Let's turn to 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter
1. And we've been looking in Peter and
all this time that we've been Here in 1 Peter 1, we've seen
how the Lord has made provision for His people. He provided all
things necessary for His people. We saw it there in our God's
electing grace for His people and choosing out of people and
sanctifying them by the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, which leads
us to the Lord Jesus Christ. where He sprinkles us with the
blood of His Son, Jesus Christ, cleansing us from all sin, teaching
us not to trust in our own works and in our own selves. He's revealed
to us by His Spirit the inheritance that we have in the Lord Jesus
Christ of what Christ Himself has accomplished and brought
for His people and blessed His people with richly. We've seen
in the same chapter how the Lord, in verse 5, keeps His people
by the strength of His power. He doesn't depend or look to
his children for anything to do for themselves, to provide
for themselves, to keep themselves. The Lord does all the work in
keeping his child. We'll see how the Lord is sovereign
and rules over all things, over even the trials in our life,
in bringing those things that are needful for us and necessary
for us to try and to prove that faith which is given so that
we know and are assured that God is able to save His people
and to deliver them out of every trial, including that great trial
that is yet to come when we die and pass away in this flesh,
we know that He shall raise us up again to newness of life.
He's given that to us. He's committed that to us. And
we see how the Lord how we don't need the law to keep us and to
keep us walking as a rule of life, but rather how the Lord
keeps, how He fills us with His Spirit and constrains us by the
love of Christ in us, so that we do what we want to do. That
is, we rejoice and seek and follow the Lord. We don't need a rule
of life to keep us on the straight and narrow, but rather He does
it by the power of His Spirit, causing us to look to Christ,
to believe on Him, to trust Him, That when we're tempted with
the things of this world, we don't need those things. We trust
the Lord to keep us. And the Lord does. He delivers
us and turns us right back to His Son. And He's made precious
to us by the Spirit of His power. The Lord doing all this work.
And so we come here this morning now to see one more provision
in which the Lord has made for His people to teach them the
Lord Jesus Christ, and we'll pick up in verse 10, 1 Peter
1 verse 10, of which salvation? And he's talking about what he
said there in verse 9, the salvation of your souls. Of which salvation
the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied
of the grace that should come unto you, searching what or what
manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did
signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and
the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed that
not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things
which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the
gospel unto you, with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven,
which things the angels desire to look into." And so my title
this morning is, The Provision of God's Word. And we'll see
how in his word he prophesied, he testified beforehand the suffering
of Christ, that which would befall the Messiah when he came. And
how that Christ, Jesus, the Lord Jesus Christ, fulfilled all that
was testified by the Spirit beforehand through his holy prophets. And
then we'll see how the Lord uses that same word to bring forth
and to show us the Messiah, he uses that same word to teach
his people, to guide his people, and to lead them to the Lord
Jesus Christ. And our three divisions will
be the prophets, the sufferings and glory of Christ, and then
that continuing ministry which our God has given to the Church.
So, the prophets first. Now, a prophet is one who is
led by the Spirit of God, who is taught and given revelation
by the Spirit of God to declare what God has done through His
Son, Jesus Christ. And we see here from this passage
just how diligent they were. The Lord gave them a diligent
character to seek these things out. He said in verse 10, Of
which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently? Take note of that, brethren,
how these men were made diligent to seek out the Lord. And I say
this because I would encourage us all to seek the Lord diligently,
to not be lazy with the blessed gift that we've been given, to
know Him. Seek Him out diligently. I would
encourage you all To try and read his word every year to try
and get through his word It takes about three chapters a day and
I would encourage you all to just to make time To make time
to seek the Lord to open his word to read his word. It's a
blessed and sweet time even when your heart is cold and dead That's
good, because you've got to go to it praying and seeking Him.
Because if the Lord doesn't give you a heart for it, it will just
be a cold, it'll be like iron, this Word, and you'll get nothing
out of it. But when you see it, confess it to the Lord, and pray
to Him, and ask Him for mercy, and to show you His Son, Jesus
Christ, that you would understand what this Word is saying. It's
such a blessing. And if you say, well, I can't
pray. I don't have a heart to pray. There's so many times.
