As on the cross of Christ I thought,
it seemed I heard one cry. Is all this nothing in your eyes,
new this day passed by? Is not such suffering greater
than that which you've seen before? And was there ever any man who
grieved or suffered more? I looked again, and what I saw
I cannot fully tell. It seemed within his very bones
there raged the fire of hell. What caused you grief, I ask
the man? What crimes could you have done? That God Jehovah struck you down
and left you all alone. His answer cut my heart like
steel and left me void of rest. This for your sins, this pain
I feel, for you I go to death. Your soul before my Father's
throne could find no place to hide. This is the way God can
be just, and you be justified. But mercies never fail, each
morning they are new. Great is His faithfulness and
love, therefore we're not consumed. Jehovah God in Christ the Son
shall all my portion be. My soul shall therefore wait
for Him and live Thank you. All right, let's go to Mark chapter
six. Mark six, and we'll be reading
verses one through six. And he went out from thence and
came into his own country. That would be Nazareth. And his
disciples follow him. And when the Sabbath day was
come, he began to teach in the synagogue. And Luke actually
adds that it was his custom to do so. And it makes me think
that if our Savior, who is the Lord of glory, if he made it
his custom to come to worship God on the Sabbath day, if any
man didn't need to be there, it would be Christ, and yet he
did need to be there to fulfill all righteousness, and he went
there faithfully, and it's such a beautiful lesson to us as men,
as weak and carnal men and women, how much we need our God, and
without Him we can do nothing. So he was there on the Sabbath
day, and he began to teach in the synagogue, and many hearing
him were astonished, saying, from whence hath this man these
things? And what wisdom is this which
is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought
by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the
son of Mary, the brother of James and Joses, and of Judah and Simon,
and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended
at him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet
is not without honor, but in his own country, and among his
own kin, and in his own house. And he could there do no mighty
work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed
them. and he marveled because of their
unbelief, and he went round about the villages teaching. Our gracious Lord, we thank you
for your grace, for your power, for your glory. We thank you
for your salvation, that, Lord, all things are in your control,
and that it pleased you to send your Son, your precious, darling
Son, to come in the likeness of this flesh, to be the sin-bearing
sacrifice of his people. Lord, we thank you for this unspeakable
gift, for this stone which you have sent forth as the head of
the corner, the chief stone, and yet men foolishly set him
aside and despise him and stumble over him. And Lord, we thank
you for your grace and mercy, which has called us by your gospel,
and that has attended that word with power, bringing it home
to our hearts, to hear it as it is in spirit and in truth,
and to believe the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we thank you for
this. And Father, we think of our brethren.
We think of Brother Scott and Sister Johnny, who would be here,
Lord, if they could. but you know just the amount
of work that Brother Scott is putting in and how much it takes
out of him, Lord, to get well. But we thank you for the strength
that you've been giving to his arms and his leg and helping
him in his therapy and to get well. We pray that you would
bring to pass that which will help him to be more and more
independent and that you will bless him with this and encourage
his heart, Lord. as long as it takes, encourage
them and teach them and bless them from faith to faith, Lord,
as you do through your blessed word and the preaching of the
gospel. Lord, we pray for our children, we pray for them, Lord,
you know all things, you know their struggles, you know their
weaknesses, you know their sin, Lord, you know their heart, you
know their thoughts. And Lord, we can only think of
how you know all these things about us and yet you saved us
and had mercy upon us, and caused the light of your word to come
in, and to expel the darkness in our thoughts and minds, and
to give us an understanding, a blessed, spiritual, true understanding
of the Lord Jesus Christ, to see Him as all our salvation. And Lord, seeing how you did
this for us, who were steeped in such religion, in such darkness
and death, who would do all things by the flesh and do all things
for ourselves. Yet, Lord, it pleased you to
save us. Would you not save them as well?
