Good morning. Let's open this
morning's service with hymn number 62 in your hardcover hymnals,
number 62. Let's all stand together. Crown Him with many crowns, the
Lamb upon His throne. Hark how the heavenly anthem
drowns all music but its own. Awake, my soul, and sing. of Him who died for thee, and
hail Him as thy matchless King through all eternity. Crown Him the Lord of love, behold
His hands and feet, Rich wounds yet visible above In beauty glorified
No angel in the sky Can fully bear that sight But downward
bends his wandering eye At mysteries so bright For the grave who rose victorious
to the strife. His glories now we sing, Who
died and rose on high, Who died eternal life to bring, And lives
that death may die. Crown Him the Lord of Heaven,
One with the Father known, One with the Spirit through Him given,
From yonder glorious throne. ? To thee be endless praise ?
For thou for us hast died ? Be thou, O Lord, through endless
days ? Adored and magnified Please be seated. Good morning. Thou, O Lord, through endless
days be adored and magnified. That's our hope this morning,
isn't it? That the Lord will be lifted up. I'd like to read
a brief passage of scripture from Psalm 46 before we begin. Psalm 46, if you'd like to turn
with me there. It's good to have Norse and Latia
with us here from Sarasota. And Brad and Pam, I know you're
all leaving today, headed back home. So it's been a blessing
to have you all here. God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble. Therefore, will not we fear,
though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried
into the midst of the sea, Though the waters thereof roar and be
troubled, though the mountains shake and the swelling thereof.
What manner of man is this? Now what the disciples say, even
the wind and the waves obey his voice, yeah. And the wind and
the waves in your life and in my life obey his voice. They
obey his voice. There is a river. The streams
whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the
tabernacle of the Most High. God is in the midst of her. This is that river that flows
clear as crystal from the throne of God that John saw in Revelation. She shall not be moved. God shall
help her. And that, right early, right
early. Let's pray together. Our merciful Heavenly Father, how hopeful we are now that you
would hear our prayers for Christ's sake and that you would help
us. Lord, we are in need of being
able to worship you in the power of your spirit and according
to the truth of your word. We're in need of being able to
see Christ and rest in him. Lord, if that need is to be met,
you're gonna have to meet it. You're gonna have to cause us,
Lord, to worship. You're gonna have to send your
spirit. Lord, we pray that you would be merciful to us in this
hour and that you would be pleased to do that for your glory. We
ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Eric Lutter attends the
church where Clay Curtis pastors in Princeton, New Jersey. And Eric has preached for the
group in Missouri that I went out and preached for recently.
And I think he's going to Sarasota next month. And Eric's in town
on business. And I asked him to do the Bible
study hour this morning. I'm very thankful, Eric, that
you're here, and look forward to hearing what the Lord has
to say to us through you. Morning. Okay, take your Bibles
and turn to Zechariah chapter 9. Zechariah 9 will be in verse
11. If you go to Matthew, then turn
back to Malachi, and then Zechariah will be right there. Zechariah
9. Our God is speaking to the church
here in this passage, and he's declaring the salvation that
he's provided for her and for her children, saying in verse
11, Zechariah 9, 11, as for thee also, I'll just give you a moment,
Zechariah 9, 11, as for thee also by the blood of thy covenant,
I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no
water. The Lord's declaring to the church
here that I've provided all things necessary for your salvation. Therefore, he says in verse 12,
turn you to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope. Even today
do I declare that I will render double unto thee. My title this
morning is Prisoners of Hope. And we'll be looking at three
points roughly, the stronghold, the prisoners of hope, and what
this doubling that the Lord speaks of here in this text. So considering
the stronghold, brethren, know first that Jesus Christ is the
stronghold that the Lord speaks of here. Christ is that stronghold. How do we know that Christ is
the stronghold? How do we know this? Well, because
over and over in scripture, the Lord sets forth the Lord Jesus
Christ as the preeminent one. There's none like him. and that
he declares to us that salvation is through the Lord Jesus Christ
in him alone. There is no other salvation.
