Jerry Salzberg is 60 years old
today. Glad to have somebody else in
my camp. I'm just jealous that you look so much younger than
I do. Psalm 92 verse 1 says it is a good thing to give thanks
unto the Lord. and to sing praises unto thy
name, O Most High. It's a good thing, a good thing.
Let's stand together and do a good thing. We're gonna sing the hymn
on the back of your bulletin. Tom, you come please. 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 Him be the glory forever. Amen. He maketh a rebel, a priest,
and a king. He hath brought us, to 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, loud 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, amen ?
Please be seated. Good morning. Would you turn
with me in your Bibles to Isaiah 52. Isaiah 52 verse 7. That's where we're going to begin.
I'd like to start out by reading
53 verse 1. Who hath believed our report,
and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed. That report is
no other than Him, the Lord Jesus Christ. And when we come into
this world, no one believes this report, no one, unless He reveals
it. And so what is this report? Verse
seven, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of Him
that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace, that bringeth
good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation, that saith unto Zion,
thy God reigneth. He's sovereign. Thy watchman
shall lift up the voice. With the voice together shall
they sing, for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall
bring again Zion. So bring forth into joy, oh,
sing together, you waste places of Jerusalem. For the Lord hath
comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem. For they shall call his name
Jesus, for he shall, he's successful, victorious. Verse 10, the Lord
hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations,
and all the ends of the earth shall see this salvation of our
God. Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out
from thence. Touch no unclean thing. Go ye
out of the midst of her. Be ye clean that bear the vessels
of the Lord. For you shall not go out with
haste, nor go by flight, for the Lord will go before you,
and the God of Israel will be your re-reward. Unlike the weak Israelites who
were pecked off at the rear, all of God's sheep will be presented
faultless one day. Not one will be left behind.
Behold, my servant shall deal prudently. He shall be exalted
and extolled and be very high. Oh, when Isaiah saw him high
and lifted and saw the train of his robe fill the temples,
he's high. As many were astonished at thee,
his visage was so marred more than any man and his form more
than the sons of men. So shall he sprinkle many nations.
The kings shall shut their mouths at him. For that which had not
been told them, shall they see. And that which they had not heard,
shall they consider. And if you're a babe here this
morning in Christ, he revealed that to you, not to the wise
and prudent. So let's ask that question again. Who hath believed
our report? And to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed? It's my prayer that when we leave,
we would be able to answer that question and say, Oh Lord, I
believe you may be pleased to do that. Father in heaven, we
thank you for your mercies and grace for once again, bringing
us to this place before you. For it's according to your good
pleasure and will that you do that. Oh, that we might see him,
Jesus Christ, the righteous one, your dear son, lifted and high. That you would remind us once
again how satisfied you're in him, how he is our sinner substitute,
how he accomplished everything. And that one day the Holy One
will present us faultless before the Holy One. Oh, may we be found
in him in that day. So Lord, we ask now that. To
the preaching of your gospel here in the next hour, Lord,
would you be pleased to reveal your arm? That we may be able
to bow and worship him. Send your Holy Spirit, oh Lord.
Lest you do so, we will not believe the report. Forgive us of our
sins and unbelief again, Lord. For we desire and are into worship
and to hear you. Bless your word for Christ's
sake and to his glory, amen. Let's stand together once again.
