Let us turn again to God's Word
and directing you to the portion we were considering last Lord's
Day morning in 1st Timothy chapter 2. Turning then to 1st Timothy chapter
2 and I'll read from verse 5 through 6 and 7. For there is one God, and one
mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave
himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time, whereunto
I am ordained a preacher and an apostle. I speak the truth
in Christ and lie not, a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and
verity." We were, of course, most of you will recall looking
last Lord's Day morning at the words that we have in verse 5
and I sought to say something with regards to one God and one
mediator in particular considering that one mediator in the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ so we try to say something with regards
to the doctrine of God and also the doctrine of the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ as that one who is so suited to stand
between heaven and earth because he is God's manifest in the flesh
that dies man whom Job so desired who would stand betwixt God and
himself Well, that is the Lord Jesus Christ, and those were
some of the things we were trying to consider last time. I now
want us to look at the words that follow in verses 6 and 7.
He gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time,
whereunto I am ordained a preacher and an apostle. I speak the truth
in Christ and lie not, a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and
verity he continues in here to say something with regards to
that one who is the mediator and that one who is the mediator
of course is one who has various offices to fulfill and amongst
those offices there is that of the priest as the a mediator
he is also a priest And as a priest, he makes sacrifice. He makes
sacrifice for the redemption of his people. And he himself
is not only the priest, but he is the ransom price that has
been paid. That is a remarkable thing with
regards to Christ in his priestly office. Redemption is one part
of the great work that was committed to him as the mediator and he
has come and he has satisfied the divine justice, he has paid
the price that God's holy law demands it. Remember what the
law says, cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things
written in the book of the law to do them. If a man should keep
the whole law of God and yet offend in one point he is guilty
of all the soul that sinneth it shall die the wages of sin
is death how that was so evident in the words that the Lord God
spoke to the man there in the garden of Eden as he is put to
the test as it were with regards to that tree of the knowledge
of good and evil in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt
surely die, or the curse that has come upon man because of
sin. And Christ has come and has paid
that tremendous price, has borne that curse. Christ has redeemed
us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For
it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. The great price of the sinner's
ransom. Even the dying of the Lord Jesus
Christ, Christ pouring out his soul unto death, he gave himself
a ransom for all. We did try last time to specify,
to understand that reference to him paying the ransom for
all. It's not all mankind. No, it's those for whom He is
the Mediator. He is the Mediator between God
and men, that is certain. I don't want to go over a matter
that we were trying to spell out somewhat last week. But just to remind you of the
great price of redemption. As you know, says Peter, ye were
not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received
by tradition from your fathers but he says with the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ or as a mediator then Christ
is the priest and as a priest he has offered the sacrifice
and the sacrifice is himself but then Christ in his offices
as a mediator is also prophets and isn't that intimated here
in what he goes on to say he gave himself a ransom for all
to be testified in due time or as the margin says a testimony
in due time that's an interesting expression that we have there
at the end of verse 6 in due time the word that we have the
trend of time, is a word that literally refers to a fixed and
definite period of time. It's interesting, there are two
different words that could have been used, two words in the original
there. The other word, that is often
translated by time in our authorized version, has the idea of the
sequence of time, minutes. and hours, and days, and weeks,
and months, and years. Time like an ever-flowing stream. But there's this other word,
and it's the one used here that has regard to a fixed point,
a definite period in history. And we have the word time, and
we also have the adjective due. It's the due time. That's the
proper time, the appointed time. And this is what we see here,
you see. This is introducing us, really, to the day of grace,
we might say. And that's the theme, in a way,
I want to take up, the dispensation of the gospel. or we might refer
to it in terms of the administration of the Holy Spirit because what
really marks the period of time that is being referred to by
the Apostle here is that of the Gospel day which begins with
the outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost after
Christ has accomplished all that great work that was given to
him in the eternal covenant and being raised from the dead ascended
on high and then shedding abroad the Holy Spirit. And so to say
in the first place something today with regards to what we
might term the day of the Gospel the day in which we're living,
and it's a day that was appointed and foreordained from all eternity. And it was to be testified, we
read here at the end of verse 6, in due time. It was to be
testified in the set time that God had foreordained from before
the foundation of the world. And so what do we read repeatedly? in the New Testament concerning
Christ, coming Christ in His work. The language of Galatians
chapter 4 and verse 4. When the fullness of the time
was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under
the law to redeem them that were under the law. Here it is you
see. The proper time. That that was fixed definitely
in the mind of God from all eternity when the fullness of the time
and we've said before there we have two definite articles the
fullness of the time and so we have the great mystery of godliness
God at that time was manifested in the flesh remarkable our God
contracted to a span incomprehensibly made man. But as, of course,
the time of the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ was established from eternity
in the purposes of God, so also the time of his death. To everything
there is a season. Time to every purpose under heaven.