I know many pastors that don't have a heart to pray, but just
start thanking them. Just thank them. Thank them for
what you have. Thank them for the day. Thank
them for the health. And the Lord will warm your heart. He'll
turn that hard, stony, cold, dead heart to rejoice in Him
and be warmed in Him. Just read His words slowly. Even
if you only get through a couple of verses, I encourage you to
be diligent. and to seek the Lord." Now, we
see this diligence that the prophets displayed. If you turn to Daniel,
we were in Daniel this morning, but look in Daniel chapter 9,
and we can see the diligence of the
prophets who were just blessed of God to seek these things out,
to see what Christ would do. It says in Daniel chapter 9,
verse 1, In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus,
of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm
of the Chaldeans, and the first year of his reign, I, Daniel,
understood by books the number of the years whereof the word
of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish
seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. And listen to this,
verse 3, and I set my face unto the Lord God to seek by prayer
and supplications with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. He was
diligent to know what these things are saying concerning the coming
Messiah. Then turn the page, go to Daniel chapter 10, look
at 10 verse 1. In the third year of Cyrus, king
of Persia, this is Daniel again. A thing was revealed unto Daniel,
whose name was called Belteshazzar. And the thing was true. But the
time appointed was long, and he understood the thing and had
understanding of the vision. How did he attain this understanding
of what the Lord had showed him in a vision? It says in verse
2, In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant bread, neither
came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at
all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled. These were the times
that were spoken of the coming Messiah, and he diligently sought
the Lord that he might know and understand what God was revealing
to him in the person of his Son, Jesus Christ. I encourage you
to read Daniel. Now, the Spirit of Christ, we'll
see how the Spirit of Christ was in them. Back in our text
in 1 Peter 1, verse 11, He said that they were diligently searching
what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in
them did signify. So let's look and see how the
Spirit of Christ moved in the prophets that were raised up
to declare what Christ would do. If you turn to Acts chapter
7, Acts 7, this is Stephen declaring,
preaching the Word of God before the Jews that hated him, that
hated Christ. And here he is boldly declaring
Christ and His Word. And he says of Moses in 7, verse
37, This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel,
A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your
brethren, like unto me. Him shall ye hear. It says in
verse 38, So when Moses spoke to the people, he was speaking
by the Spirit of Christ as the Spirit of Christ moved him in
the wilderness. And then consider Stephen himself right there as
he's declaring this word to the people. In verse 55, Acts 7.55,
he says, But he, Stephen, being full of
the Holy Ghost, he's speaking by the Spirit of Christ, looked
up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus
standing on the right hand of God and said, or prophesied,
Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing on
the right hand of God. Stephen there is declaring by
the Spirit of God in him. He's declaring the Lord Jesus
Christ. And then back in our text in
1 Peter, but if you look over in chapter 3, verse 18, he speaks of Noah. And he says,
1 Peter 3.18, For Christ also hath once suffered for sins,
the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being
put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. 1 Peter 3.19, by which also he,
the Spirit of Christ, went and preached unto the spirits in
prison," verse 20 tells us the time that he's talking about,
"...which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of
God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a-preparing,
wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved." And if you look
there in 2 Peter, in the 2nd letter, he speaks about the same
time. He says that Noah was a preacher of righteousness. So for 120
years the Spirit of Christ manifested Himself forth mightily in Noah
where he was a preacher of righteousness, preaching to those dead Wicked
sinners bound in their nature and in sin and in death, He preached
righteousness to them faithfully by the Spirit of Christ in that
day. Those sinners that were bound
in the prison of their own flesh and couldn't understand or hear
that word. So that God saved only eight
people in that day. So in summary of this first point,
brethren, we see how the prophets, they were diligent in their seeking
out the Lord, they wanted to know these things that were written
concerning the Son of God who was to come. They were led and
moved by the Spirit of Christ working in them and leading them
to see what things the Spirit of God, which was in them, was
talking about. And then they were faithful to
preach that Word. They didn't hold it back, but
they faithfully preached that Word in the day, and thanked
the Lord that they put that Word down in His Word, so that we
too, to this day, can see that Word which our Lord has for His
people to see, and to know, and to understand concerning Christ.
