I told our folks Wednesday night
one of the benefits of the mask is some of you guys look better
with them on. So, uh, I think we're spaced out well
enough. If you need to pull it down, we're okay with that. Let me read a passage from Isaiah
chapter 40. O Zion that bringeth good tidings,
get thee up to the high mountains, O Jerusalem that bringeth good
tidings. Lift up thy voice with strength,
lift it up. Be not afraid. Say unto the cities
of Judah, behold your God. Behold, the Lord God will come. with strong hand and his arms
shall rule for him, behold, his reward is with him and his work
before him." The Lord Jesus Christ is the only one that was able
to send his works ahead of himself to recommend him to God. The
only one that could do it. And when he did, he became The
work sent before us. Man in his pride believes that
he can do something to recommend himself to God. The Lord Jesus
Christ is the only one that did that. Our works cannot go before
us. His work went before him and
he goes before us. And verse 11 says, and he shall
feed his flock like a shepherd and shall gather the lambs with
his arm and carry them in his bosom and shall gently lead them
that are with young. How we hope for the fulfillment
of that promise today. Let's stand together. Tom, you're
going to come lead us in the hymn on the back of your bulletin. With harps and with viols there
stands a great throng in the presence of Jesus and sings this
new song. To Him who hath loved us and
washed us from sin, unto Him be the glory forever. Amen. All these once were sinners,
defiled in His sight, Now, upbraid in pure garments, their voices
unite. To Him who hath loved us and
washed us from sin, unto Him be the glory forever. Amen. He maketh a rebel, a priest,
and a king. He hath bought us and taught
us this new song to sing. To him who hath loved us and
washed us from sin, unto him be the glory forever. Amen. How helpless and hopeless
we sinners had been If He had not loved us and washed us from
sin! To Him who hath loved us and
washed us from sin Unto Him be the glory Forever, amen. ? Aloud in his praises our voices
shall ring ? So that others believing this new song shall sing ? To
him who hath loved us and washed us from sin ? Unto him be the
glory forever Please be seated. I pray that the Lord will put
in my mouth what to be said. Would you please turn with me
in God's call to worship to 2 Samuel. 2nd Samuel chapter 9 For the last probably 45 years
I've heard a lot of men and one of them being my father regularly
telling me he says Michael if you ever get a chance He said
there's a sermon in Samuel preached by Henry Mahan Called fetching
grace. He said you need to listen to
it He said it's one of the best I ever heard I've heard that
from several people. When I read this and I listened
to Henry's message, what a beautiful picture this is of God the Father,
of Christ the Son, of God the Spirit, of the enemies of God, and the
chosen God in Mephibosheth. And I pray that you would indulge
me to read this and share with you some I'm scared to do this,
but some of the comments Henry made were such a blessing. Forgive
me, but I'd like to share them with you because they blessed
my heart. Verse one. And David said, is there yet
any that is left of the house of Saul? Saul was his enemy. That I may show him kindness
for Jonathan's sake. And there was of the house of
Saul a servant whose name was Ziba. And when they had called
him unto David, the king said unto him, art thou Ziba? And
he said, thy servant is he. This is where I pray you'll bear
with me. And the king said, this is who's
speaking, the king, the sovereign ruler, the one with all power
and authority, the one whom the people are in his hands and he
has a right to do with them whatever he wants. The kings whose command
will be come to pass. This is a picture of God the
Father. The king said, is there not yet any of the house of Saul,
my enemies? Now it was the custom in those
days when two kings warred that they killed the opposing king
and every one of their descendants to fear rebellion. Saul was his
enemy. I'm sure the people said, uh-oh,
David's looking for any of the house of Saul because he's going
to kill whatever's left. But look what he says, that I
may show the kindness of God unto him. Now in the Hebrew,
that word kindness is mercy. The king has determined before
he even knows if there's any in the house of Saul, that I'm
going to show mercy. They deserve to be killed, but
I'm going to show mercy. and sovereign mercy. It's the
king's mercy. He gives it to whom he wants
when he wants. And Ziba said unto the king,
Jonathan, Saul's son, has yet a son which is lame on his feet. That's Mephibosheth. And I thought Henry brought up
a great point. How is it that Mephibosheth became lame? Do
you remember? He became lame from what? A fall. Brothers and sisters, I became
lame from a fall. When Adam fell, I became lame
and could do nothing for myself. That's this man. He can do nothing.
