so so Good evening. Thank you, Joy. Let's open tonight's service
with hymn number 18 from your Spiral hymn book, number 18,
The Bible is a Book of Christ. Let's all stand together. God gave his holy inspired word
for only one great end, the prophets and apostles to reveal the sinner's
friend. The Bible is a book of Christ,
it only speaks of Him. On every page it shows us Christ,
it only speaks of Him. The prophecies of old record
God's wondrous mighty deeds. Those deeds of power and of grace
set forth a woman's seed. The Bible is a book of Christ,
it only speaks of Him. On every page it shows us Christ,
it only speaks of Him. The prophets all reveal our Lord
as prophet, priest, and king. The types the great redemption
show, Christ's blood and grace now bring. The Bible is a book
of Christ, it only speaks of Him. ? On every page it shows
us Christ ? ? It only speaks of Him ? ? Behold the Lamb, the
Baptist said ? ? The sin-atoning One ? ? As it was promised long
ago ? ? God's Son as man has come ? The Bible is a book of
Christ, it only speaks of Him. On every page it shows us Christ,
it only speaks of Him. Our substitute obeyed the law,
then died and rose again. And in his word our Savior said,
Rejoice, I come again. The Bible is a book of Christ,
it only speaks of Him. On every page it shows us Christ,
it only speaks of Him. Please be seated. Good evening. We're going to
read from 1 Corinthians chapter 2. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. I remember when the Lord first
taught me what we just sang. I had spent many years studying
the Bible, not believing what we just sang. I thought it was
about a lot of things. And when the Lord shows you that
his word has one message. It's a great revelation. And
your whole Bible gets rewritten, doesn't it? It's good that we
sang that hymn because the passage I want to read from tonight reinforces
what we just sang. First Corinthians chapter two,
and I brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency
of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. Now, I may have learned this
verse from a bad translation because I know that I've quoted
it here, and instead of using the word determined, I've used
the word professed. If I ever do that again, someone
correct me. The Apostle Paul obviously knew
a lot of things about a lot of things. But when it came to preaching,
he determined he determined that those things were important.
That he was preaching as a dying man to dying men. He was preaching
to sinners who needed a savior. And why waste their time or his
with anything else? And so he's telling us here,
I determined. Oh, I could have talked to you
about a lot of things. He probably could have been very eloquent
on many, many subjects. but he determined that the only
thing of profit, the only thing that was needful, the only thing
that was of any benefit was to preach Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness
and in fear and in much trembling, and my speech and my preaching
was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration
of the spirit and of power that your faith should not stand in
the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Some of you all know that Fred
Newman had to go to the hospital last week with some chest pains. Mary Jane took him back yesterday,
last night, and he's having a catheter tomorrow at two o'clock, a heart
cath, to see if he needs some stents. I want to pray for Fred. And Caleb and Bobby are leaving
tomorrow to go up to Pennsylvania to preach for the group up there
Saturday and Sunday. So we'll certainly be thinking
of you, Caleb, and praying for you. Let's pray together. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
Keep us faithful to preach Christ and Him crucified. Cause us, Lord, to find Him on
every page of Thy Word. Lord, guard our hearts against
wasting so much time in so many things that are unnecessary and
unprofitable. We need Christ. We need to know
Him better. We need more of your grace and
we need greater faith. And Lord, we need a clearer understanding
and we need a deeper love. And Lord, we know that all those
things come in the person of thy dear son. And we pray that
you'd be pleased to reveal him in our hearts through thy word,
by your spirit. We pray for Fred and we ask,
Lord, that you would be with the doctors and nurses that minister
to him and that you would give them skillful hands and, Lord,
that you would provide for him good treatment and healing and
pray for him and Mary Jane that you would speak peace to their
hearts in the midst of this trial. Lord, we pray for Caleb and we
ask, Lord, that you would Just give him clarity of thought and
expression as he preaches Christ and him crucified. And for the
brethren there in Pennsylvania and for the unbelievers that
may come, Lord, we pray that you would be pleased to have
grace and mercy upon them. We ask it in Christ's name, amen. number 168 in the hardback timbrel. Let's all stand together. 168.
