All right, we're ready. This looks like it's in a good
spot. About here. All right. We're going to start our worship
this morning with singing number 442, 442, Praise Him, Praise
Him. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus
our blessed Redeemer. Sing o'er His wonderful love
proclaim. Hail Him, hail Him, highest archangels
in glory. Strengthen the dead, give to
His holy name. Like a shepherd, Jesus will guard
His children. In His arms He carries them all
day long. Praise Him, praise Him, tell
of His excellent greatness. Praise Him, praise Him, every
joyful song. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus
our blessed Redeemer. For our sins He suffered and
bled and died. We are a proud coward, hope of
eternal salvation. Hail Him, hail Him, Jesus the
crucified. Sound His praises, Jesus, and
bore our sorrows. Love unbounded, wonderful, deep, and strong. Praise Him, and praise Him, tell of
His excellent greatness. Praise Him, and praise Him, every joyful song. ? Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus
our blessed Redeemer ? ? Heavenly portals climb with those in the
spring ? ? Jesus, Savior, reigneth forever and ever ? ? Crown Him,
crown Him, prophet and priest and king ? Christ is coming, over the world
victorious, power and glory unto the Lord belong. Praise Him,
praise Him, tell of His excellent greatness. Praise Him, praise
Him, ever in joyful song. Our second hymn will be number
168, 168 Even Me. Lord, I hear of showers of blessing,
Thou art scattering, full and free. Showers the thirsty land
refreshing, Let some drops now fall on me. Even me, even me,
let Thy blessing fall Ask me not, O tender Savior,
let me love and cling to Thee. I am longing for Thy favor whilst
Thy calling, O call me. Even me, even me, let Thy blessings Ask me not, O mighty Spirit,
Thou canst make the blind to see. Witness, O Lord, of Jesus'
spirit, Speak the word of power to me. Even me, even me, Let
Thy blessing fall on me. Love of God so pure and changeless,
blood of Christ so rich and free. Grace of God so strong and boundless,
magnify them all in me. Even me, even me, let Thy blessing
fall on me. Bless me not, I've lost one brain. Find my heart, O Lord, to Thee. While the streams of life are
springing, blessing others, O bless me. Even me, even me, let Thy
blessing fall. Turn with me to 2 Samuel chapter
9. 2 Samuel chapter 9. Got a beautiful Old Testament
picture of Christ here. Just wanted to read this chapter. 2 Samuel chapter 9. And David said, Is there yet
any that is left in the house of Saul that I may show him kindness
for Jonathan's sake? And there was of the house of
Saul a servant whose name was Ziba. And when they had called
him unto David, the king said unto him, Art thou Ziba? And
he said, Thy servant is he. And the king said, is there not
yet any of the house of Saul that I may show the kindness
of God unto him? And Ziba said unto the king,
Jonathan hath yet a son which is laying on his feet. And the
king said unto him, where is he? And Ziba said unto the king,
behold, he is in the house of Makar, the son of Amiel and Lodabar. Then king David sent, and fetched
him out of the house of Makar, the son of Amiel from Lodabar.
Now when Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul,
was coming to David, he fell on his face and did reverence. And David said, Mephibosheth?
And he answered, Behold thy servant. And David said unto him, Fear
not, for I will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's
sake. and will restore thee all the
land of Saul, thy father, and thou shalt eat bread at my table
continually. And he bowed himself and said,
what is thy servant, that thou should look upon such a dead
dog as I am? Then the king said to Ziba, Saul's
servant, and said unto him, I have given unto thy master's son all
that pertaineth to Saul and to all his house. Thou therefore
and thy sons and thy servants shall till the land for him,
and thou shalt bring in the fruits, and thy master's son may have
food to eat. But Mephibosheth thy master's
son shall eat bread always at my table. Nazeba had fifteen
sons and twenty servants. Then said Ziba unto the king,
according to all that my lord the king hath commanded his servant,
so shall thy servant do. As for Mephibosheth, said the
king, he shall eat at my table as one of the king's sons. And
Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Micah. And all
that dwelt in the house of Ziba were servants unto Mephibosheth.
