He, everybody loves to hear him
sing, and so many people have asked him to make a CD of songs,
and he did. His congregation paid the cost
for him to record, I think there's 14 songs on it, and they're paying
all the cost to have him printed and mailed and all that stuff. He asked me how many would I
like to have and I told him 35 at first. I got one for pretty
much every family and I put them on the table in the foyer. There's
also a few thumb drives if you'd rather just load it onto your
computer. or get both if you want both. They'll send as many
as we want. You know, he said, tell them
if they want more, they can have more. But I started listening
to it and it's a real blessing. He did such a good job on it.
And so I want to encourage you to get one of those. And if we
need more, we can get more. All right, let's have a word
of prayer. Our Heavenly Father, Lord, we
are so grateful for another day that we can worship you. Lord,
thank you for not letting us go. Thank you, Lord, for keeping
us from some worldly thing, some unimportant thing today. And
thank you for allowing us to be in your house. And we pray,
Lord, that you might meet with us today. Lord, we pray that
you might bless us today. We pray that you might encourage
us and comfort our hearts and feed our souls. And we pray, Lord, that you will
just help us. We pray that you'll help us.
Lord, we pray that you will bless your word everywhere it goes
today. We pray that you'll bless your people everywhere that they
are today. We have loved ones who are not with us right now
for different reasons, sicknesses, and we just pray for them. We pray that you would be with
your people, Lord. We need you so badly. We need
you so desperately. And we call on you and we're
so thankful to be able to call on you. We're so thankful to
have a heart to call on you. Thank you for all your goodness,
Lord. Thank you for all your kindness and your mercy. Thank
you for everything. We pray for our brethren all
over this world. Pray that you'll be with them
and help them and bless them. We pray for all of the people
in this city, Lord. We pray for Kingsport and this
surrounding area and. Please be merciful, Lord, please.
Please show mercy. We pray that you have sheep here.
We pray that you will call them out. In your good and perfect
time, Lord, help us with your word. Help us with the gospel.
Help us with the ability to witness it properly. Lovingly, boldly,
Lord, open a door for us to speak of your glory, if you would be
willing, and give us the words to say in that moment. Be with
our teachers, Lord, give them wisdom, plant a seed in the hearts
of these children, and we beg of you, Lord, please, save their
souls, if you would be willing. We ask all of this in Christ's
name, amen. Turn with me to Daniel chapter
nine. Daniel nine, we are going to
be in Daniel nine for this Bible study and for the message in
a moment. And I want to give the full picture
and the full account of this in the message in a moment. We're
gonna look at the end of this chapter in the message. For this
Bible study, I wanna single in on one beautiful thing that just
caught my eye in verse 23. Daniel right here is praying. And the Lord God sent an angel
to him to say this. Verse 23, he said, at the beginning
of thy supplications, the commandment came forth, and I am come to show thee, for thou art greatly beloved. That really just got my attention. Thou art greatly beloved. This angel said, Daniel, I have
come from the throne of God with instructions to reveal these
things to you because thou art greatly beloved. What a blessed thing to hear.
What an amazing thing to hear from God, from God, to actually
hear, God loves you. God loves you. I know that phrase is as common
as a phrase can possibly be. I was driving down the road yesterday
and I cannot tell you how many signs there were in front of
religious buildings or just everywhere that I saw that said, God loves
everybody. God, you know, this, and I know
that's about as common as a phrase can possibly be. And sadly, even
though in most cases it's not true, I know everybody assumes on God's
love. Everybody thinks it's true. Everybody
assumes it's true. But that lie of God loves everybody
that is coming from man. Man made that up. Man is the
one saying that, but to hear God say it. To actually hear God say, you
are greatly beloved. That is just, my center margin in my Bible
says that means of desires. You are desired by God. Does that not grab you? You are desired by God. Can you
imagine actually hearing that? Well, I want to study the Bible
for a second and I want to read of a few people that was said
of. I want us to hear God saying
this about a few of the people in the scripture. Go with me
to Isaiah 41. Isaiah 41 verse eight, it says,
but thou Israel art my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen the
seed of Abraham, my friend, man, I love that. Who's saying that right there?
God is saying that. My friend, James two verse 23
says, and the scripture was fulfilled, which sayeth Abraham believed
God and it was imputed unto him for righteousness. And he was
called the friend of God, a friend of God. It's one thing for us
to say, he's my friend. That's one thing, but it's another
thing altogether for God to say, he's my friend. That's another
thing altogether. If God Almighty looked you right
in the eye and said, you're my friend. Can you imagine that? He spoke to Moses face to face
as a man speaketh with his friend. Look at verse 10 right here.
