Good evening, let's all stand
together, we'll sing hymn number 15. Hymn number 15. We have met to worship and adore
the Lord our God. Will you pray with all your power
while we try to preach the All is vain unless the Spirit
of the Holy One comes down. Brethren, pray and holy menna
will be showered all around. Brethren, see poor sinners round
you Slumbering on the brink of woe Death is coming, hell is
moving Can you bear to let them go? Our fathers and our mothers And
our children sinking down Brethren, pray and holy menna Will be showered
all around Sisters, will you join and help us? Moses' sister fainted him. Will you help the trembling mourners
who are struggling? Tell them that he will be found. Sisters pray and holy men of
milk be showered all around. Let us love our God supremely. Let us love each other too. Let us love and pray for sinners
till our God makes all call us home to heaven. At his table we'll sit down. Christ will gird himself and
serve us with sweet Be seated. We'll sing hymn number
67. Hymn number 67. Oh, Savior, as my
eyes behold thee, wonders of thy might untold,
the heavens in glorious flight arrayed, the vast creation thou
hast made. And yet to think how love How can it be? How can it be? How can it be? That God should love us all like As at the cross I humbly bow,
And gaze upon thy thorn-crowned brow, And view the precious formed by cruel nails, so bruised
and torn. Knowing thy suffering was for
me, in brief I cried, how can it be? How can it be? How can it be that God should
love a soul like me? How can it be, how can it be? Was ever grace so full and free? From eyes of bliss, to depths
of woe, in loving kindness Thou didst go. From sin and shame
to rescue me, O Love divine, how can it be? How could it be? How could it be? Good evening, let's all turn
together to the book of First Thessalonians. I'd like to read
the fifth chapter of First Thessalonians. But of the times and the seasons,
brethren, you have no need that I write unto you For yourselves
know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief
in the night. For when they shall say peace
and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail
upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. But ye,
brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake
you as a thief. You are all the children of light
and the children of the day. We are not of the night nor of
darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as
do others, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep,
sleep in the night, and they that be drunken are drunken in
the night. But let us who are of the day
be sober. putting on the breastplate of
faith and love, and for in him the hope of salvation. For God
hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our
Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep,
we should live together with him. Wherefore, comfort yourselves
together, and edify one another, even as also ye do. And we beseech
you, brethren, to know them which labor among you, and are over
you in the Lord, and admonish you, and to esteem them very
highly in love for their work's sake, and be at peace among yourselves. Now we exhort you, brethren,
warn them that are unruly, Comfort the feeble-minded, support the
weak, be patient toward all men. See that none render evil for
evil unto any man, but ever follow that which is good, both among
yourselves and to all men. Rejoice evermore, pray without
ceasing, in everything give thanks, For this is the will of God in
Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the spirit. Despise
not prophesying. Prove all things. Hold fast that
which is good. Abstain from all appearance of
evil. And the very God of peace sanctify
you wholly. And I pray God, your whole spirit
and soul and body, be preserved blameless unto the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you
who also will do it. Brethren, pray for us. Greet
all the brethren with a holy kiss. I charge you by the Lord
that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren. The grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you, amen. Our kind and gracious and merciful
Heavenly Father, we bow before you and come to you as a needy people looking to you
to supply our need this very hour. We ask you, Lord, would you condescend
once again and come in our midst to bless us. as we open your
word, cause your word to go forth in power, cause your word to
affect our minds and our hearts and our lives. May your word
enliven us, revive us, speak to us, encourage us, strengthen
us, increase our faith, Your word is powerful and can do those
things by your spirit. And Lord, we ask you to send
your spirit and cause us to worship, speak to us, and cause us to
hear your voice and your word. Lord, there's many So much in our lives and in ourselves
that discourages us and casts us down. But we can't help but look in
your word and find great encouragement. Great hope. Great reason to rejoice. For it's Christ who has saved
us and put away our sin. And our sin. has been forever
put away, cast behind your back, because we have that perfect
sacrifice, the very Son of God, the Lamb of God, who's taken
away our sin. Help us to rejoice in Him, in
His doing and His dying, His interceding for us. And Lord, we seek to honor him
tonight and to thank him, to worship and honor him who alone
is worthy. Help our pastor as he stands
before us and opens the word. Causing to tell us about Christ. Help him and strengthening. Thank
you for those that have gathered out to hear what. You've given
our pastor to bring to us tonight. And those that can't be here
that may be listening, we thank you for them. And pray for them. We remember Brother Bill and
Sister Fran, most especially. Called them to go through a very
dark trial. And ask, Lord, that you deliver
them. We know that you will. Give them grace. and strength,
give them faith, cause them to look to you to supply their needs.
