we've been meeting now by God's
grace for 22 plus years and 2000 we were given the ability
to build this building and we've been meeting here in this facility
ever since and the last year or so we've been thinking about
and praying if the Lord would have us to expand our facilities,
create this building into a fellowship hall and build a separate auditorium. And it appears that the Lord
is providing for that opportunity. And I want to send a letter out
giving you more details this week. So if you'll watch for
that and please, take the time to read it and and pray over
it and if it is in the Lord's will for us to build a building
he will provide the ability to do that and so that's what we're
seeking his will on now whether or not the funds are going to
be available so it's a it's an exciting thing to consider and
I hope that that you will make it a matter of prayer as we seek
the Lord's will in this endeavor. We'll give you more details in
the letter so please respond to that and we'll see where we
go from there. On the back of your bulletin
there's a hymn, though troubles assail us and dangers affright,
Though friends should all fail and foes all unite, yet one thing
secures us, whatever betide. His promise assures us the Lord
will provide. That's what we talked about the
first hour, isn't it? He will provide. Let's stand
together. Bert's going to come and lead
us in that hymn. Amen. ? Through troubles assails us ?
? And dangers affright ? ? Though friends should all fail ? ? And
foes all unite ? ? Yet one thing secures us ? ? Whatever betide
? ? His promise assures us ? The Lord will provide. The birds without garner or storehouse
are fed. From them let us learn to trust
God for our bread. His saints what is fitting shall
ne'er deny. So long as it is written, the
Lord will provide. When Satan assails us to stop
a far path, and courage all fails us, we triumph by faith. He cannot take from us the love
He has tried. This heart-cheering promise the
Lord will provide. No strength of our own and no
goodness we claim, yet since we have known of the Savior's
great name, in this our strong tower for safety we hide. The Lord is our power, The Lord
will provide. You may be seated. With our call to worship scripture,
could you please turn to the Book of Romans? Book of Romans,
Chapter 9. I always hate to say that it's
a familiar passage because I don't want it to be familiar in presumption,
but I want it to be fresh and anew. But what prompted this
reading this morning is as a result of one of my family members who
hate the gospel attacking one of my brothers. And the most
common term that they use is that you think, or you say, or
that's your opinion. And yet when God affords us the
opportunity to witness, we are really confessing. Confessing
meaning saying, the same thing that God says about himself,
about the Lord Jesus Christ, and about this sinner. And so,
I'm hopeful that maybe they'll hear this, or maybe in the future
they'll hear this, but this is a clear, what I'm about to do,
and it's an encouragement to y'all, is that we're gonna say
the same thing that God says about himself right here in this
passage. I hope he blesses and gives you encouragement. Verse
15. For he saith to Moses, remember Moses in Exodus when he asked
God, what should I, and also what name should I say?
When they asked, I said, I am. This is I am right here. For he saith to Moses, I will,
and I'm so glad he wills, have mercy on whom I will have mercy.
And I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
So then it is not of him that willeth, you will never choose
Christ, never have the ability. There is no such thing. And there
it is right there. Nor of him that runneth, no amount of works,
but of God that showeth mercy. For the scripture saith unto
Pharaoh, even for the same purpose have I raised thee up that I
might show my power in thee and that my name might be declared
throughout all the earth. Therefore, in light of God's
purpose, hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom
he will, he hardeneth." As Greg said earlier, he'll just remove
his presence and that's all he has to do. Verse 19, Thou wilt
say then unto me, why doth he yet find fault? For who has resisted
his will? Nay, but, O man, who art thou
that replyeth against God? Who is man to judge God? Shall
the thing formed say to him that formed it, why hast thou made
me thus? Hath not the potter power over
the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and
another unto dishonor? What if God willing to show his
wrath and to make his power known endured with much long-suffering
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction." Bert, are you saying
that God, not me, God is saying, I know that's harsh, but there
it is right there. Fitted to destruction, and that
why? And that He might make known
the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy. I want to be the vessel of mercy,
which He had for prepared unto glory, even us whom he hath called,
not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. Beloved brethren,
We are just saying the same thing that God says about himself in
his word. It's not, I wouldn't give you
two plum nickels from my opinion, but what does God say? And this
is the God who is, that brought us here this morning to worship
him. And he is the only true God.
