Good morning again. Tom is going to come and lead
us in hymn number 6 in your hardback hymnals. Come thou, O almighty
King. Isaiah offered this prayer when
he said, O Lord, rend the heavens and come down. That's our hope, isn't it? That
the Lord would rend the heavens and that he would come down and
visit with us. He's promised to do that. And
he'd give us the faith to trust him, keep that promise. Let's
stand together. Number six. Come Thou Almighty King, help
us Thy name to sing, help us to pray. Father all-glorious,
Lord all-victorious, Come and reign over us, Ancient of days. ? Come Thou incarnate Word ?
? Heard on Thy mighty sword ? ? Our prayer attend ? ? Come and Thy
people bless ? ? And give Thy word success ? ? Spirit of holiness
on us descend ? Come Holy Comforter Thy sacred witness bear In this
glad hour Thou who almighty art Now rule in every heart And ne'er
from us depart Spirit of power to the great one in three, eternal
praises be, hence evermore. His sovereign majesty may we
in glory see, and to eternity love and adore. Please be seated. Good morning. Call to worship
will be in Revelation 5. Revelation 5. In preparing to read this this
morning, the Lord taught me and encouraged
me once again because I need to be reminded over and over
again to fast forward as to where we're going to go. But he taught
me that this has always been. It's happening right now. And
once they get rid of this, it's going to be in his presence. And so as we read this this morning,
it's happening right now perfectly. If I could say, maybe perhaps
this is called a dress rehearsal, but this is what's going on right
now. May be pleased to bless us by
faith. And I saw in the right hand of
him that sat on the throne, a book written within and on the backside
sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming
with a loud voice, is worthy to open the book and to loose
the seals thereof. And no man, you know what God
said in Isaiah, there is no man, wonder that there is no intercessor.
Let's read on. Nor on earth, neither under the
earth was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. And
I wept much because no man was found worthy to open and to read
the book neither to look thereon. And one of the elders saith unto
me, weep not. Behold, the lion of the tribe
of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book
and to loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and lo,
in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts and in the
midst of the elders stood a lamb as it had been slain having seven
horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent
forth into all the earth. And he came and took the book
out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And
when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and 20 elders
fell down before the lamb, having every one of their harps and
golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of the saints.
and they sang a new song saying, thou art worthy to take the book
and to open the seals thereof for thou was slain and has redeemed
us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and
people and nation and has made us unto our God kings and priests
and we shall reign on the earth. And I beheld and I heard the
voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and
the elders, and the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000
and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, worthy, oh,
worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and
wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. And every creature which is in
heaven and on the earth and under the earth, and such as are in
the sea, and all that are in them, heard I sing, blessing
and honor and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon
the throne and unto the Lamb forever and ever. And the four
beasts said, amen. And the four and 20 elders fell
down and worshiped him that liveth forever and ever. And all God's
people said, amen. Let's pray. Our heavenly father, thankful
for your word that you've given to us that we may repeat back
to you. All glory and power and honor
are yours. Thank you for gathering us here
this morning, Lord, where you said you would meet with us,
Lord, where you would speak to us once again of the one who
is worthy, the Lord Jesus Christ, thy darling son. Oh, how we have
a need, Lord, to lift him up. Pray now that your Holy Spirit
would enable us to do that. Bless the message once again,
Lord, speak to our hearts. Lord, prepare us for that day.
Oh, how we hasten the day, Lord, that we may be at thy feet, looking
up unto you to worship you. Be with our brother now as he
comes and brings thy word. Enable him once again, receive
grace upon grace. Bless our time here this morning,
Lord. Oh, for thy name's sake, we ask
it. Amen. Let's all stand together once
again, and we'll sing the hymn that's on the back of your bulletin.
