Second Samuel 15. This passage of scripture pictures
something very beautiful, and it pictures it very clearly.
I believe as we read it, you'll see. Remember who David represents. and see the circumstances of
his exile here. David is in a place of humiliation
at this time. Though he is the king, he's God's
king, but he's in a place of humiliation and exile and rejection
by the people. And so I pray the Lord will enable
us to rejoice in the truth that we see in this beautiful picture. Verse 13, and there came a messenger
to David saying, The hearts of the men of Israel are after Absalom. Remember who Absalom represents.
He's the Antichrist. He's the usurper to the throne. He's the fraud, the pretend king. The one who wants power and authority
but doesn't really have any. God can only give that. You can't
just decide you want some. God's got to give it to you.
And so we know who Absalom is. And David said unto all his servants
that were with him at Jerusalem, arise and let us flee, for we
shall not else escape from Absalom. Make speed to depart, lest he
overtake us suddenly and bring evil upon us and smite the city
with the edge of the sword. And the king's servants said
unto the king, behold, thy servants are ready to do whatsoever my
lord the king shall appoint. And the king went forth, and
all his household after him. And the king left ten women,
which were concubines, to keep the house. And the king went
forth, and all the people after him, and tarried in a place that
was far off. And all his servants passed on
beside him, and all the Cherethites, and all the Pelethites, and all
the Gittites, and six hundred men, which came after him from
Gath, passed on before the king. Then said the king to Ittai,
the Gittite, wherefore goest thou also with us? Return to
thy place and abide with the king, for thou art a stranger
and also an exile. Whereas thou camest but yesterday,
should I this day make thee go up and down with us? Seeing I
go whither I may, return thou and take back thy brethren. Mercy
and truth be with thee. And Ittai answered the king and
said, as the Lord liveth, And as my lord the king liveth, surely
in what place my lord the king shall be, whether in death or
life, even there also will thy servant be. And David said to
Ittai, go and pass over. And Ittai the Gittite passed
over, and all his men and all the little ones that were with
him. And all the country wept with a loud voice, and all the
people passed over. The king also himself passed
over the brook Kidron. And all the people passed over
toward the way of the wilderness. So back to verse 13, there came
a messenger to David saying, the hearts of the men of Israel
are after Absalom. And this is true to the picture,
isn't it? The hearts of the people of this
world are after the false Christ. They just are. This world as
a whole worships a fraud. They worship an imposter. They
worship a pretender to the throne. But this is such a beautiful
picture in all the aspects of it. David, of course, is God's
king. That doesn't change. God has spoken and he don't take
it back. But not many have any allegiance
to him right now. The country as a whole has gone
after Absalom. Everybody loves David when he's
winning wars for them. Again, true to the picture. The
God of the universe, the one who sits on the throne, can bless
me, he can improve my life, he can do all kinds of things for
me. But when it comes to salvation, we don't want him reigning over
us. When David's winning wars and
everybody's enjoying the favor of God because of God's love
for David, when David saved the entire nation by killing Goliath,
they wrote and sang songs about him then. But in his humiliation, And think of this. Why is David
going through this time of humiliation and grief? It's because of his
sin, isn't it? And he knows it. He knows it. That's why he's not mad at Absalom. He's not mad at God. He's not
mad. He's still in charge. You notice that in the text.
He's still saying, y'all do this and y'all do that. And they said,
whatever you say, that's what we'll do. He's still the king
in his humiliation even. still the king of his people
now, in a peculiar sense. But he went through all this
because of his sin. Now why does our Savior bear grief and sorrow?
Why wasn't it all, when God's son came to this earth, why wasn't
it all honor and glory for him and allegiance to him and brotherhood
while God's eternal king walked this earth? God could have arranged
it that way. When he wanted folks to throw palm branches down in
front of him, that's what they did. When he wanted them saying
hallelujah, praise him that cometh in the name, that's what they
did. It could have all been about that. Why wasn't it that way?
Because of sin. Not his, but still because of
sin you see the parallel. In David's case, it was his own
sin. In Christ's case, it was my sin that caused his grief
and his sorrow. He bore my sin. But the grief was his. And in
this picture of Christ's humiliation and sorrow in this world, we
see the relationships of his people and others to him. And it's a precious thing. It's
a beautiful thing. It's not remarkable that everyone
would love and own David as their king while he's shining. There's
nothing remarkable about that. Everybody loves a hero, don't
they? But the loyalty now, when the
whole country has turned their hearts to a treasonous traitor,
to be loyal to David now, well, that's a whole other thing, isn't
it? And in the spiritual picture, that takes the grace of God.