The Lord Jesus Christ said, this is life eternal, that they may
know the only true and living God in Jesus Christ, whom he
has now said. And that's who we have come to
worship this morning. Father, we do confess this morning
that unless it pleased you in eternity's past to choose a people
to give to thy dear son and for thy dear son to accomplish everything
you required of him for the people you have chosen and for your
spirit to come and regenerate our souls, Lord, we would not
be here this morning. We are totally dependent upon
you, Lord, for everything. Save us, Lord. Enable us by your
power and your spirit to worship you. And we know we have that
access because of the one that you're pleased with, the Lord
Jesus Christ, in whom all lies our salvation and are standing
before you. So as we enter into your throne,
Lord, in time of need, asking for grace and mercy, we ask now
that you'd pour out your spirit upon thy word and cause the power
of your preaching, the message you've given our brother, to
once again enable us to lift Christ up and to see him in his
glory. For we ask it in Christ's name
and for his sake, amen. Can we now turn to hardback hymn
number 485. Number 485, Revive Us Again,
485. We praise Thee, O God, for the
Son of Thy love, for Jesus, who died and is now gone above. Alleluia, Thine the glory. Alleluia, Amen. Alleluia, Thine the glory. Revive us again. We praise thee, O God, for thy
Spirit of light, who has shown us our Savior and scattered our
night. Alleluia, thine the glory. Alleluia, amen. Alleluia, thine the glory. Revive us again. ? All glory and praise to the
Lamb that was slain ? ? Who has borne all our sins and has cleansed
every stain ? ? Hallelujah, thine the glory, hallelujah, amen ?
? Hallelujah, thine the glory, revive us again ? Revive us again. Fill each heart with Thy love. May each soul be rekindled with
fire from above. Hallelujah, Thine the glory. Hallelujah, Amen. Hallelujah, Thine the glory. Revive us again. You don't have to turn to this
passage, I just want to read it in light of that hymn we just
sang. In religion, they schedule revival meetings once a year
or so and get everybody whooped up into a frenzy. The child of
God understands, at least in part, his need to be revived
all the time. All the time. Keep coming back
to the Lord Jesus Christ. We are so prone to wander. We
live in a world that distracts us at least from him. And here's what Peter said in
first Peter chapter two as newborn babes. That's not a little that's
a baby. That's an infant as newborn babes
crave the sincere milk. of God's Word that you may grow
thereby if so be that you have tasted
that the Lord is gracious if you've tasted that he's gracious
you just want more want more of him to whom coming that's
present tense that's right now right now O Lord, cause us to
come unto Thee, and the means by which the Lord causes us to
come unto Him is the call that He gives us to come unto Him.
To whom coming as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men,
they've got no interest in Him, but chosen of God and precious The Lord Jesus Christ is God's
chosen servant, and He is precious to His Father, and He is precious
to those whom the Father has revealed Him. My hope this morning is that
we will leave here not looking to ourselves for anything, looking to the Lord Jesus Christ
alone. for everything. I hear religious
folks say, well, we know we're saved by grace. We can't earn
salvation, but you have to do works in order to prove that
you are saved. You know, if the Lord has saved
you, he's ordained. We are his workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works which he hath ordained that we
should walk in them. If God ordained something to
be, it's gonna be. Don't worry about your good works.
Because this is the truth. If you're looking to yourself
for the cause of your salvation or for the evidence of your salvation,
you're not looking to Christ. You're not looking to Christ.
Look to Christ alone and those things will take care
of themselves, won't they? They will. Will you open your Bibles
with me to the book of Zechariah? Zechariah chapter 1. We were in this book last Sunday
morning and we were reminded that the name Zechariah translated
means Jehovah remembers he remembers his covenant promises he remembers
his people and he is faithful he is faithful to keep all that
he has promised for the salvation of his church I've titled this message gathering
the scattered gathering the scattered We left this place last Sunday. Some of us came on Wednesday.