Save our children, Lord, forget not our children who don't know
you, who are in love with this world, see no need to hear the
gospel, see no need of a savior, see no They're not concerned
about their sin or their souls. We ask that you'd awaken them. Meet with us tonight, Lord, we
pray, lest we meet in vain. And cause us to honor you and
all that's done or said in Christ, dear name, amen. Amazing grace in number 236.
236 amazing grace how sweet the sound
that saved a wretch like me Once was lost, but now am found
Was blind, but now I see T'was grace that taught ? My heart
to fear ? ? And grace my fears relieved ? ? How precious did
that grace appear ? Through many dangers, toils, and snares, I
have already come. His grace hath brought me safe
thus far, And grace will lead me home. When we've been there two thousand
years, bright shining as the sun, we've known Galatians chapter 2. Galatians chapter 2, verse 20. There are seven things in this verse
I want to look at. Seven things in Galatians 2.20. And I won't take long on each
one of them. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless,
I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me. In the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me. You know, if you take this just
one word at a time and deal with it one word at a time, But here's
the first thing I want to see that it's in this verse of Scripture,
is that the Son of God should love anybody. He says there in
the last part of verse, the Son of God who loved me, the Son
of God, not just anybody, the Son of God Himself. God's Son
who came so far from glory, the Son of God who came through the
womb of a virgin, the Son of God who ascended back and sat
at the right hand of God, the Son of God, who is holy and righteous
in all of His ways, that the Son of God should love anybody."
You know, especially Paul said, He loved me, me, a persecutor
like the Apostle Paul. You know, he said, I persecuted
the church, zealous toward it. held men and women to jail, and
gave approval when they were killed. And I tell you what the
love of God did, who loved me, the love of God provided the
very best that God Himself had for us, the very best. God didn't have any more to offer,
didn't have anybody better to offer. And to say that the Son
of God should love, should love. Now we love Him, because He first
loved us. In fact, if He doesn't put the
love of God in us, there's no way in the world we could love
Him back. But how could we ever repay and how we could return
such love to the Lord Jesus Christ? And you know, how can it be,
how can it be that thou, my God, should die for me, that you should
love me? And that's the first thing the
Son of God should love. And God in His love provided
us the very best for the ones that He loved. And you know the
thing about the love of God is, is that it didn't start with
us. It didn't start when we become believers. It didn't start when
Paul became a believer. God loved him for the foundation
of the world and manifested His love toward him on the Damascus
Road and let him know how much He loved him. And Paul was overwhelmed
by it. And I sure love to be overwhelmed
with the love of God that He has for me. And the second thing
I see in this verse is that the Son of God should be crucified.
He says, I am crucified with Christ. So Christ, the Son of
God was crucified. That God should be crucified,
the Son of God should be crucified. And it also says, here's two
things, two people had something to do with the death of Christ.
First of all, God was the first cause of the death of Christ.
