Good evening, everyone. Let's
remain sitting and we'll begin by singing hymn number 485, Revive
Us Again, 485. Revive us again. Praise thee, O God, for the Son
of thy love, for Jesus, who died and is now gone above. Alleluia, thine the glory. Alleluia, amen. Alleluia, thine the glory. Revive us again. We praise Thee, O God, for Thy
Spirit of light, who has shown us our Savior and scattered our
night. Alleluia, Thine the glory! Alleluia, Amen! Alleluia, Thine the glory! Revive us again! O glory and praise to the Lamb
that was slain, who has borne all our sins and has cleansed
every stain. Alleluia, Thine the glory, Alleluia,
Amen. Alleluia, Thine the glory, revive
us again. Revive us again. Fill each heart with Thy love. May each soul be rekindled with
fire from above. Alleluia, Thine the glory. Alleluia, Amen. Alleluia, Thine the glory. Revive us again. I would like to read Psalm 149. 149. Praise ye the Lord. Sing unto
the Lord a new song and His praise in the congregation of the saints. Let Israel rejoice in him that
made him. Let the children of Zion be joyful
in their king. Let them praise his name in the
dance. Let them sing praises unto him
with the timbrel and harp. For the Lord taketh pleasure
in his people. He will beautify the meek with salvation. Let
the saints be joyful in glory. Let them sing aloud upon their
beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth and a two-edged
sword in their hand. to execute vengeance upon the
heathen and punishments upon the people, to bind their kings
with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron, to execute
upon them the judgment written. This honor have all his saints. Praise ye the Lord. Our merciful and heavenly Father,
we thank you again for allowing us to gather and assemble here
this evening. Father, what a great blessing
it is that week after week you allow us to come together to
hear of our only hope and expectation, the Lord Jesus Christ. And Father,
will you remember Brother Eric as he comes before us again this
evening? Father, remember him in mercy
and pour out your your grace and spirit upon him and release
his tongue, Lord, that he may expound the scriptures unto us
and that your spirit may accompany this message this evening. Father,
give us attention, give us what we stand in need of to be able
to hear this and that our faith may be increased and that once
again our eyes may be turned to our only rest and our only
expectation of Lord Jesus Christ. And Father, we thank you for
allowing Brother Scott and Sister Johnny to be with us this evening.
Father, we thank you for all your mercies that you have shown
unto us and continue, Lord, to be with us as an assembly, continue
to remember us, whether it's financially or for our health
or whatever we stand in need of. Father, with you, all things
are possible. And again, Lord, we pray for
our loved ones. Will you, Father, have mercy
upon them and incline their hearts and turn them unto yourself.
Lord, remember all the churches where your gospel is preached.
Thy will be done for Jesus' sake alone. Amen. Our second hymn will be 235,
Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior, 235. Bless me not, O gentle Savior,
Hear my humble cry, While on others Thou art calling, Do not
pass me by. Savior, Savior, hear my humble
cry, While on others Thou art calling, do not pass me by. Lead me at a throne of mercy,
find a sweet relief, Healing there in deep contrition,
help my unbelief. Savior, Savior, hear my humble
cry. While on others Thou art calling,
do not pass me by. Resting only in Thy merit, would
I seek Thy face. Heal my wounded, broken spirit. Save me by Thy grace. Savior, Savior, hear my humble
cry. While on others Thou art calling,
do not pass me by. Thou the spring of all my comfort,
more than life to me, Whom have I on earth beside thee? Whom in heaven but thee? Savior, Savior, hear my humble
cry. While on others Thou art calling,
Do not pass me by. Good evening. We're going to be in John chapter
18. John 18. Tonight we see Jesus
enters the garden of Gethsemane. to meet Judas, the betrayer,
head on, and to ensure the deliverance of his disciples, that they go
free. And this is in fulfillment to
the prayer that our Lord had just prayed back in John 17,
and we'll see that. Now, in verses 1 and 2, we're
told when Jesus had spoken these words, when he had instructed
his disciples, his final words of instruction to them from chapters
13 through 16, and then his intercessory prayer as our high priest when
he had spoken these words. He went forth with his disciples
over the brook Cedron, which is the brook Kidron. Where was
a garden? And this garden would be Gethsemane. And Gethsemane simply means an
oil press. And Gethsemane lied at the bottom
of the hill of the Mount of Olives. It lay there at the bottom. And
so it was conducive to processing oil and pressing the oil out
there. And that's how it got its name.
