Good morning again. Read a couple familiar verses
before we begin. Brethren, My heart's desire and
prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. That's our
heart's desire. That's our prayer. The Lord would
save us. And then the next chapter in
Romans chapter 11, it makes it clear that all Israel shall be
saved. We pray for God to save us. Paul's talking about nationally
as really says, for I bear them record. They have a zeal of God,
but not according to knowledge for they be an ignorant of God's
righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness,
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believe. There's a good article in your
bulletin this morning that Bruce Crabtree wrote about his experiences
with the oncologist and his wife Jo's brain tumor. And I was talking to somebody
during the break about faith. Eric and Liz and I were talking
about it. And, you know, the scripture says that the Lord
Jesus Christ is the anchor of our soul. If you've done any
boating, you know the importance of having an anchor well set. And that which connects the anchor
to the boat is just a rope. Just a rope. And it's not the
rope that holds the boat. It's the anchor that holds the
boat. Next time someone asks you, how's your faith, You can
say, well, if it wasn't connected to that anchor, it'd just be
floating out there in the water. Wouldn't be doing me any good
at all. Matter of fact, a rope that's
floating around in the water ends up in the motor. I've had
that happen before. That's a bad experience. Our
faith is like that rope, isn't it? Our faith doesn't do anything.
It just connects us to the anchor. Nexus to the anchor. He's our
righteousness. All right, let's stand together.
Tom's going to come lead us. We sang this hymn a few, maybe
a couple months ago, and I liked it so well, I told Tricia, I
said, we need to put that in the bulletin every so often.
So we're going to sing it again. The hymn on the back of your
bulletin. Pay special attention to the words of this hymn, and
I believe it'll be a blessing to you. Let's stand. As on the cross of Christ I thought,
it seemed I heard one cry, Is all this nothing in your eyes,
you who this day pass by? Is not such suffering greater
than That which you've seen before? And was there ever any man Who
grieved or suffered more? I looked again, and what I saw
I cannot fully tell. It seemed within his very bones
there raged the fire of hell. What caused you grief? I asked the man. What crimes
could you have done? That God, Jehovah, struck you
down and left you all alone. His answer cut my heart like
steel and left me void of breath. Tis for your sins this pain I
feel, for you I go to death. Your soul before my Father's
throne could find no place to hide. This is the way God can
be judged and you be justified. Jehovah's mercies never fail,
each morning they are new. Great is His faithfulness and
love, therefore we're not consumed. Jehovah God in Christ the Son
shall all my portion be. My soul shall therefore wait
for Him and live eternally. Please be seated. Good morning. Our call to worship
will be in Psalm 132. Psalm 132. And if our Heavenly Father is
pleased to send His Spirit, like He has with me these last two
weeks, this is an absolute glorious picture of the Lord Jesus Christ
and the love, the love for His bride. Verse 1. Lord, Heavenly Father, remember
David, your dear son, and all his afflictions. How he swore
unto the Lord and vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob, surely
I will not come into the tabernacle of my house nor go up into my
bed. I will not give sleep to my eyes
or slumber to my eyelids until I find out a place for the Lord,
a habitation for the mighty God of Jacob." And he did that, his
church. Lo, we heard of it at Ephrathah.
