Yeah, it would be helpful. Because when I come in on Sunday
mornings, it's tough too, to like see when I'm leaving. But he did say, I mean he was
really nice, he was, and it sounds like they like having us here,
because he was like, just bear with us while we're doing it.
He's like, just give us time. We're working through it. Oh,
well, that's good. Yeah. Yeah, it was very positive,
the last conversation. Very good, so. Well, we're not
heavy users either. It's not like we're here every
day, you know. Right. Wearing the property down or something.
Yeah, that's true. Yeah, they say Jim, the best
person for Jim memberships is the person who never shows up.
because they're paying the money and they're never wearing out
the equipment. So those are favorite ones. It's actually 715. Did you guys know that that wouldn't
work on a Sunday morning? Yes. Yeah, on the first service,
okay. Yeah, sometimes when I get up,
when I go to check it after the first service, I look and it
says, uh, did not. It was wrapped, you're not sure
how long after you've been in it, and it said, uh, video out,
or video stop or something. Let's begin our evening service
by standing and singing 222, there is a fountain, 222. There is a fountain filled with
blood Drawn from Emmanuel's veins And sinners plunged beneath that
blood Lose all their guilty stains Lose all their guilty stains,
Lose all their guilty stains, And sinners plunge beneath that
flood, Lose all their guilty stains. The dying thief rejoiced
to see That fountain in his day, And there may I, though vile
as He, wash all my sins away. Wash all my sins away. Wash all my sins away. And there may I, though vile
as He, wash all my sins away. dying Lamb, thy precious blood
shall never lose its power. Till all the ransomed Church
of God be safe to sin no more, be safe to sin no more, be safe
to sin no more. ? Till all the ransomed church
of God be saved to sin no more ? ? E'er since by faith I saw
the stream thy flowing wound supply ? ? Redeeming love has
been my theme and shall be till I die ? And shall be till I die
And shall be till I die Redeeming love has been my theme And shall
be till I die When this portless spring's stammering tongue Lies
silent in the grave And in a nobler, sweeter song, I'll sing thy power
to save. I'll sing thy power to save. I'll sing thy power to save. And in a nobler, sweeter song,
I'll sing thy power to save. If you would, turn to 259. 259.
The rock that is higher than I. Through sometimes the shadows
are deep, And rough seems the path to the goal, And sorrows
sometimes how they swing. ? Like tempest down over the
soul ? ? Oh then to the rock let me fly ? ? To the rock that
is higher than I ? ? Oh then to the rock let me fly ? ? To
the rock that is higher than I ? Oh, sometimes how long seems
to day, And sometimes how weary my feet, But toiling life's dusty
way, The rock's blessed shadow how sweet, Oh, then to the rock
let me fly, to the rock that is higher than I. Oh, then to the rock let me fly,
to the rock that is higher than I. Oh, near to the rock let me
keep, If blessings or sorrows prevail, Or climbing the mountain
way steep, Or walking the shadowy veil, Oh, then to the rock let
me fly, To the rock that is higher than I, Oh, then to the rock
let me fly, to the rock that is higher than I. Thank you. I would like to read from Ephesians
6, Ephesians 6, starting with verse 10. Ephesians 6, 10. Finally, my
brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.
Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand
against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers
of the darkness of this world. against spiritual wickedness
in high places. Wherefore, take unto you the
whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil
day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having
your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate
of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of
the gospel of peace. Above all, taking the shield
of faith, wherewith Ye shall be able to quench all the fiery
darts of the wicked, and take the helmet of salvation, and
the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, praying always
with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, and watching thereunto
with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. And for me that
utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly
to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an
ambassador in bonds, that therein I may speak boldly as I ought
to speak. But that ye also may know my
affairs and how I do, to Caicus, a beloved brother and faithful
minister in the Lord, shall make known to you all things, whom
I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that ye might know
our affairs and that he might comfort your hearts. Peace to
the brethren and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ. Grace be with all them that love
our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen. Our heavenly merciful Father,
we thank you for allowing us again in this evening to come
together to assemble as a local assembly. And we have this great,
great blessing, Lord, to be able to hear the glorious gospel regarding
our Lord Jesus Christ, our only hope, our only righteousness.