He is totally dependent on others for all of his existence. That's
Mephibosheth. And the king said unto him, said
to Ziba, Ziba's a picture of God's spirit and our Ziba, the
gospel preacher, where is he? And Ziba said unto the king,
behold, he is in the house of Makar, the son of Amul in Lodibar,
which means no pastor. He's in a place where there's
no bread, no gospel. And then the king David sent,
then the king David sent, he sent out Zeiba and fetched him. Fetched him. He sent the servant
to go get him out of the house. That's what the Lord God does
with us. In a minute, our Zeiba is going to declare the gospel.
And by God's Spirit, he's going to go out and fetch. Fetch his
people and bring them back to the king. Now, bear with me. I thought the Lord shared something
with me and I hope it's true. I always struggled with the verse
when the Lord says no man can come to me except the father
which has sent me draw or drag him. In my pea brain up here,
I always pictured a little kid. You know how a little kid is
in a store and doesn't want to leave? You're literally dragging
him along, kicking and screaming. That didn't match because that's
not what the Lord does. The Lord come and I didn't kick
and scream. He made me willing. And I came
willingly, I wasn't kicking and screaming, so what this drag
me? And I was reading this and I thought, you know, the Lord
didn't drag me because I was kicking and screaming. The Lord
had to drag me because I was lame. I couldn't come. And now when Mephibosheth, the
son of Jonathan, the grandson of Saul, was coming to David,
he fell on his face. and did reverence, and David
said, Mephibosheth, and he answered, behold, thy servant. And David said, I'm sure Mephibosheth
had to be thinking, this is it, my life's over. He's going to
kill me just as sure as the world. And David said unto him, Mephibosheth,
fear not, don't be afraid, for I will surely show thee mercy
for Jonathan, that's a picture of Christ, thy father's sake.
Now a few chapters back it says that Jonathan and David loved
each other. And they had made a covenant,
one with the other, to look after each other and their families.
So much so that when Jonathan heard that his dad Saul was going
to kill David, he went to David and told him so that he could
flee. You see, Jonathan loved, he loved David more than he did
his own father. This is a picture of God the
Father and Christ. They had a covenant. And there's
what he's going to do. Look at verse 7. And will restore
thee all the land of Saul thy father. The king is going to restore
unto Mephibosheth everything that his father had before the
fall. And that's what the Lord Jesus
Christ has done for us. He's restored to us everything
that we had before we fell in Adam. And thou shalt eat bread at my
table continually. And Mephibosheth, he bowed himself
and said, why is that thou, servant, that thou shouldst look upon
such a dead dog's eye? And the king called his eye,
but Saul's servant said unto him, I have given unto thy master's
son all that pertain to Saul and all his house. Thou therefore
thy sons and thy servants till the land for him and thou shall
bring in their fruits that thy master's son may have food to
eat. But Mephibosheth, thy master's son shall eat bread always at
the king's table." Brethren, we've come here this morning
to eat bread at the king's table. This is a beautiful grace where
God the Father has asked, are there any from the household
of my enemies that I might show them mercy for Christ's sake? Mercy. Sovereign mercy. It's God's mercy. We've come here this morning.
I know I have. Lord, I need mercy. I need mercy. And we pray that
the Lord will bless our side as he he pronounces the gospel. And by the power of God's spirit,
it goes out and fetches his people and brings them to the king.
