Let's open tonight's service
with hymn number seven from your Spiral Gospel Hymns hymnbook.
Let's all stand together. Number seven, The Head That Once
Was Crowned. The head that once was crowned
with thorns is crowned with glory now. A royal diadem adorns the
mighty victor's crown. ? The highest place that heaven
affords ? ? Belongs to Him by right ? ? The King of kings and
Lord of lords ? ? And heaven's eternal light ? the joy of all
who dwell above, the joy of all below, to whom he manifests his
love and grants his name to know. To them the cross with all its
shame, with all its grace is given, their name an everlasting
name, their joy the joy of heaven. Please be seated. Good evening. Let's open our Bibles together
to John 15. I try to read a passage in our
call to worship that fits with the message that I prepared. The message is about the truth
of God's grace. Our Lord identifies himself here as the
truth. Listen, let's read together.
John 15, beginning at verse 1. I am the true vine. My father
is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth
not fruit, he taketh away, and every branch that beareth fruit,
he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now, You are
clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide
in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit
of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can you except
you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in
him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me, you
can do nothing. If a man abideth not in me, he
is cast forth as a branch and is withered, and men gather them
and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide
in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will,
and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified
that you bear much fruit, so shall you be my disciples. As
the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Continue ye
in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye
shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments
and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto
you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might
be full. And this is my commandment, that
ye love one another as I have loved you, For greater love hath
no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. In another place, the Lord tells
us that all the law and the prophets hang on this one great commandment,
to love, to love. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly
Father, we thank you that once again you've Call us out and
put into our hearts a desire to worship, to hear your word,
to find our hope and our rest and our joy in the Lord Jesus
Christ. We pray that you would send your
spirit and power. We pray that you would open our
hearts, open your word, open the windows of heaven. or that
you would come down and meet with us as you promised. And
that we would leave this place tonight knowing that you have
enabled us to worship in spirit and in truth. And we ask it in
Christ's name, amen. Number 300 in the hardback teminal. Let's all stand together. 300. For secure is no one ever than
the loved ones of the Savior, not yon star on high abiding,
nor the bird in home nest hiding. God his own doth tend and nourish,
in his holy courts they flourish. Like a father kind he spares
them, in his loving arms he bears them. Neither life nor death
can ever from the Lord his children sever, for his love and deep
compassion comforts them in tribulation. Little flock, to joy then yield
thee, Jacob's God will ever shield thee. Rest secure with this defender,
at his will all foes surrender. What he takes or what he gives
us shows a father's love so precious. We may trust his purpose wholly,
tis his children's welfare solely. Please be seated. Let's open our Bibles together
to Colossians chapter one, Colossians chapter one. We're going to be
in verse six, the same place we were Sunday morning, but I
want to call attention to the last phrase in this verse. Verse five says, for the hope
which is laid up for you in heaven, where have you heard before in
the word of the truth the gospel which is come unto you as it
is in all the world and bringeth forth fruit as it doth also in
you since the day you heard of it and knew and knew the grace
of God in truth." How do we know the grace of God
in in truth. How do we know that we know the
grace of God in truth? Everyone believes that what they
believe is true. They wouldn't believe it if they
didn't think it was true. But here the Lord tells us that
we know, we know the grace of God in truth. Everyone talks
about grace and they say that they believe that salvation is
by grace. I don't suppose that there's
any person who claims to be a Christian who wouldn't say that we're saved
by grace, not by works. And yet, those same people will
turn around and not knowing the grace of God in truth will make
a work out of faith or they will send us back to the law after
having received salvation by grace in order to measure our
salvation and prove our salvation and end up back under the law. Here the Lord is telling us that
you know the grace of God in truth, in truth. And so I go back to that question,
how do I know that what I know is true? Very simple, very simple. The Lord said, if you know the
truth, truth sets you free. What does all that mean? If you
know the truth, the truth sets you free. I know the grace of
God in truth, because I'm free to believe God. You know, what
is the, what is the hindrance to faith? It's doubt. Is it not? And yet when you know the grace
of God in truth, you are set free from your doubts and your
disagreements, and you are free to believe everything that God
says. You're free to believe. That's knowing the grace of God
in truth. you don't question God, you don't,
oh we do in our, we do in our, in Providence we question God,
shamefully we do. In our circumstances we often
wonder why these things are happening, but when it comes to the Word
of God, the revelation of the gospel of God's free grace, we
are in 100% agreement. We are free from all doubts when
it comes to the truth of God's word. You believe every word
of it, don't you? That's how you know that you
have the grace of God in truth. Secondly, you're free from the
curse of the law. You're free from the curse of
the law. You don't live your life in fear of condemnation
and judgment. You know the grace of God in
truth. And if you know the truth, the
truth sets you free. Sets you free to believe God,
believe every word of God. Sets you free from the fear of
wrath and judgment and condemnation knowing that the Lord Jesus Christ
took for you. all the fiery wrath of God's
judgment and put it away, satisfied the demands of God's justice.
