It's good to be back in Rock
Valley, and I pray that the Lord will bless our study together
in his word. If you take your Bibles with
me and turn to Psalm chapter four, Psalm four, I have two portions I'll be reading
from this morning. The first portion is found in
Psalm 4, we'll be reading the whole Psalm. And the second portion
is found in Hebrews chapter 10, and we'll be reading from verse
1 to verse 25. Psalm chapter 4. Hear me when I call, O God of
my righteousness. Thou hast enlarged me when I
was in distress. Have mercy upon me and hear my
prayer. O ye sons of men, how long will
you turn my glory into shame? How long will you love vanity
and seek after leasing? But know that the Lord hath set
apart him that is godly for himself. The Lord will hear when I call
unto him. Stand in awe and sin not. Commune with your own heart
upon your bed and be still. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness
and put your trust in the Lord. There be many that say, who will
show us any good? Lord, lift thou up thy light
of thy countenance upon us. Thou hast put gladness in my
heart more in the time that their corn and their wine increased.
I will both lay me down in peace and sleep, for Thou, Lord, only
makest me dwell in safety. Amen, let's pray. Our gracious, merciful Heavenly
Father, We come before your throne of grace, not through any pretended
merit of our own, but only through the merits of your dear son,
our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, coming to you through the merits
of his precious blood that has cleansed us truly and completely
of all our sins, coming to you through the merits of his righteousness. Thank you for teaching us, Father,
that we don't have any righteousness of our own. And like our brother
Paul, our only hope is not to be found in a righteousness of
our own making, but only in the righteousness of your Darling
son, we're so thankful for him, and he has taught us so many
things, Father. He has taught us that they that
would worship you must worship you in spirit and in truth. And I pray, Father, that you
would bless our time in your word, that you would open up
not only our hearts afresh, but open up your word and cause us,
according to your holy and perfect will, to grow in the grace and
knowledge of your darling Son, our Lord and God, Jesus Christ.
We ask all this, Father, the mercy beggars that we are, for
Christ's sake, for his glory, worshiping you, praising you,
and thanking you in his matchless name. Amen. For our study this morning, the
portion I'd like to read is found in Hebrews chapter 10, and I'll
be reading from verse 1, to verse 25, and then I pray, Lord enabling,
I'd like to show you three blessed things about our Lord and God
in this portion of scripture. While you're turning there, I'll
tell you what they are. Three things that I pray that the Lord
will bless us to not only hear, but that he would hide in our
heart. Beloved, our Lord and God does not lie to us. He does not lie to us, beloved.
The second thing, our Lord and God does not leave us. So good to know that. I'll be
backing that up in a moment. These are not just my words,
these are the words of God's only holy book, the Bible, and
we'll be looking at that. And then lastly, with the time
we have for our study, we'll be looking at this glorious gospel
fact. Beloved, our Lord and God, Jesus
Christ, does not lose us. He does not lose us. Hebrews
chapter 10, beginning in verse one. For the law having a shadow
of good things to come, and not the very image of the things,
can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year,
continually make the comers there unto perfect. For then would
they not have ceased to be offered? Because the worshipers once purged
should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices,
there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For
it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should
take away sins. Wherefore, when he cometh, when
the Lamb of God, when he cometh into the world, he saith, sacrifice
an offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared
me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, thou hast had no pleasure.
Then said I, lo, I come in the volume of the book, it is written
of me, to do thy will, O God. Above when he said, sacrifice
and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest
not, neither has pleasure therein which are offered by the law,
then said he, our Lord and God Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God,
then said he, lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away
the first that he may establish the second. By the which will
we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ, once for all. And every priest standeth daily
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can
never take away sins. But this man, the God-man, the
Lord Jesus Christ, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins,
forever sat down at the right hand of God. From henceforth,
expecting till his enemies be made his footstool, for by one
offering, He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is
a witness to us, for after that he had said before, this is the
covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith
the Lord. I will put my laws into their
hearts, and in their minds will I write them. And their sins
and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission
of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Having therefore,
brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us through
the veil, that is to say, his flesh, and having a high priest
over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in
full assurance of faith. Having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water, let us
hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he
is faithful that promised. And let us consider one another
to provoke unto love and to good works, not forsaking the assembling
of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting
one another as ye see the day approaching. Amen. Now, in our time in the gospel
of Hebrews, I'd like to look at just three portions of scripture
found in this gospel book, the book of Hebrews. And the first
one we just read there, as I said earlier, beloved, our Lord and
God, Jesus Christ, does not lie to us. In the latter part of
verse 23, we read there, he is faithful promised. He is faithful that
promised. We read in Revelation chapter
1, beginning there in verse 5, how that he's not just a faithful
witness, beloved, but he is the faithful witness. It says in
verse 5, Jesus Christ is who is the faithful witness and the
first begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of the
earth, unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in
his own blood, be glory and dominion forever and ever, amen. Beloved, he is a faithful witness. Indeed, his promises are unbreakable,
unbreakable promises. When he tells us that all who
come to him he will in no wise cast out. That is not some idle
saying, beloved. If you come to the Lord Jesus
Christ, not for some of your salvation, but ever so blessedly
all of your salvation, he will in no wise cast you out. Look
what it says with me in Psalm 89. Psalm 89. Again, we're looking at this
glorious gospel fact, beloved, that our Lord and God, Jesus
Christ, does not lie. He is the faithful witness of
the covenant of God's grace. You look at Psalm 89. Look there
with me in verse 8. Psalm 89, rather, verse 34. Psalm 89, verse 34. Listen to
the sureness of the promises of the covenant of God's grace.
