Thank you. All right. Turn over, you would,
to Exodus 15. Exodus, the 15th chapter. If I didn't express it enough
for the Sunday school lesson, I want to express it now. I really
enjoy being with y'all. Y'all are very hospitable. You
treat me like family. I appreciate that. Makes me feel
at ease. Makes me feel comfortable. I
appreciate it very much. So, Exodus 15, I have a question
for you before we get into our text. Actually, something I want
you to do. I want you to think back to a
time when you were thirstier than you have ever been. Now
everybody knows what the feeling of thirst feels like, right?
You know that sensation. I'm talking about a time when
you look back and all you could think about, I mean the only
thing you could think about was getting a cool, clean drink of water.
You just had to have your thirst quenched. Somebody could offer
you a million dollars and say, no, I want a glass of water.
That's what I want. I just need to have my thirst quenched. Everybody
have that thought? Okay. Look at Exodus 15 and pick up
in verse 22. Let's read our text. So Moses brought Israel from
the Red Sea. And they went out into the wilderness
of Shur, and they went three days in the wilderness and found
no water. And when they came to Marah,
they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter.
Therefore, the name of it was called Marah. And the people
murmured against Moses, saying, what shall we drink? And he cried
unto the Lord. And the Lord showed him a tree,
which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made
sweet. There he made for them a statute
and an ordinance. And there he proved them and
said, if that will diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord
thy God. And we'll do that which is right in his sight. And we'll
give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes. I
will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought
upon the Egyptians. For I am the Lord that healeth
thee. Let's go to Lord in prayer. Lord, we come to you this morning
in Christ's name. And we beg, Lord, that you would reveal yourself
in your scriptures. We beg, Lord, that you would
dwell among us here this morning. You would teach us your gospel.
Lord, that you would lay hands on us this morning, and you would
fetch us to yourself. And you'd cause us to worship
the Lord Jesus Christ for just a little while. Lord, bless our
services. Bless these people. And we ask
these things in Jesus' name. Amen. In this story, I see four things.
Just four things. Here's the first thing I see.
I see a great trial. and an evil response. Second
thing I see is a picture of false religion, and more importantly,
a true believer's response to the message of false religion.
Here's the third thing I see. I see how a bitter sinner, somebody
like me, who by nature is bitter, I have a foul taste to the Lord,
how I can be made sweet before a holy God. The fourth thing
I see is just a very simple picture of faith. That's it. So, to begin. Put yourself in a moment, picture
in your mind, you're one of the children of Israel at this time,
okay? Put yourself in that group, visualize that. You've just been
emancipated from Egypt. The Lord had passed over Egypt,
and he had killed the firstborn in every house that did not have
the blood over the door. And you could hear the screams
of the Egyptians all night long, but there you were, you were
safe and sound in that house with the blood over the door,
that picture of being in Christ. And so you were delivered. The
Lord emancipated you. They got you out. The Egyptians said,
get out of here. Go serve your God. Take our gold. Take our
cattle. Take anything you want. Just get out. Get out of here.
So you go on your way. Then you get to the Red Sea.
And the Lord parts the Red Sea. And about you and about two million
of your fellow countrymen, you walk along dry ground, a dry
lake bed, or sea bed, with huge walls of water on both sides
of you. Can you imagine that? And when
the last Israelite, last child Israel, got to the other side,
on the other side of that sea, they turn around and they see
Pharaoh, their great enemy, and his army, and they are charging
after him on that seabed. And all of a sudden, you see
those big walls of water just come crashing down, and the Lord
completely and utterly wipes out all your enemies. I want
to talk about a mountaintop experience. That's it right there. What an
experience these people had. What great confidence they must
have had in the Lord at this time. But then, then you come
to the wilderness of shore. And you come to the first day
and you don't have any water. And you're walking along and it's
hot. Now this wilderness, it's not a wilderness like we have
in North Carolina or Kentucky or Tennessee. It doesn't have
trees and grass and things like that. This is a desert. There
is nothing but rocks and sand and the hot sun. That's the only
thing we got there. And the first day goes by and you start thinking,
I'm getting thirsty. Where's the water? But I mean,
look, the Lord just vanquished all our enemies. He delivered
us from Egypt. I mean, no doubt the Lord's going
to provide water. It'll be right around the next minute. But it's
not. And the second day comes. I'm
getting thirsty. I'm getting real thirsty. Well,
where's that water? But, I mean, clearly the Lord has provided
for us up to this point. I mean, no doubt there'll be
water just around the next bend, no doubt. It's not, though? Then the third day comes. Now,
something interesting here, most experts would agree, three days
is about as long as you can survive without water in these conditions.
