46 46 You don't have to turn in your
Bible 2nd Chronicles chapter 20 You shall not need to fight in
this battle You shall not need to fight in this battle Set yourself
Stand ye still and see the salvation of the Lord with you. O Judah
and Jerusalem, fear not, be not dismayed. Tomorrow go out against
them for the Lord shall be with you. The battle's not yours,
it's the Lord's. And he's already got the victory.
We've come here to worship him for that. Let's stand together. Tom's going to come lead us.
Number 46. 46 in your hardback teminal. Oh, for a thousand tongues to
sing my great Redeemer's praise, the glories of my God and King,
the triumphs of His grace. My gracious Master and my God,
assist me to proclaim, to spread through all the earth abroad
the honors of thy name. Jesus, the name that charms our
fears, that bids our sorrows cease, tis music in the sinner's
ears, tis life and health and peace. He breaks the power of
cancelled sin. He sets the prisoner free. His blood can make the foulest
clean. His blood availed for me. Hear him ye deaf, his praise
ye dumb, Your lucent tongues employ, Ye blind behold your
Saviour come, And leap ye lame for joy. Glory to God and praise
and love be ever, ever given by saints below and saints above
the church and earth and heaven. Please be seated. Oh, it is so good to be back
in church. I want to thank everyone for
their prayers and all the well wishes and. And thanks be in
first John chapter one or Chapter 2 and verse 15. First John Chapter 2 and verse
15. Love not the world, neither the
things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the
love of the Father is not in him. For, or because, because
all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of
the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is
of the world. And you think about Eve, whenever
Satan tempted her, and she looked at the tree, and scripture says
that when she saw that the tree was good for food, that's the
lust of the flesh. and pleasant to the eyes. That's
the lust of the eyes. And a tree to be desired to make
one wise. That's the pride of life. That's
how dangerous these things are, and we can get caught up in them
and not know. We, me and Deanna, have been
brought about as low as we've ever been. I've always been a
proud man. I've always been a strong man.
But the Lord brought me to the end of my pride and the end of
my strength. And except for brothers and sisters
in Christ, except for the grace of God, I don't think we'd have
made it. When you stand in the hospital,
and you see your wife nearly bleed to death. All of a sudden, 13 pair of high-dollar
boots don't mean anything. All of the things that I've accumulated
over the years, all of the things Deanna's accumulated over the
years, things that I didn't realize how proud I was of them, Loaded
most of them into the back of a brother's pickup truck and
he drove off to the dump with him And he said nuts and bolts. That's the story of a man's life
Everything we have Everything is unimportant But I managed
to save a bunch of stuff that I'm gonna steal yet gonna have
to get rid of it None of these things, the important thing is
right here. Except for brothers and sisters
in Christ, you have no help in this world. They're the only
ones that will help you and not expect anything. When it says
love, not the world, neither the things of the world, it's
not talking about a lot of great big fancy things. It's talking
about everyday things of life. It's talking about priorities. And the Lord has a way of bringing
us back and opening our eyes to the fact that we've got the
wrong priorities. I want to thank everyone again
for your prayers and for everything you've done for us for just for
being here for us. Love not the world, neither the
things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the
love of the Father is not in him. Because all that is in the
world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the
pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the
world passeth away, and the lust thereof. But he that doeth the
will of God abideth forever. Father, we thank you that You
don't just do away with us, Father, when we do stupid things, but
you correct us, Father, and you cause us to love one another.
You increase our faith, Father. You give us the things that we
need, and Father, more important than that, you give us what you
require, Father, and you're happy with that. No matter how silly
we are, no matter how foolish we are, no matter how bad we
are, Father, all of these things are taken care of by your grace,
your love, and the blood of Jesus Christ. We thank you, Father,
for calling us out of the power of darkness and translating us
into the kingdom of your dear Son. Guide us, Father. Give us grace. Cause us to love
one another. We ask these things in Jesus'
name. Amen. Let's stand together once again.
We're going to sing the hymn that's on the back of your bulletin.
There's one word missing in the last line of the second verse.