Time to be born, time to die. that is true of all men and that
was true of the Lord Jesus Christ himself and so what do we read
in the gospel there are those occasions we see it in John's
account in John 7 at verse 30 and again in chapter 8 at verse
20 they would have killed the Lord Jesus they would have stoned
him to death the Jews were so offended at his preaching, at
his teaching but his hour was not yet come his hour was not
yet come and so he could walk through the midst of them and
they were unable to raise a finger against him but the hour was
set as we read in Luke 9.51 when the time was come when the time
was come that he should be received up he steadfastly set his face
to go to Jerusalem and so he makes that final journey up to
Jerusalem and he knows full well what will befall him there at
Jerusalem and as he's making that final journey and we see
it in the in the following chapters there in Luke's Gospel after
that statement in chapter 9 and verse 51 he's making the final
journey and at times he begins to open up to the disciples those
things that are going to befall him there how he will be betrayed
by the Jews into the hands of the Gentiles and how he's going
to be crucified and the third day he will rise again from the
dead and they can hardly believe the things that the Lord is saying
But they did understand it ultimately. And Peter clearly understands
it in the manner of his preaching there on the day of Pentecost.
When he's preaching to those who have gathered, it's a great
Jewish feast, Pentecost, a feast of weeks. And there are many
there at Jerusalem, not only Jews but proselytes, Gentiles
converted to the Jewish religion, and they're there and they're
hearing the preaching of this man and he's preaching Jesus
of Nazareth who died and has now risen again from the dead
and this remarkable event that has occurred these unlettered
men and Peter and the others and they're preaching and Peter
there at the foremost really amongst them and what does he
say concerning these events how Christ was delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God and ye have taken them by
wicked hands of crucified and slain." Oh, how he charges that
upon those Jews. They were culpable. What had
they done? They had betrayed this man to the Gentiles. He'd been crucified. Their wicked
hands. And yet, it's all in accordance
with the purposes of God. He's delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. And again, Peter who's preaching
there is the same man who's writing in that first epistle in chapter
5 and verse 20 where he says concerning Christ that we was
verily foreordained before the foundation of the world but was
manifest in these last times for years. Oh, the wonder of it, you see. He was manifested when? In the
last times. All of this then under the hand
of God. And oh, when we see the Lord
Jesus Himself, of course, commencing His own ministry. And remember in the account that
we have in the shortest of all the Gospels, Mark, He says really
nothing at all with regards to the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But we are immediately brought to his ministry in the very first
chapter. There in Mark 1 at verse 14,
now after John, John the Baptist was put in prison, Jesus came
into Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and saying,
the time is fulfilled. This is the due time, you see,
the appointed time, as Christ begins his own ministry. The
time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand, repent ye
and believe the gospel. All this day of grace is introduced
in the preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, primarily. And
to whom is he sent? Well, he's not sent to any but
to the Jews John the Baptist is there, John
is the one who is to introduce his ministry the harbinger preparing
the way before the coming of the Lord and we have the record
of those things that John would say in the course of his own
ministry and look at how he speaks there at the end of John chapter
3 concerning Christ, the one who comes from above. He says
at verse 31, He that cometh from above is above all. He that is
of the earth is earthly and speaketh of the earth. He that cometh
from heaven is above all. And what he hath seen and heard,
that he testifieth. Oh, the Lord Jesus comes, you
see, to bear a testimony. and no man receiveth his testimony
he that hath received his testimony hath said to his seal that God
is true but Christ comes and he comes to the Jews he comes
to his own and his own receive him not his ministry is to the Jew first
and when he sends out his disciples in the course of his gospel ministry
these men gather to him although on on the whole he is rejected
of the Jews, there is never a remnant in the midst of Israel, the true
spiritual Israel. There are those who are his followers
and the Lord sends them out. And what does he say? Go not
into the way of the Gentiles, enter not into any city of the
Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. And yet they refuse his ministry. and they refuse the ministry
of his disciples. And it's all really preparing
us for those remarkable things that we were reading in the two
portions. We read in Ephesians chapter
2 through to chapter 3 and we read there at the end of Colossians
chapter 1 and of course it all has to do really with the calling
of the Gentiles. This word is to be testified
even to the ends of the earth. This gospel is to be preached
even to sinners of the Gentiles. That's the great mystery that
is being revealed, isn't it? In those remarkable words of
