You don't have to turn in your
Bibles, just listen. Psalm 87, his foundation, and Christ is
the foundation, is in the holy mountains. The Lord loveth the
gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of
thee, O city of God. The Holy Mountains, right here.
The city of God, right here. Zion, right here. These words
are spoken of his church. What hope we have in knowing
that this is where the Lord's pleased to make himself known.
And that's our hope this morning, that he will speak to our hearts
and give us our hope in Christ. So let's stand together. Tom's
gonna come lead us in the hymn on the back of your bulletin. Join all the glorious names of
wisdom, love, and power that ever mortals knew, that angels
ever bore. All are too small to speak His
word, too small to set my Savior forth. Great prophet of my God,
my tongue would bless thy name. By thee the joyful news of our
salvation came the joyful news of sin forgiven, of hell subdued,
and peace with heaven. I love my shepherd's voice, his
watchful eye shall keep, my wandering soul among the thousands of his
sheep. He feeds his flock. He calls their names. His bosom bears the tender lambs. Jesus, my great high priest,
suffered and bled and died. My guilty conscience seeks no
sacrifice beside. His powerful blood did once atone,
and now it pleads before the Lord. throne. My advocate appears
for my defense on high. The Father bows his ears and
lays his thunder by. Not all that hell or sin can
say shall turn his heart, his love away. My dear Almighty Lord, my Conqueror
and my King, Thy scepter and Thy sword, Thy reigning grace
I sing. Thine is the power. Behold, I sit in willing bonds
beneath thy feet. Please be seated. I pray the Lord will bless the
reading of his word. for the Lord's call to worship,
would you please turn to John 16? John 16, and we'll begin
at verse seven. I've been given the Lord's over
time, because I'm not too bright, had to deal with me on these
things. I remember Brother Todd Nyberg
was telling one time, he was in the hospital, And the next
morning he was having very serious surgery. And he said, I lay there
in the bed, no nurses, no family, and I asked myself, do I really
believe what I preach? If you're a believer, you've
asked yourself, do I really believe? These, the word of God answers
that question for us. In verse seven, The Lord says,
nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is expedient for you
that I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter,
or God's Spirit, will not come unto you. But if I depart, I
will send him unto you. I need to depart, and I'm gonna
send you my Spirit. And when the Spirit comes, It
will reprove the world of sin, of righteousness and judgment,
of sin because they believe not on me, of righteousness because
I go to my father and you see me no more, of judgment because
the prince of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say
unto you, but you cannot bear them now, albeit when he, the
spirit of truth, is come. God's spirit will guide you into
all truth. For he shall not speak of himself,
but whatsoever you shall hear, that he shall speak, and he will
show you things to come. A lot of spirit worship going
on in religion, isn't it? But God's word says he's not
gonna glorify, the spirit's not gonna glorify himself, it's gonna
point you to Christ. So when people go around fainting
on the You know right then, there's no truth there. He points us
to Christ. And God's spirit shall glorify
me. Spirit takes no glory to themselves,
for he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you. All
things that the Father hath are mine, therefore said I, that
he shall take of mine and shall show it unto you. A little while
and you shall not see me. And again a little while and
you shall see me. I'm going to return. Once little
brother Henry says, Christ is coming, once the Bible's broken
into three things, he's a coming, he's here, and he's coming back
again. Sound me because I go to the Father. How do I know
I really believe? And the answer is, is who's taught
you? Has a man taught you or has God taught you? Because if
God, he says, all my sheep will all be taught of me. When God's
spirit comes, it confirms to us that Christ is salvation. And he's all of salvation. And
to our young people that may have never heard anything but
the gospel, you've been blessed. And I'm telling you, you don't
need to go hear a lie to know the truth. Because if this God's
Spirit's taught you, there's nowhere else I'm going. I don't
need to watch it on TV. I don't need to read it. I don't
want to. Because God's Spirit's taught
me this is the truth. How do I know I'm a believer?
