It's amazing. You can holler
and nobody pays attention and you just speak in a still small
voice and whisper and all of a sudden... Was that when EF Hutton speaks? Everybody listens? Remember that
commercial? Good morning again. Pray God will speak. I trust everybody got their letter
this week on our future building. project soon as the time schedule
is established. Engineers should start in the
next week or two to start surveying the property and figure out what
needs to be done in order to put a building up, but basically
we're looking at putting it up behind us and connecting it to
this building with some sort of a breezeway. so that's the
plan and uh... as they become more detailed
will be sure to uh... get that information out probably
will put some pictures up on the on the wall in the hallway
so that you have something to look at uh... in the near future
uh... it's an exciting time i'm very
thankful that uh... lord has made this opportunity
available and pray that uh... Lord put it on each of our hearts
to want to be a part of it as much as we can. In light of what we saw in the
first hour, I just want to read a verse here from Revelation
chapter 20. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes,
and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither
shall there be any more pain, For the former things are passed
away. And he that sat upon the throne
said, behold, I make all things new. New. There's our hope. There's the blessing, isn't it?
All right. Tom's going to come lead us in
the hymn on the back of your bulletin. Let's stand together.
? Hark how the gospel trumpet sounds
? ? Christ and free grace therein abound ? ? Free grace to such
as sinners be ? ? And if free grace why not for me ? The Savior
died and by His blood brought rebel sinners home to God. He died to set the captives free. Then why, my soul, why not for
me? Christ Jesus came the poor to
bless, to clothe them with his righteousness. The robe is spotless, full and
free. Then why, my soul, why not for
me? Eternal life by Christ is given,
and ruined sinners raised to heaven. Then sing of grace so
rich and free, and say, my soul, why not for thee? Please be seated. Good morning. Please turn to Solomon's Song,
Chapter 2. And we'll read verse 9 through
the end of the chapter. I just love the Lord's poetry
here throughout All these verses, and I pray that he would be pleased
to reveal himself to us here. Verse 9. My beloved is like a row or a
young heart. Behold, he walketh behind our
wall. He looketh forth at the windows,
showing himself through the lattice. My beloved spake and said unto
me, rise up my love, my fair one, and come away. For lo, the
winter's past, the rain is over and gone, the flowers appear
on the earth, the time of the singing of birds has come, and
the voice of the turtle is heard in our land. The fig tree putteth
forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give
a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one,
and come away. O my dove, thou art in the clefts
of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs. Let me see thy
countenance, let me hear thy voice, for sweet is thy voice
and thy countenance is comely. Take us the foxes, the little
foxes that spoil the vines, for our vines have tender grapes.
My beloved is mine, and I am his. He feedeth among the lilies. Until the daybreak and the shadows
flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young
heart upon the mountains of Bethu. Let's end there. Heavenly Father, Lord, if you're
pleased by your goodwill and providence, Father, that you
would please reveal yourself to us this morning. Pray that
you would come out from behind the lattice, Lord. Please be
with us, Father. Please reveal your Son to us,
Lord. We pray that you would show us
your countenance, Lord. reveal yourself to us in truth.
Please open our ears to hear. Please speak to our hearts, Lord.
