Turn in your Bibles to the book
of Lamentations, right after Jeremiah. Lamentations chapter
1. And let me just give you an idea
of where the title of this message came from. We're going to begin
in verse 12 of Lamentations chapter 1. In the first 11 verses, we
saw the prophet Jeremiah, his sorrow. over Jerusalem. That's what a lamentation this
lament is. It's like a funeral message. I told you this whole little
book here, five chapters, is like one or different funeral
messages expressing the sorrow over the sin and the idolatry
and the unbelief of the people and the wrath of God upon them
for it. And so in the first 11 verses,
we saw the prophet's sorrow. And there we saw a picture of
man dying without Christ. Dying without Christ. Been thinking
about that a lot because our dear sister, Joan Eskridge, as
you know, she passed away. And she's one who died in the
Lord. And has that hope, or has realized
that hope of the certainty of glory in Christ. And that's a good way to die.
But here he's talking about those who died without the Lord. And
they have no hope. They have no pasture. They have
no strength. They have no comforter. They
have no righteousness. And then beginning at verse 12,
going to the end of this chapter, we see Jerusalem personified
expressing her sorrow. Jerusalem personified. Jerusalem
here below, we'd say. Not talking about the heavenly
Jerusalem, that's the people of God, that's the redeemed of
the Lord, that's the chosen of God. But the earthly Jerusalem
who receive not the testimony of God concerning Christ. And
verse 12 is a verse that you've heard quite a bit and maybe you've
heard several messages on it. It asks a question, poses a question. Look at it, verse 12, is it nothing
to you All ye that pass by, behold and see if there be any sorrow
like unto my sorrow which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord
hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. And that's
Jerusalem personified. However, you'd have to be spiritually
blind not to see a connection here of our Savior suffering
under the burden and under the weight of our sins as he suffered
on the cross, his sorrow, his affliction. And I want to talk
about that. That's really the main part of this message. But
I entitled the message, Jesus Christ is all. In light of this
question here that's been asked in verse 12, is it nothing to
you? And what I want to try to get
across tonight to all of us is that when it comes to salvation,
when it comes to a relationship with God, here's where you need
to understand something. I need to understand it. That
Jesus Christ is either all or he's nothing. There's no in-between. You can see several parallels
of that. Of our Lord himself, he said,
he that is not with me or for me is what? Against me. No in-between. There's no middle ground between
faith and unbelief. A true believer, a true child
of God, born again by the Spirit, has to put up with unbelief. But all in all, by the grace
and power of God, that person is a person of faith. Unbelief
is fruit of the flesh that we have to fight. But there's no
middle ground between belief and unbelief. There's no middle
ground between love of Christ and hatred of him. You say, well,
I don't hate him. If you don't love him, you do.
Isn't that what the scripture says? So in this thing of salvation,
Jesus Christ is either all or he's nothing. Well, I hope and
pray that in your case, you've seen him as all. Terry read about
it, Colossians chapter one, Christ is all and in all. And so as we look at this, ask
yourself the question, is it nothing to you? All that you
that pass by. Now, let me just, let me just
read through these, this passage here, and then I want to come
back and make good on this. The first, beginning at verse
12 through 17, we see Jerusalem's lament, her sorrow, because of
her sad state. Listen to it again, verse 12.
Is it nothing to you that pass by? Pass by the way you might
have in your concordance. Behold, and see if there be any
sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done unto me wherewith the
Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. From
above hath he sent fire into my bones. The fire that he sent
into their bones was his wrath. He sends a different fire into
the bones of his people. He said, it prevails against
them. He hath spread a net for my feet. He hath turned me back.
He hath made me desolate and faint all the day. That's the
wrath of God. The yoke of my transgressions
is bound by his hands. I'm bound up to it. Can't get
away from it. Can't be free of it. He says,
they're wreathed and come upon up upon my neck. He hath made
my strength to fall, have no power. The Lord hath delivered
me into their hands, the hands of the enemy, from whom I am
not able to rise up." There's no escape, you see. What a predicament. He says, the Lord hath trodden
underfoot all my mighty men in the midst of me. I don't have
any army to help me, any companions to help me. He hath called an
assembly against me to crush my young men, even the youth.