So you are literally about to die of dehydration. That's how
thirsty you are. You're very thirsty. Keep in mind, it's not
just you. It's your whole family. Those
of you who have young children or have had young children, imagine
your babies, your kids be with you. Daddy, where's that water?
Mom, I'm so thirsty. Maybe you see your child faint,
you're having to carry him along the way. It's a scary position
to find yourself in. And what they do next is evil,
it's wicked, it's absolutely unexcusable. And apart from the
grace of God, it is exactly what I would have done in that position.
Amen. Scripture says they murmured
against Moses, but who was leading Moses? The Lord. They murmured against the Lord.
They had forgot something. They forgot the same thing that
you and I often forget in trial. The same God who emancipated
them from Egypt and led them through the Red Sea and parted
that sea for them and wiped out all their enemies was the same
God who had led them into the wilderness of Shur and into this
great trial. No doubt. Now, in this world,
we will have tribulation. The Lord makes no bones about
that. In this world, we'll have tribulation. We'll have trial
and tribulation. But, it's not without meaning. It's not without
use. The Lord doesn't unnecessarily cause any of his people to suffer.
Well, what is that reasoning? Well, the first reason is this.
It's the very glory of God and the very good of his people.
Everything that happens is for the glory of the Lord and for
your good. Now, but the scripture tells
us what trial works, the purpose of them, what they work in a
believer. I want us to see this. Turn to Romans 5 and look at
verse 1. Romans 5, and look in verse 1.
Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by
faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope
of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory
in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience. And patience, experience. And experience, hope. And hope
maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in
our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. What
does tribulation work? What does trial work in a believer?
Three things. Patience, experience, and hope. I want to deal with
these things briefly. Patience. Now I want to grow
in this grace, don't you? I do not want to be a man who
is constantly murmuring towards the Lord. I want to be delivered
from an immature and childish attitude toward whatever the
Lord has brought my way because everything he has brought my
way is for his glory and my good ultimately. I want to be delivered
from that. I want to be brought into a voluntary subjection to
the will of the Lord, so much so that I say, Lord, your will
be done and not mine. I don't really know what I need,
but you do. Whatever your will is, just cause
my will to fall right in line with that. Whatever you want,
cause me to want that thing. Whatever you're going to do, cause me
to love that thing. Just your will be done and not my own. In the face of tribulation, I
don't want to be kicking rocks. I don't want to be murmuring
against the Lord. Here's what I want to do. Here's what we
should do. We should pour out our heart before the Lord. Whatever
troubles us, pour out your heart before the Lord. And then seek
the means that He would use to deliver you. The Lord always
works through means. So if you're sick, pour your
heart out before the Lord. Bring all this before Him. And
then you go find the best doctor you can possibly find to heal
you. Because if the Lord's going to heal you, He's going to do it through
a man. He's going to do it through means. If you can't pay your
bills, Bring your woes before the Lord. Pour your heart out
before the Lord. Then you go try to find another job, or a
second job, or a better job, or something like that. Seek
the means the Lord would use to deliver you. But while we're
doing that, while we're doing that, what I want to be brought
to this place, that would be patient. I would shut my mouth.
