Morning everybody. I'm going
to be reading Romans 6, 1-11 this morning. Romans 6, 1-11. What shall we say then? Shall
we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall
we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not
that so many of us, as were baptized into Christ, were baptized into
his death? Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism into death. That like as Christ was raised
up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also
should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together
in the likeness of his death, we shall also in the likeness
of his resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man
is crucified with him. that the body of sin might be
destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he
that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ,
we believe that we shall also live with him. Knowing that Christ
being raised from the dead dieth no more, death hath no more dominion
over him. For in that he died, he died
unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise
reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but
alive unto God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Lord, thank you. We thank you
that you give us this place to worship, Lord, and and people
to fellowship with, Lord. We pray for Brother Eric this
morning that you'd provide him with the words to say, Lord,
that you'd send us your spirit to look to your son, Lord, and
just rest there and take comfort in him. Amen. Alright, let's open up our Bibles
to Mark chapter 1. Mark 1. We'll pick up in verse
14 and 15. Mark 1, 14, and 15. Alright,
Mark 1, 14. Now after that, John was put in prison. Jesus came into Galilee, preaching
the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is
fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent ye, and
believe the gospel. Now this morning we're going
to look at the timing of our God and establishing the kingdom
of God in the hearts of his people. All right? And our title is The
Timing of God. And we'll have three divisions.
The timing, what is the kingdom of God, and the message of the
Kingdom Gospel. So, the timing of our God is
no accident. He does everything by purpose,
according to His plan and His determination, as it pleases
Him. He's sovereign, so He can do
whatsoever He pleases to do, and He's omniscient, which means
He knows all things. There's nothing that's not known
to God. He knows all things. So, our God isn't subject to
chance. There's things that seem like
chance in this life or in this world, but our God is not subject
to chance. He does everything by purpose.
He does it by a determinate counsel in His own mind that pleases
Him, because He's doing all things right and all things well. But
He's doing things according to His time, according to His purpose. And His timing and His purpose,
it instructs us. Even His timing, which He does
things, teaches us and instructs us things that we need to know
and understand about him or that we benefit from him. Turn over
to John 11. John 11, we'll see this, an example
of this anyway. John 11, verse 6. We read, When Jesus had heard,
therefore, that Lazarus was sick, he abode two days still in the
same place where he was. So he hears Lazarus is sick,
but doesn't immediately go down there. He stays two more days
where he was. And he tells his disciples that
we're going down there to wake him up out of sleep. He has to
finally explain to them in verse 14, then Jesus said unto them
plainly, Lazarus is dead. And then he says this, verse
15, and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there. He wasn't
there because purposely he stayed there two more days. I'm glad
for your sakes that I was not there to the intent ye may believe. So the Lord even uses time and
patience to teach us things that we might learn and believe Him,
trust Him even more. So our Lord is very purposeful
in what He does and what He does and when He does it is always
for the good of his people. It's always for our good. Do
you believe that? Do you trust God? Do you believe
that what he does is for your good? You know, we beat ourselves
up about many things, you know, when things go wrong and things
start to unravel in our lives and fall apart. You know, we've
made plans and they begin to all fall apart and we get really
hard on ourselves, especially if you're predisposed to being
a perfectionist. and you want to control things, and you start
really getting down on yourself, and you begin to think even things
like, you know, God's getting me for my sin, he's punishing
me. I know I did this, and I did that, and I did this thing, and
now he's punishing me for my sin. You know, I'm getting what
I deserve, but don't just assume that everything that's falling
apart is because you're being punished for sin. God's not punishing
us for our sin. Our sin's been dealt with in
Christ. He's going to teach us, though. He's going to instruct
us and grow us in His Son, Jesus Christ. Remember, He's conforming
us to His Son. It's His will that we should
be conformed to His Son. Turn over to Romans 8, Romans
8, and look in verse 24, and we'll see how the Lord teaches
us even with time. He teaches us with time. I was also going to make a point,
you know, sometimes we beat ourselves up thinking God punishes us for
sin, but it's even worse when we think, I deserve better than
this, right? It's even worse when we think
more highly of ourselves and we think, I shouldn't be going
through this because I deserve better than that. No, that's
not it either. We don't deserve better. If we
got what we deserve, things would be a lot more miserable for us.
