Bootstrap
Tim James

Divine Intent

Isaiah 45:22-25
Tim James April, 2 2023 Video & Audio
0 Comments

In the sermon "Divine Intent," Tim James emphasizes God's sovereign intent in the salvation of His elect, arguing that God's purposes are unwavering and guaranteed in contrast to human intentions. Drawing from Isaiah 45:22-25, James articulates that the Lord has declared His intention to save, asserting that every knee shall bow, affirming the guaranteed redemption of those for whom Christ died. He critiques various views of salvation, particularly those suggesting God's intent is universal or merely aspirational, stressing that such beliefs diminish God's sovereignty and authority. The message holds practical significance for believers, offering reassurance of their secure position in Christ, as God's intent ensures the complete and irrevocable salvation of His chosen people.

Key Quotes

“If there is a declaration of intent, then the whole matter of salvation is forever settled if God is the one who intends it, and it can never be altered.”

“God sent His Son into the world with the intent of saving sinners, and He accomplished the salvation of all for whom He died.”

“Justice cannot twice demand payment at my bleeding Surety's hand, and then again at mine.”

“What God intends, God does.”

Sermon Transcript

Auto-generated transcript • May contain errors

100%
taking his special drug, experimental drug, and he had,
I think, two more sessions of that to go, but suddenly his
platelets dropped down to almost nothing, and they had to put
him back in the hospital to build his platelets back up, and he's
decided not to fool with it anymore, so he's going into the hospice.
I remember him and the family talked to Sandy. She called me
and told me the situation. Bless her heart, she couldn't
She said hello, and then she started crying. There's no word for parents losing
a child. There's no word for it. There's
nothing to it. Debbie and I have experienced
some of it. We didn't lose our child, but we thought we was going to
lose our child when she had that AML. Heard about a new drug for
B-cell lymphoma. Guy was cured in 28 days. First man's ever used it. They're
going into second trial with more people. But it was for B-cell
lymphoma and he had been on chemo for nine years and kept coming
back. 28 days, they can't find anything
in his system. So I read about it online. You might look it
up. But I was thankful for that. Remember the others who request
prayer, also seek the Lord's help for them. We'll reserve
the Lord's table after service this morning. It's 66 in here,
I believe, which is comfortable for everybody. I did a good job, except for
Sharon. But after the Lord's table, we'll
have dinner today. And I made chicken and dumplings. All right. Hymn number 466, Christ liveth
in me. was far from God and didn't see
the light my heart could see. But in God's word, the light
I found, now Christ liveth in me. Christ liveth What a tribulation this, that
Christ liveth in me. As rays of light from yonder
sun, the flowers of earth set free. So life and light and love
came forth from Christ living in me. Christ liveth in me. Christ liveth in me. Oh, what a salvation this, that
Christ liveth in me. as in the corn the tree. So praise the God of truth and
praise His spirit welleth in me. Christ liveth in me. Christ liveth in me. What a salvation this, that Christ
liveth in me. With longing all my heart is
filled, that like Him I may be. As on the wondrous salt I dwell,
that Christ liveth in me. Christ liveth in me. Christ liveth in me. Oh, what a salvation this, that
Christ liveth in me. After scripture and prayer, we'll
sing hymn number 141, Lucky Saints. The sight is glorious. Have your
Bibles read to the book of Isaiah, chapter 45. The title of my message this morning
is Divine Intent. Beginning with verse 20, we're
going to look at verse 22 through 25. Beginning with verse 20,
assemble yourselves and come, draw near together, Ye that are
escaped to the nations, that they have no knowledge, that
set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a God that
cannot save. Tell ye, and bring them near,
let them take counsel together. Who hath declared this from ancient
time? Who hath told it from that time? Have not I the Lord, and there
is no God else beside me, a just God and a Savior? There is none
beside me. Look unto me. and me ye saved
all the ends of the earth for I am God and there is none else.
I have sworn by myself the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness
and shall not return. That unto me every knee shall
bow and every tongue shall swear. Surely shall one say in the Lord
have I righteousness and strength. Even to him shall men come and
all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. In the
Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified. and shall glory. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven,
we come in the name of Jesus Christ, our King and our Lord,
our friend that sticketh closer than a brother, our elder brother,
our savior, our substitute, our advocate before the Father. We
come in that name because you bid us to do so, commanded us
to do so, For there is no other name under heaven given among
men whereby we must be saved. He is the blessed Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ. It is him whom we wish to exalt
this day and honor, for we know that if we do not honor the Son,
you will not honor us. Help us, Lord, to preach the
gospel. Help us to set forth the truth in Christ. Be with
us throughout this day that Christ might be honored and glorified
in all things. Help us, Lord, even now, to remember
those who requested prayer. Ask, Lord, your help for them.
We remember Inez, and she's still struggling with these things,
and be with Alita and Harley as they minister to her. Pray
for Brother D. Parks as he's made the decision
to no longer be treated for this cancer. I pray that you'll be
with him. We thank you for the testimony
that he has concerning his safety in Jesus Christ. We pray for
his family as they struggle with what's going on. Help them, Lord,
and help Dee. Make his journey, if it's time
for him to go, on glory. Make his journey a peaceful one
and relieve his pain. Help us, Lord, to remember each
other in prayer. Be thankful for what you have
given us in Jesus Christ. Help us to realize that though
things wax worse and worse, if you have promised they would,
that the love of many waxes cold in this world. That the love
of your children for one another is a blessed oasis. in this desert of woe. Thank
you, Father, for loving us and giving us love for one another.
Help us now to worship you as we consider your greatness and
your sovereignty. We pray in Christ's name. Amen. Hymn number 141. Look, ye saints,
the sight is glorious. ? Look, ye saints, the sight is
glorious ? ? See the man of sorrows now ? ? From the fight return
victorious ? ? Every knee to him shall bow ? ? Crown him,
crown him ? ? Crown becomes the V ? Crown the Savior, angels crown
Him Rich the trophies Jesus brings In the seat of power enthrone
Him While the Vault of Heaven rings Crown Him, crown Him, crown
the Savior, King of kings. Sinners in derision, crown Him,
marking thus the Savior's claim. Saints and angels, crown Him. Praise His name. Crown Him, crown
Him. Spread abroad the victor's fame. Hark those bursts of acclamation. Hark those loud triumphant chords. Jesus takes the high road. the sight of thorns. Crown Him, crown Him, King of
kings and Lord of lords. I like the words to that song.
Stan, would you and Sam receive the office this morning, please? Let us pray. Father, again, we
approach in the name of Christ, our blessed savior, the king
of kings. We gladly crown him for who he
is and what he's done, deserve it of every honor and every glory
that has been bestowed upon him, even as he sits now, thy right
hand having purged our sins. We bless you, Father, for showing
us the son and we bless the son for showing us you. Help us now
to worship you in this manner, we pray in Christ's name, amen. you write your attention back to
Isaiah chapter 45 we live in a day when people
talk about God in such a poor and paltry manner and speak of his love which is
unrequited love and speak of him wanting to do things for
people and wanting things to happen for people and wanting
people to do things for him and that to some degree addresses
what they believe is his intent for mankind in this world. Our
Lord makes it clear what his intent is in scripture. He makes no bones about it. In
fact, as we read just a few moments ago, when our Lord called men
to assemble and gather together and they've taken counsel and
they believe in a God and worship a stump that cannot save, much
like the God that's being presented to men today. And he says, you
never even heard about God or Christ or heaven or hell except
I told you. He said, I told you from the
beginning, I'm telling you now, and that's the only way you know
about these things. People say, I don't believe in God. Ask them,
where'd you hear about it? Where'd you hear about him? I don't believe
in hell. Where'd you hear about that?
You heard about it in this book. That's where it was written.
The Lord has spoken about it. In this passage, His intent is
clearly set forth. He said, this is what I'm going
to do. This is what's going to happen
because of what I'm going to do. He said, I have sworn by
myself the word is gone out of my mouth and in righteousness
and shall not return we know in birth chapter 55 he said my
word shall not return unto me void but shall accomplish that
which I please and go where I send it his word the power of God
unto salvation he said here's what I've sworn