I wouldn't murmur against the Lord. And I would patiently wait
for Him to deliver me. I want to grow in this grace,
this patience, where we wait on the Lord, especially in the
face of tribulation. Don't you want to grow in that?
And patience worketh experience. Now, this word experience actually
means proof, and it's in reference to faith. Now, understand that
trials do not produce faith. Faith is the product of the new
nature. It's given in the new nature. But it galvanizes faith. It exposes faith. It strengthens
faith. And I crave that. Don't you?
I want to be a man strong in faith. I want to trust the Lord
Jesus Christ alone. Nothing doubted. But not just
my salvation, but for the food that's going to be on my table
tomorrow. And for the strength to do whatever it is I have to
do in the next hour, in the next day, in the next week, I want
to trust Him 100% all the time. But here's the thing, if that's
going to be the case, if we're going to be people of strong
faith, you know what's going to have to happen? He's going to have to
keep us down in the dust. He's going to have to keep us
in a constant dependent state on Him. We're going to have to
be kept in a place to where we are constantly knowing that He
is the only reason that I can get through today, that I can
get through tomorrow, and the only reason I'll stand before
God justified. Patience worketh experience,
and experience hope. Now, hope is a confident expectation
in reference to the future, and you only have a true hope if
that expectation is sure. I tell you this, any man or woman
who is looking to the Lord Jesus Christ alone, you have a sure
hope, an absolute hope, and you know your end. to be conformed
to the image of Jesus Christ alone. He is your hope, and it's
a sure hope. He cannot fail. Trial and tribulation
teaches us something. It teaches us this. This world
is not our home. We're just passing through, and
at the end of the day, there really isn't much here for us.
But we know at the end of this life, at the end of the valley,
this valley, the shadow of death, we know what's going to happen.
We're going to meet our Redeemer face to face. And we're not going
to have to deal with this sinful body anymore, and these sinful
lusts, and this old heart. That's all going to be put down.
We're going to meet our Redeemer face to face, and we're going
to be just like Him. There's not going to be any more tears.
There's not going to be any more suffering. Just complete and
utter bliss in the presence of our Savior for eternity. Now,
I'll get you through just about anything, won't you? Now, I want
to be very clear on this. I don't want trial. I don't.
In fact, I want to get out of every trial I can. Because in
trial, I see how weak I really am. Every time I think I'm strong,
the Lord shows me how weak I am. Every time I think I'm smart,
the Lord shows me what a fool I am. Every time I think I'm
brave, the Lord shows me what a coward I am. It hurts. And I want to get out of every
trial I can. I'd break so easily. But I do want to grow in grace
and especially in this thing of patience and experience and
hope. Don't you? I do. A great trial and a wicked response. Here's the second point here.
See a picture of the message of false religion and a believer's
response to the message of false religion. So what is the current
condition of the children of Israel? They're thirsty, right? What does it mean to be thirsty?
It's having a conscious need. And if your need isn't fulfilled,
you're going to die. That's all thirst is, is a conscious
need. And if you don't get that need
fulfilled, you're going to die. You know that. Now, as a side
note, what a blessing it is to be in need. What a blessing it
is that a man will be brought to the knowledge that he's a
sinner and he has a great need of the Lord Jesus Christ. You
know, that's not natural. No man has ever come to that conclusion
on his own. That's a gift. That's a gift of the Holy Spirit.
What a blessing it is. If right now you have a need,
you need the Lord Jesus Christ to represent you before the Father.
It's because you've been made needy. And that's a good place
to be because everyone who is in need, they have their need
fulfilled. It's a blessing. Now, notice the language in verse
23 of your text. It says they could not drink
of the waters. Now let me ask you something. If you had gone three days without
water and you were about to die, and there was a pond in front
of you and you saw these cows that had been waiting in this
pond and using the bathroom in it and everything else, and it
was just disgusting water, it was going to taste terrible,
but you knew that the water was clean enough to drink and it
would keep you alive, would you drink it? You would. You would. If you were thirsty enough, you
were about to die, you'd drink that water. As bitter as it would
be, you would drink that water. But that isn't the issue here.
