I have a prayer. Captain Berkley
this week to share in French. That's not what I was about to
announce. It didn't come. That's right. And Sylvester on
July the 1st. Is that 85? 87. 87. 87. I can't believe that. I thought
it was like 84. Well for 87, you're doing real
well. Looking good. That's why I'm thankful for that. Other than that, I can't think
of any. Nasser Shifa, Inez passed away
this week. services tomorrow at 10 o'clock
for visitation, 10 to 11 at the Chris Fuhrman home in Bryson
City. And then the funeral service will be at 11. Is that right?
That's in Bryson City. 10 tomorrow, 10 to 11 for visitation,
11 o'clock for the funeral service. Remember that. So, Bryson City. So then, I can't thank you enough
for your family and your prayers, that you will call out their
name into the whole world. Let's begin our worship service
with hymn number 131, Glorious Saints, the site is open. See the men of sorrows bow, From
the fight return victorious, Henry B. to him shall bow. Brown him, brown him, Brown's
become the victor's brow. Reach the door which Jesus brings
In the seat of power enthrone Him While on the pilgrim brings
Crown Him, crown Him, crown Him Sinners in derision, crown Him,
for He was the Savior's place. Saints and angels crowd around
Him all the time. Praise His name, crown Him, crown
Him, spread upon the midwinter sky. One more verse of adoration,
our Lord shall triumph on court. Jesus takes the highest station,
O what joy After scripture reading and prayer,
we'll sing number 334. 334. beginning reading with verse
25. And behold, there was a man in
Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. The same was just and devout,
waiting for the consolation of Israel. And the Holy Ghost was
upon him. And it was revealed unto him
by the Holy Ghost, He did not see death before he had seen
the Lord's Christ. And he came by spirit into the
temple and told his parents and daughter and child Jesus to do
for him after the custom of the law. Then he took him up in his
arms and blessed God and said, Lord, now let us, thy servant,
depart in peace according to thy words. For mine eyes have
seen thy salvation. I'm taking my text from verse
25 this morning. There was a man in Jerusalem
whose name was Simeon. The same was just and devout,
waiting for the consolation of Israel. The Holy Ghost was upon
him. Let us pray. Our Father, we thank you that you have, in
your kindness and mercy, visited us with the truth of the gospel. You have taught us As you have promised, every one
of your children, every one of your children shall be taught
by the Father, and they that have learned of the Father come
to Jesus Christ. We are thankful that in this
world of chaos and sorrow, that we have a thing given to us,
the word of God, that indeed gives us consolation and peace. We need not turn to men, nor
to governments, nor to our own imagination and thinking, but to turn to your word. We
find therein the establishment of peace and reconciliation by
the blood of Jesus Christ. Father, we pray for those who
are sick. We pray for Lita, who lost her mom. We ask the Lord
to be with her and be with the families they mourn. We thank you, Father, for your
goodness and your mercy. The one thing we know nothing
of is death. It's the last, final
mystery for humankind. But it is no mystery for you.
