Good morning again. We're going
to open this second hour with the hymn that's found on the
back of your bulletin. I want to welcome a lot of our snowbirds
are back. hopefully hear through the conference,
if not later. So it's good to see everybody.
Let's all stand together. 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 arrayed in pure garments, their voices
unite to him who hath loved us and washed us from sin unto be
the glory forever, amen. He maketh the 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 Ah, how loud in his praises our
voices shall ring, so that others, believing, may hear. song shall sing to him who hath
loved us and washed us from sin unto him be the glory forever
amen. Please be seated. Good morning. We want to remember
to pray for the conference. This is something special to
all of us. We can't get enough of hearing
the word and Greg brings in some fantastic preachers for us to
listen to. Like Greg said, remember the
people in Australia, there's always someone worse off than
we are. It's not a secret that for a
while in Nevada, for quite a few years, I was the preacher in
a Reformed Baptist church. And one of the men come up and
asked me one Sunday after church, he said, can't you preach anything
besides election and predestination? I said, no, I can't. It's either
election or free will. It's either predestination or
karma. It's either the Lord Jesus Christ
or the lie. Turn if you will please to Romans
chapter eight and verse 28. We're all familiar with this.
We're all familiar with this week. Children of God need to
be reminded that there is a sovereign God that watches over us. Everything
we have. Everything comes from him. First
28. And we know that all things work
together for good for them that love God, them who are the called
according to his purpose. Pay particular attention to the
first word in verse 29, F-O-R, for it means because. And we
know because. That all things work together
for good because for them that love God we love God because
we are the call according to his purpose because. Because whom he did for know. He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of his son that he might be the firstborn
amongst many brethren. Moreover, More than this, moreover,
whom he did predestinate, them he also called. Whom he called,
them he also justified. Whom he justified, them he also
glorified. What shall we then say to these
things? Free will will say to these things,
it's not fair. that you make up my mind about
anything, God, I'll make up my own mind, thank you. But the
children of God who know that they could never come to God
on their own, who know that God has done everything for them
they could not do for themselves, they'll say this, if God be for
us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea rather that is risen again and is even
at the right hand of God and maketh intercession for us. Who
shall separate us from the love of God? And then Paul gives a
list of things that have fallen on believers since the foundation
of the world. Bad things, bad things. And he says in verse 37, through
all these things, we are more than conquerors through him that
loved us. First word in verse 38. For,
because we are more than conquerors through him that loved us, because
I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor power, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. No
gospel preacher cannot preach election, predestination, salvation
by grace. It's impossible. It's impossible
for a real child of God not to love these things, to take comfort
in these things, to take assurance from these things. Father, we come before you this
morning, Father, eternally grateful, Father, for choosing us before
the foundation of the world, because if it left to us, Father,
we'd have believed the lie. We'd have wandered off and gone
astray like lost sheep. Father, thank you for this church.
Thank you for Greg. Thank you for every child of
God in this church. And thank you for bringing us
here. Father, watch over us, make us grateful, make us thankful,
Father, incline our hearts unto thee. We ask these things in
Jesus' name, amen. Number 262, and let's all stand
together. you ? Simply trusting every day ? Trusting
through a stormy way ? Even when my faith is small ? Trusting
Jesus that is all ? Trusting as the moments fly ? Trusting
as the days go by Trusting Him whatever befall, trusting Jesus
that is all. Brightly doth his spirit shine
into this poor heart of mine. While he leads, I cannot fall. Trusting Jesus, that is all. Trusting as the moments fly. trusting as the days go by trusting
him whate'er befall trusting Jesus that is all singing if
my way is clear If the path be drear, if in danger
for him call, ? Trusting Jesus that is all ? ? Trusting as the
moments fly ? ? Trusting as the days go by ? ? Trusting Him whate'er
befall ? ? Trusting Jesus that is all ? Trusting Him while life
shall last, trusting Him till earth be past, till within the
Jasper wall ? Trusting Jesus, that is all ? Trusting as the
moments fly ? Trusting as the days go by ? Trusting him, whate'er
befall ? Trusting Jesus, that is all Please be seated. Caleb and Lacey Hickman are gonna
bring special music now. I cast my soul in rest. My father's hand controls the
world. And what he does is blessed. He's still my heart. Doubt no more Believe and find
