When you see your children getting
along, it makes you happy, doesn't it? It just makes you happy. And it thrills my heart to see
you all loving each other. I'm so grateful. In the year that King Uzziah
died, I saw also the Lord. sitting upon a throne, high and
lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Now, in the ancient days when
kings came together, heads of state came together, there was
protocol just like there is today. When heads of state get together
today, where you sit, and how you come into the room expresses
your position of authority among those kings. And in these days,
the length of your train determined the position of your power, the
length of your train. So the first little king would
come in with a short train and the last king would come in with
a long train. How did Isaiah see the Lord?
There wasn't any room for any other trains, were there? His
train filled the temple. And the seraphim cried, holy,
holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts. Heaven and earth is filled
with his glory. Let's stand together. Tom's going
to come lead us in the hymn on the back of your bulletin. God of grace and matchless glory,
grant that we would worship Thee. Thou hast gathered us together,
now reveal Thy majesty. Send to us Thy sovereign spirit,
speaking through thy word in might, showing us the blessed
Savior, making him our one delight. Prophet, priest, and reigning
monarch, Friend of sinners, what a name! Word of God made flesh
for sinners, Jesus came to bear our shame. See the perfect, blameless
Savior, Bearing guilt, sin not his own, Sacrifice of God most
precious, Died our sin debt to atone. By the blood of the Redeemer
all our sins were washed away. He arose and death was conquered
for his sheep who went astray. Saints of God bow down and worship
rendered praise and thankfulness. Joyfully adore the Savior, Jesus
Christ, our righteousness. Please be seated. Good morning. For a scripture
reading, would you turn With me, your Bibles to Colossians
3. Colossians 3, and we're gonna
read from verse 1 to 11. I hope this morning that you
are gonna be so encouraged with this passage as I have been.
Because the very last part of verse 11 says it all. But Christ
is all above all and in all. So as we read this, that's the
foundation of this whole passage. The Apostle Paul writing to the
believers in Colossae, and this applies to us believers here
in Apopka, Florida this morning, reminding us once again of our
citizenship. Verse one, if ye, believer, child
of God, then be risen with Christ, Seek those things which are above,
where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Brother Greg, I
love the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is sitting. It's finished. It's finished. And he is on the
right hand of God, ever interceding on our behalf. Set, place, fix
your affection on things above, not on things on the earth, Scripture
says, for as He is, so are we. Are we not there already with
Him seated? But I know because of sin, we
can't see that. But we believe it by faith. Verse
3, for you are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God. I can't begin to plumb the depths
of what that is, but I believe that. When the Lord Jesus Christ
offered up His body as an offering when He died, so did we then.
and he hid us with Christ in God. There is no other refuge. Who can be against us? Verse
four, when Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall
you also appear with him in glory. Verse five is a description of
our old man. It's a resume of how we came
into this world, and it's still our resume today. Mortify therefore
your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness,
inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness which is idolatry. For which things sake the wrath
of God cometh on the children of disobedience, meaning those
who do not believe this gospel. in the time in which you also
walked sometime when you lived in them. But now, he also put
off all these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication
out of your mouth. Anybody here on the way to church
this morning got cut off and you said some unkind thing? It's
still there. It's the old man. It's a description
of our old man. Here's another part of the old
man. Lie not to one another, seeing that you have put off
the old man with his deeds. There was a time when we lied,
we believed the lie, we lied to one another. That's a description
of the old man. Why? Because of verse 10. Now
look at verse 10. And have put on the new man.
That new man is perfect, perfect faith, never sins, which is renewed
in knowledge after the image of him that created him. Verse 11. where there is neither
Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian-Scythian
bond nor free. It doesn't matter who you are.
It's not about you. But it's about Him. But Christ
is all, above all. And in all, He's the propitiation
of our sins. He is all our righteousness.
He is our justification, our sanctification, our glorification.
