Morning again. Let's open the
second hour with hymn number 185 from our hardback Tyndall,
hymn number 185. We're going to do two congregational
hymns this morning, and then Caleb Hickman is going to come
do special for us. Let's all stand together, number
185. ? Glorious things of thee are spoken
? ? Zion, city of our God ? ? He whose word cannot be broken ?
? Formed thee for his own abode ? ? On the rock of ages founded
? What can shake thy sure repose? With salvation's walls surrounded,
Thou mayest triumph over all thy foes. See the streams of
living waters, springing from eternal love. Well supply thy sons and daughters,
and all fear of want remove. Who can faint while such a river
Ever flows their thirst to assuage? Grace which, like the Lord, the
Giver, Never fails from age to age. ? Round each habitation
hovering ? See the cloud and fire appear ? For a glory and
a covering ? Showing that the Lord is near ? Glorious things
of Thee are spoken Please be seated. Good morning. We're going to look at the account
of the Samaritan woman in John chapter 4 this morning, beginning
in verse 16. Verse 16. I have a problem reading, but
I'll get through this if I can. Jesus saith unto her, Go, call
thy husband, and come hither.' The woman answered and said unto
him, I have no husband. Jesus said, Thou hast well said
that ye have no husband, for ye have five. And he whom thou
now hast is not thy husband, and that saidst thou truly. The woman said, Sir, I perceive
that thou art a prophet. She's going to ask him a religious
question, this Samaritan woman is. She's had a lot of practice
getting married, and I'm sure she's defensive. Sir, I perceive
that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshiped in this
mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where
men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman,
the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor
yet at Jerusalem worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not
what. We know what we worship, for
salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now
is. When the true worshippers shall
worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father
seeketh such to worship him. God is a spirit, and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. And the woman said, I know. that messiah cometh which is
called christ when he is calm he will tell us all things jesus
said under her that speak under the the word here if you'll notice
it in italics it's not in the original what the lord jesus
christ told this lady was he is god now There's a lot of comfort you
can take out of this. One is it's a comfort to know
that if you've been married five times, you can still be saved.
That's a comfort. But the main thing that I'll
take out of this this morning is this. It's 2 Timothy 2.19. The foundation of God standeth
sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his, and
let everyone that name the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
Whether you're a five-time married lady of Samaria, Whether you're
a little sawed off public tax man up in a sycamore tree because
you're too short to see over the crowd. Whether you're a captain
of the host of the king of Syria but you have leprosy. Whether
you're an Ethiopian eunuch riding in a chariot in a dead middle
of a blasted wilderness. God knows His own. God knows the names of every
one of His children from before the foundation of the world.
And the comfort is this, if we belong to God, God will send
somebody for us in our day of grace. He'll send someone for
us and they'll have the gospel and we will believe. Just like
this lady did here, a woman with no name, but Christ knew her
from forever. Father, we thank you for being
gathered here this morning in your name, Father. You know our
weaknesses, Father, and you know that we have no strength, Father.
You know that we are grass, but you still love us, Father. You still watch over us. You
still forgive us of our sins. You still strengthen our faith.
We know that there are two or three gathered here this morning,
and the Lord is here. We'd ask that he would give us,
Father, an open heart and an open mind that we might receive
the gospel, take it into our hearts and minds, Father, and
take comfort from the things that Christ has done with us.
Be with Greg, Father. Strengthen him as he brings a
message this morning. We ask in Jesus' name, amen. Let's stand together once again.
