Well, it's just amazing how the Lord just ties sermons and meetings together with, I mean, the songs, the conversations, everything. It's just, we're in good hands. We're in much better hands than what we believe.

In Genesis 3, we had an ignorance about us. We didn't know we were naked, and yet we were naked. But it was an ignorance that was sustained in our innocence, wasn't it? We were sustained in relationship with our mighty God.

We just looked at it again in Jude 1. We're sanctified by God the Father. We're preserved in Jesus Christ and we're cool. But then when we fell, we remained ignorant, but it was through arrogance. the fleshly pride that caused us to reject our savior, the carnal greed that drove us to eat of the fruit. And when we ate of that tree, we were taking responsibility for our own lives and for our own standing before a holy God. We took, as it were, a set of blueprints, a set of instructions as to how to qualify or fit ourselves to stand in the presence of pure holiness. What a deception of Satan.

John 4.26, the Lord says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh under the Father but by me. And in the fall, we rejected Christ. He was the Lord God walking in the garden with us. We rejected him who is our life, our eternal life. We rejected him who is our spiritual life, and we all died spiritually.

Now we know that our bodies, once they're born, decay and decay and decay until we pass from this earth. But how dead is dead spiritually? Because dead is dead. We're slowly dying physically, but spiritually we were dead. Because no Christ, no life.

Now, there's a couple of kids up back there somewhere, and I reckon they know what dead means. You can't do anything if you're dead, and it's the same spiritually. People say you have to have faith. You can't have faith unless God gives it to you. You can't work for God unless God does the work in you. You're dead spiritually.

We're also blinded by the law in that. When we took of the knowledge of good and evil, we were blinded by the law, that strong delusion of two Thessalonians, to the veil that lies on our hearts and causes us to not be able to see Christ, 2 Corinthians 3.

So how blind were we? I'll give you an example of how blind. We took In our Father Adam, we took the greatest responsibility upon ourselves and we have absolutely no idea of what we're doing. We have no idea of how sinful we really are. We have no idea of the standard of righteousness that we've undertaken. And worse still, we have no idea that God alone in complete sovereignty has given all judgment into the hands of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, John 5.27. He is the judge over all.

We think that we can judge how and when we enter the presence of God. Men do, it's just natural. It's pride and it's arrogance, but we judge when and how we can enter the presence of God. But in our spiritual deadness, we fail to see that to enter God's presence, we must first be judged by the Lord Jesus Christ, judged according to his perfect, standard of righteousness.

In Hebrews 9.27, the Lord says, So everyone in this world has to make God in judgment. You either met him as Angus spoke to us earlier on at the cross, in Christ, one with Christ, being punished for sin in Christ. Or you meet him at the end and you stand alone and that punishment lasts for eternity.

Do you see how fallen man is? Do you see how helpless we are? Do you see just how much in need of grace we really are? Turn in your Bibles to Ezekiel 16 and as you turn I'm just going to keep reading Scriptures. This is the Word of God and they're very clear and they're very simple and they declare the true state of every one of us in our flesh, naturally, every one of us.

Genesis 6.5 says, God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart, now listen to this, was only evil continually. Can men do any good? Not according to God.

Jeremiah 30 verse 12, for thus saith the Lord, thy bruise, that's our sinful condition, is incurable, and thy wound is grievous.

Isaiah 64.6, and we do use it a lot, but it's very good for us to use it. It says, but we are all, all humanity, as an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses, all the things that we think are good about ourselves, every single thing that we think is good about ourselves, are as filthy rags in the eyes of God. And we all do fade as a leaf and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away.

Do you know why we do sin? because we are sin. People think sin's just something you do. We do sin because we are sin, and you know what? We can't actually do anything but sin. Everything we bring before the Lord is defiled by our hands.

Romans 8, verses seven and eight says, because the carnal mind, the fleshly mind, is enmity. against God. It's an enemy of God. It rebels aggressively against him. And why? For it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. Now that's the Lord speaking. That's not my words. That's just God stating something plainly. And he goes on to say, so then they that are in the flesh, cannot please God.