We found it in the fields of the wood. We will go into his
tabernacles we will worship at his footstool. Look at verse
8. Arise, O Lord, into thy rest,
thou and the ark of thy strength. Let thy priests be clothed with
righteousness, and let thy saints shout for joy. For thy servant
David's sake, turn not away the face of thine anointed. The Lord
has sworn in truth, unto David. He will not turn from me. Of
the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne. If thy children
will keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach
them, when you're taught of God, you will keep His covenant in
Christ. Their children shall also sit
upon thy throne forevermore. Verse 13, For the Lord hath chosen
Zion And look at this, he hath desired it for his habitation. This is my rest forever. Here will I dwell, for I have
desired it. I don't understand this passage
here, Greg, but I believe it with all my heart. I will abundantly
bless her provision, I will satisfy her poor with bread, I will also
clothe her priests with salvation, and her saints shall shout aloud
for joy, there will I make the horn of David to bud, I have
ordained a lamp for mine anointed, his enemies will I clothe with
shame, but upon himself shall his crown flourish. Our heavenly father, we come
in the name of thy dear son, your anointed, the Lord Jesus
Christ, the one whom you afflicted, the one who bore on his body
fully the sins of your people. And Lord, how you were satisfied
with all that he's done. Lord, I don't understand how
you could desire sinners like we, but you've said it in your
word that you desire to habitate and to rest with us. Oh Lord, give us the faith to
believe you and to worship you and to bow at your footstool. Father, we ask this morning again,
through the preaching of your gospel, that you would be pleased
once again to reveal yourself to us that we might be saved. Father, be pleased to do that
now. Forgive us as we confess our sins to you and ask again
as you did in the first hour. Give our brother boldness and
ability to lift up Christ that we may hear and see him for we
ask it in his name. Amen. Let's stand together again. We'll
sing hymn number 11 in your gospel hymn, spiral hymn book. Number
11. ? With broken heart and contrite
sigh ? ? A trembling sinner, Lord, I cry ? ? Thy pardoning
grace is rich and free ? ? O God, be merciful to me ? ? I smite upon my troubled breast
? ? With deep and conscious guilt oppressed ? ? Christ and His
cross my only plea ? ? O God be merciful to me ? No works
nor deeds that I have done can for a single sin atone. To Christ the Lord alone I flee. O God, be merciful to me. And when redeemed from sin and
hell, With all the ransomed throng I dwell, My raptured song shall
ever be, God has been merciful to me. Please be seated. We open your Bibles with me to
Psalm 69. Psalm 69. If what we just sang is to be
true, it will happen only as the result of believing the truth. Believing the truth. There is only one way to enter
in to God's presence. Only one way. Psalm 69 at verse 13. But ask for me. Oh, I hope that
each of us can say, but ask for me. Whatever everybody else believes
and whatever everybody else wants to do, ask for me. My prayer is unto Thee, O Lord. In the multitude of Thy mercies. I'm sorry. In an acceptable time. In an acceptable time. Today
is the day of salvation. This is an acceptable time. Matter of fact, it's the only
acceptable time that we have. Can't do anything about the past. And nothing's ever, ever happened
in the future. The only time we have is the
here and now. And so the only time that we
can come, you may think, well, I'm going to go before the Lord
tomorrow or next week or I'll do it sometime. That's being
presumptuous. Number one, you don't know if
you won't be here. Number two, the Lord never calls
us to put off coming to him. Now is the acceptable time. And the reason why now is the
acceptable time is because the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled the
acceptable year. In Luke chapter 4 when the Lord
went into the synagogue in Nazareth where he grew up, He opened up
the scroll of Isaiah to chapter 61 and he read that passage of
scripture referring to the anointed one, the Christ. And he concluded
that passage by saying, this day, this passage has been fulfilled
in thy sight. They knew exactly what he was
claiming. He was claiming to be the Messiah. And the end of
that passage says that he came to fulfill the acceptable year
of the Lord. Now that's a reference to the
year of Jubilee. In the Old Testament, every 50 years, the children
of Israel were to release anyone who had sold themselves into
slavery as a result of their debt. They were to return all
the property back to its original owner, and they were to cancel
all debts that had been incurred. It was called the year of Jubilee.
And the Lord Jesus Christ came to fulfill that which was pictured
in the year of Jubilee. He returned that which we lost. We sold ourselves into slavery
and became debtors to God. And the Lord Jesus Christ paid
that debt by the sacrifice of Himself. And He returned unto
us that which we lost. I restored, you remember last
Sunday, I restored that which I took not away. so David saying
I'm gonna go before the Lord in an acceptable time in light
of the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished the salvation
of his people gives me boldness to come before the throne of
grace not before the throne of the law but the throne of grace
knowing that we shall find help in our time of need Oh God, in the multitude of thy
mercy, hear me. Our God delights in showing mercy,
and that's what we need. We need mercy. We need mercy. I've had people say to me over
the years, you talk about being a mercy beggar a lot. I'm not
a mercy beggar. I'm a child of God. If you were
a child of God, you would know what it means to be a mercy beggar.