We'll sing hymn number 40 in your hardback timbrel, number
40. Great is Thy faithfulness, O
God my Father! There is no shadow of turning
with Thee. Thou changest not, thy compassions
they fail not. As thou hast been, thou forever
wilt be. Great is thy faithfulness, great
is thy faithfulness, morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed Thy hand hath
provided, Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me. Summer and winter and springtime
and harvest, sun, moon, and stars in their courses above. Join with all nature in manifold
witness to thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love. Great is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning, new mercies
I see. All I have needed, Thy hand hath
provided. Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord,
unto me. Pardon for sin and a peace that
endureth, Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide, Strength
for today and bright hope for tomorrow. Blessings all mine with 10,000
beside. Great is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. ? Morning by morning new mercies
I see ? All I have needed thy hand hath provided ? Great is
thy faithfulness, Lord, unto thee Please be seated. Will you turn in your Bibles
with me to Psalm 87, please? Psalm 87. And we're going to look at the
last verse in Psalm 87. Now, Psalm 87, as we've seen
over the last couple of weeks, is a prayer of not David, but
the son of David. the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
Praying to the Father to reward him for his faithful work of
redemption. And here in the last verse he
says, show me a token for good. Now the word token is a sign,
a sign. So the Lord Jesus Christ is praying
to the Father and he's saying, Father, show me a sign for good. that those which hated me, and
that's every one of us coming to this world as God-haters.
We're in enmity with God. No man by nature loves the gospel.
No man by nature loves Christ or loves God. They have to be
made to be so. So the Lord Jesus Christ is saying,
Father, show me a sign, a token for good that those which hate
me may see it and be ashamed because thou, oh Lord, has comforted
me and helped me, helped me and comforted me, that they may be ashamed of their
hatred. Now what was that sign? We know
that every prayer the Lord Jesus Christ prayed was answered by
the Father. So when the Lord's praying, Father,
show me a sign, a token for good, that those who by nature hate
me might be made ashamed of their hatred, coming to conclude that
you've helped me and that you have comforted me. What is that
sign? It's the same sign that you and
I pray for. Let me introduce this message
by asking this question. Is it okay for a child of God
to ask God for a sign? Is it, is it okay for you and
I to pray for a sign? Well, yes. if that sign can only
be seen by the eyes of faith. If that sign can be seen with
the physical eyes, can be touched with the physical hands, then
that's wicked. The Lord said a wicked, the Pharisee
said, show us a sign. Show us a sign and we'll believe
on you. Give us some evidence of who you are. And the Lord
said, a wicked and perverse generation seeketh after a sign. No sign
will be given unto it except for the sign of Jonah, who spent
three days and three nights in the belly of the whale and was
miraculously brought forth. Now, what was the Lord Jesus
Christ saying? He was saying, the only sign I'm giving to this
world is my death, burial, and successful resurrection. That's
my sign. Have you seen that with your
physical eyes? No. That happened 2,000 years ago.
We only have the testimony of others, which we believe to be
the testimony of God to give us evidence that that sign is
real. So we're not looking to that
sign with our physical eyes. We're looking to that sign with
the eyes of faith. We walk by faith, not by sight. Now religion is full of physical
signs. Most religious buildings will
have crucifixes, or Star of David, or the Crescent Moon, or they'll
have this symbol, or that symbol, all giving men some physical
evidence of faith that they can touch, that they can see. And
that's what the Lord said is evil. Those kind of signs are
evil. We don't have any of those things
here. We have a plain looking building
that functions as a place of gathering. We don't try to bolster
our faith with physical symbols. not only because the Lord forbid
us from making any symbol that would be an image of those things
which are in heaven, but because we're not walking by sight. We're
not walking by sight. We're walking by faith. And so
I want to say to you, brothers and sisters, yes, it is a good
thing to ask God for a sign. but a sign only that can be seen
with the eyes of faith. Ask the Lord to reveal to you
the truth of who he is. Ask the Lord to give you his
Holy Spirit. Now, when were those men made
ashamed that the Lord's praying for here? When were they made
ashamed? The same crowd at the day of
Pentecost when the Spirit of God came and empowered Peter
to stand and publicly declare the gospel as to who Christ was
and what he had accomplished for Israel were the same men
and women that were crying just a few days before, crucify him,
crucify him. And so the sign was the coming
of the Spirit of God. The token that God gave to enable
those who were his enemies to become ashamed, they went from
crucify him, crucify him to what? They were pricked in their hearts,
the scripture said, by the sound of the gospel. And they said,
man, what must we do? How can we be made right with
God? What must we do to be saved? So our Lord's prayer was answered.