Into the which he entered and his disciples. Judas also which
betrayed him knew the place for Jesus oft times resorted thither
with his disciples." Now this garden holds some significance. because it was a garden that
our God would meet with and fellowship with Adam and Eve in the Garden
of Edom. And Judas also, in whom the devil
had put into his heart to betray Jesus, the last Adam, He knew
the place for Jesus often times resorted thither with his disciples. He would go there and fellowship
and rest with his disciples often times in this garden. And it's
here in this garden that our Lord, having fulfilled all righteousness,
will now allow himself to be taken and bound as the sacrifice,
the Lamb of God, in order to make an atonement for the people,
the people whom the Father had given to Him. He was laying down
His life for them and He redeemed them from the curse of the law,
nailing it to His cross, taking all the ordinances and all the
law and that which was against us that we could not do and fulfill.
Christ took it. and nailed it to the cross and
put away all that stood between you and holy God. And the Lord
says, I will be their God and they shall be my people. For
Christ's sake, for Christ's sake, praise his name. Now look at
verse 12 regarding this binding of Christ. Then the band and
the captain and officers of the Jews took Jesus and bound him. Again, this is all in fulfillment
of the scriptures. We see Isaac, who was a type
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaac was bound. He was bound
when he would be sacrificed to God. When Abraham, his father,
would sacrifice him, but he was let go. Why? God provided himself
a lamb, and Isaac went free. And so we see here in our Lord
being bound for his disciples that they may go free. We see
a picture of our deliverance, of our liberty for Christ's sake,
our Savior. Now, the sacrifices were to be
bound that were offered to the Lord. It says in Psalm 118 verse
27, God is the Lord, which hath showed us light, bind the sacrifice
with cords, even unto the horns of the altar." There is a picture
there for us to see, just as the Jews saw the bloodshed when
they sinned, and an animal was taken in their place, and its
throat would be slit, and its blood would be shed, They saw
what their sin did, how it cost the life of that animal, which
pictured what Christ did for us. And he was bound for his
people. And there's another picture in
that binding of the Lord Jesus Christ. It pictures our sin. Our sin is binding. Our sin puts
us in chains. Our sin puts us behind the prison
doors from which we cannot get ourselves free. And frankly,
in nature's darkness, we don't even know that we're in prison.
We don't even know that we've been ensnared and taken captive.
and are powerless to save ourselves and to do that which delivers
us and makes us righteous and makes us acceptable to the true
and living God. We don't even know. But Christ
being bound pictures how that He was bound with the sins of
His people. These sins were paid for by the
Lord Jesus Christ. because justice must be satisfied. And so Christ being bound is
a most fitting picture of our sins being laid upon Him. Just
as the prophet Isaiah said in Isaiah 53 verse 6, the Lord had
laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was bound with our sins. He was made sin. by God for the
people to obtain eternal redemption for us, that we should go free
in Him. Even Peter, when you think about
it, we know that Peter drew a sword, and he was probably swinging
for that guy's head, the servant of the high priest, Malchus.
He was swinging for his head, and he caught his ear and took
his ear off. Even Peter, for that crime right
then and there that they all saw, Christ said, let him go
free, and he went free. And Christ was accountable for
that. Christ bore that, that Peter
could go free. And we see our Lord restored
that which he took not away. He paid the price. He settled
the debt for you and me who believe him, who look to him, who have
no other righteousness, no other salvation. He is all our salvation. So all, just as Peter went free,
all his people, just as the disciples, the eleven disciples scattered
and went free, all, that's a picture of all, us all, who hope in him
and believe in him, we go free. We go free. We shall never suffer
the wrath of God. We go through afflictions, we
suffer chastisements, we suffer difficulties and hardships, but
it is not the wrath of God. It's for our good. Those things
are for our good, for our instruction, for our learning, for our reproof,
for our humbling, for our eyes to be turned on the Lord our
God once again. But we shall never suffer the
wrath of God on you who have been born again raised anew in
the Lord Jesus Christ by His Spirit given unto you, the second
death, that death which comes upon the wicked in the day of
judgment, that second death has no power over you that have been
raised in the first resurrection, being born again by the grace
of our God. So we'll never suffer the wrath
of God because Christ suffered the wrath of God as our substitute. in our place. His sacrifice as
our substitute satisfied the justice of God. His sacrifice
as our substitute satisfied the justice of God. And this substitution
is the gospel. It's the gospel. It's our hope.
