We're gonna begin our second
service. Let's all stand and sing hymn
number 354, What a Friend We Have in Jesus, 354. What a friend we have in Jesus,
all our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry everything
to God in prayer. O what peace we often forfeit! O what needless pain we bear! All because we do not carry Everything
to God in prayer. Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Can we find a friend so faithful? ? Who will all our sorrows share
? ? Jesus knows our every weakness ? ? Take it to the Lord in prayer
? ? Are we weak and heavy laden ?
? Cumbered with a load of care ? Precious Savior, still our
refuge, Take it to the Lord in prayer. Do thy friends despise,
forsake thee? Take it to the Lord in prayer. In His arms He'll take and shield
thee, Thou wilt find a solace there. Thank you. You may be seated. Everybody I'm gonna read Romans
3 today Romans chapter 3 What advantage then hath the
Jew, or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way
chiefly, because that unknown to them were committed the oracles
of God. For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief
make the faith of God without effect? God forbid. Yay, let
God be true, but every man a liar as it is written That thou mightest
just be justified in thy sayings and mightest overcome when thou
art judged But if our unrighteousness come in the righteousness of
God, what shall we say? Then is God unrighteous who taketh
vengeance. I speak as a man God forbid For
then how shall God judge the world? For if the truth of God
hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory, why yet am
I also judged as a sinner? And not rather, as we be slanderously
reported, And as some affirm that we say, let us do evil that
good may come, whose damnation is just. What then, are we better
than they? No, and no wise, for we have
before proved both Jews and Gentiles that they are all under sin.
As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There
is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
They are all gone out of the way. They are together become
unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher.
With their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of asps
is under their lips. Whose mouth is full of cursing
and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed
blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways. and the way
of peace have they not known. There is no fear of God before
their eyes. Now we know that what things
soever the law saith, is saith to them who are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped, and that all the world may become
guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the
law shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law
is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of
Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe, for there
is no difference. for all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. whom God had
set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to
declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are
passed through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say at
this time, his righteousness, that he might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law of
works? Nay, but by the law of faith.
Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith, without
the deeds of the law. Is he the God of the Jews only?
Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also. Seeing
it is one God which shall justify the circumcision by faith and
uncircumcision through faith. Do we then make void the law
through faith? God forbid, yea, we establish
the law. Let's pray. Father, we come to you this morning
again, thankful for a place to come to hear the gospel in a
very, very barren, barren area. Father, we're just thankful that
you've Chosen to bring up a church in this area and to bring a faithful
preaching pastor every week that brings us the message and Father
we come to you thankful for the son that you sent to draw a distinct
line between The man that we are the fleshly man the cursing
man the bitter man what all of us are by nature and The line
that you drawn by the spiritual man that Christ came to save
and provided for the father we just Come to you again humbled
to again have a place to come And we're thankful for the message
and father. We just ask that you watch over
and care for us in Christ's name As you remain sitting, let's
sing 355 from every storm, stormy wind that blows. 355 From every stormy wind that blows,
from every swelling tide of woes, there is a calm, a sure retreat
to his found beneath the There is a place where Jesus
sheds the oil of gladness on our heads. The place that all
besides more sweet is the blood-bought mercy seat. There is a scene where spirits
blend, Where friend holds fellowship with friend, Though sundered
far by fate they meet, Around one common mercy seat. ? Ah, whither could we flee for
aid ? ? When tempted, desolate, dismayed? ? ? Or have the hosts
of hell defeated? ? ? Had suffering saints no mercy
seen? ? ? While there on eagles' wings
we soar ? ? And sin and sense molest no more ? ? And head comes
down, our souls to grieve ? ? While glory crowns the mercy seat ?
Thank you. Take your Bibles and let's turn
to John chapter 10. I want to focus this morning
on verses 7 through 9. Now in this early part of chapter
10 up to I think it's around verse 22. This part of John chapter
10 is directly connected to what had just happened in chapter
nine, where our Lord healed a blind man, a man that was born blind
from birth, and he gave him sight. And because that man testified
a good witness of Christ, because he wouldn't go along with what
the Jews charged Christ with, charging him with sin. He said,
I don't know if that man's a sinner or no, but one thing I do know
is that where I was blind, now I see. And for that testimony,
they cast him out of their community, their fellowship of believers
with them and their community. And we saw that the Lord gave
a parable. Because the Jews standing there,
they said, are we blind also? Are you charging us with sin?