Paul told the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 1 20 for all the
promises of God in him are yay and amen unto the glory of God
by us by his power working in us. Do we manifest and declare
his glory and his salvation what he's done For us, we don't speak
about what we've done for the Lord, but what the Lord has done
for us. And Peter, when speaking to the
Sanhedrin and the Pharisees, said in Acts 4, verse 10, be
it known unto you all and to all men of Israel that by the
name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised
from the dead, even by him does this man stand here before you
whole. He's speaking of an impotent
man. And brethren, isn't that true of each one of us? We stand
here whole before holy God and before all man because of what
Christ Jesus has done for us. We have nothing to boast in.
Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none
other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be
saved. So Christ is the stronghold by
whom we must be saved. Why is the Lord Jesus the stronghold?
Well, there in Zechariah 9, 11, it says, as for thee also, remember,
God's speaking to the church here, by the blood of thy covenant,
because this is the covenant which God has made for her with
the church in Christ, her Savior, I have sent forth thy prisoners
out of the pit wherein is no water. Brethren, we're in a pit. This flesh is a pit, it's a prison,
and there's no water here. And this, though we labor, though
we try as hard as we might, we can bring forth no fruit, nothing
lasting, nothing profitable, nothing that pleases God. This
flesh is a prison, brethren. It's forever barren, it's dry.
The Lord tells us that we're in a dry, barren land, a salt
land where nothing can grow in it. Concerning this covenant
that's spoken of here, if you turn to Isaiah 42, 6 and 7, Isaiah 42, verses six and seven. We know that Christ is the covenant,
right? Christ himself is the covenant of the church, and it's
by Christ, our covenant, that we have deliverance in him, so
that it's by him that we're delivered from this prison of this flesh. He says, I, the Lord, have called
thee, speaking of Jesus Christ, I, the Lord, have called thee
in righteousness and will hold thine hand and will help thee
and give thee for a covenant of the people for a light of
the Gentiles, to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners
from the prison, and then that sit in darkness out of the prison
house." Well, who is this that speaks with such authority? Who
can say such a word as this to us and that we should believe
him? Verse 5 tells us, Isaiah 42, 5, thus saith God the Lord,
he that created the heavens and stretched them out, he that spread
forth the earth and that which cometh out of it, He that giveth
breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk
therein. It's the Lord God who created
all things, and he's speaking to him by whom he created all
things. As it says in John chapter 1
verse 1, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with
God, and the word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. And then we read a little further down in John 1 verse
14, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld
his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth. This is the one to whom it was
told to Joseph, the husband of Mary, thou shalt call his name
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. So to that end, Christ our Savior,
our husband, the one who loved us from all eternity, he took
upon him the likeness of our sinful flesh, to do for us what
we cannot do for ourselves. Hebrews 2 verse 16 says, for
verily he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took
on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore, in all things it behooved
him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a
merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God,
to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. Our God is
gracious and wonderful. He put away the sins of His bride,
that He might take unto Himself a spotless bride, one who is
made white and pure and holy, all by the work that Christ Himself
has done for her. 1 John 3.16 says, Hereby perceive
we the love of God, because He, Christ our Savior, laid down
His life for us. Christ fulfilled all righteousness
on our behalf. He met that law and he did all
things required in the law, all things that were spoken of him
by the prophets. He fulfilled all righteousness the scriptures
tell us so that we who are slain under that law, we who can bring
forth no good thing might bear fruit unto God. The commandment
which was ordained to life, right, we were under that law, we were
under that commandment, but that commandment which was ordained
to life I found to be unto me death, death unto me. For sin,
taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. And therefore the scriptures
declare that we, brethren, are dead by nature. There's nothing
good that we can do. We can't know God by this flesh. We can't worship God by this
flesh, because we don't know how to worship him. We worship
the God of our imagination, and we cannot please God by the works
of this flesh. The reason being, Romans 8, 7,
and 8 tells us, because the carnal mind is enmity against God. It's enmity against God, for
it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then, they that are in the
flesh cannot please God. Listen to that again. They that
are in the flesh cannot please God. You trying to come to God
by the works of your flesh cannot please God. That's what the scriptures
tell us there, brethren. So, brethren, by nature, we're
unable to save ourselves. We're unable to please God. We
can't justify ourselves. We can't work our way out of
this prison. We can't climb out of this pit.