Just put a come in front of the word and when we get there. 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 hear freely. 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. We're going
to have special music now with Adam and Caleb. Far from God and dead and sent
Nobody my heart could see But in God's Word, the light I found
Now Christ liveth in me Christ liveth in me. Christ liveth in me. What a salvation is that Christ
liveth in me. As rays of light from yonder
sun, the flowers of earth set free. So life and light and love
came forth from Christ. Christ liveth in me. Christ liveth in me. Christ liveth in me. Christ liveth in me. What a salvation this, that Christ
liveth in me. So praise the God of truth and
grace. His spirit dwelleth in me. Christ liveth in me. Christ liveth in me. Christ liveth in me. What a salvation this is. Oh, my heart is filled that like
Him I may be, as on the wondrous thought I dwell that Christ lives. Christ liveth in me. Christ liveth in me. Christ liveth in me. What a salvation this I was blushing whether you had
to get up and preach afterwards or not, wasn't it? Thank you, man. Oh, that's our
hope this morning. We'll be able to leave here knowing
that Christ liveth in us. Will you open your Bibles with
me to the book of Zechariah, next to the last book of the
Old Testament. Zechariah chapter 10. I suppose prayer is sort of the
theme of both messages this morning. I've titled this one, Ask for
Showers of Rain. Ask for showers of rain. Zechariah
10, verse 1, Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter
rain, so the Lord shall make bright clouds and give them showers
of rain To everyone, grass in the field. Rain is a theme that's
used over and over again in scriptures to illustrate for us the blessings
of grace in Christ. One thing we know about rain
is that it's necessary for life. Scott Kelly, who was the twin
astronaut that spent a year on the space station back in 2017,
I think it was. When he came back, he said the
one thing he missed more than anything else was rain. And when
he went home after whatever they do to debrief them, he said he
walked in his front door of his house, walked right through the
living room, walked out the back door and jumped in the swimming
pool with all of his clothes on. A year in space, he just
missed water, rain. Might God make us that thirsty
for His grace and for Christ to nourish our souls and satisfy
us? Here the scripture speaks of
the latter rain, speaks of the former and the latter rain several
times in the scriptures. And the former rain is that rain
that was necessary in order for the seed to germinate and begin
to grow. And the latter rain was that
rain that was necessary in order to, uh, ripen the harvest so
that the fruits could be taken in at the harvest time. And it's
a spiritual picture. The former rain is that of the
new birth. It's when God opens the windows
of heaven and showers us with the blessings of His grace, gives
to us the gift of faith. and enables us to believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. I've given this illustration
before. I want to repeat it again this morning. For those might
think that faith is their contribution to salvation, and that's what
man-made religion is. God's done everything he can
do. Now we have to believe in order for what he did work for
us. And faith in the new birth is
like breathing in the physical birth. When a baby's born alive,
it breathes. If it doesn't breathe, it's evident
that it wasn't a live birth. Breathing doesn't make the baby
alive. Breathing is what give evidence of life. And that's
the way faith is. Faith is not what makes us alive.
A life is the gift of God. That's the new birth. That's
the work of the spirit of God. That's regeneration. Faith is
what a spiritually live person has and does. And it comes from
God. And so that's the that's the
former rain. That's the that's the rain that
God gives at the new birth when he enables us to have faith. Here he speaks of this rain as
the latter rain. And that's glorification. That's when God opens the windows
of heavens and showers us with the blessing of going home. And. All the reigns between the
former reign and the latter reign are the blessings of God's grace
given to His children in this world. We've got to have that
former rain in order for the seed. You remember the Lord gave
that parable of the sower, which had a seed. And he scattered
the seed, and some of the seed fell on thorny soil and was choked
out by the thorns. And some of it fell on the roadside,
and some of it fell in rocky soil. And others fell on fallow
ground, soil that had been prepared by the Spirit of God. And it
germinated, and it grew, and it gave fruit. And so it is with
the seed of God's word in this former reign. We pray that God
would bless his word. Matter of fact, if you'll turn
with me to Isaiah, turn back with me to Isaiah chapter 55.