And so will your prayer be answered and my prayer will be answered
if we come before God and say to him. Show us a token for good. Show us a token for good. Lord,
give us your spirit. Open the eyes of my understanding.
Take out my heart of stone and put in a heart of flesh. Give
me, give me ears to hear. Enable me to set my affections
on things above. Lord, I need a sign. I need a
sign. I need a token of your love and
your grace for me. I need faith. I need faith. Lord, increase my faith. That's
what we're asking for. Lord, give us a token for good. And in the end, it's the only
thing that's good. The only thing that's good is
the glory of God and the salvation of his people. Nothing else is
going to meet that definition of goodness as God defines it,
but the glory of God and the salvation of his people. Lord,
I wanna know what's truly good in your sight. In order for me
to know what's truly good in your sight, you're going to have
to give me a token for good. You're going to have to give
me a token for good. And you're going to have to make
my enmity to be ashamed before you. So that I bow in worship,
knowing that the father has hope in that word has helped. So in
our text has helped you and he's comforted you and he's raised
you from the dead and you have succeeded. in accomplishing my
salvation all by yourself. Lord, that's the token I need.
Now the scripture says in Hebrews chapter one, God who at sundry
times and in divers manner spake to our fathers by the prophets,
through signs and wonders and shadows and types, all those
Old Testament manifestations of the gospel, hath in these
last days spoken unto us by his Son, who is the brightness of
his glory, the express image of his person. The Lord Jesus
Christ himself is the sign. He's the token for good. So we're not, those old Testament
types were just typical of what would be fulfilled in Christ. Lord, you've got to enable me
to see that which the natural eye cannot see. The physical
eye cannot see it. It's okay to ask God for a token.
If you're asking him for a token that can only be seen with the
eye of faith. Lord, give me faith to see and
then give me Christ to set my affections on. That's the token
for good. The Lord Jesus Christ prayed
this prayer and the father answered him. Lord, we don't want to be
guilty of those wicked and perverse unbelievers who demanded of you
a physical sign in order for them to believe. The sign that God gives us is
the sign of His Word. Lord, you're going to have to
speak effectually to my heart. You're going to have to take
your word and make it mine. Show me a token for good. For good. Lord, that's what I
need. Now, in his Old Testament types
and shadows, many tokens were mentioned. One of them is found
in Joshua chapter 2. You don't have to turn there.
You're very familiar with the story. Joshua had brought the
children of Israel across the Jordan. Moses, as a picture of
the law, stayed on the east side of the Jordan. Joshua, as a picture
of Christ, divided the Jordan River and brought the people
through, the scripture says, on dry land. Now they are surrounding
Jericho, the first city that they were to confront, that pagan
city that God had promised to them. And for Joshua to know
the outlay of the city, he sent in spies and those spies went
to Rahab's house, the harlot. And she believed the reports
that she was hearing about these Israelites. She believed the
token. God had given her faith to believe
what these spies had told her about their God and about what
he was going to do to destroy her city. And she said, oh, spare
me and my family. And they said to her, we'll spare
you. Remember, she hid them out under
the flax, and then they escaped out the window by a scarlet cord,
the scripture says. And she said, what token will
you give to me that I won't be destroyed when the city's destroyed?
And the spy said, that scarlet cord that's hanging out of your
window. That'll be your token. And anybody that's inside your
house will be spared and their blood will be on our heads if
anything happens to them. But anybody outside your door,
we have, they're not protected. They'll be killed. The sign was
the scarlet cord. Now, you know what that cord
represents. First of all, it's scarlet. How many red ropes have
you ever seen in your life? Okay? Bright, scarlet, red rope. And you know what the red represents.
It's the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's our sign. In another
place, the Lord said to Moses, he said, this will be a token
unto you for me when I see the blood. I'll pass by you. So that blood was a token. And
that scarlet thread represented that blood. The shedding of the
blood of the Son of God who puts away the sins of God's people.