The strength and vigor of youth cannot deliver a sinner from
the wrath of God. He says, the Lord hath trodden
the virgin. That is those who, what he's
talking about is they're easy prey. They're weak and vulnerable. The daughter of Judah, as in
a winepress. We hear often in the scripture
of the winepress of God's wrath. That's where that phrase in the
song, the grapes of wrath comes from. Verse 16, for these things
I weep. Jerusalem weeps, mine eye, mine
eye runneth down with water because the comforter that should relieve
my soul is far from me. My children are desolate because
the enemy prevails. Zion spreadeth forth her hands
and there's none to comfort her. The Lord hath commanded concerning
Jacob that his adversary should be round about him. He's surrounded.
Jerusalem is as a minstreless woman among men. That means she's
put away from the camp, alienated. That's what it means. Now from
verse 18 to the last verse of this chapter, we have Jerusalem's
confession of sin. And I want you to think about
that in this way. You think about sinners at judgment. When God
passes sentence and exposes to the whole universe their state
before Him without Christ. And the Bible puts it this way,
it said that every mouth may be stopped and all the world
guilty before God. Now it's our prayer that that
happens to an individual here before they die. Because that's
the way God drives his people to Christ. He shows us our guilt
and our sin. But in judgment it will be too
late. And so listen to the first thing it said in verse 18 about
this judgment of God. Number one, the Lord is righteous. God's right. And that's where
every sinner who dies in their sins, who dies without Christ,
will come to. They will vindicate God. They
won't be saying, God's not fair, God didn't give me a chance,
and all that stuff that people argue today. Oh no, the Lord
is righteous. God is just. He says, for I've
rebelled against His commandments. I've broken the law, they say.
This is the confession. Here I pray you all people and
behold my sorrow. My virgins and my young men are
gone into captivity. I called for my lovers but they
deceived me. You see that? I believe that's
a grand picture of false religion that comes in the name of love
but has no truth. And that's why false religion
works. That's why Satan works. Comes under the guise of love
and peace. Remember the false prophets in
Jeremiah, how they would cry, peace, peace, when there is no
peace? That's such a loving message to the natural man, isn't it?
But to the man who's convicted of sin, and knows that if God
were to judge him based on his best efforts to keep the law,
he'd be damned. He wants to know more. How in
the world could I have peace with a holy God? I'm a sinner.
But to the natural man, it just sounds so good. Oh, tell me what
I want to hear. And that's what they're saying
here. He said, look at verse 19, what's the next line? My
priest and mine elders gave up the ghost in the city while they
sought their meat to relieve their souls. They were trying
to find a way out. Verse 20, Behold, O Lord, for
I am in distress. My bowels are troubled. That's
the emotions. Mine heart is turned within me,
for I have grievously rebelled. Remember he said, we read last
week how Jerusalem, verse 8, hath grievously sinned. Well,
Jerusalem comes to that point and says, yeah, you're right
Lord, I've sinned. I've grievously sinned. He says,
abroad the sword bereaveth, at home there is as death. It's
far and wide. There's no way, there's no place
I can go far enough to escape this wrath. Verse 21, they have
heard that I sigh. That's like giving up. There
is none to comfort me, all mine enemies have heard of my trouble.
They're glad that thou hast done it. The enemies of God are, the
enemies of Jerusalem are glad that they got what they, and
that's a self-righteous attitude, isn't it? You know, I think about
people who die in unbelief. And I know God's right. Now listen
to me. Don't ever think that God is
not righteous and right in what he does. But I'll tell you, I
can't think of him without a tear in my eye, a tear in my heart.