Yes, Isaiah chapter 55. We'll be in reading at verse
eight for my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your
ways. My ways say at the Lord, there
is a way that seems right on demand, but in the end that way
leads to death. It just seems right that I should
have to do something in order for God to save me. And God says,
my ways are not your ways. My thoughts are not your thoughts.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways
higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and
returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring
forth the bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to
the eater. Here's our hope this morning
that the Lord would open the windows of heaven and cause the
rain of his grace to come down and give seed to the sower and
bread to the eater. Verse 11, so shall my word be
that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void,
but it shall accomplish that which I please and it shall prosper
in the thing wherein I send it. That's my comfort. God's word
is preached. The gospel is declared, the Lord's
not going to allow it to return unto him void. It will accomplish,
it will accomplish the purpose for which he sent it. And when
the word of God, the living word came into this world, he accomplished
the purpose for which God sent him. And the scripture is very
clear about what his purpose was. You shall call his name
Jesus for he shall save his people. He's not going to make an attempt.
He's not going to make an offer to man. He's going to accomplish
the purpose for which I sent him. He's the anointed one. He's
the Messiah. He's the Christ coming in the
full power of the spirit of God to accomplish the purpose for
which I sent him. He's not going to return unto
me void. When he ascended back into glory and took his rightful
place at the right hand of the majesty on high, he took with
him the names of those for whom he lived and died. And he makes
intercession for us. That's the rain. That's the rain. This rain is necessary. There's
no life without water, no life without rain. Lord, if you don't,
if you don't rain the showers of your grace in my heart, I
won't live. Uh, this rain is sovereign. It's a, it's, you
remember, you remember when Elijah prayed to God and shut up the
heavens? And God sends a drought and God sends the rain, you know,
the meteorologists can talk about when it's going to rain all they
want. God's the one that determines when it's going to rain and where
it's going to rain and how much it's going to rain. The reign
of God is sovereign. It's what the Lord said to Nicodemus
in John chapter three. He said, Nicodemus, except you
be born of the Spirit, you shall not enter the kingdom of God.
You can't see the kingdom of God. So I knew it. You remember what Nicodemus said?
How can I go back into my mother's womb and be born again? Oh, Nicodemus,
come on now. Spirit, being born again is being
born from above. It's being born of God. It's
the new birth. It's that rain that comes down.
And the Spirit's like the wind. He listeth whithersoever he wills. The rain is sovereign. The rain
is controlled by God. The rain of His grace is controlled
by God. Now, that'll either do one of
two things. Well, it'll do one of three things, perhaps. We
talk about men being sovereign. They'll do like they did to the
Lord in Luke chapter 4 when they took him to the brow of the hill
and would have stoned him for claiming himself to be the sovereign
God. So it'll either inspire hatred
among men. You're saying that I don't have
anything to do with my salvation. It's all up to God. Yes, that's
what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying. Well, I don't like
that. I like to have a hand in it. Well, I'm sorry, you don't.
And some people are going to get angry when you talk about
God being sovereign over the rain. Some people are going to
become fatalist. They're going to say, well, you
know, what will be, will be. We'll just sit back and wait
for God to do something. And the third group will become
mercy beggars. Lord, if you don't rain the showers
of your grace on me, I'm going to die. And not only do I need
the former rain, that rain that germinates the seed of your word
and causes it to prosper and grow and enables me to have faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. I've got to have the latter rain.
I've got to have that rain of your grace all the way through
life so that when you come to harvest me and take me home,
it's going to be all of grace, all of grace. And now our prayer
is, ask ye the Lord for rain. Ask ye the Lord for rain. His
rain is necessary. His rain is sovereign. His rain
comes from above. Rain doesn't come down, it comes,
I mean, rain doesn't come up, it comes down. And it comes from
God. The Lord's the one that sends
his grace and his mercy. Scripture says the rain falls
on the just and on the unjust. Now, what that means is that
the rain of God's grace falls on His people and the unbeliever
benefits from it. The unbelieving world is benefiting
From the fact that the rain of God's grace is being poured out
on his church. So what do you mean by that?
