It's good to see you tonight.
I was listening to a message today and you know, I need to
be preached to just as much as you do. And I suspect more than
you, but I was listening to a message. I got a little different perspective
on things. It's amazing how the gospel will do that. And, you know, we worship together.
We're just a small family here and there's little families around.
And, you know, since the book of Isaiah, Isaiah said, Lord,
who have believed our report? Looks like nobody believes what
we're preaching. You know, and we want to see
that we all have loved ones that we wish had an interest in the gospel,
wanted to hear from God, at least wanted to hear from God. But
you know, it's easy to get discouraged about that. But in the message
I heard, the preacher, he said, you know, we're looking at that
the wrong way. This world, it looks like they have the multitudes
and we just have a handful. That's not right. There is an
innumerable multitude worshiping with us tonight. We just can't
see them. Just because they're not sitting
in these pews doesn't mean they're not. In churches, they have thousands
sitting there, but they have no unity. There is no bond. They're
just a bunch of individuals, each with their own god of their
imagination in their mind, a bunch of idols. We worship the one
true God, and we're united. One faith, one Lord, one birth,
one baptism, one hope of our calling, Paul said. We are one
family, and with believers all over this world, I rejoiced with
somebody in Kentucky this morning before I got here. And we rejoiced
together. And we often listen to the messages
that other preachers preach, but also in glory. We worship
in, the saints in glory are worshiping with us tonight. They're doing
it a lot better than we are. But they're worshiping with us,
the same one, same Lord. One Lord, one faith, one birth,
one hope of our calling, Somebody said, you know, do the
saints in heaven see what's going on down here? I reckon they do,
don't you? I don't think that's really debatable. They know everything. They see what he sees. They know
everything he knows. And they're worshipping with
us tonight. Paul said, we're compassed about with a great
cloud of witnesses. I don't think that's figurative
language, do you? The angels are worshipping with us tonight.
They have a little different perspective than we do. Sinners
saved by grace, but what a privilege it is to be among that great
multitude That's worshiping that singing worthy is the lamb that
was slain Well, I look at verse 8 of 45
of Isaiah Drop down ye heavens from above I Think about this
now. He just said in verse 7 that
he forms the light and He creates darkness These are statements
that just, there's no way we can do justice to. We can't think
big enough. He forms the light. Think about
everything that light is, both physical and spiritual. He did
it. If there's light, it came from
Him. And He creates the darkness. He makes peace and creates evil. And we need to understand the
statement that he made in verse six, there is none else. I never
thought of this this way until I looked into this a little deeper
here. In verse six, he says, I'm God and there's none else.
Well, of course, God is holy and he's a part and he's unique.
There is just one. There's one God and one mediator
between God and me and the man Christ Jesus. And he's one God
in three persons. But think about it, understand
that statement this way. There is none else in light of
what he's saying in the context. I create, I form the light and
create darkness. I do this. If these things are
done, who else did it? There's nobody else. Nobody else
can produce light. Nobody else can give light. Nobody
else can cause darkness. Nobody else can make peace. If
it's done, the Lord did it. There is none else. And he makes
that statement that way, in the context of what's done. What
he has done. Verse 5, I girded you. If you're
girded, that's prepared, equipped, and capable. God said I did it. Whether you're talking about
this King Cyrus, an earthly king, or whether you're talking about
the one he pictures, the anointed, the Lord Jesus Christ, as a man.
If there's light, where did it come from? John 1st John 1 5
this then is the message that we have heard of him and declaring
to you That God is light God is light and in him is no darkness
at all The Lord Jesus said in John 8 12 it says then spake
Jesus again unto them saying I am the light of the world I
Form the light because I am the light I He that followeth me
shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
Light represents everything good and vital, life itself. Listen to one of our favorite
verses now in the context of this where he said, I form the
light. Everybody in here can quote this
one probably by heart because we talk about it so much. I form
the light. Think about this verse in that
context. I form the light. 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. I form the light. Science tells
us that darkness is the absence of light. And it's not the other
way around. By the way, when I say science,
the word science just means knowledge. You know where that comes from.
That comes from God. It don't matter who wrote that
book on earth. God gave us a little bit of sense. And some give him glory for that
and some don't. But Darkness is the absence of
light and it's not the other way around. There's really just
light. Darkness doesn't really exist
in the same sense that light does. Darkness is just the absence
of light. You can't shine darkness. You
can't cause darkness in the same sense that light goes forth.