We are, by nature, prisoners bound in this pit. So the Lord
comes to us in power and declares to us in Zechariah 9, 12, turn
you to the stronghold. Don't you dare face the Lord
in judgment. in that day standing before him
in your own works of righteousness. Because when you see him, you're
going to look down and you're going to see that that robe,
that garment that you think is so holy and spotless and sufficient
to stand before God is full of holes. Your nakedness will be
exposed and you'll go away in shame. So turn to the stronghold
who is Christ. We turn to Christ's stronghold
because it's in Christ. The Lord turns us to Christ,
the stronghold, because in seeing the Lord, that's when we see
and own what we are by nature. We're prisoners. We're bound.
We can't please him. Before God gives us life and
his son, we're dead. We're either worldly dead sinners,
taking pleasure in lasciviousness and all the ways of this world
and all the little trinkets and joys that this world has for
us. We take pleasure in that by nature. Or we're worldly dead
religionists who take pleasure in unrighteousness, thinking
that we please God by our righteous works. But really, we're taking
pleasure in unrighteousness, because we cannot please God
by our works. The scriptures declare that Christ
was made sin for his people, because that's what we are. He
had to be made sin to bear that sin on the cross before holy
God. And he bore that punishment. He paid the debt that we owed
because of our sin. Isaiah 53, six and eight tells
us, all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone
to his own way and the Lord had laid on him, on that body that
he came in, laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was taken from
prison and from judgment and who shall declare his generation
for he was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression
of my people was he stricken. So for his people, his bride,
them and them alone he bore their sin and he put it away forever
so that scriptures declare him to be the Lamb of God slain from
before the foundation of the world and it says if any man
have an ear let him hear let him hear what Christ has done
because it's when we see how God's look he slew his son he
put his son to death because he was there before him bearing
our sin, we see there the justice and the holiness of God, that
he would put to death his own son because of sin. So that God
doesn't have mercy on us just because we now come to church
and do religious things. God doesn't say, well, I'll just
wink and pretend I didn't see that and just we'll forget about
that one. No, Christ paid the price for
that sin. His blood, his precious blood
was shed for the sin of you and me who believe, so that now in
2 Corinthians 5, 17, therefore, we're new in Christ. Therefore,
if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are
passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. And all things are of God, who
hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and has given
to the church the ministry of reconciliation, brethren, to
wit that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. not imputing
their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word
of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you
in Christ that be reconciled to God, for he hath made him
to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we who are vile, wretched
sinners might be made the righteousness of God in him. It's by Christ
and him alone. Christ is a stronghold because
in him is safety, in him is peace, in him is deliverance from our
enemies. He put all that away, he delivered us to himself, so
that when the Holy Spirit comes, he attends this word, this gospel
word, he attends it in power, because it must be by the Spirit.
If we hear it just in the flesh, if we receive it just in the
flesh, it'll do us no good. We might think so. We might think,
you know, we might be motivated for a short time to do some religious
works, It's the Holy Spirit that must come in power and deliver
that word to us so that he gives us faith, he gives us life so
that we receive these things as precious gifts which Christ
himself wrought and bought with his own blood for his bride and
she sees them and is thankful for them because she knows that
that faith that she has and that hope that she now has is all
wrought for her and given to her by her precious husband,
the Lord Jesus Christ. She didn't manufacture these
things, she didn't make this this robe of righteousness, he
did. That wedding garment that she
wears is all because of Christ. So we're turned there, and we
see that we see Christ, who is a stronghold, and it's when we
see him that we own what we are by nature, that we are prisoners
of hope. Until, if we're just in the flesh,
we won't own it. We won't really believe it. We'll
think that we're something or that we're somebody and that
we're doing something for God. But until the Lord delivers that
to our hearts and brings it home with power, we'll never confess
and believe that we're a vile, dirty, wretched dog. But that's
what the scriptures say that each of us is by nature. And
until we have life and hear it by the spirit, we're going to
be like those Jews who heard Christ speak. It says that they
even believed on him for a time. They heard him speak. But man,
when he described what we are by nature, they wouldn't have
it. It says in John 8, 31, then said Jesus to the Jews, which
believed on him, if ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples
indeed. Oh, then he said something that
just really made them mad. And ye shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free. And that set them off. What do you mean free? We be
Abraham's seed and we're never in bondage to any man. We don't
need your deliverance. We don't need you to set us free.