It's our joy. It's our rejoicing. that He died
in our place. That's the hope of the believer,
that Christ's death as our substitute satisfied, settled all our debts
with Holy God. You have no sin. God remembers your sin no more. It's been blotted out with the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's good news, brethren. That's
joyful. That's a rejoicing. No, we know
we don't deserve it. Yet God in grace freely put away
all your sins in the Lord Jesus Christ and he has manifested
it, made it known to you through the preaching of the gospel and
giving you hope, faith, love to the Lord Jesus Christ for
what he's done for you. He's accomplished that in each
of his children. So this deliverance of being
set free, being reconciled, being delivered from death and going
free, that's an answer to Christ's prayer. Look back in chapter
17, verse 12. Christ just asked for this. While
I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name. Those
that thou gavest me, I have kept, and none of them is lost. but the son of perdition, that
the scripture might be fulfilled." And so immediately after his
prayer, he enters the garden, confronts Judas and the arresting
party, and he secures the deliverance of all his disciples. It's an
immediate answer to prayer. Look at verses 8 and 9 in John
18. Verse eight, Jesus answered,
I have told you that I am he. If therefore ye seek me, let
these go their way. That the saying might be fulfilled
which he spake, which he had just spoken, of them which thou
gavest me, I have lost none. I have lost none. And if he accomplished
so mighty a deliverance in his humility while he was yet here
in the flesh, before he even was crucified. How do men think
that he's now going to be denied by the Father? Those for whom
he redeemed with his own blood, how are they going to slip through
his hands and fall into hell? How is that even possible? having
fulfilled the will of his father, and laying down his life for
the sheep, accomplishing that which the father sent him to
do, and now seated at the right hand of the throne of God, as
the King of kings and Lord of lords, interceding for his people,
how is he going to fail? Who is he that condemneth?" Paul
asked. It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again
and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God who also
maketh intercession for us. How is Christ ever going to be
denied to receive to himself those for whom he gave his life
and redeemed with his own precious, infinitely precious blood. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? No one. No one. No one can take
Him from His hand. No one can take Him from the
Father's hand. And so it is that all for whom
Christ died, they are redeemed, they shall hear, they shall be
delivered from death, they shall never fall into hell for whom
Christ died. When he became surety of all
whom the Father gave him, he provided everything to ensure
our salvation. everything necessary was done
and accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ. When he said, it
is finished, that means it's just details just being worked
out that are coming to pass in time when we're born, when we
hear, when the Lord delivers us from the bondage of nature's
darkness and nature's prison. We're delivered from these things. Our Lord is the successful Savior. the successful Savior, none for
whom he gave his life shall come short of the gift of God." The
gift of faith, the gift of hope, the gift of love and experiencing
that love and fellowship of our God revealed to us in the Lord
Jesus Christ. To know and understand what he
has done and accomplished for us by himself. To the glory,
honor, praise of his name. How then can there be some who
are in hell for whom Christ died? There can't be. There can't be.
It's impossible. It's impossible. If a man is
in hell, it's because Christ did not lay down his life for
them. All who are his sheep come to
him. He said it in John 10, why do
you not hear my voice? It's because you're not my sheep.
and He laid down His life for the sheep. And so all who are
His, they do come, they hear the voice of the Son of God and
believe Him. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. That is the promise of your God
and it's His command to all His children, believe, believe Him. Trust him, rest in him, believe
him, follow him, he's all. Him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. By entering this garden, knowing
what Judas knows, we see our Lord's great resolve, his great
resolve to deliver his people, to conquer our foes, and to bless
his people. Whenever our Lord does something
good for His people, that deliverance, that blessing, always includes
the defeat of their enemies, the destruction of our enemies,
and His. It always includes that. We're
always delivered from our enemies and blessed in the Lord. The
brook Kidron, there's some things about that. Kidron means turbid,
which means dark and muddy and full of filth. It's because it
was mixed with all these foreign things that flowed into the river
there and it darkened it and it made it Not a very sightly,
not a nice-looking brook, if you will. It was mixed with a
lot of pollution. A lot of pollution. And our Lord
crossed that brook, picturing, no doubt, the pollution that
He came into in bearing the sins of His people, and then coming
over His head when He hung on the cross before holy God, bearing
that wrath of God. You know, David crossed this
brook also. This is the brook Kidron that
David crossed when he fled the face of Absalom. And it was a
sad day when that happened. It was a day of weeping in Jerusalem
when David fled from Absalom. Now Christ, foretold by Paul,
was crucified in weakness. But there's a difference. between
David fleeing and what our Lord did. He went to this garden knowing
what Judas knew. He went to this garden to face
Judas, to meet him, to go there. He's not hiding, he's not slinking
away. If he wanted to, he could have
walked away. He could have delivered himself,
but he wasn't weak and he wasn't scared in the face of his enemies.