If God gives light, there's light. And when he does not, There's
darkness, physical and spiritual. If he don't give light, all there
can be is darkness. That's all that there is left.
There's either light or there's darkness. And this is the teaching here.
God is not darkness. He said, I form the light and
create darkness, but it doesn't say God is darkness. It says
he's light. And in him is no darkness at
all. But there's darkness where there's an absence of his light. He creates the darkness in that
sense. It's created by him withholding
himself. He doesn't emanate darkness from
himself. There's no darkness in him. He withholds himself. He denies
his revelation to some. He's pleased to shine in some
hearts. As we just quoted, and not others.
And therefore there's light and there's darkness. And both are
of him. And the light, what is the light?
He's the light. What is the light in me? Christ. He's the light of the world.
He is our wisdom. You say, well, light represents
wisdom. That's Christ. He's made unto us wisdom. He
shines in the hearts of his loved ones, his elect, his sheep. And
the rest are left in darkness, blinded by the darkness. And he said, I make peace. He
made peace by the precious, sin atoning blood of his cross, but
not for all. That's why it says the rest of
that, where his precious blood is applied, that blood that made
peace must be applied. And where he does not apply it,
what's left? Evil. Evil. God does not emanate evil. He emanates peace. He is peace.
He's not evil. But he creates evil in that he
withholds his peace. He withholds his blood. He withholds
his revelation, his light. Remember how evil is defined
here. We looked at that word evil It
means think about this in spiritual terms. Think about this in the
sense of we talked about how that that you know when there's
Scripture says it shall evil be done in a city and the Lord
has not done it And of course the obvious answer to that rhetorical
question is no either Lord There's not gonna be anything done that
the Lord didn't do if not, then Job said where is he and who
is he? That's pretty clear But think about this in spiritual
terms now. The word evil there means malignant. Where there's no peace that God
makes. He is the prince of peace. Now
he's not the prince of evil. He's the prince of peace. But
evil is created when he withholds that peace. And he does that.
He does that. This is what I was telling you
about this morning. Somebody asked in Vicki's class, where
does, you know, does God, did God make sin? If He makes everything,
did He make sin? This is the answer to it right
here. He doesn't produce sin, but where He withholds His light,
there's darkness. There's nothing left. He is light. He's not darkness. It never says
anywhere that God is darkness. Does it never anywhere say He
is evil? Of course. But he is peace, he's
the prince of peace. But where his peace is not, you
know what's going to be? There's only one thing else that
can be. Evil, which is enmity against
God. So malignant, where his peace does not dwell, there's
a cancer growing. Called sin. And it is corruption. It is increasing corruption that
can't be cured except by his peace. Disagreeable, enmity,
distressed, calamity, unhappy, miserable, injury. These words describe that demon
possessed man in Mark 5. Even the word injury, he even
went around cutting himself, hurting himself. That's a picture
of us in our sinfulness. We are self-destructive. And what was the remedy to that?
Peace. Peace. When the Lord left him
he was sitting down. Before that he was running through
the graveyard crying out and terrifying everybody and cutting
himself and couldn't rest it says. He could not rest. But the Lord left him sitting
and clothed and in his right mind. Peace. His peace is the only thing that
drives evil away. And that peace is made by his
precious blood now. What if the Lord had not come
where that Gadarene demoniac was? What if the Lord hadn't
said, let's sail over to the other side? You reckon he'd have gotten better
on his own? Didn't much sound like it, does it? What about
your loved ones that are just absolutely insane? Do you have
anybody that you love that's insane? I got several. And it's heartbreaking. Absolutely heartbreaking. There
ain't but one cure. The Lord's gonna have to go where
they are. and cause them to sit down and put the robe of His
righteousness around their shoulders and give them a mind that sees
Him and knows Him and submits to Him and believes on Him. Oh may He do that. I pray for that quite a bit. He doesn't always come. What
if He had not come to that man? He'd have killed himself eventually.
He'd have cut himself one too many times. And he'd have fallen
down and gone to hell. That's what would happen. Oh, but he does come. He does
come. Then now look at our text in
that verse eight. You see, this is the context
of this. I form the light. I create darkness. I make peace. And evil. And then he says this
in verse 8. How beautiful. Drop down ye heavens from above. I do this. What's coming down? Righteousness. There is none
else. Nobody else is going to be able
to produce any. Righteousness is not going to spring up from
the earth. It's going to have to come down, isn't it? It's
got to come down. Oh, what a beautiful language
this is. Drop down, ye heavens, and pour down righteousness from
above. Thank God He commanded that.
