We're going to continue in our
study of the book of Numbers chapter 27, and we'll probably
look at Numbers chapter 27 next Sunday, but the Sunday after
that and then Christmas Eve morning, we'll look at the incarnation. What a mystery and what a glory
it is for the church, the incarnation. God come in the flesh for the
redemption of his people. We're gonna continue here in
the book of Numbers chapter 27 with five sisters that shares
with us their great faith in God, that they too, as they brought
their petition before Moses, and then it was given to the
Lord by Moses, as they brought their petition, and it shares
in that petition the great faith that God had given them that
there would be inheritors in Canaan. And more than that, as
we find today, they were sharing with us their faith that they
would have an inheritance in Christ Jesus. How important that
is. Faith is so powerful. Faith is God-given. You know,
when we go to our well of faith, I remember hearing messages when
I was younger about small faith or mustard seed faith or great
faith. And they're always encouraging
people to have more faith in God and that it's up to you to
have more faith. And if you study more and you
visit more and you do all these things, you'll have more faith.
You know, our well of faith is dry. It's bankrupt. It was bankrupt in the fall. We don't have the capabilities
of doing what we're commanded to do, but we do have a great
God that is King of all that gives us the capabilities of
doing that. We are granted faith in the new
birth. God gives us the faith to believe. It is the result of God giving
us a resurrection to newness of life, and these five ladies
are demonstrating that. We find that there early on in
this chapter that these five sisters, it shares with us that
they trace their line back to Joseph. And then we could go
right back to Adam and we find in the book of 1 Corinthians
chapter 15 that we read that in Adam all died. You know by
nature all five of these young ladies, all five of these sisters
had fallen in Adam and they were bankrupt when it came to faith
and they had no ability of their own to do anything that was spiritual
or respective of God. They were too. enmity with God. They were also in that same lot
that we find all of God's elect in by nature. We find that they
could trace their line back to Joseph. You remember what Joseph
said before he died? You're going to leave this place.
And when you leave this place, take my bones. I don't want them
left in this place. And you know what? The children
of Israel took his bones. He knew by the faith given to
him by Almighty God that these people were going to be in the
land of Egypt for a long, long time, but eventually God would
be pleased to take them out in the fullness of time, when it
was the right time, God would deliver his people from the position
that they were in. And that's what God does with
every one of his lost sheep today, in the fullness of time. at the
right time, when it pleased God. And yet he said, when you leave,
take my bones. What a testimony that is passed
down. But did you know what? Those
five descendants of Joseph did not have faith because they were
related to Joseph. Who we're related to doesn't
make any difference. Who's our forebears doesn't make
any difference. I'm thankful that it doesn't
because I would not have been where I am dependent upon my
forebears. I find it very difficult to go
back in the history of my family and find anybody that knew anything
about the gospel. So I'm thankful that in the proper
time, in the right time, God brought me to hear the gospel,
and God saved me by his grace, and now I can share what God
must do in order for us to have faith. You know, in the book
of Hebrews chapter 11, and we spent a little bit of time there
last week, but would you turn there with me? for just a moment
to the book of Hebrews chapter 11. There's so much said in this
book of Hebrews chapter 11 about faith. Now, I'm convinced that
there were more that knew about the faith of God's elect than
just these, but they are serious examples for us. They are there
on purpose. God put them in this book to
share with us the importance of having faith. The scriptures
tell us in the book of Luke 17, if you
had faith as the grain of mustard seed. Now I looked that up, and
for my friend up in Canada, that's one to two millimeters. It's
not much. The size of a seed of mustard. And in English, that is a .04
to .05 hundredths of an inch. Very minuscule. It's small. You could have hundreds of them
in your hand at one time. And you know what Jesus said?
