Those of you that are from the
north country will be happy to know that you can write home
and tell them we had to turn the air conditioning on. I just
turned it on. As cool as it is outside, all
these 98.6 is in here. We had to turn AC on. So we're
so glad you're here. We've been looking forward to
this weekend. And we've been praying that the Lord would be
pleased to bless his word to our hearts. And that's our prayer
for you and for us. So good to have Gabe and Hannah
from Tennessee, Isabella and Sophie. I guess Sophie's in the
nursery. What a blessing it is. They're
dear friends of ours and been so looking forward to having
time with them and the messages that the Lord's put on Gabe's
heart to bring to us. Joe and Bonnie Terrell are here
somewhere. There they are back there from
Iowa. Joe will be preaching. It's been
such a blessing to me over the years to have you preach to me,
brother. And I'm looking forward to this
weekend. So thank you all for coming. Let me ask you to take your Bibles
and turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Preaching. Preaching is the means
that God has pleased to use to reveal Christ to the hearts of
his people. Sometimes people might say, don't
preach to me. God's people want to be preached
to. They want to be shut up to Christ, and that's what preaching
is. Gives them no options, no wiggle room, no place else to
go, but to look to Christ alone. And I'm confident that these
two brothers will preach Christ to us in such a way that we'll
have no place else to go but to Christ. And what a blessing
it will be if the Lord shuts us up to Christ through the preaching
of his word. You have your Bibles open to
1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 17. Verse 17, for Christ sent
me not to baptize. Now he's not saying that baptism
is unimportant. He's just saying that what the
Lord called him to do was to preach the gospel. But to preach,
to preach the gospel, the good news, The good news of the accomplished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ, having put away the sins of his
people once and for all, establishing righteousness before God for
the elect. And we're so, so blessed for
that. God's people want to hear the
good news. Sinners rejoice in hearing that
there's a salvation that's finished, finished. That's the gospel.
Not with the wisdom of words. We're not here to tell stories.
We're not here to tickle people's ears. We're not here to entertain
folks. We're here to preach the gospel from the word of God.
And I'm confident these men are going to rely upon God's word.
It's God's word that he uses to speak to the hearts of his
people. So he says, not with the wisdom of words, lest the
cross of Christ shall be made of none effect. If we start using
human wisdom and worldly understanding, we'll rob Christ of His glory
in His salvation, and that's the last thing in the world we
want to do. So, we'll read some more from that passage in just
a moment. Tom's gonna come and lead us in hymn, the one on the
back of your handout. There's a Manila handout, I think.
What's the name of the hymn? Tom, you come, please. Let's
stand together, please. We'll refer to these as a bulletin,
and we'll occasionally use these light blue ones. We call this
the Hymns of Grace handout. So we'll open with the hymn on
the back of your bulletin. And a reminder, if anybody's
got their phone, make sure it's on silent, please. Still have your Bibles open to
1 Corinthians? Chapter 1, verse 18, for the
preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. But unto us which are saved,
the preaching of the cross is the power of God. Paul said,
I'm not ashamed of the gospel. It is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth. For it is written, I will destroy
the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding
of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? God's people know that the world
doesn't have the answer to our problem. It's only to be found
in the word of God and in the person of Christ. For after that
in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign.
The religious, they want an outward evidence. The Greeks seek after
wisdom. They want intellectualism. But
we preach Christ, crucified, successfully crucified. Unto
the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness.
But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ,
the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness
of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger
than men. For you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise
men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called.