Because all of us, by nature, are traitors. And He showed us
that, didn't He? Even His own disciples forsook
Him and fled. He had to show us what we are
now. But also, He gives faith that won't let go. And we see
that in this story too. And isn't that a beautiful thing?
Faith from God that will not let go of His Son. Now, when it could well cost
them their lives, Some were there with David no matter what. Now
verse 13 though, think about this a little bit more. What
a commentary on the hearts of men. The fact that God had openly
raised up and anointed David as king meant nothing anymore
to the people. The fact that David had saved
them. I mean he literally saved them. And by God, under God,
by God's design and providence, David saved them and led them
in victory after victory over their enemies. It meant nothing
to them anymore. This flash in the pan idiot that
just went around burning fields and kissing cheeks, all of a
sudden he's the man. What a commentary on us and the
fickleness of what we call love. Oh, how I love Jesus. Don't ever
let me catch you singing that. And don't you catch me singing
it. I don't ever want to sing that. My love. Hearing is love. Not. You ever notice that? Let's just get that clear right
up front. Not that we love God. That has
nothing to do with love. Love is Him loving us. That's
why we love Him. Oh my. Well. Our Lord's own chosen few forsook
him and fled as he went to Calvary to save them. Matthew 26, 55,
in that same hour said Jesus to the multitudes, are you come
out as against a thief with swords and staves for to take me? I
sat daily with you teaching in the temple and you laid no hand
on me, no hold on me. But all this was done that the
scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then, when he was
in trouble, when it looked like, you know, things had gone bad,
when it looked like this might cost us something following him,
might just cost us something, then all the disciples forsook
him and fled. I'm about to read a passage from
Zechariah, and in it we're going to see not only the prophecy
to which our Lord referred there in Matthew 26 where I just read,
but also how that though the disciples forsook him, he never
forsook them. Listen to it, Zechariah 13, 7.
Awake, O sword, against my shepherd and against the man that is my
fellow, saith the Lord of hosts. That's the sword of God's justice.
falling upon the substitute. Smite the shepherd, and the sheep
shall be scattered. And I will turn mine hand upon
the little ones, and it shall come to pass that in all the
land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and
die, but the third shall be left therein. The third shall be left. Look
at verse 14 back in our text. And David said unto all his servants
that were with him at Jerusalem, arise and let us flee. You remember
how when our Lord, our Lord, he didn't say, get up and fight,
you know, strap on your swords. We're not going to let this stand
and things like that. He told them to do the prudent
thing to protect themselves and to keep, to stay safe. His kingdom
is not of this world. He said, if my kingdom of this
world, my servants would fight. It's not of this world. And so
while he was doing what he came to do, he gave them direction
and orders that would keep them safe from harm. And that's what
David's doing here. He pictures that beautifully
there. We shall not escape from Absalom. We shall not else escape. We got a way out to go. Make
speed to depart, lest he overtake us suddenly, and bring evil upon
us, and smite the city with the edge of the sword. And the king's
servants said unto the king, behold, thy servants are ready
to do. Whatsoever my lord the king. There wasn't a whole lot of people
saying that to David. They weren't referring to him
that way anymore. But these ones were. And what
a beautiful thing. And it seems a little strange
maybe after just having mentioned that the Lord's own disciples
forsook him and fled at Calvary for a time. It's strange now
to talk about the loyalty of Christ's disciples. But we understand
that. There is a loyalty which faith,
God-given faith bolsters in the hearts of God's people. In Gethsemane,
Simon drew his sword. in the very garden where they
took the Master. That took a lot of boldness.
It took courage. There's a lot of soldiers standing
there. They didn't have much of a chance, did they? Simon
intended to make good on his promise to the Master. He said,
I'll die with you. He said, others may forsake you, but not me.
Not me. He intended to make good on that.
He's ready to die. What else is going to happen?
You've got a hundred soldiers there. Simon had pledged his loyalty
to the death, but the Lord taught Simon and us that it is not the
strength of our faith, the quality of our loyalty that preserved
Simon or us. through Simon's denial of the
Lord and how that he wept bitterly when he realized that he had
failed. You know, Simon was bold and he was courageous and there's
nothing wrong with that. He said, I'll die with you. And he drew his sword to make
good on it. And the Lord said, put it up. Put it up. And of
course Simon denied the Lord three times. It's not hard to
understand. We're both courageous and cowards. We're cowards in ourselves. If
the Lord leaves us to ourselves for five seconds, we'd sell our
own mother. But if He encourages, if He strengthens
us, I can do all things through Christ. I'll die right here,
Peter said. It's on. Let's go. But then a
few hours later, he's denying the Lord for one reason only.
