Sorry we had problems with our
sound the first hour, but I understand that it's been fixed now and
the sound actually did work from what I understand in terms of
recording the message, right? So now the first hour will be
uploaded and you should be able to hear it so. It's the Lord. It's the Lord. I get frustrated
at these things, but I know. There's a purpose in it. So,
uh, Tom, you come lead us in the hymn. If you received your,
um, uh, bulletin by email yesterday or day before, we're going to
sing the hymn on the back of your bulletin. A rock that stands forever is
Christ my righteousness. In Him I stand on fearing in
everlasting bliss. Christ is my boast and glory. All wrath for me is over. The judgment of the sinner, it
frightens me no more. There is no condemnation, there
is no hell for me. The torment and the fire, my
eye shall never see. For me, there is no sentence. For me, there is no sting. For Christ, my Lord, who saved
me, will shale me in His wings. No angel nor a devil, no danger,
fear, nor fight. No foe nor tribulation, nor throne,
nor power, nor might. No height, no depth, no creature
that has been or can be can pluck me from thy bosom, can sever
me from thee. My heart leaps up with gladness. Grief cannot linger there. Her voice sings high in glory
bathed in the sunshine fair. The fountain of my singing is
Jesus there above. The sun that shines upon me is
Jesus and his love. Please be seated. For our call to worship, let's
open our Bibles together to Psalm 39. Psalm 39. I said I will take heed to my
ways. That I said not with my tongue.
I will keep my mouth with a bridle. While the wicked. Is before me. I was done with silence. I held
my peace even from good and my sorrow was stirred. Clearly the
Lord Jesus Christ is offering no complaint. He's hanging on
Calvary's cross as the center substitute. He knows that he's
bearing the the full guilt and shame of his people's sins, and
he has no defense, and so he opens not his mouth. He's receiving
the full wrath of God's judgment willingly, willingly. My heart
was hot within me while I was musing the fire burned. Then
spake I with my tongue. And we know what the Lord spake
when he was on the cross. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? He knew I was being forsaken.
This is his cry of agony to his father to reward him in time
for having been forsaken. Lord, make me to know mine end
and the measure of my days. What it is that I may know how
frail I am. That's a good prayer for us these
days, isn't it? Lord, make us to know our end. This. This pandemic that the
whole world is experiencing right now. I hope it will cause each
of us to. To consider how frail. And how
vulnerable and how temporary this life is, and it will. It will set our hearts to pursue
the things of God. Behold, thou hast made my days
as a hand breath, and mine age is as nothing before thee. Verily, every man at his very
best state is altogether vanity. Now that's true of every man. We're all empty of any righteousness,
void of any righteousness before God. The scripture says in Philippians
chapter three that Christ made of himself of no reputation.
He emptied himself. And that's the same word here.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the very best man that ever lived. And yet on Calvary's cross, he
became empty before God in order to bear the sins of his people. Surely. Every man walketh in
a vain show. That's a good conclusion to come
to even if you're not a believer. That men are proud, boastful. I mentioned in the first hour
I was listening to a radio program in my car and a 94-year-old woman
in Italy was being interviewed. by her son here in America. And
she said to him, she said, you know, she said, we Italians and
she lives in Florence and she's been locked up in her house for
several weeks. And she said, you know, we Italians
complain about everything. She said, but now that we have
something to complain about, nobody's complaining. Every man walketh in a vain show. Surely they are disquieted in
vain. He heapeth up riches and knoweth
not who shall gather them. Isn't that the vanity of man? Just get all you can get, can
what you get, and get all you can, can what you get, and sit
on the can. But now, Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in thee. Might the
Lord. Make that the prayer of our hearts
this morning. I my hope is in the. Our Heavenly
Father forgive us. Forgive us for all the expressions
of pride and. Boasting and. Self righteousness and. Independence
Lord, we are a presumptuous people. We. Don't consider often the
fact that you hold our breath in your hand. We confess to you,
Lord, that is our. As our vanity is our sin and
we ask Lord that you would cause us in this hour. To set our affections
on things above. To acknowledge our dependence
upon you for. all things, in particular, most,
most especially our righteousness before they bless your word to
our hearts. Comfort us in Christ. Supply
us with all of our needs in this life and in the life to come.
