We rest on thee, our shield and
our defender, thine is the battle, thine shall be the praise. Well,
that's almost a summary of what the council at Jerusalem is all
about, so turning your scriptures to Acts chapter 15. We're looking this morning at
this remarkable words of James. James, not the Apostle James. He had lost his head some years
before this, but this is James, the Lord's brother, and he was
the head of the church in Jerusalem, as you will read in other passages
of scripture. But at this Jerusalem council,
Peter had declared the gospel. Paul and Barnabas had declared
the gospel. They all just talk about what
God had done. And after that held their peace, James answered,
saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me, verse 13. Simeon has
declared, Howard, God did first visit the Gentiles to take out
of them a people for his name. And to this agree the words of
the prophets, as it is written, after this I will return and
will build again the tabernacle of David which is fallen down.
Again, the ruins thereof, and I will set it up, and you'll
set it up with a purpose, that the residue of men, that word
residue is the remnant, the remnant of men. might seek after the
Lord, and all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called, saith
the Lord, who doeth all these things, known unto God, are all
his works from the beginning of the world. This is the conclusion
to the Jerusalem Council. They then write a letter. But
this is the end of the first and only council of the apostles
in all of the scriptures. And there is no need for them
to meet again. There's no need for them to meet
again. The issue has been out. Out in the open, the issue has
been clear. The apostles have spoken. God
has spoken. And he doesn't need to say anymore.
And as you go through even books like the book of James, which
troubles people, and as you read other things in the scriptures,
it's really good to go back and rehearse these amazing words
to your memory again and again. And I trust for the Lord's people,
it will cause you to find him a great source of comfort and
rejoicing. It's talking about, in verse
14, he visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for
his name. There is a chosen people visited
by God. Peter went to them in Antioch,
Paul and Barnabas went to them in Cyprus, in Galatia, modern-day
Turkey, and then Paul and Barnabas. Timothy and others will go on
all the way through to Greece and to Rome and to the ends of
the earth, and it's remarkable when you read the early history
of the Church how far spread the Gospel was in a very, very
short space of time. It went all the way, all through
Europe and into the United Kingdom in the very, very early days
of the Church, in the days of the Apostles. Thomas went to
India. and he went all the way around
the southern coast of India and died in what's now called Chennai. These people went out. This went
out to the ends of the earth. There is a chosen people. There's
a chosen people that are going to be visited by God amongst
the Gentiles, and it's the people to whom He reveals Himself in
the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. They
went out just preaching the Gospel. Wherever they could, they preached
the Gospel. Even in the midst of this trouble, there's a great
lesson for us, isn't it? There they were with these people
who were perverting the truth of God and perverting the character
of God, and all of the speakers have one task in mind. and that is to comfort the saints
of God. Because no one else is going
to listen to them, and the saints of God are comforted by the declaration
of the glory of God in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. It
is in Acts 15 we have, as we have throughout the scriptures,
this extraordinary contrast between man's religion and God's religion.
Man's religion is the religion of do and do and don't. You can
read about it in Acts 15, except you, it is needful, you must
or you cannot be saved. But all of the prophets, all
of the prophets, in verse 15, all of the prophets have the
same message. They have the same message. The
Spirit of God was in the prophets, guiding and directing them. I'll
read you the prophets in verse, Peter speaks about it in 1 Peter
chapter 1. Verse 10, it says, of which salvation? This salvation of your souls.
The prophets have inquired and searched diligently who prophesied
of the grace that should come to you. Not of the works that
you must do, of the grace that should come to you. searching
what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ which was
in them did signify when it testified beforehand the sufferings of
Christ and the glory that should follow." If you want a summary
expression of what all of the Old Testament is about, it's
that. In every picture, in every type, it's the sufferings of
Christ and the glory that should follow. It's the Lord Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. I love what happened on the Mount
of Transfiguration in that extraordinary event where the humanity of the
Lord Jesus Christ was broken open on that mountain. And those
apostles, Peter, James, and John, were there and they saw it. And
they were left completely and utterly dumbfounded by the sight
of him in his glory. Overwhelmed by the glory of the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ, overwhelmed by his deity. And
who was there with him? Moses and Elijah. They represent
the law and the prophets. They represent all of the Old
Testament scriptures. You can read about it in Luke
chapter nine. But they spoke of one thing. They had a meeting
on the Mount of Transfiguration. And Moses and Elijah had a discussion.