And Christ gave them a parable to testify that he is the great
shepherd of his sheep, that he has the authority to come and
do what he just did. He goes to that sheepfold in
Adam, that sheepfold of the world. where all those mixed people
are and the Lord himself having the authority comes and calls
out his sheep to himself by grace and mercy. And you'll recall
that the sheepfold, it's a structure that they would build for herdsmen,
those with sheep. And it would have high walls
so that no one could easily climb in or no sheep could jump out.
And it had one main door. And the shepherd would bring
his sheep in the night before. He could go find rest and not
worry about the sheep and come back the next day. And the porter,
the keeper of that door, open the door to him and he would
call in there, let's go. And he'd call out his sheep and
they would recognize his voice and follow out after their shepherd. And Christ is declaring here
and he's being declared in the word of God that he is the great
shepherd of his sheep. and he has the authority to call
his sheep, the authority of God the Father, and he goes in and
he leads out whom he will. He leads out his sheep in the
time of his love for them and brings them to himself, gathering
them into his flock, into his fold. into his sheepfold. And so all of this, this word
here, it's testifying to us that this Jesus of Nazareth is the
light of the world. He is the Savior. He is the Great
Shepherd who saves his people by himself. He is the salvation
that God has provided for his people. As we see that great
verse in John 8 verse 12, when our Lord said to those gathered
around him, Jews and those that believed him and those that didn't,
and he said, I am the light of the world. There is no other
salvation but the Lord Jesus Christ. I am the light of the
world, and he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness,
but shall have the light of life. bringing his people in through
the door, in to Christ, in through Christ, into the kingdom of God,
through our Lord and Savior. And then we'll see Christ the
door, which takes us out of that death and destruction, that bondage
and condemnation of the world. He's the door, and he leads his
people in and out. And so our Lord had just declared
his authority as the great shepherd of the sheep. And in verse 3,
John 10, 3, he says, to him the porter openeth. And we saw that
that's the authority of the Godhead, which gave the son the authority
to go in and call out his people, whom he will, to save them and
wash them by his blood. To him the porter openeth. and
the sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his own sheep by name,
and leadeth them out. He leadeth them out. And then
he gives this parable, right? He gave that parable in the first
six verses. And we're told in verse six,
they didn't understand it. Those Jews, those Pharisees there
that believe themselves to be righteous in themselves, having
confidence in themselves, they didn't understand what Christ
was saying. And so we read in verse seven,
then said Jesus unto them again, verily, verily. And when Christ
says verily, verily, he's declaring that I who am the amen of God,
the very truth and word of God say to you this faithful word. Those words are amen, amen. And so the great Amen, the Amen
of God, is saying, this is a faithful word, hear it, I say unto you,
I am the door of the sheep. Whether you agree with it or
not, Christ is the door of the sheep by whom we enter into life,
by whom we enter into the kingdom of God. He is the very life of
his people. This is a truth. I am the door
of the sheep. And what our Lord is saying there
is that there is no other way. to approach unto God, to come
before holy God and be received and accepted of Him except through
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our entrance. He is our
acceptance with holy God. You know, a man can't even see
the kingdom of God except he be born again, except he be given
spiritual life, except he be raised from the dead by the power
of God, by the Holy Spirit, and given life and faith, except
the Lord do that for a sinner, we can't even see the kingdom
of God, let alone enter into it. And we enter into the kingdom
of God through that blood and righteousness of our Savior,
Jesus Christ. He is the door, the sheep. And
the sheep are those chosen of God before the foundation of
the world. He chose out his own. Some were
scattered among the Jews and some scattered among the various
nations of the Gentiles, but they're his sheep. And he promises,
he gives his word that he shall gather them into his fold. and he shall bless them, care
for them, he gives them life, washes them clean in his blood. And so salvation by the Lord
Jesus Christ. I bring this up because I remember
when I was a young man and began to seek the Lord, but I was in
great darkness and in confusion. And I remember I would go around
telling everybody, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and he'll
save you. And one girl, a teenage girl, called me out on it. She
said, saved from what? What does He save you from? And