Will you join me in prayer, please? Lord, we confess to you that
we are lame. and agree with you that we can
do nothing for ourselves. That we are totally dependent
on you, Lord, for our existence of all things. And Lord, we are so thankful
and encouraged that you and your sovereign will and good pleasure
have determined to show mercy. Lord, we plead with you this
morning for that mercy. And we know, Lord, that mercy
is in your hands and nowhere else, that we can't bargain for
it. There's nothing we can do to obtain it, but plead with
you. Lord, we're thankful that you've
sent Ziba to us, our brother, that you would give him the power
by your spirit to declare Christ and him crucified. Lord, we pray
for him and Trish, and you pray that you would give us a love
for you and your gospel and your people, but also a love for Greg
and Trish. And we pray that you would keep
them in comfort and encourage them, that you would guide his
speech this very hour. And Lord, I pray for your people,
especially there may be some here this morning, that you might
be pleased to fetch them and bring them to the King. that
you would give us the faith, oh Lord, to believe what is preached. And that when we leave here,
that God has spoken to us and that we would give you all the
glory, amen. Number 239 from the hardback
teminal, 239. you. Art thou weary, art thou languid,
art thou sore distressed? Come to me, saith one, and coming
be at rest. Hath he marks to lead me to him
if he be my guide? In his feet and hands are wound
prints and his sigh. Is there diadem as monarch that
his brow adorns? Yea, a crown in very surety,
but of thorns. If I still hold closely to him,
what hath he at last? Sorrow vanquished, labor ended,
Jordan passed. If I ask Him to receive me, will
He say b'nai? Not till earth and not till heaven
pass away. Finding, following, keeping,
struggling, is he sure to bless? Saints, apostles, prophets, martyrs,
answer yes. Please be seated. Will you open your Bibles with
me to Acts chapter four, Acts chapter four. Peter and John have been taken
into custody by the religious leaders for having preached the
gospel. And they are interrogating them
in an attempt to intimidate them to shut up. And Peter responds to their question
in verse 10, by what authority and by what power do you have
for preaching this? Who gives you the right? You
don't have our stamp of approval. That's what they were saying.
And Peter with great clarity says, be it known unto you all. And all the people of Israel,
by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified,
whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand
before thee saved. That's what the word made whole
there means. It means to be saved. So Peter makes no apology. and no ambiguity about his response
to their question. This is the stone which is set
at not of you builders, which has become the head of the corner.
You rejected this headstone and God made it to be the head of
the corner. This is the, this is the foundation
stone. This is the capstone. This is
the stone on which the church is built. This is the Lord Jesus
himself. When he asked Peter, you remember,
whom do you say that I am? And Peter said, thou art the
Christ, the son of the living God. And what'd the Lord say
to Peter? Oh, Peter, you've been blessed
to my father. You didn't come to that conclusion
on your own. Flesh and blood has not revealed
this unto you, but my father, which is in heaven has made it
known unto you. And upon this rock, I will build my church and the
gates of hell shall not be able to prevail against it. Now the
Lord Jesus was not referring to Peter as the rock. He was
referring to the confession that Peter made about who the Lord
Jesus was. The Christ, the son of the living
God. He's the rock. Now Peter's preaching about that
rock. He's saying there's a rock that's
been rejected by you builders. But God has taken that very stone,
the stone of offense, the rock of offense, and made him to be
the head of the corner, the foundation on which everything is built. Neither is there salvation in
any other, for there is none other name under heaven given
among men whereby we must be saved. Now I know this is the
passage we dealt with last Sunday, but I had to read these verses
in order to. Put the next verse into its context,
and this is where I want to focus our attention this morning. I've
titled this message holy boldness. My hope this morning is that
we will leave this place within the next hour or less. With holy boldness. Now, I hope
to be able to define that. And I hope and pray that the
Lord will settle our hearts with such boldness, with such confidence. That's really what the word means. Now, verse 13, when they saw
when the Pharisees, the Sanhedrin, saw. They saw it. They saw the boldness of Peter
and John. And they perceived that they
were unlearned and ignorant men. You haven't been to our seminaries.
You don't have any degrees. You don't have our stamp of approval.
