Let's turn in our Bibles, turn
in our Bibles together to John chapter seven, John chapter seven. Often when we make judgments
according to the truth, we're accused of being judgmental.
And I've had people over the years say to me, you know, they
quote Matthew chapter 7 verse 1, judge not that you be not
judged. Well, in John chapter 7, the
Lord Jesus in verse 24 said, judge not according to appearance,
but judge righteous judgments. He tells us that we are to make
judgments. We make judgments according to
the righteousness that's been revealed in his word. And I hope that will be a help
to us tonight as we look at God's word and the Lord will give us
grace to make righteous judgments. It's good to see you all here
tonight. Tom's gonna come and lead us in number 20 in your
spiral hymnal. The title of the hymn is I'm
Saved by Sovereign Grace. It's the only kind of grace there
is. If it's not sovereign, it's not grace. Let's stand together. Tom, you come, please. Long, long before the world was
made, God chose to save me by His grace and blessed me in my
covenant head with every blessing of His grace. In Christ my surety
was found. A ransom for God's chosen one
Deliverance was then proclaimed And God's great work of grace
begun In the due time my Savior came to do His Holy Father's
will. A body was prepared for Him that
He might righteousness fulfill. When Christ had righteousness
brought in, He took my awful load of sin. Dying for me upon
the tree, My Savior put away my sin. Though I was born a child
of wrath, depraved and helpless, dead in sin, and though I chose
the rebel's path, despising God and loving sin, My Savior's love
could not be quenched. He sought and found me by His
grace. Awakened by His Spirit's call,
I'm saved, I'm saved by sovereign grace. ? Amazing free and sovereign
grace ? In love Christ Jesus took my place ? Chosen, redeemed,
and called by grace ? To Christ alone I give all praise ? My
only hope, my only plea ? Is that Christ lived and died for
me In him alone I am complete, to Christ alone my praise shall
be. Please be seated. All right, let's open our Bibles
to Hebrews chapter four. Hebrews chapter four. The Lord, as we just saw in John
chapter 7, has commanded us to make righteous judgments. We
make righteous judgments when we are able, by God's grace,
to agree with Him and what He's revealed in His Word. And verse 12 of Hebrews chapter 4, The Lord tells us that his word,
the word of God, is quick, it's alive, it's powerful, it's sharper
than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder
of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner
of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Well, that's a... That's a powerful verse. God's Word would reveal so much. Verse 13, neither is there any
creature that is not manifest in his sight, but all things
are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Seeing then, that we have a great
high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the son of
God, let us hold fast our profession. What is our profession? Jesus
is the Christ, the son of the living God. He's all and he's
in all. It is finished. That's our confession. For we have not a high priest
which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. Let's pray together. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
we are right now in a time of need. And we thank you. That your word has. Created that
need in our hearts. Lord, you've revealed the thoughts
and intents of our hearts. You've. Revealed the. the glory of thy son. You've showed us, Lord, our need for
him. And we pray now that you would be pleased to send your
spirit and power and reveal more of your grace and more of your
glory in the person of thy dear son. Lord, might your word be quick
and powerful, sharper than any two edged sword, able to divide
us under soul in the spirit. Lord, we pray that that you would not only create
that need, but that you would fulfill that need, enabling us
to find all our hope and all our rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. For it's in his name we pray,
amen. Let's stand together again and
we'll sing hymn number 514, 514 in the hardback hymnal. ? Come we that love the Lord ?
And let our joys be known ? Join in a song with sweet accord ?