Truth is, both things are true, aren't they? Both things are
true. Oh Lord, I need mercy. I need
you to withhold from me that which I deserve. I need you to
look to Christ and the sacrifice that he made on Calvary's cross
to satisfy your divine justice and put away my sin. I'm in need
of mercy. And here's the passage I want
us to focus on. By the way, the outline to this
message is in your bulletin if you'd like to Follow along. I have seven points and I'll
try to make them quickly. You see that last phrase in verse
13? In the truth of thy salvation. That's the only way to enter
into the presence of God, according to the truth of God's salvation. And so the question that we're
trying to answer this morning is, what is the truth concerning
God's salvation? Because there's no way I'm going
to be able to enter into the presence of God, not now, in
the Spirit, and not then. When I see him face to face,
what a sobering thought that is. Now here's the encouragement,
brethren. If you're able to enter into
the presence of God now, according to the truth of his salvation,
then you have reason to believe that you'll be able to enter
into the presence of God then when you draw your last breath.
For no one, no one ever, ever has entered into the presence
of God in this life and not been accepted into the presence of
God in the next. Never happened. God's never allowed
anyone into His presence in this life and then rejected them when
it comes to the life to come. So what is the hope? What is
the hope that you and I will have that when that day of truth
comes and I stand in the presence of a holy God that I'll be accepted
into His presence? And it is coming. Oh, it's coming,
isn't it? It's a day of rejoicing for God's
people, but it's also a day of sobering, isn't it? When that day comes, what is
the hope that I'll be accepted? That I'm able, by the grace of
God, to enter into His presence right now. How do I enter in? by the truth of thy salvation. What is the truth of God's salvation?
Well, in short, the truth of God's salvation is Christ, is
Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ said, I
am the way, the truth, and the life. No man, no man can come
to my Father except by me. The only way to enter into the
presence of God is through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
the only one that was able to send his works ahead of him. He's the only one that was able
to get acceptance in the presence of a holy God based on what he
did. And his works went before him
and God was satisfied when he saw the works of Christ, God
accepted him. When the Lord Jesus Christ went
into the presence of God, he took with him the names of those
for whom he lived and died. God said, my word will accomplish
the purpose for which I send it. It will not return unto me
void. And that's a great encouragement
to us, isn't it? When we preach the gospel, we
know that it's going to accomplish the purpose for which God sends
it. We know that it's not going to return to God void. God's
going to accomplish his purpose. But we also know that the Lord
Jesus Christ is the living word, the word that was made flesh
and dwelt among us. And when he ascended back into
glory, he said, I go and prepare a place for you. And if I go
and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive
you unto Myself, so that where I am there you may be also. Let not your heart be troubled."
What did the Lord Jesus Christ do to prepare a place for us?
He presented Himself before the Father and He sat down at the
right hand of the Majesty on high. And all of God's people
are in Him seated in the heavenlies right now. So, the Lord Jesus
Christ is the only hope that we have to be accepted. We are accepted, Ephesians chapter
one, in the beloved. There is no acceptance with God
outside of Christ, none whatsoever. Many will seek to enter and shall
not be able. Many will try to recommend themselves
to God by something they've done. But Lord, we've done many wonderful
works in thy name. Depart from me, you workers of
iniquity. I never knew you." How sobering is that? John chapter 10, verse 9, I am
the door. If any man enter in, through this door he shall be
saved. And in Matthew chapter 7 verse
13 the Lord said enter ye in at the straight gate. That word
straight means narrow. Enter ye in at the narrow gate
for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction
and many there are which go therein. Now, that's not the wide road
of destruction whereby men are indulging themselves in the pleasures
of this world. Back in religion, we used to
think, well, that wide world is all the godless people that
are living to indulge their flesh in this world. No. Many are they
that go therein. That's the wide road trying to
get to heaven. based on man's works, based on
his own righteousness. Narrow is the way. You will not
come unto me that you might have life. Why? Because the Lord Jesus
Christ exposes our inability based on our works to come into
the presence of God. He humbles the pride of man. The Lord tells us in Proverbs
2, verse 23, Buy the truth and sell it not. Buy the truth and sell it not.