We're going to sing hymn number two from your gospel hymn, spiral
hymn book, number two. Yeah. Lord, we come before Thee now,
At Thy feet we humbly bow. O do not our suit disdain, Shall
we seek Thee, Lord, in vain? Lord, on Thee our souls depend
In compassion now descend Fill our hearts with Thy rich grace
Tune our lips to sing Thy praise In Thine own appointed way Now
we seek thee, here we stay. Lord, we know not how to go till
a blessing thou bestow. Send the message from thy word
that may joy and peace afford. Let thy spirit now impart Christ's
salvation to each heart. Please be seated. Broken heart, contrite side. Trembling sinner, Lord, I cry. A pardoning grace is rich and
free. Oh, God, be merciful to me. Who is a God? Like unto thee, the pardoneth
iniquity. His anger he retains no more. His grace and mercy shall endure. I smite upon my troubled breast. With deep and conscience guilt
oppressed, Christ and His cross my only plea. Oh God, be merciful to me. Who is a God like unto Thee,
that pardoneth Iniquity, his anger he retains no more. His grace and mercy shall endure. No words nor deeds that I have
done. can for a single sin atone. To Christ the Lord alone I plea. O God, be merciful to me, who
is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth Iniquity, his anger
he retains no more. His grace and his mercy shall
endure. 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,
Who is a God like unto thee, That pardon and iniquity His
anger He retains no more His grace and His mercy shall endure Thank you, Caleb. Don't you love
listening to Caleb sing? It's a blessing. Will you open
your Bibles with me to Psalm 68? Psalm 68. I've titled this
message, Perfect Freedom. Perfect Freedom. Scripture says,
If the Son makes you free, you are free indeed. And then the Lord said, where
the spirit of God is, there is liberty, liberty. My hope this
morning is that we will leave here a free people and that the
Lord will minister a spirit of grace to our hearts and set us
at liberty. having destroyed His enemies
and ours. Now Psalm 68 is a prayer. Let God arise. Let God arise. Lord, raise up
in my midst. And let his enemies be scattered,
let them also that hate him flee before him. As smoke is driven
away, so drive them away. As wax melteth before the fire,
so let the wicked perish at the presence of God. Now let me ask
you a question. What is it that keeps you from
having liberty? What is it that keeps you from
being free? Some people might say, well,
it's my sin. It's my sin. That may be the
cause of it. The problem with that answer
is that we've all come into this place as sinners. All men are
sinners. What I want to say to you this
morning is that the thing that keeps us from having liberty
is the fear and the doubt and the bondage that sin causes. That's the enemy. That's the
enemy. You see some of us will leave
here by God's grace having our sin covered. Others will leave here having
made a renewed commitment to do better, to sin less. And that renewed commitment will
last about as long as it takes for the next temptation to come. What you and I need to know is
that our sin's been put away. is that the Lord Jesus Christ
himself has suffered all the shame and all the penalty for
our sin. The Lord tells us in Romans chapter
8 verse 1, there is now therefore no condemnation to them that
are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after
the spirit. The arm of the flesh cannot save. The scripture says that the church
of the Lord Jesus Christ is the true circumcision who have no
confidence in the flesh. Oh, I pray the Lord will enable
us to have no confidence whatsoever in our commitments, in our fleshly
efforts, that we will be able by the grace of God to rejoice
in Christ Jesus and walk in Him. Now, turn with me to Numbers
chapter 10. Numbers chapter 10. We'll begin reading in verse
33. Moses is leading the children
of Israel through the wilderness. And they departed from the Mount
of the Lord, that's Mount Sinai, that's the Mount of the Law.
So they departed from the Mount of the Lord, three days journey,
and the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord went before them in
the three days journey to search out a resting place for them. Now that ark is the gospel. That
ark is the Lord Jesus Christ. It was made of wood, which symbolizes
His humanity. It was overlaid in gold, which
symbolizes His deity. Inside the ark was a copy of
the commandments, which represents the Lord Jesus Christ as our
King, who not only gives the commandments, but He Himself
fulfilled all those commandments. Inside the ark was the rod of
Aaron, you remember, that budded, which represents the Lord Jesus
Christ as our priest, our intercessor before God. And inside that ark
was an ofar, the scripture says, of manna, which represents the
Lord Jesus Christ as our prophet, the one who himself came as the
word of God and gave us the truth of who he is and what he's accomplished
and how God is pleased to save sinners. That ark, everything
about that ark was the gospel. On top of the ark was the mercy
seat. and God told Moses he said you have Aaron kill the lamb
and put the blood on the mercy seat and here I will meet with
you when I see the blood I'll pass by you so everything about
that ark and the ark went before the children of Israel and the
Lord made it clear you don't do anything without that ark
you remember when Joshua brought the children of Israel across
the Jordan into the promised land The Lord told Joshua, he
said, you have the priests who are carrying the ark to put their
foot in the Jordan. And as soon as they put their
foot in the Jordan, the water dried up. And the ark had to go through
the river before the people could follow. That's the gospel. That's our Savior. He must go
before us. Look what, what is he doing?
