Matthew chapter 1. Read a few
verses again with me. Matthew 1 verses 21 through 23. The angel of the Lord was speaking
to Joseph and says, speaking of Mary, she shall bring forth
a son. And thou shalt call his name
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins." Now,
all this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken
of the Lord by the Prophet Isaiah, saying, Behold, a virgin shall
be with child, and shall bring forth a son. And they shall call
his name Immanuel, which being interpreted is God with us. Now I'm afraid that in the past,
in my youthful zeal for the truth, for the particular doctrine of
particular redemption, which I love, and do not back down
from, Apologize for, for one minute, glory in it, that God
chose a people and has a particular people, and that's the ones whom
Christ came to die for. And that ensures the fact that
He chose them. They're His particular people.
And that's who Christ died for, ensures their salvation. God,
His truth, His purpose cannot fail. Christ cannot fail. But
I'm afraid I've dwelt too long on that at times and not enough
on the whole message here. The gospel, and that is certainly
part of the gospel, the good news. But the whole gospel here
is that the word means good news, glad tidings. When the angels
announced to the shepherds on the hill, they said, Good tidings
of great joy to all people, meaning the people out of every tribe,
kindred, nation, and tongue of heaven. People all over the world.
It's not good news to every single individual, but God makes it
good news to a number of people. And the good news is that the
Savior came. That's His name. His Son down
here to save. It says here, call His name Savior
Jesus. That's what the name means. Call
His name Jesus for He shall save His people from their sins. He shall save His people from
their sins. That really struck me when I
was studying that. Like it was the first time. He
shall save His people. from their sins. He shall save.
His name, it goes on to say, is Immanuel, God with us. Well,
why is God with us? Isaiah 25, 9 says, It shall be
said in that day, Lo, this is our God. He will save us. God's with us. Why is God with
us? Well, nearly everyone can quote, at least part of John,
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. And
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish. You know, the world has so abused
that verse and so misused it and misapplied it. And you know
what to say. God loves everybody. Jesus died
for everybody. And I don't want to spend my
time this morning fighting that. I want a glory in this verse. that God so loved the people
out of this world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever
should believe. I believe. It doesn't say anything
else. Just whosoever should believe
it in him, on him, should not perish. I worry about perishing. Do you? Why? Because of my sins. But God sent his Son for this
purpose, Brother John, to save us from our sins so that we won't
perish, but have everlasting life. How many people know verse
17? For God sent not his Son into
the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him
might be saved. Good news! If I had to shout,
that's fine. I'm not going to apologize for
that either. The angels announced it, and they didn't need it.
The angels didn't need this salvation. But when they came to those shepherds,
they were shouting at the top of their lungs. Listen to this,
would you? A Savior. That's why he came. That's what he did, Kelly. And
that's what he continues to do until the day he comes again.
Good news, glad tidings of great joy, a Savior has come. Like I said, I don't have time
to fight error. I've done enough of that and
I'm not going to quit. My, my, there's good news. I'm
preaching to those that need to hear the good news this morning.
That's who I'm going to preach to. God sent His Son to save
His people. Now, God elected a people. That's
a fact. Undeniable fact. Who would want
to deny that anyway? Only an unbeliever doesn't believe
that. God chose this people before
the foundation of the world. And all of His elect, God's elect,
bless God for His sovereign electing, Mercy and grace, all of his elect
will be eternally saved to the praise of the glory of his sovereign
election. Yes. But how are they known? I don't
know who they are. You don't know who they are.
We don't know who they are, do we? God knoweth who they are.
The foundation of the Lord standeth sure, having this seal. The Lord
knoweth them that are here. And he chose these before the
foundation of the world, and wrote their names in the Lamb's
Book of Life, and sealed it. And buddy, they're going to be
saved. I love that, don't you? It's
my name, Zach. You can't take it out. Not like
that Swaggart fella says, there's a new name written down in heaven.
No, that book's been sealed before the world began, and Christ is
going to open it when it's over. And every name he put there before,
it's going to be there at the end. No erasures. No, no. They're all there. Presently
accounted for. All that the Father gives me.