And he says, thou will bring the day that thou hast called,
and they shall be like unto thee. This is the day that God proclaimed,
that day that he called. God's calling forth this day
of wrath. There's a time appointed, isn't there? And God's the one
who appointed it. And verse 22, let all their wickedness
come before thee. Do unto them as thou hast done
unto me for all my transgressions. This is Jerusalem speaking of
her enemies. For size are many and my heart
is faint. Jerusalem's lament. God is righteous. Now, as I said before, this question,
back up in verse 12, is it nothing to you all that passed by. This question is addressed to
the nations surrounding Israel, Judah, and Jerusalem because
they had no sympathy, no sorrow for Jerusalem. None at all. They
looked upon it as a light thing. Nothing to them. They just got
what they deserved. And they gloried over them. We
don't deserve it, but they did. That's the self-righteous, judgmental
attitude that's forbidden in Scripture. God's going to punish
you for your sin, but not me. Oh no, not me. I'm better than
you. I'm holier than thou. That's
the kind of attitude. They rejoiced in Jerusalem's
fall, and they judged self-righteously as men do. But as I said before,
As all Scripture points us to Christ, we'd have to be spiritually
blind not to see here a type of the great and the severe suffering
that our Savior was put through for us to put away our sin and
to establish the righteousness by which we can stand before
God and be justified. Is it nothing to you, all ye
that pass by? There's three things here I want
you to see. He says this, he says, behold, and see if there
be any sorrow like unto my sorrow. First thing I want you to see
is this. There is, there never has been, and there never will
be, any suffering and sorrow like our Lord's. Never has been
and there never will be. And then secondly, he says, which
is done unto me wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the
day of his fierce anger. Secondly, the Lord God afflicted
our Savior in his fierce anger. Now, what is God's anger? It's
not God's emotions. It's not God throwing a temper
tantrum. It's simply God's justice against sin. And the third thing
I want you to see is this, everything that we are going to talk about
in this sorrow and this suffering of our Savior, this fierce anger
of the Lord God upon Him is based upon the sins of His people imputed
to Him, counted to Him, charged to Him. Now let me just briefly
go over these things and I want to show you some scripture. Is
it nothing to you all ye that pass by. I can remember when
it was really nothing to me. I didn't think it was nothing,
but it was nothing. That's the way we are by nature. This is
nothing to the natural man. But first of all, think about
this. Is it nothing to you? There's
no suffering. There's no sorrow like our saviors. Now, there is absolutely no way
And I don't know how I can emphasize this and stress it more. There
is absolutely no way that we human beings, even as saved human
beings, regenerate, who know the Lord, even saved human beings
can even begin to describe or know the depths of the suffering
of our Lord and Savior. We just can't do that. And I
want to read you some scripture. You can try to turn to these
if you want, but I'm going to be going pretty fast. But I want
to look at Psalm 22. Psalm 22. Now, our Savior's sufferings
on the cross, and even before the cross, we could talk about
His sufferings all along in His lifetime, even in His birth.
We can talk about His anguish, We can talk about the infirmities
that he went through of the flesh. I can't imagine how that felt
to him. I know how it feels to me. I'm
a human being. You're a human being. We live with that stuff,
don't we? And as we get older, it gets
worse and worse, doesn't it? But here's God in human flesh. Here's the Word incarnate. Here's
Emmanuel, and I can't imagine how that felt to him. I know
the scripture said he was tempted, tested, like as we are, yet without
sin. It's amazing. But listen to this
in Psalm 22. This is the Psalm of the cross. And we'll come back to this first
part, but look at verse one. He says, my God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? God the Father forsook God the
Son incarnate. Now, is there anybody who would
even attempt to try to describe that, or analyze it, or theologize
it, or even doctrinalize it? I can't do it. I know it's so.
I know it's so because this book says it's so. But I can't describe
that to you. You know what that is? That is
total alienation from God. And I'll give you a word that
sums it all up. Hell. That's it. My God! And yet, in that, he
was not sinning here when he said that. He wasn't sinning.
He wasn't corrupted in either nature, in his deity or in his
humanity. He was not corrupted. He was
not contaminated. Listen to this. He said, My God! You know, his faith in his Father
was complete perfection even when he was alienated from the
Father. Now how do you explain that to
me? You can't do it. But he did say, my God, didn't
he? He didn't just say God, he said,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And he wasn't asking, you
know, that's the fulfillment of this, you know, it's shown
in Matthew 27, we'll look at that in just a second. You know,
He wasn't asking this for information. You know that, don't you? I hope
you know that. He wasn't ignorant on the cross. He was the all-knowing
God, and yet in His humanity, He suffered. He was making a
point here. If you want to find the ultimate
punishment of our sin, right there it is. My God, my God,
why hast Thou forsaken me? And I tell you, people will take
stuff like that. and they'll try to confuse people and they'll
try to... You can't do it. Is there any sorrow like his
sorrow? No. And no sorrow like his sorrow.
