Good evening. Let's open tonight's
service with hymn number 224. It's a hymn we know very well. 224, I know whom I have believed. Let's all stand together. 224. I know not why my Godless grace
to me hath made known, Nor why unworthy Christ did love, Redeemed
before His own. But I know whom I am believin'
and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed
unto Him against that day. I know not how this saving faith
to me he did impart, nor how believing in his word brought
peace within my heart. But I know whom I have believed
and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed
unto Him against that day. I know not how the Spirit moves,
convincing men of sin. Revealing Jesus through the Word,
creating faith in Him. But I know whom I have believed
and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed
unto Him against that day. I know not what of good or ill
may be reserved for thee Of weary ways or golden days before his
face I see But I know whom I am believin' and am persuaded that
he is able To keep that which I've committed unto Him against
that day. I know not when my Lord may come
at night or due day fair. nor if I walk the vale with him
or meet him in the air. But I know whom I am believing
and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day. Please be seated. Let's open our Bibles to Daniel,
Prophet Daniel chapter 10. While you're turning there, if
you haven't heard, Marvin Stoniker had a stroke on Monday. And he
is getting out of ICU or gotten out of ICU today, Mark. He has some paralysis. Monday
he wasn't able to think clearly at all. But I talked to him yesterday
and he was coherent, but has lost some of his eyesight in
one eye and has some paralysis on one side. But he's progressing
very quickly. after the stroke Monday morning. So very thankful for that. We'll
want to pray for Marvin in a moment. And also, I forgot to announce
Sunday that I'll be going up to Pennsylvania to preach for
Caleb this weekend. We leave Friday and come back
on Monday. And Jeff and Hugo will be bringing the messages
here. Please remember them in the meeting up there in your
prayers. You have your Bibles open to
Daniel chapter 10. The Lord has given Daniel a vision
of the end times, and we'll pick up in verse 18. Then there came again and touched
me one like the appearance of a man, and he strengthened me. This is the passage where Daniel
said when he saw the Lord that his comeliness was turned into
corruption within himself. And the appearance of God has
brought great trouble to him. He's trembling
in God's presence. And now the Lord touches him
and verse 19, and said, oh man, greatly beloved, fear not, peace
be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong. And when he had spoken
unto me, I was strengthened and said, let my Lord speak for thou
hast strengthened me. Then said he, knowest thou wherefore
I come unto thee? And now will I return to fight
with the prince of Persia, and when I am gone forth, lo, the
prince of Grisha shall come. The Lord's telling the prophet
that he's going to fight the enemies of Israel. In verse 21, but I will show
thee that which is noted in the scriptures, in the scripture
of truth and there is none that holdeth. In the margin of my
Bible it says strengtheneth himself and I like that definition. I
will show thee that which is noted in the scriptures of truth
and there is none that strengtheneth himself with me in these things
But Michael, your prince, that's Christ. God speaking, he touches,
he gives understanding, he gives strength, he gives promises that
he's going to fight against his enemies and the enemies of his
people. And he says that Michael's at
my side. He's able to strengthen himself.
We can't strengthen ourselves. but his strength is made perfect
in our weakness. Let's pray together. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
we thank you for the revelation and truth and
light that you've given to us and showing us your glory. Lord, we would tremble in thy
presence lest you touch us, lest you speak to us, lest you give
us your strength and your grace, your mercy. Lord, we thank you. Thank you
for turning our comeliness into corruption. Thank you for causing
us to look to Christ for all our strength and all of our hope.