So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem. For he did eat continually at
the king's table, and he was lame on both his feet. Father, we come to you today
thankful for the time that you've given us together to hear your
gospel, for the servants you've sent to bring the message. Father,
give him the words that you would have us to hear and open our
eyes, ears, and hearts. And Father, we're thankful for
this passage in Samuel. Lord, we're all Mephibosheth.
We're all dead dogs, Father. And without you sending your
son to save the people, we'd all perish. Well, we just ask
again that you open our hearts this morning to hear the message
that you would bring to us. And again, watch over your servant
as he brings it, in Christ's name. All right, brethren. All right. So we're going to
be in Romans chapter 9. Romans chapter 9. And we'll be looking at verses
1 through 8 if we have time. We'll get that far. 1 through
8. Paul has, in this epistle, he's
shown us, he's laid out for us that all are sinners, all are
condemned before the law of God. None are righteous, no, not one.
None of us seeks after the Lord. And he also showed us that our
justification, the fact or the reason that anyone is justified
before God, has nothing to do with our works, no matter how
religious or righteous they seem to one another. That's not what
justifies us, but our justification is found in the Lord Jesus Christ
alone. That's the salvation that God
has sent to save His people. And that's the only salvation
that God has provided for all men and women. It's in Jesus
Christ alone. And now the Apostle in this chapter
here, chapter 9, he's going to enlarge upon that doctrine of
election. If you remember, at the end of
chapter 8, He was speaking about the foreknowledge of God, which
is the love of God, that God foreknew us. He loved us before
the foundation of the world. And because of that love, he
predestinated a people. He chose a people, and he determined
to save those people whom he loved. And so in doing that,
he justified. He sent his son into the world
in the likeness of their flesh to die, to offer himself a blood
sacrifice to the Father to make atonement for the sins of the
people. And because Christ justified
that loved people, those chosen people who were predestinated,
the Father called us with a divine effectual calling so that we
heard the gospel and faith was revealed in those chosen redeemed
saints. before they ever even knew it,
the Lord died for them, and then he revealed faith in them, fixed
in the only hope of salvation that's given to man, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And because we were called, the
Lord tells us that we were justified. We were justified, I'm sorry,
glorified. Glorified in Christ, and we shall
be glorified with him forever. in that day. And so he's now
going to speak more specifically about that election. And this
election of ours, it comes not by man's observation. And what
I mean by that is, it's not something that we detect or can do or promote
ourselves to become the elect by works of the flesh. It's not
a work that man does of himself to put himself into the election
of God. And I say that because there
are those that see elections spoken of in the scriptures And
to understand that or make sense of it, to reconcile it with their
false view of salvation, that it's man's works, they say that,
well, we make ourselves the elect by our believing in Christ, so
that it's our work. And that's just simply not true
at all. Anyone who believes that man's
works, that faith, that we must believe on Christ. And anyone
that teaches or believes that their faith is the product of
man's own will, they're confessing that they believe that salvation
is by works. It's of the flesh. And we know
from Christ's teachings that the flesh begets flesh. And the flesh doesn't please
the Lord. The spirit alone begets spirit. meaning that only God
the Spirit can bring forth spiritual fruit. Otherwise, if it's our
flesh that has to believe and fix itself in Christ, then it's
of the flesh and it's of works, even if you call it faith. And
so no man makes himself the elect. It doesn't come according to
man's observation or by his works. Rather, it's something revealed
in the people of God by the Spirit of God. It's a spiritual work. It's spiritual fruit brought
in the people of God by the Spirit. Now, in this chapter, what we
see here in the beginning, as Paul is digging into this truth
and he's making known that which the Lord has revealed to him
concerning election, he first details it looking at Abraham's
seed. He goes to and looks at Abraham's
seed and shows how there's a picture showing to us that God has a
remnant of people that he has chosen for himself. And he looks
at that Old Testament figure given to us in Abraham. And as the chapter comes to a
close, we'll see how he brings it all the way out to Gentiles,
how God has an elect people scattered throughout the world in both
Jew and Gentile nations. Now as we begin looking at this
we see here that the Spirit prior to tracing out for us the beauties
of election. Prior to just dropping this doctrine
upon us, just the knowledge of what God has done in election,
you see how the Lord moves Paul to write of his affection for