That's our token. That's our sign. And it was a
cord. It was a cord. And the scripture
says that God draws his people with cords of kindness. Cords
of a man. And he binds us to himself. And
then we go to Ephesians, uh, to, to, to Psalm chapter two.
And what does the scripture say? The Kings of the earth, the enemies
of God, what do they say? Let us break his bands asunder
and cast his cords from us. We're not going to let his cord
bind us. We're going to be bound to our own will and our own ways. We're not going to be bound to
Christ. So there's the sign, there's the token. It's a scarlet
cord that binds us to the Lord Jesus Christ. And what's it hanging
out of? It's hanging out of a window. And the scripture says the windows
of heaven will be open and righteousness will come down. You see, we're
not looking for a window and a red rope hanging out of it.
Those were signs that God gave to the Old Testament believers.
Those signs have been fulfilled in Christ. His blood has been
shed. It's been put on the mercy seat. God is satisfied. The windows
of heaven have been opened and the cord of kindness binds us
to our God so that we don't say with the unbeliever, We'll not
have this man reign over us. We're glad for him to bind us
with the cords of his grace and the cords of his love. So there's
the token. We're looking through the eye
of faith to those things that those physical tokens represented. And we're saying to God, give
me a token for good. Give me your spirit, cause your
word to be alive and effectual and reveal to me the accomplished
work and glorious person of thy dear son. That's the token that
I need. And it'll be for good. It'll be for my salvation. I hear religious people talk about
Gideon and say, well, you know, you need to put out a fleece.
And you're praying about something, and you want to know what you
should do, and religious people say, well, we need to put out
a fleece and see what God's going to do in order to give us a sign
so that we'll know which way to go. Don't do that. Don't do
that. You know what a fleece is a picture
of. It's a lambskin. That fleece that Gideon was an
Old Testament believer, and he doubted God. He had the Word
of God, but he didn't have the written Word of God. You see,
we have a sure testimony. This is why we don't look for
signs and wonders. This is why we don't put out
a fleece. Because we've got the Word of God. Gideon didn't have
that. Those Old Testament believers
didn't have that. And so, in wondering whether or not what
he was hearing was coming from God, he said, Lord, I need for
you to give me a token. And so he put out a fleece and
he said, in the morning when I get up, I want that fleece
to be wet and the ground all around it to be dry from the
dew of the night. And sure enough, when he got
up in the morning, Gideon took that fleece and he wrung out,
the Bible says, a bowl of water. And still wondering whether he
was hearing from God, he said, Lord, forgive me, but I need
another sign. And so he put the fleece out
again the next night. And he said, this time, Lord, I want
all the ground around the fleece to be wet and the fleece to be
dry. And the Lord answered his prayer. And Gideon was convinced
that God was speaking and he pressed forward. Now what does
that sign, what does that token represent for us? The Lord Jesus Christ is the
Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world. He's the
anointed one. He's the one who came in the
full power of the Spirit of God as the Christ, as the Messiah. He's the one who intercedes on
behalf of his people. He's the one who satisfied God's
divine justice and his holy law. And on Calvary's cross, in accomplishing
his work, he was wrung out. He was wrung out. He was left
by himself. He was forsaken of the Father.