I've cast my eternal soul on it. And if God keep me, I'll keep
casting my soul upon it day after day. And I don't want to go anywhere
else. I've had people, and you all
have, what if you're wrong? Then I'll die in error. But it's
not error, it's the truth. God keep me that I die resting
in Christ. I pray that Lord will enable
us to pray this morning. Lord, we've come to you and We
confess to you we have no hope outside of you. And Lord, we ask that you would
speak to us through our brother and that you would enable him
by your spirit to declare Christ unto us. And Lord, that you would
give us the faith to believe and to rest on Christ alone. And Lord, that you would cause
us to look to you only, and that we trust in you to keep us until
the very end. And we pray for those who have
yet to believe, oh God, that man cannot teach them to believe,
your spirit must do that. We pray that you'd be willing
this morning. We ask you take this prayer,
you make it acceptable to God the Father, amen. number 44 from your Spiral Gospel
Hymns hymnal, number 44. Let's stand together once again. 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. The only remedy for empty notions
is the word of God. If the Lord didn't give us his
word, we would be left with our empty notions, what we just sang,
our opinions, which are of no value when it comes to our need
of salvation. God's word is true and faithful. Might he give us ears to hear
what the spirit saith unto the churches. Will you open your
Bibles with me to Zechariah chapter 10? Zechariah chapter 10. I've titled this message, Called,
Redeemed, and Kept. God does all the saving. Salvation
is of the Lord. He's the one who calls us. He's
the one who gathers us. He's the one who has redeemed
us, and he's the one who keeps us and causes us to increase
in the faith. And all that is found in verse
8 of Zechariah chapter 10, I will hiss for them and gather them for I have redeemed
them. Now that's present tense and
past tense salvation. I will is what God's doing presently. I will hiss for them. I will
call for them. That's what that word means.
There's a picture of a, the word hiss also can be translated whistle. And here's a picture of a dog
that's gone astray and its master whistles for that dog and that
dog turns and comes back. As I will hiss for them, I will
gather them. For I have, that's past tense,
redeemed them and they shall, that's future tense. So we have
past, present, and future. they shall increase even as they
have increased." Now hold your finger there and turn to me to
Hebrews chapter 6. Hebrews chapter 6. The Lord is giving to us a strong
consolation. Here's Here's the message of
hope this morning. That salvation is a work of God. Is a work of grace. From election
to redemption to calling. To sanctification to glorification,
salvations of the Lord. And he's promised to do it, and
when he does it, he does it right. No part of salvation is left
up to me or you. If it is, there's reason for
us to be concerned. There's reason for us to be afraid.
If any part of it is left up to us. Hebrews chapter six, verse
17, wherein God willing more abundantly to show
onto the heirs of promise. The heirs of promise, that's
the people of God. So God shows these things unto
his children whom he has made heirs of his promise. The immutability of his counsel
cannot change. God is the only thing, the only
one that the word immutable can be applied to. Everything else
changes. He said, I am the same yesterday,
today, and forever. Past, present, and future. All of it. He said, I change
not. I am the Lord, and I change not. You and I are changing. The world
we live in is changing. Circumstances around us are changing. Everything is in flux. Everything
is changing. Now, the good news is that it's
changing according to the purpose of God. He's ordained every bit
of it for His glory and for the salvation of His people. But
He never changes. He never changes. He said, I
am the Lord and I change not. Therefore you sons of Jacob are
not consumed. These changes, the immutability
of his counsel, the truth of his word. That's what he's saying.
Cannot change. Sure and steadfast. He confirmed it by an oath. He
confirmed it with a blood sacrifice. The Lord had an immutable counsel
in his own heart before time ever began. Now here's the truth,
brethren. Our God's never learned a thing. He's never changed his mind.
He's never had a new thought. Never. He's not like us. He said of us, considering the
reality of God, you thought that I was altogether as thyself,
but I'm not. I'm not like you in any way.
I'm holy. I'm other than you are in every
way. And I had an immutable counsel,
an immutable purpose that I have had in my heart for eternity
past. That's the covenant of grace.
I'm determined to save my people. And I confirmed it with an oath.
a blood sacrifice when I sent my son to accomplish what I had
immutably counseled in my own covenant, in my own heart, in
my own purpose. I've purposed it and I will perform
it. That's what God said. I purposed
your salvation and I will perform your salvation. Past, present,
and future, that by two immutable things, counsel of his heart
and the blood covenant, the confirmation of his oath, that by two immutable
things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have
a strong consolation. I want to leave here this morning
with a strong consolation. That word consolation is comfort.
Michael, you read about the Holy Spirit being our comforter. And
that Holy Spirit points us to Christ. As you're reading that
passage, I was thinking about a dear man I was talking to recently. He said he grew up Pentecostal.