But God has chosen the foolish things of the world. to confound
the wise. God has chosen the weak things
of the world to confound the things that are mighty. You got
that? God's chosen those things that
are foolish, those things that are weak, those things that are
not. Do you fit that category? the base things of the world,
the things that are despised hath God chosen, yea, the things
which are not, in order to bring to naught those that are, that
no flesh should glory in his presence. One of the ways we
can tell if Christ is being preached is who gets the glory. Who gets
the glory? If Christ is getting all the
glory for salvation, that's the gospel. No flesh should glory
in his presence. But of him, of God, are you in
Christ? If we're to be in Christ, God's
gonna have to put us there. But of him are you in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made unto us. He's all our wisdom, he's
all our righteousness, he's all our holiness or sanctification,
and he's all our redemption. That according as it is written,
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. God be pleased to
add his blessings to the reading of his word. Let's bow and ask
his blessings on this service. Our Heavenly Father, we ask that you would send your
Holy Spirit in power to enlighten the eyes of our understanding
cause us, Lord, to set our affections on things above. We pray that
you would turn us, Lord, that we might be turned. We pray that
you would make Christ known to our hearts and that we would
find in him all our wisdom, all our righteousness, all our redemption,
all our sanctification, that we would find the Lord Jesus
Christ to be our all in all, that he might receive all the
glory, all the praise, and all the honor for truly he alone
is worthy. We ask, Lord, that you would
lift him up and cause us to be drawn to him. As Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, we pray for Gabe and for for
Joe and we ask Lord that you would just enable them to speak
of Christ and enable us to hear and to look and to be saved. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Number 15 in the blue handout.
So let's stand together for one more hymn and then Gabe is going
to come and preach for us. Number 15 in the Hymns of Grace
handout. Good evening. Great privilege to be here. I've met most of this congregation
over the years and you're my brothers and sisters and I love
this reunion. I really do. I'm thankful for
this church and I'm so thankful for Brother Greg. I'm thankful
for the men who have been preaching the truth I'm thankful that God
revealed it to me. I really am. I'm thankful for
Brother Joe and Brother Norm. I'm honored to be here. Thank
you. Turn with me, if you would, to 2 Samuel chapter 11. 2 Samuel chapter 11. One of these days, if I'm one of God's elect, if God the Father has chosen
me, and if He's put me in His Son, One of these days, I'm going
to get to see my Lord. I'm going to get to actually
see Him. Job said, with these eyes, I'm going to get to see
Him. One of these days, I am going
to get to actually touch His scars. Can you imagine that? Hearing about it all our lives,
going through this earth, And one day, there they are, I'm going to get to touch his
side and hug my Lord. One of these days, I'm going
to get to see his eyes, see what color they are. I'm going to get to hear His
voice, the actual tone of His voice. That would be amazing.
I cannot wait to hear the tone of His voice. I can't wait. With my Lord, along with my Lord,
because of my Lord, in Him, There are many of our brethren that
I'm looking forward to meeting. Our precious brethren. We love
each other, don't we? Sitting down and talking to them
and telling how much I love them and thank God for them and the
things that He caused them to go through for my benefit. When the Lord brings all of His
people home to His kingdom, New Jerusalem, the city of God. We're
going to know everybody there. Every single person there. There
will not be one introduction. Not one. We're going to know
as we have been known. We're going to know them. They're
going to know us. That blows my mind. Not only will we be seeking their
company, they're going to be seeking ours. Could you imagine Ruth running
up to you and saying, our Lord is about to preach, let's go
sit together. And we all sit down and the pastor,
our pastor, the Lord Jesus Christ, stands up behind the pulpit.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is everything. He is glory. He's our hope, our desire, He's
everything. I cannot wait to see Him in His
kingdom. And in Him, because of Him, one
of my brothers specifically that I'm looking forward to meeting
is David. My dear brother David. I'm looking
forward to sitting down and just talking with him. What a blessed man by God David
was. He was a sweet and tender man. David was a songwriter, a poet. He was a wonderful musician,
played the sweetest music for the king. David was also a mighty man of
war. David killed a lion and a bear
with his bare hands. He said, that lion came in and
took a lamb and I went after him. I grabbed him by his beard
and I slew him. Can you imagine that? What a
man. David walked straight up to the
face of a giant named Goliath with nothing but a sling and
a stone, and he killed him. A courageous man of war. He was chosen by God out from
among his brethren. When David walked in, the Lord
God said, Arise, anoint him. This is he. This is the one. He was made to be king and David
was a good king. All who were in debt could come
to David and he forgave it all. Every bit of it. The promise of his seed was made
to him. The Lord God told him, in your
line, in your direct line, I'm going to send the one who will
establish the throne of his kingdom forever. And that's the Lord Jesus Christ. How blessed of God David was.