He hung on Calvary's tree, suspended between heaven and earth, satisfying
God's justice for God's people all by himself. And now what
is the result of that wringing out that Christ suffered on Calvary's
cross? The ground around the fleece
is wet. We now have the promise of the
Spirit of God. What the Lord say, I'll write
my laws upon their hearts. I'll impress them upon their
minds. I'll pour out my spirit upon them. The Lord Jesus Christ
was rung out so that the ground around him could be made wet. And when the Spirit of God comes,
what does he do? What does he do? He points us
to Christ. That's all he does. He didn't
call attention to himself. He points us to Christ. That's
his. That's his work. And that's the
token. That's the token. Lord. Show me a sign. Not a physical sign that I can
see with my eyes, but show me what these tokens of scripture
represent about that spiritual truth that can only be seen through
the eyes of faith. And that'll be for good. It'll
be for good. Yes. Yes. Ask God for a sign, but not one that could be seen
with your physical eyes. The Lord Jesus Christ said about
the spirit, he said, it's expedient for you that I go away. If I
go not away, the spirit of truth will not come. But when he comes,
when he comes, and he came on Pentecost, and this is the fulfillment
of this psalm, of this verse, show me a sign that they which
are my enemies will be made ashamed. And that sign was poured out
on the day of Pentecost. And if we have not the Spirit
of God, we're none of His. If we don't have the Spirit of
God, we can't see Christ. It's the Spirit of God that opens
up our eyes, gives us a new heart, and enables us to set our affections
on Christ and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, we've
got to have the Spirit of God. That's why the Lord said, if
you, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children,
how much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to
them that ask Him? Ask God for his Spirit. We've
got to have the Spirit of God. Lord, show me a sign. Give me
your Spirit. And when the Spirit of God comes,
how do I know if I have the Spirit of God? Is it because I speak
in tongues? Is it because I can perform miracles? Am I looking for some physical
evidence of having the Spirit of God? No, not again. No. No. We walk by faith, not by
sight. I know that I have the Spirit
of God because God's made me to be a sinner. He's made me
to be a sinner. He's made me to believe. That's
what He said, when the Spirit of God comes, He will convict
the world of sin because they believe not on me. I've been convicted of my unbelief.
I know that all my problems are rooted in my inability to believe
God. I know that the only hope that
I have is that God give me faith. Because everything outside of
faith is sin. And if God judged me by the very
best thing I ever did, what did Aaron bore the iniquity of the
holy things before God? We need the Lord Jesus Christ
to bear the iniquity of our holy things. If God took the most
sincere prayer that you and I have ever prayed and judged us for,
we'd go to hell for it. Now you make that statement,
I made that statement to a man recently. And he was talking
a lot before I made that statement and he shut his mouth and he
said, you just said a mouthful. Can you hear that? That you need
Christ to bear the iniquity of your holy things. That's what
it is to be a center. I have no righteousness outside
of Christ. That's how I know I have the
spirit of God. The unbeliever doesn't, the one, the person
without the spirit of God doesn't believe themselves to be a sinner.
Every unbeliever believes themselves to be righteous. And every believer believes themselves
to be unrighteous. When the spirit of God comes,
he will convict the world of sin. All the world is convicted
of bad behavior. There's no question about that.
That's conscience. The conscience can convict you of bad behavior,
and you don't have to be a believer to have a conscience. But to
be convicted that you're a sinner, that's the work of the Spirit
of God, isn't it? He will convict the world of sin because they
believe not on me, of righteousness because I go to my Father. How
do I know if I have the Spirit of God? How do I know if God's
given me a token for good, if He's given me the Spirit of God?
Because all my hope for righteousness is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Of righteousness, because I go to my father, I have an advocate
seated at the right hand of God, Jesus Christ, the righteous.
Who is making intercession for me. I have no righteousness outside
of him. My best righteousness is as filthy
rags man in his very best state is altogether vanity. You see
those who don't have the spirit of God. Don't believe that they
don't believe that. If you have the Spirit of God,
you believe that. And of judgment, because the prince of this world
has been judged. Has been judged. When the Lord
Jesus Christ bowed his mighty head on Calvary's tree and said,
it is finished. All that God came to save were
justified. He was offered up for our offenses
and raised again because of our justification and Satan was defeated. The grave was conquered. Death
was, was conquered. Sin was put away. Justice was
satisfied once and for all. I cannot add anything to it and
I cannot take anything away from it. And the spirit of God has
taught me that of judgment because the Prince of this world is judged.
Lord show me a token for good, give me your spirit, enable me
to rest all my hope on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the first time
token is mentioned is the rainbow. Remember after, it never rained
before the flood, before Noah's flood. Never rained. Scripture
says the earth was watered from the mist that came up and Noah
had to believe God to believe that there was going to be a
rain. It had never seen rain. What is rain? I don't know what
rain is. But God says it's going to rain. God says the world's
going to be flooded and I need to build an ark. And Noah believed
God and he built an ark. And then after the waters Went away and the ark rests itself
on Mount Ararat. What happens? The next time it
starts to rain, Noah thinks, oh no, here we go again. Man, we barely survived the first
time. And God put a bow in the clouds,
didn't he? And he said, that's a token.