My covenant will I not break. His promises are unbreakable,
beloved. All the gospel promises of God are in Christ Jesus, yea
and amen. They're not yea and nay. My covenant
will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my
lips. And then verse 35, once have
I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. Everything contained in the gospel,
beloved, everything from the blessed lips of our Lord and
God, Jesus Christ, is faithful and true. Once have I sworn by
my holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure
forever and his throne as the sun before me. It shall be established
forever as the moon and as the faithful witness in heaven. And
who is that faithful witness? Again, it is our Lord and God,
Jesus Christ. Now, there's another portion
I'd like to look with you, to invite you to turn with me to
Hebrews chapter 13. Not only does our Lord and God
not lie to us, beloved, He is the faithful witness. But so
too, he does not leave us. In Hebrews chapter 13, in the
latter part of verse five, it says there, what a comfort it
is to know this by God given faith, by his grace to us, to
have faith, to believe on these gospel promises. Look what it
says in Hebrews chapter 13, verse five, in the latter part there.
Our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, speaks to you, beloved, you who
believe on the Son of God, I will never leave thee nor forsake
thee. Look what it says in Deuteronomy,
Deuteronomy chapter 31. And look what it says in verse
six. I'll be reading verse six and
verse eight. Be strong and of good courage. Fear not, nor be
afraid of them. And who's the them? It's our
enemies, beloved. Satan, sin, and the grave. He has conquered them all for
us, beloved. All our enemies have been conquered through the
doing and dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. Be strong and of good
courage. Fear not, nor be afraid of them.
For the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee. What a comfort it is to know
that the faithful witness who has promised, not only does he
promise, lo, I'm with you always, even unto the end of the world,
that promise, beloved, he'll never leave us. He'll never leave
us. He it is that doth go with thee,
he will not fail thee. Everything you need to be saved, take it as far as you want in
your mind. Perfection, He accomplished it
for us. Pardon, payment for sin, all
owing to what the Lord Jesus Christ has done on behalf of
His people before His Heavenly Father. Our Heavenly Father sent
him with gospel commandment to come into the world to save his
people, and that's exactly what he's done. It's something so
simple and so plain, but none of us would believe it except
we were miracles of God's grace. To hear that from the very throne
of God's grace, that angel of the Lord came down to Joseph,
that young man who was worried about his fiance being pregnant.
He hadn't touched her. Wondering what on earth could
be going on and that angel told Joseph Don't be afraid to take
Mary for your wife For what's conceived in her womb is conceived
by the power of the Holy Spirit and you shall call his name Jesus
Joshua, how come? For he shall save his people
from their sins Look at what it says here in verse 8 Deuteronomy
chapter 31 verse 8. And the Lord, he it is that doth
go before thee. He will be with thee. He will
not fail thee, neither forsake thee. Fear not, neither be dismayed. He is the one who will never
leave us. Indeed, just as sure as he's
the faithful witness, beloved, he is our faithful husband. And that might sound strange
to you, but remember God's people all of God's people, they represent
his promised bride, his glorious church. And I need to say it
again and again. He has promised, all who come
to me, I'll in no wise cast out. It might sound strange to describe
our Lord and God Jesus Christ as our husband, but turn with
me to Isaiah chapter 54. He is the faithful witness, and
beloved, he is our faithful husband. The book of Malachi, I believe
it's in chapter two, verse six, it says there, the Lord hateth
putting away. What better husband to have than
the Lord Jesus Christ? Every single one of his precious
people, every single one of his sheep will, so though many of
them be lost at this time, but at that final expected day, every
single one of his people will be saved. And we'll look at that
in a moment, with time permitting. I'm pretty sure we have time.
