Again, it's a joy to be here.
Thank you so much for inviting me here to preach the word to
you, brethren. It's certainly not a light thing
to me, and so I really appreciate your kindness and just trusting
the Lord and that Clay would let you know that, you know,
just that he would even send me here. I appreciate that. All
right, brethren, let's turn to Psalm 20. Psalm 20. This psalm here is sung to the
Lord Jesus Christ by the church at the time of this writing,
This church, this is the betrothed bride of Christ beholding her
God, her betrothed husband. He's suiting up for the battle,
he's riding out to the war, and as he's going by, this psalm
here is her heart's prayer for her husband. She's looking at
him, and he's looking at her, because he knows that if that
bride, that woman there, is to be his bride, he must save her. He must win this battle. If he fails, she fails, and she
won't be his bride. But he loves her, and he's going
to have his bride. And that's what this psalm is
saying, this is the bride crying out, this is her, she's expressing
her prayer to God the Father out loud. This is what she's
lifting up in her heart to God the Father for her Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Psalm 20. The Lord hear thee
in the day of trouble. The name of the God of Jacob
defend thee. Send thee help from the sanctuary,
and strengthen thee out of Zion. Remember all Thy offerings, and
accept Thy burnt sacrifice. Grant Thee according to Thine
own heart, and fulfill all Thy counsel. We will rejoice in Thy
salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners.
The Lord fulfill all Thy petitions. Now know I that the Lord saveth
his anointed. He will hear him from his holy
heaven with the saving strength of his right hand. Some trust
in chariots and some in horses, but we will remember the name
of the Lord our God. They are brought down and fallen,
but we are risen and stand upright. Save, Lord, let the King hear
us when we call. Now, we who are the redeemed
Church of God, we are blessed to look back and see what our
Savior has accomplished for His people. But the Church before
Christ came, they're looking forward, with faith, they're
looking forward to what the Savior would indeed accomplish for His
people. If you remember our Lord when
he came up to the Mount of Olives, it says, The whole multitude
of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice
for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, Blessed
be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven
and glory in the highest. But we know, we look back and
see what our Savior has indeed accomplished. For the Scriptures
tell us that this man, after he had offered one sacrifice
for sins forever, sat down on 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. My title this morning is Rejoice
in Christ's Salvation. And what I want us to see this
morning are the sure mercies of God and our forerunner, Christ,
who was indeed heard by His God. God did receive His sacrifice,
the sacrifice of Himself, and now we are blessed abundantly
in Christ Jesus our Lord. We have four divisions. The first
two will be a little longer than the last two. They are the Day
of Trouble, Thy Salvation, the Victory of Christ, and Confidence
in Christ. Alright, the Day of Trouble.
In the beginning there, in Psalm 20, verse 1, it says, The Lord
hear thee in the Day of Trouble. Brethren, we're in all the days
of our Lord, days of trouble. He is our brother born for adversity,
a man of sorrows acquainted with grief. And as I thought about
these days of trouble, I thought about a lot. Lot is that man
that we read of that beheld all the plain of Jordan. And we are
told that Lot pitched his tent toward Sodom until eventually
he lives in Sodom with he and his family. And if you read just
the Old Testament, you might come away thinking, This man
is a reprobate. I don't think this man knows
the Lord. But when you read the New Testament,
what Peter tells us about him is, this is just Lot, justified
Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked, for that righteous
man dwelling among them, and seeing and hearing, vexed his
righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds. So if that's the testimony concerning
Lot, who had these fleshly desires and moved over there to Sodom,
if that's the testimony of Lot, what must it have been for our
Lord, who was holy and perfect and without sin, when He lived
here among us? And when they came around Him,
just swarming around Him, tempting Him and trying to get Him to
say things that they might have something to accuse Him about.