Any anguish like his anguish? No. And then look down here in
Psalm 22. Look at verse 14. We won't read
the whole Psalm. But look, this is the Psalm of
the cross. Now David is speaking of himself,
In a typical way, he's speaking of Christ. These are the words
of the Savior. And he says, verse 14, I'm poured
out like water. All my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is melted
in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like
a potsherd, like a broken pot. My tongue cleaveth to my jaws,
and thou hast brought me into the dust of death, for dogs have
compassed me. The assembly of the wicked have
enclosed me. They pierced my hands and my
feet. Who's that talking about? That's Christ. He said, I may
tell all my bones. They look and stared upon all
of these things. They part my garments among them
and cast lots upon my vesture. That's Christ. Here's one I've skipped over,
but look here at verse six, look back there. He says, I'm a worm. You know what that is? That's
the crimson worm. You remember that? That type of Christ, the
blood of Christ. He says, and no man. Now that's
not literal. He was still a man. But what
he's saying here is that he was marred so much he didn't even
look like a man. And he says, a reproach of men
and despised of the people. Let me show you another one.
Turn over to Psalm 40. Is it nothing to you? Think about
this. And let me tell you something
now. Now I know people can get up
and describe the crucifixion and it's a bloody thing. Don't
get me wrong. I've seen it done. You can see
it reenacted which I believe is a travesty because that's
not the way the gospel is to be presented. And it can draw
out your emotions, can't it? It sure can. And you can think
about the suffering of our Savior on the cross. But here's the
thing about it. It doesn't even begin to describe
the sorrow and suffering and anguish of our Savior. I don't
care. They can't paint a picture that'll even come close. They
just can't do it. They can't make a movie that'll
even come close. They try, but they just can't
do it. The soul suffering of our Savior.
Here's one who in himself was without sin and yet suffering
for sin. And how can you drive that in
your mind? I can't. But I know this, here's the perfect
God-man hanging on the cross, dying for the sins of his sheep.
But look at Psalm 40, look at Psalm 40, look at verse 12. This
is another one of those Messianic Psalms. It says, for innumerable
evils have compassed me about. Remember Jerusalem said, my enemies
have surrounded me. Well, that's what our Lord's
speaking of here. He says, now listen to what he
says here. He says, mine iniquities have taken hold upon me. He says,
my iniquities. Now how could he claim them as
his own? There is not but one way justly
and righteously that the Lord of glory could claim the iniquities
of his people as his own, and that is by imputation. He said, put them on my account. I will pay it. I will repay it.
They are mine. They are not theirs. Some people
say, well, he could not have called them his iniquities unless
he was made to be a sinner. That is a lie. And it's not scriptural. There's not one type, picture,
or statement in the scripture that will back that up. That's
just the imaginations of men trying to
describe something that they can't describe. They were his
iniquities. Not because he committed them
though. Not because they contaminated him. Or not because they even
confused him. And not because they corrupted
him. They were his because God put them on his account. They
became his. Our debt became his debt. That's
what a substitute and a surety is all about. And so he says,
my iniquities have taken hold upon me. Listen, so that I'm
not able to look up. He couldn't even look up. They
are more than the hairs of mine head, therefore my heart faileth
me. Let me show you one more. Look
over at Psalm 69. These are all Messianic Psalms
describing his suffering. Psalm 69, verse 1. Save me, O God, for the waters
are come in unto my soul. This was not just physical suffering.
This was mental anguish. This was soul suffering. And
I can't describe that to you. He says, I sink in deep mire
where there's no standing. I'm coming to deep waters where
the floods overflow me. Weary of my crime, my throat
is dry. My eyes fail while I wait for
my God. They that hate me without a cause
are more than the hairs of mine head. They that would destroy
me being mine enemies wrongfully are mighty. Then I restored that
which I took not away. Oh God, thou knowest my foolishness
and my sins are not hid from thee. And again, he says, my
sins, my sins. This is the anguish and the suffering
that he went through. And so ask yourself and think
about this is, is it nothing to you that the savior, the Lord
of glory went through this, went through all this. for the sins
of his sheep. And you know something? What's
amazing too, and we'll see this in just a moment, he did it willingly. He wasn't forced to do it. Here's
the second thing. Now back here in Lamentations
1 verse 12, he said, now see if there's any sorrow like unto
my son. No sorrow like his, which is done unto him. And then he
says, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his
fierce anger. Here's the second thing. The Lord God afflicted
him in his fierce anger. It was not the power or hatred
of men that sent our Lord to the cross. Now listen to me.
