to meet and worship again. I'm going to read a few verses
to you from the book of Romans. If you would, go to Romans and
we'll start at the very end of chapter 4 and then go into chapter
5. The book of Romans, chapter 4. The Lord did indeed bless us
with a wonderful Bible conference. It's certainly one of the finest
that I've been in, one of the most blessed series of meetings
that I've been in for a long time. Of course, I probably say
that every year. The mercies of God are so precious
to us, and when the saints of God gather in God uses his servants to set forth
our dear Redeemer, it's always a special, special time for us
to gather. Everyone, as far as I know, got
home safely. We had quite a few visitors and
that was very encouraging. And certainly grateful to all
of you who helped to make this a success. And obviously we could
do nothing without the grace of God. And we thank the Lord
for his mercies to us in meeting with us and blessing as we gathered
for all the services. Let me begin reading here in
Romans, the fourth chapter. And here's what the apostle has
been speaking about. Abraham, who was a man of faith,
a man who believed God. He talked about how he staggered
not at the promise of God, but he continued to believe on the
promise of God. Lord, and then he gets down to
verse 24 of Romans chapter four, and he says, in fact I'll back
up to verse 23, now it was not written for Abraham's sake alone
that it was imputed to him, and of course this entire chapter
deals specifically with the glorious truth of imputation But he says
it wasn't just written for Abraham, but for us also. For us also to whom it shall
be imputed if or since we believe on him that raised up Jesus our
Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses and was raised
again for our justification. Now, chapter five, verse one,
therefore being justified. How are we justified? Well, we're justified by the
death of the Lord Jesus. That's how God declares us to
be righteous. Now, this righteousness, we receive
it, and so he says, therefore being justified, by faith we
have peace with God, And this is all through our Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace
wherein we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. You'll notice how he stresses
the vital truth of believing, of faith. Oh, that God would
give us faith to lay a halt of the Lord Jesus and believe what
God has said to us in his word. He says in verse three, and not
only so, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation
worketh patience and patience experience. and experience hope,
and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
For when we were yet without strength, when we were weak and
frail, when we could do nothing spiritually toward God, In due
time, our Lord Jesus Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely
for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good
man some would even dare to die. But God commended his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than being now justified
by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if,
when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death
of his son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also
joy in God This is through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we
have now received the atonement, or the reconciliation. And we'll stop our reading there
with verse 11. Let's see God's face in prayer. Our Father, we bow before you
this evening very much aware of the vast distance that existed
between us and thyself due to the mountain of our sins. And
though we don't know the full extent of our wretchedness, of
how fallen we are in Adam, yet we know we fell We fell from
being reconciled to you. We fell from being able to draw
near to you. We fell from being willing to
enter into the very presence of God. We fell into sin. And oh, how we bless you for
the wondrous grace that was given to us in Christ Jesus. Grace
given even before you made the world. grace that was given to
us in the Son of God long before we fell. Because before we transgressed
in Adam, we already had one who would save us from our transgressions,
even your only begotten Son. We rejoice, O God, in this everlasting
salvation. We rejoice in our everlasting
Savior. We thank you that the one who
was appointed to be our Redeemer and Savior is himself equal with
thyself. He is God of very God. And also, he's the one who stooped
and joined himself to our flesh so that He is likened to His
brethren, made flesh and blood." Oh, what a marvelous Savior we
have. And He who came for us lived
under your law, obedient in every way, in His mind, in His thoughts,
in His motives, in His words, In his actions, he was himself
the perfect son of God, the perfect son of man. And then having proved
his fitness to be the lamb who would be slaughtered for us,
he then went to the cross of Calvary. And there he laid down
his life for all of his sheep. He who volunteered to be our
Savior voluntarily entered into the Garden of Gethsemane where
He prayed for us, where He sweat, as it were, great drops of blood.
And as the willing sacrifice, He went to the cross of Calvary.
There was no forcing Him. The soldiers did not have to
lay hold of Him. and direct Him against His will
and force Him to get on the cross and be nailed to it. No, there was no rejection. There was nothing within the
Master that would cause Him to be against that which you had
appointed for Him. And willingly, He laid down His
life. Willingly, He accomplished your
will of redemption. and our Savior who died for us
ever lives. And even now, he represents us,
oh Father, before you. Thank you for such a Savior.