But look what it says in Isaiah chapter 54, verse five. For thy
maker, That is talking about none other
than our Lord and God, Jesus Christ. Perhaps someone in here
is thinking, well, isn't that the Father? Well, in the very
first part of the Gospel of John, John chapter one, keep your place
in Isaiah 54, but look what it says in John's Gospel chapter
one. This is perhaps one of my favorite
things to tell young children about who God is. You can ask someone, do you believe
in God? Oh yes, I believe in God. Well, what's his name? Well,
I'll tell you the name of my God. The name of my God, the
name of my Lord and my God is Jesus Christ. Look at what the
evangelist John writes here in the first part of the Gospel
of John. In the beginning was the Word. And who is that Word? It is the Word made flesh. It
is the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Word was with God. And
the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. And notice verse three. All things
were made by him. And without him, without the
eternal Son of God, without him was not anything made that was
made. So this is very clear if you
look here in Isaiah 54, verse five. Beloved, thy maker is thine
husband. The Lord of hosts is his name,
and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole
earth shall he be called. You know, we have sometimes in
various communities people knocking on doors, and I know they like
to be called Jehovah's Witnesses. I'd rather call them what they
are, Jehovah's False Witnesses. That might sound bold, but it's
really not. My brothers and sisters can say
with my brother Thomas, my Lord and my God. And even Philip,
he needed to be reminded, did he not? He said, show us the
Father and it will suffice us. And our Lord and God Jesus Christ
said these words, he who has seen me has seen the Father. Look what it says in Isaiah chapter
41, verse 10. Fear thou not, for I am with
thee. This is our simple study, beloved.
Our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, is the faithful witness. Our
Lord and God, Jesus Christ, is the faithful husband. He won't
lie to us. He won't leave us. He is with
us always. 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. I would really love for everyone
here to rest, but I can't make anybody rest. I would really
love for everyone here to be comforted, in the refuge that
we have in the Lord Jesus Christ, but I can't give you any comfort.
But I know this, God will bless his word to the hearts of his
people in powerful ways that I can't even discern looking
at your faces. But I know this, he'll bless
his word. It's his word that has power. not my outline, not
supposed eloquence, or volume of speech, or how well I could
speak. He will bless his word with his Holy Spirit, and he
will reveal Christ not merely to you, but ever so blessedly
in you. You want me to back that up?
I always love to back it up, don't you? The Son of God said
this, the spirit of truth will proceed from the Father and he'll
testify of me. You see, beloved, our salvation
is not found in a theological position, it's in a person. And
we hear that throughout the scriptures. What did Paul say? He said, I
know in whom, not in what, not some confession to memorize.
I know in whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded that he's able
to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. This
is the same testimony of Peter, You know, there were large crowds
around the Lord Jesus Christ that followed him everywhere.
And when he spoke about the gospel fact that God's people, we eat
his flesh and we drink his blood. It's kind of like somebody who
likes football. You say they eat and drink football.
But for us, beloved, we eat and drink the flesh and blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And when those multitudes heard
that teaching, Of course, they misunderstood him. The spiritual
man understands these things, but by nature, we can't receive
these things. And he looked at his disciples
after multitudes had left him, and he simply said, will you
also leave me? And again, salvation is a person, beloved. Peter said,
to whom else can we go? You have the words of everlasting
life. And so it is a great comfort to know that he is the faithful
witness, the faithful husband, and he never leaves us, beloved.
And I understand we might feel that way sometimes. Things can be very difficult
and very hard in the flesh. But as one brother from the past once said,
and maybe some of you know who I'm quoting, feelings come and
feelings go, and feelings are deceitful. And he went on to
say, but my warrant is the Word of God. Nothing else is worth
believing. I'm pretty sure I mangled that
quote, but the point is this. If God will enable you this morning,
Take your eyes off your sorry selves, and by God's grace, look
and live. Look at the Lord Jesus Christ
in seeing his blood afresh this morning, that through his blood
you have been cleansed truly and completely of all your mess,
of all your sin, of all your vileness, so much so, so much
so, that the law of God, when it looks upon a child of God,
all it can say is something much stronger than pardoned, something
much stronger than forgiven, but by the doing and dying of
Christ, by his blood and righteousness, by what the old writers used
to call the great exchange, that glorious imputation where we
can listen in to the covenant of God's grace and we can hear
the son saying to the father, Father, give me all of Joseph's
sin. Give me all of Joseph's vileness,
all his shame, all his failure, and make it mine. Let's have
a gospel. If God can enable you this morning
to listen in to the covenant exchange between the Father and
the Son. He says further, and Father,
give Joseph all my righteousness, all my glory. all my beauties,
and make them His. And if God has taught you, you'll
understand, well, I know from the top of my head to the bottom
of my feet, all I am is sin. I am a sinner. And in the very
next breath, I will tell you, I'm a saint. not owing anything to me, but
all owing to the doing and dying of the Lord Jesus Christ, all
owing to the King of kings and the Lord of lords, God's well-pleasing
son, our Lord and God, Jesus Christ. How wonderful it is to
know that this morning, that he is the faithful witness, that
he is our faithful husband. He will not leave us, beloved.