For you came into this world with a purpose. Died. Suffered
death. Stayed in the grave three days
and roamed victorious, crowned with many crowns, and told you children that you
have tasted death for them, and they should not fear it. We thank you, Father, for the
death of Jesus Christ, for that blessed death that secured our
salvation, paid that debt that we owed which we could not pay
and could never pay. Finish the work. Ascend it on
high to sit enthroned as our sovereign
Lord and King of Kings. Help us, Lord, to be thankful. We pray in Christ's name. In number 34, Be Thou My Vision. Be Thou my vision, O Lord. heart. Lord, be all else to me,
say that Thou art. Thou my Waking or sleeping, Thy presence
my light! Be Thou my wisdom and Thou my
true word! Thou ever with me, and Thou with
me, Lord, Thou my great Father, I Thy person. Thou in me dwelling, then I with
You. Thou by inheritance, Thou and
always, Thou and Thou alone, I give of heaven, I take of earth... I give of Thee my victory won
May I reach Heaven for my Heaven's Son Heart of my own heart Father, again, we praise you and thank you for
the gift of salvation, the gift of faith, the gift of all things
necessary, and required by thee for a man to stand welcome in
your presence, for supplies by thee, and accomplished by thee,
for poor, wretched sinners who could accomplish nothing. What
we have, we have by mercy and by grace. Let our understanding
of this reflect in our giving, we pray in Christ's name, amen. so so Hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm We read this passage of scripture
here in the words of old Simeon who had been told by the Spirit
that he would not die until he had seen the consolation of Israel. And when he holds the baby Jesus
in his arms and sees him, he saw God's salvation. You can take me home now, I have
seen thy salvation. So we can take the old geometry
theorem, quantities equal to the same quantity are equal to
each other. And say what Simeon was saying was the consolation
of Israel was God's salvation. And that is the consolation,
every believer. Every believer to some degree
or on some occasion knows by experience that a large portion
of their life on this planet is lived waiting for and needed
the consolation of Israel. The concept of consolation presupposes
an estate where solace and comfort is needed and sought for. To
those who need no consolation, Christ is of no importance, and
neither is salvation. But to the needy, to the brokenhearted,
to the one who suffers under the trial and tribulation or
suffers loss, the one who has doubts and fears, Christ is the
precious consolation of Israel. He is God's salvation. Christ is the believer's only
consolation. But he's the only one they need
before he fits all the criteria. We know that he was touched with
the feeling of our infirmities. He was tested or tempted in all
points just like we are, yet without sin. So whatever trial,
tribulation, trouble that you're going through, And we know they
are real and they are continual. Christ has suffered the same. We suffer sorrow in this world.
He was a man of sorrow. We could have suffered grief.
He was acquainted with grief. That means grief was his constant
companion. Walked side by side with him.
In our text, the first thing declared is that Christ is not
a general or a common consolation. This consolation is not an offer
or a profit or some available commodity. It is distinctly and
exclusively called the consolation of Israel, which is God's salvation. It is not said to be the consolation
nor the salvation of all people, but for Israel, Israel of old is a picture of
the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Israel under the new
covenant is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, true Israel,
true Israel. The revelation of this is first
seen in the fact that Israel includes the elect among the
Jews as well as the Gentiles. In verse 31 of this very chapter,
it says, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people.
all the people. We know that when, in the revelation,
the church of the living God and the four angels of the beast
were praising God, they said, worthy is the lamb that is slain,
that has redeemed us out of every, by his blood, out of every nation,
tongue, and people, and kindred upon the face of the earth, and
has made us kings and priests unto our God. Israel, true Israel,
is the redeemed elect out of every nation, tribe, tongue,
and people. It is those who have had their
hearts touched and opened by Jesus Christ. Paul explained
it this way in Romans chapter 2. Let's look over there for
a moment. Romans chapter 2, verse 28-29. He said, For he is not a Jew,
which is one outwardly, Neither is that circumcision
which is outward of the flesh, but he is a Jew which is one
inwardly. And circumcision is that of the
heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter or the law, whose
praise is not of men, but of God, but of God. Israel, true
Israel, are the people of God and the eternal covenant of grace.
In Galatians chapter 4, Paul said it this way when he was
dealing with those who would have the believer to be circumcised
in order to be righteous before God. In Galatians chapter 4,
verse 22, he says that Abraham had two sons, one by a bondman
and the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman
was born after the flesh, but he of the free woman was born
by promise. Which things are an allegory
for the two covenants? The one from Mount Sinai, which
gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is Mount
Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem, which now is in
bondage with her children. But Jerusalem, which is above,
is free, which is the mother of us all." Now he's talking
to Galatians who were not Jews. And yet he says, Sarah is a picture
of Jerusalem, which is above, which is heaven, which is the
church. He said, she's the mother of
us all. He's the mother of us all. Two Israel are worshipers
of God and Christ who know that nothing about them has ought
to do with their salvation. Paul in Philippians chapter three
said, we are the circumcision. Again, he's talking to Philippians.
