morning for our call to worship
this morning. Let's read from First Peter Chapter
two. First Peter Chapter two. Wherefore,
laying aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envies
and all speak all evil speakings, as newborn babes desire the sincere
milk of the word that you may grow thereby. If so be ye have
tasted that the Lord is gracious to whom coming as unto a living
stone disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious.
Ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house and
holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God
by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained
in the scripture, behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone,
elect, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be
confounded. Unto you, therefore, which believe
he is precious, but unto them which be disobedient, the stone
which the builders disallowed the same as made the head of
the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to
them which stumble at the word, being disobedient, whereunto
also they were appointed. But you are a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood, and holy nation, a peculiar people, that
you should show forth the praises of him, who hath called you out
of darkness into his marvelous light. Let's go to the Lord in
prayer. Our Father in heaven, Lord, we
come to you, the chief cornerstone. Lord, we ask that you would let
us not to find you a stumbling stone. not a stone cast out into
the yard. Lord, we ask that you would reveal
yourself to us in your word, and that you'd be an encouragement
to us through your word, that you would cause us to grow. Lord, we thank you for bringing
us here this morning. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen. Let's stand together once again.
We'll sing the hymn that's on the back of your bulletin, the
hymn on the back of the bulletin. When this passing world is done,
when has sunk yon radiance ? When I stand with Christ on high ?
? With his name upon his thigh ? ? Then Lord shall I fully know
? ? Not till then how much I owe ? ? When I hear the wicked call
? On the rocks and hills to fall, When I see them start and shriek,
On the fiery deluge break, Then, Lord, shall I fully know, Not
till then how much I owe. ? When I stand before thy throne
? ? Dressed in beauty not my own ? ? When I see thee as thou
art ? ? Love thee with unsinning heart ? ? Then Lord shall I fully
know ? Not till then how much I owe Chosen not for good in
me Wakened up from wrath to flee Hidden in the Savior's side by
his spirit sanctified. Teach me, Lord, on earth to show
by thy love how much I owe. Please be seated. I couldn't help but to think
about this verse as we were singing that hymn. Oh, because that hymn really speaks to what we were
talking about the first hour, love being the meat of the gospel.
Oh no man anything but to love one another, for he that loveth
hath fulfilled the law. The royal law. The law of liberty. It's the law of grace. It's the
law of love. Let's open our Bibles together
to 2 Samuel chapter 18. 2 Samuel chapter 18. As you know, David's son, Absalom,
has organized a coup against his
father's kingdom. And he's forced David off the
throne. And now David's general, over his
army, Joab, has taken the men that followed David and a battle
has come about against Absalom and his fellow men of rebellion. Absalom in
2 Samuel chapter 18, has died, he's been killed. The rebellion
has been put down. And all of Absalom's followers,
the scripture tells us, have fled to their homes. And at the
death of Absalom, Joab has to send a message to David, who,
from what I can tell, and the places that are identified in
these stories was about 60 miles away from where this took place. And that's significant as we
move through this story. So, Joab has to send message
to David that the rebellion has been put down and David's throne
has been has been recovered. David's priest, the high priest's
name is Zadok. And Zadok had a son by the name
of Ahiamez that's all identified here in 2 Samuel chapter 18.
