Good morning. Turn with me, if
you would, please, for our call to worship to Psalm 142. Psalm 142. This is a psalm of David when
he was in a cave hiding from Saul. It's also a picture of Christ
in the tomb after his crucifixion. A prayer to the son, a prayer
of the son to the father to not leave him in prison in the land
of death, paying for the sins of the elect. Let's start with
verse one. I cried unto the Lord with my
voice. With my voice unto the Lord did
I make my supplication. I poured out my complaint before
him. And that word complaint could
also be translated prayer. I poured out my prayer before
him. I showed before him my trouble.
When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knowest
my path. In the way wherein I walked,
have they privily laid a snare for me. I looked on my right
hand, and be held, but there was no man that would know me.
Refuge failed me. No man cared for my soul. I cried
unto thee, O Lord. I said, thou art my refuge and
my portion in the land of the living. Attend unto my cry, for
I am brought very low. Deliver me from my persecutors,
for they are stronger than I. Bring my soul out of prison,
that I may praise thy name. The righteous shall compass me
about, for thou shalt deal bountifully with me. Let's go to the Lord
in prayer. O Lord, our God, we come before
thee, praising thee for who you are. Father, we thank you that
you did not leave our Lord dead in hell, but, O Lord, that you
raised him up at the same time, saving each and every one of
us, each and every one of your elect. Father, we've come this
morning to gather together to hear your word preached to us.
Father, we've come to sing praises unto thee, to read your word. Father, we pray that your word
would not return unto you void. but would be used according to
your might. Father, we pray also that you
would be with the Bible school this week. Father, we pray for
our children. Father, we lift them up to you
and pray that your will be done. In Christ's name, we ask it. We'll continue in the hardback
hymnal, hymn number 176, Break Thou the Bread of Life. Let's
stand while we sing. Hymn number 176. ? Break thou the bread of life,
dear Lord to me ? as Thou didst break the loaves beside the sea. Be on the sacred page, I seek
Thee, Lord. My spirit pents for Thee, O Living
Word. Bless thou the truth, dear Lord,
to me, to me. As thou didst bless the bread
by Galilee, then shall all bondage cease. All fetters fall, and
I shall find my peace, my all in all. Thou art the bread of
life, O Lord, to me. Thy holy word, the truth that
saveth me. Give me to eat and live with
thee above. Teach me to love thy truth, for
thou art love. Oh, send thy spirit, Lord, now
unto me, that he may touch my eyes and make Show me the truth concealed within
thy word, and in thy book reveal, I see the Lord. That is our prayer. We were singing that hymn. I
was thinking about those disciples in Luke chapter 24 that our Lord
was walking with and their eyes were holding. The scripture says
they didn't see him. He had already raised from the
dead. And when they got to their house in Emmaus, The scripture
says the Lord acted as if he would have gone on and he would
have. But he put it in their hearts
to plead with him to stay. And there's another example of
how the Lord puts it in our hearts to pray and ask him and he did. And the scripture says, in the
breaking of bread their eyes were opened and they beheld him. That's always our hope, that
in the breaking of bread our eyes will be opened and we will
behold him. We don't search the scriptures
for, well, for anything other than
Christ. We're looking for him. Let's turn in our Bibles together
to John chapter 3. John chapter 3. I've titled this
message, You Must Be Born Again. You must be born again. Someone asked a preacher one
time, why do you keep saying you must be born again? And he
said, because you must be born again. Very familiar passage dealing
with a man by the name of Nicodemus. Is there anything, is there anything
a poor sinner has more interest in than what it is to be born
again? And is there any more clear and
comprehensive passage of Scripture in all of God's Word that declares
and defines this great subject better than the text that's before
us in John chapter 3? Yet, apart from the enlightening
power of the Holy Spirit, like Nicodemus, We will not only not
understand what the Lord is saying, but left ourselves, we will do
as many have done, and we will rest the scriptures to our own
destruction. We will misinterpret all that
the Lord is saying about what it is to be born again. Lord willing, next Sunday, I'm
going to devote at least one message to John 3.16. Don't suppose there's a more
well-known verse in the world than John 3.16 and yet there
is no verse that is misunderstood and misinterpreted and misapplied
more than John 3.16. This morning we won't get that
far. We're going to look at what the Lord tells Nicodemus. And let us be reminded that scripture
is written for us. We are to see ourselves in the
characters of the Bible. And we are to ask the Lord to
apply what's being said to us. You remember last Sunday, we
looked at the last verse of chapter two, that the Lord needed no
man to testify to him of man for he knew what was in man. And then the chapter divisions,
you understand, were given to us by the translators for the
purpose of being able to find verses of scripture. Oftentimes when an Old Testament
text is quoted in the New Testament, a chapter and verse is not given
to that text because it wasn't in a chapter and verse when it
was quoted in the New Testament. So these chapters and verses
are for our benefit of being able to get to a verse quickly. But just think with me for a
moment about that chapter division not being there. And let's read
verse 25 and verse 1 together. And he needed not that any should
testify of man for he knew what was in man, there was a man. There was a man. So now the Lord
is going to use Nicodemus as an example of the truth that
is expressed in that verse of chapter two. man. And I suppose we could say Nicodemus
was the fulfillment of that verse that says every man at his very
best state is altogether vanity. Nicodemus was a Pharisee, he
was a member of the Sanhedrin, he was a leader of the Jews,
he would have been The kind of man in Jerusalem you hear people
say, well, if so-and-so is not going to get to heaven, none
of us have a chance. I'm sure people said that about Nicodemus.