Sweet breath God's wisdom love Truth and power Combined to make
the best In raging storms and fiery trials He keeps me from
all harm. He walks with me and holds me
in His everlasting arms. Be still, my heart, in love no
more. Believe and find sweet rest. and truth and power combined
to make me blessed my God with skill infallible and great designs
of grace with power and love that never fail shall order all
my ways. Be still, my heart, in doubt
no more. Believe and find sweet rest,
God's wisdom love. When truth and power combine
to make My new circumstance is ordered
by my God who promised that in all things He will ever do me
good. Be still, my heart, and doubt
no more. Believe and find sweet rest. God's wisdom, love, truth, and
power combine to make. And you two combined made us
blessed. Thank you. Thank you. That was
good. Will you turn with me and your
Bibles again to Malachi chapter four, please. Malachi chapter
four. We were reminded in the first
hour that these are the last words that God spoke to his people
in the Old Testament. There's 400 plus year time span
between Malachi and the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. As
a nation, we're about 250 years old, and that seems like a long
time ago, doesn't it? 400 years they went without a
word from God. These last words that the Lord
speaks to his people, I think, carry some extra weight. because of that. And I hope this
morning that the Lord will speak to our hearts the message that
is in these verses and deliver us, deliver us from fear. That's really God's last word
to his people here. There are two kinds of fear spoken
of in the scriptures. There's that slavish, fear of
bondage that's caused by sin and then there is the fear of
God which is caused by grace. The slavish fear of bondage does
for man exactly what we see happening to Adam in the garden. When Adam
sinned he became ashamed and afraid and in his fear he tried
to hide from God and cover up his nakedness with the fig leaves
of his own good works. Now that's what slavish fear
does. Men feel the passion and emotion
of intimidation and bondage that comes from fear. If it is a sinful
fear, it will cause them to try to make up for that sin. try
to do something to compensate for the error of their lives
and try to get them to please God with something that
they do. And they will, in essence, be hiding from God, just like
Adam. Now, godly fear caused by grace has just exactly the
opposite effect. We acknowledge our sin. We can
say with David in Psalm 51, my sin is ever before me. Lord,
I am a sinner and I'm ashamed of my sin. What can I do? Godly fear causes one to run
to Christ, to run to Christ, to be delivered from that fear. of bondage. Now that's really
what this passage is all about. Beginning, we looked at the last
two verses in the previous hour, but I want you to see that ever
since the fall, man has experienced sinful fear, fear that is slavish,
fear that is intimidating, fear that is paralyzing, fear that
leads to bondage. And all men know it by experience.
But when the poor sinner is given a new heart, When he's made to
see that the Lord Jesus Christ was actually successful in satisfying
the demands of God's holy justice and has put away their sins by
the sacrifice of himself once and for all. When their heart
of fear has been changed to a love, reverence, and worship for God. They will no longer try to cover
up their sin. They will run to Christ, run
to Christ in hopes of their true forgiveness and deliverance. The scripture says that perfect
love casteth out fear. Perfect love casteth out fear.
That God has not given to us the spirit of fear. Not that
slavish fear, not that fear that holds us in bondage, that fear
that threatens us, that fear that intimidates us, but he has
given to us. Turn with me to Romans chapter
eight, Romans chapter eight. Verse 14, for as many as are
led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. We have
not the Spirit of God. The scripture says we're none
of his. The Lord gives us his Holy Spirit. It's the Holy Spirit
that regenerates us. It's the Holy Spirit that opens
the eyes of our understanding. It's the Holy Spirit that gives
us ears to hear. It's the Holy Spirit that gives
us faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the Holy Spirit
that reveals Christ to us. We're completely dependent upon
the Spirit of God. For you have not received the
spirit of bondage again to fear. It's the law that gendereth fear. It's the letter of the law that
condemns. But you have received the spirit
of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father. So we are going to find ourselves
trying to satisfy the demands of God's law and be held in the
bondage of fear. or we're gonna find ourselves
bowing in worship and in love and in gratitude for what the
Lord Jesus Christ has done, being delivered, being delivered from
that bondage of fear. Turn to me to Jeremiah chapter
32, Jeremiah chapter 32. This fear. This fear of God and
I. My hope this morning brethren
is it will leave this place having been delivered from the slavish
fear. Of the law. And find ourselves
in love with Christ. Being drawn into his presence
with the fear of God in our hearts. Jeremiah chapter 32. Look at
verse. Look at verse 40, and I will
make an everlasting covenant with them. Now the word covenant
is promise and the word everlasting means it never had a beginning.