We seek to magnify him tonight. Lord, we're grateful for all
of your mercies to us. We do bless you for the good
services we experienced this last weekend. Oh, how you blessed
us. and how we give you thanksgiving,
and how our hearts are filled with gratitude. Lord, the meetings
encouraged us so much, and the encouragement was needed, and
we're grateful. We pray that you'll bless the
ministries of these three marvelous servants of God who came and
ministered to us. Bless them as they labor. Lord,
bless all of your servants, wherever they are, as they preach the
gospel of our glorious Redeemer. Father, we would be mindful of
those who are absent from us due to sickness, due to the infirmities
of the flesh. We thank you that All of these
things, Father, are in your hands. And we are very contented to
know that you're doing what's best for all of your children.
And as we get into the message tonight, we ask for the grace
of the Spirit of God to be with us. We ask that you would guide
our thoughts as we look into the Word of God, and that we
would once again stand in awe as we view what happened upon
Golgotha's brow as our Savior suffered, bled, and died for
us. So be with us now and bless and
glorify your name. For Jesus' sake we pray, amen. Let's go back to John chapter
19. this evening, the book of John
chapter 19. You know, if ever there was a
subject that demands our attention, it is this one, what happened
at the cross. Now, no portion of the word of
God should ever be read casually. We have casual reading, you read
the newspaper perhaps, or you read Facebook, or you read a
magazine, or something of that nature. You don't read any portion
of this book, of God's Word, like you read any kind of secular
reading. Even any kind of religious material. be it an excellent book or a
track or a pamphlet or anything like that, those things are not
to be read as you would read the Word of God. This is a unique
book. This is a special book. This
is God's communication to His children. And so when we read
the Word of God, we do read it prayerfully, We read it seriously
and we read it respectfully. But as we get into the study
of and reading about the death of our Lord Jesus, about all
of the sufferings that led up to his substitutionary sacrifice
upon the cross of Calvary, it's then we especially need to be
very, very serious. There is no more noble subject. There is no more vital subject
that we could ever read about or speak about or study about
or preach about or talk about than this, the death of our Lord
Jesus. This is all of our salvation
right here from old eternity even to eternity in the future. Everything looks back to this
event. This is the event of all events. This is purpose by God Himself. This is the Son of God. This
is not a martyr. This is not just another man
dying for a cause. This is the God-man. This is
the Son of the Lord. This is the one who said, as
our brother read, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He knew why the disciples forsook
him out of fear. He knew why the Jews were opposed
to him because they accused him of blasphemy. But here was the
issue, why hast thou forsaken me? And the answer is given in
the 22nd Psalm, Thou art holy. All of the sins of all of the
people, of all of those given to Him in covenant grace and
love, they were all heaped upon the Son of God, made to meet
on Him. And therefore the father turned
his back on his son, and in turning his back on his son, turned his
favor away from him, so that all of his wrath was poured out
upon the Son of God, instead of those for whom He died. There's no wrath that remains
for us. There's no judgment for us because
our Lord Jesus, He took all of the wrath of God and He took
all of the judgment of God. So it is especially noteworthy
as we look at the sufferings of our Lord Jesus, as we look
at His crucifixion. As we read about His death upon
the cross of Calvary, as that one who reconciled us to God,
we must especially be respectful and reverence these portions
of Holy Scripture. After all, this is the one who
died for us. The only reason we're going to
live forever is because he satisfied all of the just demands of God
for us. That's why heaven's going to
be open for us. That's why God the Father is
going to welcome us. And I know it goes back to His
eternal purpose, but in His eternal purpose, this was the way whereby
folks like us would enter into the kingdom of God. This is how
we enter into heaven, by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. So we come to chapter 19, and
especially beginning with the section that we're going to look
at tonight, and then continuing on in the next Wednesday night.
