We're going to begin our second
service by standing and singing 355 from every stormy wind that
blows. 355. From every stormy wind that blows,
from every swelling tide of woes, there is a calm, a sure retreat. There is a place where Jesus
sheds the oil of gladness on our heads. A place that, oh,
besides more sweet, it is the blood-bought mercy seat. ? There is a scene where spirits
blend ? ? Where friend hold fellowship with friend ? ? Though sundered
far by faith they meet ? ? Around one common mercy sing ? Ah, whither
could we flee for aid When tempted, desolate, dismayed? For how the hosts of hell defeat
As suffering saints, though mercy seen? on eagles' wings we soar, and
sin and since more, less, no more, than heaven comes down
our souls to breathe, while glory crowns the birds. Alright, I'm going to be reading
from 2 Peter chapter 1. 2 Peter chapter 1. Let's begin
in verse 1. Simon Peter a servant and an
apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained, like precious
faith with us, through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Grace and peace be multiplied
unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,
according as his divine power hath given unto us all things
that pertain unto life, and godliness, through the knowledge of him
that hath called us to glory and virtue, whereby are given
unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might
be partakers of the divine nature. having escaped the corruption
that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving
all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue, knowledge,
and to knowledge, temperance, and to temperance, patience,
and to patience, godliness, and to godliness, brotherly kindness,
and to brotherly kindness, charity, or love. For if these things
be in you and abound, they make you, that ye shall neither be
barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things
is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that
he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather brethren
give diligence to make your calling and election sure, For if ye
do these things, ye shall never fall. For so an entrance shall
be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Wherefore, I will not
be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things,
though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. Yea, I
think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, in this flesh,
to stir you up by putting you in remembrance, knowing that
shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord
Jesus Christ hath showed me. Moreover I will endeavour that
ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in
remembrance. For we have not followed cunningly
devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the
Father honour and glory when there came such a voice. to him
from the excellent glory, this is my beloved son, in whom I
am well pleased. Let's go to the Lord in prayer.
Our gracious Lord, we thank you, Father, for your great mercy and grace,
which is shown to us abundantly in your Son, Jesus Christ. We
thank You, Lord, for the life that we have in Him, the power
which You give to us in raising us from the dead. We thank You,
Lord, for providing for us a Savior who never forsakes us nor leaves
us to ourselves, but is faithful in all that He does and provides
everything we need in grace and in mercy through his blood, through
his life, and through the spirit which he gives. And Lord, we
think of our brethren now who could not be with us. We think
of those that are struggling, those that are going through
difficulties and trials and afflictions. Lord, we pray that you would
indeed comfort your people, strengthen them. Lord, we pray for Johnny
and Scott, Lord, as they have time together, Lord, we pray
that you would bless their time, help them to love one another
and to be patient with one another. Lord, we think of those who are
sick and would be with us but don't feel well. We pray that
you heal them. Lord, we pray for the pain which
Brother Ron feels in his fingers, the wound that Brother Scott
has in his foot. Lord, that you would heal them,
that you would give them relief from their pain. Lord, we pray
for those who join us regularly online. We think of my aunt,
that you would strengthen her knee. And Lord, that you would
remember my sister, even with the difficulties she faces in
her own life. We pray that you would comfort
her and turn her eyes to Christ. that she would see Jesus Christ
and behold him. Lord, we think of our children.
We pray for them. We pray that you would have mercy
upon them and you would be gracious to them even as you have been
gracious to us for Christ's sake. Lord, we know that we can't believe
for them. We know that there's nothing
we can do for their salvation and for them. But Lord, help
us to be faithful to glorify Christ in their midst and in
their hearing, that you would show them Christ, that you would
reveal Christ and his power in them. Lord, we look to you because
we need your grace and they need your grace. Lord, without you
and your mercy, they will not hear. We would not hear. But
we know that you are a gracious God, that you are merciful, to
the sinner, that you are merciful to the weak, that you're a healer
of those that are sick. And Lord, we have those that
are friends and family and neighbors that are sick and who cannot
save themselves. We pray that you would be merciful
to them, help us in our endeavors to advertise our meeting location
here, that you would cause your people who are lost or hungering,
thirsting and looking for a place, that you would cause them to
see it. to hear of this place and that they would come and
be fed, that they would sit and be settled in the Lord Jesus
Christ, that you would establish your work here. Lord, we pray
this not for our glory, not for what we want, but Lord, because
we rejoice in you. We rejoice in your salvation.