Isaiah tells us that he is despised and rejected of men, a man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we, we hid, as it were, our
faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed
him not. No doubt all the days of our
Lord here, they were a source of trouble for him. But notice
further, as we see our Lord venturing into the Garden of Gethsemane,
and He brings Peter, James, and John with Him, and the Scriptures
tell us that He began to be sorrowful and very heavy, and He saith
unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. Tarry ye here, and watch with
me. But we know that this they could not do. They couldn't watch
with Him. They couldn't stay awake. They
couldn't help Him. Our Lord bore this alone in the
garden when He sweat great drops of blood. What He bore there
in the garden was surely a day of trouble. And then He goes
to the cross and He performs that work that only He could
do, what we could not do for ourselves. He was troubled there
on the cross with our sin. the sin of His people, He was
troubled with their sin, that He might pay the penalty for
the sins of those who were made of God to believe on Him and
hope in Him. Isaiah tells us that 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. And yet for all this, the Scriptures
testify of what we are. We esteemed him not. But we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. There is no doubt that this was
surely a day of trouble for our Lord, especially that day in
which his Father forsook him. But the Church here is said to
say, The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble. Now we've read
all these examples of how our Lord was troubled all His days. And so does this mean, did God
not hear His Son? Did not God hear this prayer,
that the Lord hear thee in the day of trouble? This is Christ,
the Anointed One of God. The scriptures tell us that the
Son to the Father, He is precious. You can be sure of this, Christ
was heard by the Father. Turn to Hebrews chapter 5. Hebrews
5, verse 7. This holds a place there in Psalm
20 as well. We'll be back. Hebrews 5, 7. Speaking of our Lord Jesus Christ,
we read this. Verse 7. Who in the days of His
flesh when he had offered up prayers and supplications with
strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him
from death, and was heard in that he feared. Verse 7 tells
us that God was indeed able to save him from death, and that
his prayers and supplications which he made with strong crying
and tears was heard by God in that he feared God. But we know
the account of Jesus Christ. We know that He was crucified
for His people, that He died bearing their sins under the
just wrath of Almighty God. He shed His blood, He died, and
He was buried. Right? Suffering under the almighty
wrath of God. We'll turn to John chapter 12. John chapter 12. Because we want
to know, what did Christ pray for? What did He petition the
Father for? John 12, verse 27. Our Lord said, in verse 27, now
is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? Father,
save me from this hour, but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name. So here we see our Savior praying
that the Father's name would be glorified. That's one thing
that our Savior prayed for. All right, turn to John 17. John
17 in verse 1. Here we find our Savior praying
what we call the high priestly prayer of the Son. And we read
in verse 1, He says, These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his
eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come. Glorify thy
Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee. And then in verse 5, He
says, Now, O Father, Glorify Thou me with Thine own self,
with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was." So
that here he's praying that the Father glorify the Son and that
the Father would restore the Son to that former glory that
He had with the Father before He took upon Him our flesh and
came to this earth. And then he goes on in verse
24, and he prays for his disciples, those that would hear the testimony
of the apostles, that he prays for those of us who would believe,
who did not see him, and he asks that we would be with him in
glory. Verse 24, he says, Father, I will that they also, whom Thou
hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my
glory, which Thou hast given me, for Thou lovest me before
the foundation of the world. Brethren, our Savior never prayed
to be delivered from the cross. He never prayed to be delivered
from bearing the wrath of Almighty God. He endured that for His
people. What He prayed earnestly for
and what He was heard by God for was that He would glorify
the Father. that the Father would glorify
Him, that He would be restored unto the glory that He had with
the Father before He came, and that we who are in Christ might
be raised together with Him, and that we might behold our
Savior in all His glory that He had. Because when we saw Him,
He was weak and lowly doing what He did. But in that day we shall
see Him and behold Him in all His glory and power. And then
we'll begin to have a sense as to what poverty He took upon
Himself for us. Brethren, what a mercy. And brethren,
think of all the mocking that the people, all those mockers
that came to Him and tried to turn His eyes from His purpose. They came and they threw things
in His face and threw it in His teeth. And just look at, if you
go to Matthew 27, Matthew 27, verse 39, We read what they said to him,
how they mocked him. It says in Matthew 27 verse 39,
And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads. Do