and here's what's going to happen this is my intent and this is
going to take place that unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. He
says that of Jesus Christ, having suffered the pains of the ignominious
death of the cross, being obedient even to the death of the cross,
wherefore God has highly exalted him, and given him a name above
every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow
and every tongue confess. That's what our Lord is talking
about. He says that's going to happen. That's a sure thing. And he says
this, even to him shall men come. Our Lord guaranteed that those
for whom Christ died would come to him. All that the Father giveth
me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no
wise cast out. All that are taught of the Father
and learned of the Father come to me, the Lord said. And he
said to those who love the Scriptures, you won't come to me that you
might have life, you'll come to me for everything else. But
if you don't come to me for life, you don't have life to begin
with. He said, All that are incensed against him shall be ashamed,
or brought to shame. All that are angry and do not
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ will be brought to shame. In
the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified. What is the seed of Israel? The
seed of Israel is Jesus Christ. And His people, according to
Galatians 3, Abraham's seed is Christ, and Christ's seed is
His people, which He saw when He went to the cross, according
to Isaiah 53, when He shall make His soul an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed. You see, all of them are going
to be justified. They're going to be put in a
place where they'll never be charged with sin, and their situation
will be that they never have sin in the eyes and before Almighty
God, and they show glory. It says in Psalm 29, all the
congregation, glory in Christ. That's what they do. That's what
they do. Now, I want us to consider this
morning. Forbid the principle and concept of intent. The subject of this passage is
God's intent in the salvation of His elect. If there is a declaration
of intent, then the whole matter of salvation is forever settled
if God is the one who intends it, and it can never be altered. Intent with men is scarcely more
than a wish or a pint dream. You know the old adage, the road
to hell is paved with good intentions. That speaks of what man does.
His intentions are more or less just another way to die and perish
before God. But intent with God is a done
deal. It's a sure thing and most assuredly
it will be accomplished if God intends it. Now in the matter
of salvation of your soul and my soul, certain things are universally
accepted and agreed upon. under the large umbrella which
is called Christianity. Though men may vary in how salvation
is accomplished or even what it means, the general tenet and
consensus is that Christ is the Savior. Almost everybody says
that. Another generally held tenet
is that God sent His Son into the world to save sinners. Though
that word has suffered loss of meaning in this day, that which
used to be called sin and that which God called sin in the scripture
has been changed all together. I never will forget many years
ago I was watching Phil Donahue and they had these people that
had, I don't know what they're called now, but they had multiple
partners, called them partners. And they didn't call it adultery,
they called it polyfidelity. And I thought, wow, how nice
that sounds. And you'll go to hell for it. Christ came into this world to
save sinners, and most of them agree with that, but they've
changed what sinning means. Another tenet is that Christ
voluntarily came into this world to save sinners. He was not forced
to do it. He came freely to do it. Except for the very few liberal
organizations which hold that Christ's coming was a mere example
or a martyr for a questionable cause or a generic expression
of God's unrequited love, all believe that there was some degree
of intent in Christ's coming into this world. They believe
he came for a reason. They don't necessarily agree
on the reason, but they believe there was intent involved. They
don't believe it was a haphazard thing or a willy-nilly thing.
That he came for a reason. There are, however, problems
that exist. The value of intent is proportional
to the authority or perceived authority that backs up the intent. In other words, if sufficient
authority and power exist, then that intent must be performed. Even those who believe in the
damnable lie of universal redemption generally assert that God has
sufficient power to accomplish what He intends to do, but just
doesn't choose to exercise it. Those who differ with these views
differ in their concept of intent. What did God mean? What was His
intent when He came in the form of human flesh to this world,