You think it's simple, don't you? It sounds simple. Romans 3 verses 10 to 18. They say there is none righteous, no, not one. This is a summary of all humanity. There is none that understandeth. Remember that spiritual blindness? There was none. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good. No, not one. Just in case you thought of someone. Their throat is an open sepulchre, a grave. With their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of asps 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 they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. They don't know him. They haven't met him. When they meet him, it's a different story.

You see, we're dead spiritually, and there's just not a thing we can do about it. Not one thing. Men will tell you you can do a whole heap about it. Religion will tell you even more. God says there's not one thing you can do about it. He must create a new life. It's the only way of salvation. We must be born again from above, John 3. We need to be quickened, brought to life spiritually by God the Holy Spirit, Ephesians 2.

And in Jude, Angus read about being sanctified in God the Father. God has given us an everlasting covenant, and he's given it to us in so many places, in so many ways. He's even declared his own son, the Lord Jesus Christ, is that covenant.

I just want to read you a couple of promises that God gives us in the everlasting covenant, and then we'll read Ezekiel 16. He says in Jeremiah 31 verses 33 and 34, I will put my law in their inward parts. You see, that's an internal work of God. and write it on their hearts and will be their God and they shall be my people." There's union. There's a promise of union from a God who can't lie and never fails.

And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord. That's what the law teaches. Do this and get to know God. Do this and get in relation. Have God be pleased with you. Do something and get a response from God. We're not teaching that. God doesn't teach that.

Why? For they all shall know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord. And on what basis? For I will forgive their iniquity, and I'll remember their sin no more.

And Ezekiel 36, and I just wanna, I'm just really trying to get a point across to you. Ezekiel 36 verses 25 to 27, The Lord speaking about this same covenant says, And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh. And listen to this, and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you shall keep my judgments and do them. What incredible promises. That's the grace that Angus has been talking about this morning.

All right, so let's read Ezekiel 16. I just want to read from verse eight down to 14. And I just wanted to see how our great God describes this amazing creative work of salvation in his people. He says, now when I passed by thee and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love. The time when God comes in that calling that we read about. And I spread my skirt over thee and covered thy nakedness. Yea, I swear unto thee and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God. And thou becamest mine. How amazing is that?

Then I washed thee with water, yea, I thoroughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil. And these are spiritual descriptions of gospel blessings. I clothed thee also with broided work, and shoved thee with badger skin. I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk. I decked also thee with ornaments, and I put bracelets on thy hands, and a chain upon thy neck. And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head. Thus was thou decked with gold and silver, and thy raiment was of fine linen and silk, and bright it were. Thou didst eat fine flour and honey and oil, gospel food again. And thou was exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom. That's the church of God, New Jerusalem. And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty, for it was perfect, listen to this, it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God.

Galatians 1, verses 15 and 16, Angus read last week, but when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace to do something. It was God's sorrow and time, but he revealed his son, Christ Jesus, in Paul. That's how he reveals himself to his people when he comes to them. This is an internal work, a creative work.

Alright, turn in your Bibles to John 7 and I'll just keep reading some scripture as we go while you get there. So this is salvation, it's new life created within us. It's spiritual life implanted into us. It's Christ in us, the hope of glory, Colossians 1. It's a new life that can now be in direct relationship with our holy God. 2 Corinthians 5.17 says, Remember that blindness at the start. Now we look at things through the lens of the gospel. God's our teacher. In 1 John 3 says, This new creature is born of God. Colossians 3 says it's like putting on the new man, which is renewed, again this blindness that we're talking about, renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. God, we just read it in 1 John 3. 2 Corinthians 4 says that this inward man is renewed day by day.

