to our God, but children of the
Heavenly King may speak their joys abroad. The hill of Zion yields a thousand
sacred sweets before we reach the heavenly fields or walk the
golden streets. Then let our songs abound and
every tear be dry. We're marching through Emmanuel's
ground to better worlds on high. Please be seated. Let's open our Bibles to Ezekiel
37. Ezekiel 37. Good evening. Verse 1. The hand of the Lord
was upon me and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord and
set me down in the midst of a valley which was full of bones. and
caused me to pass by them roundabout, and behold, there were very many
in the open valley, and lo, they were very dry. And he said unto
me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord
God, thou knowest." If they're going to live, you're going to
have to do it. Again, he said unto me, prophesy unto these
bones and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the
Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto
these bones, behold, I will cause breath to enter into you and
you shall live. And I will lay sinew upon you
and bring up flesh upon you and cover you with skin and put breath
in you and you shall live and you shall know that I am the
Lord. So I prophesied as I was commanded,
and as I prophesied, there was a noise. And behold, a shaking,
and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I
beheld, lo, the sinews of flesh came upon them, and the skin
covered them above, but there was no breath in them. Then said
he unto me, prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and
say to the wind, thus saith the Lord God, come from the four
winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain that they may
live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came unto
them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding
great army. Then he said unto me, son of
man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they
say, Our bones are dried and our hope is lost. We are cut
off for our parts. Therefore prophesy and say unto
them, thus saith the Lord God. You see, what they say and what
God says, two different things. Behold, O my people, I will open
your graves and cause you to come out of your graves and bring
you into the land of Israel and you shall know that I am the
Lord. When I have opened your graves,
O my people, and brought you up out of your graves and shall
put my spirit in you and you shall live and I shall place
you in your own land Then shall you know that I, the Lord, have
spoken it and performed it, saith the Lord. Amen. What a great picture. May the
Spirit of God enable us to understand the application of this to our
own souls. Let's pray together. Our merciful
Heavenly Father, Oh, for the miracle of the new
birth, for the miracle of the breath of your spirit to breathe
life into these dead bones. Lord, if we're going to live,
you're going to have to do it. And what a performance. Oh, Lord,
you've spoken it. You've performed it. You have
accomplished. the salvation of your people
through the sacrifice of yourself once and for all. How we do pray,
Father, that you would send that same spirit that Ezekiel called
upon in this hour to breathe life into our hearts and to cause
us to find our hope, our happiness, our contentment, our rest, in
Thy dear Son. For it's in His name we pray,
Amen. Let's stand together again. We'll
sing hymn number 10 in the gospel hymns handout. We'll sing this
a cappella. Let's all stand together. Number
10. There is a Redeemer, Jesus Christ
God's Son, Precious Lamb of God, Messiah, Holy One. Thank you, O our Father, for
giving us your Son, and making sure the work for sinners was
completely done. Jesus Christ, Redeemer, name
above all names, precious Lamb of God, Messiah, hope for sinners
slain. Thank you, O our Father, for
giving us your Son, and making sure the work for sinners was
completely done. When he rose to heaven, to his
throne on high, he sat down, his work was finished, chosen
ones he can't deny. Thank you, O our Father, for
giving us your Son, and making sure the work for sinners was
completely done. When we stand in glory, we will
see His face. There we'll worship Christ forever
in that holy place. Thank you, O our Father, for
giving us your Son, and making sure the work for sinners was
completely done. Please be seated. Would you open your Bibles with
me to Isaiah chapter 26. Isaiah chapter 26. Before the Lord does a work of
grace in a sinner's heart, everything they believe is wrong. Everything. It's not that they
need to have their understanding tweaked, it's that they need
to have it completely changed. And Paul put it like this in
2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 17, if any man be in Christ,
he is a new creature Old things are passed away, yea, all things,
all things become new and all things are of God who hath reconciled
us to himself by Jesus Christ and has given to us the ministry
of reconciliation. That's what you and I are in
need of, to be reconciled to God, that reconciliation. takes place by the shed blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The new birth is a new creature. Old things are passed away to
wit that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself and not
imputing to them their trespasses. Now, Isaiah chapter 26 gives
us an understanding as to what that change is. What change the
Lord has made in our hearts. And the encouragement for the
child of God is to look at these things and say, yes, that's what
the Lord's done for me. That's what I believe. That's
my experience. And there's an assurance of salvation