And we did what'll happen again in another hour or so. We were
all scattered, scattered out into the world, a world that
is contrary to everything that we believe, a world that is at
enmity with God, a world that, to our shame, entices us to lose
sight of our Savior. A world that is, God describes,
the prince of the power of the air has been given control in
this world. That's the world you and I live
in. It is Babylon. It is a dry and thirsty land
and we all got scattered last Sunday and once again the Lord
has gathered his scattered. And the promises that we read
from our God who is faithful to keep all of his promises is
that he will keep gathering his scattered. He's going to keep
bringing them back to himself so that to whom they are coming
will be made known to them in the preaching of the gospel. All of God's scattered. We're
going to be scattered again this week. You're going to go back
out into that world. And the hope is that the Lord
will once again gather his scattered and refresh their souls, revive
them as we just sang, revive them once again with the hope
of their salvation in the glorious person and finished work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Is that your need this morning?
A need to be revived? A need to be brought, for your
attention to be brought back? to the one thing that's needful.
Because the truth is that that world is, well, it's tempting. We're tried in
the world. We're tested. We often fall and
fail in the world. And this is the one place where
God heals the wounds of His children. and reminds them once again who
they are in Christ Jesus. That's my hope this morning.
That's my hope for you and for me that the Lord will do just
that for us. You have your Bibles open to
Zechariah chapter 1. I'm going to begin in verse 8
and then we're going to go back and pick up some more because
verse 8 and 9, 18, I'm sorry, verse 18 and 19, Refer to what I just described.
Then lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, four horns. Now the horn in the scripture
is a picture of strength. If you're dealing with a wild
animal that's got horns, you want to stay away from its horns
because those are the weapons that it uses. And so God uses
this image of a horn to describe something that's very strong.
and oftentimes the Lord himself is referred to as a horn. But here he's referring to the
strength of those pagan nations that have scattered the people
of God. And he gives Zechariah a vision
of four horns. And Zechariah says, what are
these horns? And I asked the angel that talked with me, what
be these? And he answered me, these are
the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. Now we studied the book of Daniel
recently and we saw over and over again, almost in every chapter
of Daniel, that these four horns represent Babylon, also referred
to as the Chaldeans in the scriptures, the Medes and the Persians, the
Greeks and the Romans. Now we're not going to waste
our time this morning doing a history lesson on those four nations
because God gave us those in the experience of Old Testament
Israel to illustrate what you and I face every time we're scattered
out there in the world. What does Babylon represent? The Chaldeans. They represent
free will religion. That's what they represent. Man-made
works religion. And you and I are constantly
drawn away from Christ by the strength of that horn that would
cause us to look to ourselves for the hope of our salvation.
To look somewhere outside of the accomplished work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's what the world, that's
the philosophy of the religion of this world. Babylon. That's the world in which we
live. The Medes and the Persians, what do the Medes and the Persians
represent? They represent material wealth. Material wealth. What kind of draw does material
wealth have on you in this world? Let's be honest. You know, we
look at what others have and we think we need to have more
and, you know, you You get all you can and you can all you get
and you sit on the can, you know. That's the philosophy of the
world, just, you know, let's get more. And the Medes and the
Persians, the Persians were very, Darius was a king of Persia.
He was a very wealthy man. We still have the remnants of
the wealth of the Persian empire in terms of the ornate gold and
the Persian rugs and all those sort of, the Persian represents
the wealth of this world, the material wealth of this world.
Greece? Greece represents the wisdom
and philosophy and culture of this world. And that's a strong
horn out there in the world in which we've been scattered. Everybody's
trying to mold, press us into the mold of this world. And what
did the Lord say in Romans chapter 12? Be ye not conformed to the
image of this world. That's what the Gentiles are
doing. But be transformed by the renewal
of your mind in Christ Jesus that you might know what the
good and perfect and acceptable will of God is. And that's our
hope right now. Lord, I've been pressed into the mold of this
Persian world and this Greek world and this Babylonian world.