He said, fear thou not for I am with thee. Be not dismayed for
I am thy God. I will strengthen thee. Yea,
I will help thee. Yea, I will uphold thee with
the right hand of my righteousness. Why? Because you're my friend. That's what friends do for each
other. Verse 13, For I, the Lord thy
God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not, I
will help thee. Fear not thou worm, Jacob, and
you men of Israel. I will help thee, saith the Lord,
and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. I want the Lord God
to be my friend. I want to be able to say, what
a friend we have in the Lord Jesus. All our sins and griefs
to bear, I need a friend that will bear all of that for me.
I need a friend that will stick closer than a brother. Oh, to hear him say, I'm your
friend, you're my friend. Turn with me to Luke chapter
one. Luke one, this is the announcement
of our Lord's birth. Verse 26, it says, And in the sixth month, the angel
Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee named Nazareth
to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph of the
house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel
came in unto her and said, Hail, thou that art highly favored."
Highly favored. Can you imagine? Highly favored. The Lord is with thee. Blessed
art thou among women. My center margin says highly
favored means graciously accepted. Much graced, greatly beloved,
my friend, highly favored. That's amazing. Look with me
at John 11. John 11 verse one, it says, now
a certain man was sick named Lazarus of Bethany, the town
of Mary and her sister, Martha. It was that Mary, which anointed
the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose
brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore, his sister sent unto
him saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. When Jesus heard that, he said,
this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that
the son of God might be glorified thereby. Verse five says, now
Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. I want that to be
said about me. I want that to be said about
you and me. How can that be said about you
and me? I'll tell you in just a second, let me show you a couple
more people. Go to Acts chapter nine. Acts chapter nine, verse one
says, And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings
and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high
priest, and desired of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues,
that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or
women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. And as he journeyed,
he came near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him
a light from heaven. And he fell to the earth and
heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord?
And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. It is
hard for thee to kick against the pricks.' And he, trembling
and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And
the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it
shall be told thee what thou must do. And the men which journeyed
with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. And Saul arose from the earth,
and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man. But they led him
by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And he was three days
without sight, neither did eat nor drink. And there was a certain
disciple at Damascus named Ananias. And to him said the Lord in a
vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here,
Lord. And the Lord said unto him, arise
and go into the street which is called straight and inquire
in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold,
he prayeth. Well, he was a religious man.
Wasn't he a Hebrew of Hebrews? And didn't he pray? There were
set times to pray. Wasn't he a law abiding? First
time in his life, he started praying. That was all lip service,
that was all false religion for the first time he started praying.
Verse 12, and he hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias
coming in and putting his hand on him that he might receive
his sight. Then Ananias answered, Lord, I've heard by many of this
man how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem. And here he hath authority from
the chief priest to bind all that call on thy name. But the
Lord said unto him, go thy way, for he is a chosen vessel unto
me. to bear my name before the Gentiles
and the kings and the children of Israel, for I will show him
how great things he must suffer for my name's sake. And Ananias
went his way and entered into the house, and putting his hands
on him, said, Brother Saul, I adore that. I just adore that. Brother Saul, you are a chosen
vessel to God Almighty. God said he chooses you. God said he chooses you. That's
just amazing. He was going to Damascus to shut
the gospel down. He had the gospel preached to
him in Damascus. He was converted by the gospel
in Damascus, wasn't he? Look at Acts 13. This is talking about how God
delivered his people out of Egypt and they had Samuel to be their
prophet to lead them, but they wanted Saul. So God gave him
Saul and he was a wicked man. He led him in wicked ways, but
God was still good to his people. And verse 22 says, When he had removed, when God
had removed Saul, God raised up unto them David to be their
king, to whom also he gave testimony and said, I have found David,
the son of Jesse, to be a man after mine own heart, which shall
fulfill all my will. David, Psalm 51, David. God said, David is a man after
my own heart. I love him. I joined myself to
him. David? Yes, David. And God said, I'll tell you another
man I vitally joined myself to. Look with me at Romans 9. Romans 9 verse 13 says, As it is written, Jacob have
I loved. For most people, the second half
of this verse is the shocking part. Not God's people. For God's people, the first half
of this verse is the shocking part. Jacob, sinner, trickster,
supplanter, Jacob. There in Luke chapter 1, the
angel announced to Mary concerning the kingship of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He said, Christ shall reign over
the house of Jacob. And of his kingdom, there shall
be no end. He will reign over Jacob. He will stay with Jacob,
the one he loves. Forever. Jacob have I loved forever. How is this possible? How can
a sinner be loved and chosen and highly favored and called
God's friend? How? The answer came about 10
minutes ago from this side of the room. Somebody over here
said, in Christ. in Christ, only in Christ. He is the well beloved of the
father. He is the well beloved. He is the highly favored one. He is the chosen vessel. He is the man after God's own
heart. He is the man. We are only those
things in Him. We are only those things in Him. Look back one chapter at Romans
8 verse 38. It says, I am persuaded that
neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor
powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor
depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God, which is In Christ Jesus, our Lord. In Christ Jesus. Every ounce
of God's love and affection is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Every
soul that the Father placed in him is greatly beloved. Every soul. Look with me to Ephesians
1. Ephesians 1 verse 1 says, Paul,
an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God to the saints
which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus, grace
be to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord
Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. In Christ. If a person ever gets a hold
of in Christ, that person will get a hold of the gospel in Christ. Verse four, according as he hath
chosen us in him, only centers who have been placed in Christ
hear from God, the father, I love you. And they do, by faith, with
God-given ears to hear from His Word in Christ. I love you. Only sinners who have been placed
in Christ hear from God the Father, I choose you. I choose you. He's saying those things to Christ.