Lord, we pray now that you would, that you would open the scriptures,
speak to our hearts, draw us into thy presence, enable us
to worship thee. We thank you for our brother
Marvin, ask for your hand of strength to be on him and Glenda
and the brethren there and ask, Lord, that you would strengthen
them and give them grace in this time of need. I pray for Jeff
and for Hugo and for me and Donnie, Lord, that you would give messages
that would glorify Christ, that would call sinners to thyself,
that would encourage your people, comfort them, Lord, that your
word would have free course and that it would go out in power
by your spirit. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Let's stand together again. We'll
sing hymn number 327 in the hardback temple. A faith that will not shrink,
oppressed by many a foe, that will not tremble on the brink
of any earthly woe. That will not murmur nor complain
Beneath a chastening rod But in the hour of grief or pain
Will lean upon its guard A faith that shines more bright and clear
when tempests rage without, that when in danger knows no fear,
in darkness feels no doubt. Lord, give me such a faith as
this, and that what'er may come, I'll taste even now the hallowed
bliss of an eternal home. Please be seated. Let's open our Bibles together
to Mark chapter 5. Mark chapter 5. In looking at
the miracles that our Lord performed on these Wednesday nights, we've
come to the one where a man by the name
of Jairus, the scripture tells us that he was a ruler of the
local synagogue, had a daughter that was 12 years old, that was
on her deathbed. One of the gospel writers says
that she was dead. Another tells us she was nigh
unto death. And the one that said she was
dead, she's good as dead because while Jairus is going back to
his home with the Lord, he gets the word that she had died. And
the Lord goes to Jairus' home raised his daughter from the
dead. What a miracle. But the real miracle in this
story was not the raising of Jairus's daughter. The real miracle
in the story was giving Jairus faith. And that's what I hope the Lord
will show us tonight. It is no greater a miracle to
raise a corpse from the dead than to give spiritual life to
one who is spiritually dead. Verse 21 of Mark chapter 5, And
when Jesus was passed over by the ship and to the other side,
much people gathered unto him, and he was nigh unto the sea.
And behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue,
Jairus, by name, And when he saw him, he fell at his feet,
and besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the
point of death. I pray thee, come and lay thy
hands on her, that she may be healed, and that she shall live. And Jesus went with him, and
much people followed him and thronged him." And then we have
this divine interruption where The woman that we considered,
I think it was last Wednesday night, with the issue of blood. And the anxiety that Jairus is
feeling while the Lord is dealing with this woman gives more importance
to what our Lord's going to say to Jairus when he says to him,
do not be afraid, only believe. That's the title of this message,
do not be afraid. only believe. But the Lord had
ordained the circumstances so as to give Jairus more reason
to be afraid. And a certain woman which had
an issue of blood twelve years and had suffered many things
and many physicians and had spent all that she had and was nothing
bettered but grew worse When she heard of Jesus came in the
press behind and touched his garments, for she said, if I
may touch but his clothes, I shall be made whole. And straightway,
the fountain of her blood was dried up and she felt in her
body that she was healed of that plague. And Jesus immediately,
knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned to
him about in the press and said, who touched my clothes? And his
disciples said unto him, thou seest the multitude thronging
thee, and sayest thou, who touched me? And he looked round about
to see her that had done this thing. But the woman, fearing
and trembling, knowing that was done, what was done in her, came
and fell down before him and told all the truth, told him
all the truth. And he said unto her, daughter,
thy faith hath made thee whole, go in peace, and behold of thy
plague. And while he yet spake, There
came from the ruler of the synagogue's house certain which said, thy
daughter is dead, why troublest thou the master any further?
And as soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he said
unto the ruler of the synagogue, be not afraid, only believe. And he suffered no man to follow
him, say Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. And he
came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue to see the tumult,
and them that wept and wailed greatly. And when he had come
in, he said unto them, why make ye this ado and weep? The damsel
is not dead, but sleepeth." Now, these must have been professional
mourners. I know in that part of the world,
people calm and express great emotion at the time of an event
like this in order to help people deal with the grief of it. The
reason I say that is because they went from weeping and wailing
to laughing. Look at, and they laughed him
to scorn. These people who were mourning
and weeping and wailing and And now they hear what our Lord says
and they laughed at him. And when he had put them all
out, he take it the father and the mother of the damsel and
them that were with him and entered him where the damsel was lying.