you ever have an enemy that goes by when you know that you are
down and they're just mocking you? Here He is on the cross,
all power and authority. He can do whatsoever He wills
in that hour, in that moment. And yet, there they are mocking
Him and He stays true to His purpose. They said, verse 40,
thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days,
save thyself, if thou be the Son of God, come down from the
cross. Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, but the
scribes and elders said, he saved others, himself he cannot save. If He be the King of Israel,
let Him now come down from the cross, and we'll 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. And He was never moved or
turned from His purpose. He had His eyes fixed upon His
Bride, and what He would do, He was there to glorify the Father,
He was there to redeem his bride. And he says there in verse 46
that he cried with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthanai. That is to say, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? And some of them that stood there,
when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias. And straightway
one of them ran and took a sponge and filled it with vinegar and
put it on a reed and gave him to drink. And the rest said,
Let it be. Let us see whether Elias will
come to save him. But you know, Elias never came
to save him. Elias never came to take our
Lord down from the cross. And the reason is because Christ
never prayed to be delivered from that cross. He was not going
to be moved from His purpose. Our Lord was indeed heard when
he prayed that he would accomplish the work which he set out to
do. The scriptures teach us that the law is against us in the
sense that we cannot keep the law. We cannot earn a righteousness
of our own. We are insufficient by far. We cannot save ourselves. But
in Colossians, Paul said that he took hold of that handwriting
of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us. And it's contrary to us because
we are dead in our trespasses and sins. Our flesh can do nothing
good. We cannot save ourselves. We
cannot please God. We are completely dependent upon
the righteousness of Jesus Christ. So that He came and did for us
what we cannot do for ourselves. He took it out of the way, it
says, nailing it to His cross. He had to stay there on that
cross. He had to die under the wrath
of God, bearing the sins of His people. And the Scriptures say,
having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of
them openly. He made a public spectacle of
them. They thought they were making
a public spectacle of Him. But in reality, He shamed them. He wasn't shamed. He accomplished
the will of His Father, triumphing over them in Him. Do you marvel? Why is it that Christ had to
die such a horrible ignominious death, I guess as they say, but
why is it? Isaiah tells us that it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief. When
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He saw his bride. He saw the
one that he was coming to lay down his life for. He shall see
his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the
Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see the travail of his
soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. Our Savior knew exactly what
He was doing. And He was fulfilling the will of God from before the
foundation of the earth. He knew exactly what He was doing
and He patiently endured that cross. He patiently endured the
shame all seeing before Him that which He was coming to accomplish. That He would accomplish the
salvation of those who believe in Him. Those who need Him and
can't save themselves. They must be saved by this One. Brethren, do you suffer? And does your suffering cause
you to cease from your prayers? Or does your suffering drive
you to Christ? Does it drive you to your knees
and say, Lord, help me. Lord, I need you. Brethren, I
know that sometimes when we go through these dark days and these
tough times, we think, surely my sin has caught up to me. Surely
God is going to deal with me now as my sins deserve, and here
it comes. But brethren, the Lord hasn't
brought dark days upon you for your harm. He brings it for your
good. He's bringing you to see your
need of Christ, that you can do nothing for yourself. He troubles
you so that you don't find your peace in this world. He troubles
you so that you're not happy and settled and joyful in the
things of this world. He breaks us from that. He destroys all those hopes that
we in our flesh would just settle in. I remember when I was dead
in religion, I was an Arminian, basically, and I knew a lot of
the right things about Jesus. I knew that he saved his people,
but I had no idea what that meant. I actually remember saying, to
my shame, that I thought I had about one or maybe two more sins
to deal with, and then I'd be a righteous man. I was so dead,
I didn't know what I was talking about. And thanks be to God,
He troubled me and He brought me low so that I was hopeless. And I thought I had done, despite
the grace of God and despite His Spirit, so that for over
a year I wandered around just troubled and miserable and scared
to death that I had been cut off from the Lord. And I thought,
surely, Surely God is dealing with me according to my sins,
and I'm getting what I rightly deserve." And I would go to every
pastor, and I'd ask them, I'd tell them my plight, and I'd
say, well, what do I do? And they'd say, well, just believe.
Believe on Jesus. I said, but I can't believe.
