Let's all stand together and
we'll sing hymn number 42. Number 42. All hail the power of Jesus'
name. Let angels blossom and fall. Bring forth the royal diadem
and crown him Lord of all. Bring forth the royal diadem
and crown him Lord of all. Ye chosen seed of Israel's grace
He ransomed from the fall Hail Him who saves you by His grace
and crowns you Let every kindred, every tribe
on this terrestrial ball, to Him all majesty ascribe, and
crown Him Lord of all. Oh joy Be seated. We'll sing hymn number
452. I stand amazed in the presence
of the Lord. How marvelous! Oh, how wonderful! Is Christ, Savior's love for
me! Here's to it's own. In wonder. He took my sins and my soul and died ♪ For how wonderful is my Savior's
love for me ♪ When with the ransomed in glory ♪ His face I at last
shall see Well, thank you all again for
that wonderful gift. I know it. Appreciate it very
much. Very, very much, Shirley and
I do. Open to Ephesians 2 and also to Hebrews 3. Get Ephesians with your left
hand, Hebrews 3 with your right. Steve's made our pulpit a little
higher for when the tall guys come. I'm gonna try it out myself. See how it works. Ephesians 2 and Hebrews 3. Now, let's look in verse 19 of
Ephesians 2, and then we'll read in Hebrews 3. Now, therefore, you are no more
strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints
and of the household of God. and are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the
chief cornerstone, in whom all the building, fitly framed together,
groweth in an holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye also are
builded together for habitation of God through the Spirit. Now he's talking about a building
there, a building, a building, and God gathers us together like
he'd gather a building. Now, look here at Hebrews 3. Let's start with verse
1, but I'll get to where I want to go. Wherefore, holy brethren,
the takers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high
priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, who is faithful to him
that appointed him. God appointed him. as also Moses
was faithful in all his house in his generation. For this man,
the Lord Jesus, was counted worthy of more glory than Moses. Now
listen to this. Inasmuch as he who hath built
the house hath more honor than the house. The fellow that builds
it has more honor than the house itself. For every house is built
by some man, but listen to this, but he that built all things
is God. And Moses verily was faithful
in all his house as a servant for a testimony of those things
which have been spoken after. But Christ as a son over his
own house, whose house are we, if we hold fast the beginning,
the confidence of hope firm unto the end. Now I'm going to try
to bring a message from those things being built, built. Our Father, oh, our great and
glorious, blessed God in heaven. Lord, we are so thankful that
we have access to you through your blessed son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And Lord, we come to bless you
and to praise you, to thank you always to do that, to bring glory
to your holy name through your son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Father,
and I thank you for allowing us to wake up this morning closed
in our right mind with this desire, this will, this time that you've
blessed us to come together. We're here because it's where
we want to be. We're here because it's where we love to be. And
Lord, we ask that you would please cause the gospel to run well
here today, cause the Lord Jesus to be honored, your name to be
magnified, and above all, thanks for you to get all the glory
and everything that's said and done. And now, Lord Jesus, we
pray for those among us who are sick, who are tried, who are
afflicted. Lord, you know who they are,
but there are some that, Lord, we have a great burden for. For Albert and Barb, oh, God,
have mercy. Lord Jesus, have mercy. For Rick
and Helen, Oh Lord, what a situation you put them in. And they acknowledge
your hand in all of it. Pray for Fran, who's not been
able to be with us for so long. Weakened body. And it seems like
these people just continue to get weaker and weaker. But Lord,
we all of us, you told us that our life is but a vapor. Appears
for a little time and then just vanishes away. that our life
is like a hand's breath. It's like a weaver's shuttle.