So God says the hope of their salvation is going to be determined
by a promise that I made from eternity past. It's called the
covenant of grace. I will make an everlasting covenant
with them that I will not turn away from them. I'll never leave
them nor forsake them. If God before me, who can be
against me? If I'm found in Christ, then
I'm on God's side. My sin's been put away and I
have nothing to fear, nothing to fear. I will not turn away
from them to do them good, but I will put my fear in their heart
and they shall not depart from me. How do I know that I have
the fear of God in my heart? Because I cannot depart from
him. Often as I try, how often do you try? How often do you
find yourself taking your eyes off of Christ? How often do you
find yourself being enticed and tempted by the things of this
world? But you can't, can you? Why? Because God said, I will
put my fear in their hearts and they will not depart from me.
They will not. They will reverence me. They
will love me. I will keep them coming. They're
not going to be able to fall away. I'm not going to lose one
of my sheep, not a single one. This kind of fear is called the
beginning of wisdom. God puts His fear in our hearts.
We're able to see Christ for who He is. We're able to worship
Him. We're able to believe on Him.
We're able to rest all our hope in Him. For Christ Himself, the
scripture says, has been made unto us all our wisdom. And the fear of God is the beginning
of wisdom. There's no knowing Christ without
the fear of God. This fear comes from God and
drives us to God. If I can make a statement that
would be hopefully understood by the believer in light of the
things that we've just looked at, to fear God is to not be
afraid of God. To fear God is to not be afraid
of God. Not be afraid to come into his
presence, not be afraid of his wrath and his judgment. Is to
come reverently into his presence in a spirit of worship and dependence
on him. Now. The Lord gives his people
in this last chapter of Malachi, the last word that he speaks
to the children of Israel in the Old Testament, he gives them
reason to not be afraid. Okay? Look at verse two. But unto you
that fear God, that fear my name, shall the son of righteousness
arise with healing in his wings. Now, what is the healing that
the son, S-U-N notice, of righteousness, it's a reference to Christ, you
know that. What is the healing that the son of righteousness
does in our hearts when he arises? When God brings us into that
reverential fear of his name and the son of righteousness
arises in our hearts for healing, what does he heal us? He heals
us of that sinful fear. He heals us of the fear of God's
wrath and God's justice and God's judgment. He convinces us that
he's suffered the wrath of God for us. And that's why verse
one is so important. Look at verse 1. Now the Lord's
dealing with this issue of fear in this whole chapter. For behold, the day cometh. Most people do not believe what
God's about to say here. They don't. They live in denial
of it. They have, contrary to what we
just read in Jeremiah chapter 32, I will make a covenant with
them, and I will not depart from them, and I will put my fear
in their heart, and they will not depart from me. Contrary
to that, they say, we've made a covenant with God. With hell,
we're in agreement. We're not worried about that.
And the hope of their salvation is not based On the work and
person of the Lord Jesus Christ, it's based on a covenant, not
a covenant that God made, but a covenant that they made. But
the child of God knows. That no covenant I can make with
God, no promise I can make with God, no work that I can perform,
no, no sincerity or, or, or sorrow that I can feel is going to deliver
me from the wrath that is to come. And so the Lord says for behold.