You're just ignorant men and you're unlearned. You don't have
the proper documents. to give you this authority. Now,
when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived
that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled. And they took knowledge of them
that they had been with Jesus. Where did their boldness come
from? What these Pharisees are saying is, these men are talking
the same way Jesus of Nazareth talked. Isn't that amazing? You know, you've got to hear
in order to be able to talk, don't you? And what you hear
is what you speak. Some folks think I have a southern
accent. I spent 10 years in Alabama.
You want to hear a southern accent, let me go back there for two
days. Two days. And boy, it just comes
right back. You speak what you hear, don't
you? What's the first word that our
children learn? What's the first word out of
their mouth? No. Why? Because it's the word that
they've heard the most often. You speak what you hear. You
speak the language that you hear. You speak the accent that you
hear. You speak the words that you
hear. Now that's what they're saying. They perceived that they
were ignorant and unlearned men, but they marveled in knowing
that they had been with Jesus. These guys are talking the same
way He talked. They're saying the same thing
He said, we were just in Psalm 116 and
one of the verses in Psalm 116 says, I believed, therefore have
I spoken. We speak what we believe. You
wanna know what a man believes, listen to him speak. Out of the
mouth comes the issues of life, isn't it? You reveal your heart
by your words. And I've heard preachers say,
well, I believe in limited atonement, or I believe in election. I believe
in particular redemption. I can't preach that. You don't
believe it if you don't preach it. You don't preach it, you
don't believe it. Now, when I said I hope that
we can leave here with some holy boldness, I hope we can leave
here You know, there's a lot of believers that may not be
able to speak with a lot of information, but when they hear
the truth, they say, amen. That's what I believe. Amen. He just spoke for me. I believe,
therefore, I have spoken. And if we leave here being able
to say, oh, what confidence, what hope. Amen. I believe, therefore, I
have spoken. Let him who has ears to hear,
hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. See, we've got
to have ears to hear. God, give me ears to hear. Unstop
my ears. Cause me, Lord, to hear that
I might be able to speak. the things which I need to believe. You remember when the Lord asked
the Pharisees, what think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? What think ye of Christ? That's
a good question, isn't it? What think ye of Christ? Whose
son is he? And the Pharisee says, well,
he's the son of David. And the Lord said, well, then
if he'd be the son of David, Then how is it that David, speaking
by the Spirit, called him Lord? When he said, the Lord has said
unto my Lord, sit thou here at my right hand until I make thine
enemies thy footstool. Why did David call Jesus Lord
if he's his son? You wouldn't call your son Lord. And the scripture says, no man
was able to answer him a word. Neither did anyone ask him any
more questions from that day forward. Now, what am I saying? The scriptures are our authority.
Whatever God says is what we believe. We believe. Therefore, we have
spoken. What do we believe? We believe
everything that God has said. And boldness is believing what
God has said. That's what these men saw in
Peter, James, and John. They said, they perceived that
they'd been with Jesus. They're talking just like He
talked. They're declaring the scriptures without apology, without
confusion, with clarity, without ambiguity. They're not using
politically correct speech. You know what politically correct
speech is. Politically correct speech is the way to say something
so that everybody can interpret it the way they want to interpret
it. Now, what is it to have boldness? It's to speak in such a way that
there's only one way to understand what's being said. That's what I want, and that's
what I want you to have. You know, we live in a world
that, you know, relativism, you know, whatever you think is right,
you know, everybody decides for themselves what's true and what's
not true. What comfort is there in that?
You know, these pseudo-intellectuals, college students come out of
college thinking, well, you know, I just need to be open-minded.
And they're so open-minded, their brains have fallen out. You know,
they don't believe anything. They don't believe anything.
They've been told, you know, you just need to think outside
the box and you need to think, you know, all these different
opinions and views and everybody has their own idea and nobody
knows anything. What comfort is there in that?