Let's all stand together on the back of the bulletin. Thank you. How sweet the joy that fills
my soul, Christ is my Redeemer. His precious blood has made me
whole, Christ is my Redeemer. My sins were all upon Him laid,
A full atonement He hath made, For me He hath the ransom paid,
Christ is my Redeemer. When trials come, I still confess
Christ is my Redeemer. He gives me grace, each care
to bless, Christ is my Redeemer. He guides and keeps me day by
day. He closer comes when dark the
way. He doth with this my fears allay. Christ is my Redeemer. The victory, this I gain, Christ
is my Redeemer. By this He broke sin's galling
chain, Christ is my Redeemer. And if He tarry and I sleep,
My dying hour this hope shall keep. That when he comes, the
grave to reap, Christ is my Redeemer. Please be seated. Caleb Hickman
is going to bring special music now. ? Bethlehem, Calvary, all of it
tells ? ? Oh, what a Savior is mine ? ? Mountains and plains
with His praises elsewhere ? ? Oh, what a Savior is mine ? ? Oh,
what a Savior, oh, what a Savior ? ? Oh, what a Savior is mine
? Come to the uttermost, wonderful, glorious. Oh, what a Savior is
mine. There on the cross where He stood
as my stead. Oh, what a Savior is mine. Securing salvation when He rose
from the dead. Oh, what a Savior is mine. Oh, what a Savior. Oh, what a Savior. Oh, what a
Savior is mine. Unto the uttermost, wonderful,
glorious. Oh, what a Savior is mine. It is finished. The battle is
over. Lord, it is finished, the end
of the conflict. It is finished, and Jesus is
Lord. Oh, what a Savior. Oh, what a Savior. Oh, what a
Savior is mine. Unto the uttermost, wonderful,
glorious, Oh, what a Savior is mine. Thank you, Caleb. That's a blessing,
wasn't it? Will you open your Bibles with
me to Isaiah chapter 60? 60. 6-0. I've titled this message, God's Promises
to His Son. And I was thinking about young
children. You know, the scripture says,
lest you become as a little child, you should not enter the kingdom
of heaven, for such are the kingdom of God. Little children have little or
no control over the circumstances of their lives, yet they are
able to live with excited expectations based on the promises of their
parents. You promise your child something
that you're going to do tomorrow or next week that they're really
excited about and they will live their lives for the fulfillment
of that promise, won't they? Our God cannot lie. And all the
promises of our God are yea and amen in Christ. And in Isaiah chapter 60, we
have promises that God the Father, precious promises, that God the
Father makes to His Son to reward Him for His successful work of
redemption. And by extension, these promises
are not only made to the head, but they're made to the rest
of the body. And my hope this morning is that
you and I, like that little child, will live with hopeful expectation
on the fulfillment of our Heavenly Father, making these promises
true for us. The promises are glorious, and
if the Lord gives us faith to believe Him, then we will have
a good hope, a good hope. A hope in that which is sure. The scriptures refer to these
as the sure mercies of David. The promises of God are sure. Oh, Lord, make me like a little
child. Anticipating and believing the
fulfillment of these promises. The Lord begins in verse 1, verses
1 and 2. Arise, shine, for thy light is
come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. As I said,
the first application of these promises is from the Father to
the Son. And so the Father is speaking
to the Son with whom He is satisfied, saying to His Son, arise. I cannot allow my holy one to
see corruption. I cannot allow you to remain
in the grave. I am obligated by your faithful
work of redemption to raise you from the dead. And so on that
glorious resurrection morning, After the disciples had fasted
in grief over the death of their Lord, God raised him from the
dead. And the light of the gospel shines
in our hearts in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ because
our God liveth. God raised him. arise, shine,
for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon
thee. For behold, the darkness shall
cover the earth, and gross darkness the people, but the Lord shall
arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee." Now
this whole world, and I don't know how to emphasize this enough,
the longer I live The more I see of this world and the more the
Lord teaches me of the truth of His light in Christ, the more
convinced I become of how dark this world is. Everything in
this world, spiritual darkness, blind men groping in the dark,
they have no truth They have no hope. They have no knowledge
of God. That's what the Lord's saying
here. You're going to be living in a world of darkness, gross
darkness, men groping in the dark. They speak not according
to the law and the testimony. And the reason why they don't
is because there is no light in them. all they may have some
understanding of natural things they may have some understanding
of uh... psychological things but they
have no understanding of god we come into this world spiritually
dead ignorant of the things of god spiritually blind and it
doesn't matter it doesn't matter if if a blind person is uh... living in the daylight or if
they're living in the dark. They're still, they can see no
better in the daytime than they can in the dark, so. Blind from birth, arguing, a room full of blind men arguing
about what a sunrise looks like. I mean, how ignorant is that? But that's exactly what they
do. Turn with me to Psalm 19. Psalm 19. They are without God,
without knowledge of the truth. There is none that understandeth,
no not one. The God of this world has blinded
their eyes, He is a liar and the father of lies. And they
have been convinced by him to believe themselves to be God. They are blind to the truth.
