Good evening. Let's open tonight's
service with hymn number 37 in your Spiral Gospel Hymns hymnbook. Let's all stand together. 37. my soul the throne of grace in
every time of need there's mercy for the needy one who jesus name
shall Oh, I'm a weak and sinful wretch,
I will approach the throne. I'll lean upon Christ's mighty
arm and bleed His blood away. precious blood of Christ has
opened up the way by which I can draw near to God and to my Though Satan tempts my heart
to sin, I'll call upon my God. And if I fall, he'll lift me
up and cleanse me in the blood. The way is open, God will hear
my groans and cries of grief. Nothing can keep me from His
throne but my own unbelief. O Lord, my unbelief remove, and
turn my heart by grace. Come, tell me to approach your
throne, and there spread out my case. Please be seated. Let's open our Bibles to Hebrews
chapter 4. Hebrews chapter 4. I had another
passage I was planning to read from, but after that hymn, I
think we should go here. We'll begin reading at verse
11. Let us labor, therefore, to enter into that rest, lest
any man fall after the same example. unbelief. That is our struggle in this
life is, Lord I believe help thou mine unbelief. For the Word of God is quick,
that word means it's alive, powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword,
piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and
of the joints and marrow, and as a discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart." Wow, that's a lot. That's what God's
Word does. It exposes our hearts and thoughts,
and it reveals Christ, and it's alive. Look at verse 13. "'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." What is our profession? Jesus
Christ is the Son of God, and he's finished the work of redemption.
A successful Savior, Sovereign Savior. Verse 15, 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. We don't know the shame and sorrow
of sin like the Lord Jesus Christ knew it. He suffered it to its
fullest extent. Let us therefore, here's what
we just sang. Let us therefore, in light of
the fact that we have a high priest who's in the heavens,
who sympathizes with our infirmities, let us therefore come boldly. And that word means with confidence.
Confident that he, his word is true and that he is faithful
to all his promises. Let us therefore come boldly.
unto the throne of grace, so thankful that we have a throne
of grace and not a throne of law, that we may obtain mercy
and find grace to help in time of need. Let's pray together. Our gracious and glorious and
merciful Heavenly Father, this is our hope tonight. As we join
our voices together in song and as we read your word and as we
preach your gospel, Lord, we pray that you would draw us to
thyself and that we would find your help to be abundantly sufficient
for all our needs. Lord, we come to you as shameful
sinners, and yet we have such great hope in knowing that the
Lord Jesus, in bearing the shame and sorrow of our sin on Calvary's
cross, put them away, and that we have our acceptance in Him,
and that we can come confident In his successful work of redemption
and in his glorious person, we can come confident into thy holy
presence, knowing that we have grace to help in our time of
need. Lord, bless this service to your
glory and to our eternal salvation. We ask it in Christ's name, amen. Let's stand together once again,
hymn number 318, 318 in your hardback timbrel. 318. I need thee every hour, most
gracious Lord, no tender voice like thine can be. Oh, I need Thee. Every hour I need Thee. Oh, bless me now, my Savior,
I come to Thee. I need Thee every hour. Stay Thou nearby. Temptations lose their power
when Thou I need Thee, O I need Thee, every
hour I need Thee. O bless me now, my Savior, I
come to Thee. ? I need thee every hour in joy
or pain ? ? Come quickly and abide, for life is vain ? ? I
need thee, oh I need thee every hour in joy or pain ? O bless me now, my Savior, I
come to Thee. I need Thee every hour, Most
Holy One. O make me Thine indeed, Thou
blessed Son. I need thee, oh, I need thee. Every hour I need thee. Oh, bless me now, my Savior. I come to thee. Please be seated. Every time we sing that hymn,
I'm reminded of all the hours of the week. There is not an
hour that we need him more than this hour. I'm so keenly aware
of that. Pretty much everything else I
do, I can do in the strength of my own flesh, but speak for
God. That's a work of grace. I need
him and you need him. Everything else you do, you can
pretty much do in the strength of your own flesh. But to hear
the voice of God, that's a work of grace. That's a miracle. Pray the Lord will meet with
us this hour. When Paul was in Philippi, he
went down to a river where some women were having a prayer meeting
and one of those women's name, Lydia. The scripture says that
the Lord opened Lydia's heart and she believed. And I think
about that every time I think of little Lydia Taubenheim. This is her first time in church.