How else would he have said such bold things that cut the Jews
to their hearts in their face if he was weak and scared before
his enemies? Not at all. Not at all. Christ was going to meet the
enemy to accomplish his defeat and to gain the victory, the
glorious victory for you who hope in him. He's our Lord. He's our Savior. He's the one
of whom we sing, David hath killed his tens of thousands. That's
our Lord. He has slain the wicked and he
has conquered the hearts of all his people and brought us into
his glorious kingdom of light. Now, Judas, it says in verse
three, came with an army of men. Judas then, having received a
band of men, and some say that was a band of Roman soldiers,
and the chiliarch there would have given no fewer than 500
men. It was a large band of people,
and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees come a-thither
with lanterns and torches and weapons. Now hold on, lanterns
and torches and weapons. What does that picture in your
mind when you see lanterns, torches, and weapons? That's what a village
would do when they were gathering together all the people to go
out and drive away or to capture and kill a monster, a criminal. They looked at him as though
he were a criminal, and that's exactly how the natural man looks
at God. He fears God. He runs from God
when he thinks he cannot defeat him, he runs from him just like
Adam into the woods, into the forest to hide himself. And that's
what the natural man thinks. We think of God by nature as
an austere man, as a difficult man, a hard man. You demand too
much. You expect too much. And so the
natural man looks at God and thinks he's unfair, he's unjust. And so the natural man judges
God. The natural man looks at God
and judges him as though somehow we're morally superior to the
true and living God. And we see it just when we read
the scriptures and we see how the Lord blesses his people and
provides for his people and teaches his people, people don't hear
it. They don't see it. They don't
see the love of God that you see. They don't have the hope
that you have in the Lord Jesus Christ. They don't have that
faith. They don't rejoice in that, but you see it. They couldn't
even see the Lord Jesus Christ. They didn't see who stood before
them, and they despised the true and living God, especially when
they hear of election, how that God, in wisdom, provided a safe
haven for his people. a confidence, a sure salvation,
a sure support, an anchor in the time of the storm. Our God
provided all that in His darling Son, Jesus Christ. But we see
the love and the faithfulness of our Savior to do for us what
we needed because we cannot save ourselves. Christ did that. Look
at verse 4. when he went to meet the enemy.
Jesus therefore, knowing all these things that should come
upon him, went forth and said unto them, Whom seek ye? Whom seek ye? Now remember from
Luke 4 what we saw last weekend. Christ just walked through the
midst of them. He just passed them by. Just
as we sang in that second hymn. Don't pass me by Lord. The Lord
passed them by. He went right through the midst
of them. Could he not have done this here? They didn't even recognize
him. when he stood right before him.
He could have passed right on through them, but he didn't.
He didn't hide himself. He faced the foe because he came
to meet the foe. I believe he went to the garden
knowing that's exactly where Judas would go. Judas wasn't
surprised in him. He knew right where to go. Christ
went to meet the enemy, to be taken, to deliver his people,
to crush the head of the serpent, to set us free. Now in response
to his question, verse five and six, they answered him, Jesus
of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am. That word he isn't even in the
original. I am. And it tells us that Judas also,
which betrayed him, stood with them. He was one of those with
them. And as soon then as he had said
unto them, I am, they, Judas included, went backward and fell
to the ground. That's power. I don't think that
was just from being stunned. Oh, here he is right in our face.