his countrymen, his kinsmen, who are unbelievers. And yet
he has a love for them. There's a tenderness and a care
that he has for those who have rejected Christ and rejected
him and mistreated him, spoke evil of him, stirred up strife
and trouble against Paul, had him imprisoned, had him beaten
multiple times. They troubled him, and yet Paul
has a love for these people. And I believe the Lord did that
for a purpose, and we'll get into that as we go. There's a
purpose why the Spirit had Paul say these things here. Now I've
titled this, Children of the Promise. Children of the Promise. And we'll first look at this
disclaimer that Paul gives. I call it a disclaimer. But we'll
first look at these first three verses, where he speaks of the
affection he has for the Jews, his countrymen. And then we'll
see the natural seed of Abraham. And then we'll close with the
children of promise. All right, so let's go to Romans
9. And we'll begin with these first three verses. And I'm going
to give you five things to note about these three verses, things
that I think are a help in some measure. So first, Paul affirms
his sincerity in what he's saying. He's saying, I'm telling you
the truth. As one who loves the Lord Jesus Christ, I'm speaking
honestly to you now. He says, I say the truth in Christ,
I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy
Ghost. Now, it may seem to us a bit
excessive that Paul would say this or have to say this to preempt
what he's about to speak of, but he wants us to understand
that he's very sincere and he's being very honest with us. He's bearing his heart to us
here. And the reason why Paul did this
is he always labored to be honest. He never took the truth of God
and handled it in a flippant, careless manner. And it never
led him to be indifferent to the people that he was ministering
this word to. We don't ever want to do things
which betray our confidence that this is the salvation of God,
that we really do believe God has revealed his salvation and
that he is coming again, and that his wrath shall be poured
out upon the children of disobedience, those who believe not the truth
of God revealed in Christ, It's a serious, sober thing. It really is sobering when you
consider the weight of these things. Paul was very careful
to let it be known that he's being very honest. He's not playing
games. He's not doing this for gain, for any gain in the world. In fact, if anything, he suffered
greatly in the world because of his hope and faith in Christ. And so he didn't want to be charged
by men that he didn't care about them or what he was saying concerning
the truth of God. And so we must always seek to
be honest and open and sincere in what we're saying, even though
there will be those who reject the truth and don't want to hear
it and get offended at the truth of God. And we know just from
any of us who have spoken the truth to any number of people,
we find that there are people that get offended And they will
usually hang it or chalk it up to something that we did or something
in our own person. But oftentimes, when they've
heard the truth, it's because of the truth. It's because of
the gospel that they're rejected. And they don't believe the gospel,
and they don't want to hear it, and it makes them uncomfortable.
And so it's very easy, because we're sinners, it's very easy
to find something to say, ah, I'm not going there, or I don't
believe that, or I don't have to listen to what they're saying
because they've done this. They've sinned in this way or
committed this offense, so now I don't have to hear it. And
they look for justification. So we want to be careful not
to give people any reason, and we do give them reasons. We are
sinners, and we do stumble and fall. And we can't hide that
fact. We have to be honest with the
fact that we do and say foolish things at times. you know, reconcile
that with people if they would give us an opportunity to do
so. But Paul wanted to be honest. And even when he was writing
to the Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 4, 1 and 2, he said, therefore
seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we
faint not, but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty,
not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully,
but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every
man's conscience in the sight of God." So it's not about showmanship
or making it appear as something that it's not, but we want to
be honest with the truth of God, declare what the truth of God
says, Trusting and knowing that the Lord lays that to the heart
of his people. He teaches his people All right. Now the second thing that we
see here is found in verse 2 it shows Paul's sincere affection
for unbelievers those that appear to be unbelievers those that
don't seem to Love the truth or want to hear the truth of
God revealed in Christ He said, verse two, that I have great
heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. Now, Paul's not
saying that he's depressed or walking around under a cloud
of depression. He was joyful in Christ. He did
rejoice in Christ and he was thankful in all things, even
in adversity and troubles and things that revealed his weaknesses.