And when we are surrounded with much religion, but Father, you
have taken reasons out of yourself and you have raised up this local
assembly. And Father, remember us this
evening. Be with Brother Eric. Father, continue to be with him.
Give him strength and health and remember him especially this
evening where he hopes to stand before us again. Father, give
him liberty. Pour out your spirit upon him.
Give him the freedom to declare the glorious work and the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And remember us, Lord, as we
hope to hear this gospel. Give us, Lord, an appetite and
give us what is necessary that we may be comforted. Be with
those, Lord, that are listening online. Lord, you know what their
situations are perfectly, and comfort them and bless them where
they are. Lord, remember those amongst us as part of this assembly,
some that are struggling with illnesses. Father, will you continue
to assist where it is needed, and that we may also be aware
where we may be able to help one another. Father, continue
to be with us. We do not know the future. but
what a comfort it is to know that you are in control in all
things. For Jesus' sake alone, amen. All right, brethren. Let's turn
to Isaiah 45. And we'll be looking at the two
verses. Isaiah 45 verses 18 through 19. And I'll begin by reading these
two verses. For thus saith the Lord that
created the heavens. God himself that formed the earth
and made it, he hath established it. He created it not in vain. He formed it to be inhabited. I am the Lord and there is none
else. I have not spoken in secret in
a dark place of the earth. I said not unto the seed of Jacob,
seek ye me in vain. I, the Lord, speak righteousness. I declare things that are right. So we're continuing here in this
chapter and the Lord is revealing to us how it is that he saves
his people in his son Jesus Christ. Remember, it began with Cyrus,
but he's just a type, a picture of Christ who spiritually delivers
and sets his captives free, those who are bound in sin and darkness
and have no spiritual life. They're bound and shut up to
the things of God. They don't know God. They don't
understand him. And they're bound up in prison of their own sin.
And Christ is the one who opens the prison door. And he's the
one who sets his people free from their captivity. Now, tonight,
in these two verses, we see here that the Lord, he shows us the
purpose in why it is that he created the earth. and he created
the earth to be inhabited. And what we'll see is that it's
specifically speaking of his son, Jesus Christ. It's a place
where his son would be glorified in the eyes of the people. He
prepared this place to glorify the son, okay? And then our God
reveals that, well, then he reveals it to us. Then he makes it known
to us. So Christ accomplishes our salvation. He's the one who by himself put
away our sins. He's the one who by himself satisfied
the Father well in all things. And he himself is the one who
sets his people free from their bondage and then he makes this
known to us so that we glory in him. We glory in Christ and
thereby the son is glorified and the father who sent him is
glorified as well. So that's why God created the
earth. He created it to be inhabited
that we might know the glory of God our Savior. So I've titled
this message, Created for Christ's Glory. And we'll begin looking
at the earth being created for Christ and then we'll see that
it's Christ who reveals this to us. As we're, what we're doing here
is, if you may recall, the Lord has been speaking about creation
a number of times in the creation of his people. And so here he's
bringing it back up to our attention again. Now, earlier in verse
12, Isaiah 45, verse 12, He says, I have made the earth and created
man upon it. I, even my hands, have stretched
out the heavens, and all their hosts have I commanded. And so,
one thing we see is that the Lord is, the Lord God is establishing
himself as the sole creator. Everything we see, everything
we understand about the heavens and the earth, it's all been
created by God himself apart from man. And so one thing that
we understand, many of you understand it here, but it's important for
us to hear it and to emphasize it and remind one another, especially
