Yeah, the light's nice, yeah. Does everybody need a hemlock? I don't think it's straight,
yeah. And don't forget, are you leading? Are you leading this
film today? So we have a little head space
there. And it's live? Let's go live
because it's about time. Yeah, you slept there. Chandelier. There's no need for more, so
she's down 20 feet away, which may be really great. It wasn't good.
It was fine for about 15 seconds, so it was good. It was a little cold for
you today. You should have worn a jacket,
which I don't know where you're going to want to sit. Yeah. Good morning, everyone. We're going to begin this morning
singing number 17, Come Thou Fount, number 17. my heart to sing thy grace Praise the mount, I'm fixed upon
it, mount of thy redeeming love. Here I raise mine Ebenezer, hither
by thy help I'm come, and I hope by thy good pleasure safely to
arrive at home. Jesus saw in me when a stranger,
wandering from the fold of God, He, to rescue me from danger,
interposed His precious blood. O to grace, how great a debtor,
daily I'm constrained to be! Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to Thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel
it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, oh, take and
seal it, seal it for thy courts above. Our second hymn will be
number two, Love Divine, number two. Nice. Love divine, all loves excelling,
joy of heaven to earth come down. Fix in us Thy humble dwelling,
all Thy faithful mercies crown. Jesus, Thou art all compassion,
pure and bountiful Thou art. Visit us with Thy salvation. Enter every trembling heart. Breathe, O breathe Thy loving
Spirit into every troubled breast. Let us all in Thee inherit. Let us find that sacred breast. Take away our pain to sing Alpha
and Omega be. End of faith as its beginning,
Set our hearts at liberty. Come, Almighty, to deliver, let
us all Thy life receive. Suddenly return and never, nevermore
Thy temples leave. Thee we would be always blessing,
serve Thee as Thy hosts above. Pray and praise Thee without
ceasing, glory in Thy perfect love. Finish then Thy new creation,
pure and spotless let us be. Let us see Thy great salvation
perfectly restored in Thee. Thank you. May we be seated. Good morning, everybody. Turn
with me to Ephesians chapter two. Ephesians chapter two, starting
at the beginning. And you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins, Wherein in time past you walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation
in times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children
of wrath even as others. but God who is rich in mercy
for his great love, wherewith he loved us. Even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace
are you saved and hath raised you up together and made us sit
together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages
to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness
towards us through Christ Jesus. For by grace we are saved through
faith, and that not of ourselves, not of yourselves, it is the
gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For we
are the workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God hath before ordained, and that we should walk in them.
Wherefore, remember that ye being in times past Gentiles in the
flesh, who are called uncircumcision, by that which is called the circumcision,
and the flesh made by hands, that at the time you were without
Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers
from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God
in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, ye who
sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath
made both one and hath broken down the middle wall of partition
between us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even
the law of commandments contained in the ordinances, for to make
in himself of twain the new man, so making peace. And that he
might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having
slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to you,
which were far off and to them that were nigh, for through him
we both have access by one spirit unto the Father. Now therefore,
ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens
with the saints of the household of God, and are built upon the
foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself
being the chief cornerstone, in whom all the building fitly framed together, groweth
unto a holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye also build it together,
a habitation of God through the Spirit. Let's pray. Father, we come to you thankful
today for this passage, and Father, that we had no hand in the saving
work that you sent your Son to do, Father, we have no room to
boast. There's no work that we could
have done, would have done, that could have saved us. Father,
you sent your son to be our only hope. And Father, we ask that
you have your son's name glorified here today. Father, we ask that
you watch over our pastor as he brings the message. And Father,
we ask that you open our hearts to hear the message that you're
bringing to us this morning. We ask this in Christ's name. Good morning. All right, brethren. We're going to be in Romans chapter
9. Romans chapter 9. And we're going
to look at verses 24 through 33. So we're going to, Lord willing,
finish the chapter. Romans 9. And Paul here is speaking
of the children of God, whom he graciously called the vessels
of mercy. The vessels of mercy, as we saw
last time in the last verse of the last message. And these vessels
of mercy are included as the Jews and the Gentiles. Jews and Gentiles, Romans 9.24.
Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also
of the Gentiles. Now what Paul is doing here in
our text, he's showing that the remnant, that small part, of
that nation which are called Israelites, called Jews, the
remnant are saved and they are saved according to the scriptures. They are saved exactly according
to the scriptures. And then he shows how that there
are many Gentiles who are saved and they are saved according
to the scriptures, so that the salvation of God's people, Jew
and Gentile, are all chosen, elect sinners, saved according
to the grace of God. And this is seen while countless
numbers of Jews and Gentiles stumble over the stumbling stone,
who is Jesus Christ, and are offended because he declares
and reveals the truth of God to sinners. Because we have to
know that salvation is not in our hands, it's not of our works,
it's not by our merit, but it's according to the gracious will
of God, having mercy and compassion upon whom he will. Now I've titled
this message, The Distinguishing Grace of God. The Distinguishing
Grace of God. And we'll first look at the grace
of God to those who are without. Those whom you look at and say,
they're not the people of God. They never believe. They're filthy,
vile, disgusting heathens. I don't believe the truth of
God. And then we'll see the remnant of God amongst the Jews in which
the Lord God has made a short work and brought it to a quick
end with them. And then we'll conclude it just
looking at the final verses together in Paul's conclusion there. Now,
Paul here, he turns our attention first to Gentiles, and he does
this to demonstrate God's sovereign mercy in having mercy and compassion
upon whom he will, not as man judges, not as man thinks God
should have mercy, but as God determines who should receive
his mercy and compassion. And so we look here at verses
25 and 26, And Paul quotes Hosea. He says,
also in Hosea, I will call them my people, which were not my
people, and her beloved, which was not beloved. That's from
Hosea 2.23. And then from Hosea 1.10, he
quotes, it shall come to pass, in the place where it was said
unto them, ye are not my people, there shall they be called the
children of the living God. So these words were spoken by
Hosea. And if you look in the context,
Hosea was actually referring specifically to the 10 tribes
of Israel, the 10 tribes of Israel. And that's because after David
and Solomon, When Solomon's son Rehoboam was reigning and he
dealt foolishly with the people, the kingdom was divided and ten
tribes, which were called Israel at that time, They split, they
left, and the king, fearing that the people's hearts would eventually
reunite with those of Judah, because the worship of God was
to be in Jerusalem, not the temple there, he thought, well, they're
gonna eventually reunite, and they're gonna have to take my
life out, so he made for them idols, false gods, and said,
these are your gods now. worship them. You don't have
to go down to Jerusalem anymore. These are your gods, stay here.
And there wasn't a single godly king left. in Israel. If you read the accounts in the
Kings and Chronicles, you see that there was not a single king
that was godly in Israel. They were all idolaters. Judah
had some that were godly, some that were idolaters, but they
had what was the true worship of God then at that time. And so, Hosea is speaking concerning
Israel. The 10 tribes of Israel, and
I'll read it to you so you know, Hosea 1, 10 and 11 say, Yet the
number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea,
which cannot be measured nor numbered, and it shall come to
pass that in the place where it was said unto them, ye are
not my people, there it shall be said unto them, ye are the
sons of the living God. Then shall the children of Judah
and the children of Israel be gathered together and appoint
themselves one head, and they shall come out of the land, for
great shall be the day of Jezreel. All right, so if Hosea is speaking
to the 10 tribes of Israel, why does our apostle take this scripture
and address it to the Gentiles. Why is he saying this is referring
to the Gentiles? And Peter, actually, would use
this same passage in Hosea. And he was speaking to those
scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and
Bithynia. That's who he was addressing
in his first epistle, 1 Peter 1.1, when he comforted them,
saying there in 1 Peter 2.9 and 10, he said, ye, ye that were
not my people, ye are a chosen generation. a royal priesthood,
and holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the
praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light, which in time past were not a people, but are
now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now
have obtained mercy." And it's this address, to us that gives
us hope. We that know in ourselves by
nature we're darkness. Our hearts and our minds are
darkness and we don't know the true and living God and we don't
know how to worship the true and living God and we desperately
need his grace and mercy. So the reason that this is applicable
to the Gentiles, why Paul would apply it to us who had no part
in Israel, right? Why he would apply it to us is
because God is declaring to us is that his mercy extends to
those who are outside of that Old Testament economy, outside
of that Old Testament covenant of works. God is saying you who
had no part in the knowledge of God, you who are idolaters,
you that dwell in darkness, and are fools concerning the things
of God, and are the outcasts and the off-scouring and the
heathens and people that you look at and say, they'll never
believe the truth of God. God is saying, I delight to have
mercy on just such people as us. that he would be gracious
and kind to us who are unworthy and undeserving and have not
merited his grace and favor for us. We haven't done anything
to earn his grace and favor, but that's what he's saying.
