Revelation chapter 22 says, and
he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal
proceeding out of the throne of God and of the lamb. And in the midst of the street
of it, and on either side of the river, there was a tree of
life, which bear 12 manner of fruits and yielded her fruit
every month. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing
of the nations. This is symbolic language speaking of Christ.
He's the river, clear as crystal flowing from the throne of God.
He's the tree of life for the healing of the nations. Pray
that he'd be pleased to make himself known to us this morning.
Let's stand together. Brother Tom's going to come and
lead us in the hymn on the back of your bulletin. Through all the changing scenes
of life, in trouble or in joy, the praises of my God shall still
my heart and tongue employ, my heart and tongue employ. O magnify the Lord with me, with
me exalt His name, when in distress to Him we call, and to our aid
He came, and to our aid He came. The hosts of God encamp around
the dwellings of the just. Deliverance He affords to all
who on His mercies trust, who on His mercies trust. Fear Him, my sons, and you will
then have nothing else to fear. If Christ the Son is your delight,
your soul is in His care. Your soul is in His care. Please be seated. Good morning. For a scripture
reading, would you please turn to the Song of Solomon, Chapter
5. I was asked one time by comment
from family members who don't know anything about God's grace,
why is it that you going to church, and I understand why they phrase
it that way, is more important than anything else, more important
than family gatherings. And I suppose they see us religious
going to a religious clubhouse. And what I want to tell them
so bad is that I'm not coming to a church. I'm coming because of Him. I'm
coming because of God's darling son, the Lord Jesus Christ, my
beloved. And this morning it's my hope
that he will ignite that flame once again in our hearts. Because
that's the question I often ask myself. Why am I here? Why do
I come? We have many reasons, but the
one reason I hope that he would do for me this morning is that
it's about him. I need to be where my beloved
is. So as we read this passage, I
hope he would do that for us this morning. Chapter 5, verse
1, I am coming to my garden, my sister, my spouse. I have
gathered my myrrh with my spice. I have eaten my honeycomb with
my honey. I have drunk my wine with my
milk. Eat, oh friends, drink, yea,
Drink abundantly, O beloved. I sleep, and more often than times I'm
in a slumber, but my heart waketh. It is the voice of my beloved
that knocketh, saying, open to me, my sister, my love, my dove,
my undefiled. Lord, you're calling me undefiled.
For my head is filled with dew and my locks with the drops of
the night. I have put off my coat. How shall
I put it on? I have washed my feet. How shall
I defile them? Here's my presumptuous, unbelieving
heart in response to that. And I'll look at verse four.
In spite of that, my beloved put in his hand by the hole of
the door and my bowels were moved for him. I rose up to open to
my beloved, and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with
sweet-smelling myrrh upon the handles of the lock." Oh, the
fragrance of Christ. Verse 6, I opened to my beloved,
but my beloved had withdrawn himself and was gone. My soul
failed when he spake. I sought him, but I could not
find him. I called him, but he gave me no answer. If you're
a sinner saved by grace, you know something about God withdrawing
himself just for a moment. It's the most debilitating, the
most depressing, because you know there's nothing in this
world or nothing that could fill it, but he does it for a purpose.
