Hebrews chapter 1. Hebrews chapter
1. It is my pleasure to be here. It truly is. I've tried and trying
not to travel much anymore, try not to do any conferences, as
I really feel strongly led to, but this is one place I try not
to turn down. If at all possible, I try to
make it. And when Paul asked me, I found
somebody to take my place so I could come here this morning
and be with you. And when Paul told me there's
only one service, I was glad. Henry said to me one time, my
pastor Henry, he said, it's hard to rise twice in one day. And those who preach know what
that means. You know all about it, those
who preach. It's hard to rise twice in one
day. If the Lord will just give us
His presence this morning and give us His Word to go home on
and to feast on until you come back Wednesday, that's enough,
isn't it? That's enough. For Him to just
speak to me this morning and to speak to you and be with us
is humbling. It's humbling to think that God
would speak to worms like us, isn't it? But you know, I thought
this is what it's all about. That we could come together a
couple times a week and sing His praises, sing praises to
Him, not sing praises about Him. but to Him. We sing unto the
Lord, not about the Lord. It really makes a difference
in how you sing. If you're singing to Him and not just about Him.
And then we get to worship Him together as His family. I told
Vicki last night, I said, I think I am beginning to see the big
picture now. It's all about Christ. It's all
for His glory. It was all created by Him and
for Him. I have no reason to exist except for Jesus Christ. I have no reason to breathe except
for Him. Everything I have is because
of Him and for Him. And when I see Him, and when
you see Him, you who believe, what rejoicing! We are going
to stand amazed. And we will understand what amazing
grace really is. when we stand in His presence
and see what He's done for us. That's amazing grace. That's amazing grace. And I see,
as I said, I see the big picture now. I see a picture that I didn't
see when I was a young man. But I see now. This is all for
Him. This day, this gathering is for
the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know, the Lord said to
Peter, He said, Peter, feed my sheep. Feed my lambs. And I have learned now over the
years how to do that. And it's simply this, by exalting
and lifting up the Lord Jesus Christ. If I can do that, the
sheep will be fed. The sheep will be fed. You see,
I used to work for a man and I ran his company. I was a plant
manager for a number of years. And he would say to me, John,
you need to see the big picture. I had the foreman in the shop
to see that the day-to-day things were done. He said, you need
to see the big picture. And those who, especially those
who preach, they need to see the big picture so that we can
feed the sheep. And seeing Christ, an exalted
Christ above all else and all others, is the way to feed the
sheep. You know, the landscape, the
political landscape, I'll get to my message here in a minute.
Maybe this is the message. But the political landscape doesn't
scare me. I may be upset with some of the
principles that are going on, you know, the principle by which
natural men operate, God's on the throne. Jesus Christ is on
the throne. He's ruling and reigning right
now. Not going to. He's doing so right now. And
you know, it's going exactly as He purposed it to go. Exactly. And so I don't get being out
of shape anymore. Used to, but not anymore. No,
the Lord's on the throne and it's going exactly as He purposed
it to go. And that gives me great comfort. The best sleep aid I've
ever had is knowing that God's in control. That's the softest
pillow to lay on at night, is that my Lord's on the throne
and all is well. When I'm asleep, that's when
you and I are the most vulnerable. But he that keepeth Israel slumbers
not nor sleeps. He keeps watch over us. Now,
here in the book of Hebrews, it's all about Christ being better. In verse 4, listen, being made
so much better than the angels. There's no comparison of the
angels, any angel, all the angels, to the Lord Jesus Christ. Because
He's their Lord. The power they have, He gives
it to them. And look over in chapter 7 of
Hebrews. In chapter 7, in verse 19, I'll
wait until I quit hearing the pages rattle. For the law made nothing perfect,
but the bringing in of a better hope did. Don't we? We have a hope that fadeth not
away. We have a better hope. Now look
in verse 22 of that chapter. By so much was Jesus made a surety
of a better testament. We have a better hope, a better
covenant. That's what we have, a better
testament. We have a covenant we can't break. Think of that. We cannot break this covenant,
this testament here. We can't break it. It rests on
the shoulder of our surety. You want to lie down in bed tonight
and have a good thought to quiet your soul? Is that the Lord Jesus
Christ is the surety of this covenant. He's the surety. Now listen, being my surety means
this. He's responsible to bring me
home. I'm not responsible. It's not a cooperative effort.