The issue isn't bitter in the sense that it just doesn't taste
good. Because it says they could not drink the water. It was impossible. So what does that mean? It means
the water didn't just taste bad, it means the water was brackish. Brackish. Somebody says, what's
that? What's brackish water? Well, the short answer is it's
salt water. But how the water becomes salty
is actually a point of interest. So brackish water implies this.
It implies that there is a clear, clean stream of water flowing.
And along that stream, it's intersected with a tributary. And it's a
salt water tributary. And where the two streams meet,
it makes a pool. And the whole pool is salty.
Because the salt water infects, it pollutes that clean water.
And the whole pool that's made there is salty. And that's false
religion. Now here's what you probably
won't hear in false religion nowadays. You probably won't
hear, listen, salvation has nothing to do with the shed blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ and it has everything to do with your
adherence to the law. Does anybody say that? Now, you're
never going to hear that. What do you hear? A mixture.
They try to create a mixture. They try to flow two streams
together. Here, listen, you have to have
the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, no doubt, but you have
to do your part to make his work effectual for you. They try to
make the two streams meet and the whole pool becomes polluted,
it becomes brackish, it becomes salty where they meet. How can I know if I'm listening
to a salt water message, a brackish message that's been polluted
with false works of religion? How can I know that? Well, I'm
going to tell you a few things I know about salt water in reality. Let's
see if we can draw some spiritual parallels. Here's the first thing
I know. Salt water can never quench a thirst. In fact, the
more salt water you drink, the thirstier you'll become. Now,
and this is the case for every true child of God, if he ever
hears a message where it says, you have to do your part. Here's
the thing you must do to make his work effectual for you. It's
all contingent on you doing this one thing. That's a brackish
message. It'll never quench his thirst.
We're a needy people. We're in need of a righteousness
that we can't work out. We're in need of a sin atonement we
can't make. We're in need of a new heart we can't give ourselves.
And we're in need of faith we can't muster. We are a needy
people. And if you tell me any part of
salvation has to do with something I must do, then that's brackish
water, it's salt water, it'll never quench my thirst. Let me
tell you what quenches my thirst. Hebrews 10, verses 11 through
14. Turn over there, I want you to read this. I've come to appreciate
this passage of scripture more and more over the years, and
it may be my favorite one. Here's the message that quenches
my thirst. Hebrews 10 and look at verse
11. And every priest standeth daily,
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can
never take away sins." Why did they stand? Why did they stand?
Because their work was never done. Because those Old Testament
priests, all those rams, all those bulls, all those Old Testament
sacrifices, they were just types. They were just pictures. They
never put away one sin. And that's why there was no chair.
Because the priest's work was never done. Because sin was never
put away. It was all types of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now go
back reading. Verse 12. But this man, would to God that
we would come in contact with this man, that we would know
this man, the Lord Jesus Christ. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, what did he do next? He sat down. Sat down, his work was completed.
At the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till his
enemies be made his footstool, four by one offering he hath
perfected forever them that are sanctified. What is left to do? He sat down. You sit down too. Don't you stand. There's no works
to be done. There's nothing left to do. Sit down and rest in Christ. The work's already been done.
That quenches my thirst. That quenches my thirst. But
you put salvation in any way on me, the burden being on me to
hold up my end of the bargain. That's the old covenant and I
can have nothing to do with that. It'll never quench my thirst. Here's another
thing I know about salt water. Objects in salt water are more
buoyant. Say you take two pools of water, right? You have a clean
water body, a pure clean body, and you have a salt water body.
Take the same object. Throw it in both bodies of water.
In the salt water body, it's more likely to float to the top.
In the fresh water body, it's more likely to sink to the bottom.