But Romans 8, 24, for we are saved by hope. We're saved by hope, but hope
that is seen is not hope for what a man seeth. Why doth he
yet hope for? So it makes me think about when
I was a child on Christmas morning and I'd go downstairs hoping
for a certain gift. When I was all done with certain
presents being unwrapped, I would find a certain present that I
had been hoping for for many months. But once I opened it
and I had the present I was looking for, I stopped hoping for it.
That's what he's saying. what you've been hoping for.
You don't continue to hope for it because you have it now, right? So one of the reasons for the
gaps, as we would call them, gaps in the blessings of the
Lord, that we would perceive in our flesh that why aren't
things going so well anymore for me? We perceive these things
and think that there's a negative or something about that. But
The reason is, though, the reason why we go through certain seasons
is that we might learn hope, that we might have hope in waiting
upon the Lord, in looking to the Lord, not having everything
come to the hand of the flesh in the timing that we want, the
way we think it should work. These things get frustrated often.
That we might learn hope, that we might learn not to trust in
ourselves because that's what happens is everything starts
going the way you planned it, you start to think, I'm doing
really good right now, and everything's going my way, and so the Lord's
gonna teach us to hope, and that he's our provider, that he does
all things for us, that he does all things well, not we ourselves
do all things well for us. And so he says in verse 25, but
if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait
for it. Patience is a valuable gift.
I remember as a young man, the Lord was very merciful and kind
to me. I'm not saying I was a Christian,
but he was very kind to me and revealing to me that God is,
there is a God in heaven. I would pray and the Lord would
answer that prayer so that I knew it was the Lord and I knew there
is a God in heaven. And he's revealed himself in
his son Jesus Christ. Now I hardly knew anything but
I remember very distinctly he was merciful to answer prayers
when I deserved no mercy and no grace and no kindness that
I knew there was a God but as he revealed his gospel to me
he began to not answer my prayers so immediately to where I began
to hope and to wait patiently for his answer to me and I began
to sit through that for a time and he was teaching me hope and
he was teaching me patience through that so that now even now I know
God can do all things when he wants immediately if he so wills
and there are times when the Lord does it and answers a prayer
I say a prayer Michelle's looking for a job and we prayed we were
nervous and worried and brought to that point where she needs
a job and we prayed and the very next day phone calls came in. You know, the Lord is able to
do that. Not that she has a job yet, but
she has the interviews lining up, and so we could see how the
Lord will, you know, you think for a time it's all going to
work a certain way, but he'll bring you always to that point to where
you're going to hope and be patient and wait on him. Verse 26, likewise
the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should
pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession
for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. So the Spirit's going
to intervene, and when the Spirit intervenes, you can be sure of
this, He's going to lead you to Christ. He's always going
to lead you to the throne of Christ, where you're crying out,
you're pouring out your heart to Him. You don't even know what
to pray, or how to pray it, or how to say it, but brethren,
the Holy Spirit knows what to pray. We have the One dwelling
in us who knows the mind of God Himself, and He knows what to
pray, how to pray, and what we need so that we're going to learn
what the Lord is showing us and what he's teaching us. He that
searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the spirit
because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the
will of God. So that's a blessing. Now listen,
verse 28. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God. to them who are the
called according to His purpose. So believe Him and trust Him
that He's working all things for our good. You may not get
what the flesh thinks is what we need and what's for our good,
but we're going to learn and be instructed in the ways of
our Lord and see that He is God and that He's our provider and
that Christ is all. And you get that, you got everything. If you understand that Christ
is all, you have all you need in this life and it'll be It'll
be good, well for your soul. so as to teach us and to mold
us after the image of His Son Jesus Christ. So to that thought,
to that purpose, that we are being conformed to the image
of Christ, consider Hebrews 5, Hebrews 5 verses 7 through 9,
which says, Who in the days of His flesh, this is speaking of
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who in the days of His flesh,
when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong
crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death,
and was heard in that He feared, Though he were a son, yet learned
he obedience by the things which he suffered. And being made perfect,
he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that
obey him. Now we're not the Lord and Savior
of the people. We're not the Lord and Savior.