as new generations are coming up, the young children, for example,
it's important for us to know that this earth didn't just evolve
of itself, right? What we see didn't just evolve
by chance, but it has intelligent design. It has a creator. And that creator is God himself
who has revealed himself to his people. So we know that what
we see here and what we understand didn't evolve over trillions
of years, right? It didn't just form with space
dust and then become primordial goo and then evolve or shape
into what we see today. God created it, right? In the beginning, God created
the heaven and the earth. that's the testimony of scripture. Sometimes I just like to read
Psalm 90 once once in a while and it's the prayer of Moses
and it's recorded for us in the Psalms and this is what Moses
himself wrote and I am always struck with a sense of awe. I don't I don't fully understand
why but in these verses it just hits me, the eternality of God,
and that He is sovereign, holy God. Psalm 90 verses 1 and 2,
I'll just read these two verses. He says, Lord, thou hast been
our dwelling place in all generations, before the mountains were brought
forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even
from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. And it's such a comfort to know
that whatever is going on here on earth, right, and the pot
sherds, the men that are the pot sherds of the earth are striving
with one another and whatever they're doing, whatever crazy
we see going on in our day and in our generation, Because every
generation sees crazy and it just seems like I don't understand
why people are doing the things that they're doing. But the overarching
comfort, the peace of our soul is that our God is sovereign. He created this earth. He prepared
it and formed it and put man upon the earth for the glory
of his son. And whatever goes on, whatever
happens, we know that almighty sovereign God is still God. And
he has a people and he has a purpose for which he's fulfilling his
will in all things. And that's a comfort to the child
of God, right? Just to take your mind off of
your own problems and your own struggles and behold, my God
knows. He knows all things and everything
is working according to his His plan. Then we also see even in
the New Testament, we see this testimony, it's repeated again
for us that our God is the Creator. It says in Hebrews 1.10, And
thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the
earth, and the heavens are the works of thine hands. So we see
from the Old Testament, right in the beginning, all the way
throughout the Old Testament, right into the New Testament,
we see that the testimony of scripture is that there is one
God and creator who formed the heaven and the earth, all right?
And then he returns here in our text now, verse 18, he tells
us why he created the earth, why he created the earth. For
thus saith the Lord that created the heavens, God himself that
formed the earth and made it, he hath established it. He created
it not in vain. He formed it to be inhabited. I am the Lord and there is none
else. And so, right, we see other planets
from afar with telescopes and they're nothing like the planet
that we are on, the planet that God created us upon, which is
living and vibrant and lush and green and has water and sun that
warms us and an atmosphere and just growth and abundance of
life and growth. And it's unlike any planet that
we have ever seen, right? Nothing is like this place because
it wasn't created in vain. He created it to be inhabited,
to be used. And we know that when last week
we saw how when he created man upon it, the eye of God was specifically
upon THE man. his son, Jesus Christ. That's
why he created this, to bring forth his son, Jesus Christ,
the God-man. And so that is a clue for us
this evening to understand why God formed the earth, why he
made it, why he formed it to be inhabited. By inhabited, he
means first and foremost, the Lord Jesus Christ. He created
this earth to be inhabited by His Son. It's created by Christ,
the Word of God, and it's for Christ Himself. Listen to Colossians. I'm going to read Colossians
1, verses 16 and 17. If you want to turn there, because
we'll quote a couple more verses in a bit from there as well.