He rejoiced in the Lord Jesus Christ. But he did feel a burden
for his countrymen and those that he was ministering the gospel
to when he saw their hatred of the truth of God. And he knew
what that was because he himself hated the truth of God. He himself
persecuted Christ by persecuting those that believed him, those
that professed to believe his name. And so he had this burden
because he knew that. We that are Jews have all these
blessings given to us, and we should have been at the forefront
for hearing it and receiving the truth. If it was by the flesh,
they should have heard and been ready to hear it and receive
Christ the Messiah, but they didn't. And so because the wickedness
of man is such, we see that without the grace of God. No man comes
to the Father. No man's going to come to a knowledge
of the truth in spirit, in true faith, born of the Spirit of
God, unless God reveals himself in grace to them and gives it
to them. They might know it in the head
of knowledge, but they won't believe it in the heart. They
won't receive it in truth. And so man naturally hearing
of God, knowing that it's of God, without the Spirit of God,
is going to find a way to reconcile that which has not been revealed
to them by God. And they're either going to reject
it as falsehoods, or they're going to believe it in head only
and not have any true understanding or experience of it. and faith
in the heart, which God does alone. And so Paul was really
sincere about his countrymen. He would say, actually, right
in Romans 10, if you just look there, Romans 10, 1 and 2, he
said, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel
is that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they
have a zeal of God. And we know people that have
a zeal of God, or rather a zeal of religion, really, right? They're
very zealous, and they know what they know, and they're pretty
bold in what they know, right? But it wasn't according to knowledge. That knowledge was the spirit
of God reveals to his people and gives to them and settles
them in Christ. And so we see there, again, that
man can be very zealous in religion, and he can have a lot of works
in religion and works born of religion and yet have no part
in the Lord. And that's a sobering thing to
us, right? Because we have knowledge and
we know the things that we know, but our hope isn't in that knowledge.
because we know it's of Christ. Our hope is in Christ, that he
would have mercy on us. Because even we see our own weaknesses
and failings and unbelief and slowness to believe all that
the Lord has shown us, right? And to appear even faithful in
these things. We see it constantly, our weaknesses
in our stomachs. So these ramifications are very
sobering. And so that's why knowing the
weakness of our own flesh and having experienced it and having
offended others we don't want to offend others we don't want
to be rude or callous in the knowledge of these things and
in the teaching of the mysteries of God revealed to us in Christ
and we want to be patient and long-suffering and tender and
caring and not to do those things in the flesh that would put a
stumbling block in front of our brethren. And we're sorry when
we have offended brethren and done that which has caused them
to say, well, that's not very Christian or that doesn't seem
right. It hurts us, we feel it, and
we don't want to do that. And I don't believe Paul ever
wanted to do things that would put off his countrymen in Israel
by something he did, he just wanted to bear evidence of the
truth of God, he wanted to illuminate the truth of God in the preaching
of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Alright, third, Paul says something
in verse three that's difficult. I mean, I read a number of commentaries,
and they said, I don't really know quite know what to make
of why Paul would say this. In verse three, he said, for
I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren,
my kinsmen according to the flesh. And Paul is saying, if I could,
I would trade places. If I could be the one cut off
and all my countrymen believe on Christ, I would. I would do
that, he says. You can't draw any doctrinal
understanding. It's not to teach us some doctrine
about being able to switch in or out and trade places with
somebody. That's not at all what it's saying. And actually, Moses
would say something very similar to what Paul said here. Over
in Exodus 32, 31, I'll read it. Moses, this is after he comes
down off the mount, having received the law, seeing the idolatry
of the people, dancing around and fornicating, destroys the
tablets of stone that the Lord had just given him, and he returns
back to the Lord and says, oh, this people have sinned a great
sin and have made them gods of gold. Yet now if thou wilt forgive
their sin, write the intercede for them, forgive their sin,
Lord. And if not, blot me out, I pray thee, blot me out of thy
book which thou hast written. And it may be that Moses only
intended it to mean Take my life too, just remove me from this
life if it's not gonna go any further with these people. I
don't know if that's what he really meant or not, but that's
how he said it. And the Lord said unto Moses,
whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my
book. And so when the Lord blots out
a name, we see from this that it's always just. Right? The Lord's revealing His will
and salvation. When one believes, and the person
sitting right next to them doesn't believe, who are we to boast
if we are the one that believes? Because we know it's of God,
it's not of this flesh. Right? And so we're patient,
long-suffering, because how many times did we hear the truth?