Christ is our Lord and Savior. And he is blessed of God, and
he did that work. And I'm not trying to say that
we're like him, but we're not any better than him. And if he
learned obedience through the things that he suffered, you
could be sure that if we're being made after the image of Christ,
that we are going to suffer. We're going to go through things
that are going to scrape and tear this flesh and bring this
flesh to the end of itself. He's going to show us our weakness
and our inability and our insufficiency to do things so that we might
learn of a surety that Christ is all. That Christ is all. The
flesh isn't going to like it. The flesh would never go down
the way that the Lord takes us, but he leads us down the path
that we don't know. According to the flesh, we don't
know or understand why the Lord does the things that he does,
but it's always bringing us to his Son, Jesus Christ, and the
new man that he creates in us is always happy for it. So that
in the new man, we say, it was for my good. It was for my good,
and I'm thankful that the Lord did what he did because I needed
it. And he delivered me from that, and that, that thing which
was not profitable for me and he did it all in such a way I
never would have done but it's for my good and I'm resting in
Christ now so he does it so the Savior learned in that way we're
no better than him we too will learn in that way now turn over
to 2nd Peter 1 2nd Peter chapter 1 and go to verse 3 and we see
here how the Lord It pleases the Lord. It's the will of the
Lord to grow us and teach us in the knowledge of our Savior,
Jesus Christ. We'll see that word, knowledge, I'll show you
in verse 3, and then we'll look down in verse 8 as well. But
it says, according as His divine power hath given unto us all
things that pertain unto life and godliness. So God's the one
doing it. He's given us everything we need
for life and godliness. It's coming from God, not from
this flesh. Through, listen, through the
knowledge of Him that hath called us onto glory and virtue. There's
that one book end, knowledge. Now look at verse eight. For
if these things be in you and abound, and we'll look at them
in a minute, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor
unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. So you
see that knowledge there in the beginning and the end. So what
is he doing there to grow us in knowledge, to make this knowledge
that we have of Christ profitable to us? It says verse four, whereby
are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises. So we're
hoping to see these promises that are given to us that by
these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, being conformed
to Christ, being partakers of the divine nature, having escaped
the corruption that is in the world through lust, And beside
this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, right?
And then Peter begins to list these virtues of our God as building
blocks that he's adding to us, that he's growing us in and adding
to us. It says, add to your faith virtue,
and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and
to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness
brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity or love. So
that what he's doing, he's saying, so that you're not going to be
barren or unfruitful in this knowledge that God has saved
us by the precious blood of his son, Jesus Christ. Again, he's
not left us in darkness. He's not leaving us to do the
things we did in the flesh previous to what he's revealed to us that
he's done for us in Christ. And so he's making us fruitful
by showing us what he's done for us. And he's teaching us
and growing us in the grace and knowledge of our savior, Jesus
Christ, through the various sufferings and the trials and the afflictions
that we go through, because in those things we're always seeing,
it's not by the strength of my hand, it's not by the wisdom
of this mind, but it's by the grace and the power and the mercy
of God through the Spirit teaching me and showing me that in whatever
circumstance I go through, God is always exalting and revealing
Christ to me. He's showing me the Lord Jesus
Christ and He's making Him precious so that my heart doesn't go back
to this world and the things of this world, but he's making
Christ more precious to me, so that he's bringing me nearer
and nearer and nearer to him, right? So he's growing us in
that grace and knowledge. And I say all that, brethren,
that was a long introduction to bring us to verse 14, Mark
1, 14. It says, now after that John was put in prison, now after
that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee. So that whole thing is that brethren,
