Good morning again. I want to
welcome Larry and Susie from Great Falls, Montana. Been out
there to preach for them a few times and and they're here with
us today with their granddaughter. I'm so sorry. Aubrey. Aubrey.
Aubrey. You know, after that first hour,
I know that believers are often convicted, thinking, am I asleep? Am I asleep? And Isaiah chapter
52 says, awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Jerusalem. We come here to be woke up, don't
we? To be brought out of our stupor
and to be reminded of what our hope is and who our hope is.
So, I feel like maybe I've been sleeping. Well, my question is,
did the Lord wake you up this morning? Is He waking you up
now? I hope so. Tom's going to come
lead us in number 32 in your spiral hymnal. Let's stand together.
In Christ we are free. Number 32. All children of wrath, in bondage
and sin, we helplessly lay, condemned and unclean. God's law in its
infinite justice and wrath demanded we suffer an eternal death. But long before time had ever
begun, One stood in our place, God's glorious Son. He offered Himself to go live
among men, And give His own life to atone for our sin. The great substitute, behold,
he has come. The price has been paid, the
work is all done. Christ took on himself the great
load of our sin. He poured out His blood, and
He put away sin. God's justice and law are now
satisfied, And all who believe have been justified. Through faith in the blood of
the Lamb, we are free from sin's condemnation, eternally free. Please be seated. Good morning. A scripture reading
and call to worship is found in the book of Psalms 86. Psalm 86. This is a prayer of David. Could very well be a prayer of
every child of God. Bow down thy ear, O Lord, hear
me, for I am poor and needy. This is every child of God's
condition. We are poor in righteousness,
of our own righteousness, and needing in every way possible. We always need Christ in every
way. Preserve my soul, for I am holy,
O thou, my God. Save thy servant, that trusted
in thee. Be merciful unto me, O Lord,
for I cry unto thee daily." The child of God navigates the path,
asking God for his mercy and grace. Rejoice, the soul of thy
servant, For unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul, for thou,
Lord, are good and ready to forgive and plenty us in mercy unto all
of them that call upon thee. What a wonderful, wonderful promise
this is. Give ear, O Lord, unto thy prayer. and attend to the voice of my
supplications. In the day of my trouble, I will
call upon thee, for thou will answer me. Among the gods, there
is none unto thee, O Lord, neither are there any works like unto
thy works. All nations whom thou hath made
shall come and worship before thee, O Lord, and shall glorify
thy name. For thou art great and doest
wonderful things. Thou art God alone. Teach me
thy way, O Lord. I will walk in thy truth. Unite my heart to fear thy name. I will praise thee, O Lord, my
God, with all my heart, and I will glorify thy name forever, for
great is thy mercy towards me, and thou hast delivered my soul
from the lowest hell. O God, The proud are risen against
me, and the assemblies of the violent men have sought after
my soul, and have not set thee before them. But thou, O Lord,
are a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering,
and plenteous in mercy and truth. or turn unto me, and have mercy
upon me. Give thy strength unto thy servant,
and save the son of thy handmaid. Show me a token for good, that
they that hate me may see it, and be ashamed, because thou,
Lord, has helped me, and comfort has comforted me. Lord, Father
God, we come before you this morning to give you praise and
thanks for the privilege of being here and listening to the Gospel,
Father. We ask now that we recognize
that we are needy and poor, Father. In this special time, we have
great need of your Holy Spirit to come upon us, to come upon
Pastor Greg. And so we're able to understand,
we're able to see more of Christ, more of Christ's glory, more
of the gospel, Father. We pray that, and we recognize
that we're needy. We need you now, Father, more
than ever. And we also pray for all the other churches that are
preaching Christ, Father. May the Holy Spirit visit them,
be there to magnify Christ, Father. And this is the only way we'll
be able to see Christ more clearly, is by your grace and your mercy,