No, that's the power and glory of God showing us that if he
willed and purposed, he absolutely could have delivered himself
from that moment. Christ went there on purpose. Christ went there to obtain eternal
redemption for his children. What shall I say? Father, save
me from this hour? For this very hour I came into
the world. This is exactly why Christ came into the world. He's
not hiding. He's not backing down. He's facing
the enemy. He went to that cross willingly. That's important. Christ is a
willing sacrifice for his people. He offered himself up willingly
that we should know the love of our husband, our friend, our
Savior, our Lord, our all. That we would know that love
which they don't know, which they cannot see. and don't understand,
but we know it. We see the love of Christ, who
for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising
the shame. And he obtained that which he
saw for. He's seated right now at the
right hand of the throne of God. So natural man came out with
lanterns and torches, a picture of our own natural light, and
they saw nothing. They didn't even know that was
the Lord Jesus Christ. They didn't see Jesus in Jesus.
They didn't know that was Him right in front of them. But,
let's see this, what's going on here in Psalm 27, because
David writes of this very moment. David writes of this in Psalm
27. We're going to begin in verse 1, and I want you to put a marker
there because we're going to go away and then come back to
Psalm 27 in a bit. This is Psalm 27, and verse 1, The Lord is my light and my salvation. This is why you see who Jesus
of Nazareth is. Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is
the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? What
a picture there that our very lives are in the hand of our
God. And I can't think of a better
place, of anyone better, to hold my life in his hand. I'm thankful
for that. I'm thankful that he has our
lives in his hand, because nothing happens by chance. All things
are for our good. and as the Lord blesses people.
Look at verse 2 here. This is this very night here.
When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came up upon me
to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. They went backward
and fell to the ground. Though when host should encamp
against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war should rise
against me, in this will I be confident. You see, the Lord
is a man of war. The Lord is His name. He's a man of war. He's the mighty
God. He's the almighty God and Savior
of His people. He does not fail. He cannot fail. He accomplishes that which He
purposes for the glory of His name, for the good and salvation
of His people. Brethren, rest in your Savior. Rest in your God. Glory in the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Boast of Him and what He has
done for you. He's destroyed your enemies and
blessed His people. He's the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world to tell us that from the very foundation,
before the foundations of the earth were laid, He purposed
to do this, to save you, His child. We also see the promises
of God. in sending a savior throughout
the Old Testament scriptures. All the promises that God would
redeem his people and all those pictures and types and shadows
in the law, they all speak of Christ. They all reveal to us
God's purpose of grace for his people. The religious world,
the man trusting in the strength of his flesh doesn't see it.
But you that see Jesus, that see Christ in all these scriptures
and what He has done and what He's accomplished, your eyes
are blessed. Blessed are your eyes for they
see. Blessed are your ears for they
hear. Because you hear and see what
many have never heard and never saw. Even when He stood before
them in the flesh, they didn't even see them. And yet you, 2,000
years later, see Jesus, see Christ and believe Him. based on their
word, their word, which reveals the good news that God has provided
salvation. He's found a ransom. Take him
out of the pit. You're delivered. You're set
free by the Lord Jesus Christ. And when he came in the flesh,
he showed his purpose, that he was come to do the will of the
Father. My business is to do the will of my Father. That's
what Christ came to do. There's another place in Luke
9, 51, where it says that when the time has come that he should
be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. And for that purpose, the people
that were around him didn't even receive him. They said, well,
you just keep on moving along then, because if you're not here
for me, then you just move along. They should have begged Christ,
Lord, stay just a little longer, just a little longer. The other
Samaritans did it at the well, from the woman at the well, he
stayed with them and he spoke the truth to them. Now we shouldn't
be quick to want to usher Christ off and just move along there.
No, we shouldn't. This is the Savior. He's God.
He's our Creator. He's our Lord. He deserves all
our time, all our energy and focus. And so our Lord faced
His foes and He gave Himself up to them in order to deliver
His people in fulfillment of the Scriptures. And this is seen
right when He secured the release of His people, saying, If ye
seek me, let these go their way. Let them go their way. In these
scriptures, we see the difference that our God puts between His
people and the wicked. The Lord puts a difference between
His people and the wicked. We'll come back to Psalm 27 in
a bit, but you can go back to John 18. Our Lord's salvation for his
people always includes the destruction of our enemies. And our Lord
always manifests and reveals the hope of the saints, the light
of the saints in his people. He always manifests faith in
the hearts of his children. And he does it with the same
word, so that that same word is a comfort to you that believe
him. And at the same time, it's a
terror to those who despise him. It's a terror to the wicked.
