Well, like this morning's thought,
I've seen something that I've never seen before, and I wanted
to share that with you. It's the same thing. Seems like the
last couple of months, the Lord's been showing me things that I've
read. And I've known, but I've never
seen. And that's a wonderful thing. It's encouraging to me that he's
still talking to me here. Not literally, but he's still
revealing himself in his word to me. And that hymn that we
just, that last hymn that we sang talked about the hues of
color, things being a little more spectacular. I can't, I
just think about my dear beloved brother who's now gone home with
the Lord, Tommy Robbins. He pastored the church where Larry Criss is at. And Tommy
always said, there's nobody who can appreciate the creation like
the believer. And when we came down to my mom's
down in Shell Knob, we came by the 86th Bridge, and I don't
remember Table Rock being so blue. because it was sunny and
it was spectacular. And when our daughter was at
home, we would take opportunities like that, like the rainbow,
and just share God's covenant. I said this to the folks at home,
if the only time your children are hearing the gospel is on
Sunday, then you're not doing your job or you're failing, because
that's an opportunity to just teach your children. because
they're going to go to school and they're going to hear a bunch
of stuff there. So just use that opportunity and plus it's a good
thing to be able to just talk with your children, just open
up and stuff like that. We're going to look at two passages
and I call this two infallible truths. Two infallible truths. And the first one we're going
to be looking at is in Deuteronomy 33. And the second one will be
in Isaiah, but we'll be in Deuteronomy first. Deuteronomy 33. And like I said, like this morning's
lesson, I've never seen these two verses in such humbling and
marvelous light. But before we get started, I
said two infallible truths. And just so we're on the same
page, infallible. So we're correct on the word
usage, infallible. Exact, unerring, perfect, unfailing,
unquestionable, irrefutable, and certain. These two truths
are all that. It's infallible. Deuteronomy
33, and starting in verse 27. Deuteronomy 33. The eternal God is thy refuge,
and underneath are the everlasting arms. And he shall thrust out
the enemy from before thee, and shall say, Destroy them. Israel
then shall dwell in safety alone. The fountain of Jacob shall be
upon a land of corn and wine. Also his heavens shall drop down
dew. Happy art thou, O Israel, Who
is like unto thee, O people, saved by the Lord? The shield
of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency? And thine
enemies shall be found liars unto thee, and thou shalt tread
upon their high places. Now I had looked at this verse
many, many times, verse 27. The eternal God is thy refuge,
and underneath are the everlasting arms, and He shall thrust out
the enemy before thee, and shall say, Destroy them." The first
half of that verse, I was, the everlasting arms, there's a song,
the everlasting arms, and that's all I thought about. Until, the
other day, when that little word underneath, underneath, Once again, Charles Haddon Spurgeon
says, God, the eternal God, is Himself our support at all times. Now, the older you get, and Levi, it's coming, it's coming, the older you get, When you can't bail yourself
out, when you can't pull the wallet out and say, well, I'm
in trouble, I'm going to take care of this. Or let's say the
kids get in trouble. And you start to ache. Start to have more surgeries.
Stuff starts to happen. Hits you upside the head. You're
not expecting it. You don't know how you're going to recover.
All these things, you know, I used to recover a lot quicker. A lot
quicker. And so this word underneath meant,
means so much more than I've ever known. What I was taken
with is specifically underneath. It means beneath. As opposed to just looking at
the everlasting arms. But it's taken all together.
But I was taken with the word underneath. Now I ask you, and
I've asked myself and been confronted more lately with these issues,
is there any time or is there ever any circumstance or situation
when we are not being uplifted, helped, or carried by our near
kinsman redeemer? Like I said, when you're young,
stuff happens, You just may do something. You may not consult
the Lord, and you just do something. Well, I can handle that. And
you get up on a ladder, and then you fall off the ladder, and
then you're in the hospital. Whatever. You don't think about stuff. You
just do. But to older, we get in grace. We're not so sure. of ourselves. As a matter of
fact, we begin to become less and less. We put no confidence
in the flesh. And I know the scripture says
that, and it says that to all believers, regardless of age. The Lord redeems you when you're
10 years old, or the Lord redeems you when you're 90 years old.