And he took the damsel by the hand and said unto her, Talitha
Kumi, which being interpreted damsel, I say unto thee, arise. and straightway the damsel rose
and walked for she was of the age of 12 years. And they were astonished with
great astonishment. And he charged them straightway
that no man should know it and commanded that something should
be given to her to eat." The real miracle in this story
is the work of grace that the Lord did for Jairus. And the real miracle that I pray
will come from this story to us will be the Lord speaking
to our hearts. Do not be afraid. Only believe. Only believe. We left to ourselves. Can't believe our circumstances
are such that we should be afraid if we're not left to ourselves. And the scripture says, you who
were dead in your trespass and sin, he hath quickened, he hath
quickened, he made alive. So The miracle is not just the
raising of this 12-year-old girl as glorious as that was, especially
for the parents, but it was the faith that God gave to Jairus
and the comfort that he spoke to him when he said, do not be
afraid. I'm thinking about that miracle
of of the man that was crippled. You remember they removed the
tiles from the roof and his friends lowered him down. And the Lord
said to him, your sins are forgiven you. And they scoffed our Lord
and said, who is this that thinks he can forgive sins? Only God
can forgive sins. And what did the Lord say? What
is easier to say? Thy sins are forgiven unto thee
or take up thy bed and walk, but that thou may knowest that
the Son of Man hath power to forgive sins. I say unto you,
take up your bed and walk. So the miracle was performed
in order to confirm the spiritual miracle that's taking place. The physical was just an outward
evidence of the real miracle that God did in the heart to
forgive sin and to give comfort in fear and faith in unbelief. Physical benefits of all miracles
are temporal. This woman, this girl, I assume
grew up to be a woman and was a great blessing to her family. But she died again. and all the blessings that would
have been enjoyed in her life were temporary. The blessing
of grace that God gives to the heart is eternal. The spiritual
blessings, the spiritual miracle that God performs are forever. So let us be sure that we value the spiritual work of grace
in the heart far above any physical blessing that the Lord may give
in our lives. We're thankful for the spiritual
blessings but it's the spiritual that matters,
isn't it? I have four simple points I want
to try to make tonight on this word that our Lord speaks to
Jairus about saving faith. The need for saving faith. The
exclusivity of saving faith. The source of saving faith and
most importantly and I hope will spend most of our time on the
object of saving faith. Very quickly, the need for saving
faith. Jairus's need was not that his
daughter was dying. Jairus's real need was that he
was afraid. He didn't have faith. He thought
that, you know, that was his real need. Do not be afraid. What is the
opposite of faith? What is the opposite of believing?
It's unbelief. And is that not the root cause
of all of our sin is our unbelief? Is that not the real need that
we all have? Lord, help that, I do believe,
help thou mine unbelief. Lord, that's my problem. That's
what causes me. It's not my circumstances, it's
my sin. That's the need for faith is
not to change our circumstances, it's to change us. It's to do
a work of grace in the heart. That's where our needs are. We are, we have reason to be
afraid. We're frail and sinful creatures
prone to fear. We look to ourselves and to our
circumstances and left to ourselves and having to deal with our circumstances
by ourselves, we ought to be afraid. We ought to be afraid in that
we're sinful. And the God with whom we must
do is holy. You see, if we have any sense
about our real need, we find ourselves like Daniel.
And like everyone else that has ever come into the presence of
God, falling on our face before him and needing him to touch
us and strengthen us with his strength. Because left to ourselves,
there's never been a time when Ignorance is bliss more than
when it comes to the natural man. He's bliss in his thoughts
of God because he's ignorant. He's ignorant of who he is. He's
ignorant of who God is. He's ignorant of the severity
of his circumstances and the consequences of death. He's ignorant of all those things.
And once God gives us some understanding and some knowledge of those things, We have a fear of God which is
the beginning of wisdom. It's only a fool that doesn't
fear God. And here the Lord says, fear
not for I am with thee. I'm your strength. Turn with
me to Isaiah chapter 43. Isaiah 43. But now, verse 1, thus saith
the Lord that created thee. We are his creatures. And in Christ, we are his workmanship
created in Christ Jesus. So the Lord says to his people,
don't be afraid, I made you. I created you physically, I created
you spiritually. O Jacob, he that formed thee,
O Israel, fear not. I know you, I know your old man,
and I know your new man. I know what a deceived supplanter
you are in the flesh, but also know that I've given you a new
name, and that in Christ you are a prince, and you have access
into the very throne of grace to find help in your time of
need. You see, we come to God in faith
because we have a need. And our need is our sin, it's
our unbelief, it's not our circumstances. If the Lord uses our circumstances
to cause us to see what the real problem is, then he does that
often, doesn't he? I have redeemed thee, I bought
you, and I've called thee by thy name,
and thou art mine, you belong to me. When thou passeth through the
waters, I will be with thee. and through the rivers, they
shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shall not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee, for I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel,
thy Savior." I'm your strength. Look to me. You see, it's... Faith is what the Lord does. when he causes us to see the
real need that we have. Not having sense enough to be
afraid without Christ is not bravery, it's foolishness. Not having sense enough to be
afraid without Christ It's not bravery, it's ignorance, it's
presumption, it's pride. It's flat out denial of the real
need that we have. The need for faith is because
of our frailty. It's because of our sin, it's
because of our unbelief. It's not because of our circumstances.
See, the real need that Jairus had was not that his daughter
would live. The real need that he had was
to not be afraid and to believe God. And that's the need that
you and I have. If we had faith like we ought,
we could be like the Lord sleeping in the back of the boat in the
midst of a raging storm. You say, well, that was the Lord.