And we know what they were talking about. Luke tells us. They were
talking about the decease that the Lord Jesus Christ should
accomplish at Jerusalem. Your deceased and my deceased,
brothers and sisters, are not going to accomplish anything
in this world but his death. His death accomplishes remarkable
things. In fact, that word deceased that
he should accomplish at Jerusalem is the word from which we are
to get our word exodus. It's a picture of what he did
in Egypt, isn't it? He went into that world, that
fallen world, that world where his people were captive and he
with a mighty arm sovereignly took them out. And James says that this is what
all the prophets are talking about. They're just talking about
one thing. There is just one message and one place that we
go to all the time. And it's written there at the
end of verse 15, isn't it? Everything that we believe about
God, everything we believe about man, everything we believe about
salvation, everything we believe about the events that are happening
in this world, are all come under one banner. It is written. What says God is the only question
in every situation. But Amos is quoted, to this agree
all the words of the prophets, and he quotes from Amos chapter
9, and you might ask why Amos when there are so many, so many,
many prophets spoke of God coming and visiting the Gentiles and
taking out of them the people for his name. Amos was a preacher to the northern
ten tribes of Israel, 750 years before the incarnation of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And that top nation, those ten
tribes at that time, were rich and prosperous. In chapter 3
of Amos it says they had winter houses and summer houses, and
some of them had houses of ivory. And they were religious, they
were religious, the people of there. They had been set up,
they had set up by King Jeroboam in that northern tribe, they
had two places of worship. Bethel and Dan. And in those
places of worship, they had two golden calves. And they said
exactly the same things that Aaron said at the foot of Mount
Sinai. They said, these are your gods. These are your gods that
brought you out of Egypt. They weren't denying something
of the nature of God, but what they
did is they created an idolatry that actually mimicked the worship
of God. They had their own feast days.
Jeroboam had his own priests that he created. It was just
a picture of man-made idolatrous religion, which is probably one
of the reasons the Holy Spirit led James to use Amos' description. They said, and God warned them
and warned them and warned them. He says, I hate and I despise
your feast days and your solemn assemblies. This land had degenerated,
in all of its prosperity, it had degenerated away from the
worship of God in any way at all. They were led by a man. who played games with God. And Amos' message is a simple
one. And one of the reasons that Amos
was probably chosen is that Amos was a nothing. He was a poor,
uneducated, peasant farmer. He was a nothing. He was a nothing. And he came to that nation, he
said that they've despised the law of God, chapter 2, verse
4, and their lies, the lies they tell about God had caused them
to err. And there's a promise that he's
going to send fire upon Judah and upon Israel, and he shall
destroy it. There will be a destruction,
and the destruction to the Northern Ten Tribes came not very long
after Amos' prophecy. But Amos is chosen for another
reason as well, I think, is that the verse prior to the one that
James quotes in Amos 9 verse 10, he speaks of why and what
these people are saying and why this judgment is going to fall.
All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which
say, evil shall not overtake us or prevent us. will surround us. All idolatry
is an attack upon the name of God. See, it's a people. We read it
in Acts chapter 15, He's going to take out of them a people
for His name. See, all false religion and all
false activities in all sorts of religion are always an attack
upon the character of God. And God will and must act upon
it and always is acting upon it right now. It's the name of
God. When God reveals himself to a
people, he reveals himself in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ, but he reveals himself in his true character, and God's
people delight in his true character. Jeroboam and the others in those
northern Thames tribes mocked the character of God, and they
mocked God's sacrifice and mocked God's saviour in the Lord Jesus
Christ. The true people of God are people
that are called out. They are people for His name. See, we love the name of God.
The name of God is just not a name. The name of God, Jeroboam said,
this is Jehovah. The name of God is His character.
God's people love the fact of His character, don't we? We love
His sovereignty. Amos is talking about the sovereignty
of God. You read what it says. I just
love the I wills of the scriptures. Verse 16 of chapter Acts 15.