According to your riches of grace and glory, we ask it in Christ's
name. Amen. Hymn number 44 from the Spiral
Hymnbook, 44. Precious Savior, friend of sinners,
we as such to Thee draw near. Let Thy Spirit dwell within us
with that love that casts out fear. Matchless Savior, let us
know Thee as the Lord our righteousness. Cause our hearts to cleave unto
Thee, Come and with Thy presence bless. Open now Thy precious
treasure, Let Thy word here freely flow, Give to us a gracious measure,
tis Thyself we long to know. Come and claim us as thy portion. Let us all find rest in thee. Leave us not to empty notions. We would find our hope in thee. Please be seated. Adam. Be Thou my vision, O Lord of
my heart. Not be all else to me, save that
Thou art. Thou my best thought, by day
or by night. Waking or sleeping, Thy presence
my light. Be Thou my wisdom, and Thou my
true word. I ever with Thee and Thou with
me, Lord Thou my great Father, I Thy true Son Thou in me dwelling
and I with Thee one Riches I heed not, nor man's
empty praise, Thou mine inheritance now and always. Thou and Thou only, first in
my heart. My King of heaven, my treasure
Thou art. High King of heaven, my victory
won. May I reach heaven's joys, O
bright heaven's sun. Heart of my own heart, whatever
befall. Still be my vision, O ruler of
all. Thank you, Adam. I hope things
are working better now. And I truly hope that these days
will be short-lived and that the Lord will enable us to gather
back together soon. This is the hardest part, I think,
to this whole thing, is not being able to meet together with God's
people. Let's open our Bibles together
to Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2, I've titled this
message, Things Impossible. Things Impossible. Four or five weeks ago, when
we had the lowest unemployment rate that this country has ever
known, If you'd have told somebody that we might push a 30% unemployment
in the next few weeks, everybody would have scoffed and said,
that's not possible. That's not possible. When the
stock market was booming like it never had before and you'd
said somebody a few weeks ago, you know that this thing's going
to tank and you're going to lose 30, 40, 50% of your investments,
ah, that's not going to happen. That's not possible. That's not
possible. When we had freedom to move all
we wanted and enjoy each other's company as much as we wanted
to say, you know, the government's going to lock us in our homes
in just a few weeks, you would have said, no, no, no, that's
not, that ain't going to happen. That's not possible. What we thought was impossible
has become possible, hasn't it? And, uh, the realization of these
in, of these supposed impossibilities has, has disrupted the stability
of life as we know it. But for the child of God, there
are still things that are impossible. Those impossibilities that are
declared in God's word give us a sure standing. If the Lord
by showing us that things we thought were impossible were
possible causes us to acknowledge our vulnerability, If they cause
us to be more humble, if they cause us to see the frailty and
the brevity of life and cause us to become more dependent upon
the Lord, those are all good things. Those are all good things. But the child of God needs someplace. He needs someplace where he can
stand, where he can say, you know what? That is not possible. And I'm sure of it. I don't know
what's going to happen in this world. I don't know if we're
all going to die soon. I don't know. I don't know what's
going to happen to the stock market. I don't know what's going to
happen to the employment. I don't know. But I know what God says is true.
And I know there are some things that the Lord says are impossible. And those places are where we
can stand. and know that this is a, this
is a sure Hebrews chapter 12 says the Lord is shaking those
things which can be shaken those temporal things in order that
those things which are eternal those things which cannot be
shaken might stand. And what I want to declare to
you this morning in the midst of all this instability that
we're experiencing things that we thought were not possible
That there are some things that cannot be shaken. There are some
sure places of impossibility. And that's our hope. That's our
hope. God forgive us for putting our
hope and our trust in things that can be shaken. In the things
that we've all done it to one extent or the other, haven't
we? This is a good thing. that the Lord might deliver us
from being deceived by the riches of this world, that we might
find our true riches in Christ. Now the first impossibility is
found here in Acts chapter 2 at verse 24. This One who was delivered, verse
23, by the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God, the
Lord Jesus Christ went to the cross fulfilling the covenant
promise that he had made with the father before time ever began. That's what he said. It was purposed
of God in the fullness of time. The Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled
that which was ordained to be. Does that relieve man of his
responsibility for taking the son of God and crucifying him?