So put a marker. But Colossians 1, 14. I'm sorry,
1, 16 and 17. And then just stay there. We'll be right back. Here, speaking
of our Lord, it says, for by Him, by the Word of God, by Christ,
were all things created that are in heaven and that are in
earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers. All things were created by Him
and for Him, and He is before all things, and by Him all things
consist. And so we see that our Savior,
He created the heaven and the earth. He made everything, including
the powers and the principalities and the things that we can't
explain that are going on. And when people are making laws
and decisions and saying things, it seems like they're being controlled
by an evil principality or power or force. But it's all working
and it's all establishing the will of God. We see our Savior
opening the seals in heaven right because he's he's risen and is
worthy to open the book to to implement the will of God the
Father in the earth right so that's what he's doing now in
addition to Christ there's a people whom he's created a people now
of this people the reason why I we rejoice and why we're made
thankful is because of this people, there's a remnant according to
the election of grace. There's a people who do hear
his gospel. There's a people who rejoice
to hear what Christ has done for them. And these people, their
purpose, they've been purposed by God to be renewed in the knowledge
after the image of him that created him, right? Those that are the
remnant of God, Christ created them for the purpose of creating
them spiritually after his own image, that we might know him,
have a knowledge of him, have an understanding of who he is
and what he's accomplished for us. And so all of this works
together to comfort us, to be a sure promise of salvation to
the people which hear and believe God. Though we don't have the
answers, though we might feel troubled at times, though we
suffer, we're human and we experience sorrows and hurts and pains and
sufferings, as well as joys and rejoicings and givings and receivings,
right? We're blessed in all these ways,
but we've heard. We've heard what our Savior has
done And he's given us faith. He's revealed faith in us whereby
we believe him. In spite of all the negatives
that we see, we believe God and are comforted when he brings
himself and makes himself known to us again. And so God created
man because he purposed that his son should come. that His
Son should come and work salvation for His people, that He would
be our Savior, that He should be our Lord, our God, our all,
and that we would look to Him for everything and believe Him
and trust Him and have confidence in Him. And so Colossians there,
Colossians 1, look at verse 14 and 15 now. in whom we have redemption through
his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of
the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature." And what
our Lord is saying to us there is that we are sinners, we fell,
we rebelled in Adam, We ate that forbidden fruit and we rebelled
against God and died spiritually as our God has said to us that
we would die in that day that we ate. And we died spiritually
and lost fellowship with God the Father. And so he sent his
son, who is the Lamb of God, the perfect sacrifice to put
away the sin of his people. And so he did that, he accomplished
that salvation by the death of himself and the purchase of us
by his own blood. And when it says there that he's
the first born of every creature, it speaks of after his death,
when he was buried, God raised him from the dead, never to die
again. So in that sense, as our savior,
he is the first born of every heaven born, Creature of his
seed everyone born of Christ our Savior. That's that's what
it means by he's the firstborn He's the first to rise from the
dead never to die again And we shall rise from the dead just
like he did when he returns and raises us up again All right,
so this is why our God created the earth that it's that Christ
the Son should come and and fulfill the purposes of God to create
a people for Himself. All right, now turn to John 17.
John 17, and we'll see this in the first four verses there.
We'll see that the purpose for this creation is to glorify the
Son in redemption, in creation and in redemption of His people.
John 17 verse 1 through 4. These words spake Jesus and lifted
up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son, that thy son
also may glorify thee, as thou hast given him power over all
flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast
given him. And this is life eternal, that
they might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom
thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the
earth. I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do."
And so we see there our Savior, for the purpose that this earth
was created, He came and He fulfilled it. He came to that hour And
he went and accomplished that which he was purposed to accomplish,
to do for his people. And he is now glorified, glorified
of the father. And he is glorified in our hearts
as we see him and understand what he's done and we rejoice
in him. And so our God sent his son into
the world and spared him not, but delivered him up for us all
that we might know him. and glory in him and in his salvation. All right, so next we see that
after he accomplished this salvation of his people, it pleases our
God to give us a knowledge and an understanding of these things.
