69 from the softback temple. Him number 69. Prepare our hearts. Oh, Lord, let's all stand together. Repair our hearts, O Lord, to
hear your word proclaim, your servant clothed with mighty power,
and magnify your name. Remove all earthly care, expose
our inmost sin, and let us see Christ crucified to cleanse us
from all sin. Inspire our hearts with grace,
with gratitude and love, that we might live for Christ alone,
and here show forth His love. For sinners in our midst, who
yet know not our God. We seek your mighty saving grace
and pardon through Christ's blood. Above all else we ask that in
this place, this hour, Christ might be glorified and praised
for all his saving power. Please be seated. For sinners in our midst, Christ
came to save sinners. The next phrase says, who yet
know not our God. I don't want anybody to think
that those of us who do know our God have somehow graduated
beyond being a sinner. We are all sinners saved by God's
free grace. I want to read passage of scripture
from Psalm 39 for our scripture reading tonight. I want to welcome
Bree's sister Rose. This is her first time with us
and we're so happy she's here. Thank you for your prayers. We had a good trip. It was fast and I got back early
this morning actually, but services Monday went well. It was a confirmation
to me that the reprobate have no bands in their death. There
was a group of about 40 people there, 50 maybe, and they had
no interest in the eternal destiny of their souls. And it was sad
to see that, but it was a confirmation of what the Lord has said. about man who has no bands in
his death or else he has made a covenant with death and with
hell he's in agreement. And so he has no, he's not subject
to bondage like we are. He doesn't live his whole life
with a reverence for the reality of death and what is to take
place. I'm thankful that the Lord has
given us that truth. And this passage in Psalm 39
speaks to that as well. So I'm hopeful that this will
be our prayer tonight. Verse four, Lord, make me to
know mine end and the measure of my days, what it is that I
may know how frail I am. Behold, thou hast made my days
as a hand breath. and mine age is as nothing before
thee, verily every man at his very best state is altogether
vanity. Selah. Surely every man walketh
in a vain show, surely they are disquieted in vain. He heapeth up riches and knoweth
not who shall gather them. And now, Lord, I'm one of those
every man. I get disquieted in vain. My
old man seeks to heap up riches in this world. And now, Lord,
what wait I for? My hope is in thee." Deb's on her way home with her
sisters driving. They're actually in Atlanta right
now and will be home tomorrow afternoon. And I don't know if
you received the email that I sent that Tricia sent out this morning,
but we want to try to get together for lunch this Sunday after the
service. And I think the group from Sarasota
are going to come over and join us Sunday afternoon. So let's
pray together. Our merciful heavenly father,
we're thankful that You've been pleased to cause us to believe
truly that every man at his very best state is altogether vanity. We know that's true of ourselves.
We know, Lord, that we are disquieted in vain. We ask now that you
would Be pleased to enable us to find our rest, our comfort,
and all the hope of our salvation in thy dear son. We pray that
you would look to him for us and find in him all that you
require of us, that he would be our righteousness before thee,
and that we would be satisfied with him. Pray for Deb and ask Lord that
you continue to give her traveling mercies as she comes back here
and that you would comfort her heart and encourage her with
the fellowship of the saints. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Number 352 from the hardback
temple, 352. 352 from the Hardback Hymnal. Jesus, lover of my soul, let
me to thy bosom fly, while the nearer waters roll, while the
tempest still is high. Hide me, O my Savior, hide, till
the storm of life is past. Safe into the haven guide, O
receive my soul at last. Other refuge have I none, hangs
my helpless soul on Thee. Levi, leave me not alone, still
support and comfort me. All my trust on Thee is stayed,
All my help from Thee I bring. Cover my defenseless head With
the shadow of Thy wing. Thou, O Christ, art all I want,
more than all in Thee I find. Raise the fallen, cheer the faint,
heal the sick, and lead the blind. Just and holy is thy name. I am all on righteousness. False and full of sin I am. Thou art full of truth and grace. Plenteous grace with Thee is
found, Grace to cover all my sin. Let the healing streams
abound, Make and keep me pure within. Thou of life the fountain art,
Freely let me take of thee. Spring thou up within my heart. Rise to all eternity. Please be seated. Will you open your Bibles with