? Lord, I hear of showers of blessing
? ? Thou art scattering full and free ? ? Showers the thirsty
land refreshing ? ? Let some drops now fall on me ? ? Even
me, even me ? ? Let Thy blessing fall on me ? Pass me not, O tender
Saviour, let me love and cling to Thee. I am longing for Thy
favor, whilst Thou art calling, O call me. ? Even me, even me
? ? Let thy blessing fall on me ? ? Pass me not, O mighty
spirit ? ? Thou canst make the blind to see ? ? Witnesser of
Jesus' merit ? ? Speak the word of power to me ? Even me, even
me, let thy blessing fall on me. Love of God so pure and changeless,
blood of Christ so rich and free. Grace of God so strong and boundless,
magnify them all in me. Even me, even me, let thy blessing
fall on me. ? Pass me not thy lost one bringing
? ? Bind my heart, O Lord, to thee ? ? While the streams of
life are springing ? ? Blessing others, O bless me ? Even me,
even me, let thy blessing fall on me. Please be seated. Will you open your Bibles with
me to Acts chapter 17. Acts chapter 17. We're going to continue thinking
and talking about Christ being all and being in all. Notice in verse 3 that the Apostle
Paul, when he got to Thessalonica, opened the scriptures, laid them
side by side. That's what that word alleging
means. He laid the Word of God side
by side, that Christ must needs have suffered. This was the purpose
of God from the very beginning that the Lord Jesus Christ had
to suffer in order to satisfy God's justice and in order to
save sinners. Christ's must needs have suffered
and risen again from the dead, and that this Jesus whom I preach
unto you is Christ. I've titled this message, Christ,
the God-Man Mediator. All the errors that have ever
crept into the Church have happened as a misunderstanding of the
nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. Men will take passages of Scripture
that clearly declare His full deity, and they will deny His
humanity. or they will take passages that
exalt His humanity as the Son of Man and deny His deity. The truth is that the Lord Jesus
Christ is fully God, and He's fully man, and there are passages
that declare His deity, and there are passages that declare His
humanity. And the term Christ, by definition,
is the God-man. That's the Messiah, the anointed
one, the promised one that was to come and save all of Israel,
that is who the Lord Jesus Christ is and that is who he is declared
to be in the scriptures. Conversely, to the heresies that
have crept into the church because of the misunderstanding of the
nature of Christ, a proper understanding of his nature brings with it
all the blessings of God, the forgiveness of sin. righteousness,
redemption, sanctification, wisdom, peace, and joy, and all the glorious
blessings that God has for his people are all in Christ Jesus. And all the promises of God are
yea and amen in Christ Jesus. And so the Lord would have us You know, I can remember thinking,
well, you know, we've got, we've got the Christ thing down. Let's,
you know, let's move on to something bigger and better. And, oh, what,
what, how, how blasphemous that was to even think that way, that
there is nothing, there's nothing greater. And, how glorious He
is, and how full He is, and how much we have to learn about Him. What I meant by that statement
is what you've experienced in inviting your friends to come
to church, and they say, well, what's the meeting about? Well,
we preach Christ. Well, yeah, and what do they
say? Well, yeah, I know that, but what else? and thinking that
we could move beyond the Lord Jesus Christ only detracted from
his glory and only showed our ignorance of who he was and who
he is. Paul said, we preach Christ who
must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead and
that this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ. He is the mediator, the God-man,
the man who stands between sinners and God and reconciles us to
God. He is the Messiah. He is the
anointed one. He is the promised one from the
very beginning, the one that would come to save all of Israel. Turn with me to Romans chapter
nine, Romans chapter nine. Look at verse one. I say the
truth in Christ, I lie not. My conscience also bearing me
witness in the Holy Ghost that I have great heaviness and continual
sorrow in my heart, for I could wish that myself were accursed
from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the
flesh. And Paul is is expressing his great desire for his Jewish
brethren to know Christ. Verse four, who are Israelites,
to whom pertaineth the adoption and the glory and the covenants
and the giving of the law and the service of God and the promises.
You got what profit is it? What benefit is it to be a Jew?