We want to be, oh, so very careful. May God filter my words. that I only speak true things,
right things about the Savior and his substitutionary death. We come once again tonight to
Golgotha. What do you see at Golgotha? What do you see? As you, in your
mind's eye, and as you read the Word of God, this One who dies
upon the cross of Calvary, this One who says He was the Son of
God, is He that to you? Is He the Messiah to you? Is
He Emmanuel to you, God with us? What do you see at Golgotha? The Jews, to their eyes, they
saw a blasphemer. That's who they saw. No less
than that, a blasphemer worthy of death. In fact, it's upon
their insistence that he's dying. Pilate has already said, I find
no fault in this man. Even Herod said that. And yet
the Jews said, crucify him, crucify him. He's a blasphemer. That's what they said. So as
they observed this man hanging on a cross on Golgotha's brow,
to them, he's an awful blasphemer. And blasphemy in the law is worthy
of death. And to the Gentile soldiers,
he was just another Jewish felon. No more, no less. Why, they had
executed several Jewish criminals. Just another man to them. Just
another day at the job. Just another man to execute. Just another man who had suffered
the death sentence. This is what they saw on Golgotha's
brow. A man worthy of death along with
two other men. Three men who are guilty in their
minds, they don't have to worry about whether, well, were they
innocent? Were they guilty? No, Pilate
said, crucify all three of them. They're just doing their job. Pilate had said, behold the man,
look at him, look at him. Go back to verses four and five,
John 19. Pilate, therefore, went forth
again and he said unto them, he says to the Jews, John 19,
four, behold, I bring him forth to you that you may know I find
no fault in him. Then came Jesus forth. Apparently,
Pilate goes out first. And then he had his guards bring
forth Jesus. Then came Jesus forth wearing
the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said unto them,
behold the man. Behold the man. There he stands
wearing the crown of thorns Blood running down his face. But know this, the real measure,
the real measure of a crown is not what it's made of. Even if
it's made of gold and silver, that's not the measure of a crown.
Here's the true measure of a crown, the character of the one who
wears it. That's the real measure of a
crown. Why, this is a crown of thorns, and thorns take you back
to the Garden of Eden. When God cursed the earth, it'll
bring forth briars and thorns. And here's the Lord Jesus bearing
the curse of the law, emblematic by the fact that He's wearing
a crown of thorns. But oh, don't judge the one who
wears it by what the crown is made of. The one who wears it
is the Lord of glory. The one to whom every knee shall
someday bow and every tongue shall confess, He's the Lord
of glory. He's the Lord of lords and the
King of kings to the glory of God the Father. And then we find
that he wore a purple robe. No doubt just a cast-off robe, the color of royalty. But once again, don't judge the
man by the raggedy purple robe that he wears. This man is indeed
the king. And this is what Pilate indicates. Look over further. in the chapter. Look at verse 13. When Pilate therefore heard that
saying, he brought Jesus forth. He set him in the judgment seat
in a place that is called the pavement, but in the Hebrew,
Gabbatha. And it was the preparation of
the Passover and about the sixth hour. And he said unto the Jews,
behold, your king, wearing the crown, wearing the purple robe. But they cried out, away with
him, away with him, crucify him. And Pilate saith unto them, shall
I crucify your king? The chief priests answered, and
this is how much they hated Jesus of Nazareth. Because we know
they despised Caesar. They despised the Romans. They
had thought that Jesus of Nazareth was the one who would come in
and run all those heathens out of town and drive them all the
way back to Rome and institute a glorious kingdom like unto
David had. But here they are in their frenzy. In their wrath, in their anger,
they cried, we have no king but Caesar. That's how much they hated Jesus
of Nazareth. We have no king but Jesus. We will not have this man, this
man rule over us. And so verse 16, then delivered
he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus
and led him away. And he, bearing his cross, went
forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called
in the Hebrew, Golgotha. just like Isaac bore the wood
in Genesis chapter 22, all the way to the altar. So our Lord
Jesus bears his own cross. Now verse 18, where they crucified
him and two other with him, their names aren't given. They were nobodies. to most everybody, but one of
them was a somebody to God. One of them was marked out by
sovereign grace for salvation. But his name isn't given. But
I tell you, his name is written down in the Lamb's Book of Life.