How do we buy it? Without money. And without price. There's only one place to find
this truth. Only one place. We're talking about the most
important thing in life right now. Nothing compares to this subject.
No amount of circumstances, no amount of trouble, no amount
of money, nothing else compares to this subject. We're talking
about entering into the presence of God. And David said, I will enter
into his presence by the way of the truth of thy salvation. And the Lord tells us in 1 Timothy
3, verse 15, that the church of the living God is the pillar
and the ground of the truth. There's only one place, only
one place to hear this truth, and that's the church of the
living God. One church. And this truth never changes. Scripture says that the world
is ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the
truth. Of the truth. Lord, I want to
know the truth. I want to know the truth about
how it is that I'm able to enter in to thy presence. God's truth
never changes. Psalm 117 verse 2 says, the truth
of the Lord endureth forever. The means of salvation which
God has provided in the person of his dear son never changes. It's been the same from eternity
past. It's the same now and it'll be
the same forever. So what is this truth of God's
salvation? Well, you see the points there,
don't you? Any message, let me make this
perfectly clear, any message of salvation, any message that
gives men any hope of entering into God's presence that is contrary
to any one of these seven points is a lie. Is a lie. Second Thessalonians chapter
2, God says, because they had no love for the truth, therefore,
oh, that they might be saved. Because they had no love for
the truth that they might be saved, therefore, God sent them
a strong delusion that they should believe the lie. Now that's the
broad well. the lie of free will, the lie
of good works, the lie of man-made works religion. And men are comforted
with that. I want to know the truth. Any
message of salvation contrary to any one of these points is
a lie and will lead to destruction. The first truth that we learn
in the scriptures about God's salvation is that he is sovereign
in salvation. God is sovereign. He's not left
any of it up to man. He's in complete control of it.
He sovereignly chose a people according to his own will and
purpose in the covenant of grace before time ever began. And he had the sovereign right
to do it. He sent his son in his sovereign
power to accomplish the salvation of those whom God chose. And
God said, I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy. And I
will have compassion upon whom I will have compassion. And I
will harden whom I will harden. I'm the potter, you're the clay. I've got the sovereign right
to make of the same lump of clay some vessels of honor and some
of dishonor. And no man can say unto me, what doest thou? Why have you made me thus? Salvation
is God's salvation. It's God's salvation. Now man
will respond in three different ways to that truth. They will
either get angry and say, yeah, but what about? And they'll try
to add something to the sovereignty of God in salvation. or they
will become fatalistic. And they will sit back and say,
well, salvation's of the Lord, God's gonna choose who he's gonna
choose and he's already chosen them. I've had people who say,
you don't even need to preach the gospel because God's already
elected a people and they're gonna... Listen, if the preaching
of the gospel wasn't necessary for the salvation of God's people,
then neither was the cross. The truth is that yes, God is
sovereign, but in His sovereignty, He has ordained means by which
to accomplish the salvation of His people. And the means that He has called,
that He has ordained, not only is the cross, not only is the
preaching of the gospel, but it is the calling out and crying
in the hearts of His people to be saved. So some will get angry,
some will become fatalist, and some will become mercy beggars.
Oh, Lord, have mercy upon me. They that call upon Him shall
be saved. How shall they call upon Him
in whom they've not believed? And how shall they believe on
Him in whom they've not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? You see, these are the means
that God uses, isn't it? He uses the foolishness of preaching
to save them which believe, and He causes them to cry out. So this idea that God is sovereign,
if the sovereignty of God has shut your mouth, then you've
not believed the sovereignty of God. The truth is the sovereignty
of God is the only door into heaven that there is. It's the only door there is.
