Open tonight's service with hymn
number 223. And your hardback, Tyndall? 223. Arise, my soul,
arise. Let's all stand together. 223. ? Rise, my soul, arise ? ? Shake
off thy guilty fears ? ? The bleeding sacrifice ? ? In my
behalf appears ? ? Before the throne my surety stands ? ? My
name is written on his hands ? He never lives apart for me to
intercede. His love, redeeming love, His
precious blood to clean. His blood atoned for all I said,
And sprinkles now the throne of grace, And sprinkles now the
throne of grace. Five bleeding wounds He bears,
They received on Calvary, Pray for effectual prayers, they strongly
plead for me. Forgive him, O forgive, they
cry, for let that ransomed sinner die, for let that ransomed sinner
die. His spirit answers through the
blood and tells me I am born again. ? My God is reconciled ? ? His
pardoning voice I hear ? ? He owns me for His child ? ? I can
no longer fear ? ? With confidence I now proclaim ? ? And Mama,
Father, Mama, Christ ? Please be seated. Good evening. Let's open our Bibles to Hebrews
chapter four for our scripture reading tonight. Hebrews chapter
four. It's good to have the Murrays with
us. They've been working here all day out in our parking lot.
The city has made us put some islands in our new parking lot
over there, and they were so gracious to come do that, and
so I'm thankful, most especially I'm glad they're here. All right, you have your Bibles
open to Hebrews 4, and we'll begin reading in verse 9. There
remaineth therefore a rest, to the people of God. For he that
has entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own
works as God did from his. Let us labor, therefore, to enter
into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of
unbelief. For the word of God is quick
and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing
even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the
joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of
the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest
in his sight, but all things are naked and opened unto the
eyes of him with whom we have to do. Seeing then that we have
a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the
Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not
a high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of
our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are,
yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. I want us to pray together. Good news, Robert is supposed
to get out Friday, and so he's hoping to be here with us on
Sunday. And we're planning to have a covered dish lunch after
services on Sunday, so that'll be a a good reunion with Robert
Indiana. Jane, Jane's mom, Jane Racente's
mom is having some difficulties in New Jersey and we've been
praying for her, so. All right, let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father, Thank you for causing us to desire Christ. Thank you for giving us this
opportunity and putting it into our hearts to want to be here,
to hear of Christ and from Christ. Lord, we we thank you for the
precious promise that you've made that where two or three
are gathered together and in his name, there you are in the
midst of them. We thank you for this precious
promise that we just read, that we can come with confidence before
the throne of grace. Father, we thank you that our
Lord is the end of the law for righteousness and that we approach
you knowing that he has satisfied all of his demands. Lord, we pray that you would
send your spirit in power that you would give to us the grace
to worship you this night and this hour. We pray Lord for Jane's mom and
ask for your mercy to be upon her and we pray Lord with Jane
and Rachel that you would Open her heart and give her faith
in Christ. Or. We ask it all in Christ's
name. Amen. Alright, Tom. Number 352352 let's stand together again 352. Jesus, Mother of my soul, let
me to Thy bosom fly. While the mirror waters roll, while the tempest still
is high, guide me, O my Savior, ? Till the storm of life is past
? ? Safe into the gate of night ? ? Oh, receive my soul at last
? ? Other refuge have I none ? ? Thanks, my helpless soul,
of thee ? The evil leave me not alone,
still support and comfort me. All my trust on Thee is staid,
all my help from Thee I bring. ? Covered by defenseless men ?
? With the shadow of thy reign ? ? Thou, O Christ, art all I want
? ? More than all in Thee I find ? ? Raise the fallen, cheer the
faint ? ? Heal the sick and needy ? Just and holy is thy name. I am full of righteousness, false
and full of sin I am. Plenteous grace with thee is
found, Grace to cover all thy sins. Let the healing streams of our
naked King Please be seated. I don't remember exactly when
it was, Gilbert, that we first met online, but it's been a few
years. Gilbert and his congregation
in Hyberdad, India. Now, Hyberdad's a population
of 18 million, which is about twice the size of New York City.