Christ was crucified first and foremost because God purposed
it, He determined for it to be done. The Old Testament is full
of the death of Christ. The Old Testament is, you know,
the seed of the woman and the serpent. first mention, and you
go through all the Scriptures, you go to Noah, you go to the
Ark, you go to the Passover Lamb, you go to the rock smitten, you
go to Isaiah 53, oh, that Christ would be crucified, the Son of
God would be crucified, and God determined that it should be
done, and that s what the blessed Holy Name that He provided us,
provided us, The cross, a display of the manifestation of all the
attributes of God Almighty. The cross of God's character
and shows us how He can be a just God and also be a justifier of
those who believe in Christ. And then the second people that
done it was us, man. You know, here's the thing, when
Peter preached on the day of Pentecost, He said, He was delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. But He
turned around and said, but you, you with wicked hands took and
condemned that just one, crucified that just one. So man did it,
God did it. And the scriptures tells us that
we both had something to do with it. And they say that the law
reveals the character of God, not all of it. But the cross
reveals everything there is about God. I mean every attribute of
God was revealed on the cross and the crucifixion of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Oh, that the Son of God should
be crucified. Crucifixion was a common way
of dealing with criminals in the Roman Empire. Common, common
as anything. And yet, they treated Him as
a common criminal and crucified Him. And the crucifixion was
a terrible, painful, painful death. But that the Son of God
should be crucified. And look what else it says here.
Here s the third thing I want you to see in this verse of Scripture.
That Christ should give Himself for sinners. It says there, Who
loved Me in the last part of the verse and gave Himself for
me. That Christ should give Himself
for me, for sinners. And you know whenever you see
that word Himself, Himself who gave Himself for us, gave Himself
for sinners, Christ did it. I want you to look over in Galatians
chapter 1 and verse 4, who gave Himself Nobody didn't take it. I mean, he gave himself. He was
led, one of the things they said about him, he'd be led as a lamb
to the slaughter. And he gave. He gave. Gave his back to the smiters.
Gave his cheeks to them who plucked off the beard. Gave himself to
the mockery and derision and hatred of men. Gave himself up
to Judas Iscariot when they come to get him. When he kissed him,
he said, why comest thou here, friend? And oh my, look what
this, talk about himself. I don't know how to explain this.
He gave himself, when he talks about himself, Galatians 1.4,
who gave himself, here's why he gave himself, for our sins,
for our sins. I don't know, I get overwhelmed
when I just read 1 Timothy 1.15. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners, save sinners. And I may not be much, but I
tell you, I do know that I'm a sinner. And that gives me a
little hope in this world that maybe I'll be in the next one.
But look what he goes on to say. He gave himself for our sins
that he might deliver us, save us from this present evil world. And if he saved him from the
present evil world back then, imagine how evil the world is
compared to then as it is now. He said, he saved us from this
present evil world. And that's what three people
were crucified at that cross. There was the world, there was
Christ, and there was us. And I'll tell you what, He died,
we died to the world, and we died to sin in our Lord Jesus
Christ. And He did this according to
the will of God, our Father. But He gave Himself for our sins. Now look in Romans chapter 5.
Look in Romans chapter 5. This is such a wonderful thing.
Romans chapter 5, and look what it says in verse 6, that Christ
should give Himself, give Himself. For when we were yet without
strength, and you know, we're still without
it. We're still without it. If He
don't give it, we're still without it. For when we were yet without
strength, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely would a righteous
man die. A word, scarcely for a righteous
man would one die. I mean, if a man's righteous,
why in the world would you die for him? That's why Christ didn't
die for the righteous. He came not to call the righteous
But he came to save sinners. For scarcely for a righteous
man would one die. Maybe even for a good man, some
would maybe dare to die. But that's not the way God does.
God commendeth his love toward us. And that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. Oh my. He became sin who knew
no sin. Sin was actually put away once
and for all because Christ gave himself for sinners And there's
no way in the world that God could be just and put our sins
on Christ and Christ died for and come back and make us pay
for That would not be right. That would not be just if he
put them away. That means we don't have any
and All here's the fourth thing I see in this verse of Scripture
that a man, Christ should be crucified, that He should love
us, that He should be crucified, Christ should give Himself, and
that a man should be crucified with Christ. He said in the first
bit of verse, I am crucified with Christ. Oh, I m crucified
with Christ. You know, I ve showed you this
before over in Ephesians where it says TOGETHER, Everything
Christ did as far as God was concerned, we did with Him, we
did in Him. He said, I m crucified with Christ.
When was He crucified with Christ? When Christ died, when Christ
was crucified. And you know a crucifixion is
a death, and I m crucified with Christ. And the Scripture has
three things that we re dead to, according to the Scriptures.