There is no other door. God's free and sovereign grace. And any message of salvation
that would deny God His sovereignty in salvation is another gospel. I made reference to that passage
in Luke chapter 4 when the Lord went to Nazareth and opened up
the scroll to Isaiah 61 and read that passage. And the scripture
says that all the people that were there, and they all knew
him. These were friends and family members of a small town, people
that he had done business with, neighbors. And they wondered
at the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth. Could it be
that this one that we've lived with all these years is in fact
who he's claiming to be? The Messiah? The Christ? Could
it be? And they were excited in thinking
that we know the Christ. And then he interpreted the passage. And here's what he said. He said,
In the days of Elijah, there were many widows in Israel. But God showed mercy on none
of them, except for the widow of Sarepta, a citizen of Sidon. That's the widow that Elijah
cared for during that three year drought, and she was a Gentile.
And then the Lord went on to say, and during the days of Elisha,
there were many lepers in Israel. But God showed mercy on none
of them except for Naaman the Syrian who was a Gentile. Now what was the Lord doing?
They were excited to think that this could be the Christ. We
know the Messiah. We've got special access to the
presence of God through him. And then he interprets Isaiah
61. a prophetic passage of scripture speaking of him as being sovereign
in salvation. I will have mercy upon whom I
will have mercy. And those who wondered at the
words of grace that proceeded out of his mouth, the scripture
says that they took him and were... Turn with me, I want you to see
it. Luke chapter 4. Luke chapter 4. verse 28. I have told you the
story up to verse 28. So now look at verse 28, and
all they in the synagogue when they heard these things were
filled with wrath and rose up and thrust him out of the city
and led him into the brow of the hill wherein their city was
built that they might cast him down headlong. These are his
neighbors These are his family members. These are his friends.
These are his business associates that he's been living near for
the last 30 years. And they're filled with wrath. And now instead of elevating
him, they want to put him to death. Why? Because he just said
to them that salvation is of the Lord. It's not in your hands. You've got no control over it.
God's going to get all the glory, not you. Nothing's changed. Nothing's
really changed. We talk to men about God being
sovereign in salvation. They're just as filled with wrath
today as they ever were before. But this is the truth of thy
salvation. And any message of salvation
that leaves off the sovereign electing grace of God is not
a message of salvation and will lead to destruction. Second, Christ Jesus the Lord is successful
in God's salvation. What did that angel say to Joseph? You shall call his name Jesus
for he shall save his people from their sins. When the Lord
Jesus Christ went to Calvary's cross and suffered the full wrath
of God's justice for the sins of his people that were in his
body upon that tree, when he cried, it is finished. Everything
that God required was successfully accomplished by the Lord Jesus
Christ. And again, just like with sovereignty,
success requires that all the glory goes to God. Any message
of salvation that would even suggest that Christ died for
everybody, but most of the people that he died for are not going
to be saved because, bless his heart, he just could not get
it done. He had a plan. He had a desire. He wanted to save everybody,
but he couldn't accomplish his purpose. He is alive from the
pit of hell and will not enable you to enter into the presence
of God. This is the truth of my salvation.
David said, I come in the acceptable time. When's the acceptable time? Right now. Why is it acceptable
right now? Because Christ fulfilled the
acceptable year of the Lord. It's acceptable that we come
into the very presence of God right now. And the only hope
that we have, the only hope we have, that we'll be accepted
by God when we draw that final breath. is that we're coming
into his presence now the same way we'll come then. Same way. Nothing changes. Turn with me to 1 Samuel chapter
30. I love this story. 1 Samuel chapter 30. We're talking about the successful
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. David and his mighty men are
out fighting the Philistines. And while they're out fighting
the Philistines, the Amalekites come into Ziklag where all of
David's family and all of his men's family, their wives, their
children, they were all set up in Ziklag. And now David's headed
home. and he sees billows of smoke
coming up from Ziklag and he gets message from a servant that
the Amalekites have come into Ziklag and they have burnt the
entire city and they've taken all of your wives and all of
your children. I can only imagine. David's heart
left him. David's men were ready to kill
him. And David went before the Lord. asked the Lord what he
should do. The Lord instructed David to
pursue the Amalekites. Here's the end of the story.