Well, what I mean by that is when the final harvest takes
place. And God's church is taken out
of this world. The scripture is very clear about
what's going to rain from heaven. It's not going to be water. It's
not going to be water. It's going to be fire. And the
only reason that the fire of God's wrath is not falling on
this world right now is because God's people are still here.
As soon as they're taken away, the rain's gonna be turned to
water, to fire. And so it rains on the just. And the unjust, unbeknownst to
themselves, are temporarily benefiting and that they're not yet suffering
the wrath of God's justice because of the reign of his grace that's
being given to his church. Turn with me in your Bibles please
to Deuteronomy chapter 11. Ask ye the Lord for rain. Ask the Lord for rain. That's
what faith does. Faith pleads with God. Faith asks God, God, you're going
to have to save me if I'm going to be saved. You're going to
have to give me eyes to see if I'm going to see. You're going
to have to enable me to hear if I'm going to hear. All that
you require of me, you're going to have to provide. I can't do
anything for myself. I am but a little child. Deuteronomy
chapter 11. at verse 10, for the land, the
land, whither thou goest to possess it. Now that's the promised land
for Israel. God's speaking to the children
of Israel, but the spiritual connection for that is heaven. God's saying to you and me right
now, the land that you're going to possess and that you possess
right now through faith and that one day your eyes are going to
see and you're going to have the full possession of it and
you're experienced, not just through faith. Faith's not going
to be in heaven. We won't need faith in heaven.
Faith's going to be our experience. So he says, the land whither
thou goest in to possess, it is not as the land of Egypt.
And another place the Lord makes it clear that he made a distinction
between the Israelites and the Egyptians. He blessed Israel
and he cursed the Egyptians. And he says the land that you're
going to possess is not like, and the land that you possess
now through faith, is not like the land of Egypt. It's not like
the world. from whence you came out, where they sowest thy seed
and watereth it with thy foot as the garden of herbs." Now,
what did they have in Egypt? They had the Nile River, didn't
they? And so if they wanted to plant
a crop, they would just take the heel of their foot and dig
a trench in the dirt and divert the water out of the river into
their fields and plant their seeds. And the water was always
there at their taking. They could get it anytime they
wanted. But the land where the Valgo
is to possess is a land of hills and valleys. It's not the delta of the Nile
River. The children of Israel are put
in Goshen, which was a fertile delta land at the end of the
Nile River. And he says, the land that I'm
taking you to, it's a land of hills and valleys. It's not going
to be that flat, fertile, easy ground where you can just dig
a trench with the heel of your foot and bring the water in when
you want it. This is going to be a land of ups and downs. This
is going to be a land of conflict. Do you remember what Rebecca,
when she was struggling with the twins that were in her womb,
she went before the Lord, Jacob and Esau were in her womb. She
went before the Lord and she said, Lord, why am I thus? Why
am I having this struggle in my body? And the Lord said, because
there's two nations in you. There's two nations in you. And the older is going to serve
the younger. And before, when you lived in Egypt, you didn't
have two natures. You lived in a fertile ground.
You could dig the trench whenever you wanted, plant your seed whenever
you wanted. There was no hills and valleys. There was no struggles
in the old, in Egypt. But now that you're in the land
that I've given to you to possess, now there's a, now there's a
struggle. Now there's a spiritual warfare
that's going on. Now you have highs and you have
lows. And the flesh wars against the
spirit and the spirit against the flesh so that you cannot
be what you would be. Now look at the rest of verse
11. This land that is full of hills and valleys is going to
depend on drinking water of the rain from heaven. You're going to have to walk
by faith now, not by sight. You walked by sight when you
were an Egyptian. In the spiritual sense of things,
you had it easy because you didn't have a struggle. But now I've
given you a land where you're gonna have to call on God to
send the rain because he's the one who sovereignly controls
it at his will. Lord, you're gonna have to water
my soul with your grace. You're gonna have to open the
windows, rend the windows of heaven, Lord, rend the heavens
and come down. This rain's gotta come from above.