He asked in another place and much in every way for they have
the oracles of God. Now all the promises of God were
given to Israel. Look at verse five, whose are
the fathers and of whom as concerning the flesh, Christ came who is
over all God and blessed forever, amen. So what the Lord is telling
us here is that the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world through
the nation of Israel. He is the promised Messiah. He is the savior of all of Israel. Turn over just another page to
Romans chapter 11 and look at verse 26. Verse 26, and so all Israel shall
be saved. As it is written, there shall
come out of Zion the deliverer and shall turn away ungodliness
from Jacob. Oh, here's the one that we've
been waiting for. Here's the one that all of Israel
has longed to know. This is the one that we have
found the Christ. Not what Philip said to Nathaniel,
what good thing can come out of Galilee? Come, come and see. And so this is the one that was
promised. as the Savior. This is the one
that is the fullness of God and yet made in the likeness of sinful
flesh in order to fulfill all of the promises and requirements
of the Christ, which is to save all Israel. All Israel be saved. Turn back with me to Daniel chapter
9. Daniel chapter 9. Now Daniel wrote from Babylon and he was the chief
of all the religious men of Babylon and so he would have obviously
shared these prophecies with them And we know that when the
Magi came from the East, they would have come from the place
where Daniel had lived and prophesied. Look at verse 24 of Daniel chapter
9. 70 weeks are determined upon thy
people and upon thy holy city. Now in this prophecy, this is
prophetic language, a week of seven days is actually seven
years. So 70 weeks is 490 years. And now he's going to tell us
what's going to happen in these 70 weeks. to finish the transgression,
to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity,
to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up the vision and prophecy,
and to anoint the most holy. This is what's going to be accomplished.
What else do we need? What else do we need than to
make an end of sin, to bring in a perfect righteousness, by
the anointed one of Israel. Look at verse 25. Know therefore
and understand that from the going forth of the commandment
to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah, the prince
shall be seven weeks. Now that's 49 years, which is
how long it took for the temple to be rebuilt from the time that
the decree was given by Darius and Ezra and Nehemiah came and
began rebuilding the temple, 49 years. So these prophecies
were fulfilled. But here's the point of it. It's
not the interest in the details of the prophecy, it's the purpose
of the prophecy. The purpose of the prophecy is
to show that this is going to culminate in the coming of the
Messiah. So the temple is going to be
rebuilt in 49 years. And then, and then look, in the, unto the Messiah, the Prince
shall be seven weeks and three score and two weeks. That's 62
weeks, which is 434 years. And the streets shall be built
again and the walls even in troublous times. And after three score
and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off. And that's exactly how
long it was between the building of the temple and the cross. And the Lord has given these
prophecies in order to be very specific about when the Lord
Jesus was going to come and what he was going to do. But not for
himself. And the people of the prince
that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, and
the end thereof shall be with a flood unto the end of the war,
desolation and are determined. Now this is the
Jewish Roman war that began in 63 AD and was finished in 70
AD. How many years is that? Seven
years, which is one week. Look at the next verse. And it
shall confirm the covenant with many for one week. And in the
midst of the week, he shall cause the sanctuary and the oblation
to cease. And for the overspreading of
the abomination, he shall make it desolate, even unto the consummation. And that determined shall be
poured upon the desolate." And that happened in 70 AD, and there's
never been a sacrifice made since. What is the point of all of it?