He asked those men, Whom seek ye? And they answered, Jesus
of Nazareth. All they were looking for was
a man, a man like unto themselves. And when he said, I am, they
heard that word, and they went and fell backwards. They came
in the strength of their own flesh. They came thinking that
they were something, that they could command God, that they
could control God, that they could do their will and God did
his will on them. And that's what our Lord does
to all of us. But we see here that they didn't hear that same
word. Whom seek ye? Now go over to
John chapter 1. Go to John chapter 1 and I want
to show you that Christ asked that same question to his disciples
and it blessed them. It was a blessing to them. We're
going to pick up in verse 35. Again the next day, after John
stood and two of his disciples, that would have been Andrew and
most likely John. And looking upon Jesus as he
walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God. And the two disciples
heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned and
saw them following and saith unto them, what seek ye? Now I know that word what is
different from whom, and it's different from who. But in the
original, it is the exact same word. And it's just the word
is tis. And I say that because if you
look, it actually is helpful. If you look at John chapter one,
verse 22, I'll read it to you, and then
you'll see it's the same word, 122. Then said they unto him, Tis
art thou? Who art thou? That we may give
an answer to them that sent us. Tis sayest thou of thyself? Or what sayest thou of thyself?
It's the same word. It's the same thing. Our Lord
asked his disciples, What seek ye? That's the exact same question
he asked those people who came out to take him. And they said
unto him, Rabbi, which is to say, being interpreted, Master,
where dwellest thou? And he saith unto them, Come
and see. They came and saw where he dwelt,
and abode with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.
So Christ asked these disciples, who heard, This is the Lamb of
God, and they believed, and they followed him. And they asked
him, Where dwellest thou? Now, go back to Psalm 27. Go to Psalm 27 now, and we're
going to pick up in verse 4, and we'll see how that the Lord
blessed them with this same word. Psalm 27, verse 4, One thing
have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may
dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. to behold
the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. I don't know if the devil, when
I saw what the disciples asked, where dwellest thou, I thought,
well, I mean, were they just nervous? Were they just trying
to think of something to say? The Lord blessed them. He put
in their heart a desire to dwell where the Lord of glory dwelt.
They wanted to abide with him. God had done that. He worked
that in their hearts. That wasn't worked in the hearts
of the wicked. When he asked them that same word, what seekest
thou? Whom seek ye? Whom seek ye? It
didn't do the same thing. It didn't work the same thing
in them. That's the power of God. That is the grace of God.
with the same word, blessing his people and working wrath
in the others. Verse 5 in Psalm 27 says, For
in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion, in the
secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me, he shall set me up
upon a rock. This is what our Savior accomplished
for us in going to the cross and in allowing himself to be
taken and bound and have the sins of his people laid upon
him as our substitute. He sacrificed himself to satisfy
all our debts, to satisfy holy God, to satisfy the debts that
we owe, to settle them all that we would be hidden in that day
of wrath. which is going to be worked out
upon the inhabitants of the earth who have no covering, you have
a covering. Christ said, I go to prepare
a place for you. That's this pavilion which is
prepared for you, that he may hide you in that pavilion. that
you may dwell with your God according to that desire, that hope which
He's put in you by the Lord Jesus Christ. He's provided the whole
thing to you and worked that in your hearts by revealing faith
in you. He hides you in that pavilion
prepared for you which is the Lord Jesus Christ. who sacrificed
himself, obtained eternal redemption and forgiveness of sins, and
freely gives it to you, working it in your heart by the regeneration
of the Holy Spirit whom he sent to give you life, to give you
a double blessing, to bless you, though we haven't earned it or
deserve it, he freely gives it to you. and he works it in your
hearts. And you could see this in 2 Corinthians
2, 14 through 16, when Paul speaks of making manifest the knowledge
of God in every place, which is the sweet savor of Christ
in them that perish and in them that believe. And you that believe
it's a sweet savor of Christ unto God, and in them that perish,
it's wrath. It's death unto death. It's death. But to you, it's life unto life. And he said it again in 1 Corinthians
1. Turn there. Let's just see that
in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 18. Again, it's the same word, which
to the wicked It puts them under wrath. It keeps them under wrath.
It reveals that they are the children of wrath and the children
of disobedience, but to you, it manifests that you are the
children of God. 118, for the preaching of the
cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which
are saved, it is the power of God. Same word, different results. because that's the power and
grace of God working mightily in you for Christ's sake. Verse 19, for it's written, I
will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the
understanding of the prudent. Where's the wise? Where's the
scribe? Where's the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For
after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew
not God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. What's foolishness to
the wicked is life. to you. It's a blessing to you. Look at verses 23 and 24. But
we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block and
unto the Greeks foolishness, but unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom
of God. And so that's what our God does.
