdom, great earthquakes shall be in diverse places, and famines
and pestilences and fearful sights and great signs shall there be
from heaven. My dear friends, that's going on right now. There's
wars, there's earthquakes, there's tsunamis, there's all kinds of
things taking place. Just like Christ said they would. Now, somebody said to me recently,
if God is a God of goodness and God of love, why doesn't he rechannel
those tsunamis? Why doesn't he take away those
hurricanes and tornadoes and all those horrible things where
innocent men and women are destroyed? Why does he do that if he's a
good God? Well, there's only one problem
with that statement. There's no such thing as innocent men
and women and children. There's no such thing. And whatever
God does is right. And he's in control of everything. And this has always been. Earthquakes,
divers places, famines, pestilences, diseases, fearful sights and
great signs should be in heaven. But before all these, they shall
lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the
synagogues and into prisons, being brought before kings and
rulers for my namesake. And the book of Acts is a history
of everything that took place where they were brought before
kings and rulers. And it shall turn to you for
a testimony. The world is going to see you
suffering for my namesake, and that'll be a testimony to them
through the reality of the gospel. they're going to see you willingly
suffering for my namesake. Verse 14, settle it therefore
in your hearts not to meditate before what you shall answer.
For I'll give you a mouth and wisdom with all your adversaries
shall not be able to gainsay nor resist. Now this is a verse
of scripture some people use to where a preacher doesn't need
to study. Don't study, just You know, God will give you what
you need. You open up your mouth and it'll come out. And that's
a pretty good excuse not to study. That's not what the Lord's talking
about, believe me. But he's saying at that time, at that time of
conflict, you'll be given exactly what you need to say. Verse 16,
and you shall be betrayed both by parents and brethren and kinsfolk
and friends and some of you, should they cause to be put to
death. And you shall be hated of all men. for my namesake. But, that being said, there shall
not a hair of your head perish in your patience, in your endurance,
in your perseverance possess ye your souls. Now this is another way of saying,
he that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved. Now
understand this. If I'm faithful to the gospel,
I'm going to make enemies. If I tell people what I believe,
who I believe, I'm going to make enemies. That's just the way
it is. But you know what? I want to
identify with the gospel in such a way that wherever Christ is
being dishonored, wherever he is being denied, I want to identify
myself with those people who are standing for him and his
truth. You know, I heard just this first
time I've ever heard this, and it really hit me so much. During
the time when so many people were being burned at the stake,
there were people who were seeing their pastors burned at the stake
for what they preached. And there were many people in
these churches who said, burn me too. I believe what he believes. I stand for what he believes.
I don't want to be left out in this thing. I want to identify
myself with the gospel. And by his grace, I'm willing
to die for the glorious gospel of the blessed God. Now, that's
the attitude I want to have. I want to identify with his truth,
with his gospel, no matter what it costs me. The best thing that
could happen to any of us, other than being saved, is to be privileged
to die for the cause of Christ. What an honor. What a blessing.
And he's saying some of you will be put to death in your patience.
Possess your souls in your endurance. He that endureth to the end,
the same shall be saved. Now verses 20 through 24 is that
prophecy concerning the destruction of Jerusalem. It would happen
40 years later. And it's all set out in the book
of Josephus. And then he talks about his incoming. But the thing that I want to
ask is verse 17. And you shall be hated of all
men for my name's sake. And here's my question. Why?
Why? You shall be hated of all men,
for my name's sake. Now turn with me for a moment
to John chapter 15. John chapter 15, beginning in
verse 18. If the world hate you, you know
that it hated me before it hated you. If you love the world, the
world would love his own. But because you are not of the
world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the
world hateth you. Remember the word that I said
unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord. If they
persecuted me, they'll also persecute you. If they've kept my saying,
they'll keep yours also. But all these things will they
do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that
sent me. If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not
had sin. But now they have no cloak for their sin. He that
hateth me, hateth my father also. If I had not done among them
the works which none other man did, they had not had sin. But
now they have both seen and hated. both me and my father, that this
cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that's written
in their law, they hated me. They hated me without a cause. Again, I ask why? Why does the
world hate the believer? It's because they hate the believer's
Savior. the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, you'll be hated of all
men for my name's sake. Now I'm going to make enemies
if I keep my mouth shut. And if I fail to identify with
the gospel, his preachers, his church, nobody will know. But
you know what I'd be? I'd be one of those people described
in John chapter 12 verses 42 and 43. Nevertheless, among the
chief rulers also many believed on him. But because of the Pharisees,
they would not confess him. Because lest they should be put
out of the synagogue, for they loved the praise of men more
than the praise of God. Now listen to this statement. It's very important. A man doesn't
know he hates God and Christ until he hears the gospel. Now that hate is already there.