And the foolish things that people did in his church, he said, I
was scared of the Holy Ghost. And that's just all flesh. This
consolation, the Holy Spirit is our comforter. He's the one
who leads us to Christ and enables us to rest in Christ. And so what the Lord's saying
now is, I'm going to hiss for you. I'm going to gather you
because I have redeemed you and you shall increase. I'm going
to take care of all the salvation, past, present, and future. And
these things are immutable. It can't change. They're set. They're sure. Here's your consolation. Here's your comfort. Here's your
rest. It's not determined by anything
that you do. It's determined by what I do.
By two immutable things in which it is impossible for God to lie,
we might have a strong consolation. Who have fled for refuge? We've run to the city of refuge.
The avenger of blood is hot on our heels. We're guilty of manslaughter. We've put our hands to the death
of the son of God. And so we run to him to lay hold upon the hope that
is set before us, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul,
both sure and steadfast. And what do you know in this
world that's sure and steadfast? What anchor do you know that
won't slip? The anchor that the politicians
are giving us, the anchor that the educators are giving us,
the anchor that, you know, The military gives us? What anchor?
What anchor do you know? What place? What about your own
opinions? Those aren't very good anchors,
are they? We have an anchor. Christ is our anchor who, as
our forerunner, look, went within the veil, with the forerunner
is for us, entered even Jesus, made a high priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. So when the Lord Jesus Christ
when his veil was rent, and that was his flesh, when he gave up
the ghost on Calvary's cross, when he bowed his head and declared,
it's finished. It's finished. You have a strong
consolation. Everything necessary for your
calling for your gathering for your redeeming and for your increase
or for you being kept and and and brought safely into the presence
of God. Is made sure and steadfast by
that anchor which went into the Holies of Holies and placed his
blood on the mercy seat and God saw the blood and God said I'm
satisfied. Satisfied. Go back with me to our text in
Zachariah. I wanted to read that passage
in Hebrews chapter six, because that's, that's the immutability
of his counsel. That's, that's the hope of our
salvation. Now notice what he says in our
text, what the Lord says in verse eight. And we're left with nothing
but our opinions apart from the word of God. And God says, men
love to say what they will do. Well, I will do this and I will
do that. God says, I will, you can be sure. It's impossible
for our God to lie. And when God says, I will his
for them, he's gonna do it. What he's saying is I'm gonna
make my call irresistible. Now the picture here, we've all
had, we've all had disobedient and rebellious dogs that we've
whistled for, and they continue chasing the thing they're not
supposed to be chasing. Uh, I've never had an obedient dog. Um,
but I know this about dogs that it's not in their nature to be
obedient. you find a well-trained obedient
dog and the glory and credit for that dog doesn't go to the
dog, it goes to its trainer. Goes to its trainer. And so when the Lord says, I
will hiss for them, I will whistle for them, they're gonna be chasing
something they're not supposed to be chasing, I'm gonna call
them. And they're gonna stop in their tracks like an obedient
dog. Joshua and Caleb are pictures
of Christ and his church. Joshua's name translated means
the same thing as Jesus means, salvations of the Lord. I will
do all the saving. You shall call his name Jesus
for he shall save his people. That's what Jesus and that's
what Joshua means. Moses couldn't bring the children
of Israel into the promised land. He was a picture of the law.
Now Moses had to die on the other side of the Jordan. Joshua and
Caleb, Caleb's name translated means a faithful dog. And Caleb
is a picture of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Joshua
and Caleb, the only two that were over 20 years old, After,
you remember when Joshua brought the spies in to spy out the land? And they were the only two that
were over 20 years old that survived the 40 years in the wilderness.
And the only ones that are gonna survive this wilderness is Christ
and his church. But here's the thing about it.
He said, I will hiss for them. They are, they're dogs, they're
faithful dogs. I've made them so, I've trained
them. I've trained them. The credit for an obedient dog
goes to the trainer of that dog, does it not? And I'm going to call them to
myself. You know, one thing about training
a dog, and I don't know much about this, but I think this is right. That the
way you train a dog is you reward it for good behavior. And you
deny that affection and reward for bad behavior. You don't beat
a dog into submission. A dog that's been beaten is gonna
bite you. A dog that's been beaten is gonna
be afraid. And perfect love casteth out
fear. The Lord doesn't beat us into
submission. He, he, he shows us it's the
love of God that lead us to repentance. It's the love of Christ that
constrain us. He, he, he, he gives us his affection. He calls us to himself and then
he lavishes us with his approval and with his love and with his
grace. And that's what draws a faithful dog to its master.