when He entered into this story? There are basically only three
possible concepts of intent exercised in the salvation of sinners.
The first concept is this, God intended to save all men. God
intended to make salvation possible, but secured the salvation of
no one. That's the second one. And thirdly,
God intended to save someone in particular. Those three views. God intended to save all men.
God intended to make salvation possible, or God intended to
save somebody. Now, that's the three possibilities.
We'll look at these things individually. The first notion of intent is
that God sent His Son into the world to save sinners. He intended
to save all men. That's a general view today.
That God intended to save all men. Now, the two lies that back
that up that have come out of the pulpits of the world today
is that God loves everybody and that Christ died for everybody.
And third, really, the Holy Spirit is trying to draw everybody.
That's the idea. He intended to save all men. The prominent verses that are
used in this view is John 3, 16. For God so loved the world
that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth
in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. And in
1 Timothy 2, 4 it said God would have all men to be saved. Of
course, if you look at the context of either one of those, you know
that what was being talked about was not generally the salvation
of all men, or the salvation of men altogether. Since all
men will not be saved, and at the time of our Lord's
sacrifice there were multitudes perishing in eternal perdition
at that time, this notion makes God a failure in His intent,
because He had insufficient power and authority to accomplish His
intent. The title Savior that he applies
to himself in our text, I am a just God and a Savior, he said. Look unto me, all the ends of
the earth, and be ye saved. The title Savior that he applies
to himself in our text is thus not applicable if he intended
to save all men, but all men are not saved. A Savior, if all
he has is good intentions but lacks power to perform, doesn't
merit the title of Savior. We just said, Crown the Savior.
We sang, Crown the Savior. He's the Savior. The blame for
all those finally lost souls lies at God's door and nowhere
else if he intended to save all men, but was powerless to do
so. There was a professor at Piedmont
Bible College years ago in the 60s. And this was a statement
he made in the classroom. Calvary is a glaring testament
of the colossal failure of the triune God's effort to save humanity. You say, well, that's just blasphemy.
Yeah, it is. This man, though blasphemous
and blasphemously wrong, was at least consistent with his
brand of theology If God intended to save all men, but he didn't,
then he is a colossal failure. That's the first view. These
men are out there supposedly worshiping a failure. Why? What was conducive to worshiping
someone who can't do what he wants to do? You might as well
worship me because I don't get everything. The second notion
is that when God sent His Son into the world, He intended,
indeed WANTED, all men to be saved, but His intention was
more in the form of a non-binding wish. In this scenario, Christ
actually accomplished the salvation of no one. He did this defunct
deed by making salvation a POSSIBILITY or a GENERAL OPPORTUNITY, an
OFFER or a PROFFER. for all men. This theology is
fraught with problems that is inconsistent with itself on a
number of levels. The proponents of this notion
say that God loves everybody. I tell you, God's love is UNIVERSAL! God's love is ALWAYS there! God just loves you! God just
loves you! loves you, and he's always loved
you, and then a strange thing happens at the end of time if
you haven't acted upon that love. He hates you and puts you in
hell. That's that thing. He hates you.
He's loved you all this time. And then when you die and you
face him, he don't love you no more. But that flies in the face
of scripture, God says, I am God, I am the Lord, I change
not. Therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. Their view
of God's love is that it is powerless, it is anemic, and it is unrequited,
like a teenager's love, not to mention that it is shameful.
I would never accept a love like that, and neither would anybody
else. These also have Christ paying
the sin debt of all men, yet having some of the men paying
that sin debt again at the judgment. Pay the sin. I heard that fellow
down in Atlanta, that doctor down in Atlanta, I can't think,
Stanley, one time, preach for an hour. on how Christ paid the
sin debt. The debt is paid. It's paid,
it's paid, it's paid. And men tried to tell everybody
that it wasn't really paid unless they accepted it. Well, it wasn't
really paid then. If it's really paid, it's really
yours. You've purchased it, you've bought