Gave Him in that covenant. Remember that? That covenant
of grace before the world. I and the children which Thou
hast given me, they're all here. I love that, don't you? If I'm
one of His elect. But how do you know? How do you
know who the elect are? How do I know I'm one of them?
He shall save his people. How do you know? Am I one of
his people? I want to know that. Don't you? That's one way you
know. You want to know. That just struck me. Few people
are even interested. Right? Who cares? A lot of people. Who cares? God's
people do. They believe there's a Lamb's
Book of Life and His people are in it. How do you know? Well,
second, they're called by the gospel. Second, Thessalonians
2, you know these verses without turning to them. God's people
are called by this gospel, like those shepherds. They were called,
weren't they? Everybody wasn't told that. The
angels didn't come to everybody, did they? Who'd they go to? Who did the Lord send them to?
ones he chose to give that message to. What kind of fellows were
they? Poor. Nothing. Nobody. Shepherds. Common as an old shepherd. A
bunch of them back then. Nothing special about a shepherd.
And all his people are called by the gospel. Listen to this.
We're bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord. If you're loved of God because
God has chosen, from the beginning, chosen you to salvation. I'm
reading verse 13 of 2 Thessalonians 2. He chose you through sanctification
of the Spirit, setting apart of the Spirit and belief of the
truth, the truth. Whereunto? This salvation, He
called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our
Lord Jesus Christ, to behold His glory, to be like Him in
glory, to be with Him in glory. So all of God's people, how do
you know His people? He shall save His people. They're
called by the gospel. Have you heard the gospel called?
What is the gospel? The gospel is good news of salvation
for sinners. Who needs that? Why, sinners
do. Does anybody? Sinners do. Now, once again,
everybody wouldn't profess to be a sinner, would they? Oh,
sinners. Who needs the gospel? Poor and
needy sinners. That's who needs the gospel.
Poor. Blessed are the poor, our Lord said. The poor have the
gospel preached to them. Poor. The gospel means good news. There is complete Eternal forgiveness
of sins through Jesus Christ the Lord. Complete pardon for
all iniquity and all transgression. Jesus Christ came to save from
sins. Who needs that? A lot of people
today, I'm not going to deal with it. This is for sinners. He came to save us from our sins. Forgiveness of sins. That's not
a one-time thing. It's a lifelong thing. Forgiveness
of sin. We're born sinners in my own
shape and iniquity, David said. In sin did my mother conceive
me. And I go all my life a sinner. And thank God, there's still
a Savior. He remains a Savior. And His
mercy endureth forever. Until the day I stop sinning,
He's going to keep forgiving. Oh, that's good news. Good news,
good news, forgiveness of sin, deliverance from sin. Now, who
does he call? I said that a moment ago, that
not many wise, not many mighty. This is what he says in 1 Corinthians.
Brethren, you see your calling, don't you? You see your calling. Brethren,
not many wise men after the flesh. There were some that weren't.
There were some in Matthew's gospel. Was it Matthew or Luke?
I forget which one. The wise men were called from
the east, okay? The other account, we're talking
about shepherds. But you see your calling, brethren. Not many
wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are
called. Wise people don't need Christ
to be their wisdom. Mighty men don't need Christ
to be their strength. Only weak people. That's a shoot. Noble. Noble heritage. I'm a son of Adam. Not many nobles are called but
God. Where's that? Those two words. But God. Hath chosen the foolish things.
