Good evening. Let's all stand
and begin this evening's service by singing 328 close to thee,
328. Journey, Savior, let me walk
with Thee Close to Thee close to Thee, close to Thee,
close to Thee. All along my pilgrim journey,
Savior led me walk with Thee. Not for ease or worldly pleasure,
nor for fame my prayer shall be. Gladly will I toil and suffer,
only let me walk with Thee. Close to Thee, close to Thee,
close to Thee, close to Thee, Gladly will I toil and suffer,
only let me walk with thee. ? Lead me through the veil of shadows
? ? Bear me o'er life's fateful sea ? ? Then the gate of life
eternal ? ? May I enter, Lord, with Thee ? ? Close to Thee,
close to Thee ? ? Close to Thee, close to Thee ? Thank you. Good evening. I'm gonna read from Luke chapter
four. And I'm gonna pick up in verse
16 and we'll read down to, well, we'll read down to, oh, at least 22. Might go a little
more. 16, so Luke 4, 16. And he came to Nazareth, where
he had been brought up, and as his custom was, he went into
the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read.
And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book,
he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord
is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight
to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach
the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he
gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of
all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he
began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled
in your ears. And all bear witness and wondered
at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said,
Is not this Joseph's son?" We're going to stop there. Let's go
to the Lord in prayer. Our gracious Lord, we thank you,
Father, for your grace and your mercy to your people and sending
your son, your beloved son, in the flesh to suffer and to die
for your people whom you gave to Christ for his inheritance. Lord, we thank you for this redemption. We thank you, Lord, for this
work which you did in love and which you did justly and in holiness
and righteousness and doing a perfect work to redeem your people and
to deliver us out of death and darkness and hell and to overcome
and conquer all our enemies. Lord, thank you. We thank you
for such a wise and almighty, such a tender and loving Savior
who does all things well. Lord, we think of our brethren,
those that are sick, recovering from illness or struggling with
sicknesses. Lord, those that have been in
the hospital, we ask that you would have mercy upon them and
that you would heal your people. And Lord, those who are our friends
and ones who we care for, Lord, we think of them as well and
ask that you would heal them and comfort their family and
give them peace and help us, Lord, to minister the gospel
to those around us, to those we come in contact with. Lord,
give us wisdom, help us to know what to say, and help us to speak
a word, a timely word, that will be heard by Your people whom
You give life to. Lord, we confess that we are
small and weak, and Lord, have nothing to offer to You to obtain
any merit with You, Lord, but we thank You for Christ. That's
all we have. That which You've given to us,
the Lord Jesus Christ and His righteousness, Lord, we thank
you for him. We pray that you would meet with
your people here tonight, that you would enter and bless your
people, and that our hearts would be lifted up and rejoice in you,
Lord, because without you, we labor in vain. And Lord, we pray
for those about us in this community. We pray that you would stir the
hearts of those whom you've purposed to save and that you would cause
them to seek for Christ and seek for the gospel and that, Lord,
they would be led here and that they would hear the gospel. Lord,
help us, help us, help me to preach the gospel, help us to
support this gospel and send it forth. that your people would
hear it and be comforted, that they would come and have eternal
life by your son, Jesus Christ. It's in his name we pray and
give thanks. Amen. Let's sing Rock of Ages, 126
Rock of Ages. Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let
me hide myself in Thee. Let the water and the blood From
Thy wounded side which flowed, Be of sin the double cure, Save
from wrath and make me pure. Could my tears forever flow? Could my zeal no longer know? These for sin could not atone. Thou must save and thou alone. In my hand no price I bring. Simply to thy cross I cling. While I draw this fleeting breath,
When my eyes shall close in death, When I rise to worlds unknown,
And behold thee on thy throne, Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let
me hide myself in thee. All right, brethren. Take your Bibles, and we're going
to be in Isaiah chapter 55, focusing on verses 3 through 5 this evening. Last week, we looked at our Lord's
gracious invitation to the thirsty. To the thirsty. He says, hope.