After this I will return and I will build the tabernacle of
David which is fallen down. I will build again the ruins
thereof and I will set it up that the residue of men might
seek after the Lord and all the Gentiles upon whom my name is
called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things. Whenever God
says I will, you know it's been done. You know, it's been done,
it's being done, and it will be done. We love the fact that
our God is a creator. He creates this new people. He
gathers this new people together for himself. They're created
by his word. They're created by the preaching
of his word. They're created as the original
creation was. They're created out of nothing.
They're just created by a divine word from God, which is why these
apostles and James are preaching the gospel. We love the fact
that our God is a creator. We love the fact that he's sovereign.
We love the fact that he purifies the hearts. We love the fact
that he who sees the hearts of people can declare to the hearts
of those people who have a simple faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
as he declared in the scriptures, he's purified their hearts by
faith. Can you imagine the joy of that,
brothers and sisters? If you know anything of your
heart, to have God declare to you that your heart is purified,
to have a holy God declare that your heart is purified, simply
by faith. Not washed on the outside, not
polished up with religion, made to look nice in the presence
of other people, but purified by purified hearts. We love the fact that our God
is righteous. and just, just and holy is his
name, that everything he does in the salvation of sinners is
a reflection of all of his character, that it was a righteous and just
thing for God to put the Lord Jesus Christ to death. It's a
righteous and just thing for God to save everyone who was
in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a righteous and just thing
for God to say in Acts 13.39, you are justified, you believers,
you children of God, you are justified from all things. To be justified is to be declared
by God to have never sinned. That's what it is to be just.
God doesn't wink at sin and doesn't play games with those things.
All of that sin of all of God's people was in the Lord Jesus
Christ, was laid on the Lord Jesus Christ, was His by promise. justified from all things which
could not be justified by the Lord Jesus Christ. It was a just
activity when the Lord God smote his son, when he took the sword
of his justice, as Zechariah 13 says, when he took the sword
of his justice, unsheathed it and plunged it into the heart
of his son, it was an act of God's sovereign justice. We love
the fact that he's just. We love the fact that he's righteous.
We love the fact that he's faithful. Here we have promises fulfilled.
James is saying what Amos said 750 years ago is happening right
now. And every child of God can say
that about the things of this world and the things that are
happening around them all the time. Just as Amos was faithful,
God is faithful. What is happening in this world
is exactly according to God's plan and purpose and promises
as revealed in the scriptures. God cannot lie. We love the fact that this is
a people chosen for his name. We love the fact that he's gracious. This is a ruined building that
the Lord is going to rebuild, isn't it? It's ruined. You read
again, he's going to return and build again the tabernacle of
David. He's going to build something which has fallen down and he's
going to build again the ruins thereof. And he's going to do
it so that the residue, the remnant... You think of carpet remnants,
don't you? You go into the store and they hide the remnants around
the back. You don't want to see the remnants. They'll spoil the
look of all the shiny stuff in the shop. They're the people
he's gathering, brothers and sisters. Are you a remnant? I
like being God's remnant. I don't care what the world says
about me. We love the fact that he gives mercy. He's a merciful
God. We love the fact that in his
name there is a revelation of the love of God, and he sheds
that abroad in his heart. And we love him. God's children
love him, why? Because he first loved us. And we love the brethren. This
is this gathering, isn't it? The Gentiles upon whom my name
is called. He names his people. He says
that we are the Israel of God in Galatians 6.16. That means
princes with God, his children, his special children. The name
there is a reference to the fact that God in the scriptures as
he does in Song of Solomon. He gives his bride his name. I know we've looked at this several
times, but if you can just turn in your scriptures to Jeremiah
23, verse 6, you'll see what it is to be a people upon whom
my name is called. Jeremiah 23, verse 6. Verse 5, it is, says, Behold,
the days come, saith the Lord, and I will raise unto David a
righteous branch, and a king shall reign and prosper. Jeremiah's
writing this with a clear and certain knowledge that this tabernacle
of David is going to be utterly and completely destroyed. And
Nebuchadnezzar's armies are poised to destroy Jerusalem because
of its idolatry. The days come, oh, it says the
Lord and I will rise up unto David a righteous branch and
a king shall reign and prosper and shall execute judgment and
justice on the earth, in the earth. In his days, Judah shall
be saved and Israel shall dwell safely and this is his name whereby
he shall be called. So what will you call him in
that day when he reveals himself? He shall be called the Lord our
Righteousness. That's his name, the Lord our