And yet Nicodemus had not a clue what the Lord was talking about
when he said to him, except you be born again, you cannot see
the kingdom of heaven. Nicodemus, you don't have any
understanding at all. You don't know what I'm talking
about. You're completely in the dark, and I know what's in man. And all the Lord would have to
do to any of us is leave us to ourselves. Nicodemus came to
the Lord at night, perhaps there was some hesitancy on the part
of Nicodemus to be identified with Christ, as hated as he was,
by Nicodemus' peers, the other Pharisees. But the spiritual
application here is so obvious. Nicodemus came to him by night,
and then Nicodemus was spiritually blind. He didn't know who the
Lord Jesus was. He calls him Rabbi which was
a respectful term but he had no idea that he was actually
in the presence of the fullness of the Godhead bodily. He had
no idea that this was the second person of the triune Godhead.
He would, Nicodemus' name comes up two more times in the Gospel
of John. In John chapter 7 The Pharisees
are trying to find a way to do away with Christ and the Sanhedrin
gets together of which Nicodemus would have been a member of the
Sanhedrin. He was a part of that inner circle of the Pharisees.
And Nicodemus warns the rest of the Sanhedrin in John chapter
7 when he says, do we judge a man before we've heard him? Nicodemus
had heard him, but they had not and Nicodemus was encouraging
them to listen to Christ. And we see some progress, if
you will, in Nicodemus' heart and in wanting to know more about
who this man is. And then in John chapter 19,
after the crucifixion, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea go to
Pilate and plead for the body of Christ. And the scripture
says that Nicodemus brings a hundred pounds of spices and aloe to
anoint the body of Christ before his burials, wanting to treat
the body of the Lord Jesus Christ with such honor and respect and
making sure that he's buried properly. But at this stage,
Nicodemus is completely in the dark. as we would be. The seeing eye and the hearing
ear, both are from the Lord. And if the Lord doesn't give
us eyes to see, we won't see. Nicodemus' name is interesting
in that it translated means master or conqueror. And like Nicodemus
left to ourselves, we would be masters of our own destiny, we
would be captains of our own ship, we would have the idea
that we can conquer heaven We can conquer sin, we can conquer
this life, we're very proud and independent and self-sufficient
and self-righteous. Left ourselves. The Lord knew what was in man
and there was a man, there was a man of the Pharisees. Pharisee translated means separated
one. It's very similar to the word
holy. And we could say that saint translated holy and Pharisee
really have the same definition, separated one. The difference
is who does the separating? Who does the separating? We would
separate ourselves, which is what the Pharisees did. They
were very self-righteous. They were very, very, very proud,
and they were very condescending toward others. You remember the
Pharisee and the publican that's praying in the temple? And the
Pharisee says, Father, I thank thee that I'm not like other
men. I'm not an extortioner. I tithe, I do this, I fast, and
I'm especially thankful I'm not like that publican over there.
You see, just the self-righteousness of Pharisees. There is a man,
his name is Nicodemus. He would attempt to conquer salvation,
conquer the law, be master of his own destiny all by himself
if he was left to himself. He's very self-righteous. And he came to the Lord by night. And he said, look at verse two,
the same came to Jesus by night and said unto him, rabbi, teacher, for we know that thou art a teacher
come from God For no man can do these miracles that thou doest
except God be with him. Nicodemus had heard about and
obviously observed some of the miracles that our Lord performed.