He's talking to Gentiles. He's not talking to Jews. He
said, we are the circumcision who worship God in the spirit,
who rejoice in Christ Jesus. and had no confidence in the
flesh. To Simeon, the consolation of
Israel, was so great that it removed him from the fear of
death. When he held Christ in his arms,
he was ready to leave this world and enter the next because he
had seen God's salvation. And that will make you ready
to The consolation he waited for
was salvation. To some degree, every believer
feels the same confidence when he looks at the Lord Jesus Christ,
and this is sure declaration, that when it comes time for us
to go down to death, and that we'll be right soon, our consolation will be this,
Jesus Christ. Remember Marvin Stoniker, when
his wife died, Not long after, they sang, Like a River of Glories,
You're a Bible Comment. He passed away in the throes
of cancer. He was at the hospital bed. He
says, people who had died, he told his wife, somehow they have
an understanding, a perception of things different and better,
perhaps, than we who are living and living at ease. He says,
tell me what you're thinking. She says, my hope, all of it
and only, is that Jesus Christ is my righteousness, as you went
to glory without a part of this. The Bible speaks a great deal about
consolation. It gives several examples of
how we are consoled. It all has to do, it all comes
back to this concept that our consolation is God's salvation. Now religion would have that
put off to an incident that happened when you were 12 years old and
you walked down a mountain. That was your salvation. Now
here's your Christian life that we have to control by the law
and rules and regulations and lead you on to heaven in a personal
righteousness. No, that's not it. He said, I'm
ready to die. Holding Jesus Christ in his arms. I'm ready to die because I've
seen Thy salvation. How did he see it? He saw it
by the eyes of faith. He saw Thy salvation. Christ
is our consolation in the face of religious legalism and law
givers. Those who would bring the believer
under the law. This actually happened in the book of Acts.
In Acts chapter 15. When Paul brought Titus back
to Jerusalem. And refused to have him circumcised. Pharisees who said they were
believers refused to accept him and said he needs to be circumcised
in order to fulfill the law. Now we know Paul had already
settled in Romans. That circumcision is not with
the flesh and it's not by man. That circumcision is a law and
it's a work of God. And he said that way back in
Deuteronomy, 30 days before they went into the promised land,
he says, you're a stiff neck and uncircumcised people. Circumcised,
therefore, the foreskin of your harness, and be you no longer
stiff-necked. So this was, even back then,
fleshly circumcision was just a picture of something happening
to the heart being cut. But these Pharisees said, no,
this Titus. Now Timothy, this was interesting,
Timothy, he was a Gentile, but he had a Jewish mother. But he
chose to be circumcised so he would be able to speak to the
Jews more clearly. But when Paul brought Titus,
who was saved solely by the gospel of God's grace, he said he would
not be circumcised. He refused to have him circumcised.
Why? Timothy volunteered to do it.
Here the Jews demanded that Titus do it. Paul said it ain't gonna
happen. This comes from a letter written
to the Gentiles of Antioch who had come under the onslaught
of the legalists, flesh cutters from Jerusalem. They were told
that trusting Christ was a good thing, a necessary thing, even
a necessary thing, but not quite enough, not quite sufficient
to have a truly righteous standing before God. You've got to have
something else go along with that. Something else. They were told
that they had to be circumcised to keep the law in order to establish
righteousness that was acceptable to God. The epistle to the Galatians,
in great part, was about this incident in Jerusalem. You can
read that in Galatians 2. And after the first recorded
Bible conference, this was happening in Jerusalem here, everybody's
gathered together, where Simon Peter set things straight. He
sets things straight. Now Simon Peter was a Jew. He
was an apostle to the Jews. He was first of all an apostle
to one Gentile named Cornelius, but afterward he was the preacher
who stayed in Jerusalem and ministered to the Jewish believers there.
In Acts chapter 15 verse 7 it says, And when there had been
much disputed, Peter rose up and said to them,
Men and brethren, ye know How that a good while ago, God made
choice among us that the Gentiles, by my mouth, should hear the
word of the gospel and believe. That was when he went to Cornelius. You remember the incident. He
was on the rooftop. The Lord hung down, as it were,
a sheet and a vision. And on this sheet were all manner
of beasts, both clean and unclean. Now the law said you can't eat
an unclean beast. The law says you couldn't eat a pig. You couldn't
eat a pork chop. The law said that on pain and
death. But here on this sheet was goats. Here on this sheet was pigs.
