Alright brethren, good morning.
We'll be in John 11. Let's go to the Lord before we
begin. Our God and our Father, we thank
you for bringing us safely here this morning. Pray, Lord, You
would settle us and clear our minds and help us to focus our
attention on Your Word. Lord, help us to behold our great
substitute. Fill our hearts with Your Spirit,
Your power. Make us believe on You. Thank
You, Lord. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Alright, John 11, verse 45. After the Lord had raised Lazarus
from the grave, it says, Then many of the Jews which came to
Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on
Him. But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees and told
them what things Jesus had done. And this happens every time the
Gospel is preached. believe and some do not believe.
Some are made glad by the grace of God and some get mad that
salvation is all by God's grace. And our Lord said, suppose ye
that I am come to give peace on earth, I tell you nay, but
rather division. We've seen it throughout John's
gospel. When he healed the man at Bethesda,
some rejoiced. And the Pharisees got angry because
they said He broke the Sabbath day. He fed multitudes and preached
that He is the bread from heaven. Many of the disciples that were
just following Him for the bread and the loaves, they went away
and walked no more with Him. But His true disciples said,
Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal
life. We believe, we're sure You're the Christ. After he stood
at the Feast of Tabernacles, he declared that he's the tabernacle,
he's the rock from whom the water of life comes. And John 7.43
says there was division among the people because of him. Over
and over and over we see that every time he would preach the
gospel, work a miracle, there was a division. There was division. But our Savior's not frustrated
by men's rejection. He severs his people on purpose. He told Pharaoh, Pharaoh was
rejecting the Lord and rejected Moses' word to Pharaoh and the
Lord sent word through Moses and he said, I will sever. The
Lord said, I will sever the land of Goshen in which my people
dwell, that no swarm of flies will be there. He was sending
that plague of the flies. And he said, I'm going to sever
my people. Nothing's going to be there.
And he said, to the end, thou mayest know that I'm the Lord
in the midst of the earth. That was the reason he did it.
He said, and I will put a division between my people and thy people. So the Lord's not frustrated
here. at all when people reject the Gospel. It's actually fulfilling
His Word. Well, where did they go? What
did those do who went away? It says, verse 46, but some of
them went their ways to the Pharisees. They turned from Christ's way
and they went their ways. left God, whose wisdom, and went
to these spiritually ignorant Pharisees. They left Christ,
whose righteousness, and went back to their filthy rags and
their religion. And it says, and they told them
what things Jesus had done. They were scared to death of
offending the Pharisees. Scared to death of these men.
And so they went to tell on Christ. They were trying to score points
with some religious fellows to keep the heat off them. Verse
47. Then gathered the chief priests
and the Pharisees of counsel and said, What do we do? For
this man doeth many miracles. Now this is the way of the carnal
heart. What do we do? What do we do? Carnal man cannot,
he will not cease looking to himself, looking to his own works,
that he might look to what Christ has done and trust what Christ
has done. And here's the, this is the absurd
reasoning of the carnal mind right here. Here it is. Here's
why they were rejecting Christ. They said, for this man doeth
many miracles. You see the absurdity there?
This is why they reject Him. He does many miracles. Until
the Spirit of God reveals Christ in a man's heart, all he sees
is a man. They said this man. That's all
they saw was a man. They knew the Lord Jesus worked
many miracles. They had heard of these and they
had seen some of them. And no man ever worked the miracles
He worked. He just raised a man from the
grave to life who had been in the grave four days. And they
knew this. And they want to reject Him.
What do we do? This man doeth many miracles.
Now here's why natural men hate Christ. Here's why. Verse 48. They said, if we let him thus
alone, all will believe on him. Now it's bad enough that they
would not believe on him. That's bad enough, but they're
trying to stop others from believing on him as well. Because if others
believe on him, they're not going to believe them. If they believe
on Christ, they're not going to believe these Pharisees. Our
Lord said, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for
you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men. For ye neither go
in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to
go in. And here's the rub. Here's the
rub. Here's what offends proud sinners
right here. Verse 48. We see it pictured
in these men. They said, And the Romans shall
come and take away both our place and nation. This was the rub. They thought it was their place
and their nation. This was their church they had
built. This was their righteousness
they had established. This was their nation they were
forming and trying to protect. And to come to Christ, they're
going to have to confess all their very best religious deeds
were nothing but wicked works. If they come to Christ, they're
going to have to let all this go. They're going to have to
lose their life that they might find it in Christ. He told them
in another place back in John 5, he said, search the Scriptures
for in them you think you have eternal life. And they are they
which testify of me and you will not come to me that you might
have life. This is what all men do by nature. They go to this book to find
what can I do to be saved. What can I do to be saved? They're
searching the Scriptures for life and would not come to Christ.