having mercy and having grace towards us. In Jesus' name we
pray, amen. Let's stand together again. We'll
sing the hymn that's on the back with your bullets at the top. Jesus, who on Calvary's mountain
poured Thy precious blood for me, wash me in its flowing fountain,
that my soul may spotless be. I have sinned, but O restore
me, for unless Thou smile on me, dark is all the world before
me, darker yet eternity. In thy word I hear thee say,
Come and I will give you rest. Glad the gracious call obeying,
See I hasten to thy breast. Grant, O grant thy spirit's teaching
that I may not go astray. Till the gate of heaven reaching,
earth and sin are passed away. Please be seated. That's a worthy prayer, isn't
it? Grant, O grant Thy Spirit's teaching that I may not go astray
till the gate of heaven reaching, earth and sin are all passed
away. Will you open your Bibles with
me to Isaiah chapter 51. Isaiah chapter 51. And if you'd like to turn with
me also to Jeremiah chapter 50 and hold your finger there, we'll
be reading a couple of verses in Jeremiah chapter 50 also. Verse 22, Isaiah 51. Thus saith
thy Lord, the Lord. and thy God that pleadeth the
cause of his people. God speaking. And he tells us
that he's the God that pleads the cause of his people. And so my question for you is
the same as the question that I've been forced to ask myself
in preparing this message. What is the cause that I am in
need of Him pleading for me? What is my cause? What is my
need? As we saw in the previous hour,
Lots of folks get interested in the things of God when they're
in the midst of a crisis. Whether their need be financial,
or whether it need be relational, or whether their need be emotional,
whatever their need be, they turn to God, and when the crisis
is over, so is their interest in the things of God. What is your need? What is the
cause that you are in need of for him to plead on your behalf? Turn with me if you will to Jeremiah
chapter 50 and we'll read verses 33 and 34. Thus saith the Lord
of hosts. Our God is God over the living
and the dead. The spiritually alive and the
spiritually dead, He reigns sovereign over all men. It is blasphemous
to us to hear people speak of making Jesus Lord of their life. I declare to you by the authority
of God's Word that He reigns Lord of your life right now,
whether you want Him to or not. Our God is sovereign. He's the
Lord of hosts. You don't make him something
that God's already made him to be. Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
the children of Israel and the children of Judah were oppressed
together and all that took them captives held them fast. They
refused to let them go. What are you oppressed by? What
is it that you cannot deliver yourself from? That's your cause. That's your need. That's what
you have the Lord to plead for you on behalf of. If it's just a problem with a
relationship with another person, you know what, that's gonna resolve
itself eventually. I know you've heard me say this
before, I'll say it again. Whatever problems we have that
can be solved with time or money is not the kind of problem I'm
talking about. Everything that we have in this
world is ultimately going to be resolved with either money
or time. Either you can buy yourself out of it, Or when you take your
last breath, that problem's not gonna be a problem anymore. There's
only one cause, there's only one problem that you and I have
that time nor money will solve. There's only one. One. And that's the oppression that
we cannot deliver ourselves from. It's called sin. And if God ever puts that on
your heart, then you'll know that you are in need of a God
who can plead your cause. Now look what he says in verse
20, 34. Their Redeemer is strong. The Lord of hosts is his name.
He shall throughly plead their cause that they may, that he
may give rest to the land and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon. He's the only one strong enough
to solve this problem. You see, if our problem was financial,
God would have sent an economist. If our problem was emotional,
he would have sent a therapist. If our problem was physical,
he would have sent a doctor. If our problem was ignorance,
he would have sent an educator. If our problem was political,
he would have sent a politician. If our problem was relational,
he would have sent a counselor. But He didn't send any of those.