The government is laid on his shoulders. All the sheep are
on his shoulders. When he left the 99, remember
that story? And he went out to find that
one lost sheep? What did he do? Did he put a
rope around his neck and lead it home? He put it on his shoulders
and carried it home. What you and I don't realize,
the Lord is carrying us home. He's carrying us home. He's not
driving us. He's not dragging us. He's carrying us. It doesn't
feel like it at times, but I assure you He is. He's carrying us all
the way home. Now look in chapter 8. Look in
verse 6. But now hath He, the Lord Jesus
Christ, obtained a more excellent ministry by how much also He's
the mediator of the better covenant. And then look in chapter 9. In
chapter 9, in verse 23, it was therefore necessary that the
patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with ease,
but the heavenly things themselves... I'm looking at the heavenly things
themselves. I'm looking at them. You are
the heavenly things. You are part of that. But the
heavenly things themselves with better sacrifice... Better sacrifices
than these. He's the better sacrifice. He's
the last sacrifice. He's the only sacrifice. He's
the satisfying, justifying sacrifice. He's it. He's it. And then chapter 11. In chapter
11, look in verse 16. Chapter 11, verse 16. But now
they desire a better country. Now we believe, and I believe
right now, that we still live in the best country on this earth. I do. But there's one far better. There's one far better. One day we're going to stand
on a new earth. That's real. That's going to happen. We are
going to stand on a new earth in a new body. And we're going
to walk with the Lord. We're going to walk with the
saints. And there's going to be no sin in that kingdom. No temptation. Wouldn't that
be great? Never be tempted again. Oh, we
desire a better country that is a heavenly, wherefore God
is not ashamed to be called their God. That's amazing. For He hath
prepared for them a city. God's prepared this city. We're
not helping him do it. Our Lord said in one place, it's
your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Just as
it was his pleasure to give Adam the garden of Eden. It's perfect.
But he said he's given us the kingdom. And now one more scripture. In verse 35. Women received their dead, raised
to life again. Others were tortured. This is
our ancestry. These are our forefathers in
the faith. And he speaks here of these women
who received their dead, raised to life again, and others tortured,
not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. You know, there are some people
going to be resurrected to damnation. Really, there are. I've said
this often, that rich man that's in hell, he's still there. And
he's still thirsty. And it'll be that way forever
and ever and ever. And I know that it's hard to
comprehend that kind of torment. It's hard to comprehend that
place. That's hard. But one day we'll
understand when we have the mind of Christ and we really understand
sin is sin, and we really see and understand who God is, then
we'll understand eternal punishment as well as eternal glory. And
when God casts that great whore into hell, every last one of
us are going to shout, Hallelujah. We're going to be in full agreement. All right, we see here that Christ
is better, better than all that was before Him. And now we see here in verse
1, I'm only going to try to cover the first four verses. The first verse starts with God.
You know, if you're going to start right, that's where you
start. You don't start with man, you start with God. In the beginning,
God created the heavens and the earth. To start right, we start
with God. This is like saying that God
is. You know, Abraham, it says, believed God and it accounted
to him for righteousness. Abraham didn't believe in a God
or believe that a God existed. He believed God. There's a difference
between believing God exists and believing the God that does
exist. I believe God. That's what happened
when God saved you. When you believed the gospel,
that's what you did. You believed God for the first time. It went
from believing there is a God to believing God. So this starts with God. God. And then it starts with God.
who at sundry times, at these different times and in diverse
manners, different ways, spake in time passing to the fathers
by the prophets. God has never left Himself without
a witness. Here stands one right now. Your pastor standing this morning
as a witness. God has His witnesses standing
throughout this world constantly preaching the Lord Jesus Christ
to His people. He's never left himself without
a witness. But he spoke here at sundry times and in diverse
manners, and he spoke to the fathers. Now God has spoken. God has spoken. First, let me
point this out. When Adam fell, God spoke. God spoke to Adam, spoke to Eve,
spoke to Satan. You know what He spoke about?
The seed of the woman. The promised seed. The one Abraham
believed God. You know where it says Abraham
believed God? You know what he believed God
concerning? The seed. That all nations would be blessed
through his seed. He believed God. And he believed
God concerning the seed that he spoke of. And then God, listen,
throughout time, God has revealed Himself. He's revealed the Gospel
progressively. One truth after another. Not
all at once. Could God have created the heavens
and the earth and everything that exists all at once? He could have, couldn't He? But
He didn't. He took six days. And all these
have reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything, if we could
see it in nature, has reference to Christ. When you look at a
rose, Now there was a time I looked at a rose and all I saw was a
rose. You know what I see now? The rose of Sharon. Lily. When you see a lily, what do
you think of? Now the natural man looks at
a lily and he thinks it's a lily. I think of the lily of the valley.