He's everything. And I trust, and I pray this
morning, Lord would be pleased to set our affections on Him
in this next hour. Heavenly Father, we do thank
you for bringing us here this morning. for taking us and giving
and placing us in the Lord Jesus Christ, that we can cry out to
you, Abba, Father. Lord, truly it is our desire
this morning that he be exalted to the highest throne. Lord, that we would just see
him, that you would honor him, that you would glorify him in
our presence. We do ask that you would set
our affections on him right now. As you bring the message you
place in our brother, we ask that you would give him power
and freedom. And Lord, give us ears to hear
that we could believe him right now and be saved. For we ask
it in his name. Let's all stand together once
again. We'll sing hymn number 272, 272 from the hardbacked
hymnal. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. When darkness veils his lovely
face, I rest on his unchanging grace. In every high and stormy
gale, My anchor holds within the veil. On Christ the solid
rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. His oath, His covenant, His blood
supports me in the whelming flood. When all around my soul gives
way, He then is all my hope and stay. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. When he shall come with trumpet
sound, O may I then in him be found, Dressed in his righteousness
alone, Faultless to stand before the throne. On Christ the solid
rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. Please be seated. Brie Wachey
is going to bring some special music now. Be Thou my vision, Lord of my
heart, and love be all else to me. Say that Thou art love, Thou my best thought, my
day or my night. Waking or sleeping, Thy presence
my light. Be Thou my wisdom and Thou my
true word. I am with Thee and Thou with
me. Oh, my great father, I thy true
son, Thou in me dwelling and I with thee one. You're an empty place, found
my inheritance now and always. I'm the only person on your mind. May I reach heaven's joys, O
bright heaven's sun. Heart of my own heart, whatever
we fall, still be my vision. Thank you, Bree. We're going to be looking at
several passages of scripture this morning, and I hope that
the Lord will tie them all together, connect the dots, if you will,
and in doing so, portray for us the Lord Jesus Christ, Burt,
who is all and who is in all. Let me introduce this message
by asking you if you are in uncharted territory in your life. You're having a hard time navigating
through your circumstances. Don't know what to do. You say,
well, that's not me. I got it all figured out. Well,
then I don't have anything for you this morning. But if you're like most of us,
life is more than you can handle. Most particularly, your sin is
more than you can bear. Then you need some road signs. That's what you need. You're
in a foreign land and you're a sojourner and you're desperately
looking for a sign to point you in the right direction. Now the
sign is not the location. The sign is not the location.
The sign points to the location. And the Lord has given us in
his word many signs. I'm not here to help you figure
out how to do anything in particular that you're having to struggle
with in your life. But I'm here to tell you what
the signs that God has given us, tell you who they point to. And I know that if God gives
you the ability to read the signs, to understand, as the scripture
says, the tokens, they will lead you to Christ. And in Christ,
in Christ, all will be well. all will be well. To have your
sins taken away, to know that all things work together for
good for them that love God and those who are called according,
to walk with Christ, to know Him, to have fellowship with
Him. That's what you need and that's what I need. We don't
need a self-help book to tell us how to figure out a particular
problem. We need to know who it is that
called himself the way. The way. And these tokens, these
signs that God's given us, point us to Christ. The first one is
found in Genesis chapter 9. Before we look at this, let me
quote what David said in Psalm 86 verse 17, when he said, Show me a token for good. The word token is the word sign. And David said, Lord, show me
a sign for good. Lord, I feel like I'm going in
circles here. I feel like I'm lost. I'm undone. I don't know what
to do. I need a sign for good. I need
a token. I need you to point me to Christ
that I might find in Him my all in all. I might find in Him my
hope, my salvation, my comfort, my peace. You have your Bibles open to
Genesis chapter 9. In verse 11, God says to Noah, and
I will establish my covenant with you. Neither shall all flesh
be cut off anymore by the waters of the flood. Neither shall there
anymore be a flood to destroy the earth. Don't worry about those folks
who say the polar caps are gonna melt, the world's gonna be flooded.