when you find yourself shut up and in prison and in darkness
and everything's going wrong, that's of the Lord. Don't think
that what is going on, God's punishing me, God's getting me,
you know, I'm going to be destroyed. Yeah, we do feel that way. And
when we sin, there's times where we feel like we are cut off and
such vagabonds that we have no light in us and not worthy of
the Lord. But he still uses even that. When we fall to that depth, he's
still using all that to show us the preciousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. So when you're in prison, not
physically, but spiritually, if you're in prison physically,
you probably know why you're there. But even when things are
going wrong in your you know, spiritually just shut up to the
things of the Lord and you're wondering why has this happened,
you know? And you might think, now we have a pastor, why are
things starting to go wrong? Now I hear the gospel more consistently
than I've ever heard it each week. Why is everything going
wrong? Why is it worse now for me than before? Why is everything
so hard and so difficult? But It's not that the Lord has
left us. It's not that the Lord has forsaken
us. Not at all. He's not angry with
us at all. It's that now He's got you where you can hear the
gospel and He's going to grow you and teach you in all things
so that you might know Christ more and more. Trust Him through
it. I remember, I don't know if it's
hit you yet, but I do remember very much, Clay, Clay's saying
to us that we're gonna, to the men sitting there in the pulpit,
and it's to the women too, but just saying you're gonna go through
it. You think that if the Lord's
gonna establish a light here, a gospel light here, that you're
not gonna have things to deal with and go through trials and
temptations and sufferings and afflictions that you're gonna
go through. It's not necessarily easier. It's only easier in a sense that
He's going to reveal more brightly to you the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's going to teach us and instruct us and just hope in Him and wait
patiently in Him and trust Him. I wouldn't be standing to you
here today had I not gone through the things that I went through
after we had a pastor. After we had a pastor. I was
many years in the gospel, but it was after the Lord gave me
a pastor that then I really was put through the wringer and went
through various trials and tribulations, more so than I'd ever thought
I could go through or endure, but He does it, so trust Him. Trust Him through it all, through
the process as He establishes us and builds us and grows us
on the foundation that is our Savior Jesus Christ. He's going
to reveal Him to you more brightly, more wonderfully. and will grow
together in our Savior, Jesus Christ. He's precious. He loves you. He loves his people,
and he's going to grow you and establish us in Christ. He's
going to reveal him more, more brightly to us. Peter said, humble
yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may
exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon him, for he
careth for you. Trust Him. He knows exactly what
He's doing. He knows how to teach us and
grow us. Paul said this in Philippians
4, 11 through 13. He said, I have learned in whatsoever
state I am therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased
and I know how to abound everywhere. And in all things I am instructed
both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer
need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Did Paul know that immediately? You think he just, you know,
was saved and the Lord just gave him that immediately? No, he
learned that patiently in hope, right? He began, he started off
blind, having scales, thick scales on his eyes so he couldn't even
see. And where was he found? Praying, praying, begging for
the Lord to have mercy on him and to save him. He had scales
and the Lord in his time dropped those scales off his eyes and
he saw clearly again. So it's the same thing with us.
You might be going through tough times and troubles and hardship,
but trust him, trust him. He'll reveal himself to you.
Those scales of this earth and this flesh are going to fall
off and you'll see him more brightly, more sweetly, more joyfully in
his time. So be patient in the Lord. Even
John the Baptist was fine with it. He said before he was in
prison, he said, I must decrease that he must increase. And we've
probably said that too. And he's going to do it. You
and me will decrease and he will increase. He said, he that cometh
from above is above all. And it's true. We are not greater
than our master. If he suffered, we'll suffer.