What are you talking about? Who are you talking to? You're
talking to the Jews here. We have the oracles of God and
the law and we keep it. We don't need to be made free.
Jesus answered them, verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever
committed sin is the servant of sin. And carnal men won't
receive that. You saying that I can't just
put away my sin when I want to? Oh, sure, I do a few things here
and there, but I could stop at any time I want. I'm no prisoner. I don't need your deliverance.
Here, another example. Christ said in John 9, 39, Jesus
said, for judgment I am coming to this world that they which
see not might see, and that they which see might be made blind.
And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words
and said unto him, are we blind also? Are you talking to us? Are we blind also? Jesus said
unto them, if ye were blind, You should have no sin. But now
ye say we see, therefore your sin remaineth. So as long as
you seek to justify yourself, as long as you negotiate with
God and say, well, Lord, I'm not that bad. You can have mercy
on me because I'm pretty good and I'm going to be doing better
going forward. As long as you negotiate with
him and seek to justify yourselves, you will go away not justified. You will not be forgiven for
your sins. There was a time when John's
disciples, when John the Baptist was alive, John's disciples came
to Christ and said, are you the one or do we seek for another?
Is there another one coming after you? And he said this, go tell
John what things ye have seen and heard, how that the blind
see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear,
the dead are raised to the poor, the gospel is preached. and blessed
is he whosoever shall not be offended in me." Brethren, did
you hear a description of yourself in there? Was your name mentioned
there? Are you blind? Are you deaf? Are you a leper so that after
people shake your hands here at church, they go and they wash
their hands? When they give you a hug, they
go home and they take their clothes off and they want to burn them
because you're such a leper? Is that you? Are you poor, in need
of someone to provide everything for you. Or do you have some
righteousness of your own? Do you have something to give
to God? Christ came for the poor and the needy, the vile and the
wretched. Where does that offend you? You
say, that's not me. I'm no leper. I'm not deaf. I'm not dead. I don't need to
be raised from the dead. I'm fine. That's why Christ said,
blessed, blessed, happy is that man, blessed of the Lord. Blessed
is he whosoever shall not be offended in me." When the prisoner
looks to Jesus because he sees what he is, then he has hope
because Christ Jesus came to save sinners. We read in the
gospel of Luke, then drew near unto him all the publicans and
sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes
murmured saying, this man receiveth sinners and eateth with them.
And we say, amen. That's our gospel. That's my
hope that this one, Christ, this man receiveth sinners, and that
he'll eat with me and not be ashamed of me, but has provided
all things, the feast, the clothes to go in there to eat with him
and be with him. He's provided all things that
I may stand before holy God and not fear that day of judgment.
Amen. Our Lord read in the synagogue
the passage from Isaiah in Isaiah 61. Verses one and two would
say, the spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath
anointed me, he's that preeminent one, to preach good tidings unto
the meek. He hath sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening
of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable
year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort
all that mourn. And then when he finished reading
that portion of the scriptures, he closed the book, He handed
it to the minister and he went to sit down and it says that
all the eyes of them that were in the synagogue watched him
as he went and he sat down. And he began to say unto them,
this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. And he continued
to speak and all bear him witness and wondered at the gracious
words which proceeded out of his mouth. But after only a little
while, he described who he came to save. that it was Gentiles. It was people who sat without
light, who did not know God. They did nothing for God, and
yet God sent to them deliverance in a day when they need it. And
Christ was ascribing them, saying to them, you're brokenhearted.