Not being beaten with the law. That's just religion, isn't it?
So the Lord says, I'm gonna hiss for them. I'm gonna whistle for
them. And because I'm a master trainer, they're going to obey
me. And this call that I'm going
to extend to them is going to be irresistible. They're gonna
come willingly. I'm gonna make them willing in
the day of my power because they're gonna know that I'm the one that's
able to save them. I'm the one that feeds them.
I'm the one that sustains their life. Faithful dogs crave the approval,
the love and the affection of their master. And the master makes them so.
The Lord says I'm going to hiss for them. And I'll gather them. I will do it and they will come. And they're going to be faithful
dogs. You remember when, when Gideon was to put together an
army and he had, I remember how a thousand men, the Lord said,
take them down to the river. And, uh, and he said, observe
those who pick up the water and lap it out of their hand like
a dog. And when you see a man doing
that, separate him out. And out of all the men that Gideon
had, only 300 of them lapped up the water like a dog. And
God said, there's your army. There's your army. And they defeated
the enemy with 300 men. Why? Because they were dogs.
They were dogs. When the Lord told Ziba, he said,
you go to Lodabar, when David told Ziba, He said, is there
any left of the household of Saul that I might show him kindness
for Jonathan's sake? David and Jonathan had made a
covenant, picturing Christ and the Father. And David says, is
there anyone left from Jonathan's household? And Ziba, his servant,
he said, well, there's a cripple boy over there in Lodabar where
there's no bread. David said, fetch him. I'm going
to whistle for him. I'm going to hiss for him. Bring
him to me. And what did Mephibosheth say to the king? Behold thy servant,
what would thou has to do with such a dead dog as I? Why would
you show any mercy towards someone like me? Know what he said? When that Syrophoenician woman
came begging our Lord for mercy for her daughter, And the Lord
said, it's not right that I should give the children's bread unto
dogs? What did that Syrophoenician
woman say? Truth, Lord. Truth, Lord. That's who I am.
I'm a dog. I'm a dog. Now, in contrast to that, you
remember when David went up against Goliath? And Goliath was incensed. He said, Who is this that cometh
against me with staves? You're going to come against
a giant like me with sticks? What am I, a dog? Isn't that
what he said? Now here's the truth, brethren. All dogs go to heaven. And only
dogs go to heaven. Caleb is the only one that was
saved. A faithful dog. I will hiss for them. I will
whistle for them. And because they crave my love
and my affection, they will come. They will come. Matthew was a
dog, wasn't he? Matthew had a good business going
as a tax collector. That was a pretty profitable
business in first century. And the Lord walked by Matthew's
table, said, Matthew, follow me. And immediately he got up
and left his table and followed after Christ. I will hiss for
them. I'm going to whistle for my dogs
and they're going to come. They're going to come. This call
is going to be irresistible. They're going to come willingly. And the Lord knows where his
dogs are, doesn't he? He knows where every one of them are.
The disciples wanted to go around Samaria and the Lord said, oh
no, I must needs go through Samaria. There's a dog that's going to
meet me at the well there in Samaria while the rest of you
boys are down there in Sychar. And all those disciples went
down into Sychar and they knew who was at the well. And there's
no evidence that any one of them said anything to anybody in the
city about the fact that they had the son of God, the savior
of sinners standing outside their town. But when that woman. was told, I that speaketh unto
you, am he, what she do? She ran back down and she told
everybody in the town. They all came back to see Christ. Oh, the Lord knows where his
dogs are. And he's going to irresistibly
call them. I will hiss for them. Listen to Isaiah chapter five,
verse 26. He will lift up an ensign. An
ensign is a flag. An ensign is a standard. That
ensign is a picture of Christ. He will lift up an ensign. When Christ is lifted up, he'll
draw all men to himself, to the nations from far, and will hiss
unto them from the ends of the earth, and behold, they shall
come with speed swiftly. I'm going to lift up my son.
I'm going to hiss for my people, and they're going to come. They're
going to come with speed, swiftly. I'm going to make them come.