He's searching out, notice in verse 33, a place of rest. a place of rest, resting from
our labors. You say, well, aren't we to try
to do better? No, the struggle of faith is
to labor to enter into this rest. We're all by nature wanting to
produce some kind of work. The struggle is to rest in Christ,
is to rely upon Him and trust in Him for all of our salvation.
Look at the next verse, verse 34, And the cloud of the Lord
was upon them by day, and when they went out of the camp, and
it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said,
Rise up, Lord, rise up so that Moses is praying for God to destroy
the enemies as they go through the wilderness and to protect
them. And he's calling on the Lord
to rise up and let thine enemies be scattered and let them that
hate thee flee before thee. And when it rested, he said,
return, O Lord, unto the many thousands of Israel. So the Lord
rises up to defeat his enemies. And then he sits down. Enabling
his people to rest. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world. And he was risen up. He was he was suspended between
heaven and Earth. He suffered the full wrath of
God's holy justice. He bore in his body all the sins
of all of God's people. He was risen up, and He was risen
from the dead and ascended back into glory. And the scripture
says that He now is seated at the right hand of the Majesty
on High, that we might rest, rest in His finished work. Now that's perfect freedom. Perfect
freedom is being able to rest in the accomplished work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Perfect freedom is looking to
Christ and trusting Him to destroy the enemies of sin. Now, turn
with me to Joshua chapter 3. This is where Joshua is bringing
the children of Israel across the Jordan into the promised land. This
river of death, you and I are in a sense, we're still in the
wilderness, aren't we? We're living here in Babylon.
But the Lord Jesus Christ, our Joshua, has crossed the Jordan
and he's gone into the promised land. He's provided for his people.
And here Joshua takes the people of God and he
brings them across. In verse nine of Joshua chapter
three, and Joshua said unto the children of Israel, come hither
and hear ye the words of the Lord. And Joshua said, hereby
shall you know that the living God is among you and that he
will without fail drive out before you. Oh, the Jesus that most people
worship today is a miserable failure. He's doing his best
to get folks saved. He wants to save everybody, but
he's just not capable of getting it done unless men give him his
way, unless men cooperate with him, unless men allow him to
come into their hearts. His hands are tied. Our God is
not a failure. He has succeeded. in accomplishing
the salvation of his people. And he says here, Joshua says,
he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites,
the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Gergesites, the
Amorites, and the Jebusites. And behold, the ark of the covenant
of the Lord of all the earth passes over before you into Jordan. Now What do all those ites have
to do with one another? What do they have to do with
one another? What do they symbolize in your life and in my life? Well, they are all the descendants
of Canaan. Every single one of them are
the descendants of Canaan. You say, well, who was Canaan?
Canaan was the fourth son of Ham. Ham was the son of Noah. You remember Japheth, Ham, and
somebody help me out. Yes. And Ham was the one in Genesis
chapter 9. Well, let's just turn there.
Genesis chapter 9. Shem, Japheth, and Ham, the three
sons of Noah, who with their wives were saved on the ark.
And now the waters have receded. The scripture says that Noah
planted a vineyard, and he made wine, and he drank that wine,
and he got shamefully drunk, and now he's lying naked in his
tent. And Ham goes in and looks on
his nakedness. Noah wakes up and finds out what
Ham had done. And now in Genesis chapter 9,
the scripture says, in verse 22, and Ham the father
of Canaan, now take notice of that, Ham the father of Canaan
saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brethren without. And Shem and Japheth took a garment,
and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backwards, and covered
the nakedness of their father. And their faces were backwards,
and they saw not their father's nakedness." Now Shem and Japheth
represent grace. They represent a covering of
our nakedness. Noah had sinned shamefully. and Ham goes in and exposes and
mocks Noah's nakedness. Shem and Japheth on the other
hand take this garment, a picture of the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ and rather than mocking their father, rather
than looking upon his nakedness as Ham did, they walk into his
tent backwards and they take that garment and cover his nakedness.