And that purpose is to cry out to him, to ask, to seek, to knock. And on top of that, verse seven,
the watchman that went about the city found me. They smote
me. They wounded me. The keepers
of the walls took away my veil from me. Oh, I charge you, O
daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that you tell
him that I am sick of love. What shall separate us from the
love of Christ? distress, tribulation, naked
peril, lawmongers, the enemies, the flesh. In spite of all that,
we are still crying out for him. And here's their response. What
is thy beloved more than another beloved? O thou fairest among
women. What is thy beloved more than
another beloved that thou does so charge us? You think that your Christ is
all? You think that He is the successful
Savior? I'm so glad you asked me. I want
to tell you who He is. This is who He is. My beloved
is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousands. He's the
lord of lords and king of kings. His head is as the most fine
gold. His locks are bushy and black as a raven. His eyes are
as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters washed with milk and
fitly set. His cheeks are as a bed of spices,
as sweet flowers. Oh, his lips like lilies dropping
sweet-smelling myrrh. His hands are as gold rings set
with the barrel. His belly is as bright ivory
overlaid with sapphires. His legs are as pillars of marvel,
sovereign, unmovable, set upon sockets of fine gold. His countenance
is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. Does this ascribe your
Christ? This is my Christ. His mouth
is most sweet, yea, He is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and
this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem." He's here this
morning. This one that I've described
promised to be where two or three are gathered. And I believed
of it all my heart, and I pray this morning in the preaching
of his gospel any moment now, that he would speak to my heart,
speak to your hearts, enable us once again to be told, I love
you, I delight in you. Pray he would do that. Lord, we so thankful, Lord, that you would
be merciful to draw us here to this place right now. Lord, that you would have mercy,
and Lord, that how you delight for Christ's sake to speak to
us, to reveal yourself to us, and enable us to worship you
in spirit and truth. Who are we, Lord, sinners saved
by your grace, and ask that you would reveal yourself to us,
Lord, that we would just be so with much sick of love, Lord,
that we would just embrace you and worship you. Lord, forgive
us of our sins, Lord, and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. Lord,
we ask that you'd bless your word now and enable us to see
you. Be with our brother again, Lord,
and empower him and give him liberty. Lord, that you would
get all the glory, that we would exalt you. For Christ's namesake,
we ask these things, amen. I need Thee every hour, most
gracious Lord. No tender voice like Thine can
peace afford. I need Thee, O I need Thee. Every hour I need Thee, O bless
me now, my Savior, I come to Thee. I need Thee every hour. Stay Thou nearby. Temptations lose their power
when Thou art nigh. I need Thee. Oh, I need Thee. Every hour I
need thee. Oh, bless me now, my Savior,
I come to thee. I need Thee every hour in joy
or pain. Come quickly and abide or life
is vain. I need Thee, oh, I need Thee. Every hour I need Thee, O bless
me now, my Savior, I come to Thee. I need Thee every hour, Most
Holy One, O make me Thine indeed, Thou blessed Son. I need Thee, O I need Thee, Every
hour I need Thee, O bless me now, my Savior, I come to Thee. Please be seated. Bri Weishi
is going to bring some special music now. Be thou my religion, O Lord of
my heart. Not be all else to me, say that
thou art. Thou my best thought, by day
or by night. Waking or sleeping, Be Thou my wisdom and Thou my true
word, I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord. Thou my great father, I thy true
son Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one Riches I heed not, nor man's
empty praise inheritance now and always Thou and Thou only, first in
my heart High King of Heaven, my treasure Thou art High King of Heaven victory won. May I reach heaven's joys, oh
bright heaven's sun. Heart of my own heart, whatever
befall, still be my vision, Thank you, Bree. I Need Thee Every Hour. Thinking about what Bert just
shared with us and that hymn that we just sang, I was reflecting
on something that I thought of this week. There are seems like some folks
that have a sporadic attendance, let's
say, when it comes to coming to services. And there was a time when I thought
that the problem was commitment. I don't believe that anymore.
If a person is able to have a take-it-or-leave-it attitude about worshiping God,
it doesn't have anything to do with commitment. It has everything
to do with need. Need. God makes you to be a sinner. You're going to need him. You're
going to need his grace. We're going to need His mercy,
we're going to need His word, we're going to need His people. We're
going to need Christ. Turn with me in your Bibles,
if you will, to Isaiah chapter 12. We preach Christ crucified. The Lord's pleased to cause the
Lord Jesus Christ to be preached from this pulpit, that I'm confident
that if he's lifted up, he will draw sinners to himself. Because
in light of his glory, in light of his grace, we see ourselves
for what we are. Completely dependent upon him.
deserving of his wrath and hopeful for his mercy. And this psalm
or this song that Isaiah sings concludes with that in verse
six, cry out and shout thou inhabitants of Zion for great is the holy
one of Israel in the midst of thee. In another place, he said, I
inhabit the praise of my people. When John saw the Lord Jesus
Christ in Revelation, he saw him walking amongst the candlesticks. This is the place where he's
pleased to make himself known. And sinners need to know him.