It's not like when you were in Egypt. And so every day, the
child of God finds himself struggling with his flesh and saying, Oh
Lord, give me this day. My daily bread, Lord, I need
a new measure of grace. I can't live off of yesterday's
manna as blessed as it was yesterday. Lord, I'm going to, I'm going
to land of hills and valleys. I've got to have rain that comes
from heaven. Lord, would you send the showers
of your grace my way? Not the same, is it? It's not
the same. In Deuteronomy chapter 28, The
Lord said, as a result of sin of Israel, I'm not going to send
rain, but I'm going to send a storm of dust and dirt. A sandstorm. You've seen pictures
of them. I've talked to people that have
been in them. He said, you cannot see your hands right in front
of your face. You can't breathe. A sandstorm
just completely overwhelms you. You can see it coming and and
there's there's no way to survive in it unless you unless you somehow
protect yourself. And that's what the Lord said.
As a result of your sin, I'm going to. I'm going to send a
sandstorm. It's going to be a storm of dust and dirt. Here's what I want to say to
you, brethren that struggling with your sin. When the storm
of sin. rises in your heart and powder
and dust of your corrupt nature threatens to swallow you up in
the dry and thirsty land in which we live. Turn with me to Isaiah
chapter 32, Isaiah chapter 32. Verse 1, Behold, a king shall
reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment. And a man shall be a hiding place
from the wind, and a covert from the tempest, as rivers of water
in a dry place, and as the shadow of a dark rock in a weary land. When God sends dust and powder
as a result of our sin, the older shall serve the younger. That old man, that man of flesh,
is serving your new man. Esau served Jacob. Esau, the
man of flesh, caused Jacob to see his need for Christ and to
flee to that man who is a hiding place from the storm and a covert
from the tempest. So when I say that these reigns
that we're praying for Ask of the Lord rain. Go back with me
to our text in Zachariah chapter 10. Ask ye of the Lord rain in
the time of the latter rain. So the Lord shall make bright
clouds and give them shadows of rain. To everyone. Grass in his field. Turn to me to Deuteronomy chapter
32. No, we're looking at a lot of. Passages scripture this morning,
So much in the Bible has to do with this. The Lord using rain
to. Teach us. About his gospel. Verse one of Deuteronomy chapter
32 give ear O ye heavens and I will speak and hear O Earth
the words of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the
rain. My speech shall distill as the
dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers
upon the grass, because I will publish the name of the Lord.
Ascribe ye greatness unto our God. Sometimes believers Well, I think
all the time believers would like to grow a lot faster than
they do. And we oftentimes want God to
send a deluge of his grace. But child of God, the trees of
righteousness, which are the plantings of the Lord, grow slow. They grow slow. Weeds grow fast. And the Lord says, my doctrine
drops as the dew, as the tender rain upon the grass. The best
rain for growing a crop is a gentle, steady rain, isn't it? A soaker. That's what we need. Not a deluge. I remind you the very first time
that it ever rained upon the face of the earth was 40 days
of a deluge that killed every living thing except that which
was in the ark. That's the first time it ever
rained. Prior to that, mist came up from the ground, the scripture
says. Yes, we oftentimes are like little
children who want to grow up and get big a lot faster than
they need to. But there are things that have
to be developed during those growing years, isn't there? And
so the Lord knows how to grow his children in his grace and
give them a steady soaker rain, a rain that might not be what
they want, but it's certainly what they need. Lord, send that
rain. Send that rain and make me to
be satisfied with the rain that you've sent. Turn to me to Psalm 72, please.