Ahiamez was a young man and he was a fast runner. And he'd been
used in the past whenever David was in conflict with Saul and
Jonathan. We read about Ahimaaz running
with a message back to David. So Ahimaaz was very loyal to
David and had been faithful to David in the past to deliver
messages to the king. And Ahimez goes to his father
Zadok and says, I want to be the one to deliver the message
of the victory to the king. And Joab steps in and says, no, you're not going to be the one
to deliver the message. And if you look with me in verse 20,
of 2 Samuel chapter 18, Joab said unto Ahimaaz, thou shalt
not bear tidings this day. Now that word's important in
this story because tidings is translated good news. Ahimaaz
just saw the defeat of the rebellion as being good news. Joab knew
David much better. And so Joab says to Ahimez, no,
there's no good news to give to David. Why not? But thou shalt bear tidings another
day, but this day thou shalt bear no tidings because the king's
son is dead. Ahimez, if you're going to be
the one to run 60 miles and deliver this message to the king. The
message is that Absalom, who David loved, has been killed. And you've got no good news to
give him. As it turns out, David is not delighted that the rebellion
has been put down. He, when he hears the news, is
grieved over the death of his son Absalom. In verse 21, then said Joab to
Cushi. Now Cushi was an Ethiopian, probably
a servant of Joab, also a messenger and a runner. And so Joab goes
to Cushi and says to him, go tell the king "'what thou hast
seen.'" I've titled this message, Eyewitness
or Hearsay? Eyewitness or Hearsay? Cushi was there when Absalom
was killed. And so Joab tells Cushi, you
go, And you tell the king exactly what you've seen. And Cushi bowed himself unto
Joab and ran. And verse 22, then said Ahimez,
the son of Zadok, yet again to Joab, but howsoever let me, I
pray thee, also run after Cushi. And Joab said, wherefore wilt
thou run, my son, seeing that thou hast no tidings ready? You don't have a message of good
news. Why do you want to run? But howsoever said he, let me
run. And he said unto him, run. Then Ahiames ran by the way of
the plain and overtook Cushi. Sixty miles. I don't know how
long that would have taken. But these two young men arrive
at the city, Mahiamin, on the east side of the Jordan, 60 miles
away, where David is waiting, and they arrive at the same time.
Cushi left earlier. Ahimaaz actually gets there a
few minutes before he outruns Cushi. The watchmen are on the guard
and they see the young man running and the watchman tells David,
there's one man running. And David said, if he's alone,
then it must be good news. If there was a whole bunch of
them, it would be clear that they were leaving the battle,
that they were retreating. But if it's just one, then he's
a messenger of good news. So David asked Ahimaaz, verse 28, Ahimaaz called and
said unto the king, all is well. And he fell down to the earth
upon his face before the king and said, blessed be the Lord
thy God, which hath delivered up the men that lifted up their
hand against my Lord, the king. We've put down the rebellion.
All those that were against you have either died or gone back
to their homes and your kingdom is reestablished. And how IMS
thought that was the good news. And the king said, is the young
man Absalom safe? Now, if you've been with us for
the last several weeks, you remember David told Joab, In no uncertain
terms that his son Absalom was not to be killed. Joab's the one that killed Absalom.
Joab knew better. Joab knew that Absalom had to
be killed if the kingdom was going to be reestablished. David
out of love for his son as any father would have and I'm sure
a large measure of guilt. over the failures that he had
been as a father toward his son, did not want Absalom to be killed. Is the young man Absalom safe?
Verse 29. And Ahimez answered, When Joab
sent the king's servant, and me thy servant, I saw a great
tumult, but I knew not what it was. So Ahimaaz was a hearsay witness. He said, I heard there was a
great tumult, but I don't know the details. Now, Joab had already
told Ahimaaz, the king's son is dead. Ahimaaz knew that Absalom
had been killed, but he doesn't want to tell the king. All these
things are significant in making an application of this story
to the gospel. And the king said unto him, turn
aside. King was interested in one thing,
the well-being and the safety of his son. And he tells Ahimaaz,
this anxious young man who ran 60 miles to tell the king of
the defeat of his army, of the rebellion. And the king says,
step aside. I need an eyewitness. I need
to know the whole story. You obviously don't know. And he turned aside and stood
still. And behold, Cushi came, and Cushi
said, Tidings, my lord the king, for the lord hath avenged thee
this day of all them that rose up against thee. And the king
said unto Cushi, Is the young man Absalom safe? What about
the fate of my son? And Cushi answered, The enemies
of my Lord the King and all that rise against thee to do thee
hurt, be as that young man is." Cushi told him, Absalom is dead. And the king was much moved and
went up to the chamber over the gate and wept. And as he went,
thus he said, oh, my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom, would
to God that I had died for thee, oh, Absalom, my son, my son. Now, in order for you and I,
this story is not just an event in the history of Israel for
us to be interested in the details. That would be of no profit to
our souls. As is true of all the stories in the Bible, in
the volume of the book, it is written of me. These stories are gospel types,
they're pictures. And in order for us to understand
the significance of this story to our own salvation, we must
see Absalom as a type of Christ. Now, Absalom was the king's son.