when you see that God has done a work of change in my heart. He's caused me to change my mind
about everything. That's what repentance is. Repentance
is having a changed mind, and when the Spirit of God is pleased
to reconcile us to God through the ministry of reconciliation,
which is the preaching of the gospel, then we see we have become
new creatures. For those who still are strangers
to God's grace, I pray that in this message the Lord would cause
them to say, I need to be changed. I need to have my mind completely
changed. I need to have everything made
new. I need to be reconciled to God. You have your Bibles open to
Isaiah chapter 26. Look at verse 12. Lord, thou
wilt ordain peace for us, for thou hast wrought all our works
in us. Now, you perhaps have notated
in your Bible that little preposition, in, can also be translated for,
and there's some debate among translators as to whether or
not, in the context of the passage, it should be for us or it should
be in us, and it doesn't matter. Because both are true. Both are
equally true. We have peace with God because
of the work that he has wrought for us. The work of redemption
through his shed blood is a work that he did all by himself. Oh, what a work. What a work
that he did. I've come to do my father's work. And then the Lord said, the first
words that are recorded in the New Testament from the lips of
the Lord Jesus Christ is when he spoke to his mother Mary,
isn't it? When he was 12 years old. And they lost him in Jerusalem. Did you not know that I must
be about my father's business? That's what I came to do. I came
to do my Father's work. And the last words that he utters
before he gives permission for his spirit to depart from his
body, he said, it is finished. It's finished. The work that
the Father sent me to do. For you. For you. To redeem you
from your sins. To establish a perfect righteousness
before God. Here's our peace. If our peace
is based on anything else, we don't have peace. If our salvation is dependent
in any way for us to do anything, you don't have peace. What a
fearful thing it is, a fearful thing, a terrifying thing to
be facing death without any peace, without any hope. To be thinking
that, well, I just don't know if I've done enough yet. It's a horrible thing. It's a
horrible thing. But here the Lord says, here's
your peace. You remember previously in this
chapter, in verse three, thou wilt. Give him perfect peace,
whose mind is stayed on thee, for he trusteth in thee. We're
trusting the work that was wrought by Christ. He wrought out a righteousness
for us that we could not, he satisfied the demands of God's
law perfectly. The law is satisfied. God's pleased. The work's been wrought. And
here's where we have our peace with God. My hope, my hope is
built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare
not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name,
on Christ, the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand,
isn't it? All other ground is sinking sand.
The change that the Lord makes in His children when He saves
them is to cause them to change their minds about what the cause
of their salvation. Who brought it? Who brought it? Who accomplished it? Who did
it? Let's go back now, look at verse
12. Thou, Lord, thou will ordain peace for us. Now, is it possible
for God to ordain something? I had a conversation with someone
this week. They were convinced that God could be changed. God could be changed. And we
just work a little bit harder, we can change the mind of God.
Is it possible that God would ordain something? That he would
purpose something? And then it would be changed? No, he would no longer be God,
would he? If we had in our power the ability
to change God, then we would be God. I am the Lord, and I
change not. And that's the only reason that
you sons of Jacob are not consumed. I have established my purpose
in the covenant of grace before time ever began. Oh, what peace,
what hope. He's done it all. Here's what
he says, look, Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us. Now I want to be a part of us,
don't you? Anytime there's an us, there's got to be a them,
doesn't there? Turn with me to 1 Peter. I'm sorry, 2 Peter, 2 Peter chapter
3. Verse 9, the Lord is not slack
concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering
to usward is long suffering to us word.
It's amazing how how men will take portions of God's scripture
and build a whole doctrine around a piece of the word of God without
understanding what the Lord saying. How many times you said you heard
somebody said, well, God's not willing that any should perish.
Well, that's the us word. He's not willing that any of
us word should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night
in the, which the heaven shall pass away with a great noise
and the elements shall melt with forever neat and the earth also
in the works that are therein shall be burned up. Oh, you're
not going to be consumed. No, the fire of God's wrath has
already fallen. It fell on the sacrifice, just
like it fell on that altar that Elijah built on Mount Carmel
when the fire of God fell and consumed the altar and the water
that the prophet put there. And then when the altar and the
sacrifice was consumed, the fire was quenched. Went out, didn't
it? So the fire of God's wrath fell
from heaven on our sinners on the sinner substitute As he bore
our sins in his body and the father Was pleased and fires
quenched No fear fire for the child of God. We have peace The
work that's been wrought for us go back with me to our text.