Psalm 72. God sends this word. We just
read in Isaiah chapter 50, 55, when God opens the windows of
heaven and sends his word, it does not return unto him void. When God waters his field and
his garden, he does it by his word. Faith comes by hearing,
and hearing comes by the Word of God. It's the means by which
the Lord... That's why we spend so much time
in God's Word, isn't it? It's the means by which the Lord
uses to send His reign. Psalm 72, verse 1. Give the king
thy judgments, O God, and thy righteousness unto the king's
son. All my righteousness is in Christ
Jesus. I have no righteousness outside
of Him. And so we're praying, Lord, give him, look upon the
face of thine anointed. Look at our shield on our behalf. He shall judge thy people with
righteousness and thy poor with judgment. The Lord Jesus Christ satisfied
the demands of God's justice. That's what judgment is. He quenched
the fiery wrath of God's justice for the sins of his people. In
verse 3, the mountain shall bring peace to the people and the little
hills by righteousness. He shall judge the poor of the
people and he shall save the children of the needy and shall
break in pieces the oppressor. They shall fear thee as long
as the sun and moon endure throughout all generations. He He, he, the
Lord Jesus Christ, shall come down like rain upon the mown
grass as the showers that water the earth. In his days shall
the righteous flourish. And abundance of peace so long
as the moon endureth. When the Lord Jesus Christ comes
down as the rain from heaven, as the word of God, causes us
to grow, puts that sandstorm down, and waters his garden. Scripture says peace is the evidence
of that. Peace. Peace. I have peace with God through
the Lord Jesus Christ. God is satisfied with what Christ
has done. I'm satisfied with what Christ
has done. I can come before the throne
of grace confident with boldness knowing that Christ is sufficient.
I have peace with God. Men think about peace, they want
inner peace, they want interpersonal relationship peace. The peace
that you and I need is peace with God. That's the peace we
need. We need our sins put away. The
amazing thing is when you get peace with God, Yeah. Those other things that we're
concerned about, you know, that's just the piece, the piece. Well, that's the cup that runneth
over, isn't it? That's the cup that runneth over the water that
fills that cup. It runs over and he gives us
peace with our, with our, our, our family. It gives us peace
with, with ourselves. If we have peace with God, if
God before me, who can be against me? So the evidence of this rain
when Christ comes down is peace in his days shall be that shall
the righteous flourish in the abundance of peace so long as
the moon endureth he shall have you know what the moon's a picture
of don't you picture of the church the moon has doesn't have a source
of light the moon is a reflector of light It's the sun that sends
the light to the moon and the moon reflects down upon the earth.
And what happens, what happens to the moon when the earth gets
between the moon and the sun? Well, we call it an eclipse,
don't we? And that's what happens to us. Robert, you read that
passage, love not the world, know the things that are in the
world. We, when, when, when, when we begin to love this world,
the earth gets, the world gets between us and the sun, doesn't
it? as long as the moon endureth. You see, when the moon doesn't
endure anymore, there's not going to be any peace in this world.
When the church of the Lord Jesus Christ is taken out of this world,
that's it. That's it. Verse 8, He shall have dominion
also from sea to sea, and from river even into the ends of the
earth. And they that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before
Him, and His enemies shall lick the dust. The enemies of God
are caught in a sandstorm. And that's all they have. And
the Lord says, I'm going to send a gentle rain, a general rain. I'm going to send it by my word
and it's going to point to the word and you're going to have
peace with God through him. You have your Bibles open there
too. Psalm term would need a Psalm 68 just back a couple of pages.
Psalm 68. Adverse. Verse 9 thou O God. Ditzed that's past tense. Thou,
O God, didst send a plentiful rain, whereby thou didst confirm
thine inheritance when it was weary. When the Lord Jesus Christ,
as the word of God, came down as God's rain, it was plenty,
plenty of rain. We've got plenty of rain this
summer, haven't we? We've got more rain this summer than I
can remember having in a long, long time. The Lord said, I sent
you plenty of rain. There's no lack of rain, but
it's all going to be found in Him. It's all going to be found
in Him. Everything you need to stand
in the presence of God is going to be found in your surety, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Ask for that rain which comes
down from heaven. Ask God to save your soul. Ask him to show you the glory
of his son. Ask him to give you faith to
rest all your hopes in the Lord Jesus Christ. When Judah said
to his father about Benjamin, I will be surety for him. And if I don't bring him back,
you hold it to my account. The Lord Jesus Christ said to
his father when he left, when he left heaven and came into
this world, I'll be surety for them. I'll do everything necessary
for their salvation. And if I don't bring every one
of them back, you hold it to my account. Hold it to my account. You think there's any possibility
that God, the father is blaming the Lord Jesus Christ right now
for not having done everything necessary for his people? No, God said, I saw the travail
of his soul and I'm satisfied. Satisfied. Ask of rain, ask you of the Lord
rain. The former reign and the latter
reign, that necessary reign, that refreshing reign, that sovereign
reign, the reign of his grace that comes in the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Ask him, ask him. The Lord said,
you have not because you asked not. You're trying to get it
by some other means. You're trying to work it out.
