Now if you take your Bible and
turn back with me to Galatians. Galatians chapter 5. Entitle this message, We Belong
to Christ. We belong to Christ. The text is going to be found
in verse 24. that are Christ's. They that are Christ's have crucified
the flesh with the affections and lusts. Now we've gone over
this chapter quite extensively. I'll just give you a recap. Remember verse 13, the apostle
shifts his focus from those who were in error. those who sought
to be saved both by the law and by grace. He'd sum that up. There is no salvation by the
law. Salvation is either by the law
or it is by grace. It is not a mixture. The law
is never intended to be superimposed upon the gospel of God's grace
in Christ. And he makes it very clear that
if you were to superimpose any part of the law to Christ, he
says in verse 4, Christ has become of no effect to you. Christ will
profit you nothing. Whosoever you are, it doesn't
matter who you are. Remember, when the Apostle Peter
made this grave error, even he was rebuked concerning this. And so he finishes this saying,
look, stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made you
free. Free from what? The law of sin and death. You
are free. You are now under the law of grace, under mercy. And
pardon, you are justified, you are sanctified by the work of
Jesus Christ and not by your obedience to the law in any measure. Now then, he's dealt with that
group. Now there's another group in this church who were faithful.
who did not fall or were not duped by the legalists. And so now he addresses them
and he says, brethren, you have been called to liberty, only
use not your liberty as an occasion of the flesh. What was their
occasion of the flesh? It was to look down on those who erred. It was to put stipulations upon
their return. No. And then he begins to lump
us all together with this experience. Every believer has this experience.
When you are born again of the Spirit, the first thing that
happens when you believe is this warfare. A spiritual warfare
ensues the moment you believe. He says this in verse 17, The
flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh,
and these are contrary one to the other, the flesh and the
spirit, the old man and the new man. You that are born again
of God, you know this, I've gone over this several times, that
when you're born again, God gives you a new nature, a new nature. The apostle says, put on the
new man which is created. It wasn't there before, it was
created after God, in true holiness, not fake holiness, true holiness. That new man, put that new man
on by faith because you can't see him. Don't try to look for
him. You'll look in the mirror and
you ain't going to see him. You put him on by faith. He's there.
He's real. You put him on by faith. You
trust. You believe. But the old man,
That which is born of flesh, Jesus said, is flesh. It lives
flesh, it dies flesh. It is the old man in Ephesians
4, he says. Put off the old man and his deeds. Why you got to put him off? Because
he's still here. He's still here. How do we know that? Because
the apostles, when he lists these works of the flesh, He's not telling believers to
look at other people. He's causing them to look within. This is my flesh. These are the
works of my flesh. The flesh that lusts against
the Spirit, these are the works of that flesh. Adultery, fornication,
lasciviousness, uncleanness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred,
variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
envies, murders, drunkenness. That's me. That's me. I don't have to look at you,
I see that in me. And this is what the Apostle
is causing them to do, to humble them. Yeah, you were steadfast
in the faith, but I'll tell you what, you didn't lose this flesh.
You are just as prone to heresy and error as these others that
fail. And he's going to get to that
in a little bit, talking about bearing their burdens. But he's
priming it up right now. But there is a new nature that
is given to every believer, and that is manifest in the fruit
of the Spirit, verse 22. But the fruit of the Spirit is
what? Love. This is also in every believer. Love for Christ. Believer,
do you love Christ? You do. You love Him. Now why is that there? Is that
your fruit? No, that's the fruit of the Spirit.
And I told you, The fruit, an apple doesn't make it an apple
tree. An apple manifests it's an apple tree. Love manifests
you are a believer. It doesn't make you a believer.
It manifests that you have this holy nature. It doesn't make
it holy. The more you love, does it make you holier? No, it just manifests that you are.
You love Him? That's a fruit. And you love
each other, don't you? Why's that? You love him because that's what
he puts in us. And that comes out of us. Joy. Remember, joy is the joy of the
Lord is my strength. It's not this superficial joy.