Now, that's what you and I need for God to do. We need for him
to take the garment of righteousness and cover our nakedness. But
we have sinned like Noah, shamefully. And yet it's not so much the
sin, it's the consequences of that sin. that keep us from being
free. Look what he says, and Noah woke
from his wine and knew what his young son had done unto him.
And here's what I wanted you to see. And he said, cursed be
Canaan. So the curse now was not towards
Ham, it was towards Canaan. And all of these tribes that
we just read about in Joshua chapter 3 that the Lord said
He was going to cast out were the descendants of Canaan. Cursed
is Canaan, a servant of servants, shall he be unto his brethren.
And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem, and Canaan shall
be his servant. And God shall enlarge Japheth,
and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem, and Canaan shall be
his servant." So Canaan was cursed by God to be a servant of servants. and all of his descendants that
curse was passed down to. So now the Lord says, I'm going
to deliver you from all your enemies. What did Ham do? He exposed the nakedness of his
father. What did Shem and Japheth do?
They covered the nakedness of his father. You see, when our
sin is exposed, well, Ham did what the scripture
says Satan does. Satan, the scripture says, is
the accuser of the brethren. You see, that's where bondage
comes. Bondage comes when our sin is
exposed rather than being covered. Bondage comes when the shame
and the guilt of sin is thrown in our face. You remember in John chapter
eight when those Pharisees, those self-righteous Pharisees brought
that woman who had been caught in adultery to the Lord? and
they wanted him to crack the whip of the law and make judgments
about her. And the Lord stooped down and
he wrote on the ground with his finger as if he didn't hear them.
He's just writing. Now the finger of God wrote the
law of God, didn't he? And I can just see the Lord Jesus
Christ riding in the dirt with his finger the law of God and
he looked up and he said he that is without sin let him cast the
first stone and the scripture says one by one they were convicted
in their conscience and they departed from him in other words they were standing
there in judgment of this poor woman And yet, when they were
confronted with the law of God, they realized in their conscience
that they were guilty, and that guilty conscience drove them
from the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the bondage of sin. The
bondage of sin is having our sin exposed. The bondage of sin
is having Ham mock us for our sins. The freedom and the liberty
from sin is when Japheth and Shem bring the garment of righteousness
and cover our nakedness. That's our freedom. When the
Holy Spirit, they walked away from the Lord because of their
guilty conscience. A guilty conscience doesn't drive
you to Christ. A guilty conscience drives you
away from Christ. It is the goodness of God that leadeth to repentance.
The Spirit of God never convicts God's people with a guilty conscience. He doesn't. The Lord Jesus Christ
said, it is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not
away, the Comforter will not come. But when he comes, He will
convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment
of sin because they believe not on me. You see, fear and doubt
and shame and all those consequences of sin will only drive you deeper
into sin. And to be exposed by the law
Well, the scripture says the strength of sin is the law. So
you put a man under the law, all he's going to do is sin more.
The only power over sin is to have Shem and Japheth come and
take that garment of righteousness and cover us. When the Spirit
of God convicts us of sin, of righteousness and of judgment,
of sin because they did bad things, Is that what the scripture says?
No, it says of sin because they believed not on me. When the spirit of God convicts
God's people of sin, they're not brought by the spirit
of God into deep despair. and shame and depression and
fear and doubt over their sin. Over the bad things that they've
done. They're brought by the spirit of God to see that they
haven't come to Christ for their sin problem. They've been trying
to solve their sin problem on their own. Isn't that your experience? When the Spirit of God convicts
us of sin, it is because we believe not on Christ. That's the way the Spirit of
God works. He doesn't do like Shem. That's the enemies of God. The descendants of Shem, all
those descendants were the enemies of God. That God said, I'm gonna
drive out. I'm gonna drive them out. What
Shem did was he tried to embarrass his father. He shamed his father. He exposed the nakedness of his
father. The Spirit of God doesn't do
that. The Spirit of God points us to
the Lord Jesus Christ and shows us that our problem, our real
problem, is not our bad behavior. Our real problem is that we're
not looking to Christ. We're not trusting the Lord Jesus
Christ. We're not resting our hope in
the Lord Jesus Christ. We're not having our nakedness
covered by Shem and Japheth with the robe of righteousness. That's
the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Do you see the difference? When
the Spirit of God comes, He will convict the world of sin because
they believe not on me, of righteousness because I go to my Father. You
see, when the Spirit of God convicts us, He convicts us of our self-righteousness. He causes us to realize, I've
not been looking to Christ for my righteousness. And of judgment,
because the Prince of this world is judged. When was the prince
of this world judged? He was judged at Calvary's cross.
