Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you have
received, and wherein ye stand." 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, the
scripture says that because men glory in the deceivableness of
unrighteousness. They are deceived in thinking. They have no love for the truth.
They're deceived in thinking that their righteousness is somehow
earning them favor with God. Therefore, God has sent to them
a strong delusion that they should believe the lie. There's the
lie, and there's the gospel. Oh, Lord. Don't send me a strong
delusion. I'll believe the lie. I'll believe
it. I want to stand in Christ. For verse 2 says, by which also
you are saved, if you keep in memory what I preached unto you,
unless you have believed in vain. I don't want my faith to be in
vain. Do you? God give me saving faith. Let's stand together. Brother
Tom's going to come and lead us in 186, 186, in your hymnal,
186. The Church's one foundation is
Jesus Christ, her Lord. She is His new creation by water
and the Word. From heaven he came and sought
her to be his holy bride. With his own blood he bought
her, and for her life he died. Elect from every nation, yet
one o'er all the earth. Her charter of salvation, One
Lord, one faith, one birth. One holy name she blesses, Partakes
one holy food. And to one hope she presses With
every grace endued. Mid toil and tribulation of her war. She waits the consummation of
peace forevermore. Till with the vision glorious,
her longing eyes are blessed, And the great church victorious
shall be the church at rest. Yet she on earth hath union with
God the three in one, and mystic sweet communion with those whose
rest is one. O happy ones and holy, Lord give
us grace that we Like them, the meek and lowly, On high may dwell
with thee. Please be seated. The 23rd Psalm, this morning
will be a reading of Psalms 23. I don't know how many times I've
stood behind a pulpit, pointed my finger at everybody in church
and said, we are conceived in sin and shapen in iniquity. But
when the Holy Spirit does away with the clouds of religion and
the blindness of Calvinism, you know what's left? I am conceived in sin and I am
shapen in iniquity. When God opens your eyes to the
fact that you're a sinner, you forget about other people's sin
and you look at your own. And it gives a new meaning to
everything you've just repeated ever since God called you. You
know that I am conceived in sin and shaping in iniquity. You
know that I am carnal, soul under sin. God calls me and I'm still
carnal and soul under sin and I will be carnal and soul under
sin until I die and leave this body. But we're free from the
law of sin and death. And when God opens your eyes
to the fact that you're a sinner and He loves you anyway, and
He's made arrangements to take care of that sin, He's taken
care of everything. Then a person can stand there
and they can say, God hath made Him to be sin for me. Who knew no sin that I might
be made the righteousness of God in Him? And you can say it
with a clear conscience. Because you know that God loved
you in eternity past. That He loved you before He called
you. That He loves you in spite of
your sin and He will love you forever and ever and ever. Because God has taken care of
everything. Jesus paid it all. All to Him
we owe. We know that God is first in
everything. We know that Christ is Alpha
and Omega. We know the first and the last.
We know that our lives are wrapped up in Him. And when God shows
you who you are and who He is, you can say with David, the Lord
is my shepherd, I shall not want. Verse 2, Psalm 23. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of
righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou
art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort
me. Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil,
my cup runneth over. Surely, goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the
house of the Lord forever. Father, we come before you this
morning, Father, without words to thank you, Father, for what
you've done for us. You are our shepherd, Father. You do, in the midst of a world
of sin and shame and disaster, Father, you do make us to lie
down in green pastures. You lead us beside the still
waters, Father. You strengthen our souls and
our hearts and our belief in you, Father. Thank you for everything
that you've done and everything that you will do. We especially
thank you, Father, for opening our eyes to the truth, for giving
us an understanding of the scriptures, for placing us under a gospel
preacher, Father, that is able to deliver your word in clearness,
Father, and in grace. We ask these things in Jesus'
name. Amen. Let's stand together again. We'll
sing hymn number 452, 452, My Savior's Love. I stand amazed in the presence
of Jesus the Nazarene, and wonder how he could love me, a sinner
condemned unclean. How marvelous, how wonderful,
And my song shall ever be! How marvelous, how wonderful,