Well, we could be like the apostles, chained to the wall of a Roman
dungeon after having been beaten and praising God. Or like the
martyrs who lifted their voice in prayer until they could breathe
no longer while being burned at the stake. You see, it's not
the circumstances. God gives faith and takes away
our fear and and presents himself in our time of need then the
circumstances are no longer the problem. We read from Daniel earlier,
he was cast into a den of lions and in that same book, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego were cast into a fiery furnace. And there was a fourth in there,
like unto the Son of God, walking with them. And they came out
and not a hair was singed in their head. The smell of smoke
was not on them. Why? Why, because the Lord was
with them. You see, that's what we need. The need for faith is that, Lord,
if you don't enter into this with me, I don't have I don't
have what I need to deal with my circumstances and I certainly
don't have what I need to stand in my presence. What did Eli say when Samuel
told him that the Lord was gonna kill his boys and take everything
away from him? He said, it's the Lord, let him
do whatsoever he He wills, whatsoever he seems it, it's gone. There it is. We could suffer the torture of
crucifixion if we only heard the Lord say, this day thou shalt
be with me in paradise. You see, it wasn't the circumstances
that that thief on the cross, that wasn't his problem. The Lord solved all of his problems
when he just spoke that word of truth and comfort. This is
our need. And I belabor this point because
I'm like you, I get in difficult times and I think my real problem
is this person or that person or this situation or that situation
or this illness or this problem. No, that's not my need. God ordained those things and
he purposed them in order to reveal to my heart what my real
need is. My real need is for God to say
to me, fear not. Only believe. So our need for faith is because
of our unbelief. And the second thing I see in
this passage is the, and I don't know of another word to use,
exclusivity of faith. In that the Lord said, do not
be afraid, only believe. Don't add anything to faith. It's not faith plus anything.
You add anything to faith, it's no longer saving faith. Only
believe. Don't wait for an experience.
Don't wait for a feeling. Don't wait for some special knowledge
or something. Just believe. Only believe. When that Philippian jailer who
was going to kill himself after he saw that the prisoners, that
prison doors were open. He assumed the prisoners were
gone. And rather than suffer the consequences of his superiors
and with Rome, he was going to take his own life. And Paul spoke
up and said, don't do it. We're all here. And what did
that Philippian jailer say? Sirs, what must I do to be saved? What did the Apostle Paul say?
Believe and then come and take care of our
needs. Mend our wounds. Apologize for
what you did yesterday. You beat us to the end of our
lives. You need to show evidence of
your faith. He didn't say any of that. He said, believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And he obviously
believed because he did those other things, but not because
they were required by the apostle as evidence or proof of his salvation,
but because the Lord had done a work. Only believe, only believe. When that Ethiopian eunuch asked
Philip, he said, what does it mean to be baptized? Philip said,
if you believe with all your heart, Then you may, but I can't
just let you go back down to Ethiopia all by yourself. You
gotta go back to Jerusalem with me and you gotta spend the next
six months sitting at the feet of the apostles and learn the
gospel better before you go anywhere else. Did he say that? No. If thou believest with all thine
heart, thou mayest. I believe that Jesus Christ,
that one you just preached to me from Isaiah 53, he's the Christ. He's baptized and immediately
Phillips caught away and the guy rejoices and goes down to
Ethiopia as far as we know. All he had was a copy of the
book of Isaiah. I don't know what else he had.
No discipleship training. Nothing else. But he believed. He believed. Only believe. We had add add works or knowledge
or experience or feeling or anything else to faith and it's not saving
faith. Don't be afraid, only believe. Those things will come. Works
will come, knowledge will come, experiences in grace will come,
but those aren't the prerequisites. for the need that we have to
believe. Just simply believe. Not complicated. The third thing I see in this
passage of scripture is the source of saving faith. And we know
that by grace, we are saved through faith. And that faith is not
of ourselves, it's a gift of God. It's not of our works. Faith
is not a decision. Faith is not our contribution
to salvation. Yes, the Lord has commanded him
to believe, but we know that what God commands, God must provide. And so with every command that
God gives, with every command, whatever it is, whatever it is,
love your wives, forgive your enemy, Do get into those who
despitefully use you, whatever, whatever the command is. Lord,
I don't have the strength. I don't, you're gonna have to
touch me. You're gonna have to, you're gonna have to, you're
gonna have to enable me. The command to believe must be
met with the grace to believe. Believing is the result of the
new birth, not the cause of it. That's so important and so misunderstood
in the world. A man can receive nothing except
to be given to him from heaven. This faith, the source of our
faith, is the Lord. It's the Lord. Turn us again,
O Lord, and cause thy face to shine upon us. We shall be turned,
cause us to hear. Psalm 143 verse eight, cause
me to hear thy loving kindness in the morning, cause me to know
the way wherein I should walk. Lord, draw me and I'll be drawn,
turn me and I'll be turned. Give me faith and I'll believe.