And we hope that that day will come when the Lord will open
her heart and cause her to believe. So good to have you guys here
tonight. We're going to be in Judges chapter
10. I just remembered that The message title last Sunday or
last Wednesday night was Christ in His Church, and that's the
same title again tonight, Christ in His Church. How many pictures
we have in God's Word of the Lord Jesus Christ and the union
that He has with His people and the work of salvation that He
has successfully accomplished on behalf of His people. It's
what this book is all about. You know, oftentimes we quote
that passage that says in the volume of the book it is written
of me, but I was thinking this week about over there in John
chapter 20, when John is bringing his gospel account to an end
and he says, many other things did Jesus that are not recorded
in this book, but these had been written that you might believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God, and that
on believing, you might have life through his name. And I've
always just considered that in reference to the gospel of John,
but it really applies to all of scripture, doesn't it? Kind
of like that passage of scripture at the end of the book of Revelation
that says, if any man add two, the words of the prophecy of
this book. It's not just talking about the book of Revelation,
it's talking about the whole canon of scripture. And so when
God says in John chapter 20, many of the things the Lord has
done that are not written in this book, but these have been
written. in order that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ,
the son of God, and that believing you might have life through his
name. That's what God's word is here for. That's why it's
quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, because
it's through the revelation of Christ given in his word that
he saves sinners. And nothing is less true about these verses
in the first part of Judges chapter 10. We give some thought to naming
our children, but names are not as significant in terms of their
meaning. A lot of people don't even know
what their name means. That wouldn't have been true of an Israelite. They knew exactly what their
name meant and the names in the Bible are always often fulfilled
in the character of the individual that has that name. and these
names that always point prophetically to the Lord Jesus Christ. And
so in the first five verses of Judges chapter 10, we have the
names of two judges, and there's no real historical events given
to us in God's Word as to what these men actually did. One of
them was a judge for 23 years and one of them was a judge for
22 years. And that's all it basically says
about them. Tells us who their fathers were
and where they lived. And so for 45 years, this is
the sixth and seventh judge of Israel during this period of
time. And so if in the volume of the
book it is written of Christ, and if these things have been
written that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of the living God, and that believing we might have life
through his name, then we cannot deny the fact that the Holy Spirit
put the names of these two judges in here in order to point us
to Christ. And to do that, we have to look
at the meaning of their names. So you have your Bibles open
to Judges chapter 10. Abimelech is dead. He was the one who took the office
of king by killing his brothers. You remember his 70 brothers
in the previous chapter. and his reign only lasted for
three years and then a certain woman up in a strong tower cast
out a millstone and scripture says broke his skull and then
he took the sword of his sword bearer, his servant, and
pierced himself through. What a picture. You know, the
very first prophecy that's given of the Lord Jesus Christ in the
scripture is that the seed of the woman would crush the head
of the serpent. And that's what we see in the
picture here at the end of chapter 9 in the death of Abimelech. the seed of the woman Christ
and his church, the certain woman who cast the millstone out of
the tower and crushed the head of the serpent. And that's exactly
what the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished on Calvary's cross. He got victory
over sin and over death and over hell and over Satan. And he destroyed,
the scripture says, the works of the devil. He crushed the
head. The serpent bruised his heel
through his crucifixion, but he, in being crucified, crushed
the head of the enemy. And we see that same picture
many places in the Bible. Those who fall on this stone
shall be broken. and a broken and contrite heart
God will not despise because he gives us that heart when he
causes us to fall on Christ. But he to whom the stone falls
shall be crushed to powder. And we see that same picture
in the story of Nebuchadnezzar. You remember Nebuchadnezzar had
a vision of a great image that had a golden head and arms of
silver and belly of brass and legs of iron and feet mingled
with iron and clay. And then at the end of that vision,
he saw a rock. being quarried, if you will,
or cut out of a mountain without the hand of a man. And that rock
came and crushed that image. We know that we are living in
the time of the mingling of iron and clay. That head of gold was
the, these are the, the only four, the only four kingdoms
that ruled the world. The Babylonian kingdom, which
the head of gold, that was Nebuchadnezzar. The Medes and the Persians, which
was the arms and breast of silver, which came after, right after
Nebuchadnezzar. The Greeks, which is the belly
of brass, which took over right after, right after the Medes
and the Persians. And then the two legs of iron,
the Roman empire, divided between Rome and Constantinople. And