He went to the cross to die for the sins of his people, which
includes the sin of their hatred, our hatred, all sins. of his people. Here's the fact
of the matter. All the sins of all his people
were made to meet on him. Now how? By imputation. That's how it was. It wasn't
a mass of something, or a cloud of something, or a vial of something.
It was just the fact of the demerit of what we deserve, which is
death and hell, was placed upon Christ. And he died. But it wasn't the power or the
hatred of men that sent Him to the cross. It was the power and
justice of God. And hold on, it was the love
of God for His people. Isaiah 53.10 says, It pleased
the Lord to bruise Him. Look over at John chapter 18.
I love this passage. Because to me, it's one of those
passages that just seals in our minds both the power and the love of
Christ for His people. You remember, He was in the garden
with His disciples. And you know what happened there.
I mean, they drank too much and fell asleep. That's what happened. Weak human beings is what we
all are. And he asked him, he said, couldn't anybody wait with
me? And you know what happened? Judas
betrayed him and brought the soldiers to arrest him. And look down at verse 4, it
says, Jesus therefore knowing all things that should come upon
him, went forth and said unto them, said unto Judas and the
soldiers, Whom seek ye? Who are you looking for? And
verse 5 says, they answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith
unto them, and look, you see that he's in italics? Here's
how he said, I am. the great I Am. And Judas also,
which betrayed him, stood with him. And as soon then as he had
said unto them, I Am, they went backward and fell to the ground."
Isn't that amazing? I Am, and they fell to the ground.
These are Roman soldiers now. These weren't just weak little
kids coming to throw a prank. These were soldiers with swords
and shields and armor. Strong men. And He said, I am.
And they fell backwards. Verse 7, Then asked He them again,
Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.
And Jesus answered, I have told you that I am. If therefore you
seek Me, I love this. If therefore you seek Me, let
these go their way. You see, you can't take Him and
His people at the same time. The justice of God cannot fall
upon our Savior and upon His people at the same time. That
would be unjust. It fell upon Him. He said, I come to do the will
of my Father. He didn't say, I came to do the
right thing and they just wouldn't let me and they put me on a cross,
forced me. No, He said, I came to do the will of my Father.
He came willingly. Look at John chapter 10, just back a few pages. Talking about how his sheep,
he laid down his life for the sheep. He wasn't forced down. He wasn't made to this. And he said, other sheep I have
which are not of this fold, them also I must bring. And verse
17, look at John 10, 17. Therefore doth my Father love
me, because I lay down my life. I lay it down. that I might take
it again. No man taketh it from Me, but
I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down.
I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of My Father. That's covenant language. You
know when that covenant was forged? Before time began. When God chose
a people and gave them to His Son. I mean, this is the whole purpose
of our existence. Talking about Jesus Christ, is
it nothing to you? If it is, you ought to be ashamed.
This is something now. This is all covenant land. And why did He go to the cross?
Some say, well, it's because of His love for His people. Well,
that's true. He said in John chapter 13, verse
1, He loved His own unto the end. It means He loved His sheep,
His church, God's elect, to the point He loved us so much that
He was determined to finish the work of redemption. To take our
sins upon Himself and go to that cross and suffer and bleed and
die. That's why He was born. If you
don't know that's why He was born, you don't know anything
about His birth. And celebrating His birth is
nothing if you don't know this, why He was born. Isn't that right? Listen, I tell you, I love to
think about the birth of Christ. I love to think about His incarnation. I love to think about all the
providential things that God amazingly and wondrously used.
The town of Bethlehem. That's an amazing thing. We don't
worship Bethlehem. If you go to Bethlehem, just
be on vacation. Don't make no religious pilgrimage there. That
means nothing. But that's Bethlehem Ephratah. Micah has talked about that.
That's where He who is eternal and yet who intervened in time
came. Right there. And that's an amazing thing.
All of that. The story that surrounds the shepherds. That's an amazing
thing. Glory to God in the highest.
