standing and singing 126 Rock
of Ages 126. Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let
me hide myself in thee. Let the water and the blood from
thy wounded side which flowed be of sin the double cure. Save from wrath and make me pure,
Could my tears forever flow? Could my zeal no longer know? Peace for sin could not atone. Thou must save and Thou alone. In my hand no price I bring. Simply to Thy cross I cling. While I draw this fleeting breath,
when my eyes shall close in death, when I rise to worlds unknown,
and behold thee on thy throne, rock of ages, cleft for me, let
me hide myself in thee. Thank you. I'm going to be reading from
Psalm 118. We're going to pick up in verse
18 and read to the end. The Lord hath chastened me sore,
but he hath not given me over unto death. Open to me the gates
of righteousness. I will go into them and I will
praise the Lord. This gate of the Lord into which
the righteous shall enter. I will praise thee for thou hast
heard me and art become my salvation. The stone which the builders
refused has become the headstone of the corner. This is the Lord's
doing. It is marvelous in our eyes.
This is the day which the Lord hath made. We will rejoice and
be glad in it. Save now, I beseech thee, O Lord. O Lord, I beseech thee, send
now thy prosperity. Blessed be he that cometh in
the name of the Lord. We have blessed you out of the
house of the Lord. God is the Lord, which hath showed
us light, buying the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns
of the altar. Thou art my God, and I will praise
thee. Thou art my God, I will exalt
thee. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord,
for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. Let's pray. Gracious Lord, we thank you.
We thank you for this day. Lord, truly this is the day which
you have made. And Lord, it's that eternal day. It is the Lord Jesus Christ who
is the light of our day and our eternal day. It is all him. And
we thank you, Lord, for your grace and your mercy and the
joy which you give our hearts In spite of all the troubles
and things going on, Lord, we thank you for Christ. We thank
you that we see him and that we hunger and thirst for his
righteousness and that we are made to rejoice gladly in our
Savior. Lord, we ask that you would hear
the cry of our hearts, the troubles that we have, the concerns we
have, Yea, Lord, even the joys that we have and the rejoicing
we have in our hearts for you, Lord, that you would indeed bless
your people this day, fill our hearts with joy, fill our hearts
with song and thoughts of our Lord and Savior. Lord, be gracious
and merciful to those that could not be with us this day. We think
of Brother Scott, who would most certainly be here with us, and
desires and longs to return and be with us again. Lord, help
him, strengthen him. Lord, bring him to the rehab
center and give him the will and the strength and the power
to improve and to heal and to get stronger and more self-sufficient
day by day. Lord bless him, bless Johnny,
bless us all Lord as we do mourn for the trouble that he has and
we feel the sorrow and the pain that he feels Lord but bless
him richly and help us to be a blessing to him and a help
to him and to johnny and and an encouragement lord we think
of our brethren who are struggling those who are sick those who
are unwell those who are fearful and afraid and doubting lord
bless your people you know exactly what we need We pray that you
would pour out your spirit upon us, that you would answer our
questions and concerns, the concerns of our hearts and our worries
in the preaching of the gospel, Lord, that you would teach us,
that we would hear from your voice, that we would hear your
word, that we would hear our husband, our friend, our savior,
our mediator, our high priest, our king, our Lord, our Christ,
our all. Lord, that you would bless our
hearts with him, with his song, with his voice. Lord, gather
your people here. Lord, we pray that you would
draw them out of darkness, out of the caves, out of the dens,
out of the places where the creeping things and the evil dwells. Lord,
cause your people to come out of darkness into the light. Bless
us here. Establish this work. feed your
people, nourish our hearts. Lord, cause there to be reconciliation
and healing and love and joy and peace and gladness in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And not only here in this place,
but wheresoever your gospel is being preached and proclaimed,
hold your servants up, bless your people, bless the work there
Continue it, Lord. Continue it even in the face
of darkness and against evil, that your people would not be
abandoned or left without hope, without your salvation. Lord, you promised this in your
word. Keep us, Lord. Keep us and establish us. It's
in Christ's name we pray and give thanks. Amen. Our second hymn will be 258,
He Hideth My Soul. 258. 258. A wonderful Savior is Jesus my
Lord, a wonderful Savior to me. He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock where rivers of pleasure I see. He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths
of his love and covers me there with his hand. and covers me
there with his hand. A wonderful Savior is Jesus my
Lord, he taketh my burden away. He holdeth me up, and I shall
not be moved. He giveth me strength as my day. He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths
of His love, and covers me there with His hand, and covers me
there with His hand. With numberless blessings each
moment He crowns, And filled with His fullness divine. I sing in my rapture, O glory
to God, For such a Redeemer as mine. He hideth my soul in the
cleft of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths
of His love, and covers me there with His hand, and covers me
there with His hand. When clothed in His brightness
transported, I rise to meet Him in clouds of the sky. His perfect salvation, His wonderful
love, I'll shout with the millions on high. He hideth my soul in
the cleft of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths
of his love and covers me there with his hand. and covers me
there with his hand. Thank you. I'm not sure what
happened there. It's a beautiful hymn, though.
Yes. Beautiful. Morning. Let's be turning to John chapter
17. We're going to look at verses
five through eight. Now here in this passage, we
have a prayer of our Lord as the high priest and he's praying
for his apostles. He knows he's well aware. of
the persecution these men are going to face for their faith,
for preaching the gospel, for declaring the truth of God in
the Lord Jesus Christ. He knows that men are going to
strive with them. He knows that there's going to
be opposition and there's going to be hatred and and just evil done against them
for their hope and faith in Christ. And so he's praying that the
Lord strengthen his apostles. But it's not just for the apostles
that he speaks. He's also teaching us. It's also
for our good. Because in this prayer, we are
given an outline of the blessings that our God gives to all his
children, to all who are covered with the blood of the Mediator,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And so I've titled this message,
Blessings of Our Mediator. And in verse 5, we'll see Christ,
our Mediator. We'll see the glory of Christ,
our Mediator, and then we'll look at these blessings. These
blessings that are described here in verses 6 through 8. So
to begin, Christ having fulfilled all that the Father sent him
to do. He is now preparing the sacrifice,
if you will. He's preparing to sacrifice himself
as our high priest, as a mediator. And so he's accomplished everything.
It's in motion. These men are likely already
on their way to arrest our Savior. And so he prays in verse five. He says, now, O Father, glorify
thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with
thee before the world was. Now, our Lord, the Son of God,
he already is glorified as God. all the divine perfections and
attributes of God are His. He's already glorified as our
God and our Creator. Paul tells us that in Him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. He already is glorified
as the Son of God and so Previous to his coming, he already was
glorified with God. Let's see this. In John chapter
1, let's turn there. John chapter 1. I'm going to
read the first four verses. And then we'll drop down to verse
14. John 1, verse 1. We're told here that in the beginning
was the Word. And the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by him,
and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was
life, and the life was the light of men." He is the light and
life of his people. All things consist by him. All
things are held together by him, including the wicked. All things
are held together and upheld by Christ. Drop down to verse
14. And the Word was made flesh. Now we know this is Christ. The
Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. So our Lord is already glorified
with the perfections of Holy God. So what does Christ mean
when he prays asking for the Father to glorify him? Well, in context, he's saying,
now that I've done that which you've given me to do, Now that
I've accomplished the work of the mediator, glorify me as the
God-man mediator of your people and mine. Glorify me as the God-man
mediator. Raise me up. Bless me. Let all
men see what I have done. Raise me up, Lord, as you've
promised. Lift me up from the dead. Give
me life. and seek me at thy right hand. Let all men know that I am both
Lord and Christ." You know, God is glorified in the sense that
there's but one God. There is only one God, one true
and living God. And you know what else there's
only one of? One mediator. one mediator between God and
men, the man Christ Jesus. And the glory of God for Christ
is to make all men know that this man, this Jesus of Nazareth
whom we crucified, God hath made him both Lord and Christ. He is the Savior of his people. There's people today that don't
believe that. There's many today that don't
believe that Jesus is the salvation of God. But they're going to
know it. All men, one day, all men are
going to bow the knee. Every man is going to bow the
knee. Every tongue is going to confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord to the glory and praise of the Father, who chose him,
who first trusted Christ, and first trusted us to Christ our
Savior. But brethren, you know it today. You know it today. You already
know in your hearts that this man, he is the salvation of God. He is my Lord. He is my Christ. He is my mediator, my friend,
my hope, my salvation, my all. It's come to you with great power
and the glory of God flooding into your heart so that you know
He's my salvation. He's my all. Now seeing this,
we think of our fellowship with Christ and our marriage to him.