First of all, we re dead to sin. Dead to sin. I can show you that
in Romans 6 too. Let me show you that. We're dead
to sin. I know it don't feel like we
are, but we'll see that here in a minute. But look what it
says in Romans 6. You know, we're dead, we're dead
to sin. It says here in verse 2 of Romans
6, God forbid, shall we that are dead to sin, How are we going
to live any longer in sin then, if we re dead to it? And look
down here in verse 6, Knowing this, we know this, that
our old man is crucified with him. This old person, this man
that was born of Adam, this man that was born and shaped in iniquity,
is crucified with him. And here's the reason why, that
the body of sin, and that God just recognized it as a body,
a whole thing of sin, a body of sin, might be destroyed that
henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed
from sin. Where did we die at? We died
with Christ. Where was we crucified at? We
were crucified with Christ. And oh, who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It was Christ that died. And
I'll tell you another thing we're dead to. We're dead to the law.
We're dead to the law. I just finished Arthur Pink's
biography and There's two things that he harped on continually,
constantly, a lot. He harped on personal holiness.
Everybody ought to have personal holiness, obey God and obedience
to God. And also he dealt with practical
Christianity. You know, practice, practice,
practice. But here's the thing about it.
And he says that we all, the law has to be, we have to live
by that law and obey that law. But the scriptures tells us we're
dead to the law. How can we be alive in Christ
and alive to the law? We're dead to the law. Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness. Christ put away the power of
the law. He upheld the law. He magnified the law. He honored
the law. And I don't find a thing in the
world along with the law, but I find out that in my flesh I
cannot satisfy God, I can't please God, so Christ come into this
world to do for me what I could not do. So when I look at the
law, I don't find any condemnation. It don't condemn me. I can look
at love God with all your heart. I do, where at? In Christ. I love my neighbors and myself,
we're at, in Christ. I honor my father and my mother,
we're at, in Christ. I don't lie, we're at, in Christ.
I don't commit adultery, we're at, in Christ. I don't have any
gods before me, we're at, in Christ. We're dead to the law. And I ain't, I'm not gonna go
under no social stances. And I'll tell you something about
practical Christianity. Brad, when he was praying, he
mentioned it. You know what'll affect the way you live more
than anything in this world? Right, true doctrine, that Christ
should love me, that Christ should be crucified for me, that I should
be crucified with Christ. If doctrine does not make you
live and Christ's love does not change your character and your
nature and the way you live in this world, REAL STRONG TRUE
DOCTRINE HAS AN EFFECT ON THE WAY PEOPLE LIVE IN THIS WORLD.
NOW I CAN PREACH ON PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY ALL YOU WANT TO.
DRESS THIS WAY, DO THIS THING, DO THAT WAY, KEEP THE SABBATH,
YOU KNOW, GET UP IN THE MORNING AND DON'T DO NOTHING FOR A WHOLE
DAY. Oh my, that a man should be crucified
with Christ, and what this is actually talking about is substitution. Substitution, that Christ died
and we died with Him. And here's the third thing that
we're dead to. We're dead to the wrath and justice
of God. God will never, ever be angry
with us. Justice will never come after
us. God s justice cannot draw His sword out again. He draw
His sword out and said, Awake, O sword, and smite my shepherd,
and the sheep shall be scattered. And our Lord Jesus Christ, that
sword of God s justice was plunged into His heart, and God pulled
it out, wiped the blood off of it, and put it back in His sheep,
and it will never come out against anybody for whom Christ died.
God's justice, we're dead to that. We're dead to the wrath
of God, God's wrath. He cannot possibly be angry with
us. That'd be like being angry with
his son and having wrath against his son. Could he do that? No, no, no. Oh my, and then look
over here in Galatians 6.14. I want you to see this. We're
in Galatians 2 in verse 20. Oh, that we should be crucified
with Christ. God regarded us as one from the
foundation of the world. He said in verse 14, but God
forbid, He used that several times, but God forbid that I
should glory, boast in, rejoice in, only in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Here we go, the three crucifixions,
by whom the world is crucified under me. Does the world hold
any attraction for you? We died. He delivered us from
this present evil world. And the world is crucified under
me and I under the world. And then Christ was crucified.