And he performed a lot of miracles that aren't recorded in scripture.
John finishes his gospel by saying many other things the Lord did
that are not written in this book but these have been written
in order that you might believe and that believing you might
have life through his name. We haven't observed the miracles but we've heard and no one has ever been saved
by what they saw. Faith comes by hearing. There's a whole group of so-called
Christian scientists, not Christian science as a denomination, so-called
Christian scientists who have devoted their lives to what they
called creation science, believing that they can somehow persuade
men to believe the gospel by the physical evidences of archeology. If we can find the Noah's Ark, We can prove to men that these
things are true. And they've spent their lives
trying to prove scripture with physical evidence. No one's ever
been converted by what they saw. Nicodemus said, we've seen these
things. And we know that no man could
do the things that you do except God be with him. He would say,
well, if I saw a miracle, I'd believe. No, you wouldn't. No,
you wouldn't. You wouldn't believe if you saw
something extraordinary. You wouldn't believe. Well, if I could just see the
undeniable evidence of some doctrine, you can't You can't prove the
gospel by proving doctrine or theology. Men have to hear. They have to
hear. You see, you hear people say,
well, I just want other people to see Jesus in me. Maybe that'll,
they didn't see Jesus in Jesus. I mean, I don't want to be a deterrent to the gospel. I want my life to be a testimony,
but don't be under the persuasion that men are going to be converted
because they see some evidence of of salvation in you. They've got to hear, faith comes
by, God uses the foolishness of preaching to save them which
believe. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. We are born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible even by the word of God. God uses
the gospel, he uses his word, he uses preaching, he uses scripture
to speak to the hearts of his people. Nicodemus, thinking that
he's somehow honoring the Lord by
saying, we've seen what you've done, And we know that no man
can do the works that you do except God be with him. And the
Lord says to Nicodemus, Nicodemus, you don't know anything. Call upon the name of the Lord
and thou shalt be saved. How should they call upon him
in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in
him in whom they have not And how should they hear without
a preacher? And how should they preach except
that they should be sent? Oh, that's why we're here, isn't
it? We're here to hear. Now what Cornelius said, we're
all gathered here to hear. And in the breaking of the bread,
their eyes were open and they beheld him. The Lord is pleased
to reveal himself by his word. It is the written word that reveals
the living word. And we come together, we pray
that what we say will be faithful to God's word
and that he'll be pleased to send his spirit and power and
make it effectual to our hearts. Let him who has ears to hear,
hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Lord, open my ear. My sheep hear my voice and they
follow me. God opened your ear, you just,
You rejoice, you believe everything that he said, your faith rests
in the sure promises of his word and the accomplished work that's
revealed in his word. Verse three, Jesus answered and
said unto him, verily, verily, I say unto thee, Nicodemus, I'm speaking to you. And here's a man again. The Lord knew what was in man. A man who was a Pharisees by
the name of Nicodemus came to him by night. And now the Lord
says, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of
God. Some of us are old enough to
remember when Jimmy Carter was running for president, he popularized
the phrase, born-again Christian. And that's the only kind of Christian
there is. You know, a distinction was made
back then between what it meant to be a born-again Christian
and just a regular Christian. but the only Christians that
there are are born from above, born of God. You and I died in
our father Adam. We spiritually died. The Lord
warned Adam, he said, in the day in which you eat of the fruit,
he didn't say if you eat of the fruit, He said, in the day in
which you eat of the fruit. God ordained the fall. Adam was fully responsible for
what he did and his disobedience but God purposed it to show forth
more of his glory in the salvation of his people. Oh brethren, there
are things that we see of God as a result of the fall and of
salvation that Adam could never see. Adam could never see the
grace and the power and the love and the mercy, the justice and
the righteousness of God like we're able to see. And so the
Lord said to Adam, in the day in which you eat of the fruit,
you shall surely die. Now, Adam didn't die for years
later. But he surely died that day.
Spiritually, he died. And we died in him. In Adam,
all are dead. Adam's not just our, he's not
just our federal head, he's our seminal head. We were actually
in Adam. We were there. We were there
in the garden. And what Adam did, we did. God
counted all the prodigy of Adam to be spiritually dead. And if
God doesn't birth us. And Adam, you remember when the
Lord formed him from the dust of the earth, the scripture says
that he breathed the breath of life into his nostrils. I think that's very significant. He breathed it into his nostrils.