Alright, our second point, the sufferings and glory of Christ. He said 1 Peter 1, back in verse
10. We see of which salvation the
prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of
the grace that should come unto you, searching what, or what
manner of time, the Spirit of Christ which was in them did
signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and
the glory that should follow. All right, let's consider here
the sufferings of our Lord. Our Lord said Himself, He said
in Mark 8, verse 31, He told His disciples before Him, He
told them this again, that He must suffer. He says in verse
31, He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many
things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests
and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
And He spake that saying openly. So our Lord understood the word
because He's the one who wrote that word. So He was able to
declare to them, I'm going to suffer. The Son of Man must suffer. He'll die, He'll be buried, and
He'll be raised again the third day. And we see the suffering
of our Lord abundantly in the scripture. Just thinking about
how our Lord took upon Him the likeness of our sinful flesh.
Think about that God Almighty stooped down, humiliated himself,
humbled himself to take upon him the flesh of his own creation
to redeem them and to deliver them out of their sin and their
darkness. Isaiah captures it saying, Therefore
the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall
conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel. So that
God the Creator would humble himself to to be conceived in
the womb of a woman and there go through the whole cycle just
like you and I and be born of a woman. What a stooping of God
to do that for His people. And Psalm 22 captures this time
perfectly saying, "...but thou art he that took me out of the
womb. Thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breast.
I was cast upon thee from the womb. Thou art my God and from
my mother's belly." So even the Son of God there, depending on
God the Father, just trusting Him, giving up all His glory
that He might do for us what we could not do for Himself.
And what's amazing is that when Michael is speaking of this,
he recognizes that this is God Almighty, for he says, "...whose
goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting." God Almighty
coming in the likeness of sinful flesh. But our Lord, He cries out concerning
this time when He was here in the flesh. We know that it was
a trying time for Him, for He emptied Himself of all His glory.
He emptied Himself, trusting and depending upon God to do
for Him what He could not, what He just emptied Himself to do,
so that it was not evident to men who He was. It says that
in Psalm 22 verse 11, Be not far from me, for trouble is near,
for there is none to help. So the Lord was suffering at
the hand of the Jews. I mean, all power was His, and
He did this willingly. They could have no power over
Him but what He allowed them to do, but they certainly gave
Him a very difficult time in putting Him through All kinds
of things, challenging him, trying him, testing his words, doing
everything they could do to get him to stumble and to get him
to fall, but he remained faithful and he would not sin. He did
not sin and he didn't stoop to their level. John records this,
that he came unto his own and his own received him not. Through all his ministry, through
all the good that he did, and bearing the infirmities of the
people, and bearing their sicknesses and taking their illnesses upon
himself, and delivering them out of their darkness, and delivering
them out of the pain and the suffering that they were going
through, he did all these good things before them. Many good
works he did before them. And yet they rejected him. They
would not receive him. No, he came to his own. His own
received him not. So that when they finally had
their opportunity, and they delivered him over to Pilate and over to
the Romans, and Pilate was willing to let him go, they said, no,
no, no. Crucify him. Crucify him. What should I do
with him? Crucify him. We have no king
but Caesar. And so they confessed that which
was in their heart and their hatred for God. or hatred for
God. So he's rejected of his own. And the Lord says at this time
in Isaiah 50 verse 6, I gave my back to the smiters and my
cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. I had not my face from
shame and spitting. So that if we were to look upon
our Lord at that time, we would say he is despised and rejected
of men. a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief, and we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He
was despised, and we esteemed him not." Can you see the suffering
that our Lord allowed Himself to go through, that He was put
through for His creature, for His creation, for His people,
that He loved, and we are His enemies by nature. We're at enmity. We are enmity, rather. We are
enmity against God by nature, and that He would do this for
us. It's not that we've done anything good for Him. We don't
love Him. We didn't seek Him. We don't
seek Him. We don't seek to glorify Him. We seek to glorify ourselves.