Yes, indeed. And so they crucified the Lord
Jesus and two other with him on either side, one in Jesus
in the midst. Verse 19, and Pilate wrote a
title and put it on the cross. And the writing was, and this
was typical to put the accusation, the reason for the execution
over the head of the one who was being crucified. Jesus of
Nazareth, the King of the Jews. And I'll say this for emphasis,
the King of the Jews. This title then read many of
the Jews for the place where Jesus was crucified was not to
the city. It was a very, very populous
area. People walking by going both
ways. You remember what the Apostle
Paul said to the governor in the book of Acts? This thing
wasn't done in a corner. This wasn't done in secret. You
all know what happened, he said. Well, this is written then, and
then it says it was written in Hebrew and Greek and Latin. Hebrew,
the language of the religious people. The language of the chief
priests. The language of the Jews. And
Greek! the language of the philosophers,
the language of the Gentile people, and Latin, the language of the
learned ones, of the scientists and physicians. Then said the
chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, write not, write not
the king of the Jews, but that he said, I am king of the Jews. Pilate answered, what I have
written, I have written. This man, Pontius Pilate, is
an interesting character, and I'm not going to spend much time
here with him, but he struggled with what to do with Jesus of
Nazareth. After all, he found no fault
in him and he said that several times. It was like a war that
raged within him between conviction on the one hand and corruption
on the other hand. Conviction, corruption. Conviction,
he's an innocent man, I need to let him go. Even my wife said,
let him go. Don't you hurt him. Conviction. Freeing. He's innocent. I find no fault
in this man. But on the other hand, not conviction, not standing
firm for what's right, not being a man, doing what he knew in
his heart needed to be done. But he gives in to corruption. And the reason is because his own importance. Because if
you look back here, and I started reading in verse 13, you'll notice
in verse 12, chapter 19, verse 12, and from thenceforth Pilate
sought to release him. That's conviction. That's conviction. He sought to release him. You
know, it says he sought to release. He could have released him, humanly
speaking. Now, we know God, God had ordained
our Lord Jesus die. And so he, in that sense, he
could not release him. But as we look at it, here's
a man who's responsible to do the right thing. He could have
released him. But the Jews cried out, if thou
let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend, whosoever making
themselves a king speaketh against Caesar. When Pilate, therefore,
he heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, he set him there
and he said, okay, take him and crucify him then. His own job's
on the line now. In fact, more than that, his
own life. His own life, if he can't keep
peace in Judea, Caesar is going to replace him and have him executed
himself. And so he is torn within him.
Conviction and corruption, but he is by nature a corrupt man. And corruption wins the day. What do you see at Golgotha?
What do you see? Well, there are several things
to be seen here, and I'll touch on these just briefly. We see
the fulfillment of the purpose of God. This has all been arranged. This has all been ordained. All
of these things that happen the actions of Satan entering
into Judas? Do you think Satan ever imagined
he was doing God's will when he entered into Satan? He didn't
know that, but God was manipulating Satan. God's ordained this, and
Judas, He's a responsible man to God. He should have done the
right thing. But that which he did, while
he was responsible to do the right thing, he was really carrying
out God's purpose for him in being in the world. Because all
of these things are going to lead up to and result in the
greatest event of time and eternity, the substitutionary sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus. Luke 22, 22, the son of man goeth
as it was determined. He said that himself, but woe
unto that man by whom he's betrayed. And he said in another place,
it'd been better for that man never to have been born. Our Lord Jesus is fulfilling
the purpose of God. Satan was fulfilling the purpose
of God. Judas was fulfilling the purpose
of God. You read in Acts chapter two
and Acts chapter four, the Jews, the Gentiles, Herod, Pontius
Pilate, they're all doing what God ordained to be done. Listen,
there's no way that this event will not come to pass. It's got
to happen. It's got to happen. It's got
to happen because God purposed it. It's got to happen because
God has ordained we would be redeemed. And every jot and every
tittle along the way has been purposed by the Lord. 1 Peter
chapter 1 talks about the Lamb of God. He was ordained to this. He was appointed to this. Oh,
bless the name of God. He always rules from his throne,
whether it's in your death or the death of his only begotten
son. He always rules. What do we see at Golgotha? Secondly, we see the infinite
love of the Lord for his people. For God so loved the world. that he gave his only begotten
son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have everlasting life. Notice the quality of this love. You see him dying in your mind's
eye, and in the word of God, you read of the Lord Jesus dying
on the cross of Calvary. Know this, it's because of divine
love. The Lord loved us. How great was his love. His love
was so great for us that the only way he could embrace us
and stay true to his holy character was for his darling son to die
on the cross of Calvary in our stead. This is divine love. Divine love. So we read in 1
John chapter 4, in this was manifested the love of God toward us. And
it's as though as John is saying, in this and nowhere else is the
love of God manifested. You know, people say, oh, that's
the love of God. God blesses you with something,
He gifts you with something. Say, well, now that's the love
of God and perhaps for the people of God, it's a token of His love. But really God's love is seen
in its purity and in its wholeness at the cross of Calvary. That's
where love is seen. As the son of God breathes out
his last and he willingly gives up the ghost. And why? Oh, why
does this happen? Because of divine love. Because
the Lord loved us. This is the quality of the love.