What hope is there in that? What is holy boldness? It's believing
the truth and saying, thus saith the Lord. Thus saith the Lord,
this is why I'm going to hold, this is why I'm going to hang
all the hopes of my salvation on what God has said. They took
notice of them that they had been with Jesus. They're talking
just like Jesus talked. They're using scripture and we
can't defute them. We can't refute them. Look at
the next verse. And beholding the man which was
healed standing with them, verse 14, they could say nothing against
it. They didn't have a defense. I don't want there to be any
confusion about what I say. And I don't want you to have
any confusion about what you believe and who you believe. Because brethren, that's the
only hope we have. This world is floating around on nothing.
And nobody believes anything. That's what boldness is. That's
what it is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Boldness is... It's not brashness. It's not
an attempt to intimidate someone with a strong personality. It's
not being loud and offensive. I mean, we can all be offensive.
I know I can be offensive, but I don't want to add my offense
to the offense of the gospel. The gospel is offensive because
it doesn't leave anybody any options. That's why it's offensive. It's not politically correct.
It's not to be interpreted how you want to interpret it. It
is what it is. And God's people just want to
know what saith the Lord. You know, we don't have to defend
what God says. We're preaching to God's people. Just tell me
what God says. Just say, thus saith the Lord.
Don't, you don't have to, you don't have to explain it. You
don't have to, you don't have to apologize for it. Look at, look at verse, look
at verse eight in Acts chapter 4, Then Peter, filled with the
Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people and elders
of Israel, let me tell you, be it known unto you. You want to
know where we got this authority from? Jesus of Nazareth, whom
you crucified. The stone which you rejected,
God's made the head of the corner. And they were dumbfounded. This
word boldness, I looked it up, you can look it up, it's a conjunction
in the original language. It's a conjunction of two words.
The first word is to speak and the second word is all things. In other words, to be bold means
that you tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but
the truth. It means that you hear the truth,
The whole truth and nothing but the truth. And you say amen. It's interpreted the freedom
of speaking openly, frankly, without concealment and without
ambiguity. We're not trying to cover anything
up. We're not trying to phrase this in such a way that gives
everybody some comfort zone to believe what they want to believe.
You see, that's just the opposite of boldness, and there's no confidence
in that. The Lord said, if you know the
truth, the truth will set you free. You know, the one thing
that's not tolerated in our culture is intolerance, and yet that's
what we are when it comes to the gospel. Now, there's a place for tolerance
when it comes to people and things and cultures and languages and
whatever. But when it comes to the gospel,
we are, you know, what's the big thing? Well, you don't need
to be open-minded. Well, I'm here to tell you I am closed-minded
when it comes to the gospel. God has shut my mind. And He's
revealed to me the truth, and I'm resting everything for time
and eternity on what God has said, and that's all that matters
to me. And I don't care what men think, or what they say,
or what they believe. That's boldness. And it's holy
boldness. And like I said, it's not necessarily
the way in which you speak. It's what you speak. It's what
you believe. It's who you believe. We're not, we're not leaving
the door cracked for anybody to slip in with something other
than Christ. No, there's no place for works
in this gospel. Paul said in Galatians, he said,
brethren, if I yet preach circumcision. Now circumcision illustrates
whatever we put our hand to. The scripture says that we've
been circumcised in the heart by the spirit, not by man's hands. Men's hands perform physical
circumcision and men's hands perform physical works. Paul
says, if I still preach, if I still giving somebody something to
do in order to earn favor with God, then why do I yet suffer
persecution? For then is the offense of the
cross ceased. The cross is offensive because
it doesn't give men anything to do. It doesn't give them any
place to glory. It doesn't give them any hope
outside of Christ, outside of His glorious person and His finished
work. And men won't have that. They
won't have that, but that's what boldness is. You don't have to
be educated for that. You don't have to have the degrees
of the world. You don't have to go to seminary
and be some sort of a Bible scholar. Truth is that most of the children
in this church know infinitely more than the professors that
I had in seminary with multiple PhDs. They know more. They're unlearned and ignorant, yet they perceived. that they
had been with Jesus, where they learned how to talk from what
he said, and they learned what to believe from what he said.