Would you not deliver our children and our loved ones, our friends
and family from death and from the bondage of sin and death
and darkness? Would you not deliver them from
the strong man's house, take them out, and bless them with
the shining forth of your gospel? save them as you saved us to
bring them to Christ as you brought us to his feet to see and to
know that he is all salvation call him Lord and Savior even
now Lord by faith with joy and gladness and love and Lord you
know the the thoughts of our brethren we think of sister Claudia
and and her sister and how she would see us united in fellowship. Lord, bless that if it please
you. And Lord, all the many things which you know are working and
going on, Lord, that you would bless this work here, that you
would establish this work here, that you would gather together
all your sheep in this area, that you would call them by your
gospel and feed your sheep here from this pulpit, in this place,
Lord, we pray this in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ, not for any worth or value in us, but because he is
worthy of all praise, honor, glory, and power. It's in his
name we pray and give thanks. Amen. Our second hymn will be Christ
of the Cross. Christ of the Cross, that's your
handout. so On a hill far away died the Christ
of the cross. He yielded to suffering and shame. And there in His grace He died
in my place The purpose of God to fulfill So I'll cherish the Christ of
the cross And before His throne I'll bow down. I will cling to the Christ of
the Cross, For He is the King I must crown. O the Christ of the Cross, so
despised by the world, has a wondrous attraction to me. He, the dear Lamb of God, left
His glory above to bear all my sin on the tree. So I'll cherish the Christ of
the cross, And before His throne I'll bow down. I will cling to the Christ of
the Cross, For He is the King I must crown. In the Christ of the Cross, and
His blood so divine, a marvelous beauty I see. For He opened my eyes, that long
had been blind, to behold Him now on His throne. So I'll cherish the Christ of
the cross, And before His throne I'll bow
down. I will cling to the Christ of
the Cross, For He is the King I must crown. To the Christ of the Cross I
must be true, His shame and reproach gladly bear. For in love He constrains, till
all shall be gain, His glory forever I'll share. So I'll cherish the Christ of
the Cross, And before His throne I'll bow down. I will cling to the Christ of
the Cross, For he is the King I must crown. Thank you. Let's be turning to John chapter
17. Back in John 17 verse 17, our
Lord asks the Father to sanctify His disciples through thy truth,
through the truth of the Father, and he says, thy word is truth. He also said back in verse 14
that he had given them, his disciples, the Father's word. He said, I
have given them thy word. And now in verse 20, Christ says,
neither pray I for these alone, but for them also, which shall
believe on me. through their word. Now, lest there should be a mystery
about what their word is. Some might say, I wish I could
hear their word. I wish I knew what their word
was that they would preach. Well, their word is the word
that Christ gave them. Their word is the word that Christ
gave them. It's the Father's word of truth. That word of truth is the word
of the gospel. It is the gospel word. If you
would hear their word, the word which the apostles preached,
then hear the gospel. hear the gospel of Christ. Christ is saying, I preach to
them, and they will now preach it to others. And others are
going to believe me for their words' sake. Others are going
to hear their word. They're going to hear them preach
their word, and they're going to believe on me. This Word is
the Word of Reconciliation. This is the Ministry of Reconciliation,
the Word of Reconciliation which our God has given to the Church
to preach to the world, to preach to others. We preach this Gospel
Word to this day. So the mystery of what their
Word is, is revealed unto us in the preaching of the gospel. That's where the mystery of their
word is revealed. It's manifested in the preaching
of the gospel. Unto you, our Lord said, it is
given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God. Unto you,
it's given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God. This word
is the gospel which these men preach to all. This is what they
were sent forth. This is what they were equipped
with. This is what they were given, this word which Christ
gave them. They went forth preaching the
Father's word, the word of truth. Paul tells us that he preached
the gospel for this purpose, to make known the mystery of
the gospel. That's why he preached. It was
to make known, to declare this mystery of the gospel. So in
the preaching of the gospel, he would make known what the
gospel is. He made known what the mystery
of God is. And this is how the mystery of
the gospel is revealed to all men. in the preaching of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now listen to what he says here
in Colossians 1, 26 and 27. He said, Even the mystery which
hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made
manifest to his saints, his saints being you that believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. that He is all your righteousness,
and you have no other salvation but Him. He is all your acceptance
with the Father. You are the saints of God, 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." It's to reveal Christ in you through the preaching
of the Gospel, where Christ dwells in the heart of His child by
faith. and that faith is manifested,
it's revealed in the preaching of the gospel. You that believe
that Christ is your very righteousness, that he is the righteousness
of God, and that he is your righteousness, and you have no other righteousness
but the Lord Jesus Christ, you who have every confidence in
him, though we have no confidence in this flesh, we have no confidence
in our works, no confidence in our abilities, what we have done
or said, but we have every confidence in Him who promised that our
life is found and given and established in the Lord Jesus Christ whom
the Father has sent. You are received of God. You believe that God raised Him
from the dead. You believe that God has fulfilled
all His word of promise concerning Christ, concerning you in Christ. And you believe that in Christ,
and hope in him that he is all your comfort, and you have peace
and comfort with the Father. And it's ministered to you through
the preaching of this gospel. I've titled this word, this message,
Their Word, Their Word. We're gonna understand what Their
Word is. Paul calls it a mystery which
hath been hid. Now the gospel is contained in
all the scriptures. This gospel is on every page,
in every chapter, every book, every chapter, every line. The gospel is declared here.