I found I couldn't articulate it. I couldn't tell her. I knew
it had something to do with sin, but I didn't explain it. Well,
the Lord Jesus Christ saves us from the punishment of our sin. Those past, those sins present,
those sins future, He puts it all away by the death of Himself
and washes us clean but with his blood and makes his people
the very righteousness of God in him, so that we are accepted
and received of the Father. We're not shut out and cast out
from him because Christ has brought us in and made us clean, made
us every whit whole and perfect, righteous in him to stand before
holy God so that our God, he's not angry with his people anymore. Those who come to Him in Christ,
He's not angry with His people. He's not going to punish His
people in Christ, because Christ, the Savior whom God provided
for His people, has borne that punishment. He fulfilled all
the will and the purpose of God for His people, to be gracious
and merciful to them. And so men in Christ, Men in
Christ are reconciled unto God by the Son. And now we have eternal
life through the Savior and shall dwell with him forever in eternal
bliss and enjoyment through our God by the shedding of his blood
which he offered unto the Father. By Jesus Christ the door, we
enter in. Through Jesus Christ the door,
we enter in. And we're saved from that eternal
death and punishment which is falling upon the inhabitants
of this world who know not God, who are seeking to come to God
through the works of the law, seeking to make a righteousness
for themselves. But because of Christ, because
of his atonement, because of his death, we are received, we
are cleansed and received by the Father. By Jesus Christ,
the door, we enter into life. Turn over to Hebrews chapter
10. Go to Hebrews chapter 10 and
we'll pick up in verse 19 and read down to verse 22 together. Having therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new
and living way, which he hath consecrated for us through the
veil, that is to say, his flesh. And having in high priest over
the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full
assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil
conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. That true way
in which we Enter in is through the body of Christ, through the
blood of Christ. That's how we're received. That's
the righteousness that we have of God in Christ. He is that
true and faithful word to us, whereby we are made righteous
by another, even Jesus Christ, the righteousness of God. Turn
over to Romans chapter three. Go to Romans chapter three and
we'll pick up in verse 20. 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. Wait, can I come unto God through
the law? No. No, that's how the Lord makes
known to us that we are sinners. That's where we see that I'm
a sinner, incapable of saving myself. I need the righteousness
of God, which is provided for his people through the blood
of Jesus Christ. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, both testify. that this is righteousness. He
has satisfied the law of God perfectly, the Lord Jesus Christ,
even the righteousness of God, which is by faith, the faithfulness
of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. For there is no difference. Both
Jew and Gentile need the same righteousness, which alone is
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the righteousness of His
people. He is our acceptance with Holy God, whereby we stand
before Him, perfect and accepted in Him, in the blood of Christ,
so that Christ is made all to the believer. Christ is all. The Lord Jesus Christ is made
all to the believer, so that in Christ we are delivered from
every false way, every carnal way, Every way that cannot save
all those dead ends, all those means by which man tries to approach
unto God with his own righteousness, doing something for himself,
Christ delivers his people from the false way, the carnal way,
the way of flesh. And he blesses his people. He
sanctifies his people and pours out the gift of his Holy Spirit
on them, whereby they know his voice and hear his voice and
believe the Son of God. and are brought out of death
into the kingdom of God through Christ the door. And the sheep,
they hear Christ, they follow him, so that he is made unto
us all the hope, all the confidence, all the peace and the joy that
the believer has, all the confidence that God hears us that God now
receives us, it's in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not because
of something I've done or something that man does, whether in religion
or out of religion, under the law or out of the law. That's
not salvation. We're saved by the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. You know, Paul, when he was declaring
the gospel in Philippians, in Philippians chapter three, verse
nine, he said, I want to be found in him. I want to be found in
Jesus Christ, not having my own righteousness, which is of the
law. I don't want to be judged by what I've done perfectly or
right in the law. I want to be found in Christ.