Verse 17, 1 Samuel chapter 30, And David smote them from twilight
even till evening of the next day. And there escaped not a
man of them, save 400 young men which rode upon camels and fled. And David, now you know who David
represents in this story. David represents the son of David.
David represents the Lord Jesus Christ, the sweet psalmist of
Israel, the shepherd of God's people, the king of Israel. That's who David represents in
this story. This book's all about Christ, isn't it? It's all about
his successful work of redemption. Just like when the children of
Israel were brought out of Egypt, not a hoof was left behind. Every
single one of them were brought out. Why? Because Moses represented
Christ, and Moses as the deliverer was successful in bringing God's
people out. And David recovered all. David recovered all. Don't forget
that. David recovered all that the
Amalekites had carried away. And David rescued his two wives. And who are the wives representative
of? It's the church, the bride of Christ. And there was nothing
lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters,
neither spoil nor anything that had been taken to them. David
recovered all." Now that's the truth of God's
salvation. The truth of God's salvation,
which is the only means by which we're able to enter into the
presence of God, is that God is sovereign in salvation and
Christ is successful. in God's salvation. Thirdly,
the Lord Jesus Christ is sufficient for salvation. Now by that I
mean that you can't add to Him. You cannot add to Him. He said,
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the
first and the last. And how does this book conclude?
It concludes with a warning. If any man add any word to the
prophecy of this book, the curses of this book will be added unto
him. Well, I don't want anything to do with that. I don't want
anything to do with the curses of God. The Lord Jesus Christ
was not only sovereign and successful, He is sufficient. David said
it like this. He said, He only is my rock and
my salvation. Here's the glorious truth, brethren.
You've heard me say this before. You've heard other preachers
say it. Every single thing that God requires of us, God himself
must provide and the only thing that God accepts is that which
he provides and everything that God provides he provided in the
person of his dear son. The Lord Jesus Christ is sufficient
for salvation. Don't try to add your sorrow.
Don't try to add your faith. Faith doesn't save. For by grace
are you saved through faith. Your faith is that rope that
connects to the anchor. It's the anchor that saves. The
anchor of our soul is sure and steadfast, the scripture says.
He's the one that does the saving. Faith just connects us to him.
So it's the object of our faith that saves. Part from him, our faith is going
to be nothing more than a floating rope getting tangled up in the
motor. Fourthly, Christ himself is the
subject of God's salvation. Turn to me to Romans chapter
1. Romans chapter 1. Any message Contrary to or denying any of
these glorious points of truth is a false gospel. Romans chapter 1 verse 1, Paul,
a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto
the gospel of God. Who does the gospel belong to?
It belongs to God. It's his gospel. which He hath
promised afore by His prophets in the Holy Scriptures." And
what did Paul say in 1 Corinthians chapter 15? How that Christ died
according to the Scriptures. How that Christ was risen according
to the Scriptures. This was all clearly laid out
in the Word of God. Verse 3, concerning His Son,
Jesus Christ. He's the subject of the gospel.
He's the subject of God's salvation. In the volume of the book, it
is written of me. I have come to do thy will, O
God. He taketh away the first that He might provide the second. The Lord said, all you that are burdened, heavy laden, I know that the Lord in His perfect
providence has ordained circumstances for us that oftentimes are a
burden. But I want you to think with me beyond the burden of
temporal circumstances. We're talking about the burden
of sin here. We're talking about that which will send us to a
devil's hell and separate it from God for all eternity if
God doesn't do something about it. Truth is, any problem that you
and I have that can be solved with time or money cannot be compared to the one
problem that we have, that no amount of time, not even all
eternity, and no amount of money can touch it. You see, every
problem that we have in this world eventually is going to
be solved with time and money, isn't it? But you and I've got
a problem that time nor money won't touch. Are you burdened with that? Are
you burdened with the thought, Lord, I've got a sin problem. I've got to have you do something
about that. Lord, all these other things
are trivial compared to that. Lord, I'll be cast into a lake
of fire if you don't take away my sin. And that's when the Lord
said, take my yoke upon you and learn of me. Learn of me, for I am meek and
lowly in heart. You shall find rest for your
souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. I've already
satisfied the demands of God's law. I've put away your sin. I've buried them in the depths
of the sea. Turn with me to Psalm 68. I want to show you something
in Psalm 68 that we saw Wednesday night that was such an encouragement. Psalm 69. Psalm 69. Look at verse 5. You know, we
read these Psalms and we know that they are first and foremost
a prophecy concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. And oftentimes
these same Psalms, these same words can be uttered by us in
prayer to the Lord. But here's a verse that can only
be uttered by the Lord Jesus Christ. It cannot be prayed. This verse cannot be prayed by
you. It cannot be prayed by me. Now
David said in Psalm 51, my sin is ever before me. And it is. I understand that.