Blessed. Spiritually speaking, David was
a wonderful representative of our Lord and Savior. The sweet
psalmist. the prince of peace, a man of war, the king of kings,
spiritually a wonderful representative. But physically, David was just
a man just like you and me. Just a man. Now look at 2 Samuel
chapter 11 and let's read beginning with verse 1. And it came to pass, after the
year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle,
that David sent Joab and his servants with him in all Israel,
and they destroyed the children of Ammon and besieged Rabbah,
but David tarried still at Jerusalem. And it came to pass in an evening
tide that David arose from off his bed and walked upon the roof
of the king's house. And from the roof he saw a woman
washing herself, and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.
And David sent and inquired after the woman. And one said, Is not
this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam? the wife of Uriah the
Hittite. And David sent messengers and
took her, and she came in unto him, and he lay with her, for
she was purified from her uncleanness." Or that reads, and when she had
purified herself from her uncleanness, she returned unto her house,
and the woman conceived and sent and told David and said, I am
with child. Now we all know what just happened,
don't we? We all know what just happened.
We all know what David just did. Verse 6, And David sent to Joab,
saying, Send me Uriah. That's Bathsheba's husband. Send
me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David. And when Uriah was coming to
him, And David demanded of him how Joab did, and how the people
did, and how the war prospered. And David said to Uriah, Go down
to thy house and wash thy feet. And Uriah departed out of the
king's house, and there followed him a mess of meat from the king.
But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the
servants of his lord, and went not down to his house. And when
they had told David, saying, Uriah went not down unto his
house, David said unto Uriah, Camest thou not from thy journey?
Why then didst thou not go down unto thine house? And Uriah said
unto David, The ark and Israel and Judah abide in tents. And
my Lord Joab and the servants of my Lord are encamped in the
open fields. Shall I then go into mine house
to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? As thou livest
and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing. Then David
said to Uriah, Tarry here today also, and tomorrow I will let
thee depart. So Uriah abode in Jerusalem that
day and tomorrow. David is trying to get Uriah
to go home so David can get himself out of trouble. Verse 13 says, And when David
had called him, he did eat and drink before him, and he made
him drunk. And at even he went out to lie
on his bed with the servants of his lord, but went not down
to his house. And it came to pass in the morning
that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand
of Uriah. Uriah had to bring this letter.
And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah in the forefront
of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten
and die. And it came to pass when Joab
observed the city that he assigned Uriah unto a place where he knew
that valiant men were. And the men of the city went
out and fought with Joab, and there fell some of the people,
and of the servants of David, and Uriah the Hittite died also." So now David's had the man killed. Verse 26 says, And when the wife of Uriah heard
that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband.
And when the morning was passed, David sent and fetched her to
his house, and she became his wife and bare him a son. But the thing that David had
done displeased the Lord." Man at his best state. is altogether vanity. You know
that? Man at his best state. Altogether vanity. The best men on earth are vile
creatures in the eyes of God. Vile, vile, sinful, wicked creatures. in the eyes of God. Even though
it says the thing that David had done displeased the Lord,
it didn't displease David. Not at all. He wasn't broken
by it. Not at all. Hold your place right
here in 2 Samuel and go with me to Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1, look at verse
29. Being filled with all unrighteousness,
fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy,
murder, debate, Deceit. Malignity. Whisperers. That's David. That's David. We read Romans 1 and think, boy,
that's talking about the evil of this world. That's my brother
David. Look at verse 32. Who knowing
the judgment of God. Knowing. that they which commit
such things are worthy of death. Not only do the same, but have
pleasure in them that do them. That's David. That's David. Back over in 2 Samuel chapter
11. When Joab obeyed David, And had
Uriah killed, he sent a messenger to tell David. 2 Samuel 11 verse 22 says, So the
messenger went and came and showed David all that Joab had sent
him for. And the messenger said unto David,
Surely the men prevailed against us, came out unto us in the field,
and we were upon them even unto the entering of the gate. And
the shooters shot from off the wall upon thy servants, and some
of the king's servants be dead, and thy servant Uriah the Hittite
is dead also. Then David said unto the messenger,
Thus shalt thou say unto Joab, Let not this thing displease
thee. Don't let it displease you. Don't
be disheartened by that. For the sword devoureth one as
well as another. Make thy battle more strong against
the city, and overthrow it, and encourage thou him. Encourage him. David was pleased. pleased that Uriah, his faithful,
faithful servant, was dead. This heart is deceitful above
all things, and it is desperately wicked. Desperately wicked. Had the Lord God not made a promise
to David, and if he had left David right here, David would
have died in his sins. He would have died in his sins.