God says ain't gonna happen. Now he's gonna destroy the world,
but it won't be by water. It's gonna be by fire. But he's
making a covenant promise here. that he will not destroy the
earth again by water. Without this promise, can you
imagine the fear that would have gripped Noah's heart every time
it began to rain again? I mean, it had never rained in
the history of the world until the deluge came and killed everybody. And now the next time it rains,
Noah thinks, oh no, here we go again. And the ark's not ready. And God says, no, I'm not going
to destroy the earth by a flood. And God said, this is the sign,
the token, that's what the word means, it points to something
else. I mentioned this in the first
hour, when the Pharisees asked for a sign, the Lord said, a
wicked and perverse generation seeketh after a sign. We want
you to perform a miracle. so that you can prove that the
claims you're making about yourself are true and then we'll believe
you. God doesn't have to prove himself to anybody. And God told
them that they were wicked to ask for such a thing. Nevertheless,
the Lord does give signs, but they're not signs that can be
seen with the physical eye. Oh, the rainbow in particular
can be seen every time it rains, but What that rainbow points
to, the sign that it really is purposed to reveal, can't be
seen with the natural eye. This sign can't be heard with
the physical ear. It can't be smelt with the olfactory
nerves of our bodies. This sign can only be seen through
eyes of faith. It can only be heard by the ears
that have been unstopped. And the aroma of his grace can
only be enjoyed by those to whom the alabaster box of the gospel
has been opened so that he becomes a savor of life to us. Lord,
give me your spirit. Here's what I'm asking you to
do right now. Right now, I'm asking you to
do something. I'm asking you to ask the Lord. to bless you
with his spirit so that your eyes and your ears can be opened
and you can understand the signs that God has given to us. You
can understand who it is they point to so that you can find
your way to him. That's what you need. That's
what I need. We get so caught up in trying
to navigate ourselves through the circumstances of life, and
what we need is for God to enable us to find our way to Christ. And that's going to happen in
the secret of your heart. And that's going to happen only
by the power and the blessing of the Holy Spirit. And so God
says to Noah, he says, here's the token that I'm going to give
to you to assure you of my covenant. Now this token was given to all
mankind. God's saying to the whole, to
the whole human race, I'm not going to destroy the world again
by flood. And here's the proof. I'm going to put a bow in the
cloud, but The world doesn't care what God says. They don't
have an interest in the things of God. They're not drawn to
find out who Christ is and what these signs mean in relationship
to Him. This is for you and for me. This is for God's people. So
he says, I'll give you the token which I make between me and you
and every living creature that is with you for perpetual generations. I do set my bow in the cloud
and it shall be a sign, a token for a covenant between me and
the earth. And it shall come to pass when I bring a cloud
over the earth that the bow shall be seen in the cloud. And I will
remember my covenant. which is between me and you and
every living creature of all flesh, that the water shall no
more become a flood to destroy all flesh." Who's going to look
at the bow? God's going to look at it. He
said, I'm going to put my bow in the cloud, I'm going to look
at the bow, and I'm going to remember the covenant that I
have made with you. David said in Psalm 32 verse
six, for this shall everyone that is godly pray unto thee
in a time when thou mayest be found. So this prayer now is
a prayer that every child of God prays. Surely in the floods
of great waters, they shall not come nigh unto him. Save me, O God. For the waters
are come nigh unto my soul. I sink in deep mire where there
is no standing. I am come into deep waters and
the floods are about to overflow me. I know people say, well, God's
not going to put more on you than you can bear. Find that
in the scripture and showed it to me. God will put more on you than
you can bear. God never puts more on you than you can bear.
You'll never need him. And if he puts your sin on you, if he
puts your sin on you, the guilt, the shame, and the consequences
of your sin, you'll know that you have a burden that you cannot
bear. And you'll need a Savior. Yes, the circumstances that we
suffer in this world can be deep waters. They can be deep waters
and in them we have the covenant. We have the sign that God's given
us a bow. Do you know every rainbow that
you look at from standing upon the earth? If you could go straight
up above the clouds and look at that same rainbow would be
a complete circle. It would be a complete circle.
Every rainbow from above is a circle. We only see half of it. God sees
the whole thing. He sees it from eternity to eternity. A circle doesn't have a beginning
and it doesn't have an end. And so it is with God's covenant.