Paul, he reminds those Gentiles what they were. And yet God had
grace for Gentile sinners. Wherefore remember that ye, being
in time past Gentiles in the flesh, you are called on circumcision
by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands, that
at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise,
having no hope, and without God in the world. But now in Christ
Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the
blood of Christ." Or what has this man wrought? By the sacrifice
of himself. The due time has arrived. This
is what he is saying. He gave himself the ransom for
all that is for sinners of the Gentiles as well as sinners of
the Jews. and is to be testified in due
time in the appointed time this is a message that is to go out
even to the ends of the earth and although the Lord himself
is sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel he does exercise
his prophetic ministry and he does it now through the ministry
of the apostles he does it through the ministry
of the apostles and doesn't Paul make that quite plain in that
same epistle to the Ephesians in the language that we have
later in chapter 4 and verses 20 and 21 that he says you have
not so learned Christ if so that you have heard him and been taught
by him as the truth is in Jesus the Lord is in the ministry of
the word although he himself does not
go to the Gentiles and initially he doesn't send his disciples
into the way of the Gentiles but when all is accomplished
all this message is to be testified to the ends of the earth and of course this man who was
so proud of his Jewish heritage Hebrew of the Hebrews, of the
tribe of Benjamin. He was a Pharisee, he was the
son of a Pharisee when he was sold of Tarsus. But this is the
man who is to be the great Apostle Paul who is to take that message
to sinners of the Gentiles. And he says it here in verse
7, Whereunto I am ordained a preacher and an apostle. I speak the truth
in Christ and lie not, a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and
verity." Here is a message to be proclaimed. This is the day of the Gospel.
But how important, and we can't overemphasize the fact that that
is the ministry of the Holy Spirit and the blessed outpouring of
the Spirit? Is He not the Spirit Himself
who bears testimony? What does the Lord say at the
end of His earthly ministry before His ascension? Almost the last
of the words that He ever speaks to His apostles. We have it there
at the end of Luke's Gospel Luke chapter 24
verse 49 he says to them behold I send the promise of my father
upon you but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until you be
endued with power from on high and then he leads them out as
far as the Bethlehem and lifts up his hands and blesses them
and as he's blessing them he departs from them he ascends in the attitude of
blessing his disciples and preparing them for the great day of Pentecost
the outpouring of the Spirit of God and how vital is that
ministry of the Holy Spirit to the Gospel day because this day
in which we're living it's the best of all the All the days,
it's the dispensation of God the Holy Ghost. And remember
how the Lord speaks of Him time and again. We have those great
chapters, don't we, in John. Three chapters, 14, 15, and 16,
His valedictory discourses. They're often spoken of in that
sense, His final preachings. And the great subject matter
of His ministry there is continually the Holy Spirit. or when the
spirit comes he comes as that one whose ministry will be so
self-effacing Christ says he's not going to speak of himself
he'll take of mine and yet strangely when the Lord is fulfilling his
prophetic office whilst he's here upon the earth his final
discourse is he's magnifying the spirit of course As with
the Father, so with the Son and the Holy Spirit, they're all
equal. They're the three persons of
the Godhead, they're co-eternal, they're co-equal. There's no
superiority, no inferiority between those three divine persons. one God in three persons but
how there we see the Son in a sense magnifying the ministry of the
Spirit when the comforter is come he
says whom I will send on to you from the Father even the Spirit
of truth which cometh down from the Father he shall testify of
me says the Lord Jesus all that is his ministry And when was
he given? Well, back in John 7, there in
the temple, remember how Christ speaks of his ministry again,
in the souls of his people, a well of water springing up into everlasting
life. But then we're told, John makes
that remark, the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because Jesus
was not yet glorified. But when the The Lord is glorified,
what does he do? He sends the Spirit. He sends
the Spirit, that's part and parcel of the message that we find Peter
preaching on the day of Pentecost. He is now exalted, that one who
humbled himself. to the death of the cross God
has highly exalted him given him a name which is above every
name that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every
tongue confess that he is Lord to the glory of God the Father
that's the outcome of his humiliation he's now glorified to the highest
heavens and he sheds abroad the Holy Ghost being by the right
hand of God exalted having received of the Father the promise of
the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth this which ye now see and
hear. And so we have the outpouring
of the Spirit to those who are gathered there at Jerusalem on
the day of Pentecost, or the day of Pentecost was fully come.