Verse 49, it says, and one of them named Caiaphas, being the
high priest that same year, said, he said unto them, you know nothing
at all, nor consider that it is expedient, it's profitable
for us that one man should die for the people and that the whole
nation perish not. And this spake he not of himself,
but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should
die for that nation, and not for that nation only, but that
also he should gather together in one the children of God that
were scattered abroad. Then from that day forth, they
took counsel together for to put him to death." Now, you know,
when you preach verse by verse through scriptures, you don't
go very far. and you're going to see substitution.
You're going to come to substitution over and over. Christ preached
substitution over and over. And this is the good news of
the gospel, is substitution. Substitution. Now, KF, his heart,
what his heart was, was to crucify Christ. His heart was to kill
Christ so he could protect his place and protect his nation.
That was his motive. That's all he was trying to do.
That's what he meant by what he said. Better for this man
to die, is what he's saying, than that our place and our nation
be taken from us by the Romans. Now our Lord told them that's
exactly what was gonna happen. For those that didn't believe
on Christ, they didn't trust Christ, their place and their
nation was destroyed in 70 AD. And for those that don't rest
in Christ and cast all their care on Christ, judgment will
come in the end. just like it did there in 70
AD. They were not gonna be able to
protect their position and their nation. The only place of refuge
is Christ, trusting Christ and believing on Him. But this man
is just speaking out of a malicious heart. He's saying only what
he wanted to do. He wanted to kill Christ. But
the Spirit of God, because God had determined before that these
men were going to nail Christ to the cross, because God had
purposed this from eternity, The Spirit of God put it in his
heart to say what he said and move these men to crucify Christ. That's how sovereign God is.
We should remember this. If somebody, the words a man
speaks are of God. God gives the heart to speak.
And if somebody speaks against us, we ought to remember they
can't do it except by God. And if it's not God's will, they're
not going to do it. And so this was not his heart. He was not
wanting to glorify Christ. He wasn't preaching substitution.
He wanted to kill Christ. But the Spirit of God made him
preach, made him declare this because to move these men toward
that end, to put Christ on a cross. But here's the first thing I
want us to see. This wonderful message of substitution
is what he declared. What he said here is the message
of substitution. It was expedient for us. It was
absolutely expedient. It was profitable for us, except
Christ became the substitute for His people. There is no way
any sinner could be saved. It was expedient. It was absolutely
profitable. No sinner in this world could
be saved any other way than Christ being the substitute for His
people. If the Lord had not sent our Savior and Christ willingly
had not given Himself to lay down His life as a substitute
place for His people, not only the whole nation of Israel would
have perished, but every nation in this world would have perished.
God is holy and we're ungodly, we're sinful, we're vile. And
God can have nothing to do with sinners. Absolutely nothing to
do with sinners. There's none righteous, no not
one. So it was expedient, it was profitable for Christ to
die for the people because we could not profit ourselves. We
could not profit ourselves in any way make ourselves righteous.
Listen to Job 9 verse 30. If I wash myself with snow water
and make my hands never so clean, Yet shalt thou plunge me in the
ditch, and mine own clothes shall it pour me. For he's not a man
as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together
in judgment. That's not who God is. God is holy, holy. And were it not for Christ, were
it not for Christ, there's no daysman betwixt us that might
lay his hand upon us both. But thankfully, Christ is that
mediator. He is that substitute. who could
come between God and His people as an advocate, a mediator, to
reconcile His people to God and bring God and His people in peace
with one another. That's what a mediator does.