me to Psalm 36. Psalm 36. We saw in God's word this past
Sunday a wonderful explanation as to why the children of God
still experience fear. My question tonight is, why am
I still afraid? Why am I still afraid? There
would be those who would say, well, if you have faith, faith,
love casteth out all fear. There would be no place for that
in your life. And yet our experience tells
us different, doesn't it? You have your Bibles open to
Psalm 36. The transgression of the wicked
saith within my heart that there is no fear of God before his
eyes. Now that's the reason why we
fear. The reason why we fear is because
we have an old man. We have an old man with whom
there is no fear of God in his nature. He fears man, he pursues
the things of this world, he finds his comfort in worldly
things, but he has no fear of God. And the only hope that we
have to not be afraid is to fear God. The scripture speaks of
fearing God. The word fear in the word of
God is the same word as to run. And so fear has to do with either
running toward God or running away from God. And everybody will do one or
the other. Adam, when he sinned in the garden,
sought to hide from God. He was running from God. There's
something in our old man that still has no fear of God. There's
something in our old man that would run from God. But thank
God, thank God that he's given us a new nature, that that old
man, though he would have no fear of God in and of himself,
he causes the new man to realize his need for Christ. And he causes
the new man to fear God, to run to Christ. Now, the psalmist
goes on to say of this man who has no fear of God, notice in
verse one, he says that the transgression of the wicked saith within my
heart, there is no fear of God. For he flattereth himself in
his own eyes until his iniquity be found to be hateful." Oh,
isn't that us? We flatter ourselves in our own
eyes. We pretend to be something that
we're not. until the Spirit of God causes us to see the iniquity
of the old man and he becomes hateful to us. I made this statement
Monday at Ed's memorial service that we all loved Ed, but I'm
here to tell you that Ed loathed himself. And only a child of God could
understand that. I mean, the response that I got
from those folks to hear that statement was shocking. That Ed loathed himself? Yes,
he did. He did. And so does every child
of God. Their iniquity is found to be
hateful. The words of his mouth are iniquity
and deceit. He hath left off to be wise and
to do good. There's our old man. That's just
what he is. There's no fear of God in him.
And because of that, he is subject to bondage. He deviseth mischief
upon his bed. He setteth himself in a way that
is not good. He abhorreth not evil. He's drawn to evil. He's not, he doesn't hate evil. There's something in him that
is attracted to that which is evil. Now look what David says. Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the
heavens, and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. Oh,
Lord, how am I going to be delivered from this body of death? Thanks
be to God, through Christ Jesus, I am free. He has gotten the
victory over sin and over death. Thy righteousness is like the
great mountains. Thy judgments are a great deep. O Lord, thou preservest man and
beast. The only hope that I have to
not be afraid is to believe that Everything that God requires
of me is to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is all my righteousness
before God. David said, I will speak of thy
righteousness, even of thine only. And here's what he's going
on to say. Oh Lord, thou preservest, thou
preservest. How excellent is thy loving kindness,
oh God. Therefore, the children of men
put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. We see that there's
a part of us that doesn't fear God. If we did, we'd never sin. And yet, this old man is what
causes us to run to Christ and to find our shelter under the
shadow of his wings. They shall be abundantly satisfied
with the fatness of thy house. There's our only satisfaction.
Our only satisfaction before God, the only thing that calms
our fears, is to find our satisfaction in the one in whom God is satisfied. That's the question that you
and I have to ask ourselves. Are we satisfied with what God's
satisfied with? God's satisfied only with Christ. And the child of God is satisfied
with the fatness of thy house, and thou shalt make them drink
of the water of thy pleasure." Oh, Lord, that's what I need.
That's what my fear does. It drives me to Christ. Now,
I spoke to folks Monday that had no bands in their death,
family members and friends of Ed who could not help but to
be confronted with the reality of death, many of them elderly.