He was afraid not to. There's us in Christ and us not
in Christ. Not that he wasn't in Christ
in salvation, but the Lord had to teach him and us that lesson.
But also there is that faith that he gives that won't let
go. There is a, to whom shall we go? When everybody else is
walking away now, everybody else, There was a multitude there.
And our Lord taught concerning His sovereignty and how that
He saves whom He will, how that no sinner is going to be saved,
no sinner is going to come to Him unless the Father brings
Him. That's just basic doctrine. People say, well, that's deep,
dark doctrine there. No, that's simple. Teach your
children that. There's nothing complicated about that at all.
God does exactly as He pleases. He saves who He wants to. Is
that hard to get? That's simple, isn't it? That's
just simple. And when our Lord taught that, everybody, the multitudes
cleared out. And there stands the 12. And
he said, are you going with them? Where are we going to go? You have the words of eternal
life. How do you leave that? How do
you leave him? When you see who he is, there's
no decision. Are you kidding me? If you have
to make a decision, you're lost. You don't get it. You don't get
it. If you're ready to try Jesus,
you don't get it. Jacob said, I'll not let you
go. When God gives faith, the sinner
who believes on Christ does so exclusively. Does he have any
rivals in your heart? Is there anybody else you worship?
Anybody else you pledge allegiance to? And faith, the faith that he gives
is tenacious. I will not let thee go, except
thou bless me. That's what Jacob said. And the
Lord blessed him. He blessed him before he said
that, didn't he? Else he wouldn't have said it. But also, our Lord
must and does teach us that it's not our holding on to Him that
saves us. It's Him holding on to us. That's
what keeps us. And all that being said, I want
to be like those ones here, don't you? Lord, whatever you say. Everybody else hates you. By
your grace, you're my Lord and my God. Whatever you say, that's
what I'll do. Thy servant is ready. Don't you
want to say that to him? But also, my prayer is this.
Lord, don't let me go. Don't let me go. Verse 16, and
the king went forth and all his household after him
and the king left ten women which were concubines to keep the house
and that's mentioned because later in the story we'll understand
that better. And the king went forth and all
the people after him and tarried in a place that was far off.
Think about the picture. That's us right here tonight.
The world has exiled hated, murdered, rejected our King. He's still
our King. So where are we at? We're in
a place of far off. We're huddled up here with Him
in a place, it's a long way from this world, isn't it? You can't
get any farther from this world than right here. If you're worshiping
the Master, you're tarrying with Him in a place that's far off.
And where in the world else would you want to be? Verse 18. We'll read several
verses together here because you'll see why. And all his servants
passed on beside him, and all the Cherethites, and all the
Pelethites, and all the Gittites, six hundred men which came after
him from Gath passed on before the king. Then said the king
to Ittai the Gittite, Wherefore goest thou also with us? What
are you doing here today? He said return to your place
and abide with the king. For you are a stranger and also
an exile. You've been exiled before. You
were exiled to here and now you're being exiled again. Just go home. Go home and take care of your
family. Don't put them through this on my account. Wherefore
thou camest but yesterday, should I this day make thee go up and
down with us? Seeing I go, whither I may. I
don't know where I'm going to end up. We don't know where we're
going to spend the night tonight. We don't know what's going to
happen. Go home. Take back thy brethren. Mercy and truth be with you. He was very noble on the part
of David. But Eti answered the king and said, as the Lord liveth
and as my lord the king liveth, surely in what place my lord
the king shall be, whether in death or life, even there also
will thy servant be. And David said, all right. going on in Passover. They're
passing over the book Kedron. I've been pronouncing that Kedron
my whole life but I looked it up this time. I don't always even make an effort
to pronounce it like it's supposed to be but that's an easy one
there so we might as well call it what it is. Kedron, that's
how you say it. He said I'm going with you. David
said alright pass on over. And all the little ones that
were with him. Everybody that's with me is coming
too. How about that one? Well, we see that all through
the scripture, don't we? Here we have mentioned one man