Alas, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters." And our
Savior, when He was here ministering as our mediator, He said also,
if any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink. And He could have said, if any
man hunger, let him come unto Me Eat and the reason is because
our Lord tells us in John 6 55 and 56 He says my flesh is meat
indeed and my blood is drink indeed he that eateth my flesh
and Drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I dwell in him and
our Lord's declaring that he is our life. He is the one who
feeds us and nourishes us. He gives us life. He strengthens
that life which he gives. He gives his people life and
liberty in him. And then we saw how the Lord
turns his people. He gives them hearing ears. And he turns them from dead,
fruitless works. Dead works religion. He delivers
us from the things of the flesh, entrusting in those things which
cannot save. And he spoke to us saying, why
do you spend money for that which is not bread? And why do you
labor for that which satisfieth not? And that's what men do in
the flesh. That's what all men and women
do. by nature, in Adam, trying to
work a righteousness for themselves, trying to come to a knowledge
of God and to please God with their works. And the Lord is
saying, you're not going to earn or obtain your righteousness
and your salvation by the things that you do. He's declared our
salvation. He's declared the Lord Jesus
Christ, and that's the one in whom he is pleased. And so the
Lord declares to his people, I'm going to give you the fatness,
the fatness of my salvation. He's going to give us the substance. We're eating, by nature, we eat
the equivalent of empty calories. It's like popping sweet tarts
or something like that with what we do. It's just sugar. that
is corrupting and doesn't give any nourishment to the body and
does nothing for us. But He gives us the fatness,
the marrow of the bone. He gives us the nutrition, which
is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's everything. And He gives
us an appetite. He changes our very nature so
that we desire Him. We hunger and thirst for Christ
and we're satisfied with Him. were delivered from those vain,
carnal things that cannot save. And so tonight, our Lord declares
this substance of the fatness. And it's seen in the covenant
of grace that is established in the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ, which he calls the sure mercies of David. And that's
what you who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you that hope in
him, you that have heard and have come to the Lord and have
been delivered out of darkness and are following after him,
trusting him, and have laid everything, all your hopes, all your cares
on him, the Lord says he gives you the sure mercies of David.
And that's evidenced in your coming and believing on him,
that you are living experiencing the very sure mercies of David
to you, which are given to Christ, and to whom he gives it to you. He gives you the sure mercies
of David, because he has the power and the authority, because
everything, the Father committed everything to Christ. Everything
to Christ. And that's why he's on the throne
right now, implementing, reigning and ruling, the will of God in
heaven and in earth. So the title is The Sure Mercies
of David and let's read the first verse of our text in verse 3.
Our Lord says to us, He says, Incline your ear and come unto
me. Here and your soul shall live,
and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure
mercies of David. Now there's two important things
that we take away from this verse. If we understand this verse,
there's two things that I want you to see and that are a blessing
to we who hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. First of all, our Lord
is speaking to the living. The living hear what the Lord
is saying, and the living obey the Lord's word, the Lord's command
to them. So the Lord's speaking to the
living. He's not the God of the dead.
He's the God of the living, and that's whom he is speaking to.
And then second, the second thing that we see here is that we're
blessed in the covenant of grace. Our Lord has established for
us the covenant of grace and gives to us the sure mercies
of David. And so these two things, they
not only make up our study for tonight, but they're a blessing,
they're a comfort, they're a cornerstone of our hope in the Lord Jesus
Christ. That he gives life, that we hear
him and obey his word, We believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and
that this is all done, all given to us, abundant blessings given
to us in the covenant of grace. He's giving you the sure mercies
of David. So let's look at that first of
these two blessings. He says, incline your ear and
come unto me here and your soul shall live. And so we understand
from the reading of the scriptures that life precedes action. If you were dead, you could do
nothing. If we're not alive, we don't
get up, we don't hear, we don't get up and move, we don't eat,
we don't do anything. We're dead. We're lifeless. So the Lord speaking to the living,
the living are the ones that hear this word. And so just as it is in our natural
lives concerning the living and the dead, so it is spiritually. The Lord's people are living
souls and the Lord has given you an ear by which you hear
what the Lord is saying. And you hear the blessedness,
you hear the profitableness of what our Lord is saying, how
he's turning us from dead works and he's showing us life and
he's giving us life and strength and nourishing. He's giving us
of his spirit and the living soul has a will whereby they
come to the Lord. They're given a will in the Lord. We're given life. So the Lord's
speaking to living souls and they obey the Lord. We incline
our ear and come and we hear the Lord and we live. We live
by Him. We believe Him. And so this is
seen and witnessed in the experience of you that are gathered here.