And then you also told us, Lord, to number our days. Give us the
wisdom to number our days. And, Lord, we're thankful that
you also told us that you order our steps, you count our
steps. But, oh, Lord, what a blessed
hope we have. All these that I've mentioned
today got a blessed hope. and I'm thankful for that. But
Lord, enable us to worship you today. Thank you for these people,
and thank you for the saints, and thank you for their generosity
towards me and my wife. We thank you so much. Bless your
holy name. In Christ's name, amen. Amen. Hymn number 117. 117. He was wounded for our transgressions. He poured our sins in his body
on the tree. For our guilt he gave us peace,
from our bondage gave release. And with his stripes, and with
his stripes, and with his stripes, our souls are healed. He was numbered among transgressors. We did esteem him forsaken by
his God. As our sacrifice he died, that
the law be satisfied. And all our sin, and all our
sin, and all our sin was laid on Him. We had wondered, we all
had wondered, Far from the fold of the shepherd of the sheep,
but he sought us where we were, on the mountains bleak and bare,
and brought us home and brought us home, and brought us safely
home to God, who can number his generation, who shall declare
all the triumphs of his cross. Millions dead now live again,
myriads follow in his train. Victorious Lord, victorious Lord,
victorious Lord and coming King. We'll all stand together and
we'll sing the hymn of the day in the Bulletin. Few were told that he would come
In the fullness of God's time God in flesh revealed to some
Prince of Peace, the Lord Divine ♪ Angels sing, peace day, dear
son ♪ ♪ Find him wrapped in swaddling clothes ♪ ♪ Shepherds went to
see his foe ♪ ♪ He would free us from our woes ♪ ♪ God the
Father sings, peace day, dear son ♪ those chosen ones. Many men slept in that darkness,
not knowing the Lord had come. They knew not the Lord Jesus
and salvations of this morn. Oh Not the babe born in a manger,
but this Lord of heaven and earth, is to be the one we worship. before his birth. In desert God's arm of justice,
God in mercy sent his Son. For her his sheep he calls by
grace, To redeem his chosen ones. Be seated. OK. Not only are we recording in
three places right now, four, But I'm gonna make it five. I'm
gonna turn this thing on. All right, look with me now back
in Ephesians 2. Ephesians 2. It says there that we are built,
verse 20, 220. We are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets. Jesus Christ himself being the
chief corner and Then they put in their stone
chief corner stone in Whom all the building fitly framed together
groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord in Whom by God and by
the Spirit of God you are also builded together for habitation
of God through the Spirit It says here about a foundation,
it talks about a building. Our spiritual life, our spiritual
life, from the time that we're born again to the time, from
the time we have the new birth. And when we have the new birth,
when God gives us life, He brings us into His Kingdom. Gives us
a new heart, a new mind, a new will, new affections. makes us
a new man, a new creature in Christ. From then on, you began
to grow. All living things grow. If something's
alive, it grows. From our first beginnings as
newborn babes in Christ, we began to grow and we've been to grow
in grace and the life of a believer and the life of the church. life of a believer in the life
of a church, local assembly, or the church universal, if you
want to call it that. And God's Word is referred to
often as a building, as a building, as a house, a building. All things are built of God,
and we're built together. Christ is the Son over His own
house, and so we have a building, and when there's a building,
Every building has a starting place. Everybody here that knows
anything about building, whenever you're gonna start, they put
the line up and they have a corner they start from, if they're laying
block. But anything, every building
has a starting place. They have to have a starting
place. And then when you go out, before you ever start the building,
you have to go get you some plans, what kind of building you wanna
build, what kind of house you wanna build. How big is it going
to be? What's it going to look like?
How's it going to lay out? And then you've got to find a place
to build it. Where are you going to build
it at? Where are you going to build it? Where are you going
to build it? Then after you decide all this, find your plan, find
you a place to build it, then you lay the foundation. Then
you get all the material together. somebody knows what they're doing,
they know how to put it together, and you end up with a building.
Well, it says that we're a building,
in verse 21, in whom all the building fitly framed together. God put us together, He built
this house, He built this church, He built, and look what, you
know, it's like a house coming together, everything comes together.
You know, when you first start, you say, well, that's You've
got to see what's going to be at the end. God knows what the
end's going to be before He ever started. But anyway, He says,
"...whom all the building fitly framed together." But where did
He start out with? He started out with a cornerstone.
He started out with a starting place, a cornerstone. And then
He says, "...everything's built together into a holy temple."
Now, you imagine God building a temple. And this holy temple's in the
Lord. And in Christ, we're also built together for habitation
of God through the Spirit. So the foundation must be laid,
the mill together, and it's all put together. You remember when
our Lord Jesus Christ, He said, I'll tell you a wise man. I said,
I'll tell you who a wise man He is. When he started building
a house, he laid his foundation on a stone. He that heareth these
sayings of mine, and doeth them, is like as though a man who built
a house, but he laid the foundation on a stone. And then a foolish
man is a man who hears these words and don't do them. He builds
his house on a sand. And he said, the storms come,
and the winds blow, and the rains descend, And that house built
on the rock, it stands. That house built on the sand,
they both look exactly the same, but down that one on the sand,
down it comes. So how in the world are we gonna
make sure that this building stands? That we're a building
of God? Let me show you something over
in Luke chapter 14. Look here in Luke chapter 14.
Look what our Master's teaching us over here about a building. about a building, Luke 14, 28. And I'm going to talk about our
building, our foundation. Everything's got to have a foundation.
What about our foundation? What about our spiritual foundation?