We seek to steal the glory of God and attribute things to ourselves,
but we don't glorify Him, and we don't rejoice in Him. Not
by nature, we don't. And yet, while we were yet enemies,
Christ bore our sin and put it away there on the cross, shedding
His blood for His people. But it didn't even just stop
there. After they had Him there on the cross, it wasn't even
enough for them. The Jews still, at that point, were still raging
against Him, mocking Him and laughing at Him. They said, as
they passed by, they reviled Him, wagging their heads. Just
wagging their heads at him. Could you imagine the mockery
that they're showing him? Have you ever been mocked before
and just ah how that brings rage out of you? And yet our Lord
He remained faithful through it. He didn't hear what they
said. They were saying things like, thou that destroyest the
temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself, that thou
be the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise also
the chief priests mocking him with the scribes and elders said,
he saved others, himself he cannot save. Even they prophesied. The
Lord, He could have saved Himself, but then we would have all been
thrust into an eternal hell, because there would have been
no salvation for us. We too would have perished, but
thankfully, He remained faithful through all their mocking, and
all their laughing at Him, and all their scorn, He remained
faithful. And he said, if he be the king of Israel, let him
now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted
in God, let him deliver him now, if he will have him, for he said,
I am the son of God. So they knew what he said. They
heard his words, they saw his works, and yet they rejected
him. They didn't receive him. And the psalmist records it like
this, Psalm 22, verse 6. This is what our Lord was saying
during that time. But I am a worm and no man, a
reproach of men and despised of the people. And our Lord continues
in what he sees, saying, They that see me laugh me to scorn. They shoot out the lip, they
shake the head, saying, He trusted in the Lord that he would deliver
him. Let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. And that's
us, brethren. That's exactly what we are. That's
the best that we are. That's like mocking the Lord.
What a mercy and kindness that He should remain faithful through
that. He didn't have to display His power and glory right there.
He stayed the course. He remained faithful to do the
work that He came to do and He did that for us who so easily
forget Him, so easily put Him to the back of our minds and
don't serve Him and don't Don't seek Him like we ought to do.
Oh, but if the Lord will warm our hearts and give us a heart
and a spirit to seek Him and to serve Him, like the prophets
here that diligently saw Him. They didn't even see it. They
were looking unto these things. We see what He's done. We have
that blessing to look back on what the Savior has done. And
that's what He did for us and endured all that so that He didn't
come down off that cross. But He stayed the course and
remained faithful. He said in Psalm 22 verse 16,
For dogs have compassed me, the assembly of the wicked have enclosed
me. They pierce my hands and my feet,
I may tell all my bones, and they look and stare upon me.
They part my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture. The Savior himself wasn't good
enough for them, but they took his clothes nonetheless. And
that's what happened. In the Scriptures, it's recorded,
"...they crucified him and parted his garments, casting lots, that
it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet." In the
Psalms there, "...they parted my garments among them, and upon
my vesture did they cast lots." And yet, in all of that, in spite
of that, that wasn't even the greatest suffering that our Lord
endured. That wasn't even the greatest suffering that our Lord
endured, because He was there bearing the sin of His people
before His holy, just Father, the One who always pleased the
Father, now was bearing the sin of His people before the righteous,
holy, just judgment of God, who poured out His wrath upon Him,
so that He cried out, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken
Me? Why art Thou so far from helping
me and from the words of my roaring? O my God, I cry in the daytime,
but Thou hearest not, and in the night season, and am not
silent. Our Lord was forsaken of His
Father there on the cross, crying out, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani,
which is to say, My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? He did that. For you and I who
believe on Him, who cast all our hope and our care upon Him,
He was willing to do that and He did it. He did it and He's
a successful Savior. He did that which we could not
do for ourselves. doing this for his sheep, making
his body and his soul an offering to Holy God to put away our sin.
Isaiah 53 says, Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried
our sorrows. Yet we that esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes
we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray.