The Lord Jesus Christ said, I am the light of the world. The light
has shined in the darkness and the darkness comprehended it
not. They couldn't see. They could
not believe. They can't even believe the natural revelation that God has made
in creation of himself. Notice in verse one of Psalm
19, the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth
his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech,
and night unto night showeth knowledge. There's no speech
nor knowledge where their voice is not heard. Yeah, I understand
there's like 7,000 or more languages in the world, and it doesn't
matter what language you speak. You see the handiwork of God
in creation. And these truths of God in creation
are all given as a picture of Christ. The Lord is not talking
about the sunrise in the next few verses. Look what he says.
Their line has gone out through all the earth and their words
to the end of the world. In them he hath set a tabernacle
for the sun. which is as a bridegroom coming
out of his chamber and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race."
Now here's the Lord Jesus Christ arising from the dead, pictured
in the sunrise every day, every day as a strong man. He comes
alive and He shines His light in a dark world and the people
of this world are just as blind during the daytime as they are
at night. They cannot see. that that sun
is a picture of the strong man that ran his race and got the
victory for his people. They don't know it. They can't
see it. Why? Because they're blind. Oh,
they can tell you how far away the sun is. They can tell you
all about the physics of the sun, but they can't tell you
who that sun represents. Why? because they have no understanding
of the things of God. Look what he says. His going
forth, verse 6, is from the ends of the heaven and is circling
unto the ends of it, and there is nothing hid from the heat
thereof. There is nothing hid from Him. Yet why do the people rage? Why do they imagine a vain thing? Why do the kings of the earth
say, let us cast his bands off from us? We'll not have this
man reign over us. Why? Because they're living in
spiritual darkness. It's the world in which we live. The law of the Lord, on the other
hand, is perfect. That's God's word. What does
God's Word do? In the volume of the book, it
is written of me. They cannot look to the scriptures
and find Christ. Oh, they'll find some rules and
regulations, they'll find some principles, they'll find some
doctrine or some theology, and they'll debate all of those things.
But the truth of who Christ is and what He's done never dawns
on them. You search the scriptures because
you think in them you have eternal life, but these are they which
testify of me. Why can't they see Christ? Because
they're blind. They're blind. They're living
in darkness. The law of the Lord is perfect,
converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is
sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are
right, rejoicing the heart. The commandments of the Lord
is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are
true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than
gold, yea, than fine gold, sweeter also than honey in the honeycomb.
Moreover, by them is thy servant warned, and in keeping them there
is great reward. Who can understand his errors?
Cleanse thou me from secret faults. Lord, you're going to have to
do a work of grace in my heart. By nature, I'm blind. Lord, if
you don't open the eyes of my understanding, if you don't crack
open the windows of heaven and cause the light of the gospel
to shine, I'll not see. And here's God's promise. Go
back with me to our text. Here's his promise. The Lord
said, why won't men believe the light? Because they love darkness. They love darkness rather than
light. Arise, shine, for thy light has
come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon thee. For behold,
the darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the
people. Lord, if you lead me to myself,
I'll be in darkness. I'm not capable of seeing. You're
going to have to enable me. You're going to have to give
me a need, and then you're going to have to meet that need. But the Lord shall arise. Little
children, here's your hope. The Father has promised, the
light shall arise. The Lord Jesus Christ did arise
from the dead. And the light shall arise upon
those for whom He died. And His glory shall be seen upon
thee. Who's it going to be seen upon?
Well, look at verse 3. The Gentiles. The Gentiles. Now Gentiles are
also referred to in the scriptures as dogs. Let me give you a couple
of illustrations of dogs spoken of in the scriptures. Do you
remember when young David took his sling and his stones and
stood up against that uncircumcised Philistine by the name of Goliath? and Goliath was indignant. Goliath says, you come against
me with staves, with sticks and stones? You look at me. Am I
a dog? That's what he said. He didn't
believe himself to be a dog, did he? Now, compare Goliath's
opinion of himself being a dog to Mephibosheth. who was crippled in both his
legs. And David fetched him and brought him and sat him at the
king's table and promised to feed him all the rest of the
days of his life. And what did Mephibosheth say?