What are we built on? What's our foundation? What's
our foundation? But look what he said here in
verse 28 of Luke chapter 14. for which of you, intending to
build a tower, don't sit down first. He sits down and figure
out, now what, I gotta count the cost, whether I have enough
to finish it. Will I have enough to finish
this tower that I'm starting to build? And perhaps after a
while, he's laid the foundation and not able to finish it. And
everybody looks at him and begin to mock him. That poor fool,
he started something and he didn't have to, he started something
that he couldn't finish. And I'll tell you this much,
if you start your own spiritual life, it's not going to end up
right. You're not going to be able to
finish it. That's why He says, if you're going to follow Me,
you've got to count the cost. You've got to count the cost.
Are you willing to follow Me? Are you willing to follow Me
in spite of your husband, your wife, your children, your mother,
your daughter, your children started a building and you reckon
He's able to bring it to fruition? You reckon if God starts a building,
and He builds a church, and He builds a church, He builds a
group of people, He brings people from all over the world, we're
saying that millions follow in His train. Do you reckon that
God got started and said, well, I just don't hardly know if I
got what it takes to finish this work? Huh? I don't know if I've
got the funds. I don't know if I got the sufficiency.
I don't know if I got the power. I don't know if I got the purpose.
I don't know if I got enough building material to put it together.
You reckon God ever thought that? Look over here with me at 1 Corinthians
3. 1 Corinthians 3. I'm going the wrong direction. And look what it says here in
verse 10. Paul called himself a wise master builder. Oh my. And that's what we want to talk
about. Have we got a foundation that can be built upon? Paul
said here in 1 Corinthians 3.10, According to the grace of God,
which is given unto me, as a wise master builder, Now, he's a master
builder, not just a builder, a master builder. I've laid the
foundation, and another builds thereon. I laid the foundation,
but let every man take heed how he builds upon that foundation. And listen to this, for no other
foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is
Jesus Christ. Now, you gotta build on that.
So the foundation's laid. It talks about built upon the
foundation, talking about a foundation. Well, the first thing it says
here in Ephesians 2.20 is you're built upon the foundation of
the apostles, of the apostles. Well, what did the apostles preach?
What did the apostles teach? What did the apostles have to
say about the Lord Jesus Christ? What did they have to say about
Him? We're built upon the foundation of the apostles. There's a message
that I have and I'll presume out of out of Axel called the
Apostles Creed. But you know what they told the
first when they when they got that Sanhedrin got them all gathered
around and all the high priest and everybody's anybody got James
and John all hemmed up. You know what Peter said unto
him, he said, I'll tell you this, there's no other name under heaven,
given among men, whereby we must be saved other than Jesus Christ."
And I'll tell you, we're built on that foundation. The apostle
said, there's no other name, no other name. The Buddha's not,
the priest ain't, there's nobody in this world, no name, wherever
you go, that God will hear or God will accept or save anybody
other than the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Huh? That's a pretty good start, ain't
it? Huh? And not only that no other name,
but whereby we must be saved. If you're gonna be saved, you
must be saved. And whose name's gonna save you?
Who's God gonna accept you in the name of the Lord Jesus? Huh? Oh my. We pray to God in
his holy name. And then it says not only build
upon the apostles, then it says the prophets. Well, what in the
world did the prophets say about him? Acts 10 43 said to him,
to him, give all the prophets witness. And our Lord Jesus, when He was
with the disciples on the Emmaus Road, He began at Moses, and
the Psalms, and the prophets, and in the law, and He preached
Himself and said, these things are written about Me, about Me. And so that's a pretty good,
well we got this foundation, the apostles, the prophets, and
listen to this, and Jesus Christ himself. Oh boy, Jesus Christ himself. I love that, I just love that
statement. Jesus Christ himself, gave himself. and Jesus Christ Himself. All right, we got a foundation,
we got the prophets, and Jesus Christ Himself being the chief
cornerstone. Do you think you could have a
better foundation than that? Do you think you could be built
on any better foundation than that? Now, go with me to Isaiah. Go with me to Isaiah 26. Isaiah
26. Or 28, excuse me, 28, I'm sorry,
28. Oh, look what God says here, and
this is what the Lord's doing. And the Lord said, you know,
in verse 15, because you've made a covenant with death and with
hell are we in agreement, the overflowing scourge shall pass
through us, shall not come unto us, for we made lies our refuge,
and unto falsehood have we hid ourselves." So what does God
do? What does God do? He said, Listen, you all got
your covenant, you got everything all fixed up for yourselves.
Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, behold, I lay in
Zion for a foundation, A stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone,
a sure foundation. And he that believeth shall not
make haste. So you know this foundation that
we have, you know who built it and who laid it? God Himself. He Christ Himself is our foundation. On Christ the solid rock we stand. Ain't that what He says there
in verse 16? He says this, God laid him as
the foundation. God said, I'll lay it. I'll lay
it. I'll lay it. Paul didn't lay
Christ Jesus as the foundation stone. God did that. He just
built on that stone that was already laid, that foundation
already laid. And he said, God said, I'll lay
it. What did he lay? A stone. A stone. Over in Daniel, it says there's
a stone cut out of a mountain. There's a stone cut out of a
mountain and it destroys all other mountains. And this one
stone cut out of the mountain has dominion over all the world. And then not only that, but it
says he's a tried stone. A tried stone. Oh my. He's tried. Who tried him? Who
tried him? Well, God tried him. God tried
him. God sent him into this world
and God tried him from the day he was born to the day he died
on the cross. And you know what God said about
him? He said, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased.
He said, listen, Moses got something to say, Elijah's got something
to say, but I tell you what, you listen to my son more than
you listen to anybody else. You hear what he's got to say.
And I tell you what, when they getting ready to walk away from
him, all the disciples, he said, I guess you're going to go away
too. He said, whom shall we go Lord? You've got the words of
eternal life. And God laid this stone. It's
a tried stone. God tried him. And then all the
days of his life, man tried him. He was tried by man. People are
still trying the Lord Jesus Christ. He is tried by man. Man tried
him, every Pharisee, every Sadducee, every false prophet, everybody
that was anybody tried him. Tried him at his words, tried
him at his life, tried him over the way he walked, everything
about him they tried him. Tried to continually trap him
in his words and tempt him in his words. And then when it come
time to stand before Pilate, Pilate told him, I believe it's,
I may be mistaken here, but I believe it was four times. Pilate says,
I find no fault in this man. Why do you want him to die? I
find no fault in this man. I find no fault in this man.
And I, Lord Jesus, looked at all them Pharisees with all their
laws and all their rituals and all their ceremonies. And he
said this, which one of you, which one of you can convict
me or convince me of sin in my life? Where did I ever say anything
wrong? Would I ever do anything wrong?
I never thought anything wrong. I never took a wrong step. I
never treated anybody wrong. Everything I'd done was perfect.
Absolutely perfect. And all is tried by man. And
I tell you what, find no fault in him. And then he is tried
by the law. Now I tell you, the law of God,
people make, they make very little of it. I never will forget one
time I was talking about how many people in here think they've
ever copped the law. Some woman raised her hand and I said, oh
my. I said, as you know, it's awful. But people honestly think
that they keep the law. You can't keep the first one.
You broke the first one. You know how many laws you breaking
of God's holy law? And I'm talking about just the
Ten Commandments. That's all we have to deal with.
The Ten Commandments. Love God with all your heart,
mind, body, soul, and strength. Anybody in here doing that today? Love your neighbor as yourself.
Anybody doing that today? Don't you dare make any image
of me. I don't care if the heavens and
the earth and the sea don't make no image of me nowhere. And they
got images of Jesus and images of angels and they got him with
a heart over his head and they got him with a lamb in his arms.
They got him in every way they can get him in. But God's law followed him every
step, every day of his life. And I mean, he was a Jew, and
every ceremony, every ritual, all the law, he said, listen,
he said, I come not to destroy it, but to fulfill every jot
and every tittle of it. And when it got down to saying
it, our God himself said, behold, my son, When the law looked at
him, the law said, yes, he loves me with all of his heart. I delight
to do thy will, O God, thy law I delight to do. It's in my heart
to do your will. And all to love his neighbor
as yourself. Bruce Crabtree told me yesterday
about this famous, famous preacher. Forget his name, I don't know
if he said it. But he was a world-renowned preacher, preached all over the
world. Well, well known. I mean, he knew the Bible and
one time he was in a college and he preached in a college
and there's going to have a question and answer session at the end
of that of that service. So he sat down and a person got
up and asked him, he said, you know, said, you're well known
all over the world. And we know you've studied the
Bible and you know the Bible very well, the scriptures very
well. He said, what's the most amazing thing that's ever crossed
your mind? And you know what he said? He
said that God loves me. Christ kept the law, we didn't. But because God loved us in Christ. Now you think about that. You
look at yourself right this moment. Can you say, God loves me? You, me. Christ loved God. And because Christ loved God
and Christ died for us, God loves us just like he did his son. That's amazing. Huh? Oh my, he was not only tried
by the law, and he's the end of the law for righteousness
to every one of us that believes. I don't want nothing to do with
God's law. Absolutely nothing. It's holy,
just, and good. But I'm carnal. I'm not holy,
just, and good. The only holiness I've got is
what Christ gave me. The only justification I've got
is what Christ justified me. The only righteousness I've got,
Christ gave it to me. Then he is tried by Satan. Satan
tempted him, and tempted him, and tempted him, and then he
said, and he got to the end of the way, he said, Satan hath
no part in me. And then his death come along.