Behold, he says, I and the children, which thou hast given me. And Paul writes in Ephesians
2, verse 6, that God hath raised us up together and made us sit
together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. His inheritance
is our inheritance. Praise be God. What he has earned,
the reward that he has earned and obtained as the salvation
of God who faithfully came to do all the will of the Father,
that's our salvation. He's our part. He's our all. He's everything, brethren. He's
everything. Now look down at verse 22. In
John 17, John 17, verse 22, he says, the glory which thou gavest
me, I have given them. I've given it to them that they
may be one even as we are one." Well, that leads me to a question. How may I be one with Christ? How? How am I reconciled to God? How is it that God will justify
me and make me a partaker with Christ in his inheritance? Well, in the next few verses,
John 17 verses 6 through 8, Christ speaks of eight things, eight
things that reveal or manifest the children of God, that make
known, known unto them, known unto the world, these are my
people. There's eight things that he
speaks of here in these next few verses. Now again, I'm fully
aware that At this moment, he's speaking particularly of the
apostles. But make no mistake about it.
Every one of these things described here are blessings that God gives
and works in the hearts of every single one of his children according
to the measure of God as he wills and purposes to give it. But
all these things are done. They're all done. They're all
given to us and worked in us by the grace and power of God.
And having said that, let me encourage you to listen, to listen,
to hear what the Lord says to His people. And I say that because
the natural man The carnal man, what we are by nature, when he
hears, what must I do to be saved? What must I do that I can work
the works of God and that I may obtain mercy and forgiveness
with God and that I would inherit that salvation which God gives
to all his people? What must I do? And the natural
man, what does he do? He's listening for, he's leaning
in to hear, what's he gonna tell me that I gotta do? What's he
gonna tell me that I can do so I can start doing it so that
I can feel good and know that I've earned the reward of God. That I have saved myself. Well, the Lord tells us in scriptures
that such works are carnal. They don't save you. That's not
how God saves us and that's not what Christ reveals in these
scriptures. Now, again, before we get into these eight things,
let me just build it up a little bit more. Turn over to Matthew
7. Matthew 7. The reason why I'm emphasizing
this is that you and I don't do for ourselves. We don't get
ourselves saved, to use the vernacular of the world in our day. We don't get saved. We don't
get ourselves saved. We don't do things to earn God's
favor and forgiveness. The false prophet tells you that.
The false prophet turns you to your flesh. Now in Matthew 7
verse 15 through 20 our Lord begins saying beware of false
prophets. Beware false prophets which come
to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly they are ravening wolves. That means on the outside they're
going to look like sheep. And you and I can't see into
the heart of men. So how do we know that they are
ravening wolves? They sound like sheep. They're
saying good things. They're using the name Jesus.