We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord hath laid
on him the iniquity of us all." Our Lord, though he was made
sin, though sin, the sin of his people was laid upon him, he
himself committed no sin. He isn't a sinner. He remained
faithful and true to God, always trusting Him. He didn't doubt
the Father. He didn't curse the Father. He remained faithful
to the Father, glorifying the Father. He spoke truth and glorified
his Father through it all, so that he himself had no sin. He said during that time, Psalm
22 records it, but thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises
of Israel. Our fathers trusted in thee,
they trusted and thou didst deliver them. They cried unto thee and
were delivered, they trusted in thee and were not confounded.
So our Savior remained faithful, trusting in His Father, knowing
that God would fulfill the word that He promised to Him, that
He would raise Him up, just as the Son promised to save His
people and to do that for them, which they could not do. Turn
to Luke 24. Luke 24, verse 25. And it says there... Well, we'll look at the glory which
should follow. In Luke 24-25 it says, So after
our Lord did that faithful work in which
he bore the sin of his people, he shed his blood, he died, was
laid in the tomb, and a great stone was rolled over the mouth
of the cave so that no man could enter or get out. And this was
done. Our Lord was glorified in that
God Himself raised him by His power, raised him from the dead,
declaring to us all that God was pleased, that God was satisfied,
and that all who looked to Him, all who died in Christ, are now
able to rejoice knowing that just as God raised up His Son
from the dead, so we too shall be raised up from the dead. We
have that assurance from the Lord. For thou wilt not leave
my soul in hell, He said, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One
to see corruption. This is a glorious thing. No
man has been raised from the dead, but God raised His Son
from the dead and gave Him power to raise men from the dead, even
as He displayed there in Lazarus for a time. But Lazarus died
again. But in that day, in that great and final day, we who dwell
in dust will be raised up from that dust and be raised to newness
of life, to be with our God forever and ever. Peter said this in
Acts 2, verse 23, He said, Him being delivered by the determined
counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain, whom God hath raised up, having
loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should
be holding of it. Just think about what our Savior
did in weakness, in dying, all that He accomplished. We, in
what we call life here, how little we accomplish. We think we do
so much. We build great buildings, and we build our careers, and
we build houses and whatnot, and businesses, and we've accomplished
nothing for the good of people. But Christ, in His weakness and
dying, did more. God Himself did more in the death
of His Son than what we accomplish in our lives. It's just amazing
to think of the glory of our Savior and what He Himself has
accomplished. The psalmist writes of Him, Thou
hast ascended on high. Thou hast led captivity captive.
Thou hast received gifts for men. Yea, for the rebellious
also, that the Lord God might dwell among them. And He does
this because, brethren, we're weak and we have nothing. We
can't produce anything of ourselves. So He sends His Spirit. the best
gift of all, and He sends His Spirit producing fruit in us,
producing righteous fruit in us, not by this flesh, but by
that new man that He has created in Christ Jesus. After the likeness
of His Son, by His Spirit, He brings forth out of us fruits
unto righteousness, faith, hope, and love in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And He blesses us with those gifts, and to produce those gifts,
He blesses us Well, He produces them by His Spirit, but He encourages
us and teaches us by leading us to Christ and showing us to
Christ, showing us our need of Christ. And He does this through
raising up pastors and preachers to come and to preach that word
to us, to hear the things that we have need of hearing. And
so after our Lord was raised from the dead, after He was raised
up by the power of God, the psalmist says, The Lord said unto my Lord,
Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. So that now Christ our Savior
has all dominion, all glory, all power, and all authority
over all nations to rule and to reign until he comes again
to receive his purchased people who he has redeemed for himself. And it says, after that, then
come at the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom
to God, even the Father, when he shall have put down all rule
and all authority and power, for he must reign till he hath
put all enemies under his feet, and the last enemy that shall
be destroyed is death. And then that trump shall sound,
and all shall hear that, and the dead shall be raised up.
