Good morning. Let's all stand
and begin our second service by singing 258. He hideth my
soul. 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 Saviour 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. We can read Psalm 41. Psalm 41. Blessed is he that
considereth the poor. The Lord will deliver him in
time of trouble. The Lord will preserve him and
keep him alive. He shall be blessed upon the
earth, and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies. The Lord will strengthen him
upon the bed of languishing, that will make all his bed in
his sickness. I said, Lord, be merciful unto
me, heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee. My enemy
speak evil of me. When shall he die, and his name
perish? And if he come to see me, he
speaketh vanity. His heart gathereth iniquity
to itself. When he goeth abroad, he telleth
it. All that hate me whisper together against me. Against
me do they devise my hurt. An evil disease, say they, cleaveth
fast unto him, and now that he lieth, he shall rise up no more.
Yea, my known familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did
eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me. But thou,
O Lord, be merciful unto me, and raise me up, that I may requite
them. By this I know that thou favorest
me, because mine enemy doth not triumph over me. And as for me,
thou upholdest me in mine integrity, and setteth me before thy face
forever. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel
from everlasting into everlasting. Amen and amen. Let's pray. Father, we come to you. This
morning again, thankful for the gospel message that you have
chosen to bring here and for our pastor that you have sent
to bring that message. And Father, we're Thankful for
our time together to hear the gospel and to fellowship. And
Lord, we ask that you watch over us this next weekend as we all
travel to Darvins. Lord, we ask for traveling more
mercies. We ask father for safety to get
there and back if it be your will. And father, we ask that
you give us a good time of fellowship with other brethren. And Lord,
we ask that you continue to raise this congregation up. Lord, add
to us, take away from us as you see fit. But Father, we ask if
it be your will that it continue to grow and have the message
brought here each week. And Father, again, we ask that
you continue to watch over and care for us in Christ's name. Our second hymn will be 259,
The Rock That Is Higher Than I, 259. Oh, sometimes the shadows are
deep, and rough seems the path to the goal, and sorrows sometimes
how they sweep, like tempests down over the soul. Oh, then to the rock let me fly,
to the rock that is higher than I. Oh, then to the rock let me
fly, to the rock that is higher than I. Oh, sometimes how long seems
to day, And sometimes how weary my feet, But toiling in life's
dusty way. ? The rock's blessed shadow how
sweet ? ? Oh then to the rock let me fly ? ? To the rock that
is higher than I ? ? Oh then to the rock let me fly ? ? To
the rock that is higher than I ? Oh, near to the rock let me keep
if blessings or sorrows prevail. Or climbing the mountain way
steep Or walking the shadowy vale Oh, then to the rock let
me fly To the rock that is higher than I Oh, then to the rock let
me fly to the rock that is higher than us. Thank you. I don't want to forget, so let
me just make a couple of announcements now before we begin the message. So next week, Judy, I had said
before that we weren't going to have services, but we are.