You're free, free from the curse of the law. There is now therefore
no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. We don't
live our lives in fear of God's wrath. We're free from the rigors
of the law. If you know the grace of God
in truth, in truth, we're not just giving lip service to the
grace of God, we know the grace of God in truth. We're free from
the rigors of the law. We're not trying to establish
our righteousness, our right standing with God by our law
keeping. We're free from the demands and
the requirements of God's holy law, knowing that the Lord Jesus
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believeth. We don't go around trying to
establish our own righteousness, being ignorant of God's righteousness. We know that the Lord Jesus Christ
is our righteousness. And so we're free. That's how
we know. that we know the grace of God
in truth. We're free to believe everything
that God says. We're free from condemnation.
We're free from the wrath of God. We're free from the judgment
of the law. We're free from the rigors of the law. We're free
from the opinions of men. We don't live our lives in fear.
We're men pleasers when it comes to, again, our daily circumstances. We all love the approval of men. And sadly, we make compromises in
order to get the approval of men oftentimes. But when it comes
to the gospel, if God be for me, who can be against me? We're
free from the opinions of men. We're not swayed away from the
gospel by the opinions of men. You know, I was talking to a
pastor friend recently and talking about how easily influenced we
are. You know, we were talking about
how, you know, you give your whole life and service to people,
and then someone comes along and sways them away. And I thought,
well, how easily influenced I am. You know, I can watch an advertisement
and think, I got to have that. You know, we're just easily influenced,
aren't we? But someone speaks a word contrary
to the gospel, we're not influenced by that. We're free from the
opinions of men when it comes to that which is contrary to
the gospel. If you know the truth, truth sets you free. That's how
we know that we know the grace of God in truth. We're not just
saying that we... Everybody, as I said, everybody
believes that what they believe is true. They wouldn't believe
it if they didn't believe that. So how do we know that what we
believe actually is true? Freedom. Free from the law. Free to believe God. Not one
single word of God is held in question or in doubt. free from
the opinions of men when it comes to that which is contrary to
the gospel. We're free to love. What is it that causes us to
be cautious in loving? Is it not the fear of rejection?
Is that not part of it? causes us to be cautious in extending
our love to someone and fear that that love is going to be
spurned or rejected. When we know the grace of God
in truth, we have no fear of being rejected. We know that
we're accepted in the beloved and we're free. We're free to
love God without any fear of rejection. And we're free to
love God's people. This is His commandment, that
we love one another. And what is it that another thing
that might cause us caution in terms of extending our love to
another man? Is it not the fear of maybe being
used or taken advantage of? Is that not we, we, we hold back
and fear that, you know, if I just lay it all out there, somebody's
going to take advantage of me and use me and abuse me. And
when you know the grace of God in truth, you become a servant
of God, the servant of God's people. Use me, use me. It's okay. I'm, I'm free to love. I'm free to love. If that's,
if, if someone wants to take advantage of that, so be it.