Thank you, Father, for your grace and mercy. In his name we pray,
amen. Number 352 from the hardback
temple, number 352. Let's all stand together. Jesus, lover of my soul, let
me to thy bosom fly. While the nearer waters roll,
while the tempest Hide me, O my Savior, hide, Till
the storm of life is past. Safe into the haven guide, O
receive my soul at last. Other refuge have I none, hangs
my hopeless soul on thee. Levi, leave me not alone, still
support and comfort me. All my trust on thee is All my help from thee I bring,
Cover my defenseless head With the shadow of thy wing. Thou, O Christ, art all I want,
more than all in Thee I find. Raise the fallen, cheer the faint,
heal the sick, and lead the blind. Just and holy is Thy name. I am all unrighteousness. False and full of sin I am. Thou art full of truth and grace. Plenty as grace with thee is
found. Grace to cover all my sin. Let the healing streams abound,
make and keep me pure within. Thou of life, the fountain art,
freely let me take of thee. Spring thou up within my heart,
rise to all eternity. Please be seated. Adam Charon
is going to bring special music now. When peace like a river attended
my way. When sorrows like sea billows
roll. For my love thou hast taught
me to say it is well, it is well with my soul. It is well. my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul. Though Satan should Let this
blessed assurance control That Christ hath regarded my
health Blessed stay and have shed His own blood for my soul. It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. My sin, oh the bliss of this
glorious thought. My sin, Not in part, but the
whole. Is nailed to the cross, and I
bear it no more. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Oh, my soul. It is well with my soul. The day when my fate shall be
signed. The clouds be rolled back as
a scroll. The trump shall resound. And the Lord shall descend. Even so, it is well with my soul. It is well. It is well, it is well with my
soul. Thank you, Adam. I love that
hymn. Most of you, I'm sure, know the
story behind that hymn, but what a perfect example that is of
what we saw in the first hour, how over 150 years now, the Lord
has used the words of that hymn to bless His church, and what
difficulties Horatio Spafford went through to to write that
him very thankful we open your Bibles
with me to Zachariah chapter 2 Zachariah chapter 2 I've titled this message Christ
and his church Christ and his church. When the
Lord describes the marriage union of a man and a woman in Ephesians
chapter 5, and he says that no man ever hated the body but nourishes
it, he goes on to say, yet I speak unto you a great mystery concerning
Christ and his church. The union between a man and a
woman and the life that that union produces is used in God's
Word to picture Christ and His church. The truth is that without
the union of a man and a woman there would be no life in this
world. And without Christ and His church there would be no
life in this world. I do not speak with exaggeration
and I have no exceptions whatsoever to this statement that without
the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, this world will not have
any life, no life. The Lord said, when the trump
of God sounds and the dead in Christ are raised and those of
us which are alive are caught up together with them in the
air, then the end shall come. The only reason that the consuming
fire of God has not yet come upon this world to consume all
those things which are seen, all those temporal things is
because of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when she's
gone, this world has no more purpose. Zechariah chapter two. Verse 1, I lifted up my eyes
again. Oh, how we hope the Lord will
enable us to lift up our eyes again. Don't you love that story
in Mark chapter 8? We saw it a few months back when
we were studying through the book of Mark. where the Lord
takes spittle and anoints the eyes of a man who was born blind.
And what a picture, because spit represents, the scripture says
in the Old Testament, when a man who is unclean spits on a man
who is clean, the unclean man, the clean man becomes unclean
as a result of that spittle. And here we have the Lord Jesus
Christ using his spittle as the only clean man, making the unclean
clean. and he anoints his eyes. And
he asked the man, he says, can you see? And he said, I see men
walking as trees. And then the scripture says that
the Lord took the man in his hand and turned his eyes up. Now there's the Lord Jesus Christ
taking the head of this blind man. We're all born blind. We're
all unclean. and turning his head so that
he can see Christ. And he says, can you see now?
And he said, I see clearly. I see clearly. Oh, might the
Spirit of God take the tender hands of the Lord Jesus Christ
and put them on our head and turn us again. It's the only way we're going
to see clearly. The only way. If He causes us to come, turn
me, Lord, and I shall be turned." And here Zechariah says, I lifted
up my eyes again and looked, and behold, a man with a measuring
line in his hand. Now this is the same man we saw
in chapter 1 of Zechariah. It is the God-man. It is the
one man who stands between God and man. It is the Lord Jesus
Christ himself. And he's measuring his church.