This is why we speak of what he's done for us, to be reminded
and to be encouraged, to be settled and comforted again that that
we not be taken away and swept up with the cares of this world,
but that we're reminded and just settled and re-baselined on our
Lord, just re-centered upon Him and comforted in Him. All right,
so he says now in verse 19, I have not spoken in secret, in a dark
place of the earth. I said not unto the seed of Jacob,
seek ye me in vain. I the Lord speak righteousness. I declare things that are right. And so, you know, when we look
around creation, You go to a park and you look at the waterfalls
and the trees and the beauty there that we see in creation,
right? And we're struck with awe. We
see, wow, God created this, right? And we learn new things all the
time of what the Lord has done and how he's done it. And we see that there's an intelligent
creator who did this. This is not by chance and all
these things work perfectly together. But even beholding that, even
understanding that God created this, because a lot of people
who don't believe Christ, they know that God created this. They know that there's a God
in heaven who created the heaven and the earth, but it doesn't
reveal the righteousness of our God, that righteousness which
he accepts by, or that righteousness whereby we are received of God,
right? Just looking at the creation,
we can't understand or know how can I be made right with God,
right? When my sin is revealed to me
and I'm made to see myself as but a man, but a creature, and
that he's holy God and I know that I've sinned against him
as he makes it known whether it's an offense against his law
given to Moses or an offense against the laws of man or just
my conscience is smitten. I don't know from creation how
to please God, how to make atonement for my sin and to reconcile myself
to the God whom I've offended. Looking at creation doesn't connect
those dots. It's not sufficient for my salvation. It's not sufficient for a relationship,
a reconciliation to God. I need a mediator. I need one
to stand in the gap, to reconcile me to holy God, to reveal God
to me, and to make me acceptable unto God, that he would receive
me and bless me. We need a Savior, we need a Mediator,
and that Mediator is the Son, Jesus Christ. And that's revealed
only in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the Gospel of
God. He is the revelation that God
has provided for the people, whereby we may be reconciled,
whereby we may know God, our Creator. You could say, well,
doesn't the law of Moses, doesn't that reveal the righteousness
of God? Well, it does show us that God
is holy. It does. But people can be very deceived
even looking to the law, right? Some people look at the law and
they think that they're actually keeping the law and that it is
their righteousness. And other people, they look at
the law and they see it rightly that they are a sinner and that
they can't keep that law. The law will show you that God
is righteous and we must be perfect and righteous, but the law gives
no help. The law doesn't give us any help
to do the law. It just says this is what God
requires. This is the perfection, the holiness
of God that he requires. for you to approach unto him
and to be received by him." So there's no wisdom, right? There's
no ability for me to figure out, looking at the law, well, how
can I reconcile myself to God? Because I see I've already offended
God through the law. And so that just exposes the
problem that man is a sinner. and collectively and individually,
we just can't get it together, and we can't get ourselves right
before the law, before the Lord under the law, all right? We
can't do it that way. So we need a savior. We need one who would atone our
sin, to put it away, to remove it from the sight of God, to
make us holy and blameless, and without reproach to make us spotless
before God our Savior. And so all that's revealed in
the gospel. It's all made known to us in
the gospel of Jesus Christ. And not only by the gospel, but
he blesses us with the gift of the Holy Spirit that takes that
gospel that so many have heard and has had no effect on them,
but by his spirit, he takes that word and attends that word and
makes it effectual in your hearts. makes you to know I'm the sinner. I'm the one who needs that savior.
I'm the one who needs the blood of Jesus Christ. I can't save
myself. I need him to reconcile me to
God. And that's all the work of the
spirit to take that blood of Christ and make it effectual
to you, to apply that blood to your conscience and to wash you
clean, to know you are forgiven. You're forgiven by God. He loves
you. He provided his son for you.
He did this for you and made it known to you what he's accomplished
for you. That's why you hear the gospel,
and why you must hear the gospel, and why you rejoice to hear the
gospel. In 1 Corinthians 1, 30 through
31, It says, but of Him, of God, are ye in Christ Jesus, who of
God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification,
and redemption, that according as it's written, he that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord. And so all that is the work of
Christ, and the Father, and the Spirit, that makes your sin known
to you in your need of Him, that makes Christ known to you and
what he's accomplished for you and applying that blood and the
spirit by giving you that spiritual life which was lost in Adam.