And he said, when I see the bow, I will remember the covenant
that I've made with you. That covenant goes from everlasting
to everlasting. I established it before time
ever began. I chose a people. I wrote their
names in the Lamb's Book of Life. I purposed the Lord Jesus Christ
to be that Lamb that would be slain, and He was slain in the
covenant of grace before the world ever began. God has never
seen any of His people outside of Christ. He said, I see the
bow. You only see a part of what I'm
doing. You see your experiences. You know when you first heard
the gospel. You know the struggles that you go through even now
to believe. You know the experiences that
you have with God, but it's just a little piece of it. God sees
the whole thing. And he's got it all figured out. When I see the bow, I'll remember
my covenant. I'll remember what I established
and how I'm going to finish what I started and how the Lord Jesus
Christ the sinless one, Emmanuel, the Messiah, the Christ, will
come into the world. And he'll fulfill the requirements
of that covenant. He'll satisfy the demands of
God's law. He'll put away your sin through
the sacrifice of himself on Calvary's cross. He'll raise from the dead
by the power of God. proving that what he accomplished
was pleasing to the Father. The resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ is God's evidence to us that the Lord Jesus Christ
succeeded. He accomplished what he came
to do. And he said, he ascended back
into glory. He ever lives to make intercession
for us. He seated, set your affections
on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of
God. He's making intercession for his people. He sees the bow. He sees the covenant. What do
we see? We just see a part of it. You
know, another amazing thing about the bow that God gave us is that
the outside ring of the rainbow is red and the inside ring of
the rainbow is indigo, purple. God said, when I see the blood,
I will pass by you. He's looking at the rainbow from
the outer rings in, isn't he? And we look from the inner rings
and what does he say? I'll make you to be royalty. I'll make you to be kings and
priests by virtue of your union with Christ. This is the token
that I've given to you. This is the road sign. to help
you to navigate whether it be through your providential circumstances
or whether it be through the salvation of your soul and the
forgiveness of your sin. Flee to Christ. God has made covenant promises. The waters will not overflow
you. Salvation, God calls it eternal
life. Eternal life. Eternal life doesn't
begin when you believe. Eternal life is God's life. Eternal
life never had a beginning. Eternal life never has an end.
Eternal life is that rainbow that God sees from a heavenly
perspective. Can't be broken. It's God's life. Genesis chapter 17, verse 9,
and God said unto Abraham, thou shalt keep my covenant. Therefore,
thou and thy seed after thee and their generations, this is
my covenant. which you shall keep between
me and you and thy seed after me, after thee. Every man child
among you shall be circumcised and you shall circumcise the
flesh of your foreskin and it shall be for a token, a token
of the covenant. Now the natural man can see the
rainbow. The natural man can see the results
of circumcision in the flesh. But he can't understand. He can't
understand the spiritual sign that God has given in circumcision. Turn with me to Philippians.
Well, let me just quote this verse and then we'll go to Colossians
chapter 2 if you want to be turning to Colossians chapter 2. In Philippians
the scripture says, we are the true circumcision of God, which
worship God in the spirit and have no confidence in the flesh. We're not looking for that circumcision
that has been done by the hands of men. We're looking for that
circumcision that is accomplished by the Spirit of God. Cutting
away the flesh. What does that mean? Cutting
away the flesh. Does that mean that I don't sin
anymore? No child of God does not mean that at all. All what
does it mean to be circumcised in the heart by the Spirit of
God? It's the sign It's the token
that God has given us to point us to Christ Colossians chapter
2 Let me get there And we'll begin reading in verse
9 for in him in the Lord Jesus Christ dwelleth the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. He is Emmanuel, God with us. He's the Christ. He's the anointed
one. He's the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. He said, if you've seen me, you've
seen the Father. And the only way you and I are
going to know God is in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
if we know God in Him, we'll be satisfied. That'll be sufficient. We won't be like Philip who said,
show us the Father and it sufficeth us. And you are complete in Him. By virtue of your union with
Christ, you're as perfect before God as is the Lord Jesus Christ. You're complete. Same way. Do you believe the Lord Jesus
Christ is the fullness of the Godhead bodily? The word complete
and fullness is the same word here. So that means that you're
the fullness of the Godhead. You're the fullness in Christ.
You are complete in him, which is the head of all principality
and power, in whom also you are circumcised with the circumcision
made without hands in putting off the body of the sins of the
flesh by the circumcision of Christ. What is it to have my
heart circumcised by the Spirit of God? buried with him in baptism, wherein
you are also risen with him through the faith and the operation of
God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you being dead
in your sins, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin. By the virtue of the new birth,
The old man is put to death. I made a statement last Sunday.
I said this old man, this flesh, is going to get what he deserves
one day when he dies. And I hope you understood the
meaning of that passage, of that comment. But in fact, in fact,
listen to this. He's already gotten what he deserves. He's already gotten what he deserves. When the Lord Jesus Christ died
bodily on Calvary's cross, the old man was put to death in Christ. What is it to be circumcised
in the heart? To have the old man cut away?