Then said I, whither goest thou? And he said unto me, to measure
Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth thereof, and what is
the length thereof. And behold, the angel that talked
with me went forth, and another angel went out to meet him, and
said unto him, run. here's the Lord Jesus Christ
taking this ministering spirit is what the Lord in the book
of Hebrews refers to the angels as they are ministering spirits
and he says to the ministering spirit speak to this young man
now in the book of Revelation all the messengers of God are
spoken of as angels that's all an angel is the messenger And
so the Lord takes each one of his ministering spirits and says,
speak to the young man, tell him what I'm doing. And that's
what we're doing right now. That's what we're doing right
now. Just speaking to men and women, telling them what God
is doing. So the Lord says to this angel,
tell him what I'm doing. Run, speak to this young man,
verse 4, saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without
walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein. For I, saith
the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about and will
be the glory in the midst of her. The church of the Lord Jesus
Christ is the only reason why this world exists. I do not say
that with any degree of hyperbole. I'm not exaggerating one bit. I'm amused. Some of the most incredibly
gifted, intelligent people in this world are spending all of
their energy in life trying to figure out the origin of life. And they call themselves theoretical
astrophysicists. And they've got brains as big
as this building, you know. And they're trying to figure
out what's the cause of life. And then every person in the
world is spending their life and time trying to figure out
what's my purpose in life. I'm going to tell you right now.
It is the glory of God through the preaching of the gospel. to the saving of sinners. That's it. That's it. God is glorified when dead dog
sinners are saved and if they're going to be saved it will be
by the church preaching the gospel of God's free grace in the finished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's it. Let the theoretical,
and it's interesting, they call themselves theoretical physicists. And every time they come to a
new discovery, they figure out that what they thought was true
is no longer true. I mean, they're constantly coming
up with new ideas. And every discovery proves their
previous theory to be wrong. This is what it's all about. it's Christ and his church nothing
more nothing more when the church is gone terminator Isaiah chapter
43 please Isaiah 40 three when We have in Zechariah chapter
2 God telling the children of Israel that I'm going to shake
Babylon and they are going to be a spoil for you. So when God brought the children
of Israel out of Babylon, He made the wealth of Babylon to
be a spoil for the children of Israel. Another time that the
Lord did that is when he brought the children of Israel out of
Egypt. And the Egyptians, the scripture says, lavished every
Israelite with gifts. Now what moved their hearts to
do that? These were their slaves and now
they're paying them gifts as they're leaving. The heart of
the king is in the hand of the Lord, and He directs it whithersoever
He wills. What I'm saying to you is that
the whole world exists to serve Christ and His church. The company
you work for exists for you to have a job. Everything in this world exists
for the glory of God. in the life of the church of
the Lord Jesus Christ. You say, well, that's pretty
arrogant. Well, call it what you want. It's true. It is true. That's just how important the
church of Christ is. And that's what this whole passage
is about. You have your Bibles open, Isaiah
43. Look at verse 1. But now thus
saith the Lord that created thee, God is speaking to his church. Thus saith the Lord that created
thee, O Jacob. Jacob is, we're the sons of Jacob. This is the church of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he that formed thee, O Israel. Yeah, we're supplanters just
like Jacob was, but like Israel, we are the princes of God. The
prince of God is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is
the kingdom. This is the only kingdom that's
going to last. You remember in Daniel when Nebuchadnezzar
had that dream of a great figure that had a head of gold and arms
of silver and a belly of brass and legs of iron and feet mingled
with clay and iron and then a rock. That was the Babylonians, that
was the Greeks, the Medes and the Persians, that was the Greeks,
that was the Romans, and here we are today. We are on the feet
of that image. The feet of that image is the
mixture of iron and clay. And what happens? A rock is cut
out of a mountain without the hand of a man. And that rock
comes and smashes that great figure until that great figure
is made into dust and that rock itself grows into a great mountain. Now there's the history of the
world. That's the history of the world. That's it. We're living
in the feet of the figure. And there's coming a day soon
when that rock, the rock of ages, the Lord Jesus Christ cut without
the hand of a man is going to come and smash this whole world
and the kingdom of God is the only kingdom that's going to
last. This world has no purpose other than God's kingdom. Everything
else that's seen in this world is temporal. And as we saw in
the previous hour from Hebrews chapter 12, everything in this
world will be consumed by the fire of God. Only that which
is unseen. The world can't see what we're
talking about now, can they? They don't see this little group
of misfits sitting here this morning listening to this message
as the reason for this whole community existing. They don't
see that. Why? Because it's unseen. And
that which is unseen is eternal. So the Lord now is speaking to
His church. He's speaking to Jacob. He's speaking to Israel.
