Good morning. Good morning. Let's open this morning's hymn
with hymn number 21 in the Spiral hymn book. Everyone is familiar
with that. It's a well-loved hymn. So let's
all stand together. Hymn number 21. God the Father, and the Son,
and the Spirit, three in one, in eternal ages past, made a
covenant sure and fast, God my Father chose His own in the person
of His Son, and ordained that I should be one with Him eternally. God the Son agreed to come in
the flesh to bring me home. He would keep God's holy law
and retrieve me from the fall. Christ in love so willingly stood
as my great surety. For my price He offered blood
to appease the wrath of God. God the Spirit, heavenly dove,
promised to come down in love, bringing life and peace and grace
to the chosen, purchased race. He seeks the lost, heals the
lame, and he brings us to ? By His mighty sovereign call ? God's
elect are gathered all ? This poor sinner is secure ? For God's
covenant will endure ? It is sealed by God's own word by his
spirit and his blood. Blessed, holy, covenant God,
I am yours by ties of blood, ties of grace and ties of love. Hold me to my God above. Please be seated. Good morning, everyone. Please
turn to Luke chapter 7. Luke chapter 7. I believe I have
a message from the Lord here. I want to lift up our Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ. That is my desire. I hope that's
our only desire. He is our only hope. Go to Luke
chapter 7. starting at verse 11. Now, I've heard from this adulterous
and wicked generation my whole life. I've heard what we need
to do is find ourselves. You need to find yourself. What
they mean is that you have everything that you need inside of you already,
and you just need to find it. But that's not true. That is
not true. What you need is for God to save
you. You need God to cleanse you from
your sin. There's nothing in you, there's
nothing in me that's worth finding because there's nothing in us
that's like Jesus Christ. Nothing in us is worth finding
because everything in us only needs atonement. It's just another
reason why we would be sent to hell forever. Everything in us
is unclean. God said in Acts chapter 17,
he is appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness
by that man, by Jesus Christ. He is the standard. There's nothing
in us like him. God says, even in laughter, even
in the good times, even in laughter, the heart is sorrowful. And the
end of that joy? is heaviness, that's a strange
statement to be made about people who have everything they need
inside them already, isn't it? I'm calling on myself, I'm calling
on us all today to stop looking, stop looking. I want to preach
the simplicity of the gospel in Christ. And I see in these
miracles, as Greg has been showing us these last month, These miracles
show God's work of salvation. They show how simple the gospel
is. There's somebody who has a need,
they can't help themselves, they can't fix it, and Jesus Christ
comes and gives them everything. The miracles show God's elect
being brought into every blessing, every blessing. The Lord once
commended his own work, saying, I made a man every whit, every
whit hole, lacking nothing. I'm calling this sermon, Why
Did Christ Come? Because as I read Luke chapter
seven, I see quite a difference between the religious world's
answer to that question and what the Bible gives. I could also
call this sermon, What is the Joy and Aim of Every Saint? Or, Why is the Gospel Preached?
Or, happens after we are born again. Now, the congregation
of the dead, and I use that term often because it's God's word
for those who have wandered out of the way of understanding,
the congregation of the dead say, first, the reason Christ
came is so that we could accept an offer of salvation. And after
we do that, according to them, it seems, We're to join one of
the 30 million different ministries that that church has to offer
and sign up to take the grace of God, which is for the church,
into the world to make it a better place and to allure other people
into accepting that same offer. Isaiah said, let favor be shown
to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness. Nothing, nothing that we do can
move a person, a dead sinner, one inch closer to faith in Jesus
Christ. Now, just to make sure that I'm
not just making up or exaggerating things in order to then fight
against them, I spent about 15 minutes on the internet and this
is, I found. It's what they're all about.
This is sourced from self-described evangelicals, churches, who say
that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, to the glory
of Christ alone, and that the scriptures are the only rule
of faith. Many of them are Calvinistic.