We boast in you and are thankful for what you've done for us.
And Lord, we pray that you would continue to bless not only us,
but your people scattered about in this area. We pray that you
would bless your churches, your people meeting this morning and
wherever they are, that you would fill them with Christ and the
comfort that we have in him. It's in Christ's name that we
pray and give thanks. Amen. Hey, brother. Let's sing hymn number 125, Jesus
Paid It All, 125. I hear the Savior say, thy strength
indeed is small. Child of weakness, watch and
pray. Find in me thine all in all. Jesus paid it all, all to Him
I owe. Sin hath left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow For now indeed I find Thy power and
thine alone Can change the leper's spots And melt the heart of stone paid it all, all to him I owe. Sin hath left a crimson stain,
he washed it white as snow. For nothing good have I, whereby
thy grace to claim. I'll wash my garments white in
the blood of Calvary's Lamb. Jesus paid it all, all to Him
I owe. Sin hath left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow. And when before the throne I
stand in Him complete, Jesus died my soul to save, my lips
shall still repeat, Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. The shin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow All right. All right. Take your Bibles and
turn to Judges. Judges chapter 2. Last time that we were here,
we were in Judges chapter 2, and we saw the faithfulness of
Christ, where he instructs his people, and he turns his people
from carelessness. He turns his people from compromising
ways and he instructs them and he restores them in grace. And at the beginning of verse
10, that's where we concluded last time, and at the beginning
of verse 10, our Lord confirms to us this generation. He confirms
to us that these are his people and he says all that generation
were gathered unto their fathers. None were lost. None were lost. Now today I want to pick up with
the second half of verse 10 and work our way down to the end
of the chapter. Here, we read something different
from that other generation. It says, there arose another
generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the
works which he had done for Israel. So the Lord here in this verse,
he's making it known to us that there is a difference between
these two generations. There's a difference between
them. And I'm reminded of that question
which Paul asks the churches when he says, who maketh thee
to differ one from another? Who maketh thee to differ? God
makes thee to differ. Now, some have noted in this
passage here that there's a, that there's, well, not just
from this passage, but just have noted anecdotally throughout
history looking at churches and the history of churches that
there are generations of people, not necessarily generations where
one generation believes and then the rest of the next generation,
no one believes in that, but rather within the life of a church,
of a work that the Lord establishes, we find that there's one generation
which the Lord raises up, and those people are very passionate
and committed to the work that's being done there, and they make
sacrifices for that work. And the Lord, in a gospel church,
the Lord blesses that work. He blesses those people with
the gospel. But then over time, when a new generation comes in
inheriting the labors of that former generation, that former
group of people, they let things slip. Certain things are just
not that important to them. Now I can't say how often that's
true, I can't say that, but I would encourage you and I would encourage
the Lord's people to teach your children, to labor among your
children and to teach them well, that we are commanded to, and
it is wise to read the scriptures to your children, to spend time
in the word with your children, explaining to them the sight
of Christ, which you have of him in the word of God, and to
sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with your children, and
to teach them the hope that you have in the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's something that we all can do even this day, to declare
the hope that we have in Christ. We may be reluctant to declare
the meaning of a certain scripture, but we know what the Lord has
done for us, and the hope he's given us, not in ourselves, not
in our works, but in the Lord Jesus Christ. Pray for them. Pray for your children. Never
give up praying for your children, because the Lord is gracious,
and He is kind, and He delivers the troubled soul. He delivers
that one who is snared and taken in sin, or taken in affliction,
brought into difficulties and afflictions. He's merciful to
the one who cries out. So pray for your children. Pray for them. It says in Psalm
145 verse 4, which our brother read last week, it says, one
generation shall praise thy works to another and shall declare
thy mighty acts. So declare, Christ is my salvation. Christ is the salvation of the
people of God. Tell them, tell those whom you
know, tell others what God has done for you in the Lord Jesus
Christ. They can't take that away from
you. When God has done a work in your heart, when He's shown
you the wonders of His works, they can't take that away from
you. They may challenge it, they may
try it, they may try to make you feel bad, to make you feel
ignorant or silly in your ways, but you that know what God has
done for you, they can't take that away. And the other blessing
in speaking to those you know and speaking to those you don't
know, but especially in speaking to your children, if you find
that you don't know what to say, that you don't know what God
has done for you, well, then you know what to cry out to the
Lord for. Lord, I don't even know what I'm talking about.