That's a token that I'm not going to destroy the earth with a flood
ever again. Now what does the bow represent?
What does the rainbow represent? Two things necessary for you
to see a rainbow. Light and water. And it has to
be either in the morning or in the late afternoon because the
light has to attack the water, has to hit the water just from
there. You've never seen a rainbow in the middle of the day. You've
never seen one, you never will. You only see them in the morning
and late in the afternoon. And the light is the light of
the gospel that shines in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He said, I am the light of the world. And the water is the washing
of the water of his word. And unless the spirit of God
shines the light of the gospel on God's word, just at the right
angle for me and you, we're not going to see, and there's not
going to be a token. And that rainbow comforted Noah.
Don't have to worry about a flood again. Another thing about a
rainbow. Have you ever seen a rainbow from the airplane? You have,
haven't you? You look at a rainbow down in
the cloud from an airplane. It's not a bow. It's a circle. It's
a perfect circle. You see, we just see part of
God's providence, don't we? We just see part of God sees
the whole thing from beginning to end. He sees the whole thing. So these tokens, whether it be
the scarlet cord, or whether it be the rainbow, or whether
it be the blood that was put upon the doorpost, these all
represent the spiritual token that you and I are to pray for.
Show me a token for good. Lord, I'm not looking for something
like those Old Testament believers had that they could see with
their eyes. I'm looking for that which can only be seen through
the eye of faith. and only be given to me by the
spirit of God. Circumcision is called a token. It's called a sign. And the Presbyterians
want to make circumcision and baptism synonymous. And that's
the reason they circumcised babies or baptized babies. I'm sorry. Circumcision is not synonymous
with baptism. You see, they're looking for
a physical sign that they can, they're looking for evidence
that they can look at physically and say, well, they're, they're
child of the covenant. No, they're not. The circumcision of the flesh
in the Old Testament is likened to the circumcision of the heart
in the New Testament done by the Spirit, not with the hands
of men. So again, we're talking about something that can only
be seen with the eyes of faith. Lord, you've got to circumcise
my heart. You've got to cut away the flesh. You've got to make
my flesh ashamed. You've got to show me what I
am by nature that I might find all my hope and all my trust
and all my salvation in Christ. That's the token. Lord, give
me, give me a token for good. Give me a token for good. When
Moses was at Mount Sinai, before he went into Egypt to bring the
children of Israel out, he was there at the burning bush, which
itself is a picture of Christ. Lord, I need to see the picture
of this tree that was burned, but not consumed. The one who
received the full fury of God's wrath from heaven, but was not
destroyed. And the Lord Jesus Christ tells
Moses to take your shoes off, you stand on holy ground. And
God and Christ speaks to Moses. And Moses asked this question,
Lord, how will I know that this is going to be successful? I
objected several times. I can't speak. You want me to
go into Egypt and bring all these people out? They want to kill
me there. I'm a man that's committed crimes in Egypt, and I'm sure
they're still looking for me. No. No, as you go back, I'll
be with you. How do I know it's gonna be successful?
What did God say? This shall be a token unto you.
This is gonna be your sign. When you come back here to this
mountain, you're gonna worship me. Now, what did Mount Sinai represent? It's the law. It's the law. It quaked. And the people were fearful of
that mountain. And Moses went right up on that
mountain and worshiped God. And what did God have to do and
able to, that was his token. He was put in a rock. He said,
knows us. There's a place here near unto
me. And he put him in a cleft of the rock and he caused his
backside to pass by and his goodness to pass before him. And that
was his token. And here's our token brethren.