He was defeated when the Lord Jesus Christ bowed his mighty
head on Calvary's cross and said, it is finished. Sin's been put
away. Satan's been defeated. You see, your enemy is the consequences of your sin
when you don't look to Christ. It's the shame. It's the guilt. It's the fear. It's the doubts
that affect every part of your life. Yes, those things came
as a result of your sin. But it wasn't the sin in and
of itself. That's the enemy. It's the lack of looking to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Let me show you that again. Turn
with me to 1 Peter chapter 3. 1 Peter chapter 3. This, this is the gospel. This is the liberty wherewith
God has made us free. Free from the penalty of sin.
Free from the power of sin. One day, one day to be free from
the presence of sin. 1 Peter chapter 3 Verse 21, the like figure where
unto even baptism doth also now save us. Baptism saves us? Not the putting away of the filth
of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards
God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. You see, when we submit to the
ordinance of baptism, we are declaring that when Christ died,
I died. And that when Christ was risen
from the dead, I was risen from the dead. That's what Paul meant
in Philippians when he said, oh, that I might know him and
the fellowship of his suffering and the power of his resurrection. I've not yet attained that full
knowledge. I've not yet apprehended that
which has apprehended me. But this one thing I do, I press
towards the mark. for the prize of the high calling
in Christ Jesus. You see, religion is all based
on getting folks to commit themselves to live better. The gospel, the gospel of God's
free grace is a call to God's people to
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe on Him. God's people hate their sin. They want to honor God with their
lives. It's just that we can't fight flesh with flesh. Though
you walk after the flesh, the weapons of your warfare are not
fleshly. They're not fleshly. You're not
going to defeat sin by making, by having your sin exposed and
thinking, well, I can be, if I just get a little more committed,
if I get a little more sorry, if I get a little more devoted,
then I'll be able to be free. The weapons of our warfare are
not carnal. They are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds
to bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's his obedience. And it's
it's the only power that we have over sin. It is he is. He is. So. Peter says we have a good
conscience. How are you going to have a good
conscience? You're guilty, aren't you? You're a sinner. And if
Canaan has his way, if Ham has his way, all he's going to do
is expose more and more of our nakedness before God. God says,
I'm going to drive out those enemies. I'm going to drive out
those who would expose your nakedness, and I'm going to clothe you.
I'm going to clothe you in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the resurrection. The scripture says that Christ
was offered up for our offenses and raised again because of our
justification. So Peter's saying here, I'm going
to have a good conscience towards God, not by the putting away
of my flesh. Well, I could have a, I'll have
a better conscience if I could just live better. No. The Lord says you have a good
conscience towards God by the resurrection of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's the only way you'll have
a clear conscience. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter 10. Verse
22. Oh, we gotta read verse 20 and
21. By a new and living way which
he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his
flesh. When the Lord Jesus Christ suffered God's holy justice on
Calvary's cross and gave up the ghost, the veil in the temple
was rent. And God now says, come. The spirit
and the bride say, come. Come. We have a high priest over the
house of God. He is ascended into glory. He's
seated at the right hand of God. He lives forever to make intercession
for us. He is our life. Let us draw near. with a true
heart in full assurance of faith, not in full assurance of living
a better life. It's in full assurance of faith.
I'm confident that if God gives us faith to rest our hope in
the Lord Jesus Christ, that He'll direct our steps in this world.