For God so loved. God so loved. And then here's
the tense of the love. God's so loved. This is not a
new thing. He's always loved us. Do you know why God made the
heavens and the earth? Because He loved us. Because
redemption has got to take place. Salvation's got to come to us.
So the Lord created this earth upon which we would live and
breathe and have our being. And though we would fall, there
would be a glorious restoration of us to God by the death of
the Son of God. God so loved, loved. This is not something new. How old is the love of God for
us? As old as God. That's why the
Lord said to Jeremiah, I have loved you with an everlasting
love. Therefore in loving kindness
have I drawn you. That's why he draws us. That's
why he calls us. That's why we're born again.
That's why he gives us repentance. That's why he gives us faith.
That's why he preserves us. That's why he's gonna glorify
us. Trace it all back to his love for us in Christ Jesus. And there's the magnitude of
this love for God. So loved. He's so loved. It's a love that's immeasurable. Greater love hath no man than
this. that a man laid out his life
as friends. And there's the vastness of this
love, for God so loved the world. John, what are you saying? He
says, I'm telling you the love of God extends beyond the borders
of Israel, and it goes out to a world of sinners, Jews and
Gentiles, a people out of every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue.
God so loved the world. And there's the greatness of
this love that He gave. See, love is a living, a living
principle. It's what it is. It's a living
principle that finds its fulfillment. True love finds its fulfillment
in this, giving the best it can give to the object that is loved. That's what love is. You see,
real love seeks the highest welfare of the one who is loved. So what
did God do? He gave the greatest gift he
could give. And so the apostle Paul says,
thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. That's how much he loves
us. And the sacrificial nature of
this love. He gave his only begotten son
to die. And there in John chapter three,
as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have eternal life. And the design of this
love is that we won't perish. We won't perish. The objects
of God's love cannot perish. They shall not perish. One of
the greatest heresies ever invented, one of the greatest lies that
Satan, who is the father of lies, has ever spewed out upon this
earth, and men and women and boys and girls in religion have
swallowed this up, is that there's a universal love of God, that
God loves everybody without exception to the same degree. No, no, no,
that's not true. And neither is it true that the
Lord Jesus died for all men, women, boys, and girls without
exception. That's not true either. You see, the design of this love
is that all of His people would be safe. They can't perish. Why can't they perish? Because
if I could put it this way, He perished for them. He bore the
wrath for them. It's an awful thing. It's such
an insulting thing for any preacher to say, for anybody to believe
that the Lord Jesus laid down His life for all men without
exception and He paid their debt, but that still many of them are
in debt to God and they're going to perish in their sins. Why?
That's insulting to Jesus Christ. That's a horrible thing. And
there are people who say, well, I don't think it's such a big
deal. It's a big deal. It's a big deal. Martyrs have
died over that, over that point. Churches have divided over it.
Denominations have split over it. What happened when Christ
died? He saved his people from their
sins. That's what happened. that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish. Can't perish. Can't perish. Can't die, because he died. He
died. And the result of this love is
they have everlasting life. He gives us a life that'll never
end. It'll never end. What do we see at the cross?