He says, Fear not, for I have redeemed thee. Oh, your redemption's
already accomplished. It's not something I'm working
on. It's not something I'm hoping is going to happen. I'm not making
an offer. I have redeemed thee. I shed my precious blood on Calvary's
cross. You've been bought with a price,
and God has accepted that price. My blood was put on the mercy
seat, and God is satisfied with what I did, and you've been redeemed. You've been bought. You're no
longer your own. You belong to me. I pray for
them which thou hast given me out of the world. Look and see
how many times that phrase is used in John chapter 17. Thou hast given me out of the
world. I pray not for the world. The
world's a drop in the bucket to me. The world's a speck of
dust on the scale to me. That's what the Lord said. Pray
not for them. They are no eternal consequence.
Oh, but for those that you've given me. I've loved them. I've loved them and I've laid
down my life for them. And now the Lord's talking to
his church and he says, for I have redeemed thee. I have called
thee by thy name and thou art mine. The world's not mine, but
Thine are mine. Isn't that what the Lord said
in John chapter 17, when he's talking to the, when he's praying
to the father, he said, thine are mine and I am in thee. When thou passest through the
waters. Now here's the Lord speaking to us. When I stir up the circumstances
of your life, that's what it is to pass through the waters.
And the biggest pass that we're going to have through the waters
is that river Jordan. Jordan translated means death.
And there's going to come a day when each and every one of us
are going to have to wade the waters of death. And I think
about Bunyan's pilgrim's progress and how doubtful, was fearful
during his journey of going through the river before he got to the
celestial city. And the Lord encouraged him in
that time. And that's how it'll be. He gives
to his children dying grace as they pass through that river.
When thou passeth through the waters, I will be with thee. Not going to be with them, but
I'm going to be with you. And through the rivers, they shall
not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
thee." Oh, the man who was in the fiery
furnace, the fourth man was as of the Son of God, wasn't he?
And he consumed the heat of that fire. The Lord says, this fire,
your God is a consuming fire, but that fire is not going to
consume you. It's already consumed me. The fire of God's wrath has
already been quenched through the sacrifice that I made for
you on Calvary's cross. Everything is going to be shaken
in order to show that which cannot be shaken to be eternal. For I am the Lord thy God, the
Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. Here's what I wanted you to see.
Look at this verse. I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and
Seba for thee. all these nations, all this stuff
that everybody's getting so bent out of shape about. God says,
I've given them for you. They exist to serve you. I'm gonna provide for you through
them in the same way I provided for Israel through Babylon and
Egypt. It's the only reason they're
here. And the moment I take you out of this world is when this
comes to an end. since why did I do this? Why
did I do this? Why am I going to do this? Because
you are precious in my sight. That word precious means priceless. Sometimes we call some things
priceless, but they're really not. Nothing in this world is
priceless. Everything's got a value, doesn't it? Material things,
we might say, my children are priceless, my spouse is, but
I'm not going to take anything. But you get my point. And the
Lord's saying, oh, you're priceless to me. The ultimate sacrifice
has been made for you. And I'm not going to leave you
or forsake you. You're my glory. You're my glory. Thou was precious in my sight.
Thou hast been honorable. I have loved Thee. Therefore
will I give men for Thee and people for Thy life. Do you believe
that? Here's God speaking to His church.
I give men for Thee. I give people for Thy life. They are all here for the purpose
of serving You. The church of the Lord Jesus
Christ is the only reason for this world. Fear not. Don't be afraid, child
of God, for I am with thee. I will bring thy seed from the
east and gather thee from the west. I will say to the north,
give up, and to the south, keep not back. Bring my sons from
far and my daughters from the end of the earth. for everyone
that is called by my name, for I have created him for my glory. I have formed him. You see that
word formed? That word is translated potter. I'm the potter. I formed them
for my glory. I make some vessels for honor.