He is saying those things to Christ. We only receive that
benefit. Psalm 103 says, forget not all
his benefits. Don't forget every benefit that
we have. We only receive that benefit
and all of these benefits. because we're in Christ. That's
the only reason it's because we're in Christ. Verse four says,
according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself. What does that mean? That means
we were redeemed. We were brought back. We were
reinstated only in Christ. Verse six says, we are only accepted
in Christ through the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein
he hath made us accepted in the beloved. Verse seven says, in
whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of
sins according to the riches of His grace. We are only forgiven
in the broken body and the shed blood of Jesus Christ. You know
what that tells us? We need Jesus Christ. We need
Jesus Christ. If we're gonna be one of the
ones that God the Father looks right in the eye and says, I
love you, I forgive you. I choose you. I favor you. We need Jesus Christ. We need
to be in Jesus Christ. How can we be in Jesus Christ? That's, when I was growing up,
that was the big, I had a couple of big head scratchers. Number
one, how can I know if God elected me? I have never not believed
that God elected a people, never. You know, I was told that maybe
before I was told two plus two is four. But how can I know if I'm one
of them? How can I know? How can I really
know if I'm one of them? And how can a sinner get in Christ? How do you get in Christ? First Corinthians 1.30 says,
of God are you in Christ? of God. Are you in Christ? God
is the one according to his good pleasure, according to his will
and purpose, according to his choosing. God is the one who
puts centers in Christ. All right. How can I know if
he put me in Christ? Here's how you can know. I'm
just going to tell us. Here's how you can know. If God did not put you in Christ,
if God did not put me in Christ and God did not put you in Christ,
you will assume that you are in Christ. All right, here's
how you can know. If God did not put you in Christ,
number one, you will assume that you are in Christ. And this will not be an urgent
burden to you. It will not be an urgent burden.
And you will not give this great need of being in Christ really
a second thought. And you will focus more on God
being pleased with you than God being pleased with Christ. And you will not have an inner
war and an inner turmoil going on. And you will just casually move
on to other things. But if God did put you in Christ,
you will know that you are about the vilest sinner that has ever
walked this earth. And you will be convinced that
based on what you see in your flesh, there is no way you could
be in Christ. And this will be the most urgent
burden in life to you. And you will cry with that thief
on the cross, Lord, please remember me. And you will cry with that
publican in the temple, Lord, please, please be merciful to
me. And you will cry with Jacob,
Lord God, please bless me. In spite of me, bless me. I can't let you go except you
bless me. And you will see nothing in yourself
that God could be pleased with. And your only hope will be that
God puts you in Christ and is pleased with Christ and that
you'll be covered in the merits and the works of Christ. And an inner war and an inner
turmoil will constantly have you convinced that you're a wretched
man or a wretched woman And until the day you leave this
earth, you'll never be able to move on from this one great need. I need Jesus Christ. I need Jesus
Christ. I need to be found in Jesus Christ. That need and that belief in
the heart is called faith. If you want to know what faith
is, that's what it is. That need and that belief in
the heart, that is called faith. And when God puts that faith
in a sinner, that is the evidence that that sinner is greatly beloved. Daniel's prayer, which we'll
see here in a minute, proves that to us. Daniel cried all
of these very things to God, and God said, Daniel, you are
greatly loved by me. Greatly loved. You're in Christ,
the Messiah, the Prince, and in him, you're greatly, greatly
beloved. Here's my prayer. I'm gonna end
with this. I pray God will make every soul
here a miserable, wretched sinner. It's my prayer for you. I pray
God will absolutely make you plum miserable over your wretchedness
and over your sin. And every soul here is already
miserable and wretched, but I pray God will cause us to know it. And I pray God will cause us
to cry out to him for mercy. If he does cause us to know it
and cause us to cry out acknowledging, Oh, I am. I am what I am. I know what I am. If God calls
us to acknowledge that and cry out to him for mercy, that will
be our evidence that we are greatly beloved. His friend highly favored
one of his chosen vessels, a man or woman after his heart. One who can say, behold what
manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us. Pray the Lord
will make it so. For the Lord's sake, as it says
in Daniel there.