If you had faith as the grain of mustard seed, you could say
to this mountain, be removed and it would be removed. What
is he telling us? before we get to the book of
Hebrews chapter 11. You don't have any. It is nothing
compared to what is necessary. He's not telling us oh if you
have a if you have mustard seed faith you can do this and on
he's telling us just like he did when it comes to as a camel
can go through the eye of a needle Just as possible for a camel
to go through the eye of a needle, for you to enter into the kingdom
of heaven. It is impossible. It is impossible
to have the faith that we need to trust God about anything. Our faith, if it was the size
of a grain of mustard seed, what power we would have. So as you
said, you don't have anything. You have nothing to fall back
on. Your faith is bankrupt, just like the rest of you. All right,
but in the book of Hebrews chapter 11, we find a long list of folks
that God had dealt with in a miraculous way. He had given to them the
new birth. They had heard the gospel through
the preaching of Christ. They call him the Messiah in
the Old Testament. We call him Jesus the Christ,
Jesus Christ. The son of the living God, whatever
term we want to, show respect. It's not just Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.
He is the son of God. He is the Lord Jesus Christ.
And here in the book of Numbers, we find in that long list, and
we read a little bit of it last time, and I'd like to read just
a little bit more today, that shares with us this great faith
that God gives, the faith he gave to those five sisters, that
they would come. And we will find out that they
did not come in a snit. They did not come angry. They
did not come demanding. They did not come with any of
that. They came seeking the will of the Lord, and we'll see that
in just a moment. All right, in Hebrews chapter 11, We read
there early on, but in verse four, let's look at that. Verse
four, it says there, by faith Abel offered a more excellent
sacrifice. He offered a sacrifice that typified
what was necessary for him to be saved. He offered a substitute. He said, I'm a sinner and I need
a substitute. And it pleased God. Why? Because
he gave him that faith. Oh my, to be given God-given
faith, to be given faith, of God, to be given the faith of
God's elect, to be given faith whatsoever of any kind. It is
powerful that God would give us himself and we call it faith. By faith Abel offered. Notice
in verse 5, by faith Enoch was translated that he should not
see death. You know what? He believed that.
He believed it, why? Because God gave it to him. As
we travel down through here, we find by faith Noah being warned
of God, verse 7, of things not seen as yet, moved with fear,
prepared an ark. It had never rained. He never
woke up to what we woke up to this morning. Never woke up. Nancy's brother wrote and told
her they had what, three inches of rain in 24 hours over on the
coast. That's a lot of rain. People
get rain all over. Noah never knew the sensation
of rain, and yet God told him, build an ark, and guess what
Noah did? God gave him the faith to believe God, and he went and
built an ark. There's no doubt in my mind that
there were a lot of people, even his own relatives, that called
him a little stupid. They had something built. There's
something being built that had never been built. And that was
an ark. All the timber, can you just
imagine? All the waste that could go into
houses, it went into an ark. And then God fulfilled his promise
to Noah, and it did rain. And it rained and rained and
rained 40 days. And it destroyed everybody on
the face of this earth, except for eight people that were preserved
in the ark. You know what? We need that same
preservation in our ark, the Lord Jesus. In verse eight, by
faith, Abraham, when he was called to go out of a place, he left.
I don't know where I'm going, but I've been told to go. Have
you ever found yourselves in that same situation? I don't
know why I'm here, why I'm doing this, but I've been led here. By faith he sojourned in a land
of promise. You know, that's the place that
we're gonna read about that those five sisters came and asked about
was a piece of property. But their mind is far greater
because we read here in verse 10 that not only did Abraham
look for that property, the physical promise of God. You know, God
makes a lot of physical promises to us. We have places to live, food
to eat. He may take that away tomorrow,
but at this moment, those promises are being fulfilled. But they're
much more better in spiritual promises because it goes on in
verse 10, for he looked, Abraham looked for a city, who's which
has foundations, who's builder and maker is God. He's looking
at things from a spiritual context. He's looking at things from a
spiritual reality. He's looking for Mount Zion.
He's looking for the heavenly city. He's looking for the church.
He is there with a view of spiritual things. God gave him the ability
by faith to believe God and he was able to see things that nobody
else could see. He was given that faith. And
then it talks about Sarah. You know, you go to the Old Testament,
she laughed about being told she's gonna have a baby at 90
years of age. Here in the New Testament, under the blood of
Christ, there's none of that mentioned. Aren't you thankful
that under the blood, we don't have any of our past mentioned
before Almighty God? It's taken care of completely.