To have him seen for who he is? A dead man. I'm buried with Christ
in baptism. I've been raised to walk a new
life in Christ Jesus. Paul said, I'm crucified with
Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet it's
not I, but it's Christ that lives in me. The life that I now live,
I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and died
for me. The old man has already died.
You say, well he seems very much alive to me. Look to Christ. Believe what God has said. Reckon
yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin. Why? Because you are. You are, you're already dead.
The old man's already gotten what he deserves. Have you been
circumcised? Can you rejoice in that? Can
you say, Oh, thank the Lord. Amen. There's my hope. There's my hope. That's the only
hope I've got. If God sees me as I see me, I'm
in trouble. But if God sees me having died
in Christ, then that's who I really am. And what I see is a distortion. What God sees, I'm only looking
at part of the rainbow, God sees the whole thing. He sees the
whole thing. Have you been circumcised? Can
you believe that when Christ Jesus, the Lord, died on Calvary's
cross, that you, in fact, actually and truly died in Him? It's the only hope. You see,
that's what he's talking about. And you being dead in your sins,
and the circumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together
with him, having forgiven all your trespasses. All those sins
that haunt you. God says, I remember them no
more. I've separated them from you as far as the east is from
the west. Why? Because the death of the Lord
Jesus Christ put them away once and for all. Are you a sinner? You know, it amazes me how easy
the flesh can become addicted to anything. I mean, our babies
aren't a couple months old and they're already addicted to the
pacifier, aren't they? I mean, we can just get addicted to anything,
can't we? This flesh just gets drawn. And every person Every person
has a particular thing that bothers them more than anything else
in their flesh. Let me ask you a question. Suppose
for just a moment that whatever that is for you, God completely
took it away. Completely took it away. It never
even entered your mind again. You never thought of it. We're
just completely removed from you, from your experience. Would you be any better off than
you are right now? Would you? Would you be any more
savable than you are right now? Would you have any more claims
on the grace of God than you have right now? Would you? See, we think that way, don't
we? Boy, if I could just handle that, then everything would be
fine. If God's made you to be a sinner,
you know that everything about you in the presence of God is
sin. It's not just that problem. It's everything. And no, you
wouldn't be any better off. And you wouldn't be any more
savable. That's why you need and I need the Spirit of God
to perform heart surgery on us, circumcising us in the heart. That's the token. And when he
does, he's gonna kill the old man. And he's gonna be put to
death in Christ. Dead. Say, well, that's not my experience.
I'm not talking about your experience. I'm not talking about your experience.
I'm talking about the truth. I'm talking about what God says,
not what you feel, not what you think, not what you experience,
but what God says. Here's what God says. Verse 15. I'm sorry, verse 14, blotting
out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was
contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to the
cross. That's the law. He fulfilled
the law. He nailed it to the cross. And
having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of
them openly, triumphing over them in it. Bert, reckon yourself dead. Why? Because you are! You are! You're dead! But alive unto God through Jesus
Christ. He is our life. The old man's already got what
he deserves. Already got it. Death is not punishment. Not for the child of God. It
is deliverance. It's deliverance. That's what
our physical death that we're going to experience one day is
going to be our deliverance. Oh, we're not going to get through
all these. There's too many signs. Can you read the road signs?
Can you yet? Ed, bless his heart, he drives
us every Sunday to Sarasota. And sometimes he doesn't pay
attention to the signs. And we have to say, Ed, turn
here. Can you read the signs? The sign
is not Christ. The sign is not the destination.
The sign is pointing us to the destination. Exodus chapter 3. Verse 11, And Moses said unto
God, Who am I that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should
bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? Now, the Lord Jesus
Christ is speaking to Moses at the burning bush. That bush is
a picture of Christ. It was on fire, but it wasn't
being consumed. And so the Lord Jesus Christ,
when he hung on Calvary's cross, suffered the full fury of God's
fiery wrath, but he wasn't consumed. In fact, he consumed the fire.
He quenched the fire. And Moses is standing there talking
to God, and he says, Lord, how am I going to go? And God said, certainly I will
be with thee. And this shall be a token unto
thee. This will be your sign. that
I have sent thee. What's going to be the sign,
Lord? Give me a sign right now. When thou hast brought forth
the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God upon this mountain. What mountain was it Moses at?