We're going to have services next Sunday. So Lord willing,
you'll be here. And so I'm going to be here,
the first and the second service, Lord willing. And then For the
6th, November 6th is the date that that spaghetti dinner is
being held. We have made arrangements that
we're going to also have it here at this location but it's going
to be in that back quilting room. So there's this building that
ends and then there's a garage. Well in between the garage and
the building there's a little pathway and that has a door that
leads to that quilting room. It's at the end of this building
and then we have access to two bathrooms. Through the other
side of the door that they're giving us So we've made arrangements
so that we don't have to go off-site and look for another place. It's
gonna be here during that time and Hopefully it won't be much
noise from the other room I don't they said it wouldn't be but
we'll see we're gonna experience it go through it together So
so far we'll be here. No, no disruptions except for
that a different location in this building on the 6th and
All right, and then we have our conference the 12th and 13th,
so it's both Saturday and Sunday. Hopefully you can make it to
all the services because they're gospel, faithful gospel pastors
and they'll be preaching the gospel to us, so. All right. Let's go to Judges
chapter six. Judges six. This time we'll be
looking at verses 17 through 24. Here now we're looking at
Gideon and the first message that we had in the last hour,
we saw Gideon as a type of the believer. And we saw that God
has his purpose of grace for his child so that the comforting
word to us is that whatever is going on in our lives, we have
the comfort knowing that God has brought this to pass according
to his purpose of grace for me and what he's accomplishing in
his kingdom. For this second message here,
this hour, we see why God may be gracious to his child. We
who by nature are sinners, God is just to forgive us of our
sin. And we see that the reason why
God is just to forgive us of our sin is because He has made
a sacrifice. He has found a ransom, the Lord
Jesus Christ, to deliver us from our sins and to give us life
and reconciliation in Christ to our God. I've titled this
message, An Eye-Opening Sacrifice. Let me just say it's because
our God answers all our questions. We saw in the last hour how many
questions Gideon had. He had a lot of questions. And
we see here how the Lord answers all those questions in showing
us Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The child of God who feeds upon
the Lord our Savior, the bread of heaven, is nourished, strengthened,
comforted at peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. And he
shows us through his scripture time and time again the Lord
Jesus Christ crucified. We find our satisfaction in Him
just as our Father is satisfied in Him. We have here Gideon,
and we've seen the display of God's grace being repeated over
and over again. We saw the sin of unbelief exhibited
there in Gideon through his persistent questioning. And yet, time and
time again, God patiently, without upbraiding him, declares the
word of promise. And we understand from that that
God will not be turned from his purpose to be gracious to whom
he will be gracious. Now, this unbelief is not done. It comes up again here with Gideon. And it shows us exactly what
we are in this flesh. It shows this is me. This is
me. My questions, my asking constantly,
my unbelief. And here Gideon asks for a sign. Look at verse 17. And Gideon
said unto the angel of the Lord, If now I have found grace in
thy sight, then show me a sign that thou talkest with me. Gideon's really asking for a
sign here. He wants to know, do you have the authority of
God to say the things that you're saying to me right now? I'm going
to need a miraculous proof that these words of encouragement
that you're speaking to me are not the vain words of a man. And the sign that God gives to
Gideon is to show him, to point to him the sacrifice, a sacrifice
that is full of the pictures of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Savior of his people. The Lord is saying to his people,
his child, behold the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of
the world. though my people spread throughout
the world." And so you have Gideon, who walks in his repeated unbelief. And he's a type of the believer.
And we see God communicating with Gideon through a messenger
who testifies to Gideon of God's purpose of grace, of his election
of grace for Gideon. And as a proof of his word to
Gideon, he preaches Jesus Christ and him crucified. He gives him
a sight of the sacrifice that God the Father has provided to
take away our sin, to settle all questions, to show us proof
positive that God will be gracious to his child and he fulfills
all his word that he says all his word of promise to his children
he fulfills it even as we see it fulfilled in the Lord Jesus
Christ and so This is what the Lord our God does for you, his
children, every time that you are gathered together to hear
his word in the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. God repeatedly shows us over
and over again, I've provided everything that you need. You
rest in me. You worship in the Lord Jesus
Christ, giving thanks unto the Father for all that he has done,
sufficiently, fully, completely, to his complete satisfaction,
and he'll make us to be satisfied with it as well. He's provided
it all in his Son. Now let me show you an example. We're going to see it here in
Judges, but let me show you. Let's go to Luke chapter 11. Luke 11,
verse 28 through 30. Here we see this similar example being
declared to us. Luke 11, 28. Someone had shouted
something. They wanted to be heard, sound
like they know something, that they might receive a blessing.