God doesn't leave his children at birth. He renews us day by day by his presence, his visitations. And in John 6, 45, he says, they shall all, and he's quoted this morning, they shall all be taught of God. Our eyes are being enlightened in salvation. We were blinded in the fall and we were ignorant of the extent of our sin, ignorant of the true standard of righteousness, and ignorant that judgment is in the hands of God alone.

Salvation comes to us through the power of the gospel as God the Holy Spirit attends this testimony with his power, impressing it upon our hearts, impressing gospel truths upon our hearts. And this is how God works in people. He motivates them internally. He gives them new priorities. He gives them priorities that mean so much more than the things of this world. And he drives them. And sometimes, as Angus was saying, drives them into battle for the gospel.

So this begins with the work of God in the hearts of people, and in John 16, verses seven and eight, he says, nevertheless, I tell you the truth, this is the Lord Jesus speaking, it is expedient for you that I go away. He was comforting his people, and he said, for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart, oh, sorry, I will send him to you. And when he has come, he will reprove the world of sin." Reprove means to convince, to convict. It's actually a deeper thing. It's to convict in the heart. He'll reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment.

Do you see now, now that our eyes are open, open to the truth, we see that we're hopeless, helpless sinners in an absolutely desperate need of saving grace. We see that now. We see that the only true source of perfect righteousness is wrapped up in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we see that God rules and reigns over all things and especially the salvation of men. You can read about it in Romans 9. And in Philippians 1, he says, he begins the work and then he completes it.

And as I said, the Lord doesn't leave us as babes in the woods on our own. He continues to work and God the Holy Spirit continues to draw near to his people. He continues to teach them and to grow them. And what is he growing them in? Is it moral obedience? The Lord's fulfilled that on our behalf. He's growing us in the faith that receives him. Everything in this world, in one way or another, every trial is to grow us down and dependent. So we rest on him.

And thankfully this is a connection that happens day in and day out in their lives as we pass through this world. This is what sanctification is, being sustained in salvation. Salvation is a daily, hourly, momentary operation. It never stops, and it'll run right into eternity. We saw it started before this world began. It is a continued work of a triune God, and it's a work of God on a new man created within us.

It's God in union with his people right now in this world. Right now in this world. It's him drawing near to his people. It's him communing with them. It's him continuously sustaining them in grace. And all of it, Every part of it is based on the merits of our Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ. So in John 17, and I'm sorry I took a bit of a way to get there, but I just want to read a few verses. The first three verses to begin. These words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son, that thy son may glorify thee. as thou has given him power over all flesh, there's sovereignty, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou has given him. And we've just read how he does it. And this is eternal life, that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ to whom thou hast sent.

Intimate union. God speaks about it everywhere. And just to talk about it and clarify it and just have a bit of a closer look at just how close this union is, just look down to verse 20 of John 17. This is how close this union is of God and his people. The Lord says, neither pray I for these alone, but for all them, that's the apostles, all them also which shall believe on me through their word. So all believers, all believers, he prays for them that they all may be one as, that word means just as, thou Father art in me and I in thee. How close is the Savior and his Father? that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them, that they may be one." Again, this word has, even as we are one. I can't explain it. But God said it, and it's true. I in them and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that thou has sent me and has loved them, and here's another as, as thou has loved me. How loved are the believers? How loved is the Lord Jesus Christ? How perfect are believers? How perfect is the Lord Jesus Christ? How accepted, how united.

Men are always trying to work their way into God's presence. It's a natural condition of ours. And as they do it, they deny Christ, the only provision of God. Just as we all did in the garden. Men are always thinking that a little more wisdom, and a little more effort, and God will finally be pleased with us. We're sinners. We're dead sinners, and we can't do a thing about it.