there's never been, there's been plenty of men. Here's what I
want you to hear. There'd been plenty of men that
have tried to become world rulers since the destruction or the
fall of the Roman empire. It hasn't happened and it won't
happen. It won't happen. It's not going
to happen. We're in the toes of that figure. Iron mingled with clay and the
nations are divided and there's never, don't ever fear someone
like Hitler or anyone else taking over the world. It's not going
to happen. The kingdom of God is that stone, that rock that
was cut without the hand of a man. And that rock is Christ. And
that rock crushes that image to powder. And then the rock
grows. You remember in the Nebuchadnezzar's
vision, the rock grows into an eternal kingdom, a glorious kingdom. And that's what we are. That's
what we're waiting for. The growing of that rock into
the kingdom of God. So Abimelech, Abimelech is dead. And the Lord is going to deliver
his people once again. Look at verse one of chapter
10. And after Abimelech, there arose
to defend This word defend is translated
deliverer when it comes to the other judges, but most often
this word defend is translated save in the Old Testament. The vast majority of the time
that it's used, it's translated to save. And so here's what these
judges are doing. They're saving Israel. And Romans
chapter 10 makes it clear that all Israel, Romans chapter 11,
all Israel shall be saved. They have been saved, they are
being saved, and they will be saved. Heal all of Israel. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
successful savior of his people, and not one of his sheep will
be lost. And so the Lord raises up this judge and this word arise
means to come forth. And so we see a picture of the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving us the proof and
evidence of his successful work of redemption in saving all of
his people, putting away our sins by the sacrifice of himself.
These things have been written. that you might believe that Jesus
Christ is the son of God and that believing you might have
life through his name. The Holy Spirit's not wasting
words. He's not just giving us a connecting
historical link here between Bimelech and the next judge that
we'll get more information about. The Holy Spirit has given us
a revelation of Christ in every word of God's word. And I remind
you of the quote that I mentioned from Martin Luther when he said,
not a single word of the Bible can be properly understood without
reference to the cross. And so if we look at the word
of God in reference to Christ, we see that what the Lord's doing
here, he's giving us another picture. of the successful salvation
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He will call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. And that's exactly
what he did. Exactly what he did. God raised
him up. Look, after Abimelech, there
arose to save Israel. You know, God's deliverers in
the Bible are always successful. You notice that? Othniel, the
first judge, was successful. Ehud was successful. Deborah
was successful. Gideon was successful. The Lord
doesn't raise up a man and then let him fail. He always is successful. And if that's true of these Old
Testament prophets, how much more true? That's exactly what
the Lord is telling us in the book of Hebrews, when he said,
God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke to our
fathers through these prophets, and now has in these last days
spoken unto us by his son, who is the brightness of his glory,
the express image of his person. Is there any possible way that
the Lord Jesus Christ as the deliverer of Israel would fail
in saving his people? There's our hope. There's our faith. We rest the
hope of our immortal soul on the successful work of Christ. He is the deliverer, the Savior
of Israel. He shall save his people from
their sins. He cannot fail, Isaiah chapter
42. He's not frustrated. He's not
begging men to let him have his way. No, he's not looking for
a following. He's got a following. And he's gonna bring everyone
that he died for to faith in him. and they're gonna rest their
hope of salvation in His successful, accomplished, finished work,
knowing that the work, Hebrews chapter four, was finished from
the foundation of the world in time the Lord Jesus Christ finished
it on Calvary's cross 2,000 years ago. We have a finished salvation. We have a full salvation. We
have a successful Savior God. Everything that God requires,
God provided in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the only thing that
God accepts is what He provided in Christ. That's the laboring
to enter into His rest that we just read in Hebrews chapter
4. Why? Because by nature, we're always
looking away from Christ and trying to find something else
to give us our hope and our encouragement. And as soon as we do, we lose
the assurance of our salvation. Our assurance is found in looking
to Christ and believing that He was successful. in saving
his people. He rose. He rose from the dead and he was successful. Notice, we're going to go to
verse five. I want you to notice the end
of verse five. The next judge we're going to look at is Jair.
Jair died and was buried in Canaan. Now, Kaman means to arise. So this passage begins with a
resurrection and ends with a resurrection. And there's our hope. He was offered up for our offenses
and he was raised again because of our justification. When he
bowed his mighty head on Calvary's cross and said, it is finished,
God's people were justified. Their sin was put away. They're
made perfect in the sight of God. And the evidence of that
is his resurrection. How, how that he died, how that he was buried
and how that he was raised again, according to the scriptures.