And as I said there's Jews and Jewish proselytes there. but
then remember there's another Pentecost in a sense there's
the Pentecost that comes upon the Gentiles when Peter is summoned
to the house of Cornelius and it is, it's another Pentecost
really isn't that indicated in the language that's employed
as it's recorded by Luke there in the 10th chapter of the Acts. In Acts chapter 10 at verse 44. While Peter yet spake these words,
the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. And they
of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came
with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out
the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with
tongues and magnify God. Then answered Peter, Can any
man forbid water, that these should not be baptized which
have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded
them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. There was a Gentile Pentecost
just as there was a Jewish Pentecost. And this is the day, you see,
in which we're living. and the ministry of the Spirit.
There the Lord speaks of that ministry. He comes as one who
will convince, but He also comes as one who is not only going
to bring conviction to the soul of the sinner, but He will comfort
the sinner. And how will He comfort the sinner?
By revealing the things of Christ to the sinner. That's His twofold
ministry. when he has come he will reprove
the world or the margin says he will convince the world of
sin of righteousness and of judgment says Christ of sin because you
believe not on me of righteousness because I go to my father you
see me no more of judgment because the prince of this world is judged
all we convince is of sin he convinces us of our accursed
unbelief does he not he makes us feel it, we cannot believe
we're dead in trespasses and sins, that's his ministry to
teach us the solemn truth of our lost state and condition
we're those who are enemies in our minds by wicked works, alienated
from God he convinces us of all that but he also convinces us
of this, there's a righteousness And that righteousness is not
found in self, that righteousness is in heaven. That was the comfort
that John Bunyan found, wasn't it, when he, oh, he longed to
know he was righteous before God. And it just came so sweetly,
he tells us. One day he's there, somewhere
in Bedfordshire, doubtless, and looks into the skies, and he
realizes that's where his righteousness is. He had no righteousness. His own righteousnesses were
filthy rags. that his righteousness was there
before the very throne of God of righteousness because I go
to the Father and you see me no more oh and now the prince
of this world is judged vanquished Christ has triumphed over all
the powers of darkness and that's what the spirit is to do he's
exalting Christ even as he convinces the sinner of his sin because
he brings the sinner to the end of himself but then he does more
doesn't he? he shall glorify me says Christ
for he shall take of mine and shall show it unto you the wonder
of it when the Lord is pleased to reveal Christ to us nor we're
not worthy of the least of his favours and all the truth that
he has shown us what is our religion? It's only Christian if it's revelation. There has to be a revelation
in the soul of the sinner. The Spirit has to reveal Christ
to us. Oh, he's here in the Word of
God. But how we must have him in our hearts. It's the Spirit
that does that. Oh, that blessed day, when the
day of Pentecost was fully calm. I love the words of that great
Scots divine, Rabbi John Duncan. What a man was Rabbi Duncan.