What about the bright and morning star? What do you think of? The
astronomer thinks it's just a bright star. He's amazed by it. But
I think of the bright and morning star. The Lord Jesus Christ.
The lamb, when you see a lamb, what do you think of? You just
think there's a lamb and it's going to grow up and become a
sheep? No, I think of the Lamb of God, which taketh away the
sin of the world. Everything God created has a
reference to the Lord Jesus Christ, if we just open our eyes to see
it. So He progressively revealed
one truth after another, and He did all that for our learning.
All of this was for our learning. When you go to school, you start
out in kindergarten, don't you? You start out with flashcards.
I feel like the Old Testament, in a lot of ways, is like a flashcard.
Here's a tabernacle. Do you know what it represents?
Here's a lamb. Do you know what it represents?
Here's the high priest. Do you know who it represents? I'm saying,
what? Do you know who? Do you know who it represents?
We learn those things in the first grade, don't we? But we
progressively come to know the Lord Jesus Christ. And we see
Him in everything. I mean, absolutely everything.
And God used these prophets, and He used prophets to speak
to the fathers. It is pleased God to use men
to preach the gospel to men and women, to His sheep. If God's
going to save a sinner, I assure you, He's going to send that
sinner a preacher. Or as a eunuch in a chariot.
He's headed back to Africa. And what does God do? He sends
him a preacher, Philip. Go down to the desert. Leave
that bustling place where you are. And you go down to the desert. I've got one down in the desert.
The Lord stood by a whale one day at noon. Knowing everybody's
going to be gone. You know what he did? He sent
his disciples away. Because there comes a time when
the preacher's got to step out of the way. And it's just you
and the Lord. It's just you and Christ. And
he sent his disciples away. And it's just him and that woman
at the well. She found her real husband that
day. Her real husband. That's just amazing. He sent
me a preacher, sent me my pastor Henry, but you know there was
a time when I went from hearing Henry preach the gospel and I
said, that man, that's the truth, that's the gospel. From there
to dealing with Christ himself, to dealing with the Lord, my
sins, how God can be just and justify me, how God can take
a wretched person like me and save me. That's what it leads
to. But God sent them prophets. These
prophets were a mouthpiece of God. John the Baptist said, I'm
just a voice crying in the wilderness. That's all I am. I can't save
you in any way, shape, or form. But I can sure tell you about
one who can. I can tell you about one who
can put your sins away. Did you hear what Jesus said
to me? They're all taken away. All. All of them. They preach in part,
they hear a part, they're a part, but Christ being the prophet,
being that prophet, being that prophet, is the complete revelation
of God. He's all the revelation of God. He's the full revelation of God.
All these types and all these pictures and all these messages
all find their end in Christ. They all find their meaning in
Jesus Christ. And we find our meaning in Him.
And we find our end in Him. And God used these prophets here
to reveal the gospel of Christ, like Isaiah 53, that's the gospel
in a chapter. They were instruments. But now
Jesus Christ, listen, Jesus Christ is God speaking. That's God speaking. Christ is put into a different
category than the prophets. He's the Son co-equal with the
Father. That's who He is. This time it's
not a revelation given through words. It's a revelation given
through a person. He that has seen me has seen
the Father. You're looking at him. Show us the Father. You're
looking at him. You're looking at him. He said, Your brother's
going to rise in the resurrection to Martha. She said, I know he's
going to rise in the resurrection in the last day. He said, Your
brother will rise again. She said, I know he's going to
rise in the resurrection in the last day. He said, You're looking
at the resurrection. Don't look for the event. Look
for the person. Jesus Christ is the resurrection.
He is the life. He's not just one who gives me
life. He is my life. If I have Christ, I have life. That's it. I have life. As the Lord said, He has seen
me, seen the Father. He's God told out. That's what
He is. That's what He is. He's the full
revelation of God. And He's all the revelation you
and I are going to get. That's all we need. That's all
we need. And this is where we see Christ's
superiority over the prophets. They were created and used of
God. He's the eternal Son of God who's come in the flesh.
That's who He is. Whom He hath appointed heir of
all things. The Father hath appointed Jesus Christ heir of all things. And if you are in Christ, You
are joint heirs of all things. Scripture says all things are
yours in Christ. All things are ours in Christ.