this night and you that are gathered to hear this word preached to
you because the Lord has given you a hunger and a thirst and
a willingness to come. You want to be fed. You want
to hear what the Lord has to say to his people through the
blessings of Jesus Christ. And so we preach, we preach the
gospel to all men because we can't see into the heart. The
Lord knows the heart. He knows the mind of all people. He's created man and nothing
is hid from our God. He sees all. He knows our thoughts. He knows what we're thinking,
whether we believe on him or not. But we preach the word to
all because we don't know who the living are. In fact, oftentimes,
if you've ever known two people and one comes to the Lord, it's
usually the one that you would have thought would never have
come to the Lord. And the one that didn't come
to the Lord is the one you thought surely they'll hear and they'll
believe. And the Lord always confounds
us and shows us that He is God, and we're not. He always makes
us to appear as fools when we trust in our own wisdom and our
own thoughts. And so it's the Lord, though,
that reveals life in them. So we declare it, we're happy
to preach it, we're happy to declare it to all, and it's the
Lord who, according to His good pleasure, as it pleases Him,
He reveals life. He gives an ear to whom He will,
and they hear, and He gives that will, that desire to come to
the Lord, and to receive all that the Lord is pleased to give
them. They're happy to, because the
Lord makes us happy to do that. He gives us that desire. And
so He gives us faith in Christ. Turn over to 2 Thessalonians.
Go to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and we'll be looking at verses
13 and 14. rather familiar, at least first
13 is rather familiar to many of us. But notice that it's our
God who predestinates his people. He chose us to this salvation. And just as he's chosen us to
this salvation before the foundation of the world, so it is that he's
determined the day in which we are born, born again. born again, believing on the
Lord Jesus Christ. And so he reveals life in his
child when it pleases him. Verse 13, but we are bound to
give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the
Lord. How do we know that they're beloved
of the Lord? Because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation. How do you know this, Paul, that
these people have been chosen to salvation? Well, they've been
sanctified by the Spirit. They've been set apart from others
by the Spirit. And they believe the truth. They
believe the truth. there's evidence there that their
hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ. They've heard the word of the
Lord, they've heard that He alone is salvation, and they've turned
from spending their money on things that aren't bread and
laboring for things that do not satisfy. It's all become dung
to them, and Christ alone has become life to His people. where unto verse 14 he called
you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ so you see there that there's there's obedience the
living soul the one whom the Lord has given life to they rise
up and they come to the Lord all by the grace all by the mercies
of God in this covenant of grace, the sure mercies of David. Faith
and hearing are twin sisters born at the same time. We hear And we believe. We hear and we
believe. And faith cometh by hearing and
hearing by the word of God. And why even bother trying to
separate them? Because the Lord knows. It's a mystery which He knows
and we're just thankful when He reveals it in us and in any
sinner, delivering them out of darkness. Now, as children are
alive in their mother's womb, even though they're not born
out of that womb, they're alive from conception. When they're
just a cell dividing to another cell, there's life there. And so it is that we're alive
when our God determines we're alive. And we were chosen in
Christ. So we did come forth because
we were purpose by God to know Him and and to believe on Him
and to have this day of birth and then when we're born we're
born again but there is life there when the Lord gave it.