Peace on earth. Goodwill towards those with whom
God is pleased. That's an amazing thing. But
here's the reason all that took place. You see, He loved His
people, but it wasn't love alone that sent Him to the cross. It
was love founded upon justice satisfied. God is holy and He
must punish sin. God must be just when He justifies. Grace can only be effectual in
the salvation of sinners based on righteousness. The Bible teaches
that now, doesn't it? Romans 5.21, as sin hath reigned
unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto
eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Without His righteousness
imputed, accounted to us, there's no salvation. That's the ground
of it. Why belittle that? Is it nothing to you? That is Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. He is Jehovah's Seek canoe, the
Lord our righteousness. Mercy, He's the Mercy Seek. What
had to be poured on that Mercy Seek in order to bring about
atonement? Blood, the blood of the Lamb. Without the blood,
what was it? It was just a pretty piece of
furniture. Might as well cart it off to Egypt or wherever they
think they did. Had to have blood. Abel knew that before the Ark
of the Covenant was ever made. That's why he brought the blood
of the Lamb. Mercy based on sacrifice. You see that? Look back at Lamentations
now. That's why He did it. You see, Christ, our Savior,
came under the affliction and the fierce anger of His Father. That anger, now listen, remember,
that's the justice of God against sin. That's the anger of God. And then thirdly, it's all based
on the sins of His people imputed to Him. When Jesus Christ, the holy sufferer
on Calvary, bowed his head beneath the overwhelming flood of God's
wrath, it was for sins not his own by way of committing them,
or being contaminated or defiled by them, but because they became
his by God the Father imputing them, charging them, accounting
them to him. He was made sin. He who knew
no sin was made sin for us, that we might become the righteousness
of God in Him. We read there in Psalm 40 in
verse 12, it said innumerable evils have compassed me about,
mine iniquities. Remember that now. How could
He say mine? They were His. They became His. Rightfully so. Because God the Father laid them
to His account. That was a real transaction. And it was not fictional, it
was not legal fiction, it was real. How do you know it was
real, preacher? Because he suffered like nobody
else. He suffered unto death. Remember we read there in Psalm
69 and verse 5, O God, thou knowest my foolishness, and my sins are
not hid from me. I was reading Pastor Mahan's
commentary on this in his book, With New Testament Eyes. He's
got one of the lessons there on Psalm 69. And he commented
on this verse, Psalm 69, 5. Let me read the verse to you
again. Oh God, thou knowest my foolishness,
and my sins are not hid from me. Now we know our Savior was
never in his mind foolishness. But what he's talking about there
is the foolishness of sin. And he said, my sins are not
hid from me. And here's what Pastor Mahan wrote on that. David,
now King David who wrote that song, might truly say this, but
not our Lord unless he refers to our sins imputed and laid
to his charge. He was made sin to be sin for
us. And he was right. Is it nothing
to you, think about it, back here in lamentation, is it nothing
to you that God manifest in the flesh so gave himself to save
guilty, hell-deserving rebels like us. Is that nothing? Is it nothing to you that he
was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities?
Is it nothing to you that the dreaded cup of wrath was pressed
to his lips in order that the cup of salvation might be given
to us? Is it nothing to you that in
order to accomplish this, God was manifest in the flesh, became
incarnate, resided in the womb of the Virgin Mary, was born
in a manger, born in a stable and laid in a manger in Bethlehem,
and pursued by one of the most wicked kings that ever set foot
on God's green earth? grew in wisdom and stature. Now
chew on that one a while. I'll tell you how, if ever I
would start to explain that to you, it would have to be for
this reason. If I found a verse of scripture that I could just
read to you and leave it at that. But there is none. But then submitted
himself unto the wicked hands of wicked men and died one of
the most horrible deaths that anyone can die on the cross of
Calvary between two thieves. Is that nothing to you? Is it
nothing to me? There was a day when it was nothing to us. And
it'd still be nothing to us except for the Lord of Glory sending
His Holy Spirit to convince us of sin and of righteousness and
of judgment, wouldn't it? Unless God the Holy Spirit came
and showed us, like Isaiah, what we are by nature, and what we
deserve by our works, and show us the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. But here's the thing. Can you
honestly say from your heart of hearts, can I honestly say
from my heart of hearts, oh no, it's not nothing. I know that's
a double negative. Forgive me, but I'm making the
point. It's not nothing to me. He's everything to me. Jesus Christ is everything. He's
all to His people. And now because of the Spirit
of God who gave us life and brought us to faith in Christ in repentance,
now we're like the Apostle Paul. We count all things but loss
for the excellency of the knowledge that's in Christ Jesus my Lord.
Now we can sing from the heart, He is all my righteousness, I
stand in Him complete and worship Him. Now we glory in the cross. No, it's not nothing to us, it's
everything. We glory in the cross of the
Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto us and
we unto the world.