That's how the apostle says, just like those filthy idolaters
there in Israel who departed from the true and living God
and should have known the truth of God, but became apostates,
God said to them, you that are not my people shall be called
the people of God. And that's a comfort to us who
know that I've done some foolish things and said some foolish
things in my life, knowing what I know. And I'm ashamed of it
and should have no part with God or his people and shouldn't
be here even now. And yet God should say to me,
a filthy, vile sinner, You're my child, and I set my love upon
you. Come, look to my son, believe
upon him. Know the mercy and the grace
of God and his son, Jesus Christ. You that have no hope in yourselves. And so our God, we see that he
saves according to the covenant of grace, not the covenant of
works, not because we're such good people and strove to make
ourselves righteous and acceptable to God. We've come short of that. We've fallen far short of that.
But God says, I save according to grace, upon whom I will have
mercy and whom I will have Compassion, all right? And that's found in
Christ, and it's understood and received by faith, which is revealed
in us sinners born into darkness, born with a veil over our hearts
and a veil over our minds so that we don't know the truth
of God by nature. And this is revealed in us by
faith, by the Spirit doing that work, giving us life where there
was no life, nothing but death and barrenness. Now, we see here
that it's important for us to see this because it's the grace
of our God. God is saving his people. He
has saved and is saving and shall save his people ever by grace. And so be encouraged, brethren,
be encouraged. You know, John the Baptist would
say to the self-confident Jews, right, because what the Lord's
showing us is that he's putting those of us in religion, those
of us who are religious, right, and think that we're doing good
and stepping up toward God, he puts us in our place. That's
why it's an offense to the Jews, really. That's why the gospel
is such an offense to the flesh, especially when we think, I'm
getting there, I'm doing it, I'm climbing little by little,
and look at all the others down there, and I'm all the way up
here doing so well, but the Lord constantly in the scriptures
puts those of us that are self-righteous, and when we rise up in self-righteousness,
right, because we're all capable of it, we all do it, and he reminds
us, no, it's by grace. And that's why John the Baptist,
when the Jews saw this man out in the wilderness eating locusts
and wild honey, wearing burlap for his clothing, and they came
to him, or whatever he was wearing, leather or something, and he
said, think not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham to
our father. For I say unto you that God is
able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And that's really exactly what
our God did. Peter actually calls us living
stones in 1st Peter 2 5 he said ye also as lively stones living
stones you that were dead and dumb to the things of God you
that were nothing but rocks on the side of the road and had
no Nothing to boast in, no glory of yourselves to glory in. Ye
as lively stones are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood
to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. And so we see in this that our
God, in speaking, declaring that word of grace to those heathen
apostate sinners there in Israel, And Paul, applying it to you
and me, who have no part in that Old Testament economy by birth
or by practice, he says, you, according to my grace, as it
pleases me, are now called the children of God through Jesus
Christ. And he reveals that by faith.
Now Paul then contrasts this abundance of grace, which is
shown to the Gentiles, and he now shows us the limited number
of Jews to whom God reveals this salvation to. All right, that
brings us to our next point here, a remnant of the short work.
So Paul then, after quoting Hosea, begins to quote another prophet
from the Old Testament, and this is Isaiah. He said in Romans
9.27, Isaiah also crieth concerning Israel, though the number of
the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant
shall be saved. All right, well, why did the
Lord say this? Why is the Lord saying this?