Here, these are the ministries. Book club, talent show, car clinic,
church thrift store, Host a golf tournament, you know, our Lord
once, the scriptures tell us about a church thrift store,
our Lord sat down outside of it and made a whip to drive them
out. Host a golf tournament, prenatal
class, animal shelter. If I don't know why Christ came,
then everything that I do, that I call worship, is really just
idolatry. because it makes man more than
a sinner, and it makes Christ less than a savior. It makes
man something more than a doomed rebel who's dead and can't know
God. And then, if you believe that,
Christ is less than a savior to you. The people sat down to
eat and drink and rose up to play. That's God's description
of idolatry. is in reference to when the children
of Israel made a golden calf and made sacrifice on a man-made
altar. Idolatry boils down to this. They worship and serve the creature
more than the creator. That's what it always comes down
to. Whether it's dancing around a golden calf or whether it is
a church worship service, so-called, that resembles a rock concert
with a fog machine and a laser show. Idolatry always goes hand
in hand with silly, degrading behavior. Where you see idolatry,
you will see degrading behavior every time. Well, Christ did not come to
make an offer. He did not come to make the world
a better place. He didn't come to make an offer.
You see the word offer used in scripture throughout. That's
because our salvation depends on an offer being accepted, it
does. But the offer in scripture is always something offered to
God, not us. The blood of bulls and goats
that were offered year by year under the Levitical system, They
could never take away sin, but they pointed to the Lamb who
was to come, who would take away sin, when he offered himself
without spot to God, to bear the sins of many, to bear in
his own body the sins of his elect, and God accepted the offer. God accepted that offer, and
that's why God's elect, all of them right now, are accepted
in the Beloved. It says, This man, this man,
by one offering, just one, there's only one offer, he perfected
forever them that are sanctified, set apart in him before the foundation
of the world, made perfect. When we see this, we then offer
to God our praise and thanksgiving, as Hosea says, the calves of
our lips. Jesus Christ did not come to
make the world a better place. That's because all things, and
that word all really means all, all things already are working
together for good to them that love God and to those that are
the called according to his purpose. How can anything be left over
to work for good to anyone else? In Jeremiah chapter 29, God,
through Jeremiah, tells his church how to go about their lives while
they're in captivity, waiting that 70 years for God to perform
his good word unto them. He says, seek the peace of the
city, whither I have caused you to be carried away captive, and
pray unto the Lord for it. Pray for that city, for its peace. And why? Why pray for it? For
the city's sake? No, no. God says, for in the
peace thereof, you shall have peace, because God cares about
the apple of his eye. The proverb, Solomon's proverb,
he says, the righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked
cometh in his stead. That's exactly what God meant
when he spoke through Isaiah. He says of his church, I gave
Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Since thou
was precious in my sight, thou has been honorable and I have
loved thee. Therefore, because I've loved
you, therefore will I give men for thee and people for thy life. God hazards, he jeopardizes the
life of the reprobate section of mankind. for the good of his
church. He is God. In 1 Timothy chapter four, Paul
warns us about those who would command us to abstain from meats. We were just talking about fish
stick Friday in the men's meeting just a few minutes ago. And Paul
writes something that so easily slipped out of my notice, but
he says, that those meats were created to be received with thanksgiving
by them which know and believe the truth. Even the animals were
created for us. Brethren, all things are working
together for good for God's church. Whether it's animals, whether
it's the peace of a city, whether it's the existence and fall of
entire nations, all things work for us. Now, knowing that, why
would pastors so-called want to try to make the world a better
place and suggest that the gospel's purpose is just that? Why would they do that? Well,
Galatians chapter six, verse 12 tells us, it says, as many
as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, as many as want
to be applauded and have their rewards from men. They constrain
you to be circumcised. They tell you to get to work.
But it's only lest they suffer persecution for the cross of
Christ. Preaching the plain gospel of
blood atonement for God's elect, made once for all, doesn't make
you friends. It's only so that they won't
be persecuted. For neither they that are circumcised
keep the law. They don't do as much as they
want us to think, but desire to have you circumcised that
they might glory in your flesh. Look what I got my people to
do. Did he come to offer grace to
his church so they can give it to the world by philanthropy?
No, he didn't come to make bad people act like they're good.