But Christ said, yea rather, Blessed are they that hear the
word of God and keep it. It's a blessing to hear the word
of God. And when the people were gathered
thick together, he began to say, this is an evil generation. They seek a sign. And there shall
no sign be given it but the sign of Jonas the prophet. For as
Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of Man
be to this generation. Now we know in Jonah that he
was raised from the dead. He was as good as dead in the
belly of the whale under that watery grave. But he rose again
and went and preached the gospel to Nineveh, and he was assigned
to them. Well, so it is that as he is
assigned a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, so Christ is the
fulfillment of all the signs that we need. He is the one by
whom the Father now speaks to the children of God. And for
the believer, Christ has made a sufficient sign. We don't need
another sign. God in sundry times, now, He
used to speak by the prophets, He used to give signs, but now
He's given us all the signs we need. He speaks to us by the
Lord Jesus Christ. We hear Him declared every time
faithfully in Christ and Him crucified. we see he's provided
everything that we need and so that word which speaks of Christ
still carries power and grace for us this day and the more
we hear it the more satisfied we are that Christ all. He's all and I'm content in Him. So every sight that the Lord
gives you of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, which you are made
to see and receive and believe, it's a miracle of His grace.
It is a miracle of grace when you hear and believe that Christ
is all and that he has fulfilled everything, that's grace. Because
the natural man doesn't receive that. The natural man doesn't
receive that. That's received in the new man, born of the seed
of Christ, the incorruptible seed of Christ that hears and
receives and believes. And so We hear this in the preaching
of the word, and so I encourage you, don't do anything that puts
yourself out of the way of hearing the word of God, because he gives
you that word to strengthen you. He preaches Christ to you through
the word. Christ preaches Christ to his
sheep. He is the bread of heaven, just
as that bread was the salvation of those Jews in the wilderness,
That's what Christ is saying, I'm the bread of heaven, I am
your salvation. By me you live, by me you have
life, and you shall have life eternal in me. And so we come to hear the word
because by the hearing of the word, faith is given. Faith is
given in the hearing of the word. He's declaring grace to sinners. And so we're looking now at an
extraordinary example of God's grace for sinners, and we see
why it is that God may be gracious to the sinner. So let's just
pause here for a moment and ask ourselves, am I a sinner? Am I a sinner? Is there a sinner
here now? Do I need salvation? Because
God says that all sinners shall be punished for their sins. Do
I need salvation from that punishment? Do I need to be delivered from
that punishment because of my sins? We want to know because
this gospel, this good news is only for sinners. This good news
is only for sinners. Now the scriptures tell us that
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And God
has a purpose of grace in declaring that truth to his people, to
know what we are in ourselves. Because the scripture hath concluded
all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might
be given. to them that believe. You see, by nature, we are enmity
against the true and living God. This flesh is nothing but sin. This flesh is ruined and corrupted
in Adam. Turn over to Romans 8. Am I a sinner? By nature, am
I a sinner? Do I need to hear this good news? Romans 8 verse 5. We see here
that the enmity is in us by natural birth. And this is the enmity
which Christ must save his people from. Otherwise, all we're doing,
we can be religious, but we're just laboring in religion and
dead works that cannot save. It's called bondage. Bondage. Because we can't free ourselves.
Romans 8, 5, For they that are after the flesh do mind the things
of the flesh. Our minds, our hearts, are set
on fleshly things. But they that are after the Spirit
are set on the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded
is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity
against God. For it is not subject to the
law of God, neither indeed can be. So then, they that are in
the flesh cannot please God. What our Lord is saying there
is, our flesh, we in the flesh are not going to hear the word
of God. Gideon, being left in the flesh,
is not going to hear the word that the angel is speaking to
him. And our Lord says to us, he that
hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. He's talking about a spiritual
ear. I have ears. I have two ears.
So what does he mean by he that hath an ear? He's talking about
a spiritual hearing. By the grace of God, we hear
what the Spirit says to the churches. And that means it requires a
spiritual work of grace. Romans 8, 5 through 8 tells me
what I am in this flesh. that I'm spiritually dead. I
don't have a spiritual ear. I don't hear spiritual things.