It's the joy of the Lord. What is the joy of the Lord?
The joy of the Lord is to save you. Isn't that your strength? When you're doubting and fears,
you know what it is? It is my father's good pleasure
to give me the kingdom. Why? Because of Christ. It's
his good pleasure to give me the kingdom. That's my joy. My
joy is Christ. And he said, peace. We talked
about this, peace that passes understanding. What does that
mean? That means this, I don't have to understand anything and
be at peace. Why? Because I know that all
God is doing is for my salvation and my good. It's like a little
child. He doesn't know how his father
works and makes the money to put the food on the table. He's
just at peace that he's going to eat. He's at peace. So am
I. I'm at peace. Knowing this, that
I am going to be forgiven, pardoned, reserved. I have an inheritance
reserved in heaven for me. Incorruptible, undefiled, that
fadeth not away. How are you going to get it?
I don't know. I'm at peace with it, though. I have peace about
it. Why? Because Christ made my peace
by the blood of his cross. Long-suffering? He's long-suffering
with us. Should we not be long-suffering
with each other? How long-suffering is he with you? You see some believer that's
ignorant about something. How long-suffering is he with
your ignorance? Doesn't that cause us to be long-suffering
with each other? Long-suffering. Goodness, I told
you this means kindness. Kindness is not just a feeling
of kindness, but also an act. You can't just feel kind and
say that's kindness. It's not kindness until you actually
do it. You see someone in need, and you say, oh, they need something,
and you turn away and walk away. That's not kindness. It's kindness
to feel that and what? Do it. This is in us to do. This is in God's people. When
we see our brother in need, what do we do? We fulfill the need.
This is the fruit of the Spirit. Goodness. Isn't God good? Isn't
He good to us? Should we not be good to one
another? Isn't that reasonable? Isn't that reasonable? Yes. Faith, we're going over this
one, faith is the gift of God, isn't it? This faith, I can't
have love, joy, peace, meekness, long-suffering without faith.
If I didn't believe in Christ, I couldn't have any of these
things. Faith is a gift of God, isn't it? And faith always endures. And I'm going to go quickly over
these last two. I didn't go very much last time.
I'm going to jump back later on these two, meekness and temperance.
Meekness is a combination of humility and backbone. Meekness
is not weakness. Meekness is an even constant
steadiness. It's seeing things as they really
are. If we see who we really are and
what Christ has really done, we surely would be meek and humble.
It would humble us. If we could really see this.
I wouldn't be able to look down on anybody. If I really see this,
I'd be meek. Moses was the meekest man. You
suppose he was weak standing before Pharaoh? That weakness?
No, he had backbone with it, too. In other words, this backbone
comes with a steadiness. Meekness is a steadiness. Regardless
of what's taking place around you, you know what's real and
true no matter what you see or feel or think. That's meekness. It's humility with backbone.
And temperance is a moderation. rejoicing in those things that
God has given us. So these fruits are all the fruit
of the Spirit given to you who are a believer. And what? The
flesh is constantly lusting against the Spirit so that you can't
do these things like you want to. You want to do all these
things? Can you do them like you want to? No. Why? You've
got the dead corpse hanging about your neck. Of course you can.
But here's the comfort in our text today. Look at this. You that believe, you that have
this struggle, the apostle gives us in these words here, they
that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with
the affections and lusts. Now I'm going to divide this
into two parts. First of all, I'm not going to get to the second
part. I'll just let you know that right now. I'm going to
get to the first part and we're going to be thankful. I pray
the Lord will bless this to you. I want you to see this. You that
believe, you belong to Christ. You are Christ's. And I want you to see that those
that are Christ's, those that are Christ's are His possessions. his possession. Now the natural
man has no longing for being Christ's possession. Men of this
world, they don't care. They say this, I will not have
this man rule over me. They will not receive the gospel
that testifies that Christ is all our salvation. Anybody that
wants a part in their salvation, any part, no matter how small
it is, whether it's a decision, or whether it's a baptism, or
whether it's eating the Lord's Supper, joining the church, obeying
the law, doing good, if you want some part, listen to me, You
are saying this. I will not have this man to rule
over me. I don't like this doctrine of
election. What are you saying? I will not
have this man to rule over me. It is rebellion. I do not like
that Christ only died for the elect. What is this? Rebellion. Because you don't want to submit.