You're trying to earn it. You're not going to ask. Ask
and it shall be given unto thee. Knock and the door shall be open. Seek and you shall find. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
we're thankful. For the revelation that you've
given us of thy dear son in your word. And we're asking you right
now. To once again open the windows
of heaven. Cause the showers of thy grace
and thy blessings to come down from heaven. Lord, the the sandstorm of our
sin has clouded our sight in so many ways. We pray that the. The gentle rain would settle
that dust. That you would. Refresh our souls
with the. With the renewal of your grace
in Christ. We thank you father for this
table. Thank you for all that the bread represents in the perfect,
sinless body of thy dear son. Sacrificed for thy people. We thank you for all that the
wine represents. And the laying down of his life
for the sheep. The shedding of his blood. Father,
we pray that you would look upon the blood of Christ. And that
you would pass over our sin. And accept us. For the beloved
sake. For it's in his name we ask it.
Amen. Ask the men if they'll come and
distribute the bread and the wine. Number 168, just remain
seated. Number 168, Tom's gonna come
lead us. And if you want, if we need,
we'll also use hymn number 17, but let's close that service
with number 168. We sing this a cappella. Lord, I hear of showers of blessing. Thou art scattering, full and
free. Showers the thirsty land refreshing. Let some drops now fall on me. Even me, even me, let thy blessing
fall on me. Pass me not, O tender Savior,
let me love and cling to thee. I am longing for thy favor, whilst
thou art calling, O call me. Even me, even me, let thy blessing
fall on me. Pass me not, O mighty spirit,
thou canst make the blind to see. Witnesser of Jesus' merit,
speak the word of power to me. Even me, Eve and me, let thy blessing
fall on me. Love of God so pure and changeless,
blood of Christ so rich and free. Grace of God, so strong and boundless,
magnify them all in me, even me. Even me, let thy blessing
fall on me. Pass me not, thy lost one bringing. Bind my heart, O Lord, to thee. While the streams of life are
springing, Blessing others, O bless me. Even me, even me, Let thy
blessing fall on me. Even me? Yeah, yeah. That Passover was instituted
by God to foreshadow what Christ would fulfill all the way back
there in Egypt when they slew that lamb, took its blood and
put on the lentil and the doorpost of the house and the death angel
passed by. It's called the Passover. That's
what you and I need more than anything else. More than anything
else. We need the death angel pass
by, don't we? That's our greatest need. I know
I've given this illustration before. I'll give it again. Imagine
with me in your mind that you're on your deathbed. You're drawing
your last breath. What's important at that moment?
I mean, what's the only thing that's important at that moment?
Because that's what's the only thing that's important now, isn't
it? That's what we have to have. We have to have the death angel
to pass by. God said, when I see the blood, I'll pass by. They took unleavened bread, a
picture of the body of Christ, the only man that lived without
sin, the only man that could stand in the presence of God,
righteous in and of himself. And the Lord took that, that bread at the
last supper, gave it to the disciples and said, this is my body, which
has been given for you. Take it and eat it and do it
in remembrance of me. Life is in the blood. Without
the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sins. The punishment
for sin is death. God established that from the
very beginning. In the day in which you eat of the fruit of
this tree, you shall surely die. And the Lord Jesus Christ came in
order to die in our stead, take our penalty for us, shed his
blood, satisfy the demands of God's justice. And he said, as
long as you do this, as often as you do it, do it in remembrance
of me. All God's people said, amen,
amen. Let's stand together. Brother Jerry, would you dismiss
us in prayer, please? Dear Lord and Heavenly Father,
thank you for the order in the letter raised. Thank you, Lord,
for all that you do for your people. Thank you, Lord, for providing
us