It's our sins are forgiven, are paid for. As we heard that word,
it's finished. Payment is made in full. Well,
she had a baby at 90 years of age and raised that baby. And then it goes on here in the
book of, in verse 17, by faith, Abraham, when he was tried, offered
up Isaac and he had received the promise, offered up his only
begotten son. What promise? He's gonna come
down from that mountain with you. You are commanded to take
him up on that mountain and offer him up as a sacrifice. But he
had the promise that he would bring that son back down, of
whom it was said that Isaac shall be thy seed be called, accounting
that God was able to raise him up. You know, that's God's faith. That's not great faith. That's
God's faith. That's the faith he gives all
of his people. We say, I don't have much faith. You don't have
any faith. We have faith given to us. It's in our account. It's
in our bank account. It's in our checking account.
God gives it to us. And so it says there, accounting
that God was able to raise him up even from the dead, for whence
also he received him in a figure. It was a type, a shadow and a
picture of what God would do in Christ Jesus our Lord. He'd
raise him from the dead. It's going to be far greater
than just a picture. You know, he was stopped. from
thrusting a knife into his own son's body. He, by faith, understood
that if this took place, he would raise him from the dead and they
would all come down. What did he tell the tenders
of the mules? We'll be back. We'll be back. He didn't say,
I'll be back. He said, we'll be back. And then
God stopped him. And there, caught by his horns,
was a ram caught in a thicket. And Abraham turned around there
and slew the substitute. And that ram became a picture
and a type and a shadow of our Savior, the Lord Jesus. And they
both came down off of that mountain. By faith, Isaac blessed Jacob,
verse 20. By faith, Jacob, when he was
a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph and worship, leaning
upon his staff. And by faith, Joseph, verse 22,
when he had died, made mention of the departing of the children
of Israel and gave commandment concerning his bones. He gave, he made mention of the
departing of the children of Israel. 400 years later, We say, oh, that's great faith.
No, that's God's faith. That's faith in God. That's faith
in his word. That's trusting God. And how
do we get that? Only through the new birth. God
gives the gift of faith. God gives the gift of repentance.
God gives it and only God can do that. We find, turn with me
while we're here in the New Testament, would you turn with me to the
book of Titus chapter one? In Titus chapter one, we have
this wonderful statement about faith, this faith, the faith
of those five sisters, the faith of Moses, the faith of Joseph,
the faith of Noah, the faith of Enoch, the faith of Cain,
excuse me, not the faith of Cain, the faith of Abel, the faith
of God's people. Here in the book of Titus chapter
one and verse one, the scriptures share this. Paul, a servant of God, an apostle
of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect. That's it. The faith of God's
elect. Who gives faith to the elect?
It's God. And the acknowledgement of the
truth, which is after godliness, in hope of eternal life, which
God that cannot lie promised before the world began. So as
we go back, we find, well, on your way back to the book of
Numbers chapter 27, stop by Romans chapter eight for just a moment.
This verse of scripture has been such a blessing to me because
I often stopped with verse 26 and did not read verse 27. But
let's look at Romans chapter eight, verse 26 and 27 together. We've often said about the spirit
helping our infirmities when it comes to prayer. You know
what? We absolutely depend on that.
We find out by faith that is what we depend on. I don't know
how to pray as I ought. Well, he goes on to tell us here,
for we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the
spirit itself make an intercession for us with groanings which cannot
be uttered. And he that searches the hearts
knoweth what is in the mind of the spirit because he maketh
intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And you know what the church
says? Hallelujah. He makes intercession for us
according to the will of God. So these five sisters demonstrated
faith of God given to them, and they understood that the children
of Israel would indeed inherit the land, and they knew part
was theirs. We know they did not make this
demand. Because we're going to follow
this out. And we're not exercising selfishness. They're not selfish,
they're not demanding, and they're not in a snit. Let's look over
there in the book of Numbers, chapter 27. The book of Numbers,
chapter 27, as we follow this incident out, we find that Every
bit of it has been according to the will of God. He wants
it carried out this way. That's why it's being carried
out this way. They have faith in God, and that's why they come
to Moses. And Moses has faith in God, and
that's why he goes to God with this intercession. In the book
of Numbers chapter 27, we read verses 5, 6, and 7. They brought
this petition, Numbers 27, Verses 5, 6, and 7. They brought it
before they said, we don't have any brothers. Our father died
in the wilderness. There's no sons. And you know
they understood that if there was a son, the inheritance went
to him. There was not going to be an
argument over that. But there was no sons. They didn't have
any brothers. And there are five of them. And
our father died. And he didn't die with that Korah.