And it didn't matter what anybody else said. Matter of fact, Paul, I mean,
Paul said this about himself. In 1 Corinthians 2, he said,
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 the demonstration of the
spirit and in power." I doubt, well, Paul of his own testimony said,
you're not going to be impressed with the way I talk. You're not
going to be impressed with my delivery. But if what I say is true, the
Spirit of God is going to use that truth to convince you and
to convict you and to convert you. And that's my hope. Boldness
is not how we say it. Boldness is what we say. Boldness
is that unwillingness and, yes, even
inability to compromise the truth. Turn with me to, well, let's
look over just a few verses, Acts chapter 4, verse 29. Look, so they had to release
Peter and James. They couldn't do anything with
them. They perceived their boldness. They couldn't refute them with
scripture. They couldn't deny the fact that
this man had been healed. So they threatened them and they
turned them loose. And where'd they go? They went
right back to be with the believers. And they began to pray. And they
prayed and asked God, Lord, give us boldness. Give us the ability
to not be threatened by their intimidation and to not compromise
the truth of the gospel. And in verse 29, and now Lord
behold their threatenings and grant unto thy servants that
with all boldness they may speak thy word by stretching forth
thy hand to healed that the signs and wonders may be done by the
name of thy holy child. Jesus and when they had prayed. The place was shaken where they
were assembled together and they were all filled with the Holy
Ghost and they spake the Word of God with boldness. Without mixture of error. Without
opinions of men. They just declared what God had
already said. That's what preaching is. Preaching
is just repeating God. It's just, it's just saying thus
saith the Lord. Here's a, and God, that's all
God's people want to hear. Don't waste my time telling me
anything else. Just tell me what God says. That's,
that's where my comfort is. That's where my confidence is.
And this word boldness is the word confidence. Turn, turn to
me to second Corinthians chapter three. Second Corinthians chapter three. Verse 12, seeing then that we
have such hope. You have to go back to see our
hope is in Christ. We have great hope. in knowing
that he has satisfied the demands of God's law, he has put away
the sins of his people by the sacrifice. Seeing then that we
have such great hope, we use great plainness. You can look it up. That word
plainness is the same word translated boldness in Acts 4.13. Seeing then that we have such
great hope, We use great plainness of speech. What is plain speech? Plain speech is speech that can't
be interpreted any other way. Look at Acts 28, verse 31. Verse 30, and Paul dwelt two
whole years in his own hired house. He's in Rome now, waiting
for his execution. And they've given him, they put
him in house arrest, and the church has now provided him a
house, and they rented him a house, and he's staying there. And Paul
dwelt two whole years in his own hired house and received
all that came unto him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching
those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness. Confidence. Confidence. The scripture says we are able
to come before the throne of grace with boldness. Now, if
there's any place where that word boldness doesn't mean cockiness
or doesn't mean, you know, some sort of overpowering personality,
it's in that passage, isn't it? It means confidence, not in ourselves
or anything that we've done. Our confidence is in Christ.
Our confidence is knowing that we have a forerunner. that has
gone before us, and the veil has been rent, which is his flesh,
and that he has put his blood on the mercy seat, and God's
satisfied with what he's done. And the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ is God's declaration that the work is finished, God's
pleased, God's satisfied, and we're confident in what God says
he's pleased with. And so we come before the throne
of grace boldly to find help in our time of need. Turn to me to John chapter 10, John chapter 10. Look at verse 24. Then came the Jews, verse 24,
round about him and said unto him, how long dost thou make
us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us
boldly. That's what the word means. So
we see where it's translated with confidence, plainly, boldly,
it says all the same word. So what they're saying is, tell
us clearly, tell us confidently, tell us boldly, tell us plainly,
if thou be the Christ. And Jesus answered them, I told
you. I've been as clear as a man can
be. I didn't try to hide who I was,
I told you exactly who I was. From the very, outset of his
public ministry. This day, this scripture has
been fulfilled in thy sight. Isaiah chapter 61, when he read
in the synagogue in Nazareth. And then he interpreted it, and
they were filled with wrath. They knew what he was saying.
You see, it's not a matter of them needing more information.
And it's not a matter of you and I needing more information.