in particular that David excuses from going with him. David makes
it clear that he wouldn't hold it against Ittah if he wanted
to stay and keep his family safe. No one has to know that you're
loyal to me. Just go home and lay low, play it safe. Maybe
we'll meet again someday. Mercy and truth be with you. That sounds like Paul's letters,
doesn't it? The grace of our God be with you. That's our hope. Not take care of yourself. I
hate that. And look, I've said that a lot
in my life in days past. But that's how men, you know,
the world took. Take care of yourself. That's
what everybody's good at anyway. You don't have to tell somebody
that. They're going to do that. Mercy. The mercy of God. and the truth of God be with
you. That's a good thought. That's a blessed desire and prayer
from somebody that meant it. He meant it. David said, I don't know where
I'm going to end up. I don't want that for you. I don't want
to see you and your family suffer. You've suffered enough. You're
in exile when you came here. Don't be in exile again. It has
answer, has a key element in it. I mean just on the surface
of it, it's beautiful isn't it? Wherever my king is, that's where
I'm going. That's where I'm going. But notice this, now it wasn't
just loyalty to David. I want to be that way. People
have heroes in this world that do not deserve the name. But
you talk about a hero now. Somebody to look up to and learn
from Christ and by God's grace His people I see in his people
an example of him by his grace now we know That that's by his
grace but I want to be loyal to him and I want to be loyal
to his people and It I made it real clear that to him it was
the same thing. Did you see that in the text?
As my lord liveth And as my Lord the King liveth, I am with you. You see that? To him, it's not
just loyalty to David. But to him, it was clear that
loyalty to David was loyalty to the Lord. That's how it is with God's people.
I have to mention this and I hate bringing up stuff like this but
I don't think it was a coincidence that I read this recently. There are a lot of people that
think they are real smart about the scriptures and they love
to argue about it. They love to prove it. They love to let
everybody know that they know more than you do. And that's
what they're all about. And it was someone who claims
to know God and who's always wanting to, as I said, argue
doctrine and things like this. But this person places no value
at all on God's church, on the local church. God's pastors,
even though the scriptures are pretty clear about that. The
fellowship of God's people means nothing to this man and many
others that I know. God's promise to meet with his
people where they gather in his name, it means nothing to them.
to them, you don't need to belong to a church, you don't need to
listen to a pastor. And he made this comment, one
of the things that he said was that people who do commit themselves
to the worship of God in his local church are worshipping
a man. If you have a pastor and thank
God for him and are loyal to him under God, you're worshipping
a man. Well, again, I don't think it's
a coincidence that I read this a few days ago and then came
to this passage of scripture in our studies. Ittai was not worshiping David.
He said, as the Lord liveth, I'm going to follow God's king. And God's people are just that
way now. We're loyal to one another because he said, if you've done
just the smallest gesture to the least of one of these, my
brethren, If one of us goes to prison, it looks like that's
getting more likely all the time, isn't it? We may all be outlaws
before long. I've told you before, I may just
end up wearing the black hat one of these days. This world
is going crazy. You know that, don't you? If you don't visit them, in prison
and identify with them there, then you didn't do it to Christ.
That's what he said. You didn't do it to me. You didn't
visit me. I was in prison and you didn't even visit. If you
do, you did it for him. And you see how Etai makes that
connection. I'm following you because as
my Lord liveth, as God lives, and as my Lord the King, the
one that God anointed King with, wherever you go, I'm going. He wasn't worshiping David, he
was following, he knew that David, following David was the same
thing as following the Lord. Would it surprise you that Paul
said that very thing in 1 Corinthians 11, be ye followers of me. If he had stopped there, you
might think, I don't know about that Paul. Be ye followers of
me even as I also am of Christ. You're not following me because
it's me. We're all following Christ together. Together. We're all following the master.
You see that in Nehita's answer? Boy, I want to be like that.
Well, we're following him. We're going wherever he goes.
