All right, brethren, it's good
to see you all. Thank you for having me back
here. I enjoy visiting with you all
and for the opportunity to preach the gospel of our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ to you all. And I really appreciate you and
the Lord, what he's done here. And I'm thankful for Darwin and
that you brethren would have me come down here. I understand
that that means a lot. It means a lot and I'm thankful. I'm gonna have you turn first
to Psalm 35. Psalm 35, we're gonna look at
about five verses there. Our text is in John 15, but I
wanna begin here. Psalm 35, looking at the first
three verses to begin with. This is our Lord speaking here
in this Psalm. And it's a prayer regarding his
ministry, which he had when he was here in the flesh. And it's an intercessory prayer
for you who believe him, and you who minister his word to
your hearers. It's a intercessory prayer for
you. He says, verse one, plead my
cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me. Fight against
them that fight against me. Take hold of shield and buckler
and stand up for mine help. He's saying, you be my defense
and you be my shield. And that's good for us because
we don't want our flesh to defend ourselves. It gets ugly real
fast when it's us. He says, verse three, draw out
also the spear and stop the way against them that persecute me. Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. And that's a word of comfort. That's a word of comfort to you
who are going through adversity and difficulties. That's a word
of comfort to you who are persecuted for the truth's sake, for the
gospel. for the Lord Jesus Christ and
your hope in Him. To hear those words, I am thy
salvation. This Psalm, if you read it later
today or this week, it's about the rebellion of man. It's about
man who despises Christ, who despises the truth and the light
of our Lord and Savior. And that's what our Lord is testifying
to in John 15. Don't go there yet, but look
at Psalm 35, 19. Verse 19, this phrase at the
end is quoted in John 15. It says, let not them that are
mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me. Neither let them wink
with the eye that hate me without a cause. They persecuted Christ
for the truth. They persecuted him for the light
which he shone unto them. Now, the focus of our message
is not on this persecution. The focus of this message is
an encouragement to you that believe the Lord. To you who
cry out to him, say unto my soul, Lord, I am thy salvation. Lord, appear to me, show me that
I am yours, lest I should come under the judgment and wrath
of God that I rightly deserve for my sins. Say unto my soul,
Lord, that I am thy salvation. And that's what our Lord says
at the end, verse 27. Psalm 35, 27, let them shout for joy and
be glad that favor my righteous cause. Yea, let them say continually,
let the Lord be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity
of his servant. Christ is the servant of God.
Behold, my servant, whom I have sent, you look to him. You want
peace with God? Would you be reconciled to God?
You look to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the servant whom God has
sent to save his people from their sins. That is the righteous
cause, the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's what he's
come to do, to save his people, to put away their sins and to
give them life and righteousness, to know the true and living God
in reconciliation, to have fellowship with God and live in him joyful
and rejoicing. Now, our Lord describes the hatred
and persecution that he's receiving from the world, those who know
not the truth, from the inhabitants of the earth, those who are the
children of disobedience and wickedness. And our Lord, his
word here, it reveals those that are not his disciples. But in
the same token, it reveals them who are his disciples. We see in this passage in John
15, you can go there now, John 15, he's speaking to his friends. He calls his disciples friends. And that's an intimate term.
That's a term of kindness. That's a term of fellowship.
That's a term of peace that he's speaking to our hearts. And so
when he says disciples, he means friends. Look at verse 15, John
15, 15. He says, henceforth, from here
forward, I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what
his Lord doeth, but I have called you friends. For all things that
I have heard of my father, I have made known unto you." This friendship
that he's speaking of is to you who are the chosen children of
God. You are the people who are children
of faith. Abraham's seed and heirs according
to the promise. In describing Abraham, we're
told that he believed God and it was imputed to him for righteousness. And he is called in the scriptures
the friend of God, the friend of God. And you who believe God,
like Abraham, are the friend of God. You believe him, you
trust him, you follow his word. You look to him and his righteousness
alone. And what the Lord is, revealing
to his people is, I am thy God. salvation. I'm your salvation. And that's the great blessing
that we have here at the end of John 15. Our Lord is not just
witnessing of the evil and the wickedness in the heart of man
and in this flesh, this flesh. He's not only testifying against
what we are in this flesh, but he's testifying to and revealing
the witness of his grace. of His love, of His power worked
in His people, in His children, what He does to deliver us from
that death, darkness, and condemnation. He makes us to know that He is
our salvation. Now, we're gonna focus on verses
22 through 26, but I wanna just speak to the witnesses. This
whole passage here is a witness. It's revealing. what the Lord
has revealed in them, and what the Lord reveals in you who believe
Him, you who are the friends of God. Now, he says in verse
17, he gives a commandment that ye love one another, that you
brethren love your brethren. It's a witness to you, you that
love your brethren, it's a witness of God's grace witnessed in you,
revealed in you. Look back at John 13, verse 35. He speaks of this love as a witness. Verse 35, by this shall all men
know, by this shall all men know that
ye are my disciples if ye have love, one, two, three. another
by this love that you have for your brethren, all men, believers
and unbelievers, including you. You'll know that you are my brethren. We look at the love of Christ
our Savior for us, and we know he suffers long with me. He suffers my sin and my folly
and my foolishness long, and he bears long with me, and that's
the love we are to have for our brethren. Paul wrote, or the
Spirit tells us in Ephesians 5 verse 1, be ye therefore followers
of God as dear children, and walk in love as Christ also hath
loved us and hath given himself for us in offering and a sacrifice
to God for a sweet smelling savor. Love your brethren. The love
you have and the fellowship you have and the bearing long with
brethren is a witness of his grace given to you. What he's
done for you. Now the second witness, the first
was one of love, the second one is one of hatred. And it's the
hatred that the world has for you who are the friends of God.