No, you have taken and with wicked hands have crucified and slain
this same Jesus whom you have taken. God has made him according
to verse 36 to be both Lord and Christ. And in verse 24, God
has raised him up having loosed the pains of death because it
was not possible that he should be holding a bit. Now we saw
in the previous hour that this language, the pains of death,
has to do with birth pains. It has to do with what a woman
goes through in delivering a child. And we hear people say sometimes,
you know, that baby was ready to come out when the child is
born. But that's really not the truth.
The truth is that it was not possible for the womb of that
mother to hold that child any longer. It was just not possible. The child had to come. The mother's
body is what forces out the child. It is not possible that the grave
could hold the Lord Jesus Christ. Like the whale that vomited out
Jonah onto dry ground, the grave, death, and hell was forced, was
forced by the maturity of this child, if you will, The God-man
had fulfilled everything he came to do and it was not possible. It was not possible for him to
remain in the grave. The grave was forced like a mother's
womb. The grave was forced like Jonah's
whale. The grave was forced to deliver
the Lord Jesus Christ who had conquered death and had conquered
the grave. Now here's our hope, brethren.
He's the firstborn among many brethren. Even as the Lord Jesus
Christ, it was not possible for the grave to hold him. All those
who were in him, it is not possible for the grave to hold them. And the grave is coming, isn't
it? It is. It is coming. And that's a good
thing. When it comes, it'll be a good
thing. It is appointed unto man wants to die. Paul said for me
to die is gain to live as Christ. It'd be a good thing. Why will
it be good? Because the grave won't be able to hold us to be
absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. When we
pass from this life, the grave's already been defeated. Death's
already been defeated. Satan's been defeated. Sin's
been put away. And just as the grave was forced
as a mother's womb to give birth to the Lord Jesus Christ, so
it will be for all those found in him. How could the author
of life be mastered by death? God would not allow his son to
come under the power of death or to be consumed by it. The grave could not hold him.
The father could not allow his Holy one to see corruption. As
this passage goes on to tell us, it's not possible. It's just
not possible. Now there's my hope just as it
was not possible for Christ to remain in the grave. So it will
not be possible for those found in him to not be delivered from
death. I can't stand here this morning
and promise you that God's going to deliver us from this crisis
we're in. I don't know. I wouldn't have
thought something like this would happen, but hey, the Lord's in
control. The Lord's in control. He has
sent this and he will do what's right in his sight. And we're
good with that, aren't we? We're good with that. and what
he might bring. This just reminds us of what
the possibilities are. I don't know. Maybe this virus
will go away and another one will come. Maybe things over,
you know, maybe war, but I don't know what's going to happen.
I don't know what, when we're going to, when each of us are
going to draw our last breath, but I can, I can tell you this
with the authority of God's word, it is not possible when you die,
if you're found in him, for death to hold you any more than it
was possible for death to hold him. That's good news, brethren. Hebrews
chapter 10. Will you turn with me there in
your Bibles? We're gonna be looking at a few passages this morning.
Hebrews chapter 10, verse four. For it is not possible. Oh, I want to know what God says
is not possible. The politicians would have told
us this is not possible. What we're going through now,
the physicians would have told us it's not possible. The educators
would have told us it's not. What does God say is not possible?
All the things that man thought was not possible. We find out
it is possible, but God says, for it is not possible that the
blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Now, what that
means is that's not just talking about all those animals that
were slaughtered in the old Testament. It's talking about anything that
man puts his hand to. So all the sacrifices that man
makes and all religions are the same. Religion is based, man-made
religion, works religion, is based on some sacrifice that
you make in order to earn favor with God. And God says it is
not possible that your sacrifices are going to put away your sins.