The salt causes things to be more buoyant. Say, what in the
world is this guy talking about? What's the point? Take the message.
Throw the natural man into the message. What does he do? Does
he sink or does he float? In a brackish message, a message
that's been polluted with worked religion, man's religion, you
know what man does? He floats to the top. They always
find glory for man. Throw him in the gospel message.
You throw him in the scriptures. What does a natural man do? He
sinks straight to the bottom. If the gospel's preached, we're
exposed for who we are. We are ungodly, we are unrighteous,
we are unable, and we are unwilling. And we are in great need. Throw man in the message. What
does he do? Does he sink or does he float? It's the gospel. He sinks. And there's one who
rises to the top. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. He gets all the
glory. We love it that way because he's worthy of that glory. Here's
the next thing I know about salt water. Drinking salt water will
kill you. It'll kill you. If a man drinks salt water, his
kidneys will shut down and eventually he will die of dehydration. And
that's the same thing with a brackish message. You drink that message
of man's religion. You must do your part to make
his work effectual for you. If you can walk away from a message
and it leaves you looking anywhere but Christ alone, you've just
drank poison. And if the Lord doesn't intervene,
you'll die. You'll die. That's how serious this thing
is. That's how serious and how concerned we should be about
what we hear. What we hear. Try the spirits. What does the
natural man do in the message? Where does Christ fall in the
message? We need to be clear on that. Last point I have is a question.
How much salt does water have to contain before it's harmful?
Before it'll kill you? Anybody know? I have no idea
in reality. I tried to look it up, I couldn't
find it. But in a spiritual sense, I know very well. Any amount
at all. You take one grain of works and
you try to throw it in the pool of grace and now the whole body
is a salt water body. It's all works. Salvation is
either completely and utterly by grace, completely and utterly
dependent on what Jesus Christ hath done, past tense. or it
is completely dependent on what a man must do. And the Lord will
meet you on the ground as you come to him. You want to come
on the ground of grace? Free, sovereign grace. Nothing
left to do. No works left to perform. Just
rest. You know how many children this grounds? That's good news. That's good news for me. And
if you want to come on the grounds of your own works, he'll meet
you on those grounds too. And here's your debt then. Every
commandment, every time, all the time, outwardly and inwardly,
in the very recesses and the imaginations of your heart. Does
anybody want that responsibility? Can anybody here meet that burden?
No. Flee to Christ. Come on the grounds
of grace. And there's never a mixture of
grace and works. It's either all of works or it's
all of grace. Now that's the true believer's
response to the message of false religion, that brackish message.
To my next point, how can a bitter sinner, somebody like me, someone
who by nature is obnoxious and offensive to God, how can I be
made sweet? How can you be made sweet? Look
back in your text and look at verse 25. Exodus 15, 25. And he, speaking of Moses, cried
unto the Lord. And the Lord showed him a tree. Now where was that tree before?
It had been there the entire time. He just couldn't see it
until the Lord revealed it to him. The Lord showed him a tree,
which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made
sweet." Now, let's change the types here for a moment, alright?
You and I are now the waters of morrow. What is our natural
condition? When they came up to these waters, what was the
condition of the waters? Naturally, they were bitter.
They were bitter. And that's our case before God
by nature. We are bitter. We have a distasteful
flavor to the Lord. We're obnoxious because of our
sin. How did we get in this condition?
Interestingly enough, the story of our fall begins with a man
and a tree. What am I talking about? Go back
to the garden. Adam was created upright. Adam was created innocent.