He didn't breathe it into his mouth. Oh, the mouth is full
of perverse things. And as the heart is, the mouth
speaks. And the mouth is, you know, it
shows forth. But here we have the pure breath
of God coming into Adam's nostrils and the same thing, it's a picture
of the spiritual life that the Lord has to give. We come into
this world just like Nicodemus. At our very best state, altogether
vanity. Dark, self-righteous, Master
of our own lives thinking that somehow we can satisfy the demands
of God's justice and righteousness by our own obedience and law
keeping, oh. Nicodemus, you're basing everything that
you think you know on what you've seen. You don't know anything. You've
got to be born from above. This word again, actually is
most often translated above or from heaven. A man can receive
nothing except to be given to him from heaven. We've got to
be born of God. We died in Adam and we must be
born of God. Turn back with me just one page
to John chapter one. John chapter one. Look up in the verse 12. But
as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons
of God. That's what it means to be birthed,
to be born of God, to become a son of God. People say, well,
everybody's a child of God. That's not true. It's not true. God's the creator of all men,
but he's not the father of all men. To as many as received him,
the Lord Jesus, to them He gave power to become the sons of God,
even to them that believe on his name, which were born. Which were born. Not of blood,
not of descent. You don't get born into the kingdom
of God because your parents were relievers. Each one of us come
into this world spiritually dead, not of blood. nor of the will
of the flesh, not by dedication or commitment. I'm just gonna
work on this thing and I'm gonna, no, no. Nor of the will of man,
not by decision. So it's not of dissent, it's
not of dedication, it's not of decision. You don't make a decision
to get born into the kingdom of God, but of God. This birth
must come from God. And the new birth is just like,
you didn't have anything to do with your conception or your
birth when you came into this world physically. That's what
the Lord's saying, but of God. Ezekiel's Valley of Dry Bones
is a, is an example of this, isn't it? When the prophet looked
out over this desert of dry bones, an army
that had once raised its fist in rebellion against its enemy
and were slaughtered every last one of them. And that's exactly
what we did in our father Adam. We raised our fist to heaven.
and we died. And God asked the prophet, son
of man, can these bones live? And what did Ezekiel say? Lord,
thou knowest. If they're gonna live, you're
gonna have to make them live. I mean, these are, the scripture
goes on to say they are very dry. I mean, these bones are
bleached, sun bleached, dried bones. And God says to the prophet,
prophesy to them, preach the gospel to them. And as Ezekiel
begins to preach, just like Nicodemus, just like Nicodemus, we see going from here to chapter
seven to chapter 19, the bones start coming together and flesh
begins to take its place on the bones. And a great army is, but
there's no life in them. There's no life in them. And
so God says to the prophet, prophesy to the wind, call upon the spirit
of God to come. And the story is concluded with
this. This is the whole house of Israel. This is the Nicodemuses
of God. These are the self-righteous
Pharisees, the ones who were in the dark, the ones who are
spiritually dead. God breathes life into them by
his spirit and by his word. The Lord's gonna go on to tell
Nicodemus, Nicodemus, you've got to be born in the spirit.
Go back with me to our text. You see, I love that little phrase
that you've heard it, I've heard it many times. If you're wrong
on the fall, you're wrong on it all. We have to understand, believe
I should say, by God's Word, that we actually spiritually
died in our father Adam. And that as dead men, we can't
do anything. A dead person can't see. A dead
person can't believe. A dead person can't speak. A dead person can't do anything.
And that's what we are spiritually dead. God's saying to Nicodemus,
Nicodemus, you don't know anything. Nicodemus, you're walking by
sight, not by faith. You're impressed with the things
that you've seen, but the things that you've seen have done nothing
for you. You're still in the dark. As
highly esteemed as you are among men, you don't know anything,
Nicodemus. You've got to be born of the
Spirit. You've got to be born of God
and there's nothing you can do to make that happen. That's a
work of grace. You can't see, you can't perceive
of the Kingdom of God. You have no understanding whatsoever. All God would have to do for
any of us to go to hell and leave us in the darkness of our sin
is nothing. Nothing. Just leave us to ourselves. Now what is the believer doing
right now? What am I doing? What are you
doing? Lord, save me. Lord, don't leave me to myself.