And as Paul wrote to the Philippians, that at the name of Jesus every
knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth,
and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Now, the nations don't want to
hear this. They're angry with this thing. They don't like this
thing. It says, "...the nations were angry in Revelation 11,
and thy wrath is come in the time of the dead, that they should
be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants,
the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name,
small and great, and shouldest destroy them which destroy the
earth." So brethren, our Savior, He is glorified. He's sitting
at the right hand of the throne of God, having all dominion and
all authority, so that God did, though He suffered, but He accomplished
that work, and God is pleased with Him. God rejoices in Him,
so He raised Him from the dead, and has Him right there with
Him, ruling and reigning over all creatures. and especially
His people, blessing them, fitting them with the Spirit, blessing
them with gifts to rejoice in Him and to serve Him and to rejoice
in what He has done. But before we move on to our
third point, let me just share one more passage of how our Lord
spoke of these things to the 11 apostles. He said in Luke
24, verse 47, He said unto them, These are
the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you,
that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law
of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms concerning
me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the
Scriptures. And he said unto them, Thus it is written. And
thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the
third day, And that repentance and remission of sins should
be preached in his name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem. This is the ministry which is
given to the Church that just as He gave that word to those
prophets, and they were diligent and faithful to seek it out,
and they wrote these things down that we might know and bear witness
to see that, yes, this is the very Messiah who was promised
to come, and we see now in His word that they wrote down after
His death, that we might know that, indeed, this is the Christ
who fulfilled all these things that were written of Him. And
it says, when the Savior says that repentance or remission
of sins should be preached in His name among all nations beginning
at Jerusalem, so that we see this, His Spirit opens our eyes
to see it, He opens our understanding, that we understand the Scriptures,
that we might know that this indeed is very Christ, that this
is the One of whom it was spoken of, that this through Him The
grace of our God should come unto us, undeserving, rebels,
wretched sinners that we are, that the grace of God should
come to us through the Lord Jesus Christ. And that we can rejoice
because we know that this dead, corrupt flesh, which can produce
no good thing of its own, It only produces death and carnal
things and fleshly things. It can't do that which pleases
God. We are made to rejoice that Christ is in all that work. You
don't need to look to your flesh. Don't look to it. It's dead.
It's dead. Your flesh is dead. It died.
When Christ died, your flesh died. So God does not look anymore
to the works of your flesh. He's not looking to you. He's
not looking to you, Johnny Parker, to do something good and right
for him. He's done all the work for you,
so that there's nothing left for you to do, that you may just
rejoice in Him. And as you're just looking to
Christ, rejoicing in what He has done, He'll constrain you,
He'll turn your heart to Him, He'll show you His will, He'll
show you what to do, but don't look back to the law, don't look
to this thing to try and figure out, well, I gotta be doing something
for God. The Lord will bring it to pass. Do you just love
Him and as you love Him and seek Him in His Word, He'll bring
forth. Those works will follow. Those good works will follow
because you're looking to Him. You're looking to Him, not your
flesh, but you're looking to what the Lord has done. So the Lord raised up the prophets,
and just as He raised up the prophets, so He raised up Paul.
And the ministry that was given to Paul, it says, to open their
eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of
Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and
an inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that
is in me. That is to declare the gospel
of the grace of God through the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's
exactly what the church went and did. It says there in Mark
16 verse 20, And they went forth and preached everywhere, the
Lord working with them and confirming the word with signs following.
And then in Acts 8.4 we read, Therefore they that were scattered
abroad and went everywhere preaching the Word. And then Paul wrote
to Timothy and told him, Preach the Word. Be instant in season,
out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all suffering and
doctrine. And the reason why it's so important
that we preach the Word is because man's Word It's vain. It's vanity. It does nothing. It doesn't profit
anyone. Man's word is vain. If you look at all the religions
in the world, all of them are alike. There's two religions
in the world. There's just that religion of
the flesh that tells you, do this. Do that. Don't do this. Don't do that. And it does nothing
for our good. It's just a work of the flesh.
And then there's the work of the Spirit that says, don't look
to yourself. Look to Christ. Trust in Him. This is why Christ
was manifest to show us that He Himself has put away the sin
of His people. Paul heard of that false religion
when he said in Colossians 2, Wherefore, if ye be dead with
Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living
in the world, are ye subject to its ordinances? Why are ye
just living by a false, fleshy religion of touch not, taste
not, handle not, which are all to perish with the using after
the commandments and doctrines of men? in which things have
indeed a show of wisdom and will-worship, and humility, and neglecting
of the body, but not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh."