Is my Savior's love for me! For me it was in the garden He
prayed, not my will but thine He had no tears for his own griefs
But sweat drops of blood for mine How marvelous, how wonderful,
And my song shall ever be! How marvelous, how wonderful,
Is my Savior's love for me! In pity angels beheld him And
came from the world of light To comfort him in the sorrows
He bore for my soul that night How marvelous! How wonderful! And my song shall end me. How marvelous, how wonderful
is my Savior's love for me. He took my sins and my sorrows,
He made them His very own. He bore the burden to Calvary
And suffered and died alone How marvelous, how wonderful And
my song shall ever be How marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's
love for me! When with the ransomed in glory
His face I at last shall see, Will be my joy through the ages
To sing of His love for me How marvelous, how wonderful In my
song shall it be How marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's
love for me. Please be seated. If you would turn with me again
to 2 Corinthians chapter 2. 2 Corinthians chapter 2. Verse 14, now thanks be unto
God which always causes us to triumph in Christ. I'm interested in triumphing
in Christ. Triumphing over death, over the
law, over the curse of God's wrath toward my sin. I need to triumph. He's not talking
about just getting victory over your circumstances. He's talking
about triumphing in Christ, and he says he always makes us to
triumph in Christ. We are more than conquerors in
Christ. What is the means by which He
causes us to triumph? Well, read on. For He makes manifest the Savior
of His knowledge by us in every place. Now, what was Paul doing? He made it clear. He said, I
profess to know nothing among you save Christ in Him crucified. Every time we stand and preach
the gospel, this gospel is a savor. And we normally, this passage
talks about being a savor. We normally think of savor as
something that we taste. But in fact, the word here has
to do with the aroma. And it's a savor of life unto
life. to those who believe. That's
what I want. I want this sweet aroma of grace
for God to make it life unto me. He causes us to triumph in
Christ and make manifest, make known the savor of His knowledge
by us in every place. For we are unto God a sweet saver
of Christ in them that are saved and in them that perish." So
this saver now goes up to God and it either is, it's for those
who are saved and it's for those who perish before God. God has made Christ Lord over
the living and the dead. The gospel gives hope to those
who are alive and it is a judgment to those who are dead. For we are unto God a sweet savor
of Christ. Look at verse 16. To the one
we are a savor of death unto death, and to the other the savor
of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these
things? Now that's a rhetorical question.
The answer is clearly no one. No one is sufficient to understand
these things left to themselves. No one is sufficient to speak
of these things. No one is sufficient to hear
the truth. Our sufficiency is of God. We can do nothing without Him. Oh Lord, the mystery of the gospel
will remain a mystery to me unless you send your Spirit in power
to enlighten the eyes of my understanding. unless you take out my heart
of stone, that cold, lifeless, hardened heart of the natural
man, and put in a beating, living, warm heart of faith, Lord, I'm
not sufficient for these things." That's his promise. That's his
promise. When the gospel is preached,
well, it's kind of like clay and wax when it comes to the
heat of the sun. You put out in our Florida hot
sun a ball of soft clay, and you put next to it a ball of
hardened wax, and let it sit in that sun for a few hours.
And to one, it will get hardened, and the other, it'll melt. It
depends on the substance, doesn't it? The same heat, same sun affects
the clay differently than it affects the wax. This gospel is a savor of
life to those who are alive. To those who are dead, it's a
message of judgment. For we, verse 17, are not as
many which corrupt the word of God, but as of sincerity, but
as of God, in the sight of God, we speak, you see that little
preposition, in Maybe you have it noted in your Bible, I have
it in mine. It's the same preposition in the original language. Sometimes
it's translated in and sometimes it's translated of. Be a better
translation here, of. We speak of Christ. That's what
we preach. We preach Christ and Him crucified. We lift up the Lord Jesus Christ,
knowing that he is the son of righteousness, knowing that he
is that light that shined down from heaven and knocked Saul
of Tarsus off his high horse, knowing that he's the only one
that can speak to our hearts, save our souls. Lord, we speak
of Christ. We don't corrupt the word of
God. We don't pervert the Word of God. We don't take the Bible
and turn it into a rule book for Christian living. We don't
take the precepts of the Bible and give men something to do.