I want to be found in Christ, not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, His faithfulness, what He's accomplished. the righteousness
which is of God by faith." Meaning that the Lord reveals to us what
Christ has done for his sheep, for his people through faith,
the fruit of faith which is wrought in the children of God by the
power of the Holy Spirit. And then he said, verse 15, let
us therefore Philippians 3 15 let us therefore as many as be
perfect be thus minded and if in anything ye be otherwise minded
God shall reveal even this unto you so that our God if you are
his if you're his chosen child he's going to reveal to you Christ
he's going to show you that Christ is all Christ is all and in all
to the believer he's everything And if you are chosen unto life
and immortality by the Father, you shall enter into Christ. You shall enter into the door.
You shall be called out by His voice, by His power, and be delivered
from darkness into the light of Christ. You'll go through
that door that God has given for His people, which is the
life of His people. He said in John 10, verse 8,
all that ever came before me are thieves and robbers. but
the sheep did not hear them." And what he's saying is all other
ways of man are not salvation. There is one salvation. Christ
is the light of the world and all who follow him will not walk
in darkness. They'll not walk in the ways
of man and the ways of this flesh of trying to work up a righteousness
ourselves of trying to quiet our guilty conscience by something
we do in the law no we go to Christ we confess our sin to
Christ and ask him for mercy and forgiveness he does that
for his sheep now Christ says in verse 9 all right we've seen
now that when Christ being the door he brings us into the kingdom
of God through his blood, through his righteousness. Well, that
also means that we come out of something. We go in through Christ
and we come out of something going into Christ. When a picture
would be, we have winter coming up here in the Northern hemisphere.
So we have winter coming up. Well, when you're out there in
the cold, blustery, harsh elements, and you go into a warm, cozy,
comfortable house. Well, you're going out of those
harsh elements that kill and hurt, and you go into that warmth,
into that peace and comfort of the home. Well, that's what Christ
is. He is the door by whom we enter into life and come out
of death, that coldness, that darkness. And so Christ says
in verse nine, I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture. So by our entering into Christ,
we are saved, we are brought into grace, we are received of
God through the blood of Christ, and we've been delivered out
of that false way. The scripture hath concluded
all. under sin. Galatians 3, 22, all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Romans 3, 23,
and in Ezekiel 18, 20, the soul that sinneth, it shall die. We've got to be delivered from
death. We're sinners. None of us can lay claim to a
righteousness. None of us can boast of what
we've done to be received of God. We all come short. And the
Lord reveals to his people that we're sinners, needy sinners,
desperate for his mercy and grace. We need that door. We need Christ. If we're to be saved, we must
come through the Lord Jesus Christ. And by nature, by Adam, we're
all sinners. We're all in that bondage and
condemnation. we're all under eternal death
and judgment but God has provided a door he's provided the way
of salvation he sent his son he spared him not but delivered
him up for all his people because none of his people are righteous
in and of themselves in John 3 verse 18 Our Lord tells us that he that
believeth on Christ is not condemned. He that believeth on Christ is
not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because
he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
There is only one name under heaven given among men whereby
we must be saved. It's by the Lord Jesus Christ. And before the grace of God in
Christ, We were kept under bondage. We were in death, spiritual death. We were in darkness. Men are
dead in trespasses and sins. Men go the way of the world until
the Lord has mercy on them and delivers them out of that false
way, delivers us out of that death. that deadly way but in
the time of God's love for his sheep that's when Christ comes
and he washes us in his blood and he delivers us from bondage
and from condemnation we give him all the praise all the glory
all the thanks for our salvation we have nothing to boast in Christ
is all it's by the Lord Jesus Christ he said in John chapter
5 John chapter 5 verse 24 and 25 Here he says those words again,
verily, verily, amen, amen. Christ, the faithful amen of
God, the truth, the true and living word of God, says, this
is a faithful word, hear it. I say unto you, he that heareth
my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting
life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from
death unto life. He's entered through the door.