I Lord doubt will ordain peace for us. It's not for everybody. It's not for everybody. It's
for those that God has chosen in the covenant of grace. It's
for those that he gives ears to hear. It's for them that he
calls out with that effectual call and causes to believe they
have peace with God. For thou hast wrought all our
works for us. Everything necessary for you
and I to stand in the presence of a holy God has been wrought. has been worked out, that's what
that word means, has been worked out by the Lord Jesus Christ. All our righteousness, all of
our justification, all our sanctification, all our redemption, the hope
of our adoption, all our, everything, all our, everything's been worked
out. It's all worked out for us. But it's also worked out
in us, isn't it? Faith, is worked out in us. That's a work that God does when
he causes us to rest the whole hope of our salvation on Christ.
That's a work that he has wrought in us. Faith. The work of sanctification. That's a work in us that God
has done for us and in us. And He separates us out and causes
us to be separate from the world. That's a work that He does in
us. Love for the brethren, that's
a work that He does in us, isn't it? Trust in Christ. So all this work is wrought out
for us and in us. What peace we have in knowing
that what He does, He does right. He does completely. He finishes
the work. We don't have to fear it not
being done well. He's done all things well. What a difference. There was
a time when we didn't believe this. There was a time when we
thought, well, He did His part, now I've got to do my part. And
we made the contribution of our faith, the effectual cause of
our salvation, or we made the contribution of our works, or
we made the monitoring of our lives, the proof of our salvation,
or we, you see, we made some contribution, didn't we? Let's
read the verse again. Lord, thou wilt ordain peace
for us. That's what I need. I need perfect
peace. I need my mind to be stayed on
Him. I need to trust Christ for all my salvation. For Thou hast
wrought all, all our works for us and in us. O Lord our God, O Lord our God, other lords beside
Thee have had dominion over us. Can you relate? Can you relate to having a God
who wasn't holy have dominion over you? A God that you could somehow
satisfy with something that you did? a God who wasn't completely
sovereign, a God who wasn't omnipotent, a God that was somehow dependent
upon you doing something. You know, and I thought about
this, we don't have to have had an experience in free will works
religion in order for us to relate to this. Because this is the
natural, this is the natural state in which we come into the
world. Self-righteousness is man's natural state. Our children
who've grown up listening to the gospel all their lives, by
nature, they're self-righteous. By nature, they're looking to
themselves for something. And until the Lord gives them
a new heart and a new mind and enables them to see that that
God is a false God, it's an idol. Look what he says. Other lords
beside thee have had dominion over us, but by thee only will
we make mention of thy name. Lord, we're completely dependent
upon you to deliver us from those other lords that had dominion
over us and to cause us to call upon your name. We can't call
upon you unless you cause us. Turn me and I shall be turned.
Cause me, Lord, to come unto thee and I'll come. We, in that,
that's our, you see, we thought, well, I'll come, I'll turn myself,
I'll make a decision, I'll do whatever, I'll perform the works. And now we know, we know by the
grace of God, no, I can't, I can't do it. Lord, by thy power, I'll
call upon thy name. And I've been under the dominion
of other gods. Other gods have had dominion
over me. We were in bondage to other,
other gods. Look at verse 14. They are dead. They are dead. They shall not live. Has God killed your other gods? I say to people all the time,
we don't worship the same God you worship. And 99 times out
of 100, the religious will respond by saying, oh no, we worship
the same God, you know there's only one God. No, there's one
true God. The point that I'm trying to
make is that the God that you're worshiping is a figment of your
imagination. They have dominion. He's not
holy. You can satisfy His justice by something you do. He's not
sovereign. You can change His mind. He's
not omnipotent. He's dependent upon you to do
your part. He's a different God. He's a different God. Turn with
me to Psalm 115. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us, but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's
sake. You see, there was a time when
we worshipped ourselves. We believed the lie and we set
ourselves up on the throne of God. And now say, Lord, not unto
us, not unto us, but unto thy name. Wherefore shall the heathen say,
where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens
and he hath done whatsoever he has pleased. Oh, I love that
he hath done past tense whatsoever he hath pleased. No man can stay