We're not to put any confidence in the flesh. But we do. We do. He is ever assisting, ever bearing
us up under the weight of sin, under the weight of ourselves,
or under the weight of trouble. No matter how low we fall, or
feel, or appear, Christ is lower still. He is beneath us by the
everlasting arm. Yet He was ever tempted like
we, yet He did not sin. We may be pulled and tugged hard
by sin, yet underneath us are his everlasting, sovereign, supreme,
and gracious arms of forgiveness and eternal peace. We may fall
even to the uttermost, but does not the scripture say, I believe
it's in Hebrews, yet he saves to the uttermost all them who
trust. So you could be at uttermost, you could be in the valley, you
could be on the top of the mountain, Your son, I said, did you do
Mount Fuji? He said, I climbed it. You may
be up there, or you may be in the valley. Becca, you may be
somewhere in between. You may be in a desert place.
But underneath, underneath are his everlasting arms. This safety,
this securing, ever-forgiving net is under us at all times. the week, no, the couple days
after Royce was born, and it may have been, I don't know how
long you were in the hospital, but I got a picture. I got a, not
one of Snapchat, but it was a text sent by Levi. And there's Levi,
I think he had the same shirt on, I don't know if he's changed,
but he was there, leaning over, and then there's Christine, and
in her arms, not holding, but the way you hold a child for
safety and security and comfort. She was just like, and just smiles,
a mother holding its child. And us who, our children are
out of the house, sometimes we would like to have that, that
feeling with our children. Whether we realize our frail
spiritual condition, we may think we're doing very well, we may
not even realize how frail we are. Whether we fully realize
our adoption or not, because we doubt often, and whether you
fully recognize that you're in a conflict, we are supposed to
be fully clad, fully armored, or not, our Lord is underneath
us and his arms are placed in such a manner as to afford the
greatest care and the sweetest comfort. That's why he could say in verse
29, Happy art thou, O Israel, who is likened to thee, O people,
redeemed or saved by the Lord. We know we're saved. We know
we didn't assist it. We know we didn't desire it.
We know we couldn't do anything for our salvation. Matter of
fact, we were thwarted at every turn. We know we're saved by
Him. But underneath us, It is the
everlasting arms. Happy, yes we are indeed, knowing
our vile natures, our sinful tendencies, our weaknesses, and
we even know that God did not need to save any. Yet, for reasons
found only in Himself, through the Son of God, enabled by the
Holy Spirit of grace, He is glorified and we are kept safe. We are
kept safe. And I can tell you this from
experience, now I can't tell some of you, you've got a little
bit of age on me, but here lately I can tell you this, aged saint,
when death comes, and we talk about death more now, my wife
and I, than we ever have because of situations. And stuff becomes,
it doesn't become, you know, I want this, I want that, then
it's like, I don't care about that. You know, I don't care
about these things. You just want one another and
you want to serve Christ together. It really becomes, your vision
of faith, if I can say it in such a way, becomes very focused.
Because we don't know what tomorrow brings. We really don't. We think
we do, but we don't know what tomorrow brings. I can tell you
this age of saint, I can tell you this if you're a young saint.
If you're just starting out. If you've got little children.
Underneath our feeble frame of dust, are His strong, majestic
arms to raise us up in Heaven's glory in the Resurrection. He's underneath us. He's going
to raise us up. And we know what Heaven's glory is. That's Christ. Let me read. Oh, I am my Beloved's and my
Beloved's mine. He brings a poor vile sinner
into His house of wine. I stand upon His merit. I know
no other stand. Not even where glory dwelleth
in Emmanuel's land. The bride eyes not her garment,
but her dear bridegroom's face. I will not gaze at glory, but
on my King of grace. Not at the crown he gives, but
on his pierced hand. The Lamb is all the glory. The
Lamb is all. Christ is heaven. Christ is all
the glory of Emmanuel's land. That's what we know. We know
that. That's why we gather together.
We do this when we have Lord's Supper, Lord's Table. Do this
in remembrance of me. It's not Sovereign Grace Church Jackson.
It's not Grace Baptist Church of Daniel. It's the Lord's Supper
at that place. It's open communion. If you're
a believer, you have the privilege to partake. See, hands pierced,
feet pierced, body broken. For you, for you indeed. Well, I think about a situation
when we had our daughter and she was three, four maybe. I had gotten a used Beater Chevy
pickup. couple hundred dollars and all
I was gonna fix it up and do this and that. And where we live,
we live, you know, it's on a hill and the street comes around,
there's no houses, it's outside in a rural area, and it falls
off. There's a ditch, you know, starts
off about six feet and goes to 20-25 feet and it's just a ditch.