Death come along. He was on that cross, and death
said, I'm gonna try him. Death, you don't get back from
that. When people we love die, we can't bring them back. We can't even talk to them. We
can't communicate with them. You can't go get an astrologist
or a psychic or one of these here witches or anybody else
that says they can talk to people from the dead. But our death
said, I'll try him. I'll try this man. And he died on that cross and
cried out, it is finished. And death said, I'll try. And
he said, death took him. And they took him down because
he's dead and buried him. Death tried him. But you know
what death found out? What he got through, he said,
oh, death, where is thy string? Oh, grave, where is thy victory?
They went over there to see if he was still in the tomb. They
said, he's not here, where's he at? He's risen, he's over
in Galilee, waiting on you. And then it says not only that,
but it says he's a precious cornerstone, a precious stone, a sure foundation. Oh, how precious is Christ to
us. God laid it. Oh, it can be sure cause God
laid it. It can be sure this foundation Christ can, because
God tried it. And then it says, he that believeth,
he that believeth. What it says, shall not make
haste. Do you know what that word make haste mean? Over in Romans
10, it says, shall not be confounded. He don't have to hurry. He don't
have to be in a rush. He don't have to try to get God
to do something. He just can rest, be quiet, be
comfortable. But let me tell you something
else about this stone. There's a lot of people reject this stone.
Look in Acts chapter four. Look in Acts chapter four. A
lot of people reject this stone. Oh, it was tried. Oh, what a
foundation. What a foundation God gave us
to build on. You know, the house we live in,
they had to have somebody come out there and they paid a big
price. People lived before we did, because
the foundation went to cracking, right in a corner. I mean, it
just went to cracking, but then it went right down through here
like this here. And you know, when we bought it, the people
done that, we get the guarantee with it. If that foundation starts
moving again, they got to come fix it. But I mean, they got
to all this thing went down through there and went to all breaking.
That wasn't a very good foundation. But this foundation ain't gonna
crack. This ain't gonna crack. Put all the pressure you want
on it. Put all the weight you want on it. Put all of it on
just this one corner over here. This building ain't gonna get
lopsided. It ain't gonna get crooked. No,
no. Oh, look what he said here in
Acts chapter 4. And it says in verse 11, look
what it says here. Well, look in verse 10. Be it
known unto you all to the people of Israel, that by the name of
Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised
from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you
whole. This was the stone, the same
stone we just read about. This is the stone of you builders.
You fellas think you're building something. You're building on
the law. You're building on Moses, which
has become the head of the corner. You rejected it. You rejected
it. The stone which is said of naught.
That word naught means considered to be nothing. You said this
stone ain't worth putting in my building. This stone ain't
worth building on. Fade that thing away. Get it
out of our sight. He said, but God said, this is
the building, the stone that God said. Said, you said it's
nothing. Said it was nothing. Huh, said
it at naught. It was a rejected stone. And
some believed, though. Oh, we're talking about believe,
he that believeth. As many as were ordained to eternal life,
they believed. They believed. Our Lord Jesus
asked the apostles one time, he said, He said, you fellas
been out around. You've been out around all the
people and you know what's going on. And he said, you hear all
the talk about in town and everything's going on. He said, what in the
world are men saying about me? What's men saying about me? You've
been over here and you've been over there and you've been everywhere.
He said, what is men saying about me? And one of them said, well,
some of them say they believe you're Jeremiah. You're that
weeping prophet because you're, you're acquainted with grief
and sorrow. And another says, well, some
think you're Elijah because you've got so much power, so much authority.
Some says you know that you're one of the other prophets. And
then he looked at him and said, but who do you, who do you say
that I am? Oh, Simon Peter says, thou art
the Christ, the son of the living God. You know what our Lord said? he said flesh and blood didn't
reveal that unto you but my father built that and revealed that
unto you and upon this rock and he wasn't talking about Peter
either that's what the catholic church they go back to Peter
said he was the first he was the first pope he's talking the
church gonna be built on Peter can you imagine a church built
on Simon Peter And he said, upon this rock,
upon this rock, I'm gonna build my church. He's talking about
himself. And he said, the gates of hell ain't gonna prevail against
it. And I tell you what, hell's been turned loose on some sometimes.
And I tell you, God ordained him as the only giver of life.
Gave him power over all flesh that he should give eternal life
to as many as God gave him. He's the only one this stone
that God laid. He's the only one God will accept
anything from. He will not accept anything from
us today. He won't even accept our prayers.
