Now back in the book of Ezekiel
chapter 19, the title of the message is taken
from the very last verse of this chapter. It is no scepter to
rule. No scepter to rule. And this passage of scripture,
as you see, it's sort of parabolic, you know, in parable form, symbols,
speaks of a mother, a lioness with young lions, speaks specifically
of countries, mentions Egypt and Babylon, so we know the setting,
we know the historical setting, we know really who it's talking
about from that in the context of Ezekiel. But the basic premise
that is taught in Ezekiel 19 is this. And this is for the
people of Judah. And of course we'll see immediately
the spiritual application of this to the church. And that
is this, as the king goes, so goes the nation. As the king
goes, so goes the nation. It starts out bringing a series
of prophecies that Ezekiel was given by God concerning the destruction
of Jerusalem and Judah because of their sin and their idolatry.
And it brings that set of prophecies to an end and then chapter 20
begins another set of prophecies. And this whole set of prophecies
concerning the destruction of Jerusalem and Judah for their
sins is A testimony of God, once again, to show why men and women
under any kind of conditional covenant always fail, and that's
because we're sinners. That's because we do not have
it in us to keep the stipulations of the covenant that God requires
that would remove our sins and make us righteous before God.
That's an impossibility. I mentioned it this morning about
if you want to look understand the reality of the total depravity
of man, the sinfulness of man, our ruination in Adam and what
that involves and the effects of it that we have to face in
our lives. And that is number one, that
we have no righteousness before God. We're born in sin, dead
in trespasses and sins, that's spiritual death. We have no righteousness
before God. But thank God we have a King
who is righteous. And number two, we have no means
of working out a righteousness by our efforts because our best
efforts to keep the law will always fall short of the standard
of holiness, perfection. But thank God we have a king
who kept the law for us. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believe it. And then thirdly,
thirdly in this total depravity is that by nature we have no
desire to seek and find one God's way. We want our way. We want religion. We want ceremony. We want morality. But we don't
want grace. There's none that seeketh after
God, no not one. That's what that means. But thank
God we have a king who rules over our hearts to bring us to
bow. So as the king goes, so goes
the nation. Well, this chapter is two lamentations. Now, you know what a lamentation
is. We studied the book of Lamentations. It's a sorrow. It's kind of like
a funeral message. It mentions that twice. Verse
1, look at it. Moreover, take thou up a lamentation
for the princes of Israel. I believe that the princes of
Israel, usually in the Old Testament when it refers to the princes,
it's referring to the nobles. But here specifically to the
descendants of Judah, the kings of Judah. It ends in verse 14,
this is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation. So it's
like two lamentations. One, for the fallen princes of
Judah, speaks of the demise of kings, human kings. Also, in that sense, it tells
us of the need of a divine king. And then secondly, a lamentation
over the land of Judah, because it's connected with the king,
you cannot separate the two. And I want to show you something
as we get, I just want to read through this and make some comments
and I want to bring it to some comfort and peace for the people
of God that we find in Christ. Look at it in verse one. Moreover,
take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel and say,
what is thy mother? A lioness. She laid down among
lions. She nourished her whelps. Among
young lions she brought up one of her whelps. It became a young
lion and it learned to catch the prey. It devoured men. Now
that lion, of course, as you know, is in reference to the
Lion of Judah. That's a common theme throughout
the prophecies, throughout the covenant language of the Old
Testament. So that's what is speaking of
the Lion of Judah. And it's talking about the line, L-I-N-E, of Judah,
which produced the kings. that descended from Judah. And we'll talk about that in
a moment. But look at it, verse 4. The nations also heard of
him. Now this first one that it's
speaking of is a king named Jehoaz. And we read about him in the
book of Jeremiah. It said he was taken in their
pit and they brought him with chains under the land of Egypt. He was taken to Egypt in chains. You can read about that in 2
Kings chapter 23. That's the historical record
of it. This man was an ungodly, unbelieving
king. He did not fulfill the terms
of the covenant to lead the people in the ways of God. He did not
fulfill the terms of the covenant as king to recognize himself
as a type of the king, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he failed miserably
and he was taken in chains to Egypt. And then it goes on, verse
5. Now when she saw that she had
waited and her hope was lost. She's waiting in expectation
for something better to come along. That's what it is. But
her hope was lost. Nothing better was coming. You
see again, we see in the Old Testament prophecies. There is
always a better hope for the future. But the better hope for
the future is never found in human beings, in human kings,
in human nations. It's never found that way. We'll
always fail. We'll always disappoint. The
better hope for the future is the coming of the king of kings,
the Messiah and the prophecy. And then it says, then she took
another one of her whelps and made him a young lion. Now that's
speaking of a king named Jehoiakim. He was made king in Jehoaz's
place. And that's recorded in 2 Kings
23 also. And here's what happened. Look
at verse six. He went up and down among the lions. He became
a young lion. He learned to catch the prey.