They call themselves a church of God. How are we going to know
that they are wolves? Well, Christ tells us in verse
16 that you shall know them by their fruits. you shall know
them by their fruits. That used to stump me when I
was a little kid. I remember my dad reading that
to me and that just blew my mind. I couldn't grasp that because
don't all men have the appearance of doing good works? Most men
do, a lot of men. You know, as you get older, you
know, people are very evil, including myself. We, by nature, we are
evil people. And so if we're just looking
at the good things people do, well, that person's nice. He
smiled at a puppy dog. He goes to church, right? And
we think, well, How then do we know? That's the works that the
sheep do. They seem like good, nice people. Well, Christ asks a question.
And he says, do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles? This is the question he asks
so that you would know, how do I know if I am a sheep or a wolf? How do I know if that person
speaking to me is a sheep or a wolf? Well, thorns and thistles,
thorns and thistles are the products of this flesh under the curse
of sin. And the strength of sin is the
law. Those who labor and work by the
law, those who strive to do good for righteousness, to make a
righteousness for themselves, what they're doing is turning
to the cursed thing. They're laboring, they're trying
to work a righteousness by their flesh and the flesh under the
curse brings forth thorns and thistles and bramble bushes and
briars and things that cannot profit us in any way. Grapes
are profitable, figs are profitable, they're nourishing food. But
we don't create that. We don't grow that. We don't
make those blessed things. And so anyone that turns you
to the flesh, you need to do this. You need to fix that. You
need to stop doing that and do this. Get yourself under the
law. Get yourself in a church. You
need to start doing these things. And those who would turn you
to what you need to be doing, rather than to Christ, is the
wolf, turning you to the cursed thing, to the flesh, rather than
to Christ. And so our Lord says, even so
every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree
bringeth forth evil fruit. You in whom Christ abides, He
is the vine. His people are the branches.
You that are, in whom Christ abides, and you abide in Christ,
you bring forth good fruit, because you're not doing it for your
righteousness sake. You're not doing it to make yourselves
righteous and to justify you with God. You bear fruits of
righteousness. You bear those those fruits as
trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, because it's of
the Lord. He's born them in you. He gives you that hope, that
faith, that joy, that gentleness and kindness with your brethren
rejoicing in the Lord. Christ in you is going to bear
good fruit. But you that are striving and
laboring to work a righteousness for yourselves are not connected
to the vine and you're bringing forth evil fruit. Doesn't matter
how good it looks, it's dead fruit. It's thorns and thistles
because you're doing it in the strength and power of your own
wisdom, of your own strength, of your goodness to earn favor
with God. A good tree cannot bring forth
evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Our Lord said it this way to Nicodemus. A good tree can't
bring forth evil fruit or corrupt fruit, and an evil tree can't
bring forth good fruit. When he spoke to Nicodemus, he
said it this way. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. And that which is born of the
spirit is spirit. You that have the new man born
in you by the grace of God, that new man cannot sin. That new
man cannot not believe. All he can do is trust and believe
the Lord. All he does is has confidence
in the Lord. But that one who is flesh, who
has nothing but the old man in him, all he can do is sin. He cannot believe. Everything
he's doing is to earn a righteousness with God. But you that have no
righteousness, who look to Christ, all that new man can do in you,
that which is formed in you, is believe. He can't even apostatize. It just won't happen, because
it's of the Lord, and Christ does not sin. Every tree that
bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the
fire. Wherefore, by their fruits you shall know them. You will
know them. Who are they glorying in? What
they've done, or what Christ has done? What Christ? We glory
in Christ. So I'm asking you, listen. Listen,
because we must be given life, we must be taught, and the carnal
man looks to the wrong thing time and time again. Always.
It's all he can do. So eight things. In verse six,
Christ says, I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou
gavest me out of the world. Those men which you gave me out
of the world, I've manifested thy name to them. Thine they
were, and thou gavest them me. And they have kept thy word.
Well, there's four blessings described right here. Four things
that the Lord does for every one of his children, which the
Lord does not do for the children of disobedience. These are, there's
four things here that he does for every child of God that he
does not do for the children of wrath and children of disobedience. Now we all had our part there.