Teach me. Have mercy on me. Show me what you say in your
word you do for sinners that I may declare to others. what
you've done for me in grace and mercy. So declare. your children
the mighty acts of God in Christ. And remember to point them to
Christ, to declare, to speak of Him, not just of doctrines,
not just of Bible verses, not just what the church is doing.
Declare to them Christ, because salvation is a person. Salvation
isn't activities, salvation is the Lord Jesus Christ. And we
want to point sinners to the Lord Jesus Christ, because He
is the way, the truth, and the life, and it's by Him alone that
we come to the Father. It's not by the things we know.
It's not by the things that we do. It's not by other people
that we know. It's by the Lord Jesus Christ
that we have entrance, an entrance to the Father. Preach Christ. Now, We learn in this text, as
we're going to go through most of the verses in the rest of
Judges chapter two here, we see in this text some very unflattering
things about man, about our nature. And we see in this our great
need of grace. Turn over to the prophet Micah. So Micah is right after Jonah. And Jonah's not very far after
Hosea and Daniel. So I'm talking and I'm not really
clipping there that fast myself. So Micah chapter 7. And we read there in verse 2.
This is an overview of what we see in Judges 2. This is an overview of what we
see in our day. And he says, the good man is
perished, verse 2, out of the earth, and there is none upright
among men. They all lie in wait for blood.
They hunt every man his brother with a net, that they may do
evil with both hands earnestly. The prince asketh, and the judge
asketh for a reward. In other words, they're open
to take bribes. If you want to do wickedly, well,
as long as you bribe them, you'll get away with it. And the great man, the man who
has influence and knows these people in power, he uttereth
his mischievous desire, so they wrap it up. They cover it up
for him so that he can do it. The best of them is as a briar.
or a curse. They're a curse. Briars and thorns
and thistles, that's the results of our curse which we've brought
upon the earth. The best of them is as a briar.
The most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge. It's like choosing
the least slimiest one of the slimies. It's trying to pick
the best out of the worst. of us. And the Lord says, the
day of thy watchmen and thy visitation cometh, now shall be their perplexity. As man fills up the cup of wrath,
the Lord then raises up men in that generation to preach and
declare the truth that that generation needs to hear. And then judgment
comes on those who will not hear what the Lord declares in His
Son, Jesus Christ. And he says, verse five, trust
ye not in a friend. Put ye not confidence in a guide.
Keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom.
For the son dishonoreth the father. The daughter riseth up against
her mother. The daughter-in-law against the
mother-in-law. A man's enemies are the men of
his own house. In that we preach Christ. That's
what we declare in every generation. We declare Christ. That's what
the watchmen declare. The ways, our ways are wicked.
