Good morning and Happy New Year
2017 to everyone. Let's open our service this morning
with the hymn that's on the back of your bulletin. Let's all stand
together. What can we say, O Lord our God,
about this closing year? But that by grace we've come
this far, your hand has brought us here. Through troubled times
and grievous trial, when all had seemed a loss, Your hand
was guiding all the while to keep us near Your cross. In many joys and precious times
In number not a few You opened up our clouded minds That we
might heaven view In wisdom, grace, and power,
and love, with bitter and with sweet, you've mixed your providential
plan to make our souls complete. O Lord, our God, in coming days,
what e'er you plan for us, we pray you guide us in your way
and cause us you to trust. Please be seated. Hebrews chapter 1. Hebrews chapter 1. New Year's Day and a world of
change. It's just nice to know that our
God never changes and never will. God, who at sundry times and
in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son,
whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made
the worlds. who being the brightness of His
glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding
all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself
purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty
on high. Being made so much better than
the angels, as He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name
than they, For unto which of the angels said he at any time,
Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee, and again, I
will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. And again, when he bringeth the
firstborn into the world, he saith, And let all the angels
of God worship him. and of the angels, he saith,
who maketh his spirits and his ministers a flame of fire. But
unto the Son, he saith, thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever,
a scepter of righteousness and a scepter of thy kingdom. Thou
hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity. Therefore God,
thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy
fellows. And thou, Lord, in the beginning
hast laid the foundation of the earth. and the heavens are the
works of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou remainest,
and they shall wax old as doth a garment, and as a vesture shalt
thou fold them up, and they shall be changed. But thou art the
same, and thy years shall not fail. But to which of the angels
said he at any time, sit on my right hand until I make thine
enemies thy footstool? Are they not all ministering
spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of
salvation? Father, we thank You that You've
revealed Yourself to us, Father, as a God that never changes,
a God that made a covenant before the foundation of the world to
do everything required for our salvation, that when the Lord
Jesus Christ said from the cross, it is finished, that it really
was. Father, that in a world that
hates You and a world that despises Your children, we look for a
better world. We look for a home on high, Father. We know that when it comes time
that You'll come in the clouds, Father, and we'll rise to meet
You in the air and we'll ever be with the Lord. Father, give
us the grace to fix our minds on spiritual things, Father,
to see Christ in everything in the Scripture, to go through
this year, Father, that we might love Thee more and love the brethren
more. Be with Greg as he brings the
message this morning, Father. Give him grace and give us hearing
ears and a willing heart. We ask in Jesus' name, Amen. Let's all stand together once
again. We'll sing hymn number four from your Spiral Gospel
Hymns hymn book. Hail sovereign love that first
began the scheme to rescue fallen men. Hail matchless, free, eternal
grace that gave my soul life. hiding place. Against the God
who rules the sky, I fought with an uplifted eye, despised the
mention of His grace, too proud to seek a hiding place. Enwrapped in thick Egyptian night,
And fond of darkness more than light, Madly I ran the sinful
race, Secure without a trace. hiding place. But thus the eternal
counsel ran, Almighty love, arrest that man. I felt the arrows of
distress and found I had no hiding place. Indignant justice stood
in view, To Sinai's fiery mount I flew. But justice cried with
frowning face, This mountain is no hiding place. Ere long a heavenly voice I heard,
And mercy's angel form appeared. who led me on with gentle pace
to Jesus Christ, my hiding place. On him almighty vengeance fell
that must have sunk a world to hell. He bore it for a chosen
race and thus became their hiding place. that few more rolling
suns at most shall land me safe on heaven's coast. There I shall
sing the songs of grace to Jesus Christ, my hiding place. Please be seated. Just a few more rolling suns.
I wonder if 2017 will be the year that we'll experience our
Lord's return. It thrills my soul to think about
that. I'd like for you to turn with
me in your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 40. Those of you that have been with
us for some time know that this is a favorite passage of Scripture
of mine. And I'm sure it is for you as
well. God has commanded the prophet Isaiah to speak a word of comfort
to Jerusalem. And, uh, in essence, that word
of comfort is to declare unto them that their warfare is accomplished. When was our warfare accomplished? Here we are, January the 1st.