Righteousness. Turn over to Jeremiah 33. This is the name. This is the
name upon whom my name is called. This is what the name is. Jeremiah
33 verse 15, in those days, and at that time, recognize the words,
I will, will I cause the branch of righteousness to grow up unto
David. and he shall execute judgment
and righteousness in the land. In those days shall Judah be
saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely, and this is the name
whereby she shall be called." She is the Church of God. What's
her name? the Lord our righteousness. It's not for nothing that in
our world, when women who have any respect, serious respect
for their husbands marry, they take his name. Because marriage
is a picture of the marriage between the Lord Jesus Christ
and his bride. We have his name. We have his
name. We are the Israel of God. While you're there in 32, Jeremiah
33, go back just a page in your scriptures to Jeremiah 31. Because this is what the after
these days is all about. This is what James is talking
about in verse 31 of Jeremiah 31. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant
that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by
the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant
they break, although I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord. But
this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my law in their inward
parts." It's the law of faith. the law of the gospel. And I
will write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they
shall be my people. And they shall teach no more
every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know
the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least of them
unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord. Four, I will forgive
their iniquity and remember their sin no more. See, to know him, when you first
get to know him, you first get to meet him in the preaching
of the gospel, what you hear is a finished work. You hear
that it's done, brothers and sisters. And he reveals himself
in the preaching of the Gospel to the hearts of his people.
May it be our portion, the first thing you realise, that the work
is completely done. People think that somehow after
years and years of Christian life we get to the stage where
sins will be forgiven and all of those things and we walk closely
with the Lord. The reality is exactly the opposite.
The beginning is a realisation that it's finished. The beginning
is a realisation that the sins have been put away completely
and perfectly, justly and wholly by the acts of the Lord Jesus
Christ on Calvary's tree. James is declaring that this
people, this people that you now witnessed being gathered,
you've witnessed Peter gathering Cornelius, you have Titus has
been brought here as a test case from Antioch. There's no way
in the world Paul was going to let Titus be circumcised at that
Council of Jerusalem. This people is gathered by the
sovereign hand of God. After the death and the resurrection,
after the judgment has begun at the household of God, after
the judgment has fallen on the Lord Jesus Christ and fallen
on all of nation Israel in what they did to the Lord Jesus Christ,
and he has come gloriously back from the dead, after this, I
will build. I will return, he says. I will build. I will build. He will build. He'll build a people
for his name. He'll build a people who will
be gathered together by him. I will build again the tabernacle
of David. See, David is a type of the Lord
Jesus Christ, and David's tabernacle pictures the church of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And this church is a ruined church,
and it's a fallen church. When Adam sinned, all of the
church of the Lord Jesus Christ fell into ruin. Then the fall
of David's tabernacle at the hand of the Babylonian king and
the dispersion of all of that people was just a typification
of that, wasn't it? The old nation Israel was scattered. The tabernacle of David, that
glorious tabernacle in those glory days of the Kingdom of
Israel, in David's day and in Solomon's day, is all fallen
down and scattered among the nations. But someone is going
to return. The Lord Jesus Christ is going
to return, and He's going to return as a gatherer. He's going
to return to gather them all together. I love how Ezekiel
describes the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that this has been your
experience, and if it's not, I pray that it might be. He saves
his flock, Ezekiel 34. If you read it at your leisure
at home, I'll just read the verses from 23 down. He says in verse
22, I'll save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey, and
I will judge between cattle and cattle. Verse 23, and I will
set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even
my servant David. David had been dead for 600 years
when this was written. David pictures the Lord Jesus
Christ. It wasn't talking about a return
to that city of Jerusalem, it was talking about a return to
the Christ of David. Even my servant David, he shall
feed them and he shall be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will
be their God. And my servant David, a prince
among them. I, the Lord, have spoken it. And I will make a covenant of
peace. and will cause the evil beasts
to cease out of the land, and they shall dwell safely in the
wilderness and sleep in the woods. And I will make them and the
places round about my hill a blessing, and I will cause the shower to
come down in this season, and there shall be showers of blessing. See, we're not talking about
nation Israel here, and it's not a return to Jerusalem, but