Why? Because they're going to have
a need. They're going to have a need. They're not going to
come because they've found in their constitution some commitment
to God or religion, they're going to come as mercy beggars. They're
going to have a need. They're going to flee. And they're
going to come because My love and affection is going to draw
them. And then notice what he says
in that same verse. We're looking at verse 8 of Zechariah
chapter 10. I will hiss for them. I'm going to whistle for my faithful
dogs. And because I've trained them
by my spirit, they're going to come. They're not going to be
like that rebellious dog that you've got to chase all over
the neighborhood in order to try to find him. You whistle once,
they're going to come. And I'm going to gather them.
I'm not just going to call them to myself. I'm going to gather
them together. Now, right after the ascension
of the Lord Jesus Christ in Acts chapter two. Verse one, the scripture
says, and the disciples were all gathered together in one
place. The first reference. To those
whom God had called out, we hear of them gathering together in
one place. Let's change the analogy now
from dogs to sheep because sheep have to have the flock for the
safety. Sheep aren't safe out there in the wilderness by themselves.
They've got to be where the other sheep are. And when they're threatened,
they just gather together all the more tightly, don't they?
And they're looking for the shepherd to protect them and to defend
them. The Lord says, I'm going to hiss
for them and I'm going to gather them. The next reference that's
made after Peter goes out and preaches on the day of Pentecost,
The next reference is made, and such as should be saved were
added unto the church that day three thousand people. And they
continued steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine in fellowship,
in prayer, and breaking of bread, and in prayer. So what do we
see? We see God's people gathering
together. He said, I'm going to hiss for
them, and I'm going to gather them together. Why do God's people
gather together? As I said in the previous hour,
you know, in religion, you are threatened with the law. You're threatened with punishment
and promised reward if you'll just commit yourself a little
bit more, just be more committed. You know, the word commitment
is nowhere to be found in the Bible. I'm not too worried about your
commitment or my commitment if God gives us a need. As I said
in the previous, we will be committed to that which we have a need
for. If we've got to have Christ, we've got to be gathered together
with God's people. We've got to be where he's where
he's at. You know what? It's true in all of life. You
will commit yourself to that which you have a need for. You got a person that's working
for you that's not committed to their job. It's because they
don't need that job. Let him go. Let him go. Somebody's got
to have it. Psalm 87, the last verse says,
all my springs are in thee. Now that whole Psalm is about
the church. He's hissed for them. He's called them with his irresistible
call. He's loved them to himself. He's
gathered them together. He said, I'm going to do this.
This is what I'm going to do. And he says, all my springs are
in thee. All the fountains of grace, all
the blessings of the gospel are found in the church of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Notice the next phrase in verse
8, for I have, I emphasize that past tense, I will call them
and I will gather them, that's present tense, for I have redeemed
them. I didn't make an attempt to redeem
them. I successfully bought them. That's what that word redeemed.
I bought them. They've been bought with the precious blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. They're mine. They're mine. I
will do with them what I will. They belong to me. When he shed
his blood on Calvary's cross, went into that holies of holies
that's the anchor of our soul, as our forerunner, and rent his
veil, put that blood on the mercy seat, he purchased God's church
for himself. He paid the ransom price. You
remember when Gomer played the harlot? And the Lord told Hosea,
that was his wife. And Gomer's a picture of you
and me. Gomer's a picture of the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And we played the harlot. And Hosea is a picture of Christ.
And what did the Lord tell Hosea? Hosea, you go down to the slave
market and you buy her off the slave market. And he went down
there and he paid 15 shekels of silver. for his wife, and
he brought her home. And he didn't say to her, now
you've got to do the rest. No, I bought you, you're mine. Turn to me to the book of Ruth,
right there between Judges and 1 Samuel. Ruth chapter four. I have redeemed them. Not I'm going to try to redeem
them. I've redeemed them. When the Lord Jesus Christ died
on Calvary's cross, he actually successfully redeemed all his
people. Every single one of them. Nothing
to be added to that. Nothing you and I can do to take
away from it. He redeemed, I have redeemed
them. That's a past tense. In Ruth chapter 3, the last verse,
Naomi, remember Elimelech, the scripture says in the first chapter,
took Naomi to Moab because there was a famine in Bethlehem. He
never should have left Bethlehem. Bethlehem was the city of bread,
but he went pursuing worldly things. And here's the message
here, young people, for leaving the church. and going, because
the church is Bethlehem, that's the city of bread, and to go
into Moab in order to get financial gain. That's what Elimelech did.