You can't atone for your own sins. You can't put them away. You can't sacrifice enough. You
can't shed enough blood. You can't do enough. It's just
not possible. And the child of God says, oh,
I'm so glad to hear that. I've been so worried that I hadn't
done enough. And so the world dies thinking,
I wonder if I've done enough. And the child of God knows it's
not possible for blood of bulls and goats to put away my sins.
It's not possible for my sacrifices or for my atonement or whatever
I do to put away my sins. And that's a good thing. It's
all, it's not based. My, the putting away of my sin
is not based on something I do. It's based on something he's
done. God has made this Jesus whom you have crucified, both
Lord and Christ. He has received him back into
glory. He's the one that, and. Writer
of Hebrews tells us that look, look at verse five, wherefore,
because it's not possible for your sacrifices to atone for
your own sins. Wherefore, when he cometh into
the world, he sayeth sacrifice and offerings thou wouldest not,
but a body thou has prepared me. The Lord Jesus Christ acknowledged
the fact that the sacrifices and offerings that men make were
not sufficient to atone for man's sins. And so a body thou hast
prepared for me. He was born of a woman. He was born under the law to
redeem them who were cursed by the law. Born in the likeness
of sinful flesh and for sin has put away sin. In burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin, thou had no pleasure. It's not possible for your burnt
offerings and for your sacrifices to please God. That's why God
said, this is my beloved son, in him I am well pleased. God's not pleased with us. He's
pleased with his son. He's pleased with Christ. Then said he, or then said I,
Here's the Lord Jesus Christ speaking, then said I, lo, I
come in the volume of the book it is written of me to do thy
will, O God. That's why Christ came, in the
volume of the book. Those Old Testament sacrifices
were all about, they pointed to the one sacrifice that would
be successful in putting away sin. Above when he said sacrifice
and offerings and burn offerings and offerings for sin, thou wouldest
not. And again, don't think about all those sacrifices of the old
Testament. Yes, that's what's being referenced
to, but we, we weren't a part, but what do we, but you see,
man is still making sacrifice. He's still trying to atone for
sins in me. Burn offerings and offerings
for sin. Thou wouldest not neither had pleasure there in which are
offered by The law can't save us. We can't keep God's law. The
law was weak through the flesh. Because the flesh was not able
to keep God's law, the law could not save us. Then said he low,
I come to do thy will. Oh God, he take it the way. The
first that he may establish a second by the, which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ. Once for all,
here's the good news. Brethren, it's not possible for
the grave to hold Christ. The grave was forced to deliver
him. Because he is the Holy one of
Israel and he fulfilled as a child in a mother's womb reaches its
full maturity and must be born. So the Lord Jesus Christ reached
his full maturity and must become the firstborn among many brethren.
And now the Lord saying to us, no sacrifice. You make his pause.
It's not impossible. It's impossible for our sacrifices
and our works to atone for our sins. And that's good news. That's
good news. Lord, I'm so thankful. I'm so
thankful that you're not looking to me for anything in the putting
away of my sins. Now the third one, the third
impossibility is When the rich rung young ruler
came to the Lord Jesus Christ and the Lord told him to sell
everything he had and give to the poor and he went away sad
for he owned much possessions. And the disciples looked at the
Lord and he said, said, Lord, what was, and the Lord said,
it's easier for a camel and that's a literal camel, to go through
the eye of a needle, and that's a literal needle and a literal
eye, which I can no longer see, to put a thread through, 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 heaven. And the
disciples looked at the Lord and said, who then can be saved? Who then can be saved? And what
did the Lord say? With man, it is impossible. You and I are camels because
we're rich. We're rich in our own righteousness.
We're rich in the things of this world. We're so rich in so many
things. And it's impossible, the Lord
said, for you to get yourself through the eye of a needle.
That's impossible. You're not going to get yourself
into heaven. That's impossible. And that's a good thing. That's
a good thing. And then the Lord went on to
say, what is impossible with man is possible with God. God gets camels through the eye
of a needle all the time, and there's no trouble for him. No
trouble for him. He can do it. Oh, he's got to shrink that camel
down to nothing to do it, don't he? But that's what he does.