He didn't come so that sheep can attract goats with fun programs. He came so that every son of
God's church would live, would arise by giving them life from
the dead and begin to praise his name. Look at verse 12. I'm on the wrong page. Look at verse 12, the only son
of his mother, that's the church. He came so that every son would
live, would arise from the spiritual death in unbelief. Look at verse
14, I say unto thee, arise. And that these sons of his church
who arise from the dead, would speak the glory of God. Look
at verse 15, it says, this man began to speak. And these three
things we will see, God willing. Let's read the text now, starting
in chapter, or in verse 11 of Luke chapter seven. And it came
to pass the day after that he went into a city called Nain.
And many of his disciples went with him, and much people. Now
when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was
a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was
a widow. And much people of the city was
with her. And when the Lord saw her, he
had compassion on her, and said unto her, weep not. And he came
and touched the buyer, and they that bear him stood still. And
he said, young man, I say unto thee, arise. And he that was
dead sat up and began to speak, and he delivered him to his mother. And there came a fear on all,
and they glorified God, saying that a great prophet has risen
up among us, and that God hath visited his people. Look at verse
12, this is where we have to start. Now when he came nigh
to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man, a dead
man. This is why an offer will never
work. I'm so thankful he didn't offer. He made us live. He said, live,
and we lived. We were dead, being carried by
other dead men. Jesus Christ came for lost men,
men whose very minds are at war. against him who would rather
go to a devil's hell than bow the knee and worship him. That's
who we came for. Those who are dead, they grope
in the dark. They have not known nor understood. They're as stubble before the
wind and chaff that the storm carrieth away. That's all. That's all we are in God's sight.
The wicked, it says, the wicked by pride of his countenance will
not seek after God. God is not in all his thoughts. The thing that we as believers
value the most, what we build our life on, the thoughts that
are the only thing that will cheer us, it never even crosses
the mind of an unbeliever. They go their life, it never
even crosses their mind. They're dead. We are lost. We
come into this world lost. Scripture says a man who's dead
in sin feeds on ashes, things that there's no nutrients in.
You can get nothing out of ashes. Men who are dead in sin operate
based only on the things of time and sense and pleasure and reason. They're earthy. Natural man cannot
see the things of God because they're spiritually discerned.
And look, to make things even worse now, in verse 12, this
dead man is being carried by others. We don't need help sinning. We do that on our own. The scripture
says, each man sins when he's drawn away of his own lusts.
But we do get help from others, don't we? As the, I like a hymn,
I don't know the name of it, but it says, is this vile world
a friend to grace, to help me onto God? No, no, no, it's not. I was talking with a brother
a few years ago in another state. He told me about his grandma
who he had talked with recently. His grandparents had met each
other and and been married and went their whole life in a false
church together and her husband had recently died. He was trying
to tell her about the gospel and he realized she wasn't rebutting
him, she wasn't offering any kind of argument, she just didn't
want to hear what he was saying. He said he realized what was
happening halfway through the conversation, her hope was that
she would see her husband in heaven someday soon. And for
her to acknowledge that this was a false gospel would be the
same as letting go of that hope because he believed a false gospel.
She wouldn't do it, she couldn't do it. There's a lie in her right
hand and she can't say unto herself, is this not a lie? We get help
from other dead men, we're being carried. In a way, if you'd allow
me to say it like this, he was helping her unbelief, even from
the grave. But now, now look at this. Look
at electing love right here. This dead man was the only son
of his mother. Christ came to make every son
of his church live. I want to run through these verses
really quick, just so you see that The church is the mother
and this is his son. Let's go to Isaiah chapter 54.
Isaiah 54. Now this is describing Gentiles
coming into the church. Remember in Acts chapter 13 it
says, when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified
the word of the Lord. There was more Gentiles interested
in the gospel than Jews. Chapter 54, verse one, it says,
sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear. Break forth into singing
and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child. That's
the Gentiles. For more are the children of
the desolate than the children of the married wife, the Jewish
nation. Now let's go to Psalm 87. I'm running through this real
quick without much commentary because I just want to show you
that the church is the mother. Psalm 87. Now we know that the
new birth, being born again, happens by the preaching of God's
word. And that preaching happens in
and by God's church. It says it pleased the Lord by
the foolishness of preaching to save them. Psalm 87 verse
five, and of Zion it shall be said, this and that man was born
in her and the highest himself shall establish her, the church.