There's one who saves, the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, that divides,
that divides the people. Christ divides his sheep from
the goats through the preaching of the gospel. And he reveals
salvation in his people. And it says, verse seven, the
conclusion is, therefore, I will look unto the Lord. I will wait
for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me. so that
we see the wickedness in man and it teaches us not to have
confidence and put confidence and look to the glories of this
life which are fading fast and passing away but look to the
Lord your God. Look to Him and trust Him. We
need grace and that's what the Lord shows us. We need grace. We need this grace because the
children of God, even the children of God, are born. They're born. They're born not of blood. It's not in our families that
we are made children of God. It's not by blood in believing
parents that the children believe. Nor are we born of the will of
the flesh. It's not our free will, the free
will of man that decides whether or not God will save him. Nor
is it of the will of man. We can't believe for another
and we can't command another to believe by our power and authority. We declare the true and living
God because it's God that gives birth to his children. The children
of God are born of God. You see, we that believe the
Lord Jesus Christ, we know that there's a difference between
generations. We know there's a difference
between generations. What do I mean? We know that
there's a difference between the generation of Adam, that
which is born of this flesh, that it's spiritually dead in
trespasses and sins. And we see that our works and
what we do is not pleasing to the Lord. That generation is
lost. The generation of Adam is sin. It's corrupt. It's defiled. We
need a regeneration. We need another generation which
is born of the Lord Jesus Christ. of His spiritual holy seed. And that generation which is
born of Christ cannot sin. That which is born of Christ
can only believe the Lord Jesus Christ and trusts Him wholly. And so John the Apostle in 1
John 3, 9 said, whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin. For his seed remaineth in him,
and he cannot sin because he is born of God. In other words,
we that are born of Christ cannot apostatize, cannot turn from
the Lord Jesus Christ, cannot be turned from trusting Him because
He's all the hope of that which is born of Christ. We live and
breathe and dwell in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we don't
sin, we don't turn from Christ because He is our very life and
we cannot be turned from Him. Now, this passage in Judges chapter
2, this passage here, it gives us a stark reminder of this flesh,
of this generation of Adam, and it shows us we have a great need. We have a great need for the
grace of God in Christ, because Christ is the judge whose reign
shall never end. And when we use that word judge
here in the book of Judges, it speaks of a savior, a deliverer. We need a savior whose reign
shall never end and who shall never forsake us nor leave us
to ourselves. We need one more glorious, and
that's what I've titled this message, A More Glorious Judge. He's a more glorious savior. And so let's read of the account
here in Judges chapter two. Look with me at verse 11 through
13. It says, this is now that generation that came after the
first one who believed God and were gathered to their fathers.
It says, and the children of Israel did evil in the sight
of the Lord and served Balaam. When you see Balaam, it's signifying
a plurality of gods, not just one singular Baal, but Balaam,
many, many gods. Look at verse 12. And they forsook
the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the
land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people
that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and
provoked the Lord to anger. And they forsook the Lord, and
served Baal and Ashtoreth. And there are singular names.
The god they called Baal, which was likely a sun god, some form
of the sun god, and then Ashtaroth, which was a goddess of fertility,
which we call Easter today. It was all just idolatry, and
they were looking to false gods. And this idolatry is witnessed
not just in the heathen, in the earth, but it's speaking of those
who were called Israelites, those who are called Israelites. This
is a generation in Israel and they're not far, very far removed
at all from that last generation that saw the wonderful works
of God. They're not very far removed
from them at all. Now some commentators that I
was reading on this, they were challenging whether that previous
generation had declared to this following generation whether
or not They told them what wonderful things the Lord had done. It
seemed as though they didn't say anything. But I know from
experience that it doesn't take us being silent for people close
to us to be wicked and show themselves to be unbelievers. That's even
in the face of declaring the truth to them. And I don't doubt
that that previous generation failed to tell, or I don't doubt
that they didn't tell the people, their children which came after
them. It's that without a work of grace
there's no love for God in the heart. It just isn't there in
our nature. It's just not there in that which
is the generation of Adam. There's no love for God. There's
no seeking after him, to seek after idols and false gods, sure,
we're fine with that. We have no problem with that.