What doth my Lord have to do with such a dead dog as I? You see, the gospel is for dogs. All dogs go to heaven. They do. But only dogs go to
heaven. It's not for anybody else. Let
me show you another illustration. In 2 Kings chapter 8, Ben-Hadad,
who was the king of Syria, sent his servant down to find out
from Elisha if he was going to survive an illness that he had. And Elisha looked at his servant,
Haziel, and said to Haziel, yes, your master is going to survive
this illness, but he's going to die. And then the scripture says,
Elisha looked on Haziel until Haziel was ashamed. And Haziel
asked him, why do you look at me like that? And Elisha said,
because God has showed me what great evil you're going to do. against the children of Israel.
And Haziel said, and he described to him what he was going to do,
killing women and children. He was going to go home and kill
the king, which he did. And Haziel said, am I a dog that
I would do such a thing? And then compare Haziel's opinion
of himself to that Syrophoenician woman whom the Lord would not
so much as give the time of day as she pled with him for mercy
for her child. And then the Lord said, it's
not right for me to give the children's bread to dogs. She was a Gentile. And what did
she say? Truth, Lord. That's what I am. But the dogs eat the crumbs that
fall from the master's table. Who is this light for? It's for
dogs. It's for Gentiles. It's not for
the Goliaths or the Haziels. It's not for the self-righteous.
It's for the poor and for the needy. And here's your promise. If you're a dog, if you're a
dog, you fit. the qualification of those for
whom the light of the gospel shines. And what a happy dogs
we are, aren't we? Happy dogs, content dogs. It's amazing, it doesn't take
much to make a dog happy, does it? You feed him and give him a little
affection and provide for him some shelter. That's all a dog
needs. Isn't that what the Lord does
for us? He sheltered us by His shed blood
from the wrath of God. He feeds us with the bread of
life. Oh, and the affection that He
shows us when He speaks to our hearts. He lets us get in His
lap. He lets us be like John, putting
our head upon His breast. and He speaks peace to our hearts
and comforts us. Where else do you want to get
that in a dark world? A world that is in gross darkness, they
don't have that. Arise, child. The sun has risen. The light
of the gospel has shined. God has rewarded His Son. for
his faithful work of redemption. And by extension, these promises
are for every one of his children. It's for the Gentiles. And notice
the rest of verse 3, not only for the Gentiles, but it's for
kings. Say, well, how can I be a dog
and be a king at the same time? Well, if you're a child of God,
that's exactly what you are. Bert, you just read it. in Revelation
chapter 5, God has made his dogs to be priests and kings. We're child of God. People tell you, look what I've
got. People show you their property, they show you their possessions
and they're so proud, look what I've got. And what do we say?
Let me tell you about what my father owns. You see, all that stuff you think
is yours, it's not yours. It belongs to my father. I'm
a child of the king. I'm a child of God. I'm a part
of the royal priesthood is what Peter called the church, isn't
it? Children of God. What higher place could a son of Adam ever be in
than to be a child of God? One day, one day we're going
to experience the full benefits of that, aren't we? Right now
the light shines, right now we look through a glass dimly, right
now, but then face to face, face to face. See him as he is and
be made like him in the fullness of his glory without any sin
or memory of sin. What a day that'll be. The Gentiles shall come to thy
light. That's where they're gonna come.
Dogs run to the master's table. You know, that Syrophoenician
woman, she said all she wanted was crumbs. She got a whole lot
more than crumbs, didn't she? Lift up thine eyes round about
and see, all they gather themselves together, they come to thee. That's what the light does. We're
like moths to the fire, aren't we? The light of the gospel shines
and we flee to the light. Gotta get out of this dark world
and find some truth. Truth about who God is. Truth
about who I am. Truth about how it is that God's
pleased to save Gentile dogs and make them kings and priests.