his hand. No man can say unto him, what
doest thou? He's the potter and we're the
clay. He's a sovereign God in the heavens,
isn't he? Look what he says in verse four. Their idols are silver and gold,
the works of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak
not. Eyes have they, but they see
not. They have ears, but they hear not. Noses have they, but
they smell not. They have hands, but they handle
not. Feet have they, but they walk not. Neither speak they
through their throat. They that make them. They that
make them are like unto them, so is everyone that trusteth
in them. We made, we fashioned an idol. Oh, maybe we didn't have a statue
on our table that we lit candles to. And by the way, let's turn
to Isaiah chapter two. I don't think this applies to
anybody here, but I've had several experiences in the last few weeks,
and I hope that maybe somebody's listening to this message, of
people who say they believe the gospel, And they wear crosses
and crucifixes and have these little man-made icons sitting
around. And I'm hoping that that's grave
clothes. I'm hoping that they just haven't
realized the blasphemy of that. The Lord has forbidden us to
fashion anything that's physical that we can look at. We don't
wear crosses. We don't put icons on our tables
and in our homes and in our automobiles. We don't do it. Look at Isaiah
chapter 2 verse 20. In that day a man shall cast
his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which they made, each
one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats. Now what do moles and bats have
in common? They're nocturnal creatures that
are pretty much blind, aren't they? And that's what we cast
our idols that we realized that they those idols had hands But
they couldn't touch they had eyes, but they couldn't see they
had mouths But they couldn't speak we cast them all to the
moles and to the and to the into the bats how blasphemous were
they Leviticus chapter 26 turn with me there and If you've got crosses and statues,
throw them away. Throw them away. They are blasphemous. Look at
verse one of Leviticus chapter 26. You shall make you no idols,
nor graven image, nor rear you up a standing image, neither
shall you set up any image of stone in your land to bow down
into it, for I am the Lord your God. We worship God in the heart
through his word. And people say, well I don't
bow down to those statues, I don't pray to those crosses. God said you don't create something
physical of that which is spiritual. Don't do it. That which is spiritual,
we worship God in spirit and in truth. And that means we worship
God from the heart according to the revelation that he's made
of himself in the truth of his word. We don't rely upon anything
else. Turn with me to Acts chapter
19. You say, well, I can't throw
those things away. They're valuable. Well, look
what happens in Ephesus. And if you go to Ephesus today,
the Ephesus was known for two things. It was known for its
library and it was known for the Temple of Deanna. And the
people there prided themselves in their education and in their
worship of idols. And look at what happens when
the gospel comes to Ephesus. in verse 19 of Acts chapter 19. Many of them also which used
curious arts brought their books together. Now you might think
today, well a book, you know, books are cheap. Not back then
they weren't. They were individually handwritten
and they were extremely valuable. And many of them, which also
used curious arts, brought their books together and burned them
before all men, and they counted the price of them, and it was
50,000 pieces of silver. So the believers, when they heard
the gospel, they took these idolatrous books of curious arts and worship
of Diana, and they had a bonfire. They burned their books. That's
what we need to do, isn't it? I talk to people all day. They say, well, I believe the
gospel. And then they'll go back over somewhere and listen to
somebody that's not preaching the gospel. They'll go back to
their idols. How do I know if God has given
me repentance? How do I know if I've become
a new creature in Christ and I've been reconciled to God?
Go back with me to our text. Here's how we know. Verse 13, we know first of all,
because all the works for our salvation and all the works in
us were wrought by Him, all of them. We're not looking outside
of Christ for any works in ourselves or in anyone else. Second of
all, we know that we were under the dominion of false gods. Look
what he says in verse 13, oh Lord our God, other lords beside
thee had dominion over us. They had us blinded to the truth.
But by thee only will we make mention of thy name. If we're
gonna know you Lord, you're gonna have to make yourself known to
us. By thee only will we make mention of thy name. Verse 14,
they are dead. Those idols have been put to
death. They've been buried. They've been burned. They've
been thrown away. We can't have anything to do
with them anymore. I don't want to go back to them.