If a man come in his own name, we'll listen to him and we'll
follow after him, but it's a labor to us to hear the gospel, to
hear the true and living God in this flesh. It's hard. The
flesh doesn't delight in glory in the true and living God because
the flesh is enmity against the true and living God. And the
reality is regenerated believers live side by side with those
of that fallen generation of Adam. We live side-by-side with
family that do not believe. We live side-by-side with friends
who do not believe, and have co-workers who don't believe,
and neighbors who don't believe. And our own flesh doesn't believe
the true and living God. We live side-by-side with the
generation that doesn't believe because it's in our own flesh.
own flesh that which is born of Christ believes and this flesh
is unbelieving and this flesh doesn't want to believe and do
that which is pleasing to the Lord. Now we know that this Israel
this generation in Israel they are a type of of the church. And so the Lord is using this
generation. He's showing us a picture of
Christ. He's showing us a picture of
salvation. There's Christ in here and we
want to find Christ. And so let's continue in verse
14 and 16. It says, And the anger of the
Lord was hot against Israel, and He delivered them into the
hands of spoilers that spoiled them. And He sold them into the
hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not
any longer stand before their enemies. Whithersoever they went
out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the
Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn unto them, and they
were greatly distressed. Nevertheless, the Lord raised
up judges which delivered them out of the hand of those that
spoiled them. Now, the Lord does chasten his
people, and the Lord deals with his people. There was a time
when the Lord dealt with us in giving us life in the Lord Jesus
Christ, in destroying the things which we hoped in, destroying
the works of this flesh, and making us to see, I need the
salvation of God. Lord have mercy on me. Lord deliver
me from my sins. Put away my sins. Put away my
false ways and Lord reveal Christ in me. I want to know him. I
want to know your salvation and be covered with the blood of
Christ and know that peace and forgiveness and fellowship and
reconciliation with my God in Christ. And so we see here that
the Lord does chasten his people, and he continues to chasten us
as we have need of chastening, and it's always for our good. It's never to destroy his people,
it's always for the good of his people. And what the Lord does
is He leads His people to Christ. He's our Savior. He's our Deliverer. He's the one who will save us
and not we ourselves in our own hand. That's not going to do
it for us. So what's the picture here that
we're seeing of Christ and His salvation for His people? What's the picture that's being
shown to us here? Well, in verse 16, we're told
that the Lord raised up judges which delivered them. And as
you read chapter 2, as you continue going through this chapter, you
realize the writer here is giving me a history of the whole book
of Judges. It's giving me a history of all
the judges which the Lord raised up in Israel. And he does that
before you begin to get through the rest of the book and you
begin to parse through all the individual judges that were raised
up and then the trouble they'd go into. And then they'd be delivered
again and go back into trouble. So this is an overview. Look
at verse 18 and 19. When the Lord raised them up
judges, then the Lord was with the judge, and delivered them
out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For repented the Lord because
of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and
vexed them. And it came to pass, when the
judge was dead, that they, the Israelites, returned and corrupted
themselves more than their fathers in following other gods to serve
them and to bow down unto them, they ceased not from their own
doings, nor from their stubborn way. So when the judge, when
that savior died, what did the people do when the judge died? Well, they returned and they
corrupted themselves more than their fathers, and so that each
generation was displaying more corruption and just building
on the wickedness with each successive generation. And any lesson that
was learned was eventually trampled upon and just forgotten and they
just went back to their wicked ways. They just went back doing
what the flesh loves to do. And what the Lord is showing
us here is that this is the condition of man. This is the condition
of this flesh. This flesh will not hear. This flesh will not learn. This
flesh will not learn instruction and from that point on go and
do good works and turn things around and become righteous and
good and holy and grow in these graces, right? This flesh will
not do it. And a man can be rebuked, a man
can have a near-death experience or experience death for a few
seconds. We can go through all kinds of
things and hard lessons and not learn anything. We might change
the details a little bit and act like we've learned something,
but all we've become is more tricky and shadowy and conniving
in how we pull it off so that it's not so obvious that we're
doing that, which is wicked and corrupt. And so what the Lord's
saying to us is that the condition of man is corrupt. It's defiled. It's ruined. It's ruined. Man cannot save
himself. He can't learn anything. Why? Well, men love darkness. They love darkness rather than
light because their deeds are evil. were told that they would
not cease from their own doings nor turn from their stubborn
way. You know, not even the law, which
is spoken of in verse 20 there, not even the law could corral
them. It says, the anger of the Lord,
verse 20, was hot against Israel. And he said, because that this
people have transgressed my covenant, which I commanded their fathers
and have not hearkened unto my voice. And so we see that this
people which had the law, they wouldn't receive instruction.