That's what Christ came to do. So it was expedient. It was profitable. It was necessary that Christ
lay down His life in place of His people. Because we were condemned
already. We were condemned already. Look
back at John chapter 3. We were condemned already by
Adam, but, and Christ didn't come to condemn anybody. He came
to lay down His life and save His people. Now listen to what,
and this was a must. It was expedient. Listen to this,
John 3, 14. He said, as Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted
up. It was absolutely necessary.
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal
life. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
shall not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son
into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through
him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not
condemned. But he that believeth not is
condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name
of the only begotten Son of God. And he says there, this is the
condemnation. Christ the light is coming to
the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their
deeds were evil. That's what we see in these Pharisees. Beautiful whited sepulchers on
the outside, but they were trusting in all their religious works. And all those religious works
were evil deeds. That's what will keep a sinner
from Christ, thinking we're too good, thinking we're righteous
by something we've done, thinking there's some merit in us that'll
make God to receive us. And this is what men Men cannot
do of themselves and will not do of themselves. And that's
come to Christ to confess all our works were wrought by Christ,
by His doing and His dying, that we might be saved by Him. Man
by nature just won't do this. Because he's proud by nature.
So it was expedient, absolutely expedient for Christ to die.
Look back there at John 11. It says Christ died for the people. And if he hadn't died for the
people, the whole nation, every sinner in that nation and every
sinner in this world would have perished. It is expedient for
us that one man should die for the people that the whole nation
perish not. So yes, it was absolutely a must,
it was absolutely expedient, absolutely profitable that the
whole nation, and not every nation in this world, not all sinners
perish, Christ came to save and that's what He did. Now here's
the good news of substitution. It says there that one man should
die for the people. That's what Christ did. Christ
died for the people. That's exactly what it is. He
died for the people. He laid down His life for the
people. He laid down His life in place
of a particular people. And He put away our sin. He made
us righteous by laying down his life for the people. And therefore,
not one for whom Christ died shall perish. Not one. Now, substitution
is the gospel. This is the gospel. You know, it's sad Caiaphas declared
this and had no idea what he said. Because this is why the
whole world was created, for this very time, for this very
hour that Christ would lay down His life. Now, He laid down His
life for a particular people, and by His finished work, by
Him accomplishing the work, not one shall perish. Now, most people
believe and preach that Christ laid down His life for everybody. That's what most preach, that's
what most believe. Christ laid down his life for
everybody, but he didn't really accomplish anything. He made
it available. And the ultimate say in whether
he really accomplished it for anybody is if they put their
stamp of approval on it. If they believe on him, then
they make his blood effectual for them. That's what people
are being taught. That's what people are being taught. Now
you think about that. That's not saying that Christ
died for the people. The people is a specific people. That's not saying he died for
the people. He didn't die for all people. But Christ died for
the people and that's not the gospel. to say that for everybody
and to say now that it's up to the sinner by his will, by his
belief in Christ, to make it effectual. Here's why that's
not the gospel. It takes It takes Christ's accomplishment
out of the gospel. It takes what Paul called the
offense of the gospel out because it puts the work in the sinner's
hand. Nobody's offended by that. It
does not offend sinners to know that it's up to them whether
or not Christ succeeded. But that's not the gospel. That's
another Jesus. It's not another. That's another
gospel. That's not another gospel. It's just not. For whom did he
lay down his life? Verse 51, listen to this. He
prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation, and not
for that nation only, but that also he should gather together
in one the children of God that were scattered abroad. Now, that's
who he laid down his life for, the children of God. That's who
Christ laid down His life for, the children of God. For the
children of God in the nation of Israel, for the children of
God scattered abroad in every nation. When the scriptures speak
and say, God so loved the world, and I've said this to you many
times before, really the word so is after this manner. If you look at the context, that's
what Christ is declaring, the manner in which Christ loved.
We have to be born again, We speak that we do know. We have
to hear the gospel preached. The Son of Man must be lifted
up. It's through faith alone, without works. This is the manner
in which Christ loves. But He does, with a high degree
of imperfect, unchangeable love, love His people. There's no doubt
about that. He so loved His people. But when it speaks of the world,
It's speaking of the children of God throughout the world. It's talking about the children
of God in Israel and the children of God in the Gentile nations.