The Lord gives life, and then there's the evidence of that
life when we come forth and cry, cry out to the Lord. And so,
our Lord says, well, it's according, Ephesians 1.14 says, according
as God hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before him
in love. it's all purpose God determined
this and that's why you you came forth and knowing nothing but
the Lord knowing all things he gave you this life he separated
you unto this called you and revealed faith in you and so
we repeat the command of God to his living people incline
your ear lean in Listen to him, hear what he's saying, come unto
me, here in your soul shall live. And we declare it because we
know it's God who gives his spirit and by his power dead men and
women live. They're brought to life, they're
given life and hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, That's
the first blessing where we see the Lord is speaking to the living.
He gives life and they hear and come and they believe on the
Lord. Alright, then the second thing is this blessing of the
covenant of grace, which is here called the sure mercies of David. And this will be our focus going
forward for this message now. So, in Christ, our God gives
us all spiritual blessings. Just like Paul said in Ephesians
1-3 that we are given all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus. That's the one in whom we receive
these. these blessings. That's the one
in whom we are accepted and received by the Lord. We come in Christ. We stay in Christ. We continue
to hope in Christ. We have no acceptance with God
apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. And so this covenant of which
we're under, this covenant was agreed to by the Father. He purposed
to give us this covenant where he might be gracious and merciful
to us, to sinners who could not save themselves or deliver themselves
or do that which is pleasing unto the Father. And this covenant
is established, it's ratified by the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ for people who were given to Him by the Father to be His
bride, to be His inheritance. And then God the Holy Spirit,
He makes this covenant and its blessings known to the children,
known and revealed in the children of God through the preaching
of the Gospel. He sends that word, he separates
us out and causes us to hear that gospel and there's faith
wrought in the children whereby they believe and are brought
into the light and confess the Lord Jesus Christ. So the sure
mercies of David are established by Christ. And this covenant
reveals who our mediator is. It's Christ who mediates this
covenant between God and men. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
mediator between God and men. And so he being set up as the
mediator by the Father from the foundation of the world, he came
and fulfilled that which was necessary. He is called the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. It was determined. God purposed it. And all things
are working exactly according as God has determined for it.
to be done and to be revealed to his people. And all the blessings
that are in Christ, they're given to him, they're secure, and they're
firm in our Savior, and that means that it's unalterable and
it's unshakable. It's not gonna change, brethren.
Everything God has determined from the foundation of the world
is not gonna change. It's not gonna be altered, and
no man or no, nothing's going to shake it. They can try and
shake it, but it isn't going to crumble because it's made
by God. That which is made by man falls
apart, comes to nothing. Our desires, our hopes, our dreams
evaporate, go up in smoke all the time, but nothing that God
has purposed for you as people. shall come to naught." It will
not come to naught. It will come to pass exactly
as your God has purposed it and promised it to you in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Therefore, he says, doth my father
love me because I lay down my life for the sheep or that I
might take it again. Nothing's going to stop him.
Nothing's going to stop your Savior. He's accomplished already
the work of redemption. He's just waiting till all His
enemies are put under His feet and He'll come again for His
purchased price, for His people whom He's redeemed. And so our
Lord, He cannot fail, and He did not fail, and this covenant
was made with Christ, our Mediator, from all eternity, and it extends
to the people who are in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why
we rejoice to hear the sure mercies of David, because that which
is promised to him, that which is promised to our David, the
Lord Jesus Christ, are extended to us. We're the happy recipients. Everything he receives, we receive
the blessings of him, of his hand, of his wisdom and will
and purpose for his people. And the Holy Spirit is the one
who takes of these things and makes them manifest in us. So that there comes a day when
we hear this word and we hear it like we've never heard it
before. And it reveals an interest in us. And we're made to see
that we're a needy sinner. And that He's the fit Savior.
And that He's able and willing to save all that come to Him.
and seek him and ask him and knock for mercy and grace. And then we give him all the
thanks and the praise because we see he did it all. He's the
one who brought that in us and brought us to himself and blessed
his people and all things. And so the Holy Spirit gives
life and he makes known to us that our covenant God and what
he's done for us through His Son, making us partakers of His
grace. And so by these blessings, these
sure mercies of David, they're administered to the chosen saints
of God. They're given to you, brethren.