I tell you, we see this too. Not only his eternal purpose
and not only the love of the Father, infinite holiness and
justice of God. We don't have time to turn there,
but Romans chapter three, two times the apostle says concerning
the death of Jesus Christ, to declare his righteousness, two
times he says that, must be important. For him to say it once is important. For him to say it twice, you
better listen up. In the death of the Lord Jesus
Christ, God's grace was manifested, but also His justice and His
righteousness was manifested at the cross. How can God be
just and justify the ungodly? How can God embrace us in love
and yet be true to His own holy, righteous character? Through
the death of Christ. That's how. Who satisfied His
justice. And then we see the infinite
depth of our guilt. I'll tell you how awful our sinfulness
must be if the only way to be rid of it was for the Son of
God to die in our stead. Must be pretty bad. Pretty bad. He had to humble himself and
become obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. I'd say the greatest measure
of the extent of our guilt and our vileness is to be found in
the price required to put it away, the price required to pay
our debt. Never underestimate your guilt. It is far, far greater than you
could ever imagine. You and I have no idea of the
greatness of our sinfulness. Measure it against what it took
to put it away. Every once in a while, Susanna
sings a song that I love so much, Smitten, Stricken, Stricken,
Smitten, and Afflicted by Thomas Kelly. I think you've sung that
before, James. I'm thinking Thomas. Kelly wrote
that in 1804. Stricken, smitten, and afflicted.
I'll tell you somebody else who does a good job on it, Tim James.
I'll have to get him to sing that one time, if we could twist
his arm. He sung that for us years ago. But one of the verses goes this
way. Ye who think of sin but lightly,
nor suppose the evil great, Here may view its nature rightly. Here its guilt may estimate. Mark the sacrifice appointed
and see who bears the awful load. Tis the word, the Lord's anointed,
the Son of Man and the Son of God. You take a look at that
cross. You wanna know how bad your sin
is? You wanna know how deep in debt you are to God? See what
it took for the debt to be paid. Don't ever take it lightly. Tell you what, the blood of bulls
and goats couldn't put our sin away. Your repentance can't put
sin away. Even the hell itself can't put
sin away. You know how long people gonna
have to suffer the wrath of God, separated from God in outer darkness? You know how long it's gonna
be? Endless. Can't even comprehend that. Endless. And He did it on the cross for
His people. And I'll tell you something else,
we see the infinite theme of the preachers of God. This is
an endless subject right here. It's a never-ending message. Wasn't there some kind of movie
on some, I don't know, The Never-Ending Story or something like that?
Terry probably knows these movies and probably Nancy does, The
Never-Ending Story. Well, this is the never-ending
message here. It's a message that never grows
old. And this is a message we're going
to be singing about when we get to heaven. Forever. We're going to be praising the
Lord for redemption. And then we see the believer's
motivation for living in this world. Preacher, tell me how
to live. Tell me the right motivation
for living for the glory of God. Here's the right motivation because
Christ loved you and gave himself for you. That's the right motivation there.
Here's our reason for giving. God gave us his son. No wonder
then in 2 Corinthians, the apostle Paul says, though he was rich,
yet for your sake, he became poor. that you through His poverty
might be rich. That's the motivation for giving.
Think of what happened on Golgotha's brow. And then give. Then give. Here's our reason
for forgiving. God hath, for Christ's sake,
forgiven us. Is there someone you have difficulty
forgiving and you just can't seem to let go of that anger,
Resentment against them for their actions? Well, remember, God
has forgiven you of all your trespasses, and I'll guarantee
you nobody has ever done to you or any other human being what
you have done to God, and before God, you got a clean slate. Forgive. Here's our reason for loving
our enemies. Because even when we were enemies,
and I read it there in Romans chapter 5, Christ died for us. Here's our reason for showing
mercy to others. God has shown mercy to us. Well,
they don't deserve it. Did you deserve mercy? And here's our reason for hating
sin. Do you have some secret sin?
some nagging sin, or as it talks about in the book of Hebrews,
the sin that doth so easily beset you. And I'm persuaded it's the
same one for all of us. Unbelief. Unbelief. Run to Christ Jesus and find
forgiveness and ask Him for strength and grace to believe God. Here's our reason for worshiping.
This is our reason for coming to the place of, to the house
of God. To once again rehearse what happened
at Golgotha. What happened at Golgotha. Let's
get a songbook turned to 118. Here's a good old song by Isaac
Watts. Boy, he wrote a bunch of good
songs.