He devoured men. That means he was a tyrant, a
self-righteous, unbelieving, ungodly king. Verse seven, it
says, And he knew their desolate palaces. He laid waste their
cities. That speaks of his selfishness. He was accumulating things for
himself even if he had to take them. The land was desolate,
the fullness thereof, by the noise of his roaring. That's
man by nature seeking to fulfill his own selfishness. Verse 8,
then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces
and spread their net over him. and he was taken in their pit.
And they put him in ward in chains and brought him to the king of
Babylon. He was defeated by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, taken to Babylon. They brought him into holds,
he was in jail, that his voice should no more be heard upon
the mountains of Israel. He was gone. His reign ceased. Now, there's the demise of the
kings. There's the failure of human
kings. There's man by nature in his sin and depravity. And
what happens? Well, look at verse 10. Now he
begins to talk about the fall of the nation. Thy mother is
like a vine in thy blood. That means in thy youth. That's
what it's talking about. Remember, like the cast out infant
lying there in its blood. He's talking about in thy blood,
in thy birth. Planted by the waters, she was fruitful and
full of branches by reason of many waters. That's her submission. at the beginning to Babylon because
of God's judgment against her. Submit to your punishment. That's
what Jeremiah told him, remember? He said, you submit to your conquerors
because God is simply giving you what you deserve and what
you've earned. And she did that and she was
fruitful for a while. And verse 11, and she had strong
rods for scepters of them that bear ruin. Her stature was exalted
among the thick branches. And she appeared in her height
with the multitude of her branches. But now it didn't last long.
Look at verse 12. But she was plucked up in fury.
She was cast down to the ground. The east wind, the east wind
is the judgment of God, the wrath of God, dried up her fruit. Her strong rods were broken and
withered. That's the kings, broken and
withered. Remember the last king, he really wasn't a king. He wasn't
in line to be king. His name was Zedekiah, but you
remember he was the one that was taken to Babylon and blinded,
and lived there the rest of his life. They were broken and withered,
the fire consumed them, and now she's planted where? Not by the
waters where she can be fruitful, but in the wilderness in a dry
and thirsty ground. That's the plight of man by nature. You know, that's a good description,
that verse 13. I believe is a good description
of all the religions of man combined and how they end up. The religion
of man's works, the religion of man's will. It will be planted
in the wilderness in a dry and thirsty ground. And then it says
in verse 14, And the fire is gone out of a rod of her branches,
which hath devoured her fruit. so that she hath no strong rod
to be a scepter to rue." No scepter to rue. Now this is a lamentation
and shall be for a lamentation. Sorrow, sorrow, sorrow. And so
because the kings of Judah had failed to keep the covenant,
there was no strong rod to be a scepter to rue. No more kings,
nothing like David's stock were now here to rule the nation.
You know, they say that Zerubbabel, you remember the man Zerubbabel,
who was one of the leaders who brought him out of Babylon 70
years later after their first captivity, that he was David's
descendant. He was. He was from the tribe
of Judah. And he became governor, but he
held no scepter. He sat on no throne. Do you realize
that there was no more kings of Judah to sit on the throne
and wield the scepter? The scepter is the rule. The
scepter is the power. That's the rod. And they were
gone. Well, how does that fit with
the prophecies of God? Does this mean it's all over?
Does this mean that God has failed to fulfill His promises Go back
with me to Genesis chapter 17. And what I'd like for you to
do is I'm gonna take a little journey through the Bible here.