You don't want to bow. You want to have it your way.
See, I understand that because that's my natural man too. But remember, believer, when
Christ exposed our sin? You remember when He exposed
our sin? How He found us. He found us like that demoniac
of Gadara who would not be tamed, living in caves and tombs. He found us naked with no hope
and no refuge and not wanting one. He didn't wait for me to
humble myself. He came to me and humbled me. He found us naked and with no
hiding place. But how great was His love and
grace to reveal the gospel of Jesus Christ to us By the setting forth of Christ
crucified, the Holy Spirit used that gospel, convicted my heart,
and I looked to Him out of necessity. It wasn't a choice, it was a
necessity. I had to have Him or I would
die. This is how He comes to the believer. He comes with that
sweet message, Come unto Me, all you that labor. and are heavy
laden. Now where he found you? With
a burden on your shoulders you could no longer bear. And he
said, hey, come here. Come here, let me take that.
Let me take that. You can't bear that. Come to
me. You that are heavy laden and
you shall find something. What did you find? You found
rest. You found rest. Not to the body. You didn't find
any rest to the body, did you? You found rest to the soul. He
said, take my law, take my yoke upon you, and learn of me. What
is his law? Was it grievous to you? His law
was the law of faith and love. For I am meek and lowly in heart,
and you shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy,
and my burden is light. How light is the burden? Well,
it's as light as nothing, because he took it all. He took the burden. He bore the burden to Calvary. He bore our sins. And so then
now, you that believe on Him, you do not, you don't wince from
this. You don't back off from this.
I belong to Him. I belong to Him. I am my Beloved's and He is mine. Now, there's three things, three
works of God. I want you to see that Christ's
ownership of us is totally and absolutely the work of God. Christ owns us because of the
work of God. First of all, I want you to see
this. This is for your comfort. Listen. We are Christ by the
gift of the Father. We are Christ because the Father
gave us to Christ. Secondly, we belong to Christ
because He purchased us. He purchased us. And thirdly,
we are His by conquest. He conquered us. He conquered us. So now then,
let's see these three things. First of all, we are Christ by
gift of the Father. Remember, believer, that our
salvation did not start with our faith. When did your salvation
begin? Your salvation began in eternity. Your salvation began when the
Father gave you, chose you, and gave you to Christ. We belong to Christ. We belong
to Him. because of the election of the
Father, because the Father purposed that we should belong to Christ
and that Christ should be our surety. Christ should be our
high priest. Christ should be our mediator. So often when we are troubled
by this flesh and by the sinful deeds of this old man, when we
fall so far and feel like God has left us, this should comfort
us. Let us remember that we were
loved long before we ever sinned. You were loved long before you
ever sinned. God so loved us that he chose
us to be his sons. Purposed. He purposed and then
made all of the provisions that were necessary to make us sons.
He didn't leave anything for you to do to make you a son.
He purposed it and then He would do it. Remember Joseph? What a beautiful picture that
is. Before there was ever a famine, God sent Joseph. He sent Joseph
to Egypt to do what? To store up grain. Why? Because there was a famine coming.
Now God did, I want you to understand this, God did that to save one
man. You understand that? God did
all of that to save one man, Jacob. That's it. It was him. Isaac, it was him. So then we, it was Jacob, he
purposed to save Jacob. So he sent Joseph ahead. And
Joseph stored up what? All the provisions. So when the
famine came, the provisions were already made. It's a picture
of Christ, isn't it? God purposed to save Jacob, Israel,
his chosen people. And then he would do what? Send
Christ to make all the provisions. So when the famine would come,
that's our birth and our time of need when the spirit comes
and convicts us of our sin. There's a famine inside and then
he what? Gives us the provisions he's
made. And so though we in our first
father had failed and sinned, wherefore as by one man sin entered
in the world and death by sin, so death passed upon all men.