Join in a song with sweet accord ? And thus surround the throne
? And thus surround the throne ? We're marching to Zion ? Beautiful,
beautiful Zion ? We're marching upward to Zion ? The beautiful
city of God ? Let those refuse to sing ? Who never knew our
God ? But children of the heavenly King ? But children of the heavenly
King may speak their joys abroad, may speak their joys abroad. We're marching to Zion, beautiful,
beautiful Zion. We're marching upward to Zion,
the beautiful city of God. The hill of Zion yields a thousand
sacred sweets before we reach the heavenly fields, before we
reach the heavenly fields. ? The golden streets or walk
the golden streets ? We're marching to Zion ? Beautiful, beautiful
Zion ? We're marching upward to Zion ? The beautiful city
of God Then let our songs abound and every tear be dry We're marching
through Emmanuel's ground We're marching through Emmanuel's ground
To fairer worlds on high To fairer worlds on high We're marching
to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion. We're marching upward to
Zion, the beautiful city of God. Please be seated. What can we say, O Lord our God,
about this closing year? But that by grace we've come
this far, your hand has brought us here. Through troubled times
and grievous trial, ? When all had seemed a loss ? ? Your hand
was guiding all the while ? ? To keep us near your cross ? ? In
many joys and precious times ? ? In number not a few ? You
opened up our clouded minds that we might have in view. In wisdom, grace, and power,
and love, with bitter and with sweet, you've mixed your providential
plan to make our souls complete. O Lord our God in coming days,
what e'er you plan for us, we pray you guide us in your way
and cause us you to trust. Thank you, Tom. If you'd like to open your Bibles
to the book of Ecclesiastes, we're going to begin with a few
verses here. Ecclesiastes chapter one. And I want to introduce these
verses by encouraging us to make righteous judgments. to make
righteous judgments is to believe God. Just believe God. We live in a world of unbelief
and we are dependent upon the Lord for the faith to believe
Him. So we come before His throne
of grace as we just read in Hebrews chapter 4 to find help in our
time of need. Our help, our need is to believe
God. And apart from his grace, we
will not. As we stand on the threshold
of a new year, let us be careful not to follow the pattern of
the world in which we live. making judgments according to
outward appearances. Men will make judgments about
last year, what was good and what was bad. They'll make judgments
about the coming year. They'll make things that can
be only done in the flesh and only measured by the flesh. Men
will set new goals. They'll hold out the hope of
a new tomorrow. We find our rest in our God who
is absolutely sovereign. And we find great comfort in
knowing that he works all things together for good for them that
love him and those that are called according to his purpose. And
we dare not question all that he did in the past and we trust
that what he will do in the future will be for our good and it will
be for his glory. That's making a righteous judgment. They that are of the flesh do
mind the things of the flesh. We have a lot of flesh. Fleshly
concerns and fleshly interest. And so we have to be careful,
don't we? That we don't make judgments based on what we see. Our judgments must be based on
what God has revealed and what he's given us faith to believe. In Ecclesiastes chapter 1, Solomon,
wisest man that ever lived, is making some righteous judgments
about what the Lord has revealed to him concerning this world
and this life. And some might read these words and
think it's the disillusioned ramblings of a depressed man,
In fact, he's writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit
and revealing to us the truth about the world that we live
in. And so he says in verse 4 of
Ecclesiastes chapter 1, one generation passeth away and another generation
cometh but the earth abideth forever. The sun also ariseth,
and the sun goeth down and hastened to its place where it arose.
The wind goeth toward the south and turneth again to the north.
It whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again
according to its circuits. All the rivers run into the sea,
yet the sea is not full unto the place from whence the rivers
come. Hence, they return again. All things are full of labor,
and man cannot utter it. The eye is not satisfied with
seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. The thing that hath
been, it is that which shall be. And that which is done, is
that which shall be done. And there is no new thing under
the sun." No new thing. Everything just continues to
repeat itself as far as this world is concerned. Turn with me to chapter 3 of
Ecclesiastes and look at verse 14. I know, here's what we know,
in light of all the uncertainties of time and life in this world,
Solomon says, I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it nor
anything taken from it. God doeth it that men should
fear before him. Our God reigns and here's a righteous
judgment. We rest in his in his wisdom,
in his sovereignty, in his power, in his will, and in his purpose. And then Solomon says again in
verse 15, that which has been is now, and that which is to
be hath already been, and God required that which is past.
As far as we can tell, things just keep going round and round
but God in his sovereign purpose is accomplishing the salvation
of his people. Notice in verse 14, whatsoever
God doeth it shall be forever. What God did in Christ to save
his people is an everlasting work. Nothing can be added to
it, nothing be taken from it. It's a perfect work and that's
where we rest. As I said, so much of our time
and energy involves fleshly things. We all have jobs and family and
physical possessions and it's easy for us to set our affections
on the things of the earth if we're not careful. We will as
we often are forced to do in our temporal circumstances, mind
the things of the flesh. My hope is that the Lord will
enable us and remind us of our need to make righteous judgments
about temporal things, to know that the Lord has brought it to be,
and that we will, by his grace, not set our affections on the
things of this earth, but that we'll set our affections on things
above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. That the Lord will enable us
to make some spiritual judgments. So Solomon has declared under
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that there's no new thing under
the sun, And he's talking about the things of this world, the
physical things of this world. We get anxious sometimes over
those things. Sometimes we have fearful thoughts
like, like Jacob, all these things are against me. And when we have
those thoughts, We cry out with Rebecca, Lord, why am I thus?