And I spoke to them very clearly and very plainly and as compassionately
as I could about their immortal soul and their need for Christ. And afterwards, well, I was the
plague. Nobody would speak to me. Nobody
made eye contact with me. And and they have they it just
confirmed to me what the scripture says in psalm 73 that they have
no bands in their death They're not they're not fearful. They're
not worried about it And so I would say if you have no fear at all
then You need to be very concerned about about your about your condition
before God if all you have is fear and then I would encourage
you to come to Christ, rest in His righteousness, believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, ask Him, ask Him to save you. But let
me tell you this, once He does, all your fears aren't gonna go
away. Listen to what Paul said in 2 Corinthians chapter 7 verse
5. He said, When I went to Macedonia,
our flesh had no rest. Our flesh had no rest. For we
were troubled on every side, for without were fighting, and
within were fears. Isn't that our experience? There's
no fear of God in the old man. There's no fear of God. You see,
our old man is just like the person who doesn't know Christ.
There's no difference. There's no difference. The difference
is that with this old man, God has given us the fear of God. In that He's caused us to run
to Christ, to find in Him all our righteousness and all of
God's satisfaction for our immortal souls. That's the only difference. But we still have fears within,
don't we? We still have fightings without.
We still find no place for rest for our flesh. What Paul said
in 2 Corinthians chapter 7 is true for every child of God. Look what he goes on to say in
Psalm 36. The last part of verse eight,
and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasure. Oh, it pleased God to bruise
him. That's what we drink. We drink
from the, from the sin bearer. We drink from that fountain of
life that flows from the throne of God. We drink the water of
life. The Lord Jesus Christ said to
that woman at the well, if you knew the gift of God and who
it is that speaketh unto you, you would ask of him and he would
give you living water. Living water. The pleasure of
God was upon Christ. He was pleased with his son.
He said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. The truth is that God's not pleased
with you. He's not pleased with me. I made
that say, now you're all shaking your head and saying, amen, I
understand that. And I made that same statement Monday to a group
about this size. And they were shocked to hear
such a thing. God's not pleased with me? What
are you talking about? We drink of the river of his
pleasure, of his pleasure. His pleasure is also to choose
a particular people. It pleased God according to His pleasure and
His will to choose a people before the foundations of the world.
That's His pleasure and we rejoice in that. We rejoice in knowing
that our God is sovereign in salvation. that He chooses a
people according to His own will and pleasure. So that it's not
of Him that willeth nor of Him that runneth, it's of God that
showeth mercy. We rejoice in that. We know that if He had
not chosen us, we would never choose Him. We would never choose
Him. Coming to Christ is not a choice,
it's a work of grace in the heart. I had a man tell me Monday, after
he heard me preach, he said, well, you know, you gotta be
really committed, and you gotta mean it, and you gotta pray the
prayer, and you gotta make a decision. I thought, you know, if God regenerates
you, he's gonna keep calling you back to Christ. You're just
going to rely upon him for all your righteousness. How committed
do you have to be? How sincere do you have to be?
Oh, don't measure the hope of your salvation on that. If you're an honest person, you'll
know that everything you've ever done is with mixed motives. And nothing you've ever done
is pure and unselfish and righteous before God. Nothing you've ever
done. We can't look to our commitments and our decisions and our prayers
We drink of the river of his pleasure. For with thee is the fountain
of life, and thy light, in thy light shall we see light. Oh, there's Christ. He's the
light of the world. In him was life, and the life
was the light of men, and in him we have light. of the truth. The truth of who we are, the
truth of who God is, the truth of how it is that God is pleased
to save sinners is all seen in the light of the gospel. in the
person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that God's sovereign. We know that He's holy. We know
that He can't ever be satisfied with us. We know that His pleasure
is only in the accomplished work of His dear Son. We know that
we're dependent upon Him to give us faith to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ that we might be saved. It's the only thing that
takes away the fear. Let not the foot of pride come
against me. Oh, Lord, I'm so full of it. I'm just full of it. Lord, don't
let the foot of pride come against me. Here's the antithesis of
faith is pride. It's also, you know, you think
about the word sin and the word pride. Look at the middle letter
in those two words, and that's your problem, that's my problem.
Isn't it? We just got my problem, don't
we? It's all about me, me, me. We could have wrote that song. That's our problem. Lord, don't
let my pride keep me from running in the fear of God to Christ. Let not the hand of the wicked
remove me. Every child of God, even after
they find rest in Christ, after they find hope for their souls,
every time the old man shows his ugly head, what do we think?