I hate those idols. I hate them. The gods that had
dominion over us, the gods of self-righteousness, the gods
of the law, the gods of free will, the gods of good works,
all those gods, We've burned our idols. Can't go back to them,
don't wanna go back to them. Don't want anything to do with
them. They are deceased and they shall not rise. They're not gonna
rise back up. Not gonna go back to them ever,
ever. Therefore hast thou visited and
destroyed them and made all their memory to perish. all their memory to perish. Turn
with me to Zechariah chapter 13. Verse 1, in that day, the day
of salvation, When the Lord's pleased to make you a new creature
in Christ Jesus, there should be a fountain open to the house
of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for
uncleanness. Oh, that precious blood, the
water and the blood that flowed from the heart of the Lord Jesus,
that's the fountain. It's been opened up. because
of our sin and because of our uncleanness. And it shall come
to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will cut
off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no
more be remembered. And also I will cause the prophets
and the unclean spirits to pass out of the land. You're not going
to go back and listen to a false prophet. You're not going to
listen to somebody put you under the law. You're not going to
have any part of it. Why? Because the Lord's made
you a new creature. You've seen that all the work
was wrought by Him. Now look at the next verse. And it shall come to pass that
when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother
that begat him shall say unto him, thou shalt not live for
thou speak lies in the name of the Lord and his father and his
mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesied. When the Lord kills your idols,
makes your new creature, causes you to see the glory of his dear
son, then anybody, even your own children, that would point
you to a false god, you're not going to listen to them. Their
speech and their gods are dead to you. Is that where you are? Is that where you are? Go back
with me to our text. God, has God destroyed your idols
and made them to perish? Look at verse 15. Thou hast increased
the nation, O Lord. Thou hast increased the nation. Thou art glorified. Thou hast
removed it far until all the ends of the earth. Now there
was a time when we thought that gain was godliness. We thought that gain was godliness.
We thought that the blessings of God were to be measured by
how much better we were doing and how much bigger the church
was getting. That's what we thought. Thou hast increased the nation. Not always in number. but he
grows us in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you growing in grace? You're
seeing more of your need for Christ, more of his glory. You're understanding the gospels,
the gospels clearer to you now than it's ever been before, ever
been before. The Lord Jesus Christ is, you
know that he is all and that he is in all. Your love for the
brethren, your love for the word of God, your love for the gospel.
Here's the increase. The increase is the increase
of faith and knowledge and love. Understanding. Here's the increase. And, and the Lord, when he said,
come out from among them and be separate, saith the Lord,
we thought, well, that meant, you know, we're just, if we can
just separate ourselves from the evils of this world, then
somehow, and we, we don't want to be a part of the evil things
of this world. But we understand now that the greatest evil in
this world is the self-righteousness of false man-made religion, don't
we? And the Lord has separated us
from that. So let's look at this verse again.
Thou hast increased the nation, O Lord. Thou hast increased the
nation. Thou art glorified. He's more
glorious to you now than he's ever been. You see more of his
glory, more of your need for his grace. Lord look at verse
verses 16 through 18 is a description of What we used to do Is what
we used to do the only time we prayed really is when we got
in trouble Hey, we just you know using using God as a as a bellboy,
you know We'll just ring the bell and he'll come running from
heaven to deliver us from our troubles the no concern Well,
we wanted the peace of God, but we had no interest in peace with
God. Look at verse 16. Lord, in trouble
have they visited thee. They poured out prayer when thy
chastening was upon them. When times were hard, we cried
out to God. Have you ever had someone say
to me, well, you know, I've had a coming to Jesus moment. How
blasphemous is that? I'm just going to come to Him
when I'm in trouble. And yet that's what we were.
We had lots of coming to Jesus moments, didn't we? And that's
all they were, was moments to be delivered from the chastening
that was there. Look at verse 17. Like as a woman with child that
draweth near the time of her delivery is in pain and crieth
out in her pains, so have we been in thy sight, O Lord. So
we were like a a pregnant woman who was about to deliver a child
and we were suffering great pain because of the chastening that
was upon us at the time. And we called out to God to deliver
us from that trouble. Look at verse 18. We have been
with child, we have been in pain, we have, as it were, brought
forth wind. We have not wrought any deliverance
in the earth, neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen. Now you know what it brings to
bring forth wind. Yep, that means it wasn't really a child, it
was gas. And you got a little relief.