He's come out of death into life in the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse
25, verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming and now
is when the dead, those that are spiritually dead, when they
shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall
live. Our Lord, by his voice, by his
word, gives life to his people, raising them from the dead and
giving them life in him. So Christ delivers from the bondage
of condemnation that we're all born into in Adam. We're all
born dead in trespasses and sins. We're all born under the bondage
and condemnation of sin and the vileness of our nature. Christ
saves his people from that. Romans 8.1, Paul said, there
is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. Because
in the time of God's love for his people, he sends his spirit,
who comes upon his people, giving them life, regenerating them,
giving them life, making them born again. And he bears the
fruits of righteousness in his people. one of which is the gift
of faith whereby they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. They
hear his voice and believe on him so that we begin to walk
by faith. Before Christ came, we scrambled
about in religion, we scrambled about under the law, we tried
to do this and tried to do that to try and make peace between
us and God. We knew God was holy. We know
God is the judge. We see in creation that there
is a God. There's no doubt that God is
and that he created the heavens and the earth. And we scrambled
about to try and find him and try to please him and try to
make a righteousness for ourselves. But we found ourselves to be
in darkness. That's the way of the flesh. The way of the flesh,
we all try to do it by nature. But when faith has come, when
the spirit comes and gives his people faith, We cry out, Lord,
have mercy on me. Lord, save me, a sinner. Lord,
I'm deserving of your wrath and your condemnation. Have mercy,
Lord, on me. Wash me in the blood of your
son, Jesus Christ. We begin to breathe by the spirit
to cry out, Lord, save me. Help me, Lord. Have mercy upon
me. And so we walk by faith, trusting,
Lord, you've promised in your word that by your son, I am made
righteous by his blood. Wash me and cleanse me and keep
my heart, Lord. Keep my wandering heart. Keep
me by your grace and mercy in Christ, because it ain't by the
flesh that we're gonna save ourselves. It's not through the flesh, not
through the works of righteousness, not through the works of religion.
They cannot save. They show us what sinners we
are. They show us our need of Christ. And by the grace of God,
through the Spirit, Christ is made precious to the needy sinner. Made precious to us. Thanks be
to God. And so our Savior, he delivers
us from that condemnation, the bondage of condemnation. Another
bondage that we're delivered out of by the Lord Jesus Christ
is is trying to legally bind us. Well, men come and try to
bind us, to put the yoke of the law upon us for righteousness. They put the law upon us to try
and keep us in line, if you will. They seek to constrain you by
the law. And what they do in that is they're
turning men from the sufficiency of Christ. Because the flesh
gets real nervous when you start saying, wait a minute, you're
telling me Christ is all? That we're saved by the grace
of God? That the sufficiency of Christ
is sufficient for me? Don't I need the law for righteousness? Don't I need the law to keep
me in line? And they turn you from the sufficiency of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And more and more, your hope
and confidence in Christ is moved over to what you are doing or
not doing under the law. And that's where you begin to
get fearful and worried and afraid because you're looking at the
flesh and you're walking by the flesh to try and keep and maintain
a righteousness for yourself before God. And Paul warns us
in Galatians 6 verse 12, he said, as many as desire to make a fair
show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised. They're
turning you back to the law for righteousness. Circumcision was
a cutting of the flesh. And that's what men try to do
with the law. Cut this out. Cut that out by the flesh. You
cut that out. You look to the law. You get
that law pasted on your wall. And you get a plaque. And you
get a big stone out there on your front lawn. And everywhere
you go, you keep looking to the law for righteousness to keep
you in line. Because Christ isn't sufficient for them. The grace
and the power and the glory of our Savior isn't sufficient to
keep His people? He delivered His people from
death. Is He not able by His Spirit and His power to guide
and lead and keep His people? Yes, He is. He teaches His people.
He teaches his people and he gives them the spirit whereby
we are led of our Lord. And so men will constrain, they
seek to constrain us by the flesh because they don't understand
the liberty that we have in Christ. Not liberty to go and sin and
do as we please, but we're delivered from that yoke and that fear
of bondage and death. We're delivered from that in
Christ. And so it says, Paul said, only
lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. Because
as soon as you say, my hope and confidence is all in the Lord
Jesus Christ, Religious people tend to get very suspicious of
you. Oh, you're one of those. You think you could just go and
do whatever you want. No. No. I'm not looking to my righteousness
as a cloak for unrighteousness. I trust the Lord. I trust Him
to keep me. And He teaches me. And through
His wisdom, He corrects me and turns me out of the way of falsehood
and the way of lies. He keeps me. He's my Savior.