I do what I do as unto the Lord and not as unto men. And we're
free. We don't have to live our lives
in fear of being used or in fear of being rejected. We know. This is how we know that we know
the grace of God in truth. For if you know the truth, the
truth sets you free. We're free men and women. We're
free. Free to forgive. We're free to forgive. Having
been forgiven, we forgive one another as God, for Christ's
sake, hath forgiven us. Our forgiveness is not based
on whether or not a person's worthy of that forgiveness or
whether or not they've done what we think they should do in order
to get that forgiveness. Our forgiveness is given because
we've been forgiven. We know that we know the grace
of God in truth because the truth has set us free to forgive. We know that we know the grace
of God in truth because we're free to serve. We're free to serve. What is
it that hinders men from serving? Is it not the fear of not being
recognized? I'm not going to get the accolades
or the recognition from other men that I think I should get
when I, that's not service. We know that we know the grace
of God in truth when we're free to serve, doing what we do as
unto the Lord and not even desiring recognition. The right hand not
knowing what the left hand is doing. We're free. We're free to give and to serve
and to do what we do as unto the Lord and not expect anything
back as reward. We serve freely because
of the Lord, because of what he's done in serving us. This
is how we know that we know the grace of God in truth. We've not been deceived in thinking
that what we believe is true because the truth has set us
free. We stand We stand fast in the
liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. We're not entangled
again with the yoke of bondage. This is the evidence of knowing
the true grace of God in truth. Is this the evidence of the knowledge
of truth that you have? It's what the Lord does. What
liberty, what freedom, what joy. The Lord tells us in Proverbs
chapter 23 verse 23, buy the truth and sell it not. And also wisdom and instruction
and understanding. The Lord The Lord admonishes
us, he calls us, he commands us to buy the truth. And how
do we, what do we, what do we use to buy the truth? How do
we purchase the truth? Well, in another place it says
without money and without price. Why do you spend money for that
which satisfieth not? Come, come unto me all you that
labor. The price has already been paid.
The price was the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. What God required
for the truth to be known is the blood of Christ. And that's
already been shed. The price has been paid. And
so the Lord says, come, learn of me. Learn of me, for my burden
is light. My yoke is easy. Why is his burden
light and his yoke easy? Because all those things that
we're free from, he was held in bondage to on Calvary's cross. He paid the penalty for our sin.
He suffered the wrath and judgment of the law and of God's justice. He suffered the contradiction
of sinners. allowing them to nail him to
a cross, he gave up his freedom that we might be free. And now
he says, come unto me. Come unto me. Oh, to know the
grace of God in truth is to know Christ. It's to know Christ. Did the Lord Jesus Christ not
say, I am the way? Not a way, I'm the way. No other
way. No other way, no other name has
been given among men whereby we must be saved. I am the truth. We know that we know the grace
of God in truth when Christ has set us free. And if the Lord
sets you free, you're free indeed. And where the Spirit of God is,
there is liberty. This is how we know that we know
the grace of God in truth. And we're not deceived like the
rest of the world, believing that what we believe is true
when it's not. Am I gonna stand up here and
try to convince you of the truth of the gospel and the truth of
Christ and what he said when he said, as we read in John 15,
I am the true vine, implying that there are other vines that
aren't true vines? Not just implying, clearly stating,
isn't he? That there are lots of vines
and that there are lots of Jesuses and lots of Christ in this world,
but there's only one that's true. Can I prove to you that the one
we worship is true? No. Can't prove it to you, don't
have any interest in me. If I could, if I could talk you
into believing the gospel, somebody else talk you out of it. Isn't
that true? When God teaches you though,
oh, they shall all be taught of God. When God teaches you,
no man can unteach you. You just, you know it's true.
This is the confirmation of the Spirit of God when you know that
you know the grace of God in truth, in truth. I love that,
that moment in time when our Lord was brought before Pilate
and Pilate interrogating the Son of God. Are you a king? I've heard that you are king.
Are you a king? And what'd the Lord say? For this end was I born and for
this cause came I into the world to bear witness unto the truth. They that are of the truth, they
hear my voice and they follow me. You remember what Pilate
said? What is truth? What was Pilate
saying? Truth? Is that what this is all
about? You've turned the whole city
upside down over something as elusive and relative as truth? Don't you know that there's no
such thing as absolute truth? That's what Pilate was saying.