The day cometh, and it is coming, the day cometh that shall burn
as an oven. I shared the first hour, some
of you weren't in here, but about these fires in Australia. You
have brethren that live in Nowra, Australia, about two hours plus
drive south of Sydney on the east coast of Australia. And
these fires have already consumed 10 million acres. And the heat of them, John, you
were telling us this morning that the heat index of these
fires was like on a scale of 10 compared to three in California
or something. Angus said that the houses were
literally exploding. The fire, the heat of the fire
would just, would just explode the homes. And the fire was just
a couple of miles from Nauru. And they were bracing for the
worst because the forecast said the wind was going to blow and
the fires were coming. And, and the Lord stopped the wind last
night, night before last, just stopped, dead calm, turned the
fire. But this is the, that fire pales
in comparison. to what God's talking about here.
Now they were trusting God, but they had some natural fears that
this fire is gonna consume all our homes and our town, and anybody would. But this is
a fear, this is real, this fire's coming, this fire's coming. The day cometh that shall burn
as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all they that do wickedly
shall be stubble. And the day that cometh shall
burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, and it shall leave
them neither root nor branch." Nothing will be left. It's going
to burn underground. It's going to consume the roots.
It's going to consume the branches. There'll be nothing, nothing
left. Scorched earth. This fire is coming. Now, this
is God's Word. But you that fear the Lord, you
see the significance of the word but in verse 2? You don't have to worry about
this. You don't have to fear the wrath that is to come. For
the fire of God's holy wrath has already consumed the sacrifice. It fell from heaven on Calvary's
cross and the Lord Jesus Christ licked up all the heat of that
fire. and quenched it once and for
all by the sacrifice of himself, child of God. Yeah, the fire
is coming, but you that fear the Lord have nothing to fear.
Turn with me to second Peter. You say, well, that's, you know, some, some of us used to believe,
well, the old Testament was wrath and judgment and the new Testament
is love and mercy. That's not true. The Old and
the New Testament's all about Christ. And there's no mercy
and there's no love without judgment and without wrath. They both
are true in both, in all of God's word. Look at second Peter chapter,
chapter three. And, uh, we'll begin reading
at verse seven, but the heavens and the earth, which are now
by the same word are kept in store reserved. So this world
in which you and I live is being kept in store and reserved until
the fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
But beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day
is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years is
one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, his covenant. I've made a covenant with him.
I'm going to put my fear in their hearts, and they're not going
to depart from me. Beloved, the Lord is not slack
concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering
to us-ward. Don't miss that word, us-ward. This promise is not for all.
This promise is for God's elect. This promise is for those whom
Christ died for. This promise is for those that
God puts his fear in their heart. The long suffering of God is
to us. We're not willing that any of us should perish, that
any should perish any of us word, but that all should come to repentance. Now, those that would take this
verse of scripture and say, God wants everybody to be saved.
If God wanted everybody to come to repentance, he'd give repentance
to everybody. If God wanted everybody to be saved, everybody would
be saved. God doesn't want something he doesn't get, okay? God's God. And don't misunderstand
what he's saying here. But the day of the Lord will
come as a thief in the night in which the heaven shall pass
away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent
heat and the earth also in the works that are therein shall
be burned up. Now that's Peter, that's God
speaking through Peter. Seeing then that all these things
shall be dissolved. What manner of persons ought
you to be in holy conversation and godliness looking for and
hastening unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heaven
shall be on fire. shall be dissolved and the elements
shall melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, according to
his promise, look for a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that
you look for such things, be diligent that you may be found
in him without spot and blemish. You see, if we have a fear of
God, then our only desire is to be found in him. Lord, I don't
want any part of this. I don't want any part of this.
Now, let me show you something in Revelation chapter six that
shows us the difference between sinful fear, slavish fear, the
fear of bondage, and the fear of the law, and the fear of God. Revelation chapter 6 at verse 15. Now this is, the
Lord has just talked about the destruction of the earth. And
the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men,
and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman,
and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks
of the mountains. Now you know that revelation
is written with symbolic language. I don't know if there's actually
going to be men hiding in dens and mountains when the Lord comes
and he's going to be a cat. But here's the, here's the message
here. What are these? What are the, the Lord said,
if you had the, if you had the faith of a mustard seed, you
could say into this mountain, be removed and be cast into the
sea. What was cast into the sea? What was cast into the sea? Your
sins have separated you from your God. What is the mountain?