That it's the coming of the Messiah. What's He going to do? He's going
to finish transgression. He's going to make an end of
sin. He's going to reconcile our iniquity. He's going to bring
in an everlasting righteousness and seal up the vision. He's
going to be the anointing of the Holy One. He's going to fulfill
all prophecy in the saving of all of Israel. It's all about
Him. Turn with me to Psalm 89. Psalm
89. Look with me at verse 18. For the Lord is our defense,
and the Holy One of Israel is our King. Then thou spakest in
vision to thy holy one and saideth, I have laid help upon one that
is mighty. I have exalted one chosen out
of the people. I have found David my servant
with my holy oil, have I anointed him. The Lord Jesus Christ, the
anointed one, the Messiah, the God-man mediator, The one who
was anointed, as the scripture says, with the oil of gladness
above his fellows. He came in the full power of
the spirit of God in order to accomplish the salvation of his
people. It really is all about him, isn't it? This Jesus that
I preach unto you, he is the Christ. He is the promised one. He is the savior of sinners. In the beginning, John 1-1 was
the Word, the Logos, the very essence and expression of God
Almighty. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. There's the
deity of Christ. And all things were made by him
and nothing that was made was made without him. He's the creator
and sustainer of all of the universe. He's God. He's the fullness of
the Godhead bodily. And then he goes on to say. And he was made flesh. And dwelt among us and we beheld
his glory as the glory of the only begotten of the father,
full of grace and full of truth. This is the Christ. Fully God
and fully man. God Almighty himself spoke audibly
from heaven to the disciples and to you and I and said, this
is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. Hear ye him, he's
the Christ. Philippians chapter 2 verse 6
says, who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to
be equal with God. He did not consider himself to
be a blasphemer by claiming equality with God. He thought it not robbery
to be equal with God, but he made of himself no reputation
and he became a servant. You see, there's his deity and
his humanity. And the two together make him
the successful savior of sinners, make him the Christ, the Messiah,
the anointed one. Turn to me to Hebrews chapter
one. This is who he is. We cannot separate his deity
from his humanity, because the two together make him to be the
Christ. And without one, he could not
be the Christ, without either one. He had to be holy, harmless,
sinless, perfect, higher than the heavens. in order to satisfy
the holiness of God and the justice of God. And then he had to be
made in the likeness of sinful flesh in order to bear in his
body our sins and suffer as a man, the wrath of God to put our sins
away. This is the promised Messiah.
This is what all Israel waited for. Look at Hebrews chapter one,
God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times
past unto our fathers by the prophets hath in these last days. in these last days, spoken unto
us by his son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also
he made the worlds, who being the brightness of his glory and
the express image of his person and upholds all things by the
word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat
down at the right hand of the majesty on high. So he's the
full brightness and the glory of God. And yet, as a man, as
the God-man, bearing in his body our sins on Calvary's cross,
and now as the Christ, as the Christ seated at the right hand
of the majesty on high. That's what he goes on to say,
look at verse four, being made so much better than the angels
as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. Oh, he's the first begotten,
that's his humanity. God can't be begotten, can he? God's eternal. In His deity,
the Lord Jesus Christ is eternal. But you see, we can't separate
His deity from His humanity. How oftentimes we read of Him
as the Son of God, and then another place we read of Him as the Son
of Man. He's the God-Man mediator. That's the definition of Christ.
That's the only, that's the qualification. That's what he had to be in order
to succeed as the Christ, in order to mediate for us. He had
to be fully God and fully man. And that's exactly who he is.
And the scriptures over and over and over declare him to be so. And we find ourselves in his
presence and we find ourselves in perfect righteousness and
we, in the presence of perfect righteousness and we come to
this conclusion, we have no righteousness of our own. We're completely
dependent upon him for all our righteousness. Turn me to Colossians
chapter two. Colossians chapter two. You familiar
with this passage? Look at verse, look at verse
eight. Beware, God's speaking to you
and me and he's saying, beware, lest any man spoil you through
philosophy and vain deceit after the traditions of men and after
the rudiments of the world and not after Christ. Oh, preachers
are good at that, aren't they? A priest craft is practiced in
every religion. It's practiced in the most conservative
reformed circles, priestcraft. You've got to come to the preacher
in order to be able to understand these things. And you really
never do understand him like he does, so you have to have
him to... Oh, don't let that happen. The
simplicity of the gospel is found in the Lord Jesus, the God-man
mediator, who himself is the Christ, fully God and fully man. For in him, now here's his deity,
for in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead, and here's his
humanity bodily. the fact that he's fully God
and fully man makes him the mediator, the Messiah, the Christ. The one that all Israel Anyone
with any knowledge of God's word, this Bible is a book of Christ. It really is. For in him dwelleth
the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And look at verse 10. And you
are complete in him, which is the head of all principality
and power. You have complete righteousness
in the Lord Jesus Christ. You say, but I have so much sin
in my life. Yeah, and just like he is fully
God and fully man, so are we, in that we have a new nature,
which is made in his likeness, and we have our old man. It's the two natures of the believer. We have perfect completeness in
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the Alpha as the Son of
God. He's the Alpha and the Omega,
the beginning and the end. As the Son of God, in the fullness
of his deity, he purposed our salvation. in the covenant of
grace before time ever began. And he became our surety before
the Father as the God-man, as the Christ. He's the blessed and only potentate. 1 Timothy 6, verse 15. And Revelation 17, verse 14. He is the King of all kings and
Lord of all lords. He's God. He's God. He's the brightness of His Father's
glory. He's the creator and sustainer
of all of life and all that was made was made by Him and for
Him and for Him. He was that light that came forth. He's the Emmanuel, God Almighty
with us. He is eternal life, because he
himself is eternal. He's the glorious, self-sufficient
I Am. He's the self-existent, glorious
I Am. Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6, the
scripture refers to the Lord Jesus as our everlasting Father. He's the second person of the
triune Godhead, the Son of God. He's the heir of all things. He is immutable. He's the one
who said, I am the Lord and I change not. And therefore you sons of
Jacob are not consumed. He's the King, eternal, immortal,
invisible, only wise God. Jehovah said, can you, the Lord,
our righteousness. How much of God's word declares
the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then he's the son of man.