Here on this sheet was certain type of fish that didn't have
scales. Things that the law said, you
can't eat. You can't eat. And our Lord hung this down in
Peter's vision and told Peter, eat. And he said, oh no. Can't do
that. That'd break the law. That broke
the law. Not so, Lord, which seems like
two words that should never ever leave a sinner's mouth. Not so,
Lord. And the Lord said, don't you
call unclean what I've made clean. And what was he doing? He was
preparing Peter to go down to a dog's house, a Gentile named
Cornelius. who he could not have any fellowship
with because he was a Gentile. He, I can't hear that, it's getting
slow. You're going to really see this.
Go down here to a Gentile's house and tell them about Jesus Christ.
And he did. First Gentile. His whole house was saved and
baptized. That's what Peter was taught.
As you remember, a long time ago, he said in verse 7, that
by my mouth should hear the Gentiles should hear the word of God.
And God, which knoweth the hearts, beareth them with the hearts,
beareth them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as
he giveth to us. And he put no difference between
us and them. purifying their hearts by faith.
No difference between the Jew and the Gentile. Simon Peter,
one of the inner circles, said there's no difference between
Titus and me. Now therefore, why do you tempt
God, test God, put God's feet to the fire, if you will, to
put a yoke upon the neck of his disciples. He was speaking about
Titus. Why would you put the yoke of the law on the neck of
this disciple? Which neither our fathers nor
we were able to bear. The yoke of the law was too heavy
for all of them. They broke it continually. They
murmured against it, they complained against it, and they broke it
continually. It was too big a yoke for them to bear. The law can't
be borne by the yoke of humanity. It'll drag you down to hell.
Only one human being is able to bear that yoke. Fulfilled
it in every jot and every tittle. And died the death that was due
those who had broken it. This verse 11 says, but we believe
that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and this wording
is important, we, the Jews, shall be saved even as they are, the
Gentiles. How's a Jew gonna be saved? By
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the preaching of the
gospel, anointed by the Holy Ghost. Wait a minute, we thought
they'd say back there when they was elected until now. That election was a picture of
the kind of people God chose it to salvation. But that election wasn't salvation.
He said, I know this, Peter, who was raised a Jew, who was
circumcised the eighth day, who had a lineage, who could call
Abraham his father, who was a keeper of the law, all these things. He said, if I ever get saved,
God's gonna have to do it by his grace, just like he did for
Titus, just like he did for Titus. That's important. That's important
to know. That's the first recorded Bible
conference. They were told to disregard the fusillade hurled
against them by the Judaizers because Christ had finished the
work of salvation and trusting Him was all that they needed
to do. Their reaction was, when they
read it, they rejoiced in the consolation. They rejoiced in
the consolation. Their full salvation brought
by Christ was consolation in the face of the believer's barrage. This is every believer's consolation
as we hear the attacks of the world religion against Christ
alone. How are you consoled? I've seen that salvation. I've seen it. You can't shake
me on that. In Galatians 3, verses 12 through
14, where it says that when the Gentiles heard that declaration
that Peter made, said they rejoiced for the consolation. They were
consoled by the salvation of God. Secondly, Christ is not
a temporary or fleeting consolation. If you turn over to 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2, 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse
16 it says this, Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God
even our Father, which hath loved us and has given us an everlasting
consolation and a good hope through grace. In this passage, the believer
is given an everlasting consolation. It's not just the consolation
you have in times of trial and tribulation. When you get to
glory, you'll still be consoled. You'll be forever, ever consoled
by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. This immediately transports
us to the realm of eternal counsels of God. In order to fully appreciate
this, we must see the contrasting distinction that God has made
Our Lord has sent this everlasting consolation over against the
everlasting damnation of those referred to in verses 1-12. He
says this, Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ, in verse 1, and by our gathering together
in Him, that ye will not be so soon shaken in mind, or be troubled
neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter, as from us, as
the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any
means, for that day shall not come, except there come first
the falling away first, and that son of man, or the man of sin,
be revealed, and the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts his heaven.
And they put this off to some guy. But the next verse makes it clear
who this is. It's those who claim salvation by their own power.
Who oppose us and exalt himself above all that is called God.
How does he do that? He says things like, God can't
do something unless you let him. Who got the power there? You
did. If God can't unless you do something,
then you got the power. or that is worship, so that he
is God's citizen of the temple of God, that is the church of
God. Showing himself that he is God. He does that by saying
his power is what unleashes God's power. That's what he's saying. My will unleashes God's power. God can't save me unless I'm
willing to let him do it. That's who that's talking about.