He says in verse 18 and 19, if the world hate you, ye know that
it hated me before it hated you. This is back in John 15, verse
19. Now, if ye were of the world,
the world would love his own. But because ye are not of the
world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the
world hateth you. Now, the biggest takeaway for
me here is that brethren don't hate brethren. The world does. The world hates you. You leave
that rotten, stinking fruit with them. You beg God. We don't love
as we know we ought to love, but we do cry out and beg God,
help me, Lord. Help me to love my brethren as
I need to love them. Lord, help me to love them as
you love them. Help me to love them as you love me, Lord, and
bear long with me. Make me to remember what you've
done for me, that I may remember that with my brethren. And so, Paul also wrote in Ephesians
5, 7, and 8, he said, be not ye therefore partakers with them.
Brethren don't hate brethren, the world does. Don't you be
partakers with them, for ye were sometimes darkness, but now are
ye light, and the Lord walk as children of light. And that walk
is one of faith. It's one of faith. We're not
gonna see in ourselves what we, What we know we should see, what
we think we should see, we're not gonna see it. The flesh is
dead because of sin. It's dead because of sin, and
we see rotten fruit in us. We see the corruption of Adam
in this flesh, and we know that this flesh is wicked, but we
cry out in faith, breathing, Abba, Father, Lord, keep me. Help me, Lord, to love my brethren
and to walk and faith looking to your son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, keep me there. And then
the third witness in verse 20 and 21, it follows on naturally
from this hatred of the world. He says, remember the word that
I said unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord.
If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they
have kept my saying, they will also keep yours. But all these
things will they do unto you for my namesake, because they
know not him that sent me. And this hatred that the world
has for you who trust Christ, for you who are his people, it
follows naturally that they will persecute you. And that persecution
looks like hatred, one where they put you out from their company,
they don't include you, they speak evil of you and against
you, And it even leads sometimes to violence as they did to our
Lord in putting him to death. And so our Lord tells us that
these witnesses are born out in you who are the friends of
God. And this brings us now to what
I want to focus on primarily, which is the witness of Christ
in you, the hope of glory, the hope of glory, the declaration
of the true living God, saying to your soul, I am thy salvation. That's what we want to hear.
Lord, I know what I am in this flesh. Say unto my soul, I am
thy salvation. Now, when we read these verses,
22 through 26, it may not appear as though the Lord is speaking
comfort to your souls. It may seem like he's just speaking
of the witness of the wicked, of what they are doing in coming
against the true and living God. They refused the Lord of Glory.
They would not hear Him. They didn't believe on Him. But
notice. the witness that your God has
revealed in you so that you fall down before him. You cry out
to him, Lord, have mercy on me. Lord, save me. Lord, give me
sight. Help me to hear your word and
to receive your word spoken. Lord, reveal your life and salvation
in me. That's the hope, that's the cry
he's put in you, in your heart that believe and call out upon
the name of the Son of God. Let's read these words, 22 through
25, and then we'll break it down. If I had not come and spoken
unto them, they had not had sin. But now they have no cloak for
their sin. He that hateth me, hateth my
Father also. If I had not done among them
the works which none other man did, they had not had sin. But now have they both seen and
hated both me and my Father. But this cometh to pass, that
the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, they
hated me without a cause. Now I'm gonna show you five witnesses
which are given to us here that are worked in you, that believe,
that faith is given to you, that's a witness to you. We're gonna
see that blooming, that come out here from this text. So let's go through each verse.