When God commands us to do something, God commands us husbands to love
our wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it,
faith's response to that is, Lord, I can't do it. Lord, I
can't do it. I'm completely dependent upon
you. I heard a message this past week, or a man was preaching
from James chapter 4, where the scripture says, Turn to God. Submit thyself unto Him, and
He will turn unto you. And the whole message was based
on, if you'll do your part, God will do His part. He's waiting
on you. He's waiting on you. When God says, turn to me and
I'll turn unto you, we say in response to that, turn me, oh
Lord, and I shall be turned. I want to turn to you, Lord,
I hear what you're saying. I need you to turn me. I'm completely
dependent upon you. Lord, would you do that? And
let me tell you this, no one has ever asked the Lord to turn
them. No one's ever asked the Lord
for faith. No one's ever asked the Lord for the Holy Spirit. No one's ever come to Him in
submission of His grace that hasn't received it. Hasn't received
it. And so the Spirit and the Bride
say, Come. come. How do I come? Just like
you are. Just as I am, without one plea,
but that thy blood was shed for me. O Lord, I come. Come just like you are. I want to look at this first
verse, verse 14. We don't, verse 17, we don't
corrupt. We don't deal deceitfully with
the Word of God. We don't take the Bible and turn
it into a rule book for Christian living. We don't give men something
to do so that what God has offered will work for them. God will
reward you for your faith. It's amazing to me, if you come
to the Word of God with the five presuppositions that most people
believe to be true, you will never hear the gospel. If you
come to the Word of God, there are five things that men are
absolutely convinced are true, and they're trying to interpret
the Bible in light of those five presumed presuppositions. God loves everybody. Christ died
for everybody. God wants everybody to be saved.
Man has a free will. And the Bible is a rule book
for Christian living. And in order to maintain those
presuppositions, you've got to twist the Word of God. And that's
what Paul's saying. We didn't corrupt the Word of
God in order to meet what you thought was true. Jacob I have
loved, Esau I have hated. God's loved his people in the
covenant of grace with an everlasting love. In order for God to send someone
to hell that he loved, God would have to change his character.
He'd have to change his nature. The unchangeable truth is that
our God is immutable. He changes not. I'm the same
yesterday, today, and forever. If God loves everybody, and most
of those whom He loves are going to end up in hell, then God's
going to have to change. Unless you're willing to say
that, well, He's fueling the fires of hell and tormenting
their souls for all eternity with His divine wrath. But He
loves them. But He loves them. Who could
ever think such a thing? There's no place in scripture
where the Bible teaches that God loves everybody. He laid
down his life for the sheep, not for the goats. He succeeded
in saving his people. Those whom God chose in the covenant
of grace before time ever began, the Lord Jesus Christ didn't
make an offer of redemption. He redeemed them. He saved them. Turn, well, you have your Bibles
open there to 2 Corinthians chapter 2. Now thanks be unto God. Thanks be unto God the Father
for the gift that He has made to His church of His own dear
Son. In Him In Christ, the church
was chosen to him. The church was given, and by
him the church is everlastingly blessed and sanctified. And so we thank God for God so
loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever
believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life. Oh,
this is a reason for Thanksgiving. God didn't have to give us his
son. God didn't have to make such a sacrifice, but he did. He did. He established according
to his own will and purpose, a covenant of grace to save a
particular people before time ever began. And we thank him
for that. Thanks be to God the Holy Spirit,
which always causes us to triumph in Christ. It's necessary for you that I
go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter
will not come. But when He comes, when He comes,
He's going to convict you of your sin, because you believe
not on Me. Of righteousness, because I go
to my Father. And of judgment, because the
Prince of this world is judge. and He will lead you into all
truth. Thank God for His Holy Spirit
that convicts us of our sin, causing us to realize that the
problem that we have is unbelief. That's the sin that does so easily
beset us. That's the root of all sin. Causing
us to know that we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
the Righteous One. Causing us to believe that Satan
has been judged and God's people have been delivered. Thank God
for His Holy Spirit. Thank God for the One who takes
out the heart of stone and puts in a heart of flesh. He takes
the things of Christ and He shows them unto us. He quickens us
by the Spirit and gives us His unction. If it wasn't for the
Spirit of God, you'd have no interest in Christ. If it wasn't
for the Spirit of God, every time you wavered, Well, you'd
only have to waver one time. You'd only have to waver one
time. It's the Spirit of God that keeps you coming back. It's
the Spirit of God that won't let you not believe. Thank God. Thank the Father that
He chose a people before the foundation of the world, that
He established a covenant of grace. David said, although my
house be not so with God, This tabernacle, this flesh, my home,
nothing's as it ought to be. Nothing's as I wish it was. Nothing's
as it one day will be. But He has made with me an everlasting
covenant. That covenant is ordered in all
things and it is sure. This is all my salvation and
all my desire. Is that all your salvation? Is
He all your desire? If you have the unction of the
Holy Spirit, He is. He is. That's what He does. The Spirit of God causes us to
find Christ to be our all and finds Him to be in all. When David asked his servant
Ziba, if there was anyone left from the household of Saul, that
he might show him mercy for Jonathan's sake. You remember David and
Jonathan had this special relationship, and David wanted to show any
mercy to anyone left from the house of Saul. And Ziba said,
well, there's one crippled boy. He's in the land of Lodabar,
a place where there's no bread, a place where there's no hope
of salvation. And his name is Mephibosheth.