Oh, Paul said, that I might know him, the power of his resurrection,
the fellowship of his suffering. I've not yet apprehended that
which has apprehended me. Oh, but this one thing I do,
forgetting those things which are behind, I press towards the
prize for the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. He is the
one I need. And Isaiah tells us in Zion,
That's the church. That's where God's people rejoice
together in the revelation that God makes of himself through
the preaching of the gospel. It's the only place where his
grace can be known. The revelation of God's sovereignty
and his power might be observed in creation. The revelation of
His justice and of His wrath might be observed in conscience,
but the revelation of His grace and His mercy, the answer to
the sinner's need, can only be seen through the preaching of
the gospel. This is where I need to be, Burt. Who is this one who solves our
sin problem? This one who promises to save
us. Isaiah calls him the holy one
of Israel. In Israel is the only place where
the Lord Jesus Christ is holy. It's the only place where he's
holy. People honor Him with their lips
outside of Zion, but their hearts are far from Him. They do not
believe Him to be holy. They have made Him to be altogether
as themselves. They've made Him to become dependent
upon something they do, upon a prayer that they pray, or a
work that they perform, or a decision that they make. And so they've
robbed him of his holiness. They've robbed him of his glory. I remind you what Isaiah saw
in Isaiah chapter 6 when he said, I saw the Lord high and lifted
up. And the seraphim were hovering
over his throne, and what were they saying? Holy, holy, holy
is the Lord God of hosts. Heaven and earth is filled with
his glory. Now that word holy, the best
interpretation for that word holy means other. Other. He's not like you and me in any
way. He's other than we are. He's
completely separate from sinners. And man in his perverted idolatry
will make Jesus to be like himself. But in Zion, He is the Holy One
of Israel. We bow before Him and we say
with our brother Isaiah, woe is me in light of His holiness. Woe is me for I am undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. I live among a people of unclean
lips. My eyes have seen the King. I'm a dead man. Look who He is and look who I
am. Oh, God have mercy upon my soul. Show me your mercy! Show me your
grace! Take that hot coal from off the
altar and touch my lips and purge me! Forgive me of my sin! He's called the Holy One of Israel. That's a very frequent term that's
used in God's Word to describe Christ, but it's most often used
in the book of Isaiah. Let me show you a couple places.
Turn with me back to chapter 10, Isaiah chapter 10, verse 20. And it shall come to
pass in that day that the remnant of Israel, the residue of Israel,
the elect of God, the few that there are And such as are escaped
of the house of Jacob shall no more again stay upon him that
smote him. Now, who is it that smote us?
It was the law of God. It was God saying, if you will
do this, then I will have mercy upon you. That's what the law
says. If you will, then I will. And we try to lean upon that. We think, well, I'll just try
a little harder. I'll do a little bit more. I'll
be more sincere. I'll step up my commitment. And when God speaks, His remnant
no longer stay upon Him that smote Him. Because if you're
leaning upon the law, if you're leaning upon something that you
do in order to earn favor with God and you're an honest person, then your conscience is constantly
convicting you that you haven't quite got it right yet. You haven't
done enough. Maybe a little bit more will
be enough. And that law will smite you.
It'll judge you guilty. That's all the law can say. Guilty. Condemned. But what will the remnant of
Israel do? They shall stay upon the Lord,
the Holy One of Israel. All the hope of my salvation
is resting upon His finished work. No contribution on my part. He is the Holy One of Israel. I spoke with someone this week
and it's a conversation I have a lot. You talk to a religious
person about the gospel and ultimately they're going to say, well I'm
doing my best. I'm doing my best. And I told this person, I said,
well, You know, the problem with that is that God requires perfection. He requires absolute perfection.