What I like about that analogy of Jacob and the famine is this.
You know what? Jacob was just as starved as
everybody else. Isn't that how we come into this
world? The elect are just as starved
as everyone else. Why? Because of our Father. We
all fail in Him. But listen to what God says to
Jacob. He says this in Isaiah 44, verse 1. He says, Here, O
Jacob, My servant in Israel, whom I have chosen. Thus saith
the Lord that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which
will help thee. Fear not, O Jacob, my servant,
and thou, Jeshren, whom I have chosen." You see, the release
of all fear and anxiety is this. I have chosen you. I have chosen you. Believer,
do not fear. For it is your Father's sovereign
choice, of sovereign grace by which you are saved. We were
born again as a result of this election. For had he not chosen
us, we would have never chosen him. But here's the joy of God's
election, is that our salvation was never grounded or based upon
us. God never based any part of your
salvation on what you would do, think, or feel. It has nothing
to do with you. Your salvation was purposed of
God according to His will. That's it. According to His will. We were chosen, and then in an
act of love given to Christ, in a covenant of grace, You see,
He was chosen, Christ was chosen to be our representative. God
chose us and put us in Christ and made Him to be our representative. You know this very well in Ephesians
chapter 1. Paul blesses the Father. He said,
Blessed be the God and Father in verse 3 of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Listen to this. Who hath blessed
us? Oh, you say, Oh Lord, please
bless me. Oh, He has. He already has. He hath blessed us. And listen,
not with mediocre things as silver and gold and things of the world. That's not the blessing. He said
with all spiritual blessings. Now listen, I don't have a clue
what that means. I mean, I know some spiritual
blessings, but I don't know them all. But whatever that is, I
have it already. And here's where it's found.
In Christ. That's where it's at. That's
the root and source of all my spirit. The only reason I'm going
to get into heaven, Christ. The only reason I'm going to
make it through this life in faith, because of Christ. That's
it. But He hath blessed us with all
spirit. Listen, why, how, according, this is how it's done. I like
it. He tells you, like, hey look,
look at this wonderful soup. Now here's how He made it. Let
me give you the recipe on how this is done. According, as He
had chosen us in Christ. When? Before the foundation of
the world. When were you chosen? I want to be a sample preacher
on purpose. Complicated to understand. He
chose you, put you in Christ, when? For the foundation of the
world. That's easy to understand. Now why'd he do that? That, here
it is, here's why, that you should be holy without blame before
you. That's why he did it. That's why he did it, that you
should be holy, you that are not holy in nature, you that
are not holy by birth, he said I'm purpose this, you're going
to be holy. That's what he said, the only reason I'm going to
be holy, he purposed it. Now what's his motive? Because
I'll tell you what, there's got to be a reason, right? In love. You want to know why
he did it? In love. having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children. Now listen how. Two words. Two words. By Jesus Christ. Now, where are you at? By Jesus Christ and your good
works. No, that's not in there. by Jesus
Christ, listen, to Himself. This is why He's doing it, Himself.
You want to know why God does anything? Himself. I don't like
that. I don't care. God does everything
for Himself. To Himself, according to the
good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His
grace, wherein He hath made us, what? When did He do that? When did
He make you accepted in Christ? Before the foundation of the
world, you were accepted in Christ. Before the foundation of the
world, He'd already put you in Christ. You were already accepted
in Christ. This is the will of God. Therefore,
by the gift of the Father, the Son was made charity for us. You know what surety is? It's
one that guarantees. One that guarantees. It's one
that bears the responsibility. Who bears the responsibility
for the salvation of the elect? Jesus Christ does. Unto us a child is born. Unto
us a son is given. And the government shall be upon
his shoulders. What the weight, the responsibility
of his government, of his kingdom will be on his shoulders. And
his name is going to be wonderful because he ain't going to lose
it. He ain't going to lose it. Totally dependent. And we know
that by that picture of Judah and Benjamin. Remember when Joseph
demanded that they go get Benjamin and Jacob wouldn't let him go.