The world hasn't changed, has it? Man has... Man has set himself up on the
throne of God. That's what relativism is. A
pilot was a relative, was being relative in his statement. The whole world is that way.
I mean, we live in a world right now where morality is relative. Gender is relative. It's just
man doing what men do. Deciding for themselves. You
remember within the book of Kings, on the book of Judges, when there
was no king, every man did what was right in his own eyes. Nothing's
changed. The world is just as relative
today as it was in the garden, as it was in the day of Judges,
as it was in the days of Pilate. Men want to decide for themselves
what's true and what's not true. And so they set these things
up, and it doesn't matter if it's something
as simple as biology or morality. Men want to decide for themselves
what's true. When the Lord sets you free from
your opinions, and makes you bound to his word. You don't question the truth.
You just know that Christ Jesus, the Lord is the, he's the manifestation
of truth. He's the incarnation of truth. He is the truth. And, and, and
faith just causes you to bow to him and say, Lord, truth,
Lord, whatever you say is true. It's true. You and I have to
weigh our words when we speak and wonder, you know, I want
to speak the truth and I want to be as clear as I can be and
I don't want to be deceptive. All the Lord does is speak and
when he speaks, it's the purity of truth. Purity of truth. We know that we know the grace
of God in truth. when we are enabled by God's
grace to look in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ as the sum
and substance and source of all truth, all truth. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians,
very familiar passage. Paul said in Romans chapter 3,
let God be true and every man a liar. You know, as desperate
as we are to be faithful and truthful, you know, our hearts
are deceitful and we And we hide things and we, and
a lot of those things we need to hide. Don't, you know, don't
be so, don't, don't be so transparent that, you know, let there be
a filter. That's a good thing, isn't it? Uh, you know, we, we,
we don't, but God's not that way. He's not like us. Let God be true. Every man a
liar. You know, we deceive ourselves
and we're so far from the truth. And here we have the hope. As the people of God, as the
children of God, I know the grace of God in truth because I know
Christ. And the whole world can be on
a desperate search for truth and never find it. What? What a joy. Paul, the Lord is writing to
his church. You know, we often talk about
the Apostle Paul writing to the church at Colossae or to Ephesus
or whatever, but The truth of this is that this is God's word
speaking to this church, speaking to you and to me. And he says,
you know, the grace of God in truth and the truth has set you
free. And if the Lord has made you
free, you're free indeed. First Corinthians chapter one. Verse 27, God has chosen the
foolish things of the world to confound the wise. God has chosen
the weak things of the world to confound the things that are
mighty. Now, prior to this, the Lord is talking about the wisdom
of the world. Where's the wise? Where's the prudent? God has
made foolish the wisdom of the world. Here's one of the ways
that we know that we know the truth, the grace of God in truth,
is we see how foolish the wisdom of this world is. the philosophies
of this world, the religions of this world. We see the emptiness
of them. We see the vanity of them. We
see the death of them and the destruction of them. And God
has set us free from all that. He's revealed to us his wisdom
and we see how foolish the wisdom of the world is. And the world
looks at the simplicity of the gospel and who we believe. And they say that we're, we're
the fools. We're the fools. Look at verse
21. For after that, in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. All the philosophies
of the world, all the religions of the world, all the vain pursuits
of the world, and they can't find God. And God uses something as foolish
as... The world considers what we're
doing right now to just be foolish. Why would you drive all the way
across town? Why would you come on a Wednesday
night and give up hours of your time to sit and listen to some
man preach? That doesn't make sense to me. Makes sense to you, doesn't it?