We all had our part among them and walked according to the course
of the world, but the Lord was gracious. But God was gracious
to you in delivering you from that body of sin, that body of
death, which he's destroyed. First he says, I have manifested
thy name unto them. I've manifested thy name unto
the men that you gave me. How does the Lord manifest the
name of God to you. In the preaching of the gospel,
in the preaching of Christ crucified, we know, you that are the Lord's,
you that are His sheep, you know the name of the salvation of
God. You know the name of your Savior. Turn over to Acts 4, and here
we see declared to us who the Lord our righteousness is. Jeremiah
said she, the church, she shall be called the Lord our righteousness. His name is our name. His name
is the one in whom we hope. Acts 4 10. Acts 4, verse 10,
be it known unto you all. This is John and Peter. Peter
stands up and he's preaching. Be it known unto you all and
to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead,
even by him that this man stand here before you whole. You see,
a miracle had been done. And Peter said, in the name of
Jesus Christ, Be whole, be healed. And that man was healed. That
man was lame on his feet. He could not walk. And now, in
Christ's name, in whom is the salvation of his people, that
man leapt up and was moving about. He was made whole by God. This,
Peter says, this is the stone which was set at naught of you
builders, which has become the head of the corner. That one
whom you religious men despise, who said, we don't like this.
This stone isn't going to cut it. We're not going to have this.
And you threw it aside. You cast it aside into the mud
and the muck because you despised him. That one whom you despise,
God has made the head of the corner. He is the capstone. When I was in college, the final
course is the capstone course. It's the final one that you're
taking that caps everything off and says this person has earned
their degree. Well, Christ Jesus is the capstone. He is the glory of God. You can
have no other higher learning than Christ. Christ is all. He is the glory of God unto us. He has made unto us everything. He has become the head of the
corner, so that which men throw aside and despise is the very
thing God says, He is your salvation. He is the foundation. He is the
one upon whom I build the house. He is everything to you. Neither
is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name
under heaven. given among men, whereby we must
be saved. You that are the Lord's, you
are saved by one name, Jesus Christ the Righteous. He is the
righteousness of God's people, the righteousness of God. So
the first thing that the child of God knows Christ is the Savior. Christ is my salvation. Christ is my righteousness. I
have no other righteousness but the Lord Jesus Christ alone. By His blood we've received the
forgiveness of sins. God has given it to us. He's
forgiven us in and for Christ's sake. He was crucified not for
His own sins. He did nothing worthy of death.
He was crucified as the Lamb of God, bearing the sins of his
people in his own body on the cursed tree to put them away
forever, paying our debt as our surety, taking our place as our
substitute to put away the wrath of God from us, propitiating
God's wrath and obtaining for us forgiveness, peace with God,
rest for your souls in the Lord Jesus Christ. He died on that
tree, taken down and was buried, and God raised him from the dead,
never to die again. to glorify Him before our eyes,
to glorify Him in our hearts, to know He's the Lord. He's the Christ. He is the very
salvation of God. He's my justification. He's everything. He's why I can go boldly up to
the throne of God, not because I'm so good, not because I have
anything to boast in of myself, but because He is my Lord, my
salvation, my husband, my friend. He is my entrance into the Father
so that I stand before the throne of God faultless. And that's
the same for every one of you who trust in him and have no
confidence in your flesh. So the Spirit of God manifests
to us that Christ is the name in whom we are saved. He is our
salvation. Second, he describes his people
as the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Father,
you gave me these people. You see, the scriptures teach
that God chooses whom he will. There's an election according
to grace, the choosing of the Lord. And he chose whom he would
and gives them to Christ for their salvation. God chose whom
he would. Ephesians 1, 4, and 5, it's according
as God hath chosen us that's a very particular us that is
a well-defined people christ knows exactly who the us are
because the father gave each and every one of them to him
to save them according as god has chosen us in christ before
the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without
blame before him in love having predestinated us unto the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good
pleasure of his will not because of something we did but according
to his will and this is why we're told in the scriptures that God
hated Esau but he loved Jacob he hated Esau but he loved Jacob
why for the children being not yet born neither having done
any good nor evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand not of works, but of him that calleth." And so
that just destroys that silly idea of men who say, well, God
looked down through the annals of time, and he saw who would
choose him and who wouldn't choose him. Well, that contradicts this
scripture that says, before you did anything, without you doing
anything, either good or evil, God chose whom he would, according
to his own good pleasure. So God chooses whom he will.