Why do I act this way? Why do I feel this way? Lord,
I know, I know that you are sovereign. I know that you are omnipotent. By God's spirit, he enables us
to come back and rest our hope and our souls in his sovereign
work and his sovereign will. You have your Bibles open to
Revelation 21 if you will please, Revelation chapter 21. In verse 5, and he that sat upon
the throne, Our God reigns. He sits upon the throne. He reigns
over the armies of heaven. He reigns over all the inhabitants
of the earth. He hath done whatsoever he wills.
No man can stay his hand. No man can say unto him, what
doest thou? He does it right the first time. He does what he wills, when he
wills, with whom he wills, and how he wills. If the Lord enables us to make
righteous judgments, we will, through whatever fleshly struggles
we go through in worrying about our circumstances, we will come
to this conclusion, Lord, not my will, but thy will be done.
Lord, you're right. In verse five of Revelation chapter
21, and he that sat upon the throne said, behold, I make all
things new. And he said unto me, write, for
these words are true and faithful. These words are true and faithful. So God has given us his written
word and he's revealed to us in his
word that there are some things that are new but they're not
the physical things of this world. No, those things just keep turning
over and over The things that are new require
an eye of faith to see them. Turn with me to Ezekiel chapter
36, Ezekiel 36. In verse 24, For I will take you from among
the heathen and gather you out of all countries and will bring
you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water
upon you and you shall be clean. And all your filthiness from
all your idols will I cleanse you. Oh, what a precious promise. This is the work of Redemption,
this is the work of atonement. This is the accomplished work
that the Lord Jesus performed at Calvary's cross that nothing
can be added to or taken from. This is the promise of God. And verse 26, and a new heart
also will I give you and a new spirit I will put within you.
This is the new birth. This is regeneration, a new heart. What is this new heart? It's
a believing heart. It's the spirit of God that enables
us to believe God because without this new heart, we'll not believe
God. We'll go about our lives just
like everybody else in the world, making judgments according to
the flesh. The only way that we can make
righteous judgments is if God gives us a new heart. A new heart also will I give
you and a new spirit will I put within you. And I will take away
the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of
flesh. The Lord saying that prior to
this new birth, it's the same thing that he talked to Nicodemus
about in John chapter three, except you'd be born again, except
you'd be born of the spirit, except you'd be born from above.
You cannot see the kingdom of God. And this new heart is not like
the old heart. The old heart is hard and dead
and cold like a rock. The new heart is alive and it
beats and it believes God. Now, here's the situation, the
condition that you and I are in. When God gives a new heart, it doesn't change the condition
of the flesh. It doesn't make the flesh better,
it doesn't make the flesh less sinful. The flesh is always still
flesh. And if I look for improvements
in my flesh as evidence of my salvation, I can only conclude
that I'm not saved. That's making a judgment according
to the flesh. If I make a judgment according
to the flesh, I'll look to my flesh to find evidence of salvation
and I cannot find any hope or encouragement. No. This is the circumcision
of the heart and Philippians chapter 3 verse 3 says, we are
the true circumcision which worship God in the spirit, rejoice in
Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. We can't put our
confidence in fleshly things. We can't make fleshly judgments. We must make righteous judgments.
For that which is of the flesh is flesh and the flesh profiteth
nothing. It is the spirit that giveth
life. Lord, you're gonna have to give
me your spirit. You're gonna have to birth me from above.