It's not merely the children of God in Israel. That's why
he said the world. It's not just Nicodemus would
have thought it's just for the Israelites. We're the elect because
we were born here. That's what they thought. We're
born here. We're children of Abraham by nature. We're the
elect. That doesn't make us elect. Grace is not based on bloodlines. It's by God's sovereign choosing. And that gives God the glory.
It says that's who Christ came and laid down his life for. But
aren't all the children of God? All are created of God. All are
created of God. All are responsible to give God
the glory and obey him. But scripture says there are
children of the devil and children of God. That's what the scripture
said. Way back there in Genesis 3.15,
God declared to Adam that Christ, the seed of woman, would come
and that he would bruise the serpent's head and there would
be enmity between her seed and the serpent's seed. They're between
Christ and the devil's children. He said that way back there.
This is true, that the Lord has and elect people who are called
the children of God, and those that are not the children of
God are the children of the devil. They're children by God choosing
them, by God choosing us freely by His grace, by the election
of grace, and that's who Christ died for. God made His children
by divine election. Of God are you in Christ. God
made His children. By his prognosis, that's what
the word foreknowledge means, prognosis, same way we get the
word prognosis. God foreknew, he foreordained,
he determined the end from the beginning. He predestinated his
people into the adoption of children. When it says he should die for
that nation, it was not everybody in that nation. Look back over
at Romans 9, let me show you this, Romans 9. I read this to
us. Sunday night, Romans 9. Here in verse 6. Not as though the word of God
had taken none effect. He's talking about some that
didn't believe. He's talking about them being in Israel. And
he said, but it's not as though the word of God had taken none
effect. For they are not all Israel which are of Israel. He's
saying the Lord wasn't calling everybody in Israel. Not like
his word failed, for they're not all Israel which are of Israel,
neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all
children, but in Isaac shall that seed be called. That is,
they which are the children of the flesh, natural children of
Abraham, these are not the children of God, but the children of the
promise accounted for the seed, the children God promised to
produce. He chose them, he promised to
redeem them, he promised to produce them in regeneration. This is
the word of promise, at this time will I come, God said, and
Sarah shall have a son. And not only this, but when Rebecca
also had conceived by one, even by her father Isaac, the children
being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God, according to election might stand, not of
works, but of him that calleth. That's the purpose. that it's
not of our works, it's of God that call it. That's what's offensive
to tell sinners, Christ died for a particular people. That's
why it's offensive, because particular redemption and effectual, irresistible
regeneration go together. They go together. Because Christ
died for a particular people, he's going to regenerate the
people he redeemed. Now, if you take out irresistible
grace and make a sinner believe it's all by his will, you're
going to have to take out Christ redeeming a particular people
too. Because that's offensive. But
that's the rub. It's of grace, it's not of works.
It was said to her, the elder shall serve the younger. As it's
written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall
we say then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? God forbid. In fact, this is how the righteousness
of God is shown. This shows that the whole purpose
of God choosing a people and sending Christ to redeem them
is to manifest His righteousness. To show that we're sinners and
God cannot receive us unless He makes us righteous as He is
righteous. And the only way we can be made
righteous as He is righteous is for Christ to be the substitute
to represent His people, to bear our sin, satisfy justice, and
make us the righteousness of God in Him. No, it's declaring
to us, as he said to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have
mercy, and I'll have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
So it's not of our will. It's not of our works. It's of
God that shows mercy. Now, the issue, the issue is
he's gonna save all his people. As Gentiles, we're very thankful. It was not for that nation only. He said there in John 11, 52,
and not for that nation only. It was not for the children of
promise, the children of God in Israel only, but that also
he should gather together in one the children of God that
were scattered abroad. If he hadn't have made that statement,
you and I wouldn't be included, because we weren't born in Israel.
The children of God scattered abroad, God's elect in the Gentile
nation. Now the issue here is God's glory. The issue is Christ's glory.