But God. God had mercy on David. And you know what he did? He
sent the truth to David. The truth. And guess what? He sent the truth to me too.
And one day he sent the truth to you too. And to you too. And one day, you heard the truth. The truth came. Look at chapter
12, verse 1. It says, And the Lord sent Nathan
unto David. Aren't you glad you can say,
And the Lord sent Greg unto Bert? Really? Verse 1 says, And he
came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one
city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had exceeding
many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing save one
little ewe lamb, which he brought up and nourished up, and it grew
up together with him and with his children. It did eat of his
own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and
was unto him as a daughter, this little lamb. Verse 4 says, And
there came a traveler unto the rich man, and he spared to take
of his own flock, and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring
man that was come unto him, but took the poor man's lamb. and
dressed it for the man that was come to him. And David's anger
was greatly kindled against the man. And he said to Nathan, As
the Lord liveth, the man that has done this thing shall surely
die. And he shall restore the lamb
fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no
pity. And Nathan said to David, Thou
art the man. Thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel,
I anointed thee king over Israel. And I delivered thee out of the
hand of Saul, and I gave thee thy master's house and thy master's
wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and
of Judah. And if that had been too little,
I would moreover have given them to thee such and such things.
Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord to
do evil in his sight? Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite
with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and
hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. God's word, which is sharper
than any two-edged sword, says to every single sinner,
Thou art the man. Every single sinner. When the
Lord God sends His word and pierces the heart, the first thing they
realize is, I'm the man. I'm the man. I am the man. I am the man. I look at my brother David's
sin and I see my own. I see my own. I am no better than my brother
David. Not one bit. David was vile and wretched and
so am I. David deserved death. That's
all. There was no excuse for what
he did. He had it all. No excuse for
what he did. He deserved death. And so do
I. So do I. How could God be merciful to
my brother David after that? Really? How could God be merciful
to David? How could God be merciful to
me? I'm no better than he is. I'll
tell you how. This is how. This is the gospel. This is how. Our Lord Jesus Christ became
my brother David. And he suffered for that sin. He suffered and He suffered for
that sin that we just read about. That sin. God punished Christ for that
sin we just read about. Oh, He suffered for that. Here is my only hope. Here is
my only hope. is that our Lord Jesus Christ
became me. And that He suffered for everything
I've done. Everything that I am. If Christ took His place, if
He suffered for that sin, if He was going to pay that debt,
why would the Lord allow all that to happen to David? Why
did He have to go through all that? If Christ took His penalty, took
His punishment, why did He have to go through all that? God could have kept Him from
all that sin. He could have kept Him from all
that heartache. Why would He allow that to happen
to Him? Why? Go with me over to Psalm 51 and
we'll find out. Under the chapter title, there's
a little heading right there, and this is what it says. To
the chief musician, a psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet
came unto him after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Verse 1 says,
Have mercy upon me, O God. Have mercy upon me, O God. Have mercy upon me. The Lord allowed him to see his
own sin so he could cry out for mercy.
That's the reason. He saw his own sin so he could
cry out for mercy. Verse 1 says, According to thy
loving kindness. The Lord allowed David to see
his own hateful cruelty. So he would cry out for God's
loving kindness. Verse 1 says, According unto
the multitude of thy tender mercies. David had to see the multitude
of his hard, pitiless ways before he could see the multitude of
God's tender mercies. He said in verse 1, blot out
my transgressions. I must see my sin before Jesus
Christ will show me his blood. that blots out my transgressions.