The Lord shall count when he writeth up the people that this
man was born there in Zion. Let's go to Galatians 4.26 now,
please. Galatians chapter four, verse
26. Well, let's read verse 24, starting there. 24, which things
are an allegory, for these are the two covenants, the one from
the Mount Sinai, which gendereth the bondage, which is Agar. For
this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem, which
now is. and is in bondage with her children.
But Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is the mother
of us all. But you are come to Zion. There. As newborn babes, desire, desire
the sincere milk of the word. We get that in the context of
our church, our mother. But look now, this man, This
dead man being carried is the only son, the only son of his
mother. God deals with us as if we were
his only children. His love is so personal. It's set on us. It's not he loves
a group of people as a group, but he loves, God loves individuals. He knows us. He knoweth our frame. In Jeremiah chapter 33, Verse
13, it says, in the places about Jerusalem and in the cities of
Judah shall the flocks pass again under the hands of him that telleth
them. Telleth means count, the one
who counts them one by one by one. You're an only son of God. Jesus Christ is the door and
he's the shepherd, counting each one of his flock. In Ezra and
Nehemiah, as you know, there's pages and pages of genealogies
in there. That's telling us something.
That's telling the particular care and notice that God takes
of each one of his children. This is an only son of his mother. And he didn't come to offer them
salvation. He didn't come to make the world
a better place. He came for the only son of his
mother. Let's read on in our text in
Luke 7, verse 13. And when the Lord saw her, this
widow, he had compassion on her and said unto her, weep not. His compassions fail not. They're
as deep as the sea, as high as the sky, higher than the clouds,
brethren. If you had the sea and you had
only one drop of that ocean, you'd have the whole thing. That's
God's mercy. He gives it all. It can't run
out. His compassions fail not. He had compassion on her and
said, weep not. God takes special notice of widows
because then a widow was completely dependent on mercy to live, just
like every son of his church who he came for. And so now,
verse 14 and 15, here's why our Lord Jesus Christ came. And he
came and touched the buyer, and they that bear him stood still.
And he said, young man, I say unto thee, arise. Here's a voice
stronger than sin and death. This is a voice stronger than
our hatred toward him. Regeneration, being born again,
is God coming into us to dwell in us by his Holy Spirit and
giving us life and faith. It says in 1 John, to give us
an understanding that we might know him that is true and that
we are in him that is true. This is the true God and eternal
life. When God makes us arise from
our death and sin, we believe on his son. That's what happens,
what a mercy. I say unto you, I say, this man
was dead in sin, but the voice of the Lord is powerful. The
voice of the Lord discovereth the forest. The voice of the
Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon, the strongest wood. The voice
of God discovers the forest. That means it lays bare. Forests
are a nice place to hide, just like Adam and Eve in the bushes.