Lord, if this new birth is a work of grace, it comes from heaven,
Lord, I've got to have it. Jesus answered and said to him,
verse three, barely, barely, I say unto you, except a man
be born again or born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of
God. And Nicodemus saith unto him, how can a man be born when
he is old? Can he enter a second time into
his mother's womb and be born? That's just how foolish we are,
left ourselves. That's how spiritually blind
we are. That's how dumb we are. That's how easy it is for us
to rest the scriptures to our own destruction if the Lord left
us to ourselves. This was a man who who reportedly
had some understanding. He would have had much of the
Old Testament committed to memory. And when the Lord is talking
about being born from above, spiritually born, he comes to
this, he asks this stupid question. And Jesus answered, verily, verily,
I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the spirit,
he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Scripture likens the Word of
God to water. Washed by the water of God's
Word. The Lord said you must be born
of water and of the Spirit. He's not talking about water
baptism as important as that is. No, baptism isn't what births
us into the Kingdom of God. It's the water of God's Word.
The Lord uses his word to speak truth to our hearts. We were driving. through Georgia
Friday and I saw a billboard that said, is your name in the
book of life? And then under that it said,
it can be, it can be. Call this number, do this, whatever,
you know. The scripture tells us that the
book of life is a book that is written within and without, on
the backside and is sealed with seven seals. You say, well, I
thought that was talking about the book of God's ordained providence
and purpose. It is, it's talking about God's
words, talking about the land's book of life. There's no, the
book, the land's book of life is not a, It's not a registry
that you sign when you get to heaven and it's not something
that you can add your name to. It's names that God chose according
to his own will and purpose before time ever was. God elected a
particular people and he's going to see to it that everyone that
he chose and everyone for whom Christ died The Word of God and
the Spirit of God will come to them in power and birth them
spiritually into the Kingdom of God. And there's nothing you
and I can do to make it happen. Nothing we can do. There's nothing open-ended or
undecided about the purposes and decrees of God in any place, especially in salvation. There is a remnant according
to election chosen in Christ before the foundation of the
world. God declared the end from the beginning and from ancient
times, the things that are not yet done saying, my counsel shall
stand and I will do all my purpose. Nicodemus, you've got to be born
from above. No, you can't go back into your
mother's womb. You've got to be born of God.
You'd completely dependent upon him. Look at verse six in our text. Verse five, except a man be born
of water, the word of God and of the spirit, He cannot, he
cannot enter the kingdom of God. The flesh cannot inherit the
kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Nicodemus, you came into this
world born of flesh. and the flesh profiteth nothing.
The flesh can never inherit the kingdom of God. You must be born
from above. Marvel not that I say unto you,
you must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth,
and thou hearest the sound thereof, but cannot tell whence it cometh. or whither it goeth, so is everyone
that is born of the Spirit. How can I control the wind? How can I determine what direction
the wind's gonna blow? Nicodemus answered and said unto
him, how can these things be? How can these things be? by God's free and sovereign choice,
by the fulfillment of his purpose, by the accomplished work of the
Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross, by the power of his spirit
birthing us into the kingdom of God, completely apart from
any contribution or participation whatsoever on our part. Salvation is of the Lord, completely
of God. When men hear this, And here's the conclusion of
this message. When men hear this, they have one of three responses. And this will tell you whether
or not you've been born again. The first response to this glorious
truth of God being God God being sovereign, God being omnipotent,
God reigning on his throne and doing whatsoever he wills. The
first response to that is resentment. Resentment. Men will do what those Jews did
in Nazareth when the Lord announced himself as the Christ. when he
went back to his own hometown and he stood and he took the
scroll and he opened it to Isaiah 61 and he read that messianic
promise, the coming of the Messiah, and he rolled up the scroll and
he said to his friends and family members and neighbors, he said,
this day has this scripture been fulfilled in thy sight. And they
wandered at the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth.
They thought, could this be? Could this be the Christ? And
then he interpreted who the Christ is. When he said, in the days
of the prophet Elijah, there were many widows. There were
many widows in Israel. But God showed mercy upon none
except for the widow of Sarepta. And in the days of Elijah the
prophet, there were many lepers in Israel, but God showed mercy
upon none of them except for Nahum and the Syrian. And just moments before, they
wondered at the gracious words that came out of his mouth. But
when he declared that salvation was of the Lord, and that he
would choose whomsoever he wills, and that he would pass over others,
they gnashed at their teeth, and they cast him out of their
city. and took him to the brow of the
hill and would have put him to death and he walked away. This isn't fair. It's not fair,
I resent that. God owes me some choice and right
in this matter of salvation. No, he doesn't. And if your response to this
glorious truth of who God is, is resentment, and it only shows
that you've not been born again. Now the second response is a
little maybe closer to home and needs to be guarded very carefully.