it's a return to the Lord their God. It's not to David, but to
David's Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord said in John chapter
10, He said, I've got other sheep. They're my sheep. They've been
mine from the foundation of the world. They were mine and I owned
them as mine when I came into this world. They were in me and
they walked with me. They were mine. when I died on
Calvary's tree, and they were in me. Other sheep have I. I have them. They're not of this
fold. Them also I must bring in." James
is just quoting Amos to show that God is going to bring in
these people. He's going to bring in and gather
these people together, and that's exactly what they're witnessing
there in Jerusalem. They're witnessing it in the
Jerusalem council. Isaiah spoke of it. In that day
there shall be the root of Jesse, Jesse was David's father, which
shall stand for an ensign for the people. He'll be a banner
over the people. And to it shall the Gentiles
seek, and his rest, his rest shall be glorious. So this building,
this tabernacle has fallen down. By the time Amos was writing,
it was about to be destroyed. Jeremiah witnessed its destruction. Nehemiah came back and they rebuilt
that temple, and they rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, but all
of it was a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ coming back to gather
this remnant people out of this world, out of this fallen ruin,
and gather them to himself. Our God builds. He builds with
a purpose and He builds with a plan. He builds with a design. He builds with an aim. He builds
with an end. And when He builds, He lays a
foundation. He lays a foundation. The work
of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's tree, He is the foundation. He is the cornerstone. So that
cornerstone sets the building. If you can imagine being a builder,
you would dig down deep and you would lay as hard and firm a
foundation to build a building like the temple, and then you
would set the first stone. And the first stone determines
the direction in that way, and the stone determines the direction
in that way. It's the cornerstone. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
cornerstone, and everything that's built upon Him is built perfectly. We can't turn to all these verses,
but I'll just read in Isaiah 28. The Lord says, Behold, I
lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone. This stone, this Lord Jesus Christ,
was tried. He was tried by the law of God
and found to be absolutely perfectly sinless. He was tried by the
law of God when the sins of all of God's people were laid upon
him on Calvary's tree, and the justice and the law of God extracted
all of the vengeance of God upon him. He was tried by every temptation
that you experience. He was touched with the feelings
of your infirmities, brothers and sisters. He was tried. He was tried by the Pharisees.
He was tried by Judas. He was tried by Pilate. He was
tried by all and declared to be perfectly righteous. He was
tried by living in this sinful world. A tried stone, a precious
cornerstone, a sure foundation, he that believeth shall not make
haste. And then he says, judgment also
will I lay to the line. He lays and measures judgment
perfectly. And righteousness to the plummet.
I love that description of the righteousness of God. People
think that righteousness is something you can do. There's only one
righteousness ever described in the scriptures, and that's
the righteousness of God. And a plumb bob, if you hold
a plumb bob up in the right sort of atmosphere, all it does is
mark one particular point. It's perfectly perpendicular
and it marks one spot. Such is the righteousness of
our God. Perfectly righteous. And all those, Isaiah 28 goes
on to say, that have a refuge of lies, and they have a covenant
with death, they agree that there's going to be a death, and their
agreement with hell, there's going to be a hell, but I'm not
going there, that shall not stand. There'll be an overflowing scourge
shall pass through. On Calvary's tree, that overflowing
scourge passed on the Lord Jesus Christ. and all that were in
him, and it passed upon all that were outside of him. In Noah's
day, judgment fell upon all humanity. Every single person on this planet,
possibly billions of them, all suffered the punishment of God. The wrath of God fell on them
all, and eight souls were saved. Why were they saved? They were
hidden. They were hidden in the ark. It's a great picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ, isn't it? That we're hidden in Him. That
ark was covered outside and in. with pitch, which means propitiation,
that which absorbs the wrath of God. And Noah was as safe
as you and I are now, brothers and sisters in Christ. There
is a foundation laid. There is a builder, as the rubble
says, the plumb that's in his hand. He builds perfectly. As Psalm 118 describes the Lord
Jesus Christ, the stone which the builders refused has become
the headstone of the corner. So the whole work, the whole
work of gathering these people together, gathering these Gentiles,
the whole work which is being witnessed in Acts 15, the whole
work which is being witnessed in this world right now is the
making of a new creation. The first building is fallen
down. We fell in our father Adam. And there's a recreation. When
he comes back, there's a new creation. There's a new tabernacle
built by the Lord. There is a new king. It's Christ,
our king. There's a new kingdom made up
of God's elect Jews and Gentiles. There's a new tabernacle. A tabernacle
is a place where God meets with his people and communes with