It's a barrier. So it's the sin that's cast into
the sea, hidden forever, separated from us as far as the East is
from the West, when God gives us the fear of God to look to
Christ for all our salvation. But these men, what are they
doing? They're hiding in their righteousness. They're hiding in their works.
They hear about the wrath of God, and what do they say? They
said to the mountains and the rocks, fall on us and hide us
from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath
of the lamb. You see this passage of scripture
is telling us the same thing that the Lord said on the day
of judgment when he separates the sheep from the goats and
the goats saying to him, but Lord, but Lord, we've done many
wonderful works in thy name. We've cast out demons in thy
name. What are they doing? They're hiding in the rocks and
the hills. They're trying to protect themselves
from the fiery wrath of God's judgment by the works of their
own self-righteousness. Now that's fear. That's sinful,
slavish fear that will keep you in bondage because you will never
know if you've done enough. But the fear of God casteth out
that fear. The fear of God knows that Christ
has done enough. He's done enough and the wrath
that is to come is not for me. It's not for me. Go back with
me to our text. Oh, you can read more of this
in Revelation chapter 20 or 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. There's so much in
the New Testament about this judgment that is to come. And
God is saying to his people, fear not. The very first time
that fear is mentioned in the scripture is Genesis chapter
15 verse 1, when God said to Abraham, Abram, fear not, for
I am thy shield and thine exceeding great reward. Abram, you don't
have to fear the wrath of God, for I am going to shield you
from my wrath. And that's exactly what the Lord
Jesus Christ did. He shielded God's people from
the wrath that is to come. So when the Lord says to us in
these last verses of Malachi chapter 4, He begins with by
saying, there's going to come, there's a day coming, it's coming.
And it's going to be a day of fervent heat and the elements
are going to be burned and the houses are going to explode.
And, and we saw also in Malachi that men's flesh are going to
be burned off their bodies while they stand still. That's how
fiery. And God's saying, but, but I'm your shield. And I am your exceeding great
reward. Not only do you not have to fear
my wrath, but you can rejoice in knowing that I've given myself
to you to know and to love and to believe on and to fellowship
with. The rest of your days in this
world and for all eternity, I'm going to be your reward. What
a contrast. Between the God who is judging
the unbeliever in the world and the God who is making his mercy
and his grace and his love known to his people. You're going to fear one way
or the other. A man that says, I'm not afraid
of anything is a liar or he's stupid. Okay. That's just. But unto you that fear my name, shall the son of righteousness
arise with healing in his wings. He's going to heal you. Now the
scripture speaks of the wings of the morning and the wings
here is a reference to those sunbeams that come into the earth. And they penetrate everything
on the earth. The sun, nothing escapes the
light of the sun. And so the Lord Jesus is likening
himself to the sun. But he calls himself the son
of righteousness. Now, I thought of three things
that the sun does. The physical sun. The sun gives
us light. The sun gives us warmth and the
sun keeps us from being sucked into a black hole somewhere,
okay? It's the gravitational pull of
the sun that keeps the earth in rotation around the sun, is
that not true? And so it's the sun that draws
us. The sun gives us light. Let there
be, turn with me to Genesis chapter one. I want you to see the gospel
here. This is so glorious. Genesis chapter one, verse one. In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth and the earth was without form and
void and darkness was upon the face of the deep and the spirit
of God moved upon the face of the waters. In the beginning,
you were without form and void, and darkness was upon the face
of your heart. And you had no life in you. You
couldn't see and you couldn't believe. And the Spirit of God
had to move on your heart in order for the light to shine
in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ and give you life. And
God said, And if God doesn't say it and God doesn't do it,
it's not gonna happen. You see, salvation is not determined
by what we say, it's determined by what God says, isn't it? And
God said, let there be light. Oh God, say to me, let there
be light. Or if there's no light, there's
no life. God saw the light that it was
good. The Lord Jesus Christ, why callest
thou me good? There's none good but God. You
see, this is the God. This is just not telling us about
the historical event of creation. This whole book's about the gospel.