and didn't believe it. As well, how slow are we to believe
the truth even now? I remember even when I was a
young man, I heard of grace. I heard of grace, albeit a tiny
piece. Someone came into a Bible study
I attended, and I was there early, and they were there early, and
they said, I heard on the radio that God doesn't love all men.
And I immediately opened my mouth, didn't hear, And say, what does
he mean? What is he saying to back that
up? I just immediately quoted John 3.16. For God so loved the
world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth
in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. And that
settled it, right? And that's a beautiful verse,
and I love that verse. But we see and know now that,
yeah, the Lord has his people scattered throughout the world.
And so the first time I heard it, I didn't believe it. But
I remember even in college when a professor who had obviously
been raised probably in, I think he said he was Presbyterian,
so he had heard of grace. And when he told me that, without
even knowing the truth myself, I began to preach to him from
Romans 9 and condemning my own. Like, I didn't even know the
truth, and yet I was able to preach that truth without even
knowing it or understanding it myself, even at that time. And so the Lord, we were We wait
for the day of the Lord's love and grace to be revealed to us
in his power. And so we trust it's the same
with others as well. And one thing, though, to see
this, the fourth thing I'll say on this that we see from here
is that those that, and I don't think this is necessarily here,
but someone may hear this message or you may know someone and be
talking to them who hears what you're saying. and hears it so
clearly and understands exactly what you're saying concerning
election and predestination and that salvation truly is of the
Lord. And they understand it in their
heads, but they reject it. Why do they reject it? Well,
if that's true, then my sweet grandmother, who was a Catholic,
or my sweet grandmother, who was an Arminian, that means they're
not saved. And it's as if by their rejection
of it, it saves or delivers their grandmother from hell, right? Or someone that you love. And
that's not true. Just because we reject it or
deny the truth of it isn't going to help those in our family who
have already passed away or currently deny and reject it. It's not
going to help them, and it's certainly not going to help you.
the denier and the one who rejects the truth, it just shows the
wickedness. And so we see here with Paul
is that he had a great love for these people, and yet he didn't
deny the truth that God revealed to him. He confessed it nonetheless
and said, I can't deny the truth of God. I wish that they heard
it, but I can't deny what God has revealed and done in me and
revealing his faith in me. So just remember that if you're
speaking to someone that says, well, wait a minute, I grew up
Catholic, or wait a minute, I grew up an Arminian, or wait a minute,
I grew up Muslim, or any other religion or sect of Christianity
or anything. It doesn't matter. When you hear
the truth, believe it. And you will if the Lord is in
it, right? If the Lord's in it, they're going to believe it nonetheless.