Well, where are we going? Verse 23. Where are we going? And all the country wept with
a loud voice, and all the people passed over. And the king also
himself passed over the brook Kidron. And all the people passed
over toward the way of the wilderness. Where are we going? Well, we're
going to the wilderness. We're going into the wilderness of
this world. We walk through it every day, but we're going by
a certain way, a very specific way. We're passing over Kidron. Listen to John 18.1. When Jesus
had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples, with
his disciples, over the brook Kidron where was a garden into the which he entered and his disciples. Isn't that
beautiful? Did it really need to say two
times that his disciples were with him there? I'm sure glad
it did, aren't you? Where are we going? We're going to the cross, aren't
we? We're going to Calvary. By His grace, we're going to
take up our cross and we're going to follow Him. Our Lord walked the same exact
path a thousand years later and it says in the New Testament
there that He went up the Mount of Olives. And later in the story
of David, they went up Olivet. Same exact path, a thousand years
later. And also our Lord went that way
with those rare exceptions who did not hate him. That rare handful
of chosen ones who did not hate his guts with his disciples. And remember what character now
in which he walks this path, the rejected one. the despised
one. He's going to Calvary. Why is
he doing that? Because of sin. Same reason David
was going, only it wasn't his sin. It was the sins of his people. Bearing the sins, he went to
Gethsemane. You remember what happened there.
You read the story of Gethsemane, and this again, I always qualify
this a little bit, because this is stuff I don't understand.
much about. We only know what God reveals
but our Lord said my soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto
death. Have you ever thought you were
going to die? You were so sad and so grieved and troubled? Probably not. Probably not. And I believe there's only one
thing that causes that. And that's sin. And our Lord
didn't sin, so he was bearing mine, I'm pretty sure. So he went to Gethsemane by that
path and his disciples with him. And they didn't do nothing but
sleep, and he said, that's enough. You've done your part, which
is nothing. Nothing. Well, I love that story. He walked the same path bearing
the sins and griefs of his people. That's who we're with. That's
who we pledge in our allegiance to. That thief said, you're my
king, when nobody thought he was the king. That's us now, by grace through
faith, when this whole world despises him. And we see it every
day. The word Kidron means dark. And it comes from a root word
that means to mourn or to be dark. Listen to Hebrews 13, 10. We have an altar. Turn over there
with me. I want you to look at this. I believe this is the crux of
this whole lesson tonight, this passage in Hebrew. This is what's
happening. This is the picture now. This is exactly what's being
pictured in our text, Hebrews 13.10, right here. We have an altar whereof they
have no right to eat, which serve the tabernacle. You see, there
are some who serve the tabernacle. There are some who serve the
ceremony, the law, the outward, the religious. And there are
some who serve the one who built the tabernacle, the one who the
tabernacle represents. And that's exactly what he's
saying there. Those who serve ordinances and law and outward
keeping of the law, they have no right to eat what we eat.
What do we eat? what comes off the altar, what's
on the altar, that's Christ. He's our meat and drink indeed. For the bodies, verse 11, the
bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary
by the high priest for sin, as a sacrifice for sin, are burned
without the camp. That's where David's going. That's
where his disciples are going with him. Listen to it. Wherefore
Jesus also that he might sanctify the people with his own blood
suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto
him. You reckon those people were
saying, oh, let's cross over Kidron and just go out to this
place far away just because, you know, we just need a break
from Jerusalem. It was David. They were going to Him, weren't
they? Wherever you're going, I'm going to you. That's what
the exhortation is here. Let's go forth unto Him without
the camp, bearing His reproach. If you hate Him, well, then I
guess I'm with Him. For here we have no continuing
city, but we seek one to come. What is it? Where are we going?
To Him. That's our continuing city. We're going to Him. By Him, therefore, let us offer
the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is the fruit
of our lips giving thanks to His name. Now this is not adding
to His sacrifice. This is saying He, with His own
blood, see that there in verse 12? With His own blood. suffered
without the gate. He was the sacrifice for sin.
The high priest, it says, for sin. He brought blood into the
sanctuary. And that's a picture of Christ
bringing his own precious blood for my sin. So what's this sacrifice
that I give? You know what it is? Thank you
for your sacrifice. It's not adding to him. It's
not supplementing his sacrifice. Giving thanks to his name. For
what? For his sacrifice. For Plum saving me. That's what
it is. Sacrifice of praise to God continually. This is a spiritual bond that
we have with our Savior. Where are we going to go? We're
going with you. We're going to you. We're going
where you are. Shame, reproach, whatever. By grace we own Him as our King. And it's a spiritual relationship,
it's a spiritual kingdom, but it affects all that which is
physical too. We talked about that on Sunday.
It affects us in every way, everything about us. But his kingdom is
a spiritual kingdom, and we're in on that by his grace. This
made me think about, again, that thief on the cross. Listen to
Luke 23, 38. A superscription was written
over him, over Christ, in letters of Greek and Latin and Hebrew.