When we sinned and rebelled against God and the guardian, Christ
has restored all things lost for his people and we are therefore
reconciled to God. and had that fellowship and that
light and life with him. Now, under the Old Testament,
we see that God revealed himself to the Jews. He made himself
known to the Jews, but it was really only the Jews. And then
to them, he revealed himself in the law. He gave the law to
Moses. And Christ was there hidden in
the types and the shadows and the pictures of the law. We now,
having the spirit, can look back and behold Christ very easily
in those types of pictures. But few saints, the saints saw
it, but there was a small remnant that saw Christ in the law there. And so, when we read of the Jews
who had the law, for example, we see in Hebrews 3, 17 and 19,
the Lord said, But with whom was he grieved
forty years? Was it not with them that had
sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? So we see that they could not
enter in because of unbelief. So many had the law. but they
didn't have faith. They didn't see Christ, right? Caleb and Joshua saw Christ in
it and they believed him. They had faith, but the Jews
were trusting in their works. And so they had no covering for
their sin. And so they fell in the wilderness,
though they had the law. And then as the nation of Israel
grew and was established there in the land that God had given
them, he began to send them prophets. More prophets, more than just
Moses. And those prophets came and they
revealed to the people what God was teaching in the law. And
we see more and more how God speaks of grace. He shows the
people their sin and then says, you're not going to do this.
You're rebelling against me, yet I will be gracious to you. Yet I will do this for Israel.
Yet I will do this for Jacob. And so we see that through the
prophets, he began to show the people more and more, make it
more apparent God's grace for them in his son. And so Paul,
speaking of what Isaiah had said, he said, I was found of them
that sought me not. I was made manifest unto them
that asked not after me. But to Israel, he saith all day
long, I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and
gainsaying people. So what he's saying is I'm revealing
this and making this more and more known to you. to Israel,
but to the Gentiles, I'll make this known. I'll make salvation
in Christ known to the Gentiles as well. That nation, those nations
who aren't even seeking after me, they're going to hear, and
they're going to believe on me. And so the Lord is making this
all known now through the prophets, all right? And so, now earlier
we saw in this chapter, verse 15, Isaiah 45, 15, worded it as verily thou art
a God that hideth thyself O God of Israel the Savior right so
why did he say it that way in verse 15 like why do you say
well you hide yourself and what I was trying to show you just
now is that in the Old Testament right to first it was just to
the Jews and it wasn't to the Gentiles and you had things obscured
in the law, right? We saw the holiness of God, but
we didn't know, we didn't have any power or understanding of
how to please God. And many people didn't see Christ
in the law there. They weren't looking to the Messiah. And then the prophets came and
they made it more clear and they made it more open and revealed
it more and more to them but still many still didn't see or
know until Christ came. And when Christ came it was just
an explosion, a revelation of light and life given to the people
in the Son, Jesus Christ. Whereby now, we that believe
Christ and look to Him for all our salvation, it's like having
the illumination of the sun. It's like being in, coming from
your basement where it's complete darkness when the lights aren't
on and it's all dark and dim and then you come out into daylight
and it's brilliant, bright sun And that's what Christ is. He's
just a glorious light flooding our eyes so that now we can see. Now we can see where we're walking
without stumbling. I was in my garage, I'm putting
some seeds there, and I was switching out the lights and everything
and I forgot to turn the the light on so I could see when
the light was on and I shut off my my seats because I had the
timer off or whatever so I had to manually shut it off and not
having the light it was just complete darkness and I was just
stumbling through my garage which had too much stuff in it at the
time so I couldn't see but then when the lights on you don't
stumble you don't trip over things because you can see them coming
and you can step over them and maneuver around them well that's
what Christ does We don't stumble in Christ, in the light of Christ,
who is our hope. We don't stumble before God because
we see, right? And really what's really going
on is that He's our reconciliation. He's our perfection. He's our
receiving of the Father, right? And so we're received by God
in Christ. We don't stumble because we don't
sin in Christ. The new man cannot sin. The new
man looks to Christ our Savior without fault. without blemish,
and it stands perfect before the throne of our God. All right, so God previously
said, you know, he's a hidden God. He was hidden from the Gentiles.
He was hidden from many of the Jews. But now in Christ, verse
19, he says, I have not spoken in secret in a dark place of
the earth. I said not unto the seed of Jacob,
seek ye me in vain. I, the Lord, speak righteousness.