his people. When the Lord Jesus Christ died
on Calvary's tree, that curtain was torn from the top to the
bottom, that huge curtain. Now there is open access to God. We don't have to go through anything
to meet with our God. We meet with Him simply by faith. There's a new nation, there's
a new name. Christ has made this new creation
out of the remnants of this world, out of the ruins and out of the
remnants. And there's a new life. There's
a new life. We are created anew in spirit
in Christ Jesus. And in that new life, we don't
hear that law as a law of do's and do's. We see that law as
fulfilled and finished in the Lord Jesus Christ. And now we
simply rest. We are made a new creation. That circumcision is a circumcision
of the heart. That heart is purified by faith. That heart not only looks to
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ in faith, but that new heart
has the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ sprinkled on it, cleansed,
cleansed. As a new man, which after God,
is created. So this work of salvation, according
to the scriptures, is a creation. It's a recreation and it's a
creation. You put on the new man, Ephesians
4.24 says, which is after God. I love that. It's after God is
created in righteousness and true holiness. God is going to
create in these people, because of the work of the Lord Jesus
Christ, a perfectly, perfectly fit place for him to dwell. That's what Ephesians goes on
to say. If we read Ephesians 2, these stones built together
in this tabernacle. Now therefore, Ephesians 2.19,
therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens
with the saints and of the household of God, and are built upon the
foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Jesus Christ himself
being the chief cornerstone, in whom all the building fitly
framed together, which is what James is talking about. grows
into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom, in whom you also are
builded together. See, you don't build yourselves
into the church of God. The church of God is not ruled
by regulations and rules. The church of God is ruled by
its sovereign, and it works in the hearts of his people, and
he draws them together. You are built together. It's
almost unbelievable, the words, isn't it? It says in Ephesians
2.22, they build it together for an habitation of God. He gathers His people together
because He lives in them. That's why we're drawn together.
We're drawn near to Him. It's a habitation of God through
the Spirit. So all of this is accomplished
by God in the Lord Jesus Christ. And He's been given all power
on heaven and earth. He rules everyone. He rules everything,
brothers and sisters. And he's been one with his people
from the foundation of the world as the surety for them. When
he took on that surety engagements before the foundation of the
world, God the Father looks to him for everything from me. God
the Father looks to him and is satisfied. God the Father says,
this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. And he's well
pleased with everyone in him. And he can live with us. We are
believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Perfectly fit habitations of
God. That's the holiness. That's the
perfection that Abraham was asked to walk in. You simply trust
what God has said, and we're called to rest. We're called
to rest upon him. So they're born again, these
spiritual tabernacles being built up, this new Jerusalem, and reigning
over it all is King Jesus, as King David did in Jerusalem.
All things are new. He's creating, he's creating
his church to be the display of his glory in this world, to
display the glories of the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's creating it anew. that the
residue, the purpose of it all, is that the residue of men, the
remnant of men, might seek after the Lord, verse 17, and all the
Gentiles upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth
all these things." When I was in religion, my main activity
was getting people to be busy. I didn't realise it at the time.
I was sincere and I was zealous, but my mind task was to get people
to be busy so that they looked like they were being Christians
all the time. And my job was to tell them how much I'm doing
so that they would find out that they had to do things. So when
I met someone who was as naughty as Norm Day, I'd be able to say,
look here Norm, this is what I'm doing. And you can't look at what you're
doing and look at the Lord Jesus Christ at the same time. Go cross-eyed
or mad, or you may, like these religious people who rejected
Amos, rejected the Lord Jesus Christ, you might be left. in your delusion of your doing. That we have a king, that's what
James is saying, we have a king who is reigning and gathering
and ruling. He's done his work on Calvary
Street and after this he's coming back and in this gathering at
this church that we see we're actually seeing the work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's saying these are all mine. I bought
them. They were mine because the Father
gave them to me before the foundation of the world. They are mine because
I ended up in a marriage arrangement with them before the foundation
of the world. They are mine by creation I created them. They're
mine by redemption. I bought them back when they
fell in their Father Adam. They were still mine, and I bought
them back. You've been bought with a price,
the price of his blood. You're mine. They're all his,
and he's going to gather them, all of them. They must be gathered. That's what James is saying.