He will. Let us draw near with a true
heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. How are we going to have our
conscience pure before God? Only through faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Only if Shem and Japheth bring
that robe of righteousness and cover our nakedness. What a picture
of the church and gospel preachers and the declaration of Christ.
You see, Shem, the world, you remember Job's friends? What
were they? They were Shems. They were Shemites. That's all they were, pointing
out Job's sin. Job, you're just not coming clean.
Job, if you'll just admit to your faults, then maybe you can
get, maybe you can do better. Maybe you can make some renewed
commitments. And God was moved with wrath
because Job and his friends sought to justify themselves rather
than God. Job at the end of the story says,
oh Lord, I abhor myself. I had heard of thee by the ear
to my ear, but now mine eyes have seen thee and I repent in
dust and ashes. Lord, I'm nothing but a sinner. Verse 23, Hebrews chapter 10,
let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering
for He is faithful that promised. What is it to hold fast the profession
of our faith? What is the profession of our
faith? Christ is my life. He's finished the work. He's
put away my sin. He's my righteousness before
God. He's all my hope of salvation. He is the profession of my faith.
Listen, brethren, if you leave here thinking, well, you know,
I'm going to do better. I'm going to get things worked
out because I'm suffering as a result of my sin. And I'm going
to get a handle on this. You're not going to be free. That commitment, as I said a
few moments ago, that commitment will last you about as long as
it takes for the next temptation to come. That's all. That's an attempt
on the flesh to fight flesh with flesh. It's an attempt of the
arm of the flesh to solve the spiritual problem It's thinking,
you know, religion is all about exposing men's nakedness and
creating doubt and fear and shame as a means of motivation. The gospel is free. And if the
son sets you free, you're free indeed. where the Spirit of God
is, there's liberty. The Lord says, here's the church,
go back with me to our text. Listen to what Hosea said, they
eat up the sin of my people and they set their hearts on their
iniquity. Now that's the hams of this world.
That's the hams of a guilty conscience. That's the hams of works religion. That's the hams of legalism.
Setting their hearts on our iniquity and eating up the sins of the
people of God. Exposing their shame. The spirit
of God doesn't do that, brethren. The Spirit of God sets His people
free. If there's any conviction of
sin, it's because they believe not on Him. If there's any conviction
of sin, it's because they attempted to establish their own righteousness
before God, forgetting that the Lord Jesus Christ is all their
righteousness before God. If there's any conviction of
sin, it's because they're trying to defeat the devil, not believing
that he's already defeated. That's liberty. All these tribes were the enemies
of God. Go back with me to Psalm 68.
Let God arise. Let God arise. Let the ark move
forward to find us a place of rest. And that's exactly what
the Lord Jesus Christ did. He left the glories of heaven
He was made in the likeness of sinful flesh, born of a woman,
born under the law to redeem those who are cursed by the law.
You see, we can either go back to the law or we can go to Christ. You can't mix the two. If it
is of grace, it can no longer be of works, otherwise grace
is not grace. You can't mix the two. It's either
all of Christ. You see, it's trying to mix the
slime with bricks made with hands. It can't be done. Christ is going
to get all the glory. And God's people are going to
be free. They're going to be free. Whatever changes need to
be made in their lives, I'm not suggesting that sin is okay or
that we don't need to change. All I'm saying is that the power
to that end is in the hand of God. It's the gospel of His free grace. It's the liberty. Even the psychologists of this
world know that people's problem is not their behavior, it's the
shame and the guilt and the fear that come as a result of the
behavior. And so what do they say? What
do they teach people? Well, it's not really your fault.