But it shows the folly of man. And you see Paul didn't deny
it. And he was in the same predicament. And I'm sure his parents were
once proud of him being a student of Gamaliel. And he knew that
they didn't hear it. I don't know how far we can go
there, but I'm sure there was many people in Paul's immediate
family, too, that didn't believe the truth as well. All right,
now fifth, remembering that the Spirit is the one that had Paul
write these words. here in this very spot. He put these words leading up
to this doctrine of election. And he had Paul say these words
for our edification, for our instruction and learning. And
so we do well to consider, well, why are these words right here
in this letter? Why did the spear put these words
here? And I believe it's because he's
speaking of that which is profound. It's opening up part of the mystery
of the mind of God in salvation and how it's of his will and
purpose according to his good pleasure. And so these words
are actually warranted for us who are looking at election and
considering this truth. And Paul would say when he was
writing to the Corinthians in his first letter, 1 Corinthians
8 verses 1 and 2, he said, we know that we all have knowledge,
and knowledge puffeth up, but charity, love edifyeth. Right? Knowledge, just the knowledge
puffs up. It's love that edifies, and that
will take the knowledge of God and salvation that will, laced
with the love of the Spirit, will be that which edifies and
helps your hearers. Right? It will be a help to them. And so, in other words, we that
know these things and profess these things, let us seek to
have a warm and a tender and a patient heart with these things. Because I don't know about you,
but I know with me and my own flesh, It can be a tool that
you use to hurt people or to seal up a coldness. When you're hurt or offended,
it can be used to justify yourself and to justify a coldness or
to justify some hatred or allowing you to offend them back. because
you know well they're just not one of the elect and they're
just not saved or they don't believe these things and so it
can provoke us to use it and and to become cold and indifferent
and you know whether you yourself have felt a coldness or indifference
or a lack of love because of the truth of election or you
know someone and I'm sure we do you know people that use it
in a very snarky manner. I mean, I can remember when just
coming to a knowledge of these things and going to another congregation,
not in those that meet with us, but those that believe these
things, And this one guy was talking about it, that I believe
became an elder in their congregation, just spoke of it in a very snarky
and abusive way, in an in-your-face kind of way, a very offensive
way, thinking, well, if they're the people of God, they're going
to... They're just going to bow to it anyway. And if they don't,
it doesn't matter how hard I punch them in the mouth with it, either
it's going to reveal that they're not one of the lords or not.
But it can be a means of just being cold and indifferent to
when we minister to those that are hearing us. And Paul here,
we see, had a great tenderness. The doctrine of election didn't
move him to be cold or indifferent or careless with it in any way.
He was very tender and very sincere in preaching it. And I believe
that love is what enabled him to endure much for the sheep,
the true sheep, which will be revealed in God giving them faith
to believe these things. Paul said to the Corinthians,
knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. We know that the Lord's going
to judge his people. Therefore, we're motivated to
preach this word as faithfully and as clearly as we can, because
the Lord's going to judge those that believe not the truth. And
to Timothy, He said in 2 Timothy 2.10, Therefore, knowing that
the Lord has a people, therefore I endure all things for the sake
of the elect, that they may also obtain the salvation which is
in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. if we just put all our weight
on the election and use it in the flesh and just use it as
a reason to be cold or indifferent. And that's not, and I believe
that's why Paul was moved to the spirit to put these words
right here before we get into the depths of this doctrine,
because it reminds us that it should actually make us long
suffering and patient and enduring with our hearers and those that
get offended with us and aren't among us, you know, or leave
us, or whatever it is, rather than, you know, being sons of
Boanerges, right? Sons of thunder and calling down
judgment on them, we should pray, Show them mercy and kindness
and bless them, Lord, and help them and teach them and help
me to not be offensive and teach them if there's ever an opportunity
and endure. And I think that's what we see
here with Paul is that he's very enduring to the fact that the
Lord has shown him these things. And so, in other words, another
thing is don't hide, you know, don't be, don't hide from declaring
the truth, knowing that, well, God has his way of saving people. And, you know, if they don't
hear from me, they'll hear from somebody else. But if you know
the truth and you know that person, I'm not saying shove it down
anyone's throat, but I'm saying look for and pray for opportunities
to speak the truth in love, in the hopes that they hear it.