We stand at the starting line of a new year. And many will
be looking forward to the opportunities that 2017 might bring. Setting goals, making resolutions,
hoping for better progress in the race for this year than maybe
last. All those things are fine, they're
good. But I would remind you that the scripture says, man's
heart deviseth his ways, but the Lord orders his steps. We just sang a glorious hymn
on the back of your bulletin about that. God orders all our
steps. Psalm 85 verse 13 the scripture
says that righteousness shall go before us and shall Set us
in the way of his steps The Lord's going to accomplish his purpose
in 2017 just like he did in 2016 and God's people find great hope
and great comfort in resting in him Psalm 119 verse 33 says, Lord,
order my steps in thy word. Order my steps in thy word and
let not iniquity have dominion over me. Lord, don't let sin
have dominion over me. Order my steps according to thy
word. As we look forward to the new
year, That's our heart's desire. These things all have their place
in terms of making plans for the future, but if all of our
goals are met and 2017 becomes the best year that we've ever
had, what does that do for my need of assurance of my salvation? What comfort, what hope, what
peace do I get from my soul in looking with anticipation to
the events of the future? Notice with me in our text, comfort
ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God, speak ye comfortably
to Jerusalem and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished. You see, the truth is that the
only way to really get comfort, peace, hope, joy, is not by looking
forward with some sort of anticipation of the future, but rather it
is by looking back. Looking back to when our warfare
was accomplished. And that's what I want us to
do this morning. I want us to look back, not to 2016, but 2016
years ago. I want us to look back to the
accomplished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because that's
where we find our hope. That's where we find comfort. That's where we find peace. I fear that Many folks are like
those Japanese soldiers that they found some 30 years after
World War II was over on some remote island of the Philippines,
still dressed in their battle gear and still walking around
with loaded guns, not knowing that the battle was over, not
knowing that the war was finished, and not knowing that their victor
had rebuilt their country and given them more prosperity than
they ever had before. Somebody had to tell them. And
that's what I'm here to do this morning, to tell you about the
end of the war. The conflict is over. Now, in our generation, we know
very little about victory when it comes to warfare. We had to leave the conflict
of Vietnam without victory. The conflict of the Middle East
just morphed into a different battle. It seems like our current
administration in is reigniting the flames of the Cold War with
Russia. We just don't know much about
real victory when it comes to warfare, do we? Not like my parents'
generation, my grandparents' generation, when World War II
came to an end. I thought oftentimes how exciting
it would have been to be there on VE Day, May the 8th, 1945. Everybody, everybody in this
country had skin in the game. I mean, everybody made sacrifices
for six years. The women worked in factories
and the men went to war. And when the Nazi regime was
defeated and victory was declared, what exuberance there was in
this country. But you know what? If you went
back and experienced the thrill of that day, you wouldn't know
it like those people knew it. Because in order for you to experience
the rejoicing of that day, you would have had to experience
the sacrifice of the previous six years. In order for you to experience
the joy of the victory that the Lord Jesus Christ has won for
us, you're going to have to know something about the bondage of
sin. You're going to have to know
something about the conflict that wages war in your own soul
over the condition that we're in, that we've been placed in
by our father Adam. Our father Adam raised his fist
in rebellion against God. And you and I were in Adam. And God said, in the day in which
you eat of this fruit, you shall surely die. We lost that battle against God. We rebelled. Someone says, well,
I don't like being responsible for what Adam did. Two things
I have to say about that. Number one, if you were not responsible
for what Adam did, then you cannot participate in what Christ did. And the second thing I would
say to you is if you don't want to be responsible for Adam's
fall, have you done on your own? You see, once God makes you to
be a sinner, you realize, I'm at enmity with God. I'm subject to His wrath, to
His judgment. God gives me what I deserve,
I'm going to hell. I've raised my fist in rebellion
against God. And here's what the Lord says,
your warfare, the battle that you raged against God and your
rebellion against him, he went to battle for you. He fought
the battle. He waged the war. He defeated
sin. He defeated Satan. He conquered
the grave. And he did it all for his people.
Your warfare is accomplished. It is accomplished. What a, what a comfort and hope. And I have eight points that
I want to make very quickly about this accomplished warfare that
took place many years ago. We're not looking to 2016, we're
not looking to 2017. We're looking back before time
ever began. Because this warfare began in
a covenant promise that God the Father made to God the Son. God the Son agreed in that covenant
to be the surety of those whom God the Father chose in the covenant
of grace. This happened before Adam was
ever created. God the Son, God the Holy Spirit entered into
that covenant and promised to go into the world and to do a
miracle of grace in the hearts of those whom God Almighty chose,
whom Christ would redeem, He would regenerate. Now that's
a That's a warfare that was accomplished before it was ever waged. The
battle was won before we ever rebelled against God. We have the promise of a savior. Now you and I are creatures of
time. We measure everything by minutes
and hours and days and weeks and months and years and millenniums. We can't think outside of time. We can't identify things outside
of time. And yet through the eyes of faith,
through the eyes of faith, By the declaration of God's word,
we're able to look past time and see that the Lord Jesus Christ
really is the lamb that was slain before the foundation of the
world. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith the Lord. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem
and tell them that their warfare is accomplished. It was accomplished
It was accomplished in the promise of a Savior. A promise that God
made with God before man ever came on the scene. And then all
throughout the Old Testament, that promise was repeated. Everything
in Scripture, everything in this book, points to the fulfillment
of that promise. The warfare is going to be accomplished.