Deliver me. Deliver me and renew my mind
in Christ. Enable me once again. Gather
that which you have scattered. God's going to scatter us again
today. And we're going to be scattered back out into the same
world we just came out of. What do the Romans represent? Well, you know what they represent.
They represent the pleasures of this world. What brought down
the Roman Empire? It was their indulgence of pleasure
and how our flesh is drawn to the things that are pleasurable
in this world. And God scatters us over and
over again, just like He scattered the children of Israel. Why? To cause them to see their need
for Him. What was it that God put in your
heart today when you came back to this place? Why did God gather
you again after having been scattered out into the world? because you
realize all those things have influenced you. They've all pressed
on you. They've all distracted you. They've
all tempted you. They've all tried you. And the
Lord has used those things and the weakness of your flesh to
cause you once again to see your need for the Lord Jesus Christ
and His righteousness. Now you remember what happened
when our Lord was tempted in the wilderness? Right after His
baptism, as soon as He came out of the water and the voice of
God, the Father spoke from heaven, this is my beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. And the Spirit of God came upon
Him as a dove. We see the triune God right there
in the baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the scripture says,
and the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness to be tempted
of the devil. What was the Lord doing? He was doing in the wilderness
what you and I are not able to do in the wilderness. You see, everything that God
requires of us, the Lord Jesus Christ must provide. I'm not here to say to you, you've
got to figure out how to do better in the world. You've got to figure
out how to overcome all those trials and temptations that are
out there in the world. I'm here to say to you, look to the Lord
Jesus Christ. He overcame them, every one of
them. Look to Him. And so 40 days and
40 nights he was without food and the weakness of his flesh,
of his human flesh. Satan came and tempted him and
said, I know you're hungry. Why don't you take this stone
that you see here and turn it into bread and feed your flesh?
And the Lord Jesus Christ rebuked Satan with the word of God. That's
the significance of this. With the word of God, he rebuked
Satan and he said, man shall not live by bread alone but by
every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. I'll trust
God's word. And so Satan took him up on the
pinnacle of the temple. which was over the Kidron Valley.
You remember what the river, the Brook Kidron that Brother
Angus preached on when he was here a few weeks ago. That sewer
that went through the Kidron Valley was also a marketplace
and that's where everybody gathered and Satan took the Lord up onto
the pinnacle of the temple over that Kidron Valley and said,
cast yourself off. You want to believe God's word?
The Lord's not going to allow your foot to dash against a stone. And the Lord said, oh, thou shalt
not tempt the Lord our God. Him only shalt thou serve. Then Satan took him up on a mountaintop
and he said, bow down and worship me and I'll give you all of these,
all of these. And the Lord rebuked him once
again, rebuked him. And that's where he said, shall
worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." What
do those three temptations represent for us? I'll tell you what they
represent. The stone to bread represents
pleasure. That's wrong. The casting yourself off the
pinnacle of the temple represents popularity. Throw yourself down. Everybody down there is going
to see what you are when angels keep you from hitting the ground.
And then what does the temptation up on the mountaintop represents
power. Power. Power over my circumstances. Power over life. Power over man. And you and I are tempted in
all three of those ways through Roman influence, through the
influence of Babylon, through the influence of of Greece and
through the influence of the Persian Empire, we are constantly
being tried out there in the wilderness for pleasure, popularity,
and power. And how often we fail. How often
we fail. God scattered you out there.
God allowed you to stumble and fall, but he will not leave you. For whom he scatters, he gathers. And he shows them once again
the weakness of their flesh and the accomplishment of the Lord
Jesus Christ, who defeated Satan at every turn. He was never tempted. He never, not in the way we're
tempted, tried in every way that we are, but without sin, without
sin. We have sinned in our temptations,
don't we? When we're tempted, we're sinning. He's the one we need. So the
Lord says to Zachariah, I scattered you out into the world. I've
allowed you to be tried. I've allowed you to fall. I've
allowed you to fail. But I've used these trials to
try you, to test you. Not to see if you could win,
not to see if you could defeat the trial, but to see if the
trial would have its objective, which is to drive you back to
Christ. That's the objective of the trials. to drive you back to the Lord
Jesus Christ so that those whom He scatters, He gathers. Aren't you glad you gathered? That's why we don't try to shame
people for not coming to church or manipulate them into coming
for one reason or another. If you belong to the Lord and
God scattered you out there amongst those heathen nations, and they've
influenced you the way you know they've been, but you've got
to be renewed again in your mind. You've got to come back to Christ.