That wasn't their problem. Their problem wasn't that they
needed more signs or more information or more evidence. The problem
is that they didn't have faith. Look what the Lord says. I told you and you believed not. There's your problem. You just
didn't believe what I said. What if you didn't understand
what I said? You didn't believe what I said. That's our problem in it, brother.
Oh, we just so much unbelief. You know where our unbelief is
seen most in our lack of prayer. Faith is excuse me. You don't have to worry about
that. I don't think, um, Prayer is the clearest evidence
of faith. It's just, Lord, I've got to, you've got
to help me. And, and we're so, we're so slow
to pray, aren't we? We have not because we ask not. I told you, believe not. The
works that I do in my father's name, they bear witness of me.
You didn't believe what I said. You saw the miracles. These men
could not, we just read it in Acts chapter four. They saw the
man that was healed had been there 40 years, 40 years at the
gate called beautiful, begging for alms. Never stepped, never
walked on his feet since he was born. Everybody knew him. Every time he went to the temple,
there was old crippled so-and-so sitting there at the gate called
Beautiful, begging for alms. And now, he's standing as if
he'd never had a problem. He's leaping and rejoicing. You see, people don't need more
evidence. You don't need more evidence.
You don't need more information. What we need is faith. And that's
the gift of God. What we need is to be born again.
What we need is for God to invade our space and make himself known
to and cause us. Well, without faith, it's impossible
to please God. They that come to him must believe
that he is and that he's the rewarder of them. That you don't
believe because you don't, you don't, you don't know that I'm
the Christ because you don't believe what I've said. You don't
believe what you've seen. But look at verse 26, but you believe
not because you are not my sheep. Now, our Lord didn't speak in
code. He's not, he's not making something,
you know, hard to understand here. I hear religious people
say, well, you know, election and, uh, particular redemption
and, and, and irresistible grace. Those are in-house debates for
intelligent theologians to, to, to, to, to, to strangle or deal
with, to argue about. No, they're not. It's the simplicity
of the gospel. If God doesn't choose you, you'll
never choose Him. If Christ didn't already satisfy
everything that God required, what are you going to do to add
to what He did? And if God doesn't knock us off
our high horses and stop us in our tracks and make us to believe
on Him, we'll never come. We'll never come. Now that's
boldness, isn't it? That's holy boldness. And you're
expressing holy boldness when you hear what God says, and you
just simply say, amen. Amen, that's what I believe. Tell us plainly. I've told you.
And I've even showed you. Your problem is you don't believe,
and the reason you don't believe is because you're not of my sheep.
My sheep. Verse 27. My sheep. They hear my voice. And I know them. And they follow
me. Aren't you glad? Hebrews chapter four, verse 15,
for we have not a high priest which cannot be
touched with the feelings of our infirmities. We have not
a high priest which cannot be touched. I know that's a double
negative. Two negatives make a positive, right? So we have
a high priest who is touched with the feelings of our infirmities
and was in all points tempted as we are. Now that doesn't mean
That the temptations that the Lord Jesus experienced are like
our temptations. We sin in our temptations. It means that the Lord Jesus
Christ bore in his body upon Calvary's tree, all the shame
and all the ugliness and all the darkness of all the sins
of all of God's people. He was tempted in so many more
ways than we are. He understood the full extent
of temptation, yet without sin. He didn't sin. Let us therefore, let us therefore,
in light of the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ has already
suffered all the shame of all the sins of all of God's people,
and put them away by the sacrifice of himself once and for all,
let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that
we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in our time of
need. We come with confidence, confidence that God is pleased
with Christ. That's what boldness is. There's
no confidence outside of that. There's no confidence in your
opinion. There's no confidence in the wisdom of the world. There's
no confidence in what this person says or that person says. The
only confidence we have. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
10. Peter and John were not intimidated
by the threatenings of the pseudo-intellectuals. And that's all it is. It's just
pretending to be something that you're not. There's nothing, the only thing that's intellectual
is the truth. And what I'm saying to you, brethren, is don't be
intimidated by the opinions of this world. Stand fast in the
liberty wherewith Christ has made you free. Believe God. There's plenty of things in this
world to be shaken and to shake us, isn't there? Lots of uncertainties
in this world, but God's word's not uncertain. It's true, it's
sure, it's steadfast, it cannot change. You have your Bibles open to
Hebrews chapter 10, look at verse 19. Having therefore, brethren,
boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. And you
know what the holy, that's the holies of holies. That's where
the Ark of the Covenant was. That's where the mercy seat was.