God made foolish the wisdom of this world. Through the preaching
of the gospel, he reveals the grace of God in truth, in truth. Verse 22, for the Jews or the
religious require sign and the Greeks or the irreligious are
seeking after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified
unto the Jews, a stumbling block and under the Greeks foolishness,
but unto them, which are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ,
the power of God, the wisdom of God, we preach Christ. I was talking to someone recently
and they were expressing to me when they had begun preaching
sovereign grace. And I didn't try to correct him. I know I oftentimes speak words
that don't really express clearly what I want to say, but the truth
is we're not preaching sovereign grace. We're preaching Christ
and he is sovereign and his grace is true, but we're not preaching
sovereign grace. We're preaching a person. Christ,
the power of God, the wisdom of God. Look at verse 25, because the
foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is
stronger than men. Oh, aren't you glad that God
made you weak? so weak that you had no strength
at all. While we were yet of little strength,
no, while we were yet without strength, God, Christ died for
the ungodly. For you see your calling, brethren,
verse 26, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many
mighty, not many noble are called. Not many of the intelligentsia
of this world and the kings and leaders of this world have an
interest in the gospel. And I'm so thankful that the
Lord said not many. He didn't say not any. He said
not many. We don't write off anyone as,
you know, the hope of salvation. But the truth is that there's
not many. Look at Look at, but God hath chosen the foolish things
of the world to confound the wise. God has chosen the weak
things of the world to confound the things which are mighty and
the base things of the world. And the things which are despised
hath God chosen, yea, the things which are not, to bring to naught
the things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence.
Why would the Lord do this? Why would he save in such a manner
so that he gets all the glory? Look at verse 30, for in him,
or of him, I'm sorry. And that first
pronoun there is a reference to God the Father. For of God
the Father are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto
us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, that according
that is written, he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord. We know the grace of God in truth
when the Lord Jesus Christ himself is our wisdom. And wisdom is
so much more than knowledge and understanding and intelligence
and education. Wisdom is discernment of the
gospel. And it's that understanding,
that wisdom, is only found in Christ. And so we look to the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ, for God has made him to be unto
us our wisdom. If we're going to have any wisdom
at all, it'll come from Him. The world exalts knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up. And I suppose
that we see that most grossly manifested in religion. when
men try to intimidate one another and get an advantage over one
another by their religious knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up. There's
no wisdom in that. Wisdom doesn't call attention
to the one who has wisdom. It calls attention to wisdom,
which is Christ. God has made him to be for us
our wisdom. Several times in the Old Testament,
the Lord said of different men, I have filled him with the spirit
of God and of wisdom, and of wisdom. This wisdom comes by
the spirit of God, revealing to us the glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Solomon asked for wisdom. The
Lord came to Solomon and said, ask anything you want. Solomon
said, oh Lord, I need wisdom. I need Christ. There's no way
I can understand or fulfill the things you've called on me to
do if you don't give me wisdom. The Lord was pleased with what
Solomon had asked for. And the Lord said to those Pharisees,
He said, the Queen of the South, speaking of the Queen of Sheba,
is going to stand in judgment of this generation and condemn
you. For she traveled a far distance
in order to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And one greater than
Solomon is among you, and you won't hear him. You won't hear
him. The Lord Jesus Christ himself
is our wisdom. And in James chapter one, verse
five, the Lord says, but if any man lack wisdom, let him ask
it of God. Let him ask it of God, who giveth
to all men liberally and upbraideth it not. He said, well, I've asked
for Christ so many times, and then I turned my eyes away from
Him, and I just, you know, I'm ashamed to ask anymore. That's what the Lord's telling
us. He upbraideth it not. He delights in giving wisdom. He delights in revealing Christ. You can't ask too many times. If any man lack wisdom, let him
ask it of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth
it not." God doesn't say what you and I say when someone abuses
the gift that we give them. And after coming back a dozen
times, we say, not you again. Not you again. I gave you that,
look what you did with it. How many times am I gonna, and
we roll our eyes and we think and we, and we intimidate them. That's what upbraideth not means. God doesn't do that. He called, come, come unto me. Oh, the spirit and the bride
say come. He gives to all men liberally
and he upbraideth it not. He delights in giving Christ
again and again and again and again and more wisdom. and more
understanding and more grace. But let him ask in faith, nothing
wavering, for he that wavereth is like the wave of the sea,
tossed to and fro. Let not that man think that he
shall receive anything of the Lord, for a double-minded man
is unstable in all of his ways. Now, if you're like me, you feel
like you're double-minded most of the time, don't you? And the
reason you feel that way is because you've got two natures. You've
got an old man and a new man. But that's not what the Lord's
talking about in James chapter 1. He's talking about coming
to God for Christ based on grace plus works. That's double-minded. That's, you see, we know that
we know the grace of God in truth, because when we come to God,
we're not coming with any offering that would obligate God to give
us grace. We understand that the grace
of God in truth is free grace. And it's all God's grace, and
it's sovereign grace, and it's His grace. And so when the Lord
said, don't waver like the wave of the sea, don't be tossed to
and fro, Don't think that you're going to get the grace of God
in truth from God by offering to him your faith or your works
or your whatever. You come in, let him ask in faith. What is it to ask in faith? is
to rely upon the Lord Jesus Christ and His righteousness alone for
all of my acceptance before God and for all the hope of my blessings
from God is in Christ. In Christ. And that's how I'm
coming. Come to God in faith. We come looking to Christ alone
for the only ground of our acceptance. You lack wisdom? Come to God
like that. He gives it to you liberally.