You've got to hear about who He is and what He's done in order
for you to have hope. Look back at verse 14 in Zechariah
chapter 1. I am jealous for Jerusalem and
for Zion with a great jealousy. I'm not going to lose one of
my sheep. I know where they are. I know what they're doing. I'm
going to bring them back. I'm jealous for them. I'm a jealous
husband. I'm not going to lose my wife. Whatever she does, Don't you
love the story of Gomer and Hosea? You were thinking of that, weren't
you? And the Lord told Hosea, who
is a picture of Christ, to take for himself a harlot. And he
marries Gomer and Gomer plays the harlot. And every morning
she goes outside her door and she finds gifts on her door and
she thinks her lovers left them there. And it was her husband
that was leaving them there, providing for her. She continued
in that lifestyle until she ended up on the slave market. And Hosea
went and bought her to himself. There's the gospel. You and I
are Gomer. We play the harlot. We look away
from our husband and we toy with all these horns of the world. And all along, all along he's
providing for us in our rebellion. and all along he's bringing us
back to himself. He gathers those whom he scatters. Why? Because he's jealous for
her. He's jealous for her. Not going to lose her. In verse 15 he says, And I am
very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease You
see, the heathen don't experience what you experience, child of
God. The unbeliever, they're not grieved by their participation
in this world. This world is their home, and
they're comfortable in this world. Only the child of God is grieved
by it. God says, I'm grieved with the fact that they're at
ease. They love it in the world. And the truth about it is that
the believer hates what he loves. You hate that you love it, don't
you? They don't. They don't. They're at ease.
God's people are never left at ease in this world. The horns
of this world never satisfy them, never make them content. They
can never say, you know, I got all I need. I've got to have
Christ. I've got to come back. I am very sore displeased with
the heathen that are at ease, for I was but a little displeased,
and they helped forward the affliction." Who did they afflict? They afflicted
Israel. Now what God is saying is, I'm
going to judge them not only for the fact that they have no
grief over their sin, but I'm going to judge them for the way
they treated my people. You mentioned that earlier. You
want to be very careful about how you treat God's people. Because
he's jealous for his wife. He will protect her. You think
getting between you, you think you getting between a cub and
a mother bear is dangerous. You get between God and his children,
you're going to be in a bad place. Bad place. And that's what the
Lord is saying. I'm going to judge them. Number
one, they're at ease. And number two, they have increased
the affliction of my people. Verse 16, therefore, therefore,
thus saith the Lord, I am returning to Jerusalem with mercies. And every day and hopefully every
hour and every week, the Lord fulfills this promise to his
backsliding children who are out there in the world being
gored by the horns of this world and bringing them back to the
one who was able to do for them what they could not do for themselves,
defeat Satan. with mercies, not because they
deserved it, not because they were sorry enough to inspire
me to come help them, but because I'm a God of mercy. I'm the one
that stirred up their hearts. I'm the one that helped them
to feel the point of those horns that gored them all week. I'm
the one that convicted them of their sin. I'm the one that chose
them and caused them to come unto me. I'm the one that did
it. I did it for my mercy's sake,
not for anything that was in them. My house shall be built. Upon this rock I shall build
my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
I'm going to go into the very fires of hell and I'm going to
set captivity captive. I'm going to bring them out to
myself. My church shall be built. That's
our hope. Our hope is that if we're part
of his church, we're going to always be part of his church.