My Son is going to come. from Genesis, the beginning of
Genesis when man first fell and God said the seed of the woman
would crush the head of the serpent, all the way to Malachi chapter
4, when God says the Son of Righteousness, the Son of Righteousness shall
rise with healing in His wings. Everything in this book points
to the fulfillment of God's promise to wage the warfare for us and
to get the victory. Secondly, this warfare was accomplished
not only in the promise of a Savior, but in the birth of a Savior.
What a glorious day that was when those shepherds were tending
their flock by night and the angel of the Lord came and declared
unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior,
which is the Christ. the anointed one, the promised
one, the one that would come and fight your battle for you
and get the victory for you, provide all by himself everything
necessary for your salvation. And suddenly there was with the
angels a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God and saying,
glory to God in the highest on earth, peace, peace. goodwill toward men. The hope
of our salvation is in the promise of a Savior and then it's in
the birth of a Savior. When Mary and Joseph brought
that eight-year-old baby, the Lord Jesus Christ, to the temple
to have him circumcised, Simeon A prophet of God was there. A
prophet that God had spoke to and told him, you're going to
see the consolation of Israel before you die. And when Simeon
held the Lord Jesus Christ, he said, Lord, I'm ready to die
now. Mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Thy salvation. He's come. Yes, the word has
become flesh. and He dwelt among us, and we
beheld His glory as the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father.
He's the One who's full of grace, and He's the One who's full of
truth." The warfare took place before
time began, and it was fulfilled in time. Through the birth of
a Savior, a body Thou hast prepared for me. The God-man, the Lord
Jesus Christ, came to do what we could not do for ourselves.
He came to do under the contradiction of sinners and the conflicts
of this world what Adam was unable to do in the perfect environment
of paradise. What a Savior. I'm here to declare unto you A son has been given. A child
has been born. The government shall be upon
his shoulders. His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. That's who he is. Oh, child of
God, look back. Look back before you were born. Look back before time ever started. There's where you'll find your
comfort. Set your goals, make your plans, resolutions, whatever
you want to do for 2017. God will order your steps for
this year, just like he did last year. But the hope of your salvation,
the comfort of your soul, The assurance of knowing that you're
right with God is not going to come by anything that happens
in 2017 or 16. It's going to happen when God
gives you faith to look all the way back 2017 years ago. Realize that God came into this
world Not only was the promise of a
Savior and the birth of a Savior necessary for our salvation,
but the life of a Savior. God requires perfection. He will
not settle for anything less. How you doing on that account? He's not going to settle for
anything less. The life of the Lord Jesus Christ
must be our life. What the Lord Jesus Christ came
to do was to satisfy the demands of God's holy law. And he did
that in a life of perfect obedience to the Father. Paul said, my hope My hope is
to be found in Him. Not having my own righteousness
which is of the law, but that righteousness which is by the
faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ. The life that He lived,
the perfect life of obedience, is the only life that God's pleased
with. It's the only life He's satisfied with. If we're going
to have comfort of soul, if we're going to have hope of eternal
life, It's going to come when we are able to believe that Christ's
life is my life. Fourthly, we have the death of
a Savior. He was offered up for our offenses.
offered up for our offenses, bore in His body all the sins
of all of God's people. Not only did He fulfill the law
in His life of obedience, but He satisfied God's divine justice
through His sacrificial life, His sacrificial death on Calvary's
cross. Justice had to be satisfied.
The full wrath of God's holy justice had to be expiated. And that's exactly what the Lord
Jesus Christ did. And He is now our expiation before
God. God, there's no more wrath in
the heart of God. No more anger. Not for those
for whom Christ died. Not for those who are found in
Him. God satisfied when He thrust the sword of His justice into
the heart of His own dear Son on Calvary's cross. It pleased
the Lord to bruise Him. Here's where our hope is. Your
hope is not in finding some level of success or, you know, people
think comfort is the absence of conflict and the accumulation
of wealth and the increase of friends and things
like that. The Lord said, beware of covetousness. For your life consisteth not
of the abundance of possessions in this world. Christ has to be our life. That
means that his life had to be my life. His death has to be
my death. Paul said, I am crucified with
Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. The life that I now live, I live
by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself
for me, died for me. Is Christ your life? He your death God said to Adam
in the day in which you eat of this fruit you shall surely die
God Almighty is not satisfied with anything less than a perfect
death Now you and I can't die a perfect death That's why hell
is eternal That's why hell's eternal Because
God's never going to be satisfied with the punishment that we receive,
that men receive in hell. God won't be satisfied with it.