Now, our Lord does say, out of the world, right? God chose us
before the foundation of the world. And Christ says, you gave
me these men out of the world. What he's saying there is, and
every one of them was a filthy sinner. Fallen in Adam. Fallen
in Adam in the garden. They all were sinners. All my
people. It wasn't because we're flowery
and good people. Christ died. He shed his precious
blood for sinners like you and me. To put away our sin. You gave them to me out of the
world. I had to purchase them with my own blood. That's what
he's saying. Third, thine they were and thou gavest them me.
In other words, God committed all his people to the care of
Christ. As there is one name, so there's one Savior, and we
are committed to the care of the Lord Jesus Christ because
God He couldn't do anything better
for us. He wouldn't do anything better for us. He glorified the
Son. The Father first trusted Christ and gave us to the Lamb
of God. Him who would come as a Lamb
of God to reconcile all that was lost in Adam. To fix and
right everything that we destroy by our sin. He redeemed us from
the curse of our sin. So God's not looking for you
and me to be religious. There's plenty of religion in
the world. There's plenty of religious people. God is well
pleased with His Son. And He's well pleased with all
that come to the Father in Christ Jesus. Believing in Him. Believing
God in Christ. That's how we believe God. That's
how we obey God. Believing Christ. Trusting Him. That is the obedience of faith.
That is the obedience of God's people, we come in the sweet
smelling savor of Christ. Not a phony savor, not a phony
work, we come in Christ. Fourth, he says, they have kept
thy word. Brethren, the word that we keep
is the gospel word, trusting the Lord Jesus Christ, preaching
the hope of sinners. in the face of Christ who reveals
God to us, who reveals the mystery of God to us, who unravels all
that was shut up to us and sheds light on the darkness that we
are in by nature. He brings everything to light,
making us to know this is God, this is what you are, this is
God, and I'm reconciling everything. I'm the one who's fixing everything. So the Lord's teaching us don't
be turned. Don't be turned to works of religious
service that would turn you from Christ and get you looking at
what you're doing to make a righteousness for yourselves. Don't be turned
from that and have your confidence in the flesh. These things cannot
save you. They cannot save you. That's
why Paul would write to us in Galatians 6, verse 15, that in
Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision,
but a new creature, a new creature. And so Christ Jesus came. And he laid down his life as
the Lamb of God, as the Christ. And he has returned to the Father.
And the Father and the Son have sent unto you the Spirit, who
regenerates every child of God. who gives them spiritual life,
who gives them a new birth by His glory and power to know that
this is my God, this is my Savior, this is my salvation, this is
my hope, whom God has sent, and He manifests faith in us to look,
to behold, and trust the servant of God. And so being made alive,
we continue. We continue in Christ. You know,
there's a verse I was reminded again recently, and it's so easily
forgotten, so easily overlooked. We read over it. When you're
in 2 Corinthians chapter 3, you usually just go right on by this
verse. And Paul says, such trust have
we through Christ to God. Such trust have we through Christ
to God. And what he's saying there is
we are so confident, we are so confident, brethren, that Jesus
Christ is the fullness of God's salvation, that everything you
need is provided unto you by grace in Christ Jesus. We're
so confident, Paul said, we don't preach anything else save Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. That's how confident I am. that He is all the salvation
of God. And you are perfectly made fit
to stand before Holy God looking to no other. There's no other
work I have to tell you to do. There's no other salvation but
Jesus Christ. He'll manifest the fruits in
you. He bears that which He will bear in you. He makes us to seek
Him and to look to Him. He makes us to know our sin and
our folly, and He delivers us from it. But you keep looking
to Christ. And you keep hearing Christ.