Did you notice that Psalm that Lauren read this morning? It
says, to the sons of Korah. It's really made me interested
in as we go through the Psalms, how the children of Korah did
not die with him. Now only because of the grace
of God. All right, here in the book of Numbers chapter 27, verse
five, it says, and Moses brought their cause before the Lord. What a statement, my goodness. I remember I was so used to,
in the religion I was in, of people coming to me and asking
me to pray for them on a special case, and they thought that I
had a closer relationship with God than they did. You know,
in salvation, I found out we're all equal. So don't ever bring
me your prayer request without you praying about it first. You
know, I will be glad to pray for you, but if you expect me
to get the job done better than you can, you're looking to the
wrong person. I didn't die for you. I cannot
do that. So we'll pray together, share
one another's requests, but we cannot intercede any different
than anybody else. Moses couldn't do a thing about
this situation. He knew who to go to, though.
He didn't say, well, let's talk about this. He didn't say, you
know, you're probably here on the wrong terms. He didn't say
you're probably gonna sit because you're not gonna inherit anything.
You're probably having a problem with your dad and mother because
they didn't have any boys. He never brought that up. What
did he do? He came to the Lord. Oh my goodness, how simple can
that be? Let's just take it to God. We'll
see what he has to say about it. And the Lord spake unto Moses
saying, now the Lord is there. Oh, I like that. in the will of God with regard
to our prayers. Now, if we pray amiss and we
pray selfishly, God's not gonna be in that. And Lord only knows
we've done enough of that. But he goes on to say, notice
this. Notice what it says in the next
verse. The daughters of Zalephahed speak right. I saw that and I just, hallelujah.
My goodness, God said that, that they came by His authority to
make this request, they speak right. Isn't it wonderful that
when we take the Word of God, that God can say to us, we speak
right. If we bring our own thoughts
and our own faith and our own interests, we're not speaking
right. But when we come to God by His Word, we can hear him
say, you speak right. That's why we read the Psalms. That's why we read the word of
God. That's why we base our services on God's word. not on some thoughts
or some man or some other thing. We don't worship those things. We worship God. And we come to
him in his word. The daughters of Zelophehad speak
right. Thou shalt surely give them a
possession of an inheritance among their father's brethren.
You know what? Moses said, great. I love it. God's going to give them a possession.
God's going to give them an inheritance. And he goes on beyond even the
request of these five sisters. Notice what he goes on to say
here. This is the Lord speaking. This is the Lord sharing. Well,
his purpose, his will is in this matter. Not only do they speak
right, and yes, they shall inherit. They shall inherit in Canaan.
When we get over there, they're going to have their parcel among
the children of Manasseh. He goes on to tell us here, they shall surely give them a
possession of an inheritance among their father's brethren,
and shall cause the inheritance of their father to And thou shalt
cause the inheritance of their father to pass unto them. And
thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, if a man die
and have no son, then ye shall cause his inheritance to pass
to a daughter. You know, this is more information
than Moses ever asked for. And don't we find out that when
we go to the word of God? We got more than we asked for.
He said, what about these five? And the Lord said, they have
brought a right thing. Now let's go on beyond that,
and God is revealing unto us his will in this matter. If he
does not have a son, then it goes to the daughter. Now, verse
nine, and if he have no daughter, then it shall give his inheritance
unto his brothers. But it doesn't stop there. And
if they have no brothers, then he shall give his inheritance
unto his father's brothers. And if his father have no brethren,
then he shall give his inheritance unto his kinsman that is next
to him of his family, and he shall possess it, and he shall
be unto the children of Israel a statute of a judgment as the
Lord commanded Moses. My goodness gracious. As we look
into grace, we find it just gets bigger and bigger and bigger.