And Gilbert has a small congregation there in that huge city that
he preaches the gospel to. We've actually zoomed with them
twice since you've been here, which was just a real blessing
to me. They watch our services a good
bit, and they know a lot about you and about our fellowship
from that. And they're just very, very gracious,
very special, very sweet people. I'm just so happy to have gotten
to know them. And this is the first time I've
met Gilbert in flesh. So Monday, I drove down to Melbourne
and picked him up. And we've been together since
then. And he'll be going back home
next Monday, or up to Canada to visit some friends next Monday.
So it's been a real joy to be able to fellowship with him.
And it's been good. It's been real good. Gilbert, I've asked to preach
for us tonight. And so he's going to come and
bring a message the Lord's put on his heart. Gilbert, you come,
brother. Good evening, everybody. And
I bring greetings from my church in Hyderabad. It's been such a privilege for
us to listen to Pastor Greg and his message, which is always
so refreshing. It's food for our soul that we
have been so delighted. I'm so joyful and thrilled to
be in your midst and just to fellowship and to be with you
all and to talk about a great savior that we have who has redeemed
us. It's really a joy. I have no
words but only to thank our Lord for bringing me in your midst.
And thank our Lord for bringing us to the truth. And it's not just the truth but
grace and truth which is from Jesus Christ. Many times we think
it is only the gospel and stop with the gospel. I think I was
talking with Brother Tim and he says Christ is there. And
it is so true. If we have our Bibles for this
evening, can we open our Bibles to Philippians? Philippians chapter
1, verses 1 to 7. I hope I'm loud enough and clear. Philippians chapter 1, verses
1 to 7. Reading from verse 1. all in
Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in
Christ Jesus who are at Philippi with the bishops, overseers,
and deacons, grace be unto you and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God upon every remembrance
of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making request
with joy. for your fellowship in the gospel
from the first day until now. Being confident of this very
thing which he had began a good work in you will perform it until
the day of Jesus Christ, even as it meet for me to think this
of you all, because I have you in my heart in as much as both
in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.
You all are partakers of my grace. Paul and Timothy. Paul is writing
this letter to the church at Philippi and Timothy who was
with him and Paul and Timothy addressed themselves as servants
of Jesus Christ to all the saints in Christ Jesus. who are at Philippi. I like that word, saints. The
word saints basically comes from the Greek word, hagios, meaning
holy ones. How are we holy? We are holy
because of the righteousness of Christ. We are holy because
God has imputed my sins on Christ and Christ's righteousness. And
just as he looks at his beloved son, who is holy and righteous,
in whom he was so well pleased, he says, he looks at all of us.
So he calls us as saints, holy ones in Christ Jesus. Apart from Christ Jesus, you
can never be holy. It is not your holiness. It is
the holiness of Christ that is given to us. The righteousness
of Christ that is being imputed. And he says to all the saints
in Christ Jesus, Christ the Messiah and Jesus our Savior, he says,
to all those who are at Philippi, isn't it so sweet to hear when
someone addresses you, holy one in Christ? And that's how God the Father
looks at us. Verse two. He says, grace be unto you and
peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace
be unto you from God the Father. And if you can turn with me to
Titus, Titus chapter three. I'm sorry, Titus chapter two. It says, I'm reading from the
second half of verse 13. The glorious appearing of the
great God and our savior Jesus Christ, verse 14, who gave himself
for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity, not some,
from all iniquity and purify unto himself his own special
or a peculiar people zealous of good works. And he says here,
Who's redeeming us? Who gave himself for us? Christ
Jesus, he gave himself for us. That he is redeeming us from
all iniquity, all sin, all the root, the wickedness that is
from our heart, from the very root of it. And then he says,
he's the one who's going to purify unto himself. He is going to
make us clean, a special people zealous at good works. And what
is the good works that we are talking of? It's not a philanthropical
work that he's talking of here. He's not talking of good works
that you go and do good to your people or feed the poor and help
the needy. He's not talking of that. Keep
your finger here, we'll come back to this. Let's turn to John
chapter six. I'm sorry if I'm making you all
to turn your Bibles. John chapter 6 verse 28, Then they said unto him, What
shall we do, that we might work the works of God? You have been
asked to be zealous for good works. And what is that zealous
of good works? The works of God. Number one,
Jesus answered in verse 29, Jesus answered and said unto them,
this is the work of God that you believe on him whom he has
sent. Whom did he send? Jesus Christ. This is the work of God and we
should be zealous for that good work to believe on Christ, the
one whom he has sent to be my substitute and your substitute. That is the work of God. It's
not my work. I can, by myself, I can never
believe on him. Remember, James says, even the
devils believe on Christ, but that believing is absolutely
different from the way we believe, because God has caused us to
believe on Christ, on the person and the work of Christ, and everything
that Christ did for me, being my mediator. Come back to Titus
2. skipping a few verses to chapter
three. But after that, the kindness
and love of God, our savior to man has appeared and it's not
man overall in general, it's very specific. Who's the man
there? It's very specific for whom?