Lord, I'm gonna have to depend upon you for that which you require
of me. That's what the Lord said in
John. He said, no man can come unto me except the Father which
sent me draw him. In the Song of Solomon, chapter
one of verse four, Solomon says, draw me, draw me and we will
run after thee. Lord, if you draw me, I'll run
after thee. If you don't draw me, I can't
come. It is true that God commands
all men everywhere to believe, but it's also true that many
are called and few are chosen. Men are responsible for not coming
to Christ, but they're only able. if he gives them a new heart
to come. And finally, where I want us
to spend the last few minutes is the object of our faith. When the Lord said to Jairus,
do not be afraid, only believe. You see, if we're left to ourselves,
we will make faith out, we will make work out of faith. We'll put
our faith in our faith. We'll look in faith to our faith. Faith itself will become our
weapon that we use to conquer the enemy. Our faith will be
the bank account that gives us security and safety and our need
will just be to make more deposits to increase our bottom line if
I just have more faith. The object of faith is not faith.
The object of faith is not doctrine. The Pharisees believed that God
was sovereign They believed that he was omnipotent. They believed
in election. They believed they were the elect.
They believed in particular redemption. They believed that the only people
that are going to be redeemed were a certain number of people.
They believed that. Why, when it comes to the sovereignty
of God, I've never met anybody that believes in the sovereignty
of God more than I mean, other than believers, other than the
Muslims. And they'll strap bombs to themselves
and do it in the name of Allah. And you talk to a Muslim, they'll
tell you, you know, Allah did it, he purposed it, it's all
of God. You see, it's not believing doctrine
or being a student of the Bible. The Pharisees were students of
the Bible. The Lord told them, he said, you search the scriptures
because you think in them you have eternal life, but you missed
me. The object of faith is Christ. It's Christ, it's not faith,
it's not doctrine. For these, oh, they which testify
of me. And it's not one's faith in Christ. It is Christ that saves. He's a person. It's not our hope in Christ or
our joy in Christ. It's Christ. We look not to our
faith. We look to the Lord Jesus Christ
as the author and the finisher of our faith. We look not to
our hope in Christ. but to Christ for all our hope. We look not to the sovereignty
of God as the object of our faith, we look to the God who is sovereign. It's a very important distinction.
We look not to our joy in Christ but we look to Christ who is
the reason for our rejoicing. The object of our faith, when
the Lord Jesus looked at Jairus, and when he looked at Daniel,
and when he takes his word and he reaches down and touches our
hearts, he pierces into our hearts and he says, trust me, I am with
you. Believe me. We will substitute
Christ for Lots of things, we're not careful. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed. And I'm persuaded that he is
able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that
day. The Lord Jesus is the object
of our faith. And the Lord Jesus, not just
his person, but his work. And he was able to do what he
did because he is who he is. So you can't separate the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ from the work that he accomplished. The Lord Jesus is the sovereign,
omnipotent, second person of the triune Godhead. He is the
Son of God. He's the first. and the last. He's the cause of our salvation.
He's the fruition of our salvation. He's the beginning and the end. He's the creator and sustainer,
the uncreated creator and sustainer of all of life, both physical
and spiritual. We look to a person who is the
fullness of the Godhead, Do not be afraid, only believe. Believe me. Don't believe a concept,
don't believe a doctrine, don't believe a feeling, don't believe
an... Believe me. He is the one who said, let there
be light and he is the source of that light. And so it will
be for us. He is the one who says, let there
be light. That this little world right
here that is by nature without form and void and darkness is
upon the face of the deep. He has to send his spirit and
he has to shine the light of the gospel in my heart in the
face of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jairus, do not be afraid. Only believe me. I'm adding me,
but that's what our Lord, when he looked at you, he said, only
believe. Trust me in Jairus. Jairus had
no idea what the Lord was going to do. The Lord didn't say, believe
that I'm going to go to your home and raise your daughter.