There's no end to it. You cannot run out of it. You
cannot use it all up. And the Lord demonstrated that
right here. He said, you brought this issue up, let's just continue
with it. And we find out everybody in Israel has been covered in
this subject because if it's don't have a daughter, Let it
go to the brothers. If it doesn't have brothers,
let it go to the father's brothers. If a father doesn't have any
brothers, let it go to the near kinsmen. God took care of every
bit of it. And it was demonstrated by these
ladies that came and were filled with the faith of God's elect. God said, Jehovah said, they
speak right. Can you imagine what God said
when Paul went to Ephesus and preached? He speaks right. Can you imagine when he went
to Philippi? When they wrote those books, he speaks right. What did the God of heaven say
with regard to the Lord Jesus Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration? This is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased. Hear ye him. He speaks right. We heard red over there and we
find out that the inheritance that a few words, I'd like to
say a few words with the time that's left about this inheritance
from a spiritual standpoint. Yes, they did want their property.
Yes, they did want a possession of Canaan. Yes, that was given
to God's people. And we find over in the book
of Exodus chapter six, would you turn there with me? But this
is just speaking in a physical way of a spiritual reality. Abraham was not interested in
just having a piece of ground. He never owned a piece of it,
but it was all given to him. He traveled in a tent and he
looked for what? A city, a permanence. He looked for permanence, a permanent
place. in places of the world. We call it civilization when
people sat down and made a city. Sometimes we look back now and
say, I don't know if that's civilization or not. But when people got together
and they had enough time to grow enough food for them, they settled
down in a permanent place. They were no longer strangers
and sojourners. Isn't it wonderful to drive your
car to your house instead of a tent? Or should I say walk to your
house instead of walking to your tent? Permanence, that's what
Abraham said. He looked for a city whose builder
and maker was God. Now here in the book of Exodus
chapter six, the book of Exodus, it is true. We find that the
Lord often speaking concerning the inheritance and the heritage
of his people in Cana is all along described as the heritage
and the Lord had designed it for Israel in Exodus chapter
six. Verse eight, we read this, Exodus
chapter six and verse eight. And I'll bring you in unto the
land concerning the which I did swear to give to Abraham and
to Isaac and to Jacob. And I'll give it to you for an
heritage. I am the Lord. That's the promise
he made to the children of Israel. They would have this inheritance,
a physical place that is used to describe a spiritual thing. The Lord tells us in the book
of Psalm 16, Psalm 16. Look there with me in Psalm 16
as we think about this inheritance or this heritage in Psalm 16
and verse five and six. What did those ladies really
ask for? A city whose builder and maker
was God. They're telling us of their faith
in God in such a way that it's just not for a piece of property.
They're demonstrating that they are spiritual Israel. Here in
the book of Psalm 16, verse 5, it says, the Lord is the portion
of my inheritance. And of my cup thou manifest my
lot. The lines are fallen upon me
in pleasant places. Yea, I have a goodly heritage.
What is he saying? The heritage of believers is
Christ himself. That's our inheritance, that's
who we are looking to, that's what we have a grasp for, that's
what we're anticipating, that place with Christ in whatever
capacity it is. And so, and also in the book
of Isaiah chapter 54, this is brought up. The book of Isaiah
chapter 54, turn with me there as we think about this heritage.