There is none else. Who else can cause righteousness
on this earth? No sinner can produce it. It's
not going to just naturally grow down here. Not here. God must call it down for us,
upon us, within us. And this is Christ now. There's sin and there's righteousness.
And this world is a cesspool of sin. And what did He do when
what the law could not do and that it was weak through our
flesh? The law, God gave His law in the beginning, but the
law can't save. The law, what does it do? It reveals evil. It says, thou shalt not concerning
everything we do. And it says, thou shalt concerning
everything we can't do. and reveals us to be wretched
and helpless and hopeless. So what did God do about it?
Paul said he sent his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh
and for sin. That's what he did. Drop down
ye heavens and cause righteousness to rain down upon the earth from
above. The law could never produce it.
We can never produce it on the basis of the law because of the
inability of our flesh to satisfy the law. So God sent his son,
he commanded the heavens to drop it down for us and upon us. And look more closely at the
picture here. The righteousness of God, the Lord Jesus Christ
is pictured as the rain falling down. And as God Pictured for
us in Isaiah 55. I know you're familiar with this
scripture. I'm gonna read a little bit of it. As he tells us there,
he doesn't come down in vain. It don't rain for no reason.
It rains for a reason. For as the rain cometh down,
Isaiah 55 10, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither,
but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth in bud, that it
may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater. So shall
my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. Oh, we complain
about the rain. It interrupts our plans and things. We complain about the rain. But
God said, I send that rain so you'll have something to eat.
Is that okay with you? I added that last part. Is that all right with that?
Is it okay if God provides us something to eat? Then when it
rains, well, bless his name. Bless his name. But he said,
my word is like that. So shall my word be that goeth
forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void,
but it shall accomplish that which I please. And it shall
prosper in the thing whereto I send it. And there Christ is
called the word. He sends his son and he accomplished
what he pleased. He said, I came down to do my
father's will. And this is the will of him that
sent me. That of all those that he gave me, I should lose nothing.
But raise it up again at the last day. He came down here and
he didn't go back up until he had done that. And he's called
the Word there. In the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God and the Word was God. And the Word
was made flesh and dwelt among us. He came down. That's God commanding righteousness
from heaven. Christ dwelt among us. And it's
not in vain. It's not a vain attempt on his
part. He didn't come down here to do all he could do. He came
down here to obey the Father and to accomplish salvation.
And when he did, he said, it's done. He accomplished exactly
and all that the Father sent him to do. He's the mighty conqueror. In our text, he's called righteousness.
Same picture with a little different label on him. The word light
is like the rain and righteousness comes down from heaven now because
he is the Lord our righteousness and so righteousness Christ comes
down from heaven like rain and in the analogy in Isaiah 55 there's
a definite foreordained and inevitable result and we have that in our
text also look at it verse 8 drop down ye heavens from above and
let the skies pour down righteousness and let the earth open and let
them bring forth salvation. Let them. Why does it say earth
and them? You know what the earth is, this
world is to God? It's his elect. For God so loved
the world. Who does he love? He loves his
sheep. Gave himself for his sheep. Let
them open up. And you know what comes forth
when Christ is rained down upon his people? And He opens us up
to receive Him. You know what comes forth? Salvation.
That's what He said right there. Isn't that beautiful? He said,
from your belly shall spring forth rivers of living water.
That's Christ. Christ comes down. Christ goes
in. And Christ comes out. Oh, isn't that beautiful? Bring
forth salvation. And let righteousness spring
up. In the analogy in Isaiah 55, it said, let the herb, let
the plants, the bread, food spring up from the earth because the
rain comes down. And that's how my word, my word is going to
produce something, inevitably, without doubt, every time. It
doesn't come back up until it's done it, he said. And neither
did our Lord. And what's produced here in this
picture? Salvation and righteousness. He let the earth open up. He
opened up Mary's womb, though she had never known a man. And
what came forth? Salvation. Simeon said, mine
eyes have seen your salvation, the fruit of her womb. The Lord
opened the heart of Lydia, seller of purple, down by the seashore. And it rained. And her heart
opened up to receive Him. He opens all of the hearts of
His people to receive His Son. John said, to as many as received
Him. How do we do that? He opens us
up. To them gave He power. We saw
this morning, He opened their understanding. To as many as
received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God.