That's what he does. He makes us nothing. In me, that
is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. When the Lord makes you
a sinner, you realize you've got no righteousness before God.
And only then, only then, can you enter into that narrow gate. That gate's so narrow, it's narrow
as a... I had a man tell me one time, When I started preaching
Calvinism, he started listening and he said, you know, that he
could make sense of it from the Bible. And so he believed it.
And then when the Lord taught me the gospel and started preaching
Christ, he came to me and he said, he said, when you started
preaching Calvinism, he said, you narrowed the path, but I
saw that it was true. But now you've got it so small
that I can't follow you anymore. That's what he said. He said,
that narrow, that way is so small now, I cannot listen to you anymore. Well, that's the way it is. It's
as small as the eye of a needle. It's a narrow, narrow, narrow
way. And few are they that find it.
Oh, but those who do. They're thankful that it's impossible
for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. They're
thankful that what's impossible for man is possible with God. Who would have thought the early
believers, Saul of Tarsus had a reputation. He was going around arresting
believers when he went to Damascus and the Lord sent Ananias to
preach to him. Ananias said to the Lord, Lord,
this man's killing people. He's killing us. Not anymore he's not. I've knocked
him off his high horse. What was impossible with man
has become possible with God. And now he is begging me to know
what it is I would have him to do. And he's blind. And he's waiting for you to come
preach the gospel to him. And Paul said, my conversion
is a pattern for all. God's people. What's impossible
with man, and it is impossible for a camel to go through the
eye of a needle, is possible with God. He makes of us nothing. Naaman When he came from Syria
down to see the prophet at Dothan, he thought that he was a great,
powerful man, the leader and commander of the most powerful
army in all the world, who just happened to have leprosy. But when the Lord was pleased
to put that camel through the eye of a needle, he came to realize
that he was a leper. who just happened to be a man
of authority. And that's what God does. When
the Lord makes you to be a sinner, you realize my, you know, it's
like, it's like Chris Cunningham told us back in January. He said,
you know, Naaman had a lot of problems and a lot of concerns
until he became a leper. And then he only had one. He
only had one. And that's so true. God makes
you to be a leper. You realize I've just got one
problem. I'm a sinner. If God doesn't have mercy upon
me, it's going to be impossible for me to enter into the kingdom
of heaven. But here's the good, here's the good news, brother.
I was talking to Michael Etheridge the other day. We were over here
working and, and he said, uh, he was quoting a preacher from
days gone by. And he said, he said, the preacher
said, I'm not concerned with getting folks saved. I'm concerned
with getting them lost. And, uh, and I said, yeah, but
the good thing is that they get lost and saved at the same time.
At the same time, you show me a center. I'm going to show you
a child of God. There's no, no time lapse between becoming a
center and becoming a saint. The Lord makes you to be a center. He's, he's put you through the
eye of that needle, hadn't he? Nebuchadnezzar. Oh, what a proud
man Nebuchadnezzar was. This great nation which I have
built, he said. And the Lord turned him into
a beast. And for seven years his fingernails grew and his
hair grew and he crawled around the ground eating grass. And
then his senses came to him. And the Lord saved him, didn't
he? And he said, He said, God is,
man is reputed as nothing, he went on to say, for the Lord
is sovereign over the armies of heaven and all the inhabitants
of the earth and no man can stay his hand or say unto him, what
doest thou? The Lord knows how to humble his people. That's
what he does. He humbles his people. The prodigal
went away from, you know, from his house proud. He had some
riches. He was going out to conquer the
world, wasn't he? ended up in a pig pen feeding
the swine, the husks that the swine do eat. He'd become a Sunday
school teacher in a Southern Baptist church, and he was feeding
his students the same stuff that he was eating. And then the Lord
brought him to his senses. He said, my servants back at
my father's house have it better than this. I'm going to go home
and ask the Lord, ask my father for mercy. And he didn't get,
he didn't even get to get his confession out of his mouth,
didn't he? Did he? All right, yeah, why? Because,
because repentance and faith are two sides to the same coin.