You even got near that place, they'd kill you just like that. The high priest had to go through
so much before he went in there on one day, the day of atonement.
And he was scared that God killed him. And that was the veil that
was rent when our Lord bowed his head and said, it is finished.
He had put his blood on the mercy seat. And, uh, and now we have
boldness. We have confidence. We have the
assurance that we can enter into the very presence of God based
on the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ by a new look at verse
20, by a new and living way, which he had consecrated for
us through the veil, as to say his flesh, his body. in which he bore our sins was
rent by God. And we have boldness. We can
come into the very presence of God without fear, without question
as to what the grounds of our access is. The Lord Jesus Christ
is our only access to God, isn't he? Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance
of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our
bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession
of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful that promised. There's the confession of our
faith, the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he's faithful. And God says to me and you come. Full assurance of faith. Pure
conscience. How can you have a pure conscience?
I mean, you like me, you live most of the time with the guilty
conscience, don't you? You feel bad about, you know the way you
are and things you do and things you think and. Well, before God. Before God, we have no sin. The
only way to have a clear conscience is to be innocent. That's the
only way to have a clear conscience. Now, who can claim to be innocent? God's people say, in Christ I
am. For as he is, so are we in this
world. Before God, I can come into the
very presence of God with assurance, with confidence, with boldness. Enter into the holiest by the
blood of Jesus. Herein, That verse I just quoted,
I only quoted the second part of it. 1 John chapter 4 verse
17. Here's the first part of it.
Herein is our love made perfect that we may have boldness in
the day of judgment. Herein is our love made perfect
that we may have boldness, confidence, assurance in the day of judgment
it is appointed on the man wants to die and then the judgment
well what's going to give us boldness to stand before a holy
god in the day of judgment and then the verse says for as he
is so are we in this world there's our confidence they took notice of them that
they'd been with Jesus. These men, these men are not
compromising. They're not, they're not speaking
in code. They're not, they're not being ambiguous or confusing. And that's all religion is. Religion
is very confusing. They mix law and grace and works
and grace. And they talk about Jesus being
Lord, but you know, he can't do anything unless you let him
and, and all that kind of stuff. That's not boldness. Boldness
is the simplicity and clarity of the gospel spoken and believed. And the world can't refute it.
They can't stand up to it. They can try to put it out, they
can deny it, and they can argue, but they can't even argue. They
don't have a point of argument. May God give us the grace to
leave here this morning with holy boldness. Our heavenly father,
we're thankful for your word. We pray that you would make it
true to our hearts and we ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Number 12 in the spiral hymnal
number 12. Yeah. Upon my great and sovereign God,
I cast my soul and rest. My Father can controls the world,
and what he does is best. So be still, my heart, and doubt
no more. Believe and find sweet rest. God's wisdom, love, and truth,
and power combine to make thee blessed. In raging storms and
fiery trials, He keeps me from all harms. He walks with me and
holds me in His everlasting arms. So be still, my heart, and doubt
no more. Believe and find sweet rest. God's wisdom, love, and truth,
and power combine to make thee blessed. My God with skill infallible,
And great designs of grace, With power and love that never fail,
Shall order all my ways. So be still, my heart, and doubt
no more. Believe and find sweet rest. God's wisdom, love, and truth,
and power combine to make thee blessed. My life's most minute
circumstance is ordered by my God, who promised that in all
things He will ever do me good. So be still, my heart, and doubt
no more. Believe and find sweet rest. God's wisdom, love, and truth,
and power combine to make thee blessed. Amen.