He sent a Savior. Why? Because that's not where
our problem is. Our problem is with sin. And we have no power. We have
no power over it. Only the strength of the Lord
can deliver us from its power and its penalty. That's what
the Lord Jesus Christ came to do This is a faithful saying
and worthy of all acceptation Christ Jesus came Into the world
for one reason to save sinners. He didn't come into the world
To give you a better life He came into this world to save
you from the wrath that is to come, and that's the cause that
you and I are in need of Him to plead on our behalf. That's
it. You shall call his name Jesus
for he shall save his people from their sins. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. He came as a Savior. Why? Because all those other problems
we have, either we can fix them or they're going to go away in
time. This problem with sin. Your sins, God says, have separated
you from your God. Sin's got to be put away. The
justice of God has got to be satisfied. The holiness of God
must be upheld. And the only hope for that is
that we have a God who himself is willing and able to plead
our cause. Our God pleads our cause. The
Lord Jesus Christ stands in our stead before God Almighty and
presents Himself to God on behalf of His people, pleading their
cause. Is it possible? Is it possible
for God to say, no, I'm not going to listen to that plea? No. Everyone He pleads for will be
saved. We're not worshiping a God who's
in the heavens, wringing his hands, wishing that men would
let him have his way. That's the intoxicating spirit
of false religion. It's a lie. That gospel puts
man on the throne of God. God wants to save you Christ
died for everybody. God loves everybody wants everybody
to be saved. He's done his part now the rest
of it's up to you You take the first step and he'll carry you
the rest of the way No You and I need a God I who is
willing and able to plead our cause. So my first question is,
what's your cause? What's your cause? What is your
greatest need? Lots of folks have lots of needs,
I know that. Genesis chapter 43 Judah I'll just tell you the
story, you know it Joseph has been sold to Egypt
and now God has sent a famine in the land so that Jacob's sons
had to go down to Egypt to get bread and because the Lord had
made Joseph the prime minister of Egypt and the keeper of the
storehouses and Joseph provided bread for his brothers, they
didn't know who he was. And Joseph told them, Joseph
knew who they were, Joseph said, you're not gonna be able to come
back unless you bring Benjamin with you, the only other child
of Rachel other than Joseph. And so the brothers went back
and Jacob said, they ran out of food and Jacob said, You're not gonna take Benjamin.
I've lost Joseph, and you're not gonna take Benjamin. And
Judah, Judah stood before his father, and Judah said, send
Benjamin with me. I will be his surety. And you can be sure. That when
I come back, he'll be with me. He'll be with me. Now Judah's
a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ pleading the cause of his people
to the Father. And Judah says in that story,
he says, if we don't do this, we're going to die. We're going
to die. Now there's the problem. This
is life and death. And not temporal life and death.
This is spiritual life and death. This is eternal life and death.
That's our cause. And we need our Judah, the Lord
Jesus Christ, to be our surety. A surety is one who provides
everything necessary on behalf of the one he's representing.
So the Lord Jesus Christ is our surety before God turn to me
because I didn't quote that passage properly turn with me to Genesis
43 Genesis 43 Look at verse 8 And Judah said to Israel Jacob Jacob and Israel, you know
the same person his father Send the lad with me and we will arise
and go That we may live and not die both we and thou and also
our little ones if we don't do this We're all gonna die I will be surety for him. Of
my hand shalt thou require him. If I bring him not unto thee,
and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame for ever." Now Judah is speaking prophetically
by the Holy Spirit, representing the Lord Jesus Christ. I, the
Lord speaking to the Father, I'll be their surety. lest they
all die. And you can require them of my
hand. And if I fail to bring them back,
I'll bear the blame. Now is it possible for the Son
of God to bear any blame before His Father that He was not successful
in bringing back to glory those for whom He came and lived and
died? No. No. His, the Word, accomplished the
purpose for which God sent it. And He took back to glory with
Him the names of those for whom He lived and died, and He ever
lives to make intercession for them. We have a God who pleads
our cause. And God says to you and me, I'll
bear the blame. If I'm not successful in saving
them, I'll bear the blame. Well, he doesn't bear the blame,
he gets all the glory because he was successful, wasn't he?