The accuser of the brethren puts us in bondage? We become subject
to that bondage and we become in fear again? And we think with
the disciples, Lord, is it I? Is it I? I believe the gospel,
but I don't know if it's for me. Lord, give to me the fear
of God that would cause me not to be in bondage to fear, but
that would cause me to flee like a child. One of these little
children around here, they get afraid? I promise you, they're
gonna run from what they're afraid of to the person that they are
secure with. They're going to run to daddy,
aren't they? They're going to run to mama. They're going to
run to that one that they feel safe and secure. That's fear.
And we're the same way. And the fear of God? Our old
man doesn't fear God. Verse 12, there are the workers
of iniquity fallen. They are cast down and shall
not be able to rise. Lord, this old man, one day,
is gonna be put where he belongs. He's gonna be put where he belongs.
And he shall not rise again. The resurrection's not gonna
be of the old man. The mortal is going to be made immortal.
And that's speaking of our flesh. And the corruptible is going
to be made incorruptible. And that's the hope that we have.
Turn to me to Romans chapter one. I made a statement a few minutes
ago that our old man is the same as he's always been. And it's
the same as the men of this world. He's just flesh. He's never going
to be anymore. He's never going to fear God. He's never going to be righteous.
He's never going to be holy. He's never going to be able to
do anything that's pleasing to God. That's just what he is.
And he's just like the rest of the world. And I can prove that
to you from the Word of God. If you'll follow me in Romans
chapter 1, look at verse 29. and being filled with all unrighteousness,
fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy,
murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whispers, backbiters, haters
of God, despiteful, proud, boasters and inventors of evil things,
disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers,
without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful. who knowing the judgment
of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death,
not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them."
Who is the Lord describing? He's describing the old man. Let me show you that. Look at
the next verse. There's no place. There's no place for a child
of God to stand on high moral ground and point his finger at
the world and say, well, there's the world. That's God's describing
the world. Look at the next verse. And I
remind you that the chapter divisions are not in the original text.
So we're just continuing the same thought in chapter two,
verse one. Therefore, therefore thou art
inexcusable, oh man, whosoever thou art that judgest, for wherein
thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself, for thou that judgest
do the same thing. Do the same thing. We're not
here to point our finger at the world. and to define the sins
of the world and talk about the evils of the world? This is my
problem. But we are sure, verse two, we
are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against
them which commit such things. And thinkest thou this, O man,
that judgest them which do such things? And doest the same that
thou shalt escape the judgment of God? If you're gonna stand
in judgment of a person who's practicing those sins, then it
only is evident that you don't understand that that's you. That's you. Look at chapter three of Romans, verse 10. As it is written, there
is none righteous. And here's the conclusion of
the argument that the Lord has given in the first two chapters
of Romans. He's bringing it to a conclusion.
As it is written, there is none that is righteous. No, not one. Neither is there, um, They are
all gone out of the way. They are altogether become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher,
and with their tongue they have used deceit. The poison of asp
is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.
Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery
are in their ways, and the way of peace have they not known.