They're given to you. Rejoice in the Lord. They're
called mercies because they spring from the Father and they're for
you. The pardoning of your sin, the
sending of His Son, Him taking on the flesh, your Father not
sparing the Son, but delivering Him up, and bruising Him, and
the Son suffering for our sins, and purging us of the stain of
sin, and the guilt of sin, and the debt of sin. It's all by
your God who's done that for you in this covenant of grace. We could never We can never pay
off our debt, but Christ paid it all, and in Him we are righteous,
the righteousness of God. So that God now, because of Christ,
for His sake, imputes to us, declares us righteous, and justifies
us for the sake of Christ, because he has made us clean. He has
put away the sin and that which separated us from our God. And now he gives us his spirit
and gives us life to know him. And so everything that's given
to Christ are sure, are made sure to receive. Every blessing
necessary is given to you in Christ. Now this is further defined
in the next verse, back in Isaiah 55, verse four. We see where the Lord says, Behold,
I have given him, my Christ, the mediator of the covenant,
I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander
to the people. And so our Savior, he's a witness
to us. He's a witness of the Father,
he's a witness to us that he is the Christ, that he is the
Lamb of God, and he's a witness to us of the covenant and its
effectiveness, what he's done, it's what he's accomplished.
And so of the Father, two things that stand out so prominently
to us about the coming of Christ, both the holiness of God and
the love of God. We see how they're met together
in Christ so that because of the work of Christ and what he
did, God is just to forgive and he is the justifier of his people. He forgives his people and declares
them righteous. Turn over to John chapter 3.
John 3. And here we see that, oh, sin
must be punished. Sin is an offense to God. It's
a breaking of His law. It's a rebellion against His
word and His command, which is right and perfect and holy. And
sin must be punished in order that God be just. order that
God be just and we know that our God loves his people and
so there then so then he sent his son to accomplish both that
God may be just and justifier so look there at verse 15 that
whosoever believeth in him and those believing will be the the
thirsty hungry, those that mourn because they have no righteousness
of their own, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish
but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever, or those believing,
on him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into
the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him
might be saved." And so we see in Christ the witness of the
Father. We know the Father. We know that
the Father is holy and just and perfect and there's no shadow
of turning. And we see His grace and His
mercy and His love for His people in the Lord Jesus Christ, all
revealed in Him and in His coming. And then we see that Christ is
a witness of Himself, that He is the Son of God, that He took
upon Him flesh. and came as our shorty to pay
our debt, and came as our substitute to die our death, and came as
our mediator to reconcile us unto the Father, and so making
peace between us and God. and giving us rest for our souls,
taking away that fear of death and that worry whereby we labored
and strove and beat ourselves silly trying to work up a righteousness
and a goodness for ourselves, to feel good about ourselves.
Christ delivered you from all that, took off those shackles,
broke open that prison door and said, sinner, show yourself,
come forth, come into the light. he reveals himself to us and
we see he's the fit Savior he's the fit sacrifice he is the Lamb
of God he is our Savior and then he bears witness to the covenant
showing that it is perfect and established in him there's nothing
left undone and it's all been been brought into your hearts
home to your hearts and revealed in you whereby you now believe
him. I can't say it any better than
what Paul said when he was writing to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1 12.
Paul says it this way, I know whom I have believed and am persuaded
that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him
against that day. And what I'm saying there is
that Christ has so perfectly established the covenant that
you and who have no other hope, have rested all your hope on
the Lord Jesus Christ, and that's a testimony, a witness, borne
out by your Savior in your hearts, where Christ dwells in your heart
by faith, you believing on Him, and you forsaking all your own
righteousness, and saying, I don't want to be found in my own righteousness. I don't want to stand before
the Lord in the law. I want to come in the blood of
Jesus Christ. I want to stand in His righteousness,
Lord. I trust Him and only Him. That's a testimony of what Christ
wrought and accomplished for His people. in the death of himself
and his resurrection. It glorifies him because look
at us, sinners in whom dwells no good thing, believing our
God, obeying his voice, and by believing his son and trusting
in him and having no other trust, Forsaking all other hopes when
when those false hopes and false Vain ideas pop up in our head.