That's me. Of the world to confound the
wise. And God has chosen the weak things. That's me. of the
world, to confound the things which are mighty, and base things
of the world, things which are despised, hath God chosen, and
things which are not, nothings, nobodies, from nowhere, to bring
to naught things that are, that no flesh can glory in his presence,
and according as it is written, he that gloryeth, let him glory
in the Lord." Well, I do. I'm ashamed of myself, but I
glory in the Lord. I glory in this gospel. That's who this was to. That's
who the Lord calls. The angel of the Lord was sent
to herald the greatest thing ever heard by mortal man. The
greatest news ever heard by mortal man. The angels were sent to
herald this. Hark, the herald angels sang. We just sang of that. And they
came, and what did they herald? What did they say? Glory to God
in the highest. God of peace. God of peace. God of peace. Peace. God who
is angry with the wicked every day. Peace on earth. Goodwill. Goodwill toward men. You know, there wasn't unbroken
peace all over the world. There were wars and rumors of
war. It always had been. It always will be, our Lord said.
goodwill toward all mankind? No, that's not so. God, at that
very point, was casting somebody into hell. But peace, God of
peace, sent His Son, the Peacemaker, the Peace Offering, who made
peace. How? Well, He had to be born
You had to do it by dying, by the blood of His cross. That's
where the peace was made. Peace. This is the peace of God.
This is how we know God is God of peace. The grace of Christ. That's good news for those that
know you've been at war with God. Oh my, peace on our good
will. God doesn't mean ill will toward
It's good will. He's a good God. And He's good
will. And He sent His Son. So you see, you're calling His
people. God shall, He shall save His people, His chosen, His called,
His convicted. How do you know they're His people?
They're called, they're chosen, they're convicted. They're convicted. He said, I didn't come to call
the righteous, but sinners. To what? Repent of it. They're convicted. This is what
the Holy Spirit does. The Holy Spirit does it to every
one of God's people. This is part of the gospel. The
gospel of good news. If you're convicted of sin, that
means you need a Savior. Only those convicted of sin will
look to Christ the Savior. Convicted of sin. He'll convince
the world of sin. And the Holy Spirit, He'll convince
every single one of His chosen out of the world of sin and of
righteousness. After that, He'll show them Christ,
their righteousness and judgment. He'll show them that Christ was
judged on their account, that the God of this world was judged,
that their sins were put away. All in Christ. He'll show them
Christ. Those that are convicted of sin, that is. That's how you
know them. You need a Savior? You need a
Savior? Huh? Good news. He must be one
of His children. How do you know they're His people?
They hunger and thirst after righteousness, like a newborn
baby, you know. How do you know that there's
life in a newborn child? Amazingly, you know, that child
has been feeding for nine months, hasn't it? But they come out
of that womb immediately hungry, craving the breast. Well, that's
the life of God. They desire the sincere milk
of the Word. They desire the hunger and thirst
after Christ, the bread, Christ, the water of life, His righteousness,
and to be righteous like Him. I never had that before. I never
had that desire for years. Did you? I wasn't interested. Oh, but His people. When he gives
this new life, they hunger and thirst. How do you know his people?
They come to Christ. Why are you here this morning? It's a good question I always
ask ourselves. Why do I come to this place?
Duty? Habit? Ritual? Tradition? It's
Sunday morning. What will people think? Somebody
drug me? Huh? Oh. Or do you come to hear
this gospel? You come to hear and see Christ
high and lifted up. In other words, you come into
Christ. You want to see Him and hear
Him. Huh? Do you? That's His people. He said that to His people. Come
unto Me. One time there was a whole crowd of people around Him. He
said, Come unto Me. Well, here they are. No. No. They come by faith, from the
heart. One time, he was in the midst
of a crowd of people that were jostling him, and shoving him,
and pushing him, and reaching for him, and touching him. And
all of a sudden, he stopped. He said, somebody touched me. And he said, well, everybody's
touching you. No. No. Somebody touched me. A poor, needy, helpless, dying
woman. has reached out and touched the
Lord, reached for her only help and her only hope and her only
salvation. Somebody touch me. Come unto
me, all ye that..." What? Who comes to Christ? All that
labor and are heavy laden with what? What? What? Sin. Sin. I'll give you rest. There's only
one place to find it. He shall save his people. I'm
looking for a sinner this morning. Because that's why he came. And
that's what he's still doing. He shall save his people from
their sins. From their sins. How do you know
his people? They follow him. They follow
him. They're the followers of the
Lamb. They love his truth. They're humble, broken, contrite.