I don't believe the things of God in this flesh left to myself. I need a spiritual work of grace
whereby God, by his power, removes this enmity, unstuffs my blocked
ear, and makes me to hear the word of promise. of my God made
to sinners in the Lord Jesus Christ who sets them free from
the bondage of dead works religion that cannot save. this flesh
with itching ears left to myself, all the fleshly man, the carnal
man wants to hear is, just tell me what I got to do to make myself
a spiritual creature. Tell me what I got to do so that
I, too, can hear what God is saying to his people. Well, wait
a minute. Just stop, because you and I
don't do anything. to make ourselves spiritual.
It's the gift of God. It's by the giving of the Holy
Spirit that He gives freely to whom He will, making them to
live and to hear, giving them spiritual life whereby they hear
what God says to His church. It's by the regeneration, the
giving of life by the Spirit of God in what is called the
new birth, being born again. We already came forth born of
Adam's corrupt seed, we need to be born by the second Adam,
the Lord Jesus Christ, of that incorruptible seed which hears
and walks by faith and not by sight. Let's see another scripture
in Psalm 85. Psalm 85. Here, this psalm is declaring,
once again, Christ to us. It is speaking of Christ's sacrifice,
what He did to obtain our salvation. Psalm 85, verse 10. We are told here about
the Lord Jesus Christ, that in Him mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. This speaks to Christ, who came
as the surety of his people, accomplishing the will of God
for them. What was God's will and purpose
in sending Christ? To obtain the forgiveness of
the sins of his people. To deliver them through his obedience,
making them righteous, he came as the surety of his people.
so that he was made a curse for his people. The scriptures tell
us that because of our sin, we're under the curse of the law. We
have an eternal death to die as payment for breaking the law
of God, but Christ came and he was made the curse of God's people,
meaning he died our death in our place, bearing our sin to
put it away. He did that work for us to pay
off our debt and made full satisfaction to holy God. And we see in the
next verse how that God testifies that Christ is justified and
we in Christ are as justified as He is. as perfect as Christ
is. That's what justification means.
What you see on the left side is what you see on the right.
It's perfectly justified. It equals. Exactly equals. And it says, truth shall spring
out of the earth and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
God looked upon the obedience of his son, his death, his burial. And because God declared him
righteous, because he is righteous, he raised him from the dead. Truth sprung out of the earth. He rose again, declaring our
righteousness, our justification in him. And therefore, God sends
the Holy Spirit to give light and salvation to his people in
Christ. Look at verse 12. Yea, the Lord
shall give that which is good. And our land, this dust, shall
yield her increase. We're going to bear fruits of
righteousness by the Spirit of grace which is given unto us. And now in Christ our righteousness,
we walk by faith in Christ who is the way, the truth, and the
life. Verse 13, righteousness shall
go before him and shall set us in the way of his steps. And so the Lord our God is declaring
to us that Christ is all your salvation. Those who come to
the Father and Jesus Christ the Son shall find a welcome reception. The heaven must receive him.