He was at Sinai. The mountain that quaked with
fire and smoke. The mountain that threatened
to kill even an animal that touched it. And Moses returned back from
delivering the children of Israel. I will send a prophet like unto
thee. Moses certainly, yes, he's a
picture of the law, but he's a picture of Christ bringing
the children of Israel out of the bondage of the law. And he
brings them back to Sinai. And Moses goes up on the mountain
and he worships God without being destroyed by the law. That's
the sign. That's the sign. If you're trying
to worship God by the means of the law, then you haven't read
the sign. You haven't read the sign. You
missed it. I think I told you all this story
one time. My daughter and I, Jennifer, when I was a teenager,
we were out in the country in Alabama. We were flying down
this country road. Nobody was on the road. We passed a sign and I said,
we were talking and enjoying each other. I said, what did
that sign say? I don't know. Didn't read it. We passed another sign.
I said, what did that sign say? I don't know. Didn't read it.
We came to a screeching halt. There was nothing but a little
wooden barricade there at the edge of the Alabama River and
it was 300 feet at least straight down the cliff to the river.
And we stopped just in time. Turned around, went back, read
the signs. Bridge is out. Bridge is out, turn around. Isn't that the way most folks
are? They're just flying down the highway of life, and they're
not reading the signs. And if God doesn't stop you,
there's a precipice, and it's a whole lot deeper than 300 feet. Oh, read the signs. God said,
I'll give you a sign. This will be the sign. You'll
come back to this mountain. And when Moses came back to that
mountain, Moses said, oh Lord, show me thy glory. Had Moses
not seen the glory of God, he just saw the Lord speaking to
him audibly at the burning bush. He'd seen the 10 plagues in Egypt.
He'd seen the dividing of the Red Sea and the manna that came
from heaven. So many evidences of God's glory. And Moses said,
Lord, show me thy glory. And what'd the Lord do? He hid
Moses in the cleft of a rock, and he said, I will cause my
goodness to pass before you. If you're still trying to worship
God through your obedience to the law, you haven't read the
signs. You're passing right by the sign
that says you can't keep the law. It's like my Jewish friend
we were talking to, Trish and I were talking to her the other
day, and my heart broke for her. But I was also encouraged in
that she said, we know that when Messiah comes, that he's the
only one that's ever gonna be able to keep the law. We can't
keep it, but he'll keep it. You can't keep the law. Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness, but here's the thing about it,
you don't have to fear the law. The law's been silenced. Christ has
satisfied the demands of the law. Men are still trying to
worship God by the law. Well, if I'll perform this ceremony,
if I'll do this, if I'll stop doing that, if I'll... And then
they go back to the law. They said, well, we need to use
the law to monitor our progress to see how we're doing. Don't
go back to the law. Stand fast in the liberty where
with Christ has made you free. And don't be entangled again
with the yoke of bondage. The law, you can't serve the
law. Moses, God said, Moses, he'll
be your son. You're going to worship me on
this mountain, the mountain of the law. And you're not going
to be destroyed by the law, because I'm going to hide you in the
cleft of the rock. and I'm going to cause my goodness to pass
before you. And you're not going to see my face, but you're going
to see my backside. In other words, you're not going to know
where I'm going, but you're going to know where I've been. You're
going to know where I've been. And where I've been is to the
cross. Where I've been is to the grave. You're going to know what I accomplished
for you. so that there will be no condemnation to them who are
in Christ Jesus. The law is silenced. If you're found in Christ, the
law is God. Here's the sign. Can you worship
God apart from the law? Are you the true circumcision?
Which worship God in the spirit and have no confidence. No confidence
in the flesh. That's the only thing the law
does. It just builds up the flesh. Grace kills the flesh, the law
builds up the flesh. The gospel puts the flesh to
death. And the law only aggravates. The strength of sin is the law. You go back to the law, all you're
going to do is find yourself to be more lawless. And if it doesn't inspire anything
else, it'll inspire self-righteousness, which is the worst sin of all. Well, I had six of these, but
we're only going to do four. Exodus chapter 12. Exodus chapter 12. And we'll save the other two
for another day. Verse 11, and thus shall you
eat it with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and
your staff in your hand, and you shall eat it in haste. It
is the Lord's Passover. God's given to Moses the regulations of how to perform
the Passover. You remember the last of the
10 plagues, the death angel was coming through, was going to
kill the firstborn of every family. And the only hope they had was
to take a lamb and spill the blood of that lamb and put the
lamb on the doorpost and the lintels of the door and get in
the house and don't stick your little finger out the window.