If he learned, to trust in the Lord. If he learned obedience
through the things which he suffered, we'll learn as well. The Lord
will teach you. You're going to suffer. We all
suffer. Everybody suffers, but we're going to learn Christ in
our suffering. That's the blessing, the joy, that we're going to
learn Christ more sweetly, more preciously. All right. What is
the kingdom of God? He says in verse 14, Now after
that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee preaching
the gospel of the kingdom of God. Now let me just say this,
the kingdom of God is the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven
is the kingdom of God. That kingdom of heaven is a term
used in Matthew 3.2 by John the Baptist. And our Savior used
the kingdom of heaven in Matthew 4, 17, but it's the same thing. So what is the kingdom of God
or the kingdom of heaven? And I say that because there's
people that try to divide and say one is one thing and one's
another thing, meaning different people. It's all the same kingdom. We're all the subjects and servants
of our one Savior, Jesus Christ. He broke down that middle wall
of partition. There's no Jew and Gentile. We're all one in
the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Kingdom of God or the
Kingdom of Heaven, it's the rule and the reign of the Messiah,
Jesus Christ. It's to be under His rule, His
dominion, His reign and His power. So that He's saying, He that
is light, He that is salvation of His people has come. He's
arrived. The Kingdom of God is at hand.
And I think you'll see it if you turn over to Matthew 4, because
this is the parallel passage to Mark 1. Go to Matthew 4, verse
12. There's a prophecy that Matthew
quotes from Isaiah, so we'll read it. In Matthew 4.12, so
you see it's the same time. Now, when Jesus had heard that
John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee. And leaving
Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the
sea coast in the borders of Zebulun and Naphtalene, which is Naphtali. that it might be fulfilled which
was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, The land of Zebulun and
the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea beyond Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles, the people which sat in darkness
saw great light, and to them which sat in the region in the
shadow of death, light is sprung up. From that time, Jesus began
to preach and to say, repent for the kingdom of heaven is
at hand. So Matthew is tying this prophecy
to this time point, when Christ would come, when Christ began
to preach the gospel saying that time is fulfilled, the kingdom
of God is at hand, he's tying it to that prophecy. So that
what he's saying there is that our Savior, he comes to his people,
and he reveals himself, we who are sitting in darkness and have
no light in us, no knowledge of the true living God, we don't
know how to worship God, the Savior, until the Savior comes
and begins to preach the gospel to us, gives us life and enables
us to hear what's being said, what God has done for his people,
right? And if you look in Isaiah, that
passage comes from Isaiah 9. And in Isaiah 9, there's also
another beautiful prophecy concerning our Savior, Jesus Christ, where
he says, For unto us a child is born. So that we understand
that Christ came, our Savior came in the likeness of our sinful
flesh. He's not unlike us. He came in
the likeness with all the weaknesses and the infirmities and being
weak, he emptied himself of his power. might know the feeling
of our infirmities and understand what we go through, that he is
a faithful and a kind and a merciful high priest to us. That's why
we can go to him with all our cares, because he knows the feeling
of our infirmities. Unto us, Isaiah said, a son is
given, so that he is that perfect mediator between God and men. And the government shall be upon
his shoulder, so that we understand he is sovereign He's doing all
things well. There's nothing out of his hand.
As David said in Psalm 22, 28, for the kingdom is the Lord's
and he is the governor among the nations. He's sovereign.