And David said, Fetch him. Fetch him. And in this story,
Ziba is a picture of the Holy Spirit. Who goes and effectually
fetches Mephibosheth. And brings him back to David.
David looks at Mephibosheth and says, Oh Mephibosheth, Mephibosheth. What did Mephibosheth say? What
would the king have to do with such a dead dog as I? He was amazed. He thought God
was bringing him there to kill him. David said to Mephibosheth,
sit down here at my table. I'll feed you the rest of your
life. And Mephibosheth was able to hide those crippled legs underneath
the table of David and enjoyed the blessings of the king for
the rest of his life. That's what I need. I need the
Spirit of God to fetch me, fetching grace to call me and to cause
me to come. When Abraham took his servant
Eliezer and sent him out to find a wife for Isaac, Eliezer said,
what if she's not willing to come? She'll be willing. And you remember what happened.
Eleazar went to that place where Abraham was from and found Rebekah. And she came back willingly.
She said, when Eleazar said, will you come to be the wife
of my master? Oh, yes. She saw the gifts that
he brought. She said, yes, I'll be married to that man. He made her willing. Psalm 110
says that when God sends His Holy Spirit, He makes His people
willing in the day of His power. Who is sufficient for these things?
You and I aren't sufficient to come unless He makes us willing. Lord, thank You for Your Holy
Spirit. This is, people say, well, you
know, election and what you're talking about, it limits salvation. Oh, no. It's the only door to
heaven that there is. There's no other way in. Without
God choosing a people, no one would be saved. Without the irresistible
work of the grace of God on the hearts of God's elect, causing
them to believe, no one would be saved. Without the successful
work of redemption on Calvary's cross, if you had to add something
to what Christ did to make His work work for you, you would
not be saved. It's the only open door to heaven
that there is. Every other gospel message closes
the door to heaven. It closes it. Thanks be to the God-man, the
mediator of sinners. We glory in his person. the Son of God, who willingly,
He said, no man took my life from me. I laid it down willingly
for the sheep. Fully God, fully man, fully successful
to mediate between God and man. God's perfect man and man's perfect
God. Oh, what a glorious Savior we
have. And Paul says, now thanks be unto God, which always causes
us to triumph in Christ. He never fails. He never fails. He's always causing us to believe. If God the Holy Spirit has given
you faith to look to Christ for all your righteousness, to believe
that what He succeeded in doing on Calvary's cross was the putting
away of your sin and the satisfying of God's justice, if God's given
you faith to believe that, you can't not believe it. You can't
not believe it. He always causes us to triumph. You can't walk away from it.
John put it like this. He said, those who left us left
because they were never of us. For had they been of us, they
would not have gone away. Would not have gone away. Oh,
I'm thankful for that. Because if he doesn't cause me
to triumph, I won't triumph. As our husband, he's always and
in every way providing for his bride whom he loved with an everlasting
love. Don't you love the story of Hosea
and Gomer? The Lord told the prophet Hosea, take for your
wife, pay for yourself a wife who's a harlot. That's what we
are. We're spiritual harlots. We're
always looking away from our husband. We're always trying
to find satisfaction in something other than him. And what did
Hosea do? In all those experiences, Hosea
never gave up. He pursued her. He went to her
and he left gifts at her door and she thought it was her lovers
that were leaving them. It was Hosea providing for her
until she ended up on the slave block. And then he bought her. He redeemed her to himself. What
a glorious picture. Thanks be to God who always causes
us to triumph. For even in my harlotry ways,
he will not give up on his wife. He's going to bring her to himself. I love in Song of Solomon when
the Lord comes to his wife and he speaks to her and she doesn't
respond immediately. And then she finally goes to
the door and he's gone. He's removed himself from her,
the scripture says. He's separated himself. He's
withdrawn the awareness of his presence. And when she realizes
that he's withdrawn, she runs out of the house and she goes
out into the streets and she starts begging the prophets of
that day to tell her where her husband is. And you know how
they responded? What is thy husband above another's
beloved? Or how art thou fairest among
the women? That's exactly what I hear today.