That's what he's doing. He's manifesting his grace in
you That belief, that faith whereby you believe God and you trust
Christ is a manifestation that you are a beloved child of God,
adopted into the family of God by Jesus Christ, according to
what Christ has obtained for us. It's even in 2 Thessalonians
1, 7-10, we're going to rejoice in that day when Christ comes
and the wicked will be burned with fire. and will be glad and
happy. That same coming of our Savior
works wonder in us and transforms us and destroys the wicked. We
see our Lord doing the same thing. So how do I know if I am a child
of God? Well, God's testimony is faith,
which looks away from self, has no confidence in the flesh, no
confidence in my good works. I believe Christ. That's all
I have. And that's all I need. He's all
that I want. And that's what He's worked in
the hearts of you that believe Him this day. Faith believes
that Christ, that Jesus of Nazareth, is not just some man. He is the
Christ, the Son of the living God. Faith believes that He was
crucified, not for His own sins, but for the sins of His people,
and has obtained eternal redemption for them. Faith believes that
He was buried. and I was buried with him, and
that he was raised from the dead, and I was raised with him for
my justification. And faith believes that he is
seated even now at the right hand of the throne of God, having
obtained the victory, having obtained redemption. Faith goes
to Christ. Faith believes Christ, trusts
Him, falls at His feet. Even though you tremble and maybe
worry about your sins and wonder, is He my Savior? Faith can't
leave Him. Faith cries and says, Lord, I
won't leave until You reveal Yourself to me. Have mercy on
me, Lord. Pass me not by. Faith isn't indifferent. Faith loves Christ. Faith wants
to dwell with Christ. Lord, let me dwell where you
dwell. Hide me in your pavilion, Lord. He reveals that in his
child. Faith follows Christ. And faith looks for Christ's
return. Faith believes the testimony
of our God in the Old Testament and the New Testament concerning
Christ. It all speaks of Him. And we
believe God. Though I don't know everything,
all I do know is that Christ is the Savior. And I cry out,
Lord, save me. Have mercy on me. I have no other
righteousness but the Lord Jesus Christ. So faith is the manifestation
of God's grace in you, His child. Whom seek ye? Do you want to
dwell with Christ? Or do you want to see Him hauled
off and murdered? To His child, He's a blessing.
To others, they hear the same thing, and it does nothing for
them. If you're His, He'll manifest
His salvation in you through faith that trusts in Christ.
Amen. I'll pray, and then Brother Joe
discloses in a hymn. Our gracious Lord, we thank you
for your grace. We thank you for your sovereign
power. We thank you for your willingness
to freely offer yourself up to the Father, to, as our substitute,
bearing our sins to make satisfaction to God. Lord, thank you for this
grace. Thank you for this salvation.
Thank you, Lord, for your mercy. Lord, reveal in us, manifest
in us that faith which you give to all your saints. For without
a hope in Christ, Lord, what do we have? We have no righteousness
of our own. We have no good works to recommend
us to God. We have nowhere to turn, Lord,
but we turn to the Lord Jesus Christ. We turn to you who came,
who faced our foes willingly and destroyed them all. Lord,
take our hearts, take our lives, take our hope and our confession
and put it all in you, Lord. Lord, where do you dwell? Where dwellest thou? Lord, let
us be with you and abide with us and us with you, Lord. It's
in Christ's name that we pray and give thanks. Amen. Our closing hymn will be 359, My Faith Looks Up To Thee. 359. My faith looks up to Thee, Thou
Lamb of Calvary, Savior divine. Now hear me when I pray, Take
all my sin away, O let me from this day be wholly Thine. May Thy rich grace impart strength
to my fainting heart, my zeal inspire. As Thou hast died for
me, O may my love to Thee, pure, warm, and changeless, be a living
fire. While life's dark maze I tread,
And griefs around me spread, Be Thou my guide. Bid darkness turn to day, Wipe
sorrow's tears away, Nor let me ever stray from Thee aside. When ends life's transient dream,
When death's cold, sullen stream Shall o'er me roll, Bless, Savior,
then in love Fear and distrust remove, O bear me safe above
A ransomed soul.