He won't accept our tears. He won't accept our Bible readings.
He won't accept our sincerity. He won't accept a thing we've
ever done. The only person He accepts anything through and
from is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. And the only ways that
we're accepted is we're accepted in Him. We're accepted because
of what He did. Huh? There's only one altar as
far as God's concerned. And He accepts sinners only on
that altar. And that altar is Jesus Christ
Himself. Huh? Oh, we're accepted in the
Beloved, and that's the only way we're accepted. God will
only, only be addressed, only be accepted. Scott Richardson,
I've heard him said, I don't know how many times, said, God
wouldn't touch you with a 10-foot pole. He won't have anything
to do with you. The only person you have anything
to do with is with his son, and the only people have anything
to do with that believes on his son, and bows to his son, and
comes to his son, and enjoys his son, and finds Christ to
be their own salvation. Wouldn't you all agree with that? Oh, he's the only one, how do
you know the Holy Spirit's in a service? Because he's the only
one the Lord Jesus, the only one the Holy Spirit will speak
of and bring sinners to. He don't bring sinners to altars.
He don't bring sinners to the front of the church. He don't
bring sinners to a preacher. Oh, he only brings sinners to
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only person he speaks
of is Christ. Abraham Zichron and I preached
here a couple of weeks ago, and Abraham went looking for a bride
for Isaac. He said, now listen, don't you
take my son over there. You bring her to him. And that's
what God says about everybody. If you're going to have anything
to do, you're going to come to where he's at. He ain't coming. Oh, my. And let me tell you something
else about a firm foundation. I've taken way too long on just
that one. What can I say? It excites me. It stirs me up. And in our foundation,
we have this glorious foundation. God laid it, God laid it. And
God laid this foundation. We're built on the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Christ himself, the chief cornerstone. Tell you another foundation that
we're built upon is a covenant of grace. It's a covenant of
grace, huh? It's a covenant of grace. Look
in Acts 11. No, excuse me, Acts 15. I just thought of this. Just
now thought of it. Look over here in Acts 15. You know, everything's by grace. God made
a covenant of grace. And let me tell you something
about this covenant. God did not make a covenant between us
and him. God did not make a covenant with
me. And I've got to keep my end of it. I've got to keep my part
of the covenant. And that's what Arminianism teaches, you know.
God willed to do something for you, but He can't carry it out
unless you help Him. But now God made a covenant of
grace, and that covenant of grace is between the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit. That's who the covenant's with.
That's who the covenant's with. It's not with us. God bought
again from the dead the Lord Jesus Christ through the everlasting
covenant. everlasting covenant. Look what
he said here now. Here in Acts 15, they have the
first church council that they ever had. First church gathering
to establish some truth. It says there in verse 1, certain
men which came down from Judea taught the brethren and said,
except you be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you can't
be saved. And he said, you all are going to have to go all the
way back to the law. You're gonna have to go all the
way back to Abraham. You're gonna have to go back and do everything
that Abraham had done. And they got in an argument about
it. Oh, they got in a big argument about it. And it says in verse
six, and they got together. In verse five, it says, there
arose up certain sect of the Pharisees, which believed, saying
that it's needful to circumcise this, and listen to this, to
command them to keep the law of Moses. Well, the apostles
and elders came together for this matter. Now, down in verse 10, Peter's
preaching now. Now, therefore, why tempt you
God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples? And Peter said
it like this, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear. Never were able to bear this
law. But now here's what I'm telling you. Now, God said all
that to say this, but we believe through the grace through the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved, even like
Abraham was and everybody else, through grace. If we're going
to be saved, we're going to be saved through grace. Everybody
here is going to have to be saved through grace. That's what he
is telling them. And I said, you know, God made
a covenant. What a wonderful covenant he
made. And this New Testament, he said this New Testament when
he sat down with the disciples, this is the New Testament in
my blood, this new covenant in my blood, in thy blood. The New
Testament in my blood. And what it says, he said in
Hebrews 10, he said, he took away the first to establish the
second. I won't turn over and let you
look at it, but he said over there, he took away the first
that he may establish the second. That was the first covenant,
there's the covenant of works, there's the covenant of law.
Almost everybody, almost everybody in this world believes in that.
Almost everybody believes that they can be saved by their works
and by keeping of some kind of a law. Now, you'll rarely find
anybody that won't say that. It's rare to find somebody that
don't say that, yes, I believe that I'll be all right in the
end. I believe that I've got enough good works. I believe
I've kept the law. I've done this, that, and the
other. They believe that. They believe that. That's the
first covenant. Christ done away with that first
covenant. It's no longer of works, but
it's of grace. NOT by works of righteousness
which we are done, but by His own grace He saved us. Oh, my! Then I'll tell you what, the
first thing He took away was from the first Adam was sin. He took away sin. What did he
bring in? He brought in righteousness.