You know that? I must see my sin first. Verse 2 says, Wash me throughly
from mine iniquity. If it's the blood of Christ that
cleanses me from my sin, wash me throughly from mine iniquity and cleanse
me from my sin. Is that possible? Is that possible? Is it possible for a sinner as
bad as David to be washed throughly from his iniquity and cleansed
from his sin? Really? Is that possible? Thanks be to
God. With God, all things are possible. In Christ, In the blood of Christ,
all things are possible. Actually, they're not only possible,
they are ordered and sure. Verse 3, David said, I acknowledge
my transgressions. We might as well. God sees them anyway. There's nowhere to hide from
God. When we were young, we thought
there was. There's not. There's nowhere to hide. Verse 3, David said, My sin is
ever before me. A person can be confident, absolutely
confident. A person can know for certainty
that all they've gotten a hold of is religion. We just show
up to church and do our moral duty and pay our money and hug
our neighbors and a person can be confident that all he's gotten
a hold of is religion. When all he sees are everybody
else's sins. Your sins are ever before me. But when Jesus Christ gets a
hold of a sinner, really gets a hold of a sinner, and says
straight to his heart, Thou art the man, that sinner cries, I acknowledge
my transgressions. My sin is ever before me. I see now I'm the chief. I'm
the worst. You're all actually better than
me. Every time I point it, it comes right back here. Verse 4, He said, Against thee,
thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. I've
sinned against God. I've sinned against God. A true
sinner who sees God's holiness, sees God's righteousness, Sees
His purity and sees His Son. Sees His Son. That Lamb. That Lamb that was slain. For
me. A true sinner is going to say,
verse 4, Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned and done this evil
in Thy sight. that thou mightest be justified
when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest." Lord, whatever
you do is right. Whatever you do with me is right.
It's right. You are justified when you speak. And you're clear when you judge.
Me. Me. Lord, I stand before you
a guilty and convicted man. God be merciful to me, a sinner. God be merciful to me. Turn with
me over to 1 John 1. 1 John 1 verse 8 says, If we say
that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not
in us. If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. Is that not wonderful? He is
faithful. If we confess our sins, He is
faithful. And just to forgive us. Forgive
us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Had that
happened in Him, He became me. The things I've done, the sin
I am, He became me. And He suffered
for those. Oh, He suffered for those. And
in Him, I'm forgiven. Free. He washed us from our sins in
His own blood. That's the best news a sinner
will ever hear in his life. That really is. That is the best
news a sinner will ever hear. It never gets any better than
that. There's never anything greater
to tell than that. Free from the law. Free. How often do you think a lifetime
prisoner who's been set free for whatever reason gets tired
of hearing, you're a free man? You're free. All that sin has been plunged
in the blood. Look at 1 John 2 verse 1. It
says, My little children, these things write I unto you, that
you sin not. And if any man sin, we have an
advocate with the Father. That's called good news. Jesus
Christ the righteous. Has any man sinned? Has any woman sinned? You have
an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He
is the mercy of God. He is the mercy of God. Have
mercy on me. In Christ, God will have mercy
on me. He will. Let's close by looking at 2 Samuel
12 one more time. 2 Samuel 12. 2 Samuel 12 verse 13 says, And
David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord, And
Nathan said unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin. Nathan said, Thou art the man. And as soon as David confessed
to the Lord, Nathan said unto David, The Lord also hath put
away thy sin. Thou shalt not die. You're not going to die. Because
of Christ. That's why. Our God is a God
ready to pardon. Isn't that good news? Ready to
pardon. Gracious and merciful. Slow to anger. Aren't you glad? He does not have a short fuse.
Slow to anger. and of great kindness." Great
kindness. Does that give us reason to sin? God forbid. Look at verse 14. It says, "'Howbeit, because by
this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the
Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall
surely die.'" David was excused from the punishment. But he was not excused from the
pain. He wasn't. I am a sinner just like my brother
David. I have sinned against God just
like my brother David. That pains me. It pains me. But thanks be to God, I shall
not die. In Christ I shall not die. He died for me. And I shall not
die. May God be merciful to me. May
God be merciful to you. May He according to His loving
kindness and tender mercies blot out our transgressions. That's
our only hope. That's our only hope is that
He would blot out my transgressions. That truth came to David. But you know what that truth
did? It hurt him, it cut him, it stabbed him. But do you know
what the truth did? It set him free. It set him free. May Christ set us free. I hope
the Lord will bless His Word. Let's all stand together and
we'll sing the numbers.