Verse 14 defines who are those men there who gave himself for
us, who redeemed us and made purified unto himself a special
people. He, these men have found favor
and kindness from God our Savior. Verse five, not by works of righteousness,
which we have done. Many of the righteous works that
we do is absolute filthy rags. Even the best thought that we
have for someone else is actually filthy rags. And so detestable,
God cannot look upon it. Not by the works of righteousness
which we have done. But, I like these phrases, where
the but comes. But God in his great mercy. But,
according to his mercy, he saved us. We are dead in our sins and we
cannot even plead for mercy. A dead man cannot plead for mercy unless the Lord looks at him
mercifully and calls him. The Lord was gracious to Lazarus
and He said, Lazarus, come out. The very same work that He did
with Lazarus He has done with every one of us. We are dead
in our sins, but God, according to his mercy, he saved us by
the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,
of the Holy Ghost, verse six, which he shed on us abundantly
through Jesus Christ, our Savior. God has done that work for us. So Paul is addressing, coming
back to Philippians 1, Paul is addressing to the holy ones who
are in Christ Jesus. He says, remember, grace has
been shown to you. Kindness has been shown to you.
God has been merciful to you. And he saved you, not because
of anything that you did good, not according to your righteousness,
but according to his mercy. And then he says, peace from
God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ. Turn with me to
Romans 7. The scriptures are so true, they
bear you lay open. If any person writes biographies
of someone else, of some people, what do they write? Only the
good and the great things they do. But the scriptures are so
truthful to expose us. And it has exposed Apostle Paul
here. Like he said in chapter 7, he says, verse 19, for the
good that I would do not, but the evil which I do not, that
I do. Now, if I do that, I would not. It is no more I that do it, but
sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law that when I
would do good, evil is present with me." And he's so clear with
that. Verse 22, he says, "'For I delight
in the law of God after the inward man, but I see another law in
my members, warring against the law of my mind, bringing me into
captivity. to the law of sin, which is in
my member. The flesh and the spirit are
always at war. The flesh always wants to do
the things so that I can please God. That is always at war. Remember, many of us can talk
of many sins, but the greatest of all sins is self-righteousness. and the things that I do, and
I'm so confident in that what I do, thinking that I'm pleasing
God, that's the greatest sin. And that is where the law of
God was. That's where the warring takes
place in my flesh. And then verse 24, what does
he say? Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me? This wretched man is so confident
and so dependent on the works of his flesh. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? And verse 25, I like that so
much. I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. So then with the mind, I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. And
come to verse, chapter eight, verse one. This is where I'm
looking at. There is therefore now no condemnation. to them who are in Christ Jesus. Holy ones who are in Christ Jesus,
he calls them, grace to you. Now he says here, there is no
condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not
after the flesh, but after the spirit. That is where we have
peace with God. You can think of Romans 5 too.
Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ. But we have peace with God because
of Christ and what he has done for us. Coming back to Philippians
1. He says, grace be unto you and
peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. I
thank my God upon every remembrance of you. This church, which Paul
established, was so faithful. They were so united because of
the gospel. And when he was in prison, they
helped him so much. Verse four, always in every prayer
of mine for you all, making requests with joy. There is a unity with
God's people. One, because of what Christ has
done. Two, when we pray for each other. And we pray for each other because
we know we are brothers and sisters together, walking into eternity
because Christ has saved us. What joy it is. Verse 5. He is joyful because of the fellowship
in the gospel from the first day until now. He's been so joyful
because of the gospel. You know this church, though
many people say this letter is a letter of joy and so many things,
sin is not mentioned in this letter, but there are problems
in this church. There are people preaching the
gospel out of envy. And Paul says, they are putting
affliction on me. There are people who are esteeming
others better. He says, let there be no strife.
There was strife in this church. He says, let there be no strife.