God can lay that bear and take our hiding spot away. My youngest
daughter, she's two now. Her new favorite game is hide
and seek. The other day she hid behind a chair. Not even the
chair, just the leg of the chair. I think she really believed she
was hiding from me. That's us hiding from God. When
you say, you know what, I haven't been doing so well at this. Oh,
I really messed up. Okay, I'm gonna do this. I'm
gonna try this. I'm gonna make it better. What
is that? So that's a little child hiding
behind a chair. God can lay that bear. And that's
what he does with his powerful voice and his word. His exceeding great power is
what Paul prayed the Ephesians would understand and have a knowledge
of his exceeding great power to us word who believe. which
is according to, it's the same as the working of God's mighty
power in Christ when he raised Jesus Christ from the dead. And
so verse chapter two of Ephesians starts with, and you hath he
quickened. Let's go to John chapter five,
please. The voice of the Lord is powerful,
the voice of the Lord. And We have the scriptures of truth
right here, and we don't hesitate to say that the voice of the
Lord right here on the written word of God is just as powerful. It's the same as the voice of
God literally 2,000 years ago. We have the word of God sitting
right here in our laps, printed for us. Now, in John chapter five, the
Lord is rebuking these Pharisees. Let's look at verse 21. For as the father raiseth up
the dead and quickeneth them, even so the son quickeneth whom
he will. Whoever he wants to, he's sovereign. An as even so type of sentence
is one of the strongest ways in all of language to phrase
something because you're saying that the second thing in the
sentence happens in the same way that the first does. He's
about to tell us two different resurrections here that happen
at different times, but they are similar. Now look down to
verse 25 now. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
the hour is coming, and now is. This is happening right now,
when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and
they that hear shall live. Every dead man carried, every
son of his mother will hear this voice and live. When faith comes
by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, this is something
happening right now. But then look, look in verse
28. Verse 28, Marvel not at this,
for the hour is coming. It's not now. This one is not
now, but it is coming. In the which all that are in
the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth. This is a different resurrection
now done by the father of physical bodies out of the ground at the
last day. So as, even so, as the father
raises them up out of the ground, even so, I give spiritual life
to my elect. Now, we can make some comparisons
now. That's the whole point of an
as, even so. Will the father offer resurrection
to dead bodies out of the ground? No, of course not. They shall
come forth. Well, even so, life and faith
are given. Does he need their consent and
cooperation to raise a body out of the ground on the last day?
No. Well, even so, salvation works
like this. I will be their God, they shall
be my people. Jesus Christ came to give life
to his church. I'm so thankful he didn't offer
it. And then tell me to make the
world a better place. I would have been hopeless. I'd
still have a dead heart. I'd be running around, patting
myself on the back with a dead heart toward God, a stranger
to grace. I need a new nature as holy as
God. Jesus Christ said, except you
be born again, except you're already born again. You cannot
see the kingdom of God. You can't perceive it, appreciate
it, desire it, or understand it. Let's go to Ezekiel now,
chapter 37. Here's some bodies coming out
of the ground and some hearts, and some new hearts being given
now. The same thing as our Lord said
in John chapter five. Ezekiel chapter 37, start at
verse nine. Then said he unto me, prophesy
unto the wind. God says he bringeth the wind
out of his treasuries, the storehouses of his grace. Prophesy unto the
wind, son of man, and say to the wind, thus saith the Lord
God, come from the four winds. You know, I don't know this,
but I believe that this is what Jesus Christ was saying to Nicodemus
when he said, the wind bloweth where it listeth. and now hearest
the sound thereof, and canst not tell whither it come and
whither it go? And so is every one that is born
of the Spirit of God. And say to the wind, verse nine,
thus saith the Lord God, come from the four winds, O breath,
and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied
as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived.
and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. Then
he said unto me, son of man, these bones are the whole house
of Israel. Behold, they say our bones are
dried and our hope is lost. We are cut off for our parts.
That was an open casket being carried by these men in Luke
chapter seven. I wonder how long it would have
taken in that dry desert for this man's bones to be completely
dried out. We're dried out on birth. We
arrive dried out. Therefore, verse 12, therefore
prophesy and say unto them, thus saith the Lord God, behold, O
my people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out
of your graves and bring you into the land of Israel. And
ye shall know that I am the Lord when I have opened your graves,
O my people, and brought you up out of your graves. Think
of the things that God now says of this man. who he raised from
the dead in Luke chapter seven. What can be said of him? They
are not of this world, even as I am not of this world. Young
man, I say unto you, arise. And he that was dead sat up and
began to speak. And began to speak to praise
God's name, to thank him for his glorious works, for his wonder,
for his mercy. Let's go to Revelation chapter
14 now. Revelation chapter 14. Now, I said that regeneration
is nothing less than a foretaste of heaven. It's God coming into
us. In Revelation chapter 14, this
is describing worship in heaven. I'm aware of that. That's why
I wanted to go here and show you that these things written
here in these first five verses can be said of us right now.