What are they trying to do? They were trying to relieve men
of a guilty conscience by saying that it's not your fault. And
so men go around lying to themselves, believing, well, it's not really
my fault, so that way I can relieve the guilty conscience. And they
live a lie, and they die a lie. I'm not saying that. It's your
fault. It's your fault. What I am saying is that the
Lord Jesus Christ has already put it away. He's put it away. He's not waiting for you to do
your part in order for... He's calling on you. Come out
of Babylon, O Zion. Come unto Me. Forsake that works
gospel and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and rest all your
hope on Him. Don't allow, don't allow Ham
to shame you. Don't allow Ham to expose your
nakedness and think, well, if I can just be, do better or feel
enough shame, I can get this. No, no. Shem and Japheth are
bringing the robe. They're not even looking at your
nakedness. They're walking in backwards and they're lying in
a robe on their father's nakedness to cover him. There's the gospel. Let God arise. Let His enemies
be scattered. Let them also that hate Him flee
before Him. Oh, I pray that the unbelief the self-righteousness, the fear,
the doubts, the shame, the worry, all those things that are consequences
of our unbelief that the Lord will drive them away, drive them
away. They're all the descendants of
Canaan. All the enemies of God were the descendants of Canaan.
They were all following after the sin of Ham. Back there in
Genesis chapter 9. As smoke is driven away, so drive
them away. As wax melted before the fire,
so let the wicked perish at the presence of God. But let the
righteous be glad. Let them rejoice before God.
Yea, let them exceedingly rejoice. Rejoice, brethren. You know, the only way to have
a clear conscience is to not be guilty. What does the Lord
say? I have separated your sin from
you as far as the east is from the west and I remember them
no more. There's liberty. God said, I
don't remember your sin. I put it away. All I can see
is the blood of my son. Your sins have been put away.
There is a clear conscience towards God through the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ. If I'm looking to Christ, I don't
have to live in fear. I don't have to live in doubt. I can be free. I can have liberty. and I can exceedingly rejoice. Sing unto God, sing praises to
His name, extol Him that writeth upon the heavens for His name,
Jah. Now that's Yahweh. That's the
name that God gave to Moses back there at the burning bush when
Moses said, whom should I say sent me? And God said, I am. Tell them I am sent you. What does that name mean? Well, that passage you read earlier,
Robert, when the Lord said prior to where you read, when the Lord
said to that woman at the well, if you knew who it was that saith
unto thee, give me to drink, you would ask him and he would
give unto you living water. And then he said, he that speaketh
unto you, I am, I am. I save in the manner in which
I save. I accomplish everything necessary
for the salvation of my people. I'm the righteous one. I've justified
my people. And now the Lord said, look to
me, look to me. Look at verse 5. A father to
the fatherless and a judge of the widows is God in His holy
habitation. Now, the fatherless and the widows
were those who could not get any help from man. Those who were destitute of any
help from anybody was the fatherless and the widows. That's us. Lord, I can't help myself. The
strength of my arm cannot deliver me from my sin. I'm a fatherless,
I'm a widow. You remember 1 Kings chapter
17 when Elijah had brought through the Word of God that great drought
in Israel and a famine was in the land? By the way, Amos says
in Amos chapter 8, I will send a famine to the land, not a famine
of bread nor of a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing
the Word of God. Now that's the famine that we
live in. May God open our ears and enable us to hear His word
and to trust Christ for our salvation and to be set free in Him. Elijah went into a town and he
saw a widow woman carrying two sticks. And he said to the widow
woman, he said, fetch me a drink of water. And she goes to get
it for him. And while she's walking away
from him, he says, while you're at it, bring me a morsel of bread.