I think that's a good thought to remember, that it's not in
what we know, it's in whom we know, and He loves us in spite
of all our sin and iniquity, and so therefore, let us labor
in love and patience to Him. In fact, Paul would say in 1
Corinthians 13, verses 1 and 2, He said, though I speak with
the tongues of men and of angels, though I know deep mysteries
and truths, and have not love, I am become a sounding brass
or a tinkling cymbal. If I know the truth, and I'm
just saying it, just to say it, and I'm just saying it in coldness,
How is my voice any different from all the other thousands
of voices of Antichrist and all the false religions, all the
false doctrines that go under the name of Christianity? I'm
just among them as a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal.
I'm just there making racket and noise and adding to the mayhem
with the nonsense that I'm saying because I'm saying it without
any love and it's not helping bring the melodious sound and
beauty of the Lord in his love and affection and his predestination
and separate apart from self a people who loves and insuring
that they hear what God has done for them in the Lord Jesus Christ. That he sent his own Son, spared
him not, but delivered him up for us all, bearing the sins
of his people as a fit sacrifice, the only one that could do it.
Otherwise, we, brethren, are hopeless. As you prayed to begin
the service, we have no hope of salvation if it's not for
Christ, because we have no righteousness of our own. But Christ came faithfully,
willingly, laying down his life, having fulfilled all all the
righteousness of God for His people, bearing them in His body,
faithfully going on the cross, remaining faithful to the Father,
doing all things perfect and well for them, and was put to
death, shedding His blood, and put us, and we died with Him.
We were crucified with Him, and have no more sin or iniquity
anymore to answer for before God, because it's all been answered
in Him. He died our death, and He obtained our justification,
our righteousness, our sanctification, our glorification, and because
of that, the Father called us and attended that call with His
Spirit and pierce your hard hearts and my wicked hard heart, causing
us to hear the glorious Good News, to hear it as it is in
truth, the Word of God, and to give us faith to believe that
Christ did this for an unworthy, worthless sinner like me. Thank you, Lord. So that's the
blessing. So remember that as we get into
this, I'm going to end it there and let you brethren just rejoice
in that beautiful picture of our God's grace to us in Christ. But as we look at this predestination,
as we consider the love, the foreknowledge and love of God
for us, that as we labor here, among one another and in this
community here, Ozark and Nixa and Springfield and Public and
Clever and all the surrounding towns that the Lord would help
us to be loving and to sacrifice of ourselves in that love, knowing
that our God has a people that He loves, a sheep that He laid
down His life for, and pray that the Lord reveal them and bless
them and feed them and comfort them and establish His body here
in this dark corner of the earth. So I pray the Lord will bless
that word, and I'll figure out another title for this, and then
we'll get to the children of promise next week so all right
brethren let's pray and give thanks our gracious lord we thank
you father for your grace your mercy to us in christ lord that
you don't just tell us these things to have a head knowledge
but lord that through your spirit by your spirit by your love to
us you soften our hearts you show us the need for for tenderness
and patience and kindness, even as we see how you have been tender
and patient and kind with us. Lord, bless this people. Lord, pour out your blessings
upon this people, filling us with your Spirit, drawing us
nearer and nearer to Christ, that these truths would be precious
to us and that we would take care with them as we speak to
others, not hiding them, not being dishonest with them, but
that we would faithfully declare them, and be very honest and
sincere with them, and not seek to give any offense in ourselves,
because the gospel is offensive to the flesh alone. Lord, bless
your people. Help those that are weak. Help
those that are suffering. Help those that are troubled.
Help those that are worried and anxious about things. Lord, give
us direction. Lord, comfort us. Let us know
your love and comfort for us. And Lord, help us as we are able,
as your body, to be able to minister and be a comfort to others. It's
in Christ's name we pray and give thanks. Amen.