Well, you think you've got God in a box? You think you're the
only ones that know God? You think your gospel's the only
gospel? You think you're Christ the only
God? What makes your beloved better than my beloved? And what
makes you better? Oh, no, we're not better. But
he is. What did she say? She didn't
say anything. She didn't answer the second
question, oh, thou fairest among women. What makes you better?
She said, my beloved is white and ruddy. He's the chiefest
among 10,000. He's perfectly holy. That's what
the white's a picture of. And he's perfectly able to save. That's what the ruddy is a picture
of. He's strong and he's holy. And he always causes me to triumph. Thanks be unto God, which always
causes us to triumph in Christ. Lord, I want to triumph. If I'm
going to, triumph over death, over hell, over sin, over the
grave. If I'm going to be able to rejoice
in you always, and again I say rejoice, let your gentleness
be known unto all men. Lord, if I'm going to be able
to turn to you, you're going to have to cause me. Lord, would
you do that? Ask Him. Ask Him. come, just
like you are, ask him to save you. He's our surety. When Joseph, down in Egypt, told
his brothers, you bring Benjamin here. And they approached Jacob
and said, he demands that we bring our youngest brother, Benjamin. And Jacob said, oh no, I've already
lost Joseph and I can't lose Benjamin. You can't take Benjamin
with you. And Judah stood up. And Judah said, I will be a surety
for him. I'll be a surety for him. And
if I bring him not back, let me bear the blame forever. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ is
our surety. A surety means that He has done
everything necessary for our salvation. He's done it all. He did it all by Himself. And
He says to the Father, if I don't bring them back, I'll bear the
blame forever. You think it's possible? for
God Almighty to accuse the Lord Jesus Christ. If God loves everybody
and Christ died for everybody and God wants everybody to be
saved, then the Lord Jesus Christ is a failure. He's a failure. Unless, of course, you believe
everybody's going to heaven, then what's the difference of
any... I mean, we might as well just, you know, forget it all
if everybody's going to heaven in the end. He takes full responsibility
for all our salvation. Thanks be to God. Thanks be to
God the Father who elected a people. Thanks be to the Holy Spirit
who regenerates a people. Thanks be to the Lord Jesus Christ,
the glorious God-man who redeemed a people. Scripture calls him
our brother, our brother. Hebrews chapter 2 verse 11 says,
For he that sanctifyeth, that's the Lord Jesus Christ, and them
which are sanctified, that's what he accomplished on Calvary's
cross, he made his people holy, are all as one, for which cause
he is not ashamed to call them his brethren. You mean God the Son calls me
His brother? Yep. He's the firstborn among
many brethren. And despite the fact that we
despitefully used Him, just like Joseph's brothers, you meant
it for evil, God meant it for good, to save many people. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
seen in Joseph, isn't he? He's seen in Joseph. And he wept
over his brothers. He loved his brothers. I was thinking about Cain and
Abel, the first brothers mentioned in the Bible, and how Cain killed
his brother Abel because Abel's sacrifice was pleasing to God
and Cain's was not. What a picture of us and Christ. The sacrifice that the Lord Jesus
Christ was made acceptable to God. Ours is not. And so out of jealousy, what
did we do? We killed our brother. But unlike Cain and Abel, whose
blood cried out to God for justice. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
calls out to God in justice, not for justice. In justice. The law has been satisfied, Father. Your holiness has been upheld. He brings many sons into glory. That story of the prodigal. When the prodigal came home and
the elder brother was jealous over the way the father treated
the prodigal. What a contrast between those that he's redeemed
as his brethren. When we come home, he's our elder
brother. He doesn't act like that Pharisee
did. Oh, he's like the father, isn't
he? Lavishes us with kisses. Oh, kill the fatted cat. The
fatted cat's been killed. Thanks be unto God, which always
causes us to triumph in Christ. He is our redeemer, all by himself. with his precious blood, cut
off from the land of the living, forsaken by God. He didn't make
an offer. What the Lord Jesus Christ did
on Calvary's cross, contrary to what most folks think, was
not an offer of salvation made to man. It was an offering of
justice made to the Father. And the father saw the travail
of his soul, Isaiah 53, and was satisfied. And he divided with
him the spoils. He gave to him his church. When
the father saw the blood that the Lord Jesus Christ shed on
Calvary's cross, he was satisfied. He's not trying to redeem. He
has redeemed. He's done what Boaz did for Ruth. Remember that Moabitess? Ruth
came to Bethlehem, the house of bread, and she was without
bread. She was a poor mercy beggar. She didn't have anything. She
had to go glean behind the reapers in order to put together a few
scraps of food for her and Naomi to survive. And she just, the
scripture says, happed upon Boaz's field. And she came home and
told Naomi, That Boaz is the one that she was gleaning behind.