The Lord Jesus is the son of God. Absalom's name, Abba Shalom,
father, peace. We have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. Even in his rebellion, Absalom
is a type of Christ. For when the Lord Jesus went
to Calvary's cross, he bore the sins of his people upon his body
in that tree. And what is our sin? I'll not have that man reign
over me. Our sin is rebellion against
God. It's the root cause of all of
our problems and all of our sin is rooted in our rebellion. When Absalom died, you read the
story in this chapter, the Bible says that he was riding upon
an ass, a mule. And when the Lord Jesus made
his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, where do we see him? We see him
riding upon an ass, a beast of burden. And all throughout the
scriptures, the beast of burden or the ass in particular is a
picture of the church and the gospel preachers taking the gospel
out into the world. And Absalom was riding upon that
and Absalom was known for his hair. He had long flowing black
hair. And he, of all the men of Israel,
there was no one as handsome as Absalom. So the beauty of
the Lord Jesus Christ and hair in the Bible is a picture of
glory. The woman's crown of glory is her hair. And when the Lord Jesus comes
in the book of Revelation, we see him with black as raven and
then another picture we see him as hair as white as wool and
speaking of his wisdom and of his power and his beauty all
represented in the hair and Absalom gets his hair caught in the limb
of a tree that jerks him off the mule. What a glorious picture. of the Lord Jesus who took off
his crown of glory when he went to Calvary's cross, when he hung
upon that tree. And the Bible tells us in this
story that Absalom was suspended between heaven and earth. He
was hanging there in that tree by his hair. When the Lord Jesus
went to the cross, he set aside his glory and he was suspended
between heaven and earth. The only one able to touch God
without being destroyed. You and I try to touch God without
Christ, we're gonna be destroyed. The only one able to touch man
without being defiled, the Lord Jesus taking our sin and suffering
the wrath of God's judgment. Joab hears that Absalom's hanging
in a tree and Joab asked the servant who saw him, did you
kill him? And the servant said, no. And Joab went himself. And the scripture says that he
took three spears and pierced them into Absalom's heart. When the Lord Jesus went to Calvary's
cross, it was in fulfillment of what
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit had purposed
and determined to do from eternity past for the salvation of God's
people. and his heart was pierced by
the sword of God's justice. And then after having three spears
put into his heart, some other men come and the scripture says
they take 10 more spears and put them into Absalom's body.
We know the number three is a picture of the triune Godhead and we
know that the number 10 is a picture of the law of God and the Lord
Jesus Christ. died in order to satisfy the
requirements of God's holy law. We by ourselves would go about
trying to establish our own righteousness not knowing that the Lord Jesus
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it.
He's the only one that kept God's law and he kept it perfectly.
He kept it perfectly and that's what God requires. Perfect obedience
to the law of God. Someone said, well, I'm doing
my best. The best is not good enough. God requires perfection. The Lord Jesus is the only one
that ever did that. Absalom's body pierced through 10 times. Absalom's taken down from the
tree, though he had built for himself a monument in Jerusalem
that he intended to be buried under as a memorial of his glory
for time and eternity. But they took his body down from
the tree and they threw it in a pit and covered it up with
a rock. In order for us to understand
this story, we must see Absalom's death as
a type, a picture of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Absalom, I mean, I'm sorry,
Ahimaaz, three things that are told of us about him in this
story. Number one, he did not have good news for the king.
Number two, he was not an eyewitness. And number three, he was afraid
of the king's disappointment in him. Let me name those things again.
Number one, he did not have good news. Joab told him, you can't
run today. Maybe another day there'll be
good news, but today there's no good news because the king's
son is dead. Number two, he wasn't an eyewitness. And number three,
he was afraid of displeasing David. Now, the gospel is called the
good news and here's where the story makes a drastic change. Because though Absalom never
got to his monument, Absalom's body decayed in the woods in
that pit covered up with rocks, the Lord Jesus Christ conquered
death. You see, we preach Christ crucified,
yes. But the cross is not an end in
itself. It is an end of the law. It is
an end to justice. When the Lord Jesus said, it
is finished and bowed his mighty head and said, father into thy
hands, I commend my spirit. He was telling us that everything
that God requires for us was accomplished by him at Calvary's
cross. But the cross was not an end
in itself. The cross was a means to an end. The end is life. Life. Eternal life. If the Lord Jesus had not been
raised from the dead, then what benefit would the cross have
been? In Him is life. Life abundantly, eternal life. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
15. 1 Corinthians 15. Ahimaaz did not have good news
for the king. All he could tell the king was
that, well, you know, there was a tumult. And, but you know,
the battle's been won. He didn't have any good news.