I declare things. that are right. And so we preach
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's the rightness of God.
That is the righteousness of God. He is everything we need
to know to approach Him to the Father. And by the gift of the
Holy Spirit, we worship Him and believe Him in spirit and in
truth and are accepted and received of the Father. You know, Paul
preached Christ. He was faithful to preach Christ.
And When he was going to Jerusalem, and he's talking to those brethren
in Ephesus, in Acts 20, verse 20 and 21, he said, I kept back
nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you and
have taught you publicly and from house to house. He preached
to them Jesus Christ and him crucified. That's what he was
speaking. And he's saying, I preach Christ, and in preaching Christ,
I held back nothing that was profitable for you. saying, testifying
both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward
God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ, right? That repentance
toward God being put away your dead religion, put away those
dead works. Stop trusting in your filthy,
vile, dead law, letter law, religion. Turn away from those things and
be turned to God by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Serve
him in faith, looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. And then he
said in verse 26 and 27, wherefore I take you to record this day,
that I am pure from the blood of all men, for I have not shunned
to declare unto you all the counsel of God. So when we preach Christ,
we are preaching all the counsel of God. We're declaring everything
you brethren need to stand before God, holy and blameless in that
day. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. So he's that counsel, he's the
light and the salvation of God. Would you know God? Then you
must know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. Would you please God? Then believe
on the one whom he has sent, the Lord Jesus Christ. Would
you satisfy the holiness of God? then come to God looking in and
trusting in Jesus Christ alone for all your righteousness. And
you shall be received of the Father. You shall not be ashamed
for trusting completely in Christ." So God created this world and
He created you in it. And He created it for the purpose
of His Son, Jesus Christ, to glorify Him in your hearts, who
believe Him by faith and trust Him for all your salvation. God committed everything to the
Son. It's all in His hands. Our salvation
completely hinges on Christ and Christ alone, not us, not our
works. Everything necessary that we
must do, Christ bears that fruit in us by His seed, by His Spirit. It's to the glory and praise
of His name. To look anywhere else besides
Christ, that's to despise the Son. That's to call God a liar
and say, that's not enough, God. The one whom you sent to save,
I need more than that. He's not sufficient. You see
how that's despising the Son and calling God a liar? So look
to Christ and look alone to Christ because He is the salvation that
God has provided for His people. So I pray He bless that word
to your heart and comfort you in Christ our Savior. All right, let's close in prayer.
Our gracious Lord, we thank you, Father, for your wisdom and your
mercy in sending your son, Jesus Christ. Lord, you're not just
our creator, but you are our savior, our hope, and our all. And we thank you for your perfection
in providing the son, Jesus Christ. Lord, he is lovely. He is perfection. He is precious, Lord, and we
thank you for him and pray that you would indeed make him everything
to us that he is to you, that we would rest in him completely
and entirely and solely in him, that you would be glorified,
that the son would be glorified in our hearts, and may we indeed
stand before you in that day that we may bow the knee and
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, unto the glory and praise
and honor of your name. We look forward to that day. Come, Lord Jesus. It's in the
name of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ, that we pray and ask
these things. Amen. Let's stand and sing 292, Surely
Goodness and Mercy. 292. A pilgrim was I and a wandering
In the cold night of sin I did roam When Jesus, the kind shepherd,
found me Yet now I am on my way home Surely goodness and mercy
shall follow me all the days, all the days of my life. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days, all the days of my life. He restoreth my soul when I'm
weary. He giveth me strength day by
day. He leads me beside the still
waters. He guards me each step of the
way. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days, all the days of my life. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days, all the days of my life. Walk through the dark, lonesome
valley My Savior will walk with me there And safely His great
hand will lead me To the mansions He's got to prepare Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days, all the days of my life. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days, all the days of my life. And I shall dwell in the house
of the Lord forever, and I shall feast at the table spread for
me. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days, all the days of my life. All the days, all the days of
my life.