The law can't condemn us. There's no reason to fear God's
law. We love God's law, but we don't have to fear it. Christ
has satisfied the demands of God's law. We're free from the
law. We're not under the law, we're
under grace. And we're able to worship God,
why? Because he's put us in the cleft of a rock. And he's caused
his backside to pass by and he showed us what he's accomplished
on Calvary's cross 2000 years ago. Or show me a token for good. Not one that I can see with my
physical eyes, but show me what these old Testament tokens had
to say about the Lord Jesus Christ. And when the Lord instituted
the Passover, he told Moses, he said, when your children,
when your children ask you what this means, this will be a token
unto them. And it'll be a frontlet unto
their eyes. and it will be a token upon their
hand. And to this very day, the Orthodox
Jews wrap leather around their waist and around their wrist
and they put a little box on the back of their hand and put
scripture in it. And then they've got another leather thing wrapped
around their head and they've got a little a little box made
out of leather here on the top of their head, and they call
that a frontlet. And they think they're fulfilling the prophecy
that God gave to Moses by having frontlets between their eyes
and a token upon their hand. But that's not it at all. You
see, they're looking for a physical sign. And they've not seen the
truth of what the token was. It was the blood. It was the
blood, it was the promise of God fulfilled in Christ. God who at sundry times and in
divers manners spake unto your fathers by the prophets in times
past, hath in these last days spoken unto. Christ has fulfilled
all those types and shadows. We don't go around putting, putting
scripture on our hand or writing them on our cheeks like I've
seen football players do or put them on our forehead. No, those
are physical things that men like to look at in order to get
evidence of their salvation. We look at them through the eyes
of faith. Faith. The Spirit of God's the token.
Turn with me to Ephesians chapter one. We'll look at a couple verses here
and then we'll be finished. Ephesians chapter one. Verse 13, in whom you also trusted. Speaking of Christ, you've trusted
in Christ. After that you heard the word
of truth. You couldn't trust in Christ until you heard the
gospel. You had to hear about who he was and what he accomplished
before you could believe. Faith comes by hearing. The gospel
of your salvation You heard it as the gospel, the good news
of your salvation. Not somebody else's salvation,
but your salvation. In whom also after that you believed
you were sealed. With the Holy Spirit of promise,
there's the token. There's the token. You were given. The down payment, the token.
Of the Spirit of God. which is the earnest. There it
is. There's there's the token, which
is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased
possession under the praise of his glory. The possessions already
been purchased. There's no more. There's no more
price to be paid. But until the full redemption
of that purchase has been experienced, we have the token of the Spirit
of God, which enables us to look to Christ. Let me show you that
one other place, Romans chapter 8. Verse 14. For as many as are
led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. What does
it mean to be led by the Spirit of God? For you have not received
the spirit of bondage again unto fear, but you have received the spirit
of adoption whereby we cry, Abba Father. If I had the Spirit of
God, I don't have to fear the wrath of God. The Spirit of God
has spoke peace to my heart. He's comforted me in enabling
me to trust Christ and what he accomplished. I'm not under the
law. There's no condemnation to them
that are in Christ Jesus. So if I've got the Spirit of
God, I'm not living my life in fear, trying to satisfy the demands
of God's law by my works. I'm looking in faith to the one
who put away the wrath of God. And I'm resting my hope in Him. And I'm crying, Abba, Father. No longer do I call you my servants
for a servant has no idea what his master's doing, but I call
you friends and know the place he calls us his brethren. He's
the firstborn among many brethren. The Lord Jesus Christ is not
ashamed to be called our brother, our brother, and gives us access
so that we can come boldly with confidence before the throne
of grace. Knowing that the way's been paved, the anchor's been
set, the veil's been rent. How do we know that? Only by
the Spirit of God, only by the eye of faith. You're not going
to get any evidence of that otherwise. Don't look for it. It's evil
to look for something that you can see, something that you can
experience, something you can feel, something you can touch.