We're the ones that without form and void, we're the ones that
are dependent upon the spirit of God to speak to us. We're
the ones that depend on God to say, let there be light. And
when God saw the light, he said, it's good. It's good. I'll cause my goodness to pass
before you. God saw the light that it was
good and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called
the darkness night and the light day. And there's the world, okay? The whole world is divided into
day and night. And you're either living in the
day or you're living in the light. You're either in the light or
in the darkness. And so when the sun of righteousness rises
in our hearts, for the healing. He puts away, he shows us the
truth. You can't see without light.
You cannot see anything without light. And so the light of the
gospel reveals the glory of Christ. Without light, there can be no
sight. Lest the light of the gospel shines in our hearts and
reveals the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, we cannot see the
kingdom of God. For God commanded the light to
shine out of darkness. For the God who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's the message. The son
of righteousness, when he rises in our hearts, he brings the
light of the gospel. The Lord Jesus said, I am the
light of the world. He that follow with me shall
not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. And David
said in Psalm four, verse six, Lord lift up the light of thy
countenance upon us. Lord, bring me out of darkness.
Show me the truth. Show me the truth of who I am.
Show me the truth of who you are. Show me the truth of how
it is that you're pleased to save centers and to deliver us
from the wrath that is to come. Lord, cause the son of righteousness
to arise in my heart. He's called us out of darkness
into his marvelous light. Secondly, The sun gives warmth. Without the sun, our planet would
be nothing more than a frozen planet out there in space somewhere,
wouldn't it? We depended upon the sun for
our warmth, not just for light, but for warmth. And when the
sun of righteousness rises with healing in his wings, that frozen,
lifeless heart that's cold towards God becomes warm with faith and
love and hope. When the son of righteousness
rises in our hearts. Scripture says when iniquity
abounds. The love of many waxes cold. Wax is cold. See sin and sin
and fear just take away the warmth of the of the gospel, don't they?
But here the Lord says when the son of righteousness arises in
your heart when he's pleased to make himself known. Then you
have the light of the gospel and you have the warmth of the
gospel. And thirdly, the sun, well, without the gravitational
pull of the sun, we would not remain in orbit. Man in his ignorance
used to think that the earth, that the sun revolved around
the earth, didn't he? And religious men in their ignorance
still believe that. I'm not talking about the flat
earthers, I'm talking about people who believe that God revolves
around them. I'm talking about people that think that God is
dependent upon them to do something before he can do anything. That's
the sun revolving around the earth, and you might as well
be as foolish as believing that the sun revolves around the earth
as to believe that. Well, the latter is worse than
the former, isn't it? The truth is that we revolve
around the Son. And if the Son of Righteousness
did not arise in our hearts and draw us unto himself, no man
can come unto me unless the Father which sent me draw him. Lord,
you've got to cause us to come unto you. It's called irresistible
grace. It's called being made willing. Lord, you've got to draw me to
yourself. The Lord said in John chapter
4, if thou knewest the gift of God. Michael, you read this this
morning in the study from the woman at the well in John chapter
4. If you knew the will of God, if you knew the gift of God and
who it is that saith unto thee, give to me to drink, you would
ask of him and he would give you living water. And the woman
said, but Lord the well is deep and you have nothing to draw
with. How can you give me water? Oh, the well is deep, but not
too deep for him. His hand is not short that he
cannot save, nor does his ear deaf that he cannot hear. He
can reach to the uttermost and will to bring his people out. The son of righteousness gives
us light, gives us warmth and draws us to himself. And when he arises in our hearts,
look at the rest of verse two, with healing in his wings, and
you shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall. Now the
picture here is a calf that's hemmed into this little stall
that's finally set free. And he gets to go out into the
pasture and go forth. And he leaps and runs around
in the pasture and enjoys his freedom and the grass that's
plentiful. And here's what the Lord says,
you don't have to be in the bondage to the law. You don't have to
be in bondage to your fear. I'm already taking care of that.