What is the inevitable result here? Salvation and righteousness. Righteousness unto salvation
and salvation unto righteousness. You're never going to be righteous
unless God saves you. And you're never going to be
saved until Christ is your righteousness. Righteousness comes down. and
righteousness is produced. He is righteousness. Now think with me now. What do
I mean by that? Do I mean that righteousness came down upon
us from heaven and now we produce righteousness? Oh no. Let me say this clearly and carefully. Our text says righteousness came
down and then what sprang forth? Righteousness. You know why it
did? He is righteousness coming down. He did righteousness. Righteousness sprang up from
the earth because he came down here. That's how. We couldn't
produce it. This earth ain't gonna produce
it. He is righteousness and he did
righteousness as a man for me, as my representative. Daniel 9 24 70 weeks are determined
upon by people upon thy holy city to finish the transgression
70 weeks, how long is that? However long it took He said we quoted this morning
there's a determined end Concerning you my thoughts toward you are
peace and not evil peace. I make peace I And there is a
determined end that I'm going to bring to pass. It took him
70 weeks, whatever that is. That's how long it took him to
do. But that speaks of a determined purpose, a time of love. Upon thy people, upon thy holy
city. to finish the transgression,
to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity,
and to bring in everlasting righteousness. That's the result of righteousness
coming down from above from heaven to this earth. And to seal up
the vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy. He is our
righteousness. Righteousness and salvation His
name is the Lord our righteousness and his name is what? Jesus.
What does that mean? Jehovah is salvation. And now where that does not happen,
where his reign does not fall, what is there? What can there
be? Not salvation, not righteousness.
What else is there? What's going to be left if he
doesn't come? He reigns where he pleases. And his rain doesn't
fall everywhere. What about where it doesn't fall?
What's going to be there? Look at verse nine. We don't
have to guess at it. Woe unto him. Woe unto him that
striveth with his maker. Let the potsherds strive with
the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that
fashioneth it, what makest thou? or thy work he hath no hand.
This is the enmity that's in, this is the foolish, abominable
enmity that's in our hearts. Not only are we diametrically
opposed to God in every way that you can be, but we blame him
for it. What have you made? What have you done? Look at me,
what have you done? But woe unto him Or thy work. How can your work say you have
no hands? If you made it with your hands, and it says you have
no hands, that's kind of stupid, isn't it? That's deeply, deeply
foolish. Woe unto him that saith unto
his father, what begettest thou? Or to the woman, what hast thou
brought forth? Now this is darkness. He said, I create light. If he
doesn't, if he doesn't shine his light in our hearts, as Paul
said, he has for his people, then what's left? Darkness. That's
what that is. Darkness is to strive with the
one that made you blame him for your sin and hate him for who
he is and everything else. That's darkness and that's evil.
He said, I create evil. People are that way because he
gives them over. Because he leaves them alone.
Because he passes them by. Because he says Esau have I hated. But bless God he creates light
too. He creates light. But we gotta
look at the darkness for a little while here. Because this is what
this is. Now verses 9 and 10. That's darkness. That's evil.