We see the Lord Jesus Christ of what he came to do, who he
came to do it for, and that he did accomplish it. We see that
in this word, in all the scriptures. but it was largely unknown. It
was a mystery to those who had the scriptures before Christ
came. Some saw it, there were saints
of God who saw it, but to many, they didn't see, they didn't
understand. Look over at Romans chapter nine. Let's see Romans
chapter nine, two verses, verse 31 and 32. But Israel, which followed after
the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Why not? How come? Because they sought it not by
faith, but as it were by the works of the law, for they stumbled
at that stumbling stone. Now John tells us that the law
was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's where we see and understand
that the grace and truth of God. He's told that woman at the well
that the hour cometh when the true worshipers of God will worship
him in spirit and in truth. They're going to know, they're
going to understand. They're going to know their God and they're
going to know their Savior. They're going to know Him who
reconciles them to the Father. And so this grace and truth is
declared and it's made known in the preaching of the gospel. The word gospel signifies a good
message. It is good news. It is glad tidings. And that's how the angel used
this word when he proclaimed the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let's see this in Luke 2, because I'm going to show you a few verses
in Luke. So let's go to Luke 2 and verse 10 and 11. And the angel said unto them,
fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy,
which shall be to all people. Now, for example, who are the
people that this is good news to? Well, we see here that with
all the mighty and great people that were in the world, there
was a Caesar in the world. This man was the, one ruler,
the known ruler over all the known world at that time, and
there was other kings or tea-tarks and governors and other people
that were of power, but the angel comes to these lowly shepherds. Because this is good news to
all people, that is all kinds of people. Some from every tongue,
tribe, nation, and people. Unto you is born this day in
the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And so the message of good tidings
was proclaimed, that was proclaimed by this angel, was declaring
that Christ was come. The promised seed of woman that
God spoke of in the garden was now come into the world. the flesh for the salvation of
his people. In fact, when Christ's ministry
began, the gospel that he preached to the people was that he was
come, that the kingdom of God was now at hand, and that he
had accomplished their redemption. He was the fulfillment of all
that true Israel was looking for. Let's see this in Luke chapter
4. Luke chapter 4, verse 17. Now, he was come to
Nazareth, that was his hometown, and he went into the synagogue
as was his custom, and he stood up for to read. And there was
delivered, verse 17, unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book,
he found the place where it was written, the Spirit of the Lord
is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight
to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach
the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book. And he gave it again to the minister
and sat down. And the eyes of all them that
were in the synagogue were fastened on him." Now this passage is
actually a commentary on all the scripture. This passage describes
to us what all the scriptures of our God are declaring unto
us. Christ actually came, when he
came to his disciples, we're told that he opened their understanding
that they might understand the scriptures. Christ is the one
who gives us an understanding of the scriptures. And so when
the Lord Jesus Christ opens this book to you, when he opens this
book for you, he's going to reveal Christ to you. He's going to
speak of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of His people. When Christ opens this book,
you're going to know whom the Father sent, whom the Father
has anointed to be a King and a Savior of God's chosen elect
people. you're going to know who his
people are. He describes them right here
in his word. He describes who his tender,
broken, needy people are. That they are sinners, that they
are blind, that they are poor, they have nothing to give to
God, and yet God is gracious and merciful to them. And he's
going to show you from his word that he is all sufficient to
save you, his child, to the uttermost, to the uttermost. And you're
going to know that the righteousness of God is the Lord Jesus Christ,
the one in whom sinners are saved, by whom we are received by holy