And everybody I told, all my friends, I said, this is the
trouble that I'm going through. I think I'm cut off. And they
said, just have faith. Just have faith. And I said,
well, what do I do if I don't have faith? I can't believe I'm
cut off from the Lord. And they said, well, that's just
the devil. That's the devil. And then they began to back away
from me. Like literally, figuratively, they began to just move away
from me to the point where I remember one brother who later was saved,
he said, I wanted to smack you in the face when you were talking
like that, because I didn't know what to say, because I wouldn't
just hear what they were saying. And that's where I learned that
the Arminian gospel is no gospel at all. It's got nothing for
the sinner. There's no hope for them. But
when I heard the gospel, well, first when I heard the gospel,
I thought, I wish I'd heard this sooner, because now I'm cut off.
But the Lord kept me in the gospel, and I heard the gospel, and then
I began to hear what the gospel was saying, and I realized, Lord,
I was a self-righteous man. You broke me from that. As long
as I stayed in that, that was my hope and that was my comfort,
and I couldn't hear the truth until the Lord broke me of my
self-righteousness, brought me to see I was undone and had no
hope, and then He showed me the riches of Christ Jesus the Lord. And that's what He does to all
His people. If you're troubled, if you're
sorrowful, the Lord only means it for your good. Rather, He
has prayed that the Father would raise us up to see Him in glory. All I can say is that it doesn't
just happen like everything's just great now for the rest of
our lives after we believe. We are brought low because the
flesh is wicked. It always rises up. The flesh
is always lusting for what the flesh wants. That doesn't change.
The flesh doesn't get any better. It's that new man that Christ
has formed in us that desires Him, that longs for Him, that
is jealous for Him, waiting for His return. So this flesh will
be troubled, and the Lord will faithfully keep bringing it low,
keep bringing us down in ourselves, that we would see how glorious
and wonderful the Lord Jesus Christ is. And then, He settles
us in Christ, He shows us over and over again just how sweet
He is and how He does everything for us. Remember, brethren, this
is about our Savior, that though He were a Son, Yet learned he
obedience by the things which he suffered. And being made perfect,
he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that
obey him. So that having him rightly in
view, considering ourselves in that we're not alone, brethren,
when we go through suffering and trials and difficult times. We're in the company of Jesus
Christ. That's an amazing thought. And Peter tells us, knowing this,
that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren
that are in the world. You brethren have trouble down
here in North Carolina? No doubt. We have trouble up
there in New Jersey. and they have trouble in Kentucky,
in California, and in Alaska, and all around the world. All
your brethren are going through trials, but it's through much
tribulation that we enter into the Kingdom of God. It's not
a mysterious thing if you're troubled. Fear not, brethren,
the Lord knows how to save them that are His. Turn to 2 Corinthians,
chapter 4, 2 Corinthians 4. Paul writes to the Corinthians
in chapter 4 verse 16, verse 16 he says, For which cause we
faint not, but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man
is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which
is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory, while we look not at the things which
are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things
which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not
seen are eternal. Brethren, I am sure that no matter
what you experience in this life, when you behold Christ on His
throne, it's all gonna wash away. All this, everything will wash
away. Whether you have a fairly easy
life or you have a very, very difficult and troubled life,
it'll all wash away. Alright, turn back to Psalm 20. This is our second point. Thy salvation. Do you remember when David was
nothing in Israel? Nobody knew David. David is just
a nobody. At that time, the Philistines
were at war with Israel. Samuel tells us that they had
themselves a champion. And it says that there went out
a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath
of Gath, whose height was six cubits in a span. That means
he was about ten feet tall. And we know that David was small
of stature, actually. And the Philistines said, I defy
the armies of Israel this day. Give me a man that we may fight
together. And when Saul and all Israel
heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly
afraid. But here comes little young David,
and he's going there to represent all of Israel. And Samuel says
that David said, This day will the Lord deliver thee into my
hand. And many other things David said
to glorify the God of Israel. And so they're there on the battlefield.