Do men want to offend men or do you want to offend God? Do
you want to give man glory or give God glory? This is the issue. We're declaring that Christ accomplished
redemption by his death on the cross because he laid down his
life for particular chosen children of God. And he didn't make salvation
possible, he accomplished He accomplished it. He accomplished
the redemption of each child of God for whom He died. Listen
to Hebrews 9.12. It says, Neither by the blood of bulls and goats,
but by His own blood He entered in one time into the holy place,
having obtained eternal redemption for us. Redemption. He paid the price. He paid His
blood. He bought His people. They're
His purchased possession. And He obtained it for His people
when He laid down His life. That's what He meant when He
said it's finished. Now look back here at John 11. I want
you to see what our text said. This is what Christ came to do
and this is what He accomplished on the cross. Verse 52. It says, should, and really the word is
shall, he shall gather together in one the children of God. Those in Israel and those scattered
in the world. Now I want to show you something.
Go to Ephesians 1. Ephesians chapter 1. That's what Christ did on Calvary's
cross. That's what he did on Calvary's
cross. How so? Let me show you this. Ephesians
1 verse 9. He has made known unto us the
mystery of His will according to His good pleasure which He
hath purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness
of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ,
both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in Him
in whom we've obtained an inheritance. Now, there is no doubt about
it that in the end of time, God shall gather together all His
people, those in heaven and those in earth, in one, in Christ. Christ shall gather together
all His people in Him. But brethren, this is what our
Lord did at Calvary's cross. It says, in the dispensation
of the fullness of times. Galatians 4.4. Go over there
with me, just back a couple of pages. Galatians 4 and verse
4. Now look here what He said. Verse
four, when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his
son, made of a woman, made it under the law to redeem them
that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption
of sons. And because you are sons, by
his election, by his blood redemption, God has sent forth the spirit
of his son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. So you're
no longer a servant in bondage under the law, you're a son and
an heir of God through Christ. On the cross, go to John 17.
I think that's where I want you to go, Nick, John 17. On the
cross, this is the glory God gave Christ to accomplish before
the world was made, to gather together in one his people in
him. Sin separated us from God and
from one another. Sin totally separated us, but
by his blood, by laying down his life on the cross and purging
the sin of his people and redeeming his people, he reconciled His
people to God. He gathered us together in one
in Him and made us one with the Father. He did that on the cross. When He calls us, it's Him calling
us to declare to us what He accomplished and how He's gathered us together
and it's that message of His making us one with God that makes
us one with Him in spirit and one with our brethren. But He
accomplished it at Calvary. Let me read Romans 5 to you before
I get there. It says, God commended his love
toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us. While we were sinners, Christ
died for us. Much more than being now justified by his blood, we
shall be saved from wrath through him. He's called us, we know
it, he's justified us by his blood, because here's how we
know we'll be saved. Because if, now listen to this,
when we were enemies, at that time, when we were enemies, We
were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. He accomplished
that. While we were still sinners,
while we were still enemies, by His death, He reconciled all
His people to God. He gathered us together in Him,
in one, and made us one with the Father by His blood. Now
look here in John 17. He declares this. John 17. These words begged Jesus and
lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has
come. Glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee, as
thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give
eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life
eternal, that they may know Thee, the only true God in Jesus Christ,
whom Thou hast sent. I have glorified Thee on the
earth. I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do. And
now, O Father, glorify Thou me with Thine own self, with the
glory which I had with Thee before the world was. Now listen to
that, he said, this glory I had with you before the world was,
now listen, I've manifested thy name unto the men which thou
gavest me out of the world. Thine they were, thou gavest
them me, and they've kept thy word. Look at verse eight, for
I've given them the words which thou gavest me, and they received
them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they've
believed that thou didst send me. I pray for them, I pray not
for the world, but for them which thou hast given me. for they're
thine, and all mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I'm glorified
in them. Have a look at verse 20. And
I don't pray for these alone, but for them also which shall
believe on me through their word, that they all may be one. He gathered together in one.
He did this on the cross, but he preaches this gospel to us,
that they all may be one as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee,
that they also may be one in us, that the world, that's his
elect, scattered all through the world, that they may believe
that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest
me, I've given them, that they may be one even as we're one.
What's the glory God gave to Christ from eternity. It's this glory of being the
one God-man mediator that would come forth and gather together
in one his people by his blood reconciling us and making us
one with God. And when he gives us the glory
It's him preaching this gospel to us in our heart of the oneness
he accomplished by what he did at Calvary's Cross for his people.