He's the appointed heir of all things. All things seen and all
things unseen. There's a lot of things unseen,
you know that? But they're very real. You know, the spiritual
world is very real. Let's be careful that we don't
divorce this one from that one. Because they exist together. I've never seen an angel, but
I sure believe they are. And God has sent them to minister
and take care of us, to watch over us. Very real. If God would open our eyes like
He did that young man when he last said, Lord, open his eyes,
because he was scared to death. That army was coming. And there
was a great, great army. And He said, open his eyes. And
he saw that whole mountain full of chariots, of horses, of fire. Angels. And he said, there's
more with us than there are with them. More with us than there
are with them. He's the heir of all things,
seen and unseen. And He will inherit that new
earth. It's all about Him. You know, when God created Adam,
He made Adam king over this earth. You know that? He gave him dominion
over everything on this earth. Jesus Christ, the second Adam,
has dominion over the whole universe, not just this earth. He has dominion
over all the angels. Let all the angels of God worship
Him. Now, if He's not God, that's idolatry. The reason He says
let the angels of God worship Him is because He's God. God
said to God, Thy throne, O God, is forever. The scepter of righteousness
is the scepter of Thy kingdom. That's God speaking to God. He
never said that to any angel, did he? He never spoke like that
to any angel, but he spoke that to his son. He did that. Then
the elect of God, seeing that he's appointed heir of all things,
the elect of God are... Now listen, we are part of his
inheritance. Do you believe that? We don't just inherit what he
has. All things are his. We are joint
heirs. But we are part of the inheritance.
God said, ask me of the heathen for your inheritance. Can you
imagine the Lord asking the Father for you? Why would He ask for
me? I'm nobody. But He said, ask
me for the heathen for your inheritance. And we're part of that inheritance.
And then the heir, seeing He's the heir of all things, He's
also the creator of all things. He's the only person Jesus Christ
is the only person that created his own heirs. He's the only
person who created everything that he's going to inherit. He
created everything he's going to inherit. And he created all
things by whom also he made the worlds, the ages, not as an instrument. See, I'm an instrument standing
here. I'm an instrument used of God to preach the gospel.
Jesus Christ is the agent. He's the Creator of all things. All things. And all the laws
and purposes that guide creation, all of them reside in the Lord
Jesus Christ. All of them. All the ages throughout
time are arranged and controlled by Jesus Christ. You know right
now He's putting down All power and all authority. It tells us
that over in 1 Corinthians 15. Right now, I think it's in 15,
but it's in 1 Corinthians, I know that. As I said before, it's
hard to think and preach at the same time. But He has arranged
all things and all things are controlled by Him until He brings
under control all power, all authority, all dominion. Then
He's going to deliver up the Kingdom to God. That's what's
going on. Don't look at the news and say,
what's going on? The world's gone mad. It's been mad since
the fall. It's been mad since the fall. If they'd had the media
back then that we have now, you'd just see the same stories. It
wouldn't be any different. It wouldn't be any different. And then it tells us here in
verse 3 that Jesus Christ is the expressed image of God. Who be in the brightness? The
old writers called it the effulgence, the outshining. Like the rays
come from the sun, He's the outshining of God. He's all of God, you
and I are going to see. If you want to see God, you see
Him in Jesus Christ, in the face of Jesus Christ. You see the
glory of God in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, who being
the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person,
He that has seen me has seen the Father. God has revealed
Himself in creation, His power and His wisdom. God has revealed
Himself in providence, in the control of all things. But only
in the Lord Jesus Christ has God revealed His full character.
You cannot see the full character of God in a tree, or in a horse,
or a cow, or anything else. You see it in Christ. When I read the Gospels, Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John, and I read of the Lord Jesus Christ, I try
in my mind to sit down and watch Him move. Listen to Him talk. How He talks to sinners and how
He talks to those Pharisees. This is God speaking. He took
a child one time and put it up on His knee. God Almighty picked
a child up and set that child on His knee and it says, bless
that child. It would have been interesting to follow the life
of that child. You know what's funny? You know what we naturally
think? It says He blessed that child. We naturally think that child
just had a great... everything was great. Everything
went that child's way and everything he touched turned to gold. I
bet you he had trials and heartaches. You don't realize what a blessing
that is. Not in this life. Not in this life. We won't realize
it. But when it's over, you know
what we'll say when we look back on those hardest times? We're
going to say, He blessed me there. That's what Jacob said when he
wrestled with the Lord. He blessed me there. Those were
the greatest blessings to come out in those times. Listen, Moses covered his face when he gave the message of God
to the people. He had to put a veil over his
face because his face shone and they couldn't look at it. They
couldn't look at his face. But in the unveiled face of Jesus
Christ, we can see the glory of God. Now, we don't see it
all at once. We don't see it all at once.