Four. He will, verse 28, he will finish
the work and cut it short in righteousness because a short
work, or a consumption is the word he used in the Old Testament,
a short work will the Lord make upon the earth. And so there's
a strong sense here that we're to understand what the Lord is
saying is that just simply by being a Jew of the lineage of
Abraham and that of Isaac and that of Jacob is insufficient
to expect that we are secure in the salvation of God, just
because we have the right lineage, something according to the flesh. But even among the Jews, it's
necessary that God has an election of grace. Even in the Jews, God
has an election according to grace, just like among the Gentiles,
there's an election according to His grace. And so what we
see here is that our God has also determined to save his people
among the Jews in the same way that he's saving his people among
the Gentiles, by grace, through the Lord Jesus Christ. He didn't
leave the Jews in that economy of the Old Testament under their
works and rules, and laws, and practices, and types, and in
shadows. He didn't leave them to flounder
around there in darkness and to kind of figure out some semblance
of salvation, just doing their best, and that they have no part
in Christ, not at all. Those that are saved of the Jews
are saved the exact same way that the Gentiles are saved,
and that by our Lord Jesus Christ. who came in the flesh, lived
perfectly, wholly, righteously before men and God, doing good
to all he came in contact with, and spoke the truth and glorified
God perfectly, in word and in deed, And then as a fit sacrifice,
as the Lamb of God, He went to the cross and died a bloody death
to put away the sins of His people, Jew and Gentile, because there's
none righteous, no not one. And every one of us need the
sacrifice of the Lamb. Everyone need His surety, love,
the grace that God shows in His Son, Jesus Christ. We all need
it. You know, Paul wrote to the Galatians
saying the scripture, all right, as we've been looking at, Hosea
and Isaiah, the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that
the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them
that believe. In other words, this is the promise
that God has given in the scriptures. It's not by our merit, it's not
by our works, but it's according to his grace that he saves His
people. And so the fact that we're all
sinners, incapable of working righteousness for ourselves,
is further proven in the next scripture in our text, in Romans
9, 29. And as Isaiah said before, except
the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, that is the Lord,
the Supreme Lord, the Lord of order, the one who orders men
and women creates all peoples and orders them as it pleases
Him, the one who orders the heavenly bodies, right, whether they be
angels or stars or suns or moons or planets, whatever they are,
the Lord orders all these things and everything's working according
as it pleases Him and except He had saved His remnant seed,
we had been as Sodom and been made like unto Gomorrah. We all
are guilty, full of sin and darkness in our hearts. And the Lord is
making sure that we understand that, so that none of us rises
up and boasts against another sinner. And so it's all of grace,
and those Jews that insist, and that insisted that it's their
way, that their way is just as good as any other way, and that
they're on the way to achieving righteousness, and that their
works and their labors and their religion is pleasing to God,
they're going to find themselves cut off in the short work that
God made of them. And he did, right? He made a
short work of Israel. There was only so many years
around 70 AD it all ended. And that was the time when the
gospel pretty much ceased to be preached among them. And it
was just preached to the Gentiles who received it. And so they
were shown to be sinners in that they rejected the Messiah and
they continued in their own path, in their own works, trying to
reach their own law of righteousness. And that brings us then to the
conclusion here regarding what our God has said in this work.
So look at verse 30, Romans 9.30. What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed
not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even
the righteousness which is of faith. And so God in His wisdom
has brought to pass salvation to those to whom it seemed impossible. to whom it seems impossible that
we would hear, that we would believe, that we would be fed
and nourished and encouraged by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. What part should we have in it?
Well, it's the part that has pleased God to reveal to us and
work in us. And that's witnessed there in
the Gentile believers, right? Which is according to the spirits
ministering, the spirit ministering that word, causing you to hear
that word, causing you to receive that word and to believe it. and to trust, to depart, to lay
aside whatever works or religion you were trusting in, any goodness
that you think you have, to lay it aside that you may lay hold
of Christ, or rather be laid hold of by the Lord Jesus Christ. So believers We don't seek to
be justified by God, by something that we do. We cease that. We
cease to do that. We see it. We still see that
in the flesh, right? We still see that temptation,
right? That belief or that fear which
prompts us to try and improve or perfect or do better in the
flesh, but we know that it's through the hearing of faith,
that it's the gospel of our Savior, that He did that work perfectly,
fully, completely, And it's through seeing Him that that love is
fixed in our hearts. And He's the one, He does turn
us from sin. We are saved in righteousness,
and there's a desire to do that which is pleasing to Him. But
we know that it's not by those things that we are saved, that
it's not by those things that we are any more secure in our
salvation. But it's God, by the Spirit,
ministering the gospel to our hearts, that we are turned from
the deadness of this flesh, that we are delivered from the corrupt
works of darkness. And he shows us what we are in
self and in nature, which humbles us and keeps us from judging
our brethren and putting them down. and makes us to know our
need of Him, and it's through that gospel where we hear the
righteousness of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul captured the
hope of every believer when he said in Philippians 3.9, I want
to be found in Him. not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, any law of righteousness, any path or
way that man thinks is building, improving, gaining some righteousness
with God. I don't want that, he said, but
I want to be found in that righteousness which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. And when the Lord sets your heart
on Christ, it's impossible to walk in the flesh, and it's impossible
to walk in sin. Now, this flesh, we do find ourselves
walking in the flesh, and we do find ourselves turned, but
it's always the spirit that turns us back. It's always our God
that reveals, shines a light on that darkness and turns us
from that and brings us back out of the darkness to look to
Christ. and to be settled in Him. Because
honestly, when we're being honest, do you want to be found standing
before God with a single thread in that robe of righteousness?