it, you've paid for it, it's yours, and it's done. And whether
I accept it or not is just stupid. That's a stupid idea. Those also
make Christ's death an exercise in futility, to be ultimately,
they believe that salvation is an act of man's will. In other
words, Christ has provided these things. He's made things possible.
Now, you must exercise YOUR will in order to make them effectual,
to have them work. It seems to me that these two
motives and these thinkings The first motive is to exalt the
will and power of man, which man has neither. The second is
to protect their puny, desperate deity from culpability. They
don't want to blame God for anything. In the loss of some that he intended
to save, they don't want to blame him for that. They don't want
to blame you. Kind of like them faith healers, you know. you
know, if you come up there and you've got something wrong with
you and they touch you or sling their coat around you or some
stupid thing and you don't get healed, you know what they say?
Now if you do get healed, they say, the Lord did it! But if
you don't get healed, you know what they say? You don't have
enough faith. Wait a minute. But that's how
it works. The latest way that this notion
is accomplished by declaring that God is Some kind of gentleman,
kind of a gray-haired granddaddy, a cosmic muffin sitting on a
cloud somewhere, really nice fellow. Wouldn't do anything
to harm anybody. He's a gentleman. That phrase
is being used now. God is a gentleman. Or in the
words of Jimmy Swaggart, he said, God is so solicitous. God is
so solicitous. You know what that means? He's
a beggar. That's what it is to solicit, is to beg. God is so
solicitous, Mr. Swaggart said. God is so solicitous,
that makes him a beggar at the door of his creature's will. Their view of God's gentlemanliness
is that he will not override a man's will to save him. Won't override a man's will to
save him. Then they turn around and say that he will override
a man's will to put him in hell. Nobody goes to hell voluntarily.
Well, how do they get there? God tosses them there. Oh, they
get tough on the wrath of God. They say, God, wait a minute.
He wouldn't override man's will to do him eternal good, but he
does override his will to do him eternal harm? Something wrong
with that scenario. Something wrong. This is inconsistent with any
notion of God's goodness. You remember the story of the
old farmer who was listening to that Bob Jones University
preacher out in the middle of Arkansas somewhere. The preacher
had been preaching seven or eight days, giving invitations every
night, and people were coming down front, weeping and crying
and carrying on this one old farmer sat there and listened
for seven days. One of the messages, or the message was always, God
wants to save you, but you have to let No farmer was sitting back there
listening. Final night, all sweaty, the preacher was preaching, called
for the invitation. The old fella got up and started to walk out.
The preacher said, if you go out right now, God will put you
in hell. The old man said, well, he can't put me in heaven. I
ain't gonna let him put me in hell neither. Hold on out the
door. These also have a problem with
the results of the fall. They have dead men willing and
deciding and accepting when, in fact, dead men can do nothing
according to Scripture. They, in effect, deny original
sin by attributing God-haters the ability to desire and choose
that which is good. And that just simply is not in
the nature of man. As he is born of woman, that
takes an act of God, a sovereign act of God, to change a man's
heart and his mind because a man by nature will only do what his
nature dictates. A man's will is a puppet to his
nature. Man's will has to do with the
exercise of his affinity and his desires. That's what he wants. In fact, I asked a fellow one
time, he said, I believe in free will. I said, what do you mean
by that? What do you mean by that? I mean that a man does
what he wants. I said, you've just disqualified freedom. Because if a man's free, there
is no factor that guides what he does. If he is compelled by
what his desire is, then his will simply follows what he desires. In fact, in reality, as to choice, free will does not exist anywhere
in the universe as to choice. God's will is not free. He always
does what He wants to do. He only does what pleases Him. As to choice, His will is not
free. As to power, perform. That's a different story. Men
have no power to perform their will, but God does. What God pleases, He does in
Heaven and Earth and all the deep places according to Scripture.
God has done whatsoever He hath pleased. Now, what was He willing
to do? Exactly what He WANTED to do! His WANT, His INTENT MOVED His
WILL! And He had power to back it up.
We will do a lot of stuff, but we don't do anything. Jeremiah said, can a leopard