This is just another scripture where the mystery of the gospel
is veiled in a story about a couple of men that God raised up to
deliver Israel. But these are written that we
might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living
God. We're not interested in just
acquiring some information to boost our knowledge. Knowledge
puffeth up. And that's so true. I heard someone
say recently, you know, knowledge is power. Knowledge is power,
and it is. If you understand something,
you have power over it. And, you know, men will study
the Bible in order just to have knowledge. Paul said, oh, that
I might know Him, that I might know Him, the power of His resurrection,
the fellowship of His suffering. After Abimelech, there rose to
save Israel Tula or Tola. You can look these names up.
This name translated means a worm and not just any worm. I looked at the scientific name
of this worm. It's not important, but the common
name of it is a crimson worm. a crimson worm. That's what Tola's
name means. It comes from that very special
worm that would climb up a tree, always a tree, and attach itself
permanently to the bark of that tree and cover itself with a
shell while it gave birth to its larvae, which lived under
the crimson worm. The larvae then will begin to
feed on the mother and the mother would turn crimson red and actually
leave a permanent stain on the side of that tree until the larvae
were mature enough to move out and begin their own life cycle.
That's the name here. The Lord Jesus Christ in Psalm
chapter 22 said, but I am a worm and no man a reproach. And no man looks after me. When our Lord came into this
world, he attached himself to a tree and he shed his precious
blood on that tree to give birth to his church. That's the redeemer
here. What a glorious picture. You
know, I was thinking all of the creation shows the glory of God
and we look at creation and we know that there's a creator.
All men know that by nature. Conscience convicts us having
sinned against that Creator. But conscience and creation are
not sufficient to reveal to us who that Creator is. Those are
called general revelation. And the scriptures are clear
in Romans chapter one, that based on the revelation that God has
made of himself in conscience and in creation, men are without
excuse because they refuse the revelation that has been given
unto them. Even though they can't be saved
by conscience or creation, they refuse the revelation that has
been given. and they are held guilty and
without excuse before God. And then the Lord gives us the
special revelation of his gospel in his word, where he reveals
who he is. And when he blesses that message
by his spirit, he opens the eyes of our understanding. And I'm
sure, I'm just sure, we don't, We look to God's word for the
revelation of himself, but it's almost as if God has written
a commentary on his word in creation. That this, this little worm,
this little crimson worm is just a commentary on what God, we're
not going to hear, we're not going to understand the gospel
by looking at a worm on a tree. Scarlet dye was made from the
stain of those, from the fluid that those worms would excrete. And we're not going to learn
the gospel by looking at a worm, but knowing the gospel, we can
look at the worm and say, what a glorious commentary on the
gospel the Lord has given us in his creation. And everything
in creation is that way, if we had eyes to see it. So here's
Tola, a picture of this crimson worm who's been sent to save
Israel of their sins. Listen to what Isaiah said in
Isaiah 1 verse 18, Come, the Lord's speaking to
his people. Come, let us reason together. Though your sins be like scarlet,
though they be like crimson, they shall be made white as snow. Though they be like crimson,
they shall be as wool. So through the shedding of our
Lord's blood on that tree, when he bore our sins and suffered
the shame of our sin, He shed his blood and gave birth to his
children, birth to his church. And he says to us, come, though your
sins be like scarlet, they shall be made white as snow. I remember
reading a story about a father and his little boy who were in
London. And if you've ever watched the
changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace, it's a pretty cool thing
to see. And this father was standing
in a little shop on the side of the road as the changing of
the guards was taking place. And the little boy, much shorter
than the father, was looking out the window. And the father
said, look son, here comes the redcoats. And the little boy
said, no daddy, they're whitecoats. And the father said, no, son,
they're red coats. And the little boy said, no,
daddy, they're white coats. And the father looked down and realized
that the bottom part of the window where the boy was looking out
was tinted with red tint. And the little boy looking through
the red, seeing red, turned it to white. Now, what a glorious
picture. The Lord Jesus Christ, God the
Father, looks through his blood. And though your sins be like
scarlet, they shall be made white as snow." Here's Tolah. Here's the deliverer. Here's
the savior of Israel that God has sent. Turn with me to Isaiah
chapter 63. Isaiah 63. Verse one. is this that cometh from Edom?"
And we know who this is a prophecy of. If any of the prophets spoke
so simply and clearly and plainly of Christ, it was Isaiah. So
he's looking, he's looking to the coming of Christ. He's saying,
who is this that comes from Edom? Now, Edom means red. with dyed garments from Basra,
this that is glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness
of his strength, I that speak in righteousness, mighty to saved. Wherefore art thou red in thine
apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine
fat?" Why are your clothes stained with this crimson red? And he
answers the question. I have trodden the winepress
alone, and of the people there was none with me. I will tread
them in mine anger and trample them in my fury, and their blood
shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my remnant."