And then Judah stepped in and said, I'll be surety for the
lad if I don't bring him again, listen to these words, let me
bear the blame. That's what a surety is. Even
so, Christ, the fulfillment of that type, says this, if I don't
bring your elect to you, let me bear the blame. That's what it means by being
given to Christ. He became surety for you. So you that belong to Christ,
when were you given to Christ? from eternity. Who's responsible then for your
salvation? Christ. Now then, secondly, you
belong to Christ because He actually came and purchased you. He bought
you. He bought you. Having been chosen
by God and being our surety, He also has become our high priest. In order to fulfill the covenant
with the Father, he became a representative man. That's why he came into
the world. He came to represent all of his
elect people. That's all he represented. He
represented all that the Father gave him. Not one more, and not
one less. All that the Father gave to Christ,
He came to save them. The angel declared this, Thou
shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from
their sins. That's what He determined to
do. If I've been given to Christ,
and Christ is made responsible for my salvation, I want to know
this, was He successful? If I belong to him, was he successful? Listen to his own words. Go to
John 6. John chapter 6. Look at verse 37. Notice how he begins that. all that
the Father giveth me." Well, that kind of narrows it down,
doesn't it? Whoever they are, wherever they are, he says this,
all that the Father giveth me, listen to what's going to happen,
shall come to me. Again, is he speaking over anybody? Is it too complicated? theological
for you to get that. All that the Father gave to Christ
are what? They're going to come to Christ.
That's just plain and simple. And then there's something He's
going to do when they come. He said, I will in no wise cast
them out. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that gracious? Why is He going to do that? Never
leaves you to guess for For because I came down from heaven, not
to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me." Ever
heard anybody say, well, man, I wonder what the will of God
is for my life. I wonder what the will of God is. I don't know
what the will of God is. And this is the Father's will.
He's not going to leave you to guess. This is the Father's will. You want to know what the Father's
will is for all that He gave me? This is the Father's will. That
has sent me, that of all which He hath given me, all which He
hath given me, I should lose how many? How many? How many
will He lose? Nothing. I'm not going to lose
any of them. None of them. Is that clear? Man, you have to do some spiritual
gymnastics Make him a failure. Twist that all around. I'm not
going to lose one of them. How many are in hell for whom
Christ died? How many? Zero. None of them. He's not going
to lose any of them, but he's going to raise them up again at the
last day. That's what he's going to do. Why? Because this is the will of the
Father. Will the fathers that you be given to Christ and the
will of the father is that Christ should never lose you. Never lose you. Now I don't know who the elect
are but he does. What does it matter to me? I
don't have to point anybody out. I don't care. I want to know
am I one. I don't know if you're one. I
just want to know if I am. I know this, He knows them, and
they're all going to come to Him, and He's not going to lose
anything. Why? Because He came to accomplish
the will of the Father. And what was the will of the
Father? Listen to the will of God. In order to save us, He
must provide two things. Righteousness and redemption. When I was starting out preaching,
there was a preacher who told me that we should always preach
the four R's. Four R's. Righteousness, redemption, regeneration. Four R's. Two of them Christ
is going to have to accomplish. Ruin, that's ours. Anything we
own, that's it. Ruin. But this righteousness
must be accomplished for everyone the Father gave him. He must
provide a righteousness for them that they could not provide for
themselves. What do you think he was doing for 33 years? When
He came into this world, why didn't He just immediately go
to the cross? Because He must have provided
a righteousness. And He did that by obedience
to God's law perfectly. And secondly, redemption. He
must provide redemption by His blood. And so by this, His victory,
what did He do? He bought us. He bought us. You belong to Christ. All our
hope and confidence of salvation is this, He accomplished everything
necessary for our salvation. That's what I believe. That's
the hope of my soul, is that He accomplished everything necessary
for my salvation. That's what the apostles meant
when in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse
Verse 30, he said, but of God are you in Christ Jesus? Who
put you in Christ Jesus? Father, by choosing you in election,
put you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us. Jesus was made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Who's your wisdom? Christ. Who's your righteousness? Christ. Who's your sanctification? Christ. Who's your redemption?