And the Lord is saying, I'm going to save everyone. I know where
my sheep are. I'm going to get the gospel to
them. I'm going to get them to myself and I'm going to keep
bringing them back to myself. And however many times They get
drawn away by the horns of this world. I'm going to bring them
back. My church will be built as living stones, one upon the
other, built on that one cornerstone, which was the stone that the
builders rejected. And I have made it the chief
of the corner. And now I'm building my church stone by stone by stone. Verse 16, my house shall be built
in it, saith the Lord of hosts. God says that it's, oh, friend
and brethren, rest your immortal soul on the word of God. He is
faithful to his promises. Thus saith the Lord. He said
it, he's gonna do it. A line shall be stretched forth
upon Jerusalem. I'm going to measure it out,
and it's going to be exact. It's going to be perfect. And
the church, the local assembly, this particular church, oh, we're
so far from perfect, aren't we? But the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the church universal, the church that will be with
Him in glory forever and ever and ever is a perfect church.
And it's measured out perfectly and those measurements are designed
exactly as God purposed them. They're perfect because they're
made perfect in Him. Now the Lord says to Zechariah,
his prophet, he says, cry yet, say and thus saith the Lord of
hosts, my cities through prosperity. Now that word prosperity is most
often translated good. My cities through prosperity
or through good shall yet be spread abroad and the Lord shall
yet comfort Zion and shall choose Jerusalem. Oh, the Lord Jesus Christ asked
that rich young ruler, why callest thou me good? There's none good
but God. There is none good but God. Paul
said, In me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. If the Lord is going to be faithful
in his promises to build his church, he is going to have to
do it. He is going to have to do every bit of it. It is not
up to you or to me. The big thing in religion today
is church growth. How are we going to How are we
going to build a church? And how are we going to reach
people? And how are we going to do this and do that? The church
of the Lord Jesus Christ is exactly the same size right now today
as it was before Adam was created. It's exactly the same size that
it will be when this world comes to an end. God has elect people
and that is the church he's talking about. It's the perfect church. He's not running around trying
to Now, he's already prospered. That word prosperity, when we
think of prosperity, we think of being successful or achieving
our goals or increasing in wealth. That's prosperity. And that's
exactly what this word means. The Lord Jesus Christ prospered
in everything he did. Turn with me over just a few
pages back to Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53. Verse 10, yet it pleased the
Lord to bruise him. It pleased God the Father to
bruise, to make a sacrifice, that's what that word means,
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He, the Father, hath put him
to grief when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin.
The Lord Jesus Christ was made sin for us that we might be made
the righteousness of God in him. He bore in His body on Calvary's
tree all the sins of all of God's elect and God punished Him and
put them away once and for all. He, the Father, shall see His
seed, the seed of the Lord Jesus Christ as His church. We're His
seed. And so God says, I put my son
to death and now I'm looking to the seed, the ones to whom
he died, and they're now perfect. They're now perfect. He shall
prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in
his hands. The Lord Jesus Christ is a prosperous,
successful Savior who accomplished the salvation of His people by
the sacrifice that He made of Himself to His Father. Christ
didn't die on Calvary's cross to make an offer to you or me.
He didn't die to make an offering to the world to see who would
accept it and who would reject it. He died in order to make
an offering to His Father and His Father accepted the offering
that He made. And his father saw the travail of his soul and
his father was satisfied. And his father now sees his seed
as being without sin, without sin. Now go back with me to Zechariah
chapter one, verse 17. Here's what the prophet
has been called upon God to say to the Israel. And that's all
I'm trying to do right now is just say what God said. My cities, through prosperity,
shall yet be spread abroad, and the Lord shall yet comfort."