And the first place we're gonna start is the beginning of verse
22, the first half of 22. Our Lord says, if I had not come,
and spoken unto them, they had not had sin. Christ came in the flesh and
He declared the truth to these Jews. He spoke like none other
man ever spake. He spoke with authority. He spoke
as one who knew the truth and yet they would not hear Him. They didn't hear the words that
Christ spoke. They didn't believe. They didn't
receive what he said. He said to those Jews in John
540, and ye will not come unto me that ye might have life. You won't do it. You won't come
to me. You don't believe the scriptures
testify and speak of me, that I am thy salvation. I'm the salvation
whom God has sent and you won't come to me that you might have
life. That's the natural man. And yet
you, you have heard the word of Christ. He has come and spoken
to you. He's brought you under the sound
of this gospel. and he's given you an ear, the
ear of faith, to hear that word, to make it effectual in your
heart when so many die and pass away having never heard that
word. Oh, they heard, many heard the
word, but it didn't profit them, not being mixed with faith, and
yet you, you do hear that word. God has revealed that word in
your heart and given you a hope in the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Turn over to John chapter 1 and
we see this spoken of there. John chapter 1. Go to verse 11. John 1 verse 11 and he confirms
this very truth to us saying that Christ came unto his own
and his own received him not. But as many as received him,
to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on his name. You that receive Christ, you
that believe him and hope in him for your righteousness, that's
because the power of God has been revealed in you. It's been
manifested in you. It's been given to you. you have
been given that faith and hope to receive and believe the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's resurrection power. That's
the same power that raised your Lord from the dead. That's the
same power that raises you from spiritual death to hear the word
of Christ, to believe He is the Savior. This is the Son of God.
He is the salvation whom God has sent to save His people from
their sins. This is Him. And these, verse
13, were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor
of the will of man, but of God." We're not saved because of our
lineage. It doesn't matter if mommy and daddy believe. You've
got to believe, right brother? You've got to believe the Lord.
He's got to be your hope. You come to the Savior yourself
as a sinner in need of salvation. It's not of the will of the flesh.
It's not my faith that saves me. Anything born of this flesh,
all this flesh produces is dead works. Vain flesh, vain things,
fruitless things. It produces nothing good, nor
the will of man. Your pastor loves you, but he
can't save you. Men and women here love you and
their children, but they can't save you. They pray for you. We labor to bring you here to
hear this word, but God is the one who saves his people. Just
as he called us out of darkness, he calls each and every one of
his children out of darkness and gives them faith and hope
in the Lord Jesus Christ. We're born of him, born of him. And he that's born of God does
not commit sin, all right? This flesh is wicked, this flesh
only commits sin, but that work of Christ in you sinneth not. does not sin. He that is born
of God, that is the man born of God, the new man, which is
born in you of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so unlike the wicked
to whom our Lord spoke, who didn't hear and they weren't profited,
He's made it profitable unto you. He's made that word profitable
unto you. And He's, cause He said, the
A of the hour comes. when the dead shall hear the
voice of the Son of God, and they that hear, empowered by
faith, wrought in them by the Spirit, they shall live. They shall live. So you've been
profited by this word. Second, the second half of verse
22. He says, but now they have no
cloak for their sin. Left to himself, man has no righteousness. All his good works, all his religious
works, all his striving and laboring and spending on things which
are not bread and cannot satisfy, they're all vain. They're no
cloak of righteousness. You don't want to stand before
God in your works. You might as well go out to the
backyard and pull down some leaves and sew them together to cover
your nakedness. And just like a leaf will dry
up, shrivel, and fall away like chaff, That's our good works
before the true and living God. They're all gonna fade as the
leaf, and we're all gonna be blown away as the leaf before
God if we stand before Him in our own works of righteousness
which we have done. We look to the true and living
God. And so they have no cloak for
their sin, but you do. You do, praise God. You do have
a cloak of righteousness, the blood of the Lamb. which was
shed for you, you are covered with the righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's the hope he's given to
you. Lord, don't receive me in my righteousness. I don't want
to stand before you in what I've done under the works of the law
even. Lord, I want to stand before
you in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to be found in him, that
faith of the Lord Jesus Christ, not even my own faith, his faith.
That's my hope. That's my hope, what he's done
for me. We wait for him. Third, he says,
verse 23 now, he that hateth me, hateth my father also. Left to himself, that's what
the natural man does. He hates the true and living
God. How do you know? He hates his Christ. He hates
his salvation, and he hates those who hope in and trust in and
confess the Lord Jesus Christ. He despises the true and living
God. That's the natural man. But what is the testimony he's
revealed in your heart? Lord, I love you. I need you. And we love him because he first
loved us. Again, we don't love him as we
ought to love him. And we're not happy with the
love that we have for our Lord. And we're We're ashamed of the
love and we're ashamed of the friendship that we have toward
our God. That friendship which he shows
us, we're ashamed in how we show him friendship. And so often
believe lies and doubt the true and living God, but we do love
him. And we do cry out to him, and
we do confess him. Lord, I need you. Every hour,
every day, Lord, keep me, keep me. You are my only righteousness. Do not leave me, Lord. That love,
that fear of God which is wrought in you is wrought of the Spirit
of God. It's given to you. because you need him. That's
the one thing we can't ever be without, is the fellowship of
God. There's a lot we can do without,
but Lord, don't take your presence from me. Say unto my soul, I
am thy salvation. Fourth, let's look at verse 24.