I've satisfied the demands of God's law. I've put your sin
away. And when the son of righteousness
arises in your heart and gives you the light of the gospel and
the warmth of the gospel and draws you to himself and puts
the fear of God in your heart, you're going to be like that
calf that's been set free out of his stall. And you're going
to bound out into the pasture and you're going to find that
I've given you Green grass, make you to lie
down in green pastures. The Lord said, I am the door,
speaking of the shepherd, the sheep, and if any man enter in,
he shall be saved and shall go out and come in and find pasture. You see, by nature, we are bound
by the stall of unbelief. We're bound by the stall of fear. Resentment. An unforgiving spirit. We're bound by sin. We're bound
by the law. The Lord Jesus came to set the
prisoner free. To set it Liberty. Those that
are in bondage. How's he doing? by causing the
sun of righteousness to arise in their heart and delivering
them from that slavish fear. Setting them free to fear God. And to be delivered from that
stall. Where do you want to spend your
life? Cramped up in a dirty stall? or out in the open fields that
the Lord has provided for His people. Free. Stand fast in the
liberty with which Christ has made you free and be not entangled
again with the yoke of bondage. And that's what verse 4 is reminding
us of. Verse 4 is not telling us to
go back to the law. Verse 4 is telling us to remember
the judgment and justice of the law. Look what verse four says.
Remember ye the law of Moses, my servant. Remember that which
I commanded unto him in Horeb and all Israel with its statutes
and its judgments. You see this whole passage, this
last word from God to his people in the Old Testament. Is telling
them. Don't don't don't go back to
the law. Don't be under the law. You're not under the law, you're
under grace. You're free in Christ. The law's
been fulfilled, it's been satisfied. Justice has been met. Christ did that work for you. And the presumptuous unbeliever
will say, well then, but they With whom God has put the fear
of God in their heart, they're going to run to Christ. They're
going to run to Christ. And they're not going to depart
from him. Never. For I will put my fear in their
heart and I will not forsake them and they will never depart
from me. God's last word. The Old Testament. Don't be afraid. Fear God. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
for your word and we pray that your Holy Spirit would now. Just
speak volumes to our hearts about the glory of Christ and cause
us to come unto thee. For it's in his name we pray.
Amen. We're gonna observe the Lord's
table. So I'm gonna ask the men if they'll
come and distribute the bread and the wine, please. Just remain in your seats. We'll
sing hymn number 17 found in your spiral, gospel hymns hymnal. ? See the table spread before you
? See the feast of bread and wine ? These are symbols of our
Savior ? Tokens of his love divine Bread that's broken is his body,
crushed beneath the wrath of God. Wine poured out is a reminder
of our Savior's precious blood. Children of our God, remember
how he bought your soul and mine. In remembrance of our Savior,
eat the bread and drink the wine. Jesus came, the God incarnate,
to fulfill God's holy law. On the cross he made atonement
and retrieved us from the fall. Let us never forget the promise
Jesus made to come again. Soon he comes, King to call us,
home to glory, praise his name. With this hope and expectation,
? We rejoice to keep this feast ? Celebrating our redemption
? Till we lean on Jesus' breast We saw this morning in Deuteronomy
where the Lord said, I will send a prophet like unto thee, speaking
to Moses. It was a prophet that led the
children of Israel out of Egypt, but that wasn't Moses. I mean,
historically it was, but for us, it was Christ. It was Christ
that led them out, led them through the wilderness brought him to
the promised land. And when the Lord taught us to
observe this supper, he didn't say, remember Egypt and all that
Moses did there. He said, as often as you do this,
do it in remembrance of me. For this bread is my body, which
has been given for you. Without the Passover lamb, there
never would have been a, Israel would still be in Egypt. There'd
still be slaves in Egypt. The lamb had to die, a sinless,
a perfect lamb, a spotless lamb. His blood had to be put on the
door. And God said, when I see the
blood, when I see the blood, not when I see your, your works
or your commitments, or when I see the blood, I'll pass by
you. No wrath. The Egyptians, God
made it, the scripture says God made a distinction between Israel
and Egypt. There's always two groups in
there. I want to be in Israel, don't you? I don't want to have
anything to do with that wrath. And I'm thankful that I can worship
a God who has suffered the wrath of God for me. And he did this
through the shedding of his blood. God's people said amen amen Let's
stand together Brother Burt, would you dismiss us, please?