Naomi said, where'd you get all this from? Well, I got, the man's
name is Boaz. Oh, he's a near kinsman. He's
a near kinsman. Go back to that field tomorrow.
And Naomi told Ruth exactly what to do. And she said to Ruth,
she said, he will not rest until he has done it all. What a picture
of our kinsman redeemer. He did not rest until he did
it all. You remember, there was one other
kinsman that was nearer to Ruth than was Boaz. And Boaz had to
reckon with that kinsman at the city gate. In order to redeem
Ruth, he had to deal with that kinsman that was closer to Ruth
than he was. That kinsman's a picture of the
law. And the Lord Jesus Christ had to deal with the law. He
had to satisfy all the demands of the law, and that's exactly
what he did through his perfect obedience to the Father. And
in doing so, he redeemed his bride unto himself. The law said, oh no, I can't
take that Moabitess. If I do, she'll mar my inheritance. The law can't take you and I
under its wings. because in order for it to redeem
us it would have to lower its standard and God's not going
to do that. And so the Lord Jesus Christ
at the city gate on Calvary's cross reckoned with the law,
satisfied the demands of the law and offered himself to God
as the blood sacrifice to redeem, to purchase his bride. Thanks
be to God who always causes us to triumph in Christ Jesus. thanks be to God we have an advocate
John said my little children I write unto you that you send
not but I heard a man preach from this
passage one time he put all the emphasis on the next word if that's what you call perverting
the scriptures that's what you call twisting the Word of God
if any man sin We have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ, the Righteous One? No, we're sinners. We're never not in need of an
advocate before God, Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. That's why
I write unto you, little children, you have a sin-bearer You have
an advocate. You have one that stands before
God, who's able to sympathize with the feelings of your infirmities,
who has passed into the heavens, who is seated at the right hand
of God, and ever lives to make intercession for you. Thanks
be to God, who always causes us to triumph. Is it possible
that the Lord Jesus Christ would not be heard by the Father? He's
called the advocate. the attorney i was thinking about
this what if a what if an attorney took a case and then that he
finds out after after he's got this uh... client that uh... that his father is going to be
judging this case that attorney would be obligated
by law to recuse himself there would be a uh... there would
be a uh... A conflict of interest there, wouldn't there? Not so with the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no conflict of interest.
You would say, well, if the attorney was pleading a case with a judge
who was his father, there's a danger of injustice. There's a danger
of bias. The Lord Jesus Christ, as our
advocate, stands before the Father and says to the Father, justice
has been met. The law's been satisfied. Sin's
been put away. And the Father says, not guilty. Not guilty. He's able to be just
and justify the ungodly. Thanks be to God, which always
causes us to triumph in Christ. He's called the friend of sinners.
Scripture says that Abraham had a relationship with God as a
friend has with a friend. The Lord Jesus Christ said, no
longer do I call you my servants, for a servant doesn't know what
his master's doing. I call you my friend. You know
what I've done. If you have the Holy Spirit,
if you've got an understanding of the gospel, you know that
I'm your friend. And there is a friend that sticketh
closer than a brother, and greater love hath no man than this, that
he lay down his life for his friend. Oh, you mean God Almighty
is willing to call me his friend? Yes. Yes. Thanks be to God, who
always causes us to triumph in Christ. What a friend we have
in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege it
is to carry everything to God in prayer. He is a saver unto God. God's smelt the sacrifice. The fatted calf has been killed
and God's pleased. The message of the gospel, Paul
says, is a message of life or death. It's a message of hope
or it's a message of judgment. Which is it for you? Which is
it for you? There's no middle ground. There's
no in between. To the one We are the saver of
death unto death, to the other the saver of life unto life.