If I had not done among them the works which none other man
did, they had not had sin. But now have they both seen and
hated both me and my father. Left to themselves, man does
not believe Christ. He doesn't believe a word of
what the Lord says. He's striving, he's laboring
because he's got to work for his righteousness. Christ is
not enough. He's got to add something to
it. He's got to add something to what Christ has done. And
he that believeth not, in John 3.18, the scriptures say, is
condemned already. because it's testified, it's
witnessed to, that he hath not believed in the name of the only
begotten Son of God. It's witnessed. Their unbelief
is a testimony of their condemnation. And so you that do believe, you
that do hope in Christ, you that trust him for all your hope and
salvation, it's a witness of God in you, of Christ in you,
and the Spirit in you, of his grace in you, giving you life
and hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. You've not seen him with the
physical eye, but you've seen him by faith. You've seen him
by faith because the mediator, the Savior, hath prayed for you. He said, neither pray I for these
alone, of his disciples that were with him, the 11, but for
them also which shall believe on me through their word. You've heard the word. You've
heard the witness of Christ, and you believe. You do believe. They didn't believe, but you
do believe, because faith is the substance of things hoped
for, the evidence of things not seen. And so Paul wrote to the
Thessalonians. He said to them, all men have
not faith, but you do. You that believe Christ, you
do have faith. That's a witness of his grace
in you. That's not of the flesh, that's
of his grace and power. Fifth, verse 25. But this cometh
to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written
in their law. They hated me without a cause. Our Lord gave those Jews and
all men in the world, he gave them no reason to hate him. He
gave them no reason to despise him at all. But they don't believe. But you, but you, well they fell
short of the promises of God. They didn't believe, and they
fell short of the promises of God. They didn't enter into that
hope of righteousness which is given to the saints of God, which
he gives to them. They fell short of it, but you
received the promises. You believed the promise of God
made unto you in Christ. He's your hope and your righteousness,
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. You come in hope. You believe
in hope. You bring your children here
in hope, begging God to have mercy upon them, that they would
hear and believe and receive this word which he's wrought
in you. That's your hope. There's a manifestation
of life and light in you that believe. It's not a manifestation
of death. Like they have, he manifests
light in you, life in you, hope in you in the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's what he does for all the saints. Noah found grace in the
sight of the Lord. And that's what each of you who
believe in Christ, who are kept by him, you found grace. By the grace of God revealing
it in you, you found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And so
I'm reminded as we Consider this of what Paul said, who maketh
thee to differ from another? Who is it that makes you to differ
from another? Is it anything in me? Am I wiser
than them? Am I better than them? No, we
know men who hate the Lord, who appear better than us, put us
to shame. Who maketh thee to differ? Who's
giving you this hope of righteousness? Who causes you to look to Christ
and Christ alone? It's the grace of your God. It's
the grace of your God in Christ. It's the giving of His Holy Spirit,
baptizing you with the Holy Spirit, which is, you confess Christ. He's all my hope. He's all my
righteousness. I have no other righteousness.
I have nothing else to stand before God but Christ and Christ
alone. That, brethren, is the baptism
of the Holy Spirit. He's brought in you the hope
of the saints. He's brought in you that faith,
which looks to the Lord Jesus Christ alone. He's given that
to you. And that's what he says in verse
26. All these things are wrought in you because the Comforter
has come. He said, but when the Comforter
has come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the
spirit of truth, which proceeded from the Father, he shall testify
of me. And that's the testimony brought
in you. Christ, Christ, Christ is all. Christ is all. He's everything
to me. He's all my hope and my salvation. Lord, receive me in him alone. That's a manifestation of the
spirit of grace. I'll disclose with 1 Corinthians
2, verse 12 through 14. Let's read it together. 1 Corinthians
2, 12. Now we have received not the
spirit of the world, we had that by birth, but the spirit, we've
received the spirit which is of God, that we might know the
things that are freely given to us of God. 1 Corinthians 2.13
now, which things also we speak not in the words which man's
wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing
spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned. He doesn't receive them, but
you, in the new man, by the grace of God, you do receive them,
and you do believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and this is the
witness of his grace in you. and him saying to you, to your
soul, I am thy salvation. Amen. All right, brethren. So we're
going to take 15 minutes. Be ready in 15.