That's every unbeliever on the face of the earth that resides
under the grand umbrella of Christianity. Remember ye not that when I was
with you yet I told you of these things? And now ye know what
withholdeth that he might be revealed in time. For the mystery
of iniquity doth already work. Only he who now letteth, that
is the Spirit of God, until he taketh away by the way. And then
shall the wicked be revealed. Whom the Lord shall consume with
his mouth and be destroyed with the brightness of his coming.
Even him who's coming is after the work of Satan with power
and signs and lying wonders. If you wonder who's doing power
and lies and lying wonders today and signs, it ain't believers. It's the wicked. That's what
it says. With all deceivableness, and
unrighteousness, and them that perish, because they receive
not the love of the truth." Some of them will receive the truth.
Peter talks about those in 1 Peter. Chapter 5, those who embrace
the truth. They say, we love the gospel.
They say that. We believe the gospel. But they
don't love it. They don't love it. I know some
preachers who say, well, I believe like you do preach, but I couldn't
preach. That'd get me in trouble in the pulpit. They need to get
in trouble right now. Right now. They're receiving out the love
of the truth. I tell you, I want to know something about love. If you love something, if you
love something, it may be anything. If you love fishing, somebody's
going to find out that you love fishing. Your neighbors and your
friends, they're going to find out that you love Jesus. Do you
love Jesus Christ? Somebody's going to find out
about Jesus Christ. I'm not talking about going out evangelizing,
trying to win souls. Sooner or later in some conversation
you sit down, they're going to find out that you have loved
something. And these love not the truth
that they might be saved. And for this cause, God, shall
send them strong delusion. God's going to delude their minds
so that they will believe a lie. They didn't love the truth so
God gave them a deluded mind so they'll believe a lie. That
they all might be damned who believed not the truth but had
pleasure in unrighteousness. God's going to delude their mind
So they'll believe a lie, and he's going to damn them for it,
and punish them for eternity. That's all God did. It says in
verse 13, we are bound to give thanks always to God for you
brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God has from the beginning
Chosen you to salvation through sanctification of spirit and
belief in the truth of the Lord, until he called you by our gospel to
the attaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore,
brethren, stand fast, hold the traditions which you've been
taught, whether in the world or by our epistle, and our Lord
Jesus Christ himself and God, even the Father, which has loved
us and has given us an everlasting consolation and a good hope through
which comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word
and word. everlasting consolation. Part
of this consolation is that the things spoken of in verses 3
through 12 do not personally concern the believer. The reason
this is everlasting consolation is because those referred to
are chosen in eternal election, set apart by the Spirit of God,
called to embrace the gospel, a God-given faith, called by
the gospel, Assuredly by the glory that it entails, this everlasting
consolation which translates to a good hope through grace.
A good hope. What's a good hope? I see the
salvation of God. I have the consolation of Israel.
See it. Can't feel it. Often don't feel
it. Can't touch it. Can't taste it.
But I can see it. Because God has given me faith
to believe. That's a good hope. Because a hope that can be seen
according to Romans 8 is not a hope. It's not a hope if you can see
it. Thirdly, Christ is a consolation for those who fled for refuge
to lay hold of the hope set before him. This hope is the faith. that God has given. This hope,
of course, is Jesus Christ. He is the hope of salvation.
Over in Hebrews chapter 6, verse 18, that two immutable
things, in which was impossible for God to lie, we might have
a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon
the hope set before us, which hope we have as an anchor of
the soul, most sure and steadfast which enters into within the
veil, whether the forerunner of Jesus Christ is in it for
us, even Jesus Christ made, and I praise that in the order of
Melchizedek. This hope, of course, is of Jesus
Christ, and the consolation is based upon the immutability of
God, who cannot lie. God is not a man that he should
lie, saith the scripture. This immutability of God is concerning
his promise of salvation to those who fled to the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's immutable, it's unchangeable. That's why the Lord said this. I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore you sons of Jacob,
you believers, you sinners saved by grace, therefore you sons
of Jacob, are not consented. Why are not consented? is because
since we've known Christ, we've been good people. We've done
everything right. We've been perfect in our life.