That's no rain. No peace. This is us by nature. It's all
of us by nature now. The carnal mind, Romans 8, 7,
because the carnal mind is enmity against God. The carnal mind
is not going to do anything but strive with his maker. Think about that. It'd be one
thing if it said strive with God. If it did say strive with
God, you know what that'd be saying? You're striving with
the one that made you. That's what it says here. You're
striving with what you hate and are at odds with and in opposition
to the one that made you. Boy, you talk about darkness. You talk about evil. That's all
of us by nature now. The carnal mind is enmity against
God for it is not subject to the law of God. Neither indeed
can be. And remember that word subject
again. We just saw this recently. It is not submissive to. And
where no rain falls, instead of humble submission to and faith
in Christ, there is striving and enmity and blaming God for
everything. Oh, may God cause His rain to
fall upon us. When I thought about the darkness
of that, the blindness of that, the futility, the self-destructiveness
of that, and again, Some people that I love very dearly are right
in the middle of that. They define that. And I thought this, God cause
your rain to fall upon us. Oh dear God, may we cry out for
it. The next time it rains, you know,
maybe you're caught out in your garden and it starts raining
and you can't get back to the house. And it starts pouring
down on you. Lift up your eyes to heaven and
let God's rain fall on your face and know that God sent his son
down just like that. The water of life, the light
of the world, the prince of peace. And he didn't just come down
to earth, he came right down on you. He fell right on you
and gave you life and shined in your heart and made peace
by his blood for you. And if he had not, we'd still
be shaking our fist in his beautiful face. We'd still be spitting on him
and striking him with our fists and driving the nails right in
his flesh. And God says, woe unto them that
do that. Woe unto them. You see, this
striving with your maker, that's not just arguing with God. If
you want to know what striving with your maker is, look to Calvary. That's what it is. Woe unto them
that do that. And notice it says, they say,
what have you made? What have you made? What have
you done? This is what Paul quotes in Romans 9, 19. This is the
scripture that he's quoting. Thou wilt say then unto me, why
doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? He made us like this. Nay, but,
O man, who art thou that replyest against God? Shall the thing
formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? That's exactly the question that's
asked in our text. Why have you made us this way? Hath not the potter power over
the clay? Does not he have the authority
and the ability? of the same lump to make one
vessel into honor and another into dishonor. It's his clay.
It's his clay. In other words, God is blamed
for the sin of the creature. Nay, but O man, God forbid. When those who, according to
the scripture, now think about this. The scripture, all of us
are under sin and I don't know how you categorize sin, do you?
But the depth of depravity is pictured in those who are given
over to a reprobate mind and who are unclean in their appetites. You know what I'm talking about.
God has given them over in the depth of their depravity. They've
sunk deep in it. You know what they like to say?
We're born this way. You know what they're saying?
God made me like this. Oh no, old man. Nay, but old
man. You're not going to blame God
for that. You're not going to blame God for that. No, that's
you. We didn't choose this. God has
made us the way we are. That's their excuse when in reality
all that they do in that regard is against God's natural way
of things and against His law. And yet they're going to blame
Him for defying Him, for their defiance of Him. Many now try to change their
gender. We've talked about this, but I'm not sure all of you were
here when we talked about this. Think about this when they're
getting their sex changes and when they're saying, I identify
as something else. Do you know why they're doing
that? Because in their sinful, wretched,
rebellious hearts against God, even in that, they're saying
in effect, God doesn't get to decide even whether I'm a boy
or a girl or not. I'm not going to let God decide
that. I'm going to decide that. It's the mighty will of man.
It's will worship, isn't it? Exactly what it is. And then
when they are called out as the freaks that they are before God,
they say, you made me this way. Oh, no, no. And this is all of us, as I said,
by nature, it manifests itself in so much evil in all of us,
our nature. I'm glad God had never showed
me what I am all the way. Aren't you glad? You talk about
despair. Oh, but he gives us, he shows
us just enough to cause us to run just as fast as we can to
his son. That's enough. That's all I need
to see, Lord. That's all I need to see. And
we don't ever really see it like we ought to until we look to
him, to him crucified. You're not going to know the
evil of your depravity until you see what it cost. Notice the last part of verse
9 there. Will the thing made say to him
that made it, you have no hands? Let's talk about that just a
little bit more. You have no hands. Do you know that I've
actually heard religious people say that very thing? Have you
ever heard anybody say that? God has no hands, but your hands. You think about that. It would
be less evil just to say God has no hands. To say He has no hands, but your
hands is even more evil than saying He has no hands. It's
really the same thing, but it's even more evil. It's saying He
depends on you. Not only is He helpless, but
He depends on you to get things done. Shall you say that? Yeah, they do. They do say it. They absolutely do. I've heard
them say it. They've said it to my face. God has no hands,
but your hands. They're saying the very thing
that our text says is unthinkable. It's darkness. You know what
that is? It's darkness. It's evil. He wants to, but he can't unless
you let him. He has no power. Paul said they
have a form of godliness, but deny what? The power thereof. Think about it now. This is what
he's saying. You're saying that to the one who made you. You're
saying to him that made you, you can't do anything. You need
me. Boy, you talk about darkness, blindness. Oh God, help us. And this again, now this is all
of mankind by nature. We just see it outwardly in some
more than others. We all strive against God by
nature. And look, he said, let the potsherd
of the earth strive against the other potsherds of the earth.