He was a great lover, of course, of the Jews. He was a missionary for a while
back in the mid, well, early years of the 19th century, a
missionary to the Jews there in Budapest. But he was a great
man. with a great mind and eventually
of course he's lecturing, he's one of the professors at the
Free Church College in Edinburgh he was a great Hebraist and that's
what he taught to the students at the Free Church there in the
college and concerning Pentecost he makes the statement it was
speaking of the opening of the day of grace, the gospel day,
he says it was a a splendid opening, but he goes on to say it was
a splendid entering in to a perpetuity. It's not just the day of Pentecost,
it's the whole epoch of the Gospel day. It is a dispensation of
the Holy Spirit. And so really we need to recognize
the necessity of that gracious ministry of the Spirit What does
Paul say here in verse 7? He's spoken of those things that
are to be testified in due time, the appointed time, whereunto
I am ordained a preacher and an apostle. I speak the truth
in Christ and lie not a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and
verity. And of course he he says a lot
more about it really in the portion we were reading certainly those
opening verses in chapter 3 of Ephesians by revelation he says God made
known unto me the mystery that is the calling of the Gentiles which in other ages was not made
known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy
apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles should
be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise
in Christ by the gospel, whereof I was made a minister." I was
made a minister, or the calling of the Gentiles. And what a ministry! it was hidden throughout all
the ages but it was revealed in due time the mystery of the calling of
sinners from every nation on the face of the earth in the
Old Testament it's you only have I known of all the families of
the earth but now you see This gospel is to be proclaimed to
sinners. Sinners are high in God's esteem.
What a provision God has made for the sinner. And the greatness
really of the day in which we're living is to be seen, I would
say, in that remarkable benediction that we have at the end of the
epistle to the Romans. often at the end of the epistles
Paul closes with a benediction we're familiar with that at the
end of 2nd Corinthians of course we use it so regularly at the
end of any service the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and
the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all we're so familiar
with that benediction but there's a a long one at the end of Romans
never heard it used but it's a wonderful benediction as he
comes to the concluding part in a sense he's finished the
epistle and he says there at verse 24 in Romans 16 the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all amen but then he adds
another benediction now to him that is a power to establish
you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ
according to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret
since the world began but now is made manifest and by the scriptures
of the prophets according to the commandment of the everlasting
God made known to all nations for the obedience of faith to
God only wise be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen. And what a statement it is. And those words that we really
have in verse 25 where he defines what his gospel is. He speaks
of my gospel. My gospel. And what is my gospel? He says it's the preaching of
Jesus Christ. And it's the revelation of the
mystery. It's all those things. It's the
gospel, the gospel is the preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, but
the gospel is the revealing of the mystery. And you see, that's
the significance of that other portion that we were reading
in Colossians chapter 1, because as he does more fully in Ephesians,
so even at the end of Colossians we find Paul speaking of his
ministry as the apostle to the gentiles and you remember what
he says there in uh verse 25 of that chapter whereof
i am a minister according to the dispensation of god which
is given to me for you to fulfill the word of god is writing to
a gentile church even the mystery which hath been hid from ages
and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints,
to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory
of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope
of glory." There's the mystery. The riches of the glory of this
mystery among the Gentiles is Christ in you. Christ in you
the Lord says the kingdom of God is within you the mystery
is more than the calling of the Gentiles in the sense of the
outward call that the gospel is to come to the ends of the
world there is that gracious word that is to be proclaimed
that there's hope for the worst of sinners in the Gospel. But
the mystery is something more than that. The mystery is that work that
the Spirit does in the soul of the sinner when he makes that
truth that's set before us in the Gospel something real in
the depths of our being when he comes into our souls. It's
not just the preaching of Jesus Christ, it's the revealing of
that mystery. And what does Paul say the minister
is? Well, he speaks of himself again when he writes to the Corinthians
there in the opening words of chapter 4 in 1 Corinthians. And
ministers of Christ, he says, and stewards of the mysteries
of God. Ministers of Christ and stewards
of the mystery. What is the purpose of the preaching?
It is to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery,
to make men see what is the fellowship, to be brought into the fellowship
of the gospel, to be brought into union and communion with
the Lord Jesus Christ, that's what he's saying. Again, there
in Ephesians chapter 3, we read the words in the second verse,
he speaks of the dispensation of the mystery, He can speak
of the fellowship of it. He can speak of the dispensation
of that mystery of the gospel. Now what does that mean? Yesterday Mr. Wheatley mentioned
the importance of the words. He said, you may recall how he
began his sermon, how important the words are. He said, I want
you to look up the words, see what the exact meaning of the
word is. We believe, don't we, that the
Bible is God's book and it's divinely inspired. And we say it's verbally inspired.