He will not settle for your best. And they looked at me and said,
oh, you think you're perfect? And I said, I know I am. I know I am. Oh, you're so arrogant. You're so proud. You think you've
never sinned? I said, no, I didn't say that.
Everything I do is sin. That's all I can do is sin. And
yet, and they said, well, you mean to tell me in the eyes of
God you think you're perfect? I said, most definitely. It's
the only hope I have. The only hope I have is to be
absolutely perfect in the eyes of God. How am I going to achieve
that? I'm gonna have to be found in
Him, the Holy One of Israel. and being in him, I have perfect
acceptance before God. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
30, verse 9, and this is a rebellious
people, lying children children that will not hear the
law of the Lord, which say to the seers, see not, and to the
prophets, prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth
things, prophesy deceits. Don't tell us the truth. Tell
us how good we are. Tell us how much God loves us. which say to the seers, see not
unto the prophets, prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto
us smooth things, prophesy deceits, get you out of the way, turn
aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease
from us. We don't want to hear about Christ. Get him out of here. Give us
something that we can do. and then we'll be happy. And
that's all Babylonish religion is about. something you can do. I don't know a simpler way to
distinguish the difference between man-made religion and the gospel
of God's free grace than to point you back to a word in our text
in Isaiah chapter 13. Turn back with me there. Isaiah
chapter 12. Look at verse five, sing unto
the Lord for he hath. That's the next word. What is
it? Done. Done. There it is. There's the gospel. He hath done, and that word excellent
means glorious. He has done glorious things. He has brought glory to God. John chapter 17, the Lord Jesus
Christ said, Father, I have glorified thee upon the earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. Now there's the gospel. I've glorified Thee." Sing unto
Him. He has done glorious things. He's accomplished all by Himself
everything necessary for the salvation of God's people. In Mark chapter 7 verse 37, the
scripture says, And they were astonished beyond measure, saying,
He hath done all things well, for he maketh both the deaf to
hear and the blind to see. The seeing eye and the hearing
ear are of the Lord. Job got it right when he cried,
salvation is of the Lord. He's done it all. The Holy One
of Israel. And this is the only place where
he's holy. Everywhere outside of the gospel of God's free grace
that points to the Lord Jesus Christ as the only hope of salvation
robs him of his holiness. But in Israel, in Israel, he's
holy. And God's people bow. Psalm 98
verse 1, O sing unto the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous
things. His right hand and his holy arm
hath gotten him the victory. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
right hand of God. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
holy arm of God. He's the strong arm of salvation. And He got the victory by Himself. Religion's all about trying to
get you to increase your commitment. Isn't it? Just be a little more
committed. A little more dedicated. Try
a little harder. Stop doing this and start doing
that. You'll be alright. If the Holy One of Israel makes
Himself known to you, you will become a needy sinner. A needy sinner, falling at His
feet, Oh Lord have mercy upon my sin sick soul. I've got to
have you. I've got to hear about you. And
the older I get, the more convinced I am that what Solomon said about
all the things of this world, vanity of vanities, all is vanity. There's no answers out there.