And the woman turns around and she says, of a truth, all I have
is these two sticks, a little bit of meal in a barrel, and
a few drops of oil in a cruise. And I was just headed home to
make a fire, to bake a cake of bread, to feed me and my son,
a widow and a fatherless. so that we could die and Elijah said you do that but
make for me first a morsel of bread and I promise you by the
Word of God that that barrel will not be empty and that cruise
will not go without oil until the drought is broken and the
famine is over and she believed God And she brought to Elijah
her last bite of bread, and the barrel never went empty of meal,
and the cruce never went dry of oil. Why? Because she believed
God. She believed God. And God's calling
on the fatherless and the widow. to believe him. Look what he
says, a father to the fatherless and a judge of the widows is
God in his holy habitation. Now this is the holy habitation
of God. This is where he's promised to
make himself known. And he said, I'm going to feed
you with bread. What is that bread a picture
of? What is the Lord Jesus Christ? He said, I am the bread of life. I'm your sustenance. And what
is the oil a picture of? Well, it's the anointing of the
spirit of God. And the Lord said, I'm gonna
provide my son through the anointing of my spirit all the days of
your life. So that however bad the famine
is out there in the world, I'm gonna feed my people in this
holy habitation. Every time they come together,
I'm gonna satisfy their souls with the truth of the gospel
and feed them with the bread of life and anoint them with
the spirit of God. Believe me, I am a father of
the fatherless and I am a judge of the widows and I'm gonna provide
for my people. What am I going to provide for
them? A covering for their sin. A covering for their sin. I'll close with this statement
and I know somebody's going to twist this. Your enemy is not your sin. It's what you do with it. You try to fix your sin problem
on your own, and yeah, it'll be your enemy. You bring that sin, all your
nakedness, to the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will find that
the consequences of sin that trouble you so, all the doubts, all the fears,
all the discouragements, you'll find yourself rejoicing
exceedingly. Rejoicing exceedingly. in what
the Lord Jesus Christ has done in putting away your sin. And
the only power that you'll ever have over sin is grace. It's Christ. It's the Gospel. You can't fight
flesh with flesh. You're a child of God. I know
you hate your sin. I know you want to... You see, the enemy, the enemy
is the way we attempt to deal with our sin. And I'll just say
this again, the Spirit of God doesn't use guilt and fear. The Lord Himself said, perfect
love Casteth out fear. Now, perfect love is the love
that God shows to his people in the work and person of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Cast out fear. Cast out fear. I introduced this message by
saying I wanted us to leave here free people. I hope we will. I hope the Lord will set us free.
And that we'll find ourselves looking to Christ for all our
righteousness and for all of our justification before God,
all of our salvation. Let's pray. Our heavenly father,
we're thankful that you've promised to meet with your people in your
holy habitation and Lord, how we, how we hope that your spirit
would would drive the gospel of your grace home to our hearts
and enable us to rest in Christ. For it's in his name we pray.
Amen. Number 27. And we're going to
have the Lord's table. I'm gonna ask the men if they'll
come and distribute the bread and wine, please. 27 in a spiral
handbook. you ? Free from the law's great curse
? In Jesus we are free ? For Christ became a curse for us
? And died upon the tree ? The rituals of the law and all the
law's commands have been fulfilled in Christ the Lord, established
by his hands. No covenant with the law can
now with us exist. Complete in Christ, we stand
by grace, both free and ever blessed. No more the dread of
wrath, no more constrained by fear. We worship and we serve
our God with gratitude and cheer. In Jesus we are free. In Jesus we are free Free from
all sin and from all guilt We live in liberty We'll join the
happy song With all the blood bought throng, And sing the praises
of the Lamb, Whose grace makes us His own. Were you able to rejoice in that
hymn we just sang? That's it. That's it. Free from the law.
Oh, don't let ham expose your nakedness. Take that robe of righteousness. That's what Christ came to do.
Here's the... I'm sorry, I didn't realize we
were... Come on, Yuko. I'm sorry. My mistake. God made him The Father made
the Son sin, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. The only way to have a clear
conscience is to look to Christ. Rest in Him. He is seated at
the right hand of God. Look to his finished, accomplished
work. He's the only one without sin.
That's what this unleavened bread is all about. It's the body of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And he said, this is my body. As often as you eat it, eat it
in remembrance of me. Remember that I'm the only one
that lived without sin. And you can't do anything but
sin. Your righteousness before God
and your clear conscience and your liberty and your freedom
is what I've earned for you through my perfect life of obedience.
Do it in remembrance of me. Aaron took that blood sacrifice
and put it on the mercy seat. Mercy. Mercy. That's what we
need. Unmerited mercy. Mercy withholding
from us what we deserve, which is judgment and wrath. We don't
have to fear death. We don't have to fear wrath.
We don't have to fear judgment. Why? Because the Lord Jesus Christ
has already taken all of that. That's what he did. That's what
he did on Calvary's cross. He is our propitiation. The judgment
of God has been put away through the shedding of his blood. And
he said, do this in remembrance of me. Let's stand together. Brother Hugo, would you dismiss
us in prayer, please?