You're gonna have to give me this new heart. And it's a continual thing. David
in Psalm 51 said, Lord, create in me a new heart and renew in
me a right spirit. David was a believer when he
prayed that prayer. But he knew that he needed God
to create in him something that he could not add to or take from. To create means to make something
from nothing. And so when God created all of
the physical universe, he didn't use any materials to create that
from. He just spoke the word. And the
same thing he's doing, he speaks the word. And that's what creates
in us a new heart and renews within us a right spirit, it's
the word of God. And the creation of a new heart
and the creation of a new spirit is a much greater miracle than
was the creation of the physical universe. When God said, let
there be light, there was no resistance. There was no opposition
to his voice. Everything did exactly as he
said it would. But when the Lord comes to me
and you to create in us a new heart, there's resistance. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. We stand in opposition of God. So what does the Lord do? He slays us. There's that double-edged
sword. It has to kill before it can
make alive. We just read about it in Hebrews chapter four. And
so the Lord comes with the sword of the spirit which is the word
of God and he slays us and then he makes us alive by the same
word. I've got no contribution to make
to this new heart. If I'm going to have a new heart,
God's going to have to give it to me and he's going to have
to make it irresistible because if I can resist him, I will.
He's going to have to kill the resistance. Not only does he
have to bring something new in but he's got to take out something
old. expose that heart of stone for
what it is. You still have your Bibles open
to Ezekiel 36. And I will put verse 27, my spirit
within you and cause you to walk in my statutes. I'll cause you
to believe me. I'll cause you to to just rest in what I have said
and what I have done. I'll cause you to believe. Lord,
you're gonna have to cause me. If you don't cause me, I won't
do it. What God has done, you can't
add anything to it and you can't take anything away from it. Here's the evidence of the new
birth that when we're able to come before the Lord without
any confidence in the flesh, without any contributions to
make, completely dependent upon him to create in us a new heart
and renew in us a right spirit. Now we're making righteous judgments,
aren't we? We're not judging according to
the flesh, Turn with me to 2 Corinthians chapter five. What did we just
read in Revelation 21? I behold, behold. What does that word behold mean?
It means look, look. Don't look at the things of the
flesh, look. 2 Corinthians chapter five. Behold, I. make all things new. 2 Corinthians 5, look at verse
16. Wherefore, henceforth, know we
no man after the flesh. Yea, we have known Christ after
the flesh, yet now, henceforth, know we him no more. We can't know ourselves after
the flesh. We can't know Christ after the
flesh. We're not making fleshly judgments
now. These judgments have to be made
spiritually by the power of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
He is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. And all things are of God. Now, if we're making judgments
according to the flesh and we read verse 17, we will come to
this conclusion. If I'm a believer, everything
about my life is different. and I can look to my behavior
and to my flesh and I can find evidences of my salvation. But
that's exactly the opposite of what this scripture's teaching
us. The previous verse says we know
no man after the flesh. We can't know, we're not any
longer making judgments according to the flesh. We know no man
after the flesh. We don't know Christ after the
flesh. We don't know ourselves after the flesh. We can't know
one another after the flesh. Not in making righteous judgments.
If we're in Christ, we're new creatures. We're not making our
judgments based on what we see with our physical eyes. We're
making our judgments based on what God has revealed to our
spiritual eyes. Old things, the old way of judging
things has passed away. We can't make judgments that
way anymore. All things have become new. All
things are of God who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ
and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation. This is the
gospel. to be reconciled to God. To wit that was God in Christ,
reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses
unto them, and had committed unto us the word of reconciliation. The gospel is the word. Christ
is the word. We're declaring the word of reconciliation. We're reconciled to God through
faith in Christ. Our hope is not based on outward
evidences. The Lord Jesus said to the Pharisees
in John chapter 8, you judge after the flesh. They were looking at Sabbath
keeping laws, they were looking at physical circumcision and
the Lord rebuked them for that and said, you just judge after
the flesh. This is not making righteous
judgments. Righteous judgments are just to believe God. And
this is the reconciliation that God has given us. Do I believe
God? Do I believe? the Bible is the Word of God. That these words are true and
faithful as we just read in Revelation 21. These words are true and
faithful. I can rest all the hope of my salvation on what
God has said and I can't add anything to it. Matter of fact,
this book concludes with that warning doesn't it? If any man
adds to the words of this prophecy, the curses of this book should
be added unto him. And if he takes away any of the
words of this book, his name would be taken from the book
of life. The Lord's just saying you can't
add to or take away. And so we just say, what say
the scriptures? What does God say? Because that's
what I believe. That's what I believe. It's not
up to me to decide what's right or what's wrong or what's good
or what's bad. It's what God says. That's what
it is to make righteous judgments. And I'm just gonna rest right
there. We judge no man after the flesh
anymore. We're new creatures in Christ. This new birth has
given us a new spirit and a new heart enabling us to believe
God. What did Martha say to the Lord
Jesus in John chapter 11 when he came back to Bethany after Lazarus had died? Lord,
I know my brother will raise in the resurrection. She had
that much revelation given to her from the scriptures and she
believed. And that's how revelation works.