Christ. Who made Him all those things?
God did. God did, not you. By you believing,
you didn't make Him anything. God made Him. That old saying,
you know, people who say you need to make Jesus Lord. No,
God beat you to it, one preacher said. God already beat you to
it. No, God made Him all these things.
Go to Hebrews. Look what he's done. Look what
Christ did to purchase you. Hebrews chapter 10. This is one of my most treasured
texts. I love this. He said, Lo, I come
to do thy will, O God. Isn't that what I just said?
John 6, I came not to do my own will. Lo, I come to do thy will,
O God. Look at this, verse 10. By the
witch will we are, what? Sanctified. How are you made
holy? By the will of God. You are sanctified. It's not you're going to be.
You are. By the witch will you are sanctified. Now there's a
reason why and how. Through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ. How many times have you been
sanctified? Once. Through the offering of the body
of Christ once. That's it. Every priest standeth daily,
ministering often the same sacrifices, and never take away sin. But
this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sin, sat down
on the right hand of God. Sat down because he was finished,
right? He's finished. From henceforth, expecting till
his enemies be made his footstool, for by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are what? Sanctified. Sanctified by the
will of God? Sanctified by the work of Christ?
Christ hath perfected you forever. Forever. And what did this perfection
do? It bought you. It bought you lock, stock, and
barrel. I think a picture of that is
Gomer. Gomer. You know what her name
means? Wasted. God told his prophet to go marry
a wasted whore. Guess who the whore is in this
picture? Wasted. Used. Unwanted. Cast out. And God said to his son, marry
that one. And just like Hosea went down
to that market and bought her, our Lord Jesus Christ came down
into the marketplace of sin and bought me from the justice of
God. He didn't buy me from Satan.
He bought me from the justice of God. That's what chained me.
That's what imprisoned me, was the law and justice of God. And
His blood bought me. And I am His. Regardless of what men think
of me, regardless of what happens to me in this life, I belong to Him. I belong to you. Peter says, for as much as you
know, you are not redeemed with corruptible things as silver
and gold. Can't buy it. This price that he paid, you
couldn't afford it. Not all the gold in the world
could afford it. And then he said this, neither
of your vain conversation, not all your works, not all your
obedience, not all your goodness and kindness toward men, none
of that could have ever purchased this. You were bought with something
so rare there was only one of it, the precious blood of Jesus
Christ. The precious blood as of a lamb
without blemish, without spot. I think of that Passover lamb. That firstborn son, he couldn't see the blood. He's
in the house. Blood's on the outside. Couldn't
see it. You know what he had to trust?
He had to trust his father to provide a spotless lamb. Now
if his father messed up, he was a dead duck. But he trusted his
father, and he trusted that the lamb was spotless. That's what
we do. We trust our father has provided a lamb sufficient, his
son. Christ is our Passover lamb,
has bought us. May God open our hearts to consider
the great cost of our purchase. And when his blood was accepted,
what did he say? It is finished. And this is the song of all who
he purchased. Listen to this. We sing this,
thou art worthy. Thou art worthy to take the book. What a picture that is. Again,
you see this, the lamb as it was slain and John sees him and
he goes up to God and God has a book that's sealed and nobody
in the world, nobody in heaven or earth or under the earth,
no one was able to even look at it, much less get it and open
it. It was a book of salvation. Nobody
could do it. Nobody could understand it. Nobody
could see it. And Christ, He goes up and He
takes it. Why was His right to take it?
He took it from God. He went to God and said, Give
me that. It's mine. God said, You're right, son.
That's yours. He took it and loosed the seals thereof. Why? For thou was slain and hast redeemed
us. fought us to God by thy blood out of every
kindred, tongue, and people, and nation, and has made us unto
our God kings and priests. And we shall reign on the earth. I thought about that this morning.