We've always loved like we ought to love and given like we ought
to give. We've always been selfless since
we met Christ. Is that why He's going to save
us? No. He's going to save us because He said He would, and
He don't change. I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore, because
I change not, ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. If you trust
Christ alone, you have a strong consolation. And it's conditioned
entirely upon the immunity of God and His promise to save the
elect. Finally, Christ is a consolation to be enjoyed, to be appreciated. Look over Philippians chapter
2. Verse 1 says this, If there be,
therefore be any consolation in Christ. If any comfort of love, any fellowship
of the Spirit, any bowels of mercies, any bowels of mercies. This passage is an admonition
to believers concerning the appreciation and enjoyment of consolation
prayer. If there be any consolation. If there's going to be consolation. any comfort of love. So it's
not only Christ is our consolation, that salvation is our consolation.
There is a realization, an appreciation of a fact, which we don't always
have. The fact of this everlasting
consolation is God's business. It never changes. If God has
given you consolation in Jesus Christ, you have that consolation.
That's something God has done for you. Nothing we do or do not do can
affect the absolute surety of this everlasting consolation.
However, Paul makes it clear that the believer may not have
the full appreciation and enjoyment of that consolation if he fails
to see himself in a true light and fails to look at his brethren
in a proper way. This is what he says. Read on. Fulfill you my joy, that you
be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord and
one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory,
but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than
themselves. Look not every man on his own
things, but every man on the things of others. He said, this
is where our appreciation and enjoyment and consolation come,
the oneness and the singleness of mind, the fellowship of love
and fellowship of the spirit and bowels of mercies. This is
where this comes from, us realizing and appreciating the fact that
we're to love our brethren, to love our brethren. In fact, any
time you find works mentioned in scripture, other than just
generally speaking, when God names a work, it has to do with
taking care of the household faith. Every time. It does. He's praying that the
enjoyment of love and fellowship and compassion and consolation
in Christ's name is strictly tied to the believer's consideration
of his brethren. Paul exhorts the believer to
think in a right manner, to be like-minded in love. Love demand
what Paul declares in verses 3 and 4. Let nothing be done
through strife, that is to cause a problem, to cause a fight. Let nothing be done through vain
glory, that is glorifying yourself, that you'll look better than
somebody else. But in lowliness of mind, that's
down Thinking, that's what that word holiness means. Think now.
In the holiness of mind, let each esteem other. It doesn't
say who, it just says other. Any brother, any sister, other,
better than themselves. How many want to raise your hand
and say you're doing a good job with that? That's where we enjoy the consolation.
Enter into that controlled spirit. Look not on every man on his
own things. That doesn't say look on, don't look at your own
face. Don't look at every man on his own things only. But every
man also on things of others. Things of others. Even in modern
day psychology, sorrows and anguish, to get outside
themselves, to do something for somebody else. Now, if you've
done that, you know that it makes you feel good. It gives you peace,
gives you a sense of peace. Do something for somebody else.
This is what Paul is saying. Now, who does he use as an example? This is the important part. Holiness of mind. Don't do anything
for strife. Think on the things of others
and see if others are better than yourself. First line. Let this mind, the one he's just
talked about, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ
Jesus. This mind says that Jesus Christ, when
he came to this world, did everything he did for somebody else. He
either did it for the glory of God, for the good of the people,
everything. He did everything. Everything. Who being in the
form of God, thought it not proper to be equal with God, but made
himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant,
who was made in the likeness of men. Made in the likeness
of men. The consolation is derived in
like-mindedness. The mind we are to endeavor to
imitate is the mind of Jesus Christ. This, of course, is experientially
relative and is referring to our relationship with our brethren
because Scripture declares in 1 Corinthians 2 that we have
the mind of Christ. The mind here is the sense of
as or so, or as and so. As Christ is of one mind with
God, so we are of one mind concerning our brethren. We are equal with
our brethren as Christ is equal with God. But as Christ laid
aside his reputation and became an obedient servant, so we are
also to humble ourselves in reference to our brethren in the same manner,
even unto death. Hereby proceed we would have
of God. that we lay down our life for our brethren, 1 John
3, verse 16. In seeking to have this mind,
this manner of thinking, he says we'll appreciate that consolation. We'll remember that consolation.