He went for financial, he got a better job in Moab. And he
left the church. And he died in Moab, his two
sons died in Moab. And Naomi is left destitute. in Moab, and she comes back to
Bethlehem, and she brings with her the one daughter-in-law that
refused to stay in Moab, Ruth. She tries to convince her to
stay, but Ruth says, oh no, your God is my God, your people are
my people, where you go, I will go. And Ruth comes with her,
and in God's providence, Ruth meets Boaz. And she comes home
from gleaning in the field and tells Naomi, I've met a man named
Boaz. And Naomi's eyes light up and
Naomi says, oh, Boaz, that's our kinsman redeemer. He's able
to buy back what my husband lost. He can redeem us. And he's a
wealthy man and he can do it. And so Ruth tells her about,
and Naomi discovers very quickly that Boaz had fallen in love
with Ruth. And so Naomi says to Ruth in
the last verse of chapter three, In verse 18, Naomi said to Ruth,
sit still my daughter until thou knowest how the matter will fall.
For the man will not be in rest until he have finished the thing
this day. Now Boaz is a picture of Christ
and you and I are Ruth. We've got to be redeemed. And
Naomi says, Christ loves you. He's not going to, you just sit
right there. Don't do anything. Don't do anything. Don't try to help him. You just
sit still for the man will not rest until he has finished the
thing this day. Christ did not rest until he
finished the work of redemption on Calvary's cross. And his bride
just sits still, sits still, don't do anything. It's the hardest
thing to do, isn't it? To do nothing. Give all the credit
and all the glory to the Redeemer who did all the redemption himself. And so in chapter four, then
went Boaz up to the gate and sat him down there and behold
the kinsman of whom Boaz spake came by. Now Boaz had already
told Ruth I'll redeem you. But there is
a kinsman that's nearer to you than me. And we've got to give
him an opportunity to redeem you first, according to the law.
And if he can redeem you, then fine. But if he can't, then I'll
redeem you. unto whom he said, ho, such a
one, turn aside, sit down here, and he turned aside and sat down."
So Boaz now sitting at the city gate, he sees this other man
who's a kinsman. He says, come here, I've got
to talk to you. And he took 10 men of the elders
of the city, and he said, sit down here, and they sat down.
Now this kinsman that's nearer to Ruth than Boaz is a picture
of the law. And these 10 elders are a picture
of the law, the 10 commandments, the law of God. And he says,
you all sit down right here. We've got something to talk about.
And he said unto the kinsmen, Naomi, that has come again out
of the country of Moab, selleth a parcel of land which was our
brother's Elimelech. And I thought to advise thee,
saying, buy it before the inhabitants and before the elders of my people,
and if thou wilt redeem it, redeem it. But if thou wilt not redeem
it, then tell me that I may know, for there is none to redeem it
besides thee, and I am after thee. And he said, I will redeem
it." So now Boaz says to this kinsman, he says, Naomi's come
back. Alemulak's land is here. It's
got to be bought back into the family. It's been sold. And if
you're going to redeem it, redeem it. And in doing so, you're going
to be redeeming Naomi, too. And the kinsman said, I'll do
it. I'll redeem it. Then said Boaz, verse 5, what day thou
buy'st the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must also by it
of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the
name of the dead upon his inheritance. And the kinsman said, I cannot
redeem it for myself, lest I mar my inheritance, redeem thou my
right to thyself, for I cannot redeem it." Oh, you're talking
about a Moabitess? I've got to take a Moabitess
into my family? I can't do that. If I do that,
I'll mar my inheritance. You want to take a Moabitess
into your family, you go ahead. I'm not going to do it. You can
have her. And Ruth married Boaz and gave birth to Obed, and Obed
gave birth to Jesse, and Jesse gave birth to David. And this
Moabitess, who's me and you, the law can't redeem us. If the
law redeems a Moabitess, it's going to mar the inheritance
of the law. Only Boaz, the kinsman redeemer,
can purchase us. And that's exactly what the Lord
Jesus Christ did. He redeemed us unto himself and
put us into the very lineage of the Lord Jesus Christ, making
us part of the family of God. What a glorious story of redemption.
And the Lord says, I will hiss for them and I will gather them
to myself for I have redeemed them. I have redeemed them. I've redeemed them from the kingdom
of darkness and translated them into the kingdom of light and Notice the last part of our
verse. They shall increase as they have
increased. I'm going to work in them, causing
them to will and to do after my good pleasure. I'm going to
make them to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord
Jesus Christ. I'm going to increase their faith. I'm going to increase their understanding. I'm going to make them more and
more dependent upon the Lord Jesus Christ as they mature in
the gospel. I will cause them to increase.