Yes, they were looking for a piece of property, just like the rest
of the Jews, and there were many of those that weren't looking
for anything else. But there were a few according to the election
of grace. If it had not been for a very
small remnant, if it had not been for a very small remnant,
we should have all been as Sodom and we should have all been as
Gomorrah. That's what Isaiah was led to write. If it wasn't
for a remnant according to the election of grace. Here in the
book of Isaiah chapter 54 and verse 17, We read this, no weapon
that is formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that
shall rise against thee in judgment thou shall condemn. This is the
heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness
is of me, saith the Lord. He is our heritage and our righteousness
is His righteousness, imputed to us, given to us. And so we
see in actuality, when a people that know God, there is a heritage
that He has given to them, and the heritage that has been given
to them is Christ Jesus the Lord. This is what his business is,
is to make himself our heritage, the business of the church. In
Psalm 142, back up there with me just a little bit. In Psalm
142, and there in verse 5, we read these words, I cried unto
thee, O Lord, Psalm 142 verse 5, I cried unto
thee, O Lord, I said, thou art my refuge and my portion in the
land of the living. Thou art my portion. You're my inheritance. You, and
by faith, we come, expecting that inheritance. Faith has blessed
us in such a powerful way that we come expecting Him as our
inheritance. He is our inheritance. We're
not looking for a piece of property. I think there's much said about
heaven that isn't biblical, isn't there? People use all kinds of
ideas. It's just amazing when you're
visiting with people, how many people think everybody, everybody's
going to heaven. It's a place, it's got all this,
it's a person. The person makes the place. Young man was sharing with me,
he's gonna see grandma for Christmas. You know, we used to go to grandma's,
I loved it. She was such a special person.
But she made the place. The place didn't make grandma.
She made the place good to go to. And that's the way the Lord
is. He makes the place wonderful
to go to. He is our heritage. I cried unto
the Lord. I cried unto the old Lord. I
said, thou art my refuge. Yes. That's where I'm going to
be. He is in my refuge and my portion
in the land of the living. Who put Moses in the cleft of
the rock? And who puts us in the refuge?
We don't have the strength to get there. I'm thankful he lifts
us out of the horrible pit and sets our feet on a solid rock
and puts a song in our heart and establishes our goings because
we can't get the job done on our own. Oh, as we think about
this, in one of the most lamentable books of all the Bible, we find
a couple passages of scripture that just, lamentations. The lamentations of Jeremiah. Turn there with me if you would.
Lamentations chapter three. This guy is, oh, he's lamenting
the condition of Israel. He's a prophet to Israel and
he's lamenting. And we find in here this passage
of scripture, Lamentations chapter three and verse 24. It's just
comparable to all what we find in the scripture about the possession
that the church has. Christ is our possession. In fact, our portion. Yes, our
inheritance. Even as God shared with Abraham,
I am thy exceeding great reward. Now in Lamentations 3, verse
24, the Lord is my portion, saith my soul, therefore will I hope
in him. Now the converse of that means
he didn't have any hope in Israel as being a nation because most
of them had turned aside. There was no hope in that religion.
There was no hope in being an Israelite, a child of Abraham. through the flesh, that's no
hope. We find out that many people during the times of the Lord
Jesus would depend upon their relationship, physical relationship
with Abraham. And he said, if you knew Abraham,
if you believed Abraham, you'd believe me. But since you don't,
you don't. Well, here we find this great
prophet, the Lord is my portion, saith my soul, therefore will
I hope in him. What a statement in some of the
worst lamentable condition a man could find himself in, he said,
this is it. Much better than a piece of land,
the Lord has given himself as our portion. I'd like to read
a few verses in the New Testament at this time, and we'd like to
start with the book of Galatians. Galatians, Christ is our inheritance. Truly as Moses came out, oh,
as the Lord spoke, he said, these ladies have said right. I've
brought them to this point. I've given them the faith to
come. They did not come angry. They did not come demanding.
They did not come in a snit. They did not come with all of
the things that so often happen so that things can happen. They
came seeking the will of God in this matter. And God said
they speak right. And besides that, let's go down
the list of how I'm going to take care of this problem. even
till five different ways, and finally, if there's nobody, it
goes to the near kinsman. Case settled. Here in the book
of Galatians chapter one, Galatians chapter one, as we find the case
is settled. What a statement we read here. Concerning the Lord Jesus Christ,
it says there, who gave himself, for our sins. Galatians chapter one, verse
four, who gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us
from this present evil world according to the will of God
and our father, who gave himself for our sins. You know, that's
something that all the bloods of bulls and goats could not
take care of. It was only typical, it was pictorial, but Jesus Christ
gave himself for our sins. No one takes me. No one forces
me. The covenant of grace has brought
this to this place. And he has promised and carried
out what was in the covenant of grace. I will pay their ransom
price. And that will put them in a position
that the Holy Spirit can come along after the preaching of
the gospel and give them the new birth, and they will believe
me. It will not be, I don't know
about that. It will be, oh yes. If God said
it, it is. what I believe. All right. In
that same book, chapter two and verse 20, Galatians chapter two
and verse 20, this is also brought out as he is our inheritance.