Whose honor? My honor. And then I make some
vessels for dishonor, fitted for destruction. that my glory
and my grace might be known to my people. Christ and his church. It's a mystery to the world.
The word mystery, you know, doesn't mean mysterious. It doesn't mean
weird. It means that it's hidden. They
can't see it. They can't see it. They're still
looking for the origins of life. They're still looking for the
purpose of their own life in this world. They cannot see what
God is saying. You and I won't see it either
if the Lord doesn't take us and cause us to look up. Look up. You know, we're walking in this
world, aren't we? Go back with me to Zechariah
chapter 2. We're walking in this world and you know when you When you walk in an unfamiliar
place, you better watch where you step unless you trip and
fall and stumble on something. But the scripture says we don't
walk by sight. We walk by faith. We walk by
faith. The only way to see this truth
is for the Lord to take us and cause us to look up. And what do we see when we look
up? We see the same thing that that blind man saw in Mark chapter
8 when the Lord took him and said, what do you see now? Oh,
I see men clearly. We see the Lord Jesus Christ,
don't we? But we spend all of our time
looking down, don't we? We look down and God says, look
up, look up, look at me. When God sent fiery serpents,
those venomous snakes, into the camp of the children of Israel
when they were in the wilderness, and people were dying left and
right from snake bites. I mean, there were snakes everywhere.
Who's going to want to live? You're going to watch where you
step unless you step on a snake. And you would think that, well,
we've got to learn how to kill the snakes. we gotta figure out
a way to avoid the snakes and that's what man-made religions
all about those snakes represent our sin and man-made religion
is nothing more than telling people how to reorder their temporal
lives those things which can be seen so they can they can
avoid the snakes And everybody's walking around looking at the
ground trying to figure out how to fix their lives so they can
avoid the snakes and be without sin. And what does the Lord say? God says, my ways are not your
ways. He told Moses, he said, Moses, make a serpent of brass
and put it on a pole and put it up high enough for everybody
to be able to see it and tell the people whoever looks up will
live. Now who's going to look up? Only
those who believe God. Everybody else is just going
to be looking at the snakes, trying to kill the snakes and avoid
the snakes. And God says, look at the serpent
on the pole, for that's My Son who was made sin for you and
was lifted up. And if My Son be lifted up, I'll
draw all men to Him. So Zacharias says, and I looked
up again, and again, and again, and again, and every time we
come together, every time God gathers us from our scattered
places, what do you want to do? What do you need more than anything
else? Sir, we would see Jesus. Show us who He is. Show us what
He's done for me. Because I get so caught up in
the things of this world, and I am so prone to wander away
from Him. And I am so prone to set my affections
on things below. I need the gospel preached to me.
the church is the only thing that philosophers are preaching
the gospel the politicians are preaching the gospel the media
is not preaching the gospel entertainments not preaching the gospel educators
are preaching the gospel theoretical physicist are preaching the gospel
they're all looking for the answer somewhere else What did we see when we look
up? Well, go back with me to our
text. Are you in Zechariah chapter 2? I lifted up my eyes again
and looked. That's what the Lord tells us
to do. He tells us to look. Look. What do you see? A man. A man. The God-man. The world's not
interested in looking at him. They'll look anywhere else but
to him. The Lord said in Psalm 40, verse
12, innumerable evils have come past me about. Mine iniquities
have taken hold upon me so that I am not able to look up. Now we know that that was the
cry of the Lord Jesus Christ. But that's our cry too, isn't
it? Innumerable evils have come past me about. The snakes are
all around my feet. I'm not able to look up. Lord,
you're gonna have to take your hands and force my eyes up. You're gonna have to make me
look up. Oh Lord, make haste to help me. Matthew chapter 21, verse 28
says, look up and lift up your heads for your redemption draweth
nigh. And your redemption is in your
Redeemer. And he is a man, he is a man
who was tried in all ways that we are, yet without sin. A man who bore all our shame
and all our guilt and put it away once and for all by the
sacrifice of himself. Look up, Zechariah says, I looked
up And I saw a man, a man. Turn to me to 2 Peter 3. 2 Peter
3. Verse 10. But the day of the Lord will come. This is also referred to as the
great and terrible day of the Lord in the scriptures. Great for those who are found
in Christ and terrible for those who are not in Christ. But the day of the Lord will
come as a thief in the night in which the heavens shall pass
away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat, and the earth also, and the works that are therein
shall be burned up." How many times does God have to say this
to us? The works of the world shall
be burned up, seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved. What manner of persons ought
ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and
hastening unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens
being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt away
with fervent heat? Nevertheless, we, we, not them,
but we, whenever there's a we, there's also a them. Oh Lord,
make me a part of the we. Nevertheless we, according to
His promise. This is what faith is. Faith
is believing God. Faith is not, you know people
say, I just have faith that this is going to happen tomorrow.