We'll remember that just as we are saved by grace and there's
nothing about us that could ever recommend us to God whatsoever,
just as we are saved by the death of Jesus Christ, And it was nothing
in us to recommend us to God whatsoever. Our brethren are
the same. They've been saved by grace,
and they're just like us. And so we're to think of them
better than ourselves. We're to think of their things
as well as our own things. This is the mind of Christ. The
consolation itself is everlasting. And it is an accomplice by God
the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit. It is real and it
is sure as God himself. The enjoyment of it is relative
to our love and care for the household of faith. Matthew 25,
when our Lord separated those who prepared for glory on his
right hand and those who were about to enter hell on his left
hand, he said to those on the right, On his right hand, he
said, enter into the kingdom, because when I was hungry, you
fed me. When I was naked, you clothed
me. When I was sick, you came to see me. When I was in jail,
you visited me. And I said, when did any of that
happen? We don't remember ever doing
that for you, Lord. He said, in as much as you've
done it, unto the least of these my brethren, you have done it
to me. We have consolation. Why? We
sing God's salvation. I pray God, give me grace and
make me gracious so I'll be able to better enjoy and appreciate
the consolation I've been given. And I have the Lord's faith. He took bread and gave it to the
disciples. Take heat, he said, of the bread. This is my body broken for you.
He took a cup. He said, this cup is a new covenant
in my blood. As you eat this bread and drink
this cup, you can show forth my death until I come again.
This was called the institution of the Lord's Table, the Lord's
Supper. It was part of the last Passover
feast served and a new covenant would be introduced at his death. He would set aside the old covenant
and establish the new. The remarkable thing about this
table is that it brought us to the single point. Our theology
and our understanding in this world as far as children of God,
That is this, our salvation is only based upon what Jesus Christ
did and nothing else. Nothing we do, nothing we think,
nothing we say, nothing we will, only the blood of Jesus Christ.
And so as he takes this representative of him going to the cross and
his body being broken and his blood being shed, this is what
he's talking about. And he says, my body and my blood.
He takes us to that place, he's saying, Now these elements, you
remember that. On the only hill outside Jerusalem
called Golgotha, the place of the skull, our Lord and Savior
hung in agonies of blood and actually paid all the debt we
owed so that we'll never have to pay it. So we rejoiced in
His death, strange religion back. Most people rejoice in life,
but we know we have life because of His death. So let's take this
table in thanksgiving and praise, knowing that God has saved us
by His grace because of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's
ask the Lord for blessings on the Holy Mother, As we take this
table, let us do so ever mindful of the fact that it was your
blood that purchased us, that bought us and redeemed us. It
was your death that secured our salvation. For in that moment,
all our debts were markedly paid. And we owe nothing to you save
an eternal debt of gratitude. The night our Lord was betrayed,
He took the elements and passed over the feast, the unleavened
bread, the bread of haste. Unleavened because it pictured
Christ without sin, without the living of the Pharisees. Or a
little leaven, a little sin, leavened with the whole love
of God's name. He took the unleavened bread and it pictured the perfect
body of Jesus Christ. He said, this is my body broken
for you. He was talking about those days,
a few days later when he would go to the cross, and his body
would be broken again. He said, as often as you eat
this bread, you do so in remembrance of me, discerning my body broken
for you. On that night, he also took the
cup. And he said, this covenant is
the everlasting covenant in my blood. What was he talking about? He was talking about the covenant
of grace, whereby all the elect will be saved by his death. That
covenant was ratified in his blood. And the children of promise,
who were named in that covenant in the last will and testament
of God, received all that was put in that covenant for them. He didn't show forth my death
until I come again. We drink to his death, show him
forth his death. He said do this in remembrance
of me. Hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On grass, the solid rock
I stand, the water round is sinking sand. Show each other your love. Give each other a hug. Be sure
to keep crowing. Two hugs, because he's going
to be 87. I'll be 79. I've got to put eight years behind
him, but I suppose it seems like Seems like that's a lot as you
get older, don't it? 9 and 19, or 9 and 18, or 70
don't seem that much different, but 79 and 87 seem big. Be sure
and wish him a happy birthday, July 1st. That'll be tomorrow? God bless you.