He's the son of man. The Word became flesh and dwelt
among us. He's God's perfect man, tempted
in all ways that we are, yet without sin. He's the babe in
the manger. He's the one who said, a body
thou hast prepared for me. God Almighty prepared a body,
the body of a man. He hungered, he thirsted, he
tired, he slept. He had a body just like you and
I have. Born of a woman, born under the
law to redeem them who were cursed by the law. He grew in the stature
with God and man. How can that be? How can God
Almighty be a babe in a manger and dependent upon his mother
for his very sustenance? How can God grow in stature and
with man? Well, he's speaking of his humanity. He suffered in the body of a
man as he bore our sins in that body, the full wrath of God's
holy justice. He died. The Christ died, was
buried, rose again according to the scriptures. Scripture refers to the Lord
Jesus Christ as the last Adam. He reversed everything that happened
in the garden and then added God's glorious blessings to give
his people so much more than anything that Adam ever knew
in the garden. He's the seed of Abraham. He's
the seed of David. He's the seed of the woman. You
see, these are all speaking of his humanity. Hebrews chapter 2 verse 11 says
that he that sanctifyeth, that's the Lord Jesus Christ, and they
that are sanctified, that's his church, are all as one, wherefore
he's not ashamed to call them his brethren. As the Christ, as the God-man,
mediator, he calls us his brothers. He calls the church his bride. He calls us his friends. He said,
I no longer do I call you my servants for a servant knoweth
not what his master does, but I call you friends. I've told
you what I'm doing. What am I doing? I'm fulfilling
as the God-man mediator. I'm fulfilling the role of the
Christ, the promised Messiah to save all of Israel and to
fulfill everything that I promised to my father. That's who he is. Paul said, this Jesus that I
preach unto you, he is the Christ. He is the Christ. He's the son
of man and he's the son of God. He's our advocate with the father,
Jesus Christ, the righteous one. We have a man in the heavens
seated at the right hand of the majesty on high. The God-man. Scriptures refer to the Lord
Jesus Christ as the Ancient of Days. That's who He purposed
to be, the Ancient of Days, to fulfill as the Christ. The saving
of His people. He's the Bridegroom. He's the
Bread of Life. These are all references to the
Lord Jesus Christ as the Christ, the sin bearer, our substitute,
our surety, the first begotten from the dead, our redeemer,
the great shepherd of his sheep, the prince of peace, the anointed
one of his father. The author and the finisher of
our faith. Of faith. Actually, I just misquoted
that verse when the scripture says he is the author and the
finisher of faith. Of faith. He's the faithful one. He's the obedient and faithful
son of his father who authored faith and finished faith. And
it's His faithfulness that stands in our stead before God as our
justification before God Almighty. And then He gives us, oh, just
a small measure of that faith that we might rest our hope on
Him as the God-man, the Christ. Scripture calls Him the branch.
He's that That root of Jesse that springs forth into new life. The bright and the morning star. God has made a circuit for the
sun that rises in the morning and the whole earth sees him.