I'm going to get this or get that. That's not faith. That's
presumption. Faith is believing God. Believing the promises of
God. Now there is one thing that is
going to happen tomorrow that we can believe God for, and that
is the things that He has promised. What has He promised? We, according
to His promise, look for a new heaven and a new earth wherein
dwelleth righteousness. Righteousness. We look not on the things which
are seen, but on the things which are not sane. For the things
which are sane are temporal, but the things which are not
sane are eternal. The scripture says that this
man to whom we look has no form nor comeliness, and when we shall
see him, there is no beauty in him that we should desire him.
We hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised and
rejected of men. Psalm 22, the Lord Jesus Christ
says through David, I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men
and despised of the people. All they that see me laugh me
to scorn, they shoot out their lips, they shake their head. And then the scripture says,
though he be despised of men, they that look upon him shall
be saved. Who do we look upon? We look
upon the one whom we have pierced and we're dependent upon the
spirit of grace and supplication be poured out on Jerusalem on
the house of David in order for us to have that spirit to look
upon Him. Zechariah chapter 2 What do we see when we see this
man? Well, we see one measuring Jerusalem. Now, Lord willing, we're going
to have a construction project going on here, and there's going
to be a lot of measuring done. Here, the Lord Jesus Christ is
not only the builder, but He's the architect. for the city. He's designed the city. He designed
it in the covenant of grace when he became the lamb that was slain
before the foundation of the world and struck hands with God
the Father as our surety, promising to save them. And now he's seen
as not only the architect of the city, but he's seen as the
builder of the city. He's also seen as the materials
of the building. He's seen as the one who protects
the building. He's seen the one who is the
glory for his building. What is this measuring of Jerusalem
all about? Well, he's counting the sheep
is what he's doing. You ever count sheep before?
The Lord said, I'm not going to lose one sheep. I'm going
to measure. I'm going to make sure every
one of them are there. And if I have to leave the 99 and go
out to the wilderness to get the one, I'm going to do it.
And I'm going to bring them into the fold so that there is one
sheepfold and one shepherd. This is nothing other than the
city of God. And the scripture says you have
your Bibles open to Zechariah chapter 2. Look at this. Look
at this. The Lord tells the angel, run.
Oh, the urgency of the gospel. My God put into all of our hearts
an urgency. This angel is told, listen, you're
talking to a blind man. You're talking to dying people.
You're talking to people. Go quickly. Don't waste any time. Don't waste their time or yours
dealing with all the things that men deal with in religion, trying
to fix the circumstances of their temporal life. Go to the heart
of the problem and go there quickly. Preach the gospel. Tell them
what I'm doing. I'm measuring the city. And this
city is going to be a city without walls. Now, what do walls do
for a city? A lot of conversation in our
country today about walls. What is the purpose of those
walls? Well, a wall serves one of two purposes. it will either
keep out those who are a threat to the citizens of that city
or it will like the Iron Curtain of the Soviet Union or by the
walls of a prison keep in those who are being restrained from
being free. That's what a wall does. And
what's the Lord say? The Lord says this city is not
going to have any walls. for I will be the walls thereof."