He's sufficient for all. So the law is good if a man use
it lawfully, right? The law is good if a man use
it lawfully. Knowing this, Paul said that the law is not made
for a righteous man. The law is not made for a righteous
man, but for the lawless and disobedient. And in Christ Jesus,
every sheep, every child of God has kept the law perfectly. That's why God receives us. That's
why we stand before God, before His throne, faultless, faultless
before the throne of God in Christ Jesus, our righteousness. You
try and come to God in the law, you're gonna be full of holes
and a shoddy garment that cannot cover your nakedness. And you'll
see in that day that that law, righteousness, is insufficient
to save, it's insufficient to cover us. But the blood of Christ
will not miss a spot. He will not, he will, you'll
be perfect, cleansed, whole in Christ. And so he's our righteousness,
not the law, and he teaches us and keeps us. As he says in John
8, 36, if the son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free
indeed. You shall be free. And Peter
even testified to that truth, saying, you want to turn these
Gentile believers back to the law, but we nor our fathers,
we couldn't bear that burden. What makes you think that we're
going to bear it now? We can't bear that, but Christ is the
savior of his people. And so the scriptures teach,
well, so we see that. So we're delivered from condemnation.
We're delivered from the yoke of the law. being delivered into
the Lord Jesus Christ. And then the scriptures teach
that believers shall have trouble but that they'll be delivered
out of it. Now all men have trouble. Everybody has trouble. All right,
every one of us has our car break down from time to time and at
the most inconvenient time and we have trouble at work and trouble
at home, trouble with family members and trouble with friends
and neighbors, and there's always various difficulties that we
all have. Everybody has those things, but
Christ is the door who delivers his people out of the trouble. And what do I mean by that? Because
we all have trouble. So how does Christ, being the
door, deliver his people out of trouble and into peace? Well, it's because he keeps his
people from being overwhelmed by it and succumbing to it so
that we turn from the Lord because we're afraid and we try to agree
with it. The Lord delivers us from that.
He delivers us from being afraid and trusting in what we could
do to make a situation right and trusting him so that we stand
in the Lord Jesus Christ knowing that he's faithful and able to
keep us and to keep our hearts in him. We see that fear of death
over in Hebrews chapter two. In Hebrews 2, go to verse 14
and verse 15. Hebrews 2, 14, for as much then
as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, Christ also
himself likewise took part of the same, that through death
he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the
devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their
lifetime subject to bondage. And so Christ is the one who
delivers us out of the fear of death, meaning that we're delivered
from trying to do something to please God and to earn his favor
and to do something that merits us some favor or peace with God.
That's fear, because there always comes a time when we are made
to see how we stumble and come short of the glory of God and
how we're not pleasing God in our works. We're always brought
to see that we haven't kept our hearts and kept ourselves faithful
before him. And so if that's your hope, you're
afraid to die, because you're always wondering, have I done
enough? Did I do enough to make myself righteous? Did I do enough
to please God? And trusting that, you're never
gonna be confident to die. Because those things cannot save. So Christ delivers us from fear
of death, and then we also see that Christ is the door out of
the grave. We don't fear death also because
we don't fear the grave. Because we know that Christ shall
raise up his people out of the grave. In John 11 verse 25, Christ said to Martha, I am the
resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. Paul adds to that in 1 Thessalonians
4 verse 16, For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with
a shout. with the voice of the archangel and with the trump
of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first." And so Christ
is the door out of all the believers' bondage, all our bondage. He
delivers us from the bondage of condemnation. He delivers
us from the bondage of legalism and trusting in the law. He delivers
us from the bondage of trouble and the fear of trouble and being
turned to try and fix our troubles and make things right. He delivers
his people out of the bondage of the grave. Christ is made
all to his people. He's the door by whom we go out. We go out of these things. We're
delivered from the way of the flesh and the things that trouble
the flesh and trying to make things right in the flesh. We