God, by holy God. and that God is well pleased
with all who come to Him in His darling Son, believing Him. When Christ opens a book, you're
going to know these things. From the opening of the book
to the closing of the book, Christ, the Savior of His people, is
preached plainly, boldly, clearly. Christ is preached boldly and
plainly. They knew who He was. And when the book is closed,
that message is delivered, the eyes of all them that are present,
hearing that gospel, shall be fastened on the Lord Jesus Christ. When Christ opens the book, and
he completes that message, your eyes shall be fastened on the
Lord Jesus Christ. It doesn't matter whether the
people believe him or not, they're gonna hear Christ, they're gonna
know that Christ is all. For God will have manifest the
savor of his knowledge in that place, the sweet savor of Christ
in them that are saved and in them that perish. Now this is
what gospel preaching is, and this is their word. This is the word that was given
to the apostles. It is the revelation of Jesus
Christ and him crucified. Paul said it this way, that Christ
died for our sins according to the scriptures. It's Christ according
to the scriptures, it's our sins according to the scriptures,
for us, and it's our sins, the sins according to the scriptures.
That is all the things, whether we see them as sins or not. Christ
died for all our sin and iniquity and rebellion and enmity and
hatred against the true and living God, things that we know and
things that we don't even know. Christ died to put it all away.
every wicked deed we did according to the scriptures Christ hath
borne it for his people and borne it away and that he was buried
in that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures
now when Christ's work was finished he gave it again to the minister
and sat down he gave it to the minister and sat down this is
exactly what Christ did he gave his word to his eleven apostles. And then he ascended up to the
Father, and is now set down at the right hand of the throne
of God, where he is expecting till his enemies are made his
footstool. He is ruling and reigning, and
his word is going forth, conquering the hearts of his people. Now turn over to Luke 24. Luke
24, and we'll pick up in verse 46. Here our Lord was now risen,
risen from the dead, and He appeared to the eleven apostles. Verse
46 tells us that He said unto them, thus it is written, and
thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the
third day. And that repentance and remission
of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning
at Jerusalem. And then he charged them, saying,
And ye are witnesses of these things." You're to be a witness
of these things, of my death, burial, and resurrection. And
you're to preach Christ crucified. to preach repentance and remission
of sins. The word that they preached,
which the children of God hear, is that by which they believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and who He is, and what He came to
do, what He accomplished, and that He accomplished it for them
that believe. You that now believe, it's because
He accomplished your redemption. Now in John 17, 17 Christ said
to the Father, Thy word is truth. And Paul was speaking to the
Ephesians and said, Ye heard the word of truth, the gospel
of your salvation. God's word of truth is the gospel
of our salvation. They trusted, these Ephesians,
just as you do today, they trusted Christ after they heard the word
of truth of which our Lord now speaks here in verse 17, chapter
17, the gospel of their salvation. The word of God is the gospel. Their word, which these apostles
preached, is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. This Word
of Truth tells us that the Son of God, Jesus Christ, was sent
of the Father into the world, in the flesh, as the Lamb of
God, without sin, to be the sin-bearer for His people, to take away
the sin of the world, meaning that there is but one Savior
for all God's people scattered throughout the world. Jew and
Gentile alike are saved by the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the
name that God has given us under heaven whereby we must be saved. There is one Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he came because no man can
save himself. Not by our works, not by our
religion, not by what we, the traditions of men, not by how
we've been raised, not by how we've conformed to this thing
or that. We cannot save ourselves. There is no work, no law given
by which we can deliver ourselves from our sins present or sins
future, And we cannot do a thing to remove, to purge ourselves
of the stain of sins in the past. There's nothing that we can do.