Esteem others better. Let there be unity. In chapter
four, UDS and Syntyche, they were fighting, two sisters were
fighting, and he has to calm them down. In chapter 3 he says,
beware of dogs, mutilators, the evil workers who bring in the
false gospel, beware of them. But how do you ward away the
dogs and the evil workers? It is through the gospel. He says, for your fellowship
in the gospel from the first day until now, And verse 6, I love this so much. He begins by saying, being confident
of this very thing. What is the very thing? Go back
to verse 1, he calls them saints, he calls them holy one. He says,
God has justified you, made you holy. I am confident that God
who has made you holy will see you true. being confident of this very
thing which has begun a good work in you. Turn with me to
Psalm 138, please. The psalmist says, let me read the psalmist. I will
praise you with my whole heart before the gods will I sing Praise
to thee, I will worship towards thy holy temple. Praise thy name
for thy loving kindness and for thy truth. For thou had magnified
thy word above all name. And it is talking of Christ.
Christ is the one who's magnified above all name. In the day when
I cried, thou answerest me and strengthenest me with strength
in my soul. All the kings of the earth shall
praise thee, O Lord, when they hear the words of your mouth. Yea, they will sing in the ways
of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord. Though the
Lord be high, yet he respect unto the lowly, but the proud
he knows are far off. Though the Lord be high, yet
he came down. He respect unto the lowly. Verse
seven. Though I walk in the midst of
trouble, thou wilt revive me. Thou shalt stretch forth thine
hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall
save me. And I like verse eight. The Lord will complete or perfect
that which concerneth me. And all this is talking about
Christ. Thy mercy, O Lord, endure it forever. And remember, it's
very true, because we are in Christ, the Lord will perfect
that which concerneth us. Because in Christ, everything
has been completed. And here Paul says, I know he
who has begun this good work, he will perform it. He will bring
it to completion. He will bring it to completion.
He's not going to say, Gilbert, you sinned that day. I'm going
to leave you. My wrath is on you. He's not going to say, OK, you
have been not here. You know, we were talking of
progressive sanctification. I was telling Pastor Greg, some
of the people in our churches They left us because we don't
hold on to progressive sanctification. Oh, you're not progressing. God
is not going to leave me because I'm not progressing. I can never
progress. And it's a misnomer when I say
I'm progressing, I am becoming better. In the light of Christ, we are
what we are always, but for His grace. So he says, he who has begun
a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Turn with me to Hebrews, the
passage that I was read, I was so grateful that he took the
right verses that I was thinking. Verses nine, you know, I was
talking with someone that the Michigan area is filled with
reformed guys and reformed guys are so legalist holding to the
law. Oh the Sabbath, we should not
do anything. They are no better than Judaizers. He says, verse 9. Let's go to verse 8. For if Jesus
has given them rest, then would he not afterwards have spoken
of another day? There remained therefore a rest
to the people of God. What is that rest? I'm so confident
in Jesus Christ because he is the one who began this good work,
he's going to perform it. I rest in him. I don't panic. Isn't that a blessedness for
us? What blessedness that we receive from our Lord saying,
rest. The heathens, they panic. They
want to go to various places of to do pilgrimage, the Hindus
go to Varanasi, Muslims go to Hajj, and people want to go to
so many places and do so many things. But what is he saying? There is a rest for whom? For
the people of God. The people of God whom he has
made holy because of Christ, whom he has called unto himself,
and in whom he's working consistently, he's saying, you rest. I finished
it all on the cross. It is finished. There is nothing
more for you to, or for me to add to it. Otherwise Jesus would
have said, I finished my part, the rest is left to you. He did
not say that. Verse 10. For he that is entered into his
rest, he also has seized from his own works as God did from
his. Did not Christ enter into that
rest to be seated at the right hand of the Father? And we in Christ enter into that
rest. That is why the writer of Hebrews
later on in chapter 12, he says, we have looking unto Jesus, the
author and finisher of our faith. who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross, despising the shame as set down
at the right hand of the throne of God. When he has finished,
when you finish your work, what do you do? You sit down. He rested. And in him, we all
rest. In him, we all just sit down
and rest. He's the one who does it all. And the writer of Hebrews says,
we need to labor to enter into that rest. Why do we need to
labor? When someone works hard, do you
tell him, please rest, please rest? He will just automatically
want to rest. But why is it so difficult for
us to labor into our rest? Our flesh is so active. The depravity
of man is so active. It does not want to look at Christ
who has finished all our work. It says, no, look at yourself.