And here it is, look at verse 18, and there is no fear of God
before their eyes. And that's a quote. from Psalm
36, verse one. We know that Romans chapter three
is describing us. It's describing us. We don't
stand in judgment. This is us. This is our old man. There's no fear of God before
their eyes. Now we know that what things, whoever the law
sayeth, it sayeth to them that are under the law, that every
mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before
God. Oh, don't judge me by the law. You judge me by the law, I'm
going to be guilty. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by
the law is the knowledge of sin. That's all the law does, it just
exposes sin. It just says guilty. But now,
the righteousness of God, here's our hope. Here's our rest, what
am I gonna do about this cringing fear every time I look at my
flesh? Why am I still afraid? Because
I'm looking at my sin rather than looking to Christ. That's
why I'm afraid. And every time you look at your
sin, only thing you're gonna do is see yourself as a person to be judged by God. That's
all you're going to find. But now, the righteousness of
God, apart from the deeds of the law. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law
is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of
God, without the law, is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets. Who's that? That's the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's the one who's witnessed
by the law and the prophets. Isn't that what the Lord said
to those disciples on the road to Emmaus? Beginning with Moses
and the prophets, he expounded unto them throughout all the
scriptures those things concerning himself. And what did they say
when he finally made himself known in the breaking of bread
and then he disappeared? And they said, oh, did our hearts
not burn within us when he spake with us along the way? He was
talking about himself from the scriptures. Here's the righteousness
of God. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believeth. The only way
to avoid, I have fears. I mentioned this past Sunday,
Sunday morning at four o'clock I woke up and I thought, Lord,
I can't stand and preach this message. How can I stand with
any authority and speak these things to your people knowing
that I'm condemned myself? Here I am struggling with my
own fears. And the Lord didn't really give me peace about it
until on the way here, Sunday morning in the car, enabling
me to look to Christ. And that was the only time that
I'm able to find no fear. No fear in death, no fear in
the wrath of God. Why? Because the fear of God
has caused me to run to Christ. Even the righteousness of God,
verse 22, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon
all them that believe. For there is no difference. For
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. These sins
that are described in chapter 1 and the condition of the natural
man in chapter 3, there's no fear of God in him. And when
we have no fear of God, that's when the believer is afraid. That's when the believer is afraid. being justified freely by his
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
God hath set forth to be the propitiation. I know for some
that may be a big word. Propitious means that the wrath
of God has been put away. God has been made propitious
by the sacrifice of His Son. The fiery wrath of His judgment
against all the sins of His people has been quenched by the sacrifice
of Christ on Calvary's cross. And He is our propitiation. so that there's no wrath, there's
no judgment. You see, we're afraid when we
look at our sin, but when we look to Christ, we realize now
there's no condemnation, no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.
We're free. We're free. through faith in His blood to
declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are
passed through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say at
this time, His righteousness, that He might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? Where is boasting? That's all. You hear a religious person pointing
their finger. You hear a preacher. I've heard
preachers. Men who call themselves gospel preachers, identifying
the sins of the world. All that evil government. The
evil Supreme Court. The evil that. What is that? It's boasting. That's all it
is. And it's not realizing that all
that you stand in judgment of other men, you're just condemning
yourself. You're condemning yourself. We have no moral, the chief of
all sinners cannot look down his nose on anyone, on anyone. All our righteousness is in Christ
and that's the only thing that subsides our fears. Why do we still fear? Because
we look to our sin and we walk in the flesh and we walk by sight
and Lord, My old man has no fear of God. No fear of God. Turn with me to Jeremiah chapter 32. Jeremiah chapter 32. This is
a wonderful verse. I hope this will encourage you.
Jeremiah chapter 32. If you begin in verse 37 and
just look at all the I wills, just let your eye catch the I
wills down through all those verses. It's the Lord speaking. Man in his pride says, well,
I will. I will do this and I will do
that. God says, this is what I'm going to do. I will. I will
gather them out of the countries. I will bring them again to this
place. I will cause them to dwell safely. I will be their God.
I will give them one heart and one way. And look at verse 40,
and I will make an everlasting covenant with them, and I will
not turn away from them to do them good, but I will put my
fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me. There's the fear of God. I'm gonna put my fear. I'm gonna
cause them, like a child, to see that in their sin and in
this world and according to the judgments of the law and all
the other, everything else that they could ever look at would
cause nothing but terror in their hearts. And that's what's gonna cause
them to run to Christ. The word fear means to run. Our
flesh runs after the things of this world. It just does, doesn't
it? It does. It runs after this world. And
that's when we get afraid, when we're walking by sight. When
the Lord enables us, I'll put my fear in their hearts so that
they will not depart from me. I'm gonna cause them to keep
coming back home. I'm going to keep them on a leash. We're like the children in the
mall that God's got the kids on a leash. You've seen parents
do that? I hope you don't do that. But that's the way the
Lord has to do us, isn't it? Has to do us. And that's what
he said. I'm going to put my fear in their
hearts. I'm going to put my fear in their hearts. And I'm going
to cause them to not depart from me Matthew chapter 10 verse 38
the Lord said don't be afraid of the men who can kill the body
don't be afraid of them but rather fear him who has the power to
cast both body and soul into hell fear him turn with me to
that passage Matthew chapter 10, verse 28. And I want you to understand this verse.