2 Corinthians chapter, 1 Corinthians, I'm sorry. Chapter 15. If you'll turn with me to verse
50, verse 50. Now this I say, brethren, flesh
and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Neither does
corruption inherit incorruption. All these corruptible bodies
cannot go to heaven like they are. They're gonna have to be
changed. Behold, I show you a mystery. This is hidden from the natural
man. A natural man thinks that what he does in this world, in
his body, is sufficient to get him into heaven. We shall not all sleep, but we
shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet of God shall
sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be
changed. You know on the first hour this
morning we talked about those who will bow to the authority
of Christ in the day of judgment out of fear. They'll run to the
mountains. They'll have the rod of God's
wrath at the back of their knees and every knee will bow and every
tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the
Father. How do I know that I'm not one
of those? Because I'm longing Watching,
waiting. Come Lord Jesus, even now come. Isn't that what John said? Oh, we long for the coming of Christ. Why? Because this is what we
have to look forward to. Look. Verse 53, for this corruptible
must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality. Oh, we've got this body of death
that we bear in our flesh. The thought of being rid of that? The thought of having an incorruptible
body without sin? Seeing Him as He is and being
made like Him, that's the longing of faith. So when this corruptible shall
I put on incorruption and this mortal shall put on immortality,
then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death
is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin and
the strength of sin is the law. The strength of sin is the law. The law just makes sin more sinful. I can't find any power over sin
by the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved
brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work
of the Lord, for as much as you know that your labor is not in
vain in the Lord. Here's the end, here's the good
news. It's blasphemous to put a cross on the wall and have
the figure of a man on it and call it a crucifix and have Jesus
hanging there. Oh, let's all feel sorry for
Jesus. When the Lord Jesus was going
to the cross and those women were weeping, the Lord said,
don't weep for me, weep for yourself. Weep for yourself. I'm laying
my life down willingly. Why? That you might have life. The message of the gospel, yes,
is the cross, but the cross without the resurrection is no hope.
No hope. And when the Lord Jesus Talked
to the disciples about where he was going. He said, you believe
in God, believe also in me. For in my father's house are
many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go and prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself
so that where I am there, you may be also. And the disciples said, Lord, we
don't know where you're going. How can we know the way? And
the Lord Jesus said, oh, I am the way. I am the way, I'm the
truth and I'm the life, look to me. All the shame, all the bearing
of sin, all the forsaking of his father that he suffered on
Calvary's cross, was that we might have a message of hope,
a message of life, a message of forgiveness. Without the resurrection, the
most grievous and hopeless message is the cross, without the resurrection. You know, the disciples, you
remember in Luke chapter 24 when those disciples were walking
along with the risen Christ to a city called Emmaus and the
Lord was conversing with them and they didn't know who he was.
He had not revealed himself. And in the breaking of bread,
when they got to their house, their eyes were open and they
beheld him and those disciples whom the Lord walked along with
and said, why are you so downtrodden? And what did they say, have you
not heard? The one that we thought was the
prophet has been crucified, he's dead, we're without hope. We
thought that he was the one that was gonna bring life and salvation,
now he's gone. There's the cross without the
resurrection. And when their eyes were open and they saw him
for who he was, though it was already dark, They turned around
and they ran all the way back to Jerusalem to report to the
disciples, he's alive. He's alive, he's conquered death,
he's alive. When Mary went and told the disciples
that he was alive, they didn't believe her. They didn't believe
her. And when the Lord Jesus appeared
in that upper room with the disciples, they could not believe what they
were seeing. He had to eat with them. He said
to them, peace be unto you. And when Thomas came later, Thomas
didn't believe it. I'll not believe unless I can
put my hand in his side, my fingers in the prints of his hand. I'll
not believe it. When the Lord Jesus appeared
to Thomas, he fell at his feet. Oh my Lord and my God, now I
have hope. Now I have hope. Those disciples who were huddled
up and afraid, the Spirit of God came upon them on the day
of Pentecost, they went right into the belly of the beast.
They went right back into Jerusalem amongst those men that had just
crucified their Lord and they declared without apology who
the Lord Jesus was and what he had done. We have hope now. We have hope because he's risen.