There's no peace out there. There's no hope. There's no comfort. There's nothing to rest my soul
on other than the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy One of Israel. Lord, make him known to me. Give me rest for my soul in Him,
in Him. He hath done. Notice the verb tense. It's past
tense, isn't it? Not He will do for you if you'll
do for Him. He hath done it. It's finished. It was finished before time ever
started. Hebrews chapter 4 makes that
clear. The work was finished before the foundation of the
world. The Lord Jesus Christ is called
the Lamb that was slain before the world began. God established
a covenant of grace, whereby God the Father, according to
His own will and purpose, chose a particular people and wrote
their names in the Lamb's Book of Life before Adam was ever
created. Before God ever said, let there
be light, and there was, there was the covenant of grace. It's
eternal. Been in the heart and mind of
God forever, forever. The Lord Jesus Christ entered
into that covenant with the Father. and agreed to pay the ransom
price, to shed his precious blood, to establish a righteousness
for them that they could not establish for themselves, and
to satisfy God's justice by laying down his life for the sheep that
God had chosen. And the Spirit of God entered
into that eternal covenant of grace and agreed to go into the
world and to make those for whom God chose, those for whom Christ
died, willing in the day of His will and His power. Oh, He hath done marvelous things. He hath done glorious things. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit committing themselves to one another. Not
a commitment to you and to me. Commitment to each other. To
save a people. He hath done excellent things. When we say that word excellent,
it means glorious. glorious, things that glorify
God, majestic things. This is the only message of salvation
that gives to God all the glory. Every other message of salvation
that you'll ever hear out there is going to give you something
to do. You're going to have some contribution to make. You're
going to be able to bring something to the table, aren't you? And
this message gives to Christ all the glory. He hath done excellent
things. In creation, He did excellent
things. In Genesis chapter 1, God said, Let there be light. The earth was formless and without
void. And darkness hovered over the
earth. And God said, Let there be light.
And there was light. And God saw the light. And He
said, The light was good. Christ is that light. Light has
come into the world. The moon and the stars and the
sun weren't created until the third day. The first day was
light. God saw that light and He said,
it's good. It's good. That's the light. All things were made by Him.
Without Him was not anything made. That was made in Him was
life and the light was the light. The life was the light of man. The light came in the world and
darkness comprehended it not. Couldn't comprehend it. Until
the light of the gospel shines in our hearts, in the face of
the Lord Jesus Christ, we cannot comprehend the nature of God.
Oh, but when He does, when He does, we now understand that
our problem doesn't have anything to do with commitment. It has
everything to do with need. Need. I've got to have Him. I've
got to have Him. The theory of evolution is nothing
more than man trying to rob God of His glory. That's all it is. He hath done glorious things. Hath done. He did it before time
ever began. He did it 2,000 years ago on
Calvary's cross. When the Lord Jesus Christ bowed
His head and cried with a loud voice, it is finished. Father, into Thy hands I commend
my spirit. He hath done glorious things
all by Himself. He laid down His life for the
sheep. He satisfied God's justice in
His incarnation. He hath done. Unto you is born
this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the
Lord. A Savior. You need a Savior. You need a Savior. Now, if you're
looking for a God that you can use like a bellhop and ring the
bell of prayer every time you get in trouble in this world
and you need a little relief, then that's not the God we've
got for you. You can find that God out there
in religion somewhere. There's plenty of them. This is a faithful saying, worthy
of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. Now, if you've got a problem
with sin, a problem you can't get away from, Christ is the only hope. He's
the only hope we have. God left the glories of heaven
and was clothed in the likeness of sinful flesh and suffered
the contradiction of his creatures. What condescension that God would
leave his glorious throne and come into this world and be treated
with such Anger, hatred. In His obedience, in His obedience, He did wondrous,
glorious things. We used to study this Bible in
order to find characters in the scriptures that we could draw
moral lessons from. And so we would look at the life
of David and we'd look at the life of Joseph and we'd think,
well, there's a moral application there that will help me to be
a better person. We don't study this book like
that anymore. We don't look to the lives of
dead theologians. We understand that in the volume
of the book, it is written of me to do thy will, O God. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
the world in order to do the will of God. What he hath done,
he hath done excellent things. glorious things. He satisfied
the demands of God's law. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
seven, Hebrews chapter seven. I'm sorry, Hebrews chapter 10
verse seven. Then said I, Lo, I come, in the
volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O God. Above, when he said, Sacrifice
and offerings and burnt offerings and offerings for sin, thou wouldest
not. offerings for sin that come from
the hands of man. God says, I won't accept it. I won't accept your dedication.