You're captives. You're in prison. You're not
able to save yourselves. And they became offended at him
when he gave them those examples, because they knew exactly what
he was saying. And all they in the synagogue, when they heard
these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust
him out of the city and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon
their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. Friends, you've heard this morning,
brethren, you've heard this morning that Jesus Christ saves sinners.
If you're a sinner and you don't believe on him, look to him,
you need the Lord Jesus Christ. He can do for you what you cannot
do for yourself, and He does it. He does it for His people,
and He's able, and He will turn you. He will speak to your heart,
and He'll do for you what you cannot do for yourself. Look
to Him. He'll show you. You'll see it. When you see Him,
you'll know what you are, and you'll know who He is, that He
is the Savior, and He's able to save. He didn't come for the
whole. The whole have no need of a physician. He came for those
who sinned and fell and died, and can do nothing to please
God or do anything for themselves. Therefore, we who believe in
Him, prisoners of hope, because we have hope in Christ that we
know it's a sure hope. We are confident that He shall
do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. All right, back in
Zechariah 9, 12. Zechariah 9, 12, it says, turn
you to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope, Even today do I declare
that I will render double unto thee." What is this double that
he speaks of? What's he speaking of? Well,
first, any blessing that we have before God, any blessing that
we have is because of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're only blessed
in Christ. If you're outside of Christ,
if you don't know Christ, there is no blessing. There's no blessing
apart from Christ. And someone might ask, well,
what about the law? Doesn't the law have something to say to
us that we could do something by the law and please God? Deuteronomy
624 says, and the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes to
fear the Lord our God for our good always that he might preserve
us alive as it is this day. And it shall be our righteousness
if, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord
our God as he hath commanded us. That's a big if. As God has
commanded us to keep those laws, are you going to keep them? Am
I going to keep them? I'm not. That's a big if. But
what did Peter say concerning the law? In Acts 15, verses 5
and 6, it says in that day that there arose certain of the sect
of the Pharisees which believed, saying that it was needful to
circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses.
So there were men And their day, just as there's men in our day
telling us, go back to Mount Sinai, go back to Moses. You
got to keep the law. Christ has saved you now so that
you can keep the law. So now you have a better shot
at keeping the law. And the apostles and the elders
came together for to consider this matter. So Peter stands
up and he tells them, brethren, when the Holy Spirit fell on
the Gentiles, he didn't fall on them and give them faith because
of their law keeping, but because they heard the word and they
believed. Holy Spirit appeared to them. He manifested himself
because of their faith, the faith which he gave them. Now, therefore,
why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples,
which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we
believe that through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we
shall be saved even as they. So it's not only that God's grace
will save us, but God's grace must save us because we cannot
come to god and please him by our keeping of the law it's not
going to happen the lord must save us he must do for us which
he does throughout for us through his son jesus christ because
we can't keep the law just like peter said neither our fathers
nor we were able to bear this law we couldn't do it and that's
the apostle saying that for this is the covenant unto them this
is my covenant unto them when i shall take away their sins. So God's going to be merciful
to us and he's going to be gracious to us, grace upon grace, doing
for us what we can't do for ourselves by giving us life, by putting
away our sins, by just adopting us, making us his, making us
an heir with Christ and giving to us eternal life. So the Lord
does for us all things. What shall we say then to these
things? If God before us, who can be against us? He that spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also freely give us all things? So these blessings
are provided for us in Christ. He's done all things necessary
for our salvation. He did it all in Christ. So we're
definitely dealing with covenants here. That's what he's speaking
of here in Zechariah 9, verse 11 and 12, where we read, as
for thee also by the blood of thy covenant, I have sent forth
thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water. Turn you
to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope. Even today do I declare
that I will render double unto thee. That covenant wherein is
no water, that's the covenant of works. There's no water there. You're not going to find any
satisfaction for that righteousness that you're thirsting for and
seeking. It's a covenant of works, and we are corrupt and in bondage
in this flesh. Paul calls it, in 2 Corinthians,
he says, it's a letter which killeth. He says it's engraven
on stones. He called it a ministration of
death. And he also called it a ministration of condemnation,
right? There's nothing that we can do. So our gracious God turns us
to Christ, the stronghold, and puts us under the covenant of
Christ's blood. He washes us in the blood of
Jesus Christ, and that the Spirit washes us in the blood of Christ.