That is what we have to turn away from. And that is what Paul
is saying, being confident of this very thing. The one who
has begun this good work in you will perform it, will complete
it. When? Until the day of Jesus Christ. He is not going to leave you
in the middle. He is going to complete you, complete it. And what a joy it is. He is going
to present us faultless and blameless. And he is going to present us
with exceeding joy. While traveling from Florida
to here, I was thinking of a tulip, basically. And the last word
talks of P, perseverance of saints. And that was really troubling
me, because I said, all the other things talks of Christ doing
the work, it's unconditional election, limited atonement,
irresistible grace to someone who's totally depraved, who cannot
do it. And now you say perseverance
of saints? That I need to persevere? Whereas
the scripture does not talk of perseverance of sin, the scripture
talks of preservation. He preserves us. We are preserved
by the Holy Spirit. And we are going to be presented
holy by Christ. He is going to do that work.
We need to rest, absolute rest. And then verse 7, Even as it is right for me to
think this of you all, because I have you in my heart. He says,
y'all all were partakers of the gospel with me. I have you in
my heart. And the good thought that I have
you is God who began this good work will complete it. Though
I'm seeing so many human errors in y'all, but still, I know God
is going to complete it. We are not looking for a perfect
man. He says, God is going, because
I have you in my heart, as much as both in my bonds or in my
chains, and in the defense of the confirmation of the gospel,
you all are partakers or sharers of my grace. The grace that was
given to Paul is also given to everyone. He says, y'all are
sharers of that gospel. There is no partiality with Christ.
Look at Romans 4. We know about Abraham. It talks
of Abraham. He says, let me read from verse
19. Being not weak in faith, he considered
not his own body, now dead. when he was about 100 years old,
neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb. He staggered not at the
promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving
glory to God. And being fully persuaded that
what he had promised, he was able to perform. Many a times
we can think that, look at Abraham, He did not stagger at God's promise. He was strong in faith. He was
giving in glory. But remember verse 21 says, he
was fully persuaded. He was fully convinced. Who persuaded
him? Who convinced him of this truth
to stand in faith? If it was not the work of the
Holy Spirit in his life, he could not do it by himself. When the
promise was given to him that you will have a child, what did
Abraham do? Sarah, she gave him hagar and
Abraham said, okay, let me have hagar, let me help God. Did he not stagger at the promise?
By his own flesh he staggered, but unless the Spirit of God
works in us, only then can we hold on to the promise. Verse 22. And therefore it was imputed
to him for righteousness. I like verse 23 so much. Now
it is not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to
him, but for us also to whom it shall be imputed. Just like Paul says, you are
partakers of my grace, what God did for Abraham, The same is
done for each and every one of you all. Is there partiality
with God? Absolutely no. Verse 24 If we believe on Him who raised
up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who can believe on Him? The one
in whom God has worked, John 6, 29. The one in whom God has
caused them to believe. Only he can believe. Who was
delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification. We have nothing more to do. God
has done it all. And God has given us the gift
of faith to trust on him. God has resurrected our bodies,
He has given us a clear conscience, He has made us new in Him, He
has given us His Spirit. Isn't that the greatest work
that God has done for us? That He who began this good work
will perform it. That is our confidence in Christ
Jesus. The One from heaven, from the
very bosom of the Father, from eternity past, who created all
the world, has come down to die for us and to save us and to
preserve us. From out of His hand, no one
can pluck us out. We can never be plucked out of
His hand. Can I jump out of His hand? Absolutely no. Safe and secured, we are in Him.
May that be our confidence, the confidence we need to have in
Christ Jesus. God bless you all. 125, on your hardback, Tyndall,
number 125. Let's all stand together. All to Him I owe. Sin had left
a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow. Lo, for now, indeed,
I find Thine power and Thine own, And changed the leper's
spots, And envel'd the heart of sin. Jesus paid him all, all to him
I owe. Sick and left on Crimson's day,
he washed ? Jesus made it all, all to Him
I owe ? ? Sin did not the crimson stain ? ? He washed it white
as snow ? ? And when before the throne ? ? I stand in hymn of
pain ? ? Jesus died my soul to save ? Please be seated.