And the foul odor is all that was brought forth. There was
no child brought forth. There's no life in that sort
of crying out to God during a time of trouble. That's all men do
when they're just concerned with the circumstances of their life. That's all man-made religion
is. Let's just try to fix the problems
that we have. This is like a person who thinks
they're going to bring forth a child, and all they do is bring
forth wind, and there's no life, and nothing in the world has
changed. It's a concern, as I've said
Sunday and I've said it twice again tonight, it's an interest
in having the peace of God in your life without any concern
for having peace with God. Having peace with God can only
happen through the Lord Jesus Christ. rotting all your works
for you, killing your idols, and bringing forth life. Everything
else is just wind. It's just wind. Praying in trouble. Said it before, that which is
born in the storm dies in a calm, doesn't it? Dies in a calm. If God is pleased to put our
sin on us, that's a problem that never goes
away. That's a problem that we can't solve. That's a problem
that we're in need of a savior for, aren't we? Oh Lord, make
me to be a sinner. Make me to be a sinner. Then
I'll have a, then I'll have an interest in having peace with
God. The rest of the world is only
interested in the peace of God. Just, just get me through the
trouble. Get me through the trouble. And we'll close with verse 19. Revelation chapter 20 verse 6
says, blessed and holy are they that have part in the first resurrection,
for the second death hath no power over them. Now what was
the first resurrection? That's when the Lord Jesus Christ
rose from the dead. That was the first resurrection.
And blessed of God are those who had part in the first resurrection,
for the second death hath no power over them. What's the second
death? That's the spiritual death that takes place after the physical
death, when God cast your soul into hell. That's the second
death. So if we have part in the first
resurrection, then we have no reason to fear the second death.
Oh, what hope is there? Look at this verse. Thy dead
men shall live together with my dead body, shall they arise. The Lord Jesus Christ is speaking
to the Father. He's saying, when I rise from
the dead, they're gonna rise with me. That's what Paul was
talking about when he said, oh, that I might know him and the
fellowship of his suffering. that I might rest the hope of
my soul on Christ rotting the works of salvation for me on
Calvary's cross, that I was in Christ, crucified with Christ,
and the fellowship of His suffering, that I might know Him, the fellowship
of His suffering, and the glory of His resurrection, the power
of His resurrection. That when Christ was raised from
the dead, I was raised from the dead. I've got part in the first
resurrection. Here's my peace. Here's my peace. My peace is not based on something
I've done or haven't done. It's based on what He did. He
wrought all the works for me. He was raised from the dead by
the power of God. And my hope is that I was in
Him. Look, the dead men shall live
together with my dead body. Shall they arise, wake, awake
and sing ye that dwell in the dust for the dew is as the dew
of herbs and the earth shall cast out the dead. Turn with me to John chapter
five and we'll close here. John chapter five. Verse 21, for as the Father raiseth
up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom
He will. For the Father judgeth no man,
but hath committed all judgment unto the Son. that all men should honor the
Son even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son
honoreth not the Father which has sent me. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting
life and shall not come into condemnation, but has passed
from death unto life. All my hope is bound up in the
fact that He has wrought a work for me. I was under a God that
had dominion over me. A God that wasn't holy. A God
that wasn't sovereign. A God that wasn't omnipotent.
A God of my own imagination. I was an idolater. But the Lord
killed my idols. Caused me to burn every one of
them. And all the hope that I have now is bound up in His finished
work and in His resurrection. We read in Ezekiel 37, the Valley
of Dry Bones, and that passage finishes with this glorious truth,
and you shall know that I am the Lord, and I have opened your
graves, O my people, and brought you out of your graves. Now I'll put my spirit in you,
and you shall live. And I shall place you in your
own land, the church, where the gospel is being preached. Then
you shall know, then you shall know, that's what I want to know,
that the Lord hath spoken it and performed it. He's performed
it all. They that are in Christ are new
creatures. old things are passed away. Yay. All things have become new. Let's pray. Our heavenly father,
we're thankful, thankful for your work of grace,
causing us to, to be changed. Lord, if you left us to ourselves,
We would have no thoughts that would be true. Lord, all of our
understanding would be twisted and perverted. How we pray, Lord,
that you would make us new creatures in Christ. Thank you for his
finished work. Reveal to us the glory of his
person. We ask it in his name. Amen. Let's stand together. Number
272. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. When darkness veils his lovely
face, I rest on his unchanging grace. In every high and stormy
gale, My anchor holds within the veil. On Christ the solid
rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. His oath, His covenant, His blood
supports me in the whelming flood. When all around my soul gives
way, He then is all my hope and stay. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground
is sinking sand. When he shall come with trumpet
sound, O may I then in him be found, Dressed in his righteousness
alone, Faultless to stand before the throne. On Christ the solid
rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand.