Good evening. Let's all stand
together and sing hymn number 61. Hymn number 61. O the deep, deep love of Jesus,
fast unmeasured, boundless, free, rolling as a mighty ocean in
its fullness over me. Underneath me, all around me,
Is the current of Thy love Leading onward, leading homeward To my
glorious rest above O the deep, deep love of Jesus
Spread his praise from shore to shore How he loveth, ever
loveth, changeth never nevermore. How he watches o'er his loved
ones, had to call them all his own. How for them He interceded,
What should o'er them from the throne? Oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus,
love of every of the best. Tis an ocean vast of blessing,
tis a haven sweet of rest. O the deep, deep love of Jesus,
tis a heaven of heavens to me and it lifts me up to glory for
it lifts me up to thee be seated we'll sing hymn number 63 number
63 Take the name of Jesus with you, child
of sorrow and of woe. It will joy and comfort give
you Take it anywhere you go Precious name, oh how sweet Hope of earth and joy of heaven. Precious name, oh how sweet. Hope of earth and joy of heaven. Take the name of Jesus with her
As a shield from every snare If temptations round you gather
Breathe that holy name in prayer Precious name Oh, how sweet the
hope of earth and joy of heaven. Precious name. Oh, how sweet the hope of earth
and joy of heaven. The precious name of Jesus, how
it thrills our souls with joy. When his loving arms receive
us, And His songs our tongues employ, Precious Name, O how
sweet! Hope of earth and joy of heaven,
Precious Name, O how sweet! Hope of earth and joy of heaven At the name of Jesus bowing Falling
prostrate at his feet King of kings and then we'll
crown him When our journey is complete Precious name Oh, how
sweet Hope of earth and joy of heaven Precious name Oh, how
sweet the hope of earth and joy of heaven. I'd like to read together the
first chapter of the book of Ecclesiastes together. Ecclesiastes
chapter one. The words of the preacher, the
son of David, king in Jerusalem. Vanity of vanity, saith the preacher,
Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. What profit hath a man of all
his labor which he taketh under the sun? One generation passeth
away, and another generation cometh. The earth abideth forever. The sun also ariseth, and the
sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose. Wind
goeth toward the south and turneth about unto the north, whirleth
about continually, and the wind returneth again according to
his circuits. All the rivers run into the sea,
yet the sea is not full. Unto the place from whence the
rivers come, thither they return again. All things are full of
labor, man cannot utter it. The eye is not satisfied with
seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. The thing that hath
been, it is that which shall be. That which is done is that
which shall be done. And there is no new thing under
the sun. Is there anything whereof it
may be said, see, this is new? It hath been already of old time,
which was before us. There is no remembrance of former
things, neither shall there be any remembrance of things that
are to come, those that shall come after. I, the preacher,
was king over Israel in Jerusalem. I gave my heart to seek and search
out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven.
This sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised
therewith. I've seen all the works that
are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and vexation of
spirit. That which is crooked cannot
be made straight, and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.
I commune with my own heart, saying, lo, I am come to great
estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have
been before me in Jerusalem. Today my heart had great experience
of wisdom and knowledge. I gave my heart to know wisdom,
to know madness and folly. I perceive that this also is
vexation of spirit, where much wisdom is much grief. He that increases knowledge increases
sorrow. I read those last two verses,
it kind of left my mind and my heart in a bad place, but I remembered
that verse of scripture in Colossians that says, that in him, that
is in Christ, is hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. It's not that little word, all.
I love that little word, that's absolute. It's all found in a
person. Wisdom and knowledge. If we know
him, we have all knowledge. He is our wisdom. Let's thank
the Lord in prayer. Kind and gracious and merciful
heavenly father, we bow before you. We give you thanks for your
precious word that speaks to our hearts and our minds and
causes from time to time our hearts to burn with him. moves
us. Thank you for the word, and thank
you for giving us a measure of understanding and appreciation
for your word, a measure of reverence for your word. Thank you for
the time of this gathering of your people. We sit and open
the word and read it, hear it preached. Oh, we need to hear
your word. We need you to speak to it. Our
hearts are empty without you, without your
word to fill our hearts and our minds. Our hearts are empty without
Christ. Fill our hearts with him tonight. Give us a fresh view of him,
that precious name of Jesus that we just sang about. Oh, he's
precious. We have Him, we have all wisdom,
we have all knowledge, we have all that we need. And if we don't
have Him, we have nothing. Thank you for the pastor and
for his labor in the Word as he prepares the messages that
we hear every week. Continue to strengthen him, guide
him, as he guides his flock of believers. Remember our children
and our grandchildren that have not been alarmed yet at their
sad estate, their desperate need of a savior. Their sinful nature, their sin
that must be dealt with. Lord, make them to know sin must
be paid for, sin must be punished. They must bear the burden. must
be born in a substitute. How we do thank you for our blessed
substitute, our sin bearer. Lord, because of him and what
he's done, what he's accomplished, actually accomplished, we're
at peace. We have no need to fear. We can rest. We can face death and rejoice in our dying. Rejoice as we see others die,
believers die. Now we do thank you for that
confidence you've given us, the faith that you've given us to
trust Him fully with the lives of our own souls and those that
we love. We commit them all to you, our
great Savior. Honor Him tonight, we pray. In
Christ's dear name, amen. Chorus number 28, 28 in our course
books. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found. Was blind, but now I see. Was grace that taught my heart
to fear And grace my fears relieved How precious did that grace appear I first believed. Through many dangers, toils,
and snares, I have already come. Till His grace hath brought me
safe thus far, And grace will lead me home. He promised good to me His word
my hope secures He will my shield and portion be as long as life
endures. Yea, with this flesh and heart
shall fail, and mortal life I shall possess within the veil
the life of joy and peace. The world shall soon dissolve
like snow. The sun refused to shine. But God knew gold. me here below shall be forever
mine when we've been there ten thousand years Bright shining
as the sun We've no less days to sing God's praise Than when
we'd first begun I say a chapter 50. I say a chapter
50. I read verses 4 through 9. I pray
that God will enable me to say something about them. The Lord God hath given me the
tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season
to him that is weary. He wakeneth morning by morning,
he waketh mine ear to hear as to learn. The Lord God hath opened
mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. I gave
my back to the smiters, My cheeks to them that plucked off the
hair, I hid not my face from shame and spitting. For the Lord
God will help me, therefore shall I not be confounded. Therefore
I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be
ashamed. He is near that justifies me,
who will contend with me. Let us stand together. Who is
my adversary? Let him come near to me. Behold,
the Lord God will help me. Who is he that shall condemn
me? Lo, they shall all wax old as a garment. The moth shall
eat them up." These words that I just read
to you, hopefully God will enable you to preach about them, say
some things about them. For God's glory and our good.
These words were spoken 700 years before the birth of our Lord
Jesus Christ. And it's obvious with those that
have eyes to see that they're the very words of Christ himself.
It's what he says, it's what he says. And this our Lord Jesus
Christ speaking here, and that should not be strange to us because
he did declare the end from the beginning. He declared the things
that had not been done, and all that he had purposed to do,
it was going to be done. And these words are prophetical
words, and they come only through the lips of our Lord Jesus Christ. And the first thing I want to
see about him and what he says about him, it says there in verse
1, look at his wisdom. The Lord God hath given me the
tongue of the learned. that I should know how to speak
a word and season to him that is weary. You know, the Lord
hath given me the tongue of man that's learned. That also means
taught. God taught me. The Lord hath
taught me. And you know, talking about wisdom,
when he was, Brad was talking about wisdom. You know, when
he talked about Solomon, he said, a greater than Solomon is here.
And when God taught the Lord Jesus Christ, he was the wisest
man. They said, what? No doubt, Solomon,
he had incredible wisdom, but the wisdom of Christ, the wisdom
that God gave Christ gave him a voice, gave him words to say. taught him the things that he
ought to say. And when you heard God speak,
you're hearing Christ speak. And you know, he himself is the
wisdom of God. You'd unquoted it once tonight,
you know, that in him are the treasures, treasures of wisdom
and knowledge in Christ. All of God's treasure of his
wisdom is in Christ. All the treasure of God's knowledge
is in Christ. And you know, he is wisdom himself. And I heard a fella ask one time
in preaching, when you know Christ has made the wisdom of God unto
us. Now, what does that mean? Is
Christ made the wisdom of God to you? Now, when we talk about
the wisdom of God, we're talking about how God can be just and
stay holy and stay righteous. When truth says, I demand obedience
to truth. Righteousness, and I demand righteousness
from everybody. The law says the soul that sinneth
it shall die. Mercy cries out, oh, can they
have mercy to us? I can't at the expense of truth,
no. Can you have grace to them? No,
not at the expense of righteousness, I can't. Wisdom stands up in
the person of God's son and says, I know a way. I know a way. I myself will come
to this earth. I'll go to the earth. I'll go
down there and I'll become a man and I'll inhabit flesh. And that
way you can go ahead. and give them grace, because
you'll fulfill truth. Go ahead, give them mercy, because
I'll die for them. Go ahead, charge them with breaking
the law, charge them with death, and then charge their death to
me. That's what, what I mean Christ being the wisdom of God
to you. Do you see how that God can only do something for us
before he does, has to do something for himself? And that's what
our Lord said. He himself is the wisdom of God. They came,
they sent some men to get the Lord Jesus Christ. The Pharisees
and them sent some men to take him, to apprehend him. And they
got there and got around him, you know, and they was ready
to apprehend him. And he started preaching, started speaking.
And they stood there and waited, you know, they didn't interrupt
him. I noticed people that'll come in sometimes, they'll wait
till we get through reading the scriptures and prayer before
they'll come in. And I appreciate that, the reverence
they have. But they stood there and watched
the Lord Jesus Christ speaking. And boy, I tell you, when he
got done, they just, you know, they got so enthralled, they
got so taken up with what he was saying that they turned around
and went back. Forgot to get him. Didn't think
about taking him. Why? They got back and said,
why didn't you get him? I never heard nobody talk like
that before in my life. I never heard anybody speak like
him. I never heard anything like it. And if you ever hear that
voice, that's exactly what you'll say. I never heard anything like
it. Never heard anything like it. And oh my, you know, he himself
is the wisdom of God. And oh, as the wisdom of God,
God's blessed wisdom and how to deal with us, how to be wise
and to save us in a way that he gets all the glory and he
does not Injuries justice or his truth
or his righteousness He does not do any injury to himself
and then it says his word He said that I he said I got the
wisdom to how to speak a word in season to him. That's weary
I'm glad that that word says that I'm glad the word says that
He's always able You know, God taught him and gave him wisdom
how to speak a word in season to the ones that are weary. There's
not nobody that doesn't get weary sometimes. Paul warned us, said,
don't get weary in well doing. Just doing the same thing over
and over and over. Don't get weary in it. And every
once in a while we get weary and we get weary with ourselves. We get weary with our jobs. We get weary sometimes with the
people we have to be around, the people we have to deal with.
We get weary. We get weary with life. We get
weary. And oh my, he comes along, he
said, I know how to take the word and sustain them in their
weariness. I know how to do that. I've got
the wisdom to do that. I know how to take a person that's
weary and sustain them in their weariness. Instead of quitting,
instead of falling down and fainting, he said, I've got the ability
to sustain them and hold them up in their weariness. I hope
y'all don't get weary, but oh my. And that's why Paul said,
you know, the word of Christ dwells in you richly. And you
know, Paul, let me, let me just use an illustration. When Paul
was going to Rome, he got on a ship And the Roman soldier
was on that ship that he got to Caesar. Well, they got in
a storm. And they was in a storm for 14
days. They didn't see the sun. They
never saw a star. They never saw nothing but darkness
and rain and storms for 14 days. 14 days. And I'll tell you, they
was caught in a storm, a bad storm. And Paul got up and told
all them men in that storm, he said, listen, it's going to calm
down, God's going to save every one of you. And he says, now
get up and take something to eat. You haven't ate in a long
time. Take something to eat. Well, how do you know this is
going to happen? The Lord appeared to me and said
that every soul on this ship would be saved. And I believe
it, even as the Lord hath told me. And he gave him a word in
season when he was so weary, so weary. And I tell you what, I love that word in season. You
know, there's a, there's a, look over in Isaiah 44, just a moment. Let me, I just, I just thought
of this Isaiah 40. Yeah, Isaiah 40, look down in,
in verse 29. Isaiah 40, 29. He giveth power to the faint. And to them that have no might,
he gives them strength, increases strength. Even the youth shall
faint and be weary. And the young men shall utterly
fall. But listen to this. But they that wait upon the Lord
shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings
as eagles. They shall run and not be weary.
They shall walk and not faint. Oh, the Lord's got a word for
us. I love those words. Let me go
back over here and give you a first one. Another one. He's wisdom.
Look at his obedience. Look down in verse five. Isaiah
50 verse 5. Look at disobedience. The Lord
hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned
away back. The Lord hath opened mine ear,
I was not rebellious, and I didn't turn away back. You know when
it says the Lord hath opened my ear, I think everybody's seen
that in here. I took and showed it to you.
Where when a man has slaves, and they had slaves, and they
had servants, and if they wanted, it was time for the servant to
leave. If that servant loved his master, and he really loved
his master, and he didn't want to go out, and he didn't want
to be free, he would say, I love my master. I don't want to go
out. Well, they would take him to a door, The judges would,
they'd take him to a door, and they'd take an awl and put him
up against the doorpost and put a hole in his ear. And when you
saw that hole in their ear, you know that they loved their master,
and that was the evidence. They opened my ear, so I did. And that's what the scripture's
telling here. God opened the ear of Christ. He, Christ is
God's blessed righteous servant. He was Jehovah's fellow. He was
the Lord God of heaven and earth. And he was everything that God
was and everything that God is. And he said, he opened my ear.
I love my master. I love my father. I love to do
my father's will. I want to glorify my father.
I didn't come here to glorify myself. I come here to glorify
him. Oh my, and look what, oh God
opened my ear. He voluntarily became Jehovah's
servant. He said, lo, it is written of
me in the volume of the book. In the whole volume of the book,
it's written of me. I delight to do thy will. Oh God, I delight to do thy will. And who for the joy that was
set before him endured the cross. Joy that's set before him. Oh
my. And you know how Lord Jesus Christ,
he voluntarily became Jehovah's servant. Isaiah 52 said he was
Jehovah's righteous fellow. And oh, and then it says, I was
not rebellious. I was not rebellious. You know,
there was nobody more obedient than our Lord Jesus Christ in
his whole life. Do you reckon he was like any
of our children as today? Do you reckon he ever talked back
to his parents? Do you reckon he ever questioned
his parents? Do you ever reckon he ever told
his parents, mind your own business? Our Lord Jesus Christ He was
holy from the day born to the day he died, and he was holy
when he come out of the tomb. Our Lord Jesus was not rebellious
to his parents. He was, you know, we've all know
what an obedient child is. We know what a child is that
does, that obeys us and loves us and wants to please us. But
I tell you, our Lord Jesus Christ, he loved his parents and he was not rebellious to his parents,
he obeyed his parents to the whatever they said, he did. They
told him to do something, he did it. He did it. They've got these
things out here, you know, and they have some writings that,
you know, they say that some of the ancients wrote about Jesus
being a child and how he played as a child and the things he'd
done as a child. I'll tell you what, the only
thing we know about Christ is what this book says right here. And he was not rebellious to
his parents. There was one time that they
went up to Jerusalem for the Passover. And our Lord Jesus
Christ, he stayed there. He was 12 years old. And his
parents took out and went home. But they thought that he was
with some of the other folks, some of the kin folks walking
along with him. They got home, he wasn't there. They turned around and run back
to Jerusalem. And you know what he's doing?
He's 12 years old. And he's confounding the doctors
and lawyers of his day. And his parents come to him and
said, what have you done? What have you done? He said,
I'm just about my father's business, that's all. And I'll tell you something else
he was obedient to, not rebellious to, to civil law, the civil law. You remember, they come and ask
our Lord Jesus, do we render tribute to Caesar or not? We
pay taxes to Caesar or not? He says, show me a coin. They
showed him a coin. He said, whose image is on that?
He said, Caesar's. He said, you give to Caesar what
belongs to him. You give to God what belongs
to him. So our Lord, He obeyed the civil law. He never rebelled
against the civil law. And I'll tell you one thing,
bless His holy name, one thing that He faced head on was God's
holy law and every precept in it. You read Numbers, you read
Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy and all the precepts and all
the commandments and all the things that are there told to
do and everything They're told to do I Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled
every precept Every statute, every law, every dietary law,
everything that was supposed to be done as a Jew, our Lord
Jesus Christ did. Not just the Ten Commandments.
Six hundred and something different things that they're supposed
to do. And our Lord Jesus did them all. Did them all. Did them all. Did all by And
I'm so thankful that he faced God's holy law. I'll read those,
I'll read through Numbers and read through Deuteronomy and
I'll say, oh my goodness, I'd hate, I'd hate to have to have
to deal with some of the things they tell you to do. And here's the thing about it,
if you fail in one point, you gotta go back and start all over
again. And you gotta do that year after year after year after
year. But ain't you grateful that our Lord Jesus Christ did
it all? Did it all for us? Huh? He obeyed God for us. And oh
my, he was obedient to God's laws, his precepts, and also
to its penalty. He obeyed his precepts and then
subjected himself to its penalty, which is death, which was death. And he suffered for his people
willingly, freely, fully, completely, and so much so that he was obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. He prayed in Gethsemane. He said, Father, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, nevertheless, not
my will, but thy will be done. Oh, what a blessed, blessed Eternal
Son of God. Then look what else it says there
about it. Neither turned away back. He said, I didn't turn,
I didn't try to get away from it. I didn't, when I seen that
this is what's going to happen, I didn't turn away from it. I
never got to try to get back from it. I never tried to get
away from it. I never turned back from anything
to come my way. I never turned away. I never
turned away. Oh my, look what it says up there.
In verse 7, there in about the middle of the verse, there in
verse 7 says, Therefore have I set my face like a flint. That's talking about going to
Jerusalem. I never turned away back. You
know how he did the work? He did the work that God the
Father gave him to do until he cried the last thing he said
on the cross, it is finished. And when he said it is finished,
that means accomplished, completed, perfected. And I tell you, when
he said it's finished, the work was done completely. Oh, I tell
you what, nothing else need to be done. So I tell you, he is
obedient. Then look at his suffering. Look
at his suffering, showing that this is the Lord Jesus Christ
talking. He said in verse 6, I gave my back to the spiders,
and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face
from shame and spitting. And I want you to know, she said,
I gave. I gave my back. I didn't hide my face. What our
Lord did, he gave. He gave himself, whatever himself
is, He gave. They didn't take anything from
Him. Everything He went through, He gave up to it. He willingly
did it. You know, I hid not my face,
I gave my back. They didn't force any suffering
on Him. He gave Himself to it. He gave
Himself to suffering at the hands of God, His Father. He gave Himself
up to suffering at the hand of His Father. My God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? He gave himself up to man. You
do what you will do to me. You do what you do. Go ahead,
smite me. Go ahead and slap me. Go ahead
and crown me with thorns. Go ahead and beat my back till
it's bloody. Here, take my cheek. Take my
cheek. Take the hair and pull it out.
I gave myself to this. I didn't come here not knowing
what I was doing. I gave myself up to this. Oh, my. He gave himself to it. He said, I gave, and then what
could he say? And he gave my, he said, I gave my cheeks to
them that plucked off the hair. I gave him to it. Then look what he says, and I
hid not my face from shame and spitting. We've looked at this
so much here recently. Them old soldiers and them people
around that cross and around our Lord Jesus Christ, they spit
on him. I wonder how many, you know,
Remember when those soldiers gathered around him, they had
a band of soldiers, and they all took him. And remember that
they would bow to him like he was a king and bow to him, and
they'd get up and spit in his face. They'd get up and spit
in his face. Get up and spit in his face.
And you know, when somebody spits in your face, that shows how
much hatred and contempt and despise and anger they have towards
you to spit in your face. And the hatred they had for our
Lord Jesus Christ, The anger they had toward our Lord Jesus
Christ, the contempt they had toward him, them old soldiers
would clear their throats and spit, spit running all over his
face. People don't understand what
it was like for our Lord to suffer. And I showed you that over there
in Mark where it says that band of soldiers had him and they
had bowed the knee to him. Then they'd rise up and spit
in his face. Spit in his face. Oh my. You know, I look over
in Isaiah, I mean, excuse me, Job, keep Mark Isaiah 50, and
look over here in Job chapter 30. Is Job chapter 30 with me? Down in verse nine. Oh, they plucked at his beard,
spit in his face, spit at him. Look what it says. And now I
am their song, yea, I'm their byword. And you know what it
said about Christ? Over in Isaiah 53, that he is
the song of the drunkard. Men would get drunk and sing
about Jesus. Use him as a byword. And oh my,
then look what it says. They abhor me. They flee far
from me and spare me not to spit in my face. And our Lord Jesus
Christ didn't say I hid my face. He didn't say I covered up my
face. He never even wiped his face
as far as we know. I didn't hide my face from them.
I never kept back my cheek from them. I never kept my back from
them. Oh my. I hid not my face. And oh Lord,
I tell you what, that'd be an awful for God to hide his face
from us. Then look what else it says about him. Look at his
confidence. Look at his confidence down here
in verse seven. The Lord God will help me. Therefore,
I shall not be confounded. Therefore, if I set my face like
a flint and I know that I shall not be ashamed. Now, this is
talking about Christ in his humanity. The Lord will help me. I shall
not be confounded. I shall not be ashamed. This
is his confidence as a man in the promises that God made to
him. You know, our Lord Jesus Christ lived by
faith. You know that? He lived by faith
in his father. He had to believe everything
his father told him. And when he went to that cross,
knowing he was going to be forsaken of God, he was living by faith.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, I don't know how else to say it, you
know, that's why we're justified by the faith of Christ. But Christ's
faith was perfect faith. It was obedient faith. And his
faith, when he believed God, I mean, God done everything God
said he'd do for him. I'll not leave your soul in hell.
You'll not see corruption. I'll be with you. He said, I'm
not alone. And oh, he was confident that his
father would help him. Look over in Isaiah 49 and eight. This is talking about Christ.
This is talking about Christ. This is the confidence he had
as a man in the promises God made to him. Made to him. He said, thus saith the Lord,
in an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation
have I helped thee, and I will preserve thee and give thee for
a covenant to the people to establish the earth. Who's he going to
give to be a covenant? It has to be the Lord Jesus Christ
to establish, for a covenant of the people to establish the
earth and cause it to inherit those that were destined to cause
them to inherit things. And you know, though he was shamefully
used, he wasn't brought to shame. His face was set like a flint. He believed everything, you know,
The Father gave him a people. He believed that he'd have those
people. And you know what he prayed in
John chapter 17? You know what he was praying?
Father, keep them through thy name. Those that you gave me,
you keep them now. You preserve them now. You gave
them to me, but I'm fixing to go through something. You preserve
them, you keep them. And then you save them. You preserve
them. And I'll tell you he believed
that God would do exactly what he told him to. He told him,
said, I'm going to have a man among you that's going to be
a devil and he's going to betray you. OK, that's fine. And though he was shamefully
used, he wasn't brought to shame. He wasn't brought to shame. Do
you think our Lord Jesus Christ was ashamed for what he went
through? when you read all the things
that he went through, Isaiah 53, go through the Passover lamb,
go through the ark, go through Noah's ark, go through anything
you want to find about the Lord Jesus Christ, and he was not
ashamed. He was not ashamed to bear our
sin. He was not ashamed to be forsaken
of God. He was not ashamed to bear our
iniquities in His own body on the tree. He was not ashamed
to go to that cross. He was not ashamed. Who for the
joy that was set before Him, looked at that cross and He said,
I'll go to that cross. And I won't be ashamed to go
to that cross. And then after he resurrected,
you know what he said? I'm not ashamed to call them
my brethren. Oh, he wasn't ashamed. No, no. You know, his face was set like
a flint. Whatever, you know, I'm going
to face this and I'm going to go through it and I'm going to
do just exactly what God gave me to do. And I tell you, when
he was a man going through his life, when he, whoever needed
more help than him, and the scriptures tells us he was crucified in
weakness and raised in power. Oh my, he was no, he was, no
one was more confident in God doing something for him and upholding
him than him. And then look what he says down
here in verse eight. Look at his testimony now. had
confidence in his father, had confidence in his father. He is near that justifies me,
who will contend with me. Let us stand together. Who is
my adversary? Let him come near to me. Oh my, he is near that justifies
me. What do you think our Lord means
by this? God, his father, was near to him and with him all
his sojourn on this earth. In his humiliation, in his humiliation. You know, becoming a man is humiliating
enough, but going to the cross, what a humiliation that was.
But God the Father justified his whole life, justified his
ministry before his enemies. How many times did his enemies
have to say, I've never heard anybody talk like that. We gotta
get him, we gotta get him, but they couldn't get him. They couldn't
get him. They couldn't take him until
he was willing in time for him to go. And I'll tell you, God
justified his whole life, justified his ministry, showed in John
chapter... No, Matthew 11. Matthew 11, there's
four evidences that Christ gives of God justifying him in his
work. Four evidences that he gives in Matthew 11. Four evidences,
four proofs that God was with him, four proofs that God justified
him. And I'll tell you, here's where
justification is really wonderful. He justified him from all the
sins of his people that were laid upon him. How do we know
that he was justified? God raised him from the dead.
God raised him from the dead. And he ascended back to the right
hand of majesty on high. Look in Romans 1 with me. In
Romans 1 with me. You know, God justified Christ. Look what
it said here about the gospel, what God did for Christ. Paul,
a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto
the gospel of God. This ancient gospel, this blessed
gospel, which he promised by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. Well, this gospel that he promised,
It concerns his son, Jesus Christ our Lord, and here he was, here
is in his humanity, made of the seed of David according to the
flesh. Now watch it. And declared to
be the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness
by the resurrection of the dead. God said, he's my son and I'm
gonna raise him. I'm gonna get him out of that
grave. And I want to show you another in 1 Timothy chapter
3 and verse 16. 1 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 16. Paul said it like this in Galatians,
being justified by the faith of Jesus Christ. What does he
mean being justified by the faith of Jesus Christ? That means that
we were justified by the faithfulness of Christ. Christ justified all
of his people before they ever were believers. Everything in
Romans chapter 8, it says, for whom he did foreknow that all
those did predestinate, and whom he did predestinate, he called.
That's in the past tense. He justified. That's in the past
tense. He glorified. That's in the past tense. And
then the next thing is, Who, if God be for us, who can be
against us? It's God that justified us. Why? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather,
he's risen again and sits at the right hand of the majesty
on high. But look what he said here. There's, I think, six mysteries
here. Six mysteries. And that's what
we're talking about. God, our testimony, God's not left me
alone. He justified me. Verse 16, without any argument,
without any argument, great is the mystery of godliness. Oh,
it's so great. And here's the first mystery.
God was manifest in the flesh. God, eternal God, who dwelt and
inhabits eternity, come down here and dwelt in a body, dwelt
in a body. And then look at the next one.
Justified in the Spirit. What does that mean? That the
Spirit of God justified everything Christ said, justified every
work He did, justified His work on the cross, justified His time
in the tomb, justified Him. How did He justify Him? Because
He raised Him from the dead. That's the next thing. Here's
the third thing, see. Scene of angels. When He was
in, and Lucas says that the angels came and ministered unto Him.
That's the third thing. And oh, this is a real, this
is something that was hid for generations and they hated Paul
for it. Priest to the Gentiles. Priest
unto the Gentiles. Priest to a bunch of heathens. You ever been a heathen? Been
a heathen. That's what he's talking about,
Gentiles. And then listen to this. Here's another thing. It's a great mystery. Believed
on in the world. There's people that believe him.
Believe him. And then look what it says, and
received up into glory. Received up into glory. God was
in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. So he says, well,
who will come back over in our text? Who will contend with me?
Will all contend with me now? Since I've been justified and
justified by the people given to me, God, will God continue? No. Will law continue with me?
No. Will justice continue with me? No, not one. And then look
what it said here again in verse eight. Let us stand together. Oh my, when he says let us stand
together, him and his father, They, what they were doing, they
were identifying with us. So identified with us and identified
us with himself. Who is my adversary? Is sin my
adversary? I put it away. Is death my adversary?
I destroyed it. Is sin, is law my adversary? No, I fulfilled. Justice my adversary? No, I satisfied. Oh my. And you know, with Christ,
we stand or fall. We stand or fall by what Christ
did. We stand or fall by our relationship
to the Lord Jesus Christ. We stand or fall with Him. And
I'm going to show you something in closing. Look over with me
in Ephesians chapter 2. I'll close with this. You know, we are so identified
with Christ. If we were condemned with Christ,
judged in Christ, we're justified with Christ. We are one in Christ. What he
did, we did. Where he is, we are. He is accepted,
we are. Look what it says here down in verse 5. Even when we were in sins, Even
when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us, now listen to this,
quickened us together with Christ. When Christ was raised from the
dead, when Christ has life, we is quickened together with him.
He had life, we is quickened with him. We were dead in sins,
Christ gave us life together with him. And then look what else he said
in verse six, and has raised us up together. And listen to this now, not only
did He raise us up together with Him, He made us set together.
Where at? Up yonder. Up yonder. And this is why, that in the
ages to come, He might show the exceeding riches
of His grace in kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. You know, there's a time in heaven
where there's a space of about 30, it says 30 minutes in heaven
where there's silence in heaven. I'm gonna tell you, I'm gonna
quit preaching and tell you what I think. I'm gonna tell you what
I think about that. That 30 minutes where it's quiet
in heaven That's when the Lord presents all of his saints at
one time in heaven, when all of them are raised from the dead,
when all of them have their new bodies, when they all arrive
there at the same time, they're all justified, everybody gets
there, and he makes all of them get there at one time. Angels,
they can't say anything. And I believe that that's when
he's going to show the exceeding riches of his kindness toward
us for ages and ages and ages and ages. Now, you don't have
to believe that. That's just, that's just something
I think, you know, but it, it sounds good to me. I, you know,
I know there's going to be silence. They're going to be silent. We'll be, we'll be, we as ourselves
will be silent. Judgment's been set. Christ's
on his throne. And then I think when the noise
goes to start it, I believe he'll say, now sit down here. Sit down
here at this marriage supper of the Lamb. Sit down here. I got some food for you. We'll
feed you. Whether it's true or not, I don't
know. And I like to talk about it like that. I like to think
of it like that. Oh, in the ages to come, oh,
the kindness of God, the kindness of Christ, the kindness of His
grace is going to show at ages without end. Our blessed, blessed Savior, Lord, Can't do justice, can't
even begin to come close. Come close to getting close to
saying things the way they ought to be said, interpreted the way
they ought to be interpreted. Say it the way it ought to be
said. But I hope one of these days
I will begin to have some understanding, some wisdom from your precious
words. I thank you for the scriptures
that's been read this evening. Study and then hear. Thank you
for the prayers that were prayed, songs that were sung, and the fellowship of your people.
God, bring glory to yourself through this congregation of
believers. Meet the needs of our hearts
and souls. and do it for Christ's sake. Amen. Amen. Jesus Christ is made to
me all I need, all I need. He alone is all my plea. He is all I need. Wisdom, righteousness, and more. Holiness forevermore. My redemption full and sure. He is all I need. And he is.