We believe what's been revealed, God will reveal more. And so
we just say, Lord, I don't understand. Yes, I know my brother will raise
in the resurrection. Martha, I am the resurrection. He that believeth in me, though he die, yet shall he live. Believest thou this? Isn't that
what the Lord said to her? Martha, do you believe this?
Yea, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ that should come
into the world. There's the evidence of my salvation. I believe God.
Faith is the substance of things hoped for. Faith is the evidence
of things not seen. We cannot look to outward appearances
to try to get hope of our salvation. We must make righteous judgments
through the eyes of faith, by God's word, looking to one that
we cannot see physically. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and the finisher of our faith. So God, I make all things new. Here's
what the world can't see. You know, we're here at the beginning
of a new year and the world's making plans and, you know, go
make your plans, you know. But remember, though man deviseth
his ways, the Lord orders his steps. And what did James tell
us? Don't say that I'm gonna go to
this city and that city and buy and sell and make gain, say if
it'd be the Lord's will. That's the righteous judgment,
did it be the Lord's will. Otherwise, you're just making
judgments based on fleshly things. I make all things new. Lord,
I need a new heart. Because I'm a man of flesh. And
so much of my life in this world involves fleshly things. And
if you don't create in me a new spirit and give me a new heart,
Lord, I won't be able to make righteous judgments. I'll be
just like the rest of the world. And you're gonna have to make
it irresistible. You're gonna have to do it all by yourself.
You can't look to me to help you. I can't help you. Turn with me to Revelation chapter
2. What I'm hoping we can see tonight
is that Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes comes to this conclusion
about our lives in this world. Vanity. vanities all is vanity. It's empty. We're in this world,
we have to live in this world, oh by God's grace let us not
be of this world. Let us not make our judgments
based on vanity. Revelation chapter 2, the Lord
is speaking to the church at Pergamos and look with me if
you will at verse 17. He that hath an ear, where do
we get that ear from? The hearing ear and the seeing
eye, both of them are from the Lord. If I'm to see and I'm to
hear God, he's going to have to give it to me. And if he does,
then I'll be able to make righteous judgments based on what I hear
from him. and what I see revealed in his
word. So the Lord says, he that hath
an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the
churches. To him that overcometh. Well,
that's a term that's been abused in religion, isn't it? People
talk about overcomers as if they're some sort of super spiritual
Christians walking above the things of this world. To overcome
just means that you're a believer and by God's grace you remain
a believer all the way to the end. The word here for overcome, I
looked it up, it's the word Nike. The Greek word Nike, yeah, the
same word that they made the shoes after. And the world's
philosophy is just do it. Just do it. But the gospel is not judged
by fleshly judgments. The gospel is judged by spiritual
judgments. And the word Nike translated
in the Greek language means victory. That's what it means, victory. The Lord Jesus is our victor.
He's gotten the victory for us. It's not a matter of us just
doing it. He's already done it. It's done, it's finished. So he that overcomes is he that
is looking to the Lord Jesus Christ as their victor, the overcomer. He that overcometh will I give
to eat of the hidden manna." Now you remember when God instructed
Moses and Aaron to build the Ark of the Covenant and to put
the mercy seat on the Ark of the Covenant? Inside the Ark,
this wooden box that was overlaid with gold, inside the Ark was
three things. It was Aaron's rod, which budded,
which is a picture of the priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
have a high priest before God who intercedes on our behalf.