I understand the shame and the guilt of sin. But here's, look
at verse 5. Oh God, thou knowest my foolishness
And my sins are not hid from thee. Child of God, when the Lord Jesus
Christ hung on Calvary's cross, the scripture says that God saw
his sin, our sin, and forsook him, forsook him. When the Lord Jesus Christ prayed
in the garden, Father, if there be any way this cup can pass
from me, let it be nevertheless not mine. It was the cup of sin
that the Lord was going to drink on Calvary's cross. And he began
drinking it even then. And the Father, seeing our sin
on Christ, his sin was not hid from God. And so God had no choice. but
to pour out his wrath upon his darling son in order to put away
that sin. But that cannot be said of the
child of God. He separated our sins as far
as the east is from the west, and he remembers them no more.
You see, the child of God cannot say, my sins are not hid from
thee. Truth is, they are hid from God. They are hid from God. That's a prayer that only Christ
could pray. Our sins have been hid. They've
been buried in the depths of the sea. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
subject of God's gospel. Number five. I'll finish quickly. Perhaps this alliteration will
give us something to hang our thoughts on, but the next word
is substitution. The Lord Jesus Christ is God's
substitute. You remember the story. God tells
Abraham, Abraham, take thy son, thine only son whom thou lovest
and get him up to Moriah and make him a sacrifice unto me. And as Abraham and Isaac are
walking up the mountain, Abraham says to his servants, you stay
here. Elad and I are gonna return. Abraham believed that God was
gonna raise his son from the dead. He was gonna obey God. And Isaac said, what? Father,
here's the fire and here's the wood. Where's the lamb for the
burnt offering? And what did Abraham say? God,
son, will provide himself a land. And then Abraham up on that mountain,
after he had built the altar and laid Isaac there, no evidence
that Isaac was tied down, he's just lying there obedient. And Abraham raises up his knife
and God stops him. Abraham looks behind him and
sees a ram caught in the thicket by its horns. What a picture
of the substitution of the Lord Jesus Christ who by his strength
was caught in the thicket of our sin and we're going to have
to look behind us to find him. You're going to have to look
back 2,000 years. You're going to have to look back to eternity
past to find the Lord Jesus Christ. It's called substitution. God
has provided himself a lamb. This is the truth of God's salvation,
and because of it, we need not fear the wrath of God. Christ Jesus the Lord is God's
satisfaction and salvation. You know that. God saw the travail
of his soul, Isaiah 53, and God was satisfied. God said, this
is my beloved son. He's the one in whom I'm well
pleased. I'm not pleased with you, but I'm pleased with him.
Pleased with him. He has provided me a perfect
righteousness. He is the end of the law for
righteousness to everyone that believeth. And he has satisfied
my divine justice. He offered himself up for your
sins and put them away once and for all by the sacrifice of himself.
I'm satisfied with him. Say, preacher, you had to really
stretch it to get that last point out of this message to keep them
all in S's. No, I didn't. No, I didn't. Turn to me to 2 Corinthians 4. Verse 5, for we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves, your servants, for
Jesus' sake. I love that. You feel unappreciated, do it
for Jesus' sake. Do what you do as unto the Lord,
not as unto men, knowing that your reward will come unto Him.