Although we are not in heaven, but God says our conversation
is in heaven. It is right now. We've been raised
up with Christ and seated in the heavenly places. And I hate
that voice inside my head that says when I read a verse like
that, well, you shouldn't take that too far
now. You shouldn't take that too far. I don't want us to be
worried about taking it too far. I wanna read the Bible being
worried about not taking these things far enough. When we read
a verse like that, our conversation is in heaven. Worship in heaven
starts on earth when we see the Lord high and lifted up. And
when that happens, we don't want to fix this sinking ship that
is this world. We want them to believe and come
to heaven with us. Paul said, knowing the terror
of the Lord, we persuade men. Let's look in Revelation 14,
verse one. And I looked, and lo, a lamb
stood on the Mount Zion, and with him 140 and 4,000, having
his father's name written in their foreheads. And I looked,
what is the first thing we do? What is the first thing that
happens when God calls us by his grace? and gives us faith,
we look, we look, and what do we see? A lamb standing as the
head of his church in fulfillment of the prophecy in Psalms that
says, yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. We
see a successful savior. That's why the 144,000 are with
him, every son of his church. If he came to offer grace, then
set to work in the community, we would be doomed. We need a
lamb, a bloody sacrifice, who will keep us with him and give
us his father's name. Okay, verse two. And I heard
a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice
of a great thunder. And I heard the voice of harpers
harping with their harps. And we join this anthem of worship
when we very first see the Savior in the gospel. We join in this
anthem. It says, many waters, plural,
but it's one voice. Many waters, think of it. This
is worship. This is how God describes the
worship of his church. Think of a deep, slow-moving
river. All that water came from the
same place, and it's going to the same place. All worship comes
from Christ and it goes to Christ and every single believer believes
the same thing. We're taught the same gospel
as many waters. Verse three, and they sung as
it were a new song before the throne and before the four beasts
and the elders. And no man could learn that song
but the 140 and 4,000 which were redeemed from the earth. The unredeemed can't learn this
song because it's a song about being redeemed. You can't sing
about something you haven't been taught. This reminds us, this
verse, how you cannot, being around Christians, being around
the church can't do anything for you in the way of giving
life and faith. This gospel faith is a one at
a time thing. It has to be you. that's taught
this. We can't go out and do nice things
in the community expecting people to then become closer to believing
in Christ. You're taught this song or you're
not. He came to give life to his church
and make them raised to life and speak his glory. No man could
learn that song. We need to be taught this. These,
verse four, these are they which were not defiled with women,
for they are virgins. These are they which follow the
lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among
men, being the first fruits unto God and to the lamb. Jesus Christ
said, accept a corn of wheat, fall into the ground, and die
as he was buried. It abides alone, nothing will
happen. But, but if that corn of wheat dies as he did, it brings
forth much fruit. We are the first fruits. Peter
said that we receive faith through the righteousness of Jesus Christ,
through his resurrection, he said in 1 Peter. And in verse
four now, we see undefiled people, those who are undefiled, they
sing a simple song. This is not a complicated gospel. It's not a complicated song.
In Song of Solomon, the Shulamite bride says something that has
always stuck with me. She said, the virgins, the undefiled,
the virgins, God, we remember thy love more than wine. The wine is the false doctrine,
the intoxicating gospel of works, and we remember God's love more,
and it keeps us from believing a false gospel, his love, because
we know that it's this simple. If God loves somebody, he will
save them. That's a simple song. That's
a song sung by the undefiled. Now verse five. Verse five, and in their mouth
was found no guile. for they are without fault before
the throne of God. No guile, I was dead, being carried
by other dead men, but he gave me life. In my flesh dwells no
good thing, but God works in me both to will and to do of
his good pleasure. This is a song with no guile
because it's so simple. For the first time now when we're
taught this song, when he makes us raised to life, for the first
time we can speak honestly about who we are and what God is, who
God is, what he's done. No guile, without fault. A glorious church, not having
spot or wrinkle or any such thing, forgiven of iniquity, transgression,
sin. Read it again now, verse five.
Let's see what it says. When they had made themselves
free of guile, then God said that they are without fault.