This can only come by faith. We walk by faith, not by sight. Look at the next word, the spirit
itself bearing witness with our spirit that we are the children
of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint
heirs with Christ. If so be that we suffer with
him, that we may be glorified together. For I reckon that the
sufferings of this world cannot be compared to the glory that
shall be revealed in us. You see, this goes back to that
Zachariah passage that we looked at the first hour. God sent his
people out into the world. There's going to be some suffering
out there, some afflictions. You're not going to be of this
world. You're not going to be of this world. But that's all
right, I'm going to keep you. And when the suffering's over,
you're going to receive the fullness of your inheritance. Lord, show
me that. Show me a token for good. Lord,
I've got to have that. I've got to have that. And let
me show you one last passage before we finish. Philippians
chapter one. Philippians chapter one. How do I know? Because the Lord has given me
rest for my soul. rest. I don't have to fight,
I don't have to debate, I don't have to argue with anybody. I know whom I have believed and
am persuaded, persuaded. There's a lot of things I don't
know, a lot of things I wonder about, but one thing I know for
sure that he's able to keep that which I've committed unto him
against that day. I know that. If I know anything at all, I
know that. Why? Because God has given me a token
for good. I'm not living in question of
that or in fear of that. The Spirit of God has given me
the ability to cry out, but Father, now look, look at, look at Philippians
chapter one at verse 28 and in nothing terrified by your adversaries. We're not living in fear of the
unbeliever. We're not living in fear of the
devil. and in no way be terrified by your adversaries, which is
to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation and that
of God." I don't live in fear. I don't
live terrified. And when the thoughts and feelings
of fear come, they drive me to Christ and I remember who He
is and what He's done. I find my rest and hope in Him. Listen to Philippians chapter
1 verse 28 translated in the Amplified Bible, which I oftentimes
read because it's a paraphrase. It's not a translation, it's
a paraphrase, but it's a good paraphrase. And here's what the
Amplified Bible says about Philippians chapter 1 verse 28. And in no
way be alarmed or intimidated in anything by your opponents.
For such constancy and fearlessness on your part is a clear sign,
proof and seal for them of their impending destruction. But a
clear sign for you of deliverance and salvation and that from God. So you can tell how sure a person
is about something about how angry they get when you challenge
it. We've got no reason to be angry
at people. Somebody sent me a text this
week and they said, religion and patriotism, two good things,
but they've both caused the death of the vast majority of people
in the world through war. And I guess that's true. I guess
that's true. We're not here to fight with
folks. We're not here to debate with
people. We're not here to, our sure confidence is to them a
token of their perdition, but to us of our salvation and
that of God. Oh Lord, show me a token for
good. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
for your word. We ask Lord that your spirit
now would make it effectual to our hearts. Thank you for this
table, what it represents. The two physical signs that you
have given to the church, baptism and the Lord's table. Lord, give
us eyes of faith to see beyond these physical elements. To the
body and blood of thy dear son. For it's in his name we pray.
Amen. I asked the man if they'll come
please and distribute the wine and bread Tom. Number 17 in the
spiral hymnal. you 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, our 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 The Lord warns us about receiving
the table unworthily. And what that means is that you're
looking through the physical eyes to something other than
what the spiritual eyes are able to see in Christ. I've talked to people that think
that there's something meritorious about the bread and the wine
in and of itself. And. And that's just not true. It's just not true. We have to
look at this bread. With the eyes of faith and remember,
the Lord said do this in remembrance of me, didn't he? Don't look
at the bread. He's just unleavened bread. But the body of Christ that was
without sin. Was offered up for you. And once again, the eye of faith
looks beyond the wine that's in this cup and sees through
faith that blood that Christ shed on Calvary's cross and put
on the mercy seat. And whether or not we can see
it, God sees it. God said, when I see the blood,
I will pass by you. Lord, you're gonna have to look
at the blood of Christ on my behalf. We do this in remembrance
of him. And all God's people said, amen,
amen. Lord, show us a token for good.
Let's stand together. I want to ask Jerry, would you
dismiss us in prayer, please, brother? Thank you. Dear Lord
and Heavenly Father, Okay. Thank you.