How can I know the truth? I gotta come to the light. thy son shall come from far and
thy daughter shall be nursed at thy side." Oh, the Lord brings
his dogs from a long way away, doesn't he? Long way away. And every child of God, when
thinking about how far God brought them, none of them think, well,
you know, I was just, I've been on the verge of being saved all
my life. And I've just, I've been, No, God had to reach into
the deepest pits of hell in order to get me. Some of those pits
involved a licentious, irreligious lifestyle of godlessness and
some of those pits involved something even worse. The self-righteous,
pharisaical attitude of religion and presumed morality. But God reached into the pit,
brought his sons from afar, didn't he? You see, every child of God
knows, at least in part, how far God had to come to get them. None of them think, well, you
know, it didn't take much to save me. I was just on the verge
of being saved the whole time. Verse 5. Then thou shalt see and flow
together and thine heart shall fear. Let me tell you a definition
for fearing God. It's real simple. It's believing
him. It's worshiping him. It's bowing
before him saying with the Syrophoenician woman, truth Lord. Everything
you say is right. You're all right and I'm all
wrong. That's what it is to fear God. Scriptures teach us in the
book of Hebrews that the Lord Jesus Christ feared God. He didn't have a cringing fear
of darkness and judgment that Followed him all the days. No,
he believed his father. And he worshipped his father. Then shalt thou see, verse five,
and flow together, and thine heart shall fear and be enlarged,
because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee,
and the forces, and that's the wealth of the Gentiles, shall
come unto thee. You see, when God saves a Gentile
dog, he saves every part of his life. He doesn't, when God saves
a Gentile dog, he doesn't just give him a religious part to
his life. He changes everything about his
life. Everything you see about everything
changes when God's pleased to save you. You don't believe the
same thing about anything. You just come to see that God
is absolutely sovereign. He's a God of mercy. He's a God
of omnipotence. All of this is working for my
good and for His glory. Everything changes, doesn't it?
The wealth of the Gentiles. That rich young ruler wouldn't
come to Christ, the scripture said, because he had much wealth. And when God brings a Gentile
dog into his presence. He brings every part of his life.
Lord, it's all yours. Everything's yours. The multitude of camels shall
cover thee. The dromedaries of Midian and
Ephra and all they from Sheba. Now Midian was a child of Abraham
born to a woman after Sarah had died. And they became the enemies
of Israel, the enemies of God. And the same thing is true of
Ephra. Ephra was a grandson of Midian. Midian's name means strife. And Ephra's name means gloomy. And that's what we were. We were
enemies of God in rebellion against God, living a gloomy life in
a dark world. And the Lord was pleased to take
the enemies of God and bring them to himself. He said, well,
I've never been angry at God. I've never been an enemy of God. If you believe that about yourself, I fear that you still are and
don't know it. Because that's how we come into
this world. We come into this world, a child of the flesh,
not a child of promise, a child of the flesh. Sheba. Sheba was a son of Ham,
the cursed son of Noah. And there's where we are. That's
where God gets his children from. So not only, he says, all the
flocks of Kedar, and look at verse seven, all the flocks of
Kedar shall gather together thee in the rams of Naboth. Now, Kedar and Naboth were the
sons of Ishmael. And Ishmael was the son of the
bondwoman, born after the flesh. Now that's where we are. That's
where we are by nature. Trying to redeem ourselves by
something. Why did Abraham go into Hagar
and bring out Ishmael? He was trying to help God out.
You see, that's how we come into this world. Well, I've got to
do something to help God save me. No, you don't. It's already done. It's finished. Believe God. Fear God. Bow to Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. There's no other way to be saved.
But that's where we are by nature. We're sons of Ishmael. Look at verse 7. The flocks of Kadar shall be
gathered together unto thee, the rams of Naboth shall minister
unto thee, and they shall come up with acceptance on mine altar. Now that's what you and I need,
isn't it? We need acceptance with God. And the scripture says in Ephesians
chapter 1 that we are accepted in the beloved. Not having our
own righteousness which is of the law, but that righteousness
which is by the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ. So
our only hope of acceptance with God is to be found in Him. God, how many times have you
had somebody say to you, well, you know, I'm doing my best.
God never said, first of all, it's a lie. You and I have never
done our best at anything. And number two, had we been able
to do our best, it wouldn't have been good enough. It wouldn't have been good enough. You see, God's not looking to
our best. He's not looking to sincerity. He's not looking to
effort. He's looking to the Lord Jesus Christ, and all of our
acceptance is found at the altar of His grace where the Lamb was
slain, where the blood was shed. And God said, when I see His
blood, I'll be satisfied. So the Lord says, they're going
to come. The sons of Ishmael are going to come. The children
of Ham are going to come. The enemies of God are going
to come. The Midianites are going to come. They're all going to
come. These dead dogs are going to come. And the light of the
gospel is going to shine upon them. And they're going to find
grace to help in their time of need. They're going to come boldly
to the throne of grace. We have an altar. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
13. Hebrews chapter 13. Isaiah wrote in the seventh century BC. And here in Hebrews chapter 13,
verse eight, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. He hasn't changed. What He required
then, He requires now. What He promised then, He promises
now. Everything is the same. Be not
carried away with divers, verse 9, and strange doctrines, for
it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace. Don't be carried away in thinking
that God's going to notice something that you've done, some effort
that you've made, some sincerity or commitment or sorrow or faith
that you have, that you're going to somehow obligate God to save
you. Don't be carried away with strange
doctrines. It is a good thing that the heart
be established with grace, not with meats which have no profit. but they have not profited them
that have been occupied therein. You see, all those people who
live in that grossly dark world, they think, well, if I touch
not, taste not, handle not, if I eat this and don't eat that,
if I do this and don't do that, then somehow I'll be able to
get out of this darkness into His light. No, the light's already
risen. The light's risen. Don't base
your salvation based on what you eat. What you touch, what
you don't touch. Verse 10, we have an altar. Now we don't have a kneeling
bench down here and this isn't an altar and we don't make sacrifices
like they do in religion. This is a reference to the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is our altar. And the only way you can come
to Him is in your heart by faith. You can't take steps. The Lord
said you make an altar with steps and that's all religion is. Religion
is an altar with steps. The modern day religions of America
are no different than the pagan religions of Mexico where they've
got those those ziggurats that they crawled up and made sacrifices
and they cut themselves on the stones as they were going up.