And that's what we glory in. We glory And you know, and I
think I've submitted just several times, there's a lot of people
says, you know, I trust in the finished work of Christ on the
cross. I don't. I'm talking about the
Christ who was on the cross. That's what I'm talking about,
crucifixion. Christ was crucified. Christ gave himself. It's not
the finished work, it's who did the work and who finished it.
I'm not trusting in a finished work, I'm trusting in Christ
to finish the work. When Christ said it is finished,
that's when you can believe it's finished. And it was finished
for a particular people, that's why Paul said, He loved me and
gave Himself for me. I'm crucified with Christ, and
Christ should give Himself for sinners. And then we're crucified
with Christ, become dead to the law, dead to sin, and dead to
the covenant of wrath and that. And then here's another thing
that it says here. I'm crucified with Christ, and
listen to this now, that a crucified man shall still be alive. I'm
crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. Now how can a dead man
live? Well, it tells us how. Nevertheless
I live. You know, who do we live with?
We are alive under God through Jesus Christ. Alive under righteousness. And there's two men, two men,
and this person that we're dealing with, when we talk to one another,
there's two of us. There really is two of us. He said, I'm crucified
with Christ. I died there. Nevertheless, though
I died with Christ, nevertheless, I'm living. I'm living. How do I live? Christ liveth
in me. Christ liveth in me. Look here
in Galatians 5, 17. You know, we still have a personality.
We still have desires. We still have a will. We have
a personality. But look what it says in verse
17. This is what we're talking about.
I'm crucified, but I should still be alive. Now that's one of them
things that you just, how do you explain that? You don't,
you believe it. For the flesh lusteth against
the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. You see that's capitalized,
Spirit means the Holy Spirit. because it is CAPITALIZED, this
FLESH lusts, wars against the SPIRIT, and the SPIRIT against
the FLESH. They are ABSOLUTELY OPPOSED to
one another, CONTRARY to one another, and you CANNOT do the
things you WOULD. You CANNOT! You CANNOT, and you
can?t be as WORLDLY as you can be, and as FLESH as you can be,
and you can?t be as SPIRITUAL as you want to be. You can't
do it, you can't do it. And I'll, you know, I'll tell
you live. Let me, let me look, look with
me over here in Romans chapter 7. This is a perfect, perfect
illustration of what we're talking about. Romans chapter 7. Still out there,
you know, a crucified man shall still be alive. He says this in verse 15. For
that which I do, I allow not, or I know not. For what I would, what I will
to do, that do I not. For what I hate, I do. I do. Don't you hate some of the things
you do, some of the things you think? If then I do that which I would
not, that I wouldn't do, if I end up doing that which I wouldn't
do, he said, I have to consent unto this that the law is good.
How did we find out that? Because we found out that the
flesh lusts against the Spirit, the Holy Spirit. Now it is then
is no more I that does what I'm doing, but what is it? It's sin that dwelleth in me.
And everybody, every believer knows this right here. For I
know that in me, that is in my flesh, that old man, dwells no
good thing. For to will is present with me. Got the will, got the will. But how to perform that which
is good, I find not. For the good that I would, I
don't do. But the evil, which I would not,
that I do." That's pretty much an explanation of why we are
two people. Two people. And both of them
come to service with us every time we come. Don't they? The new man comes with you, the
old man comes too. You will to come into this service,
and I do too. to be focused entirely on what
goes on in this service. Everything that's said, everything
that's said and everything that's done, I mean really take it.