because the Father is fully satisfied, and therefore He's satisfied
with us who come by faith in Him. Now, it's because of this
atonement that God is just to forgive sinners of their sin. God's not winking the eye and
just saying, well, I like you, but I don't like him, so I'm
going to bring you into heaven with me. No. A just price has
been paid by the Lord Jesus Christ who purchased us, who redeemed
us, and we are his and made partakers in his blessed inheritance. We stand in the Lord Jesus Christ,
not our own works, not in Adam, not in that inheritance of death
and hell. We stand in the inheritance of
the Lord Jesus Christ who is life eternal and gives life to
all his people. himself. So Romans 3 24 through
26 says, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption
that blood purchase that is in Christ Jesus whom God hath set
forth to be a propitiation. through faith in his blood to
declare his righteousness for the remission or the forgiveness
of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. And so
what's being declared to us here in these verses is that we are
justified. We are made righteous in Christ
and God declares it to be so. We are purchased of him because
when Christ came in the flesh, for his people. That wrath and
punishment that we were under because of our sin, Christ was
made a propitiation for us. Meaning that that wrath and punishment
which we deserve, which we earn, the debt we owed, Christ came
and said, make it mine. It's mine. I'm paying the price. You put that punishment on me. I'm paying it that my child goes
free, free from it, so that he is the propitiation. The anger
of God was taken from us and put on him. And the wrath of
God was poured out on him to set us free and to give us life
in himself. To declare, verse 26, I say at
this time, his righteousness that God might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Because full satisfaction
has been made, brethren. And God tells us now that all
the spiritual blessings of God, everything he gives to his child
freely in grace is ours in the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. A reference
to that atonement in Christ Jesus. In Christ Jesus. I say all that
to say that that's what's being declared here to Gideon. Here
in this transaction that's going on, this declaration to Gideon,
the angel of the Lord preaches Christ crucified to him. Gideon asks this angel, back
in Judges 6, We're coming to verse 20 now. Gideon asked the
angel, he says, you wait here. If I found grace in your sight,
I'm going to go make a meal. In other words, what he's saying
is you settle in because I've got a lot of questions. I got
a lot that I need to understand. I've got all these questions.
If I found grace in your sight, settle in. I'm going to go run
and make us food because we're going to be here for a while.
Now, look at verse 20. Gideon comes back. with the food
he has prepared. And the angel of God said unto
him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this
rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so. Then the angel
of the Lord put forth the end of the staff that was in his
hand. and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes. And there
rose up fire out of the rock and consumed the flesh and the
unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the Lord departed
out of his sight." So what's pictured here for us and what
the angel did with the food? Because Gideon had a lot of questions.
And yet what's being shown to us here is that enough was communicated. What he needed to hear and see
was communicated to him and the angel departed out of his sight. So, what does this mean? What's
being declared here? Well, these symbols picture the
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's a picture of Christ crucified
here. The flesh is a picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ who came in the flesh. And these unleavened
cakes that were made speaks to Him being without sin. There was no leaven in that bread. Christ is the unleavened bread.
He has no sin in His flesh. He's spotless, perfect, holy,
unblemished. And the broth, what does that
broth picture? This is the handwriting of ordinances
that was against us, which was contrary to us. In other words,
everything that opposes us, opposes our inheritance, makes it impossible
for us to be saved, Christ satisfied it all. You know, I've got some
sticks in the yard that I've got to burn up. And I got to
put all this big pile of sticks now that I got to burn up. One
thing I'm not going to do before I light that thing of fire is
spray a hose of all this water on it. I'm not going to spray
it down because I want it to light up. I'm only making it
harder for that thing to catch fire. But the angel had him pour
out that broth. Everything that was contrary
to our being saved was poured out upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And Christ took it out of the
way, nailing it to His cross. He took everything opposed to
our salvation and put it to death. Put it to death. and we see that
he is the rock. Christ is the rock who is the
refuge of his people in whom we are hid as we go through the
fires of God's wrath being protected in the cleft of the rock the
Lord Jesus Christ. In him we are carried through
brought through. We've paid the price in Christ
because Christ paid it all. He bore that wrath of God for
his people, hid in Christ. and received the Father in Him. So that fire is the wrath of
God through which Christ prevailed for the life of His people. Just like a rock, if I have rocks
by that flame, the sticks burn up, but the rocks endure. The
rock is not destroyed. And he, the angel, had Gideon
place the things out, because under the determined purpose
and will of God, Christ was crucified. Not for his own sins, but for
the sins of his people. Christ didn't go to that cross
for any other purpose, but to pay for the sins of his people. And we, with wicked hands, just
like he has Gideon lay them out, we with wicked hands took Christ
and crucified him. We crucified him. And it is through
this offering, what the angel of the Lord did to it, there,
when he saw Christ crucified, his eyes were opened, and he
realized, this is the true and living God speaking to me. And he was then afraid, and he
fell down there and worshiped God. The questions he needed
answered were answered. What he needed to see was seen. He saw Christ crucified. That's what the Lord does for
his people. Verse 22 and 23, when Gideon
perceived that he was an angel of the Lord, Gideon said, alas,
oh Lord God, for because I have seen an angel of the Lord face
to face. And the Lord said unto him, peace
be unto thee. Fear not, thou shalt not die. Gideon now was hearing by faith
that the angel had already departed out of his sight, and yet now,
when he cries out, he hears by faith the Lord saying, in peace
be unto thee, fear not, thou shalt not die. And so it is that
your God declares to you, showing you the Lord Jesus Christ, We
have many questions. I've seen it happen many times
and maybe you don't realize it, but I remember in particular,
there was a man who came to the church in New Jersey and he came
from staunch religion and he had all kinds of questions. And my pastor just said to him,
just sit and listen, just sit and hear the gospel. And he preached
Christ faithfully each and every time he got up and preached.