I just couldn't get my head off of that. You shall reign on the
earth. Don't look like we're much raining
today, does it? That's all right. You will. Why? Because He bought you. You're
His. And He said, I've made you kings
and priests. And thirdly, we are His by conquest. Now listen to this. We by nature,
though we were chosen, though we were purchased by the blood
of Christ, yet when we came into this world, we wanted none of
it. We knew none of it. In fact,
our nature was in full rebellion against it. Until when? Until we were conquered. I love this hymn. Listen to this.
It reminds me of me. Against the God that rules the
sky, I fought with hand uplifted high. despised the mention of
his grace, too proud to seek a hiding place. Enwrapped in
thick Egyptian night and fond of darkness more than light,
madly I ran the sinful race, secure without a hiding place."
And this is what the apostle says in Ephesians 2, and we were
dead in trespasses and sins. We walked according to the course
of this world. According to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience
and were by nature haters of God, even as others. But these two words, or the next
two words, but God. But God, who is rich in mercy. How rich is he in mercy? How vast is the supply of His
mercy? It's rich. For His great love wherewith
He loved us, even while we were yet sinners. And what did He do? In mercy,
He gave us to Christ. In mercy, Christ purchased us.
And then in sovereign grace, He conquered us. He conquered
us. That song continues, thus the
eternal counsel ran, almighty love arrest that man, I felt
the arrows of distress and found I had no hiding place. Indignant justice stood in view,
to Sinai's fiery mount I flew, and justice cried with frowning
face, this mountain is no hiding place. Is that what you found?
I found I needed a hiding place and I found this, the law was
no hiding place for me. Ere long a heavenly voice I heard,
mercy's angel form appeared, who led me on with gentle pace
to Jesus Christ, my hiding place. And this is all my hope. When
I found him, this is all my hope. On him, almighty, vengeance fell,
that must have sunk a world to hell. He bore it for a chosen
race, and thus became their hiding place. When the spirit comes, he comes
like it was in the days of Jericho. When they made that shout, the
walls fell flat and rusty. That's exactly what happened.
The word of God came in, my walls fell flat. In that day of conquest, who
was the only one saved? Remember Rahab? Again, the harlot. And those that had in the house
with the scarlet thread, those are the only ones who were saved.
When God comes, He saves His people. He conquers us. He conquers
us. Remember that passage in Psalm
110, He said, Thy people, My chosen people, My redeemed people,
Thy people, the people He gave to Christ, listen to what He
said, shall be willing. When? In the day of thy power. What makes you willing to believe?
Wasn't it the power of God? Wasn't it the decision of the
mind? It's not because your heart was emotionally affected. I'm sure all those things might
have taken place. That's not the cause. The cause is the power
of God. And therefore it is the work
of the Holy Spirit to conquer us, to give us a new nature by
which he puts down the old and sets up the new, puts his throne
in our hearts and we do not shy. Christ is my King. I belong to you. Now the second part of this,
here's the mark of it. They have crucified the affections
and lusts. of the flesh. Where was the flesh crucified? Are you saved because you keep
crucifying the flesh? I know you do mortify the deeds
of the body, that's necessary. We do that. I'm not Christ because
I mortify the flesh. I'm Christ because I was in Christ
when he was crucified, and there my flesh and lusts and affections
were crucified. Are you Christ? Do you belong to him? Well, were
you given to him of the Father? Did He purchase you? Has He conquered you? If so, you are Christ. And get this, He is yours. That's a well too deep. He belongs to me. He belongs
to me. He does. Astounding. Oh, that we should praise and
give glory to God for His work. I pray God comforts you with
this. Our gracious Father, dismiss
us with your mercy and blessing. Pour out your Spirit on us, I
beg you. Oh God, be merciful, gracious. I thank you for what you've done,
what you've willed, what Christ has accomplished, what the Spirit
has put in us. And I do ask even this day that
you would even save your people from their sins. In Christ's
name.