But boy, mine goes over here and mine goes over there. You
know, and you get tired, you get weary. As you know I, that
new man wants to do everything just right. That old man won't
let you. And oh my, So I tell you, what
we wouldn't do, we do. What we love, we don't. What
we hate, we do. That's what he just said. That's what he just
said. All right, look over here at
the sixth thing. Seven things I told you in this verse. Back
over here in Galatians 2. And the fifth thing was that
a crucified man should still be alive, and that a crucified
Christ should live in a crucified man. He said, I am crucified
with Christ, nevertheless I live. Now listen to this now, yet not
I, I'm not living, but Christ liveth in me. Oh, live in me, that a crucified
Christ should live in a crucified man, he said, but yet not I,
but Christ liveth in me, and the life I now live in the flesh,
I live by the faith of the Son of God. Here's two people that's
crucified, Christ is crucified, we're crucified with him, and
Paul says, yet not I, but Christ. So here we got two people crucified,
yet you're alive, yet not I, but Christ, liveth in me." John 14, 19 says this, Because
I live, our Lord said, Because I live, I live, you shall live
also. Only because I'm alive, only
because I live and have life in myself. He said that's the
only reason you live. And I tell you what, Christ in
you, that's the hope of glory. And here's the thing, how in
the world should a man live He said, I'm living, but yet it's
not I that's alive. This flesh ain't got nothing
to do with my life. Yet Christ, Christ lives in me. Our Lord said, My Father and
I will take up our abode. We'll come to live with you,
come live in you, and abide with you, and stay with you. And how,
oh, what a blessed comfort that is. that Christ lives in us. That's the only way we can live
in this world, and live any way to honor God in any way. And
here's the last thing, that this man, this crucified man, this
man who lives by Christ and Christ lives in them, and the life they
live in the flesh, that lives in this old body, is lived by
the faith. Now listen to this, we live by
the faith of the Son of God. We don't live by our faith, and
though we have faith, we have faith, God gave us faith, we
have faith, we believe, we believe, but how we actually live in this
world and how we're saved in this world is by the faith of
the Lord Jesus Christ. This is one of the mysteries
I'm telling you, I don't know how to explain it, I don't know
if I can, I don't even know if I should try, but I, Lord Jesus
Christ, He depended on His Father for everything in this world.
As a man, He looked to His Father. He obeyed His Father. He loved
His Father. He'd done His Father's will.
And when He went to the cross, He believed that His Father,
knowing what His Father was gonna do, but the Father would receive
Him back up into glory. But I tell you, we live by the
faith of the Son of God who loved us. His faithfulness. My faith wouldn't fill the thimble. What faith I got wouldn't fill
the thimble. But His faith fills all of His people. His faithfulness. I look to His faith and I don't
look to mine. And I don't look to yours. But I look to His faithfulness. He's the one that was faithful.
He is faithful to His Father. He is faithful to the covenant.
He is faithful to die. He is faithful to us now. He'll be faithful to the end.
He said, I'll never leave you and I'll never forsake you. Never
do it. I love you. He said, those that
He loved, He said, I'll love you to the end. Love you to the end. And then
he says, the life I now live in the flesh, I live it by the
faith, by the faith of Christ himself. Not mine, his. I have to look to him to live.
I have to look to him to have life. I have to look him to believe. I have to look him for everything. Our Father, in our blessed Savior's
name, thank you for meeting with us this evening. Thank you for
giving me just a little bit to say. And I pray that you'd be pleased
to use it, use it to your good and your glory. And Lord, forgive me if everything
is so unlike you. And Lord, bless these dear saints
of God as they go their way. And again, we pray for Bill,
pray for Fran. Lord, their hearts are broken,
their hearts are troubled, and they have no one to look
to but you. And what a wonderful place to
look, someone who to trust. God bless them, God keep them.
Lord, uphold them. Give them what they need in their
every hour of every day. Give them what they need, what
they have to have. And I know you will, because
you're so faithful, you're so kind, you're so compassionate,
you're so merciful. And you pity us as a father pities
his children, Lord, you pity us. Knowing that we're but dust,
knowing our frame, we're just dust, weak, frail, helpless children
without you. So, Lord, give us strength. Give
us courage. Bless our faith. Fill us with
grace. Fill us with your love. Oh, God,
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 power ? Holiness forevermore ? ? My redemption
full and sure ? ? He is all I need ? Good night, God bless you,
Lord, we'll see you Wednesday. Okay.