Boom. I was working on the brakes and
and I didn't put the emergency brake on and Kara had got in
the front cab and I was working in the back. Tailgate was laid
out and she grabbed it and pulled it in neutral and there she goes. She starts heading and I'm grabbing
onto the tailgate and it's just dragging me. I got my feet and
it's just dragging me and I can't stop it unless I roll myself
in front of the tire and didn't think about that and I'm hanging
on to it and she's just I see a little blonde hair turn look
she's petrified and I had to let go and I'm running I'm trying
I run next to it I tried to grab her but she had the door closed
the other door was open And as that truck went and went down
in that ditch and it turned sideways, I could just see in my mind her
falling and hitting and then just being crushed and killed.
All this went through in about five seconds. And I just screamed,
I just said, hang on to the steering wheel. And she hung on the steering
wheel. And when I got down to the vehicle,
I opened up the door and she was laying on the other door
looking up and just, we were all bawling. We didn't plan that. Is God still sovereign? I look
back at it now, and she survived. God's still sovereign. But if
she hadn't of, how difficult would that have been? Yet, underneath
me, underneath my weakness, how was I going to bear that? How
could any parent, how can you take that? Underneath are His
everlasting arms. That's why. That's how you can
take it. That's the first infallible,
irrefutable, perfect truth. No matter where you go, how you
feel, good or bad or whatever, if you're one of His, If you
see that you are one of His whom He has saved, has called and
quickened through the preaching of the gospel, through the vicarious
death and the substitutionary work and accomplishments of Christ
and Christ alone, not Him plus you adding something, not you
plus believing, not you plus repenting, but Christ alone, underneath, underneath. However low you fall, He's underneath. Didn't he come down from glory
and mingled with worms? Maggots is the word in Isaiah.
That's what we are. That's infallible. Turn to Isaiah
49. Why are we, his people, underneath
God's arms? Why? What is the fountainhead
of this truth? Well, it's found in the second
irrefutable, unquestionable, unerring truth. He is underneath
us, protecting and holding us because of this here. And I've
never seen this. Never seen this. Like this, Isaiah
49, verse 13-16, Sing, O heavens, and be joyful, O earth, and break
forth into singing, O mountains, for the Lord hath comforted His
people by letting us know He's underneath us. And we'll have
mercy upon His afflicted. But this is what we say in our
flesh. So often, the Lord's forsaken me. My Lord has forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking
child that she should not have compassion on the son of her
womb? It's happened, and it will happen. Yes, they can. That they
may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Verse 16, Behold, I, God
Almighty, through the person of Christ. In the unction of
the Holy Spirit, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands. Thy walls are continually before
me. Now it doesn't say, this is what
I always thought it said, and this is scriptural because you
can find it in other places. Our names are written. upon him. It's stated that way
in other places. It doesn't say our names, though
that's included. It says us. I've never seen that. Thee. I, God the Father, have graven
thee. Thee. This is Jehovah's response to
our Inquisition is why we are said to be so protected and secured
and safe under the mighty God's arms. This thought is too wonderful,
it's too magnificent for me. He says, behold, verse 16, behold,
notice, listen to what follows. This is honey out of the rock.
This is sweet balm and gilead. This is true ointment for the
weary soul. Let us narrow our vision by faith
and lay hold of the Scriptures before us. He has engraven us upon the palms
of His hand. He didn't say, the text doesn't
read, Thy names, but Thee. God the Father, God the Son,
and quickened to our understanding, God the Holy Spirit says, The
word is scribed. His hands were pierced, scribed. He has us, us, our very person,
our nature, who we are, our sin. He has inscribed us upon his
person. You see how particular and how
specific this substitution is on our behalf. It's not a nebulous,
it's not just a legal, it is a legal transaction, but it's
much more than that. He became sin for us that we
might be made the righteousness of God in Him. He has us inscribed
upon Himself. Christ was wounded for our transgression,
Christ was pierced, His hands and feet, for our corruptions. Turn to Psalms of Solomon chapter
8. Psalms of Solomon chapter 8. And verse 6. Set me as a seal upon thine heart,
as a seal upon thine arm, for love is strong as death. Jealousy
is cruel as the grave. Thereof are coals of fire which
hath a most vehement flame. Set me as a seal upon thine arm. This is the church speaking to
her beloved. Set me as a seal upon thine arm. As a seal upon
thine arm. We're not talking about a tattoo.