He's the one who's determining what's to be done or not done
as it pleases him. And his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor because he is the wisdom of God. We're not
the wisdom of God. Christ is our wisdom. the mighty
God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, because
Christ makes peace between the Father and his people, right? He establishes peace so that
we might know our God, our true and living God. So Christ alone,
he takes fallen and corrupt man that can bring forth nothing
good or profitable to God, but he creates the new man in us,
formed in the image of Christ, whereby he instructs us and teaches
us so that we bring forth fruit. He brings forth fruit in us,
in spite of these corrupt, wicked, sinful flesh, and He brings forth
fruit from that new man that He's created in us. And so all
these things that we're going through, He's teaching us that
we might sing and declare and proclaim all the glories of our
God and what He's done for a wretched sinner like me. We're not talking
about us, we're talking about what He's done for His people. Verse 7 there in Isaiah 9, 7
says, So Christ now comes there into Galilee and he's proclaiming,
declaring that the kingdom of God is at hand. The time is fulfilled,
the kingdom of God is at hand. It's Messiah's kingdom, the Lord
has done it, and it's marvelous in our eyes. He makes it marvelous
in our eyes. All right. Now the next thing
that we see here is the message, the third and final thing, the
message of the kingdom gospel. So what I want us to see here
is the power, the weight, and the significance of what Christ
is declaring when he says that he came forth preaching the gospel
of the kingdom of God. Now first in verse 15 he says,
The time is at hand. The time is at hand. And I would
say, brethren, sinner, you and me, we had our time. We had the time where we did
the things that we did in our flesh as it pleased us, according
to us, or for you who are religious and went through all the religious
guard, you had your time. right? Man had his time. He received the law ordained
by angels in the hand of a mediator, right? They were all there. All
the angels of God were present when God gave that law to Moses
and it was given to this nation that had it never so good. They
were all there claiming to to say, I will do what the Lord
says, whatever he says, I'm going to do it. He said he had a whole
nation of people, a whole huge big neighborhood of good citizens,
all saying, we're going to keep this law. We got good instruction
in the law of God. We have Moses. We have the priesthood. We're going to do everything
that the Lord says. What did man do with it? Was
he successful? No, he failed. He failed. The
time has come. Christ is saying, you had the
time. and God has shown you without
doubt. You had the law and the prophets
and the priesthood and it couldn't have been given to you any better
and you took it in your flesh and you corrupted it You destroyed
the Word of God. You corrupted it. You defiled
it. All you did was pollute it in your flesh. You're done. Your
time is done. The time now is the Kingdom of
God in the hands of His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the time
now, sinner. So you who have been shown that
you're sinners, you who have been shown your need of Christ,
the time is now, that Christ has come. Christ is the one who
establishes the Kingdom in the hearts of His people. It's not
going to be by the works of our flesh. It's not going to be by
us making ourselves righteous. We've seen what we do with it.
We've destroyed the Word of God. We've corrupted it. We've manipulated
it and used it to our own ends for our own profit and gain and
not for the glory of God. So now the time is Christ has
come. Hear Him. Hear His Word. He's
the one who does all things well. As we read in Romans 3 verse
9, we've proved or charge both Jews and Gentiles that they are
all under sin. As it's written, there is none
righteous, no, not one. They are all gone out of the
way. There's none that understand it. There's none that seek it
after God. They're all gone out of the way. They are together
become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. Their throats My throat, by nature,
all of us, by nature, is an open sepulcher, and with our tongues
we've used deceit. The poison of asps is under their
lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their
feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in
their ways, and the way of peace have they not known. There is
no fear of God before their eyes." So when we hear the law rightly,
We submit to what the law is saying, and it's saying guilty.
You, me, we're guilty before God. That's what the law is saying,
that we can't keep the law the way the law was meant to be kept,
or the way the law must be kept before a holy and a righteous
God. It's to shut our mouths and to shut us up to Christ,
to show us our need of the Lord Jesus Christ. So the time of
our sin and unbelief, it's fulfilled, it's done. The time of our religiousness
and us trying to keep the law and please God, it's done. The
time is fulfilled, the Messiah is here, the Lord Jesus Christ. For he alone establishes true
righteousness and true peace and true holiness in his people
to the glory and praise of our God. Now Christ also says in
verse 15, and the kingdom of God is at hand. so that this
is the one of whom all the prophets wrote." They spoke of this one,
this glorious one, that in him the kingdom of God should be
established in the hearts of his people. When Christ was born
and his parents took him into the temple, there was a man that
met them there. Simeon was his name. And when
he saw that child, he said, this is the salvation of the Lord. The salvation of the Lord. He's a light to lighten the Gentiles,
glory of the people of Israel. This is the salvation of God,
the Lord Jesus Christ. He sent him into this dark world
to save his people from their sins, right? And that's what
all the prophets bear witness to, as Peter said, that through
his name, whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have everlasting life, or should shall receive remission of sins. Whosoever believes in his name
shall receive remission of sins. Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The time is now. The Savior has come and did all
that was necessary to put away the sin of his people. Our Savior
said in verse 15, Repent ye and believe the gospel. repent ye,
and believe the gospel, so that brethren, this gospel is worthy
of all acceptation. This is a worthy saying that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and every heaven-born
sinner Every child of God will be made to say, of whom I'm chief. Because I don't know the things
in your heart, but I know the wicked things in my own heart.