That's why Christ came. That's why the Father sent Him,
because we were plunged into darkness. We came under the will
and the spell of the evil one, and we cannot break free. We're
in bondage to death and darkness by nature and we cannot do that
which is righteousness. They that are in the flesh cannot
please God. our flesh's enmity against the
true and living God. So Christ came and he went to
the cross for this purpose. And this purpose was brought
to pass by the hands of wicked men who hated him and wanted
him dead, wanted him gone so that they could get back to doing
their thing, to doing their religion. to do what they would do for
themselves. Acts 2 verse 23 and 24 tells us, him being delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, the father
sending his son into the world for this purpose, ye have taken
him by wicked hands, have crucified and slain. And where Christ accomplished
our redemption, his dead body was then buried in a grave, whom,
verse 24, God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death,
because it was not possible that he should be holden of it." That
was Acts chapter 2, verse 23 and 24. So Christ is the Prince
of Life. He's the Prince of Peace. And
His righteous blood has cleansed us from our sins. All the sins
of His people are purged by the blood of Christ for whom He died. And all who come to Him seeking
forgiveness of their sins According to the promise of God, they have
forgiveness. They have peace. They are received
of the Father. Acts 10.43, Peter declares to
Him, give all the prophets witness that through His name, whosoever
believeth in Him should receive the remission of sins. The forgiveness
of sins. God is at peace with all who
come to Him in the Son. He has no peace. There is no
comfort. There is no good news to you
that would come to God in your own works, adding to what Christ
did, or in place of what Christ has done. God is not pleased
with those things, but all who come to Him in Christ, there
is peace. There is forgiveness. There is
a receiving by the Father. We that were sinners who are
now delivered from our sins by Christ. Isaiah 53 5, but he was
wounded for our transgressions. That our is defined. That's a
specific people. are delivered from these things
by the grace and power of God, thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ.
He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed." It's effectual. Christ is the successful Savior. He does not fail. He didn't fail,
he does not fail, and all for whom he shed his blood, they
shall be delivered from death and darkness. He went into the
strong man's house and took out the treasure, his treasure, which
the Father had given to him, and he delivered us all from
death, from ruin, from the hand of the devil. We are free, set
free, that we may know and worship the true and living God. Repent, therefore, of all your
false works, of all your false hopes, of all your workings in
righteousness and doing what you can do to save yourself.
Do not think that you can add anything to what Christ has done.
The Father will not receive it. The Father will not receive anything
at our hand, any works of righteousness that we would do to justify ourselves. Christ's blood justified us completely. We are sanctified, being perfected
by Christ, and are holy in Him completely and entirely. This
is the purpose why the Father sent him, to deliver his people
from their sins. In fact, when we add something
to what Christ has done, we are being just like the Pharisees,
who despised and rejected Christ, in favor of their keeping the
law for righteousness. He was in their way, they stumbled
over him, and so they put him to death, so they could get back
to doing what they wanted to do. That's what we are called
to repent from. Through the preaching of the
gospel, it's not telling men, stop doing this thing, stop doing
that sin over there, stop trusting in your works and look to the
Lord Jesus Christ. You seek Him, His righteousness
first, and His kingdom, and all these other things will be added
unto you. If you would be free from your
sin, if your sin is troubling you and has you in bondage, look
to Christ. Seek Him. Seek His forgiveness
and mercy, and He'll deliver you from the bondage of that
sin. You don't start by doing works to save yourself before
you come. You come just as you are, a sinner
who can do nothing to save yourself. Look to Christ. Seek Him first. Anything else is a despising
of Him. It's a crucifying of Him. It's
a putting Him off in favor of what you can do for yourself.