And the Lord said, you can eat of all the fruit of all these
trees in this garden, except for this one tree, the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil. In the day you eat thereof, you
shall surely die. And what did Adam do? He disobeyed God, and
he ate the fruit, and he fell. He died spiritually. And every
son born after him is in the same boat, born dead in trespasses
and sins. It all began with a man and a
tree. Are we being too hard on Adam? You can never be too hard
on Adam. Adam is not to be pitied, he is to be blamed. But as soon
as we're done blaming Adam, turn around and point the finger at
yourself. Because you and I were in Adam. He was a federal head,
he was a humanity, but you and I were in him. This is how real
it is. It was Aaron who ate the fruit. It was Aaron who disobeyed
God. It was me. I was in Adam. I was
doing it right along with him. We are no victims in this thing.
We fell. But just as the story of our
fall begins with the story of a man and a tree, the story of
our redemption concludes. It's finished with the story
of a man and a tree. Say, what in the world is this
guy talking about? Turn to Galatians 3. Look at verse 13. What is the story where redemption
is accomplished with a man and a tree? Galatians 3 and look
at verse 13. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written,
cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. Notice the word hath. It means past tense. This is
how redemption, how salvation was accomplished, past tense. And the type is very simple.
It's talking about the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. Just as
the waters of Morah were made sweet, they were made to be what
they were not before, the Lord Jesus Christ was made a curse
for us. He was made our sins. He bore
our sins in his body on the tree. He was made to be what he was
not before. And because he was cast in the
bitterness of our sin, he was cast in the bitterness of his
father's wrath. That wrath that was reserved
for you and me, what we rightfully deserve because of what we have
earned and what we have done. We are not victims here. that
wrath fell down on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, there had been many
sacrifices offered up to this point. Many bulls, many goats.
And you know what happened? In those other sacrifices, the
same thing always happened. The sacrifice was killed, the
fire came down on it, and it consumed the sacrifice, and the
sacrifice was gone. For the first time in history,
and the only time, this is the time that the sacrifice consumed
the fire. He bore our sins in His body.
He bore the Father's wrath, and He swallowed up the wrath, and
He paid the sin debt. And it is no more. He has been
resurrected. The Father is satisfied. And
our sins are gone. As far as the East is from the
West, they are no more. Believer, you have no reason
for guilt. You have no reason for shame. The debt has been
paid. Because a man on a tree was cast
into bitterness, but now you, the waters, are sweet. Just as sweet as the Lord Jesus
Christ because of your union with him. That's the type here. Thank the Lord for a man and
a tree. Here's the last thing. Now, I'll
tell you what, let me give you a scripture just to, I don't want to tell
you anything and then I'll give you a scripture to back it up. I want you to
see that what I'm teaching you here and what I'm trying to say here
is the Word of God. 2 Corinthians 5.21, you don't
have to turn there, I'll give it to you. For He, the Father,
hath made Him, the Son, to be sin for us, the elect. Who knew
no sin, that we might be made, made, that word again, the righteousness
of God in Him. That's the teaching of 2 Corinthians
5.20. That's the whole gospel in one verse. A man and a traitor. Alright, picture of faith. Turn
back to your text, Exodus 15, look at verse 26. If thou wilt diligently hearken
to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is
right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments,
and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon
thee which I have brought upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord
that healeth thee." Now if we read this without understanding,
this would probably inspire fear, wouldn't it? I mean, if the only
thing that's keeping the Lord from raining down punishment
on me is my adherence to His statutes and His commandments
of His law, then I've got a real problem. Because I've never kept
to one of them. Not in my heart. But what's the
meaning? What's the meaning here? What's
the first condition? If that will, diligently hearken
to the voice of the Lord thy God. What does the voice of the
Lord say? Well, according to Matthew 11,
28, it says, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest. That's what the voice of the
Lord says. Somebody says, why should I come? Give me a reason,
I'm going to give you five, very briefly. Here's the first reason,
because it's not just a gracious invitation, it's a sovereign
command. And it's issued to the people
that are described here, those who are labored and heavy laden.
Any man who is heavy laden with the burden of his own sin, it's
like a monkey on his back, he just can't get rid of it. Any
man who's labored, he's tried to work his way out of sin, he's
tried to work his way into favor with God, and he's gotten nowhere.