come out of those and enter into the kingdom of God through the
blood of Jesus Christ. That's how we enter into the
sheepfold. That's how we're brought into
the kingdom of God. It's through Jesus Christ. He is our access unto God. 1 Peter 3.18 says, For Christ
also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that
he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but
quickened by the Spirit. And so Christ is the door into
life, because He is the very life of His people. All who enter
in through Christ the door have life, have eternal life. And He gives us this promise
there in John 10 verse 9. He gives us two promises saying
there, all who enter in shall be saved. All who enter in through
Christ shall be saved, and they shall find pasture. Your Lord
will feed his people with the gospel, blessing them, comforting
their hearts, revealing to them once again, again and again,
who the bread of heaven is. And they are sufficed with him
and sustained by him. Their thirst is quenched. Their
hunger is filled. They're satisfied with Christ,
because Christ is all. This is the word, he says then,
to any man by me, if any man enter in. If you would have eternal
life, I don't care if you've been in religion for 50, 60,
70 years, 80 years, doesn't matter how long you've been in religion,
religion doesn't save. The Lord Jesus Christ saves his
people. And he says, if any man, if any
man Enter in, if any man would have life and be delivered out
of death, it's through the Lord Jesus Christ. He, our God, turns
the hearts of his people to Christ, to look to him and to trust him
and to believe on him for all our salvation. He is the door. And all who look to him, all
who believe him, all who need him and come to him saying, Lord,
have mercy on me. They shall have light. They shall
not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. I pray
the Lord bless that word to your hearts, that he help you to hear
the voice of Christ and that you follow him. Amen. Let's close in prayer and then
we'll have a last final hymn and be dismissed. Our gracious
Lord, we thank you, Father, for your grace and mercy, which is
shown to your people in the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we have no
righteousness of our own. Lord, deliver us from trusting
in the flesh. Deliver us from the ways of the
flesh and of carnal man. Lord, bring us out of those things
into the door, your son, Jesus Christ, and bring us through
his blood into life that we may know him and rejoice in him. have fellowship with you, our
God, and in your Son, that we may know the power of your resurrection,
being raised unto newness of life as a new creature in Jesus
Christ, your Son. Lord, help us. Be patient with
us, Lord. We're so slow to believe, slow
to hear all that you've revealed to your people in the prophets
and in the law, which speak of Jesus Christ, the salvation of
God. Lord, help us to see our Lord
and to hear his voice and to follow him. Lord, help us in
our sicknesses and weaknesses. Lord, and those that are struggling,
be merciful, be gracious, heal them that are sick, make us whole
in Christ. Lord, bless our fellowship, our
time together, bless our hearing the word that you would feed
us richly in the pastors of Jesus Christ, that we would be made
full and satisfied with Him, that we would be satisfied with
our Lord, even as you are satisfied with Him. And Lord, we pray your
blessing upon this people, that they would hear and be made to
rejoice in joy in the salvation of our God. It's in the name
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that we pray this. Amen. All right, so we'll have one
final hymn. Let's all stand and sing a closing
hymn number 56. I am his and he is mine, 56. With everlasting love, Led by
grace that love to know, Spirit breathing from above, Thou hast
taught me it is so. O this full and perfect peace,
O this transport all divine, In a love which cannot cease,
I am His and He is mine. In a love which cannot cease,
I am His and He is mine. Heaven above is softer blue Earth
around is sweeter green ? Something lives in every hue ? ? Priceless
eyes have never seen ? ? Birds with gladder songs o'erflow ?
? Flowers with deeper beauty shine ? ? Since I know as now
I know ? I am His and He is mine. Since I know, as now I know,
I am His and He is mine. Things that once were wild alarms
cannot now disturb my rest. ? Flows in everlasting arms ?
? Pillowed on the loving breast ? ? O to lie forever here ? ?
Doubt and care and self resign ? ? While he whispers in my ear
? I am his and he is mine. While he whispers in my ear,
I am his and he is mine. His forever, only his. ? Who the Lord and me shall part
? ? Ah, with what arrest of bliss ? ? Christ can fill the loving
heart ? ? Heaven and earth may fade and flee ? ? Firstborn light
in gloom decline ? But while God and I shall be, I am His
and He is mine. But while God and I shall be,
I am His and He is mine. Thank you.