A piercing. In Deuteronomy chapter 33. Deuteronomy
chapter 33. Verses 1, 2, and 3. And this
is the blessing, you better believe it, is wherewith Moses, the man
of God, blessed the children of Israel before his death. And
he said, The Lord came from Sinai and rose up from Seir, and unto
them He shined forth from Mount Paran. And He came with ten thousand
saints from His right hand, and went a fiery law for them. Yea,
He loved the people. All His saints are in thy hand. Take a sit. a whole different
meaning. We're safe because no man can pluck us out of the Father's
hands. And that's how I always looked
at it. Just that. But we're impregnated, if I can
use that word, inscribed in His hands. In His hands. This glorious substitutionary
accomplishment of Christ The Lord is so complete, so satisfying
to His Father, it affords us a total and perfect righteousness
that He has graven us into His hands. This is not a tattoo.
It's not a work which can be erased, because you can erase
tattoos now, if you have been able to. It cannot be nullified
or void, but it's a piercing and etching into Himself. Bone of our bone, flesh of our
flesh. We sing that song, and can it be that I should gain
an interest in the Savior's blood? Yes, I tell you, you who are
graven in the palms of His hand. Away with such small thoughts
of God, trying to save, if you will let Him. Or if you will make your puny
decision for Jesus, away with such thoughts. It's blasphemous,
it's dishonors what He has done, what He became. God forbid. God is upon His throne, reigning
and ruling and saves whomever so ever He will. He engraves
our person, our image, our case, our circumstances, our sins,
our temptations, weaknesses, our wants, our needs, everything
about us And all that concerns us are there, are there. Luke chapter 24. Luke chapter 24. And verse 25, Then Christ said
unto them, O fools and slow of heart, to believe all that the
prophets have spoken. And this is the summation of
what all they've spoken. I know some people will use it
for Bible trivia, the prophets. They'll use it to trivialize
the Scripture. They'll use it to get points
and gain affections and attention. But all the prophets have spoken
is verse 26, ought not Christ to have suffered these things
and enter into his glory? It's about substitution. It's
about him performing all things necessary for us who could never
do such things. And I'll tell you, well, we've
been going through Galatians in Bible class Sunday morning. And the reason why Paul is so
upset with the brethren, there's I think three churches in Galatia,
not just one, there's a couple churches in Galatia. The reason why he's
so upset with the Judaizers who are trying to legalize Christ
plus something is because we're talking about
the very blood of Christ. And he says in the first chapter,
he says, I marvel that you are so soon removed. He says you're
removed from the gospel, but that's not what he says. He says,
I marvel that you are so soon removed from him. That's how important that's the
difference between. Correct teachings and incorrect
teachings and baptisms and faiths, different things, we're not talking
about, well, you know, we're all going to the same place,
we're all we're all working for the same. No, no. Paul's upset. He said, if anybody comes preaching
any other gospel and uses the most... It's a triple negative. I think
it's the only place to use it. Let them be accursed. Accursed. Triple negative. I marvel that you are so soon
removed from Him. And that's what happens. Well,
people come and go. We've seen people come and go
in Jackson. They say, well, we're going to do this, we're going
to do that. And you're not going to hear the gospel. Well, yeah,
they preach the gospel. I know. They're not preaching
the gospel. Oh, we can learn more about God through church
history. All the different excuses I've heard at one in the morning,
three in the morning. It usually comes late at night.