They rejected the righteousness of God and they died in their
sins. So the repentance that Christ
spoke of, that He charged His disciples to be witnesses of,
is to exalt Christ, to glorify Christ before men in declaring
Him the Savior. The salvation of His people,
the righteousness of God is provided in Him. And men hearing that,
by the power of the Spirit, through faith, turned from all their
deadly, false, wicked works, are turned to the Lord Jesus
Christ to believe on Him. There they receive the remission,
the forgiveness of their sins and deliverance from those things
which which stood between them and God. Believing Christ is
true repentance. Now, if you repent from your
vain works and traditions of man, and you believe on Christ,
it's because God has given you that repentance by His glory,
by His power. That is not your flesh. That
is not the strength of your flesh. That is not something that man
does for God, but again, it's a manifestation of what Christ
has done for His people. They believe. They turn from
death. and they turn to the living God. For this cause, this word is
called the gospel of the grace of God. It's the gospel of the
grace of God because it's what our God does for us. how that He accomplishes our
salvation through the redemption of Christ. And because we are
redeemed, because we have been saved in the appointed hour,
the Lord will bring this blessed gospel word and cause us to hear
it, so that we shall be called by it." He's the one who has
called you by this gospel to the obtaining of the glory of
our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Thessalonians 2.14. When God
calls His child out of darkness, it's to the obtaining of the
glory of Christ. It's to the obtaining of it.
We're regenerated by the Spirit of God who attends the preaching
of this gospel, this word of truth, with power from our Lord,
and it's to deliver his redeemed child. It's to take us out of
that death, out of that grave of this flesh, which we cannot
save ourselves from. 1 Peter 1.23, being born again. not of corruptible seed, but
of incorruptible, not a false lie, not telling you and whipping
you and beating you to do what you cannot do, declaring what
Christ has done. That's the incorruptible word,
by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. And James
1.18 affirms this saying, of his own will begat he us with
the word of truth. that we should be a kind of first
fruits of his creatures. Wherefore, my beloved brethren,
let every man be swift to hear." To hear it. Slow to speak, slow
to wrath. Now, when I see these verses,
I cannot separate Christ from the preaching of the gospel.
You can't preach the gospel without preaching Christ. And if you
preach Christ, you're preaching the gospel. You're declaring
the truth. You're declaring who he is, what
he's done, who he came to save, and that he's accomplished it
according to the will of the Father. The Word of Truth which
we preach is to preach Jesus Christ. He is the Word we preach. He is the Word that the Apostles
preached. It's through preaching Him, who
He is, why He came, who He came for, and what He accomplished
for them. That's the preaching of the gospel from the opening
of the book to the closing of the book. He's the alpha and
the omega. He's the author and the finisher.
He's the beginning and the end. He's all things. He's all things
to the children of God. And so when ministers preach
Christ as God commands them, our Lord of the covenant of this
grace, of his grace, is pleased to bless the hearts of his people.
We're told in Isaiah 52 verse 7, rather verse 8, thy watchman
shall lift up the voice. We're going to preach this word,
this word which our Christ has, our God has charged us with to
be witnesses of this. We lift up the voice with the
voice together they shall sing. The voice that's lifted up with
our voice is the voice of the Son of God by the power of the
Spirit. so that when Christ is preached
and you hear it by faith, you're not hearing me, you're hearing
Christ who speaks to you, to tell you to minister that word
of faith to your heart, revealing what he's done for you. As Paul said, when speaking of
Christ who loved me and gave himself for me. you come to Christ,
you believe Christ, and the Spirit of God attends that word, making
it effectual in your heart. And someone could be sitting
right next to you, and not hear that word, and not be blessed
by that word. And you could be blessed by it,
and ministered to by it, ministered faith by it, and it'd mean nothing
to the person sitting next to you, because the Spirit of God
has made it effectual in your heart. And this is how God saves
them which shall believe on Christ through their word. He saves his people through the
preaching of this gospel that we now preach. us having learned it from his
apostles, us having heard their word. Paul said in Romans 1 16,
I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first
and also to the Greek. Again, showing us that it's for
all men, all kinds of men, Jew, Gentile, rich, poor, male, female,
doesn't matter your race, it doesn't matter what your background
is, it doesn't matter how confused you are. When Christ comes, there
is clarity. He delivers you from that death
and that darkness. And so we never cease preaching
this word because it's ever needful and it's ever useful to the people
of God. It gives us light and understanding
every time we hear it. Our Lord uses that word to bring
light into our hearts and light into our understanding. Psalm
119 verse 130, the entrance of thy words giveth light. It giveth understanding unto
the simple. And so even after faith is wrought
in the soul, this gospel continues to reveal to us the righteousness
of our God in the face of His Son, Jesus Christ. It continues
to yield for us much peace and comfort, and joy and assurance
of our God and what He's done for us, how that He has saved
us, how that He has given us His word, how that He shall return. and how that he shall redeem
us and bring us home to himself. It continues to give us much
many blessed things of the completeness of our Savior's salvation so
that by the preaching of the gospel we grow in the grace and
knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So them, Romans
10 17, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God
for therein Romans 117 is the righteousness of God revealed
from faith to faith. As it is written, the just shall
live by faith. Through the preaching of the
gospel, that word of faith being ministered to your hearts, you're
being nourished and strengthened and settled and comforted in
the new man, that creation of the Spirit of God and regeneration.