Remnant. Here's the tola, here's the crimson
worm. For the day of vengeance is in
my heart, verse four, and the year of my redeemed has come.
And I looked and there was none to help, and I wondered that
there was none to uphold. Therefore, mine own arm brought
salvation unto me, and in my fury it upheld me. I will tread
down the people of my anger, make them drunk in my fury, and
I will bring down their strength to the earth. What a glorious
picture. our Lord's on Calvary's cross.
Here's the Savior of Israel. This is why, at least in part,
we could go back, I'm sure, and look at this passage again and
again and again and see different layers of the gospel. You know,
David said at one point, thy word is exceedingly broad. So
we're not We're looking for Christ in this. This is at least in
part why the Spirit of God has put these men where they are. And in his word, Job said in Job 25, verse six,
he called himself a worm. And here the word worm is a maggot. What is more disgusting? than
to go out in your yard and find a dead animal that is crawling
with maggots, eating on rotting flesh. And yet, that's what the
scripture describes us as before God. Until the Lord Jesus Christ
became that crimson worm, he became that tola, and he bore
our sin and shame for us. And he made us into the sons
and daughters of God. He made us into priests and kings. He adopted us into his family,
made us children of God. And he did it all. Who is this
that comes from Basra? With his garments stained, I
treaded out the wine press and the fury of God's wrath by myself. I did it all by myself. And God's
people are glad that they don't have to be a part of that. He
gets all the glory. He gets all the glory, doesn't
he? And there's our hope and there's our love and our affection
that the Lord Jesus Christ gets all the glory. God made him who
knew no sin to be made sin for us, that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him. This is how he saved Israel.
Go back with me to our text. And after Abimelech, there rose
to defend Israel Tula, the son of Pua, the son of Dodo, a man
of Issachar. And he dwelt in Shemar in Mount
Ephraim. Brethren, we have hope. You know, the world has two options
to give men to relieve them of their shame and their guilt and
their fear. We look back to Adam. When Adam
first sinned against God, what did he do? He hid from God. He
saw that he was naked. He was ashamed. He tried to cover
his nakedness by sewing together fig leaves, didn't he? And all
the problems that men have in this world are the result of
their shame and their guilt and their fear, which is the result
of sin. And what does the world say? The world says, the first message
that the world gives, you know, it's not really your fault. You're
just a victim. And that resonates with the sons
and daughters of Eve, who's always looking for someone to blame.
You know, she, you know, Adam, you know, he was one to blame
too, wasn't he? And then the other message is,
yes, it is your fault, but you can fix it. And so they give
you things to do, to make up for your sin, to try to relieve
you of your shame and your guilt. And there's really no comfort
there. There's no hope. The gospel of God's free grace
and the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ lays the full
blame of sin at the sinner's feet and then says to them, Christ
Jesus has put them away. There is forgiveness with the
Lord. Psalm 130 verse three, that he
may be feared. There is now therefore no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. He's put away our sin. There's
no reason to hide from God. There's no reason to try to cover
up and make up for our sins. The Lord Jesus Christ has done
that all by himself. Turn with me to Romans chapter
eight. Romans chapter eight. Look at verse 31. What shall
we say then to these things? Here's what we say. If God be
for us, who can be against us? If God's satisfied with what
Christ did, if he really was successful in putting away my
sins, and he loves me, and he receives me in his Son, and he's
for me, How can I be against myself? How can I worry about
anybody else being? If God before me, who could be
against me? Verse 32, he that spared not
his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not
with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. He
that justifieth and they that are, he that sanctifieth and
they that are sanctified are all as one, whereby he's not
ashamed to call them his brethren. Here's the hope of the gospel.
All the men of the world are either trying to blame someone
else for their sin, or they're trying to cover up their sin
and make up for their sins. And that goes all the way back
to the garden. And we say, behold, I am vile, unworthy, undeserving, guilty
sinner. And that's the kind of people
that Christ died for. He came into the world to save
sinners of whom I am chief. He came to deliver the poor and
the needy. What hope? We don't have to live
under the false hopes of a lie. We have the truth of Christ,
our Tola, our crimson worm, who took worms like us. That's why Romans chapter eight,
verse one says, There is therefore now no condemnation to them that
are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh. Now, what
is it to walk after the flesh? To walk after the flesh is to
blame someone else for your sin, ultimately God. That's what Adam
did. He blamed God. Or is to try to
work your way out of your sin. That's walking after the flesh.