Now don't get scared. I'm not going through all 66
books tonight. But I want you to see the pattern
and how this prophecy, this prophetical pattern that God brings forth.
And there's so many more, and understand as I go through these
scriptures, there's so many more that we could look at. We don't
have time to go into all of them tonight. But this prophetical
pattern and how it's fulfilled in the miraculous power and sovereign
mercy and goodness of God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Now God
had promised a scepter, a king, and a kingship. And one of the
first prophecies that we see that in is in Genesis chapter
17. You know this is God's covenant with Abraham. The covenant with
Abraham was first recorded in Genesis chapter 12. That's when
God recorded how in that section of scripture how God found Abraham
in Ur of the Chaldees in idolatry and he brought him out. The scripture
describes Abraham's salvation by the grace of God in Christ
You can read passages like Romans chapter 4 and Galatians chapter
3. Our Lord himself in John chapter
8, remember he said Abraham rejoiced to see my day. And he saw it
and was glad. Abraham wasn't saved by his works.
Abraham wasn't saved by his free will. He was saved by grace.
Sovereign grace through Christ. And then in Genesis 15, the covenant
that God made with Abraham, and understand now that covenant
had had physical promises, it had spiritual promises, the physical
promises applied to the nation Israel, the spiritual promises
applied to us, the church. In Genesis 15, there's a renewal
and a restatement of that covenant, and that's what's happening here
in Genesis 17. Look at verse 1. He says, When
Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to And
he said unto him, I am the almighty God. Walk before me and be thou
perfect. That means upright. Walk in the
ways of the Lord. I will make my covenant between
me and thee and will multiply thee exceedingly. And you remember
this has to do with the promise that Abraham and Sarah would
have a child. And here he is 99 years old, and it says, And
Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying, As for
me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father
of many nations. Now there's many nations, not
just one nation. Many nations. Now why is it many
nations? We know Abraham is the physical
father of the Israelites, but he says many nations here because
God has a chosen people, chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation.
And he says in verse 5, neither shall thy name any more be called
Abram, but thy name shall be called Abraham, for a father
of many nations have I made thee. Now look at verse 6, here's the
point. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations
of thee, and what? Kings shall come out of thee. Kings come out of Abraham. That's
the first prophecy. Well, we know human kings came
out of Abraham. The kings of Judah. Even the
kings of the northern kingdom, for the most part, were Abraham's
descendants too. All Israel. But we also know
they failed. We see that in Ezekiel. The last
one. There's the lament. There's the
funeral sermon. There's no scepter to rule. Failure. Well, did God fail to keep this
promise? No. We know that. Well, turn
over to Genesis chapter 49. This is one we refer to quite
often when we talk about the scepter. Genesis chapter 49. This is Jacob on his deathbed,
blessing his sons. And in verse 8, Genesis 49, he
comes to Judah. Now that's what we're talking
about in Ezekiel, the land of Judah, the southern kingdom inhabited
by those descendants of Judah and also the tribe of Benjamin,
mainly, and all the kings that ruled with the scepter all the
way from David on up to this last one we were talking about
right before Zedekiah, they were kings of Judah. So here's Jacob
on his death bed. And he brings this out. He looks
at his son Judah. And listen to what he says. Judah,
verse 8. Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren
shall praise. Thy brethren shall praise. That's
what Judah means, praise. Thy hand shall be in the neck
of thine enemies. Thy father's children shall bow
down before thee. Judah is a lion's whelp. Now
remember what we read over in Ezekiel? The lion's whelp. The lioness and the lion's wealth.
That's speaking of the descendancy of the Judah kings. And he says,
Judah is a lion's wealth. From the prey, my son, thou art
gone up, he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an
old lion, who shall rouse him up. That's his power, speaking
of. But now look at verse 10. Here's
the prophecy. The scepter shall not depart
from Judah. Now, didn't we just read in Ezekiel
19.14, no scepter to rule? Well, there was no scepter to
rule then. The last human king had come. But you know what? The scepter still has not departed
from Judah. He says, the scepter shall not
depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet. Now, the
lawgiver, there is not Moses. Moses wasn't even from the tribe
of Judah. He was from the tribe of Levi. The lawgiver there is
not one, a human king who breaks the law. The lawgiver there is
God himself. Huh? He says, in the person of
Christ, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until what? Shiloh comes. Who's Shiloh? Now there's a lot
of variations of translations of that word, but I believe it
means exactly that. It means peace. peace and it
says and listen here look at it and unto him shall the gathering
of the people be unto him shall the gathering of the people be
now this scepter is scepter that is going to be wielded by Shiloh
the lawgiver you can't separate these things now you know I mean,
these are identifications. These are distinctions so that
when this person who is prophesied comes, we'll know who he is.