You know, get a phone call about ready to go to bed. Well, we're
not going to come anymore. Why? We think we can learn more
somewhere else. Okay. But my responsibility as
pastor, my responsibility as a believer is to tell you about
Him. Him. So here in Luke, and beginning
at Moses, and all the prophets, that's pretty well everything
that's been written. He expounded unto them all things
concerning, all things in the scriptures concerning himself. Christ is speaking here. He's
about to reveal himself to those two on the road to Emmaus. And
they drew nigh unto the village, and where they went, and he made
as though he would have gone further, but they constrained
him, saying, Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the
day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with
them. And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he
took bread, and blessed it, and break it, and gave it to them,
and their eyes were opened, and they knew him, and he vanished
out of their sights. Verse 34, they were so excited,
they rose at the same hour, and they went to tell the other eleven,
and they said, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared unto
Simon. And they told what things were done in the way and how
he was known of them and breaking the bread. And as they thus spake,
Jesus himself stood in the midst of them and said unto them, Peace
be unto you. But they were terrified and frightened
as supposed they had seen a spirit. And he said unto them, Why are
you troubled? And why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold
my hands and my feet. I'd never seen that either. Here's
proof. You are engraven in my hands. Behold, my hands and my feet,
it is I. Handle me, for as a spirit, not
flesh and bone, as you see me. And when he had thus spoken,
he showed them his hands and his feet, pierced, etched, not stamped, Oh, such grace given. Oh, such
mercy received and such pardon delivered unto us. I rebuke myself and I rebuke
you for going back to verse 14 and saying, but we said the Lord
hath forsaken me and my Lord hath forgotten me. Don't do that. Don't bring reproach to Christ.
Don't bring reproach to the church. He has engraven us in the palms
of His hands. And He says in another place,
He will never leave nor forsake us. Because these two infallible
truths. He's underneath us. And in case you question, Body bruised, body broken. This
is my body. It's broken. This is my blood
which we shed. And He showed them. He showed
them. The hands and the feet. And I believe, perhaps making
reference to this, Behold, I have graven Thee upon the palms of
my hands. You are continually before me. And that's a blessed
thing. He's continually before His Father's
throne, interceding. on our behalf. And there's not
a moment, and we'll realize this as we get a little older, there's
not a moment that we don't need His intercessory work for us. And you're going to talk to me
about law? And that's what Paul, you go back to Galatians, you're
going to talk to me about you were justified by the free grace
of God and now you're going to go back to the law? And if you
look at Galatians, he didn't break it down like the contemporary
theologians. He didn't say, oh, it's ceremonial,
moral, civic. No, it's law. Christ is the end
of the law. That's why we're not under law.
That's why we're not going to be judged again. Well, we're
going to stand before a throne. Yeah, but is the sentence getting
ready to come down? Christ is going to say, no. I
took his place. There's no sentence against him.
It can't be. And he also says we haven't got
there. We're like in the middle of the second chapter. As many
as this rule, you talk about a rule of life. You got a rule
of life? No. He's fulfilled it for me. That's antinomian. If you haven't
been called an antinomian, you probably haven't preached the
gospel. That's lawless. Well, how can we be lawless when
he says he's put his law in our hearts? We're not without law. just what
the legalists, what the Judaizers are trying to do to the Galatians.
And Paul said, I wasn't going to, he said, if not for one moment,
I wasn't going to give them space for one minute to say what they,
no, you're wrong. You're trying to add to the work
of Christ and that's obnoxious because he's already said, I've
engraving you in the palms of my hand and it is finished. What's finishing? Ask the kids. They know what finished means.
It's done. You don't do anything. And such is our Redeemer. Such
is the grace found in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's close in
prayer. Father, we're so grateful for
You, who You are, and what You've done. The things that You reveal
to Yourself about Yourself in the Scripture, we're just in
awe We revere You. We reverence You. We're so thankful
that reasons found only in Yourself, You sent the Lord Jesus Christ
to suffer, bleed, and die a death on a tree, a horrible death,
a horrible physical death and spiritual agony for Your people,
whoever they may be. I don't know, Father. I know
what they're called in Scripture, but I can't tell, so I will tell
of you over and over and over again, as long as there's audience. But Father, may we realize that
your arms, they are underneath us, and they're everlasting arms,
they're sovereign arms, they're majestic arms. And the reason
why they're there is because you placed us, you pierced our
names, our very persons in the palms of your hands, through
your work. And your work is pure, your work
is perfect. There's no air, there's no misrepresentation. With you,
there's only perfection. There's nothing sure in this
world, but the truth of the gospel is sure, and who you are is sure,
and what you've done is sure. Father, may we just be found
faithful, serving you and worshiping you, and rejoicing you and giving
you all glory. We ask it in your name. Amen.