And who is sufficient for these things? I know I'm not sufficient
to speak of Him. I've tried. My hope and my prayer
is that God will say infinitely more to your heart and my heart
than I've been able to say in audible words. That's my hope. I'm not sufficient. And you're
not sufficient to hear. We're not sufficient to understand.
Who's sufficient for these things? Our sufficiency is all of Him. Let's pray. Our merciful Heavenly Father, we ask that Your Holy Spirit
would make known to our hearts the reason that we have to be
thankful to Thee for having chosen a people, thankful to Thy Spirit
for having opened the eyes of our understanding, thankful for
Thy dear Son who is our friend, our surety, our Redeemer, all
our justification before Thee. Lord, we are not sufficient. Our hope is that you are. We thank you, Lord, for this
table. We thank you for what it reminds us off. We pray that
you would make it to be just that a memorial to our souls
that the sinless life of the Lord Jesus Christ is all our
righteousness before the and his sacrificial death on Calvary's
cross. is all our redemption. For it's in His name we ask it.
Amen. I'll ask the men if they'll come.
Tom, we're going to sing the hymn on the back of your bulletin.
Please remain seated. The last line of the last verse
is missing on this copy, but the line is, Lord, let me sup
with thee, sup thou with me. Not worthy, Lord, to gather up
the crumbs With trembling hand that from thy table fall A weary,
heavy, laden sinner comes to plead thy promise and obey thy
call. I am not worthy to be thought
thy child, nor sit the last and lowest at thy board. Too long a wanderer and too oft
beguiled, I only ask one reconciling word. One word from Thee, my Lord One
smile, one look And I could face the cold, rough world again And
with that treasure in my heart could brook The wrath of devils
and the scorn of men. And is not mercy thy prerogative? ? Free mercy boundless, fathomless
divine ? ? Me, Lord, the chief of sinners, be forgiven ? ? And
thine the greater glory, only thine ? you I hear thy voice,
thou bidst me come and rest. I come, I kneel, I clasp thy
pierced feet. Thou bidst me take my place,
a welcome guest. among thy saints and of thy banquet
eat. My praise can only breathe itself
in prayer. My prayer can only lose itself
in Thee. Dwell Thou forever in my heart
and there. Lord, let me sup with Thee, sup
Thou with I shared with you a conversation
I had with someone who accused me of not preaching the gospel.
And I've had many of these conversations over the years with different
people, not with the same accusation, but here's my point. It always,
always, always comes down to one question. What is the gospel? It always comes back to that.
What's the gospel? That's the pressing question. The gospel is bound up, the good
news is bound up in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The glory of the gospel is seen
in its simplicity. When the Lord gave us this table,
He boiled everything down to His work and His person. This bread is His person, born
of a virgin, born of a woman, born under the law, tested, tried
in all ways that we are, yet without sin. without sin, the sinless Son
of God satisfied the demands of righteousness by His holy
life. And we take this in remembrance
and trust in Him. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Man goes about
trying to establish his own righteousness because he's ignorant of the
righteousness of God. Oh Lord, don't let me be ignorant
of Thy righteousness. Give me the grace and the faith
to look to Christ as my only righteousness. That wasn't enough. It wasn't
enough. The righteousness of God in and
of itself was not sufficient for our salvation. Sin had to
be paid for. It had to be. God's justice had
to be met. God's holiness had to be upheld.
The debt had to be paid. And there's only one payment
that God's pleased with, and that's the shed blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and not one drop of his blood was wasted.
It is the covering for all the sins of all God's people. We
do this in remembrance of him. All God's people said, amen,
amen. Let's stand together. Brother
Burt, would you dismiss us please in prayer? You know what, Burt, before you
do, I'm so sorry. I meant to announce we're not
having services in Sarasota tonight. Some of the folks from Sarasota
are here with us, but I wanted you to know we've made this announcement
before, but the 11th, 12th, and 13th of next month, we're going
to have a conference over there, and I'm very hopeful that a lot
of you will be able to join us. That's Friday, Saturday, Sunday,
next month, 11th, 12th, and 13th, okay? Lord, we thank you for bringing
us here this morning to be in your presence. Lord, once again,
revealing unto babe the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ,
our only Lord.