There'll be no argument here now. Now, he's not talking about
David here. No, sir. Now, David was a king of Judah
and he was a glorious king. In fact, Judah had a... Israel
had a glorious reign under David and Solomon too. The king was
to be one who kept the law and who administered the law. But this scepter, this rule,
rule of law, that's what he says. You can't separate that. Somebody
said, well, grace and law don't mix. Well, when it comes to salvation,
you're right. You cannot be saved by grace
and saved by works. They cancel out one another.
But any grace that doesn't show the Lord Jesus Christ, who is
Shiloh, wielding that scepter as the lawgiver, is not grace
at all. Christ had to keep the law. How
do you know that? Well, the Bible says so. He is
the lawgiver. And not only that, and think
about this. This is amazing. Every time I
see this, it just sends chills up me. The lawgiver, who is the
law himself, who kept the law, who ministers the law, who is
the authority of the law, he was made under the law. Galatians
4 verse 4. What does that mean? That means
he became subject to the law. He could not wield the scepter
of the king. He could not bring about peace
between God and sinners unless he kept that law. He had to keep
the law. And I say that in emphasis because
I've heard men say that, I've even heard people say that in
his sovereignty he had the right to break the law. Oh no, he's
the law giver. But hold on there now. He says,
unto him shall the gathering of the people. What people? The
nations. Remember he told Abraham, kings will come out of thee and
you'll be the father of many nations. That is, all the elect
of God given to Christ before the foundation of the world will
come to Him. They'll be gathered unto Him.
It's a gathering. That's what the Lord's doing
right now when the preaching of the gospel. He's gathering
His people together. Gathered in where? Unto the church? Well, they come into the church,
but not unto the church. They're gathered unto Christ.
That's where they're gathered. Well, look over at 2 Samuel. Turn to 2 Samuel, chapter 7. Now here's David, King David,
the sweet psalmist of Israel. And you know what happens here
now. God is a covenant God. And what he does is he renews
his covenants in various forms, in various ways, and in each
time he reveals something more about himself and the way he
saves sinners through Christ. So here he is. Now he says, Abraham
kings are going to come out of you. Well, what kings is he talking
about? You can talk about a lot of kings
that come out of Abraham if you're talking about the descendants,
the physical descendants of Abraham on both sides. We can talk about
Isaac, we can talk about Ishmael, we can talk about kings, but
they're specific kings. And that's what he revealed in
Jacob. On Jacob's deathbed, the scepter shall not depart from
Judah till Shiloh come, the lawgiver, under whom the gathering of the
people. Well, here he reveals it's gonna come right through
David, King David. Look at verse 12 of 2 Samuel
7. When thy days be fulfilled and thou shalt sleep with thy
fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed
out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom." Now,
somebody says, well, he's talking about Solomon. Well, there is
a limited fulfillment of that in Solomon, but that's not what
he's talking about here. This is what's called the royal
covenant. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish
the throne of his kingdom forever. Now, Solomon built a house, didn't
he? David wanted to build the house,
the temple. But God said, no, David, you're not going to build
it. You're a man of blood. David represented Christ on the
cross. He says, Solomon's going to build
it. He's a man of rest. Solomon represented Christ, the
finisher, who finished the work, who established righteousness.
But he says, he shall build a house for my name, and I'll establish
the throne of his kingdom forever. Well, where is Solomon's temple?
It's gone. Oh, I know they've got a place
over there. They say, this is the place of it. People argue
about that. And that may be the geographical
location of it. Solomon's temple's gone, folks.