And the, and the father was there, ready. Put a ring on his finger,
kissed him on his neck, put a robe on his back, put feet, shoes
on his feet. Come, my son which is lost is
now found. Let us rejoice. Let us rejoice. What's impossible with man? is
possible with God. God knows how to humble his people. Now here's another one. When
the Lord Jesus Christ was in the garden of Gethsemane and
he prayed to his father, pleaded with his father, sweating drops
of blood, Father if there be any way, if it be at all possible,
he said, that this cup can pass from me. Let it be father. Is there any other way you can
find to fulfill the requirements of the covenant and save my people? Is there any other way? Is it,
is there any other possibility that I wouldn't have to drink
the bitter dregs of the sins of my people and be cut off from
God? Is there any other way? If it
is possible, let this cup... Nevertheless, not my will, but
thy will be done." And what is the Lord showing us at the cross?
No other possibility, no other way of salvation. I am the way,
the truth, and the life. No man can come to the Father
but by me. Sin could not be put away except by the sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross. It was not possible for
the blood of bulls and goats Scriptures had to be fulfilled.
The law had to be honored. Justice had to be served. Sin
had to be paid for, and the Lord Jesus Christ's death on Calvary's
cross was the only way for that to happen. People talk about
this pandemic being the judgment of God. This is not the judgment
of God. This is the mercy of God. It's the mercy of God. The judgment of God is only seen
fully at the cross of Christ. When the Lord, and that's what
the Lord Jesus says, is there any possibility that your justice
can be satisfied, that your law can be upheld, that sin can be
put away and your people can be saved? Is there any other
possible way than the cross? And the father said, no, no other
way. And so there's no way that you
and I can add to or take away from what the Lord Jesus Christ
accomplished on Calvary's cross. It's not possible for the blood
of bulls and goats to put away sin. It's just not possible. Hebrews chapter six, verse 18
says that it is impossible for God to lie. Impossible for him
to lie. And so that we can rest our immortal
soul in the promises of God. That's what faith is. Faith is
believing God and believing that all the promises of God are yay
or yes, and amen, or sure in Christ, the Lord, Jesus Christ,
you can. You can rest everything in the
fact that our God cannot lie. What, what he said is true. His word, the Lord Jesus Christ
said, I've got to fulfill all righteousness and every I's got
to be dotted and every T's got to be crossed. And, and, and,
and I've come to fulfill the word of God. And that's what
he came to do. And so. We can, we can hear what
God says. We don't have to say, well, I
wonder, or wonder what that means. God's people just want, we're
not here. Now, Peter in his sermon on, on the day of Pentecost used
a scripture to as his authority. And he's supporting his claims
that God has raised him from the dead with scripture. He quotes
from Psalm 16. He quotes from Psalm 110. And
he's saying that the word of God is our proof because it's
impossible for our God to lie. And what God said is true. And
faith is not believing that God's going to do something in the
future. Well, if I just believe it strong enough, if I believe
that this virus is not going to kill me, then it won't kill
me. That's not faith. That's presumption. Maybe God
is going to use this to take some of us out. I don't know. He hadn't said. But I know that everything he
has said is true. And we're not here to prove the
Bible, are we? We're here to declare it. We're here to preach
it. We're here to say, thus saith
the Lord. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
was here in the flesh, he didn't have to say, thus saith the Lord.