He doesn't realize it. That's the average man on the
street. Do you hate God? Why no, I love God. Do you hate
Jesus Christ? Why no, He's my personal Savior.
I love Jesus Christ. I love God. Now, you preach the
gospel to them. I don't love that God. I don't love that Christ. As I said, men's enmity toward
God is not seen until they hear the gospel of Christ. Now, let
me show you this in the scriptures. Turn with me to Luke chapter
4 for a moment. Now this was a religious gathering
turned lynch mob after they heard the Lord Jesus in verse 28 of
Luke chapter 4. And when all they in the synagogue,
when they heard these things, what the Lord said, they were
filled with wrath and rose up and thrust him out of the city,
and laid him under the brow of the hill whereon their city was
built, that they might cast him down headlong. They were going
to throw him over a cliff and kill him. But he passing through the midst
of them went his way. Now what were these men so angry
about? Was it because he healed the sick and fed the hungry and
performed miracles? No. They were all for that. They
were all for getting fed. They were all for getting healed
if they were sick. They weren't upset with that. They were upset
with what he said. What he said took away their
hope of personal salvation. Now, look what he said. Verse
22, And all bear him witness, and wondered at the gracious
words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is
not this Joseph's son? And he said unto them, You'll surely
say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself. Whatsoever we've
heard done in Capernaum, do also in thy country. We want to see
these miracles as well. And he said, Verily I say unto
you, no prophet is accepted, even the Lord Jesus, in his own
country. And he was in his hometown. But
listen to this, that I tell you of a truth. Many widows were
in Israel in the days of Elias. when the heaven was shut up three
years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the
land. But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta,
a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow, a Gentile woman.
And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet,
and none of them were cleansed, save a name in the Syrian." Now
this is what they got so mad about. They were hoping for salvation
in them being Jews. We're Jews. He said there are
a lot of Jews. in the day of Elijah. And God passed by every one of
them and saved a Gentile woman. That's telling me my hope's no
good because my hope's being a Jew. Now, if he would have
said, God is sovereign in salvation, they would have said, Amen. If
he would have said, God saves the Jews, they'd say, Amen. But
when they find out what they're hoping in is no good. They were
so angry, they sought to throw him off of a cliff. They were
angry for what he said. Turn to John chapter 5. While you're turning there, the
Lord is saying, you fellas are no different than those Jews
who were passed by as an act of God's justice. You don't believe
me? You say, isn't this Jesus, the
son of the carpenter? We know him. What? Why do such
things come out of his mouth? You're exactly like them and
God is passing you by. And they became so angry, they
wanted to throw him off of a cliff. Look in John chapter 5, verse
16. Therefore did the Jews persecute
Jesus and sought to slay him. Because he'd done these things
on the Sabbath day. Now their righteousness was in
what they thought was their adherence to the Sabbath. We didn't cook
today. We didn't gather any sticks. We stayed at home. We didn't
go swimming. We didn't let the kids play. We kept the curtains
closed. We kept the Sabbath. They had
no idea what the Sabbath meant. Not even a clue. And so when
the Lord did this on the Sabbath day, he's raining on their parade. He's showing no regard for the
Sabbath. He's saying this is their custom of the way they
keep the Sabbath has nothing to do with salvation. And you
know what they wanted to do at that time? They wanted to slay
him. They wanted to kill him. They
were in such disagreement with what he said. Look in John chapter
6, verse 59. These things said he, and the
Son of God, as he taught in Capernaum. Many therefore of his disciples,
when they had heard this, said, This is a hard saying, a harsh
saying. This is disagreeable, unsympathetic
toward humanity is what the word means. Who can hear it? Who can
be expected to believe stuff like this? When Jesus knew in
himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said, Does this offend
you? What if you shall see the Son
of Man sent up where he was before? When you see me, at the right
hand of the Father saying these things, you'll really be offended
now, then. You think you're offended now,
you'll really be offended then. Now, what did he say? Well, I
would challenge you to go back and look back over John chapter
6 in this great sermon. In this sermon, he gave what
are known as, and they shouldn't be known as this, the five points
in this one sermon. Let me show you this. Verse 44,
no man can come to me. except the Father which hath
sent me draw him. It's total depravity, total inability. No man can come to me. Verse
37, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. There's
divine election. All that the Father giveth me,
every one of them, every one of them can come to me. Look
in verse 38. I came down from heaven, not
to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me. And this
is the Father's will which He sent me, that of all which He
hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it
up again at the last day." Now that's particular redemption.