And if you stand outside of that, as these religious hucksters
did, these deceitful religious people who want to put people
back under the law, you are, by doing that, you are denying
the character of God. You're denying the character
of God. He says, I am the Lord thy God that sanctifies you. He's made them holy by his work
on Calvary's tree. He's going to come and gather
them. James is saying, that he's reigning, that he's ruling. He's
on his throne right now and he's calling out the Gentiles. No
one unto God, verse 18, are all his works from the beginning
of the world. No one unto God are all his works. No one unto God are all his works. In fact, he says, In Hebrews,
the Holy Spirit says, for we which have believed to enter
into rest, as he said, as I have sworn in my wrath, they shall
not enter into my rest, although the works were finished from
the foundation of the world. We're running out of time. But
James is also taking us back to that first creation. That
first creation was a work of God and God alone. And the very first words of God
in that new creation, very first words of God was, let there be
light. In fact, I love it in the original, it says, light
be and light was. That's exactly what happens with
the children of God. I will be, because he speaks. See, we preach, Paul says, we
preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, 2 Corinthians
4, 5. And ourselves your servants for
Jesus' sake. And then he describes that first
creation, and he describes the first creation as a picture of
the creation of his people in this world. For God, who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ." There is almost a parenthetical statement in
that remarkable verse because it says, for God, and then it's
a description of God and description of His activities in the first
creation. for God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness.
But if you leave that out as a description of God, just for
a moment, and read it without it, it says, for God, for God
has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And we have
this treasure. That's a treasure, isn't it?
It's a treasure in earthen vessels, rotten old clay pots. We have
a treasure. We have this treasure that the
excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. So in that first creation, what
did Adam see on that sixth day? When Adam opened his eyes, what
did he see? Did he see stuff for him to do?
He saw a perfect creation already made by God. And that's what
the new creation sees. All the works were finished.
And that's the call of the gospel. It's into the rest. It's into
his Sabbath rest. It's saying, as James is saying,
stop doing. All was done perfectly long,
long ago. You made complete in him. You're
accepted in the beloved. All the prophets have been saying
that. Our great creator God recreates his own together and gathers
them together into a new creation, a perfectly fit place as a habitation
of God. And it's all his doing, brothers
and sisters. It's all his doing. Let's pray. Now, Heavenly Father, we do plead with you, our Father, that
in your grace and your mercy to us, you might do as you promised
to be the teacher of your people, that the blessed Holy Spirit
might take the things of the Lord Jesus Christ and reveal
them to us. And heavenly Father, in the frailty
of our flesh, we acknowledge that these things are high and
mighty and glorious. and it's only by your work, the
work of your spirit in our lives, revealing the Lord Jesus Christ,
can you give us, Heavenly Father, that simple childlike faith that
rests upon who you are, the wonder of your character, and rests
upon the glory of your name as revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Heavenly Father, your children are bought and drawn to you with
precious blood. Your children find your dear
and precious son glorious and more glorious than we can possibly
imagine. And we pray, Heavenly Father,
that you might reveal yourself to us again and again in the
face of the Lord Jesus Christ, that that light might shine into
our hearts, that we might see Him as He really is, that we
might see Him upon Calvary's tree, bearing our own sins in
His own body and putting them away forever. See Him, Heavenly
Father, robed in that glorious righteousness and knowing that
we are made perfectly righteous in Him. Heavenly Father, cause
us to simply rest our souls. on whom we have believed. Cause us to remember Him by these
elements that you have ordained, that we use, Heavenly Father,
that we take into our bodies, that we might be reminded that
all of your children are one with Him and that our life comes
from Him and is sustained by Him. Glorify Your Son, Heavenly
Father, in our midst and in our hearts. For we pray in His precious
Name. Amen.