Do you want a single thread of your own righteousness as part
of that? Do you want to open your hands
and find that you're holding on to something that you've done
as some form of confidence or hope? No, like Paul, I don't
want any of my righteousness to be counted. I don't want a
single thread of it. I want to stand before God in
the righteous white robe that Christ has woven with his own
works of righteousness and his faithfulness and put upon me
by his grace. That's what I want to stand before
God and I trust that that's what you brethren want to be found
standing before God in that same complete Salvation robe of righteousness
that Christ himself has wrought for his darling lovely precious
bride that he loved and laid down his life for, all right?
So the opposite of faith is then witnessed in this majority of
Jews who sought righteousness by their own works, Romans 9.31. But Israel, which followed after
the law of righteousness, their own law of righteousness, they
were trusting in the Mosaic law for righteousness, they have
not attained to the law of righteousness. Right, they continue, they heard,
they saw Christ, they heard the word he preached, they saw his
miracles, they heard the apostles, they saw what God was doing with
the apostles and how many were forsaking their dead works, their
heathenism. Other Jews were forsaking the
law for righteousness. They were all coming out of that
and looking to Christ, but they continued in their rule. They
continued in their way, thinking that they were obtaining justification
with God for their works of righteousness. They trusted in that. They were
confident in their practice of religion. And really what we
should see in that is that that goes on today, right, in so-called
Christian churches. That's still going on today.
Many are maybe not Jews trusting in their practices, but didn't
we all come out of that form of dead religion, calling ourselves
Christians and trusting in the practices of our denomination
and our catechisms and our synods and confessions and what men
said we were to believe? Don't they put a lot of confidence
and hope in those things, in the words of men, rather than
what God has said in his word, in the scriptures. And so we
should see that and look to the Lord and say, my God, save me
from that. Deliver me from that same path
of righteousness that men go on believing that God will justify
them because they take the name of Christ to themselves, but
in name only, not hoping in him, not trusting in his righteousness. So the Jews, they made the law
of Moses their zeal. That was their zeal by which
they thought, I'm going to attain righteousness. And thereby, in
looking to that and staying steadfast upon that path of righteousness,
they completely missed the law of faith. They missed faith entirely. And that's what God had been
pointing to the whole time when he revealed the mystery of faith
in the face of Jesus Christ, when he revealed to us true salvation.
And so the Jews, They did not attain unto the righteousness
of God. Romans 9.32 says why? Wherefore,
why did that happen? Because they sought it not by
faith, but as it were, by the works of the law, for they stumbled
at that stumbling stone. And so that tells every one of
us, how are we gonna stumble like the Jews? What am I watching
out for? Well, they missed Christ. They
never rested in Christ, our Sabbath rest. They look to works, they
look to practices, they look to little threads of righteousness
that they thought would improve the garment of righteousness
that Christ wove and wrought for his people. And so they stumbled
over God's righteousness. They literally stumbled over
the very righteousness of God for the salvation of his people,
Jesus Christ. And so man thinks that by keeping
the law, that's my righteousness, and therefore, holding on to
that error, they can't hear the gospel of faith. They can't hear. forsake those things, be turned
from that deadness, be turned from your dead works, look to
the one whom God sent to be our salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ
alone. As it's written, verse 33, behold,
I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, and whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. And that what the Lord
is showing us is that the Jews stumbled over Christ exactly
as he said it, exactly as he foretold it in the scriptures. And they stumbled over him because
they were looking to their own righteousness, not hearing what
God had said. And they were offended because
he told them the truth. Hey, guys, you're in dead letter
religion, trusting in your own works. But God has sent his salvation. Light has come into the world.