They glory in the Lord. Are they sinless? No. That's why they need him, he
said. They want to be, and they will
be, but they're not yet. And that's how you know. Call
his name then. He said this to Joseph. Call
his name Jesus. Who did he say that to? Who did
the angel, Gabriel, whoever it was, say that to? Joseph, didn't
he? Why did he say that? He didn't
say that to everybody. He said that to Joseph, didn't
he? You call His name, Jesus. In other words, this is the name
wherewith you're going to name this child that is born. This child. Unto us a child is
born. There was a baby born. But unto
us the Son is given, the eternal Son. And you call His name, His
name of The old writers used to call it his name of humiliation. It was humiliation for the Lord
of glory, God of glory, to come down and be made in the likeness
of sinful flesh. Like for us to be made like a
worm would be humiliating to us, wouldn't it? That's his name
of humiliation. You call his name Jesus because
he's taken a body that God had prepared for him, and this is
his earthly name wherewith he shall be called Jesus. But God,
like everything God named, has a meaning. Whatever God names,
it has a meaning. What's his name mean? What's
the name Jesus stand for? Now, sadly, others have taken
that name now through the years. No one else deserves to wear
that name. But there are thousands, maybe
even millions all over Latin America today, in Spain and South
America, all called Jesus. But none deserve that name or
should rightly wear that name than this man, because it means
Savior. And when he said, call his name
Jesus, this is his name of humiliation. This is what he's going to be
called as a man. And the scripture says we see
Jesus made a little lower than the angels. Why was he made a
man? Why did he become a man? For
the suffering of death. There's a man on the cross named
Jesus who died. A man. Jesus. Call his name Jesus. He shall
die as the substitute of his people. A man for men. But now
at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow and every tongue you
should call him. To Joseph he said, you name his
name Jesus. But to every human being, you
bow, your knee bow, and your tongue is going to call him what? What? When you hear this name,
you call him Lord. Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus Christ. That's how He's distinguished,
he said. That's how He's distinguished from every other Jesus. I had
my picture made with Jesus down in Mexico when I was there. Purposely.
That little fellow I heard, his name was Jesus. I said, let me
have my picture made with him. So I can tell people I had my
picture made with a fellow named Jesus. So I can tell them, you
see, you need to know which one. You need to define Him for me.
And what defines him is he's the Lord Jesus Christ. He's very God of very God. He's
a Savior. As I said, sadly, men have taken
that name and made others wear it, but he alone deserves that
name. All right. But God named him. He said, call his name Joshua. He shall save us. God shall save
us. Savior. Savior. Call his name
Savior. That's what his name is. That's what his name is. And
that's what he does. That's why he came. This is good
news. Savior has come. And he shall
save his people from their sins. We talk about sins a lot, don't
we? Why? Because, well, number one,
that's what scripture talks about. A lot. Number two, that's why
Christ came. That's why Christ came. God sent his Son to save. From what? From what? Sins. Sin. Sin is the source of all misery
on this planet. Sin is the source of all trouble. Sin. Sins is the source of all
sorrow. Whatever sorrow we experience,
whatever tears we shed is because of sins. And the worst and the final result
of sins is what? Death. Everything that brings
us happiness is going to die. Why? Sins. Sins. We live in a world of sin. And we struggle with and we wrestle
with and we're constantly plagued with. Now, old folks, let me
say something to old folks. You thank God that you are real
old. And if some of these youthful
passions and all have died down and you don't have
the struggles that you used to have, be thankful for that. But the fact of the matter is,
those from 15 to 68, anyway, still struggle
constantly, day in and day out, from their waking moment to their
sleeping moment, with what? Sins. And if it's restraining
grace of God, an age or whatever, but we—anybody but me—constant
struggle. This is what plagues me. Spurgeon,
when he was in his prime one time, they asked him, they said,
if you could have any wish, God would grant you, like Solomon,
any wish, what would it be? And he said, that I might never
sin again. No more sins, because this is
our, this is what I just, constant, constant, that we wrestle with.