He upbraideth it not. And he'll give it to you again
tomorrow. It's daily bread, isn't it? It's
daily wisdom. When we see Christ as our wisdom,
we see ourselves as sinners, don't we? We really do. When Isaiah saw the Lord high
and lifted up, His train filled the temple, and the seraphim
hovered over the throne of God, and they cried, Holy, holy, holy
is the Lord God of hosts. What was the first thing out
of Isaiah's mouth? Oh, woe is me. I'm undone. My eyes have seen the king. Look
here. I'm a dead man. And then one
of the seraphims went and took a coal off the altar, and he
said, I'm a man of unclean lips, and I'm a liar. Let God alone
tell the truth. All men are liars. And the Lord
took that hot coal, a picture of the fiery wrath of God's justice
that fell on Christ on Calvary's cross, touched his lips, said,
you're clean. You're clean. Now go preach the
gospel. We see ourselves as sinners when
we see Christ high and lifted up. Daniel said, when I saw him,
my comeliness, and that word means strength, beauty, ability,
my comeliness was turned into corruption when I saw him. When Paul saw him, he said, in
me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. The will is present
with me, but how to perform that which is good, I find not. Peter
fell on his feet, fell at his feet on his face. The Lord depart
from me, I'm a sinful man. Always happens that way. We see
our need for grace. We see our need for the grace
of God in truth. We have nothing to offer God
that would in any way obligate Him to save us. We see how wise
God is in preserving his justice while at the same time justifying
sinners. We see that God didn't compromise
his justice to save sinners. Mercy. And truth met together,
righteousness and peace. They kissed each other at Calvary's
cross. God satisfied his justice when
he poured the wrath. His wrath out on Christ. In order
to put away the sins of his people. We see that when Christ becomes
our wisdom, we see things that other men can't see. We see ourselves
as sinners, we see who Christ is, we see what it is that he's
accomplished. This is wisdom. This is wisdom. And everything in life is weighed
in light of that. Regardless of what happens, we
have Christ as our wisdom, which is given to us by God, and we
have the grace of God in truth, And so everything is evaluated
in light of what the Lord has revealed in Christ. But of him
are you in Christ. Of God, God put you in Christ.
He showed you the grace of God in truth. And of God are you
in Christ, whom he has made to be unto us, our wisdom. and our righteousness. Jehovah
said, can you? You're in Christ and you know
the grace of God in truth. You know that you have no righteousness
whatsoever. You have nothing to recommend
you to God. If Christ doesn't stand in your
stead, if he doesn't be your surety, if he's not all your
righteousness before God, you will be found wanting. in the
presence of a holy God. You know that, don't you? Why?