You say, well they die and they're separated from God. Yeah, but
they've got to die a perfect death. Men can't die a perfect death
in hell. Hell will never come to an end. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the only one who died a perfect death. He's the only one who
ever knew how to die in a way that would satisfy God. Is His
death on Calvary's cross your death? If it is, I've got a word
from God for you. It's called comfort. Comfort. Fifthly, That which we look back to is
the resurrection of a Savior. God would not allow His Holy
One to see corruption. Why? Because He was satisfied
with what He accomplished. Tell them that their warfare
is accomplished. God Almighty was completely pleased,
satisfied with what the Lord Jesus Christ did on Calvary's
cross. So he was obligated to raise
him from the dead, offered up for our offenses, and raised
again because of our justification. We were justified by the sacrificial
death of the Lord Jesus Christ, and God raised him from the dead
as the positive proof that God Almighty is completely satisfied. Nothing you and I can add to
that, nothing we can take away from it. We look back to the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ who conquered death, conquered
the grave. Believer, your warfare is accomplished. The battle's been fought and
it's been won. Sixthly, we have the ascension
of a Savior. The Lord Jesus Christ didn't
just rise from the dead. The Scripture says that when
God's Word goes forth, when God's Word goes forth, it accomplishes
the purpose for which it is sent. Now that's of great comfort and
hope to the preacher. who's making an effort to declare
the message of salvation to sinners, believing that God will not allow
it to return unto Him void. It will accomplish the purpose
for which it is sent. Some it'll soften, others it'll
harden. But we don't separate the preached
Word from the living Word. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
ascended back into glory, Remember he told Mary, when Mary came
to the tomb and she wanted to hold on to him, oh, I'm not going
to let you go. He said, Mary, no, I've not yet
gone to my father. Don't hang on to me. You've got
to have me to go back to my father. And when I do, I won't return
unto him void. I'll return to Him with the names
of those for whom I lived and died and present them faultless
before God." Now that took place 2,000 years
ago, and that's where we find our comfort. The Lord Jesus Christ
ascended back into glory. God received him and he is seated
at the right hand of the majesty on high and all the blessings
of God are in Christ in the heavenlies right now. Right now. You're not gonna be blessed by
something you do. You're gonna be blessed by what
he's already done. What I'm saying to you is look
to Christ. Set your affections on things
above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Oh
Lord, give us the faith. Give us eyes to see that. To
see him seated. Why is he seated? Because his
work is finished. If you read the Old Testament,
the one piece of furniture that is absent from the tabernacle,
conspicuously absent, though there was lots of activity going
on in that temple, in that tabernacle, it was a bloody place. The priests
were constantly offering sacrifices, blood sacrifices. The one piece
of furniture absent in the tabernacle is a chair. Not a chair anywhere
to be found. Why? Because their work was never
finished. They were constantly working. Constantly slaying those
lambs and cleaning up the mess. And Christ ascended back into
glory. He sat down. He sat down. His work's finished. The work
of salvation is over. He's done it all by himself.