Everybody the Father gave Him, He's going to save. Every single
one of them. Limited atonement, definite atonement,
successful atonement, call it what you want. It's substitution.
It's the gospel. Look in verse 45. It's written
in the prophets, they shall all be taught of God. Every man therefore
that has heard and learned of the Father cometh unto me. There's
irresistible grace. Every single one of them. They
will come to me. Look in verse 51. I am the living
bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread,
he shall live forever. the perseverance of the saints. Anybody that eats this bread
shall live forever. I hate it that this is called
reformed doctrine because it's not reformed. I hate it that
this is called the five points of Calvinism because this was
written a whole lot longer before John Calvin was ever born. This
is the Bible doctrine. That's all it is. It's the doctrine
of how God saves sinners. It's the doctrine of Christ. And they were upset with this.
Turn to John chapter 8. Verse 59. Then took they up stones
to cast at him. They were so angry with what
he said, they were going to put him to death. What did he say?
Well, he said in verse 46, your father Abraham rejoiced to see
my day. And he saw it and was glad. Then
said the Jews in the empire, not yet fifty years old, and
as I see Abraham, Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I
say unto you, before Abraham was, I am. He's saying I'm the same I am
that said to Moses before the bush that could not be consumed,
I am that I am. Tell them that I am, hath sent
thee. He's saying to these men, I am
the eternal God. I am the God of glory. I'm Jehovah. I'm the one in whose hands you
are. And I can do with you whatever
I'm pleased to do. Look in John chapter 10, verse
31. Then the Jews took up stones
again to stone him. They were so angry with what
he said, let's put him out of business. And Jesus answered,
many good works have I showed you for my father, for which
of these works do you stone me? And Jesus answered him saying,
for a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy, because
that thou being a man, makest thyself God. Now, what were they
so upset with? Well, the whole 10th chapter
of John, but look at verse 24. Then came the Jews round about
him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If
thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. And Jesus answered them, I have
told you, and you believe not. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me, but you believe not, because
you are not of my sheep, as I said unto you." Now notice the way
he said that. He didn't say you're not my sheep because you don't
believe. He said, you don't believe because you're not of my sheep. The same sheep, he said, I lay
down my life for the sheep. Verse 27, My sheep, hear my voice. I know them, they follow me,
and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which
gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck
them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one." I am
one with God. Then the Jews took up stones
again to stone him. Now when the Lord Jesus walked
on this planet, He walked on this planet as one who was despised
of men, rejected of men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Now, men demonstrated their hatred
of him by nailing him to a tree. and putting him to death. Now,
why do men hate Christ? It wasn't because of his miracles.
It wasn't because of his miraculous healings. It's because of what
he said about the character of his father. It's because of what
he said, the claims he made concerning himself. That's why men hate Christ. Now, they did then and
it is no different today. You realize that? Men hate Jesus
Christ today just like they did then. They don't realize it until
they hear the gospel of God's free grace. Now men are religious.
It's in their DNA. I mean, it's just as natural
for somebody to be religious as it is to breathe. And you
know, Error can get along. I'll believe my way. You believe
your way. We'll end up at the same way, as long as it's erroneous. But men hate God. Men hate Christ. Men hate the gospel of God's
free grace. It's a hatred that is already there, but it comes
out when they hear the gospel. I love God, but I don't love
that God that you just preached. I know you don't. I love Christ
but I don't love that Christ. I know you don't. But that is
the Christ of the Bible. Now let me tell you something
about God and let me make some closing statements with regard
to men's hatred of the gospel and their hatred of us if we
stand for the gospel. Now I don't want to be hated
in that sense. I don't want to be hated because I'm self-righteous
and and a jerk and treat people wrong and somebody that's looking
for trouble. No, I don't want anything like
that. I don't want to be that way. I want to be gracious. I
want to be humble. I want to be lowly. I don't want
to give men a reason to despise the gospel. I believe because
they despise me because I'm such a jerk and because of the arrogance,
self-righteousness, pathetic way I act. I don't want that
at all. But I do want to be hated of all men for the sake of the
gospel. Now understand this about the
gospel. God said in Isaiah chapter 42, this is the truth about the
Lord. He said, I am the Lord, that's
my name, and my glory I will not share with another. And that's who God is. He says,
my glory I will not share with another. Now the image, the issue, the image men have of God, here's
the issue, who gets the glory? Who gets the glory? Now salvation is by works. If
salvation is dependent upon me in any way, I get the glory. But if my salvation is not dependent
upon me, but is dependent upon Him, He gets the glory. Let me give you five reasons
why men hate the gospel of grace, the God of the gospel, and the
Christ of the gospel. Five reasons in closing. Number
one, men hate the gospel of grace. Men hate the God of grace because
it declares a God who is actually God. absolutely sovereign in
all things, in control of everything, and that disturbs men's sense
of control. I find out that I don't have
control of anything. I don't have control of anything.