It didn't turn their heart. That's because the law doesn't
make a sinner righteous. The law only declares what we
are by nature. The law was given to show us
our sin. It says in Romans 3 19 and 20,
Now we know that what things whoever the law saith, it saith
to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped,
and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore
by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in
his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. You know,
we would just look at Adam without the law being brought to us.
We would just look at what Adam did and just say, well, Adam
ate the wrong fruit. Adam just had a bad day. He ate
some fruit and got in trouble with God. Everything's been worked
out and we can be good and we just do better than what Adam
did. And we'll come up with all kinds
of excuses and different religions and different ways to put away
our sin and justify ourselves. But the Lord gave the law to
expose that no, it's not just a little sin that Adam did. Adam
died spiritually. Adam died just as the Lord God
said, in the day you eat of it, you shall surely die. And Adam
corrupted himself, defiled himself, ruined himself, and all his seed
in him, which we're born of, we're born of the generation
of Adam, all that seed is corrupted. And we come forth sinners, defiled,
corrupted, ruined in sin. trespassing against God, rebels
against God, enemies of God. And we do those corrupt things
that we like to do. And so the Lord shows us that
we're all transgressors. We've all broken the law. We
all go back to our own ways. We all do the things that we
want to do. And no matter how much instruction
we get, it's just a matter of time before we wander back to
our old ways, just doing our own things. And so we're all
under that, we're all in bondage to the law of sin and death.
It says in Romans 5 12 as by one man, by Adam, sin entered
into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all
men for that all have sinned. But God, but God in mercy raised
up a deliverer, raised up a savior for his people to deliver them
out of the hands of their enemies. And we know that the heart of
the people would never change, right? They would not hearken
unto their judges. They turned quickly out of the
way. So we need a judge. A judge that
isn't conquered by death and then leaves us. And we need a
judge that triumphs over death. A judge that removes this wicked
heart, that gives us a new heart and a new spirit. A judge who
gives us life in himself. so that we don't go back to our
wicked ways and we don't trust our works and our own ways. We need a new nature. And we need that judge when he's
given us a new nature and taught us and instructed us who doesn't
leave us nor forsakes us, the way the judges went away previously
and the people just went right on back to their old ways. Well,
this is exactly what the Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished
for his people. Like these Jews, you and me cannot
keep the law of commandments. Sure in religion for a time,
we showed ourselves to be pretty good to the point where sometimes
we even convinced ourselves that we were doing pretty good and
that God was pleased and that we turned a corner and began
to do things well. And the people, we can fool one
another, but God is never fooled. Man looketh on the outward appearance,
but the Lord looketh on the heart. And our God knows our hearts.
He knows what we are by nature. He knows that we don't turn and
change ourselves. He knows Adam's generation is
flesh, and it's an evil generation. It's full of sin and corruption
and runs right back to wickedness as soon as it can. And he gave
the law, not to test it out and see whether or not it would work.