Right? No, that's backward. The only
way our mouths will ever have no guile is for God to give us
faith to see that he has already made us without fault. before
the throne. Remember Ezekiel chapter 37,
it says, in that day, in that day when I open your grave, then
you shall know that I'm the Lord, something you've never known
before. The problem with a defiled false religion is they don't
really believe that the Lord is God. They don't really believe
he's God. They don't. because they believe
that they can overrule what he has desired to do and what he
can do. They believe that God can be
stopped. Then we need to worship you if
you can stop God. It is that simple. But when he
makes us sit up and begin to speak, there's no more guile
in our mouth. In Isaiah chapter 32, it says,
the heart of the rash in that day, When God turns the captivity
of his people and takes the veil off their eyes in that day, the
heart of the rash shall understand knowledge and the tongue of the
stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly. Because we're
given such a great hope, we have great plainness of speech. When
God says arise and makes us begin to speak, we join our praise
with the many waters because we see the Lamb clearly. And
we learn the song of the redeemed, the song that gives Christ all
the glory for making us without fault. And we can no longer join
ourselves with a harlot church and be defiled with women. The
Lord knows what we've been saying against him. We were born into
this world speaking against God and hating him in our hearts.
He knows it better than we do. He knelt in the garden and sweat
great drops of blood for that very sin. when he was made a
curse for his church. Now all that's left to say is,
return unto me for I have redeemed thee. There's no anger in God
toward his elect. In our text in Luke chapter seven, he says, young man, I say, I
say unto you, This reminds us that God has
been everything that he is for a lot longer than we've been
everything that we are, which is sinners. I am the Lord, and
I change not. And that's the reason why you
are not consumed. That's why he comes to us with
a word of love that's stronger than our hatred toward him. Peter
said, Christ verily was foreordained before the foundation of the
world, but was manifest in these last times for you. Let's go
to Ephesians chapter two. Ephesians chapter two. See, God's word toward us matters
more than our words against him that we spoke in unregeneracy. He can overrule them because
his son died for those sins. Ephesians chapter two. Let's
look at verse one. "'And you hath he quickened who
were dead "'in trespasses and sins.'" Now, for our purposes
here, I'm not arguing the words, but let's skip over the italicized
words, and it reads, "'And you who were dead in trespasses "'and
sins, and you who were.'" And then verses two and three go
on to explain that death. But now look at verse four. "'But
God who is,' You were, but God is. You who were saying away
with that man, away with that man, his blood be on us, but
God who is merciful. You who were saying unto God,
depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways,
and what is the almighty, that we should serve him, but God
who is rich in mercy. You, who were saying as Pilate,
what is truth? But God, who is, before we set
our mouths against the heavens, he had already set his love on
us. Young man, I say unto you, God says, fury is not in me. Fury is not in me. Who would
set the briars and the thorns against me in battle? Briars
and thorns are what crept up on the earth right after sin
entered into the world. And thorns are what was placed
on our savior's head when he was made sin. Who would set the briars and
the thorns against me in battle? I would go through them. I would
burn them up. God cast our sins behind his
back. Our sinfulness is no match for
blood redemption. Fury is not in me. Jesus Christ
came so that every son of his church would arise and begin
to speak to offer to God the calves of our lips. That's why
this happened in a city called Nain. Nain means beautiful, it
means pleasant. That God would make us a chosen
generation a beloved elected people, a royal priesthood who
come to him by the blood of another, and a holy nation with new hearts
created in true holiness. That is a beautiful and a pleasant
thing, that he would do this for rebels like us. Why did he
do that? That we would show forth. That's
why he did those three things, that we would show forth. in
1 Peter chapter two, and that word show forth means proclaim,
that we would proclaim the praises of him who called us out of darkness
into his marvelous light. You once were darkness, but now
are you light in the Lord. Jesus Christ came to cause every
son of his church to arise, and by that same power to speak his
glory, to offer to God the sacrifices of praise. and for grace to do
that, for grace to do just that, brethren. That's what we want. Amen. Let's pray. Our God and Father, Lord, we
need your forgiveness. We need to see Christ on the
cross by faith. Lord, we need you to come in,
Lord, and cause this message to be effectual Lord, thank you
for those that you've made alive. We ask that you would call your
lost sheep to yourself. Lord, please give grace to the
men in Pennsylvania who stand and preach. Lord, please give
grace and power to Hugo. We ask these things in Christ's
name, amen.