I won't accept your commitment. I won't accept your gifts. I'm
going to accept one thing and that's my son. You look to him. Sacrifice and offerings and burnt
offerings and offerings for sin. Thou wouldest not. God wouldn't
take it. Neither hath thou pleasure therein
which are offered by the law. The law says you got to do more.
And God says I won't accept it. Because you can't do enough.
Why? Because I require perfection.
Perfect obedience. Then said he, lo, I come to do
thy will, O God. He taketh away the first that
he may establish the second by the which will we are sanctified,
made holy, set apart. How? Through the offering of
the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Once for all, he laid
down his life. This is my beloved son in him. I'm well pleased. God's not pleased
with you. I'm sorry to tell you if you'd
never, if you didn't know that, I'm glad to be able to tell you,
I'm sorry if it's such a shock to you. He's not pleased with
you. He's not pleased with me. And
there's nothing that you and I can do to make him pleased
with us. That's what I'm telling you.
That's what God says. God Almighty is pleased with
His Son. He's pleased with His obedience.
He hath done glorious things. In creation, He hath done glorious
things. In obedience, He hath done glorious
things. And that's what God requires.
God's glorified when sinners Look to Christ alone for all
their righteousness before God. In religion, if you listen to
what's being preached in Babylon, you'll think that Jesus gathered
up the blood that he shed on Calvary's cross and put it in
a blood bank. and that you've got to go to
that blood bank and draw it out in order to make it work for
you. It's not true. The father took every drop of
that blood. It wasn't shed. First and foremost,
for you and me, it was shed for the Father. It was shed in order
to fulfill the requirements of that covenant of grace that God
established with the Son before time began. And God said, when
I see the blood, I'll pass by you. It's not for you to appropriate
the blood of Christ. It's not for you to go down to
the blood bank and make it work for you. The blood's already
before God. He paid in full the redemption
price for His people. Price has been paid. It's been
paid. In the book of Hosea, Hosea's
wife, Gomer. Gomer is a picture of us and
Hosea is a picture of Christ. And Gomer had played the harlot
and ended up on the slave market, and Hosea went and purchased
her, paid the purchase price for her. She didn't have a word
to say. Oh, he paid it in full and took her back to himself,
didn't he? Have you played the harlot? That's
what our sin is. That's what our sin is, denying
our Maker His glory. and looking outside of Christ,
he has paid the redemption price. I love the story of Ruth and
Boaz. You remember when Naomi told
Ruth what to do, and she just went and sat at Boaz's feet.
And then Ruth said, you sit right there, for the man will not rest
until he has finished the work today. today. And Boaz redeemed Ruth and Naomi
all by himself. The Lord Jesus Christ did not
rest until he finished the work all by himself. The Holy One
of Israel hath done glorious things and he has brought to
himself all the glory. Say, what about unsanctification?
Turn with me to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. We'll begin where we left off
a moment ago. Look at verse 10 again. By the witch will, we
are sanctified through the offering of the blood of Jesus Christ
once for all. And every high priest standing
daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices
which can never take away sin. Don't become your own priest. Don't try to atone for your sins. Don't try to make things right
with God. You can't do it. They'll never
take away sin. But this man, verse 12, after
he had offered one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down at
the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be
made his footstools. See, that's what we are by nature.
We come into this world at enmity with God. We are. We're God haters by nature. And what's he say? I'm going
to take my enemies. I'm going to make them my footstool. They're
going to sit at my feet. They're going to beg my mercy.
And they're going to listen to me speak to their hearts. I'm
going to comfort them. I'm going to love them. I'm going
to draw them to myself. They're not going to remain enemies.