Comfort. What is our comfort? Our comfort
is that the Lord Jesus Christ, as the surety of His people,
did everything that God required for their salvation, that He
actually redeemed His people, that He put away their iniquities,
that God's looking to Him for everything. There's our comfort. If there's anything else left
for me and you to do, and you're comfortable with that, you're lying to yourself. That's why I said I don't want
you and I to look to anything other than Him. So he lifted up his eyes. He saw the four horns. The Lord
told him what those horns were. In verse 20, look at verse 20. Here's our hope, brethren. I'll
close with this. And the Lord showed me four carpenters. Then said I, what come these
to do? And he spake saying, These are
the horns which have scattered Judah." Now he's not talking
about the carpenter, he's referring to the horns. He says, these
are the horns which have scattered Judah so that no man could lift
up his head. Now that's a biblical explanation
of shame. Shame. Do the horns of this world not
make you ashamed of yourself? Yeah, they do, don't they? No man did lift up his head,
but these are come to fray them." These are come to put away your
shame. Now, who are the carpenters? We refer to Matthew, Mark, Luke,
and John as the gospels. In fact, the whole canon of scripture
is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the good news about
what he has accomplished. But everything in the Old Testament
points to the life and work of Christ which are expressed in
those four gospel accounts. And everything after the gospels
point back to the life of the Lord Jesus Christ in those four,
those are the carpenters. Those are the skillful, artisans
which is what this word means who are pointing to the carpenter
who builds his church and in fact it's a it's a reference
to all of scripture these four carpenters is the Word of God
because everything in the Old Testament points to the Gospels
and everything after points back to the Gospels and so the Lord
says yeah you got some horns out there in the world And I
know they've gored you and they've left you wounded. And I scattered
you out there in the world, but I've gathered you once again
in order to fray those enemies and heal those wounds with my
word. With my word. My word shall be
a comfort unto you. It'll be like a two-edged sword.
It'll divide asunder the soul from the spirit and the thoughts
from the intents of the heart. It'll lead you to Christ. Turn
to me to Hebrews chapter four. Hebrews chapter four. That's
why when Paul said to Timothy in second Timothy chapter four,
preach the word, Timothy, in season and out of season, rebuke
and exhort with all comfort. For the time will come when men
will not endure sound doctrine, but they will gather to themselves
teachers to tickle their itching ears. And that's all religion
is. Storytelling and philosophy. What religion has done is brought
the four horns of the world into the church. And they're trying
to heal the horns with the horns. And the Lord says, don't do that.
I've got four carpenters. They're going to fray the results
of those horns. And what else did he say about
them? These are the horns, but these
are come to fray them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles. Maybe you came in here this morning
with a horn still stuck in your side. I suspect in some degree we all
did. And the Lord says, these four carpenters are going to
take out the horns. He'll pull them loose and heal your wounds,
comfort your heart, and tell you that I've defeated Satan.
I've done it all. I've put away your sin. Don't
look to yourself for something. I'm about to scatter you again.
In just a little bit, you're going to get scattered again
out there in that world, and the world's not going to change. People talk
about how evil and bad the world's become. The world has always
been four horns. It's always been at enmity with
God. It's always been contrary to the gospel. But child of God, I'm going to
gather you again tonight, tomorrow, Wednesday, next Sunday. I'm not
going to lose my sheep. You have your Bibles open to
Hebrews Chapter 4 verse 11, let us labor therefore
to enter into his rest lest any man fall after the same example
of unbelief. He is talking about those Old
Testament Israelites who had the gospel preached to them but
they didn't believe it. They didn't believe it. He says let
us labor. What we are doing right now is
laboring. you say, well preacher looks like you may be laboring. No, you're laboring right now.
Right now. To labor to enter into his rest
is to listen to the Word of God. To listen to what God says and
to say, Lord, bless me. Give me ears to hear. For See, how do you know that,
preacher? Because for, this is what laboring
to enter into his rest is, for the word of God is quick and
powerful. That word quick means it's alive.
It's a living word. It's not just the sound of a
man's voice. It's not just a theological proposition. It's the living Word of God that
the Spirit of God takes and applies to the hearts of God's people.
Four, this is how you labor to enter into His rest. For the
Word of God is alive. It's quick. It's powerful. It's
sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing
asunder. The soul and the spirit and the joints and the marrow
and the discernment and thoughts and tints of the heart. Now, child
of God, I know you've sat here and you've listened to me this
morning say that you've been wounded out there in the world
by all those four horns and the Word of God has smitten you.
And you haven't sat here and said, well, I haven't been wounded.
I'm doing good. No, the Word of God is sharp
and powerful and it's discerned your heart, isn't it? And you
see now more than ever how many times you were gored by those
horns. But these are the carpenters.
That's the word of God. Neither is there any creature
that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and
open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. And God's
made you naked this morning. He stripped you naked. That's
what the word of God does. It strips us naked before God. It exposes us and everything
there is about us. Seeing then, seeing then that
we have a great high priest that has passed into the heavens,
Jesus, the son of God, let us hold fast our profession. Seeing then that you can't cope
in the world. Seeing then that you don't do
anything when God scatters you, but fall to the ones he scattered
you to. Seeing then that you are dependent
upon him to gather you again. Take comfort in this, here's
the carpenters who have frayed the horns of the world and have
pulled them out. We have a high priest, one who
has passed into the heavens and his works went before him and
recommended him to God and he's seated at the right hand of God.
He defeated Satan, he accomplished salvation. We have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. Oh, look to
him. Look to Him. For we have not a high priest
which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities.
He understands your failures. He knows that we're made of dust. He's touched with the feelings
of our infirmities. He lived a life of conflict in
this world. But was in all points tempted
as we are yet, he was without sin. He was without sin. Oh, what
a difference. Let us, therefore, come boldly
to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find
help, find grace to help in our time of need. God's people are
needy people. They're needy people. Oh, their
sin would overwhelm them if they didn't have God sending the four
carpenters to fray the horns of this world and to bring them
back again from the one they were scattered away from. The Lord gathers those whom he
scatters. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
we're thankful for the faithfulness that you have to keep all of
your promises and oh how Lord we Pray that once again you would
draw our hearts and cause us to come unto thee. For we ask
it in Christ's name. Amen. All right. Andrew, are you ready? Okay. Let's sing a hymn first, and
then we're going to have baptism for Andrew. Number 19 in the
spiral hymnal, let's stand together. Yeah. Sovereign ruler, Lord of all,
prostrate at your feet I fall. You are holy, wise, and just. I'm a creature of the dust. All things move at your command,
governed by your mighty hand. ? Heaven, earth, and hell I see
? ? Fulfill all your wise decree ? ? Dares a man resist his Lord
? ? Stand against the sovereign God ? ? I will bow before your
throne ? ? Seeking grace in Christ your Son ? through his blood
and righteousness. Lord, I plead with you for grace. If you will, you can, I know. Will you, Lord, my soul? Will you, Lord, my soul forgive? Grant this sinner grace to live. I'm no other but this, Jesus'
blood and righteousness. Now I'm conquered by your grace. In the dark I hide my face. Give me Christ or else I die. I upon your grace rely. Oh, for mercy now I plead. Grant me, Lord, the grace I need. Turn, O turn to me and save. All your sins are washed away. In my Son your debt is paid. He, for you, the ransom made. If you all haven't met Andrew
Gleason, I want to encourage you to do so. Andrew started
coming about two months ago. Showed up on a Wednesday night
and Rachel Wachey had invited him to come. You just never know
who the Lord might be to give us lots of opportunity to invite
folks. You just never know. Andrew had some very insightful
observations the very first time he came. And I was so encouraged. And it just seems like the Lord
has revealed to him the truth of the gospel. This past Wednesday
night, Andrew said, would you baptize me? And of course, we
had a great conversation. And we're just so thankful, Andrew,
for what the Lord has done for you. And he texted me last night,
he said, I'm so thankful that the Lord sent me to your church.
And I texted him back, and I put in parentheses, our church, our
church. And he said, yes, I want to be
a part. So I'm so very, very thankful
for this, our new brother. And Andrew, it is with great
joy that we baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Spirit. buried with Christ in baptism and raised to walk
a new life in Christ Jesus. I'll tell you this, a few weeks
ago when Trisha's brother was baptized, Daryl, one of the things
that Daryl said to me was, I was ready And we made the same statement
to me the other day. And I thought, you know, that's,
anything outside of the gospel is just that. That's a call. So, brother, we rejoice. We want to, we're going to sing
amazing grace? Yeah, amazing grace. 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 heart
to fear. And grace, the near relief. How precious is that grace appeared
The hour I first believed. Through many dangers, toils,
and snares, Life hath already come, new grace hath come. He saved us 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 than when we first begun. Amen.