But men love darkness rather than light, so they wouldn't
hear him and continued on in their own practices. thinking
they were good and sufficient to save, and so none of us wants
to be found in there, and so we look, we hear and look to
what the Jews did, and rather than saying, ah, you know, that
was them, and good thing it ain't like that anymore, it's just
like that today. It's just like that today. We
are the Pharisees, you know, the Christian church of the world
is the Pharisees of, in the modern day, of what they were in the
Old Testament, and so, what the Jews were in the Old Testament.
So we pray ever to be delivered from that. As we see, as we go
through Romans, we'll see the Lord touches on that by the spirit. He brings that out to our attention,
all right? And so you that believe, he tells
us, you'll never be ashamed. You that forsake your own works
of righteousness, you that come out of that deadness, you won't
be ashamed. You'll hear words from those
that remain in it that try to cast a stumbling block in your
way with fears and doubts and telling you that what you're
doing is wrong. But is it wrong to trust completely in the Lord
Jesus Christ? I mean, when you really think
about what they're saying is, don't have confidence in Christ.
You've got to add something to this thing. You've got to do
works. No, I trust that my God. has saved me by his son Jesus
Christ, and that the works that I do are of the seed of the work
of the power, glory, and grace of God shown to his people in
the face of Jesus Christ. And he ever keeps me looking
to Christ, lest I should look back to my own works, back to
my own flesh, and trust in my system of works in my way that
I think is righteousness according to the flesh. Even as our brother
read this morning there, wherefore remember that ye being in time
past Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision by
that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands, made
by your own works, the Jews as they were then. That's all it
is today in so-called Christian churches. But Peter says, unto
you which believe, he is precious. Isn't Christ precious to us?
When you hear and are reminded again of him who is our salvation,
he's precious. That he should deal so kindly
with sinners like us who cannot merit his grace in favor." We
depend upon his grace totally in Christ. But unto them which
be disobedient, because that's what it is, adding just that
little tiny thread of your own righteousness is disobedience,
he says. Disobedient, the stone which
the builders disallowed, the same is made, the head of the
corner. To pick up one thread of your
own righteousness and try to add it to the righteousness of
Christ is to reject the whole stone and to put it aside like
the Jews did then. He's a stone of stumbling and
a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being
disobedient, wherein to also they were appointed. And so our
hope and confidence in looking to Christ and being turned from
those works is that our God has appointed us to this. He's shown
us sovereign mercy as it pleased Him, and we seek Him to stay
there. We don't want to be moved. We
don't want to be among those that are stumbling and falling
away because we've been turned from the righteousness of God,
the one whom He's provided graciously, freely, not looking to us, the
sinner, for any righteousness to add to it. Christ is sufficient.
And like I said, He'll turn us from the flesh. He knows how
to instruct us. He knows how to turn us. He knows
how to deliver us from the sins that each one of us has that
our flesh delights in. He knows how to turn us from
it, and He does. And He does it Graciously, he
does it perfectly. He knows how to take his finger
and put it right on the mark for each one of us to turn us
as he would have us to go. And what he doesn't take away,
his grace covers. And what he pleases to deal with
in us may not be what he deals with in another, but it's all
according to his purpose and work and grace. And that's how
he makes us content with what he's done and to trust I love
my brethren. What do I have to worry about
what they're doing? I'm not their master. God is
their master, just as he's my master. And let me just trust
him and believe him. And so I pray the Lord will bless
that word to your hearts and comfort you in the Lord Jesus
Christ, that he would encourage you to venture upon him wholly. Don't look to what you do or
don't do. Look to the one who is the righteousness
of God, Jesus Christ. And he'll keep you going in that
direction, because if you go in that direction, it's because
of his grace that you went down the path of his righteousness,
because he's the one leading us by the Spirit. I pray the
Lord bless that word to you. All right, brethren, let's close
in prayer. Our gracious Lord, we thank you, Father, for your
grace. We stand amazed just looking
at your word and how you declare in your word, telling us these
things, how there are many of those that were just completely
dead in idolatry that you called out in your grace. And then there
was those that were steeped in the types and the shadows of
religion, which pointed to the truth. But Lord, how that you
delivered them from that darkness, your remnant, according to the
election of grace, just as you call out all your people according
to grace. And Father, we pray that you
cause us not to become complacent in dead-letter religion, but,
Lord, that you would keep us ever looking to Christ with fresh
views of Him, and, Lord, that you would make Him precious to
us, that we would be constrained by the love of our God to us
in the Lord Jesus Christ, and that our steps will be placed
by Him. And, Father, we pray concerning
our interest in a place to meet, a place that we have more control