Nowhere, just wore out, labored. Any man who's labored and heavy
laden, you! You! Instead of talking to me,
I'm talking to you. You are commanded to come to
Christ and trust Him right now, without delay. It's not an invitation. And I understand what people
mean when they say it's an invitation. I get that. But here's the thing.
Sometimes I like confidence, right? Sometimes I have social
anxiety. And sometimes I'll get things
like an invitation in the mail. Maybe to somebody's wedding.
And you know, I know they're gonna send out a lot of these
invitations and maybe I don't know them real well and I'm like,
well, they don't really want me there. You know, they're just
being nice. They're just sending out an invitation. But this is
more of a family gathering. I'd just be a nuisance to them.
I'll just send a gift and tell them I won't be there, right?
It's an invitation but they don't really want me there. Well, I
can turn down an invitation. But this is a command. It doesn't
say, well, if you want to, come on over. It says, you, you, right
now, you, sinner, come to me. Come to me. Nothing's in the
way. The way is clear. Your sins will never keep you from Christ.
You know what will? Your self-righteousness. This
man received his sinners. I'll give you another reason
because of what is promised. Rest. Cease from labor. Nothing left to do. No works
left to perform. Peace. Peace with God. Your warfare
has been accomplished. Anybody have an interest in that?
Oh, I have an interest in rest. Just resting and trusting in
Christ. I'll give you another reason, because you've got nowhere
else to go. If you can't find any confidence in your works,
if you can't find any confidence in your feelings and your experiences,
and I hope you don't, because it's all nothing, then He is
the only place of refuge. In this world it'll tell you
that everything's fine and we're all good and God is love, he
is love, but not in the way they portray him. They're liars. Everything's
not okay. We've sinned against God and
he's a holy God and he's a God of justice. Flee to Christ. He's the only place of refuge. I'll give you a fourth reason,
you'll perish if you don't. I'm not even gonna comment on that,
that's self-evident. Here's the last reason. Because
if you're called by the Holy Spirit, you cannot not come. You see, grace is irresistible
and invincible. If the Holy Spirit calls a man,
you know what he does? He comes running. Why? Because he's got
no other choice. And you know what? He wants no
other choice. Christ is everything to him.
Grace for sinners? Count me in. I'm coming. I'm
coming. I've got no other choice. Alright, look at the other markers
that are given in verse 26. Do that which is right in his sight. Is he talking about the law here?
Adherence to the law? Better not be. Because all I've
done is broke the law. Right now, how is every member
of the elect viewed? We talked about it in Sunday
school. In Christ. When the father looks at the
elect, all he sees is his darling son. Let me ask some questions.
Is the Lord Jesus Christ holy? Absolutely, unchangeably holy? He sure is. And we're in him. We are holy right now. Is he righteous? Did he only
do that which is right and never do that which was wrong? He's
absolutely righteous. We're righteous in him. Does
he have all the love, the infinite love of God, is it all bestowed
upon Christ? It absolutely is. All God's love
is in Christ. That's how much you're loved. The next one, keep all his statutes. Now what is a statute? It has
something to do with a decree. And it's something like this.
It's particular. It says, okay, when this happens, do this. Okay? That's a decree. And so what
do I mean by that? The first verse of scripture
to explain this, I thought of, is 1 John 2.1, and I'll read
it to you. It says, my little children,
These things write I unto you that you sin not. And if any
man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
the righteous. What is the circumstance? What has happened? We said a
decree is when this happens, do this. What's the circumstance?
I've sinned. I've sinned. What's the prescription?
What's the statute? Flee to the advocate. This is
a very special advocate. He's unlike any other advocate.
In fact, he's the judge's son. He has great power with the judge,
so much so that he can walk into the presence of the judge. And
he shows him the nail prints in his hands and his feet. And
he lifts his shirt and shows him the spear mark in his side.