Notice what he says, look at, run and tell them what Jerusalem,
a town without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein.
For I say that the Lord will be unto her a wall of fire around. Now this is an image of a person
who's out in the wilderness where there are wild animals, lions
and predators that eat at night. And so what do they do? What
would you do under those circumstances if you were out in such a situation?
You'd build campfires all the way around, wouldn't you? And
that fire would provide a light and a threat to the predator
and keep them out. And so the Lord Jesus Christ
said, I'm going to be their wall and I'm going to be fire all
around them. What is that fire? It's the preaching
of the gospel. I've told you all before I had
a situation where I went to preach somewhere and the first question
they asked me, which was very suspicious, I mean it really
kind of revealed their situation for what they had all just come
out of a very legalistic a situation where their pastor ruled with
a rod of iron and put them all under the law and and they practice
church discipline. This is the wall that and so
the first question they asked me was well how do you all practice
church discipline back there in Orlando? How do you crack the whip of
the law? How do you keep those people restrained? What kind
of walls do you build around your city? and I said, uh, I said, well,
we practice church discipline every single time we come together
and their eyes got big and they thought, wow, this is a really
spiritual church. You remember this conversation?
You were there. I said, I preach Christ and believers
are encouraged and corrected. and the unbelievers eventually
leave. Now that's what the Lord's saying here. We're not going
to put up walls to try to restrain men. We're not going to crack
the whip of the law. You're not under the law. You're under grace. The law's for the lawless. Let
men of religion set up rules and regulations, traditions,
and the commandments of men in order to try to restrain the
behavior of their people. I am confident that the Lord
Jesus Christ said, I will be unto her a wall, a fire all around
her. You keep preaching the gospel
and I'll keep the wolves out. And it'll be a light to those
who are protected by the gospel. This is a picture of Christ and
His church. The only reason that this world
exists is that God would be glorified through the salvation of sinners
by the preaching of the gospel. That's our one and only mandate
given to us of God. And that's the one thing needful
that each of us have, isn't it? It's the one thing needful. We don't have a prison here.
We're not cracking the whip of the law, trying to keep men under
the authority of elders and legalistic commandments. The Lord Jesus
Christ said, I will be a wall unto her. And notice what else. For I,
verse five, saith the Lord, for I will be under her a wall of
fire round about and will be the glory in the midst of her. We're not here to glorify men. We're here to glorify the Lord
Jesus Christ. If he's lifted up, if he's lifted
up, all praise and all honor and
all glory will be to him for his grace toward us. Child of God, Christ and his
church is the reason for everything. These I listen to these astrophysicists. Not that I understand what they're
saying, but one of the things that they keep saying, we're
looking for the theory of everything. Have you heard them say that?
The theory of everything. Well, this is no theory. But
I'm telling you on the authority of God's word, this is the cause
of everything. This is the purpose of everything. I will be her wall and I will
be her glory. And when I brought the last of
my sheep in, I'm measuring my city. I'm measuring it. I know
where my children are. I know where my sheep are. When
I get the last one in, then the end shall come. Our Heavenly Father, we pray
that you would put on our hearts the urgency of this matter of
faith and the glory of Christ. Give us eyes to see, ears to
hear. Take us, Lord. Turn us toward
thee and cause us to see the man. the God-man, thy dear son, and
our Savior. For it's in his name we pray,
amen. Number 311, let's stand together. Just the first three verses. Yeah. We would see Jesus, for the shadows
lengthen across the little landscape of our life. We would see Jesus. to strengthen, for the last weariness,
the final strife. We would see Jesus, the great
rock foundation, where on our feet were set by sovereign grace. Not life nor death with all their
agitation, Can thence remove us if we see His face? We would see Jesus, other lights
are paling, which for long years we have rejoiced to see. The blessings of our pilgrimage
are failing, We would not mourn them for we go to thee. Yeah.