Don't look to your feelings. Rest in his promise. Lo, I am
with you always, even unto the end of the world. And if you
can believe that this morning, God's done something for you,
because I can't make you believe that. But when God sends His
Spirit, the Son, sending forth that Spirit of truth that proceeds
from the Father, He'll testify of Him. I mean, He says in another
place, does He not? He says, as it is written in
the prophets, they shall all be taught of God. I'm quoting
John 6, verse 45. As it is written in the prophets,
they shall all be taught of God. And all who hear the Father,
and learn of him, come to me. And not for some things, for
everything. Everything I need, pardon, perfection,
righteousness, holiness, true holiness, true holiness. Now back to our portion we've
looked at, only two portions in Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 10,
the latter part, verse 23. Hebrews chapter 13, verse 5,
that latter part. The last thing I want to leave
with you to consider this morning for our study, not only does
our Lord and God not lie to us, he doesn't leave us. Lastly,
beloved, he does not lose us. He does not lose us. Look what
it says with me in Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2. And it's so good to know this.
Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 13 there, and it's the latter part. There's so many glorious gospel
verses in the book of Hebrews that give us comfort. I love
all the places where it repeats things, not you. Hebrews 8, verse
12. Your sins and iniquities will
I remember no more. Did you forget about it by the
time you got to chapter 10? He's going to tell you again.
Your sins and iniquities will I remember no more. How come?
Because they've been all put away through the doing and dying
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hebrews chapter 2, verse 13,
listen to the glory of our sovereign, successful
Savior. This is the Son of God, the Savior
that God sent into the world, speaking about all of his people,
all of his precious sheep. It says here, Behold, I and the
children which God hath given me. Not one more, not one less,
not one of his sheep will be missing on that glorious day.
How good it is to know when he promises, all that the Father
give it to me will come to me and all who come to me, I will
know why it's cast out. That's John 6, verse 37. And
then in verse 39, again, the promise. As we conclude this morning,
would you like to hear our Heavenly Father's will? I'm gonna tell you exactly what
our Heavenly Father's will is from the very lips of Him who
does not lie. He is the faithful witness, the
faithful husband, the faithful Savior. He doesn't lose a single
one of His people. This is what he says, this is
the Father's will, he who sent me, that of all that he has given
me, I shall lose nothing but raise it up again at the last
day. Just a couple more verses and then we'll have a break. This glorious, gospel, fact,
aspect about our Lord Jesus Christ. I really pray that the Lord will
hide this in your heart to know that he is faithful. Where we
read in 1 Timothy 1, verse 15, the apostle Paul's writing there,
this is a faithful saying. Do you know the reason why, the
only reason why it could be faithful? The only reason why it could
be faithful is because Jesus Christ, God's well-pleasing Son,
our Redeemer, our Savior, our all in all, He is faithful. That's why Paul could write to
beloved Timothy, young Timothy, he could write to him and say,
a faithful saying worthy of all acceptation. Everyone in this
auditorium ought to receive this, ought to accept this. We won't
unless God opens our heart. and how wonderful it is that
he has opened our heart, beloved, to rejoice in this gospel declaration
there in 1 Timothy 1, verse 15. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. And if that's all you are this
morning, by God's grace, you can hide this in your heart,
and with no presumption on your part, If you know yourself to
be a sinner, you can say this in your heart this morning. Christ
Jesus came into the world to save me. How wonderful. And one more verse and we'll
conclude. Again, we're looking at the faithfulness
of our Lord and God, Jesus Christ. He's the faithful witness. He
is the faithful husband. He is the faithful savior. First Peter. chapter 1, in 1
Peter chapter 1, we read there. Now remember, this is speaking
about the elect according to the foreknowledge of God the
Father. And in verse 5, it says there, beloved, you and I who
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, that we are kept by the power
of God through faith. through the faithfulness of the
Lord Jesus Christ, through his uprightness, through his fidelity,
through his faithfulness to God's gospel commandment to come into
the world to save his people, through faith unto salvation,
ready to be revealed in the last time. Let's pray. Our glorious, merciful, gracious
Heavenly Father, how thankful we are to hear afresh this morning
the word of truth, the gospel of our salvation. Father, if
it pleases you, while we know our Lord spoke to those It seems
as though from your word, Father, that they will reprobate men.
He said, you've neither seen God's shape or heard his voice
at any time, and you don't have his word abiding in you. But
for us, Father, we beg you, would you hide your word in our hearts
this morning that we might bring to remembrance our glorious Redeemer,
that he is the faithful witness, the faithful husband, indeed
our faithful Savior, who shall not lose a single one of his
people that you've given him to save. Thank you, Father, for
the gospel of our salvation, the word of truth. And it's in
his name, Father, we worship you and praise you and thank
you. Amen.