In other words, it's not just the ideas that men may have had
that were inspired in their minds and then they expressed those
inspired thoughts in their own words. No, we say that the very
words that they used are inspired. That's the mystery of the Scriptures
really. It's the words of men And yet,
holy men of God spake, says Peter, as they were moved by the Spirit
of God. All Scripture is given by inspiration
of God. It's the breathings of God. The
very words are God's words. We're speaking, of course, of
the original autographs, the Hebrew Old Testament, the Greek
New Testament. And so it is profitable to examine
the words. What does Paul mean when he speaks
there in Ephesians 3.2 of the dispensation of the mystery? Well, the word dispensation has
the idea of the stewardship, or the administration, or the
management of the mystery. How does God administer His grace in the Gospel? How does the Spirit work in the
soul of the sinner? David says, search me, O God,
and know my heart. Is that how we come under the
Word of God? We want God to search our heart. We want God to do
something in our soul. We want God to show us where
we are and what we are. In a sense, you know, gospel
preaching does involve that in some measure. The tracing out
of those gracious workings and those sovereign operations of
the Holy Spirit in the soul of a man. That's what we mean when
we talk about experimental preaching. I think it's a term that's so
abused. Men seem to think that experimental
preaching is to stand in the pulpit and just relate your own
experiences. No, it's more than that. It's very different to that,
really. It's the proper tracing out of the ways of the Spirit
of God in the soul of the sinner. Paul says, which things also
we speak, not in the words, which man's wisdom teaches, but which
the Holy Ghost teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. Comparing. It's that word, I've said this
I think only probably last week, it's the word SYNCHRINO, and
in a sense our English words synchronize. can be related back
to that particular verb that the apostle is using there in
1 Corinthians 2.13 those words which the Holy Ghost
teacheth comparing spiritual things synchronizing spiritual
things with spiritual how these things you see relate
one to the other God's word that word that we have before us on
the page of holy scripture as a relationship to the way in
which God works in the soul he brings his word into the soul
of the sinner and the sinner feels the authority of that word
and that word finds him out, doesn't it? That word is quick
and powerful, sharper than the two-edged sword, piercing to
the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints
and marrows. It's a discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart. Oh, search me, O God! Is that
how we experience the word of God? It searches us out, it finds
us out. It brings conviction into our
soul. We see how we've fallen so far short of God and the glory
of God. as He revealed Himself here in
His Word. But then, or when we see the
wonder of Christ and the work of Christ, and who it was that
that work was accomplished for, it was all done for sinners. And when God comes, you know,
to work regeneration in the soul, what does it say? Peter reminds
us, born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by
the word of God which liveth and abideth forever or can we
not plead with God that he would come and work it in our hearts
not just something that we are sent into in our mind, not just
a matter of the intellect but something known, something felt,
we feel it in the depths of our souls can we not plead God's own work,
he says though It says in Psalm 102 and verse 13, Thou shalt
arise and have mercy upon Zion, for the time to favor her, yea,
the set time is come. Isn't this that time? That set
time? Something to be testified in
due time, Paul says, of which he was ordained a preacher, the
teacher of the Gentiles. Are we not living in that time?
The time to favour her, yea, the said time is come." Here's
a word, are we not to plead the word of God? Does he not say
also in the New Testament, I have heard thee in a time accepted?
Isn't this the time accepted? In the day of salvation, have
I succoured thee? Behold, now, he says. Now is the accepted time. Now. is the day of salvation we're
never to procrastinate with God and the word of God and the ways
of God or that we might be emboldened then to plead to plead his own
words and to remind him what the day is in which we're living
it's that blessed day or we've enjoyed that best of all the
donations of God we have the Holy Spirit or let us not grieve
the Spirit of God But let us plead with God that He would
grant to us such an outpouring, a blessed effusion of the Spirit,
that we might know it in our own souls and that we might witness
it in the souls of others. Oh, the Lord then be pleased
to bless His word to us. Amen.