And it says, and it came to pass, when the Philistine arose and
came and drew nigh to meet David, that David hastened and ran toward
the army to meet the Philistine. Brethren, think about that sight
there. You're there in the lines, the ranks of the Israelites. And all your hope is fixed on
that young man running across the field, little David, to meet
giant Goliath. Can you imagine? And all their
hope is fixing him. If David lost, they'd be the
slaves of the Philistines. But if David won, the victory
would be theirs. Brethren, did not our David,
the Lord Jesus Christ, do that very thing? There he goes, set
to do what we could not do for ourselves and facing our foe,
sin, Satan, and death. We can't defeat those things.
So he did what we could not do for ourselves and he rushed towards
our enemies and he overcame our enemy. He defeated our enemy. The scriptures tell us that when
the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly
set his face to go to Jerusalem. He went there with a purpose.
He knew exactly what he was doing and he willingly took our place
and fought, he faced our enemies and he fought our foes and he
defeated them. Alright, brethren, Think of our
champion now. Think of Christ and what He has
done for us. He's going out to the battle
now on our behalf. You who are His betrothed bride,
you who are the bride of Christ, He must save you. If He's to
marry you, if He's to have you, He must do for you what you cannot
do. And there in Psalm 20, Verse
1, this is her prayer as he's going out on his war campaign.
She says, The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble. The name
of the God of Jacob defend thee. Send thee help from the sanctuary,
and strengthen thee out of Zion. Remember all thy offerings, and
accept thy burnt sacrifice. Selah. God did indeed accept
the sacrifice of his Son. Thanks be to God. Grant thee
according to thine own heart and fulfill all thy counsel. We will rejoice in thy salvation. In the name of our God, we will
set up our banners. The Lord fulfill all thy petitions. as she's to be saved, it must
be by Jesus Christ. And brethren, don't think that
we cease to pray for Christ our Savior. Our Lord told us that
when we pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed
be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, as in heaven,
so on earth. So we continue to pray in the
sense that our Lord's will be done here on earth. And we continue
to pray for them as we pray for the body of Christ, that is,
His people. Our Lord said, Inasmuch as ye
have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye
have done it unto me. So we pray that our Lord's will
be done. We continue to pray that the
Lord save His people, that the Lord protect our brethren, that
He strengthen our brethren, that He has mercy upon our brethren. Because this is the house of
God, this is His people whom He has saved, that He has raised
up for Himself, that He has purchased with His own blood, and He gathers
His people into the local assemblies. But notice it says there in verse
5, We will rejoice in thy salvation. Notice there the church's worship
of God. Because again, she's given all
the glory to Jesus Christ. She's given all the glory to
God for her salvation. It's our Lord who moves on us
to work His will of salvation. He says, He must be born again.
And we can't save ourselves. He must be born again. And He
says, the wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest
the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh. and
whither it goeth. So is everyone that is born of
the Spirit, so that it's the Spirit that does this work upon
us. He prepares us. He brings us
low in our own selves. He breaks our self-confidences.
He destroys them. He annihilates our self-confidences,
showing us that we're lost, showing us our need of Christ, and bringing
us to the feet of Christ where we must be saved. And then he
goes on, the psalmist goes on in verse 5, "...the Lord fulfill
all thy petitions." Now we saw how the Lord fulfilled all the
petitions of Christ. And one of the blessings that
we have in Christ is that the Lord hears our petitions. He
brings us to pray according to His will. And so you might say,
well what do the petitions of a child of God sound like? How
do I know if I'm praying according to the will of God? Well, the
petitions of a trembling soul sound something like this. I
am poor and sorrowful. Let thy salvation, O God, set
me up on high. It sounds like this. Help us,
O God of our salvation, for the glory of Thy name, and deliver
us and purge away our sins for Thy name's sake. O show us Thy
mercy, O Lord, and grant us Thy salvation. Remember me, O Lord,
with the favor that Thou bearest unto Thy people. O visit me with
Thy salvation. It sounds like this. Lord, help
me. It sounds like, Lord, I believe,
help thou mine unbelief, for God be merciful on me, a sinner. That's what the Lord brings His
people to pray, to confess their sins, to confess that they are
nothing and that Christ is all. If we're to be saved, it's in
Christ and in Him alone. As Joseph Hart wrote in his hymn,
Let not conscience make you linger, nor of fitness fondly dream. All the fitness he requireth
is to feel your need of him. And he's the one who brings his
people there to feel and to know and to see their need of Jesus
Christ. For the scripture saith, Whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. You'll be heard
because of what Christ has done. Alright, our third point, the
victory of Christ. The Holy Spirit having taught
us, comforts us, and settles us in Christ, so that we say
here as it says in Psalm 20 verse 6, Now know I that the Lord saveth
his anointed, he will hear him from his holy heaven with the
saving strength of his right hand. Brethren, this is God's
anointed, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Father loveth the Son. You will rejoice in the salvation
that we have in Christ alone. That's where we find our rejoicing.