You're servants of men for His sake, for His sake. For God,
who commanded the light to come out of darkness. Now, what's
that a reference to? It's a reference to Genesis chapter one, the creation.
When at the beginning, God said, let there be light and there
was light, just like that. Now, the illuminaries weren't
created until the fourth day. The sun, the moon, the stars,
they didn't come to be until the fourth day. So what was that
light? Who was that light? The same
light that shines in our hearts. Look, for God who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness, and that's where we were. That's
where we were, brethren. We were in darkness. We were
in unbelief. We were in the darkness of our
own sin. We were in the darkness of being separated from God.
And if God didn't bring us out of darkness into his marvelous
light, we would be in darkness for all eternity. For all eternity. He commanded the light to shine
out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God. Now that's the point
that I'm trying to make in this seventh point. The Lord Jesus
Christ is God's shining in thy salvation. He is the glory of
God. And he gets all the praise. He shined in our hearts the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. We have this treasure in earthen
vessels. Oh, if we looked ourselves, all we see is pot sherds. All
we see is dirty earthen vessels, broken cisterns that the excellency
of the power might be of God and not of us. He gets all the
glory, doesn't he? He gets all the glory. The only way that you and I are
able now and in the hour of our death to enter into the presence
of God is according to His salvation. The truth of His salvation. The
truth of His salvation. A lot of lies being told out
there. But the truth is that God is
sovereign in salvation. The truth is that Christ is successful
in God's salvation. The truth is that the Lord Jesus
Christ is Himself sufficient without any help. for all our
salvation. He is the subject of God's salvation
and he is God's substitute. God's satisfied with him and he's the shining of God's
glory in salvation. Salvations of the Lord come,
come right now just like you are Let's pray. Our merciful Heavenly
Father. We thank you for the declaration
of your gospel. And for the accomplished work
of thy dear son. And how we pray that you would
give faith now to our hearts. To rest our hope in him to come
into thy presence. Based on the truth. Of thy salvation. For it's in Christ's name we
ask it, amen. Tom's gonna come lead us. Number
190, let's stand together, number 190. We bless the name of Christ the
Lord, we bless him for his holy word, who loved to do his father's
will and all his righteousness fulfilled. We follow Him with pure delight,
To sanctify His sacred right, And thus our faith with water
seal, To prove obedience that we feel. Our hearts in God, the Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit, three in one, with conscience free, we
rest in God, in love and peace through Jesus' blood. By grace we Abba Father cry,
by grace the Comforter comes nigh, and for thy grace our love
shall be forever only, Lord, for thee. And once again, Trevor and Sarah,
I know they've endeared themselves to your hearts. They've been
here, what, two years? Two years almost. You may not
have known this, they attended the church in Fairmont, West
Virginia, where Martin Stonick was a pastor for some time. I don't think Sarah was there
for several years. What a blessing, Trevor, just
to be able to witness your testimony. You know, in religion, there's
a lot of different things that people do in order to pray a
prayer, they walk an aisle, or perform a work. Believe and be
baptized. Baptism is the testimony of outward,
of inward faith. It's confessing that that when
Christ died, I died. When Christ was risen from the
dead, I was risen from the dead. Christ Jesus the Lord is my life. And the only hope that I have
is to look in faith to him. Remember what the Lord said to
Pilate when he said, when he said, they that are of the truth,
they hear my voice and they follow me. So, Trevor, it's with a great
joy, brother, that we baptize you in the name of the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit, buried with Christ in baptism. You're raised to walk a new life
in Christ Jesus. All God's people said, amen.
All right, let's stand. Tom's going to lead us in Amazing
Grace. Amazing Grace. It's 236 in your
notes. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now
am found. Was blind, but now I see. Was grace that taught my whole
heart to fear And grace my fears relieved How precious did that
grace appear The hour I first believed Through many dangers,
toils and snares, I have already come. T'was grace hath brought
me safe thus far, And grace will lead me home. When we've been there 10,000
years, bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing
God's praise than when we first th th