and the Spirit regenerates us, giving us life where there was
death. He's doing for us what we cannot
do for ourselves. We no longer are under that covenant
of works, but we're under the covenant of grace in the Lord
Jesus Christ. By his death, burial, and resurrection,
Romans 7.6 says, but now we are delivered from the law, that
being dead wherein we were held, we should serve in newness of
spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. So we see a double
rendering of God's grace to us, right, by saving us, from our
sins, and by giving us life, and by his spirit working in
us, serving him, and being at peace
with him, and knowing him, and serving one another, and rejoicing
in what he has done for us. But that word double also means
second. If you turn to Jeremiah, you'll
see that. In Jeremiah 52, 24, that word
double means second. Because this doubling here conveys
that message that God is taking us out from under the first covenant
and putting us under the second covenant. Jeremiah 52, 24 says,
and the captain of the guard took Saria the chief priest.
Verse 24. And the captain of the guard
took Saria the chief priest and Zephaniah the second priest. The second priest, that's the
same word If you look it up in your concordance, it's the same
word. That double there is second, second. So now if you turn over
to, sorry, I just got you to turn to Jeremiah, but if you
turn over to Hebrews 8, you'll see this. I just want you to
know that that word can't mean second. Sorry for that. Hebrews
8 and verse 6, but now hath Christ obtained a more excellent ministry
by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant which was
established upon better promises. For if that first covenant had
been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the
second for finding fault with them, that is, finding fault
with the people. There's nothing wrong with the law itself. The
law is good, right? It's just that the law can't
make us righteous. All the law can do is say sin,
fail, fail, condemned, wrong, nope. It doesn't measure up.
That's all the law can do. The law can't make you righteous.
It can only tell you what you are. And we are, by nature, sinners. So we're bound in sin. It can
never declare us righteous. We can never get to the point
under the law where we can drink that water and have no more thirst
because we're righteous. Not by the law. Not by the works
of the law. We can never get to that point. For finding fault
with them, he said, behold, the days come, said the Lord, when
I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with
the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with
their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead
them out of the land of Egypt, because they continued not my
covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this
is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after
those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws in their mind
and write them in their hearts, and I will be to them a God,
and they shall be to me a people." And verse 13, In that he saith
a new covenant, he hath made the first old. So he's put away
that first one. Now that which decayeth and waxeth
old is ready to vanish away. So then now, if you turn to 2
Corinthians 3, 2 Corinthians 3, verse 15. But even unto this day, 2 Corinthians
3.15, but even unto this day when Moses is read, that ministration
of condemnation, the veil is upon their heart. They don't
even know it's condemning them. They don't even hear what the
law says to them. Nevertheless, when it, the heart, shall turn
to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. All right, but how
is a dead man's heart, how does a dead man turn his heart to
the Lord? He doesn't have the spirit that he can turn to the
Lord. Nope, he doesn't. Now the Lord
is that spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord is, there
is liberty. There is life and liberty where
the spirit of God is. But we all with open face beholding
as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same
image from glory, that first covenant, which was a ministration
of death to us, unto glory. That covenant under Christ's
blood where we are washed and regenerated and made whole to
stand before God and worship him. Wherefore, my brethren,
we'll close with this verse, Romans 7, 4. Wherefore, my brethren,
ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that
ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from
the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. That's where we bring forth fruit
unto God. It's in Christ, being married
to him. I pray the Lord will bless it through your heart. Thanks.