And I am a wicked sinner that could never save myself and never
put away my sins. I could never justify myself
and make up for the wicked things that I've done against my God.
who deserves perfection from Him. And so, Christ came to be
that very perfection, that holiness and righteousness that the people
of God need to stand before God on His throne, who is holy and
perfect and cannot live amongst sin. He makes His people that
clean, that righteous, that perfect. And there is no other way to
be that righteous, that clean, and that perfect. It's by the
blood of Jesus Christ alone. For there is no other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. So that he's
not a good suggestion, he's not a good way to go, he's not a
way of salvation, he is the way of salvation. He is the salvation
that God has provided for the salvation of his people. You
who know yourselves to be sinners, flee to the Lord Jesus Christ.
where He is the provision, the means of forgiveness, the salvation
that God has provided. Just as Simeon said, that's the
salvation of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. And He's sufficient and
able to put away all the sins of the vilest sinner. Whatever
evil thing you've done, His blood is sufficient to cleanse you
from all unrighteousness, to make you perfect and holy to
stand before Almighty God. Even God, when He's on His throne
there judging, all the nations in that final day. You'll have
nothing to fear in the Lord Jesus Christ. So, repent. Repent. Whatever you think of
or have thought of that God is pleased with, give those things
up. He's not pleased with the works
of our hands. He's not pleased with the imaginations that we
had. Repent is to have a change of
heart, a change of thought, a change of mind. of how God saves sinners. He's revealed how he saves sinners.
It's in the person of Jesus Christ. That's the repentance that he's
looking for. Stop thinking it's by your works.
Stop thinking it's by these other thoughts. It's by Jesus Christ.
And believe him. Just believe him. Trust him.
That's how he saves his people. So brethren, the time is now. Repent. believe the gospel. That's
why Christ descended into this world to save his people from
their sins. Rest in him. I pray the Lord will bless it
to your hearts and help you to hear it. No matter what prison
you're shut up in, may you hear the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a
worthy, it is the only gospel worth hearing and trusting in.
Trust Christ. He is sufficient and able to
save his people to the uttermost. Nothing more for you to do. Trust
him. Let's pray. Our gracious Lord, Father, we
thank you for your mercy, your grace, we thank you for your
power. Lord, we ask that your power be displayed here in the
hearts of your people. Lord, break us out of our darkness,
break us out of our prison, break us out of our hopelessness, Lord,
and the corruption of this flesh, Lord. Destroy the works of the
devil in the darkness, Lord, and save us by the precious blood
of your Son, Jesus. Give us life and wash us from
our sins. We pray this in Jesus' name, our Lord and Savior. Amen. Brother Joe will come and close
us in a hymn and then we'll be dismissed. Our closing hymn is going to
be 175, Standing on the Promises. Standing on the promises of Christ
my King, through eternal ages let His praises ring. Glory in the highest, I will
shout and sing, standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing,
standing on the promises of God my Savior. Standing, standing. I'm standing on the promises
of God. Standing on the promises that
cannot fail. When the howling storms of doubt
and fear assail, By the living Word of God I shall prevail,
Standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, Standing
on the promises of God my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing on the promises
of God Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord Bound to Him
eternally by love's strong cord Overcoming daily with the Spirit's
sword Standing on the promises of God Standing, standing, standing
on the promises of God my Savior. Standing, standing. I'm standing on the promises
of God. Standing on the promises I cannot
fall. listening every moment to the
Spirit's call, resting in my Savior as my all in all, standing
on the promises of God. Standing, standing, standing
on the promises of God my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing on the promises
of God. Thank you.