Ahiames had no good news. When Mary went to the tomb, the angel said, why seek ye the
living? Among the dead. He's not here.
He's risen. He's alive. Oh, the gospel is good news,
brethren, because what the Lord Jesus accomplished on Calvary's
cross, the father rewarded him by raising him from the dead. He raised him from the dead. The good news of the gospel is
that God was satisfied with what the Lord Jesus accomplished.
And he gave evidence of that by not allowing his holy one
to see corruption. Unlike Absalom, he raised him
from the grave. He's seated at the right hand
of God. He ever lives to make intercession for us. We have
a living risen Lord seated in the heavens to whom we go to. Oh, an advocate with the father,
Jesus Christ, the righteous one. Ahimez didn't have that message.
Joab knew it. Joab said, you can't go today.
Maybe another day you'll have good news, but today you don't
have good news. Today, brethren, we have good news. The Lord Jesus
has conquered death. He is the death of death. He's the death of death. He opened
the grave. We have nothing to fear in the
wrath and judgment of God. Heaven is open. We have a Savior. Oh, what good news we have. The second thing I see in this
story is that Jaimez was not an eyewitness. He was not an eyewitness. Hearsay
testimony in any court of law is always inadmissible. Hearsay
testimony, Joab knew that. Ahimez knew that Absalom had
been killed because Joab told him he wasn't there. He was truthful
when he told David, well I heard of tumult but I don't know exactly
about your son. He wasn't there. How many people say that they
believe, and they do, they believe the historical events of 2,000
years ago. that Jesus of Nazareth was born
of a virgin, that he lived a sinless life, that he died on a Roman
cross, that he rose from the dead and that he ascended into
heaven. And they've embraced the historical events, but it's
all hearsay. It's all hearsay. They've learned
it from a man. They've heard the report and
they've said, well, yeah, that's where I'm gonna hang my hopes. Oh, the Lord told a parable about
10 virgins that were waiting for the bridegroom to come. And
the bridegroom shows up at midnight, the least expected time. And
when he showed up, 10 of the virgins didn't have oil and they
weren't allowed into the wedding feast. And the Lord didn't give us that
parable in order to show us the difference between a gospel church
and all the false churches out there. He was talking about his
church, his church. Oh, don't be caught without oil
when the Lord Jesus comes. I wonder oftentimes, I was talking
to a pastor recently and said, well, yeah, they're there and
they believe it, but to be honest with you, Christ is not their
life. He's not their life. When you're taught of God, the
Lord Jesus becomes your life. Otherwise it's just all hearsay. And hearsay testimony is inadmissible. Lord, don't let me just acknowledge
assent to some things that I've heard. Lord, save me. Lord, make Christ real to me. Cause me to bow to Him. Cause
me to love Him, the love of the truth. Not just the assent of
the truth, but the love of the truth. This is the work of grace
in the heart that only God can do. And the Lord said, they shall
all be taught of God. There's so many Ahiameses in
the church. Well, yeah, I heard a great tumult. And I can tell you what I've
learned from another man but, you know, I really... Don't you
love the story of the blind man who was being interrogated by
the Pharisees trying to get him to to explain what had happened
to him with theological terms that they could accept and finally
out of frustration, he just said to them, you know, I don't know
what y'all talking about. All I know is that once I was
blinded, now I see. We can't know about anyone else's
salvation. When the Lord tells us to make,
to judge righteous judgments, We get accused. How many times
I've tried to share the gospel with someone and they'll listen
for a little while, a religious person, and they'll listen for
a little while and after having listened, the first thing out
of their mouth is, well, I know I'm saved. Well, I didn't ask you that.
I mean, like they're trying to convince themselves and convince
me know because they're looking back to an experience where they
you know where they prayed a prayer nailed it down or you know that
or they they're assenting to we don't make judgments about
who's saved and who's not saved we make judgments about who does
the saving that's our judgment that's righteous judgment You
know, I can't tell. I mean, so many of you I love
as a brother and sister in Christ, but I don't know about, you don't
know about me. But by God's grace, you can know
about yourself. You can have comfort. You can
be an eyewitness. God makes you so. Lord, I need
to be an eyewitness. I don't want my soul to be hung
on the testimony of someone else. I need to know for sure for me.