You keep feeding upon the bread of heaven, Jesus Christ. And
He said, seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.
And all those other things that you think you need to see, He'll
add them to you. He'll give you. those things
because he's bearing it to the praise and glory, not of your
name, not of mine, but of his name. And so that's how we keep
the word, the testimony of God, which has been revealed to us.
We don't depart from it. We preach Christ and you keep
it. You stay right there, brethren. Now, before I go on to verse
five, There's one more thing given there. Let's go over to
Colossians 3. Let's just take a little moment
here and go to Colossians 3. I'm going to read verses 5 through
11. Now this is Paul writing to the church. And he tells us in Colossians
3, 5 through 11, he says, mortified therefore your members which
are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection,
evil concupiscence, and covetousness which is idolatry. For which
things sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience. into which ye also walked some
time when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these
anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your
mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the
old man with his deeds and have put on the new man, which is
renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.
where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision,
barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in
all. In other words, a new creature
made by Christ. Christ makes his people new creatures. Now I brought you here to show
you, to point out to you, This is where the carnal man, he starts. He thinks by putting off these
things and putting on these things that this is his salvation. And
the Lord is teaching us here in John 17, that's not your salvation. That's not your salvation. I'm
your salvation. So Paul's not saying, this is
your salvation. Paul's speaking of the fruits,
the fruits that we bear by the Spirit. And I just want to say,
don't confuse the fruits of the Spirit, which he works in you,
as that is your salvation. Don't rest in those things. Don't
have a hope that, oh, well, I'm doing this so good now, consistently,
that I must be a child of God. No, where is your hope? Keep
looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. but of Him, of God are ye in
Christ Jesus, who has made unto us wisdom, and made unto us righteousness,
and made unto us sanctification, and made unto us redemption. God has made Christ everything
to us. Those fruits of righteousness
that are born in us by the vine, the tree of righteousness, Christ
Jesus is the blessed man who bears his fruits in his season.
He heals his fruits in the hearts of his people, in the minds of
his people, in the works of his people. He brings these things
forth. But don't confuse the fruit of
the spirit as your hope. I once was talking to a young
man, and he said, I know whom I believe. I trust the Lord Jesus
Christ, and I repented of my sins. He was trusting in something
he did. Not resting in the Lord Jesus
Christ alone. I'm thankful for repentance.
I really am. Because my sin does trouble me.
But that's not my hope. My hope is the promise of God
made unto me in the Lord Jesus Christ. And he brings forth fruits
of righteousness as it pleases him. And He does make me seek
for it. He does. I do care. I really
do care. I don't want to be showing off
filthy sins and vile things to shame you and to shame my God. if such a thing is possible,
but I don't wanna drag the name of Christ through the mud by
the things I do or say. I want to glorify Christ. Let
his doctrine, his gospel be adorned with fruits of righteousness.
And I seek him for it, but that's not my salvation. Christ is our
salvation. Christ is it. And so he makes
us to know. He makes us to know Christ is
everything. And that brings us to verse seven. John 17, verse
7, Christ says, now they have known that all things whatsoever
thou hast given me are of thee. And so we know that's the blessing
of God made unto us. We know. We are so confident
in the Lord Jesus Christ. The eyes of your understanding
being enlightened that ye may know what is the hope of his
calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance
in the saints, in the saints. And that's the fifth thing. We
are given this knowledge. You know, brethren, you know
Christ is all. You're not confident. You're
not given a confidence in the flesh. Your confidence rests
in Christ. All right, so verse eight now.