Well, good news. Good news. He shall save His
people from their sins. That's why He came, to save us
from our sins. That's why He came. Past sins. Past sins that we can't do anything
about them. Oh, wouldn't you like to take
back your past? Good news. Anybody got a dark past? Huh? Good news! He shall save
His people from those. How? Blow them up and have to
remember them again. Wouldn't you like to be able
to do that? Good news! He did! From their sins, past, present. What about now? What about now? Good news. He shall save His
people from their sins, present sins, future sins. It's not over yet. What am I
going to do tomorrow? Oh, Lord, prevent me. Keep me. You don't know, do you? You just
don't know. Good news. He shall save us from our sin. That's why I came. Turn to Psalm
103 with me. Psalm 103. Oh, my. What I've been trying to say,
the Lord can say in just a few words. And effectively, Psalm
103. He shall save his people from
the penalty of sin. Penalty of sin. You know, the
Scripture says, God says, the soul that sinneth must surely
die. The penalty of sin, the wages of sin is death. That's
what the Scripture says. Look at Psalm 103, verse 10.
It says, He hath not dealt with us after our sin, nor rewarded
us according to our iniquity. Good news! He hath not. He doth not and
he shall not deal with us according to our sin, what our sins deserve.
He has not rewarded us the wages that we've earned. He hath not,
he doth not, he shall not. Why? Because he dealt with the
Lord Jesus Christ after our sins. Because Christ was, this is not
just doctrine, this is good news. Christ was made sin for me. He
who knew no sin, that I might be made the righteousness of
God in him. God hath laid on him the iniquity of all of his
people, us all, whoever the others are. That's who Christ was made
sin for. Good news. Good news. Christ, God said,
the iniquity of Israel. Who's Israel? Well, whoever they
are. He says, God shall search for
their iniquity and it won't be found. Nothing on their record. That's good news, isn't it? It
was that thief on the cross. My, my. He dealt with Christ.
He laid on Him all the sins, past, present, and future. All
of them. All of them. All manner of iniquity. But you
don't know, preacher, what I've done. But I know who does, and
he said all. Good news. All manner. Oh, my, listen to this. Listen
to Hebrews. We've been studying this and studying that and studying
this. And I think it finally hit me after weeks and weeks
of studying it, finally reading it again, it says here, now once
in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin. He's appointed unto man once
to die, and after that to judgment. Good news. There's no condemnation. There's no judgment for them
that are in Christ. Was Christ once offered to bear the what?
sins of many, and of them that look for him. Not them that do
this and them that do that, but them that look for him. without sin unto salvation. Come on in. You're blessed of
your Father. You've chosen. You've given to
Christ. You've been given faith in Christ. Oh, His people, how
blessed you are. Good news. He sent the Savior
to save from their sins. Oh, my. Save from the penalty,
from the power of sin. Save that old man. Sin's powerful,
isn't it? It's a terrible thing. It's a
powerful thing. That old man is strong. David
said this in Psalm 38. He said, My enemies are lively
and they're strong. They're strong. He said, Make
haste to help me, O Lord, of my salvation. Good news, David. The Savior has come to save us
from our sins. Sin shall not have dominion over
you, he said. Only what he allows. where you
struggle with. We'll just have to take his word
on that, won't we? He said, it shall not have dominion
over you. He said, call on me, I'm ever-present
help. He said, look to the Savior,
and if we don't find any peace or rest or comfort, we must not
be calling. We must not be looking. We must
not be coming where the hope is, the help is. He shall save. He shall save from the presence
of sin, penalty of it, power of it, and presence of it. Oh,
my. No more sin. Someday. No more temptation. Someday. No more guilt. No more
sorrow. No more tears. No more death.
No more sins. What will that be like? I can't
even talk about it. Eye hadn't seen, ear hadn't heard. It's incomprehensible. He's called
the Savior. Save His people from their sin,
from the guilt of sin. There's only one way to get rid
of guilt. Only one way. Guilt is one of
the worst parts of sin that you have to deal with. Only one way. If we confess our sins, John
1 says, to who? Who's our high priest? There's
one we confess to. If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just. Faithful meaning He will continually,
every time you come to Him, confess Him. He's faithful and just. He can't forgive them because
He's paid for them. to forgive us our sins, and the
blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all our
sins of past, present, future. So keep coming. Keep confessing.