It disturbs men's sense of personal rights and their sense of entitlement.
I'm God's creature. He owes me His love. He owes
me His grace. This is not right. This is just
taking me out of the equation. I've got no control. That's right. That's right. Your salvation
is not up to you. It's up to Him. Somebody says,
well, I've accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior. Where'd
you get that in the Bible? The issue is not will you accept
Him? That's not an issue at all. The
issue is will He accept you? Now, the God of the Bible is
a God of absolute sovereignty. And men hate this because they
lose their control. Secondly, the gospel addresses
all men as sinners, evil. ungodly, dead in trespasses and
sins. That's the way the gospel addresses
me. That's the way the gospel addresses you. You take the most
moral man to ever live, and you take the most immoral man to
ever live, and there's no difference between the two of them. No difference at all. Genesis 6, 5 says, And God saw
that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that
every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord looked at the most
moral men of his day, the Pharisees, and he said to them, The publicans
and the harlots enter the kingdom of heaven before you. Men, by nature, do not like to
be addressed on those terms as completely evil and corrupt. Thirdly, the gospel shuts up
men to revelation. I don't care how smart you are,
you can't figure this thing out. You can't sit down. I don't care
if your IQ is 150. You can't sit down and open up
you a Bible and say, I'm going to figure this out and figure
out what the Bible means and who God really is. You can't
do it. You're completely shut up to Him revealing Himself to
you. If He doesn't make Himself known
to you, you'll never know Him. Now this offends men's wisdom.
We like to think we have more going for us than that. But no,
we're completely dependent, shut up, to revelation. The natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they
are foolishness unto him, neither indeed can he know them, neither
indeed has he the ability to know them, for they are spiritually
discerned. Fourth, the gospel is all in
Christ. all by Christ, all by grace. Notice those words, all. And
men are given nothing that they can glory in personally. You
know, it's impossible to say with Paul, God forbid that I
should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, unless
God enables you to do it. What a gospel that gives Christ
all the glory and none to men. And last, men loves it, they
love themselves. And a gospel that demands them
to deny themselves, to take up their cross and follow the Lord
Jesus Christ. Men don't love that gospel. Now,
question. Do you love the God who's God,
who's in complete control? The God of the Bible. Do you
know you're a sinner? You really believe that about
yourself? You are a sinner. You don't know what else you
can say about yourself, but you can say this. I'm a sinner. I'm an evil, wicked
person. The way the Bible describes me,
that's the way I am. A sinner. Do you realize that
you're shut up to revelation and the only way you'll know
Christ is if he makes himself known to you? And your cry is,
Lord, make yourself known to me. Is Christ all in your salvation?
Does He get all the glory? You know, I can know whether
or not you really believe the gospel. Do you really believe
Christ is all in your salvation? Then you really believe the gospel.
Do you really do? I'm asking you that. Do you really
believe that Jesus Christ is everything in your salvation?
Beloved, if you do, you're a believer. And you hate yourself You deny
yourself. You take up your cross, the confession
of Christ and his gospel, and follow the Lord Jesus Christ.
You love what the natural man hates. What a blessing of grace. And the only reason you feel
that way is because Christ chose you and loved you and kept the
law for you and died for you and was raised for you and right
now intercedes for you and is coming back for you. And that's
what we're confessing as we observe the Lord's table. Let's pray
together. Lord, we love you as you revealed in
the gospel. We love your way of saving sinners.
Lord, we love that we don't have any control and that our salvation
is in your hand. Lord, we confess we are nothing
but sinners in need of your revelation. Lord, we confess that Christ
is all in our salvation. And Lord, our desire above all
things is to deny ourselves, to take up our cross and follow
thy blessed Son. Now bless this message for your
glory and for our good. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.