How do we grow in this life? These are probably my favorite verses, 2 Corinthians 3, verses 17 and 18, and I don't have a problem reading them to you again. It says, now the Lord is that spirit. And where the spirit of the Lord is, where is we? We just saw God puts him in us. Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. We're free in Christ. We're free from the law. We're free from bondage. We're free from having to defend ourselves. We're free from having to work. We're free from condemnation. We're free in relationship with our God. And then he says in verse 18, but we all with open face beholding as in a glass, as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord. So get this, we're looking at the scriptures, this is spiritual, we're looking at the scriptures and we're seeing Christ in us, the hope of glory. And as we stare at that, As we relish in it, as we embrace it, as the Lord causes us to embrace it, we are changed, it says there, into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. That's a work of God. We've just been reading about it. This isn't the only place. that we've read about it this morning. This is what God declares is the way he saves his people, the way he restores relationship with them, restores union.

All right, just turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 11 and we'll, we have to finish up on that. But what I've tried to show you this morning is salvation is of the Lord, that's Jonah 2. And that word of, as Angus keeps telling us, is origin. Any true salvation is of, it comes from the Lord. We can't produce it. It requires a creative work of God within us. God has to then sustain that life through union with himself in the Lord Jesus Christ by the power of God, the Holy Spirit. And this process that happens in God's time and in his ways, it's personal and it's different for each individual, but there is one thing common. It's something that none of us can do for ourselves.

But when God does create life in us, the scriptures then direct us to be baptized. And baptism in a church is just a simple public ceremony that declares this same union that we've been talking about this morning. It declares that a person is one with Christ in his life, in his death, in his burial, and in his resurrection. It's a declaration of union with him. It's a public declaration, but it's of a private experience of a union with God in Christ Jesus based on Christ's merits.

And Colossians says, as he began, which is by faith, so walk in him. And so communion, it's no different than baptism. We do it publicly. But it's a very private and personal remembrance of the saving grace that we have through our intimate union with our Lord daily. Both are a gospel witness. Both are the praises of saved believers. Praises to the glory of God. It's the fruit of our lips that God creates. And this is just more of them.

What do you think we'll be doing in eternity? Revelation 5, and they sang a new song saying, We're celebrating communion, aren't we? All right, 1 Corinthians 11, reading from verse 23. I would recommend everyone, anyone who wants to take communion for the first time, to read this passage before they do. And I recommend you read it regularly, even if you do communion, because it's amazing to be reminded. It is about remembrance. of a real circumstance. He says, for I have received of the Lord, this is Paul implementing it with the church. I have received of the Lord that which I also delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread and when he had given thanks, he break it and said, take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.

It's private. It's a private experience that we're remembering as we take this. After the same manner also, he took the cup when he had supped, saying, this is the cup. Sorry, sorry, this is the cup, the New Testament in my blood. This do ye as oft as ye drink it. Again, in remembrance of me, again, private. Now watch this, for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show. So while it is private, it's still a public declaration of the gospel. It's just private when someone has met the Lord. We show the Lord's death until he comes. We show the gospel, the gospel that we're declaring here.

We began, just one last thing in this talking about an ignorance, an ignorance in innocence, and then an ignorance through arrogance. There's one more ignorant that I need to deal with, and Adam and Eve were ignorant of the wonders of salvation, of the lengths that their God would go to to save them, to shield them, to protect them, and to restore them to union with our Father in heaven. And that's why I read Revelation 5, because that's the song. It's the same gospel we're singing now, but it's a song of awareness, not of ignorance. People can ask why there was a fall, and why there's sin, and why there's trials. I think it's the answer to this one. to bring us to God.

And now we have an open understanding of just how far God goes in his love of his people. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we do thank you and we pray that as we come into communion that you would just guide your people and guide and direct us and cause us to either feel or see the gospel declared here in this. Cause us as we go from here this week to just grow, just please work in our hearts, work throughout our lives and direct us and hedge us and whatever's necessary, bring us to yourself, Heavenly Father.

And I pray you just strengthen us again and again and again in our Lord Jesus Christ by the power of your Holy Spirit, your great right hand. We thank you, Father, that no one will stay your hand and nothing will stop your salvation. And we thank you that it is wrapped up in heaven in such a safe and secure place.

Father, cause us to rejoice in our Saviour as we leave. We pray in his name and always for your glory's sake.