We just cry out Lord have mercy on me deliver me from this foolishness
Because we know that there is no salvation outside of the Lord
Jesus Christ Because the Lord shown us what we are by nature,
and there's nothing good nothing good, whereby we may boast in
him. And so that's a testimony, brethren, which the Lord works
in your hearts, whereby you believe him. Then he's called a leader
to the people. And we see him as a leader, in
him being our good shepherd, where he says, when he put forth
his sheep, he goeth before them, and they follow him. And our
Savior, He is the first one who laid down his life and went into
the Holy of Holies with his own precious blood to prepare a place
for you who hope in him, who have no other hope but him. Christ
went in, the first man to die and rise again, never to die
again. and he is the way and he's gone
into the Holy of Holies and we follow him. We come through the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's a leader of the people and
he's a commander to the people in that he's defeated all our
foes. He put them to an open shame. He embarrassed them and
shamed them on the cross. They thought they had Him and
He conquered all our enemies, all our foes, so that death and
sin and the grave and the devil and this flesh has nothing to
accuse us with, nothing to say. It can't undo or overcome the
work of Christ. Christ is all and He is the conqueror. He is the great commander in
whom we follow and trust and believe on Him. Ezekiel said
it this way in Ezekiel 37 verse 24 and 25. He speaks of Christ
and the Lord says, And David my servant shall be king over
them, and they shall have one shepherd. They shall also walk
in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them. And
they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob
my servant. wherein your fathers have dwelt.
And they shall dwell therein, even they and their children
and their children's children forever. And my servant David
shall be their prince forever. And so be confident in your Lord. Trust Him. Rest in Him. He shall not lose any one of
you who hope in Him. anyone of you who thirst you
shall be satisfied any of you who hunger you shall be fed the
Lord you're the Lord's people and he's provided richly for
you in his son verse 5 now Isaiah 55 verse 5 Behold, thou shalt
call a nation that thou knewest not, and nations that knew not
thee shall run unto thee, because of the Lord thy God, and for
the Holy One of Israel, for he hath glorified thee. And so this word is spoken by
our God to Christ, as the Christ, to the Son as the Christ, as
the mediator, and he's declaring his glory, that there shall be
many, many who hear, not just of the Jews, but of the Gentiles,
scattered throughout the nations. My lost sheep scattered throughout
the nations, I'll bring them back in. I'll bring them into
the one fold of Christ, so that our God has revealed to us that
He alone is the light which He has given to the world. There's
one Savior, that's what He's saying. There's one salvation,
the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the name in whom we are
saved, in whom we must be brought under and hope in Him. Turn over
to Titus chapter 3. Go to Titus chapter 3. That's going
to be after 1 and 2 Timothy. Titus 3, look at verse 4, But after that the kindness and
love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he
saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost.
which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
that being justified by his grace we should be made heirs according
to the hope of eternal life. And so men being made alive by
our God, by the Father, By the Father's will, by the Son's work
of redemption and the Spirit making it effectual in us, giving
us life, regenerating us, making us to hear, we are made to run
to the Lord Jesus Christ. We flee to Him. This is speaking
to the living. They run to Christ. We run to
Him. We hear the gospel being quickened
by the Spirit and believe on Him. Gil said it's something
like this where under a sense of danger and seeing safety and
beholding safety in him, we run to him, we trust him, we believe
him, we see that he's the protection. He's the deliverer from the wrath
of God and from darkness and the works of death and things
that cannot save and that inheritance in Adam. We run from that, being
made alive by the Spirit and are brought into the kingdom
of light. Into Christ under the blood of
Christ under the wings of Christ who protects us and keeps us
and has done all this work For us so we flee to Christ He said
from the days of John the Baptist the kingdom of God suffered violence
and the violent take it by force and that sense is that we're
clamoring to get in there we want to be in a in under the
blood of Christ we don't want to be left out Lord don't leave
me out don't don't do to me as my sins deserve but Lord receive
me bring me under your blood bring me under your watch Lord
keep me keep my wandering heart protect me deliver me from this
death deliver me from the body of this death Lord have mercy
on me keep my heart Lord deliver me from death and darkness and
reveal yourself in me. Give me that hope and that rest
and that peace and that comfort. And so we come to him, the leader,
the commander, the mediator of this new covenant, of this covenant
of God's grace, which he purposed for the people that he loves
in eternity and has provided everything for us in Christ.