over when we can meet. Lord, we know that these things
are in your hand. Father, we ask that you would
close and shut doors where they need to be closed and shut, and
Lord, that you would open the door where you would have us
to go. And we're thankful, Lord, for where we have been able to
meet. We're thankful, Lord, for the
comfort even of this home here, and ask that you bless the Moors
and for opening their home. And Lord, that you bless it when
we can meet in the barn and wheresoever we can meet, Lord, we pray that
you would help us to hear the word and rejoice in Christ our
Savior. And Lord, we pray for Don, Lord,
that you and Johnny, that you would comfort Johnny and help
her. And Lord, give Don strength. And Lord, that you would be with
that family and your spirit would be upon that household and bless
them, Lord. And we pray that Johnny would
be able to come and visit with us from time to time. And Lord,
we pray concerning the trouble that's in our nation and Lord,
just all the different storylines and things that are going on
with various agendas and whatnot. Lord, it's complex and and confusing
to many of us, but Lord, we know that you are in control and that
your will is being done and we pray that your will indeed would
be done, especially in the hearts of your people, cause us not
to be caught up in it, but to trust you and to pray for your
will to be done and to preach the word and that you would give
it success and all your bodies scattered throughout the world
We pray this in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,
amen. Okay, let's close with the last
hymn. We're gonna stand and sing at
number 272, The Solid Rock, 272. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. When darkness veils His lovely
face, I rest on His unchanging grace. In every highest stormy
gale, my anchor holds within the veil. On Christ the solid
foundation, all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. His oath, His covenant, His blood
support me in the whelming flood. When all around my soul gives
way, He then is all my home and safe. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. When He shall come with trumpet
sound, O may I then in Him be found, Dressed in His righteousness
alone, Faultless to stand before the throne. On Christ the solid
rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. Thank you. We're filming a lesson. That was the people that were
at the bar. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I was the same way. I was
the same. I never even had this guy that
met with us. I met him at work. And after
about three months, he's like, but aren't you just also making
your own mourning and sorrow? You're a religious man. Aren't
you making your own God? And I'm like, oh, no, no, no.
And the guy's like, oh, he got me. That's exactly what he is. Exactly
what he is. The way they... a bunch of You can look at Paul who was
Pharisee to Pharisee. He said, I don't want a single
thread of righteousness. But all this, all this. What does that mean? They don't
know what that means. They'll never know what that
means. We can go with that. I'll say
it. No, if you finally did that,
and you think you forgot, like, you accidentally threw something
out, we don't want to go dig and see what's in there, you
know? But like you said, our nature is constantly like a gravitational
force that's always controlling us. And the enticing of our relatives.
But for now, I'm going to rest in peace. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, that's
it. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, that's
it. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, that's
it. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, that's
it. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, that's
it. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, that's
it. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, that's
it. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, that's
it. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, that's
it. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, that's
it. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, that's
it. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, And they saw things. They saw witchcraft and all kinds
of weird, weird goon works by them. So, I thought I needed
to make a film. because they would be persecuted. That's true. That's true, yeah. But you know, someone said on
the show, you talk to a judge, he definitely wants that you
do. We're like a medicine center,
but you try to convict a really good college deacon in a Presbyterian
church. We're not going to really admit
that too federally. I know someone said, though,
that pretty soon the prisoners will notice that there's always
somebody worse. At least I didn't do that. You
know, I just got over it. Even death grows in me, probably. Hopefully next week. I walked in there this morning
with no AC on. I remember back in the 1977,
that one was picked up for a pitch. It was E5, the tournament I was
coming over to. It was E5. But the shot was cool. The shot
was really cool. It was coming out of the night. It was like,
oh, there it is. It was like, oh, there it is.
It was like, oh, there it is. It was like, oh, there it is.
It was like, oh, there it is. It was like, oh, there it is.
It was like, oh, there it is. It was like, oh, there it is.
It was like, oh, there it is. It was like, oh, there it is.
It was like, oh, there it is. It was like, oh, there it is.
It was like, oh, there it is. It was like, oh, there it is.
It was like, oh, there it is. It was like, oh, there it is. It
was like, oh, there it So, I turned it off, it's not that loud. So, I think that is probably
it. If you want to send me a text
again like you did, that'd be great. Yeah, so I'm working with