There is such a thing as growing in grace and in knowledge of
Christ. I've told the congregation back
home, I said one of my number one goals is that this congregation,
that we grow in grace and in knowledge of Christ together.
Because I realize, as their pastor, I have a great deal to do with
that. In preaching Christ. The messages I bring. And if
we grow in grace and knowledge of Christ, as a body of Christ, we'll honor
Him, glorify Him, walk in a manner that's pleasing to Him, if we
do so. Jesus Christ is the exact stamp,
image of God. If you would know God, you need to know and study Jesus
Christ. Take my yoke upon you and learn
the doctrines. If you're going to learn a doctrine
right, you better learn Christ right first. Because if not,
you'll get the doctrine wrong. And if you get it right, you'll
have a wrong attitude with it. If you learn Christ first, meek
and lowly, then you'll learn the doctrine. If you learn that
God is the God of election, and if you learn that Jesus Christ
is the elect, that election starts with Him, not me, Election didn't
start with me. It didn't start with God choosing
me. That's not where it started. It started with God choosing Christ.
Behold, he says in Isaiah 42, behold, mine elect, and you and
I were chosen in Him. The beauty of the doctrine of
election is Jesus Christ. We were chosen in Him. before
the foundation of the world. So if you know God, if you know
the doctrines properly, know the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord
Jesus Christ is the full expression of God. You know that? He's the
full expression of God. That's who He is. And then we
see the deity of Christ by the power of His Word. I can't uphold
anything by my Word. I can't make anything happen
by my Word. I may tell you to do something, Blow it off. I'm sure the Lord
speaks to you in power. You're going to do it. You're
going to do it. If He says, come, you're coming.
Just get out of the way. That person's coming. You see,
here's real power. Here's real power. When a person
speaks and it happens, that's power. When he says to one, come,
and he comes, and says to one, go, and he goes. When he says
to a demon, come out, do we read anywhere in the Gospels where
he told a demon to come out? And that demon said, no, I'm
not. Do you read that? I read one place here just the
other day where he told a demon to come out and he threw that
person on the ground and he's foaming at the mouth, but he
came out. He didn't like it. Satan doesn't give his prey up
easy, but he's coming out. And he said, enter him no more.
Enter him no more. Jesus Christ is the full expression
of God. Every attribute of God is fully
and perfectly expressed in the man, Christ Jesus. And he opposed all things by
the word of his power. Our Lord said this, all power
is given to me in heaven and earth, And right now, you know,
all things are held together and maintained by the power of
His Word. You know, we live in a day, I
don't know what time I started, so, we live in a day where man
can actually self-destruct, don't we? We live in a day if somebody
just pushes a button, there will be so much destruction that the
human race will be pretty much wiped out. But God controls that
button. God controls that button. And
nothing's going to happen until He's saved that last sheep. And
that last sheep might be in this congregation. That's so. That's real. It might be. It might be. He upholds things
by the word of His power, and all things are maintained and
held together by His word. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
maintaining all things as He moves them to His desired end. You know, He's moving everything
to His desired end. This is God's world. This is
God's world. I think it's Psalm 24, verse
1. The earth is the Lord's, the
fullness thereof, and they who dwell therein. He owns them all. It doesn't matter whether you
believe Him or not. He owns you. Those of you who believe, you're
blood bought. You're bought with the price.
You're not your own. You never have been your own, really. You've
been under darkness, been under the power of Satan. We were born
like that. Born enemies in our minds against
God. But now we've been bought by the blood of Christ and we
are bond slaves of Jesus Christ. We're slaves of somebody. We're
slaves to somebody. I can tell you that. I thank
God I'm a slave to the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm a bond slave. A willing
bond slave. That's me. That's who I am. Now
here's His chief glory. His redemptive glory. When He
had by Himself purged our sins. I said earlier, it's not a cooperative
effort between me and the Lord. My salvation. It's all on Him.