He gave the law to show us, to show us what he knows is true
of ourselves, and that even by the law, and by religion, and
by a temporary savior, one who comes and goes away, that we
cannot change Adam's nature, Adam's seed. Jeremiah the prophet
asks in Jeremiah 13.23, Can the Ethiopian change his skin? Can
the leopard change his spots? If that's possible, then so can
you and me, who are accustomed to do evil, start doing good. And we can't. We can't turn that
which is our nature. So we need a Savior. And for
that cause, for this cause, Christ was sent of the Father. Christ
is raised up the judge. He's raised up the Savior, but
not like these other judges who died and went away. He's the Savior of God who died
for His people, for the sins of His people. dying on the cross
for their sins and being laid in the tomb, God raised Christ
from the dead so that He never dies no more. He's eternal. He lives. He is the Savior of
His people, never to die again, and He ever intercedes for his
people at the right hand of the throne of God. He gives them
a new nature. He keeps his people and instructs
them and turns them from going back and walking in their old
ways and trusting the works of their flesh and trusting other
religions and worshiping other gods and false idols. Christ
keeps us ever looking to Him, to know that He is our life,
that He is our salvation, and that He's never going to leave
us nor forsake us, but we live by Him. Turn over to Acts chapter
10. Acts chapter 10. This is where
Peter is preaching the gospel to Cornelius, a Gentile. Acts
10 verse 38. Peter here is preaching Christ
to to Cornelius and to those in his house. It says, verse
38, Peter said, God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy
Ghost and with power, who went about doing good and healing
all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him. And when Christ walked on the
earth, many people wondered at Christ. They were amazed at Christ
and his works and the things that he said, yet those same
people crucified Christ. They murdered him. They put him
to death. But God was with him. And he
says, we are witnesses of all things which Christ did both
in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they slew and
hanged on a tree. Him, God, raised the third day
and showed him openly, not to all the people, but unto witnesses
chosen before God, even to us who did eat and drink with him
after he rose from the dead. In other words, signifying that
He's not just a ghost or a spirit, but this is God raised his body
and he is resurrected with a new body, the Lord Jesus Christ,
that he ate and drank. And he commanded us to preach
unto the people and to testify that it is he which was ordained
of God to be the judge. the Savior of the living and
the dead. To Him give all the prophets
witness that through His name, whosoever believeth in Him shall
receive remission, forgiveness of sins." And so this judge,
whom God raised up, He died, but is raised again never to
die anymore. And He triumphed over all our
enemies. And His salvation is an eternal
salvation. He gives us a new nature. which we, in the generation of
Adam, like these people, would never remain. We would never
stay. We would go right back to our
wicked ways and our wicked works. But our God has delivered us
from all that, from those dead works and from this flesh. He's delivered us from the law
of sin and death so that it has no more power over us, but now
we live by the life of our Judge, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
that in Him we are turned, and we are children of God. We are
that new generation born of the Spirit of Christ, born of the
seed of Christ, so that we live by Him. We live in Him, and we
are kept by our Savior. And He never forsakes us. He
never leaves us. He never turns us back to our
own way to leave us there to die in our sins. But He is our
eternal Deliverer, our eternal Judge, our eternal Savior, so
that He'll never leave us. And we'll walk in Him and live
in Him and stay upon Him. It says, turn over to Romans
8. Romans 8, verse 1. We read that there is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walked
not after the flesh but after the spirit, were not like that
Israel of old, who were left to themselves and learned a few
things under a judge for a time and then went right back to their
wicked ways when the judge was gone. We live according by Christ
in the spirit and we walk in the spirit for the law of the
spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law
of sin and death. and what the law could not do,
in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son
in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in
the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. And so the Lord tells us that
He has raised up a deliverer. God is declaring to us that you're
not left to yourselves to be like these Israelites who had
not the Spirit. We're born of the generation
of Christ. We're born of His seed. Now, having said that,
let's look, and this will be our final closing point here,