Because you know the grace of God in truth. All the religions of this world
have some human righteousness involved in their message of
salvation. The only difference between Buddhism
and Islam and Judaism and all the different forms of Christianity
there are in the world is what is it that you are required to
do in order to earn favor with God. When you have the grace
of God in truth, you know that there's nothing you can do and
anything you bring is only going to defile the sacrifice that
Christ has made. You put your hands to salvation
in any way. You try to hewn the stones of
that altar in any way. You try to make an altar that's
got steps and climb up those steps. All you're going to do
is expose your nakedness and defile that altar. Christ has
been made your wisdom and your righteousness. This righteousness comes through
faith, through faith. Abraham believed God and he counted
it unto him for righteousness. Faith is not a work. Don't, don't. Faith is by the grace of God. It's the gift of God. It's not,
we're not, We don't get righteousness by faith, we get righteousness
through faith. For by grace are you saved through
faith and that not of yourself. By grace through faith. We don't sew together fig leaves
to try to cover our nakedness. Our hope is in that fine linen,
pure and white. Oh, that... at fleece from the
Lamb, the spotless Lamb of God, to cover our nakedness before
God. What are these? What are these that are standing?
It was what John asked of those saints that were standing in
glory with the robe of righteousness. He said, these are the saints
of God. And this is their robe of righteousness. Unto the Son, He saith, Thy throne,
O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness
and hated iniquity. Therefore, God, even thy God,
hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
God has made you to be Christ. He's anointed you the full power
of the Spirit of God. He sent you as the Messiah to
redeem your people. and to establish righteousness.
It's how we know that we know the grace of God in truth. He set us free. Free to love,
free to believe, free from the opinions of men, free to serve. He's shown us Christ who is the
truth. as our wisdom and as our righteousness.
And as our sanctification, quickly, let's finish. Look at the verse
30 again. But of him are you in Christ
Jesus, who of God has made unto us wisdom and righteousness and
sanctification. Now, this is often where men
will deny Christ. They'll say, well, yes, salvation's
all of grace. And they'll say things like,
you know, God gave us the law to point us to Christ. The law
is our schoolmaster, appointed us to Christ. And then when God
saves us by grace, showing us our inability to keep the law,
he takes us back to the law so that now the law becomes our
rule for Christian living. The law is not a good rule for
Christian living. All the law will do is condemn. All the law
will do is judge. All the law will do is declare
you guilty every time you look at it. Christ, on the other hand,
oh, we look to Him. He looks on us with compassion
and love. You say, well, how do you, what's
your rule of life? Same rule of life that the Apostle
Paul had. What did Paul say his rule of
life was? The life that I now live, I live
by the faith of the son of God who loved me and gave himself
for me. That's my rule of life. Christ
is my rule of life. The only hope that I have. He works in us, causing us to
will and to do after his good pleasure. We walk by the Spirit. The Spirit of God points us constantly
to Christ. Paul in speaking to the church
said, such were some of you, but you are now washed. You are now sanctified. You are
now justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by
the Spirit of God. For he that just, he that sanctifyeth,
and they that are sanctified are all as one. Made holy in
the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And God has made him
to be our redemption. Now notice how the Lord has worded
this. He is our redemption. Yes, he is our redeemer. but you can be a redeemer without
being redemption. The Lord Jesus Christ not only
redeemed us successfully, but he gave himself to the father
as the price of that redemption. And so he is our redemption. God said, when I see the blood,
I'll pass by you. God required a blood sacrifice,
a perfect blood sacrifice. And that's exactly what the Lord
Jesus Christ is. God has made him to be our redemption. What can wash away my sins? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. 212, Tom. What can make me whole
again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. No other. No other fount, I know,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. How do we know that we know the
grace of God in truth? In truth, have we been deceived? If these things are true, The
Lord's confirmed them to your heart? You know. You know. Our heavenly Father, thank you
for your word. Bless it to our hearts as you
enable us to look in faith to thy dear son. For it's in his
name we pray, amen. Okay, what is it, 27? 27 in this
problem. so Free from the law's great curse,
in Jesus we are free. For Christ became a curse for
us and died upon the tree. The rituals of the law and all
the law's commands have been fulfilled in Christ the Lord,
established by his hands. No covenant with the law can
now with us exist. Complete in Christ we stand by
grace, both free and ever blessed. No more the dread of wrath, no
more constrained by fear. We worship and we serve our God
with gratitude and cheer. In Jesus we are free. In Jesus we are free. Free from all sin and from all
guilt. We live in liberty. We'll join the happy song. with all the blood bought throng
and sing the praises of the lamb whose grace makes us his own.