He said, I say unto thee. Why? Because his word, he is
the word. And everything that he spoke,
every word that he spoke was as authoritative as scripture. And much of what he said has
become scripture. Hadn't it? Um, so here's our
hope brethren, with all the things that we thought were impossible
in this world, it's not possible for our God to lie. Every word
that he has spoken is true. And faith believes God. All the promises of God are true
and certain. They are yes and complete. They
are yay and amen in Christ. Hebrews chapter 11 tells us that
without faith, without faith, it is impossible to please God. For they that cometh to him must
believe that he is, and that he is the rewarder of them that
diligently seek him. Now we know that faith is the
gift of God. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that faith is the gift of God. It's not of works,
lest any man should boast. And faith comes by hearing and
hearing comes by the word of God. So as we preach the gospel,
God, the spirit of God opens the ears of his people and let
him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches. And then they
have ears to hear. And so the Lord gives his people
the ability to hear and to believe. And that's what faith is. And
without that, faith is resting our hope in the glorious person
and finished work of the Lord. Because that's what the word
is all about. We've already seen that in the
volume of the book it is written of me. So as we look to the word
of God, we're not looking for principles to practice in order
to earn favor with God. We're looking for the person
who has already practiced everything that God required that we might
have favor with God in him. So faith is looking to Christ,
resting in Christ. Faith's a substance of things
hoped for. Faith is the evidence of things not seen. I'm resting
all my hope in Christ. And without that, it's impossible. It's impossible to come into
the presence of God. No man can come to the father
without me. We we've got to come in Christ. We come before the throne of
grace boldly with confidence to find our help and grace in
time of need. We are needy people. We are sinful
people. And we're able to come with confidence,
not confidence in ourselves, but confident that the Lord Jesus
Christ has accomplished everything necessary for our salvation.
He fulfilled the law. It was not possible for any other
way. It's not possible for bloods and bulls and goats to put away
sin. It's not possible for the grave to hold him. These are
the impossibilities that we can rest all our hope in. I don't
know what's going to happen in this world. I hope we can get
back together soon. That's my main concern. I don't
know what's going to happen with the economy. I don't know what's
going to happen with the health of the world. I don't know. God
knows, and he'll bring it to an end when he's pleased to.
And hopefully we won't forget. We won't soon forget. I fear
the whole world's just going to go back to where they were,
you know, especially if this thing short-lived everybody's
humbled right now. And then they'll just go back
to their, to their state of being, but let us remember who we are. And Lord caused me to count my
days, to remember that my days are few and enable me to pursue
my heart to wisdom. So without faith, Lord, give
me faith. So how do I know if I have faith?
Let me ask you a simple question. Are you resting all your hope
in Christ? You think you can add anything
to or take anything away from the finished work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. You just read, you're able to
rest in him. You say, well, not all, but now
I'm talking about right now, because here's the glorious truth,
brethren. If you've got faith right now, then you can't ever
not have faith. Okay. And if you've ever had
faith, you can't ever not have faith. The Lord doesn't give
gifts and then take them back. It, once he gives faith, faith
is forever. Faith is what God gives in the
new birth. And, and when he births us into
his kingdom and gives us faith to believe now, I know you remember
the father that brought his child to the disciples that was possessed
with demons. And, uh, father said to the disciples,
um, you know, can you cast these demons out? And the disciples
tried and they couldn't do it. And so the Lord comes in to the company
of the father with the, with the possessed child and the disciples
and And the man begins to describe to the Lord the condition that
his child, his son, it's a grown child because the Lord asked
him, he said, how long has it been like this? And he said,
since he was youth. Sometimes it'll cast him into
the fire and sometimes into water. And he just goes into these fits
of rage. And I brought him to your disciples
and they couldn't do anything. And the father said, Lord, If
thou canst do anything, have compassion on us. And what the
Lord say, if thou canst believe, all things are possible unto
them that belief. And the father cried out and
he said, Oh Lord, I do believe help thou mine unbelief. That's how we, Lord, I do believe. I believe everything you've said.