How am I going to find a place of rest? Look to where Christ
is right now, and know that His ascension, and nextly, His intercession. His intercession. We have a high
priest who intercedes on our behalf. What did the Lord say
to Peter? Peter, be of good cheer, I have
prayed for you. I prayed for you. God's people,
those for whom Christ died, have a Savior who ever lives to make
intercession for them. Would John say, my little children,
I write unto you that you sin not, but if any man sin, we have
an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. He's ascended into glory Hebrews
chapter 7 verse 25 says he is able to save to the uttermost
to the uttermost All the way to glory You haven't gotten to
the uttermost yet You say well, you don't know what I've done
If you belong to Christ you can't sin to the uttermost I He is
able to save to the uttermost that come to God by Him, seeing
that He ever lives to make intercession for them. Who is He that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather, is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God,
who also maketh intercession for us. We have an intercessor. There's our hope. Right now,
interceding on our behalf before God. Now, those are all things happened
in the past. comfort you come tell them their
warfare is accomplished maybe there's a Japanese soldier here
still holding on to their weapon I'm saying to you lie down your
rifle the war is over he's gotten the victory and he's and he's
rebuilt that which you destroyed In introducing this message,
I mentioned that perhaps this would
be the year that our Lord would return. Now, I know that believers are
thinking, but I have children and loved ones and that I want
the Lord to return. For me, To die is gain. Oh, I do. Every believer would
say that. When the Lord returns, everyone
that he's purposed to save is going to be saved. Wouldn't it be glorious, child
of God, for this to be the year? If there's not a thrill in your
soul anticipating the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, then
I fear that you've never been able to look back and trust what
He accomplished for the hope of your salvation. You've never
tasted of that heavenly gift because if you've tasted of it,
if you've known anything of His grace, anything of His mercy,
you want more of it, and you know that the fullness of that
is not going to come, until you're able to shed this body of death
and be with Him and be made like Him. Oh, what a glorious day
that's going to be. We're going to close this service
by observing the Lord's Table. In so doing, we are looking back
and we are looking forward. We're looking back to the life
of Christ, seen in this unleavened bread, lived out in perfect obedience
on behalf of His people, fulfilling the promise that He had made
to the Father in the covenant of grace before time ever began.
We are looking back to the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,
knowing that that's what God's looking to. God's not looking
to our... dedication, our sincerity, our
works, our commitment. He said, when I see the blood,
I'll pass by you. And when we take this wine, we
are saying that the hope of my salvation, the hope of God passing
by my sin is through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's the only thing that's going to satisfy God's justice.
And then the Lord told those disciples on that last night
before his crucifixion, I'll not drink of the cup again until
that time in glory. He's talking about the wedding
feast of the lamb. And the whole church is gathered together in
glory around the table. And we're able to rejoice in
his presence being made like him. So it's appropriate this morning,
January the 1st, that we take a look back, long time back,
and we take a look forward, maybe a long time, maybe today, watching and waiting for his
return. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith the Lord. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem,
and say unto her, Her warfare is accomplished. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
for the declaration of the gospel. We're thankful for the accomplished
work of thy dear son. We're thankful for this table.
We pray, Lord, that as we receive these elements of bread and wine,
that in our hearts, you will enable us to look back to the
life and death of thy dear son and find him to be the only hope
of our salvation. And in looking to him, Lord,
might you thrill our souls with the hope of seeing him as he
is in the fullness of his glory and being made like him. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Ask the men if they'll come please
and distribute the bread and the wine. We're going to sing
number 17 and the spiral hymn book number 17. See the table spread before you,
see the feast of bread and wine. These are symbols of our Savior,
tokens of His love divine. Bread that's broken is His body,
crushed beneath the wrath of God. Wine poured out is a reminder
of our Savior's precious blood. Children of our God, remember
how he bought your soul and mine. In remembrance of our Savior,
eat the bread and drink drink the wine. Jesus came, the God
incarnate, to fulfill God's holy law. On the cross he made atonement
and retrieved us from the fall. Let us ne'er forget the promise
Jesus made to come again. Soon he comes, our King, to call
us home to glory. praise his name. With this hope and expectation,
we rejoice to keep this feast, celebrating our redemption, till
our dead on Jesus' breast. There are two ordinances that
the Lord has given his church to observe, and both of them
acknowledge the hope of our salvation being by virtue of our union
with Christ. One of them is baptism, which
we will observe, Lord willing, next Sunday. Baptism being a
picture. Christ died, I died. Christ was
risen, I was risen. What Christ did washed away all
my sins. I am buried with Christ and raised
to walk a new life in Christ Jesus. What a glorious picture
of our union with Christ. And so it is with this ordinance. Just like when you eat something,
it affects every cell in your body. It does. It nourishes everything
in your body. And so the Lord uses that physical
picture to show us that when we take this bread, we are acknowledging
Christ as our life. His obedience, His life of perfection
is my life. We do this in remembrance of
Him. The blood of bulls and goats
never took away sin. All those sacrifices that were
made for all those years by the Jews in the Old Testament, they
were pointing to what the Lamb of God would accomplish when
he came into the world. And once he hung his head on
Calvary's cross and said, it is finished, the veil was rent
and the sacrificial system was over. This is the blood that
he's looking for. And when we take this, we do
it in remembrance of him. And all God's people said, Amen. Amen. Let's stand together. Brother Michael, would you dismiss
us, please, with prayer, brother? Thank you. We confess unless you enable
us to pray, we can't pray right. We have no righteousness. We are guilty sinners. Lord, we come here today pleading
with you for your mercy and grace. Thank you for pleading to not
leave us to ourselves. Aloha.