He was successful in saving his people. He pleads the cause of
his people. Before time began, before God
created the earth And the sun, and the stars, and the moon,
when there was nothing but God before the angels were created,
there was God. And God established with God
a covenant of grace. And God the Father before time
ever began in eternity past, elected according to his own
will and purpose, a particular people chose them. The Lord Jesus Christ entered
into a covenant relationship with his father and made a promise
to the father before Adam was made, before the angels were
made, before time began and agreed to be the lamb slain before the
foundation of the world to redeem those whom the father had chosen
and God the Holy Spirit entered into that covenant. God the Holy
Spirit said I'll make them willing in the day of my power I'll go
and open the eyes of their understanding also unstop their ears I'll take
out their heart of stone and I'll put in a heart of flesh
and I'll regenerate them and cause them to believe Now that's
an agreement that God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy
Spirit made before time was ever Is there any way? Is there any
possible way that everyone that God chose, everyone that Christ
redeemed, and everyone that the Spirit of God regenerates are
not going to be saved? What are you going to add to
that covenant? What are you going to add to it? So before time began, the Lord
Jesus Christ pled the cause of His people before the Father. And in time, in time, the Lord
Jesus Christ, who is the Word, was made flesh, and He dwelt
among us, and we beheld His glory as the glory of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and full of truth, born of a
woman, born under the law. to redeem those who were under
the law. That's why Christ came into the
world. His incarnation, His birth was Him pleading our cause. What the law could not do in
that it was weak through the flesh. The law can't save. There's nothing wrong with the
law. The law's holy. The law's just and the law's
good. The law's never made a person holy. It's never justified a
single person. It's never added an ounce of
goodness to anybody's life. The law's perfect. Christ is
the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. The
Lord Jesus Christ came into the world to satisfy the demands
of God's law. He pled our cause before God. He silenced the condemnation
of the law. What the law could not do and
that it was weak through the flesh. The problem was not with
the law, the problem was with us. God sending His own Son in
the likeness of sinful flesh. Now that just means that when
people looked at the Lord Jesus Christ, they didn't see Him as
God. He just looked like another man. He was born in the likeness
of sinful flesh. He condemned sin in the flesh
that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us. The Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled
the law. He didn't put it away. He said,
I didn't come to put the law away, I came to fulfill the law.
came to satisfy the law. What was he doing? Pleading our
cause. He was pleading our cause. He
pled our cause in the covenant of grace before time began. He
pled our cause in his incarnation. And those angels When they met
the shepherds that fateful night, when the Lord was born into this
world, said unto you, that makes it personal, was born this day,
that makes it present, that makes it right now, a savior. That's the fulfillment of all
prophecy. who is Christ the Lord. And with that angel came a multitude
of heavenly hosts, praising God and singing, Glory to God in
the highest, for on earth On earth, God has sent forth peace
and goodwill toward men. The Lord Jesus Christ was pleading
our cause in His birth. Unto you, unto you a child is
born. Unto you a son is given, and
the government shall be upon his shoulders, and his name shall
be called Wonderful Counselor. the mighty God, the everlasting
Father and the Prince of all Peace, the Lord Jesus Christ,
pleading the cause of His people, was made flesh. He pled the cause of His people
in His life. Who shall ascend unto the hill
of the Lord, and who shall stand in His holy place? Which of us
are going to present ourselves before a holy God? And then God
answers that question, he that hath clean hands and a pure heart
and has not lifted up his soul to vanity nor spoken deceitfully. Who's that? That's the Lord Jesus
Christ pleading our cause. In his life he's got clean hands. In his life he's got a pure heart.
In his life he never lifted up his soul to vanity. In his life
he never spoke deceitfully. Why? Because he's pleading our
cause. We have a God who is both able
and willing to plead the cause of his people. What did the Lord say to his
mother when she found him in Jerusalem at the age of 12? Did
you not know that I must be about my father's business? She knew
who he was. She knew that she had never been
with a man. She knew the miracle of his birth. If anybody knew, Mary knew. Why
are you looking all over for me? You know I'd be right here.