This is the king of the Jews. And this passage starts that
way because this thief is fixing to acknowledge him as exactly
that. Now that sign was up above the Lord's head not to identify
him but to mock him. But listen as it goes on, he
was identified as king of the Jews in a mocking way and one
of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him saying if
thou be Christ save thyself and us. And just knowing a little bit
about human nature, I suspect that he had some idea that just
maybe there's something to that. You know, this man did miracles.
Maybe he can get me out of this. Save yourself and us. Let's get
out of this. That's most people's religion. But the other answering rebuked
him, saying, Don't you fear God, seeing that you are in the same
condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we
receive the due reward of our deeds, but this man hath done
nothing amiss, and he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when
thou comest into thy kingdom. He sees that sign up there, and
I don't know if that had anything to do with it or not, but we
know that it was by the Lord's providence that that was written
there, and the words that came out of our Savior's mouth. God
revealed to that wretch on that tree who he was. And don't you
think now, the one thief only cared about his own condition.
Save us, you know, get us down from this cross. Can you imagine?
I would have wanted down too. That's all he cared about. And
the other, knowing that that's God's Son. Somehow he knew, didn't
he? How did he know? Same way you
do. God revealed it to him. That's how I know. That's exactly
how I know. Wouldn't it be tempting now,
knowing that he's God's son, to say, you know, get us down
from here? He didn't mention that. He didn't
care about that. I'm here with him, and we're
dying a shameful, horrible death. That's fine. But when you come
into your kingdom, remember me. Remember me, his mind and heart
was on the true kingdom. Not this earth, not just getting
along in this world and being saved in a physical sense. His
mind and heart were on the true kingdom and the true king. You
see, to some, honoring the king was all about, well, he's winning
wars for us, he's doing good for us, the economy's good, everything's
going great. But to these ones that followed
David, honoring God's King wasn't about that, was it? Because all
that's gone now. He's still my King though. You see that in this thief? If
he didn't do anything for me, he's still the King. Itai and his family would have
been a lot safer in Jerusalem. When David told him that, But
he said, wherever God's King is, that's where I'll be. There's a song that says, even
though it be a cross that raiseth me. Could we sing that honestly? If that's what takes me nearer
to Him. Well, I want to, don't you? I
sure do want to. And I'll tell you that is where
I want to be. I want to be where he is. He said where two or three
are gathered in my name, there I am. Is that why you're here
or you just like the company? I like y'all. We have a good
time, don't we? I enjoy your fellowship. I enjoy.
I'm glad and proud to know you. But boy, when the Lord says I'll
be there, Everything else kind of, that kind of changes the
priorities, doesn't it? Oh, that's where I want to be.
It's not because of some virtue in me or some great honor in
me by nature, but by His grace I'm with Him. That's what baptism
says. That's what baptism is. It's
saying I'm with Him. I identify with Him. despised, rejected, crucified
Son of God is my Savior. And because He died, I live.
Because He rose, I live. Because He lives, I live. And
I'm with Him. It's identification, it's allegiance,
it's fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what faith
is. Baptism is just an expression
of faith. That's what faith is. It's owning Him. It's trusting
Him. It's believing on the one that
nobody else does. If Christ is the King, now if
He is God's King, when Psalm 2 says, God hath set His King
on His holy hill, if that's Jesus Christ of Nazareth. If Christ is the one sin offering
that God will accept, where Paul talks about in Hebrews, the blood
of bulls and of goats could never take away sin, but this man,
he offered one sacrifice for sins forever and sat down having
perfected forever everybody he sanctified. If that's Jesus Christ
of Nazareth. If Christ is the only righteousness
that is perfect before God where a sinner can stand, accepted
in the sight of God Almighty. If he's the one Paul was talking
about when he said, he's able to keep you from falling and
to present you faultless before the presence of his glory. If
Christ is the altogether lovely one, if he is the Savior, if
he is the one whose very name means he's going to save me, Then to whom shall I go? Honestly
now, to whom? What difference does it really
make how others feel about him? And now I want those that I love
to love him, don't you? I want that very much. But that's between him and them.
The question is what think ye of Christ? In our text, they said, whatever
you say, that's what we'll do. And then I said, wherever you
are, that's where I want to be. Do you believe on the Son of
God? That's the question. All it takes to be that committed
to Him is just to see Him. Do you believe on Him? Do you
know who He is? I guarantee if you know who He is, you're not
going anywhere. May he give us faith to see him,
to believe on him, and to commit ourselves unto him.