He's our portion. He is what we inherit. He is
our exceeding great reward. I am crucified with Christ. You
know, that's an interesting statement. We read about the crucifixion
of Christ this morning, hung on a cross, how hurriedly they
had to get the job done so that they could get him off the cross
before a religious holiday took place, all of that stuff. And
then Paul looks back and led by the Holy Spirit to say, I'm
crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me. Can you just hear those five
sisters saying that? The life which I now live in
the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me. What did Thomas say when he saw
the Lord? You know, he's run down a lot
because he wasn't at the service when the Lord was there. We don't
know. He might have been at the hospital
with his mom. We don't know why he wasn't there.
It doesn't mention that. But I know this, when he saw
the Lord, the Lord said, put your fingers in my Now, Prince,
put your hand on my side. You know what he said? My Lord. He had a possession. My Lord
and my God. He had a possession. His possession
was the Lord. Why? Because Thomas was a possession
of the Lord. my Lord and my God. What faith
Thomas shares with us in that moment that the Lord Jesus Christ
is my Lord and my God. In the book of Ephesians chapter
five, Ephesians chapter five, we have this. Ephesians chapter five and verse
25, Husbands, love your wives, even
as Christ also loved the church. Now notice this part, and gave
himself for it. His whole being, he gave for
the church. He went to the cross, he suffered
this despicable death of the cross. He satisfied all of God's
demands, all the law, and cried, it is paid for, finished. And we have that inheritance. We have that portion. We have
Him as our possession. Oh, it's nice to have a little
piece of property, have a house, I can go home, sleep in. I love
sleeping inside a house instead of outside the house when it's
raining. Mike mentioned to me this morning,
wouldn't it be wonderful to be out camping right now and having
about 10 inches of rainfall on top of you? And I said, yeah,
and about three feet of snow. I like where I'm living. But you know
what? Jesus Christ is the church's
possession. I have given myself for you. And then in the book of 1 Timothy,
1 Timothy, 1 Timothy chapter two, 1 Timothy chapter two and
verse six, who gave himself a ransom. That's an interesting word that
just goes right along with paid, finished, it's finished. Ransom,
payment price, surety with a payment price, gave himself a ransom
for all to be testified in due time, a ransom for all the church. And then finally, in the book
of Titus, in the book of Titus, turn there with me, chapter two,
verse 14, the scriptures share this. Chapter two, verse 14,
who gave himself for us. This is the Lord's business,
and it's marvelous in our eyes. This is the purpose of grace.
Before the foundation of the world, there was a lamb slain
from the foundation of the world to come and give himself for
the church, to come and ransom the church, to come and pay for
the church, pay for the sins, who gave himself for us, Titus
chapter two, verse 14, who gave himself for us that he might
redeem us from all, do you see that? All iniquity. and purify unto himself a peculiar
people, zealous of good works. You know, if the Lord gives us
the grace to have a good work, it's because the Lord gives us
the grace to have a good work. We are his workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which he hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. There's not one ounce that we
can go away and say, oh, I can brag about that part. You know
who the church brags about? Christ and Christ alone. Not
works of righteousness, which we have done, but Christ and
Christ alone. We don't go back and say, I had
faith in the Lord. We go back and say, I'm thankful
he gave me faith. I had none of my own. I was bankrupt,
dead in trespasses and sin. And so those five ladies came,
those five sisters came with a petition, and the Lord gave
them more than they asked for. He gave them faith and that faith
reached within the veil, just like it does now. It reaches
within the veil where the Lord is. And we can find out he is
my inheritance. He is my portion. And there's
not a scrap of land over there in Canaan today that the church
should be after at all. Not a square inch. Christ is
our portion. Christ is it. And be thankful
for the little place we have to put our house on. But when
the time comes, that's not going to be of any value. Knowledge
of Him will be of value. Faith in Him. The faith of God's
elect.