I've got to be about my father's business. What is my father's
business? He sent me into the world to save sinners. And so
the first recorded words that we have of Christ in the scriptures
is that I must be about my father's business and the last recorded
words we have before he bowed his mighty head on Calvary's
cross was it is finished. Father into thy hands. What was
he doing? He's pleading our cause. You and I need a surety. You
say, well, I need money. Well, maybe you do, but that's
not going to help your sin problem. You know, I've got a broken relationship
with somebody. Well, you know, humble yourself. Do what you can to fix it. But
that's not going to solve your problem. I've got a terminal
illness. You know, consult the physicians.
Do what you can to get better. But that's not going to solve
your problem. I like what one brother said.
He was diagnosed with cancer and a brother asked him, is it
terminal? He said, we're all terminal.
That was his response, we're all terminal. Every step the Lord Jesus made,
every word he spoke, every thought that he had, he was pleading
our cause. presenting himself perfectly
before the father So that the father Spoke audibly
from heaven on three occasions and said this is my beloved son
in whom I Am well pleased here ye him now the Lord Jesus Christ
the only man that God ever said that about and Truth is, He's
not pleased with you and He's not pleased with me. He's pleased
with His Son. And you and I are in need of
an advocate. We're in need of the Lord Jesus
Christ to plead our cause with God, to be our surety, to present
Himself on our behalf. That's our problem. It's sin. It's nothing else. Everything
else is temporal. The Lord Jesus Christ pled our
cause when he prayed for us. When the Lord told Peter, Peter,
before the cock crows, you're gonna deny me three times. But be of good comfort, Peter,
because I have prayed for you. The only reason Peter repented
is because the Lord prayed for him. And when you are converted, Encourage the brethren teach
the brethren comfort the brethren with my grace and Then in John
chapter 17 our Lord intercedes for his people father. I pray
not for the world but The Lord Jesus Christ is not pleading
the cause of the world. He said that clearly in John
17. I'm not praying for the world. I'm not dying for the world.
I didn't come to save the world. I came to plead the cause of
my people. Father, I pray for them which
thou hast given me out of the world. Thine they were, and thou
hast given to me. And I've kept them, and they've
kept your word. Why? Because I'm successful in
pleading the cause of my people. I can't fail. If I don't bring them back, you
hold it to my charge. No, that's not possible. We have
a God who has pled the cause of his people and has succeeded
in satisfying the demands of God. Are you going to plead your
own cause? Yeah, I hear people say, well,
you know, I just have to be really sorry for your sins. You can't
be sorry enough for your sins. You don't know what that's like.
You don't know what it's like. Your sin's a whole lot worse
than you think it is. You've never felt sorrow like
the Lord Jesus Christ felt sorrow and God saw the travail of his
soul and was satisfied. For my righteous servant shall
justify many. You can't, you can't plead your
own cause. You can't make your faith strong
enough. You can't, you can't be sorry enough. You can't be
good enough. You, you cannot plead your own
cause. We have a God who pleads the
cause of his people. Aren't you glad? Is it possible for the Lord Jesus
Christ to plead the cause of his people and God to say, well,
you know, that's not enough. No. In his death, he pled the
cause of his people. Scripture says he bore in his
own body the sins of all of his people. He didn't die for everybody.
He bore all the sins of all God's elect and put them away once
and for all by the sacrifice of himself. He pled the cause
of his people. And he was successful in his
plea. When the Lord Jesus Christ said,
Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. He wasn't
just talking about those Roman soldiers that nail him to the
cross. He's talking about everybody he was dying for. You see, the
truth is that you and I don't have a clue what we're doing. We don't. We don't know how bad
our sin is. Sin, to be properly understood,
has to be seen and experienced in holiness. The closest we can
ever come to understanding the gravity of our sin is to look
to see what God had to do to put it away. But the only one
who ever felt sin was Christ. And so, when He said, Father
forgive them, they don't know what they're doing. You don't
know what you're doing. I don't know what I'm doing.
We sin. We drink iniquity, the scripture
says, like water we came forth from the loom, speaking lies.