And that's what men are preaching all over America today and across
this world. They're just preaching these
works. They're just preaching morality. And it does nothing
to profit the soul. It does nothing to help man or
to preach Christ and what He has done. It's so simple and
they don't believe it. They think they've got to manufacture
things and make up gimmicks and do these things to get people
to do for the Lord and to do good works, but the Lord By His
Spirit, you preach Christ, and He's going to work in the heart,
and He's going to turn His people to Him, to see that they're nothing,
that He's everything, and they're going to rejoice in Him, and
they're going to rejoice to serve one another, and to serve the
Lord. It's not our works that put away
sin, it's the work of Christ. He has put away our sins, that
there's nothing more for us to do. We are to preach one thing
needful, And that's the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing more. We
preach Christ and Him crucified. He does the work. And if He's
pleased to attend that Word so that you hear His voice, it'll
be made effectual in your heart. We preach the Word, right? We
just preach the Word. We try to be as faithful as we
can in preaching the Word as God shows it to us. We're but
flesh, and we're weak, and we struggle to bring forth that
Word, but if the Lord attends it, and only if the Lord attends
that Word, and His voice is made, you're made to hear His voice
in the heart, then it'll be a blessing to you. The Lord will deliver
you out of darkness, out of your sin, out of condemnation, He'll
deliver you. But we need to be faithful to
preach the Word, but still we have no power. It must be the
Lord attending that Word. And He's not going to attend
a lie. He's not going to attend a lie and bless the Word of liars. So we want to preach the Word,
the truth, but we pray that, Lord, please attend that Word.
Bless it to the heart of your people, because otherwise it'll
just fall on dead, hard, stony hearts, and be of no good to
anyone. This is the word, Peter said,
this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
And that word which the prophets prophesied of the grace that
should come unto us through the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn to this
one final scripture in Isaiah 52. This will be where we close. Isaiah 52. And in verse six. Therefore, verse 6, Isaiah 52,
6, Therefore my people shall know my name. Therefore they
shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak. Behold, it
is I. How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth
peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation,
that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth. Thy watchmen shall
lift up the voice, as their voices as they're preaching the word
of God, with the voice, the voice of the Lord attending to that
word, together shall they sing. For they shall see eye to eye
when the Lord shall bring again Zion. Break forth into joy, sing
together, ye waste places of Jerusalem, for the Lord hath
comforted his people. He hath redeemed Jerusalem. The
Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations,
and all the ends of the Lord shall see the salvation of our
God. You see the provision of the
Lord, brethren? The Lord has provided all things
for his people, fitting us with all things, including this word.
Pray that the Lord continue to bless us just to to faithfully
preach the Word of Jesus Christ, that salvation is by the Lord,
it's not by our works. May the Lord hold His people
right there, looking to Jesus and preaching Him faithfully,
and then may He attend that Word with His voice and bless that
Word to the heart of His people, turning us from self and glorying
in self and turning us to Him, that He would be glorified among
us. Amen. Let's close in prayer. Our gracious Lord, Father, we
thank you for your mercy and grace. Lord, that you don't look
to our flesh for any righteousness. Lord, you know our frame, that
we're but dust, that we're feeble, full of We have no good in ourselves,
Lord. But we thank You for Your Son, Jesus Christ, who is the
righteousness of His people. Lord, we pray that You would
fix our eye upon Him, that You would turn our hearts from the
love of this world, turn us to love Your Son, Jesus Christ,
just to wait upon Him and the righteousness which is of Him.
Lord, give us faith and hope. Just fix it in the Lord Jesus
Christ and let us be content with Him. And not desire the
things of this world and the false gods of this world, but
let us trust in You and wait upon You. Lord, bless this people
here. Lord, we pray that you would
send them a pastor, and that you would knit their hearts together
to love you and to serve you in this dark world, just lifting
up the banner of our Savior Jesus Christ, that you would be glorified
in this dark part of the world. We pray in Jesus' name, our Lord
and Savior.