He preached the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified. And you know
what happened for that man? all his questions went away.
They were all answered. Everything that he needed to
hear was satisfied because he was made to hear the Lord Jesus
Christ. He heard that Christ paid it
all and he was given faith to believe and it was enough for
him. Religion gives us all kinds of
questions. But God in mercy and grace gives
us Christ and satisfies our needs and our questions with the Lord
Jesus Christ. We see this same pattern, the
same power displayed in the early church. You know, when Peter
stood up and preached to those Jews, when the Holy Ghost had
come upon them at Pentecost, when they were gathered together
at Jerusalem, just like the Lord said, and the Holy Ghost came
upon them, Peter preached Christ crucified to them. He said, therefore,
let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made
the same Jesus whom ye have crucified, Lord and Christ. And we see that the Jews who
heard Peter preach, there was a lot there, but there were some
who heard it by faith When they saw the atonement that was made,
they believed. It says, now when they heard
this, they were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and
the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do?
They're talking just like Gideon. Alas, I'm going to die. I've
sinned against the Lord. I've seen his son. I've seen the Lamb of God crucified
and I'm responsible for it. I'm the sinner. I'm the rebel
here. I need to be delivered. God's going to destroy me. And
the same way that the angel comforted Gideon. So Peter was given a
word of comfort to say to the people when he said, repent,
be turned from your dead works. and look to the Lord Jesus Christ,
and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ
for the forgiveness of sins. And ye shall receive the gift
of the Holy Ghost, for the promise is unto you, and to your children,
and to all that are far off, even as many as the Lord our
God shall call, or bring near to himself. And so that gift
of the Holy Spirit, which is given to his people, it's because
what he's saying there is that you too shall know. The grace
and mercy of God provided freely and fully in his son. God answers
all our questions and he settles us in the Lord Jesus Christ. And it says of them that they
gladly received his word and were baptized and the same day
were added about 3,000 souls. That's the promise that your
God makes to you gathered here this day who gladly receive his
word. We are made to hope in the promise
of God, spoken of, declared here in Christ, not by the things
that I do, not by the things that I stop doing, but by the
Lord Jesus Christ, who is made unto me fullness, sufficiency,
forgiveness of my sins before the true and living God. Christ
made a perfect atonement for our sins. Peter told Cornelius,
he said, all the prophets give witness unto the Lord Jesus Christ
that whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. You're not going to be ashamed
looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why we preach him. That's
why we preach Christ crucified. And those who hear it declare
that he is their sufficiency, resting all our hope of salvation
on him. And you know what Gideon did?
After this happened, look at verse 24. Judges 6.24 Then Gideon
built an altar there unto the LORD, and called it Jehovah Shalom. Unto this day it is yet in Ophrah
of the Abiezrites. Jehovah Shalom means the LORD
is peace. Christ Jesus is the peace of
God for his people. God is at perfect peace with
us in the Lord Jesus Christ. In him we're made to rest. In
him we are settled and satisfied. In him we worship God. We worship God. We build our
altar right there in the sacrifice of Christ, right where that happened.