That's who he is. This Jesus, he's the Christ.
It's all about him. What he did, he came to do for
his people. What he did, he did as the Christ,
the God-man, the captain of our salvation, the consolation of
Israel. That word means the comfort of
Israel, the peace of Israel, the rest of Israel. He's our prophet. All that is
declared in God's Word has come to his church through the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's our priest, he's our mediator,
he offers himself as the sacrifice for sin to his Father. And he's
our king. He's the lawgiver and he's the
law fulfiller. Why would we preach anything
else? Why would we need to go anywhere else? You know, why would we want to
preach history or moralisms or give men something to look to
other than Christ? And yet, that's what most preaching
is. Most preaching is designed to get you to look to yourself
and see if you can do a little better. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
hiding place. He's that city of refuge. Oh,
we hide in him. And if we're found in him, we
have his righteousness. He's the resurrection and the
life, the firstborn among many brethren. God raised him from
the dead according to the scriptures. Why? Because he had fulfilled
all that he came to do As the God-man, as the mediator, as
the Christ, as the anointed one, as the Messiah, he actually accomplished
the salvation of his people. And God raised him from the dead. He said, I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No man can come to the Father
but by me. As the Christ, he's the Prince
of Peace. He's the rock. He's the rock, that rock that
followed the children of Israel through the desert. He was the
rock that was smitten by the rod of Moses' law, from which
flows the rivers of living water. Oh, what a rock he is. Now a
rock, as scripture says, is higher than their rock. He's the redeemer. The Redeemer. He's not trying to redeem. He's
not offering redemption. He is actually the Redeemer. He actually redeemed. He actually
purchased his people with the price of his own precious blood. He bought them. And so when the
Lord causes us to see him for who he is, we come to realize
that we're not our own. We've been bought with a price. He's the shepherd of the sheep. David said, the Lord, the Lord
is my shepherd. I shall not be in need of anything.
He provides it all. All that God requires of me,
he looks to Christ for. Why would I look anywhere else
other than where God looks? And yet most preaching is designed
to get you to look away from Christ to find something else
that you might be able to offer up to God. No. That's why the
scripture says that Christ is all and he's in all. He's all
our righteousness. He's all our wisdom. He's all
our redemption. He's all of our sanctification.
He's the tree of life. John saw him on both sides of
the river. Way in the book of Revelation,
we're on one side of the river now. He's the tree of life. One
day we're going to cross that river, Jordan, and then we're
going to find the tree just on the other side. The same as to
this side. The fruits of that tree. The
leaves are for the healing of the nations and the fruit is.
Oh, that's that's Christ. He's that tree. He's the tree
of life that was in the garden that Adam had to be guarded against,
had to be put out. See, Adam had to die for that
sin, for his sin. And God had to redeem him with
the shedding of blood in the garden. He's the temple made
without hands. He's that tabernacle. Oh, everything
in that tabernacle is about Christ, isn't it? From the single door
to the badger skin. The badger skin is a picture
of his humanity. The Shittim wood is a picture
of his humanity. The gold is a picture of his
deity. And everything in there pointed to him until he got into
the holies of holies where the mercy seat was. And Paul says
in Hebrews, he said, Oh, I've got so much to say to you about
that, but time does not allow so much. Under the shadow of
his wings, that blood was put. And God said, here, I will meet
with you. You see, it's really all about him, isn't it? Lord, show us more of Christ.
Show us more of His glory. You and I get so bound up in
our own little world and our own selves and our own little
problems, and we've got the God-man, the one who is the fullness of
God and the one who became a man, who is our Christ. Our Mediator,
our Messiah, standing in our stead before God Almighty, advocating
for us, presenting Himself for our righteousness. Why would
we fear? And He did it all out of love.
Love for His Father, love for His Bride. And perfect love casteth
out fear, doesn't it? You know, fear is a very powerful
motivator, isn't it? Most preaching is based on fear.