the preaching of the word you're being fed and nourished as he
will so rejoice brethren for this is the fruit of Christ's
prayer for you which he prayed back there in John 17 verse 20
we've been seeing how that everything he was praying for his apostles
in this chapter as our high priest Everything, every peculiar special
blessing which was given to them shows us and pictures for us
everything that our God does for us. All the spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus were rained down, poured
down, given to them, and so it is that we see how our God saves
us and delivers us. and is merciful to us and so
in verse 20 we understand why he prayed for us that the word
which was made effectual in their hearts would be heard by you
effectually by the attending glory and power of the Holy Spirit
ministering this faith in your hearts so that you would hear
it by faith when he said neither pray I for these alone but for
them also, which shall believe on me through their word." That
word of truth, that gospel word, amen. Let's pray. Our gracious Lord,
we thank you, Father, for this word. We thank you, Lord, for
your power and glory. Lord, how you made provision
in all things for us. You left nothing to this flesh,
nothing to the will of man, nothing that could change or alter or
destroy that good will and purpose, that eternal, glorious, almighty,
sovereign purpose of our God to save His people. Lord, we
thank you for this salvation we thank you for this word of
salvation this gospel word we thank you for that word which
you gave to your disciples which which you gave to them with power
and by the spirit and such measure that their word continues with
us even to this day and that we by this gospel word this word
of truth we do believe the Lord Jesus Christ unto full, complete,
glorious, heavenly, godly salvation, that which you've purposed and
given. We thank you for this, Lord. We pray that you would
bless us, that you would continue to increase us in this most holy
faith. of our Savior Jesus Christ, we
pray not only for ourselves, but for our brethren and for
those who are yet in darkness, that have yet to hear their word,
but that you would cause their word to be preached and proclaimed
from this pulpit and from the pulpits of your churches throughout
this country and this world, that you would gather together
your lost sheep under the sound of the voice of the Son of God,
and that you would deliver your people from this death and darkness.
It's in his name that we pray and give thanks. Amen. our closing hymn will be Victory
in Jesus. I heard an old, old story, How
a Savior came from glory, How He gave His life on Calvary,
To save a wretch like me. I heard about His groaning, Of
His precious blood's atoning, How He forgave me of my sins
and won the victory. O victory in Jesus, my Savior
forever! He sought me and bought me with
His redeeming blood. He loved me ere I knew Him. And all my love is to Him. He plunged me to victory beneath
the cleansing flood. About His healing, Of His cleansing
power revealing, How He made the lame to walk again, And caused
the blind to see. And then I cried, Dear Jesus,
Come and heal my broken spirit, And somehow Jesus came and brought
to me the victory. O victory in Jesus, my Savior
forever! He sought me and bought me. With His redeeming blood. He loved me ere I knew Him, And
all my love is to Him. He plunged me to victory Beneath
the cleansing flood. I heard about a mansion He has
built for me in glory, And I heard about the streets of gold Beyond
the crystal sea. About the angels singing and
the old redemption story And some sweet day I'll sing up there
the song of victory Oh, victory in Jesus, my Savior forever He
sought me and bought me with His redeeming blood. He loved me ere I knew Him, and
all my love is due Him. He plunged me to victory beneath
the cleansing flood.