If I just sacrifice enough and bleed enough, God will hear me.
I'll work my way to heaven. It's a Tower of Babel, isn't
it? That's all it is. And God says if you make an altar
with steps, all you're going to do is expose your nakedness We have an altar. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
altar. And look what else he says, we have an altar whereof
they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle. Those who
are engaged in self-atonement, those who are engaged in man-made
religion, those who are hoping to get out of this gross darkness
by something they do or don't do, they have no right to the
altar. For the bodies of those beasts
whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest
for sin are burned without the camp. Wherefore, Jesus also,
that he might make holy. That's what that word sanctify
means, to be made holy. He that sanctifieth and they
that are sanctified are all as one. How am I gonna be holy before
God? Only if the Lord Jesus Christ
imputes to me his righteousness, stands in my stead, represents
me as my savior before God. Jesus Christ sanctified the people
with his own blood without the gate. He went outside of religion. They didn't crucify him in the
city of Jerusalem. They took him outside the city.
Why? Because you're not going to find
religion. You're not going to find Christ in religion. You're
gonna have to follow Christ outside the city. Let us go forth therefore unto
him without the camp, bearing his reproach." If you believe
the gospel, you're going to be reproached by men who grope in
darkness. You're going to be reproached
by your friends. You're going to be reproached
by your family members. You're not going to find any
point of commonality between you and those who are living
in darkness. You're not. You're going to be the oddball.
You're going to be the outcast. But that's where Christ is. He's
outside the camp. Follow after him, bearing his
reproach. Why? Because he's our altar.
For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come. Our father Abraham, the father
of the faithful, sought a city whose builder and maker was God,
which hath foundations. You see, the children of God
believe the promises of God. And the promises of God are all
yea and amen in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Gentile dogs They
just go after him because they know that their only hope of
acceptance before God is to be found in Christ. Small children live with great hope and expectation
off of the promises of their parents. They have little control
or no control over the circumstances of their lives. They're completely
dependent upon their parents. And with all the troubles that
they, their little hearts face, all mom and dad has to do is
give them a sure promise about some great thing. And they'll
live off of that, won't they? Suffer the little children to
come unto me. for such is the kingdom of God. Our heavenly Father, we thank
you for the promises that you've made to thy dear son. And we
ask you to give us your Holy Spirit that we would believe
these promises for ourselves. We ask it in Christ's name, amen. Number 168, let's stand together,
168. We'll sing this a cappella. Lord, I hear of showers of blessing. Thou art scattering, full and
free. Showers the thirsty land refreshing. Let some drops now fall on me. Even me. Even me, let thy blessing fall
on me. Pass me not, O tender Savior,
let me love and cling to thee. I am longing for thy favor, whilst
thou art calling, O call me. Even me, even me, let thy blessing
fall on me. Pass me not, O mighty spirit,
thou canst make the blind to see. Witnesser of Jesus' merit,
speak the word of power to me. Even me, even me, let thy blessing
fall on me. Love of God so pure and changeless,
blood of Christ so rich and free. Grace of God so strong and boundless,
magnify them all in me, even me. even me, let thy blessing fall
on me. ? Pass me not thy lost one bringing
? ? Bind my heart, O Lord, to thee ? ? While the streams of
life are springing ? ? Blessing others, O bless me, even me ? Even me, let thy blessing fall
on me. Amen. Thank you.