Do this and you'll live. There's only one motivator that's
more powerful than fear. Love. Perfect love. Casteth out fear. It's the love of Christ that
constraineth us, isn't it? It's His love that keeps us coming
back again and again and again, confessing to Him our sin and
our thanksgiving and our need for His grace and for His glory. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
wisdom of God. So that when the Lord says you
lack wisdom, ask it of God. He giveth to all men liberally,
and upbraideth it not. But ask in faith, nothing wavering. Ask believing that it's... You look to Christ in asking
for that wisdom. If you think you're going to
bring something along with Christ to get God's favor, let that
man think that he should receive anything from the Lord. For he's
double-minded and unstable in all of his ways. Why? Because Christ is everything.
He's everything. He is our sanctification, our
holiness before God, all our sanctification. God has made
him to be so. Turn back with me to our text
and we'll look at this last verse quickly. This is what Paul was talking
about when he said, I did not come to you with enticing words
and the wisdom of man. I did not come to you to tickle
your ears. Well, he warns Timothy, he says,
in the latter days, men are going to come, you know, they're going
to gather to themselves teachers that are going to tickle their
ears and boost their ego. They're not just going to preach
the simplicity of Christ. I came to you determined not
to know anything among you save Christ and Him crucified. Why
waste our time doing anything else? You have your Bibles open
to Acts chapter 17. Look at Look at verse 4, and some of
them believed and consorted with Paul and Silas. They cast in
their lot with Paul and Silas. They believed what they were
declaring, that this Jesus is the God-man mediator, the Christ
of God, the one who actually successfully saved all his people
on Calvary's cross. They believed what they heard. They believed God. They believed
God. You know, I've made this statement
before. If a person really truly believes that Jesus Christ is
God, And all that that implies, that he is the God-man, that
he is the Christ, they're a believer. And I will say this, if a person
truly believes this book, they're a believer. That's what faith is. Faith is
saying, amen. Amen. God said it. Look how simple this is. And
some of them believed. What did they believe? They believed
that Jesus was the Christ. They believed as Paul laid scripture
on top of scripture, just as we've tried to do tonight. that
God was true and faithful to his word, and that this Jesus
is the Christ, and that he died and was buried and rose again
and ascended into glory, and is seated at the right hand of
majesty on high, that he's our prophet, he's our priest, and
he's our king, and he did it all according to the scriptures.
He's the Christ. How can we not believe that?
We just believe. and of the devout Greeks, a great
multitude, and of the chief women, not a few. But the Jews, which
believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows
of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city
on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to
bring them out to the people. And when they found them not,
they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city,
crying, these that have turned the world upside down are come
hither also." You see, this message turns the
world upside down. Men by nature are unbelievers. Men by nature are self-righteous. And this gospel turns everything
right side up. The world is upside down. It's
the same thing the apostles were accused of by the Sanhedrin in
Jerusalem right after the day of Pentecost. They're causing
trouble in the city. Why did the Jews not believe?
For the same reason the Lord said, it's hard for a rich man
to enter into the kingdom of God. And he wasn't talking about
material wealth. He said, it's easier for a camel
to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to
enter into the kingdom of God. What was he talking about? He's
talking about the riches of man's own self-righteousness. It's
impossible to come to God with any righteousness whatsoever
outside of Christ. Impossible. The Lord Jesus Christ
is going to be all your righteousness. But they couldn't come that way.
Why? Because they were holding on. They were zealous for the law, and they
were looking to their law keeping for the hope of their salvation. To say that Jesus is the Christ,
man by nature sets himself up on the throne of God. Christ
takes him down, doesn't he? If you believe that Jesus is
the Christ, then you just bow to him. Our Heavenly Father, bless your
word. Exalt Christ in our hearts. Be glorified for his namesake. Amen. 125, let's stand together. I hear the Savior say, Thy strength
indeed is small, Child of weakness, watch and pray, Find in me thine
all in all. Jesus paid it all, all to Him
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow. Lord, now indeed I find thy power
and thine alone can change the leper's spots and melt the heart
of stone. Jesus paid it all, all to Him
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow. For nothing good have I whereby
thy grace to claim. I'll wash my garments white in
the blood of Calvary's Lamb. Jesus paid it all, all to Him
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow. And when before the throne I
stand in Him complete, Jesus died my soul to save, My lips
shall still repeat, Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.