look at verse 23. The Lord says that He left those
nations in Israel without driving them out hastily, neither delivered
he them into the hand of Joshua." So that we see in this flesh
that we are a new generation, a born-again generation of the
seed of Christ who are gathered unto Christ and shall live with
Him forever. We see in this flesh There yet
remains thorns and snares of the flesh, that which is spoken
of in verse 3. Look at Judges 2, 3. Wherefore I also said, I will
not drive them out from before you, but they shall be as thorns
in your sides, and their God shall be a snare unto you. Now why does God do this? Why
do we see in this flesh thorns and snares in this flesh? Well God doesn't do it to punish
you. He's not getting you. He's not
punishing you in any way. God loves His people. He gave
you to Christ, He that is most precious above all, Christ Jesus. So our God does this to display
the power of His might and His glory in us, that nothing, no
enemy shall overtake us. No enemy shall overcome us. Nothing shall defeat the glory
of God in you. God has purpose to be gracious
to you and His will shall be done. His will is being done
and accomplished in you by the glory and the power, the life
and the promise and the spirit of the Living God in you. who defeats all your enemies,
and though there's snares, and there's thorns, and briars, and
thistles, and all kinds of nonsense, and things of weaknesses in this
flesh, nothing, nothing takes you out of the hand of your Savior,
who is your glorious Deliverer, who is promised to you to give
you life, so that He gives you faith to believe Him. He gives
you a spirit whereby you believe Him and trust Lord, Though I
don't see in my borders of my flesh, though I see nations who
are at war with that which you've created in the new man in me,
Lord, I believe. Lord, keep me. So that we don't
become puffed up and arrogant and cruel to one another, but
that we're understanding and patient and kind to one another. And we ask for forgiveness even
as we forgive those who sin against us. And we want to be loving
and gracious to one another and show one another the grace which
is shown to us by our God in Christ. And so that's why We
see the things that we see in this flesh, but you believe. You believe on Christ and you
know, it ain't by my goodness, it isn't because I'm so good
and wonderful and do all these works, but we see the glory and
the power of our God in the face of Jesus Christ who teaches us
and keeps us and has not forsaken us or turned us back to ourselves
to go back to our old wicked ways. But you see his proving
of what he's done for you in Christ being revealed in you
daily. by His grace and glory and power. So rejoice in Him. Give thanks
to your God. Trust Him. He is your judge that
never dies. He ever lives and intercedes
for you. Amen. OK, brethren, let's close
in prayer. Our gracious Lord, we thank you,
Father, for your great work and your Son, Jesus Christ. We see
traced out for us here in Chapter 2, just How foolish we are in
ourselves. How, like this generation of
Israel, we too go right back to our vomit, like a dog goes
back to its vomit. Lord, we go right back to sin
and to darkness. But Lord, by your grace, we are
delivered from that. By your spirit, we are turned
from our wicked ways and trusting our works. And Lord, we see that
the work is of grace. We see that it's all of your
glory, all of your power, that Christ is the savior, that he
is the wonderful, glorious judge who has conquered our enemy death
and shut the mouth of the accuser. and delivered us from darkness
and wickedness, and the one who keeps us and restores us in grace
and bears fruits of righteousness in us by his power. Lord, we
thank you for this contrast, and we thank you that you keep
us. We pray that you would bless this people, teach them and instruct
them and keep our hearts in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's in his
name we pray and trust and give thanks. Amen. All right, brother. Let's all stand and sing a closing
hymn. 446 Satisfied. 446. My life long I had panted for
a drink from some clear spring that I hope would quench the
burning of the thirst I felt within. Hallelujah, I have found
Him, whom my soul so long has craved. Jesus satisfies my longing,
through His blood I now am saved. Leaning on us around me, till
my strength was almost gone. Longed my soul for something
better, only still to hunger on. Hallelujah, I have found
Him, whom my soul so long has craved. Jesus satisfies my longings,
through His blood I now am saved. For I was and saw for riches,
something that would satisfy. Just I gathered round me, only
mocked my soul-set cry. Alleluia, I have found Him, whom
my soul so long has craved. Jesus satisfies my longings,
through His blood I now am saved. Well of water ever springing,
Bread of life so rich and free, Untold wealth that never faileth,
My Redeemer is to me. Alleluia, I have found Him, Whom
my soul so long has craved, Jesus satisfies my longings, through
his blood I now am saved.