He purged. My sin. That word purge means
to clear of all guilt. Only God can do that. You know,
a man can go to court, an innocent man can be charged of something,
go to court and be justified and cleared. He's innocent. He
didn't do it. A man who is guilty, he has stolen a car and he goes
to court, that man can be pardoned, that man can be forgiven, that
man can never be justified. He can never be cleared of the
guilt of stealing that car. But God has justified us and
cleared us of all guilt. All of it's gone. All of it's
gone. And you know, there's some sinners
out there, everybody. Some of the Lord's children,
He has allowed to go in some of the deep, deep darkness. I
was talking to one not too long ago. And he was talking about
this. The ones that don't, it's because
the Lord constrains you. The Lord constrains you. You
and I know we're not any better than anybody else. We're no any
better. But He has justified us to clear
of guilt, to free from moral or ceremonial defilement. It
means to get rid of. He got rid of my sins. They're
all gone. They're all gone. It means to
carry out a cleansing. He carried out a cleansing. Or
it means this, having made purification for sins. The blood of bulls
and goats cannot atone for the sin of my soul. The same nature
that sin must be the same nature that makes satisfaction. That's
why God became a man. That's why the judge stepped
off the bench and into me. Basically to say in my skin,
in my nature, Though he knew no sin, but he took my place
and was made to be sin for me, that I might be made the righteousness
of God in him." That's the gospel. That's amazing grace. That's
amazing grace. And he did this by himself. He
dreaded the winepress of God's wrath alone. And now what's the
proof that he finished the work? He says he sat down on the right
hand of the majesty on high. Right now, that's where he's
seated. You know when someone's seated, they're at rest. He's
not wringing his hands, trying to get people to accept him as
their personal Savior. He's seated. The battle's over. You and I have to deal with some...
We have a spiritual warfare inwardly, more than anything. That old
man and that new man, that new nature. But the battle's over. He said it's finished. Redemption's
accomplished. He accomplished what he came
to do. If anybody perishes for whom Jesus Christ died for, he's
a loser. He didn't even let that one sheep,
that one lost sheep. With me and you, 99, and you
only have one lost sheep, that's not bad business. If you just
lose one, you deliver 99. He said, I ain't losing one,
because that's bad business for God. That's His glory. That's His glory. He can't lose
one. He can't lose one and still be
God. You know that? He cannot be God and lose one.
He's not going to lose one. He sat down on the right hand
of the majesty on high, and there He sits in all His royalty, in
all His regal power, ruling and reigning, all things, listen,
for our good and His glory. Not a thing will happen to you
that's not for your good, your eternal good. And you and I won't
see that until we get there. We can believe it. David said,
I would have fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness
of the Lord in the land of the living. It's in that order. It's
to believe, then see. We believe God. There's a lot
of things. When I was younger, I believed. I really believed.
But I see it more now. I believe God was sovereign.
I believe God's sovereign. I know He's sovereign now. When
God takes from you without asking, then you learn what sovereignty
is. When He starts to take a loved one of yours, and you want that
loved one to live, and He takes it, you understand what sovereignty
is. There's a difference between
knowing the doctrine and living it. There's a difference between
knowing that God is sovereign and experiencing the sovereignty
of God. When God took Job's ten children, He didn't ask him if
he could, and He didn't apologize to him later. You only apologize
when you're wrong. God can do no wrong. When God
spoke to Job, He said, gird up your loins like a man. I'll demand
of you, and you answer me. We don't hear any apologies.
We don't hear God saying, Job, I'm sorry. You know, I had a
point to prove. No, what He puts you through,
He purposed to put you through. And He's not going to apologize
for it in any way, shape, or form. And He puts His children
through some very, very hard things. Some of them. Some go
through harder things than others. But he does it, and he does it
for his glory, our good, and the good of the body of Christ.
When the Lord Jesus Christ cried, it is finished, is it? Is it finished? Do I have to
finish it? Does my faith finish it? Is my
faith a missing ingredient? There is no missing ingredient
in redemption. Faith is a gift of God. Now listen,
because Arminianism makes it sound like faith is the activator. That if I would exercise faith,
then what he did at Calvary would be given to me. Faith does not activate what
he did. Listen, who he is makes effectual
what he did. My faith does not make what He
did effectual. It's His person. He's God. And that makes everything He
did for me effectual. And I'm His responsibility to
bring home, faultless and without blame. And I've got a lot to
be blamed for. David said, my sins are ever
before me. Are they before you like that? They are. From time to time. From time
to time, something will rise up in your past and you'll just
say, oh, I wish I hadn't done that. Well, if you hadn't, you'd
be self-righteous. That's why God let us do it.
That's why he let us do it. That we might see the amazing
grace of God. All right. Thank you.