You say, well, is this a, this is not a slavish fear. This is
not a fear of God. Christ is our propitiation. The
wrath of God has been put away. We're not to fear the judgment
of God. We're to fear God. We're to reverence God. We're
to run to Him. Because there's no help anywhere
else. Lord, I can't find any help.
I can't find any comfort in my sin, in the world. There's no
satisfaction anyplace else. Lord, would you put the fear
of God in my heart so that I would not depart from you? And now
look what he says in verse 28. And fear not them which kill
the body, but are not able to kill the soul. But rather fear
him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Now
that's the fear of God. God has the sovereign right to
determine according to His own will and purpose the eternal
destiny of every man's soul. He has the right to do that.
And if you believe that, then your fear of God will cause you
to run to Christ. Run to Christ for mercy, for
grace, knowing that you have nothing to put away this judgment. Look at the next verse. You say,
well, the Lord Jesus Christ is telling us here to be afraid
of going to hell, to be afraid that God's going to cast both
body and soul into hell. He has the right to do it. And
there is a fear of God here in our hearts. But look at the next
verse. Are not two sparrows sold for a farling, and one of them
should not fall to the ground without your father? But the
very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not, therefore. You are more value than many
sparrows. Now, is this a contradiction?
The Lord said, don't be afraid. I love you. I know the numbers
of hair on your head. I know, but I've got nothing
but good for you. We're not to have a slavish fear
of God, but we're to have a fear that causes us, like a child,
to run from that which threatens us. Does the law of God threaten
you? Does the grave threaten you?
Does death threaten you? Does your sin threaten you? Does
your old man threaten you? Run. Oh, run to the city of refuge. Don't stick your hand out. Get
in behind the gate. Go through that one gate. The
Lord Jesus Christ said, I am the gate to the sheepfold. Get
in among the sheep. He's the only one that's going
to subside our fears. Run to Him. That's what He's
saying. Fear God. We look at our sin. I look at
my sin. I fear hell. I do. Because I know that's what I
deserve. When I look at the law, I fear the judgment of God. I
know that's what I deserve. I look to Christ. I realize that
the law's been satisfied. My sin's been put away. God is
propitious towards me. And I can rest. It's the only
place of rest I have. The only place. There's no other
place to find any rest. There's no other place to find
any hope. But oh, what rest there is there. And yet, even as we
rest, we become disquieted, don't we? We live our spirit wars against
our flesh and our flesh against our spirit so that we cannot
be what we would be. How long are we going to be afraid?
How long are we going to have these fears within and these
fighting without? How long are we going to be that
way? As long as we're in this flesh. As long as we're in this
body. That's how long we're going to
be that way. And the Lord's going to use that struggle to put the
fear of God in our hearts so that we shall not depart from
Him. One last passage of scripture,
Joshua chapter 24. Joshua chapter 24. Look at verse 13. And I, when God uses the first
person pronoun, personal pronoun, I, that's a good thing. We use
it, we got a problem. When God uses, when I, this is
what I'm gonna do for you. I have given you a land for which
you did not labor. Oh, I'm so glad. The children of
Israel came in from the wilderness and they just possessed the land.
They didn't labor for it. God gave it to them. The walls
of Jericho came down. They just took over the land.
I have given you a land which you did not labor for. What is
that promised land? What is there that's on the other
side? You know the name, the River Jordan is a picture of
your death. Jordan translated means death. That's what it means. And when
the children of Israel came across the Jordan River into the promised
land, it's a picture. We're still in the wilderness,
aren't we? And one day we're going to cross that Jordan. We're
going to come into a land that we did not labor for. He did
all the laboring. He did all the work. There's
nothing for us to do. I have given you a land for which
you did not labor, and cities which you built not, and that
you dwell in them, vineyards and oliveyards which you planted
not. Go and eat. Oh, we have these things spiritually
for us right now. One day physically we're going
to see the fullness of it. We look through a glass dimly
now, don't we? But we eat of this grace, through faith that
he's given us in Christ, my body is your meat indeed, my blood
is your drink indeed. So the sustenance for our souls
is nothing less than the Lord Jesus Christ and what he did
and who he is. Now look at verse 14. Now therefore
fear the Lord. Run to Christ. Remember that
word fear means run. It's the same word. And that's
what you do when you're afraid, don't you? You run. I've only seen my wife run really
fast one time. She outrun me. Alligator got
after us. And I understand Ruth will do
the same thing if she sees a snake. You know, that's just what you
do when you're afraid, don't you? You run. Run to Christ. run to him. Fear the Lord and serve him in
sincerity and in truth." The truth of the gospel. No mixture
of error in the gospel. None whatsoever. And we sincerely
believe that in us there's no righteousness. We sincerely believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He's our only
hope for salvation. We sincerely believe that. The
Lord told that Ethiopian eunuch, If thou believest with all thine
heart, thou mayest. What doth hinder me to be baptized?