The other was the tablets of stone, the Ten Commandments,
which speaks of the kingship of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
the one who gave the law and he's the one who fulfilled the
law. And the third thing that was in that was the Omar of Manna. a jar of manna that had been
collected, put in a jar and put in the Ark of the Covenant. Now you remember when the children
of Israel gathered more manna than what they needed for the
day? It got worms in it, it rotted. That's what happens when we try
to live off of yesterday's grace. Lord, give us this day our daily
bread. But that manna that was in the
Ark, it speaks of Christ as our prophet, the one who came as
the Word of God bringing the truth of the gospel in himself
and revealing God to his people. And that manna in the ark is
the hidden manna. It didn't rot. It didn't get worms. It's in the
ark under the mercy seat. I will give to him the hidden
manna." Lord, that's what I need. I need for you to reveal to me
what I cannot know if you don't reveal it. It's hidden to me. I will give to him the hidden
manna and I will give him a white stone. Now, from what I understand,
the Urim and the Thumen were stones that they would cast in
order to discern God's will. You remember when the disciples,
after Judas died, committed suicide, the disciples met in the upper
room and they cast stones in order to choose the 12th apostle. which was a mistake on their
part. Why? Because they were making fleshly judgments. They
were using those Old Testament methods of trying to discern
God's will and trying to make righteous judgments rather than
waiting on God and asking the Lord to show them. Had they waited,
it wouldn't have been Matthias, it would have been Saul of Tarsus,
which it was. But they cast lots. And the white stone And the Urim
and Thummim was a yes. Yes. And the Blackstone was a no. Now look what the Lord says,
I will give to eat of the hidden manna and I will give him a white
stone. All the promises are yea, yes,
and amen, sure in Christ. In Christ. If I'm in Christ,
I'm a new creature. If I'm in Christ, I'm looking
to Christ. I'm resting in him. I'm relying
upon him. I'm making righteous judgments
based on his accomplished work of redemption. And I have the
hope of knowing that for his sake and because of his accomplished
work, God has given me a white stone. Yes. And not only is this
stone white, but look, look. And in the stone, a new name
written, which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it." What is the name? Jehovah Sidkenu,
Jeremiah chapter 23, his name shall be called Jehovah Sidkenu,
the Lord, our righteousness. And then Jeremiah chapter 33,
and she, shall be called the Lord our
righteousness." We are the true circumcision.
Worship God in the Spirit. These things can only be known
by the Spirit of God. They are hidden They are mystery,
they're unknown, they're locked away. We will make fleshly judgments
and we'll try to judge our salvation based on outward appearances. I've given her a new name. Only
she can know it. And she shall be called the Lord,
our righteousness. so that this is our confidence
in the day of judgment as he is so are we. As perfectly righteous
and sinless as Christ is. Now how am I going to see that?
Am I going to look for evidence of that in outward appearances? Am I going to look for evidence
of that in my flesh and in my behavior? If I find evidence of that in
my outward appearances, I'm gonna be a liar. No, I've got to rejoice in Christ Jesus. That's
the rest of that verse in Philippians 3, 3. We are the true circumcision. The heart's been cut away. The
hope of salvation based on fleshly things has been cut from me.
Worship God in the power of the Holy Spirit. Rejoice in Christ
Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. And behold, I make
all things new. New. That's something the world can't
see, brethren. I can't see it. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly
Father, thank you for thy dear Son. Thank you for
the forgiveness of sin. Thank you for the accomplished
work of redemption. Thank you for your Holy Spirit.
Thank you for your word. Thank you for creating in us,
in spite of all of our resistance, irresistibly creating in us a
new heart and renewing within us a right spirit. Lord, we make so many fleshly
judgments we ask that you would give us the faith to make righteous judgments.
And Lord, that even as we receive this bread and this wine, that by the eye of faith, we
would look beyond the physical bread and physical
wine and that you would give us, you would give us faith in
Christ too. to rest our hope in his broken
body and in his shed blood. We ask it in his name. Amen. Tom? 24 in the spiral hymnal.
Let's stand together. Number 24. ? Jehovah Sidkenu ? The Lord our
righteousness ? We love to call you by that name ? Our Savior
Christ Jesus ? Jehovah Sidkenu The God-man live for us, bringing
eternal righteousness, which God imputes to us. Jehovah Sidkenu. our substitute who died. Your blood has put away our sin,
and we are justified. Jehovah Sidkei, Your love has
won our praise. Trusting your blood and righteousness,
we're saved by your free grace. Jehovah Sidkey do. ? We stand in you alone ? Our
only fitness before God ? Is in our Lord, his Son ? Jehovah
Sidkei Du ? The Lord, our righteousness Christ Jesus you alone we call
the Lord our righteousness. Please be seated. We'll sing
hymn number