You know, the clay, striving against clay is one thing. But
don't strive against the creator. Don't strive against the potter. No, you don't wanna go there.
Kiss the sun, lest he be angry, and consume you in a moment. The ultimate expression of our
striving against God, as I've already mentioned, is at Calvary.
Let's read about it in Acts chapter four, and I'm through. Acts chapter
four, verse 18. Verse 18. And they called them and commanded
them not to speak at all, nor teach in the name of Jesus. What
are they doing? They hate God. They're striving
against God. They're trying to shut down the
gospel. But Peter and John answered and said unto them, whether it
be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than
unto God, judge ye. We've already made our judgment
on the matter. Now you decide. For we cannot but speak the things
which we've seen and heard. When you've seen him and heard
from him, you're going to speak. So when they had further threatened
them, they let them go, finding nothing how they might punish
them because of the people. For all men glorified God for
that which was done. For the man was above 40 years
old, on whom this miracle of healing was showed, and being
let go, they went to their own company and reported all that
the chief priests and elders had said unto them. This is the
potsherds of the earth striving against the potsherds of the
earth. The Pharisees inscribed the religious Jews. They hated
his people for his sake. But they're not just striving
against the other potsherds. Verse 24, and when they heard
that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord and said,
Lord, thou art God. Boy, that's a good place to start
prayer, isn't it? Our Father, which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. Your God, your God, which has
made heaven and earth and the sea And all that in them is our
maker, the maker of all things good. Who by the mouth of thy
servant David has said, why did the heathen rage? And the people
imagine vain things. That's in Psalm 2, where we just
quoted from, kiss the sun. But the people rage against God
and they imagine vain things like he has no hands but my hands. And he's done all he can do and
now it's up to me and you. It's up to our will. We have
a free will, vain things. Men have just come up with that
in their wicked imagination. Not in the word of God. The kings
of the earth, verse 26, the kings of the earth stood up and the
rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against
his Christ. There's the striving. For of
a truth against Thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed,
both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people
of Israel, were gathered together. For to do whatsoever thy hand
and thy counsel determined before to be done. It's darkness, isn't
it? Who created it? I'm so glad he
determined that to be done, aren't you? That wasn't plan B. That wasn't just something that
happened. That's what he sent his son to
do. He said, nobody takes my life from me, I lay it down.
And now Lord behold their threatenings and grant unto thy servants that
with boldness. When we see this, when we see
that the Lord gave us some light and he's created some darkness
and there's a striving because of that. Men strive against him
and they strive against his people. What are we going to say about
that, Lord? Grant unto thy servants that
with all boldness we may speak thy word. By stretching forth thine hand
to heal and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy
holy child Jesus. That was the way the word was
confirmed then. You know how it is now? By us
studying and looking into and knowing thy God's word. This
complete, perfect, holy word of God. That's all the confirmation we
need today. God said it. And we have everything
God says on the matter right there. You ever think about that?
This is everything that God has to say to sinners about his son. And when they had prayed, the
place was shaken where they were assembled together and they were
all filled with the Holy Ghost. And they spake the word of God
with boldness. And the multitude of them that
believed were of one heart and of one soul. That's what we said
a while ago when we started. One heart. One soul. Neither said any of them all
of the things which he possessed was his own. But they had all
things common. And with great power gave the
apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great
grace was upon them all. Light and darkness in that passage. Where there was light, there
was gratitude and worship, acknowledgement of His sovereignty. There was
an asking, there was a submission to Him and asking, Lord bless
us. Lord, give us grace to honor You. Give us grace to preach
your gospel with boldness, to tell forth the glories of your
son in the very teeth of them that strive against us. And then
there was great darkness. And what did that look like?
Striving against, against, against. Lord, shine your light on us.
Rain down from heaven upon us your righteousness. That bread from heaven Moses
didn't give that did he? That came down from the Lord.
Lord give us ever more that bread. Come down here where we are and be our meat and drink indeed and rain your grace upon us that
we might rejoice in and worship in the light. What was the result
of of him shining his light in our heart, we see God's glory
in the face of Christ. May that be so. Every time we
come together, see the glory of God and rejoice. You don't know what rejoicing
is until you've seen his glory in his son's dear face. But God
calls it. He creates it. He said, I, the
Lord, have created it. I've created it. Bless his holy
name. Let's pray.