Stay behind the blood. And when the death angel comes
through, you'll be safe. You'll be safe. What a picture
of Christ. For I will pass through the land
of Egypt this night and will smite all the firstborn of the
land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all the gods of Egypt
I will execute judgment. I am the Lord. You know there's
something right there that most folks don't believe, that there's
a day of reckoning. Most folks do not believe that
there's a God with whom they must do. And if they do believe
there is, they've lowered his glory down to where he's like
them and they're not afraid of him. There's a day of judgment that's
coming. And you're not gonna be able to reckon with God. You're
not gonna be able to present yourself, your righteousness,
your obedience. your sincerity, your prayer. You're not going to be able to
reckon yourself with God. What's the only hope? And the
blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are.
That's the word sign. And when I see the blood, I will
pass over you like the bow, like the bow in the sky. God said,
when I see it, I'll remember. The blood's a token for you.
You get behind the blood. Stay in the house. Don't come
out. It's the only place of refuge.
It's the ark. It's the only place of safety
to escape the judgment of God. And God says, when I see the
blood, not when I see your sincerity, not when I see your commitment,
not when I see your prayers or your efforts or your works, but
when I see the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, I will pass by
you. God says it's a token. Points
us to Christ. points us to Christ. All these
signs point wayward sinners who are trying desperately to navigate
themselves through this sinful world. It points them to the
Savior, the only one, the only one that can deliver them. Whether
it be the bow, whether it be circumcision, whether it be worshiping
God on the very mountain of the law without any threat of the
law. Or whether it be the Passover
lamb and the blood that he shed on Calvary's cross. Can you read
the signs? Can you? Let's pray. Our heavenly father,
we thank you for your mercies toward sinners. We ask, Lord,
that you would give us eyes to see and ears to hear. Enable
us to believe what you have declared. For we ask it in Christ's name.
Amen. Number 10 in the soft back tendon.
Number 10. Thank you. O Lord, my God, in mercy hear
my soul's most earnest plea. In everything and everywhere,
Lord, show me Thy glory. Your grace and goodness, Lord,
to men, in all your sovereignty. Your justice and your mercy,
too, Lord, show me thy glory. Your power and Your wisdom, Lord,
Your handiwork display. Creation holds my mind in awe. Lord, show me Thy glory. in all your works of providence,
in everything I see. The hand of my great Sovereign
God, Lord, show me thy glory. In the cleft of the rock I stand,
where mercy has put me. Now covered with your hand I
see, Lord, I see your glory. Yet still I hope for better sight
when risen in that day. Then face to face with Jesus
Christ, Lord, show me thy glory. We're going to enjoy a fellowship
meal together, and I hope that everybody will be able to stay.
If you didn't know we were having this today, please stay. It's
always a very encouraging time. So I'm going to ask Tom if he
would lead us in a word of prayer. We'll just get the ladies a few
minutes to set the tables, and we'll eat together. All right. Lord, Lord, you are our Savior. Lord, you've given us All there
is in your word to believe. Lord, we thank you for what you've
accomplished for us, for what you've so clearly put forth in
your word. Lord, cause us to believe. And
Lord, help thou our unbelief. Lord, we thank you for bringing
us here together today. Lord, we ask you to watch over
us this week and bring us back into your house to fellowship
with our brothers and sisters. Lord, to worship you. Lord, to
look forward to that day when we shall see Thee face to face.
Lord, cause us to fear, help with a godly fear, Lord, because
of Thy mercy. Lord, that causes us a godly
fear. Lord, we ask that You keep that
fear in our heart, that we would look to You for all our salvation. Lord, now we ask You to Watch
over us this hour while we enjoy each other's fellowship in this
food which your people have prepared, Lord. You've provided it to us.
Lord, bless us now in this time of fellowship. Lord, we ask all
these things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Thank you very much.