For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. When was God's elect sanctified? When he made that one offering
on Calvary's cross, he was offered up for our offenses and raised
again for our justification. He hath done, D-O-N-E. The Bible doesn't say you must
do, the Bible says he hath done glorious things. And his church
praises him for it. This is the only place, the only
place where the Lord Jesus Christ is the Holy One of Israel, is
where He is worshipped for having had done all things well. Man-made religion that depends
upon man to do something. is feigned worship. It's just pretend. That's all
it is. It's not worship done in the
spirit. It's not worship done in truth. It's man pretending
to be worshipping God, when really he's worshipping himself. He
has set himself up on the throne of God. Justification He did it all by
himself. That no man is justified by the
law is evident, for the just shall live by faith. A man is
justified not by the works of the law, but by the faith of
Jesus Christ. You are washed. You are sanctified. You are justified in the name
of Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God. He hath done marvelous
things, glorious things. Go back with me to our text. Verse 5, Isaiah chapter 12, sing
unto the Lord. Does your heart just burst with
joy and rejoicing? There's nothing else in this
world that gives me this kind of hope. Sing unto the Lord, for he hath
done excellent things. And this is known in all the
world. This is known in all the world. Men that deny Christ His glory
in salvation do it on purpose. They do it on purpose. The truth of the gospel is known. in all the world. And if men
want to deny it, they're going to have to lie to themselves. Turn to me to Romans chapter
1. Paul said in verse 16, For I
am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, the good news of the
Lord Jesus Christ who got the victory all by himself. I'm not
ashamed of it. I'm thankful for it. For it is
the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe it.
There's no salvation apart from the gospel of His grace to the
Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. in the gospel is the only place
where the righteousness of God is revealed. Paul goes on in
Romans chapter 10 to say that man goes about by nature to establish
his own righteousness being ignorant of the righteousness of God.
That's the natural man. He's trying to establish some
righteousness with God. But therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith as it is written, the just
shall live by faith. looking to Christ, the author
and the finisher of my faith. For the wrath of God, here's
what I want you to see now, this message is known throughout all
the world, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against
all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in
unrighteousness. They've seen the truth. And they've
denied it. Look what he goes on to say.
Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for
God has shown it unto them. Man by nature knows that there's
a God with whom he must do. And he knows that that God is
sovereign. He knows that he's omnipotent.
He knows that he's immutable. He doesn't change. He knows that
he's omniscient, and yet he denies all those things in order to
set himself up on the throne of God. Look at the next verse.
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world
are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made,
even as eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Man's without excuse. If he doesn't
believe the gospel, he does it on purpose. Because that, when they knew
God, they glorified Him not as God. Neither were thankful, but
became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. and changed the glory of the
incorruptible God into an image made like unto corruptible man,
to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things. Wherefore,
God also gave them up to uncleanness, through the lust of their own
hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves, who
changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served
the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. The truth of the gospel must
come by divine revelation. And it will come to those that
God gives grace to bow to the truth that He's made known to
them. You deny the truth that God's
shown you, and God holds you without excuse. Without excuse. This is known throughout all
the earth. Cry out and shout, O ye inhabitants
of Zion, for the Holy One of Israel is in the midst of thee. Our merciful Heavenly Father, we ask that You would bless Your
Word to our hearts Give to us faith to believe what you have
clearly said. To rest our souls on Christ.
For it's in his name we pray. Amen. Number 488 let's stand
together. I will sing of my Redeemer and
His wondrous love to me. On the cruel cross He suffered
From the curse to set me free Sing, oh sing of my Redeemer
With His blood He purchased me On the cross, He sealed my pardon,
Paid the debt, and made me free. I will still tell the wondrous
story, How my lost estate to save, In His boundless love and
mercy He the ransom freely gave. Sing, O sing of my Redeemer With
His blood He purchased me On the cross He sealed my pardon
Paid the debt And made me free I will praise my dear Redeemer
His triumphant power I'll tell how the victory he giveth over
sin and death and hell. Sing, oh, sing of my Redeemer. With his blood he purchased me. On the cross He sealed my pardon
Paid the debt And made me free I will sing of my Redeemer And
His heavenly love to me He from death to life hath brought me,
Son of God, with Him to be. Sing, O sing of my Redeemer. With His blood He purchased me. On the cross, He sealed my pardon,
Paid the debt, And made me free. Thank you very much. Thank you.