And then when they came back after the captivity and began
to rebuild the temple, the temple of Zerubbabel, you might call
it, it wasn't anything like Solomon's, but it lasted up until the time
of our Lord here on earth. And Herod, who wasn't even of
the kings of Judah, he wasn't even an Israelite, He began to
add to it and he built a pretty impressive building. You know,
remember Christ took his disciples out there and he said, you see
all these buildings and how great they are? And then he said, not
one stone is going to be left. It's all going to be brought
down. It's gone. But here he's talking about a
house and a throne that will be established forever. What
house? What throne? We're talking about
the throne of the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Kings, and
his house is his church. That's his temple, that's his
dwelling place. And look in verse 14, I will be his father, he
shall be my son, if he commit iniquity, I will chasten him
with the rod of men and with the stripes of the children of
men. The only way that can be applied, that certainly can apply
to Solomon, the only way it can be applied to Christ is by the
imputation of our sins to him. He was made sin, Christ was. in order to die justly under
the wrath of God for the sins of his people. He's the Lamb
of God. He's the sacrifice. He's the
substitute. He's the surety. And then he
says in verse 15, But my mercy shall not depart away from him,
as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. And thine
house and thy kingdom shall be established forever before thee,
thy throne shall be established forever. An eternal king, an
eternal kingdom, All right, turn to Psalm 45. Psalm 45. Incidentally, Brother Joe Bryson,
who read the scripture, now he read in the study a while ago,
and he read from 2 Kings 19. That's when Hezekiah was the
king of Judah. Hezekiah was considered to be
one of the godly kings. I know he messed up at the end,
but he was considered to be one who led in the ways of the Lord.
He was talking there in 2 Kings 19 about how the Assyrian Empire,
under a king named Sennacherib, was trying to attack the city
of Jerusalem. Sennacherib sent a letter into Hezekiah and talking
big about how he was going to do this and how the God of Judah
was nothing and how he was everything. Anyway, what it amounted to,
Hezekiah did the right thing. He brought the letter before
the Lord and spread it out. He said, basically, Lord, protect
us. And the Lord took care of Sennacherib's
army. And in there, and there's a verse
34 that you read in that 2 Kings 19. Let me just read to you.
It says, here's what God told Hezekiah. He said, for I will
defend this city to save it. Talking about Jerusalem. For
mine own sake. What does that mean? That means
for God's glory. In other words, I'm not doing this so you can
stand up on your pedestal and crow about how great you are.
I'm doing it for my glory, God says. And listen to what he says,
and for my servant David's sake. Now David's dead. King David
is. Who's he talking about there?
He's talking about Christ, the Son of David, the greater Son
of David. You see what I'm saying? That's
how these things come all the way through. But look at Psalm
45. I read this at the beginning. He's talking about the priest-king.
Christ is our prophet, priest, and king. He's our prophet. He's the Word of God. He's the
living Word of God. He's the revelation of God. Every
prophecy is from him, through him, by him, and unto him, about
him, all the word of God. He's the priest who brings the
sacrifice, which is himself, his own body, unto the Lord for
our sins. And based upon the success of
his priestly office, he's our king, our mediatorial king. And
listen to what he says in verse 6 of Psalm 45. Thy throne, O
God, is forever and ever. The scepter of thy kingdom is
a righteous scepter. You see, apart from righteousness,
there's no scepter, there's no kingship. That's why Christ is
called the Lord our righteousness. Look at verse 7. Thou lovest
righteousness, and hatest wickedness. Therefore God thy God hath anointed
thee with the oil of gladness, above thy fellows." That's the
scepter. Now, the scepter of the human
kings of Judah could have been called anything but a scepter
of righteousness. They were wicked men. That's
why God tells Ezekiel a lament. Preach the funeral, a sorrowful
thing. No comfort, no comfort there.
But here, we have a scepter. of the King, which is a righteous
scepter. He is the Lord, our righteousness.
Now look at Matthew chapter 1 with me. You notice how Matthew records
the genealogy of Christ? He is talking about his human
genealogy. This is a detailed description
of what Paul wrote in Romans 1. He was made of the seed of
David according to the flesh. Look at verse 1, the book of
the generation of Jesus Christ, and look whose name is mentioned
first. This is by inspiration of the
Holy Spirit, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Now, why
would he mention David first? Because David came after Abraham.