And I've chosen the letters, the words that start with R for
the reason of us, for us to be able to remember them. But the
second word after resentment is resignation. Well, you know,
if it's out of my control, then what will be, will be. Romans
chapter 9, after the Lord makes it clear that salvation is a
sovereign work of grace, comes down from heaven, births a man
into the kingdom of God, and without it, no one will see the
kingdom of God. The term of May, the term of
May of Romans chapter 9, look at verse 18. You must be born
again. You must be born again. Preacher, you're telling me there's
nothing I can do to be born again. Yep. God has to do it. Verse 18, Romans chapter nine.
Therefore, hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he
will, he hardness. Some will say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For
who hath resisted his will? Paul, if what you're saying is
true and being born from above is a work of sovereign grace
and there's nothing I can do to make it happen, then how can
God charge me with fault? How can he hold me? He's not
giving me any part in it. So I'll just resign myself to
the fact that God will have mercy when he's ready to have mercy.
And who art thou, oh man, to reply
against God? You see, being resigned, to the
gospel, taking a position of resignation to the glorious truth
of the gospel is nothing short of blaming God for your unbelief. This is God's fault. I'm not gonna come, I'm not gonna
believe. And the reason I'm not coming,
the reason I'm not believing, the reason I have no urgency
about the salvation of my soul is because God hadn't chosen
me, so it's all his fault. How can he find fault with me? Resentment and resignation. And the third response is to
rejoice. To rejoice that salvation is
of the Lord. To rejoice that God is not looking
to you for anything. To rejoice that he did it and
he did it right and he did it all by himself and you can rest. There's another R. You can rest
in Christ. To rejoice in Christ Jesus. Oh Lord, I'm so thankful. that
you're not looking to me to add something to what Christ did.
I can rest completely in His finished work, and I can rejoice
in His glorious person, and I can rejoice in knowing that I have
an advocate with the Father, that if I'm going to be born
again, He's gonna be fully responsible for it, and I rejoice in that. Not only do I rejoice and rest,
but I remain. The Lord told that Syrophoenician
woman that she was a dog. The disciples tried to get him
to send her away. He didn't even respond to her.
I've not come but for the lost sheep of Israel. I've not come for the dogs. What's she do? Maybe you have a dog that does
this. You sit down at the dinner table and that dog sits right
there by you. If you haven't been trained well,
I'm sure it is. He sits right there by you. He's got his eyes
fixed. He's not moving until you move. He remains right there by the
master's side, hoping to get a crumb that falls from the master's
table. What am I saying? Yes, salvation is completely
of God, and you must be born again, and you can't do anything
about it. Say, well, how do I know? How
do I know that it's for me? Are you resentful? Are you just taking a position
of resignation and blaming God for your unbelief? Or are you
rejoicing in Christ Jesus, resting in his finished work and remaining
at his feet? Because only those that are born
again do that. That's what it is to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Scott, you come, please. What are we going to sing? 258, in the heart, back
to him. Now, let's stand together. A wonderful Savior is Jesus my
Lord, a wonderful Savior to me. He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock where rivers of pleasure I see. He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths
of his love and covers me there with his hand. and covers me there with his
hand. A wonderful Savior is Jesus my
Lord. He taketh my burden away. He holdeth me up and I shall
not be moved. ? Giveth me strength as my day
? ? He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock ? ? That shadows
a dry, thirsty land ? ? He hideth my life in the depths of his
love ? ? And covers me there with his hand ? ? And covers
me there with his hand ? ? With numberless blessings each moment
he crowns ? ? And filled with his fullness divine ? I sing
in my rapture, O glory to God, for such a Redeemer as mine. He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths
of his love, and covers me there with his hand. And covers me there with his
hand. When clothed in his brightness,
transported I see, to meet him in clouds of the sky. His perfect salvation, his wonderful
love, I'll shout with the millions on high. He hideth my soul in
the cleft of the rock, that shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths
of his love, and covers me there with his hand, and covers me
there with his hand.