He shows us that glory of him accomplishing the work. And it's
by that glory that he makes us one. Paul said, we beheld the
glory of God in the face of Christ. His glory is that Christ is,
God is righteous. He's holy. He's wisdom. Every attribute of God is manifest
in the fact that He sent His only Son and laid down His life
for His people and made us one so that He's just and the justifier
of His people. And when He gives you this glory,
gives you this word of His gospel of the glory that He accomplished,
And what he did, you see it and he makes you one then in your
experience of it with him and with the father and with your
brethren. It's Christ who's gathering us
together in one. He's the one who's doing it.
And he says, and the glory I gave thee, you gave me, I've given
them that they may be one even as we're one. I in them and thou
in me that they may be made perfect in one and that the world may
know that thou has sent me and has loved them as thou has loved
me. It's that gospel brethren, the
glory of what he did. God gave him the glory of accomplishing
this at Calvary, gathering together his people, and it's this glory
that he accomplished it. that He speaks into the heart,
giving us a view of that glory, making us one with Him. You know
the gospel is called the power of God unto salvation. That word
power means dunamis. It's dynamite. What's going to
break a man's stony heart? It's not taking the offense out
of the gospel. It's not taking the power out
of the gospel and lying to men. and not telling them the truth
that Christ is the power by which God could reconcile his people
and do it in a way that's just and righteous and holy. The power's
in that. Christ the power. And you take
that power out, you take the offense out, that's not going
to bust any man's hard heart. That's going to puff a man up
more in pride because he thinks he did the work. God's got to
do the work, and the power, the dunamis, the power of God unto
salvation, wherein the righteousness of God is revealed, it's the
gospel that declares Christ laid down His life for a particular
people and accomplished the work. Men aren't getting saved by begging
them to walk down an aisle and give their filthy, stinking,
proud heart to their little helpless Jesus. That's not saving anybody. It's preaching the gospel in
truth. That's how God saves people.
That's how He saves His people. And He gathers us together and
He makes us one. There's one body, there's one
spirit, even as you're called in one hope of your calling,
one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who's
above all and through all and in you all. How all this oneness.
Because Christ came and laid down his life for his people
and gathered together and won all his people. And this gospel
is going to keep going forth, and he's going to keep preaching
this gospel. And because you are sons, before he ever called
you, because you are his children that have been blood-bought by
Christ, because you are his children, he's going to send forth the
Spirit of his Son into the hearts of his people and give them this
oneness. And they're going to be one with
him. That's wonderful news, brethren, because the loved ones we love
that we want to see God save, If they're his, we're absolutely
sure, without any doubt, that the Lord's going to call them. Just speak the truth. Don't take
the edge off the gospel. Don't take the offense out of
the gospel. Declare the truth. I mean, you can get a man to
make a profession and join a church and take on a form of religion,
but if he hadn't really been given a new heart by God, what's
the point? He's twice dead, but the only
one that can give that new heart is God and he only does it through
the word that gives his son all the glory. So what else, I mean,
what else to preach? It's actually pride in a man
who would rather offend God than offending men that won't, makes
it where he won't preach this truth. He said, Now how do men regard
this gospel? Let me close. John 11. How do
men regard it? Natural men. Verse 53. Then from
that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death.
That's how natural man always receives it. They rejected Christ. You know what Christ did? Verse
54. Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews. They
didn't want him. He left them to themselves. But
what did he do for his people? But he went thence into a country
near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim, and there
he continued with his disciples. That's what he always does. Because
he's made us one. He's not going to leave his people.
He's made us one. We can't be separated from him.
inseparably united to him, can't be separated from him, because
he made us one. If we made ourselves one, so-called,
we can be separated. But if he made us one, can't
happen, can't happen. All right, brethren, let's go
to him in prayer. Father, thank you for this gospel. Thank you
for this good news. We have a triumphant, successful
redeemer. Lord, thank you for keeping your
gospel so new and alive in the hearts of your people. Thank
you for making this the bread from heaven that we delight to
partake of. Thank you for nourishing us with
this bread and making us strong in the faith. Keep us, Lord,
and save us from our sin. Keep us one, keep us united.
We ask you, we thank you. We ask you according to your
will, according to your promise, for Christ's glory by His power
and His blood, we ask you. Amen.