David was about a thousand years after Abraham. Well, what's he
trying to do? He's trying to show forth, set
forth this king of righteousness. That's who Messiah is. He's the
son of David. He's the son of Abraham. And
then look over at verse 17. It says, So all the generations
from Abraham to David, or 14 generations, and from David until
the carrying away into Babylon. That's when it ended. That's
when the human genealogy ended. I mean, that human kingship ended.
Our 14 generations, and from the carrying away into Babylon,
now from that time unto Christ, there was no king who held the
scepter in Judah unto Christ, Messiah. Our 14 generations,
and then he says, now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wine.
Is there any doubt? Who's he talking about here?
Who's he talking about? Turn to Revelation 5, we'll go
all the way over to Revelation. And I'll hurry. There's this
one and then I'll show you one more verse. Revelation 5. And you're very familiar with
this chapter, I'm sure. Here's John. Seeing these things
of God as Christ reveals them to him. Verse 1, I saw in the
right hand of him that sat on the throne. A book written within on the
backside, a seal with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming
with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the book, and to loose
the seals thereof. No man in heaven, nor in earth,
neither under the earth was able to open the book, neither to
look thereon, and I wept much." Just like Ezekiel in Ezekiel
19, weeping much, lamenting. I wept much, because no man was
found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon."
He couldn't open it, couldn't read it, couldn't even look at
it. Verse 5, And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not. Now
look at what he says. Behold, the Lion of the tribe
of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book,
and loose the seven seals thereof. Now how did this lion of the
tribe of Judah accomplish this work? Well look down, I won't
cover the whole thing, but look down at verse 9. It says, They
sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book,
and to open the seals thereof. And what made him worthy? Look
at, For thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy
blood, and out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation,
and has made us kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth."
Now there are several things set there. Number one, here is
the king ascended to his throne, the Lion of the tribe of Judah.
The scepter shall not depart from Judah until Shiloh come.
Here he is. How did he accomplish it? By his blood. by His death
on the cross to put away the sins of His people, to establish
the only righteousness whereby God could justify the ungodly,
which He reigns in that scepter of righteousness. And notice
here, it says in verse 10, and has made us unto our God, kings
and priests, and we shall reign on the earth as the King goes,
so goes the nation. Isn't that right? You see it?
We're all right if we're in Christ. John said that. This is the last
verse. Turn back to 1 John 4. You say,
well, how far are you going to take that? Well, let me show
you. Verse 16. 1 John 4 and verse 16. He says, we have known and believed
the love that God hath to us. Now we've seen He's defined it
over in verse 10. That's the propitiation that
Christ accomplished. God is love and he that dwelleth
in love dwelleth in God and God in him. And herein is our love
made perfect. Now that means complete. It means
to have reached its goal. What is the, when the Holy Spirit
sheds abroad in our hearts the love of God to us in Christ,
What is the goal of that love? That's what he's talking about.
Herein is our love reaches its goal. Now look at it. That we
may have boldness in the day of judgment. Now how is that
possible? I'm a sinner. You're sinners.
But we can have boldness That's confidence in the day of judgment. Now how? Look at it. Because
as He is, that's the King, that's Christ, that's the Lord our righteousness,
that's the Lamb who's worthy. As He is, so are we in this world. That's how. As the King goes,
so goes the nation. You see that? He's on the throne. He wields the scepter of righteousness. You say, well, how do I know
if I'm in Him? Well, who are you trusting for your salvation?
Who are you depending on? Who are you looking to? Are you
looking to me? You're in trouble. Are you looking
to yourself? You're in trouble. Are you looking
to your church membership, your baptism, your confession, your
faith? Are you looking to your faith?
I tell you what, what you better do is by faith look to Him. who
is the author and finisher of our faith. He is the Lion of
the tribe of Judah. He's the worthy Lamb. He's the
one who sits on the throne and wields the scepter of righteousness.
And you know when He points that scepter down at His children,
every charge is dropped. That's right. Righteousness is
established on their behalf. And as He is, so are we. in this
world. Right now, that means you don't
have to wait until you stand before God. It's right now. This
is a reality right now. How real is it? God said it.
Isn't that enough? That makes it real. Alright.
Face to face. There's a good hymn after that.
511. Face to face with Christ.