It says in Hebrews, chapter 6 and we'll pick up in verse 17 and again we see this sense of
urgency which he gives to his people Sometimes we don't necessarily
feel it or recognize it, but we're delivered out of the jaws
of death, if you will, by the Lord, all in his grace, all in
his grace. And we don't even see all the
terrors and the horrors that he's delivering us from. But
he says there in Hebrews 6, 17, wearing God willing more abundantly
to show unto the heirs of promise, that's you who now believe on
Christ, He's revealing to you, you're an heir of promise. The
immutability or the unchangeableness of his counsel confirmed it by
an oath that by two immutable things, his word and his oath,
in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong
consolation who have fled for refuge. We've run to Christ,
we've fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before
us and then having obtained that life by Christ we're given peace
by the Lord Jesus Christ delivered from that worry and that laboring
and that spending of money which doesn't satisfy or bring us bread
We see here in verse 19, which hope we have as an anchor of
the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that
within the veil, whither the forerunner is for us entered,
even Jesus, maiden high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. And so we see our savior, our
leader who's gone before us. and the blessings of our God
for us in the sure mercies of David, revealing to us all that's
been done, and delivering us out of that darkness, and giving
us legs to run, to flee to Christ, and to be found in Him, and then
to rest there in Him. That's all the blessings of your
God, and we've brought nothing to that. We've contributed nothing,
but your God has given that all to you freely. in Christ and
the sure mercies of David. So I pray that the Lord encourage
your hearts and bless your hearts just to rejoice in him, in Christ
our mediator, our witness, our leader, our commander, our all
as Christ is all. Amen. Let's close in prayer. Our gracious Lord, we thank you,
Father, for your grace. Lord, we We thank you for your
spirit, which groans words which we can't even say and don't even
know how to rightly frame them. Lord, all I can say is that thank
you, Lord, because truly your grace and your mercies which
are so sure so perfect so right on where they need to be Lord
abundantly Lord we thank you for all that you've given to
us in your son we thank you for the gift of your son the unspeakable
gift as he's called and Lord we thank you for All these things. Lord, we're so oftentimes bogged
down with weak knees and arms just dragging on the ground,
but Lord, have mercy. Fill our hearts bubbling over
with joy. Lord, that we would see our Savior
and rejoice in Him and declare this hope and joy confidence
and comfort to others. In the name of our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ, we pray these things. Amen. Okay, Brian. Let's all stand and sing a closing
hymn, 288. Wonderful piece, 288. The first
four verses. Way in the depths of my spirit
tonight rolls a melody sweeter than song. In celestial-like strains it
unceasingly falls, o'er my soul like an infinite calm. Peace, peace, wonderful peace
Coming down from the Father above Sweep over my spirit forever,
I pray In fathomless billows of love The treasure I have in this wonderful
piece, buried deep in the heart of my soul. So secure that no power can mine
it away, while the years of eternity roll. Peace, peace, wonderful peace
Coming down from the Father above Sweep over my spirit forever,
I pray In fathomless billows of love I am resting tonight in this
wonderful peace, resting sweetly in Jesus' control. For I'm kept from all dangers
by night and by day, and His glory is flooding my soul. Peace, peace, wonderful peace,
coming down from the Father above. Sleep over my spirit forever,
I pray, In fathomless billows of love. Send me thanks when
I rise to that city of peace, where the author of peace I shall
see. That one strain of the song which
the ransom will sing, in that heavenly kingdom shall be. Peace, wonderful peace, coming
down from the Father above. Sweep over my spirit forever,
I pray, in fathomless billows of love. Thank you.