He didn't say, he just said, believe. He holds all things together
by the power of his word. He's seated at the right hand
of the majesty on high. He's worthy to receive glory
and honor and power and praise. He's Christ. He's God. Do not be afraid, Jairus. I am
the object of your faith. Believe me. He is the Word. He is the Word. In the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God. The Word was God. He is that
Word that was made flesh. and dwelt among us, and we beheld
His glory as the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father,
the One who Himself is full of grace and full of truth. Jairus,
don't be afraid. I'm the object of your faith.
I'm the Omnipotent One. I'm the Omniscient One. I am your ever-present help in
time of need. You go through the waters, I'm
with you. Through the fire, I'm with you. He is the one who changes not.
He is the same yesterday, today and forever. He executes his
counsel and brings it to pass. He has purposed it and he will
do it. He reigns over the armies of
heaven and all the inhabitants of the earth and he hath done
whatsoever he wills. No man can stay his hand. No
man can say unto him, what doest thou? He's God. He's the object
of our faith. Our faith is not the object of
our faith. Our experience is not the object
of our faith. Our joy, our peace, all those
things are not the object of our faith. Christ is the object
of our faith. He is Lord. He's Lord over the
living and over the dead. And as I said, when the Lord
Jesus says, believe me, he's not just talking about believe
who I am, but believe what I did. And he did what he did because
he is who he is. What did he do? Saving faith
is believing in a successful savior. One who actually accomplished
the salvation of his people. One who, as Daniel said in Daniel
chapter nine, made an end of sins. He finished the transgression. He made reconciliation for our
iniquity. He brought in an everlasting
righteousness. He is the successful Savior of
believers. Believing in a Jesus who died
2,000 years ago in Jerusalem on a Roman cross to make an offer of salvation
for all men, to be finished and made effectual
by their faith is not saving faith. But believing on a Christ
who actually did put away sin and actually did accomplish our
salvation. A sacrifice that needs me to
do something in order to make it effectual is not saving faith. He actually destroyed the works
of the devil. He went into the very belly of
hell. He took the gates of hell and
he went in and he led captivity captive. He took those who were
dead in their trespasses and sins and captive to spiritual
blindness and death and brought them out. When He ascended back
into glory, as the Word of God, He did not return void. He went
back to heaven with the names of those for whom He lived and
died. And He's seated at the right hand of God. He ever lives.
He makes intercession. And we are in the heavenly places
in Christ right now. He's a successful Savior. This
is what the Lord means when He said, only believe. You see,
only believe is not only just the exclusivity of faith in that
we can't add anything to it, but it's believing only Him.
It's not believing Christ plus something that I have to do in
order to make what He did work for me. He paid in full the price
of our redemption. He redeemed His people. from
their sins. He fully satisfied all the demands
of the law. As the living word, he accomplished
what he was sent to do, the salvation of his people. You shall call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. Don't be afraid. Your circumstances,
your sin, Your unbelief, if you have any sense about you at all,
left to yourself, there's plenty of reason to be afraid. And fear
creeps up in our hearts because, like Peter, we look at the raging
wind instead of looking to Christ. Don't you know that when Peter
stepped out of that boat, he had his eyes fixed on his Savior?
Lord, look. He's walking, Lord bid me to
come unto thee. He's walking towards Christ on
the water. And then the scripture says he
took his eyes off Christ, he looked at the waves. He looked
at the wind, it began to sink. Isn't that what we do? Don't be afraid. Only but Peter,
you took your eyes off Peter, look here. Lord, save me. And immediately the Lord reached
down You see, the Lord does that for me and you, doesn't he? He
uses the raging waves and the blistering wind and the difficult
times and circumstances to say to us, don't be afraid. Don't look at that. Look at me. I'm your strength. I'm your ever-present
help in time of need. Our Heavenly Father, thank you for this word of truth and this
word of hope and this word of comfort. Lord, might we hear
these words spoken to our hearts. Lord, forgive us for our unbelief
and cause us to set our affections on Christ. For it's in his name
we pray, amen. 228, let's stand together. Thy faith has found a resting
place, not in devised or creed. I trust the Ever-Living One,
His wounds for me shall flee. I need no other argument. I need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died. He died for one like me. Enough for me that Jesus saves,
this ends my fear and doubt. A sinful soul, I come to Him,
He'll never cast me out. I need no other argument, I need
no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died,
He died for one like me. My heart is leaning on the Word,
the written Word of God. Salvation by my Savior's name,
salvation through His blood. I need no other argument. I need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died. He died for one life, me. My great physician heals the
sick, the lost he came to save. For me his precious blood he
shed, for me his life he gave. I need no other argument. I need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died. He died for one like me.