Lord, I need Christ. I need him to be my life. Hymas
didn't have that. He didn't have good news and
he was an eyewitness. And thirdly, He was afraid of
disappointing David. He couldn't tell the truth, the
whole truth and nothing but the truth because he feared David's
response and David's anger and David's disappointment. I know men who say they believe
what we preach but they can't preach it. out of fear of men. Well, they don't really believe
it. If they believed it, they couldn't help but preach it.
The gospel is offensive. It's offensive. But we're not
trying to take the edge off of it. We're not trying to take
the offense out of it. The gospel declares men as sinners,
dead in their trespasses and sins without any righteousness
whatsoever. The gospel declares God as sovereign
in salvation. Having elected a people, having
redeemed a people, having regenerated a people, having kept a people,
having glorified a people, all by himself and he gets all the
glory and we didn't contribute anything to it. That's offensive
to men. And men will, well, you know,
we'll try to Soften this thing up a little bit so that you won't
be angry. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel. It's the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth. Without the offense of the gospel,
there is no gospel. We preach what we've seen and
what we believe, the full counsel of God. Men are gonna get angry. I've
seen plenty of it. I've had it expressed to me on
many occasions. It's okay. God before me, who
can be against me? And you have too. I'm not making
myself a martyr. I'm thankful. The Lord gives us boldness. boldness
to just speak the simplicity of the gospel without any fear of reprisal. You see, this story is a gospel
story, isn't it? It tells us about a man who was
anxious to run, but he didn't have good news. He was not an eyewitness. And he was afraid of the opinions of men. And none of those things can
be true if we're going to be faithful to the gospel. We have
good news. By God's grace, we're eyewitnesses.
You know, speaking of that, in the early years of the church, The men that were leading the
church were led by the Spirit of God. There were a lot of letters
and a lot of epistles being circulated around and those men were led
by the Spirit of God to discern which letters would go into our
Bibles. Which gospel accounts would go
into our Bibles. And the first criteria that those
men had were given to them by God to decide. This is God's
book, God decided, but he used the means, he used the means
of those early church fathers. Whatever letters we put in here
have to be written, have to be penned by someone who's an eyewitness, an eyewitness. This book wasn't put together
for a couple hundred years as we have it today. And there were others after the
life of Christ, but they have to be eyewitness. We have an
eyewitness account given to us in God's Word. Peter said, we
did not bring to you cunningly devised fables. We handled the
Word of God. We saw His glory up on the mountain. We saw when the veil of His humanity
was taken away and the radiance of His glory shined forth, we
were there. Oh Lord, open my eyes that I might see.
Make me an eyewitness. Because Peter says in the next
verse, you might think, well, Peter had this mountaintop experience. He saw the glory of God. He heard
and handled the son of God. And the next verse, Peter says,
we, speaking of us, have now a more sure word of prophecy. We have the written word of God. God uses his word. Faith comes
by hearing, hearing comes by the word of God. God used his
word to give his children an eyewitness account. And we do it without fear. We have to. Oh, I fear God a lot more than
I fear man. Oh, if I was to change the gospel,
or soften the gospel, or take the offense out of the gospel,
or say something that somebody wanted to hear so they'd like
me. Oh, I fear the thought of what might happen, of what
God would do, not might happen, what God would do. All right. Our heavenly Father, thank you for your word. Lord, make us eyewitnesses. Lord, take from our hearts any
fear of man when it comes to the truth of the gospel. And Lord, reveal to our hearts, oh, what
good news, what good news it is that Christ is risen, having
conquered death. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. 27 in the spiral hymn, let's
stand together. Free from the law's great curse,
in Jesus we are free. For Christ became a curse for
us and died upon the tree. The rituals of the law and all
the law's commands have been fulfilled in Christ the Lord,
established by his hands. No covenant with the law can
now with us exist. ? Complete in Christ we stand
by grace ? ? Both free and ever blessed ? ? No more the dread
of wrath ? ? No more constrained by fear ? ? We worship and we
serve our God ? ? With gratitude and cheer ? In Jesus we are free. In Jesus we are free. Free from all sin and from all
guilt. We live in liberty. We'll join the happy song. With all the blood bought throng,
And sing the praises of the Lamb, Whose grace makes us His own. I don't know.