Finally in verse 8 Christ says, For I have given unto them the
words which thou gavest me, and they have received them, and
have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have
believed that thou didst send me. Well, if Christ Jesus, who
is the mediator of God, was careful to only speak those things which
the Father gave him to say, how much more careful ought we to
be to speak those things which Christ has taught us and given
to us and made us to know by his grace and power. The word
that Christ speaks is the doctrine of Christ. That He is your salvation. He is our forgiveness. He is
our glory, our hope, our all. He has made us new creatures
by His grace, by His power. That's how and why. You that
believe, that's why. Because of the power of God.
Not because of something in us. Not because we're so smart. Not
because we fixed and adjusted our lives so that we would be
made more acceptable for these things. Not at all. We hope in
Him. We believe in Him because of
the grace and power of God. That's why we boast of Him. We
give Him thanks. We rejoice in him. And so the
sixth thing is that we are given the gospel. God has given you
a pastor to come and preach this gospel word, to feed you, to
keep you looking to Christ. That's the sixth. And seventh
is we receive his word. By his grace, we receive that
word. We don't fight against it. We
don't argue against it. We believe him, which is the
eighth thing. We believe the word. So he brings
us the gospel, we receive that word, and we believe that which
is preached unto us in the name of Jesus Christ. He has saved
us. He is all our salvation, all
our hope. So let me just say these eight things. We know,
brethren, we know the name of our salvation. It's Jesus Christ. Second, we're chosen of God,
he tells us. Every one of his people are chosen
of him. Third, Every one of his people chosen of him were given
to Christ who redeemed us. He did the whole work of salvation
to redeem us. Fourth, we continue in that word. We continue in it. Fifth, we
know this. We know this. The Lord has revealed
Christ to us, to our hearts, by the power of the Spirit, by
the giving of the Spirit. Sixth, he keeps us hearing that
word. we hear that word. Seventh, we
receive that word. And eighth, we believe it. We
believe Christ Jesus. Amen. Let's pray and then Brother Joe
will close us in a hymn. Our gracious Lord, we thank you.
We thank you for these many blessings of our mediator, of our Lord
and our Christ, who has done everything for us. Lord, help
us to hear him. Help us to receive that word,
the engrafted word of our Savior, to behold that he is everything
made unto us, that you make us new creatures in Christ, and
that you bear and reveal fruits of righteousness in and by your
spirit in us. But Lord, our hope, our hope
is Jesus Christ. That's why we preach him. That's
why we have no other gospel. We have no other hope of salvation.
We don't turn men to work up a confidence in this flesh. But
we turn men to Christ. We preach Christ. So confident
are we in him that we have no other gospel, save Jesus Christ
and him crucified. Lord, we thank you for your grace
and mercy. We pray that you bless your people,
Lord, that you would continue that promise made unto us in
Christ, that we would not walk in darkness, but have the light
of life. It's in Christ Jesus' name that we pray and give thanks.
Amen. You should have a handout on
Jordan Stormy Banks. Let's all stand and sing that
as a closing hymn. On Jordan's stormy banks I stand
and cast a wishful eye to Canaan's fair and happy land where my
possessions lie. I am bound for the promised land. I'm bound for the promised land. Oh, Christ will ever be with
me. I am bound for the promised land. For all those wide extended plains
shines one eternal day. There God the sun forever reigns
and scatters night away. I am bound for the promised land. I'm bound for the promised land. Oh, Christ will ever be with
me. I am bound for the promised land. Though chilling winds or poisonous
breath can't reach that healthful shore, sickness and sorrow, pain
and death are felt and feared no more. I am bound for the promised
land. I'm bound for the promised land. Oh, Christ will ever be with
me. I am bound for the promised land. When I shall reach that happy
place, I'll be forever blessed. For I shall see my Father's face,
and in His bosom rest. I am bound for the promised land. I'm bound for the promised land. Oh, Christ will ever be with
me. I am bound for the promised land. Thank you.