Turn with me to second Peter chapter one. I will hiss for them. I've trained
them well. I've made them willing to come.
Yeah, they're going to bolt out after that car and endanger their
lives. But as soon as I whistle for
them, they're going to stop in their tracks and they're going
to come. And I'm going to gather them to myself among their people. For I have redeemed them. I've successfully redeemed them.
I've accomplished their redemption. It's finished. The law can't
redeem them, but I have. And they shall. They shall increase. Second, Peter chapter one. And
this whole letter, I cannot help but think that Peter is reflecting
back on that night when he denied the Lord. And he's encouraging
the believer to keep their eyes on Christ. Don't do what he did. Simon Peter, a servant and an
apostle, verse one of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like
precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and
our savior, Jesus Christ. I'm writing to the church, everyone
that's obtained the same faith that I have. You obtained it
by the righteousness of God and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace and peace be multiplied
unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ, our
Lord. Might you know him better? Might
you increase in your knowledge of God in your faith? in your
understanding, according as his divine power hath given unto
us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the
knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue. It all
comes by the knowledge of God. They shall increase. I will hiss for them, I will
gather them, for I have redeemed them, and they shall increase."
They shall. I'm going to be sure of it. I've
got my dogs on a leash. They're going to turn their backs.
I'm going to pull them back. And if I have to use a choker
collar, I'll do that. But, you know, some of my dogs
are going to get themselves in a lot of trouble. But in the
end, they shall increase. I'm going to be sure of it. whereby are given unto us, verse
four, exceeding great and precious promises, that by these you might
be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption
that is in the world through lust. I'm going to give them
my spirit. I'm going to give them my divine
nature. And that's the, that's going
to be the thing that will, I'm going to be their rule of life
in their heart. I didn't redeem them with the
law, and the law is not going to be their rule of life. I redeemed
them by the shedding of my own blood, and I'm going to keep
them by the power of my Spirit. And besides this, giving all
diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue, knowledge,
and to knowledge, temperance, and to temperance, patience,
and to patience, godliness, and to godliness, brotherly kindness,
and to brotherly kindness, charity. For if these things be in you
and abound, increase. This is the work of grace. that
God does for those dogs that he's hissed for, that he's gathered
together, those dogs that he has redeemed. He grows them in
his grace. If these things be in you and
abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful
in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the goal. That's the goal. The purpose
of life is to know God. People struggle with what, what
am I here for? What's the world all about? Somebody said, I'm depressed
and I'm an atheist. Well, no wonder you're depressed.
You know, what, what, what purpose is there? What purpose is there? Here's the purpose to know God
and to glorify him forever. But he that lacketh these things
is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that
he is purged from his old sins." You see, it's looking back to
what the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished when he redeemed us and purged
us from all our sins that causes us to grow in grace, in love,
in understanding, and in faith. I will hiss for them. And I will
gather them. For I have redeemed them. And they shall. Increase. We have a strong consolation,
brethren. It is impossible for our God
to lie. And he is successful. In what he's determined to do
for his bride. Amen. Our Heavenly Father. Oftentimes we have. We have been disobedient and
rebellious. Dogs. Lord, we pray that you would.
His for us again. Call us to yourself. gather us
together and cause us to look back to that work of redemption
that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished in purging us of our sins. And work in us, causing us to
will and to do after thy good pleasure, increasing us in grace
and in the knowledge of thy dear son. For it's in his name we
ask it. Amen. Father Tom. 175, let's stand together, 175. Standing on the promises of Christ
my King, through eternal ages let his praises ring. Glory in the highest I will shout
and sing, standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, standing
on the promises of God my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing
on the promises of God. Standing on the promises that
cannot fail When the howling storms of doubt and fear By the
living word of God I would prevail, standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, standing
on the promises of God, my Savior. Standing, I'm standing on the
promises of God. Standing on the promises of Christ
the Lord. Bound to Him eternally by love's
strong cord. Overcoming daily with the Spirit's
sword. Standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, standing
on the promises of God my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing
on the promises of God. Standing on the promises I cannot
fall Listening every moment to the Spirit's call Resting in
my Savior as my all in all Standing on the promises of God Standing,
standing, standing on the promises of God my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing
on the promises of God