change his spots? Can an Ethiopian change the color
of his skin? How can ye who practice evil
do good? You can't unless a leopard can
change his spots and an Ethiopian can change the color of his skin.
The whole concept of salvation originates in his condition on
their own righteousness as meriting a right standing before God.
This is so because of their choosing of the right thing. This is their
first basic act of self-righteousness. I chose God. I decided for Jesus. That's such a good thing to do,
isn't it? Starting out good, I reckon.
Starting out good. This is how they are saved, they
say. This is based self-righteous and neither biblical, rational,
nor consistent views of salvation. The third view is this, that
God intended to save somebody, some men, some women, and accomplish
what He intended to do. That is the third view, and that
is the true view. This is not conjecture or theological opinion.
It is fact. The fact is that God's intent
is God's accomplishment. If he intends to do something,
it's done. Psalm 115, Psalm 135, whatsoever he please, that he
also did in heaven and earth and all the deep places. He qualifies
for the title of Savior because he saved somebody. He saved all
his people, every one of them. In this matter, there can be
no doubt except by a willful disregarding of what the Bible
says. God sent His Son into the world with the intent of saving
sinners, and He accomplished the salvation of all for whom
He died. Everyone for whom the price of
sin was paid will NEVER HAVE TO PAY FOR THAT SIN! IT'S BEEN
PAID FOR! JUSTICE CANNOT TWICE DEMAND PAYMENT
AT MY BLEEDING SURETY'S HAND, AND THEN AGAIN AT MINE. God sent
His Son into the world with the intent of saving sinners, and
He did it! He paid their debt, and they
owe no more and will never be considered for the payment. They
will never be asked about it. Their sins are not remembered. They're put away. They're behind
God's back, buried at the bottom of the sea, separated as far
from the man as the east is from the west. It's a done deal. You're
not going to stand to their judgment if you're a child of God, and
God's going to bring up something you did wrong, because He said,
I WILL REMEMBER THEIR SINS NO MORE. And if you feel accused
today, remember this, God's not accusing you. Because for Him
to accuse you, you'd have to remember your sin. And He don't. I will remember their sin no
more. He paid their debt. They owe
no more. They owe Him an eternal debt
of gratitude. But they owe Him nothing legally.
He became their righteousness, and they are thus righteous before
God. He satisfied the demands of the law, therefore the law
has set them free. He paid the penalty, and those
for whom He did, they are freed from the penalty and the guilt
of sin. Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His
people from their sin. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out, for I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will,
but of the will of him that sent me, and this is my Father's will. which he sent me of all he's
given me I should lose nothing but raise it up again in the
last day for by one offering he has perfected forever them
that are sanctified perfected forever so much so that God says
I will remember their sins no more and where these sins are
remitted there is no more sacrifice for sin who are these that will have
salvation. They go by many names in Scripture.
They are the Elect, the Church, the Chosen, the Bride, the Sheep,
the Beloved, and the Children of God. They are whosoever is
willing to come. Our text says this, that He is
the Since He alone is the Savior, I am a just God and a Savior. Look unto Me. There's nobody
else, none beside Me. Since He is the Savior, look
to Him. Look to Him. No matter who or
where or what state you're in, all the ends of the earth, He
said, all the ends of the earth, look to Him. He is God and there
is none else. He clearly intends to save. He
said, I have sworn by myself the word is going out of my mouth
in righteousness and shall not return. And because He has authority
and power, what He intends He will perform. Paul said to the
Philippian church, Be CONFIDENT of this very thing, that God,
who has begun a good work in you, shall perform it. to the day of Jesus Christ he
said every knee is going to bow and every knee will bow because
Christ has died in the room instead of his people surely shall one
say the Lord have our righteousness and that's what all of God's
people say in the Lord have our righteousness I don't have none
of my own God has made him to be unto us wisdom righteousness
sanctification and redemption he says even unto him shall men
come that's the promise given to Judah in Genesis 49 the children
shall bow to him and john six forty five says the same thing
all that the father taught and all who have learned of the father