That's our boast in what Christ has done. Sometimes we go through
dark times and we think, Lord, do you hear me? Lord, why does
the ceiling seem like an iron wall? Just nothing gets through.
But don't worry, brethren. We might go through long, delays
or long seasons and times in which we're not sure what's going
on, and we think that the Lord doesn't hear us, but brethren,
He hears you. He's brought you here this morning
to hear the Gospel, I trust, to hear what God has done for
His people through the Lord Jesus Christ. And He tells His preachers,
Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare
is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, For she hath received
of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. Our King has indeed
won the battle. He has washed and cleansed His
bride and brought her to Himself. His work and His will is indeed
being done and being accomplished here on this earth. O death,
where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Thanks be to God, which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. He has indeed accomplished
what he set out to do. Fourth, confidence in Christ. Return to our text there in verse
7, and we'll read it to the end. some trust in chariots and some
in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.
They are brought down and fallen, but we are risen and stand upright. Save, Lord, let the King hear
us when we call. James tells us that faith without
works is dead, being alone. And the opposite thing could
be said as well. That works without faith is dead, being alone. And here in verse 7 we have a
practical application of faith. It says some trust in chariots
and some in horses. Brethren, do you rest in Christ?
Did Christ do enough? Did Christ indeed save His people? Or do you believe that there's
something more that you need to do? Is Christ sufficient? Has He accomplished all the work?
Or do you find yourself thinking, surely there's something more
I need to do. Christ's work isn't enough. If that's where you find
yourself, always looking again to your works, when you see your
sin, do you just Go to Christ. Confess your sin and lay it before
Him knowing that He has put it away. Or brethren, do you run
and start doing religious things and trying to do more things
to save yourself? That's like trusting in horses
and trusting in chariots in the day of battle. That's like trusting
in tanks and weapons and things like that to save you in the
day of battle. Paul said, though we walk in the flesh, we do not
war after the flesh. We don't do spiritual things
with our flesh. For the weapons of our warfare
are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds,
casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted
itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity
every thought to the obedience of Christ. Brethren, our confidence
is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our salvation. Let us praise God, serving Him
and serving our brethren, knowing that we are more than conquerors
through Him that loved us. The scriptures tell us, wherefore,
seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of
witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth
so easily beset us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him is bright. For the joy that was set before
him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at
the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him who
endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest
ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Finally, brethren, notice
now our prayer to the King seated on the throne, with all authority
now His. Save, Lord, let the King, Jesus
Christ, hear us when we call. Go to the Savior. He's the only
one that can save, and He's able to save all those who come to
Him by faith, that faith which He gives you, pricks you in the
heart and shows you your need of Him. Look to Jesus, brethren.
Amen. Let's pray. Our gracious Lord,
Father, we thank you for the salvation which we have in your
Son, Jesus Christ. Lord, show us that we indeed
are nothing. Lord, if you have someone here
who does not know you, Lord, I pray that you would bless your
word. Fix it in their heart. Lord, if they are yours from
all eternity, shake them of their confidences. Bring them low in
their self. Destroy all their self-confidences
and show them Jesus Christ. Lord, we thank you for your people.
We thank you for the gospel, Lord, that you do not leave us
to ourselves to grope about and try and find you. Lord, have
mercy upon your people. Bless us with your grace and
peace in Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Savior. Amen.