I believe Christ is my only hope. But I'm carrying around this
unbelief, this dead man. I've got two natures. That's
what he's talking about. Lord, with my new man, I believe you
wholly, perfectly. No question about it. But my
old man's struggling with my new man. And help thou my unbelief. Help this old wretched man that
I am. Deliver me from him, and one
day he will. One day he will. The faith is saying what that
father said, Lord. And the Lord said, if thou believest,
all things are possible to them that believe. No impossibilities
with God through faith. We trust Christ and Through faith, not because of
faith, but through faith. For the cause of our salvation
is grace. Faith is not the cause of our
salvation. Faith is the result of it. Faith is the gift that
God gives in salvation. He doesn't give salvation for
our faith. Hebrews chapter six. says it
is impossible. I'm just going to paraphrase
these verses for the sake of time. It is impossible for those
who once were enlightened, who once were, who once tasted of
the heavenly gift, who have become partakers of the Holy ghost. It is impossible for them to
fall away. Here's my hope. And that's what the message in
Hebrews chapter 6 is. You know, I know he goes on to
say if they should fall away to renew them again to repentance,
what the Lord's using there is he's using an example to say
that this is not possible. This is not possible for one
who has tasted of the heavenly gift, one who has been partakers
of the Holy Ghost, one who has been enlightened with the truth
of the gospel, it's impossible for them to fall away. That's
a good thing. That's good news to this center,
because I feel there's a part of me that's always drawing me
away from Christ. I feel there's a there's a proneness
in me to wonder. And to leave the God that I love
and the Lord said no, it's not possible. That's not possible. If I have to, I'll do you like
lot. I'll take you by the hand. I'll pull you out of Sodom. I'm
not going to. Yeah, I'm, I've got you on leash
and I may let you get close to that cliff and look old, but
I'm not going to let you fall off. Not going to let you fall
off. It's impossible. You got to keep
bringing you back again and again and again to rest all your hope
in Christ. Now that's an impossibility.
I need to know something about. I listened to this one in Romans
chapter eight. I quoted part of this a moment
ago. What the law could not do. It was powerless. It was impossible
for the law to save. That's what the Lord says. What
the law could not do. In that it was weak through the
flesh. The law could not. Could not
conquer the flesh. It was weak through the flesh.
The law could not make the flesh obey it. The flesh was in, it
was impossible for the flesh to measure up to the requirements
of the law. God sending his own son in the
likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the
flesh that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. So
the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us through the
sacrifice that Christ made in his body satisfying the demands
of the law. What the law could not do was
impossible and that it was weak. And so the law was weak through
the flesh. The law couldn't control the
flesh and it still can't. People put themselves under the
law. The law's not controlling them.
The law requires perfect obedience, doesn't it? The law is not satisfied
with anything less. Christ, in the likeness of sinful flesh,
now notice he says in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,
condemned sin in the flesh. He bore the sins of his people
in his flesh and satisfied the demands of God's law that the
righteousness of God might be fulfilled in us. Romans chapter
eight, verse three, who walk not after the flesh. Now that
walking, you say, well, I find myself walking after the flesh
a lot. That's not what he's talking about. He's talking about looking
to the flesh for our righteousness. Who walk not after the flesh,
but after the spirit. we have the Spirit of God and
the Spirit of God causes us to look to the Lord Jesus Christ
for all our righteousness. There's a lot of things happening
in this world right now, brethren, that we thought just a few weeks
ago were not possible. I pray the Lord will cause each
and every one of us to acknowledge the fact that He does what's
right, that for us to lean on the arm of flesh is sin. We've all, we've all, that the
Lord would deliver us from our presumptuousness and cause us
to, to acknowledge him and depend upon him and know that these
impossibilities, these impossibilities are the places where I need to
rest my hope. None of the things of this world.
One last one. There's a lot of false gospels,
a lot of false prophets and false Christ being preached in this
world. And the Lord said that they are so deceiving that if
it were possible, even the elect would be deceived. Now there's
a good word. It's not possible, not possible
for you to be deceived from the truth, for you to be taken away
from Christ. These are the impossibilities
of God places where we can stand and be sure, be sure that these
things don't want to change. These are the things that cannot
be shaken. Tom. Number 300, let's stand together. Number 300 in harbekim. More secure is no one ever Than
the loved ones of the Savior, Not yon star on high abiding,
Nor the bird in home nest hiding. God his own doth tend and nourish,
In his holy courts they flourish, Like a father kind he spares
them, In his loving arms he bears them. Neither life nor death
can ever From the Lord his children sever, For his love and deep
compassion Comforts them in tribulation. Little flock to joy then yield
thee, Jacob's God will ever shield thee. Rest secure with this defender,
at his will all foes surrender. What He takes or what He gives
us shows the Father's love so precious. We may trust His purpose
wholly, tis His children's welfare solely.