Confessing guilt, the consequences of sin. The terrible consequences,
aren't they? That you can't undo. Good news.
He came to save us from the consequences of it. Would you listen to me? Are you still at Psalm 103? Are
you still there? Look at verse 10. Look at it
again. He hath not dealt with us after
our sin, nor rewarded us according to our iniquity. Nor has he rewarded
or dealt with anybody else because of our sins. Namely, our children. God doesn't
do that. God doesn't do that. We all worry
about that number. Every sinner in here, I know,
is worried about who has children or whatever. Oh, the Lord is
going to punish me by doing this to my children. God doesn't do
that. He doesn't do that. So give me
a scripture. I sure will. Deuteronomy 5. Go
over there with me. Deuteronomy 5. I'll show you. This is what it says here. Let me find it. Exodus 33, he
says it. He said, all right, it's Deuteronomy
5, verse 9. Look at it. Deuteronomy 5, verse
9. We've all read Exodus 33, where
he visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children. And
if you're a father or a mother, that has bothered you, that has
worried you. Hasn't anybody? All right, look
at it. Here's what he said. He clarifies
this. I visit, verse 9. He says, The Lord thy God am
a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children
under the third and fourth generation of . . . who? His people? No, they don't hate
God. They don't hate God. They don't
hate God. Another place in Ezekiel 33,
he said, I don't kill a man's son for his sins. We need to quit thinking of God
like us. God's not like us. Thank God. I'm so thankful God's not like
us. We seek revenge, and we'll take it out on somebody else
to spite somebody else. God doesn't do that. He's just.
He deals with each person individually. Individually. He doesn't take
it out on your children. He doesn't punish you through
your children. No, that's not the God of the
Bible. No, He's too merciful. He's too kind. He's too gracious
for that. My, my. But the consequences
of sin we're talking about. Some of them are just felt. We
feel the consequences. But some are experienced. Troubles
that we bring upon ourselves. True consequences that sin bring
about. And it's bad. They're bad. And nevertheless, here's our
God. The worst sin that can be committed
somehow In the purpose of God, it's fulfilling His purpose,
and it's going to work out for good. Good news! Even the consequences,
somehow, are going to be for our good! And it will fulfill
His purpose. Fulfill His purpose. Say, give
me an example. Calvary. Case closed. The worst sin. The worst sin. The most heinous sin. Killed
God's Son. Did that bring any good? Oh,
my. Salvation. That's our God, you
see. Oh, the wrath of man will praise
Him, the Scripture says. Even the wrath of man will praise
Him, and the remainder He'll restrain. He'll keep it from
happening. His name, you see, is Satan. Satan. And we read there, it
says, call His name Immanuel, which means God with us. Why
is God with us? To save us. In closing, I want
you to read this with me. I've got to quit. Judges chapter
13. Go over there. If you've never
seen this, I hope you'll read it with me. Judges chapter 13. Call His name Immanuel, which
being interpreted God with us. God with us. Why is God with
us? God of peace. God our Father
is with us, not against us. Romans 8.31, if God be for us,
how do we know God is for us? How do we know God is for us?
Because God is with us. How is God with us? Is God with
us, this little group? Is God with this little group?
How do you know? How do you know God is with the
people? Is the gospel there? Is the gospel there? The gospel, the truth. Everybody
doesn't have it. God's people do. The gospel. The gospel is with us. The Word
is with us. He's with us and the brethren
and the family. Look at this, in closing, Judges
13. Oh my, how I love that. An angel of the Lord appeared
to a man named Manoah and his wife. Manoah knew it. And verse 22, Manoah said unto
his wife, we shall surely die, because we've seen God. Why did
Manoah think he was going to die? Why did he think he was going
to die? Because he knew what he was.