That's where Gideon built that altar. Right there on that very
rock. And so it is that the Spirit
of God causes us to build that altar whereby we worship God
in spirit and in truth right on that rock, the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's everything, brethren. He
is your peace. God is at peace with you, his
people. there in that place. Don't think
for a minute that you would ever hear God. You would never hear
him, you'd never believe him, except that sacrifice was made
for you. God, if it wasn't made, God wouldn't
speak to you and you wouldn't hear him if he did speak to you.
But because that sacrifice was made the Lord Jesus Christ, your
ear is open this day and you do hear the wonderful works of
God, and you believe them in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, build your altar of worship
right there to God in Christ alone, because in Him, God blesses
us with all spiritual blessings. Amen. All right, let's pray and then
we'll have one final hymn. Our blessed Lord, we thank you,
Father, that you've made full, free provision
in your Son, Jesus Christ. And Lord, we thank you for the
patience, the mercy, the compassion, the pity, the love you show us
in Christ, and that it's all of grace. Lord, we thank you
that the way you answer our questions isn't going through each and
everything, but you show us time and time again the Lord Jesus
Christ. You show us Christ and Him crucified,
how that you're satisfied with us in Him, and you make us satisfied
with Him as well. Lord, we thank you for your faithfulness.
We thank you for your wisdom. We thank you for the hearing
ear and the spirit which you give, Lord, because we know in
this flesh we're not worthy. We've done nothing to earn it,
but you give it freely to the praise and glory and honor of
your name. Lord, we thank you. We pray that
you would bless this people here, that you would indeed cause this
word to settle in our hearts in good ground and that you would
bring forth fruit unto the praise and glory of your name, some
hundred, some 60, some 30 fold. It's in the name of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ, that we pray this. Lord, you know
all our cares and concerns, health concerns that we have and dealings
with doctors. We pray that you would be merciful
to us. Help our brother Scott as he's going this week to the
doctor. Be with brother Ron as well and with Alyssa and all
those who are struggling and suffering with various ailments
and concerns and worries. And Lord, Settle us in Christ
our peace. Help us to hear him. Bring your
people here to hear it and settle us right there in Christ. Give
us peace with our God and peace with one another in him. Lord,
we pray for this conference coming up next week at Darvins that
you would bless it, help the men who are bringing the word
to be prepared and to have that word from you to speak to the
people for that hour. that you would bless it to their
hearts. And Lord, we pray that you would bless us in our travels
and bring us back safely. We pray that you bless and establish
the work here and help us in doing the work for our own conference
here, that you would do the same for the men coming to preach
to us, that you would give them that word of blessing that you
have for us to hear, that you would bless it and bless many
people and feed your sheep, that you would restore many things,
Lord, that there be peace and joy here in this place. It's in Christ's name we pray
and give thanks. Amen. Let's all stand and sing a closing
hymn, 298. God leads us along, 298. Shady green pastures so rich
and so sweet, God leads his dear children along. Where the water's cool flow bathes
the weary one's feet, God leads his dear children along. Some through the waters, some
through the flood. Some through the fire, but all
through the blood. Some through great sorrow, but
God gives us all. In the night season and all the
day long. Sometimes on a mountain where
the sun shines so bright, God leads his dear children along. Sometimes in a valley in darkest
of night, God leads his dear children along. Some through the waters, some
through the flood, some through the fire, but all through the
blood. Some through great sorrow, but
God gives us all in the night season and all the day long. If sorrows may fall us and Satan
oppose, God leads his dear children alone. Through grace we can conquer,
defeat all our foes, God leads his dear children alone. Some through the waters, some
through the flood. Some through the fire, but all
through the blood. Some through great sorrow, but
God gives us all. In the night season and all the
day long. Away from Ammar and away from
the clay, God leads His dear children along. Away up in glory, eternity's
day, God leads His dear children along. Some through the waters,
some through the flood. Some through the fire, but all
through the blood. Some through great sorrow, but
God gives us all in the night season and all the day long. Thank you.