And the judge says, he gets whatever he wants. He gets whatever he
wants. He says, he's justified. Judge says, justified. Justified. What's the condition I've sinned?
What's the prescription? You flee to be advocate. There's another way we can look
at this, too. We can look at this from the standpoint of the
eternal decree of God the Father. Before time began, God the Father
engaged in a covenant with His Son, the covenant of grace. He
said, these, these people, these ones I love, that I've chosen
in you, you're going to live for them, you're going to die
for them, you're going to ransom them, you're going to redeem
them, and you're going to bring them back to me safe and sound without
a scratch on them. That was the decree and the Lord
Jesus Christ honored that decree. He kept that statute. He went
to the cross and he died and he rose again. And now every
member of the elect is justified, is not guilty. It has nothing
to do with adherence to the law. It has everything to do with
what Christ has done. And here's the last one. The
last condition is give ear to his commandments. Turn to 1 John
3 verse 23 and I want you to see this. Give ear to His commandments.
He's talking about the commandments of the law? The Ten Commandments? Better not be. I've done nothing
but break those. 1 John 3, verse 23. And this is His commandment. That we should believe on the
name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another. as he gave
his commandment. This is the sum of the other
three conditions. The sum and substance of it all. What is
your commandment? What is your statute? What are
you decreed to do? You believe on the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ alone. That's right now what you are
commanded to do, to rest in Him, to cease from your labor and
simply rest. His is the voice we hearken to.
He's the only place of refuge. He's the one who's kept the decree.
He's the one who represents us before the Father. Your commandment
is to believe the Lord Jesus Christ. And you love your brothers
and sisters in Christ. And the Lord's done something
for you. You have all that ability. Because those are free gifts. Now, to conclude, I want to deal
with how the Lord addresses himself in a verse of scripture. I think
it's very important. He says, I am the Lord that healeth thee.
Jehovah-Rapha. Look over at Luke 9 and look
at verse 11. This will be our closing scripture. Luke 9, verse 11, I am the Lord that healeth thee,
Jehovah Rapha. And the people, Luke 9, 11, when
they knew it, followed him. and he received them, and spake
unto them of the kingdom of God, and healed them that had need
of healing." Now notice that word, it. It's in italics. It's provided by the translator
to provide the appropriate context for the verse, but it actually
would read better without it. When they knew not it, when they
knew who. Who? Christ. When he had revealed
himself to these people, when they knew him, what did they
do? They followed him. How do you
follow somebody? What is the most effective way
to follow somebody? You keep your eyes on them. You
look to them. When they knew him, when he had
revealed himself to them, they kept their eyes on him. They
looked to him. And what did he do? This is one of the most blessed
promises I've ever seen in the scripture. He received them. He received them. This man receiveth
sinners. He received them. And he spoke
to them. He spoke to them as a man speaks to his friend. And
he healed them that had need of healing. Now I'm going to
ask you a question. This is a serious question. Is
there anybody here who is sin sick? And I'm not talking about
this person who makes a mistake every once in a while that, you
know, well, every once in a while I commit a sin, you know, I guess
I've got a few wounds. No, I'm talking about someone
who is sin sick from the top of their head all the way to
the bottom of their foot and everywhere in between. You want
to look at the sickness in the scriptures that's used to typify
sin, it's leprosy. Leprosy. And when people who
had leprosy, how were they referred to? Were they referred to as,
well, this is John, he has leprosy. No, this is naming the leper.
His disease defined who he was. I'm Aaron. I'm not Aaron the guy who has
some sin problems. I'm Aaron the sinner. My disease defines
who I am. Does anybody have that problem?
I tell you what, you follow, you look to Jehovah Rapha and
he'll receive you. And He'll speak to you as a man
speaks to his friend. And He will heal you of all your diseases. And I'll tell you this, if there's
any man looking to Christ right now that He's given you faith,
you haven't been healed. You bury your sins no more. What
a glorious thought. All right, I'm going to stop there.