He knew what he was. A sinner. And he thought he was
going to... Like Peter. Remember when Peter
finally realized who the Lord Jesus Christ was? He said, Oh,
depart from me. Why? I'm a sinful man. No, Peter, that's not what he's
going to do because he came. That's why he came, Peter. Simon,
that's why he came. That's who he came for. That's
why he came. Don't leave me. I'm a sinner. No, that's why
he came. It's what his name is, Savior. You're not a sinner.
He didn't come for you. He won't call you. He called
you. Why? Because you're a sinner and he's a Savior. Okay? Manoah said, I'm going to die.
Why? Because I'm a sinner against God and surely he's come down
to punish me. No, he didn't come to punish me. He came to give
you the good news. Oh, anybody get a hold of this?
I'm going to. Look at it, verse 23, his wife
said unto him. Oh, this one-time man needs to
listen to his wife. Huh? If the Lord were pleased
to kill us, he wouldn't have received the burnt offering.
If God were pleased to kill us, if God was intending to kill
us, he wouldn't have showed us Christ crucified. He wouldn't
have sent Christ down here to be the burnt offering, to be
the sin offering. He wouldn't have sent Him. God's
going to kill sinners. He wouldn't have sent Christ
and killed Him. Read on. She said, if God were
pleased to kill us, He wouldn't have received this burnt offering,
meat offering at our hands. What do you plead with God? When
you go to God in prayer, when you plead with God as a sinner,
What do you plead? Bonnie, what do you plead when
you go to God and speak to God? What do you plead? You're good
in it? You're righteous in it? That you intend to do better?
That you're trying real hard? What do you plead, Bonnie? You
plead Jesus Christ, don't you? Let the blood be propitiation
on the mercy seat for me. Oh God, be merciful to me, the
sinner, because of Christ, because you poured out your wrath on
Christ for me. Would you accept that? Yes. Yes,
yes, a thousand times. He wouldn't have received that
at your hand. He wouldn't have given you that read on. Neither
would He have showed us all these things. What all has the Lord
showed us over the years? I've got one message this morning.
I've got one message. All you've got to do is 40 to
60 minutes. One message, okay? One shot at
it. This is it. Good news. He wouldn't
have showed us all these things. He doesn't show these things
to everybody. As we said before, few people
even know they're sinners. Few people know they need a sovereign
Savior. Few people know they need a righteousness.
Few people know the truth and they don't care. But He showed
us all these things. What all has God showed us? The
whole counsel of God. Oh, why does He keep showing
us? We go through Genesis and Exodus and Leviticus and see
all these pictures and types and symbols and pictures of what?
Why does He keep showing us this? Why is He showing us? Curious
little things, you know, neat little things. No, He keeps showing
us what? John what? Christ! Why? We must be His people. He didn't
show this to everybody. Good news, shepherds, to you
is a Savior! Glory! Glory! He wouldn't have showed us all
these things. Read on. And he wouldn't have told us
such things. He wouldn't have told us. Oh, don't you love what
he said in John 14? He said, In my Father's house
are many mansions. And if it were not so, I would
have told you. Who is he talking to? Simon Peter. Matthew the Publican, huh? That's
who he's talking to. Mary Magdalene. Mary, out of whom he cast seven
devils. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I wouldn't have told you this.
I wouldn't have gotten your hopes up. You hear that? God's never disappointed
anybody. God's never told anybody anything
He didn't mean. He didn't intend to fulfill.
He wouldn't have told you these things. He wouldn't have sent
Christ to be the sacrifice. He wouldn't have showed it to
you. All these things, the whole counsel of God kept back nothing
from you, profitable. He wouldn't have told you that.
He wouldn't have told you, come unto me. He wouldn't have told
you that, come unto me. All manner of sin, come unto
me. I'll give you rest. Come unto me. He wouldn't have
told you that. He can't lie. God who promised us. It's eternal
life. You cannot lie. Good news. His name is Savior. His name is God with us. And
he sent God with us because he's for us. Good news. Anybody? Good news. Oh, we ought to be
able to sing these songs here. Top of our hearts and bottom
of our lungs. Let's try it. Okay, Gabe, come up here if you
would. Let's start with the hymn number
93, Stand Together.