will come to jesus christ and all that are incensed against
him angry with him won't have nothing to do with him shall
be ashamed he that loveth not the lord jesus christ paul said
in first corinthians let him be anathema maranatha What does
that mean? Let him be accursed when the
Lord comes. If you don't love Christ, you'll be accursed when
the Lord comes. And the Lord shall all the seed
of Israel be justified and glorified. And they shall. Who are the seed
of Israel? They are Abraham's seed, those
who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ according to Galatians chapter
3. We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them that are called
according to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He
also did predestinate, but He conformed to the image of His
Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover,
whom He did predestinate, them He also called. And whom He called,
them He also justified, and whom He justified, them He also glorified. What shall we say to these things?
If God be for us, who can be against us? You see, what God
intends, God does. in isaiah forty-six he said i
declare the end from the beginning he said before i started this
thing i already had written how it was going to end and i will
do all my pleasure all my pleasure whatever the
lord pleases kevin nebuchadnezzar said the
Lord doeth according to his will in the armies of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or
say unto him what doest thou and we are about to partake of
the Lord's table and we're not celebrating a possibility or
probability or good intentions that were unaccomplished we're
celebrating a death that actually saved God's people. On the night our order was betrayed,
it was there about, so-called Christianity was about to celebrate
the issue. I found out today at Easter, almost seven months
before. I was in Japan, I'd been there
for 120 days, working 12-hour days, didn't have but one or
two days off in the whole country. I got out of this in-board tank
of C-130, smelling like JP-4 fuel that was soaking my clothes, And I was walking with a buddy,
and I looked over at the base of the church, and there was
a place called King of Paths. And people were wearing beautiful clothes. And I said, what do you say? And he
said, it's easy. We're going to celebrate the
death and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, but it
will just be an event. It won't tell you what happened. It won't
tell you what it accomplished. But we accomplished something
with the death of Jesus Christ. I didn't betray Him. I took the
last Passover with His people. I took this last Passover and
said, He was saying to commemorate
and accomplish salvation. Let's take a look at this statement. Let's ask the Lord to bless us. Father, we take this statement
and we show joy in our heart knowing full well that we could
not do anything. that you did everything for the
salvation of our children. And we praise you and glorify
you forever. We thank you in Christ's name,
amen. This table is for believing sinners
who trusted the Lord Jesus Christ. We have trusted him to receive
this table with joy and thanksgiving. All right. When I was four years
old, they gave me a mini-manicure. They gave me all kinds of tricks
once or twice a couple of times. I used to have to have one of
those tricks. My mom took the fancy of me. I'm a Christian. I'm a Christian. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. You know what
she's trying to tell you, Tom? I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I got on the train and took
the brandy. I let him grab it. I let him pass it on the face
and break it. He gave it to his disciples and
said, take, eat. This is my body. I'm going to be here as often
as you do this. On the same night, he took the cup.
And after he had blessed him, he said, this cup is the new
testament in my blood. As often as you eat this bread
and drink this cup, you will be sure to taste my death. And the record is, I sang a hymn,
Our Lord Will Not Be Betrayed. Wash and wash away my sins Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that
makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. This is all my hope and pleas,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my righteousness,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that
makes me white as snow. No other account I know, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. They all tell each other you
love each other.
Tim James
About Tim James
Tim James currently serves as pastor and teacher of Sequoyah Sovereign Grace Baptist Church in Cherokee, North Carolina.

Comments

0 / 2000 characters
Comments are moderated before appearing.

Be the first to comment!

Joshua

Joshua

Shall we play a game? Ask me about articles, sermons, or theology from our library. I can also help you navigate the site.