What did he say? I believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God. I believe that sincerely with
all my heart. Do you believe that? Fear the
Lord. Worship Him in sincerity and
in truth. Truth. No mixture of error in the gospel. Put away the gods which your
father served on the other side of the flood and in Egypt and
serve ye the Lord. That's what the Lord, when God
gives you the fear of God and He calls you to flee to Christ
and find all the hope of your salvation in the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ, giving you a place of rest, giving you a
place of safety, giving you a safe haven where you can get under
the shadow of His wings, then you forsake your gods. You confess. I know that a person
has heard the gospel. when they are able to confess
that what they believed before was heresy. I've seen so many people, they
just kind of think they're gonna ease their way into the gospel.
Talked to a man Monday after I preached, and I got an email
from him today. And he's talking about, you know,
that he became a Calvinist. He just kind of eased his way
in. But there's no renouncing of his old gods. When the Lord
gives you the fear of God and you worship Him in sincerity
and in truth, you renounce those old gods for what they are. Fabrications
of your own imagination, blasphemous idols is what they were. You
hate them, you hate them. And if it shall seem evil unto
you to serve the Lord, I want you to notice in verse 15, I've
heard people say, well, doesn't God say, choose you this day
whom you're going to serve? Read this. What does Joshua say? Yes, he says, choose you this
day whom you're going to serve. Whether it be the gods that your
father served on the other side of the floods, or the gods that
your father served in Egypt. That's the choice. In other words,
choose one of your pagan gods. Coming to Christ is not, you're
not gonna choose Christ. He said, you did not choose me,
I chose you. You'll come to Christ when he
shuts you up to himself and you've got no place else to go. What
Joshua is saying here is that you guys have a, you got a whole
bunch of gods. You need to settle down and worship
one god or the other. But as for me and my house, we've
got no choice but to worship the Lord. We're just gonna worship
him. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father,
we ask that you would work a work of grace in our hearts and cause
us, Lord, to have the fear of God, to flee
to Christ, to get under the shadow of his wings, for we confess
to you, Lord, that our old man is as filthy and unrighteous
and unfearing of thee as he's ever been. Lord, if you don't
restrain us and keep us and cause us by the power of thy spirit
to come to Christ, Lord, we'll be captive to that old man. We ask that you would do it for
thy namesake. Amen. Brother Tom. Our hardback, Tim, now let's
stand together. Walk in the light and shalt thou
know That fellowship of love His spirit only can bestow Who
reigns in light above Walk in the light, and thou shalt find
thy heart made truly His, who dwells in cloudless light, enshrined
in whom no darkness is. Walk in the light and thou shalt
own thy darkness passed away. Because that light hath on thee
shown in which is perfect day. Walk in the light and even the
tomb, no fearful shade shall wear. Glory shall chase away
its gloom, for Christ hath conquered there. Walk in the light, thy
path shall be a path, O thorny bride. For God, by grace, shall
dwell in thee, and God himself is light. I promised Robert and Deanna
that I would ask you all to remember them in prayer. They are driving
from Las Vegas. They've had one blowout in their
truck, and it's 110 degrees in Dallas yesterday. I know. I was
there at 5 o'clock. And he's got no air conditioning
in his truck. They're trying to get back here.
So I told them that you all would be praying for them. So hopefully
they'll be here next week. Okay. No fear of God. I said that I
have no fear of God. And we have all quotes from Psalm 36 and Romans chapter that will happen
in our seminary. He said, I have no fear of God. We have all quotes from Psalm 36.