What is it to walk after the Spirit? It is to look to Christ
Jesus the Lord as your crimson worm who took your place on that
tree and shed his precious blood to put away your sins so that
you can say, who is he that condemneth? It is God that justifies. God's
justified me. He was offered up for our offenses
and raised again because of our justification. Here's the judge
that arose. Here's the judge that was buried
in Canaan. Here's the judge that came forth
out of the grave to set his... And where the spirit of God is,
there is liberty. You see men that are victims
and blaming someone else for their sin, there's no liberty
in that. There's no freedom in that. And men that are always
trying to make up for their sins, there certainly is no liberty
in that. But they that are looking in faith to Christ, there's freedom, there's liberty.
Where the spirit of God is, there is liberty. And the Lord Jesus
said, if I've made you free, you're free indeed. You're free,
free from guilt, free from shame, free from condemnation, free
from the burden of your sin. Christ has taken it. He's put
it away. Here's our Tola. Here's the one
that God has sent to deliver Israel of their sin. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Word
of God, There's no way you and I can comprehend the condescension
that God Almighty made to be born of a woman, to be born under
the law, to be made in the likeness of sinful flesh, for the Word
to be made flesh and dwelt among us. What? What condescension? You know, we're worms by birth. He became one. Paul put it like this, and Timothy
said, and without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God, God was manifested in the
flesh. Oh, here's our hope. We don't
have to hide. We don't have to blame. We have a savior. who successfully saved his people. Oh, there's so much more in there.
I was hoping to get through five verses. You look up these names
and see what they mean, because we're gonna continue this. Tola was the son of Pua, and
Pua's name means splendid. which translated means shining.
Here's the Lord Jesus Christ. The light shined out of darkness
as God shined the light of creation. When he said, let there be light.
So the Lord Jesus Christ is the light of the world who has come
into this world to shine the light of truth in the hearts
of his people in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. What hope
we have. We don't walk in the darkness.
We walk in the light. We walk in the truth. And another word for this name
is not just splendid, but sublime. Now that's a word that's fallen
on little use today. And the reason why it is, because
the word sublime means divine. It means elevated above the earth. You look at something, you say,
that's sublime. That's the hand of God. There's
nothing in creation that we can illustrate that to. You look
at a beautiful sunrise or sunset, and if you think that's sublime,
that's God, that's divine. That's above the natural world. It's the hand of God. Here's
the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, we've, we've changed.
We don't use the word splendid or sublime anymore. Now we have
awesome and cool, you know, but, but these are the words that
this is, this is what these names mean. And we've, we've brought
things down to our level, haven't we? God commanded the light to shine
out of darkness and shine in our hearts. Here's, here's Pua. The son of Dodo. These are strange
names to us, but they have meaning. Dodo translated means beloved.
Beloved. This is my beloved son in whom
I'm well pleased. And we are accepted in the beloved
because of the accomplished work of the beloved. And we are beloved
in Christ before God almighty. The Lord has given us his gospel
over and over and over again in his word, hasn't he? How glorious
it is when we're, we're, we're not just saying, well, you know,
these are just some insignificant Bible characters. Oh no, they're
not insignificant at all. Every single one of them points
us to Christ. Our life, the deliverer, the
savior of Israel. our hope, and our Lord. Our Heavenly Father, thank you
for your word. Lord, we pray that your Holy
Spirit would cause us to remember the things that we've heard and
the things that you've spoken, and that we would labor to enter
in to your rest. We ask it in Christ's name, amen. 290, let's stand together, number
290. Be still, my soul, the Lord is
on thy side. Bear patiently the cross of grief
or pain. Leave to thy God to order and
provide. In every change, ye faithful
will remain. Be still, my soul, thy best,
thy heav'nly friend. Through thorny ways, leads to
a joyful end. Be still, my soul, thy God doth
undertake To guide the future as He has the past Thy hope,
thy confidence, let nothing shake. All now mysterious shall be bright
at last. Be still, my soul, the waves
and winds still know. His voice who ruled them while
He dwelt below. Be still, my soul, the hour is
hasting on. when we shall be forever with
the Lord. When disappointment, grief, and
fear are gone, sorrows for God Love's purest joys restored. Be still, my soul, when change
and tears are past. All safe and blessed we shall
meet at last.