We're just so accustomed to sin, aren't we? And every once in
a while, sin causes us a big problem, and then we get feeling
really bad about it. Our sin is just we... Father,
forgive them. They don't know what they're
doing. I know. I know what they've done. And I'm pleading their cause.
I'm interceding on their behalf. And the Father heard him and
said, I'm satisfied. I'm satisfied. It pleased God
to bruise him. And by his stripes, we are healed. We are healed. And so before
time, in his birth, in his life, in his death, and in his resurrection,
he is pleading the cause of his people. The Lord Jesus Christ
is called the firstborn among many brethren. That's not a reference
to his incarnation, that's a reference to his resurrection. You see,
we don't talk about Lazarus as being resurrected, though he
was brought back to life, because resurrection is unto eternal
life. Lazarus had to die again. He
was resuscitated, but that was it. He wasn't resurrected. The Lord Jesus Christ had to
be resurrected first. He's the firstborn among many
brethren. And he said, because I live,
you shall live also. And so, death. Oh, death, where's your sting? Grave, where's your victory?
The sting of death is sin. The strength of sin is the law.
Thanks be to God through Christ Jesus, we're free. The law's
been satisfied. The grave's been opened. Death
has been conquered. Why? Because we have a God who's
pleading the cause of His people. And He has successfully pled
our cause. He was offered up for our offenses
and raised again because of our justification. He ascended back
into glory, pleading the cause of his people. The father said
to the Lord Jesus Christ, sit thou here at my right hand until
I make thine enemies thy footstool. We came into this world at enmity
with God, didn't we? Why? Because of our sin. And
when the Lord Jesus Christ is pleased to reveal himself to
us and save our sin sick souls, he makes those who are at enmity
with him sit at his footstool and listen to him. Oh Lord, teach
me, reveal yourself to me. And so the scripture says that
we have a high priest who has entered into the holies. He has
put his blood on the mercy seat. The veil has been rent from top
to bottom and he has not, he's entered into glory. He's presented
that blood to the father. All the sins of all of God's
people are put away and the scripture says he ever lives to make intercession
for us. We have a God in heaven right
now that's pleading the cause of his people. Is he pleading
your cause? What is your cause that you need
him to plead to God for? What is it? Now I'm not suggesting
that when we have temporal problems that we don't ask God to help
us. Lord, I need you to deliver me from this. I need you to provide
for me. I need you to heal me. I need
you to fix this problem. We cry out to our God all the
time for whatever temporal needs we have. But I cannot stand before
you in the authority of God's word and promise you that he
will plead your cause on every one of those situations because
sometimes he won't. Sometimes he'll let you die.
Sometimes he'll let you struggle. Why? To cause you to see that
the real cause you have is not temporal, but it's eternal. The
real cause you have is a sin problem. It's not a situation. And if God does that mercifully
and causes that, I can promise you by the authority of God's
Word that He will successfully plead your cause before God and
put away your guilt and make you righteous before the very
presence of a holy God. There's the promise of God's
Word. Is He pleading your cause? What
is your cause? We have a God who's both willing
and able to plead the cause of His people. And He's always successful. He's always successful in pleading
their cause. Don't plead your own cause. Don't
do it. You don't have what it takes.
He does. He does. Our Heavenly Father, we're so
very thankful for the revelation that You've given us of Thy dear
Son, and we pray that You would Cause us to desire Christ, to
plead our cause, and to give us hope of eternal life. For
it's in His name we pray. Amen. Let's stand together. Brother Tom, number 226. Number
226. I am not skilled to understand
what God hath willed, what God hath planned. I only know at
his right hand is one who is my Savior. I take Him at His word indeed. Christ died for sinners, this
I read. For in my heart I find a need
of Him to be my Savior. That he should leave his place
on high, And come for sinful man to die, You counted strange,
so once did I, Before I knew my Savior. And, O that he fulfilled, may
see, the travail of his soul in me, and with his work contented
be, as I with my dear Saviour. Yea, living, dying, let me bring
My strength, my solace from this spring That he who lives to be
my king Wants I to be my Savior. Yeah. Mhm.