He done away with death, and he brought in life. He done away
with the old man, and he brought in a new man. Huh? With Adam, we receive the image
of the earthy. In Christ, we have the image
of the heavenly. Huh? Oh, my. And I'll tell you in Oburn, Over in John 17, I tried to count
them up this morning, but I didn't. But in John 17, I don't know
how many times it says over there, given to him, given to him, given
to him, given to him. Who was given to him? A people
was given. Those that thou gavest me, I've
kept and lost none of them. Those that thou gavest me, Father,
they believed my word. They believed your word. And
God gave his son a people. And God covenanted with His Son. I don't know how else to say
it. I hope I ain't boring you. I hope I ain't wearing you out.
But God gave His Son a people. Adam had a whole race. We all
inherited his nature. Christ done away with him and
all that he stood for. And Christ come to give everything
that we lost in Adam, except we get so much more in Christ
than we ever lost in Adam. God gave His Son a people, and
He covenanted to represent those people. He said, ìFather said,
ìListen, son.îî And this is how it happened. Thatís why Christ
was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. God said, ìListen,
Iím going to put a man in the Garden of Eden. Iím going to
give him one commandment. And I tell you what that man's
going to do before he's in that garden very long. I'm going to
tell him not to do one thing. Don't you dare eat of that fruit
in the tree of good and evil. Well, Adam, the first thing he
done was eat of that garden of that fruit and evil, good and
evil. He said, I'm going to put him in there and he's going to
do that. And I'm going to run him away from me. I'm going to
cast him out of my presence. But I've got another man going
to come into this world. And he's gonna be born of me,
not of Adam. He's gonna be born of God. He's
gonna be born of the Holy Ghost. And everything that Adam did,
he's gonna undo. Oh my. And so they entered into
this covenant. He said, will you go? And he
said, I'll go. I'll go. And so he came to represent those
people. Where do you represent Him at?
In His life. His whole life. First of all,
in His birth. We were born of sinful parents.
Christ was born of God. We died in our parents and we
inherited our sin from our parents. Well, in Christ, I tell you what,
we inherit His life, we inherit His Lordship, we inherit His
seed. And I tell you, in His life,
He represented us. All the days of His life, He
represented us. He presented a sinless life to
God Almighty. And He had no sin, none whatsoever.
He's holy and righteous and glorious. Then He represented us in His
death. The wages of sin is death. Well,
Christ had no sin of his own, so God didn't pay him any wages.
What did he do? He said, Father, you charged
me with their sin. You laid their sin on me. I'll bear their iniquities. I'll
be wounded for their transgressions. You can make my soul an offering
for sin. Take all their sin, every thought,
every word, every look, Every deed, take it all and put it
on me. And when our Lord Jesus Christ
died, he had one word to say, it is finished. And all my, and
then he, in his resurrection, you know who was raised with
him? We were raised together with him, the scripture said.
Oh my. It said in his ascension, he
said, listen, Christ gonna come back just like he went. And you
know who he went to heaven to pray for and intercede for? Everyone
given to him. And he took full responsibility
for them. And I'm thankful he did. You know, the shepherd's responsible
for the sheep. And you reckon he's able to take
care of his sheep? Huh? And he did this willingly
so. Well, I'm going to skip one and
I'm going to give you one more and then I'm going to quit. I'm
going to skip a point and go down to the last one. You know,
that's God's purpose of predestination to restore the image of Christ,
God in Christ and his elect. We're going to be conformed to
the image of his son. But I'll tell you, you know,
Our foundation is so firm and so sure because the Lord promised
to come back to get us. Turn with me now to 1 Thessalonians
4. Our Lord promised to come back
and get us. You know, our Lord went to a cross, died, bore our
sin in his own body on that tree. He was our surety. He said, I'll
stand good for everything that they've got, everything they
did against you, I'll stand good for it. And I'll make it all
right. I'll make it all acceptable.
I'll make it all perfect. But you know, our Lord promised
to come back for us. He said, I go to prepare a place
for you. And if I go to prepare a place
for you, he said, I will, I will come again. I'm coming back. That's what he told them disciples
there when they were stood looking up at him on Mount Olivet. And
the Lord lifted up his hands and blessed him and he went up
and they said, oh, you men of Galilee, why stand you gazing
up? This same Jesus who went away in this manner gonna come
in the like way, in the like manner. And he said, I'll come
again and I'll take you unto myself, take you unto myself,
that where I am. There you may be too. Be with
me. Be with me. Told that thief in
Odena Croft, said, today you're gonna be with me in paradise. Oh my, but look what he says
in verse 13. First Thessalonians 4, 13. I would not have you to be ignorant,
brethren. I don't want you to be ignorant.
Brethren, about everybody that's already going to sleep, going
to sleep, they're just going to rest. They don't have to deal
with what's going on in this world. And I don't want you to
be sorrowful as the others which have no hope. A lot of people
leave this world and they have no hope. But listen to this,
for if we believe that Jesus died, I believe that, and that
He rose again, I believe that. Even so, Them also which sleep
in Jesus, resting in Christ, in Jesus, God will bring with
Him, gonna bring them with Him. For this we say unto you by God's
word, by the scriptures themselves, that we which are alive and remain,
and that's what we're doing right now, we're alive and we're here.
unto the coming of the Lord shall not hinder them, prevent them
which are asleep." You could be standing on the grave of somebody
that the Lord's fixed to raise from the dead, and you ain't
going to hinder them. Look what He said, "...for
the Lord Himself," I heard that Himself again, "...shall descend
from heaven with a shout." Oh, my goodness! Oh my goodness,
with a shout. And an archangel's gonna holler,
shout, says over in Revelation. And then there's gonna be a great
angel that tells us over in Revelation, the trump of God's gonna start
blowing. And the dead in Christ, those in Christ, those saved
by Christ, given to Christ, Christ died for them, the dead in Christ
shall rise first. Oh my, now here we go. We see
we is alive and remaining now. Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them. Oh my, in the clouds to
meet the Lord in the air. And I love this right here. And
so shall we ever be with the Lord. You know what he said about
that? Comfort one another with these
words. That's pretty comforting when you go to somebody's grave
and somebody you're fixed to put in a casket. Pretty comforting,
ain't it? Huh? Oh, they're just resting
right now. And Christ's gonna come back
and get them. And when He gets them, He's gonna get me too.
They're gonna go first. And then we're gonna go right
up with them. Huh? And that scripture tells us that
He's gonna change this vile body and fashion it Fashion it. Fashion
it. I like fashion, you know. He
gonna fashion it like unto His glorious body. Huh? That's a pretty good foundation,
ain't it? Huh? I can face God on this foundation.
It's been tried. It's been tried. This foundation's
been tried. And it's been tried now for thousands
of years, and it's still just as solid as it was. Our Father, thank you for allowing
us to meet here today. Thank you for your gospel. Thank
you for your precious word. Lord, your word is so precious,
so clear, so encouraging, so comforting. Lord, we truly stand
on Christ our solid rock. All other ground, every place
else we stand in this world is sinking sand. But oh Lord, to
have this foundation, to have this solid, solid rock, this
blessed savior, this eternal son of God to be established
on, built on, a covenant of grace, a cornerstone. Oh, Lord, thank
you for allowing us to meet today. Bless these dear people. Save
you people in this place. Open the hearts of those who've
never believed. Enable them to believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. He said, He that believeth, He
that believeth. God, enable them to believe.
We ask these things in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. Let's sing that on Christ the
solid rock. It's 272 is where it's at. Everybody
ought to know it. 272. Let's stand. We'll sing this. Listen, let
me tell you all this. Shirley's made a bunch of banana
bread and poppy seed bread, and it's sitting back there, and
one per family. You know, one per family. If you only got one family, give
one. But, you know, but they're back
there. When the service is over, go
back there and get you whichever one you want. She got them all
fixed up and dialed up. And I tell you what, I've ate
both of them. And they're good. Oh, they're
so good. Especially put butter on them. Woo! You know, generally,
she puts out all these boxes with all this candy and everything
in them. But she said, this year, I'm going to make cakes for everybody.
But bread, bread. So you go back there, and please
get you one. She's made, it's outstanding. She's a flat good cook, I'm telling
you. She's a good cook. 272, we'll
get to that in a minute. Let's stand together. Oh, nothing
less than Jesus. ♪ Blood and righteousness ♪ I dare
not trust the Satan's frame ♪ Holy lean on Jesus' name ♪ On Christ
the solid rock I stand ♪ All other ground is sinking sand
♪ All other ground is sinking sand When darkness veils His
lovely face I rest on His unchanging grace In every high and stormy
gale My anchor holds within the veil On Christ the solid rock
I stand All other ground is sinking sand All other ground is sinking
sand His oath is covenant, His blood support me in the whimming
flood. When all around my soul gives
way, He then is all my hope and stay. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground
is sinking sand. When He shall come with trumpet
sound, O may I then in Him be found, Dressed in His righteousness
alone, Faultless to stand before Him.